s.h.i.+kamaru didn’t even try to hide the s.h.i.+vers running up his spine from sitting on the cold, concrete floor.
There was no window to speak of. The walls, the ceiling, everything was concrete. He, Rou and Soku were sitting in a circle in a completely grey room.
All three of them were wearing the long cloaks of the enlightened ones. All stolen, of course. Even the room they were currently residing in didn’t belong to them. The real owner was an enlightened one stuffed in a closet in the room next door, knocked out by one of Soku’s paralysing Chakra Needles.
Of course, they hadn’t forgotten to do their interrogations in the midst of their thievery. The result of all their cross-questionings was quite a bounty of information.
“It seems that Lord s.h.i.+kamaru was correct in his initial conclusion.” Rou started speaking first. “This country does indeed look like it’s being ruled by this Gengo character and his frighteningly strong charisma.”
s.h.i.+kamaru had to agree with Rou about the charisma. They’d had to lure another male EO [shortened term for Enlightened One/s] to get a long cloak for Rou, and the one female EO for Soku’s cloak. Counting Minoichi, that made three EO’s that had been interrogated over all.
Three enlightened ones, and yet the one thing that didn’t change in every single scenario was their obsessive, unshakable faith in Gengo.
The faith the EO’s had towards Gengo was clearly different from the trust that Konoha’s s.h.i.+n.o.bi put in the Hokage, or Naruto.
Humans feeling love and respect for another human. That was, in s.h.i.+kamaru’s opinion, the bond between Konoha’s s.h.i.+n.o.bi and their leaders. People respecting other people.
But the way the EO’s treated Gengo was different. They spoke of him with the same fear and reverence that one would use for a living G.o.d. As if they believed that while they were humans, Gengo’s existence was something else entirely. It was an unshakeable, disturbing faith.
What kind of a man could make people adore him to that extent?
s.h.i.+kamaru noticed with mild alarm that deep down inside, he himself felt curious about the answer.
“Well, it’s been said from the start that this whole thing’ll end if we end Gengo, y’know.” Soku bluntly said. “That’s why the old man and I came along in the first place. If that hadn’t been the case, we wouldn’t be needed. Though I’d have liked it if that haven’t been the case, y’know.”
Although her last comment was a little rude, Soku’s input was pertinent to the conversation.
“It seems that their thoughts towards Gengo have already turned into a religious fervour.” Rou said.
“I think so too, y’know.” Soku nodded. “Something has to be up for them to be so fervently attached to him.”
“What do you mean by something, Hinoko?”
“s.h.i.+kamaru-san! I told you not to call me by name!” Soku sat up in a fit of temper, her index finger pointing at s.h.i.+kamaru’s face, the tip of it crackling with orange chakra. “If you call me by name again, I’m seriously gonna pound you!”
She was so worked up, she didn’t even add “y’know” to the end of her sentence.
“Why don’t you like it? It’s an adorable name…” * [Translator’s Note: Hinoko means sparks of fire.]
“That’s why I don’t like it!” Soku’s chakra blared brighter with her temper. “A cool name like Gourai [roaring lightning] or s.h.i.+ppu [swift gale] or Kimidare [summer rain] would have been so much better!”
It turned out that no matter how capable a s.h.i.+n.o.bi she was, Soku was still a fourteen year old child on the inside. Her line up of ‘cool’ names were all so unbelievably cheesy, s.h.i.+kamaru was desperately trying not to laugh.
She must have mistaken the strained expression on his face for an apologetic look, because the chakra buzzing at the tip of her finger suddenly went out.
“Sorry,” s.h.i.+kamaru said, regaining control of himself. “I didn’t know you hated your name to that extent. I’ll be careful not to use it.”
“A-as long as you understand…” Soku looked somewhat embarra.s.sed at her outburst now, looking down at the floor.
Spread out on the floor in front of the three was a map of Curtain Village. This had also been procured from the owner of the room.
“I say, the shape of this city is truly like a spider’s web.” Rou said, crossing his arms in thought.
s.h.i.+kamaru looked down to study the map as well. His eyes fell on the picture of the large castle at the centre of the city. The text next to it declared it as ‘Floating Prisoner Castle’.
“Floating prisoner…” s.h.i.+kamaru muttered to himself.
“It is a derogatory term.” Rou explained with his old-fas.h.i.+oned knowledge. “Used for prisoners of war, or savages living near the borders of a metropolis.”
“Derogatory, huh…” s.h.i.+kamaru’s mind was whirring as he murmured out loud. “Did Gengo give it that name? Or was the castle called that long before he became its master?”
“The Country of Silence has always avoided contact with other countries, and as a consequence even we Anbu of Konoha do not have any information on this castle.”
s.h.i.+kamaru somehow had a feeling Gengo had given the castle that name. It was just a vague sort of intuition though, so he didn’t say anything about it.
“Why give your own castle an insulting name like that…”
“It comes to this sort of meaning, does it not? ‘As the Five Great Nations and other smaller countries claimed their land on the continent, we were savages forced to live on the outskirts.’ They are insulting themselves.” Rou said.
“That’s definitely what it is.” s.h.i.+kamaru commented, deep in thought.
“That’s stupid, y’know.” Soku scornfully interjected. She’d kept quiet until now, listening to them talk, but looked so worked up she couldn’t stop herself from talking. “Insulting yourself, declaring yourself to be sc.u.m, what kind of a crazy cruelty is that? And these twisted, pessimistic guys are trying to overturn the world of s.h.i.+n.o.bi? Ridiculous.”
She forgot to add ‘y’know’ again.
Soku, s.h.i.+kamaru realised, was genuinely angry at the people of this country for giving themselves such a self-deprecating name.
“It’s probably by insulting themselves that they find the ferocity to bare their fangs and fight the rest of the world.”
Soku’s reply to s.h.i.+kamaru’s explanation was to look away in disgust. He continued speaking.
“Revenge is born out of hatred for your opponent. And hatred is never something that can exist in someone without them starting a fight or provoking the other side.”
“Then, Lord s.h.i.+kamaru, are you saying that the people of this country resent the other countries in this continent?”
“That’s a ridiculous idea, y’know.” Soku cut in, still steaming. “All the EO’s who run this country are former s.h.i.+n.o.bi from other countries, aren’t they?”
Soku was right. The fact had come to light during their interrogation of the three EO’s. Every single EO who was involved with governing this country had originally been a s.h.i.+n.o.bi from another country. Part of them were s.h.i.+n.o.bi who’d gone missing in action during the war, while the rest were those who’d become missing-nin during the past year, but they were all governing authorities who answered to Gengo.
They’d learnt that this country had once had a Daimyou as well. The one who had driven the Daimyou out, raised up the Enlightened Ones and changed the country from the root up was, of course, none other than Gengo.
It would be a fitting summary to say that the current Country of Silence was being run completely by s.h.i.+n.o.bi.
“If they hate other countries,” Soku continued, “Then that means they hate their own villages as well. That can’t be right.”
The concept seemed alien to her.
“There are s.h.i.+n.o.bi like that too.” s.h.i.+kamaru carefully said, explaining in a calm tone. “The group that was the cause of the last great war, the ‘Akatsuki’ were mostly made up of missing-nin. They were a group with exceptional abilities who hated the world of s.h.i.+n.o.bi.”
You’d find yourself trapped in a bad situation, and dark feelings would begin to stew. It wasn’t surprising if all that resentment and anger made you lash out at your own country. You’d blame your village for your misfortunes and suffering, say that it wasn’t your fault, but the structure of your country- no, the very structure of the world that was to blame.
It was through that kind of thinking that members of the Akatsuki or Enlightened Ones were born.
“But, I say, if this is true…” Rou spoke, and Soku and s.h.i.+kamaru both fell quiet. “If this is true, and the Enlightened Ones feel dissatisfaction towards the current state of s.h.i.+n.o.bi…”
Rou glanced at s.h.i.+kamaru, who nodded for him to go on.
“And they came to this country with those feelings of dissatisfaction…But, well, what they’re doing here isn’t any different from what’s done in the s.h.i.+n.o.bi world, is it?”
Rou was referring to how the Enlightened earned a livelihood. The Country of Silence had opened a unique messenger route for business, and was taking on mission requests from all around the continent. What’s more, their standard prices were cheaper than the Union’s. While large and powerful countries like the Five Great Nations didn’t care much about lowered prices over credibility, it was a relief for smaller countries around the continent who had less gold to spare.
It was no wonder the mission requests made to the Union had significantly decreased.
It was exactly as Rou had said. s.h.i.+n.o.bi who felt resentful towards the s.h.i.+n.o.bi world ran away to the country of silence- only for them to keep taking on mission requests as only s.h.i.+n.o.bi would. It was a truly ridiculous scenario.
“A ‘true revolution’…” Soku thoughtfully murmured.
When Rou and s.h.i.+kamaru both turned to look at her, the girl looked embarra.s.sed.
“It’s what Minoichi said. ‘Our goal is to create a true revolution in this world together with Gengo-sama,’ and all…”
“You think they’re taking on mission requests for the sake of reaching that goal?” s.h.i.+kamaru asked.
Soku nodded.
“Well, either way…that Gengo fellow is a threat that must be eliminated.” Rou muttered.
“We’ve been blessed with a good chance, y’know.” Soku said, pointing at the plaza in front of Floating Prisoner Castle.
“The town square reserved for speeches…It’s a fitting stage for an a.s.sa.s.sination, is it not?” Rou laughed, and looked at s.h.i.+kamaru with mirth.
The man who was always so simple and sincere was now talking about cold-blooded murder with a smile on his face. s.h.i.+kamaru felt like he was just now realising, deep in his bones, that Rou really was a part of Anbu.
“To summarise what we discussed before: Rou, you’ll use your jutsu to help us blend into the crowd at the plaza. I’ll extend my shadow to reach and restrain Gengo. Soku, you’ll be placed at a nearby rooftop with a bird’s eye view. The moment you see Gengo stiffen, you have to send your Chakra Needle flying immediately.”
They both nodded at his orders with those same disturbing smiles, as if they were looking forward to the thrill.
“We’ll be depending on you, Hinoko.”
“How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?!” Soku got to her feet, steaming with indignation.
“…Forty times.” Rou whispered.
“Huh?” Soku glared at her senior, her mouth twisting down in temper.
“Lord s.h.i.+kamaru’s name has ‘s.h.i.+’ for ‘4’ and ‘maru’ for ‘0’, so…forty.” Rou meekly said.
Soku was furious.
“Again with the puns!” She strode forward, “And bad ones, at that! What happened to the ‘ka’, then?!”
Rou hurriedly got to his feet and –despite being 40 years old, significantly larger than his short-tempered junoir, and an Anbu- quickly hid behind s.h.i.+kamaru for safety, cowering from the fourteen year old’s rage.
Of course, he could’ve been playing his reaction up for laughs, but that didn’t stop s.h.i.+kamaru from feeling more than a little embarra.s.sed on the two’s behalf.
“Is everything really going to be alright tomorrow…?” He sighed.
Both Anbu straightened at once, rea.s.surances spilling out of their mouths.
“It’ll be fine, y’know!”
“There is absolutely nothing to concern yourself over, Lord!”
Looking at them, s.h.i.+kamaru let out another sigh.