Chapter 30: Trap
Coo, coo～
The sound of birds came, and the two people in the room looked out the window.
Coo coo coo～
The bird calls grew more urgent.
“Let’s go.”
Su Xiao opened the window, jumped out, and quickly ran toward the nearby forest, with Didara following closely behind.
Not long after entering the forest, Su Xiao heard low voices talking.
“I won’t say anything.”
Following the source of the sound, Su Xiao found Xie.
Xie was currently hidden inside Feiliuhu, with a Mist Shinobi lying beside him.
This Mist Shinobi’s body trembled slightly, unable to make any movement except to speak in a low voice.
Xie hadn’t infiltrated the Mist Village; he was waiting around the village, capturing Mist Shinobi who left on missions.
This Jonin had been caught by Xie shortly after leaving the village, heavily poisoned, and completely paralyzed.
“Find out anything?”
Su Xiao lifted the prone Jonin and sat him against a tree.
“Bai Ye!”
The Jonin looked at Su Xiao in surprise.
“You know me?”
“I guarded you once.”
The Jonin glanced indifferently at Su Xiao, a hint of disdain in his eyes.
“What’s your name? Never mind, I’ll call you Dog Taro. Not a bad name.”
Su Xiao crouched in front of Dog Taro, who sneered.
“Call me whatever you want. Do what you will, but don’t expect to get any information out of me. I’m professionally trained.”
Dog Taro was very calm; after all, he was a Jonin who had faced countless life-and-death situations.
“Can you interrogate?”
Su Xiao looked at Didara and Xie. He wasn’t very interested in interrogating this Jonin; the other’s mental defenses were strong and would require violent methods.
“A bit, but not likely to get anything.”
Xie wasn’t skilled in interrogation; he was skilled in making puppets.
“Don’t look at me. My interrogation method is to cut off his limbs. Probably useless.”
Didara shrugged, indicating he had no solution.
“Then I’ll have to do it, even though I don’t really like violent interrogation.”
Su Xiao pulled out a dagger. Dog Taro was a bit surprised.
“That’s it? Are you underestimating me?”
Su Xiao stabbed the dagger into Dog Taro’s chest. Dog Taro just frowned.
“Good pain tolerance. To keep you from screaming later, I’ll gag you first.”
Su Xiao tore a piece of cloth from Dog Taro’s clothes and stuffed it into his mouth, then covered the dagger with Cyan Steel Shadow Energy and slowly let it seep into Dog Taro’s body.
“Mmph!”
Dog Taro’s eyes bulged, the whites filled with blood.
“Feel it with your ‘heart.’ This pain won’t stop until your chakra is exhausted.”
After more than ten seconds, Dog Taro was a limp mess, his gaze vacant, tears and snot flowing freely.
“Dead?”
Didara kicked Dog Taro, but there was no reaction.
Su Xiao grabbed one of Dog Taro’s ears and cut it off with the dagger. Dog Taro still didn’t react.
Tossing the ear aside, Su Xiao pried open Dog Taro’s tightly shut eyes.
“His nervous system is about to collapse. He can probably still speak.”
Su Xiao pulled the cloth from Dog Taro’s mouth. Dog Taro stared blankly at him.
“Kill… kill me.”
Dog Taro’s voice was dull and numb, carrying both pleading and longing.
“Answer a few of my questions.”
Dog Taro turned his head away, still unwilling to betray the Mist Village.
“Stubborn.”
As he spoke, Su Xiao slit Dog Taro’s throat with the dagger, the movement clean and swift.
[You have killed Jonin Akai.]
[Jonin Akai is a normal plot character. Obtained World Source 0.6%. Total World Source now 10.6%.]
[Your talent ‘Soul Devourer’ activated. Permanently increased Mana by 13 points. Current Mana: 1476 points.]
The gain was minimal. This Jonin wasn’t defeated by Su Xiao and was just a minor character, though he had some strength.
“I can’t do anything about that. Should we catch another? I don’t believe all Mist Shinobi have such strong willpower.”
“There’s still a Genin.”
Xie flashed away and returned shortly, with a bound Genin hanging from Feiliuhu’s iron tail.
“A Genin…”
Su Xiao didn’t have high hopes. Genin knew too little, but there was an advantage—they were easy to interrogate.
“Answer a few questions, and we’ll let you go.”
The Genin nodded desperately. Didara pulled the cloth from his mouth.
“Huff, huff… Who are you…”
The Genin hanging in midair gasped for breath until he saw the Jonin’s corpse.
“Teacher Akai.”
The Genin swallowed hard, his lips starting to tremble.
“Is the quality of Mist Shinobi this bad now?”
Didara looked at the Genin, who was about to wet himself, clearly surprised.
“What’s the situation with the radical faction in the Mist Village now?”
Su Xiao asked the question they needed answered. Once they confirmed this, the three would know what to do next.
“I won’t…”
Bang.
Didara punched the Genin in the stomach. Su Xiao stepped forward with the blood-dripping dagger.
In the dark forest, surrounded by three villains in black cloaks with red clouds, the feeling was terrifying, especially with a corpse nearby.
“Answer the question. You have one chance.”
The pressure of being surrounded by three thugs like Su Xiao was immense. No interrogation was needed; the Genin’s mental defenses crumbled.
“I… I’ve never heard of any radical faction.”
The Genin wasn’t lying, so Didara grabbed his throat.
“I’m not lying. I really don’t know what a radical faction is. Didn’t you say you’d let me go if I answered? Wait, wait.”
Crack.
Didara snapped the Genin’s neck. Trusting an enemy’s words—this Genin must have just graduated.
“What now? Keep catching?”
“Yeah, I’ll go.”
Xie controlled Feiliuhu and walked away. Su Xiao and Didara waited in place.
A few hours later, the sound of clothes dragging on the ground came—the sound Feiliuhu made. Xie had to replace his Akatsuki uniform every half month on average; the wear and tear was severe.
Seeing Feiliuhu at this moment, Su Xiao raised an eyebrow.
“Is that… a whole squad?”
Feiliuhu now had a string of ninjas hanging from it: one Jonin and three Genin.
This time, Xie did the interrogation. Xie’s methods were much bloodier.
After three Genin died, the nearly broken Jonin gave in. Not all Jonin were as stubborn as Akai.
“After… after the village became peaceful, the Mizukage began absorbing the radical faction. Plus, the three leaders of the radical faction mysteriously disappeared, and there were no more dissenting voices in the village. The radical faction collapsed during that time. Now everyone follows the Fifth Mizukage. No opposition.”
As the Jonin spoke, he looked longingly at the dagger in Su Xiao’s hand. Xie’s torture had left him unrecognizable.
A single slash to the throat. This time, there wasn’t even any World Source. Su Xiao only gained 12 Mana points.
There was no longer a so-called radical faction. If this information was true, then this mission was a trap.
“Things are getting more complicated. This is beyond the scope of the mission. I don’t agree to continue with this kind of mission.”
Didara was the first to speak up.
“Agreed.”
“Seconded.”
Although Su Xiao had a grudge against Zhaomeiming, he didn’t want to be used as a pawn.
“I’ll contact the leader.”
Xie formed hand seals and used the Astral Projection Technique. Su Xiao and Didara waited.
Among the three in the team, Nagato trusted Xie the most. Every mission detail was conveyed to Xie by Konan, and if something went wrong during a mission, Xie was the one to contact Nagato.