The Zero Tails Jinchuriki #33

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Land of Fire

–Kenta Senju–

It was the next day, and most likely due to the commotion they sensed from his fight with Rochimaru, no Kumo shinobi was sighted anywhere close to the border. He was supposed to stay here for at least two weeks, before returning to Konoha with a report.

A report that would decide if his border needed reinforcements or not. His encounter with Orochimaru and the two members of the so-called Sound Four most definitely warranted some reinforcements but they were not the ones attacking the Border Guards, or trying to breach the border.

As absurd as it sounded, if he went by the official wording of his mission, it would seem that Orochimaru was not the main threat here, the Kumo shinobi were.

And if he were to go by the thoughts in his mind, the main threats in this place were the three shinobi currently tied up, looking at him with wide fearful eyes, locked in the cell in the dungeon of this place as he sat in front of them, silent, trying to decide a course of action for these pieces of shit.

Masato Inoue. Tetsuya Morimoto. Renji Takemura.

Three Jounins. All from Civilian backgrounds. Close knit from genin days, with Masato Inoue being the strongest as well as the leader of this outpost. The one outpost currently manned with the single highest ratio of Uchiha Shinobi on the Konoha-Kumo border.

Well, it was the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning’s border, but everyone knew that it was really the two Great Villages that manned the borders, especially this section, where travel would be almost fatal for any civilian caravan, looking to trade.

“Masato, Tetsuya, and Renji,” He said, slowly, as he observed their reactions. It had only been about 12 hours since they were dumped here, guarded by the strongest uninjured Uchiha, who was just a Chunin, with a single Tomoe sharingan. 

Hell, they had two shinobi here with three tomoe Sharingan, arguably just as strong as Masato here and yet, none of them were given even the deputy level authority just in case the leader died.

Very suspicious, on top of the heavily injured states of all Uchiha shinobi, as they were given very little rest as these three continued to enjoy the safety afforded by the outpost.

He could see fear in the eyes of the other two, but Masato? He looked straight ahead, not at him but behind him, uncaring about his current predicament, which was alarming because by all means, whatever he says would go out here. Out here, he was their Kage, especially since he came with the official seal of the Hokage.

It could all be a trap, but his emotion sensing abilities had not failed him yet and they told him that the fear felt by the other two was real. They were very much terrified of the consequences of their actions, which told him they were guilty. 

It was the third guy, Masato that intrigued him the most. His emotions? Muted, so much so that all he could get from the guy was a cold sense of detachment. Even saying his name out loud, something that would invoke some kind of emotion, did not elicit an emotional response.

All three of them had to be restrained, since Masato tried to kill them before he was captured and he did not want any accident to happen to any of them. 

It was daytime and he had ordered the shinobi here to begin patrolling since historically, Kumo shinobi have always attacked at night.

The fight yesterday meant that Orochimaru should not be coming again for round two, not anytime soon anyway. The man was a coward in reality, and turned tail and ran the moment it became clear that his mind was being messed with, as he inflicted two wounds that would have otherwise been fatal on anyone other than that Snake.

To go so far as to modify their own body? That was diabolical. His body was unintentionally strengthened and fortified by all means by his regular intake of Nature Energy but even then, he sometimes missed the fact that he couldn’t sleep for long, or relax anywhere, except that waterfall clearing that the Yondaime cleared out for him.

He should visit that soon.

So, here he was, in the dungeon of the outpost, ready to conduct an off the books interrogation because he knew something fishy was going on.

“For the crime of attacking a fellow shinobi with the intent to kill,” He began, applying pressure through his chakra on the entire cell, “--the punishment is death, you know that, right? Masato?”

The other two stiffened, their bodies trembling as they tried to get as far away as they could from both him and Masato. Masato, meanwhile, looked at him with those blank eyes and the same cold chakra.

He sighed. It was clear that Masato here had some sort of connection to the people he encountered back in Konoha, who were also targeting the Uchiha in some way. 

It was only a matter of time before they did something heinous that made the Uhchiha clan rise up against the administration and with Sarutobi’s position being as precarious as it was right now, the village could not afford any infighting whatsoever.

Standing up, he opened the cell door and dragged the other two and had them escorted to the cells on the other side of the dungeon. Then, he cleared the dungeon of anyone else save for him and the prisoners, before entering the cell with Masato.

Time to use some advanced interrogation techniques here. Not torture, no, that barely worked without having the corresponding Yamanaka to confirm the information. No, he was going to use the Zero Tails’ chakra, with a dash of chakra corrosion to invoke pain and anger.

After all, he needed some emotions for his chakra to latch onto something. It was something that he abhorred with all his heart but unfortunately, was also necessary. Everything that had happened since that day had painted a doubt in his heart.

The doubt of the Konoha higher ups being compromised, against the village’s interests, against a certain clan, or something else entirely. The bottom line was that he no longer felt he could trust that Masato in front of him would even survive the interrogation process.

After all, plenty of people either died or were declared brain dead once T&I was done with them. It would be within the norm to have people like Masato here, people who were becoming more of a liability than an asset, to have their minds scrambled beyond repair, to hide something or someone.

“You know,” he said, letting the lid off the Zero Tails’ chakra a bit, as his hands were covered in a thin layer of the Zero Tails’ chakra, “I don’t want to do this, honestly, but I can tell that ordinary methods will not work with you.” 

Masato recognised the chakra or at least recognised the fact that this chakra would have adverse effects on him, as the slightest bit of fear began entering his mind, something that made him smile internally.

Kneeling down in front of him, he let the hand hover in front of Masato as he asked, “Why? Why did you target the Uchiha? And why did you try to kill them when pressed about it? What are you trying to hide?”

When Masato remained silent, he let the chakra crackle a little bit as he placed it right on top of his chest. Looking at Masato with a smile on his face, he said, “I asked a question. I expect an answer. I hope you know no one is coming to save you here.”

“No?” He shook his head, as, regrettably, his hand burned through the clothing before Masato grunted as his chakra began burning through his skin. It was one of the things that really drove home the dangerousness of the Bijjuu and their Jinchuriki.

The mere chakra from any Jinchuriki, from the weakest to the strongest, even from an artificial one like his, was corrosive to regular humans, even shinobi to an extent. Powerless shinobi were no different from a civilian, at least on the outside.

After a while, the smell of burnt meat wafted in the air, as he took his hand off the chest. Looking into Masato’s eyes once more, he asked the same question, and when he received the same silence, he was about to subject him to even more chakra burns when his senses noticed a change in Masato’s emotions.

Pain. Fear. Anger. Resentment. Spiked fear. Resignation. Bitter Acceptance.

His hand surged forward, the Zero Tails chakra receding, as he moved to knock out Masato, only to pause his hand just shy of hitting his forehead as the very distinct sense of chakra entered his senses, from his tongue.

Masato’s entire body seized for a moment, their eyes meeting as Masato looked at him with clear hatred in his eyes, before they clouded over, as Masato keeled over, dead.

Perturbed as to how this could have happened, he opened his mouth and took the tongue to examine the seal that was no doubt placed there, only to find a destroyed tongue.

“Really thorough, I see.”