There was a mist in front of Bai Bai's eyes, and his consciousness was close to blurry.
This voice full of strong threatening tone was separated by the swollen eardrums, sounding both far and near.
It took Bai more time than usual to understand what the other party was saying, but the answer was no different from the previous times.
He took a deep breath through his wet, cold nose and said weakly: "I don't know..."
Before he could finish a complete sentence, another strong force came from the top of his head.
Bai's head was pushed into the puddle in front of the banyan forest by the torturer, and his unfinished words were drowned by the sound of gurgling water and a string of enjoyable laughter.
This is behind the mountain about 2 kilometers away from the abandoned patrol station.
The water pool is formed by a dozen small waterfalls descending from the mountain. The banyan forest where Bai used to collect medicine (actually there is only one tree) is not far behind him, and is irrigated and nurtured by the small river that originates from here.
It's a pity that such a beautiful place has become a dangerous place of torture.
Bai's head was almost completely submerged into the water. Bubbles rushed to his ears as his mouth opened and closed, and his brain felt as if he was about to enter another world.
His arms were tightened against his back like pliers by another torturer, and his wrists were raised deliberately, almost touching his shoulder blades. But this pain was nothing to Bai Bai, what really mattered
Yes, it's that feeling of drowning.
The cold water surged into his mouth and nose that he couldn't control, burrowing into his throat like a poisonous snake and squeezing the air out of his lungs.
Bai struggled desperately, but was held tightly by the two of them, unable to move.
Maybe a few seconds passed, maybe thousands of years passed. In front of his eyes was the kind of white flash that can cause epilepsy patients to have seizures in the interrogation room, and then he saw groups of black ink stains, like the ink spitted by an octopus.
There were more and more, spreading everywhere and connecting with each other, almost covering his entire field of vision.
【Lord Zabuza, I’m afraid I have to say goodbye to you.】
Scenes of the past were like a movie played in reverse, playing rapidly in Shiro's dying consciousness. He returned to the day when he met Zabuza and rekindled his motivation to survive; he returned to the day when he witnessed his mother being killed and the Blood Succession Limit broke out.
The day he killed his father; he would soon return to his poor but happy childhood...
【That's it, there will be no more pain.】
He thought this way and planned to embrace this sweet darkness.
But this desire is destined to be dashed.
The torturer put his palms against Bai's scalp, pulled his hair tightly, and pulled the dying boy out of the water.
The fresh air violently rushed into the nasal cavity, the sound was deafening, and the sunlight penetrated through the water droplets into Bai's eyes, causing unspeakable pain.
But before he could retching, he was forcefully lifted up by his hair, turned his head to the other side while panting, and looked at each other with his torturer.
"After soaking in it so many times, your face is still very beautiful, but it makes me uncomfortable just looking at it."
That face with a cruel smile belonged to the two-handed sword ninja who tried to kill the butterfly ninja a day ago.
He is only four years older than Shiro, but this Kirigakure-specific, bone-deep coldness is no different from the older companions behind him.
Among the waiting ninjas, Captain Genshinichi is an elite jounin comparable to Zabuza. The two ordinary jonins who look somewhat similar to Genshinichi are his clansmen. The special jounin with the ability to perceive is Ibi.
A student of his grandfather, Elder Yuanshi.
Except for the two-handed sword ninja and the middle-aged ninja who cooperated with the twisted white arm, the other four middle genin, although not from the big family, had all changed families after last night, so they agreed to cause trouble and cooperated with Yuan Zhenyi to bring bad luck to Shiro.
The information about Zabuza and Mei Terumi was tortured from his mouth.
Further away, on the outermost edge, are four teenagers about the same age as Bai. Their hair colors are three black and one white.
The four people were tied up with iron shackles on their hands and feet. Their shirts were stripped off, and iron collars with sharp teeth on the inside were placed around their necks. The collars were connected to iron chains driven into their ribs, causing them to look like vultures.
If you bend your head and body like that, you will tighten the spike at the end of the chain and injure the organs under your ribs.
Although they were prisoners, they looked at Bai with the same indifference, as if they were used to all this.
Everyone is waiting for Bai to speak. Although the drowning torture method is primitive, it has always been very effective.
"I'm talking about you."
The two-handed sword chuunin pinched Shiro's chin hard, and in his eyes there was the pleasure of a great revenge being avenged, or a villain's success being more appropriate: "When you bossed me around in the name of Zabuza Momochi yesterday, did you ever think about what would happen today?
?I really didn’t expect that retribution would come so quickly.”
"Don't talk nonsense."
Yuan Zhenyi was a little impatient.
He didn't mind if his subordinates used "official business" to seek personal revenge, but now was not the time to do such a thing.
"Forget it, get out of the way and I'll ask him personally."
"Yes, yes." The two-handed sword chunin quickly changed his face and backed away in fear.
Yuan Zhen squatted down, his eyes indifferent as if looking at a stone on the side of the road.
"I understand that you don't want to tell Zabuza and Terumi Meiyuki's private plans, because you are afraid that if you tell them, they will be in danger. It doesn't matter, I know you are close, and since you don't want to tell me, I will
No more questions."
When Bai heard this, his mood did not improve at all. His chest was still rising and falling violently, and he breathed air with pain.
Because he knows that all the words before the transition word "but" are all nonsense.
"Then let's talk about another thing. In this election, it is impossible for Mizukage to win with Momochi Zabuza's withdrawn character who thinks highly of himself. Even if you are just a follower who blindly worships him, you should understand this.
."
Bai didn't respond, but he didn't refute either.
The election depends on the votes of the Jonin, which is determined by the interpersonal relationship between the candidate and the Jonin.
And Zabuza, who killed all the graduates in the same period, is definitely a person that everyone in Kirigakure Village avoids.
Although Zabuza himself is very optimistic, Haku, as an outsider, is much more sober.
"But even so, there are still Jonin in the village who are willing to vote for him. I think since these people cannot be Zabuza's friends, they must have been threatened by him for other reasons."
Genzhen paused, "So I want you to tell me, who are these Jonin? What clues have fallen into Zabuza's hands? As long as you reveal this to me, I will let you go. Do you understand?
, even if this information is told to me, it will not put Zabuza in any danger, it will only make his defeat in the election more ugly, but it will not change anything essentially."
"Do you want to rely on these excuses to make the Jonin who supports Zabuza-sama turn to support you?"
Shiro saw through Yuan Zhenyi's thoughts at a glance.
"To be precise, I asked them to support my brother, who is the candidate."
Yuan Zhen smiled stiffly, "How about it? This is not critical information. Once you tell me, you can leave."
"..." Bai thought for a while and finally made a decision.
"just kill me."
The bond between him and Zabuza could not tolerate such filth.
"Tsk."
Yuan Zhenyi sighed and pursed his lips impatiently.
He didn't waste much time, glanced at the middle-aged ninja who was twisting Bai's arms, and shook his fingers.
The latter immediately understood and freed up one hand to repeat the same trick, pushing Bai's head into the water.
But the binding force of one hand is far less reliable than that of two hands.
Bai took advantage of the restraint strength to weaken, broke free of his hands from the middle-aged ninja, and pressed his palms against the water surface, freezing a large piece of ice.
He bit his neck with force, and his pale face hit the white ice hard.
However, the impact distance was still too short. Bai only broke his nose this time, and bright red nosebleeds flowed on the ice, like a forked micro river, but his forehead was not broken.
Only then did the middle-aged ninja react and quickly grabbed Bai's arms and pulled them hard from behind.
With a crisp sound, Bai's two arms hung down softly like caterpillars. It was obvious that they were dislocated and could no longer use his blood inheritance limit.
"Want to commit suicide?"
Yuan Zhenyi's tone was full of ridicule, "It's a pity that you didn't hit hard enough. Without this kind of fierceness, there is no way to survive in this village."
"You can't ask anything..."
Bai's cheeks were weakly pressed against the ice, his torso remained in an awkward position lying on his side, and his voice was weak but decisive.
"I have received anti-torture training, and I know all your methods...Whether you pull out my nails or chop off my fingers, I won't say anything."
"I believe you." Yuan Zhen pressed his index finger between his eyebrows, obviously a little depressed, "If I had known that I would bring an illusion helper here, what should I do now..."
At this time, the two-handed sword ninja looked behind Shiro.
There was a broken tea cup there. The milky white banyan sap had soaked into the soil and turned into a turbid and dirty brown-grey color.
In addition, there were all kinds of common herbs scattered around, and it was obvious at a glance that they were used to treat injuries. This reminded him of something.
"Master Zhenyi, look at these herbs, they are obviously prepared for the injured!"
The two-handed sword ninja's eyes shone like a gambler seeing the chips on the table, "Yesterday he used Zabuza's name to deceive us, just for two brats. One of the brats said he fell from the mountain and suffered a lot.
Serious injury. The medicines he collected must be for that brat."
"Oh." After the two-handed sword chunin finished speaking, Yuan Zhenyi already understood what he meant.
He looked at Bai, whose expression became flustered and uneasy, and said tentatively: "There have been people like this before. He can accept any kind of torture, but if he sees someone important to him suffering, he will immediately be willing to speak, no matter what.
I said it out loud. I thought that such people were extinct in Kirigakure Village, but I didn’t expect that there was another one.”
Yuan Zhenyi turned his head and asked: "Are they the two people that Yijōnin detected yesterday?"
Especially jounin is also a jounin, this is a way to show respect.
The two-handed sword ninja replied: "Yes! One is a boy who is unconscious and seriously injured, and the other is a little girl with sharp teeth. According to Master, they have weak chakra reactions, so they should be ordinary people."
"Since they are ordinary people and have been seriously injured, you will not be too far away from them when they come out to collect medicine."
Yuan Zhenyi and Bai looked at each other. He noticed the change in the other's expression and became more and more confident in his judgment. "For example, I remember that there is a patrol station nearby that has been out of service for many years. They are there, right?"
"They are not ninjas and have nothing to do with this matter."
Bai shuddered and said, and at the same time secretly hated himself for not being able to hide the secret in his heart and writing everything on his face, "We just met. They are not important people to me. I just helped by the way."
them."
"The more you explain, the more I feel the need to meet them. After all, who would help a complete stranger?"
Yuan Zhen shook his head with regret, and seemed to mutter to himself: "What kind of things will you do to them to make you change your mind?"
This may be some common question asked by Kirigakure ninjas, because everyone started speaking enthusiastically one after another.
"First, twist off their fingers one by one, so that the scream will be louder."
"It's too old-fashioned. How about breaking their hands and feet bit by bit?"
"Tear out their hearts in front of this brat and see if he talks about it."
"How about pulling out the intestines and wrapping them around a tree to see how many times it can be wrapped around."
"In the end, it would be nice to chop off the head and hit it like a baseball."
"It would be good to do some interesting experiments. I have a newly developed technique..."
Almost everyone had their own ideas. Some were serious suggestions, while others were joking, the crueler the better. Only the boy with the two-handed sword yesterday did not speak, probably because he had just started in the industry.
In short, for a while, the scene turned out to be very lively, and these ninjas seemed like a group of office workers discussing which izakaya they should go to for a party in the evening.
Every time they said something, Bai's face became paler, and by the end it was completely drained of color.
[If these people really have to go find them...]
Giyuu is certainly strong, but with such an injury, even if he can wake up and fight, can he really deal with a veteran jounin like Genshinichi and a group of subordinates?
As for the Butterfly Ninja, without chakra, no matter how powerful your physical skills are, there is a limit.
No matter how you think about it, when those two people encounter this team, they will only end up dead.
Although they had only known each other for a day, as long as Bai remembered what happened yesterday, he did not want these two unique children to die, not to mention the various tortures these people discussed.
Bai was determined not to let this happen.
The butterfly ninja's voice sounded in his heart——
[Because I have experienced a tragic experience, I don’t want the same thing to happen to others. Is this normal? 】
If these two people were allowed to grow up smoothly, the whole world would be very different.
Maybe that idea, which sounds ridiculous and childish at first, will actually become "normal".
[Let’s reveal the truth that Zabuza-sama has, and then try our best to apologize. 】
Although it is no different from committing suicide...
Such thoughts came to Bai Bai's mind.
In this way, he can save the lives of Butterfly Ninja and Giyu without falling into the guilt of Zabuza. This is the best way.
Shiro's mind was filled with all this, and he even forgot that Kiri ninjas were not known for their trustworthiness.
But just when his lips moved and he was about to speak, a dense and loud bird song sounded in the woods above the waterfall.
The dense sound contained an alarming restlessness, as if some wild beast was hunting in the forest, which attracted everyone's attention.
Everyone looked up and looked in the direction of the sound——
First a bird flew out from above the waterfall, then the second, the third, the fourth...
More and more birds flew out, and they could be counted at first, but then hundreds or thousands of birds of various colors flew out like dark clouds, and pounced on the Kirigakure ninjas accurately.
direction.
"Be on guard!" After Yuan Zhen gave the order, all ten ninjas raised their ninja swords and kunai to resist.
Everyone, including the four prisoners plus Bai, was instantly drowned by a torrent of countless birds.
They did not take the opportunity to scratch and attack, but simply passed by these people, and then flew into the banyan forest like a palace of the devil for a moment, like refugees seeking refuge.
After more than half a minute, the last bird did not enter the banyan forest, and the avian storm came to an end. Only the carcasses of some killed birds were left on the ground.
"What's going on with these birds... bah bah!"
The ninjas and the prisoners spit out feathers from their mouths impatiently. At this time, a strange scream came from the crowd.
Everyone turned to look at the middle-aged ninja who made the sound.
The latter looked horrified, pointed to the blood-stained ice floe in the pool, and said hesitantly: "Sir, it's gone! That kid is gone!"
"How is that possible?" A jounin frowned, "How do you think so well of people?"
"In order to block those birds, I didn't catch him just now..." the middle-aged ninja explained, "Didn't I take off both his hands?"
"Could it be that other ninjas used those birds as a cover to take the kid away during the chaos?" Another jounin's guess was somewhat reliable.
"To take people away calmly is probably not an ordinary person."
Yuan Zhen glanced around, and then looked at Yi, who had the ability to perceive.
The latter's hands flew around, maintaining the last mudra, closing his eyes and extending his consciousness outwards. After a while, he got the answer, but this answer was unexpected.
"A person took him away." Yi pointed to the direction of the banyan forest, where the birds disappeared, "but the chakra reaction on that person was close to nothing, and the speed was very fast."
"...Whoever he is, we can't let him run away!"
Yuan Zhenyi pursed his lips and pointed at a jounin of the same clan, "You take these kiddos from the Taketori clan and follow them, and the others will follow me to pursue them."
"yes."
the other side.
Butterfly Ninja came under the main trunk of the mature banyan tree and asked Bai to lie on a wide root.
The dense leaves that blocked the sky made the place as dark as sunset. It was only by the unique smell of wisteria that Bai could tell who had saved him.
"How did you know I was...ah-" Before Bai could finish his words, the Butterfly Ninja had already skillfully reattached his dislocated arm.
"Now is not the time to talk about this." Butterfly Ninja spoke very quickly, with an extremely serious expression: "Bai, let me ask you, with your current physical condition, can you still create ice?"
Bai nodded blankly. But he didn't know why the butterfly ninja asked this.
The butterfly ninja lifted him up and drew a pattern on the ground under the tree trunk with a kunai.
"Help me make a weapon like this out of ice. It's longer than an ordinary knife, but it's hollow inside. The stronger it is, the better. Don't break it when you touch it."
Then, she opened Haori and took out several test tubes filled with light green liquid from the men's ninja shorts. Knowing that there might be a battle, the Butterfly Ninja put on the replacement clothes and clothing that Giyuu had prepared for herself before coming.
Pants. Fortunately, there is not much difference in body shape between the two of them, and the size of their clothes is just right. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to fight with someone in a yukata...
"During the production process, is it possible to hide the liquid inside the weapon?"
The Butterfly Ninja looked in the direction he came from, "Don't ask me why, and don't ask me what's inside. If you can do it, do it immediately. It's too late."
"Oh..." Bai nodded and immediately got busy. The butterfly ninja's request tested the ninja's ability to change chakra forms. Fortunately, things like ice are very suitable for shaping. After a while, he created a butterfly.
The weapon Shinobu wants——
It is more like a stabbing sword made of ice than an extra-long white "steel needle". Of course, this is the product of ninjutsu and is much harder than ordinary ice.
“The weight is great.”
The Butterfly Ninja took out gauze and tied it to the end of the steel needle, then held the area wrapped in gauze, danced several sword flowers fluently, and smiled with satisfaction.
"Finally, the familiar feeling is back..."
"What to do next?" Bai asked, looking a little anxious, "I seem to have heard their voices."
"You leave, I will stay here waiting for them."
The butterfly ninja's answer made Bai stunned, "You take a detour and take the patient out of the hut. You can go wherever you want. After my affairs here are over, I will let Yan find you."
The crow Yan fell from a higher branch. The crow was much larger than ordinary crows. The previous storm of birds was the result of her deliberate driving away.
"Let's go together. How can you be their opponent on your own?"
Shiro grabbed the cuff of the butterfly ninja Haori and pulled it as if praying, "Moreover..."
Butterfly Ninja interrupted him: "I understand my strengths and weaknesses, and I will not deal with them all at the same time. Besides, you have also seen..."
When the butterfly ninja said this, he took Haori out of Shiro's hand, turned his back to him, and faced the pursuing soldiers who were getting closer and closer.
"I let those two people go yesterday, but you were almost killed today. So this time, no matter what, I will not make the same mistake again. If I don't clean up these guys today, it will be a long time before the next one."
It's not far off if 'you' are tortured like this. Bai, patient, I beg you, what is about to happen here is not suitable for a gentle child like you to see."
"..." Bai's heart palpitated. He heard a strong murderous determination from the Butterfly Ninja's tone.
[Sure enough, it’s not unusual...]
"Let's go! Don't let Shinobu-sama be distracted by you! She is the smartest among the nine pillars, and she will be fine!"
Yan Yayan said loudly to Bai who was stunned on the spot: "Master Shuizhu will be left to you. Take him as far as possible. But don't let Master Ren down!"
Bai didn't know the specific meaning of Zhu. But when he saw that petite body holding an ice thorn in his hand, he felt a huge majesty that towered over the sky.
He stopped talking, bit his lip, wiped his eyes, and left quickly. He planned to take a detour back to the patrol station to carry out the Butterfly Ninja's instructions.
The Butterfly Ninja stared at the figures getting closer and closer to him in the dense forest, smiling lines appeared at the corners of his lips, revealing the edges of his teeth.
"Tomioka said aggressively that he would make the world a hell for people like you. But he is too gentle and may not be able to do it himself..."
She held the ice spike flat in front of her chest and stepped back to gain momentum. Her purple eyes became as dark and cold as the sword light of Breath of the Moon, but seemed to hide a flame that could sweep everything.
"So, in order to fulfill his promise..."
Butterfly Ninja flew up, with ice thorns in front and behind. She shot out like an arrow from a string, directly piercing the first enemy she encountered including her palms and chest, nailing the latter's body behind her.
On the tree trunk.
She gently twisted the weapon in her hand, forcing the other party to let out a heart-rending cry, letting this fear continue to radiate to the entire world.