Naruto: The Wind Calamity

Chapter 826: Why are you still up?

"Aaaaaaaargh!"

In the dead of the night, a blood-curdling scream escaped a locked room. Outside, two Konoha ninjas looked at each other, horror visible on their faces. Neither dared to utter a word but both had the same thought, 'We were wrong. Ibiki-sama is a saint compared to these monsters.'

In front of them were 7 Genin-level ninjas. All were handcuffed and had several chakra suppression seals inscribed on them. However, none of them cared about those. Instead, they were frozen in terror, their faces ashen as if life had been drained from them.

Suddenly, the screams stopped and the night became silent once again. A minute later, the door creaked open once again and a figure stepped into the dimly-lit corridor, her figure framed by the flickering torchlight. Even in the gloom, her flawless features and golden hair radiated an ethereal beauty. Her piercing eyes burned with a cold intensity that cut through the darkness like a blade, commanding both fear and reverence.

However, to the seven people waiting their turn, she wasn't a woman of legendary beauty. They didn't see the famed healer or the revered Sannin. In their eyes, she was death incarnate!

Tsunade muttered, "Who's the next one in?"

Without missing a bit, one of the guards said, "This one, Lady Tsunade!"

As Tsunade stepped towards him, the man immediately dropped to his knees, slammed his head on the floor and begged, "Please forgive me! I understand I shouldn't have targeted those villagers! Please give me another chance. I promise I'll never do any of those acts again! I'll dedicate the rest of my life to serving people!"

A smile appeared on Tsunade's lips as she reached the man. Bending down, she said, "It's good that you're finally feeling some remorse. As for repentance, don't worry. You'll soon make up for your sins by contributing to a noble cause."

They weren't the only frightened ones. While the Torture & Interrogation Department wasn't in the middle of a residential area, it wasn't far either. Over the years, several residential houses were constructed closer to their building. Hence, the blood-curdling screams echoed even in some of those houses, scaring their inhabitants. And, one could imagine what other prisoners in the building, who weren't imprisoned in soundproof rooms, felt that night.

This was another purpose that the Torture & Interrogation Department served indirectly. The reason why residential houses were allowed to be built close by was that people could occasionally catch glimpses of the terror that happened here. It would result in those people starting rumors which would become more terrifying as they spread, thus discouraging anyone from committing acts that could land them there.

Inside the room, the screams stopped once again. As she looked at the man lying on the bed, a troubled expression appeared on Tsunade's face. She muttered, "This is the third prisoner… I want to heal a soul to see if I can heal Sensei, but… How did you do it, Sensei?"

Tsunade let out a sigh. In order to get the best idea, she wanted to work with souls that had been mutilated exactly like Hiruzen's soul. Unfortunately, she couldn't mutilate any soul to that extent. All three prisoners died before their souls were reduced to that state!

As Tsunade looked at the lifeless body in front of her, she couldn't help but marvel at what Hiruzen had done. She thought, 'To think Sensei could sever his soul this perfectly while it was being sealed by the God of Death… He must have had only a fraction of a second and just one chance to get it right. And, he also had to keep an eye on Orochimaru and his subordinates… Not to mention, it was his own soul. Meanwhile, I'm failing to reduce the souls of these powerless prisoners to that condition despite having ample time and no obstacles…'

Tsunade realized that the task would be much more difficult than she initially envisioned. Looking at the lifeless body, she muttered, "I'll need more test subjects…"

Through the night, blood-curdling screams echoed around the Torture & Interrogation Department as Tsunade worked tirelessly. For anyone in the vicinity, irrespective of whether they committed a crime or not, the night was a terrifying one.

——

The Sun hadn't even appeared in the sky yet as knocking sounds were heard in a part of Konoha. For the second day in a row, Shikaku woke up and grumbled in frustration, "Do they have a problem with sleep? The Sun isn't even out today!"

Shikaku, who expected his workload to fall drastically after the peace agreement was signed, experienced the exact opposite as he was continuously woken up earlier than the previous night. Following another round of scolding from his wife, he got up to see who it was.

Opening the door, his eyes laid on another Anbu squad. Before they could say anything, he asked, "Couldn't this wait? Didn't I tell you not to disturb my sleep unless something very important happened?"

The Anbu ninjas were very well aware of Shikaku's laziness. They weren't bothered by his words and their Captain replied, "It is important, Shikaku-sama. Councilman Fujin returned to the village and…"

Shikaku interrupted him, "Why is he here so early? Didn't I tell him to bring the army to the village at 8 so we could have a victory parade to boost morale?"

The Anbu Captain answered, "He's here alone, Shikaku-sama. And, he said that he has something extremely important to report to you. He said it could cause the village more harm than Orochimaru if we don't act quickly."

Shikaku's laziness vanished as he became serious. Even though Fujin created several troubles for him, he didn't dare to overlook or underplay any information Fujin considered so important. After all, Fujin had a track record of finding suspicious things, be it the dead bodies of the Sunagakure ninjas in Yamakawa town which warned Konoha about a possible betrayal from their ally or realizing some of Orochimaru's nefarious intentions when the two fought in the Forest of Death.

Shikaku immediately said, "Where's he? Lead the way."

The Anbu ninjas immediately brought Shikaku to the Hokage's office. To his surprise, Fujin was reading a scroll while a few Anbu ninjas brought more scrolls to the room and said, "These are all we have on that matter."

Fujin said, "Thank you."

He glanced at Shikaku and said with a smile, "It's been a while…"

Turning his gaze towards the Anbu Captain, Fujin ordered, "Seal the room on your way out."

The Anbu Captain nodded and immediately followed his orders, leaving Fujin and Shikaku alone in the office. Shikaku squinted his eyes as he recognized the scrolls. He muttered, "These scrolls… Did you come across something related to this? But, how…"

Shikaku was a bit confused. The matter Fujin was looking into was quite old. He immediately recalled, 'Hmm, he also discovered what happened with the Third Kazekage. That matter is even older. Still, this is strange…'

Without taking his eyes off the scroll, Fujin nodded, "Hmm. I have a feeling that it could be related to this, though it's more of a hunch than solid proof. However, if my hunch is true, then it'll be quite terrifying and we have severe holes in our defenses."

Realizing that Fujin wasn't joking, Shikaku became extremely serious as well. It wasn't the first time Fujin had spoken about the village's defenses. However, he didn't use such strong language even when they had to face Orochimaru and Sunagakure. @@novelbin@@

Fujin rolled the scroll back, looked at Shikaku with a puzzled expression and said, "Anyway, I thought you'd be asleep. Why are you still up at this hour?"

In an instant, Shikaku's expression changed. Disbelief appeared on his face as he looked at Fujin, the person solely responsible for disturbing his sleep. Yet, Fujin asked the question as if he had nothing to do with it. His expression gave nothing away. There wasn't even a hint of amusement in Fujin's voice, implying that he wasn't enjoying Shikaku's misery. But, that didn't change the fact that Fujin was the one who forced him to wake up!

Shikaku immediately asked, "What do you mean? Didn't you tell them you had something extremely important to tell me?"

Fujin nodded, "Yeah, but it isn't very urgent. I have known this for over 2 weeks now, a few more hours wouldn't have mattered. I just returned earlier so that I can familiarize myself with the events back then…"

Shikaku stopped hearing what Fujin was saying as his mind went into overdrive. He analyzed, 'Something very important but not very urgent? Why did the Anbu ninjas wake me up then?'

Suddenly, Shikaku's eyes widened as he realized what had happened. He looked at Fujin with a gaze full of resentment and complaint as he cursed, 'This brat! Something extremely important but not urgent… He must have told Anbu only the 'extremely important' part. They must have just assumed it was urgent and woke me up. However, how could he not see that?'

In an instant, Shikaku understood that Fujin purposefully left out that part. His words were just to pull his leg! And, his acting had improved so much that Shikaku was fooled for a moment.

Before he had a chance to let out his frustrations, Fujin said, "Anyway, it's great that you're up. I have been wanting a second opinion for too long now. Come, sit. This will take a while."

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