Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_246

It had been seventeen hours since the team had abducted the two Hidden Frost shinobi. Takuma sat in an empty room of an unoccupied Kumi property where they had kept the two shinobi captive. He was alone having a sad pre-packaged lunch in an empty room. Anko had returned to Chinatsu's house to prepare for when the Hidden Frost shinobi came looking for the their two missing comrades.

He would be alone with the two prisoners for the next few days with no contact with the team or anyone from the outside. The team had to act as their covers in case they were being watched, which was highly likely since the Aranai and Ryuya's last known location was with Chinatsu.

The abduction had succeeded without a hitch. The two shinobi were abducted stealthily, and had set them up to make it look like they had run away after poisoning their own allies. By painting them in a negative light, Aranai's character would be questioned.

He had been selling drugs to his comrades, and even though the jonin were turning their eyes away, it was still an illegal act. Takuma was sure some questions would arise stemming from his drug dealing. Had Aranai gotten greedy and accepted an offer to poison his comrades in exchange for money? If so, then who had paid him off? Was it the weak resistance groups in Yu? Were they able to pay Aranai enough to betray his village? Or was it the Hidden Steam who had managed to turn Aranai traitor? Seeing that Takuma's face was plastered around the city, he would be the one of the prime suspect as Aranai's accomplice/backing. The moment they entertained that possibility, the Hidden Leaf would enter the picture. They would have to speculate on the Hidden Leaf or the Hidden Steam's presence in Yu. They would have to think if Aranai and Ryuya were alone, or were there more among their ranks.

The coefficient of trust in the Hidden Frost army in Yu would plummet as anyone remotely suspicious would be looked at critically. Anyone who had gotten punished or hadn't been on their best behaviour would be within the pool of suspects.

This was the first step of spreading chaos in the Yu.

Next, the opposite of chaos was order. The forces of Kumi family had been whispering the truth of the situation and negative speech to the city folk against the Hidden Frost shinobi. They were taking full advantage of small groups meetings and word of mouth to spread the message. It didn't have any visible affects as civilians couldn't do much against shinobi, but it was vital as they needed people to be on their side. Having the support of local like Wada's wife to frame the two shinobi had proved that local support was beneficial.

'This is just the start. There's so much more to do,' thought Takuma as he heated up the mixed curry and rice—but was snapped out of his musings when he heard footsteps. He silently got up and sneaked out of the room with a kunai in his hand. No one—no one—was supposed to be at the location other than him and the two captive shinobi. He silently climbed up the building to get a higher vantage point for a stealth kill to end the intruder in one strike.

"It's just me, you don't have to go all killer."

Takuma flinched and turned to look Anko standing a few meters away from him on the roof. She had the smirk on her face which suited her but he didn't like in serious situations. He didn't lower his guard and observed her intently for the signs of the Transformation Jutsu.

"Why're you here?" he asked, putting his kunai down after confirming it was truly her.

"Let's go down. I got a message from the camp," she said with a somber look coming over her face. Once they were in the room where he was having his lunch, she continued. "I don't know how to say this so I'll be direct... The base sent the report regarding the organisation you recognised back home and they identified it. The blacksmith's touch mark you found belongs to ROOT."

Takuma doubted his ears for a moment. "I'm sorry... did you just say ROOT? Hidden Leaf's ROOT?"

"Oh, you know them?" said Anko, sounding surprised. "You know that name..."

"... Yes, I know them," said Takuma, realising his mistake.

ROOT was a top-secret department, completely unknown to the public; only people in high-positions and those with a high clearance level knew of their existence. After Shimura Danzo had been declared a rogue shinobi and a criminal wanted for his crimes, the information about ROOT had become more available. When the clans had joined together to demand actions against Danzo, ROOT wasn't mentioned once as everyone understood it wouldn't be wise to reveal state secrets for the world to see. However, when Danzo was officially declared a criminal, information about ROOT had been released—they still weren't named as "ROOT"—and were only identified as a "team" of ANBU under Danzo's command who had defected along with him—the truth was much more severe, but it wasn't released to the public.

Even if Takuma had gotten news from the village, he shouldn't have known ROOT by their name as it was never de-classified.

Anko probably knew about ROOT from Orochimaru.

"I can't tell you who told me," Takuma said when he saw the look on her face.

"Okay... I guess it saves me an explanation," she shrugged, but the look of interest lingered for a moment. "The confirmation comes directly from ANBU. We have additional orders. They want us to capture the ROOT agents for information, but in case that's not possible, we have kill orders."

Takuma wanted to capture the people from the organisation to get some answers as well, but now that he knew they were ROOT, he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to get into that mess.

"They're not going to send someone?" he asked, assuming that ANBU would like to handle ROOT matters.

"Doesn't look like it."

"It's going to be tough..."

Anko nodded before standing up. "Let's discuss this later. I'm not prioritising the new orders; if we figure out something, we will try it out, but the focus remains on the main mission. I wanted you to know this, but I have to return before the the Hidden Frost comes knocking."

Takuma nodded and saw Anko off before returning to his lunch. He slowly ate his half-heated curry rice as the new revelations filled his thoughts. He was targeted by ROOT. He had always assumed that some drug lord was trying to kill him for his work at the Narcotics Taskforce, which could still be true—had some drug lord hired ROOT to assassinate him? Even though he knew ROOT existed, he didn't exactly know what they did—he knew they were similar to ANBU and handled the matter of national security and Danzo was always pulling strings in the shadows to ensure Hidden Leaf dominance—but how did he, a mere genin, fit into the scenario.

Had he somehow endangered something he shouldn't've? Not once had he gotten any pushback from the higher-ups at the Police Force about the cases he was handling, the people he was targeting. If he was touching someone or something he wasn't supposed to, he expected some indication from within the Police Force.

He brought the spoon his mouth but stopped halfway through as the memories of the night he was ambushed at his own home and his narrow escape from the second ambush at the police station arson. He tried to shake the thoughts and ate the curry, but the silence and his thoughts made it hard to chew—the bland food was becoming more unappetising with each second.

The table started to shake and found that his leg was shaking. He stopped it and stared his leg for a moment before getting up to leave the room, his lunch barely touched.

Takuma entered Aranai's room, startling the man. He said nothing and paced near the door for fifteen seconds. The memories of his time in the hospital, relearning how to stand and walk overwhelmed his mind. His body had been wrecked, his sense of security and safety had been robbed, he had lost his job that he had worked so hard at, he was forced to join a war to advance his career.

He could only blame one party for all that misery.

He pulled up the folding chair and sat right in front of Aranai.

"W-What?" asked Aranai,

"Who's helping the Hidden Frost in Yu?" asked Takuma.

Aranai relaxed and let his body slump against the wall. "The Goharu family and a group of city elites who promised support in return to being spared. It worked well for us because we wanted to convert the city and the city elite willingly helping us made that much easier. We're also buying the produce from farmers outside the city—"

"I'm talking about the shinobi support."

Aranai looked at him with a confused look. "Are you asking about the Hidden Cloud? Like you're helping the Hidden Steam, they're helping us; that shouldn't be a surprise."

"Anyone else?" asked Takuma.

Despite whatever Aranai thought he was pulling off, Takuma was well-aware that Aranai was trying to buy time through semi-cooperation until the Hidden Frost shinobi found him. He knew it because he had seen Aranai's behaviour before in interrogations all the time during his time in Police Force. People tried to share information which would barely satisfy the interrogators in an attempt to not give out anything critical.

Takuma wanted to go hard from start, but Anko wanted to get the non-critical level information and allowing Aranai feel safe before extracting the critical information through advanced interrogation techniques.

"There's no one else," said Aranai.

'Lie,' thought Takuma. "Who orchestrated the police station arson?" he asked. The police force arson trying to impersonate the team had claimed lives of three police officers who were well-liked in the city even after the police force went through changes after the invasion, worsening the perception of the team. The Kumi family had to discredit the the dead police officers, dragging their reputation through the mud to ensure that the resistance wasn't looked on negatively.

"It was us."

"Who specifically planned it? Give me a name."

"Eh? Ah... I don't have a name. I wasn't involved with that, so I don't have that information."

That was bullshit. People talked and news naturally spread. The smaller the group, the freer the flow of information. For a group like the Hidden Frost army stationed in Yu, any and all information would spread like wildfire. Moreover, Aranai was a chunin—a notable one at that because of his drug dealing which had to be supported by a jonin—there was no way he didn't know who was involved in the police station arson.

"I think you're hiding things from me, Aranai," said Takuma with a flat smile. "Who gave you all that information about me on the poster?"

"...I-It was someone from the Hidden Cloud."

"Four shinobi ambushed me at the police station. Were they from the Hidden Cloud?"

"Yes."

"Their names."

Aranai went silent for a moment. His face genuinely looked like he was trying to recall the names, but his body betrayed him. He sat up straighter, his arms moved closer to his body as his body language shrunk. He gave a few names which Takuma noted down.

Without saying a word, Takuma got up and walked out of the room.

"H-Hey, can I get some water," Aranai said but got ignored.

Takuma walked to the other side of the house and entered the room where Ryuya was being held. They had offered the same offer of cooperation to Ryuya, but he had outright refused, choosing to keep his mouth shut which had made him the subject of Anko's myriad of torture techniques. He had managed to keep his mouth shut, but Takuma was sure he would be up for taking after having being left alone.

"P-Please, no more. P-Please, I can't take anymore," Ryuya cried the moment he saw Takuma enter the room. He was chained to the wall, had bruises all over his bodies, the shallow cuts Anko had made had caked blood all over them, and his entire body looked pale and was shaking.

Takuma sat in front of Ryuya and tipped an uncapped water canteen to let the water flow. Ryuya floundered and pulled his entire boy forward to put his mouth below the canteen to quench his thirst. Takuma allowed him to drink ample before pulling the canteen back.

"Do you want to talk?" he asked.

Ryuya stared at Takuma with overwhelming fear in his eyes.

"Who was behind the police station arson?"

"S-Someone named Kon and his group."

"This Kon isn't form the Hidden Frost or the Hidden Cloud is he."

"N-No, how do you know that?"

"Were they also the one who provided the information about me?"

"Did Aranai told you about that?"

Takuma smiled. "He accepted our proposition the moment we offered it... and we didn't have to touch a hair on his head."

A fire of anger flashed past Ryuya's tired eyes. Takuma smiled internally when he saw the look; he was looking at a breakthrough, and they achieved it in less than a day.

"I... I don't know who they are... no one knows who they are!" Ryuya quickly added. "They're a five man group including their leader, Kon—four after one of them was killed. They have been with us since before we invaded Yu. I don't know much but no one likes them because they don't participate in any of the duties."

'Kon...'

Was that real or an alias? He didn't care; he finally had a name.

Takuma considered those words. It didn't look like he was lying, but to be completely sure, Takuma had to somehow confirm it. Seeing that they had two hostages, confirming the information from one with the words of others was a standard operating procedure. But seeing that the Aranai wasn't going to surrender information willingly, he could only force it out of him.

"Where do they live?" Takuma continued to ask him more questions about the ROOT group. From the answers Ryuya gave, he didn't seem to be aware that the group was ROOT, but he was only a genin. Aranai potentially would've more information—information that Takuma wanted at all cost.

Takuma fed the rest of the canteen to Ryuya, who was just as eager as before.

"Continue to cooperate with me; I'll bring you food late," said Takuma with a smile before locking Ryuya in the room. He picked up a thick rag and a bucket and headed to Aranai's room.

"Hey, can I get some water," Aranai said upon Takuma.

Takuma filled up the bucket, and the canteen, soaked the rag in the water. He then went and unlocked Aranai's shackle, freeing him from the wall. Aranai looked apprehensive and stared at him with doubt. He smiled and kicked him hard in the face that a tooth flew out of his face.

"Wait! W-What are you—"

Takuma followed up with a sucker punch that knocked Aranai down to the floor.

The room had been prepared for interrogation. There was a hook for chains in the ceiling. Takuma looped chains through the hook in the ceiling to hang Aranai from it, who tried to make a run for the door, but Takuma tripped him and then kicked him in the back with an augmented kick, forcing a scream from him. As long as Aranai had prisoner seal on him, he was no match for Takuma.

Takuma hanged Aranai upside down from the ceiling.

"W-Why are you doing this?" Aranai eeked out.

"Because I think you're lying," said Takuma calmly.

"No, I'm not!"

"Ryuya refuses to open his mouth," Takuma lied, "but you did tell me a lot which tells me that you'll say more if I put some pressure. I want to know everything about the group that tried to kill me, Aranai. This is personal and we'll be alone for a good few days.... What I'm trying to say is that if you don't answer me truthfully, I might just end up killing you. Obviously, you don't want that, so let's be honest with each other."

Takuma stepped away and weaved hand seals for Eight Tentacles Jutsu. The water from the bucket rose up and collected behind him before spreading out into tentacles.

"No, wait, please stop!" Aranai screamed as he hung from the ceiling.

"Let's get started. Tell me about the people who provided the information about me."

The water tentacles moved and enveloped Aranai's head, completely surrounding his nose and mouth with water, simulating the experience of drowning. Aranai held his breath and stared at Takuma with hatred and fear. Takuma returned a smile before forcing the water into Aranai's nose until he was drowning, and held it there for a few seconds as Aranai's hanging body shook and his eyes begged for release. Only then did he pulled the tentacles away and let Aranai cough away the water in his lungs.

"Tell me about the people who provided the information about me."

"I said I don't know!"

"Lie. You said it was someone from the Hidden Cloud."

Takuma ordered his tentacles to once again drown Aranai, who held his breath. Takuma laughed and punched him in the gut as hard as possible without using augmentations, which made him swallow water and drown once again.

"Let's start again," said Takuma, pulling the tentacles away. "Who provided the information about me."

———

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AN: I remembered what I wanted to put in the last Author's Note. Takuma has a go-bag ready at all times, and he assumes that everyone has one—but not everyone has one.