9 Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The Land of Frost was cold. It wasn't just massive amounts of snow that hindered Utakata and the rest of the team. It was the brutal winds too. The faster they ran through the land, the more biting the winds were. It wasn't enough to cover his face with a scarf and cover himself with a warm cloak. The wind always would find its way on Utakata's skin.

Yet it wasn't the wind that concerned Utakata the most. He was worried about why he was on the team in the first place. He was the youngest and the weakest in the group. And even though Zabuza was only three years older than Utakata, nobody would call him a kid. His cold eyes and sturdy body didn't make anyone underestimate him.

Utakata, on the other hand, had nothing going for him. He only was on one mission so far, and even if he had impressed someone by killing two chunin of the Cloud, it didn't answer his question of why he was on this team. The hideous terrain and horrible weather stopped the team from moving fast, so Utakata had plenty of time to think and overthink about his position in the group.

Aside from Yagura, no one was from any clans, so it couldn't be some potential team for the village to raise. It looked like a more disposable team than anything else, but Yagura should be someone important in his clan, so they wouldn't try to kill him off, too, right? Or maybe he was the only one the village wanted to die on the mission.

From what Utakata knew, Yagura would be the Fourth Mizukage, and with that knowledge came hypotheses that the Third Mizukage wanted to eliminate him. So, he provided Yagura with a team of disposable members and gave a challenging mission. Utakata was sure he was overthinking it, as he had no idea of the political climate of the Mist. Someone like him will never be near any politics, to begin with.

When they stopped to hide from a terrible blizzard, Utakata observed the team. Aside from Zabuza and Yagura, no one else was familiar to him. He didn't bother trying to remember their names, as they didn't even bother introducing themselves to him. Utakata could see that all of them thought he would die first. Utakata would agree, but he had no plan of dying so quickly.

Yagura and Zabuza didn't seem to be bothered by anything. Apart from his initial curiosity toward Utakata, Yagura left him alone. Utakata didn't complain, as he had difficulty keeping up with the rest of the team. And running through the Land of Frost in the past few days have exhausted him quite a bit. He had to use any opportunity to rest.

"We should arrive at the capital in two more days," Yagura suddenly said. "Remember, we must infiltrate Daimyo's palace unnoticed. So, we shall not use any ninjutsu in the capital."

It was as Utakata expected. After all, their mission was to frame the Cloud for the assassination of the Daimyo. It would be counterproductive if they used ninjutsu, indicating they were from the Mist. Yet Utakata still didn't understand how they would frame the Cloud. This mission smelt fishy from the very beginning.

…

Once they arrived at the capital of the Land of Frost, the team split into teams of twos and threes. Somehow Utakata had drawn the short straw and was stuck with Zabuza. At least it wasn't Yagura, but it didn't mean Zabuza was much better. Utakata still remembered the time Zabuza tried to kill him in the academy. It wasn't something he would ever forget.

"It seems that Yagura was right," Zabuza said. "No one cares for us."

"It is because we are dirty children," Utakata replied. "Nobody cares for them. We could die right before these people, and the most they would do was kick us to some dark alleyway so that we wouldn't stink up their streets."

It was the same everywhere, in Mist or the capital of the Land of Frost. It didn't matter. Nobody cared about dirty kids as long as they weren't their children. Utakata was hoping that this was the reason why he was chosen for the mission. Neither Zabuza nor he had any trouble traversing the capital and getting to the palace of Daimyo.

"How should we proceed from there on?" Utakata asked. "It doesn't seem like it will be an easy way to infiltrate the palace."

"There are about a hundred guards and probably half a dozen shinobi guarding the palace if Yagura's information is to be believed," Zabuza said. "We move in at night."

Yagura hasn't given them any plans. He divided us into teams and told us to enter the palace and assassinate the Daimyo by midnight. It didn't matter who did it or how. But from what Utakata could sense, Yagura's information was correct. Utakata could sensed six shinobi with somehow strong chakra inside the palace. There wasn't anything special about the chakra, and it didn't feel any stronger than his own.

Compared to the chakra Zabuza possessed, they posed no danger to them. But again, they weren't there to fight the shinobi but kill the Daimyo. Utakata could only hope they didn't have any sensory shinobi with them. But with his luck of the late, he didn't dare to put much fate on it. So, he rested as best as he could before the night fell.

…

It was a night with the moon covered by clouds—a perfect night for Utakata and Zabuza to sneak into Daimyo's palace. They found a garden on one side of the palace, so they decided to use it to sneak in. Silently they jumped from on apple trees, not disturbing the snow that covered them. There were only two guards in this area.

Using his steel wires, Utakata wrapped them around their necks and strangled them before hanging the wires on the trees so the bodies wouldn't fall to the ground. In the dark, it would fool people for enough time to finish the mission and be able to retreat. It was best not to alert anyone for as long as possible.

As they reach the palace, Utakata suddenly felt chakra sources coming behind them. It could be Yagura and others, as he sensed them coming from different directions, and they were stronger than the shinobi he had sensed previously. Utakata ignored them for now. Something was still bugging him about the mission, and he didn't trust Mist. So, it was best to keep his sensing abilities a secret.

"Yagura said the Daimyo's chambers are on the top floor, but his solar at the first floor," Utakata said. "Should we go from the top or the bottom?"

"I don't think Daimyo is a person to work into late hours," Zabuza replied. "We go from the top."

We climbed the walls to reach the top floor, and then Zabuza cut the hinges of one window to open it silently. Utakata could sense chakra sources from this floor—a shinobi guarding the Daimyo. Two of the strongest were inside one room. The rest four were split into different rooms nearby. There wasn't any information about the shinobi, or at least Yagura didn't give them any.

Still, seeing that there were no guards on the floor, Zabuza concluded that shinobi were hiding from them. After all, with so many guards outside, not having any inside would be suspicious. Even if the guards were only well-trained mercenaries who weren't a danger to any trained shinobi alone, they still could cause trouble in groups as they were trained well in various weapons.

"That is probably the chambers of the Daimyo," Utakata pointed at well-crafted wooden two-sided doors. "And the other doors probably lead to his family."

"Yet no one is guarding them outside the doors like they are trying to invite us inside," Zabuza replied. "Someone is waiting inside."

"Probably shinobi."

Zabuza could hide his shock at Yagura's silent appearance better than Utakata. He didn't know how Yagura did it, but he snuck on him again. Now that he knew he was here, Utakata could sense his chakra, but somehow he couldn't do so before. The others were still outside the palace, making their way there, and Utakata had no trouble sensing them. Yagura creeped Utakata out.

"Where are the others?" Zabuza asked.

"Coming, it seems apart from us. Everyone is quite slow. We should wait for them."

Utakata wanted to point out that they were the first to come, but he kept silent and waited. His other teammates came only a short time after. With all of us together, Yagura took the lead and went for the two-sided doors. Utakata stayed behind the rest and looked out from the shinobi hiding in different rooms. They didn't seem to react to them, so there probably were no sensors.

"Remember, no witnesses," Yagura said before opening the doors.

As Utakata sensed, two shinobi were inside waiting, and they reacted quickly to them. But they were slower than Yagura. Before they could draw their weapons, Yagura used the hook on the end of his weapon to stab one in the neck and pull himself up to them. Then he grabbed another one's neck and broke it with one hand.

It was a fast and efficient way to eliminate the enemy shinobi. Yagura was so good that Utakata once again questioned his position in the team. Yagura just showed that he alone was enough for the mission. So, why were they here? It unnerved Utakata the more he thought about it. Everything went too smoothly. Something was wrong.

Closing the doors behind them, Utakata and the rest of the team moved deeper into the chambers, finding another door leading to a different section of the rooms. Inside was their sleeping target. Zabuza moved first and stabbed him in the heart with his sword. Utakata watched as the country leader tried to scream in pain, but a hand on his mouth muffled the sound before he died.

"Father?"

Utakata moved before anyone else and threw a kunai at the new arrival. Utakata reacted on instinct, and only when he turned after hearing his kunai tearing flesh did he realize he just killed a kid. She was older than him by a couple of years, but to Utakata, he was still a kid. It took a moment to realize what Utakata had done.

He had killed people before, but he never killed someone helpless. Utakata realized quickly why he reacted first. The others didn't register the kid as a danger to them. Utakata's face was stone cold as always, but he felt turbulent emotions emerging inside. He had to tell himself that it wasn't the time to think about it, but seeing the kid with a kunai in his neck didn't help him.

"Good work, Utakata," Yagura smiled. "The girl had seen us, and it would be troublesome if she screamed."

Utakata tore his gaze from the dead little girl on the ground by the doors and nodded to Yagura. Utakata couldn't speak, as he felt that his voice would crack. He couldn't show any weakness in front of them. Utakata felt something breaking inside him as he looked away from the girl and retreated with the rest of his team.

It was for the mission. If not for him, someone else would have killed the girl. Utakata tried to find reasons why he had to kill the girl. Yet with each reason he came up with, he felt something breaking inside him. He felt as if he had abandoned what made him human. He had to hide his compassion and quilt deep inside him, so deep that he might forget he had them. But there was something he couldn't hide, and it was his innocence because it was gone now. He had become a monster like every other shinobi in the Mist.