Chapter 27 : Unmasked(4)

*****Flashback*****

"What do you mean 'specialist?' We're the specialists!" Mitarashi Anko yelled indignantly at the man who took her under his wing when she joined the T&I division.

Morino Ibiki sighed. His apprentice could be so childish sometimes. "The prisoner is too high profile for us to use our methods. We can't hurt him, Hokage-sama's orders." He answered.

"Then why not have Inoichi mind walk his ass? That way we don't have to rely on an outsider. If we let him take our catch we'll look incompetent." The Snake Mistress tried to reason. She didn't like the idea of needing someone else's help to obtain information. They were the best at what they did after all. No one could get information as efficient as they could.

"We have orders, Anko. Just let it go, they'll be here any minute now."

Anko huffed but did as she was told. She was so upset because it was her direct involvement that helped capture the Iwa-nin, and now she was being told that she wasn't allowed to touch him. It was vexatious. The man was a GOLEM Captain of Iwagakure, and was thought to be responsible for the deaths of three Konoha chunin.

It was unfortunately common for this kind of thing to happen during 'peace time.' Even though there was a treaty between two nations, one or both would always try to attain information on the other. When an operative was caught however, it was custom to send them back to their village of origin, a little roughed up but alive nonetheless.

This particular Iwa GOLEM Captain thought that there would be no consequences in killing Konoha-nin when they were caught 'spying' on their neighbors, which was not the case at all.

He was about to see the flaw in his foolishness. No one took the lives of the God of Shinobi's men for no reason and got away with it.

After Anko went silent it didn't take long for the Hokage to show up in the company of only three ANBU. The sight of the ANBU present stilled her tongue. She had planned on complaining to the Lord Third, until she saw who was accompanying him.

She had noticed Yugao, already knowing that Neko was one her best friends. She even knew Saru, the second ANBU to walk into their interrogation room. The obvious Nara had been close with Neko since they became teammates, and Anko had seen him on more than a few occasions.

What surprised her to her very core was the smallest of the ANBU, trailing directly behind and to the right of the Hokage. The hair matched his 'description,' and the mouse mask was a dead giveaway.

She was in the presence of the Kamikage, the Bringer of Hope.

Ever since the announcement that the powerful boy was actually real, everyone, including Anko, had wanted to meet him. He was the most famous – or infamous, depending how you looked at it – shinobi Hi no Kuni had produced. Ever.

The fact that someone as young as the Lord Third Hokage's shadow had become a member of the man's personal ANBU before even becoming an actual ninja was awe-inspiring. He was everyone's hero, even if they didn't know that the boy was a monster.

Ibiki immediately bowed his head in respect to his leader, Anko following soon after she recovered from the shock of actually seeing the greatest prodigy Konoha, hell, the entire Elemental Nations had ever produced.

"The Iwa GOLEM Captain, unharmed and awaiting your interrogation, as ordered, Hokage-sama." The scarred man said plainly. He made no mistake; he was in the presence of gods among men. He did what he was told, and only spoke when it was necessary. He had no fear towards the powerful warriors, he just gave them the respect they deserved. The both of them, the Lord Third and Kamikage, had done more for the village than any other shinobi, which was ridiculous considering that the Bringer of Hope was thought to be only thirteen.

The Hokage nodded, always appreciative of how professional Ibiki was on the job. He gave his shadow a glance over his shoulder, receiving a slight nod that was missed by everyone besides Anko, who was watching the young blond ANBU operative like a hawk.

Hiruzen began. "Did you kill three of my chunin?"

The bald, brawny man said nothing, but with the Kamikage present, he didn't need to.

Yes.

Hiruzen continued. "Did Iwa approve of the methods you used against my shinobi?"

Again, nothing but silence was given to the Hokage.

No.

Hiruzen carried on. "Did you know that they were not spying on your village?"

Yes.

Feeling the small bursts of chakra that only he and his shadow could decipher, he asked one last question. "Why did you do it?"

Anko had heard the stories like everyone else. The Bringer of Hope, a child of Konoha who was the Hokage's personal Angel of Death. He would smite Konoha's enemies, raze their strongholds to the ground, and did it with a smile on his face, all for the sake of his village.

People had said that he wasn't human, a bringer of carnage, not hope, but the woman had never paid much attention to them. After word reached Hi no Kuni of his actions in Mizu no Kuni, he was seen as both death incarnate and a savior.

The Snake Mistress had no idea what she was witnessing at the moment. The Hokage would ask a question, receive no answer, and then move on to the next.

That's why, when Nezumi had felt the man's reply, and acted rather violently, she was confused.

It was fun.

The man thought it was fun to watch the life leave the blond's comrades. They were fresh chunin; they didn't stand a chance against someone like him. That caused him to let himself become the monster he was.

In the blink of an eye, Nezumi had taken his tanto into his hand and drove it into the Iwa-nin's neck, lowering his head so he could make sure that the dying man could see his gold eyes stare at him through his eye slits.

For a moment, he just held the man's gaze, not flinching in the slightest when he coughed blood onto his white-masked face.

Both Anko and Ibiki were thoroughly confused and terrified at the blond's next words.

"You're right." He said casually. "It is fun." When he finished his words, he pulled his blade from the man's throat, swiped it in the air once to rid it of the blood staining it, and then sheathed it. The Hokage or the other ANBU made no move to berate him for his actions, or show any sign that they disliked what he did at all.

For a moment, Anko just stood there, a little shocked at the boy's complete lack in regard of taking a life so brutally. Everyone knew that he hadn't died right away; he was stabbed just so that he suffered through it for a few seconds. He had just killed an unarmed and helpless prisoner with an ease that brought chills to the kunoichi's back.

They had no way of knowing that that was the whole point. The three chunin the man had killed were helpless against him, unable to stand a chance. They lost their lives just as helpless as he.

An eye for an eye was not always the best policy, but it seemed to be appropriate in this particular situation.

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