They slipped into the village like ghosts, using the perpetual rain as cover.
Their [Stealth] skills made them ripples in a puddle. They reached the mill uphill.
The monk did not move as they approached. His hands rested on his knees, palms up, as if collecting the toxic rain.
To their surprise, the monk wore a familiar attire. Black robes, a silver ball buddha necklace, a jade ring, and more importantly, a staff with the crest of the Jotaki clan engraved on it. The enemy they were chasing...happened to be one of their own. A Jotaki clan monk. It was not just any clan, but one of the four noble clans too.
"This...", Tetsu muttered, "How can it be?"
Ameruyi frowned, anger and killing intent seeping from her face. Even Mumei was visibly shocked.
Ryugo, however, held an impassible face. In fact, one may say he was interested.
"Jōtaki monk," Mumei said, his voice low but carrying. "You are in violation of Amegakure edicts and the will of the Council. By the authority of the Dark Hall, you will submit for questioning."
The monk's head lifted slowly. His face was gaunt, his eyes sunken but burning with a fierce light. It was clear that he had not waited in the open because he needed to, but because he was forced to. Despite his strong aura, he was exhausted. Injured even.
[Jotaki Toryu - Lv. 45 Chunin]
"Dark Hall," he spoke, his voice raspy, "So, they send the daggers to silence the whisper. I wondered if it would be the Corps again...Protocols, huh? I guess I did go overboard last time"
"You have contaminated this water source," Ameruyi stated, her hand on her sword hilt. "You have broken your clan's vow. Explain yourself."
A sad, hollow smile touched the monk's lips. "Broken my vow? No, child. I am fulfilling it. I am purifying a far greater poison"
His gaze swept over their Amegakure insignias. "You think this," he gestured to the sickly village, "is my doing? This is but a symptom. The disease is in the heart of your own village, and you are too blind to see it. The disease is the tower you call home."
Ryugo's [Mind] attribute ticked, piecing it together.
He's not poisoning the well to hurt these people. He's using the well as a… a broadcast.
"What evidence?" Ryugo asked, stepping forward slightly. Mumei shot him a warning look, but Ryugo pressed. "You wanted this sickness to be discovered. You're making a statement to raise awareness about something...What is it?"
The monk's eyes locked onto Ryugo's.
He saw the intelligence there, the calculation. "Mmh, I cannot tell your identity. To your right is a Takeda, right? I can recognize those battle maniacs from miles away. To your left is a Waraiko. So that should make you a Haribako, Shikagane or Kagutsu...Perhaps you will understand"
He reached into his robe and withdrew not a weapon, but a tightly sealed, chakra-infused scroll case. It glowed with soft, blue purification seals.
"This is not a poison formula. It is a ledger. Testimony. Records of the 'Purification Drills' conducted by my clan over the past five years, under direct orders from the Amakawa Clan and sanctioned by a silent faction within the Council"
He placed the scroll on the wet ground between them.
"The drills were not drills. They were field tests. New toxins, corrosive agents, chakra-disrupting vapors. Tested on populations deemed 'non-essential.' The forgotten slums of Ame's underbelly. Orphanages built on toxic waste sinks. Refugee camps from the war"
His voice cracked. "We, the Purifiers, were told we were administering antidotes, booster vaccines. We were the delivery system for the poison. I… I only realized when the patterns emerged. The same 'sicknesses' always appeared after our visits. I tracked the manifests. Corroborated the deaths"
The rain seemed to grow colder. Tetsu made a small, choked sound behind his mask.
"The Amakawa," Mumei breathed, his face pale. "The founding clan. Hanzo's own bloodline. They would never..."
"They call it progress," the monk spat. "The strong perfecting their arts upon the weak. But this," he kicked at the foul water, "this is my testament. I poisoned this well with a compound traceable only to Amakawa refinery by-products. It is slow. It is detectable. It will flow into the Land of River. Their shinobi will trace it back. The scandal will be too great for the Council to ignore. They will have to investigate, and when they do, this scroll will light the way"
Ameruyi stared at him with killing intent: "You would put the entirety of Amegakure at risk for...villagers and orphans?"
Ryugo smiled. The monk was thinking with rationalism, thinking one life for one life. He thought exposing the deeds of the Amakawa clan could birth a wind of change in Amegakure. But he was underestimating Ameruyi and the other great clans' superiority complex. It was shocking. However, Hanzo the Salamander could not reach his strength by conventional means. Amegakure could not survive by conventional means.
He stared at Ameruyi.
"So much vice in such a young soul. I shall pray for your salvation"
Ameruyi was about to answer with steel, but Mumei stopped her.
He muttered: "This is not someone we can take on rashly. He is not just anyone. He is Jotaki Teryu, a famous missing nin from the Jotaki clan"
Ryugo nodded: "Bounty of 120 000 Ryô. He is not a small fry indeed"
Mumei was surprised inwardly, not expecting Ryugo to know not only of his name, but also his value on the underworld market.
"So, here is your mission, Dark Hall daggers. You can try to silence me, and destroy that scroll. You will save the Amakawa's secret, and Amegakure's face. You will be heroes in the tower, but the deaths of innocents will weigh on your mind. Or..."
He took a step back, towards the edge of the well.
"Or you can take the scroll. Let the truth burn its way out. My life is forfeit either way. I am old. But with the scroll, my death might mean something."
[System Alert: Critical Choice Point]
[Path of the Loyal Blade: Apprehend or eliminate the monk. Destroy the scroll. Uphold the village's secrecy.
Reward: 1200 EXP, +30 Reputation points with the Dark Hall, +50 Reputation points with the Amakawa clan, B-Rank Salamander Venom Sack, 20 Promotion Points for Team 11.]
[Path of the Hidden Truth: Acquire the scroll. Allow the monk to become a martyr.
Reward: 1200 EXP, Unlocks Hidden Plot: "The Rot Beneath the Rain", +200 Reputation points with the Jōtaki Clan Dissident Faction, -50 Reputation points with the Amakawa Clan, +20 Reputation points with the Dark Hall, Evidence Item: [Purification Ledger]]
The rain drummed on the shrine's roof. The monk waited, his fate in the hands of four shinobi not yet adults.
Ryugo's eyes met Mumei's. His sensei's gaze was unreadable, but the tension in his jaw spoke volumes. Mumei had risen from the slums. He knew the forgotten faces, the unspeakable horrors of sickness he attributed to the rain. He had never expected the water source to be polluted to begin with.
But he could not see beyond. Not Mumei, not the monk, not the others.
The Amakawa clan's actions were not born out of vice, as the monk believed, but out of necessity. After the first shinobi war, the lands of Rain entered an extreme poverty age. In addition, the victories obtained by Hanzo and Hitori were pyrrhic at best, and reduced the number of talentsi n Amegakure.
Thinning out the numbers with mild toxins did two things: One, reduce the mouths to feed and avoid a strain on resources, resulting in less deaths overall than if they shared everything. Two, those who survived possessed a stronger vitality, a stronger chakra network. They would be more suited to the shinobi path.
Ameruyi's hand tightened on her sword. "The village's stability is paramount. The Council's will is law".
Her words were doctrine, but her voice lacked its usual absolute certainty.
Tetsu was trembling, his mask turned towards the sickly village. "All these people… they're just… collateral?"
Obviously, Tetsu's eyes were looking at a harsh reality. One that should not have come after one or two missions. What looked to be a scandal in the eyes of genins and chunins...was within the realm of expectations for jonins. The JITE forces, the Dark Hall Tower...they did worse things than that on a daily basis.
Mumei was still thinking.
Ryugo calculated. The system was offering a classic dilemma: order versus justice, power versus principle. Strictly speaking of gains, siding with the Amakawa was more benefitial. Their toxins were legendary, and a B-rank salamander sack was bound to give him opportunities for growth.
As for the scroll… it was leverage. It was a weapon against the most powerful clan in Ame. In a world of gamers seeking advantage, blackmailing a noble clan could be more valuable than their gratitude. But that was only true if they kept their silence until they grew strong enough to speak on equal footing. And to speak on equal footing with Hanzo the Salamander...Ryugo would need to reach three-digits levels. He was far from there.
He made his decision.
"Sensei," Ryugo said, his voice calm. "The magistrate wants a truth he can announce. He already suspects enemy shinobi. We can give them that."
Mumei's eyes narrowed. "Explain"
"The monk is the 'enemy shinobi'. A rogue element, acting alone. We neutralize him. The contamination ends. The magistrate gets his villain, Ame is protected" Ryugo's gaze flicked to the scroll. "But intelligence recovered from a rogue agent is still intelligence. It is the Dark Hall's duty to assess all threats, external and internal. The scroll is evidence of a potential vulnerability—a clan's integrity in question. Should it not be examined by the Hall's strategists to evaluate any… future risks?"
He was proposing a third path. A lie within the truth. Execute the mission as given, but secretly preserve the evidence. Not for justice, but for strategic advantage.
It was a Kagutsu answer: find the bounty in the mess.
The monk understood.
"My efforts won't be in vain", he shouted, his old hunched body getting up for fighting