[Hokage] Terukawa

"Swish", this is the umpteenth time that the letter paper has been folded.

The wind was still roaring and the light was still dim, but I didn't feel sleepy at all. I just lowered my head and rolled my long hair with my fingers, admiring the almost dark red color it showed under the firelight - it would be even better if there were fewer strands of hair.

Yang Yi is right. The interrogation with absolute upper hand is the most valuable and meaningful when conducted while awake. Even though I can't really get "happiness" from Lan's collapse, I always feel "relieved".

Glancing sideways, one could see that a soft and warm light had penetrated through the gap in the window panels, and like a dagger, it forced back the gloom and darkness in the cell. The fine dust floated gently, and finally gently stroked Lan's head, her hair that was like a clear stream.

It’s a pity that he probably can’t feel the warmth at this moment.

When I took the letter in my hand and read it, Lan's face looked different, his expression changed again and again with doubt and uncertainty; when I presented the letter in front of him, Lan stretched his neck, and his cracked and pale lips opened and closed again.

I hated the look of hesitation, so I simply held the letter between my two fingers and passed it to Lan. Now he couldn't ignore me - he stared at the neat and beautiful calligraphy on the paper without blinking, his face a little pale. After the broken limb moved but nothing happened, he suddenly came to his senses, leaned over, and carefully bit a corner of the letter with his missing and bloody teeth, pulling it out of my hand. In the gap between biting the letter and retreating, he looked up at me and hurriedly avoided it. I could only see his figure with his head down and quickly retreating to the side of the brazier.

——He crossed his legs awkwardly, lowered his head awkwardly to put down the letter, used his toes awkwardly to flatten the corners of the letter, and moved his body awkwardly to try to make the light more friendly.

I was stunned for a moment, but in the end I didn't say anything more.

Manners, composure, dignity... he no longer wanted anything.

Even though I was mentally prepared, I still couldn't help feeling a little surprised at this moment, but... In fact, I was stunned for a while when I saw this letter.

It was a letter asking Hasunuma to send fresh fish to the capital as soon as possible.

The chosen delivery person is Ran - only the ninja can deliver the "fresh fish" to the capital before it spoils.

Fresh fish, fresh fish. I couldn't help but recall what Watanabe Heiho had described to me - the smelly, swollen human head swaying gently in the mountain breeze under the eaves of the castle tower.

Ito Shigeo should have read this letter, but it is not clear at what point in time. As for Lan... well.

Now there is an iron wind chime that I hung up by myself under the eaves of the castle tower. The sun is shining brightly today, but the wind is strong, and the castle tower is probably ringing non-stop.

What a satisfying alienation.

"...No, how come..." Lan's sudden exhalation interrupted my trance. I focused my attention for a moment and heard him mumbling to himself, "No, no, no... This is a secret language, a secret language..."

He repeated the same thing over and over again, then slowly rolled his eyes and stretched them very wide: "You - can understand this?"

I won’t shed tears until I see the coffin.

I didn't look up at him. I just fumbled in the secret pocket on the inside of my cloak and took out a book that looked no different from the boring little storybooks you see on the street stalls.

"In your blueprint, the word group is rotated every twenty days," I said calmly, "because without hiring ninjas, the one-way trip between Xingshu City and the capital of the River Country takes exactly ten days."

I do not understand the secret language of the River Kingdom, but it is enough that Yakushi Nono understands it.

Lan's breathing became a little faster, but also a little shallower. He looked away from me, then lowered his eyes to look carefully at the letter paper that still exuded a faint fragrance, his light eyelashes flickering again and again.

Unfortunately, it is destined to remain stagnant in the darkness.

Lan bowed his head deeply, his long hair like flowing water hanging down his temples and shoulders, isolating him from the outside world for a short time.

The room was silent. The sunlight coming in from the window made him seem to collapse into two pieces of translucent glass for a moment.

I was lost in thought for a moment, then turned around to get the fire tongs and checked the slightly dim brazier - it was just the burnt white charcoal covering the flames below, so I used a little force to crush the burnt part into powder, and then gently pushed it away. Whether it was the rustling sound between the coals or the short collision between the metals, they all seemed monotonous and indifferent.

I don't know how long it took, but I heard Lan take a deep breath. He seemed to have lost all his strength, and asked in a very tired voice, "What do you want to know?"

I looked at the letter between his toes and shook my head. "I already got the answer. I wonder if you have read the contents of this letter. Now it seems..."

There was another silence. Without the noise of me poking the brazier, there was only silence in the room.

——Until the depressed man began to let out intermittent laughter, if that could really be called laughter.

Dry and strange, with occasional rapid gasps or suppressed sobs. His eyes were still wide open, and rather than sadness, he looked more like he was at a loss - it was not a complete accident, but he had foreseen it, guessed it, and had doubts - and then finally fell heavily at this moment, crushing all the seemingly reasonable defenses mixed with luck and smugness into dust.

Crying, laughing, or screaming, it probably makes no difference to him at this moment.

I lowered my eyes, listened quietly, and waited patiently. I knew I would get what I needed.

“…Haha, hahaha…I, I really haven’t read this letter…it was even sent from my hands!”

His face flushed with laughter, and he spoke intermittently while laughing, rubbing his broken arm wrapped in a tourniquet nervously against his chest.

"I am the one who sent this letter! Before the young master took me away from the capital, it was the master...he gave me this letter and asked me to pass it on to Hasunuma...Takizawa.

"He smiled at the young master, patted him on the shoulder and said, 'Child, you have grown up and can stand on your own for your father... We believed him! We believed that he was truly doing this for the young master's good, and that he really wanted to let him go and pursue a good future... We are very grateful to him! But who could have thought... that this would be the ending waiting for him here?! How could there be such a father in the world?! How could there be such a father in the world! There is actually such a father in the world!!!"

In the narrow and closed space, Lan's voice gradually turned into a roar - or perhaps a howl, and the suddenly amplified sound made my ears hurt.

I frowned and recalled. "Hasunuma Takizawa" was the name of the Hasunuma family.

The order to kill "Fresh Fish", that is, Ito Shigeo, as soon as possible was issued by "Master", Ito Shigeo's biological father and Hasunuma Takizawa's benefactor. In this way, Hasunuma Takizawa's initial extreme difficulties with Ito Shigeo were explained - a person who truly had the final say was endorsing him.

On the other hand, Hasunuma's motive for keeping the letter was equally clear. He knew very well how horrific it was to kill the children of his benefactor. Once outsiders knew about it, his fate would not be as merciful as returning to being a commoner... He had to leave himself a way out of "being persecuted".

Once the truth is revealed, only the shock of "the 'mastermind' is actually the biological father of the victim" can barely divert the hatred he will suffer.

I understand it, but the matter is not over yet.

What about Ito Shigeo and Ran?

I was in no hurry to ask questions. He was already confessing, and as long as he didn't die, most of the questions would have an answer.

The laughter and sobbing gradually subsided, and only the rapid breathing was maintaining his pulse in the darkness.

There was another uncomfortable silence.

"...Your guess is correct. My mission is indeed not to protect, but to monitor."

I raised my eyelids: "Illegitimate child?"

"A bastard, a bastard born secretly by a prostitute, who grew up in the red-light district. Nine years ago, he was six years old, and he was raised... I don't know how to raise children, but I know he must have had a hard time. I walked into the room and he was hiding in the closet, and when he saw what he thought was a flaw, he jumped out and stabbed me with the broken tines of a pitchfork."

He spoke slowly.

"That half-grown brat, skinny and small, with a face so dirty that you can't tell whether he's a boy or a girl. He looks disgusting no matter how you look at him. I wanted to kill that prostitute, but ended up paying money to redeem her for no apparent reason, and then I set up a store for her at the other end of the city, spending all the reward money the master gave me. The master told me not to take him back to the capital for now... I didn't care about that at first, until I threw him in a bucket and washed him clean, and found that he looked exactly like the master."

"You realize that things won't end well for Ito Shigeo."

No father would not like a child who looks like him... unless it's a bastard.

Not to mention that his father was a high-ranking official of a country whose every move was watched by others, not to mention that his mother was a prostitute of the lowest class, not to mention that the child was secretly born and raised in a brothel.

As his father's child, Ito Shigeo has no future.

"But he asked you not to take the child back to the capital, didn't he? At least at that time, your master seemed to still have some love to express."

Lan didn't care and just talked about the past.

"'Chengxiong' is a name I gave him casually. He had no name, his mother didn't care about him, and the madam just called him 'Jinu'. That was too inappropriate, so I gave him the name 'Chengxiong' casually. As for the last name..."

Lan paused, and then a muffled laugh rolled out of his throat.

"Last name?"

"Not worth mentioning."

Lan said.

"I raised him carelessly for several years, even tolerated him adopting a stray dog, and then sent him to the capital at the request of the master when he was eleven years old. At that time, he asked me, 'Will my father love me?'

“How should I know this?

"He then asked, 'Will my father be good to me?'

“I don’t know that either.

"Finally he asked me, 'Will the father be as good to me as you are to me?'

"I want to say no. There must be someone in the world who treats him better than me, but that person probably won't be the master.

"In the end I said I don't know."

Lan paused again, as if he wanted to take a breath - in fact, he just took a deep breath and continued speaking intermittently.

"He cried when we said goodbye, but I had taught him that men shouldn't cry loudly or I would want to slap him, so he just pursed his lips and wiped his tears, then waved and said goodbye to me... That was the first time I had a living person say goodbye to me."

"Oh? You weren't there when he was being kept by your 'master'?"

Lan sneered, "Why bother looking for help when you can do it yourself? Not to mention that my special background as a ninja is a double-edged sword. What's done is done, he can't wait to kick me away."

"He didn't send anyone to kill you?"

"I sent them. I killed them. I also dealt with those who came to replace me... Chengxiong sent me a letter about these things. He and I are of the same mind," he said lightly, "so the master soon realized that it would be better to keep me by his side - it would be good for everyone, so I went back and continued my original mission."

A classic ninja story: knowing that the employer wants to kill him, he still goes to try to see if he is strong enough. This classic story always makes me wonder if this world is crazy or 90% of ninjas are crazy.