Watching Ao’s rapidly retreating figure, Zabuza, who rarely showed concern for others, spoke up.
“Captain Ao is chasing after them alone.
Won’t he be in danger?” However, when he turned around, he saw that Mei Terumi seemed completely unconcerned.
Zabuza immediately felt that perhaps his question had been unnecessary.
“Don’t worry.
Teacher Ao’s ability to survive is among the best of the jōnin in the village.
You should worry about the mission ahead instead.” Mei directly reassured Zabuza, easing his concerns.
Tachibana Kenji silently complained to herself.
You really can’t underestimate Ao’s ability to stay alive.
He’s the man who will eventually take a direct hit from a Ten-Tails Tailed Beast Bomb and still survive.
Naturally, Mei could not hear Tachibana’s inner thoughts.
She merely believed that, as the acting squad leader, she had successfully stabilized the morale of her two teammates.
She then motioned for the two of them to continue toward the pirates’ camp.
Because they had deliberately avoided the harbor’s line of sight earlier, the shallow beach where they had left the fishing boat was still some distance from the pirates’ camp.
The three moved swiftly through the forest, but Zabuza was still thinking about the two shinobi who were suspected of impersonating ANBU.
After hesitating for a moment, Zabuza was the first to speak.
“Those two people…
they seemed to have a deep hostility toward us.” Tachibana Kenji, who was concentrating on the journey and had just landed on the next tree, was somewhat surprised by Zabuza’s keen perception.
“Indeed.
They were probably planning to ambush us when we came ashore.” Tachibana was certain of this.
It wasn’t as though she had never encountered other shinobi in the village.
When ordinary shinobi had no hostility toward her—or, more specifically, no intention of attacking her—Anticipation would not trigger an alarm, let alone one as intense as the warning she had just received.
If they had not discovered the two enemies in advance and prepared themselves, they might have been hit by a ninjutsu attack the moment their boat reached the shore.
“And now that I think about it, they really didn’t seem like ANBU shinobi.
The village’s ANBU members basically all carry swords, and their uniforms have hoods to help conceal their identities.” Mei joined the conversation as they continued forward.
This was something Tachibana had not noticed before.
As for concealing their identities, Tachibana wasn’t about to openly complain to her teammates about the quirks of their own village.
“So what exactly are they trying to accomplish by coming to this remote island and disguising themselves as ANBU?” This time, neither Mei nor Tachibana could answer Zabuza’s question.
Tachibana had a vague suspicion herself, but she did not voice it yet.
Instead, she increased her pace.
“Enough.
Investigating those two is Teacher Ao’s job.
We just need to focus on the rescue.” In the end, Mei was the one who brought the discussion to a close.
Although the three had been discussing the two mysterious shinobi, they had not allowed the conversation to delay their advance.
It was only when they approached a low hill near the camp that they gradually slowed down.
The scene was somewhat different from what they had expected.
It was already past midnight.
They had assumed that even if a few pirates remained at the camp, most of them would have gone to sleep by now.
Instead, numerous figures were still moving around inside the camp below the hill.
Using the light from the camp’s torches, the three carefully observed the scene from above.
The most conspicuous feature was an open area surrounded by several buildings that resembled a training ground.
At that moment, more than twenty children were actually fighting one another in pairs across the open ground.
Several disheveled-looking pirates stood around the edges, pointing and commenting as they watched.
The three even saw a child who looked no older than five or six get stabbed in a vital area by his opponent’s kunai.
The child collapsed to the ground, his fate unknown.
One of the pirates responsible for guarding the children casually walked over and grabbed the fallen child with one hand.
As if he were picking up a piece of garbage, he simply tossed the child into a corner at the edge of the training ground.
Only then did Tachibana Kenji notice that several other children were already lying haphazardly in that corner, apparently dead or unconscious.
Throughout the entire process, the pirate never even stopped joking and laughing with his companions.
Meanwhile, the child who had just defeated his opponent discarded his kunai without a second thought.
Staggering despite his injuries, he walked to the other side of the clearing, where a table covered with food had been placed.
He grabbed the food and began wolfing it down.
The pirates burst into raucous laughter at the sight.
The other children who were still fighting paused for less than a second after seeing what had happened before immediately resuming their brutal battles.
“This is…
combat training?
Are the pirates selecting recruits for their ranks?” Mei Terumi had witnessed the entire scene, and her voice was filled with fury.
Tachibana Kenji hurriedly grabbed Mei by the shoulder to keep her from acting impulsively.
Through her palm, Tachibana could clearly feel Mei trembling slightly.
Tachibana naturally knew that this was not fear.
It was anger.
“Stay calm!
Pirates like these desperate criminals aren’t thinking about the future.
They wouldn’t spend all this time training children.” Mei forcefully suppressed the rage in her heart and looked down at the pirates below.
Zabuza also spoke.
“The pirates standing guard are very weak.
They’re basically ordinary civilians.” The three were not particularly far from the camp.
Judging from the pirates’ physiques and movements, it was indeed easy to assess their strength.
In fact, most of them were weaker than students who had not yet graduated from the Kirigakure Ninja Academy.
Furthermore, judging from their weapons and clothing, they did not appear to be shinobi.
On the contrary, the children fighting below were all wielding kunai, and their movements during combat faintly carried the style of Kirigakure shinobi.
The three exchanged glances.
“Those two fake ANBU.” Tachibana Kenji’s expression became solemn as she spoke.
“This just became serious.” Although Mei said that the situation had become serious, there wasn’t the slightest trace of retreat in her voice.
Even Zabuza, who remained outwardly calm, was actually seething with anger.
Zabuza had always considered himself a reformer.
From beginning to end, he had despised Kirigakure’s so-called Bloody Mist policy.
He had only just brought an end to the village’s decades-long bloody graduation examination through the most brutal means possible, paying an enormous price to do so.
Yet these despicable pirates were now imitating that very same rotten practice in some forgotten corner of the world, as if trying to preserve the very filth that should have been eliminated.
“Give the order, Captain.” Zabuza reached for the short sword at his back and looked toward Mei Terumi.
Tachibana Kenji also looked at Mei with a solemn expression.
Mei glanced once more at the pirates laughing and joking below.
Her voice was different from usual now, carrying a trace of cold bloodlust as she spoke to her two teammates.
“If these pirates are so determined to train shinobi, then let’s show them what real shinobi are capable of!”
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