The ghastly sight certainly made Naruto's mask look more intimidating. But Naruto ignored the blood as it dripped down from his mask and soaked into his coat, instead he just wiped the blood off his knife and returned it to his sheath, acting as if nothing out of the ordinary had ever happened.
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' Mei POV '
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"Wait."
The only thing that stopped Mei or Ao from jumping forward when they saw the boy pull out his knife was Furui holding out his arm and telling them to wait.
Torture was a common practice in the Elemental Nations, a necessary evil. In fact before hearing that Furui had returned they had been beating the Mist-nin in an attempt to get him to talk, though with little success. Shinobi were conditioned after all to resist torture, which made breaking them and getting information very difficult, and any information they did get was always suspect as it could just be made up.
This was why upon hearing of the return of Furui to the camp; Mei had put the interrogation on hold so that he could lend his assistance to the task.
Mei didn't like the idea of a child being involved with an interrogation, or war in general for that matter. The only reason she had agreed to allow him to come now was because she trusted Furui, and if the man claimed the boy had skills that could help them, then she was willing to give it a try.
After all they were in the middle of a civil war with their home village, a war against the tyranny of the Mizukage Yagura and his targeting and purging of the Shinobi Bloodlines in the Land of Water.
But even if she did allow him to be here, she certainly didn't expect him to just kill the man, you couldn't get information from the dead after all.
Mei was one of a growing number of the Rebels who had no issues with the Lone-nin, or as she had learned they preferred to be called, the Outcasts. While she like many others held fear of what several of them could do, she understood that it would be hypocritical of her to hate them while fighting a war against a madman trying to kill them for having Bloodline Limits.
It was an opinion a large proportion of the Rebels had, after all as the war stretched on and they continued to work more closely with the Outcasts, bonds of comradeship had begun to form, and the hypocrisy of their hate had begun to become clear to them.
Though honestly although she accepted them she was still somewhat unnerved by some of them, but even so Mei made the effort not to judge, something she knew more and more of her commanders and soldiers were also starting to do.
But even then not all of the Outcasts had originally been hated for what they could do, but because of their refusal to join the any of the Hidden villages. Many of the Rogue Clans that had originally been refused when the Hidden Villages were first formed had simple been misunderstood, most not knowing about the intricacies of their abilities at the time.
The people setting up villages had been looking for perfection, and anyone that seemed to be anything less than perfect were not welcome as they were thought of as dead weight.
Such as the Katame Clan, who had been rejected for the flaw of having bad eyesight up close? All it took as a special pair of glasses and they were no different than any other ninja that needed glasses, but the short sightedness of the Shinobi of old had blinded them to the potential of many such Clans.
By the time any of the Hidden Villages realised their mistake it was too late, and none of the Outcasts wanted anything to do with the people that had rejected them. Then there were the Clans and Shinobi that refused to join any village from the beginning, which just left a bad taste in many mouths.
Mei wasn't even sure if people remembered why they had originally started hating the Outcasts anymore. Which is why she had taken the time to get to know them as humans, learning about who they were and what they could do as she did so.
Unfortunately some people weren't too happy about this, which had forced her to set up strict rules to prevent some of her own people rebelling against her out of spite. She couldn't risk anyone from either side acting out against the other, so tried to keep them separated as much as possible.
After the war was over when the need for soldiers and strict order was not as necessary, she could change the rules. But for now it was for the best to keep them separated, that way there would be no distractions caused by the more prejudiced members of the Rebellion.
Mei was well aware that as things were at the moment the Outcasts were the only thing keeping them going at this point in the war, they were simple too outnumbered and outgunned to fight Yagura without their help.
This reliance on the Outcasts was part of the reason some of the more hot tempered members of the Rebellion were being so hostile, they way they saw it this was a Rebellion that should be fought and won by Mist Shinobi, and as such they were only tolerant of the Outcasts so long as they proved to be useful regularly.
The others though were thankful for the help but due to the tension of the issue were not comfortable bringing it up. As it was their Rebellion had begun gaining more traction, as more and more Outcasts and rebel Mist Shinobi joined the cause.
Gritting her teeth and aiming a slight glare at the old man, Mei tried to ignore the voice in her head telling her to just push pass him. The only thing that stopping her being the respect he had earned though her patience was wearing thin.
"He just killed our prisoner before we could even get any information out of him." Mei said her anger rising as she glared at Furui, forgetting momentarily that the old man didn't actually have any eyes.
The response Mei wasn't expecting was for the old man to let a light chuckle escape lips at her words, even as he slowly and carefully placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. His tone warm as he spoke in response to her anger. "My dear I can tell you now that death is only the beginning when it comes this young man here."
Mei had no idea what that meant. However when she finally turned her attention back to the boy Mei felt her mind come to a stop, her eyes widening in shock as she saw what he was doing.
...
Naruto would have liked to have given the man a quicker death, but he wasn't sure if he was strong enough to stab through his chest and into the heart. There was the brain, but if he hit the wrong spot it could also make it more painful, so instead he had gone with the only choice he was sure would work.
A slash to the throat, he was sure it would be quick, but what he didn't know was that it would be so messy.
Naruto took no joy in slow deaths, even for enemies like he was sure this Mist-nin was. If they deserved a slow and painful death then he knew that You would take care of them when they came to him, his counterpart being much more sadistic than him, Naruto saw no reason to make it harder, of course that is only for the Souls that he devours, what happens to those that go to the actual Shinigami he really did not want to know.
He could hear Furui and the other two adults behind him talking, but Naruto didn't listen to them. He was putting all his focus on the dying man in front of him, making sure he was watching as the light left his eyes. No matter what the man had done in his life, Naruto felt it important that he at the very least acknowledged his passing…especially when he was the one that ended the man's life.
And then there it was, a Soul forming in front of him above the man's chests. It was smaller than he was expecting, and from what he could see more than half of it was covered in black spots. The black spots that he had come to realise meant corruption, of one's soul.
Slowly he put his hand out channeling chakra into it as he did so; reaching out Naruto grabbed the Soul and turned to the three reminding adults in the tent with him. He wanted Mei and the man with the eye patch to see what he was holding, and what he was going to do with it.
The moment he saw both their eyes widen in shock and confusion as they saw what was in his hand, Naruto opened his mouth wide and pushed the Soul into his gaping maw.
As he felt the Soul going down his throat and being absorbed by his body, he once again felt that rush of energy and the rapid flashing images that momentarily appeared in his head. He then closed his eyes and took a moment to concentrate, his body thrumming pleasantly with the added power he had just acquired.
Naruto and You had found that they were able to talk without Naruto needing to enter his mind, but neither was as used to it. It shouldn't have really been surprising that they could communicate like this, after all they were two personalities that shared the same soul and body.
Five minute of concentration later Naruto opened his eyes and without a word or glance at the others in the tent walked over to the table and started writing down everything he now knew, though he didn't write down the Jutsu. After all that information might be more useful later, so he would write them down in private.
You had gotten the information to him quite easily, the boy taking time out of whatever it is he usually did to sort through the two months worth of memories they had just acquired from the Mist Shinobi, absorbing his thoughts, feelings etc. though You did take it upon himself to remove one or two of the more unpleasant memories and discard them, after all the memory of murdering a baby was not something anyone should see.
"What was that?" Mei asked as Naruto turned away from the table where he had just written down what he had found out from the man.
"Just my Bloodline" Naruto replied calmly, his tone firm as he refused to say anymore than that.
"And just what is your Bloodline?" Ao the man with the eye patch inquired, his tone a lot more rattled that Mei's as he showed how clearly unnerved he was by Naruto's ability
"I have the ability to see people's memories." Naruto replied, deciding that using a half truth to explain away his particular skill set may be better than lying. Already he was regretting making such a show out of it. The thing he had told them was an aspect of his ability and so it was not a lie, however judging from the expressions on their faces they knew it was not the full truth.
It took another two hours before Naruto and Furui were allowed to leave, though Mei and the eye patched man still weren't happy to let them go. They both had wanted to know just what Naruto had done and how he was able to see the enemy Shinobi's memories, but neither the blonde nor Furui would answer anything but the basics and eventually they had no other choice but to let them leave.
They had the information they wanted, though Naruto was sure they would be checking it several times before they trusted him. If nothing else Naruto had proved he was useful for now, even if what he could do clearly made people…uncomfortable.
The eye patch man led them out of the camp this time, leaving them the moment they reached the edge and pointing them towards where the Outcast's had set up their camp.
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