"Obviously, the people lying inside must be those without chakra… It seems I was right, the old place is the morgue…" Uchiha Shigure also said to Hyūga Akane.
"Damn it! They put all the captured people in the morgue… Shouldn't hostages be treated well!? How are they?" Akane asked worriedly.
"Their chakra is very chaotic, it seems they've all fallen under genjutsu. However, they are still alive, just very weak. The temperature in the morgue… is very low," Shigure said with a frown.
Shigure and Akane walked to the secret door and were immediately stopped by a guard.
"Hmm? Lord Kakuzu? Is there something you need?" the person guarding the secret door asked.
Seeing that Kakuzu hadn't captured any prisoners or bodies, he grew suspicious.
"I want to go in for a bit, that should be allowed, right?" Shigure said directly.
"Oh? That's against the rules. Even if you are Lord Kakuzu, once you've completed a mission, you don't have the right to enter, unless you can complete a new mission." The man was very stubborn and wouldn't move.
"In that case, I can only cast a jutsu on you." Shigure then immediately unleashed his light blue Mangekyō Sharingan, and a powerful genjutsu instantly froze the person in front of him.
Since the commotion wasn't very big, it didn't attract anyone's attention.
"Let's go…" Shigure and Akane easily entered the morgue of the underground bounty station.
"It stinks! The smell here is even stronger than outside!" Shigure couldn't stand it, and Akane even less so.
"Hurry up! Let's get out of here quickly!" Akane said.
"Didn't you bring a mask?" Shigure asked.
"This is just a mask to cover my face, not a filter…" Akane was speechless.
"Transform back first! Don't scare them…" Shigure and Akane then dispelled their Transformation Jutsu together.
Immediately after, Shigure pulled open the levers of the compartments where the bodies were placed, one by one, and the people inside were pulled out.
"This is! It's her! My mission is to rescue her!" Akane saw her mission target.
"Suisen…" Shigure also saw his mission target.
"Their chakra is very chaotic, they're under genjutsu… and their body temperature is very low. Akane, quickly find something to burn." After giving instructions, Shigure immediately said to the two: "Release!"
After releasing them from the genjutsu, both of them opened their eyes.
"So cold… I'm freezing to death."
"You are… you are Shigure…" Shigure immediately stopped the two from continuing: "Don't speak, conserve your strength and warmth, otherwise you'll freeze to death."
"Oh, and… awaken some of your potential! It should make you feel more comfortable." Shigure directly absorbed some of their bloodline power, drawing out some of their potential.
The two's complexions instantly improved significantly.
"Thank you…" Akane didn't know where she got some firewood, and after piling it up, Shigure directly used Fire Release to ignite it. The surrounding temperature instantly rose considerably.
"My Fire Release is very powerful and hard to extinguish. We can hold them, get close to the fire, and warm their stiff limbs." Shigure then held Suisen, and Akane held the other blue-haired girl, warming themselves.
Suisen was slightly dazed; it was her first time being so close to another boy.
"Shigure… I never thought it would be you who came to save me…" Suisen said softly.
"I am a Konoha Jōnin, and my mission completion rate is one hundred percent. I am the most likely person to save you," Shigure said confidently.
"Is that so? Are you doing well? How is Hoshiko? I haven't heard from you two in a long time," Suisen said weakly.
"You're like this, and you're still thinking about others? As you can see, I've become a Jōnin, and Hoshiko can now extract chakra normally. Only you were captured… Hoshiko is already a student at the Ninja Academy, and sooner or later she will become a ninja. I believe she can take care of herself…"
"Is that so? I really envy Hoshiko for having a brother like you… This time, I've really troubled you and your friend…" Suisen said, feeling very embarrassed.
"Who said I'm his friend?" Akane denied.
"Hey! No need to undermine me!" Shigure was speechless.
"Right, let's get to business, Suisen… Who brought you here?" Shigure asked.
"He… he… he's terrifying… All the guards were easily killed by him… Even a Konoha Chūnin squad was killed in a single encounter," Suisen said, somewhat fearful.
"Easily killed? He must not be Takeda Kaito!" Akane immediately realized.
"No… The man named Takeda Kaito only kidnapped me to his place, his purpose was just to exchange me for a chance for those children to survive… However, that enemy was the most terrifying… He easily killed Takeda Kaito and his people, and then he captured me and brought me to this place. After that, I don't remember anything…"
Shigure analyzed: "Because you were under genjutsu, you don't remember anything… That makes sense then… Takeda Kaito was indeed a scapegoat. The enemy wanted to cleanly cut off the clues, or was it just a pure bounty competitor? For the bounty, waiting for others to succeed before launching a surprise attack? How insidious!"
"What about you?" Akane also asked the blue-haired girl.
"It was pretty much the same for me. Someone kidnapped me first, then those people all died, and I was captured alive by another person… But I might have arrived earlier…"
"So, the culprit is the same person!" Shigure and Akane were both convinced.
The fire in the bonfire finally died out, and the two's body temperatures returned to normal, meaning they were completely out of danger.
"Next, we need to escape." Akane asked: "But how do we escape? Outside are all so-called bounty hunters."
"Don't worry, I already left a Hiraishin mark at the entrance. Just hold onto me," Shigure said, sounding very reliable.
"Okay!" Everyone grabbed Shigure, and with a whoosh, they found the scenery around them changed, and they had already arrived outside the bounty station.
"Amazing!" Akane praised again.
However, the people in the underground bounty station naturally noticed the anomaly, and they all came out, searching everywhere for Shigure and the others.
"They'll never find us." Shigure then continuously used Hiraishin, instantly leaving those people far behind.
"This… this ninjutsu is so powerful… it can move four people at once!" Everyone was very surprised.
After a while, Shigure and the others had run very far.
"Although we can't relax yet, at least we can catch our breath. This mission can be considered a great success!" Shigure had successfully completed the hostage rescue mission.
"Too bad… we're about to part ways," Akane said in a very low voice.
"What!?" Shigure asked, very surprised.
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