Chương 363: CH_9.48 (363)

"He's not from Odama. I checked," Hidesine fidgeted with a cup of water.

"He appeared out of nowhere one day. Didn't have a reference, just said he heard about me from someone, and wanted to know if I was ready to get out of the kiddy pool and take on some serious work."

"And you decided that brokering murders was the natural next step?" Takuma asked pointedly.

"My family moved to Odama when I was twelve. It's far better than the countryside—there are enough rich folk and desperate people to ensure a stable living—but it's not like one of the top cities like the capital. You may not know it, but most of my work is based on word-of-mouth, so I thought if I did this, I'd have a chance to get my name out there. It was my chance to turn my fortune." Hidesine lived comfortably. He owned a great home and splurged on luxuries such as spending money at cabaret clubs as a hobby.

While he lived much better than most people, he couldn't be called "upper class" like the affluent people who used his services.

"Well, you seemed to be ready for the opportunity. Who told you about Kanaoka and Okahachi?" Kanaoka only had a local reach because no one wanted it to spread beyond their grasp and eventually be noticed by the Hidden Leaf. Odama was considerably further away from the small town dependent on Maizuru. Even in Kanaoka, Okahachi was the only one brokering assassinations.

The flow of information was fairly limited, more so for illegal activities like assassinations, which made Hidesine's ability to capitalise on the situation impressive, to say the least.

"He told me about it." Hidesine's reply surprised Takuma.

"What?"

"He told me about Kanaoka and Maizuru Quarters. He told me to find Okahachi and his Leaf shinobi. He knew how much Okahachi would ask, and instructed me to give him the entire payment in advance. He paid the same service fee—it was a lot," Hidesine smiled self-mockingly.

"I wondered why he even needed me when he had the plan sorted out to the smallest detail." Takuma's eyes widened behind his mask. He had a feeling something was off when he found out about Hidesine, and it was starting to make sense while getting more confused. If his intuition was correct, the client had gone to painstaking detail to put distance between him and the assassination targets.

He hired Hidesine in Odama, who travelled long to Kanaoka to meet Okahachi, who brokered the job through the Second Division Leader in Maizuru, who then got the Third Squad to assassinate the target. Depending on how one viewed it, there were four to five degrees of separation between the two ends. Each degree of separation held the potential to break the chain, which had nearly happened when Okahachi had gone missing, and Hidesine was only caught because he made the mistake of sharing his hometown with Yuki.

The real client remained unseen.

"How did he contact you?" asked Takuma.

"In person. He stayed until I returned from Kanaoka."

"And let me guess, no contact details."

"He paid half upfront along with the Okahachi's full payment, and my remaining half when I returned."

"And you never hesitated? You knew who the targets were, right?" Hidesine shrugged.

"What he paid was enough to smooth out all fears." Takuma sighed internally because it felt like a repeat of what had happened with Okahachi, who also didn't have a way to connect to Hidesine. He asked Hidesine about it, and as expected, the client instructed him not to provide any personal details. There was an even bigger problem at hand.

If the real client knew about Okahachi and the Third Squad, then it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that he was keeping an eye on Kanaoka, which was going through a drastic change as Jōnin Kumagoro was in process of ripping the illegal market so it could never recover while his solutions were being rolled out in place to keep his shinobi happy. Not to mention, Kumagoro's three-year extension as the jōnin commander itself was high profile. There was a chance it would scare the real client from visiting Odama.

Even today, they had made up a big show of arresting Hidesine, which could also become a problem if it somehow reached the wrong ears.

"You never gave me a name," Takuma asked about the client's name.

"Kyuusai."

"Pardon?"

"He introduced himself as Kyuusai. Probably a fake name," Hidesine couldn't help but chuckle.

"He told me to give Okahachi a fake name, so I just used that. Funny, right?" Takuma wanted to punch the smile off his face. ———. Ultimately, Takuma had to make a decision he wasn't happy with.

"I have a bigger fish in my sights, and for that, I've to dangle bait, which unfortunately is Hidesine," Takuma sat in Tokubetsu Jōnin Daireo's office after the interrogation.

"I wish to release him so he can continue living like he has been, hoping that if that client ever reappears, he won't run away if Hidesine is missing. But for that to happen, I would like to burden you to keep an eye on him, Jōnin Daireo," he dropped the ' Tokubetsu' to flatter the man. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Daireo swelled up noticeably and assured him.

"Of course, we will keep an eye on him. Have him report to us regularly and keep you updated."

"That'd be great. I'll give you the mailing details."

"Do you wish to catch this Kyuusai person if and when he appears?"

"Only if he moves to leave before I arrive," Takuma replied. Hidesine didn't know if his client was a chakra-user, but he did say that the man felt dangerous, which raised the possibility of someone chakra-enabled.

"Any estimations when you think this man might appear?" Takuma shook his head with a sigh.

"Not sure. It might be months, a year, or never. I'm hoping it's soon so that I can close this case, and you can also have one less problem here at Odama."

"It's not a problem at all."

"After I get the man's sketch, I'd like to ask around for a day. I hope you can let me borrow one of your men to show me around."

"Of course, anything to help you." ———.

"A middleman who hired another middleman," Campbell sighed as he put down a copy of Kyuusai's sketch made by a local sketch artist from Odama.

"This man put in some legwork to ensure he can't be tracked." Takuma returned from Odama and was called in by Campbell who wanted to get a report on the situation because it was an important case in the unit.

"I was lucky that I even got to Odama," Takuma replied disappointedly. His investigation around Odama had resulted in nothing. None remembered seeing the man upon being shown the sketch. Kyuusai was much more careful than Hidesine when keeping his footprint to a minimum.

"I know you were looking forward to closing this case..."

"You have done enough. I talked to Barbary. He'll announce a resource reallocation in our favour at the next meeting," Campbell smiled, not something he did much.

"Everyone has worked, and your efforts and progress pushed us over the edge. And please, you have not failed, Ratel." He held up the sketch.

"We will distribute this among our intelligence networks and hope someone spots him. That way, we might find him even if he doesn't return to Odama."

"What should I do now? I guess this case will be put in the back until something comes up?" Takuma held back a sigh. This wasn't the first time this had happened; he was used to it from his time in the Narcotics Taskforce, but it never felt good and always left him unsatisfied. Campbell nodded.

"Take a few days off. Take care of yourself, and then get something new to work on." Takuma felt embarrassed having his boss point out his issues. No one said anything to him when he was in the Narcotics Taskforce, except for Kameko, because he was the boss. He wasn't busy when he was at Camp Banana under Toridasu and was in his best condition to date. When he was in Yu, he rarely saw his teammates as they lived apart.

"Yes, sir," he sighed again.

"Let's fix a morning before work as a kenjutsu lesson, whenever that works for you."

"Sure, that'd be great." Seeing as his boss was concerned about his personal health, Takuma finally decided to get himself checked. ———. With Takuma's decision to get his health checked, he had multiple choices of consultations. He immediately crossed out an ANBU doctor because he didn't want anything to get on his record; he had heard horror stories of company-appointed doctors sharing information with companies, which got employees fired. He could visit Taro's father, Dr.

Oishi, a Tokubetsu Jōnin in the field of iryōjutsu, but he didn't want his friends to know about his condition. He didn't think Dr. Oishi would say anything if he asked to keep it secret, but he didn't want to take the risk. Amami had given him the contact information of the Yamanaka doctor, which wasn't a bad option, but he decided not to use it for the moment because he already had a preferred doctor with whom he trusted his health issues.

"You are an idiot," said Sango as she threw a blue latex glove she was wearing at his face.

"Why?" Takuma asked as he caught the glove before it hit him. They were in the ANBU headquarters, using one of their medical facilities because operatives were discouraged from visiting each other's place of work until for work.

"Sensitivity to the lightest of noise, mind full of thoughts, no desire to sleep even when you lay in bed for hours are classic insomnia symptoms."

"I did think it was insomnia. But why am I an idiot?"

"Usually, I would refer you to a Yamanaka, but it's so obvious that I don't have to." Sango tried to hit him with her other latex glove, and he let her this time because she seemed adamant.

"What is it?"

"It's the shadow clones, you idiot." Takuma was taken aback.

"Huh, what do the clones have to do with this?" There was a clone practicing genjutsu as he talked to Sango.

"Your mind is overstimulated." Sango took a seat before him with a sigh.

"Your mind is not processing what you experience on a normal day, but it's also being forced to take an additional, equivalent load from the clone who's living full days—and you're forcing that on your brain day after day without a break. It has no time to rest and that's why it's keeping you awake because it needs time to process the utter chaos and mess you have created for yourself.

"You need to stop using the Shadow Cone Jutsu," she said, making a final judgement.

"Not possible, not happening," Takuma replied immediately. The shadow clones were his lifelines. He had used his one B-rank jutsu on them. His training plans, the new ninjutsu experiments, all depended on the clone's help. He literally couldn't see his future without regular use of clones.

"You won't get better if you don't stop using them. Your health will continue to deteriorate. It's messing with your sleep, which will mess with your body—you'll be wrecked if you continue to force yourself," said Sango, her tone as though she was ready to argue it with him to the end.

"Do you feel a fog over your brain sometimes?"

"Yeah, why?" Takuma asked, worried.

"That'll get worse. You won't be able to think properly because your brain will be so tired that it can't concentrate on even the easiest of things." Takuma pursed his lips. He couldn't let mind and body deteriorate because they were his greatest assets. If his ability to reason deteriorated, he wouldn't be able to do his job, eventually getting kicked out of ANBU and derailing his plans even more.

"What's the maximum I can do and get by on?" he asked. Sango stared down at him, incredulously. He didn't blame her for not understanding. There wasn't anyone in this world who could understand him. He had a future to prepare for; a future he had been sacrificing his present for. Sunk-cost fallacy be damned, he was already in too deep.

"... I can't say. There are no studies on this type of thing and for good reason." Sango looked displeased that he asked.

"If you really can't give this up, you need to experiment with what your mind can handle. The most important thing here is to allow it to rest, or this will slowly eat you away, and you might not truly feel the effects ""Fuck. Alright, I'll do it." He frowned at her.

"My day is ruined. I blame you, you know."

"As long as you aren't killing yourself, I couldn't give a fuck."