The longer Kenshin was silent, the weaker Keitashi's psychological defense became. With every second, he grew more and more nervous, revealing more and more information about himself to Kenshin.
"Brother of one of the fifteen wives?.." Kenshin thought in surprise and relaxed a bit. But then tensed even more, for Keitashi's mind had strong genjutsu resistance, and his body bore a marking fuin.
He realized he absolutely couldn't kill this man with his own hands, much less on Nakayama Family territory, or the reaction to such audacity would be immediate and brutal.
By his estimates, retribution couldn't exceed Elite Jonin level, for Kage-level shinobi wouldn't lift a finger to attack some unknown mercenaries near Konoha, risking igniting the brewing conflict and starting a full civil war.
Confidence in withstanding an Elite Jonin's wrath was shaky and unstable, for there was a real chance of losing one of the older sons or dying himself. He still had a few aces up his sleeve for an attack by a shinobi of that level, but they were all extremely harsh and could only be used in case of mortal danger to the whole family.
"S-sir, please, let m-me go..." Keitashi bleated, collapsing to his knees in tears, trying to crawl to Kenshin's feet but was repelled with disgust to the far end of the room via telekinesis.
"Shut up. One more word, and I'll rip out your tongue." Kenshin stated authoritatively, making Keitashi cower in the far corner and whimper in terror.
Kenshin felt no pity for this man at all, for he sensed his rotten nature and knew this noble had ruined no small number of lives. So accustomed to impunity, he hadn't even considered that some mercenaries would dare fight back. The only place he behaved restrainedly was the Daimyo's Palace and Konoha's elite districts.
To finally decide his fate, Kenshin decided on a short "question-answer" series. Keitashi, for his part, agreed to anything as long as they didn't beat him and let him go home.
"Have you ever ordered the killing of innocent women, children, or simple peasants?" Kenshin asked casually, throwing Keitashi's thoughts into chaos.
"O-of course not! The Abe clan always upholds the code of honor!" he said in a trembling voice, trying to hide his huge agitation and horror from dealing with this man.
"Lie again, and I'll break the fingers on your other hand." Kenshin threatened and continued: "There were over a hundred of them?"
"Y-you don't understand; I-I never did anything on my own..." Keitashi began, but suddenly there was a loud crunch, and he nearly passed out from the intense pain.
"AAAAA!" he screamed, instinctively jerking the hand whose fingers were all broken.
"There were over a hundred?" Kenshin repeated after half a minute.
"Y-yes, b-but they were all cr-criminals; I always acted by law!" Keitashi said in a trembling voice. Sweat streamed in a torrent from his pale face, and his heart pounded at its limit.
As soon as Keitashi thought of those he sent to death, fragments of memories flowed into Kenshin's mind, making even him feel sick to his stomach. Besides several fragments where Keitashi gleefully watched the execution of guilty men, there were "special" ones.
In one frame, his loyal bodyguard Tosh tore a little boy in two without a shadow of doubt, in front of a woman kneeling before Keitashi.
The next frame captured euphoria from furious cane strikes to a beggar boy's head and subsequent rage at the bloodied clothes. The last one Kenshin could stomach was drowning a completely naked little girl. Her eyes literally begged for mercy, while Keitashi experienced the strongest orgasm.
"Piece of shit!" Kenshin roared furiously and unleashed an uncontrollable psi impulse that hurled Keitashi into the wall.
"Father, are you sure?" Fifteenth asked with concern.
"More than. We need more time, and the Abe clan won't hold back blood vengeance." Kenshin muttered with a sigh and soared high into the sky, taking Keitashi with him.
There weren't many effective ways to fool a tracking mark, and almost all required tremendous effort. But thanks to lacking chakra and flight ability, Kenshin had no trouble devising a plan to dispose of Keitashi.
All he needed was a huge body of water. Unfortunately, the Land of Fire had no sea, so Kenshin targeted a large lake.
All the way, Keitashi only whimpered through the gag and trembled in horror. He soiled himself several times, filling Kenshin with even greater disgust as he hurried to reach the destination and end it once and for all.
Flying while holding the load fifty meters away proved very tiring for Kenshin, but he did everything to avoid identification. Keitashi's eyes were blindfolded so he couldn't transmit his killer's image, and the distance ensured the tracking mark couldn't identify Kenshin as the danger or cause of death.
These methods still didn't give absolute guarantees but greatly increased chances of slowing the investigation and giving the Nakayama Family enough time to develop.
Only after three hours did Kenshin find himself above a very large lake, and taking a deep breath, he prepared for the most difficult part. The subsequent climb to twelve kilometers altitude proved more challenging for him than the entire flight up to that point. He tried to maintain distance and provide Keitashi with oxygen so that he wouldn't die prematurely.
Once at an enormous altitude, Kenshin sighed heavily and pulled out a small metal plate. It flared with a barely visible glow, and a second later, Keitashi let out a wild scream as he plummeted into flight.
Kenshin coolly observed the falling body from the immense height, and only after it hit the water did he sigh with relief. The impulse spreading out for hundreds of meters from the fuinjutsu symbolized Keitashi's death, as well as the fact that the fuinjutsu master in the capital was already aware of what had happened.
"Don't rush to visit my Nakayama Family. Soon I will pay you a visit myself!" Kenshin whispered authoritatively, making a promise to himself to uproot all the most rotten weeds in this world.
Kenshin barely made it home in time for dinner, and after the meal, he soothed his nerves in the best way possible—with the love and tenderness of his beloved girls. Makoto and Karin were very affectionate, and all evening they pressed themselves against Kenshin, intuitively knowing how to dispel his bad mood.
Over the past two weeks, Makoto had grown even stronger. Her body had rounded out in the right places, and her hair had grown even longer, making Kenshin gaze at her more and more. However, that evening not a single lewd thought troubled him.
Makoto spent most of the evening on Kenshin's lap, shamelessly inviting caresses. In turn, he held her close, inhaled her sweet scent, and stroked her hair, lost in painful thoughts.
The fragments of memories absorbed from Keitashi gave him no peace. He had known before about the morals of many influential people in this world, but for the first time he had seen these atrocities with his own eyes. The thought that Karin could have been in the place of that raped and murdered eight-year-old girl filled him with uncontrollable rage and the desire to kill Keitashi several hundred more times.
These thoughts only reinforced his conviction that in case of defeat, he would lose not only his life but also doom all his loved ones to a fate where death would be far from the worst that could happen.
That was why he decided to accelerate his plans for building strength a bit. The decision to teach all his wives except Hitomi and Keiko the art of creating formations was not innovative, since Kasumi and Natsumi already knew the basics. However, Kenshin hadn't wanted to force them to work, so he hadn't demanded anything from them. But now the situation required enormous labor to create a multitude of various components for protecting the perimeter from enemies, and for that, new hands were needed.
That night was the first when Kenshin took Karin and Makoto to spend the night with him. He felt very uneasy when the girls were out of his sight, so he invited both of them to sleep with him.
Makoto and Karin were beside themselves with joy and fooled around until late at night, playing board games in bed with Kenshin and watching TV. Both felt an irresistible pull toward him, enjoying his company.
In turn, Kenshin felt serenity, sensing the indescribable warmth from their bright and utterly kind thoughts. It was a kind of psychotherapy that healed serious emotional wounds, and the more time he spent with the two of them, the more fiercely he vowed to destroy anyone who threatened the two pearls of the Nakayama Family.