Toji
I moved stealthily through the Zen'in estate, searching for my prey.
"Go get Natsugu and Soya. We'll meet outside."
That's what Zoro had whispered to me. I had to retrieve the Kukuru unit leader and our progenitor.
At first, I didn't understand why Zoro used the word "progenitor" instead of "father," but one day I asked him, and his answer made perfect sense.
"I just can't see him as a father. A sperm donor at best, but definitely not a father. So yeah, he's more of a progenitor than anything else."
He had never done anything for us. In fact, I had only seen him twice in my life—I don't even remember his face.
It was the same for Natsugu. He made me suffer, but like the members of Akasha, I forgot his face over time.
Finding them without remembering either their faces or their names was a bit complicated, but I eventually found an alternative.
"Are you sure it's here?"
"Y-Yes," said a trembling female voice.
The fear in her voice made me uncomfortable. I felt like an assassin sent to kill people.
'Wait… that's kind of what I am, right?'
I caught a maid in a kitchen while she was drinking water. It gave me a chance to get my bearings in this nearly unknown place.
Don't worry—I'm civilized. So I waited until she finished quenching her thirst before gagging her.
"HUMPH!"
Of course, she was startled and struggled, and I had to "accidentally" threaten her to calm her down.
"Stay quiet or I'll pull out your intestines and make a scarf out of them."
At the same time, I let a bit of bloodlust leak out, and it worked. Even though she was still trembling and softly whimpering, she wasn't making any significant noise anymore.
'I don't like doing this, but I have to admit—it's effective.'
"Good. Now tell me where Zen'in Natsugu and Zen'in Soya's quarters are."
A flash of panic and hesitation crossed her eyes, and she started struggling again—this time even more violently.
I let out a deep sigh. This time, I didn't bother threatening her again—it would've been the same result.
"Listen, I'm not asking you to help me kill them. I just want you to tell me where they are. It's not that complicated."
She started speaking, but it came out muffled under my hand.
"Mm hmph—hmph—!"
I couldn't understand anything she was saying, so I took a risk and let her go—after making sure to threaten her properly, of course.
"If you start screaming, I'll rip your heart out, roast it, and feed it to your family. Understood?"
Her face went pale, and she nodded frantically.
I slowly removed my hand from her mouth.
"Good. Repeat what you were saying."
"I-I said… if anyone finds out I helped you, m-me and my whole family will die in horrible ways."
She was on the verge of tears as she spoke, her eyes begging me to let her go.
"Please… I won't say anything about what happened. Please let me go."
It gave me a slight pang in my chest, but I had to stay firm. Honestly, I didn't even see why she was so reluctant.
"I'm just asking for their location. It's not that serious. And you really think we'll get caught? This backward clan doesn't even have cameras."
She looked surprised for a moment before asking, "What's a camera?"
My eyes widened at the stupidity of the question.
'Damn, this clan is even more backward than I thought.'
"Ha! Forget it. Just remember—they'll never find out."
"Are you sure?"
There was clear hesitation in her voice.
"Of course I'm sure. Hey, I'm not an assassin for nothing—this kind of thing is my specialty."
I won't lie—there was some arrogance in my tone, but it was justified.
After several minutes of hesitation, she finally agreed.
"Alright… I'll tell you."
"About time. And since you took so long, you're going to take me there yourself."
"What? That wasn't part of the deal."
"Well, plans change. You made me lose too much time, and time is crucial for an assassin."
And that's how we ended up in this situation. I was standing in front of the hallway leading to Soya's residence.
"You're sure you don't know Natsugu's?"
"I-I swear I don't. All I know is that he lives in a separate house not far from the Kukuru dorms."
I took my time reading her emotions with my Observation Haki. I wasn't as skilled as my brother, but I could tell she wasn't lying.
I felt a bit sorry for her, being stuck in a place like this, so I didn't want to make her life any harder.
"Alright, you can go. I'll give you five minutes before I make my move."
My words surprised her, but she quickly regained herself.
"Th-Thank you."
She didn't waste any time. She turned around immediately and—I'm pretty sure—ran faster than she ever had in her life.
I turned toward the progenitor's house.
"Alright… let's finish this quickly."
---
Honestly, I was bored out of my mind.
"Seriously, couldn't this just have been an assassination mission? Why did it have to be a kidnapping? And on top of that, I wasn't even given any info on my targets' location."
I managed to get into Soya's house easily—and knocking him out was even easier.
"Honestly, he wasn't on guard at all. How is that even possible in a clan like this?"
The main problem was transporting him.
He wasn't heavy, but I didn't feel like carrying both him and Natsugu at the same time.
"Carrying one guy I don't like it to begin with—two? No thanks."
So I had to leave the estate, find a safe spot to drop him off, leave him there, then come back inside.
I couldn't even use the rooftops—they were too fragile to support both our weights—so I had to move through the corridors.
That's mostly why it was such a pain. To avoid raising suspicion, I had to move relatively slowly. And I still had to do it all over again.
My method for finding Natsugu was different.
Instead of asking a "kind soul," I thoroughly scanned the area around the Kukuru dorms, searching for the strongest energy signature.
It took forever. Again, I wasn't a specialist in Observation Haki—I couldn't just sense it while passing by.
I had to stop and focus each time. But after a loooooong and annoying search, I found his house.
And even though he was more cautious than Soya, he couldn't resist. In the end, he got drugged, and I took him with me.
Just like with Soya, I got him out of the Zen'in estate discreetly and headed back to where I had left the other one.
I laid them side by side and took a moment to think about what came next.
"Alright, I've got both of them. Now I need to meet him at the factory."
Then something clicked.
"Wait… how am I supposed to move them?"
We hadn't brought any means of transportation. Which meant…
"Damn it, I have to carry them. They're dudes, for fuck's sake—I don't want to."
Despite my reluctance, I did what had to be done. I hoisted them onto my shoulders and started running toward our rendezvous point.