Break [Part-53]

"I..."-Tanaka

Time skip~

The mission had begun. This time though, something was different. He could feel it.

He tried to ignore it and pretend like nothing was wrong.

Pretend as though this team, which was like a second family to him, wasn't based on lies and deceit.

Pretend as though he didn't know anything. Pretend as though he couldn't feel the tension. Pretend as though things wouldn't change forever after this.

He could feel the blood lust seeping from his te- Ura. Today, he was not a teacher. He was a predator waiting for the perfect time to catch his prey. He had to constantly remind himself of the fact. The two of them were monsters. Even if they were once victims, it won't excuse their actions.

Ohta, who was usually quite tolerable however today, seemed to be like an emotionless puppet.

They all silently escorted the merchants to the next town. Nothing happened on their mission and they had all reached back to Konoha much earlier than planned. However, he was waiting for those two to make their moves.

It was as though he was the prey for today.

Even though he knew he wasn't, luckily.

He was such a coward. He felt happy at the fact that his teammate might die instead of him. He called those two monsters but perhaps he was the only monster here. He had probably disappointed his family. When did he become such a person?

They all parted their way without saying much, and he swore he saw Veronica's emotionless face coming to view when she had turned away from them.

"I...! I'll see you later, Veronica."-Tanaka

He couldn't stop her. He didn't stop her.

In the future, if someone asked about his biggest mistake he'd ever made, his biggest regret, he'd answer that he wished he could've hung out with her a bit longer. Perhaps he could've helped her. Perhaps he could've saved her.

Veronica paused before turning to him. She said nothing as she stared at him for a moment. He didn't understand why she'd just sighed before moving back again.

Was she disappointed in him too?

The 'ghost jutsu' she'd casted was no longer working, it had been for a little over 4 days now since he had left. That meant that Tobirama's soul had been taken by the Shinigami and was probably in some sort of after death practice. She would no longer be able to reach his soul unless she paid the 'sacrifice' to the Shinigami.

This was going to be tiring.

Sighing at her misfortune, she glanced at the ROOT member behind her. It was her teacher, Ura, in a tiger mask. She hadn't been able to sense him following her for a while.

'He was hiding his stealth. We know now for sure that they really were in ROOT. Although...'

The man quickly ran towards her, she was able to block the ten kunai aimed for her face and her stomach mainly, but he had taken that moment to head lock her in place. She sensed another one approaching them before a type of gas was spread in the air.

Matatabi was fully alert at this point. Even though she knew that she couldn't make any moves to endanger Veronica more, she focused and molded her chakra so that she could quietly but quickly remove the drug and its effects.

She wouldn't let them find out that a Veronica was hosting a tailed beast. It would put Veronica in danger.

She was still quite calm despite knowing who the two of them were dealing with. Maybe it was because she had been with Veronica for so long. Or maybe it was because they both had seen this coming.

Veronica's unconscious body was draped over Ura's shoulders, as he signaled to Ohta to send the message through his bugs to Danzo. They had both communicated through the Konoha standard signs.

Waking up again, she took her time to adjust to her surroundings, her blank face didn't change even when she found herself sitting in a dark room with no windows, and only a candle in the middle of the room for light. The door seemed to have blended with the walls as she couldn't properly pinpoint its location with her eyes.

This scene was a bit familiar for her.

She guessed she was either still under the effect of the drugs or the room was under some genjutsu she couldn't be bothered to find right now.

Her chakra was being blocked. She had her weapons with her though. She guessed her treatment till now was better than the last time she got tortured. Then again, the show hadn't even started yet.

'I'm guessing I woke up much earlier than the drug should've knocked me out for.

Will I get tortured now? I wish I could've eaten something... I'm so hungry.'