After hesitating for a moment, Kyuushin decided against telling her himself. He would inform the clan and let his grandfather make the final decision. So, after chatting with her for a while, Kyuushin bid farewell and left.
Minato and Nawaki had already captured the mission target and were on their way to find him, so Kyuushin met them on the road. He briefly explained the situation, and the two were speechless at the misunderstanding, but they were relieved it wasn't the worst-case scenario they had imagined.
Nawaki presented the captured rogue ninja. Clearly, under the combined assault of the two, the Chunin had not been able to put up much of a fight. He was still unconscious. Kyuushin thought for a moment and applied a Sealing Jutsu, the Tendon Severing Seal, on the man, temporarily preventing him from molding chakra. Then, the three left the town and found an isolated spot, preparing to wake him.
The mission scroll stated that the rogue had been in town for four or five days without making any moves, which puzzled them. To ensure there were no errors in the mission, they decided to wake him up and question him.
After a bucket of water was splashed on him, he groggily woke up but still seemed not entirely lucid. Kyuushin cast a questioning look at Minato and Nawaki.
"Don't look at me," Nawaki said. "When we first went in, he was still drinking. He's probably still drunk."
"A rogue ninja, not thinking about escaping, but drinking?" Kyuushin was a bit puzzled. They splashed a few more buckets of water on him, finally getting him to sober up. However, even after sobering up, his eyes were dull, and he seemed indifferent to being bound.
The three exchanged glances. Kyuushin crouched down, lifted his chin, and said, "You should know who we are. There's no need for pointless talk. State your purpose. It's better than suffering unnecessary physical pain." But the man remained expressionless, as if he hadn't heard Kyuushin at all. Finally, they took turns questioning him, but to no avail.
Nawaki plopped down on the ground. "Let's just give up. We've completed the mission anyway. We'll just take him back to Konoha tomorrow."
Kyuushin and Minato looked at each other, also helpless. After deciding who would take watch, the three decided to rest for the night and set off in the morning. The next day, after a simple breakfast of soldier pills, they immediately headed back to Konoha.
On the way, Nawaki curiously asked, "Kyuushin, can we learn the sensory ninjutsu you used yesterday?"
"Probably not," Kyuushin replied. "I heard from my grandmother that it's a secret technique of our Uzumaki Clan. Outsiders can't seem to learn it."
To their surprise, the mission target, who had been silent all night, suddenly spoke after hearing Kyuushin's words. "Uzumaki? Are you also an Uzumaki?" His voice was hoarse, but with their keen senses, they still heard him.
The three immediately stopped. Kyuushin looked at him and said, "That's right, I am an Uzumaki. What, do you have some connection to my clan?"
"Hahaha, a connection? How could there not be a connection? Hahaha!" The man immediately burst into laughter upon hearing Kyuushin's reply. However, as he laughed, he began to cry, sobbing heartbrokenly with snot and tears streaming down his face.
"Is he crazy?" Nawaki asked.
Kyuushin was also confused about what he meant. Fortunately, his crying gradually subsided. When he completely stopped, Kyuushin leaned closer and asked, "Tell me, what exactly happened?"
"Retribution... it's truly retribution. I participated in the war to destroy the Land of Whirlpools, and in the end, I was captured by an Uzumaki," he muttered to himself.
"What! You said you participated in the destruction of the Uzumaki?" Kyuushin grabbed him by the collar and roared.
The man's eyes were bloodshot. Upon seeing Kyuushin's distinctive red hair, a crazed look entered his eyes. "That's right," he rasped, "I participated in the war to destroy the Uzumaki Clan. You must have had many relatives die tragically too, right? Go on, then. Kill me. It would be revenge."
Hearing this, Kyuushin also calmed down. He asked in confusion, "You're actually asking for death? Aren't you a rogue ninja?"
"Heh heh, rogue ninja? If it were possible, I'd rather not be a ninja at all!" he snarled, his expression ferocious.
Minato and Nawaki exchanged glances; clearly, the development of this mission had exceeded their imagination.
Kyuushin continued to ask, "Stop being cryptic. Tell me everything you know. You're not even afraid of death, so are you afraid of saying a few words?"
"Alright, I'll tell you." He wriggled his body, leaned against a tree, and then slowly continued. "It's quite simple. I received this mission two years ago. Then I went to the Land of Whirlpools with my captain at the time. Originally, I thought our targets were the ninja of the Uzumaki Clan. However, the captain ordered us to leave no one alive. Regardless of gender, age, or status. Not a single one."
At this point, his breathing became rapid. Kyuushin's fists also began to clench, but he still listened as the man continued, "Killing people... how can a ninja not kill people? The captain gave the order, so of course, I followed it. But later, after I returned to the village, I started having nightmares. The scenes from that night replay in my mind, like maggots crawling in my bones, impossible to shake off. Isn't it ridiculous?"
Kyuushin didn't respond, but instead asked, "And that's why you defected?"
"At first, I certainly didn't think of doing that." He took a deep breath and then said, "But later, I seemed to see the shadows of the people I had killed on the faces of my own companions. They seemed to have been resurrected in the people around me." At this point, his body trembled violently, and he twitched slightly all over. Each breath seemed to take all his strength, his eyes wide, like a fish on the verge of death.
Nawaki spat on the ground. "Serves you right! Who told you to lay hands on the old, weak, women, and children!"
Hearing Nawaki's words, he immediately turned his bloodshot eyes to him, his throat working. "It's easy for you to say! If you heard that order, would you dare to refuse?"
Nawaki instinctively stepped back, clenching his fists and gritting his teeth. "If it were me, I would definitely beat the person who gave me such an order! I definitely would!"
"Indeed, I would do the same," Minato, standing nearby, said just as firmly. "Moreover, I believe our village would not do such a thing."
Kyuushin took a deep breath. He was beginning to understand the man's predicament. It was a clear case of severe post-traumatic stress from the horrors of war. Although ninja are often treated as tools, they are still human. Even if they are trained to kill from a young age, when a certain threshold is crossed, they will still break down. This man, on the night of the clan's destruction, due to killing too many innocents, suffered intense psychological trauma that tormented him for the past two years, eventually leading him to accidentally kill his own family in a paranoid delusion.
"So you've been in this town for so long because you met another Uzumaki?" he continued to ask.
"That's right. When I met that woman, I thought my end had finally come. I kept waiting for her to kill me, but she never came."
With the last question answered, Kyuushin and his two companions all breathed a sigh of relief. Although they heard his tragic story from his own mouth, it was his own doing. He couldn't blame anyone else.
"You've finished your questions," a voice came from behind a nearby tree. "So, can you hand him over to me?"