The Last line of Uchiha

Part 31

Kazane

Ukai and I tried to question villagers after that... see if we could get any insider information that might help. This task proved more challenging than we'd originally thought though... the villagers were being very tight-lipped.

"Did you get a look at any of these men? Maybe catch a tattoo or any definitive marks?" I asked a middle-aged man.

"No, they were all wearing long clothing, dark capes, and owl-like masks... I never saw any faces and they never speak to each other around us, they always use hand signals so I didn't hear any names either..." The man answered me.

"Ok..." I sighed.

"Was there anything specific they targeted here or... were they just grabbing what they could get their hands on?" I ask another question, scratching the side of my neck.

"They targeted the big joints at the top of the village mostly, don't know what they took though so I can't tell you what they were after..." He explained.

"Kazane!" I heard Ukai call me.

"Thank you, excuse me," I told the man.

He nodded and I walked over to my partner, seeing him looking up at a tree.

"Find something?" I look up at the tree.

"See those leaves," He pointed to the small bunch that hung on a broken branch.

"Yeah," I nodded, not that he could see that, he wasn't looking at me.

"They're frozen," He added.

"What?" I squinted to see the leaves closer.

They were in fact, coated in a thin layer of white ice, the leaves inside the ice still green while the outside ones were dying from the hurt branch.

"Another thing~" Ukai pulled me to his body.

'O-oh~ ok,' I stiffened as he moved me.

"Look," He pointed in front of us.

There was a line of trees going from this one up the hillside, each with broken branches or scratches and ice marks. At the very top of the hill was a large glass building, the stream that ran alongside the village passing by it with frost-covered banks.

"This is the route they used as their getaway..." I conclude.

"Right... and the way to their camp..." Ukai pointed into the forest, though I couldn't see anything from where I was standing.

"How do you know?" I asked looking up at him.

When he looked down at me, his eyes were red, his Sharingan staring back at me.

"Right," I looked down.

'Stupid!' I lectured myself.

"Come on," Ukai pulled me forward, jumping through trees as we made our way to the Byakuya Gang's supposed campsite.

After a few minutes, I paused on a branch, looking at Ukai and opening my mouth to ask if he was sure we were headed the right way when I heard voices. Ukai put a finger to his mouth before silently jumping out of his tree, walking up behind the two cloaked figures. In one swoop both men were on the ground face down.

'Damn...' I stared at the Uchiha.

He waved me over and I joined him on the ground, running to the next set of trees where we were finally able to see a tent set up.

"That's is?" I asked him and he nodded.

"Yeah... come on," Ukai jumped down, me in tow.

We cautiously walked up to one of the tents, slowly opening the flap to peek inside. The interior was littered with stolen goods, ranging in size, value and product.