Beacon of Hope

Revenge

"Does anyone remember exactly what Ninja Code Number Thirty-Eight says? Come on, kids, we saw it three days ago."

"I know, Iruka-sensei!"

"Sakura, please tell your classmates."

"The Ninja Code, Chapter I, Article number thirty-eight states: Every shinobi and kunoichi will accept with pride and satisfaction the duties imposed upon them in their service, and will always lend their moral, physical and material assistance to their superiors and subordinates, as well as carry out the fulfillment of the protection of the citizens of the Land of Fire and its feudal lord."

"Very well, Sakura. You have studied hard enough, if you continue like this, you will become an excellent Kunoichi.

My hands held the poison vial tightly, and without meaning to, I thought about those damn discipline rules. But I wasn't going to give in, I wasn't going to take back my revenge.

Sai helped Ino and me into the Ash Tower where the seven feudal lords were gathered. Obviously, the security was extreme, but we were ahead of them in training and infiltration techniques.

"I'll wait outside, anything you can tell me, Ino," she shook her head. "Be careful, and Sakura... Good luck."

We crawled through the ventilation corridors in search of the kitchen. We didn't have a map that could give us the necessary speed to reach our destination, but I knew I would have enough time to do it.

I stopped and looked to my right.

"Do you smell that? I think it's coming from that side." I said. Ino started to sniff.

"That's right, it must be that way."

We continued to slide down the path, at a certain point we looked through one of the ceiling grates.

"It's here." I said.

"There are too many people, how can we get in without them noticing?"

"We could put them under a genjutsu, but that would paralyze them, they would not regain consciousness in time without being noticed by the guards. The kitchen would be suspiciously quiet and quickly put them on alert. "

I scanned the area carefully and found a grate leading to the other end of the kitchen. If I went down that way no one would see me as there was a wall in the way.

The ventilation corridors were like a labyrinth, I had to imagine the way to get to where I wanted to go.

"Listen, Ino, let's look for the window that leads to this end of the kitchen," I said. "Once we find it, we'll go down carefully. Then you will use your 'Mind and Body Switching' technique. The person you will switch with will be the sturdy woman in the red apron."

Ino looked at her and was silent for a few seconds until she seemed to understand my idea.

"Okay, she's the head cook," she said. "Once I'm in her body, I'll discreetly approach you and you'll give me the glass, right?"

"That's right."

"Sakura, I have a question... If the plan works and we succeed in poisoning the feudal lords, what will happen to those people? Won't they be judged? I mean, there won't be any more guilty than them."

"I said that heads could roll. Unfortunately, that is true."

I wanted to go on, but Ino stopped me with her hand on my ankle.

"Wait, wait... Did I hear right? Are we going to sacrifice innocent people?" Her face showed disbelief and horror.

"We'll worry about that later, now come on, we're running out of time."