"That's never going to happen Moji. The prisoners won't be sent from here until the kid starts walking here." Yoshiro said. He knew not to trust Moji at all. He was glad to see that the kid was unharmed but he and the old man were confused by one thing and that was neither Hideki nor did any other leaf shinobi call him out nor did the kid cry or smile like a typical 12-year-old. The kid was just looking at the people around.
"Alright Moji since they have already agreed to release numerous of your men in exchange for one kid, let's trust them a little and let the kid go." Jiro said.
'He is really good at acting.' Moji thought as he saw Jiro playing the mediator. Moji looked at Yami and said "Kid go toward them but no sudden movements. One step at a time."
Yami nodded quietly and started walking toward the bloodline clan leaders. On the other side, the prisoners were also walking one step at a time toward Moji and his people.
Everyone was waiting for a single instance where one party lets it guard down and then start the war but contrary to what Moji expected, the exchange was going quietly...too quietly and that was worrying for Moji.
'How can things go this smoothly? We do not have a single distraction right now that I can launch an attack. I thought Riko would attack my people just by provoking him with a few words but he has gained self-control and Asami is doing a good job of calming him down. On the other hand, the kid is walking quietly and not even crying...that's what a civilian kid should do. If he was a shinobi then I would have sensed the chakra fluctuations leaking from his body. I am sure this kid must be related to a big merchant or something.' Moji thought.
As quietly as things were happening, both sides were getting more and more tense. Mei and Kana were focused on Yami who was walking toward them.
'Just a few steps Yuta and then you would be safe.' Kana thought. But then everyone saw Priest Ji running toward Yami. They didn't know what he was doing or what he was planning on doing. Jiro and Moji were about to cuss at him loudly because Ji had finally made a mistake.
"What the hell are you doing?" Moji yelled as he looked at Ji. By this time, Ji had gone and grabbed Yami and kept a dagger at his throat. His eyes were getting redder and saliva was dripping from the sides of his mouth.
Seeing that Ji had stopped Yami from coming further, Kana tried to rush toward him but Mei and Santo quickly grabbed her.
"Don't make this mistake Kana. We can't interfere in this." Santo said.
"B-But Santo...Sister Mei, he is so close to us now...we can save him from that lunatic." Kana said.
The bloodline clan leaders heard that but they knew that this isn't the right time to move. They couldn't compromise their entire war for a civilian kid. Mei remembered the hard choices her father had told her about.
They all looked at Kakashi and the other hidden leaf shinobis as they could easily make their move as they were from the same village as Yami.
Jiro who had stopped himself plenty of times from killing Ji because he was useful, was now regretting his decision. He couldn't say that Ji was not from his village and was from a cult as it would mean that the hidden stone supports such a cult. Ji had now worn a hidden stone uniform so if he does anything to Yami then it was the hidden stone's doing.
"Ji, LET THE KID GO THIS INSTANT." Jiro shouted.
"Hehe...do you think I am scared of you or something?" Ji said in a maniac tone.
On the other side when the clan leaders and others thought Kakashi and the others would move toward saving Yami, Kakashi just said "Stop them now." and all the spies along with Asuma and Kurenai surrounded the prisoners that the bloodline clans were exchanging.
"What?" Kana was stupefied. She didn't understand why instead of attacking Ji, Kakashi chose to focus on the prisoners.
"Looks like Kakashi also made a hard choice." Yoshiro said with a sigh. Mei and the others understood what he meant. They could see that Ji was getting more and more unstable with each passing second so they were sure that Yuta is going to be beheaded now. Even the leaf spies except Shiro and Hideki didn't know who Yuta really was so they felt bad.
Among all this panic with Kana and the surrounding of the prisoners and the chaos caused by all this something unexpected happened.
The old man stepped forward and turned toward Kakashi. No one knew what he was going to say and then the old man asked "Why is that kid not scared?"
Kana who was arguing with Santo got quiet and looked at the old man. Even Moji and Jiro got quiet and looked at the old man as they knew that he wouldn't ask something like this for no reason. And then they all looked at Yami who was standing there held by Ji and with a dagger to his throat. There was still no change in his expression. It was like always...a stoic expression.
Ji also saw everyone looking at the kid and decided to also see the kid's expression. He thought that the kid must be crying by now. But seeing that the kid was unaffected he decided to ask.
"Your name is Yuta right? Why aren't you scared? Should I give you some pain so that you will cry...haha" Priest Ji asked. Everyone thought that the old man had made the situation much worse. Even the old man didn't predict that his statement would escalate the situation.
Yami looked up at Ji and said "Why don't you try?"
These were the first words that Yami had said since he had been kidnapped here. 'Is this kid provoking the lunatic?' that's what everyone thought including the clan leaders.
Ji wasn't prepared for such a response. He thought the worst that would happen would be that the kid would keep quiet. He saw everyone's eyes were on him. The anger in Ji's mind began rising and his blood began boiling then he saw Yami look at Kakashi and wave his hand as if saying go.
The clan leaders were confused as to how Yuta knew Kakashi directly and why was he telling him to go. Kakashi nodded and looked at his people who had surrounded the prisoners.
"Kill the prisoners. They are a burden now." Kakashi said.
"What?" Yoshiro asked and the next second he saw hidden leaf shinobis beheading the prisoners.
Jiro and Moji didn't understand what was happening. Jiro quickly asked "What is the meaning of this Kakashi Hatake? I was trying to calm down Ji but now you have ruined everything. The kid will die because of you."
Moji looked at Priest Ji and said "Kill the kid Ji." these are the golden words ji was dying to hear. He quickly smirked and responded "With pleasure"
He raised his hand holding the dagger above his head and swung it toward Yami's chest.
Kana and Santo looked the other way as they expected the dagger to go through Yami's chest. It was tough to watch for Mei as well but she kept her eyes open.
The Dagger came down toward Yami's chest but a few centimeters before it could touch Yami's chest it stopped. The scream and the bloody hole in the kid's chest that everyone expected didn't come.
They all looked at the dagger that Ji was swung with full force. They saw that the kid had stopped the dagger with only two of his fingers.
"H-How is this possible?" Ji muttered as he saw this. He tightened his teeth and widened his eyes as he put more force into thrusting the dagger into Yami's chest but Yami was still holding it between two fingers.
"How can a civilian kid do this?" Enko asked in a stupor. Kana and Santo had also opened their eyes by now and were watching what was happening. Santo was sure that even if he had a sword, he wouldn't be able to stop the dagger with his sword without exerting his full power.
"I knew you were no ordinary kid when my people couldn't find a single thing about you." the old man said. This distracted Ji a little and the force that he had applied on the dagger lessened a little. Yami took advantage of the situation and twisted his fingers.
CLINK..!!!
The blade broke from where Yami's fingers were. Ji's eyes widened as he saw that. The next second he saw Yami flick that piece of the broken dagger at his face.
Ji being a strong shinobi himself tried his best to dodge the incoming blade and titled his head but it was already a little late as the blade got thrust into Ji's right eye.
ARGHHHH
Ji screamed and quickly jumped back as he held his eye. The broken piece of the dagger was still in his eye. Everyone didn't understand what just happened right now. When they thought that they couldn't be more surprised, they were proven wrong when they saw Yami.
His eyes weren't blue like they normally were. The color of his eyes had changed into something that everyone present here had heard in the past weeks and had grown to fear now.
"H-His eyes t-they turned R-red" Kana muttered as everyone saw the activated Sharingan.
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