Kekkai's smile grew wider as he watched the eyes of the miners grow when he declares he was here to break them out.
"Really?! How many people are coming? How strong are they?" the youth, who was the leader of this group, asked in obvious excitement.
"Just me, I was clearing out nearby bandit camps and found that it was empty, when I tracked them down I found that they were gathering captives and transporting them elsewhere. So I followed them here, seeing that you guys aren't the most willing to stay, I'm here to secure safe passage for you to escape. As for my strength, I guess you could say I'm pretty strong." Kekkai lied as he walked out of the shadows, Not telling them about Hashiba who was on his way to find his companions.
"Just you alone? That's not exactly what I would call a rescue party. No offense, but we need to have a little more insurance " The buff man in the corner states calmly.
"My strength alone is more than enough to get all of you out, not to brag but I can wipe out your little ragtag group in as little as five minutes with minimal effort, I don't even need to use chakra to do so," Kekkai said matter of fact while shrugging his shoulders.
The man narrowed his eyes and snorted.
"Oh? You don't believe me?" asked Kekkai with a raised eyebrow, "In fact, I was being generous when I said five minutes, just two minutes would do. Trust me, I'm more than capable of doing so."
"We believe you, but what was that about them already knowing we were refining Chakra that you mentioned? How is that possible, we never used it in front of them before and kept it secret!" The bob-cut woman asked from the side, surprise and worry in her eyes.
"I hate to break it to you but yes, they know." Kekkai looked at them pitifully as he said this, "Although it's impressive that you guys actually managed to refine your Mental and Physical energies in limited conditions and even for thirty of you to do so. But you guys don't know what chakra is and what it can do, you're just fumbling and reaching out into the dark hoping not to trip. Although chakra is usually invisible to the naked eye if it's not in concentrated proportions you can easily sense it in your surroundings and people if you focus your senses. Although I don't know why they are allowing you guys to refine chakra that's a bad sign in my book, who taught you guys?" Kekkai asked and looked curiously at the crowd.
The crowd was silent for a moment before looking at the youth. He was also silent, his head down face dark, and was thinking deeply. Raising his head after he looked deeply at Kekai.
"I learned it two years ago from my sister, she had managed to steal a scroll about Chakra refinement and taught it to me. When I succeeded I taught everyone else in hopes that it would make our escape easier." He said with his face filled with worry.
"How did she manage to steal it?" Kekkai asked with a foreboding in his mind.
"Why the hell should we tell you?! I don't know why the hell we are just listening to this shady guy who popped out of nowhere. don't you guys think that he could be one of them? He was just sitting there waiting while the Black Demon, who is the strongest of those damn raiders just walked away, without doing a thing to help?" A voice sounded from the back of the crowd.
As the crowd parted, he saw a tall and thickly built middle-aged man with pale skin and clay-colored hair in the gap between the miners. As he stepped forward five other men joined him and glared at Kekkai.
"One of who? The bandits? Why the hell would I be here if I was one of them? And better yet, who the hell are you?" Kekkai asked.
"I don't need to tell you who I am, why didn't you attack the Black Demon when he was here? If you are here to rescue us, why did you only appear now!?" The big man demanded while pointing his blaming finger at Kekkai.
The miners looked at Kekkai, their gaze said they were wondering why he didn't take action as well.
"The reason I didn't attack was that I don't have any information about his strength and if I judge wrong, and cannot kill him in a single blow. Not only will it be impossible for me to bring you out, but close to everyone here will die from the aftermath of our battle." He slowly explained while looking around at them.
This dispersed their questioning gaze almost immediately, although they don't know if Kekkai is very strong, the Black Demon did know.
That monster is one of the reasons they tend to not fight back and riot against the guards and are gathering their strength to make a break for it when the man leaves on his weekly patrols.
They didn't want to risk the possibility of their death or escape attempt to go awry if their savior wanted to bite off more than he can chew and fought the Black Demon then and there.
"That's, umm," the man hesitated for a moment when he heard Kekkai explain that they could die from his intervention.
But for some reason, when the man looked over his shoulder to his companions and saw them hesitating as well before nodding encouraging to him. Seeing them signal to him, he gritted his teeth and began to argue with Kekkai again.
"Like hell, we will be so weak that just a small fight can kill us. Don't think I will accept that lazy excuse! You were just scared and wanted to pretend to be a ghost by standing by when we were being attacked!" He barked and pressed up to Kekkai.
"Who are you? And what are you doing here!? We want -" He demanded and tried to use his large frame as a threat to Kekkai and pressed up to him with his fat chest puffed up, only for him to come to a stop when he finally reached Kekkai.
/Was he always this big?/ He swallowed as he asked this in his mind, at first when he came forward he thought that his big frame could intimidate the newcomer like everyone else at first.
Sadly, he was mistaken in both his means and the person he wanted to intimidate.
When he pressed up to the tall cloaked figure, he found out that Kekkai was close to two heads taller than him when he sized him up. The physique under his coat spoke volumes as well as his arms were well-defined muscles that strained against his sleeves.
Kekkai was not a weak and scared little prisoner who was brought here against his will. And he was going to make him understand that as well.
When he picked up the courage to continue speaking, Kekkai put a heavy hand on his shoulder.
"Look, I don't have the time nor the energy to go into an argument. I didn't need to come here to save you, but I did, so even if you have some questions you had better wise up quickly! Because I don't think I like your tone." Kekkai said as lowered his head to the man, his gaze was cold and apathetic.
Cold sweat dripped down the man's face as he saw that cold look across Kekkai's face, but soon whatever fear he was feeling turned into embarrassment and then rage.
"Get the fuck off of me!" roared The man immediately began to pour his chakra out of his body in a wave of energy in an attempt to knock off the hand that was placed on his shoulder as well as its owner.
But the only thing that occurred when he made this attempt was a short current of air that shifted his cloak like a small wind breezing by.
Silence pervaded the air as the crowd looked at the man in embarrassment, Kekkai glare changed into a sad and pitying look at the embarrassed man before patting him on the shoulder and ignoring him completely.
"And that's an example of how much you guys don't know what you're doing at all. When you first refine energy like Chakra without having any training in how to suppress or conceal it. Anyone who can at least use Chakra to enhance their senses can notice your refinement almost immediately.
The samurai who just left is extremely powerful in his sensor ability, so for him to not say or do anything with you refining Chakra speaks volumes." Kekkai patiently explained to the youth as he looked at him again.
"My sister found a scroll explaining chakra refinement in the Barracks over a year ago. Ever since then, we get together in secret away from the guard's surveillance, and she taught me how to refine Chakra." The youth explained
"But why do they allow you to continue? If you have been refining Chakra for over a year then that makes it even more unlikely for you not to be caught a long time ago!" Kekkai pressed
"Maybe we were." The youth whispered with his head lowered.
"Maybe you were what?" He asked
The youth remained silent, ignoring his question while pondering deeply about something in his head.
After a few seconds of silence, Kekkai wasn't going to get anything else from the kid. So instead he decided to refocus on his original plan and hope that nothing goes wrong.
"Alright, so here's the plan," Kekkai motioned for everyone to step forward in order to explain.
"In order for me to release you all, I'm going to need to act quickly. In a 20 minutes when you guys leave here, I'm going to need you to be discreetly ready along with anybody that you can alert as soon as possible."
"When I create a signal I'm going to release explosions onto the main barracks and the main gate of the mine. While the bandits panic I will clear the way for your escape while holding off all the raiders who come from behind."
"Wait! You can't blow up the Barracks!" the youth exclaimed
"Why not?" Kekkai turned and asked him with a deep frown.
"Because, because!" the youth hesitated.
"Because his sister is one of the main priestesses of some kind of ceremony they are performing and is kept prisoner In the barracks at all times." the Bob-cut woman stated.