At this moment, Sandayū entered the tent and witnessed the horrifying scene inside. His face paled, and he stumbled, barely able to stand.
"What... what could have done this?" Sandayū's voice trembled.
Kakashi, maintaining his composure, continued his methodical search of the tent.
Despite the shock threatening to overwhelm him, Sandayū's sense of duty compelled him to assist Kakashi. The silver-haired ninja picked up a frozen map book from the ground, its pages preserving the last moments of its use.
He handed the map book to Sandayū, who was so shocked he could barely speak. The last visible state of the map book showed signs of being roughly handled, and there was no way these chaotic marks were caused by human hands.
"This..." Sandayū muttered, his hands shaking as he examined the book.
Not only that, but Kakashi also found scattered matches all over the tent floor. It seemed that the sudden darkness in the tent had led the explorers to attempt lighting a kerosene lamp, but despite searching everywhere, Kakashi couldn't find one.
Where is it now?
It was also unlikely that someone took the lamp and the wind scattered the matches, as the matchbox was of a sliding type, which required someone to physically push the tray out for the matches to spill.
The only plausible explanation was that someone lit the lamp and took it away. Could someone still be alive?
Kakashi glanced at Sandayū, who was still staring at the map book, lost in grief. He debated whether to share his theory. He's already in so much pain. I can't give him false hope... not yet.
Suddenly, a rescue team member shouted, their voice high-pitched as if they had found something unusual. "Over here! You need to see this!"
Kakashi and Sandayū exchanged a quick glance before rushing out of the tent. They found a group of rescue team members gathered around something in the snow, their sled dogs barking furiously.
Even Kakashi could now smell a pungent stench.
The stench came from something in the shape of a pentagram, built from snow, resembling a grave mound. Clearly, such a perfect pentagonal shape couldn't be natural, and from the way it was frozen solid, it appeared to have been built recently. Each point of the pentagram had a circular mark, as if something was buried beneath.
"What is this?" one team member asked, his voice a mix of awe and fear.
"Could it be a grave?" another chimed in.
"Did the exploration team dig this?"
"Was it for burying bodies?"
"But their bodies..." The team member didn't finish the sentence, but everyone understood. The bodies of the exploration team were exposed in the camp, not buried in this strange mound.
At this moment, Sandayū recalled that his brother had mentioned over the radio discovering twelve ancient biological specimens that would shock the world. However, after searching the camp, they had found no trace of those specimens.
Driven mad by the thought, Sandayū ordered, "Dig it up! Quickly, dig it up!"
The rescue team immediately began excavating the pentagram. The sound of shovels biting into the frozen ground filled the air, broken by grunts of exertion and nervous murmurs. As they dug deeper, they uncovered what was buried beneath.
It wasn't human remains, but five deformed, anemone-like creatures, one of which showed clear signs of being dissected. These five barrel-shaped monsters were buried vertically in the pentagram, as if they had been buried in an upright position, following some sort of heroic burial ceremony.
Gasps and murmurs rippled through the group. "Dear god," someone whispered, "what are these things?"
Upon seeing these specimens, Sandayū finally understood why his brother had been so excited, calling them a discovery that could shock the world. These creatures were beyond human comprehension, so bizarre and terrifying that even the wildest dreams couldn't have imagined such life forms.
This... this is what my brother was so excited about. A discovery to shock the world indeed.
But according to the radio message, there were twelve specimens in total, and only five were buried here. Where are the other seven?
Kakashi was equally shocked by the five strange specimens. He knelt beside one. Their appendages were thinner than a human arm—could they have been responsible for the dents in the iron plates?
"Could these have caused that damage?" he mused aloud. "And if so, how?"
Everyone stared at the five exposed specimens, speechless, as a deadly silence settled over the group.
At that moment, someone from the camp approached with a grim report. "We've... we've identified the remains," he said, his voice hollow. "Fifteen bodies in total. But... Yoshiro is not among them."
Hearing this, Sandayū's eyes widened in disbelief. "My brother... he's not...?"
Kakashi, deep in thought, wondered if Yoshiro was the one who lit the kerosene lamp and took it away. The possibility of survival, however slim, suddenly seemed real.
Sandayū sat alone on a wooden stool, smoking in the cold wind, while the rest of the rescue team busied themselves burying the recovered bodies. The sound of shovels hitting frozen earth and muffled sobs filled the air.
He was tormented.
It was obvious from the state of the camp that the exploration team hadn't fallen victim to an avalanche but had been attacked by something unknown. These unknown entities had a name—Sandayū still remembered his brother's last words over the radio: The Ancients.
Whether his brother had the right to name these ancient creatures as the first human to face them, or whether they were entities from a forgotten era of human history, the name seemed fitting to him.
But now, the question before him was whether to attempt rescuing his brother, who might still be alive. They hadn't found his brother's body, and Kakashi had discreetly mentioned the possibility that someone had taken the kerosene lamp. All signs pointed to the chance that his brother had survived the Ancients' attack.
But reason told him that even if the Ancients hadn't killed his brother, half a month of cold and hunger likely would have. Especially in an area still potentially dominated by the Ancients, keeping the rescue team here any longer was far too risky.
But what if he's still alive? What if he's out there, huddled in some corner, waiting for rescue?
If I leave now, I'll never forgive myself.
Kakashi, sensing Sandayū's inner turmoil, knew he was debating whether to abandon the rescue or continue searching for his possibly still-alive brother. This reminded Kakashi of his own past. He had been forced to watch his comrades die one by one—Obito, Rin...
The regret of not trying... it never goes away.
If there were even a sliver, a one-in-a-million chance to save a comrade, Kakashi would now go all out to try. Sandayū still had the chance to save his brother, even if it was a slim one. Kakashi felt that he shouldn't give up—at least not until they had no regrets.
Otherwise, Sandayū would be haunted by guilt for the rest of his life, just like he was now.
With this in mind, Kakashi approached Sandayū and said, "If you decide to continue the rescue, I will go with you. After all, you're my client, and fulfilling a client's request is a ninja's duty."
Hearing this, Sandayū looked at the somewhat small figure of Kakashi with tears in his eyes. "Kakashi..."
After a moment of silence, Sandayū stood. "Alright, I've decided to continue the rescue!"
Kakashi smiled under his mask, then glanced toward Nadare. "What about you, ninja of the Land of Snow?"
Nadare smiled slightly, a hint of challenge in his eyes. "If the Leaf ninja isn't afraid, then I have no reason to back down either."
---
What do you call Kakashi when he's freezing in the snow?
Kaka-shivers!