Ch. 10: // Heart

Pages 132-133

While Kakashi continued to crawl along in the ventilation duct, Ino reports to him about the intentions of the Tsuchikage. He has almost arrived at the opening of the ventilation duct at the pilothouse. In approximately two minutes, the executions are set to resume.

In addition to considering that, Kakashi must keep in mind the Aobiko that is loaded aboard the ship. Kakashi is thinking to himself, Damn it, where the heck did those guys stow the Aobiko?. And then Ino resumes communications with him:

Kakashi then jumps down from the opening of the ventilation duct. He soundlessly knocks out the enemy who is watching over the pilothouse. Both of the pilots, who are astonished, turn around to look at what has transpired. With a finger to his mouth, Kakashi shushes them. He then introduces himself as a shinobi from Konoha. The pilots nodded. At the window in front of them, they can see a sea of grey clouds that extend around them. He tells them to calmly maintain the current altitude of the ship as much as possible. He tells them that even if the enemy orders them to lower the altitude, somehow the pilots should deceive them: No matter what, please maintain the current altitude!

The reason for Kakashis request is because of the Aobiko. If there truly is Aobiko stowed aboard the ship, the enemy probably wants to detonate it at Houzukijyou (Blood Prison). The enemy ought to have prepared ahead for that scenario. There are members of the Ryuuha Armament Alliance who are on alert on the ground. They will take advantage of the chaos, and then use that opportunity to extricate Garyo. Thus, they will probably attempt to drop the Aobiko from the sky, from above Houzukijyou. In other words, in order to raise their accuracy rate of success, they must lower the altitude of the ship by any means.

Pages 134-135

Kakashi then hears a commotion from the direction of the dining room lounge. Its a woman screaming and crying for someone to please help! She says that her child has suffered from asthma since birth. Kakashi silently approaches the lounge, and hides next to a pillar. The child and lady have both been looking forward to boarding to Tobishachimaru, despite his condition.

She begs them : If they are to continue with executions, then please choose her next. In exchange, she wants for them to please save the boy. The mother is holding him in her arms.

Kakashi notices that the boy is the same person whom Guy had saved from almost being crushed by the piano. (=If you remember this minor detail from the beginning of Chapter 7: [Frozen Lightning]~)

Since Kahyo had created a hole in the hull of the ship, the onboard atmospheric pressure had suddenly dropped. The air had thinnedKakashi then understood: that was the cause of the asthma attack and spasms.

Kakashi scans his surroundings in every direction. It seems from the previous commotion, about one-third of the passengers were ejected from the ship. There should be twelve enemies, but now they have decreased to only seven personnel. Kakashi had just knocked out another enemy a little while ago. If that guy wakes up, then there are eight enemies (the one who was guarding the pilothouse).

The mother is frantically appealing to the enemies . From the previous disturbance, the boys medicine was lost. At this rate, the boy will not be able to breathe anymore. He will die! Rahyo exhibits no emotions, and has cold eyes. He only looks down upon the mother and child. The mother continues to plead with him. However, Rahyo declares that they cannot land the ship just for the sake of that brat. He asks her if they are from the Wave Country, and what her occupation is. She responds that her husband is a doctor. Rahyos face then sparkles with cruel delight, repeating her answer.

Rahyo says that his nephew died because he was abandoned by the doctors of the Wave Country. He tells her to look at the woman standing nearby. Its Rahyos younger sister, Kahyo. He tells her thatits Kahyos child who had passed away. The mothers eyes are welling up with tears, and looks at Kahyo. Kahyo lowers her face downwards.

Rahyo laughs, and says that this will also be a form of retribution. Except this time, it will be their child who will be abandoned. Rahyo boisterously laughs, such that it hurts Kakashis ears. Kakashi then fixes his half-opened eyes back at Kahyo.

Pages 136-137

Kahyo didnt budge. Since she wasnt wearing her mask, her long and curly hair had cast a deep shadow over her face. Before stepping out from the shadows of the pillar, Kakashi looked outside the window. He recognized the shadow of the bird that had passed by.

[T/N]

Pages 138-139

Rahyo becomes miffed at Kahyo because she took Kakashis words personally. She interrupts him and tells him to shut up anyway, as its not their objective to indiscriminately massacre people. She then peers into Kakashis eyes. She tells him that there is nothing he can do anymore.

Kakashi carefully kneads chakra. He asks Kahyo since when did she apply her jutsu on him? She responds that she did it when they first met. In order to board the Tobishachimaru, she was racing towards the platform, hiking up the hem of her long blue dress. ..Kakashi surmises that since he caught her when she had stumbled, Kahyo meant for him to fall into her trick.

Kahyo then approaches the mother and child. The mother was about to nod, and held up her son with her arms. At that moment, Kakashi saw Kahyo reflected in his eyes, who was embracing the child as if he was her own. Seeing her face in profile, he looks at Kahyos sorrowful face. The young boy is gasping for breath. Kahyo swung her arm, and created a crack in the ice that had stopped up the hole in the hull of the ship. Its enough for one person to pass through. Since the onboard air pressure is the same as the atmospheric pressure outside, no one is getting sucked out of the ship.

As a cold wind blows inwards, Sai approaches the ship while riding on the back of a giant bird made from Choujyu Giga (Super Beast Imitation Drawing). Sai had assumed an offensive posture, preparing himself in order to attack at any moment if needed. While holding out the boy, Kahyo addresses him: if she sees Sai again, she will kill a hostage. Sai expressionlessly stares back at Kahyo. He leans forward to silently collect the boy.

Kahyo then turns back towards the mother, and addresses her. She tells the woman that she can go with her son. The mother is crying with tears streaming down her face, repeating Thank you over and over. She takes Sais outstretched hand, and heads out of the ship. However, there is discontent and grumbling among the passengers who are left behind onboard the ship in the lounge. One is yelling that this exception is unfair to them.

Pages 140-141

The man is angry that the mother and child are getting preferential treatment. He scoffs that he ought to have brought onboard an ill child as well, then. Kahyo then blocks off the crack again with ice. Kahyo declares that its time for another execution anyway. She freezes the man who had complained. Afterwards, no one dared to open his or her mouth anymore.

Pages 142-143

Pages 144-145

Pages 146-147

//End Translation

//End Chapter 10