Chiya stood on the slope and watched for a long time.
Below at the harbor, the man had already been dragged away.
The woman knelt in the mud, crying herself hoarse. The people around her lowered their heads and walked around her; not one of them dared stop.
The Hidden Mist Village ninja ignored her as well, dragging the man into the wooden building behind the harbor.
Chiya lowered his straw hat and turned to head down the slope.
On the sea chart Zabuza had given him, there was a shallow knife mark beside Mist Tide Port. The place was not at the main entrance, but on the side of the harbor.
Chiya followed an old path around for a while and soon spotted a wooden bridge blackened by seawater.
Half the bridge had collapsed. Below it were jagged reefs and rotting mud, while several abandoned fish warehouses stood in the distance.
It was obvious no one had used this place in years.
He stepped onto the bridge, and it creaked.
The planks sank, and muddy water beneath them instantly welled up.
Chiya felt his way inward along the narrow path. Before long, he indeed found a gap in an old wall.
The gap was small, just wide enough for one person to bend over and squeeze through.
Chiya looked at the gap and could not help smiling.
Zabuza claimed he did not care, but he had given him a rather detailed route.
He bent over and crawled inside. The moment he entered, a heavy fishy stench hit him.
Looking inward, he saw a narrow alley.
Broken crates and fishing nets were piled along both sides, and the ground was covered in standing water. Voices drifted from the distance, kept low, mixed with the cries of children.
Chiya pressed himself