A few days later, on the outskirts of the Land of Waves.
The Land of Waves had changed completely; those who had spoken with Devan a couple of days ago committed all kinds of crimes before either perishing themselves or being executed on the spot.
The recent news about people committing all sorts of crimes caused a dark and distrustful feeling to spread throughout the Land, and not only that, but as the days, hours, and minutes passed, their minds began to unravel.
Kakashi and Might Guy had arrived in this Land the previous night. Thanks to their high abilities to analyze their surroundings, they quickly understood the current situation. It was strange, to say the least; however, they stayed at an inn to spend the night and rest.
At that moment, in the morning, the newspaper was distributed for free, and Kakashi couldn't help but read the front page, which said:
"Bridge Builder Tazuna, Merchant Oliver, Student Juan, Mother Galindo… have been sentenced to the maximum penalty and an execution will take place in the center of the country at noon."
Kakashi saw more than ten faces on the front page of the newspaper, faces of people who would soon be executed. "Maximum penalty?" he whispered, genuinely confused by this news.
"Weren't capital punishments abolished in the Land of Waves more than a decade ago?" Kakashi wondered to himself, then calmly walked to the window to look outside.
Kakashi leaned against the window frame, observing the exterior with a calm face as he appeared relaxed; however, "The people here are very nervous. I can tell that most of them aren't sleeping well; they have dark circles under their eyes, and their faces are very gaunt."
Kakashi closed his single visible eye while thinking, then simply shook his head.
It hadn't been very complicated for elite ninjas like Guy and Kakashi to find traces of Anko and Devan in a nearby forest, and after a brief search, they concluded that Devan was in the Land of Waves, so they came to look for him.
"Hmmm…" the sound of Might Guy waking up caught the white-haired ninja's attention for a moment. "Kaka…" Guy rubbed his eyes while stretching his body. "Kakashi, we should start searching for Devan as soon as possible," Guy said between yawns.
"Hmph…" however, Kakashi simply made a sound difficult to understand with his mouth, turned halfway, and leaned against the window frame while observing his old friend.
"I mean, when we left, it started snowing in Konoha, but it's summer. Maybe it's something important," Guy composed himself, quickly stood up, and began to prepare to go out.
"I understand," Kakashi nodded.
On a neighborhood of the Land of Waves, the atmosphere was even more somber. It was a neighborhood a little far from the center, where people knew each other, and just a few weeks ago, they lived happily and peacefully.
But.
A few days earlier, a man and a woman had bought a large cabin with a garden surrounded by a three-meter wall, a beautiful and quite expensive property for those living there. At first, the children, women, and men looked at their new neighbors, a man named Devan, and a woman named Anko, with curiosity.
The woman, Anko, was extremely beautiful for many men in the neighborhood, and the man, Devan, thin, with long and slightly gaunt hair, gave a rather somber appearance. However, that woman was extremely submissive to the man, which surprised everyone.
Not many days passed, maybe one, two, or three; the people in the neighborhood didn't remember, but one night, a blood-curdling scream came from the residence that Devan and Anko had purchased. That scream carried with it a trail of sadness, pain, bewilderment, and was charged with other feelings that they could not describe.
The people of the neighborhood went out to see if something bad had happened. They gathered in a half-moon formation behind Devan's front door and knocked on it for an hour; however, no one came out. There was also a deep silence inside that residence, whose lights had not been turned on. There had only been a scream at that moment, the most terrifying scream they had ever heard.
"What the hell?"
"Devan, I think that was his name, he seemed quite calm when he arrived, and Anko, the woman's name, there was something strange about her, I don't remember…"
"Emotional Dependence!! I heard Dr. Robert from the center pronounce this… umm, How to say it?, technical words, I don't know, but he was referring to a person who depends on another. Miss Anko… seemed to have emotional dependence."
"No… it wasn't emotional dependence, I know that term, it was something else, different, You understand? It was… maybe madness."
"Madness?"
"Yes, madness. You know, something like a broken, fractured mind, something that doesn't function well…"
"That…"
At that moment, the people who had gathered in a half-moon around Devan's front door began to talk about their own speculations. However, they didn't dare to break down the door to find out what was happening.
At midnight, they simply left the front door, returning to their homes, hoping that whatever had caused that scream was nothing bad.
The next day, the people in the neighborhood woke up in a bad mood, downcast, unwilling to be kind. They fought with their spouses, argued with their wives, scolded their children, and their children threw tantrums or screamed.
Days passed, and the attitude of the people worsened by leaps and bounds. The arguments in the neighborhood's homes escalated to physical fights, death threats, and some children took knives and tried to vent their frustrations by stabbing their parents.
That morning, the neighborhood was particularly calm; however, a foul odor spread through the area. Kakashi and Guy arrived at that place after investigating a little, both reflecting expressions of disgust after noticing the smell.
However, they ignored all the houses in the neighborhood except one.
"According to the Land of Waves' mayor's records, this house was recently sold to a man named Axel, Axel Almeida," Guy said as he stopped at the front door of a residence.
Kakashi inspected the door, the surroundings; nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but, "This smell…" Kakashi nodded as if to confirm his own thoughts.
"Yes, I know. Reminds you a little of the past, Doesn't it?" Guy also nodded, confirming Kakashi's thoughts.
Guy let out a slight sigh before kicking the door with such force that it flew open. "After all, it doesn't seem like anyone is going to open the door. However, Could Devan be here?" Guy said, slightly smiling.