A desert bandit is peeing with a silly smile on his face when his vision suddenly darkened and his whole body wilted until he looked like a dried corpse. Well because he is. This is the result of his life essence being extracted from him. The nearby bush shook and became a black cat who swiftly snuck into the den of bandits.
No screams, no struggles, like nothing happened. Close to a hundred people who should apologize to the trees for wasting their byproduct got sent to kingdom come without a sound. What was left of the bandits are the women, children and their livestock.
These bandits sure are rich because they lived a very comfortable life in this mini village of theirs. Gaara stood before stacks of cash and jewelries that he estimated to be at least sixty million in value. Stealing from enemies is the true path of a sage. No... Vanquishing evil... something like that.
'By right of conquest I lay claim to these properties, consider yourselves gaining karma for doing something as good as donating to my cause. Now where do I go if I want to kidna... I mean SAVE, HELP some more unfortunate children?'
"Alright, Kusagakure here I come. Hehe Maybe I won't be bringing just children this time."
Gaara smiled as he boarded Tutubi and took off to a 'recruitment campaign' in Kusa where a mother daughter pair should be waiting to be rescued by him.
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"Mother please don't overexert yourself, there's no shortage of sick and injured people. If you got sick yourself then there'd be an even greater disruption to the already long list of appointment. Its not like the village is paying us that much anyway. Honestly, why don't we just move out and look for a new place to live in? Some place where no one knows about our ability. What do you say?"
A red haired girl asked her mother with worry in her face. She is matured for her age and knew how they have been taken advantage of by this village. She knew they'd never really make it out of this village smoothly, they are monitored by the authorities at all times.
They are used like a mobile hospital for injured shinobi. More than anything the village earned a sizable sum of money from managing their affairs. Money that they did not get to enjoy as they are paid in fixed amount akin to a modern day employee, a meager sum only enough to keep the mother-daughter pair well-fed and healthy-ish. Its nothing short of modern slavery in all actual facts.
"You know that is less likely to succeed my dear. We shouldn't have come here in the first place. I'm sorry Karin."
Karin's mother did not shed a tear even when she is sad and afraid of the fate waiting for her and her daughter. She thought about the curse of her clan and sighed deeply. There's only one fate waiting for those with special bloodlines in her view. Either be killed out of fear or be squeezed dry of the benefits they can provide before they are discarded as a dry corpse in some alley.
"Is there truly nothing we can do?"
*bang
"Oh believe me little girl, your mother can do many things. For me. Hehehe"
A fair-skinned balding and brawny guy barged into their house without warning. It was the guy called Zosui who was tasked by the village chief to monitor the mother and daughter pair. From the perverted look in his face, the bulge in his pants and the smiles of those thugs behind him they are not planning anything good for the two of them.
"Planning to escape now are we? Hehehe Good, good... We have deserters here hehehe. I've been itching to have a go at your mother for quite a long time now. Did you know that? Nice assist little lass, don't worry as a reward I brought my friends along for you to play house with. Now move along and your new daddy will talk to momma."
Karin was shocked, she didn't know that speaking casually as she did will lead to this situation.
'What have I done?'
"MOTHER! Ahhhhhhh HELPPPPPPP!"
"Hehehehe Go on... Scream... Its not like anyone will come to help the likes of you bitches. We run this place. Here, we are the law."
The thugs came in smiling maliciously as the balding guy dragged her mother to a room without much resistance. Perhaps there's no point in resisting and she completely surrendered to her fate. Tears ran down her cheeks without stopping. Karin grew hopeless with every torturous moment, a hand came close and she closed her eyes, then hearing her clothes being ripped and torn from her body. Somehow her mind drew a blank.
Then there were weird sounds, grunting noises, shocked gasps, and then there was silence on the background.
Karin slowly regained her wits after she waited for the assault that apparently did not come. Her arms still crossed to cover her head while her eyes are tightly shut. Her breathing grew ragged as she transitioned from hiccupping and sobbing.
'Huh?'
The silence that followed however gave her hope even when she feared for the evil men who are taking advantage of their weakness. She opened her eyes slowly and in front of her stood a very handsome Oniichan with long jet black hair, crimson eyes, and a neutral smile. On his outreached hand is red towel.
'Soooo handsome.'
'She is weak towards knights in shining armor who are saving the damsel in distress. Just like in the show. Pfft... girls and their fantasies... sigh*'
"I hope you're fine. Here, take it... cover yourself."
The Oniichan softly whispered with a gentle smile as Karin quickly grabbed the towel, her ears are all red after recalling that her clothes are torn by the evil men.
'Speaking of... where are the evil men?'
"Mom! Please sir save my mother."
Karin covered herself and crawled in front of Gaara to beg him to save her mother.
"Don't worry kid, your mother is safe, but she's asleep for now."
Gaara gestured towards the open bedroom and there laid Ayumi (1), Karin's mother. The little girl ran crying towards her mother who slightly regained consciousness from the rough treatment from her daughter.
"Karin I'm okay, please let me up."
Karin let go of her mother who grabbed the blanket to cover herself when she noticed that her clothes are torn. Her eyes never left the young man who is standing near the door with a smile.
"Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Gaara of the Hidden Sand Village. I was just passing by when I noticed the commotion. Do you guys need help in getting out of this village?"
Ayumi's eyes showed a little bit of reaction when she heard that Gaara came from the Hidden Sand.
"I'd like to thank you for saving us mother and daughter. If I may ask, did you kill Zosui?"
"The guy with Vegeta hairstyle? I mean... if you are talking about the guy who was about to... ummm... You know, well I did get rid of him. Is that a bad thing perhaps?"
Ayumi closed her eyes and sighed after looking at her daughter.
"This means that we can't stay in this village any longer. We however have nowhere else to go. The shinobi of this village will hunt us down even before we reach the border. I am sorry to further implicate a young man such as yourself after already saving us, but can you please bring my daughter away from this place? Please grant my selfish request."
She was about to kowtow when Gaara spoke to stop her.
"Please don't. If you are worried about the shinobi in this village hunting you down please look outside the window."
Some sort of machine in all white is parked outside. She didn't know what he is trying to say.
"Its a flying machine I used to move around. I can bring you anywhere you want or you can work for me. I trust you know how to take care of babies?"
Gaara looked at Karin as he spoke with expectation.
"That I can. We will be in your care Gaara-sama."
'Yesssserie, I love it when a good plan comes together. More or less.'
"Alright then let's leave this dump no need to pack, just bring the thing you can not part with."