"Bitch! Trying to escape? What did our Kusagakure ever do to you?"
"Kill her! This ungrateful bitch deserves to die!"
The night was thick with shouting. Inside a dim, mud-floored tent, several Kusagakure shinobi surrounded a trembling woman — her thin, red hair tangled and her eyes hollow from exhaustion.
A kick struck her ribs, the impact lifting her frail body off the ground. Uzumaki Kana's forehead smashed into the stone slab beneath her. Blood ran down her face in thin, trembling streams.
But the Kusa ninja weren't satisfied. Another kick landed, this one into her abdomen, hard enough to force the air from her lungs. Her body curled inward from the shock, trembling violently.
"Kill her! Kill her!"
The Kusa ninja howled as though punishing a traitor would somehow feed their egos. Their faces were ugly with cruelty.
Then the Leader of Kusagakure stepped forward. His sandals squelched in the mud as he planted one foot on Kana's head, pressing his full weight down until her face ground against the stone.
"You and your daughter came to Kusagakure for help." he hissed, voice cold with self-righteousness. "We took you in. We fed you. We clothed you. We gave you shelter! And this is how you repay us?!"
Beneath his heel, Kana made no sound. Her thin arms curled over her chest protectively, the skin covered in old bite marks and bruises — evidence of the countless times her blood had been harvested.
She dared not resist.
Because a few meters away, hidden beneath a wooden table, a small girl watched — Uzumaki Karin.
The child's tiny hands covered her mouth, her eyes wide and wet with terror. If her mother fought back, the men would hurt her next.
Kana's body shivered once, then stilled. For her daughter's sake, she could only endure.
"Ungrateful woman!" The leader's voice rose, thick with mockery. "What did our village ever do to you, hmm?"
He pressed harder. Blood seeped from her scalp, staining the dirt crimson. His expression twisted into something cruelly amused.
"You tried to run away? Hah. You think you'll find a better life outside? Tell me, where were you planning to go?"
He paused, then sneered, his grin widening.
"Don't tell me… the Land of Fire?"
He chuckled, and the sound was sharp as glass. "The Land of Fire, the great ally of the old Land of Whirlpools. When your people were wiped out, Konoha just watched. Do you think they'll welcome you now?"
The words stabbed deeper than any kunai.
Konoha. Ally. Abandonment.
Each syllable fell like a hammer. Kana's eyes lost their light, her trembling slowing. Her chest rose and fell in shallow breaths as despair filled the spaces where hope had lived.
'He's right… When our homeland burned, no one came. Why would they now?'
The leader saw the change in her eyes — the dying spark — and laughed, savoring it.
But before his boot could grind down again, a Kusagakure shinobi burst through the tent flap, face pale.
"Leader! It's bad! The village is under attack!"
The leader froze. "What?"
The others blinked, confused.
"Attacked? Who would dare attack us?"
Kusagakure was small but armed, its shinobi spread across key routes of the Land of Grass. They supplied missing-nin, negotiated black-market trades, and had survived countless skirmishes between greater powers. No one attacked them.
"Are you sure?"
The messenger's voice cracked. "Yes! There's—there's fire! The outer gate—"
*Boom!!!*
A deafening explosion shook the ground beneath their feet. The shockwave sent dust cascading from the tent's rafters. The air outside turned orange, flickering with rising flames.
"What—what was that?!"
The leader staggered to the tent opening. His eyes widened in disbelief. The front gate of Kusagakure was engulfed in a wall of fire, the wooden beams collapsing in molten chunks.
"F–Fire-style?!" someone gasped.
No one answered.
The blast was followed by the echo of metal against metal, the distant roars of combat. Screams.
"Who dares—?"
Before the leader could finish, dark silhouettes emerged through the haze of fire and smoke. Dozens of figures advanced with precision, black-brown uniforms cutting sharp against the light.
Then the Kusa ninja saw their eyes — red, burning, spinning.
"Sh–Sharingan?!"
The newcomers' eyes glowed like a sea of scarlet lanterns in the dark.
At their head stood a young man with black hair, his expression calm but deadly.
"We are the Uchiha Peacekeeping Force." he said evenly. His voice carried across the square like the strike of a bell. "Where is your leader?"
Every Kusa ninja fell silent. Those who had been shouting moments ago now trembled, their bravado evaporating. The tent that had been filled with violence only seconds earlier now stank of fear.
The leader straightened, forcing himself to speak. "I am the Kusakage, leader of this village. We have no quarrel with the Uchiha. There must be some misunderstanding."
"Kusakage?" The man in front — Uchiha Shisui — tilted his head slightly, eyes narrowing. "A small hidden village dares call its leader a Kage?"
The leader's face flushed with anger.
The surrounding Kusa ninja exchanged uneasy looks, whispering. The title "Kage" was sacred, belonging only to the Five Great Nations. For Kusagakure to use it was an unspoken offense.
Still, pride warred with fear.
"This is Grass territory!" the leader barked. "As Konoha ninja, you've trespassed without permission! Are you trying to start a war?!"
Shisui didn't even glance at him. His eyes had already found what he was looking for — a red-haired woman, collapsed on the ground nearby.
He walked past the stammering leader, kneeling beside her.
Her body was covered in cuts, bruises, and dark stains. Blood matted her hair to her face.
He spoke softly, his voice cutting through the silence. "What is your name?"
"U–Uzumaki Kana…" she whispered.
Shisui's gaze sharpened.
Uzumaki.
So this was the woman the Hokage had ordered him to retrieve.
"We're from Konoha." Shisui said, his tone gentle. "We're here to bring you home."
He pointed to the swirl engraved on his forehead protector. "Will you come with us?"
"Konoha…"
Her dull eyes flickered faintly at the familiar symbol. Memories surfaced — Kushina's stories, the tales of allies who once stood beside the Uzumaki before the fall.
"Mm." She nodded weakly. "I have a daughter. Please… take her too."
"You can both come."
Shisui helped her to her feet. The moment his hand brushed her arm, he felt her trembling violently — bones too light, muscles too thin. His heart tightened.
The small girl hiding under the table peeked out. Seeing her mother standing, she ran forward, clutching her tightly.
"Mom!"
Kana knelt, holding her close, whispering words of comfort too soft to hear.
Shisui turned away for a moment, blinking hard. His throat felt strangely tight.
'For her daughter… she endured all this.'
Anger and admiration intertwined inside him. This, he thought, was the true duty of the Peacekeeping Force — not just punishing criminals, but protecting the helpless.
It was moments like these that gave meaning to the word justice.
But the peace lasted only seconds.
"Wait!" a voice roared from behind them. "That woman belongs to Kusagakure! You can't take her!"
The leader of Kusagakure lunged, kunai flashing.
Shisui's expression didn't change. "You tortured an Uzumaki and think you can still speak?"
His Sharingan spun, three-tomoe locking together into a seamless whirl.
A surge of power flooded the air — visible, tangible. Emerald light erupted around his body, forming a vast skeletal frame.
The leader of Kusagakure froze mid-step.
"W–What is that…?"
Susanoo.
The spectral warrior grew outward, ribs and arms forming from pure chakra. The kunai struck its chest with a metallic clang, throwing sparks — but leaving no mark.
"To stab Susanoo with a kunai," Shisui said quietly, "that's not bravery. That's stupidity."
The skeletal figure solidified, its armor taking shape — emerald plating rising over ghostly bones, its right arm forming into a massive, spiraling drill.
Shisui's eyes glowed. "This is for what you did to her."
The Susanoo's arm pulled back — and slammed down.
*Boom!!!*
The world seemed to tear open. The strike crushed half the square, throwing debris high into the air. The shockwave rattled every structure within sight.
When the dust cleared, half of Kusagakure was rubble.
Shisui exhaled once, his face unreadable. Then he turned to Kana and Karin. "Let's go."
He lifted the woman gently, chakra flaring as his body blurred into motion.
With a flicker of light, he vanished.
The Uchiha Peacekeeping Force followed in perfect formation, disappearing into the smoke.
The silence that followed was unbearable.
"Cough… cough…"
The surviving Kusa ninja stumbled through the haze. The once-bustling street lay in ruins.
"Where's the leader?" one shouted. "Find the leader!"
They tore through rubble with shaking hands.
Minutes later, a cry went up. "Found him!"
Several men dragged away broken beams, clearing a space — and froze.
Half a body.
From the waist down, nothing remained.
"It's over…" someone whispered. "The Leader is dead."
Another voice rose, panicked. "Quick! Go to the Daimyō!"
*****
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I am working on the following projects:
✓ Killed For 100 Years in Hueco Mundo, Aizen Invited Me To Soul Society!
✓ Naruto: Senmei Asahi
✓ Naruto: Uchiha's Intelligence Dealer
✓ Naruto: The Fifth Hokage Is Naruto's Uncle
✓ Naruto: Who Made Him a Ninja?
✓ Bleach: In My Second Reincarnation, I Became The Ninth Kenpachi
✓ To Love-Ru: Spoiler Route [R-18]
✓ Naruto: The Accidental Incubus [R-18]
✓ The Academy's Saint Is Too Popular, But He's Not the Protagonist [R-18]