"You should have brought an army."
— Escanor, Seven Deadly Sins
--
Karin knelt beside her mother, holding her hand, whispering softly as she tried not to cry.
"I'm here, Mama… please stay… please…"
Otis stepped back, scanning the room.
Twenty-six kids. Fifteen teenagers. And a few adults — making it around fifty people in total.
Out of them, around nine were Uzumaki children and adults, including Karin and her mother. Others belonged to different clans; some he'd found in even worse conditions. Some had died in his arms, taking their last breath, their faces softening in relief… grateful to be saved, even if only at the very end.
Otis turned to his clone.
"Stay here. Protect them."
The clone raised an eyebrow. "Am I supposed to be the babysitter again?"
Otis ignored him and vanished through the window.
He swept through the village again.
Any ninja harming a family, a child, or an elder met the same fate — instant, clean, and quiet death. None of them ever got the chance to react.
Inside one abandoned shed, he found two more people — both dying.
One woman clutched his wrist as her final breath left her chest, smiling weakly.
"Thank… you…" she whispered, tears running down her cheeks.
She died in Otis's arms before he could speak.
He closed her eyes gently.
"Sleep."
He carried every survivor back to the safe house.
By the time the sky turned pale blue, Otis had swept almost the entire village.
The children were gathered, wrapped in blankets, staring at him with something between awe and disbelief.
His clone remained guarding everyone while Akari's breathing had steadied—barely—but she lived. The others were in better condition now, some even sitting up weakly.
Otis stood in the center of the room.
The doctor rushed toward him, almost eagerly, as if he were expecting praise or a reward.
"Y-you saw, right?" the doctor stammered. "I helped them. I did what I could. I—I'm useful. I can be useful to you, please—"
Otis looked at him, expression flat.
"…You experimented on them," he said quietly. "You broke children to test your poisons."
The doctor froze. "Wait—no! No, you don't understand—I was following orders! I—I had no choice—"
"You always have a choice."
The floor trembled under Otis's feet.
"W-wait—STOP! PLEASE! I CAN HELP YOU, I SWEAR—DON'T—!"
But the earth swallowed him whole.
His scream cut off mid-echo.
Silence followed.
Then—
noise.
Muffled at first, then growing. Footsteps. Dozens of them.
Otis's eyes narrowed. He moved to the window, fingers brushing the worn curtain aside just enough to see.
The street was already filling when Otis looked…and then it kept filling.
Dozens.
Then dozens more.
Grass-nin. Samurai retainers. Elite guards. Even civilians gripping whatever weapons they could find.
All of Kusagakure was outside his door.
(Pic)
Otis exhaled sharply through his nose.
"I knew this was going too smoothly," he muttered.
One of the captains stepped forward and shouted:
"WE KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE!
STEP OUT AND SURRENDER!"
Behind him, more voices erupted:
"FREAK!"
"KILL HIM!"
"HE STOLE OUR PROPERTY!"
"HE TOOK THE UZUMAKI!"
"MONSTER!"
Otis rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck.
The children huddled closer. Karin clutched her mother's hand and stared at the door, shaking.
Otis stood up straight.
"…Looks like sunrise came early."
He cracked his knuckles.
"Stay in the house," he told them.
"No matter what you hear."
Then he walked toward the door, his axe catching the dim light, eyes cold and bored.
The entire room watched him as he approached the entrance.
Outside, shinobi shadows shifted. Orders barked. More chakra signatures locked onto the house, tightening the circle.
His hand rested on the doorframe as his voice dropped:
"Let's see what Kusagakure is made of."
…
The door opened.
The entire Hidden Grass Village stood waiting — rooftops, alleys, streets, windows, even along the walls. More than two hundred shinobi, plus dozens of armed civilians, surrounded him in a complete ring. Blades drawn. Hands glowing with jutsu. Sweat dripping from palms.
Every eye was locked on the lone man stepping out of the doorway.
Otis walked forward slowly.
There was no fear on his face.
Not even tension.
Just that calm, tired expression of someone annoyed they had to wake up early.
The Grass Village commander screamed:
"ATTACK! KILL HIM AND RETRIEVE THE HOSTAGES!
The world exploded.
"Water Dragon!"
"Lightning Fang!"
"Wind Scythe!"
"Earth Spears!"
"Fire Torrent!"
More than fifty jutsu blasted toward Otis from every direction — elemental storms twisting together into a single catastrophic wave.
Otis spat on the ground when he saw the massive wave of jutsu coming.
"Tch. C-rank and B-rank? You guys are looking down on me."
Then Otis raised his shield, just… casually.
The first impacts hit.
Water slammed against the shield like iron.
Lightning crackled across the metal.
Fire roared and curled around its edges.
Wind blades shrieked, sparks flying as they scraped off.
Every attack deflected, the sound of impact ringing through the streets like metal colliding with metal. Sparks flew. Shockwaves burst outward. The buildings around them trembled.
Then Otis tapped his foot against the ground.
"Earth Release"
The soil beneath him erupted upward like a fortress rising from the depths.Thick slabs of earth curved around him into a dome, and another wall burst up behind him to shield the house, absorbing everything.
Flames washed over the dome, lightning sank harmlessly into the earth, wind blades shattered on impact.
A water wave split and flowed around it like a harmless stream.
The explosion shook the entire street.
Children inside the house screamed. Karin held her mother, Akari, tightly as the wooden walls trembled around them.
The barrage continued for nearly ten seconds... far longer than any sane shinobi needed. Smoke blanketed everything, thick as fog, blotting out the sky.
The Grass shinobi grinned through the smoke.
"No way he survived that."
"We hit him with everything!"
"Not even a Kage could"
When the smoke finally began to thin…
Standing there, not burned, not sliced, not wounded and not even a scorch mark on his cloak.
The earth dome around him cracked… then crumbled into dust.
As the last bit of smoke drifted off, the dust fell away completely, revealing Otis in full view.
He exhaled slowly.
"…That was cute."
The Grass shinobi stiffened.
Silence spread like a gasp across the crowd.
Then...
A sudden movement from the other side as dozens of Shadows landed on rooftops.
Then more.
And more.
Over seventy shinobi appeared behind the Grass forces, surrounding them from the outside.
--
Author's Note:
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