"The Jashin cult, was it?"
The words hung in the warm, heavy air. The young man holding the wooden canteen stopped in his tracks. He turned around slowly. Confusion washed over his dirt-streaked face. He blinked several times, looking at Naruto with wide, innocent eyes.
"I do not know what you are talking about," the young man said. His voice trembled slightly. "What cult? I am just going to get water for my sister."
Naruto did not blink: He did not say another word. His right hand moved in a sudden, violent blur. He reached beneath his baggy brown tunic and gripped the hilt of his hidden Kanto blade. The steel flashed brightly under the moonlight as he drew the weapon. He stepped over the wooden bench and swung the blade downward in a single, brutal arc.
The blade cut clean through the unconscious girl's neck.
Her head detached from her shoulders instantly. It hit the wooden floorboards of the cart with a heavy, wet thud and rolled to a stop right next to Hideki's boots. A massive fountain of dark blood erupted from the severed stump, spraying across the side of the cart and soaking the luggage.
Hideki scrambled backward in pure terror. He slammed his back against the wooden siding of the wagon. He stared at the decapitated head resting near his feet, his eyes bulging out of his skull.
"What did you do!" Hideki screamed. His voice cracked, completely broken by the sheer horror of the sudden execution.
The older girl sitting nearby shrieked. The sound tore through the quiet camp. Her face twisted into a mask of absolute rage and devastating grief.
"My sister!" she yelled. "You monster!"
She lunged forward, throwing her hands out to grab Naruto by the throat.
Naruto did not even raise his blade to defend himself. He simply shifted his gaze. He gave Kinoe a single, cold glance.
Kinoe moved without a fraction of hesitation. The Root operative drew his standard tantō from his back and leaped onto the edge of the cart. The older girl did not even see the strike coming. Kinoe swung his short blade with perfect, lethal precision. The blade sliced through her neck cleanly. Her head flew off her shoulders and bounced off the wooden side of the cart. Her headless body collapsed onto the floorboards right next to her sister. Blood pooled rapidly around Hideki, soaking the bottom of his silk robes.
Itachi snapped.
The young Uchiha drew his short sword instantly and pointed the sharp tip directly at Naruto's chest. His dark eyes were wide with shock and fury.
"What are you guys doing!" Itachi yelled loudly. He was genuinely angered. He looked at the two headless bodies bleeding out in the cart. He had sworn a shinobi oath to protect civilians. He had agreed to let these wounded people travel with them, and his own teammates had just slaughtered them in cold blood.
Naruto stood perfectly still amidst the carnage. He pulled a small piece of cloth from his pocket and calmly wiped the thick blood from his Kanto blade.
"I thought you were smarter than that," Naruto said simply. His blue eyes locked onto Itachi. They were entirely cold and completely devoid of emotion.
A low chuckle started near the tree line.
The young man holding the canteen dropped the wooden container to the rocky ground. The chuckle grew louder. It quickly escalated into a full, chest-heaving laugh. It was a diabolical, hysterical sound that did not belong to a terrified civilian. The young man threw his head back and laughed at the dark sky, his shoulders shaking violently.
***
To understand the cold apathy in Naruto's eyes, one had to look back to the exact moment the three bleeding travelers had stumbled out of the heavy brush two nights ago.
When the bloody trio had first appeared on the dirt road, Itachi had immediately dropped his guard to help them. Hideki had fallen for the older girl's sweet words and desperate tears. Kinoe had remained neutral, waiting for his lord to issue an order. Naruto had seen something else entirely.
The exact second the three strangers had entered the fifty-yard radius of their hidden camp, the transparent blue screen of the system had flashed violently inside Naruto's mind. The sterile grid had turned bright red, bathing his vision in a digital warning.
[System Alert: Three Hostile Presences Detected.]
[Target Identification: Priests of the Cult of Jashin.]
[Warning: Extreme Danger. Targets possess anomalous vitality and dark chakra signatures.]
Naruto had known the absolute truth from the very beginning. He had known the missing arm was a self-inflicted wound designed purely to sell their desperate act. He had sat in the back of the cart for two entire days, silently watching the cultists play their twisted game. He had watched the older girl eye the leather briefcase containing the map to their strongholds. He had watched them expertly manipulate Hideki. He had watched them fool a certified genius of the Uchiha clan.
He had simply waited for the perfect moment to strike. He waited until they were deep inside the Hot Water Country, far away from any public roads or Anbu border patrols, to eliminate the immediate threats inside the cart.
***
Back in the present, the hysterical laughter continued to ring out across the rocky terrain.
Itachi stared at the young man. The realization hit the Uchiha prodigy like a physical blow to the stomach. He slowly lowered his short sword. He had been completely fooled. He had let enemy combatants sleep inside their defensive perimeter. He had allowed them to sit inches away from the very client they were sworn to protect. He gritted his teeth, intensely angry at his own foolishness and lack of perception.
The young man finally stopped laughing. He wiped a tear of mirth from his eye, leaving a streak of dirt across his pale face.
He raised his right hand and placed two fingers into his mouth. He blew hard. A massive, piercing whistle erupted from his lips. The shrill noise reverberated through the rocks, echoing far into the dark distance. It was a clear, undeniable signal to anyone waiting in the surrounding wilderness.
Hideki realized the absolute horror of the situation. The people he had pitied were actual monsters. The cultists had been riding in his cart the entire time, waiting for the right moment to slaughter them all. He clutched his leather briefcase and curled into a tight ball in the corner of the wagon. He was completely trapped. He was deep in enemy territory, and his only line of defense was three young boys. Panic completely consumed his mind. He began to hyperventilate.
"For the youngest, you are quite clever," the young man said. He looked directly at Naruto and grinned widely. His teeth looked unnaturally sharp in the pale moonlight. "You saw through our act completely. You are much sharper than the Uchiha kid. You did well."
The cultist spread his arms wide, welcoming the dark night. "Though, it is too late. In a few minutes, hundreds of armed mercenaries and my fellow cultists will surround this entire place. You have nowhere to run. Lord Jashin demands a massive sacrifice tonight."
Naruto did not react to the massive threat. He sheathed his Kanto blade slowly. His heart rate did not increase. He stood in the blood-soaked cart with perfect posture, completely unbothered by the promise of an approaching army.
A sickening, wet sound suddenly came from the floorboards.
Itachi snapped his head around. Hideki froze entirely, stopping his frantic breathing. Kinoe gripped his tantō tighter, stepping back defensively.
The severed head of the older girl twitched violently. Her dead eyes rolled back into her skull, then snapped forward to look directly at Itachi. Her pale lips curled into a massive, unnatural smile.
"He is smart indeed," the severed head spoke. The voice was raspy, wet, and heavily gurgling with thick blood.
The head of the youngest girl, resting near Hideki's boots, also began to move. Her jaw unhinged slightly, exposing bloody teeth. She started to giggle. The sound was high-pitched, echoing, and completely terrifying.
Hideki let out a whimpering sob and covered his ears. Itachi felt a terrible, freezing chill run straight down his spine. He had studied anatomy and lethal strikes for years. He had never seen a human survive a clean decapitation. This completely defied all logic, nature, and medical science. It was pure, twisted dark arts. Kinoe took a slow step backward, keeping his blade raised toward the laughing heads.
Only Naruto remained entirely unfazed. He looked down at the two severed heads laughing hysterically in the pool of blood. He wore the exact same detached, analytical expression he had worn for the last two days.