Why? Why did they have to push her to her death time and time again? She, Kanon Uchiha, had never betrayed Konoha. Why did the higher-ups try to kill her over and over?
Kanon asked herself these questions relentlessly in her heart. Watching Konohagakure recede further into the distance while the landscape grew unfamiliar, she felt a wave of exhaustion wash over her.
With a grim resolve, she channeled her chakra into the Multi Shadow Clone Technique. In an instant, dozens of shadow clones appeared, their hands already weaving signs.
The lead Anbu ninja, recognizing the hand seals, screamed to his subordinates:
"Watch out! Get back!"
But it was too late.
"Fire Release: Majestic Destroyer Flame!"
A terrifying wall of fire incinerated everything behind her. After unleashing the jutsu, Kanon gasped for air, blood trickling steadily from the corner of her mouth. That specific technique was a massive drain on her chakra; in a single burst, it had wiped out the dozens of Anbu pursuing her.
"I only wanted to survive the night of the massacre... Why? Is my very existence a sin?"
Sensing movement in the surrounding brush, Kanon's hollow eyes gradually filled with murderous intent.
"WHY!!!"
"Eight Inner Gates: Third Gate! The Gate of Life, Open!"
Radiating green chakra, Kanon shattered the ground beneath her feet and lunged toward the thicket. In a flash, she crushed the mask of an Anbu ninja lying in ambush.
The sheer, terrifying force pulverized his skull. As a Rasengan detonated in her other hand, a violent explosion rocked the entire forest. Yet, because the output was too great, the massive recoil sent Kanon's small frame flying backward.
On this path alone, she had already killed nearly thirty Anbu. But those sent to execute her were endless, and she was now on the verge of total collapse.
Kanon bit her lip, watching five more Anbu close in. Her hands flew through signs, but just as she neared the final seal, the ground exploded. An Anbu ninja burst forth from the earth!
The sudden strike caused Kanon's pupils to contract. She was too exhausted; she hadn't sensed someone using the Headhunter Jutsu right beneath her.
The punch connected squarely with her jaw. The blow was so heavy it sent her spiraling through the air, her body smashing through a massive tree.
Kanon spat out a large spray of blood, several shattered teeth falling with it. A wave of vertigo flooded her mind, leaving her limbs numb.
"I... I..."
I can't fall here. If I fall now, I'll really die... I'll die at the hands of the village I once trusted most...
Her heart was a vortex of endless sorrow and rage. She couldn't understand why destiny treated her this way, or why she had to endure such agony.
"No... I have to stand up..."
Her body trembling, Kanon dragged her battered, blood-soaked frame halfway to her feet, only to see a "rainstorm" of shuriken descending from the sky.
Dozens of blades pierced her back in an instant. The soul-crushing pain forced a harrowing scream from her lungs.
"AAAGHHH!"
As the metal tore through her flesh, the blood overflowing from her mouth gushed like a fountain. She looked back despairingly at her tattered Uchiha trench coat and her back bristling with shuriken. A sense of utter hopelessness rose within her.
Facing this certain-death scenario, the Anbu ninjas watched the Uchiha girl. Their eyes were cold. As Anbu, they would never show mercy to a target, but the Sharingan had to be recovered. They slowed their pace, waiting for the girl to draw her final breath before they moved in to harvest her eyes.
Kanon looked weakly toward her own back. She looked like a hedgehog now, her back a gory mess of shredded meat. Even the slightest twitch sent agonizing, heart-piercing pain through her nerves.
Yet, at this moment, Kanon felt neither joy nor sorrow. Her eyes were empty. In this hour of total despair, she actually smiled.
It was a smile of release, of letting go. From age six to eleven, she had fought to live. Only today did she realize how foolish her past self had been. She thought that by escaping the Masked Man and returning to the village, she could avoid her fate?
Team 7? Everyone in Team 7 had gone after Gaara. Who would remember the Kanon Uchiha who was with them? Who would even worry if she had kept up?
She was alone and helpless in this forest outside the village. To survive, she had lived in the shadows, enduring subhuman pain... and she was only eleven.
"Kanon, you really are a fool... Why did you listen to those words?"
"Why did you choose to believe in Konoha one more time?"
Her voice trembled as she questioned herself. Tears flowed from her eyes, mixing with the blood on her cheeks. She scanned her surroundings with a weary, heavy gaze.
At least seventy Anbu ninjas had now completely encircled this section of the forest.
"To deploy so many people... you certainly think highly of me... Konoha..."
Looking at those seventy-plus shinobi, Kanon finally understood. Their presence was like a massive slap to the face, waking her from her dream of an "ideal flower field" and slamming her into this cruel, tragic reality.
It turned out that in this world, you could trust no one. Her world, along with that beautiful field, had shattered the day Itachi Uchiha massacred the clan.
Her own brother killed their kin; her own village had been watching her like a hawk, waiting for its chance. Even with the chaos currently gripping Konoha, they could still spare nearly a hundred Anbu to hunt her down. She was the fool.
Foolish enough to believe the village, to believe that everyone would protect her. As it turned out, the only person she could trust was herself!
As these thoughts crossed her mind, a katana pierced through her back with lightning speed. Cold steel went in; red steel came out. She watched as the blood-stained blade protruded from her stomach before being violently wrenched back out.
Kanon staggered, blood gushing from the gaping wound. She was kicked across the clearing. This time, she didn't resist. She simply bore witness to it all with hollow eyes.
"Onii-chan... I won't make it today..." Her voice was a mere shiver. Because she was lying on her back, the dozens of kunai embedded in her flesh sank even deeper.
Feeling her life force rapidly fading, she could no longer even maintain her Sharingan. An eleven-year-old girl, surrounded by seventy Anbu, and that was after she had already killed thirty.
The Root had sent nearly a hundred men to kill her. It was too much. It was too hopeless.
Gazing at the forest canopy, Kanon's vision blurred into emptiness. Everything was coming to an end. As blood continued to spill from her lips, she lost the strength to even prop herself up.
This was a long-premeditated assassination. Taking advantage of the chaos in Konoha, that man Danzo was finally cutting her down!
At this moment, through misty eyes, the corners of Kanon's mouth curled upward. Though she was crying, she wore a smile, a smile of ultimate release, born from total despair.
…
In the village, Kakashi finally voiced his growing unease to Might Guy.
"Guy! I'm worried about them."
"Leave things here to me, Kakashi. Go!"
"Alright, I'm counting on you, Guy!"
"Yeah! Let the Power of Youth explode!"
With a nod, Kakashi leaped out of the stadium, racing in the direction where Sasuke had gone.
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