Sakuya cracked open the door of the seamstress's shop and peered outside.
Indeed, the three other Chinoki men were in the street examining the corpses of their fallen comrades. She knew that she could take one of them if she put her mind to it, but to face the three at the same time she will have to use every trick she had learned in her previous career, instead of chakra and jutsu.
Going back into the shop she made sure everything was ready. Attached to her belt were two newly made pouches she had found, each containing a dozen or so chenille needles that had some type of really long thread or yarn firmly tied to their eye linking them in pairs. She wished she had access to wire for the plan to be better, but beggars can't be chooser. And in any case, these were going to be just a distraction so it didn't matter. In her sleeve was another smaller pouch that had small crewel needles in them. And finally, Touko had just finished filling the second bucket they had found with a mix of all the dyes of the shop.
The older woman wasn't convinced of the validity of the plan, but being a reincarnated soul gave her authority somehow. Sakuya knew that it was far fetched, and that, if she wasn't quick but steady, it could go horribly wrong. But she also knew that she had some advantages. First, since she was in the body of a five year old, the enemy would underestimate her a great deal. Second, the people of this world associated fighting with chakra and jutsu, and this type of multi-layered plan wouldn't cross their minds in a million years. Even Touko had agreed on this point; it was also the only reason she agreed to give it a try. And third, in the cover of the night her newly obtained Sharingan gave her the advantage of a clear vision which her opponents lacked. Hopefully they wouldn't notice until it was too late.
She looked at Touko and said, "Now all you need to do is go upstairs with the buckets, find the window overlooking the street and wait for my signal." Touko gulped, but she nodded anyway and started making her way towards the stairs leading to the first floor. When she was at the bottom she turned around and added, "Be careful. You gave Himiko-sama your word." And then she disappeared.
Sakuya made her way towards the door and gave Himiko's body a final look. Here goes nothing, she thought before stepping outside.
As soon as she was outside, three pairs of eyes snapped towards her. The street was abnormally empty and a new presence was quickly noticeable. She made a show of glaring at her opponents while discreetly scanning her surroundings. Thankfully, the streets of the Uchiha compound were always narrow and the lengths of thread she had on her would be enough to go from side to side multiple times. The shinobi facing her were also different from their first opponents. Clearly they were in their late teens instead of middle age. They might be skilled, since they made the cut for such an operation, but she knew experience was on her side. And she remembered that the Chinoki's strongest fighters were killed the last time they attacked the Uchiha. The ones left were the few who didn't participate in the first coup, like Homura, or the ones who would have been a liability. So she might be lucky and not have to face strong opponents. But she would still give these bastards her full attention.
One of them drew a kunai and rushed towards her but she skillfully dodged and gave him a fierce kick that sent him stumbling. The other two needed no encouragement to jump into action too. They had no qualms about ganging up on a little girl. And that was exactly what she wanted. She started leading the fight towards where she wanted, making it look like she was trying to attack them with her needles but failing, due to lack of experience. The small threads were hidden in the shadow of the night, as she kept attacking, and they kept dodging the fierce little demon she was. She also had to dodge their attacks and they had given her quite a few scratches, but so far neither party had landed a critical hit.
The Sharingan was also a great help. It was giving her a special awareness like she never had before, which helped with the intricate web of threads she was building. But it was also eating up at her chakra really fast and she knew she would have to be quick if she wanted to be able to execute her plan to its end. When the last chenille needle was thrown she stopped jumping around and gave her opponents a devious smile. They halted too, seeming a bit confused, but one of them had already started making the hand signs for a doton jutsu.
Too late.
The kunai that never left her left hand cut one the threads, and like a domino effect, the web started shifting in shapes forming ties and knots that trapped the three Chinoki in them. She knew that it wouldn't take them more than a few seconds to understand that they could just cut them with their kunai and free themselves but that was all she needed. Jumping in the air, so as to have a clear view of everyone, she took the crewel needles out of her sleeve and flung them expertly, each hitting the eye of one opponent, effectively blinding them. They all let out screams and groans and clutched their faces in pain, having freed their hands.
But it was not over yet. She screamed, "Now, Touko!"
She had made sure to drag them under the window where Touko was hiding and as soon as she gave the signal and got out of the way, two successive splashes were heard and the Chinoki were covered in dye. Highly flammable dye. That was all she needed to execute the signs for the katon jutsu she had yet to master. The three teens caught on fire instantaneously, and continued to burn even as she ran out of chakra, running around like headless chicken before falling to the ground.
Sakuya stood at a distance watching the flames burn into the night.
A hand came to rest on her shoulder after a while and she slowly looked up to see Touko standing beside her. The doors of the houses on the streets started opening, and slowly some women and children started to come out. Even out of the seamstresses shop came two women, one old and one that looked in her thirties.
So it's not they weren't here, it's just that they were hiding, she bitterly thought. But she didn't blame them. She knew that even if the Uchiha claimed to train all of their women, skilled ones like Himiko and to some extent Touko were exceptions. Most of the women didn't take the training seriously and left after doing the bare minimum. Himiko had told her that what had attracted Tajima to her was her exceptional fierceness and prowess in the battlefield. That's how she went from a regular clan member of civilian lineage to the wife of the clean head. So the women who chose to hide were actually helping by not becoming a liability. That still didn't explain why no patrol came to help. Did these idiots all leave their posts and run off to only god knows where, just to be part of the action? Just look at what it had cost them.
Everybody stood in silence watching the still burning flames. The scent of burnt flesh was heavy in the air but nobody made a move to leave. They all had their eyes fixed on the small silhouette of a bloody five year old girl, kunai in hand, fixing a blazing fire that wasn't dimming, her eyes blood red with a small black coma like pattern. The scene was mesmerizing, beautiful in its tragedy; they couldn't tear their eyes away.
Suddenly hurried footsteps were heard. Like the sound of an army rushing towards them. More and more voices kept coming their way. The newly arrived crowd stopped a few steps from where she was. Their loud murmurs started to quiet down when nobody made a move to explain what was happening to them.
A young voice came from behind her. "Sakuya?" It was Madara. He had split from the crowd and came to meet her. She finally turned her back to the flames, and faced him as well as the crowd. They were all back. The shinobi who went to fight the Senju. At the front stood Tajima, his second and third in command, as well as Izuna and Hikaku. Madara was of course right next to her, hand tightly clutching her elbow. They were all bloodied, dark blue and black mantles cut at different places and some looked in serious need of a doctor, but thankfully not the ones that mattered to her.
Tajima's Sharingan was active, expression tense but not betraying any of his feelings. She met his inquiring gaze with eyes that were equally red, clueing him, without words, on what had happened. From his pained expression, that went as quickly as it came, she knew he had understood.