Hikari stopped three meters from the corpse.
The small body lay face-down on the ground, its skin ghastly pale, drenched in blood. A grim reminder of how cruel this world was.
What a shame this is Kirigakure.
He never wanted his future children to grow up in a village like this.
Exhaling slowly, Hikari stepped forward and flipped the body over. The girl was light—unnaturally light for a corpse.
The thought barely crossed his mind when—
Whoosh.
A bone-white finger, streaked with blood, shot through his throat like a silenced bullet.
Agony tore through his windpipe. Hikari's eyes bulged as he choked silently, hands clawing at the gaping hole. His terrified gaze locked onto the girl—now sitting up, her blood-smeared face eerily calm, one finger still raised.
Her gray eyes burned with killing intent, veins spiderwebbing around them like a demon's.
That's… the Byakugan?
Impossible…
He collapsed, twitching, as blood bubbled from his mouth.
"Ghk… cough—"
"What was that?"
The sound snapped the other two shinobi to attention. Kunai in hand, they turned toward the commotion.
"He's still alive!"
Amid the corpses, a fox-masked man crouched low, his voice eerily calm. His knee pressed subtly into Hikari's chest as he stared down at the dying man's bloodshot eyes behind an identical mask.
"You… she… ghhk—!"
Before Hikari could finish, slender fingers—hard as steel—dug into the wound in his throat. With a surgeon's precision, they hooked around the embedded bone fragment and yanked, ripping out shredded arteries and his trachea along with it. The mangled airway flopped loose, gurgling like a straw scraping the bottom of an empty cup.
Hikari convulsed violently, legs kicking dirt into mounds until, at last, he went still.
"A survivor? Lucky bastard."
The two ANBU in the distance barely glanced at the body—dressed in standard ANBU gear—before resuming their search, oblivious.
"You keep looking. I'll take him to the hospital."
"Tch. Since when are you so charitable? Trying to sneak off to see Naoko?"
"If we find the target, don't expect a cut of the credit."
They didn't even look back as they plunged their kunai into another corpse.
The 'Hikari' who stood silent spared a glance at the butchered remains of the Kaguya clansmen at their feet. Then, hoisting the body onto his shoulders, he turned and vanished into the mist.
The forest swallowed him whole. The sky, black as a shroud, churned with storm clouds, as if some cursed star had fallen to earth.
Disguised as Hikari, Kurui sprinted through the branches, the corpse on her back still warm, its blood seeping into her clothes. Her speed rivaled a speeding car, the trees blurring past her.
Huff… huff…
The weight drained her stamina, but this corpse was her ticket through the ANBU blockade.
In ten minutes, she'd dodged four patrols—thanks to the Byakugan's vision. She avoided jōnin squads entirely and bulldozed through chūnin teams when cornered. None dared stop an ANBU carrying a wounded comrade.
Miraculously, she broke through—not east toward the exit, but west, deep into Kirigakure itself.
Smart. The east is swarming with ANBU after Orochimaru's distraction.
Her body was in bad shape. Three near-fatal wounds (chest, skull, heart) had healed via the Shikotsumyaku's regeneration, but her chakra was running on fumes. Maintaining the Transformation Jutsu and Byakugan alone took everything she had. Without soldier pills, she'd have collapsed already.
Better to hide in the village than risk the eastern gauntlet.
She glanced at the cooling ANBU on her back.
This guy was sharp.
Even with a "corpse," he'd thrown a shuriken first to test it. Without the Shikotsumyaku's ability to manipulate her body—suppressing pain, staunching blood flow—she'd never have tricked him.
If all Kirigakure ANBU are like this… that's bad news.
Her finger bones itched as they regenerated.
Shikotsumyaku: Ten-Finger Drilling Bullets.
A technique that fired finger bones like high-velocity rounds—so fast even Gaara's Absolute Defense had barely blocked it in the manga.
This was her first time using it. She'd lured him in close, unsure of its speed.
Result? Devastating.
The projectile was nearly invisible even to her Byakugan. Combined with its instant activation and her 360° vision, it was like having wallhacks and aimbot in an FPS game.
No wind-up. No reaction time. Just death.
Thud.
She kicked off a tree trunk, landing softly to wait as a six-man squad passed a kilometer ahead.
Byakugan. Shikotsumyaku.
For all the hell of being hunted by one of the Five Great Villages, this body's gifts gave her a fighting chance.
Kirigakure Hospital
"Move! Clear the way!"
Nurses shoved gurneys through crowded halls. The night's battle between ANBU and the Kaguya had flooded the hospital with wounded—some screaming, others already silent.
"Doctor! Over here!"
A masked ANBU burst in, carrying a comrade. Medics rushed over.
"This man… Are you family?"
"No. Same squad. Don't know his name."
"He's gone. Normally, we'd notify next of kin, but…" The nurse gestured at the chaos.
"I'll do it. Just need his address."
"All shinobi who've been here have records. I'll… check." The middle-aged nurse, flustered by the ANBU's handsome face (now unmasked), worked faster than usual.
"Got it! Hoshino Genkū. Married. Wife: Amasaka Naoko. Address…"
"Thank you, ma'am."
The 'ANBU' flashed a bright smile, his fitted uniform only adding to his charm.
"Anytime!" The nurse blushed.
Amasaka Residence
"Shh… Daddy's on a mission, baby."
Naoko, her black hair framing soft cheeks, rubbed her rounded belly on the couch. A faint worry creased her face.
Married to Hoshino Genkū for a year, she was weeks from motherhood. Every ANBU mission filled her with dread.
He always talks of leaving Kiri, buying a big house…
But she didn't care about that.
Just come home safe. That's enough.
She'd decided—once he returned, she'd force him to quit ANBU. Even if it meant a fight.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
"Genkū? Back so soon?"
Wary, she waddled to the door. "Who's there?"
"Naoko. It's me."
Her tension melted. Smiling, she opened the door—
—to a bloodstained 'Genkū,' his eyes hollow, his expression frozen.
"Why are you staring like that? Creep."
She giggled as he stepped inside, locked the door, and pulled her into a crushing embrace.
"Ew! You reek!"
She playfully swatted him but hugged back tighter, nuzzling his shoulder.
Then—
Squelch.
Naoko's smile died.
She looked down.
A bone spear had impaled her torso, painting her nightgown crimson. Her dazed eyes met her husband's blank stare.
"Y-You're not…"
A hand gripped her skull.
The bone twisted inside her, shredding organs.
She kicked weakly as her vision faded…
Drip. Drip.
Blood slid off the bone.
The 'Genkū' confirmed her death, then dispelled the Transformation Jutsu.
In a swirl of smoke, a blood-soaked girl—bone spikes jutting from her ribs—stood holding Naoko's corpse, her gray eyes unreadable.
She laid the body down, retracting the bones as her skin stitched itself shut.
Kurui exhaled heavily.
I just wanted to knock her out…
But Naoko's chakra reserves dwarfed hers—near-jōnin level. In her weakened state, a fair fight would've been suicide.
The living room lights glared over the blood-soaked rug.
Kurui stared at her own filth-caked body.
Not a psychopath. Just surviving.
Three kills in one night—one a pregnant woman—left her numb.
But Kirigakure wouldn't spare a Kaguya child.
Dragging Naoko to the bathroom, she left a smeared trail on the tiles.
With Orochimaru's chaos and the ANBU busy… they won't track me tonight.
Finally—rest.
She peeled off her blood-crusted clothes, stepped into the shower, and let the water run.