"?"
Eri froze for a moment, instinctively glancing at Hikari Uchiha.
Hikari tugged her gently, motioning for the girl to stay behind her, then looked up at the Grass ninja across from them. "And if she is?"
These Grass ninjas didn't seem like the sharpest kunai in the pouch.
Hikari's question was clearly rhetorical, but they took it at face value, their eyes widening as if they'd just struck gold.
"Whoa, she's really from the Uzumaki clan?"
"I knew it! That hair color's a dead giveaway. We've been stressing about all these wounded shinobi and how that woman can't keep up with healing them. Talk about luck! Hey, you, redhead—come here!"
Neither Hikari nor Eri budged.
The tall Grass ninja assumed they were just scared stiff. He swaggered forward a couple of steps, reaching out with a massive hand to grab Eri's shoulder while sneering at Hikari. "Get lost, black-haired brat, or I'll kill you!"
"…"
As the ninja's arm stretched toward them, Hikari let out a soft sigh. "Are you… always this brave?"
The moment she said "you," she moved.
Or rather, her leg did.
In a flash, she executed a high whip kick, her slender right leg slicing through the air with a sharp whistle. The force was explosive, completely disproportionate to her frame. The Grass ninja barely saw it coming before he was airborne, soaring over a dozen meters like he was riding a cloud, only to slam into a wall with a thunderous *crash*!
*Boom!*
The impact left a human-shaped dent in the wall. He rolled to the ground, blood gushing from his mouth, staining his chest red.
Only then did Hikari casually finish her sentence, as if there'd been no pause at all.
"…What just happened?!"
"Kenta!"
Hikari's kick was so fast that, to the Grass ninjas, it looked like their buddy Kenta had just flown out of nowhere.
One of them seemed to sense something was off and quietly slipped to the back of the group. The others, though, were bold—or foolish—enough to surround her, looking ready to throw down.
Hikari couldn't be bothered to talk anymore. With a flicker of movement, her body seemed to split into three or four afterimages. A few crisp, brutal whip kicks later, the remaining Grass ninjas were sent flying, each crumpling in a pool of their own blood, barely clinging to life.
Done with that, Hikari didn't even spare them a glance. She turned and grabbed Eri's hand. "Let's go. Ignore them. We're heading inside to check things out."
"Okay…" Eri nodded obediently, casting a blank glance at the fallen ninjas before taking Hikari's outstretched hand and following close behind.
"…"
Hikari glanced down, her expression twitching slightly.
Where the heck did Eri learn to hold hands like *that*, fingers interlocked all cozy-like?
But seeing Eri's innocent, clueless face, Hikari didn't say anything. She just pursed her lips and started walking toward the inner part of Grass Village.
As they moved, the crowd around them grew. Eyes of all kinds locked onto them—surprised, curious, greedy, lustful…
The Grass Village ninjas' gazes were like those of wild beasts in a forest, dripping with raw malice and unmasked desire, as if they wanted to devour the two girls with their stares alone. Compared to them, even Konoha's villagers, who constantly screamed about "killing the demon fox," seemed downright polite.
"Hey, who gave you permission to wander around the village like that?" Another voice cut in, blocking their path.
Hikari was fed up with these interruptions. She activated the Blood Coral Jewel, shaping a barrier just big enough to encase herself and Eri. Anyone who tried to get close was stopped cold by the translucent, pale shield.
"What the hell is that?"
"It's some kind of barrier… Wait, I get it! The redhead's an Uzumaki! That must be one of their special barrier techniques!"
"Is she here for that mother and daughter? Someone go tell the Elder!"
The commotion spread, but for now, no one else dared to block their way.
Ignoring the Grass ninjas' muttering, Hikari pulled Eri along, striding forward like she owned the place. They soon reached a building marked with a stone sign reading "Grass Village Hospital." As they turned into the corridor, the air grew thick with the stench of blood and disinfectant.
"Help! Someone, help! We need a healer!"
"Where's that Uzumaki woman? Get her over here!"
"Wait, she's still being used over there…"
As they spoke, a hospital bed was wheeled out from a room at the end of the corridor.
On it lay a red-haired woman, barely in her thirties, but looking like a withered husk of an elder. Her naked body was covered in bite marks, some so deep they'd torn through skin to reveal bloodless muscle tissue. She looked less like a person and more like a dried-out tree trunk hollowed by insects—a sight that was hard to stomach.
As the bed rolled down the corridor, several ninjas stumbled out of nearby rooms, moving like starving hyenas. They pounced on the woman, biting into her, sucking what little blood remained.
"Blood… Give me blood! This useless woman—where's her blood?!"
The "hyenas" roared in a frenzy, squeezing her neck to wring out the last drops from her carotid artery.
"Stop choking her—she's almost dead!"
"Dead?! With all these wounded, how dare she die?! Wait, doesn't she have a daughter? Bring her here! Her blood's gotta heal wounds too!"
"We've already sent someone to find her. Just hold on…"
"…"
Hikari stood in the corridor, holding Eri's hand, watching the scene in silence, at a loss for words.
She'd known this part of the story existed, but it was hard to imagine humans could be *this* vile. The scene before her could only be described as a living hell.
Suddenly, one of the "hyenas" noticed Eri.
After a brief moment of shock, their bloodshot eyes locked onto her, and they lunged, clearly intending to do to Eri what they'd done to the woman.
Hikari sighed again, a glint of killing intent flashing in her eyes. Words were useless with creatures who'd forfeited their humanity. The only language they'd understand was…
But in the same moment she decided to act, she felt Eri's grip on her hand tighten, her fingers trembling slightly.
Then, a clear, girlish voice echoed through the corridor, speaking in an ancient tongue, uttering the word Hikari had been thinking:
"Death!"