Logan remembered that orange.
Sasuke had given it to Momo back on the boat. The little girl hadn't wanted to eat it, so she drew a smiley face on it with a pen and kept it like a precious gift.
Sasuke had scoffed at the time, calling her childish.
Logan never thought he'd see it again.
Yet here it was, cradled in Xiao Tao's small, trembling hands—withered, brown, and misshapen, but still marked with that smile.
Sasuke's eyes turned red with fury. Without a word, he pulled out a kunai and strode toward the cage. With all his strength, he struck at the chains with his blade.
Clang—!
The metal rang out through the room, sharp and jarring.
The noise stirred the prisoners in their cages. One by one, they blinked awake. Yet not a single cry of surprise, no shouts of hope or fear. No one even looked up. They remained crouched, eyes cast downward, some shut tight, others fixed on the floor.
They didn't speak. They didn't move.
It was like watching trained animals.
Logan's heart ached. What kind of torment could break the human spirit like this?
"Sa…Sasuke…brother?"
Xiao Tao finally raised her head, her voice soft, hesitant, unsure if what she saw was real.
She blinked several times, her face filled with disbelief. She'd imagined this scene so many times in her dreams that now, when it was finally happening, it felt like another illusion.
"Star Platinum."
Logan summoned his Stand.
Star Platinum appeared and gripped the bars of the cage, tearing the metal apart like paper. Logan reached inside and gently lifted Xiao Tao out.
She was light—frighteningly light.
As Logan held her, he looked around, expecting the other prisoners to finally cry out, to beg for freedom.
But there was only silence.
No one moved. No eyes turned toward him.
They were afraid.
Afraid of what would happen if they were caught escaping.
Afraid that these cages were their only protection from something even worse.
Logan looked down at Xiao Tao. "Where's your mother?"
She hesitated, then raised her arm and pointed toward a far wall. Her hand trembled violently.
"Mom… they… they took her…"
Logan sent Aerosmith ahead to scout the location. The drone-like Stand hovered toward the indicated room. Inside, it detected six people.
Logan's expression turned grim.
Momo's mother had come to the Land of Water with her daughter to visit relatives. She was only in her mid-twenties—young, beautiful, graceful. A woman still in the bloom of youth.
And now she was alone in a room with six men.
The conclusion was obvious.
Logan turned and walked toward the room. Once there, he handed Xiao Tao into Sasuke's arms. "Cover her eyes."
Sasuke did so gently, holding her close.
Logan grabbed the doorknob, opened the door casually, and stepped inside.
There were six men in the room.
Xiao Tao's mother lay sprawled across a desk, completely naked. Her scalp was ravaged, her hair torn out in clumps, revealing blood-crusted wounds and exposed flesh.
A short man was on top of her.
Blood dripped from her lower body.
She stared blankly at the ceiling, unmoving.
Her pupils were dilated. Her gaze vacant.
Xiao Tao's mother was dead.
The door creaked, and the six men turned.
"Who the hell are you?" one of them barked, yanking his pants up. "Who let you in?!"
Logan didn't respond. He turned his head slightly. "Sasuke, wait outside. I'll handle this."
He stepped inside.
Closed the door.
Locked it.
"Hey, brat!" one of them shouted.
All six drew their kunai and short swords. They were Kirigakure shinobi—assistants to the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, assigned to oversee the processing facility.
Tonight, they'd decided to "entertain" themselves.
A man with a goatee sneered. "I don't know who you are, but you saw too much. Surrender now, and maybe we'll let you—"
Bang!
The goateed man's head exploded like a melon. Blood sprayed across the ceiling.
His body slumped to the floor without a sound.
The others froze.
Bang!
Another man, tall and thin, was hurled into the air. His chest collapsed inward, and his internal organs burst from his mouth before he even hit the ground.
Two dead.
"Bastard!!"
A bald ninja roared and charged forward, blade raised.
"ORA!"
Star Platinum met the sword with a single punch.
The blade shattered. The shards rebounded, slicing the ninja's throat wide open.
Another tried to escape by leaping to the ceiling, aiming for a sneak attack from behind.
Logan caught him mid-air by the wrist, activated Ripple Breathing, and swung him hard into the floor. Bones shattered. The man didn't move again.
Screams echoed from the room—but they didn't last.
Soon, only one remained.
The last man—a short, rat-like ninja—fell to his knees in terror. His weapon clattered to the floor as he groveled.
"S-sir! We were only following orders! I swear, I'll leave Kirigakure! I'll never come back! Please… please, let me live…"
He kowtowed so hard that his forehead split open and bled.
He had been the weakest among the six. That's why he was last in line. When Logan entered, he had been abusing a corpse.
Logan stood over him, silent for a moment. Then, in a cold voice, he asked:
"Would she still be alive… when it was your turn?"
"I—"
The man stammered, unable to find the answer that might save his life.
His blood dripped onto the floor.
"I… I don't know. I was high. I took some product from the Land of Waves. It was pure stuff. My head wasn't clear…"
"I see."
Logan raised a finger and pointed it at the man's forehead.
A warm ripple surged into the wound, and the skin quickly closed. The man's expression shifted from fear to hopeful relief.
But then he felt it.
The heat.
His brain boiled.
"Aaaah—!"
He screamed in agony as a steaming red-yellow fluid poured from his eyes, nose, and ears.
Plop.
His body collapsed.
Outside the door, Sasuke waited in silence, hearing the chaos and screams from within.
He wasn't worried.
Logan always came out on top.
The door creaked open.
The stench of blood filled the hallway.
Logan stood in the doorway, blocking Xiao Tao and Sasuke's view of the room. In his arms, he carried a covered body.
It was Xiao Tao's mother.
He had used a curtain to wrap her, concealing her battered body. Only her pale, lifeless face was visible.
Xiao Tao recognized her instantly.
Her cry of grief pierced the air like a blade.
Sasuke wrapped an arm around her shoulders, holding her as tightly as he could.
---
The Fourth Mizukage's secret to wealth was revealed: human trafficking.
Men were sold off as labor.
Women were treated as breeding stock.
Children—those with potential—were taken in and raised as tools, assassins, and war machines.
In this twisted economy, people were more valuable than gold.
Sasuke stared at the cages, fists clenched.
Xiao Tao had been saved.
But her mother had died.
The injustice burned inside him like fire.
They couldn't just walk away.
Yet… what else could they do?
Report it?
To whom? The authorities who allowed this?
Kirigakure itself was running the operation. Reporting it would be suicide.
Sasuke felt that suffocating helplessness again—trapped between rage and despair.
He hadn't felt this way since that night.
The night Itachi killed his parents.
That helplessness as the man he once loved as a brother walked toward him with a cold grin…
He had been powerless then.
And just like that night…
A hand landed gently on his head.
Logan.
Sasuke looked up, meeting his eyes.
"What are we going to do?" he asked.
But in truth, he already knew the answer.
"Open every cage," Logan said. "And destroy this place."
"What if they're too scared to leave?" Sasuke asked.
"We only save those who still have the courage to be saved," Logan replied.
Sasuke nodded. "And what if the Seven Ninja Swordsmen come for us?"
Logan looked down at the lifeless face of the woman in his arms.
His eyes were like steel.
"Then we kill them all."
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