Night fell.
Mari Kuriu pushed a bundle of twigs into the fire. The faint embers caught and climbed along the edges of the wood until the flames once more brightened the campsite.
But her mind lingered on the memory of that girl earlier in the day, extinguishing fire with Ice Release.
"One day, I'll kill every last bloodline ninja. I swear it!"
She remembered her brother clutching her as she cried, their blue eyes blazing with the same unshakable hatred.
He commanded authority within the ANBU, while she rallied common-born shinobi against the clans. The Mizukage shared their vision, and together they crushed one bloodline clan after another.
Every bloodline ninja deserved death.
"Mari-nee."
A soft voice broke the silence from within the camp's only tent.
It was clean and delicate, pitched low so as not to wake the others, and it melted right into Mari Kuriu's heart.
"What is it?"
"I… I need to go to the bathroom."
Konome Taketori slipped out of the tent in only her thin underclothes, blindfold in place, groping her way like a lost kitten searching for its mother.
"Careful. I'll take you."
A glow of maternal tenderness spread across Mari Kuriu's face as she rushed over, gently holding Konome's soft arm and guiding her beyond the campsite.
She never noticed the girl's hand creeping up to her pale throat.
"Here, mind the stone "
Flash.
Mari Kuriu froze. A chilling sensation brushed across her neck, like a wet finger gliding over skin.
She touched her throat. Her hand came away slick.
Scarlet filled her palm.
"Ghhhk…"
Her severed trachea gurgled with blood. Mari staggered, eyes wide in disbelief at the silver-haired girl tilting her head ever so slightly.
Konome's porcelain face was colder than ice.
Her dainty hands dangled at her sides, each finger tipped with a sharpened spike of bone, droplets running down their length and falling into the dirt.
Her mind screamed the truth
Mari clutched her wound, trying to stagger away, but her legs gave out. She collapsed with a thud.
"Mari-nee! What happened?"
"What's going on?"
The three others burst awake at the sound of her fall and Konome's alarmed cry. They had stirred the moment Mari left with the girl, but finding nothing unusual, had feigned sleep.
"She she's over there!"
Konome pointed shakily. The others saw Mari writhing on the ground, hands clamped to her throat.
For a heartbeat they froze, then snapped to action.
"Protect Konome. Hanari, treat Mari-sensei!"
Anzhen barked orders.
Without being told, Qiu Cunxin pulled Konome behind him. Copper Mountain Hanari rushed to Mari's side, her palms glowing green with medical chakra.
"It's okay… it'll be okay…"
Her lips trembled as she pressed her hands to the wound, sealing the bleeding flesh. Under the power of Yang Release, the gash began to knit.
"Ghh… q-quick…"
Mari's pale face twisted, even a single word draining what strength she had left.
"You'll be fine, sensei. Trust me, I'll save you "
But then Hanari felt something burning beneath Mari's collar. She peeled it back
And froze.
Five explosive tags flared, already ignited.
Mari's eyes shrank to pinpricks. "Hanari… run!"
Her words tore from her throat like a final plea.
Hanari's green eyes went wide.
Boom!
Flames swallowed the night.
The blast shook the forest, shockwaves throwing Anzhen sprawling.
He scrambled up, staring at the smoking crater.
Charred meat and scraps of flesh were scattered across the ground.
"Mari-sensei… Hanari… no, no…"
His body shook, refusing to accept what he saw.
Without even facing an enemy, they were gone?
"This has to be a genjutsu… Qiu! Qiu !"
He spun around in panic.
But Qiu was already gone. Behind him stood a silver-haired girl, calm and expressionless, withdrawing a bone blade from his back. Blood poured down the weapon, soaking her white sleeve.
Qiu turned his head weakly, despair in his eyes as blood spilled from his mouth. He fell to the dirt.
"Konome? You? Why?"
The words choked in his throat.
Clang.
Anzhen's scythe slammed across, his eyes red with fury.
"Because… I am too weak."
Snap!
Konome caught the massive blade in her bare hand. Sparks spat from the friction between bone and steel.
Staring at the boy before her, she felt nothing. No hatred. No affection.
Just necessity.
They had a way to track her. Her chakra reserves were only chunin level nowhere near enough to sustain a long escape. Against Mari's squad and the two ANBU closing in, she would be outmatched.
So the only way forward was to cut their numbers.
It wasn't about love or hate.
Just survival.
Cruel? Perhaps. But
Mercy is the privilege of the strong. Cruelty is the weapon of the weak.
She tilted her head, slipping past Anzhen's desperate punch, and drove her bloody blade into his chest.
Clatter.
The scythe fell.
Anzhen staggered, clutching the bone spike in his heart, trembling against the pain and blood loss.
"You damned monster… why not kill me first…"
"Sorry, Anzhen. Of everyone, you were the least threat to me."
Slash.
She ripped the blade free, tearing his chest wide open. Blood sprayed across the ground.
Anzhen twitched once, then went still.
Wind stirred the flames, casting flickering shadows.
Konome stood amid the carnage, bloodied blade in hand, gazing toward the trees.
Two shadows dropped lightly to the ground.
ANBU masks gleamed in the firelight. Mist Crow sighed, rubbing his hair. "Looks like we're late."
"The traps slowed us down. I didn't want to spook her."
Blood Hound bristled, muscles swelling as he raised his blade, eyes locked on the pale girl before them.
"They didn't have to die. You came too soon."
Konome's blade carved a crimson line in the dirt as she raised it again.
The ANBU before her blurred into another night long past mist, blood, broken limbs, and a crippled boy crawling like a dog.
The memory and reality overlapped.
Full circle.
"Konome Taketori. That's my name."
"You don't intend to let us walk away, do you?"
Her lips curved in a humorless smile, colder than ice. "If you leave alive, Mari and the others will never rest in peace."
"Little miss, that's my line."
Mist Crow drew his kunai. Blood Hound hefted his great blade.
"If we don't take your head back, many more will find no peace."
The wind roared through the forest, stoking the fire into a blazing storm.
Three shadows stood locked in standoff, killing intent and blood scent filling the night.