Tayuya

An hour later.

Ebisu, Genma, and the others returned.

A group of ragged, gaunt refugees followed behind them.

At the front were four equally frail, haggard women.

Each woman clutched a worn swaddling cloth tightly in her arms.

A group of children trailed behind them.

Even the oldest looked no more than five.

Most of the children kept their heads lowered, their little hands tightly gripping the adults' clothes beside them or each other's hands.

They appeared extremely cautious.

Their eyes held a mixture of fear, curiosity, and a faint glimmer of hope.

Guy's gaze swept over the crowd.

"Eighteen children, four women, four infants... twenty-six people in total."

He nodded slightly.

Ebisu, Genma, and the others had kept the number within the middle range Guy had requested.

The two of them had a good grasp of Guy's considerations.

If Obito had been the one choosing, given his personality, he would probably have gone straight for the full thirty.

As Guy looked over the newcomers, they were also secretly sizing him up.

The children were terribly nervous.

Their eyes held fear and curiosity, but also a yearning for "food" and "survival."

When Ebisu and the others had called for these children, their promise had been simple.

"Food."

In this despairing district, those two words possessed irresistible magic.

Not only for the children—the four women were the same.

Most of their eyes were filled with wariness and fear.

When Guy's gaze passed over one of the women, she instinctively turned sideways and tightened her hold on the swaddling cloth in her arms.

It seemed she did not want anyone to see the baby inside.

Kidomaru's mother noticed this and stepped forward.

She gently patted the woman's shoulder and comforted her in a low voice, "Don't worry. My lord... will take him