There was one week left before Hanzo the Salamander gathered his forces and launched an all-out assault...
Training grounds in Amegakure
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"
Uchiha Chiba formed Hand Seals and leaped into the air, his cheeks puffed out. In the next instant, a massive fireball radiating waves of heat shot toward Katsuzuki of the Salamander on the ground.
"Water Release: Water Tornado!"
A deep-blue waterspout burst from the ground, sending dust scattering in every direction. It sucked up the rainwater from the sky, too.
The next second—
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle!!!!!!!
Mist billowed everywhere.
"Little Chiba, you still need more practice. Just call me Big Sis Katsuzuki, and I'll teach you this powerful Water Release technique. How does that sound?" Katsuzuki of the Salamander hummed. She seemed to have completely forgotten that the kid in front of her was only in his teens, yet had survived a fight against a Kage Level powerhouse.
"Seriously, do you even hear yourself? The Great Fireball Technique I used is a B-rank ninjutsu, while the Water Tornado you used is an A-rank one. Besides, that guy didn't teach me any ninjutsu. Even this sickle of mine was something I picked up in a hurry. How could I possibly compare?" Uchiha Chiba slowly descended, his black clothes fluttering in the wind.
Katsuzuki of the Salamander merely snorted.
"Is that my fault? You're the one who didn't go and learn. And what did my father ever do to you? He did teach you things, at least. What's wrong with calling him Master?" Katsuzuki of the Salamander looked at Chiba with exasperation.
Chiba: Where did this stubborn nut come from? Get him out of here!
Chiba paused.
He shook his head. "Maybe I just don't like that title very much."
Katsuzuki of the Salamander didn't press him. She simply gazed at the sky and said casually, "I wonder when this war will end. I want to visit the Land of Iron again. This is so boring~"
"What do you want to do in the Land of Iron? Pick a fight?"
"None of your business."
"By the way, why hasn't that little girl shown up today? It's almost evening." Katsuzuki of the Salamander rubbed her chin, her breasts rising and falling as she wondered aloud.
"I'll go check."
"I'm coming too."
Ever since Chiba and Katsuzuki returned from the place marked on the Root map, they'd trained at the training grounds every day. Konan, meanwhile, came to bring Chiba lunch every day at noon. First, she wanted to make sure Chiba had enough to eat. Second, she didn't want that bad woman to steal him away. During the first month after Chiba met Katsuzuki, the two of them were often gone all night. It had nearly turned little Konan into a yandere. If she hadn't known they were only going out to kill people, she probably would've gone dark right then and there...
Konoha Ninja: Wait, am I even a person? Am I even a person at all?!
About four hours earlier
In Amegakure
"Give me a steamed bun."
"Sure."
Little Konan took a bun from the steamer beside her, placed it in a paper bag, and handed it to the man in front of her. After paying, he disappeared into the bustling crowd.
"Konan... it's already noon. You don't have to work so hard," an old woman with graying hair said as she came out of the house behind Konan. Carrying an oil-paper umbrella, she walked up behind the girl and patted her head.
"It's okay, Grandma," Konan said with a smile.
"You kids have helped me so much. Yahiko is always helping me carry heavy things, and Nagato has even been learning to help me knead dough and things like that. I feel a little embarrassed," the old woman said with a smile.
"It's all right. If it weren't for those buns you gave us back then, we would've starved to death. We wouldn't have been able to live like this and have food to eat. Oh! Right, Grandma, can I have a meat bun?" Konan said, as if she'd suddenly remembered something. Her little canine teeth showed as she flashed a sweet smile.
The old woman nodded, then chuckled. "Ho ho ho~ Is it for your Chiba again? It's been quite a while now."
"Ah! Grandma!" Konan's cheeks turned bright red.
"Oh, my, I had a crush like that once, too~" The old woman smiled kindly.
At the doorway behind them
"Nagato, stop sleeping. Didn't we agree that when Chiba gets back today, we'd ask him to teach us how to extract chakra? Don't sleep through it." Yahiko shook the drowsy Nagato beside him.
"Sorry... I've been having nightmares these past few days, so I haven't been sleeping well," Nagato said quietly.
"What kind of nightmares?"
"Um... I keep seeing Chiba covered in wounds, with several bodies around him, and he looks really sad..."
As the two talked, Konan picked up the paper bag herself and set off.
The training grounds in Amegakure weren't inside the village. Because of Hanzo the Salamander's particular circumstances, he'd deliberately built them outside the village to prevent the poison from contaminating Amegakure. One reason was to avoid harming ordinary people, since the black Salamander Toxin was nothing like the ordinary purple poison. The other was that it made executing traitors easier...
Konan walked out of the village wearing a straw raincoat.
She'd walked this road countless times.
She knew exactly where every path led.
"I hope that bad woman doesn't try to seduce Chiba today. I hope that bad woman doesn't try to seduce Chiba..." Beneath Konan's sweet voice lurked an unsettling hint of obsession.
The rain grew heavier. This was far more rain than Amegakure usually got. Even with her straw raincoat, Konan couldn't help getting soaked, and her purple hair clung to her forehead.
"Ugh... I'm all wet. It's so uncomfortable." Konan sighed and looked ahead.
It was about another half hour away.
You had to understand—
Ninja could use chakra to increase their speed, but Konan was just an ordinary person—and a child, at that. She was bound to be very slow. Yet even though each round trip took nearly two hours, she never complained.
For Konan,
all that mattered was seeing the satisfied smile on Chiba's face when he ate...
A sudden commotion came from the forest.
"Could it be a wild boar or something? I'd better hurry." Konan frowned. There was a canyon near Amegakure, surrounded by trees. It wasn't as large as the Great Forest of the Land of Rain, but it was nearly half its size.
Wild boars often left tracks around here.
But Konan had never encountered one.
She glanced behind her.
There was nothing there.
Aside from the patter of rain hitting the ground and her raincoat, there wasn't a sound around her.
"Strange... It's so quiet? Chiba said that the quieter it is, the more suspicious it is... Could there be wolves?!" Konan shuddered at the thought of the packs of hungry wolves with gray fur and emerald-green eyes.
The next second—
Thud!!!
Five or six grown men appeared in front of Konan, surrounding her!
"Ah!" Konan screamed.
"She's one of the kids that Uchiha brat cares about. What was her name again? Doesn't matter," said a man wearing a smiley-face mask.
"Weren't there three of them?"
"The other two didn't come out today. This is the perfect chance while Hanzo isn't in the village. One will do, won't it? Heh heh heh."
Konan slowly lost consciousness.
In a puddle
A crushed meat bun lay blackened beyond recognition...
Before you continue