Inside the Inspection Room on the second underground level, the heavy stench of blood completely overwhelmed the pungent smell of formaldehyde.
More than twenty children sat sprawled across the metal floor, which was smeared with viscous blood, gasping for air. Their little hands, cheeks, and tattered clothes were covered in dark red gore. In their midst, Homura Hyuga, once so arrogantly untouchable, had become a mangled pile of flesh. Even the white kimono symbolizing his Main House status had been ripped into strips.
The exhaustion after their outburst washed over them, and several of the younger girls began to sob softly.
Hyuga Xiao's military boots made sticky sounds as he stepped through the pool of blood. He stopped before the pile of meat and glanced down at it from above, the azure starlight in his Tenseigan looking especially cold beneath the dim red light.
"Why are you crying?" Xiao's voice was not loud, yet it clearly reached every child's ears. "You just killed a member of the Main House. You killed an enemy who sold you off like livestock. Now, you're free."
The eight-year-old boy who had led the others in biting off Huomen's flesh raised his head. His blood-smeared face was still somewhat lost, but the timidity in his eyes had vanished completely. He gripped the chipped kunai in his hand tightly and stared fixedly at Xiao.
"Qiye." Xiao called out without turning around.
From the shadows, Qiye appeared soundlessly in an ANBU mask and dropped to one knee.
"Take them to this base's supply depot." Xiao pointed toward the depths of the corridor. "Since that old dog Danzo used this place as a transit station, there must be plenty of good stuff here. Explosive Tags, Soldier Provision Pills, medical scrolls, Chakra Metal—take everything you can carry. Destroy whatever