Karin and Her Mother

Ninjas were assassins, killers, and a special kind of military force. Correspondingly, ninja villages were genuine institutions of violence.

Because ninjas varied enormously in strength, the strong naturally occupied greater resources. Simply put, the entire Naruto World was still governed by the law of the jungle, where the weak were prey to the strong.

This also meant that the management of every ninja village was exceedingly barbaric and backward. One reason Aoba did not leave Konoha was precisely this.

Konoha's atmosphere was, relatively speaking, the closest to that of a normal world. Beyond Konoha, especially in those smaller ninja villages, there was nothing but naked savagery and cruelty.

Kusagakure was one of them.

Not long after Aoba entered Kusagakure's territory, he detected several chakra signatures nearby.

After losing an eye, Aoba's sensory abilities had been severely affected. Especially as a close-combat ninja, lacking one eye had created a massive weakness in his fighting.

To make up for that weakness, he developed a sensory system to assist him in battle.

Using his mastery of Wind Release, he dispersed his chakra through the surrounding air, allowing it to drift slowly with the wind within a certain radius.

That way, he could sense any person or object that entered the area.

The closer they were, the clearer his perception became. In close-quarters combat, it could even serve as a special three-hundred-and-sixty-degree field of vision.

At that moment, Aoba sensed three Grass Ninja traveling ahead to his right. They seemed to have just returned from a mission.

One of them was injured.

"This little wound doesn't matter. I'll just go back and take a bite out of that bitch."

"You're right. I'm definitely taking a few extra bites. That bitch actually reported me last week, saying I deliberately bit her. This time, I'll bite off a piece of her flesh."

"And her little daughter. That girl's flesh is even more tender. We can take a few more bites then. She treasures her daughter even more than herself. As long as you threaten her with that little girl, she won't dare say a word."

"Really? Then I definitely have to try it. Maybe I can do something else too."

By this point, Aoba could not listen any longer.

With a Body Flicker Technique, he appeared before the three Grass Ninja.

"Who are you?" The three tensed up warily, but relaxed as soon as they saw Aoba's forehead protector.

"A Konoha ninja. Hey, this is Grass Ninja territory. Why is a Konoha ninja here?"

Konoha and Kusagakure were currently allies. Moreover, Konoha's ninjas had always been easy to deal with, so they were not afraid of them. If anything, they were somewhat arrogant.

Aoba looked at their faces and let out a soft sigh.

"People always complain about why there are wars in this world, why ninjas always have to slaughter one another. The reason is simple: there are too many things like you in this world."

"You..." The three Grass Ninja sensed that something was wrong, but it was already too late. Aoba drew his sword straight at them, yet he was still so fast that none of them could react.

The Kusanagi Sword possessed exceptionally fine chakra conductivity. As a result, Aoba found it even easier and smoother to use his Nintaijutsu.

"Vacuum Flash!"

A crescent-shaped wind blade appeared in midair, visible to the naked eye. In an instant, it sliced through the waists of the two ninjas ahead. The last one, being farther away, barely avoided it, but one of his arms was severed completely.

"Stop! We're Grass Ninja, Konoha's allies, you..."

The Grass Ninja wanted to argue further, but Aoba had already rushed before him. Only then did he try to fight for his life. But with one arm gone, he could not form hand seals one-handed. He could only pull out a kunai and attempt to resist.

The next second, Aoba was already behind him. The Kusanagi Sword in his hand had been sheathed.

The two ninjas who had been cut in half were still alive, but that was only a matter of time. Unless they were Hashirama Senju reincarnated, there was no possibility of surviving being bisected at the waist.

Aoba did not finish them off. Instead, he passed the two of them and headed toward Kusagakure. Behind him, the screams of the two Grass Ninja gradually faded into the distance.

Kusagakure was actually not small, roughly half the size of Konoha. Across the entire Shinobi World, it was already one of the rare large ninja villages outside the Five Great Ninja Villages.

But its standards were just so-so.

One only had to look at the quality of its ninjas to know. This ninja village essentially had no real management. Its education and training systems were practically nonexistent as well.

Though it had imitated Konoha and established its own Ninja Academy, the instructors mostly treated those children as playthings and tortured them at will.

As a power second only to the Five Great Ninja Villages, they later sent only one team to the Chunin Ninja Exams. That showed just how backward their training system was.

Furthermore, their foundations could not compare to Konoha's at all. Even the protective barrier around the village could not stop Aoba.

That night, Aoba easily infiltrated the village.

Standing within Kusagakure, he released his chakra. The surrounding environment quickly took shape in his mind.

His wind-based sensory ability was not especially effective in a village. Buildings significantly interfered with his perception.

And if a gust of wind suddenly rose inside a building, it could easily alert someone. So he proceeded with caution.

After spending some time, he finally found his target. Then he quickly made his way there.

Inside a single-story house, a Grass Ninja was savagely whipping a woman with a hideous expression. In the corner of the room, a little girl huddled there, trembling.

"Useless trash, bitch. I've bitten you so many times, and you still haven't healed. What use are you? Hmph. You Uzumaki bitches, if we Grass Ninja hadn't taken you in—

—you'd have died in some corner long ago. Yet you dare show no gratitude? You dare look at me like that..."

The Grass Ninja cursed as he whipped her, like a mad dog.

But suddenly, he noticed something wrong. The woman's gaze was not focused on him at all, but on something behind him.

As a ninja, he still possessed basic instincts. He immediately sensed that something was amiss and spun around, only to see an unfamiliar ninja standing behind him.

Most importantly, the forehead protector on the other man's forehead did not belong to Kusagakure.

It bore Konoha's symbol.

Why was a Konoha ninja here?

Damn it, I can't let the Konoha ninja see these two women. That was the Grass Ninja's final thought. He did not even have time to understand what was happening before a cold flash crossed his vision, and then he lost consciousness completely.