"Ah- it hurts!"
"My hand, where's my hand..."
"What happened? What happened?"
"Boo-hoo..."
"I can't see! Who's there? Help!"
"It hurts, it hurts so much... Mom..."
The flames that had yet to die out lit the surroundings as brightly as daylight. Bodies littered the battlefield, smoke filled the air, and blood flowed in rivers.
The battered survivors lay on the ground, their wails echoing in every direction.
A bitter wind swept across the land, and the searing heat gradually dissipated. Desolation settled over the battlefield, where scraps of clothing hung from charred branches, fluttering in the wind.
In the darkness, the terrified Iwagakure ninja had been so thoroughly shaken by the sudden attack that they broke down.
Kurotsuchi raised her trembling hands. The bright red blood staining them was painfully vivid.
In her extreme terror, Kurotsuchi could not even control her body enough to stand. She pressed her trembling palms against the ground, but despite struggling for a long time, she still could not get up.
Drip-
Blood dripped down...
Kurotsuchi sat collapsed on the ground. Her blood-soaked left leg lay limply to one side, while her right leg below the knee had vanished along with her clothing. All that remained visible were patches of blood.
"What... what happened?"
"What am I doing?"
"What happened..."
Kurotsuchi stared blankly at the hellish scene around her, muttering to herself as though she had lost her memory.
She kept trying to stand, but every attempt was in vain.
Kurotsuchi never noticed what was wrong with her legs. She simply kept trying fruitlessly to get up.
"Help... help them!"
"Boo-hoo... please save us."
"Don't... don't be afraid. It's all right. It's all right."
The Iwa Shinobi who had narrowly survived the explosion finally reacted. Forcing down their terror, they began rescuing their comrades, friends,