On the muddy path leading into the village, Ino seemed to see a blue-haired girl lying right in the middle of the road.
Because she had seen too many corpses before, she subconsciously took this girl, whose face she couldn't clearly make out, as another corpse.
"No, she should still be alive," Uchiha Kage picked up the mud-covered girl from the ground.
The girl's chest was still rising and falling, and upon getting closer, they discovered that she had a rather delicate face.
Even with some mud on it, it didn't obscure much of her features; on the contrary, it gave off a fragile and pitiful impression.
If nothing went wrong, this hair color, this face—
'Have I just casually picked up... Konan?'
'So the main character of this instance's mission should be her?'
———
Empty houses nine out of ten.
Compared to the previous village, the tragic state of this larger village in front of them was even more shocking to Ino.
The scene before her could no longer be described with just "bad."
A large village, and not a single living creature could be seen.
Yes, not just humans, there wasn't a single animal left moving either.
On the corpses of people and animals lying everywhere floated a purplish-black hue.
The source was the water supply nearby, which had been heavily poisoned.
"Looks like the ninja army attacking ordinary villages isn't just from Konoha."
There were also corpses that weren't poisoned, but had stab wounds or shuriken embedded in vital points.
They probably came from nearby corpses of ninja wearing Iwagakure forehead protectors, which were also tainted with the purplish-black poison gas.
Uchiha Kage glanced a few times, then gave up on the idea of walking further into the village.
This kind of special poison apparently didn't disappear even after death, likely, just a single touch would doom someone to the same fate as these corpses.
"The Second Great Ninja War turned the Land of Rain into the main battlefield of the Five Great Ninja Villages, with constant warfare… History books only described it like that, now it really does seem overly simplified."
The ninja armies of the Five Great Villages treated the people of the Land of Rain's villages like supply points, and even the leader of Amegakure, Hanzō of the Salamander, didn't treat the civilians as human.
Just to wipe out a small enemy squad from a rival country, he didn't hesitate to poison an entire village's population to death…
No need for deduction, just looking at these corpses and the distinct purple poison gas, Uchiha Kage more or less understood what had happened here.
"Ugh…"
Whether it was the stench of the corpses or the sheer impact of this inhumane scene, Ino, who had only recently recovered a little, couldn't take it anymore and squatted down, retching dryly.
"Mom!"
And the blue-haired girl whom Uchiha Kage had saved from the mud earlier, upon waking, quickly found her parents' bodies among the corpses up ahead.
"One more step and you'll die, this poison is beyond even me."
Out of humanitarian instinct, Uchiha Kage pulled the blue-haired girl back as she recklessly rushed toward the corpses.
So this girl he had randomly saved earlier was the one who had escaped from this village.
Thump!
Due to her small, frail frame, the blue-haired girl fell to the ground again from the inertia.
"I-I know."
The girl wiped the mud from her face, revealing a malnourished and slightly sallow face.
"Mom told me not to look back and to run out of the village, but I'm too stupid, I kept falling…"
Scared, tired, and hungry.
She hadn't run far before she fell into the mud and fainted.
Staring at the corpses of her loved ones just within reach yet unreachable, the girl probably wanted to cry, but her tears had long dried up, leaving only a desperate, hollow, and sorrowful expression.
"What's your name?", Uchiha Kage stared at the girl's blue hair.
"My name is Konan... thank you for saving me," Forcing herself to be a little spirited, Konan politely looked back at the tall boy who had saved her.
But quickly, she turned toward the corpses again, returning to her earlier sorrow.
"..."
It really was Konan.
But, at this point in time, she must have just been displaced from her home.
After hearing the expected name, Uchiha Kage glanced again at the instance mission prompt in his mind.
But what surprised him was, the mission prompt was still garbled text.
"So pitiful."
Ino covered her mouth, her face a bit pale, and returned to Uchiha Kage's side, staring at the blue-haired girl standing in front of the corpses, unable to calm down for a long time.
"What should we do now?"
The series of events in such a short time left Ino a bit lost.
Whether this was a dream or reality, she just wanted it to end quickly.
"Let's go up the mountain and find a cave to stay the night. The Land of Rain is already a living hell, if we go further, there might be more…"
Unspeakable horrors.
Even Uchiha Kage was finding it hard to adapt.
Compared to the blood-soaked battlefield scenes of previous instances, these silent corpses might be even more cruel and terrifying.
"What about her?"
An entire village, including her own family, poisoned and killed—only she survived. Ino had no idea how the girl could live on in such a situation, surrounded by war.
But… this isn't a dream, so do they really need to spend the night?
Then how could they leave this place, leave this nightmare-like place?
"Please… no, I beg you, help me."
Seemingly hearing the conversation behind her, Konan sincerely bowed her head toward Uchiha Kage and Yamanaka Ino, then looked again at the corpses not far away.
No matter what, she couldn't bear to see her parents' bodies just left exposed like that.
"I'll do anything, as long as there's a way to…"
"Burn it all with fire. There's poison everywhere, burying them might be worse."
Uchiha Kage gave his suggestion.
"Burn... okay… but we can't move the bodies, and how to…"
Plus, the ground was soaked, how could they burn anything?
Konan looked troubled.
"No need to make it complicated."
Uchiha Kage signaled for Ino to take the girl and retreat.
Then he alone leapt onto a higher rooftop and began forming fire-style hand seals.
Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame!
As the hand signs completed, the fire spewed from Uchiha Kage's mouth instantly engulfed the entire village.
Flames filled the sky.
A flood-like wave of fire swept through every corner of the village.
Not only the corpses, even the buildings and plants were all turned to ash in the sea of flames.
"Kage's ninjutsu has reached this level…"
A fire-style jutsu that could destroy an entire village in one go, Ino had never even heard of such a thing.
"Mom… everyone… and the village…", On the other side, the blue-haired girl held in her arms just blankly stared at the sea of flames, watching everything turn to ash, murmuring softly.
Then, unable to keep her eyes open any longer, she fainted again.
———
"She's light as a feather. I've never seen such a thin girl before…"
In a certain mountain cave.
Ino sat around a warm fire with Uchiha Kage, whispering complaints about the still-unconscious blue-haired girl while staring blankly at the flames.
Clearly a rare moment for just the two of them alone, but there wasn't a hint of flirtation or intimacy.
Their minds were completely filled with images of burning, killing, looting, and corpses everywhere.
Their thoughts were only occupied by complex issues of war and philosophy.
"It's probably food shortage caused by the war."
Uchiha Kage poked the fire as he also pondered—
What exactly was this instance's mission?
Why, even after helping Konan, had the mission not shown any sign of completion?
And the garbled mission prompt that had haunted him from the beginning, why was it still unreadable?
Where had it gone wrong?
"Will Konoha become like this in the future too?"
"Maybe, but probably not this bad."
The Five Great Nations had far deeper foundations than a small country like the Land of Rain.
"Terrible. No wonder Mom cried before…"
So war brought so many problems.
Death, hunger, displacement… people worse off than dogs.
Ino had never really understood war before, but now, knowing too much made her troubled.
"I'll die someday too, right?"
Ino remembered her mom saying that if Konoha's war went poorly, even a genin like her might have to go to the battlefield.
But if she had to die, she'd rather it be during a more honorable mission than in war.
A ninja is a ninja, not some soldier.
And she had no desire at all to be lumped in with the looting thugs who raided villages.
"You won't."
Uchiha Kage didn't answer with a "maybe."
That strangely firm response brought Ino, who had been caught in her melancholy, a surprising sense of peace.
"So that means… Kage will protect me?"
"Yeah."
Uchiha Kage felt like he was just stating a fact.
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
patreon.com/ZenonTL
🥳Joining Patreon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through Patreon.