A/N A few warnings before you begin to read this story! ^^
1. This is gonna be really dark and graphic, you've been warned!
2. There will be no character bashing;
3. No retcons for anything that happened before The Last either;
4. I'm gonna work really hard to avoid any character going OOC (it is very important to me!), so if it seems to you that one is going there please let me know, I'll either agree with you and fix something or add a detailed explanation of why and what is happening to said char!

Have fun and kindly lemme know what yall think if possible! OwO

Chapter 1. The Day She Was Born

Drip.

Her eyelids twitched, indicating that the young woman was not dead yet.

Drip.

Her thin, delicate fingers half-clenched as if she was trying to hold onto something intangible.

Drip.

Her shoulders moved ever so slightly, and then her entire body curled like that of an infant in a cradle.

Drip.

Her bruised face winced as a drop of water slowly rolled down her nose.

Drip.

The annoying tickling shortly replaced with relief as the liquid reached her cracked dry lip, reminding that she was still alive and needed to drink.

Drip…

She opened her eyes slowly, trying to ignore the unbearable headache this simple motion gave her right away. Fortunately, it was completely dark around — she woke up at night.

The young woman coughed, then again, and again, multiple drops of her blood slowly covering the floor of her cage as she was unable to stop. Although each cough made a small bomb explode inside her head, causing tremendous pain that almost made her want to die, she still tried her best to stay quiet. Although she had yet to come back to her senses fully, intuition already told her that it would be unwise to attract any attention right now. Because it could make them come back…

As her breath finally became steady again, the girl closed her eyes, trying to pull anything out of the blurry mess that her mind was at the moment.

Them? Who exactly was she afraid of? What was this place? How had she ended up here? What had these people done to her besides beating her up this much? Who'd done this to her, in the first place? And why?

She stopped breathing for a second, realizing that she couldn't even say who she was herself! No matter what she tried to get out of her memory, it felt like knocking at a closed gate — she knew that something or someone was behind, but there was no way to find out what exactly it was…

She opened her eyes once more, realizing that she was lying on her right side on a dirty metallic floor. She then unhurriedly eyed herself as much as she could. Completely naked, her slender body was covered with countless bruises, cuts and scratches all down to her toes. None of them was too deep or huge to cause a fatal blood loss; apparently, whoever did this to her wanted her to stay alive for as long as possible. But why? This simple question made her feel childishly puzzled for a moment, genuinely wondering what might these people want from her.

She then carefully moved her head again, fearing another burst of pain, this time to look at her hands. Although her dirty bangs were falling on her eyes now, she could see that her wrists were cuffed with thick iron bracers, chained to the cage itself. Narrowing her eyes a bit, she took a closer look at the skin on her forearm. There was a rough, long scratch that looked different from all the rest that covered her skin everywhere. Her gaze then slid to the sharp piece of damaged lattice poking out right next to her hand — she could rather easily reach it even now, although the girl felt absolutely no energy to try to. In other words…

Had she tried to cut her own veins?

She frowned. This was probably not quite surprising considering her current state, but… Strangely, right now she didn't feel suicidal at all. Perhaps, she had forgotten something? Something they'd done to her? Something so awful that it had actually made her want to kill herself…?

She licked her bleeding lips, only further damaging them with her tongue as there was no moisture in her mouth whatsoever. She needed water… right now.

The girl raised her head a bit and moved, wincing as another flash of searing pain pierced her skull the same instant. The drips of dirty water were now falling directly in her mouth, and although it was barely enough to rid her of the thirst, it still felt relieving. Almost enough for her to purr in bliss as she could feel the energy slowly returning to her bit by bit. Perhaps, it was just an illusion, but right now it didn't matter — she was getting water and it was all that mattered. She didn't really know how long she remained frozen in that position; feeling delirious as fever was taking over her body, the young woman couldn't tell when she was asleep and when awake.

Not until she heard the footsteps approaching her cage, and it made her curl again, hugging herself as the irrational panic instantly filled every fibre of her being, causing he to lose control over herself. In spite of that, it almost felt funny how her mind seemed to be completely disconnected from her body that was going crazy right now while she remained perfectly calm, almost curious to know what was causing her to act like this. As someone came close to the cage and began to unlock it, the girl realized that this person — or people — must have done something absolutely atrocious to her. All of a sudden, despite not remembering a single thing of that, she felt like puking.

"Well, well, how is our little princess doing?" The tall, dark figure entered the cage, coming close to her and stopping before her tiny frame that was shaking in horror. "Tsk… It's a shame I can't exactly get a taste of you, sweetie. You smell so nice…" He ducked and inhaled, the back of his hand carefully touching her cheek and then sliding down to her thin neck. "I wish boss wasn't such an ass and let us spend more time together, duh. Your tits are so nice… Such a good little toy…" He giggled, and it was probably the most disgusting thing she'd ever heard as he put his palm on her chest, which made her want to break his hand even though she knew she couldn't. "Well, we can still have our share of fun, can't we?"

She tried not to look at his face no matter what. Right now she was grateful that she couldn't remember what it looked like — because if she, by some miracle, would get out of here alive, she didn't want his image to haunt her in her dreams later on.

"Let's start off with drawing, shall we?" The person then removed his hand off her, reaching out for his pocket. Against her own will, she glanced at it — he took out a sharp yet rusty kunai. "What flower is your favourite, princess?"

"I… don't know," she whispered, more to herself than in response to his question.

"I'll choose then! No worries, you're gonna love it…" She felt the cold steel touch her side, slowly tearing through the upper layer of her skin, deepening into her flesh.

Surprisingly, the pain he made her feel didn't bother her at all — it was nothing compared to what she felt in her head anyway. Besides, even though the captive realized it was ridiculous and wrong, but right now she felt so detached from her own body that she was nearly sincerely curious to see what exactly he was 'drawing.'

"There… what a beauty," he soundly licked the blade of the kunai, humming in joy at the taste of her blood. "Delicious. What would you like to do next, little bitch?"

She blinked. Was that a genuine question?

"I—I'm hungry…," she said without thinking.

For some reason, it made the person laugh hysterically, to the point where he fell back on his butt, the weapon falling out of his grasp as he kept choking.

"You know what," he took a deep breath, finally stopping after a while, "I could feed you in a way, but I'm afraid boss will notice, and she won't like it. What a shame, ha-ha!"

Feed me... in a way…? She was unsure what exactly he was implying, and she didn't really want to know, realizing that it had to be something truly obnoxious.

"Well then, now what?" He sighed, leaning his chin on his fist lazily, still sitting on the floor right next to his prey. "You were a lot more fun before… Now you seem brain-damaged, little doll. Lemme take a look…," he gripped her neck roughly and she closed her eyes, still adamant in her decision not to see his face no matter what. "Hmpf! Dunno what the fuck's wrong with you now, but something's different! Wake up, you little shit! Entertain me now!" He threw her away roughly, making the girl's head slam heavily into the lattice of the cage.

The pain was so strong that it almost made her lose her consciousness the same second. She instantly regretted it didn't, now only wishing for one thing — the sweet bliss of oblivion. Maybe death wasn't such a bad idea after all...

"Where are your screams? Your whimpers?! Where is the fear in your eyes, huh? Tell me!" he yelled and got up, and then his foot slammed into her belly, making her choke and curl even more than before.

"Why don't you beg?! Why won't you speak? Talk to me now, bitch!" Another blow — this one felt a bit weaker. Were her senses shutting down?

"I want my toy back! Now! Now! Now! Bring it back!" Another series of hits followed, but she didn't react anymore — like a mere rag doll, she was simply tossed around by his vicious attacks, one after another.

And when another hit reached her forehead by a mistake as he clearly wasn't aiming at it, she could feel nothing but relief and joy as the darkness consumed her.

Finally, this is the end…, was her last thought as she finally lost her consciousness again, realizing that she most likely wouldn't wake up.

—=uWu=—

As he walked through the deep forest, Sasuke felt nothing but peace and tranquillity engulfing everything around including himself. It was completely dark around as the moon wasn't visible from under the rain clouds. But, he didn't mind it at all, enjoying the light cold breeze on his face while he was striding between the huge pines the crowns of which absorbed every ray of light that might still reach him otherwise.

Although the ninja had been moving through these forsaken woods for hours by now, he still didn't feel tired or frustrated. The fact that he hadn't met a single person on his way was a good sign — it meant that he hadn't lost the track of his target. According to the intel he'd obtained from Orochimaru, the small port town he was now heading to was not far away from his current location. Almost completely isolated from the rest of the country, normally it could be reached only via a boat since it was located on the northern seashore. That's why everything for miles around him was supposed to be completely desolate; then again, he didn't mind it either.

The shinobi yawned, stretching his slightly tired limbs and imagining how he would take a shower and rest in a bed soon enough — for the first time in weeks, probably. To be honest, he didn't count days, and he didn't care about his personal comfort all that much. It didn't mean he was unable to appreciate it when he had it, though. It was one of those good things he'd learned during his journey ever since his memorable duel against Naruto at Valley of the End. To enjoy the simplest things life offered to him now and then, treasuring these moments of rest because he knew that they wouldn't last. At least not for him. As a ninja, he couldn't afford to dive into mundane pleasures any often.

Shinobi are those who endure, after all.

And even that thought made him smile a bit, increasing the pace of his steps. It was good to feel inner balance at long last — something he hadn't felt for over a decade, or maybe never at all...

His stomach grumbled, and he sighed. Now that he thought about it, he was pretty hungry too… If anything, if he were back in Konoha right now, he would probably even agree to eat Naruto's favourite ramen for once. Albeit he would never admit it to his friend or anyone else for that matter, naturally.

In other words, his mind was at complete ease this night, occupied with the most boring and trivial things, which was a rare occasion for him. The Uchiha's mood was unusually good too — he wasn't sure why. Maybe it was the weather? After all those days of merciless June heat, the upcoming rain was a delight for sure, especially to someone who was constantly on the move. Speaking of which…

He lowered his head and took a tiny scroll out of his pocket, reading the few crooked words scribbled on it.

'Please return to Konoha, teme. I need to talk to you.

Naruto.'

He smirked.

"Maybe I should go home soon after all…," he murmured.

And as soon as he finished the sentence, Sasuke heard a horrible, blood-freezing scream from a distance.

He frowned, stopping and turning in the direction of the sound. As far as he was aware, there were no settlements around aside from the town he was heading to. Was someone in trouble?

He jumped on the nearest tree, quickly moving from one branch to another as one more anguished cry reached his ears, this time seeming a bit closer. It made the Uchiha pick up some speed, rushing to the rescue.

Just a couple of years ago, he wouldn't give a damn about it, of course. Moreover, remembering his unhealthy state of mind back in those days, the young man realized he could very well have been the one causing these screams. And although he didn't really feel like repenting or anything like that, he knew that he was guilty. The blood of too many people was on his hands now; he realized that all he could do to redeem himself was to help those he still could, whether he liked it or not. His current goal was to protect the innocent from the shadows and to punish the ones he deemed felonious openly so that everyone would know — no one could escape his judgement. He would leave vague philosophical matters like the cycle of hatred, the ninja creed and all of that for the likes of Naruto to resolve; his job was much more concrete and down-to-earth than that.

Just a few minutes later he stopped on top of a huge pine, looking down at a relatively big camp down below. There weren't too many people, and from what it looked like most of them were asleep near the few huge metal cages they were guarding. Sasuke activated his Sharingan, quickly scanning the area. All of them looked fairly weak except for a single ninja who was, seeing the lack of intensity in the chakra, currently asleep inside a huge marquee, and even that one was nothing compared to the Uchiha himself, of course.

He took a closer look at the cages then, frowning more a second later. If he'd had any doubts concerning what he should do just a moment ago… Now that he could see the condition of their captives, the ninja made his decision — and their sentence was final.

He jumped down, landing near one of the cages and looking inside of it. To his disgust, there was a rotting corpse of a man chained to the ceiling. Already decayed enough to spread some awful sweetish smell around, he was staring blindly at the floor in front of him, the image of fear having been imprinted into his features in his final moments.

The Uchiha grabbed his katana, though not unsheathing it yet. Something wasn't quite right, it was no ordinary lair of bandits. Now that he took a closer look, the camp looked like it was originally meant to be temporary. However, the layer of rust that covered the rods of the cage in front of him clearly indicated that it had been here for at least a few weeks. Possibly more than a month given that tonight's rain was the first one since forever, and the rust didn't seem to be fresh at all.

He turned away, soundlessly walking between the cages and looking around. Besides that apparent thing, there was also the fact that most of the captives — if not all of them — were apparently dead. What was the point in holding them here if their purpose was to die? Why waste time on them at all? There had to be a reason behind that... A not obvious one, most likely.

He walked into the biggest marquee, nearing the improvised bed of the ninja — turned out it was a kunoichi — whose chakra looked the most potent to him among all the rest of people around. Without any warning, the ninja gripped her neck in her sleep. The dark eyes snapped open, but before she could do or say anything, his Sharingan dragged her in the land of lucid dreams — Sasuke's personal genjutsu realm.

"Tell me who you are," he commanded.

"My name is Okina. I am the leader of the Butterfly Dusk," she replied immediately and obediently.

His brow raised a bit at the odd name.

"What are you doing here?"

"We are waiting for Kuro Oni."

"Who is that?"

"The one who is going to take for the ones we captured."

Slavers, huh? Not that it was uncommon for Land of Rice Fields, but it was still nasty even by his former standards of a criminal. Despite having been a merciless murderer before, Sasuke had a surprisingly high sense of morals when it came to others. One could call him a hypocrite for this, but he honestly didn't care. He had always been the judge, not an indictee. And it would remain this way forever.

"How long have you been here?"

"One hundred and forty-three days."

So his assumption was correct.

"Why this much?"

"Because he hasn't come to take them yet," she replied monotonously.

The Uchiha stared at the woman skeptically.

"Do you realize that if he hasn't come yet, then he most likely isn't coming at all?"

"Yes," came the unexpected reply, baffling him even more.

"Then why are you still waiting?"

She opened her mouth, and then smirked madly, beginning to laugh.

"He needs to come! He must! We need his blessing, there's no point in leaving without it! We're all doomed if he doesn't accept our gift! Doomed!" The kunoichi then began to chant in some foreign language, rolling her eyes and bouncing back and forth. And only then it belatedly clicked for Sasuke: these people weren't slavers; they were some insane cultists who simply used the people they captured as sacrifices for their rituals!

He gritted his teeth, releasing the genjutsu and taking the woman's head in his hands before breaking her neck with a quick masterful stroke. As her dying body fell on the floor, he turned around and walked from under the tent, looking around and checking if anybody aside from the guards was still alive.

It seemed like the only survivor was a teenage-looking girl — or rather a young woman, just overly exhausted by the captivity. Severely damaged, barely breathing as she was lying in the corner of her cage in the small puddle of her own blood, but still alive somehow. The person who — he presumed — was her watcher was now sitting in the opposite corner, asleep.

That settled it. In a matter of seconds, the Uchiha slaughtered everybody in the camp. Moving like a ghost, or rather a shinigami, he didn't make a single sound nor an unnecessary movement, taking their lives with his blade with outstanding efficiency.

Finally, he opened the girl's cage, the creaky sound making the only remaining man flinch and get up. Sasuke took a curious look at him, studying his features. It was a tall bald shinobi with a black beard. His face was covered with multiple scars and tattoos, but the most notable trait was probably his eyes — the icy-blue irises that gave away only two things: fear and insanity.

"W-Who the fuck are you?!" he cried out, gripping his kunai.

"Are you the one who did this to her?" asked Sasuke calmly, looking directly into his eyes without blinking.

"Haha, no shit! I did! So what? Want me to do the same to you now? I would — gah—!" Before he would finish the tirade, Sasuke cast a genjutsu on him, forcing every cell in the ninja's body to explode in the most intense pain he could feel. A terrifying scream echoed across the forest as he fell on his knees, writhing on the floor in agony.

Turning away from him, the Uchiha quickly walked towards the young woman, gently touching her neck to check the pulse — weak, but still stable.

He sighed in relief, though not exactly because she was still alive — he didn't really care about a particular stranger's life. However, the fact that he could still save her meant that he could also keep fulfilling his purpose. He could do a good thing. Definitely not for her sake, but for his own solace, yet still...

The ninja carefully took her emaciated body in his hands, ignoring her nudity. After all, in her current state, there hardly was anything one could find sexual in her appearance right now. And there was no time to dress her up either; he needed to hurry up to reach the town and find a medical ninja there.

Before it was too late.

A/N. Pls don't forget to lemme know what you think, whether it's good or bad news! =^w^= See ya soon!