It was dark when the exiled Konoha ninjas reached the oldest Fire Temple in the Fire Country. Apart from Hinata and Shikamaru, for most of the ninjas, this was the first time they were setting foot in their native soil after years of hardship and roaming around the shinobi world in disguise. Shikamaru guided the group under cover of darkness to the fire temple, where the exiles were met by a wizened old monk, who embraced Shikamaru on sight.

'My child! It is good to see you in good health'. The monk said.

'Yuki-sama'. Shikamaru knelt. His companions followed suit. After his sensei Asuma's death, Shikamaru had forged a good relationship with the remaining monks of the Fire Temple. Although the monks did not defy the Daimyo directly, they had reached out to Shikamaru in secret after Konoha's downfall. The temple was his asylum and base for his incessant efforts to help the ninjas trapped inside the village. In time the temple had become a sanctuary for any ninja who would defect from Konoha. It was in this temple the fire of rebellion had kindled. The underground resistance was formed. The will of Fire burned inside the hearts of the rebel ninjas and the few civilians who helped them with rations despite the mounting security and frequent raids by random ROOT squads.

'Welcome guests'. Monk Yuki smiled and led the way inside the temple. The wary ninjas followed him to an underground bunker directly beneath the chamber of the Sacred Fire.

'Root doesn't dare defile the sanctity of this chamber'. Shikamaru explained as they descended a flight of steps leading to the underground cavern.

'Forehead! Shikamaru! You are alive'. A blond blur flew towards them from the dark corner of the cavern and collided with the medical ninja.

'Ino'. Sakura said.

'You.. you.. how?' Ino couldn't speak. 'I thought you were dead Sakura!' The Kunoichi was crying.

'I always was the better apprentice, pig', Sakura joked.

'You bet, forehead!'. Ino smiled and embraced the kunoichi who was as dear to her as a sister.

Monk Yuki cleared his throat. 'Sakura-san. Your friend is not the only one from Konoha here. A group of civilians have arrived today. I called Ino here to give them medical assistance. But perhaps you could be of help? They are in distress'.

'Of course, Yuki-sama'. Sakura smiled softly. Tying back her long hair in a braid she followed the monk to a group of ragged looking civilians cowering at a corner. The civilian group comprising of four adult men and two women looked visibly scared on seeing the medical ninja. Sakura smiled at them and readily started to examine their wounds, many of which were several days old.

'Do not be afraid. I mean you no harm'. She said softly to one of the women while she put her glowing hand on the woman's dislocated shoulder. She moved silently almost like a shadow going from one to another healing the more serious injuries while Ino assisted her in silence.

'Is the situation that bad even for civilians?' She softly asked the man who had the most serious injuries- two broken ribs and a pulverized femur.

'Worse. Sakura-sama'. The civilian coughed. 'Thank you for healing me by the way. You do not get a lot of ninja folks who would spend this much chakra on healing commoners like us. Most of the good ones have their chakra blocked. The others only hurt and then come back and hurt more'.

'The others?' Sakura asked quietly.

'Yes. One with the masks. The Hokage's people'.

'I see. What is the Hokage doing with the civilians?'

'Taxes. Ninja san.' The woman in rags replied. 'They take away our food. Make us go to different hospital. We had to withdraw our children from the ninja schools. They have even stopped marriages between shinobi and non-shinobi clans.'

'My daughter'. The second woman spoke up. 'I was married to an Akimichi. They took my daughter. Threw me out of the compound. I haven't seen my daughter or husband since then'.

'I am sorry, Akimichi-san.' Sakura sighed. 'How did you escape?'

'Ino-san helped me.' The woman whispered.

'They were rounding up all inter-marriage couples'. Ino said. Sakura felt the other ninjas of her group listening in more closely now. 'At least 14 civilian men and women who had married in ninja clans were rounded up and were forced to sign separation agreements. None of them agreed of course. The ROOT- they did something. They put everyone within a four point barrier. People were panicking. A lot of ninjas were watching, including my dad'. Ino's voice broke.

'Inoichi-san? What happened to him, Ino?' Sakura asked.

'They put the civilians in a barrier. We were demanding for them to be released. My brother was there'. A short man spoke. He was sitting beside the separated woman, occasionally patting her shoulder. 'We were scared. The masked ninjas were warning us to move. Then Inoichi-san went near the barricade and tried to mind control one of the masked ninjas.'

'It didn't work on ROOT'. Ino shook her head. 'Most probably they were expecting something like this. They pushed dad inside the barrier with the other civilians. Then the Hokage arrived with another masked ninja. But with a different mask… a wooden maak that looked like a spiral with only one eye hole.'

'Madara!' Naruto and Sasuke spoke in unison. They have inched forward to flank Sakura on either side.

'We didn't know it then'. Ino whispered. 'The Hokage said that the trash needed to be taught a lesson. He gave a final ultimatum to the people inside. Sign the separation affidavit or die. Nobody did. Then… then the masked ninja entered the barrier. We don't know what happened but all we saw was flames. Black flames.'

'Amaterasu!' Sasuke whispered harshly.

'Nothing was left. It was sorcery! They didn't even leave bones!'. The heavy set man cried out.

'Ino-' Sakura whispered.

The blond ninja continued. 'I knew they would come for me. I was Shikamaru's contact inside the village. I had a back up plan for situations like this. Neji helped of course. They were rounding up relatives of the murdered civilians. People were disappearing. There were rumors about bodies being dumped near the fire temple. War camps being constructed. They wanted to bait the Resistance I think. They were expecting retaliation from the underground resistance in the temple. We had to do something. We knew that Naruto was alive. He was in hiding. We decided to send someone to him'.

'Neji told me that the Hyuga main family was in danger. I decided to break Hinata and Hanabi out and search for Naruto'. Shikamaru interjected. 'You know the rest'.

'Unbelievable !' Naruto was shaking his head. 'Such audacity. How can they just do this to their own people?'

'This is what Madara's revenge looks like, Naruto'. Kakashi sighed. Then he turned at Monk Yuki. 'Yuki-sama. This camp. Do you know the location of this camp? We have to see what exactly is going on.'

'Yes Kakashi-san.' Yuki nodded gravely. ' I can send a scout with you. But do not send everyone at once. I think three of you should go and scout first. Then we should reconvene'.

''Fine!'. Kakashi nodded. 'Sai, Sasuke, Sakura- can I count on you three for this job? You have the stealth that is required for this mission. Go there. Know all there is to know about this facility. Then report back. Do not engage'.

'Hai!' The three ninjas stood up.

'Shikamaru, Ino- make contact with Konoha. Use your channels. I want to know Danzo's current whereabouts.'

'Yes. Kakashi-sensei'. The two ninjas nodded.

'Naruto, Hinata I need you to use your summons to carry my message to the Hyuga leaders imprisoned in the village.'

'Of course, Kakashi-sensei'.

…

Reconnaissance turned out to be more challenging than it had any right to be, especially with three seasoned ninjas like Sasuke, Sakura or Sai involved. Their teamwork was far from perfect with Sasuke and Sai being guarded with each other and Saukra getting tired of acting like a bridge between them. The monk sent to guide them by Yuki was barely older than a boy. They had to mask their chakra to the best of their abilities to avoid detection, which made movement a lot slower for their comfort.

'Stop!'.

The three ninjas halted. The boy pointed towards a slope opposite to where they were standing on the saddle of a small forested hill.

'The camp is in the opposite slope of that hill'. The boy whispered. 'We have occasionally seen light coming from that area. I will not go any further'.

'Alright!'. Sai whispered. 'You go back to the monks. We will complete the mission and see you back at the Temple'. The boy retreated without a word. Sai sat down and quickly drew ten ink snakes and one bird.

'Sakura'. He nodded at the medical ninja. 'I will take the bird and scout the camp from above. You and Uchiha scout the valley in between. I have a bad feeling about that place. It's too quiet…'

'Sai!' Sakura caught his fingers. 'Will you be safe?'

'I was ROOT, Ugly girl'. Sai smiled. 'Uchiha. You and I have never got along well. But I have known you to be reckless. Will you be careful this time?'

'I can try'. Sasuke answered dryly.

'Good. Meet me here in four hours. Do not wait after that. If I am not here in four hours, proceed towards the temple'.

Sai flew away without a word after whispering some instructions to his snakes.

Sasuke and Sakura travelled downhill.

The valley was too silent. Almost dead. The forest was ominously dark. Sasuke and Sakura moved in silence.

'Kuchiyo se no jutsu'.

A small snake appeared in Sasuke's hand.

'I want you to scout the forests below and let me know if you find anything unusual.' Sasuke instructed the snake. The snake slithered away without a word.

'What do you think is down there, Sasuke?' Sakura asked.

'Something bad'. Sasuke whispered back. 'Aoba might take some time. We should take cover'. They climbed the tallest three that they could see in the vicinity and sat hidden by the leaves.

'Konoha! How much darkness do you cover?' Murmured Sakura.

'More than you can imagine.' Sasuke sighed.

'You think they were telling the truth?'

'I know Konoha is capable of that and more'. Sasuke's jaws stiffened.

'The ROOT will really commit anything on Danzou's orders?' Sakura asked timidly.

'Not out of spite. But because it is the only thing they know how to do. Your friend- Sai- he would confirm. I have seen Itachi in his worst. They are driven by a sense of righteousness, which comes from a hidden desire to find their places as orphans, as caste out broken things, as people who live and breathe for following orders. They are the militia. They think everything they are doing is for Konoha. To them Danzo is Konoha'.

'So if Danzo orders one of them to massacre his own people-'

'You are a medical ninja, Sakura. You have murdered people as you have healed them. You have seen more bodies than I have. But they were not personal. You covered your nose and mouth. Dissected the unknown dead. Read their bodies like your medical texts. But did you ever need to assemble dissected arms and try to fit them in your parent's body? No? Then imagine Sakura… Imagine a seven year old. Imagine him entering his district to find blood on the streets. Imagine him going through dead bodies after dead bodies. Imagine him having to identify the bodies of his parents, uncles and aunts, cousins and friends lying across the morgue in rows. Imagine him trying to touch the bleeding wound on his mother's chest-'

'Stop Sasuke!'

'Imagine him facing his brother alone in that darkness. Imagine the Tsukuyomi Sakura. Imagine it performed again and again to take you through all intimate details of your clan's murder.'

'Stop!'

'Imagine hating your only living relative so much that you go to sleep with his mangekyo sharingan in your mind's eyes and wake from sleep dreaming of your parent's bodies.'

'Stop! Please' Sakura was crying. 'Sasuke, please stop it!'

'I need to warn you for what you will be facing there Sakura'. Sasuke said gently. 'I suspect there might be a mass grave down there. I can sense death. I need you to understand that you might find some of the people you love in that labyrinth. I need to know that you can handle that. I don't want you to lose yourself to grief and revenge and compromise us, like I did'.

'Sasuke! I am stronger than I used to be'. Sakura stared at him with serious eyes.

'Yes, you are, Sakura. You have been through a lot. I don't want to put you through more misery if I can help it. Sai… Naruto… Myself… People like us do not run the risk of investigating a mass grave and finding our mentor's corpse in it. You do though! That's why I need to know if I can rely on you before we get in there'.

'Yes you do, Sasuke. Besides, if Tsunade sama is there… if my parents are there… they deserve to be found by me'. Sakura said.

'Ssasuke-sama!', The little snake was back.

'There's an underground mine down there. It smells of death. There are two masked ninjas sitting at the entrance and two more patrolling'.

'Well done Aobil. You can leave'. The snake disappeared.

'Ready, Sakura?' Sasuke asked.

'Yes' Sasuke. The two ninjas crept towards the entrance of the old mine.

…

#

Amigos, I am a student from India. Much of the description of the prison camps and persecution of inter-marriage couples are political reality for India these days. The Islamophobic government has come up with something called 'Love-jihad' law, under which several inter-faith couples were arrested in state of Uttar Pradesh. And one Hindu woman married to a Muslim man was even forced to undergo a miscarriage in police custody.

Detention camps, xenophobia, anti-Muslim pogroms and the citizenship bill… Massive Human Rights Violations… Rape and murder of lower caste women… putting activists behind the bars... comprises the new normal for India.

For more information, read on NRC-CAA (National Registry for Citizens- Citizenship Amendment Act) controversy in India. We are quite diligently following the footsteps of Hitler's Germany.