AUTHOR'S NOTE: Trigger warning; gruesome death depicted.
By the time Sasuke arrived at the edge of the farming village, he could sense something was up. Usually the townsfolk were asleep in their beds at such a late hour after a long day of hard labor, but almost every light down the block was on. As Sasuke walked down the main dirt road he felt the eyes of the village on his back. Whenever he glanced to his right and left, those caught at their windows quickly closed the blinds and turned off the lights. Sasuke wondered what made them so afraid to go to sleep.
A familiar restaurant came into view and Sasuke could see the broken windows and defaced walls of the ramen shop. Sasuke went into defensive mode as he approached the broken door with caution. He stepped over broken glass and the stench of death gripped his nose. The sight on the floor almost made him lose his lunch. Uchiha instinctively stepped back in horror of the scene in front of him. The stark nude bloodied corpse of Joy lay in a puddle of her own blood. Purple stains along her body and face told the man she was most likely beaten to death. Not before she was violated by the culprit, Sasuke would see the egregious liquid mixed with red seeping from the woman's vagina. Joy's face reflected the state of horror she was in during the assault; her terrified widened eyes stared into the shinobi's soul.
Sasuke swallowed his disgust and kneeled beside the woman, gently closing her eyes. Upon closer inspection, he could see the crooked point of broken fingers; it suggested torture before death. Anger flooded the man's mind and he clenched his fists. Was this his fault? Did he truly arrive too late? Joy was looking for a savior and he only brought her more suffering. Rest in peace. Sasuke saw what his presence brought to those around him. How could he ever atone under these grim conditions? A man of the shadows belonged in the shadows. The man stood up with a sorrowful look, there was nothing he could do for her now.
"See what happens when you cross them?" a female voice spoke.
Sasuke's muscles tensed at the confirmation that this was his fault. He glared back at whoever dared enter Joy's resting place. The woman gazed at Sasuke with a poker face, unfazed by his glowing sharingan. Sasuke did a mental double take. He knew who this woman was; she was the lady from the bar back in the red light district. The same one that was screaming Haruto's name in the front of the club.
"Surprised? Don't be."
"Who are you?" Sasuke demanded as he took a step forward.
"As far as you're concerned, a woman at the bar," Yui answered sharply.
"I'm not in the mood for games…"
Yui sighed deeply, "I'm an undercover officer in the Hidden Leaf police unit."
Sasuke was very reluctant to believe the woman and Yamamoto noticed his hesitation.
"I was following a lead on a prostitution ring ran by Haruto. Imagine my surprise when he showed up dead half naked on his bed," Yui said as she pulled a badge from her pocket.
Sasuke's eyes widened at the statement and immediately calmed himself down. The woman can absolutely not find out about his agreements with Sasaki nor what he was doing here in the first place. He stayed silent and pretended to not know what she was talking about. The man had a mask hiding his identity and he should keep it that way.
"I followed a suspicious man by the name of Sasuke Uchiha to this backwoods town and to think I would find the influence of another dangerous gang. My second day and I walked right into a crime scene; my luck just keeps getting better and better."
"It must be a sign for you to leave this town," Sasuke tried to persuade.
"Maybe. But 'a Yamamoto doesn't run away from hardship' as my father would put it," Yui rebuked quickly. "Would you care to tell me what you're doing here?"
"Visiting a friend."
Sasuke tried to walk past the woman but was stopped by her arm.
"Lying to me won't solve anything… Sasuke Uchiha."
The shinobi glanced down at the woman in surprise.
"If you want to keep your identity a secret then you probably shouldn't be flashing that infamous sharingan."
"I didn't kill this woman," he admitted.
"No…I don't believe you did. But you can not deny the fact that TWO bodies have shown up in your presence," Yui declared matter-of-factly.
Sasuke stayed silent. Things weren't looking good for him at the moment.
"And though I don't know your beef with Haruto. Murder is still a crime, even to those who saved the world."
"Where's your proof?" Sasuke snarled.
"Nothing concrete yet but I can still hold you on suspicions of first-degree murder."
Sasuke didn't have time for this. While he was here talking with this woman, Joy's killers were roaming the world freely. And the man had an even further realization; he remembered the young niece of Joy that worked the counter. Hina. Sasuke didn't see another body nearby. Did Hina suffer the same fate as her aunt? He asked himself.
"I wouldn't try to escape; I have an Anbu squad on standby for this arrest. Did you think I would pursue the infamous Sasuke Uchiha by myself?" she threatened.
Sasuke cursed underneath his breath at the woman's preparation, but he was strangely impressed by it. She had thoroughly put him in a tough spot.
"You don't understand…" Uchiha argued.
"Then help me understand at the-"
Yui hushed when a crazed chuckling came from outside the shop. She peered out the doorway from her position and caught a glimpse of two figures conversing amongst themselves. The next thing Sasuke and Yui saw was a rocket enter through the doorway, the two shinobi dodged out of the way. The missile crashed into the backroom of the building.
"What the fu-"
Yui was interrupted by sudden ignition of the kitchen. Flames erupted into the room they were in, the pressure blowing them out of the broken windows. Sasuke rolled onto the dirt road with a pained groan. Yui cursed at the pain in her arm from crashing into the ground.
"Who's this chick? I didn't know people were supposed to be inside!" the gang-member laughed maniacally.
"She's pretty, Janku. Can I have her?" a grisly voice asked.
Yui came to her senses, flipping onto her back and presenting her badge to the stranger pairing. They were both wearing attire that one would wear in a desert apocalypse: one was 6 feet tall with a massive stomach but toned arms, and the other was shorter with spiky blonde hair and a crazed grin. The fat one sported a hook attached to a chain with some type of close range projectile weapon. The crazy blonde had a cannon attached to his left arm in place of his hand and forearm. Yui presumed that was where the rocket came from.
"Sure! Go nuts, buddy! And she's even a pig; she's perfect for you, Buta!" Janko agreed happily.
Buta approached the woman, breathing and chuckling heavily through his gas mask. The massive man was about to grab the woman's injured arm when he was engulfed in black flames. Buta clutched his head and screamed in pain as he ran in circles. Janko looked at his buddy burn in horror, scanning the area for the attacker.
"You're gonna regret that!" Janko snapped, taking aim with his cannon arm.
Sasuke moved in a blur towards his foe, easily impaling Janko on his sword within a second. The gang member coughed up blood as the blade cut through his stomach. A small giggle came from Janko as he shot out a rocket point-blank.
"DIE!" he laughed menacingly.
In a split-second Sasuke activates his rinnegan, switching places with the crispy Buta. The duo exploded in sync spelling the end for the pair of gangbangers. Chunks of human insides and debris rained from the dark sky as the explosion settled. Uchiha didn't like using his abilities against normal shinobis; it made keeping his identity a secret harder. But these freaks were the exception to his rule.
Sasuke approached the injured woman and offered a hand. She was reluctant about trusting him, but took his hand nonetheless. Sometimes one needs to realize the entire world isn't against them. A fact that both the policewoman and Sasuke needed to learn on their journeys.
"Thanks," grumbled the woman.
Sasuke didn't respond and stepped over to the lower half of the large man's corpse. Everything above the hips was blown away by the lunatic's rogue rocket. Serves them right. He glanced back at the burning structure of Joy's ramen shop. Villagers couldn't even bury the body if they wanted to. Yui weaved quick hand signs and a whirlpool of high pressure water erupted from her mouth to douse the flames. Yui and Sasuke were thinking the same thing. Was this an assassination attempt? Unbeknownst to them, it was an attempt to hide the evidence of Joy's murder.
"Why didn't the Anbu warn me of the threat? I ordered them to keep eyes on the village," she asked herself aloud.
"Sounds like you don't have the black ops unit for assistance after all."
Yui glared at the man with her best death stare.
"Don't you dare try-"
Sasuke disappeared in an instant, remnants of lightning arcing around the area.
"YOU'RE GOING TO REGRET THAT!" she yelled into the night sky.
Uchiha soared over the low rooftops of the village houses, looking for any suspicious activity. He was itching for a fight now. If they were going to involve innocents then he didn't care; he'd slaughter them all without a second thought. Joy was dead and Hina was missing; while his only lead was blown to bits.
Sasuke scanned the streets for any suspicious activity, finding not even a mouse out. These people were smart, they knew not to show their faces after such a grisly crime. That didn't mean that Sasuke would allow for Joy's murder to go unheard. He would make the perpetrators suffer for their deeds. Uchiha stopped on the rooftop for a moment. He couldn't allow for his emotions to get in the way of his work. Sasuke needed to remind himself that he wasn't seeking revenge. Though his initial reason for coming here was to investigate potential gang activity near his residence; things had changed and now his new objective was to eliminate this new gang. Tragedy would always linger around these criminals, it was how the world worked. He couldn't get hung up on one death.
It sounded heartless but he would never allow for his emotions to get the best of him ever again. Sasuke spotted a dark figure peeking from a store corner, making eye contact with the mysterious person for a second. They fled before he could make out any more facial features. The shinobi kept the high ground as he followed the suspicious presence towards the edge of town. Sasuke pulled his grappling hook gun from his belt and aimed it at the top floor of the scaffolding. The hook shoots out and impales itself in the wood. Sasuke uses his momentum to swing over several buildings into the night sky; his cape flowing behind him as he closes the distance on the suspect.
Uchiha's feet collided with the back of the person, forcibly throwing them into the ground. They flailed around trying to get to their feet before being kicked back down by Sasuke. The shinobi grabbed the brown cloak and pulled the person up to face him. Sasuke's eyes were red with anger, despite telling himself to not let his emotions grow out of control. He came face to face with a scared boy that was no older than 13. Uchiha was surprised at first, but kept the pressure up.
"Who are you? And why are you following me?" he demanded.
"Nunya Business! And I wasn't following you either! I was doing recon!" the boy snapped back with an attitude.
Sasuke didn't have time for games, if this kid had any association with the gang then he'd need to know immediately. A peek at his memories would clear things up Sasuke told himself as he reached for the boy. He wasn't expecting the child to jump back in an attempt to avoid his hand. The mysterious boy pulled out a kunai and pointed it at the shinobi threateningly.
"What did you do with sister Hina?" he demanded.
Sasuke wasn't expecting that question; Joy never mentioned a nephew, and it made him wonder about the boy's relation with Hina.
"Men in similar dark clothing grabbed her off the streets," he revealed.
So she was kidnapped before she even got home so they don't know about Joy… Sasuke apprehensively approached the armed boy with his hands up.
"I'm not with the men you saw… I'm trying to find Hina too."
"Really- er- YEAH RIGHT! Hina said to never trust anyone!"
Seems that this boy was taught a bit about how to survive by Hina. He wanted more information from the boy, so building rapport was essential.
"Do you live in this village? What's your name?" Sasuke questioned.
The boy recoiled from the strange man's intense questioning and slowly started backing away with a skeptical look on his face. Sasuke released a groan of agitation at the boy's sudden caution. The child saw Sasuke's look of frustration and decided to fess up some answers.
"Hiruto…and yes I do," Hiruto spoke quietly.
"It's nice to meet you, Hiruto. I'm Sa-" Uchiha's eyes widened at the realization of what would have been a mistake. "I'm-"
"Daku…" Hiruto interrupted.
"What?"
"That's what the villagers call you. Because you're always hiding in the dark. They say you're a curse and not to approach you."
Sasuke hadn't realized that there were rumors spreading about him. Well it was only a matter of time before the townsfolk noticed his presence. And what was this talk of a curse? Didn't these people see that I'm trying to help them. Sasuke was slightly annoyed at the insult thrown at him but he had to remember that he hasn't done much for this place yet. Uchiha was deep in thought when a sniffle broke him out of his trance. He glanced down to see the teary-eyed face of Hiruto and immediately thought what had he done to upset the child.
"When Hina was taken by the men, I went to Auntie's ramen shop for help… But I saw that it was broken into and was too scared to investigate by myself."
Sasuke sighed lightly when he heard mention of Joy. Hiruto doesn't even know what happened to her yet and it'll be no secret by morning tomorrow. Uchiha felt pity for a boy left by his lonesome in a world like this.
"Can you tell me where the men went?" Sasuke asked, trying to ignore the problem altogether.
"They-they went back to their treehouse in the woods," Hiruto mumbled as he pointed towards the edge of town.
"Thanks…" Sasuke uttered, walking away from the crying boy.
"Is-Is Joy…Okay?" he called out through his silent sobs.
"She was killed by men in league with those who took your sister…" Sasuke deadpanned.
The man heard a thud behind him and glanced back to see Hiruto on his knees; the boy had streaks of tears rolling down his cheeks as he stared blankly ahead of him. Most adults wouldn't expose a child to such a tragedy. But Sasuke saw it a different way: show him the pain of the world so when it inevitably happens again, he isn't sideswiped by dread and agony. Even though he firmly believed in that ideal, he didn't have the heart to reveal what had truly happened to the woman. He was only a child, after all. Sasuke wasn't going to leave the boy in a world of darkness without giving him something to light the way.
"I'm going to kill them and bring your sister back to you," he promised. "Until then…Keep your head down."
And with that the curse of Daku was gone with the wind. Leaving the mourning boy by himself in the night street. Tonight, a tragedy had occurred in the small village that outsiders will never hear about. Sasuke had cemented his objective with the promise of returning Hina back to the boy. This was what Sasuke Uchiha did, he eased the suffering of unfortunate souls that he came in contact with. Though his tactics would be considered barbaric and savage; he was content with the simple solution it presented to the problems he sought to fix. These people have so little and yet still lose so much. No more. The monsters of this world will taste his blade.
