Shadow saw his thoughts and did not press the moment. He spoke instead. "So, before going to Hozuki Castle, should we make a stop at Kusagakure?"
"I do not care," Kakuzu said calmly, already numb to the ugliness of the Ninja World. He had lived from the founding of Konoha to the present and had seen far too much darkness.
Because of that, he treated money as the only comfort he could trust. As Nagato nodded without a word, the three figures vanished from the forest.
In Kusagakure, inside a dilapidated house, an oil lamp flickered in the night wind seeping through the door. The shaking light twisted the walls of the ruined hut and revealed a figure on the bed that looked like a withered shadow.
The woman leaned against the wall, and hair that should have been blood red had mostly turned a harsh white. Only a few strands near her ears still held a dull crimson, like the last embers of life.
"Get over here!" A burly Grass Ninja clutched his wounded abdomen and dragged the woman by the arm, his face dark.
Her arm was pale to the point of transparency, covered in bruises and layers of old and new bite scars. The Grass Ninja showed no pity as he opened his mouth and bit down, sinking into her flesh like a hyena tearing carrion.
"Mm!" Strange red blood traced down her white skin, and the pain made her numb face twitch as a suppressed whimper escaped her throat. Sweat soaked the few dead white strands on her forehead, and her breathing flickered like the lamp.
All her remaining strength was used to shield the red haired girl curled up and trembling behind her. A bony arm reached out to cover the girl's wide, terrified eyes.
"Do not look… Karin… it will be over soon…" The weak whisper was the only protection she could offer.
But the eyes of Uzumaki Karin could still see the horror through her trembling fingers. In the dim light, it looked like a monster choosing its prey.
The Grass Ninja bit and swallowed with greed, and with each rough movement, the color drained further from the woman's face as more of her already dry hair turned white. In contrast, the wound on the Grass Ninja's abdomen, crudely wrapped in bandages, began to scab at a visible speed and even grow new flesh.
Gradually, the woman's breathing weakened until only a faint rise of her chest showed she was alive. Karin stared blankly, and a raw impulse beyond fear seized her small body.
"Enough! Let go of my mom!" A sharp, shaking child's voice rang out as a small figure slammed forward.
The Grass Ninja staggered from the sudden impact, his teeth tearing free from the woman's arm. He had not expected the little thing hiding behind her to dare resist.
His shock quickly turned to rage. "You little beast, you are asking to die!"
Violence flashed in his eyes as he swung his arm and sent Karin flying like a swatted bug. Her small body hit the cold earthen wall with a dull thud, and darkness closed in on her vision as she gasped.
The Grass Ninja snorted and grabbed the woman's hair again, biting hard into her neck. This time it was not gnawing but revenge, his teeth sinking deeper and more viciously.
"Ah…" The woman, unable to make a sound, let out a broken groan as her raised hand fell limp.
At last, the Grass Ninja lifted his head and flung her arm aside. He spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, his face showing only disgust, as if he had tasted spoiled meat.
He tore off the blood soaked bandages and saw the wound that had not fully healed. He cursed, "I bit for so long, and you are still useless."
Karin struggled to her feet and looked at her mother with shaking pupils. "Mom?" she called softly.
This time, there was no gentle answer. The Grass Ninja heard her and narrowed his eyes at her blood red hair.
He had been told not to touch the child for now, but after risking his life for the village, sneaking a bite should be fine. A clear hunger showed in his eyes as his blood stained mouth curled into a grin and he reached for the stunned Karin.
"You deserve to die." A voice colder than ice came from behind him.
Before the Grass Ninja could react, a sharp pain tore through his chest. Blood spilled slowly down.
He spat out a mouthful of blood, his strength draining away as he looked down at his chest with trembling lips. A hand had pierced through his heart, holding a beating crimson organ.
"So even the heart of a beast like you is red?" someone said coldly behind him.
Nagato pulled his hand free and let the Grass Ninja's body fall with a dull sound, confusion still frozen on his face. Killing him eased Nagato's anger a little, but when he looked at the woman's condition, the rage flared again.
These beasts all deserved death.
"..."
Shadow and Kakuzu walked in and saw the scene before them, and both fell into a long silence. Even someone as numb as Kakuzu could not help letting out a cold snort. "Those bastards of Kusagakure."
Ninja were without doubt bloody, and their hands were bound to be stained with blood. This was something that did not need denial, and Kakuzu would never bother to argue otherwise. But even killing someone usually ended with a quick blow, and even with all the blood on his hands, he had never treated a person like this.
What Kusagakure had done was simply too disgusting, too ugly, and too revolting. As Nagato was about to step forward, a small figure suddenly blocked his way. It was the now four-year-old Karin.
"Y you..." Her legs shook violently, her teeth chattered, and her small face was pale without a trace of color. Behind her glasses, her red eyes were filled with tears from fear.
Still, she spread her arms and used her paper-thin body to block her mother tightly. "D do not you touch Mom!" Her voice trembled and carried a sob. Nagato froze in place, not knowing what to do for a moment.
In the end, it was Kakuzu who extended his Black Threads and lifted Karin up with ease. "Kid, calm down," he said through his mask in a muffled voice. "If we wanted to kill you and your mother, we would have done it already."
Shadow walked to the woman's side, but when he truly saw her condition, the face hidden in the shadows frowned slightly. At this moment, he understood more clearly that the original depiction had already been softened. Bite marks could never be as neat as stamped patterns, and reality was far more horrifying than what any comic showed.
Her body had collapsed inward, as if the flesh supporting her life had been drained away. Loose, worn clothes hung on her like rags over jagged rock. The bones of her shoulders and arms jutted sharply from her skin, and layers of old and new bite marks covered her entire body.
From the darker purple scars with congealed blood and torn wounds that were relatively fresh, to the old injuries that had dulled and sunk in like craters, every mark was clear. They were packed together like ugly brands, deep enough to show bone, leaving almost no intact skin behind. It was a sight that left no room for misunderstanding.
"How is it?" Nagato asked.