Chapter 18 — I Just Want to Pull Her Out of Hell
To my dearest brother Sasori,
I have located Orochimaru's exact hiding place.
May this reach you swiftly — and may our profits multiply.
Within Oda Nobunaga's temporary camp, Kakuzu sat cross-legged in his personal "free tent," quill scratching against parchment.
Since there was no explicit Akatsuki rule against internal dealings — and Nobunaga had promised double pay — he saw no reason to sit idle.
He wrote, paused, deleted, and rewrote the message at least three times, calculating exactly how to package Sasori for delivery while keeping himself blameless.
When he was finally satisfied and sent off the message, fortune came knocking — or rather, shouting.
A commotion erupted at the camp's perimeter.
"Lord Nobunaga! Unidentified shinobi approaching!"
Kakuzu's eyes gleamed.
"Those," he said smugly, "are the Kusa-nin I… persuaded."
Though Nobunaga had rejected Kakuzu's earlier offer to abduct the Uzumaki mother and daughter by force,
he had promised a hefty bonus if they arrived safely.
And for money, Kakuzu's motivation was limitless.
He shot out of his tent like a storm wind — reaching the arriving Grass-nin before Nobunaga himself could even stand.
The Kusa-nin, a ragtag band of greedy opportunists, flinched as the towering bounty hunter appeared before them.
Their nerves, already frayed, stretched to breaking when they saw the Land of Fields' shinobi ranks looming behind him.
"Hey—hey, you're not planning to cut us out of the deal, are you!?" one of them stammered.
Originally, they'd just wanted a quick payday.
Kakuzu had offered them enough gold to smuggle the "public blood bags" — the half-dead Uzumaki woman and her daughter — out of Kusagakure.
But seeing an entire army waiting outside the border made them break into a cold sweat.
Why would someone like Kakuzu need so many soldiers for a handoff?
Unless… he planned to take the money and kill them afterward.
"Hm?"
Kakuzu's eyes narrowed, a sly grin spreading.
He hadn't planned to rob them.
But now that they mentioned it… it wasn't a bad idea.
He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, eyes gleaming green under his hood.
Right… why didn't I think of that before?
After all, once the deal was done, his employer wouldn't really care what happened next.
"Relax," a calm voice cut through the tension.
Everyone turned.
Nobunaga strode forward, his presence effortless yet commanding — followed by Zōmajirō and several of his elite guards.
He glanced over the trembling Kusa-nin,
then at the mother and daughter they carried like sacks of grain — Uzumaki Karin and her dying mother.
Without hesitation, Nobunaga took the pouch of gold that Zōmajirō handed him.
He tossed it at their feet.
"Payment first," he said evenly.
The clink of gold against stone broke their remaining composure.
Their eyes lit up like lanterns.
Even without opening it, their instincts told them — this was real. Enough gold to vanish from the world and live soft lives in some minor nation forever.
Why risk dying as shinobi when one bag could buy freedom?
"Deal!"
They threw the two Uzumaki women forward like refuse, the younger screaming as her mother's frail body hit the ground hard.
They had done it on purpose — hoping the chaos would distract Nobunaga's soldiers long enough for them to escape.
Several of Nobunaga's shinobi darted forward to catch the mother, cushioning the fall.
The Kusa-nin used the chance — vanishing in a blur of smoke and shunshin.
"Damn it! That's my money!"
Kakuzu's face twisted in outrage, his greed overriding all restraint as he lunged forward —
"Kakuzu-san."
The quiet authority in Nobunaga's voice stopped him mid-step.
"I have another task for you."
That single line froze the bounty hunter in place.
He turned, his green eyes practically glowing with avarice.
"...Go on."
Ignoring him for the moment, Nobunaga turned to Asama Sandayū.
"Sandayū-dono, did you record everything?"
The older man, still clutching his film camera, straightened proudly.
"Of course, Lord Nobunaga! I may not be a professional cameraman, but after years of working on Princess Koyuki's film sets,
I'd say my timing is impeccable!"
He gave the camera a confident pat.
"Every second — from the handoff to the betrayal — captured perfectly!"
"Excellent," Nobunaga murmured.
Kakuzu sighed audibly, his fingers twitching.
The glint of gold had yet to return to his hands, and that bothered him immensely.
But Nobunaga had already turned his attention elsewhere.
"Can she be saved?"
He was kneeling now beside the fallen Uzumaki woman, whose chest barely rose and fell.
Her skin was as pale as snow, her breathing shallow — but her hand still gripped her daughter's with iron strength.
The medic-nin bowed their heads.
"My lord," one said reluctantly,
"we can't get close. The girl won't let us."
They gestured to the small figure crouched beside the dying woman — a child barely ten years old,
red hair disheveled, glasses askew, her eyes swollen from crying.
She hissed at anyone who approached,
hugging her mother like a frightened animal.
"Uuuu… stay away!"
The sound was closer to a whimper than a threat — like a cornered puppy trying to sound fierce.
For a moment, the camp fell silent.
And as Nobunaga watched the little girl trembling yet unyielding,
he exhaled softly.
A child still in hell, he thought. But if I can pull her out — she'll never forget whose hand reached for her first.
He rose slowly, his expression unreadable,
and motioned for the medics to stand back.
"Let her come to me," he said quietly.
Because sometimes, to save someone drowning in darkness —
you don't drag them out.
You step into the darkness with them first.
...
The agony her mother had suffered in Kusagakure was still burned into her memory — every scream, every bite mark, every night of helpless crying.
And now, dragged through the dark by those same vile Grass-nin, Uzumaki Karin knew this wasn't a rescue.
Even at her young age, she wasn't foolish enough to believe she and her mother had been brought to a good place.
In her frightened, feverish mind, the strangers before her — these armored shinobi led by Nobunaga — seemed even more terrifying than the Grass-nin who'd abused them.
"Remove the cloth from her mouth," Nobunaga ordered quietly.
"Begin treatment on the woman immediately."
His tone softened as his gaze fell on the trembling girl clutching her mother's body.
He raised a hand slightly, signaling his shinobi to approach — gently, but firmly.
"Don't hurt my mother!" Karin cried out, her small voice breaking.
"You can do whatever you want to me — just don't hurt her!"
She kicked, flailed, and screamed — but her tiny arms and legs were no match for the trained ninja who restrained her.
Tears streaked down her dirt-stained cheeks as she was pulled away, her fingers clawing helplessly at empty air.
And then, in a desperate act of courage and despair — she revealed her last bargaining chip.
Herself.
With trembling hands, Karin yanked open her tattered clothes, baring her pale, thin arm.
The faint pink marks of healed bite wounds dotted her skin — stark and horrifying against her youth.
The medics froze.
And then they saw the woman on the ground — Karin's mother, her body covered in hundreds of circular scars, each one the mark of a chakra bite.
Her flesh was sunken and pale, as if her very life had been drained again and again.
"Gods above…"
Among the onlookers, Princess Koyuki covered her mouth in horror.
Her eyes trembled as she looked between the dying woman and the child,
realizing with dawning horror the kind of cruelty that could carve such wounds into a human body.
How many times had this woman been drained, bitten, leeched upon —
and yet somehow she had kept her daughter untouched, using her own body as a shield?
Tears streamed down Koyuki's face before she even realized it.
"Lord… please…"
The voice was weak — barely audible.
The medics turned, and the dying woman on the ground stirred faintly, her eyes fluttering open.
Her hair — once vibrant red — now hung dull and lifeless.
Her body was a frail shadow, her skin paper-white and bruised.
"I… am Uzumaki Shion," she whispered hoarsely, forcing her cracked lips into a faint smile.
"My blood… my chakra… can replenish a shinobi's strength."
"I can heal wounds… I can still be useful."
Her words shook with exhaustion, but the desperate sincerity behind them struck everyone silent.
"Please… just let my daughter live," she begged.
"You can… do anything you want to me… but she… she's still just a child…"
As if to prove her worth, Uzumaki Shion raised her trembling arm,
searching for one of the few patches of flesh unmarked by teeth.
Before anyone could stop her, she tried to push her wrist into the medic's mouth.
"My lord!"
The medic's teeth clenched with a sharp grind, his body shaking.
He had seen the cruelty of war, of blood, of monsters — but never something like this.
A woman who had been turned into a living tool — still smiling, still begging for mercy for someone else.
Tears burned in the corners of his eyes as his fists trembled.
He had never wanted to save anyone so badly in his life.
"Mom!!"
Karin's cry pierced through the camp like a knife.
Tears poured down her face as she broke free from her captors and threw herself forward —
— mimicking her mother's motion.
Just as her mother had done moments ago,
Karin thrust out her own small arm, the same pale, bitten flesh trembling in the torchlight.
"Don't hurt her! Use me instead!"
Her voice cracked into a sob — but there was no fear in it.
Only the raw, desperate love of a child trying to share her mother's pain.
For a moment, no one moved.
Even hardened shinobi turned their eyes away.
And Nobunaga — watching the two scarred figures clinging to each other — felt something twist deep in his chest.
This world... is sick, he thought, closing his eyes briefly.
If no one will save them — then I will.
He knelt beside them, his hand brushing lightly against the girl's trembling shoulder.
"No one will hurt you again." he said softly.
"Not while I still draw breath."