It had been nearly an hour since they were trapped inside the domain barrier of the "Horror Quiz."
The first ones who lost their patience were the two Grass ninja—cowards with little ability and a strong fear of death.
They grabbed the red-haired girl from their team by the hair and shook her violently, clearly trying to force her to answer the question.
The girl clamped both hands over her mouth, not daring to make a sound. She knelt on the ground, tears streaming endlessly down her cheeks.
As she struggled, the exposed skin on her waist, calves, thighs, arms, and neck revealed something horrifying—
Countless bite marks.
They were packed so densely together that it made anyone who saw them feel sick.
From the marks alone, it was obvious they weren't made by just two or three people.
Large and small, old and new… the bite marks looked like they had been left by hundreds of different mouths.
"Ugh—"
Sakura covered her mouth as nausea churned in her empty stomach.
She couldn't imagine what kind of twisted human nature it would take to do something so cruel to a girl barely twelve or thirteen years old.
If she hadn't covered her mouth in time—and if her stomach hadn't been empty—she might have thrown up right there.
Some of the bite marks even overlapped with others, layered unevenly across her skin. It was obvious what kind of "treatment" the Grass ninja girl had endured.
But why bite her like that?
Was it some kind of ritual from the Land of Grass?
Sasuke: "!!"
Uchiha Sasuke stared at the scene in shock as the scattered pieces of information in his mind suddenly connected.
The question was:
After the destruction of Uzushiogakure in the Land of Whirlpools, what was the surname of the orphan girl who fled to Kusagakure in the Land of Grass?
They had studied Kusagakure back in the Ninja Academy.
It was a village belonging to the small nation of the Land of Grass, situated between the Land of Fire's Konohagakure, the Land of Earth's Iwagakure, Takigakure of the Land of Waterfalls, and Amegakure of the Land of Rain.
During the Third Great Ninja War, it had once served as a major battlefield.
Due to its status as a weak, minor nation, the Land of Grass took in a massive influx of refugees and outsiders.
But the rest of the story… wasn't something written in textbooks.
Looking at the treatment that red-haired girl had suffered, Sasuke could easily conclude—
She was one of those outsiders.
The realization made his heart sink.
And it also stirred anger.
He didn't know why she had ended up in the Land of Grass, but someone with such a unique ability was practically—
No.
Even ordinary medical ninja were invaluable resources during wartime.
And this girl possessed an ability that no medical ninja could possibly match.
If this ability was some kind of secret technique of her clan, then once it was discovered, it would absolutely attract the attention of the entire ninja world.
Sasuke had never heard of a clan with such a monstrous kekkei genkai.
If such a clan existed, the village should have protected them carefully.
Unless there was only one explanation…
This girl—
Like him—
Had her clan wiped out.
The moment that thought crossed his mind, a kunai shot forward with ruthless speed.
It sliced past the arm of the Grass ninja who was gripping Karin's hair and buried itself deep into the tree trunk behind him.
Blood spurted out.
The Grass ninja gritted his teeth and clutched his bleeding arm as he turned around. The kunai had sunk halfway into the tree trunk—proof of just how much force the throw carried.
Sasuke couldn't speak.
So he acted.
His Sharingan activated as he charged forward at blinding speed.
Lion Combo!!
He silently called out the name of his new technique in his mind.
Crouching low, he planted one hand on the ground and swung his leg in a spinning kick that struck the Grass ninja squarely on the chin.
The powerful kick launched the man several meters into the air.
Sasuke instantly leapt upward. In the blink of an eye, he appeared behind the airborne Grass ninja.
Grabbing the man's back, he twisted his wrist and spun—
Another vicious kick.
Then he used the momentum to rise above the enemy and smashed his left forearm into the Grass ninja's chest, replacing the usual finishing kick.
"—Kgh!"
The Grass ninja coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Final hit.
Sasuke declared in his mind.
His final spinning kick whipped down like a steel whip, his heel slamming into the Grass ninja's abdomen and driving him straight into the ground.
The Grass ninja spat out another mouthful of blood and passed out instantly.
The entire exchange took less than two seconds.
Karin, humiliated and abused just moments prior, remained frozen on her knees. She stared blankly at Sasuke, at a total loss for how to react.
"W—"
She had just begun to speak when Sasuke clamped a hand over her mouth.
His eyes glared at her as if saying, Idiot! Do you have a death wish?!
Karin hurriedly nodded, terrified.
Only then did he release her.
The other Grass ninja immediately abandoned his companion and fled to the edge of the domain barrier, waving a kunai nervously in front of him.
It was obvious he had already lost any will to fight.
Not far away, Sakura rushed over and quickly applied some Konoha medicine to Karin's fresh wounds.
Karin stared blankly like a rag doll, allowing Sakura to treat her without resistance.
No one had ever treated her like this before.
When she finally came back to her senses, tears began streaming down her face again.
Seeing this, both Sasuke and Sakura felt a trace of sympathy for the Grass ninja girl.
Sasuke understood now.
Like him, she was probably the last survivor of a clan with a special ability.
But she had fallen into Kusagakure.
On the surface, the Grass ninja village had taken her in.
In reality…
They treated her worse than livestock.
…
"Sasuke!!!"
At that moment, Naruto, Gaara, Iruka, and the others finally arrived after receiving the news.
"Sakura! Sasuke!!!"
Naruto shouted from outside the domain barrier, panic written all over his face—completely different from his usual goofy demeanor.
Naruto…
Naruto!
Sasuke and Sakura both looked toward him.
"I'll definitely save you guys!!! Just wait for me!!"
Naruto slammed his fists against the invisible wall.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Ripples spread across the barrier like waves on water, but it completely blocked Naruto's strength.
"Let me try…"
Gaara spread his arms, palms facing upward.
The lid of his gourd opened, and streams of sand poured out.
At the same time, a thin layer of sand began spreading across the ground. It flowed outward, turning the soil beneath into sand, merging with the sand from the gourd until it surged like a raging tide.
This was something Gaara had learned after watching the future battle between his older self and his father, the Fourth Kazekage.
The sand formed a massive wall—like a crashing wave—and slammed into the domain barrier.
Just like Naruto's punches, it only caused large ripples to spread across the surface.
Seeing everyone arrive, Sasuke and Sakura both felt some relief.
Even though the barrier still showed no sign of breaking, the determination of their comrades to rescue them was deeply moving.
Sasuke: Naruto…
Sakura: Even Gaara… and Iruka-sensei!
Karin watched the Konoha and Sunagakure ninja outside the barrier.
All of them were trying to save Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura.
So this is… what comrades are?
Then which village did my mother and I belong to?
Karin couldn't stop thinking about the life she and her mother had lived after being taken in by the Grass village.
No matter how she looked at it, it had never felt like belonging to a village.
Or having comrades.
Outside the barrier, the sand continued attacking for dozens of minutes.
Aside from creating ripples like before, the barrier showed no change at all.
Gaara then condensed the sand into a massive drill, increasing its density and focusing it on a single point to pierce the barrier.
But even after another ten minutes…
The invisible wall didn't budge at all.
"…It's useless."
Naruto continued pounding the barrier in frustration.
Umino Iruka, once their teacher at the Ninja Academy, forced himself to calm down.
"Sasuke! Sakura! Don't say anything, okay?! Just nod if you understand!"
Sasuke and Sakura both nodded.
Iruka continued, "What's the question this time? Can you find a way to tell me?"
Sakura glanced at Sasuke, then nodded to Iruka.
She ran to the edge of the barrier closest to them.
Picking up a branch from the ground, she began writing the question in the dirt, stroke by stroke:
"Question: After the destruction of Uzushiogakure in the Land of Whirlpools, the orphan girl who fled to the Land of Grass—"
She had only written halfway.
Naruto suddenly shouted in alarm.
"Sakura, watch out!!!"