When they arrived at midday, everyone's stomachs were growling, but they decided to proceed with the rescue first, as was logical. They entered Urayama's secluded house in the middle of the forest and made their way down to the basement where the captives were being held. The door to the basement creaked due to the rust on its hinges.
"It's open."
"I don't think many people visit this house."
"Ugh, it smells awful," Naruto whispered.
"There's no ventilation."
"Hello!? Help!" a girl screamed.
"We're here!"
Seina entered first, just in case, and saw five kidnapped children. One of them was in very bad condition. She ripped the metal double doors off their hinges.
"Take the others, I'll carry this one," she said, lifting a girl with an amputated hand in her arms.
She immediately noticed the comatose state she was in. Honestly, it was a miracle she had survived this long with an amputated hand under such horrific conditions. She transported her straight to the infirmary, casting a diagnostic spell as soon as she laid her on the bed. She used clones to examine the other children while she focused on the pale girl, whose bandages and tourniquet, upon removal, revealed gangrene.
"God!" Naruto exclaimed, going pale once more. "Can she be saved?"
"Let her work, idiot," Sasuke hissed, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him away. "We'll be in the hallway if you need us."
To be honest, she was going to need a lot of help. The girl had so many complications that Seina feared she might die while being treated. Fortunately, there was a temporary stasis spell that Aurors used to keep their comrades alive until they could receive medical attention. It wouldn't suspend her in time indefinitely, but it would give her an hour or two to figure out a treatment plan and administer first aid.
To begin with, the amputation was the root of all her issues. She was suffering from sepsis, gangrene, severe haemoglobin deficiency, anaemia, and was in the early stages of multi-organ failure as a result of it all. She immediately administered antibiotics and antipyretics. If the fever and sepsis weren't treated, the girl was doomed. Then, she had to amputate further up, making a clean cut with a spell above the elbow.
One of her clones dispelled, bringing back information about the other children. Fortunately, they were all fine aside from some bruises, dehydration, and malnutrition. Urayama had clearly only kept them as bargaining chips in his blackmail schemes. Lucky for them. She removed the girl's filthy clothes, leaving her naked before conjuring a hospital gown and thoroughly cleaning her several times with a spell.
She sealed the wound on her amputated arm and made her drink a potion to restore her lost blood volume. That would also take care of her anaemia, so she focused on stabilizing her body to prevent shock. Thankfully, what she had administered seemed to be working, as she hadn't needed to resuscitate her even once. She also inserted an IV line to provide fluids and another to help her recover from malnutrition.
"Do you want us to bring you something to eat?" Naruto asked in a low voice.
"Yes. I'll eat quickly here while my clones continue working on her."
"Alright."
Seina ate the meal they had heated up for her in just ten minutes. Sasuke and Naruto, sitting beside her as they ate, informed her that they hadn't found any of the 18 missing children in the bunker.
"We should leave as soon as possible to rescue them," Naruto said. "You saw how bad these kids were, and he needed them alive to blackmail those idiots!"
"For once in my life, I agree with Naruto," Sasuke sighed.
"I know… I'll need a little more time to stabilize her, but I think we can leave in half an hour," she replied, still by her patient's side. "I'll leave some clones here. I hope she doesn't relapse, but I can't promise we won't have to stop along the way."
So, after gathering their things, they set off for Urayama's main house, where he had told them some of the kidnapped children were being held. It took them an hour to get there. They snuck across the rooftops, taking advantage of the fact that it was lunchtime and the streets were emptier, and entered through a window in his house. They descended into the basement, which had also been converted into cells, and found the worst-case scenario.
"He's dead," Sasuke whispered, checking one of their pulses.
"And so is this one."
Of the twelve kidnapped children present, three had been dead for a couple of days. Seina made sure they didn't see the body of one of them, swallowing hard when she saw how he had died—violated countless times. His body was one giant bruise. He was lying face down on the floor, his backside raised, his anus torn, and an extremely tight belt around his neck. It didn't take a genius to know that he had been raped from behind and restrained in that position because he wouldn't stop fighting back, judging by his broken nails and defensive wounds on his arms. His skull was also fractured in the front, likely from when he had been thrown to the ground before they looped the belt around his neck one last time.
She wrapped him in a sheet before anyone else could see him.
"Don't ask," she told Sasuke and Naruto when they saw her leaving the cell with the covered corpse.
"…"
"How are we supposed to tell their families they're dead?" Naruto asked, his eyes glistening with tears.
"We'll think about that later. We need to rescue the others first."
She placed the survivors inside her suitcase, in the makeshift infirmary, and created a few more clones to treat them. Seina had a bad feeling that the others were already dead and buried somewhere. Her tracking spell had gone wild, and Urayama had no more hiding places besides the two they had already searched. She wished she were wrong, but as soon as they followed the spell to one of the remaining boys… they found him at the bottom of a ravine, wrapped in a plastic bag tied with ropes. The same was true for all the others.
They sat on a rock after recovering all the bodies and rescuing the survivors, watching the sunset.
"What now?"
"We return the kidnappers' children to their mothers, explaining why they were taken and what will happen to their husbands… As for Fujioka and Kijuro, we'll hand them over to the local civil authorities for punishment."
"And the kidnapped children?"
"The ones who survived will be returned to their families. As for the dead… we'll need to speak with their families before handing over their bodies. And Urayama… I'm torn between making him pay for what he did for the rest of his life or leaving him to the families."
"We could execute him."
"I know, but it bothers me that he would die so easily. Let's go. We'll spend the night in the tent. Tomorrow will be a tough day."
The third day of the mission was destined to be the worst. The children—all of them—seemed to be doing much better than the day before. Sasuke, Naruto, and Seina took care of washing the bodies and… fixing them up, before handing them over to their families. She didn't want any parent to have to see their child the way Urayama, the rapist and murderer, had left them.
They started with the easiest part: returning the kidnappers' children to their families and handing over the two criminals to civil justice. It didn't take long for them to be accepted, especially since a ninja's word was law above that of civilians. As soon as she woke them up and they confessed their crimes themselves, they were taken away in handcuffs, under the horrified and disgusted gazes of their neighbors.
"Did you rescue those children?" someone asked.
"The ones we could."
They said their goodbyes, glancing over their shoulders at the pale faces left behind. The wives of the two men, unsurprisingly, were in disbelief. Once they finished crying with gratitude, hugging and kissing their recovered children, they rushed off to see their husbands in the dungeons. The girl with the amputated arm was sent directly to the village's small clinic, where a healer would take care of her.
"Pff," Naruto huffed. "Now comes the worst part."
"What do we do first? Return the living or the dead?"
"I'd follow the map we marked so we don't have to run back and forth," she said, shaking her head. "I know we can teleport instantly with Hiraishin, but we should go in order."
And so, they headed to the nearest village. Fortunately, it was the hometown of one of the survivors, so they returned the boy to his family.
"My son… What did they do to you?" a mother sobbed, hugging her now-conscious child tightly. "I thought I'd never see you again!"
Suddenly, the neighbors arrived, then the grandparents, and within fifteen minutes, the house was full of people—strangers—while their entire team was embraced and showered with thanks.
"Who was responsible?" one of the uncles asked, less emotional than the parents.
"Three men. Two were traveling merchants who kidnapped children on behalf of a third party."
Voices rose in anger, demanding the names and heads of the culprits. Seeing how they were reacting, she knew it would be a mistake to tell them that they had the rapist with them in their suitcase. The fact was, every family would react the same way, and she couldn't bring Urayama back to life seventeen times. So, exchanging glances with her brothers, she gave them the bare minimum of information.
"I thought we'd never get out of there," Sasuke admitted. "We can't give them Urayama, or they'll kill him."
"So what do we do with him?"
"We'll hand him over to the authorities in his village, but I'll make sure to castrate him first."
The moment they had to deliver the first body was devastating. The mother opened the door, looking like she had aged twenty years in the past two weeks.
"Oh, hello again… Seina-san, right?"
"Yes. Can we come in? We need to talk."
She didn't know what it was—the serious look on her face, the exhausted yet compassionate tone in her voice when she asked to come inside, Naruto's teary eyes, or Sasuke's clenched fists—but the woman understood. She stared blankly at Seina for a couple of seconds before silently breaking into tears.
"Sayomi?" a man called from inside the house. "What's wrong?"
"They're going to tell us that Akira is dead, aren't they?" she asked, now sobbing aloud.
"What!?" the man shouted, appearing at the door. "Is that true?"
"I'm afraid so. Akira and nine other children… are dead."
Seina and the others watched as they hugged at the entrance of the house for a long time. She handed them their son's body, ensuring it was the correct one thanks to Sasuke's records, and briefly explained what had happened when they pleaded for answers. She told them where they had delivered the kidnappers and where they planned to turn in their son's murderer.
They repeated the process 16 more times. By the time they were done, she was exhausted. Sasuke and Naruto had been silent for a couple of hours, and they still had that bastard Urayama in the suitcase. Despite the fact that night was already falling, she decided to make one last effort and went to hand Urayama over. Saying he was going to suffer in prison once everyone found out he was a child rapist and murderer was, well, an understatement.
She amputated his right arm, his dominant hand, castrated him, and placed several enchantments on him so he would suffer like his victims for the rest of his life before handing him over.
"We'll take care of this scum," a man hissed when he learned that Urayama had murdered nine children and raped eighteen others for days. "Don't worry."
"He'll go straight to the mines, along with the other two."
They left shortly after, heading toward the forest outside the city. With the hiraishin, they reached Konoha in no time. They waited while she gave her mission report, reluctant to separate and have to talk to anyone.
"Let's go home," she said for the three of them.
Fortunately—or unfortunately—Kakashi was away on a mission, so they arrived at an empty house. They each took long baths before coming down for a light dinner, even if it was just a piece of fruit. Seina, who was more accustomed to these kinds of horrors, ate a little more while Naruto poked at his food and Sasuke forced himself to eat.
"How can you eat?"
"I only have two options: either break down or recover so I can keep going on missions and rescue more defenceless people," she said, already knowing exactly what to say in these situations. "It's your choice."
Naruto stared at her with a blank expression. Then, he looked at his plate and picked up his chopsticks.
"The world is full of terrible people. You know what we have to do, right? Gather our strength and take care of those bastards every time they try to abuse the innocent and defenceless," she hissed, recalling everything she had seen in both her past and present life. "That's why we're ninjas."
Sasuke and Naruto frowned, thoughtful, before eating with more determination. Seina finished her meal almost wishing she'd be sent away again, in search of more scum. It was a job that never ended, like that of doctors. There would always be some deranged person who thought they could do whatever they wanted to others. And she would be there until she couldn't anymore.
Her determination and anger seeped through the passive bond toward Sasuke and Naruto. They went to bed feeling no less depressed but more determined not to let what they had witnessed over the past three days break them.
When she woke up the next day, they were still feeling down, but they were moving in the right direction. They decided to train to distract themselves and learn a new ninjutsu from the mountain of scrolls Kakashi had left them months ago. Well, that was after she returned from work at the hospital that Friday. After training for a while, she had to go back to the village to deliver her written report to the mission department.
"Seina," a voice called behind her. It was Kakashi entering the department. "Will you wait for me?"
She nodded. Her mentor didn't take long to hand in his report and step outside. He found her leaning against a tree trunk, staring into nothingness.
"Seina? Are you okay?"
"Yeah. I could be better, but what can you do?"
"What happened?"
"A mission with dead and raped children."
Kakashi sighed, placing an arm around her shoulders. He pulled her close for a moment to comfort her.
"How are Naruto and Sasuke?"
"Eh, not great. I talked to them, but that doesn't change the fact that it's the first time they've seen something like this."
"Yeah, I guess not. I'll talk to them if you want."
"Up to you."
If not for the trauma of the past few days, she would have locked herself in her study to finish the few chapters of the book she had left to work on. She wasn't in the mood for anything spicy, so she spent the rest of the afternoon having a spa session at home.
"A what?" Naruto asked when she mentioned it.
"Spa, Naru. Basically, what rich people do once a week: massages, scalp treatments, face masks, etc., etc. Everything you can imagine."
"And how are you going to do it?" Sasuke asked with a hint of interest, his eyes shining slightly.
"Why don't we do this?" she said, suppressing a smile. "You guys move the furniture in the living room while I bring down all my products, and we'll have a session here with my clones."
"Really?" her brother asked, excited for the first time in days.
"Really."
And that's exactly what they did. She conjured four tables and plush armchairs, along with her clones, to give them pedicures and manicures—including Kakashi, who was reading his smut book with one hand. Then, they massaged their scalps, washed their hair, applied her most expensive hair care products, cleansed and massaged their faces, and while they had face masks on—except for Kakashi—they got arm and foot massages.
By the time they were done, hours later, everyone's stomachs were growling, but they were glowing. Naruto and Sasuke looked like they were about to collapse from relaxation, while Kakashi had abandoned his book long ago in favour of closing his eyes and enjoying the moment in silence.
"I need to do more of these sessions," she sighed in pleasure, running a hand through her silky, shiny hair.
"Hn."
Kakashi stifled a yawn, finally getting up to head to the kitchen.
"You're a genius, Seina. I almost melted on that table," the other jonin told her. "You could make a fortune offering this service."
A little later, they had dinner, still feeling relaxed, and then went to bed. She woke up in the middle of the night when she heard a door open and someone go downstairs to the living room. Yawning, she got up, thinking it might be Naruto or Sasuke unable to sleep, but she found Kakashi staring out a window in the dark. He hadn't even turned on a light.
"Kakashi? Are you okay?" she whispered, hugging him from behind.
"Yeah. Just thinking."
Seina remained silent. She knew that if he wanted to tell her, he would eventually. So, when he sighed, she hugged him from behind and let him intertwine his hands with hers over his stomach. When he squeezed her hand, almost in resignation, she knew he was about to tell her what was on his mind.
"Yesterday, when I came back, Tsunade-sama offered me to return to Anbu."
"What? Why?"
"You mean, why now?"
"Yeah."
"I think now more than ever, she needs every operative available. Just look at everything that's happening," he explained. "There's the matter of Itachi, which we still can't prove without interrogating Danzo, even though the evidence we have is more than enough to know he's innocent. Then there's your photo in the bingo book, the people attacking the jinchūriki, Akatsuki appearing in our territory, those who tried to kill you and the other candidates in the jonin exam under the Raikage's orders… Not to mention Danzo—an enemy within our own village who has already tried to capture you that, luckily, doesn't know we're after him. Everything we know about him and his secrets is just a grain of sand."
"What do you mean?"
"Remember months ago when you said Danzo might have given… materials to Orochimaru?" Seina nodded against his back. "Tsunade-sama doesn't want to involve you any further in this, for your own good, I imagine, but I think you should know. Commander Ryu opened Hashirama Senju's tomb and didn't find the body."
"What?" she asked in shock.
She had expected a missing arm or clear signs of blood extraction, but the entire body was gone? Danzo was more arrogant than she had thought.
"You heard me. And that's not the worst part," Kakashi whispered, turning in her arms to look her in the eyes. "The Uchiha corpses… their eyes have been removed."
Her skin crawled at his words.
"The problem is we have no proof it was him," he ran a hand through his silver hair. "None of the Ne ninjas we've recovered have implanted eyes or Hashirama Senju's cells."
Hearing that, she could only ask one thing, so she whispered it into the darkness of the living room.
"Then, where are the Uchiha eyes… and who has the First Hokage's cells?"