Clearly, after enduring long, inhuman torture, the woman no longer had the will to live. However, she couldn't bear to leave Karin behind, so she planned to seal her remaining chakra within the girl, wishing to witness her daughter's growth.
"What's going on?"
"They're dead! Everyone's dead!?"
"Enemy attack! An intruder has snuck into the village!"
"Quick, go check on the noble lord!"
"
Shouts of alarm erupted outside the building. Kusagakure had clearly discovered the situation and was sounding the alarm.
Meanwhile, the sealing process for Karin's mother was reaching its end. Even as the brand of the sealing jutsu scorched her, little Karin remained perfectly still, offering no struggle at all.
Handing Karin over to Makiya, the woman, now completely drained of chakra, was as frail as a flickering candle in the wind.
"Master Makiya... please... give me your hand."
The woman took Makiya's hand, squeezing out the last drops of chakra from her body. Golden energy gathered at her fingertips, forming black patterns across Makiya's palm.
"This is... cough, cough... the key to open the archive... of the shrine in the Land of Whirlpools." The woman looked up at Karin in Makiya's arms, her eyes filled with reluctance to leave. "You are a good man... I hope the sealing techniques in that library will be of help to you."
Though she spoke to Makiya, her gaze never left Karin until her very last breath. Her soul's aura grew incredibly faint before vanishing entirely as she departed for the Pure Land.
The Land of Whirlpools had been destroyed, its remains carved up by various nations. It was likely the shrine she mentioned was long gone, but Makiya didn't explain. He simply accepted the key in silence.
Little Karin buried her face in Makiya's chest, tears streaming down her face. The young girl might not have understood the full weight of death yet, but a primal sorrow welled up within her, making the tears fall uncontrollably.
Makiya patted her back. He wasn't in a good mood. His upbringing and values made it hard for him to witness such tragedies. As the ones who had orchestrated this tragedy, the high-ups and ninjas of Kusagakure no longer had any reason to live.
Makiya didn't claim to be a champion of justice or a hero ridding the world of evil. He didn't need Karin's gratitude. Everything he did was simply to satisfy his own moral compass—the ethics he had developed in his previous life, nothing more.
He pulled a sealing scroll from his robes and sealed her mother's body inside, intending to bring her back to the Seireitei for burial.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Numerous figures appeared outside the small building. Kusagakure began to move like a massive machine as the entire village woke up. Ninjas hurried from their dreams, donned their uniforms, and rushed to the scene.
"Filthy intruder! What have you done to the noble lord?" a furious roar echoed. A man wearing a wooden donkey-headed mask stood at the highest point, the shout coming from him.
Judging by the positioning of the surrounding ninjas, this donkey-masked ninja held a high rank.
Makiya was currently standing where Kusagakure's most important assets and most distinguished guest were kept. Thus, the Grass ninjas were hesitant to strike, fearing they might damage their own property if they launched jutsu blindly.
A smirk played on Makiya's lips. He drew the Kusanagi Sword and impaled the massive, charred lump of flesh on the bed. With a flick of the blade, the scorched remains flew straight out of the room, hurtling toward the man in the donkey mask.
"Why don't you see for yourself if this is the noble lord you're looking for?" Makiya's voice drifted out from the room.
With a dull thud, a ninja appeared in front of the donkey-masked leader, catching the flying lump of meat. Because of the force behind the throw, the charred flesh split open, releasing a peculiar aroma—much like roasted meat.
Although it was burnt through from the inside out, the bloated features and body shape were unmistakable. The man in the donkey mask recognized them all too well. He was certain that this unrecognizable heap was the noble from the Land of Grass who had come for entertainment and treatment.
"You... you... you actually killed the noble lord!" The donkey-masked ninja recoiled, his voice trembling. If news reached the higher-ups that a high-ranking noble had died in Kusagakure, the Daimyo would never let him live.
There was only one solution now: capture the culprit responsible and throw him into Hozuki Castle to endure fire torture day and night to appease the Daimyo.
"Everyone, attack! Sever his limbs! I want to carve the Fire Prison seal onto his body!" the donkey-masked ninja roared. At his command, every Grass ninja made their move.
Dozens of ninjas used the Body Flicker Technique to storm the room. They were still mindful of Karin and her mother—their living blood banks—and refrained from using large-scale ninjutsu for fear of damaging the village's property.
A red light flared in Makiya's eyes, his three-tomoe Sharingan spinning rapidly. To him, the charging Grass ninjas looked like they were moving in slow motion. Every expression and muscle twitch was laid bare before him.
The Kusanagi Sword danced in his hands. The vast array of swordsmanship skills in his memory granted him overwhelming close-quarters combat ability. Dealing with these Grass ninjas was absolute overkill.
Pfft!
"Grass Style: Palm Strike!" x3
Three Grass ninjas suddenly appeared behind Makiya, thrusting their palms toward different points on his back. This was a taijutsu unique to Kusagakure, combining various styles into a swift, lethal attack designed to catch opponents off guard.
Mui, the master of Hozuki Castle, had used this very move in the movies to instantly subdue Naruto and a massive riot of prisoners.
"Hmph."
Makiya didn't even bother with the enemies behind him. Golden flames materialized out of thin air, condensing into slender flying swords before the horrified eyes of the Grass ninjas. A brilliant gold flash flickered, and the attackers collapsed to their knees, their heads rolling.
"Where have you hidden that Uzumaki woman?" the donkey-masked man demanded, gesturing at Makiya after ordering his subordinates to collect the noble's remains.
The battle had exposed the interior of the building to everyone. They could see Karin in Makiya's arms, but the girl's mother was nowhere to be found.
"No rush. Let her walk for a bit," Makiya replied with an enigmatic smile that sent shivers down the spines of the Grass ninjas.
In the Ninja World, there was such a thing as the Pure Land. After a person died, their soul was drawn by a powerful force into that realm.
Souls in the Pure Land retained their self-awareness and individuality; they didn't wander aimlessly or lose themselves.
This was the fundamental requirement for the Reanimation Jutsu and the Rinne Rebirth Jutsu to work. A soul after death simply entered another world; it didn't cease to exist.
In the original story, Sakumo Hatake had waited on the road to the depths of the Pure Land for over a decade until he finally met Kakashi's soul. The father and son had spoken, finally resolving their regrets.
Right now, the soul of Karin's mother was likely walking toward the Pure Land. If Makiya killed these people too quickly, the poor woman might run into these Grass ninja bastards again in the afterlife.
Therefore, Makiya intentionally throttled his killing speed to ensure that Karin's mother wouldn't be bullied even in death.
However, Makiya's restraint led the Grass ninjas to a fatal misunderstanding. They believed his strength was limited and that they could take him down if they just tried harder.
The sight of those three-tomoe Sharingan made the Grass Village leadership's hearts itch with greed. They planned to use a war of attrition to drain Makiya's chakra, hoping to harvest the eyes for themselves.
"My lord, we've searched the entire building. There's no sign of that stupid woman," a Grass Anbu reported to the donkey-masked leader.
The masked man pondered for a moment before waving his hand dismissively. "All-out attack! Take down this arrogant Uchiha first!"
"Yes, sir!"
The Grass ninjas rubbed their hands together, their fighting spirit high.
Though Makiya had shown great strength, the Ninja World was full of cases where the weak overwhelmed the strong. Not to mention the past, even in the recently concluded Great War, the death of the Third Raikage was still fresh in everyone's minds. A Kage-level powerhouse had been ground down to death by an army.
Kusagakure didn't have an army on the scale of Iwagakure, but Makiya wasn't the Raikage either. If the man with the 'Strongest Spear and Shield' could fall to the Stone ninjas, then Kusagakure could surely kill a single Uchiha with a three-tomoe Sharingan.
"Fire Style: Crimson Earth Spider!"
"Lightning Style: Web Spider!"
"Water Style: Great Waterfall Jutsu!"
"Grass Style: Exploding Palm Strike!"
...
Countless waves of chakra converged. Streams of water, seas of fire, lightning nets, and stone spears flew toward Makiya from all directions, sealing off every possible escape route.
"Calculated by time... it should be about right now." Makiya estimated the duration. Even if Karin's mother was slow, she shouldn't be caught by these scum in the Pure Land now.
A massive amount of ocular power brewed within his mind before being unleashed through his eyes. The accumulation of ten worlds was fully realized in this moment as Makiya exerted the third power residing in his eyes for the first time.
Susanoo!
Pitch-black bones materialized around Makiya. Little Karin's eyes widened as she watched, her small mind unable to process what was happening.
At the same time, the barrage of ninjutsu reached Makiya, triggering a massive explosion upon impact. Flames spread, kicking up a dense cloud of dust.
Rumble!
In an instant, countless jutsu poured down like a storm. The scorching heat of the Fire Style, the surging torrents of the Water Style, and the blinding flashes of the Lightning Style intertwined, completely swallowing Makiya.
"Did we get him?"
"He's definitely dead."
"You fools! Who told you to hit him that hard? Karin has the same talent as her mother; she's a precious village asset! If she's dead, the leader will never forgive you!"
"Our apologies, Great Elder!"
The air warped from the high heat, crackling and popping. The powerful energy fluctuations caused the surrounding ground to fracture. However, as the dust settled, a massive black skeletal figure appeared before the crowd.
A towering black Susanoo rose from the ground like a descending demon god. Its ink-dark form stood out against the night, looking like a reaper crawled out of the Pure Land, radiating an aura that chilled the souls of everyone present.
Inside the black skeleton, Makiya stood unharmed, holding little Karin as he stood near the center of the ribcage. He looked down at the crowd with eyes devoid of emotion.
Gulp.
The sound of someone swallowing hard was painfully loud in the sudden silence of the village. The skeleton, tens of meters tall, forced everyone to look up, a sense of despair creeping into their hearts.
"What... what is that thing?"
"A monster! It's a monster!!!"
"Don't panic! Use your jutsu!"
"Damn it, why are you hiding behind me?"
Panic gripped the Grass ninjas, but Makiya wouldn't give them a chance to breathe. The Susanoo slowly raised its arm. Muscles wove through the bones, and skin began to form over the surface.
A massive black blade condensed in its hand, its edge gleaming with a cold, murderous light. As the giant swung its arm, the long blade whipped up a ferocious gale.
The blade cut through all resistance. The pitch-black chakra radiated an ominous aura, shattering every jutsu in its path with a single strike. A surging shockwave expanded outward. Within the range of the blade's sweep, the Grass ninjas were launched into the air, one after another, before exploding into clouds of blood mist.