"Isui... huuugh."
Isui felt like he was pierced by a sword. The little boy's stomach contracted, causing his body to jerk.
The deep voice came from above him. It ripped Isui's hand-woven silence apart, revealing its fragile and perforated state. It had been nothing more than a fabricated spider's web born from a child's desperation for quiet to think, a lifeline not to submit into a panic. The peace had just been a smidge of time to breathe before the real horror show began. The moderator and game master had just elected to reveal himself.
Isui somehow managed to swallow any sound that threatened to escape past his lips. Some other kids with less resolve cried out in surprise, their voices laced with renewed fear.
Clutching the kunai, Isui slowly turned his head toward the source.
On the platform, Isui and Himawari jumped down earlier, stood a man dressed in a standard green shinobi uniform. He had long brown ragged hair, a finely sculpted face, piercing grey eyes, and a red mark shaped like a horse head.
It was one of the shinobi he had watched earlier. Isui was right in his assumption about the identity of the aggressors then. What did he want? How could Isui not feel his presence sooner?
"Hmpf." The man's nose scrunched up into a sneer. "It was quite funny to watch you all scream and beg. However, you had to ruin the show. Not very polite of you, little Uchiha brat."
He put too much emphasis on his last name. It rubbed Isui the wrong way. The old family name had meaning in the shinobi world. A clan that once counted as one of the strongest. Isui and Sarada were the last descents. The twins were smart enough to know what that meant.
Mom told him to never say it out loud to strangers, a contradiction he often thought because the red and white fan plastered on his back was a dead giveaway. But for all he knew, the enemy only could have heard about the old tails without recognizing the symbol. Which was not the case this time.
It told Isui that the man grew up as leaf shinobi. Well, he would be a former leaf shinobi after the action.
"Such a heavy legacy on your shoulders. Do you think you can protect them, little Uchiha? That is quite pretentious of you. I can kill all of them right under your nose."
The man continued his verbal assault. It was meant to intimidate Isui and the other children. Isui felt the tension rise again as the kids to his feet started squirming. They were shaking for fear. But no one moved.
Even Himawari was stuck in panic. She sat next to Isui with her knees drawn to her chin. She felt the sorrow of the other kids. Her heart ached as her eyes moved back and forth between her elder brother and the scary man. She understood the situation, and while she would always put faith in Isui, she wished for her father to appear.
Isui kept looking up at the face of the man, trying to decide what to do. The raven-haired boy was acutely aware of the sharp metal in his hand. He had no chance against this man. Showcasing a weapon was unlogical and would look like a challenge, an invitation to fight. Isui twisted the kunai with his fingers. He thought of what to do. As hard as it was, throwing the blade away might be the best option to ensure the safety of the others. Violence should be his last resort. At the same time, he felt uncomfortable about losing his weapon.
"We only are children playing. Why do you feel the need to hurt us? Why would you do such a thing."
Isui needed to stay firm and try to negotiate.
The man's hand went to his head. He pressed against his ear. A few seconds passed before he turned his attention back to Isui and responded.
"I am under no obligation to tell you."
This was the first truth.
Their captor vanished from his spot and appeared directly before Isui, shocking the raven-haired boy.
"You have got quite the dangerous toy there."
The man crossed his arms over his chest. His posture was relaxed.
The voice was full of mockery.
"We do not want anyone to get hurt, do we... little boy."
There was no fight. None at all.
The shadow of his ragged hair over their still unknown captor's face let Isui see the malicious glint in the older man's eyes even more. The man smiled down at him and extended his hand toward Isui, greedily wiggling his fingers.
This was the second truth.
It was then Isui learned he was only toyed with. The man enjoyed himself on his behalf. He had no intention of hurting them as long as they remained quiet.
This was the third truth.
Isui's thoughts shifted towards giving up and admitting defeat.
There was nothing he could accomplish here. The situation was out of his hand, and to wrench it deeper into his gut, he had no idea what was happening on the outside.
This was the fourth truth.
With a blank stare, he handed the kunai over.
"Now sit down and be a good boy, little Uchiha."
Isui's head plunged.
Everything was spilling from the small boy's eyes, gushing down Isui's face. His fingertips and toes grew cold.
He was weak, and if it hurt his pride or not had to hope that someone would save them. Someone strong enough.
This was the last truth.
Isuis's eyes were unseeing. He did not even react as the man dispersed in front of him. Laughers and whimpers echoed in his mind. He had been taught a lesson.
"Protect me! My father will pay you any money you want!"
A boy's voice wailed next to him and tugged on his trousers. It ripped the smoldering wound on his soul more open. It let all the sludgy black stuff usually saved in himself spill out. In that instant, Isui did not care.
Fool.
"Do not care about the others but me! I can make you rich!"
Out of the corner of his eye, Isui took in the disturbance, crawling up his leg. The boy hanging on him was taller than him, with golden-dyed hair and snot running down his mouth. He was fat with a double chin, yet so frail.
Isui felt instant disgust for that guy building his guts at the pitiful sight. As if he had nothing better to carry out.
In the distance, he heard the crackles in amusement raining down at them again.
"You are annoying me."
Isui hissed and shoved the pig off of him. Anger built inside of him. It made his head pulse again. It was beyond him how a person could say something so despicable.
Did he truly, want to put his life on the line for that creature?
Wait, why was he still thinking about something like that? Had he not fully surrendered himself to the situation?
The pig stared at him in disbelief before his facial expression switched from fear to irritation.
"Do you even know who I am?"
Blood boiling under his skin, Isui wanted to reply that he did not care
when loud laughter came from above. Too loud to ignore.
"Of course, I know who you are, Kairo Bushio. Why do you think you are one of my guests?"
The man started to speak directly to the boy, who looked like he would wet his silk pants any moment now.
"Your father has to pay for the lives he has destroyed by building this shopping mall. Then he can have you back."
"What do you mean by that?" whimpered Kairo.
Isui would like to know this too.
His thoughts and emotions were a mess at this point. Jumping from fear to rage to worry and back.
This was not what a Shinobi would do.
Isui needed to force himself back into a state where he could regain the
ability to act rationally. He shoved the black stuff back into the wound.
Just now, the simplest, selfish words had made him lose composure. He had compared the boy Kairo to an animal despite knowing that situations like that tended to bring out the worst in people. His Uncle Naruto and Mother had taught him better.
Isui bit the inside of his cheek as a wave of shame washed over him. Sewing up the wound on his soul, he mustered his strength and looked up to their captor, who was talking.
"This area once was a cheap place to live in. But with the expansion of the Konoha, it became an eyesore. A rundown place for the impoverished...
Your father and his greasy friends bought the pace up. But instead of restoring the homes of the lower class, they relocated us to the outskirts of the village. Then they tore down the buildings and constructed this paradise for the wealthy."
The man ran his mouth. His face became redder and redder.
It seemed like Isui was not the only one here quick to anger.
"That is not true," Kairo shouted.
The boy was on his hands and knees.
"Father build top apartment complexes, with cheap, renting prices in the outskirts. Far better places than what the peasants had here. Even the Hokage supported his ideas for the betterment of all and..."
"Peasant!"
Kairo was abruptly interrupted.
"You little..."
The man's eyes face was crimson with fury. He spun the kunai in his hand. It was Isui's blade.
Isui felt a pulse of pain behind his eyes as his world went red.
The kunai flew fast with a snapping sound. Only to be seen because of the blade's sharpness that reflected the light. It was directed at Kairo's head, whose eyes enlarged. Not even a second passed.
Children wailed, bowing down and covering their eyes.
The weapon never hit its intended target.
Their captor's facial expression showed shock, as did Himawari's. Her mouth gaped. The image of her elder brother reflected in her blue eyes.
Isui was standing with his arm outstretched, heavenly breathing as he felt the blade in his hand. His fingers warped tightly around the handle, a mere inches away from Kairo's forehead.
He had caught the weapon mid-flight. His hand had moved close to the spot where he had seen the kunai would fly by and had snapped shut around it like a mouse trap. He had somehow foreseen the trajectory and acted without thinking.
Isui breathed heavily. Heat exploded through his body. His chakra system felt like it got sucked dry, resulting in a sharp sting in his belly and around his eye sockets.
His arm dropped, followed by his body. Kunai slid from his fingers.
He fell to the ground on his side like a sack of rice.
An overwhelming feeling of fatigue washed over him as he closed his crimson eyes.
He went out.
Himawari did not know what to think as she leaned over Isui's body. Her elder brother's eyes had glowed in the deepest red. She had never seen something like that.
She knew about her mother's pale eyes, the byakugan. A bloodline trait passed down for generations in her lineage.
Her thought was interrupted by a loud pang.
Everyone, the scary man included, looked up to see two orange spots forming on the violet of the barrier. The color intensified in seconds, as did the size of the spots. It melted the violet away.
"No way!"
The man atop the platform shrieked out loud.
"He was supposed to be out of town on an assignment."
"Otou-chan.."
Himawari did not know why, but she unexpectedly saw her dad's face smiling assuringly at her as he felt around Isui's neck.
Then it vanished in a puff of smoke, only for her dad to emerge behind the scary man.
"It is over now, dattebayo."