Chapter 8: Chapter 8: Humbled

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[??? POV]

With a swift move of my blade, I took off the head from the Iwa Chunin, ending his life as the last thing he saw was a pair of Sharingan.

Looking around, I noticed that the rest of the spies had been dealt with by my squad. This mission was an important one, both for me and the village.

A year ago, I became the youngest member of the Anbu since the foundation of the village by joining it at the age of ten, a few months from turning eleven. Most of my peers were still in the academy when I joined the core forces of the village.

And a few months ago, I was promoted to squad leader as our team leader, Kakashi Hatake, had left Anbu. I myself did not care much for my promotion, but many were against it.

Although I personally did not care about those voices, it harmed our teamwork, as while I had the trust and approval of my team after a year working together, we sometimes had to work with other teams, and working with people who doubted me was not… adequate.

And this is where this mission came in. I was able to join Anbu so early partly thanks to a particular feat.

One of the best Jonin of Konoha, Mukai Kohinata, had betrayed the village and supplied Iwa with intel, which cost the lives of many. Nonetheless, he was one of the greatest opponents I ever faced, and the only reason he was defeated, was because of Shisui's Mangekyou Sharingan.

Shisui and Itachi Uchiha, the two most talented Uchiha alive, were nearly defeated by a man with a Hyuuga bloodline so diluted it only awoke in one of his eyes, and even then it was basically a miracle it awakened. He was barely a few years older than us, and we had to rely on the Mangekyou to defeat him. This was truly a humbling experience. Maybe when we get to his age we would be stronger than him, but in any case, it was the closest I had ever gotten to death.

But the man was not just a genius at combat, he had also created a rather extensive net of spies in both Anbu and in our regular forces. For a year now we had been working on dismantling his network, and finally after a year of hard work, we had traced the last of his spies.

Looking at the corpses around, I felt no pleasure at having bested my enemies, only pity at the futility of all this. So many lives lost because of a single sick child…

Yet I couldn't find it in me to despise Mukai either, as I believed that if Sasuke suffered from the same sickness, I would be ready to go to terrifying lengths. Maybe not so much as to betray the village, but still, I understood, and thus couldn't really blame him without feeling like a hypocrite.

But it doesn't matter, the matter has finally been dealt with, as I had just beheaded the last spy…

I frowned slightly though as my eyes, turned back black, went from corpse to corpse, and I ordered our Sensor, the purple haired Yugao, "Check for any nearby Chakra signature."

She nodded, and made a one handed tiger hand sign, closing her eyes. After a few seconds, she said, "No one else alive in a hundred meters."

This relieved me, but then I heard a gasp.

"C-Captain! Two Chakra signatures 150 meters West! One seems to be a spy, and the other is weak, very weak… it feels like a child!"

Without me needing to say anything, the entire team moved out as we followed Yugao.

A child? What did she mean by this? If it was someone old enough to be a Genin or a Chunin, she would have said so…

"The fighting seems to have stopped, both of their chakra signatures are growing weaker!"

I frowned at the additional information, wondering what exactly was going on.

But I didn't need to wait for long to discover the answer to my questions as we reached the edge of the forest, and I heard our Sensor gasp.

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Quickly catching up to her, who had stopped suddenly, I reached her side, and saw why she showed such a reaction.

There, I saw something I would remember for the rest of my life.

In mid air was strung the actual last spy, his body completely covered in blood. Unknowingly, my Sharingan had activated itself, allowing me to see the razor sharp yet barely visible metal wires that hung the man.

Each of them cut deep into his flesh, which was where all the blood was coming from. Again, thanks to my Sharingan, I could see faint movements from his chest, he was still breathing, but looking at the situation, it wouldn't be for long as he was losing tons of blood every second.

Despite knowing this, I didn't move as my red eyes turned to the other presence.

Right below the strung up Iwa spy, was… a child. It may sound weird since I am only 12 myself, yet it was appropriate.

But more shocking, would be the state she was in. She was covered in as much blood as the spy, which undoubtedly belonged to both her and the spy as she laid right below him.

Her left leg was in a bad state, I could see from where I was that several bones were broken, and looking at the man, I could guess how that happened. More shocking than her leg though, was the ground below her.

It was cracked, and putting everything together, I could almost see the scene. The strong Iwa Spy grabbing the young girl by the ankle, crushing her foot with an iron grip before slamming her into the ground with all his strength.

And yet, in such a desperate situation, it wasn't the girl's lifeforce that was quickly depleting, but the spy's. He may have only been a Chunin, an injured one at that, but it wasn't something a little girl should be able to take on.

With a sign, I signalled at my teammates to fetch the medics, while I looked in marvel at the rest of the scene, reconstituting the fight in my head.

I would like to say that I was only doing this because of the eventual report I would have to make to the Hokage, but I was ashamed to admit it was also because of my morbid curiosity.

And what I pieced together… was mind blowing. From the passive role at first, I could see how the girl had baited her much stronger and faster enemy to play right in her hand, setting several wires while hiding it from the spy.

Finally, even when all hope seemed lost and the spy managed to grab onto her, she defended herself while finishing her trap, and as the enemy was about to finish her, she finally sprung open her trap.

Since the beginning, the girl had been tying the wires to her finger while dodging the attacks, either attaching the other end of the wire to surfaces directly with her chakra, or to her kunais.

Even the last three kunais she had thrown while getting slammed down, while they may seem to have missed their target, they were thrown with enough accuracy to hit the trees, and finish the trap.

In total, ten wires had been set up, and each of them was connected to one of her fingers. Looking at her hand, I noticed amidst the blood that she did not have any gloves on.

Those were metal wires that had cut into an adult flesh and were currently bleeding him out, so grabbing them bare handed…

Each of the wires cut deep into her fingers, my Sharingan revealing it was deep to the bone. The medics would have to use their Chakra Scalpel very carefully to sever those ropes without damaging her fingers. Further than they currently are that is. She pulled hard enough to make clean cuts though, so they should be able to repair the damaged nerves.

But what really stood out to me, was the will of the girl. Even now, as she was unconscious, her fingers were still clenched so hard that the spy had no chance to escape.

Finally, as the medics appeared, I began walking away, but not without throwing another glance at the girl.

She was Sasuke's age. And I felt respect.

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