章 148: Ch148. Harima Village 1
Three figures were walking on the muddy road in the countryside of the Grass Country, clad in black cloaks. These cloaks were the same and yet different from the ones Yozora members wore. Thanks to a special Illusionary Seal, they were tattered and seemed to portray a guise of poverty while still being fully capable of covering the wearer's identity.
Rei never really understood why Akatsuki members always wore their cloaks. Or how the heck did they manage to infiltrate a hidden village while wearing it, for that matter. He was a ninja and the first thing ninjas did NOT do was scream 'I am here' with his clothing. That was also the reason why neither he nor his girls wore their ninja forehead protectors anymore.
Finally, Rei and his party arrived at the entrance to Harima Village.
Despite this village being quite far away from the war frontier, many of its inhabitants attempted to flee only to be returned by Kusa ninjas who needed them in the village to grow a special kind of poisonous plant for them.
Needless to say, the average lifespan of Harima Village inhabitants working with these plants was around thirty-five.
The village was dependent on the Kusagakure for everything from food to even things like shovels. It was already a miracle they had their own well. Kusagakure would never let them be independent since a lot of their income came from what the villagers grew there.
"Are you sure we are at the right place?" Tsunade questioned, frowning at the small wooden huts, more often than not having many cracks, being completely in disrepair, or showing previously destroyed parts unevenly patched with planks of wood. Tsunade turned towards Konan with a pissed off look, "You said an Uzumaki family is living here?"
Rei only nodded in agreement. Long ago he distributed bloodline identifying seals of his own creation to the peddlers and merchants working for the Biri-Biri company. He had quite a lot of places where Uzumaki clan members lived in relative peace but he nor the Biri-Biri company could not do anything during the war in most cases.
Frankly, so far the Biri-Biri company found means to take in only twenty Uzumaki from the 212 discovered cases of people with bloodline ties to the Uzumaki clan. Most of these didn't even know they were Uzumaki clan members and more often than not they were affiliated with some ninja village.
At this point, they have so scattered the revival of the Uzumaki clan without any major help would be just a pipe dream.
"Just remember that Uzumaki are not our primary objective." Rei lightly said and started walking towards the village.
...
Kazuto Kareki looked at the villagers gathered in the square, all underfed and wearing shabby clothes with many tears. His cold brown eyes scanned every single one of them until they stopped at one pale-skinned young girl with red hair, amethyst-eyes, sunken cheeks, and a slightly bulging stomach.
Kazuto could only click his tongue at that. He knew the brat she was expecting is his. He made sure none of the male villagers dared to approach her and his men knew well she served him exclusively.
The position of overseer of Harima Village was a poor one without any way to get rich since the villagers didn't have much but nobody could say it didn't have at least some advantages.
'But who would have thought she would get pregnant?' Kazuto glared at the woman who was kneeling a bit away from him, causing her to flinch. 'Should I just kill her? But she has that bite-heal ability! If it came out I killed her when she could become such a valuable asset for the village...'
Kazuto was not really exceptionally strong. During the entire war, he survived on his smarts rather than brawns and even his high position was thanks to his skills in flattery.
This situation was not really different. He kept her ability in secret for the entire duration of the war for his own benefit. Whether it was satisfying his lust with what was in his opinion the prettiest girl in the village, or having an easy to use healing tool...
'Meh... I will just take her to the village and when the higher-ups get to know of her ability, they will take care of the matter for me. As long as I play my cards right, a bit of threatening her with her parents will be enough to ensure her mouth is shut after I take her to Kusagakure. Nobody has to know I knew about her ability for years.'
Kazuto's eyes then landed on the two people in their late thirties kneeling next to the girl. Alas, they would have to die the second the girl left the Harima village to tie loose ends. He could only sigh in sadness at that. His poor subordinates will be saddened. The girl's mother was the second prettiest woman in the village despite her 'advanced' age.
Honestly, Kazuto didn't like it when he took over the post. He outright hated how the villagers were treated but... The position of overseer of the Harima village was the only thing that prevented him from being sent to the front-lines.
At first, he only took the redheaded girl as his servant only from pity because he knew the ninjas appointed as his subordinates were always those nasty, vicious, and bitter forever genins who just love to make other people, those weaker than them, suffer to alleviate the feeling of their own incompetence and stress from living on the edge.
But as years went by, he got used to it. He only did what was necessary for the Kusagakure to thrive... at least, that was what he told himself every time he saw his servant girl cry in the corner.
'The stupid cow doesn't even know how good she has it. Other girls would jump to be in her place.' Kazuto mentally scoffed when he saw the girl clutch the hem of her tattered clothes with her hands.
"Kaya Uzumaki, you will accompany me to the Kusagakure. It is time to start being useful to the village that is feeding you." Kazuto bluntly exclaimed, making the girl and her parents' heads snap in his direction with scared expressions. He smirked, walking closer to her before grabbing her hair and yanking it back to make her look at him. "Don't worry, you will still be considered my slave... What? Do you have a problem with my decision?"
They could only lower their heads in acceptance.
Neither Kaya nor her parents wanted her to go alone to an unknown village, much less a militaristic one like the Kusagakure when she was pregnant. Life in the Harima Village was not comfortable and most of the time it could be called downright cruel because of the ninjas who were stationed there for the village's 'protection'... but at the very least, they knew what to expect from such a life and were already used to it.
Work diligently in the fields, bear with some bullying from the ninjas, not like they could overdo it too much, and spend as much time in the comforting presence of the family in order not to mentally break.
Going to the Kusagakure was a big unknown and it scared Kaya to think how she would be treated there. If the way her family was treated here was any indication, going to Kusagakure frightened her to no end. Especially since she would not have her family to encourage her.
"I sure as hell do have a problem with your decision, twat!" A low gruff growl of a very pissed woman resounded through the surroundings as a monstrous killing intent and chakra pressure flooded the square.
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