When Fuso was still alive, the Land of Rain had already been dragged into the wars between the great nations. Caught between several powerful countries, the small nation became the perfect battlefield.
Most civilians fled. Noncombatants packed whatever they could carry and ran for their lives.
Fuso's family was a little too late.
Before they could escape, ninja had already entered the village.
The family of three hid in a dark corner of their home, listening as the intruders rummaged through their kitchen.
"Find anything?"
"Canned food."
"Finally. I haven't eaten in three or four days."
Fuso's husband made a decision.
They would escape now, while the ninja were distracted.
Their son, a red-haired boy still far too young for any of this, trembled between his parents as they crept toward the door.
Then it happened.
His hand brushed the edge of a table.
Something fell.
The sharp clatter shattered the silence.
The two ninja inside the house froze.
They had heard it.
And when they turned...
They wore the forehead protectors of Konohagakure.
After that, everything happened quickly.
Fuso's husband rushed forward first.
But how could an ordinary man fight a ninja? At best, he could stall them for a few seconds.
That was all.
"NAGATO! RUN!!"
Fuso stepped forward as well, joining her husband.
Buying time.
Even if it was only a few heartbeats more.
"Nagato... run..."
"NAGATO! RUN!!"
Those were the final words Fuso and her husband left their son.
Both of them died at the hands of Konoha ninja.
Fuso lowered her eyes.
"That's what happened."
What came after... she didn't know.
Whether her son escaped.
Whether he survived.
She and her husband had never held much hope.
"But as parents," Fuso said with a bitter smile, "I couldn't just stand there and watch my child die in front of me. Neither could Ise."
She paused.
"But I still want to see him. Just once. To know if he's alive... and whether he's living well."
Outside the door, Naruto Uzumaki stood silent.
That single sentence echoed in his chest.
Parents would never let their child die before their eyes.
For some reason, the words made his chest ache.
As ninja of Konoha who had never truly experienced war, Sakura and Sasuke still held a certain trust in their village. It was hard for them to believe Konoha shinobi would kill civilians like Fuso's family.
"How could that happen?" Sakura whispered. "The Shinobi Rules of Conduct state that a ninja cannot attack civilians..."
Fuso's expression hardened slightly.
"Can't attack Konoha civilians, you mean."
Sakura fell silent.
So did Sasuke.
Both of them turned their faces away.
Kakashi spoke quietly to his students.
"Back then, it was wartime. Every day you faced the deaths of your comrades. Every day you might be the next to die."
His voice carried a trace of old exhaustion.
"One moment of hesitation could cost someone precious their life. But acting too quickly... might also take a life by mistake."
He exhaled softly.
"That's war."
Sakura and Sasuke said nothing.
High in the corner of the room, a crow watched everything unfold.
Its dark eyes lingered on a boy it hadn't seen in a long time.
Watching him grow.
Watching him change.
Kakashi looked back at Fuso.
"If they had realized there was a child there, I believe Konoha's ninja would have..."
Before he could finish.
The image appeared again.
Out of nowhere.
"What?!" someone shouted. "There's no 'Horror Quiz' this time! Why is there another projection?!"
"Did someone break a rule again?"
"Or maybe... it just wants us to watch?"
The scene unfolded before everyone.
The image confirmed Fuso's story.
At the beginning, she and her husband died one after the other beneath the blades of Konoha ninja.
Other villages reacted first.
"Konoha again?!"
"Judging by the clothes, those were civilians from the Land of Rain."
"Ninja killing civilians... by mistake?"
...
Inside Konoha.
The Third Hokage narrowed his eyes.
"These two..."
Iruka turned to him quickly. "What's wrong, Lord Third?"
"If I remember correctly," Hiruzen said slowly, "the reports mentioned that two Konoha ninja died inside a civilian house in the Land of Rain."
They died too?
Then what about Fuso's son?
Was he still alive?
The image continued.
Two Konoha ninja spotted the red-haired boy crouched in the corner.
He was too terrified to speak.
Curled into himself, shaking uncontrollably.
"Hey... what have we done?!" one of the ninja cried.
The man who had killed Fuso's husband collapsed to his knees, regret thick in his voice.
"They weren't ninja at all!"
The other ninja, the one who had killed Fuso, looked equally shaken.
"What do we do now?!" he said in panic. "How did this happen?!"
His voice cracked with guilt.
"We mistook them for the enemy... damn it!"
The red-haired boy trembled violently.
He had witnessed everything.
Every moment of the tragedy.
When the Konoha ninja turned their heads toward him, his eyes locked onto something.
A symbol.
The leaf engraved on their forehead protectors.
Outside, rain poured over the Land of Rain.
Lightning split the sky.
Thunder rolled across the night, turning the storm into something almost terrifying.
"I didn't expect civilians to still be here in a war zone," one of the Konoha ninja said quietly.
Then he bowed his head toward the boy.
"I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry, kid..."
But he knew.
No matter how many times he apologized, words meant nothing now.
A profound sense of powerlessness washed over his entire body.
The joy of finally finding food after days of starvation vanished completely.
Cold seeped into his body.
Like the endless rain of the Land of Rain flowing through his veins.
From the soles of his feet to the palms of his hands.
Cold.
Back in Konoha, the atmosphere turned heavy.
"Damn it! How could something like this happen?!"
"Damn it... damn it!"
"If it weren't for the war..."
"Don't make excuses!" someone snapped. "A mistake is still a mistake!"
Elsewhere, other villages watched in silence.
"Sigh... back then the great nations were fighting everywhere. The Land of Rain was the battlefield. It's no wonder the civilians there came to hate ninja."
"But those civilians were innocent."
Someone scoffed.
"Innocent? And the ninja who died weren't?"
That struck a nerve.
Everyone fell quiet.
After all...
Who truly wanted to die?
Who didn't have parents?
Brothers?
Wives?
Children?
"Damn this war."
And that begged another question.
Who liked war?
And who started it?
Within a secret base belonging to the Akatsuki...
Konan looked at the man beside her with worry.
Though still young, he had already grown thin enough to look almost skeletal.
"Nagato..."
The red-haired man didn't answer.
He simply stared at the image.
At the man and woman lying lifeless on the ground.
His parents.