Casualties ; Life

prologue i

↵ 〉〉〉"Ichi Ni San"

Screams were heard throughout the small village, the village had not been reconsidered as a real village due to how small the population was, how little ninjas there were, and that there was no official system for the village.

Rumors were going around that the village was one of the many hideouts for the third sannin, Orochimaru. Due to that rumor, the Konoha ANBU ops and elite ninjas were ordered to get rid of the small village.

It was mostly adults in the village, seeing as Orochimaru had taken the kids to use as experiments. The parents had no choice neither did the kids, knowing their situation most of the kids went without permission or did it for the sake of their parents... whenever the kid died from the extreme experiments they always said one last thing. "Tell my parents, I tried my best."

Of course, some of the ninjas were hesitant to even slay innocent villagers of an unknown village. They said sorry as they killed them, it didn't make it better, while some were ruthless.

A child stared from beneath the ground as he saw the pools of blood, kunai being thrown at his people, and the screams. The boy had a small cross in his hair, the last gift from his mother as she ran outside to lure the ninjas away from her house.

The child blinked as he saw her cut down as she fell. The child who hadn't spoken a word yet began to crawl over to the body. A few ninjas watched in horror as they saw the one-year-old mumbled out small words seeming to try and talk.

They had just killed his mother, right in front of him, a few ninjas looked away in shame. They wanted none of the kids to see, they wanted the kids to die peacefully. They were told that there weren't any babies, but there was just one. "Mama?"

The entire village was finished, there was only one. The baby repeated the words as he began to cry as he realized she was ignoring him. They were sure what to do, one of the ruthless ninjas pulled out his kunai ready to strike.

"Stop.. please." A strained voice pleaded, the woman wasn't dead, she smiled as she slowly reached for her child. She calmed him down as she gently stroked his hair with her blood filled hand.

"Please... Save him.. he's the last.. of the children.." She coughed as she managed to get on her knees and bowed deeply to the ninjas of Konoha.

"He killed them all... The experiments... Were too extreme." Tears began to fall as she remembered all the faces of the kids that once filled the streets. She and all the villagers couldn't live happily knowing their kids were near death with the snakes' experiments.

"I'm sorry.. we wanted to die.. we wanted him dead.. for the kids.. we know- ack! We know that all died!" She shouted as blood spilled out from her mouth, the villagers knew the last child would be next. They spread the rumors that the snake was there in their village, they knew that the village of the leaf would assassinate them thinking they were corrupt by the snake.

They were all in shock that they even wanted this all to happen. Some were angry that this even happened due to wanting redemption for what they had done to their kids.

"You! You all sent your kids to him?! And here you are trying to get some revenge?!"

"What a disgrace.."

"That's.."

"You all have no place to judge." They all looked to see the Third and Fourth Hokage, they all gasped as they quickly bowed. The woman near the edge of death bowed shaking the pool of blood staining her clothing and her child's body.

"What would you do if your children left home to make sure you were safe, what would you do if your children went without permission or any idea what they were putting themselves for. Those children loved this village and their parents dearly so they could survive."

The third shouted as he glared down at all his ninja's judgments. He sighed as he bends over to gently help to woman up. The fourth sighed disappointedly.

"I am sorry for what your village lost. I'm sorry that this village lost its future... I'm sorry we had to be the ones to end it instead of helping..." The fourth said with a solemn voice, the woman smiled as she bowed her head.

"It was our choice... We wanted... To end it so our last hope... Could be proud to live.. knowing we eliminate the sickness growing in our village.." she gently cradles the child in her hands, she knew her soul was slowly fading away.

"Tell me.. what is this village name?" She smiled as she gently hugged her child, as happy as she could be she raised her voice, her voice seemingly proud as she stated her villages name.

"The Nastukashii village."

He hummed as he nodded, he found the meaning beautiful yet tragic that the ending of this undeveloped village would never have such a beautiful history. He took out a recorder as he gave it to the dying mother.

"We will take him in as one of us, but rest assured he will know of your village. Let us grant you your dying wish, is that fine with you third?" The old man laughed and nodded.

Tears fell from the mother's eyes as she recorded her last words. She smiled at her child as she handed the old man a picture of the village, the villagers, the long lost children, and lastly a picture of her family.

"Thank you... Hifumi, be good for mom.. be a good boy make lots of friends.. be kind to the leaf village. Remember... They saved us from our sins." She smiled as she kissed her son one last time and drifted into a long slumber. The baby screamed as the warmth faded away, the Hokages bowed their heads in respect as did the ninjas.

"We will bury every last villager in respect... if we had just come to find out they were suffering as well.. we could have prevented this.. let us all reflect."

He gently grabbed the bloody child as he cooed it to sleep. 'How sad.. he is still only a child.. and he had to see this.' he sighed but smiled down at the peaceful sleeping face. He glanced at his mother's arm and noticed a name but it seemed faded. Unfortunately, the mother had died before he could ask for her full name.

The third Hokage smiled as he gently held the child from the yellow-haired male, the fourth gave a smile at the baby. "Minato, I hope you don't mind, but I'm thinking of taking this child in."

"Of course, you have more experience in raising kids more than me. I just hope he doesn't become like Asuma." Minato teased as he gently ruffled the baby's hair. They both sighed but smiled as they arrived at the village, they were tired and full of guilt.

"Let's hope he becomes a good ninja." Minato grinned as the third nodded in response. "The will of fire shall help him along with my family, and with you of course."