Saints and Suffering: A Naruto Fanfiction

Chapter 52- The Tales of Six Children

Aburame Shimiko and Tsubaki had been deployed to the Kiri frontlines for a while now. The first couple days were interesting at least, with the fear of the unknown sending jolts of terror through their bodies at every shadow and rustle in the trees.

The trepidation they felt soon faded away as they got used to the daily grind.

Kiri and Konoha had a somewhat special relationship among the five nations. They had technically been at war since their inceptions, and had never once signed a peace treaty with one another. The fault was mostly on Kirigakure's end. They have been suffering decades of political infighting and turmoil in the aftermath of the First Great Shinobi War, and they couldn't even field an ambassador to Konoha, much less agree to a peace treaty.

The two countries relied on an uneasy and unspoken rule to keep the peace. Konoha and the Land of Fire do not use the ocean, and Kiri and Water do not step on the continent, with the exception being a trading hub at the tip of a peninsula that was essentially neutral territory, though in name it belonged to the Land of Water.

If the two countries fought, it would be because Konoha ninja were on the ocean, or Kiri Ninja were on land, and since neither country liked to fight outside its own element, the rule actually held the peace somewhat well.

After the history and all the political ramifications were explained to Shimiko and Tsubaki, they didn't realize the implications until they got their assignments. Everyday, they simply walked up and down their sector of beachhead, staring out at a lifeless and foggy ocean for signs of Kiri Ninja. They were under direct orders to never even touch the seawater, and to not interact at all with any Kiri Shinobi, ignoring them unless they stepped onto dry land.

That was it though. They simply looked at the ocean day in and day out, and it was very boring work, especially since not a single Konoha nin on patrol had seen a Kiri Nin along the entire border, and not even a rumor of Kiri nin sprouted up in one of the Fire Coastal towns.

Kirigakure was being even more withdrawn and isolationist than usual. Good news for Konoha though, since it already found itself stretched too thin.

However, the boring and uneventful border between Fire and Water where the land meets the sea suddenly changed.

The Konoha sensors were the first ones to notice it. To most of them, it felt like an unseen wet rug laid over the land, muting everything. The life and energy of the land had been quietened.

Some of the more skilled trackers of the Inuzuka clan that were assigned to the Kiri front were the next to notice something.

The breeze had changed, and now the wind, which normally smelled of the sweet rot of seaweed and salty scent of lightning, it now carried a hint of iron and blood.

Flotsam and debris were the first things to wash up. Shattered boards here and there, but more suspiciously shards of wood cut too cleanly to be anything produced by nature. Then came the first boat.

It washed up onto shore during the night, and when a patrolling Konoha shinobi encountered it in the morning, after a quick investigation, he raised the alarm, and a message was swiftly sent back to headquarters.

The boat was a common fishing vessel, enough to fit a couple of men and their nets, along with their catch. This boat was devoid of all fishing equipment though and simply held food, water, clothes, and blankets.

The most glaring feature though was at the bottom of the boat. Swirling around the bilge was several inches of blood.

It was soon identified as human blood, and there was enough of it to account for at least eight people. The news of the event was quickly dispersed along the front lines, and the Konoha ninja were less surprised when they found the second boat.