Evil Princess Hinata and her two trusted minions.

"Are you ready?" Ranmaru said to his Uchiha friend and another civilian named Akira.

"I was born ready," Isomu boasted with pride.

"What do you think? Will we encounter bandits on the way?" Akira asked as the three of them walked towards the main gate of the village. They had to pick up those merchants from a town and escort them to the Land of Hot Springs, which was relatively near the Land of Water.

"Are you scared? With an Uchiha in your team, nothing will go wrong. If we encounter some bandits, we just have to kill them," Isomu said with a chuckle.

.

"I just hope we don't encounter anyone on the way," Akira said in a low voice. Soon, they reached the village gates. After greeting the gate guards, they set out towards their destination.

"Hey, Ranmaru, why are you so quiet today?" Akira asked his Hyuga friend curiously.

"He must have had a fight with his wife, haha," Isomu laughed at him. Ranmaru just glared at him.

.

"See, Akira, I was right," he said with a smile. This was not the first time this had happened; it occurred once every twenty days. They were accustomed to this.

The Land of Fire was a very large country, and they had to travel at least 9 hours at full speed to reach the town where they would meet the merchants.

Chatting with each other, they traveled through the thick forest, but suddenly, Ranmaru stopped, causing his friends to halt.

"What happened, Ranmaru? Why did you stop?" Akira asked, a bead of sweat appearing on his forehead.

"Someone is coming," he said with a nervous expression.

.

"Why are you nervous? This is not like you," Isomu asked.

"They are powerful," he said, causing the Uchiha to frown.

But before any of them could move, they were frozen in place. They couldn't move; it felt as if they were trapped in a web of strings.

"This was a trap all along!" Akira yelled.

"Hehe, you are right, and now you're trapped, like little lambs ready for slaughter," they heard a voice that they couldn't identify as male or female, but it sent chills down their spines.

.

With his working wrist, Akira tried to cut the threads around him, but nothing happened.

Ranmaru, on the other hand, raised his two fingers, and a chakra scalpel appeared in his hand. With a cutting sound, he severed the invisible threads, freeing himself. Using his Byakugan, he could see countless chakra strings around them, all connected to a single person who was standing behind Akira, terrifying him.

.

Unless you possess more strength than the user or have a chakra-based attack, you couldn't cut or free yourself from these strings."

Ranmaru ran towards his friend to save him, but another person appeared in front of them. Isomu and Akira couldn't see his face, nor could they see the person who was behind them.

Ranmaru tried to use his Gentle Fist, but his enemy easily ducked down, and with a kunai in hand, he thrust it towards Ranmaru's stomach.

*Drip*

Sounds of blood dripping on the ground could be heard. Isomu could see a blood trail coming from Ranmaru's lips, and his eyes had dimmed down.

.

"I'm sorry, my friend. I couldn't save you," Ranmaru said in a self-loathing and apologetic voice, as if he were ashamed of being so weak.

His attacker twisted the kunai in his stomach, causing him to scream. Isomu could only see his hand movements and hear his friend's painful cries.

The assailant yanked out his kunai and thrust it again, impaling him once more.

Ranmaru was on his knees, looking at his friends for the last time. "I hope you can escape this."

"HoHoHo… what a heart-touching moment. But worry not, I will send these two after you. You can finally unite with your friends… in hell," the person chuckled behind Akira.

.

The attacker delivered a swift kick to Ranmaru's chest, causing his body to fall on the ground with a thud.

.

These people were only named Jonin; one could be promoted to a Jonin when the Hokage deemed them fit or when they knew at least one elemental jutsu.

Seeing his friend dying like this, Isomu's anger started to build up. He had never felt this anger before in his life. They were simply escorts, not supposed to fight ninjas. But when he looked at his best friend dying like this, something in him snapped.

His strength increased, and when he looked at the attacker behind Akira, his bloodshot red eyes with a one-tomoe Sharingan pierced right into the attacker. He had awakened his Sharingan but at the cost of his friend's death.

.

The attacker behind Akira chuckled, and with a swift motion, the kunai in his hand diagonally cut Akira's back, causing him to fall to the ground with a scar on his back.

Isomu broke free from the strings and launched at the attacker; they had just hurt one of his friends in front of his eyes.

"Sharingan," the attackers muttered.

But before he could reach him, another attacker appeared behind him and cut his back. In that momentary distraction, the attacker in front of him also cut him, leaving a scar on his chest.

"Should we kill them?" one of the attackers asked.

"No, we are here for that one," he gestured towards Ranmaru.

Isomu couldn't stand up due to the pain and the scars on his back and chest, and the same was true for Akira.

.

The two attackers positioned Ranmaru in such a way that Isomu could see it with his Sharingan.

Then, they both started stabbing him with their kunai. They didn't care about the blood or the gore.

Isomu watched as his friend was stabbed to death. He could see every kunai piercing his chest in slow motion. This sight would forever be engraved in his heart.

.

As more and more anger built up in him, he felt helpless, witnessing his friend die like this. Lying still, he wanted more power, and soon his one-tomoe Sharingan changed into a two-tomoe Sharingan.

One of the attackers looked directly into his eyes; they were wearing masks. "The curse of the Uchiha is truly fascinating."

.

He then stood up from Ranmaru, walked towards Isomu, and squatted down in front of him. "Two tomoe Sharingan, good. Very good. Train well, young man. Maybe next time, you could surprise me even more." He then knocked him out. The last thing Isomu saw was his friend's body being burned by a Fire Style jutsu. Then he went unconscious.

Afterward, he looked at Akira, who was already unconscious.

---

"I only expected him to awaken his Sharingan, not a two-tomoe Sharingan," the attacker said with interest.

"Should we take his eyes?" the attackers appeared beside him and asked.

"Hehe… no, no. Let him have some fun with his eyes. We will see after he matures them enough, or maybe he could awaken his Mangekyou after that incident."

"What incident?" he asked.

"Forget that I said something like this," the attacker said.

"Ren… how long do you plan to stay dead?"

.

Miraculously, the supposedly dead Ranmaru stood up, removing his blood-stained clothes.

Soon, he appeared as if nothing had happened, licking his finger that was coated in blood, he commented, "Lady Hinata, this tomato sauce really is tasty."

.

Soon, all of them removed their disguises, revealing the Evil princess Hinata and her two trusted minions.

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"Ritsu, erase all the evidence," she commanded him. Ritsu nodded in agreement.

Ren appeared beside her and asked, "Are we going to let them stay like this?" looking at Akira and Isomu.

They were not severely injured, but they were knocked out. In two or three days, they would be fine, at least physically.

.

"Did you feel pity for your friend... Ranmaru?... Because of you, he now has the Sharingan. Don't you feel good about your friend… hehe…" Hinata asked him with a chuckle.

"Lady Hinata, stop joking… you're making my heart ache…" he said with a hurtful look.

Then both of them started to chuckle.

.

"Let's go; we have a mission to complete. The merchants are waiting for us," she said and walked towards Ritsu.

After inspecting the crime scene with her Byakugan, she nodded.

'Let's see how things proceed from now on; after all, only a Hyuga had died on the mission while his two companions returned safely,' she mused.

With a smoke bomb, which only looked like a smoke bomb, exploding at the crime scene, they disappeared from there.

.

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End of the chapter. how do you like it? tell your thoughts in the comments... 

and the book to your library...