Taro's jaw tightened.
Kaede continued staring at the remains.
Something bothered him.
The scene was too terrible.
"Could this have been staged?"
The others looked at him.
Hanako answered first.
"With someone else's body?"
"Yes."
"No. The chakra belongs to Karin. The blood type will need to be confirmed in the village, but the bite marks are extremely distinctive."
"Could someone have collected pieces she lost at different times?"
"Pieces of bone?"
"There is another problem."
"What?"
"Some of the chakra traces are stronger than others."
"Meaning?"
"I don't know. The tissue may have been removed at different times. Hours apart, perhaps."
Taro's expression twisted.
"They kept her alive."
The words settled heavily over the riverbank.
Kaede imagined an unknown shinobi capturing the escaping child.
Perhaps they recognized her red hair.
Perhaps they knew the rumors surrounding the Uzumaki clan.
There were stories that Uzumaki blood restored vitality.
Stories that consuming their organs extended life.
Stories that their flesh possessed medicinal properties.
Hanako looked at the knife marks.
"This was deliberate."
"Interrogation?" Riko asked.
"Possibly."
Taro's face had become pale despite his usual confidence.
"Or harvesting."
No one needed him to explain.
Whoever found Karin might have carved pieces from her body while keeping her alive through her own healing ability.
A renewable source of Uzumaki flesh.
The idea was revolting.
It was also exactly the sort of atrocity shinobi committed when they believed a bloodline could be exploited.
Kaede examined the campsite again.
The scattered blood.
The careful knife cuts.
The pieces deposited into the river.
The lack of a complete corpse.
"What happened to the rest of her?"
No one answered.
They had recovered ten kilograms.
An eight-year-old child's body contained much more.
The remainder might have been taken.
Organs.
Blood.
Bone marrow.
The most valuable portions.
Or perhaps the captor had eaten until satisfied and discarded whatever could not be used.
The youngest and most imaginative part of Kaede's mind supplied several possibilities he immediately wished to forget.
Hanako sealed the final preservation bag.
"We need to return."
Kaede looked south.
They were not far from the border.
If the captor had left the Land of Grass, continuing the pursuit without knowing who they hunted would be dangerous.
More importantly, Juro needed to see the evidence.
"Collect everything."
They searched until darkness covered the river.
Every trace of flesh they could locate was sealed.
Every strand of red hair was preserved.
Hanako recorded the location of each discovery upon a map. Riko marked the strength of the residual chakra. Taro searched beneath the riverbed for anything the current might have buried.
Only when they were certain nothing else could be recovered did they depart.
The return journey was silent.
Kaede carried the largest preservation bag.
It felt heavier with every kilometre.
Not because its physical weight changed.
Because he understood what it contained.
The Hidden Grass Village had sent four elite shinobi to retrieve its most valuable healer.
They were returning with the cut up pieces of her dead body.