A Cold Evening [Naruto Fanfic]

Chapter 10 - New World, Old Life

Chapter 10 – New World, Old Life

The bright light of the sun shined on Hitori's face through the trees, and she slowly woke up from what felt like an eternity of rest. She had been unconscious ever since she passed out last night. With no idea what was happening, and why her head and body hurt so much, she gradually rolled over onto her back, and tried to sit up. It took her a few minutes to achieve this, and she spent the next few minutes just sitting there, on the ground trying to figure out what the hell happened.

"Hitori, I'm sorry..."

Like that small explosion happening all over again, everything that happened came back in a moment like a shock wave. She remembered Deidara using some strange jutsu that she didn't know about. She had no idea how that creative little prick had learnt it, but it certainly helped. But now he was gone...

But unfortunately, it wasn't enough. She had vaguely heard the other nin say something about the Tsuchikage, and if she remembered correctly, he was the leader of Iwagakure. The Village Hidden In The Rocks. They had heard a fair bit about the various hidden villages from just wandering around, and if she recalled correctly, Iwagakure was a militaristic and warmongering village that used their shinobi like they were tools. Nothing more, and nothing less. And it was that thought that terrified her. She knew that Deidara was tough, but he was still controlled by his emotions and quite oftenly didn't think things through as much as he should. Usually that was her job.

She was scared that they would train him up to become a great shinobi, but then just allow him to be killed in some stupid battle that he had nothing to do with. They had promised each other that one day they would become shinobi, but they had never intended on having any loyalty to a particular village. She was kind of happy that he was fulfilling his end of the promise, even if it was in inconceivably terrible circumstances.

With that thought in mind, Hitori decided what she was going to do. She would go to a hidden village and become a shinobi too. The small, dark-haired girl slowly got to her feet, wincing slightly, and picked up the packs that they had thankfully left on the ground last night in all the fuss, and began to drag herself back to the village that they had been in last night. On the way there, she thought about the hidden villages she knew of. She only knew about the five main ones, Konoha, Kiri, Suna, Kumo, and Iwa, but she knew that there was a bunch of others in different countries.

Hitori knew what countries the five main hidden villages were in, but she didn't know where in the land itself they were located. Kiri was out, since it was across the ocean in the Land Of Water. Suna was in the Land Of Wind, amongst the desert, which would make it near impossible to find for someone who wasn't used to that kind of terrain. Kumo was high in the mountains and she wouldn't be able to travel somewhere so cold without proper clothing, which she didn't have and couldn't get. Iwa was automatically out, even though she would see Deidara again, it would defeat the purpose of him allowing himself to be taken there to save her.

Konoha was all that was left. Out of all the villages, Konoha seemed like the best option for someone like her. She and Deidara had been in the Land Of Fire plenty of times before, but they never ventured far into a country or stayed there for too long. They basically already acted like missing nin. She got back to the village while she was musing, and she found a small stall with some cheap food that she very reluctantly paid for, but the man gave her an extra serving for free because he felt sorry for her.

She guessed that looking like she had just been in some sort of small scale war helped. After she ate, she strolled through the small marketplace that was still filled with people who had most likely come here to watch the fireworks display the previous night. It was perfect for a small girl who could conceal herself in their shadows to steal food. Even though the people at the stalls called out to everyone announcing how good their products were etc, they were very, very good at keeping an eye on whatever they were selling. Unfortunately, Deidara wasn't around to help her out any more, so taking extra precautions, she stole a few items of fruit from one stall, running away before releasing the jutsu.