From the Ashes

𝚃𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝙼𝚢 𝙷𝚊𝚗𝚍.

This was hell.

It took mere hours for her to get to this point.

Kaguya Saryn buried her face into her legs. The young girl, barely ten years old, sat with her arms wrapped around his knees beneath a strong mangrove—a number of miles from her home.

Her once ashen hair was a dark mess of blood and grime,unkempt from days before this fateful day, her gray kimono and black pants didn't fare any better.

They'd barely escaped...'purifiers' had finally come for them,driving her and her parents out the village they'd hidden in,finally trapping her father back in a cloud of blades and unnatural mist.

The man fought while facing guaranteed death at the hands of the radical nin of Kiri,held them back from pursuing her and her mother...

She couldn't say it was out of compassion,more it was in his blood for him to die just like that:A maniacal tool of warfare.

In desperation the two had thrown themselves into the rushing river that was leading to the sea...It had taken minutes of tumbling and treading water before she'd realized the absence of her mother's striking red hair...Saryn continued as far from the village as she could.

Thankfully no one had even come looking for her.

A sinking feeling numbed her as reality set in,perfectly in tune with the rain that never seemed to ease up in Mizu no Kuni.

The young girl shook as the reality of the situation dawned on her;She was alone,and at the mercy of the elements and everyone stronger than her.

Saryn was no idiot however,and she knew how to fend for herself.In the Bloody Mist and the land around it,you had no other option shy of dying.

The land around her was damp, a formation of earth floating on an ocean meant that rain was prevalent...and a campfire would be near impossible with her lack of fire jutsu...

Watery eyes widened as she spotted a hut near the estuary of the river...

'And a boat!' A plan was coming to mind for the desperate kid.

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She flinched at the sound of thunder,stopping briefly to pull the only form of defense she had from her sleeve as she crept up to the window.

Gazing in,she didn't see any signs of life,no futon,no light source,just rotting wood,and a sizable fishing boat that was more than worse for wear.

It would have to do.

The Kaguya wasted no more time,using what strength she could muster to shove the boat into the water,a bit further into the depths until she could leap in,quickly getting the hang of the oars that were larger than her body.

Saryn had no idea where she was going,only that it would be away from this godforsaken land.

After a while of rowing her prepubescent arms became tired and eyes ran bloodshot,strained from fatigue and the storm of reality had left her body on autopilot.

Poor girl didn't even notice herself nodding off until she completely collapsed in the boat,allowing the water to guide her as she dreamt of her life shortly before it'd been turned on its head...

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It had to have been hours—maybe even a day or two,of treading water for the orphaned kid before she'd seen some semblance of land.

Currently she was fast asleep and blowing snot bubbles,completely unaware as her small vessel drifted towards the shore of what looked to be a grassy mainland...