From the Ashes

𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝑅𝑒𝒹 𝒟𝒶𝓌𝓃.(𝐼𝓃𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓁𝓊𝒹𝑒)

Chapter (Who even cares at this point?) "The Orange Knight."

                        

*

The openness that the walls of her village had been sheltering them from was scary,no doubt about the uncertainty that crept all around them but all the same it was freeing,journeying through the lands with those who had become family.

Without borders and without rules,the four—sometimes five—all traveled under the endless expanse of stars for the better part of two weeks...There was beauty in this freedom,and now as Saryn looked up at those stars from her perch in the trees she began to wonder if maybe her decision to leave the village with the others,forcing the forsaking of their dreams—the forsaking of their home had been worth it.The thought had hit her that even her own goals were now closely intertwined with theirs..

More than her life's goal to be the strongest and most powerful,beneath all her her theatrics or rage-filled nights of training,Saryn wanted the accomplishment to verify herself,to reassure her own self that with the power she endlessly pursued,endlessly worked for would finally bear fruit. She wished to defend this little piece of contentment in her otherwise empty and dark life.

Sure,if this didn't go as planned she could send the rest back home.But for herself the Hidden Leaf was a no go,alot had to change before then.She also,was no exception to this either.

Yes she was a clan head, but even if they respected and respected the title and bore the spirals they would never accept her.Danzo had made sure of that...it would all be a simple facade with animosity boiling under the surfacec,and the Uzumaki still hadn't forgot how they'd mishandled her little curse mark situation.

Never would such travesties manifest among those she had the privilege to call friends:Haku, Hinata,Fū and now Shisui,Saryn had found in these people what she found alot of shinobi to be desperately lacking...

Her head turned upward then.The world was beautiful and far less cruel a place than some experiences had led her to believe,made especially apparent when you had friends by your side and right now,Saryn was feeling that peace wholeheartedly as the full moon's light came upon her body,bathing her in its calming rays.Since she'd been but a child,it had always been the light of the moon that'd instilled within her a sense of...clarity and reassurance.A welcoming sensation at each moment she'd gotten to gaze upon the bi-monthly occurrence,which was only magnified on the rare occasion of a red moon.

*

As she dropped down to the fabricated ground,she found the entire cell fast asleep in a circle of limbs.They'd conditioned themselves to sleep within arms reach of one another,a lesson swiftly learned as the Land of Waves and nearby borderlands had become a hotbed of conflict.

Seeing the others already fast asleep on her watch,Saryn remained the last one awake and so this beauty of nature was all for her,as she stood vigil over the group within the rugged earth style shelter of Fu's making..It was relieving and in that moment it felt as if Saryn knew exactly why she was here,why she brought the others along where it seemed so easy to just leave them behind.

The land they currently occupied had reminded the Kaguya of her original Water Country homeland with its constant presence of rain,and the slow advance of the coastal mist that was never too far away,allowing the grass and other flora to glisten with a grayish tint to the tips of the ankle-high blades of green.

It would have been so easy to fall asleep here,between the sounds of the crickets,tied with the small caws of the birds that were—Saryn's eyes hardened.That was no normal bird,it was a damned crow's caw...Crows weren't nocturnal creatures.