Who are you?

Part 48

She woke up well-rested, warm under the blankets, and a little stiff. After finally getting to her destination, she still had to push herself to find a secure inn, seal her room with the best security seals she had, and make sure everything was ready for her long rest.

Her first round of sleeping took four days. She only woke up because her stomach was too upset to sleep peacefully. She stayed awake long enough to order some food, take a shower, and eat. She then fell asleep once again.

This routine followed for a week. She would sleep most of the day, get up to eat, use the bathroom, and sleep again. Little by little, she gained back her strength. She was finally out of immediate danger.

This did not mean that she was ready to strain her body, but it did mean that she could start training it. She started by heading out to the village for some light physical exercise. She then slowly added some chakra exercises to the mix.

Her chakra control was not as refined as she liked, but she also knew that it was from removing the seal. She still got overwhelmed when she was in a crowd or when strong emotions were close to her, but she was slowly getting the hang of it.

After another week, it was time to go. She didn't have a lot of money left. She had to sell some medicinal plants and balms for enough money to get to Konoha. She wasn't healed enough to attempt healing others for money.

She packed her things and went on her way. A caravan heading to Konoha offered to take her, but she refused. While they had hired protection, the guards were not shinobi, and she would be in more danger if she traveled with them.

She opted for a shortcut to Konoha. There was no road, but it was frequented by shinobi. It would lower her chance of getting attacked by bandits. She had her identification documents in her tight pouch so they would be easily accessible.

Her unsealed weapons were all in visible places. She didn't want to look suspicious by not carrying any weapon on a road frequented by shinobi, even if she had no intentions of fighting. Hopefully, things will go well.

She used her sensing abilities passively. While her net was covering a good range around her, she wasn't actively pushing it to locate anything in range. This would help her keep the range up without using too much chakra.

She finally reached Konoha. It was a challenging journey, and every night, she had to sleep in the trees. She was also stopped by the Shinobi patrol twice. Still, thankfully, they weren't hostile once they realized she was cooperative.

The second group was actually some Chunin returning from a mission, and they accompanied her during the last day. One of the Chunin had a slight leg injury—not enough to hinder him, but enough to slow them down from returning to full speed.

Shiori offered to heal him, and they accompanied her to Konoha. It's been a while since she practiced tree running, and she could tell they were going slower to accommodate her. Still, it was fun for her.

She avoided using it when traveling alone since she never knew what may come up and needed to preserve all the chakra she could. Still, with their destination, it was safe this time. She still didn't let her guard down and was on the lookout, but she felt safer than before.

She was currently standing in a line for civilians to have their documents checked. The chunins bid her goodbye when they reached the gate since they had to report back to the Hokage. She didn't mind.

All she had to do was wait and head to the Tsunade-sensei's apartment. While she hasn't returned to Konoha in a long while, the Hokage still maintained an apartment for her in case she ever changed her mind since the Senju compound was destroyed during the Kyubi attack.