Orochimaru-Sama

Chapter Three

The land of Water is so much clearer outside of the mist. Colours seem brighter, I can see distances more clearly, it doesn’t look like much to most, but it is amazing to me. And I can see Aina thinks the same way about it. We both look around and turn our heads so much, we’re getting quite far behind Fuuka-sensei and Yuji-san. But we can still see them and estimate the distance between us, as long as we don’t lose sight of them we’re fine. But just in case, we start running to catch up before we trail further behind.

After a couple of hours of walking, which didn’t seem that long to Aina and me, our eyes met the ocean. Its vast blue waters made our jaws drop in amazement and our pace slowed until we completely stopped and watched the waves roll on the surface. I hear Yuji-san calling us, but even he stopped and watches the waves with us. Such a beautiful sight, the ocean is. Sensei too, stopped his march and came to stand with us. A smile formed on his face, through his beard.

“Let’s rest here for a while. Let’s eat.”

The sun began to set, and I watched it sink into the waters that had turned all shades of red and orange. Slowly, very slowly, it submersed and I sat on the ground, watching in awe.

“You’re catching flies, Mi-chan.” Aina joked as she came to sit next to me, her face lit up in orange, just like the waters. I could almost hear her thinking ‘it sure is beautiful’.

“Yuji and Fuuka-sensei are setting up the tents, we’re sharing one. It’s not big, but we’re too far from the city to find a hotel.” The last small stripe of sun sunk in the water and the orange glow slowly faded.

“It sure is beautiful..” Aina exclaimed, and I turned my head to face her, her facial features still lined with orange.

“It really is.” I answered and took my forehead protector off. Black strands of hair fall on my face and I brush them away with my free hand. I look around to see where sensei and Yuji-san have gone to set up their tents, and find them just ahead, under a large tree to protect the tents, it might start to rain tonight. They should be water resistant, but one can never be too sure. We slept until morning. As expected, it rained heavily.

“Wake up sleepyhead!” I shook Aina’s shoulder as the sun’s morning rays shone through the canvas of the tent. Aina moaned and turned on her side, muttering something inaudible. I tugged on her arm, trying to get her to sit upright.

“Come on! You have to see the sunrise Aina! Hurry, it’ll be gone if you don’t!” Outside it was cold and still raining, I had been sitting just outside the tent for almost half an hour already, watching the sun come up again on the other side. The cold didn’t really bother me that much. Aina rubbed her eyes and sat up, mumbling something about gummy bears. Instead of making fun of her love for candy, I crawled back out again and watched the sun come up behind the trees.

“I don’t see it.” Aina mutters sleepily while crawling out.

“That’s cause you’re looking the wrong way, hamsterface.”

“Stop calling me that, it’s too early for this.” Aina yawns and sits next to me on the cold, damp ground. We’ve come quite far for one day, we would probably make it to Konoha before the week passed. Maybe we could go sightseeing in the village before the exam started, or maybe even meet the Hokage! I quickly discard the thought as ‘impossible’ before pondering further on it. I crawl back inside and get myself dressed to get moving again, Fuuka-sensei stopped snoring, which means Yuji-san and he must have woken up.

The journey continued through the land of Water until we stopped at a bridge that was still under construction. Fuuka-sensei had told us to wait while he went to talk to someone in charge. The bridge looked as if it was nearly finished, but we weren’t allowed to cross it just yet, for our own safety. Stroking his white beard, sensei approached and the hand stroking the beard moved to his right, directing us towards an old man with a boat. It wasn’t a big boat, but large enough to make sure the five of us got to land, straight to the land of Fire.