Alchemy

4,1) FIRE AND ICE

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Hinata:

I panted heavily as I forced myself to continue running and not to look back at the two border patrol shinobi, from the Land of Sun, who were in close pursuit.

I had only two options left. Run or return. Return or run.
Return and face the long-lasting reverberations of my decisions.
Or keep running and fight for the chance to be live within perpetual, inhibited freedom and uncertainty.

The choice was made.
I thought about how far I had come in the past week. How much I had had to endure and overcome.

I stopped running, knowing that my legs were about to collapse beneath me if I didn't.

They quivered uncontrollably in protest, being unacquainted to the strenuous exercise they had endured these past few days.

I wouldn't let anyone take me back. Never again would a decision be taken for me. A melange of thoughts raced through my mind as I prepared to stand off against the guards.

Before they could open their mouths to voice admonitions as to why I shouldn't resist arrest I lashed out, each palm flowing with chakra as I shot forward.

"BYAKUGAN: GENTLE STEP: TWIN LION FISTS"

They crashed into the solid bedrock of the plateau beneath our feet, clearly unprepared for the attack.

Their expressions were an amalgam of shock and anger.

A woman, in fact the princess of the light wielding ninjustu. That small unacceptable truth was something they hadn't expected and therefore hadn't accounted for I took advantage of their shock to flee, attempting to gain as much ground between us as I possibly could.

Once I escaped into the land of Whirlpools, they couldn't follow me unless they had approval from its leader, which was unlikely.

The guards had finally recovered enough to continue chasing after me.
Beams of sunlight disappeared under the dense canopy of trees making up the forbidden forest of the Land of Whirlpools.

The whispered curses of the guards reached my ears as I was completely enveloped by the dense fog. They would not follow me here. For no one who dare to enter this forest, since nobody who did ever came out.

Just another apocryphal I reminded myself as I took in the eerie, enigmatic aesthetics of my surroundings.

My toes curled as dampness soaked into my boots. As I looked to the ground a gasp lodged itself up my throat. The ground was saturated with snow. A metre backward the ground was carpeted with green grass but from this point deeper into the forest it was snowing heavily. Snow in the middle of summer? And only here in forest?

I had to pinch my skin to reassure myself that I wasn't dreaming. I was sure that it wasn't a genjutsu either.

The cold felt too real for that.

Time marched on as seconds and minutes drained into hours all sense of time had long faded from my mind. All I had to give me an indication was the sky. As dusk to started pool over these forested hills, leeching all warmth from my skin, a sense of dead washed over me.

How long had I wondered around the labyringth of snowed paths within this place.

A shadow loomed overhead, finally I thought with glee. Finally a landmark which could also serve as avantage point to scout my surroundings. I needed to find shelter and food soon.