Growing younger

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The little girl was walking alone in the dark forest. She had been wandering around for a while. "Why did I run off? I don't know the way back to the village." The little girl regretted.

"The sky looks so dark... I hope it doesn't start-" She said but was interrupted by the sound of thunder. She didn't have time to think about much. The rain started pouring. Sarada used her hands to cover her head, even though she knew it wouldn't help much.

"I need to take cover somewhere!" The little girl had never been a fan of lightning, and she would usually hide under the stairs whenever it stormed in Konoha, which was actually pretty rare. Normally, she would just sit and wait until the storm passed by, or until her mom found her and told her there wasn't anything to be scared of. Whichever came first.

Sarada could feel her heart beating. The tears wanted to press their way out, but she managed to hold them back, at least until she had found a rather acceptable shelter. She ran along the mountainside of the village. She ran further and further towards the south.

She could only assume that Boruto had chosen the other way towards the east. She was running further and further up a hill that was getting harder and harder to come across. "I saw a cave at the top of this hill! If only I can reach it I'll be safe!" She almost yelled to herself.

She was still in the shirt that she had borrowed from Naruto, and her shoes were still in the mud pile her and Boruto had played in earlier. The little girl looked down at the ground but instantly regretted it.

'There's like, 100 meters down!' She thought, even though there probably wasn't anymore then 50. She was walking across an extremely petite path across the side of the cliff. If she fell down now, she would definitely break a leg or two and a couple of ribs. Sarada looked up. 'Only a couple of meters left to go!'

She heard lightning in the distance. She looked over towards the east and saw that one of the trees had started burning, which only made her more nervous. 'I hope Borup is safe...' She thought as she forced herself to keep on going.

A powerful wind then hit her, and Sarada had to really cling to the tree roots that were growing out of the mountainside. Unfortunately, because she had to use all her strength on not blowing off the mountainside, her red glasses blew off her face and fell aaaaaaall the way down to the ground.

Her vision got blurry, and she was freezing. She looked upwards, and everything was just a black grey-ish blob. 'I can't see anything! But if I don't get up there soon, I'm gonna get sick!' Sarada thought as she thought back as what her mom had always told her.

"If you stay out in the rain too long, or stay in your wet clothes, your body will get too cold and you could end up getting sick, so whenever it rains to make sure to take cover or run home, okay sweetheart?"

Her mom had always told her. And now Sarada understood why. She was shivering from the cold, and she felt dizzy. 'I'm almost there!' The girl thought as she kept her vision locked on the top of the mountain.

If she fell down now she could die. But she tried not to think of that, and instead focused on reaching the top. Another lightning stroke hit, another tree set on fire. Sarada didn't want to look at it.

Her legs were shaking like crazy, and she didn't know if it was from the cold or just pure fear anymore. Her whole body was numb. "Mommy..." She couldn't hold the tears in any longer. She started whining.

With tears in her eyes, and a blurry vision she continued up the large cliff, even more, careful than before. A couple of minutes passed and she was getting closer and closer to the top. All the dirt had turned to mud, so she knew she had to be extremely careful not to slip off the edge.