Prologue
It was cold... It was always cold.
I looked down at the kunai in my hand. Blood staining its darkened steel began to seep through my glove feeling it moisten against my skin.
I tried my best...
I reached up at the collar of my cloak to cover up to my nose. It was getting harder to breathe and with the snow falling heavier and the wind blowing more intensely, there was no doubt a storm was brewing.
I tried my best... It was suppose to be quick...
I let out a breath, seeing the puff of air leave the confines of the cloth covering my mouth. I surveyed my surrounding before I trudged my way through the sinking snow below me, ignoring the bloody mess of limbs and bodies beginning to be buried under the white.
Cold... I have to... get away... before they scream...
Only the sound of crunching snow and the wind mourning over the deaths of tens could be heard.
A bit of blood trickled down the side of my left arm but I ignored it. The pain and the wounds could be dealt with later. Right now, I...
...have to get away.
"There was no way she was able to escape. I mean we got the scroll. And get this, the little shit had actually held them off when we asked her to", whispered a boisterous man as they filed over the mission's office, looking warily at a blonde girl who barely reacted to what they were saying.
"I told you the rumors were true", one of them nodded. "Demons, I tell ya."
They all perked up again as the object of their conversation approached them with a small brown envelope. The boisterous man quickly snatched it from her and they began to crowd around it, arguing how the money was going to get split.
"Um... excuse me..." The small, soft voice was able to cut through them and they all peered uncertainly at her before the boisterous one smirked.
"Because we're all older than you and since WE were the ones physically returning back the forbidden scroll, you get 10th of the amount", he said taking out very few of the content and handing it out to her.
Still looking at them apathetically, she took what was offered, bowed slightly and left without so much as a glance. The companions of the boisterous one released their breath once she was out and mentally applauded their leader for outsmarting the creature.
"Here ya go! Now scram!"
Tsuki quickly took the steam bun and began to scurry away from the outraged woman behind the stall. She juggled the hot thing for a bit over each hand, making her way through the streets hurriedly, avoiding anyone she could potentially bump into.. She could see smoke as she sighed out discouragingly. Apparently, her team didn't give her the right amount of cash that they promised and it was only able to provide a day's meal.
As if on cue, her stomach growled pathetically, joining her mental lament.
She pushed the thought for a minute as the sky covered with thick gray clouds, began to even darken. She made her way at the edge of the village where trees lined the path more than houses and structures and where it was calmer with hibernating animals all around. Winter was a cruel season as it forces all life to temporarily sleep but it also provided a time of rest. It mellows the cruelty of everyone and Tsuki found comfort in that.
Even stained with blood, reeked with smell of death, and a hand that could still feel the grip of a kunai, she managed to sit down on the cold ground while holding the now cooled food in her hands.
She reached forward to uncover a tombstone, tracing the writing for what seemed like the hundredth time in her lifetime.
"Uzumaki Naruto
Here lies our light and hope. A ninja of Konoha but a father at his last breath."
"I'm home... papa..."