Prologue
Shio Namida, a traveling trader and seller of goods and artifacts, was making his way to Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Leaves. He made a living by selling various goods and gifts, ranging from certain foods, pottery, some clothes, charms, scrolls and other parchment, toys, and even artifacts from digging sites. Some of the items he sold were made by his own two hands. The rest of what he sold were either things he bought or found. His dream has always to be able to travel the world and see what it had in store for everyone, which was why he became a traveling trader. And today was going to be his first time entering into Konoha, a day he had been waiting for. Little did he know, however, that through one choice of his he would start a chain reaction that neither he nor Konoha itself would ever forget.
"Man, it's hot today," Shio said to himself as he sat on his horse-driven cart filled with his merchandise. "At least I know what I'm heading towards: a better selling, meaning more money for this month's food…huh?"
He stopped his horse when he saw something in the trees off the side of the road. He wasn't sure about what it was, but curiosity drove him to find out. Taking a knife with him, he told the horse to stay where it was while he went to inspect. When he got there, he found a person leaning against a tree. They were wearing mostly white and wore a hood over the head, the left sleeve stained with red. Blood. Shio went up to this stranger, inspecting them.
"Hey," he said, shaking them gently. "You okay?"
The stranger groaned in response, their voice a little too high pitch to be a man's. That meant the stranger was either a woman or a tall boy. Either one didn't matter much to Shio at that moment, though, sheathing his knife and proceeding to help the person out.
"Alright, come on," he said, trying to carry the stranger without harming them any further. "Let's get you some help."
As he brought the stranger to his cart, however, something fell from inside the stranger's clothes and hit the ground. Shio heard the sound of metal hitting dirt road and looked towards the source, observing a small hourglass that, while leaning on its side, had what appeared to be small grains of silver still falling through the miniscule tunnel that allowed it passage. Shio allowed himself to stare for only a moment before resuming what he was already doing. Once the stranger was safely on board his cart, he was about to get on and resume the trip when the stranger started to mutter something.
"What?" he asked confused. "What was that?"
Again the person spoke.
"What did…another language, huh? I'm sorry, but I don't know what you're talking about."
The stranger's hand started to feel at their shirt, as if looking for something that was supposed to be on them. Shio understood what the person was probably looking for: the hourglass. He jumped off the cart and went to grab the hourglass. He had one second to look at before he heard the stranger cough up hard. When Shio was distracted and looked at them, he saw small spittle stained red from blood.
"Oh, geez," he said, placing the hourglass among the rest of his cargo under the tarp of his cart before rushing back to his seat. "You're in worse shape than I thought. Looks like we better hurry. Hiyaa!"
With the whip of the reins the horse was startled and galloped forward as quickly as it could towards its destination: Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
End of Prologue trial 1