Chapter 1

Panting from my training, I sheathed my twin chisa katanas and walked back to my family home. The streets of the mountain village were quiet, and that was to be expected when one walked around at 11pm. However, I was thankful for the silence, because it gave me the opportunity to think about how I would approach the situation of me leaving the village to my parents.

After some contemplation, I stumbled upon my home in the mountains where I knew my kaa-san's, dark and nimble fingers would be turning the pages of the book she was reading in the living room and my tou-san, Katsumi, would be flitting around the kitchen preparing dinner. I opened the door and saw exactly what I had predicted. In a typical shinobi village, the roles of my parents might have been different, however, this was the Nadeshiko village, a matrilineal village, where women were at the top of the social hierarchy and men were below them. Although this might've been odd to some, it was all I knew and thus I had no problems with it.

I removed my shinobi sandals and walked into the dining area, where my kaa-san and tou-san were.

"Good evening Kitiara," my tou-san greeted loudly, "Dinner is ready, we were waiting for you."

"You mean, I was waiting for you," my kaa-san, Noriko, said quietly, "you" and with that, she pointed to her husband, "were ready to eat."

Before a quarrel could break out between my parents, I sat down on the mat, said a quick itadakimasu and spooned rice and curry into a bowl. I was in the midst of shovelling my food into my mouth because I was exhausted from the long and strenuous training tafu-sensei was putting me through. Noriko coughed a little, which caused me to look up from my overflowing bowl of heaven.

"So, how was training today?" tou-san said before I could respond to kaa-san's subtle indirect.

"Training is ok, but tafu-sensei is definitely making it harder. She's upped my training time and lessened break times, because apparently, (here, I rolled my eyes) if she gives me a 5-minute break and I start talking to her, she says that I can distract her and then we end up having an hour break instead." I said disbelievingly.

Kaa-san and tou-san just stared at me, as if to say, but that does happen. I just huffed and continued on,

"Anyways, I think she's increased training because the other day, I mentioned to her that I think it's time for me to leave the village and exp-" I was halted in my sentence by a quiet, yet dominating voice.

"What?" kaa-san said.

"Hmmm..." I said meekly in return, "I-, I'm thinking of leaving the village."

"Why would you do that? When everything you have is here? And you can't surely be thinking of leaving in hopes of finding a husband, because I left to find Katsumi when I was 25" Noriko said.

"Well, I want to get out of here and explore the world. I'm 19 and I've never been outside of the village. Even tafu-sensei thinks I'm ready. Heck, even the village thinks I'm ready because I've got my hitai too. Please kaa-san, tou-san?"

Kaa-san gave a small sigh, "I'm not su-"

She was interrupted by tou-san's "yes."

"You're ready," he turned to Noriko and continued, "We've watched her training with tafu-sensei and you and I both know that Kitiara is more than ready for this."

A week later, after discussing my plans, saying goodbye to tafu-sensei and gathering essentials for my journey, I was ready to leave. I shouldered my backpack further up my shoulders, checked the straps of my sandals and ensured that my chisa katanas were safe on my hips. I usually wear them on my back, but my backpack had taken that spot, so this was the next best option. Finally, after triple checking everything (like food, clothes and money), I turned around to face my parents by the door. This is it, I thought, my chance to experience the world.

"Be careful, won't you? I know you're a great kunoichi, but it's a dangerous world so look after yourself." Surprisingly, it was kaa-san, a retired, yet fearless warrior of the Nadeshiko village, who was fretting instead of tou-san. Tears started to litter her eyes (mind you, this was one of the only times in my life that I had seen her cry) and at that moment, (probably to save kaa-san from feeling any sort of embarrassment) tou-san grabbed both of us and pulled us in for a long embraced. I welcomed it because I knew that it was going to be a long time before I saw them again.

Kaa-san's tears dampened my shirt, which slowly shocked me back to the reality of the situation, thus I untangled my arms from theirs and took a step back. And then another. And another, until I was a fair distance from them. Still facing them, I yelled,

"When you see me next, I'll be with a boyfriend!" with a large grin to accompany the statement. From where I was, I could see tou-san stumble a little bit while kaa-san gave a small and collected smile.

"No boyfriends until you're 4- ouch!" he ended his sentenced with a yelp (no doubt due to kaa-san) while kaa-san just whistled and walked back inside. With that, I knew they'd be alright without me. Sure, it'd be unusual for a while having one less person to cook or clean after, but I'm sure they'd manage.

Due to the Nadeshiko village being on an island, I went straight to the harbour to find Atsuko-san. He was one of the many men on the island who worked at the harbour, using his boat to go to the mainland to collect supplies. Furthermore, his daughter Atsuko Miyamoto was my best friend. We had grown up together, doing play dates and going to the academy together when we were older. After graduating, she decided that she didn't want the life of a kunoichi and decided to work with her father. Although some of the village leaders looked down on this decision (as it was custom for most women to be kunoichi), I supported her fully. Miya-chan wasn't suited for a life of violence, she was too kind and gentle.

Upon arriving, I searched for Atsuko-san on his boat. I found him sorting out his supplies in the cargo hold.

"Good morning Atsuko-san!"

"Oh!" He jumped in fright, "good morning Kitiara-chan! Please, give an old man like me some warning before you go jumping out of corners like that!"

I gave a small laugh and questioned him about our time of departure. With 15 minutes to spare now, I could quickly go find Miya-chan. I searched the bottom decks, but couldn't find her anywhere. So, I walked upstairs to the prow of the ship and stood there, staring at the ever-changing water.

"I do hope you were going to say goodbye before you left," Miya-chan commented while moving up to my side. I didn't turn to her but instead grabbed her hand tightly.

Here, with Miya-chan, I could share my doubts about the situation.

"Miya-chan, what if- what if I'm not ready for this? What if I'm getting ahead of myself and really, I'm just living in a fantasy where I think I'm capable and I'm not?"

"If you weren't ready, then I'm sure your tafu-sensei wouldn't let you leave and your okaa-san really wouldn't let you leave. You are more than ready and more than capable. Everyone in the village knows it. You're one of Nadeshiko's top kunoichi, even the village elders agree. And you know what's better than the village elders' opinion? Mine. I believe that you can do it. You're not meant to stay here, you're a wandering spirit-always on the move and you have been since we were kids. You're meant to be out there in the world, exploring hidden villages, gaining new friends, maybe even finding a boyfriend. You can do it Kitiara. You've just got to believe in yourself."

Miya-chan really had a way with words, because what she just said blew all the doubts out of my head. I could do it. I could leave the village in the hopes of finding myself and maybe even a place where I belong.

As the boat pulled out of the dock, I waved to Miyamoto-chan who stood on the pier. She was waving frantically, and although she was gaining some weird looks, she continued to do.

Finally, when the village was just a speck on the horizon, I turned around and walked down to my cabin. The journey from the village to the mainland would take 3 days. Once there, I'll travel towards the land of waves and from there in a clockwise direction around my map. My last stop should hopefully be the hidden cloud village.

After working my route out, I sunk onto my bed and stared up at the wooden planks lining the ceiling. This is my destiny, and this is what I was meant to do. Let the journey commence, I thought. And with that, I fell asleep to the soft rocking of the boat.

Authors note

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in the Naruto franchise, I only own my OCs.

Wow, now that that's out of the way, so guys, this is the first official chapter of Where the wanderer finds a home. I hope you enjoyed it. Also, I just wanted to tell you guys, since some of you might be confused, that when addressing people, or speaking about them, I'll be using honorifics and Japanese words for mum and dad and other traditional Japanese words (like itadakimasu- thank you for the meal). I just think it makes the story more authentic and brings truth to the Japanese origin of Naruto.

Anyways, I'm glad you guys decided to read my story, and I can't wait to post chapter 2 (and write it ). Also, I'll try to make sure my author's notes aren't as long as this next time around.

Love, LittleBluxLux