Hello readers! How are you doing? Well, I hope! Well it's… been a while and before you start reading I would like to apologize for several things.
First off, well where to begin?… It's been over three years since I posted the initial chapter on fanfiction after lots of reflection, a lot of time reading other people's fanfics. It's been quite a while since then, crazy how times goes relentlessly forward. In this time I've gotten a girlfriend, lost her, lost my grandparents, lost some people, had falling outs, but also met people, had fun and learned a lot about how to live, how to struggle in life and stand on my own two feet.
Well now that I've covered the basic self journey discovery thing, I'd like to apologize to those of you (if there are any left after these long hiatus and random postings) for my stories. I was new to writing serious stories and carried with my enthusiasts and ideas of stories. I hadn't realized the work and effort required to produce even a simple but good fanfiction, many times I've rushed forward, just wanting to get the main ideas down of the story which meant it wasn't brilliant, it was rushed so no proof reading, plenty of spelling mistakes and stuff and it must have been a bit annoying.
Having said that, I do like writing, I really do which is why I want to come back to writing these stories which really started it all. Unfortunately I can't promise to have regular updates and so on, I don't control my moments of inspirations and author's block unfortunately. That said I will try to get down what I think of and slow down to make it a bit more enjoyable. Eventually I'll have to re-write what I've posted prior to this as it's a mess of an excited kid who wants to show what he can do.
So looking forward, I'm hoping to be able to have some semi-regular updates which have been proof redden to remove as many annoying things as possible and polish the general story. Now I'm not quite sure where I actually want to go with this story, part of why I mentioned how long it'd been since I'd started, you character defines your story and as I change slightly through the years the place I wanted to take this story to has pretty much disappeared. So I'll go forward making it up as I go along, hopefully it's not too bad that y'all run away.
That's it for now. I hope you enjoy this chapter and the ones that come after it, I think like most people who produce these kinds of things, be it songs, stories, paintings or whatever the enjoyment of the audience at the end of the day is the primary motivation for the author. So good reading and I hope I can make something you'll enjoy! Cheers!
(Small disclaimer, I'm not brilliant at choosing names, so I'll be borrowing names from other anime, expect familiar names though this isn't a crossover.)
Chapter 10:
"Tss it's cold..." sneezed a freezing blonde. Snow was coming down hard, working as a guard for a convoy he couldn't do much but endure the weather. Why was he working a job might you ask? Well for the simple basic need of money. Yes having a limitless supply of chakra and the toughest creature in the world in you still didn't allow you to live without money. As he yawned his breath acted like a ghost fading into the world. Looking towards the front of the ship, the sun rose. Leaning against the pillar the rays hitting his face felt good, taken for granted most of the time, it was an amazing sensation in the right condition, the right harsh conditions. A grin appeared on him, the port was in sight, this cargo defense had been the most boring job ever, after all no one had even attempted an attack. He heard the doors to the cabin open and out came a wealthy looking man followed by his equally wealthy looking daughter. As she crossed his gaze she smiled a small kind smile.
"She's not too bad eh kit?" snickered the fox. Clearly Naruto had been taken off guard as he blushed and scrambled for an answer. The fox had intended to tease his host lightly, but the unexpected reaction was too much to pass. A full blown laughter followed from the creature leaving Naruto even more embarrassed.
It was true though, as her long chestnut hair reached the middle of her back with parts coming on the front of her shoulder, it fitted a face that envied nothing to the world. What's more to be had with good looks you may ask? Chemistry is the answer, and they had good chemistry. On this week long trip, they had started off on the wrong foot. At the request of her father though he had shown her a bit about ninjutsu and what ninja's were capable of, it hadn't been much, simple cloning technique, transformation jutsu and the little bit of genjutsu he knew where he sent her to a strange world with moving boxes called cars and huge birds called planes. As ridiculous as that world was the genjutsu was flawless and it had felt to her as real as it was cold. She had laughed, they argued, they fought and they laughed again. Naruto couldn't help but feel a little sad the journey came to an end, these were basic interactions with friends he had been denied most of his life. As she and her father, his employer, walked towards the bow of the ship he couldn't deny that all of a sudden a swirl was in his heart. After all he was still young even without the time travel he was hardly old.
"D'you think… I don't know… maybe the way things are, something… else will work?" he asked
"Kit, I do know it's not a priority right now. Besides you're not thinking straight. Maybe Sakura and you won't happen in this version of your story. Maybe it will. Even I don't have these answers and I know you better than you know yourself. It's a hard thing to predict, she's a hard girl to get over and yet theoretically speaking since now you've never been with her, there's nothing for you to move on from. All I can say is take it slow, take your time. You were drunk with love and all of a sudden, it was snitched from you, and it destroyed you for a bit. Breathe, you're 14 kit, with your blood you'll probably make it to a hundred and forty so chill and relax, nothing is set in stone. Maybe you'll find yourself with Sakura again, maybe it'll be that girl Saara from that time you went in the past, who knows, just chill and follow your heart, you have no obligations to anyone or anything, nothing is holding you back so just do what you feel like doing." came the reply, the fox did know his stuff, Naruto had to concede, however one thing struck him.
"Wait what other time I went in the past… Saara? What the hell you on about?". He followed up, his mind drawing a complete blank.
"Wait you don't remember? Saara, the tower, the puppets, your old man, Minato?…" Naruto looked into the distance, focusing but he couldn't remember anything. "Really? Bloody shame then, Saara wasn't a bad catch either, and she totally had the hots for you… I'll say this kit, you do somehow, despite your complete lack of intelligence, manage to attract some beauties by human standards."
Feeling even more curious now, and wondering how in the world he could have forgotten about such an adventure he started scratching his head, desperate to be flooded by the memories, but nothing.
"Ah wait! exclaimed the fox. Of course, Minato erased your memories and Yamato's as well..." chuckled the fox
"Argh! Naruto yelled back in frustration. You knew very well I wouldn't remember, making fun of me for cheap didn't you?!"
"I deny all accusations." continued the fox with an easy smile, he had honestly forgotten about the memory erasing but it had been worth his while seeing the kid struggle in vain. But most of all, it felt so good to be able to simply joke around once again.
"Anchor!" was yelled bringing the pair back to reality.
The employer made sign for Naruto to come over. He then proceeded at the payment of the job, the white bills he handed the ninja served as the international currency, it would then need to be converted into local currency in one of the trading post in one of the countries. It had paid rather well for a no event job, but it was far less than his employer would make with this haul. Indeed he had brought simple commodities like wood, rice, clothing, now these things wouldn't be very expensive commodities normally unless you knew what to do with it. Lawrence, for that was the trader's name had brought these goods as north as north goes to a small mining town. The folks there had originally left their homelands together and settled here. Though it was a small settlement it was welcoming, everyone knew everyone. Furthermore it was wealthy, unusually wealthy for a mining town. The reason being the strange gold mine that seemed to never deplete. The only downside was this was a very rocky and mountainous terrain were no plants grew and livestock was very hard to keep. This made trading very profitable for traders who were in good with the locals, winter coming up, the clothes and wood would fetch even higher prices which is why cargo routes were often attacked by thieves.
"What shall you do now?" asked Lawrence, the contract with Naruto had only been for water transit, thus he was now free to go. However he was hoping the ninja would stick around for a bit longer, danger wasn't worrying in the lively town, but one could never be too careful. Having no plans for a way back Naruto said he'd continue his escort until he had a way to go back. True he could just walk back, but it'd be a long, boring, and lonely journey. An escort job on the way back would not only carry him but also pay him, it was much better, even if he might have to fight off brigands. The merchant nodded, though this was exactly what he was hoping. The blonde didn't ignore that but it didn't bother him too much, he had company which felt better than all the gold in the world.
"Hey Naruto, come over here!" called the daughter going by the name of Setouchi. He walked over to her where she stood by a stand, holding her hands behind her back. "Close your eyes." she asked. He complied and he felt her hand slip around his neck. A sudden cold metal feeling touched his skin and a little click happened. She stepped back and smiled. "Open your eyes." she finished. A small pendant was around his neck with a fox at the end of it. It was finely crafted and clearly must not have been cheap. "It's the fox spirit of this town. It's supposed to be a good luck charm."
As his gaze went from the small fox in his hand to her eyes he was baffled. Beyond that he was joyous, such a simple act meant more to him than to most as it's something he hadn't been able to experience before. He grinned and grabbed her by the collar before roughly pulling her close and hugging her. "Boy, she's pulling out all the stops kid…" "Continue that, and I might just fall for you." he whispered in her ear. Her heart fluttered and she blushed, but she was no dumb princess. Getting the better of herself quickly she answered. "Maybe that's the plan." The hunter was then the hunted and Naruto didn't have an answer. She laughed as she shoved him lightly. "As if!" she laughed. She ran back to her father who was already negotiating the prices. She fully intended to follow in his footsteps and become a trader herself and there was no better mentor than her father which meant she didn't want to miss a part of his trading. The host held the pendant tight in his hand, it was an important gift. "Kid, wai-wai-wait, bloody hell this is a one hell of a job you got... You should get her something too." "I know..." But as he gazed on the pendants and rings nothing came to him, he'd never done this before, it was gibberish for him. He had to find something as unique as what she had given him.
But for now he didn't know what to get her, after all, how was one with no experience in this supposed to get something for a teenage girl that she would like. He followed the pair around all day as deals were made, transactions realized. The sun sank fast as days were short this far north at this period of the year. The trio checked into a hotel to spend the night. Just as Naruto was laying down on his bed there was a knock on his door, Lawrence entered with a flask of some sort. "Taste this and tell me what you think." he said. Naruto accepted and poured himself a cup before getting it down. It tasted kind of like tea but it was cold and full of sugar. It was undeniably good. "This isn't bad, it's even really good." was his answer. A face of satisfaction came over the trader. "I thought so too! Here it's a cheap commodity, but down south a cold good drink could be a goldmine!" he exclaimed. "If it's got so much success, shouldn't you be keeping it a secret and not tell me?" the boy asked. He wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but even he knew secret was an important part of trading. "My daughter has taken a liking to you. If she trusts you, I'll trust you." Naruto nodded, he couldn't help but like these people. "Well I'll return to my room, I'll see you tomorrow."
As he lay on his bed looking out the window, his mind wandered. He liked Setouchi, he really did, but how did he like her? What was right, what was wrong, what would his moral allow and deny? Sakura was Sakura, but she wasn't. He had only ever seen Sakura, but then again, nobody had just accepted him right off the bat. Much less no girl had really been nice to him the way Setouchi had been. For a moment he envied those who move on from relationships overnight. But for him his conscious and his heart weighed on him, decided on their own. Deciding to set the matter aside for now he grabbed a scroll before biting his thumb and running it across the symbols. A silver colored metal ball came into existence. Though it looked like an ordinary piece of metal, it was no such thing. It was a rare and expensive piece of metal that responded to chakra, mostly used for war. It's usefulness came in the fact that it was whatever you wanted it to be when you wanted it to be. If you need a metal rope you had it, a kunai? No problem, a sword again just push your chakra into it and it'd assume the form until the same chakra molded it to something different. Holding it in his hand for a minute he couldn't decide on the shape to give it. A cat, a dolphin, a horse, he couldn't find the right shape for a gift. "How about a fire breathing dragon?" suggested the fox "Huh?" "Dragon's are prideful ancient powerful beings..." "That's not a bad idea."
As he fused his energy with the metal again, it took the face of a dragon in the middle of breathing fire. It was a pretty nice piece if he dared say himself. But while he was at it he decided to fuse even more of his chakra.
Setouchi was looking over their trading record as part of her initiation. A merchant always had to know how much goods he had available, who owed him a favor, who was on credit, who was in cash, transportation costs and the list goes on and on and on, never being surprised is a key all decent traders know. Despite this, this was the part of trading she didn't like, there was no one to outsmart, out maneuver, it was just plain brainless learning, in other words, the most boring thing in the world. This is why the knock on her door was perfect timing. While he had not thought about it for a second, his black sleeping clothes with no headband was to her liking. "You're cute" she teased. He smiled, he couldn't deny there was an ease of presence with her that was unprecedented, it felt like he had known her before time itself had begun. "My turn to tell you to close your eyes." he asked. "You didn't have to! It was a gift!" she quickly protested. "Yeah well this is a gift too, so chop chop eyes closed." he ordered, she puffed but complied. Just as she had done earlier he slid the necklace around her neck and moved her hair out of the way. "There." he said. "A dragon?" she asked incredulous. "Em… yeah, something wrong with that?…" the blonde asked afraid he'd botched it. But her smile said otherwise. "No no, it's just that I've always wanted to… this is going to sound stupid, meet dragons… so it's… perfect." she finished. Naruto put his hands behind his head and grinned happy. "There's a less… classy part though if you want." he started. "Huh?" she asked perplexed. "I've infused enough of my energy in it that it'll be a beacon for me. For the… classy part, for it to work it needs a trigger of some sort. The easiest and most reliable one is blood. So if you want, you can drop a drop of blood on it now, it'll then be a trigger, and if you're ever in need of me, all you need to do is have a drop of your blood on it anywhere, and I'll come to you as fast as I can." he finished.
"So I get a free ticket to a knight in shining armor to come to my rescue?" she teased. "Well if it only takes a drop of blood, it's a pretty cheap price to pay." She took her small dagger and touched the dragon's head. Seals appeared and faded. "There now if you ever need me, do that and I'll come." he finished. "Thank you." she said happy. A little too happy. She approached Naruto's face and even he knew what she was doing. And yet he froze, he could not move. As she kissed him, he couldn't react. As she parted she realized her mistake seeing his expression. "Oh no..." she started "I shouldn't have done that… sorry!" she rushed as she lowered her head, continuously asking for forgiveness. She was not to blame however and he knew that, he had played along, it had felt good and he had wanted it. It had simply gone a bit too fast a bit too far and he was to blame.
"No, no don't worry." he replied hastily before tilting her head back up. "It's made me happy, it really has...it's just… it's a bit complicated for now, I'm sorry. But I like you, I do it's just… well it's a long story for another time maybe, but don't be sorry because it did make me happy." She calmed down and thought about it for a moment. "For now suggests maybe later." she chipped catching the blonde off guard. She kissed him on the cheek and stepped back. "Thank you for the gift." she said and smiled. He had to give it to her, she didn't get bogged down. He kissed her forehead earning a blushing and made for the door. "G'night." he said and left the room.
Sleep was hard to come to him. Despite having faced death, despite all his previous experience, his heart was racing. He had not been ready for this. Somehow she had just barged in his heart and set up shop. It was difficult. Sakura was still the one he had only ever had eyes for and yet, it had felt good, he had honestly been very happy. His one and only goal was to kill whoever had managed to capture nigh on all the bijuu's on his own. That man was a danger, he needed to die. But he didn't decide what his mind thought of and right now it was a mess. Deciding letting it turn over would do no good, he gave up and forced himself to find sleep.
In her room Setouchi also had a hard time finding sleep. Her heart was also aflutter. This was uncharted territory for her but she held the dragon pendant hard in her hand. It was a link. It was something and it held a degree of happiness for her. After all she was a young girl with a crush, a big one. In an attempt to calm herself she turned away from the wall to the other side. Everything from there went sour. Instead of the stars out the window she was expecting, instead someone wearing a mask was there. Before she could scream for help he gagged her. Tears swelled up in her eyes as she noticed her father was also on the floor tied and gagged. What did they want? Holding her father under his or her arm, this character carried her like a sac of potatoes and disappeared from the hotel without leaving a trace.
The next thing Setouchi saw looked like a hangar of some sort. There wasn't the single masked individual. There were two of them. She tried to reach her pendant, but her hands were tied tight behind her back and the gag kept her from using her mouth. Her struggling didn't go unnoticed. One of the individuals started walking towards her making her freeze. He looked at her and then at the necklace. He must've guessed what it was and scuffed. He yanked it off, breaking the small chain around her neck and threw it to the other side of the hangar. "Don't do anything like that again." he ordered and returned to the other man where her father lay unmoving, blood on his face. She tried to call for him, again, and again, and again but nothing more than distorted sounds came out and he didn't move. The man grabbed him by the hair and pulled him up. "We were only after the cold tea contract at first. But we checked you up, you're quite wealthy, you know that? That's pretty interesting and competition that's interfering with my business." Said the other figure, this one was smaller and fatter, he clearly wasn't the brawn's of the team. "That's why we're going to need you to dissolve your contracts and sell them to me." This would ruin his trading and send him bankrupt. Transactions were controlled by contracts. If one supplier and one merchant made a contract together, they were tied, one could not supply or transport good for anyone else. That was supposed to keep merchants safe from double crossings. Another way to put it, they were essentially paper gold mines. If a merchant had a contract for a very popular good, only he could benefit from the popularity of the product. "Well what will it be? If you can't find it in you… maybe we could use your daughter to find some motivation for you." For the first time Lawrence made a sound. "Wi-Will you… let us both go?" he asked, his voice trembling, choking on his own blood. "Maybe, maybe not, but definitely not if you don't agree." replied the small fat man. "Eh, you'll kill us both anyway. You can't risk us living after seeing your face, that's why you didn't bother hiding it, you've planned on killing us both from the start..." he confronted the other business man who laughed. "My! How sharp! Of course you won't walk out of here, a contract is no good to me if you come out and claim it's yours." "Then tell me why I should agree to this! If we're going to die, we may as well not agree to your conditions!" he replied. "True, why should you? Well for yourself you don't have to. But for your daughter, she's young, and quite a looker. You decide, she can either die quick and painlessly or she can be rapped and be eaten apart by the rats." the ultimatum left no room for discussion. And yet as he crossed his daughters gaze, she didn't look desperate, she kept looking between her father and the corner of the hangar where the other man had thrown the pendant. He quickly understood it was something special, perhaps their ticket out of here. The question was how to get it? Beyond the beating, his body hadn't felt right for a while. He wouldn't make it over, it would be up to Setouchi. Still she'd have to run across the hangar and the ninja would surely catch her… Unless… "Alright I'll do it." he said and slowly got up. His legs wouldn't stop shaking but he had to do whatever it took. He reached for the pen on the table and took a deep breath, there would be no going back. He spun and buried it as deep as he could in the ninja's neck. Grabbing him by the arms he then forced then both to the ground. Seeing what her father was doing Setouchi raced across the hangar. Reaching the little pendant she then slipped the gag in the door handle and was able to slip it off. She picked it up from the ground between her teeth. The matter of the fact was still, how to get blood on it? It wasn't the easiest of tasks with no hands. It was an unfortunate condition of activation. She clenched her jaw on it hard enough for it to enter her gums and draw blood. She suddenly felt tired, very tired. Yet she also felt relaxed. Her job was done. Now it would only be a matter of time before Naruto arrived and he'd free them. Even as she was picked up by the hair she smiled, even as the ninja hit her, she smiled.
The dark silent night was interrupted when he jumped from his bed. There was no doubt about it, Setouchi had used her pendant. But strangely his legs wouldn't stop shaking. Intense pain came from his stomach. He felt his legs giving out, he tried to touch the wall to hold himself but never made it and fell on his hands. Vomit came up and before he could do anything got out on the carpet. All of his members were shaking, his mind was foggy, his head felt asleep. Mustering his strength he got up but fell straight back down again. "Fox!" He screamed out. Silence though was his answer. He forced himself to stand again, leaning on the wall for support. Slowly he made it out of his room and down the hallway. Setouchi's room was empty, across the hallway Lawrence's room was also empty. Something had happened and he hadn't done anything. Not only that but something was wrong. His chakra was fluctuating all over the place, he had a hard place to determine where she was. He stumbled out the hotel and started towards the port. This was a relatively small island after all. But his pace was slow, he was unable to run. "Kit!" finally the ancient beast's voice came through "Where the hell have you been?!" Naruto snapped back "You're poisoned! Your chakra is our connection. I was able to restore enough of it to be able to talk to you again." "When?" "It happened right after you tasted that stuff, someone must've slipped something in it." "Setouchi is in danger!" "I know." "Can't you do something about the poison!" "Sorry kid, this isn't a wound! If I accelerate your metabolism, it'll only just kill you a lot faster. And this stuff is much worse than the other two guys's poison with Tazuna. A small wound won't extract it." "What do I do then?" barked Naruto, he would be damned if he didn't make it in time. "Slit your wrists." "Wh-What?" "I can replace your blood as it leaks out, but it's not without draw back. The poison in your blood with leave, but the ones already in your muscles and heart won't. Though it won't kill you anymore, it still will hamper you, I'll accelerate your metabolism and it'll clean you out. But you'll be exhausted. This'll drain you, in theory you could even die of exh-" He didn't finish his sentence as blood spattered on the ground. The fox had been right, with each drop of blood leaving his blood, Naruto felt his strength draining. Suddenly the cuts healed and the fountain stopped but his strength was gone and his legs didn't support him. "… Open the gate kit." The boy silently nodded, a blue flame burned on his fingers and he slammed them into his stomach before turning. A furious shriek resonated across the island and the oceans. The nine tailed beast stood reborn on all fours. One tail picked up Naruto and set him on his head before leaving for the port at full speed. It only took about a minute or so before they got there. The large creature jumped onto the water to avoid destroying buildings and picked up the girl's sent.
As the ninja was loosening his belt a huge tail ripped the roof off. "Grab the girl and the old man!" ordered the beast. Naruto did so and left the hangar. A malicious smile came on the fox's face and villagers stood in amazement. The smaller man was frozen in fear. The ninja started throwing scroll to defend himself on the ground but it wasn't enough. The fox concentrated his chakra and let it burst forward. An unbelievable heat made the snow and ice turn to steam. When the fox stopped the hangar was no more. A huge crater like hole was there instead, it had gone through the entire island all the way down until it hit water again. Those responsible able been terminated without leaving so much as a trace, after all Kyuubi was not the biggest Bijuu for nothing.
Things weren't happy ever after though. Naruto stood silently over Setouchi who was crying. Her father was cold for good. He had been poisoned as well and Naruto had been too late. She turned to face him and hit him as hard as she could muster. And again, and again, and again. "You said you'd come! I hate you! I hate you!" she kept repeating hitting him again in the chest though losing strength with each hit. He could do nothing and say nothing as she cried her heart out. He had been too late.
The villagers gathered around in shock. The fox was a mythic creature on this island so they dared say or do nothing against the one that stood there looking down on the people. "Your wrists…" she said between sobs. He couldn't answer, he had failed her and no excuse were acceptable. "He had to, in order to remove the poison from his blood." intervened the fox which earned him a cold glare from Naruto but paid no heed, the kid was hardly to blame. The villagers knowing the traders well covered the wounded girl in a blanket and took her away. Others brought a stretcher and covered Lawrence before going off silently. Naruto sighed and sat at the edge of the port. His eyes hadn't dismissed the face he had just seen, covered in blood, cuts, bruises and tears.
"Think… how do you think it went last time around…?" Naruto asked quietly.
"I don't know kid, it's impossible to know… Maybe they hired someone who was purely professional, stayed away from them and as such didn't drink the tea, and was able to save them. Maybe they hired some who ran first chance he got. Maybe maybe maybe. We don't know what happened last time, Lawrence may have been killed all the same and she, raped and butchered..." he finished.
The thought scared the boy. Perhaps, perhaps had he done nothing, it would have worked out much better. Maybe because he intervened thinking nothing could stop him Lawrence was dead. If making the wrong decision could have such big consequences, how could one redo the story? Every action would have consequences impossible to predict. Suddenly fear seeped into his heart. Every breath he took could have a snowball effect and make things worse. He was walking on a knife's edge. Everything was a card castle and the slightest breeze would crash it to the ground. The adrenaline left him and all of a sudden he was as exhausted as he'd ever been. The massive loss of blood had drained his stamina dry hours ago. As the snow gently fell he lay on the ground and let the darkness take him. The giant fox lay one of his tails on him before curling up himself. The night went by, then the morning and the day, night went by again before Naruto would awaken. Pushing the huge fur blanket he sat up. It had snowed hard and most of the fox had been covered in snow. He sighed, this had been a real blow to his confidence, he would now live with the fear of screwing something up every time he did something different than the first time around.
Two arms coming from above brought him out of his thoughts. Someone's chin was on his head, by the smell he knew whom it was. He wasn't ready to face her yet though, he didn't know what to say, or do. He had let her down, her father was dead and nothing in the world would bring him back or fill the hole she must have been feeling. She sighed and grabbed his head turning it towards her. Still he diverted his gaze to avoid looking at her in the eyes. Getting annoyed she brought her head back and headbutted him. The motion had more effect than planned and the two fell over. She looked down in his eyes and smiled. "Thank you for saving me." she said quietly. Suddenly it's like a dam had burst in the boy. As he tried to fight back the tears he grabbed her and hugged her. "I'm sorry…" he cried "I'll never let you down again, I promise!" And so they stayed for a minute before she got up and extended her hand. He grabbed it and she pulled him up.
It was then that the villagers started the funerals for her father. Since the island was mostly one giant rock, burying people wasn't really possible, instead they would set the dead on a boat and torch it once at sea as was the old ways. Despite wanting to look away, he forced himself to watch as the boat caught fire and disappeared in the horizon. This was the price of mistakes, unforgivable. It was actually over quickly but those moments were engraved in his memory forever, it was something he didn't want and couldn't forget if he was to succeed.
"What will you do now?" he asked
"I've always wanted to be a trader like my father… But right now, I want to travel with you if that's alright… I want you to train me, to teach me to be a ninja. I hated being powerless, I never want to feel that way again, ever!" was her reply.
He looked towards her before looking towards the horizon again. "I'd like you to travel with me..." he said quietly. Though small, she smiled before intertwining her fingers with his. This took him by surprise and didn't reply immediately, but he decided to relax and closed his fingers around hers. This had the effect of making her smile a tiny bit more as she rested her head on his shoulder the sun rising in front of them.