Kane came to a halt, pivoted, turned a complete one eighty, and ran back the direction he just came from.

'I left from the North gate. That should, hopefully, throw them off for a bit longer than I spent taking this little detour. Now, to head West!'

As he took to the trees, Kane grew lost in his own mind.

'My biggest issue are the Inuzukas... If they send a clan member after me, there's no way I'll make it out of the country. I'll have to throw them off my scent somehow along the way.'

Kane yelped as he nearly lost his footing before quickly composing himself.

'Then, there's the Hyuuga. If they have a Hyuuga with them and they get even slightly close to finding me, all hope is lost.'

That just meant he had to make sure they never got too close.

'And the Aburame... Honestly, I don't have a clue what to do about them. They can literally ask bugs for information... Don't know how I'll deal with that yet.'

Kane sighed as he continued along until finally spotting the road heading West.

'I need to stick to the trees, but I also need to follow the road... I don't actually have a clue where I'm going or how to navigate. All I know is that I need to head West.'

Kane continued onwards, sticking as close to the road as he could without abandoning the trees.


Suna was a three day trip from Konoha. That meant Hoshigakure was probably between four and five days. He'd cross through Rain Country and into Bear Country, avoiding the Hidden Rain Village as he did.

What would he do once he got to Hoshigakure? Would he try to join the village? Would he try to find his, possibly extinct, clan?

Would he run into Naibu?

He didn't know, and frankly he wasn't concerned with it at the moment. Right now, his primary concern was getting out of Fire Country.

If he gets caught, then any and all thoughts concerning his possible choices and dilemmas will be for naught.

'I wonder what will happen if they manage to catch me in time...'

Kane didn't have a clue, if he were being honest with himself. Would they buckle down on him and restrict him? Would they strip him of his Genin rank, and his Shinobi title? Would they forgive and forget?

He snorted at the last thought. Since when had Konoha ever done him any favors?

Kane smiled as the stench of mud filled his nostrils.

That was exactly what he needed!


The Genin turned Missing Ninja groaned at the odor he now exuded. He smelled like crap!

Kane attempted to pat down his now wild hair as he continued hopping along the trees. He was definitely not looking his best right now.

Kane slipped as he landed on a branch thanks to the mud on his shoes. He quickly landed on his hands and transitioned his body into a hand stand. Kane glared at the branch as he slowly stood back on his own two feet.

His eyes widened as he he realized an important fact.

He had slipped.

Because of the mud.

The mud that he was leaving trails of everywhere he went.

'Oh Kami, I'm so stupid!' Kane internally screamed as he stared at the mud tracks in horror. He'd left a trail for Konoha! Sure, he covered his scent, but he left a freaking trail! That was ten times worse!

'Okay, okay! Just... Just relax Kane. You can fix this.'

Thank Kami for the pond nearby. The soothing sensation of the water did wonders for his nerves and the anxiety that was quickly growing within him.

Wait.

Kane looked towards the nearby pond, and smiled as a trail of water began rising and flowing towards him.


Kane couldn't wipe the grin off his face even if he tried. This was so damn cool!

He continued hopping tree to tree, mud tracks being left behind with every other step he took.

And a large, flying source of water cleaning up the mud behind him.

It was perfect! Not only was he covering his tracks and his scent, but the water was leaving absolutely no trail whatsoever! Any leftover residue of water that fell behind on the tree limbs after wiping the mud away, Kane simply heated up! There was nothing left, nothing pointing towards the path he was taking, not even wet spots!

Although, it wasn't good enough yet and Kane knew it. So far, once they realized he hadn't gone North but had instead gone West, it was quite easy to see the pattern Kane was taking. He was following the road, after all.

They may not necessarily be able to track him (although Kane was fairly certain they would figure it out despite his best efforts), but they could easily guess which way he was heading.

As Kane continued forward, he felt the presence of another large body of water in the distance. A lake.

Kane turned his head to glance at the water following behind him curiously, ideas running rampant.


As he grew closer to the lake, Kane made it a point to jump down from the trees onto the ground. He intentionally stepped on several leaves and twigs as he walked towards the lake.

'They'll surely see that and follow the trail. Now I just have to throw them off... Hopefully, they'll think I changed course now.'

Kane reached the water source, and prayed to Kami that this would work.

He walked across the water towards deeper waters, and stopped.

And smiled when a large amount of the water below him raised into the air, and fired off away from the lake and back towards the road, himself standing on top of it.


'You know, this really is a sweet way of traveling.' Kane thought to himself as he slurped up several noodles from the cup ramen in his hand. He was sitting on his backside, watching as he flew threw the sky above the road.

'Man, I'm not even losing much Chakra... I can definitely keep going for a long time...'

As he continued eating his ramen, his thoughts turned towards Konoha.

'I can't believe I actually did it. I actually left... I'm a Missing Ninja...'

The thought put a smile on his face.

'I wonder how everyone will react to me leaving... Will anyone miss me?'

He snorted in amusement. As if.

'I wonder how Naruko and Sasuke will react when they find out...'

The thought unsettled him slightly. He had no clue how either of them would feel. Would they be angry? Sad? Uncaring? He wasn't sure.

As Kane finished his ramen, he hesitated while looking down at the empty cup in his hands.

'I should probably just keep the trash for now. The less trails I leave, the better.' Kane thought as he put the empty cup inside his backpack.

Kane inhaled a quick burst of air as a new feeling entered his system.

He felt blood.

Kane glanced down from his position in the sky to see several people looking up at him and several fingers pointed his direction.

'Oh... That's not good.'

Kane slowed down and looked more carefully at the group as he descended cautiously, growing closer.

Bandanas, maces, katana, kunai...

'Bandits.'

Six of them, to be precise. Kane hesitated. Really, he should just move on. If the squads chasing after him ran into bandits, odds are they'd ignore them in favor of trying to find him. He doubted they'd stop to ask for directions, so the bandits would never even tell them he'd been there. Besides, if he tried to make them keep their mouths shut, not only would he be wasting time, he'd probably just increase his chances of getting caught.

He knew all of this, and yet...

Kane hopped off the floating water and onto the ground as he reached the Earth, the six bandits quickly surrounding him.

He never did get that chance to prove himself.


The man screamed in pain as he crumbled to his knees, his eyes closed as he faced towards the sky. His face was completely burned.

Everyone froze.

Kane smirked as he pulled another, watermelon sized ball of water from the larger source behind him, and began boiling it.

"He's just a stupid kid! Get him already!" One of the bandits screamed as another charged Kane from the left, swinging a mace at Kane's face.

Kane quickly ducked before whipping out a kunai and stabbing the man in the stomach. The man howled as he took several quick steps back, dropping the mace onto the ground.

Kane saw from his peripheral as another bandit was quickly closing in on him.

And smirked when, without even looking at the bandit, he launched the boiling water right into the man, his screams and actions imitating the first.

Two more charged him simultaneously, and they received the same treatment.

The one Kane stabbed earlier stared at him in pure fear.

"Dude... Hell no. Hell no. I'm so out of here, we should've run the moment we saw the kid flying through the damned sky!" He yelled as he ran away, his arms wrapped around the wound in his stomach.

For some reason, Kane's instincts were screaming at him. He couldn't let the man go. Not only was this stupid and a loose end, but...

Something in him refused to allow it.

Several 'thunk!'s were heard as multiple kunai embedded themselves in the retreating mans back. He fell to the ground, never to get up again.

Kane turned towards the last bandit, who only scowled at his comrades in annoyance. The man oozed confidence.

"Well, kid. Good job, I guess. Too bad for you, but I'm a ninja too, and I don't plan on going down so easily."

Funnily enough, Kane smiled at the mans words.

After all, his confidence was misplaced.

Kane smiled at the wound on the mans left side. An open wound.

He was the one who's blood Kane felt from the sky.

The man collapsed with a scream as his skin turned red. Kane slowly walked up to the Ninja-turned-bandit, and despite the mans pleas, drew his kunai along the mans throat.

He repeated the process with the four other downed bandits, and then he was gone.


You know, he probably should've taught himself how to make camp before leaving, Kane mused.

Oh well.

Kane leaned up against a nearby tree as he prepared for rest. The weather would be cool tonight, but not too cold as to worry him in any way. He would be fine without a fire.

'I can't believe I did it. I actually did it!' Kane thought in delight as his thoughts trailed back to the major event of the day.

'If only Naruko and Sasuke could see me now. Take that!' he thought with a small giggle of delight.

He had done it! He had finally proven himself! He fought the bandits he should've fought on his first C-Rank, or even his second. And he did it by himself.

His thoughts took a slightly disheartening turn.

'Yeah... I did it... I proved myself... Too bad it doesn't even matter anymore. Noone was here to see it, and even if they were, who cares? I'm a Missing Ninja now...'

Kane shook his head.

'No! I won't think that way! Who cares what they think?! It doesn't matter if they were here or not or if they were impressed or not! The only thing that matters is what I think! I didn't do it for them, I did it for myself!'

With those final thoughts placing a small measure of contentment within him, Kane fell asleep.


Kane found himself tree hopping once more. While 'flying' - floating, really - was all well and good, it was a lot slower than simply tree hopping. The main reason he tested out if he could do it or not was because he wanted to throw them off his trail.

Well, there were six dead men following his wake now. That's about as hot a trail as it gets.

So, there wasn't any point in riding on the water anymore. It would only slow him down.

Besides; he lost most of the water as it dried up last night anyway. Thankfully, he did have enough still floating behind him for two or three cups of ramen.

It was getting late already. The day had been completely uneventful; just tree hopping with several short breaks throughout.

Kane was tired. very tired. He knew he wouldn't be able to go through the night; although he had hoped to do exactly that. He would stop soon and rest for the night.

Tomorrow, he would be out of Fire Country.

Tomorrow was the last day. Konoha had to stop him before he crossed the border. They wouldn't chase him beyond that point.

Tomorrow, he'd be free.

The thought both terrified and excited him.


The two stared into each other's eyes, blue meeting blue. Kane glared, as the blonde before him just stared sadly.

"How could you abandon us, Kane? I thought we were a team..." Naruko spoke softly.

"Shutup! We were never a team! You, Sasuke and Kakashi were a team! There..."

Kane choked up slightly.

"There was never any room for me."

"That's not true, Kane, and you know it..." She whispered barely loud enough for him to hear.

He scowled at the girl in anger, "Yes! It is!"

She simply gave him a small, sad smile.

"Come home, Kane. We can fix this. We can make this work! Everything will be alright... We can still be a team."

She paused for several seconds.

"We can still be a family."

Kane felt rage course through his veins as the sky itself seemed to turn red.

"You are not my family. I have no family. I only have myself! I'm the only one who has ever looked after myself! It's always been me, and me alone! How dare you claim to be something like that?!" Kane roared at the girl as she recoiled in shock.

He glared hatefully, "I have no family, and I will never return to Konoha."


Kane awoke with a start.

A dream.

Kane stood up shakily, that dream had felt so real.

Still, it did manage to do one thing; it motivated Kane to get moving. He would escape Fire Country, and never return.

He leapt for the trees, and took off.


Kane halted as he came across a large meadow filled with beautiful flowers of all sorts of colors. The wind blew across the open field, the flowers bending to the will of the gentle breeze.

This was it.

This was the border between Fire Country and Rain Country.

Kane slowly walked across the field, his eyes taking in the sights.

He took what he knew to be the final step between the borders, and pivoted on his foot to face the opposite direction.

He'd done it.

He'd crossed the border.

He stared at the direction he'd just come from. The direction leading straight to Konoha.

'It's funny... I almost expect to see Naruko come charging through the forest, Sasuke and Kakashi-sen-... Kakashi close behind,'

Instead, nothing happened.

Kane knew, in that moment, that he'd succeeded.

He'd thrown Konoha off his trail long enough to escape. By the time they arrived here, he'd be long gone.

There would be no grande display of emotion. No reunion with old friends and teammates. No huge battle to force him to come home. Nothing.

Only a gentle breeze, guiding him towards new horizons.

It was all so anticlimactic, Kane thought with a small smile.

Perhaps it was better this way.

Kane turned around, and began walking off.

Deeper into Rain Country. Closer to Bear Country. Further from Fire Country.

And onto new beginnings.


End of Chapter 28.