Chapter 9.

After Kakuzu finished his business with the bounty collectors the two of them left. Hazel's earlier frustration had stifled off since then and she found herself far less angry than she was prior. She is more somber than anything. Kakuzu could see as much and figured it really did help to walk away from a problem every now and again. Now although it is time for them to evacuate the Land of Fire. Kakuzu still didn't have any idea where the two should travel to. The newfound duo will just have to head west and avoid as much danger as feasibly possible along the way. Wherever this route leads them to will be up to fate. Kakuzu can find a decent camp anywhere, therefore he isn't anywhere near as worried as many would have been in his predicament.

As he led them away from the shop, Hazel kept trying to look for noticeable landmarks. Outside of that there is not much else for her to do. The girl isn't feeling up to talking yet and so she still won't play their game. On a lighter note- her gifted clothes did give her a new, refreshing burst of energy. As she expected they are much more comfortable and her shoes, albeit sandals, are a welcomed addition. No more scratched up, bruised feet for her.

'Yea, at least there's that… Dad did always say to focus on the small wins.'

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13 days later.

Hazel is so sick of hiking that she's about to break her own legs off. At least she has something to look forward to at the end of the day. Kakuzu began to pull out a few books and notepads for some in-depth study sessions before bed. Hazel found them to be quite interesting while Kakuzu despised the fact they are starting from the ground up. The most basic of basics like teaching her their alphabet-

"Ah" He pointed at the character for 'Ah'.

"Ah" Hazel reciprocated.

"Eh"

"Eh"

"Ii"

"Ii" Hazel 'wrote' the character with her finger into the air. She always forgot this one.

"Oh"

"Oh"

"Oo" He tapped on the character.

"Oo" She recited. Kakuzu flipped the page and the two continued to go back and forth. This right here is part of the reason Hazel liked their study sessions. Usually, schoolwork is despised by children her age with herself included. But other than using this as a means to find home- Hazel felt like Kakuzu treated her as a person when they studied. Something she isn't accustomed to anymore.

"Meh" Kakuzu read aloud.

"Meh"

"Mii"

"Miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" Hazel's eyes caught a streak of light cutting through the night's sky. Then another soared soon after. More continued to rain down until the sky was littered with them. The girl couldn't contain her enthusiasm and she didn't try to, either. Hazel had never seen shooting stars before. She had only ever seen them in movies!

"-They are so pretty!" She jumped up and pointed at the sky.

"-Name! Name!?" Kakuzu sighed as he shut the book. No way they can keep studying now.

"Stars." She stared as the sky rained light onto the earth.

"Stars…" She whispered. They are so beautiful to her and without the existence of light pollution she can see space clearer than ever. She began to believe that maybe there are some benefits to hiking in the woods.

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11 More Days Later.

Days ago, they managed to cross the border into the Village Hidden in the Grass. Kakuzu doesn't wish to stay here for long because this village has been a hub of shinobi activity since the war's beginning. He wished to avoid the Hidden Waterfall Village more than anything, but he knew it would be smarter to pass through it and round towards the Land of Hot Water. Just so they could leave this land ASAP. The Land of Hot Water is a much safer environment than the Hidden Grass and that's saying the absolute least. Even his old home is safer than these deceptive fields. While they traveled here Kakuzu made sure to keep his senses on high alert. Hazel tried to ask him a few questions only to be shut down each time. She can tell Kakuzu is tense, but she can't grasp how much danger they are in. All she could read is that there is some sort of threat and it's close.

'Great, I don't understand what's going on AGAIN and it's something BAD. He is never what I'd call 'calm', but this is much for him. What's wrong here? It looks nice enough?' All Hazel can see is fields of grass surrounding them like an ocean. The wind solidified the illusion by creating 'waves' throughout the vast landscape. There is a forest in the far distance they are coming up on yet nothing about the scenery screamed 'threat' to her. Quite the opposite actually. Nonetheless she left him alone since he is clearly more versed in detecting danger. Onwards the two silently trekked along the carved path as the sun rose to the center of the sky. Hazel had grabbed a piece of stray wheat to chew on while Kakuzu is still on high alert. Just when they were about to make their entrance into the forest Kakuzu's senses picked up on some chakra signatures. A group of them at that.

'Not good…' Kakuzu can tell they are shinobi just by the sheer amount of chakra each held. The signatures are located deep within the forest and out of eyesight. They have plenty of hiding spots they could use to launch a surprise attack. Unlike Kakuzu, who is residing in an open field with a useless child he's trying to defend. This gave the group the clear advantage so Kakuzu halted and kept Hazel at his side. He's ready to grab her any second, no, any millisecond should they have to retreat or dodge an attack. Hazel attempted to read his face but Kakuzu is next to unreadable. She is still spooked enough to huddle into his side. The shinobi isn't a fan of the gesture, but he allowed it since there are far more pressing matters at hand. He hoped they weren't spotted but knew better than to assume since almost every squad carries at least one sensor-type shinobi. With this in mind the missing-shinobi prepared himself for battle and waited for their move.

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In the forest.

The Hidden Stone squad all stood at attention while their captain scouted the new signals. The captain's jaw quickly dropped as his eyes involuntarily shook.

"We need to reroute IMMEDIATELY." One of the shinobi pressed the captain for more info.

"Wait why? How many are there? I can't see them from here!"

"There are 6 chakra signatures I'm sensing. One is a civilian but the other five are MASSIVE and certainly shinobi level. Shit, with that much chakra they're packing I wouldn't doubt if they're all jounin… If we face them, we'll end up worse for wear and possibly jeopardize our mission. With a civilian around we can assume they are on an escort mission, so I doubt they want conflict either. Let's focus on what's important and let them go." The same shinobi isn't happy with the captain's plan.

"We're just going to run away then? What if they are the enemy!? We aren't cowards!" The captain squared his shoulders and spoke to him sternly. He will not put up with a chuunin's back talk when there is this much danger nearby.

"Avoid is a better term. There is not a single rational reason to engage and I know when my pride isn't worth the risk. This isn't the reason we're here and I'll be damned if we don't complete our mission. Now let's go, that's an ORDER." The squad followed their captain towards Kannabi Bridge, even if many didn't agree with him. Kakuzu sensed them retreating but still chose to pick up Hazel and run. It isn't smart for them to linger and test fate.

-But although the pair didn't test fate, they certainly changed it for a certain trio.

That was all it took to change nearly THE ENTIRE future of this world.

All because one person, who should never have existed, appeared.

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Radioactive-Pingu- I am so glad you like it! Thank you for leaving that comment, it brightened my day!