The journey seems to constantly getting longer. The falling snow makes it difficult for the merchants to move their wagons. The horses pulling them tire rather fast and the civilian merchants have their own difficulties with moving in the snow. Soon they will have to take a break. Nayuki observes the scene before her. The elderly men are already sitting on the wagons. Some of them are sleeping. They haven't been able to keep pace. Although they don't have to run along now, it's not the best solution. Without having to move the cold is getting to them. Even the younger merchants are slipping. Seeing the shivering messes Nayuki decides to call for a break. "Let's take a break!", she shouts loudly. Immediately you can see the change in the merchants behavior. Relieve can be seen in their faces as they shatter to take care of providing food and getting a fire started. They have some problems with starting the fire the usual way considering the ongoing snowstorm and the wet wood, used for it. Even if Nayuki doesn't like to start a fire for the sake of giving away their position, she doubts that anyone can pinpoint the smoke in this snowstorm and lets them do their routine. After two weeks of traveling with the group she is already used to it. Nayuki takes a seat near the soon to be fire. Busily the merchants run around arranging some seats, bring water to heat on the fire and share food. Soon the water is heated and used to make some tea – providing some warmth to the freezing people. Her traveling companions offer her some bread and tea. Now that they know that she is capable of protecting them – they were attacked by several bandits – they began to include her as a part of their group. They're actually rather good companions. Everyone chatters happily around her, well, except the head of their group. He observes his group silently looking for possible causes of problems for their company. The head of the merchants, Byakuren, acts like a protective father for his employees, Nayuki decides for herself. He is a strict leader but soft at heart. Somehow he reminds her of Butsuma.
While Nayuki is musing to herself she can feel a sudden spike of chakra not too far away from them. It feels desperate like there is a battle going on and the owner is losing. Coming to an decision Nayuki forms the hand signs and makes three shadow clones within mere seconds. Immediately she addresses them and puts them into formation. Obviously they'll stay behind to protect the caravan. Satisfied with the provided protection she searches for Byakuren. As she turns around she notices that he has already focused his attention on her. His questioning gaze silently asks for an explanation of her sudden change of behavior. In his eyes she can see worry about a possible attack he's still unaware of. "I could feel a strong chakra source not too far away from here. However, don't be alarmed. There is a high chance that whoever alarmed me doesn't even know of our location and isn't interested in us. Therefore, stay and act as if nothing has happened. I'll go and check the potential threat out, but my clones will be here to provide protection if needed", Nayuki explains him. Seemingly satisfied with her explanation Byakuren nods at her shortly before she vanishes from his sight.
In a sprint Nayuki makes her way through the trees to the location of the chakra fluctuation. Even if she is a kunoichi the snow slows her down, meaning she travels a lot slower than she'd like. She observes her surroundings and after a while begins to note signs of battle. Luckily she already suppressed her chakra completely as she nears the assumed battlefield. Checking out the upcoming chakra sources Nayuki decides that the owner of the chakra she felt has already lost his life. Hidden in a tree she comes to a halt and watches the scene unfolding before her. At first she can only tell that two different clans clashed, but soon she recognizes the engrave clan emblems on their uniforms. Uchiha and Sarutobi! She realizes that a team of Uchiha attacked a team of Sarutobi shinobi or the other way around. However, it doesn't look too good for the Sarutobi men. The six Uchiha shinobi massacred the Sarutobi team with the exception of one young boy a bit older than Hashirama.
Looking at him Nayuki remembers Konohamaru dying while trying to protect Kurenai and the unborn child she carried. She remembers the light leaving his eyes after one of the white Zetsus slit his throat, the tears gathering in his eyes as he realizes that he failed to protect his unborn cousin. She sees his silent plea to save them as he turns at her for the last time. The pain of reliving the death of the boy she considered a little brother hits her hard. Silent tears run down her cheeks. Guilt fills her heart as she remembers failing to fulfill Konohamarus dying wish. Before her eyes plays the scene of Kurenais slaughter. The way Madara Uchiha herself killed the pregnant woman couldn't be described any different. Madara cut Kurenai into two – right through her abdomen – effectively killing the babe too. She loses grasp for reality for seconds.
When she refocuses on the happenings in front of her the Uchiha are about to kill the Konohamaru lookalike. Not being able to bear the burden of letting him die, Nayuki attacks. She jumps from her hiding spot, takes the first Uchiha by surprise and kills him without giving him a chance to defend himself. Immediately the warriors take battle positions and asses the new situation. Protectively she takes position in front of the hurt boy. The Uchiha in front of her are not less surprised about the situation than the boy protected behind her. Not wanting to take any chances Nayuki takes out her Hiraishin kunai and throws it at her nearest enemy. With a yellow flash Nayuki appears before her unsuspecting victim and slits his throat immediately. While Nayuki is focused on attacking the next enemy shinobi another one sneaks up on her from behind. He catches her off guard at punches her into a tree. Fast she gets to her feet again, only to barely avoid Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu fired by said shinobi. As soon as she has solid ground under her feet again, she throws some shuriken at her enemies using Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu to reinforce the strength of her attack while preparing her next step. Using Kage Bunshin no Jutsu and Kawarimi she diverts the attention of them from her original self to set up another attack. Using her won time she teleports behind her next victim and pushes a Rasengan into his gut before disappearing again. Seeing his chance, one of the last Uchiha rushes towards the Sarutobi boy. Seconds before reaching his target a chakra enhanced kick strikes him at his midsection and throws him several feet away. Not wanting to put the young boy into further danger Nayuki uses Suiton: Bakusui Shoha to get all three remaining enemy shinobi at the same time. After her jutsu stopped Nayuki still watches her opponents wary. She doesn't want one of them to get up again and take her by surprise – it would be a foolish beginner's mistake.
Finally convinced that none of them will get up anytime soon, she turns her attention back to the last remaining Sarutobi. From afar she assesses the extent of his injuries, before taking careful steps towards him. Clearly afraid the boy tries to get away from her. His injuries, however, paralyze him with pain. Nayuki smiles sadly and addresses the boy, "My name is Nayuki Senju, young Sarutobi and I can assure you that if I wanted to hurt you I'd have let the Uchiha shinobi do as they pleased. I'm here to help you. I want to heal your wounds before they get infected or you hurt yourself critically with you obviously broken ribs." The boys gaze remains fixed as he thinks about his situation. After a short contemplation he nods shortly, allowing her to come up to him and work on his wounds. Silence engulfs the pair as Nayuki works effectively on his wounds. She heals his broken ribs as far as possible and closes his open wounds using medical ninjustu she learned from Taiga. Soon the adrenalin leaves the boy's body and he succumbs to the darkness of exhaustion. Looking at the unconscious boy in her arms Nayuki sighs. 'I didn't even get to ask for his name… Well, now it's too late. I got lucky with not getting any terrible wounds while fighting. I should get back to the caravan –it's not safe to stay in this area.'
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As soon as Nayuki got back to the caravan – the unconscious boy on her back – she ordered to break up the camp and move on. Byakuren tried to argue with her but Nayuki knew about the danger of remaining near a battlefield. Not wanting to get a visit from any Uchiha teams Nayuki stood her ground and convinced Byakuren of the dangers of staying. The young Sarutobi hasn't woken up ever since. Now with night approaching Nayuki finally decided that they had put enough distance between them and the battlefield and could put up a new camp. Nayuki keeps the boy at arm's length and prepares their shared place for the night. A soft groan catches her attention and she turns to her slowly awakening guest. She watches as he blinks away his sleep and his instinct kicks in at the unfamiliar surroundings. Deciding that it's high time for some answers, she addresses the confused boy, "So you are finally awake, huh? I hope you have rested a bit because I have some questions for you." Seeing that the boy panicking, Nayuki decides to add, "Let's start with your name and why the Uchiha team slaughtered yours…" Knowing that he can't get away from her the boy answers, "Sasuke, my name is Sasuke Sarutobi. My team was investigating the sudden stop of supplies in our area when the Uchiha attacked us a-and …" Tears begin to form in the poor kids eyes. 'He lost his whole team, his comrades. Another kid thrown into a cruel world of war… I should let him mourn his comrades for now', she thinks to herself. "I'll get us some food and afterwards we can continue our little chat.", she tells the crying child in front of her before walking up to the caravans cooks.
Throughout the whole dinner Sasuke silently cried. When they finished their meal, Nayuki pulled him into a hug of comfort. For a moment Sasuke took comfort in this strange woman too gone in grieve to realize his mistake. Would Nayuki have been an enemy, he wouldn't have survived. After some time he pushed her away, slowly comprehending his vulnerable situation again. "W-What are you going to do with me?", he asks. "Well, for now I'd like to know about the lack of supplies you where talking about…"
It turns out that just as the Senju clan the Sarutobi clan was cut off of supplies without any visible reason. The Sarutobi followed the every possibility and were lead to the Uchiha clan – concluding the same thing Nayuki speculated. The Uchiha clan cut them off of their suppliers. While they are still talking the requested Senju team arrives as backup. The team consists of ten members. Nayuki watches them close and immediately spots signs of malnutrition, making her hope for the health of her children before turning her attention to the leader of the team. He is a young man, if she had to guess around 20 give or take, and has long brown hair, bound to a pony tail. "It's good to see that I finally get some backup. Could you tell me your name?", Nayuki addresses him. "I'm glad we finally found you, Nayuki-hime. We were actually searching the area for some already", he answers her swiftly, "my name is Akiko. Could you give me a short overview about the situation? We found a battlefield not too far away…." "Well…"