The eastern outpost came into view. I knew I was wasting precious time, but I couldn't bear the thought of my clanmates dying because of something I did. I slowed down as I approached, my empty hands held over my head.
One of the men met me at the door. "Miss Raven, what are you doing here? It's the dead of night!"
"There's a problem in the village," I replied, slightly out of breath from my sprint. "Someone set off explosives or something, and there's been a huge landslide on the eastern slope. So far the clan is holding it back, but just barely. They need more support!"
The man swore. "Hey, Yukio, Taren, come on! Trouble in the village!" Two other men appeared in the doorway. "Landslide." Their eyes widened, and the three of them silently began to sprint away. After a moment, I followed them, making sure to stay far enough away that I could slip off unnoticed.
I moved through the forest, keeping to the shadows so as not to be spotted by the wall guard. It wasn't easy to get to the ruined outpost unseen; it had been built along with the village, and so was really close to the main wall. Finally, I got there.
The tower had originally stood over 20 feet in the air, but after been struck by lightning several times, the mortar broke and the entire thing came crashing down. It was too close to the village at that point for anyone to bother repairing it, and so they just left it to crumble on its own. I moved around it until I was out of sight of the wall, then crouched down beside the hollow log at its base.
Inside was a plain black, hooded travelling cloak, a large backpack, a small waist pouch, and 2 scrolls sealed with wax. One of them was addressed to me. I broke the wax seal and read it over quickly. It was a final goodbye from my uncle. It also gave me a good idea of what my uncle had packed for me, and the purpose of the second scroll.
The final line of the scroll was a warning. "P.S. Whatever you do, don't leave the city after nightfall. At sunset, the ninja in that village release a group of ninja wolves that can track people by their chakra. If the wolves catch you, you'll be killed, guaranteed."
"Good to know," I muttered to myself. I strapped the waist pouch on, shouldered the backpack, pinned the cloak together and made sure my coin-purse was still in place. I turned back to my village, the only home I had ever known, for one last final look.
"Sayonara," I said, a single tear running down my cheek. I pulled up my hood and started towards Shiriki, the village to the northwest.