Naruto x Digimon
Alive - Team Minato's Digidestined
Chapter 12
Originally Written: Wednesday, November 9, 2022 1108AM to Wednesday, January 25, 2023 959AM
A/N: You uh, might have noticed the large gap of time in the "Originally Written" section. -shifty eyes- You might think that it was the holidays distracting me, but nope. Not really. S.A.D. is a very annoying thing to have. November was actually when life decided to stop being so…torturous for a little bit.
. . . . .
Rin Nohara's heart raced in her chest. Nothing she did would calm it. Not until she was out of this place. She didn't recognize a single street or a single building. The people here dressed in light blue, browns and gray, merging like a herd of sheep in the mist of Kirigakure. The village was huge. She needed to walk, not run. Or the ninja would sense her.
Many were faster than her, and she was not sure how she made it as far as she did. Even holding Kakashi's barrier-creating item she currently couldn't use, and the water droplet floating in front of her, she should not be here.
'This way, stay to the shadows.' A voice whispered in her mind.
'Okay.' She jumped in surprise, but calmed when she realized that it was one she recognized.
'Get around this building. There are shinobi on the building to the southwest.'
Rin paused. She took a deep breath. She checked that her Konoha headband was still tucked away underneath her skirt. She looked in the window next to her. The makeup covering the tattoos marking her cheeks was still solid and good. The blue robes she procured were uncomfortable and too large for her, so her black shirt peeked out underneath.
She breathed and turned around. She walked past the building, merging into a small crowd of civilians. Everyone in Kirigakure had two settings. Mean and cruel, and meek and kind. There was no in between. And there was no balance between the two ends. Just extremes. The shinobi were mean and cruel, and the civilians were mostly meek and kind. There was no justification or reasoning for it either. Just war. Broken, strained, people caught in war.
She had nearly a week to analyze the insanity. Killer intent regularly filled the air like a miasma, merged with the mist. Kirigakure made no sense to her. 'How can anyone live here?' She wondered. She split away from the group, and continued walking. 'I want to go home.'
The voice soothed her worries. 'This way.'
No one seemed to notice the water droplet hidden within the shadows and the fog and mist. She took another deep breath.
'I need to keep going.' She wove in between more buildings she didn't recognize, down more streets she didn't recognize.
She spent the nights hidden away in the darkness, fighting off hunger and terror. The water droplet stayed by her side as the sun rose. She didn't trust the food nor water here. For all she knew the mean and cruel shinobi put something in the water to make the civilians kind and meek. She ignored her hunger and her weary limbs. She pushed past the fatigue, wandering through the mist to the instructions of a soft, quiet voice in her head.
It took her two long weeks, but she stumbled out of Kirigakure right under the shinobi's noses. Then she ran. She had just enough time to down the last ration bar she had on her, and a few plants outside Kirigakure she knew were safe to eat. Then the shinobi rained down on her.
Kakashi's barrier protected her, and stumped the ninja. It spurred them on to grab her, as the word of a team of Konoha Shinobi specializing in barrier ninjutsu had spread. If they grabbed her and continued on with Kirigakure's plans, they'd be praised.
They taunted, and made her choose. Was a meek medic nin like her worth the lives of multiple squads of Kiri Shinobi? If they failed to return her, they'd be killed. They told her that their lives were in her hands. If anything happened to them, it would be her fault. Her life, or theirs?
The water droplet spoke to her mentally, a calming voice in her mind. 'People who prey on others' kindness deserve to be punished.'
Rin wondered if she preyed on anyone's kindness. She prayed she never did. She made a pact with herself that she never would. She would never ever be as cruel as so many shinobi were. Ever.
The barrier surrounding her glowed. The mist the shinobi hid within shifted. It turned into droplets. Droplets that melted the ground. It halted the shinobi in their tracks as the droplets fell around them. If they were careful, it wouldn't hit them, but it forced them to move slowly. They shouted in protest, trying to catch Rin and failing.
Rin looked at one of them. The barrier skewed her vision of the man glaring at her. "You're responsible for your own actions and what you believe is morally right." She whispered. "Not me."
She turned and ran. Rin Nohara had a home to return to, without a tailed beast sealed within her.
