It was afternoon, almost evening.
The girl sat on a stone and drew a picture, one of which she had already finished. It was lying on the stone next to her.
Since she was very poor, she tried to earn at least some money that way. She would do almost anything for a piece of bread or clean water.
After a while a young man came by.
He wore a long black coat with red clouds embroidered on it.
She looked pleadingly at the man and said in a low voice: which surprised herself, because otherwise she had a rather strong voice,
"Lord, have pity on me, I am not asking much, please. I would do anything for it too!"
The man looked at the girl with no expression on his face, so that the girl couldn't see whether the man was angry or whether he was going to give her some money.
He said tersely to the girl:
"Then come with me."
The girl was so surprised that the man offered to go with him that it took her a moment and only after the man had moved a few meters away did she get up and run after him.She wasn't very knowledgeable about ninjas, but she had heard of a group of aptricious ninjas who called themselves Akatsuki.
She recognized it by the fact that the leaf mark was severed from his headband, that is, was crossed through. But she only saw that now after she had gone with him for a while. Now she would have wished she hadn't gone with him, she was afraid even though they hadn't exchanged a word, or maybe because of it.
After about 2 hours they reached their destination.
The man's steps slowed and he walked along a small forest path that was almost invisible. Then it didn't take long until they reached a kind of group of houses.
The man walked straight towards the center and stopped in front of the tallest building.
He said to the girl:
"You stay here, don't move from the spot!"
She obeyed and waited. The man went up the stairs and kneeled in front of the entrance, took off his shoes and asked inside if he could talk to "the leader".He went in without even looking at the girl.
She couldn't hear what was being said in the house, even though she had excellent hearing.
You must have gone to a back room.
After a while, an older man came out of the house, went to the girl and examined her.
He took the girl's chin to examine her face.
Two blue eyes, one much lighter than the other, looked at him fearfully, but also confidently from a dirty face.
She had fiery red, long, tousled hair that felt a little over her eyes.
After examining them from top to bottom, he went back into the house with the man who brought them here.
But this time she could understand them.
The older man's strong voice could not be ignored. He said:
"... and you are sure that you can get what we need out of her here? In my opinion she looks like a poor little street girl who can't even read, let alone ..."The young man interrupted:
"She has potential! It's what we were looking for!"
"Well, if you think you can get something out of her, Itachi, then do your best. But you know that it's a girl? That will make things difficult for you, after all, she's not the ugliest! ... "
"No, you don't understand! She's the one we've been looking for for months! Your ..."
At that moment there was a loud noise that she could no longer understand.
When it went out again she heard Itachi say:
"... and if she can't live up to our expectations, then ... well nobody will miss her!"
Those words frightened the already scared girl all the more.
Then the young man, who was probably called Itachi, came out to her again and went into a small hut without even looking at her. She followed him.
"You can wash yourself there. I'll get the new clothes in the meantime," said Itachi and started walking immediately.
She looked around for a moment and then started washing her face and drinking some of the cool water.Since she hadn't washed in a long time, it took a little longer than planned. Then Itachi came back.
He had a small bundle with him and something to eat. He went into an adjoining room so that she could change clothes and eat something.
He came back into the room and said to the girl:
"You will stay here for a while now. You can sleep in the room afterwards."
, he like a little room next to the room where Itachi had just been waiting for her,
"and keep your things ..."
The girl quickly bowed and said softly:
"Thank you my Lord!"
"What's your name?"
"Katana"
she replied shyly.
"That's a rather atypical name for a girl, especially one like you! Who gave you that name?"
"It was my father's wish before he went to war against the nine-tailed man ... The katana was his weapon of choice."
"Did you meet the nine-tailed one?"
"No."
"Then it will be your first time soon!"Katana looked puzzled at Itachi:
"What do you mean?"
"Just like I said it! You will soon fight the nine-tailed man, well not directly, but against the boy who carries him! But first you will shadow him, then you will really get to know him Pretty girl of his age but real opportunities, right? We'll start training tomorrow. Today you can rest first. "
"But I can't fight!"
she stuttered.
"That's why you will learn!"
Katana just nodded and went to her small room.
How long had she not been in a real bed? It felt like an eternity to her.
After all, it's been a few months since her mother was killed and she had no more money to live and had to go begging!