That night Naruto could hardly sleep and he kept throwing furtive glances at the clock that was on a small chest of drawers next to his bed.
° That can't be true, time can't go that slowly! °, he thought excitedly and annoyed at the same time. It was just four in the morning and every minute seemed like an eternity. After about twenty more minutes, he sighed impatiently and got out of bed. Then he changed and went out into the fresh air, where he was surprised at the same time.
Ayuna was sitting on the bench she had previously sat on.
Naruto hesitated a little, but strolled over to her anyway. When she noticed him, a slight smile crossed her face.
"Can't you sleep either?" She asked and the fox cub sat down next to her.
"Not really, I can't wait for the training. Why are you here?"
The brown-haired girl stared at the floor, embarrassed.
"I think about my past a lot," she muttered back."What happened?", Naruto asked immediately.
Ayuna looked up at him.
"I'll tell you another time, first we have to prepare for the upcoming fight. You and your friends, you are really unlucky that you came to Mangura at this time of all times."
"Why? I mean, we can help you defeat this Takuro."
Ayuna gave a pained laugh at these words.
"From your mouth it sounds so simple, but you underestimate the extent of this situation! Actually, there has only been one time so far that Takuro came to Mangura to attack us. And that day almost the whole village was destroyed."
Naruto dropped his jaw.
"Just from him alone?"
The girl answered in the affirmative and the fox cub was amazed.
"Incredible! How can a single person
"It is difficult to explain, but unfortunately he masters magic better than anyone and can do whatever he wants", Ayuna interrupted."But of course he also has followers, which makes things even more difficult. I only know that Shizuna is one of them. But she is not a human, much more a kind of demon.", She continued and Naruto was amazed no longer out.
"A demon?" He repeated, completely flabbergasted.
"Yes, she has the property of the wind! And her strongest weapon is the demon curse. It is also conjured with magic and usually ends fatally for those who are attacked.", The girl explained seriously.
"How do you know so much about Shizuna?" Asked Naruto.
"It also has something to do with my past.", Ayuna replied mysteriously. "Do you already know Minako?" She asked before the blond boy could ask. He shook his head.
"She's the healer here in our village. She lives right in the building to the right of yours. She really knows a lot about medicine and diseases and things like that."
"Sure is practical! Tell me, you have a quality too, don't you?""Yes, mine is air!" Replied Ayuna with a smile. "You want to know if I know how to do it, right?"
Naruto nodded vigorously and the girl started giggling.
"I'm sorry to disappoint you Naruto, but we could see if Jay is awake already. He'll definitely show us how to do it."
"Great, let's have a look right away!", The fox cub burst out happily and jumped up.
Together they went to the building across from where Naruto and his two friends lived. Ayuna knocked on the door, but nothing happened for a long time.
"Seems like we have to be patient.", She said and the blond boy snorted annoyed.
"Such a crap."
A loud noise in the immediate vicinity made the two flinch. Startled, they turned around, but she couldn't see the slightest thing in the sheer darkness.
"What was that?" Naruto uttered nervously.
"I hope it's not what I think!" Said Ayuna.
"And what do you think?"
But the blonde got no answer, instead the brown-haired girl ran in the direction from which they had heard the noise and he followed her incessantly.But what was happening before her eyes was like a nightmare.
Houses were on fire, women screamed in panic for their children, the children cried and didn't know where to go and the men stood armed in the large village square, where they fought bitterly against other men. It was total chaos and Ayuna clapped her hands over her mouth.
"Oh my god.", She uttered stunned and Naruto was also shocked by the scene.
He wanted to rush to the fighting men to help, but the brown-haired girl held his arm.
"Not!"
He looked at her wide-eyed.
"Should I just-"
"We don't have time to deal with it, we-"
"WHAT?" Naruto shouted, startled. "We don't have time? The village is slowly but surely being destroyed and if we don't help the people, some will die soon. And you say we don't have time?"
You could clearly hear the indignation and anger in his voice and Ayuna had a pained expression on her face."I know that myself! But don't you understand? It's just a pretext to divert attention from our main opponent."
"Pretext or not, we have to help the people!"
Ayuna was gradually losing patience.
"You don't get it? If we deal with this our main opponent will have a free run and destroy the whole village and then nobody will survive anymore!", She shouted desperately and Naruto now knew what she meant. Nevertheless, he couldn't get used to the idea that he would just leave the villagers who fought for the defense of Mangura to their fate.
"What do you think we should do now?"
Ayuna thought for a moment.
"You run back and let everyone know!"
Without another word, the fox cub was gone. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him and no sooner had he reached the square than he stormed into the house where he lived with his two friends. Arrived in front of the room, where Sasuke and Sakura were possibly still sleeping, he threw the door open.And there he had the next surprise. Sakura wasn't there. The Uchiha blinked at his blond friend and immediately realized that something was wrong.
"What's happening?"
"Sasuke you have to come quickly- the village is being destroyed- Ayuna is-"
"Now calm down first!", Sasuke interrupted the panting Naruto, who was now shaking his head violently.
"No, we don't have time - where is Sakura?"
"What's the question, it is-", but Sasuke didn't finish his sentence because he was wrong with his assumption, because Sakura wasn't in the room. "II have no idea!" He finally admitted and got out of bed.
"I have to let our teacher know!", Naruto suddenly remembered and immediately rushed off.
"Naruto!", Sasuke tried to stop him, but to no avail. He sighed in annoyance and followed him quickly.
When they got to the building where Joe Jamoto lived, they couldn't see him anywhere.
Naruto panicked and searched every single room for the man, but his search was unsuccessful."What's going on here?" He asked loudly.
"Calm down, he"
"I should calm down? The village is being destroyed, Sakura is gone and so is our teacher and I should just take it easy?" Naruto snapped at his friend.
"I didn't say that!", Sasuke protested. "I said you should just calm down. It doesn't help you at all if you're completely off track here and don't even know what to do!"
"But-"
But the blond didn't get any further because Jay stormed into it.
"Hey, do you have any idea where Kilian is?"
"Who is Kilian?" Asked Naruto and Sasuke at the same time. Jay put on such a distraught face that the other two would have had a laughing fit under normal circumstances.
"Kilian is my little brother, he's fourteen and has brown hair, just say you've never seen him!"
Sasuke shrugged his shoulders and it took a while until Naruto finally got the penny.
"Oh, yes, I've seen him before, very briefly.Has he disappeared too? "
"Why also?", Jay wanted to know.
"Well, our teacher is not there, Sakura has also disappeared and the village is being attacked!", Sasuke replied seriously and the jaw dropped down on the person addressed.
"Sounds like the beginning of a disaster. We have no time to lose! I'm looking for the disappeared and you have to try to help the villagers, but just stay away from Shizuna, she is most likely the cause of this disaster. You have no chance against her "She has third place and is by far superior to us. You should at least be able to keep the other men in check with your characteristics.", Jay gushed out and Sasuke couldn't quite follow.
"Wait a minute, who is Shizuna? And what do you mean to keep our properties in check? We don't even know how to use them."
"She is a demon, you could even recognize her among thousands and you will manage that with the properties."With these words, Jay left the building.
"Come on, we have to go!" Urged Naruto immediately and ran out as well, closely followed by Sasuke.
When the two reached the village square, they were faced with a cruel sight.
All of the surrounding houses had burned down and some of them were still on fire. Occasionally people lay on the floor, and it was difficult to tell whether they were still alive or already dead. Even children lay motionless on the stone pavement and women wept for their husbands who had died. Naruto stopped dead in place. He couldn't stand the sight and he suddenly found it difficult to breathe.
It was not easy for Sasuke to see the villagers like this either, but they had to save what could still be saved.
He grabbed Naruto by the arm and pulled him with him.
"Come on, we have to find the others."
Another loud bang made the two of them jerk abruptly.
"That came from Lake Shiro!", Sasuke announced and immediately they made their way there.They had almost reached the sign that said 'Shiro Lake' when suddenly a girl stood in their way.
She had a serious face and her dark eyes fixed the two boys. The rather short, black hair ran straight over her head and a strand fell over her face. The girl carried a long sword and took it in her right hand.
"Don't take a step further!", She said and her voice sounded threatening on the one hand, but also merciful on the other.
"Get out of our way!" Demanded Naruto, who was now almost seething with anger. He wanted to affect the one who was responsible