Hello dear ones!

More detailed information about the jutsus can be found under characters x3

Well then...
Fanfic off!
Have fun]

[b]run

My path led me to a crossroads.
There were no signs anywhere to tell you where to go.
I arbitrarily chose one of the three gravel roads on which carriages often passed.

The landscape around me didn't really change.
Trees as far as the eye could see.
Only the path under my feet kept me from getting lost.

However, how can one get lost without a goal?

I would probably walk the whole night, because to spend the night in a more than unprotected place at these times meant certain death.

Tomorrow, I thought, I should find an inn where I can stay the next night. Without the strength to stand up to an enemy and collect the bounty, I can forget about visiting the hot springs.

I was not completely broke - the few yen I had with me would be enough for a night in an inn at the most - but to go about my business I preferred to play it safe and relax.

I was thankful not to feel any approaching chakra sources in my surroundings, because I certainly did not feel the desire for a fight.

I was tired, no doubt, but by the time I reached a village I would certainly be able to keep myself on my feet without a break.

I let my gaze wander up to the sky.
The moon was leaning towards the horizon, but it would be about four hours before sunrise.
This circumstance wasn't necessarily bad for me, the night hid you from the sight of others and thus made traveling a lot easier.

If only I could finally track down a damn village like this ...
My sense of direction could not be questioned, but I had never been in this area before.Not even on a mission, much less to take a rest.

I thought it was a bad situation.

Exhausted, I would not be able to mess with really strong - and thus a lot of money - criminals.
The risk of injury was too great.
As a medic-nin I could of course heal myself, but depending on how many and how big the wounds it would be too great a loss of chakra that someone else could without hesitation exploit to bring me down.

If they recognized me too, I'd have a painful death before me, at least if my opponent was another bounty hunter.
Despite the fact that I was one of them, my bounty was way more than the average crook's. That, in turn, was another reason to wander around alone.

I couldn't trust anyone.

Maybe I had a goal after all.

To survive.

There were many who only had survival in mind in those times.
They couldn't achieve much more.

A glow of reddish light on the horizon let me know that day was about to break. Maybe I should rest before the next night.
In order to be able to pay for another accommodation, I would have to go hunting again very soon.

A few weak crooks, on whom a bounty was placed, should hopefully not be a problem, so I could at least get a full stomach in addition to a good night's sleep.

I sighed at the trees.
Some of them were probably over 1000 years old.

Forests were always impressive, no matter how often you saw them.

As the sun rose in its full glory, I noticed a change in the ground.
It softened and shimmered damp.

I was probably somewhere in the realm of water.

At least now I finally had a clue.A faint crack made me tense my muscles.
I concentrated, listened to my surroundings.
However, my speed did not increase or decrease.

If someone attacked me, I would have the element of surprise on my side.

I closed my eyes for a few seconds.

No doubt.

There was a suppressed chakra source just a few meters away.
Now only two questions were in the foreground:

Would he or she attack me?

If so, how strong was my enemy?

I pretended I hadn't noticed my potential attacker yet. Maybe I could somehow avoid a fight.
But how?

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hours later, I was still being followed.

Now and then I even recognized a shadowy figure out of the corner of my eye, scurrying through the shadows cast by the trees.

It was getting on my nerves.
I let out my breath in frustration and stopped.
Here I would have enough space to fight as I liked.

The path had become wider in the meantime, here the ground had probably had to do with a heavy rain shower.
Some trees lay on the earthy ground, they were probably uprooted by some masses of water.

If I was lucky, there would be a sea, a lake or something similar nearby.
That would be another benefit for me.

Assuming - of course - I was in the realm of water, but where else should I be?

In the realm of rain?

From that point of view, it wouldn't even be so absurd, after all, it would have to be pretty wet there too, wouldn't it?

I hoped, however, that I was in the realm of water, because I really didn't want to be near Amegakure under any circumstances.

Allegedly members of the Akatsuki were spotted there on several occasions, despite the high bounty that was placed on them, I was not interested in them.Besides, it would be too risky for me to just mess with one or even more of them.

I haven't had the nerve for that lately anyway.

And that's exactly why I crossed my arms over my chest and shouted: "Come on! Come out! I've noticed you for a long time!"

I clenched one hand into a fist, the black leather of my new gloves, which I got a week ago, crunched gently.
I was expecting an attack.

But nothing happened, slowly I wondered whether I might have been mistaken after all.

Unlikely, but possible.

The chakra source was getting closer, it wasn't even five meters away.

So I wasn't wrong.

But where was he or she?

I looked up.
There was nothing here.

Right. Only fallen trees and undergrowth.

Left. Bushes.

Behind me. Nobody.

This situation involuntarily reminded me of the first practice fight against Kakashi when Naruto returned to Konohagakure from his training trip with Jiraiya.

We had learned a lot in the years before and were a lot stronger than before.
At the beginning of the fight, Kakashi showed us two small, shimmering bells that we had to remove from him, he disappeared and shortly afterwards he used the same technique that my current opponent was using.

Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu (= hiding place: Jutsu of inner decapitation).

In a split second, I collected chakra in my right fist and rammed it into the ground with the force of an approaching train.(= Gōwan)

The earth under my feet was shaken, chunks of earth of an enormous size swirled through the air and behind was a single huge crater in which individual - large and small - chunks of earth and rocks lay.

But not only that.

In the middle was a - as I could easily see from the headband - Kirinin."I have you," I growled darkly and walked towards the boy with my fist raised.
He was certainly no older than 12.
Probably another genin.

The brown, tousled hair stood up straight from his head and his shock-widened eyes rested on a particularly large piece of rock that had only missed him by inches.

I stopped about three feet in front of him, but he didn't even seem to have realized that he wasn't the only one on this devastated piece of land.

I pulled my hood inconspicuously lower over my face so that my eyes were in the shadows and only my mouth could be seen.
He didn't have to know who I was, even if it had to be more than clear now.
However, it could also be that he hadn't even heard from me, after all, I was still a long way from being as well known as the Akatsuki, for example.

It was fine with me too.

In my opinion, this 'secret' organization attracted too much attention, everyone would be forewarned who saw a black coat with red clouds.

Much too conspicuous!

So I was content with a simple cloth cloak that covered my figure.

I took a closer look at the boy in front of me.
He wasn't very tall and a bit chubby, his eyes were gray-green, but had lost almost all of their shine.

This was nothing new in Kirigakure.
I thought the final exam at the academy here was bestial.
At this age I would never have had the heart to hurt or even kill my friends.

What made me smile slightly, however, was the blue full body suit.

That brought back memories ...
Lee and Maito Gai had tasted this too, only the suit was green, not blue.
I hoped they'd survived the Oto attack.

My eyes darkened and I quickly tried to push these thoughts back into the farthest corner of my being to finally devote myself to the disturbed Kirinin."Hey kid, are you speechless?" I asked with a hint of amusement in my voice.
He shook his head vigorously once and the veil that had covered his eyes disappeared.

"W-What was that- that?"

I noticed that he was trying to stifle the tremor and his muscles tightened and relaxed again.

"Well ... I doubt you are in the right position to ask me questions," I replied monotonously as I took another step closer to him.
He backed away in shock and I clearly saw panic flicker in his eyes.

"So ... I'll ask you a few questions now and if you should decide to keep quiet ..."
I let the last part of the sentence float in the air.

He hissed in a breath and his eyes widened a little more than before.
I was pleased to see his chattering teeth and trembling knees.

It wouldn't last long, that was certain.

I was actually sure that I didn't have to resort to harsher methods to get some information out of him.

I hated torture, but when questioned it couldn't be ruled out and Ibiki Morino - my third sensei - was really an outstanding teacher at it.

"Why did you follow me?"

He hesitated for a moment, but I gave him time.
At his age I would have passed out one hundred percent long ago.

I admired this boy a little for the