fact that he had just followed me - a hooded figure on a lonely street.

"II a- never seen them in this ge area u- and that's why I i- followed them."

I frowned slightly and dropped my raised fist. Immediately afterwards I crossed my arms over my chest.
You could hear the lie clearly.
In a way, I felt sorry for my counterpart.
If he continued like this, then I would have to resort to uglier methods, and on an empty stomach I didn't feel like doing that in the least.I sighed silently.
"Boy ... I really don't want to hurt you, but if you don't give me any other choice, then there is nothing I can do for you ..." I said with regret.

The hoped-for effect occurred immediately.
"No! Please don't! Don't hurt me! I beg you!" He shouted at the top of his throat and fell on his knees in front of me.

"I'll give you one more chance. If you should lie to me again, I'll use other means to get you to speak." I replied quietly and crouched down in front of the smaller one.
I took his chin between forefinger and thumb, pushed it a little higher so that he could see my eyes under the hood.

"Why did you follow me?" I repeated my question from earlier.

"E- It was an assignment Miss. I'm from Kirigakure and was sent from there to shadow a hooded person at the border. I- I've heard rumors ... some made bets on whether I would return ... s- they related v-by an S-Sakura Haru-Haruno, a dangerous K-Ko bounty hunter who would roam the border. "

Ashamed, he lowered his eyes and closed his eyelids slightly.
I loosened my grip on his chin and finally let go of it completely.

For a minute nobody said anything, the leaves rustled and birds chirped, while the blazing sun burned down on us, a damp but pleasantly cool wind blew.

Another slight sigh escaped my lips, then I raised my hand and slowly pulled the hood over my head.

Emerald green eyes and long, cherry blossom colored hair emerged.
I was well aware that it was reckless to reveal my identity, but somehow I wanted this boy to know who I was.

It was true, I was dangerous, but I could just as easily show mercy and show mercy.

The kirinin looked up and gave a startled cry."Oh m- my god!" He uttered in disbelief.

"Hey, you don't need to have a seizure right away. Have I done anything to you so far? No. So stay calm." I said calmly, but still watched the kid's expression with fascination.

First shocked, then fearful, then skeptical and finally a mixture of suspicion and reassurance remained on his plump face.
I gave him a slight smile and stood up.

"Are there any more Shinobi on the way here?" I asked, my eyebrows slightly drawn together.

"No Ha-Haruno-sama.", It came from downstairs, intimidated.
He got up again, but I was still almost three heads taller than him.

"What's your name, little one?"

I slowly started to enjoy this conversation, it had been a long time since I had talked to someone relatively normally and the boy warmed my heart a little.

"My name is Taku. Taku Mesa."

"Okay Taku, can you tell me where I can find a small and quiet village around here where I am not immediately deprived of my freedom?"

Taku rubbed his chin thoughtfully, a really sweet gesture I just noticed, at least with him.

"Yes! Exactly. So, if you just follow this path here and turn north at the first fork in the road, there should be a small, secluded village there. However, as far as I know, some dangerous people are looking for shelter there. Uh ... Haruno." -sama ...? "

He squeezed around briefly, one of my eyebrows went up.

"Speak! I won't eat you if you want to ask me something.", I assured him with a smile and tilted my head slightly so that a strand of pink hair came out of my braid and fell into my face.

I've wanted to try something new for a long time when it came to my hairstyle and a braid like this was really practical, I didn't have to cut my long hair and despite the length it didn't interfere with fighting."If ... well, if you were to meet someone from Kirigakure ... you could ... uh ... you might not mention that I ... well ... let them go, so to speak? That ... would definitely not be ... that good ... I mean-"

I quickly covered his mouth, otherwise he would probably have speculated around with some explanations and I wanted to avoid that.

"Listen, I won't tell anyone, okay? Now run! Go back to your village and say I ran away. Well, if they don't believe you ... well, I'll see what I can do to prove your innocence in my 'escape'. ", I said with a smile and ruffled his brown hair again.

I winked at him and he turned around and ran away.

"Thank you Haruno-sama! I will not forget you!", He shouted enthusiastically to me, while he showed a speed that I would not have believed with his body size.

"Goodbye Taku Mesa.", I whispered with a smile and then, while pulling the hood back over my head, turned on the indicated path.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I ran for a good hour.

The surroundings now consisted mostly of small and large lakes, and here and there you saw trees whose trunks did not grow as tall as the ones I was used to from the realm of fire.

Large lush green meadows, which practically invited you to throw yourself into the sea of ​​rolling blades of grass and just lie there until you were lulled to sleep by the warm sun, lined the roadside.

I soon reached the village I was looking for.
It wasn't actually as small as Taku thought.

It was almost, but really only almost, like Konohagakure, my old homeland.

I looked sadly at the two guards, each leaning bored on their spears, lounging in the sun.It would be easy for me to just jump over one of the makeshift walls and bypass it.
But somehow I had the feeling that something was going to go wrong, even if I didn't yet know what.

And not only that bothered me, the long journey had exhausted me more than I had thought.
It was most likely due to the humid air and the hot rays of the sun that stole my last energy.

I sighed and shook my head briefly to scare away the black spots that threatened to rob me of my view.
Hopefully I wouldn't pass out now, if I were unlucky, then, to make matters worse, I would end up in the wrong hands and my life would be forfeited.

No, I had to look for an inn quickly, really quickly.
I steadied my steps as I approached the gate and bowed my head.

Inconspicuous, stay inconspicuous Sakura! I thought and prayed silently to all the gods I knew that the two guards would let me in without further ado and that I could fall into a nice, soft bed to finally get my deserved sleep.

"Stop!" Said one of the guards, standing up straight and looking at me with his ice-gray eyes disapprovingly.

"Who are you?"

Inwardly I rolled my eyes.
Hadn't his mother taught him any manners?

"Usually you introduce yourself first before you ask someone you don't know for their name," I stated monotonously.

Shit, I cursed mentally, if I keep going like this I'll still be standing here tonight and arguing with the ... I should be cooperative.

"But I'll make an exception. My name is Sakiko Hayo and I'm a simple hiker, looking for asylum, I'll stay two days at the most and won't cause any trouble, I assure you."

The men looked at me skeptically.
Man, what else should I say to finally get a bed in which I could sleep by myself as much as possible."Okay, but if you should cause trouble ..."

They couldn't look that fast, by then I had scurried past both of them and wandered through the streets, searching.

What an irony, I was looking for a place to stay in a village similar to Konohagakure.

It wasn't long before I found an inn.

The lobby looked ornate and expensive.
I could only hope for better or worse that the price for a room was not as expensive as it was supposed to be based on the furnishings.

The young woman, with long black hair and happily shining blue-green eyes, gave me a friendly smile and then asked politely if I would like to rent a room.

"Yes, gladly. Oh, please say: How much does a two-day stay here cost?"

She inclined her head slightly, but her smile remained.
She told me the price, which to my astonishment was really not too high, I even had some money left over, but it wouldn't even be enough for a decent dinner.

I would skip lunch because now I needed sleep and a lot of it.

I gratefully grabbed the key the woman gave me and then shuffled over to my room.

The sliding door was pushed open by me and I was in a rather spartan room, which with its many orange and beige tones exuded a relaxing, calm atmosphere.

The curtains were beige with brownish flower patterns on the bottom and top. The bed was against one wall.
That made me very happy, because I was a corner sleeper, even if you couldn't tell.
I loved to curl up in the corner by the wall and snuggle up in a duvet.

At least that's how I used to do it ...

"Oh damn ... everything here really reminds you of it ..." I grumbled and slammed the door - as well as a sliding door could go - behind me.I carelessly threw my black hooded coat in a corner.
This is how my shinobi clothes came out.

It consisted of gray trousers that were torn off to the knee on the left leg, a black cloth that was tied around my waist as a belt, a white bandage that was tightly wrapped around the thigh of the left leg, a black pocket that was also was attached to the left thigh, a long-sleeved gray top over which I had pulled a black top and my Shinobi headband.

I had the plate with the scratched Konohagakure symbol attached to a black ribbon and tied it around my right upper arm.

The only things I hadn't changed about my clothes were my black gloves and sturdy black boots.

I locked the door, secured the room with a genjutsu, drew the curtains and stripped myself