Chapter 27

I stood and walked over with water and some food for them. They dragged themselves to a sitting position and took the meal with gratitude. The girl had a simple face with long black hair with deep black eyes, yet it was that simplicity that seemed to make her even more attractive. Her name was Aoi, thirteen years old.

The boy, Kouki, was a silent type that looked like his sister with black short hair with deep black eyes. If I did not know he was ten years old I would have assumed them to be twins. Waiting for them to fill their stomachs we finally asked about them what happened.

According to them, their father was the strongest of the village. He was the one that protected them and it seemed he was giving them a bit of training. When the bandits came, the leader of the bandits together with four others swarmed and attacked him from all sides, eventually killing him.

I asked Mebuki why their village did not just join Konoha, seeing it was only a few days away. It turned out that there was no shortage of refugees. Instead of having them all stay in Konoha, they were given a piece of good land and had them stay there, helping them with the buildings.

Occasionally, some shinobis would take on extermination missions to wipe out the surrounding bandits. I understood. Not every refugee would be given importance. It would have been easier and a different issue if they were a bloodline clan that would have brought benefits to the village. It was nothing new. This was happening even on earth. Not much importance was put on refugees. That was one of the unfairness of either worlds.

The siblings cried a bit before eventually falling asleep. It was not long before I too fell asleep. It was not long I fell asleep that I felt danger and killing intent. I immediately jumped away from my initial location with my tanto drawn. I looked around and waited for so long but nothing came. Looking at Mebuki who was sleeping made me even more confused. Was I imagining things? There was no way that killing intent would have escaped her.

After thirty minutes of waiting, nothing came out. I went back to my spot and lay down. After staying up for a few more minutes, I finally fell asleep. I had no idea how long it had been but I felt it once more, only this time heavier. Every hair on my body stood on end as I again jumped out of the way and pulled out my tanto.

This time I truly felt as if I was about to die. Looking towards Mebuki who was still sleeping soundly, things finally clicked. This was also part of my training. Which shinobi slept completely, especially while out in the open like that. Understanding the situation, I walked back to my spot and lay down. I closed my eyes but my mind was awake. The trick was resting the body while keeping part of the mind awake.

'Why the hell do I have to go through training at this time? I have fought so many times today and exhausted my mind and body. This is the absolutely worse timing.' Complain as much as I want, but it would not change the mind of the mad woman. I could only bear with it and do it.

Just because I knew the trick did not mean I could just do it. Before long I was already asleep and another dense wave of killing intent washed over me, quickly waking me up. This cycle continued till morning came. By morning, I already had heavy bags under my eyes.

"Sakura-san, are you alright?" Seeing my state, Aoi asked with a concerned look on her face. Hearing her question made me even more irritable as I turned to Mebuki and growled. This confused the siblings even more as we prepared to continue the day.

We had been on the road for about four weeks now. Now I could move easily with the body flicker, completely reducing the chakra usage. There was no smoke and no hand seal. My stamina had increased quite a bit as well. After constantly moving for four weeks like that, it would really have been a surprise if it hadn't.

What frustrated me these four weeks was the fact that the gap between me and Mebuki had not reduced the entire time. No matter how much I had improved, the distance between us when we moved was the same no matter how much I pushed myself.

Night training had also been progressing very well. Although there were occasions where I would slip up and fall asleep, but all in all, I had learned the trick quite well, and with a bit more training I would definitely get even better.

Today was no different than usual; Mebuki far ahead with me trying to close the gap with no success. After a while, I saw her stop ahead waiting for us. I got to her a few minutes later to witness that annoying smirk on her face. A few more minutes went by and the siblings finally arrived at our side.

They both looked at me with fiery eyes before standing obediently beside Mebuki. It had been going on for close to three weeks now and I had already decided to ignore it. Regardless, we had been talking a lot this past month and had gotten close to each other. Even more because of that, that their fiery eyes had me confused. When they stood beside her, she let out a warm smile before looking ahead.

'Why the blatant difference in treatment. I am your daughter you crazy woman.' I could only sigh at the situation. Before us were two slim, darkish red trees standing at ten meters tall, and a few meters apart. Looking at the way it was positioned, it looked like a large gate.

"We are here. Make sure to step where I step or I might not be able to save you in time." Mebuki spoke before walking forward. I had never seen her this serious before. That could only mean this place was very dangerous.

I followed close behind with the siblings behind. The further we walked the darker it got. It made no sense whatsoever; The sun was high up a few seconds ago. If this continued it would be difficult to follow Mebuki.

Thankfully the road did not darken any more as it maintained that level. This made me wonder exactly where we had come. She did say we were taking a detour for the siblings but this place had straight up terrified me. I could feel danger all around us.

Judging by her words, one wrong step meant death. Now I was even more intrigued about who we were about to meet. After walking for about thirty minutes, the place finally brightened again.

"It should be safe now." She kept walking without looking back at us. A bit of a distance before us was a somewhat large cabin. There looked to be someone sitting in front but I could not see who it was. However, the closer we got to the cabin the wider my eyes got.

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From next week, new stone targets. Happy we could cross the old target and more.

200 stones = 2 chapter

400 stones = 3 chapters

600 stones = 5 chapters.

Current reached = 550

Chapters owed = 2/5