Wanted (2)

The wild era has arrived. With Konohagakure and Iwagakure's head-front clash, the Elemental Nations have fallen into turmoil. An average person would live everyday in fear, wondering if his village too will be invaded by the merciless ninjas.

"And this is the perfect chance for me to make riches." One man, wearing a mask to hide his face, muttered as he kept himself hidden behind a tree bark.

In this gloomy forest, there was light. In the middle, a campfire was seen, with the supposed teen sitting in front of it. This meant that either he was confident, or that he was completely obnoxious of the leakage of his identity.

'Well, I guess it doesn't really matter in the end,' The bounty hunter thought as he licked his lips greedily, 'Brown-haired, blue-coloured eye, with a scar on right. It's you without a doubt.'

Smoke bomb, check. Explosive seal, check.

'I, without a doubt, am at my best right now,'

And there was no way that he would fail a task as simple as killing a young boy.

'Let's begin the hunt.'

So he flicked the shurikens in his hands at the boy's blind spot. The boy's lack of vision due to being one-eyed, definitely was a perk on the bounty hunter's end.

"Don't move."

Then, the man froze. There was a sword on his neck, ready to cut through at any moment. A whisper was heard from his back, and the shurikens that he threw, phased through the boy in front of the campfire.

'...I got tricked by a basic clone, of all things?'

The man couldn't believe what was going on.

Poof! The clone in front of the camp fire disappeared, and that's when the man realized,

"That shadow..."

'It's not a shadow, but ashes.'

The man felt dread. It was him who let his guard down, not the target. He wasn't a predator, but a prey instead.

"What is it that drives you to hunt another's life?"

Then, the voice asked. The man laughed hollowly, having given up already. There was no chance of his survival.

"Money, of course."

"Killing isn't the only way to become rich."

The man grinned crazily, "But that's the only thing that ninja knows how to do."

"...Fair enough."

Without any further delay, the man's head was decapitated from his head mercilessly.

__________

How laughable, I thought. Ninja's job is to kill. I've known that truth very well since the beginning.

All those bulls***s about how the best defence is offence, of how ninjas kill to protect—they are naught but propagandas. They are the attempts of the flawed human beings to justify their wrongdoings.

Killing, nonetheless, is killing; it can't be justified by any means. I too have stained my hands with blood. I am not a good person. Peace doesn't equal justice.

Instead, I know deep in my heart, that I am a selfish being. I seek for happiness. Perhaps the only reason why I wish to return to Ame and find those three, is due to the fact that I was the happiest when I am with them.

But... excluding the 2 weeks of travel with team Jiraiya, I've been alone for almost a year by now. Turning the age of twelve, I lived the life of walking in the cold and dark forest all by myself, worrying about the endless pursuits of the bounty hunters.

'They haven't seen you for years,' The voice inside me whispered, 'What if they have forgotten about you? What if they don't want you to return?'

Doubts and uncertainties. Though my memories with Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato still were vivid, their facial appearances were becoming hazier and hazier.

And beneath all, there lied loneliness. If those three don't accept me, then where do I go to?

My current life consisted of being on alert at all times. I purposely avoided the large towns, and traveled in an unorthodox manner to dodge as many foes as I could. Hunting for food, sleeping to rejuvenate, and preparing for upcoming fights. I felt my mind becoming hollow as this journey continued, and coupled with the restrictions that this world faced due to the war, it was undoubtedly hard to cross the border.

All I can do is hope. Keep telling myself that I have a place to return. Certainly, those three would love to have me back, if Jiraiya treated me with hospitality upon our reunion.

'You said that peace exists.' I once again reminded myself of the shinobi who saved me at the beginning, 'There certainly must be one for me as well.'

It was no different from back then, when I wandered around Amegakure after losing... my parents. So I would endure this adversity, and continue my way back to Amegakure. As long as there is hope, life is certainly worth living.

__________

The land of river, from the information that I acquired, formed a pact with Iwagakure. It was a simple deal, that in return for Iwa not invading the land, they were to ensure that none of the people from the land of fire enters their land either.

Therefore, the only way for me to travel to the land of river was to exit the land of fire through the sea below. And issue was, the bounty hunters seemed to have realized my traveling route; the frequency of my encounter with them has been increasing as time went by.

"...Haa," I sighed in relief after taking a gulp of water from the flowing stream. Reaching for the water once again, I finally got to wash my face.

From the above, the birds chirped. Wild lives could be seen all around, and I found myself loosening up a little. Ignoring the terrible loneliness, what I felt was... perhaps, a peace.

"Hm hm hm~."

Then, a girlish voice from the front, with footsteps too loud to be considered a ninja. I, by reflex, jumped and hid myself above, just when a young girl, who seemed to be around my age, entered the scene with a basket on her back.

She had long, straight, and black-coloured hair. Her eyes were unviewable from above due to her bangs covering them from my view. Judging by her small physique and demeanour, I concluded that she was either a civilian or an amazing actor.

'I am close to a village, I see. If so, the chance of me getting attacked is—'

"Old Nakamura had a farm, E-I-E-I-O! And on his farm he had some cows, E-I-E-I-O~!"

She was humming a song as she leaned down to pluck some plants below.

And my heart stopped upon hearing the tune.

The girls's voice was horrifyingly nauseous and loud in my ears all of a sudden. I felt my head ringing, and my sight turned hazy. My breath quickened, and my body trembled uncontrollably.

"With a moo-moo here, with a moo-moo there,"

'J-just what is...'

What was I forgetting? N-no, I haven't forgotten anything. That song, I definitely recognized it. But why, what is this feeling? My head hurt. The pleasant surrounding, seemed like a nightmare all of a sudden. My breath quickened. My muscles simultaneously stiffened up, and I could no longer maintain my position on the tree.

Thud.

I fell to the ground, now completely vulnerable to any attack.

My body felt heavy. I was sweating all over, with my breath not knowing when to calm down. My hands shook, and I felt cold all of a sudden.

And this feeling of sorrow above all...

<This is a song from the land of grass, Akashi. If you don't listen to your parents, you will turn into a cow just like Nakamura!>

I couldn't hold it. My trauma from the long past, before my meet with the life-saving shinobi. They, the ones that I intentionally buried within myself, were coming back to me.

<That's right. You've seen your parents die right before your eyes, didn't you?>

Before the ideal of peace spread its root in me, there was only despair. The world seemed to be reminding me again, of how harsh this world truly is.

And now, my vision turned black, the final thing that I managed to sight was the girl's worried approach.