Heading North

"What happened here?" A voice sounded out from outside. They were quickly surrounded by shinobi, but Takeda stepped forward to explain the situation.

"Four shinobi were sent to assassinate me. Fortunately, my protector was stronger than them, else I would be the one lying on the ground." He took out the proof of his identity, and since the guards were locals, they easily recognized Takeda. They looked over at the young shinobi and had their doubts. However, the sensor in their group nodded toward the leader, indicated that everything was as he said.

"Shingen-sama, it is good to see you are back." Confirming this was the real official of the prefecture, the captain changed his attitude.

"I will announce the daimyo's decree after cleaning up here. Double the patrol and make sure no one causes trouble. Also, keep an eye on the refugees for any spies or troublemakers." After resolving the situation with the guards, Natsume turned her attention to the remains of one of the shinobi that wasn't completely incinerated. After checking a few things, she confirmed that this person was likely a mercenary. Additionally, he seemed to be from the same group that ambushed her in the forest.

Takeda attempted to go to his office upstairs, but Natsume stopped him. He looked up and entered a defensive stance. "Are there more?"

"No, at least, no more shinobi…" Natsume didn't elaborate anymore, because she wasn't sure herself. However, her intuition was telling her that something was not quite right. She determined that whoever was inside the office at this moment was the instigator of at least one of the attacks. As for the reason, it didn't matter. Once Takeda was settled in, she would leave. Therefore, she needed to clean up this loose end.

"For them to lie in wait in the government office, then they would have had to infiltrate it. However, after inspecting the ground floor, there are no signs of entry. This means that it was likely the assassins were let in. Since the butler has yet to flee the scene, I suspect he is not involved, but he cannot be completely rules out."

Natsume and Takeda both peeked outside and saw the butler trying to recover from the sudden scare. He was a civilian so a sudden fight between high-rank shinobi shook him. Thinking about it, Natsume was surprised that Takeda was able to stand so close to the fight without any fluctuations. Either he was used to it, or the mysterious bloodline was more unfathomable than she could guess.

Takeda understood what she was saying and silently waited for her next move. Seeing he had understood, she drew her sword and walked up the stairs slowly. Once she opened the door, a dozen poisoned needles flew toward her. She casually deflected and avoided them. The user was not a ranked warrior, so there was little to fear. If Takeda had walked up on his own, then it probably would have been lethal.

Seeing that she failed and was exposed, the little assistant tried to jump out of the window. However, Natsume relieved her of one of her legs as soon as she tried to move. Instead, she fell to the ground in confusion. In order to prevent her from dying, Natsume quickly moulded some chakra and puffed out some embers onto the wound, making it a burned mess.

She screamed loudly before fainting from the pain. Natsume checked her pulse and verified she was still alive. Takeda walked in and saw his assistant on the ground. Although it pained him, he understood the situation. Some of the needles were still attached to the wall in the hallway. The wood already started turning dark from the toxic poison applied to them.

"I practically raised her… to think…" Takeda lamented but Natsume shrugged. Although she had more empathy than the average shinobi, she would be so foolish as to let such a vicious person go. It also helped that being so far from home, she had less of an attachment to these people. Mentally, she already considered herself part of the future unified Land of Fire. The shinobi of the Land of Earth would ultimately draw their weapons against her and her people.

"What do you plan to do now?" Takeda recovered from the shock and asked offhandedly to distract himself. However, he didn't get a response. When he looked behind him, he saw that Natsume was long gone. Perhaps he was stunned for longer than he realized, or she had left as soon as it was over. He wasn't too sure. Takeda walked over to the open window and took in the sight of the bustling town. "Perhaps we will meet again one day. I hope it is not as enemies."

…

At the edge of town, Natsume turned back one last time before disappearing into the forest. She was heading due north toward the active volcano. After entering the forest, Natsume began to reevaluate the Land of Fire's forest. Perhaps this mountainous area was too barren, or the Land of Fire was too fertile, but this place could hardly qualify as a garden compared to her backyard.

Trees were far apart with narrow trunks. She cut the bark on one out of curiosity and it began to weep with sap almost immediately. With her curiosity sated, she continued north. The canopy did not completely block the sky, so she was able to navigate through the forest with ease. Since the forest wasn't very large, she managed to reach the edge in half a day of travel. Instead of leaving, she climbed up a particularly sturdy tree and chose a thick branch to rest on.

Natsume wondered about what would be waiting for her in the north. Images of volcanoes from her inherited memories flashed past her eyes. As her imagination jumped around, she quickly nodded off as the exhaustion from the last week came all at once. That night she had an uninterrupted, dreamless sleep.