Last Day

Natsume entered a trance, and the nature energy surrounded her. Instead of reaching out to it, she let it wrap around her just out of her reach. Since she could not perceive anything beyond it, she would use the same principle to protect her from sensing. After an hour, she could no longer hold her breath and had to resurface. She slowly peaked her head out of the soil and took a few shallow breaths as not to alert anyone.

After looking around, she saw that they had all left. However, she didn't want to risk it and continued traveling underground until she made it back to her temporary abode. She switched to her common clothes and returned to her room. She didn't want to risk alerting anyone, so she didn't send a message to Tajima. She did activate her Mangekyou to check her trail and confirmed she was safe for now.

The next morning, everything went like normal. Natsume kept checking her surroundings cautiously without seeming suspicious. She did notice an increase quantity of patrolling shinobi but there didn't seem to be anyone paying attention to Lee and her. As usual, Lee didn't say much, and they went to the seed seller in town. After a few hours, Natsume's nerves calmed down as she concluded that no one discovered her trail.

However, on their way back, the checkpoint had three times as many shinobi. They were stopped and given a much more thorough examination. There were even a few ninja hounds growling at the duo. Natsume hid behind Lee feigning fear. Her backstory was a war orphan so she played her part. Seeing this, Lee gave the shinobi an angry expression. Seeing nothing was out of order, they reluctantly let the duo leave.

They decided to travel straight back into the night. They would arrive back home a little after midnight. The ox was very durable and could manage such a long journey. Natsume took a chance to rest her mind once they passed the halfway point. She rested in Lee's arms and didn't realize how much time had passed. Before she knew it, she woke up in the room at her little farmhouse. She saw some light coming from the next room.

"… Something is coming." Natsume overheard Lee's voice.

"What do you mean?" Saya gulped nervously.

"War." Lee didn't explain much but Saya seemed to understand. "Go to your sister's. Not safe."

Natsume peaked through the crack in the door and saw her shake her head. "I won't go."

"Take Tsume." He didn't argue with her but reminded her about Natsume. Saya looked over toward the door but didn't notice her peaking.

"Come with us. If its too dangerous, you should leave as well!" She argued.

"Have to farm." He folded his arms and implied that he wouldn't budge on this. She bit her lip and contemplated for a while.

"Okay, we will leave in a few days. Please stay safe…" Lee responded with a nod and a grunt while she cleaned up the table, so Natsume slipped back into her little futon. She closed her eyes and pondered the situation. Lee was very astute and must have experience of war. He was able to deduce the situation in the other town. This level of insight could have made him a successful shinobi in a village system where civilians had the same opportunities as clans.

The next morning, Saya explained to her that they would be visiting some family in the north. Natsume pretended to be excited to see family, but deep down had some sadness because this would be the last time, she saw these two. This trip would be her opportunity to escape. She had gathered key information about the mine and enemies. Saya wanted her to go into the market and buy some supplies and she readily agreed. Taking some money, she shopped around for a bit before sneaking off to the side and sending a message to Tajima with Fuchikoma.

The message contained a brief explanation of the enemy's layout and a warning. She returned after a few hours and instantly noticed something was wrong. None of the neighbors were out working on the fields despite it being in the middle of the day. She walked back quicker, and the deathly silence caused her heart to race. She pushed the door open and dropped the bag in her hands. She dropped to her knees and her eyes burned.

"Why!?" Natsume yelled out and saw Saya and Lee sprawled on the ground with blood spread on the floor. The splatter mark covered the boards and the walls. She saw Saya holding a handsewn outfit from the cloth she bought the first day she was here. There was even a little flower embroidery on the sleeve that she was working on. She then heard a voice behind her.

"Why? Traitors harboring the enemy deserve death." Natsume turned around and saw the shinobi with his sword out. Natsume's emotions raged and she dodged the first strike easily. She burst through the back of the building and started moulding chakra. As soon as she landed on the rice paddy outside, hundreds of ninja appeared from hiding and surrounded her. Several shuriken flew at her. She contoured her body to dodge but wasn't able to stop her ribbon being cut, letting down her hair.

Seeing the plain ribbon fall to the ground slowly, her rage was no longer able to be held back. Her Mangekyou sharingan activated on its own and she heard someone yell Uchiha but it felt muffled and far away. She put her finger up to her mouth and released a tidal wave of sticky orange liquid. Those nearest to her instantly caught fire which caused the shinobi to retreat back.

"Water jutsu users up front!" Someone yelled out and dozens of water jutsu came out and mixed with the liquid causing it to spread all over the battlefield, seemingly neutralized. The leader laughed at the pointless waste of chakra from Natsume, assuming her jutsu was made inert. However, Natsume just laughed maniacally. Her Lava Release had covered the whole battlefield now because of the water.

Another series of attacks came at her. Instead of dodging, a white skeleton quickly formed around her. The color of her susano'o was an ash white. Natsume made another hand sign and released a simple fire jutsu to the orange liquid mixed in with water. Then there was silence, before a conflagration spread instantaneously over the battlefield. The intensity was beyond anything any of the shinobi experienced before. In that moment, the only sounds were screams.

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