New Lands

A kunai weaved between the trees as if it were being controlled. An imperceivable steel wire was attached to the base if it guiding the trajectory. A bird flew away narrowly evading the blade, but the kunai suddenly turned, pulling the steel wire around the bird's leg. The kunai stabbed into the tree branch and held the bird down. It flapped its wings repeatedly and realized it was futile before landing on the branch to catch its breath.

Natsume appeared from the shadows and grabbed the bird before freeing it from the wire. She placed it under a genjutsu to make it relax and then moulded chakra on the tip of her finger. The bird watched her without reacting, an illusory sharingan appearing in its eyes representing its controlled state. When her finger touched the bird's body, a series of fuinjutsu seals spread across its body. The brown feathers of the bird were nearly turned black by the seals.

After they finished expanding, they immediately retracted and only a single spiral remained at the point of contact. Natsume looked at it and shook her head. 'Another failure.' She placed the bird under a deeper genjutsu and sent it off. The bird flew on its own toward the Uchiha clan with a single command. This was the hundredth bird Natsume captured and experimented with. After going off on her own to train and seek knowledge, she had a sudden bout of inspiration watching a flock of birds flying in a strange oscillating pattern.

Birds had the ability to detect direction and were able to fly with a group without colliding with each other. Using this principle, she theorized a fuinjutsu seal that could transmit its spatial coordinates to her. However, it proved to be much more difficult than she expected. She looked through her memories and thought of the Flying Raijin Jutsu invented by Tobirama. Her idea had a similar principle, but she didn't need to travel through space, only save the coordinates.

Despite removing a major portion of the Jutsu, she still was unable to accomplish even a partial success. However, she did determine that the principle of the Flying Raijin Jutsu was built around the Summoning Jutsu. Unfortunately, recreating the summoning formula proved to be hundreds of times more difficult than the storage scroll formula. She would frequently retrieve the contract with Tagitsuhime and examine it. After a slight adjustment, she would then capture another bird.

Natsume had considered finding a bird with intelligence and chakra and then signing a contract with it to use as mobile spatial coordinates, but even in the most chakra dense area of the Land of Fire, she couldn't find a bird that met her criteria. Additionally, if she could master the core of the summoning formula, she could adapt that knowledge to other fuinjutsu. Another hawk was quickly captured, and she repeated the same action as before. Unfortunately, the result was the same failure.

Natsume sighed and sent this bird to the Uchiha clan as well. All the failed experiments were given the task of protecting Madara. Although they were normal birds, the sheer numbers could create an opportunity in a pinch. This was also a way for her to train her genjutsu skills. She turned her head to the north and saw the edge of the forest quickly approaching. Soon, she would enter the Land of Wind.

After leaving the camp in the east, she travelled for twenty days nearly nonstop to get to the border. Based on her inherited memories, she would be coming up to a natural river that bordered the Land of Wind and Land of Fire. It seemed to be known as the Land of Rivers in the future, but currently it was just divided between the two major territories. Natsume stopped at the edge of the forest and looked down the sheer cliffs with a fast-moving river below.

Natsume decided it would be a good time to rest so she made a small camp. The remaining light of the day quickly faded and the moon appeared above her in all of its glory. She thought of the time and realized that the spring months would begin in earnest soon. Natsume closed her eyes and felt the Nature energy around her. She didn't take any into her body, only practicing feeling its existence. Like this, morning quickly came while she meditated.

"Stop hiding and come out already." Natsume opened her eyes lazily and said loudly. She didn't even bother getting up off the ground. Several dozen shinobi dressed in official uniforms surrounded her. Although she was only a child, they didn't underestimate her and were all fully armed and ready to attack. The leader stepped forward, but before he could even speak, Natsume continued.

"I am looking for work." Natsume flared her chakra to show off her strength. Some of the weaker shinobi stepped back in fear. A child with mid-rank chakra reserves was a frightening existence. If they could not be used, they would be eliminated. The leader thought for a few moments before signaling his men.

"Very well. We will escort you to the daimyo's castle." The meeting was not accidental. Natsume purposefully chose her path knowing that the Wind Daimyo's guards patrolled this area. The Land of Wind had very limited fertile soil, and any threat to their food source would be high priority. The direction she was heading was exactly that area. However, she underestimated the distance the guards patrolled. They had been following her in the Land of Fire for at least a day!

Fortunately, she had long disguised herself as a vagrant mercenary. There were many minor clans in the world and it was not unheard of for the stronger clans to let their children off on their own to learn about the world. That was why Natsume limited the strength she revealed to mid-rank. Anything higher would be too suspicious. There were only a handful of clans that could produce such a talent and with her features it would be easy to deduce her identity.