PROLOGUE: SUDDENLY, SIXTEEN YEARS AGO...

"This way! It was around here!" A man exclaimed, wrapped in clothes of animal skins and the most special leather that could be found. "I heard it, when I looked up, BOOM! They appeared out of nowhere in a raised whirlpool! I know it was around here... I've seen it! Believe me, I have seen it!!"

The pure, bright white stretched even beyond what the eye could see. The cold, white earth seemed to be decorated with a stationery glitter, and with the magical mirage of fairy tales. The sun reflected off the more solid and piled up layers of snow, and in turn, moisture escaped from the snow that was trodden with each man-made step, to agglomerate and end up joining a neighboring layer of snow.

The sky was white from how empty it was. The sun shot its warm rays into the cold soils of the land of Iron, but that did not affect the climate that had been made with the entire country. The snow had seen the country grow, and the cold was the daily bread of every person who lived in the land of iron. Even if the snow were to die out from their lands, the cold would never go away. He would find a way to procreate through the depths or the rain, but he would never yield to the warm light of the sun.

Among the albino hills near the whitish wasteland of the lands, stood a line of men dressed in armor and armed with swords. The number of male persons was between six and ten, and one of them was merely a hunter who lived by his work of snatching light from the most harmless beings of the snowy mountains.

"This way, this way..." said the man wrapped in animal skins, almost in a tone that begged for credibility. He knew the paths that connected to the forest of man-eating beasts, and he walked on the snow without any problem. Those in armor followed him in a straight line, just behind the only man not wearing one: The king of the samurai, Mifune-san. "I don't know exactly where they fell... But I did realize that it was exactly in this forest...! Oh, be careful, sometimes I set traps for the wolves here. It is even possible that they have already fallen into one, even before the wolves."

Mifune was with the most neutral expression possible, even more neutral than the usual one with which he had been widely known. He, whose Katana had not changed or been destroyed since the first time he wielded it, had never feared anything. Although his Master had instilled in him things that had to do with ignoring fear, Mifune thought that the best way to avoid it is to have it; Make it a strong point and take advantage of the adrenaline.

But this moment was not like many. Here there was no fear, not even confusion... But (he supposed), uncertainty.

A blizzard had destroyed a large part of the villages near the mountains, and only the areas that were close to the forests had been spared from suffering damage. There were no human losses, simply material losses. However, Mifune had been alerted to a rare (if not abnormal) sighting, of swirls swirling in grayish clouds above the forests.

Mifune acted quickly, but when he left his tower, he received the alarming news that the same phenomenon had been sighted in other areas in the interior of his country, and the size of the cloud whirlpool varied, depending on the behavior of the snow in the areas.

The man who was leading them was one person, among many, who had witnessed the event. But what set him apart from the rest was the clarity with which he had seen what had happened, and the solitude with which the area was surrounded.

That man was the only one who lived around here. He was alone. His testimony would be worth more than the rest of the people who were being interrogated, if it were not for the coldness and skepticism of Mifune, who in his eagerness to find the source of the problem as some natural phenomenon, did not lower his guard and questioned everything the poor man tried to say.

Mifune had to hear a credible rationale for "People Fallen from Heaven" in order to take more than four swordsmen with him to follow up on this specific sighting.

The little man looked like a little cloud of cloth leading the swordsmen in a straight line into the forest. They had entered it, and traces of scrap metal and scattered garbage could be perceived, as well as pieces of cloth and charred. Mifune had kept his expression tempered, being a silent listener to the little man's testimony, coming to questions only when some of his testimony was out of the "ordinary" compared to the rest of the testimonies.

"We were in search of our dear prey. He brought up the baton. But he immediately turned to the leader of the swordsmen, revealing his rosy nose beneath the hood of his gigantic, thick fur suit. When I say "We were", I mean my good partner and I... My dog, to be exact. He is a wolf, rather. I adopted him, he was halfway through and I was about to finish him off... but he seemed so miserable to me. His tail had been cut off and one of his eyes was gouged out, apparently he had gotten into a fight with a human who wasn't a hunter... he was only unlucky, and I thought: 'It will not do this wretch well at all to die here, in the cold, being such a beautiful wolf and capable of tearing off the arm of two stronger men. He deserves to live without his eye and without his tail, and survive with the shame of serving someone of the same race as the one who hurt him,' and that's how we ended up getting to know each other. That was about a year ago..."

"The whirlpool, sir," Mifune interjected, hinting at embarrassment at interrupting what seemed to be a moving story. As expected, he wouldn't think much about it. He didn't usually show his consideration for animals so obviously. "The swirling sky? The people he claims to have seen? We came to investigate that. Although it is a curious anecdote, we did not come from the main tower here to find out about his dog."

"Wolf." The little man corrected. "An albino wolf. Although... they call them "Albinos" because they are unusual to the white wolves that are usually sighted in this forest. My faithful companion is a black wolf, as black as coal, but shining as polished metal."

"This..."

"That's right...!" The whirlpool..." He resumes, sensing the uncomfortable irritation in the guardian of the Iron Country. There was no need to communicate his advice on foot to the experienced Samurai for crossing the steep hills of thick snow. "To What I was going: We were in search of a prey that had escaped us, when we felt that the ground under the snow trembled, then there was a strong blizzard, and at the end, a huge cold! The sky was clear before that, but when I looked up, there was a gray layer covering the sun and turning into a stormy whirlpool, only without thunder and none of that stuff."

"And the people?" The Leader of the Swordsmen asks, giving a little grip to the cover of his Katana. "It could have been due to birds affected by the storm, or in the worst case, other hunters who were swallowed and then spat out by a tornado that did not get any worse."

The little man shook his tongue a couple of times, in denial. The confidence in his voice and movements as he led Mifune and his men to the supposed place, made the armored men observe their leader's back.

"I am afraid that is impossible, my lord. I'm the only one who lives here." The man's small arm made the gesture of showing everyone present the stage, as if it were a work of art. The forest whistled, and the trees were not without leaves, but they were dyed white. "I have this forest only for me. No other hunter has dared to approach this place full of man-eating beasts. The main reason I like this place, is because of the scarcity of human life, and I'm not one to kill like crazy. I like it... that everything happens naturally."

"Doesn't that differ from your work?"

"Oh, I do it for work." The man answers. "If I go hunting and an animal crosses my path, I kill it, it's that simple. But if the opposite is true, and I go out for a walk, I will not kill any animal unless it attacks me. So, when I saw all those people fall, I knew it was due to something extremely strange. I went in to find out for myself, but my faithful companion chickened out and left me behind. You see! It is exactly since then that she has not left home. He is a coward beyond measure, I often have to bring gifts so that he will be able to bring me a well-hunted prey."

Mifune stopped paying attention to the witness since he saw where the conversation was going, and began to scrutinize the aforementioned skies. There was no longer any trace of that "Gray Cloak". It was just that pale white crystalline of the cold mist.

They continued walking up the steep hills with layers of snow up to their foreheads. The Samurai could handle this and more, and the civilian had already mentioned his talent with the terrain.

The snow was lifted by the breeze that crossed the forest, and Mifune led his people all the way, following very closely the man who said he saw something impressive. After a few minutes' journey, they had climbed to the bottom of a steep hill, and some of Mifune's men were still climbing it with their feet, when the head of the country saw a disturbing scene.

The forest was dull, but only sunlight hit the middle that the pale trees left in view from the sky. For Mifune and the others, it was like seeing an art project or a well-placed stream in a beautiful meadow... with the issue that there was no river, and everything was flooded with snow.

The snow shone only in the middle, where the light hit, and the rest of the forest let only a few rays pass to the darkest corners. What lay motionless in those darkened corners, and amid the glittering blanket of snow, was something Mifune had seen in the days of war in his own country.

But, even in today's era, seeing ordinary people deceased was too abnormal, especially in his country, where the only ones with the power to kill were the Samurai, and these were under the command of Mifune himself.

None of these people appeared to have been killed by a tornado. In the middle they were piled up like a mountain of dirty clothes, and their skins and faces were indistinguishable from each other. In the inconspicuous corners, there were only traces of clothing and the little life that shone on the bodies of those affected. Most of them were men, he did not know how to give them an age. I just knew that their deaths were completely unrelated to any tornado.

"Good God...!" Exclaims the little man. She had grabbed onto her hood, as if the impression was going to throw her back. He wasn't a trained Samurai, so he wouldn't stand the cold like one, and he was already too tense to want to be colder. With adrenaline reddening his ears and nose, he approached Mifune's side in alarm. "Do you see?! Did you see that?! I told you! That couldn't have been a tornado!"

"The people...!"

"Heavens..."

Without waiting for their Leader's order, some Samurai waded into the tumult of scattered bodies to give them a little help and examine it. But to no avail. All those who had approached and had carefully studied the victims, confirmed aloud the worst.

"They're dead!"

"Do you see?! I told you!"

Before the man repeated his exclamations, Mifune stepped forward in questioning him, maintaining his usual expression, but sonorously alarmed.

"Do you know any of these people?"

"D-D-Excuse me?!"

"Do you recognize any of these people?" He repeated. "Can it be one from a neighboring town?"

"D-Let me see, My lord..."

Reluctant to touch any of the bodies, the man remained in place, trying to recognize one simply from afar and behind the hairs of his hood. It was funny how he, someone who was capable of killing an animal in cold blood, did not have the willpower to approach a Human who probably needed help.

Mifune made the first movement, and with his grip on the lining of his Katana, he trotted to the nearest body and squatted beside him. He listened sharply as the little hunter followed him at a considerable distance, but keeping the bravery that was hidden behind his size.

The Samurai held the person lying on the ground face down. The fabric of his clothing had been made one with his skin, and his pants were still recognizable. Her skin was just burnt flesh, and her hair was almost non-existent. Mifune turned it over, the person's left side was more red than black, and the left side of his head was hairless and he was being blistered. The skin had also been burned by the cold snow due to the delay with which Mifune and the others had arrived.

It was a man, and he had hardly a pulse. His nose was gone, and the skin on his lips was falling off. Mifune just wanted to make the attempt so as not to regret it later.

"Do you recognize it?"

The little hunter took his time to answer.

"N-No, my lord. This man is not from the nearby town." Hesitates. "None, perhaps. There aren't many around here."

Mifune watched as the man on his lap grew more flaccid as the seconds passed, and hurriedly questioned him vaguely. He had bitten his tongue... He didn't believe the man would still be alive when he finished the question. His pulse was calmer, and the man's eyes were lost in a nothingness he couldn't see.

"Sir! Can you hear me? Lord!"

As he had assumed, the man did not respond. But he refused to leave so soon. Their sockets rummaged into and around the Samurai's face, and Mifune took advantage of the attention he had earned. Although he wanted to ignore the possibility that the person in question was dying.

"What happened to you, sir? Who did this to them?! Where are you from?!"

"Ha... has... h..."

"Sir!"

"What's up, he's already dying." The little man says, with a little regret in his nonchalant tone. "It is evident that he was burned alive. But it's impossible! He fell from the sky and I didn't see anything like a flame!

Mifune had given up. The man was definitely a few seconds away from life. But he hadn't let go. It was clear from afar that his last moments were not the best, and he was apparently the only person here who was left alive, even if it was only a few miserable seconds. If the person in question was going to depart from the world that received him in this way, he was going to be the one to send him away.

But the man in her lap gasped in death.

"Ko... Ko..."

"Uoahh!!" The hunter howls after Mifune. "Is he alive?!" I-Impossible...!

The Samurai of the three remained silent, listening to the man's last words. He didn't want to flood him with questions, at this point, he would only cruelly take away the opportunity to say goodbye.

"Kono... has..." He gasped. "Kono... has..."

"Hm? hey? What does it say?" Asks the little man. "Kono... ha"?

Mifune had opened his eyes, and broken the mask of serenity he had been maintaining since they began the journey to get here. However, it had taken the little man a while to catch the dying man's message, and he exploded when understanding had come to him illuminated.

"Konoha?! My lord! You mean the Hidden Village, Konoha?!"

The mention of the Ninja village made the others turn around. That a Ninja village was involved with the attack on people from the land of iron, whose lands were not Ninja lands and were not involved in political problems with anyone, meant a direct and unscrupulous threat to their trust and loyalty. Mifune didn't jump to conclusions, but his men had turned their attention to the scene as soon as they heard the name of the Ninja village.

"Did they do that to you, My lord?" The little man says to the dying man. The lack of response left something to be desired. "Were people from Konoha who did all this to you?!"

The dying man simply grabbed his last strength and turned it into air for his lungs, and let out his last words; The same ones that were engraved in the ears of Mifune, the head of the country of iron.

"I-I... I am... From Konoha... My home, my house... My family. All... I was in Konoha."