Chapter 4

(A/N - I edited this chapter very differently then the others and would love to know if it seems better or worse.)

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Suddenly waking with a start, he gasped for air, his heart trying to escape his chest. Sweat had already drenched the clothes he had been wearing. It was another nightmare, they had been accompanying him for years. Yet again, he couldn't even remember what it was about. He never could.

Now no longer wanting to sleep, he lay there staring at the ceiling. Outside, it was dark, and he must have only slept for a few hours. The Chunin Exam preliminaries were long over by now. There was now a one-month period before the finals would begin, along with the Konoha Crush plan. He didn't even know what part he would play in it yet.

Feeling constricted in his room, he decided to head outside. Sitting down on the walkway's edge, he looked at the starry sky, pondering the future.

In a month, Orochimaru would attack the village alongside Suna Shinobi, resulting in the death of the Third Hokage.

The famous Jiraiya would be in the village, making two of the three Sannin present at the same time.

After the invasion, Itachi and Kisame would make their appearance while Jiraiya and Naruto go to find Tsunade to convince her to become the Fifth Hokage. Orochimaru also tried to find her to fix his arms from his fight with Hiruzen, causing all three Sannins to come together for the first time in years.

Sasuke would also encounter Itachi and be confronted by him. Naruto and Sasuke's friendship would begin to crumble, and soon, Sasuke would leave Konoha to seek out Orochimaru.

With a whole month until most of those things happened, he had nothing else to pass the time. No one had to say what he could or couldn't do. Although he was in Konoha, the most prosperous and peaceful ninja village in his memory, he had no money to explore the food it had to offer.

The risk of stealing was enough to deter him from doing so. Now that both Orochimaru and Kabuto were somewhere unknown, he didn't know when they would return. It seemed that he would need to hunt his own food, similar to how Naruto had done as a child by fishing.

The one place he thought of going was on top of the Hokage Rock. Before that, however, he pondered the timing of his outing. 

Going out at night would mean fewer people and fewer chances of confrontation, but he would look like a civilian. A child wandering about at night was suspicious. Konoha shinobi might be more active at night than during the day, so he decided to go out during the day to blend in.

For the rest of the night, he sat watching the starry sky, feeling its beauty. As the sun started to rise, he got up and washed himself before walking the main streets of Konoha, feeling out of place despite looking like everyone else. He couldn't help but think that someone would notice something and start asking questions. Maybe some Anbu were already tailing him without his knowledge.

No one seemed to know that an S-Ranked Rogue Shinobi had infiltrated the village. Thanks to the Hokage's efforts, everyone was blissfully unaware of the looming danger they would face in a month. He honestly wished he could be like them.

As he walked past the tantalizing smells of food being sold, he wished he had money to buy something but refused to steal. His confidence to remain unseen was minimal.

He passed by many goods like radios, televisions, light bulbs, air conditioners, books, and board games he had never seen before and wondered how far technology and entertainment would have grown if certain disasters had not occurred. The destruction caused by Pain in the future being the most prominent one.

Throughout the day, no one seemed to care about a child wandering around by himself, although glances were occasionally cast his way. People seemed more interested in his appearance than in the fact that he was a child, as he still looked feeble and weak on the outside, even after all these years. This didn't prompt anyone to approach him with questions, they simply gave him a passing glance and moved on.

As night approached, he returned to the place Orochimaru had cleared out. The original occupants had been forcibly removed, and no investigation team had been dispatched to find out where they had gone. In the end, it didn't matter to him since he had a place to stay. He dressed himself in black and prepared to go out, forming the Ram seal with his hands.

'Inmen No Jutsu.' (Hiding in Surface Technique)

After some time, he emerged from the ground in a nearby alley near the Hokage Rock where the village wall met, catching his breath after the long journey. The technique was still not easy to use.

He scaled the wall, distancing himself from it to avoid being seen. With the sun setting, he hurried to find food before darkness fell. He chose this location because he knew there was a river to the east. He planned to head south to find it, but before leaving, he gazed at the village wall in the distance.

He knew he could leave and never come back, but Orochimaru's warning kept him from doing so. He had tried to escape once before, only to find himself in major pain and unable to move. Once blacked out, he would find himself back at the hideout. He feared that his current actions might be seen as another attempt to flee.

But he was hungry, and so he headed south to find the river. He refrained from eating anything he found in the forest, unsure of what was safe to consume. He knew fish were edible, so catching some of them was the goal for his future meals.

Standing at the riverbank, he threw a kunai with precision, catching fish to eat. He didn't use his Sharingan for fear that someone might be looking at him right now. He continues to look, but never sees anyone.

The next day, he wandered through a different area of the village, feeling tired from another nightmare he couldn't remember. Despite some seeing him for a second day, no one bothered him. However, he still couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching him, making him uneasy.

As the day progressed, he found a park where he could relax and watch the sunset. He had enough fish from the previous day, and he had found some coins earlier that he saved for a treat. As the sun set, he sat on a bench in the park, enjoying the peaceful moment and the beauty of the sky.

He could feel himself slowly starting to relax at last. He decided he wanted to watch the sunset and the stars come out before heading back. He also hoped he could sleep peacefully tonight, but part of him wished this moment could last forever.