Syekren stood quietly outside of the gates, holding onto the cloak he had about his person. It would be a bit of a trek back to sunagakure no sato after all these years and he wasn't sure if his old bones were up for it again. He wasn't sure why he was waiting around, letting himself talk himself out of it, but here he was, on the precipice of leaving the village hidden in the leaves for his old home. His eyes scanned the horizon, no changes in sight. He was to meet a caravan around halfway to the land of wind that would give him a ride the rest of the way. It would cut down travel time, as well as make the journey easier for himself. He just couldn't bring himself to leave just yet, it was as though he needed to wait for something, or someone. He couldn't be sure who or what he would need to wait for, but whatever the feeling was, it kept the ninja in place. He wore his tanto under his cloak on the back left of his belt as he normally did, but even holding onto it under the clothing item didn't ease his mind as it normally did. What reason would he have to return to a village that dubbed him a criminal for chancing to help it? He was a criminal even before his 'defection', and no one cared why he was named such. He had done nothing but attempt to help the village people see the corruption and he was now a wanted and hated man. What had he done that was so wrong to the people?  Couldn't they see he had their best interests in mind nine years ago? No, it was too late to think on that now, the older ninja knew that. He sighed and made ready to step out towards the border's path, ready to make his way back to the sand.

335/600

For the first time in as long as Chou could remember she had slept well; well enough in fact that the sun was awake before she was. There was no horrible ringing of a bell to jar her from her slumber nor was there the sound of children screaming as they rushed down the steps to breakfast as if there was a race going on to see who could make it there first. In fact, it took her several moments to realize that she wasn’t in the orphanage at all, she was in fact in a room given her by Syekren, in Syekren’s house.

Feeling a tad bit strange that no one had woken her up she made quick work in getting her shoes on, and even stopped long enough to splash water on her face before attempting to force her hair into some semblance of normalcy: there was only so much that could be done about that, though. She made her way through the house, hearing nothing, and not finding her new friend anywhere. So with a small frown on her face she made her way outside only to not find him there either. With her shoulders slumped forward, and a frown still present on her face she began to make her way through the village, feeling a bad saddened at her new friends sudden departure.


It was only when she reached the gates, on the dreaded path back to the orphanage she was forced to normally call home, would she find where her new friend had gone. Her head would cock to the side for a moment as she took in his appearance, his attire telling her easily enough he was planning on doing some traveling. Without really thinking about what she was doing she would approach, stopping beside him and tilting her head up so that she could look up at him, a hopeful look in her eyes. ”Are you leaving? Can I come with? I don’t want to stay here by myself...”, the last sentence left her lips before she could stop herself, and yet it was a true enough statement. Syekren was her only friend, the only person who had shown kindness to her of such a degree; even the boy from the day before had tried to get away from her as soon as he could.

Word Count: 407 / 600

Syekren turned, having heard familiar tiny foot steps. He looked down to see the young girl he'd met the night before in the market. She had a hopeful look in her eyes as she spoke, asking if he was leaving. She wanted to accompany him and din't want to stay by herself. The man looked down at her, feeling awful about having not asked a sitter to stay with her as he took his trip, or for not having told her in the first place. He'd honestly had it slip his mind. He wasn't used to having someone around that he would need to inform of his comings and goings. It had been a decade since he'd been at that point in his life and he wasn't sure about doing it again. He didn't want to tell the young child no, that she couldn't come, but on the other hand he couldn't bear to leave her alone in a village that seemed so harsh to children without parents. He knew she would most likely go back to the orphanage without him around and he didn't want to see her going back to a place that would see her without proper nourishment or care. The Uchiha sighed, trying to think of the best way to transport the young girl with him.

He looked over to see a caravan leader and his eyes twinkled with a sudden memory. The face was familiar, and the caravan in question was known for frequenting the sands of the Kaze no kuni. Perhaps this could work out after all. He turned back to the young girl and crouched a bit to be eye level with her. "It's going to be dangerous little one, but I won't stop you from coming with. Let's go over and see if this caravan driver won't let us hitch a ride with him, alright? I'm sure he would part with a bit of food if we gave him a bit of ryo. No worries, I'll cover any charges he asks for!" Syekren chuckled and softly placed his hand upon her head, ruffling her hair a bit, making it a bit messier. He'd then lead her over to the caravan in question, waving down the leader of it who came over in short order after realizing who was beneath the beard and unkempt hair. "Well, it's been about a decade or so since I've seen your sandy cloak around here, what brings you to the village hidden in the leaves?"

The two men gave each other a quick embrace before Syekren spoke. "I'm actually on my way back out to the sands. I was going to ask you if my er.. daughter and I could hitch a ride." Syekren didn't know why he called her his daughter, anyone with eyes could tell it was a lie. But the implications of a grown man taking a young child away from a village on a long journey when they weren't related just didn't sound like a good thing to the older ninja. He hoped the young akimichi child wouldn't mind him trying to make them seem like a little family. The sound of 'daughter' brought surprise to the old caravan runner's face. "Oh ho! Daughter you say? I assume this cute little one is the girl in question eh? Well sure, we have some room in the middle wagon if you two don't mind sitting on hay and grains. Gotta take the barley to the brewery out there, hop on! We leave in two minutes." With that, the two men shared one last friendly embrace before Syekren waved chou over to join him as he climbed into the wagon near the middle of the caravan. He'd help her into it if she needed, sighing as he relaxed into place. Before long, they would begin moving onwards to their destination.

600/600
672|1,007 Total

Chou’s golden yellow gaze remained on Syekren as she watched him turn and kneel so that he was eye level with her. She heard him say it was going to be dangerous and her heart almost fell right then and there as she thought she was about to be denied, and yet he continued to say that he wouldn’t stop her from coming with with caused her frown to instantly transform into a smile. As the caravan nearby was mentioned her gaze shifted over, curiosity filling her eyes as he nodded her head in agreement with what was being said. ”Okay!”, she would exclaim with a giggle as her hair was ruffled, not minding in the slightest. She followed him over, looking this way and that curiously, while burning with excitement: the trip seeming more and more like a grand adventure.


Even in her excitement, in her sheer joy of being able to come with, the mention of danger hadn’t gone unnoticed. She was not entirely sure what portion of the trip could be dangerous, and she had yet a chance to ask, but she had such a burning belief that so long as she stuck close to Syekren and did what he said she would fair just fine. Besides, she couldn’t see herself backing down from going regardless: her other option was remaining behind and ending up back at the that horrible orphanage.


Chou find herself snapped out of her thoughts by the conversation between Syekren and the man from the caravan; being called Syrekren’s daughter causing her to automatically look over and smile as she didn’t mind it in the slightest, her focus sticking on the pair instead of darting around at everything there was to see like it had been. At being called cute she blushed and giggled, eyes twinkling with happiness.


Hearing that they had about two minutes to go before they’d be leaving she followed Syekren to the wagon, accepting his help up instead of trying to climb on her own. She picked a comfortable spot, one that would allow her to see things as they went: her curiosity and natural thirst for knowledge causing her excitement to grow even further. Still, even with her excitement causing her to want to jump in place – which she refrained from doing with great difficulty – she found herself focusing her attention back onto Syekren. ”Thank you… for letting me come with.” And then, just because she felt like she should, like she felt like she should be aware of what she might be getting herself into she cocked her head to the side and asked, ”… but why might it be dangerous? I mean… I know there’s sometimes robbers, or other bad guys. I was taught how to beat them up in school. But is there something else?”

Word Count: 485 | 892 / 600

When they were both in the wagon, getting ready to move along, Syekren looked down at the curious young girl he had with him. She thanked him for allowing him to come with and asked why it would be dangerous. She spoke of robbers and other bad guys, people she was taught to beat up in school, but she wanted to know if there was something else. Syekren sighed, thinking for a moment. Of course, in the academy, she would be taught about what Syekren planned to do as wrong, but it wasn't wrong. There so so much at stake and he was only doing what he could to obliterate those who would dare to leave  his home out in the cold, so to speak. The ninja quietly sighed before he placed his hand on the little girl's head, speaking to her. "There's something I have to do when I get back there. I told you I was born in a far away land, well Sunagakure no Sato is that land. I was born in the village hidden in the sand and spent much of my time there. I was once their strongest ninja, an ANBU operative."

Syekren looked around as they continued on, noting that he had the time to tell her the story of why he had to go back. Why he needed to finish what he started those years ago. When it began to get colder, he took his cloak off and wrapped it around the young girl, speaking once more after he was sure she would be warm. "During my time in the ANBU, I visited Kirigakure and lost one of my eyes. I was ashamed and injured, I was sent back home and it was during my time of rest that I began to notice strange happenings in the village. More criminals were coming in, no matter how many we took down, they were getting more funded and bringing more drugs.. er.. bad things into the village that hurt other people. We couldn't figure out where it was all coming from or what was happening. When the Kazekage gave me my new eye, she gave me the duty of patrolling the village to learn what I could about the criminals and who was funding them." The ninja sighed and softly touched the scar upon his left eyebrow, tracing it down to his cheek.

The night was coming on as he told his story, and the trees of the village of fire were giving way to wide open plateaus and even some sand here and there. The journey was taking much less time than it normally would, thanks to the caravan. Not to mention their chakra infused steer.  "It eventually came to the point I was contacted by the elder council as an agent of the ANBU operatives. They had a mission for me that they said I couldn't refuse because of my past actions. Begrudgingly, I took their offer and followed orders.  When it came down to it, what they had me doing was bringing funds and double dealing with the very criminals I was trying to stop. Not only that, they were trying to have me sell the village secrets to other villages! They labelled me a traitor, and a criminal. I've been hiding from them for ten years now, but no more.. The danger, Little Chou, is me. Perhaps another, if he still wishes death upon the sands as he used to. There is much that will happen in the  days we shall be in the sand. I only ask that you not think any less of me for what I must do. My home must be freed from the oppressive rule of those who would sell her to the wolves." The older man sighed and looked out to the changing environment as they traveled. He didn't know why he'd told such a young one his story, or why he cared what she thought. But it was out there in the open, and soon they would be in the village that he once called home, for the last time.  He was so deep in his thoughts he almost didn't realize that the driver of the caravan was handing back some dried meats, bread, and water for the two of them. When Syekren offered him coin for his kindness, he refused and smiled, continuing their journey. Syekren sighed softly, and handed the food items off to Chou, making sure she ate first.

757|1,764

Chou listened to Syekren sigh before placing his hand on her head which caused her to instantly smile. With rapt attention she listened as Syekren began to explain what was going on, absorbing each and every word like a sponge with curiosity burning in her golden yellow gaze. She listened as he explained it was from Sunagakure that he hailed, as well as how he used to be their strongest ninja and a member of Anbu. When he brought up how he had lost an eye she couldn’t help but to tilt her head to the left with a frown: such a thing sounded painful, and she couldn’t have imagined having to go through an ordeal like that though she didn’t comment on it for now.

In fact, the only thing that truly diverted her focus from the story being told was as he removed his cloak and wrapped it around her as it began to become colder, the sudden warmth causing her to smile once more – she wouldn’t have even bothered to comment about being cold, glad enough she had got to go on the trip, but it made her happy regardless to be warm once more and to know yet another act of kindness. ”Thank you.” Her attention focused once more onto the story though when he went on to explain that the whole thing had made him feel ashamed she couldn’t help but to frown quite a bit at that point in thought: she could relate to such a feeling, though on a much smaller scale, as it was the same emotion she had to deal with each time the kids at the orphanage beat her up or teased her and she couldn’t fight back. She would have probably commented on this had he not gone on to mention the things he had noticed during his time recovering: criminals coming into the village that were well funded and who brought with them things which caused harm to others. When he mentioned that they couldn’t figure out where it was coming from, but how after he had received a new eye he had been also given the task to patrol the village and figure out what was going on which caused her to blink in shock and surprise – a new eye? Well, it would make sense considering he wasn’t wearing an eye patch… but the idea made her feel a bit squeamish: putting someone else eyeball in your own head? Yuck!

She watched rather than comment as he rubbed at the scar on his eye, taking a moment to snuggle deeper into the cloak wrapped around her, shifting her focus only long enough off of her Syekren to notice that the landscape was changing: gone were the thick forests, and it caused her excitement to spike once more. However, her attention shifted right back on him once more as he continued on with his story, explaining how the council had contacted him with a task they said he couldn’t refuse due to things that had happened in the past – it was these words that caused her frown to appear once more: she didn’t like the idea of that, being forced to do something, having something from the past held over ones head, it just didn’t sit right with her at all. But, again, she didn’t comment as she simply listened in silence to his story as it unfolded more. She listened as he went on to explain that the task the council members had him doing was in fact helping the criminals he had been trying to stop, and to make things worse they were trying to have him sell village secrets to other villages. In the end it got him labeled as a traitor and a criminal, two things she knew were very bad from what she had learned in school.

He concluded by saying that the danger was him, asking her not to think any less of him over what he had to do over the next couple of days to free his village from those who were doing it wrong. Chou thought about everything that was told to her, mulling it over in silence and deep though so much so that she jumped startled as food and drink was passed back to them, which Syekren handed to her. She stared down at the food, her decision on how she felt about everything finally having been made – causing her to put her food and water off to the side. It was at this point that Chou finally broke her silence. Shaking her head in disbelief she shifted from where she was sitting, not really thinking about what she did as she suddenly hugged him, wrapping her little arms around him as much as she could. ”I won’t, I promise: I won’t think any differently about you. What they did to you wasn’t fair… I don’t care what they say, you’re not a bad person.” There it was, the way she felt out in the open: nothing more than the truth spoken by her lips.

It would only be after ensuring that she was certain he knew she wouldn’t judge him that she would turn her attention to the food, nibbling on a bit of meat without actually feeling hungry for the first time in a while – her mind was on other things after all, things far more important than her little stomach. So, a bit of meat and some bread would be consumed in more thoughtful silence, giving him a chance to say more if he so chose, handing him back what she hadn’t finished as she turned her attention onto the water, sipping it slowly.

Word Count: 952 | 1,844 / 600

When Syekren felt the hug from the young girl he placed a hand upon her head, rubbing in a soft and comforting manner. "I appreciate the faith you place in me. I promise once this is over, everything will be smooth sailing for the both of us. You won't have to go to the orphanage and I won't have a reason to worry. We'll make our own way in this world, just you and I, Chou." The older man laughed a bit and let the girl go to begin nibbling on her meat and bread, which she handed the remainder of to him so she could sip on the water. The male quietly partook of both, eating in silence. It wouldn't be long now until they reached the gates of Sunagakure no Sato, and when he would need to do what he had to. His eyes looked over at Chou silently while the wagon pulled along, the male's mind running to many different scenarios. He thought of the promise he made to here that things would be smooth sailing for the both of them and sighed inwardly. He could only hope that what he'd told her was true, otherwise, it didn't seem like their sorrows were ever going to end. He was so lost in his thoughts of the future, the ninja hardly noticed when they arrived in the land of wind and made the short trip to the village hidden in the sand. He waved goodbye to the caravan and made to help chou from the wagon. Then, the two would enter the village through the southern gates, straight into the slums. Syekren would need to let Chou stay with Ryu while he finished his business. Death was in the air today, and he didn't want her to catch it.

309|2,073
600/600 Travel Complete
EXIT THREAD

Training:

Chou couldn’t help but to smile once more at Syekren’s words: the idea, the promise, that once all of this was over everything would be smooth sailing and she wouldn’t have to go back to the orphanage was something to definitely look forward to. For her it was like a light at the end of the tunnel. The idea of the pair making their own way in the world, the idea of her not having to be alone, caused her to beam with happiness – her eyes shining brightly with the emotion as if some kind of inner fire or light had been lit.

With so much going on in her head Chou remained silent for the rest of the trip, little legs swinging from side to side, sipping her water every so often as she simply waited for their journey to end. It wouldn’t take long at all before the gates of the village came into view and Syekren was helping her down and out of the wagon. She waved goodbye to those they had traveled with before following her new friend into the village, her gaze darting around with curiosity: finding everything to be very much different than it was back home. This was certainly going to be the start of a grand adventure, or so she hoped.

So, curious as to what exactly would be done while they were in the village, and definitely looking forward to getting a chance to look around some more she followed close to Syekren…


Word Count: 257 | 2,101 / 600

2,101 – 600 = 1,501 remaining

Strength E2 → E3: 1,501 – 225 = 1,276
Strength E3 → D0: 1,276 – 300 = 976

Endurance E0 → E1: 976 – 75 = 901
Endurance E1 → E2: 901 – 150 = 751
Endurance E2 → E3: 751 – 225 = 526
Endurance E3 → D0: 526 – 300 = 226

Reaction Time E0 → E1: 226 – 75 = 151
Reaction Time E1 → E2: 151 – 150 = 1