Spoiler:

After the quite repulsively boring supply run mission, the young Orochi lady had to do for the Land of Fire's national army located outside the borders of the actual village hidden in the leaf, the current mission she had to do on request from the village's administration seemed so much more fun and relaxing, as it was an interesting chance for the young woman to start actually exploring some parts of the big country she was born and raised in.

Past time, twelve years prior to present:

The young girl, future head of the Orochi family and also of the entire Ouroboros clan, was playing at the courtyard with her red ball, laughing and chuckling every time Nagata; the family snake, tried to coil around the ball and claim it for his own, but failed every time because of the young Risu constantly yanking away the ball and continuously bouncing it around the place.

Her mother, Orochi Aiko, nicknamed the White Snake of Konoha, was laughing with her, suddenly walking over the courtyard and grabbing the young girl from the ground, snuggling her and spinning her around.

"You know I love you, don't you, my little Riri," Aiko laughed, tickling the little girl until she almost cried out of joy. On the clanhead's face, a smile appeared, one she only showed during moments of real bliss. "One day perhaps, we'll go to the other hidden villages together, discovering new places and learning new things."

The little girl could only smile and nod strongly, grabbing her mother's arms with her slender, tiny hands, pulling the young woman to Nagata and give her the red ball. "If we go to other villages, we take Nagata with us, right?"

Aiko only laughed, carefully taking the snake from the ground and allowing it to coil around her arm and slither upwards to her neck, where it would rest it's head on her collarbone, pleasantly hissing and slissing at the young Risu below, who tried to rub the snakes head.

Present time:

She had passed the great forest outside the village already, nearing the actual borders of the Land of Fire, deciding that it was best to leave the actual paths if she really wanted to make notes and draw what she was going to see.

So she turned away from the road, when she reached the bridge crossing the small Budo river, which would stream into the Naga river a bit farther ahead.

"Interesting, I didn't know that there were willows at this place," The young kunoichi would say, when passing a small patch filled with large trees next to the Budo river, following her path through the hills, until she found a small lake surrounded by cherry trees, knwoing this was certainly worth mentioning in her notes. "This is really a mission to my liking: peaceful and calm, a good excuse for some personal recreation."

Noticing the time at the hand of the sun's trajectory through the evening's sky, Risu made a quick turn around the lake, so she would be at the administration's building in time.

Making her way through the plains behind the lake, Risu was pleasantly surprised by what she found about half an hour later: a large hole in the ground, with a depth of about ten meters and at least more than thirty meters wide, with various wooden stakes and girders supporting the sides.

This seemed to be an abandoned stone quarry, because the loose dirt and stone fragments had mos and grass grown all over it. Making her notes and trying to make a detailed sketch of the place on the small map she had made for the cartographers of the geographical department of the village's administration, Risu just simply hurried home, to the village, deciding that she had done some decent work with her findings.

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