"I'm a-goin' back home~ Can't wait to see how the flowers have grown~!"

Tsuru walked with her head held high and her arms swinging back and forth. She was on her way back home to Hi no Kuni, to Konohagakure no Sato and never had she been so relieved to finally be heading back. Sure her time in Kumo had been alright, she had made a few friends and had participated in the Chuunin exams. Unfortunately she had lost in the second round, but that didn't dishearten the girl one bit.

It only had proved to her that she needed to work harder and train harder to become a powerful shinobi! Besides reminding her to train, it also reminded her of the fact that she was still very weak, Weak and still had a terrible fear of Fire. The girl still wasn't sure if she could ever face her fear of flames, the only thing she could do was become a strong enough shinobi so that her fear couldn't hurt her anymore. If was strong, then even the fire couldn't hurt her and no one would have to protect her. If she was strong, she could protect others. She just needed to become strong first.

Though she might've lost her match, she still had something she could call progress. She had become a Chuunin! There must've been something she had done to prove that she had become better than her first days as a shinobi. She still couldn't quite believe that she wasn't a Genin anymore, it felt like only such a short time since she had even graduated the academy. She didn't feel very different from just a few months ago, Tsu looked down to the Konoha forehead protector she wore around her neck. She decided to wear it the way her father wore his. He was a strong shinobi, and she wanted to be strong, to be like him. She wanted to be even stronger than him.

So she could protect herself, when she hadn't been able to so many years ago.

The girl's steps dragged slowly as she thought of her mother. When she had died protecting the Tsu, the little Senju had just been a child. It wasn't to say that Tsuru wasn't a child anymore, only 13 years old, but it she realized that she did feel different from her first days as being a shinobi. Tsu's steps turned into skips as she picked herself up from being too sad. She couldn't be sad when she thought of her mother, her mother wouldn't want her to be that way whenever she thought of her. Tsu knew it. In one way she never really was gone. Tsu always wore a simple Leaf pin right above her heart. A gift from her father to her mother that now belonged to her. A simple memento,  but it was just enough to remind the girl of her mother so that she didn't have to think that she was really gone.

She knew her mother would be proud of her. And so would all her family! Returning home meant she could tell everyone about her time in Kumo and the exams. Her aunts, her uncles, her grandparents, and her brother would all be waiting for her. And possibly, just maybe, even her father. He had been away on a mission when Tsu had left Kumo, so he had to have been home by now.

The girl continued to skip along, ready to return home to the Leaf.

607 Total Words

600/600 Travel Complete!

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