Six days had gone by where we just kept running. My face was dry and was covered with dirt, my lips were chapped and my body was about to collapse at any moment due to exhaustion.
Since I didn’t have chakra and was still a child neither did I have the stamina nor the speed to keep up with Hakai (Yes, I just call him by his name now). He had to carry me for most of the journey. We didn’t know if there were any ninjas were after us but we weren’t risking anything, from taking the least time to rest and eat to taking the least amount of bathroom breaks, we were doing it all to reach whatever safe place that Hakai was planning to go to as quick as we could. It was very frustrating to have this toddler body that couldn’t keep up Hakai. It felt very shameful being carried like a potato sack as well, I couldn’t get used to it no matter how many days went by.
Currently I was being carried in this shameful position. “Hakaiiiii…. When are we going to reach somewhere? It’s been Six days already.”
“Soon” Hakai kept running.
“You have been saying that for 2 days now!” I raised my head to look at him balefully.
“You only have yourself to blame for that. It is because of you that it’s taking so long.” Hakai held his breath in anger. This damned kid had been slowing down his pace and had the gall to complain to him all the time.
‘My body is too fucking weak.’ No matter how strong Kenji was to the other toddlers, he was still merely only that- a toddler. To avoid getting carried like a potato sack he had tried to push his body’s limits as much as possible. Still here he was on Hakai’s shoulder.
Unexpectedly Hakai wasn’t lying. A few hours later I noticed a settlement at a distance with pleasant surprise. The temperature had slowly changed as we travelled. From cool and lukewarm temperatures to a hot and damp atmosphere. My body was sticky all over due to heavy sweating. We had barely taken any baths. Whenever we got the chance and found bodies of water we only took dips in and quickly resumed our journey.
“I hope I can take a bath here.” I got down from Hakai’s shoulder to walk towards the settlement.
“Well, well, you can take all the baths you want here. Welcome to Yugakure the hidden hot water village.” Hakai had a smile on his face for the first time in a long while. His hair was currently died black to avoid suspicion. He had prepared the dye by picking and mashing up some materials from plants all over on our journey.
I got a little anxious seeing him smile. I had seen him smile only a few times before and it was only when he made a blade that he liked. “So, is this your safe place?” My brows raised with suspicion. Yugakure was a pacifist village so it made sense but I expected more like a hut somewhere on a mountain hidden from everyone.
“Of course not. No matter how peaceful they claim to be, they are still a hidden village. Besides there is a lot more going on behind the scenes in this village than you would expect. I just decided to take a stop here because you stink. I can’t carry you around in the state that you’re in or I’ll lose my sense of smell. Come let’s go.”
“Hmph, you smell worse than me! You’re were the one who put me in this situation in the first place you damned geezer!” I was practically shaking with anger. This old man had ignored me and walked straight into the village with the rest of the crowd. He complained about my smell but that weird hair dye of his smelt like rotten eggs, and I HAD TO SMELL IT CONSTANTLY BECAUSE HE WAS CARRYING ME ON HIS SHOULDER!
Taking deep breaths to calm myself, I entered the village as well. ‘It isn’t worth it, it isn’t worth it…’
We walked through the bustling streets of Yugakure. There were stalls and hotels everywhere. Delicious food was being prepared in all of them. The smell made me drool and enticed me to go over and have a meal. We had been eating berries and nuts for most of the journey. Other than some fish I hadn’t had anything tasty yet so I was dying to eat some meat.
Hakai grabbed the back of clothes dragging me away from the stalls.
“Wait! Let’s eat something here.” I pleaded.
“No, the food here is terrible for the body. I know a better place.” He dragged me away with his ox grip.
Soon we arrived at a very run down inn at some remote corner of a back alley.
“Saiko Tabemono?” I read the Inn’s name out loud. The name board was barely hanging on with one side of it lower than the other. If a strong wind blew in it’s direction it might even fall off. The wood that made up most of the inn was splintered and chipped off at many ends.
I don’t have much expectation when it comes to Hakai but I didn’t expect his choice to be this bad. It was better to hold absolutely no expectation.
We walked in together to see and old man sitting on a chair with his eyes closed at the reception area. There was a young teenage boy cleaning some very old looking tables and chairs.
“Welcome! Grandpa we have some customers!” The young boy gave us an excited toothed smile and called out to his grandpa waking him up.
The old man at the reception slowly opened his eyes. At first, they were hazy with sleep but as they got clearer, he smiled at us. “Hakai! It really is you.” He got up before coming up us and touching Hakai all over as if he was checking his health. “It’s been so long since I have seen you. You’ve gotten old and thin. Have you not been eating well?”
“Don’t worry about me Ippei I’m doing good.” Surprisingly Haikai went in for a hug. The Grandpa stiffened up a bit when Hakai was hugging him. I think I understood what the grandpa felt at this moment. It was very weird that Hakai was showing off his feelings in this manner. Usually all he did was act annoyed or get angry.
“Ha-Ha- H- HaHa” Still a bit jarred the Grandpa Laughed awkwardly and looked at me. “You have a child now huh? Resembles you a lot.” He looked at me for a moment, “Looks like you have been feeding him well at least.” He smiled warmly at me.
“Business not doing so good huh?” Hakai probed.
“Haha- well, no one except you can appreciate the value of our inn. Anyways you look really worn out. Wash yourselves up and take some rest, we can talk later. Isao! Take the customers to the hot springs.” As if wanting to avoid the subject of the state of their Inn the old man quickly shooed us away.
“Yes Grandfather.” The young kid took us away to the back of the inn where there was apparently a ‘Hot spring’.
I was skeptical at first that this place even had a hot spring. When we changed our clothes and went to the hot spring, I was actually pleasantly surprised. Unlike the other parts of the inn this area was well maintained, clean to the dot and had everything a good hot spring should have. Its only short coming was that it was quite small. In other words, I had to dip in together Hakai.
“What are you waiting for? Get in.”
I convinced myself that it would be alright and that right now I really, really needed to take a shower so I went in.
As soon as I got I immediately melted from the comfortable hot water. “Ah~” I let out a moan in relief as I felt my muscles relax almost immediately and get some well needed rest.
Hakai was also having a good time. He made it apparent by smiling and finally letting his sharp features relax a bit.
The steam hit their faces making it brighter, taking away their exhaustion.
….
….
Meanwhile there was a person standing outside of the inn hiding underneath the shadows casted by the moon. He was wearing all black and had an animal mask on that were available all over the streets nearby. His eyes were intently fixed on Saiko Tabemono.
♨️
Thanks for the chapter.
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