"Shin, wake up! The monsters are here!" A girl's deep voice echoed. Her face was blurred—only her black leather armor and pants were visible.
"Hey, wake up, Shin!" She kept nudging him.
"Ughh..." he mumbled as the girl's voice slowly faded.
"Wake up!" She shook him harder.
"What happened?" he asked, but the girl in his vision was already disappearing. A deafening sound rang in his ears, and suddenly, Konan's face came into view. Her worried expression was clear as she continued trying to nudge Narumi.
"Narumi, wake up," she urged, nudging him again.
"Konan... What happened?" Narumi groaned as he slowly sat up. Around him, panicked voices and Nagato's crying filled the air.
"Something exploded near us." she replied
"Are you all okay?" Yahiko asked as he slowly got up, while Konan immediately rushed to Nagato's side after confirming Yahiko and Narumi's condition.
"Chibi!" Nagato sobbed, desperately trying to wake his dog.
*BOOM!*
*CLANG!* *CLANK!*
Explosions and the clash of metal erupted nearby, forcing Narumi and Yahiko to climb the cliff and check what was causing it. "Who are they?" Narumi demanded as they saw Konoha ninjas facing an Amegakure ninja who was standing atop a salamander.
"Lord Hanzo and Konoha's shinobi," Yahiko muttered, his face twisting with fear. He turned to his friends and shouted, "We have to get out of here—now!"
"Chibi!" Nagato cried again, clutching his motionless dog.
"What do I do? Chibi won't wake up!"
"Worry about him later! If we don't run, we're dead!" Yahiko yelled. Without another word, they all bolted toward their hideout and Nagato is cradling Chibi in his arms.
---
"Damn it! When will this war end?!" Yahiko screamed as he punched the wall.
"Unh...uh," a sniffle could be heard, a sound of crying despite the loud noise of the rain.
"Nagato, quit crying!" Yahiko yelled as he walked and climbed to the top of a cliff.
"When you get beat down, just crying over it isn't going to change anything," he added, anger in his face.
"Just like this land's rain,"
"I'll change this land," he added with a determined expression.
"And to do that, I need big strength, not just a big mouth!"
Konan, Nagato, and Narumi just looked at him and listened.
"We need to learn ninjutsu."
"To do that, we need to train," Narumi added.
"But how are we going to train? We don't even know how," he continued.
"We'll find those shinobi from earlier and ask them to teach us," Yahiko answered him.
"Isn't this dangerous?" Nagato said with a sniffle, fear mixed in his voice.
"I've got a feeling that they aren't dangerous," Yahiko muttered as he jumped down and stared.
"Stop crying; cowards like you are the reason why this land keeps suffering," Yahiko said as he patted Nagato's shoulder.
"Starting tomorrow, we'll search for them," Yahiko said with resolution.
"Well, maybe getting stronger will make me remember my past," Narumi said as he eventually agreed.
"Nagato, we have to bury Chibi now," Narumi added.
"Unn." Nagato nodded as he put Chibi in a pit they had dug out earlier.
---
A day had passed since Chibi died, and the four children had been preparing for their excursion to search for shinobi who would teach them ninjutsu.
"I feel like I'm a selfish person," Yahiko suddenly muttered as they stared outside their hideout. All of them were wearing dirty white raincoats paired with gas masks.
"What do you mean?" Narumi asked him with a confused expression.
"Well, I'm the only one talking about my dreams, and all of you are being dragged into this," Yahiko said, looking down.
"It's okay, Yahiko-kun, I'll just follow wherever you, Nagato, and Narumi go," Konan replied with her soft, childlike voice.
"I... I don't really have a dream, I just want to protect you all," Nagato timidly replied, though quietly determined.
"I don't have a dream, but I do have a goal," Narumi answered as he stared at Yahiko.
"What is it?" Yahiko replied.
"To uncover my past, and maybe getting stronger will be one of the keys, so you don't have to worry, Yahiko," Narumi replied as he recalled the girl from his vision yesterday.
"Yup, Yahiko-kun doesn't need to worry, we're all in this, and we already agreed," Konan assured Yahiko not to worry about them.
"If that's the case, then let's go!" Yahiko yelled, a smile etched on his face.
---
Before they began searching for the shinobi, they returned all their stolen goods to where they took them and apologized.
Days passed as they traversed treacherous paths where the war between three nations was occurring. Numerous traps laid around the battlefield, almost ensnaring them.
Lands and houses were ravaged by powerful ninjutsu, and blood was visible wherever they looked.
Day after day, they tried to find the shinobi who would teach them but they found nothing.
"We're almost out of rations, Yahiko," Narumi muttered, quite exhausted.
"We're almost there; we just have to climb this tall cliff and search for food in the forest," Yahiko assured them.
They slowly climbed uphill, making it to the top one by one until Konan was the last.
"Up we go, Konan," Narumi said as he pulled her up.
"Thanks, Narumi-kun" she replied after she successfully climbed up.
"Let's go," Yahiko said, but before they could start walking, numerous kunai flew towards them; some had explosive tags.They all got startled and were unable to move.
"Shit," Narumi could only swear, and Nagato stepped up to protect them and unconsciously used an unknown power that shielded them.
Narumi noticed this and also unconsciously tapped into his Byakugan prowess, disabling some of the explosive tag seals.
BOOM!
Some exploded, but it was too late. The cliff they were standing on collapsed.
"Aaahhhh" screams escaped on their mouths as they are helplessly thrown into a flowing river.