When Hanako fluttered her eyes open, she realized she was in one of the forests inside the Fire Country. Even in the dark, she could figure out the silhouettes produced by the little moonlight present. The familiar trees towered above her in a protective way.
The sky was beginning to light up in light purple colors, letting her know that it would be minutes until dawn. Hanako stood up and sought among her things for the scroll she had been risking her life for, for the past few hours. Upon founding the parchment, she smiled victoriously but her grin was wiped out from her face when she remembered her father and his team's death. She sighed and tried to put her mind in blank, getting away from the memories that disturbed her at that moment.
Hanako began walking towards the village. She walked in grieving silence for the next few hours. The sun, high in the sky, started to burn her skin, even when she was still being protected by the tops of the forest trees. She walked slowly, swallowing her pride as tears ran silently down her cheeks. She once thought she could be invincible but once again, the world proved her wrong.
And once again, she had met him. The strange masked man she had met about five years ago. Weird enough, she still remembered him, he was the reason she awakened her Sharingan at such a young age. If you say you'll be strong then... Hanako shook her head at the voice in her mind. Prove it.
Hanako clenched her fists as she bit her lip so tightly a trickle of blood ran down her chin. "Ouch..." she reached her hand to clean the blood, and flinched at the burning pain in her lip. She immediately nagged at herself for feeling pain on something so small. "This is nothing compared to what they suffered," she told herself, reminiscing about the sword mercilessly impaled through her father's chest and Yoshito's neck bent in a weird angle.
Pain struck Hanako's eyes and she lost her balance, falling onto her knees. She quickly covered her face with her hands and let out a muffled scream. She was crying, but she didn't know if it was for the emotional pain or for the physical one. She gasped, taking in a few breaths to calm herself down.
Clenching her teeth, she got up again. She leaned herself against one of the trees around her to maintain her balance before fully standing. "I have to get to the village...come on, Hanako...move..."
A few hours later, the gates of Konoha finally became visible in the horizon. When she arrived, Hanako told the guards from the entrance that she needed a word with the Hokage urgently. The two male Jounin looked at each other, with worry on their faces, upon seeing a girl about ten years old and with a Konoha headband over her forehead. Hanako was a mess. Her chocolate hair was all full of knots, and with a few sticks and leaves jutting out here and there. Her otherwise angelic face, now looked like a stampede had run over it. Her lip was bloated, there were huge bags under her eyes -probably from lack of sleep-, there were bruises all over her arms and legs, her clothes were dirty -as if she had rolled over a mud puddle and let it dry-, and her fair skin was black with what appeared to be smoke.
They were dubious about letting her in, it could be a trap from an enemy village for all they knew; but her distressed expression and teary eyes made them reconsider their assumptions. A little girl couldn't be that good an actress, could she? Children were always truthful. She couldn't possibly mean any harm. Besides, for her headband, she was a Kunoichi of the Leaf, a Genin perhaps. A Genin, without her team. Something terrible must've happened, and she was a sole survivor or the others were in danger.
The Jounin looked back at the girl and nodded quickly. Something had happened, whatever it was, whoever she was, they had to take her to meet the Hokage. They escorted her to his building.
When the brunette entered the Third's office, she could see the sunset behind the mountains from the large windows behind the Hokage's desk. How long had it taken for her to reach the Village? An entire day?
