Chapter 98: Fateful Encounter
"Huff... huff... huff..." The boy and girl breathed heavily together, their already meager remaining strength exhausted in the chase.
The two collapsed powerlessly to the ground, their eyes meeting, and they smiled. They could survive.
The boy's name was Yahiko, and the girl's name was Konan. They were both war orphans from the Land of Rain. They had met a year ago and had been relying on each other ever since, struggling to survive together in this crying land.
Yahiko took out some food from his怀中. His throat moved, and then he handed a portion of it to Konan, who was lying beside him. Konan smiled serenely at Yahiko, took the food, and the two eagerly unwrapped the food packaging and began to feast, washing it down with rainwater. Their pale faces rapidly regained color as the food went down.
The food disappeared at an astonishing speed. After all, the two of them were truly starving. Konan was slightly better off; Yahiko had given her his last bite of food earlier, while he had been hungry for almost three full days, surviving only on rainwater.
"We can't eat anymore. We have to save some!" Yahiko frowned slightly, putting down the food in his hand, thinking to himself. Although he had only eaten about seventy percent full, they were still in a situation where they didn't know where their next meal would come from. They had to save enough reserves. It was enough for Konan to be full; he, as a "man," could endure being hungry for a bit longer.
At this moment, the sound of barking came from a distance, getting closer and closer to the two of them.
A skinny brown puppy ran towards them. Although it couldn't speak, its actions expressed its urgent mood.
Konan, who had already eaten her fill, stood up and said to Yahiko, "It seems like it wants us to go somewhere!"
"Then let's go, follow it and see what happens!" Yahiko also stood up, carefully putting away the remaining food, then followed behind the puppy with Konan.
In the distance, a thin, motionless figure lay face-up, its bright red hair, like fire, scattered in the muddy puddle.
The puppy rushed forward, circling the figure anxiously. Yahiko and Konan followed, their expressions changing slightly as they looked at the boy lying on the ground.
Yahiko and Konan, still possessing kindness in their hearts, immediately bent down and worked together to lift the unconscious red-haired boy. Konan's hand inadvertently brushed his forehead. "Ah! Yahiko, he has a fever!!!" Konan exclaimed in surprise, then called out to Yahiko, her voice carrying a hint of anxiety.
Although they had eaten their fill, it was still quite difficult for Yahiko and Konan to lift someone who looked about their age. After some effort, the two finally worked together to carry the red-haired boy to a nearby cave they usually used to shelter from the rain, with the brown puppy following behind.
"Cough... cough... cough!!!" Suddenly, the red-haired boy's body jolted violently, and a violent cough came. The red-haired boy weakly opened his eyes, opened his mouth, wanting to speak but without making any sound. At this moment, he didn't even have the strength to speak.
Konan's lively eyes looked at Yahiko. Yahiko smiled wryly, got up, and walked out of the cave. He understood what Konan meant.
Yahiko collected some rainwater outside and came back to feed it to the red-haired boy. Then, with a look of pity, he took out a portion of the food he had originally planned to save for later, mashed it up, and had Konan feed it to the red-haired boy bit by bit.
Seeing its master wake up, the puppy on the side couldn't help but bark happily.
After drinking some water and eating some food, regaining some strength, the red-haired boy thanked the two of them and then fell into a deep sleep again. Yahiko and Konan, who had been busy for half a day, breathed a sigh of relief after seeing that the red-haired boy was alright. Then, drowsiness and fatigue washed over them, and they leaned against each other and fell asleep as well.
When the red-haired boy woke up again, it was already the morning of the next day. It was still raining outside.
The red-haired boy struggled to get up from the ground and knelt down. Having received timely food, he was now out of danger. Although he still had a fever, he was no longer in serious condition.
"Thank you!" the shy red-haired boy said softly. He knew that the two people in front of him had saved him. At the same time, he stroked the puppy that had come closer upon seeing its master wake up, saying to it as well, "Thank you too!"
There was another silence. After a moment, the red-haired boy spoke, introducing himself. His voice was much louder than before. "My name is... Nagato!"
Konan smiled kindly at Nagato, her large eyes curving into a crescent moon. "I'm Konan!"
Yahiko also smiled, his sunny smile like a ray of hope piercing through the haze, shining directly into Nagato's heart. "My name is Yahiko. Let's live together from now on! Of course, you too!" Yahiko added to the puppy. The thoughtful boy naturally wouldn't forget this extremely human-like puppy.
"Hmm!" The shy Nagato lowered his head, his long red hair covering his purple-tinged, ripple-patterned eyes, but his voice came through. Hearing the reply, Yahiko and Konan smiled again. From now on, there wouldn't just be the two of them anymore.
The life of three people and a dog began.
The next day, in the evening, the food Yahiko had saved ran out. Although they had tried their best to conserve it, with two more mouths to feed, the food was consumed quickly.
"Ugh! I really don't know what to do! This damned war, this damned ninja world!" The expressions of the three weren't very good. The war had caused too much damage to the Land of Rain. The Land of Rain's control over the towns below had almost completely collapsed. War orphans like them were everywhere, and civilians were struggling hard to survive.
"In the future, I will definitely change this ninja world!" Yahiko said fiercely, his eyes filled with longing for power. He craved power to survive, craved power to protect Konan, Nagato, and Pochi (the brown puppy), craved power to change this country, craved power to change the entire ninja world, craved power to bring peace to the ninja world and end wars.
Konan and Nagato didn't have such lofty ambitions, but they nodded in agreement, deeply trusting Yahiko.
The friendship and bonds of young people always progressed quickly. In just a few days, although Nagato wasn't good with words and didn't talk much usually, he successfully integrated into Yahiko and Konan's group. The times of shared hardship deepened the bonds between the three rapidly.
The evening sky was gloomy, as if covered by a thin veil. Fine rain drizzled down, like cow hair, like flower needles, densely weaving diagonally. Raindrops fell on the floating water on the ground, rippling out in circles.
In the shadows of a street corner, the three small figures were hiding here, looking at the stalls in the market that hadn't yet closed, swallowing their saliva, their eyes filled with longing.
Night fell, and the sky had completely darkened. But in the end, even after all the stalls were cleared away, the three still didn't dare to make a move. With Yahiko's experience yesterday, if they were discovered and caught again, the consequences would probably not be good. They wouldn't be so lucky every time.
Night fell quietly, and the small town became exceptionally quiet, as if time had frozen. At this moment, the streets were empty, with only faint lights swaying in the wind. The three exhausted children were cautiously groping their way forward in the darkness, preparing to return to their cave near the town. Just then, a series of messy and hurried footsteps broke the surrounding silence.
"Tap! Tap! Tap!"
In the distance, several black ninja shoes rapidly stepped through puddles, each footfall splashing water droplets that scattered and merged with the rain.
The rain began to get heavier, like a waterfall pouring down, enveloping the entire world in a vast curtain of rain.
The three children watched the direction of the sound vigilantly, their heartbeats involuntarily quickening. A tense atmosphere permeated the air, making it hard for them to breathe.
As the footsteps got closer and closer, the three children's nerves were stretched to the limit. Suddenly, a flash of lightning tore through the night sky, illuminating the road ahead. In the brief flash of light, they glimpsed several blurry figures wearing black raincoats and forehead protectors engraved with a swirling leaf pattern, rapidly traversing through the rain like ghosts.
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