Why is "F" next to Gender? Doesn't that mean female?
"It does," Ikathar said solemnly. "Trust me when I say I would not do so if I didn't think this is your best chance at survival."
But why? Why send me here if it's so dangerous? Couldn't I go somewhere else?
"The Lord chose this exact time and place to test you," Ikathar continued. "If it were simple, it would not be a test. Usually, trials like this are for those in need of redemption. Yet He has chosen this for you."
He placed two fingers on my forehead. "Do what is in your nature. The gifts I've given you will help with the rest. All you need to remember is one thing."
What's that?
"Don't hesitate."
And then—black.
---
Haruhi/Dominic POV
The world exploded into nothing.
I felt my body flip, dissolve, reshape. Shock and vertigo collided. Limbs small, fragile, alien—yet instinctively mine.
Oh God, I'm gonna be sick.
Everything felt sharper, every sound seemed louder. Every motion—too fast, too disjointed. I tumbled in the air, trying to understand, trying to move. Panic was all I felt.
The carriage jolted violently. Kunai hissed past, some hitting the wood with loud thunks. Shouts erupted, fragmented.
A samurai flung open a side window. "It's an attack! Get out of..!"
A kunai struck him mid-shout. He collapsed, a scream echoing through the airless chaos of flying wood and metal.
Another kunai hit me. Pain exploded across my tiny body. My shrill scream pierced the sounds of battle around me.
Then Kyoko. My new mother.
A kunai struck her in the shoulder first, spinning her in place. Pain lanced through her. Her eyes widened as she saw the explosion rocking against the side carriage, shards of wood and splintered metal raining down.
"Haruhi!" she shouted, voice cracking. Blood ran from her neck as the next kunai pierced her chest. She gasped, choking, yet adrenaline surged through her one last time. Looking out the windows, she sees something and grabs my small body, flinging me from the carriage toward a sliver of space clear of the ongoing battle.
The world spun, flames licking at the edges of my vision, smoke blinding eyes momentarily, chaos screaming around me. My leg twists as I land. My head shoots up as I see her smile at me, eyes already vacant. Her body is then engulfed by a second explosion, destroying the carriage and everything within 5 meters of it.
"Mom… no…", I whimper.
---
Captain Isuke POV
Isuke scanned the treeline. He could see flashes of sparks in the darkness, jutsus being unleashed. One shinobi came at him with a sword. The fool.
Beheaded with a single strock.
His momentary distraction cost him.
One of his new guard, a boy barely a man, made the stupid decision of opening the window into Lady Kyoko's carriage. He was riddled with kunai a second later, giving the enemy an open view of their charges.
More kunai were thrown. Then a scream. A girls.
"No no no!"
Isuke rushed to carriage, hacking and slashing as he ran. His men fighting and dying honorably beside him. Then he saw blinded bythe flash.
---
Haruhi/Dominic POV
My side burned. Looking down, I see the handle from a kunai sticking out. I can't stop the hiccups and tears forcing there way out of me.
Breath. I need to breath. Closing my eyes, I concentrated on gaining control of myself. Using the techniques my mother taught me, I calmed down and assess the situation. The Flawless Diagnosis Technique revealed that the kunai had entered my colon. Not immediately fatal, I could last for almost a week if left untreated, but if i didnt clean the wound, I would die of sepsis much sooner.
My trembling hands quickly flashed through hand signs, preforming a modified Cleansing Technique. The jutsu creates a bubble of light blue chakra all around me. The original technique was supposed to expell bacteria, dirt, blood and other contaminants only from the users hands, arms and face. My mother's version allowed more control to where you were sterilizing. While more chakra intensive, it would keep me from getting sepsis.
Canceling the technique, I carefully applied a layer of chakra around the kunai, keeping it in place. My chakra wasn't full enough to do the Wound Sealing Technique, but I can keep myself from bleeding out.
As I'm was concentrating on healing myself, I noticed them.
All around. Hidden Leaf. Iwa. Flickers and pulses like lightning. Every heartbeat, every spark, every flicker of energy whispering to me.
My sensory abilities had always been high. Mom said i got it from dad, though she would never tell me who it was.
One signature was flickering. Like a candle about to go out.
About 16 meters aways, a red haired konoha ninja was laying in a pool of his own blood. His breaths was slowing, his skin turning pale.
Instinct surged. I wove chakra into my hands, using the Vital Repair Technique. Pulse by pulse, breath by breath, I used the last of my chakra to stabilize the red-haired shinobi.
My arms burned. My vision blurred. My breathing became ragged. I used too much chakra.
His eyes opened slowly, flickering towards me. He was alive.
I felt the tiniest spark of pride—Dominic's awareness guiding Haruhi's jutsu—but exhaustion crashed over me immediately. My vision blurred. My limbs refused to move.
---
Isuke POV
I dart through the chaos. Jutsu flared around me. Hidden Leaf defenders countered Iwa forces. Explosions shook the clearing.
I see her. Small. Bloodied. Channeling chakra. Then collapsing.
Pumping as much chakra as I could into my legs, I rocket towards her.
A jonin from Iwa had been watching. Eyes calculating. The moment he saw her stabilizing the Konoha ninja, he moved, a wicked grin on his lips.
I leapt. "Not if I—"
A patch of grass under my foot instantly flashed, the trap the Iwa ninja prepared activating!
BOOM!!!
The blast ripped through him. Dirt, armor and blood scattered.
General POV
Haruhi struggled to rise—small, trembling—but it was already to late. The jonin loomed, stricking her behind the neck, bringing her to unconsciousness. With a few handsigns, rock moved around her arms and legs, pinning them together. Picking her up, he was about to signal his men to retreat, when he heard it.
A low hiss...
A serpentine figure snaked through smoke and fire. Orochimaru moved like a shadow, impossibly graceful, every step precise.
From his gaping jaw, Ten thousand snakes slithered and surged toward the jonin. Engulfing. Constricting. Biting. Overwhelming.
The jonin, trapped, detonated an area Explosion Release, blowing the snakes apart. Haruhi was quickly thrown to the ground. The jolt of pain brought her back awake. She whimpered.
It hurts so much!
Orochimaru moved through the charred, flying chunks of meat and smoke. A poison-laced kunai plunged into the jonin's back, surgical, precise. The jonin froze, his veins turning a dark purple. Poisoned and stunned, he collapsed to the ground.
"Take them behind the line," Orochimaru hissed. Another ninja—brown haired and missing his left eye—darted forward, scooping Haruhi and the red-haired Konoha ninja into their arms. Smoke and fire swirled around them as they vanished, moving to safety.
Haruhi slumped, exhausted, bloodied. The battlefield roared behind them. But she felt it—momentary hope. Alive. Safe. For now.
---
Haruhi/Dominic POV
Dominic's awareness lingered in haze of pain and chaos.
This body… this life… it's fragile, but strong. I can do this. I have to.
Chakra thrummed faintly in every direction—it was the ninja still fighting. Some burned so bright, it was nearly blinding, like Orochimaru. Others vanished, and she watched as their chakra released into the air, no longer tethered. She couldn't control it yet—not fully—but she feel it. That was a start.
Ikathar's voice echoed faintly:
"Don't hesitate."