Her consciousness fading, Touye stared fixedly at the departing figures. *I'm too... weak... Too... weak... Damn... it... Damn it! Damn it all!*
***
"Ugh..."
The girl pushed herself up from the ground, her head spinning. The effects of the earlier blow hadn't fully subsided. "Damn it... I really can't do anything, can I... Damn it..."
She shook her head. "No. Haku is waiting for me to save her. I don't have time for self-pity! Calm down, calm down! Think about what to do. There has to be a way!"
She managed to get to her feet, leaning against a tree to support herself, and began to organize her thoughts, planning her path forward in this world.
She was only six years old, with a skill level somewhere between a genin and a chunin. While she could use B-rank jutsu, proficiency didn't translate to combat effectiveness; she had no experience using high-level techniques against real enemies.
She was six, one year older than Haku, who was about three years older than Naruto and the others. This meant she had roughly ten years before the main story began. In those ten years, she needed to reach at least jonin level, preferably elite jonin. After all, the Zabuza from the original story had fought Kakashi to a near standstill ten years later. And who was Kakashi? The son of the White Fang, the student of the Fourth Hokage, the famed Copy Ninja—one of the pillars of Konoha.
Zabuza had fought him to a mutual defeat, a testament to his strength. And she needed to grow strong enough to challenge, and even surpass, that man within a decade.
This body had great potential; otherwise, it wouldn't have awakened a Kekkai Genkai at such a young age. Therefore, Touye was confident that with enough hard work, her goal wasn't impossible. For now, the most important thing was one simple task:
Survive!
Only by surviving, by steadily increasing her strength, would she earn the right to speak, the right to stand at the pinnacle of the ninja world.
Zabuza was right. This was a world where the strong devoured the weak. There were countless people stronger than him: the Third Hokage, the Sannin of Konoha, Hanzo the Salamander, the Third Tsuchikage, the Fourth Raikage, the Jinchuriki, and even Akatsuki. The number of high-tier combatants in this world was staggering. If she wanted to save Haku, she needed power. And with enough power, it would be nearly impossible to stay out of trouble and live a quiet life with Haku. Even if she didn't look for trouble, trouble would find her.
Not to mention the future Moon's Eye Plan, orchestrated by whoever 'Tobi' turned out to be, Madara or Obito. If he succeeded, it would be a catastrophe for everyone.
After all, this was no longer a predetermined anime, but a real world where anything could happen.
To survive, to live a peaceful life with Haku, free from the fear of being hunted down, free from the fear of death, she needed one thing: strength.
Become strong! Stronger than anyone else!
At that moment, Touye yearned for strength with every fiber of her being.
The pain in her body seemed to fade. She pushed herself off the tree and stood on her own. "Since I've made my decision, I won't have any regrets. I'll just keep moving forward! I'm just an ordinary person, but from the moment I came to this world, I was no longer ordinary. I have a dream, I have a goal, and I will live! I will make Haku happy. And I will mercilessly crush anything that stands in my way!"
Her body was still frail, but her eyes shone with determination and hope.
"It's time to set out. My own journey, a journey where I'll risk everything for my conviction..."
***