With some time and distance between herself and the vile scene, the stiffness in her mind and body finally began to pass. Though the mental image of the scene she just witnessed still resided in her thoughts, being near her teammates calmed her enough to ground her thoughts. Mizu still couldn't...
Mizu cautiously eyed the elephants as she approached, carefully placing every step to not alert the herd before her. She froze the moment the first adult spotted her, momentarily breathless as its large head shifted its eyes to onto her. The rest followed suit, quietly gazing over her like kings...
Dashing up the hill took longer than expected for Mizu. Their sounds carried further than she predicted, and what seemed like a quick sprint turned into a minute long run. But in the girl's excitement, it only felt like seconds. Her eyes frantically skimmed her surroundings as she searched for...
As her comrades would have likely expected by now, Mizu tailed their sensei with her typical diligence. She instinctively did her best to match the pace Katsuro set, and to stay ahead of Tetsuo and Haruki. Without the burden of Katsuro's gear, Mizu fully expected the morning portion of their...
Katsuro quietly gave Tetsuo's request a nod while he focused on brewing their morning drink. Haruki may have screwed up, but it could have been worse. The fire was still hot enough to heat up the water, albeit with the assistance of some chakra to speed up the process. With his current batch...
A wave of relief washed over Mizu once the pig finally ran off. Wild animals were always unpredictable, and she feared removing it would have caused a scene that woke the camp. Fortunately, it didn't come to that. For good measure, Mizu scanned the dark of the forest with her flashlight one last...
Surprised that something was actually in the shadows, Mizu instinctively jolted her body back at the sight of the young pig. She pointed the end of her staff at the boar with a firm grip to keep something between them as she processed the situation in a tired state. Realizing how young the pig...
As Tetsuo situated himself to sleep, Mizu just stared at the fireplace. Shamefully she too would avoid looking at Tetsuo in an attempt to just put what had happened behind them. But as she sat there alone with her thoughts, recounting what had just occurred, a dreadful feeling washed over her...
Time awkwardly dragged on as Katsuro and Tetsuo sat in silence by the fire. Katsuro was hoping that Tetsuo would have tried to get some sleep, but the boy was insistent upon staying awake. He debated about telling Tetsuo to go back to sleep until it was time for his shift, but he was just too...
As Katsuro looked outward beyond the fire, things seemed to be calming down...for the most part. Tetsuo and Haruki argued a bit over the state of the camp, but Katsuro didn't intervene. In his eyes it was best just to let the two of them sort it out. If he jumped into every argument the two...
Having read Haruki's file, Katsuro was somewhat familiar with Haruki's family history. The specifics of what exactly Haruki's family did to arrange their move to the Leaf was left out of the boy's file. All that it really mentioned was that something had been arranged. Katsuro was curious about...
It was interesting to Mizu to hear Haruki's perspective on what life was like in the Land of Lightning. The topic had crossed her mind a few times during the times that she knew him, but she never got around to asking about it. From what he described life under Kumogakure seemed much stricter...
Mizu did find Haruki's story entertaining, even haunting at times. What sent chills through Mizu wasn't the paranormal side of the story. Rather, it was the conditions the miners of the village were forced to live through. Forced to go back down in the coal mines time and time again, even though...
The mood around the camp seemed as bright and as lively as the fire sitting between all of them. It a pleasant change for Mizu. For a good minute or so it seemed like everyone was in good spirits. She even caught Tetsuo of all people smiling and laughing, something she didn't even think that he...
Mizu was just as entertained by their sensei's story as her teammates. She couldn't help but smile at the tale, quietly laughing under her breath at their sensei's petty attempts to justify his actions. It was definitely different than the story Matsuda had spun, up to the point where they got...