Far away from the Hidden Leaf Village, the weather was completely different.
In the Land of Rain, the sky was always dark gray.
Heavy, cold rain poured down from the sky every single day.
The ground was nothing but thick, wet mud.
Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru walked carefully through the pouring rain.
They wore heavy cloaks, but they were still soaking wet and cold.
Tsunade wrapped her cloak tighter around her body.
She let out a soft sigh.
She missed the warm sun of the Leaf Village.
Most of all, she missed Dale’s warm smile and his cooking.
“This weather is absolutely awful,”
Jiraiya complained loudly, wiping wet hair out of his eyes.
“My boots are full of mud. I hate the Land of Rain.”
“Quiet, Jiraiya,”
Orochimaru hissed, his pale snake-like eyes looking around the dark trees.
“We are in enemy territory. The constant rain hides our scent, but it also hides the enemies.”
Suddenly, a bright, blinding flash of blue light exploded in the middle of the dark, rainy forest.
*Pop.*
Jiraiya shouted and instantly pulled out a sharp kunai.
Orochimaru dropped into a low, deadly fighting stance.
But Tsunade didn’t draw her weapon.
She knew exactly what that bright blue light meant.
The light faded away, and there stood Dale.
He was completely dry, wearing his casual clothes from the village.
Jiraiya’s jaw dropped wide open.
“Dale?!”
Jiraiya yelled in absolute shock.
“What are you doing here?! We are miles and miles away from the village!”
Orochimaru slowly lowered his hands.
His yellow eyes stared at Dale with deep, burning curiosity.
“A long-distance space-time jump…”
Orochimaru whispered smoothly.
“Fascinating.”
Tsunade was so incredibly happy to see him.
She ran forward and hugged him tightly, completely ignoring the muddy rain.
He had put his fast travel seal on her.
Such a silly name.
Fasuto Toraberu Fuinjutsu!
He said.
“Dale!”
Tsunade said, her eyes shining with joy.
But then, she quickly pulled back and looked at him with deep worry.
“Are you okay! You must be completely out of chakra!”
Dale laughed softly and gently wiped a raindrop from her cheek.
“I am perfectly fine,”
Dale promised her, smiling his warm smile.
“You don’t need to worry about my energy anymore. My chakra pool has improved massively.”
Tsunade blinked in confusion.
“How?”
She asked.
“Your pool was already huge.”
“Remember when I was helping Lady Mito transfer the Fox into Kushina,”
Dale explained calmly.
“My space-time seal automatically absorbed some of the Fox’s energy and turned it into my own lightning chakra. Right now, I have about the same amount of chakra as one full tail of the Nine-Tails.”
Jiraiya’s eyes almost popped out of his head.
“One full tail?!”
Jiraiya shouted, pointing a shaking finger at Dale.
“Are you crazy?! That is more chakra than most Kage have in their entire bodies!”
Dale just shrugged his shoulders.
“It helps a lot,”
He said simply.
“Jumping all the way from the Leaf Village to the Land of Rain only used about one-tenth of my total energy. And because of my natural Sage recovery…”
Dale took a deep, easy breath of the cool, rainy air.
“…It will only take me a few minutes to completely refill it.”
Jiraiya grabbed his own hair in pure frustration.
“It’s totally unfair!”
Jiraiya groaned loudly to the rainy sky.
“He is a total cheater! How am I supposed to compete with that?!”
Orochimaru did not say anything.
He just stared at Dale with an even hungrier look in his pale yellow eyes.
Tsunade laughed loudly.
It was a beautiful, free sound that completely chased away the cold, dark feeling of the Land of Rain.
“I missed you,”
She whispered softly into his chest.
“I missed you too,”
Dale said, kissing the top of her wet hair.
“And I thought you might want a hot meal.”
Dale reached into his jacket and pulled out a large, steaming bento box perfectly wrapped in cloth.
The smell of fresh, hot food made Jiraiya’s stomach growl loudly.
Even in the middle of a terrible war, Dale always knew exactly how to make everything feel okay.
After they finished the warm food, Dale stood up.
“I can help you scout the area before I go back,”
Dale offered, looking into the dark, rainy forest.
Jiraiya wiped his mouth.
“You can track enemies too? Is there anything you can’t do?”
Dale nodded and closed his eyes.
Bright blue sparks danced lightly across his fingers.
“I use my lightning chakra,”
Dale explained simply.
“I can feel the tiny electrons in the air.”
Orochimaru tilted his pale face.
“Electrons?”
“Yes,”
Dale said.
“Every living body makes a tiny bit of electricity. The rain and wet mud make it even easier to feel those sparks. Because of that, I can sense exactly where the enemy ninjas are hiding.”
Dale pointed a finger to the left.
“There is a small squad of four ninjas hiding in the trees about two miles that way.”
Then, he pointed straight ahead.
“And there is a much larger enemy camp three miles in that direction. They are waiting to ambush you.”
Jiraiya and Orochimaru looked at each other in pure amazement.
Dale had just mapped out the entire battlefield in seconds without moving a single step.
Tsunade was amazed too, but then a sudden, scary thought hit her.
“Wait, Dale,”
Tsunade said, her eyes widening with worry.
“If you are here with us… who is watching Kushina back in the village?”
Dale smiled warmly.
He reached out and held her hand to calm her down.
“Do not worry,”
Dale promised.
“I left a shadow clone with her at home.”
“A shadow clone?”
Tsunade asked, relaxing a little bit.
“Yes. We are currently reading a book together in the living room,”
Dale laughed softly.
“If anything bad happens to the village, the clone will pop. I will get all of its memories instantly. I will know right away.”
Dale’s eyes grew very serious and fiercely protective.
“Besides,”
Dale added, his voice completely solid.
“I already placed my fast travel seal on Kushina’s shoulder. I also put one on Mikoto and Hanako. I will always know where they are.”
Tsunade let out a long, heavy breath of pure relief.
“If anyone ever tries to hurt my students,”
Dale told them,
“I can blink right next to them in a single second. No matter how far away I am, they are completely safe.”
Tsunade smiled.
She felt so foolish for worrying.
She stepped close and rested her head against his chest.
“You really think of everything, don’t you?”
She whispered happily.
“I have to,”
Dale said softly, wrapping his arms around her.
“You and the girls are my family. I will never leave any of you unprotected.”
Jiraiya crossed his arms over his chest.
He stood in the cold rain, looking like a very sad, wet dog.
“Do you two mind?”
Jiraiya grumbled loudly.
“Orochimaru and I are standing right here. You are making us feel incredibly lonely.”
Orochimaru rolled his pale eyes.
“For once, I agree with the idiot,”
Orochimaru hissed softly.
“It is sickening. Can we please focus on the mission?”
Tsunade just laughed and held Dale’s hand tighter.
She didn’t care if her teammates were annoyed.
But suddenly, Dale stopped smiling.
His body went completely stiff.
His sharp eyes darted toward a thick patch of dark bushes a few yards away.
It was so small he almost missed it completely.
“Who is there?”
Dale called out, his voice instantly turning cold and sharp.
Bright blue lightning flickered dangerously across his knuckles.
“Come out right now, or I will force you out.”
Jiraiya and Orochimaru instantly grabbed their weapons.
Tsunade dropped into a fighting stance.
They were completely ready for an enemy ambush.
The bushes rustled slowly.
Dale prepared to fire his lightning.
But then, the bushes parted.
Dale’s blue lightning faded away instantly.
He dropped his hands to his sides, suddenly feeling very stupid for being on such high alert.
It wasn’t an enemy squad.
It wasn’t an ambush.
Three small, trembling children stepped out of the mud.
They were exactly the same age as little Kushina back home.
One was a boy with bright orange hair.
Behind him hid a girl with pale blue hair, and a boy with long red hair covering his eyes.
They were wearing dirty, torn clothes.
They were soaking wet, shivering from the cold rain.
But the worst part was how skinny they were.
Their cheeks were hollow.
Their eyes were wide and desperate.
They were completely starving.
The orange-haired boy stepped perfectly in front of his two friends, trying to shield them from the scary Konoha ninjas.
His legs were shaking badly, but he tried to look brave.
“P-please,”
The orange-haired boy begged, his voice cracking with fear.
“Please do not kill us!”
Dale felt a heavy pain in his chest.
He looked at these poor, broken children, and then he thought about Kushina, who was safe and warm in the village.
This was the true, ugly face of the ninja war.
“We are not going to hurt you,”
Dale said softly, taking a slow step backward so he wouldn’t scare them.
“What are you doing all the way out here in the forest?”
The boy pointed a shaking finger at the empty bento box in Dale’s hand.
“We… we were looking for food to forage,”
The boy admitted quietly, his stomach letting out a loud, painful growl.
“We smelled something really good. We followed the smell. We are just so hungry.”
The boy quickly reached into his dirty pockets.
He pulled out a small, wet bag.
His hands shook as he held it out toward Dale.
“Here!”
The boy said desperately.
“These are our valuables! We salvaged them from a ruined village nearby. You can take all of it! Just please let us live, and please give us something to eat!”
Dale looked inside the small bag.
It wasn’t money or gold.
It was just a few broken pieces of kunai, some shiny rocks, and a cracked piece of glass.
To these starving orphans, this trash was their entire life savings.
Tsunade covered her mouth.
Her heart broke into pieces.
Jiraiya lowered his kunai, his loud voice completely silenced by the sad sight.
Even Orochimaru looked away, his cold eyes softening just a tiny bit.
Dale walked slowly toward the orange-haired boy.
He didn’t take the bag of trash.
Instead, he knelt down in the cold mud so he was right at the boy’s eye level.
“Keep your valuables,”
Dale said with a gentle, warm smile.
He reached into his space-time seal and pulled out three more massive, steaming bento boxes filled with hot rice, grilled meat, and sweet vegetables he prepared in advance.
“My name is Dale,”
He told them kindly, handing the hot food to the freezing children.
“What are your names?”
XxxX
Miso: Hey, Guys.
I started writing super duper long chapters.
It was 2.5k -3k words long and I also put some very good picture there.
Something I can’t put here.
Not H by the way but still hot hehe.
XxxX
Buy me some coffee will ya.