Kanna Uzumaki had been born in Uzushiogakure to loving parents, in what could be called a time of peace—at least relative peace. It was during the era of the First and Second Great Shinobi Wars.
Her parents, however, had not been strong shinobi. And because Uzushiogakure had been mostly spared the worst of the fighting, the war had barely touched her childhood at all.
Looking back on it now, it felt almost like a dream—an innocent time, free of worry or fear.
"Focus. Be calm. Relax, and focus. It's not hard. You can do it."
Kaguya-hime's voice reached her as Kanna struggled to coax a flame into being. She nodded slightly and forced herself to loosen her grip on her chakra, trying to feel it properly instead of pushing it forward in clumsy bursts.
Her mother had taught her this when she was still a little girl. It was supposed to be simple—so simple that even children could manage it. A basic skill that even civilians knew.
At least, civilians born into shinobi clans like the Uzumaki.
They possessed far more chakra than ordinary people, and even those who never walked the path of a shinobi still lived lives shaped by its use. Kanna had been no exception. Back then, she had little interest in becoming a shinobi, and her talent had been unremarkable at best, so she had never trained seriously.
Power had never seemed important to her.
She had not needed to be strong. She had her family, her clan, and her village—layers of protection shielding her from the realities of the world beyond Uzushiogakure's shores.
And that was how her life should have gone.
She would have grown old there. She would have given birth to Karin. She would have died there one day, laid to rest beside her parents.
That was how it was meant to be.
Had it not been for the war.
The Second Great Shinobi War ended, and for a brief moment, the world seemed to grow even more peaceful. Kanna fell in love. She married.
And then everything changed.
It happened without warning: a devastating attack on Uzushiogakure that shattered her peaceful life.
She, along with many other civilians, was escorted out of the village, all while her clansmen fought and died to give them an opening. The young women and children were pulled from the fighting.
Yet… despite the many lives sacrificed, they were attacked. Kanna could do nothing but try to escape, and somehow she did survive. But she was alone and lost in the end. Everyone else had died when they were attacked.
Each attack took more lives; their escort long gone, they had nothing.
Eventually, the small group split apart, everyone fleeing in their own direction.
She somehow ended up in the Land of Grass, where its shinobi found her and took her to Kusagakure.
She was already lost and scared, tired and hungry, so she was very thankful to them for helping her. And she wanted to repay them, but she had nothing.
At first, they had been kind to her, treated her so well. But now she knew everything had been lies. Those who treated her like a friend were all too quick to treat her like nothing later on.
Life in Kusagakure was hard. It was rough. It was painful. Once her value as a medic was found… no, not a medic, a medicine, she wasn't treated like a person at all, but as a tool.
Yet as suddenly as that happened, her life changed again as she found out she was pregnant. It must have happened just before she left home, before it was attacked and burned to the ground.
Little Karin was a miracle, the last love of her husband, a proof of their bond. In those dark days in Kusagakure, Karin was her only light, her only reason her life could be spent healing the shinobi who kept her captive—if only they would give Karin a better future.
She had fully expected to die there, to wither away in that small hut they had given her.
But no. Once more everything changed, and once more, it came without warning. Kaguya-hime had saved her. She had taken her and Karin away by force.
She had been scared, unsure of what would happen next, but life with Kaguya-hime had been… strange yet peaceful.
Kaguya-hime was beautiful in a way no human ever could be—elegant, graceful, radiant, as if she weren't walking the same earth as ordinary people. She spoke calmly, moved calmly, breathed calmly, even when killing or intimidating hardened shinobi.
She was so very strong, far stronger than anyone Kanna had seen, and she never seemed surprised by anything.
She was as graceful and beautiful as a princess, yet as strong as a force of nature, or a goddess.
Yet Kanna knew that Kaguya-hime had a kind heart. Despite how cold she could act at times, how distant she seemed, deep down, she was gentle.
Kanna saw that when she was interacting with Karin.
When it came to children, Kaguya-hime clearly had a weak spot.
There were also plenty of mysteries around her that Kanna couldn't figure out.
Like whether she was blind or not, and how she always seemed to know everything, to see everything even with a blindfold on her face.
That didn't seem to be a normal shinobi thing either, as others clearly also had the same questions when they saw her.
But Kaguya-hime just brushed her off when she asked, not in a mean way, just teasingly telling her it was a secret.
Another mystery was Kaguya-hime's real identity. Who was she?
She acted like a noble, someone of high birth, like the wife of a daimyō or something like that. Yet she also had the strength and skill of the most powerful of shinobi—two things that just didn't fit together at all.
She also said she had children of her own, and from how she acted around Karin, it was clear that she knew what she was talking about. She clearly had experience dealing with children, yet from how it sounded, her children were adults.
But how could that be possible?
Kaguya-hime seemed so young. Far too young to have adult children already. She didn't seem any older than Kanna herself, so that only deepened the mystery around her.
Indeed, Kaguya-hime was a mysterious person with many secrets.
She always seemed to know everything: both of their surroundings, but also politics, secrets, and history. She knew everything.
And Kanna?
She felt like she knew nothing.
Every day, Kaguya-hime would teach her something new, always patiently, as if teaching a child.
Indeed, at times, Kanna felt like she was being treated like a child—not condescendingly, but naturally.
Like that was just how Kaguya-hime saw her, which only added to the mystery about how old she really was.
Despite being curious, Kanna wasn't planning to ask; it wasn't her place to do so. She owed Kaguya-hime everything, and she wouldn't repay her by snooping around and asking questions.
Clearly, being a shinobi was often about secrets and information. So no, she wouldn't ask, but she still found herself thinking about it from time to time.
All the different mysteries, all the small things she was starting to pick up on.
Maybe it was because Kaguya-hime always told her to look and think about things more deeply, but she was starting to notice more things.
Like how Kaguya-hime was bad with money, and liked living the life of a noble, dressed in the finest of clothes, eating the best of foods.
Kanna would never forget how much the clothes she wore cost. Every day, when she took them off before bed and when she dressed herself before heading out, she would sit with them between her fingers, worrying about them being worn or damaged.
Kaguya-hime spent more money in a day than most would earn in a lifetime, and she did that again and again, never holding back. Even when she talked about being low, she would spend more than Kanna had ever earned the next day.
Still, the days with Kaguya-hime were relatively peaceful.
Yes, there were moments of terror—monsters that should not exist, shinobi who looked at them with greed or fear, places that reminded Kanna how small and fragile her life truly was. But between those moments… there was calm.
They walked.
They rested.
They ate.
They slept safely.
It was a strange thing, to feel peace while constantly moving. Kanna had always believed peace came from settling down, from roots and familiarity. But with Kaguya-hime, peace came from certainty.
The certainty that nothing would reach them without her permission.
The certainty that no matter what appeared on the road ahead, Kaguya-hime would stand between it and Karin.
And between it and Kanna.
That certainty was what allowed her to breathe.
Kanna sat on one of the chairs inside the stone shelter, Karin asleep in her arms, her small body warm and heavy against her chest. The rain tapped softly against the stone roof above them, muted and distant. The lantern light cast gentle shadows along the walls, making the place feel far cozier than it had any right to be.
Kanna wondered, not for the first time, what it must be like to see the world the way Kaguya-hime did.
To never feel helpless.
To never be at the mercy of others.
To walk through life knowing that no one could take from you what you did not allow.
Kanna had lived her entire adult life defined by fear—fear of hunger, fear of pain, fear of losing Karin, fear of displeasing the wrong person. Even now, those fears had not vanished completely. They lingered, quiet but persistent.
But when she looked at Kaguya-hime, those fears loosened their grip.
Maybe, one day, she wouldn't feel them at all.
She adjusted Karin slightly, careful not to wake her, and let her gaze drift to the stone walls, the neatly placed furniture, the blankets, the warmth.
This wasn't camping.
This was shelter.
This was safety.
This was… something she had not dared hope for.
Kaguya-hime stirred, turning her head slightly in Kanna's direction. "You are staring," she said calmly.
Kanna flinched, then flushed. "S-sorry, Kaguya-hime. I didn't mean to—"
"It is fine," Kaguya-hime interrupted, her tone neutral but not displeased. "You are thinking again."
Kanna hesitated, then nodded. "Yes."
"About the past?" Kaguya-hime asked.
"…And the present," Kanna admitted softly.
Kaguya-hime was quiet for a moment. Then she said, "Do not dwell too long on what cannot be changed. The past exists to teach, not to chain."
Kanna absorbed the words slowly.
"Yes… I think I understand," she said.
She wasn't sure if that was entirely true yet.
But she wanted it to be.
As the rain continued to fall outside and Karin slept peacefully in her arms, Kanna allowed herself to believe something she had not believed in a very long time.
That her life was no longer something to be endured.
That perhaps… it could be lived.
And that whatever Kaguya-hime truly was—noble, shinobi, goddess, or something else entirely—she was the reason Kanna and her daughter were still here.
Safe.
Together.
(End of chapter)
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