Kanna was clearly curious about what had happened inside the fort; she had, at the very least, been able to see the entire thing slowly get covered in frost and rime. Such a phenomenon wasn't something you saw every day, yet other than asking if I was hurt, she didn't ask more.
Had it been anyone who knew more about the world of shinobi, they would naturally be asking no end of questions about how I could use the Ice Release kekkei genkai. Yet Kanna didn't understand why freezing an entire fortress was impressive—why it should have been shocking to see someone using both Ice Release and Shikotsumyaku.
But once more, ignorance was bliss.
Still, despite securing the payday that would hopefully last me a few months, I still had the problem of being right at the border between the Land of Bears and the Land of Valleys.
A really bad place to be all around. To get back to the Land of Fire, we would either have to cross the Land of Bears or the Land of Valleys back into the Land of Earth, or go down through either half a dozen small countries or the Land of Wind.
And I didn't want to move through that lifeless desert.
Going through the Land of Earth also felt like it wouldn't be best, since we'd just left them hanging on the questions about joining Iwa.
But going through my mental map, if I didn't pick either Wind or Earth, we would have to pass through the Land of Rain.
I didn't know what Zetsu was currently doing, or when Pain and Obito would get together to build Akatsuki. Showing up before that time—before they started to openly recruit—might cause Zetsu trouble.
So, for the sake of avoiding future problems, it was best if I didn't go that way. Which left two options open:
Back through Earth.
Or down through Wind.
Wind was a horrible place… but it would take me through Bear, which would allow me to cash in the bounty without having to wait until we reached the Land of Fire, giving us more travel funds.
Plus, going through Wind likely wouldn't take as long as we had spent in Waterfall. Not much to stop and admire in a desert.
There were a few things to keep in mind with either choice.
In the end, after looking at Kanna—who had been walking for so long, all while carrying Karin—I made my decision.
------
The Land of Bears was heavily forested, very different from the much more barren Land of Valleys.
I suspected the Land of Valleys might thrive in the future. I had no evidence of this, but it was rich in ore, and the many valleys and mountains made for many special areas that could be used for the specific cultivation of rare herbs useful for medicine. However, given the current economic situation of this world, few could afford to open new mines in a poor area like that.
Maybe once people needed more metal—once the level of technology rose as it apparently would following the Fourth War.
But for now, that place was bound to remain poor.
The Land of Bears wasn't much better, though it had its own shinobi village, even if a small and unimportant one. It did at least mean there weren't as many bandits around as in the Land of Valleys, and the forests meant that people could more easily hunt for food.
It was a simple place, with few people around.
"Excuse me, Kaguya-hime? Are we… are we lost?" Kanna asked nervously.
I sucked in a deep breath.
All around us was nothing but trees. We were indeed deep inside a forest, and the sun was setting fast, throwing us into darkness.
Yet how could I—Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, rightful ruler of this world, wielder of the purest Byakugan in the whole world—possibly be lost?
I could see more than a dozen kilometres in all directions, even into the ground itself. So what, despite that, I saw nothing but trees? I wasn't lost. I merely took the scenic route.
"We aren't lost, Kanna. You're merely imagining it due to the nature of this forest—trust me," I lied convincingly.
All while feeling like an idiot for getting careless.
Sure, the old Kaguya Ōtsutsuki might get lost in a forest, but me? I had gone through the full shinobi training of the Hyūga clan. I was a master tracker. I knew how to navigate a forest.
The truth was, I had just gotten lazy. I hadn't paid attention, had been overconfident, and well… we had indeed wasted a few hours walking all over the place rather than in a direct line.
Truly, one had to be careful about getting too arrogant. That had been my downfall against Naruto and Sasuke. Even that future version of me was far stronger than those two, but by holding back early on, she had given them time to figure out her powers and abilities.
Time to plan.
Mistakes made in arrogance.
Still, it wasn't like finding your way through a wild forest was easy. There were no landmarks, no paths, nothing to guide you—meaning the most someone could do was follow the cardinal directions.
Eventually, it got too dark to continue for long, so it was time to do something.
"Stay here," I told Kanna, before I used Ice Release to form a platform under me and lift it up.
Flying was a rare skill among shinobi; only a handful could do it, and all of those were elite among elite, including two current kage.
For an Ōtsutsuki, I could naturally fly freely. But my current body wasn't a full Ōtsutsuki. My pure chakra was slowly awakening the purity of the Hyūga blood, making me closer to a true Ōtsutsuki—but flying would still put heavy pressure on my Byakugan.
But that didn't mean I couldn't fly.
It just meant I had to do so as a shinobi rather than a god.
And manipulating my own ice was as easy as breathing. So while it wasn't perfect for true flight, it was good enough to let me rise straight up and give me a better vantage point.
Because even with the Byakugan's near-omniscient sight, there were a few things it couldn't easily see. Non-chakra smoke was among those, as was faint light caused by non-chakra sources such as normal fire.
Obscured by darkness, I broke through the treetops and rose into the sky, a nearly invisible sheet of ice holding me up. If someone could see me now, they would no doubt consider me a goddess.
Flying high above the earth.
From here, I could see what I couldn't see before: faint lights far away. Much too far to cover anytime soon—at least at speeds that Kanna could handle.
Still, it was a direction.
With but a thought, I dismissed the ice beneath my feet, letting myself drop straight back down to the earth.
While flying might strain my Byakugan too much, simply slowing myself was still within what I could handle.
"Kanna, we are too far from the nearest settlement, so we will camp here tonight."
"Here?" Kanna looked around—nothing but trees everywhere, not even space for a tent between them and all the other vegetation.
"Here," I confirmed, before I molded my chakra into Earth Release and forced the ground upward. Pure chakra manipulation quickly shaped pillars of earth and a platform between some of the large trees.
It wasn't a house, but it was enough to put tents on.
It was far over the top; a shinobi would have just cleared a small patch of ground. But I wasn't a shinobi anymore, and Kanna and Karin were just civilians—and a child.
What little training Kanna had had long since rusted, and Karin was too young for anything, so this was what we had.
A large platform raised among the trees, a pit for a fire, and a small rock wall to make sure Karin wouldn't crawl off the edge.
"Make some tea and some rice. I will get us some meat," I said as I handed her a scroll with everything we needed.
This wasn't the first time we had done this. I normally tried to avoid camping, but we'd done it enough that Kanna knew how to handle things.
And being in a forest, there were plenty of animals around.
So it only took me a few minutes to return with a few captured rabbits. "Handle these," I said, handing her our dinner, and in turn I took over watching Karin as she sat nearby, watching her mother work in the light of the fire.
Karin watched the flames with wide, fascinated eyes, small hands clutching a stick she had picked up from the ground. The fire reflected in her pupils, dancing as the rabbits roasted slowly over the pit.
She hadn't cried once since we stopped.
That alone told me how exhausted she was.
Indeed, she was just a small thing, barely able to stand on her own. And yet she was getting dragged across the world. Eventually, I would have to figure something out.
…
Dinner passed quietly.
The forest came alive around us as night settled in—chirping insects, distant calls of nocturnal animals, the soft rustle of leaves high above. The raised platform kept us well above most dangers, and the fire's warmth spread evenly without threatening the trees.
Kanna ate slowly, tired but calmer now.
"You're sure Wind is the right way?" she asked eventually.
"Yes."
She hesitated. "I heard it's all sand as far as one can see."
"It is," I agreed. "But don't worry. There are trails to follow, and we will likely find a caravan and travel with them. So you don't even have to walk."
Kanna looked relieved at that, even if she tried not to show it. The idea of endless sand underfoot clearly hadn't appealed to her, no matter how brave she tried to be.
"And Karin?" she asked after a moment. "Won't the heat be… hard on her?"
I glanced down at the small girl, who had long since abandoned her stick and was now half-asleep, leaning against my leg. Her breathing was steady, her cheeks flushed from the warmth of the fire.
"It would be," I admitted. "If we let it."
I shaped a thin sliver of ice between my fingers—clear, smooth, no sharper than a piece of polished wood. The air around it misted faintly as it absorbed heat.
"The people of Wind have long since learned to deal with the sun, and with chakra, we can deal with the heat. So worry not—I won't allow either you or Karin to suffer, not at the hands of men, nor nature," I reassured her.
Kanna smiled faintly.
"You make it look easy," she said.
I looked away toward the dark forest beyond the firelight.
"Some things should be easy," I replied.
(End of chapter)
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