Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_272

The time for Team-9 to leave arrived, and in the crisp morning, as the sun rose up the horizon, the team's five members left the city. They had seen their goodbyes to everyone the day before and left without fanfare. They had a long journey ahead of them and decided to get out of the Land of Hot Waters and enter the Land of Fire as soon as possible.

As they left the city behind, Iori stopped and looked back at the city that was already far in the distance, barely visible on the horizon. The rest stopped and gazed at the city they had spent over two and a half months in. It wasn't a long time, but so much had happened that, in their minds, it felt like ages.

"I didn't like Yu when we lived there," said Iori. "I hate it now because I lost a friend there. I never want to come back here—even if it's the last remaining city in the world."

"Aye," said Daiki.

The rest also spoke their agreements and then continued on. Takuma was the last to turn away from the city, taking it in a moment longer, not because he would miss it—quite the opposite. Like Iori, he never wanted to return to Yu and couldn't be happier about leaving. He just feared that it wouldn't leave him even though he was leaving the city.

"Takuma, come on!" Anko yelled for him.

Takuma took a deep breath before turning away and not looking at the city until it was no longer visible.

For the next two days, fuelled by their anticipation, the team ran from sunrise to sunset as they made their way through the Land of Hot Waters, only stopping at towns to rest. They arrived at the border and passed through without real problems, marking the end of the team's journey together. They stood at an intersection of the major trade road network, the Land of Fire. Not everyone's final destination was the Hidden Leaf village, and it was time to go their separate ways.

"I... I technically don't have a home address because I stopped renting before I left," Takuma sighed as he handed paper slips to everyone. "What I do have is a P.O. box to which you can send letters to. And if you give me your addresses, I'll send you my new contact details when I get one." He passed them a notepad and pen, and at the end, everyone had a copy of everyone's addresses and landline numbers.

"Keep in touch. It doesn't matter if you don't have anything to write, just send anything," Iori said as she looked at Takuma and Kameko.

"Why are you looking at us?" said Kameko.

"Because you two seem most likely not to write," Daiki replied.

"I'll write," Takuma promised.

"Unlike him, I do have a home, so if you come to the village, you can stay with me," Kameko said to Iori and Daiki.

Anko knelt on the ground as she rummaged through her backpack to take out a stack of letters, which everyone in the group recognised and caused them to stiffen up. They were the 'wills' the team had made in case they died during the precursor mission. Everyone except for Daiki had left behind several letters addressed to their friends and families.

"We are shinobi, and having a will and letters to loved ones on standby is practical. I suggest you make those when you return home to prepare for an emergency." Anko held up the letters. "These, though, we are going to burn... I was a brand new chunin when I did a dangerous mission. At the end of the mission, the jonin in charge made us burn our letters because we had managed to stay alive—it was supposed to be a gesture that instead of worrying about death, we should aim to live to the fullest."

She distributed their letters to everyone, which left her with her stack.

"Where's Rikku's?" asked Takuma. Another terrible memory he had thought about a lot resurfaced. He remembered the Frost mission he had done with Iruka. He had to conduct his dead teammate's funerals on the field and collect their belongings so they could be returned to their families.

"With the quartermaster," said Anko. "They're going to make sure her belongings reach her family."

Anko weaved hand seals and created a fire on the side of the road that the team surrounded.

Takuma stared at the fire and thought about Anko's words about living to the fullest instead of worrying about death. His entire time in this world had been a constant struggle for survival and growing stronger so he wouldn't die, but in the last year or so, he had stopped living his life with that mindset. He had been too busy to think about the dangerous future he knew was coming.

He had changed from the scared man he was when he started. But was he living his life to the fullest? No, he didn't think so. He wouldn't be a shinobi if living his life to the fullest was his goal. It was a better goal for sure, but the truth was that he wanted to live long. He wanted to feel safe and secure, and he knew in his heart that he wouldn't feel that way if he wasn't a shinobi working towards growing strong.

Putting himself in danger to make himself safe was a contradiction he had accepted.

As long as he knew the future, he knew he wouldn't slow down to enjoy life truly—his biggest asset was also a curse. He wondered what it would be like when he arrived at the point in the future when he no longer knew what lay ahead. It felt freeing, but it also brought a sense of anxiety, and yet he looked forward to it.

Takuma looked at the letters in his hand, snapped the jute cord holding them together, and split the stack into half.

"Here," he said as he held the half stack to Daiki.

Daiki gazed at the letters silently for a moment before accepting them with a nod.

"Here," said Iori, who gave a few of her letters to Daiki.

"Here," Anko did the same.

Kameko silently handed him a few of her letters as well.

Daiki looked at everyone as his face twisted with emotion before hiding his face behind the fanned letters. "I miss her," he said as his voice cracked and his shoulders trembled.

"I know," Takuma said as he looked into the fire, "me too."

"To living," Anko said as she chucked her letters into the fire.

" "To living" "

The others followed, and everyone threw their letters and watched in silence as the flames ate paper and ink, leaving behind ash of what would've been their last words.

Takuma thought about the symbolism. If he had died, the letters would've lived, but the letters were now dead because he had lived. Did that mean that if he wanted to continue to live, someone else would have to die? It made sense because, in a real fight, it was either kill or be killed.

'She died so you could live,' said the hate-filled voice in his head.

Takuma turned away from the fire and took a deep breath. He shook his head to clear away the thoughts. He wasn't in the right state of mind to think about those things because he knew they would inevitably end up in the same destination.

"Alright, let's split up," Anko said after the burning was complete. "I'm going this way; who else is coming with me?"

"But the village is that way," Kameko pointed in another direction.

"I'm going to visit my parents for a week before going back to the village," Anko said with a faint smile. She had talked about them before and how they used to live in the Hidden Leaf village but moved out to somewhere slower a few years back to escape the fast-paced life of the Hidden Leaf.

"I'm going that way," said Iori.

Daiki raised his hand. "Me too."

It was time to say goodbyes and Iori came over to hug Takuma.

"Try to slow down a little, take care of your health, and just don't rush... make some time yourself, yeah?" she said. "I'm going to miss you dearly, so don't forget to write."

Takuma hugged her back and nodded. "I don't want to buy my own tags anymore. You should move to the Hidden Leaf village and do it for me."

"When you become a jonin, you can hire me. I'll come then."

"Planning to ride my coattails, huh."

"Hell, yeah. I want that easy life."

"Sure, I'll call you to the village when I become a jonin, so you better get really good."

"Okay, deal."

They separated with smiles on their face, and Takuma walked to Daiki, who put his giant arm around his shoulder as they slowly walked while talking.

"Any plans?" asked Takuma.

"Hunting, I miss it," Daiki replied.

"Yeah? I like that," Takuma smiled. He missed camping as well and thought about going on a weekend excursion and perhaps going hunting as well.

"Yeah, there's large wetlands a day and a half from my town. Lots of crocodiles, real big ones. I'm thinking of going there to see if I can hunt the biggest one."

"Damn, I was thinking deer or something, but you're straight going for crocodiles."

"Deer were fun when I was in the academy, not anymore. Trying not to get bit by half a dozen meaty crocodiles is at least fun."

"Just be careful in case you run into chakra beasts like Anko's snakes."

Daiki hummed. "What about you? What's a city boy like you planning to do."

Takuma rolled his eyes. "To be honest, I don't know... I haven't thought about it. Hang out with friends, have some good food, perhaps a movie or two at the theatre... I'll think about it when I get home," he sighed. Takuma looked up at Daiki and patted his back. "Thank you for teaching me chakra masking. Next time we meet, I'll show you my progress. Let's go mess with some sensory-nin then."

Daiki laughed. "Yes, that sounds fun."

Finally, it was Anko's turn, and it was short because she was going to return to the Hidden Leaf village soon.

"Let's have a meal: you, me, and Kameko," she said while giving him a side hug. "Take care of yourself and if you need anything, don't hesitate to call, okay?"

Takuma nodded.

"Great," Anko smiled.

The team split up in two and went their own directions.

Takuma sighed because while he was happy to return home, he was leaving the people he had been with for so long, and who knew when he would next meet Iori and Daiki? He looked at Kameko, and while he was by no means an expert in what she was thinking, even he could tell that she was feeling the same emotions as him.

———
.

Takuma and Kameko's journey through the Land of Fire took three days. Both of them agreed that they were in no mood for sightseeing, so they took the most direct route and only stopped in towns for rest. The scenery, landscape, and weather were different from Land of Hot Waters, and Takuma felt the homesickness he didn't know he was feeling lift.

"I'm proud to be a tree-hugger," Takuma smiled as he the dense amount of trees lining the roads.

He looked at Kameko, expecting her to make a comment, but she acted like she hadn't even heard it.

"You're no fun," he whispered.

"And you aren't funny," Kameko said back.

Takuma was about to say something when he saw something on the horizon that took his breath away.

"We are here," he gulped.

It wasn't the walls of the original Hidden Leaf village, nor was it the Hokage Mountain, what Takuma saw was a simple farm. Once upon a time, the Hidden Leaf village was located within the walls of the city, but it had long since extended beyond those boundaries in the form of farmland used to feed the city. Takuma had spent the first year of his shinobi career outside the city working D-rank missions in those farms.

"Let's hurry up," he said and rushed faster with Kameko following up with a similar haste.

Within fifteen minutes, they saw the Hokage Mountain with the faces of the four Hokage sculpted into the mountain face rose above the horizon. As they drew closer to the village, they started seeing genin dressed in Hidden Leaf colours popping. Everyone who was on the road to the village turned to look at them because they were running faster than anyone, overtaking everyone. It truly seemed that they were racing against each other, and people who caught their expressions before they zapped past them all thought they were having the fun of their lives.

Soon, the walls of the city became visible, and before they knew it, Takuma and Kameko stood before the giant green gates of the village with their red characters proudly and prominently displayed for everyone to see. Through the open gates, they could see a slice of the Hidden Leaf village, and it elicited the same feeling that an oasis would to a parched man trudging through an unforgiving desert.

It was beautiful.

"We are home," said Kameko.

Takuma opened his mouth to reply, but his voice cracked. He cleared his throat, gulped, and licked his lip as he tried to think about what to say before uttering a single word choked full of emotion.

He pursed his lips and cleared his throat before uttering one single word full of emotion.

"Yeah."

———

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