The Journey

"Why are you leaving again? Hui, when will you come back? How long will you be gone?" Naruto followed Hui around as she packed her things, already frantic with worry.

"Naruto, I'm leaving now. After I'm gone, make sure you keep training. I'll come back, but if you dare slack off, I'll beat you to a pulp!" Hui put a few notebooks in her backpack, then suddenly noticed a scroll not far away.

She paused and picked it up. It turned out to be the Three Body Technique scroll they had studied a long time ago. She opened it and saw some notes inside. They looked familiar, as if she had said those things herself.

"Naruto, did you write these?" Hui turned and asked.

Naruto came over and saw the scroll she had opened. Rubbing the back of his head, he said, "I'm so stupid, so I wrote down what you said, kind of like how you take notes."

Hui smiled, her eyes full of affection. "No, Naruto isn't stupid. You just haven't reached the right time yet."

"Really?" Naruto asked excitedly, then puzzledly added, "But what kind of time do I have to wait for?"

"You'll understand someday. For now, just focus on learning Taijutsu, okay?" Hui said gently. She thought Naruto could wait until the Ninja Academy to study the chakra system properly.

"Oh, right. This is for you—a new Taijutsu scroll." Hui took another scroll out of her bag. Naruto's eyes widened. Hui had already given him several scrolls like this, and he still hadn't learned them all. And now...

Naruto's face fell, and he looked at Hui reproachfully.

"Come on, don't look so miserable. Take this to Rock Lee first. The ones I've already given you are enough to keep you busy. Once you've more or less learned those, ask Rock Lee to give this one back to you. How about that?" Hui suggested. She didn't intend to force Naruto.

"...Okay... I understand..." Naruto still reached out and took the scroll, his head bowed. It was hard to tell what he was thinking.

Hui patted his shoulder. "I'm leaving now. I left you some money, too. It's beside your piggy bank. If you want Ichiraku Ramen, you can treat yourself after training, but you can't eat it every day!"

As soon as Naruto heard Ichiraku, he looked at her eagerly. But when he heard the last part, he pouted sadly. Hui smiled, shouldered her backpack, and headed for the door.

Naruto turned to look at Hui but still didn't go with her. Hui glanced back at him and said with a light laugh, "Remember to keep working hard. Maybe you have a mission of your own, too!"

Hearing that, Naruto broke into a bright smile and said excitedly, "Okay!"

At the entrance, Hui saw Orochimaru. Izumo and Kotetsu were still looking at him with admiration. Hui really hadn't expected that. Maybe the glory of being the foremost of the Sannin really had a dazzling aura—even the way they looked at her seemed to say she had a bright future.

That left Hui speechless. Orochimaru was such a pitfall; he had probably dug a trap for her long ago and was just waiting for her to fall in. But he wouldn't force anyone. He would just make them jump into his trap of their own accord. One word summed him up: "a master trapper!"

Kotetsu eagerly handed Hui her travel permit, but she could only feel helpless as she followed Orochimaru out of Konoha.

They walked in silence for a while before Hui finally asked, "Teacher, what do you need me to do?"

"Hui, you're from the Uzumaki Clan, aren't you?" Orochimaru's calm voice drifted over.

Hui froze for a moment, and her foreboding only grew stronger. Sure enough, Orochimaru continued in an unhurried voice, "That means others can absorb your chakra to recover."

"...Teacher Orochimaru, will this... kill me?" Hui knew she had little choice but to agree to Orochimaru's proposal. Besides, being from the Uzumaki Clan had been one of the conditions for becoming his student in the first place.

"Heh heh, no. I still have a lot of things I need you to do." Orochimaru gave another one of his cold laughs, making the air feel strangely eerie and chilling.

But Orochimaru wasn't laughing at her; his laugh was simply cold by nature.

"...Fine, I'll go. But after this experiment, I still want to travel around and study." Hui didn't waste time dwelling on feelings that wouldn't change anything. She made her request first, before she ended up with nothing.

"That's fine. Let's go. We should pick up the pace." Orochimaru had no intention of forcing anything. Hui only needed to grow into someone who interested him. As long as she wasn't staying in Konoha, everything would remain within his calculations.

Hui pressed her lips together. He had agreed so quickly. Though she didn't know what awaited her, she could only nod and quicken her pace.

Following Orochimaru into the laboratory, Hui stared in horror at the thing in front of her, hardly recognizable as human. She felt sick and uneasy. This was the first time Orochimaru had brought her into the lab, and she really didn't want to look. The creature was like something out of a nightmare, slimy and filthy, and the person kept screaming in pain, their body crawling with dense black markings.

She had expected the scene to be disgusting, but only after witnessing the whole thing firsthand did she realize she couldn't handle it.

Hui frowned and raised a hand to cover her eyes, not wanting to look at what was happening. Even her breathing had slowed.

With one last scream, the person fell silent. Orochimaru removed his protective gear and looked at Hui.

Hui walked stiffly toward them, trying to turn her head away. She held her hand near the person's mouth, and they suddenly summoned one last burst of strength, biting down on Hui's arm like a madman. A ring of teeth marks appeared at once.

Hui shuddered all over. It hurt terribly; the guy was trying to crush her bones. A surge of fury rose in her, and her other hand shot up to grip his neck before she could think. Without realizing it, she tightened her grip.

The man paused, immediately struggling to breathe. His bite weakened, and he begged in broken gasps, "H-help... help... Lord Orochimaru..."

Orochimaru watched Hui with an unreadable expression, that strange smile still at the corner of his mouth. Hui's eyes were cold, her voice dropping to freezing point. "Heh, if you want to live, don't mess with me. I'm not merciful. Bite that hard again, and I'll kill you first!"

He looked at Hui pleadingly and hurriedly nodded. Hui released his neck and watched him gasp for breath, her eyes narrowing.

After a while, he looked up at Hui Youling. It was as if he saw snake-like eyes, a gaze so cold it pierced to the bone, seeming to freeze his heart and swallow him with its aura of death. He looked at Orochimaru in terror, then his eyes suddenly widened. Their gazes were far too similar. Who exactly was this child?

Hui saw that he still had enough strength to make faces. That bite had taken quite a bit of her chakra, too. There was no way he would die now.

Hui gave him a cold look, then turned to Orochimaru. "Teacher, I saved this one, too. I don't want these scumbags biting me again."

"Mm. Wait over there," Orochimaru said in his hoarse, low voice.

Hui returned to her place and watched Orochimaru resume the experiment. Looking down at the tooth marks on her arm, she realized a chunk of flesh had been bitten off, leaving an ugly wound beneath. A wave of nausea rose in her. Many emotions flashed through her eyes, but a ball of green chakra slowly gathered in her hand. She pressed it against the wound and stared blankly as it gradually healed.

Orochimaru continued his experiment, but he had also noticed Hui's movements. For someone from the Uzumaki Clan, a living vessel, to learn Medical Ninjutsu—how interesting...