For the next few days, life continued in the same way. She killed anyone who bit too hard, but Orochimaru didn't care. He simply replaced them with other test subjects, and she had to endure being bitten all over again. Realizing she had brought this misery upon herself, she could only grit her teeth and bear it.
They sucked out her chakra relentlessly, and the bite marks on her hands became harder and harder to heal. Those people were like madmen, with inhuman strength. Hui felt they weren't looking to be healed so much as to eat her flesh.
After having so much chakra drained from her that she was utterly exhausted, she drifted into unconsciousness. In her sleep, she felt as though her throat had been pierced, leaving it so parched she couldn't make a sound. Even a single drop of water would have been enough!
Hui felt as if her whole body had been plunged into molten rock. She struggled desperately on instinct, unable to shake the nightmare.
Just then, a drop of water slid down her throat. It was like a river flowing over a wild grassland.
She slowly opened her eyes. Everything was blurry, and she couldn't make out the shadow in front of her. The person looked down at her with a cold smile. Hui lowered her eyes toward them and finally saw that it was Zhan.
She stood there in silence, smiling coldly and without restraint. Hui didn't know what she was laughing at, but the sight pierced her heart. She wanted to cry, yet her eyes only felt dry and gritty.
Hui raised her gaze to the sky, and a smile spread across her lips, just like Zhan's: cold and chilling, yet with no trace of emotion in her eyes. It was the indifferent smile of someone who had tasted despair.
It seemed there was nothing left in the world worth grieving over, nothing worth sighing about. She could only keep her purpose and resolve in mind, so she wouldn't give up hope for the future.
When Orochimaru sent her to treat them, she could only rely on the Mind's Eye of the Kagura and use Medical Ninjutsu to heal them. She forced her skill from a mere two-tenths of her potential to four-tenths. If she truly couldn't save them, all she could do was offer them her hand to bite.
At times like those, her face held nothing but a blank expression. She stared at the test subjects with a stiff expression and said coldly, "You'd better not bite too hard, or I'll kill you."
Orochimaru watched quietly from the side without interfering. He continued with his experiments, letting Hui do as she pleased. He thought it wasn't bad to sit back and watch.
At last, after two months of experiments, the first one succeeded. Hui was bitten while treating herself, but she didn't end up covered in bite marks. If she hadn't learned Medical Ninjutsu, she probably would have become a bite-mark-making machine.
As she watched the experiment succeed, Hui's cold face showed no emotion, but she felt an inexplicable sense of relief. She turned to Orochimaru and asked, "Teacher Orochimaru, can I leave now?"
Orochimaru looked at her without speaking, his cold eyes fixed on her. They seemed to brim with displeasure and menace.
Uzumaki Eiyuling, however, felt not a ripple in her heart. She met Orochimaru's gaze with calm eyes, no longer feeling the fear and inferiority she once had. Something about her had changed.
Seeing that look in Uzumaki Eiyuling's eyes, Orochimaru chuckled and said in a quiet voice, "You may."
Hui's heart gave a slight flutter, as if she had finally been set free. She turned and left the laboratory without a trace of reluctance.
Behind her, Orochimaru watched her leave with snake-like eyes. A chilling smile suddenly curled his lips. He licked them with his tongue, his eyes full of pleasure and excitement.
Uzumaki Eiyuling was becoming more and more to his liking.
After packing her things, Hui left without hesitation. Orochimaru truly didn't stop her. He probably had things of his own to take care of. She took quite a few ninjutsu scrolls with her when she left, so she could train along the way.
She came across all sorts of interesting things on the road. When she saw an especially beautiful Jade Shop, Hui stopped without realizing it.
Looking at the smooth, lustrous jade, she suddenly wanted to have a piece of jade carved. Unfortunately, she didn't have much money.
That reminded Hui of the black market, the easiest place to make money—and also the hardest.
She quietly began asking around for the black market's location. To her surprise, the Jade Shop owner knew where the exchange was and readily told Uzumaki Eiyuling.
Hui gave the shopkeeper an amused look but said nothing.
Following the owner's directions, she eventually found the black market. She took a few relatively simple D-rank jobs and finished them quickly with the Shadow Clone Technique. There were only a handful of jobs—assassination, stealing treasures—and it wasn't much different from when she had stayed with Orochimaru.
In less than a week, she had saved enough money. She asked the Jade Shop owner to make her a jade gourd with the character "love" carved on it.
Hui was very happy when she received it. She put it away and left.
After that, Hui didn't dare waste any time on the road. She headed straight for the Land of Wind, and the towns along the way grew increasingly run-down as their prosperity faded.
In those poor villages, Hui encountered thieves more than once. If she let herself get robbed, she wouldn't deserve to call herself a good ninja.
But the farther she went, the more ruthless the people became. They started trying to rob her outright.
Hui looked up at the people surrounding her, a cold smile in her heart. They were just a few ordinary people, and they didn't even have chakra. No wonder she hadn't sensed them coming.
"Kid, hand over anything valuable! I—cough!" Before the tall, burly man could finish speaking, Hui kicked him flying. The others were kicked away one after another before they could react.
Hui lowered her foot, straightened her clothes, and walked toward the burly man who had spoken first.
She stepped on his stomach and said calmly, "How much farther is it to the Land of Wind?"
"You... you're a... ninja..." the burly man asked in terror. Looking at the skinny kid, he had never imagined she was a ninja.
The pressure of Hui's foot slowly increased, grinding into his stomach. She said nothing, her cold face fixed on the burly man.
His face turned purple. He hurriedly said, "A few kilometers!"
Hui lifted her foot and lowered her head in thought. After a while, she left. The others watched her go with pounding hearts, then looked at one another, still shaken.
"That guy's eyes... they're terrifying..." One man staggered to his feet and hurried over to help their boss.
The tall burly man rubbed his chest and stood up, panting. "Are... are all ninjas... this scary now?"
His men exchanged looks and lowered their heads.
Elsewhere, Orochimaru glanced at Anko in front of him. "Anko, have you met her?"
"Do you mean Hui Youling, Teacher?" Guren asked, puzzled.
"Mm."
"I've seen her from a distance. Are you planning to put her in charge of things on the island, Teacher?" Anko asked, confused.
"No. It isn't time yet. Speed up your progress, too. If you need a medic, Qingsi will assign one to you."
"Okay..." Anko didn't know why she felt a little disappointed. She didn't really want to handle those matters, but it was what her teacher had asked of her.
Watching Anko leave, Orochimaru gave a cold smile. What he had been experimenting on all along was the Cursed Seal. He kept adjusting it to find a suitable concentration that others could accept. Since the mortality rate was so high, he needed the Uzumaki Clan to improve the survival rate.
At first, he had wanted Kabuto to do it, but compared to Medical Ninjutsu, the Uzumaki Clan's direct treatment was more effective. Besides, Hui had always been clever.
Hui stayed on the outskirts of the Land of Wind for several days, unable to find a way into Sunagakure.
The ninja village was defended like a fortress, and she couldn't just force her way in. On top of that, it had a vast desert as a natural shield, and plenty of outsiders had gotten lost in it.
After wandering around for a while, she finally heard about a caravan. They were looking for ninjas to escort their goods into Sunagakure. At times like this, Sunagakure would let them in to trade. Trapped in the desert, it was hard to enter or leave the village, so merchants were the only ones who brought in goods to sell.
After asking around for several days, Hui finally found a caravan willing to hire her. Of course, that only happened after she beat up the ninjas they had already hired. When they saw a little kid like her trying to become a hired ninja, quite a few of them laughed at her. Hui showed them no mercy and gave them a good beating, making sure they saw what she could do.
Her pay was still pitifully low. If she hadn't been in such a hurry to get inside, Hui wouldn't have agreed to protect this dead weight. That didn't mean she wouldn't cause a little trouble along the way.
People really did try to steal the goods this lot was transporting. The Land of Wind only sent a few ninjas to protect its official caravans. Everyone else was trying to get in and make a quick buck. Sunagakure didn't mind letting them in, but they had to hire their own escorts.
It seemed the robbers included both ordinary people and ninjas from other countries. This trade route was a real gold mine.
Hui had just dealt with a ninja who had nearly killed the caravan leader. Watching him flee in terror, she chuckled. "I'll say it again: I only stepped in because you raised my pay. If you make me unhappy, I'll turn around and leave. The pay you offered only gets you this far, anyway."
"Sure... sure... I had no idea you were so skilled, little brother. Please keep looking after us," the caravan leader said, flattering her with all the slyness of an old fox.
Hui raised an eyebrow. She had deliberately lured that ninja over. She hadn't expected him to be so strong, and the fight had caused plenty of damage. Everyone else had suffered some losses, apart from the caravan leader's goods.
Hui hadn't expected such a skilled ninja to show up, but she also didn't know that his real target was her, and that was why she had been able to lure him there.
In the end, however, they made it into Sunagakure and began trading. It was a rare occasion for the village to be so lively.
After going to so much trouble, she had finally arrived in Sunagakure today. Hui didn't know exactly when the first assassination attempt would happen, but Yashamaru's tragedy hadn't happened yet.
She didn't know whether she could stop it, but she truly wanted Gaara to know that someone cared about him.
Hui looked up at the sky. The storm hadn't arrived yet, so this was a good time to do business. She told the caravan she was leaving and went on her way.
She wandered around Sunagakure, since she had no idea where Gaara lived.
Sure enough, there were children out playing ball in the street. Hui felt a little down. She didn't know if she would meet Gaara, but no matter what, she would never give up.
The scene in her mind remained crystal clear: Gaara sat all alone on a creaking swing, the chains scraping against each other with a squeak that was the only sound in the alley.
His head hung low, loneliness in his eyes, and he clutched a little teddy bear tightly in his hand.
Hui remembered the swing. Before that incident happened, she had to find it. Perhaps then she could meet Gaara.
Hui didn't know if she had the luck to wait until that time. She could only pray that she would meet him. Perhaps coming to Sunagakure would all be for nothing. Only fate could bring the two of them together.
She had prepared for so long, hoping the heavens would give her one chance. Even if she wasn't lucky enough, she still hoped that when she met him, he wouldn't yet be a demon who had shut away his heart.
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