Hotaru

By now, the night had grown even deeper.

The temperature in the Gobi was still dropping, yet Sōji, dressed in thin clothes, did not feel cold.

Ugly Treasure's body was like a warm scarf wrapped tightly around his waist. Its body temperature was slightly higher than a human's, making it a natural heater in the frigid night.

Sōji did not sleep.

He was thinking about those four people from earlier. They were probably a border patrol squad from Sunagakure.

Their vigilance, formation, and manner of questioning had all silently conveyed one message: the border of the Land of Wind was more sensitive than he had imagined.

Was it because of illegal mining? Or something else?

The Land of Wind was indeed rich in mineral resources, a fact known throughout the five great nations. Rasa, the Fourth Kazekage, was also renowned across the Shinobi World for his unique Gold Dust technique.

But for Sunagakure to deploy patrol squads of this level at regular intervals, the illegal mining situation had to be more serious than the rumors suggested.

Or... was there some other reason?

Sōji's fingers unconsciously tapped against the back of his hand.

Forget it! There was no point overthinking it. None of this had anything to do with him. He was only passing through.

With that thought, he closed his eyes and prepared to rest for a while.

But at that moment, another chakra signature appeared within the perception of the Six Eyes.

It was faint and distant, but it came from the exact opposite direction of those four people—from the southeast, deep within the Land of Rivers.

That chakra was strange. It was not the condensed chakra of a shinobi, but something far more elusive, as though it might dissipate at any moment.

Moreover, it was moving. Not quickly, but with a clear destination: the border.

Sōji slowly sat upright, and Ugly Treasure lifted its head as well.

The darkest hour before dawn.

The campfire had long since gone out, leaving only a pile of dark red ashes.

Sōji leaned against a rock, his breathing steady as the Six Eyes remained fixed on that chakra.

It had been drawing closer, moving slowly, but it was now less than five hundred meters away.

Then the chakra source stopped. It remained behind a rock five hundred meters away, utterly still, as though observing something.

Sōji did not move either. He was waiting for the other party to approach.

Second by second, time passed. A faint pale light began to spread across the eastern horizon. At that moment, the chakra source finally moved.

She stepped out from behind the rock and walked toward the campsite one step at a time. Her footsteps were light and slow, carrying a trace of hesitation.

And Sōji's Six Eyes finally saw what the newcomer looked like.

It was a girl.

She looked around twelve or thirteen, so thin she was little more than skin and bones. She wore tattered clothes and walked barefoot across the freezing Gobi.

Her hair was a tangled mess, caked with sand and dirt, and several dried tear tracks streaked her face.

But what caught Sōji's attention most were her eyes. They were deep brown and exceptionally bright—far too bright for a wandering child.

That faint chakra was emanating from within her body.

This chakra... wasn't right!

Sōji's brow twitched slightly as the Six Eyes instantly entered deep observation mode. Hidden deep within the girl's body was an enormous, destructive chakra fluctuation.

Where could a twelve- or thirteen-year-old girl have obtained such massive chakra?

Could she be... a Jinchūriki?

Sōji's pupils contracted slightly before he shook his head.

The Land of Wind's current Jinchūriki should have been Gaara. Even if Gaara had been gender-swapped, there was no way a Jinchūriki would be out here alone.

This was the border, an uninhabited desert wasteland still at least several hundred kilometers from Sunagakure!

At that moment, the girl stopped twenty meters away from Yamada Soji.

She stood there barefoot in her ragged clothes, staring at the blindfolded boy before her with those unusually bright eyes.

Neither spoke. After a long silence, the girl could not help speaking first.

Her voice was soft and thin, carrying obvious hoarseness and exhaustion. "You... you... do you have any water? I have money. I can buy some."

Sōji looked at her cracked lips and sunken cheeks. After a brief silence, he reached into his pack, took out a waterskin, and tossed it to her.

The girl caught it and froze for a moment. She had apparently not expected him to hand over such a precious resource in the desert so readily.

Still, she did not dwell on it. Pulling out the stopper, she began drinking in great gulps.

Water ran from the corners of her mouth, over her cracked lips and sand-covered chin, dripping onto her tattered collar.

Sōji never spoke. He simply watched her and waited until she had drunk her fill.

The girl raised her head and wiped her mouth with her sleeve. In a soft, hesitant murmur, she said, "Thank you for the water. But I don't have any money right now. I'll definitely repay you someday."

Sōji merely nodded slightly. "You're welcome. It was nothing."

Hearing that, the girl held the waterskin and stood there, seemingly hesitating over something.

But Sōji did not question her. He simply leaned back against the rock again, entirely unconcerned with who she was, where she had come from, or where she was going.

Yet the Six Eyes remained locked onto her, as well as the violent and massive chakra within her body.

After hesitating for a long time, the girl finally spoke. "You... are you going to the Land of Wind?"

Sōji tilted his head slightly. "Yes. Why?"

The girl's eyes suddenly lit up. "Then... could you take me with you?"

She spoke carefully and hesitantly, as if afraid of being refused.

Sōji did not agree. He only looked at her and asked, "Why do you want to follow me? Aren't you afraid I'm a bad person?"

The girl lowered her head and remained silent for a long time. Then she looked up and stared earnestly at Yamada Soji.

"I don't know where to go. I can tell that you're a good person, big brother, and... I don't want to be alone anymore."

At that moment, the first ray of sunlight pierced the clouds on the eastern horizon. Golden light fell upon the Gobi and upon the small, frail girl.

Sōji looked at her. After a long silence, he asked, "What's your name?"

The girl froze for a moment, then smiled. It was a soft, faint smile, as though she had not smiled in a very long time and had forgotten how.

"Hotaru. My name is Hotaru."

Hotaru.

The moment that name entered his ears, Sōji's Six Eyes trembled slightly.

Hotaru Tsuchigumo—the girl who had appeared in the original story, the descendant of the Tsuchigumo Clan and the vessel for a sealed forbidden technique.

She should have been the granddaughter of the Tsuchigumo Clan chief on Mount Katsuragi in the Land of Grass. Why was she here?

Thinking this, Sōji studied the frail girl more carefully.

Tattered clothes, sunken cheeks, cracked lips... setting those aside, the outline of her features did indeed faintly resemble the girl from the original story.

But she was far too thin now—like a withered branch eroded by wind and sand, ready to snap at any moment.

No matter how he looked at it, Sōji could not connect this skin-and-bones child before him with the curvaceous, alluring beauty in his memories.

But this explained the strange chakra fluctuation within her body.

It was not a tailed beast, but Rage Hair Heaven, the forbidden technique passed down through generations of the Tsuchigumo Clan.

It was said to be a terrifying power capable of destroying an entire town with a single activation, but only someone of their bloodline could serve as its vessel, passing it down generation after generation.

But why was she here?

Mount Katsuragi was in the Land of Grass, at least several hundred kilometers from the border of the Land of Wind. Why would such a frail girl choose to cross such a vast distance alone?

Was it because of a conflict with her grandfather?

Sōji recalled the plot of the original story.

The Tsuchigumo Clan chief—Hotaru's grandfather—had sealed the forbidden technique inside his granddaughter in order to protect the village.

As a result, Hotaru could not live a normal life. She was alienated by the villagers and eventually chose to run away from home.

The timeline matched. Then she must have slipped away.

She had wandered and begged all the way here, enduring who knew how many hardships before reaching this place.

What a tough little girl!