"Welcome back, Kaguya-hime," Kanna said as soon as she noticed me returning with the Flying Thunder God jutsu.
I merely nodded at her, and then my shadow clone cancelled itself, filling me in on everything that had happened while I was gone.
Which was nothing special. Just how much could happen in one night anyway?
With something as major as the fall of the Uchiha clan, the rest of the world likely had to be completely calm for the next week or two to compensate for that massive event.
"We will be leaving in the morning," I finally informed her.
"So soon?" she asked. "Karin will be sad, she likes it here."
I merely nodded. "Yes, tomorrow. What happened in Konoha tonight will cause waves, and while it's not guaranteed that they will reach us, it's better to move to the next step in our journey before the waves rise."
Kanna looked like she wanted to say something, and given the worried look in her eyes, it seemed she was worrying over whether we were in any danger, but in the end, she didn't say anything as she walked off to begin packing up.
As for me, I just went to get some rest. It had been a long day, and tomorrow would be a day of walking, so I figured I might as well get a bit of sleep while I had the chance.
...
"But Mom! I don't wanna go, I like it here, the hot springs are nice, and the food is great!" Karin complained the moment Kanna told her we would be leaving after breakfast. Her pouting face was quite a sight to see.
"I know, dear, but we have to go. We can't stay in one place for too long, Kaguya-hime is the one who decides where we go and how long we stay, and she told me we are leaving." Kanna tried to placate her as she gently stroked her daughter's hair. But Karin seemed to be in a mood today.
Still, despite her clear displeasure, she didn't even entertain the thought of arguing with me; she knew she could complain all she wanted to her mother, but she respected me far too much to whine to me. That much was clear from her actions.
The innkeeper was sad to see us go, especially since we were probably some of the most lucrative customers he had had in recent months.
But all good things had to come to an end; far too many people knew where we were staying, and if my actions in Konoha drew even a little attention, we would soon be swarmed.
And I was certain that my involvement would be known to the leadership. Hiashi would keep my identity secret, but he couldn't hide everything. So the Hokage, and worse, Danzō would know that I had been there, and that I had messed with their plans.
The Hokage would likely be thankful that I saved some children, having never intended to kill them all off, but Danzō, he would hear that an outsider broke into the village and see red.
Even Hiruzen would not be able to ignore the fact that I somehow managed to be there on the night the operation was going down. That was far too suspicious, more so since it was the second time I happened to sneak into the village when something big was happening.
Even if my actions did benefit Konoha both times, he couldn't ignore the facts put before him.
So I was sure that he would order Jiraiya to find out more about me, and Danzō would send his Root to capture or eliminate me.
That much I was sure of, so it was time to lie low for a while.
Go somewhere where they wouldn't be able to find me.
And I just so happened to have a perfect place in mind.
Beyond the Land of Hot Water, and somewhere in the territory of the Land of Lightning, was a small, nameless island.
And if my calculations were correct, some interesting people should have opened up shop there around this point in time.
I suppressed the slight smile as we started on our journey. I was looking forward to seeing how Karin would react to the news of what awaited us, and more specifically, what awaited her there.
Though given that I didn't want to be followed this time, I had to be a whole lot more aggressive this time around compared to what I normally did.
All those little rats following us in secret, trying to stay hidden, had to go.
With a single one-handed hand sign, I formed a small group of shadow clones, who wasted no time splitting up and dealing with our tails.
Despite the weaknesses of shadow clones, a single one was more than enough to deal with these small ANBU teams; after all, their specialty was tracking and stealth, not combat. So once found, they were sitting ducks.
A team of three from Kumo, dead from a hail of ice kunai.
A duo from Konoha, a handful of bone bullets through their vital spots.
Four from Kiri, cut apart by a Storm Release laser.
Three from Iwa, reduced to ash under a powerful Fire Release ninjutsu.
Just one from Suna; that man was lucky enough to feel the softness of my clone's palm against his face before the Gentle Fist turned his brain into soup.
After the great villages were blinded, my clones continued to deal with the other stragglers, dozens of solo actors that were keeping track of my whereabouts for one reason or another.
All were killed before they could send word of my sudden aggression.
Only the civilians who saw us off knew we were leaving, so eventually, the shinobi forces would learn of it, but by then, we would be long gone.
Hopefully, the way in which their shinobi were killed would prove that it was indeed me who did it.
Even if most of the clues would be gone.
After all, ice melts, bodies decompose; it was only a matter of time before most of the signs were gone, with only the bone bullets remaining.
I would like to see how Konoha would deal with that headache, after all, some information said I was in Konoha just last night, yet now here I was, in the Land of Hot Water.
Would they suspect space-time ninjutsu? Or would they struggle to come up with an explanation?
I almost wished I could be a fly on the wall of the meeting where they tried to figure out how I had pulled it all off.
If nothing else, a few Nara clan shinobi would pull their hair out in frustration, because the likelihood of someone having space-time ninjutsu was so small it would be disregarded as a fringe theory.
Ahh, yes, the simple pleasures in life.
Karin knew nothing of what happened in the area around us; her abilities as a sensor were still immature and allowed her to sense only within a small radius around her.
So she just carelessly skipped down the road, the tantrum of the morning forgotten in favor of new adventures. "Where are we going?" she asked as she jumped up ahead of Kanna and me, and turned around, walking backward for a bit. "Are we going to another inn with a hot spring?"
"I haven't been there before, but we aren't going there for hot springs, so I can't say if there will be any or not," I answered honestly.
"You haven't been before?" Karin asked, the childish, honest shock visible on her little face. The look of total disbelief was endearing, and it just went to show how all-knowing she considered me to be.
"I haven't been everywhere, little one. And despite how it might seem, I'm not omniscient, contrary to popular belief," I said with a small smile, as I reached out and patted her head.
"O-oh..." Karin replied, her head tilting to the side... "What does omniscient mean?" she asked a moment later.
"It means I know everything," I answered as I ruffled her hair a bit before moving ahead.
"So you don't know everything... but you know a lot?" she asked as she hurried to catch up.
"That's right, I know a lot, but not everything," I confirmed.
"Huh..."
...
We traveled for the rest of the day, stopping only for a short break for lunch, before we finally reached a small coastal town just before nightfall. It was a small fishing village, but it had what we needed, so we booked a room for the night in the only inn they had.
After buying some dinner from a small local restaurant, and having some of the best fish I'd had in a while, we decided to turn in for the night.
But before we did, I had to go to the docks and arrange for our travel for the next day.
The island I wanted to go to was a bit off the coast of the Land of Lightning, which meant that we had to find a boat willing to take us there.
Though not a single sailor would willingly sail out into the open sea, especially not to that island. Apparently, there were rumors of it being cursed. And no matter the coin I offered, they wouldn't go there.
I suspected the so-called curse was nothing more than a carefully spread rumor, and any deaths and disappearances were likely due to shinobi using Wind or Water Style ninjutsu to keep people away.
A smart move, do it for long enough, and sooner or later, people wouldn't willingly sail there, meaning you could stop paying shinobi to continue their services.
Fishermen were, after all, among the most superstitious people one could find.
Still, I knew there had to be some way out there; nobles were constantly coming and going from that place, not to mention merchants.
So after a short conversation with a particularly stubborn one, I managed to make him see the light, and after I handed him a generous pouch of ryō, he agreed to take us there.
It was a shame that he wouldn't remember the conversation in detail, but he would still take us there, and that was all that mattered.