'The Lone Wolf' is a strategically located inn at the intersection of one of the most important routes in the Land of Fire: the northern road leads directly to the Land of Rice, the southwest road connects to the road leading to the Land of Rivers, and the southeast road leads to the nation's capital.
The inn is always busy, day or night, with people relaxing in a comfortable room or simply eating in the living room. The building isn't a hotel, but it's well known for providing some of the best service in the area, so word of mouth has made it a must-visit for all travelers passing through.
Today is a day like any other, and the inn's dining room is packed with diners despite the early morning. Outside, several people are waiting for service or simply buying food from one of the several takeout stalls located across the road. At one of these stalls, two men are chatting as travelers enter and leave the inn.
"I don't see anything that matches the description. Are you sure it was him?" asks one of the men, with blond hair and a scruffy mustache.
"I saw him come in 20 minutes ago. He had gray hair, a braided beard, and he was with five others. He matches everything the paper said. I'm telling you, he's still inside. It's impossible for you to see anything from here" replies the other man, wearing a straw hat and in a state of excitement.
The blond-haired man begins to get impatient that he can't see anything, so he crosses the street and looks out of one of the inn's windows, taking a quick look so as not to arouse suspicion, but his eyes can't help but show surprise, which he quickly hides and returns to where the other man is, crossing again.
"It's him. I'll tell the boss. You stay and don't lose sight of the objective" says the blond-haired man, to which his companion nods.
As he turns to leave, the man in question accidentally trips over something and almost falls to the floor. He hears a moan beneath him. To the man's surprise, a little girl, no more than 6 years old, with short black hair, is lying on the floor in pain.
"What are you doing, girl? Watch where you're walking!" the man shouts.
"I'm sorry sir, I can't see, can I bother you with a coin so I can eat?" The girl says, trying to direct her face towards the man.
The man realizes that the girl is blind, due to her whitish eyes, and that she is dressed as a beggar, so he seems to understand that it is just a nuisance to continue dealing with her, so he simply ignores her and leaves the place.
"Hello, can I bother you for a coin so I can eat?" the girl tries again, this time with the man in the straw hat.
"Don't bother me, girl! I'm busy!" the man shouts back, while still looking in the direction of the inn.
"Little girl, I told you not to bother people. Take this and get out of here" the owner of the nearest stall intervenes, passing a rice ball to the girl and leading her away.
The girl quickly eats the rice ball while trying to orient herself by touching objects along the road, then begins to walk slowly southeast.
Hours pass, and the clock strikes 3 when a man leaves the inn along with five others. This man in particular is elderly, with white hair and a long beard that he keeps braided and neatly groomed. His clothes are of high quality, and his companions behave like well-trained guards. One of them also carries a bulging backpack on his back, probably a precious piece of cargo.
The group in question immediately heads to the inn's stables, and a few minutes later, they emerge in a two-horse wagon, heading toward the capital.
A few moments after the wagon leaves the inn and the intersection, a dove takes flight from some trees and heads south, quickly overtaking the wagon.
Having left the intersection for no more than an hour, the wagon passengers are surprised to find that traffic on the opposite side of the road has slowed to almost nothing, causing some to begin to suspect that something is amiss. But the alarm really arises when they encounter a lone rider around a particularly sharp bend. The rider in question advances at a brisk trot toward the wagon, obviously paying no attention to the wagon's crew, as if simply passing by, which causes them to hesitate.
It's at the precise moment the rider stands side by side with the wagon horses that his eyes shift to the wagon, and with inhuman skill, he draws a katana from his waist and swiftly slashes toward both horses. The sword is far from capable of harming both animals together, but what ultimately happens is that a massive crescent-shaped blade of chakra is ejected from the weapon, instantly decapitating both horses and leaving a deep mark in the ground.
"Samurai!" shouts the leader of the group of guards inside the wagon, causing everyone to panic, including the older man, who jumps out of the wagon in search of a hiding place.
The rider, a man with long, ponytailed hair, shows no fear and simply whistles. Immediately, arrows begin raining down on the wagon guards, causing screams of pain. Then, from the bushes beside the road, a dozen heavily armed men emerge and pounce on the wounded guards.
Without any mercy, the bandits kill all the members of the wagon and proceed to loot everything of value they find, under the watchful eye of the rider, who doesn't care much about what his companions do and keeps his eyes more on the road in case he sees someone approaching.
Without any mercy, the bandits kill all the members of the wagon and proceed to loot everything of value they find, under the presence of the rider, who does not care much about what his companions do and keeps his eyes more on the road in case he sees someone approaching.
A few minutes after it all began, the rider sees a silhouette appear on the northern road, coming out of the sharp curve, a strange rider riding what appears to be a donkey, trotting at a fast pace and approaching them.
"Finish quickly. I'll take care of the unexpected guest," the samurai tells the bandits, who are already in the process of looting the bodies of the dead men.
After riding for a few moments, the samurai stops about 10 meters from the strange traveler on the donkey, who also stops. The figure in question is wearing the typical attire of any traveler, with a straw hat and a strange umbrella that he keeps open until now, apparently to protect himself from the sun.
"You guys are fast, I won't deny it. I almost couldn't catch you" says the man with the umbrella as he gets off the donkey.
"Who are you? Do I know you?" asks the samurai, placing his hand on the handle of his katana.
"Not at all, but you could say we share the same profession, in a sense" the man replies, then slowly closes his umbrella.
The samurai senses something is wrong and begins to look around for a possible ambush. It is at that moment that the strange man points the end of his umbrella at the samurai.
The samurai detects the movement immediately and reacts instinctively to the danger, drawing his katana and placing the blade directly in the path of a surprise detonation; unfortunately, what comes out of the umbrella is not a projectile, but dozens of widely dispersed metal pellets.
The samurai manages to stop at most about 8 pellets, but the rest end up wounding him in various parts of his body, in addition to hitting the horse, which ends up throwing its rider and then fleeing in terror.
The samurai manages to land skillfully on his feet, but immediately has to defend himself against another shot from the umbrella, which ends up being quite effective in one of his legs. Panicked, the samurai counterattacks with a chakra blade directly at his enemy, which is stopped by a kind of barrier that forms around him.
The samurai, believing he is dealing with a ninja, tries to retreat, but finds that his right leg is completely ruined by the last attack, making it impossible to flex.
Taking advantage of the samurai's weakness, the man with the straw hat pulls another strange weapon from his clothes and points it at his opponent, and this time the samurai is able to deflect the projectile with his sword, but the weapon unfortunately ends up broken at the point of impact.
The samurai is in a terrible position, bleeding from wounds all over his body and with his sword destroyed, but his fighting spirit is still alive, looking with hatred at his adversary, who begins to manipulate his strange weapon while concentrating his gaze behind the samurai.
"I see your friends came to help you" the man comments nonchalantly, then puts away his weapon and raises the umbrella he had previously discharged on the ground.
Soon, the man is seen defending himself from several arrows, using the open umbrella as a shield, a sight only possible for a ninja.
Without letting his enemies even think about what is happening, the man in the straw hat moves the umbrella to the side and unleashes a violent whirlwind with one of his hands, causing more than half of the bandits to fly away, he switches the umbrella to his other hand and sends the rest, including the samurai, flying with his other hand.
What follows can be described as a true massacre, in which the strange man even uses a bow to shoot arrows capable of hitting the moving bandits trying to escape.
Just 20 minutes into the fight, the man has already finished off everyone and begins to retreat with his loot atop his trusty donkey. His gaze scans the landscape of blood and death around him, apprehensive that he doesn't have the time or inclination to clean up such a mess.
But as the man begins to resume his journey south, he notices something strange a few meters along the road, something resembling a bundle of clothing. As he approaches, the man realizes it appears to be a child in the fetal position, covering his head with his hands.
The man stares, thoughtful, as if waiting to see if the child is breathing. After a moment, he proceeds to kick him lightly, causing the child to move and whimper.
"What are you doing here, boy?" the man says, pulling his weapon from his clothes.
"I'm not a kid, and I was walking toward the village, but something terrible happened, and I just covered myself" the figure replies, then reveals the face of a girl with whitish eyes.
The man is surprised, then tucks his weapon inside his clothes, gets a little closer to the girl, and realizes she's actually blind.
"You live in the village?"
"I sleep there. I have no family"
"So you're an orphan. No one adopts you? How old are you?"
"No one wants someone with disabilities. They only give me food sometimes, and someone lets me sleep in the stables. I don't know how old I am"
The man begins to think as he stares at the girl in silence for almost a full minute. He then goes over to the donkey and takes a small object from one of his bags. Upon returning to the girl, the man bends down and takes one of her hands, placing a strange crystalline rock in her palm. After a couple of seconds, the rock begins to glow a blue hue, to which the man smiles almost sinisterly.
"Are you going to kill me?" the girl asks, trembling.
"What's your name?"
"Suki..."
"Okay, Suki, do you believe in destiny?"
...