Rain.

That was all the ragged couple had known for the last few days.

It drummed against the carriage roof: unrelenting, unending, and cacophonous.

While the muddy roads it caused were certainly a bother, the steady sound was actually quite welcome. It helped them sleep, despite the horrors they were going through.

They knew the horses would tire soon, but they also knew they had no choice but to continue moving. They needed to get deeper into the land of fire. To get farther from the land of wind.

Konoha was their best bet for survival.

Their son's.

Not theirs.

They would be dead by sunrise.

But in Konoha, their son might find a safe haven, even if it meant he would grow up never knowing their faces. Even if it meant he might grow up never knowing of the hope they placed on his shoulders.

Even if it meant their clan may never be free.

They had to keep pushing.

Suddenly, they both were racked by a coughing fit. The fits had been happening more and more often ever since they started taking the medicine.

It was killing them. They knew that. They kept taking it anyway.

It was the only way to preserve their minds, even if it destroyed their bodies in return.

They had to keep pushing.

A coughing fit struck the couple again, this time coating their palms with blood. They were unphased.

Until they heard a rustling in the nearby foliage.

The man grasped a small tanto while the woman moved to guard their son, a set of senbon in between her fingers. They couldn't afford to be careless. Not in the shape they were in.

A rugged man covered in scars walked out from the bushes, hands raised in the air in a sign of peace.

The pair didn't relax in the slightest.

When a half dozen more followed, they knew that that had been the right choice.

"Now then," the first man said, "this doesn't need to be ugly. Just hand over anything you got worth some decent ryo, and you can go on your merry way."

The man in the carriage paused for a moment, before saying in a somber voice, "We are refugees from the land of wind. We have nothing more than a day's worth of food and the clothes on our backs."

"Bull. Shit. I don't think you understand the situation you're in right now," the bandit said walking closer, "Now hand ove-"

His threat was cut short by a tanto striking his neck, killing him before he even noticed the man move.

Senbon struck the rest, each landing a killing blow.

Each kill was quick and efficient. The pair were still shinobi.

Dying or not.

With a jostle of the reins, the horses began to move again, pulling the carriage along once again.

The couple had grown even more serious than before; every small waste of time meant they would be that much farther from Konoha when their bodies finally gave out.

They could not let their son be taken by the hunters.

Under any circumstances.

——————

[Sunrise - The Next Day]

Iori Nakamura had had a rather normal day. He had a normal breakfast followed by a normal morning jog and a normal check-in with the attendants at the entrance gate.

Considering the upheaval that had happened a month and change prior, the normal felt far more pleasant than one might expect. He was lucky enough to not lose anyone close to him in the attack, but he knew many people who weren't.

Shaking the thoughts from his head he continued along his patrol of the Konoha perimeter.

He never saw much on these patrols. Some traders or villagers, wild animals, and the odd bandit were the most he ever saw. It was a rather safe and easy job, but it was fairly boring.

About half an hour into his first perimeter loop, however, he saw something that shattered that boredom.

A simple, mid-sized carriage.

That alone wouldn't be that remarkable, but it appeared to be completely abandoned, and that certainly was. Following protocol, he called it in and approached.

The carriage itself gave little sign of abandonment. It was missing its horses, sure, and appeared to be missing people as well, but it was completely undamaged and showed little wear and tear, meaning if it had been abandoned, it must have been very recently.

He stepped off of the small ridge he had been standing on and slid down its side to the carriage. Immediately after hitting the ground, his nose was assaulted by a putrid smell. A smell that most shinobi of Konoha found far too familiar as of late.

The unmistakable scent of death.

He sped up abruptly, rushing over to the carriage where he found the stench's source: two corpses that appeared to belong to a young couple, curled together in an embrace. The scene was as heartbreaking as the scent was sickening. He sent in another call, alerting his handler of his findings and saying he would begin to search the carriage.

The carriage was remarkably well put together. Despite its simple exterior, the inside showed obvious signs of advanced craftsmanship. Carriages like that were expensive, so disguising it as a cheaper one would not be uncommon as that would reduce the likelihood of being robbed.

The contents of the carriage appeared rather odd. No trading goods, no money, not even changes of clothes. There wasn't even that much food, just a few bites of rations. It was incredibly odd.

Taking a step deeper into the carriage, however, he noticed an odd sound.

The boards sounded hollow.

His curiosity peaked, he began to pull a few away, discovering a hidden storage compartment.

Hidden compartments certainly weren't rare, but this one's contents certainly were.

He had expected to find some valuable possessions: jewelry, fine clothing, and maybe some higher-quality food.

What he found were ninja tools, several dozen scrolls, and most distressingly of all a pair of Sunagakure headbands, each with a slash through them.

He jumped back, making lots of distance between him and the carriage, fearing a potential ambush now that he had found them. He waited for it to come.

One minute.

Two minutes.

After five he was sufficiently convinced he was alone which confused him even more. He quickly made the call to his handler on his walkie-talkie.

"Y'know that carriage I found Aika?" he said with a touch of trepidation in his voice.

"Yeah? What, did you find something?"

"No. I found somethings. The carriage has pretty much no travel goods at all. What it does have is a secret compartment full of scrolls, ninja tools, and a pair of slashed Suna headbands."

"WHAT?! I'll send backup immediately!"

"No! Don't bother. I'm pretty sure I'm the only one here. It would be good for you to send some people to help investigate though. There's definitely something goin-"

Iori was suddenly cut off by a loud, high-pitched sound. It was coming from the carriage.

"What's that noise?" Aika questioned.

"I'm about to go check. Call you right back."

Iori approached the carriage once again, each step cautious and ready for anything. He took step after step and the noise got louder and louder until he finally found its source.

A baby.

Snuggled in a small wooden bed that had previously been hidden beneath the corpses' clothing.

"Aika there's a baby in the carriage."

Aika was silent for a moment, processing what she had just been told.

"Meaning the two bodies are probably their parents," she eventually said, solemnly, "The investigation team is on their way, should be there in a few minutes. Please, make sure the kid's okay. I don't want that on my conscience."

"Roger."

Iori quickly obliged, picking up the crying child and giving them a once over. He quickly noticed that the baby appeared to be a he, and also that he appeared to be in fine health. No visible injuries of any kind or evidence of malnutrition or sickness. However, that brought him little comfort as his parents didn't have any of those either and they were very much dead.

He also dug around a bit in the small box the child was inside, just to be thorough. He found simple toys, a couple of comfortable blankets, and a small slip of paper with a bit of writing on it.

"Kusuri Hinketsu. Guess that's your name, little guy."