Chapter 95: Winter and Summer
"I'd like to hear it," Dana said.
"Once, in the northern part of the Land of Lightning, near the sea, there was a young hunter," she began. "His father was a hunter, and his grandfather was a hunter, so he had learned the skills of the hunt from a young age. The great mountains that others feared were a treasure trove to him, a gift from nature. The world outside the mountains was in a constant state of war, with the ninja clans endlessly fighting. This was before the hidden villages. So, the young hunter had no desire to leave the familiar mountains, except to occasionally go to town to trade for the things the mountains could not provide."
The strange beginning had already captured Dana's attention.
"One day," she continued, "in the frozen sea, he rescued a woman from the Land of Water who had been in a shipwreck. She had been sold by human traffickers and had no home to return to. Grateful to the young hunter for saving her life, she married him."
She suddenly turned to him. "It's strange, isn't it? It sounds like a story from a book."
"It does," he said, rubbing his nose. "It sounds very... romantic."
She stopped and turned to face him. "And what if I told you that the world outside the mountains was a raging inferno? That the woman could never go home, because the only things waiting for her there were the father who sold her and the vicious traffickers? That she was beautiful, but had no other skills, and her beauty only attracted the wrong kind of attention, and that she was not strong enough to even leave the mountains on her own?"
"In that case," he said after a moment of silence, "it makes sense."
She nodded and continued on. "The young hunter and the woman from the Land of Water were married. They lived a hard but happy life in the mountains. He would always bring back game, and she would weave strong cloth. And in time, she gave birth to a daughter."
"Don't tell me..."
She shook her head. "You're getting ahead of yourself. It's not what you think. The daughter was born in the winter, so the young hunter, who was not a man of letters, named her Winter. No surname."
"Winter inherited her mother's beauty and grew up carefree in the mountains. As she grew older, the young hunter was no longer so young. An illness took his wife's life, and he was left to raise his daughter alone. Winter grew up, and she grew tired of the mountains. She disliked the unchanging life and wanted to see the outside world. She would often argue with her father."
She stopped and pointed to a bare, shiny patch of bark on a tree. "See?" she said proudly. "That's where the bear has been rubbing. I'm sure of it."
"In the end," she continued, "Winter could no longer stand the boring life in the mountains. While her father was out hunting, she ran away. She used the knowledge she had learned from him to escape him. He searched for her, but found nothing. He, who was never lost in the mountains, was like a blind man in the towns. In the end, he returned to the only place he had ever known."
"Years passed. Just as he thought he would die alone in the mountains, Winter returned. She was holding a newborn baby. She was no longer young, no longer beautiful. She looked tired and thin. She entrusted the baby to him. The baby was born in the summer, so she named her Summer."
Dana's head snapped up. He stared at her back as she continued to speak.
"Winter had come back with a body full of injuries. No one knew what had happened to her in all those years. She died not long after, in the same mountains where she was born. The hunter was left to raise Summer alone, just as he had raised Winter. But he was an old hunter now, and he worried that he would not live to see her grow up. He did his best to teach her everything he knew about survival, hoping she would be able to live on after he was gone. He told her Winter's story as a warning. Until one day, someone came, saying that Summer was the Daimyo's daughter and that they were taking her back. The old hunter, who was now too old to even feed himself, agreed. And so, Summer, who had lived a carefree life in the mountains until the age of seven, was taken to a place called Asuka Castle."
Dana understood.
"I have only ever had one grandfather," she said, her voice now a low murmur. "The old hunter who taught me how to identify bear droppings and how to find water. But I've forgotten most of it now. When I left, he told me that I had to learn to survive on my own, to be the master of my own fate. He didn't even know what a 'Daimyo' was. He just kept teaching me how to make traps, how to skin an animal. And then I went to Asuka Castle, and I could never leave. I was young, I had no mother there, no brothers or sisters. Even my title, 'Princess Natsu,' was just a name. No one, not the maids, not the samurai, not the Daimyo I never saw, would listen to what I said. They would not let me leave the city. Until I learned that my grandfather had died."
"I thought it would be better for you to hear my story from me, Yotsuki-kun, rather than from someone else. The people in Asuka Castle call me the 'daughter of a mountain peasant.' I don't want to be like the other princesses, a tool for the Daimyo to win over the nobles. And I don't want to be like Winter, covered in scars. I want to be like my grandfather. Even as a woman, even alone, I want to be strong, to rely on no one. So, I found a book on chakra molding and I practiced with a kunai in secret. I wanted to escape, to be the master of my own fate. And so, I did."
"We're here," she said, cutting off any questions. "The bear is inside."
They had arrived at a cave. The stench from within indicated that its inhabitant was not very hygienic. She took out her worn-out kunai, ready for a fight.
Sensing the intruders, a brown bear slowly emerged from the cave, its eyes fixed on the two humans.
"A hunter would never face a bear head-on," she said. "But I've forgotten most of what my grandfather taught me. It seems I'll have to rely on what I've learned as a ninja."
The fight was unremarkable. Natsu, who was quite agile, dodged the bear's attacks. The tip of her kunai would occasionally glow with a faint light, allowing her to pierce the bear's thick hide and leave a series of small wounds. Though she had a few close calls, the bear, weakened by blood loss, eventually collapsed.
Panting, she was filled with a sense of triumph. "I did it!" she cried. "I did something even my grandfather couldn't do!"
But just as she was about to turn to Dana, the bear, which had been playing dead, opened its eyes and lunged at her from behind.
ZAP! BOOM!
A bolt of lightning shot past her. Dana slowly lowered his hand. The bear, which had been making a desperate last stand, now had a large, smoking hole in its chest.
Natsu's face fell. The disappointment was fleeting, but it was there. She then turned to him with a smile. "It seems I failed after all," she said. "Well then, Mr. Yotsuki Dana, please inform the people of Asuka Castle. I will return to my cage and await the Daimyo's arrangements. Perhaps we will meet again, perhaps not. It doesn't matter anymore."
They walked back in silence. Natsu had nothing to say, and Dana didn't know what to say.
When they reached the capital, and were approaching "Gokuraku no Yu," they saw a group of samurai causing a commotion at the entrance.
"Let us in! Someone saw her go in!"
The guards at the entrance, who were actually members of the "Special Strategy Division" in disguise, just sneered at the boisterous samurai.
Natsu silently tugged on Dana's sleeve. "I'll handle this," she whispered. "It would be improper for you to be seen. In theory, we're not supposed to meet."
Dana was silent for a moment, then nodded. He didn't care about propriety, but he didn't want to cause her any more trouble.
The leader of the samurai saw her standing behind Dana and his eyes lit up. He rushed over. "You've made us search for so long! So you ran off to the Land of Hot Water! How did you get out?!"
He ignored Dana and reached for her.
Dana frowned and stepped in front of him.
The samurai froze, then sneered. "So you ran off with a pretty boy? You've brought shame upon the Daimyo! The daughter of a peasant is truly untamable! Now come back with me! And you, you little brat! You dare to touch this woman?!"
Natsu did not react to his words. It was as if, after the bear had fallen, nothing could anger her anymore. She bowed to the samurai with impeccable etiquette. "Thank you for your trouble," she said. "I will return with you."
"Your actions have shamed His Excellency! Do you know how much effort we spent looking for you?! If it weren't for His Excellency's mercy, you'd still be digging in the dirt on some mountain! How dare you disobey his orders!"
No matter what he said, she just smiled.
After venting his frustration, the samurai, seeing how cooperative she was, felt a sense of satisfaction.
"And you, you little brat! Do you know who this woman is?!" Just as he was about to teach Dana a lesson, he felt the eyes of everyone around him, including the two guards who had been so insolent, turn on him. He didn't know why. But he was in a strange land, so he gave up on the idea of taking him down on the spot. He would just put a bounty on him later.
He turned to leave, and Natsu followed, a smile still on her face.
"Wait!"
The samurai turned back, but Natsu did not. She just kept walking.
"Winter did nothing wrong!"
The retreating figure stopped.
"She had the courage to embrace the outside world. She was just unlucky."
"What are you talking about, you brat?" the samurai said, annoyed. "Are you looking for trouble?"
Dana ignored him, his eyes fixed on her back.
"The old hunter did nothing wrong either. He conquered his loneliness, the hardships of survival, and he raised his daughter and his granddaughter."
Her back was trembling slightly.
"But Summer was wrong!"
"What are you talking about, you brat?!" the samurai fumed.
"She was wrong because she only tried once and then thought she had failed! She was wrong because she lost her courage after a single attempt! She was wrong because she gave up so easily! I don't like people like that."
Tears streamed down her face, blurring her vision, but she didn't dare to wipe them away.
"So Summer will have to try harder. The first attempt wasn't so bad. But there's still a long way to go. And I can help."
The trembling figure said, "Yes! I will! I will try harder!"
The setting sun cast a long shadow.
"Are you in a good mood today, Young Master?" Maki asked, grinding ink as she watched him.
"Just say what's on your mind."
"I saw what happened this evening, from the second floor," she said. "About Lady Natsu. I thought you would be sad that she left. It seems she has her own troubles."
"Why would I be sad?" he said with a smile. "I'm actually a little happy."
"Happy? Why?"
"Because I know what kind of person she is now."
He paused, then added, "But I can give her some help."
He picked up his brush and, on a blank scroll, wrote the title:
From Beginner to Master: The Ninja World's Supernova Teaches You a More Efficient Method of Chakra Molding (with Practical Basic Ninjutsu and Kunai Techniques).