It's been a week since I've been outside for the first time. Tick that off the bucket list.

Maybe it was because of the panic attack, or maybe because I was too busy cheering Kaa-chan on—but either way I should've realised it wayyyy sooner. I was in Iwa.

Surprise?

I should have known to be honest, the place practically screamed "rocks" anywhere you look. The people here lived under rocks, lived above rocks, lived within rocks. I've seen people use rocks as decoration, the cobblestone pathways and rocky mountains that were scattered everywhere. Here they breathed rocks, lived in bliss at a rock's presence, shoved rocks up their neighbor's buttholes. It was so darn obvious now that I knew.

Now don't get me wrong. I loved this anime as much as the next person but damn is this world terrible to live in. War happens every other day here, giant ass chakra demons roamed the earth and god forbid if I was born in the wave. This world was brutal.

And there was no wifi...or phones...or internet.

Ugh. Man was I screwed.

Oh shit wait...

The war.

THE WAR.

.....When was the war?

Actually where was I in the timeline? Before or after Naruto escaped the womb? There's so many possibilities and it's not like Iwa has its own stone heads to look at, despite being called the literal village hidden in the stone.

Universe, oh how you love me.

I remembering contemplating this late at night, laying motionless in the crib thingy. Even though I was older now I still haven't outgrown the large crib. At least the bars have been removed due to an unfortunate accident.
It wasn't my fault that thing couldn't stand a few hits.

But back to the problem at hand, how on earth was I going to survive here? If I had been born in a civilian family I could've avoided becoming a ninja. Though I loved the sound of becoming a ninja in theory–using chakra and shooting high pressured water out of my ass, I knew that it was much more complicated than that.

A ninja would always carry truma where ever they go, a silent soldier of war. This wasn't Konoha where ninjas were treated as living breathing humans beings. This was Iwa. A place widely known by fans to be ruthless, hostile and cold.
Here ninjas were trained to be emotionless, to be put the importance of the mission above all. I didn't want to become like that, I liked how I was.

Here if you're born in a ninja family there was no escape. The system itself would sweep you up in it's gorge of chaos.

Ninjas had to maim.

Ninjas had to kill.

People, humans like you and me. Families, mothers, fathers sisters and brothers. Kids.

Even the innocent.

Especially the innocent.

I felt my stomach drop a bit, a sick feeling in the pit of my belly like yesterday's milk. I didn't want to do that. No, not at all. The sticky sensation of blood on my hands, slippery and warm like a fresh coat of snot. Velvet red with a metallic tang. Blood spilling from both myself and others.

Like in that car crash.

Like how I died.

I sucked in a sharp breath. A fierce shiver went up along my spine like a snake, cold as it clinged to my small frame. Vivid images flashed in my mind and I struggled to repress them. I fisted the fuzzy blanket in my hands as I struggled to calm my breathing.

Breath in, Breath out. I reminded myself, taking a few seconds to calm down. I refused to have another little memory fassage like I did the other day.

But civilians here die too, no duh. Caught in a war–unable to protect themselves as they bob like sitting ducks before a Shinobi. At the mercy of a cold blooded killer.

I curled up more, knees hitting my chest as I tucked my chin between them, I could feel the faint sensation of my hair brush against my fingers. Yea I think I'll pass on that.

How am I going to go about this? I feel stuck. If I was a civilian I'll die, if I'm a ninja I'll die. There truly is no way out of death...well unless I get reborn again. But that only means that I'd have to die again and frankly no thanks, once was enough.

I need to be smart with this. If this is my second chance at life I want to use it wisely and not die young again. I can remember the same process I went through in my old life. Make a goal and then take little steps towards it. Build your foundation up and not down. Forwards not back.

I breathed out, feeling the warmth of my breath fog over my knees. Okay I can do this. Little steps, little steps.

Step one...

...ugh.

Well first things first, I need to know where I am in the timeline. Once I know I'd be able to start planning from there.
I paused to think for a bit, information flashing in and out of my brain as I stradigised. What can my big goal be? From what I've discovered I'm from a clan. My future is permanently locked in the chakra side of this universe. No doubt they'll start training me, especially if I'm born before the end of the manga. What can I do?

A frown tugged at the corners of my lips, I was deep in thought at this point. There's many things I could work towards but until I have enough information nothing seemed right.

Gah.

I decided that I'll think about that later, for now my makeshift goal is to live another year.
Yep that sounds good to me.

Now to find out where I was in the timeline...I mean it's not like I could run around the village and hope to bump into anyone important right?

Right?

Alright maybe not. It's a dumb idea. The chances of running into anyone I knew from this god forsaken village is zero to none, besides the asshole ruler of this shitdumb and Deidara I couldn't remember any other characters. Actually finding a canon character in a hidden village was already slim to none.

So that's exactly what I did, or really, demanded to do as soon as the sun was out.

So sue me, I don't have any better ideas. If I asked about current world events I highly doubt Kaa-chan would tell me the truth.

So I brought the idea up at breakfast, giving Kaa-chan my best puppy dog eyes.

She said no immediately.

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Cheeks puffed out in a pout I stubbornly refused to talk. After the little disagreement at breakfast Kaa-chan quickly explained that she had plans for the day and I was going to be involved.

Great.

And those plans had something to do with other kids.

Double great.

And now here I was, arms crossed as Kaa-chan led me further into the heart of our compound. I noticed with slight surprise and curiosity at the people around, they dressed differently, more elegant with lighter colors. The deeper we went the more fancy and clean the compound got. It was like a gradient, the more we walked the more differences I spotted. What? I thought our everyone in our clan had brown hair other than Chyiko.

The people around had a mix of light brown hair to brunette and I even spotted some blond! My mind short circulated in confusion and I slowly forgot my grumpiness in favor of wonder and a strong thirst for knowledge.

I tugged at Kaa-chan's sleeve and looked up at her with curiosity. "Kaa-chan why lady have blond hair?" I asked, resisting to cringe at my still very broken japanese. A bemused grin briefly graced on Kaa-chan's lips before softening into a smile.

"No longer angry at me?" She asked smugly before adopting a lecturing tone. "You see, our clan is divided into three branches, You'll learn more about this where I'm taking you but they say the founder of this clan–the first to awaken our kekkei genkai had pure white hair and honey golden eyes." She paused, letting me take in the information before continuing.

I couldn't resist a childish "Wow!" at the news. Kaa-chan laughed and then continued.

"They say her blood runs stronger in those with lighter hair and golden eyes you see, and that's why they have more control over our kekkei genkai. Those with blond, pale blond or white hair belongs to the first branch, light brown hair, dirty blonde and chestnut hair belongs to the second branch and brown or dark brown hair stays in the third branch." She gritted her teeth while explained the last part. A small trickle of irritation briefly flashed in her eyes.

But as brief as it was, I still caught it. Grimly I deceived that politics was a conversation for another day.

"Gold like Tou-san's eye and my eye?" I prompted. That succeeded in bringing a smile to Kaa-chan face. She always smiled when tou-san was mentioned.

"Yes, like you and your father's eyes." She replied almost proudly. Suddenly she slowled to a stop.

I looked up. During the chat I hadn't noticed the change in setting. The area up ahead was blocked by an elegant looking marble wall, kind of like white jade. Maroon wooden pillars framed the gate door thing in a circular fashion and expanded upwards in a cute little roof like look.

Huh, I liked the aesthetic.

But it didn't really look like a building, more like a small section of the compound? A compound inside a compound?

Talking my hand Kaa-chan lead me inside. The air inside was much cooler, to my liking and I busied myself with glancing around. An elegant cobblestone pathway was the first thing that greeted us.

There was an 'outside' area that started off with a sandy flooring and a small field. Further up the area had lush greenery and a small lake, which was pretty rare mind you for a stone village. I was pleasantly stunned for a moment, seeing more green here than anywhere else in the compound.

The inside area started off with a raised deck and smooth wooden flooring. The floorboards looked almost polished, shining with a rich luster. The walls were all paper and some rooms had little seating mats on the floor surrounding low tables.

Neat. I thought.

From time to time other people would walk past us and Kaa-chan made sure to greet everyone, making me bow or curtsy as well, depending on the person. By the end of that I was already tired and a bit annoyed.

Finally after what seemed like hours Kaa-chan pulled me to a stop in front of a big sliding paper door. Taking a step forwards she took it and slid it open to reveal other kids inside, all looked to be around my age.

The quickest kids turned around at the sound of the door opening, and not soon after five pairs of eyes all fell onto the sight of me. Chocolate brown haired and golden eyed me clad in a maroon, black and silver kimono.

Fuck.

An awkward silence froze the room before a man stood up from the low table, light chestnut hair and hazel eyes was the first things I noticed, just before his upright posture and calm expression. Kaa-chan quickly bowed to him in a polite greeting and he followed afterwards at a much slower pace. Kaa-chan glanced back at me and I hurriedly bowed too. Crap almost forgot.

The two exchanged some words but I wasn't listening, rather I was sizing up the other kids in the room.

There were five of them in total, three girls and two boys and most of them stared back at me.

There was a girl with light brown hair and green eyes and a girl with dirty blonde hair and lighter green eyes. They look very alike so I felt safe to assume they're sisters or somehow related. Technically everyone is somewhat related I thought. The one with light brown hair was a bit taller but she wore a small shy smile, hands held in front of her. The one with dirty blonde hair was a bit shorter but cute, she bore an adorable beaming grin.

The other girl–who I noted had blond hair looked me up and down with her blue eyes and then humped, turning away dismissively. I wanted to stick my tongue out at her but Kaa-chan was here and I'd rather not die a second death.

Typical.

The two boys sat together, One with chocolate brown hair like mine, deep in color and smooth in texture. I couldn't see his eyes as he paid me no mind, reading some kinda book scroll on the table.

Holy shit he looked the same age as me but he could read already! He instantly gained my respect. The other boy however....

"Hey I'm Entei, top of the class, don't get in my way." He boasted, full of child like arrogance and leaving me kind of speechless. He waited for a few seconds before a sloppy grin broke his tough guy face, hands on his sassy little hips as if he had just won some kind of dick measuring contest.

I can safely say I didn't really like him.

"Hello Entei-sama, this is my daughter Noriko-chan." Kaa-chan stepped in to introduce me, seeing that I didn't want to do it myself. I felt her pet my head before pulling me into a hug.

"Behave okay? No funny business." She smiled menacingly before releasing me, leaving me in a cold sweat. "This here is Hiroshi-sensei, he will be teaching you and the others about our clan and our Kekkei Genkai." She explained. "I'll pick you up here at the end of the lessons." She grinned cheekily before slamming the door in my face just as I was about to protest.

Silence echoed in the room and I pouted a bit, turning around to the other children. Might as well get along I guess. I wanted to sulk at being forced to socialise with other kids but brightened up at the prospect of learning.

Our teacher stepped forwards, sending me a warm and genuine smile. "Hello Noriko-chan, Hiroshi-sensei is too confusing, just call me Daichi-sensei." He introduced himself. Not one for being shy I returned his smile and nodded.

"Okay Daichi-sensei." His shoulders seamed to relax a bit at my smile.

"Good good, now take a seat and we'll start with further introductions." He gestured to the sitting mats and I complied, taking a light blue one next to the two girls. I've always liked blue.

"Since it's Noriko-chan's first day lets all introduce ourselves with our name, branch, one thing we like and one thing we dislike." He insisted, smile widening when an annoyed groan came from the blond blue-eyed girl.

Oh no he's one of those teachers.

Said girl turned around and sent me a look that said 'This is all your fault' and I internally signed, pretending not to notice.

I frowed at bit at the thought of branches, why did it feel like being a third branch member would be annoying?

"I'll start" The Entei kid said, confidently standing up.

"My name is Entei." He started off with a relatively strong voice for a kid. "First branch of course." He waved off like it was nothing. The other girls perked up a bit, I could see them leaning forwards in the corner of my eye in interest.

They're like 3 years old right?

"I like playing ninja and I don't like nap time." He said matter of factly like it was the most important things in the world. The dirty blond girl and the blond girl furiously whispered to each other right afterwards. (although it wasn't much of a whisper since you know, we could hear every word.)

"I knew he was going to say that." The blonde girl's voice spoke, her voice smug.

"You know him so well." The other girl praised.

"Of course." The blonde girl replied snootily before standing up. "If Entei went first then naturally, I'm second. My name is Kimoko, first branch." Her voice emphasised on the 'first branch' and the girl next to her shrunken down a bit. " I like training and I don't like naptime." Kimoko finished off with a huge sticky sweet grin directed at the teacher, Although she eyed Entei as if she was waiting for something.

Entei did indeed react. "Hey you copied me! Daichi-Sensei she copied me!"

Kimoko's grin instantly dropped and she started to panic a little. "Do I didn't! Honest!"

I blanked out at this point, thinking of something much more important. Shit these brats have almost perfect japanese! At this age? What the fuck I'm going to make a fool of myself. I don't care if they're like three or four we'll most likely grow up together! Shit what do I do? What do I say?

My mind whirled, trying to find the right words.

In other words I blanked out their argument, only hearing their introductions.

"I-I'm Mei, second branch. I l-like my soft toys and I dislike bullys." A soft voice spoke up, glancing sideways it was the girl with light brown hair. Her sister stood up right afterwards.

"Hi hi! My name is Mari, Mei is my older sister. I like flowers and I don't like bugs." She cutely grinned, but I didn't miss the way her eyes strayed to Entei. What the heck is up with these kids.

The last person to introduce themselves was lo and behold the only kid who caught my interest. The brown headed child who can read! Read I tell you!

He didn't bother standing up, eyes still locked onto the book, although from this angle I could see that his eyes were a very bright hazel, almost orange. He lazaly stuck a hand up and waved to nobody. "Daiki, reading, idiots." He said in a disinterested voice.

Entei huffed, throwing an arm over Daiki's shoulders. "Daiki-kun you forgot your branch." He commented.

Daiki looked up at him dryly and then gestuurd vigorously at his own hair.

Entei shut up and Daiki went back to reading. I could almost feel Daichi-sensei's eye roll as he picked up a cup and started to drink.

Then the kids all started at me, even Daiki. I froze for a millisecond, forgetting my lines before deciding fuck it. I'll wing it.

"Noriko, I'm third branch, I like big butts." I grinned widely as Mari and Kimiko gasped dramatically in outrage, Entei laughed obnoxiously, Mei blused and Daiki sent me a searching look.

Daichi-sensei choked mid-sip on his drink and started to cough.

"And I don't like child soldiers."

Daichi-sensei spat out his drink.

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Class went surprisingly well. Entei, after my introduction, seemed to think it was funny to whack me with a social stick, asking me random questions here and there. Truthfully I was amused at first but now they were starting to get on my nerves.

"What's your favorite color?"

"All"

"Do you like orange lollies or grape ones?"

"Yes"

"Look at how cool my handwriting is."

"I can't read"

"That doesn't mean you can't see!"

"I can't see either"

"I'm a part of the main branch, my dad is the head of the clan."

"Poor him."

"Hey! What are you thinking 'bout?"

"The fly on the wall"

"What? Why?"

"It looks like you"

"It must be very handsome then!"

I think the reading guy started to get annoyed too, his grip on the book much stronger than before. His fist almost turned white but he seemed to have a lot more patience for Entei than the others.

During class Mari and Kimoko whispered(talkied) a lot. From how her mom bought her a cool looking flower hairpin to how she accidentally screamed at a speck of dust she thought was a cockroach. Daiki had sent her the nastiest glare in the history of glares when she spilt ink on him. I shivered thinking about angering him. If he was like this now what would he be like once he's older?

Mei stayed quiet the whole lesson, listening to Daichi-sensei talk wholeheartedly and I tried doing the same. Keyword, tried.

On occasions I caught Mari sending me odd glances, like she was uncomfortable with me just being there. Kimiko ignored me completely but I could't find it within my to really care, she's just a kid after all.

In the lesson we covered basic chakra control, things I was already practicing with like how chakra allows you to stick to walls and the inner working of how it does that.

And I struggled not to fall asleep.

After a little while, it was lunch break. The door to our room slid open and the attention of the other kids snapped. I was taken a bit off guard as Entei immediately charged at the door. With one glance I could recognise the familiar figure, elegant and lean with a upside-down teardrop shaped face and clear, crystal eyes.

Chyiko?

Entei slammed into her, little hands latched onto her clothes and she let out a bell like laugh, light and delicate to the ears.

God this woman was beautiful.

I felt a smile tug at the corners of my lips, the sight of Entei clambering for her attention was genuinely cute. Sighing, I looked back at Daichi-senses before relaxation set in.

Wait.

Why was Entei hugging Chyiko-chan?

Snapping my head back in their direction I almost backtracked off the raised mat.

The sight of Chyiko presently talking to Entei with a gentle tone while Entei excitedly blabbed on clicked in my head.

Ohhhhhhhh!

Shit that's his mom!

Entei then let go of Chyiko, eagerly tugging at the sleeves. "Mom someone new joined our class today!" He tossed his head over his shoulder to look at me and I felt my stomach drop.

Chyiko looked up from her son and froze a little once she spotted me, a wide beaming grin slowly stretched her cheeks.
Fuck.


I left that room with stinging cheeks, pinched red and flustered by that fearsome women. Grumpy I rubbed them to try and relief some of the sting. I could still hear Chyiko and Daichi-senses chatting away inside.

The other children poured out the door and started to head down the hall, Entei and Daiki walking up in front with Kimoko and Mari trailing right behind them. Mei meekly followed in silence. For a few seconds I was confused on what to do before Mei glanced back at me and smiled softly. She stuck out her right hand to wave me over and curiously I followed.

The smooth wooden floors felt nice under my sandals, it clicked with each step reminding me of high heels on wooden decks. Walking up besides Mei she leaned over to whisper in my ear.

"W-we're heading to the lunch room now." And thank the lord, Mei could actually whisper.

Sending her a nod and a grateful smile I whispered back a "Thanks!" Before quieting down again. What did lunch entail? My stomach grumbled in wonder as I blissfully fantasised about friend chicken and peking duck.

My mouth started to water. Mmmm wicked wings, fries, bacon, cheeseburgers...

God I missed modern food. All the shitty processed stuff like hot dogs and chicken nuggets? Heck yeah give it to me.
The room we entered was much larger than the first, one area had green tea coloured tatami mats, mats and a low table, the other half of the room had blue tatami mats that looked plusher. And Lo and behold, on the table arranged in neat little trays was food.

Food!

God was I hungry.

Excitedly I took a seat, not caring where I sat. There was food to be eaten!

Taking the baby sized chopsticks into my clumsy kids hands I tried my best to hold them. The food laid out in front of me was steaming a bit, I had my own tiny bowl of portage and a tiny bowl of soup. Looking around a bit I hummed in sadisfaction that everyone had their own itty bitty bowls.

During the little scruffle to get to the food first (or was it a scuffle for seating?) I noted that I sat at the edge next to Mei and across from Daiki. Mari sat on the other side of Mei, making three people sit on our side and three people sitting on the other side. Next to Daiki was Entei (who was already stuffing his face mind you) and Kimoko who ate with the bowl held as far away from herself as possible.

The sight was hysterical.

Plates of side dishes were laid out in front of us too, sadly no fried chicken or duck. There were steamed beans and carrots, fluffy scrambled looking eggs and some white diced looking thing. Curiously I grabbed the spoon produced to try some of the white little cubes.

It was chicken.

Heck yea!!

Immediately I started to dig in, conversation had already sparked between Entei and Kimoko but I blissfully ignored them in favour of food.

"Entei do you wanna come over after?" Kimoko asked sweetly.

"My dad said he's training me today, sorry." He replied surprisingly without a mouth full of food. Guess I wasn't the only one who had table manners drilled into me.

"What? But pleaseeeee I really want to play." Kimoko whined.

"I can come over if you'd like Kimo-chan." Mari assured, sounding a bit hopeful.

"What? No it's not the same." Kimoko complained.

"Can't you just ask another day." I heard Daiki grumble to himself.

Swallowing a mouthful of food I looked in between Kimoko's pouting and Entei's smug grin.

"If you want to play with me that much you'll have to wait, I am a very busy person you know, being the hair to the clan and all." Entei huffed like it was the moret obvious thing in the world.

"O-oh of course! I am also very busy." Kimoko replied with slightly flustered cheeks.

They were three right?

Am I the only one seeing this?

Entei caught my bewildered gaze and sent me a wide grin. His teeth was perfectly pearly white even after gulping down beans and I envied him for it. Is this the magic of clan head blood or something? That you get permanently white teeth?
"Oh yea Noriko, how do you know my Kaa-chan?" He addressed me informally, but coming from a western society I didn't mind too much. The other kids perked up a bit at the question, also curious but Kimoko sent me a look.

Eh...

"She's friends with my Kaa-chan." I answered vaguely before taking another bite. Everyone here had good table manners, well good for three year olds. There were still spills on the table. Grains of rice forgotten.

Entei wasn't bothered by the answer and instead grinned wider, stating a simple "Good." Before going back to eating.
Kimoko bristled besides him, hissing a "Good? What do you mean by good?" But alas it was ignored.

Mei sent me a curious look and Mari?

Mari was full on death glaring at me.

What the fuck did I get myself into?

After lunch the clusterfuck of kids speed walked into the outside area I saw earlier. With hurried hands and accidental shoves our indoor sandals laid forgotten in favour of our outdoor ones.

Basking in the warm glow of daylight I stretched my stiff arms and legs, looking around leisurely.

Green.

So much green ohhhh the green!

I squatted down and patted the ground, little blades of grass surprisingly soft to the touch. "Good grass." I whispered, giving it a few more pats.

"Are you petting the ground?" I heard a voice behind me and glanced over my shoulder.

Oh.

OH!

It was Daiki, the one kid who hasn't talked to me so far.

Sharp hazel-orange eyes and chocolate brown brows decorated his delicate face. His mouth was slightly agape, assumingly baffled by my actions. His toddler pudgy arms were crossed across his chest and the scroll he read this morning gone.

"Ugh.....yes?"

Daiki furrowed his brows even more and wrinkled his nose in confusion.

"But why?"

"Because it's grass?" I hesitantly answered. Crap how am I going to ask him about reading if he thought I was a freak?

Well I kind of am...But I didn't want time to know yet!

Daiki stayed silent for a few more seconds before asking again. "And that makes you want to pet it?"

I nodded eagerly. "Yea, what else am I supposed to pet? Kaa-chan won't let me have a rat so the ground is the next best" I tried explaining as well as I could. Rats were cool.

"Rat?" Daiki sent me a weird look. He does that a lot. "But rats are dirty and smelly."

"Some rats are nice if you feed them." I insisted.

"And what do you feed them?" He looked skeptical.

"Grass of course!"

"Rats don't eat grass!" Daiki scrunched his face up in thought. "I'm pretty sure rats don't eat grass."

"Well how would you know? You're not a rat." I replied instantly.

There was a moment of silence before Daichi asked again. "....then how do you know?"

"Are you calling me a rat?" I gasped in outrage, trying to make myself sound as offended as possible, going for the 'offended older women' vibe.

Daiki's eyes widened and he froze for a bit. It was funny seeing the normally calm boy sputter. "N-no I never said that! I didn't mean-" he cut off as I broke out into laughter, not able to hold my 'where is the manager' face for long.

"Hehehe it's okay" I snorted at his expression. "I'm messing with you...heh" I slapped a hand over my mouth as he sent me a glare.

"You talked me into circles." He accused me. "You did that on purpose."

"I would never!" I gasped.

"But—oh!" He broke off, eyes narrowing. "You're doing it again."

Unable to help my grin I said. "Yeaaa."

Daiki looked at me, his frowning face slowly falling away at my absolutely ridiculous expression. The grin was infectious, like mold and he didn't sense any malicious intent from me.

"Okay." He had a grin of his own now, a childish challenge in his eyes. "I'll get you back for that."

Shouting interrupted our semi conversation and we both glanced up to the sight of Kimiko and Mari frantically running away, Entei poking something on the ground with a stick. Mei was saying something behind him, her little hands on her hips. Terror filled screams accompanied this image.

What.

This time it was my turn to be confused, utterly baffled on what the bloody shit was happening.

I heard a slapping sound and a sigh from besides me and I turned a bit to see Daiki facepalming. He muttered something into his hands and then turned to me. "You're alright you know? Compared to that at least." He gestured to the flaming hot messes in front of him and the corners do my lips tugged up.

"Kids screaming is normal." I mused.

"Unfortunately." Daiki deadpanned. "I prefer silence. Like Mei, Mei's cool. Daiki is cool sometimes too." He looked at the people mentioned with a slightly bemused stare.

For a few seconds I blanked out in surprise. Maybe he wasn't as much of a grumpy grump as I anticipated?

Entail suddenly flung whatever he was poking towards Kimiko and Mari with his stick; and instantly the courtyard was filled with more screaming. This time accompanied by Mei's horrified gasp.

"Sometimes." I repeated Daiki's words and Daiki gave an exasperated huff.

"Yes sometimes. Now let's go!" He tugged me forwards and soon we were both sprinting towards the group.

Whatever Entei was poking hit Mari's back and she let out a piercing scream that echoed throughout the compound. 

Maybe this wasn't so bad after all.