1 Yujin
Yujin was an orphan. War claimed his guardians, leaving him with no one at the age of 6. Fleeing the war, he arrived at a remote village where he found his master, the person who finally took responsibility for the child's survival. Though lacking a roof over his head due to his master's nomadic nature, Yujin never went hungry again, spending his days traveling the world, meeting new people, and training in martial arts.
By the age of 16, he had mastered all of his master's skills, surprising him. Despite lacking the experience that prevented the young man from surpassing his master, he was content with his life.
At 18, he decided to join the war, wanting to understand what his parents had died for. Despite traveling extensively during his 12 years with his master, he still didn't comprehend the nature of war, always shielded from it.
What he learned was that war was senseless. Most of the time, people dying around him didn't even know why they were fighting.
Witnessing rivers of blood, Yujin only felt emptiness in his heart, as if he were viewing everything from the cold perspective of a person reading a history book about how people died in war.
War was complete madness.
Tired of this, Yujin chose to isolate himself in the mountains to train in martial arts.
Five years later, unnoticed by anyone, Yujin disappeared.
Waking from his slumber, Yujin rose from the ground, ready to start a new day. For him, days were always the same, and that's what he liked.
But this day was different. He woke up in a completely unfamiliar place and could hear distant sounds. With his sharp hearing, he could tell the sounds were coming from over 20 kilometers away, and they were sounds he knew well.
His home had disappeared, and he was in an unknown location.
Taking a deep breath and making sure he was awake, he surveyed the surroundings to find something familiar. Although he was in a forest similar to where he lived, it was an entirely different place, and he could feel the energy of nature around him much more clearly. The situation was bizarre, but the pure and clean energy of the place purified his anxiety and calmed his heart.
Unable to figure out more, he decided to head toward the sounds and reached the location in a few minutes. Although he expected what he was seeing, he couldn't help but sigh. War had reached him again.
His first encounter with war was the attack on his village, the death of his parents, and his escape.
His second encounter with war was of his own free will; he wanted to understand it. When he felt how insane war was, he decided to isolate himself from the world in the mountains, far away from conflicts, but the sight in front of him brought an uncomfortable feeling.
It was like a slap in the face. As if someone was warning him that he couldn't escape war. That's how he felt seeing the conflict in front of him.
Dozens of people were engaging in combat. With hand movements, they could unleash fire, water, earth, and air. Their swords gleamed, and they constantly threw sharp weapons at each other.
From Yujin's perspective, it was completely strange. Where he came from, he had only heard of legends of people who could supposedly command the four elements. But these legends were in front of him now. In the midst of the battle, however, Yujin heard a voice.
A voice he was very familiar with.
A woman crying and screaming in despair.
Amidst the sounds of battle, it was what he almost always ended up noticing.
The desperate cry of someone left behind.
Almost always a woman.
It is normal for some women to follow their husbands to the battlefield. Sometimes because they heard that he died and, seeking confirmation, end up spending many nights searching among the bodies. Sometimes out of pure anxiety.
It's not a strange sight for a woman on the battlefield, but it's still dangerous. That's why, almost instantly upon hearing the woman's cry, Yujin moved. On pure instinct, he followed the direction of the voice and found the woman, crouched next to a body, screaming in despair over her lover's death.
Without thinking twice, Yujin grabbed her tightly and carried her away.
"NO!!! DAAAAANNNNN."
The woman seemed ready to escape his grip, so Yujin hit her on the head to knock her out. Many people on the battlefield noticed the situation and tried to follow Yujin, but some people stopped them, and he managed to take the woman away safely.
After making sure he wasn't being followed anymore, Yujin found a hidden cave behind a mountain to hide. Placing the woman on the ground, he started a fire with branches he found on the ground and finally took a moment to observe the woman.
She was strange. She had yellow hair, something Yujin had never seen in his life, but for some reason, he found it very beautiful. Clear porcelain-like skin, a very beautiful face. In the center of the woman's forehead was a kind of blue diamond shape, resembling a bindi that Yujin had seen before in his travels to the west. Although he had seen this many times, he didn't know what it meant, although it was quite common in the place he had been before, so it didn't bother him much.
One thing he noticed now, however, was that she was wearing the same clothes as the people who were fighting before. When he realized this, he couldn't understand. Is she somehow connected to the people from before? Is that why they helped when he went to rescue her?
'With her appearance, I wouldn't be surprised if she were a princess. Were those her bodyguards, and was she under attack? The enemies seemed very interested in her. But that also doesn't make sense.'
Yujin couldn't understand why a princess would care so much about the death of a bodyguard. Perhaps she harbored feelings of love for him? Not that it was any of his business, but the theory makes sense, so he decided not to think about it anymore.
Yujin kept a careful watch on the surroundings. With his abnormal senses, he could hear sounds for kilometers, so he remained silent and attentive to any sounds in the vicinity.
He thought about hunting something a few times, but he knew he couldn't. He saved the woman from that situation, so it's not now that he will abandon her.
For some reason, the woman slept for many hours; she was very tired. Yujin couldn't blame her. After losing someone important like that... It made him think of the past. He also lost important people, and it took a long time to overcome it. Even today, it's a scar that always hurts when touched.
The woman woke up many hours later, and slowly got up while feeling a headache. Looking around, she only saw the man sitting in silence, staring at the fire. With a quick change of gaze, she remembered what happened. The sight of her dead boyfriend on the ground and the man who carried her away while she was engulfed in despair. For a moment, she thought it might be a dream, but seeing the unknown man in front of her, she knew it wasn't.
For a few minutes, she seemed to be trying to process what happened, and when she finally understood that the person she loved had really died, tears fell from her eyes in silence. With her hands on her face, she cried for several minutes. The only sounds in the cave were the tears falling and the sniffling of the nose. Minutes passed, and when she finally calmed down, the woman looked at the man who "kidnapped" her and tried to understand why he did that.
The man in front of her looked young, no more than 25 years old. Without a beard, he had a handsome face, long hair tied back, a muscular body. He was only wearing a shirt and long pants, nothing else. For some reason, he was also silent, as if he were thinking about something. When she saw the look in his eyes, the woman knew that he also had his complicated experiences, so she calmed down enough to realize that he had no bad intentions. After all, he didn't even tie her up. Although she didn't know why he had saved her, she still had to thank him in any case.
Sitting more comfortably, she spoke in a low voice.
"Thank you for helping me earlier. If it weren't for you, my life could have been in danger."
The man looked at her for a brief moment but turned his gaze to the fire right after.
"You don't need to thank me. It's normal for a man to protect a woman, especially on the battlefield."
Yujin said from the heart. He didn't mean anything by it, but the woman ended up interpreting the words negatively. Where he came from, helping people in need is noble, and that's why those who do it don't expect gratitude from those they helped. Especially saving someone's life. Women, children, and the elderly should be protected; this is a philosophy he strictly follows. That's why when he heard the woman's voice, he acted to save her on impulse. The battlefield is not a place for women.
Although she felt a bit uneasy with the man's answer, the woman sat in silence while observing him. For some reason, she could sense an extraordinary temperament in the man, as if he were not an ordinary person.
"My name is Yujin, and yours?"
Finally looking at the woman, he asked, and she promptly responded.
"Nice to meet you, Yujin. My name is Tsunade."
