Chapter 98 A fateful encounter

"Huff...Huff...Huff..." The boy and the girl were breathing heavily together. The little strength they had left was completely consumed in the chase.

The two of them lay weakly on the ground, looked into each other's eyes, and smiled. They could survive.

The boy's name is Yahiko and the girl's name is Konan. Both are war orphans from the Rain Country. They met a year ago and have been dependent on each other ever since, struggling to survive together in this weeping country.

Yahiko took out a piece of food from his arms, moved his throat, and then handed a part of it to Xiaonan who was lying beside him. Xiaonan smiled at Yahiko peacefully, took the food, and the two of them couldn't wait to open the food packaging and began to eat it with rain water. Their pale faces quickly turned rosy as they ate the food.

The food was disappearing at an alarming rate. After all, they were both starving. Konan was slightly better off as Yahiko had given her his last bite of food, but he had been hungry for almost three days, surviving only on rainwater.

"I can't eat anymore, I have to leave some!" Yahiko frowned slightly, put down the food in his hand, and thought to himself. Although he was only 70% full, they were still in a situation where they had no food to eat, so they had to leave enough food. It was enough for Xiaonan to eat, and as a "man", he could go hungry for a while.

At this time, the sound of dogs barking was heard in the distance, and it was getting closer and closer to them.

A skinny brown puppy ran towards them. Although it couldn't speak, its actions expressed its eagerness.

Konan, who had already eaten her fill, stood up and said to Yahiko, "It seems like it wants us to go somewhere!"

"Then let's go and take a look!" Yahiko also stood up, carefully packed up the remaining food, and then followed the puppy with Konan.

In the distance, a thin, motionless figure lay on his back, his bright red hair scattered in the muddy puddle.

The puppy rushed forward and kept circling around the figure anxiously. Yahiko and Konan followed and looked at the boy lying on the ground with a slightly changed expression.

Yahiko and Konan, who still had good intentions in their hearts, immediately bent down and worked together to help the unconscious red-haired boy up. Konan's hand accidentally brushed his forehead, "Ah! Yahiko, he has a fever!!!" Konan was startled, then shouted to Yahiko with a hint of anxiety in her tone.

Although they were full and satisfied, it was still quite difficult for Yahiko and Konan to lift a child who looked about the same age as them. After some effort, they finally lifted the red-haired boy to the nearby cave where they usually sheltered from the rain, with the brown puppy following behind them.

"Cough... cough... cough!!!" Suddenly, the red-haired boy's body shook violently and a violent cough was heard. The red-haired boy weakly opened his eyes and opened his mouth, wanting to speak but no sound came out. At this moment, he didn't even have the strength to speak.

Konan's bright eyes looked at Yahiko. Yahiko smiled bitterly, stood up and walked out of the cave. He understood what Konan meant.

Yahiko collected some rain water outside and came back to feed the red-haired boy. Then, with a look of regret, he took out some food that he had originally planned to save for later, mashed it up, and had Konan feed it to the red-haired boy bit by bit.

Seeing its owner wake up, the puppy beside it couldn't help but bark happily.

After drinking some water and eating something to regain some strength, the red-haired boy thanked the two and fell asleep again. Yahiko and Konan, who had been busy for half a day, breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that the red-haired boy was fine. Then they felt sleepy and tired and fell asleep leaning against each other.

When the red-haired boy woke up again, it was already the next morning and it was still raining outside.

The red-haired boy struggled to get up from the ground and knelt on the ground. Thanks to the timely food, he was out of danger now. Although he was still burning, it was no longer a big deal.

"Thank you!" the shy red-haired boy whispered. He knew that it was the two people in front of him who saved him. At the same time, he stroked the puppy that came over when it saw its owner wake up, and said to it, "Thank you too!"

There was another silence. After a moment, the red-haired boy spoke and introduced himself. His voice was much louder than before. "My name is... Nagato!"

Konan smiled kindly at Nagato, her big eyes curved into a crescent, "I'm Konan!"

Yahiko also smiled. That sunny smile was like a ray of hope that pierced through the haze and shone straight into Nagato's heart. "My name is Yahiko, let's live together from now on! Of course, you too!" Yahiko added to the puppy. Of course, he would not forget this very human puppy.

"Hmm!" Nagato lowered his head shyly, his long red hair covering his purple wavy eyes, but his voice came through. Hearing the answer, Yahiko and Konan smiled again, and the days to come would no longer be just the two of them.

The life of three people and a dog began.

The next day, in the evening, the food that Yahiko had saved was used up. Although he had tried to be frugal as possible, with two more mouths to feed, the food was still consumed quickly.

"Oh! I really don't know what to do? Damn war, damn ninja world!" The faces of several people were not looking good. The war had caused too much damage to the Rain Country. The rule of the Rain Country over the towns below had almost completely collapsed. There were war orphans like them everywhere, and the civilians were struggling to survive.

"In the future, I must change this ninja world!" Yahiko said fiercely. At this moment, his eyes were full of desire for power. He longed for power to allow himself to survive, longed for power to protect Konan, Nagato and the little brown puppy, longed for power to change this country, longed for power to change the entire ninja world, longed for power to bring peace to the ninja world and prevent wars from happening again.

Konan and Nagato did not have such ambitions, but they nodded in agreement. They trusted Yahiko deeply.

The friendship and bond between young people always develop quickly, and within a few days, although Nagato was not good at speaking and didn't talk much, he successfully integrated into Yahiko and Konan. The time spent together in adversity deepened the bond between the three of them rapidly.

The sky was gloomy in the evening, as if covered by a layer of gauze. The drizzle fell down, like cow hair, like flower needles, densely weaving diagonally, and the raindrops fell on the floating water on the ground, rippling circles of ripples.

In the shadow of the street corner, the three little ones were hiding, looking at the stalls in the market that had not yet closed, swallowing their saliva in their throats, their eyes full of desire.

At night, it was already completely dark, but in the end, even after all the stalls were removed, the three still did not dare to take action. With the experience of Yahiko yesterday, if they were discovered and caught again, they were afraid that the outcome would not be good. They would not be so lucky every time.

As night fell, the town became unusually quiet, as if time had frozen. At this moment, the streets were empty, with only faint lights swaying in the wind. The three exhausted children were carefully groping forward in the darkness, preparing to return to their cave near the town. At this moment, a chaotic and hurried sound of footsteps broke the silence around them.

"Clap! Clap! Clap!"

In the distance, several black ninja shoes were stepping quickly on the puddles. Every time they stepped on the water, water splashed up, scattered in all directions, and merged with the rain.

The rain began to get heavier, like a pouring waterfall, covering the whole world in a vast curtain of rain.

The three children looked vigilantly in the direction of the sound, their heartbeats speeding up involuntarily. The tense atmosphere filled the air, making them breathless.

As the footsteps got closer, the three kids' nerves became tense. Suddenly, a flash of lightning streaked across the night sky, illuminating the road ahead. In their brief vision, they caught a glimpse of several blurry figures, wearing black raincoats and forehead guards with swirling leaves engraved on them, moving at high speed in the rain like ghosts.