"You know, for all the hype about the Bloody Mist, isn't this surprisingly easy?"

"I know, right? Hey, want to hang out after this and get some Ice cream? Their sea salt specialty sounds pretty good and I wanted to ask you more about puppetry."

Famous last words, really. Words she wishes she could've taken back because she was a complete idiot for saying them and tempting fate. It was the crack of dawn when something had tripped the perimeter Julia and Sabako had set up. Things would've been fine if they had managed to wake up in time and prepare for the intruders, but all the alarms and traps had been easily removed and bypassed.

Silent Killing Technique, a favorite amongst Kiri Shinobi, she never knew how terrifying it actually was. They had gotten within her guard and managed to slit her throat before she could react, while the Suna kunoichi only got a shallow cut across her waist.

They didn't expect the 6-year-old with a severed trachea to suddenly throw one of them as a human projectile into the others. Neither did Julia if she was honest. Even as she carried Sabako and ran through the treelines she felt cold sweat dripping down her back and her palms felt clammy. She shoved the memory into the back of her mind for later, because she knew if she dwells on it any longer the fear would consume her, already her fingers were twitching and her hands and knees would soon follow. If she collapsed, both of them were dead.

It was more of a mix of panic, reflex, and instinct than any true skill or planning. If she had frozen or hesitated there, then she'd have certainly bled out. No, if the other Genin had cut her deeper or wider she would've bled out too fast to even begin healing herself as she was.

She was lucky. That her opponent was careless and underestimated her. That she had learned enough Iryojutsu to stem her bleeding, that there were only three of them, that they didn't coat their Kunai with poison, that she managed to catch them by surprise.

And that more than anything terrified her. She thought she knew about the Ninja world this past year, from watching the show and reading the manga, but now she knew how limited her views were. This was the world of Shinobi, this wasn't Dragon Balls. Just because she was faster or hit harder didn't mean she would win. In the end, she was just human, and she almost died in her sleep without knowing or being able to do a damn thing.

Stupid and careless, she let her guard down in self-assured ignorance despite all of her knowledge only amounted to a handful of actual missions and days. Idiotic beyond belief.

Julia Created 4 shadow clones and had them split in all directions to lose her pursuers. One of the traits of the Shadow clones was both a pro and a con. The clones copied down every detail from its creator down to the last bit. Including wounds. She wasn't sure how much time four half-dead little girls could buy, but she hoped it would be enough.

It'd take half an hour at least for her to heal her throat, and that was without accounting for her extra passenger's own wounds and the effort of running at breakneck speed. Her small hand covered her throat in a vice grip, an effort to stem the bleeding. She wasn't experienced enough to handle this kind of wound while darting through trees, and she was afraid that if she ran any quicker she would either bleed to death or snap her own head off.

She considered making another shadow clone to either carry or attend to the other's wound but decided not to risk it. The wound didn't look deep and it seems Sabako only fainted due to a Genjutsu, and Julia couldn't afford to waste any Chakra as it is. With 4 shadow clones out she was only left with 20% of her Chakra.

12 minutes, that was how much time her clone managed to buy before dying from a gaping hole in its chest. It was hit from behind, but Julia was sure she heard the sound of running water. Cross-referencing all the data she could manage to get in the brief moments before death along with her opponents being Genin or Chunin level at most and she was fairly certain it was a Water Bullet Jutsu.

A standard C rank Jutsu, nothing to write home about, but here in Kiri along with all the ambient moisture, water Jutsu were far easier and less costly. She wanted to curse out at the Mizukage for the obvious bullshit advantage he was giving his Shinobi, but she was scared he might be listening in and might send the Sanbi, the three-tailed beast, to eat her. What a bastard.

She Dispelled her other Shadow Clones and recreated them to keep a lookout for her. Setting down the brown-haired girl she got to work stitching up her sides and helping the healing process with the Mystical palm Jutsu. It was slower, but also took far less time and Chakra, and they needed to keep moving.

She reached into her thigh pouch and pulled out some smelling salt.

The brown-haired girl woke up with a gasp, eyes wild as she pulled out a kunai to face some invisible opponent before her unfocused eyes started to take in her surroundings. After taking stock of their surroundings Sabako finally noticed Julia's form slumped against a nearby tree. No matter how superhuman her endurance and stamina was, she was still in the body of a human child, and therefore had very little blood she could afford to lose.

14% was enough to cause a person to become light-headed, not to mention running vigorously afterward while carrying someone. She had already taken a Blood Pill to jumpstart the formation of blood in her body, but that would take time and taxed on her body in a different way.

Thankfully most Shinobi was well versed in sign language because she didn't think she would be able to talk anytime soon. She'd probably have to see a professional after this to make sure her vocal cores weren't fucked up. Sabako summoned Buru and opened a hidden hatch on his underbelly. the back popped open like the trunk of a car and she could faintly see gleaming metal and contraptions of all sorts. The girl tinkered with it for a few minutes before pulling out and rearranging all sorts of things, cursing here and there as she went.

10 minutes later and Julia found herself laying inside of the bull in a semi cushioned spot.

"Thanks for the save, partner, but now it's my turn, so how about you rest easy in there for a while and I'll make sure to get us the rest of the way through. Then we can pig out on ice cream."

That sounded like a really good plan for the shorter girl. She was really tired and everything felt cold and heavy, a nap sounded great about now.