It was seven pm on a Sunday night. The sky was beginning to darken with the beautiful orange that gave birth to dusk. It was cold; a few degrees colder than what it usually was at Cloud, hinting the end of summer and the start of fall. The wind was calm, as it usually was inside the crater that was Kumogakure, though Kumori was already far away enough that the crater had become a slope.
Soon. His mind went blank as he walked in circles around a tree, stepping on the roots like a kid pretending the floor was made of lava. There wasn’t much to do as he waited for his brother to arrive. He took a few breaths and remembered the stories he had heard about the forest. He remembered that his parents used to tell him how there was a tribe of old mutated shinobi that stole children and took them to the forest in order to run illegal experiments on them. Supposedly they used to be part of Kumogakures Medic Branch, but was now what remained of the dead harvester division. He believed that for a while, and was scared to go out at night. As he grew up, it became obvious that it simply was one of those things parents say to input fear into children so they don't do bad stuff. When his parents died, the fear lingered though.
A few days ago he listened to an old man tell another story of a little girl that had gotten lost in the forest, and was now living there like an animal. Supposedly her teeth were as strong as steel, and could cut through flesh easier than the sharpest sword. He had seen her eating a bear next to a little cot that it seemed she had made. It was weird alright, but it was ok to dismiss… Kumori thought. There is no such thing as an animal girl capable to killing and eating a bear… unless she was one of those harvester experiments. Yes. That must be it.
He took another big breath. Hurry up brother. I have to talk to you. You won’t guess what I’ve done. I think I’ve found the cure for mortality.
" )