Third Person's POV (courtesy of Sarada passing out):
The sound of a slash echoed through the forest.
"Pass us the girl," an icy voice spoke, and Rika stumbled.
Her eyes were wide as she fell to the ground on her knees in front of a cloaked man, "we-we had an agreement. I would bring the girl and you would give me the money. Wh-why did you-"
The man pulled his arm back, extracting the blade from her stomach and watched with satisfaction as she lifelessly fell to the ground, her eyes rolled to the back of her head.
He stepped away and clicked his tongue as a smirk curled his lips, "be careful with who you trust. Didn't your parents teach you not to mingle with men who offer you candy?"
"The girl fainted, but she seems fine, Raiga-san. Was it really necessary to kill Rika-san?" a quiet voice asked, and the man shrugged noncommittally before he crouched down and lifted the girl effortlessly.
He chose to ignore the blood splattered on her face and surveyed their surroundings quickly, "there better be a good reason for her to be the one they need. It's a mystery no one even followed them, or heard Rika screaming."
"One of the noble clans were massacred, they are probably busy dealing with them," Ranmaru said in return and held on tightly as they teleported away from the forests.
They reached a pair of robed men, one with a mask on his face and the other bearing Sharingan. Both men looked their way and Raiga bowed his head before he looked up at them blankly, "I brought the girl as asked. Give me the money."
"What is the meaning of this?" the Sharingan-user demanded, staring piercingly at the masked-man who sent him a quick glance and shook his head.
Raiga rose his eyebrow and extended his arms, but neither man moved.
The masked man then grabbed a kunai and pointed it at him before he could even blink, "I asked for her months ago, but I now have no use of her. You promised to bring her unharmed so what is the meaning of the wound? This day has brought me a much more useful individual. You keep her, I have no need for weaklings."
Raiga watched with eyes wide and full of disbelief as both men teleported away, the Sharingan-user giving a quick glance at the girl before he vanished.
Raiga scoffed, not believing what had just happened, and was broken out of his reverie by Ranmaru's gasp.
He looked down and confusion settled in his eyes as the bleeding wound on the girl's forehead suddenly glowed a dark red and disappeared, wiping away any evidence of a cut ever being there.
"She seems to be more than we accredited her for," Raiga noted and Ranmaru voiced his agreement, both lost about what to do until they heard footsteps around them.
Raiga teleported to a safe spot in the trees and waited with bated breath, as ninjas jumped past from tree to tree, clearly searching for something, and getting restless. He chanced a glance down to the girl who had begun stirring and teleported before she could make a sound.
- Time-skip -
Sarada's POV:
I slept quite well, 'of course you did, you've been sleeping for almost two hours, warugaki,' and yawned lazily as I slowly opened my eyes, furrowing my eyebrows in confusion as I didn't see anything I recognised.
It took me a little while, but I then remembered how I was now living with oba-san, though I had no memory of entering Kumogakure.
'Actually kid, something happened... someone's coming, concentrate on me.'
