008. A Stranger.

Fear glued Minato to the ground, sweat dripping down his face. The worm was huge, probably reaching up to 10 feet in length. It looked like a regular earth worm but with a hideously scary face.

'Fuck! What do I do? It's obviously impossible for me to try and out run this thing. Even with my sharp reflexes, I don't stand a chance against this monster.'

Minato didn't know what to do, his heart beat kept increasing and he felt like he was going to meet his end.

'Am I really going to die this way? What about Miyano San? How is he doing?'

Minato had made a promise to become stronger because he wanted to live up to his expectations, but it was also because he wanted to be able to protect him. He had not known Miyano for a long time but he felt really attached to him. He wanted to get closer to him, to get to know him better, to become an important part of his life. But he couldn't do all that if he died just like that.

'No! Even if I don't have a chance, I'm still going to try!'

He turned his heel and started to run for his life. Even if his chances were close to zero, he was still going to give it his all. Rather than running in a straight line, Minato decided to run in a zig zag pattern.

'Since the worm is charging in a straight line, then I guess it's safe to say it's not so good with corners. But if I'm wrong…'

Minato refused to finished that thought. Thinking about negative things wasn't going to do him any good.

'Just keep going. Don't stop, no matter what. Even though it's hard to run fast in the sand, run. Even though my legs are starting to cramp, run. Even though the sun was starting to drain the little energy I have, run. Just keep running and don't think about anything else.'

He didn't dare to look back to see if his predator had closed in on him but he had a feeling it was close.

Just when his muscles started to give in, a mysterious figure swooped in and took out the worm in an instant.

Minato didn't know how he did it, he barely even touched the worm before it crumbled to dust.

"Oi, you good?" He said, his eyes gazing deep into Minato's soul.

His eye color was a bright red shade and the rest of his face was hidden behind a mask.

"Y-yes. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"H-how did you do that?" The stranger wasn't wielding any weapon, and even if he was, Minato couldn't think of a weapon that would cause a giant 10 feet worm to crumble to dust.

"It's my skill, Disintegrate." He replied proudly. "My father said I was born with it, and the only other person to use such a skill in my family was my great great grandfather."

His voice grew gentle as he talked about his family. And there was this softness in his eyes when he mentioned his ancestor, it gave Minato the impression that he must have meant a lot to him.

"So anyway," he continued. "What are you doing in the middle of nowhere all by yourself? I have no idea how you got here but you should get out of here. It's not safe."

Minato didn't know if telling the stranger about the heroes was a good idea. Even though he saved his life, he was still a stranger, and for all he he knew, he could be a villain.

"Uh I was here with some of my…friends but uh, we kinda got separated."

"How did that happen? How did you even get here?"

"Like I said, with my friends." Minato felt nervous as the stranger stared at him, seemingly studying his expression for a while before he looked away.

"Friends huh? Well sorry to disappoint you but you're all alone."

"What do you mean?"

"Before I came here, I was exploring other parts of the Ga'had desert forest and there's nobody here." He explained, walking away from Minato.

"What? But that's not possible. We were all teleported here as part of our training." Immediately he said that Minato wished he could take it back. The stranger abruptly paused in his tracks, stiffening his posture.

He turned to face Minato and the latter took two steps back, he worried for his safety as it was painfully obvious that he didn't stand a chance against the man in front of him.

"By any chance…are you…an Unwanted?" He asked, his voice heavy with an emotion that was not familiar to Minato.

"What?" The question caught him off guard and he moved back another step, trying to put more distance between he and the stranger.

"You talked about training and teleporting, that must mean the seven Primordial heroes are back. Right?"

"H-how do you know that?"

"Oh please, everyone knows about the heroes. There have been festivals all over town for the last three nights to celebrate their arrival. And there's going to be another one tomorrow night to officially introduce them to the citizens. This one's going to be a big one, people from the seven kingdoms have been showing up since yesterday, anticipating it."

"Oh okay." Since they made it sound like the world was in danger, Minato had thought that things would be done incognito, but instead it was the opposite. "Wait, why did you ask if I was an Unwanted?"

"This is the desert forest of Ga'had, it's one of the most dangerous places in this kingdom."

"What? That can't be possible. They said it was for training, and all the monsters here are weak."

"Ah, so you are an Unwanted after all."

"What do you mean?"

"So, this immortal council member, Bato, is the same one responsible for hero appraising and training. Am I right?"

"Yes." He nodded.

"So basically, when there is an Unwanted, Bato sees them as nothing but a hindrance. I have no idea why but he really believes that all Unwanted are useless and so, he tosses them away."

"I still don't understand." He understood to some extent, but he still wanted to be sure.

"You weren't sent here for training, you were sent here to die."

"What?"