There was once a great clan that lived in Nareigakure, the Hidden Ghost Village. This village was located in the center of Taiyou no Kuni, the Sun Country, which resided between Hi no Kuni and Shino no Kuni, the Fire and Frost country. The clan has been providing some of the greatest genjutsu users the world has ever seen. It is known that the genjutsu techniques do not harm the enemy physically, but mentally. The most skilled of the clan were capable of inflicting such trauma to their opponent to render them hospitalized for weeks, depending on the strength of their genjutsu. Of course, the pain only comes from the victim’s belief that they are being injured. The wounds are not really there, but all in the victim’s mind. These shinobi come from none other than the Shurikane clan.

The Shurikane’s were known for their astonishing manipulative abilities that took genjutsu to an entirely different level, as well as the variety of methods they used to pull their victim into their illusion. Although many of them used hand seals, there were clansmen who could use the sound of an instrument or even their own voice to disrupt the victim’s senses. However, the few clansmen who are capable of awakening the Youkugan exceed even this level of genjutsu.

Although this dojutsu lies within the eyes of every clansman, only so many are capable of awakening it. No particular skill is needed to awaken the Youkugan. Rather, it is a particular situation that will bring the kekkei genkai to life. It is believed that the eye will awaken when the clansman is desperate in battle, no matter what the reason. May it be from the lack of chakra, or perhaps the lack of mobility, the Youkugan is said to appear in the clansman’s eyes when he or she needs it the most. What makes the Youkugan the legend that it is, however, is the ability it grants its user. With it, a Shurikane is capable of no longer simply casting a great genjutsu , but is capable of bringing it to life. The fake images that the shinobi creates would become matter and the pain inflicted on the enemy would become real. It was because of the clan’s Kekkei Genkai that the village was prosperous and strong. Of course, all good things come to an end.

It was only fourteen years ago when Kumogakure, the Hidden Cloud Village, declared war against Narei. The war took place at the borders of Taiyou and Kaminari no Kuni, the Lightning Country, and lasted nine long, red years. Kumo’s reason to start the war was obvious; they wanted the Youkugan.

Naturally, the village would not let one of their largest weapons be taken from them. It was during the end of the seventh year that Narei took drastic measures to end the war. Both sides had lost several men and they did not want to lose more, so they brought out their biggest weapon; the Four-Tailed Demon Ape. Rumour says that the bijuu wiped out not only the enemy lines, but the entire village as well. The Shurikane clan had attempted to control the bijuu with their genjutsu, but with the lack of shinobi remaining in the village and the war still raging on, as well as the exhaustion of the shinobi, the attempts came to no avail. The Head of the Shurikane clan, however, stayed as the last shinobi standing. With the last of her chakra and strength, she sealed the bijuu, Son Gokuu, away. Despite the end of the war, a question remains. Since every last villager and clansman is said to have been killed during the final act of the war, nobody knows what the bijuu was sealed into. To this say, it still remains a mystery.

“Stop her!”

I sprinted down the road with a small bag of coins in one hand and a bag of groceries in the other. Those shinobi really were persistent. Nevertheless, I continued to make a break for it. I needed to money and I was hungry. It’s been like this for as long as I could remember. I just remembered waking up in the middle of nowhere one day. I only knew three things back then; my name is Riku, I was seven years old, and I’m a kunoichi.

“Keep following her!”

With a light thud, I jumped and landed on the roof of some building and began running on the rooftops of the houses and stores. It was going to take more than some sprinting to get those shinobi off my tail. I jumped off the building and landed in a four-way intersection. The shinobi were gaining on me, so I took a sharp turn to the right and made a break for it. On my way, I knocked over a few baskets of watermelon and apples to get in their way so I had more time to shake them off. Another sharp turn brought me to an alleyway. Unfortunately, it was a dead end.

“Your escape ends here, kid.” The leader of the group of shinobi announced with a smirk. He approached me with a confident look in his eyes, but I wasn’t going to let him have his way anytime soon.

A few hand signs did the trick; hare, boar, monkey, ox. “Ishihako,” I murmured while holding out my hands. All it took was a wave of chakra to put the genjutsu into action. Messing with their senses rendered them unable to move because I made it seem like they were all trapped in stone boxes. With a smirk, I jumped over them and out of the alley, releasing the genjutsu when I was sure I was far enough from them. When I reached the edge of the forest, I could just hear a loud, angry cry in the distance.

“I’ll get you one day, Riku! And when that day comes, you will never see the light of day! Ever! Again!”

I chuckled to myself and pulled down my mask. “Hey, a girl’s gotta eat.”

---

The groceries I had stolen would last me about three days. I was just in the Hot Springs Country, Yu no Kuni, so I had more than enough until I reached Konoha. Back when I was in the Frost Country, I managed to get the Daimyou to send a message to the Hokage. He and I are good pals; I saved his daughter from a hungry hoard of wild dogs once, but it was actually because I was going to follow her home and steal her food. I never told the Daimyou that and I got a few thousand yen, as well as food to last me two weeks as a reward.

After five years of wandering country to country, I figured it was finally time to find a place to stay. The Daimyou of the Frost Country asked me why I didn’t just stay there, but I told him I had some stuff to do. I wanted to know where I came from and Konoha’s the biggest Hidden Village full of talented shinobi. I know I can find answers there.

“I could use a little more change, though.” I sighed to myself. The pouch was loaded, but it was loaded with coins of lesser value. It would have to do for now.

I retied my mask and cleared up my small campsite before jumping off towards the Fire Country. There was no rush, really, but I wanted to get out of the Hot Springs Country as soon as possible. If it wasn’t obvious, I’m a bit of a criminal there, but it’s nothing big. All I did was steal a couple of times to keep myself going. Yeah, that one shinobi that tried to capture me and I, we go way back to when I first got there last year.

By the time the sun had started to set, I had covered a good seven miles or so. I was in the Fire Country already, but now I had to make sure I wouldn’t get caught. If any of their shinobi found me, it would really look like I was—

“Trespassing?” A voice called from behind me. I spun around with a kunai already in hand to come face to face with a jounin and three genin, all ready to attack. The jounin had a mask, much like mine, and a headband covering his left eye. There was one girl on the team with pink hair. One of the males wore a rather obnoxious orange jump suit and the other had a navy blue T-shirt. All their headbands were visible; they’re Konoha shinobi themselves.

I narrowed my eyes and took a step back slowly so it wouldn’t seem like I was trying anything fancy. “I’m not looking for trouble.” I stated calmly while standing up straight. To prove my point, I spun my kunai in my hand to grab it by the handle and slipped it back into my weapon pouch.

“State your purpose.” The jounin demanded. Clearly, he meant business.

Some shinobi just have a stick shoved way too far up their ass. “I’m on my way to Konohagakure. The Hokage already knows that I’m heading over. Was just about to set up camp to spend the night until you guys showed up.” I explained with an uninterested look in my eyes. Maybe I should have seen this coming. Although the four of them seemed to be less cautious around me, it was obvious that they weren’t taking any chances with me. It was understandable. I probably would have been angry if they hadn’t been so cautious, despite my age and appearance.

“Konoha isn’t that far away,” The jounin started again while telling the three genin to lower their weapons, “so we’ll take you there. Unless you were lying, I’m sure you wouldn’t mind.”

“I accept your offer,” I answered with the faintest smirk. There was nothing to hide, anyway. I wasn’t lying, so I didn’t mind travelling back with them at all. Plus, maybe they had food or something. The stuff I stole earlier wasn’t so great. But hey, when you’re hungry, there’s no time to be picky.

Naturally, the team didn’t introduce themselves to a stranger like me. Of course, I kept my name to myself as well. The only information they got from me was the stuff I told them earlier about staying in Konoha. I did, however, have to explain that I was a wandering shinobi. Since I had no citizenship, I had no passport or anything.

A few hours was all it took to get to Konoha. The guards at the gate greeted the team and eyed me a bit, but the jounin explained the situation and they let me through. I followed the team through the village and towards the Hokage’s palace. All the while, I couldn’t help but look around me. The village was quite lively. Villagers were scurrying here and there to get work done and such and shinobi were jumping about, going from rooftop to rooftop. The weather was nice, too. Clear, blue skies with a few clouds that floated by. It’s a peaceful village, really.

“We’re here.” The jounin grabbed my attention as we entered the palace.

The walls were lined with various paintings. Some were of plants and others were of animals. None of them were really interesting until I came across these nine paintings that were hung up on the wall in their own group, so it seemed. They seemed to be some sort of demon and as I walked down the hall, each creature had another tail added. I shook my head and dismissed the paintings when the jounin knocked on a door. Above it, there was a wooden pallet that had the kanji word for fire on it. I assumed this was where the Hokage was.

“Come in.” The voice that spoke sounded frustrated.

The jounin opened the door to reveal the Hokage sitting behind her desk. She looked pretty young, but her hard stare made creases in her forehead, giving off the impression that she was older. While she didn’t seem too bad, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little intimidated at first.
Standing next to the Hokage was a young, dark-haired woman who smiled at us as we entered. In her arms was a pig. I furrowed my brows a bit at first, but decided that it was nothing out of the ordinary. The Daimyou had a goat, if I remember correctly.
While the jounin, the kunoichi, and the dark-haired boy greeted the Hokage respectfully, the blond one pointed at the old man and began to mouth him off.

“I thought I was going to start getting harder missions from now on!” He shouted with an annoyed look in his eyes. I gave a confused look to the rest of the team, but they all just sighed and shook their heads. “That mission was a piece of cake! I’m a genin now, give me harder ones!” The blond demanded while shaking his fist.

“Shut the hell up, you brat!” The Hokage immediately shouted while slamming her hands on the desk. I jumped back a little from the startling noise and looked at the others, only to receive looks that told me that this was just how things were. “Who’s this girl?” She asked, now looking at me. Her temper seemed to cool, but I reminded myself not to anger her. I took notice to the lack of names being used. These shinobi were respectable, except maybe the one in the orange jumpsuit.

“Ts-Tsunade-sama…!” The woman stammered nervously while gesturing towards the Hokage to calm down. She gave me an apologetic look and I tried my best to convey an understanding look, though the Hokage’s tone and short temper took me by surprise. The Daimyou is an incredibly gentle man, so the change is a little drastic.

Before the jounin could speak, I decided to speak for myself. “I’m the one the Daimyou of the Frost Country mentioned to you; the one that’s hoping to stay in the village.” The moment I mentioned the Daimyou, the Hokage seemed to be less wary of me.

“Oh, so you’re Riku.” She stated while pulling out some documents. It looked like I had some paperwork to fill out before I could become an actual villager or shinobi or something. “You’re lucky you were found by Kakashi and his team, or things might’ve gotten tough at the gates.”

“I’m grateful,” I replied with a humble look in my eyes before giving the jounin a victorious glance. The jounin, whose name was apparently Kakashi, responded with once of indifference. What a bore.
The Hokage seemed to be pleased with my demeanour and even offered a smile. Suddenly, she looked a lot less intimidating than before. “Heh, it’s nice to know that there’s somebody who knows how to pay their respects.” Naruto immediately started to say something about how she just doesn’t appreciate him, but he was immediately silenced with another tempered yell. I made a mental note not to let her calm appearance fool me. This woman was just a ticking time bomb, wasn’t she?

After sighing heavily, she asked me to step forward. “The Daimyou mentioned in the message that you’re also a shinobi,” she started while pulling out a Konoha headband. The team looked a bit confused, but so was I. “Since you’re seeking residence in Konoha, you should at least make yourself useful by becoming a genin. You can perform the qualification test now, if you want.”

Although I did want to become a genin, I wondered if I wanted to become one for Konoha. I was a traveller, so I wasn’t used to staying in one place. I looked back at the team. The blond seemed to urge me to accept the offer, so I assumed he was the kind who liked meeting new people. I sighed and looked back at the Hokage before deciding. “…I guess I don’t see why not.”

“Then it’s settled. The test is easy, just make two clones of yourself.” The Hokage explained with a smirk, waving her hand nonchalantly. I paused and pressed my lips into a firm line. She noticed my hesitation and gave me a slightly impatient look. “Hey, this is an academy-level technique; it should easy. The Daimyou wasn’t lying when he said you’re a shinobi, right?”

“Well, no—” I started before cutting myself off. What I was about to say probably wouldn’t be something the Hokage wanted to hear. Anticipating another burst of angry, I hesitantly began to explain myself. “I’m a shinobi, but…” I gulped, but refused to break my gaze away from the Hokage. “…I don’t know any ninjutsu.”

There was an odd silence before the kunoichi and the blond genin let out a loud “What?!” The dark-haired boy looked incredibly unimpressed while Kakashi and the Hokage looked either concerned or puzzled. I stuck my hands into my jacket pockets and shrugged.

“I’ve never been to any academy or anything.” I stated while looking up at the Hokage. “I know genjutsu though. I can make it look like I made two clones of myself – see?” I suggested while forming two hand signs. There seemed to be a slight ripple in the air and before long, two more images of me appeared. For a moment, the Hokage stared at the edge of her desk in thought before finally gesturing for me to approach her. Cautiously, I did.

She handed me a few sheets of paper for me to fill out - stuff like ownership over an apartment and residency - before clearing her throat. “While I wish the Daimyou would’ve had the courtesy of mentioning this in his letter,” I took note o the annoyance behind her furrowed brows, “it’s not like it’s all over for you. We have a shinobi with a similar case to yours and your genjutsu looks promising.” I gave a slow nod but wasn’t exactly sure what she was getting at. “Even though you technically passed, you’d be capable of using ninjutsu if you were trained properly.”

Now more relaxed, I let myself give her a confused stare. I didn’t really want to have to study at the Academy, if that’s what she was getting at. While it’s true that I knew next to nothing when it came to ninjutsu, that didn’t mean I wanted to spend my time studying with toddlers.

“So, I’ll let you train with one of our genin teams so you can learn ninjutsu. When you’re ready, you’ll come back and pass the test properly.” She spoke with a confident smirk.

“Sounds simple enough.” Train with a team, learn ninjutsu, pass test, become a proper genin. No big deal. I don’t mean to sound cocky, but I’m a skilled genjutsu user. My chakra control is probably above average compared to regular genin, so picking up ninjutsu shouldn’t be that big of a problem for me. “Who will I train with?”

The Hokage simply pointed behind me. I turned around to face the team that brought me here to see the blond one excited to have a new teammate, the girl seemingly curious about how things would go down, and the dark-haired boy turning his head away. He seemed to lack interest in a great number of things. Kakashi – I suppose from now on he’s Kakashi-sensei to me – looked down at me with a curious look in his right eye.

With no complaints, I grabbed the sheets that I had to fill out and thanked the Hokage for her help. I exited the building with the team and before I went on my own way, said goodbye to them as well. Before I took another step, however, the jounin called me out. I spun around with a questioning look in my eyes before he stated in a bored voice, “Training starts tomorrow.”

I approached the team in the third training ground to see the black-haired kid and the blond sparring. I never did get their names yet. Maybe they’d introduce themselves today but really, I couldn’t care less. Kakashi-sensei greeted me with a nod and a one-eyed smile. I raised my hand in acknowledgement. He told the genin to stop sparring and turned his attention back to me.

“First, I want to see what you’re already capable of.” He explained while motioning me towards a training post. Attached to it was a target with several holes in it from previous uses. “Let’s see your aim.”

I sighed and pulled out four weapons; two kunai knives and two shuriken, one of each in each hand. With ease, I threw my hands forward. The kunai knives struck the center right next to each other and the two shuriken mirrored each other, each one stabbing the ring around the bullseye on the top and bottom. I looked back at the jounin. He looked rather impressed and so were the genin; especially the blond. He seemed to freak out a bit. It was probably because I don't look like much, which I admit is quite true. I don't think I'm anything special, either, but I can at least handle weapons properly.

“My strengths lie in genjutsu, accuracy, and endurance.” I explained while retrieving my weapons. “I may not know ninjutsu, but that doesn’t mean I’m not good at anything else.”

“I never said that.” The jounin responded with that one-eyed smile of his. “Why don’t you show just that stamina of yours, now? Do you mind sparring against Naruto?” He asked while nodded towards the blond. So that’s his name. I told him it didn’t matter who I sparred against and we took our positions in the clearing, the other three shinobi observing the spar.

He grinned and wiped his thumb against his nose. A confident grin was plastered on his face when he spoke. “I’m gonna be the Hokage someday, so don’t underestimate me!” Naruto announced proudly. I didn’t plan on it. I thought with a nonchalant expression. The moment Kakashi-sensei told us to begin, the blond charged forward without any hesitation.

With ease, I dodged his first punch by leaning to the right and threw one of my own. He blocked it with his left hand and swung from underneath for an uppercut with his right, but I blocked it with my left hand and landed a punch in his gut. Naruto stumbled back a bit, which gave me the chance to take the offensive. I began to throw rapid punches here and there, as well as kicks. I managed to land a few hits, but they weren’t hard hits. Nevertheless, he blocked most of them. As I started another series of kicks, he grabbed my ankle and my supporting leg lost balance, sending me to the ground.

“Ha!” He grinned and attempted to pin me down.

Of course, I refused to let that happen and grabbed his wrists with my hands. With a push off the ground, I kicked up and sent him flying towards the direction my head was face in. Without any moment of delay, I got onto my feet and sprinted towards him to deal another round of punches and kicks. He was already up and ready to counter-attack with a roundhouse kick. I jumped into the air to dodge and aimed to land behind him. Just as I was about to swing out my leg to kick him from behind, he grabbed my leg and spun me around. I kept my body off the ground and hit his elbows, forcing him to release me or his shoulders would pop. I landed with a light thud and began to defend myself as he began to attack with several kicks and punches himself.

“That will do.” The jounin called out after several minutes and walked towards us. Naruto and I were still catching our breaths by the time he had come over. The blond had a stupid grin on his face, but I couldn’t help but smirk a bit. He and I seemed to have the same amount of stamina, so I wouldn’t mind sparring against him again. “Not many people can last that long when sparring with Naruto. His stamina is rather…excessive.”

“I could say the same for myself.” I responded and let out a deep sigh, finally catching my breath. “The genin of Konoha are pretty tough.” He grinned from my comment while resting his hands behind his head.

My gaze shifted back to the jounin, who seemed ready for the next thing he wanted me to do. I nodded and he brought me back to the centre of the field. I guess it was time for me to use my genjutsu. “Show me your best.” Kakashi-sensei spoke with a nonchalant expression. I nodded and began to form a few hand signs. It wasn’t long before I released my chakra flow and infiltrated his. Manipulate the mind… I thought with my eyes closed while messing with his senses. I began with his sight.

The grass in the field began to slowly wilt and dark clouds began rolling in. The foliage turned brown and wilted away and the healthy bark of the trees dried up and became crusted. I made it seem like the water was a murky brown; polluted and filthy. Finally, I began to add the corpses and weapons. Here and there, spears and daggers began to appear. Some were rusted, others were snapped in two, and several punctured a corpse. There were limbs thrown around and all of them bathing in a pool of blood. I looked back at the jounin. He seemed rather impressed by my work, but I was nowhere near done.

My scene was set, but it was time to make it seem like he was experiencing the scenario. The scent of rotting corpses became stronger. I could tell it was working from the look in his right eye. No matter how many dead bodies one sees in their life, that stench just kills every time, I would believe. I can barely stand the scent of rotting food. The sound of the horrific water was a faint one, but it was there. Finally, I manipulated the wind to have it sound like screams of pain in the distance, as well as the sound of combat.

Last but not least, I threw out my arm. The moment I did, a splatter of blood seemingly appeared on the jounin and dripped a bit. I smirked and let my arms fall down to my sides. “Akuma no Yume.”

“Impressive.”

I released the genjutsu soon after, setting everything back to normal. The three genin seemed rather speechless from the scene I created. I had made them experience it was well; just to prove that I could use genjutsu on more than one person at a time. He seemed to take notice to that detail and gave me an approving look. However, he seemed a bit puzzled.

“Where did you learn to use genjutsu?” He asked. I opened my mouth to answer before I realized something; I actually had no idea. There was no response I could give to that. He scratched the back of his neck and approached me, speaking in a lower voice. “You said you’ve never had a sensei before, but somebody must have taught you what you know.”

“I’m…not sure.” My voice was empty but my mind was full of thoughts and questions. I’ve never bothered wondering how I knew what I knew. Kakashi-sensei gave me one of those looks that told me I was going to be talking a lot about myself soon. He brushed off the topic for now, however, and turned to his team.

“Well, for the next two months, we’re going to be teaching Riku how to just ninjutsu. Don’t worry though,” he added in the end. I noticed that he direct this last part mostly to the two males, “I’ll make sure you three get your regular training and missions.”

---

The female of the team, Sakura, was assigned to teach me the basics of ninjutsu while Kakashi-sensei trained the two males. She was intelligent and was clearly the one with the brains out of the genin. Well, I didn’t really know what the quiet one was capable of yet. All I learned was that his name is Sasuke and he was, well, quiet.

“First things first,” Sakura started with a smile. She was also kind; I didn’t mind her company. “Unlike genjutsu, ninjutsu inflicts real pain on the opponent. I guess you already know this, but I’m just making sure.” She clarified with a sheepish grin. I nodded, but let her continue.

“I figured I’d might as well go over it because knowing what ninjutsu is would probably help you perform some of the basic techniques.”

“Makes sense.”

She smiled again before continuing. “I suppose ninjutsu is a bit like genjutsu. Both types of techniques involved chakra manipulation. When you use genjutsu, you manipulate your chakra flow to mess with your opponent’s mind. When you’re using ninjutsu though, you manipulate your chakra to form clones, transform yourself, or control elements.” As an example, the kunoichi first made a clone of herself, made it disappear, then transformed into me.

It sounded simple, but I wondered how I was supposed to manipulate my chakra. Perhaps…transfer it to the outside of my body or something, I guess. “I think I get it.” I stated with some uncertainty. “Teach me the first technique.”

“All right!” Sakura grinned and explained the works of how to perform the Kawarimi no Jutsu, the Body Replacement Technique. It was apparently one of the easier techniques that fell unto the E-Rank category, so it made sense that she started with that. This technique would have been useful when I was running from those shinobi back in the Hot Springs Country.

---

Two hours after beginning my ninjutsu training, I became pretty worn out. I guess it was just too different from genjutsu, even though my chakra control is above average. Sakura seemed pretty impressed from the speed I was catching up on, though. I had already gotten the Replacement Technique down and managed to get the gist of Henge no Jutsu, the Transformation Technique, but that one required a constant usage of chakra and it was pretty tiring. She told me it was one of the harder ones and that I was already doing really well on my first few tries, but she’s probably just being nice. I smirked and breathed out a faint ‘thanks’ as I caught my breath.

“Sakura, Riku, you can head home now if you want.” We looked up to see Kakashi-sensei walking towards us. The other two genin were presumably gone already. The two of us nodded as the jounin disappeared into a puff of smoke. The kunoichi turned back to me and asked if I wanted to grab dinner with her, but I told her that I would stay back to practice some more.

“Alright, but don't wear yourself out too much. Good luck.” She encouraged with a grin. Before she left, she spun around once more to tell me, “Oh yeah, Kakashi-sensei wants us to meet at the Hokage’s Palace tomorrow. I think we’re going to do some missions and he said that you should get some experience, too.”

I nodded and she left. When she was out of sight, I sighed and fell onto the ground, exhausted from the training. I didn’t even spend that much time on it, either. While looking up at the sky, I watched as the white clouds looked orange and yellow from the sunset. I think I’m going to like it here.

“Run!” A voice shouted. I couldn’t tell who it was; the smoke was too thick and it was burning my eyes. I did what the voice told me to do though. I ran as fast as I could, away from everything.

From behind, I heard an enormous growl that shook the ground, knocking me off my feet. What was it? What was going on? One moment I’m playing in the field with a few friends and the next moment, I’m running for my life. My mind was blurred, my vision infected. My breath was shallow. It was hard to breath in all the smoke and covering my mouth and nose with my shirt did little to help, but I ran.

I turned corners here and there until I reached a dead end in the village. I turned around to go back, but it was already too late. Something, I don’t know what, but something came to attack me. It almost hit me until—

“Ah!” I gasped and found myself panting heavily when I woke up. Beads of sweat formed at my hairline. What was that about? I thought while rubbing my eyes with the back of my hands. I’ve never had a dream like that before, but I didn’t have time to think about it. I looked at my clock to see that I woke up just in time, so I rushed through breakfast and dressing to get out of my condo fast.

My outfit was simple and quick to put together; a red T-shirt with a short-sleeved black jacket, dark blue pants that hung down to the middle of my shins, and a standard pair of sandals. I attached my shuriken holster around my right leg as usual and after slipping my belt on, attached two pouches that held other weapons and items around the back on the right side. Finally, I tied my headband around my forehead and my mask around my face. It was a bit of a unique mask that had a long zipper sewn across it. That way, I could just unzip half of it to show just the right side of my mouth. It let me eat and drink without having to take the entire mask off.

As for the condo, it’s pretty small; so small that it’s just one big rectangle, really. Well, except for the closet and the bathroom. My bed was pushed up under the only window in the room. I had a small dresser next to it and on top of that, there was a lamp and a clock. Literally five feet away is the kitchen. It had tiles instead of hardwood floor and was lined with cupboards, a fridge, and an oven. Next to the fridge was the microwave. In the middle of the room, over the line where the kitchen tiles to the hardwood meet, was my table with two chairs, though I really only need one. Next to the kitchen is the door to my bathroom and across from that is the closet, where I keep spare change, weapons, clothes, and all that good stuff. I don’t have a lot of stuff, so the condo is cozy. I really like it.

The three genin had already arrived at the Hokage’s palace, but the jounin was nowhere to be seen. I looked around with a questioning look in my eyes before Naruto explained. “Kakashi-sensei’s always late.” He huffed with a childish pout. “When will he be on time for once?!”

“Shut up, Dobe.” Sasuke muttered, looking rather impatient. He’s such a sweetheart, so I’ve learned. Naruto glared at the raven-head and raised a fist in frustration, but Kakashi-sensei appeared before the blond could say anything. I sensed some rivalry between those two, or something along those lines.

“Sorry about that; I got lost on the road of life.” The jounin excused himself with a meek smile before leading us to the Mission Room. I tilted my head to the side a bit and scratched the back of my head. Lost on the road of life? Now there’s a new excuse for the books.

We entered the room to see a long table with a few chuunin behind it, handling the payment transactions and the assignment of missions. The room wasn’t very busy, but I noticed another team of genin in the room. They looked a bit older than us though. I guess the jounin of that team knew Kakashi-sensei because when he saw the masked jounin, he shouted out his name and pointed a finger at him.

“Aha! Hatake Kakashi, my arch rival!” He cried, causing his and Kakashi-sensei’s genin to sigh in unison. I had no idea what was going on, really. All I knew is that the jounin calling out Kakashi-sensei had some weird fashion sense, as well as that miniature version of himself that was standing next to him. Seeing one persons in that kind of green suit was bizarre enough, let alone two at the of them, and one of them was an adult nonetheless. “Bringing your team for missions at the same time as my team, eh? Perhaps it is a challenge--!”

“Please stop, Gai-san.” Kakashi-sensei interrupted with a disinterested look. I never knew a grown man could look so disappointed until I saw the other jounin sulking. He looked far too much like a puppy trying to get its master’s attention and admittedly got me curious about the history between those two, though I wasn’t sure if that was “We’re just here to give our newcomer some experience with missions.”

That was when all eyes turned to me. I blinked a few times before side-stepping behind Sakura, who proceeded to ruin my cover by pulling me back out and giving me a slight shove forward. “Uhh…” I started, not sure what I was supposed to do. “…Hi.”

What happened next could have scarred me for life. The jounin in the green spandex – his name was Gai-sensei, I believe – jumped towards me and grabbed my shoulders. My eyes widened from the surprise ‘attack’ and I immediately took a step back. “What a youthful young kunoichi!” He exclaimed while violently turning towards Kakashi-sensei. I gave him a look that asked him what the Hell was wrong with this guy. The jounin simply looked back at me and shook his head with a shrug. “Kakashi-san, train her well!”

“Y…Yeah.” Kakashi-sensei responded with an unimpressed look. Before we knew it, that team had left the room. Before the door closed, however, the kunoichi of that team leaned back and whispered ‘Sorry about that, our Sensei is crazy!’ before disappearing.

For I moment, I simply stared at the door before looking back at the others. “Who…?”

“Sorry you had to see that so soon, Riku.” Sakura apologized with a sheepish smile. “Gai-sensei’s really energetic. The miniature version of him is Rock Lee. He was the similar case that Tsunade-sama mentioned when you first arrived, since he can only use taijutsu.”

“He’s Bushy Brows!” Naruto added. I felt although there were no questions that needed to be answered in the rest of the world at that moment when I connected the nickname to Lee-san’s face. I pulled myself back to the point at hand before I started wondering if it was even humanly possible for eyebrows to be so thick.

“Just taijutsu?” I repeated, and received nod in return.

“Hyuuga Neji was the other boy, and the female was Tenten-chan. At least those two seem to balance out Gai-sensei and Lee-san’s energy. To some extent, anyway.” She finished with a slight laugh. Now that I thought about it, Neji did seem to be a little uptight.

Soon after the explanation, the jounin led us to the long mission table on the other side of the room.

“I see you’re taking good care of your team, Kakashi-senpai.” The chuunin behind the desk noted. He had a rather long scar across his now and his hair was in a ponytail, I noted. “Hopefully Naruto is behaving and isn’t doing anything stupid.” He then gave a stern look to the blond, though they weren’t nearly as harsh as Tsunade-sama’s.

Naruto huffed and was about to yell at the chuunin until Kakashi-sensei laughed and covered the blonde’s mouth. “Don’t worry about him.” He reassured and got to business. I merely assumed that the chuunin was Naruto’s sensei at the Academy, and presumably Sakura’s and Sasuke’s, too. I saw no other reason for them to be so familiar with each other, anyway. “You wouldn’t happen to have any easy missions, would you? I figured I’d show Riku how the missions work around here.”

The chuunin looked over to me for a moment before looked back with a smile. “Of course we do. There’s dog walking, weed pulling, leaf raking, harvesting…” He read out loud from the scroll. After each mission possibility he listed, my head sunk lower and lower. You have got to be kidding me.

---

“No offence Kakashi-sensei,” I started while wiping the sweat off my forehead, “but these missions sort of reek.” The jounin laughed at my comment as I stuck the shovel into the pile of manure and tossed it into the wheelbarrow before sticking it into the ground and leaning on it. “Seriously, this is bullshit. No pun intended.”

Cleaning up the feces of bulls was only one of the several chores I had to do that day. Weeding infested gardens and harvesting ten acres of crops by hand were at the top of the list for Worst Missions Ever. With another sigh, I started with the shoveling again. The other three Genin seemed used to this kind of stuff, but I didn’t fail to notice how annoyed Naruto looked with every scoop of feces he had to toss into the wheelbarrow. The man who owned the bulls said that he was a good friend of the farmers near the outskirts of the town. He often sent over the feces for them to use as natural fertilizer. It made sense, but that doesn’t mean I wanted to do it.

“Finally!” Naruto shouted while falling to the ground. “I never want to see bull crap ever again.”

“Good work. Now just bring the wheelbarrow to the farmers and we’re done for the day.” Kakashi-sensei instructed blatantly. The four of us sighed in unison. It wasn’t so much the missions that bothered me now; it was mostly the fact that the jounin would just tell us what to do and then sit there reading from that little orange book of his. What was it called – Icha Icha Paradise?

After half an hour of pushing and pulling the wheelbarrow of manure, we were stink-free. I sighed and stretched out my arms and back. It was a long day of hard labor. The jounin dismissed the other three genin, but told me to come with him back to the Mission Room. I sighed and waved goodbye to the others before going along with him. “What, you’ve got a separate mission for me?” I asked with a dull look. I smelled like dirt and feces, so I really just wanted to go home and wash myself off before the stench stuck to me.

“No, I just to show you how handing in a report works.” He answered with that one-eyed smiled and hurried me along. I was showed how the report is filled out and how the transaction works, as well as some other small details like how much each mission normally costs and stuff like that. It wasn’t too complicated. As soon as we were done, I rushed back home to clean myself off. If I waited any longer, I was afraid that the stench would never get out.

When I fell asleep that night, I had the same dream…or more accurately, a nightmare.

Geez, could they be any more predictable?

From all directions, I could hear the kunai and shuriken slice through the air towards me. Swiftly, I replaced my body with a log and jumped into the trees to conceal myself. After two months and a half of training, Team 7 finally decided that I was ready for the test. Of course, one final practice wouldn’t hurt.

“You’re gonna have to do better than that.” I sighed and jumped out of the trees when more weapons were thrown at me. As I hid in another section of the forest, I sent out a clone to fight against Sakura, who had appeared in the field. The distraction didn’t last long, but it was enough time for me to relocate once again. The three genin appeared in the field and looked around, wondering where I went. Kakashi-sensei sat this practice session out to observe my uses of the techniques they taught me.

While they searched the area, I transformed myself into a squirrel and scurried off. It wasn’t long before I encountered the Uchiha in another section of the training field. He spun around when I scurried past him but didn’t seem to notice that I was using the Transformation Technique. Just as I released the technique to attack him, he seemed to realize that the ‘squirrel’ he saw was what it seemed and spun around just in time to grab my fist.

“Nice try.” He muttered before throwing my arm across and sweeping his leg underneath mine to trip me. I landed on my hands and did a front flip onto my feet before turning back around, a kunai in each hand. He jumped back and in a blink of an eye, performed a few hand seals, and inhaled. “Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!”

I was amazed the first time he revealed his fire ninjutsu and impressed by the second time, but after several uses it got pretty old and I just started to wonder when I got to learn some elemental jutsus myself. Turning into rocks and people got boring after a while.
To dodge, I pushed off with a burst of chakra and jumped over the enormous ball of fire. In the air, I spun and threw the two kunai towards him. When he dodged, I followed him by throwing weapons at him, just missing with every step he took.

“Damn it, stop moving!” I shouted and landed, grabbing my weapons as I chased after him.

He sprinted into the forest and the moment I entered, he was gone. I frowned and made a one-handed seal with my right hand, adjusted the flow of my chakra, and turned around to face the team. “I thought this was a session for ninjutsu, not genjutsu.” I muttered with an unimpressed look.

The jounin laughed and rubbed the back of his neck with a shrug. “I figured I’d see how quickly you chould catch on. You did well.”

“It was an easy genjutsu.” I answered with a nonchalant shrug before pocketing my last weapon. “So, how about that genin test?

---

“It’s about time.” The Hokage spoke with a welcoming smile. “Well, you know how it goes. If you can make two clones of yourself, you’ll be an official genin.”

“Alright then…here it goes.” I sighed and performed the hand seal while closing my eyes.

I could sense Team 7 behind me and the Hokage before me. Gradually, I blocked them out until all my concentration was on my chakra. As I let out a slow breath, I focused on letting my chakra flow through my body and out. With a puff of smoke, I looked to my right to see two copies of myself. I turned back to the Hokage with a satisfied look. “One Konoha headband, please.”

Tsunade-sama smiled proudly and gestured for me to approach. She pushed forward the hitai-ate and I took it in my hands. “Congratulations, Riku. You are now a genin of Konohagakure.”

I tied the hitai-ate around my forehead and turned around to face the team. “Thanks a lot you guys.” They sure did help me a lot since I’ve arrived in Konoha. It really was a stroke of luck that I ran into them on my way. I’ve been on my own for as long as I can remember, so it was to see the same people so often. I would like to think that we got along rather well, though.

“Well then, now that you’re a genin, it’s time to find you a team.” The Hokage informed me, causing me to turn around. She was already going through some sort of roster with what I assumed to the registered teams of genin. After a few seconds of skimming, she grumbled in frustration and tossed the roster aside. “Tsk, I’ll find you one later. Too many shinobi in this damn village.” She muttered with a shrug. I began to wonder if this woman was forced to be Hokage or something. She didn’t seem too enthusiastic about the job.

“Ne, ne! Why doesn’t Riku just join our team?” Naruto asked with a wide grin, taking a step forward. “She’s been training with us from the beginning, anyway, so it should be no problem! Right?”

“The teams don’t work like that, Naruto.” Kakashi-sensei interjected while shaking his head. “As much as I don’t mind having her on the team, the genin are put into three-man cells to compliment each other’s strengths and weaknesses. They’re put into teams to balance each other out or serve a specific purpose.”

Sakura seemed to get it pretty quickly and nodded. “Like how Kurenai-sensei’s team specialized in tracking. The genin from Asuma-sensei’s team were put together, too, because of their kekkei genkai, weren’t they?” Both the jounin and the Hokage nodded before turning back to me.

“Having a fourth genin will disrupt the balance the team. Plus, the platoons would be too large for missions.” The Hokage explained, now with the serious look in her eyes once more.

I understood their reasoning so I expected something like this to happen, but I'd be lying if I didn't say I was a little disappointed. They've been taking care of me for the past several weeks, after all, but I didn’t want to disrupt the balance of the teams, either. Teamwork is crucial to shinobi. Despite never having had companions until now, I’m aware of its importance.

“It’s alright,” I started with a nonchalant expression, “I’m used to flying solo. I can train on my own and stuff or something, no big deal.”

The Hokage shook her head in disagreement, however. “You’ve got respect, but you’re still just a brat, Riku. You’re not a traveler anymore, but a genin of this village. You’re going to have to learn what it’s like to have people to protect. There’s certain responsibilities that comes with not being alone.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat and looked back at the team who, in their own respective ways, gave off a sort of welcoming vibe. I sighed with the faintest smile of my own. The idea of having friends was foreign, so I couldn’t bring myself to let my mind linger on that subject for too long. Sure, I’ve had many acquaintances, but there was never anybody that I ever really felt the need to protect.

“I guess so.” I finally answered with a nod. “Until you find me a team, then.”

---

It was on my way home when I passed by the Konoha library. After spending weeks working on becoming an official shinobi, I got distracted from the reason I came here for. I figured it was time to do that research. I knew the library was big, but I couldn’t believe my eyes when I entered.

Rows and rows of books, scrolls, drawings, maps – you name it. I wandered around until I realized something. What was I looking for? I didn’t know anything about my past except that I’m a shinobi, so I didn’t exactly have a place to start.

“I probably should have thought this through a little.” I sighed and let my body slump over, defeated. I decided to just pull out some history book about the countries. Maybe something would trigger my memory of something – anything.

“What brings you here?” I looked up to see Kakashi-sensei towering over me.

“Oh, uh…just a little research. Nothing big.” I answered a bit reluctantly. The team didn’t know that I knew nothing about my past, so they didn’t know why I decided to come to Konoha in the first place. It seemed unnecessary to bring it up, and I'd rather not attract any more attention by telling them.

He seemed to notice the small pile of scrolls next to me and gave me an odd look; one that looked like he was suspecting me of something. Maybe he doesn’t trust me just yet, or maybe I’m just really bad at reading one-eyed expressions. I decided not to think too much on it.

“Not many genin are interested in history.” The jounin said as he eyed the scrolls.

“Hey, it’s some fascinating stuff.” I shrugged, trying not to make him stay any longer. “What brings you to the library, anyway?” For some reason, I felt like he wasn’t there to check out a book or anything.

“Oh, nothing big.” He mimicked with his signature one-eyed smile. I rolled my eyes and set the books down on a table. He sat down across from me with a more serious look in his eye, but it was still warm and casual nonetheless. “Tsunade-sama wanted me to pass a message to you.” He started. “She wanted you to know that even though you’re not on a team, you’re allowed to accompany my team, or any other team, on missions. My team it leaving the village tomorrow for a scouting mission. You can join us, if you wish.”

I responded with a nod while unraveling the first scroll. It was about Sunagakure, the Hidden Sand Village. I remembered the time when I wanted to visit that place, but I got had gotten lost and ended up at Tetsu no Kuni, the Land of Iron, instead. Now that I thought about it, that was a horrible detour that I took back then. On the bright side, I became somewhat acquainted with the samurai there because I helped defend their village when they were attacked by a group of rogues during my visit. Of course, I was nothing compared to their incredible army of samurai, but I think a genjutsu or two made things a little easier for them.

“Where will you four be heading?” I asked, not looking up from the scroll as I read. From what I was reading, there wasn’t anything that would be useful to me. Although it spoke about its contribution towards the Great Ninja Wars, those are clearly before my time and not related to my lack of memories.

“Just North-East of Konoha. We’re going to scout the borders along the Hot Springs Country.” I swallowed while calmly moving on to the next scroll about Iwagakure, the Hidden Rock Village. Going back to the village that I kept stealing from. Yeah. Good idea. Kakashi-sensei seemed to notice my hesitation and gave me that suspicious look once again. “Is there a problem?”

Maybe a bit too quickly, I shook my head and rolled the scrolls back up. “Nope. I’ll go along, if you’ll have me.”

---

Naruto and Sakura were excited that I was joining them on a mission so soon. As usual, Sasuke didn’t seem to care any less about, well, anything. If I remembered Sakura’s words from our first training session, his clan was massacred, which was the cause of his brooding personality. I’ve always believed in living in the present, though, and not having the past haunt me, even though I technically didn’t have a past to begin with. Then again, how he decides to face the past is up to him. Still, it was a little depressing to see a kid my age looking so glum all the time. I couldn’t blame him, though. It all happened when he was still a student at the Academy, after all – an age way too young to be dealing with deaths, let alone the death of his entire clan.

It took us a day to get to the border of the Fire Country. The closer we got, the more nervous I got. I wondered what would happen if we came across shinobi from that country. I wondered if they would recognize me. I wondered how Team 7 would react. It’s not like I killed anybody, though. I just stole to survive. I am – or was – just a low-class thief. If I was caught, I hoped they would understand. Plus, stealing is in my past now. I don’t need to do that kind of stuff to survive anymore because I get paid from missions. When I’m not joining a team, I sometimes drop by the Mission Room and do some work myself; stuff that doesn’t need two other genin and a jounin.

“Well team, and Riku, start searching the area anything suspicious.” Kakashi-sensei ordered before jumping off on his own. I sighed and headed north, towards the edge of the Hot Springs Country. It wasn’t as populated there so I probably had a lower chance of being caught by their shinobi if I looked around there.

Looking for things that were out of place was something I was good at because of my travels, mainly because there were times when I had to find a place to hide when running from shinobi or guards. The good hideouts were always covered by something that had to be moved or broken down, so I gradually developed a keen eye for that sort of thing. We were supposed to meet back in two hours, which was plenty of time to scout, so I didn’t rush myself to cover ground, and instead kept an eye out for similar details.
Everything seemed fine until I saw something shine in the corner of my eye. Slowly, I approached the area where I saw the anomaly and looked around. When I couldn’t see anything, I removed my headband, reflecting the sun off the metal plate to reveal a thin line shining under the light. Following the light until I reached a pile of stones, I noticed a wire slipped into a tiny opening of the pile. Carefully, I lifted the stones until I saw what was inside.

I froze when I realized they were explosive tags and immediately felt my stomach drop. I was still collected enough to continue investigating, however, since I knew that they would only go off if I cut one of the wires, so I made sure to keep an eye out for those. Speaking of the wires, they didn’t stop at the three tags it was attached to. Rather, they split off into several directions, like branches on a tree. They were still within the Fire Country’s borders, but they didn’t look like the ones I’ve seen in Konoha. Looks like the Hot Springs Country, or somebody around the area, set up a little trap of sorts. Just thinking about the possibility of them being set off kept me on edge.

Just as I was about to leave, the leaves rustled from behind. I spun around to come face to face with a certain shinobi that I was rather acquainted with.

“Long time no see, Mubou-jiji.” I greeted with a smug grin. His eye twitched, but it didn’t take him long to pull out his dual swords. “Whoa there, I don’t get a nice ‘Hello?’”

“Tch, this is quite a shock. You caused us all a lot of trouble, kid, what with disappearing without a word like that. The villagers spent weeks wondering where you went, worried about what you would try to steal next. You caused our village a lot of unnecessary worry.” His frustration wasn’t hidden at all as he spoke. “But who would have thought that our little hindrance would have moved to Konoha? I can’t imagine what that Hokage was thinking, letting a thief live there. She even let you become a genin!” He shouted while charging towards me. He had two shinobi behind him as well. The trio chased after me, but I was swift on my feet. Years of running away does that to you.

Horse, dog, hare. “Mud Path.”

I released my chakra and made it seem like they were running in a stream of thick mud. I could tell that my genjutsu worked because they started to curse at me and slowed down considerably. The ridiculous motions of their legs gave it away, too.

“Well, I’ll be on my way now.” I grinned devilishly before sprinting out of sight. I would have lit the flare Kakashi-sensei gave us to alert the others when we found something, but I didn’t want to give away my location to the Hot Springs shinobi. It didn’t seem like I had to search for long, however, because somebody else lit a flare, creating a small flash of light and a sound similar to that of a firecracker. It was then when I realized that they would now attack my team as well, but decided that it was better than trying to lead them away single-handedly. It didn’t matter that much if they followed the flare or not.

Turns out it was the Uchiha who set off the bomb. The Uzumaki had arrived and soon after, Sakura and Kakashi-sensei followed. Sasuke pointed to a paper bomb he had discovered that was hidden behind a thick bush. He seemed to have uprooted it to make the bomb visible.

“I found a few of those, too,” I stated and took off my hitai-ate again to reveal the wires, “and quite a few of them, at that.”

“Why didn’t you set off your flare if you found one?” The jounin asked with a raised brow. Before I could answer, the three shinobi that were chasing me jumped out of the trees and landed before us. Kakashi-sensei looked back down at me with a questioning look.

“Yeah… that’s why.” I answered sheepishly, but whipped a kunai in each hand. “You guys are outnumbered and outmatched, so don’t even try anything.” I growled, glaring one of my darkest glares at them. Mubou seemed to realize this and put away his weapons. The other two shinobi did the same.

That pissed yet smug look on his face didn’t disappear though. He even had the nerve to take a step towards us. “Don’t worry, I won’t try anything fancy.” He commented with an irritating grin that pissed me off. “I was just wondering if you explained to your comrades here why you have shinobi chasing after you.”

The Konoha shinobi turned their attention to me, but I looked away. “There’s nothing wrong with trying to survive, bastard. I need food and water to live, too. Who do you think I am, some spoiled princess or something?” I was almost shouting by the end of my sentence.

I detested that shinobi, but not because he was trying to punish me. That part made sense. What I hated was that he made me out to be some S-Ranked criminal or something and was always treating me like a piece of trash. All I did was steal some loaves of bread and jugs of water, with the occasional pickpocketing to get some extra change. What’s the big deal? Just slap me on the wrist, wag a finger in my face, and he could be on his merry way.

“Something you need to tell us, Riku?” Kakashi-sensei asked, but it sounded more like a demand. I sighed snapped my head back to Mubou and his comrades with a nasty stare. He always caused me trouble, that bastard. That condescending tone of his never failed to make me want to punch him.

“He’s making it seem like I killed somebody,” I accused, not taking my eyes off the bastard, “but all I did back in their village was steal
some food and water, and maybe even some money.” I confessed angrily, ready to pummel the guy into a bloody pulp myself. “I had no citizenship anywhere. I was a traveler, so I didn’t have a job or anything. What in the world did you expect me to do, die? I did what I did to survive, and it’s not like you ever offered a hand. Besides, it’s in the past now. Just move on with your life, Ojiji. You’re wasting everybody’s time by being here.”

The suspicious looks on the Konoha shinobi’s faces all turned into a rather unimpressed one as they looked back towards the chuunin. “So she stole some stuff to survive. I don’t see the problem.” Sakura said nonchalantly. “Just slap her on the wrist and wag a finger or something, then be on your way.”

“Thank. You.” I cried with both frustration and relief bleeding from my words. Mubou didn’t seem very happy with the response he was getting from my new comrades.

“If it helps any, Riku could give back the equivalent of what she stole from you.” Kakashi-sensei suggested before looking down at me with a smile. I’m pretty sure he expected me to disagree because when I shrugged, he looked a bit surprised.

“Hey, I’ve got a job as a shinobi now. Paying you guys back wouldn’t be a problem.” I informed, proving a point. “Plus, I’d do nearly anything to get this old man off my back.”

Mubou growled and was about to complain about the suggestion but before he could utter a sound, I shot a death glare at him. “Take it or leave it!” He backed down, but he wasn’t happy. A sad life he must live if he was so bothered by the little thorn in his side that I used to be.

I tossed a small pouch of change that I had on me in front of him before crossing my arms. “I only stole about 14 000 ryou in cash, but I think it’d be easier to pay off the food I stole instead of being a mini food bank or something. That’s about 90 000 ryou of food in a year for myself. ”

“That’s nowhere near eno—”

“I said to take it or leave it.” I threatened this time. He really pisses me off. “There’s 7 500 in that pouch alone. It won’t take me that long to pay off my debt, now get outta my face before I tear you apart.” Even though I probably couldn’t since he was a chuunin and I just became a genin, but I wanted to get my message across. Attacking us after we discovered explosives along the border probably wouldn’t be a good idea for them, anyway.

After briefly shooting a glare at me, he grabbed the money and pocketed it. “Tch, kids shouldn’t have to resort to stealing.” I could have sworn he muttered something under his breath before he left, though I didn’t quite catch it, nor did I really want to hear his dumb voice.

I growled to myself in anger, infuriated by his annoyance. Naruto tried to grab my shoulder but I swatted him away. “Come on; let’s get rid of these bombs so we can go home.” I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. At least they were considerate enough to know not to bother me about anything right now. I had enough of a headache from that old man.

---

It took about an hour to get rid of the chain of explosives. There weren’t as many as we thought, but it was enough for Konoha not to be very fond of that village. Perhaps it was for their security because the shinobi from that country aren’t that impressive, and I’m not just saying that because of Mubou. They’re the Hot Springs Country. Their name just gives away the fact that they aren’t famous for their shinobi. They village of that country, Yugakure, the Land of Hot Water, decided themselves that they no longer wanted to be a hidden village, and instead switched to being a peaceful and prosperous village instead. They probably only had a few shinobi to take care of bandits and thieves, not that they were really good at it.

“There’s one more that way.” I told the others while pointing to the edge of the country’s borders. I carefully followed the line, stepping over logs and through bushes until suddenly, the foliage stopped. The forest was abruptly cut off and became a patch of dead grass. When I looked up, my mouth fell open just slightly and my eyes doubled in size. Spanning all around me and into the horizon was a disastrous sight, to put it lightly.

The terrain was horribly uneven and patches of dead grass decorated it here and there. I dropped the wire that I held and slowly walked towards the center of the terrain. “This place… Ow!” I hissed as a sharp pain suddenly erupted in my head, which Team 7 arrived just in time to witness that. They asked if I was alright, but before I could respond, an image flashed before my eyes.

It was a village full of life and foliage, but it disappeared in a matter of seconds. I groaned and ignored my teammates while walking into the terrain some more. I heard something metallic under my foot and looked down to pick up a rusty, scratched hitai-ate. On it was a carving of a circle with a dot in the center. Once again, the pain shot through my head and the image of a shinobi flashed before me. What in the world was going on?

“Riku, are you sure you’re alright?” Sakura asked, her voice full of concern.
I shook my head clear and looked back at my team with the hitai-ate in my hands. Kakashi-sensei took it from me to examine it. His right eye showed that he was deep in thought, as if he was trying to remember something. Eventually, he looked back at us with an informative look.

“This symbol represents the sun. The hitai-ate must have belonged to a shinobi from the Sun Country.” He told us while handing it back to me. The Sun Country? Why did that sound so familiar? I winced again and held my head. The jounin didn’t seem as concerned as he seemed curious. The pain worsened and I gripped my head, dropping the headband onto the ground. “Riku, is there something else you’re not telling us?”

I looked up at the team but had no time to answer as my head throbbed again. I slammed my eyes shut, hoping that it might ease the pain, but instead I saw images of the symbol, of shinobi, and of a village flashing through my mind. What was happening? Why here? Why /now/?

They were everywhere, the shinobi. Metal hitting metal – the sound pierced my ears. I ran. All I could do was run. Run for my life. Run way. Escape.

“Get away from here!” A shinobi cried out to me. He defended me from another man; the enemy. We were under attack. I didn’t have time to thank him because his shouts were cut short. I nearly screamed when I felt the warm liquid hit my back.

“You’re not going anywhere, little girl.” His voice was menacing. I grabbed an abandoned spear and threw it behind me blindly, hoping to buy me some time. This was no place for a five-year-old to be, that was for sure.

I tripped over a dead body. I screamed. He was behind me. He towered over me. He drew his weapon and sliced.

“Riku, wake up...!”

The pain ripped across my back.

“Get some more water.”

It hurts.

“Come on, Riku.”

It really hurts.

“Wake up!”

I cried – “Gah!” I shot up into a sitting position, nearly hitting Naruto in the head with my own. I winced and gripped the side of my head. The pain lessened, but it was still there. The other shinobi were sitting around me. Sasuke was holding a water bottle. Kakashi-sensei gave a concerned look.

“I know this is a typical question, but… what happened?” I asked, my heart still pounding away at my chest.

“You passed out,” the Uchiha stated simply while handing me the water. I thanked him, unzipping part of my mask so I could take a large gulp of the water.

“After you saw the hitai-ate, to be more specific.” Sakura added while holding it in front of me. “I think we should be asking you what happened.”

I looked into the eyes of each shinobi. Even Naruto knew something was up. With the four of them staring me down, I felt like they would beat it out of me if I didn’t speak. With a heavy sigh, I did.

“I didn’t come to Konoha just to find somewhere to stay,” I started, took another drink of water, and continued, “My past… I don’t remember any of it. All I knew was my name, my age, and the fact that I was a shinobi, in the loosest term possible. I was seven at the time.”

“The five years between that day and two and a half months ago, I travelled around. I snuck into small towns to steal food and water. With the little money I would steal sometimes, I’d find a motel or an inn to stay in. Anything to get away from sleeping in a tree or on a rock – sometimes even just the ground – for just one night. Even around these areas, the nights are cold. You shinobi should know.” They nodded in agreement.
Another drink, and I continued.

“I’ve been to all sorts of places, hoping to find something that would bring back my memories. The Land of Iron, the Frost Country, the Hot Springs Country… I spent a little time in Iwa, too. There are lots of strong people up North, I learned. I left because it was hard to steal from them.” I stated with a shrug. “Anyway, during my travel time between villages and towns, I would work on my genjutsu and handling weapons. It helped me catch food in the wild, but it wasn’t every night were there was something to hunt. That’s when I would resort to stealing.”

It was dark out and a few crickets were chirping. I only just noticed the fire that was lit to my left. Slowly, I leaned back on my arms to look up at the sky, staring at nothing in particular.

“When you travel, you hear all kinds of things. Eventually, I heard that Konoha was the biggest Hidden Village out there. I figured that if it was so big, something there must be able to trigger my memories. That’s why I was in the library with a bunch of historic texts. I haven’t found anything in the village, but…”

My head dropped down and I stared at my feet. This was the part that they really wanted to hear. I held my breath for a bit and exhaled sharply before looking back at them.

“Seeing that wasteland triggered something, I guess. I saw a village; a beautiful one, too. It was full of life. More images were triggered when I saw the symbol on the hitai-ate.” I lowered my voice and pushed my weight forward, brushing my fingers against the metal plate. “I just saw it in different places. On clothes, signs, and on other headbands that weren’t destroyed. It’s just so… familiar. Then, when you mentioned the Sun Country, I…”

The air grew heavier. “You what?” Kakashi-sensei asked calmly. “What did you remember?”

“I remembered the war.” I whispered. The jounin narrowed his eyes but the genin didn’t seem to understand my words. “I remember being chased. I remember that scar on my back. I’ve never seen it, but I know it’s there because I remember the face of the shinobi that gave it to me when I was five. Funny how I can remember some guy like him but I still can’t remember my own mother’s face.” My voice grew slightly irritated as I remembered him, but became softer as I failed to recall my clan. There was one thing for sure that I remembered, though. “I… I’m from the Sun Country.”

“Are you sure this is what you remember?” Kakashi-sensei asked while gently resting his hand on my shoulder. It seemed like something about my story was troubling him. I nodded slowly, wondering what was wrong. He looked away for a moment, deep in thought. “It’s just highly unlikely.”

“What, you think I’d lie about all this? I’m no storyteller.” I growled, glaring at the jounin.

He shook his head and dropped his arm. “Riku, I don’t think you understand.” He looked up at me with a troubled look in his right eye. “The entire village was wiped out in that war. There shouldn't be any survivors at all.”

---

It took a day and a half to get back to the village, but the entire time, my mind was focused the memories that I had finally regained. I couldn’t remember much else aside from the village’s destruction and small portions of my childhood. Thing is, after what Kakashi-sensei said, I wasn’t even sure if those were true. If everybody died, then what was I doing here? Did I miraculously survive, like the Uchiha did when his clan was massacred? If that was true, it meant all my friends and family were dead, assuming I had any to begin with. At least I remembered something, but I wasn't sure if I was happy about it or not.

When we got back, the three genin were dismissed. The Hatake asked me to come with him while handing in the mission report. Security around those borders would be strengthened a bit, but I reassured them that the Hot Springs Country wasn’t that big of a threat and that the explosives were most likely just misplaced. Nevertheless, the Hokage didn’t want to take any chances, which I found reasonable.

“So, any reason why Riku’s still with you, Kakashi?” Tsunade-sama asked once we entered. I could tell she was getting a bit more serious, but her composure was still generally relaxed. “Don’t tell me she’s picking up on Naruto’s habits.”
I immediately shook my head in denial and Kakashi-sensei reassured her as well.

“Aside from the business with the shinobi mentioned in the mission report, there hasn’t been any trouble.” The jounin answered while giving me a quick glance. “I'll let Riku tell her story.”

After taking a deep breath, I explained everything to the Hokage; from the time I woke up, the five years of survival, then the memories I regained from the mission. I mentioned the Sun Country and everything I knew about the war. I told her about how I could remember all sorts of things, but close to none of those memories were about my family or the people I actually knew. Tsunade-sama was intrigued and shocked. There was a look of disbelief in her eyes and I could tell she was having a hard time believing me, but why would I be lying? I came here in search for my memories and I got them, but now I’m being told that they’re highly unlikely. Almost damn near impossible, even. It made sense, but what other explanation could there be?

“It’s almost impossible that this is true…” She started while lacing her fingers together, “but even so, there’s simply no other way you could remember such things.”

“Then you believe me?” I asked with the slightest bit of hope in my eyes. She nodded and I sighed in relief. Perfect. Now I won’t look like I’m a lunatic. Kakashi-sensei and I were dismissed. The jounin disappeared in a puff of smoke again, but I turned around to ask a final question. “Why did they never restore the country or the village?”

Tsunade-sama looked up and frowned just slightly. “The war ended because the Yonbi wiped out the entire place. It’s said that it was sealed away, but nobody knows into what. The entire country has been left untouched in hopes that whatever it was sealed into is still there.”

I thanked her and went home to refresh myself a bit. As soon as I was washed up, I made my way towards the library once more to learn about this Yonbi and the war in Taiyou. I could still hardly believe that I finally had a lead on my past, even if it was incredibly far-fetched. Taiyou must be my homeland. Whether I came from Nareigakure or not, I’m not sure, but I had to have been from that country.

A single scroll was in my hands when I was done searching the library. It was the most reliable one I had seen related to the Yonbi, or better yet, the bijuu. I opened it to see several illustrations of them. I quickly realized that they were the same beasts I had seen in the Hokage’s palace on my first day there. I read about how they were spread across the countries so the power would be divided equally.

“So the Kyuubi is in Konoha, eh?” I murmured to myself while reading on. I read about how they could be sealed into humans as well, rather than objects, which made me wonder if what the Yonbi was sealed into was a ‘who’ rather than a ‘what.’ The moment that crossed my mind, I paused and stared blankly at the pages before me. I bit my bottom lip in thought, wondering if that was even possible.

The last person had to have been the one performing the seal, so it only made sense for the Yonbi to have been sealed away into an object, right? Except, that sealer wasn’t the last person to survive since I’m still around. I felt myself making the connections but I shook my head clear before I delved too deep onto that one possibility. That one possibility of the Yonbi being sealed into me, that is.

“No, that couldn’t be.” I muttered to myself with a nervous scoff. “That’d be way too tacky. There’s no way I’d be some miraculous survivor and the…” My muttering trailed off as the thought came up again. I quickly blocked it from my mind and stared intently at a blank portion of the scroll. I shook my head once again before rolling up the scroll. “Impossible. That’d just be way too… stupidly predictable.”

I decided that that was that. Being the impossible survivor was good enough for me, anyway. I didn’t think I wanted to deal with being the host of a great demon at the same time. Thankfully, I was interrupted before my thoughts could go back.

“Pardon me; are you Riku-san?” A young woman popped out of nowhere, addressing me. I looked up with a confused expression and nodded.

“Hokage-sama would like to see you.” Well that was awfully quick. I began to wonder if there was a problem with I told her before and tensed up just slightly.

“What seems to be the problem?”

The woman smiled and shook her head. “There’s no problem. She has found a team for you to join and wishes to see you immediately so that you can meet them.”

“That’s the one.” Tsunade-sama announced as I entered her office. Before me was a bearded man with a cigarette, a blond girl, a rather chubby guy, and a chuunin with a ponytail. “Riku, these shinobi will be your new team. This is Sarutobi Asuma, the jounin of Team 10.”

“Nice to meet you,” he greeted kindly. I nodded back, but wondered how he managed to keep his cigarette in his mouth when he spoke.

“I’m Akimichi Chouji. Say, do you like eating barbecue?” He asked while munching on a bag of potato chips. I heard about his clan before. They needed a lot of energy to be able to perform their secret technique, the Multi-Size Technique, or so I've read.

I tilted my head to the side and shrugged. “I don’t have any dislike towards it. Sure, why not?” He grinned in return, not once stopping to eat his snack.

“Hey, I’m Yamanaka Ino! My family runs the Yamanaka Flower Shop near the market; you should check it out sometime.” I’ve heard of the Yamanaka Clan, too. They’re Mind Body Disturbance Technique enabled the clansmen to take control of other people’s bodies. They’re also apparently a strong part of Konoha’s interrogation team.

Finally, the boy with the tired look in his eyes introduces himself after a yawn. “Haa…I’m Nara Shikamaru, the one you’re replacing on this team.”

Three clans on one team, and they worked well together. The Nara Clan’s kekkei genkai was the Shadow Gathering Technique, the technique to possess the shadows of their victims so they could no longer move. I could see rather clearly why these three were put on a team.

I raised an eyebrow and turned to the Hokage, as well as the rest of the team. “Now you’ve lost me.”

“Shikamaru was the only genin to pass the Chuunin Exam earlier this year, so technically he is no longer a part of Team 10. Instead, you will be the third genin on this team.” The Hokage explained factually. I felt rather odd replacing a friend of theirs, so naturally, I spoke up about it.

“Are you sure about this?” I asked, just a bit hesitant about how the team would act towards me. I expected them to be rather hostile but they all showed great kindness and welcome to my arrival. I shrugged and just accepted this change. “What about the balance in the team, and whatever else teams do?”

“We’ve heard you’re a pretty good genjutsu user.” Shikamaru stated nonchalantly. “They would have the same or similar effects on the opponent as my jutsu. It’ll work out.”

The five of us were dismissed and Asuma-sensei brought us to the first training field. Shikamaru tagged along because he would give me pointers on how to work with Ino and Chouji. No effort was needed to learn that he’s a smart one. Lazy, but smart. Ino was rather hot-headed. In ways she reminded me of Naruto, but she seemed to be the one that kept the team together in a sort of menacing kind of way. She liked to have her way and the two males often didn’t complain, probably because it was ‘too troublesome,’ in Shikamaru’s words. Chouji is like this big friendly teddy bear. Although he’s large in size, he's gentle and kind – except when you call him fat. I was told that the word is taboo around him before I had the chance to make the mistake.

“You’re a quick learner,” Asuma-sensei commented while we took a break. “You get along with the team well, too.” My new two teammates, as well as the chuunin, responded with smiles. They’re a happy bunch. I like that.

“I can’t thank you guys enough for taking me in.” I said while falling onto my back to look at the sky as I caught my breath. The sun was starting to set, so there was a beautiful mix of purple, blue, orange, yellow, and red streaming across the sky. “After dealing with shinobi like the ones in the Hot Springs Village, I’m a little surprised from the kindness I’ve been given here. In a way, it’s sort of weird, actually.”

There was some light laughter before the jounin rested his hand on my shoulder as I sat up. “You know, every shinobi in the village has the Will of Fire in them.” He started before letting his hand drop. “We all must love, believe, cherish, and fight for the village’s sake. It’s our belief that love is the key to peace. We’re all a part of this village, so we must look out for each other. We’re like one big family.”

“You’re a Konoha shinobi now too, so you’re part of our family.” Chouji finished with his mouth full. I let out a relaxed sigh before falling down on my back again.

“Is that so?” I murmured with a faint smile.

I wasn’t sure what to think. After being alone all my life, so much warmth was thrown at my face. It was all just so weird suddenly feeling…loved, in a family-companion sort of way. Not that it was a bad thing. I just think it’ll take a bit of getting used to.

---

It’s been three months since I joined Team 10 and I discovered that it was rather easy to get along with them. I noticed that Ino seemed to have some sort of rivalry against Sakura when we encountered Team 7 once. I didn’t really listen, but I did hear something along the lines of “Sasuke’s mine!” Apparently he was rather popular amongst the girls, and I could see why. He’s definitely attractive, that much is true, but I was never familiar with the concept of intimate relationships or anything that could even remotely be considered romantic. I never had much time to indulge in that when I was busy scraping food together to survive.

On the topic of my joining of Team 10, Naruto was incredibly bummed that I joined another team. Sakura voiced her disappointment as well, but I was congratulated for finding a team nevertheless. We all understood why things went as they did, anyway.

After going on several more D-Ranked missions and training sessions, I had mastered several formations with the two other genin. Shikamaru joined us several times when he wasn’t busy with his own work. I’d say I became rather good comrades with him as well. Finally, after weeks of getting to know my team, my first C-Ranked mission with them was an escorting mission. Our job was to bring this merchant back to the Land of Iron, so I’m a little excited to see some old acquaintances again.

“Don’t slack off too much, Shikamaru!” Ino called as we left. The lazy-ass sighed but gave a crooked smile as he saw us off. From what I've seen during these past few months, he’s a really good friend to them, and even to me as well.

“When we come back, let’s go eat barbecue!” Chouji added with a cheerful grin. With nothing else to shout at him, the chuunin turned to head back into the village while we started for the Land of Iron with our client, Shuuzouhin Ureru.

He was in his mid-thirties and had a rather large bag with him. I assumed he was fit and strong because he travelled a lot and carried several things on his back all the time. Nevertheless, he didn’t want to risk getting robbed on his way back home.

The Land of Iront is a neutral land of samurai. They’re really strong, too, and the shinobi villages respect their neutrality, so nobody challenges their force. My favorite part about that land is the Three Wolves, which are the mountains that the land is formed by. The area is covered in snow so we all had scarves, gloves, and thicker clothing to wear when we got to the snowy areas, which would be in about six days. Normally it would take just three or four days if we ran.

“What kind of things do you sell?” Ino asked as the village gates went out of sight. “You seem to have a lot of cool stuff.”

Ureru seemed glad to tell us about his inventory, since he smiled as he spoke. “I sell and trade all sorts of things, from common items to ancient artifacts, like this one.” The merchant pulled out a small item wrapped in rags. We kept walking, but closed in a bit to see the item he was holding in his hands. As he unwrapped it, a small metal plaque was revealed. Imprinted on it seemed to be a bell of some sort. At least, I was pretty sure it was a bell.

Asuma-sensei stood up straight again with a puzzled look in his eyes. “That symbol looks oddly… familiar.” He commented while looking up at the merchant. “Where did you get this from?”

“I found this myself five years ago.” Ureru started, seemingly glad that the jounin asked about it. “After the war in the Ghost Village, I scavenged the area and found this. It’s an original piece from the Shurikane clan’s compound. This symbol here is their clan symbol.”

“What’s the Shurikane clan?” The blond kunoichi asked, but I glanced to the side. I heard of them before. It rang a bell, at least, but I couldn't quite place it. I assumed I'd seen it while looking through the library as some point or another.

While our client put away his item, he gave us a minor history lesson. It seemed like he really knew his stuff. I suppose he had to if he wanted to sell his items properly.

“The shinobi of the Shurikane Clan were capable of performing amazing genjutsu. Those who awakened the kekkei genkai, the Youkugan; their power was even more extraordinary. I find that it's such a tragedy that the entire clan was destroyed during the war.” He murmured at the end with a sigh and a shake of his head. “I'm so fortunate to have such an item in my possession, ahaha!”

---

Everybody’s noses were red by the time we arrived at the village. Although none of us really felt that cold, it affected us physically. Runny noses and rosy cheeks were small side effects of the weather, but it was no big deal. Ureru thanks us several times and even invited us to stay for the night. It was almost midnight when we arrived, so Asuma-sensei reluctantly agreed. It was probably safer to accept this offer rather than camping outside in the snow. We had to restock on items, anyway.

The merchant first led us to his house and apologized for its size. Although he lived alone, he had an extra room in his house that we could use. “I’m sorry for the cramped space. I could always take you to a hotel and pay for your stay there, if you wish,” he offered, but was declined. Better to accept his hospitality than to have him spend his money on us.
As soon as we dropped off our things, we started for the general’s manor.

“Ah. Welcome back, Ureru-san.” The general, Mifune-sama, greeted us with a kind yet stern look. He’s a humble man; calm and levelheaded. I respected him quite a bit. “I trust that these shinobi brought you back without a hitch?”

“Of course, Mifune-sama. I hope you don’t mind that I’m letting them stay at my house. I realize that I should have asked you first, but I assumed it wouldn’t be a problem.

“No need to worry, Ureru-san. It will not be a problem, especially since we have an old friend of ours here as well.” Mifune-sama added with a smile directed towards me.

My team looked towards me with confused looks but I just greeted the general with a modest smile and wave. “It's good to see that you're doing well.”

“How in the world do you know him?” Ino immediately asked, stunned.

“I just helped them fight off a few rogues while I was in the area, but they would've handled the situation easily without my help anyway.” I answered with a shrug.

Mifune let out a hearty laugh and shook his head. “Don’t be so humble, Riku-san. Every ounce of manpower helps in a battle. Feel free to stay as long as you wish.” I looked back at my team with a sheepish look and shrugged. They seemed either confused or slightly impressed with my connections but hey, who was complaining.

The next morning, we started for the market the moment we were ready. When we were ready to leave, it was around noon. Ureru-san and Mifune-sama saw us off at the gates. After a few short goodbyes, we jumped off to begin running back. It was about five hours later when we stopped to rest for a bit. As we passed around the soldier pills, the ground suddenly shook and we jumped onto our feet.

“What’s going on?” Chouji asked while readying himself for anything. “Is it an earthquake?”

The ground began to shake more violently and crack beneath our feet. We stepped back into a circle, all of us facing outwards with weapons drawn.

“Earth Style: Earth Shattering Technique!”

We immediately jumped out of the way as the ground cracked before regrouping on solid ground. It was in a matter of seconds when five rogues circled us, each one with a different weapon.

I didn’t have to think much to know that I knew these guys. “This mission is just full of reunions, isn’t it?” I growled, glaring at the large shinobi with his black-hilted katana.

“Do you know these guys?” Asuma-sensei asked, though he didn’t look over when he addressed me. All of us were focused on keeping our attention on the rogues before us.

I nodded. “These guys are some of the rogues who tried to attack the Land of Iron when I was there. I supposed I’m not very friendly with them.”

“Looks like we meet again, kid.” The leader of the bunch scoffed, pointing his black katana at me.

His name is Kedamono Shinrin, and was once a master swordsman of the Land of Iron. He attacked the land because Mifune-sama banished the guy for dishonoring the samurai code. I heard that he abandoned a comrade, but learning those details wasn't as important as helping them defend the land. He's a pretty heartless guy, but somehow managed to round up so many underlings to fight for him anyway. I guess people with the same sort of asshole-type personality stick to each other.

“Seems like you’ve joined a village. Too bad for your teammates; they’re going to have to go down with you!”

“Alright, I’ll bite; why do you need to pick on me specifically?" I asked while narrowing my eyes.

"That arrogant little air about you is enough to make me want to kill you. Helping out those samurai like you could even compare against us; it pisses me off! Isn't that enough?" He snapped back while pointing his katana at me. See? Asshole, and apparently one whose ego needed constant petting. “Besides, I can’t kill Mifune yet, so I’ll have to settle for your blood for now.”

Before I could ask how he could possibly interpret my neutral expression for being arrogant – the one that was also covered by a mask, no less – the rogues lunged in to attack. Right as the enemy began to move, the four of us put our ninjutsu to action. I first replaced my body with a snowy log as I hid to prepare a genjutsu to stall them. Chouji was already using his kekkei genkai to separate the rogues from each other by rolling into them and having them dodge his attacks while Ino and Asuma-sensei were using taijutsu to fight against the rogues.

“Cover me!” I shouted as I retreated a bit to prepare my genjutsu. One of the rogues was already coming after me, but I sighed in relief when Asuma-sensei blocked his path so I could focus.

After a few moments of concentration, I was ready to perform my genjutsu and made the hand seals. I breathed out slowly while letting my chakra to flow into those of the rogues. “Demon’s Grip.”
Disproportionate shadowy figures appeared on the battlefield. I grinned in satisfaction when I saw the fear in their eyes as the figures reached out towards the rogues, grabbing onto them to hold them in place.

“We won’t fall for the same trick twice, you little brat!” Shinrin shouted angrily while dispelling the genjutsu a lot sooner than I thought he would. He ran towards me with his weapons drawn as I whipped out a kunai in each hand in defense. “I’ll take you out first and end those annoying genjutsu of yours!”

“Bring it on.” I growled while pushing against his katana when he swung it at me. He sliced the other one at my side, but I jumped up and pushed off against him just in time to dodge his attacks. I jumped back to get myself away from the bastard, only to run into a tree. Shinrin sneered and jabbed his weapon towards me but only sliced my shoulder, since I managed to spin away just in time to avoid being stabbed. I winced and threw my kunai at him for a short distraction as I climbed up the tree, shaking it so the snow would fall to momentarily impair his vision.

The entirety of the distractions only bought me a few seconds of time, but it was enough to get me back in focus and on guard. With ease, Shinrin located me the moment my feet touched the ground and slashed at my heels. Thankfully, I managed to jump to the side and avoid getting any tendons sliced, but I still felt a shallow cut stinging my left calf. There were too many close calls for my comfort, and his pace never slowed. My heart races as adrenaline made it possible for me to keep moving fast enough to avoid severe injuries.

After tumbling, I fell straight into the snow and struggled to get up. Shinrin was already getting ready to stab me once more, but I bought myself just enough time to get onto my feet by throwing my arms up, which threw snow into his face once more. I could feel my hands going numb from the cold but ignored it while I prepared myself again. It'll be harder to form hand signs, but it was better than getting diced.

Left, right, above, right, block, push. His movements were so fast that I could barely keep up. Shinrin landed a few painless scrapes on my body as he forced me towards the rogues on the other side. I growled and charged back with my weapons in hand, pushing against his two katana. I slipped to the side and let him fall forward a bit before landing a lucky shot to his gut.

“Don’t take me for a fool!” I growled while trying to kick him again, but he grabbed my ankle with his left arm and prepared to slice with his katana.

“She’s not your only opponent!” Another voice shouted. My eyes widened when I saw Shinrin get knocked to the side. Asuma-sensei stood in his place before giving me a reassuring look, but turned his attention back to the rogue just as quickly. "I don't appreciate attempted murder on my students."

“Next time it won’t be just an attempt.” Shinrin growled while getting onto his feet. I prepared myself for another round of fending him off since there was no way I could take him down as it was. I figured I could at least hold out against him, but that complacent look in his eyes threw me off.

Before I knew it, somebody had grabbed my arms and pinned them behind me. I growled and saw another rogue holding me in place. Damn, I had forgotten about them.

“Let her go!” Ino shouted, charging towards the rogue with her kunai pointed dangerously at him. Chouji backed her up, his hands having inflated to an enormous size. The rogue leaned away to dodge Ino while I took advantage of his inattentiveness, breaking free of his grip in time to see Ino receive a gash on her arm.

“Ino--!” I started, but cut myself off midway to help Chouji regain his balance. He was worn out like the rest of us and although he was panting rather heavily, it still seemed like he could put up a fight. He never really did come off as the kind of guy who would give up easily, especially not when his comrades were involved.

"We may be genin, but to us, this is nothing!" Chouji declared boldly and despite having to catch his breath, smiled all the same. Out of the corner my eye, I saw that Ino was struggling against the rogue, and her wounded arm wasn't making things any easier. Chouji had taken on another rogue, but he was reaching his limit as well. Asuma-sensei was holding Shinrin back so he couldn’t attack me, but there was another rogue breathing down his neck as well. I was dealing with the last of the rogues, but it was clear we couldn’t keep this up for much longer.

As I pushed against the rogue's blades with a kunai, a sharp scream pierced my ears and I saw Ino collapse onto her knees. Before I could react, another cry of pain came afterwards as Chouji was wounded and knocked down as well. Finally, an irritated roar came from Shinrin as he began to try and force himself past Asuma-sensei.

"Don't get in my way!" He growled while nearly breaking past the jounin. There was little time left, so I knew I had to at least try and make things easier. In a blink of an eye, I ducked down and removed my kunai so that my head wouldn't be sliced off before head butting the rogue right in the stomach. With the few seconds I had, I quickly made several hand signs before casting a genjutsu that would immobilize the rogues, hopefully long enough for us to recollect ourselves.

“A Thousand Hands!” As my chakra flowed throughout the clearing, several shadowy hands rose from the ground to grab onto the rogues.

As my genjutsu came into effect, my teammates pushed themselves onto their feet and savored the time to catch their breaths. However, Shinrin broke free of the genjutsu in a matter of seconds, which caught Asuma-sensei off guard.

"Your head is mine!" He growled while breaking past the jounin and straight towards me.

I jumped back, throwing a series of weapons at him as quickly as he could. He blocked them all with ease and charged towards me, sending me back into a tree once again. I winced from the impact and coughed a bit while trying to push the bastard off. The hands were still trying to slow him down, but I knew I needed a stronger genjutsu for him. As I prepared myself to cast a new illusion, he sneered and suddenly spun around, pinning me to the tree by stabbing a kunai into my right shoulder and left thigh. I cried out in pain and watched as he drew his katana, ready to finish me off.

“You’re finished!”

“Riku, no!”

I don't want to die.

I saw the dark blade glistening in the sunlight, ready to take my life.

I've only just started figuring things out...!

His smirk only widened, full of bloodlust.

I need to survive!

Adrenaline rushed through me as he drove his katana towards me. Time seemed to slow down and I felt my breath hitch, but I knew I couldn't let myself die so easily. As terrifying as this was, it was also so... exhilarating, but that may only be due to the adrenaline. Something feels... off. I found myself realizing as the blade grew closer by the second, but I was soon snapped back to reality, andtime went back to its regular pace.

Before he struck, I crossed my arms in front of me and let the weapon stab my forearms. The pain felt like my arms were set aflame but as long as I could still make hand signs, it didn't matter how deep the wounds were. I swung my arms to the side, causing the katana to stretch the wound as Shinrin violently pulled it back out, which only worsened the searing pain in my arms. I breathed heavily while forming another series of hand seals. Thankfully, I managed to put my genjutsu into action before Shinrin could strike again. Anger came over me as I shoved him away, the adrenaline numbing the pain that was erupting from my new wounds.

“Get away from me!” I shouted as a rain of needles shot down at Shinrin.

Although they weren’t real needles, the pain felt real to him and he groaned from several senbon needles piercing his skin. “Rainfall of Needless.” I gasped for air, ignoring the blood that was dripping from my arms. Still high my adrenaline rush, I didn't stop there. No, it was more like I couldn't seem to stop myself.

“You really shouldn't have hurt my comrades." I growled while beginning to form the hand seals of another genjutsu. "I'll make you experience their pain by tenfold!"

However, before I could finish, the sharp pains from my wounds suddenly returned and my legs grew weak.
"What the--" Instead of finishing them off, my genjutsu was dispelled and I fell to my knees. The rush was gone and the over-exertion I had put my body through hit me like a ton of bricks. It suddenly felt although I had no bones to support my body and the pounding in my ears made me nauseous. All the while, my heart continued to race and it felt like everything around me was pulsing to its frantic rhythm.

The rogues got ready to fight against us once more, but stopped when Shinrin steadily got onto his feet.

"Tch... We're retreating." He snarled while throwing something into the snow. My eyes widened when I saw that it was the needles I had created with my genjutsu.

When I looked back up, I saw that he was staring right at me. What threw me off wasn’t the fact that he was staring at all, but the kind of look he was giving me. For once, it wasn’t one of anger or hatred, but rather… hesitance. I wondered if my eyes were playing tricks on me, but one of Shinrin’s subordinates spoke, causing him to draw his attention away almost immediately.

"But--" One of the rogues started. He was silenced with a single glare from Shinrin.

"We’re done here. Retreat." He spoke again, this time in a much more demanding tone. While his gaze was as hard as ever, I caught a glimpse of that bizarre look once again, as if there was something more behind the reason for the sudden retreat. Rather hesitantly, the rogues departed. Shinrin readied himself to retreat as well, but glanced back as us now with his usual enraged glare. "Just one more reason to go after your head.”

I wasn’t exactly sure what he meant by those words, but with that, he left.

A few moments of silence passed before it fell like all of us let out the breath we had been holding in. I tried to get back onto my feet, but my knees were shaky and Asuma-sensei had to steady me before I fell over.

"Damn it all..." I sighed while giving an apologetic look towards my sensei. He smiled back and was ready to reply with something, but stopped as his eyes narrowed. "Is there something wrong?"

As Ino and Chouji approached me, I glanced over and saw that they had similar expressions as well.

"Your eyes..." Ino started, lips slightly parted in shock. “They’re… different.”

I blinked in confusion, having no idea what she was talking about. “What do you mean by ‘different?’” I asked while glancing away, not really liking this attention. It was then when I saw the needles Shinrin had left behind as well.

Those... I already dispelled the genjutsu, so are they still there? Just as the thought crossed my mind, the needles flickered away like any other genjutsu would.

Asuma-sensei approached me and gently turned my head to him so he could take a look at my eyes. His eyes suddenly widened in surprise.

“Impossible…” He whispered in shock. “These eyes… it’s the Youkugan.”

“What?!” Chouji, Ino, and I chorused. I pinched the bridge of my nose with furrowed brows. This makes no sense. If I had the Youkugan activated...

“Riku, I think...” Asuma-sensei started before giving me a serious look. “…I think you’re a Shurikane.”

Asuma-sensei, Ino, Chouji and I made our way back to the Land of Iron in order to recover before departing again. The dojutsu deactivated shortly after the battle had ended, but even though my eyes had returned to normal, my mental state had not. I wasn’t sure what to think of the news that I was a Shurikane. My teammates didn't know either, if their silence was any indication. Not that I minded, since my mind was full of more than enough noise to make up for the three of them. These discoveries kept coming one after another, and although I was getting some answers, there was a whole influx of new questions flooding into my mind. It just all seemed a little far-fetched.

It wasn't long before we reached the gates of the city, effectively halting my thoughts.

Upon entering, we almost immediately encountered Ureru-san on our way to the hospital. He appeared to have been on his way home from the market. When he saw us he dropped the bags of food he was holding and rushed over.

“What in the world happened to you all?! You've only just left, too!" Worry was written all over his face, but my sensei reassured him that we just got caught up in an unplanned conflict.

"Ah, would you mind showing my students to the hospital? I'd like to inform Mifune-sama about what happened," he added with a meek smile.

"But Sensei, you could use a little healing, too." Chouji stated with a slight furrow of his brows. While it was true he had fared better than us in the battle, it wasn't like he got off scot-free.

Asuma-sensei responded with a toothy grin and placed his hand on the genin's head reassuringly. "Don't worry about me. I'll drop by as soon as I'm done. Would that be alright with you, Ureru-san?"

The merchant nodded his head furiously, his eyes still full of worry. "Of course, of course! It's not too far off, and I'm sure Mifune-sama would really like to hear about this. The three of you, please follow me."

Our sensei waved us off as we followed Ureru-san towards the hospital. The trip was short and silent, excluding the sound of the wagon and the crunching of our feet in the snow. Concern seemed to be the only expression the merchant could manage given the situation, but it wasn't long before we reached the hospital and a faint smile appeared.
"I'll ask for a nurse immediately," the merchant informed us before heading over to the front desk.

The moment he was out of earshot, Ino immediately spoke up. "Are you sure you're okay, Riku?" she asked, turning to me with concern in her eyes. "That crazy guy was after you, right?"

Chouji was silently asking the same questions as well, and I responded to both of them with a reassuring nod. "I'm fine, maybe a little tired, and plenty confused, but I'm not missing an arm or anything."

"O-Okay, but don't be afraid to tell us if anything's wrong, okay?" The blond pressed again, now firmly gripping my shoulders. "It's just-- I don't wanna see anybody else trying to deal with all these problems on their own, got it?" This time, her gaze was solid and unwavering. My eyes widened at her seriousness, but I nodded back nonetheless.

"Y… Yeah, I'll be sure to do that," I answered, momentarily startled. My tension eased when she gave me a placated smile, though. Still, what she said had me a little confused. From the way she spoke, it sounded like something similar had happened before, maybe to another comrade.

Before I could ask, Ino sheepishly announced that she had to go to the washroom. Within seconds, she was around the corner and out of sight. I glanced back at Chouji, who seemed surprisingly deep in thought as well. I realized he may have understood what Ino had been talking about, so I caught his attention.

"Hey, Chouji," I started, waiting until he was looking over before continuing, "Who was Ino talking about just now?"
"Mm..." His small eyes turned to slits, his brows furrowing in deep thought before jumping up as he discovered the answer to my question. "Oh! She was probably thinking about Sasuke."

"Please don't tell me I remind you all of him," I responded, mildly irked. It wasn't that I had anything particularly against the Uchiha; it was mostly because he was a moody kid. I hoped I didn’t come off as irritable as he does.
However, Chouji grinned back in response and gave me a look that told me that I wasn't quite right. "You're a lot nicer than him, so definitely not." Ah, that's a relief. "Last year, during the Chuunin Exams, something happened to Sasuke that got his team worried. Then an S-ranked criminal named Orochimaru went after Sasuke, so I guess Shinrin going after you reminded Ino of that incident."

I furrowed my brows, silently wondering what exactly happened during those Chuunin Exams, but decided not to press into it. If Chouji didn't know that many details about it, then it probably meant it definitely wasn't my business or that it was a sensitive topic.

"...I see," I eventually answered, staring at the ground. After a moment of silence, I opened my mouth to speak again, but Ino was already jogging back, limping a bit as she did so. I turned my attention to the kunoichi and gestured towards her bad leg with a faint grin. "If anybody should be taking care of themselves, it's you."

"Oh, this is nothing." She responded confidently. "The Rookie 9 of Konoha has pulled our way through all sorts of things, after all." As she spoke, she flashed a toothy smile and winked, as if to confirm the statement.

Chouji was grinning as well, and I responded with a small smile of my own. "Maa, it sure seems like it," I murmured, scratching the back of my head, but winced as it caused the wounds in my arms to flare up again. The atmosphere became much lighter after Ino's declaration and a comfortable silence fell over us as we waited for Ureru-san's return.

As I sat in silence, I found myself starting absently at my feet thinking back on what Ino said, as well as what Chouji had briefly explained to me. I didn't know much about the past events of Konoha, but I was certain that the genin had all been through a number of hardships before my arrival.

What those hardships were exactly is something I may never know, but I figured they'd be sick of the turn of events they'd been a part of. The more I thought about it, the more I wondered how they weren't fed up with everything. Then again, I suppose that's what they signed up for once they became genin. Still, for whatever the reason, I found myself feeling a little warm inside. Is this was being grateful feels like? I acted on my instincts and sat up straight before glancing over towards my teammates.

"Thanks." I murmured, receiving two slightly puzzled glances in return. Before they could question anything, Ureru-san returned with a nurse by his side.

After being properly healed and supplied with gauze and bandages, we were ready to depart the Land of Iron once again. Ureru-san cautioned us many times to be careful, to which Asuma-sensei responded with something along the lines of "Your samurai may be tough, but you shouldn't underestimate us shinobi, either," which was then followed by a hearty laugh. Eventually, Ureru-san was convinced that we'd be alright, and we hauled ass before his worry could strike him once again.

---

The few days of travel needed to get back to Konoha passed by with no further interruptions, which was much appreciated. I was also getting the hang of activating and deactivating the Youkugan at will, but refrained from using its power, since none of us were quite sure how it worked. The last thing we needed was to draw any other shinobi or rogues that might be in the area to us. Finally, the village gates came into view we slowly let our guards down.

"Haa, the warm sun beats that snowy place any time." Ino sighed, hugging herself.

"Don't get too comfortable yet. We still need to hand in our report, after all," Asuma-sensei pointed out, laughing as Ino huffed and silently protested. So close, yet so far.

Upon arriving in the Hokage's office Asuma-sensei explained the events that occurred during the mission, though he didn't mention the Youkugan. Tsunade-sama was concerned with the news about the rogues and the damage they managed to inflict on us, though I told her that while they may have had strength in numbers, Shinrin was really the only one worth worrying about.

Finally, the jounin pulled me forward. "I believe Riku has something to share with you," he informed the Hokage.

I looked up at the jounin, who gave me a reassuring smile, before turning back to Tsunade-sama who seemed curious as to what I was going to say.

"Well, err… during this mission, we sort of discovered that…" I rubbed the back of my neck while glancing away. "Uh, this." I murmured and closed my eyes. I still wasn't used to activating and deactivating the Youkugan, but I'd been working on it during our trip back to Konoha. When I looked back up at the Hokage, her eyes widened a bit when she saw my changed eyes, but her expression held more curiosity than shock.

"Tsunade-sama, this is-!" The woman next to the Hokage, whose name I learned to be Shizune-san, gasped.

"Well this is interesting." She murmured while taking her eyes away from my own. "Be careful with those eyes. It’s what started the war between Narei and Kumo, after all. Nowadays, though, it’s just their rogues that you need to be careful about. Not everybody has forgotten about your clan.”

I nodded, a little worried about the new risk I had to worry about.

“Still, the Youkugan…” Tsunade-sama continued, still amazed by what she was seeing. “Then again, I guess it's not too much of a surprise, the Shurikane clan made up a lot of the Ghost Village’s population, but this… You're just a one in a million kind of girl, aren't you?" She said with an airy chuckle. I'll admit that her reaction was a lot more composed than I thought it'd be. She’d probably seen all sorts of things, being the experienced shinobi that she was, though.

I deactivated the dojutsu and shrugged. "I guess you're right about that," I nodded. My team grinned in response, agreeing with the statement. This is a little much, though, and it almost feels like some more weight has been put on my shoulders. That's the weird part.
I would've thought that the more I learned about myself, the more relieved I'd be. Instead, the more I discovered, the more burdened I felt. Maybe it was because I shouldn’t even be alive. After all, the entire village had been destroyed, so why was I here? Why, of all people, did a seven year old survive such a disaster?

I'd never been so confused about anything, not even when I was trying to learn the difference between a swindler and a merchant. I realized then that maybe there was a small part of me deep down that wished I had never learned anything about myself at all.

A month of training, experimenting, and some research the Youkugan is what it took for me to fully comprehend its uses, though it definitely would've taken much longer if it weren't for my teammates and sensei. Using the eye had become pretty natural over the past few weeks, though getting used to its limits and my own abilities were still in the works.

The creations of the Youkugan are made by shinjutsu, which means "the art of reality.” This, I learned from an old scroll that Tsunade-sama kindly dug up for me. It only offered a description of the eye and revealed none of its secrets, but that was probably to be expected. It didn’t really matter anyway, since the point of my training was, in a sense, to uncover the secrets of this eye.

The main ability of the Youkugan was making genjutsu a reality. When I create something through shinjutsu, a portion of the pattern in my eye would disappear and reappear on the object I made. This part was discovered pretty easily, since the triangle shape that disappeared from my eye and reappeared on a boulder I had made was hard to miss.

"Damn it, Riku! Get those creepy things away from me!" Ino screeched, jumping away from the two shadowy figures that inched towards her. In the middle of each one's head, where a nose would usually be, was the pointed circle, one from each of my eyes.

Similar to how the Sharingan makes the user’s eyes red, the Youkugan makes my eyes grey. A thick circle with eight points coming out of it forms around my pupils. In between each spike is a five-sided shape that’s identical to a kunai without its handle. I just refer to them as triangles, and the eight points are what I call spikes.

"All they want is a hug," I pouted mockingly, making the figures reach their arms out in front of them. "Don't tell me you're scared."

I've assumed that the transfer of the mark acts like a seal or a bond in order to keep the creation intact. Creating things with the Youkugan is something that's learned through experience. It's like holding an object together with several phantom limbs. Although I'm not physically holding onto my creations so that they stay as a form of matter, it feels as though I have a sixth sense maintaining the shinjutsu. As such, I'm consciously aware of what I'm doing with my creations. Like genjutsu, the shinjutsu creations don't have a conscious mind. The more creations I make, the more I need to focus. However, I'm sure it'll become much easier as I get used to my kekkei genkai.

With a small yelp, the kunoichi pushed Chouji towards the figures so she could get away. As a result, he fell into the figures, so I used them to push him back onto his feet before cancelling the shinjutsu.

Also like genjutsu, I need to consciously control the movement of my creations. If I lose focus, my shinjutsu will falter and flicker away like a genjutsu would. However, while genjutsu leaves the sensation of being injured, shinjutsu will actually leave wounds on the target, even after the shinjutsu is cancelled. Shinjutsu must be countered in the same way as any other obstacle. If I made a wall of fire, it would need to be put out with water. If I cut somebody using a kunai knife I created, they would need to get it healed, and so on and so forth. Disrupting chakra flow to the brain will not break a shinjutsu, which is the main advantage of this kekkai genkai.

"W-who wouldn't be a little freaked out by those creepy things?! Geez, they're worse than Shikamaru's Shadow Neck Binding Technique.” She muttered while crossing her arms over her chest with a huff.

Naturally, the fact that the patterns from my eye disappear as I create things limits the amount of objects I can make. Size also matters. For example, a rock the size of my head "costs" one triangle, whereas a rock as big as me will require four triangles to hold together. The marking may not be entirely distinguishable but it's always there, so if what I make is something as small as a senbon needle, the portion of the ring I used to make it would look like a black stripe around its middle. If I make anything small enough, the object itself would simply be black.

"That's enough, you three," Asuma-sensei spoke out with an amused grin. "You guys did well today, and you've improved quite a bit with your Youkugan, Riku." He noted with a satisfied nod. "Why don't you guys take the rest of the day off? The Souzou Festival is coming up, so-"

Before the jounin could finish, Ino gasped loudly and clasped her hands together, smiling brightly.

"The Souzou Festival!" she repeated, now wearing a grin amusingly similar to Naruto's. Before I could even ask what that was, she was already going on about it like it was the sole reason of her existence. "It's an annual event, and maybe the biggest event in Konoha, too! It celebrates the founding of our village, so we pay our respects to the former four Hokage. We all wear a yukata and there are hundreds of stalls with games where you can win prizes or buy adorable little trinkets—"

"And food, too!" Chouji interjected happily. To my surprise, Ino didn't seem annoyed by his mention of food. In fact, she nodded excitedly with a grin and went on about what sort of snacks they have, like kebabs, dango, mochi, and all that good stuff.

"We'll be sure to show you everything there is to see when the festival comes around." The jounin added with a laugh while lighting a cigarette. "Well, I have some business to attend to. Don't overwhelm Riku too much, got it?" With an exchange of goodbyes, our sensei was gone.

Ino seemed to be caught in her own fantasies and such while Chouji drooled over the thought of the food, but I wasn't all-too pumped up about it. Maybe it’s because I didn’t know what festivals were like, so I didn’t know how excited I was supposed to be. I thought that maybe I was supposed to be excited because it was something new that’s supposed to be fun, though it didn’t change the fact that I was rather… indifferent towards it. Despite being in several villages, I had never participated in one of their festivals. They always made me feel out of place.

Ino noticed my lack of reaction and immediately questioned it. “Aren’t you excited?”

"It's nothing. I'm just not very fond of wearing a yukata or anything," I answered with a shrug that earned a dramatic gasp from the blonde kunoichi. "What?"

"Oh, but we can make you look so pretty!" she nearly cooed grabbing my hands and holding them up below her chin. There was an incredibly hopeful look in her eyes that I wasn't sure how to respond to. "I can put your hair in a really cute bun and we can decorate it with really pretty accessories- oh, I can already see it now! Let's bring the other girls, too. We can all pick out a yukata for you! It'll be a girl's night out!"

"I-- uh, it's alright. I can find a yukata myself. I wouldn't want to cut into your preparation time, after all," I answered, trying to resist the urge to pull away. Dressing up or looking nice was never really anything that I'd wanted to do. Though I was pretty neutral about wearing a yukata - as unfitting as I found it to be - I liked to steer away from any "pretty accessories" or make-up. I was rather unsuited for such things and as a shinobi, they shouldn’t have been concerns to begin with. Plus, most things that involved being pretty meant taking off my mask, which I wasn’t going to do any time soon.

The disappointed look in my teammate's eyes almost made me want to say that I would gladly let her do whatever it was she wanted to do, but Ino seemed to understand where I was coming from and gave a faint smile. “I’ll let you go this time, but I’ll get you to change your mind sometime or another.” One more second of puppy dog eyes and I might have actually given in. That was a close one.

I couldn’t tell if she was trying to threaten me or if she was being sincere. Either way, it made me wonder if it counted as a form of harassment, seeing as I was basically being forced into it all.

---

After washing up and eating dinner, I decided to spend the rest of the evening finding more information in the library. It was only about seven, so I had a good number of hours for reading. Although I didn't have any specific questions I wanted answered anymore, I had taken a liking to the atmosphere there. The library was calm and relaxing, which made it great for sorting out one's thoughts. I pulled out an old book on Nareigakure and flipped through it until I came across a section on my clan. There weren't many scrolls or books regarding my country, village, or clan, but I guess Konoha got a hold of some common information, since the Fire and Sun country were on pretty good terms, so I've heard.

"You seem to come by quite often, Riku," a familiar voice called from behind. I glanced back to see Kakashi-sensei approach me with a couple of scrolls in his possession as well. "What brings you back here?"

"Nothing really," I answered, staring blankly at the pages before me, but didn't read any of the words. "And you?"

The jounin took a seat in front me and set the scrolls down before answering. "Tsunade-sama wanted me to bring her a few scrolls, but that can wait. Let's chat for a bit," he suggested with his usual kind smile, though I felt like he wouldn't give me a choice in the matter.

"How are you holding up with your new team? I hope you get along with them." My reply was a simple nod. "My genin tell me that they miss having you around. If you have time, they'd love to have you join us for a training session or two."

This time, I looked up with a faint smirk. "Even the Uchiha?" I asked with a doubtful look, earning a soft laugh from him.

"I'm sure he'd like a decent sparring partner, though it would be nice if he could just simply get along with Naruto," Kakashi-sensei shrugged.

"I'm having a hard time deciding whether or not that was an insult to my skills as a shinobi," I murmured in response, earning me a soft chuckle from the jounin. When I got no clear answer and decided that he was just being difficult.

He noticed what I was reading and shifted his gaze back to me. His eyes were slightly more serious than before. "You know, we were rather shocked when we heard about your last mission out in Tetsu no Kuni," he murmured while resting his chin in the palm of his hand. "I'm sure you were, too."

"Discovering that you're the descendant of a supposedly-extinct clan tends to shock oneself," I answered indifferently, playing with the edge of the page. "It's earned me a few stares and whispers when I walk around, especially from other shinobi. It’s lessened over time, but I'd rather it stopped completely. I guess this is sort of what it's like to be Sasuke."

Another faint laugh came from Kakashi-sensei. "Are you learning about your clan's history?" He asked, changing the topic and gesturing towards the book. I shrugged and stared down at the page, this time scanning over the words.

"I suppose so," I murmured, pausing when I caught a glance of a specific word. I read it over and over, wondering why it seemed so familiar. Well, I suppose it's because it's the name of the last Head of the clan, but there was something else about it that was so…nostalgic.

"Are you alright?" Kakashi-sensei asked.

I nearly jolted up as I was snapped out of my thoughts before shaking my head to clear them. "Shurikane Misaki..." I murmured to myself, glancing back to Kakashi-sensei. I could've sworn his right eye widened just the tiniest bit in reaction to the name. I narrowed my eyes slightly, wondering if it was just my imagination or if he had some sort of twitch. "I feel like I know her, aside from her being the Head of the clan and all," I clarified, closing the book.

When I looked back at the jounin, he still seemed to be in his own little world. "Kakashi-sensei?" I called out, bringing him back to reality. He looked back at me with a distant look in his eyes before it was blinked away. Hesitantly, I asked, "Is there something wrong?"

"Hm? Maa, no, it's nothing." He answered with an odd smile, fumbling when grabbing the scrolls he was supposed to take to the Hokage, and stood up in a way that seemed subtly unbalanced. "If you have any concerns, feel free to come find me.”

With that, the jounin was gone in a heartbeat.

---

That night, I had another dream. It started off with several hazy images of a familiar house. No, it was more like a manor of some sort. There were a few voices around but they were too muffled to understand. I felt myself being lifted and set onto my feet. I realized that I had been crawling. I was a toddler until the scene changed and I was standing in the middle of a grassy field. Sitting next to me was a young woman, roughly into her mid-twenties or early thirties. She had dark brown hair that reached just past her shoulder blades. The light of the sun blinded me from seeing a portion of her face, the only thing visible being her warm smile.

Before I could move to see who the woman was, a sharp pain struck my chest. I looked down to see a kunai sticking out of it. I was older now and the bright scenery shattered, leaving me in an empty dark space. There was nothing around me until a figure manifested in the shadows. It was the woman from before, but her back was turned to me. I approached her slowly before realizing she seemed to be talking to a little girl. I could hear the woman's voice, but her words were incomprehensible. Both her voice and the little girl seemed familiar.

"Riku, you must promise me you will always stay strong."

I stopped walking and found myself staring at the woman and the little girl. That little girl was…me? No wonder she seemed familiar, but if that girl was me, then did that mean...

"Wha-...Mommy, where are you going?"

…That woman is my mother? I stepped forward and tried to reach out for her. She gave the younger me a hug and stood up to leave, a regretful look in her eyes. I looked down at the younger me. She was on the verge of tears, but fought them back while choking out, "No...Mommy told me that I have to be strong. I can't cry...!"

"Misaki-sama, you must hurry!" A distant voice called. My mother responded, disappearing into the darkness. Misaki… so my mother was the head of the Shurikane clan.

When I looked back to where the younger me was supposed to be, I was startled to find that she had been replaced by a mutilated apparition. It was a dead body, with half its head blown off. I could see its bare teeth and its right eye hanging out, resting on the ground in a small pool of blood. The darkness around the corpse seemed to disappear, spreading across my field of vision. It was replaced by a recently trampled battle ground. I was in the middle of the war once again.

I found myself wandering around the place, seeing faceless shinobi fighting against each other, though none paid any attention to me. Suddenly, I was almost knocked off the ground from what felt like an earthquake, but I heard the loud crashing sound from behind. As I turned around, a large shadow loomed over me. I looked up to see a large, red, hairy beast. I was right under it, so I couldn't tell what it was. I rushed out of its way and in front of it to see if I could get a proper look at it. When I finally saw its face, I was once again in shock.

It was the Yonbi.

The beast noticed me and looked down, its white pupils staring right at me. It seemed to hold hatred in its eyes and raised its arm, presumably to smash me, but I didn't react. This was a dream, after all.

"Seeing you in my dreams isn't exactly something I imagined, Yonbi," I commented nonchalantly, but was almost knocked off my feet from the bijuu's response.

"Don't call me by that wretched moniker!" It roared, looming over me in a manner that would definitely make me run for my life if this wasn't a dream. "I have a proper, honourable name, bestowed upon me by the Sage of Six Paths himself!"

Before I could utter a sound, the Yonbi was introducing itself - if this could even count as an introduction - in a rather prideful manner.

"I am ---! I am the ---! You address his holiness of all heavens, ---! Ho haa haa!" Its voice ripped across the battlefield and I had to steady myself as the ground shook from the sheer volume of his bellowing. Unfortunately, as most dreams tend to be hazy, I couldn't quite catch his name, or whatever else it was he was saying.

"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" I asked in a slightly hesitant manner, afraid that the demon would get irritated. As I feared, it threw a bit of a fit.

"Damn brat, use your ears! Stupid human, my name is -! -!" It roared while glowering at me. Although I still didn't catch his name, I decided to nod and refrain from asking once more.

As the echoes of its roaring died away, its eyes went back to staring right at me. The bijuu crouched down so that its nose was right above me. I wasn't even as tall as one of his elongated canines.

"Hmph. So you ended up here, huh? I take it you're going to try and enslave me now, eh?!"

My brows were now furrowed in confusion. "Why would I try to do that?" I responded, causing the Yonbi to give me a curious look. "I can barely use ninjutsu. What makes you think I'm capable of controlling a bijuu?"

"You...You're sensible, for a human at least." It huffed while straightening up, though its intimidating eyes remained fixated on me. "If you're not here for my power, then what the hell are you here for?" It spoke with a growl in its voice, as if it were trying to threaten me, even though its words held no such meaning.

"I--" I stopped myself immediately after uttering that one sound.

I was going to say that this wasn't by choice since this is a dream, and that everything around me, including the Yonbi, was just a product of my subconscious imagination, but that didn't seem like a good thing to say right now. Telling such a prideful being that they don't really exist, whether they be real or not, didn't seem like the greatest idea.

After clearing my throat, I gave it another shot. "Why are you destroying the village?" That seemed like a good start. I was pretty curious about that, anyway. I'm pretty sure my clan used the Yonbi to win the war, so why was it simply going on a rampage?

"Hrmph. Those selfish humans dare to enslave me, the Great ---! Fools, the lot of you stupid humans, enslaving me like this! Us intelligent apes should be the ones enslaving humans! Hoo haah!"

Although I knew why he was so angry, I didn't fail to realize that the selfish humans he was talking about was my clan. I kindly informed him of this fact as humbly as I could so I wouldn't upset him even more. His fit of raged died down and he lowered his glare to me.

"Ho haa haa! You're not like the rest of your clan, but being weak isn't much better, ignorant brat."

I woke up after that.

For the past couple of days, the genin took turns decorating the village for the festival. Putting up stands and decorations that stretched across the buildings were just two of the several things we had to do. By the time we were done, it was just a bit passed noon on the day of the festival, so the Hokage let us take the afternoon off to rest and get ready for the festival. I tried to sneak away so I could go home to sleep but when I was a mere eight feet away, my body froze.

“Shadow Imitation Technique; success.”

I sighed and glared in front of me, being unable to turn around to direct it at Shikamaru.

“Sorry for being troublesome, but Ino wouldn’t give me a rest. Just go with them and get it over with.”

“Are you serious?” I sighed again. Ino cheered and grabbed my wrist rather tightly so I couldn’t escape. Since the first day she mentioned the festival to me, the blond has wanted to take me for that girl’s night out thing. Shikamaru released the jutsu as Sakura and two other kunoichi I had met a few days ago; Hyuuga Hinata and Tenten approached me as well. “...Fine. But let me go.”

“Yes! Meet back here in an hour. Riku, if you ditch, I’ll send my entire clan after you.” Ino threatened with a victorious grin. For some reason, I got the feeling she wasn’t kidding. I decided that it was about time to give in, anyway. It was much better than having her pester me about it every day. Plus, if I didn’t go, who knows how much longer she would whine about it after the festival. I like to think I have a decent amount of patience, but I know I have my limits.

I spent the hour cleaning myself up. After washing my face and drying it, I tied my mask on, grabbed my wallet and keys, and then left the house to meet the others. I still didn’t see why I had to buy a yukata with them. It wasn’t that hard to get one myself. Maybe this was one of those ‘team bonding’ things Kakashi-sensei used to always tell me when I was with Team 7 – something I have yet to get the hang of.

Being the last to arrive, I was immediately dragged into a shop, since Ino didn't want to waste any more time. The shop was filled with a large assortment of hair accessories, earrings, and several rows of yukata to choose from. It literally took two minutes of being in the shop for me to have a dozen of them in my arms. I twitched at the sight and immediately dropped them.

“If you’re going to drag me around, at least let me pick out my own yukata.” I almost growled, stepping over the pile of floral and extravagantly patterned cloth. Ah, there's the limit.

Hinata and Tenten seemed saner than Sakura and Ino, however. Actually, Ino was the worst. Sakura just tried to convince me to try on what Ino had given me to wear but didn’t try to force me into a flamboyant yukata like my teammate did. The Hyuuga was incredibly shy but mustered up courage to show me a black one with a few sakura blossoms crawling up the bottom of the yukata and its sleeves. “H-how about th-th-this o-one?” Although I wasn’t very fond anything too flowered, I thanked the shy kunoichi. I didn’t mind just having a simple black yukata, but this store seemed a bit too extravagant for just a solid color.

While the others looked for their own things – I think they were looking for accessories or something – I walked up and down the aisle, picking out any black or dark-coloured yukata I could find. I didn’t mind the ones that were a dark red or white either, though the white ones were usually littered with flowers or something and the dark red ones were either far too big or far too expensive. I sighed and turned to the right to walk down the next aisle. A red yukata seemingly misplaced in a row of light-coloured ones caught my eye.

“This will do.” I murmured while giving it a good look-over. It was plain with a simple white pattern. Nothing to special, yet still decently appealing, I decided.

“Riku!” Ino exclaimed and ran over to see the yukata I was holding. She gasped and began pushing me towards a change room. “It’s a little boring, but it suits you!” I decided not to look too deeply into that comment and reluctantly let Ino pushed me into the changing room.

I sighed as the curtain was thrown shut behind me. I stared at my disinterested eyes in the mirror before giving in. I hadn’t planned on trying it on because it seemed fine to me, but since I was already there, I gave in and changed. Somewhat hesitantly, I slowly pulled the curtain to the side to see the other four kunoichi waiting. My teammate was rather impatient and pulled me out by the wrist and squealed.

“It even matches your hair!” She exclaimed while clapping her hands together. “Here, put this obi on.” Ino demanded while strapping it onto me. It was white with a red line going through it, matching the yukata. “Perfect!”

“R-Riku-chan, you l-look v-v-very...p-pretty...!” Hinata complimented with a timid smile. Sakura and Tenten nodded in agreement. It was very nice of them to say so, but I wasn’t sure how to take the comment. Now that I thought about it, I don’t remember ever being called pretty. They don’t know what I look like with my mask on all the time, and I was sure they would say otherwise once they knew what I was hiding beneath it. What an odd bunch of kunoichi, saying those kinds of things anyway.

“You guys...” I sighed with a slight shake of my head. They seemed to listen rather intently to my words. “No, all you shinobi... Konoha's shinobi sure are weird.” I chuckled slightly and surprised not only the four kunoichi, but myself as well.

There was a brief paused before I was suddenly jerked forward when Ino and Sakura attacked me from behind. “Do that again!” Sakura laughed with her arm around my shoulders. “You laughed, didn’t you? You know, I don’t think I’ve ever heard you laugh before.”

My attempts to get out of their grip failed and it was only harder to move when Tenten joined in. “I knew this would be fun, even for you!” Ino announced with a satisfied grin. I rolled my eyes as the three released me. Although Hinata didn’t join the ‘attack,’ she laughed quietly at the scene with her hand covering her mouth rather timidly. Fun? I thought while glancing at the others.

“…Yeah.” I murmured mainly to myself, seeing as they were already back to browsing the store. “I suppose this is pretty fun.”

---

The village was beautiful at night. All the lights were turned on and decorated the buildings. Villagers were everywhere, eating kebabs or playing small games at the stands. I couldn’t find a single person who wasn’t enjoying themselves and smiling. The atmosphere put me in a relaxed, content mood.

In record time, my team found me wandering around the streets with no particular place to go. There was something about a meeting place, but I wasn’t paying attention and never found out where to go. Ino scolded me for not knowing where to meet up, but I ended up finding them, anyway. Shikamaru was there, too, and we greeted each other with a nod.

The first place we visited a barbecue restaurant, of course. Chouji insisted that we went there for the festival as our main meal and Asuma-sensei offered to pay. When we arrived, the Akimichi immediately began placing orders while Ino carefully chose dishes that had less fat in them, or something along those lines. She wanted to watch her figure. Asuma-sensei asked if I would like anything in particular. “Uhh...lamb, I suppose.” I answered, deciding that since he asked, I’d might as well order something. Shikamaru was sleeping as we ordered and when he woke up, he sighed, complaining about how he didn’t order anything.

“You can take some of my dish,” I offered, “I’m not very hungry, anyway.”

“Eh...it’s alright.”

Despite his subtle rejection, Asuma-sensei nearly forced some meat onto the lazy-ass’ plate. He complained about getting somebody else’s food, which then led me to reassure him about a dozen times that it was alright. As I reached out to take some slices of lamb, I realized the tension at our table seemed to rise. I looked up at the others and noticed that they all paused. I shrugged, not thinking much of it, and began to pull my mask down to eat.

The moment I did, the fire of our grill seemed to go berserk and black smoke didn’t let us see each other anymore.

“What the--!” I heard Ino shout. I almost got hit from her flailing her arms about. Not being very affected by the sudden chaos, I continued to eat my lamb as an employee came over and quickly dealt with the situation. The moment I was pulling up my mask, the smoke cleared. For some reason, the others looked incredibly disappointed, but I just couldn't figure out know why. After all, the meat was still edible and Ino's yukata wasn't ruined.

I shrugged and set my chopsticks down. I didn’t plan on stuffing myself too much in the restaurant because I wanted to try the festival foods. There’s this sort of rice patty called a mochi that would be filled with red bean paste and such. I've only heard of it during my travels, but never got to try it before.

When we began to enter the heart of the festival, I noticed rather quickly that it shouldn’t be so hard to find mochi. There had to be over a thousand different choices of food and snacks to chose from, as well as several games and stands that sold souvenirs and trinkets.

“O—i!” A loud, obnoxious voice called. We turned around to see none other than Naruto running towards us with his team behind him. It looked like they were pretending that they didn’t know him. I chuckled a bit to myself when I noticed it. “Whoa, Riku looks great in a yukata!”

“Hey, what about me?!” Ino shouted, shaking a fist in his face. In a split second, however, she was all over the Uchiha. “How do you think I look, Sasuke-kun?” She cooed, throwing herself on her. I chuckled to myself, but remained uninvolved as Sasuke tried to get away from an angry Sakura and Ino, who were now fighting over him.

“Troublesome women...” Shikamaru sighed. I could only nod in agreement.

“Have you been enjoying yourself, Kakashi-san?” Asuma-sensei asked with a hearty laugh while lighting a new cigarette.

The grey-haired jounin laughed meekly in response. “Maa... it’s been… interesting.” He answered while looking back at the chaos that seemed to appear so suddenly. He soon redirected his attention to me. “Are you having fun, Riku?” His one-eyed smile seems to be the thing that defines him, as it was present once again.

For some reason, the chaos over Sasuke seemed to end at those words and Sakura released Ino’s hair and the Uchiha’s arm. “Oh yeah, this is Riku’s first festival, right?”

“It is!” Naruto shouted, suddenly closing in on me and grinning widely. I quickly took a step back and nearly punched him away as a reflex. “Hey, hey! Let’s do what she wants to do for the night!”

“But I don’t—” I started, but the others were already agreeing on this idea, one way or another. “I don’t have anything in mind.” I blurted out the moment they calmed down.

“Nonsense, there’s plenty to do tonight.” Asuma-sensei announced with his cigarette clenched between his teeth. “Just let them take you around; you can’t escape them once they get excited.” He added in a lower murmur. I sighed heavily. He was probably right.

They began by gracefully – and by that I mean chaotically – tugging me along from stall to stall, picking up snacks and showing me several popular items of Konoha, like a fan made of special preserved leaves. Although I didn’t buy anything, I’d be lying if I said that the festival wasn’t amusing. Yeah, maybe even fun.

It wasn’t long before Naruto was pointing out a fishing stall. There was a long box made of wood that was full of water. Inside were dozens of goldfish and on the stall counter there were several plastic hoops with a thin sheet of paper over it. Chouji explained to me that if I took too long trying to get a fish, the paper would get too wet and would tear. Despite not really wanting to try, Kakashi-sensei took my hand and slipped a net into it the others took one as well. I looked up at the masked jounin with slightly furrowed brows, but he simply urged me on with a gentle gesture towards the bin. With a sigh, I knelt before it to give it a go.

Naruto was the first to rip his net and he cried out despair when he did. I think he really wanted a goldfish. It was a few minutes later and only Shikamaru, Sasuke, and I still had our nets intact. I found it sort of amusing in its own way, seeing as we were the ones who were least interested in this game. Despite the fact, I kept my eye on the smallest goldfish in the wooden tank. Couching next to the tank, I brought my hand closer to the tank, somewhat following the fish with the hoop. With a swift motion, I slipped it in and pulled up underneath the fish, surprising myself when I felt the weight of it as I brought my hand up.

“Riku caught a fish!” Sakura exclaimed cheerily. The old man manning the stall congratulated me as he caught the fish in a small bowl of water when the paper finally tore. “Aww, it’s so cute!”

“No fair! I wanted a fish.” Naruto pouted while crossing his arms.

I smiled victoriously and thanked the old man when he handed me the fish in a small plastic bag. Our time at the stall finished with Shikamaru getting a fish as well, but he gave it to Naruto, claiming that taking care of a fish would be too troublesome for him. I considered giving my fish to the blond idiot as well, but figured that I’d might as well keep something from the festival.

Our next stop was the Amenoukihashi River. I noticed that it was much quieter around this area. I spotted a few small boats made of leaves floating down the river, each with a straw doll inside, a piece of paper, and a symbol painted on the boat.

“This is an old tradition in Konoha.” Ino started as we approached the river. “It’s a way for the villagers to send a message to those who've passed on. The straw dolls are supposed to be like the messengers.”

“You have to make everything yourself, too, so then whoever you’re sending the message to won’t think it’s something foreign.” Sakura added with an informative look. “They say that spirits can tell by traces of ourselves left on the boat and such if it was really us who sent the message or not.”

I noticed Kakashi-sensei at the small altar making one of them. He seemed rather experienced because it took about two minutes for him to be done. I didn’t want to question to whom he was sending it to, so I turned back to the small boats flowing down the river. There were also some lanterns floating along as well to light up the way, I assumed. It was a calming sight.

“Do you send one as well?” I asked in a hushed tone to the Uchiha, purely out of curiosity. He answered with a slight glare, but answered, nonetheless.

“This is just a superstition.” He nearly growled. I stopped the conversation at that, not really wanting to continue anyway.

I thought about sending one for my clan and village, but decided against it. It just felt odd because I still felt like strangers to them. My dream showed me that Misaki is my mother and though I believe the visions I had, I just still couldn’t feel any emotional bond. I know enough to lay the foundation of my identity, but what I actually experienced during my childhood is still unknown.

After Kakashi-sensei set his boat in the water, we left. I glanced back just a bit to see that there were three names written on the boat. I couldn’t read the names, however, but decided that I would probably be getting to nosy with his personal life if I were to see them and then have the urge to question him about it.

It was nearing midnight by now. As we neared the centre of the festival once more, the music grew louder and the crowd grew thicker. I could hear several hand-drums as well as woodwinds and string instruments here and there. The streets even had some performers, like dancers and jugglers to entertain the pedestrians.

“Can we get something to eat? I’m hungry.” Chouji announced while holding his belly. We wondered how he could possibly be hungry seeing as he got something to eat at nearly every food stand we passed by, but decided that it was a good time to get a snack, anyway.

“There’re so many to choose from...what should we get?” Sakura asked while looking around. I could smell the sauce used on takoyaki and the scent of barbecued meat was overwhelming. We continued to make our way down the stands, gradually eliminating some of the choices before us. Then, I noticed a rather quaint stand with trays filled with colourful rows of small buns.

I guess I subconsciously slowed down because Asuma-sensei was asking me if I was alright. Ino caught on to what I was eyeing rather quickly and a huge smile spread across her face. “Riku wants to eat mochi!” She announced and grabbed my wrist. I was a bit worried that I was used to being tugged around now. Clearly it’s something that happens a bit too much.

“Wha—no, it’s alright, I was just—” I stammered and nearly tripped over my own foot. Oh, forget it. I couldn’t get away, and I did sort of want to try the mochi. I just didn’t want it to be such a bit deal or anything. Nevertheless, I began to scan the trays of confectionery. There were signs in front of them saying what was in the mochi. The more I read the list of flavors, the more it seemed like it was endless. Finally, I decided on four different flavors and got one of each. “I’ll take a red bean paste, green tea, ice cream, and soybean.” I ordered, pointing to each one as I did.

“Try them now!” Naruto urged when the lady behind the counter handed us our orders in small boxes. I had to lean back once again to stay at a comfortable distance from him.

“I think I can wait until I get home.” I answered while tucking the box into my sleeve. For some reason, some of them had that disappointed look in their eyes again.

The festive atmosphere returned and excited chatter spread across some of the genin. However, a sudden loud whistling pierced my ears and it was followed by a loud bang, scaring me half to death and causing me to cry out in shock. I jumped and nearly prepared myself to counter an ambush or something while cautiously staring at the lights falling in the sky.

“What the hell was that?” I gasped, feeling my heart pound against my chest.

I soon noticed how villagers were looking up at the sky with delightful expressions and that my teammates were hardly fazed at all. Seeing as they didn't have their guards up, I lowered mine as well and looked up in awe.

“Am I the only one who noticed the sky bombs?” I asked rather stupidly. Everybody just paused, stared at me, and gave me the most disbelieving look I have ever seen. “...What?”

“Riku…” Asuma-sensei started cautiously while gently holding me by the shoulders, “...Have you ever seen fireworks before?”

“I'm guessing it's something with fire that was... worked with. Is this some sort of fire type ninjutsu thing?” I inferred, having no idea what they were getting at. Another round of surprised and shocked expressions occurred. I narrowed my eyes impatiently. “Stop that.”

“Fireworks, Riku!” Naruto shouted while throwing his arms into the air. “This thing goes into the air and it’s all ‘boom!’ and then these lights appear and it’s like a giant flower in the sky and it’s super awesome and cool and colourful!” He explained quickly while using incredibly large arm gestures to empathize everything.

I slowly shook my head, giving everybody a confused look. Something that explodes in the sky and sends things falling to the ground didn’t sound very safe. “Anything that’s ‘all boom’ and causes flaming bits to rain over the village doesn’t really strike me as ‘super awesome’ or anything.”

I just wasn’t grasping the concept of the fireworks because this time, Sakura tried to explain it to me after shaking away her disbelieving expression. “Riku, trust us on this. That explosion is called a firework, and it's harmless.”

"...Alright." I spoke hesitantly, still doubting that something with the potential of being so dangerous could be harmless. “That doesn’t mean I like them, though. They’re pretty, but I don’t… I’m not a huge fan of things that explode.” I admitted, and as if to prove my point, another firework whistled into the air, causing me to tense up and flinch.

“Why don’t we find a place where we can watch from inside?” Kakashi-sensei suggested with an understanding smile. “You can still enjoy the view that way, at least.”

I nodded, feeling a little childish that the fireworks made me so tense to begin with. It was tolerable, but I would much rather I got away from it if I could.

All the excitement returned to the group, more or less, and we followed Shikamaru’s suggested of the Hokage’s Palace. Ah, yes. Invade our cranky Hokage’s office so we can watch the fireworks. Apparently that’s what respect from shinobi to Kage was all about in this village. It was no surprise that Tsunade-sama was annoyed to see everybody, but it was apparent that she was already watching them with Shizune-san and Tonton, anyway, so after some half-hearted scolding, we joined then by the windows.

“They’re so loud.” I murmured they continued to go off. I could still hear them, but it was muffled and quieter, so it was alright. “Are you sure those things are safe?”

“It’d be troublesome if they weren’t.” The lazy brunette answered while yawning.

Another loud explosion went off and I flinched. Whether they were pretty and harmless or not, I still didn’t like the exploding part.

As the fireworks lit sky one after another, I leaned back on my hands while staring up at the sky. I wondered why I couldn't remember such a vibrant this yet that barren wasteland triggered so many memories. I sighed, wondering if I had even been to a festival during my childhood but simply forgot everything about it. That seemed to be plausible. I must have at some point or another. I don't even remember my time with my mother, let alone a festival or two.
I suppose my expression was become too solemn for the festive atmosphere because Ino was soon pulling at my cheek, which immediately made me wince and swat my hand at her. "What the hell was that for?" I snapped, though my tone remained generally calm.

The blond kunoichi smiled back before using her two index fingers to push my cheeks up so that my eyes were slightly squinted. "See? Now you're smiling." She laughed, removing her hands before I smacked them.
"...Don't do that. You can’t even tell with my mask." I finally muttered while looking back up at the sky. Was that her way of cheering me up? I didn't really think I was in a slump to begin with, but I guess I subconsciously began to show it.

When I looked back at the plastic bag with my goldfish, I began to recall the events from the very beginning until this moment. A thought began to crawl its way to the surface of my thoughts as I remembered being placed on Team 10 or our encounter in Tetsu no Kuni. It was then when that thought began to take shape and I gradually came to realize something as I watched the sky light up with my new comrades.

I may have lost my previous memories, but that wasn’t going to stop me from making new ones.

“It’s really time for them again?” Ino asked with a surprised yet exhausted look. Asuma-sensei nodded happily as he held three sheets of paper in his hands. “Man, I almost don’t wanna go because of what happened during the last Chuunin Exams.” She shuddered a bit, but took one of the forms anyway.

“Won’t it be easier now since you’ve already done it once?” I asked, scanning the sheet. It asked for the usual stuff like our name and birthday, date of graduation from the Academy, so on and so forth. “I don’t see a problem in taking it again.”
“Maybe it’ll be a bit different this time, though.” Chouji pointing out, already halfway down the form. “I mean, there must be dozens of genin who retake the test. They can’t make it the same, can they?”

We all looked at each other and shrugged. Whatever it was, Asuma-sensei believed we were ready for it, or he wouldn’t be giving us the forms. “The Exams are two weeks from now, in Kumogakure. We leave in two days.” He mentioned before waving goodbye. “That’s all for today. Meet back tomorrow!”

Kumogakure, as in the village that declared war against mine? Swell. I suppose it shouldn't be a problem as long as I don't use my Youkugan recklessly, though if I remembered correctly, Tsunade-sama mentioned that it wasn’t the village I had to worry about, but rather, their rogues. Still, it was probably safer for me to not use my kekkei genkai at all while I was in the area. I pushed away the thought for now and went back to filling out the form. Once I was done, I slipped the pen into my pocket and looked at the others. “What happened during the last Chuunin Exams?” I questioned with a raised brow.

My teammates fell silent for a moment and the air seemed to grow heavy. I immediately remembered the apparent sensitivity about the Exams when they were brought up on our last mission, so I quickly tried to change the subject.

“You guys don’t need to say anything if you don’t wanna.” I reassured while eyeing them nervously.

“No, we should tell you.” Ino responded with a bittersweet smile. I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried to insist that it was all right, but she had already begun to explain it. “It’s not like it’s a secret or anything. It’s just… A sad memory, I guess.”

As she continued, she looked towards the Hokage Monument with the faces of the five Hokage carved into it. “During the last Chuunin Exams, this man named Orochimaru attacked our village. Us genin don’t really know the details, but in the end… the Third Hokage sacrificed his life to save the village.”

There was a brief moment of silence and I stared up at the carvings as well. My eyes settled on the Third’s for a moment as I tried to imagine the sort of man he was. Despite being nearby when the incident probably happened, I heard nothing about it. Now that I thought about it, my knowledge of the Hidden Villages was pretty limited. I’ve never even heard of the attack on Konoha.

“That Orochimaru also attacked Naruto’s team during the second test.” Chouji added with a frown. “He’s probably one of Konoha’s strongest enemies.”

At a loss of words, I simply nodded once and stood in silence until finally, Ino broke it with a shaky laugh. “Hey, let’s not get depressed about it. We have these upcoming Exams to worry about now, right?” She spoke with a grin and held up her registration form. “Let’s start working hard from now on so we can kick some ass!”

Chouji and I nodded in agreement and with that, the mood was lifted. The two of them went off on their separate ways, but I stayed in the training field to work on my genjutsu and taijutsu fora bit, as well as some of the ninjutsu I’ve learned. I wondered if I would be okay in the Exams without any elemental ninjutsu but hey, I’ve got some decent genjutsu up my sleeve. I decided I’d be just fine.

I approached one of the training posts and let out a deep breath before sending a combo of strikes against it. After a series of punches and kicks, I slid around the post and jumped up, kicking it from the side, then from the other as I twisted my body in the air. I repeated the same pattern several times before flipping back and threw weapons at it until I was out. I got them back as I caught my breath, noting that my aim was getting much better and my hits were a lot stronger now.

It was when I started to practice some simple genjutsu that I sensed something in the trees. I glanced over but didn’t react just yet to see if something was really there or if I’m just going crazy. “Senju.” I opened my eyes, using the genjutsu on a passing butterfly and trapped it in the fist of one of the hands. I wasn’t using the Youkugan, so in reality, the butterfly was simply stuck in the air.

As I released the genjutsu, the presence from the trees became more noticeable. With a slight frown, I looked towards the area the presence was coming from and waited silently. Moments past and I got a little irritated, so I called out to the space. "Your presence is starting to annoy me." I spoke indifferently to show that I was bothered, but not necessarily angry at whoever it was. "If you're not going to show yourself, leave."

"A-Ano..."

A pang of guilt struck me when I heard that familiar timid voice.

"Oh, Hinata-san." I noted with a more welcoming expression. I was definitely feeling guilty right about then. "Is there something wrong?"

Now poking out from behind the trees, I saw her face turn red as she poked her fingers together. "N-No...W-well, u-u-uhm..." As usual, she stuttered and refused to make eye contact. I waited patiently for her to form a sentence. "S-Since the Ch-Chuunin Exams are c-c-coming up, Ino-chan and S-Sakura-chan thought that w-we should r-relax a little bit in the hot s-springs..."

She now smiled gently at me, the rest of her body no longer hidden by the tree. I was hesitant to go, but I already felt bad about accidentally yelling at her just now. Although there were a number of reasons why I wanted to decline the offer, I decided I could overcome those reasons with a trick or two.

"Alright." I answered, immediately seeing relief in her eyes. Am I that scary, or is this a natural reaction for Hinata-san? I told myself it was the latter, for my own sake. "When did they want to go?"

"T-Tonight...after dinner, around e-eight."

"That's fine. I'll try not to be late." I smiled faintly. Hopefully she could tell that I was doing so through my eyes. I didn’t want to make her any more nervous around me, after all. "Thanks for the invitation."

The timid Hyuuga left with a slight bow of her head. I still had time to kill so until then, I continued polishing off my genjutsu and later on worked on my taijutsu.

---

"So this is a hot springs, eh?" I murmured while approaching the building. The other kunoichi had already arrived and seemed excited to go. Having been in the Hot Springs country for a while, I at least knew how they worked. Surprisingly enough, however, I've never actually been in one before. "Looks relaxing."

"How in the world did you never bathe in one after spending an entire year in the Hot Springs country?" Sakura asked as we entered the building, still in a bit of disbelief.

I shrugged. "I guess I was more concerned about stealing food rather than bathes. The rivers were fine, anyway."

There was a brief moment of silence before Tenten broke it with a sheepish laugh. "W-Well, it's never too late for a first time, aha!"

With that said, the five of us went into the women's bath and got ready to enter. I noticed that the others were throwing glances towards me every now and then, though I wasn't sure why. Since there were some other people in the bath as well, we were a little separated from each other and I found myself the furthest away from the others. A young woman stood in between me and the other kunoichi, so I assumed they were just making sure I was alright. Meanwhile, I made sure to hide my face as I got changed. Once I was done, I headed off to the bath, as I was the first one ready.

As I opened the door, a large cloud of steam rose immediately clouded my vision. Unaccustomed to the humidity, I coughed a few times and took in a few deep breaths to adjust myself to the new air. I soon made my way in the bath as carefully as possible. Soon, the other kunoichi entered as well and immediately made their way over to where I was.

"A~h! This is the best way to relax before the Exams." Sakura sighed while sinking into the water. "But what the hell is with this steam?! I can't see your face at all, Riku!"

"Eh, just mine?" I asked with a slight tilt of my head, though it was all the better for me. "I can't really see any of yours, either. Does this mean that there's something wrong with the bath?"

"Well, it's not normal, but there's nothing really wrong." Tenten-san commented, though I'm almost certain I heard her mutter something along the lines of something being unfair under her breath. I'm not quite sure what she meant by it though.

The five of us sat in the bath for several minutes while chatting about a variety of things. They would tell me about the types of genin they fought last year, such as Sabaku no Gaara and his siblings, as well as the Sound shinobi. They also told me about the proctors, such as Morino Ibiki and Mitarashi Anko, who both sounded like interesting jounin as well. It seemed like we'd be in the same boat, more or less, since it's a new exam in another village, but I could at least expect the unexpected when it comes to these Exams.

After a few more minutes of sitting in the incredibly steamy water, we decided to get out before we got dizzy. Out of habit, the first thing I did when I reached my basket was to switch the towel I used to cover my face with my mask. As I glanced over my shoulder to locate the others, I furrowed my brows in confusion as they seemed to be a little disappointed about something.

"Did we get out too early? We could bathe for a little longer if you wanna."

"A-Ah, no, it's o-okay, R-Riku-chan...!" Hinata-san reassured with a meek smile, though I couldn't help but shake the feeling that there was something else to those looks. Deciding to shrug it off, I turned around, only to hear a faint gasp come from the Hyuuga.

"Is there something wrong?" I inquired, turning around almost immediately as I wrapped a towel around myself.

The others seemed to notice whatever it was Hinata-san noticed and immediately came over, now wrapped in towels as well.

"There's something on your back." Ino stated while pressing gently in between my shoulder blades. "It's like a spiral."
Confused and a little concerned, I tried to crane my head back to see it, but to no avail. "I was never aware of this. I know I have a scar, but this spiral mark is a first."

Did this have something to do with my past? Maybe it was put there by my clan for some reason. An identification mark, maybe? Maybe I got it for an entirely different reason. I didn't want to start thinking too deeply into it, since it probably wasn't a big deal, anyway. Still, I couldn't recall any sort of spirals from any of the books I've read about my clan, so it still worried me a little bit.

"Does it hurt?" Tenten-san asked while gently poking at it, but stopped when I shook my head. "Hm... Maybe it's some sort of seal. Hopefully not anything like Sasuke's, though..." Her voice trailed off and the other kunoichi grew a little more concerned as well.

"Tell us if you feel anything weird on your back, alright?" Sakura spoke with a soft smile, and I nodded in return.

We dried up and got out pretty quickly out of that. It was getting late and Ino and I were leaving tomorrow morning for Kumo, so we wanted to get a good night's rest. The teams were departing at different times so we didn't have to travel as one giant group, and our team was the first to depart. The others would be departing tomorrow as well, but at different intervals.

I thanked the others for taking me to the hot springs and we parted ways after that. It really was relaxing, the hot springs, but the marking on my back still puzzled me. I only recalled the basics of my life when I saw the ruins of my village. I know who my mother was and I know a bit of what my village looked like. I can't recall the faces of my other relatives, however, nor do I remember any friends that I may or may not have had. This marking on my back, however, is something that I've never even read about, which is what puzzled me.

Still, it shouldn't be anything too serious. At most, it must be some identification mark of some sort, or perhaps even just a very strange birth mark.

A few days of calm travelling was all it took to get to Kumogakure. As we got closer and closer, the worry about my Youkugan and what Tsunade-sama told me about the rogues worried me. I didn't know if they believed there were any survivors, but I decided that even though I've been honing my shinjutsu for the past few weeks, I'd only use it if absolutely necessary, preferably when there aren't any witnesses.

I sighed to myself and frowned. This is probably the most dangerous place I've ever been to, even if the inside of the village should technically be safe. Just being around the area made me uneasy. I have every right to be a little bit scared, I told myself. I didn't want to cause any trouble with my true identity, so I even went ahead and used the fake surname Mumeishi for the Chuunin Exam registration forms.

Once we arrived in the village, the sun had just begun setting. Alerting the village that we had arrived didn't take long and within an hour, we were settled in. Since it was getting late, we decided it was time to get something to eat. After a few days of nutrition pills, we wanted to have a decent meal. Plus, Chouji looked like he was at Death's door. We took this time to plan out strategies and mentally prepare ourselves for what was to come. Naturally, my team headed for a barbecue restaurant and after getting a seat, orders were placed instinctively. So instinctively that it worried me just a little, since it made me wonder just how many times they've had barbecue together.

"We already took the Exams once, but what if that experience doesn't help us at all?" Ino sighed while resting her chin in her hands.

"Don't worry. All Chuunin Exams follow the same format; a written test, a survival test, and then a tournament." Asuma-sensei explained as our food arrived. We began to place the meat across the grill as he explained the gist of it. "You two have experience already, so I'm not so worried about you. Riku, on the other hand; you should know that this exam is held for all the countries. There are genin from most, if not all, villages coming to take this exam and without a doubt, you'll be meeting several people with their own unique backgrounds and abilities."

"Yeah! Last time, there was this insane sand guy named Gaara. He was absolutely horrifying. Come to think of it, isn't he also a jinchuuriki?"

"Also?" I repeated with a confused look. "I didn't know we knew of any others."

My team gave me a puzzled expression in return, almost silently wondering if I was serious.

"Riku, did nobody ever tell you about Naruto?" My sensei asked while lighting a cigarette. I shook my head once, to which he shrugged in return. "Well, he's the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, the Nine-Tailed fox, but that's not the point here."

Having that extra bit of information is useful to know for future reference, so I nodded and stored it at the back of my mind. I knew the Kyuubi was in Konoha, but I never would have suspected its jinchuuriki to be Naruto. He doesn't really come off as the demon vessel type.

Before our conversation could continue, the waitress arrived with some tea and by then the meat was ready, so I unzipped my mask to eat, making sure it didn't open too much so the left side of my face remained hidden.

"So Naruto's the jinchuuriki." I murmured while setting some lamb on the grill. "I guess he can't be that much of an idiot, if he's got that much power inside him."

"You've been reading up on the bijuu?" Asuma-sensei asked. I smiled with a hint of pride and nodded once. "Heh. I encourage self-teaching, but Kakashi tells me you spend a lot of your free time at the library."

I shrugged while gently swishing my tea around in the small cup. "I can't help it if something catches my interest. There's no harm in knowing too many things, after all."

"Yeah, or you could spend some quality girl time with me." Ino chimed and I scoffed. She huffed. "Oh, come on. Once in a while wouldn't hurt."

"It hurts me a lot more than you think." I answered jokingly, causing the two males to laugh and her to pout.

During the rest of the meal, they shared more stories about what happened during the last Chuunin Exams and how there were preliminary matches because there were so many genin who passed. Although the girls had given me a brief run-through at the hot springs, a little reminder wouldn't hurt. I was reminded of the jounin and the examiners once again, such as Ibiki and Anko. It seemed like a lot of jounin in Konoha had a quirk of some sorts. It made me wonder if it was a common thing among high-ranking shinobi, or if the village is just a little eccentric in general.

After our stomachs were satisfied, conversation about the Exams faded and we called for the bill. It was time to get a little more relaxed and out of the Chuunin Exam mindset so we could at least get one decent night's worth of sleep before the Exams.

"Make sure to sleep well for the next few days. Keep up with your training, of course, but don't strain yourselves." Asuma-sensei listed as the bill came. "I want you three to be in shape but not exhausted, alright?"

The three of us nodded in unison, each exchanging looks. "You think we'll be put in something like the Forest of Death again?" Chouji asked, his mouth full of the last of the pork. "That place was pretty scary."

We all shrugged as we left the restaurant, imagining what the Chuunin Exams had in store for us. I decided that I'd prepare myself for the worst so everything will seem easier when I actually encounter it. Unless things actually are that bad, in which case I'd be at least be prepared to a certain extent. Nevertheless, whatever it is this Exam decides to throw at us, I knew we'd be ready for it.

________________________________________

"I can only tell you three to give it your all. Don't be reckless now, you hear?" Our sensei warned with a grin before we entered the first testing room. "Alright, now go show those kids your Will of Fire."

The three of us nodded and we opened the doors to see a room full of genin. I glanced back and Asuma-sensei waved once. I responded with a two-fingered salute and followed my teammates into the room.

Shinobi of all villages were here. To the left, there were a few desks with chuunin behind them. I noticed the two piles of strips of paper next to them and assumed they had something to do with the test. Before I could take in more of my surroundings, I heard a familiar bark and a smug greeting.

"Looks like you guys finally made it!" A genin by the name of Inuzuka Kiba smirked, his arms folded across his chest. "Sure brings back memories, eh?" He directed the question to Ino and Chouji. They both agreed with a nod. "Don't worry. This time, we'll all pass for sure! Maybe not Riku though, since she's a newbie."

"Shut it, mutt." I growled, glaring at him. He glared back at me and Ino laughed sheepishly, pulling us apart. I didn't really have anything against him personally. I just have a thing with being underestimated. Inuzuka-san just happened to do that. A lot.

In the middle of greeting all the others, the doors suddenly swung open, causing everybody to fall silent and turn to see who it was. A tall man with short blond hair walked in. He wore a one-strap flak jacket with a black tee underneath, as well as black arm guards covering his forearms.

"Everybody listen up! I'm C, the first examiner for this exam!" He shouted with his arms crossed. "Each team will head on over to a chuunin over there." He nodded his head towards the tables I saw on our way in. "You will each grab a number and a slip of paper. The slip of paper will be folded. Do not open it until you are told to do so. If anybody is caught taking a peak, you and your team will automatically fail, understood?" Seeing as it was a rhetorical question, he continued in a loud voice. "You will then take your designated seat and await further instructions. Now get a move on; we don't have all day!"

The genin began to make their way towards the table and we did the same. As my team shuffled over – it was really crowded with all the genin piled into one area of the room – I was shoved and bumped into someone by mistake. I looked over my shoulder and saw that it was the examiner that I bumped into.

"My bad," I half-apologized while regaining my balance.

"It's alright–" he paused and seemed to spot my hitai-ate. His eyes immediately narrowed and I swallowed. Was I in trouble? "Oh, a Konoha Dog." I frowned beneath my mask, though I was relieved that I didn't unknowingly get my team disqualified or anything. "Just watch where you're going next time, Dog."

C nudged me out of his way a little bit, though his actions weren't left unseen. Ino was just about ready to pummel he guy and Chouji was saying something about waking up on wrong side of the bed.

"Geez, who took a shit in his corn flakes today?" I heard Inuzuka-san grumble from behind me. I shrugged and told them to let it go, though I still wondered if he had something against Konoha.

When we finally got to the desk, the chuunin handed us each a number as well as the slip of paper. We looked at our numbers and noticed that we were all next to each other. I exchanged confused looks with Ino and Chouji but they simply shrugged. After getting away from the crowd, Naruto came up to us and showed us his team's numbers, too.

"Oi, do you think this is a mistake?" He asked loudly, shoving the numbers in our faces. His team was also all grouped together. Soon enough, Inuzuka-san's team and Hyuuga Neji's team approached us with the same results. We decided that it was no coincidence and took out seats with no further questions.

"I have a few things to say before we start!" C announced from the front of the room. "You may have noticed that you've been placed with your teammates. That is no mistake! Secondly, you and your teammates are allowed to work together to complete this test!"

The murmuring began immediately and I looked to my sides, giving my teammates a skeptical look.

"Hey, quiet down!" He ordered before clearing his throat a bit. "Each question answered correctly is worth five points. If, by the end of the exam, your team has a total score less than fifteen, you and your entire team will be disqualified. There is only one rule for this exam; any sort of interaction with other teams is absolutely prohibited! Any questions?" Silence. "You have two hours to complete the test. Begin!"

Everybody started reading through the questions first as the atmosphere quickly grew heavy. The moment I began to scan the sheet, I raised an eyebrow and flipped the page. It didn't solve my problem. Did I get a misprint? Five questions, five points each. If I answered all of them I'd get twenty-five points, which is more than enough for the team to pass. Problem is, my sheet just has numbered boxes. The questions were supposed to be there, but they weren't.

Although I tried to remain calm, I could feel my heartbeat speeding up. I didn't want to panic, but what was I supposed to do? Was there some sort of seal on the page? I swallowed hard and from the corner of my eyes, saw that the other genin were confused and stressing out as well, some more obviously than others.

So it's not just me, or maybe other people have questions and just can't figure it out. I glanced up at the instructor and saw that he was staring at the room as a whole. There were other chuunin proctors lining the sides to watch for anybody cheating as well, so it'd be hard to do much of anything except silently freak out.

Keep your cool. I told myself while closing my eyes, paying attention to the others around me and imagining the sheet of paper in front of me. Think, Riku. There's a reason behind all of this.

Gears started to turn in my head as I tried to find out what the purpose of this was. I breathed in deeply and let it out slowly, counting the seconds as I did so. Soon enough, my heartbeats returned to a steady pace and I opened my eyes. I went through the facts of this exam once more.

We were placed next to our teammates. That immediately strikes as odd. There had to be a reason behind this. We need fifteen points to pass, collectively. That means all of us only had to answer at least one question correctly in order to advance. There is one rule to exam, and that is to not interact with the other teams.

There is only one rule for this exam. C's words repeated in my head.

My eyes widened slightly at the realization and I scanned the room once more. As I did so, I accidentally caught the examiner's gaze. He gave me an indifferent look, but for some reason I could still feel some irritation coming from it. I couldn't help but smile confidently, almost mockingly. I noticed that other people either already got it as well, or were in the process of understanding the point of the exam's set up. I saw C raise an eyebrow, almost as if he was expecting me to do something, so I did.

Putting my head back down, I glanced over to Ino's sheet on my left and saw that she had information, but no questions. If I was right, then that meant Chouji would have the questions. When I looked to my right, where Chouji was, I smiled to myself when I saw that my speculation was on the dot. Their sheets had absolutely no space to write. Both sides were full of text, which I got a glimpse of at the beginning while everybody was still trying to figure out the exam.

I didn't want to attract much attention. I could write messages to them on my paper and nudge it towards them, but even that isn't subtle enough. A small spark went off at the back of my mind. Carefully, I nudged the feet of my teammates with my own under the table to get their attention. Their arms were rested on the desk in a way that some of their forearm was off the desk, so I used that section of their arms to start writing characters.

First, at different times, I told them to lower their arms so that I could write in the palms of their hands so what I was doing was mode hidden. Since they did this at different times, it didn't seem all-too suspicious. I then began to give them the intended message.

The only rule of this exam is not to interact with other teams. He said nothing about talking to our own teammates. None of us can complete the exam without the other two parts. Ino has the information, Chouji has the questions, and I have the space to write the answers down on. It was made to make us rely on our teammates to get us through tight situations. This is a test of teamwork and our ability to send information to one-another secretively.

I rested my hands by my sides and leaned back to give the appearance that I was struggling to understand the exam while my teammates agreed. The problem now was figuring out the questions without really talking to each other. I furrowed my brows to myself while writing down this problem, showing it to my teammates so they could think of a solution as well.
It wasn't long before Ino tapped on my slightly closed hand. After opening my palm to her, she began to write. At the same time, I would pass the message to Chouji, from my right hand onto his left.

We need fifteen points to pass, so that means we need to answer three questions. I have the information needed to solve the questions, so Riku should start by passing my information to you, Chouji, and vice versa.

An exchange of information and questions began between Ino and Chouji, with me acting as the median. Of course, I was jotting down the key points next to the question boxes as well. Once all five questions were dealt with, we decided to start with the easiest one, which was a cryptogram.

I eyed each character carefully. It was all written in kanji. Well, it seemed like that's what it was supposed to be. Although it looked like kanji characters, none of the characters were actual words. They seemed like hybrids, if that was appropriate to use.

I'm not good at stuff like this, but it looks like it has something to do with the different parts of kanji. Chouji wrote onto my hand, which I also passed onto Ino.

There's gotta be a pattern somewhere. Each character is made by combining parts of kanji characters, but they don't make any actual words. It probably has something to do with switching them with another character. I wrote.

My teammates nodded and we went back to staring at the cryptogram. Every now and then we'd shift about so that our stillness wouldn't seem too unnatural. Soon enough, Ino's eyes widened slightly and grabbed her pencil before circling certain parts of the cryptogram. After she was done, she brought her arm to her side, so I did the same and opened my palm to her.

I think I get it! It's almost like my kekkei genkai. When I use my kekkei genkai, I push my mind into the target's and their mind gets pushed away while I intrude. The same thing happens here. Each character has one part written in the character in front of it but keeps part of its original form. Part of the last word intrudes on the first word.

She then proceeded to translate the part of the cryptogram she had and I sent the results to Chouji. In turn, he would do the same and piece by piece, the cryptogram was decoded.

Whoa, I didn't know Ino could be this smart. Chouji commented contently.

Subconsciously, I passed the message along. I didn't realize how it could be taken until after the kunoichi pinched my hand, which made my bite back a startled yelp.

Hey, it was Chouji who said that. I wrote in my defense. I passed on Ino's death threat to my other teammate after that, to which he apologized with a nervous grin. Focus. You can hit him after we pass this test.

Our focus came back and throughout the hours that we were given to work, bit by bit, we passed messages along and answered the questions in near silence.

________________________________________

When our time was up, my team had managed to answer four and a half questions. There shouldn't be any problems in passing, but I saw the slip of paper we were told to get before we were seated and a bit of worry came over me. There was a point to that, too, but what? I wasn't given much time to think about it, however, as C began to explain the purpose of them.

"Alright, get those slips of paper and open them up. Don't you dare show it to anybody else!" He ordered and we did as we were told. I raised my eyebrow then I saw that it was just an empty slip of paper. I glanced around the room and noticed a few similar looks and folded the paper once more, remaining silent.

"Here's the second part of the test. Only two genin from each team may continue!" In a matter of seconds, confused murmurs grew louder across the room. My teammates and I glanced at each other with shocked expressions. I could hear the loud ones like Inuzuka-san and Naruto from across the room, crying out objections. They were shushed quickly by C's loud voice. "No matter what's on your slip of paper, you will not tell your teammates. Those who have a red dot on their slip of paper will be the member to stay behind! However, the team has a choice. They may either move on without one of their teammates or drop out now and try again next time!"

The genin stirred up again and I eyed my teammates. Which one had the red dot? I frowned and shook my head. It didn't matter who had the dot. Without a full team, it'd basically be pointless to proceed with the exam. What about the survival test? It'd be much easier to pass with all three members rather than just two. Yeah, it doesn't matter who has the red dot. I don't care if I have to take the exam again next time; having just part of the team just won't cut it.
Soon, the murmuring came to a stop and C spoke again. "It's time for you to decide. Those who wish to take the exam next year, leave this room at once!"

Several teams got up and left the room, including mine. The three of us remained silent as we exited the room and entered a sort of waiting room, where many of the jounin stayed. I looked around and saw that the teams from Konoha all exited the room. Though some of us were upset with the need to take it again next time, all of us knew the importance of having the entire team during the exam.

"You all made a wise decision," Asuma-sensei greeted as he approached us. The other three Konoha jounin approached us with him. "We're all very proud."

"Well, you guys drill the idea of teamwork into our heads nearly every day." Ino commented with a slight smirk. "How could we possibly go in there with somebody missing?"

The jounin shared a laughed but was soon cut off when a certain blond began to complain.

"Man, this stinks!" Naruto whined, crossed his arms. "I don't wanna wait another half a year for the exams!"

"Don't worry. You all made a good choice." Kakashi-sensei commented flatly with his signature smile. As he said this, the door to the testing room opened and C walked out. We all turned to face him and he stood before us, arms crossed.
He noticed his frown when he looked towards us, the genin from Konoha. The others didn't seem to notice and if they did, didn't show that they saw. I sighed and blinked, relaxing my eyes as C cleared his throat before speaking. "Would all of you please show your slips of paper to your teammates," he ordered.

Ino, Chouji, and I faced each other, opening our slips of paper. In a matter of seconds, a chorus of gasps and confused murmurs filled the room. The examiner silenced us and told us to look back at him.

"As you have noticed," he started, unfolding his arms, "nobody in your team has the marked slip." I found myself biting my bottom lip a bit. So, it was a trick of some sort. "Let me begin from the beginning. What's the point of taking a test if you don't learn anything, after all?"

"What's not secret is that the written part of the test depended on your teamwork. If the three of you didn't work together, it would be impossible to complete the test at all. Teamwork must be valued to even think of completing the test. It also tested your ability to transfer information in a subtle way, which is important when exchanging valuable information amongst comrades. It's all over if the enemy catches wind of it."

"Then came the test with the red dot." His lips began to form a flat smile. "You were all given the choice of leaving a teammate behind or all dropping out of the Exam as a team. I'm sure you were all thinking similar things; what's the point of continuing on with the test with only two members? If the next test requires more team effort, you'd fail if there was a member missing. The same thing applies to missions. Say the mission was a success. However, you lost three of the five comrades that went on the mission with you because you left them behind. So the mission was successful, sure, but what about next time? You now have less shinobi to complete the next mission and thus, a higher rate of failure."

He paused briefly, his expression becoming fiercer. "Look around you! This room holds the future and success to your villages. What would happen if you continuously lost teammates along the way? One success is not worth the dozens of failures that follow it!" C's frown turned back into a proud smile once more. "You, however, saw the true value of your teammates. Because of this, you all pass!"

Fists were pumped into the air and a wave of relief crashed down on us. Everybody was grinning or smirking in satisfaction as the jounin congratulated us. I have never seen or heard a happier group of genin in my life.

"Not bad for Konoha Dogs." I turned around and looked up to see the examiner standing before me. We eyed each other briefly before I left to meet up with my team silently.

---

Relief filled us all to the rim. Our sensei congratulated us on passing the first round, and we congratulated one another. I could still remember how my heart was racing from C's last three words. Heh, so this is what the Chuunin Exams are like. Look underneath the underneath, I thought to myself while joining the others in the clearing of the room. It was only a few minutes after we passed the first test that the second examiner came by. I thought Konoha's jounin were a bit odd, but this guy proved to me that Kumo was similar in that way.

"How's it shakin' lil' genin?" Oh no, he doesn't talk. He raps. "I'm you're next examiner, the name's Killer B! Now we've got that covered, so y'all betta follow me!"
"Is this guy insane?" Ino whispered in to me, but the remaining teams followed nevertheless.

We were brought to the docks of Kumogakure and loaded onto a rather large boat that took us across. We were told to stay below decks because it was a secret area of their country that's restricted to other villages. For the sake of the Chuunin Exams, however, they only brought the genin taking the test over to the area.

In about an hour or two, we arrived at our destination and Killer B called us off the boat. I followed the others onto shore and we were all immediately in awe. From what it looked like, we were on a really large island littered with wild life and what looked like stone spikes.

"There here is where y'all be hangin', yeah!" Killer B announced once we were all gathered in a clearing near the edge of the island. He placed his thumb and index finger in his mouth, letting out a sharp whistle. Suddenly, the island seemed to shake a bit and a shadow loomed over us. We turned around and were in shock from what we saw. Our eyes grew wide as we all stared at the giant turtle head looking at us.

"It ain't no biggie, just 'nother hurdle. Welcome to our badass Island Turtle!"

“Fill out these sheets, don’t make me repeat!” Killer B announced as the said sheets of paper were being passed around. I was told that we need to fill these out so that if we die, the villages don’t blame Kumo. A waiver is what they're called, I think. Sounds like fun. All of the genin from Konoha survived last time though, so I wasn’t exactly worried about dying on a giant turtle’s back.

“Listen up, a’ight? This here’s no fight! Island Turtle’s got tons of animals, and they all be way bigger than y’all!” I began to wonder if trying to understand him was part of the test. Perhaps they were testing our deciphering abilities as well. “So here’s what you’ll do; pay attention, it’s yer cue! These animals are my bros, but I ain't one t'brag. And on each one of ‘em, they've got a lil’ tag!”

With that said, he held up a small white tag that fit in the palm of his hands. “On each tag has a number, from one to eight, y'hear? There be ten o’each number, and yer gonna need at least one of each per team. There's enough t'go 'round, so yer goal of thirty-six points'll be easy t'reach!” Why couldn’t they get an examiner who speaks normally? I like being able to understand the rules to tests that will evaluate my strength as a shinobi and determine whether or not I can become a chuunin. C was a bit of an asshole, but at least he was easy to understand. “With a lower number, your job'll be easier, bro, but if y’want a higher number, y’all gonna Y’all be in there for a week, so try not to die and reek! Also, don’tchall forget ma number one rule; no killin’ my bros, f'sho!!” We were then given some time to fill out the forms and hand them in.

“You guys ready?” Ino asked, popping up behind me and Chouji. We nodded in unison and headed over to the desk where they took the forms. They also told us where we should head and wait for the signal to go.

“Is this place anything like the Forest of Death?” I asked once we arrived at our entrance point. There weren’t any man-made gates, just several paths with a numbered block of wood pinned to a nearby tree to number the entrances.

"It looks pretty similar, but I don't think it was crawling with giant animals like this place apparently is." Ino responded with a slight shudder. I guess she wasn't quite sure what to expect, either.

“I hope it has as much food as there was in the Forest.” Chouji murmured, already munching on a bag of potato chips. Ino and I sighed in unison before preparing ourselves to enter the forest.

Soon, there was a loud “Get’cherselves ready, genin!” in the distance. Chouji stuffed the chips into his pocket and readied himself as well. I began to notice that my heart was racing, but I took a deep breath and forced myself to calm down. Survival is no challenge for me. Heck, I’ve been doing it for five years, alone. What makes this any more different?

There was an explosion in the distance, followed by Killer B’s loud voice.

“Let's get this show on the road!”

---

After about half a mile of running into the forest, the three of us stopped to formulate a plan. It would be easier if all the teams worked together, but that would defeat the purpose of this test. We needed to assess our own strength as a team, not our strength with the others. Although we weren't necessarily going to get into each other's ways, we weren't deliberately helping each other out, either.


"This test is sort of like the Forest of Death, since all the teams are after the same thing." Ino stated as we sat in a small circle. "Since they need to eliminate some teams, I bet there's only enough points to let a maximum of half of us to pass, or something like that."

"So the elimination process is similar to the one from the Forest of Death as well." I murmured, remembering the explanation I got about the scrolls and how it automatically eliminated at least half the teams participating.

We fell into silence as we thought this through. I furrowed my brows and began to draw small circles into the ground before me, each one representing the teams that passed, which was thirty.

"We need at least one of each number to pass." I started while writing out the rows of numbers, ten of each to make an eight by ten grid on the ground. "At most, ten teams can pass out of the thirty that are participating in this round."

"That's two teams less than last year, even though only eleven ended up passing, but the ratio makes it seem so much more intimidating." Ino sighed with worry in her eyes. "There's bound to be people getting more than they need, though. That way, they'll eliminate more of the competition."

"Maybe that's why we get more time." Chouji noted while finishing off the rest of his chips. "If we can't get the right numbers from the animals, we'll have to track down other teams and take their tags...hnng, this is way worse than last time!"

There was no doubt that at least one team would try to pull a trick like that, which meant that we could count on at least one extra team being cut out of the running.

I felt the air around us grow tense as each of us began to realize the chances we had of passing.
"There's no use sitting around, then." Ino spoke while looking up at us with determination in her eyes. "We didn't come all this way to just sit and calculated our chances of success. We need to catch up to Shikamaru, so let's get going already!"

"Yeah, I bet even Shikamaru would get a little annoyed if we went home and told him we didn't even make it past the second round, right?" Chouji laughed while getting up after the blond.

With a sigh, I got onto my feet as well and gave my teammate the same powerful glint that they had in their eyes. "Well then, what're we waiting for? Let's start collecting some tags."

---

The animals were incredibly unique on this island and when Killer B said they were huge, he wasn't kidding. Some of them were the size of Ichiraku Ramen while others were even larger still. A few hours past noon, we had managed to collect a tag with the number three on it.

"I really hope Konoha doesn't have any bulls that big." Ino shuddered, still shaking off the adrenaline from our encounter with the enormous beast. It had two giant horns sticking out of its head and towered over us by over half a story. In the end, we managed to get the tag from it by having it charge into a cliff side and get its horns stuck.

"Too bad we can't eat the animals." Chouji sighed while opening a new bag of potato chips. "I don't think I have a week's supply of food on me."

"I don't think you should ever had a week's supply on your body." I retorted, to which Ino sighed and shook her head. Naturally, our content teammate grinned sheepishly in response, his mouth already getting stuffed with chips.

As we carefully made our way through the forest, we still continued to search for any animals. Eventually, Chouji's eating became too much of a distraction and Ino successfully scolded him into putting them away until we took a break. It was a good thing she did that, since an animal came into view not too long afterwards.

"That is one big cheetah." Ino whispered in awe while eyeing the large feline.

It rested on top of a group of boulders, each one a few feet taller than the previous one. The tallest one, the one the cheetah was sprawled on, towered over us by at least twenty feet. The three of us exchanged uneasy looks before we shifted gears entirely, ready to take on the beast.

"We'll need to locate the tag first." I spoke in a hushed down while getting some hand signs ready. "I'll try slowing it down with a genjutsu. Chouji, you should try using your ninjutsu to grab its legs. Ino, that leaves you to locate it."

The other two nodded and with a single jerk of my hand, we separated.

I made my way around the cheetah as quietly as I could. My eyes were locked onto it to watch its every move, though it didn't do much. This beast seemed to be taking it pretty easy. Soon, I was lined up with its face. I drew myself closer to it and prepared my genjutsu, but my concentration was interrupted when a crack sounded beneath my foot.

I tensed up immediately and cursed at myself for being so reckless. The head of the cheetah jerked up and I refused to breath. I couldn't see either of my teammates, but I'm sure they were just as tense as well. Thankfully, the cheetah simply huffed and rested its head back into its front paws. I slowly exhaled and after breathing in again, started the short chain of hand signs.

The moment I began to release my chakra, however, the cheetah shot up onto its feet and looked straight towards me. Startled, my chakra wavered and dispersed, but the beast had already located me and was charging towards me.

"Riku--!" I heard Ino's voice shout from several feet away.

"Partial Multi-Size Technique!"

Large hands shot out of the trees but before they could grab onto the cheetah, it had already dodged the attack and was now charging towards Chouji. I narrowed my eyes, wondering why it was so inconsistent with its targets.

"Get outta the way!" I shouted towards Chouji while hastily pulling out some wire and shuriken. With a few swift movements, I had the wires attached to the weapons and threw them towards the beast’s legs. They didn't wrap very nicely since Chouji had changed his trajectory and caused the cheetah to make a sharp turn as well, but I at least managed to make the large beast stumble.

"I'll see if I can try and take over its body!" Ino shouted while sliding in front of me. After holding out her hands, I felt the chakra she released. The moment she did, the cheetah whipped its head around and targeted Ino. My eyes grew wide from the realization but Ino caught on as well, since it wasn't long before she exclaimed, "It responds to chakra!"

With that knowledge at our disposal, we immediately stopped using any genjutsu or ninjutsu, but the cheetah was already onto us. There was nowhere to run, so we found ourselves stuck in a situation where we could only dodge and avoid the lunges and swipes of the oversized feline.

"It won't leave us alone!" Chouji wailed, just barely dodging another attack from the animal.
"Just try to think of something!" Ino shouted back as we continued to keep ourselves spread out. At least we could take turns catching a bit of a break that way.

This was an animal that reacts to chakra. It already seemed to have ours stuck in its senses, so it would probably chase after us even if we tried to get away. It's incredibly fast so there's barely enough time to dodge, let alone set up a trap or two in an attempt to slow it down. My first attempt already didn't go too well.

So then, what was its weakness? I furrowed my brows as I jumped out of the way once more before Ino got its attention so I could catch my breath. It was sensitive to chakra so we can only use taijutsu against it, but it's too fast for us to do that. I sighed, silently wishing that Lee-san was here. He seemed to be the perfect opponent for this animal.

"Maa...To be able to lock onto our chakra after being exposed to it once, just how sensitive is...it...?" My voice trailed off as my eyes grew wide from the realization. That was it.

Without wasting a breath, I immediately let my chakra run wild and tried to make it as obvious as possible. The cheetah began to charge at me once more, but concealing my chakra was the last thing on my list.

"Riku, what're you--?!" Ino started, but a flash in her eyes told me that she immediately understood what I was trying to do. A wide grin spread across her face and she was soon shouted across the field at Chouji. "Oi, Chouji! Make your chakra as obvious as possible!"

"Isn't that the exact opposite of what we're trying to do?!" He shouted back, but started to do as he was told nevertheless.

As expected, the cheetah began to stumble over its own feet as it tried to focus on one presence. Feeling accomplished, distanced myself further from my teammates so that our chakra was more dispersed, causing more confusion to affect the cheetah.

Soon enough, it began to growl in frustration and annoyance before it got dizzy and collapsed onto the ground. Cautiously, we made our way towards it, still keeping up our chakra presence obvious as we did so. The tag was clipped harmlessly onto its ear. I pulled it off carefully, making sure the cheetah wouldn't suddenly spring back to action.

"What happened to it?" Chouji asked, still keeping a bit of a distance between him and the groaning animal.
"It got overwhelmed." I stated plainly while pocketing the tag.

"Since it's so sensitive to chakra, if it senses too much of it, it’s bound to affect it one way or another." Ino clarified, but our teammate still seemed a little confused. Finally, she sighed and shook her head a bit. "It's like we gave it a chakra brain freeze."

Unsurprisingly enough, Chouji understood that immediately.

“Now let’s get out of this place. I wouldn’t be surprised if another team sensed us because of all that.” I cautioned, nodding for them to get going.

With that settled, the three of us resumed our search for the oversized animals. We now had a number three and a number four tag, so we were off to a pretty good start. I could tell my teammates were feeling good about our progress and of course, so was I. However, I had a feeling there was something wrong. With cautious eyes, I scanned our surroundings and although I couldn't find anything out of the ordinary, I still couldn't shake off that feeling.

Despite all the many interesting things that I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing and experiencing throughout my five years on the road, I can’t say that I’ve ever had to run away from an oversized armadillo whose gender I couldn’t figure out. Its shell had the kanji character for “male” written all over it, but the way it’d address itself like a female and used feminine speech threw me off.

After many minutes of running from the armadillo rolling after me, I finally managed to lose it and began to relocate myself. It separated me from the others, so I wanted to regroup with them soon. Catching my breath, I made my way towards the general direction of my team’s meeting point. I was only a few steps in when suddenly, I felt something catch my feet and I fell over. I winced a bit as I scraped myself against the ground. I rolled onto my back before fumbling back onto my feet while still trying to catch my breath. I froze when I sensed movement behind me and began to look back but stopped when I felt the cold metal of a kunai held up to my neck.

“Hand it over.” The person behind me demanded. He was close, and his voice was right next to my ear.

“I’m failing to understand your request.” I answered calmly, not letting my pulse falter the slightest bit. Keeping my cool has become a habit of mind throughout the years of minor crimes, and I got the feeling I was in no position to try and fight back.

He pressed the kunai against my neck harder, proving my suspicion. His two teammates appeared before me. They were shinobi of Kumogakure; one male, one female. They both looked fierce. I didn’t blink.

“You know what I mean.” He growled, getting impatient with me. “The tags. We know you have one.”

I didn’t react. “You must be mistaken,” I answered flatly, mentally locating the number four tag in my pouch. I felt him draw blood.

“Don’t make me slice your pretty little neck, girl. This isn’t a game and we all know you have it. It’s either you hand it over now and keep your head, or I kill you and take the tag myself. It’s your choice.” His teammates continued to stare me down, silently threatening me to do as he said with their eyes. I frowned and reached into my back pouch, only to ram my elbow into his gut.

He gasped in pain as he fell to the ground, and I immediately jumped into the air as the other two genin lunged towards me. Out of my haste, I nearly dropped the flare bomb I was trying to light before throwing it as high as I could into the air. Just as it went off, I felt a strike against my back, knocking me out.

---

My head was spinning when I woke up. It looked like I was in a cave of some sort. Ropes kept me held in place. I felt colder than usual, but at least I wasn’t shivering. Frowning at how uncomfortable I was, I looked up, quickly discovering that I couldn’t see much because of the dim lighting. I tried to curse under my breath, but found that my throat was too dry to make a sound other than one of a dying toad.

“Looks like the lil’ girl is awake.” A female voice taunted. I blinked rapidly in attempt to have my eyes adjust to the darkness more quickly. It didn’t take long, and I soon found that all three of them were in the cave as well. “Not feeling too hot, I bet. Sucks to be you.”

I struggled a bit to test the strength of the ropes. They sure didn’t hold back because I could feel the ropes digging into my wrists and ankles. It stung, but I ignored it and looked up at the team, glaring at them.

“How long has it been?” I demanded in a harsh tone.

The male who held the kunai to my throat scoffed. “Heh, I’ll admit that I’m surprised your loudmouthed comrades haven’t found you yet. It’s already the second day of the test, after all. I thought they’d be better than that.”

My eyes grew wide for a moment before I went back to glaring at them. Knowing my team and how big comradeship in Konoha is, my failure to return would most likely cause the other two to freak out. I prayed that they’d at least have some common sense and not assume that I was mauled to death.

“What the hell to you plan on accomplishing by keeping me here? You think you’ll be able to keep me tied up for the rest of the week?” I said, glowering at them. They were clearly underestimating me if they thought I would stay here for six more days. If worse comes to worst, I’d have to resort to using the Youkugan.

“Oh, don’t be silly. We’re tough, but we’re not arrogant.” The female of the team sighed, waving her hand nonchalantly. “We’ll just have to make you lead your pesky comrades into a trap for us.”

I raised an eyebrow, not at all satisfied by this idea. “And how do you plan on doing that? Hopefully you don’t believe that I’ll just agree to this idea of yours.”

“If you don’t, we’ll blow off your legs.” The second male stated with a disinterested tone, gesturing towards my tied of legs. I then felt myself being lifted by the back of my jacket and pulled outside until being thrown on the ground. The light blinded me for a moment and I winced, growling as the shinobi who held the kunai to my neck ran his hand up my legs, pulling the fabric of my pants as he did so. Bastard.

“These here are infused with my chakra, you see?” He said, his fingers brushing over my legs.

I looked down to see what he was talking about. The moment I did, it felt like my heart dropped into my stomach as my breath escaped me. On each of my calves was a paper bomb, which were find when I was the one placing them, but not so much when they were stuck to me. My breath hitched as the reality of it all dawned on me once again.

“One little hand sign is all it’ll take for your legs to be blow right out from under you. We wouldn’t want you to lose your pretty legs, would we?” He slid his hands across my skin as he pulled back, clearly amused by the situation they put me in.
“Quit fooling around, Tsura. We don’t have all day.” The other male shinobi called. Even his own teammate was getting annoyed.
“Lighten up, Ganjou. I’m just messing around.” Tsura responded with that annoying smirk on his face.
“You’re disgusting,” I growled, adjusting myself so I sat with my knees up to my chest.

His devious grin only grew wider as he nodded towards the kunoichi, who then came over and sliced the ropes off. I stumbled a bit as I tried to get up, spewing profanities as I did so. I must have been in that position for at least twelve hours, and perhaps even longer still.

“What a foul mouth you have on you.” Tsura chided mockingly, stepping towards me. I shot him a deadly look and he paused, but that smile never disappeared. “But the rest of you is quite beautiful. It’s a shame we have to be enemies.” That said, he held up my mask before me. My eyes widened and I quickly snatched it from him, hastily tying it around my nose and mouth where it belonged. In my anger and annoyance, I didn’t even notice that it wasn’t on me anymore, and his sarcasm only ticked me off even more.

He laughed, enjoying his teasing far too much for my liking. In a split second, however, his sickening grin disappeared and was replaced with a darker one.

“You will find your teammates and tell them that you were ambushed by another team. You managed to take them down and steal the tag that they had on them.” He held out two tags; the one I had, and the other which I noticed was a fake, but I could only tell after examining it closely. I figured they wouldn’t risk giving up the real one. I caught them out of the air as he tossed them at me. “You will then lead them back here after three hours. We will be waiting here, of course.” I glared as he smiled again. “Run along, now.”

“You’re cowards.” snarled, turning my back to them. “Disgraceful, pathetic cowards.”

I could feel Tsura’s teammates glaring daggers at me, but only heard his voice as I left.

“I prefer to be called smart.”

---

It took me half an hour to arrive at our meeting point, and another hour until my teammates returned. Their faces were ones of shock and relief when they saw me casually sitting by the small springs that ran down a short cliff. I looked up and casually greeted them holding out the two tags before me.

“I brought you guys a gift.” Two pairs of arms were immediately wrapped around me and I was quickly knocked over by the sudden weight.

“Where have you been?!” Ino asked, finally being the one to actually voice words. “You’ve been gone for an entire day!”

I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly. “Maa…I was being chased by an armadillo. Then I got ambushed by a team, but it’s a good thing they weren’t that impressive, because I just put them in a genjutsu and checked if they had one of these.” I lied perfectly, holding up the number two tag, as well as our own number four. “Turns out they did. Lucky break, eh?”

My teammates only smiled at me, glad to see that I was alright and visually unharmed. Well, no point in telling them about the explosive tags or the threats, unless one of them miraculously knows how to reattach bits and pieces of a pair of blown off legs.

“Speaking of the tags, we just got a number one just now.” Chouji stated proudly, revealing it to me. I nodded once and he slipped it back into his weapon pouch. “We’ll rest for a bit before going out again. Maybe somebody else should hold on to one of the tags. It’s better to lose one than both, right?”

“I’ll take it.” Ino voiced, so I tossed the number four to her. “Why didn’t you come back here after you got rid of the other team?” She asked as we settled down.
I sighed and leaned back on my hands, glancing up at them nonchalantly. “It was a long day. By the time I was safe, I was kilometers away from here and was way too tired to get back, so I waited until morning came. You guys should know that I won’t get taken down that easily, though.” I said reassuringly.

After washing ourselves off a little bit and eating some fruit that grew from nearby bushes and trees, we set off once more to begin our hunt for another over-sized animal. I had two hours until I had to lead them towards the ambush sight. I really wanted to warn them. I really, really wanted to warn them, but I had no idea where those Kumo genin were hiding. I wasn’t going to take any chances, either. It might selfish that I was following along with their plan because it was my legs that were at risk, but it was also because these guys loved their comrades so much. They’d blame themselves and then it’d seem like I didn’t believe they could handle an ambush, which is like underestimating them and not trusting them. As a shinobi, especially one of Konoha, that was just plain insulting.

“Man, how hard is it to find a giant-ass animal?” Ino whined as we scanned the area. “You’d think they would be easy to spot out here.”

“Maybe they overheard Chouji talking about barbecuing them and ran away.” I joked.

“Cut that out, Riku. You’re making him drool.” Ino sighed, rolling her eyes.

Another hour went by in relative silence and no signs of giant animals could be found. When we entered a denser area of the forest, there was a sudden rustling in the trees that broke the silence. We all froze and pulled out our weapons, ready to defend ourselves.

“Who’s there?” Ino demanded as we looked around, though I could tell she was frightened. Chouji was definitely getting tense himself. “Show… Show yourselves!”

I wondered if it was the shinobi from Kumogakure failing to conceal themselves, but they seemed to be much more experienced than us. I then began to wonder if they decided to ambush us a lot sooner. Then again, maybe the rustling is just a small critter roaming about and it was really just nothing.

All of a sudden, the silence was broken by an orange blur falling from the tree above…and right onto me.

“What the--?” I hissed as I pushed myself up, shoving whatever it was that was on me over to the side.

As I got onto my feet, I noticed that the space around me was black. My surroundings turned into what appeared to be a dark room filled with liquid that went up to my ankles. I couldn’t tell what the liquid was, but I wasn’t in any rush to find out. Before me was a cage and in the middle of it was a paper seal.

Cautiously, I made a rotation as I took in the details of my surroundings. Was it a genjutsu? It didn’t feel like one, though. I tried using a dispelling technique anyway, but nothing changed.

“Where the hell am I?” I muttered to myself before I felt a presence behind me. “Who’s there?” I demanded immediately, swinging around with fists up.

“Whoa, wait!” The familiar voice called. “I-It’s only me, Riku!”

“What—Naruto?” I gasped, but he seemed to be the one that was the most shocked.
“What are—why are you—?” He stammered before a good few moments before finally getting over his shock enough to put together an audible sentence. “…How did you get in here?”

I could only blink in response before finally, I shrugged. “You fell on me, and then I ended up in this place. What, do you know where we are?”

Surprisingly, an unfamiliar look of hesitance appeared on Naruto’s expression. He nodded once very slightly before pointing at the enormous cage behind me. “This is…sorta like the inside of my head, where the Kyuubi is…or something like that, anyway.”

My voice escaped me for a moment as I turned around and craned my head back to see the top of the cage. Suddenly, two large eyes snapped open and I jumped back in surprise.

“Tch, one brat was already too much.” A voice growled from the cage as the eyes narrowed into a glare.

“So that’s…the Kyuubi.” I whispered before looking back at Naruto, who nodded in response. The demon responded with a huff and closed its eyes, disappearing into the darkness. I guess it’d rather not bother with two genin intruding. “And all of this is in your head? You mean like your subconscious?”

“I…guess so. I don’t really get it, but I know that nobody else has ever been here before, so it’s really weird that you’re here right now.” He pointed out with a confused expression. “Oh, but don’t worry! It’s not dangerous in here or anything, aha!”

After realizing that I wasn’t corroding or anything, I simply nodded along and offered a faint smile. I wasn’t sure if I was even conscious myself, but it didn’t seem too unbelievable. After all, I knew that he was the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, though I had no idea he had a sort of bijuu realm of sorts in his head but hey, what do I know.

I was about to ask him how to get out of here before I realized that I could use this to my advantage, but I wanted to confirm something, first.

“So, this place…” I started while turning to face Naruto completely, seeing as the Kyuubi didn’t even make a sound anymore. “Nobody can see or hear us, or anything like that, right?”

“Yeah, why?” He asked before realization donned upon him. “R-Riku, w-what’re you planning to—?”

“Get your head outta the gutter, idiot.” I immediately interrupted while shooting a glare at him. He gulped and laughed embarrassingly. I could’ve sworn I heard a deep chuckled from behind me as well, but chose to ignore it. “I need your help with something, and it looks like you’re the only person I can tell without any risks. Here me out, alright? It’s really important.”

Naruto’s expression became more serious and he nodded furiously. If this really was his subconscious and it really was Naruto that I was talking to, then all this would stay in our memories when we went back to “the real world.” If that was the case, then I could safely explain the situation to him in his subconscious, so I did.

I told him about how I was ambushed and how the Kumo genin put explosive tags on my legs. I told him to tell his team after, since the enemy wouldn’t be watching them. We would then lead our own teams to the same area so Naruto could tell my own teammates about it while I led the Kumo genin away from them.

“They might bring reinforcements so they have a higher chance at beating us down, so make sure you guys are ready, alright?” I finalized, staring directly into his eyes to make sure he wasn’t hesitant about this. Then again, it’s Naruto. I heard he tried to take on an S-Ranked criminal on his first mission outside of the village, so a little task like this shouldn’t be frightening at all.

“Don’t worry, Riku. You can count on me!” He reassured with a toothy grin while pumping his fists into the air.

With a thanks and a fist bump, I said goodbye to him and the silent demon before being removed from Naruto’s subconscious.

The shinobi of Kumogakure don’t know about Naruto being a jinchuuriki, so there’s no way they would be able to know that I spoke to him in the way that I did. Hell, I still didn't understand myself how I managed to do it in the first place, but I’m not complaining.

Since it was around noon, our teams decided to rest together for a while before separating once more. This worked to the plan’s advantage, since I could leave Naruto with the others so he could spread the news to the others. He offered to get his team involved as well and although I didn’t really want to pull more people into this, it’s true that the more backup we had, the safer we’d be when we had to go up against the Kumo shinobi.

“I’ll go see if I can trap some fish in a genjutsu.” I announced after we found a location by a small stream. It’s when we come across small bodies of water like this that I have trouble believing that we’re on the back of a giant turtle.

“We’ll come too, then.” Ino suggested as Chouji stood up with her as well. I was about to object, but the blond was already pushing us downstream.

I glanced over my shoulder and managed to lock eyes with Naruto. He simply shrugged as he watched as Ino pulled me and Chouji along. I planned on having Naruto tell everybody at the same time while I lured the enemy away, but on the other hand, it looks less suspicious if we stay with our respective teams this way. Well, we could always figure something out.

Catching the fish didn’t take long, what with my team’s kekkei genkai and my genjutsu. When we returned to the already-lit campfire, Naruto shot me a glance and I gave him an appreciative look in return to tell him that I received the silent message. I assumed it meant that his team knew of my situation and he wasn’t caught passing the message along, since my legs haven’t been blown off yet. Just the idea of that happening made me sick to the stomach. I just wanted this all to be done and over with already.

Now it was a matter of getting me away from my team and getting somebody from Team 7 to get with my team. As the fish roasted around the fire, I stared absently at the flames in thought. Why things had to be so complicated, I’m not sure, but I knew that I needed to get some time on my own for a while.

“I’m gonna go wash up a bit before eating.” I excused myself while getting onto my feet again.

It was a reasonable excuse to leave and one that wasn’t suspicious to go off alone for. I had to wonder how I didn’t think of such an easy solution in the first place. Maybe I’m not as clever as I thought, but I digress.

There was a slight shift in the air when I came back, but it was a subtle shift that lingered just long enough for me to know that my team got the message from Naruto. All that was left now was to “lead” my team towards the ambush area, where Team 7 would also be waiting to back us up. This must be one of the many reasons why comrades are such an important factor to success.

Minutes ticked by and things to be wary of on Island Turtle were shared, but it was soon time to depart again. It was a little past noon now, which was when most of the activity took place on the island. Plus, the smoke from our fire would probably be attracting attention by now, so we wanted to change locations as soon as possible.
“See you at the end of this test, then. I know you’ll beat everybody up, Sasuke-kun!” Ino squealed while clinging to his arm, which got her a nasty glare from Sakura. Thankfully, Chouji managed to pull our teammate off the poor Uchiha before a catfight of sorts could breakout.

“You never know if we’ll run into them again.” I pointed out nonchalantly. “This test seems like it’s full of all sorts of surprises, after all.”

---

We managed to cover a lot of ground between the time we rested with Team 7 and the time I had to lead them to the ambush area, but there were no signs of over sized talking animals during all that time. Eventually, I let out a deep sigh and turned to my teammates.

“We’ve searched through this area pretty thoroughly already. Why don’t we go a bit more East?” I suggested. For the sake of making it look convincing we had a bit of discussion but of course, we ended up agreeing to search out that area in the end.

We arrived and slowed down our pace. I could feel my teammates stay on their guard now as I made up an excuse of there being evidence of a creature being around to keep us there. A minute passed and out of the blue, three Kumo genin jumped out of the trees, two of them pinning my teammates to the ground.
“What the—Riku, watch out; there’s still one more!” Chouji shouted, going along with the act. I simply stood over my immobilized teammates as Tsura presented himself before me with a satisfied smirk. The steady pace of his slow applaud was unreasonably irritating.

“I’m glad you could make it, Riku.” He mused, approaching me. I glared at him and he stopped, keeping his smirk on. “Your friends look a bit confused. Why don’t you give them a little explanation, yes?”

“Riku, what the hell is going on?!” Ino demanded, struggling against the shinobi that held her down. All was going according to plan. As the tension built up, my comrades did their part in looking betrayed and insulted.

I feigned guilt and turned to the bastard, holding out the tags that I had in my possession. “The others have some, too.” I murmured as he grinned victoriously, taking the tags from my hand and tucking them away into his pouch.

“Don’t worry. We’ll be sure to scavenge them from their dead bodies.” Tsura said, flicking out a kunai as he approached Chouji, whose eyes held nothing but terror. Although he knew what was going on, for some reason I saw legitimate fear written on the poor guy’s face. Protesting shouts could be heard and I had to keep myself from lunging at him out of turn. I told myself to wait, clenching my fists by my side in restraint.

“How satisfying it is to get so many nuisances out of the way.” I heard him taunt. Right at the click of the kunai, three figures appeared out of the trees and bushes, lunging towards the three enemy genin. “What the--?!” He was cut off when Naruto swooped in to strike, accompanied by Sakura and Sasuke, who freed my teammates during the chaos. The counterattack went pretty smoothly, but too bad there was still enough time for Tsura to make that hand seal.

I cursed as I heard the sizzling of the paper bombs on my legs. I ripped them off and threw them to the side, but I wasn’t fast enough. The explosion went off, muting my scream, and the burning, stinging sensations immediately covered my body. I heard my name being called out as I hit the ground, but there was ringing in my ears and my vision was blurred.

I was numb in numerous places, which helped ease the pain of the explosion, but I held myself anyway, trembling as I gasped for air. I could just barely make out what was going on around me, but from the looks of it, Tsura and his team made their escape before they let themselves get outnumbered.

“Riku!” Her voice was faint and muffled by the ringing, but I could tell that it was Ino. “Riku, are you okay? Can you hear me?”

I didn’t move, keeping my head low as I cupped my ears and squeezed my eyes shut. “Shit…!” I choked out as hot tears began to swell up in my eyes. “I… I nearly got my fucking legs blown off! How the fuck do you think I am?!” My voice was broken up between sobs as I tried to recollect myself, but to no avail.

“Riku…” I didn’t care to open my eyes to see who was watching.

“I can’t stand explosives.” I hissed, my voice still strained as I tried to stop crying. “…Fucking hate ‘em.”

All I wanted was for the stinging to stop, for that memory to be erased from my mind forever, and for my hands to be the ones that ended Tsura’s life.

It was the morning of the final day, but we had yet to obtain a tag with the number nine. It was worrisome, yes, but we still had until six o’clock in the afternoon to get it. By then, however, we figured that there would be no animals left to get a tag from and that we’d have to start targeting teams. Still, we couldn’t ignore the possibility of there being a beast still around, anyway. Then again, it sounded a lot less intimidating to fight three genin than an oversized beast that could flatten us with their hand alone.

“The test ends at six, right?” Chouji asked, munching on his last bag of potato chips. I really wondered where he managed to carry enough to last him the week. Ino and I nodded in response as he looked up at the sun. “Do you think we’ll really be able to get that last tag?”

“We have to!” Ino immediately snapped, though her voice suggested that she had a bit of doubt as well. “It’s not like we’re the only people in this forest. We can find a team, or maybe we’ll run into another giant animal.”

Her voice trailed off as she began to bite her lip with worry – an expression I had been seeing a lot of lately. After the incident from the other day, it took a while for my teammates to stop asking if I was okay. I appreciated the thought, and as horribly terrified and scared shitless I was of explosives, I was fine by the next day. At least, I didn’t let it affect my performance.

As the silent worrying went on, I was about to offer a few words of encouragement, but a loud shriek ripped across the forest, causing dozens of birds to fly out of the trees. All of us froze in place, eyes wide in shock.

“What the hell was that?” Ino exclaimed, panic in her voice. “Was that a genin?!”

We immediately started scanning the area, but I soon picked a direction and nodded towards it.

“It doesn’t seem like it’s anywhere near us. We should probably go further ahead.”

“H-Hold it! We’re not going towards the sound!” Ino objected furiously.

“What if it’s one of our friends?” Chouji asked hesitantly. “I…I guess we should go check it out.” He added nervously. His chip-eating had slowed considerably as well, which was never a good sign when it came to him.
Finally, we gulped and exchanged nods before heading off towards the direction of the shriek.



Despite the reason for us being here, this forest was actually incredibly beautiful. Sure, there were a lot of foreign plants that we were hesitant to get near, but a lot of them had bright colours and flourished incredibly well. The sun would glisten off the leaves and grass, and just enough sunlight would pass through the large trees to give the entire a place a sort of bright atmosphere.
It was hard to imagine anything terrible happening in this forest and yet, here we were, staring at a large patch of bright foliage that was dyed red.

Silence choked us as we approached the scene. Before us lay three bodies of Iwagakure genin, each one bathed in its own blood. Slowly, we made our way closer to them to examine the corpses. They were covered in gashes and had a few joints twisted in impossible angles. They looked like puppets that had been dropped from the sky.
Just as I knelt down to gently examine a kunoichi, she cough and spewed up blood, startling all of us.

“H…Help…!” She gasped, giving me the most desperate look I’ve even seen. Half of her face was covered in blood and she had to wink one eye shut to avoid getting blood-- …oh, no. That wasn’t it. I saw the stream of blood seeping from her eye and forced myself not to turn away in disgust.

“I wish I could.” I murmured back before asking a predictable question. “What happened?”

She coughed again, struggling to breathe. I looked up at the others, but they made no suggestion of moving her. None of us had any medical experience, so it was risky to move her when we didn’t know what was wrong. As much as I’d hate to say it, she was as good as dead, anyway.

“…Beast …” She whispered and our eyes grew wide. “R…Rampaging…”Her final breath gone, I shook my head, knowing what everybody was thinking.

“Looks like those animals are a lot more dangerous than we thought.” I said while standing up, wiping the blood from my hands on my pants. The image was disturbing and my teammates were a little shaken, but I managed to keep my heart rate relatively steady. Maybe I didn’t feel as disturbed because I’ve gutted enough animals to supply the Akimichi clan for half a year – which is not an amount to be underestimated – but still, seeing humans lying in their own blood like that sent a different chill up my spine.

“We should find the others and give them a heads up.” I suggested, wondering what sort of beast did this to corpses behind us. The least we could do for them was close their eyes, but it didn’t really help make the scene any less repulsive. Still, it was better than having corpses staring up and you. There was no time to give the fallen genin a proper burial and the world of shinobi is a cruel one, so may Kami have mercy on whoever may come across the corpses later on.

As we walked away from the scene, I could sense the anxiety coming from my teammates. Quietly, I turned around to face them and walked backwards while addressing them. “This can’t be the first time you guys have seen a dead body, right?” I asked cautiously, making sure to keep my voice calm.

There was a moment of silence and they glanced at each other, but eventually they both nodded.

“I don’t think any of them died in such a gruesome way, though.” Ino shuddered while fidgeting with her hands. “There were a lot of kills during last year’s Chuunin Exams, but those were all quick and clean. Most of them wore masks, too, so it wasn’t nearly as disturbing. They especially didn’t try to talk to us when they were on the verge of death.”

“We saw Gaara kill a team during the Forest of Death, but we didn’t really see any corpses after they were dead.” Chouji pointed out, but seemed to recall the incident and frown. “Urgh…I don’t think I can eat for a while.”

I turned back around so I was walking alongside by teammates once more. “We’ll be fine.”

Our conversation faded into silence after that. None of us were really in the mood to talk about anything else right now, and I was sure that scene was the only thing we were thinking of at the time.
Minutes passed and in the silence, we heard the faint sound of many footsteps coming our way. As we got on our feet, the first person to come into view was Kiba-san and Akamaru, who both wore terrified expressions. “Run run run run run!” He shouted as he cut across the small clearing.

We only became more confused when we saw his teammates sprinting behind him only a second later. Soon, we understood what was going on. The ground began to shake and tearing down the trees before us stood an enormous gorilla, a koala, and a…an ostrich? Well they sure are intimidating when they stand at over fifteen feet.

“Let’s haul ass.” I said quickly. I stumbled a bit while changing directions so quickly, but managed to start running in the opposite direction. Ino and Chouji followed me while Kiba and his team broke off in another direction. Unfortunately, both the gorilla and the ostrich decided to storm after us.

“We need to shake at least one of them off!” Ino shouted while frantically keeping up the pace. “What’re we supposed to do?!”
There was no obvious solution to this dilemma. Judging from their size and the fact that one of them was a gorilla, they weren’t going to be easy to take down. Still, I twisted my body around so I could throw a couple of kunai knives with exploding tags on them – they’re fine when I’m the one using them and being thrown away from me – but the gorilla simply caught one and put it out with its fist while the ostrich dodged them with great agility.

“Don’t think you’ll be able to take us down that easily with those scrawny limbs of yours, you little brats!” The ostrich shouted with a smug look in its eyes. I wasn’t sure how I should feel, being smack-talked by a flightless bird.
“Okay, maybe we should try taking them on. There’s no way I’m gonna let some stupid bird insult my strength!” Ino shouted and prepared to stop and turn around, but Chouji and I grabbed her by a shoulder each and pulled her along with us. “Let me go! I need to teach that bird a thing or two about Konoha’s shinobi!”

“Ino, stop upsetting the giant animals.” Chouji said cautiously as we released her. “What if these are the ones the Iwa genin was talking about?”
We couldn’t run forever, though. We had to get them off our trails somehow, but these animals were really good at keeping up with us, despite their size. It didn’t seem like we’d be able to have Chouji use his kekkei genkai on them; the gorilla was too strong and the ostrich was too swift. Ino can’t control animals that big, and I really don’t think my genjutsu would be much use, either. I was also still avoiding the usage of my Youkugan, so that was out of the question.

“Guys, any ideas yet? I don’t think I can keep running for much longer!” Ino cried with a desperate look in her eyes.

“Maybe they’ll get bored of chasing us and we can just run to safety.” I suggested half-heartedly, earning unimpressed glances from my teammates. Before I could speak once more, I heard a low growl come from somewhere. I almost froze so I could listen more carefully, but that wouldn’t have be the greatest idea.

Draw out your chakra. The voice demanded.

I furrowed my brows and looked over towards my teammates with a concerned expression. “Did you guys hear that?” I asked cautiously, hoping I hadn’t just gone insane.

“Hear the stupid bird call us sorry excuses for genin?” Ino growled with gritted teeth. I immediately distanced myself away from her, but shook my head.

“N…Never mind, I think I’m just hearing things.” Yeah, because that’s always a good sign.

Stupid human…

There was a loud huff followed by the voice. Was… Was it coming from inside my head? I decided not to question it and simply listened to what it had to say. Just draw out your chakra and I’ll take care of the rest. Damn humans can’t even make a proper escape on their own.

Seeing as I didn’t have much else to do, I did as I was told and started to let my chakra flow around me. I was about to question what to do next, but a sudden pulse coursed through my body and I stumbled a little from the sudden sensation. What the hell was that? Instead of an actual answer, I felt my head begin to pound.

“Riku, are you alright?” Ino asked in a panicked voice while supporting me as we jumped through the trees. “You don’t look so good. Are you feeling sick?”

“I…I’m just trying something out…” I answered with a faint smile, though I couldn’t stop myself from holding my head in pain.

Hey, growly voice. What the hell did you do? I demanded through my thoughts, wondering if that was how I could even communicate with the voice.

Steer yourself away from your comrades. Tell them to deal with the bird.

I began to question if that was a good idea, but the voice soon growled in a threatening manner.

The only reason I help you now is because this gorilla is acting out of line for reasons unknown. Do as I say if you want to get away unharmed.

Well, I had already come this far. Might as well go through with whatever this awfully suspicious voice had in store for me and my team. After giving Ino a reassuring look, I began to steer away from them gradually.

“I’ll take care of the gorilla, you guys deal with the ostrich. Trust me on this.” I spoke as confidently I could manage with my pounding headache and growing dizziness. Before they could object, I darted off in another direction, wondering if this would even work.

I was surprised to see that the gorilla really did start chasing me. Was it something the voice did? Nevertheless, I continued to let my chakra run wild until finally, I came to a cliffside and had to slow to a stop.

Steadily, I turned around and faced the gorilla that was at least three times my height.

Okay, Voice. Now would be a good time to work some magic. I thought while backing up against the stone wall.

Tch, pathetic! I thought you were better than this, but I should have known better than to trust a human. Well, this voice is awfully rude. Focus on your subconscious, human.

With a bit of hesitance, I began to do as I was told and focused. My vision became clouded as it felt although my body was being lifted off the ground, though I still had enough proprioception to tell that my feet were still planted firmly on the ground.

Before I knew it, I heard the gorilla lash out. Thumps and roars could be heard coming from it and I wanted to move, but my body was no longer under my control. I couldn’t tell what was going on, but the familiar voice soon came back.

“Leave this human alone.” The voice answered calmly. It now sounded like it was coming from two places at once; from both inside my mind and from the outside. I didn’t quite understand the context of their conversation, but it seemed like the voice was convincing the gorilla to go away. “She isn’t worth your time. It would be a disgrace to all of us if you attacked her!”

More growls came from the gorilla, but they were a lot calmer this time.

“You have only two choices before you; behave like the savage beast the humans think you are, or maintain your pride and honour as an ape!” The voice roared and soon, I felt myself regain feeling in my body. After blinked to clear my vision, I groaned as a sudden wave of dizziness struck me once more.

I stumbled and had to lean against the cliffside to keep myself from falling over. I looked up at the gorilla and froze as it leaned towards me. Its face was much larger than I had thought. It huffed and snorted before holding a tag out towards me. The number nine was painted on it. Hesitantly, I reached forward and took the tag from its large fingers. The moment I did, the gorilla spun around and rushed back into the forest.

I stood there absentmindedly for a moment and didn’t even register the fact that my teammates had come back. It took me even longer to notice that Team 8 had come to join us as well.

“Oi, Riku.” Kiba-san spoke while approaching me. “You didn’t get too scared by the gorilla, didja?” He laughed with his hands tucked away into his jacket pockets.

“N…No, I just…” I started while looking down at the tag in my hands. With a small huff, I looked up at the offers with a reassuring gaze. “I’m fine. Just a little tired is all. What about you guys? Get rid of that menacing koala?” My voice was a little taunting, sure, but I was still concerned about their well-being.

“Tch, nothing we can’t handle. Right guys?” Kiba responded arrogantly.

Hinata nodded once while poking her two index fingers together, but Shino adjusted his sunglasses while frowning ever so slightly.

“You had to leave it me and my insect to immobilize it. Do not take credit for the work of others.”

“Tch, you--!” Kiba started, but he was quickly interrupted by Ino.

“Riku, what’s that you’ve been fiddling around with in your hands?” She asked while approaching me. Her eyes soon grew wide when she saw what is was and before long, her arms were wrapped around me. “You got the last tag! How did you get it on your own?”

“Maa…a little bird gave me a word of advice.” I answered meekly, earning a few suspicious stares, but it didn’t seem to matter since as we didn’t have to worry about failing anymore. “If we all have the tags, why don’t we start heading back to the entrance together? It would be safer that way, and Kiba won’t be leading any more giant animals towards us.”

I earned a small glare from the male as the others laughed. Well, except for Shino. I don’t think I’ve ever even his expression change from that disinterested look he always had.



Right when the clock struck five, my team arrived at the gates to hand in the numbered tags we had collected. It was a long week but at last, we made it to the end and passed.

The few teams left were us four teams from Konoha, two Kumogakure teams, one Iwagakure team, and two Kirigakure teams. A maximum of ten teams could pass and we were only one team short of that. More teams than expected managed to pass, so another preliminary match was to be held once we turned to the mainland. I eyed the other teams and although some of them didn’t look like much, I knew this meant that they would all be tough opponents.

Once everything was settled, everybody was led back onto the ship to be taken back to Kumogakure. The jounin happily congratulated their teams and Asuma-sensei promised he would treat us to barbecue when we got back to Konoha, which definitely served as a good motivation for Chouji to keep going.

It was about an hour trip until we arrived in Kumogakure once more. I found myself thinking about the voice in my head the entire time. I even tried calling out to it, but it didn’t respond. I was beginning to doubt myself and that it was all my imagination, but the fact that the rampaging gorilla gave me a tag out of its own will seemed way too farfetched for it to have been my imagination.

After the ship docked, we were led into the village and into a building. It seemed like some sort of academy, but it didn’t seem to be one for aspiring genin or young children. Maybe it was a facility of sorts for higher ranked shinobi, or perhaps for special divisions.
From there, we were lead to an indoor arena where the first battle was to be held.

To choose who would go up against whom, they made a chart of numbers. One against two, three against four, so on and so forth. After that, the genin were told to draw a number. I looked at my slip of paper. I drew the number two, which meant that I would be the first match.

“Numbers one and two remain in the arena. Everybody else, please head towards the sidelines!” A jounin announced. My comrades wished me luck and I nodded them off. Once I turned around to see who my opponent, I scoffed, flashing a smug grin beneath my mask.

“The match between Mumeishi Riku and Inuzuka Kiba will now begin!”

“Man, just my luck,” Kiba sighed but spoke confidently, “I hope you and Ino aren’t that close. I’d hate to be chased down after beating you out of the Exams.”

I raised an eyebrow in response, hands tucked away in my pants. “You speak with much…arrogance.” I stated, smiling to myself when he reacted with an annoyed look. “Let’s have a fair match.”
With that, the examiner raised a hand and brought it down. “Begin!”

Immediately, Kiba made a hand seal and soon, chakra could be seen rising from his body. I removed my hands from my pockets and just as he lunged towards me, I held out my arms to block him. I began to analyse his attack patterns while trying to keep my distance, but it was a lot easier said than done. He was fast and it was hard to keep up. It was more than once that he almost got me to slip up, but I managed to push him back at one point so I could regain my balance. Without wasting a second, he came at me again with a rapid series of kicks and punches. Soon, he was driving me back into the wall.

“Come on, Riku! Take him down!” I heard Ino shout from the sidelines. “Show ‘im how it’s done!”

“Looks like you’re having a hard time keeping up!” He taunted, not slowing down one bit. I remained silent, completely focused on reading his movements. Once I was a foot away from the wall, I made my first move. “We may have worked together a little during the second test, but now you’re just like every other genin in this room – my opponent!”

At the same moment he punched with his right arm, I leaned away, surprising him with a dodge instead of a block. As his momentum carried him through, I brought my left arm up and drove my elbow right between his shoulders, satisfied with the loud thud as I successfully landed the strike. Just as I heard Kiba landing, Akamaru was already jumping towards me, but I easily tossed him towards the genin.

I figured it was time to shift from defense to offense. I couldn’t dodge and block forever, after all. Flowing my chakra out around me, the space rippled and soon, four mirages of me appeared.

“Guess we can’t mess around. Let’s go, Akamaru!” In a blink of an eye, he swallowed a food pill and flicked one towards Akamaru, who caught it in his mouth with ease. Curiously, I watched as the pup’s fur began to turn red. The increase in chakra that came from both of them didn’t go unnoticed. “There may be five of you, but just try and keep up now. This pill enhances our sense of smell by tenfold and doubles our chakra!”

Running at each other, I mixed myself up with the mirages and confused them. With all five of me jumping around, I wasn’t the only one having a hard time keeping track of my opponent’s movement. He struck first, slashing at the mirage next to me. It wavered and disappeared, leaving him with four targets. At the same time, he and Akamaru kept jumping at us as fast as they could, trying their best to land a strike. Another mirage disappeared, then another.

“Only two targets left.” He grinned and the two of them attacked simultaneously. I frowned and pulled out a kunai as I held my arms in front of me, taking a hit to my forearms. My mirage disappeared as I spun to the side, slashing up Kiba’s sleeve and leaving him with a flesh wound. “Damn it…the scent of blood!”

“You know, enhancing your senses isn’t a very good idea when you’re up against a genjutsu user. I mean, I understand why you used this strategy against Naruto during the last Exams, but now you’re just asking to be let out of the game.” I informed, preparing myself for the next attack.

Ignoring me, Kiba and Akamaru jumped into the air and began spinning rapidly. “Man-Beast Taijutsu: Fang Over Fang!”

They turned into what looked like gray pillars as they spun towards me. I quickly scanned my surroundings and braced myself, taking the hit with my arms. The force was enough to send me back and I winced as I landed on my back, sliding back until I lost momentum. Before I could get up, smoke bombs were thrown at me and a large cloud of smoke blinded me. Well, wasn’t that just lovely.

A series of strikes began to come at me. He definitely wasn’t holding back, but I just had to last a while longer to re-position myself. Despite speed being one of my strengths, I still ended up taking a few hits and eventually hightailed out of the smoke altogether. Right as I broke free, I was greeted by another spinning gray figure coming straight at me. The other Kiba was using the same technique from behind.
“Riku, move!” I heard Naruto shout.

“Never thought of doing that before.” I commented sarcastically and jumped to the side, pulling out eight kunai knives as I did so. I flipped back to gain some more distance and threw my weapons at the two incoming genin, catching them by their jackets and pushing them back. I immediately began to form a new series of hand seals while running towards the two of them.

“Trembling Eyes.” As I ran up to them, I held out my hands and with chakra focused to the tips of my fingers, tapped their foreheads with them. I slowed down to a stop before turning around to see the two of them struggling as they got up. “Unfortunately, smell is a bit trickier to mess with. I’m not that great, but have fun with your warped vision.”

The genjutsu I placed on them didn’t blind them, but it did make it seem like they were incredibly dizzy. It was clear that my technique was working because the two of them wobbled about as they tried to regain their balance. With a crooked smile, I sprinted up to one of them and slammed my fist into his stomach. I wasted no time landing a combo that sent him flying into the air with a strong kick, followed by a series of aerial strikes that finished with me kicking him across the room and into the wall with my shin.

“Wait to go, Riku!” Ino cheered, waving her arms about.

“Oh! I didn’t know she could do that!” I heard Chouji comment loudly with his mouth full.

As Kiba pushed himself off the ground, cursing under his breath, I spun around to fend off the transformed Akamaru. It seemed although I’d just never catch a break. Left, right, right, left, below, left, below again—I was breathing heavily now, knowing that if I slipped up, I’d take a painful hit.

“Fang Over Fang!”

Oh, shit. I forgot there were two of them.

I didn’t have enough time to react and before I knew it, a pain exploded across my back and I was launched into the air. Several cuts appeared on my body as I landed, I slid across the ground once again. Before I could even start getting up, the other Kiba lunged towards me and slammed me into the ground. I felt at least a couple of ribs crack from the impact and my mask caught the blood that shot from my mouth. I was still conscious, but the growing numbness and the ringing in my head almost made me want to knock myself out.

“I’d stay down if I were you, Riku.” I heard Kiba warn while standing next to his transformed companion.

I stayed on my back for a moment and dared to close my eyes, almost as if I really was unconscious. I had to regain my composure before trying to get up. After making sure my body could still move, I slowly opened my eyes and began to peel my arms out of the small crate that I was lying in.

“That seems like the smart thing to do…” I started while trying my best not to inhale my own blood, “…But this is a really uncomfortable place to take a nap.”

I winced and slowly pushed myself up while unzipping my mask so I could spit out my blood. I was still left with the sticky substance getting smeared all over my face, at least I wasn’t breathing it in. Once I zipped my mask shut, the two of them were already approaching at their usual above-average speed. Neither of us were in great shape, but it was pretty obvious that I had taken more damage at this point. That wouldn’t be stopping me any time soon though. Right before they hit me, I pushed out a burst of chakra through my feet and propelled myself into the air to dodge.
There was an arrogant grin on his face as he drew nearer. “Heh, I see an opening!” Kiba announced, preparing that spinning technique of his. I was ready for him this time, though.

“Hey Kiba, I’m not limited to just genjutsu.” I murmured to myself as the two of them charged at be again as I landed. “Lightning Release; Lightning Edge.” With a few hand seals, I focused chakra to my hands and feet. Much to everybody’s surprise, they began to spark and quickly erupted into a wild coat of lightning.
“What the—since when did you learn ninjutsu?!” Kiba exclaimed in shock.

I offered no explanation and charged towards him. Before either of them could redirect themselves, I reached out and grabbed one of them by the shoulders. The force pushing against me caused me to be pushed back into the wall, but I landed against it with my feet and kicked off with another burst of chakra. At the same time, the lightning cut across his body and caused him to scream out in pain. After a 360-spin in the air, I threw him into the other Kiba coming my way, causing them both to be shocked by the lightning.

Before they hit the ground, I jumped after them and with one kick each, slammed them back into the ground. The room fell silent except for the cracking of the lightning. Once I landed, I had the lightning around my hands disappear. There was a puff of smoke and Akamaru returned to normal, but it seems although Kiba could still stand.

“Tch, that isn’t ninjutsu.” He grumbled while pushing himself onto his feet. “You could at least try to make it feel a little more convincing.”
“Maa…and here I thought I could have a little more fun with some faulty lightning.” I pouted mockingly.

I could sense the disbelief coming from my comrades as they silently demanded why I tricked everybody into thinking I was using Lightning Release ninjutsu. It may have looked like the real deal but sadly, I haven’t quite reached the level of elemental ninjutsu yet. At least it made this match at least remotely more interesting, and it affected my opponent considerably.

“Riku, quit messing around and take him out already!” Ino’s piercing voice shouted from the sidelines.
Now that Akamaru was out of the picture, that wouldn’t take much longer.

Just when I was a few feet away from him and he was ready to counterattack, I launched myself over him with another burst of chakra. I flipped over him just enough so that I could reach up and grab him by his shoulders. As I landed, I pulled him over my head and with as much force as I could, threw him into the ground.

“Let me repay you for earlier.” I muttered as his back slammed into the ground. Before his body even settled, I brought my hands together into one fist and from above my head, I brought my hands down to strike him in the solar plexus. This time, he was the one who coughed up blood, but I didn’t stop there. If I could still move after what he did to me, then he’d definitely still be able to move after that.

I was just about to strike again but to my surprise, he grabbed me by the wrists and threw me off to the side. I landed on my back a fair distance away, wincing from the sharp pain coming from my ribs, but managed to stay focused enough to catch Kiba’s fist before it connected with my jaw. He was now crouching over me and I was pushing up against his fist, but I soon pulled my legs back and into the air to strike at his head.

When he easily dodged that attempt, I released his fist as he pulled back, which gave me enough time and space to get back onto my feet. We were now facing each other with only a few feet between us. Both of us had taken significant damage and I was sure we were both dealing with a few cracked ribs and sore limbs, but that wasn’t going to stop us from continuing this match until there was one clear winner.

“Let’s finish this.” I said while holding up my fists.

“I’ll make you regret taking out Akamaru!” He growled back, and the two of us ran towards each other.

He struck first, and an exchange of taijutsu ensued. He eventually managed to throw a kick to my face, but I blocked it with my forearms and was only pushed back by a few feet. Before he could prepare another attack, I pulled out the last of my kunai knives – the ones that had explosive tags wrapped around the handles.

As I threw them towards him, Kiba repeatedly jumped and flipped back to avoid them. However, I had thrown them in a line and the area between him and I was completely clouded after all the tags exploded, which gave me a chance to catch him by surprise. Without a moment’s notice, I dashed through the expanding cloud of smoke. The moment I broke through the other side, I leapt into the air and kicked his chin as hard as I could, striking him into the air.

I immediately jumped after him and with a quick spin in the air, slammed my shin into his side and sent him flying to the opposite end of the arena. He slammed into the wall with a loud crash and another large could of dust formed while I landed on the ground with a thud. My legs were shaking and my knees were on the verge of giving out, so I had to stay kneeling. If that didn’t finish him off, I probably wouldn’t have been able to continue.

I brushed my hair out of my face as I gasped for air, surprised at how drawn out the battle had become. Silence filled the room as the dust settled. The dust settled and I heard a groan come from Kiba, but he didn’t get up. I sighed in relief as I slowly stood up on trembling legs. The announcer made his declaration, ending the match.
“Winner: Mumeishi Riku!”

After watching all the matches, I learned a few things.

Firstly, my comrades all have interesting techniques. Shino with his bugs, Tenten with her weapons, the Hyuugas with their Palm Strikes and Byakugan, Lee and his taijutsu, Ino and her body control, Chouji inflating himself, Sasuke and his Sharingan…Naruto and his stupidity…though somehow he ends up winning, anyway. That aside, I learned much about my comrades during their battles. Of course, I learned much about the other shinobi, as well.

Those from Kumogakure and Kirigakure were a year or two older, so they had that much more experience. The Kumo genin were nothing to overlook. They were powerful and we all knew it. Tsura’s a skilled ninjutsu user. He has a large supply of chakra and had incredible control over it. We learned that it was a trait from his clan, the Ganbari clan. All the clansmen are born with a large amount of chakra to begin with and excel in ninjutsu. Most of them use at least two elements, too. In Tsura’s case, he uses Fire Release and Wind Release.

Tonkachi Kibishii, the kunoichi of his team, is a strategist. Her clan’s technique Destruction of the Nerves Technique affects the nerves of the victim, making them numb and therefore useless. This technique can only work when the victim is struck with an attack enhanced with chakra. The clansmen tend to be good strategists so they come up with ways to get close enough to their opponent to use their technique in the first place. She seems to use jolts of lightning to help with the numbing. It’s a good thing Tenten is a long-ranged fighter and has an almost unlimited supply of weapons to keep her opponent away or she probably would have lost. It was a close match, but the bun-haired genin came out as the victor in the end, much to our liking.

The third member of their team, Shinayaka Ganjou, is the silent but deadly type. He dealt heavy blows straight from the start. His clan is one of blade-wielders, and he’s one of the gifted ones of his clan. He uses twin swords and uses the chakra-blade techniques that the samurais of the Land of Iron use, which is basically swinging one’s blade and shooting out crescents of chakra like projectiles. His attacks easily cut through flesh and give nasty bruises. One of the Kirigakure genin was the one who fought against him. They were nothing to look down on, either.

All three of the Kiri genin were pretty well-rounded from the looks of it. One of them was from the Houzuki clan. Houzuki Namida, the kunoichi who was matched against Ganjou, was rather skilled with her kekkei genkai, but her speed wasn’t enough to keep evading all of Ganjou’s attacks. Ryuudou Ekimaru, defeated by Naruto, had graceful water-manipulation techniques. He would often swing his water around like a whip to try and capture the blond, but Naruto’s Shadow Clone Technique really did him some good during that battle. Lee was the one who took down the third member, Kawaguchi Minami, with his speed and taijutsu. Since she was mostly a long-ranged fighter, once the green taijutsu user got close, she was done for. It did take a while to actually get close, however, since most of her ninjutsu and tricks spread across the arena and didn’t give Lee much space to move.

Despite the fact that all the genin are impressive, only eight of us would continue to the final round. Those eight were the two males of Kumogakure, Naruto, Sasuke, Lee, Neji, Tenten, and me. The match between Hinata and Chouji ended in a draw because they were both too exhausted to keep fighting after several minutes of being at a stalemate. Since Chouji kept rolling around, Hinata couldn’t land a decent strike and could only evade until eventually, their stamina ran out.

Now, it was time to see who our opponents would be during the final around. After that, we had a month to prepare, just like the last Exams.

“The matching system will work the same way as the preliminary match-ups,” the examiner explained while showing the tournament chart. He began to pass around the box and we drew numbers once more. One all our names were written onto the sheet, he showed it to us again. “Make sure you take a good look at the matches. You’ll have a month to prepare for the tournament. You are all free to leave now.”

“Tch.” I glared at the page as I felt anger rising within me. How funny the Heavens were, pairing me up with none other than—

“Looks like things just got interesting, Riku.” His voice sang as I turned around to face him, having to look up to meet his gaze. “You’ll need all the luck you can get.” What a cocky face he had, but I breathed deep breaths to keep myself calm and collected.

With a slight shrug, I began to walk away to meet up with my comrades. “May the best genin win, Tsura.”

---

After washing up back at the inn, my comrades set out for dinner. Once we ordered, conversation about the Chuunin Exams began. We were asked about how it went and what sort of things we learned during the test. Ino and Chouji reflected on how their experience from the last Exams aided them this time around. Soon, it was my turn to speak of the past week.

“It was a pretty interesting experience, to say the least.” I started while gently swirling the tea around in my cup. “I’ve never been kidnapped before, but I guess I got to learn a little bit about Tsura’s team from all of that.” I didn’t mention how I reacted to the explosive tags, though, since it would only make me relive bad memories and cause Asuma-sensei to worry.
“Like what?” Ino asked curiously.

“That they’re a bunch of assholes that have close to zero morals.” I muttered with a slightly irritated voice. “But on a more relevant note, they’re tough. Asmuch as I’d like to wipe the floor with Tsura’s smug-ugly face, I honestly don’t think I can. My genjutsu isn’t the best in the world, and I would rather not have to use the Youkugan if I don’t have to.”

There was a moment of silence as my team seemed to mull this over. As much as I’d like to think I can take Tsura out in just a couple of minutes, the reality of it is that I’m probably the one at a disadvantage.

“You still have a month to hone your skills before the match.” Asuma-sensei pointed out while lighting another cigarette. “That, and Kakashi seemed oddly insistent on training you for that month.”

Us genin responded simultaneously with a confused expression. “Kakashi-sensei? I find that hard to believe.”

A light chuckle came from the jounin and he nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I’m pretty confused too, but I gave him the okay. You’ll know why soon enough.”
“I don’t normally like staying in the dark when it comes to learning techniques, but I guess I should trust you on this.” I answered hesitantly. By then, I had forgotten to mention how something felt like it took over my body and calmed down the rampaging gorilla, but the conversation had already moved on to how the rest of the month would go.

Now that I thought about it, I figured it would be best not to bring it up. I didn’t want to give my team any more reasons to worry. It doesn’t really seem like anything they could help me with, anyway. Plus, I should be mentally preparing myself for a month of training with Kakashi-sensei and whatever it is he’s planning to teach me. Part of me was relieved, since I didn’t want them to think I was crazy, either.

Soon after, our food arrived and our conversation topic switched to the genin of the other villages. “I think they might be stronger this time.” Chouji commented with a mouth full of beef.

“No kidding. Most genin can barely get the hang of one element, but that Tsura guy can already use two types of elemental ninjutsu! Then again, it’s not nearly as impressive as Sasuke-kun’s ninjutsu.” Ino exclaimed, but her eyes soon went into a daydreaming state as she sighed with a smile. I snapped my fingers in front of her face to bring her back to reality. “To be honest, I’m surprised to many of us got through to the finals. Especially you, Riku. No offence, but this is your first time and you still beat us!”

“It’s only because I got lucky,” I commented with a sheepish look. Heh, I’d better hope that they aren’t mad at me. “A lot of us were matched against the older genin who are far more experienced than us. I got off easy, being matched against one of our own.”

I didn’t say it in a demeaning way, however. It was pretty obvious that he’s talented himself and defeating him in the preliminaries wasn’t an easy task. I’m still sore here and there, and breathing in deeply still made my ribs throb a little.

“Yeah, let’s just hope that luck stays with you.” Ino sighed. Her look told me she was a little worried and while I tried to show that there was nothing to worry about, we all knew that would be a lie. “You’d better learn some hardcore techniques and give that bastard a solid payback!”

“If you win, we can go eat barbecue to celebrate.” Chouji added happily. How typical of him, thinking about eating barbecue when he’s already snatching meat off the grill as he spoke.

“Maa, we’ll see how it goes.” I answered, feeling a sense of warmth that my comrades had faith in me.

“Well, that’s enough serious talk for now.” The jounin laughed as he lifted his bowl of rice. “Why don’t we enjoy tonight’s meal before training begins?”

“Yeah, I hate eating when stressed!” Chouji announced before wolfing down the remaining rice in his bowl.

“Oi, slow down or you’ll choke!” Ino snapped, glaring at our teammate. I smiled beneath my mask as I held my cup of tea in hand, realizing that I had lost my appetite after the conversation. Thinking about all the horrible possibilities of how the future might play out was more than a little bit nerve-racking.

---

Weapons, clothes, bandages… I thought as I made sure I had enough of everything for training. Ready. I met up with my team and we went down to the inn’s lobby together to meet up with the others. Kurenai-sensei’s team arrived just as we did. As usual, Kakashi-sensei came in late.

“Ah, good to see you’re all here already.” He laughed meekly before resting his hand on my head. I huffed. “Did you forget anything?”

“Better hope not.” I answered plainly before gently brushing his hand away. “Just out of curiosity, why aren’t you training Sasuke this year?”

I saw the eyes of the raven-haired genin narrow a bit. Kurenai-sensei answered the question for me. “I’ll be helping him with genjutsu. It may seem odd since Kakashi’s the one with the Sharingan, but he already knows how to use it. Same goes for his ninjutsu, as well. What needs to be worked on is his genjutsu technique.”

She smiled and I nodded back. That sounds about right. I heard that even during the last exams, his Chidori was strong enough to puncture the One-Tailed jinchuuriki’s absolute defence. Given the time that’s passed, its power must have increased to some degree. He’s probably gotten better at keeping more chakra in reserve, too.

“Well, no point in hanging around here. Don’t let your guards down, now.” Kakashi-sensei spoke with a smile, but we all knew the seriousness behind his words. With a few goodbyes, I followed him outside and exited the village. I was told that where we were going to train wasn’t too far away. Even so, we wanted to get there before it got dark.

The travel was peaceful and the sun was just beginning to set once we arrived. It was a valley with a series of large waterfalls that fell into a small lake. The water flowed down into a river with fast currents. Behind some of the waterfalls, dark shadows could be seen.

They must be caves. I thought as we made our way towards the edge of the water. I assumed that we would be spending the month either camping out or sleeping inside those caves.

“So…” I started once we came to a stop. “What exactly are you going to teach me, anyway?”

“Elemental ninjutsu, of course.” The jounin answered nonchalantly. I looked up with a raised eyebrow as if to ask if he was just messing around with me, but his only visible eye remained calm and lacked any hidden intentions. “From your battle against Kiba, it’s pretty obvious your chakra affinity is lightning.”

I tilted my head to the side and furrow my brows. “How can you be so sure? I just used that as a front to my genjutsu. I can do the same with the other elements too, if I wanted. I mean, I haven’t actually made any genjutsu for the other elements, but I know I could pull it off…probably.”

“There’s some more proof.” He added while beginning to lead me towards one of the caves. “Although you weren’t actually aware, I’m sure you knew on a more subconscious level what your chakra affinity was. Maybe it’s one of the memories that you’ve lost.”

“Maa…this is a pretty half-assed explanation you’re giving me.” I responded skeptically. Once we entered the cave, I set my bag down and stretched out my back. “Any way you can really prove that lightning is my affinity?”
With a small sigh, he pulled two slips of paper and handed one to me. “Do you remember these?” He asked as he held his slip of paper between his index and middle finger. “I showed them to you once, but I didn’t think you were ready to use them yet.”

I held the paper in front of me and examined it. It was a single rectangular piece of paper that didn’t seem to have anything special about it, but I knew what he was talking about. “This is that special chakra paper that reacts to a person’s chakra, right?” I questioned while flipping the paper around. “I guess you want me to try focusing my chakra into it. Isn’t that supposed to be pretty hard? I hope you’re not expecting me to spend the rest of the month fooling around with this stuff.”

“This is just the proof that you asked for. If your chakra affinity is really lightning then the paper will wrinkle, like this.” As he spoke, he demonstrated by focusing his chakra to the paper he held. Just like he said, the paper immediately wrinkled up. “Your chakra control is better than most genin, so it shouldn’t take you long to get it. Go ahead and give it a try.”

Although I was still a little suspicious about how certain he was about my affinity, I held the piece of paper in my hand and began to focus. I’ve never really tried to focus my chakra into another object so it took a few minutes, but eventually, the crinkling sound of the paper startled me and I opened my hands.
“Well, would you look at that.” I murmured, revealing the wrinkled paper in my hands. “You’re not some kind of clairvoyant, are you?”

“Ahaha, if that’s what you want to believe.” Kakashi-sensei responded with a laugh before leading me out of the cave once more. “Now that all your suspicious are clear, let’s get started on your training. You have a lot to learn before you face Tsura, after all.”

For some reason, I was beginning to feel a little anxious. Maybe it was because I could sense some sort of cruel intent coming from the jounin. He’s a nice guy, right? It’s not like he’ll break every bone in my body in the next week…right? I decided not to imagine the grey-haired man as a sadistic asshole and scanned the scenery before me.

“Feels like a crime to use such a beautiful place for intensive training.” I commented while looking at the waterfalls. “A little too peaceful, don’t you think?”

“It’s the perfect place to practice Lighting Release techniques.” Kakashi-sensei answered contently as he stood next to me. “Just try to keep the level of uprooted trees on the downside.”

It’s amusing how he thinks I can do that. That, or he’s hinting at how destructive he plans to be.

Maa… Just what did I get myself into?

We set out at dawn to begin my training. It was a bit cold, but Kakashi-sensei told me that dealing with all sorts of weather conditions would be a part of my training. Once we approached the small body of water, he turned around to face me.

“We’ll start with a little lesson on chakra control. It’ll help you spend less chakra on ninjutsu and genjutsu.” Casually, he walked across the water. After he was a few feet in, he faced me once again. “Now, you try. Focus chakra to your feet and emit a constant stream of it. The amount of chakra emitted will always be changing, so keep that in mind.” He took a few steps closer and gave me that one-eyed smile of his. “You may want to take off some of you excess clothes, and your sandals. It’ll make things easier. Try to get over to where I am.”

“Gee, you make it sound so easy.” I commented before stripping down to my T-shirt and bottoms.

After dropping my jacket, gloves, headband, and sandals into a small pile next to me, I made the tiger hand seal and focused chakra to my feet. /Here we go. I thought before taking the first step on the water. It felt rather…bizarre, as if there was a thin line of air between my foot and the water. I could feel the repellent force pushing against me. The water rippled and although it felt shaky, but stable enough that I wouldn’t fall. I shifted my weight and took the second step.

Splash.

Well, damn it.

I broke the surface and began to shake my head violently in a half-assed attempt to get myself dry. As I waded back to shore, I removed my mask and wrung it as dry as I could, making sure I kept my faced hidden from him.

“I can already tell this is going to be a blast.” I muttered sarcastically while retying my mask.

“The sooner you get the hang of it, the sooner you’ll be able to dry off.” The jounin said.

“From the looks of it, I’d have mutated into a fish by then.”

Nevertheless, I began to focus the chakra to my feet to give it another try.

---

It took me until the moon was rising to get the hang of walking on water. By then, I had given up on wringing anything out and Kakashi-sensei simply observed from a nearby tree with his book in hand. It was incredibly frustrating and the more irritated I became, the harder it was to focus on the task at hand, but at least I got it at the end. Kakashi-sensei seemed pretty happy with my success, too.

For the next few days, we started training that focused on building my physical strength. He had me start the day with a rigorous workout that consisted of muscle building. It was just after noon that he started to make things harder for me.

My forearms and hands were wrapped in bandages so they wouldn’t get cut up so easily during my training. Although I tried my best to not show any signs of it, I was getting tired from the tasks he put me up to.

“Come on, Riku. I know you can do better than that.”

With a small glare, I lifted my right foot and placed it against a small ledge in the mountainside. I don’t care if it’s a great view; climbing up a wet cliff without using chakra is hard, what with the wet stones daring to make me slip and fall with every move. It involved quick thinking and the constant use of strength, as well as focus, so I understood why it made for good training. Even so, this must have been the twelfth time I’ve done this and my arms were getting sore.

Eventually, I reached the top and with one last pull, I swung myself up and onto the ledge. With a heavy sigh, I shook out my wrists and stretched myself out while Kakashi-sensei gave me a curt nod. “Looks like you’re getting the hang of it. Tomorrow, you’ll start climbing with a hand tied behind your back.”

“Wonderful.” I answered sarcastically as I followed him more towards the center of the clearing. It was already a bit worn out from previous days of training. Near the end of the cliff, there was a pool of water that was filled by a small stream and ran over the cliff, which is one of the many reasons it was wet in the first place.

“Since you’ve got the hang of walking on water, it’s time to get started on molding your chakra into lightning.” Kakashi-sensei explained as he led me to the pool of water. He held up his hand and after a couple of seconds, it began to spark. “Chakra has vibrations and in order to generate lightning, you need to increase those vibrations. Put your hand in the water when you give it a try. It’ll be easier to see any results that way.”

I nodded and knelt by the water. After concentrating my chakra to my hand with the help of a hand seal, I focused on vibrating my chakra. It was an unusual feeling, to say the least, and much different from creating lightning using genjutsu. Well, that’s a given, since they were just illusions.

There was a faint, buzzing sensation that began to grow stronger in my hand. It almost felt like the pins and needles when a limb falls asleep, but less painful and more ticklish. I furrowed my brows and tried to mold my chakra further. It was much more different than the basic ninjutsu I learned from Sakura. I’m pretty happy with my skill when it comes to chakra control, but I guess it wasn’t as good as I thought it was.

It was a little discouraging, and I felt like taking a break, but I was getting there. I closed my eyes and concentrated more chakra into my hand. As I took in another breath and slowly let it out, there was a sudden cracking sound and I immediately pulled my hand out of the water with a startled cry.

“Did I just--?” I cut myself off as I saw the small remnants of lightning spark in the water before disappearing. I looked up at the jounin with wide eyes before looking back down at my hand. “So that’s elemental ninjutsu.” I murmured, almost entranced by what I had just done.

“Good work.” He commented before slipping off the boulder he had been sitting on. “I’ll go catch our dinner. Keep at it.”

---

The following day was spent perfecting the simple task of generating lightning. It was tedious and incredibly boring, but at least it really helped. By the end of my fourth day of training, I was already pretty efficient when it came to generating lightning. I felt a little pathetic when I realized that many shinobi were already familiar with elemental ninjutsu by this age, and some were even skilled in two elements, but I reminded myself that I had already come a long way since I first arrived in Konoha. I liked to think that I was doing pretty well for a shinobi who’s never learned any sort of ninjutsu before.

Once again, Kakashi-sensei led me to the top of the cliff with the pool of water and everything. It was almost routine to approach the water and run lightning through it, but he instructed me nevertheless.

“Let’s start with a little warm up. Generate some lightning in the water.” I still needed to use the hand seal to help me concentrate, but I was getting better at it. I placed my hands on the surface of the water. With a small release of chakra, my hands sparked and in a matter of seconds, lighting flashed and sparked violently from my hands and into the water.

Standing up once more, Kakashi-sensei nodded once in approval. Then, out of nowhere, he shoved me towards the water.

“Whoa--!” I gasped and threw my arms out.

Though my feet splashed into the water, I caught myself with a stream of chakra flowing from my hands and pushed myself onto the surface of the water before turning and glaring at the jounin. “What the hell was that for?” I growled while getting back on land.

He responded with a cheerful laugh while rubbing the back of his head. “Your reaction time could use a little work, but at least you can stay on the water once you get on it. You can work on your speed on your own time. For now, we’ll focus on putting your lightning to use.”

“You think I’m ready for that?” I questioned while shaking off my feet. “I don’t really feel like I am.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll start with the basics.” He reassured while guiding me to the center of the field. After gesturing for me to keep my distance, he formed a short series of hand seals. Almost immediately afterwards, his hands and feet began to spark violently. “Let’s call this Lightning Edge.” The jounin said with a smile. “Coating your hands and feet will strengthen your attacks and shock your opponents. It’s a simple technique, but practical, and not an illusion.”

“Ha ha.” I answered flatly.

Kakashi-sensei taught me the appropriate hand seals and after his lightning dissipated, I attempted to generate my own. I made the hand seals and felt my chakra beginning to flow more quickly. Lightning began to spark around my hands rather easily since that as something I had already gotten the hang of, but generating lightning around my feet at the same time was hard.

I managed to get a few traces of lightning to form but as I did, the lightning around my hands faded away until I completely lost focus and stopped the technique all together. Without a word, I gave it another shot, but yielded the same results.

With a small sigh, I looked up at Kakashi-sensei sheepishly.

“This is gonna be a long day.”

It was the beginning of the second week of training. That left three more weeks until the third round of the exams. My ninjutsu training has been going pretty well now and generating lightning was almost second nature. I guess that’s what I get for spending nearly every waking hour working on it.

After the usual morning exercises, we made our way up the cliff side once more. I think Kakashi-sensei decided I was ready to move on now, since he didn’t stop at the clearing as usual.

“This seems like a good spot.” He murmured while stopping in his tracks. I stood next to him and looked around. All around us were enormous trees that nearly blocked the sky completely. Although the area we were in wasn’t very dense, it still didn’t seem like a favorable training area. I’m sure he had something fancy up his sleeves.

Without any words, he began to form a series of hand seals and soon, lightning began to spark around his hand. In a blink of an eye, it shot out and morphed into the form of a hound. A tail of lightning stretched and remained connected to his hand, enabling him to continue controlling it as the lightning hound crashed through a few trees. The end result was a cloud of dust forming and our training space being enlarged.

As the lightning hound disappeared and the dust settled, Kakashi-sensei turned to me with a one-eyed smile.

“Lightning Running Beast Technique. The majority of Lightning Release involves manipulating the lightning into many forms. It should be easier to figure out after your past training, but don’t expect good results on your first attempt.” He explained before turning me towards trees that still remained intact. “Now, you try. Just make sure you direct the attack away from me.”

I just knew this was going to be a pain in the ass.

With a heavy sigh, I copied the hand signs and began to draw the chakra to my hand. Slightly taken aback by the sudden surge of power flowing to my arm, I readjusted my footing to get a hang of the jutsu and threw my hand out, launching the lightning along with it. Although it wasn’t nearly as menacing or as graceful as Kakashi-sensei’s hound, I made the lightning take shape and attack one of the trees. As it struck, the lightning hound dissipated into the air like Kakashi-sensei’s attack did. There was barely a crack in the tree, but at least there was some visible damage. In the end, though, it was still pretty pathetic.

I dropped my arm by my side before looking up at the jounin with an unimpressed gaze.

“Not bad. Focus harder on shaping your chakra and put some more force into its movements. You could say the attack is like an extension of your body.” After giving me a reassuring pat on the back, I nodded and faced the cracked tree to give it another go.

Draw chakra and focus. That’s straightforward enough.

Once again, the chakra flowed into my hand and lightning began to spark. In a matter of seconds, it came to life and the lightning was jumping about violently in my hand. With another thrust of my hand, it shot out and expanded, shaping into a less deformed hound this time. A few swift movements of my arm made it lunge at the damaged tree. This time, a loud snap sounded and there was a large crack in the bark.

“Much better.” Kakashi-sensei praised. As I dropped my hand once more, he signaled for me to stay as he was already on his way out of the small clearing. “I’ll leave you to it.”

---

There was only a week and a half left until the final round of the Chuunin Exams, but I still had a lot to learn. My Lightning Running Beast Technique could actually do some decent damage now but of course, it could be a lot better.

Kakashi-sensei drilled me in chakra control and lightning manipulation to the point that I was minutes away from passing out. On the bright side, his no-mercy training method really pays off in the long run. I felt like I had been training for years.

“Take another go at it.” He half-ordered, half-suggested. As the dust settled once more, I sighed and formed the hand seals.

“Lightning Running Beast Technique.”

This time, Kakashi-sensei made clones to serve as moving targets to I could practice controlling the lightning hound’s movements. Over time, I’ve gotten the hang of starting the jutsu, but my physical control of it was still lacking. With a clenched fist and a hard strike, I had the lightning hound attack the clones, taking out a couple of them in one go.

Soon after catching my breath, a firm hand was placed on my shoulder and Kakashi-sensei gave me his one-eyed smile. I took it as a sign that training was done for the day and followed him back to the cave we set our belongings in. It was getting dark and I didn’t think I could get another lightning hound out of me so either way, training would have ended then.

“You’re doing well, Riku.” He stated once the fire was lit. Skewered and set around the fire were four gutted fish. Though they weren’t as filling, the woods don’t exactly serve meat every night. “There’s another trick or two I want you to learn before your match, but it shouldn’t be much of a problem.”

“Sounds like fun.” I responded plainly while poking at the fire with a stick. Sparks flew into the air and I followed them upwards to watch them burn out. “I feel like I’ll need more than a couple of new tricks to beat down Tsura’s techniques, though.”

Kakashi-sensei nodded once while turning the skewers so the other sides of the fish would cook as well. “He has incredible stamina, but so do you. You’re pretty agile, as well. Making him work while you play it safe would be your best bet, but it won’t be easy.”

I sighed, tossing the stick into the fire before leaning back on my hands. “A nice time-manipulation genjutsu would be helpful with that, but I don’t think I’ll be able to learn one in time for the match. I guess I’ll just have to match him when it comes to techniques, or at least be somewhat of a challenge.”

“Why else do you think I’m pushing all these new techniques onto you?” He asked rhetorically with a slight laugh before handing me two of the cooked fish. “Make sure you rest well. Training will only get harder from here.”

---

After a morning of review and polishing my new techniques, Kakashi-sensei took me back to the clearing with the small pool of water that fell over the cliff. Once we reached the center of the clearing, he stopped and faced me like he has done many times before.

“This technique won’t deal much physical damage to your opponents, but it’ll definitely give you some extra time if you need it. It’s called Blinding Darkness.” Soon after, he began to make the hand seals. For merely a second, a bright light shone from his hands and filled my vision with dark spots. I winced and slammed my eyes shut. Although the effect didn’t last long, I could see what he was getting at.

“Think of this technique like a flash bomb. You condense the lightning and release all at once, creating a bright flash of light to blind your opponents. Of course, I didn’t go full out on you just now. Depending on how well you can use it and when you use it, it can impair your opponent for at least a minute.”

A minute may not seem like much, but every second counts in a battle. It would definitely be useful in getting Tsura to stay put while I prepared a bigger attack.

Kakashi-sensei first started me off by focusing chakra to my hands and releasing it quickly, to get the feel of it. Although I could see that the lightning was much brighter when I did so, it definitely wasn’t enough to temporarily blind somebody. Soon, he told me to focus more and more chakra into my hands until they were sparking wildly. After learning how to manipulate lightning for the past couple of weeks, this came a lot more natural, which I was thankful for.

When told to, I released the chakra and the light flashed from my hands.

“Simple, isn’t it.” The jounin stated with a one-eyed smile. “Knowing that technique will help you get the hang of this next trick. It’s a combination between the Lightning Running Beast Technique and the one I just taught you, but it’s also a little bit of a double-edged sword. Watch.”

Soon enough, the lightning hound jumped from Kakashi-sensei’s hand. After distance was put between the lightning hound and us, it was suddenly condensed into a white ball and seemed to explode, causing another bright light to appear. This time, however, the grass around the light was burnt and smoke was rising from them.
“A larger form of Blinding Darkness can be used with virtually any lightning technique, but it produces a lot of heat as well. If enough chakra is condensed, it might even burn your own hand.”

I nodded in response before trying it out myself. Within a moment’s notice, I formed my own lightning hound and furrowed my brows as I tried to condense the amount of lightning and chakra. It felt like I was trying to crush a rock with my bare hands from the amount of resistance I was feeling. Slowly, the hound form was lost as it became smaller and the lightning became brighter. The sparks flew about more violently until suddenly, I let it slip and the lightning expanded into a burst of light. I winced from the sudden heat that stung my hand, but my gloves protected me from any burns. I’d definitely need more control to use this technique.

It was hard to tell what he was thinking, but it didn’t seem like I let him down completely. “You’ll get the feel for it soon. Don’t strain yourself too much, though. Focus, but stay relaxed. You shouldn’t have to strain so much to condense the lightning and chakra. It’s your own chakra, after all.”

With that, he sat himself down on one of the nearby boulders – one of the few that weren’t destroyed yet – to observe my progress. I nodded once and tried again, which got me the same results as last time. I decided then that this technique would probably take up the rest of the week.

---

After getting the hang of the final technique Kakashi-sensei taught me, the last few days consisted of long hours of sparring that built my endurance and ninjutsu efficiency. Naturally, I was left with bruises and cuts here and there, but nothing that would leave me unable to fight on the day of the Exams. I was always a fast healer anyway, so they probably wouldn’t even be there by the time it was my turn.

There were times when he would put limits on what I could do, such as only using taijutsu or not using genjutsu. There were a few times where told me to stay in one place while he attacked me. In a shinobi battle, just about anything was possible. I was certain that Tsura had many more tricks up his sleeve, too. Thankfully, I have a few new things to surprise him and the other Kumo shinobi with as well. Maybe I would even surprise my own teammates while I was at it.

Kakashi-sensei had taught me a useful trick after I got the hang of Blinding Darkness, but whether or not I’d get the chance to use it, I’m not sure. It should definitely make some people gasp if I managed to use it, though.

“Don’t let your footwork falter.” He pointed out as I spun to the side, knocking my foot against the other a bit by mistake. “It’s the little things that may change the course of the entire battle.”

Remaining silent, I blocked the series of punches and grabbed his wrist. Leaning in so his elbow bent, I raised my knee to strike him in the gut. He blocked it with ease and with his free hand, grabbed my raised foot and threw it out, causing me to lose balance momentarily. Before he could land a kick, I regained my footing and ducked down while throwing my legs out. They spun in such a way that they attacked Kakashi-sensei’s legs from behind, causing his knees to briefly collapse.

As he got up, I flipped back and began the series of hand seals. Just as he began to make the same hand seals, my lightning hound jumped from my hand and towards the jounin, teeth bared and ready to attack. It was no surprise that Kakashi-sensei formed one of his own and sent it after mine, causing the two lightning hounds to clash in the center. I found myself clenching my jaw as I fought against the opposing jutsu, but it was obvious I wouldn’t be able to take his down.

Deciding that I wouldn’t win this battle, I brought my hands together and condensed the chakra, releasing it into the explosive light that burned the grass and caused Kakashi-sensei’s lightning hound to disappear as well. Looking back at him, he gave me a nod of approval and lowered his guard.

“It’s getting late. Let’s head back and get some rest. You need to be ready for tomorrow, after all.” He stated while making his way over to me, hand resting on my shoulder.

I nodded, still trying to catch my breath.

“Sounds like a plan.”

Walls at least five stories high surrounded the field. On top of them, an enormous audience was seated around the arena. Opposite of the arena’s entrance was where the Raikage sat, along with an elite shinobi on each side as guards. Upon arriving, the genin were told to line up facing the Raikage as a new examiner was introduced.

“My name is Darui. I’ll be calling the shots for the tournament.” The man stated rather blandly before holding out a piece of paper. The matches for the tournament were written on it, allowing us to get a quick reminder of how things were going to work. “People didn’t come to fall asleep, so let’s try to keep things interesting.”

With that, the first two shinobi were called to the center of the field while the rest made their way to the audience. The first match was Neji against Ganjou. I wasn’t sure who would win, but I knew it was going to be an interesting match. Ganjou was swift and his footwork was phenomenal, but Neji had the help of his Byakugan. For both of them, striking one another would be a hard task. After a fight full of the two genin taking turns going on the offensive, an exhausting battle finally ended with Ganjou as the victor. He caught Neji at his blind spot and managed to drive his blade through Neji’s shoulder. It was cringe worthy, but he was recovering well in the infirmary.

The second match was between Naruto and Tenten. It was no boring match either, but with Naruto being more of a short-range fighter and Tenten being a long-range type, the kunoichi beat down the hyperactive blond. Her victory didn’t come easily, however. She has much less stamina than Naruto, but has more brains and managed to conserve her energy while making Naruto jump around and get tired. Her accuracy is also something to be feared and thus, Naruto’s dozens of clones didn’t stand a chance. Naturally, the blond was rather loud about being beaten, but a harsh scolding from Sakura and a punch in the head from Sasuke got him to shut up.

Sasuke and Lee faced off in the fourth match. Their battle was so fast-paced, it seemed like only Kakashi-sensei was able to keep up, and he had to use his Sharingan to do so. With Lee’s weights removed and Sasuke’s Sharingan allowing him to keep up with the older genin, all we could see were blurs and the sounds of punching and blocking. Occasionally, one or the other would be knocked away or be stuck in a stalemate. Bursts of flames would come from the Uchiha and Lee would be seen jumping in the air several times. In the end, Sasuke won with the help of his Sharingan. Both of them were left with a number of bruises and I’m sure there were some fractured bones here and there.

Finally, it was my turn to beat down Tsura and pay him back for all that he did. Once our names were called, my teammates wished me luck. I glanced over to Kakashi-sensei briefly, but he said nothing. He simply gave me a small nod and I returned it before making my way to the arena by taking the stairs. Tsura, on the other hand, decided to put on a little show by flipping over the railing and sliding down the side of the wall. Already, he was getting the audience on his side.

“Are both combatants ready?” Darui asked as we approached one another. Tsura had a smug look on his face. I remained calm and continued to give him a disinterested stare. It appeared to amuse him, but I ignored it. After a few moments of silence and a nod from both of us, the examiner lowered his hand before jumping out of arena.

“Begin!”

Tsura wasted no time in getting me to move. We both knew he had far more chakra than I did, but I had a feeling my new techniques would surprise him.

“Wind Release; Vacuum Bullets!” After taking a deep breath, he quickly began to exhale several blasts of wind at me. The attack had a wide range and I quickly learned the bursts of wind were strong enough to pierce my skin. I dodged and blocked, wincing each time I was struck. I knew I had to counter his attack quickly or I would end up defending the entire time.

“It’s a shame that I’m forced to tarnish such beautiful skin.” He chuckled while running towards me, hand seals already being made. If he thought he was going to get to me like that, he was horribly mistaken.

“Fire Release; Flaming Grip!”

Just as he threw his hand out to strike, they erupted into flames. I leaned back just in time to dodge the flaming punch and leaned to the side, slamming my forearm into his side.

As he stumbled, I slid around him and swung my legs into the backs of his knees, causing him to collapse and fall onto the ground. I was not only stronger, but also much faster than before. The surprised expression he wore told me he wasn’t expecting this.

“I’ll fucking tear you apart.” I murmured before getting ready to generate some lightning around my hands. I didn’t want to give these tricks too early, so I made sure to keep my chakra steady enough so that there wouldn’t be any visible signs of lighting.

He rolled to the side before I could hit him again and kicked back up onto his feet. Just as I began to turn around and face him, he was already beginning another jutsu.

“Wind Release; Gale Palm!”

Upon clapping his hands together, wind was compressed and a powerful gale was formed. Riding the wind were several projectiles, such as shuriken and kunai knives. Not only was I sliced in several places, but his attack knocked me off my feet and into one of the patches of trees that bordered the arena.

Cheering came from the audience just then. I could only imagine the looks my comrades had, but I had more than just speed and power on my side. It was time to show them the new techniques Kakashi-sensei taught me.

“That can’t be all, Riku!” I heard Tsura shout as I hid in the trees. “Already resorting to hiding? I thought an interesting girl like you would be able to put on a far more interesting performance than that! Didn’t you say you were going to tear me apart?”

Without him or the audience knowing, I formed a few hand signs and I release a subtle wave of chakra. With a genjutsu in place and his patience running low, my plan was running smoothly. Of course, said genjutsu caused no visible changes as I waited for his next move.

“If you won’t come out, then I guess I’ll just have to smoke you out!” I peeked out from the side and saw him forming a new series of hand seals, this time exhaling a large ball of fire. “Fire Release; Great Fireball Technique!”

It didn’t take long for the trees to burst into flames. That was the signal for me to put my strategy into play. Silently, I slipped out from the trees and with my genjutsu, made it appear that I exited in another direction. Once he and the audience believed that I was caught, I began to manipulate the arena to my liking.

With another wave of chakra, the flames began to spread from the trees and towards Tsura at an alarming rate, catching him off guard and startling him. Soon, the flames grew and began to spin around him. By letting my chakra flow towards him, I made him believe the flames were real, having him feel the heat of them and all.

“Since when do you have a fire affinity?!” I heard him shout as the cyclone of flames closed in on him.

Just as the flames engulfed him and his scream of pain ripped across the stadium, I released the genjutsu to reveal that the trees were still in flames and that Tsura was perfectly fine. As he winced, still feeling the pain of being burnt, I stood before him silently.

“You… So you learned a trick or two…!”

“That wasn’t anything new.” I answered plainly as he shakily pushed himself up, already getting over the pain. As he stumbled a bit, I decided to use one of the new techniques Kakashi-sensei taught me. “This, however, is.” I said while forming hand seals. “Lightning Release; Blinding Darkness!”

“What the—augh!” While he fought to overcome the temporary blindness, I charged at him with a kunai in each hand, returning the cuts that he dealt on me with his previous jutsu.

“Surprise, surprise. The genjutsu specialist knows some ninjutsu.” I murmured, amused by his stunned and pained expression. “I bet you’re just dying to know what else I’ve got in store for you.”

Gradually, he began to block more and more as the effect of my jutsu began to fade until finally, he countered with a strike of his. I dodged to the side and with the kunai in my right hand, sliced across his shoulder. Blood flew from the wound and splattered across the grass, but he quickly ignored the wound and struck my wrists, causing me to lose my grip on my weapons.

As he winced from his new gash, I formed new hand seals and focused chakra to my right hand. Soon enough, lightning sparked and stretched from my hand, taking the form of a hound. “Lightning Release; Lightning Running Beast Technique.” With a swift motion, the lightning hound lunged towards Tsura at great speed and knocked him down, sending a surge of lightning through his body. He cried out in pain once more as I sprinted towards him with lightning-coated hands, ready to take him out.

“Wind Release; Funnel Barrier!”

A burst of chakra swirled around him and a strong gust of wind spun around him violently, pushing me back. I cursed under my breath as I flipped back to avoid getting knocked down by it, giving him time to get back onto his feet. “You’d be far more alluring if you weren’t such a nuisance.” He growled, now getting angry. His mocking tone was gone and it was clear he was dead serious now.

“You, on the other hand, just lack any sort of charm at all.” I responded, jumping back as he tried to slice at my stomach with a kunai of his own.

Before I knew it, something tightened around my wrists and pulled me towards the bastard. I caught a glimpse of a strand of wire and quickly realized that he was using it to trap me. Struggling only caused the wire to dig into my skin, however, so simple tactics was out of the question.

I didn’t have time to plan an escape because shuriken tied with wire were thrown around me, pulling me back and tying me around a tree. I cursed under my breath and began to bite at the wire around my wrists, hastily trying to free myself before Tsura could do whatever he planned to do.
“Fire Release; Dragon Fire Technique!”

Flames streamed from his mouth and rode down the wires that kept me tied to the tree. I couldn’t get my hands free quickly enough, so in a matter of seconds, I was engulfed in flames. The heat made a scream rip from my throat, but the burning sensation afterwards made it that much worse. The wires were burnt off and I fell to the ground, clothes charred and ashes drifting around me.

“Oh, what’s this?” I heard him taunt as he slammed his heel in between my shoulder blades. “You’ve got something interesting on your back. I wonder what that could be. Kind of looks like a target. Does that mean I should hit the bullseye?”

Although it wasn’t enough to cause any severe injuries, I clenched my jaw as he dropped a kunai right onto my seal. I hadn’t realized that the back of my shirt was torn, but considering the sort of attacks he was using against me, I should have expected as much. I cursed under my breath but thankfully, he didn’t seem to realize that the mark on my back identified me as a Shurikane. Whether or not that could be said for anybody else in the audience, however, was unknown. I was still wary about the risk of word spreading one way or another, even if it was only the rogues that were after the Youkugan.

“Get… off of me…!” I snarled and began pushing back to get off the ground, but soon found that it was unnecessary to do so, as Tsura had already pulled me off the ground by the front of my shirt.
I could only manage a raspy groan and cough. I’ll admit that it wasn’t my post prideful moment.

“I can assure you that real flames hurt a lot more.” He hissed, glaring daggers at me. “I expected something a little more real from a so-called genjutsu specialist!”

“You want something real?” I growled, my voice still raspy from the previous attack. “Here’s something you’d wish was fake.”

It was now or never. At this rate, I’d just continue being tossed around by him and my comrades would be pretty bummed out of all I did was dodge his ninjutsu. Kakashi-sensei surely wouldn’t be too proud of that kind performance, either. I had to show them that I had improved within the past month – that I’m just as much of a genin as they are.

Before Tsura could try anything else, I quickly made a series of hand seals before throwing my arms out. Two rows of flames immediately lit up the stadium, with one on each side, burning straight towards the genin before me. He tried to jump back and use a power wind jutsu to blow out the fire, but I simply changed its trajectory before having the flames spiral upwards.

“Rebirth of the Ancient Phoenix!” The flames erupted in the air like the wings of an enormous bird before spiraling into a funnel, crashing down towards Tsura.

“You think you can use the same trick on me twice?!” He shouted over the flames as my fire surrounded him. “I’ll admit that you’ve got presentation, but a little showy genjutsu won’t get you anywhere!”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” I answered as the flames continued to spin around him, watching as he tried to dispel it. “This isn’t a genjutsu.” As the flames flickered violently around him, I smiled as his panicked eyes locked with my patterned eyes. “It’s a shinjutsu.” I snarled, lifting the flames over his head. “Real enough for you yet?”

The risks that came with using the Youkugan in Kumogakure were still there, but I refused to hold back on Tsura. Even if the entire world found out about my bloodline and who I am, so be it. I couldn’t bring myself to care anymore. I had a score to even out, and there was a lot to pay back for.

I was using every last bit of the markings of my Youkugan to maintain the flames, so it was a short moment later that I felt the strain in my eyes and pressure on my head that forced me to dispel the shinjutsu. As the flames disappeared, I approached the charred Tsura who lay on the ground just a few feet away from me. The flames didn’t burn long enough to end the match, but it was more than enough to show that I wasn’t going to let him toy with me anymore.

“What the hell…is with…those eyes…?” He gasped, wincing as he recovered from the flames.

“You’re a fine piece of work, you know that?” I stood over him, ignoring his question. “Keeping me tied up in a cave overnight… Threatening to blow up my legs… Forcing me to betray my comrades. You said you were being smart,” hatred began to drip from my words as I began to focus chakra into my right hand. “but you’re nothing but a filthy piece of trash. No values, no honour, and no morals to uphold.” Slowly, he pushed himself up, but I stood my ground. “I may not be nearly as strong as you, or have been a shinobi for as long as you have, but between the two of us, apparently I’m the one with the common decency, the respect of a shinobi, and a fucking sense of dignity!”

My coarse voice echoed off the stadium I shot my hand out and grabbed his injured shoulder, digging my fingers into his wound. Naturally, he immediately tried to pull away, but it was already too late.

“Lightning Release; Lightning Veins!”

In a split second, my hand sparked to life and was covered in lightning, but this technique didn’t stop there. It didn’t take any longer than a heartbeat for his screams to start ripping across the stadium. His entire body began to convulse and his grip around me was released completely, whereas I made sure to continue digging my fingers into his shoulder.

His body twitched and arched at unnatural angles, as if he were possessed. It was only when smoke began to rise from his wound that I let go. For the second time, he collapsed on the ground and remnants of my lightning sparked as silence fell over the stadium.

“Anybody can sink down to the level of a twisted sadist like you, but I actually plan on respecting my sensei, my comrades, and my village by using what they taught me to kick your disgusting fucking ass!” I spat while wiping my bloodied fingertips on my jacket.

“W… What the hell…?!” His voice was hoarse and his body was trembling. With a heaving chest, he shakily pushed himself into a kneeling position and glared up at me through his bangs. “What the hell did you do?!”

I couldn’t help but smile victoriously, feeling great pride in the fact that I reduced him to such a state. I probably would have looked a lot better if I wasn’t still coughing and charred from his ninjutsu as well, but the success was all the same.

“Blood is a salt and water solution with quite a bit of iron in it.” I started while watching Tsura struggle to get back onto his feet. “That makes it an awfully good electrical conductor, don’t you think?”

Kakashi-sensei only explained to me how this technique works. It wasn’t very complicated, but I had to send a constant stream of lightning and actually have the sort of contact I did with Tsura for it to work. It sure gave some intense results but after being burnt and thrown around, I no remorse. Especially not after he stuck explosives on me.

“Tch… Don’t even think for a moment that I’m through with you…!” Tsura growled while getting onto his feet. “I don’t need some amateur preaching to me!”

“Fucking bite me.” I shifted my foot back and readied myself for whatever he might throw at me. We were both in a weakened state, so it has become a battle of efficiency and speed.

With a monstrous shout, he lunged towards me with a kunai in each hand, engaging us in hand-to-hand combat. I blocked and countered as much as I could, but his movements were a mess and unpredictable. There hardly any form or pattern to his attacks, so keeping up was difficult.

I had no time to form any hand seals or generate any lightning while trying to defend myself, so I had to resort to enduring the assault until I felt the wall of the stadium against my back.

“I’ll shred that pretty little face of yours.” He snarled while slashing one of his kunai at me.
“Too bad somebody already beat you to it.” I answered while counterstriking his wrist in defense. I could have sworn that I dodged the second swing, but immediately after seeing his sinister grin, I felt my cheek and right shoulder beginning to sting and burn. I noticed then that he was using his chakra to coat the blades so that they would be longer and sharper.

I tried to punch him in the gut with my free arm but found myself at a loss when my arm wouldn’t respond properly. His grin widened.

“How does it feel to have your tendons sliced?” My eyes grew wide and I tried to move my arm again, but to no avail. “Oh, you didn’t notice? Here, maybe this will help!”

My eyes began to water the moment he slammed me against the wall once more. A scream was caught in my throat before it filling the stadium and I began to feel my body grow weak. I was getting dizzy as the agony coursed through my body, not once letting me catch a break.

When the pain finally began to turn into a dull, numbing sensation, I pulled myself together and matched his gaze. It was too early to back down. I was still breathing and I was still conscious, which meant I could still fight.

“Don’t make me laugh.” I groaned. I still had chakra in reserve, so I began to generate it into lightning.

In a blink of an eye, my entire body except my right arm began to spark violently. I lurched forward and slammed my head into his jaw. The lightning from my hand began to scratch at his wrist and caused him to let go of his kunai. While he was recovering from the strike, I kicked his other wrist as hard as I could to disarm completely disarm.

The motions caused my right arm to swing about and the agonizing pain from my wounds came back in sharp bursts, but the adrenaline rush helped numb the pain. I gripped my shoulder to help stabilize my limp arm as I faced Tsura. My breathing was still heavy and shaky, but I could still move. I could still win.

“I didn’t think you were a masochist, but I guess everybody’s entitled to their own tastes.” He jeered while forming another set of hand seals.

The moment he began to move, I charged towards him as well. I sent small bursts of chakra to my feet in order to make myself faster and in a heartbeat, I was only a couple of steps away. If I could just grab a hold of him one more time, I could finish him off.

I threw my left arm out and grabbed his shoulder, gripping it tightly as I prepared my jutsu. In the time it took for him to form another hand seal, my body was already showing signs lightning. Time seemed to slow down as I tightened my grip. The moment I felt my fingertips dig into his wound, I knew this was it.

“Wind Release; Gale Palm!”

My body felt light. I could no longer feel my hand holding onto anything. My entire body felt bruised and battered and I was short of breath. The loud howls of the wind blew past my ears. I could hear the faint shouts of someone in pain, but they didn’t last long. I was thrown into the wall and the pain that erupted from my shoulder forced a shriek out of my dried throat.

I could feel the blood running down my arm as I gripped it tightly, as if it would reduce the constant throbbing. I heard a loud crack when I hit the wall. I dared not to look at my shoulder to see what further damage had been done.

Through blurred vision, I saw Tsura collapse only a few meters away from me. I could see lighting flashing across his twitching body, but before I could determine whether or not he was conscious, I blacked out.

The first thing I was greeted with when I regained consciousness was a searing pain that burned my shoulder. I groaned and subconsciously began to feel around for my mask with my left arm. My vision was blurry and my mind was too foggy to try and rub my eyes clear, so I continued to blindly swing my hand next to me in hopes of finding a nightstand of some sort where my mask might be.

Before I could register that there was somebody else in the room with me, somebody grabbed my wrist and I immediately tensed up. “O-Oi, who’s th-there?!” I demanded, surprised by how torn up and strained my voice sounded. I subconsciously hid the scarred side of my face with my arm, not wanting whoever it was to see it.

“Calm down, Riku. It’s just me.” The familiar voice responded while slipping my mask into my hands. Before I could tie it around my face, however, I felt the cool glass of a cup press against my lips for a brief moment. “Drink.”

“Oh… Kakashi-sensei.” I murmured as I took the water. As my vision cleared, I handed the emptied glass back to the jounin and tied my mask on. “Thanks.” I said while making sure the zipper was shut. “Uh… If you could not tell anybody about my, uh...” I trailed off, gesturing towards the scarred side of my face that was now hidden.

“I won’t.” He reassured sympathetically to the point that he almost looked guilty. I thanked him before taking a look around me to see where I was.

I was a medical ward of sorts. There were a few other beds around me, though they were all empty. Kakashi-sensei was too my left. In the middle of the room was a small table with medical supplies. I assumed that was where my mask was.

As I tried to sit up, the pain shot through my body once more and all I could do was curse under my breath. The jounin gently pressed his hand against my good shoulder and gave me a look that told me to stay down. I didn’t complain, however. My body was too sore and weak to move.

“Don’t strain yourself. They repaired your shoulder, but your body is still weak.” Kakashi-sensei cautioned while giving me a concerned look.

My memory was a bit hazy, but the pain was definitely something I wouldn’t forget. For a moment, I closed my eyes and tried to remember exactly what had happened before I blacked out. I remembered using the Lightning Veins and getting blown away again by him. I opened my eyes and glared at the ceiling just from thinking of that bastard.

A part of me was scared to ask because I didn’t want to know the results of that battle, but I knew I’d have to learn sooner or later. With a slightly pained expression, I glance over to Kakashi-sensei.

“How did the match turn out?” I asked slowly, with every breath causing my injuries to sting.

For a moment, the jounin looked although he was in thought, as if he were considering whether or not he should tell me. I looked away and prepared myself for the worst.

Finally, he gave me his one-eyed smiles. “You managed to reduce him to quite a bad state--”

“Who won?” I interrupted, knowing that he understood what I was asking the first time around. He was just trying to avoid the question that I wanted answered.

Kakashi-sensei fell silent again. A few moments passed until finally, he sighed and looked me in the eye. “He did.”

Although I expected this answer, I was hit with disappointment nevertheless. I cursed under my breath and turned my head away from the jounin so I was looking at one of the far corners of the ceiling. In the end, no matter how hard I trained, I couldn’t even end the battle in a draw. I felt Kakashi-sensei’s gaze still set on me as I lay there, frustrated by the fact that I had let him and my team down.

“You did incredibly well.” He began to reassure me, though I continued to stare blankly at the ceiling. “Using the Youkugan was a huge surprise. We knew you were good at genjutsu, but bringing those flames to life like that… Well, it was certainly impressive, to say the least.”

“If there’s one thing I’ll agree with Tsura on, is that I do have nice presentation.” I nodded.

“It wasn’t just us you surprised, though.” The jounin continued, now looking more serious than before. “. I’m sure there were many shinobi in the audience – especially those of Kumogakure – who recognized it. I wouldn’t be surprised if news of your identity began to spread soon.

“So be it.” I answered. “They were going to find out eventually, anyway.

“I guess so.” Kakashi-sensei laughed softly. “Everybody was surprised that you could use so much ninjutsu, too. I didn’t think you’d be able to use the Lightning Veins Technique against him at all, let alone twice. I’m proud of you, Riku.”

This time, it was my turn to be surprised. I glanced back at him and saw that he genuinely looked content but before I could say anything in return, another voice sounded from the entrance.

“Riku, you’re awake!” Ino exclaimed happily while rushing to my side.

“Are you hungry? I have snacks,” was the first thing Chouji said as he held up several bags of chips.

“I didn’t know you were here, Kakashi.” Asuma-sensei noted as he entered the room as well. “You didn’t already tell her the good news, did you?”

Naturally, I raised an eyebrow at the mention of this so-called good news and gave them all a confused look. “I just got utterly destroyed by that bastard in front of thousands of people. What could possibly ever serve as good news?”

Ino immediately took the liberty of happily explaining it to me. “Tsura may have won, but he was severely injured, too. We just heard him down the hall insisting that he could still participate in the tournament, but because of the condition that you put him in, he’s forbidden from continuing!”

I couldn’t help but smile and chuckle, even if it did make my shoulder burn. “Heh… That is pretty good to hear.” I agreed, satisfied with the fact that I rendered him incapable of fighting. I figured it was because of that technique, since it injured him from the inside out.

“But he was really scary.” Chouji added with his mouth full. “If he could’ve moved, he probably would have tried to hurt you even though the examiner already announced his victory.”

“That’s true.” Asuma-sensei nodded with worry in his voice. “Although he only made an embarrassing fool out of himself by throwing a tantrum, you need to watch out for him. He seemed incredibly angry that you managed to render him into such a state.”

“Maa… That all sounded fine and dandy until you told me that.” I commented with a sheepish laugh. “I guess I’ll just have to strike him down harder next time, heh.”

Although I wasn’t too happy that Tsura had been declared the winner, it was definitely satisfying to know that even then, he wouldn’t be able to continue the tournament. Despite receiving that news, the match still left a bitter taste. There were several things that I should’ve done differently and several things that I didn’t do. I was still left with a large knot in my stomach.

“Why don’t you two head back first?” Asuma-sensei suggested while turning Ino and Chouji towards the door. “I’ll say with Kakashi to make sure she’s all right.”

“Hey, what makes you think she wants to be alone with two old geezers?” Ino chided while trying to push back against our sensei. Oh, how hurt the two jounin looked from that comment.

“I’ll be fine.” I reassured her and before long, there were just three of us in the room. I looked over to my sensei with a questioning look. Something told me that the conversation would get a little more serious from here on out. “Did something happen?”

For a moment, the two jounin simply exchanged glances until eventually, my sensei spoke up. “It’s about that mark on your back.”

I raised my brows as I remembered that the back of my shirt had been torn during the match. The two jounin seemed to have the same concerned expressions. “I don’t know what it is, if that’s what you’re asking.” I murmured while picturing the glimpse that I got of it during the trip to the hot springs. “But I know it must have something to do with me being a Shurikane.”

“Maa, that’s what we were afraid of.” Kakashi-sensei sighed with a shrug. “None of us have ever seen it, so I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Just be careful. It won’t be long before word spreads about the last Shurikane survivor, and rogues are bound to catch wind of it.”

“It’s a good thing Kumogakure isn’t after your clan’s bloodline anymore, though, or things could be a lot more complicated right now.” Asuma-sensei added, and we nodded in agreement.

“There was something else.” I added while staring up at the ceiling, remembering the events of the second test. The jounin fell silent and listened intently. “During the second exam, something weird happened. There was another voice. For a moment, it felt like somebody had taken control of my body.”

This didn’t seem to be anything they wanted to hear, but I felt like I should tell them nevertheless. None of the other genin were around at the time, either. Whatever it was that happened, it was apparently on a small enough scale that even they didn’t notice it, despite being a lot closer to me at the time.

I proceeded to give them the details about the situation I was in – about how the animals started to chase us and how the voice told me to break off in a separate direction. I tried my best to describe the sensations that I felt when I lost control of my body and tried to recall the sort of things that the voice said. When I was done, it only seemed to confuse the two jounin even more.

“Some interesting are definitely happening this time around.” Asuma-sensei sighed as he lit a cigarette. “Better than having another rampaging bijuu, though.”

“This is still rather worrisome.” Kakashi-sensei added with a concerned look. “We’ll be sure to keep this all in mind, Riku. For now, focus on getting better, all right?”

Despite wanting to watch the rest of the matches, even though there was probably only one left at this point, I sighed and nodded. Kakashi-sensei explained that he would stay and watch over me, but the final match was between Sasuke and Ganjou, so he left to observe his student’s fight.

“Geez, that Kakashi…” Asuma-sensei sighed while pulling up a chair once the grey-haired jounin left the room. “He probably feels responsible about this. You can tell from his eyes. Well, just the one.”

“Why would he feel that way? I was the one who wasn’t strong enough.” I said, confused.

“He was the one who taught you those techniques, but from the way things turned out, he probably thinks is his fault for teaching you the wrong ones. Of course, that’s not the case. Don’t think that you were too weak, either.” He added quickly while giving me a more serious look before laughing lightly. “You really impressed us with your use of ninjutsu. You’re really coming along nicely.”

As Asuma-sensei ruffled my hair, I could only sit and stare blankly past him. I realized then that I was stuck in a shallow mindset. Deep down, I believed that I could only prove myself by winning, but that wasn’t the case. It was as if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders when Kakashi-sensei told me that he was proud, and I got the same feeling when my sensei commented on my technique as well.

I remembered blacking out with a sense of frustration and anger, but the more I thought about it, the less upset I felt about my loss. No, my match was far from a loss, and I’m sure that’s what Kakashi-sensei and Asuma-sensei had been trying to tell me. It wasn’t a victory, but it wasn’t a loss, either. A part of me thought that even Tsura knew that, and it may be why he was so angry.

With a weak smile, I fixed my gaze on my sensei and nodded.
“Thank you, Sensei.”

Everybody stayed for a week while we all recovered from our wounds. In the end, Ganjou and Tenten were the ones to become chuunin. I heard Sasuke performed well during his battle against Ganjou, but it wasn’t enough to win. He had to stay under medical care for a few days as well because of his injuries.

Although I didn’t get a chance to watch their match, I heard many comments about Ganjou’s judgment and ability to remain levelheaded when facing new opponents. I had to admit, he seemed a lot more tolerable than that damned Tsura. Part of me believed that if he wasn’t from Kumo, we’d be able to get along pretty well.

When I was free from medical care, Asuma-sensei commented on my match, as well. As it turns out, I had a pretty good chance of becoming a chuunin until I let my anger dominated over my reason.

“Fighting with rage isn’t necessarily a bad thing,” he explained to me, “but you need to make sure you can still think clearly with that head of yours.”

I had to admit that I wasn’t really proud of letting myself get so riled up. Maybe if I managed to think things through a little more, I would have managed to get away with fewer injuries. Maybe I could’ve even won, but there’s nothing more to say about it now other than that my lesson was learned.

“Your ninjutsu has already improved a lot.” Asuma-sensei also told me with a proud smile. “From here on out, it’s a matter of being more efficient with them. We’ll be sure to focus on them more from here on out.”

“I won’t let you down,” was my confident reply.

---

It was now the morning of our departure. I decided to kill time by walking around the market. The village was a nice place and its style was certainly an interesting change from Konoha. The mountains and the bridges that connected several buildings made the entire place look like a giant tree house.

As I slowly walked by the stores that were just beginning to open, I found my mind wandering back to my match against Tsura. I began to realize just how angry I was during that time and sighed heavily. I was never one to get riled up so much, but I could never forgive him for what he did. At least, not anytime soon.

“Hey, aren’t you that genin that fought Tsura?”

“Hm?” I turned around and say a young man leaning over his stand. He greeted me with a smile and waved me over, so I did. “Maa… I dunno if I’d call it a fight. It was pretty pathetic on my part.” I answered modestly as I gripped my right shoulder. My wounds were closed, but it was still store and fragile, so I wasn’t supposed to strain it for a while.

The man immediately waved his hand in front of his face as if I were speaking nonsense. “No, you were amazing! He’s a bit cocky, so it’s nice to see that somebody put him in his place, chyahaha!”

I hid my snickering with a cough, amused by the fact that a fellow villager was talking about Tsura in such a way. Then again, I can’t be judging the entire population of a village by one of their annoying genin, and maybe a certain blond examiner who was a bit of a jerk.

“It’s a shame about the results, though, but I’m impressed that you managed to put up such a good fight. He’s one of the tough ones, y’know?” As he spoke, he began to set up signs and pull out his wares. He sold handmade items such as key chains and figurines. “Oh, how’s that shoulder of yours? That looked like a real nasty hit you took.”

“It’s better.” I responded while giving it a small roll to prove my point. “But it’s something I’ll have to pay him back for one day.” The man and I shared a small laugh before he gestured for me to come closer. As I did, he gently took my hand and placed something in it.

With a warm smile, he looked back up at me as he closed my hand around the object. “Think of it as a thank you present.”

“Eh? I don’t think I’ve done anything to be thanked for, though.” I spoke with a confused tone, but the man had already spun me around and gave me a gentle shove away from the stand.

As I stumbled forward, I heard a familiar voice call from the stand behind me.

“Oi, Pops!” I froze in my tracks and dared to glance over my shoulder. I stared in shock as I saw the person who appeared next to the man, groggy from having just woken up. “Geez, I get the day off but still I find myself working.”

“Hey, do your old man a favor without complaining for once, chyahaha!” As I walked away with my head tucked low, I continued to listen to the father-son exchange. “Now help me set up the rest of these items, Tsura.”

For a guy who’s that big of a jerk, I could hardly believe he was the son of a man who was so gentle. Once I was out of sight, I opened my hand to find a polished black stone with the symbol for “wisdom” carved into it.

---

When the time came around, I met the other genin at the village gates to prepare for our departure. We were heading back to Konoha with Team 7 accompanying us. The other teams had gone back earlier so we wouldn’t travel in too large of a group, and also because they healed faster than me and Sasuke did.

Although all the genin had already been gathered for a while, the jounin were nowhere in sight.

“Geez, is Kakashi-sensei trying to make some sort of statement by always being late?” Sakura groaned as she looked around for the missing jounin. “We should just leave without him. Honestly! He’s a grown man, so he can find his way back just fine!”

I only spent a few months with Team 7, but it was more than enough to know that she wasn’t kidding that the jounin was never on time. Collectively, the three genin could count the amount if times he was on time on one hand.

“Tch, he probably got lost.” Sasuke muttered with nothing but annoying in his voice.

“Oi, what if he’s eating ramen?!” Naruto shouted next while peering into the village as if he were using the Byakugan. “That bastard had better not be enjoying miso soup on his own!”

“Even Asuma-sensei is keeping us waiting this time.” Chouji sighed, though he didn’t seem to mind being able to snack on his chips in peace.

Footsteps approaching the gates caused us to fall silent. I turned around expecting to see the grey-haired jounin but instead, we were greeted with two faces that I wasn’t expecting to see anytime soon, nor was I particularly glad to see them.

“What the hell do you guys want?” Naruto immediately snapped while glaring at the shinobi before us.

“Hm! Are all Konoha shinobi this rude when their hosts decide to see them off?”

“It’s how we are when we’re confronted by the jerks who kidnapped our friend and almost blew her legs off!” Ino snapped while stepping forward as well.

Although I was irritated by their presence, I remained quiet and simply tried to understand why they were here. Ganjou, donning his new chuunin attire, seemed to be keeping his eyes on me. As we exchanged a relatively neutral gaze, Ino and Kibishii continued to bicker at the side.

“Kibishii.” Ganjou suddenly spoke while glancing towards his teammate. “You’re representing our village poorly.”

“You’ve already done that during the Exams.” Sakura muttered, annoyed by their presence as well.

The other kunoichi was now glaring at Sakura. I took the liberty of standing between them and directing my attention to the shinobi before us. I wasn’t too happy to see them, but the Exams were over and the air they gave of was a lot less hostile than it was during the tests. I figured that I should at least hear them out.

“What do you to want?” I asked calmly, but made sure to keep my eyes on their hands. “If you’re trying to pick a fight, I hope you realize you’re outnumbered.”

“We wish to do nothing of the sort.” The chuunin replied immediately. “Rather, we would like to leave on more positive terms, which is why Kibishii and I are here before you.”

“Yeah, we just wanted to make it clear that even though we were enemies during the Exam, it’s not like we’re dumb enough to overlook your skills.” The kunoichi muttered while glancing away a bit. “You kids are tough, but you’ve sure got a lot to learn about being mature.

Before Naruto could make some remark to prove her point, I shoved him back into Sakura so she could silence the blond.

“We also wanted to apologize on Tsura’s behalf.” Ganjou continued with a disinterested expression. “He can get rather extreme with his tactics. We hope he didn’t injure you too much.” He said, directing his words to me specifically.

“I’m still not too happy over the fact that I had explosive on my legs, but you guys definitely are worthy opponents.” I admitted with a faint smile, though I wasn’t sure if they could tell with my mask. Nevertheless, I tried my best not to seem hostile towards them. They were being reasonable, after all. “Maybe the next time we meet, it will be under friendlier circumstances. Except I’ll still probably try to knock Tsura’s teeth out, not gonna lie.”

“We understand.” The older shinobi nodded. Despite being Tsura’s teammate, it didn’t seem like Ganjou was a bad guy. I remembered that when I was captured, he was actually telling Tsura to back off, and he didn’t have any condescending air about him. “Konoha’s shinobi are certainly skilled. I would like to spar against you once more, Uchiha-san. You were indeed a very worthy opponent.”

“Tch. I’ll only be getting stronger.” Sasuke muttered, addressing his words to Ganjou. I didn’t even have to read his expression to know that he was still cold about his loss. When I glanced over, however, I was a little surprised to see that a corner of his mouth was slightly raised.

They were about to leave until Kibishii stopped in her tracks and turned around. She seemed to have remembered something and caught my gaze.

“Oh, almost forgot.” She spoke while a faint smirk and directed her words to me. “Tsura’s really pissed at you, so you’d better watch out if you ever meet again.”

“So I’ve heard. What was this about being mature again?”

She laughed and nodded. “Yeah, he’s our teammate, but he doesn’t think much. Then again, neither do you. You’ve got your limits, kid, but thanks for showing Tsura that he’s got ‘em, too.”

With that, the two of them waved goodbye and disappeared into the village. I repeated her words in my head once more. What she said was true, and it was the same thing Asuma-sensei told me about my match as well. Subconsciously, I stuck my hand in my pocket and brushed my thumb against the small stone that Tsura’s father had given me.

“Wisdom, eh…?” I whispered to myself before shaking my head clear.

For a moment, my comrades and I stood at the empty space where Ganjou and Kibishii stood just moments before, as if trying to understand if that really just happened. The silence was finally broken when our two sensei finally decided to show up, at least twenty minutes late.

“Oh? Everybody looks so tense. We didn’t make you worry too much, did we?” Kakashi-sensei laughed nervously as he approached us. His laugh only became more nervous as we all gave him and Asuma-sensei a scolding glare. “Ahaha… You genin are too young to look so scary.”

“I guess we should really get going then.” My sensei added with a similar laugh.

“Kakashi-sensei! You owe us ramen when we get back to Konoha!”

“Yosh! Then that means you owe us barbecue, Asuma-sensei!”

With a final glance back at Kumogakure, we were off.

While Kumogakure offered a refreshing change of surroundings, I didn’t miss Konoha’s sunshine and abundance of foliage when we finally returned home. Upon arrival, the genin went their separate ways while the jounin went to go report to Tsunade-sama. Since we had the next five days off, I went towards the library the next morning in search of something that could tell me about the mark on my back. Of course, there was nothing that pointed me in the right direction. I should have known, but there was never any harm in checking anyway.

My next stop was to visit Tsunade-sama. I figured she might know something, considering how old— err, how much life experience she had. There was also the whole thing about the voice that spoke to me, but in that case… I had a pressing feeling that I already knew what it was about, but I wanted to be sure that I wasn’t just in over my head.

“Tsunade-sama?” I called as I knocked on her office door, hoping that I wasn’t interrupting anything important. “It’s Riku.”

“Come in.”

After closing the door behind me, I greeted the Hokage and Shizune-san, as well as Tonton, with a short bow before getting straight to business.

“There was something I wanted to ask you about.” When I said this, it seemed like she already knew what I was here for. She remained silent, though, so I went ahead and brought up my concerns. “I recently discovered a sort of marking on my back; one that looks like a spiral.”

“I believe Asuma mentioned something like that in his report, yes.” She nodded while getting up from her seat. “Is it alright if I take a look?” I nodded, though I was pretty sure I didn’t actually have a choice in the matter.

I pulled off my jacket and shirt so she could get a clear view of the thing. For a few moments of silence, Tsunade-sama simply observed it before pressing two fingers against it. There was a slight tingling sensation – I think she was trying to channel her chakra into it – but nothing happened. What took me by surprise was when she suddenly performed a few hand seals and pressed the palm of her hand against it.

Suddenly, my shoulder throbbed violently and I heard Tsunade-sama stumble back. I tensed up in shock before spinning around to see if she was alright.

“Tsunade-sama!” Shizune-san gasped, rushing forward as Tonton squealed. “Are you alright?”

“Sorry, I didn’t know—”

Stabling herself, the Hokage held up her hand and shook her head. “Calm down, you two. I’m fine.” She snapped with a sigh.

“What happened?” I asked, subconsciously reaching back to grip my shoulder.

“This is definitely…unexpected, that’s for sure.” She murmured while walking up to me again. “I already suspected that this seal is unique to your clan, but the chakra used to seal it… It’s far too similar to Naruto’s to be a mere coincidence.”

“What do you mean by that?” I asked, pulling my clothes back on. “You don’t mean I’m…related to him or something, do you?”

Tsunade-sama choked back a laugh as she quickly waved her hand, thankfully telling me that that wasn’t the case. “Don’t even joke about that kind of stuff.” She said before getting back on track. “What I mean is, the chakra I’m sensing is almost identical to his red chakra’s wavelength.”

“You don’t mean…” Shizune-san murmured, giving me a surprised look.

The Hokage simply nodded, however, before looking back at me.

“Looks like we finally figured out what the Yonbi was sealed into.”

---

I stayed for a while longer to explain the sort of experiences I’ve had lately, like the dreams of my village getting attacked and the time I heard a voice telling me what to do during the second part of the Chuunin Exams. I mentioned that it also probably explained how I wound up in Naruto’s subconscious and met the Kyuubi. Don’t get me wrong – me being the vessel of the Yonbi was something I had considered before. It just wasn’t something I wanted to end up being the truth, but on the other hand, it was reassuring to know that the voice and those dreams weren’t because I was losing it or anything.

“Does Asuma know about any of this yet?” Tsunade-sama asked once I was done.

I shrugged. “I mentioned the voice and feeling like I was being controlled to both Asuma-sensei and Kakashi-sensei, though I’m not sure if they came to the same conclusion. I wouldn’t be surprised if they have an idea of what’s going on, though, because of experiences with Naruto.”

“I figured as much.” She said. “We’ll have to let the other Hidden Villages know about this. Having another jinchuuriki is a big deal. It disrupts the balance the villages have in terms of the distribution of the bijuu.” Furrowing her brows, Tsunade-sama sighed. “I don’t really want to have to inform them, but if we keep this information hidden and have them find out on their own later on, they might think that we were hiding you as a war asset, which is the last thing we need right now.”

“First they find out I’m a Shurikane, and now this.” I sighed. I was beginning to understand why Tsunade-sama frequented the bars so often. This was starting to give me a headache.

“Better sooner than later.” Tsunade-sama responded. “Anyway, leave the rest of it to me and the council. You just take care of yourself.”

“Well, however things play out, it seems like the shinobi world is in for a shock. Another one, anyway.” I said before bowing deeply. “Thanks for your help, Tsunade-sama.”

“One last thing.” She called, stopping me from leaving right away. “The seal is what’s keeping the Yonbi locked away, but it’s also sealing something else, though I’m not sure what. Be careful with it.”

---

My time after that was spent running into and speaking with a few shinobi, the first of them being Naruto, the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi himself.

“Yo, Riku!” He called, being the one to spot me first. “How’s your shoulder feeling?”

“Good enough to beat you up.” I answered jokingly, to which he responded with his usual cheerfulness. “Oh, while you’re here, I wanted to ask you something.”

“I’m all ears!” He seemed incredibly happy that I said that. Now that I thought about it, though, I suppose not a lot of people would go to Naruto if they had any questions, but I couldn’t really go to anybody else for what I wanted to ask.

“About the Kyuubi,” I started in a lower voice as sat down on a bench around the corner, “have you ever been ‘influenced’ by it before?”

Squinting his eyes in thought, he rested his arms behind his head as he thought about it. “Hmm…You mean like being controlled?” I nodded. “I think so, yeah. Sometimes the Kyuubi does his own thing in tough situations. It’s almost like I’m asleep, and when I come back to my senses, I don’t remember much of what I did. Well, what the Kyuubi did. It kind of feels like a dream.”

Although it was vague, it sounded similar to my experience during the Chuunin Exams, which was reassuring. At least I knew something wasn’t wrong with me.

“What about that place I was in during the Exams? It was your subconscious or something, right?”

“Oh yeah. I still have no idea how you ended up there. Weird, haha!” He laughed, not thinking too much on the oddity of it all. “I guess that’s where Kyuubi…lives? I don’t know, but sometimes when he talks to me, or when I talk to him, I end up there, in my head.”

I remembered how meeting the Kyuubi reminded me of the time the Yonbi spoke to me in my dreams during one of the first few nights that I arrived in Konoha. Back then, I really did think it was a dream, but it was obvious now that it was very real. I wondered if I could also contact Yonbi that way, and if my subconscious would look the same, or if I could even access it like Naruto could at all.

“So, why’re you asking this kind of stuff, Riku?” Naruto asked curiously, giving me a bit of a suspicious look. "You aren’t trying to dissect my brain, are you?”

“Are you stupid?” I responded flatly, knocking him on the head. “I’m guess I’m just curious. It was an interesting experience, being in your head and all. Besides, it sure did save my ass. Well, my legs, to be more specific, so thanks for that.”

“No problem! You can always come to me if you need any help” I got the feeling that the blond sensed that there was more too it, but I was lucky he was the kind of person who lost interest pretty quickly with these sorts of things. “I was going to grab a bowl of ramen from Ichiraku’s. Wanna join me?”

Shaking my head, I stood up and brushed myself off. “I have some other things to take care of, but thanks for the offer. Enjoy yourself.”

“Bye, Riku!”

After giving him a brief wave, I turned and went on my way again. This time, my business was in a part of the village I had never visited yet.

The sun was starting to set, but I still had time to make a stop at the Yamanaka Flower Shop, where I was greeted by my teammate.

“Riku!” Ino called, skipping over to me from behind the counter. “What brings you here? Looking for something to decorate your place with?”

“Not this time.” I answered, shaking my head. “I’m just here for some white carnations.”

Her upbeat nature quickly became sullen as she gave me a worried look. “Why do you need those? Is everybody okay?” I didn’t expect her to be so concerned, since I was pretty sure I didn’t look visibly upset or mournful. Then again, asking for funeral flowers warranted that kind of response.

“Calm down, everything’s fine.” I reassured with a faint smile. “I wanted to check out a place in the village, and I thought I should bring something out of respect. Feels weird to go empty-handed.”

Although Ino still gave me a concerned look, she huffed and went to get the flowers while I followed. “Fine, I won’t pry, but if something really does happen, you shouldn’t hide it, okay? And don’t look so scary when you ask for these kinds of things! Of course I’ll get worried!” She scolded, pinching my nose like a mother scolding a child.

“My bad.” I responded sheepishly before paying for the flowers. “Thanks. You guys really do take care of your flowers. Maybe I’ll come back later for decorative ones after all.”

“You’d better! I won’t go easy on you if I find out you bought flowers from anywhere else, you hear me?” She threatened jokingly while handing the small bouquet over to me. “Oh, right. We have training tomorrow. Is your shoulder alright?”

“It’s fine.” I answered with a nod before waving her goodbye. “See you tomorrow, then.”

---

Since I had never been there before, it took me a while to find the area, but eventually, I looked up to see the gate that separated this part of the village from the rest. Without a word, I set the flowers down by one of the gate posts before looking into the area, wondering if I should go in or not.

“What are you doing here?” A low voice suddenly asked from behind. I spun around and wasn’t surprised to see Sasuke, though I can’t say I was particularly expecting him to show up, either.

“I wanted to take a look around.” I answered honestly before glancing back at the gate. “It’s not off-limits, is it? Is it alright if I go in?”

“You don’t have to ask my permission.” He answered curtly. “Do whatever you want.”

Sasuke started to leave, “Hold on,” but I called out to him before he got too far. “You won’t show me around?” I asked somewhat jokingly. “I figure you’d be the best person to ask about the Uchiha Compound.”

Stopping in his tracks, he gave me an irritated look. “I’ll ask you one more time.” He said with a glare that made me wonder if the whole ordeal was still too sensitive a subject to keep pressing on. “What are you doing here?” This time, he was more interrogative about it. I didn’t have anything to hide, so I gave him my answer.

“I’m still missing a lot of my memories. It’s not the best thing to be able to relate to, but…” I started while turning to face the compound’s entrance, “…You can’t deny our situations are pretty similar. I thought maybe this place would remind me of my own clan – trigger a memory or two, maybe. If you don’t want me around here, though, I’d understand. To a degree, anyway.”

There was a moment of silence before I heard Sasuke move, though a bit to my surprise, he went towards the compound. For a few steps, I just watched him go ahead until he reached the gate. He paused and saw the flowers. A moment of silent passed before he looked back at me with his usual irritated expression.

“Don’t fall behind.”

“Oh, uh, yeah.” I stammered before catching up to him. I opened my mouth to thank him, but it felt like I shouldn’t bother. Something told he me would just glare at me again.

As he led me further into the compound, I looked around, reading faded signs and wondering what the place used to be like before the massacre. I could only imagine his clan mates filling the streets and buildings, much like how I would try to picture the same for the remnants of my village. All I had were hazy visions from a few dreams. I wondered what his memories were like.

Eventually, Sasuke came to a stop. I stood next to him and looked at the building in front of us. The look in his eyes gave me the feeling that he was remembering something, so I kept my mouth shut for a while, simply looking at the empty building.

Just then, something in my head throbbed, and I saw a flash of my own former house.

“…What’s this building?”

“The house I grew up in.” He answered flatly. I wanted to ask why he led me here in particular, but decided it was still better to just keep my mouth shut. It was probably because he didn’t really have anything else to show me, anyway. “Are you done yet? Don’t take up too much of my time.”

“Sorry, nothing’s really clicking.” At least, not completely, but there was something about this building that reminded me of my own. “…Can I go inside?”

The Uchiha shot me a look before looking away, disinterested. “Don’t touch anything.”

I nodded and slipped my sandals off before heading inside.

It was a pretty standard house, with tatami mats and hardwood floors, which was what my house was like. That was probably why I was being reminded of it.

There was a kitchen with a door that led to what appeared to be the dining room, what with the floor table and cushions. There was a staircase that led to the second floor, so after giving the first floor another look, I quietly made my way upstairs.

As I walked by the doors, I carefully opened them, cringing when a few insects scurried across the floor as I walked around. Most of them were bedrooms with not much left in them. Standard bedroom furniture, for the most part, with some clothes, bed sheets, books, and other things that didn’t really stick out to me, and nothing that reminded me of anything.

The next room I checked was different, though. There were a few toys inside, like a rubber kunai and some blocks. It took me a moment to register it as Sasuke’s room when he was a child, which made the whole weight of it all sink in a little harder. It was weird to think that he used to be one of those bright-eyed kids I see running around the village streets. It was weird to think that I was probably one of those kids, too.

Stepping inside, I looked around the room until my eyes settled on a dresser, on top of which were a few photos that were faced down, except for one that was covered in a layer of dust. It was hard to see what the photo was, so I gave it a quick wipe.

“Cute.” I murmured with a faint smile, seeing a picture of somebody holding a younger Sasuke on his back. The other person in the picture looked a lot like him, but older. I wondered if that was the infamous older brother that was the cause of the tragedy.

As I started at it, another image suddenly flashed in my head again. I winced and held my head, closing my eyes as I tried to recall the image. It flashed again, though while it was unclear, it was something awfully similar to the photo that I saw before me. Instead of a younger Sasuke, though, it was a younger me that was being carried. The weirdest thing, however, was that instead of a family member replacing Sasuke’s brother in my memory, it was—

“I told you not to touch anything.” Sasuke’s harsh voice startled me. I looked over to see him standing by the doorway, looking annoyed as ever. “You have the same look you had when you remembered the Sun Country.”

“Y…Yeah, something like that.” I responded, looking back at the picture. I could sense the hostility coming from the Uchiha, but I was under the impression that it wasn’t aimed towards me. He must have seen the picture I was looking at, after all. “It’s just little things, though, like remembering the inside of my house and such…but it’s better than nothing.”

“If that’s all, we’re leaving,” was his only response, so we did just that.

Once we were back outside, I slipped my sandals back on and followed him as he led me out of the compound. At first, it was silent as my thoughts dwelled on the short event I just remembered, but I soon felt compelled to ask something.

“Hey, Sasuke.” I called, grabbing his attention. “Would you rather have forgotten everything?”

He paused for a brief moment as he looked over to me. I thought he would get angry at the question, but instead, he gave me a curt answer. “…No.”

“Why?”

“It’s a waste of time to think about ‘what if’ situations.”

I hummed in response while looking absently ahead. “That’s true.” I agreed with a shrug. “…I wonder if I wanna remember everything.” I thought out loud. “There might be a reason I forgot everything in the first place, you know? I read that some people get amnesia because their brains are trying to protect the person from the trauma. Maa… I’m kind of scaring myself, thinking about that kind of stuff, haha.”

That was when we reached the gate of the compound again, and Sasuke was already starting on his own way.

“One more thing.” I spoke, apologetic about the nuisance I must have been to him. “Do you know where Kakashi-sensei might be at this time?”

“No.” Sasuke answered shortly before leaving for good this time.

---

The sun had almost completely set by now, so streetlights were now being turned on to help light the streets, with the help of the moon and the stars. I soon reached my destination, and after taking a moment to sort out my thoughts, I knocked on the door.

A few moments later, a surprised grey-haired jounin answered the door. “Riku? What brings you here?” He asked before furrowing his brows in confused. “How do you know where I live?”

“How come you didn’t tell me that we’ve met before the war?” I snapped back accusingly, ignoring his questions entirely.

For a moment, he simply stood there, stunned at what I had said.

“…Sounds like you regained some of your memories.” Kakashi-sensei murmured, avoiding eye contact. “Do you want to come inside?”

“What I want is for you to give me a damn good reason about this!” I demanded, hardening my gaze as much as I could. “I’ve been slaving over getting my memories back for five years thinking that there wasn’t a single person left in the world that I used to know, because I thought they were all dead, but then suddenly you of all people show up in my memories?”

I took a step forward, which made him step back a little, probably alarmed by my sudden aggression.

“Why were you in my village? Why were you talking to my mother? Why were you carrying me around on your back like I was your kid or something—”

I cut myself off as those words escaped my mouth as the realization suddenly donned on me. My eyes widened as I looked up at Kakashi-sensei with suspicion and anger.

“Wait… No, no, there’s no way…” I murmured, shaking my head. “Now that I think about it, though… None of my memories showed anybody who could have been my father—”

“Wha— hold on!” The jounin suddenly exclaimed, cutting me off as he was apparently collected enough to speak again. “No, no, it’s definitely not that.” He said quickly, stopping me from considering the bizarre possibility any further. “I’m not your father, and I’m sorry if you take that as bad news.”

I scoffed. “Are you kidding? Who would wanna have amnesia and no family for five years, only to find out that the only relative they have left is an old, perverted geezer like you?” I responded half-heartedly as a joke before sighing deeply. “Well, as nice as it would have been to find out not all of my family is dead, I’m still asking the same questions.” I said, my tone becoming serious again. “Why didn’t you ever tell me about this? Why would you hide my own memories from me?”

Kakashi-sensei fell silent once more, but I didn’t change my demeanour in any way until finally, he began to speak.

“I…thought it might be better if you didn’t remember.” He started, carefully picking his words as he spoke. “I’m not your father, but while I was there during my mission, you sure acted as though I were.” A soft laugh came from him as I glanced to the side, oddly embarrassed by that statement.

“Oh, right.” I murmured, remembering that aspect more clearly. “Ha, ‘Kashi-jiji’ is what I called you, right?” He nodded with another sheepish laugh.

“I bet it was because of your hair. It makes you look at least ten years older. No wonder. That doesn’t seem like something I wouldn’t want to remember, though. Actually, it’s a pretty nice memory, for once.”

“Even the part that came after?”

I raised a questioning brow.

“What?” I asked, not understanding what he meant. “What came after?”

It looked like he mentally kicked himself just then. “You don’t remember everything, then.” He murmured before shaking his head. “That’s the part you’re probably better off forgetting.”

“You’re not getting off the hook that easily.” I answered immediately, staring him down, which was kind of hard to do when he was over twice my size.

The jounin stared back at me before finally, he sighed and gave in.

“My mission at the time was just to establish relations between your village and Konoha. My team and I were there to help deal with a recent increase of bandits around the area, which is why I was often speaking with your mother and the other clan representatives. That also meant you saw me around a lot. I don’t think you’ve seen many outsiders by then, so you were rather…attached, so to speak.” He started, leaning against the doorframe. The look in his eyes told me he was a little amused by the memories that I could only vaguely remember, but his expression soon became more sullen and remorseful.

“There was a time when I was in the forest around the village, and I sensed somebody nearby. I was hasty because of the recent number of bandits and rogues that we had been dealing with, so I threw an explosive kunai without much thought.”

Without realizing it, I subconsciously brushed my fingers across the left side of my face as he said it. Something was starting to come back to me, and it was loud and painful.

Kakashi-sensei’s eyes trained on my mask for a moment before he looked away again. “As it turned out, the person I sensed was the farthest thing from a bandit or a rogue.” He sighed deeply before he looked back at me again, the look in his eyes looking tired and heavy. “I’m the reason why you have that scar. I can’t even begin to express how sorry I am.”

Silence hung over us in the tense atmosphere as the memory of the explosion and burns flooded back to me. I always thought this scar was something I got from the war, but apparently I was gravely mistaken. I never imagined that it had this kind of story behind it, though.

“So, the reason you didn’t want to tell me anything…”

“…I didn’t want your impression of me to be a negative one, which was selfish of me.”

“No kidding.” I murmured as I tugged at my mask. “You’re the reason I have to hide my face…huh.”

“Yes.”

“The reason I hate fireworks?”

“Yes.”

“The reason I freaked the fuck out during the Chuunin Exams when I got explosive tags stuck onto my legs by those bastard Kumo genin, at risk of getting them blown off at any moment, and broke down into a pitiful mess after they almost did?”

“…Yes.”

That one, he didn’t know about, and I knew it would sting. It was like the trump card I never knew I was holding. As cruel as it might be, I wanted it to sting, because man, was I pissed. Now I knew why he was hesitant to tell me in the first place. It really did ruin my impression of him.

“I won’t try to make excuses.” Kakashi-sensei murmured, his voice low and heavy.

Even so, I knew I wouldn’t stay mad at him forever.

“You’d better not.” I muttered back while tapping the ground with my foot. “It’s…It’s not like I ended up blind in one eye or something, either, but don’t get me wrong; it’s not like I’m fine with it all. I mean, I’m pissed. I haven’t been this pissed off in a while. Kind of wanna punch you in the face, I’m not gonna lie – maybe make it even or something - but it’s not like you did it on purpose, either, so that wouldn’t really be fair.”

There was a silence again, save for the sound of the light breeze rustling the leaves of nearby trees accompanied by the occasional sound of a nocturnal critter.

I broke the silence with a huff. “You were right. It does change my impression of you.” I glanced up at him, noticing that he tensed up just slightly. “Even so… Thanks for telling me in the end.” Knowing the truth behind my scar was unexpected, to say the least, and even though it wasn’t a nice memory, I still felt relieved, as if I could breathe a little easier now.

“It’s funny.” I said with a soft laugh. “Earlier today, I was wondering if I wanted to keep regaining my memories; if I really wanted to get them back, or if I was better off not knowing. They haven’t exactly been the best things so far, and yet, despite all that, here I am, still digging away until I find something. I guess I know the answer to that one now, huh.”

I often thought about how much simpler my life might have been if I never figured anything out. The past five years of my life weren’t luxurious, but they were carefree and free of secrets and political involvement. I could go wherever I wanted, whenever I wanted. I was whoever I wanted to be. Despite all that, though, even after learning about the war, about my village, my clan, my family, and myself, for some reason, I still felt myself wondering what else there was left to uncover.

“…You’ll make it.” Kakashi-sensei spoke softly, smiling with his one eye. “I’m sorry I didn’t make things any easier for you, but whatever hurdles lie ahead, you’ll definitely make it past them.”

“Yeah,” I nodded before stepping back, making it known that I had nothing left to say, “I wouldn’t be here if I couldn’t.” I responded with a confident smile. “Good night, Sensei. Oh, I’m still pissed at you, though. Remember that.”

“I won’t.” He laughed sheepishly, his eyes still ridden with guilt. “Good night, Riku. Take care.”

I nodded, and once he closed the door behind him, I started on my way home. It had been a long day, so all I wanted to do was sleep for the next two weeks.

I woke up feeling heavy and more exhausted than I should have been, considering I didn’t do any training yesterday. With a groan, I pushed myself up and opened the window to get some fresh air. It was early in the morning so the breeze was a little cold, but it helped me wake up. I sat there for a moment as I blinked my eyes awake until finally, I went to get ready.

I went through my morning routine as usual, but stopped when I went to put on my mask. Staring at my reflection, I felt a knot in my stomach beginning to form as I stared at the burn scar that nearly took up the entire left side of my face. Part of my left cheek looked like it had been cut out so some of my back teeth were visible. They would have been completely visible if not for the burned flesh that covered part of it. It looked raw and melted, almost like candle wax. It was nothing but grotesque and repulsive to look at. I didn’t even know I had this scar until I wandered into the first village five years ago and received frightened and repulsed stares, so one of the first things I got was a mask. I’ve always disliked looking at it, and now that I knew where it came from, I hated it.

After tying on my mask and headband, I started on my way towards the Mission Room, since that was where I was supposed to meet my team that day.

“Good morning, Riku-chan!” An elderly voice greeted once I stepped outside.

I looked around until I saw Chousa-baachan, the elderly woman who owned a small pastry shop that she managed herself. She made everything, too. She was right outside my building, so I saw her quite often and got to know her over time. Sometimes she would even give me a small cake as a present that by now, I had learned that it’s easier to just accept the gift instead of insisting that I pay for it.

“Good morning, Chousa-baachan.” I greeted politely. “Have you been well?”

“As peaceful as always around here.” She answered with a smile, though it soon turned into a slight frown. “I’m not sure how much longer that will last, though. I’m sure you must have heard by now, but there’s been talk about rogues starting to cause trouble lately.”

“I don’t think I’ve heard much about that.” I shook my head, starting to get concerned myself. “Are they causing trouble around the Fire Country?”

“I’ve only heard bits and pieces, but it sounds like they’ve been starting to pop up all over the place. Will you be okay during missions?” Elders seemed to always have the same sort of grandparent-type worry for any adolescent they saw. That, or they were going senile and hated the younger generation. I was thankful that Chousa-baachan was the first kind of elder.

“We’ll be fine.” I reassured with a smile. “It’s what we’re trained to do, after all.”

Chousa-baachan laughed meekly. “Yes, yes, of course. It’s still so worrisome, though. I have grandchildren, you know. They aren’t training to become shinobi, but I could hardly imagine being able to sleep at night if they were. Don’t make this old lady worry too much, alright?”

“I won’t.” I reassured once more. “Thank you for the caution, though. I’ll be sure to tell my team about it.” I said and left with a wave.

Speaking to Chousa-baachan made me a little late, so the rest of my team was already there once I arrived. After some half-assed scolding and me sheepishly explaining myself, we got straight to business. I heard we were heading out of the village again, which probably meant we had some travelling to do.

“It’s a simple delivery mission.” Iruka-sensei explained. If I remembered correctly, he was the chuunin who taught Ino, Chouji, and the others when they were back at the Academy. “You’ll be delivering a few supplies to Yugakure.”

“Again with the Hot Springs Country?” I asked with a sigh.

Iruka-sensei nodded while scanning the mission scroll. “After the scouting mission you completed with Team 7, we’ve been working to establish a less hostile relationship with the country. As it turns out, the explosive tags weren’t set up by their shinobi at all, but by thieves who were trying to use them to damage carts so they could steal from them more easily.”

“Sounds like one big misunderstanding.” Asuma-sensei commented with a laugh. “Well, it’s good to know that it’s cleared up.”

The chuunin nodded. “It’s just a C-Rank mission, and you only have to get to the border to make the delivery, so it shouldn’t be any trouble. Good luck!”

---

Since we left so early and travelled the entire day, we managed to get to the border the next morning, which was when the people from Yugakure were going to meet us anyway. As we closed in, however, I was immediately annoyed to see one particular face amongst the three shinobi that were there to pick up the supplies.

“You again?” I sighed, staring at the chuunin as the delivery was made. “Considering the fact that I live two days away, we sure seem to run into each other a lot, Mubou-jiji.”

“Mubou… Why does that sound familiar?” Asuma-sensei repeated with furrowed brows before appearing to remember. “Oh, is this the man you encountered with Kakashi-sensei and his team during the scouting mission?” I nodded, and the jounin laughed. “Small world.”

“I’m not too happy about seeing you, either.” Mubou-jiji said while giving me a faint glare. “It doesn’t look like you’re not getting in anybody’s way, though. It’s about time you grew up a little.” This time it was Ino and Chouji who got annoyed, but our sensei gave them the sort of look that told them not to say or do anything. “I’m going on ahead.”

Before his comrades could stop him, the chuunin disappeared into the forest.

“Mubou-san…” One of the other shinobi said worriedly while giving us an apologetic look. “I apologize on his behalf. Please don’t take it personally. There have been a lot of thefts around here lately, so we’re all a little on edge because of it.”

“There’s no need to worry about it. We’re aware of Riku’s history with your country and village.” The jounin reassured while ruffling my hair. “I promise she won’t be causing any more trouble around here anymore.”

“Of course she won’t!” Ino interjected, getting fed up. “She even participated in the Chuunin Exams with us, and she kicked some serious ass, too!” Asuma-sensei apologized nervously as he tried to get Ino to quiet down, but the two shinobi simply laughed.

“I’m sure Mubou-san would be surprised to hear that.” One of them admitted. “Anyway, thank you for delivering these to us. It may not seem like much, but it’s much appreciated.”

Asuma-sensei nodded and smiled. “Not a problem! Is it alright for just the three of you to carry them, though? There are quite a few tools in there, so the packages are pretty heavy.”

“We’ll be alright.” The third shinobi reassured. “Thanks again!”

Just as they were about to leave, however, a flare suddenly went off in the distance. Seconds later, smoke bombs went off all around us, clouding our vision within seconds. Before we could register anything, we heard the sounds of the two shinobi struggling. It was hard to see, but I could just make out the silhouette of a third person.

“What’s going on?!” Chouji cried between coughs.

“Don’t tell me…” I heard Asuma-sensei murmur. I heard him lung towards the third figure, but they had already.

“I’m going.” I called, hearing the figure escaping the area.

My sensei shouted for me to stop, but I had already jumped out of the cloud of smoke and towards the figure that was trying to make their escape. This thief had their head shoved way too far up their ass if they thought they were going to get away that easily.

Once they were in sight, I used a genjutsu on them. “A Thousand Hands!”

Shadowy hands stretched out from the branches and trees around the thief, wrapping around their arms and legs to pull them back. They immediately tried to dispel the genjutsu. I could sense the panic coming from the thief once they realized that it wasn’t working. I grinned victoriously as I caught up to the thief and jumped in front of them, turning around to look them in the eye.

“Sorry, but my technique won’t be dispelled so easily.” I said with confidence, staring them down with my patterned eyes. With a small hand gesture, the shadowy hands reached out and grabbed the stolen wares just as my team and the Hot Springs shinobi returned. “I’ll be taking those back now.”

“Nice going, Riku!” Ino cheered, throwing her arm around my shoulder. Asuma-sensei apprehended the thief as I dispelled my shinjutsu, shifting my eyes before facing the three chuunin, particularly Mubou-jiji, who looked like he was stunned into silence. “What, cat got your tongue? We told you that Riku’s changed!”

“The Youkugan…” was all he murmured, however, surprising all of us. “I heard about the rumours that came after the Chuunin Exams, but to think that it would be you of all people…”

“Go figure, eh?” I shrugged.

There was a brief moment of silence as Mubou-jiji appeared to be in thought. I expected some sort of snarky comment from him about how the bloodline was wasted on me, or something along those lines, but to our surprise once again, he cracked a smile… and laughed.

“Unbelievable…” He sighed before looking back at me. “Looks like I owe you an apology, Riku. You’ve really turned out to be quite the shinobi. Way better than some petty thief stealing from the locals. It’s reassuring to an old man like me to know you’ve finally put that genjutsu to proper use. Even got yourself a place to call home.”

I wasn’t quite sure to say to this. His attitude towards me made a sudden one-eighty and to be honest, it was a little bit worrisome. Was he having a stroke, or maybe going senile already? Did witnessing my Youkugan make him delusional?

“Okay, what?” I finally said, cocking my head to one side. “All you’ve have ever given me was a hard time. What’s with the change of heart?”

“It isn’t just Mubou-san.” One of the other chuunin said. “The rest of us, too – because you had no home, or family, or friends, there was nobody there to teach you discipline or respect. It may have come off as harsh to you, but Mubou-san, and soon the rest of us… We gave you such a hard time because, who else would?”

Before I could respond, Asuma-sensei laughed as he ruffled my hair.

“Haha! It sounds like you were a little bit like Naruto when he was younger.”

He commented while smiling at me, which didn’t seem like something to smile about. I’ve heard stories about how much of a bratty prankster Naruto used to be, too, and I really, really hoped I wasn’t too much like him. At least I had some sort of class and dignity to uphold.

“It sounds like they were nothing but a thorn in your side, but I’m sure they weren’t trying to be the bad guys, either.”

“Well, yeah. I was the one who was stealing. I knew it wasn’t right, but it’s not like I really had any other choice at the time…” I trailed off, digging my toes into the ground as I glanced away momentarily. “So, you guys were just looking out for me in your own old geezer sort of way, huh.”

“That’s one way to put it.” The other chuunin laughed. “Since we aren’t the most powerful country or village, we get quite a few thieves around here. I wouldn’t be surprised if this one is like how you used to be.” She explained while nodding towards the thief, who simply looked away in silence.

“It troubles the village, but we understand that sometimes, it’s for survival.” Mubou-jiji said. “That’s why we tried so hard to get you to stop. Normally, shinobi wouldn’t put so much attention on petty thieves like we do, but normally, kids like you shouldn’t have to be thieves in the first place.”

For some reason, those words sunk in pretty deep.

“Hmm… They don’t seem so mean anymore.” Chouji mused, looking towards me with his eyes squinted as they often were.

I nodded, still in disbelief that they were saying any of this at all. “Yeah… I guess so.” Feeling like a weight was lifted from my shoulders, I smiled, stepped forward to address them more formally. “I guess I did learn a thing or two from you guys. Sometimes I really would consider trying to get a job in the village instead, but I always figured I wasn’t welcome, so I always decided against it... but I’m okay now. I have friends, a home, and I’m always being told that the entire village is my family, and I don’t need to steal anymore.”

“It looks like you’ve really become quite the shinobi.” Mubou-jiji admitted before facing my teammates and sensei. “I’m sure you all had a lot to do with that.” He said appreciatively.

“Yeah, I owe them a lot, but it looks like I owe you guys, too.” I bowed, as if to demonstrate that I really did learn some respect and discipline. “Thank you, Mubou-san, and sorry for all the trouble.”

We exchanged a final glance and for once, instead of mutual bitterness and annoyance, it was one of mutual respect as fellow shinobi.

< hr />

It was a nice feeling, finally being on good terms with that old man and his comrades. The rest of the situation was handled more smoothly, too. We decided to bring the thief back to Konoha so she, as the thief turned out to be, could be dealt with there. Who knows; maybe she could eventually become a shinobi, too.

As we arrived in front of the Hokage’s office late into the evening with the thief in tow, Tsunade-sama asked us to wait a moment after we knocked. Shortly afterwards, a dark-haired woman walked out. From the looks of it, she was a jounin from Kumogakure, which explained why the Hokage was still around at this hour in the first place. She must have been expecting this visitor.

We all silently questioned her presence here, but greeted her with a small nod as she did to us. It didn’t look like it was for anything bad, so there was no reason for us to be on edge. My eyes locked with hers for a split second, however, and the look she gave me was one of familiarity. Not in a familial or friendly sort of way, but the one that only said that she knew who I was.

“Come in.” We heard Tsunade-sama call, so we entered and greeted her appropriately. “Is bringing in strays what my shinobi do now?” She asked, annoyed, nodding towards the girl that was with us.

Now that I could get a proper look at her, she was much younger than I thought she would be. Her hood was up before, so I didn’t get a good look at her face until now. From the looks of it, she was around my age, or maybe even younger. She had a slender figure and light hair that was tied back in a neat bun. Her face was thin, but her expression was fierce. It didn’t look like she was capable of much, but her posture and demeanor said otherwise. Dark eyes stared at the Hokage, not glaring, but not particularly respectful, either.

“She’s a thief who tried to steal the packages at the delivery point. We thought it would be better to bring her back here than to leave the Hot Springs Country to handle it, since we’re better suited for this sort of thing.” Asuma-sensei explained while Tsunade-sama nodded in agreement. “There isn’t much to worry about, though. In fact, her situation is quite similar to what Riku’s was when she first arrived. Maybe we could arrange something instead of sending her straight to prison.”

“I don’t need you people to pity me.” The thief responded haughtily.

Irritated, Tsunade-sama silence the girl with a glare. “We’ll run some interrogations and keep her under surveillance for now. We can work things out into more detail, later, assuming she’s willing to cooperate.” She added at the end, giving the girl another intimidating stare. “What’s your name?”

Hesitant to comply, the girl paused before answering. “…Yasagure Mayuri.”

“Shizune, take care of her for now.” The Hokage said, and her assistant responded immediately. Once Mayuri was escorted out of the room, Tsunade-sama turned to us with a more serious look. “I’m sure you must have passed that Kumo jounin on your way in.”

“We’re not going to be getting into any trouble soon, are we?” Ino asked cautiously, to which the Hokage thankfully shook her head.

“Not exactly, anyway.” Not so thankfully after all, then. “It appears that the Kumogakure rogues have caught wind of the Youkugan, and are now actively searching for it. Perhaps you may have heard of the recent rise in rogue activity lately.” Ah, so that’s what Chousa-baachan was talking about. “We’re not exactly sure why they want it, but it’s more than enough to keep our guards up.”

All eyes turned to me and I sighed. “It was bound to happen eventually.” I muttered, since there was nothing I could do about it, anyway. “Do they know it’s me?”

“The chances that they do are low, but of course, it’s best to stay cautious. For now, just be alert. If there’s anything else worth knowing, it’ll be passed on to you.” Tsunade-sama finished, addressing all of us. “That’s all for now. Don’t forget to hand in your mission report.” She added, addressing Asuma-sensei, who nodded in turn. “Dismissed.”

---

Once we were dismissed, Asuma-sensei sent us home, so with a time to meet tomorrow and a short goodbye, we all parted our separate ways, which left me to my thoughts as I walked home.

After showing my bloodline at the Chuunin Exams, I wasn’t surprised to hear that people were back to wanting to track me down for these eyes. It still didn’t make it any less unsettling, though. Then again, from what I heard from the others about that Orochimaru guy, it sounds like I could always ask Sasuke about how he deals with that kind of stuff.

I sighed, having nothing else that would be useful to add. I’m starting to get the feeling I’ll never be able to relate to him in a normal way.

Phasing out of my thoughts to pay attention to where I was going again, I walked in silence. I looked up ahead at the horizon so I could see the stars, only to find that there were none. Weird. At this time of day, the stars were usually plenty, unless it was cloudy, but that wasn’t the case either. It made the area feel even quieter and deathly empty, as if I were walking around in a void. It really was quiet. Not even the crickets were chirping.

I kept walking but kept my guard up, now focusing on my surroundings. I fluttered my eyes shut as I yawn, bringing my hand up to wipe the tears that formed from it. As I brought them down, however, I formed a hand seal in a blink of an eye and adjusted my chakra wavelength.

“Kai!” My voice disappeared with my energy after I dispelled the genjutsu, which meant that any other vocal attempts at attracting attention would be futile, so I didn’t bother. It was a waste of energy – something that I was dangerously running out of by the second.

Whoever was there, they were already moving once I made the hand seal. I may have dispelled the genjutsu, but it was already too late. Before I could register anything else, I felt a needle pierce my neck. I tried to struggle and fight back, but my body had already gone numb, collapsing under my weight. With the last of my strength, I flared my chakra as wildly and violently as I could. At least maybe then, somebody would be alerted that something happened here.

My vision blurred and darkened immediately afterwards. The last thing I saw were the stars in the sky, as they should be.

The sudden flare of chakra alarmed a dozen or so shinobi in the area, immediately drawing them towards the source of it. There wasn’t anything or anybody left to tell them what caused the alarm, but even a genin would have been able to tell that something was terribly amiss. They took immediate action. A chuunin went to alert the Hokage while the rest of them scattered to see if they could find any clues.

A Hyuuga scanned the area with her Byakugan. In the distance, there was somebody sprinting away from the village. She drew attention to them and a small group of the shinobi gave chase. They caught the man who was trying to escape, and once Inoichi and Ibiki handled him, everything became clear within the hour.

“We’re dealing with both Kumo rogues and former samurai from the Land of Iron – the ones that follow Kedamono Shinrin, the ex-samurai Team 10 encountered during their escort mission there.” Inoichi explained before his expression stiffened. “They took Riku.” Tsunade cursed under her breath. “The one we captured was leaving false trails to throw us off, so it will take a while longer to track them. It appears that they’re going to pass her on to somebody else to collect the bounty. The meeting time is at dawn.”

“Tch, they struck sooner than I thought they would, and inside the village no less. They’re a little too skilled for comfort.” The disgruntled Hokage muttered, wishing she hadn’t been in the middle of drinking when the chuunin came to tell her about the alarm. It’s been a while since something made her sober up so quickly. “I’m sending a small retrieval team. Alert Asuma, Kakashi, and Shikamaru. Riku will most likely be on edge, so sending familiar faces would be best. Shizune, go with them. Chances are, she’ll need a medic. If I remember the report correctly, Shinrin isn’t exactly merciful.”

“Yes, Tsunade-sama.” The young woman answered and headed for the door to get ready.

“I’m appointing Asuma as the team leader, and don’t bother reporting back to me. Leave as soon as you’re ready. We don’t have time to spare.” The Hokage added, receiving another nod of confirmation from Shizune. “Do we have an idea of what their numbers are like?” Tsunade asked, addressing the jounin again.

“Nothing that we can say for certain, but it would be wise to send reinforcements.” Inoichi suggested.

“I’ll leave you in charge of that, then. Assemble a team of four and get moving once you can. If that shitty little brat isn’t brought back alive in one piece, I’ll send you all back to the Academy! Dismissed!”

---

I woke up with a familiar pounding in my head. It had been a while since I felt this sort of discomfort, though I can’t say I missed it. My body felt like it was made of lead – heavy and stiff. A slew of curses were all I could muster as I tried to figure out where I was, which was hard since it was dark. The only light source around was a small lantern that sat on a box to my left.

Now that I was starting to recollect myself, I could register the musky scent in the air. It was a little damp, which led me to assume that I was being held either in a cave or underground. It was cold, but not uncomfortably so. I was sitting on wood and bound by shackles around my wrists and ankles. My arms were shackled behind me, and I was in a kneeling position so my wrists could be changed to my ankles. I could barely move them, but if I struggled enough, I could pull my knees up and bring my wrists under my bottom so I could be in a sitting position. My legs were numb, and any attempt of escaping was going to be especially difficult because of the position I was in. It also made it completely impossible to make any sort of hand seal.

Despite this, the shackles weren’t too uncomfortable. At least they weren’t cutting into my skin or rubbing them raw. I didn’t like being kidnapped and restricted, of course, but it could have been a lot worse, considering the situation I was in. At least I couldn’t sense or feel any explosive tags on my legs, or anywhere else on me, for that matter.

The sound of footsteps approaching put me on edge. I relaxed my body, feigning unconsciousness as two people entered.

“Still unconscious.” A man with a hallow voice observed flatly. I kept my eyes closed, identifying the two people in the room by their voices.

“She’s been slipping in and out.” Another voice, a woman, answered.

Whether or not I’ve actually woken up before, I didn’t remember. Considering the state I woke up in just now, though, I wouldn’t be surprised if I wasn’t collected enough to even remember my own name during those supposed slips between consciousness and unconsciousness.

“Looks like she was awake again, recently, but…” her voice trailed off as she walked towards me. Without warning, she grabbed my hair and yanked my head upwards, “…this time, Sleeping Beauty actually got lifted from her curse.”

Shit. The increased activity of my chakra must have given me away.

The demeaning look she gave me reminded me too much of the look Tsura gave when he made a similar comment, and it was then when I realized that I was no longer wearing my mask. There was no point in worrying about that right now, though. Instead, I took advantage of the missing cloth and spat in her face.

“Sleeping Beauty here doesn’t like getting touched by peasants.” I threatened, but the way my voice drawled out due to my exhausted state made it considerably less intimidating.

Now that she was up close and personal, I could just make out the symbol engraved into her headband that identified her as a shinobi from Kumogakure, and the horizontal scratch that cut through it that identified her as missing nin.

Rogues.

The woman was far from amused. She wiped the spit from her face and violently tugged at my hair before throwing me into the ground. I coughed and swallowed a groan. The impact didn’t help my headache one bit.

“You’re lucky I have orders, or you’d have been dead before you even knew it.” The woman snapped before landing another solid kick in my shoulder. I could tell she was holding back, probably due to those orders, too. “Come on, we need to tell him that she’s awake. Still can’t figure out what he’d want with this hideous monstrosity, though.”

“Better hideously scarred than having the face of a sack of potatoes. What’s your excuse, old hag?” I coughed, grinning at her devilishly from the ground. The man pulled the woman back before she could storm back to me, however, and the two left the room, leaving me in near-darkness once again.

I immediately tried to get back into a sitting position, but quickly found that it was nothing but a waste of energy. If I were ever to be blessed with a chance to escape, I’d want to have enough energy to go through with it to the best of my abilities, especially because I was already considerably weakened. Just moments later, the door opened again, but this time, only one person walked in. There was no need for a double take or for the faint light to catch the person’s face. One step into the room was all I needed to identify them.

“Fancy meeting you here, Shinrin.” I greeted bitterly as I stayed on my side. My head was soon full of questions and explanations as to what he was doing with a bunch of Kumo rogues. It was clear that they were working together for one reason or another, but I could only imagine what sort of situation would have caused this bizarre alliance.

“Guess your annoying little genjutsu won’t help you out now.” He chided as he knelt before me, a smug smile spreading across his face.

I heard his black sword get unsheathed and soon, its cold tip was being pulled across my right cheek. I winced as the sharp blade left a shallow cut and a small trail of blood. I tensed, not at all comfortable with the fact that he had his weapon with him while I was essentially nothing more than a slab of meat.

“Aw, no need to be scared. I’m not going to kill you.” Shinrin’s voice was quiet and low, but he was far too close for comfort, so it was easy to hear. “There’s still at least an hour left until you die.”

“What the hell do you want from me?” I growled, trying to think up some way that could get myself out of here, but couldn’t think of anything that wouldn’t leave me either severely injured or severely dead.

“I have no obligation to tell you, but there’s a certain fun that comes from watching captives get anxious about their fate, so why not?” He smiled, putting his sword away. “You got yourself quite a bounty after news of those eyes spread, which went up even more once we found that interesting little seal on your back. A lot of people would love to take a closer look.”

I clenched my jaw, not wanting to know how far they went when examining my body.

“Why don’t you just kill me now, then?” I asked harshly.

“I had no idea you were in such a hurry to die.” Shinrin laughed quietly before grabbing me by the hair to lift me up just an inch or two off the ground. “Believe it or not, I have an employer to deliver you to, first, and while I have no idea what he plans to do with you, I’m under specific orders to make sure that you’re delivered alive.”

“So, that’s what ex-samurai do – sell young girls to creepy, perverted old men.” I said crudely.

The swordsman dropped my head, causing it to hit the ground with a painful thud once again. “That’s no way to talk about one of the three legendary Sannin.” He hissed, his smile as vile and malicious as ever. “Not that it’s any of my business. As long as I get my payment, you can call him whatever you like. For as long as you can keep talking, anyway.”

My heart dropped into my gut as a name immediately came to mind.

Orochimaru.

Why Shinrin was working for that man, I had no idea, but I had heard more than enough from my teammates and the others to know that I was definitely in some really deep shit. There was no way I could get myself out of these shackles, but I had to think of something, and soon. Maybe I could at least buy myself some more time. Flaring up my chakra like that must have caused an alarm. I had to think of something – anything that stopped me from being handed over to the infamous Sannin for who knows what. Experiments, torture, bounty; whatever it may be, it sounded like nothing but bad news to me, and it did nothing to quell the building anxiety and fear rushing that was pooling in my stomach.

Shit, I really need get the fuck outta here. I thought desperately as Shinrin lifted my head again. This time, however, he spared my scalp by shoving his hand up against my jaw so he could strain my airways at the same time. I coughed, struggling to keep my breaths even and deep enough to stay conscious.

“It’s a shame you’ll never get to brag to your friends about meeting him. You should be honoured that he has his eyes set out for you.”

“Like winning the fucking lottery.” I choked, voice strained and raspy because of both dehydration and the hand around my neck.

Shinrin tightened his grip, making it impossible for me to do anything but wheeze and suck in desperate gasps of air. “That being said, I’ll probably never see you again after this. Not alive, anyway.” He murmured as a cruel smile formed, flickering under the single source of light. “So I’d like to spend some quality time with you before then.”

Searing pain ripped across my back, and only then did I realize that he had shoved me into the wall behind me. It was rough and cold; a stone wall, despite the wooden flooring. I groaned as he released my neck, but before I hit the ground, he slammed his knee into my gut, pinning me against the wall with my ankles and arms caught in between. My body slumped over his knee while my legs hovered in the air, bent beneath me because of the shackles that still connected them to my wrists.`

He lowered his leg, dropping me to the ground with a heavy thud. I heaved, the wind knocked out of me as blood dripped from the corners of my mouth. Through the throbbing pain of a heavily bruised abdomen, there was a stabbing pain that accompanied it. It would have been a miracle if my ribs were still intact.

I tried to curl myself into a ball in a pathetic attempt at easing the pain, but the shackles only allowed so much movement. The impact of the strike had dug them into my wrists, leaving cuts and scratches, which discouraged me from moving around even more.

“Fucking…bas…tard…!” I gasped, vision too blurred to glare at him properly.

“I’m surprised you have enough energy to talk.” The swordsman said as he lifted me by the front of my shirt. “All the better for me, though. It’d be boring if you passed out too quickly.”

I caught a glimpse of his sickening grin before I was kicked across the room. I cried out in pain as the onslaught continued mercilessly until I could barely even register every punch and kick. I really, really wished I had stayed unconscious.

“Hmm… Kicking around a rag doll isn’t very fun, and I’ve got only a little less than an hour left to kill.” Shinrin thought aloud while sauntering towards me. “Why don’t I take off those shackles and give you a chance? We could play a little game of cat and mouse to pass the time.”

“Stay the fuck away from me!” I screamed, mustering up a burst of energy in order to do so. Blood spat from my mouth and onto the ground before me, right at his feet. I cringed, the stabbing pains from my stomach not easing up one bit. More was surely to come.

Of course, he didn’t stop, and I had no mobility or strength to inch myself away from him or defend myself. With a click, my ankles and wrists were separated. I still had the shackles around my wrist, but I could perform hand seals now. It seemed foolish, but I immediately tried to create a shinjutsu. Instead, it felt like my chakra was stuck in place, refusing to cooperate. I couldn’t even activate my Youkugan, no matter how much I tried.

“You didn’t really think it would be that easy, did you?” Shinrin murmured as he stepped on my hands. I winced, feeling the edge of his boot digging into my joints. There was another click, and the shackles around my ankles came off. I stretched out my legs, wondering if I would even be able to stand up properly because of how shaky and numb they were.

“Didn’t you say…you have to bring me to him…alive…?” I asked between heavy breaths as I slowly pushed myself up into a sitting position. The blood rushed back into my legs, making them tingle violently, as if they were being pricked by thousands of needles at once.

“Of course.” He agreed while unsheathing his sword. “So you’d better get running, little mouse, before a terrible accident occurs.”

I barely had time to roll out of the way as he brought his sword down.

Shit, he’s fucking serious!

This wasn’t what I had in mind when it came to buying time, but if I didn’t play along with his twisted game, I would only be getting decorated with more and more cuts and bruises. If that’s how he wanted to play, then my only option was to go along with it.

Just buy some time until help arrives. You can do this, Riku. You have to.

My heart pounded violently as I scrambled onto my feet, only to stumble and fall a few feet away. Having bound hands didn’t make it any easier to catch myself. He moved slowly, in no rush to catch up to me as I pushed myself up. Agonizing pain made me dizzy and it felt like I was carrying ten tons of iron on my back, but the adrenaline pumping through me made it just bearable enough for me to reach the door and shove it open with the weight of my entire body.

I fell out of the doorway into a dimly lit hallway and had to lean against the wall for support. My shoulder stung as it scraped across the rough walls. It was the only part of my body that I could use to support myself, since my hands would only get strained and possibly even fractured if I put too much weight on them.

“No need to rush, little mouse. We have plenty of time to enjoy ourselves!” Shinrin exclaimed as he lunged forward, purposely missing me by just an inch as he swung his sword down, dragging it down the wall. I stumbled forward to get away as fast as I could, but he grabbed me by the shoulder and pushed me into the wall. The edge of his sword poked my right shoulder as he smiled cruelly. “Ever heard of slow slicing?”

My throat was too dry to answer, but it wasn’t like I would have, anyway.

“It used to be a form of execution. We even used it in the Land of Iron, but now it’s just used as a torture method these days.” He seemed genuinely disappointed by this, and I suddenly realized that maybe his banishment was due to more than because of his attempted theft. “A knife is used to carve bits and pieces of the victim’s body, giving them an excruciatingly slow death. Its alternate name is death by a thousand cuts.” The pressure in the blade increase and I winced as it pierced my skin. His smile widened. “I wonder how many I can get onto you before we have to call it quits.”

My blood ran cold and I found myself too petrified to move. With a twist of his wrist, Shinrin abruptly stabbed his blade further into my shoulder and pulled back, carving an agonizing crescent-shaped wound into it. A shriek was caught in my throat and was coughed out as he shoved me down the hall, wordlessly telling me to get running, not that anybody had to tell me that.

It was all my mind was focused on. I especially didn’t dare to think about how long I could last, or what would happen if he caught me again, or why he had the sickening cruelty in him to do this in the first place. No wonder Mifune-sama banished him; he’s a flat-out psychopath. All I could do was stumble away, step by step, hastily catching myself every time as I dragged my feet down the hall.

Tears threatened to cloud my vision, from both the pure anguish and absolute terror that overwhelmed me. I forced myself to stay collected, however, because the last thing I needed was to have my sight and thought process impaired.

Even if I endure until the meeting time, won’t that Orochimaru guys just kill me instead? Haha… I choked out a bitter laugh as the realization donned on me. Just wonder if it would be worse than dealing with Shinrin made me want to throw up. More than I already wanted to, that is.

I really wished people were looking for me.

There was a staircase at the end of the hall. I looked straight ahead as I limped, not daring to see how close Shinrin was to cutting me again. There was a pile of boxes stacked on one side of the hallway. In an attempt to buy just a few more seconds, I kicked them over, spilling the documents everywhere along with them.

“Hey now, there’s no need for you to make a mess.” His voice rang down the hall with a faint echo, making it all the more unsettling to hear.

“Right. It’s usually the cat that knocks stuff over, isn’t it.” I hissed between clenched teeth.

I reached the first step, only to slip and scrape my knees and elbows against the stone ground. I cursed as I tried to stabilize myself again. My legs were still virtually useless, just strong enough to keep myself propped up against the walls, but whatever other injuries I had received made it even harder to move.

Deciding that I would only keep falling if I tried to walk up the stairs, I clawed at the steps above me as much as I could while slowly kicking myself up the stairs, inch-by-inch, step-by-step. My feet slipped on numerous occasions and sometimes I would slide down a few steps before stopping myself, but Shinrin was taking his time. He was having far too much fun with this, and it was beyond revolting, but I had no time to be disgusted and repulsed. Only for this was I thankful that he was having fun with this morbid game. It bought me enough time to crawl up the stairs and push the trap door open, blessing me with a breath of fresh air.

I was surprised that he let me go outside. Considering the state I was in, though, if our positions were switched, I wouldn’t have been worrying about it, either. I wouldn’t have been worrying about a lot of things. I knew he could catch up to me in a heartbeat, but so long as he was going along with his sadistic game, I was going to take every extra second for myself to increase the distance between the two of us.

The ground was damp and I was immediately stained with mud as I pushed myself out of the trapdoor and onto the ground. I cried out in pain when the door fell on my left ankle. It was heavy, but light enough so that I could still wedge myself out. It took time, though, and before I could try getting back onto my feet, the trapdoor opened again.

Shinrin emerged with his sword in hand. It reflected the faint orange-yellow light of the sun. It was getting close to the break of dawn, but apparently not close enough for him to stop this game of his. Either way, the weather was far too peaceful for this sort of thing to be happening. This is the kind of weather I spent going on a walk or napping in a tree, not trying to escape the blade of a twisted psychopath.

I could really go for a nap right now.

I probably would have, too, because my adrenaline could only keep me going for so long, but the mud and grass rubbing against my raw flesh forced me awake, and the tip of his blade against my back threw me into another state of panic and alarm.

“Get away from me!” I screamed just as loudly as before, rolling onto my back so I could use my legs to kick myself away from him. His blade dragged across me as I did so, leaving another red gash in my skin, but at least this one only cut, not carve.

“You’re so much better than I thought you’d be.” Shinrin said, twirling his sword as he continued pacing towards me. “I never expected you make it outside in that state. Orochimaru-sama will definitely be pleased to see that you’re so energetic and healthy.”

“Never felt better.” I strained to speak, but it was just about the only thing left that kept me grounded.

I wanted to keep inching back, but the sword pressed right between my collarbones stopped me. He wouldn’t kill me, but just another twist was all it would take for him to carve another wound into me. I held my breath as much as I could to stop my chest from rising, worried that it might make the sword dig deeper into my skin. He moved and I flinched, to which he laughed. Instead of cutting my chest, however, he brought the sword up to the left side of my face.

“Maybe I should cut off this hideous thing. It would do both of us a favour, don’t you think?”

I leaned back and violently kicked my feet, hastily trying to get away from him again. I lacked the energy to do so, however, and the wet grass made it hard to get a solid grip, so all I could too was struggle. My useless kicking stopped when he slammed his heel into my shin and stepped on my other foot to keep me in place. I screamed in pain, my legs rendered even more useless than before, when they wouldn’t stop trembling even when I wasn’t using them.

“Quit moving, alright? You’ll make me cut something else off by mistake.” His voice was low and calm, but his eyes were full of nothing but malice.

So I stopped moving, helpless to do anything but watch as he began to push his sword into the side of my mouth. Shinrin pulled his sword away before bringing it back, as if practicing how he would slice through my scarred face until finally, he gripped his sword tightly and brought it over his shoulder.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make you presentable for my master!”

I braced myself for the searing pain that was sure to come, but all I heard instead was the sound of Shinrin cursing and being audibly confused. I opened my eyes to see his sword just inches away from my face. He didn’t cut me. He couldn’t cut me. He was stuck. It took a moment for the realization to sink in. Now he was the vulnerable one, unable to move or get away or fight back.

I snapped.

“How many times do I have to say it?” I growled as his sword dropped to the ground. “Get the fuck away from me!”

My yelling covered his loud curse as I slammed my head into his gut. The impact freed my foot and I pushed myself up into a kneeling position. While Shinrin’s body was still hunched over, I straightened my legs with as much force as I could, driving my head right into his face. There was a loud crunch and something warm dripped onto me, but I didn’t stop. I wouldn’t stop. Not until he was absolutely still and silent and dead.

“Still having fun with your game?” His only response was a pained groan as he held his face. “Answer me!” I screamed, digging my knees under his rib cage to keep him pinned to the ground. “Try hurting me again! I fucking dare you!”

I swung my hands into his face, cutting his cheeks and lips with the shackles that still bound my wrists together. There was another loud crack upon impact, the sound of the shackles clanging together and slamming against his jaw, which was followed by another, and then another, and then another, but it was never enough. My arms trembled with every strike, too weak to disfigure his skull, but enough to scratch and cut his face. Something warm and sticky began to coat my hands. With every hit, a torn scream came with it, but I couldn’t tell if it was coming from him or me. Maybe it was both, or maybe it was neither and I had simply gone insane.

“St--!”

Over the sound of blunt impact and my heartbeat pounding in my head, I barely heard the voice yelling at me.

“Stop!”

Of course he would want me to stop. I wanted him to stop, to, but he never did, so neither would I.

“Stop!” The voice was much closer this time. Something grabbed my wrists and I realized that there was somebody in front of me. I began to scream and kick and pull away, too erratic and instinctively resisting to register who it was. “Riku!” I calmed down at the sound of my name.

There was a sharp slice and my arms were lowered to my sides, no longer shackled together. I was lifted and carried away from Shinrin, who lay barely conscious in the muddy and blood-splattered grass.

“Shikamaru, restrain him.” The voice of the man who carried me said. “Everybody else, search the inside. Capture anybody you see, and retrieve anything that might be useful. Watch out for traps, but be quick. We need to live before their contact arrives. We’re not taking the risk of staying to meet them ourselves.”

I could hear several people moving about, their footsteps disappearing into the underground passageway. I relished in the newfound silence. My body still screamed in protest with every breath I took, but I could endure it because I knew it couldn’t get any worse.

“Riku…” The voice said in a low murmur. The lingering scent of cigarettes that clung to this man was oddly comforting. “Can you hear me, Riku?”

“…Yeah.” I answered softly, taking as deep of a breath as I could without hurting my chest too much. “…You stink, Asuma-sensei.” I didn’t realize how tense he was until he breathed a sigh of relief.

“Haha, sorry. I’m going to set you down, alright?” He asked, doing so once I nodded.

I sat with my legs outstretched before me. My back was rested against a tree, my arms loose by my sides. Everything hurt, but being able to relax put me at ease.

Asuma-sensei crouched in front of me and extended his hand. “Can you still lift your arms?” Shakily, I brought them up, and we both stared at the blood that dyed parts of my hands, leaving it sticky and splotchy.

“It’s not mine.” I murmured. “Not all of it, anyway.”

“I know.” He looked both relieved and upset by this. “I’m going to patch you up a little.” There was usually a let me know if it hurts that follows that line, but he seemed to understand that the answer to that question was rather obvious. I was hit everywhere, so it hurt everywhere.

Cautiously, Asuma-sensei washed over whatever skin was visible with a damp cloth, stinging the scratches and cuts that covered my arms and legs. He would quietly apologize every time I winced, which was often, especially when he started wrapping the bigger wounds that I had. I noticed that he paused for a moment when he saw the wound on my shoulder. He looked angry.

“Slow slicing.” I explained.

Now, he looked furious.

“…I’m sorry.” He apologized again as he began to clean it.

We went back to silence, but it was tense. Asuma-sensei was incredibly focused. I wanted to say something, but he was still cleaning up my wounds, so I didn’t want to startle him. Thankfully, somebody else broke the silence for us.

“Hey.” I returned the lethargic chuunin’s greeting with a nod. He held out a dark piece of cloth. “We found your mask.”

“Crap.” I hissed, turning my head away to hide my scar. After everything that happened, I forgot that I wasn’t wearing it all this time. “Good thing you found it, huh?” I laughed softly, taking it from him. I tied it on as quickly as I could, gritting my teeth as my shoulder protested. Showing my face to anybody else wasn’t on my to-do list, so I endured it for the brief moment that I strained myself. I looked back at the chuunin. “Thanks, Shikamaru.”

“It’s nothing.” He murmured, making an effort not to draw attention to my scar. I appreciated it.

“When he suddenly stopped moving,” I started after a brief moment of silence, referring to that twisted bastard, “was that you?”

“…Yeah.” The brunette glanced away briefly, as if he was upset about something. “Sorry. I should have stopped him sooner.”

I wanted to say something, but I felt like it would have been a waste of breath. It was hard to talk a Konoha shinobi out of guilt. He distracted himself from it rather quickly, now addressing Asuma-sensei.

“Anything serious, Sensei? Is it alright to call Shizune-san over now?”

The jounin looked over to me, silently asking the same thing.

“Sure.” I nodded.

I had wondered why a medic wasn’t the first one to look over my injuries. They must have been hesitant to have a stranger be the first one to speak to me, I realized, even though she wasn’t a total stranger. It was probably a good call though, considering how I even tried to fight against Asuma-sensei at first.

Shikamaru nodded and left to get the medic, leaving me with Asuma-sensei once again. It was quiet, save for the occasional muffled voice I could hear in the distance. People came and went, but I didn’t look up to see who else was there. I stared at my hands, trying to comprehend how they were bloody and shackled just moments before, but were now clean and properly bandaged. I relished in the free movement that I had, letting it finally sink in that I was alive – that I was safe.

Asuma-sensei offered me a bottle of water and I took it, remembering only then how parched I was. Just as I started to take a sip, a lump began to swell in my throat and my vision blurred as relief washed over me in a heartbeat. I failed to swallow a sob and water splashed everywhere when it choked out, startling Asuma-sensei as much as it did me.

“Shit…!” I cracked, holding my free hand up to my face. I covered my mouth, trying to keep my shoulders from trembling, but the sense of warmth and relief was too overwhelming for me to hold in.

“Riku.” Asuma-sensei’s voice was gentle but firm as he tried to keep me grounded. He took the water bottle from my hand and set it aside.

“This is s-so uncool.” I said with a broken laugh, pulling my legs up to cover my face.

“It’s okay.” He reassured, resting a hand on my shoulder. “You did well, Riku.” I couldn’t find it in me to respond. Too busy trying to recollect myself. “Listen to me, Riku. You did great.” He spoke slowly and clearly, carefully enunciating every word. “You made it. You’re safe now. Are you listening, Riku? It’s over now.”

I mustered a small nod as I constantly wiped my eyes. Shit, they just wouldn’t let up, the tears. “I thought shinobi a-aren’t supposed to c-cry.”

“I don’t think anybody will hold it against you.” He reassured in a sullen tone. “Besides, you survived because it was you. You’re strong, Riku. You’ll bounce back, like you always do.”

I couldn’t speak at first due to constantly getting interrupted by sharp inhales. “F-Fuck yeah I w-will.” I murmured, taking deep breaths as I finally started to calm down.

As the last of my sobs faded and I could finally relax my body, Shizune-san arrived. She greeted me with a smile and I acknowledge her by lowering my hands and legs.

“Asuma-san, could you give us some space, please?” She asked. The jounin nodded and moved aside. “Can you tell me where it hurts most, Riku?” She asked once she was crouching before me.

“I…have a few cracked ribs, I think.” I murmured, voice still strained from my sudden breakdown. “He cut me here and there. The worst is on my shoulder, here.” I gestured towards the patched wound Asuma-sensei had briefly tended to. “I might have a fractured ankle, too. I’m not sure.”

Shizune-san nodded. “I’m going to take off your jacket and lift your shirt a little, alright?” I nodded, wincing a little as she did so. Warmth flowed from her hands into my body once she started healing, however, and I sighed, thankful that the pain and soreness was finally starting to ease up. “I’m just easing the pain a little. You’ll still have to stay at the hospital for a while longer after this once we get back.”

I nodded again, my eyes starting to feel heavy as she continued healing me. “…Do I have to be conscious for this?” I asked quietly, feeling the exhaustion starting to pile onto me like a ton of bricks.

She smiled gently. “You can relax. You’ll be safe at home the next time you wake up.”

“…Yeah. Thanks.” I sighed, letting myself fall to my exhaustion.

Safe. That was a word I was never going to get tired of hearing.

The trip back to Konoha was not as peaceful as everybody hoped it would be. Shortly after Riku had fallen asleep, enemy reinforcements arrived to take back the genin who they claimed to be theirs. Although no serious injuries were sustained, there was some struggle to get away with Shinrin. They weren’t prepared to make such a capture in the first place, so getting the chance to do so at all was a stroke of luck. Despite the higher note, it didn’t mean that all was well.

There were still several questions that needed to be answered, after all, such as why they would go to such lengths to capture a genin. Infiltrating the village itself was a risky move, and it made those who knew about it wonder how it was accomplished in the first place. After all, the last enemy to infiltrate the village without sounding alarms was the Akatsuki.

Such were the questions that floated around Asuma’s head as he quietly slid open the door that led to his student’s hospital room. It was still early, so he didn’t get around to telling Ino or Chouji about what happened yet, but he wasn’t sure if he wanted to let them know the details, anyway.

Inside, Shizune was taking down notes about Riku’s current state. There was nothing that couldn’t be fixed, but it was more than enough to require somebody being in the room at all times.

“Do you see this sort of thing often?” Asuma asked as he approached her side.

“It’s not particularly common, but kidnappings do happen from time to time.” Shizune answered softly.

“They aren’t all so…inhumane, are they?” Asuma asked in the same hushed tone, wary of the genin that remained unconscious nearby. “If they were going after a jounin, sure, but a genin…”

“No, but this wouldn’t be the first time. Considering her age and experience, though, she’s really holding herself together well. Admittedly, I didn’t expect her to be that stable and coherent when we found her.”

“She’s definitely an outlier.” In more ways than one, the jounin thought.

The medic hummed in agreement. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a victim lash out like she did, either. Most are too mentally traumatized or exhausted for that, but for her, it looked like it was instinctual. She’s a strong one.”

“That’s what I’ve been saying. I’m a little scared to see what she’ll be capable of after honing those instincts.” Asuma laughed quietly. Riku was still only a genin, after all, but her mentality definitely exceeded that level already. Any experience shinobi would be able to tell at least that much.

“She could definitely grow up to be an amazing asset to Konoha, assuming she ever gets the chance to hone them.” Shizune frowned, shaking her head. “Unfortunately, I know of many shinobi who have retired after similar experiences. About 37% of them do.”

“Don’t include me in your dumb statistics.” A faint voice yawned, drawing their attention back to the single bed in the room. “When I retire, it’ll only be after I tear that bastard apart or because I died trying.”

“Glad to see you’re awake, Riku.” Shizune smiled, approaching the genin. “Are you feeling better?”

“Hey, it’s like they say: what doesn’t kill me gives me severe internal bleeding.” She grinned weakly behind her mask.

Asuma breathed a faint laugh. He was relieved to see that she was well enough to make her usual quips. “I don’t think that’s how the saying goes.” He answered, helping her get into a sitting position.

Despite her behaviour, the state she was in upon retrieval had been life threatening. She really had suffered from severe internal bleeding, as well as a number of fractures. She had six cracked ribs and two broken ones. Her ankle and wrist were fractured, and on top of it all, she had suffered a serious concussion. Those were only the internal damages.

By the time they got back to Konoha, her bruises had almost entirely coloured her black and blue. The skin around her wrists and ankles were rubbed raw. Scrapes were lined up and down her arms, shoulders, and legs. Finally, there were cuts all over. Most were fairly shallow, but the one her shoulder was at least an inch deep, and was much more than just a cut. It was like a small creature had taken a bite out of her shoulder, but the cut was much too smooth and clean for it to have been an animal. Not that they had to spend any time speculating about the origins of the wound. Riku made it quite clear herself when Asuma first saw it. Whatever she went through, it was nothing short of brutal and well within the realms of torture.

Yet, here she was, trying to crack a joke despite it all.

“Your injuries have been healed, but we’d like you to stay here for a couple of more days to make sure everything is alright.” Shizune-san explained as she took notes. “We’re worried about your head trauma, as well as a couple of other things, so we want to make sure everything is alright before we release you.”

The genin nodded slowly, as if cautious about the sensitivity of her head. She seemed to be relatively fine, but Asuma wondered how much she was enduring at the moment. He wondered why she was worried about crying and keeping herself collected, but was able to conceal her physical pain just as well as the next shinobi. Five years alone is a lot of time to get hurt, he thought.

“—right, sensei?” The jounin snapped my head up, realizing that Riku had been saying something.

“Aha, sorry, I was spacing out a little. Could you repeat that?”

She huffed. “I was just talking about how old you jounin are, which is apparently older than I first thought. Is your hearing already deteriorating that much?”

“Hey, no need to be so harsh.” He laughed, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. Whatever she was saying apparently wasn’t important enough to be repeated, since she didn’t bother to. Shizune-san had already went on to do a few more routine checkups, anyway.

“I’m going to check your shoulder, alright?” She unwrapped the bandages after Riku nodded, revealing the red, swollen skin that was held together with thick stitches. It was a lot better than when Asuma first saw it, that was for sure, but it didn’t take an expert to know that it was still a nasty wound. “This might sting a bit.” The medic said while preparing to apply disinfectant.

Shortly after Shizune got started, there was a knock on the door and Tsunade walked in. She greeted the jounin and medic with a nod before turning her attention towards Riku, content to see that she was awake and well. The pleasant greetings were short lasting, however, because the Hokage had some things to ask.

“Are you feeling well enough to answer some questions, Riku?” She asked. The genin nodded, only wincing at the disinfectant, but it was nothing that warranted a pause. “Good. Can you tell us what they did to you while you were captured?

Part of Asuma wanted to tell Tsunade to go easy on Riku, but the genin was already answering. If she was actually still affected by the memories, she was doing a good job of hiding it, he noted.

“Yeah, but I think most of it is pretty straightforward.” She nodded while gesturing at her injured body. “They had my wrists and ankles shackled together so I was stuck in a kneeling position. First, two of them showed up – a man and a woman, both rogues from Kumo – and realized that I woke up. The woman beat me up a bit, but admittedly, I kinda got on her nerves.”

“What did you say to her?”

“I kinda spit in her face and, uh, called her a peasant… and an old hag.” Riku coughed, glancing away nervously. “…And also a wrinkly sack of potatoes.”

The Hokage snorted, the medic took a moment to swallow a laugh, and the jounin tried to cover his smile by pretending to scratch his beard.

“While it’s good to show that your kidnappers aren’t getting to you, avoid saying or doing things that will make you more likely to get hurt.” Tsunade cautioned while fighting the amused twitch at the corner of her mouth. “What happened after that?”

Riku glanced away again, but this time with an empty look in her eyes. “…Shinrin came in. He cut my cheek,” she pointed to the thin line that crept up from beneath her mask, “and told me about my bounty, and that he was going to deliver me to somebody.” She paused, took a deep breath, and looked back at the Hokage and jounin. “To Orochimaru.”

The name hit everybody in the room like a ton of bricks. All suspicions about whether or not there was more going on behind the scenes was immediately confirmed the second she uttered the name. Tsunade cursed under her breath and bit at her thumb, her brows furrowing more than before as she assessed the situation. Asuma suddenly understood the sort of worry that plagued Kakashi when the Sannin had given Sasuke the Cursed Seal. Shizune remained silent, but tense, resuming her work on Riku’s wounds.

“…Go on.” Tsunade finally said, deciding to address that detail later.

“He said there was about an hour until the meeting time, so he...” She swallowed. Asuma shot Tsunade a look, but she simply held up a hand, signaling for him to wait. “…He decided to kill time by playing a… a game. A game of cat and mouse.” Riku scoffed bitterly as she shook her head. “And lemme tell you, it’s by far the shittiest game I’ve ever played. Bastard barely even explained the rules, and he beat me up before we even started. He was kind enough to give me a head start, though.” She finished with her jaws clenched, not realizing how tightly she was gripping the bed sheets.

“I had to run, or else…” Riku brushed her hand across her right shoulder and momentarily squeezed her eyes shut.

“Hokage-sama.” Asuma urged quietly. Tsunade seemed to contemplate stopping there, but the genin continued on her own.

“…Or else he’d keep cutting me.” She dropped her hand with a heavy sigh. “I figured I could use it to buy me some time, too. Better than getting beaten up for a full hour, I guess, and it’s how I got outside in the first place.” Her hands went back to gripping the bed sheets. “I fell, and he was there, towering over me with his sword right at my face. He was going to carve out my scar – carve out half my fucking face – so I struggled, of course, not that I really had the energy for it. He kicked me and crushed my ankle to stop me from moving. That’s probably how I fractured it. Then, everybody showed up and stopped the whole thing, so you probably know the rest.”

Asuma fumed silently and kept his hands stuffed in his pockets so nobody could see how tightly clenched they were.

“Everything matches her injuries,” Shizune confirmed in a low voice, “except for the one in her neck.”

“My neck?” Riku echoed.

Tsunade nodded. “We found a small wound in your neck – an entry point for a needle, to be exact. Do you remember being injected with anything?”

The genin took a moment to think about it before it looked like she remembered something. “Yeah, I think they used it to knock me out.” She murmured, rubbing her neck where the entry point was as she spoke. “That thing really packs a punch. I felt completely wiped when I finally woke up. I couldn’t even muster enough energy to activate my Youkugan, not that I could do much with it. I couldn’t make any genjutsu, either.”

“That’s what I thought.” Tsunade hummed with a crease between her brows. “There was something definitely wrong with your chakra when we performed the first checkup. You should be fine now, but that drug was most likely something that prevented you from accessing your chakra.”

“Does something like that even exist?” Asuma asked, growing more and more concerned about the situation. The enemy appeared to be nothing more than some stray shinobi and samurai, but if they had the means to make a drug like that, then there was much more to it than meets the eye.

“They would need incredible resources to accomplish something like that.” Shizune chimed in with the same amount of concern in her voice. “It’s far too complex for rogues and ex-samurai to make.”

The Hokage nodded in agreement. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Orochimaru had something to do with the drug. That bastard’s never going to give it up.” Tsunade hissed through clenched teeth before sighing. “If he has Kumo rogues and Shinrin working with him, on top the Sound Village, he’s built a small army for himself. I highly doubt this is the last we’ll be hearing of him.”

“You would think that attacking our village would be enough for him.” Asuma muttered, feeling the need to take a smoke grow with every second that passed by. “If he strikes again with that force, it’ll become a small war.”

“It doesn’t seem like he ever settles for any less.” Shizune added crossly.

Heavy silence filled the room again. Asuma glancing towards his student, partially regretting that they had this conversation in front of her, but knew that she ought to hear the facts and the reality that they were all facing now.

“He wouldn’t start that big of a battle just to get me, would he?” Riku murmured as Shizune wrapped the last of the new bandages around her wounds.

“That probably isn’t the case, even if it is Orochimaru.” Tsunade admitted, but there was no reason to rest easy. Rather, it meant quite the opposite for them. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he had another hidden agenda. The last time he attacked Konoha, he was trying to take over it. This could very possibly be a second attempt, but he’s a greedy bastard and might have another goal in mind.”

“Sasuke?” The genin asked bluntly, voicing the nagging thought that was at the back of everybody’s minds.

“It’s a possibility.” The Hokage agreed, not liking the sounds of things the more they spoke about it. “Whatever he plans on doing, though, at least we have time to prepare for it. Ibiki is still doing interrogations as we speak, so we might be able to get something from that as well. We have Shinrin under Ibiki’s supervision right now, so we might get something out of him as well.”

The jounin didn’t fail to notice how the swordsman’s name made his student tense up just the slightest bit.

“What happens if Ibiki-san doesn’t get anything?” Riku asked, looking Tsunade straight in the eye.

The older woman paused briefly before answering. “We get rid of him.”

“…I see.” The genin remained tense, but not as if she was remembering a bad memory. She looked anxious.

Asuma recalled her previous words. When I retire, it’ll only be after I tear that bastard apart. Though he wasn’t sure if he would leave anything for her to tear apart if he ever got his hands on the swordsman that kidnapped and beat – no, tortured his student. The mere thought of it made him sick to the stomach, and the fact that she could recall everything so vividly didn’t make it any better.

Tsunade broke the short but heavy silence by clearing her throat. “I believe that’s all for now. You’ve given us some valuable information, Riku. Good work.” She praised in an authoritative tone. “I expect you to take it easy for the next few days.” Her voice remained firm, as if she was giving orders, but Asuma noted her expression had softened.

Shinobi weren’t typically meant to show sympathy for others. Getting hurt was part of the job, and everybody knew it. Even so, genin was normally an exception to this unspoken rule. They were shinobi and were trained to have this same mentality, but nobody could deny that they were still only children. No matter how many times they’ve been told to think like a proper shinobi, his students were still only children.

It took Asuma a certain amount of willpower not to storm down to the Torture and Interrogation building and use his own tactics on the bastard.

“Shizune, if you’re done, come with me.” Tsunade said while heading towards the door. She paused to address the jounin. “I’m giving you the rest of the day off, so you’d better make good use of it.”

The Hokage left with her apprentice close behind, leaving Asuma and Riku in silence once again. The genin glanced over to her sensei, to which he smiled, silently expressing his relief that she was safe. She, on the other hand, looked like she had something to say. Her eyes were stiff, wondering if maybe if she should address the matter even further. She didn’t want to think about it, though. Not right now, anyway.

“Hey, Asuma-sensei.” Riku started in a soft voice. “Did you already know about my…” she trailed off and rephrased her question, “why I wear a mask?”

The question took Asuma by surprise, but only because he had been expecting a question about Orochimaru or the upcoming confrontation that was sure to happen, or anything that wasn’t such a sudden change in topic, really. Still, he went along with hit. If Riku wanted to talk about something else, it was best to go with it.

“I had a good idea, yes.” The jounin nodded, deciding not to avoid the question. “What made you think that?”

“Most people tend to stare.” She murmured, glancing away a bit. “I figured, maybe it was a professionalism thing to not stare, but people tend to do it instinctively, anyway. Not that I blame them.” That much was true. “Besides, it’s not like you’d really expect a kid like me to have this kind of face.” That was also true. It took one hell of an accident to cause those types of injuries. Well, either that or a stray explosive kunai. “Did Kakashi-sensei tell you about it?”

Asuma pulled up a chair next to the bed. “He might have mentioned something about it to me.” He remembered the look in Kakashi’s eye when he told him that Riku had regained her memories of the event. It had been a while since Asuma had seen the grey-haired man look so heavy with guilt.

An elite shinobi like Kakashi, and a former ANBU no less, had a talent for suppressing such things, but every shinobi had their share of regrets, and from them, their share of nightmares that would come back to haunt them every so often. Having to kill other shinobi without knowing why they had to be killed was hard enough sometimes, but harming an innocent child, even if the stress of battle and war was in effect, was one of the worst of his personal plagues.

“A handful of us jounin put two and two together once we found out about your bloodline, though.” She silently asked for clarification, so the jounin continued. “Konoha didn’t send just one shinobi as support during wartime.” No respectable village would.

Her response was a soft hum, which suddenly became a curt laugh. “…Asu-nii, eh? And Kura-nee… I could never really say Kurenai-sensei’s name.” Asuma smiled at the nostalgia, and because it appeared Riku was regaining more memories.

The mission was a couple of years before the war, so Riku must have been four, maybe five, years old at the time. It was still a little bizarre to accept that she was the same little girl they had all come to know several years ago. When Asuma first saw the Youkugan in her eyes, it definitely took more than a just a couple of days for it to really sink in.

“You were always following one of us around, like a lost duckling.” The jounin laughed. Riku narrowed her eyes, unsure of how to take that statement. “We were there for quite a while, so you grew rather fond of us. I think it’s safe to say that it went both ways. Kurenai would often refer to you as the little sister she never had.” He laughed again, wondering how the red-eyed jounin thought about Riku being the same ‘Ri-chan’ from back then.

“I sort of remember something like that, yeah.” Riku smiled softly, hoping to remember more of those pleasant memories. “Can I ask what happened when…?” She started, trailing off to finish her sentence by gesturing towards her mask.

Asuma gave a comforting smile to reassure his student that it was okay to ask. It wasn’t taboo, after all. “It was a mess. Before the incident, it had been a long time since I had seen Kakashi look so troubled.” A shinobi learned to feel close to no remorse when killing during a mission. They even train to learn to move on after the death of a comrade, but harming an innocent person – a child, no less – could easily become more than just a bad memory. For some, it had even been the reason for early retirement. “To be frank, we were all incredibly surprised that Misaki-sama didn’t kick us out of the village right then and there, ahaha!”

“Really? Was she a scary person?” From her memories, it didn’t seem that way, but it wasn’t often that Riku got to hear or ask about her mother.

“No, not at all. She was a very gentle, kind woman,” the jounin explained cheerfully, “but one look at her and you knew she could snap your neck if she wanted to. She was like a rose – get too close and her thorns would prick you. You give off a similar vibe, actually.”

“Do I?” It also wasn’t often that she got compared to her mother. In fact, this was the first time.

“You’re deadly when you’re pushed to a certain point. Anybody who saw your match against Tsura should know.”

Anybody who saw you attack Shinrin does know, he added silently.

“I guess that’s true.”

“Most people don’t have the energy or confidence to fight back once they get to that point, either, but you…” Asuma looked at Riku for a moment, as if evaluating her right on the spot, “…You’ve got an incredible ability there, and I’m not talking about your bloodline or your bijuu. You don’t need those to be strong. It’s that will of yours that gives you the potential to become an incredible shinobi.”

The genin was taken aback by his words. As a petty thief who couldn’t even use ninjutsu when she first arrived, she never really thought that somebody would ever say that about her. That being said, Riku could only find it in her to nod.

“Actually,” Asuma started with a nostalgic smile, “after the accident, what really surprised us was how you handled it.”

“Was the volume of wailing and shrieking unexpected from a tiny thing like me?” She asked wryly.

“I won’t lie, there was crying, but I’m not talking about that.” He laughed, shaking his head.

The memory slowly came back to her. Riku just barely remembered sitting in the hospital bed, laughing as she covered the lower half of her face with the blanket and said, I’m gonna be just like Kashi-jiji! The memory was followed by hazy images of stunned, wordless expressions.

“Yeah, I kinda remember now.” She laughed, gently tugging at her blanket. “Maa, I was a weird kid.”

“There’s that, too!” The jounin suddenly exclaimed brightly, looking incredibly amused. “Saying maa all the time, I’m sure that must be something that stuck with you after you spent all that time copying Kakashi.”

“Copying the Copy Nin, eh?” Riku grinned, amused at her supposed younger self. “I can only imagine how bothersome that was, having some little brat mimicking you like a monkey when there’s a war.”

“It was refreshing, actually.” Asuma countered. “Many enjoyed your company. It kept us grounded.”

“Oh?” was her sole response as she failed to remember any specific memories that would back up his claim.

“You still have that quality about you. The only difference is that now you use it for yourself, too.” Asuma smiled, ruffling her hair as he stood up again. “Rest up. We’re all going to be busy from here on out.”

Riku nodded, but stopped him with a sudden “Wait.” The jounin turned around, eyebrow raised. “…How did you guys find me so quickly?”

He paused briefly, as if wondering if he should answer or not. “Kakashi used his ninken to track your scent.”

“Oh.” She wasn’t sure why she felt like a knot was being tied in her stomach. “Could you… If you see him, could you thank him for me?”

“I think that’s something you should do yourself.” Asuma responded thoughtfully. “I’m sure you’ll see him after you’re discharged.”

Her gaze fell to the foot of her bed. “…Yeah, okay.” She made note to find Shikamaru afterwards as well. “Yeah, I’ll do that.” The jounin nodded but only managed to take a couple of steps before Riku spoke again. “Thank you, Asuma-sensei.” There was a lot of weight to those words.

The jounin grinned, understanding the full weight of them. “Don’t worry about it.”

---

“I’m giving you these, just in case. Take two if you need to.” Shizune-san smiled while handing me a bottle of painkillers. “Just come back for a checkup at the end of the week so we can make sure everything is okay.”

“I’ll try not to be back before then.” I smiled, pocketing the pills. “Thanks, Shizune-san.”

The medic nodded and gave a curt wave as I left. I wasn’t bedridden for too long this time – just a handful of days – but it was always nice to finally get discharged from the hospital. There was a lot to do now, too, so I wanted to get back into business as soon as possible. I wondered if I should stop by Tsunade-sama’s office or check in with Asuma-sensei, first. Turns out it was going to be neither.

A presence that suddenly made itself known startled me and I immediately reached for my kunai holster, only to remember that I didn’t have one on me at the time. I was quick to realize that the presence had no killing intent, nor was it hostile in any way. I thought I was okay, but it looked like I still more on edge than I thought. I just hoped I would start waking up in the middle of the night from the faintest sound. I liked getting sleep.

“It’s Kakashi.” He identified himself immediately after seeing my reaction, making his presence so clear that I could tell where he was without even having to look. “Sorry.” It felt like he wanted to say more, but decided against it for one reason or another. Instead, he flipped the page of the book he always had with him.

“I’m fine.” The answer had developed into a habit by now. I stopped a few feet away from him and greeted him with. “Good morning, Kakashi-sensei.” The air felt a little heavy, but maybe it was just me.

His right eye curved, being the sole indication of his smile. “It’s good to see that you’re okay.” It sounded like he was saying it out of formality, but there was a hint of sincerity behind it. “Hokage-sama wants to see you. I was sent as an escort, but it doesn’t look like you need one.” He laughed shortly.

“I can appreciate the thought.” I thanked. “Is this about Orochimaru?”

“Maa…” I immediately thought about what Asuma-sensei mentioned before and bit back a grin, “something like that. You’ll find out once we arrive.” His eyes fell back to his book, though I always wondered how often he was actually reading it.

“Right.” The atmosphere was tense again. “Oh yeah, um…” hesitantly, I met his gaze, “thanks for finding me. If it weren’t for you and your ninken, I don’t think…” The thought made me cringe, but I shook it off. “…It was a good thing you guys got there when you did.” I rephrased with a rigid but appreciative smile.

For a moment, he seemed taken aback, but simply nodded, smiling in return. “I’m just glad you’re okay.” He then nodded down the road, gesturing me to follow. “Best not to keep Tsunade-sama waiting.”

I nodded and skipped ahead a little, as if testing to see if my legs still worked properly. I wanted to say something about the origins of my scar, but at the same time, I never wanted to bring the subject up again. It was a truth we both had to accept, but from the way Kakashi-sensei appeared to be his usual laidback self, he seemed to be just fine. Sometimes I envied the mentality of a jounin until I remembered what they must have suffered in order to develop that mentality in the first place.

“Riku.” Suddenly hearing my name was startling, even though it was said in a relaxed tone.

“Hm?” I glanced over my shoulder to see that Kakashi-sensei had put his book away and stopped walking. I stopped, too, turning to face him properly.

“I apologize.” He said with a full ton of sincerity. “I will never be able to undo what I did, but that’s true for many things.” I clenched my jaw at the implications behind it and was reminded how many years he’s been a shinobi. Considering how many things I’ve experienced in just a few months alone, his must have been at least tenfold of that. “A shinobi must learn to cope with those things. For a genin born in a time of peace, you’ve had to learn that much sooner that most. For that, I also feel sorry, but this is your reality.” I recognized his current expression from when I trained with his team – the expression he wore whenever he gave a lesson. “I hope you can forgive me soon, for your sake.”

I took a moment to think about those words, aware that he was referencing more than just the origin of my scar. I knew I had to learn to cope soon, too, or else I would lose every match if my opponent used explosives and forever be paranoid about anybody walking behind me at night and never be able to look Kakashi-sensei in the eye without thinking: There, that’s him – the guy who blew up half my face which was, quite frankly, a pathetic and useless state of being for a shinobi.

It was a little stiff, but I nodded. “I hear you loud and clear, Sensei, but you know,” I smiled while gently tugging at my mask, “of the things I’ve learned about myself, I think knowing where this thing came from was the easiest to accept. I wonder if I was ever truly mad at you at all?”

Kakashi-sensei’s visible eye widened the tiniest bit before crinkling with a smile. “I’m glad you understand.” He said before taking out his book once again and gestured for me to resume walking.

Granted, I really was mad at him, but I think it was because he hid the truth from me as opposed to the actual act of injuring me. He looked the same as ever, idly reading his explicit book in public while in the presence of a minor, but I wondered what kind of thoughts were running through his head. I felt less anxious than before, so I wondered if it was the same for him, or if this was just a little bump in the road compared to his own past experiences.

After a few minutes, I slowed down so I was side-by-side with the jounin, which made him glance towards me from his book just briefly to silently ask what I needed. We were still some ways away from the Hokage Palace, so I figured I might as well kill time some with light conversation.

“Asuma-sensei told me about how he and Kurenai-sensei and some other Konoha shinobi were sent to my village along with you.” I informed nonchalantly. Kakashi-sensei hummed as he flipped the page. I grinned. “Be honest with me. How good were my impressions of you?”

“Hm…” He looked up at the sky momentarily as if thinking long and hard about his answer before going back to his book and answering flatly. “Terrible.”

“Really?”

“The worst I’ve ever seen.”

“You’re lying.”

“Shinobi don’t lie.”

“What the—of course they do!”

“A shinobi doesn’t admit it.” He clicked his tongue and shook his head, eyes still trained on his book. “How dishonourable.”

“Oh my Kami, how does your team even tolerate you?” I said is more like a statement rather than a question. After the brief annoyance passed, I stuffed my hands into my pockets and looked up at him again. “He also told me a bit about my mother. Do you remember anything?”

“Would you like to know anything in particular?”

Ah, so he was actually going to cooperate this time.

I shrugged. “Anything, I suppose.” His eyes shifted towards me for a split second, silently telling me to be more specific. I furrowed my brows, trying to think of something. “Hm… What kind of techniques did she use?”

Kakashi-sensei answered rather quickly without much noticeable thought. “Like the majority of your clan, she was very skilled with genjutsu, but she was also a master with seals. It was very interesting to watch her fight, and very challenging to fight against her. Misaki-sama had a very spontaneous style that was difficult to keep up with.”

“You two fought?”

“Sparred.” He clarified blandly.

I hummed, trying to imagine how she would use seals. All I could imagine was something similar to Tenten’s style, with dozens upon dozens of weapons popping out of nowhere from left and right.

“I wonder if she gave me the seal on my back, then?” I wondered aloud, but opted to ask another question instead of pursuing that train of thought. “Alright, so it sounds like she was a pretty great shinobi, but what was she like as a mother?”

“She loved you unconditionally.”

Kakashi-sensei’s answer was so immediate and firm that it startled me a bit, but I soon smiled nevertheless.

“That’s good to hear.”

From the few hazy memories that I had, it didn’t seem like I disliked her. What little I recalled of my mother’s presence felt both gentle and powerful, like what Asuma-sensei described. There was always one thing about my vague memories that bothered me, however. I wondered if Kakashi-sensei would be able to help.

“I’ve noticed something. I keep remembering and hearing things about my mother,” I hesitated for a split second before asking the question I’ve had for a while now, “but what about my father?”

The jounin was silent for a while longer this time before he answered. “The only think I know about him is that he was gone since you were an infant. It wouldn’t be surprising if you didn’t have a single memory of him.”

I felt a lot less disappointed than I thought I would, though I was still curious about what he was like.

“Doesn’t sound like he’s worth remembering, then.” I finally said.

Kakashi-sensei laughed and used his free hand to pat my head. “Good answer.”

I wondered if that meant he actually knew things about my father, but I had the feeling he was just going to play dumb like before if I tried to press him about it. I could always try asking him later, so I decided to drop that particular subject. We had arrived at the Hokage Palace by then, anyway.

Upon arrival, we made our presence obvious before Kakashi-sensei knocked on the office door. Inside was Tsunade-sama and Shizune-san – with Tonton, as usual – along with an unfamiliar looking man with a scarred face.

“Good to see you again, Riku.” Tsunade-sama greeted firmly. I nodded, giving her a small bow. “Kakashi must have briefed you already, so I’ll get straight to the point. The interrogations have confirmed that there was Kumo rogues and former samurai currently working as hired mercenaries for Orochimaru. The reason was clear enough, but we learned something…interesting. Ibiki, go ahead.”

The scarred man nodded and turned his attention to me. His expression was serious and unmoving, and he easily towered over me, standing at nearly twice my height. He was the type of man that I found great relief in knowing that he was on my side, though it would have taken a lot for somebody to convince me of that if he didn’t have the Konoha headband.

“It seems like there were a lot of rumours about the Shurikane clan, but like the clan, they appear to have never completely disappeared.” He definitely wasn’t one to mince things, either. “There’s one in particular that seems to be the reason behind your capture. According to this rumour, the Shurikane clan was known as the Wish Granting clan because of what they could do with the Youkugan. It’s quite the ability, being capable of bringing genjutsu into reality. Apparently, many believed that if used correctly, it could do much more than that, and many sought it out for their own reasons.”

“Sure sounds like something worth kidnapping and torturing a kid over.” I murmured, subconsciously scratching at the crescent-shaped scar on my shoulder. It was faint and the wound had healed completely, but I still felt hyperaware of it.

“What do you think, Riku?” Tsunade-sama asked, resting her elbows on the table. “Do you think you would be capable of pulling off something like that?”

The question took me by surprise. “I can’t say.” I answered after a moment of thought. “I mean, maybe, but I know just about as much as my kekkei genkai as any of you do. Its secrets should still be kept somewhere though, right?” I had a small epiphany and gripped further back on my shoulder. “…Like the clan heiress who just happened to survive the war, or something.”

Brows furrowed, Tsunade-sama, as well as everybody else in the room, appeared to be thinking the same thing. There was no decisive evidence, but I couldn’t think of any other reason that would explain the seal.

“They know about the seal, so we can assume that they’ve come to similar conclusions.” Ibiki-san said.

“Those who witnessed your match against Tsura are likely to remember the seal as well.” Kakashi-sensei added, recalling how the back of my shirt had been torn during the fight.

“Things just keep on getting better and better.” I grumbled sarcastically. “At least Shinrin’s been dealt with.” I nodded, finding some reassurance in that. I hoped the woman who kept pulling at my hair was one of them. Knowing that Shinrin was still out there made my pulse quicken and chakra stir about, however, which wouldn’t have gone unnoticed by everybody in the room. Tsunade-sama probably changed the subject because of that very reason.

“There’s one more thing that we need to figure out.” She said, lacing her fingers together. “Can you tell us what happened before you got captured? Infiltrating the village is no small feat, so it would be helpful if you could tell us everything you remember.”

I nodded, though I didn’t think anything was particularly odd, considering the situation. Nevertheless, I explained the few minutes that I remembered before passing out: the genjutsu, releasing myself from it, and then being drugged. There wasn’t much, and it didn’t seem like anybody got any useful epiphanies from it.

“Tch, that still doesn’t answer how they managed to get in.” Tsunade-sama hissed, biting her the tip of her thumb. “Are you sure there isn’t anything else?”

“Sorry, I’ve got nothing.” I shook my head, having recalled everything there was to recall.

“Everything seems too planned.” Kakashi-sensei murmured. “It was as if they knew exactly when Riku was going to be back, and that she would be alone sometime during the evening.”

“Sounds like you’re trying to say they had help from the inside.” The Hokage snapped, her hands tensing up as she spoke. "Riku, I’m going to be stationing more patrol around your area. Report any suspicious individuals, because if there’s a rat in my village, like hell I’m going to let them keep sniffing around!” Her hand slammed onto the table and I realized I wasn’t as used to it as I thought when I was the only one who flinched.

“From here on out, we need to prepare for battle.” She said authoritatively. “I’ll be contacting the Raikage about this, since this is their business, too. I’m not sure if the Land of Iron would be willing to lend a hand, since they like to stay neutral. However, I highly doubt they would leave it to others to clean up their mess, so we can at least count on them being allies if they don’t cooperate with us directly.”

Mifune-sama kinda owes me one, anyway.

“Until then, I’m keeping you in the village, Riku.” The Hokage added sternly, making it clear that this was not up for discussion. I understood and nodded, but it didn’t stop me from feeling annoyed. “Kakashi, you tell your Uchiha brat to watch himself, too. He’s always a concern whenever Orochimaru is involved.”

“Understood.” The jounin replied curtly.

“Ibiki, see if your division can extract any other information that we can use. It’s crucial that we gather as much information as possible before the time comes.” Tsunade-sama was now standing, her presence overbearing and aggressive. “I won’t allow any room for mistakes from my shinobi, so I expect all of you to have your shit together in time for battle or I’m using you as live bait!”

I took now of how she seemed to be addressing Kakashi-sensei in particular.

“Dismissed!”

With the shinobi of Konoha aware of the upcoming battle, just walking outside my apartment put me on edge. It wasn’t so obvious that it made the villagers worry, but there was a general sense of uneasiness that shrouded the village. Not that it was unexpected, considering the fact that Tsunade-sama announced that we were officially preparing for war. A small war, but a war nevertheless.

That being said, training was a lot more intense than usual. My team and I were revising and practicing new and old formations. It wasn’t usual procedure that genin were expected to fight in huge battles like the one we were predicting, but they were still crucial to acting in supporting roles, so it was still important to be prepared for anything. Since I’m one of the supposed targets, however, we didn’t expect that I would be allowed to do even that much, which was why Shikamaru was training with us today while I was their opponent. That way, they could practice formations while I honed my own techniques.

“Formation B!” The chuunin ordered Ino and Chouji into position while I made a series hand signs.

“Seeing you being serious for once is pretty refreshing.” I commented as I released a wave of chakra, conjuring three shadowy figures into existence. “It’s almost like you’re an actual chuunin!”

The figures began to move at my command, appearing and disappearing at will to obstruct their paths and their vision. Without stopping, the three of them crisscrossed their way over to me. Chouji enlarged his hands and took a swing at me while Ino sent a barrage of weapons. I flipped back several feet while commanding one figure to absorb the impact of Chouji’s attack while another blocked the weapons.

“I never asked for the promotion,” Shikamaru answered as he threw a handful of kunai of his own, “but I didn’t get it for nothing.” After making a hand seal, his shadow suddenly divided itself into several strands and stretched towards me. Still preoccupied with maintaining my genjutsu and deflecting the weapons he threw earlier, I didn’t have enough time to get away and was swiftly bound by his technique.

“Hey, don’t get cocky, now.” I chided mockingly. “You can’t stop me that easily.”

A subtle change in my chakra indicated the activation of my Youkugan. I clenched my fist by my side and the figures gathered into a single shadow mass before expanding into hundreds of needles on my command. Taken by surprise, Shikamaru failed to maintain his technique. I used this opportunity to put distance between us once again, preparing for whatever they would throw at me next.

“Good work, Riku.” Asuma-sensei commented from the sidelines. “Your transitioning from genjutsu to shinjutsu is much smoother than before.”

“It’s a damn good thing you’re on our side!” Ino exclaimed as she deflected the numerous needles flying towards her. Not taking any time to recover, she immediately charged at me, starting a round of taijutsu.

“Likewise.” I answered between heavy breaths.

Normally, we were on pretty even terms, but with Chouji and Shikamaru backing her up, it was hard to keep track of combat while trying to keep my shinjutsu under control. I twisted my body to the side and swung my leg to land a heavy blow. Ino blocked it with ease, but it bought me enough time to make a couple of hand signs to control my shinjutsu.

“Have I ever shown you guys my Sasuke impression?” I asked rhetorically as I pulled back, crouching low to dodge a kick from Ino. I spun my body around, throwing my hands out as my shinjutsu needles dispersed. With quick footwork, I kicked with one leg and swiftly switched to kick with the other, catching her off guard and making her stumble back. It bought me the few seconds I needed to perform another string of hand seals.

“You’re quicker with your hand seals, too.” Asuma-sensei commented approvingly.

On the final seal, the needles transformed into small flames that landed in a circle and spread into a ring that surrounded me and Ino. It kept Chouji and Shikamaru at a distance for a while, which put less strain on myself.

“Is that it? Sasuke-kun is way more impressive than that!” She taunted before going on the offence.

“C’mon, not everybody can be a fire-breathing dragon. Gimme some credit here.” I blocked strike after strike, annoyed that she was keeping me busy so I couldn’t make any more hand seals.

“Nice pressure, Ino!” Our sensei chimed with a grin in his voice.

The fire bought me some time to plan ahead since it kept the other two at a distance, but I knew they would eventually find a way around it. As if on cue, a surge of chakra came from Chouji and the ground shook.

“Shit.” I hissed, dispelling the shinjutsu so I could focus on getting away from the enlarged Akimichi who was now bowling after me.

Thinking quickly, I used another genjutsu, this time with the use of morning glory petals. It was a new style that I was still experimenting with, but I found that the effects are rather effective. As my chakra swirled around the field along with the petals, my genjutsu settled in place. The effects were meant to make those affected feel slower, as if they were trying to run in a dream. It caused disorientation in the senses, particularly to their sight and hearing, and from the way they moved, I could tell it was working. It was much easier to dodge their attacks and gave me some time to plan ahead. No matter how much I practiced my ninjutsu, genjutsu would always be my comfort zone.

“Oh, that’ a new one.” Asuma-sensei noted curiously.

“I got inspired by one of Kurenai-sensei’s genjutsu.” I grinned, keeping my hands in a tiger seal in order to maintain the genjutsu. “I call it Dream Imprisonment.”

“That’s pretty bland, don’t you think?”

“You use a jutsu called Dust Cloud Technique.” I countered immediately.

“Hey, I didn’t name it.” He retorted with a laugh before nodding towards my three opponents. “So, are you going to take advantage of your genjutsu or what?”

I huffed as I pulled out three shuriken while keeping my right hand in the standard half-tiger seal. “See, there’s the problem. I can’t seem to make this genjutsu stick with only half a seal. Right now, it’s only good for buying me some time.”

As expected, the genjutsu wavered. Shikamaru was the first to dispel it with a burst of his chakra. He went to help the others, but within a heartbeat, they dispelled it themselves.

“Finally!” Ino groaned, already pulling out more weapons.

“I feel sick…” Chouji groaned as he shook his head clear, no longer rolling around.

“Your genjutsu are getting more troublesome lately.” Shikamaru sighed and nodded at the two genin, signaling them to get things started again.

In a heartbeat, the attacks began and thin shadows stretched towards me. Reacting swiftly, I jumped aside and deflected the onslaught of kunai that came from Ino with my own. Meanwhile, Shikamaru’s jutsu kept me moving, not giving up with his technique. Distracted and focused on staying away from him, I forgot about the other two until I felt the ground shaking again, warning me of the incoming Chouji.

“Agh, that genjutsu really needs more work.” I muttered to myself. It was more easily broken then I thought it would be, and here I thought the mesmerizing dance of the petals would make things more complex and help prolong the effects of the genjutsu. Working with another medium as harder than I thought.

Struggling to keep away from both Shikamaru’s shadow technique and Chouji’s violent rolling, I prepared to get them off my back with another shinjutsu. However, the moment I tried to make the first seal, I realized too late that I was headed straight into a dead end.

“Formation Ino-Shika-Cho!” The chuunin shouted.

Enormous hands blocked my path and I had to skid to a stop.

“Partial Multi-Size Technique, success!” Chouji’s voice cheered.

Shikamaru’s shadows were not slowing down one bit. I tried to roll to the side, but a kunai thrown by Ino that landed too close for comfort forced me back.

I tried to go for another route, but I was already stuck in place. “Shit.”

“Shadow Imitation Technique, success.” Shikamaru’s voice came from off to the side, and I cursed under my breath for getting ahead of myself.

Immobilized, Ino took this opportunity to slide in front of me, completing the formation once she held out her hands to perform her clan’s kekkei genkai. I flinched, having no options left but to accept my defeat.

“Gotcha.” She grinned. Instead of using the Mind Body Switch Technique, however, she lowered her arms before pumping a fist into the air as she cheered, “Formation Ino-Shika-Cho, success!”

The shadows retreated and Chouji’s hands returned to their normal size. After giving the reconciliation seal to the three of them, we faced Asuma-sensei to hear what he had to say.

“Shikamaru; nice job taking the lead. You make decisions as quickly as ever, but we’re still having the same issue with your energy. Would it kill to look a little more motivated? Keeping up your team’s morale during battle is an important job for the leader.” He laughed as the lazyass huffed. Turning to the Akimichi, he continued. “Chouji; you’re really working harder lately, aren’t you? It really shows – you’re getting pretty swift with your movements.”

The genin smiled bashfully.

“Keep working on that, and watch out when you’re using Human Bullet Tank. Controlling your movements in such a destructive state is incredible important when you’re fighting as a team. The last thing you need is to flatten your own allies.” Asuma-sensei laughed shortly again before addressing Ino. “Ino; your taijutsu and weapon-handling is much more aggressive than before, which is good. Looks like you’re not scared of getting dirty or bruised anymore, ahaha!”

“H-Hey!”

Asuma-sensei merely grinned. “Take advantage of your agile footwork to mislead your opponents and use their strengths against them. With practice, I bet hitting you would be your opponent’s greatest challenge.”

Ino nodded, her presence beaming with confidence.

“It’d be wise to practice recognizing and dispelling genjutsu more quickly, too.” He added as an afterthought to Chouji and Ino, who nodded. Finally, the jounin turned to me.

“Riku; you did well fending against these three. Especially as a genjutsu specialist, it’s important to be able to keep track of several opponents at once and keep a steady mentality in the heat of a battle. Your genjutsu is a lot more versatile, too. Make sure to judge when and when not to use shinjutsu, though – conserving chakra and hiding your trump cards can be what determines whether you win or lose. It helps that you’re making new techniques, too. We’ll work on improving it some other time, but I’m sure it would have ended the battle if not for its current flaws.”

I nodded, already trying to figure out what alterations I could make to fix it.

“Since we won, does that mean Riku’s going to treat us to lunch?” Chouji suddenly asked with a hopeful grin.

“When did I ever agree to something like that?” I snapped, spinning around to pinch his cheek. “Besides, do you really think a genin’s salary is enough to feed you? There’s a reason we keep Asuma-sensei around.”

“O-Oi…” The jounin interjected with a nervous laugh, drawing our attention back to him. “Now that I think about it, it’s been a while since I’ve treated you guys to anything, and Shikamaru is with us this time, too.”

I had never seen Chouji looking so bright and hopeful before that very moment.

“We can celebrate Riku’s safe return and full recovery.” He added, ruffling my hair as he smiled.

“Maybe I should get kidnapped more often.” I answered wryly, earning a punch in the arm from Ino, despite the scoff.

It wasn’t funny, of course, but I realized lately that humour was a good coping mechanism. Laughter is the best medicine, as the saying goes, and I think I would have to agree. No matter how grim the situation, if you can still muster up a good laugh, how bad can it be? It definitely kept me grounded during desperate times, anyway.

Suddenly full of energy despite the hours of training we just did, Chouji skipped ahead, leading us to the usual barbeque place. Ino, as if routine, caught up to scold him for being so gluttonous and to behave like a proper shinobi. It happened so often I could probably quote her word per word by now.

Lastly, straggling behind the group as usual was Shikamaru, who didn’t look completely disinterested for once. There was the faintest hint of a smile behind his usually bored expression, which led me to believe that he was thinking about something.

“Something funny?” I asked in a low voice, not wanting to bring attention to us.

“Hm?” The way he didn’t completely register my question proved that he was caught up with his thoughts. “Oh. It’s nothing.”

I pinched his cheek gently, getting nothing but an annoyed glare in return. “I dunno, it looked like you were remembering a dumb joke or something.”

He swatted my hand away before stuffing his hand back into his pocket. “Something like that.” He admitted, the content look returning to his face. “It’s been more troublesome than ever lately. Everybody’s on edge, so it’s nice to finally catch a break.”

“Yeah, no kidding.” I hummed in agreement before falling into a comfortable silence. I let a few moments pass before I huffed, catching his attention. “I’ve been meaning to thank you. For saving my ass, that is. So, thanks.”

His shoulders tensed a little before he gave me a surprisingly solemn look. “I don’t deserve that.” Shikamaru murmured, glancing away. “I should’ve acted sooner, but I hesitated to assess the situation instead.”

It sounded like something he would do, and while part of me wanted to ask what about the situation there was to assess because I figured it must have looked pretty straightforward to any onlookers, he must have had his reasons, and it was clear he regretted following through with his own reasoning.

Instead, I punched him in the shoulder.

“Ow!”

“Shut up and accept my thanks, you lazy jerk.” I demanded, briefly driving my knuckles into his bicep before sparing him from bruising. “Delayed or not, that bastard could have – would have – done way worse if you hadn’t shown up at all.”

Shikamaru rubbed the area where I assaulted him, his lips pressed into a firm line. “Tch, troublesome woman.” He finally muttered before lowering his arm. I decided not to ask what exactly he meant by that.

“Hey, you two!” Ino shouted, walking backwards so she was facing us. “Chouji’s practically drooling everywhere and it’s getting gross, so quit flirting and hurry up!”

“Flirting?!” Shikamaru and I choked in unison, making the blond cackle.

“Don’t worry, Riku. You don’t have to hide it from me~” She cooed, taking a few quick steps forward so she could squeeze my face affectionately, like a grandmother coddling her grandchild. “Not that you have to say anything. You genjutsu told me everything I need to know!”

“Haa?” I made my confusion audible, wondering if it was acceptable to pull her shirt over her head or not.

“Ino, stop.” Shikamaru sighed, objecting everything that was coming out of her mouth with a lot less energy than I was.

The kunoichi grinned coyly as she snickered to herself. “Morning glories is a symbol of fleeting love, you know~” She teased, poking my cheek.

“Fleeting —” I choked, cutting myself off as I found myself incapable of speaking. Did she think I was one of those scandalous heroines to one of her cheesy dramas?!

“Ino. ” The chuunin repeated with more emphasis.

“Oh, relax. I’m just kidding around!” She laughed, stepping between us to hang her arms over our shoulders. “ButifthisyoungloveblossomsintosomethingmoreIexpectwenddingbells bye!” She spewed quickly before darting away.

“What the hell did you just—don’t you run away from me you little—Shikamaru! Shadow Imitate her right the fuck now or so help me—Yamanaka Ino your hands are for making jutsu seals, not deformed hearts—!”

“Fleeting love!” She laughed as a taunting reminder as she continued racing ahead.

“I’ll fleeting love” – I said this the most obnoxious, mocking voice I could manage – “my fist to your face for the rest of the week if you don’t get back here!”

I heard a deep laugh from behind me, but I paid Asuma-sensei no mind as I tackled Ino to the ground. How we managed to make it to the restaurant in one piece is beyond me.

---

Lunch was lively and noisy, but refreshingly so.

Ino was still nitpicky about what she ate, but I was told that it was in a much healthier way than how it was before. Apparently, dieting to her used to mean eating like a starved orphan, whereas now her diet was that of a proper shinobi, which made me glad to hear. Sometimes I wondered what my impression of her younger, less experienced self would be, but from the sounds of it, I should be glad that I only ever met the current Ino.

Chouji stuffed his face, seemingly immune to the steaming hot meat that sizzled on the grill. I would never cease to be amazed by the agility and technique he displayed when barbequing the meat, or how he could fit so much food into his mouth at once.

He must have jaws of steel.

I thought when I watched him devour the tender pork that really should be too hot to eat.

Shikamaru looked like he was about to fall asleep in his food, but was involved enough to make a sarcastic quip every now and then as he ate like a sloth – a complete contrast to Chouji that almost made it look like he was moving in slow motion. I had seen him around every so often and he always seemed busy and lately, troubled, so it was nice to see a completely relaxed expression on him for once, which is how it should be when it comes to the Nara so famous for his lethargic behaviour.

Asuma-sensei laughed along, cheery and full of warmth as usual as he watched his students and former student relish in the moment of peace that would surely become more and more rare as we drew closer to war. I noted the way he would sometimes slip specifically selected food onto their dishes and mine, fully aware of our tastes, even though I was hardly aware them myself. It reminded me that even if he was a bright man, he observed things like the jounin he was and watched over us like the sensei he was.

It was during times like these that I felt like a complete stranger that invaded their friendship and infiltrated their tea, but with every meal and laugh I shared with them, it became clear to me that that wasn’t the case. I took part in making smartass quips about each other through my unzipped mask, still wary of the fact that Asuma-sensei knew what I hid behind it, that Shikamaru saw what I hid behind it, and that Ino and Chouji still didn’t have the faintest idea. I would tell them some day, I decided, without them having to discover on their own, because after the past few months that they endured with me, they deserved at least that much.

It was just under a year since I first arrived, but somehow, it felt like much longer. So many things had happened between then and now – the memories I regained, the Chuunin Exams, and all the missions we completed, both tedious and dangerous – it felt ridiculous that I was already reflecting back on them. It was because of all these things, however, that I learned who I was, where I came from, and what I could accomplish. I owed everything to the shinobi of Konoha, and I vowed to repay that debt with my life, especially now that it was the cause of the village’s current state of affairs.

“Oi, Riku!” Chouji’s muffle voice shouted over the sound of chatter and sizzling meat. “Your lamb will get cold. Are you full already?” I mentally translated that to, Can I have that?

“I have the appetite of a giant ape demon, thank you very much.” I answered, pulling my bowl away from him. That was something they were informed of earlier on, since it was rather important for the shinobi to know. I remember them being shocked at the news, but after knowing Naruto for so long, they got used to the fact rather quickly.

“Do jinchuuriki actually work that way?” Ino asked, cocking her head to the side.

“No idea.” I admitted with a shrug, eating the slice of lamb that really had gotten cold.

“Speaking of jinchuuriki,” we turned our attention to our sensei, “Hokage-sama wanted me to tell you she wants to start training you as a one. She wants you to learn how to access your red chakra, that is.”

“Sounds interesting.” I nodded before glancing down, as if talking to a small animal on my lap. “What do you say so that, Yonbi-san? You gonna lend me your chakra?”

The table fell silent, as did my thoughts.

“Still selective about when you talk to me, huh.” I shrugged before looking back at Asuma-sensei. “Well, whether the Yonbi is willing to cooperate or not, I’ll give it a shot. How would I start, though? I barely even know how red chakra works.”

“We’ll make use of our other jinchuuriki, of course.” The jounin stated with a smile.

“You’re going to get Naruto to teach me?” I clarified, suspiciously cocking a brow.

“Who else would know about red chakra more than another jinchuuriki? Besides, he did some training with Jiraiya, the Sannin. I’m sure he’d be willing to help out, so there’s no problem, right?”

“I guess…” I trailed off, unsure of what to think about having that obnoxious – kind and inspiring, but very obnoxious – orange genin teaching me something that seemed so advanced and complex and so…not something Naruto would understand. He wasn’t the brightest shinobi around, despite the colours he wore.

Meanwhile, my teammates and Shikamaru all gave me a vaguely sympathetic look that said good luck. I decided to ignore them and faced Asuma-sensei again.

“When am I supposed to start?”

“After lunch, actually. Kakashi should have told him already, and we’ll both be supervising in case something happens… and to make sure Naruto actually stays on track.” He added quickly with a meek grin.

“Maybe we should watch, too.” Chouji suggested with his mouth full. I noticed that it was rather rare for him to speak without his mouth full when we were eating. “I bet Riku will need the support.”

I frowned, flicking a piece of green onion at him “What’s that supposed to mean, hm?”

“I just think Naruto can be a handful.” He clarified, as if sharing the greatest piece of wisdom in the world with me. “You might go insane before you can learn anything from him.” He flicked the tiny speck of green onion back at me as he spoke, keeping a straight face as if he didn’t just do that.

“Ah. That’s very true.” I agreed thoughtfully. “I’m sure it’ll be fine. If anything, I’ll consider it mental training for myself. Anyway, I’m sure Asuma-sensei and Kakashi-sensei will be enough. The latter’s has over a year’s worth of experience taming that hyperactive thing.”

This time, I tossed a piece of beef at him. Not to our surprise, he caught it in his mouth and grinned as the rest of us laughed.

“Don’t play with your food.” Asuma-sensei scolded instinctively, except the scolding was left completely ineffective when he accidentally flung a few grains of rice towards me as he waved his chopsticks around. “…Whoops.”

Another laugh was shared, and I just knew the warmth from my chest wasn’t because of the tea or the grill’s heat. I didn’t think I would ever wrap my head around how they make it so easy to relax.

It’s nice.

“Oi, Riku!” A bright voice shouted across the field the moment Asuma-sensei and I arrived at the designated training field.

“Ever though of trying sound-based genjutsu?” I asked rhetorically, causing Naruto to shut his mouth. “Good afternoon, Kakashi-sensei.” I greeted the eccentric jounin with a short bow.

“Sorry to call you out on such short notice, and after you’ve already been training all morning. If you’re feeling tired, you could always start tomorrow.” He suggested in his usual lazy but polite voice.

“I’m fine. My stamina’s about the same level as Naruto’s, anyway, right? Though I don’t remind everybody about it every other minute.” I poked at the blonde’s tendency to be a loudmouth once again.

“Maa, that’s true. Well then, whenever you two are ready.” He said with a small nod before facing Asuma-sensei. “We should keep our distance, just to be safe.”

A flash of uncertainty briefly crossed my sensei’s eyes before he laughed nervously. “Aha… Just how crazy do you expect things to get?”

I wondered the same thing, unsure if the distance would be necessary on the first day. Without any other questions, however, Naruto and I went to the center of the field, where he began with trying to explain what red chakra was.

“Hrm… It’s like regular chakra, expect red.”

“Gee, I never would have guessed.”

“It’s not easy to explain!” He whined before continuing. “You’ve gotta access it separately. When I first tried to use it, Ero-sennin—”

“Ero-sennin?” I repeated with a raised brow. “Is that what you call the Legendary Sannin Jiraiya?”

“He’s not really legendary.” Naruto said with a frown. “All he did was peek into women’s baths and write that dumb book Kakashi-sensei likes to read so much.”

I felt my eye twitched as I spared a glance towards the jounin in question, who was reading the book in question. Was every elite shinobi from Konoha a pervert?

“Just…get back to the red chakra thing.” I sighed, waving him on.

“Right! To make it easier to use my red chakra, Ero-sennin told me to keep making clones until I used up all my regular chakra, so maybe we should start with that!”

“Shouldn’t I at least try to use red chakra, first?” I asked.

Naruto’s expression fell flat before he laughed sheepishly. “I guess so, yeah! Here, I’ll show you! Kyuubi doesn’t really like lending me his chakra, though, so it might take a while.”

As the blond clapped his hands together to focus his chakra, I subconsciously took a step back. The burst of chakra hit me like a wave and I braced myself, watching as the grass bent away from him from the pressure he was releasing. Soon, the chakra became visible and violently spun around him like blue currents of wind. Then, the chakra changed. It felt like I was slowly being suffocated as it grew stronger and stronger until finally, it turned red.

With a grin, Naruto opened his eyes and dropped the intense chakra flow until everything settled once again. He beamed, waiting to hear what I had to say. I released the breath I didn’t realize I was holding and swallowed.

“Holy shit, that’s insane.” I laughed breathlessly, having no idea that so much chakra could even come from one person. “You sure I won’t blow up or something if I try to pull that out?”

“Try it!” He insisted excitedly. “I guess you have to feel around for it or something. I don’t know. Something like feeling like you need to burp, maybe?”

I sighed. “You make everything so uncool.” I muttered with a shake of my head before forming the tiger seal.

Before I started channeling my chakra, I glanced over to the two jounin. They seemed only half-interested in what we were doing, but I knew better by now than to assume they weren’t actually paying attention. As if to confirm my suspicions, Asuma-sensei flashed me an encouraging smile while Kakashi-sensei nodded.

I huffed and turned back to Naruto, who gave an insisting look. I took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “Alright, let’s give this crazy red chakra thing a whirl.”

I closed my eyes, feeling my own chakra flow within me. I could feel my chakra running through their channels, but now that I was really feeling for them, I sensed something more than that. It was powerful and foreign, yet it still felt like my own. It was also familiar, but different from what I remembered. The signature it gave was similar to what I once felt during the Chuunin Exams, when the Yonbi had commanded the ape to stop attacking me, but it wasn’t the same. It was more like a presence back then. This red chakra, however, was much more prominent. It was heavy and felt like it was swelling up within me, but at the same time, it felt incredibly distant.

My brows furrowed as I tried to draw it out, but to no avail. With another burst of chakra, dirt whipped around my feet as the pressure grew. I had never released this much chakra at once before and it was becoming strenuous, but I didn’t want to stop so soon. No matter how much I tried, however, the red chakra never began to flow. It was stuck, as if it were frozen in space and time itself.

I relaxed and my chakra flow reverted back to normal as I caught my breath, beads of sweat beginning to form at my hairline.

“Tch, no good.” I muttered, shaking my head. “And it actually does sort of feel like I need to burp.” I admitted, hitting my chest a few times to see if it would get rid of the tight feeling throughout my body.

“See?!” Naruto exclaimed while pointing at me. “It looked like you were doing it right, though. Maybe you should get rid of your regular chakra, after all.”

“I guess so.” I sighed, not really wanting to spend so much time on that. “What happens if that doesn’t work, either?”

The blonde held his chin in thought, probably remembering how his training with Jiraiya-sama went. “Hm… Well, Ero-sennin threw me off a cliff when nothing else worked.”

I gave him a blank stare for several moments until blinking out of it. “Sannin sure are something else.” I murmured, wondering what sort of teacher would risk such a thing. Well, at least it worked, apparently. “Hopefully it doesn’t come to that, so I guess I’ll just keep making shinjutsu until I’m depleted.”

“Let’s do it!”

“You’re not doing anything, idiot.”

“Ehehe, right.”

I sighed and activated my Youkugan, never thinking that I would one day voluntarily deplete my chakra as quickly as possible.

---

The sun was a fiery orange-red as the sun set for the evening. It was an incredibly breathtaking sight to behold, but all I could focus on was how much I wanted to punch Naruto.

I’ve wanted to punch him before, but right now, I really wanted to punch Naruto.

I don’t mean just a little tap against the shoulder, either. I’m talking about a no-mercy, Sakura-scolding-the-idiot-blond-level punch that sends him flying across the training field with a spray of blood flying out of his nose.

Oh, man, did I really want to punch Uzumaki Naruto.

“R…Riku…” He laughed nervously, holding his hands up in a weak defense. “O-Oi, you’re looking really s-scary right now…!”

“Is. That. So?” I hissed through clenched teeth as I stepped towards him, fists clenched by my sides. The jounin watched from the side, unsure of whether they should interfere or not.

“I-It was an honest mistake!” Naruto cried, shakily taking a step back. “A slip of the memory! I-It wasn’t on purpose, I s-swear!”

“Four hours, Uzumaki.” I snarled as my body shook from both anger and exhaustion. “Do you have any idea how much my eyes burn right now? Any longer and I probably would’ve gone blind!” I shouted, taking another step forward. “Four hours I spent making shinjutsu after shinjutsu, and only now you remember ‘Hey, maybe Riku’s red chakra is blocked, just like mine was’?!”

I should have known a mere human would fail to realize something so simple.

I froze, which threw Naruto off-guard because my anger was no longer directed towards him.

“Excuse me?” I voiced my agitated response to Son Gokuu, feeling my body heat up with rage despite how depleted of chakra I was. “Are you telling me you already knew this entire fucking time?”

Of course, stupid human! How could I be so ignorant about my own chakra?

“Uh, Riku, what are you saying—?”

“Are all bijuu such pains in the ass?!” I threw my hands up in exasperation, amazed at how irritable these great, ancient chakra beings could be sometimes. It wasn’t often that Son Gokuu would communicate with me, but oh, when he did, it was never anything friendly or helpful. I pointed at Naruto again, but spoke more towards his chest than his face.

“Oi, Kyuubi! Get out here and beat some sense into your stupid monkey brother before I tear him apart in my subconscious myself!”

I heard Asuma-sensei cough violently as Kakashi-sensei looked both surprised and amused.

“H-He doesn’t really like getting orders from people like that, Riku—” Naruto answered with a nervous laugh, taking several steps back this time. “L-Look, I’m super sorry! I’ll buy you ramen! Just stop threatening our bijuu – the Yonbi won’t let you use his chakra that way!”

“In case you already forgot, I wouldn’t be able to use it even if he would let me, because it’s sealed!” I didn’t realized how breathless I was until I was suddenly struck with lightheadedness. My balance staggered and I held my head while letting out a low groan. “Augh, I feel sick. Seriously way too low on chakra for this shit right now.”

A sturdy hand rested on my shoulder and I looked up to see my sensei smiling meekly at me. “I think that’s enough for today. You might not have been able to use your red chakra, but at least we discovered something important. It’s the first step, right?”

With my sporadic anger dissipating, the weight of my exhaustion began to settle in. “Yeah. Guess I’ll talk to Tsunade-sama about this or something—urk —” I immediately shoved the jounin away and yanked my mask down before promptly throwing up between me and the blond idiot, who promptly cringed and stepped back.

“Riku, are you alright?” Asuma-sensei asked urgently while rubbing my back in circles.

I coughed and groaned, pulling my mask back up before Naruto could see my face.

“Oh yeah, I’m feeling top-notch, sensei. Gotta love being chakra-depleted.” I coughed again, thankful that there wasn’t much of a lingering taste in my mouth. I glared daggers at Naruto and jabbed a finger into his chest. “I’m going to fucking end you for this, and trust me, you won’t forget it.” Naruto gulped. I turned away from him and spoke downwards in attempt to address the bijuu sealed within me.

“And don’t expect me to leave you alone, either, Yonbi,” I knew he hated it when I called him by that instead of his real name, “because I’m not above raising hell in that stupid little subconscious room you’re in!”

“Riku, you should go home and rest.” Kakashi-sensei urged nervously.

“Please, before you upset any more bijuu.” Asuma-sensei agreed.

“I’d love to, except the last great idea you guys had for me was being taught by Naruto, and look how well that turned out!” I growled, now throwing all of them in front of my path of figurative daggers. Another wave of dizziness came over me and I clenched my teeth. “Never mind. I think I’m going to throw up again, so I’m gonna go do that. But you’d better sleep with one eye open tonight, Uzumaki.” I threatened through worn-out breaths.

I suddenly felt a million times heavier, the adrenaline from my momentary rage disappearing in all but a few seconds. My vision became blurry and I held my head, vaguely registering the hand that was trying to keep me steady.

“Oh my fuck, this is worse than getting drugged.” I groaned, leaning against the person keeping me steady, who I soon realized to be Asuma-sensei. Despite whatever scent-concealing products shinobi used, the faint scent of cigarettes had a tendency to cling to him. Figures, since he was smoking during the training session. “I think I’m gonna die. Naruto’s dumb idea will be the death of me. Don’t we die if we’re too low chakra? Why would you even let me do that to myself? I hate all of you. If I die, I’m taking all of you down with me.” I drawled, gradually becoming too tired to stand on my own.

“Go to sleep, Riku. I’ll take you home, and then you can dream about how you’ll do that.” My sensei laughed as he patted my head. “Thanks for your time today, Kakashi, and for your…efforts, Naruto-kun. I’ll see to Hokage-sama about that seal on her red chakra tomorrow.”

“Already got it checked out once. Can’t unseal it.” I yawned. “Too complex or something. S’how we found out ‘bout Yonbi making himself comfortable here.” I drawled, patting my stomach.

Asuma-sensei hummed in thought, as if trying to figure out the mystery behind my seal for himself.

“It’s still worth mentioning.” Kakashi-sensei said. “It might also be worthwhile to mention the effects of chakra depletion in your report. This seems to be a particularly extreme case and might have something to do with your seal.”

Something annoying and irritating and absolutely unnecessary, probably.

“Remember to tie her down!” I heard Naruto whimper I was now letting my heavy eyelids shut.

I felt the low vibrations in Asuma-sensei’s body as he laughed while pulling me onto his back. “I’ll see what I can do.”

I felt his head shift, probably from a nod, and the jounin started walking away. I cracked open my eyes just a bit and raised a hand as a silent goodbye before slumping back onto my sensei’s shoulder, wondering just how heavily a shinobi usually crashes after chakra depletion. Then again, most shinobi probably don’t go on an adrenaline-crazed rage session once that happens in the first place. I blame Son Gokuu for that. His aggression is starting to rub off on me, I bet.

The walk was silent, and I wondered if Asuma-sensei thought I was asleep. I’d stir around every so often to make it known that I wasn’t, however, since I didn’t want to fall asleep on his back. That would have been inconvenient, and I didn’t want to bother him with having to break into my apartment. I didn’t really want him doing that in the first place, either.

“Sarutobi Asuma-san?” A slightly muffled, female voice suddenly addressed my sensei.

“Good evening, ANBU-san.” The jounin answered politely, confirming that he was who the ANBU thought he was.

I opened my eyes, blinking away the slight blur until I could make out a person wearing a porcelain mask that resembled a bird.

“I have come to deliver this.” I glanced down to see the ANBU give Asuma-sensei a slip of paper. “Please read it immediately and dispose of it once you are done.” The masked shinobi then looked up at me. “Shurikane-san may be informed, as well, if you deem it necessary.”

The air became tense. Although it wasn’t overly secretive, this passing of information still wasn’t done audibly. It would take an unborn fetus to not figure out that something was wrong.

I could feel Asuma-sensei’s muscles tense along with his jaw as he read the note. “…Riku.”

“Hm?” I drawled, looking up to see that he was holding the paper up so I could read it. The moment I did, my grip around my sensei’s shoulders tightened and I cursed under my breath. “Shit. How the fuck does somebody manage to escape T&I?” I hissed as the jounin disposed of the note.

“We believe he may have had outside help.” The masked woman answered stiffly.

Asuma-sensei’s voice was just as stiff, but his muscles seemed less tense. “Thank you for this, ANBU-san. I’ll be sure to keep an eye on Riku until the situation has been dealt with.”

“My squad will be guarding her until further notice.” The ANBU added before looking at me. “There’s no need to worry. We will do all in our power to keep you safe.”

I was too tired to give an audible response and simply nodded. She left shortly afterwards, leaving Asuma-sensei and me alone in the empty street just a block away from my house.

“Riku.” The jounin’s voice was firm but warm. I answered with an incoherent drawl. “I’ll protect my students, no matter what. Can you trust me on that?”

“…Yeah.” I mumbled, thankful that I wasn’t trying to hide from this crazed runaway swordsman on my own, but still on edge nevertheless. “Too tired to get angry about this right now. Just wanna sleep.” I muttered, knowing that the knot in my chest was from a small spark of anger that threatened to reignite itself again. “But thank you.”

I felt Asuma-sensei’s smile against my cheek and I grinned back tiredly.

Apparently, I dozed off a little after that because when I came too, we were in front of my building. I felt a little better, though, but still too tired to want to walk on my own. The sun was just peeking over the horizon by the time he brought me home, so the village was still lit up. I could hear the nearby markets getting ready for dinner and the village’s nightlife. Nothing was out of the ordinary except for the loaded cart out on the street between my building and Chousa-baachan’s bakery. Aside from the usual boxes and crates, there was one that had a few holes, probably for ingredients that needed to be aired out.

I immediately thought about what was said before, about how Shinrin must have had help from the inside in order to kidnap me. For a split second, my heartbeat sped up. I felt Asuma-sensei’s grip around my legs tighten just slightly in a reassuring manner, though I soon calmed myself down because the whole idea of it was just absurd.

“Oh, Riku-chan!” An elderly voice greeted, pulling me away from my thoughts. “Poor thing, you look exhausted! Your sensei shouldn’t be training you so hard! Hasn’t she been hurt enough lately?” Chousa-baachan scolded the jounin, who apologized sheepishly. I felt a knot form in my stomach, but decided that it was just my body wanting to throw up again.

“I’m fine, just used too much chakra. Sensei, I think I can stand on my own.” I explained before trying to slide off the jounin’s back. He let me, but kept an arm draped over my shoulders to keep me steady. I murmured a thanks before addressing Chousa-baachan again, lazily gesturing towards the cart. “What’s with all this?”

Her smile became softer as she glanced at the cart. “I’m afraid an old lady like me just can’t take care of herself anymore, so I’m going to move in with him in Otafuku Gai.” I’ve heard of the town. It was only about twelve kilometers away from Konoha, if I remembered correctly.

“Oh,” was all I could manage at first, surprised by the sudden change. I looked passed the elderly woman towards the shop that was already almost empty. “I’ll miss your cakes.” I said without much thought before realizing that maybe that wasn’t the most appropriate thing to say to somebody who was leaving. I probably should have said that I would miss her, but being the gentle woman she was simply laughed her elderly laugh and held out a box to me.

“It’s a good thing I came prepared, then! I’m sure you could use something sweet after being in the hospital for so long. Why don’t you give one a try? I’d like to hear what you think of my cakes just one more time before I leave.”

“You didn’t have to.” I replied, but already started opening the box anyway.

Just then, realization dawned on me.

Did anybody ever tell her that I was hospitalized? I realized why I suddenly felt uneasy before, as well. How did she know that I was hurt in the first place?

No matter what conclusions I came to at that split second, however, it was already too late.

“Riku, don’t!”

My vision was immediately blinded by dark smoke and I coughed violently despite the small degree of filtering my mask provided. Asuma-sensei’s grip around me tightened immediately and I felt him focus a burst of chakra into a wind jutsu to clear the smoke. The items on the cart were scattered about and the box with holes was broken. I looked up as the area cleared to two figures standing on the bakery’s rooftop, standing on a seal that flared with chakra. Shinrin was one of those two figures, but for once, I wasn’t focused on him.

“You…” I breathed, feeling my back tingle as I recalled where I’ve seen the other man’s face before. He looked different. His skin was a sickly grey and his eye whites were dark, but there was no doubt that I’ve seen this man before.

The ANBU attacked, but Shinrin and the man who wore Chousa-baachan’s neutral robes disappeared with a flash of light, engulfed by the seal they were standing on. We saw it for only a brief moment, but it was long enough to see what pattern was drawn in the center of it – the same spiraling shape as the seal on my back.

“Shit.” I heard Asuma-sensei hiss, his grip still tight around my shoulders. “I should have seen through that disguise earlier.”

What a clever disguise it was, too, but that wasn’t what my mind was focused on, and it looked like the jounin could tell.

“…I know him.” I answered his silent question, staring absently as the ANBU squad started searching the area and examining where the seal was. “He’s the one who gave me the scar on my back.”

The Hokage’s office was tense. Asuma-sensei and I stood alongside the captain of the ANBU squad to explain the details to Tsunade-sama, who was accompanied by Shizune-san, as usual. An irritated and tired Hokage was something I’ve been seeing a lot lately.

“First an ex-samurai, then Orochimaru, and now some anonymous third party who’s skilled enough to disguise himself within the village and help Shinrin escape single-handedly.” Tsunade-sama muttered as she glared at the reports spread across her desk that detailed the latest events. “And you said you recognized that man?” She asked, directing the question to me.

“Without a doubt.” I nodded. “He looked different, though. His skin and eye whites were dark. It made him look sickly.”

A deep line appeared between Tsunade-sama’s brows that had me worried.

“That bastard Orochimaru…” She growled, her lips tightening into a firm line. “That sounds like an Edo Tensei.”

“A what?” I asked before I could keep quiet, realizing quickly that everybody else in the room already knew what she was talking about and matched her expression.

“Simply put, it allows the user to bring back the dead.” I clenched my jaw and Tsunade-sama raised a brow. “Are you sure he was the same person as the one from the war?”

I hesitated a bit this time because hearing about such an impossible jutsu that was so obscure and surreal, but I know what I saw. I nodded with certainty, despite the pause. “Without a doubt.” I repeated myself and meant it this time.

Tsunade-sama frowned and laced her fingers. “Are you sure you don’t remember anything else about him?”

I shook my head. “Nothing.”

She sighed and waved her hand. “Well, no use wasting time on a dead end. What else do I need to know? Is there anything you can confirm about the seal?” She was now speaking to the ANBU, who stepped forward in turn.

“Apart from the already-known fact that it’s a highly advanced space-time seal, the only things we found worth noting are that the sigils and characters used are uncommon or unfamiliar. It seems to be something more ancient – nothing that you would see a regular shinobi using in this age. There was one symbol in particular that raises some concern.” The ANBU’s tone became firmer as she handed Tsunade-sama a scroll. “We did our best to recreate the seal from memory, given the brief moment that we saw it. While the bordering sigils and characters are debatable, we are certain that the marking in the center is identical to the marking on Shurikane-san’s back.”

“Tch, just who is this guy?” Tsunade-sama muttered, voicing the question we were all asking but couldn’t be answered.

“If he was so set on getting Shinrin, he’s most likely associated to Orochimaru, too. They didn’t make any attempt at capturing Riku.” Asuma-sensei noted.

“Then they have more plans in store for us if recusing him was their priority. Thankfully, the Raikage has responded to our request for their aid, and they’re willing to help take responsibility for their rogues.” Tsunade-sama informed us, lifting the tension a bit. “Mifune-san wants to remain neutral, but has agreed to provide resources, which is better than nothing.”

I bit back a sigh.

This is definitely way too complicated for a couple of pairs of eyes.

There had to be something bigger going on, but like hell I had any idea what that something was. If anybody else knew, they certainly weren’t going to let me in on it anytime soon. I was already being let in on more than the average genin as it was, now that I thought about it. Then again, it was probably only fair that I know what threats I should be aware of.

Still, it didn’t make me feel any less like a burden to Tsunade-sama, to Asuma-sensei, to my comrades, and to the rest of the village. There seemed to be a lot of danger forming around all of this, and all because some defected Sannin wants a few fancy-looking eyes.

“Geez, wouldn’t it be easier if I got lost or something?” The words slipped before I realized I had spoken.

Shit.

All eyes fell on me, silently urging me to continue. The stupid part of me that couldn’t take back my words followed through.

“I mean, wouldn’t it be easier if I just left and took the threat with me?”

Tsunade-sama gave me the most unimpressed expression I had even seen her give. I didn’t want to look to see what kind of face the jounin was wearing.

“Tch, and I thought you were one of the smarter ones.” The Hokage finally sighed, shaking her head. “Do you really think we could afford to have you running around on your own without any sort of defense, waiting to let your kekkei genkai fall into the wrong hands? This issue is far bigger than your consideration to our shinobi – whose jobs are to fight these battles, since you apparently forgot. I don’t need another self-centered brat in my village.”

I winced, her words cutting and harsh. “…Sorry.”

“You’d better be.” The Hokage’s mouth pulled into a smirk while still retaining her authoritative voice. “You’re staying with this village whether you like it or not, brat.”

As if baking up her statement, I glanced up at Asuma-sensei, who had set his hand on my head in that reassuring way he did whenever he could tell I doubted something.

“Riku, I’m granting you access to the records we have on fuuinjutsu. See what you can find about that mark on your back.” Tsunade-sama slid a piece of paper towards me.

“You sure you should be leaving me in charge of that?”

“If we want to get working on out to get around your seal, it’d be easier if you understood the basics of how seals work in the first place.”

“I guess so.” I nodded.

“Now all of you get out.” Her voice became serious again as she waved us off. “I’ve got work to do.”

The three of us nodded and the ANBU disappeared with hardly a sound while I left through the door with my sensei. The moment the door closed behind us, a face I hadn’t seen in a while came right around the corner.

“Sasuke?” I greeted questionably, wondering what he was doing, visiting the Hokage alone.

He hardly spared us a glance, however, brushed past with silent steps. I frowned, knowing that I wasn’t the only one who sensed the way the Uchiha seemed distracted and lost in thought. Something was on his mind when he knocked on the door. The heavy expression he wore suck into my mind without me knowing, even if I saw it for that brief moment until he slipped inside the Hokage’s office, closing the door behind him.

“She must be telling him about the upcoming threats.” Asuma-sensei answered my silent question.

Something twisted in the pit of my stomach, but I could find no other reason than the one my sensei just gave.

---

The past two weeks had been redundant.

Training in the morning, additional training in the afternoon if I had the time and energy, followed by surrounded myself in books and scrolls about fuuinjutsu. Every now and then, my team and I would go on a D-ranked mission to keep ourselves busy and our wallets full, but other than that, nothing exciting happened. It was probably better that way.

Before I started this self-study, it had been a while since I surrounded myself with books and scrolls. The peace and quiet was nice, but I can’t say I missed the frustration that came with not being able to wrap my head around what I was reading.

“Who the hell even came up with this stuff?” I hissed under my breath, trying to make sense of the few books there were about the techniques in the first place.

I sighed. The basics of fuuinjutsu were easy enough, like how an even numbered seal on an odd numbered seal would create an imbalance, and the whole idea was like forming hand seals in order to perform a jutsu. It was just the sheer number of possibilities that I found overwhelming.

Which was why I asked for a helping hand.

“It’s easy once you get the hang of it.” Tenten grinned, rolling out a blank scroll on the table. “Here, give it another go!”

“Are you sure you don’t have anything else to do?” I asked while loading the brush with ink.

The older genin shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. I’m happy to help! Besides, not a lot of people use fuuinjutsu, so if you get the hang of it, maybe you can work it into your fighting style. Oh, your seal will be more balanced if you switched these two sigils around.” She changed topics, pointing to two of the freshly painted sigils.

I huffed, tearing off the bit of the scroll to try again. “Where did you even learn this kind of stuff, anyway?”

“The Academy taught the basics. The rest was mostly self-study and some fooling around, but I asked for help, too.” Tenten answered. “Every chuunin and jounin should know how the common seals work. They used them all the time to seal files or keep the armory stocked. I bet even Asuma-sensei would be able to provide some insight. It’s only when it comes to the more advanced seals that makes it harder to find information on.”

“It’s always the information I need that I never have access to.” I smiled wryly as I finished the seal. “Okay, how’s this?”

The brunette grinned. “Give it a try and see for yourself.”

I frowned. “If I die, it’s on your hands.”

Setting what felt like the hundredth kunai in the blank spot of the seal, I focused chakra into my hand and set it on the separate part of the seal that I was supposed to focus it into. With a poof that startled me enough to make me flinch, the kunai disappeared with a small puff of smoke.

“Hey!” Tenten exclaimed with a wide smile. “You did it!”

“I did it.” I echoed, noting the character that appeared in the center of the seal that identified the sealed item as a kunai.

It was an improvement, but as far as I was concerned, it was going to take ages until I came close to understanding what was going on with the seal on my back. Then again, that probably wasn’t what Tsunade-sama had in mind when she told me to get studying. If it was too complex for her to understand, there was definitely no chance for me. It really was just for preparation. As frustrating as it was, at least it gave me something to do with my spare time.

“So, do you want to keep going?” The brunette asked.

“Let’s end things on a high note today.” I laughed airily while rolling up the scroll. “Thanks a lot for your help, Tenten.”

She grinned as she helped clean up the sheets of failed seals and borrowed books. “Anytime. I’ve Do you wanna grab dinner?”

“I’ve already taken up enough of your time.” I said while putting the books away.

“Come on~ Dinner is more fun with a friend!” Tenten insisted.

Not wanting to have an endless squabble about something so trivial, I huffed. “Alright, fine, since you apparently have nobody else to keep you company.”

“Hey!”

The library had a few cafés and restaurants around, which were all starting to get lively around this time. Not wanting to find someplace particularly busy, Tenten and I settled for a dumpling restaurant. For once, our conversation wasn’t about fuuinjutsu. Part of me worried that dinner would be quiet, but once we started doing impressions of the other genin, it became rather lively for just two people.

“There’s no way you can get this wrong. Why? Because it would be illogical to misunderstand such a flawless impression.” I kept my voice low and expression blank for added effect.

“Shino!” Tenten laughed as I dropped my façade to grin. “Okay, how about this one: bwu bwu, bwu bwu bwu! Bwu!”

I nearly choked on my food as I coughed back a snort. “Oh my god, is that supposed to be Tonton?”

The genin burst into another fit of laughter as she nodded.

“That was terrible!” I cried with a grin. “She sounds more like bweh bweh bweh!”

“No way! It’s totally bwu bwu bwu!”

“I’m telling you, it sounds like bweh.”

“And I’m saying that she bwu’s!”

“Bweh!”

“Bwu!”

I don’t know how we managed to not get kicked out of the restaurant for excessive pig impressions, and terrible ones at that.

---

The evening ended up being longer than expected. Tenten and I sparred for a couple of hours afterwards to help work off dinner and the ridiculous laughing high. It was a pleasant break from the usual tension that was shrouding the village, though, but it was still important to stay sharp. I even used that one seal I made that day to surprise her with a single kunai, but of course, nothing was compared to her barrage of weapons.

We parted ways as the moon began to rise and the moment I got home, I got ready to pass out. Even my brain was feeling sore from all the fuuinjutsu studying.

I should give myself a break tomorrow.

With a groan, I cleaned up and got into bed as quickly as I could. Unfortunately, sleep didn’t come as quickly as I’d hoped. Instead, somebody usually so keen on staying quiet decided now was the best time to speak up.

The seal won’t be bypassed so easily, foolish human.

I huffed while rolling onto my back, staring at the ceiling so I didn’t accidentally fall asleep mid-conversation. Not that I really could, what with his booming voice echoing in my head when he spoke.

Don’t need a mighty chakra demon to tell me that much. Any reason why you care about this all of a sudden?

You had best not get arrogant with me, human! Having my vessel waste its energy on something so pointless is insulting to the Ape King, and trying to force my chakra past the seal causes unnecessary strain on both of us. It is a hopeless effort as you are now!

Yeah, I figured as much. Now that I think about it, shouldn’t you know something about the seal?

As foolish as you humans are, it would take an exceptionally large imbecile to leave what is sealed with the method of unsealing itself. It already takes a large imbecile to even ask such a thing!

Right, right. Just checking. Is there a reason you’re telling me this now, after I’ve been apparently wasting the past two weeks will all this pointless stuff?

I would be as foolish as a human if I were to let my vessel continue damaging itself. A despiteful human you are, but even I will acknowledge that my survival depends on yours, as well!

How thoughtful. I thought dryly, now rolling onto my side. Guess this whole deal with Orochimaru and Shinrin and our mystery man has you on edge, then.

Silence.

Yonbi?

Irritated silence.

Son Gokuu.

Silence.

I scoffed, closing my eyes.

No need to be shy. This lowly human appreciates you caring for her, even if it’s in your own selfish way.

Sleep came shortly afterwards, as it seemed like he had nothing left to say to keep me awake.

Unfortunately, I can’t say I felt well rested. I woke up early in the morning, roughly half an hour after the sun had risen and two hours before my alarm was supposed to go off. A sense of unease filled my stomach.

Something isn’t right…

I frowned, swinging my legs over my bed to get dressed as quickly as I could. After slipping outside, nothing was out of the ordinary. That is, until the resident lazy ass chuunin rushed by.

“Shikamaru?” I called absently, immediately taking off after him. “You look surprisingly alive, considering the time. Did something happen?”

Although more serious than usual, he gave his usual irritated sigh. “Yeah, something happened, alright.” He drawled, shaking his head. “Sasuke decided it would be a great idea to run off.”

The words took a moment to process until I narrowed my eyes. “He what? ”

“You heard me.” Shikamaru sighed again. “And with all the chuunin and jounin moving out to prepare for battle, Hokage-sama left me to gather a team of genin to track him down.”

“Should I be offended that you ran right past my apartment?” I jabbed half-heartedly.

The chuunin scoffed, offering me an apologetic smirk. “Sorry, but I got really specific orders not to get the enemy’s other target chasing after said enemy. You understand.”

I huffed. “Yeah, I gotcha.” That didn’t mean I had to like it, though. “Tch, guess that means they’re making their first move, if something made Sasuke leave like that.”

“Looks like it.” Shikamaru agreed, looking uncharacteristically sullen. “Troublesome…”

We stopped in front of the Hyuuga Manor, where the chuunin explained the situation and asked for Neji, who was the fifth and final member of the team Shikamaru put together. Since I was already up, I decided to see them off at the village gates. There, I saw Chouji, Kiba, and Naruto as well.

“Riku’s coming, too?” Kiba immediately asked, giving me an unimpressed look. It’s like he completed blocked the memory of getting his ass handed back to him by me.

“Luckily for you, mutt, ” I snapped, glaring at him as he glared back, “I’m practically under house arrest. Not that I really want to go on a morning run, anyway.”

That was a bit of a lie. I would gladly take part in pulling Sasuke back by the ear if I could.

“Under Shikamaru’s command, though, you wouldn’t need me, anyway.” I shrugged, waving my hand nonchalantly before grinning slyly. “If anybody can make use of somebody like you, it’s him.”

“Hey--!”

“Riku.” The chuunin sighed, putting a ceasefire to our squander before facing his team. “We’re taking on a pursuing role here, so this is how we’re going to travel.”

Kiba and Naruto didn’t seem particularly fond of the idea of having Shikamaru lead the team, but it didn’t take long for the lazyass to show them just why he was the only one that got promoted in the first place.

After the chuunin did an impressive display of his leadership and strategic skills, Sakura had shown up looking worse for wear. Tears brimmed the edge of her eyes and I winced. I had never seen her cry before. She always seemed too put-together for that, but right now, I knew that whatever she was feeling was nothing I could even try to imagine.

“Please, Naruto…” She sobbed, tears beginning to roll down her cheeks. “Bring him back…!”

“No matter what, I will!” Naruto reassure with a bright smile and a thumbs up completely contrasting his teammate. “It’s a promise of a lifetime!”

I smiled at the display before looking over to my own teammate and his best friend, wanting to pass on a few parting words myself. Chouji was nervous, but hid it as best he could. I scoffed at Shikamaru’s expression that had “troublesome” written all over it. Typical.

“Hey.” I caught their attention, approaching them with just a couple of steps. “Since Asuma-sensei isn’t here to say it…” I sighed, scratching the back of my neck, “once you guys get back, we’ll have barbecue, yeah?”

“Oh! A perfect way to celebrate a successful mission!” The Akimichi grinned cheekily.

“How about we talk about this after we come back.” Shikamaru sighed.

“Hey, if you’re not gonna motivate ‘em, somebody’s gotta do it.” I laughed softly, glad to see that Chouji was in a better mood. The chuunin, on the other hand, still looked a little tense. I waited until Chouji had turned his attention to going through his equipment again before pinching Shikamaru’s cheek. “Hey.”

“Ow.” He hissed, slapping my hand away. “What was that for?”

I gave him a soft smile as I stuffed my hands into my pockets. “You saved my ass once, Nara. I bet you can save his, too.”

The brunette was taken aback for a moment. I kept eye contact with him to make sure her understood that I was serious. Finally, he huffed and smiled back.

“That’s Naruto’s job, isn’t it?”

“Maybe, but do you really think he’s getting anywhere without you and the rest of ‘em?” I nodded my head towards the other four genin.

Shikamaru’s sole answer was an airy laugh. He shook his head, flashing me another brief smile before turning back to his team.

“We’ve wasted enough time. Let’s go!”

I looked over to Sakura and smiled when she turned to me with her tear-stained face. She forced a smile back, and I immediately winced at how tired she looked. For the few weeks I spent training with her, I never knew she had it in her to cry like that. With another nod, I faced the five departing once again in silence.

With five backs turned to us, they were off.

And then everything fell into chaos.

It took exactly two seconds for everything to go to shit.

The first explosion went off in the distance. Sakura and I flinched and spun our heads towards the source of the noise. A large, dark cloud of smoke and dust rose into the air.

“What the—” Sakura started, but was soon cut off by a second explosion that went off close to the first.

“Looks like the enemy’s making their move.” I growled. “How much do you wanna bet they orchestrated this to line up with Sasuke’s disappearance?”

“Probably…” She whispered before shaking her head, her expression becoming serious. “We need to get you somewhere safe, Riku.” Sakura urged, giving me a look so firm that I would have thought her crying was an illusion if not for the redness in them that still lingered. “They’re not getting their hands on you, too.”

I gave her a reassuring glance and patted her back “Relax. Unlike Sasuke, I don’t want to leave.”

The look she gave in return told me she was still hurt, but comforted.

“We should really leave this place, though.” She reminded.

Without any plan but to get moving, we took off into the village, eyes scanning for any danger around us. The only things I could see were the two clouds of smoke and dust rising in to the air. Meanwhile, the villagers were in a panic as genin and any remaining shinobi not already deployed for battle were evacuating them to safety towards the Hokage Monument.

“Come on, let’s go!” Sakura urged, taking off towards the Monument.

“Hold on!” I shouted, pulling her back. “I’ll only lead the enemy towards the villagers that way.”

The pink-haired genin bit her lip as we stood still, once again unsure of where to go. “Well, you can’t hide outside the village, either. There has to be somewhere you can do to lay low.”

I sighed, continuously keeping my senses focused on my surroundings in case somebody tried to attack. “There’s usually an ANBU tailing me.” I admitted, drawing a surprised reaction out of Sakura. “She said she had her squad with her, too, but I’m pretty sure said squad would be checking out those explosions.”

“The rest of my team are doing just that, yes.” A third voice suddenly popped in, startling the two of us. “As for myself, I was surveilling the surrounding area. Thankfully, no enemies have made it inside the village yet.”

“Speak of the devil.” I breathed as my heart rate slowed back down. “What’s going on?”

“The last recon team to return reported signs of activity and an increase in barriers and defenses. It appears that the enemy decided to make a move sooner than we had anticipated.” She explained quickly. “I imagine that since they already lost the element of surprise, it was only a matter of time before they began their assault.”

“Why didn’t we attack them, first?” Sakura asked curiously. “It sounds like we had a general idea of where the enemy was.”

The bird-masked ANBU shook her head. I got the feeling that she was frowning.

“Given the circumstances and the lack of knowledge of our enemy, it would have been too dangerous to start the assault. Our efforts were better spent preparing for their attack, hence why we are capable of responding so quickly now.” She answered, nodding towards the direction of the two explosions. “The battle has already begun. Shurikane-san, I ask that you follow me to a location prepared to keep you protected and guarded until this is all over. Genin-san,” she addressed Sakura now, “please help the villagers evacuate to safety.”

A crease formed between her pink brows until finally, she nodded.

“Understood. Please, keep Riku safe.” Sakura demanded more than she requested in a tone of voice that surprised both the ANBU and I. Finally, she gave me a smile before turning to leave.

But the explosion of smoke and rubble knocked her off course.

I coughed and squinted my eyes through the smoke. My senses were immediately attacked by the peculiar scent of the smoke that only made me cough harder.

Shit, what the hell is that smell?

The glimpse I caught of Sakura tumbling across the rooftop immediately took priority of my thoughts. I felt my mouth open to call for her, but my throat tightened. The ringing in my ears felt paralyzing and I found myself incapable of moving.

Shit, not now! Move, damn it!

“Shurikane-san!” The ANBU shouted as she gripped my arm, pulling me away right before a black katana could cut me.

“Oh, could it be?” A voice I never wanted to hear again made me flinch. “Is the great genjutsu master afraid of a little bomb?”

“Shinrin…” I growled, jaws clenched.

I heard movement from the side and flinched, letting myself get guided in the thick smoke by the ANBU. Metal clashed against metal and the grip around me tightened, pulling me back. I felt her shield me with her body as their weapons clashed again.

“Riku, are you okay?” Sakura shouted from somewhere in the clearing smoke.

“Maybe I should greet your friend, instead.”

The sudden lack of pressure against the ANBU pulled me back to my senses.

“Don’t you fucking dare—!” I screamed and lurched forward, only to be stopped by the ANBU’s grip. “Let me go!”

“No.” She said calmly.

Before I could fight back, she turned me towards the opposite rooftop. Small flames were scattered across the rooftops around us, slowly spreading towards the cherry blossom trees that surrounded the area, but all I could focus on was the twisted grin that haunted me for nights on end, and the black blade that would carve into me until I awoke that was now held up to Sakura’s neck, and no matter how many times it could cut into her, I would never wake up. She clenched her fists, eyes petrified and staring straight at me as a silent plea.

The last of the smoke cleared with a breeze carried loose cherry blossom petals and embers across the rooftop. It would have been an oddly peaceful sight if not for the sight of Sakura being held hostage that came with it.

“Release her.” I growled, eyes darker than ever.

His grip only tightened around the genin, my comrade, my friend.

“She’s not your target, Kedamono.” I snarled, glowering at the former samurai.

“It won’t be hard to add her to the list of casualties in order to get my target.” He smiled wickedly, pressing the blade into Sakura’s neck, causing her to flinch. “After all, my problem is with you.”

“What the hell is your problem with me, anyway?” I demanded, now shouting at Shinrin. It was a question that had been nagging me since our first encounter. “Fucking around with my team, working with that defect Sannin, and going after my friends – is this seriously just because I cast some shitty genjutsu when I was, what, ten years old? Get over it, bastard.”

Shinrin’s smile immediately dropped, replaced with a glower and an aura so dark that it made me freeze. Never have I felt such a strong killing intent radiating from him before – not even during his game. I felt the ANBU flare her chakra as a warning, but he made no move to attack. Instead, he threw Sakura to his feet and kept her in place by pointing the katana at her neck. It was far too similar to the way he once pointed his weapon at me.

“Get over it?” His voice was low and threatening. “What if I cut right through this pink little girl? Would you so easily get over it just because you were told?”

I couldn’t say anything; didn’t dare to say anything. Not when he looked ready to follow through with his words.

“One little genjutsu – one shitty little genjutsu cast by some shitty little meddling brat who stuck her nose where it didn’t belong—!” His voice grew colder. Louder. Angrier. Shinrin’s jaws clenched along with his grip around his katana. “Hasn’t anybody ever told you that every second counts in a battle? That’s what one shitty little genjutsu is all about! It buys your comrades the second they need to kill mine!”

Suddenly, his voice was full of raw emotion, his expression twisted into one of both pain and rage.

“Feel like hearing a story? The one about the death brought upon my comrades by one of your clansmen? By one of those shitty little genjutsu cast by those shitty little eyes?”

“By my…?” I whispered.

Is that why he suddenly retreated back when he attacked my team?

He left me no time for my thoughts, continuing with anger seething through his teeth.

“I bet you never would have thought that, would you? That even I had family; that even I had comrades that I would give my life for – that I would think of as my own brothers and sisters, and I did! My comrades thought they were killing the enemy, but they were only killing each other! All I could do was watch… I watched my family kill each other, and she watched along with me; watching as her enemies – as my family – tore each other to shreds!”

His chest heaved and his breaths were heavy; not from exhaustion, but from anger.

I was the complete opposite; silent and breathless.

“It was nothing but cruel... That’s all you genjutsu users ever do, tricking your victims with nothing but the worst – turning your victims nightmares into reality, just because you can! She could have killed me along with them, but she didn’t. She said that she would spare me, that she would give me mercy.”

His voice dropped to a low growl as he spat the word with such hatred, I didn’t even dare to breathe.

“Watching my comrades destroy each other is not mercy!”

“I…” I slammed my mouth shut, because what was I supposed to say to that? What was anybody supposed to say to something like that?

Shinrin’s voice reverberated through my veins, shaking me straight to the core. It was the voice of a broken man – one who suffered what I could only imagine. For once, I saw him not as the man who tortured me, but as another human being.

Right now, he was just another man who has and had comrades and friends of his own.

And now, he was trying to take away mine.

“Nothing clever left to say, huh?” He scoffed, gently tapping the tip of his blade against Sakura’s neck. Tears brimmed her eyes and I could do nothing but watch. “I tried to make it even, but that old bastard Mifune would have nothing of it. Instead, he decided to exile me; said that I would bring unnecessary conflict to our land. A waste of effort!”

The fatally dark tone returned, and he looked at me as if it were my fault. If he started any longer, I might have been convinced that it was.

“I lost comrades, my country—everything, all because of one shitty little genjutsu.” The words hissed through his teeth like poison. “I only lost more because of yours. That’s my problem with you!”

It was hard to remember that the people fought in battle had comrades of their own – people that they wanted to protect, too, even if they were the ones of the twisted sadist that tortured me. It was hard to pity him, but it was also hard to ignore the genuine pain that lingered behind the rage of his voice.

Despite everything he had done, it was hard not to feel a little sympathy for his loss.

However, I was nowhere near forgiving him for what he’s done.

With a shaky breath, I calmed myself enough to finally say something back.

“Then keep your problem with me, and me alone.” My voice faltered the slightest bit, but I forced myself to keep a hard stare on the swordsman.

“Do not intentionally put yourself in harm’s way.” The ANBU spoke, reminding me that she was still there. She then addressed Shinrin with words I never thought I’d hear a supposed ally say. “Do what you will with a mere genin hostage. We will not let you walk away with the Youkugan.”

My blood ran cold at the mere notion that she would actually say that.

“What?” I spat, immediately turning to direct my anger towards the ANBU who I thought was on our side. “Aren’t you supposed to be on our side?”

“I am on the village’s side.” She corrected nonchalantly, as if she didn’t just suggest that Shinrin killed Sakura in cold blood. “If you are true Konoha shinobi, I expect you two to be on the village’s side, as well.”

“Are you seriously telling her to just—to just die?” My voice grew louder, but I stood still, keeping my fists clenched tight by my sides. “What kind of fucked up mentality do you people have?”

“Understand this, Shurikane-san.” The ANBU’s voice sent a chill down my spine. It held no sense of comradeship like it used to. “We have already lost the Uchiha. We are ready to sacrifice more than our lives to ensure that we do not lose your kekkei genkai, as well. Any shinobi of Konoha should be prepared to make that sacrifice, no matter what rank they may be. Let your comrade serve their duty to the village while I bring you to safety.”

Another breeze blew by, this time with more petals than embers.

Wait… petals?

The faint warmth that came with the breeze seemed to go unnoticed by Shinrin, but I couldn’t ignore it. It felt too familiar for it to be nothing. I realized then something that I should have realized much sooner.

My eyes flicked towards the ANBU who stood as firm as ever, but there was no way that she failed to notice the faintest hint of the jounin’s presence in the air, as well. It was the sort of presence that would only be noticed through familiarity, or if you were searching for it. Thankfully, I had a bit of both.

She’s trying to buy time. I deduced, looking away from the masked shinobi. Whether or not she means what she’s saying is a whole other story, though. Until then, however, I decided that it would be best to play along.

“Fuck you.” I growled. “Who the fuck do you think you are, talking about Sakura like some sort of pawn?” Not to mention that she reduced my existence down to my kekkei genkai. Whether it was an act or not, everything about it made me sick.

“R-Riku, listen to her!” Sakura suddenly interjected, voice shaking with uncertainty. From the look in her eyes, she was trying to be calm, be strong, and be brave. She could have tricked me if not for her reddened eyes. Nevertheless, she continued. “It’s… It’s okay.”

Her voice was suddenly so strong and full of resolve that it terrified me. I hoped it was because she was putting up an act, as well, but something told me it wasn’t.

Don’t.

“I’ve been spending all this time in Naruto and Sasuke-kun’s shadows, watching them get strong and stronger… I thought I could never be useful to our village, but if I can change all that with this, then… then I will.” Despite her shaking hands and tear-brimmed eyes, Sakura’s green eyes looked straight at me as she smiled. “It’d be an honourable death for a shinobi, right?”

“Indeed it would,” Shinrin answered with his twisted smile, removing all trace of the humanity I caught a glimpse of just now. “And I’d be honoured to be the one to give it to you!”

“No!”

The sun caught the edge of his sword as Shinrin thrust it forward. It only took that single moment for the image to get burned into my memory until it was erased from my sight by a flurry of cherry blossom petals. With a strong wind, they spun around him, engulfing his sword in a pink mass.

“Flower Petal Embrace!”

The cherry blossoms collected into a single entity behind Shinrin. He was frozen, unable to move as the genjutsu had already long been in place, waiting for the right time to be fully engaged. The petals swarmed together until they formed a large cherry blossom tree. Its branches clung to the swordsman’s arms, binding him in place and forcing him to drop his sword.

Finally, a figure began to emerge from the tree, revealing the one we were buying time for.

“K…” Sakura gasped as she shakily pushed herself away from the man who tried to kill her. “Kurenai-sensei!”

“You did well, Sakura-chan. Your sensei would be proud.” She smiled warmly despite the kunai she was holding at Shinrin’s neck. “ANBU-san, I can handle things from here. Please, take these two and go.”

“Will you be able to handle him alone?” The ANBU asked.

The jounin shook her head with a regretful look. “I admit that it won’t be easy, but it’s a good thing I’m not alone.”

On cue, another presence appeared next to me, and the air was soon littered with the scent of cigarettes.

“Asuma-sensei.” I greeted with a relieved smile.

“Get yourselves to safety. Us jounin can take care of this.” He grinned, ruffling my hair before he walked up to Shinrin. “It’s a shame we have questions to ask you, or else I’d get right to paying you back for what you did to my student.”

The swordsman growled, the rage from his earlier monologue returning at full.

“Don’t expect me to succumb to another genjutsu. I’ll kill you all!” His volume augmented with his chakra levels, flaring at such a high rate that it took Kurenai-sensei off guard and shattered the genjutsu. “Don’t take me for a fool!”

The next few seconds were a blur. Asuma-sensei blocked Shinrin’s katana with a kunai while I lunged towards Sakura with a surge of chakra at my feet. Kurenai-sensei regained her composure just in time to defend an attack that came from one of Shinrin’s subordinates, who must have arrived at his sudden flare of chakra.

Trusting them to fend them off, I focused only on grabbing Sakura’s wrist and pulling her to her feet.

“Haul ass!” I shouted, not sparing a single glance back as I pulled her along.

Killing intent spread like a forest fire behind us, but I forced us to keep moving, refusing to fall back after we finally got out of that situation with Sakura’s head still intact.

“Have faith in your comrades.” The ANBU suddenly spoke from beside me, as if reading my thoughts.

“…Yeah.” I nodded.

Without a silent hand signal, she began leading us away from the fight, towards the outskirts of the village that was opposite of the initial explosions. I assumed that was where I was supposed to lay low until the battle was resolved. Not even a minute later, however, more of Shinrin’s subordinates appeared before us.

“Why don’t we help take that load off your hands?” One of them asked nonchalantly before charging straight towards me.

In a flash, the ANBU was between the ex-samurai and I, fending his blade off with her own.

“Run! I will handle these three and catch up with you.” Just as she made the order, the ANBU pushed chakra into her blade to push the enemy away.

“Even for an ANBU, three against one is--!” Sakura’s worried voice was cut off with a sudden blast that knocked us all aside.

I winced as I was knocked off the rooftop and slid across another. Thankfully, Sakura was still with me this time. Dirt stung my new scratches and caused my eyes to water, but at least being tossed across the rooftops put out the small flames that burned my clothes. I coughed, trying to wave the dust away so I could breathe more easily. It settled just in time for me to catch a clear glimpse of the second enemy that towered over me, just one thrust away from incapacitating me.

“Shit!”

Already, I was desperately making hand seals as much as I could, but I soon found that I didn’t need to bother.

“Hidden Skill; Konoha’s Dancing Leaves!”

A swirl of leaves cut between the enemy and I, slicing at his arms and forcing him to retreat. The ANBU appeared before me and swung her katana, sending another blast of razor sharp leaves towards the three enemies to keep them at a distance.

“Thanks.” I panted, looking up to address the ANBU, only to freeze at what I saw.

The porcelain bird mask that once covered her face was cracked and burnt, causing an entire chunk of it to break off. It still covered the upper and left side of her face, but it was more than enough for me to recognize who it was.

“Mayuri…?” I breathed, unable to imagine that the thief my team and I brought back was the same person as the ANBU who had been shadowing me all this time.

Her expression remained still and blank, which was a little unnerving, considering how young she looked. I thought she was my age, but when I saw her now, she looked at least ten years older. Was she in a disguise the last time I saw her, or was it just the intensity in her eyes that made all the difference? Either way, that “thief” and this ANBU were definitely one and the same. That much, I was sure of.

“Proceed to safety,” was all she said in response to the name I knew her by, but was very likely not her real name. “I will catch up once I’m finished here.” To buy us some more time, she swung her katana again, releasing another blast of cutting wind full of knife-like leaves. “Now!”

Scrambling to my feet, I grabbed Sakura’s wrist again and was about to take off. A nagging curiosity got the best of me, however, and I couldn’t help but ask a quick question before we left.

“Just how old are you?” I asked.

“Too young to drink, but old enough to kill.” Mayuri didn’t even spare me a glance with her answer. “Now go, before they get back up again!”

Without another response, I nodded at Sakura before we both sprinted off again, just in time to avoid the daggers thrown by the enemy.

Below us, villagers continued to be evacuated to safety. We could see the enormous crowd pooling around the Hokage Monument. Thankfully, the only enemy shinobi and swordsmen that were inside the village were the ones we encountered ourselves, and they were close to the edge of the village, so the civilians were still safe.

Let’s hope it stays that way.

Our path took us towards the Hokage Monument. Seeing that there were still several villagers in the middle of evacuating, I slowed to a stop, causing Sakura to stop with me.

“Something wrong?” She asked.

“You should stay here and help.”

“But we need to get you to the safe zone.”

“No, I need to get there. You,” I jabbed my finger at Sakura’s breastbone, “need to stay here and help evacuate the villagers instead of becoming another hostage.”

A hint of guilt briefly flashed through her eyes as she glanced away. Silence passed between us as I refused to let my resolve waver. I refused to let that sort of thing happen again.

“We’re lucky Kurenai-sensei and Asuma-sensei showed up when they did, or things would have turned out way worse.” I said.

“…I don’t regret it, you know.” She whispered, breaking the silence.

“What?”

“I don’t regret it,” she repeated more firmly. “After already losing Sasuke-kun… I felt like I would do anything to make sure that we didn’t lose you, too, even if it meant…”

Dying, but that was left unsaid because her voice hitched as she swallowed a sob, fighting back the urge to cry.

I wanted to tell her that it was okay if she did. Nobody would blame her, and I especially wouldn’t dare judge her after she experienced something far too close to what I did. I was glad that she didn’t, though, because as selfish as it was, I wasn’t sure if I could handle seeing Sakura cry twice within the same hour. She always handled stress well, and how she managed to not freak out after having a katana pressed against her throat by a man who was very readily about to kill her stuck with me. Where her physical strength lacked, her mentality made up for.

Finally, I clapped my hands on her shoulder and gripped them reassuringly, tight enough so she got the message, but not so tight that it would hurt.

“For the record, you nearly scared the literal shit out of me, so please don’t ever do that again.” I said while looking at her in all seriousness. “Isn’t Kakashi-sensei always preaching about how shinobi that abandon their comrades are lower than trash? Dying is a pretty permanent of abandoning a lot more than just your comrades, don’t you think? I don’t know about you, but I don’t like the idea of being considered lesser than a piece of trash.”

Although there were thankfully no tears falling, Sakura sniffled and nodded.

“Got it. But I still want to go with you to make sure you get there in one piece.”

“I’d really rather you didn’t—”

“Riku!” Somebody interrupted.

“Ino?”

“Forehead!”

“Ino.” Sakura muttered.

My blond teammate hopped over to our rooftop and landed with hardly a sound.

“Wow. You two have seen better days.” Ino murmured once she examined us. “What’s with you, Sakura?” She grinned smugly, learning into the pink-haired genin’s personals pace. “Are you getting scared?”

“Get your pig breath out of my face.” Sakura retorted while pushing Ino back. “We really need to get going and you’re in our way, Pig.”

My teammate crossed her arms and frowned, staring at us with a serious gaze that no longer held any smugness that she reserved for her rivalry with Sakura.

“Don’t think you can hide anything from me, you two.” She warned, furrowing her brows. “Something’s up, and I’m not “getting out of your way” until you fill me in!”

“Sakura almost died just now and I don’t want it to happen again.” I answered bluntly, because it was clear that I wasn’t going to weasel my way out of this one.

Ino fell silent. Her eyes trailed over to Sakura again, and it was as if her injuries had a whole new different meaning to them. Not that they were anything serious, but the scratches and bruises that covered us told a story. That much, I knew she could tell. Still, the stubbornness in her gaze never faded. I should have known by now that breaking the resolve of a Konoha shinobi was practically impossible.

“Geez, she’s the same as always, sticking her big fat nose into everybody’s business.” Sakura huffed, briefly glancing towards me. “Then again, you just said that shinobi who abandon their comrades are below trash.”

“Besides, there’s no way I can just leave you with Sakura.” Ino taunted, setting the back of her hand on her hip. “I wouldn’t be able to focus at all knowing you have the worst bodyguard around!”

Sakura immediate snapped back with a half-assed taunt herself, but the two were laughing nevertheless.

Have faith in your comrades. Mayuri-san’s words echoed in my head as I gave a defeated smile.

I was never fond of the idea of laying low while the rest of the village fought against the enemy, but I guess that was the role I had to play in all this – to trust that the others would come through. In the end, it really was just a part of our jobs, and it wasn’t like I could tell two kunoichi to just stop being kunoichi.

If there was one thing from what Mayuri said earlier that stuck with me, is that I really was an asset to the village, whether I liked it or not. Falling into the hands of the enemy was something I couldn’t afford to do, and if I had two friends willing to help me with that, then I should probably just be thankful for it.

Finally, I sighed and flashed a smile. “Then let’s haul ass.”

“How are even supposed to know where exactly to go?” Ino asked as we sped along the outer walls of the village.

It would have been a lot quicker to cut across the entire village, but since we wanted to avoid bringing damage to the buildings in case we got attacked, we ran along the perimeter instead.

“The ANBU pointed us in the general direction. I bet there will be other shinobi waiting once we get there.” Sakura speculated.

“Let’s hope so.” I sighed.

It was reassuring to have two of my friends with me. Despite the sound of war around us, it helped keep me at ease. If anybody close to Shinrin’s level tried to attack, I would have been done for if I were alone, but at least with the three of us, we could work out a plan to at least escape or buy ourselves some time. Just in case, we even decided a few battle strategies if we were unlucky enough to have to use them.

And of course, luck just wasn’t on our side today.

We made it two thirds of the way when the walls began to shake violently. I shifted my footing so I could jump off and do a proper landing, but just as I did so, the wall gave out and crumbled.

“Shit!” I hissed, hearing Ino and Sakura shout as they fell as well.

I managed to take a few steps across the collapsing wall before pushing off one of the larger pieces of debris to avoid getting caught under the rubble. The uneven footing caused me to slide off and land on the ground, imbalanced. I braced myself as I tumbled across the ground for several feet until finally sliding to a stop.

“Augh…” I winced, steadily pushing myself up.

Thankfully, the two kunoichi were alright and within sight. New scrapes and cuts decorated all of us, but nothing appeared to be broken or sprained, much to my relief. We weren’t given much time to recover, however, because just as I got onto my feet, three presences suddenly became dangerously close.

I pulled out a kunai just in time to block an incoming attack from a young woman. Her scratched headband caught the sun, identifying her as one of the Kumo rogues. Another burst of chakra startled me into instinctively using the Substitution Technique. It was a good call, considering the terrain was quickly upturned into columns of earth that tried to surround and imprison us.

I jumped back and regrouped with Ino and Sakura, who both had weapons drawn at this point. The three rogues before us were older, but from what I could tell from their chakra levels, their rank couldn’t have been beyond chuunin. I couldn’t tell if they were still concealing any of it, either, but it seemed like they were trying to intimidate us by flaring their chakra. To an extent, it worked. It was better than being faced with jounin shinobi, but fighting three chuunin still wasn’t easy.

“That was a little extreme, don’t you think, Amaki-chan?” A man with a red bandana spoke to the female.

“I thought the sooner we get this over with, the better.” She answered with a nonchalant shrug. “I didn’t expect them to be so light on their feet, though. I wonder if they’re just good at running away.” It sounded like it was supposed to be an insult, but she looked so bored it made me wonder if it was just an honest observation. “Besides, you shouldn’t underestimate them. They do have a Shurikane on their side, after all.”

Three foreign pairs of eyes settled on me and I instinctively tightened the grip on my kunai.

“How did you find us so easily?” I asked skeptically.

“Isn’t it obvious? The two of you have been marked.” The male explained, nodding to me and Sakura.

“What? Since when?”

I suddenly remembered the smoke bomb we were hit with earlier and how it had an odd scent clinging to it.

“…It was the smoke bomb.” I growled, annoyed that I didn’t notice sooner. “Guess there’s no use in running, now.”

It would just be a waste of energy if we tried to run. The rubble and the pillars of earth would make it difficult to escape quickly and safely, too. Until we could find an opening, our only option was to fight.

“H…Hey, they aren’t backing down…” The third rogue – a timid-looking male – said nervously. “You said this was going to be easy, Tohma-kun, but they look… they look pretty scary right now.” He said to the other male.

“Calm down, Renui. They’re just genin, and she’s a total newbie with the Youkugan, anyway. Besides, you want your wish to come true, don’t you?” Tohma said in an unexpectedly soft tone.

“Wish?” Ino echoed, voicing the word I’m sure Sakura was thinking about like I was.

From the way they spoke to each other, they seemed really close. I was reminded of what Shinrin had said before, about how my enemies have comrades as well. Whatever this wish was, they must be working together in order to achieve it, and apparently this wish had something to do with me.

I bit my lip anxiously.

The Shurikane clan was rumoured to be able to grant wishes.

I didn’t like where this was going.

“That’s right; a wish.” Amaki nodded. “You all must have one, too.”

“Well, yes…” Sakura answered hesitantly.

“And wouldn’t you do anything in order to achieve it?” Tohma stepped forward carefully.

We all flinched and raised are weapons, ready to respond the second they decided to attack.

“I wouldn’t gauge somebody’s eyes out if that’s what you mean.” I answered with a frown.

“Then…would you grant our wishes voluntarily…?” Renui asked softly.

I paused and met his gaze. Honestly, he looked like a kicked puppy. If I had met him anywhere else, I would have found it very hard to believe that he was a rogue chuunin.

“…No, I wouldn’t.” I finally said. “If you guys are so keen on getting the Youkugan to grant those wishes, then I get the feeling they aren’t meant to come true.”

Renui winced as if I had really kicked him and the other two looked offended. I felt a chill in the air as their eyes became darker. I swallowed and took a moment to reassure myself that Ino and Sakura were still with me.

“Besides, there’s only so much a dojutsu can do. What makes you think the Youkugan would work, anyway?”

“You should have more confidence in your eyes.” Amaki said. “They are capable of incredible things.”

“How would you know that?”

“I saw it with my own eyes.” Tohma claimed. “It was nothing like I had ever seen before! A warm yet blinding light, and just like that, the war was over, and the village, gone.”

“Wait, what?” I questioned, wondering if I heard that correctly. “Somebody used the Youkugan to—to eradicate the village?”

“No way…” Ino whispered. “That’s way too crazy!”

“Incredible, isn’t it!” He smiled excitedly. “If the Youkugan can do that, then who’s to say it can’t bring back a loved one, or give somebody a second chance, or to live in a world without pain and sorrow?”

Something at the back of my mind snapped, but I couldn’t bring myself to move, which was probably for the better. His appearance seemed sane and pleasant enough, but the tone in his voice made it sound like he was like he was preaching to fellow members of a cult. His smile seemed off and his pupils were dilated. It was unsettling, to say the least, and for some reason, I was too frightened to move.

“We all have our own reasons,” Amaki, who seemed to be the voice of reason amongst the three, added, “and I don’t believe any one of us is willing to give up until we succeed, or until we die.”

On the last word, she lunged forward, officially beginning the battle. I jumped back and clashed my kunai against her dagger. Without a moment’s hesitation, Sakura threw a kunai at Amaki, forcing her to push away and dodge. Tohma dove in within the same second, snatching the kunai out of the air and throwing it right back. There was a loud clang and two kunai knives clattered to the ground. Eyes flickered over to see Ino with her arm outstretched, revealing that she was the one who deflected it.

“Blade of Wind…!”

A sudden rise in chakra startled us into moving out of the way, just in time to avoid the brunt of a Wind Release ninjutsu from Renui. It was hard to tell what he was doing, but from the looks of it, he was throwing nearly invisible blades of wind at us. They whizzed through the air in a way that sounded like a horde of hummingbirds, the only evidence of them actually existing being the deep cuts they left in the ground.

“Gah!” Sakura cried.

“Sakura!” I gasped, watching drops of blood seep through her fingers as she gripped her arm.

“S…Sorry….” Renui whispered. “It’s not might fault you didn’t dodge…”

“Hey, how many times to we have to tell you, Renui? You don’t need to apologize to your opponents.” Tohma reassured with a smile before turning to us. “It might be easier if you just gave in, though. After all, we’ll track you down no matter where you run. That scent is pretty hard to get rid of.”

“Oh, bite me!” Sakura shouted. “Ino, Riku! Let’s show ‘em who’s boss!”

“You don’t need to mention it, Forehead!” Ino grinned as she pulled out shuriken and wire. “Formation A!”

Without requiring any signals or cues, the three of us got moving. Of course, it wasn’t as though our opponents were going to just stay still.

Amaki used another Earth Release technique to launch boulders at us while Renui used a wind technique to kick up dust and pebbles. It made it harder to dodge the boulders, but we maneuvered ourselves around swiftly enough so that we didn’t get landed with a direct hit. Besides, they were going to regret stirring up dust to conceal our movements very soon.

Made nearly inaudible due to all the ninjutsu being used was the sound of wire whizzing back and forth in preparation for our strategy. While Sakura and I prepared our parts, Ino was strategically surrounding the area with wire in order to restrict the enemy’s movements.

“Ready!” I heard Ino shout from my right.

Our cue to begin was the moment the dust had settled enough for us to see them. Sakura began the strategy by throwing four small bags at the rogues. Just a split second afterwards, she threw four senbon needles at the bags to tear them open, causing square pieces of paper to fly out and gently flutter around them. At the same time, Ino used a genjutsu. Flower petals began to swirl around them and mix with the paper while I charged up a Lightning Release ninjutsu.

“Now for the finisher!” Sakura shouted as she threw an explosive kunai.

Everything, from start to finish, happened in such a short span of time that they hardly had any time to get a good look at the paper mixed with the barrage of petals and register that the square slips of paper were all explosive tags.

“Renui!” Tohma said shortly.

The timid man nodded and quickly made hand seals. The sudden concentration of chakra didn’t go unnoticed. “Wind Release; Divine Wind!”

Nevertheless, it appeared that the Wind Release jutsu was used just in time.

Renui’s ninjutsu formed several tornadoes that spun around the rogues. The tornadoes collected the explosives and brought most of them away from the Kumo rogues as Sakura’s explosive kunai landed at their feet and was set off, which then started a chain reaction through all the smaller explosive tags that were within range.

“Agh!”

Shouts came from the center, but they got out relatively unscathed. They were not safe, however, because I was already waiting for them.

“Lightning Running Beast Technique!”

The moment he stepped out of the cloud of explosives, Renui came face to face with my lightning hound. At the same time, Ino trapped Amaki with a pull of her wires while Sakura prevented Tohma from moving anywhere else by planting senbon with pouches of small explosive tags tied to them, threatening to detonate around him on command.

“I must admit, I did not expect such clever tactics from genin.” Amaki said, cautious about the sharp wire that crisscrossed dangerously around her.

“Don’t get too confident though, alright?” Tohma smiled.

“I don’t wanna be hearing that from you.” I muttered, keeping my gaze settled on Renui.

His hands trembled as he started at my lightning hound. I kept my other hand in a tiger seal to focus my chakra, as maintaining this technique for long was still strenuous.

“I’m…I’m only scared of real wolves…!” Renui cried as he jumped back to buy time for hand seals.

“I won’t let you!”

I swung my arm out and focused the chakra lightning into a single point. The hand seals were all-too familiar and I already knew what was coming next. All that was left within that heartbeat was to pray that I managed to pull off my technique fast enough for it to still work.

“Wind Release; Gale Force Palm…!”

“Lightning Release; Blinding Darkness!”

The familiar impact of being struck by a powerful force of wind knocked me back, but not before I saw a blinding light explode where Renui was. I heard his startled cry, reassuring me that my technique was a success.

I landed with a heavy thud on my back, heavy enough that I momentarily got the wind knocked out of me. I coughed as I forced myself onto my feet and put myself on the offense before Renui had time to recover.

“Renui!” Tohma shouted, but was prevented from moving once Sakura set off one of the explosives.

“Your opponent is here!”

Leaving my comrades to fight the other rogues, I slid behind him and swung my leg at his knees to make him collapse to the ground. He rolled to the side and kicked up. He would have hit my face if I didn’t dodge in time, but he quickly dove back in with another punch. I blocked and counterattacked, throwing him off-balance long enough for me to kick him in the side.

“Ouch..!”

I clicked my tongue.

His appearance was definitely that of somebody who was in their twenties, but fighting him made me feel like I was bullying a child. I tried not to think about it as I continued to do just that.

Unfortunately, despite the impression he gave off, he was a very capable fighter.

Now that we were fighting one-on-one, he started attacking with his blade. I blocked and redirected it away from my with a kunai in each hand, swinging my arms at him periodically in attempt at landing my own attack. Eventually, I resorted to throwing a series of weapons at him, though he deflected them all quite easily.

“Lightning Release; Electric Web…!”

Strings of lighting extended from his sword with each swing, deflecting the weapons and then extending further towards me. I winced at the shocks and stings. I staggered back, which gave him just enough time to close the distance between us and hold his sword up to my neck. I was fast enough to grab his wrist just as he did so, which let me prevent him from cutting skin, but it was an unfavourable position to be in, to say the least.

“Please let go…”

“I should be the one tell you that.” I answered dryly. “But I can see neither of us are going to do that anytime soon, so…”

I dug my nails into his wrist while focusing chakra into my hand, coating it in lightning in a split second. Renui’s eyes widened in shock and he tried to pull back, but I only gripped tighter and dug my nails deeper. I pushed more chakra into my hand and his mouth dropped open.

“Ngh--!”

But the scream next didn’t come from him.

Rather, it belonged to–

“Sakura!” Ino and I shouted simultaneously.

We froze at the sight of her collapsed on the ground, like a marionette that had its strings cut.

“I can’t…move…!”

In that single short moment where I wasn’t focused on Renui, I felt something pierce my neck. I only vaguely registered it as a needled before something began to burn through my body, rushing through my veins like hot magma and poison ivy.

Except… No, that didn’t seem right.

It wasn’t my veins. Whatever it was, it wasn’t contaminating my blood, but rather…

The next scream to be heard came from me.

My lightning dissipated and I collapsed onto the ground, hugging myself as I tried to stop myself from convulsing as if I were the one being electrocuted.

“What…the hell…!” I hissed through clenched teeth.

It felt like a thousand needles stabbing me from the inside out and it was all I could focus on. My ears throbbed and it felt like my heart was about to burst from my chest. Just above the sound of the blood rushing through my head, I heard a voice that sounded more concerned than it should have been.

“I’m sorry…! This wasn’t supposed… Tohma-kun, something weird is happening to her…!”

“What did you do to Riku?!” I heard somedody shout.

Explosives went off and I slammed my eyes shut to protect it from dirt and pebbles. When I opened them, flower petals were violently spinning around the clearing once again.

“Can you get up?” A voice cut through to me as I began to calm down.

The voice sounded off, most likely because of the lingering dizziness in my head, but since Sakura said she couldn’t move, I could only assume that the person next to me was Ino.

“I-I can manage. Get S-Sakura.” I answered shakily as I got onto my hands and knees, not bothering to look at my comrade. “I’ll blind these bastards one more time so we can run.’

Except, when I made the hand seals and began to focus my chakra, the same suffocating feeling returned. I choked and coughed from the internal pressure that suddenly built up inside me.

“Shit…” I hissed as the realization donned on me. “Shit!”

Of course they would bring the chakra-blocking drug onto the battlefield.

Somehow, it felt different this time, but I didn’t have the time to think about it.

“Ino, run!” I shouted as I fished a smoke bomb out of my pouch. It wasn’t as good as my technique would have been, and I really regretted not having carried a flash bomb with me, but it would have to do for now.

I followed Sakura’s moving presence as quickly as I could, desperate to catch up to her and Ino as soon as possible. Eventually, I was close enough to sense her chakra signature, but Ino’s was nowhere to be found. Instead, I sensed a different chakra signature – one that definitely did not belong to Ino.

“Who…” I whispered, cautiously closing in on whoever was with Sakura.

I wasn’t sure what I expected, but once they came into view, my jaw went slack.

“Jealous you didn’t get carried, too?”

For a moment, all I could do was stare at the three new faces that were before me. Two of them were carrying my friends while the third flashed a wide, smug grin at me.

“Tsura?”

“You…”

Tsura glowered at me, and I quickly remembered how he was the last time I saw him. He made it pretty obvious that he was still angry about the Chuunin Exams.

“Surprise.”

His voice was stiff and hostile, but his posture told me he had no intention of attacking. Nevertheless, I refused to let my guard down around him.

I was at a loss of words. I knew there were going to be reinforcements from Kumogakure, but I never even considered the possibility that these three would be here. Kibishii had Sakura on her back while Ganjou was effortlessly carrying Ino in his arms. My adrenaline rush faded and the second I properly registered what I was seeing, I couldn’t be bothered to acknowledge Tsura’s existence. Something else altogether kicked in instead.

“You put my friends down right the fuck now.”

I knew that it was because of them that they managed to get away in time, but my natural reaction was to be defensive. I wanted them to be as far away from Ino and Sakura.

“Hey! We’re on your side, you know.” Kibishii snapped.

“Now! ”

She flinched slightly and nodded stiffly. Silently, the two of them set Sakura and Ino down side by side.

I gestured for them to back off while I knelt by them. Ino looked unconscious, but I couldn’t tell how she came to that state. I instinctively checked for a pulse and listened for breathing. Anxiety washed over me when I could find neither and I was almost going to start performing CPR until I realize that I couldn’t sense her.

Oh, she’s sneaky.

With a deep sigh to calm my nerves, I trusted Ino to be alright before checking over Sakura. She was conscious, at least, but she couldn’t move.

“Are you alright?” I asked as I examined her for any serious injuries.

“Ngh… Everything… is numb…”

“What did he do to you?” I asked while helping Sakura place her body in a more comfortable position.

“I don’t…know… It was like…he was hitting chakra points...”

Except we both knew that was impossible since Tohma definitely wasn’t a Hyuuga.

“Sure looks like it…” I muttered, gently brushing my fingers over her bruises.

“Wait a sec.” Kibishii interrupted, taking a step forward.

I immediately spun around to glare daggers at her.

“Stay back!”

“Calm down!” She shouted back, but stayed in her place. “I think I know what’s wrong with her.”

“Wait, do you think…?” Tsura questioned with a raised brow.

“It’s possible. The enemy has a lot of Kumo rogues, after all.”

“What the hell are you guys talking about?” I demanded, not letting my guard drop for a second.

Kibishii turned back to me and softened her expression. She held her hands up and carefully took another step towards me. I narrowed my eyes and she froze.

“Look, like it or not, we’re here to help your sorry ass. If we didn’t show up, those two would be dead by now.” She stated firmly but kept her expression neutral. “Just let me take a look at her, alright? We’re not enemies this time.”

I wanted to keep resisting, but as I took the time to cool down, I knew it was only because Tsura was an asshole. Kumogakure really did send reinforcements, after all, and when we left their village, Ganjou and Kibishii weren’t so bad.

I sighed and shuffled back to give the older kunoichi the space to examine my teammate.

“Fine, but what about the enemy? They’ll catch up soon enough.” I asked, nodding towards the direction we came from.

“Tsura and I created a false trail.” Ganjou answered nonchalantly. “We should be safe long enough to come up with a plan.”

“Don’t worry about it. I won’t take long, anyway.” Kibishii murmured before making an unfamiliar hand seal.

I grabbed her wrist in a blink of an eye and glared at her warningly. She froze, and her teammates had reacted instinctively by shifting into stances as well.

“Let’s not make any suspicious hand seals around my teammates without first explaining what the fuck you’re doing, alright?”

Everybody relaxed and Kibishii sighed, irritated.

“What, do I need permission to breathe around her, too?”

I rolled my eyes, dismissing the comment. I would have loved to take my teammates and leave, except anybody could see that I would only get all of us killed if I were to be found by the enemy again. Still, I only let go of her wrist when she separated her hands.

“The enemy used something called the Nerve Disruption Technique on her. It’s similar to the Hyuuga clan’s Gentle Fist, except the user hits pressure points with lightning chakra drawn to the fingertips. It interferes with the brain’s signals to the rest of the body. Just give me a second and I’ll reverse the effects.”

“You seem awfully familiar with something that sounds pretty complex. Doesn’t sound like something a genin would know.”

“Well, I’d be a pretty big disappointment if I didn’t even know how to undo the effects of my clan’s own technique.”

I took a moment to understand everything that one sentence implied. It should have been obvious enough that it was possible for them to be familiar with some of the rogues if they came from their own village, but I never thought of some of the rogues being from their families.

“Did you, by any chance, get their names?” Ganjou asked, thankfully changing the subject before I had to come up with a response to Kibishii.

“Oh, yeah. I think the guy who did this to Sakura was named Tohma.”

Kibishii’s hands twitched and I quickly noticed the serious expressions that washed over all of them. I swallowed, the air suddenly heavy with tension.

“…What were the other names?” Tsura asked stiffly, eyes narrowed.

His arms were crossed and his knuckles were white. What concerned me the most, however, was that the normally unexpressive Ganjou was looking just as tense.

“Are you deaf or what?” Tsura snapped, his voice louder this time. “Give us some names!”

I flinched. Ganjou planted his hand on his teammate’s shoulder, but none of the three relaxed one bit. I realized that I had been holding my breath as well and slowly let it out, speaking calmly and evenly in attempt to have the foreign shinobi calm down as well.

“…There was a woman named Amaki, and I think the timid one’s name was Renui.”

All eyes were turned away. I couldn’t decipher the mix of emotions apparent on each of their faces, but it was clear that the names were familiar, and not in a good way.

“Fucking hell.” Kibishii muttered under her breath, cutting the heavy atmosphere. “First things first, though.”

She made the same hand seal as before. Tsura and Ganjou were still on edge, but whatever it was that came over all three of them, it lessened for now. Soon, small sparks of lightning flashed at Kibishii’s fingertips and with swift movements, she tapped Sakura at various spots across her body. With a gasp, Sakura panted as if she had been suffocating up until now. I got the feeling it wasn’t completely inaccurate to say that she was.

“How’re you feeling?” I asked while helping her sit up.

“Better.” She coughed.

Sakura flexed her hands and moved her limbs to make sure everything was responding correctly. Everything seemed normal and she smiled at Kibishii.

“Thanks. I owe you guys one.” She directed her words to the entire team.

“Not that we could get a decent favour from somebody like you.” Tsura muttered.

“Tsura.” Ganjou’s voice was calm, but it was clear that he was warning his teammate.

“What about you?” Sakura asked me, ignoring the Kumo shinobi. “I saw you collapse for a bit.”

I winced and briefly glanced away.

“Oh, right. Important thing to know, everybody,” I rose my voice, addressing everything around me. “They have chakra suppressing drugs, and it hurts like a bitch when they get you with it.”

“They hit you with what”Tsura demanded more than he asked. “There’s no fucking way we’re letting you stay around here when you can’t even use your chakra.”

I sighed and stood up, glancing around us again. If the rogues were going to find us, it would be soon.

“I’d love to not get in the way, but I’d say it’s safer to be around a bunch of shinobi than to be running around alone in this state, don’t you think?” I asked rhetorically, ignoring the glare Tsura shot me. Geez, if he was so eager to fight, I’d gladly beat him down at the next Chuunin Exams.

“I have to agree.” Ganjou nodded. “Protecting her is our priority.”

Kibishii nodded as well, which didn’t make Tsura very happy, but he didn’t say anything. Instead, his eyes trailed to the unconscious blonde kunoichi.

“What about her?” He asked roughly.

“She’s fine.” I answered.

“Are you sure? She hasn’t moved at all.” Kibishii noted, pressing her fingers to Ino’s wrist to check for a pulse. The kunoichi snapped her head up, pupils dilated in shock. “Oi, she doesn’t have a pulse! Why didn’t you say anything?!”

“What?” Sakura gasped.

I patted her back firmly and shook my head.

“She’s fine. Kumogakure isn’t the only village with kekkei genkai, you know.”

Sakura sighed.

“That’s pretty reckless of her.”

“We can trust her.” I reassured.

“How is playing dead a kekkei genkai?”

“Shut up, Tsura!” Kibishii snapped before turning to me and Sakura. “What’s she up to?”

Not wanting to divulge the specifics of a clan’s kekkei genkai, Sakura kept the explanation short and simple.

“Basically, Ino is controlling one of their bodies right now, but we don’t know whose. We don’t know who she’s controlling, though, but I’m sure she’ll give us a signal once they arrive.”

“That’s pretty sneaky.” Kibishii said thoughtfully. “Listen, the two of you should take Blondie’s body and get going. We’ll stay back and buy you time.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? They’re a team of chuunin.” Sakura said, concerned.

“You think we don’t know that?” Tsura snapped, stepping towards me. “Besides, we know ‘em better than anybody.”

“Who are they, anyway?” Sakura asked curiously.

The three of them seemed reluctant to answer, but eventually, Ganjou stated the facts rather bluntly.

“Our siblings.”

Sakura and I glanced at each other before looking back at them.

“Tohma is Kibishii’s brother. Amaki is Tsura’s sister, and Renui is my brother. They left the village shortly after the war in the Sun Country ended.”

“…Oh.” Sakura uttered, as speechless as I was. “Then… Are you really going to fight your own siblings?”

“Don’t look down on us!” Tsura shouted, glaring daggers at my friend. “They’re the enemy, and nothing else. We know them better than anybody else, so we’ll take them down. You outsiders would just get in the way.”

“Last I checked, we were in Konoha.” I grumbled. “Plus, Sakura and I were marked by them. Even if we run, we’ll get tracked again. It’d be better to outnumber and take them out quickly so we can lessen their numbers.”

“This isn’t your business.” He growled as he took another step, attempting to intimidate me with the height advantage he had over me. “Get running, or I’ll give you a reason to run myself.”

Unfortunately for him, it was really hard to intimidate somebody who survived and recovered from torture.

“Also last I checked, you’re also supposed to be our allies.” I spat, not backing down the slightest bit.

“We are.” Ganjou said as he grabbed Tsura’s shoulder. “

Sakura cautiously pulled me back while Ganjou did the same for his teammate, but our glares didn’t break away.

“Look,” I seethed, but relaxed my shoulders so Sakura would relax as well. “You may know more about them than we do, but you can just fill us in. You can’t deny that my genjutsu and Sakura’s tactics will be useful. It wouldn’t take long to lace up a few explosive traps to greet them with.”

“Last I checked,” Tsura mocked, “you curled up into a trembling ball of cowardice when explosives went off.”

“I trust Sakura to us them properly.” I said calmly. “I wouldn’t trust a kid, though.”

He lunged forward like he was about to bite my head off, but a sudden change in the air pressure gave us the split second warning we needed to scatter. I took Ino with me, worried that she didn’t get enough time to recover from her kekkei genkai to move in time. The second we dodged, a crash of lightning accompanied with a large gust of wind tore across the small clearing we were in.

“So much for a plan.” I muttered.

“Well maybe if you and Tsura would stop arguing--!” Kibishii shouted.

“Too late for that!” I cut her off and began to make hand seals.

The moment I tried to release my chakra, however, the suffocating feeling crashed into me, reminding me that my chakra was blocked. I coughed and staggered, collapsing onto all fours as I tried to even out my breathing.

“Shurikane!”

I spun around just in time to catch Renui’s blade between my shaky hands. Ganjou swung his katana at the timid chuunin – at his older brother, I remembered – and forced him to retreat. Tsura was already waiting and immediately began to attack Renui. It was hard to see with everybody moving at once, but somebody pulled Renui back and held a sword up to his neck.

It would have been great if not for the fact that at the same time, Tohma had pulled me into a chokehold.

The dust settled and the sparks of lightning faded. The Kumo shinobi and Sakura were across from me, with Sakura supporting Ino’s limp body on her back. Tsura and Ganjou stood on their left and right respectively, and in the middle was Renui being held hostage by—

“Amaki!” Tohma’s startled voice cracked. “What are you doing?”

“A…Amaki…” Renui’s trembling voice whispered.

I sighed in relief and flashed a shaky smile at the person who wasn’t actually Amaki, but Ino.

“Drop your weapon.” She ordered Renui, who did so immediately. Her next words were directed at Tohma. “And you! Let go of Riku right now!”

I felt Tohma’s head turn towards Ino’s unconscious body. The calm nature about him suddenly flared with killing intent. I swallowed, feeling the cool edge of his weapon pressing into my skin. The aura didn’t go unnoticed by the others, because suddenly, everybody was on edge.

“I see.” He murmured, presumably having an idea of what happened to Amaki. “I wonder… Could we get your friend out of Amaki if we cut her open?”

Tension immediately lit up like a flame.

“You sick bastard—!”

“Renui!”

Eyes barely had time to widen when the rogue chuunin kicked his sword into his hand and swung.

“We’re getting Riku!” Sakura shouted.

Everything happened at once.

Ino shoved Renui away before he could slice her stomach. She dispelled her jutsu and returned to her body, which Sakura left rested on the ground while she threw an explosive kunai right at Tohma’s feet. He took me with him when he jumped back to avoid the explosion, only to be attacked by Kibishii. Sparks of lightning lit up her fingertips and she struck her brother’s arms, forcing him to release me.

I stumbled forward and pulled out a weapon out of instinct, but it quickly became a good call because Amaki was already attacking me with her sword.

“What are you trying to get from all this?” I demanded, blocking her sword with my kunai.

In my peripheral vision, I could see Ino and Kibishii tag-teaming Renui.

“We’ve already explained ourselves. We want our wishes to be granted.”

I twisted to the side and slammed my knee into her side. She jumped back and slid towards me at an angle to attack me from the other side. I swung my arm up just in time to stop her blade, putting us in another stalemate.

“Gimme some more specific, damn it!”

“Has my brother not explained it to you? We lost our mother to the war.”

I fell silent for a moment and almost gave her a moment to land a strike. A handful of shuriken travelling with bursts of wind suddenly cut between me and Amaki, forcing her away from me. We both looked over to see Tsura in an offensive stance.

“So you’re still full of shit just like the rest of ‘em, big sis.” He seethed.

“Trying to wish somebody back from the dead?” I questioned.

“We would never…!” Renui gasped from behind me. “We… We aren’t that selfish…!”

It sounded like he was defending himself. From the chakra signatures I sensed behind me, it was Ganjou and Sakura.

“We just want a world of happiness for all.” Tohma explained calmly. “In a world where no loved ones were ever lost. Don’t you think it would be a beautiful world?”

“You guys are letting your hopes get way too high!” I shouted.

“Do you think we’re foolish for believing in such things?” Amaki asked, attacking again.

“Kinda, yeah! Maybe a little bit insane, too!”

I jumped back and threw the kunai at her to buy me a split second so I could pull out more weapons. Meanwhile, Tsura shot rounds of fireballs at Amaki, keeping her on her feet and spending energy.

“I’m sorry to hear that, but there’s no other option left but to try.”

She dodged the fireballs with ease and came lunging at me again.

“And what if it doesn’t work?”

“Then we will live until we find another way.”

She took a swing and I leaned to the side to dodge. Right at the last moment, however, I felt a surge of chakra flow from her hands and into her dagger. I winced as her chakra blade sliced my arm and swung my right arm up to knock her arm away. I threw shuriken from my left hand at her legs to get her to move back.

“Why would you go so far for a lie? This sounds like nothing but bullshit and insanity!”

“You must understand how I feel, Shurikane. I know that you have lost loved ones, too.”

“You’d think I’d remember something like that.” I answered without missing a beat.

A hint of surprise momentarily flashed across her eyes.

“If you wanna bring back the dead, isn’t there some forbidden resurrection technique?” Not that I wanted to encourage using that technique, but if they were so desperate to bring somebody back, why go so far as to gouge my fucking eyes?

“The Edo Tensei does not visually recover them from death. What we wish to see is something to convince us that the genuine thing has returned – something that the power of the Youkugan must be able to grant us. Surely, if it has the power to eliminate an entire village’s worth of people, it can bring back a village’s worth, as well.”

Hearing the claim again didn’t help convince me it actually happened. How would somebody even go about doing that? The Youkugan didn’t have much destructive force. Maybe the user created something large enough to destroy it, but I couldn’t imagine why a Shurikane would destroy their own village, either.

Augh, things are getting more and more complicated again. And I thought I was done with asking questions.

Apparently there was a lot more to the war than we thought, which didn’t make me any less anxious, even if my source wasn’t exactly reliable.

“So, you all just wanna get yourselves stuck in some blissful genjutsu, huh.” I muttered. “It’s a shame I can’t show off my tricks, since you bastards fucking drugged me!”

Still limited to nothing but taijutsu, it was difficult to defend myself against her sword. Tsura was backing me up, but her focus was still on me, and it was hard for him to attack when there was a chance of hitting me as well. To make matters worse, lightning sparked from her hand and spread across her blade, making it that much more lethal if I were to be hit by it.

Which, of course, it did.

Her lightning-coated blade suddenly appeared to my left. I barely had enough time to even register that it was there until another blur appeared before me.

“Tsu--!”

My voice was cut off by the scream that suddenly game from the older genin. Lightning covered his body just like how I hit him with my own Lightning Veins technique, sending him writhing on the ground in pain. I had little time to react to what had just happened, let alone the rebound that came straight for me.

The edge of her blade sliced across my arm and the excruciating pain was instantaneous. My throat tightened as I collapsed to the ground, convulsing at the electricity that sparked through my insides and back out again. It felt like ages until it dispersed back into the ground, leaving me panting heavily as I made sure I could still feel all my limbs.

“Please do not make me harm you any further.” Her voice cut through the ringing in my ears.

I coughed and I unzipped my mask to wipe away a trickle of blood before closing it again.

“If you would simply give yourself up, I’m sure your comrades would feel less pain as well. Then, when everybody’s wishes are granted, true happiness will be found.”

The emptiness in her voice made her sound like a doll. It made me wonder if she was always like this, or if maybe it had something to do with that wish of hers.

“Seems kinda impossible to find true happiness in a world made of lies.” I breathed, wincing as I got onto my feet again. “Frankly, I’d much rather live in a world of painful truths.”

“But why?”

The genuine lack of understanding in her voice concerned me. Just how delusional were they? It almost made me pity them.

Almost.

I clenched my fists by my sides. The blur from my eyes finally cleared, giving me a clear line of vision to her well-toned stature. I laughed shortly and shook my head, still trying to fully comprehend her train of thought.

Once I was stable enough, I held my hand out to Tsura to help him up.

“Because, Amaki-san,” I murmured, gripping his hand tightly, “that’s what living is all about!”

With a grunt, I put all my strength shifting my body weight to tug him up. Without having to communicate anything, I used the momentum to swing him forward, capturing Amaki’s attention. The moment his hand left mine, I sprinted forward as quickly as I could to Amaki’s side. She blocked Tsura’s kunai with her sword, but it left her wide open for a solid kick right into her back.

She lurched forward and Tsura kneed her hard in the stomach, giving her enough height for me to get under and kick her into the air. Finally, Tsura jumped up after her and punched her straight towards the ground.

Amaki slammed into the ground with a painful crack that left cracks in the ground. I kicked her sword away, not that I was particularly worried that she would be able to wield it. Tsura looked down at her, eyes empty and expression vacant.

“Why are you still doing this, Amaki?” He asked flatly. “Didn’t we already tell you guys to cut this shit out?”

“Mother would cry…if she heard you say that…” She whispered.

“Seeing you like this, I bet she already is.”

Amaki was silent for a moment until she coughed and spoke again.

“Father…he was so devastated. You cried, too, Tsura…”

Steadily, she pushed herself up, supporting the weight of her upper body with her arms. We kept our guard up in case she made a move, but it looked like she was too injured to attempt anything at the moment.

“Are you not lonely, Tsura…? Without mother…” Amaki looked up with half-lidded eyes.

For the first time, she showed something than her expressionless face. Her lips pulled into a tiny, hopeful smile.

“If we get those eyes, we can bring mother back.” Steadily, she brought her hands into her lap. “If you were to fight with us… Kibishii will have her parents again, and Ganjou would never have lost his sister. Do you not wish happiness for your friends, Tsura?”

The older genin bit his lip. He clenched his fists and glanced away – all signs of considering her words, and all signs that this was not going where I wanted things to go.

“We will always welcome our brothers and sisters.”

“Tsura, don’t you fucking dare—”

“Shut up!” He shouted, glaring daggers at his sister. “We don’t need some fucking acid trip to be happy, so you can take your sorry fucking excuse for empathy and shove it up your ass!”

Amaki was silent. Her body was hunched over and she stared blankly at the ground. It almost looked like she was praying.

“…No matter.” She finally whispered. “For now, it is already too late. The battle ends here, Shurikane.”

“The fuck are you—hng!”

A surge of chakra suddenly burst throughout my body, nearly knocking me over from the sheer force of it. I thought I had been hit with a ninjutsu, but quickly realized that I wasn’t in pain. Rather, it was the feeling of my chakra returning to me, but at levels amplified by over twice as much.

“W-What the hell…?!” I gasped, clenching my chest as I struggled to control my chakra.

“What the fuck did you do?!” Tsura shouted.

“I simply returned her chakra to her. I thought this would be something you would like, Shurikane.”

“Shit…” I squeezed my eyes shut as the reason for all this was steadily making itself clear. “Shit…! That wasn’t a chakra suppressant, was it…”

I gripped my chest and sucked in deep breaths, but nothing helped me control the sudden burst of chakra rushing through me. It was like my insides were being pulled out from every pore of my body.

I cracked open my eyes, catching Amaki’s gaze.

She stared at me with dark, brown eyes.

I stared back with the Youkugan.

Her lips formed the faintest smile.

“He will be so glad to know that the plan was successful.”

“What the fuck did you give her?!” Tsura demanded, grabbing her by the front of her shirt.

“A chakra enhancer.” She answered softly. “It suppresses one’s chakra and, like a time bomb, eventually releases it all at once. You must feel incredible right now, Shurikane-san.”

“Fuck…! I can’t… I can’t deactivate the Youkugan!” I shouted, slamming my eyes shut again. “You were just buying time up until now, weren’t you? Waiting until that stupid drug kicked in until you made your move! All this was a plan so you could force me to—augh, fuck!”

I could have used the rush of chakra to wipe them out, but it was so overwhelming that I could hardly breathe.

“Precisely. And now, it is time to bring things to an end.”

A spark of light suddenly flashed from her hands, and before we could even think to react, it was already too late.

“Lightning Release: Tornado Lightning!”

She brought her arms up and unleashed the attack upon us in a heartbeat. The flash of lightning whipped from her palms, nearly striking Tsura right in the face as he shoved her aside.

“Shit!”

Another whip of lightning cut between us, forcing us apart.

The whips of lightning extended from her palms and flew around her wildly, obeying every command. I scanned the clearing, taking great caution in making sure I didn’t get too separated from the others. It was getting easier to think clearly as the crushing sensation began to settle, but I still wanted to avoid using any jutsu in case I went too far.

Sakura and Ganjou were still tag-teaming Renui while Ino and Kibishii continued to fight against Tohma. From the looks of things, with two against one, they were evenly matched, and all parties were worn out.

“Renui, Tohma!” Amaki raised her voice over the sound of her lightning tearing across the earth. “It is time.”

The other two rogues responded by jumping away from their opponents and used the same technique that danced in Amaki’s hands. Not wanting to know what exactly it was time for, I made a break towards Ino and Sakura.

“Break them up!” I shouted, whipping out a coil of wire as I did so. “I don’t know what they’re up to, but keep them apart!”

“Riku, your eyes--!” Ino gasped.

“I know, I know!” I snapped. “We played right into their fucking trap. All of it was just to buy time for their fucking drug to force my Youkugan out!”

Somebody grabbed my arm and tugged violently. I nearly coated myself in lightning until I realized that it was Ganjou. Everything was happening to quickly and my chakra was pulsing wildly, it was hard to keep track of what was going on. It was like being on a massive adrenaline rush, except with just as much backfire.

“Leave. This is their chance to take the Youkugan. We cannot allow them to succeed.”

“What about you three?”

“We’ll slow ‘em down!” Kibishii shouted as tried to hit Tohma with the Nerve Disruption technique. “Get moving!”

I would have loved to get out of there, but the three rogues were sending wave after wave of lighting, which kept blocking us off from escape and forced us to keep moving. It tore of the ground and kicked up dust and pebbles, which didn’t make it any easier to get out of the clearing.

“Shit, we can’t get out.” I muttered through gritted teeth.

It was obvious enough that we weren’t leaving until their ninjutsu was halted.

“Sakura!” I shouted. “How many explosives do you have left?”

“Just two!”

I clicked my tongue and narrowly dodged another whip of lightning.

“Alright, time to put on a show.” I muttered. “Ino! Do you have enough chakra for another genjutsu?”

“Leave it to me!”

Within seconds, the storm of petals returned and filled the clearing. They swirled around the enemy, making it more difficult to attack without the risk of injuring each other.

“Why the fuck are you blinding us, too?!” Tsura shouted.

“Give me a second, you shithole!” I shouted back as I fiddled with my wire.

Thanks to my overabundance of chakra, launching myself to Sakura took only two strides. I attached a tag to two separate strings, which was then tied to the last of my two kunai. I nicked the tip of my finger with one of them and unzipped my mask to hold the weapons in my mouth by the handles. With my hands free, I drew the summoning seal on the palm of my hand as quickly as I could.

Come on, come on, come on!

I urged myself while writing out the characters as swiftly and carefully as I could.

“Riku, watch out!”

Sakura grabbed my elbow and tugged me aside, just in time to avoid a shot of lightning that ripped across the ground and towards our feet.

I swear to fuck if this is wrong--!

I clapped my hands together and focused a wave of chakra that was probably much too large for what I was doing into my hands. A cloud of smoke appeared as I successfully summoned my weapons. I pulled my hands apart, revealing dozens and dozens of kunai stringed on a wire.

“Let’s move!” I said while shoving one end of the string into Sakura’s hand, the other end seemingly disappearing into my own.

Without another word, we sprinted into the barrage of petals. Reading each other’s movements, we pulled apart and back together again, timing our movements so we strung the kunai all over the clearing. Even if it were only by a bit, it would restrict their movements. Slowly, the sparks of lightning that chased after us ceased, signifying the plan’s success.

It plan didn’t stop there, however.

Sakura continued to string the kunai and Ino continued with her genjutsu while I began the next phase. I held the two explosive tags attached to the string and kunai with my index in middle fingers. With the rest of my hand, I held the kunai knives and threw them in front of me in a cross.

At the same time, I put my Youkugan to use, creating shinjutsu after shinjutsu of explosive tags as the wires flew by me, creating a large X of explosives across the clearing.

Finally, the flower petals began to clear, gradually revealing the three rogues with lightning still extending from the palms of their hands. Surrounding them was a web of stringed kunai knives and explosives. Some were lined so close to parts of their bodies that one wrong move could make the entire thing would go up in explosions.

“Ino, now!” Sakura shouted, giving the blonde her cue.

“Already on it!” Her voice came from somewhere in the canopy.

Just as the last of the petals disappeared, three small, purple flowers flew towards the three rogues, slipping through the strings of kunai and explosives and striking Amaki, Tohma, and Renui in the arm, shoulder, and leg, respectively.

“These… These are…!” Renui whispered, mortified at the flower that pierced his leg.

“…Wolfsbane.” Tohma said flatly.

“They grow mostly in the north, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that you know about them.” Ino shrugged, dropping into the clearing next to Sakura and I. “I take it this also means you know it’s poisonous, right?”

“These do not grow around the Fire Country.” Amaki commented with an edge in her voice.

“In the wild, no, but you shouldn’t underestimate my clan’s abilities to cultivate flowers.” Ino grinned as she twirled a thin tube of vile between her fingers. “Maybe if you give up on chasing Riku, I’ll give you the antidote before the vomiting and diarrhea kicks in.”

If I remembered correctly, those flowers also caused burning, tingling, and numbness to the face. The flowers were small, so the doses were smaller as well, but if it were enough, they could leave the victim dead in two hours.

Ino may not have any fancy ninjutsu or a genin prodigy, but she could give somebody ten levels of hell with her flowers.

“I almost feel sorry for them.” Kibishii winced.

“Don’t be, Shii-chan.” Tohma said a tone that turned the threatening aura right back at us without so much as a blink. “You should be worrying more about yourselves.”

In a blink of an eye, he tugged at one of the stringed kunai and sliced it across the palm of his hand. Blood immediately seeped out. We felt all three of their chakra levels rise and pool into the ground. The other two had sliced their hands as well, and when blood from all three of them hit the ground, it began to glow a familiar bluish-white.

Only then did I realize that the lightning from before weren’t just random attacks.

In fact, it was the complete opposite.

The ground around us began to shake violently. A circle of earth outlined by the lines carved into the ground rose swiftly into the air, trapping us all within the clearing before we could even take a single step.

“Shit…!” Somebody hissed, but for all I knew, it could have been me.

I examined at the ground, stunned as I recognized the symbols and characters that were carved into it. Most of all, I recognized the spiral in the center of the seal – the one that confirmed that it was the same seal the Edo Tensei used to escape. This time, though, I had the feeling they weren’t trying to escape.

Rather, they were trying to bring somebody here.

Once again, we had played right into their hands.