The smell of smoke flooded Amaya’s senses, wrenching her from sleep. Her eyes opened, and she instinctively grabbed at her leg, searching for a kunai that wasn’t there. She threw back the blankets covering her, jumped to her feet, and searched wildly for an exit that wasn’t blocked by fire. Parts of the roof began to crumble, weakened by the flames’ relentless tearing.
As she dodged falling parts of the building, Amaya’s mind was racing. All the exits were consumed completely in fire, blazing white and yellow. Part of the roof fell in front of her, trapping Amaya against a wall. She screamed, desperately trying to think of a way out.
Nothing came to mind but pain. The blaze had strengthened further, catching her clothing and skin on fire. While desperately trying to put out the flames, Amaya failed to notice another crumbling part of the roof. When it fell, she was trapped beneath it. The pain vanished as Amaya fell into a blissful unconsciousness.
The blaze lit the sky, turning night to noon. It drew the attention of more than just those in Konoha. A traveler from the Water Country spotted the fire, and ran in its direction, far faster than an average civilian would be able to. This man was from not only Water Country, but also from the Hidden Mist village. He was a shinobi of Jounin rank, though on an undercover mission that took place in Fire Country. Though there he was known simply as Tabi, his true name was Kiri Toru.
Toru reached Konoha swiftly. The fire hadn’t changed much, and still didn’t as Toru made his way to the burning home, careful to stay hidden. He went around the other side of the house, where far less people were gathered. When he was close enough to not be detected, Toru realized there was another person still in the house- a young girl, whose chakra, though massive, hadn’t been unlocked or often used yet. She was motionless, presumably unconscious. No one could sleep through a fire of this scale, and she certainly wasn’t dead.
Toru made a quick series of hand seals and pressed his palms to the hot ground. “Shippu oomizu yokoana no jutsu,” he murmured, forcing the chakra through his palms into the ground. It tunneled underground, drawing up any moisture as it did so, are breached the surface beneath the girl.
She fell into the hole, only to be caught by the water that had accumulated. “Now for the tricky part,” thought Toru as he made more hand seals, again pressing his palms to the ground. “Puru kawa jinsoku no jutsu,” he said quietly. The chakra refilled the hole it had made, concealing the exit as it pushed the water, coincidentally the girl, closer to Toru.
Soon Tory had a hole beside him, large enough for the girl to be pushed through. The water came up as well, and then the hole vanished as soon as it had appeared. Any remaining chakra flowed back into Toru’s palms and into his chakra system. The water seeped into the ground as Tory tossed the limp girl over one shoulder, quickly leaving the village, the burning house, and the girl’s real past, behind.
Toru traveled faster than usual, despite his extra load. He was surprised by the amount of chakra in the girl, even though it was wild and would be difficult to control. As he ran, Toru was thinking only of a few things- one of which was what to call his new daughter.
He finally settled on the name Ikusa. When he reached his camp, Toru set her on his sleeping bag and began to eat the rice he had been reheating. As he ate, Toru thought of what the newly renamed Ikusa would have for her explanation. He had plenty of time to think of a believable story, especially since he had been careful to place an illusion that would ensure that Ikusa would remain unconscious long enough for Toru to complete the mission that he had been sent here to do.
Once he finished eating, Toru ran off, determined to finish his mission that night. It was something simple; he was to kill a feudal lord and make it appear suicidal drowning. There were only a few things Toru enjoyed more than assassinations. One of those was doing the assassination himself, and another was getting paid to assassinate.
Toru reached the feudal lord’s mansion quickly. As he looked at the huge place, he spat in disgust. If he were ever that rich, he wouldn’t buy such a large place to live in. There were far too many entrances for unwelcome guests, such as him, in this case. This mission would be boring. He entered stealthily, not noticed at all by the guards.
It was simple to find the feudal lord’s room, even if he hadn’t had spent days spying on the mansion- it was the one with the biggest door and the toughest-looking guards. Of course, they only looked tough. Toru was sure that a mere student at the Academy could best them. “Well, maybe not one of the new ones, not since that Zabuza brat made them decide to change the ways of the Academy…” he corrected himself, and then shrugged it off. He made quick hand seals and hissed something under his breath.
He strode from behind the corner, looking exactly like the feudal lord he was sent to assassinate, pulled out six shuriken, and used one for each of the guards. Each shuriken hit exactly on target, embedded deep in the necks. He pulled a note from his pocket, forged weeks ago by the feudal lord’s son.
He had been the one to request the mission- with his father out of the way, he inherited the title of feudal lord. Unlike his father, who believed in peace, the son was cruel and had a sharp and perceptive mind. Knowing that Konoha would certainly not accept his request, the son had gone to Hidden Mist, the infamous lords of assassination.
The son had spent months perfecting the note. It currently read: “I am sorry for the deaths of these men, but they tried to halt my decision. I can no longer live like this, with the responsibility of a feudal lord weighing down my bones. This is a job meant for someone younger, I realize, and my time in the land of those still alive had been overspent. I would like to add, good luck to my son, and good bye to my wife and daughter.”
The handwriting was perfectly forged, and the note was believable. Toru moved on from the guards’ corpses into the room. “Chakra mizu: baindo,” he muttered, the motions of his hand seals muffled by the silken cloth of the feudal lord’s long sleeves. A rope of water appeared in the air, formed by water molecules condensed by chakra.
The rope quickly found the feudal lord’s sleeping body, wrapping around him and his mouth to keep him from shouting out. Toru placed an illusion in the feudal lord’s mind, rendering him unconscious- just as he had done with Ikusa.
Toru walked to the feudal lord’s bath room, pulling the feudal lord through the air behind him. He placed the feudal lord on the bottom, putting a finely woven net of chakra above him, and then filled the bath with water from the faucet, stopping the flow only once it had been filled to the brim. Beneath the surface of the water and the chakra net was the feudal lord’s body, which was quickly running out of oxygen. Toru swiftly undid the transformation- he found it very uncomfortable in the old man’s fragile form in place of his own powerful one- and left, hidden in the shadows.
Once the feudal lord was dead, all traces of Toru’s chakra would vanish- one of Toru’s specialties, a result of his bloodline. The Kiri clan, one of Hidden Mist’s first powerful and organized clans, had the bloodline limit of vanishing chakra. The Kiri clan had been nearly wiped out a long time ago, though, and currently Toru was the only one in Hidden Mist with the bloodline limit. It tended to not come to females- so Toru didn’t have to worry if Ikusa found out about it.
Toru soon reached his camp, packed everything up, tossed Ikusa over his shoulder again, and headed back to Hidden Mist. He had decided on a past for Ikusa; now he only needed to reach home territory to wake her up and tell it to her.
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Chapter notes: Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Translations:
"Shippu oomizu yokoana"= Compress flood tunnel
"Puru kawa jinsoku"= Pull river rapids
"Chakra mizu: baindo"= Chakra water: bind