Shadows of the Past: The Darkened Skies

The Dark Meeting
Somewhere - in a location left unspesified - there was a cave surrounded by thick mist clouds hiding the entrance of the cave from sight unless you were standing a few meters from its entrance - or knew where it was. Two people arrived at the place, and these guys obviously knew the exact location of the hidden cave. "Come on", said the other one, "the Leader is waiting." They entered the cave, descending down to the undeworld. After going down a while, they entered a larger open space, carved crudely inside the cave. There were five other people at the place already. "Good. Come, join us, Sorakamen, Rinkamen", said the figure completely concealed in black robes. "There are important matters... on the Hand of the Sun." The two figures, Sorakamen and Rinkamen, joined the ring and sat down on a few rocks to hear what the leaded had to say. "Our yellow-haired friend is growing faster than even I could have foretold. It is not long before he will become a true threat to us. To prevent that... Sorakamen." The tall, slender and short-haired figure rose up with an everlasting smile on his face. "It shall be your duty to take care of the mighty midget." The smile on the man's face widened, baring his teeth for a truely daunting smile. "It shall be done, oh great vampiric leader!" There was a short silence. "...and cut the joking, or I'll kill you."

Later, after everyone of the Masked Shadows had left, exept for the leader and his adjutant, the two remaining Masked Shadows stood outside the cave's entrance. The fox-masked woman was the first one of them to speak: "Are you sure about this, Kurokamen-sama? I'm not questionin your judgement, but that Sorakamen..." Kurokamen raised his hand to stop his adjutant from speaking. "I am sure, Kitsunekamen. Sorakamen is crazy. He is also cruel. He will not kill his actual target first... he never does. And that is what will seal his fate... and open me the path to realize my plans..." The dark leader started to laugh, silently at first, but his laughter increased until it was echoing around the surrounding misty valley.

Face Off Fate
Behind the house of the Uzumaki family, Takatsuke Uzumaki was training. He was panting heavily. Once again the new jutsu he was trying to get grasp of had exploded in his hands, further damaging his already badly treated body. His mother was walking towards the training ground with a worried look on her face. "Maybe you should call it a day, Takatsuke. You don't look very well." Takatsuke looked to his mother's eyes, and through his eyes shone the same powerful will than his father's. "I'm not going to quit now. I'm just starting to get the hang of it..." Suddenly, another voice was heard, interrupting Takatsuke. "Come on, Takatsuke, your mother is right. You have already accomplished enough for a day, and you are clearly tired." The speaker was Takatsuke's father, Naruto. "Call it a day and come get some food. You can continue some other day." Takatsuke had a disappointed look on his face. "Aww, dad, I have a mission tomorrow! Can't I just train furhter so I can have this jutsu wrapped up till tomorrow?" Naruto looked straight into Takatsuke's eyes. "Takatsuke. Believe me when I say that you have already done enough. You don't have to accomplish everything in one day." Takatsuke's expression lighted up. "Okay, dad, but you owe me one!" he said and ran towards the house. "And I want that food coming right away!" Naruto chuckled and followed his son.

Early tomorrow morning Takatsuke woke up, ate his breakefast, gave his mother a hug and headed over to Team Hotaku's meeting. For once, he was early, so he kept his pace slow and observed the surroundings, noticing the birds around, and even a fox in the bushes, returning to its nest after a night of hunting. Takatsuke looked up to the cloudless sky with his mind in a mixed state of calmness and strange feeling of anticipation - his body even seemed to tingle a little bit, as if it knew that it was going to face an adventure unlike anything before. Takatsuke whistled and picked up the pace just because he felt like going faster. In no-time, he was running like a yellow hurricane, enjoying the feeling of the wind on his face. Quickly enough, he arrived at the meeting spot. Only their team leader Hotaku was already there, and Takatsuke greeted him. Hotaku looked mildly surprised. "Aren't you early! What's up with it?" Takatsuke smiled widely and answered: "I just feel great! The world feels great! The future feels great!" Hotaku laughed. "Full of energy, I see! Now, we'll just have to wait for Hikarime and Kator..." but he was interrupted bu a voice. "No need to wait anymore. I'm here." It was Katoru Uchiha, one of Takatsuke's teammates. "And I see you are early for once, Takatsuke. Are you trying to surpass me in that as well?" Takatsuke looked at Katoru. "I'll surpass you in anything, Katoru, just to keep up the competition, 'cause that is what keeps us both in shape!" Hotaku looked at the two young ninja. "They both have grown in an exeptional rate, especially Takatsuke. Katoru was always a genious to begin with, but Takatsuke... he's became almost unrecognizable. Naruto... your son will be quite something." The jonin rose from the depths of his thoughts when the third team member, Hikarime Yakama, finally arrived. "Okay! With all of us here, I'll explain today's mission. Recently, we got reports from a village in our Land of Fire to be repeatetly attacked and raided by unknown forces. The number of them seems to be low, only a few, but they are suspected being missing-nin. We go to that village and see what we can do to these baddies." Hotaku raised his eyes and looked individually in each of the team members' eyes. "This mission is going to be B-rank. Meaning that it's the highest ranked mission our team has been given up to this point. The two of you managed to get promoted to Chunin", he said, looking at Takatsuke and Katoru, "and the Hokage seems sure that you - all of you - can handle a B-ranked mission. I will be there, yes, but you have to prove yourselves as ninja during this mission." Hikarime looked down, looking sad. She was the only one of the team to still be Genin. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up. She saw Takatsuke, smiling. "Don't worry, Hikarime. If we work as a team we can do anything we put our minds on." Hikarime smiled. "Thanks, Takatsuke." Hotaku raised from the rock he had been sitting on and clapped his hands. "Okay! Shall we get going then?" Takatsuke cheered. "Yay! On a B-rank mission we go!" Team Hotaku left with that being said.

The Challenge
After travelling not too long the team arrived at their destination. The signs of the raiders were clearly to be seen in the infrastructure, even though the inhabitants had tried to fix all the damage. The team arrived at an inn in which they would be spending their time during their mission in the village. They entered the inn. Hotaku greeted the innkeeper. "Greetings! We have been sent here from Konoha to take care of those nasty raiders that have been bugging your village. These ninja" - he pointed at his team - "may look like pushovers, but they are far from it. We'll be staying in your inn as long as we stay in this village." The innkeeper was surprised at first, but then he ran off, out of the side door. "Hey! Where are you going?" yelled Takatsuke and ran after him. The innkeeper was at the street yelling everyone to come out and see. People started pouring over, and the innkeeper explained what he had heard from Hotaku. The ninja from Konoha had arrived too free the village from the raiders. The mob surrounded Team Hotaku and started asking questions, but Hotaku quieted them down. "I guess it's the best to introduce all of us to you people. My name is Hotaku Kamateru. I am a Jonin and a leader of this team. This here is Takatsuke Uzumaki, a newly promoted chunin and the son of the Hokage. This is Katoru Uchiha, also a new chunin and a capable ninja from the Uchiha clan. And our team's most beautiful flower, Hikarime Yakama, still a genin but a good kunoichi." The people tried to further question the team, but Hotaku led them inside the inn and asked the locals to let them have some privacy. The mob scattered, as everyone returned to their daily duties.

Not far away from the village, the band of bandits that had been assaulting the village were recieving directions from their leader. "You heard it. The Konoha ninja have arrived - just what we waited for. Tomorrow we attack the village again - but this time I'll be there. Do what you want, but the Konoha bastards shall be mine." The tall and slender leader stood up, revealing his perpetual smile. "Those fools shall know the wrath of Iwari Fusuke, the Sorakamen - and the wrath of the Masked Shadows!"