Buried Memories

The barren branches of the treetops quake and tumble in the chilled wind. The listless breeze grabs and scatters the withered leaves beneath, tossing them into the air haphazardly. A yellow one dances for a few moments, and the setting sun casts a dim light through it before it settles on the damp soil. For a moment, a small pile of human and animal skulls is visible amongst the darknened roots. Swiftly, the wind conceals this bizarre vision as leaves tumble over the entrance to the small hole.

It is late autumn. Every outdrawn breath becomes a visible mist, and seems to hang in the air for a moment, before dissipating into nothingness. The Forgotten Forest is every bit as ominous as the locals described it... darkened oaken trunks twisting and contorting into unnatural angles. A darkness that seems more like a wall than a treeline- but does this wall serve to keep intruders out... or to trap something within? Dozens of rumors and myths surround the place. Hauntings, possessions, missing persons... insanity, murders. Strange events hang around the forest like so many cobwebs. In fact, it seems as though the forest is home to nothing but variations of spiders... no birds can be heard, and little else besides the clattering of the branches in the riotous breeze.

If the rumors are true, the old man lives in the deepest, most remote region of the old woods. Although, the rumors also say he's a werewolf, or perhaps a ghost. More likely than not, he's just a retired ninja living out the end of his days in obscurity and peace.. you hope.

As the sun begins to dip beneath the horizon, a gust hits your backs... whispering among the branches, it seems to beckon you into the heart of darkness.

-Near the village of Kumogakure, there is a hidden place of residence. This is where the infamous Tukanachi Clan lives in. Among the seven members is a boy named Chimotofu Tukanachi. He is forbidden to learn any jutsus and can never be a ninja. The clan has a tradition for there to be only one son and daughter, after they were nearly wiped out by the Delta organization. Chimotofu is now 12 years of age and will do whatever it takes to become a ninja!

Chimotofu began eating an apple that his mom stole from a market in Kumogakure. He looked down at the bed that he was sitting on and thought to himself, "I wish I was eating an apple that wasn't stolen." But hey, he couldn't just not eat, so he accepted the stolen food. Something else was bothering Chimotofu as well. He didn't know what though, but he knew something bad was going to happen. The next thing Chimotofu knew, his grandfather, Glo Tukanachi, came walking inside the door.

"Boy, we need to talk." Glo said with an angry tone. Chimotofu was scared of Glo and decided not to speak, so Glo said, "Fine, don't answer. Either way, you are a failure and it's time to go." With that, Glo quickly got in front of Chimotofu's face and injected his right shoulder with some weird liquid in a syringe he was hiding. Glo laughed and said, "You can never be faster than me boy." Chimotofu was having a hard time staying awake, he dropped his apple and fell back, sleeping.

Glo looked at the sleeping Chimotofu and said, "You are a failure within our clan. You should have never existed in the first place. We are murderers, you are not. I banish you from our clan! You're not even listening because you're sleeping, which you won't wake up for three days." Glo takes out a note from his pocket and tapes it to Chimotofu's shirt. He then grabs him and they both disappear and reappear in a field.

Glo looked around and said to himself, ''"The Teleportationn Jutsu allows you or a party, if they are at physical contact, to teleport to any area in a matter of seconds. I teleported near the Hidden Root Village. Goodbye Chimotofu." ''And with that, Glo teleported away, leaving Chimotofu sleeping in the empty field near the Hidden Root Village, with no one around.

A couple of miles away from the entrance of the Hidden Root Village, a Child of Chakra known as Akari Rinku was walking back home after an hour of hunting while lost in thought. She held a bottle of what looked like some soft of red liquid in her right hand, this liquid was the only thing she was able to get from her hour of hunting. In was obvious that she wasn't ordinary because, despite her young age, she was walking outside the village without a single hint of worry showing. Perhaps it wasn't because she was brave, but because she was both strong and a little stupid.

Akari was a small girl with midnight black hair, green eyes that had a childish look to them, and a relaxed demeanor. Like most members of the Rinku Clan, she had very sharp fangs, Akari's fangs were half an inch long and just the tips of the fangs were visible because of the fact that her mouth was shut and not making any noise for once. Akari's attire was pretty causal, a short-sleeved blue-green shirt that had spots of the red liquid stained on it, long navy blue pants, and blue sandals.

After thirty minutes of walking, she stumbled upon a large field that was a half a mile from her village. She was jerked out of her thoughts when a whiff of a living person was nearby. This was odd, this field was usually empty. After a moment, of hesitation her curiosity won and she decided to investigate. A minute passed before she reached a small boy laying down in the field. "Hello? Are you awake." Akari asked in her usual childish way.

Chimotofu doesn't respond.

Akari waited for a while, but she didn't hear the boy respond. This didn't make any sense to Akari, why would a boy like him sleep unprotected in the middle of a field were predators and killers like her sister could kill him. She leaned her head down slightly. As soon as she did so she caught the scent of something strange in the boy's blood. "Is that poison I smell?" Akari asked herself. After, speaking she knelt down next to the boy and hesitated. Akari knew that there is only one way to wake the boy up. However, despite being a member of the Rinku Clan, she is still a child and the thought of drinking human blood makes her shiver in disgust. "It's not like I'm doing this for my own gain, I'm just helping him, that's all." Akari thought to herself to try to justify her actions.

Akari tilted the boy's head to the side to expose his neck before leaning her head down to bite the boy's neck. As soon as she started drinking the boy's blood she immediately tasted the poison. It tasted awful, but it didn't cause Akari to fall asleep because of immunity to blood-borne illnesses or ill effects. After, she could not taste the poison anymore she let go of the boy's neck and leaned back so that she was sitting two feet away from him. -Chimotofu was in a dark room, and all he could see was his father, Toshu, looking down at him. "You are a humiliation Chimotofu! You are a thorn in my side, and you should be eliminated!" Toshu said with a loud and angry tone. Chimotofu could not stand this any longer, so he began running away from his father and into the darkness. Although, no matter how far he went, he still heard his father complaining about him, getting louder and louder. He covered his ears and began saying, "Stop, I am not a humiliation! I don't deserve this! Just stop, stop, stop please!"

Chimotofu woke up in the field screaming, "STOP!" Chimotofu relaxed a bit and looked at the surrounding field, and then at Akari. At that instant, he jumped up and shouted, "I'm in Heaven and God's a girl!" He ran towards Akari and tackled her, while hugging her. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'm not with my horrible family and I'm in heaven!" Chimotofu then stood up, backed away two feet, and said, "I'm sorry God. I'm just happy."

As soon as Akari was beginning to relax she felt the boy tackle her and when he did her head hit the ground hard. This was one of Akari's most unique trait: she had terrible luck, almost as if luck was allergic to her. When the boy finally got off of her and stopped talking she said with a smile: "You are not dead and my name isn't God, it's Akari." She wondered what had happened to this boy so she added "What happened to you? Who poisoned you?"