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This article, Naruto: Kōseiden - Vol. 2, is property of Nobody. Do not modify or use any of its content without her express permission. |
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Property of The Ace Of Diamonds Do not use or alter the contents of this article without explicit permission to do so. |
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The New Arrival[]
It was summer in the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
The sun shone high in the sky, illuminating Konoha in its golden and white light. A gentle breeze rolled through the village, swaying evergreen tree leaves and colorful flowers alike as the last vestiges of the summer season held on to the changing weather. Butterflies, ladybugs, and honeybees could be seen flying about the forests and meadows that dotted the Hidden Leaf, while people walked about. As was the norm for the Land of Fire, the weather was nearly perfect, appreciated by shinobi and civilians alike.
As the regular people did their shopping and went to work, shinobi could also be seen either training or going to and from missions. Throughout the training grounds of Konoha, different teams could be found, practicing and putting the finishing touches on maneuvers or trying out new techniques that needed polishing.
Just as day to day life for the villagers continued and stayed the same, so too did it change.
Unfortunately, not all of the changes were appreciated.
“I don’t want him here!”
The voice of one Kurama Minegumo could be heard clearly, amber eyes glinting with unrepressed fury as he glared in front of him. From behind him, Uchiha Kian and Yakushi Hikari exchanged looks, one calm to the point of indifference, and the other surprised. They too looked forward, curiosity clear on their faces.
Sarutobi Arata sighed, rubbing his temples with exasperation. He glanced behind himself at the young boy with the headband that marked him as a shinobi of Kumogakure. Said newcomer met Minegumo’s gaze head-on, green eyes just as stubborn and defiant. Sparks seemed to fly between the two boys, and Arata found himself sighing again.
This was going to be a long day.
--- “Oh my god!”
Chikara’s voice echoed across the now-famous fast food restaurant known as Lightning Burger. The abundance of joy over-saturating his voice caused the other patrons of the establishment to be momentarily deafened, but the young boy didn’t seem to notice. After only visiting a handful of shops, the young Genin seemed to have spent over two hours in Lightning Burger trying any and everything. He was currently finishing an extremely spicy burger called the Jolokia Burge. The owner had warned him that most people couldn’t handle its overwhelming spiciness, but the friendly warning had the opposite effect and had caused him to order extra ghost peppers.
“Wow, that one is my favorite by far!” he said as he wiped ketchup and grease from his lips with his shirt. “Y’know… I am a little disappointed. The owner said it was supposed to be extremely spicy, but I barely felt anything. Hmm, oh well — hey, are you gonna eat that? You’ve been staring at it the whole time, it’s gonna get cold, y’know.”
Sitting across from him was a member of the ANBU, the individual tasked by the Hokage with ensuring that Chikara would arrive at his office… hours ago. Despite his pleas, Chikara refused to immediately meet the village leader until he visited every shop Konoha had to offer. Back home, he was never allowed to spend too much time shopping or doing what other kids typically did to pass the time. He patiently waited as the owl-masked escort slowly slid his untouched plate of food towards him.
“Sure, I guess,” the ANBU replied under his breath. “I’m not really sure why I even bought this disgusting shit, but do you promise that after this one, we can go meet Lord Eleventh?”
“Huh? Oh yeah, sure. I promise,” Chikara said casually as he shoved a mouth full of unknown burger into his mouth. “Oh awesome, I knew it! This one has lemons in it, I’m sure this is the infamous Super Sour Lemon Burger! Alright, this one is definitely my favorite, hands down!”
“Ugh, you’ve said that about every burger that you’ve eaten,” the ANBU complained; it appeared as though he was checking the clock. Of course, due to his avian mask, no one could actually see what he was looking at. “Good, it seems like two more bites and we can get out of here finally.”
Looking at the lemon-themed burger with sadness, Chikara replied, “Hm, I guess you’re right. I keep forgetting how fast I can eat sometimes, it drives my mom crazy, but I can’t help it. I inherited my dad’s inhuman appetite, I guess. Y’know, I feel kind of bad that I ate so much. I mean, look at all of these dirty dishes. Do you think we have, like, I don’t know, ten minutes to spare?”
“Ten more min — why?! What could you possibly want to do now, Chikara?” Evident by his tone, the masked escort was growing angrier and angrier by the minute.
“Why? Because I wanna help out with washing all of these dishes!” Chikara responded. “I got carried away and now I feel bad, it’s the least that I can do.”
The ANBU didn’t say a word as he slowly leaned back in his seat, one hand flat on the table as his index finger lightly but eerily tapped on its red glossy surface.
“...I don’t like this, say something!”
“You’re so annoying. Be glad that I have to deliver you to the Hokage alive,” he said in a flat, raspy tone. “I seriously hate kids.”
Just as he said this, one of the waitresses who was watching Chikara scarf down every single food item on the menu walked over to them. She appeared to have a large white bag in her hands as she approached them with a wide smile.
Slightly leaning down until she was eye level with the raven-haired boy, she said with a sweet, high-pitched voice, “My, my, you sure do have a monstrous appetite! Normally we get random Akimichi coming in here and eating all of the food, causing us to close early. I’m not supposed to do this, but my boss was planning on introducing a brand new burger for a limited time. Seeing as you gobbled up everything, I felt compelled to have one cooked up for you.”
Chikara’s grassy green eyes lit up with so much joy that it caused him to break out into tears. “Wow! I’m so honored to be the first one to try this! Thank you so much!”
“Alright, not so loud or we’ll both get in trouble,” the brunette laughed. “Now, just in case you’re wondering, this burger is a little weirder than our lemon burger. Instead of beef, the patty is made of tofu. As for condiments, well let’s see...it has, uh, ghost peppers, wasabi, and our new hot honey mustard. To be honest… I’m not really sure how you can stomach all of this, but I hope that you like it and come back soon.”
“So, are you gonna ask, or what?” the ANBU asked, referring to Chikara’s wish to stay behind and help wash all the dishes he messed up.
“Oh no, I think I’ve tortured you enough,” he said as he jumped up from the table. Judging by his stomach, it was as if he hadn’t just finished eating several large burgers. “Plus, we can’t keep Lord Hokage waiting any longer, right?”
“Right you are.”
The voice came from directly behind the two as one of the members of the Konoha Military Police Force walked up, emblem proudly displayed on his vest. He had messy, windswept black hair with matching dark eyes and a friendly smile.
“I’m Uchiha Tatsuo,” the teen informed them. “I was sent to retrieve the both of you and bring you to Lord Hokage’s office immediately.” Why he was sent for this was beyond him; Tatsuo didn’t really think it was necessary for a member of the police force to keep some child from Kumogakure and his escort on task, but here he was. “Please follow me, I don’t want to keep Lord Hokage waiting.”
Without waiting for the boy and his ANBU escort to say anything, Tatsuo turned on his heel, sliding his hands into his pockets and walking in the direction of the Hokage’s office. He was still quite irritated at having been forced to be an errand boy.
--- It was a beautiful day.
Uzumaki Kosui hummed to himself as he filled out his paperwork, basking in the sunlight that filtered through the windows of his office. As he scrawled his signature on another document, he sighed, before dropping his pen and pushing away from the desk. He ran a hand through his hair, making a mess of his usual blood-red strands. Looking up, he found himself gazing upon the portraits of his predecessors, looking into their eyes and imagining what they would say if they were here right now.
From what he knew about them, Kosui could guess that none of them would have anything good to say about his performance as a Kage. Well, almost none. If the legend were to be believed, then Senju Tobirama would be proud of him.
The thought actually made him smile.
Continuing his humming, Kosui stood up, walking to the polished mirror he kept on one of the dressers behind him. Taking hold of it, he summoned his chakra, directing it to flow into into the mirror, as he activated a certain technique. As if it were a movie, a scene appeared on the mirror’s surface — a group of children, dressed in ninja garb and wearing headbands that marked them as ninja of the village. For a moment, his eyes softened, and his thumb ran over the mirror. However, there was a sudden knock at the door, and he quickly set the tool down, cutting off the flow of chakra and allowing the technique to die.
“Come in.”
If his voice sounded irritated, it was no one’s business.
Tatsuo opened the door, holding it open for the boy from Kumogakure and the ANBU that accompanied him. Once the pair entered, Tatsuo followed, closing the door behind him. He leaned casually against the wall, arms folded over his chest. If he had to be the errand boy, he figured he might as well see it through to completion. Besides, he’d been told that the kid was going to be joining one of the rookie Genin squads; he was curious to see where he was assigned.
Moving back to his chair, Kosui began shuffling around papers.
“Welcome to Konohagakure, Chikara,” Kosui said, leafing through papers. “I trust your journey to my village was without trouble?”
His emerald eyes settled upon Chikara, giving the boy an examining look. He certainly didn’t look like a traditional Hyūga, obviously the result of his Lightning Country heritage; black hair, brown skin, and carrying an air of innocence that wouldn’t have fit any of the clansmen in Konoha. Even his eyes, a sharp green, were different, yet there was no mistaking that chakra signature.
Although being somewhat aware of the reasoning for traveling to Konohagakure, it didn’t make the idea of meeting the village’s Hokage any less scary. Oh my god, it’s really him. THE Lord Hokage is sitting right in front of me, the young Genin thought as his body immediately stiffened up at hearing Kosui’s greeting. Crap! He’s waiting for a response! I mean, I have to answer him at some point.
“Yes, Lord Hokage,” he said with a tremble in his voice. “It’s such an honor meeting you! I kind of got carried away with sightseeing, I’m deeply sorry for holding you up.” Truth be told… I purposely stalled for as long as I could. So much is happening so fast. Who knew that on the day of graduation, I’d be meeting the Hokage. The kids back home are gonna be so jealous.
“Um, if you don’t mind me asking… What exactly is my purpose for being here? Not that I’m complaining or anything, but… My former Academy teacher was a little vague on the exact details. All she said was that I was somehow chosen for a special diplomatic mission or something involving the Lands of Lightning and Fire. Also, I’m afraid I wasn’t assigned to any team, which I thought was customary.”
“Diplomatic,” Kosui repeated the word with something that could have been amusement. “I suppose that isn’t too off the mark.” He cleared his throat, setting the papers down onto his desk. “You are right, it is customary to be assigned to a unit after graduation. The reason you’re here and the reason you weren’t assigned to a unit from your own village are one and the same.”
He paused. “You may or may not know this, but since the Fourth Shinobi World War more than a century ago, Konoha has done an...exchange program with our allies. We send a student to one of said allies, and we receive a student of theirs in return. You are the exchange student for our current academy cycle.”
Ahhh, an exchange program. Hmm, how come I haven’t heard of this until now? I don’t believe I’ve ever seen any Konoha-nin in the village before, Chikara pondered to himself. As the conversation continued, his body was gradually able to loosen up. “I appreciate your transparency, I kind of wish this was told to me in advance before I arrived. During the trip I managed to concoct this whole grandiose idea of what this mission meant and how important I was… Sorry, I’m beginning to ramble; anyway, what am I supposed to do now?” After this is all over, I’ll definitely need to eat that special new burger. Nervous hunger is the worst, ugh.
“All you have to do is wait for your new teacher to show up,” Kosui answered. “You’ll be placed under the command of Sarutobi Arata, whose team also graduated recently. His unit is one that we refer to as a striker squad, meaning that rather than tracking, recon, or even guarding, they instead specialize in full-frontal attack. Do you have any questions?”
Sarutobi Arata? Hmm, interesting. A purely offensively built team sounds even more interesting. Good thing I was ranked top five in my class regarding medical ninjutsu, heh. I wonder what my teammates will be like. “To be honest? No, I don’t really have anything else to ask. All I wanna do right now is meet my new teammates and sensei! Oh, wait, never mind! I do have one more thing to ask, it’s regarding my living arrangements. I don’t know anyone here, so I assume I’m gonna be living alone?” At this point, it was hard to contain himself; just the mere thought of going on missions with possible new friends made his heartbeat erratically. On the other hand, he wasn’t too keen on living alone, since that’s what he’d done most of the time since he’d enrolled in the academy.
Taking out a set of papers, he stuck them in a folder that he handed to Chikara. “Inside you will find the essentials for the time you’ll be living here,” Kosui said. “We’ve set you up with a small, pre-furnished apartment. As you are here on your own, you will be treated like those in the orphanage and be given a monthly stipend, to end when you begin taking regular missions.”
As if on cue, the door opened and Sarutobi Arata, Konoha’s Royal Dagger himself, entered the office. Truth be told, he wasn’t sure how he felt about the team having another member. Over the past couple of months, the team as it was originally constructed was functioning quite well. Kian, Minegumo, and Hikari had begun working together quite nicely. Bringing a fourth Genin into the fold was going to require a period of adjustment, for sure.
The decision had been made for him, however. Of the rookie squads, his team was the most balanced and versatile and thus the most capable of assimilating the new student. Besides, without being told, Arata understood that part of it was simply that his reputation carried a certain weight. Kumogakure would not have been pleased if one of Konohagakure’s lesser Jōnin was put in charge of one of their most talented prospects.
“Good afternoon, Lord Hokage,” Arata greeted, before nodding politely at Tatsuo. His eyes fell upon an unfamiliar face — the new exchange student, no doubt. “Ah, you must be Chikara. I’m Sarutobi Arata, your new Jōnin instructor. It’s nice to meet you.”
So this is him. Arata-sensei. For a teacher, he’s incredibly handsome; I can feel his charisma overtake the room. “Nice to meet you, Master Arata! Where is everyone else?” Chikara wondered.
“Your new teammates are out around the village, working on a few assignments. Nothing major, just some things to help out the villagers,” the Jōnin replied.
Arata couldn’t help but feel a bit bad. Two months in, and all his students had been given for work was a never-ending slew of D-rank missions. He could sense their building restlessness, and given the significant growth each of them had already undergone in such a relatively short span of time, he couldn’t exactly blame them. They craved a challenge, and that was part of why he believed so much in them. Kian, Minegumo, and Hikari had lived up to his expectations for diligence, and they took on each new difficulty with gusto. One look at Chikara, and Arata could tell that the boy would have no problem acclimating to the intense training regimen that he’d put together.
Kosui nodded. “You may or may not know this, but here in Konoha, Genin traditionally perform acts of community service for D-rank missions. Doing so helps to strengthen the bonds within the village as a community.” He fixed Chikara with a look. “As you are now an honorary member of our village, you also have the option of joining in on these missions.”
That Chikara didn’t actually have a say in the matter went unsaid, but clearly heard.
He then turned his attention back to Arata, waving Chikara and Tatsuo out of the room to have a private conversation with the Jōnin. “Go ahead and take him to meet the rest of his new teammates,” Kosui said when their brief talk had concluded, a clear dismissal.
Arata bowed his head to the Hokage in respect, then followed Chikara out of the office, offering the boy a kind, reassuring smile as he beckoned him along. Tatsuo decided to follow the two of them as they left the office, unable to pass up an opportunity to see his little brother.
It had been two months since he’d seen Kian last. The Uchiha couldn’t help but grin in his excitement.
Winds of Change: Introducing the New Team Thirteen[]
“Dan,” the red-haired boy whispered, his glittering emerald eyes wide as he gently nudged his best friend. “C’mon, this is our chance, Master Takuya is asleep.”
The sun was shining, the wind was blowing, and the leaves were dancing. Uzumaki Sora, Hyūga Dan, and Inuzuka Shusei were all out at the Third Training Ground with their Jōnin instructor, Hatake Takuya, who had passed out reading a book. Typical. Sora intended to take full advantage of this opportunity. It was too beautiful a day to waste training when there was fun to be had, and besides, he didn’t need to train, anyway. Sora was lucky enough to be gifted with so much natural ability that to him, training just felt pointless. He could do anything he wanted with talent alone.
Dan paused in his training and tilted his head, his mop of coppery hair moving like a waterfall as he flashed his eyes, immediately zoning in on their meeting spot. It took only a moment to confirm that, yes indeed, their teacher was sound asleep.
Perfect.
Smiling widely, Dan allowed his bloodline to deactivate. “So the plan is on, then?”
“Yep, let’s beat it. Master won’t even notice for at least a couple of hours, he’s out cold.” Sora couldn’t stop himself from grinning broadly; this was going to be fun. Trouble always was.
“Then what are we waiting for?” Dan asked. With a skip in his step, he made to leave, tossing a wave behind his head. “See ya, Shusei!”
Shusei didn’t respond at first to Dan, sidetracked by the way that his canine familiar, Suisei, was currently running around, chasing his tail for his human’s amusement. He and his pup had bonded quite well since graduation; Shusei liked to think that he and Suisei were a good match for each other. They had connected from the instant they'd been introduced, and he was happy to have the dog in his life.
“Master Takuya isn’t gonna like it, ya know, you two running off.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Sora replied dismissively, waving his hand, still grinning. “He never does, but it’s fine. We’ll have fun anyway. Tell you what, though, if you pretend you didn’t see us sneak off, we’ll bring you back some jerky or something as a treat.”
"Yeah, alright!" Shusei replied enthusiastically, though having the presence of mind to keep his tone hushed enough not to wake their sensei.
Dan rolled his eyes. “You really are so easily pleased, Shusei. Sora's right, though, we'll bring you back something good if you don't rat us out.”
“Alright, showtime. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.” Performing the ‘clone’ hand seal, Sora generated a pair of shadow clones, one of which he promptly layered the Henge no Jutsu onto, disguising it as Dan. “Thanks, Shizuya. Catch ya later!”
With that, Sora turned on his heel and was off sprinting back towards the village, Dan right on his heels, their destination in mind. As usual, this prank was going to be rather...annoying and inconvenient for people, but it would be harmless. Sora and Dan liked causing trouble, but they were never malicious; that was the line they’d drawn a long time ago. Once they were a good distance from the training ground, Sora slowed to a casual walk, sliding his hands into his pockets.
“Alright, we’re not too far. Are you ready for this?” he asked, glancing over at Dan, smiling widely.
“Whenever you are, partner of mine,” Dan replied. He roused as he once again activated his eyes. “Let's do it.”
“Let me know the instant their backs are turned,” Sora told him, stretching casually. “I’ll be in and out, quick as can be. I hope you didn’t forget our signal.”
The two rounded a corner, and Ichiraku Ramen came into view. It was about to be a very frustrating day for the village’s most popular, storied restaurant. Sora couldn’t wait. He and Dan would probably get quite the lecture for this, but the hilarity of it would be worthwhile. The Uzumaki boy got into position by the back door of the restaurant, taking care to make sure Dan was still within his line of vision. It was all up to Dan’s Byakugan now; if Dan mistimed the signal, the prank would be ruined, since Sora would get caught.
Dan stood, tense and quiet, from his hiding spot. His Byakugan’s vision was completely honed in on their target: Ichiraku’s staff and customers. More specifically, he was focusing on the establishment’s current owner, who was walking around serving and talking to customers.
“Almost,” Dan shifted, moving from one foot to the other as he watched. “Almost…”
Then, the moment he’d been waiting for. The man finally left, turning his back, leaving himself wide open.
“Now!”
Reacting almost instantaneously, Sora slipped into the restaurant through the back door and swiftly found his target: the chopsticks. He conjured up a shadow clone and, with its help, gathered up the boxes of chopsticks in the back of the ramen shop and darted right back out before anyone was any the wiser. Sora and his clone ran up to Dan, a mischievous gleam in his eyes.
“Here they are,” Sora told his best friend proudly. “Every box of chopsticks in the restaurant, and lunch rush is coming up shortly. They’re gonna be so annoyed, man, I can’t wait!”
Dan smiled. “Good job as always, Sora.” He was nearly jumping with giddiness. “Just imagine the looks on their faces once they realize!”
His excitement was plain to see, his body almost vibrating as he thought about the upcoming scene. He could already imagine it: the owner looking around for their chopsticks, only to realize they were all out. Everyone would have to eat with their hands, like they were children.
“I wish I’d brought my camera.”
“Ha, me too. I forgot, though. Either way, this is gonna be great,” Sora replied, setting the boxes down. His clone followed suit, and then on Sora’s command, it dispersed.
Pranks and mischief were such simple pleasures, really. All it took was a bit of creativity and the ability to think on your feet, and you could create your own entertainment whenever you needed to. It was easy for him and Dan; they were natural troublemakers. Now that the hard part was done, all they had to do was sit back, watch, and wait. It was going to be glorious.
--- Kian sighed, the sound barely registering above the volume of a whisper. Of course, Minegumo had gotten the bright idea, once they’d seen Sora and Dan lurking around Ichiraku, to use them to finish up their...well, chores, basically. He couldn’t really consider them missions, they were far too simple and easy. Maybe one day soon they’d get a real mission that would actually be a challenge; until then, he supposed, it would just be grunt work like what they were currently assigned. Painting fences… He was the son of Uchiha Seto, the Mirage Man, and the village was wasting his talent on painting fences. It was ridiculous. Of course, he understood the community service aspect of it, but he couldn’t help but feel irritated that it was being packaged as official missions. Surely, they could’ve done community service on their own time?
Whatever. At any rate, he wasn’t even entirely against Minegumo’s plan. After all, if the mission they were working on served no real purpose, contributed nothing towards making them more skilled ninja, then why shouldn’t they act like real ninja and make use of shortcuts? Genjutsu was a ninja art; as far as he was concerned, on a mission, any ninja art or weapon or tool was fair game. Why the hell should anyone be bothered if Minegumo was simply doing what a ninja was supposed to do? Kian was, however, getting sick of waiting. He watched with interest as Sora snuck into Ichiraku through the back door and, not even a full minute later, emerged with a shadow clone in tow, both carrying a bunch of small boxes each. Ugh...what are these two up to this time? Shouldn’t they be doing something productive, like training? As Sora rejoined Dan, Kian turned to his best friend.
“Well, Mine, it seems as though you have your opening that you wanted to get them both under your spell. They look pretty focused,” the Uchiha mused, casually flicking a speck of dust off of his forehead protector.
“They certainly are, aren’t they?” Minegumo answered. He gave a hum, cupping his hands together as he focused his chakra. “I almost feel bad about how easy this is going to be.”
Almost, but not quite.
Bringing his hands apart, a dozen spectral butterflies appeared, fluttering about aimlessly in the breeze. Minegumo pressed his hands into a single seal, changing their appearance so that they looked exactly like the other butterflies that fluttered about. Then they were off, circling around Minegumo’s head for a moment, before flying toward his targets.
“And now we wait.”
Kian smirked, unable to stop himself as he watched the butterflies flutter off towards the unsuspecting victims. He knew full well that these innocent, pretty little creatures were going to act as conduits for Minegumo’s illusion. All the time they’d spent training together hadn’t been for nothing; each boy knew the other’s jutsu repertoire quite well. It was part of what made them such an effective duo. Well, he supposed that now, they were technically two-thirds of a trio, because they were joined by…
violet eyes flickered over to the left towards Hikari, the third member of Team Thirteen and their new comrade; no, their new friend, comrade wasn’t a sufficient word. “I know you don’t really approve,” Kian remarked. “I get it, I normally wouldn’t either, but...those two are obnoxious jerks, they deserve it.” His gaze once again returned to Dan and Sora. Their vantage point from up there on the rooftop was a good one, they’d made a sound call, hiding up there.
Hikari nodded, pressing her lips together as she shifted on her feet. Her hair, newly dyed from its usual jet black to a honey blonde, rippled with the movement.
“They can be pretty full of themselves,” she admitted, albeit with some reluctance. “But isn’t this kind of… mean? Too far?”
Minegumo sighed. “You’re looking at it the wrong way, Hikari,” he said. “You have to remember that we’re Genin now. Ninja. It’s not so black and white.”
Saying that, his head perked up as his butterflies approached Dan and Sora, a couple landing on both boys’ shoulders, while others simply fluttered about, flapping their wings.
“If anything, think of it like training,” Minegumo continued. “They both suck at dispelling genjutsu, so this is actually helping them when you think about it. And as for us…” He trailed off. “We’re getting early training for when we’re Chūnin and are in charge of our own units.”
An exaggeration, but what mattered was getting the only kunoichi of Team Thirteen to go along with their plan.
“Exactly,” Kian spoke up. “Besides, we’re shinobi carrying out a formal mission, why shouldn’t we get to use every skill and tool in our arsenal?”
He noticed that both Sora and Dan had a couple of butterflies each perched on their shoulders. It seemed that Hikari’s objections, while noted, were a little too late. At any moment, their unsuspecting peers would be ensnared in Minegumo’s genjutsu, and the plan would be complete. They couldn’t have asked for better targets; as Minegumo had said, neither of the two were particularly good at dispelling genjutsu, and one of the two made frequent use of the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. With Sora’s shadow clones, the amount of time it would take for the fences to get painted would be dramatically reduced. It was a simple, but elegant, efficient plan. Such plans were becoming a specialty of their team’s, it appeared. All of a sudden, their targets stiffened awkwardly for a brief moment. That’ll be the genjutsu taking hold, Kian thought to himself.
“Alright, Mine, Hikari...shall we?”
The Uchiha effortlessly vaulted himself off of the roof, landing smoothly in between Dan and Sora. Both of them had glassy eyes, and neither seemed to notice Kian. Excellent. “Yeah, it worked. Nice one, Mine.” Amused, Kian waved his hand in front of Sora’s face; the lights were on, but nobody was home.
“As if there were ever any doubt,” Minegumo gloated. He landed next to Kian, with Hikari following after. “This was honestly too easy.”
He clapped his hands together, focusing and calling the extra butterflies back to him, leaving only the pair on Dan and Sora’s shoulders.
“It’s a shame I can’t make this permanent,” he said. “They’re a lot more tolerable when they aren’t talking.”
At least, Dan was. Minegumo could actually stand Sora; the Uzumaki was his only other friend outside of Kian, before Hikari, at least.
“You can say that again,” Kian mumbled. He wasn’t a fan of either the Hyūga or the Uzumaki; he found them both exceptionally irritating, with their immature penchant for mischief, their laziness when it came to training, and their overinflated egos. Sure, Kian himself was known to be arrogant and that was why Dan and Sora disliked him as much as he disliked them, but at least he was willing to work himself to the bone for every ounce of skill and strength he possessed, and at least he knew how to carry himself more like a shinobi and less like a child. Even more than Dan, Kian couldn’t stand Sora; just the sound of his voice got on Kian’s last nerve. No, even worse, Sora could irritate him just by showing his face.
Basically, Kian hated Sora because Sora had everything that he’d ever wanted: a loving, intact family, the respect of his clan and the villagers, and plenty of friends, on top of all his natural talent. The Uzumaki was hero-worshipped, practically. It wasn’t exactly a secret amongst the villagers that Sora was the Jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails as well as the son of his clan’s leader. What infuriated Kian was that Sora wasn’t even grateful for any of it, the idiot would rather waste his time on stupid pranks and messing around with his friends than actually train and work for anything. He supposed that was the luxury of having everything handed to you, though. Quite ironic, really, that he himself was often accused of not having to work for anything, but Sora was the one who skated by in life. The only thing Kian had that he hadn’t worked for was his name, he hadn’t been afforded the opportunity to be irresponsible and slack off. He also wasn’t lucky enough to not have to understand loss, unlike Sora.
It must have been nice, really.
Minegumo smirked, before walking up to the duo of troublemakers. He focused and summoned his sixth sense, using it to carefully trace the psychic threads of chakra that connected him to both his butterflies, and his former classmates. In his mind’s-eye, Minegumo imagined himself reaching out and taking the threads in hand, holding on with a tight grip as he continued to enforce his will over them.
In the real world, both Dan and Sora gave a jolt, but their lax expressions didn’t change. If anything, the glassy-eyed look deepened as their breathing evened out.
Minegumo smiled.
“Dan, Sora,” he intoned. “You two are going to do our mission for us.” He pointed to the fences that Team Thirteen had been assigned to paint. The three of them had only gotten a few minutes into the job before Arata had left, being called away by one of the many Uchiha policemen to see the Hokage. They’d immediately called it quits after that; even Hikari, usually the most rule-abiding of the three of them, was getting fed up with D-rank missions.
Then they’d seen the troublemakers making their way to Ichiraku, and Minegumo had gotten his idea.
“Your supplies,” Minegumo continued, “are already waiting for you. Sora, you make your clones. Dan, you’ll be coordinating and keeping them in line.”
Meanwhile, Team Thirteen would be kicking back and relaxing as their mission was completed for them.
Kian watched as Sora followed Minegumo’s command, dutifully executing the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu and producing a dozen clones. He smirked; these fences would be done in no time. The Uchiha flopped down underneath a nearby tree, opening a book he’d been reading. It seemed that he now had time to work on finishing it, a far more productive use of his time than painting some fences. Maybe their next mission would be more important. After all, he was getting restless, and he could tell that Minegumo and Hikari were, as well. Looking up, he noticed that the tree he was sitting under was an apple tree. With one hand, he reached into his holster and casually threw a trio of shuriken, cutting down three apples and catching them with that same hand, tossing an apple to both of his teammates before catching the next one. It was almost like a juggling act, one that he made look easy.
“Fruit’s good for you,” he remarked casually, taking a bite out of his own apple as he returned his focus to his book.
Minegumo nodded. “Fruits and vegetables.” Minegumo was close to a vegetarian, eating no beef or poultry. Typically, he stuck to fruits and veggies, and ate seafood on special occasions . “Tea is better than things like soda and coffee too.”
“The best drink is milk,” Hikari said, joining in. Taking a bite of the apple, she wiped her mouth with her thumb. “It builds strong bones, and helps you grow taller. There’s no beating it.”
As if to prove her point, she flipped backwards, landing on her hands, before moving into a single handstand.
“And they say kunoichi can’t be strong too,” Minegumo teased. He took a seat against the trunk of the tree, pulling out his sketchbook and a few colored pencils. Flipping to a blank page, he took out a regular pencil, beginning a new sketch: the scene in front of them now.
Arata arrived at the stretch of fences that his students were supposed to be painting, Chikara and Tatsuo in tow, only to find that Minegumo was drawing, Kian was reading, and Hikari was sitting with the two boys, relaxing. Furrowing his brow at the sight, he prepared to scold them, only to notice that Uzumaki Sora and Hyūga Dan were busy doing the work that his own students should’ve been doing, aided by Sora’s shadow clones. He exhaled, pinching the bridge of his nose in irritation. Though Sora and Dan weren’t his Genin, he knew well enough to know that they would’ve never volunteered to help; the two had quite the adversarial relationship with Kian and Minegumo. Of course, this could only mean one thing.
“Minegumo, dispel the genjutsu right now, or I will,” Arata groaned.
Hearing his newly appointed captain tell the purple-haired boy to dispel some kind of genjutsu piqued Chikara’s curiosity. Without being noticed, he activated his Byakugan in order to scan the area for this so-called genjutsu that Master Arata spoke of. Within seconds, shiny, viridescent eyes locked onto the two boys who were painting the fences. Observing their chakra circulatory system, Chikara realized that these boys were indeed under some type of genjutsu. Did that kid, Minegumo, place some sort of genjutsu on these other kids…? Whatever he did prevents me from being able to read their minds accurately. Their thoughts are so erratic and confused, the curly-haired boy thought as he fixed his eyes on Minegumo. He noticed that Minegumo, at that moment, was actually maintaining his hold over the two boys before Arata ordered him to stop. Interesting, so Minegumo and the others would rather compel someone else to do their community work instead of doing it themselves? Pathetic.
At that moment, Kian noticed that Tatsuo had come along. “Hey, big bro!” the raven-haired boy exclaimed, jumping to his feet excitedly and practically diving at the older Uchiha, hugging him.
Grinning, Tatsuo gave Kian a big hug, squeezing him gently. “Yo,” he greeted cheerfully. “You look well, Kian. Are you enjoying your new squad?”
Kian nodded enthusiastically. “It’s been great, actually. I’ve learned a lot from Master Arata already, and Mine, Hikari, and I get along great.” As Tatsuo ruffled his hair, his eyes fell on the unfamiliar boy behind his older brother figure. He didn’t get the chance to ask about the newcomer, however, as he would be sidetracked by Hikari reminding him that Master Arata had arrived and was likely not happy with them.
“Sensei!”
Hikari jumped, startling to attention and running her fingers through her hair. She flushed all the way to her roots, embarrassed at the thought of being caught slacking off not only by her teacher, but also the guests he had with him. At her side, Minegumo gave a groan of his own as he got to his feet. He gave Tatsuo a small wave, before giving his attention back to their teacher.
Grumbling to himself, he did as Arata ordered, snapping his fingers and causing the pair of butterflies that sat on Dan and Sora’s shoulders to vanish with a ripple. The effect was immediate: the pair blinked, surprised, as awareness came back to them, and then frowned with bemusement.
“What’s going on…?” Dan demanded. He looked at the paintbrush in his hand, and then jumped, throwing it to the ground. “Why do I have a paintbrush? How did I get here?!”
Sora glared at Kian and dispersed the clones he had created, throwing the paintbrush he was holding at the annoyingly moody Uchiha, causing paint to splatter all over his face. “This was all your idea, wasn’t it?” he asked in an accusatory tone, folding his arms over his chest.
“Real brave of you, throwing a paintbrush at me when my sensei is right here to stop me from kicking your face in,” Kian grumbled, staring furiously at Sora. “For your information, it wasn’t my idea, it was Mine’s.”
His arms behind his head defiantly, Sora scoffed. “Yeah, yeah. If you were so great, you would’ve simply dodged that paintbrush, loser.” Kian was right: it was rather easy to taunt him with his sensei hanging around. It meant that Sora could mouth off all he wanted, and the Uchiha couldn’t do a thing about it. It was glorious.
“Unbelievable,” Kian muttered to himself under his breath, turning away and sliding his hands into his pockets. “I can’t believe I’m not allowed to knock him out.”
“That’s enough,” Arata said, glowering at Sora. He didn’t appreciate his student being taunted. “Both of you, leave us.” It wasn’t a request.
Dan scoffed. “We’re the ones who were forced to come here to begin with.” But he didn’t go against the man’s obvious order. “Come on, Sora. Some of us actually have training to do.”
“Right, such important training.” Minegumo rolled his eyes. “That’s why you were sneaking around a ramen stand?”
“Who asked you, Kurama?” Dan all but shouted as his ears turned red. “Stay out of it!”
Growing tired of Minegumo’s antics, Chikara switched his gaze upon the raven-haired boy, whose name, he learned, was Kian. The girl standing up against the tree, her name was Hikari. Before he could peek any deeper into their minds, the Hyūga known as Dan and his friend Sora were freed from Minegumo’s grasp. The four boys wasted no time arguing with each other over stuff that Chikara couldn’t really understand.
From her spot by the tree, Hikari tried and failed to hold in a giggle, causing several pairs of eyes to set themselves on her at the noise. Dan’s blush spread from his ears to his whole face, and the look he gave Minegumo was pure anger.
Immediately, Kian stepped in between the two, drawing his blade. “Keep moving, Hyūga, or you’ll regret it.” He wasn’t playing around; he’d have loved an excuse to go at it with Dan.
“Don’t hurt yourself playing with knives,” Dan retorted through gritted teeth. He paused for a moment, before smiling viciously. “We just had one dead Uchiha, it’d be a shame for there to be two so soon.”
For a moment, there was complete silence as everyone seemed to process Dan’s words. As they all stared, surprised to hear such cruel words from the boy’s mouth, things seemed to explode as Kian and Minegumo both moved, only to find themselves restrained by Tatsuo and Arata respectively. The two boys trashed in the holds, while Dan looked on, smug and unrepentant… and completely forgetting about Team Arata’s third member.
“Hyūga!”
Hikari moved like a blur, one moment she was at the tree, and the next, she was right in front of him, holding a kunai at the boy’s throat.
“Hikari, no!” Arata called out just as she was about to stab him. Her jaw clenched, and she wavered, before moving the knife away and letting it fall out of her hand. However, as Dan began to laugh, her hand clenched and she was moving again, fist coming from down below as she struck his chin in an uppercut. The force of the punch lifted him off his feet, sending him falling to the floor with shock clear on his face.
Even the satisfaction of seeing Hikari absolutely deck Dan wasn’t enough to quell Kian’s unbridled fury. Try as he might, however, Tatsuo’s grip on him was too firm for him to get away, so he settled for straining against his older brother figure. “YOU’D BETTER WATCH YOUR BACK,” he bellowed, clearly livid. “IF I EVER GET A HOLD OF YOU, I’LL CRUSH EVERY BONE IN YOUR BODY!” He was so angry that he was shaking, he could barely even see straight.
Tatsuo didn’t relinquish his grip on the younger Uchiha. He knew better, and he knew Kian well enough to know that the boy was dead serious. “Hush,” Tatsuo said calmly. “It isn’t worth it, Kian. Just breathe.” Yeah, that was gonna work. Not. It was worth trying, though. Of course, he couldn’t blame Kian for being angry. Tatsuo felt the same way, but what example would he set if he let his legendary temper win in this moment?
Sora bent over and grabbed Dan under his arm, pulling him up. Part of him was a little stunned; he’d never seen Dan act that malicious before. Usually, the two of them never went further than goofing around, maybe the occasional disrespectful comment. “Come on, let’s go. We don’t need to make this worse,” he advised.
“Whatever,” Dan said, unusually subdued. “Sensei is probably looking for us, anyway.”
He stomped away, red-faced. He himself didn’t know what possessed him to say what he said, but he refused to take it back. His eyes flickered behind him to Hikari, who was rubbing her knuckles and giving him a defiant look, to Uchiha, who was being held down by the other Uchiha, and then to Kurama, being restrained by their teacher. His teeth grit, and his hands clenched into angry fists.
This is indeed an interesting group. But how can Kian and Minegumo be so upset? They literally hatched a plan to mentally control someone into doing their dirty work for them. To be honest, I’d be pretty upset, too, so I’m on Dan’s si — Chikara’s thoughts had stopped immediately after hearing Dan’s words towards Kian. It hadn’t taken him long to figure out that Dan had been referring to someone important to Kian; the Uchiha’s anger and sadness momentarily overwhelmed Chikara. What had transpired afterward hadn’t come as a surprise. Chikara clearly didn’t understand the history these boys shared, but he did understand Kian’s feelings towards those words. Out of respect for him, he refrained from looking any deeper into his mind.
Once Dan and Sora were far enough away, both Kian and Minegumo were let go. Arata could tell that Kian was still seething, which was understandable. He had to admit, if Dan wasn’t just a child… Shaking his head, he pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. “Are you alright?” he asked quietly, eyes flickering between Kian and Minegumo.
“I’m fine,” Kian grumbled, still trembling slightly from pent up aggression. No, he wasn’t really fine, was he? But that didn’t matter, he needed to get his act together and quit coming off as unhinged. Exhaling deeply, he ran his hands through his hair, attempting to collect himself. Dan had no right to say what he said; how could that spoiled prick possibly understand the unending agony of losing a parent? Oh, how he wished Tatsuo hadn’t held him back… At least Hikari had gotten in a good punch for him.
“I’ll be alright, Arata-sensei,” Minegumo answered plainly. He sounded calm, and felt it too. “Really.”
He would be...as soon as he found Hyūga and made the other boy pay for what he’d said, for bringing up Seto and then the implication about Kian… Minegumo felt a pain in his hands, and quickly unclenched them. He was fine. Good. Great. He would be even better once he turned Hyūga into a vegetable.
Hearing Minegumo say he was alright caused Chikara to slightly smirk. Heh, really? He’s clearly lying. I’ll have to keep my eye on that one for sure.
“That was a good hit, Hikari,” Minegumo said. “Excellent.”
It was then that he noticed the newcomer that stood behind Arata.
“Who’s he?”
Walking up to the purple-haired boy with his hand out, not expecting him to shake it, Chikara replied in a confident tone, “Hi, I’m Hyūga Chikara from Kumogakure! I’ll be your new teammate!” Despite the joy in his voice, Chikara was pretty neutral. He wasn’t sure how exactly to feel about Minegumo, especially due to his antics. Your move, Minegumo.
Challenge Accepted: Team Thirteen’s First C-Rank!![]
Minegumo was having a meltdown, the type of fiery, explosive fit that was better suited to a toddler, and he was taking it all the way to the finish line.
From his position underneath the tree, the Kurama heir growled and groaned, while his sensei, teammates, and the two guests watched on with varying expressions.
“Does he…do this a lot…?” Hikari asked, leaning toward Kian with a whisper.
“Not really,” Kian whispered back, shifting awkwardly before folding his arms across his chest. The Uchiha watched his friend’s tantrum with an expression that was torn between amusement and exhaustion. Minegumo must’ve really not been excited about having a new teammate; Kian hadn’t seen him freak out this badly since they were five and an older kid had snatched Minegumo’s candy from him. What a pain. Chikara was their new teammate, making a scene about it wasn’t going to change it. Finally, Kian sighed and strode forward to Minegumo, who was still thrashing about.
“Quit acting like a baby,” he said irritably, glowering down at his best friend. “You know it’s not gonna accomplish anything, so why bother?”
Minegumo huffed. “In case you hadn’t noticed, there’s some…interloper,” he spat out the word like it was something dirty, “trying to force his way onto our team!” He pointed to Chikara and his jaw clenched.
Hikari’s brow furrowed. “Can he actually do that?”
At that moment, Arata cleared his throat. “Mine, I understand you have trouble adjusting to new people, but acting like this isn’t going to prevent you from having to deal with it. Chikara is part of this team, per Lord Hokage’s orders, and that’s final. Act more like a shinobi, or I will see to it that this team has nothing but grunt work for the next month.” His patience had officially run out. Truthfully, Arata couldn’t even understand why Minegumo was this upset. Neither Kian nor Hikari were moping or throwing fits.
Amber eyes glowered, before Minegumo clicked his teeth and looked away with another huff. “Fine…” he ground out. “I understand, Arata-sensei.”
“Look, you weren’t that thrilled about Hikari when our team was first formed. Give this a chance, man,” Kian coaxed gently. If they couldn’t calm Minegumo down soon, they would be there all day. Minegumo was that stubborn, for better or for worse. Sure, it was part of why the purple haired boy never quit or backed down from a challenge, but in moments like this...ugh. Kian wished he would chill out sometimes.
Hikari nodded. “We weren’t exactly friendly before, and now you two are my closest friends,” she said. “Who knows? Maybe you’ll end up liking him, too.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Minegumo grumbled out. Then he sighed, forcing himself to calm back down. A shinobi is a tool. “I’m sorry for my outburst, Arata-sensei. It won’t happen again.” He paused, before giving Arata a wary look. “You’re not going to make us do another bell test, are you?”
Arata couldn’t help but let out a chuckle. “No, that won’t be necessary. Well,” he added, turning back to Chikara, “it seems you’ve been acquainted with Kurama Minegumo.”
Oh, right, introductions. Duh. Kian took a step toward their new teammate, arm outstretched to offer a handshake. “Yo. My name’s Uchiha Kian.” He wasn’t sure yet about what he thought of Chikara either, but he figured it wouldn’t hurt to try to be nice this time around, dealing with a new comrade.
The Kumo-nin let out a sigh of irritation as he witnessed Minegumo’s temper tantrum. It didn’t matter to him either way whether Minegumo wanted him there or not. Heh, I’ll prove to him that I deserve to be here just as much as he does. I’m sure soon he’ll be impressed with my skills. He wasn’t expecting Kian to shake his hand, though. “Hey,” he said with a genuine smile. “It’s nice to meet you, Kian.” He curiously looked towards Hikari, unsure of what she was gonna do.
“I’m Yakushi Hikari,” came the shy introduction. Unlike Kian, she didn’t offer her hand to shake, instead giving it a small wave before she bowed in greeting. “Welcome to Team Thirteen.”
Straightening back up, she looked Chikara over, before turning her gaze to her other teammate.
“I’m Kurama Minegumo,” he said plainly.
“Nice to meet you, Hikari,” he said with the same smile he’d given Kian, however, as he turned his attention back to Minegumo, his expression flattened. “...Nice to meet you.”
“…Right.” Minegumo turned away from the outsider, and turned his attention back to Arata.
“Well.” The Jōnin clapped his hands together to get his entire squad’s attention. “Now that we’ve made it through the introductions without any homicides taking place, I have excellent news for you four. It seems as though we’ve been given a mission, and this time, it’s a C-rank. Kian, Mine, Hikari, it looks as though your hard work the past couple of months hasn’t gone unnoticed. Chikara, I’m confident that with these three and myself by your side, you’ll do just fine, even if it’s your first official mission.” He paused. “Now, our assignment is to head south to Shikkotsu Forest. Recently, an exploration squad has mapped out its location and discovered a small village not far from the forest, as well as some ruins. It appears that Shikkotsu Forest has been located on an entirely different continent this whole time. At any rate, we’ll be responsible for harvesting some rare herbs that only grow in that region. The medics in the village swear by these herbs, it seems that they are important in a number of new medications that help shinobi a lot in the field. We’ll be staying in the settlement near the forest, as well, in order to get to know the people there and foster a bond between them and Konohagakure.”
Unsurprisingly, he could tell that his students were excited at the prospect of getting to travel somewhere remote and essentially unknown. Shikkotsu Forest was still a great mystery, and even he was intrigued by this opportunity. He wasn’t sure how much of a challenge gathering herbs would be for the kids, but he was sure this would be preferable to doing chores around the village, nonetheless.
“It’s starting to get rather late in the afternoon,” Arata noted. “I would like all of you to go and get some rest; we’ll head out at the crack of dawn tomorrow morning. This’ll give you guys time to prepare, as well, so use it wisely. Dismissed.” With that, Arata disappeared in a puff of white smoke.
Shaking his head, a bemused Tatsuo put his arm around Kian’s shoulders, steering him in the direction of the Uchiha District. “C’mon, I’ll walk you back home and help you pack up for tomorrow.”
“Fine, fine. You don’t have to, though. I’m more than capable,” Kian grumbled irritably. Even though he’d never admit it out loud, he actually liked it when Tatsuo fussed over him like this. It made him feel like he truly did have an older brother, one that cared about him. He wouldn’t have traded it for anything, even if he pretended to be grumpy about it. “See you lot in the morning,” he called as he turned around to wave goodbye to his teammates.
Their first C-rank. Hands behind his back, Minegumo nodded to himself as replayed Arata’s words. Gathering herbs from the Shikkotsu Forest, and meeting some of the people native to the area. Collecting herbs wasn’t the most exciting mission there was, but the prospect of traveling to a whole other continent was more than a little interesting, for a number of reasons.
He wondered if they’d get to keep any of the herbs they collected for themselves.
As Kian left, he waved goodbye, sending his best friend a smile, even offering one to Tatsuo. Strictly speaking, Minegumo didn’t really know the elder Uchiha. At least, not very well. But Kian knew him and cared about him, so Minegumo always went out of his way to at least be respectful towards Tatsuo.
“Do you want to come by my place, Hikari?” Minegumo asked, turning to his other teammate. “My moms can help you pack.”
“Please and thank you,” she said. In the past couple of months that she’d joined Team Thirteen, she’d gotten to meet Minegumo’s two mothers, who’d taken a liking to her. In particular, Akigumo seemed to like her enough to give her desperately needed tips and advice on being a kunoichi.
Minegumo’s smile grew. “Great! We’re having ramen for dinner tonight!”
“You and ramen.” Hikari shook her head good-naturedly. “The only people who like it more than you are the Uzumaki.”
Minegumo shrugged, conceding the point. It was fair, after all; ramen was among his favorite meals, with shrimp ramen being at the top of his list. He’d treated Kian and Hikari to the meal a couple times since they’d become a team.
“Alright,” Minegumo clapped his hands together. “Dinner, packing, and then I can walk you home, unless you stay over in one of the guest rooms.”
Moving his hands to rest behind his head, he began walking, not once turning back to so much as look at the newcomer. For her part, Hikari sighed and shook her head.
“It was nice meeting you, Chikara,” she said, giving a bow. “I hope we’ll be good friends and partners in the future.”
Hearing Hikari’s sweet words, caused tears to form under his grassy eyes. “You betcha!” he said as he waved her and Minegumo away. After a few seconds passed, he was all alone, nothing but random civilians passed him by. Wow, so much has happened since I’ve been here. I didn’t expect to have a possessive, paranoid child on my team, though. I’m sure we’ll get along at some point. I hope Kian doesn’t let those harsh words Dan said get to him any more than they already have… Darn my politeness, I really want to know who it was Dan was referring to. Master Arata and Hikari are cool though, especially Hikari. I really think I’m gonna like being a part of Team Thirteen. But! Before I go check out my new empty apartment, I should go visit Lightning Burger again; by the time I make it there I’ll already have eaten this special burger, heh.
--- If not for the sound of his alarm buzzing, Kian wouldn’t have had any idea what time it was. The world looked like it was falling down outside; rain lashed his bedroom window furiously, and a moment later, the very same window was illuminated with the brilliance of lightning, and it rattled with the force of thunder. Kian sat up in bed, stretching. A storm, huh? Feels like some sort of omen. Bad luck ahead, maybe. He sat there for a moment, blinking and waking himself up. Kian wasn’t tired, however. Last night, he’d made it a point to pack as soon as he’d gotten home, and he’d gone to sleep early so that he would be refreshed and ready for the journey. Exhaling deeply, he finally slid out of bed, went and took a shower, ate, and got ready. Before he left, though, he pulled a hooded, black leather poncho over his head to shield himself from the rain, then grabbed his backpack and pulled it on. Allowing himself one last yawn, he set out, probably earlier than any of the rest of his squad...he had something he wanted to do before they left for their mission.
He walked through the village with his hood up, alone and drenched by the rain. The streetlights were his only friend at this hour; nobody else was awake. Most of the village was practically deserted, aside from the couple roads that featured bars, taverns, gambling hot spots. Places like that, though, were confined to side roads and kept out of the way. Konoha wasn’t very big on vices, and the village made it a point to be very tourist friendly, which meant having somewhat of a clean image. Kian shuddered a bit as the wind picked up. It was practically howling now, but he wasn’t that far from where he wanted to be. He slid his hands into his pockets, hoping that Minegumo would wake up on time without him there to snap at him (or zap him, if it came to it). A small smile crept onto his face as he thought about how it would be just like his best friend to oversleep and be late for the mission. Knowing Arata-sensei, though, that might mean Mine would get left behind.
Another flash of lightning. Kian paused, tilting his head back to look up at the storm clouds, menacing in the way they blended with the dark, early morning sky. Barely any light managed to break through, and it looked very much like night still. Drops of rain collided with his face, and he was more awake than he had been in a while. He was...happy, he supposed. Working with Minegumo and Hikari had been great so far, and he couldn’t have been more grateful to have a pair of best friends like them. Master Arata was fatherly in his own way, and quick to look out for each of them. They were slowly becoming like a family, and now they even had a new addition to their squad. Shouldn’t he have felt more joy? Why did it still feel like he was empty, like there was a hole in his heart? As he reached the gates of the Konoha Cemetery, he remembered the answer. Kian walked through those gates, tracing a familiar route through the rows of white, marble headstones until he came to a stop in front of the one he’d been looking for.
“Hey, dad. It’s been a while,” he said quietly, sitting down and leaning his back against the marble. “Sorry I haven’t visited the past couple of months, I’ve been pretty busy. Graduated and got assigned a new team and all that. Funny story, your old best friend is our sensei now. Arata.” Kian was sure that would put his father at ease, knowing that his best friend was watching over his son. He cracked his neck casually; it was a bit stiff. “Mine’s on the team, too. We work together as well as ever. Our third teammate, Hikari, she’s pretty cool. You’d like her if you met her. We’ve got a new teammate, too, an exchange student from a branch of the Hyūga clan in Kumogakure.” This never got any easier, no matter how badly he wished it would. Every fiber of his being wanted to be able to say all this to his father in person, but he’d never get the opportunity. Never again. “I guess I’m doing well, you know. As well as I can be, anyway. I’m training hard and really focusing on what I need to do to better myself, so I can make you proud. I hope I can.” The raven-haired boy got to his feet, stretching.
Kian turned around to face his father’s headstone, which seemed to emit a soft light in the storm-induced darkness. “Well...I suppose that’s it. I’ve got to go meet the rest of the team, it’s our first C-rank mission. Hopefully it goes well, but I’ll be back to tell you about it, either way.” With that, Kian walked away, grateful that the rain was as heavy as it was. He barely registered the rest of the walk to the village’s gates, and he was the first one to arrive. Not that that surprised him, he’d headed out pretty early. Leaning against the massive wall surrounding the village, he settled in to wait.
--- “Tent and sleeping bags?”
“Check.”
“Canteens and medical supplies?”
“Check.”
“Emergency kit?”
Minegumo paused, opening his bag and looking through the pouch of his emergency tools: his hyōrōgan, a tag with a seal formula for reversed summoning, and finally a standard chakra blade.
“Check,” he said, closing his bag back up. Throwing it over his shoulder, Minegumo smiled, equal parts nervous and excited. “That’s everything.”
“That it is,” Mika gave a smile of her own, ruffling her son’s hair. “My precious boy, all grown up. Soon you’ll be out of the house, and won’t need me anymore.”
“Mom…” Minegumo's voice was whiny as he attempted to evade her hands. For all the world, he appeared like a regular ten year old, instead of a shinobi in training. “I’m going to have to brush it again!”
“Then it's a good thing you woke up early then, isn’t it?”
Minegumo turned to his other mother, Kurama Akigumo, standing in the hall, leaning on his door frame. Her expression was cool, but her tone was fond, and he could pick up the clear affection she had for him. Making her way into the room, Aki wrapped her son into a hug, squeezing tightly, before drawing back and placing a kiss on his brow.
“Our only son on his first C-rank,” Mika said as Akigumo came to stand next to her. Green hair moved like a curtain as she was pulled into her wife’s arms, and she sighed contentedly. “It seems like just yesterday that you were running around naked and protesting diapers.”
Minegumo choked, looking up with a look of incredulousness, as the conversation steered.
“Remember when Takuya babysat and Minegumo peed on his vest?” Aki asked. “Or when he stole poor Shikaiya’s binky?”
Mingumo sprang to his feet. “Aki-mama!” He stomped his feet, looking to Mika for support, but to his horror, she was smiling as she leaned her head upon Aki’s shoulders.
“What about the time he tried to ride one of Inuzuka’s hounds and got dragged around?” Mika’s eyes were closed as she reminisced.
Minegumo picked up on the sensation of amusement from the hallway, just before he heard laughter that was quickly smothered. Horror and embarrassment rose within him, and he slowly turned his head to the hallway. Please, no…
“Hikari?” he called out pitifully.
Sure enough, his teammate appeared, dressed for the mission and carrying a duffle bag. Her blonde hair was pulled into a tight bun, allowing the mirth in her bright blue eyes to be clearly seen.
Minegumo groaned, throwing himself back into his bed and smothering his face with one of his pillows. His life was officially over.
“Oh, don’t be so embarrassed, Mine,” Hikari said, failing to suppress a giggle. “Everyone has embarrassing stories.”
Aki nodded. “And those aren’t even the most embarrassing ones.” At Hikari’s curious look, she smiled deviously and pressed on, completely ignoring Minegumo’s pleading look. “Did you know that when he was three, he wanted to be a superhero?”
“Really?”
“Oh, yes. He wanted to be one so badly that he got together his own costume,” Mika said. “A costume that was composed entirely of Seto’s boxers over his head while he ran around the house naked.”
Hikari blinked, looking from Mika, to Akigumo, and then Minegumo, as if to verify the truth of the story from everyone in the room. When no one denied it, she let out a giggle that soon gave way to full laughter. A moment later, Aki and Mika joined in too, all while Minegumo banged his head on his pillow.
Akigumo’s laughter was deep, her eyes crinkling as she used her thumb to wipe away tears that sprung up in her eyes as she recalled one of her favorite memories. Seto had been babysitting that night, while Aki and Mika had gone on a date night. When they’d gone to pick their son up, Seto had looked so overworked and frazzled, and had confessed to using the Sharingan on Minegumo to get him to go to sleep. Just thinking about it made her laughter persist.
Yet… Akigumo’s tears intensified as her laughter seemed to subside. Soon the joy she felt was replaced by a wave of anguish, and the tears gave way to a flood. Then she was crying full, gut-wrenching sobs as the laughter of the two died out.
Minegumo’s face fell. “Aki-mama…”
“I’m sorry,” Akigumo said. She bowed to Hikari as the tears continued to stream, waving a hand in apology. “I’m so sorry.”
She pulled away from Mika and turned on her feet, all but running out the door as another sob tore through her. Mika was right on her heels, shouting her name, leaving the two Genin alone in the room.
“…We should go,” Minegumo said, allowing his hair to fall and cover his face.
“Yeah…”
A few minutes later, the two were walking out the door of the Kurama Manor, and away from the sounds of Akigumo’s cries. Akigumo had placed seals on both Minegumo and Hikari’s clothing to protect them from the rain storm, and so they were able to walk without fear of getting soaked or blown away. As they walked, Kari sent Mine looks from the corner of her eyes. Every so often, she would open her mouth as if to speak, only to close again when the words she wanted to say failed her.
“Does that…” Hikari’s voice trailed off.
“Yes,” came the even answer. “It’s been that way for the past year since he died. She can’t talk about him without breaking down.” Minegumo paused. “She doesn’t even get that way over my dad.”
“Your dad?” she repeated.
“Kurama Yomi,” he said. “…He died when I was young.”
“Oh.”
As they continued down the street, Mingeumo shifted.
“Don’t tell Ki,” he said after a moment. “He’s got enough dealing with what happened to Seto on his own. He doesn’t need to know about what my mom is going through too.”
Hikari nodded silently, and then the conversation shifted as they talked about random things. Twenty minutes later, Hikari had genuinely forgotten about the event as Minegumo enthralled her with a tale about one of the many times he’d bespelled his bodyguards.
“And then he drank the water,” Minegumo finished his tale. “Goldfish and all.”
Hikari’s eyes were wide. “You’re kidding.”
He shook his head. “I promise. Just ask Kian.”
They appeared at the meeting spot at that moment, where Kian was already waiting for them. Unlike them, he was wearing a poncho to protect himself from the rain. Minegumo smiled, only a little smug at the fact that both he and Hikari were perfectly dry.
--- “Come on,” Chikara urged himself, not wanting to get out of bed. “You can’t be late for your first C-rank mission…”
Truth be told, after everyone had departed the previous night, he had paid another visit to Lightning Burger to have a moment to reflect on everything that happened before checking out his apartment. Speaking of his apartment, it was nothing like his home back in Kumogakure. There was so much empty space, except for a small bookshelf and an equally small bed across from it. He knew it was probably best to get some sleep, but due to a mixture of excitement and a mild case of insomnia, he wasn’t going to be able to sleep. Instead, he managed to stumble across the Third Training Ground, where he spent most of the night training and practicing his various taijutsu moves to try and pass the time. He barely managed to beat the rainstorm before it completely drenched him. After a few minutes passed, he finally mustered up enough energy to get out of bed. Since he had just arrived yesterday, he didn’t need to pack much, since most of everything that he’d need on a mission was already packed.
Alright… Today is the day that I officially start my career as a ninja, he thought as he left his empty apartment behind. I just hope that Minegumo doesn’t become problematic again, a few hours of sporadic sleep isn’t enough to deal with him.
About ten minutes passed before he finally reached the village’s front entrance. As he expected, his other three teammates were already there; however, Arata was nowhere to be seen which made Chikara feel slightly better about himself. Okay, so it looks like Master Arata has yet to show up, which means I’m not really late after all. Heh, next time I’ll be the first one to show up! “Hey guys,” he greeted with a somewhat happy tone. “Sorry I’m late, I didn’t get much sleep last night, plus the rain didn’t help, either. So are we waiting on Master Arata now?”
--- The rain continued to pour down, even as the sky lightened. Kian didn’t care, though. Inclement weather didn’t really bother him; if anything, he felt more at home in a storm. Something about rain and lightning brought him a bit of peace. Hopefully, the four of you won’t keep me waiting that long. This is getting boring, he thought, stretching and allowing himself a yawn. Watch Arata-sensei be the last one to show up, as usual… Oh, well. At least we’re actually getting out of the village for once, it’ll be nice to see some new sights instead of more of the same. Excitement coursed through him at the prospect of exploration. Growing up, he’d always heard tales of his father’s travels during the previous war, but he had yet to have any adventures of his own. One of his goals was to make sure that every time he visited his father’s grave, he had a new story to tell, but he was determined to make sure that they were actually interesting. Nobody cared about the ‘adventures’ of menial D-rank missions, after all. Gathering herbs wasn’t exactly going to be hard, but it would still be cool to see Shikkotsu Forest and that village that Arata-sensei had told them about.
Finally, through the pouring rain, he saw the forms of two people drawing closer to him. Once they were close enough, he could tell that it was Minegumo and Hikari. In spite of himself, a small smile appeared on his face, and he waved.
“Hey, guys!” he called out. “Great weather, huh?”
It wasn’t, but he enjoyed it anyway. Watching Hikari and Minegumo walk up together, he realized that Hikari must’ve stayed over at Minegumo’s place. Part of him wished he’d joined them instead of staying home, but that would’ve also meant blowing off Tatsuo, and Kian hadn’t seen Tatsuo since he’d graduated. Kian had learned the hard way not to take for granted any time spent with the people he cared about, so part of him was also glad that he’d hung out with Tatsuo. Time was precious and too short. For all he knew, his big brother could be there today, gone tomorrow. Aren’t I a little too young to have to think like this? Isn’t it a bit unfair? Not once did I ever ask for any of this, but...I wasn’t given a choice. Yeah, he was a bit sad. Bitter. Maybe he shouldn’t have been, maybe he was being a child, but he was only ten...shouldn’t he have been allowed to be a child?
Kian made small talk with Minegumo and Hikari while they waited for Chikara and Arata-sensei to arrive. They didn’t have to wait long for Chikara, who came bounding up to them with some enthusiasm, greeting them and asking about Arata-sensei’s whereabouts. Hikari confirmed that they were waiting on their instructor, and the group waited patiently, conversation being only slightly awkward as Minegumo and Chikara continually eyed each other. Kian was wary, not exactly feeling like breaking up a fight. Rain was an advantage if that was how it went, though...shocking the both of them would be extremely easy with the rain conducting electricity. Luckily, it didn’t come to that, and they made it without incident until Arata-sensei finally appeared before them.
The Jōnin waved, smiling warmly at his students. Arata was pleased to see that they had come prepared, and that they were all on time. He liked punctuality; it made things go so much more smoothly. “Well, you four seem to be ready to head out. Let’s get going, then, it’s a long trip and will take a few days. The less time we waste, the better, and besides, we might as well save all the chatter for the road so we don’t get bored.” With that, he beckoned to his students to follow him and led them through the village gates and onward, with the promise of an interesting journey awaiting them.
The Road Ahead[]
“I wonder what type of place the Shikkotsu Forest is.”
Hikari’s voice sounded through the forest. Team Thirteen was traveling through the trees, jumping from branch to branch as they made their way to the Land of Waves. Ordinarily, the trip from Konohagakure to the other country was a three day trip, and that was without pausing to camp and sleep. Arata had politely told his team that they would be making the trip within a time frame of two days.
So here they were, moving swiftly through the dense forest that seemed to stretch all through the Land of Fire. She liked to think that they were making good time, but she had no way of knowing. Hikari had never been away from Konoha; being an orphan, there had never been a reason to do so.
From his position, Minegumo shrugged before he grabbed hold of a branch and used it to vault himself forward.
“It’s a forest,” he said plainly. “They’re all the same.”
His tone was reflective of experience. With Mika’s work as a diplomat, he’d had the privilege of regularly accompanying his second mother on her travels, so Minegumo had gotten to see the world at an early age. He could safely say that for all its beauty, nature rarely had major changes when in similar environments.
“Anyway,” Minegumo continued, “I doubt it’ll be as deadly as the Forest of Death back in the village.”
Hikari blinked. “The Forest of Death?”
He nodded. “According to legend, Lord First created it in a fit of rage, and that’s why the energy there is so abnormal.”
“Abnormal how?”
“Don’t know. But Mika-mama is a sage and she always says that it’s difficult to gather natural energy when she’s there.”
Hikari hummed, but otherwise didn’t respond, and they fell into a lapse of comfortable silence.
Breaking the oddly comfortable silence, Chikara asked anyone who was willing to listen, “Isn’t Shikkotsu Forest one of the three legendary sage regions? I remember reading something about Katsuyu, the primary summon of Haruno Sakura and the Fifth Hokage, living there. I wonder if we’ll see her or any other slug inhabitants… I kind of have a fondness for slugs.”
“Yeah, it is,” the team’s quiet Uchiha replied. “The others are Ryūichi Cave and Mount Myōboku, populated by snakes and toads, respectively. My ancestor, Uchiha Sasuke, had a contract with the snakes of Ryūichi Cave. So did the notorious Sannin Orochimaru.” It was because of Sasuke that the Uchiha even lived on, and it was his influence that had made lightning almost as synonymous with the clan’s name as fire. Even to this day, a good number of Sasuke’s Lightning Release ninjutsu were passed down through the clan.
“Mount Myōboku produced the likes of the Fourth and Seventh Hokage, as well as the Sannin Lord Jiraiya. The arts of sages are extremely powerful, and only the finest shinobi in our history have been able to master them and enter into contracts with the sacred animals of these special locations,” Arata added. He was thoroughly impressed by how much his students knew of Konoha’s history. By now, hours had passed, and the storm still raged on as it began to get darker. Whether he liked it or not, soon they would have to stop and rest. It wouldn’t have been right of him to force the kids to keep going all through the night in horrible inclement weather.
“These days, most summoning contracts are passed down,” said Minegumo. “The contract for the frogs of Mount Myōboku has been passed down through the Uzumaki since the days of Lord Seventh. Only the clansmen and those allied with the clan get to sign it.”
Hikari nodded. “The orphanage has the contract for the Ryūichi Cave snakes. They let everyone sign it once they become Genin.”
Since those in the orphanage didn’t exactly have clan Hiden or rare bloodlines to fall back on, the Ryūichi snakes were used to level the playing field instead. However, there hadn’t been a snake sage since Yakushi Kabuto and Mitsuki.
Hikari paused, jumping from another branch. Looking up, she was surprised that the storm wasn’t letting up.
“Arata-sensei?” she called out. “The storm… should we start making camp?”
The Jōnin nodded in response. It was getting steadily darker, and he could tell that the kids were beginning to tire. As they passed through the forest through which they had been traveling, they came upon open space, a field that was rather empty except the decrepit, crumbling remains of an abandoned factory. He supposed that would have to do; they would be more protected from the elements indoors as opposed to camping, and the cover would be nice. As shinobi, they had to be aware of the potential for ambushes from rogue ninja, roving bandits, cheap thugs and the like. Yes, the factory would work.
“There,” he said, pointing, speaking louder than normal to compensate for the loudness of the pouring rain and blowing winds. “We’ll stay there for the evening and get out of this weather.” Arata led onward, glancing over his shoulder to check that his students were following. Thankfully, they were.
“Master Arata, please let me keep watch while the others rest up for a bit,” Chikara offered. “I tend to struggle sleeping and don’t do too well being idle, plus a ninja should always be prepared for anything. With my Byakugan, there is not much that could catch me by surprise.”
To be honest, I am a little tired from all this walking, but I have to prove to myself that I’m capable. Besides, I’m sure nothing or no one will try and sneak attack us.
“There won’t be a need for now, but I will be happy to let you take the first watch when I fall asleep. In the meantime…” Arata’s hands formed the ‘clone’ seal, and a few shadow clones appeared, each positioning themself at a corner of the building’s exterior. “...my clones will have it covered.”
Kian followed his teammates and sensei inside, welcomed by utter darkness. Guess this place really is abandoned, he thought. Alright, time to turn on the lights. The Uchiha concentrated lightning chakra in his right palm until it emitted a faint, warm golden glow, bright enough to allow them some visibility, but not enough to fully illuminate the factory floor. He held his arm in the air as he explored, lighting the way for the others. Machinery that was clearly meant to manufacture weapons came into view. Dusty and rusted over, it was clear immediately to Kian that nobody had operated the machinery in years. It was an eerie feeling, being there.
“Weapons factory,” he mused out loud for the rest of the team to hear. “I wonder why it’s shut down? You’d think a weapons factory this close to a major shinobi village would never run out of business or anything.”
“Bad business?” Hikari offered. “Or bad craftsmanship in their weapons?”
She mimicked Kian’s idea and created a ball of light, adding to the light that came from their group. Pausing, she squatted down, pressing a finger to the floor. Making a swiping motion, she stood back up and frowned at the thick coating of dirt that covered her finger.
“…That’s disgusting,” she said plainly.
Minegumo hummed, looking around slowly. Pressing a hand to the wall, he called upon his sixth sense and released a thin pulse of chakra. His brow furrowed into a frown.
“It's definitely been deserted for a long time,” he said, moving away from the wall. “The dust on the floors and walls is almost perfectly even. We might very well be the first people to have stepped foot in this place since it went under.”
Chikara nodded as he listened to Kian’s general assessment of the old, run-down weapons factory. He proceeded to further check things out just to make sure that the place was completely empty. His black pupils slightly faded to grey as the sudden increase in blood flow caused several veins around his eyes and temple noticeably bulge. The Byakugan, while active, caused his vision to invert to black and white, and despite the lack of proper illumination within the factory, he was clearly able to survey the entire factory with ease. As he expected, the entire place was completely empty of both people or animals, with the exception of a few spiders here and there.
Minegumo is right, this place doesn’t seem like it’s been disturbed since the last time a human presence was here, which judging by the layers of dust and dirt, must have been a long time ago. We should be safe here tonight, especially since Master Arata is keeping watch, he thought to himself, before sitting down with his back up against some sort of generator he saw near one of the entrances. Although it’ll be hard, I’ll try and get some sleep tonight. It isn’t wise to continue to operate on two hours of partial sleep.
“Hey, guys. We should try and get some sleep while we can,” the Hyūga advised. “Who knows how much further we have to walk before we reach our destination.”
“Yes, I concur. Go ahead and set up your sleeping bags and get comfortable,” Arata advised. “We’ll head out at dawn. Good effort traveling today, we’ve made excellent time.” He paused, watching as his students jumped into action, getting out sleeping bags and unfurling them. “By the way, Kian, to answer your question... It's highly likely, judging from the state of it and the remnants of weapons lying around, that this factory dates back around a century. Lord Seventh’s son defeated an existential threat that was poised to wipe out the entire shinobi world. In the process, much of the technology of that era was lost to us, as were the lives of many shinobi and civilians. Seems likely that this factory was abandoned in the aftermath of that cataclysm and forgotten entirely.”
Kian slid his sandals off, pulled his poncho over his head, set it aside, and climbed into his sleeping bag, grateful that it was long enough for him to use the excess length as a makeshift pillow. Yawning, the raven-haired boy stretched out and replied, “Lord Seventh’s son must have really been powerful, then, to save the shinobi world. I wanna be strong like that one day.” Part of him wanted that power to be able to protect the village and the people he cared for, but part of him wanted it to use against his uncle. One couldn’t enforce justice without power, after all. The weak never got justice, because they could not exact it themselves, and thus were always at the mercy of the fleeting whims of the strong.
“A threat strong enough to wipe out the entire shinobi world…” Hikari struggled to wrap her mind around the idea of it. The shinobi world was so vast — how could any single person or organization have that kind of power? “I wonder what happened to all of them.”
Minegumo shrugged. “Maybe they died off, or got sealed away like Kaguya.”
Or perhaps they were still around to this very day, hiding and biding their time so they could strike back. Perhaps this factor was one of their strongholds. That thought was more than a little disconcerting, and he found himself frowning at the idea. A frown that was mirrored on Hikari’s face, as if she too had the same thought as him.
Pressing his lips together, Minegumo gave the area another look around before allowing his senses to deactivate. He was starting to hate this place already. Moving near Kian, he pulled off his boots and unfurled his sleeping bag.
“You can sleep between Ki and I, Hikari,” said Minegumo, patting the space between them.
Hikari nodded. “Thanks.”
Moving to the open space, she took off her sandals and proceeded to take out her own sleeping bag. Once it was laid out, she took the time to release her hair from its bun and instead tie it into a tight braid before crawling in.
Chikara scoffed at the idea of Minegumo offering Hikari a place to sleep and not him as well, despite the fact that he had already found a somewhat comfortable spot to rest. He didn’t notice how much anger he felt towards Minegumo’s passive aggressive attitude at first, but it became obvious due to his Byakugan reacting to his emotions. Thankfully, where he was resting didn’t have much light for the others to notice his momentary evil glare. He closed his eyes and slowly inhaled and exhaled, trying to calm his nerves. It seemed to work, as his vision gradually returned to its normal state. It’s no use getting upset over his lack of friendliness, he just needs time to adjust…we all do, he thought as he turned his back towards them, folding his arms; he didn’t bother using a sleeping bag.
Watching as the four Genin began to fall asleep, Arata quietly exited the building and leapt gracefully up to the roof. It was the best vantage point from which to keep watch, and his clones would supplement his own range of vision. Nothing would escape the notice of either himself or the shadow clones; they would be safe throughout the night. Arata wasn’t particularly tired. You learn how to go without sleep once you’ve been on the front lines of a war, he thought. Hopefully, these kids won’t have to experience that kind of hell. That was the whole point of waging war, wasn’t it, so that the younger generations could grow up in peace? Still, some instinct in him told him that it was not to be. Arata couldn’t explain it, but he could feel that his students were important, more important than they could possibly understand at their age. In the back of his mind, he thought about what kind of mentor he wanted to be to them as the rain lashed mercilessly and the wind screamed relentlessly.
Perhaps it wouldn’t have been an exaggeration if he said that he thought the fate of the shinobi world would depend on how he guided his students. More than anything, he needed to instill kindness, respect, and discipline in them. That would be more important than any technique he could have taught them. Arata paced all over the rooftop, silent as a shadow, and almost as invisible as one as he maintained his vigil throughout the night, lost in thought but sharp as ever.
The Land Where A Hero Was Born[]
Sunlight invaded the factory in welcoming pale, golden streaks through the filthy windows. One such beam of light was directly in Kian’s face, and he sat up, groaning and rubbing his eyes. Daylight…? Arata-sensei must have let us sleep in. Well, I’m not complaining, he’s a maniac about travel, wanting to do a three day trip in two days… Getting to his feet stiffly and stretching, Kian pulled his sandals back on and, after deliberating for a moment, threw his poncho back over his lean frame. It would’ve been more of a pain to carry it, and he didn’t feel like just shoving it into his bag. Yawning, he cracked his neck to release some of the tension in the muscles and joints.
The storm had passed.
With the advantage of natural light, Kian’s eyes once again drank in their surroundings, and for the first time, he fully appreciated how run-down the place was. It was almost depressing, seeing the rust corroding away the machinery, the thick layers of dust and grime.. Guess everything decays in the end, even the machines. Looking back over his shoulder, he noticed that while Minegumo and Hikari were still passed out, their newest teammate was wide awake, lying there and staring up at the ceiling, seemingly lost in his thoughts. Kian frowned, noticing that Chikara hadn’t even bothered with a sleeping bag, and had just slept directly on the floor. He internally cringed as he thought about how uncomfortable that must’ve been; it was a wonder if Chikara had gotten any rest at all like that. Maybe he’d just packed up early…?
“Dude, you didn’t wanna be more comfortable?” he inquired casually, a hint of genuine concern belying his tone. At the sound of his voice, Minegumo and Hikari both seemed to stir, Minegumo’s loud, irritable sighs almost reverberating off the walls. Mine’s such a freakin’ peach in the mornings…
“Huh?” Hearing Kian’s voice snapped him out of his uninteresting lucid dream. He hadn’t noticed Kian waking up until now. Chikara let out a soft but mighty yawn before getting up off the ground, wiping away the dirt and dust from behind his arms and legs. “Oh, you mean my sleep situation. Eh, I didn’t mind it much since I didn’t really sleep that much. I know Master Arata was patrolling the perimeter outside, but I don’t know, I felt compelled to explore this place further and watch over you guys. Surprisingly, Minegumo is so much nicer when he sleeps, heh.”
“Someone better be dying,” Minegumo grumbled as he sat up. Stretching, he winced, then sighed as one of his joints popped. “…I forgot how uncomfortable it is to sleep on the floor.”
There was another yawn as Hikari also roused awake, wiping the sleep from her eyes. She looked around, confusion clear on her face, before understanding dawned on her as the memories of last night came back.
“Did we sleep through the storm?” she asked, releasing another yawn.
Minegumo nodded. “Looks like it.”
He groaned, loud enough that it seemed to echo through the whole factory, before he got out of his sleeping bag. Reaching into the bag with his belongings, he got out his brush, running it through his hair as he looked around. With the light from the sun filtering through the windows and cracks in the wall, he could see the entirety of the factory, and the current state of all of the equipment and machinery.
“It’s even worse than I thought it was,” Minegumo said aloud. “I’m surprised that we didn’t get tetanus just from sleeping here.”
Hikari nodded. “It’s so run down…”
Pulling his hair back in its regular ponytail, Minegumo wrapped his jacket around his waist. Looking around again, he realized that there was someone missing from their group.
“Has anyone seen Arata-sensei?”
He phrased the question not only to Kian and Hikari, but to the outsider as well. It would be stupid to exclude him if he knew something.
Remembering something, Chikara walked over to Kian. Digging around in his puffy, curly afro, he pulled out several extremely rusty ninja tools he found while exploring the derelict factory. “Hey, look at what I found while I was searching around. I wonder how old these tools are, they are extremely rusty. It’s kind of fascinating to be honest, especially since these kunai are not traditionally designed. Maybe we can somewhat restore them? Anyway, Master Arata was here earlier, but he stepped out for some fresh air while you all continued to sleep.”
The Uchiha shot Minegumo a look that clearly said do not pick a fight, or I will knock you around, then picked up one of the tools Chikara presented to him, turning it over and his hand, studying it. “Hm, it’s a lot more balanced than a traditional kunai, that’s for sure. It’s perfect, it was probably excellently crafted back before this place started to rot from the inside out.” Kian handed the blade back to Chikara, a thoughtful expression on his face. “You know, I bet one of the analysis units back in the village can use the rust to more specifically date these. Not sure what good it’ll do, but it might be interesting, at least.” Hm. If Arata-sensei was out and about, he supposed they wouldn’t be lingering much longer, now that they were all awake. Before Kian could open his mouth to suggest going outside, however, the Jōnin himself appeared.
Arata was glad to see that all four Genin were awake and on their feet. It saved him the work of waking them up himself. He’d deliberately chosen to let them rest a bit longer than he’d originally planned on; the storm had started letting up around dawn, and he’d figured there was no point in waking them to trudge through the remnants of the rain when he could just let them sleep and wait for the sun to start shining. Now they’d be fully rested and capable of more strenuous travel, and they could keep up the same pace from yesterday. “Good, you’re all awake. Let’s head out, then,” he said briskly, stretching. “It’s not much further from the Land of Waves. If we can move like we did yesterday, we should make it by nightfall, and we can rest on the ferry ride over to the continent south of us.” As quickly as he’d entered it, Arata swept from the factory, his students in tow.
--- Twelve hours later, Team Thirteen finally touched down in the Land of Waves. The sun had set, the sky bleeding with the dying embers of the day, and the deep blue hues of nightfall coming to replace the scenery. It had been a long day, filled with nothing but nonstop movement as Team Thirteen made their trek through the Land of Fire. By the time they’d finally crossed over, each of them were breathing deeply, with sweat running down their brows.
The breaks had been few and far between, resting only to eat, drink, or use the restroom. As a result, while they’d managed to cut a full day from their journey, the four Genin were bone tired and ready to stop. Sarutobi Arata was a tough teacher who demanded nothing but the best of his students, and that included the time it took to travel during C-ranks.
Yet, for all their exhaustion, there was a sense of pride among them. Their heads were held high, and smiles were on each of their faces.
“So this is the Land of Waves,” Hikari mused aloud as they walked through the town. “I thought it would be…”
“Smaller?” Minegumo offered. His eyes roved over the buildings and billboards in the town, gaze obviously detached. “Quaint?”
She shrugged, hands shoved into her pockets. “I guess.”
Chikara nodded to himself as he took in his surroundings before turning to Arata and the others, “So, where do we go from here? I just got my second wind, so I’m ready to keep traveling whenever you are. I have some extra protein bars, if any of you want any?”
Kian couldn’t help but like it there as he strode alongside his teammates quietly, observing and taking in all the sights and sounds. It felt peaceful, and in a way, it reminded him of home. By far the best part of the day, however, had been crossing the Great Naruto Bridge. Konoha children grew up hearing the grand, inspiring tale of the Seventh Hokage and his comrades and their defeat of the powerful Momochi Zabuza. For a young Konoha ninja, this was almost like hallowed ground.
“You don’t mind? I’m kinda hungry,” the Uchiha confessed, taking one of the proffered protein bars and unwrapping it. He took a bite, chewing thoughtfully. “I think we’re supposed to catch a ferry from here, by the way.” Kian pondered something for a moment, deciding whether or not he felt like asking. “Hey, Arata-sensei… Didn’t my ancestor Sasuke first awaken his Sharingan here in the Land of Waves?”
“Yes, he did, as a matter of fact. The story goes that he awakened it protecting Lord Seventh.”
Arata thought he understood why Kian was asking. The boy had yet to acquire the Uchiha clan’s legendary dōjutsu, and he figured that Kian was growing a bit impatient. Choosing his words carefully, he said, “Your father didn’t awaken his Sharingan until he was eleven, you know. Everyone grows at their own pace, but you are his son. No doubt that when you do obtain the Sharingan, your eyes will be powerful like his.” He was being completely truthful. Arata had faith that the full power of the Uchiha ran through Kian’s veins, just waiting to be stirred. Seto had spoken highly of the boy in his letters and had believed wholeheartedly in his potential. Out of respect for his friend’s memory, he would believe in Kian, as well.
“And it was also here that Lord Seventh first came into his abilities as a Jinchūriki, wasn’t it?” Hikari asked. Her expression was thoughtful, and she had a faraway look in her eyes. “I wonder what it must have been like for them, to be pushed so far to the edge.”
Minegumo nodded. Having been raised on the adventures of the legendary Seventh Hokage and his friends, he couldn’t help but compare himself to them. Although he did a good job of keeping it to himself, the fact of the matter was that Kian wasn’t the only one anxious about his heritage. Like his best friend, Minegumo too was impatient about his growth and development. While he’d been fortunate enough to have manifested his unique bloodline at an early age, Minegumo had still only scratched the surface of his abilities. He hadn’t even made contact with his Ido yet, and that upset him more than he liked to admit.
“I bet it would have been epic,” he said. “Lord Seventh was legendary for being fearless — he’d never back down, no matter what.”
Hikari gave a nod. “Do you think we’ll ever be that good?”
“We’re already that good, Hikari,” Minegumo said. It wasn’t a complete boast, either. “It’s just a matter of when we’ll get to show it.”
Chikara thought about everything that his comrades were saying about the history of the bridge that they had crossed to get to this land. During his days in the academy, he’d never heard of this particular story; this made sense since Kumogakure typically encouraged sharing information about their own history, not other villages’. Had he not taken the initiative outside of school, he wouldn’t have known about the Fifth Hokage’s connection to Shikkotsu Forest. Of course, he’d heard that the Seventh Hokage was a powerful and influential Jinchūriki. Speaking of Jinchūriki, he knew a lot about them, considering that Kumogakure was in possession of the Two-Tails and Eight-Tails. His mother was currently part of an experimental program called the Tailed Beast Corps. Not much was known about it, other than that it was created sometime before the end of the previous Raikage’s tenure. Apparently only six members from the Black Panthers were strong enough to join the program. Once inducted into the program, it was mutually agreed that the Eight-Tails’ chakra would be sealed within each member, making them pseudo-Jinchūriki.
Listening to Minegumo and Hikari talk made him think about his family back home. Fearlessness and courage was something that the Hyūga Family passionately taught, they were expected to embody the spirit of the Komainu. Although he has never seen his parents fight, there was no doubt in his mind that they were highly capable shinobi. Tracing his fingers along the railing of the bridge as he was still engrossed in his own thoughts, he continued listening to the conversations around him.
Minegumo’s confidence in the three of them is kind of interesting and endearing. I know better than to think that I could hold a candle to my parents. To be honest… I’ve never actually been in real life or death combat before. In the academy, I’d always give up during the various sparring matches that I was forced to participate in. I mean, of course I never made it obvious that I threw the fights, deep down I knew that I was more than capable of handling myself against the other kids, but I always hated the idea of senseless violence. My mom constantly expressed her thoughts on how this abnormal mindset held me back from my true potential. ...I guess she’s right. Typical. That last bit caused him to slightly chuckle as he watched a colony of seagulls fly above him.
--- Once they reached the docks, the team boarded one of the ferries that would take them south. From his comfortable seat on the ship, Kian reflected on everything he’d seen while they’d passed through the Land of Waves. Pulling his poncho’s hood over his head, the Uchiha yawned and leaned against the window he was seated next to, staring out of it blankly, watching as the moonlight danced gently atop the surface of the water, moving elegantly with the rippling waves. He remembered reading that before the construction of the Great Naruto Bridge, it had been a desperately poor, crime-ridden, isolated nation with little hope for the future. When the bridge was finished, it brought hope and prosperity to the island country, as well as greater international fame. The Land of Waves was now a thriving, vibrant port, an epicenter of trade and cultural exchange. Visitors from different continents all over the world came there, and it showed. Kian had seen many different people of all backgrounds and ethnicities as they’d made their way through, and all kinds of colorful foods and crafts being sold along the sides of the roads. A variety of music had filled the streets, and all in all, it was an absolutely enthralling experience that had engaged all five of his senses quite thoroughly. It was beautiful there, truly. He was almost sorry to leave the place behind, and they’d only been there briefly.
He had observed, however, that there was also another side to the Land of Waves. Despite its economic stability and growth, there was still a hint of danger lurking just beneath the veneer of bright, colorful multiculturalism. There’d been a number of shady characters that he’d noticed on their walk. One of them had been a pale, irritable-looking young blonde man, whose face had been marred by distinctive pock marks, that he’d noticed while passing an alleyway. The man had handed something small and out of sight to a teenager who'd looked like a local; the teen had immediately slunk off and vanished. Kian had been pretty sure that what he’d seen happen was a drug deal. It wasn’t unheard of for tourist destinations and ports to have a thriving drug trade, so he wouldn’t have been surprised if that was exactly what had gone down.
On top of that, as they’d passed what had clearly been a gross, shady bar full of disreputable individuals, a real hive of scum and villainy, a massive brawl had spilled out into the streets. While he and his teammates had reacted quickly to break it up (Kian still refused to be sorry for breaking the nose of one man who had punched him in the jaw), he’d been rather amused at how early the nightlife seemed to start in the Land of Waves. It was like the inhabitants and travelers had nothing better to do than start drinking by sundown and cause a scene. Nobody had even been phased, really. Not the bar patrons, not the bartending staff, not the people passing by who had absolutely nothing to do with the fight. It was simply accepted as another typical night.
Ports and tourist hotspots were also generally safe havens for criminals of all kinds. With the volume of visitors that places like the Land of Waves had to deal with, it was easy for scoundrels and people on the run to simply blend in, lose themselves in the crowds. Kian sort of liked the roguish atmosphere, if he were honest. It was an interesting change of pace from the disciplined, honor-bound life of ninja, and it was very different from home. Konoha was great, but as it was a shinobi village (and a major one at that), tourists knew not to make trouble, and the residents were very hard-nosed, clean-cut, and no-nonsense, just like the shinobi who protected them. Kian continued to stare out of the window, thinking that he might’ve actually enjoyed a seafaring life if he hadn’t become a shinobi.
So far, it was smooth sailing.
Kian brought his knees up to his chest, hugging them.
“We’ll be making landfall in the morning, right?” he asked, eyes still fixed on the water.
Hikari gave a shrug from her position in their cabin. She sat in a corner, knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around her midsection as they made their journey on the sea. She was feeling lightheaded, unbalanced and reeling, as if she were being dangled and whipped around while upside-down. It was causing an odd sensation in the pit of her stomach, a weird heaviness like a lump.
All at once, it was just too much. The lump in her throat intensified and tears beaded in her eyes.
“Hikari!”
Her teammates spoke as one, and then moved as one, each coming to sit with her as she began crying.
“I’m sorry,” she said, as one of them, Kian, wrapped an arm around her. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” Chikara rubbed circles into her back, waving away her explanations.
“There’s nothing ‘wrong’ with you, Hikari.” Arata’s voice was gentle as he made his way to Genin. “This is a completely normal thing.” Nodding to Kian and Chikara, he picked her up, slowly and carefully taking her into his arms, before transferring her to lie down on one of the mattresses in the cabin.
“What happened?” Minegumo demanded. “Is she going to be okay?”
“Hikari will be fine,” he answered. “In fact, she’ll be okay as soon as we dock and get off.”
“Isn’t there anything we can do for her until then?” Minegumo couldn’t help but ask. “She looks so…” he trailed off, the concern for his teammate killing his words.
Arata sighed. “Unless you have a miracle cure for her motion sickness, then I’m afraid not.”
Minegumo clicked his tongue, visibly upset at the answer. However, his expression cleared almost immediately.
“I do have something!” he said. Looking at Kian, he quickly began speaking. “Remember when we were younger and my moms would let us have candy on the nights that I would spend the night at your place? And how Seto would sometimes, uh...persuade us into going to bed while we were still wide awake?” Turning his gaze back to Arata, he continued. “I can do that for Hikari!”
Arata pursed his lips, thinking it over. On the one hand, Minegumo’s genjutsu talent was certainly sufficient enough to safely put Hikari to sleep; on the other, however… He was concerned about the boy accidentally overdoing it, and Hikari being out for far longer than intended. Worst case scenario, he supposed he could free her from the genjutsu. “Alright, if Hikari is comfortable with it, you have permission,” he decided.
That was all Minegumo needed. Dashing over to Hikari’s bed, he carefully laid a hand on her arm.
“Hikari?” Minegumo asked, voice soft. “Did you hear what Master Arata and I were talking about?” He paused, waiting for her response. After she gave a nod, he pressed on. “I can put you under, okay? Make you feel better. But only if you’re okay with it…are you?”
For a moment, there was nothing. Hikari’s eyes were forced shut and she was unmoving, quiet except for the small whimpers and cries she let out.
“Kari…”
“Okay,” she said. “I’m okay with it.”
He breathed out, giving her a tight smile, before turning around to give Arata a thumbs up. Turning back around, Minegumo closed his eyes in concentration as he summoned his chakra to him. Directing it to his throat and vocal cords, he allowed them to open.
“Hikari,” his voice was calm and clear, seemingly echoing in the space of the cabin. “You’re okay.”
“I’m okay?” She repeated back. Her brow was furrowed with bemusement as she attempted to process his words. “Why am I okay?”
“Yes.” he focused another portion of his chakra into the hand that he had on her shoulder. “You’re okay, Hikari. You’re okay because you feel fine.”
His eyes bore into hers and his words seemed to echo again, as the air rippled and wavered.
Hikari’s eyes went glossy and unfocused, and the smell of saltwater was replaced with that of citrus as she found herself in the middle of a grove filled with lemon and orange trees.
She blinked. “What in the world…?”
“Kari.”
She jumped, surprised as Minegumo appeared right behind her. He was smiling gently, and she was surprised to realize that he was holding her hand.
“I…” Hikari’s brow furrowed, a strange tingling in the back of her mind going off. Yet, it wasn’t hurried or anxious, but simply there. Like she knew what was going on and had forgotten something, but for once she wasn’t worried about it.
“You’re tired now, Hikari,” Mine said. “Aren’t you?”
She nodded slowly. “I am. I’m tired.”
“You are. So go to sleep, okay, Hikari? Go to sleep, and rest up until we wake you. Can you do that for me?” Another nod, and he smiled. “Good. Go ahead and rest up now.”
Blue eyes fluttered as Hikari gave a stretch and yawned as the tiredness she was feeling intensified. “Goodnight, Mine.”
“‘Night, Kari.”
Then her eyes closed shut, and she knew no more.
Back in the real world, Minegumo breathed out. Removing his hand from Hikari’s shoulder, he got to his feet, only to wobble as a sudden dizziness washed over him, momentarily disorienting him. Arata was at his side in a flash, catching Minegumo by the shoulders.
“I’m fine, Master Arata,” Minegumo said. “It’s just the first time I’ve cast an illusion under these circumstances.”
Saying that, he pulled away, slowly, before sitting on the edge of Hikari’s bed. Yawning, he leaned back, resting his head on her legs. “She was feeling worse than I’d thought.”
Kian returned to his spot by the window, feeling reassured now that it seemed Hikari would be fine. Over the last couple months, he’d grown to really care about her, and even he couldn’t deny that he enjoyed her company. He imagined that as an orphanage kid, she’d felt quite a lot of trepidation, being assigned to their team. After all, both he and Minegumo were heirs to powerful clans. Well, not exactly, he supposed.
His birthright had been snatched from him. I will take it back, he thought bitterly, and get justice for dad, even if it kills me. It did feel a bit different, though, having an additional teammate. Biting his lip thoughtfully, he decided to try and make Chikara feel a bit more welcome. “So, tell me, Chikara…” violet eyes flickered over to the dark-skinned Hyūga, who was looking rather relieved that Hikari’s situation had been resolved. “How did a branch of the Hyūga clan end up in Kumogakure, anyway?”
“Hmm,” he pondered as he placed his left hand under his chin. He wasn’t totally sure on all the details, but he remembered that on his fifth birthday his dad told him the story. “Sorry, I had to think about it for a second. My dad told me the story when I was five, but uh… If I remember correctly, two years after the fourth war, a Hyūga from the main branch named Tokuma ended up moving to Kumo. The reason was because he met a beautiful Kumo-nin while fighting in the war, and I guess over the course of those two years they ended up loving each other very much.”
Chikara paused, thinking. “...Funny, I acted as though I didn’t remember the origin story, but as I tell it to you, everything is sort of coming back to me. Anyway, my dad told me that the clan leader at the time hated the idea of a Hyūga moving to Kumogakure, since in the past, the village tried several times to steal the Byakugan. But after some time passed, he realized how pure their love was, and he ultimately gave his blessing. Since then, the Hyūga family grew into a small powerful group of nintaijutsu users. My dad even said that Tokuma possessed the strongest Byakugan of his time, which we supposedly inherited. Sorry, I didn’t mean to talk so much. ...Interestingly enough, I don’t know anything about the Uchiha clan.”
Kian listened to Chikara’s tale with great interest, and was pleasantly surprised when the boy seemed to express interest in the Uchiha clan. “Well, where to begin…” His gaze once again was directed out through the window, watching the waves. “The Uchiha’s history really begins back in the days of the old clan wars. Our clan was considered the most powerful, made up of elite warriors with the most coveted dōjutsu ever, aside from the Byakugan. I’m talking about the Sharingan, of course. During those days, our only rival was the Senju clan. Eventually, the two clans and their allies came to a peace agreement, creating Konohagakure, the first and oldest shinobi village.”
Running a hand through his hair, which was obscured by his hood, Kian considered his words for a moment, collecting his thoughts. “For a long time, the Uchiha were some of the village’s most loyal, dedicated protectors. We even ran the police force. Sadly, the relationship between Konoha and the Uchiha deteriorated for multiple reasons, especially when the Nine-Tails attacked, resulting in the Fourth Hokage’s death. The Uchiha were blamed, since the Sharingan is capable of manipulating the Bijū. Out of anger, the Uchiha plotted to take over the village, and the clan was brutally massacred. Uchiha Sasuke, the sole survivor, became an international criminal but eventually changed his ways and was responsible for the revival of the clan. Nowadays, we’re not quite at the heights of our old glory, but the clan is starting to really thrive again. We’re known for our Sharingan, obviously, and our mastery of fire and lightning.”
From his position on Hikari’s legs, Minegumo listened to the conversation between Kian and...him. He already knew the history of the Uchiha, both as someone who grew up in the village and as someone privileged enough to have grown up with the Uchiha heir as a best friend. The story of the Hyūga in Kumogakure was more unexpected. He’d assumed that Kumo had finally managed to kidnap a Konoha Hyūga. Good to know that that wasn’t the case, and Kumo hadn’t crossed lines and sent Chikara is a veiled insult.
Well, that second part was still up for debate.
Breathing out, he chose to close his eyes and tune out their talk — it had nothing to do with him, after all.
Changing positions so that he could watch his teammate speak so passionately about his clan’s history, Chikara’s grassy eyes filled with so much excitement and curiosity. “Wow, Kian… your clan’s origin sounded way more interesting than mine. The Uchiha clan sounds really cool, though! Maybe one day I can meet some of them? I bet they’d have so many cool stories to share…”
He paused for a minute, thinking more about his clan in Konohagakure. “Y’know… I really wish I knew more about the Hyūga clan in Konoha. I bet they’d have so many cool historical stories to share. My dad always said that our Konoha cousins always looked down on us. He said that most of the main branch still hated the idea of my third-great grandfather relocating despite Hiashi overcoming his hatred, they felt betrayed and abandoned… But enough of me and my boring clan stuff, what about you, Minegumo?”
For now, I’ll spare Kian from hearing about my mother’s clan. I’m surprised he’s listened this long, to be honest. Now let’s see if Minegumo wants to share something, probably not, though. Doesn’t hurt to try, I guess.
For a moment, Minegumo debated joining in on the conversation. On one hand, he was always up to talk to Kian, about anything. On the other hand, he was also a part of it, and Minegumo wanted to keep their interactions to a minimum. In the end, it came down to which was stronger: his friendship with Kian, or the disdain he had for the transferring Kumo-nin.
As if it were even a competition.
“It’s hard to say where my clan’s story begins,” Minegumo answered. “According to legend, my ancestors were priests and priestesses who were beloved by a god. Through their worship, they gained the ability to walk through dreams and the heavens…supposedly, anyways.” He paused for a moment before continuing. “Another legend states that the first Kurama was the offspring of a demon, and the blood of his inhuman father flows through our veins.”
There was an undercurrent of humor in his voice as he told the second part. Truthfully, Minegumo had never put much stock into the tales and legends passed down through the clan. Not really anyways.
“If you mean our beginnings in the hidden village era…” Minegumo’s brow furrowed. “My clan actually wasn’t originally from Konoha. Back in the Warring States Era, we were well-known for our genjutsu prowess…and our unique Kekkei Genkai. Every few generations or so, someone in our clan inherits our genjutsu talent in its entirety and is able to cast illusions that are overwhelming, powerful enough to overtake even dōjutsu without need for training…powerful enough that they can kill.”
He shook his head. “Anyway, the head at the time of the Warring States was Kurama Abe, who was approached by Lord First to join Konoha. However, they declined, as they saw it as a power play between the Senju and the Uchiha. Instead, Abe allied the Kurama with the Uzumaki and helped found Uzushiogakure. When Uzushio fell, the Kurama escaped a complete culling by running to Konoha and becoming one of the village’s clans. However, our low numbers and the lack of skilled shinobi being produced caused us to lose our noble status. It was my great-grandmother, Kurama Amaguno, who restored our glory, and she did it without inheriting our bloodline, too.” Minegumo paused to take a breath and recall if there was more to the story.
“And that’s the tale of the Kurama clan,” he finished.
“You’ve met one other Uchiha already,” Kian replied to Chikara, once Minegumo’s story was over. “Tatsuo, who’s like my older brother. He was the police officer that was walking with you and Master Arata when you first met the rest of us. Maybe when she’s not busy, I can introduce you to Reina, his sister. I’m...not on particularly good terms with most of the rest of the clan.” Unfortunately, he wasn’t exaggerating. The rest of the Uchiha tended to keep him at arm’s length, out of fear of reprisal from his uncle. His uncle went out of his way to alienate Kian from the clan, which, in some ways, gave Kian a grotesque sense of satisfaction. It meant that his uncle was scared of him and what he could grow up to be, and thought it was necessary to isolate him to prevent him from becoming an even bigger threat. Minegumo’s tale shook him from his thoughts, and he listened intently, despite having heard the story many times. It never got any less interesting to him, honestly.
Arata listened as Kian, Minegumo, and Chikara swapped stories, politely interested in what they had to say. He knew all about the Uchiha clan, of course. Like Minegumo, his best friend had been not just any Uchiha, but the one in line to take over the clan. Seto had taught him much about the Uchiha, their history, and their customs. Glancing up at the clock on the wall, he realized how late it was starting to get. They’d had quite a long day of traveling and navigating through the relative chaos of the Land of Waves, and each of them would need to rest. “Alright,” he said lightly, “it’s probably time for us all to get to bed. We won’t have much further to travel once we make landfall, so we’ll be reaching Shikkotsu Forest relatively early tomorrow.”
None of the kids put up an argument, and they scurried about, getting ready for bed and then claiming bunks to sleep in. Once they were situated and lying down, Arata turned the lights out and flopped down on the small couch in the cabin. It was comfortable enough, and soon, he himself fell asleep, listening to the snores and breathing of his students, much to his chagrin.
Breath of the Wild: The Forest’s Beauty[]
Morning had come and gone, and the team had traveled through unfamiliar territory for half of the day. At times, Kian had been unsure if they even knew where they were going, but Master Arata had seemed confident, so he simply kept moving and didn’t question it. He had to admit, this southern continent had a certain rustic, natural beauty to it. In a lot of ways, it was familiar, resembling the Land of Fire. Forest land was all around them, along with everything that entailed: plenty of lush, colorful flora, animals, rushing creeks and whispering brooks. Minegumo had essentially been right, though; there wasn’t anything too unique about their surroundings, but he admired them, nonetheless. Finally, as they headed deeper and deeper into the trees, mist began to swirl around them.
This forest was nothing like any other Kian had seen before.
Peering through the mist, his eyes adjusted and he realized that many of the plants surrounding them here were bioluminescent, giving off wondrous light in a variety of colors. He saw no typical forest creatures anymore, and instead, he noticed oversized slugs here and there, seemingly going about their business. There could be no doubt that this was the Shikkotsu Forest. A breathtaking, luminous butterfly flew right in front of him, then circled around his head. Curiously, Kian held out his palm, and the butterfly landed on it. Even the creatures of this forest are different… It really feels like this place is alive, more so than any other forest I’ve ever been in. Maybe what I’m feeling is natural energy? His arm and neck hairs were standing on end, and he could feel energy pulsing through the area, slowly and rhythmically, as if the forest itself was breathing. Kian felt connected to nature here, and he understood for the first time why sages were so powerful. Nature’s strength made the strength of mankind look infantile.
“Unbelievable… This place is amazing,” the Uchiha exhaled softly, his jewel-like black eyes eagerly drinking in the sights.
“It really is,” Hikari breathed out. If there was one word to describe how she was feeling, it was ‘awe,’ plain and simple. “How can this be real?”
She closed her eyes, breathing in the air of the forest and taking in its essence, so strong that it could be sensed even without being a sage. Hikari felt so at peace here. Almost weightless, like everything that's ever burdened her or dragged her down was just…gone. It was almost scary, how strong the feeling was. If she didn’t know any better, she’d say it was another genjutsu.
“I take back what I said,” Minegumo announced. “This place is nothing like any other forest in the world.”
It was nothing like any other place he’d ever been to, period. How could it be?
“How long are we here for, Master Arata?” he asked. “Please say a week, at least.”
“Oh, my god,” was all that Chikara could say at first. Nothing he’d read had said anything about how beautiful and enchanting this place was. Nothing could have prepared him for what he was seeing and feeling while being here. “This place… it’s quiet and peaceful here. This could be the perfect training spot for sure. These slugs are soooooo freakin’ cute, I can’t stand it. I don’t care how, but I definitely want to form a Summoning Contract with Katsuyu. Do we have to start our mission right away?”
To be honest, I don’t want to leave this place — ever!
Arata could certainly understand his students’ child-like wonder at the forest’s beauty, and to an extent, even shared in it. It was absolutely stunning beyond description, but ever the pragmatist, he didn’t allow himself to dwell on it for long. “We’ll be here for around a week, yes, making sure we gather plenty of herbs and getting an opportunity to get to know the locals. Unfortunately, we really shouldn’t dawdle; it’s okay to sight-see as we search for Lady Katsuyu, however.” He didn’t necessarily enjoy being a strict teacher, but he needed to remain consistent so that his students understood his expectations.
Fighting back a groan, Kian followed their sensei’s lead. He really doesn’t like to waste time, does he? We just got here, we wanna take it slow and really experience this place! Oh, well...guess there’s nothing else for it but to suck it up and get to work, he thought grimly. At least they were still able to keep their heads on a swivel, looking around and checking everything out as they went. He watched as a very interesting looking rabbit hopped about some distance off to his right; its fur was luminous, much like the butterflies and the plants. Everything there looked almost magical, as if from some fantastical storybook or something. This really was going to be an adventure to remember, and he was already excited to tell his father all about it when he got home.
“We understand, Master Arata,” Minegumo said, dutifully. He straightened up, tightening the grip on his bag. “The faster we finish our duties, the faster we can actually look around.”
“Exactly,” Arata replied, nodding. He had to admit, he was rather proud of Minegumo’s maturity so far on the trip. Not once had he instigated a fight with Chikara, and he seemed to be coping rather well, perhaps a sign that Minegumo would be able to tolerate the new team member, after all.
Hikari nodded. “Let’s get going.”
Chikara also nodded in agreement. “Master Arata, to cover more ground as we search for Lady Katsuyu, I can use my Byakugan to see if I can pinpoint her location, you know, to point us in the right direction. In my clan, I happen to have the second farthest line of sight. If I remember correctly, I’m easily able to see three miles away. She shouldn’t be too hard to locate.”
As they continued to walk, the Genin’s eyes suddenly released a burst of chakra as his blood flow rapidly increased. Clearly visible veins stretched intimidatingly across his temples. He constantly swayed his head back and forth, concentrating his vision in one singular direction. Hmm, interesting. I don’t see her yet, I’m seeing other slugs but I don’t think any of them is her. I read she’s supposed to be enormous in size. Oh well, I’ll keep searching .
Pleased by Chikara’s suggestion, Arata had nodded in agreement. The Byakugan was certainly handy to have around; it was no mystery as to why the dōjutsu was so coveted. In his opinion, it was Kekkei Genkai like the Sharingan and Byakugan that made Konoha so powerful, as well as the various unique Hiden, like the Nara’s Kagemane no Jutsu or the Yamanaka’s Shintenshin no Jutsu, not just its possession of the Nine-Tails. He noticed, however, that one among their number looked less than enthusiastic about Chikara’s display of the Byakugan’s abilities.
Kian felt his mood plummet significantly as he observed the veins in his teammate’s temples begin to bulge, becoming visible. Figures, he thought miserably. The new kid’s already got a pretty good handle on his dōjutsu, but mine still hasn’t even appeared. I may not ever awaken the Sharingan, it’s not a guarantee for Uchiha like it tends to be for the Hyūga. He felt so behind, even though he knew there wasn’t much reason to. Due to the nature of how the Sharingan presented itself to an Uchiha, it wasn’t common to awaken it at a young age. Acquiring the Sharingan took time, and no matter how impatient he was, he couldn’t just speed it up. It was something that had to happen organically, not that that made him feel any better. He still felt pretty useless, being an Uchiha that couldn’t even use Sharingan.
Switching from his Byakugan’s extended visional range to momentarily allow him to properly see almost entirely himself, Chikara happened to notice Kian. He paused, no longer paying attention to searching for the slug, instead curious as to what was the cause of his sudden unenthusiastic mood. Although his parents often scolded him for abusing his ability to read people’s minds and perceive their emotions for personal gain, he couldn’t help himself. He wanted to get to know and understand his teammates better and he felt this was one of the ways that he could achieve it. Hm, I know it's an invasion of privacy, but I’m doing it for the right reasons… Right? Due to his inherent skill with it, it didn’t take him long to fully understand what caused this sudden shift in feelings. Ah, I see. So he’s feeling a bit disappointed in himself… I kind of get that. As hard as I try, I still can’t master Pink Lightning, despite everyone else around me being able to.
In that moment, he decided to walk over to his would-be friend to try and lift his spirits. “Hey…Kian. Don’t be mad, but while I was searching around for Lady Katsuyu, I kind of noticed that you were suddenly feeling down. I have this ability to, um, read people’s minds and also feel and understand their emotions, it’s kind of a unique thing that some in my family were born with through their Byakugan… Anyway, I don’t know much about the Sharingan — but you shouldn’t beat yourself up over it. I believe that when the time is right, yours will manifest and I bet it’ll be glorious. So yeah, don’t be mad that I read your mind. It’s a habit that I need to break.”
“Yeah, I’d say so.” Glowering sideways at Chikara, Kian found himself walking a bit faster, catching up with and walking alongside Hikari. He slid his hands into his pockets, trying to keep himself calm. The intrusion into his mind had been completely unwelcome, and it infuriated him.
“I guess all that’s left to do is wait, then,” Hikari said, shifting on her feet.
“So much for all-seeing white eyes.” Minegumo resisted the urge to click his tongue as he muttered under his breath. Raising his voice, he turned to his teacher. “Let me try, Master Arata,” he said. “Mama’s been teaching me to develop my sensing further.”
“Eh? That’s fine, I suppose,” Arata replied. “It can’t hurt to have multiple methods of searching at work.” He shot Minegumo a warning look, however; while the others might not have heard Minegumo’s muttering, he had, and he was in no mood to mediate between Minegumo and Chikara if an argument broke out.
Amber eyes averted as Minegumo purposefully moved his head to gaze in front of them. Closing his eyes, he summoned his chakra and allowed his senses to awaken. At the same time, he clapped his hands together, pooling his chakra to his palms as he carefully balanced out the spiritual and physical energies. A moment later, Minegumo's eyes opened as he brought his palms apart, calling upon the technique that his mother had invented.
The air around them rippled like a drop in a pool of water as a storm of butterflies appeared. Unlike the version that Mineguno had used just days ago to ensnare Sora and Dan, these butterflies were well and truly a thousand in number. The blue-white creatures immediately filled up the clearing, their intricate wing patterns seemingly glittering in the sun’s light in spite of the misty haze around them.
Without so much as a spoken command or movement of a limb, the butterflies were moving, flying into the air in a spiral-like formation, before scattering to cover the forest. The butterflies were gone for only a moment before Minegumo suddenly straightened up, his head jerking to the left.
“She’s that way.”
Hikari blinked. “That was…quick.” she said. She looked up to where the butterflies had disappeared to, and then sent Minegumo an appraising look. “I keep forgetting you’re a sensor-type as well. You never showed it off back in the academy.”
“Either way, we should head on and meet Lady Katsuyu,” Arata mused. “The quicker we find her, the quicker we get started.”
Minegumo nodded. “You’ve got it, Master.” He smiled, hands behind his head as he began walking. “It’ll take no time at all with me leading us there.”
Passing the interloper, Minegumo attempted to resist digging at the other boy, he really did, but he just couldn’t help himself.
“If you want, Chikara...” Minegumo began, using his name for the first time since they’d met, “I can give you some pointers on tracking when we go back to the village. You seem to be new to the field.” Well aware of Arata’s eyes upon him, he made sure his voice was completely innocent as he spoke, even going as far as to place an illusion for extra sincerity.
“ENOUGH!” Chikara screamed, grabbing Minegumo’s arm. “Are you kidding me right now? Do you hate me so much that you had to go through with this pathetic attempt to out-do me with your little butterfly parlor trick? Out of respect to everyone else, I tried to overlook your childish antics. I get it, Minegumo. I’m the new guy, the outsider. I get it. It hasn’t even been a week yet, and you still can’t get over yourself. Haven’t you taken a second to realize that I’m all alone here? I have no friends or family where I'm stationed. I’m literally a fish out of water, I have no clue as to what I’m doing. All I’m trying to do is be the best teammate that I can possibly be right now, and you keep making it harder and harder for me. When this is all over, I’ll ask the Hokage to place me in another team, or better yet, send me back home where I’m appreciated.”
Chikara, calm down, he thought to himself as he let go of Minegumo’s arm. He isn’t worth it. The plan is set, finish this mission and pack your bags and go home. Screw this diplomatic mission, someone else can deal with it.
“You guys go on ahead,” he said as he walked in the opposite direction from the group. “I want some air and some much needed distance.”
Good riddance.
Minegumo bit back a smile as he watched the interloper walk off. He hadn’t thought that he’d gotten to the other boy, but this was even better than he could have hoped for. He’d gotten under his skin and gotten to him so badly that a reassignment was in the future.
Job well done.
Turning on his heel, Minegumo walked back to his teammates, though not before brushing off the arm that’d been touched. There was a notable bounce in his step, a happiness that order had been restored.
“Okay, Chikara, just be sure to catch up with us soon.” Arata sighed as he watched Chikara storm off. He wasn’t thrilled with the idea of the boy wandering off on his own, frankly. One look at Minegumo’s face, however, told him that it was better this way. What a headache; Chikara really wanted a reassignment? Minegumo had really gotten to him that badly? There was nothing else for it, he supposed, then to try to smooth it all over and handle it when they returned to Konoha. Later, he would definitely have to apologize for Minegumo’s behavior.
Looking over his shoulder at Chikara, who was walking away, Kian couldn’t help but feel a bit bad, even if he was upset that the boy had read his mind without permission.
“Well, Mine, you seem proud of yourself,” he remarked curtly.
His best friend’s antics were draining sometimes, if he were honest. Kian wasn’t exactly pleased at Minegumo insisting on going out of his way to be a complete tool; he guessed Chikara had simply gotten fed up. All they could do, he supposed, was hope that the situation could be resolved. If Chikara was talking about wanting a reassignment, though...he wasn’t sure it was fixable.
“Kian has a point, Mine,” Hikari said. While she didn’t have quite the negative expression that their other teammate wore, it was still far from pleased. “That was pretty mean.”
She looked behind them, to where the fourth member of Team Thirteen had walked off. “We really shouldn’t leave him alone here.”
Minegumo scoffed. “All I did was make a single joke. It isn’t like I went out of my way to be mean to him before that,” he said, gritting his teeth. He met Kian’s gaze with his own cold look. “If you feel so bad for him then go after him, and I’ll just find Lady Katsuyu myself. Heck, I’ll even ask for the reassignment in his place!”
He stomped forward, hands clenched into fists. So what if he hadn’t opened up to the guy? They weren’t friends. They weren’t even acquaintances, and it wasn’t like Chikara was completely innocent either. The Kumo-nin wasn’t the only one whose sensing capabilities went beyond chakra. Minegumo had been aware of the disdain the boy had held for him from the very first interaction, when he’d bespelled Dan and Sora, and that was what grated on him. Minegumo never claimed to be a model citizen, but at least he was true to himself, instead of covering up his thoughts with fake smiles.
Whatever. If they wanted a fake Hyūga as a teammate so badly, then fine.
“You know what? Fine. I will, actually,” Kian replied, his tone glacial. Minegumo, it seemed, had been quick to forget the lessons they’d learned during the bell test. Kian, however, had not. Sure, it was too soon to call Chikara a friend, perhaps, but the boy was now their comrade. Friendship wasn’t a prerequisite to work together, Minegumo wasn’t wrong, but working together wasn’t possible when conflict existed. The Uchiha turned on his heel, heading back in the direction of Chikara.
“Don’t worry, Arata-sensei, we’ll catch back up.”
After a bit of backtracking, Kian came to the spot where they’d left Chikara, but something just felt off. That was when he noticed the blood. Not a lot, but it was clear that somebody had been wounded. Narrowing his eyes, Kian darted onward silently and swiftly, not daring to yell out for Chikara. He leapt up into the trees for cover, jumping from limb to limb, until he reached a riverbank.
Immediately, he halted, hiding himself behind the foliage of the tree limb. A pair of strangers in long, black cloaks and ghastly white masks were standing there by the water, and one of them had Chikara slung over his shoulder. It appeared that his teammate had been knocked unconscious. A kidnapping attempt, Kian thought at once. But why? If they just wanted his eyes, they could’ve simply killed him. They must want something more than that if they’re going to the trouble of taking Chikara alive.
He was no fool. Those two strangers, to waylay a Hyūga, even one that was only ten years old, had to be exceptional shinobi. It wasn’t likely that he could take them by himself. All he could possibly hope for was to stall them. Thinking fast, he threw a handful of shuriken at the enemies, then took off, jumping through the trees to his right. Minegumo, you better be able to sense this…! Kian built up the necessary chakra, weaved hand seals, then ran and leapt towards his targets.
“Nah, I don’t think so, eat this! Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu!”
Fireballs pelted Chikara’s kidnappers, and Kian was pleased to see that his aim was true, thanks to his speed and his shuriken diversion. He’d nailed both of them, inflicting burns. Once he landed, he immediately somersaulted onto the surface of the water, purposefully putting himself in the way of the one holding Chikara. If he tried to take off the other way, he’d hopefully run into the rest of Team Thirteen.
With blinding speed, however, the enemy simply flickered right past him and was off, before Kian could react.
“Damn it!” he spat, drawing his blade and staring down the other. It was no use trying to pursue by himself, he would never catch up. He had to do whatever it took to hold this one there, at least, to make pursuit easier for Master Arata. Please be on the way, he thought desperately.
“Pale skin, black hair, and fire ninjutsu...you must be an Uchiha. A fledgling, to be sure, but an Uchiha nonetheless,” the remaining masked man commented. His voice was high and cold, and it sent a chill down Kian’s spine.
“That’s right,” Kian replied, thinking fast, noticing the interest in his enemy’s tone. “I’m an Uchiha. I don’t know what you want with my teammate, or why you sound like you’re interested in me, too, but I won’t let you get away with this.”
Ha. Easier said than done.
And Then There Were Three[]
“Dirty, rotten traitor.”
Minegumo was seething as he walked, grumbling to himself. Words just didn’t do justice to what he was feeling. More than anger, more than frustration or irritation. It was fury, plain and simple. Kian had betrayed him, had chosen that damn Kumo transferee, and then had just...left.
So much for being best friends.
Gritting his teeth, he stomped on a stone the size of his fist, imbuing his feet with chakra as he stepped down, and breaking it down. He imagined that it was his skull he was stepping on, and ground his foot into the dirt.
God, he was so angry.
“Mine.” Hikari’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts. “Are you okay?”
He huffed. “I’m fine, Kari.” He was. Perfectly fine. Who needed friends, anyway? Shinobi were meant to be tools. What tool had friends? “Let’s just find Lady Katsuyu so we can get this over with. I’m tired of this place.”
“Your tone is uncalled for, Minegumo,” Arata spoke up, giving him a reproving look. “She’s done nothing wrong.”
The ‘unlike you’ was unsaid, but Minegumo picked up on it loud and clear, like a knife to the back. His jaw clenched, teeth grinding together as irritation welled up. However, before he could reply, with what he didn’t know, he paused as he detected a chakra spike with a familiar signature. His initial response was to roll his eyes; he was sure that it was just Kian wanting to let everyone know that he’d found his new best friend. As if Minegumo cared.
However, at nearly the same instant he felt a tingling down the back of his neck — his butterflies transmitting information to him. A hazy picture of intense heat came to him, and Kian’s chakra signature gave another flash. Danger, he realized. Kian was in trouble.
He was moving before he was fully aware of it. Turning on his heel, he dashed forward, ignoring the shouts of Arata and Hikari. There was a fluttering sound as the butterflies he’d summoned followed after him.
“Minegumo!” Arata appeared at his side with Hikari in tow. “What’s going on?”
“It’s Ki!” came the hurried response. Shaking his head, Minegumo continued. “He’s in trouble. He’s being attacked!”
--- Sweat was dripping off of Kian’s slender frame, drenching his clothes. He had to move nonstop at his top speed to be able to evade his foe’s attacks and resist likely capture. It hadn’t escaped his notice that this creep, whoever he was, wasn’t interested in dealing a killing blow. All he could do was stay moving and fight with everything he had. Kian was keeping calm, though. Even if he knew that Minegumo was likely angry at him for having gone after Chikara, he also knew that Minegumo, if he sensed it, wouldn’t ignore him being in danger.
His chest swelled as he performed hand seals, then suddenly turned around to face his opponent. Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu! Kian expelled a massive, searing fireball from his chest.
It missed, and his opponent was right behind him; Kian sliced at him with his blade, forcing the enemy back. He was once again standing on the water, but he noticed it shifting under his feet. Knowing better than to stand still, he flickered to a tree top — just in time, as a dragon made of water had lunged straight from the river, shooting like a bullet from a gun right at Kian’s attacker, hitting him full force.
That’s the Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu! Master Arata…?
Sure enough, his team came barreling out of the forest. Relief flooded him, knowing backup had arrived. He dropped down from the tree.
“Arata-sensei, the other one has Chikara! I tried to stop him, but he took Chikara and ran that way!” Kian shouted, pointing in the direction the kidnapper had fled.
“Minegumo, Hikari, you two back up Kian. It’s down to the three of you to handle this one, I’m going for Chikara. Please fight as hard as you can and I will be back for you three as quickly as I can.”
Arata was off, sprinting in the direction that Kian had indicated Chikara’s kidnapper had gone.
The two nodded, both sliding into martial arts stances as they flanked their teammate.
“Who are they?” Hikari asked, eying the stranger warily. “What’s going on?”
“Does it matter?” Minegumo asked. He was tense, arms loose at his sides, waiting for the enemy to make a move. “He’s an enemy. That’s all we need to know.”
She gave another nod. However, her gaze flicked to Kian out of the corner of her eyes. “Are you okay?”
Kian nodded, glad to have Minegumo and Hikari by his side. “Yeah, I’m fine. Better now that I’ve got you two here. Listen, this one’s just been toying with me, basically. He’s at a Jōnin level. If he wanted me dead, I would be dead, but...he has some sort of...interest in me, now that he knows I’m an Uchiha. The other one made it a point to take Chikara alive. All I can think of that Chikara and I have in common is that we’re both supposed to be capable of manifesting powerful Kekkei Genkai, so whatever it is these two want, it’s got something to do with that.”
Both Hikari and Minegumo gave him sharp looks. In their world, kidnapping children from prominent clans was all too common, with said kids fading away into cold cases.
“So they’re after powerful bloodlines,” Hikari murmured. She and Kian shared a look, both carefully not looking at the third member of their team. Her eyes narrowed, giving the stranger a more assessing look.
For his part, Minegumo outright glared, sending their enemy a look of cold loathing. “Vultures.”
Kian nodded. “If we’re smart and work together, if we fight like hell, then there’s a chance we can hold him off until Arata-sensei gets back. We’ll go with the same plan of attack from the bell test; Mine, ensnare him in genjutsu, if you can. Hikari and I will go on the offensive.” His voice was low and soft, lips barely moving as he spoke so as not to give the enemy an opportunity to overhear him or deduce what he was saying.
The raven-haired boy glanced over at his best friend, silently thanking him for mobilizing the rest of the team. You might be mad at me because I thought you went too far with Chikara, but we’re still best friends, and right now, I need you, he thought, willing Minegumo to pick up on what he was thinking.
Brandishing his tantō, Kian’s cold, violet eyes fixed upon their enemy, full of determination. No matter what, they would keep this one from going after Master Arata. For the next several moments, the clearing was silent, the three Genin watching the masked man, with their enemy in turn staring them down from behind his mask.
It was the stranger who made the first move, a simple twitch of his hand. However, that proved to be all that was needed as Minegumo suddenly stiffened.
“Move!”
The trio were gone an instant, launching from the ground just as crystals burst from the soil of the forest. Pink and wickedly sharp, they were breathtaking in their beauty, yet the danger they presented was all too clear to see. They shot out at intense speeds, so great that they were almost too great to fully dodge. As it was, Minegumo let loose a volley of tagged kunai, detonating them as they got in range of the crystals. Consequently, the resulting explosion was a conflagration filled with debris and diamond-like shrapnel that went flying every which way.
Throughout it all, the masked man simply watched on with cold eyes. As the debris storm threatened to tear through him, he simply raised a hand: causing the crystals to pause in mid-air. With a simple movement, the gem shards came together in a solid wall — a wall that only grew in size as the debris impacted it. It was just as well: at that moment, there was movement within as Hikari and Kian flickered into existence. Jumping out from the ash and dust of the explosion, the duo immediately rushed toward their opponent.
Neither of them made it very far before being impaled by spikes of crystals emanating from the ground.
“A nice tactic, to be sure,” their enemy drawled coldly. “It was unsuccessful, however.”
Hidden by the mist generated by the dispersed genjutsu constructs, the real Kian and Hikari charged, with Kian leaping towards him for an aerial attack and Hikari going for his legs. Undeterred, the masked man first kicked out, his foot but a blur as it connected hard with Hikari’s face, sending her flying backwards. Then, he drew a kunai that met — clang! — with Kian’s tantō. His physical strength was monstrous, and Kian found his blade flying backwards through the air like his teammate, landing at Minegumo’s feet. The next thing he knew, before his feet could touch the ground, a fist was embedding itself deep in his stomach. Kian doubled over, coughing up blood. For a brief second, the pain was so intense that he didn’t register being tossed quite easily into his teammates. He collided with Minegumo and Hikari, who had just gotten to her feet.
Kian was on all fours on the ground, coughing up more blood. “Fuck!” he snarled quietly. “That guy...his strength isn’t human. Not even Arata-sensei hits that hard.”
“I think he hits as hard as Mama Aki,” Minegumo said. He couldn’t be sure, but from what he’d seen, and the impact he’d felt when Kian got thrown into him, he had every reason to believe he was right.
The thought was disturbing for a number of reasons, the biggest reason being that Akigumo had made a name for herself as one the physically strongest kunoichi since Tsunade herself. Just who, or what, was this man?
Struggling to his feet, Kian brushed himself off, glaring furiously at their masked opponent. He grabbed his blade, gripping it so tightly that his knuckles paled. Being completely honest, he couldn’t see how they were going to pull this one off. Their opponent was not normal, the force of that blow had confirmed it, as well as the use of Crystal Release. As he exhaled deeply, triggering no small amount of pain, a light bulb seemed to go off in his head. Crystal Release...a rare Kekkei Genkai? Then Chikara’s Byakugan is exactly what they’re after…! No, that’s not right. What they want is Chikara in his entirety, a living Hyūga! They must be conducting experiments of some kind! His mind was racing wildly. If whoever this person was was part of some kind of group or organization, which seemed likely, considering his companion had dressed exactly like this one, then his goal was the same. That meant it wasn’t likely that he would strike to kill; at the very least, he wouldn’t kill the ‘valuable Uchiha.’
Minegumo and Hikari, on the other hand… Unless Minegumo revealed his bloodline, it wasn’t likely that he would pay much attention to either of them. Kian could focus the masked man’s attention on himself, deflecting it away from his friends. If it came down to it… He glanced quickly at them, biting his lip. If it came down to it, he’d resort to the most desperate measures to protect them. That was a promise he had no intention of reneging on.
“Let’s give it another go, shall we?” he sighed, wincing. “A different approach this time?”
Hikari groaned. “Agreed.” She got up shakily, bringing a hand to her face and grimacing at the sting she felt. She just knew she was going to be sporting a bruise.
Minegumo’s jaw clenched as he attempted to think of a plan. Right now, things weren’t looking good for them, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t make it through. If there was one thing that Konoha-nin prided themselves on, it was synergy; teamwork. In the Hidden Leaf, the rule of three was their greatest weapon. Three Genin could kill a Jōnin, three Chūnin could kill a Kage, and three Jōnin could raze a village. Their opponent was easily Jōnin-level, there was no denying it, and he obviously wasn’t a normal Jōnin at that.
But Team Thirteen weren’t the average Genin, either.
“Okay, Plan Bell was a bust,” Hikari said, straightening up. “Time for Plan Lance.”
Minegumo gave her a wary look. “Lance?” He exchanged a look with Kian, before wincing. “I hate Plan Lance! Why can’t we do Plan Sheath?” He pointed at Kian. “He’s already got his tantō out!”
“Oh, stop complaining, you baby,” Kian said grouchily. “I’m the one who just got thrown around like a rag doll.”
Blue eyes rolled before Hikari brought her hands closer together, sliding her palms over her bracelets and the hidden seal embedded within them. With a soft ‘click’ they slid off, falling to the ground and both her teammates straightened out.
“Let’s go,” she murmured.
She and Minegumo shared a look, before they flickered off, vanishing in puffs of smoke. They materialized in an instant, running in a straight line towards their opponent. Beautiful and deadly crystals once more shot out of the ground, but this time, they were ready. Minegumo rushed forward, pressed his hands into a single seal, before he dropped and put his palms on the ground. Chakra pooled into his hands, before leaving in a controlled stream that met the wave of crystals head-on.
The pulse of chakra passed through the crystals, seemingly having no effect. However, there was a loud, groan-like sound as the ground itself shook with the energy pulse. A moment later, and the crystals completely shattered, breaking down into clear, lifeless shards.
“Thanks, Mine!” Hikari called out. Without breaking stride, she pressed her feet onto Minegumo’s back and used it as a springboard, kicking off and launching herself at the masked man like a spear.
“I am not interested in you,” the stranger said coolly. Tapping his foot to the ground, he summoned a wall of crystal, intent on simply blocking her attack. However, his eyes narrowed behind his mask when Hikari twisted in the air, focusing her chakra into her foot and swinging it down.
In the span of a moment, two things happened. As Hikari made contact with the crystal dome, the color seemed to bleed out, turning from vivid pink to a dull, clear color. Then it shattered, pulverized by a concentrated shockwave that easily broke through the earthen construct. As he raises his arms in defense, Hikari grit her teeth, bringing her foot down with everything she had.
“Take this!”
The air rippled violently as the focused chakra slammed into the man, causing the ground to shake. At the same time, Minegumo left back to his feet, summoning his chakra to him as his hands pressed into a set of seals.
“Magen: Kokoni Arazu no Jutsu!”
Minegumo smiled as his illusion took effect. It wasn’t an especially powerful phantasm he was casting, but it wasn’t meant to be either. No, it was simply a distraction: with the man already dazed from Hikari’s attack, both the blow and her chakra absorption, the illusion would stun him further. Stun him, and leave him wide open for Kian to finish him off.
All at once, their enemy seemed to seize up, and Hikari broke through his defense, her foot slamming directly into his chest and launching him back. Dropping to the ground, she shouted out. “Do it, Ki!”
“With pleasure!” Seemingly out of nowhere, Kian had leapt straight towards their enemy, slinging a bright, golden arc of lightning directly at the masked man.
It looked as though the bolt was going to strike the masked man dead on, but it wasn’t to be. A wall of crystal emerged at the very last second, dispersing the lightning with ease. Kian swore under his breath, the futility of it all sinking in. Nothing they were doing was working in the face of the crystals’ resilience, on top of their foe’s exceptional strength. His defenses are so strong, those crystals are no joke. One false move, and we really will die. The boy backpedaled, falling in with his teammates. Scowling, he turned to Minegumo.
“At this rate, we’ll be lucky if we can even buy enough time for Master Arata to show up. The only way I’m going to be able to land a good strike on this guy is with an opening. Clearly, my lightning can’t pierce through those crystals, and my fire isn’t hot enough to melt them. You and Hikari are the only ones who can deal with those annoying ass, glorified rocks.”
Kian didn’t often swear, but when he was this frustrated, age-appropriate language tended to slip his mind. He’d never felt so limited, so useless in his life. During his time in the Academy, there hadn’t been a challenge he couldn’t conquer with incredible ease. Now, though, out in the field, faced with a true elite shinobi that had years of experience on him… For the first time in a while, he truly felt small and childish, insignificant, even. All it took was for the masked man’s whims to change, and all three of them would be dead. There was nothing he could do to stop it, nothing he could do to protect his friends.
He was weak, but even still, he was no coward; he would die fighting.
“I don’t think it’s just the crystals,” Hikari said, coming back to join her teammates. She was rubbing her ankle with a worried look. “Those are annoying, but they’re manageable at least. It’s the man himself that I’m worried about. I don’t think I managed to actually hurt him as much as I caught him off guard.”
“She’s right,” Minegumo said. “By now he’s got a rough estimate of what we’re capable of, and he’s only shown us…that wave of crystals, the dome shield, and how strong he is.”
He sounded calm, but truth be told, he was as worried as his teammates. It hasn’t escaped his notice that the man had been passive and reactive so far. While he didn’t say it aloud, Minegumo was worried. Worried that they wouldn’t get too many more opportunities to keep surprising the masked man.
So what to do then?
“We need to blitz him,” he said after a few moments. “Hit him hard, fast, and take him by surprise.”
“That’s easier said than done,” Hikari pointed out. “We don’t exactly have anything super strong to throw at him.”
He shook his head. “We don’t need it to be super strong. It just needs to be enough.”
Kian sighed, tossing his head and running his hands through his mane of midnight locks. “Yeah, I think you’re right, Mine. I can help with that; of all of us, my ninjutsu skills are the strongest. Hikari has excellent taijutsu skills, but with his ridiculous strength and durability, I’m not so sure it’s wise to keep beating our heads against the wall.”
Minegumo nodded. “This time, you’ll be our opener, Kari. Get his attention and press him as hard as you can, and then I’ll take over while he’s distracted. After that, Ki can be our finisher.”
He met eyes with each of his teammates, silently conveying what neither of the three were willing to say aloud: this might be their last chance to take the man down, before he got tired of entertaining them. As his gaze rested upon Kian, he quickly looked away, sending his best friend a silent apology. If Kian was right, and their opponent really was after rare bloodlines…
Well, if things didn’t work out the way they wanted, hopefully a Kekkei Genkai that typically manifested every few generations would warrant enough attention for Hikari and Kian to make an escape.
Steeling himself, Minegumo reached into his back pocket to take out a handful of smoke bombs. Throwing them down, he quickly summoned his chakra as the haze quickly overtook them, washing the trio of Genin in a wave of darkness that temporarily covered their form. Balancing the ratios of physical and spiritual energy, Minegumo smiled as he transformed his chakra to the point that it was entirely spiritual.
The smoke rippled before Hikari appeared, alongside her two teammates. Faces set with determination, they once again left in a dash, darting straight toward their opponent.
The man clicked his teeth. “Foolish,” he said. “I’ve seen this trick already.” Tapping his feet to the ground, he summoned another wave of crystals: this time in an omnidirectional circle. “At least one of you will attempt to strike me while the other distracts me…”
He trailed off as his barrage of crystals did their job and lanced straight through the illusionary clones, sending them back into nothingness. All except for one. The shimmering pink jewels bled out as Hikari neared, and she made a fist, her chakra spiking dangerously as she summoned every bit of power into her hands. Meeting the man’s eyes through his eyes, she smiled, grim and dark, before she planted her fist into the ground. The earth ruptured, fracturing into petal-like pieces as the ground was torn asunder.
The spires of crystal tumbled to the ground, falling apart lifelessly as Hikari’s attack threatened to change the very landscape they were in.
It didn’t stop there.
The ground continued to shake before flowers suddenly sprouted from the ruptured earth. Growing at a rapid pace, they grew to their final stages into the time it took to breathe, and he soon found himself in the middle of thick and rich jungle.
“Mokuton?”
He didn’t get a chance to ponder it anymore as the plant life suddenly lashed out, thick vines and roots writhing about like snakes. Sending out a pulse of chakra, it was a simple matter for him to exert his chakra over the plant constructs, encasing them within crystal and halting their movements. However, to his surprise, it didn’t hold. The vines shivered and seemed to hiss, before the layer of crystals shattered and fell to the forest floor in glittering dust. The next thing he knew, they’d wrapped around him: arms, legs, and torso, and neck. Grasping the vines, he made another attempt to crystalize them, only to frown when they suddenly grew sharp thorns, slicing into his hands like a knife through soft butter.
What is this?
As he was slowly lifted into the air, large bean pods grew, each as big as a person, opening up to reveal none other than Minegumo, eyes glowing gold with the power of his Kekkei Genkai. Making eye contact with the man, he smiled.
“Goodbye.”
In the real world, a volley of lightning spheres slammed viciously into the masked man, sending volts of electricity coursing through his body. Adrenaline flowing through him, Kian followed it up with a series of savage, crushing punches and kicks, the last kick to the solar plexus landing so hard that it actually sent the man flying back a few feet. While he was no taijutsu specialist like Hikari, he was no slouch, either. Kian was extremely fast and exceptionally agile, light on his feet, and his reaction time was impressive. He didn’t possess a lot of physical strength, but he had enough. Exhaling deeply, he flickered behind the masked man, stabbing him directly through the shoulder blade.
One arm down, he thought smugly.
Kian’s feeling of victory was not to last. As he brandished his blade, preparing to strike again, he was uppercutted and launched into the air, then kicked in the chest as he fell back to Earth. He landed some distance away, groaning audibly in pain as he got back up. Clearly, the agony of steel piercing flesh had undone the genjutsu.
“Kian!”
Hikari jumped to her feet, but no sooner had she done that than the man appeared directly behind her. Before she could so much as blink, a vicious kick to her ribs knocked her away. Curling into herself, she was slammed against the tree with a sickening crack, letting out a pain-filled shout. She fell to the ground, eyes fluttering shut as her head met the forest floor.
“Hikari…”
Then it was Minegumo’s turn, the man grabbing him by the neck and lifting him into the air. His leg was a blur of movement, as his knee buried itself in Minegumo’s midsection, hard enough that he found himself vomiting blood. The grip on his neck tightened, before the stranger whipped him back down onto the ground. With a groan, he attempted to get up, only to shout out once more when a foot slammed into his unprotected leg.
“Legs.” The man’s voice was cold and sharp, like a steel sword. “Arms. Torso. Neck. Hands.” Pressing down harder, he examined Minegumo from behind his mask. “These parts of my body were injured during your genjutsu, and they’re still wounded now. Why is that?”
“Screw…you…” Minegumo forced out between clenched teeth. Black electricity arced all over him as he sat up, attempting to punch out. However, he once again found himself crying out as a kick was sent directly to his chest. The lightning fizzled out, and all he could do was groan.
For the first time he could remember, Minegumo was well and truly terrified.
“Most of your attacks have been through genjutsu,” he continued as if Minegumo hadn’t spoken. “And the last one managed to physically hurt me despite it being an illusion. Your eyes were glowing, as well.” He removed his foot, reaching down to lift the boy into the air once more. “You don’t have the regular look, but your skill in genjutsu and that intensity in your chakra signature…you must be a Kurama.”
Minegumo didn’t answer, but his silence spoke for him.
Enraged by the treatment of his best friends and blinded by his concern for Minegumo, Kian threw a handful of shuriken at the masked man before charging him, only to have Minegumo thrown into him. In his anger, however, he reacted more quickly than normal, and he managed to sort of catch Minegumo and set him down, unable to steady him due to the momentum.
“You alright?” he asked, offering Minegumo his hand.
Taking a deep breath, Minegumo took the outstretched hand, using it to pull himself up.
“I’ll be fine,” he said, forcing himself not to pant. “Find Kari. We need to keep him away from her.”
“I’ve no interest in your friend.”
The boys started, whirling around to see that their enemy had managed to move behind them. They had just enough time to raise their arms before they were grabbed.
Banging their heads together, hard enough to make them both see stars, he threw his arms apart, launching both in opposite directions.
“I’d hoped to collect a pair of Sharingan for my master,” he continued. “We already have those with the absorption ability, including the Dark Release, and plenty of dōjutsu, but none of the three great dōjutsu. At least, none that have been strong enough.” The masked man paused, reflecting on the information he had gleaned through the battle so far.
“But you do not have your dōjutsu, little Uchiha,” he clicked his teeth. “You are unworthy of collection. Therefore, you can die here.” His palm flared with chakra, causing tiny crystals to rain from his hand as the moisture around them was drawn in and crystalized.
“Die now.”
Kian’s eyes widened. So this was it. He was going to die, right here, before accomplishing anything in his life. For a split second, he considered moving, but the crystals were moving too quickly for him to evade them. Maybe death wouldn’t be so bad. At the very least, he would be reunited with his father soon. If there was nothing he could do but embrace it, he would just prepare himself.
Minegumo’s voice rang loud and clear through the forest as his chakra flared wildly. An instant later, and he felt himself move, faster than even a Body Flicker as he switched places with Kian. As the crystals fell, he saw the stranger’s eyes widen from behind his mask, and he couldn’t help but feel smug. But that wasn’t what he was truly concerned with.
Instead, he turned his head to where Kian sat in the place Minegumo had just occupied. Eyes watering, Minegumo took a deep breath. Summoning the last of his chakra, he reached out, giving him one last apology even as he smiled.
“See ya, Ki.”
All Kian could do was sit there, eyes wide, feeling completely numb. What was happening? His eyes had to have been deceiving him, because Kian refused to believe that Minegumo was dying. The blood staining the grass belonged to some stranger, not his best friend. Maybe this was even one of Minegumo’s illusions, and he’d been ensnared as part of some plan that he hadn’t been privy to. All he knew was that Kurama Minegumo could not be dead. He couldn’t handle losing Minegumo. Kian looked down at his hands and realized that they were shaking badly. This was what shock was, he supposed. It was his first time experiencing it. When his father had passed, it hadn’t been quite the same, because Kian hadn’t witnessed it happen.
“No.”
The word escaped his lips, he was aware of forming it, but he couldn’t hear it. If he could’ve, he would’ve known that instead of the guttural scream he would’ve expected to utter in this situation, all he could manage was a whisper, faint and terrible, more terrible than a scream. Kian was vaguely aware of someone sobbing, off to his right. Hikari… Looking over at his other teammate, he registered the anguish in her expression, noted the paleness of her skin. Do I look like that, I wonder? Am I that pale, is my face frozen in fear and agony? Why aren’t I doing something? I shouldn’t just be sitting here, I should...I should...
He didn’t know what he should do anymore. Fight? Flee? What purpose did either of those options serve? If he fought, he’d die. If he tried to flee, he’d die. Maybe I don’t care if I die or not. Staying alive is pointless. I don’t want to live, not without dad, not without Mine...I don’t care anymore. Nothing matters now. Who cares if I never avenged dad, or never took over the clan? What kind of life would be waiting for me even if I did accomplish those things? I’d just be in pain for the rest of my life. Why not just let it stop?
There was the sound of boots crunching onto the diamond-crusted floor of the forest, and Hikari snapped up, feeling a hand grip her heart when the masked man began making his way towards Kian.
“Ki,” she said. “Get up. You have to get up.”
If he heard her, he showed no sign of it. Instead, he was catatonic, unresponsive to anything as he started at… the body. A fresh wave of tears came to her, and she steered her eyes away.
“Kian,” she tried again, voice more urgent. “You have to get up!”
Get up? Kian thought blankly, staring up at the masked man. Why get up? Dad and Mine are waiting for me… He heard Hikari’s words, but he now felt like he was outside of his body, simply watching and observing from elsewhere, completely dissociated. It was like he vaguely understood what Hikari was saying, and he could physically see her, but he couldn’t actually process who she was. For all the good her words did, she might have been screaming into the void.
She wasn’t reaching him. Hikari could only watch as Kian stayed unmoving, ignorant of his impending demise. Or, she thought with no small amount of horror, he’s waiting for it.
“Kian…” Hikari’s eyes clenched shut and she shook her head. “Get up, Kian!” she shouted out. “Don’t let Minegumo have died for nothing!”
Hikari’s shouts finally got through to him, and he was suddenly aware of the air he was breathing, the blood thundering through his veins, and the overwhelming pain he felt. Everything in him was waking back up at once, and he glared furiously at the masked man. No, she’s right. I don’t wanna go like this. Their foe was standing over him, going for a kunai, about to deliver the killing stroke…
CRACK.
Kian kicked out as hard as he could, just as the masked man made to plunge the kunai into his heart. Pure, unadulterated fury aided him in delivering the hardest kick of his life.
The now-unmasked man staggered backwards, letting out a shout of pain. Kian watched with satisfaction as the pieces of the mask fell away from the man’s face. His enemy turned away from him, and he seized the opportunity to slowly get up, eyes closed from the effort it took. Those earlier blows he’d taken were causing his body to ache, but he had to get up. Anger like he’d never known was surging through him like a thousand volts, energizing him.
I promised them both that I’d protect them. I promised dad that I would take over the clan he cared so much about, and I swore on his grave that I would get justice for him. I may have failed Mine, but I cannot, will not, sit back and fail Hikari, too. If this guy wants to kill me, fine, but I’m taking him with me.
Standing tall, Kian opened his eyes.
← Naruto: Kōseiden