The ground near him exploded, chunks of seared human flesh hitting the ground with a loud 'thunk' as they landed on the blood-stained ground. His arms were stiff, not bending to his command as he watched a girl with black hair slam to the ground, blood trickling down the side of her mouth as her eyes stared at him dully, glazed over, as life was yanked from her young body.
He fell through the floor, hair flying wildly above him as his feet scrambled to find the ground. A flare of white and he was standing in a dank tunnel, rats scurrying past him. A boy stood across from him, his face was one that was familiar to him. His eyes had a sense of doom, dark intentions clear in his eyes. The boy grinned at him, laughing as he stood in a puddle of blood, two decapitated bodies near his feet. He simply stared at them, before shifting his gaze onto the boy, then the bodies again.
"Where are all the children?"
Itachi's eyes shot open, red pupils spinning as he sat up, grabbing for his weapons. The fire flickered against the thin slices of wood, thin white smoke twisting as it rose into the moonlit night. Junki glanced at him, Byakugan activated as she took in his expression; pixie cut brown hair shadowed by the fire. Itachi sighed, letting his eyes fade and his body relax.
"Sorry, I'll keep watch for now," the Uchiha heir mumbled, sitting up and dropping his weapons on his makeshift sleeping bag. Too tired to respond, Junki flopped down on her blanket, chest rising and falling slowly as she feels deep into herself.
Grunting in discomfort, Itachi stretched out his legs, sore from sleeping on the damp forest floor. He gazed upwards, stars blinking back at him as a single owl swooped down, reappearing with a struggling grey mouse in its talons.
They were on their way to the large Temple, what their mission was had not yet been confirmed. All they had been told was that they were to report to the Temple, and do as Master Kaichou ordered. Supposedly, they were going to meet up with their old chuunin exams competitors there. Itachi's eyes travelled down to the fire, staring into the center of it thoughtfully. It had been almost a year and a half since he had seen any of them, of course he had seen two of the Sand trio whenever he was sent on missions near the Sand Village, and the third one, Choko, was in the Rice Country with Hibiki assisting the Feudal Lord in setting up a proper ninja village.
He had grown in the past year, his hair was longer, now much taller, and the lines in his face deeper. The fire dimmed as the wood began to slowly crumble into ash, embers drifting up and vanishing into the air.
Kenpu leaned against the metal railing, the wind whipping his hair around as the salty water splashed up and sprayed him. Members of the crew gave him odd looks as they rushed around the ship, fulfilling their usual duties. Hakuro was still in her cabin, meditating to the comforting rocking of the boat. A hand slapped him on the shoulder, and Kenpu gave his black haired cousin a small smirk.
"Hello Kiken." Kenpu acknowledged, feeling Kiken sling an arm over his shoulder.
"Well hello to you too cousin," Kiken chuckled; it never failed to amuse him how stiff his Kenpu was. "What are you doing up here by yourself, you know it's not safe for little chunnin like you to be wandering around a boat all by yourself."
"Shut up." Kenpu sighed, looking into Kiken's purple eyes. Kiken had taken the Chunnin Exams five months after his awakening, passing as the best at the exams easily. Not even three months later he had been promoted to Jonnin, raising though the ranks in record time. Even after this turn of events, Kenpu was not jealous of his friend, just grateful that he was strong enough to protect himself. Kenpu knew that he would become a Jonnin soon enough, and decided that he'd become stronger in the mean time. "I thought you were going to stay in the cabin with Hakuro."
"She kicked me out," Kiken sighed, pretending to be dejected, "Says I'm distracting." He rolled his eyes at the thought, ignoring when Kenpu scoffed at him. "Hey let's spar!" Kiken smiled, his pointed teeth flashing dangerously.
"We're on a boat idiot." Kenpu pointed out, his mismatched eyes glaring at his cousin in annoyance. Kiken's smile only grew, his spiky black hair swaying.
"I never said on the boat, moron." Kiken lept onto the railing, falling back, head first into the water. Kenpu rushed to the side, glancing down at the dark water. Standing smugly twirling a kunai around his pointer finger, Kiken stood on the water, silently challenging Kenpu with his eyes. Kenpu hesitated, before smirking, throwing himself off the boat and onto the water's surface.
"So you're the one who spent a year in the Mist, huh? What was it like" A boy with long blond hair questioned, his feet splashing loudly against the water's surface. The fist under them darted away, frightened by the foreign noise.
"It was really similar to our village, except they were all super close. Hey, Minori," Natsumi glanced at the boy on her left, slightly trailing behind her. His overly gelled hair didn't budge in the wind, pink eyes snapped to focus on her. "How much farther until we reach the island."
"We're close, maybe twenty more minutes until we hit land?" Minori predicted his eyes closed as he concentrated. Natsumi nodded, returning her attention to the blond haired boy, Sora.
"When we arrive, we have to prove that we belong here. All of these ninja are from more powerful nations; the Whirlpool is the only grade two villages invited, so we'll have to work twice as hard as everyone else." Natsumi spoke gently, her sword bouncing against her hip.
"Um, sure, I... I'll do my best." Sora stuttered, feeling a heavy weight push on his shoulders. He really couldn't screw up then, because not only would he embarrass his self and his family, but also his village. Minori caught his worrisome expression and smiled at him.
"Don't worry about messing up Sora. You were specially chosen for this mission out of seventy three others, don't forget that." Minori told him firmly, water splashing his face with each step. Natsumi glanced at the two boys, memories of the short time spent training with them surfacing. Shaking her head she stared straight forward, eyes burning. She couldn't be distracted now, they expected her to lead them, and she expected to succeed.
"Well this isn't the ugliest room I've ever seen." Imu threw her bag onto one of the futons, sneering in distaste at the maroon painted walls and light tan furniture. It didn't take a genius to match colors correctly; Imu shook her head, looking out the window into a willow tree standing steady in the middle of a pond.
"We'll only be here for three days tops." Haruhi pointed out calmly, sitting quietly on her futon as she studied the room with similar aversion. Imu sighed, her blue eyes focusing on Haruhi as she leaned against the window, cool and sticky against her back. It had been a while since they had been on a mission together, with Haruhi's intense training schedule and Imu's constant travelling with her new mentor.
"Yeah, I know, don't lecture me darling, I'm not in the mood." Imu sighed, three quick raps vibrated through the door, stopping Haruhi from responding. Both girls stood up, Imu strode forward and opened the door. Bald and proud, a tall middle aged man wearing a white and yellow rode stood mumbling at their door, eying Imu with a mighty dark grey eye. "Yes?" Imu questioned impatiently.
"You have been summoned to the Temple of Taai by the Great Master Kaicho." The man bowed at his waist, voice smooth and deep. "Please follow me." He turned and shuffled down the hall, not taking notice of the two girls scrambling out of the room.
"And so our mission begins." Haruhi whispers, her red hair floating behind her as she tried to keep up with the long legged man.
Raiden's breath was ragged, body shaking as he glared at the group of adults at his feet, the whites of their eyes staring at him. They were simply civilian guards, nothing to be excited about he reminded himself, refocusing his energy and bolting down the hall. This was a different building than the first one he was brought to. The walls were made of solid concrete, a normal building instead of a cave.
A girl stood at the end of the hallway, her light blue eyes staring at him calmly, clicking the stop button on a timer she held lazily in her palm. Clicking her tongue together she shook her head in disappointment.
"It took you ten minutes to defeat those weaklings." She said, raising an eyebrow at him. Raiden glared at her, hatred flashing in his eyes.
"Get out of my way, Kurami." He growled, dropping into a defensive stance. "I don't like you, but I have no reason to want to hurt you." Raiden was thrown forward, his shoulder cracking as he hit the floor, hissing in pain.
Two boys stood behind him, the one with long black hair staring at him in a bored manner and the one by his side, dark blue hair and a disturbing smile on his face. "You got out again?" The first one drawled, crossing his arms over his chest. "I thought I told Yukiko to guard your cell."
"You know how lazy she can be, Shien. No reason to get upset over something that is easily fixed." The second boy said cheerfully, his light purple eyes flashing as he grabbed Raiden by the collar, tossing him roughly against the wall again.
"It shouldn't have happened in the first place, Kyosuke." Shien snapped, glancing at Kurami who kneeled down beside Raiden, brushing his hair to the side to reveal a small cut when Raiden's head hit the wall. Sighing, her hands began to glow a light blue as she healed him.
"You must learn to control yourself, Kyosuke, injuring him was not necessary." Kurami told him firmly, glaring at two civilian servants who hoisted up Raiden and returned him to his cell.
"Hello everyone." a girl with bluish white hair poof-ed into the room, her violet eyes noticing the tension. "Well what's gotten you all in such a bad mood?"
"Oh nothing, Raiden managed to escape his cell again is all." Kyosuke shrugged the creepy smile still in place as his eyes flashed angrily.
"Would like to explain why you disobeyed me, Yukiko? If I don't like you're answer, I'll kill you." Shien's dark brown eyes narrowed at her, chakra spiking. She scoffed at him, walking over to Kurmai.
"You couldn't kill me; I know all your weaknesses. It's stupid for you to even make that threat." Yukiko yawned, rolling her shoulders. "I left because Orochimaru needed me to go get something for him. Which reminds me, Kurami, he needed you to analyze some new venom he made. Cure and all due next week." She pulled a greenish blue vile out of her bag, handing it carefully to her only other female friend.
"I don't understand why Orochimaru keeps him around. It'd be much easier to take samples and just kill him." Shien grumbled as he and Kyosuke stepped outside, masking their chakra as they silently flew through the trees towards the nearest village.
"Do not underestimate him, Shien. I understand that you're new, but if you ever question Orochimaru again, I can and will kill you. Do not forget that you are the weakest link in our little group." Kyosuke laughed, ignoring Shien's glare as he sped forward.
Hello everyone, do you like the title? Eh, if not give me some suggestions! So we have six new characters, two new guys that are part of the Whirlpool team with Natsumi (did you guys seriously think I would take her out just because she left the mist?) and four new antagonist.
FunFact: This chapter has seven different versions. They range from everyone receiving the mission from their respective lords, Itachi heading to the Rice for a mission and is joined by the Sand girls, a chapter purely for the antagonist, and finally a chapter where it just begins at the temple. But I wanted to introduce everyone so yeah, this chapter was born!