For the first six years of my new life I existed in a weird state of denial. The previous memories were there, but I never acknowledged them, content to avoid confronting the frightful truth that being alive eliminated all the truths I held dear in the previous reality. I even ignored all the coincidences, the country named water, a village nearby being "hidden in the mist," mentions of shinobi. Being reincarnated into a cartoon show had frightening implications so I avoided thinking about the subject altogether.
No I was perfectly content pretending all the old memories were nothing but a bad dream, even while I tackled life's problems with logic and philosophies I knew a child my age couldn't possess, a strange cognitive dissonance to have.
I couldn't ignore it anymore, not while being currently covered in blood. My facade fell apart, children didn't kill people, shouldn't be able to kill people. A cooling cadaver with chunky ice spikes sticking from it said otherwise. Anyone even barely familiar with the series would recognize ice release.
I must have stayed in that room for hours, sharing company with only a corpse, trying to walk through the events that lead to his murder. Just thinking about his identity made me sick so I refused to acknowledge it, instead contemplating the significance and consequences of what occurred.
Leaving was the smart idea, but this small community was all I knew and water country is an unforgiving place for a child, especially one with a bloodline. Of course—
The door creaked open and an unrecognizable face peered through. I immediately recognized the forehead protector and my heart seized. Shinobi.
"Hey, you still in here?" spoke the stranger in an obnoxiously loud whisper. He quickly focused on me, and took off in my direction, only giving the dead body a brief glance, quickly walking the distance between us. His posture screamed trained killer, and scared me shitless.
He gazed intensely down and stayed silent for a moment.
"Why'd they get so worked up over you?" scoffed the teenager suddenly. He grabbed my collar and hefted me up to my feet. "Come on, you're leaving with me."
"You mean you aren't going to kill me?" I asked in disbelief.
"Of course not, do you know how rare Hyoton Users are?" An awkward silence hanged there before the ninja interrupted it with a sigh.
"Come on new blood, let's get a move on before you kill someone else." He walked off, not even bothering to step around the body on the ground, or make sure I followed him. Why would he?
My uncle most certainly called the shinobi, too afraid to deal with me himself. No other option existed.
"Hey, slow down!" I huffed out. He eyed me over his shoulder and snorted. His tall stature required more effort than I'd like to keep up, even with his lazy pace.
"So the shrimp can walk," laughed the shinobi. "Quit making funny faces and tell me your name, you can call me Meizu." I was not making funny faces!
"My name is Seika," I replied, making sure to maintain a neutral expression.
"Seika..? You make ice and they named you after the hottest time of the year?"
I glared at him.
"Would you quit your pouting?" grumbled Meizu. "I'm not going to let you make stupid faces the entire trip."
"In that case you should carry me and run back to Kiri," I snapped back in return
"No way, that's a hell of a run."
"Aren't you supposed to be a shinobi?"
"Hey! I'm a fantastic shinobi."
"Then you should teach me something cool, like how to run quietly," I challenged, looking for any conversation that could keep my mind off how screwed I was.
"How to run quietly?" mumbled Meizu. "Aren't most kids interested in fancy jutsu to destroy their opponents with?"
"Well I already skewered a person, now I just need to be able to sneak up on them." I gave him a toothy grin. He eyed me warily in return, and we remained in unfortunate silence for the remainder of the trip.
"Well, this is your new home," chirped Meizu. I didn't listen to him, instead staring through the open gate. Even with the fog dusting the valley I could see the scaling towers, and large bridges passing over numerous bodies of water.
In front, was a large round building, placed on top of a square structure with a humongous arch carved through the middle where a river passed through. Written in kanji placed on building was the word for 'Mist.'
The view was definitely worth it, the village looked otherworldly.
"Why's a ninja village so close to the coast..?" is all I managed to say.
Meizu shrugged. "I don't think Kirigakure started as a shinobi village, I never really paid attention to our history."
"What's the academy like anyway?"
"I'm not entirely sure, it's been several years," replied Meizu. "Ever since Zabuza-senpai went through, they've been slowly toning down the program. My class was right after his so they still encouraged us to kill other students, but I heard it's frowned upon now."
"Senpai?" I asked. It was unlikely that Haku was his only subordinate given how long he served Kiri before defecting. In fact, didn't he have two chuunin help him in his failed coup? Were Meizu and his brother the two goons who Kakashi embarrassed at the start of Team Seven's first C-rank? It made sense, even though the shinobi didn't look the part, lacking the deadly gear, and savage appearance. On the flip side, if Zabuza was their leader he could easily fit the part in a few years.
I giggled at the thought of knowing future Meizu would get beat up by the aloof jounin.
That did beg the question. How long did I have before the series main events started, and what occurred during that time? The only thing that came to mind was Zabuza's attempted coup d'etat.
"He sponsors us for higher ranking missions, it's necessary for a genin to have a few B-rank missions to be eligible for the chuunin exams," explained the teenager.
Meizu continued to talk about Zabuza, and Kirigakure in general as we walked. At this point we were traversing one of the many bridges that cut through the jagged mountains. From this angle it was possible to see further back into the valley. A fairly normal looking city could be seen through the fog.
Before long we arrived at our final destination, the government building, the hilariously large cylinder first seen from the mountain-side gate. I assumed somewhere in this building was the Mizukage, waiting to do batshit insane things like raise the taxes, and have children murder each other.
"So where are we going?" I asked, as we walked through the doors. The inside looked less dull than the outside but not by much. The decor took a more western appearance, using stone floors, and walls painted white as opposed to tatami mats and wood. The halls remained largely empty.
"We're heading straight to the academy, you're already late for this year's class so no point in wasting time."
I commented on the lack of people roaming the halls and he explained none of the early classes attended the academy this early, and the older classes spent the majority of their time outside doing field exercises.
"With the exception of a few trouble makers," he added on when he spotted a young brown haired boy.
"Hey boy!" The child in question quickly turned around and paused at our group. He looked at me, then looked at Meizu and responded incoherently.
"I'm looking for Tatsuki-sensei, I assume you know where she is?"
"Uuuhh..." managed the boy. He kept glancing at me, his expression remained perturbed and it became obvious what bothered him so much. I was never once given a chance to clean, and no one could confuse the blood for dirt.
Suddenly I felt very gross. The student's nervous glances slowly nurtured an odd pressure, his concern made my earlier nonchalance seem like alarming behavior.
"I ain't got all day kid!"
"She's in the classroom next to his office last I saw her," sputtered out the kid in shock.
"You better hope so, or I'm going to make sure she knows how much of a useless twat you've been! Now scram!" shouted Meizu. The kid quickly ran off. Harsh words, but I couldn't bring up the courage to scrutinize the shinobi.
Meizu muttered something under his breath about falling standards.
"Come on let's meet the woman in charge of your class." So we did. A lady could be seen through the door, bent over her desk scribbling something onto a piece of paper.
Tatsuki certainly fit the part of a battle hardened kunoichi. She had shaggy black hair tied in a ponytail tail in an attempt to control her unruly mess. Whatever attractiveness she might have possessed was tarnished by an ugly scar which started below her right eye, cut through her nose, and passed through her lips. Someone had gotten awfully close to killing her.
She immediately let out a groan upon spotting us.
"You didn't make him kill anyone did you? Do I need to remind you that murder is now frowned upon in the academy and doing so will not gain you any favor?" Tatsuki didn't sound like she actually cared.
"Don't worry about the blood Tatsuki-sensei," replied Meizu. "It's not from anyone you're responsible for."
"Then what do I owe you the pleasure Meizu? I assume you want me to admit this child in late, and he certainly doesn't look like a clan brat." She looked at me with a knowing expression. "He must have a kekkei genkai, which one is it?"
"Seika possesses Hyoton," answered Meizu. His response piqued her interest.
"I'll draft up a proof of acquisition form for you to give to the mission desk, meanwhile you'll help Seika fill out his records," instructed Tatsuki, before giving Meizu a piece of paper.
Meizu walked me over to a desk by the side, and sat down.
"Aah, good ol' fashion paperwork, a ninja's favorite thing to fudge," said the shinobi cheerfully. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Tatsuki shaking her head.
"Lets see, last name… the Yuki clan is as good as dead, so that's out of the picture." He hummed to himself for a few seconds. "We'll give you a bastard's name like mine, how does Seika no Mori sound?"
"I have a last name already…" I dead panned.
"Seika no Mori it is," continued the teenager. "Birthday… January is an appropriate month, nine sounds like a cold number. Just the right age to attend the academy of course."
He finished writing my age with a flourish and handed me the sheet of paper.
"Please verify all the above information is correct," joked the ninja. I didn't have anything to say about his ridiculous antics.
He laughed out loud. "What? You asked me to teach you a lesson right? With a few strokes of a pen your name, age, and birthday have changed permanently, you should be grateful I kept your gender the same, not like anyone would question it."
I huffed in protest.
"Lesson one. Shinobi are thieves, murderers, and liars. Subterfuge and misdirection is our art. The sooner you start practicing, the better your odds of surviving," finished Meizu seriously.
He stood up and snatched the sheet of paper from my hands and walked it over to Tatsuki. She obviously overheard the entire conversation, but didn't question anything, in fact it she looked to have approved of the impromptu lesson.
"All finished then? Here's your form." She handed him the document.
He nodded respectfully and left without a word, leaving me alone with the scarred teacher.
"Well then, Seika no Mori," said the lady with amusement. "Everything looks right, so why don't we introduce you to your class?"
Wait, what? Right now?
"Come on," said the kunoichi, before ushering me out the door. She led me to a classroom just a few doors down the hall, and swung open the door interrupting a sensei in the middle of roll call.
"Class, this is Seika, he's a late addition and will be joining this class," said Tatsuki. Everyone paused, looking at me like a hallucination that refused to disappear.
I just stood there, imagining what the students were thinking right now, about the strange kid who showed up unannounced covered in blood. No one had yet to say a word.
"Well go on, introduce yourself," instructed the woman as she affectionately rubbed my head.
I remembered what Meizu had just said earlier. What the hell, misdirection it was.
"My name is Seika no Mori. I hope we can all get along and become good friends." I said in fake cheer. The attention was starting to unnerve me.
"Aaah.. well, my name is Unmo-sensei. Please have a seat." They all started quietly whispering as I walked to the closest empty seat, not wanting to trust my legs any more.
Hopefully the academy wasn't going to be as eventful as the last twenty-four hours.