The New Protagonists
Chapter 1: A Warm Welcome and A First Impression
Late afternoon under the protection of the forest's shade five shadows moved in perfect harmony together through the tall, bulky trees. Even Konohagakure's new Hokage wouldn't have been able to spot the fast moving shadows that glided and twisted around one another through the trees in a trusting, unified way. It didn't take long for the shadows to reach the Hokage Mountain, all five finally stopping to look down on the large, peaceful life of the Leaf village. Where the shadows once moved now stood five boys, looking toward the village with different expressions. Two looked with excitement at the sight of this new village and one looked merely in curiosity at this new stop, trying hard to hide a mischievous smile of question toward the leader's sudden motive to bring everyone here. Still, one simply gazed down on the village purely in a calm, collected manner. His ragged black cape flowed freely in the wind, at times covering his body while he kept a close eye on his eager team-mates, minus the one who stood close by him. The one close by looked almost as calm as him but there was a hint of nervousness and deep sadness in his eyes as he seemed to remember something he wanted to forget about. The calm boy looked down to his younger friend and simply put a hand on his friend's shoulder; he didn't really show it much but the boy relaxed and smiled back at his calm friend's brotherly gesture to make him at ease. But as quickly as the calm boy's gentleness showed, it swiftly went away and with a simple hand signal, each of his team-mates went their separate ways toward the village. The one beside him hesitantly left, only glancing back to know that he was going to be OK. The simple nod his calm friend gave him was all he needed; the friendly boy smile pleasantly at the calm boy and with quick hand signs, he too was soon off into the village. The calm boy watched a gust of wind mixed with leaves engulfed his friend and teleport him right to the center of the village; his friend always started his exploring in the middle of any village. The calm boy looked around the village below one last time and a smile slowly began to spread across his face. He untied a headband that was well hidden under his cape and for the first time in a long while, he tied the headband around his forehead. The leaf village symbol on the sliver plate shone brightly as he gazed instinctively into the light blue sky. Soon he did his own lightning-fast hand signs and not long after he was standing in the Hokage's room, where Lady Tsunade was doing her paperwork. She didn't have to look up to know that there was someone in the room with her; she had felt the soft, warm breeze brush against her cheeks, the same breeze that a little boy used to do on purpose, just to tell her that he had arrived. Tsunade finally looked up from her papers and smiled to see a young boy of 16, bowing to her in pure respect, looking up slightly with soft, gentle eyes; she could see them even under the his loose blackish-blue hair hanging over his eyes. Tsunade got up from her chair and went to boy, slowly going on her knees and lifting the boy's head so that his golden eyes now faced her. She smiled even softer than before and put her arms around the boy into a gentle hug. "Welcome back Ryuu," Tsunade said softly as she hugged the surprised boy a little harder.
Ryuu was stunned for a moment but he slowly just returned the hug, even though it was a little nervously. "It's good to be back, Mom…"
"Hey Shin, do you have any idea what Boss is going to talk about with the Hokage? I remember him telling us about a new mission we'll be assigned to but that's about it." A boy with messy, golden-brown hair walked boldly alongside a meek boy his age that, unlike his out-going friend, had his hair hidden under his waterfall village bandanna instead, hiding his sea-green eyes under his neatly straight auburn hair that came out from his bandanna. He walked timidly along with the very cocky boy who had looked down upon the village with him in shared excitement. Unlike the meek boy, an air of confidence followed the cocky one; his grass headband simply pulled back his hair to show shining sea-blue eyes that showed a reckless, adventurous nature. He was somewhat taller than the meek boy, who showed a gentle, wary nature, a complete contrast compared to his friend. "YO SHIN! DID YA HEAR ANYTHING I SAID!?"
Shin jumped in alarm from the sudden shout in his ear and looked a little crossly at his grinning friend. "You didn't need to yell Isamu. I heard you the first time," Shin said in a soft-spoken voice.
Isamu looked a little sheepishly at Shin and scratched the back of his head. "I didn't think you were going to get that startled. Besides you didn't answer my question."
Shin looked at his Isamu's childish expression and sighed tiredly; he was praying for the day his friend would actually mature. But at this rate, it seemed nearly impossible. "My Lord didn't tell me anything beyond that. He just patted me on the head and told me not to worry about anything. Have faith in him, Isamu."
Isamu frowned a little at Shin. "Why do you always have to call him "My Lord"? You don't even call the older ninjas that or me for that matter."
Shin looked at Isamu with a hidden raised eyebrow as he simply replied with great sarcasm, "You want to take a good guess why?"
Isamu looked at his friend in mock anger. "Look who has a few jokes on them all of a sudden." He slowly smiled the moment Shin started to chuckle a little. But while Shin was slightly laughing, Isamu noticed a nice-looking flower shop and felt someone urging him to go and check it out. Knowing it was "him" being anxious to check out the kinds of plants, he turned back to Shin, who noticed his friend's expression and had stopped chuckling. "Listen Shin, you-know-who wants to take a look at that flower shop over there. Do you think you'll be okay on your own?" When Shin gave his friend a simple nod, Isamu went quickly in without looking back. The moment he was inside, Isamu felt a little guilty about leaving Shin all alone in the middle of a place they didn't even know about. He got ready to leave to a least take one last look at his friend but out of nowhere- "Hey there, do you need something?" Isamu jumped in surprise and not long after he found himself on the floor, facing up to a girl his age. She looked down at his face with one of her eyes since the other one was well covered by her blonde hair, which was tied up in a ponytail. For a while the two just stared at each other, taking in the appearance that the other had. Finally the girl broke the silence with a small fit of giggles, which Isamu found very insulting. "What're you laughing about, Toots?"
Now that got the blonde girl even more furious than he was. "Watch who you're calling Toots! I'll have you that I'm the most beautiful girl in Konohagakure and I'm-"
"As shallow as hell." Isamu looked to see the girl glaring at him more angrily than ever "I don't have time for this. I just came to look at your flowers. You are the owner right?" When the girl just pouted, he just sighed and decided to ignore her. He was actually impressed with the collection of different flowers, some that he himself had never seen. But before Isamu could fully enjoy himself, he found out not too long after that he was being watched by the blonde haired girl again, this time more intently; he could tell just by glancing over his shoulder.
"Oh, look like you've caught a girl's attention already. Do you need me to come out?"
A voice of a little boy voice sudden spoke to Isamu personally in his thoughts, trying to hide its hint of humor. If most people other than Isamu heard its voice, they'd probably think that some evil spirit had come to torture them. But Isamu knew all too well who the voice belonged to. "No. I just don't feel comfortable with her staring at me," Isamu answered in a low tone. When the voice didn't object to his reason, Isamu turned to look at the girl, who obviously didn't expect him to look at her. "Okay, I'm sorry I called you shallow. There, happy?" That sudden apology made the girl look at Isamu even more confused, her face slightly became red. "Wow she looks a little cute when she blushes…Wait she's blushing!? Why!?"
"Um, I have to get out a flower my mom wanted to show at the store. You can wait if you want," The girl said a little nervously as she walked away from the counter.
"Actually, I should get going soon. Boss wants us to hurry and meet him at his house so that he could tell us why we're." Isamu could've sworn that there was a hint of disappointment in the way the girl looked at him. "Um, thanks for letting me look around the shop," Isamu said awkwardly.
"Humph! It's a shop! You're supposed to look around anyway," She told him, rolling her eyes as she walked out to the back corner of the flower shop. By that time, all Isamu could do was gawk at this girl in disbelief. "That girl sure is sassy. Either that or it's that month for her. What do you think Aku?"
Right when Isamu said this, a green ball of light appeared from his emerald chain necklace and hovered near the ground until it popped and in its place stood some kind of bear cub. It looked at Isamu with shining emerald eyes and a sharp toothed smile that was a little unnerving. It seemed like a black bear but the odd rune-like markings and the dark green kanji character for "Forest" that was etched in the middle of its white belly seemed to say there was more to this bear than meets the eyes. "I like her. A little sharp-tongued, but that's okay. She must have some kind of nurturing spirit if she's able to raise such delicate flowers as these. She could probably even whip you into better shape with that temper of her."
Isamu began to laugh hysterically at his partner's answer. "Oh man Aku, why am I not surprised you said that!? Besides, I have Boss to do that; he's the one that inspires me just as much as you and Shin," Isamu managed to tell Aku between his laughter.
Aku slightly pouted at his friend and spoke once again in the child-like tone that Isamu had heard in his head before. "Well, I'm done looking at these flowers for now. Can we visit tomorrow too?"
Isamu looked at Aku and shrugged uncertainly. "I doubt that, Aku. We're supposed to go with Lady Tsunade and meet up with the other chunins from the Leaf village." Aku frowned at Isamu a little disappointed but simple went back inside the emerald that hung loosely from Isamu's chain necklace. "Like that's going to stop him," Isamu thought to himself.
"I heard that!"
"I know. Why do you think I said it in my mind?" When Aku just grunted, Isamu got ready to leave but suddenly stopped and looked back at the counter. He did some hands signs and a beautiful rose like flower appeared on the counter with a green envelope tied delicately around the flower. He slightly smiled and left the shop, one minute taking a deep breath. But the next minute he was begin dragged by Shin, who was walking faster than normal. "Yo, Shin! You know I can walk right? What's going on?"
"I-I just remembered w-what m-my lord wanted us to do! W-we don't want to b-be late," Shin stammered uncontrollably.
Now Isamu cocked his eyebrow at his friend. "But didn't Boss say to come to his house at night? Why do you want to-"
"Let's just surprise him," Shin answered hastily.
Isamu continued looked at his friend questioningly as he allowed himself to be dragged by Shin. "What's this all about?..."
, you can't just leave her here. What would Lord Ryuu think if you left behind someone you had just saved?"
That the first chapter for you! I'm still new so sorry if it wasn't very exciting--; But I would like if you can review and give me some advice anyway! I could really use the encouragement-
