Rise of the Guardians
By: Daishi Prime
Disclaimer – I do not own Naruto, neither the manga nor the series, not the characters or the world. I just play here.
- Prologue – Of Oaths & Arrogance -
He sensed the first of them come around the corner and stop, but couldn't look up. All he could do, for the moment, was sit and stare. Across the dirt street was nothing but wreckage, a pile of half-burned timbers and shattered tiles. There was nothing there now, no sign of the memories, of eight years of his life, of his family.
He had made it through the funeral, listened as others spoke of his parents, of his family, and held himself together through an act of will. His face had been a frozen mask, and he knew his friends were concerned, but it was all he had left, the control they had taught him. "Remember, Raiden," his father always told him, "control yourself, and you can do anything." His mother had said it more colorfully, but still meant the same thing.
Now, that control was ragged. He had nowhere else to go, so he had simply wandered. Habit had returned him here, as it had for his entire life, and now he sat on a neighbor's wall, ignored the cracked and jagged stone beneath him, and stared at the ruins. He couldn't think, couldn't cry, couldn't act. All he could do was stare. He couldn't even comfort his friends for their own losses.
Even as the first to arrive sat beside him, he could sense others, friends for years, coming to find him. Still, he sat, staring at his devastated past.
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Yohko sat down beside Raiden on the wall, considering. She knew he was in pain, knew he was lost, but didn't know how to show him the way back, or even if there was a way back. She looked at him as she waited, taking in the black mourning robes, the short white hair inherited from his mother, the grey eyes staring-wide but dry. He was remarkably loose, physically, not clutching or tense, merely sitting, with the relaxed readiness trained into them by Oraka-sensei over the past years. So she waited, letting her presence be known, giving him the time to come back himself.
While she waited, a few others came, from their own ceremonies, for the most part. She greeted each of them as they arrived, considering them in turn as they took up their own places, to wait and watch. Kuma, already taller than the rest of them, leaned against the only column still standing from Raiden's house, brooding gaze sweeping back and forth. Juubei and Rumiko, arriving together, settled down on Raiden's other side, present but, like Yohko, keeping silent to avoid disturbing Raiden before he was ready. For a wonder, even Mitsumi, when she arrived, contented herself with crouching in the roadway, flipping a kunai from hand to hand, glancing furtively at Raiden every so often.
While she waited, Yohko contemplated why they had gathered, and why here. Each of them had their own losses to mourn, their own fresh pains. But the six of them had been friends for as long as their eight-year-old selves could remember, and a combination of habit and instinct brought them together now. She shied away from remembering her father, and knew the others were doing the same, Juubei and Mitsumi their mother, Tanaka his mother and brother, Rumiko her father. Each of them had seen their families devastated, even if only Raiden had been orphaned. Yet they had gathered together, instead of with their surviving families, waiting for Raiden. She worried at that thought for a time, and in a flash of insight, Yohko realized that he had been their leader from the start, and now they were looking to him to show them how to deal with this terrifying new world.
They waited for over an hour, silent, patient. The only motion was the occasional shift, a change in posture or position. But none of them left, did not even think to leave. They had come to wait for Raiden, and wait they would.
Finally, without looking up, or the slightest change of expression, Raiden spoke. Not words of comfort, but words that caught at each of them, nonetheless. "I swear," he began softly, voice harsh with unshed tears, "by the blood of my family, upon my own soul, I swear. I will guard this village from harm for the rest of my days and beyond, with all the power I can scrounge." Staring at him, Yohko could sense the chakra spiraling inside him, unsteady but rising, and realized he was literally binding himself with the oath. He continued, voice now a snarl, "I will use any tactic, any technique I must, to ensure this never happens again, that no enemy, foreign shinobi or traitor, ever damages Konoha so again! I so swear."
They stared at him, unable to believe what he had just said, what he had done. Then, still crouched in the street, Mitsumi broke the silence, "I swear." Raiden moved, finally, looking right at her. Without a pause, without trace of second thought, she continued, swearing the same oath. Neither of them blinked, or looked away until she was finished.
Another voice took up the oath, and she was halfway through it before Yohko realized it was her own. But she did not stop, binding herself as Raiden and Mitsumi had. One by one, Tanaka, Juubei and Rumiko swore as well, taking Raiden's oath as their own. Even then, they understood they had just taken a step that would shape their lives forever, and when Rumiko's voice finally faded, they traded looks of concern, shaking with suppressed reaction.
Raiden stood, a moment later, and nodded to each of them. "There's more," he said. "My uncle told me, years ago, of some books. Secrets, of the Fourth. I'm going to get them. We need to be strong to hold that oath, and those books hold secrets that can make us strong. Meet me here, tomorrow morning. I'll have them. We'll copy them and return them, so no one notices they're missing. Then, we train. We're in the academy for four more years, but until then, we train together separately, as well. And this will never happen again!"