A/N: Hey, everyone. I'll keep this brief. This is my shot at making a believable OC in the Naruto universe. This fic is going to be centered mostly around him and unfold through his eyes, so if that's not your cup of tea, you probably won't like this. Regardless, I do plan on having him take a more supporting cast role as the story goes on, so there is hope for those of you who hate having an OC take up most of the story's focus.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and I stand to gain no profit from this fanfiction. I do lay claim to Tanken Zengosaku, my version of the village Honzogakure, and any other original characters introduced here. Please contact me if you wish to use any of these things. I will be happy to discuss it with you.
One last thing. If you wish to see what my OC fully looks like as well as his village's symbol, feel free to stop by my profile and check out a couple of links I have there. Some might say that this means I lack imagery in my story, and I would say you're probably right. Then again, a picture is worth a thousand words.
Anyways, here we go. Time for Chapter 1: The Massacre of Honzogakure, Part I: The Attack.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Hey, wait up, Bansotsu! I can't even see you anymore!"
"Come on, Tanken, you slowpoke!"
Wiping the sweat from his brow, the fifteen-year-old Tanken Zengosaku chased after his friend, pressing on through the dense forest that bordered Honzogakure, the Village Hidden in Plants. Brushing his dark brown bangs aside, he leapt from tree to tree, knowing it was futile. Bansotsu Sono was the son of finest farmers in the village, trained to run the fields as soon as he could walk. Tanken was not without his own talents, but he knew that he was no match for his lifelong friend in a race, especially through the thick woods.
Gasping, Tanken quickly adjusted and pivoted off a branch that would have caught him square in the face had he not been paying attention, a scenario that was getting more likely to happen by the minute. After a few more dodges, the exertion began taking its toll on Tanken. His breathing was getting heavier and his body was growing more and more sluggish. As he inhaled deeply, he could feel himself slowing down, finally having to come to a halt on a sturdy branch. Dismayed at the delay, Bansotsu came to a nimble stop and used his momentum to swing around a tree and start back, reaching Tanken in a matter of seconds. Sighing, he landed next to his friend, his voice hinting at his irritation, "No, no, no, no, you can't do this. Just because I'm winning –"
"Shut up, idiot," Tanken gasped, his breathing getting ragged, "Something's wrong. The air feels thick…"
Bansotsu swallowed nervously. When Tanken said something was wrong, then something was wrong. While he was the fastest kid in the village as well as an expert farmer, Tanken knew almost everything about ailments and medicines that there was to know. But Bansotsu also knew that where they lived played a large role in that. Honzogakure, while not a famous or even well-known hidden village, contained some of the most brilliant healing minds in that or any land. Nestled on the Land of Grass' border with the Fire Country, the small village was a secret from everyone around it, known only in rumors and heard only in whispers. That was especially true for the actual hidden village in the land, Kusagakure, whose inhabitants had grown happy thinking that they were the only ninja in the country. As far as the shinobi in the Hidden Plant Village were concerned, that was all well and good. After all, ninja were supposed to be secretive.
The history of the Hidden Plant Village was not even two generations in the making. Twenty-five years prior to the footrace that had just ended, the settlers of the village came to rest on the very spot that marked the Councilors' Terrace of Honzogakure. The forty-five families, every one of them consisting entirely of shinobi, had opted to embark on a secret mission from the Hidden Stone Village to set up an encampment in a separate country. The risks were, of course, great and those who volunteered were forced to relinquish all ties the Land of Earth before they could go. Their mission was one without a rank and each person who left knew of the potential danger.
In essence, the goal was to set up a separate ninja village closer to the other great shinobi nations. The plan was heavily debated, specifically which land to settle in, but the choice came to two options. The first was the Land of Rivers, which separated the Lands of Fire and Wind, running vertically between the two. While it would be an excellent place to set up operations in, many considered the risk not to be worth the reward. It would be very isolated, and if it were discovered, there would be no way to defend it. The villagers would be slaughtered and the investment would be wasted.
Option two was riskier, but the payoff would undoubtedly be much more rewarding. There was a small, untouched area in the southern edge of the Land of Grass. Iwagakure's scouts, after invading the country at the start of the Third Great Shinobi War, confirmed that neither the nation's daimyo nor the Hidden Grass Village knew of it. At the lower border, a large forest made travel difficult, even for ninja. If the volunteer families could make it through undetected, they could reside within striking distance of the Hidden Rain, Waterfall, Sand, and Leaf Villages. Tabs could be kept on all of the Land of Earth's most powerful enemies, the least of which not being Konohagakure.
After hearing the options, the Tsuchikage decided on the Land of Grass. While the chance for detection was greater, an added bonus was that the settlement would be only one country away. The Land of Grass was small and easy to traverse, save for the forested area. Upon an assault, the settlers could simply scatter and assemble back on friendly territory once they had evaded their captors
And so it was that a few dozen families embarked on their journey. They brought only what they could carry with them, including rare herbs and tools for farming the new land. To reduce the chances of being found, all direct ties with the Land of Earth were cut and the village was planned to be self-sufficient. The families consisted of some of the best farming and medical minds from the motherland. This served two purposes. First, the Tsuchikage and the villagers knew that it would be impossible to request food or medicine from the Land of Earth. There was a war in full swing, and Iwagakure wouldn't have time to supply the secret outpost. Second, Honzogakure would essentially be a field hospital for Stone shinobi. With expert medic-nin bunkered down in a completely hidden village, injured ninja could be cared for and sent back to the front in record time. To maintain at least some communication, as well as to relay crucial information, it was planned that a heavily camouflaged trade convoy would be sent once a month with fresh herbs, foods, plants, and medicines back to Iwagakure, staffed by some of the very shinobi who had farmed them.
As the war raged and more of the Stone Village's ninja fell in battle, numbers became increasingly important. Despite the losses, however, even more were saved by Honzogakure's shinobi. With their forces still relatively strong, Iwagakure was able to press deep into the Land of Grass, almost up to the Fire Country's border. Had it not been for the timely destruction of the Kannabi Bridge, Honzo would have become the final staging ground for the Land of Earth's ninja.
Even with the eventual stalemate of the war, however, the Hidden Plant Village made out well from the conflict. New jutsu had been created each year to aid the villagers in their tasks. To become more efficient, each new technique was circulated throughout the settlement, save for one that every family could claim as its own if one of its members had produced it. It had prospered a great deal in private, especially through the medical prowess of its ninja. With no "official" diplomatic ties to maintain and no missions to complete, save for the monthly trips to Iwagakure and healing the injured, the shinobi there could focus entirely on developing their skills and improving their lands.
The following seventeen years saw even further development for Honzogakure. Nestled within the forest that the Land of Fire shared with the Land of Grass, the village saw a time of quiet peace and prosperity. The inhabitants slowly grew slowly in both number and skill until even scattered gossip began to spread of a supposed hidden village of medic-nins and shinobi farmers. Still, nothing was ever confirmed; the villagers made sure of that through simple deception and trickery. They refused to pick a single leader to guide them, instead opting to split power among the most important families. If there was no leader, most outsiders reasoned, then there could certainly be no village, least of all a ninja village. Instead, the Gunshis, the Kurikosus, the Mitsukerus, the Sonos, and finally the Zengosakus each made joint decisions regarding Honzogakure. It was an efficient system, and the village continued to thrive. Until the day two friends went into the forest for a footrace.
'What could it be?' Tanken thought to himself as he panted softly, still standing on the tree branch he had landed on. He forced more air into his lungs, struggling not to cough. 'Pneumonia? A cold? Maybe poison? This doesn't make any sense!' It was at that moment that he picked it up. It was faint, but there was no mistaking it. "I smell… I smell smoke."
Bansotsu groaned softly, running his fingers through his spiky red hair in frustration, "Oh, right, Tanken. Look at all the smoke around us. It's just everywhere, isn't it? And you say I'm the idiot."
The other boy swallowed, his mind reeling under the thickness of the air that his friend didn't seem to even notice. "I… I don't… There's gotta' be…"
"Fire!" Tanken bolted up from his bed, the dream he had been a part of dissolving in a heartbeat. Looking around, he found that he could barely see through the smoke filling his small room, and the fact that it was the middle of the night didn't help his eyesight either. Feeling the panic seizing his heart, Tanken flung his covers off and hit the ground running. Grabbing his forehead protector and headband, his equipment belt, and his utility pack from his dresser out of instinct, he made quick work of putting them on. Once everything was secure, he sprinted into the hallway, shouting, "Mother! Father! Get up, the house is on f-… No."
Two masked figures stood in front of him in the corridor. They were both older and taller than he was, and they were dressed head to toe in oddly familiar battle gear. Their brown jackets signified that they were at least a chunin rank and a quick once over revealed that they had recently been in a skirmish that nearly cost them their lives. Looking to the ground near them, Tanken saw who they had fought. A small part of him remained unsurprised to find his own parents slumped over with kunai imbedded in their chests. The blades had cut easily through the nightclothes they wore, making it almost amusing to look at the poor shape of the ninjas' battle armor. Almost. If it had been a fair fight, Tanken was confident that his parents would have won without trouble. But that was irrelevant.
Upon hearing the boy yelling, the two shinobi turned fully toward him, revealing more of their armor in the process. Tanken swallowed, looking them over before speaking meekly, "No. Those shoulder pads… Those flak vests… You can't be…"
The two ninja sighed, one speaking in a deep, oddly soothing voice through his mask, "You should have just have stayed in bed. It would have been less painful for you that way."
The shorter one spoke in a soft, feminine voice, almost too gentle to be a ninja's, "Just stay still. We can make sure this doesn't hurt at all."
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the source of the smoke that was filling his home. The house next to his was ablaze, the fire raging to the point where he couldn't see the actual wood of the structure fifteen feet away from him. Gazing at it through the open window, shock set in as the smoke poured in through the cavity he was watching from. He was vaguely aware of the two ninja drawing their weapons, additional kunai, he presumed, but he couldn't tear his eyes away from the beacon that was his next-door neighbors' house. Slowly but surely, he turned back toward his assailants, needing to be sure of his suspicions. With one final glance at their armor, he confirmed the sight of their thick, hardened shoulder pads. All at once, he was almost positive that his village's own allies were attacking.
As he watched the female ninja crouching and pointing her kunai at him, obviously readying to charge for a quick, clean kill, his eyes drifted to the bodies on the floor. Blinking once, the moment came flooding back to him, and the sight of his dead parents spurred the energy back to his body. In a flash, the woman blitzed forward only to plunge her blade into the air that Tanken had occupied a second before. Gasping, the two looked around wildly, trying to find a trace of the boy they had just been talking to. After a moment of silence, the man spoke, "He went out the window. Set the tags." With a nod, both he and the woman jumped from the house and into the blood-soaked night, but not before setting a few paper bombs around the interior of the home. Knowing their cover was already blown, all it took was an infusion of chakra and the mission switched from infiltration and assassination to shock and awe.
The resulting explosion sent burning splinters hundreds of feet in every direction, decimating the small house and heavily damaging the ones next to it. Tanken was well clear of the blast, rushing for the village's Vigilance Tower so he could warn anyone not already up. Stopping at a nearby storage shed, he looked the tower over, the light from the various fires illuminating the scene well enough to see it. An involuntary growl escaped him as he noticed that the bell they kept to warn of attacks had already been dismantled and the guards were already dead. Upon thinking it over, however, Tanken figured that with explosions tearing up the village, there was no point in bothering trying to warn people. He knew there was one option left after that: strategic retreat.
Sprinting from his hiding spot, he made his way to the village center, hearing the clangs of kunai and shuriken before he could even see what was going on. Leaping up onto the roof of the hospital, Tanken looked over the scene in front of him. What was the most obvious was the massive cage of rock that stood in the middle of the village. Encased by the earth were at least a dozen of his fellow villagers, seemingly unconscious or, as Tanken feared, dead.
Growling softly, he closed his eyes and focused. If the sentry bell was gone, then Bansotsu's parents were probably already dead, as it was their job to watch it at night when there was no harvest or planting going on. Knowing that direct combat would only get him killed, he decided to head to the village's fallback point at the baths, which was reserved for just such an occasion. Crouching low as he ran, he noted that the sounds of battle had died down. He didn't bother guessing which side had won.
Tanken jumped from roof to roof, running as fast as he could to the cliff at the edge of the village's merchant district. Having lived in Honzogakure for his entire life, he knew the layout of the burning settlement well enough to walk it backwards with his eyes closed. From inside the only big forest in the Land of Grass, the village had grown out horizontally. The villagers stayed away from vertically impressive buildings, to ensure that the trees would cover the hidden village. It had worked well up until that night. As the town spanned out, the inhabitants built right up to the cliff Tanken was running for, which was in fact one side of a wide ravine. The land dropped off to a river over sixty feet below with ample shoreline on each side of the water. The river itself was fed by a waterfall whose peak was level with the village and fell where the ravine split apart.
The villagers considered the small canyon a place of relaxation, as the waterfall concealed a cave with a natural hot spring. A bathhouse was built around the warm water, dividing it into a section for men, a section for women, and an area where both sexes could mingle, although there was an unspoken rule that only married couples should occupy it. The rule was usually effective until sundown each night.
The scene was far from relaxing, however, as Tanken scaled down the sheer cliff and landed on the shore with a solid thud. Limping slightly from the quick descent, he made his way through the waterfall and into the cave, hoping there were some survivors at the designated fallback point. As soon as he entered, the boy had over a dozen kunai aimed straight at him, each one held by bruised and battered Honzo ninja. It took a moment for them to see the forehead protector tied around his head, causing one of them to sigh. "Good grief, Tanken, you scared us," a man said as he approached the boy. "Are you okay? Where are your parents? Are they all right?"
Tanken swallowed, the memory of their slumped bodies still fresh in his mind. Forcing tears back, he spoke meekly, not answering the question, "Elder Kurikosu, I'm glad to see you're okay…"
The "elder", which was a title only, as the man not even in his thirties, sighed, waving his hand dismissively and speaking again, "Forget the formalities, where are your parents? Are they okay?"
A few stray tears managed to escape as he simply shook his head, unable to answer the question with his shaky voice. The man swallowed, watching the young teen trying to cope with the loss of his family and his village all in one night. It took a moment for Tanken to compose himself enough to speak without faltering, "Is Mai okay? Did she make it out?"
Tanken and Mai had once been fierce rivals in training as fledgling shinobi. As he grew older, however, Tanken's feelings for her matured. Unfortunately for him, he saw no such change in her attitude, so he set his mind to work. In an attempt to get her to recognize him, he set up an elaborate trap that he would "rescue" her from with his "amazing" reaction time and skills. It involved him weakening some branches in the forest and later challenging her to a race. His hope was that she would land on one of the branches that he had loosened and break it, starting a freefall that he would "miraculously" save her from.
It started out well enough until midway through the race, when he forgot which branches he had weakened. As it turned out, Mai's luck was better than his, and she expertly navigated the trees without incident. Tanken didn't realize the flaw in his plan until, after a rough landing, he felt the branch under him start to give way. A strangled gasp was all he could muster as he began to plummet to the ground.
Thinking he was clever, he had chosen trees with no branches under the ones he weakened, desiring that he be the one to save Mai and not some stray limb. The literally fatal mistake became very apparent as he succumbed to the laws of gravity. Things looked bleak for Tanken as the seconds passed, but just as he readied to hit the ground, he found himself being caught by two slim, strong arms. His eyes slowly cracked open, having been squeezed tightly to prepare for his presumed demise, only to find Mai smirking down at him.
Tanken cleared his throat and looked down to see that they were indeed both safe on the ground. Humiliated, he slowly righted himself and attempted to stammer out a word of thanks only to be cut off by Mai's typical direct speech. In return for saving him, she demanded that he treat her to dinner the next night at sunset. That night spawned a relationship that lasted even until that day. And it was for that reason that her father was not surprised when Tanken asked about his daughter first. He gave the slightest of smiles and nodded, "Yes, she's back in the cave near the baths with the others."
Trying to be diplomatic, Tanken nodded and quietly let relief wash through him. Swallowing softly, he pressed for more information, "What about everyone else? Who made it? Is your wife okay? What about Bansotsu and his parents? " He asked the last question knowing that his friend's parents had almost certainly died at the Vigilance Tower.
The man didn't answer right away, not wanting to overwhelm the boy with so much bad news in such a short period of time. Instead, he tried to instill some hope in Tanken, speaking in a positive tone, "Listen, there's still a lot of people out there. Just go back and speak with Mai until we know what's going on. I'm sure she'll be glad to see you."
Tanken sniffled and nodded, walking slowly into the cave, seeking Mai out. At the entrance to the baths, there were over thirty people standing or sitting, all of them looking disheveled and shocked. Most of the villagers, himself included, were in their night clothes, having barely escaped from their houses with their lives. He heard a soft noise as he continued, and soon felt the same arms that had saved his life encircle him again from behind, the force of the embrace almost knocking him over. He gasped at the sudden impact, but he quickly turned around and returned the hold, his arms pulling Mai tight to him.
As he looked at her, he saw that her usually tough demeanor was gone. Mai was sobbing into his chest, speaking between gasps for air, "They killed my mom, Tanken. They killed her in her sleep…"
He nodded numbly, wanting to break down with her. But he knew she needed him to be strong. He brought one hand up to the back of her head and started running fingers through her brown, waist-longhair. She sighed against him, her tears wetting his white T-shirt, staining the village's symbol of two herbs forming a cross. It took her a few minutes to calm down and stop crying while Tanken continued gently stroking her hair. In a moment, she looked up at him before asking the inevitable question, "Where are your parents? Are they talking to my father?"
He winced, her words cutting into him. He didn't answer, instead slowly resting his forehead against her shoulder in a silent admission of defeat. It took her a moment for her to get the message. "Oh… Oh, Tanken… I'm so sorry."
With a shudder, the dam broke. He sobbed into her shoulder until it hurt to breathe, his arms holding her tight, as if she was the only thing keeping him from dropping off into the void. He cried for countless minutes, the waterfall muffling the noise to anyone on the outside, before he started to compose himself. Around twenty-five other villagers had walked in during his breakdown, bringing the total number of survivors to nearly sixty. Once he had calmed down, Tanken and Mai sat uneasily in a crevice in the cave wall, huddled together for a feeling of mutual security. After initial greetings, there was no talking from anyone, everyone too petrified or shocked to even try to make conversation.
With his mind slowly settling down, Tanken began thinking about the ninjas who had killed his parents. Their masks concealed their faces, but in the firelight of the burning house next to them, he knew he recognized their armor. The brown vests and the thick shoulder pads all pointed to the idea that Iwagakure was attacking them. Still, while he had been sure that the clothing imitated that of the Hidden Stone Village, he knew that mind games were part of the ninja way. A clever enemy that knew enough about the Honzogakure would probably want to make them think that the Hidden Stone Village had betrayed them. Either way, not everything added up.
He recalled that the man who had spoken to him didn't appear malicious in his words and the woman almost seemed remorseful. Almost. It also looked as if they might have even taken prisoners, judging from the cage in the middle of the village. Still, it was too risky to toss up to chance. For the moment, he had to assume that the ninja he saw could be either unknown enemies striking due to a hidden agenda or Iwagakure betraying and exterminating them. Tanken knew he had to make any plans for combat or escape based on both possibilities. If they were indeed random enemies, then it would be a good idea to stay in the cave and mount a counterattack. 'But if it really is Iwagakure attacking…'
A look of terror formed on Tanken's face. Glancing around, he realized that if it was Honzogakure's ally, then they weren't alive because they were hiding in the cave, but rather because they were there in the first place. The Stone shinobi would be counting on them all to run for their rocky safe zone. At that point, once they were all rounded up, the attackers would only need to collapse the cave with one of their basic Earth Style jutsus.
Tanken scrambled to his feet, much to the surprise of Mai. A bit of her old spirit came to life as she murmured irritably, having been trying to doze against him, "Hey, watch it…"
He didn't respond, instead running for the mouth of the cavern. When he saw Mai's father speaking with two other elders, Roken Mitsukeru and Suki Gunshi, he sprinted to them, looking panicked. Roken saw him first. Unlike Mai's father, he was an elder who was actually elderly. At the age of 60, he was the oldest member of the village and one of the most respected. His grandson, Soto, was another one of Tanken's good friends, although he tended to get Tanken into trouble more often than not. Still, the old man thought the friendship was beneficial; Soto made sure Tanken's life wasn't boring, and when things got out of hand, Tanken kept Soto grounded. Smiling sadly, he turned toward the boy, speaking in his soft, yet oddly powerful tone, "Tanken… I'm glad to see you are well. Is something the matter? Outside of the obvious, I mean."
The other two elders turned to face Tanken, Mai's father waiting patiently for an explanation while Suki nearly glared at him. She had obviously already heard enough bad news for the moment. The boy swallowed, then thought about how to phrase his sentence before speaking over the waterfall, "We need to leave."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"What a drag. I can't believe I fell for that trap," said a very tense Shikamaru Nara. He, Ino Yamanaka, and Choji Akimichi were heading back toward the Hidden Leaf Village after a partially successful mission in the Land of Rivers. They had been ordered to patrol the area to find out more information about a group of shinobi who had been causing trouble there, as well as in some of the smaller nations to the north. Shikamaru managed to capture the leader of the cell, a jonin, but the man took his own life without divulging anything useful. When he died, his squad scattered, leaving the Leaf team victorious, but still without information.
During the fighting, the jonin had nearly killed Shikamaru after springing a trap. While he was unsuccessful, he did leave the genius with a large gash across his chest. Ino did what she could to heal the wound, but the cut was deep. It was still going to scar. "Damn… It's still stinging," Shikamaru grumbled. "Let's rest here for the night. I'm not even sure where we are."
Choji peered into the dark forest around them, the lack of sunlight obscuring most of their surroundings. Regardless, he spoke confidently, "I know where we are. We must've gotten a little sidetracked. We're up in the northern part of the Fire Country. Some of the ingredients to my family's food pills are around here." The chubby ninja pointed to a nearby bush to prove his point, where the buds of flowers were waiting for the sun to rise. "Those right there go into the curry pill."
Shikamaru sighed, propping himself up against a tree, "We're way off track then. How troublesome. No matter. We'll get some rest and start back tomorrow morning."
In seconds, Shikamaru was asleep. Ino and Choji, however, decided to stay up for a while longer, chatting to pass the time. After politely turning down an offer of chips, Ino looked around, speaking softly to let Shikamaru rest, "So, how far up north are we?"
Choji shrugged, opening the bag of snacks Ino had declined and eating slowly as he responded, "Pretty far. We're at least up near the Land of Rain, maybe even the Land of Grass."
His teammate groaned softly, "Great. We really are off track." She sighed, looking at the forest around them before continuing, "I guess it could be worse though. At least we all made it."
Choji knew she was thinking of Asuma. Only a few weeks ago, their sensei was walking treating them to barbecue. Now, he was dead. And while it was true that they had gotten vengeance, Asuma was still gone. Choji's own thoughts lingered to his fallen teacher from time to time, although he tried not to. As he glanced down at the bag of chips in his hand, he smiled, remembering Asuma's final words to him, specifically his encouragement of the chubby ninja to diet more. Keeping his soft smile, he tossed the half-finished bag aside, figuring that one night without snacking wouldn't do too much harm.
Ino chuckled as she saw her friend discard the bag, speaking softly, "Throwing chips away? You must be sick. Do you need me to examine you?"
Choji grinned softly, "I've just been thinking I shouldn't eat too much before bed. Who knows, the rest of my chips might come in handy later."
"Maybe," Ino said in response. "Well, I guess I should be getting to sleep. We've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All three of the elders wore matching frowns, Suki speaking in a calm tone despite her displeased look, "Tanken, I know you are scared, but we cannot afford to leave the safety of the cavern. The enemy has not tracked us here yet, so this is the safest place we can be at the moment."
Mai's father nodded in agreement, "Right now we are undetected and have the advantage of knowledge. We know the terrain here better, and we can mount an effective defense once we learn who and what we have to work with. With luck, the attackers won't find us here at all."
Looking defeated and terrified, Tanken readied to turn around and walk back to Mai. Roken, however, spoke in his quiet tone that commanded respect, "Hold on. With his parents fallen, Tanken is now the elder of the Zengosaku family. Whatever he has to say, we must listen to it as equals." The old man paused to turn to Tanken, giving him a gentle smile of encouragement.
The teenager breathed heavily for a moment before summoning the courage to speak, his voice evening out, "These shinobi… Their armor makes it look like that they come from a rugged land. I can't be sure, but I think that they might be from the Land of Earth."
Suki scoffed, "What reason would our own founders have to attack us?" While she could be cross, everyone listening knew she was a brilliant military strategist. Her words on battle tactics carried a lot of weight, and Tanken knew he would have to convince her in order to get them out of there.
Sighing, he continued, "I don't know if it is the Hidden Stone Village, but their armor looks a lot like the ones worn by the representatives that visit each year to celebrate the harvest. It could be a trap to make us think that, but I don't think it's worth risking the end of our people. I think we should leave."
Suki frowned deeper, not out of disgust, but out of concentration. She seemed to consider his words before pressing on, "Do you have any other reasons as to why you would suspect our allies?"
Tanken paused in thought, thinking back to the sight at the hospital. "Yes… I saw… I saw a huge cage made of rock or earth in the center of the village. I saw a lot of our people inside of it. It looked like they had been knocked out."
Roken blinked, "That sounds like…" he didn't bother finishing his statement, a sense of grim realization settling in.
Suki sighed, glancing at the other adults before nodding, "I agree with Zengosaku. Tanken may be wrong, but if we stay here, we risk the decimation of our entire people with a single blow. Normally, staying in this location to mount a stand would be an excellent idea…" she paused to let everyone know that her original intentions were indeed well-informed, "…But in this case, if we are actually fighting against Stone shinobi, this cave would be a deathtrap. I say we gather our people and run for the Hidden Rain Village or the Hidden Waterfall Village. But first, we need to make sure we are not followed. We should travel south into the Fire Country and lose our attackers in the forest. Once we are safe, we can proceed to our final destination."
The others nodded, but Tanken spoke up, "What about any other survivors who might be out there?"
Suki hesitated, "We will have to hope they make it out and find us later. We can leave a coded message here so any stragglers will follow us. I wish we could wait longer, but every second we stay here is a second closer we might be to our deaths."
Tanken nodded, letting Mai's father walk deeper into the cave to begin carving the message into the rocky wall. After a moment, he turned to the survivors and explained the escape plan. He detailed how they would mount a full retreat into the Land of Fire in order to lose the enemy in the massive country. He then explained that, once they were safe, they would go to the Hidden Rain Village to rest and consider their options. Everyone slowly stood and started to gather their things, their morale suffering further after hearing of the retreat. Regardless, no one questioned the order and, within minutes, the survivors were ready to go.
Once everyone was set and near the mouth of the cave, Roken turned around, his back facing the raging waterfall behind him. He wore his typical gentle smile and his voice seemed to resonate over the sound of the water, "Fellow villagers… For nearly two and a half decades, we have poured every ounce of our beings into this land. We first settlers crossed through the dense forests together and all shared the joy of reaching our destination safe and sound. We built our village from the ground up and farmed the land for its incredible bounties. We worked tirelessly to invent some of the most remarkable healing jutsu in existence. We created our own way of life, and even to this day, we follow our own customs with no outside influence.
"We raised our families here, doing a fine job, I might add, and I don't believe that there is a single person amongst us that regrets a single moment in this place. Most importantly, we did each and every one of those things together. There were no enemies between us here. We were a family. That is why, looking back at our accomplishments, I see it supremely fitting that we now leave this place together so that we may continue our way of life. We came here as shinobi from the Land of Earth, but I cannot in all good conscience leave our home as anything other than a ninja proudly belonging to the Hidden Plant Village."
By the end of his speech, Roken's tone had shifted from its normal quietness to one of overt pride. All at once, everyone standing before him knew that no matter what happened, they were not alone. Mai's father and Suki slowly approached Roken at the mouth of the cave and turned to face the crowd of survivors. Their faces were stoic, not a single hint of fear on them. The three of them then nodded to Tanken, who slowly walked up to be with them. Turning around, he joined the Elders Kurikosu, Gunshi, and Mitsukeru as the fourth and last remaining Councilor of Honzogakure. While they hoped their comrades and fellow leaders, the Sono family, were alive, they knew that they could wait no longer. Looking out over the people, his people, Tanken's resolve solidified, and he gave a firm, confident nod.
Sighing one last nostalgic sigh, he gazed farther back into the cave. Seeing the coded message in the rocky wall, a sense of hope filled him. He swallowed, then threw his hand into the air, giving the signal for everyone to disperse. In the blink of an eye, the cave was empty, the sound of the waterfall the only one still lingering.