"Untitled"

Forever Shinobi

Prologue

Shinobi…

That word used to mean something. It stood for so much. It would raise up the hopes of people, and strike fear into the enemies' hearts. The great shinobi of years past have been forgotten to most. After the Third Great Ninja War shinobi were looked down upon. Those people, who once were the most respected of all, were shunned. Many years went by without them, many peaceful years. But anyone who still has faith in the shinobi ways will tell you….

Peace can't last forever. The time will come when shinobi are needed again. There will be a time when the free people will be forced to kneel to great evil. And they will be begging for the shinobi, begging to be saved. And then we will see… will they help?

Chapter 1

Two adolescents walked side by side don't the bustling main street of the Market Square. One had long brown hair which was up in a pony tail, the other with short black hair that spiked at the top of his head. The one with the pony tail had firm facial features, clearly the older of the two. He donned a black long sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up, along with his matching black pants that stop just under the knee to reveal leg wrappings. These were common around this part of the Land of Fire. His counterpart sported a dark green t shirt with arm wrappings down to his knuckles underneath. On his lower section were black pants much similar to his friends but with no leg wrappings, his went down to meet his shoes.

Before the young men could reach the end of the strip they heard a commotion to the right of them, at a small Sake bar. The younger one whirled his head towards the noise while the elder just stopped and listened, staring straight ahead. All that could be heard was yelling.

"Maybe we should check it out." The younger one said

The older one sighed.

"Jioshi, we can't always be running into other people's business."

"I understand that… but this looks bad."

Just as Jioshi had said that the commotion grew. Now it had the attention of others surrounding the area.

The older one letting out another sigh as he said,

"Fine… go take care of it."

Jioshi nodded and started towards the commotion. The older one turned to watch and showed a little smirk. When Jioshi arrived at the point of all the noise everything ceased. All heads turned towards him. Maybe it was because he had nothing to do with the altercation, or maybe it was the fact that instead of trying to stop the yelling by yelling himself he grabbed a pot from the nearby stand and smashed against the bar.

"Who the hell are you?" one of the drunken men said.

"Yeah what do you want? Mind you own business!" another shouted.

Jioshi chuckled and walked a little closer towards the men.

"What is going on here?" Jioshi asked calmly.

"Money is missing from my drawer! These men said they saw this guy take it!" The bartender said pointing to a man who was the only one seated.

The seated man staring right at Jioshi said"Yeah I took it. Here take it back; I don't want to hear you whine anymore."

The man rose, approached the bar, and handed the ryo back to the bartender. On his way out he bumped into Jioshi with his shoulder.

What an asshole, Jioshi thought.

"Hey, that guy left without paying for his drinks!" the bartender muttered

"Oh, well here I'll take care of it," Jioshi said while reaching for his belt satchel, "I wouldn't want you to lose mo…" Jioshi stopped himself and looked down at his belt.

It's gone! That son of a bitch took it! Jioshi thought as he darted off in the direction the man went.

Jioshi could easily see the man's footprints in the loose dirt. So following him was not that hard. After some time the footprints came to an end.

What!? These tracks stop dead right here! There is no way he could just disappear!

Just then Jioshi felt a slight prick at his neck, followed by the sensation of blood trickling down his neck. He knew right away that he had been duped. He had fallen right into a trap. One minute he was following this damned thief and now he has a kunai at his throat.

"Look, all I want is my money back." Jioshi said trying to reason

"Shut up! You're not in any position to be negotiating!" Then man said pressing slightly harder with his blade.

"Fine keep the money… just let me go"

"Nah I think I'll just kill you and see what else you have to offer!"

Jioshi readied himself for pain, but felt none. He heard the clang of metal and saw the kunai on the ground. Jioshi whipped around to find the man who almost killed him being held of the ground by the throat. The thief tried to beg for mercy but his words only came out as gurgles. Jioshi looked at the man holding the thief. It was his friend, the older boy.

Jioshi let out a sigh of relief.

"Tairoki…how did you know where to go?" Jioshi asked

"I just followed the tracks…" Tairoki said dropping the man and walking past Jioshi

Why is he always such a smart-ass? Jioshi pondered.

Jioshi grabbed his satchel and ran after Tairoki. They both headed south towards the ocean.

Tairoki Shibuni of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, and Jioshi of the Yoshiro Clan, Two nomads, two Shinobi….

Two heroes.