Dairuko sat on a rooftop in Suna looking at the full moon when Hinata snuck up on him.
"Have a seat, Hinata." Dairuko smirked but never looked away from the moon.
"I thought I could finally catch you off guard, sensei." Hinata sulked as she sat next to Dairuko.
"Next time."
"Sensei?"
"Yeah?"
"What's wrong? You've seemed to be distracted all day"
"I see your stutter has left you." Dairuko said and Hinata played with her fingers before remembering that Dairuko always changed the subject when something was bothering him.
"Sensei, there's something you're not telling me."
"I'll tell you under one condition."
"Hmm?" Hinata replied and Dairuko looked away from the moon and dead straight in her eyes.
"You can never tell anyone about this. Understand?" Dairuko said in a serious tone that kind of scared his young student, who nodded. "Good." Dairuko smiled and returned to staring at the moon.
"Years ago; Natsuki, Itachi and myself were sent on a year-long mission undercover to confirm the status of a very bad man, whether he was alive or dead, as long as it was confirmed the mission was a success either way. The mission also required that we be split up for said year so… neither Itachi nor Natsuki know what happened to me during that year." Hinata listened attentively. "While on the mission I met a girl. She had the most beautiful silver hair but what really got my attention were her eyes. She had the type of eyes that called to you; they were filled with innocence and a taste for life."
Flashback
Dairuko sat in a tree overlooking the farm village on a crystal clear, sky-blue day. Dairuko had been undercover in this village for six months and he was not only well respected and known amongst the villagers, but they also liked him.
"Sasaki-kun!" a small child called out from the bottom of the tree.
"Hey, Shiro." Dairuko greeted and dropped from the tree.
"Saya-chan wants to see you."
"Alright, tell her I'll be right there." Dairuko ruffled the boy's hair before he ran off.
Dairuko returned to the village where everyone greeted him with smiles and he saw Genki picking apples for two children.
'He takes after his mother.' Dairuko thought to himself.
"Hello, Dairuko." A girl, the same age as Dairuko with long silver hair and deep blue eyes, greeted him.
"Hey, Saya." Dairuko greeted and gave her a hug. Saya and her father Shinomaru are the only two people who knew he was on a mission and that his real name is Dairuko.
"I'm ready to train with you some more." Saya said.
"Saya, we just perfected the creation of Genki yesterday. Our Wood Style training will have to wait for a bit."
"But when we're together we can do the legendary Wood Style used by Senju Hashirama, even though neither of us is actually a Senju." Saya said excitedly.
"I know, but my taijutsu is more than adequate for any threat. Besides, for me to use Wood Style I'll need you to be with me in harm's way."
"But I want to help you on the battlefield."
"You help enough as a healer, Saya, leave the fighting to me and the leadership to your father for now."
"Baka…" Saya muttered.
"If caring about your safety makes me an idiot then I'm idiot." Saya looked away with a blush and Dairuko cupped her cheek, turning her face toward his. She looked up at him, and he felt himself getting lost in her gaze. "Saya I-"
"Ah, Dairuko!" Saya's father, Shinomaru said. Shinomaru was an aged man who bears the many scars of war, both physical and emotional scars. He wore his old weighted flak jacket and shinobi uniform. "I wanted to speak to you." By this time Dairuko had released Saya and they acted like nothing happened.
"Yes, Shinomaru-san?" Dairuko asked.
"Walk with me, son." Dairuko nodded in response and walked off with him.
"Is something the matter, Shinomaru-san?"
"I have challenged the leader of the Dragon Clan to a rematch in two weeks."
"You think you'll be ready?"
"With your help, I will be."
"Me?"
"Yes, you will help me train until the two weeks are up."
"If that's what you want. I'll help."
"In those two weeks I kept getting better while Shinomaru-san barely kept up with me. It's only now that I realised he was training me, not the other way around. By the end of the two weeks he gave me his weighted jounin jacket, it didn't fit at first, but I grew into it." Dairuko said touching his jounin jacket.
"Sensei, your current jacket is weighted." Hinata said.
"It's the same jacket from those years ago. It's a good layer of defence."
"What happened to Shinomaru-san?"
"He didn't survive the rematch and, emotionally, neither did Saya. She sank into a deep depression while I assumed the role as the village leader and protector- like a mini-Kage." Dairuko gave a light laugh at the end.
Flashback
Dairuko snuck his way into Saya's house. He decided to check up on her since she hadn't been seen in a week.
"Why are you in my house?" Saya asked coldly, halting Dairuko mid-step.
"I was just checking up on you. No one has seen you in a while." Dairuko said.
"I'm fine now please… just go." Saya said and opened the door for Dairuko.
"Saya, you're not fine. I can see it."
"Go, Dairuko." Dairuko walked out the house and the door slowly closed behind him.
The next day, Dairuko returned to Saya's house determined that this time he wasn't leaving alone.
"Saya." Dairuko said as he walked into the house. This time, he walked straight through the front door.
"What do you want now, Dairuko?" Saya asked in a tone that sent shivers down Dairuko's spine.
"I'm here to get you out of this house, Saya, you can't be living like this." Dairuko said.
"Shut up and just leave me alone!" Saya exclaimed but Dairuko stood his ground.
"Not until you get pass this."
"Get pass what?!"
"Shinomar-"
"Don't you dare say my father's name!"
"Your father wouldn't want to see you like this."
"How would you know what my father wanted? You know that Ryuzaki is alive now, so why don't you go back to your village!"
"Because no father would want to see his daughter like this." Dairuko said and grabbed Saya by her arms. "I don't want to see you like this…"
"Let. Go!" Saya exclaimed then delivered a head-butt to Dairuko's nose. "You are the reason my father's dead! If you had gone instead of him, he'd be alive! Ryuzaki and his dragons would be dealt with, and we could have had a peaceful life here, all of us!" Saya screamed and started hitting Dairuko until he pinned her against the wall.
"Saya, I can't change what happened in the past because, heaven knows, I'd change a lot of things but, I can't, so we all have to live our lives. No turning back." Dairuko said then Saya broke down into tears and Dairuko just held her against his chest.
"Why did it have to be him, Dairuko? Why couldn't my father have won?" Saya asked question after question. Dairuko didn't bother answering her, he just kept holding her tight. "Why did he have to face them, Dairuko?"
"Because he loves this village but, more than that, he loves you. He didn't want you to be at the mercy of the Dragons any longer." He finally answered.
"Did you ever ask him why?"
"No… I guess I just understood his motives."
"He always said you were like the son he never had." Saya gave a light laugh before wiping her eyes.
"What about you, Saya, do you see me as the brother you've never had?"
"No… you're much more than that, Dairuko." Saya said as she and Dairuko both leaned in and kissed.
Dairuko again pinned Saya against the wall as she ran her hands through his hair, then wrapped her legs around his waist then-
"S-S-SENSEI!" Hinata exclaimed, her face as red as a tomato.
"Oh sorry, I got too into that part… and her." Dairuko said then raised his hand for a high five.
"Hentai." Hinata said with a straight face, still red.
"Hey, you never forget your first." Dairuko said with a shrug. "But anyway, let's fast forward a bit. Saya and I became a couple and the village began to prosper. Hell, I even made plans to expand the farmlands… then they came." Dairuko spat that last.
Flashback
"Sasaki-sama!" A farmer called out as he ran to Dairuko. "Black Dragons!"
"Alright, get everyone inside. Remember what we practiced." Dairuko said calmly and walked to the edge of the village to meet the Black Dragons.
"We're here for our offering." One of them said.
"If you'd like some lunch, feel free to join us. Otherwise, we have nothing to offer."
"Fine, we'll just take all your food so hand it over."
"Sorry, but if we give you everything what will we have?"
"You're farmers. Figure something out."
"You're right… come this way." Dairuko smiled and lead the men through the village.
"Where are the other farmers?"
"They're all inside. I don't want them to get caught in the crossfire."
"Of what?"
"This." Dairuko said and now that they were in the middle of the village, the men had no quick escapes.
Dairuko turned around and quickly broke the neck of the Black Dragon he had been talking to, then, he grabbed the body before it could drop, and threw it into the other two before using a knife to cut a rope with a cement block attached to it, which dropped on the lower half of the Black Dragons.
As the men screamed in pain because of their crushed legs, Dairuko walked towards them and got on one knee in between them.
"This is our offering." Dairuko said then placed his hand on both of their chests then slowly applied force and in seconds he crushed their chests. One died instantly the other, Dairuko had only punctured his lungs. "I'd focus on breathing right now… not that it will help." Dairuko said and slowly watched the man choke on his own blood.
"Sensei, did they really deserve to die like that?" Hinata asked.
"Yes, the Black Dragons were monsters and treated everyone who wasn't a Dragon like animals. That wasn't the worst thing they did either; women, children, they were all fair game for whatever the Dragons wanted to do." Dairuko said. "Ryuzaki sent another group to get their offering. This time there was no talking."
Flashback
Dairuko punched one of the Black Dragon members through the stomach, and then threw him to one side before grabbing another by his jaw and breaking it, then landing a powerful throat punch. Another member attacked Dairuko with a sword, but Dairuko quickly side stepped and broke the sword in half before grabbing the bladed half from the air and stabbing the Dragon in the throat.
Several men charged at Dairuko, who quickly dodged them and, before the last one could attack, Dairuko grabbed him by his face then slammed the back of his head into the ground. The next Dragon attacked, but Dairuko ducked under it and landed a powerful punch to the Dragon's gut, rupturing most of his internal organs and making him vomit blood. As the next one attacked, Dairuko intercepted him with a jumping knee to the face, launching him into the air where Dairuko jumped after him and power-bombed him, breaking his back and ribs before throwing him into his partners.
Dairuko grabbed another Dragon's head and delivered a head-butt that broke the latter's skull then Dairuko turned around and delivered a roundhouse kick to the neck of another Dragon, breaking their neck and launching them into the final Dragon, who fell down but, before they could get up, Dairuko had jumped onto their face killing them instantly.
"I held nothing back that night… I look at what I did at age 16 and a part of me is scared at what I could do now at 21…" Dairuko trailed off.
"Sensei, you don't have to finish the story." Hinata said.
"No, the story is almost over." Dairuko said. "It had been 11 months and the Black Dragons hadn't returned for two months so I decided to leave the village for a bit and clear my mind 'coz, man, was it clouded."
Flashback
Dairuko walked through the forest thinking on what to do next. The time for his mission is almost up and he'd have to return to Jiraiya and his team but, part of him wanted to stay with Saya in the village, he would even adopt Sasaki as his new identity and just leave the life of a ninja behind, which was stupid thing to think about since most kids his age were already trying out to be a chuunin but, he'd been doing this ninja thing longer than any of them ever had. He had met the worst kind of people, the best kind of people, made friends and lost them, but now things were different. Dairuko thought for a while, then decided to let fate decide. Saya's father had told Dairuko the story of how he had proposed to her mother by finding a special flower that changes colour according to the emotions of the person wielding it. Pink was neutral, red was longing and white was love; those three were the only ones Shinomaru explained to Dairuko. He also said he left the flower where he met Saya's mother, but had never told Dairuko where exactly.
After a lot of thought, Dairuko decided that if he didn't find the flower by noon, he would return to Team 0 and sever his ties to Saya but, should he find it, he will stay with Saya in the village and send a messenger bird to Jiraiya and Natsuki explaining his defection from being a ninja.
Dairuko recalled everything Shinomaru told him about when he proposed to Saya's mother and he quickly managed to figure out where the flower would be.
"Well this is going to be interesting." Dairuko said as he looked at the mountain which had recently had its path destroyed.
Dairuko jumped onto the face of the mountain, digging his fingers into the rock before launching himself higher and digging his fingers in again. He repeated this process until he reached the top of the mountain.
Once he reached the top of the mountain, he found a Middlemist Red –the flower he had been looking for- that was pink. When he picked it up, the flower changed to white.
"I actually found it… before noon." Dairuko didn't think he could do it, but he did, however, his victory was short lived. As he turned to look upon the village he saw smoke coming from it and without hesitation he jumped off the mountain, breaking the ground as he landed, and continued to run towards the village.
Dairuko arrived only in time to see the village in flames. People were running away while others were being killed by Black Dragons. Dairuko wasted no time jumping into the fight alongside Genki -who was using his wood style to fight off the Dragons and, as the fight progressed, Ryuzaki showed up in person. He had long grey hair; tied in a ponytail and a scar on his right eye. He was dressed in a black, metallic-like uniform with short sleeves.
"Stand down!" Ryuzaki ordered and the Dragons quickly retreated back and stopped fighting, but Genki attacked Ryuzaki by extending his arm in a spear form but Ryuzaki side-stepped it easily, and then grabbed Genki's arm before pulling the wooden creature toward him and ripping both of its arms off with ease and finally destroying Genki's head by stomping on it. "I hope you're smarter than whatever that was."
"You bastard!" Dairuko exclaimed, ready to lunge at Ryuzaki, but Ryuzaki brought in Saya.
"Believe it or not, I just came here to talk." Ryuzaki said. "All we wanted was what was promised to us by Shinomaru before he died."
"I was not aware of any deals therefore, fuck you!"
"The youth of today have no respect." Ryuzaki said, then punched Saya in the kidney causing her to scream. "Listen hear, boy, I really have no interest in arguing, so here's my deal; you defeat me, and everyone else will be spared. My men will leave your village be, but if I win-"
"Shut up and fight me so I can kill you before lunchtime." Dairuko said taking his fighting stance.
"So eager to fight… I admire that, but I hate your attitude." Ryuzaki said and jumped down into the makeshift arena composed of Black Dragons as walls.
Dairuko attacked first, but Ryuzaki caught the punch like it was nothing, then countered with a heavy shot to the stomach that knocked Dairuko into the ground before grabbing him again, but Dairuko broke free and connected with an uppercut then an elbow to the stomach followed by a jumping knee to the face, knocking Ryuzaki to the ground and- still in the air- Dairuko aimed to stomp on Ryuzaki's head, but the latter rolled away, then stood up rubbing his chin.
"Now this is a fight!" Ryuzaki exclaimed then his skin turned black and metallic, and his eyes went full red. "Now come and fight me!"
Dairuko charged in, but he was stopped by Ryuzaki giving him an uppercut that knocked Dairuko into the air, but Dairuko tried counter with a mid-air kick that Ryuzaki blocked, and Dairuko used it as a platform to jump back. Dairuko charged again and punched Ryuzaki, however, he just jumped over it. Dairuko then grabbed one of Ryuzaki's legs and tried to throw him, but the latter twisted his body so he could kick Dairuko's hand away.
As Ryuzaki landed, Dairuko was already there about to punch him but Ryuzaki dodged the punches and connected with heavy body blow, bringing Dairuko to his knees, gasping for air as blood dripped from his mouth. Dairuko tried for a sucker punch but Ryuzaki caught his fist, then brought his knee up to Dairuko's elbow, breaking Dairuko's arm before kicking him away. Dairuko struggled to get up but, as he did, Ryuzaki was in front of him unleashing a series of punches everywhere before hitting Dairuko into the ground.
"Is that all you got? How boring." Ryuzaki said as he picked up a near unconscious Dairuko by the head and punched him really hard in the face, sending him flying across the ground. "Bring me the girl." Ryuzaki ordered and one of his Black Dragons brought Saya to him. "You were quite alive when she was in danger, so you have until the count of 10 to stand up and fight; or I will kill her." Ryuzaki said. "Ten… nine… eight… seven."
"Dairuko, stay down!" Saya exclaimed as Dairuko started to stir.
"Yes, stand and fight for her, SIX… FIVE… FOUR!"
Dairuko managed to stand up but that was all he could do –stand. Ryuzaki could see that Dairuko couldn't fight anymore; his will was the only thing making him stand.
"You have to fight in order to save her! Three… two…" Before Ryuzaki could finish his countdown, Dairuko was impaled by several large harpoons through his legs, arms and body; and Dairuko instantly dropped to the ground.
"DAIRUKO!" Saya screamed and Ryuzaki sighed.
"One." Ryuzaki said softly, and stabbed Saya through her chest then let her body drop to the ground.
"I don't remember much after Saya's body hit the ground, but I know I woke up several days later. My wounds were healed and Saya had her hand on top of mine, there was a trail of blood leading up to where she had fallen on to me… I can only assume that Saya used what strength she had left to jump-start my own Senju healing. Of course, at the time I didn't know I had Senju healing..." Dairuko ended his story.
"I'm so sorry, sensei." Hinata said "What happened to the Black Dragons?"
"They were wiped out… eventually."
"So Ryuzaki is dead?"
"It was confirmed he was but… I just don't believe it." Dairuko said, turning his full attention to the moon. Hinata silently moved to sit closer to Dairuko, and rested her head on his shoulder.