Hey everyone. If anyone's actually reading this, you probably don't know me unless you're a die-hard fan. I've never written in this particular section before. I don't know how much I'll be updating this. I'm mostly just using this story to practice writing the characters in an original fiction story of mine. As for reviews, they are most welcome except for flames. I much prefer constructive criticism to someone yelling about how much they hate my story.
Shimogakure
By: Shendo Pendragon
Shikamaru's Report
What a drag. I should be watching the clouds go by right now. Instead I'm on this stupid mission. Why was I the one stuck with surveying the land within the fifty-mile radius of Konohagakure? Ugh. Scouting is such a pain. Especially when something happens along the way. A total of five bodies have been located near the village. Two females and three males. All children. The medic-nin on my team assures me that they are all still alive. We also discovered another body further away. This time a woman, probably in her late 30's though I cannot be sure. The autopsy states that she has been dead for at least a day. We brought the live one's back to the village and they're currently in a stable condition, resting in the hospital. Excluding what has been said above, there have been no incidences or casualties.
Tsunade, the current Hokage (Konoha's leader), looked up from the report she was reading. Shikamaru, Konoha's laziest Ninja was still standing in front of her, waiting for her confirmation so that he could leave. He didn't get it. Instead, she delved deeper into the subject.
"Do you know anything else about the children?"
"I did not get a chance to interrogate them. When I last checked, they were still unconscious. They're clothing is casual and nothing they are carrying suggests anything about them that we don't already know, except for one of the males who was carrying several kunai knives. However, we didn't search them too thoroughly, if you know what I mean, and we may have overlooked some things."
"Well, go back to the hospital and wait for one of them to wake up. You will interrogate that person."
"Why me?"
"Because no one else happens to be in the room at this time. Besides, Ibiki happens to be busy and you have nothing better to do. And no, staring at the sky does not count as something better to do."
Shikamaru grunted and left the room. Tsunade smirked slightly as she went back to her paperwork.
About a half an hour later, one of the newcomers had woken up to find that he wasn't in the forest anymore, and he couldn't remember exactly what had happened. Instead, he was lying in bed in what he was quite certain was a hospital. He wasn't alone in the hospital room, either. A boy about two or three years younger than him was sitting in a chair nearby, staring out the window. Might as well get his attention.
"Can I help you?"
"Well, yes. You can. I've been put in the annoying position of figuring out where you're from and if you're any threat to our village. We've been extra cautious after the things that happened here. So if you would be so kind as to answer my questions, this can go by fast enough and I can go back to watching the clouds."
"Fair enough. Go ahead and ask away."
"Well, first off, what's your full name?"
"Call me Libra. I have no last name."
"Libra, as in the Zodiac?"
"Yeah, as in the Zodiac."
"So, Libra, where are you from?"
"The Name of the village I'm from is hardly important. Besides, I doubt you'd have heard of it. Not many have."
"How about you humor me?"
"Fine, the place is called Shimogakure. Like I said, you won't have heard of it. It's a long ways off from here."
"If it's such a long ways away, why are you here?"
"Well, how can I put this? Shimogakure wasn't actually a hidden village until about twelve years ago. Before then it was an icy wasteland. But one day, a man with a vision came along with his plans of conquest. First he experimented on some poor souls who were down on their luck, promising greatness. Only twelve survived and they became the founding members of Shimogakure. They took on the names of the twelve members of the zodiac, having no names of they're own. You've probably figured out that I'm one of the twelve, hence the name."
"But you aren't much older than me. How could you possibly be a founding member twelve years ago? You were a baby then."
"Actually, I was three at the time. But, you're right. A toddler doesn't make much of a founder of a ninja village. In fact, I didn't do any founding. The other members did all of it. But the fact that I had survived the gruesome experiments that had taken so many lives was good enough for everyone else so I got credit for it anyways. Well before I was so rudely interrupted I was getting to the most important part. Together, the twelve of us defeated many ninja. At first, we were only strong enough to beat genin, but as our skills progressed we could take on higher-level ninjas. The survivors of our many battles were judged. If deemed worthy, they would become our servants. If not, they were killed. After awhile, our small group became an army. Soon we'll be powerful enough to stand up to Konoha."
"Great, so there's a powerful force out there, and you decided go way out of your way to tick them off by traveling all the way over here and betray your village by revealing your plans to us. Sounds like such a pain and a little too good to be true. Where's your motivation?"
"Well, let's just say my Ideals don't match theirs. For one thing, I'm not as fond of bloodshed as some of the others. On average, we're a merciless, cold, savage, bloodthirsty lot. But a few of us aren't. I for one despise what the others stand for. A few of the others that share my conviction came with me. We were followed and got separated into groups. There were even a couple of casualties…"
A pause. On closer inspection, Shikamaru discovered that Libra's eyes were watering ever so slightly. He waited as he regained his composure.
"I'm sorry, I showed a little bit more emotion than I would have liked. The basic idea behind my story is that I didn't come here simply to double-cross Shimogakure. I'm here to ask for help. It's in our mutual interest to put and end to Shimogakure. Oh yeah and where's the ramen shop? I'm starved and everyone knows that hospital food sucks."
"But what about all that stuff about stopping Shimogakure?"
"We'll handle that later. Right now, I'm hungry."
"You can't leave the hospital."
"Watch me."
With that, Libra got out of bed and headed for the window. Sliding it up, he jumped out the window. What he didn't realize was that his room was on the fifth floor.
"GAAAAAAAHHHHH!"
THUD
"I'm ok."
Shikamaru sighed.
"I guess I'm going to be the one who has to look after him. What a drag."
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Sorry about the weird ending. It was getting too serious for my tastes and my twisted sense of humor had to cut in. Oh well. Hopefully I'll do better in the next chapter. Please R & R and tell me what you thought.
Shendo