Chapter 2
When Don woke up the next morning, he headed out early to go lay under his favorite tree. On his way there, he found his usual route blocked off by a number of anbu agents.
"Hold it there kid, this area is under lock down and investigation." one of the Anbu agents said.
"Why? I need to go this way to get to my favorite tree. It's only a couple blocks away from here." Don replied timidly.
"Kid, there's been a terrible tragedy here, I suggest you leave, I'm not going to ask again." the Anbu agent replied in a more serious tone.
"Fine..." Don pouted taking an alternate route to his favorite tree.
When he got there, he climbed up his tree to overlook the Uchiha district. What he saw was shocking; body bags everywhere, medical ninja disposing of bodies. Of in the distance he could hear the screaming of a young boy. Don looked as best he could seeing what looked like Sasuke being dragged off by Anbu agents accompanied by the Hokage.
Days later, word spread that the entire Uchiha clan had been wiped out by Itachi, only leaving his younger brother, Sasuke, alive. Don remembered what Itachi had told him, and despite being overwhelmed over what had happened, having been with Itachi moments before he killed off his own clan, he kept his word. He sought out Sasuke. It took some time, it was a rough beginning, but over time, he and Sasuke really connected and became friends. Now having no family of their own, both feeling alone in the world, they now had each other, like brothers, they felt the obligation to look out for each other.
Years had past and Sasuke had defected from the village. Don stood out on the wall of Konohagakure's Western gate. He stared out upon the dark forest, slightly above the horizon was a full moon. He wondered what Sasuke must have felt when he left. Perhaps the same thoughts he was having now. The weight of contemplation was heavy on Don. Would he jump, or would he just return to his house and pretend nothing had ever happened? If he jumped, he stood there, deep in thought as he reflected about all that had occurred over the years leading up to this point.
"Congratulations everyone, you have all been promoted to genin. Posted on the wall there are copies of the list of squads. Each one consists of three genin and one jonin trainer. So feel free to get up and see where you've been assigned. Next to the mentor's name is the name of the place where you are to meet them later on today." The academy proctor said.
Don lazily got up and made his way from the back of the room to the list of squads. He peered over the other students, scanning for his name. As a few of them left, he managed to squeeze through to get a better look. Nothing... his name wasn't to be found. He didn't understand.
"Don, come see me please." the academy proctor said.
Don left the remaining students to see what his proctor had to say.
"I'm sure you've noticed that your name wasn't on any of the squads listed. I'm sorry to inform you, but we had an odd number of people graduate, by poor circumstances, you became the odd man out. I'm sorry, Don, but you won't be a part of any squad." the proctor said.
Don was speechless. He barely passed the academy only to be shut out and left alone. He could only think of what his dad would say if he were still around.
"However, I do have some good news. We have ways of keeping people like you productive. Any time there is a mission that involves one of your peer's squads, we will use you as an attachment. You will still get in the field experience, but you won't be a part of any squad officially and your training will be left up to you." The proctor added trying to keep a smile.
By now, the room was empty. The silence only seemed to make Don's sadness echo. "I understand..." Don said leaving.
As he left the academy, people watched him and whispered. "Did you hear? Don's on attachment detail." "Isn't that what they do with bottom of the barrel academy students that they just like to use as cannon fodder?" "Yeah, I hear they call it death row. I hear it happens every year to one or two unfortunate kids."
Don overheard all these comments but just ignored them. His heart became bitter and dark. His worth was no more than cannon fodder.
Before he was able to completely leave the grounds, a girl with magenta hair approached him. "Don... I heard what happened. I... I'm sorry. What they did to you is awful." She then cracked a tiny smile, "At least they will let you be support for missions for people of your graduating class, that means you'll get to help me and my squad."
Don sighed, "Thanks for your concern Sachiko, but it's evident that I'm not meant to be in a squad. I've decided that I don't need one. I can become a good ninja on my own. I don't need anyone holding me back, or weighing me down. A squad would be too troublesome." he finished in a dark tone.
In an instant, Don felt a crushing blow being dealt to his face, causing him to skid across the ground. It was met with someone yelling at him at the top of their lungs.
"You think my daughter's squad isn't good enough for you?! You think my squad isn't good enough for you?! Go ahead with your lone wolf act! You forget that a wolf needs a pack or it dies! For a second, I actually had pity on you, but now I see why they put you on death row, you don't deserve a squad of your own!" Sachiko's mom yelled.
Everyone's attention was on them now. Sachiko's teammate Kazuki rolled his eye and muttered to himself "Tch. Idiot."
Don picked himself up, he had a busted nose and bloody face.
"Now get out of here you worthless piece of trash. You better hope they don't attach you to my squad or I'll make sure you won't survive the first five seconds." Sachiko's mom said.
Don spat blood into the dirt and made his way to the hospital to get himself patched up. When his nose was completely healed, he was allowed to go on a few missions. He mainly spent his days laying under his favorite tree in the village cloud watching or sleeping. He spent a little time training, but after that confrontation with Sachiko's mom, he had lost all faith in himself and all desire to do anything.
From time to time, he went on missions, experienced combat, and rarely showed his tactical prowess. It was something he didn't feel in a position to show because he wasn't technically a part of a squad. However, when he did show it, it would sometimes get noticed. Almost a year went by and Don had gotten used to this routine. One day, Don was sleeping under his favorite tree when he was kicked hard in the side by someone while met with a familiar roaring voice.
"Get up, you lazy ass! I can't believe this day has finally come. You're being attached as detail to squad thirteen today." a woman said. It was Sachiko's mom.
"Ow!" Don shouted as he jumped to his feet.
"Hurry up, I don't have all day for worthless pieces of crap." she said grabbing him by the arm and dragging him off.
After allowing Don to grab his gear from home, they finally met up with the rest of squad thirteen by the gates of the village. The only person out of the squad happy to see Don was Sachiko. Her eyes were lit up like fireworks as she saw him in the distance.
"You disgust me." The boy next to her said.
"Shut up, Kazuki!" Sachiko replied angrily. Their third companion remaining silent.
"Ok team, listen up. Our mission is to investigate the disappearance of a local engineer in a town only a day's trip from here..." she said then sighing, "I pleaded with the hokage to not attach dead weight for this mission because it'd be too dangerous, but he insisted so strongly..." she turned to Don. "You do anything stupid that endangers my team and I won't hesitate to cut you down. Got it?"
Don pale with fear, nodded.
"Mom, leave him alone. He understands his role in a squad. He wouldn't do anything to endanger our mission." Sachiko said.
"I'm not worried about intentional endangerment. It's the unintentional I worry most about. I don't trust this kid. He barely passed the academy, and he spends most of his time laying around sleeping and not training. He's a liability, not an asset to my squad, even as an attachment." her mom replied.
"Then why not just leave me behind if you feel such strong hate for me?" Don asked in a disgruntled tone.
"Because the hokage gave me direct orders to take you on this mission. If I disobey them, he'll have my head on a silver platter." she replied.
Don rolled his eyes in disbelief. There was something that didn't make sense here, he just didn't know what.
"Let move out!" their squad leader said and the headed east to where their destination was.
The sun went down and the moon rose high into the night sky. Squad thirteen had made their camp for the night. Don lay restless in his sleeping bag next to the fire. He slipped out of the campsite and headed out into the forest to be alone. He climbed up into a tree to stare at the night sky.
A half hour had gone by when he heard some rustling in the tree. Sachiko climbed up next to him. "Can't sleep?" she asked innocently.
"How did you find me?" he asked shocked.
"My mom taught me how to track people pretty well, and finding you was easy. Next time, make it less obvious when you disturb the local plant life." she giggled.
Don then turned his attention back towards the sky. "Why are you here?" he asked.
"I woke up and noticed you were gone. I was concerned, so I went looking for you." she replied.
"I don't need people to worry about me, I can take care of myself." he said in a dark tone.
"Why do you always have to act like a tough guy? Why are you so desperately trying to play the role of the lone wolf?" she asked.
"Who says I'm acting? Besides, you wouldn't understand. You've always had people there for you. A family, a squad. You wouldn't understand my world." he said.
Sachiko stared at him confused. "... Well, if you need someone to be there for you, I can be on of those people... you know... if you want."
"Just because I don't have something, doesn't mean I want it." Don replied.
Sachiko looked down in sadness. She then climbed down the tree and returned to camp.
"You're such an idiot for even bothering with that guy. Your mom can see right through him, how come you refuse to?" Kazuki said to her when he saw her slipping into her sleeping bag.
"Because I get the feeling there's more to him than meets the eye." she replied.
"Tch. That's just your emotional bias getting in the way of your judgment. The sooner you realize he's a worthless loser, not worth living, the sooner you can use your time and energy on more important things." Kazuki said.
"Go to hell Kazuki." she replied angrily turning over and falling asleep.
Don fell asleep in that tree and woke up to the early morning sun hitting his eyes. He headed back to camp to see everyone still sleeping. When his stomach growled, he quietly grabbed his cookware and headed off to a secluded place to fix himself some food. The rest of the squad woke up to the smell of food being cooked. They followed the smell until the found Don sitting by a fire frying up some meat and toast.
"What do you think you're doing?" Sachiko's mom asked.
"Making food." he replied.
Sachiko squealed, "I smells good! Can I have some?!" she then ran to his side.
"Sure, I guess..." he said.
Sachiko's mom stood speechless as her daughter devoured the food that Don had prepared. "I see where this is going and I don't like it."
"Ms. Kasume, please calm down. It's only food, and it smells delicious." the third companion said.
Kasume sighed. "You have a point, Kuro. You better have enough for all of us, Don. Or else."
"I do..." he replied timidly.
Squad thirteen ate all of Don's food leaving nothing for himself. The rest of the trip, Don's stomach was growling. When they finally reached the town where the engineer had gone missing, they booked a room at an inn and settled in. The next day, they'd begin scoping out the town.