(AN)
Hey there.
I have been reading a lot about how to build a good character, and I happened to stumble over some stuff about "Mary Sues".
I don't want this story to become bad, or my characters to become stereotypes. So if anyone thinks my character is becoming too perfect and dull, please let me know.
A special thanks to DrakePL and war sage, who I know took time to read my story.
As I have said before. I would really like your inputs and ideas, so please leave them in the reviews.
Enjoy.
(Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Star Wars)
"Speech"
'Thought'
"Force speech"
'Force thought'
The boy in the leaf
Current Year: 28 BBY
'The two dualists fought like demons, Malice with his "Djem so" style, and Sinion with his "Juyo" style. They fought so hard that they didn't realised they had ended up on the bridge.
There was a loud bang and they both fell, because of the shock wave that passed through the station. The reactor had exploded.'
x-x
A scream cut through the night sky of Konoha.
In an orphanage, not that far from the centre of the village, a boy, around thirteen years old, sat bolt upright in his bed, sweat dripping from him.
He looked around wearily, trying to see if that horrible red harried man was lurking in the shadows. But no; everything was as it should be. The dormitory was perfectly normal.
The dormitory was a long room, with twelve beds, that each was accompanied by a bookshelf, a bedside table, and a cupboard for the children's cloth.
Sorano, as the boy was called, tried to get his heartbeat down, and switched on his bedside lamp. He instinctively reached out towards his table, and took his glasses and one of the books that lay there. The title of the book said "The ancient city".
Sorano really loved to read stories about strange worlds, even though there were a lot of the words he didn't understood. It made him fly away into worlds of the unimaginable. He particular enjoyed fantasy, sci-fi, and stories with long double-crossing schemes. He didn't know why, but the concept of occult powers made him dream of possibilities, the tales of different worlds gave this strange longing and the schemes a thrill of excitement.
A few seconds after he had begun reading, hell broke loose in the dormitory.
Sorano's scream had made a lot of the other boys in the dorm wake up. A little boy, around three years old, started to cry, while one of the other boys looked around for a mere second, before he put his pillow over his head, and went back to sleep. Most of the boys however, were very fresh, and started to talk with each other.
"Who was it that screamed?" Asked a boy near the door. He had flat, black-blueish hair, tanned skin and brown eyes. His name was Matsuno.
He was one of Sorano's closer friends, even though that didn't say much. He was at some points the complete opposite of Sorano. Social, unlike Sorano's more invert person, he could make people laugh unlike Sorano who the other children thought had a weird humour, and he was brave whereas Sorano still was frightened by the boogieman.
"Don'tknowdontcare." Mumbled a boy from under his pillow. "Iwannasleep."
Matsuno just shrugged, before he began talking with another boy.
With all the noise in the room, it could only go one way.
'They need to quite…' Sorano thought. '…Or they'll wake one of the nurses.'
Sure enough, a few seconds later, Sorano could hear footsteps outside the dorm, and a few seconds later, sister Rosuna entered the dormitory.
Sister Rosuna was by far the nurse on the orphanage, that the children loved the most.
She was suprisingly young for a sister, with long nut-broen hair, slender build and brown eyes.
She had lost her own child during birth, and had therefore devoted all the love she couldn't give her own child, to the orphans.
But right now, she was really strict. Almost scary.
"All right, that's enough chit-chat…" She said, with a voice that could command a king. "…Everyone, back to sleep."
When she had ordered all the boys back to bed, and had sung a lullaby to the crying child, she walked over to Sorano's bed. She sat down beside him, and gave out a sigh.
"Was it another nightmare?" she asked, when Sorano looked at her.
Sorano nodded. It was just another nightmare. It was happening more often now, but his nightmares weren't something new.
According to the adults, he suffered from something called 'dream anxiety disorder'. When he had asked why that was, they had told him it was a result of his parents death.
Rosuna gave him a hug, and a soft smile.
"Would you like to tell me about it?" she asked "…It always makes me feel better to talk about it, if I have something troubling me."
Sorano looked at her in a few moments, before he began telling.
"I've had this dream before…" he said "…It's about a man, who enters a strange building. Then he pulls a sword of fire, and start killing everyone in the building. Some of them fight back, most of them run away, but all as one meets their fate at his blade."
Rosuna nodded, and put her hand on his shoulder. "And then you wake up scared?" She asked.
Sorano shook his head. "No. I don't wake up, and I don't feel any horror at the moment. Instead it's like… there is a purpose, a meaning…" Sorano looked at Rosuna, with shame in his eyes, before he continued. "… After everyone is killed, he destroys the building, and runs away, and I go with him."
Rosuna looked sadly at him, and it gave him a feeling like she was keeping something from him.
Sorano continued. "The last part I can't remember. It's all colours and light, then an extreme heat, and then I wake up."
Before he could say anything more, Rosuna had swung her arms around him again, humming the same melody she had used on the three-year old.
Sorano had always loved the sound of her voice. It remembered him about safety, a warm fire in the chimney, but also something that had been missing for a long time. 'Perhaps she makes me remember my own mom?' He thought. But quickly scrapped that thought.
His mom had been killed during the attack of the nine-tailed demon fox thirteen years ago, along with his father, and everybody else they had known. He had been so young that not even the barest memory could had survived, not even memories of his family.
Rosuna stroke the boy's brown hair. "Don't worry…" she said in a soft voice. "…It was only a nightmare, and nightmares can't hurt you."
The boy gave her a grateful look, before she kissed him on the cheek, and stood up to leave the dorm.
As the door closed behind Rosuna. Sorano took one last look around in the dormitory, before he went back to sleep.
'She's right.' He thought, as the blackness of sleep crept over him. 'He can't hurt me. He's not real.'
x-x
It was a nice day in Konoha. The sky was blue, a slow breeze flew through the streets, and birds were singing.
The market district was nice too. People were walking through the different stores, chatting with each other, buying groceries, and just doing what they found nice.
But inside the Yamanaka clan compound, hidden behind their flower shop, there was a tense silence.
Inoichi was stunned. His mouth hanged wide open, and he had trouble speaking.
"She did… she did WHAT!"
The scholar just looked apologising at him.
"I told you Sama…" He said. "She just left, in the midst of her botany lesson. And when my assistant tried to stop her, she smacked him in the head, and called him a snobby no-good bookworm."
Inoichi sighed. No wonder she wouldn't talk to him, but had marched directly into her room. She had probably been afraid of, what he would say to her. Not unusual for a girl who was thirteen years old, but bad enough.
He rose from his chair, and walked over to the scholar.
"Don't think anything of it…" He said, while he gave an attempt on one of the fourth Hokage's famous reassuring smiles. "… I'm sure she was just upset by something."
The scholar nodded, but his expression was still grim.
"That may be so sama…" He said. "… But considering the tension, between the families, I think you need to do something drastic."
With those words, the scholar excused him, and left the head of the clan to be alone with his thoughts.
Very few knew it. But the Yamanaka clan was under a major crisis.
The Yamanaka clan was, like the Hyuga clan, divided into two branches. Although it wasn't a question about where you were borne, as to what type of person you were.
The most now one, was among the clan-members called 'the sword family'. They were the warriors of the clan, and they were outgoing and brave. The other branch was known as 'the book family'. They were scholars, physicians and philosophers. They were usually more peaceful, even though some of them also went on missions, mostly as medics.
The problem was however, that the leader of the clan originated from the sword family. Therefore it was common that the leader always sympathised with the sword family. Because of that, the sword family had in a long time thought themselves above the 'no-good bookworms'.
Inoichi himself had always strived to be a good and fair head of the clan. But it hadn't been the same when his father was the head.
Back then, some of the people in the book family had begun talking about a coup. It had actually come rather far, but before it could escalate, Inoichi's father had died and Inoichi had taken his place.
Because of his fairness he ruled with, the coup had died before it even began. But Inoichi feared, that some of the members of the book family might believe, that Ino was just as bad as the old heads, and just make the coupe to be on the safe side.
So far, Inoichi had still been capable of holding them at ease. He was a man in his best age and as healthy as he could be. Besides, he had told them, Ino might not be that bad.
But everyone knew, that the life of a ninja was dangerous. Inoichi could die on a mission at any time.
Inoichi didn't knew where to go, especially not with Ino's new actions. That might just have been the straw.
He sighed. Why was it so hard to be head.
x-x
Sorano had, once again, ended in trouble. To be honest, it wasn't his fault. That idiot Sanon just couldn't understand that Sorano was right, and he was wrong.
"Of course the scientist is better than the Ninja." He said, a look of increasing frustration, over the other boy's obvious stupidity, planted on his face "…He would be capable of developing something that could annihilate the entire shinobi society."
"That's not true…" The other boy said "…because the shinobi would had killed him before he could even think about it."
The argument became louder and louder, until Sorano finally snapped, by Sanon's declaration.
"Honestly. I don't know what up with you." Sanon said with a shrug. "Everyone knows a shinobi is the coolest thing there is, you baka."
It had been the last comment, that made Sorano snap. Nobody, absolutely nobody, called him an idiot.
"I. AM. NOT. AN. IDIOT. YOU MORON!" He shouted, and he lunged himself towards Sanon.
The boys rolled around on the floor, kicking and hitting each other. Sorano tried desperately, to make Sanon cry, but none of his hits seemed to really hurt the boy. Sanon however, landed hit after hit on Sorano, and each of them hurt.
"Is that all you got?" asked Sanon, when they finally parted. "…Because you hit worse than any of the girls."
Sorano just starred at the boy in front of him. 'Why is he not hurt?' He asked himself. 'I used all my strength, so why isn't he hurt?'
His line of thought was promptly interrupted, when Sanon hit him hard on the jaw.
Sorano fell back on the ground, and his glasses fell off. He tried to get up, but Sanon was now sitting on top him, like he was some sort of trophy.
Sanon smirked. "Just face it four-eye. You're a weak, lowlife, baka."
Sorano didn't answer. Instead, he sunk his teeth into Sanon's upper leg. Sanon screamed, and he forcefully tried to move his leg. This putted him just enough out of balance, to let Sorano get loose.
Rosuna burst through the door, when she heard Sanon scream. She hoped beyond hope, that it wasn't as serious as it sounded.
When she finally saw the two boys, they had murder in their eyes. Sanon was pulling in the Sorano's hair, while Sorano had gotten hold of a book, and was now hitting Sanon in the head with it.
She got a hard look in her eyes, and she forcefully pulled the two apart.
"What in the name of Kami is happening here?" She asked.
The two boys looked at her, before they pointed at each other.
"He started it" they both yelled.
Rosuna looked sharply at them both. "I don't believe both of you started it this time…" She said. "…and to be quite honest, I don't really care. What I'm concerned about, is the way you two acted towards each other."
To her great pleasure, both boys looked actually ashamed of what they had done. But Sorano might just be faking it though. The boy was good at giving false impressions, and had more than ones made the nurses believe his lies. That was, until that day he was found with his hand in the cookie-jar, while proclaiming that it wasn't him. Since then, he had been much more careful with his lies.
"I'm sorry, Rosuna-chan." Sanon said. "But it was Sorano-teme who started."
"I didn't start this conflict!" Sorano shouted. "And I am not a MORON!"
Rosuna had to put all her strength in her arm, trying to keep hold of the boy. When he finally eased his attack, she dragged the two boys towards the headmistress office.
As they walked down the corridor. Rosuna had a lot of thoughts, but particular one nagged her.
'The head-mistress is not gonna like this.'
x-x
Evening had fallen, and Ino still hadn't left her room.
It wasn't the first time she had locked herself in her room like that, but it was the first time that she had been there so long.
Inoichi and Hoseki had made ready for dinner, eaten, and cleaned up. They had then sat down with some things to do.
But now it was late, and Inoichi still hadn't talked with his daughter about that stunt of hers. He had originally thought about waiting until she had calmed down, but now he thought that he might as well take the talk now.
He got up, and stepped through the door and up the stairs. He walked through the hallway, and knocked on the door to his daughter's room. "Ino?" he called. "Ino, open up!"
A few seconds later, the answer came. "GO AWAY DAD! I DON'T WANT TO TALK TO YOU! I WANT MOM!"
Inoichi shook his head. It was always the same. Every time his daughter had a tantrum. She would lock herself up, and not talk to him in a million years.
'What I wouldn't give for a boy.' He thought, as his wife, Hoseki, walked into their daughter's room.
Ignoring the old thought about a boy in the family, Inoichi walked down the stairs, and opened the door to the flower shop.
There was more than one reason he left the house. First of all; He needed some fresh air, Secondly; He wanted to give his wife and Ino some time alone, and finally; He needed to get going, if he was to be in time for the poker tournament.
'This is a bloody hell. Kami, why can't anything be simple'.
As he walked down the market road, he came to a realisation. Some of the others might be able to help him. With that thought in mind, he started walk faster.
x-x
While Inoichi was walking down the market road, struggling with his headache. The headmistress sat with her head in her hands. She too had a headache.
On her desk lay around a dozen papers, all about children misbehaving.
"Third time…" She said. "…Third time, on a week, and that's not even counting the incident in the dining-hall."
The nurses squirmed under the eyes of the headmistress. Rosuna was standing in the middle of them, her head was straight forward, but her eyes were looking at the headmistress. She personally thought the older woman was exaggerating things a bit.
She was right of course. The children in the orphanage were all troublemakers.
Three weeks ago, seven of the boy from dormitory 5 had snuck in on a nearby restaurant, and stolen everything in the fridge. It had coursed a severe bill to the orphanage, and the boys were grounded in two weeks.
Another time, a couple of the older girls had played with makeup on the nurses, who all had woken up with weird colours all over their faces.
Then there were all the regular fights among all the children, like the one with Sorano and Sanon.
All of these incidents had been severely punished, but it didn't help. The mischief's were becoming more often and more violent. It had topped a few days ago, where it had gone completely wrong in the dining-hall. Rosuna shuddered when she thought about it.
The headmistress was now walking up and down the room, with a stern face.
"Of all the troublemakers…" She went on, "…Are those from dormitory 5 by far the worst lot."
Rosuna's head snapped towards the headmistress. That was her children.
She stepped forward, and cleared her throat.
"They're not that bad." She said. "They are active children, but they aren't bad."
"They aren't?" asked the headmistress, an eyebrow raised in disbelieve. "Sanon has been in more fights than any of the other children. Matsuno has attitude problems, and Rano was the one who led the robbery in the restaurant. All your children."
"Well, they're not all bad…" Rosuna replied. "…Sorano for instance…"
"I wouldn't be so sure about that kid." The headmistress replied. "He's slippery as an eel, but even he is a troublemaker. Ever wondered why Sikaro got that stomach-ache, or all the spices that have gone missing?" The headmistress gave a small chuckle. "Heck I've even come to believe, that he had a hand in the dining-hall incident."
Rosuna was bewildered, and completely lost for words. She knew her children were unruly. But surely none of them would poison another one.
The headmistress got back in her chair, and sighed.
"I understand where you're comming from Rosuna. You're young, you're nice and you love those children. But I can't take it anymore, nor can the orphanage. They need to get out."
Rosuna gasped. "You can't throw them out." She said. "They're only children. You can't do it."
The headmistress looked at her with amusement.
"I'm not going to throw them out." She said. "But I am going to put them on the adoption-list."
This made Rosuna relax a little, but another nurse, who had remained still, spoke up.
"What about all the misbehaving, the stealing, and the dining-hall incident?" she asked. "We can get into a lot of trouble, if the families accuse us of cheating them."
The headmistress smiled, and replied with a clever voice. "I'm going to do what I always do. I'm gonna recommend them for ninja-academy."
x-x
If one was to enter Konoha that evening, they would have seen a most peculiar show.
All shinobis in Konoha was heading for the same building. An old training building that had stood there in many years.
The reason? Poker night.
If there was one thing in Konoha all shinobis enjoyed, it was a good game of poker. But unfortunately, shinobis who played poker had a nasty tendency to damaging the place they played in. If you were looking for names, there would be those of Tsunade Senju, Matio Gai, and Tsume Inuzuka.
This tendency had resulted in, that most casinos had stopped working in the shinobi-village.
This however was bad for the economy. So in order to make the casinos return, the sandaime Hokage had established a special kind of poker, called Shinobi-poker, and held a special tournament from time to time.
Shinobi-poker was even more exiting for the shinobis, because unlike usual poker, they were allowed to use their skills, as long as those didn't involve a brawl.
Inoichi entered the old building, and looked for his usual table, number three Jounin.
When he found it, he sat down, and looked for his poker pals.
The tournament was arranged in the shape of a clock. There were twelfth tables, placed in a circle, that each could have twelfth participants. There were six for the chunins, three for the jounins, and three for the special jounins. Genins weren't usually allowed to play, as they were still considered to be not grown-ups.
In the middle of the room was placed a larger table. This was the champion table, the place where all the winners from the other tables would compete in the championship in shinobi-poker.
Over at table two for Jounins, Kakashi Hatake and Matio Gai was already seated.
The ever enthusiastic Gai, was loudly pronouncing, that if he couldn't defeat Kakashi, he would do 600 laps around the village, and if he couldn't do that, he would run to the border and back in full speed.
Kakashi however, just looked at Gai, and said something that made Gai burst out about his 'Hip and cool attitude', and something about youth.
At the first table for the special Jounins, Anko Mitarashi had thrown her feet on the table, while she talked with that Ebisu guy. He, on the other hand, seemed in rather great discomfort.
Inoichi smiled when he saw Anko sitting there. He knew her from back when she had been abandoned by
Oruchimaru, and had also been her consulter. He therefore knew, that this was one of the few social activities she ever came out for, and that she actually enjoyed it.
"Hey Inoichi, how's it going?"
Inoichi looked around. Walking towards his table was one of his oldest friends, Shikaku.
Next to him was Choza, followed by Tsume, who planted her feet on the table as soon as she sat down, and finally Hiashi.
Inoichi was mere seconds away from telling them about his problem. But then a thought stroked him.
He couldn't drag them into his problems. They were something he would have to deal with himself. Besides, what wouldn't they think about his clan?
"Good evening everyone" He cheered with a false smile. "Ready to be lightened for your ryos?"
Choza smiled. "I don't think you'll be as lucky as last time. I have trained my poker face in months."
Shikaku shrugged. "You're wasting your time Choza. Those troublesome Yamanakas can read even the smallest cracks in your mask. Only Hiashi and Fugaku can have a chance against him."
"Speaking of that stuck up Uchiha, where is he?" Asked Tsume, while she looked around. "The tournament is starting in a few minutes."
As if conjured by his name, the stern leader of the Uchiha-clan arrived, along with the other participants from the Uchihas. He walked over to the table, and took the last remaining seat.
Before anyone else could react, Tsume spoke.
"What took you so damn long?" She asked. "Even that Kakashi gaki over there came before you."
Over at the other table, Kakashi sneezed.
Fugaku looked at the Inuzuka matriarch for a few seconds, before he answered. "Clan meeting took more time than expected."
Tsume just shrugged, and dived into her drink.
A bell sounded, and everyone in the turned towards the sound. They watched as the Hokage got up from his chair at the main table, to say his usual speech.
"Once again I, like most of the shinobis in our village, have been called to here by my desire of shinobi poker. And once again, I have been told that should tell the rules, if I ever wanted to enter the competition again. This I have of course gladly agreed to, as it gave me an excuse to abandon my worst enemy."
Several of the Jounins chuckled at the hidden joke, while the younger chunins looked confused.
"But this time, I got a surprise for you." The Hokage said, to great confusion of the shinobi forces. "I would like to have last Championship's winner, Matio Gai, give the speech this year."
The look of horror on the shinobis faces could not be described. They looked at the tai-jutsu specialist, who himself looked as if he had blessed by Kami.
Inoichi sighed. This was going to be a long evening.
x-x
After a long speech of youth and promises of running around Konoha, the games could finally begin.
The first few rounds were quite normal. Hiashi won the first round, after which Shikaku took the second pot. Choza won by some miracle the third round, and Fugaku won the fourth and fifth round. The last one was by bluff and Sharringan.
Neither Inoich nor Tsume had won any rounds. But whereas Tsume was annoyed and angry, Inoichi didn't really give it a thought. His mind was still on the dilemma of the families. He had, however, already consumed quite a lot of sake already.
They were in sixth round now, and tension was rising. The pot had already been raised to seven-hundred and forty-four ryos.
Choza had hidden his face behind his cards, so that only his eyes were visible over them. He was desperately trying to hide his smile.
Tsume had angrily thrown her cards, in her last turn. It was a ten, a five and three fours. She was now giving angry looks at anyone, who dared look in her direction.
Fugaku threw some more ryos on the table. "I raise with twenty."
Hiashi had his Byakugan active, but all the participants had already infused their cards with chakra. He only gave Fugaku a cold look, before he too threw twenty ryos in. "I call." he said.
Shikaku looked first at Fugaku, then at Hiashi, before he took a drag from his sake. He sighed, "I fold." He said, as he threw his cards. Three sevens, a four and a two.
They all then looked at Inoichi, who was still thinking of his problems.
Shikaku carefully tugged him in the arm. "Inoichi?"
Inoichi almost flew two feet up in the air, and looked around confused. "What! Err sorry. What?"
"Shikaku just folded," Choza said. "It's your turn now."
"Right… right…" Inoichi said, before he too threw his cards. "I fold too."
Tsume muttered a small curse, and Choza dropped his cards on floor, effectively disqualifying him from round. Shikaku got his sake in the wrong throat, and even Hiashi lifted an eyebrow in surprise.
"I take it that something is troubling you." He stated.
Inoichi snapped his head towards the Hyuga head. How the hell could he know that? Could the Hyugas also read minds?
"What makes you say that?" he asked.
Before anybody else could answer, Tsume took the word.
"Why he thinks that? You just folded a full house your Idiot!"
Inoichi looked at his cards. Sure enough, on his place lay two tens and three eights. A full house. He couldn't believe it, he had just folded the best hand he had had the entire game.
Shikaku finally managed to get his coughing under control. "So what's the problem?" he asked.
"Yeah Inoichi…" Tsume asked "What's up?"
They kept asking him again and again, until he finally broke.
"I can't take it anymore!" He shouted. Tsume leapt backwards, and muttered a curse about enhanced hearing. Inoichi didn't care. "My clan is probably going to run into a family war. If I don't show them that ones I die, they'll get a leader who is equal towards all of them. AND I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO THAT." He lowered his head onto his arms, and started to sob.
Shikaku looked at him with concern.
"Well… That explains a lot." He said.
Inochi looked up. "It does?"
"It certainly does…" Hiashi said "I too know how difficult it can be with clan-problems. For a long time, before me and my wife got Hanabi, there was a lot in my clan who believed my daughter Hinata, to be too weak to be the leader."
He took a gulp of his sake, before he continued. "In the end, some of the elders actually thought about overthrowing me."
Inoichi leaned forward. It was almost the same problem he now was dealing with. Except he was dealing with a Family
"Then what did you do?" He asked.
"The only thing I could." Hiashi answered. "I went over it with my wife, and we decided to get a second child."
Inoichi looked stunned at him. A second child? How could anyone be so cold, towards their own children?
Hiashi seemed to sense what he next said was. "Don't take me wrong. I love my children, both of them. But it was for their own protection."
Inoichi nodded. It sounded as a good argument, and the idea wasn't bad either. There was only one problem.
"Hoseki doesn't want any more children." He said. "She says she doesn't want to go through labour again."
Tsume frowned. "What kind of weak pup are you?" She asked. "You're the man. You should just go into that bedroom and take her."
Inoichi, Shikaku and Hiashi sweat-dropped. 'Who is she to talk?' Inoichi thought. 'She has scared two different husbands away, even though she was carrying their children.'
Shikaku got up from his chair, and walked over to Inoichi.
"Listen…" He said, while he patted Inoichi on the back. "…this isn't the best place to talk about those kinds of things. So why don't we find a bar and talk about it there."
Inoichi looked at his old friend. "You're sure?" he asked.
Shikaku nodded. "Sure. This was becoming a drag anyway, and I have already spent too many ryos.
Tsume stood up. "I'll go with you." She said. "I was getting tired of this anyway."
She looked over at Choza."You're coming?" She asked.
Choza shook his head. "No thanks…" he said. "I have still plenty of ryos and I…" His sentence was interrupted, when Tsume got hold of his ear, and dragged him out of his chair.
"You're coming." She said.
As the four left the building, Hiashi and Fugaku continued to play.
Hiashi was a formidable player. But even with his Byakugan active, there was one thing he never saw. The triumph in Fugaku's eyes.
(AN)
Hey everyone thank you for reading, and I hope you'll continue.
As another thing. I really like to read theories about stories, so I would really like to have you putting theories on how this story could, and in your opinion should go, in the reviews.
Until next time. Please review
