Episode 3

Cold Shikage: Mission Accepted

The grey eyes of Kojama sprang to life as he awoke to darkness. The sun was still far beneath the horizon, resting as Kojama was moments ago. Since nothing startled the boy, and he couldn't recall having a nightmare, this sudden waking puzzled him.

He considered trying to close his eyes and return to sleep, but he was oddly wide awake. This sudden alertness baffled the boy as he rattled his mind to search for its cause.

The time was even earlier than it was when Jiro woke him the morning before. Still, the boy figured the hour was surely closer to morning than midnight. With no clock or watch to rely upon, he had only his perception of how long he felt like he had slept. How well-rested he felt would've led the boy to believe he had slept through the entire night, if only the sky wasn't still drowned in darkness and starlight.

He sat up, his lap covered by the thin white sheet which separated him and the comforter blanket. The overlaying comforter was contorted into more of a messy pile than a blanket. This suggested to Kojama that his sleep had not been as peaceful as he was led to believe. He looked at the comforter, then at the sheet which veiled his Indian-style crossed legs.

"That's weird... I feel like I slept like a baby. Why's my blanket all messed up?" he asked himself aloud.

He scratched his head, then shrugged it off. With sleep far out of his reach, he decided to pass the time by reading his book until the sun's rise. He then retrieved the book from his nightstand. Once the book dropped from his hand into his lap, it opened up to a seemingly random page which he hadn't yet read.

Although Kojama wouldn't typically skip around in a book, an image on this particular page interested the boy. The image was of a large and menacing creature. A caption in small print below the picture read "The fabled Negative-Tails," with a number and letter designating which diagram it was in the book. The picture was not captured by a camera, but painted by an unnamed artist with immense presumable talent.

"Huh? I've never heard of a 'Negative-Tails' before... it looks kinda freaky," noted Kojama.

The creature appeared to be a large translucent blaze of dark purple chakra, similar to the chakra which the Jaakuna Te emitted. Visible beneath the monster's makeshift skin were large bones that didn't seem to connect in any structurally stable order. They looked as though they were suspended, floating inside the creature.

No unique facial or bodily features were immediately noticeable to Kojama, besides two intimidating shining blood-red eyes. In some ways, it looked like a creature parents would tell their children about if they had misbehaved. The spectral beast was depicted surrounded by woods, with a large pond in the background.

The boy began to read from the page, and learned about the beast. He discovered that the beast was a legend centered in the Bone Village, and that the creature was supposedly all that remained of the Ten-Tails' body and spirit. The book detailed that the legend was largely believed by Sena Doku, the Shikage's grandfather (and the man whom Kojama's oldest brother had been named after).

As far as Kojama could possibly recall, he had never even heard of such a creature, but counted himself lucky that he hadn't met the beast. The boy thought of the mysterious being as the living incarnation of death itself, and hoped strongly that he would never have the misfortune of becoming acquainted with its ferocious form.

Fearing he'd delved too far into unknown territory, Kojama closed the book and returned it to its place atop the nightstand.

Soon after, a tug in the back of his mind began to make him wonder if he had in fact seen the creature somewhere before. Despite his memory saying otherwise, he couldn't shake the feeling that he did recognize the nightmarish thing. He knew for certain that he had never witnessed it in his consciousness, but perhaps he had seen it when he was asleep.

Suddenly, a revelation struck the boy, increasing his heartbeat immensely. He had seen the creature in a dream. This same dream was what caused his curious awakening. He deduced that the dream had slipped from his memory the moment his eyes opened, and only upon seeing the same creature he saw in the dream did the vision return.

Dreams were a curious thing for the boy. His family rarely ever discussed the dreams that they had, as his parents discouraged such outlandish thinking. Nevertheless, Kojama enjoyed most of the dreams he had, even if they may be nightmares. The limited enjoyment he found in his nightmares lied in the fact that they helped him discover what he needed to work on about himself, improving himself best as he could. Following this trend, Kojama consciously decided to interpret the ghastly apparition in his dream as a challenge to discover more about the nature and history of the faux animal.

During this decision, Kojama fixed his eyes upon his window, seeing that the moon was still a good height in the sky. He wished he'd had a clock or similar tool to find out what the exact time was, instead of being stranded in a craving to know that was left as dark as that night itself.

Juxtaposing this darkness was the large moon, which the boy always found to be beautiful. He admired the fact that no matter how dark any given night may be, the moon would be there without fail to give light to those seeking it, even if the moon may not even be visible. Lost in untamed thought, he considered how his big brother Jiro was almost synonymous with the great moon. He began to hope that he might one day be for someone else what Jiro was for him, and what the bright moon was for thousands around the world.

This hope led the boy to the idea of training while the sun was still down so that he might become one step closer to the greatness he perceived from his brother. He followed this intuition by dressing himself in his typical daytime clothing, all while keeping as silent as he possibly could, then slowly making his way to the exit of the house, just as quietly. Apprehension developed in the back of his mind, as the boy feared what his mother might say or do, should she be displeased with his leaving of the house so early. Despite this, the boy carefully opened the door, keeping the squeaking of the doorknob and creaking of the door's wood and hinges to a minimum.

Once he stood with his back to the closed door, he shifted his gaze around the serene night sky. A deep breath in calmed the boy and created a slight smile from the corner of his mouth as the moonlight reinforced his certainty in his actions. Along with this certainty came an increase in his heart rate. Kojama had never gone somewhere on his own at night like this, so as his feet made contact with the barely discernible pathway before him, he felt a tingle sweep through him.

He relished this feeling for a short time before noticing that he had made it to Jiro's practice clearing. He focused his attention on the disfigured tree in the center of the clearing, which was scarred from Jiro's countless attacks aimed at it.

Time's flow seemed to fluctuate as he channeled his chakra and concentration, preparing to attack the tree with a force that even Jiro himself might have envied had he witnessed it. This moment alone made way for a maturity which indicated a good chance of the boy reaching his brother's brand of enhanced intelligence and skill, although he could not have possibly imagined this as the case. All he could imagine in this moment was the tree before him sliced into by his jutsu, and as quickly as he imagined this, he opened his eyes to find that his focused movements had created a scene identical to what he'd pictured. This performance felt nearly effortless to Kojama, lifting his spirits more than he could believe.

These lifted spirits made it all the easier to chop at the tree again and again with the jutsu. He kept at it again and again until he could fine-tune his movements to the point that he could slice smaller and smaller increments, eventually resulting in thin layers of wood similar to scroll paper flying from the top of the tree.

Time's conceptual fluctuation, combined with the increased ease the boy found in this practice, seemed to zoom the hours forward, because the sun's light began blanketing the trees before Kojama even had time to realize. Before he could even acknowledge it, the darkness crept backwards into the trees' shadows, becoming miniscule remnants of the ocean it started as.

A rustling and crunching of leaves and twigs in the distance behind him nearly made the boy leap from out of his own skin. The sound came from the footsteps of his older brother, Jiro. Jiro put his hand on Kojama's shoulder and opened his mouth as if to speak to the boy, but found himself frozen once his gaze fell upon the target practice dummy of a tree and all the wood which surrounded it due to Kojama's hard work.

"Little bro, did you do all that?" Jiro asked.

Kojama's mind snagged, unable to respond for a rough five seconds. When this response came, it surfaced in the form of a small, silent nod. Jiro smiled and released his light grip from the boy's shoulder, stepping towards the many wooden chips.

"Wow... in the course of a morning, you've improved more than I ever managed to in a week, Koja." Jiro shook his head in amazement.

Kojama felt honored that his brother seemed to be impressed with his work. "I couldn't sleep, so I came out here and started working on my Decapitation Jutsu," explained the boy, cheeks slightly red from the flattered feeling surging within him.

"Well, I gotta say, you've done a great job little bro. I wonder..."

Kojama had no idea what might be running through his brother's head. Then, as if to answer his thoughts, Jiro spoke. "The Shikage is summoning my squad and me to his palace to address our next mission to us. Would you want to come along with me and meet him?"

The boy's eyes widened greatly as his jaw dropped. After a few seconds, Kojama snatched himself out of the dumbfounded expression. He asked, "Meet the Shikage? Are you serious?" He had always wanted to meet the Shikage personally, and now Jiro was offering him the chance directly. He couldn't possibly refuse the chance and live with it.

"I mean, you don't have to, I just thought it might be a neat idea-"

"Of course I want to meet him, big brother!" Kojama exclaimed.

The older sibling seemed to know this might be the boy's response, as he just smiled and nodded in satisfaction. "Alright, come on, then." Jiro turned around so his back was facing Kojama. "Hop on, I'll run you there."

Happier and more nervous than he could remember being in a long time, Kojama stepped forward and performed a small jump upward, latching onto Jiro's shoulders and hugging the older brother's sides with his knees.

"Settled in?" Jiro asked. "Uh huh," the boy's answer escaped him without him realizing it. Jiro then raised his knee as if to begin running then said, "Alright, hold on tight-"

"Wait!" Kojama belted out.

"What is it Koja?" inquired Jiro, concerned. He hoped he hadn't scared Kojama. "Would Mom be mad about me going with you..?" The boy's voice shook slightly as he asked this and Jiro could feel his younger brother's heartbeat increase in speed minutely.

"She might be, but between you and me, what Mom doesn't know won't hurt her," Jiro comforted, turning to wink at his backpack of a sibling. The living backpack known as Kojama smiled and tightened his grip on Jiro's shoulders in response, and the two were soon bolting along through the village.

The flowers lining the ground and the grass surrounding them blurred together into a portrait of serenity as Kojama was carried by his brother through the small wooded area and onto the path which served as a straight shot into their village. Only a mere couple of steps were taken on the path itself before Jiro shot up into the air, shouting, "Hang on, Koja!"

Smiles stretched across both of their faces, the morning air enveloping them like balloons released from a child's hand. A single tear formed and grew along the lining of Kojama's bottom eyelid until it rolled down his right cheek; the boy was beginning to cry of happiness. The tear then fell from Kojama's jaw down to the ground a couple dozen feet below.

Jiro continued to shoot across the village in huge leaps, each one carrying them over the houses and shops of the whole village. After passing Yuten's small shop, Kojama turned his head to the right slightly and could make out the blurring shape of the building that he both feared and wished to go to. The Bone Village Ninja Academy. Kojama had always dreamed about his first day there, and at the rate that he was hurdling towards his dream of meeting the Shikage right now, he became sure that that dream, too, wasn't far out of reach.

In a flash, the siblings were at the front steps of the Shikage's palace. It was beautifully constructed from the finest white stone, thick pillars supporting the roof and completing the facade, with a gorgeous arch stretching over the entrance above the steps. Torches on either side of the entrance seemed more for decoration than lighting, as all four sides of the temple were open to the sunlight, save for the shadows cast by the pillars themselves.

Etched into the front of the palace's angled roof was the village's symbol, and above that was carved the Japanese kanji for "Death", perfectly matching the symbol found on Kojama's shirt. Jiro could see his younger brother's lit up face just from the corner of his eye as Kojama stared in awe at the temple.

Kojama dismounted himself from Jiro's back, jaw still dropped to the floor in amazement and disbelief. Then, the two heard a pair of voices, one male and one female, call out to Jiro from behind them. The brothers turned to face the calling people, Jiro's squad mates. They seemed to be happy to see Jiro, as they were smiling.

Kojama assumed that the two were Jiro's friends as well as his squadmates, which was rare to find in the Hidden Bone Village. "You get the message, too, Jiro?" asked the male of the two.

"That's right, woke up and found it on our doorstep, Kura," Jiro answered, revealing the other young man's name to Kojama.

Kura was presumably the same age as Jiro, and of nearly the same build, except slightly shorter. His light brown hair bordered on the threshold of blond from the sunlight shining off of it. Although a bit untidy, it still appeared to be better kept than Kojama's somewhat shaggy hair.

The girl next to Kura, who Kojama soon learned was named Asanu through Jiro's inquiry of how she was that morning, had healthy and long blonde hair, and glasses with thin wire frames and perfectly circular lenses over her shining light blue eyes. She stood a bit shorter than Kura, but still about a foot taller than Kojama.

As Jiro conversed with his squad regarding the nature of their mission (most of their words zooming directly over Kojama's lost head), a voice came from the top step of the palace. It was Lord Shikage himself. His voice was raspy and sharp, speaking, "Squad 6, if I may have your kind attention."

All four of them turned their attention to the man, whose appearance matched his voice rather perfectly. Cloudy eyes resided within eyelids synonymous with their dark and large bags, long white and grey hair streamed out from under a wide pointed hat with cloth draped around the brim, and a hand (even more skeletal than those of Kojama and Jiro's mother) held tightly onto a cane that looked possibly as old and worn out as the Shikage himself. The other hand lay at his side, wrapped in bandaging just like Jiro's and Kojama's to conceal the dangerous Jaakuna Te.

"If you would all come with me, I will debrief you on your current mission," the man instructed.

Squad 6 bowed their heads in unison, respectfully acknowledging and agreeing to the Shikage's wishes. After a quick glance to his older brother, Kojama followed suit, bowing his own head before his village's leader. Squad 6 then began ascending the palace's steps, Kojama following close behind them.

Equivalent amounts of fear and joy ran through Kojama as he inched his way closer to the Shikage. In seconds, he would be standing face-to-face with the man, it was almost impossible to believe.

Unknown to Kojama, the Shikage himself, Karasu Doku, was just as glad to be seeing Kojama for his first time. As the group drew closer and closer to the entrance of his palace, Kojama reminded him very much of himself at Kojama's age, and Karasu could tell the boy had plenty of potential waiting to be unlocked.

Soon, the group was standing before the Shikage at his desk, Kojama hiding nervously behind Jiro, peeking around his older brother so he could still see Karasu. A visitor from any other village might be terrified of the dark inside of the palace, but Kojama was rather used to it, as his house and most other buildings in the Bone Village were kept rather dark.

The Shikage's desk looked as if it had been defaced by children, scribblings scrawled all over it, ranging from the symbols on the front of the palace's roof to what seemed to be nonsense, but in reality turned out to be real quotes from Sena Doku, the Shikage's grandfather.

Karasu kept the hand that had before held his cane up on top of his desk, while the wrapped hand stayed down at his side. The Shikage then began to speak, "You three have the highest mission success rate of all the current squads in our academy, so I believe it should come as no surprise that you were my first choice for this mission."

"What do you need us to do, Lord Shikage?" Jiro asked.

"Rumors grow that the Hidden Leaf Village is planning an attack against the Bone Village. The validity of this statement is uncertain, but we cannot take the risk of hoping that it may be false. Therefore, I need you three to perform an espionage mission to prove or disprove such rumors."

Jiro and the other two exchanged looks of uncertainty, Kura asking, "What if we were to be discovered?"

"Then your mission will be a failure, and the safety of our village may be put at risk," Karasu answered, making all three members of Squad 6 gulp deeply.

Kojama became more interested by the second, clearing his throat and asking, "C-Can I go with them..?"

Everyone in the room seemed to be frozen in shock at hearing the boy say anything at all, and even more so to hear the specific question he'd asked. The Shikage developed a small smirk as Jiro turned around to address his brother.

"This mission is a little too dangerous for that, Koja. I'm sorry, but I can't let you-"

"Of course you may go with them, young man."

Jiro looked as though he'd been stabbed in the back by a kunai. He looked back to the Shikage, a small bead of nervous sweat growing on his forehead. "Um, Lord Shikage, d-did I hear you right?" asked Jiro.

The Shikage nodded, enlarging his smirk. "I will allow the boy to join you on your mission, so that he may learn from any mistakes and/or successes that should ensue."

"But Lord Shikage, he's so young. He could get hurt, or worse," spoke Jiro, clearly worried for his brother's safety.

"I'm sure he can handle himself. He is the sibling of two of the village's most skilled shinobi, after all," Karasu replied.

Jiro contemplated whether or not he was comfortable with Kojama coming along, but then settled on the thought that the Shikage must know what he's doing. He curled one hand into a fist then covered it with the other, bowing his head before Karasu and answering, "As you wish, my Lord."

In response, the Shikage nodded, then dismissed the four, "You may go, now. And do not forget the importance of this mission."

"Yes, sir," Squad 6 answered in unison. As Jiro lifted Kojama to his prior place on his back, the young boy was entranced by the symbol, the character "Shi" of the Japanese language, which sat perfectly centered on the top of the Shikage's large hat and matched the symbol on the boy's white shirt. Kojama's eyes then shifted down to catch a small glimpse of the smirk still stamped onto Karasu's face, just before Jiro and the rest turned around to exit the palace.

"So what do you think our first move is, Jiro?" asked Kura, as they walked a path that would take the group out of the village.

"Well," Jiro began, "our mission is to make it into the Hidden Leaf Village undetected. So, my guess is the first thing we'll want to do is establish our disguises. How exactly we'll do that, I'm not sure, but I feel there will be no other way."

Kura and Asanu nodded as Kojama looked back and forth between the both of them. The crunching of the dirt, grass, and twigs beneath their feet was muffled by their conversation.

"We've all seen Leaf Village shinobi before, right? All we'll have to do is take the form of one that we remember," Asanu suggested. Jiro then responded, "Yes, that would be the simplest answer, but Kojama has never performed a Transformation Jutsu, and along with that, he's never seen a ninja from another village, so even if he could change his form, he wouldn't know what to change into. We'll have to figure out some way to hide him other than changing to look like someone from the Leaf Village."

Although embarrassed by what Jiro had told them, Kojama had no way to argue the truth of his statements. Then, a small chuckle was released from Kura as he stopped in his tracks. The wind blew past, ruffling the hair of all four, the shore of the island the Bone Village resided on mere minutes away by foot.

"It shouldn't be that hard to teach him a simple Transformation Jutsu," Kura remarked. "And who says he'll have to change into a Leaf shinobi?" He turned his head to the sound of a dog barking from back within the village.

Jiro understood instantly what Kura meant, and replied, "You have a point there, but time is of the essence. We need to get to the Land of Fire as soon as possible, and we've got miles of water to cross to do that."

Curious as ever, Kojama then spoke up to ask a question, the second time Kura and Asanu heard the boy speak at all, "Won't we need a ship or something?"

All three members of Squad 6 smiled upon hearing this question, and Jiro's answer was short, yet effective. "Just wait and watch, little brother."

And so Kojama did. Another several minutes went by, the village's defensive outer wall and gates a few miles behind them, and they had now reached the stretch of sea that separated the Land of Death from the Land of Fire and all other connected nations.

Kojama's eyes were drawn in as the currents of the sea rustled about, looking all around the surface of the water for any kind of ship or other aquatic transportation, with nothing of the sort to be found. "Watch this, Kojama," spoke Jiro, his right leg stretching out over the edge of the shore he stood on.

Jiro's foot lowered closer and closer to the water's surface, Kojama holding his breath in anticipation. Just as Kojama thought Jiro's foot should've sunk below the water, his older brother shifted his left foot ahead of his right; he was walking on water.

One step after the other, Jiro continued walking further and further away from the shore. He then heard his little sibling say in awe, "Wow..."

"Pretty cool, huh, Koja?"

"It's awesome! I wanna do it!" Kojama yelled out in amazement.

"That'll take some time. They don't teach you how to do this at our school, since it falls within Ninjutsu, and not Shijutsu. Same goes for the Transformation Jutsu we'll be teaching you later," explained Kojama's elder.

A tiny laugh escaped Kojama before he replied, "Who needs to learn it from the school when I've got a teacher like you, Jiro?"

The two grinned, and the four were soon nearly a mile out from the Land of Death's shore.

His attention again pulled in by the splashing sounds originating from below, Kojama continued to observe as Jiro strolled along the sea's surface just as normally as if it were a simple sidewalk. Every step entranced the boy more and more. Seconds turned into minutes, which then stretched into an hour that they'd been travelling across the water.

As this hour passed, Kojama's mind leaped from one thought to the next. He remembered that his birthday would soon be arriving, which would then be followed by his first day at school. He recalled the day before, when Jiro had taught him his first jutsu, and the day prior to that, in which he witnessed the murder of two men at the hands of his oldest brother. He wondered how easy or hard school life might be, if he'd have any friends at the Ninja Academy, and if he would be a match for the other students there.

These thoughts swirled together, flowing all throughout his mind just as the water filling his surroundings flowed.

Then, the boy's eyes began to grow heavy. He yawned as his head lowered against Jiro's shoulder. "Sleepy, Koja?" Jiro asked, regardless of the answer the yawn provided.

"Uh huh..." Kojama sleepily replied.

"Sleep tight, then. We should be reaching the Land of Fire before you wake up."

Soon after these words were spoken, Kojama was fast asleep on Jiro's back, Squad 6 still steadily making their way to the Land of Fire.

After a few minutes had passed, Kura walked closer to Jiro's side and asked in a hushed tone, "Kojama starts school soon, right?"

Jiro nodded, unsure of exactly why Kura had asked this.

"Aren't you nervous? The school just keeps getting tougher and tougher on its students, and especially with Sena becoming an instructor this year..."

"Kojama will be fine, Kura, I have no doubt. He's a fast learner and just about the nicest kid in our village. I'm sure he'll be the top student of his class," Jiro returned as Kojama still lay limp on top of him.

"Of course, I didn't mean anything by it, it's just that more and more kids are running away and disappearing from the village. I just thought-"

"Kojama wouldn't do that, Kura. Surely you oughta know that after all I've told you guys about him. I appreciate your concern, but I'm telling you Koja will make it through."

A silence rang between the two before Kura nodded, distancing himself from Jiro's side.

"Let's pick up our pace. I want us to be able to see the shore of the Land of Fire within the next half hour," suggested Jiro, increasing his speed to a medium jog. His squadmates nodded in agreement, then kept pace with him until all three were dashing across the water at such a speed that their feet only grazed its surface once every few yards.

Jiro stared deeply at the water, his brow furrowed in thought. His jaw shifted left and right subtly, which Asanu noticed as a sign that he was grinding his teeth as he usually did when something was bothering him. Something about this mission seemed off to him, mainly because they'd never had an immediate problem with any other village before. It bewildered him that they could possibly be planning an attack.

As these thoughts trampled through the field of Jiro's mind, a dream similarly stomped its way through his brother as he slept. Kojama was standing directly before the Shikage within the Shikage's palace. A shadow cast itself across the man's face, and he was standing menacingly over Kojama, his Jaakuna Te unwrapped and burning with an insane amount of its signature purple chakra.

Slowly, the chakra raged brighter and stronger until light devoured the shadow over the man's face, highlighting all too well the large dark bags under his eyes. This shot a dread down through Kojama like none he'd felt except when standing before his mother before a punishment. Just looking at the Shikage, he could feel the pain of the man as if they'd both lived a hundred lives, each one more painful than the last.

Though the dream was happening in the span of minutes in the outside world, it was enough time for Squad 6 to make considerable progress towards the Land of Fire, though they still had much further to go. These minutes were stretched out into an extended period of dread for Kojama, however. Karasu spoke no words, nor did he move as much as a muscle, but on his face lay a smirk identical to the one beared when he'd granted Kojama permission to come along on Squad 6's mission.

As this frightening figure towered over the boy, he almost regretted having met the Shikage. He felt as if he was in extreme danger, like the man was seconds away from ending Kojama's life with a single touch.

The fear he felt as he looked over the Shikage was curiously intense, made even more curious by the fact that Karasu hadn't done anything to Kojama, yet the man's intimidating presence steadily became a caricature of itself, every tiny detail that could be seen as scary to the boy growing more and more exaggerated.

The man's hand inched closer and closer to Kojama's face, making the boy swear he could feel the heat of its chakra. Then, just as the hand would have grabbed a hold of him and ended his life, Kojama's eyes snapped open.

In a state of disorientation, he looked around to find the four of them surrounded by trees much more lively than those found in the Bone Village. He was no longer on Jiro's back, but on the ground with his back against one of these trees. Rapid, frantic breaths sped in and out of his lungs through his dry mouth.

Jiro, a smile on his face, looked to Kojama upon hearing these signs that he was awake. His smile morphed into an expression of concern once he saw the distress and slight panic which drenched Kojama's countenance, asking, "What's wrong, Koja?"

Relocating himself in front of his younger brother, he continued, "Bad dream?"

Kojama paused for a short time, still trying to assess the current situation, before sluggishly nodding and letting out, "Uh huh..."

Jiro had seen Kojama in undesirable states before, such as how he'd been for a while since bearing witness to murder of two men at the hands of Sena, but he now sensed a difference in his younger brother's demeanor. It was as if his will had been dented; as if something in the dream had severed a thread in the boy's character.

"Jiro... why is there so much darkness around Lord Shikage's eyes?" Kojama asked, looking at the ground as he envisioned the sinister figure's face from his nightmare again.

Jiro wasn't sure how to answer this, contemplating what he'd say next as his two Squad 6 teammates looked back and forth between the two brothers.

After a deep breath in, the older brother responded, "I'm sure you already know that Lord Shikage's parents died when he was younger by the order of the Third Hokage of the Leaf Village."

Kojama listened closely, his eyes moving up from the ground to meet Jiro's gaze. Asanu and Kura listened just as closely, interested in how Jiro would handle this situation.

"Not only did this lead to the hatred our Shikage bears for any other Hidden Village, it also manifested the poor man's depression. That's what the dark bags and sunken nature of his eyes are from, Kojama; depression."

Digesting what Jiro had said, Kojama repeated, "Depression..." He then continued, "What exactly is depression, big brother?"

This question was the exact one Jiro had been dreading answering, for the exact answer was something even he wasn't sure of. Despite this, he replied, "Well, in simple terms, imagine it like a great weight within you that weighs you down, while draining you of your joy. Over time, it can become harder and harder to deal with, especially if you're on your own."

As the two talked, Asanu and Kura piled up wood they'd gathered into a slightly rounded grouping, continuing to unpack various supplies like food, sleeping bags, and alike. While doing so, they still kept their ears open to listen to the conversation.

"I think I get it," said Kojama. The boy looked around at their surroundings, then asked, "Where are we?"

Jiro turned his head to observe the actions of his comrades, then turn back to face Kojama, answering, "You were so out of it that we managed to get all the way to the Land Of Fire." He chuckled lightly and ruffled the hair of his younger brother, painting an involuntary grin onto the boy.

"That reminds me," Jiro continued, "we still have to teach you the Tranformation Jutsu." He tapped Kojama's shoulder encouragingly as if to say, "Come on," and Kojama slowly lugged himself up, shaking his head in hopes to welcome his senses back.

Just then, a low rumble was heard by the entire group, catching everyone's attention. Another, slightly lower instance of the rumble revealed to all that it was coming from Kojama's stomach. Laughing, Jiro said, "Well, hang on. You're not gonna learn a new jutsu on an empty stomach, little bro. You haven't eaten all day, have you?" He then wrapped his arm around Kojama's shoulder, at which point the younger brother shook his head silently as an answer.

"Well lucky for the little guy, we keep plenty of food packed for all of our missions," Asanu said with a smile and a giggle.

Jiro and Kojama sat down on a wooden log, which the squad had turned into a makeshift bench while Kojama was asleep, as Asanu and Kura prepared a lunch for everyone. Once their preparation was complete, the group soon had food before their eyes, the smell of which was equal in its exquisite quality to its appearance.

Kojama almost began to dig right in, before he noticed Jiro next to him with his head bowed and his eyes closed. After looking to the other two members of Squad 6, he felt slightly embarrassed that he'd almost forgotten to pray before eating, and followed suit with those around him.

As usual, he prayed for the well-being of his village and those in it, yet this time he also prayed for the Shikage specifically, something he'd never put much thought towards before. Despite how much fear the thought of the man put into Kojama, he still wished the best for him, including hoping his depression might somehow be subdued.

Their prayers all finished, the four of them opened their eyes, one after the other, then began to gorge upon the delicious meal. Within ten minutes, all of their plates were left looking like ravaged battlefields. Since this was Kojama's first meal of the day, he felt so starved that he shyly asked for another helping. His request was met, and soon this serving was also scarfed down.

His hunger defeated, Kojama was now ready to learn his second jutsu. Jiro clapped his hands together then said, "Alright, everyone, let's get to it so Koja can learn the most useful disguise technique there is." He then stood up from the log he and Kojama sat on and took a few small steps away from the compact fire, which sizzled and crackled until it shrank to a tiny ember as Kojama and the other two members of Squad 6 gathered near Jiro.

After roughly 30 minutes, Squad 6 had given Kojama a basic understanding of how to perform the Transformation Jutsu and its many uses, along with the fact that since it was a Ninjutsu technique, it was not taught in the Bone Village Ninja Academy. This meant the three had to learn the jutsu of their own will, with Jiro being the first of them to learn it.

Jiro had each of them transform into a different form to demonstrate that, along with other people, a ninja can also use the technique to change into an animal, plant, or object. Jiro changed into the appearance of Squad 6's sensei from the academy, Uragiri. Kura swapped his form to match that of Uragiri's four-bladed scytche, the weapon he was famous and infamous for using. Finally, Asanu transformed to appear identical to Uragiri's animal companion, a raven with crimson eyes and large jet black pupils, its beak sharp and its shriek nearly deafening.

Kura's scythe form swirled around like a sharp-edged cyclone between Jiro's transformed hands. His movements with the scythe grasped in his grip and the raven resting on his shoulder as if nothing was happening seemed inhuman, so calculated, swift, and precise. Kojama watched, his mouth agape and speechless, as Jiro continued these amazing demonstrative movements.

After a whirlwind of example attacks at the air, which themselves created a whirl of wind that breezed around Kojama, all three shifted back into their real selves in a cloud similar to that left by Jiro's shadow clone during his battle with Sena the day before.

A short discussion followed, in which Jiro suggested that Kojama transform into him for a simple test. This suggestion was met with uncertainty from Kojama, who had little belief that he could match his brother's appearance.

"It's alright if your transformation isn't perfect. We have a while to work on it before the sun goes down, Koja," reassured Jiro. Then, after further encouragement from Asanu and Kura, Kojama finally decided to attempt the jutsu.

Although he did not know what the quality of his transformation would result in, he was ready. He'd learned enough about the move's nature and execution to give it a go. Deep, controlled breaths glided through the boy as he envisioned his generous brother, taking into consideration every detail about him. This concentration naturally fell upon the thing that seemed to represent Jiro best of all, his one-of-a-kind headband crafted by Shikage Karasu Doku.

His eyes sealed, the mental construction of the headband shined an increasingly brighter glow, which blended into the sunlight that streamed its way back into Kojama's vision as his eyelids lifted once again. During this envisionment, Kojama simultaneously performed the necessary hand signs and exclaimed, "Transformation Jutsu!"

He was met with a gasp and a chuckle of slight amazement, neither of which had come from Jiro. Asasnu and Kura gazed at Kojama without words, then all three fixed their attention onto Jiro, who was now seemingly face-to-face with an exact duplicate of himself. Although Kojama didn't feel any different, he knew simply by Jiro's familiar smile that he'd succeeded. The older brother then moved closer to his student sibling, resting his hand on a shoulder perfectly matching his own.

"See, Koja? I told you you could do it," Jiro stated as he looked his brother-turned-doppelgänger in the eyes.

His joy upon hearing Jiro's words broke Kojama's concentration, and within seconds he'd reverted back to his true body, standing with his forehead just making it to Jiro's chest. They exchanged grins, receiving admiring glances from Kura and Asanu, and all four were soon unraveling their sleeping bags as the sun descended from its playground high above.

Amazingly, the fire continued to crackle and sizzle, flakes of ash popping up and drifting around them: none of them big or hot enough to spark any kind of wildfire. The four lost themselves within the warm range of color the fire portrayed, the consistent soft sounds serving as a sort of percussion rhythm to support the childhood lullaby being sung by Asanu. The three boys listened less to the words of the song and more to Asanu's smooth melodies, which made it clear how many times she'd practiced the song either to herself or her family. Before the end of the song, Kura had effectively been knocked out, his face laying in the dirt and tiny twigs as he snored and drooled. Kojama and Jiro chuckled at him as they, too rocked from side to side in a sleepy stupor.

The song completed, Kojama shifted his view from the fire that had enraptured him not long ago to various points around him, such as the holes poked through the night sky in the form of peeking stars, a small pond nearby where wildlife interacted without end, and the branches of the trees that seemed almost as numerous as the stars in the sky. Thoughts now conjured and stirred inside the boy, mostly centering around the Shikage. None of them were negative. In fact, Kojama wasn't entirely sure what they were in specificity. He only knew that he was thinking, and the Shikage was the subject around which these thoughts orbited.

Then, as if the soul of another had possessed him, Kojama suddenly released a question, "Do you think the Shikage will ever be happy again?"

Jiro tightened his arm around Kojama, securing him to his side. "I'm sure he will. Who wouldn't be with you in their village, little bro?" he responded.

Kojama smiled faintly and hid his face in Jiro's side, yawning. Once several minutes passed, Jiro could tell Kojama had fallen asleep, at which point he delicately relocated his younger brother into his sleeping bag. Asanu remained seated where she'd been during her song, looking at Kojama in adoration as the receding fire's light glinted off her lightly scratched glasses. Such scratches were the result of the training and few dozen missions she, Kura, and Jiro had completed, making the fact that they were even still in tact quite a miracle.

Her eyes shifting to Jiro, she discovered that he was looking at Kojama much in the same way she had just been. His caring gaze fixed upon the boy, she could easily discern how much he cared for his sibling. Her thoughts seamlessly transitioned to his other brother, Sena, and just how different he was from these two. She found it difficult -- impossible to comprehend how the older brother of such kindhearted boys could be so menacing.

Her glasses slid minutely down her nose as she asked in a hushed tone, "Why is Sena the way that he is?"

Immediately, she recognized that her question might have sounded rude. Luckily, Jiro did not seem to perceive it this way.

"That's not an easy one to answer," he began, thinking.

"It's alright, you don't have to answer," Asanu said back. "It just crossed my mind so-"

"I guess it started when he began school at our academy."

Asanu was taken aback by how sudden Jiro's answer seemed to spring out. He continued, "He grew less empathetic and more distant, almost like he wanted to scare us..."

A silence hovered for a short time before he concluded, "I guess that would be the short answer. The school changed him."

Asanu nodded. "I'm sorry," she consoled him. Of course, she was met with an expected response, "It's fine."

The silence returned, and soon, the two positioned themselves under their respective sleeping bags and made their way towards unconsciousness after wishing each other a sound sleep. Several minutes later, the entirety of the four-person group was asleep. Their various sounds blended in naturally with the sounds of their surroundings, making them, in essence, part of such surroundings.