Chapter 3

Wub Dub...Wub Dub...Wub Dub...

There were gun shots. Lots of gun shots and shouting. For some reason it was realy hard to concentrate. Her vision swam and darkness was slowly creeping up on her before she could even fully awaken herself.

Wub Dub... Wub Dub... Wub Dub...

There was a shout and a burst of Chakra. The air filled with the sizzling scent of ozone and the resounding crack of a Lightning Jutsu hitting one of Ryuuzen's barriers echoed through the forest. A girlish scream, a yelp and the distinct crunching sound of broken bones.

Wub Dub...Wub Dub...Wub Dub...

Everything sounded so muffled and it was so hard to concentrate. Someone cried out to her. It was Satsuki, the Ryu girl. Her senses slipped into complete darkness.

Wub Dub...Wub Dub...Wub Dub...

'At ease.' he said softly, idly playing with the glass of whiskey in his hands. The mask was set on the side of his face in an almost casual, slightly tilted way. The soft blush on his otherwise pale face revealed that this had been far from his first glass of alcohol that night. The usually well groomed black hair was in disarray and his eyes for once were just pure black, half-lidded with the alure of spirits and what seemed to be sad contemplation.

Madara looked at her and then waved at her to take a seat.

'Help yourself with some whiskey. It's not nice to drink alone.' he gave her a half hearted smile.

The Ghost Trooper said nothing but accepted the glass that would remain untouched. This was just going to be another Guard Duty, and whatever happened during those hours would come and go. This was, however, the first time she had ever seen her leader in such a mood. Tired, angry, fustrated and on occasion furious with how some things were going on with politics – that was the norm. She paid no heed to his behavior now. He looked unusally calm and passive but she suspected that to be the effect of the spirits he had consumed. Then again there was the report he was looking over.

They were like that for a while, with him occasionally pouring himself some more Whiskey. Finally, after what seemed forever, Madara stood up from his chair and completely removed the mask from his head, ruffling his hair and then stretching slightly to remove the stiffness of having to sit behind that desk and doing paperwork for so long. Slowly he walked over to the panoramic view across the room. It was night time and the city was glowing like a jewel with night lights and vehicles.

'Tell me, little Ghost. Have you ever seen a forest? With trees so big and ancient that their sheer size force you into a state of humbled awe. Have you ever imagined what it would be like to be in the middle of no where with no civilization for miles around? Only yourself and the Wilds as your company. To wake up early in the morning and hear the song birds' choir, the charming rustling of foilage, dancing with the morning breeze...heh. There is no way of you to know what I''m talking about, now is there?'

He smiled fondly and then looked at her. She did not say anything and he knew she wouldn't say anything.

'Of all the things that I have done in my long life, the only thing I wish to undo is what I consider to be my greatest sin. Mankind's greatest sin. But don't mind me, little Ghost. Perhaps the time would soon come when our very world would finally decide to abandon us to damnation.' Madara drank the contents of his glass in one go and then leaned himself against the huge panoramic window, once again completely ignoring her presence. Ghost sat there on that chair and waited patiently for her shift to be over. There was a bittersweet air about her leader tonight. She looked back at the document that had occupied his interest for the last three hours.

A culling.

She looked back at her leader. There was a look of deep, mournful longing in his eyes. His posture was slightly hunched, arms crossed before his chest, one had still barely holding the empty whiskey glass. He was grieving. Alone with no one to comfort him. He who was on top of the world and had it in his hand. His decisions were not the easiest ones to make and even though she knew it was a breach of protocol, she still stood up and poured the man whiskey in his empty glass. For a moment he had given her a slightly startled, confused owlish look. Perhaps he had forgotten her presence there. For that moment she thought he was going to reprimand her but he simply smiled and raised his glass at her and inclined his head, offering his thanks. She silently went back to the seat he had offered her earlier. There was a pale child with black hair and pale blue eyes sitting on the desk. Ghost ignored it.

'Yuki-chaaaan.'

Ghost opened her eyes. She felt oddly refreshed, despite the stiffness she felt in her waist. That was a clear sign of recently being the subject of a healing technique. She took her time to gaze at the crown of the trees, the vivid green colors mingling with the dark blue of the twilight sky of the early evening. It was a peaceful pass time.

'Eh! Ghost-san! You're finally awake!' came the cheerful exclamation of the Ryu Girl.'I was really worried, you see! Yoko said you were poisoned with some sort of needle and we were attacked and you just-'

The pale girl looked over to see Satsuki sitting on her knees next to her, golden eyes sparkling with emotion. She was blabbering on excitedly, retelling in a rather irregular manner how they were ambushed by several bandits or something. She took her time describing the various fighting techniques she had happened to witness making exagerated gestures with her hands. It was obvious she had never seen anything of the like and her child-like excitement felt...endearing to Ghost.

'Ne, Satsuki-chan, don't pester our Ghost-chan now.' that was Ryuzen. The man was never far away from the Ryu girl. Given his reputation of a Casanova, it wasn't that big of a surprise. 'Yoko wants you to help her.'

'H-hai, Ryuzen-san.' Satsuki nodded and with a wave and a smile, left Ghost with the captain.

Ryuzen followed the blonde girl with a thoughtful gaze and that perpetual whimsical half-smirk on his face. His ringed eyes then focused on her. Despite his easy going demeanor, Ghost knew and felt the power radiating from him. Her face was blank, but there was the slightest twinge of apprehension. It was only natural. Despite her position as a Ghost Trooper, the man before her was probably one of the most powerful men under her Liege's command. He wanted something from her and it was only common sense for this fact to make the hairs on the back of her neck to stand.

'Well, Ghost-san. You are quite lucky. You nearly died due to this little ambush. Primitive but effective- a poisoned needle.'

'What happened?' she asked almost on autopilot.

'We were attacked by a small group of rogue individuals. They weren't that hard to deal with, but the way they fought us lead me to believe that your time to make a decision is over. So what say you? Tell us what the scroll did or remain our prisoner?'

Ghost blinked slowly, face completely passive. In all honesty she had no idea what the scroll did. She only knew she had to use it.

'I have no idea what the scroll did.'

Ryuzen sighed.

'And why use it then?'

'I cannot answer that.'

'You are really making this difficult, aren't you, Ghost-san?'

'I am not authorized to answer.'

'Heh. I highly doubt that for some reason but we can do things your way.'

Ryuzen shook his head with his smirk widening slightly. He then reached into a pocket and pulled out what seemed to be some sort of strange primitive knife.

'Our ambushers were armed with these. Iron. Can you believe it? Byakuya checked them over three times. While flimsy and obviously of poor quality, I thought they'd be of some use.' Ryuzen then put the blade back into his pocket and reached out with a hand towards the knots of the ropes binding her.

When the ropes fell, she didn't do anything. She knew what would follow. Binding seals. She wouldn't be able to leave Ryuzen's presence until he deemed her safe to do so.

'I'm giving you 15 meters radius for now. After this incident I believe it's better to have you slightly more mobile. And someone's got to keep an eye out for Satsuki-chan.'Ryuzen pointed towards something and Ghost turned to look at what he was gesturing. There was the corpse of one of the ambushers. Not too far away was a shade glaring at the blonde girl. The man's death had not been pleasant.

'He tried to grab Satsuki-chan and she panicked. She broke his arm and that gave Yuumei enough time to trap him into an Illusion and then break his neck. The girl's got talent. Too bad we can't complete our mission, isn't it, Ghost-san?'

The shade's left arm looked unnaturally twisted in an odd place and the head was a little ...queer. Ghost moved her gaze before it realized she was looking at it. It was one less head ache to deal with, really.

'We didn't leave any survivors. They just charged at us and Seishiro got most of them save for the man who attacked Satsuki-chan and what appeared to be their leader.'

'The girl mentioned something about that. The man who charged at you with a lightning technique.'

'Hm, broke his heart. At least we found a map on one of them.' Ryuzen looked at where Kenta, Seishiro, Yuumei and Byakuya were. Ghost followed his gaze. They were looking at what seemed to be a piece of paper portraying the Elemental continent.

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'It's an old map.'

'If it's old, then does it look like it was made seven months ago?'

'It still portrays the Dairuki Prefecture.' Kenta pointed towards an area off the coast of the main land, covered with multiple small and large islands. 'And look at the cities. None of them match our current geography.'

Kenta was in a mood fouler than usual. Almost none of the gadgets he had on himself worked. He had no idea where they were, there was radio silence, the GPS wasn't working. He sighed exasperatedly. His equipment was in perfect working order. Therefore there just wasn't any signal. It was a chilling discovery. But not as chilling as that first night when he had looked up at the stars. They were different. Where the hell had that damned Ghost Trooper taken them? A small voice in the back of his mind also added with a whisper 'When?'

'We still arent aware of our location. I say we send out Taka-chan to familiarize herself with the area and possibly spot any sort of civilization.'

'I am not sure if Taka is up for the challenge yet, Byakuya. She's been disoriented ever since we arrived and it's worrying me.' Seishiro stated, stealing a glance at the bird resting on a branch above them. The Peregrine Falcon seemed to be dozing.

'We have to send her out whether she is ready or not. We are in the dark and I cannot use my Byakugan at my usual level of expertize.'

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It was barely after sun rise. It was still slightly dark to the west and the group had been up and mobile for a while now. They had found a small patch of land, clear of trees and Seishiro had deemed it good enough a spot to release Taka. The Peregrine Falcon spread its wings and flapped them a few times. With some persuasion from both Byakuya and Seishiro, the bird took off into the sky.

Seishiro's piercing blue eyes followed Taka chan and then she slowly exhaled, preparing to cast the technique. She closed her eyes and concentrated on her slow, even breathing pattern. Slowly, the world around her began to fade. First the sounds and then the sensations of wind upon her skin, the still chilly air of the early morning, the glaring rays of the sun...

The transition was seemless as always. When she opened her eyes again, she could see the world from a different vantage point. From Taka's eyes. She spread her wings and shot forward , quickly gaining height. At first she could only see a sea of trees and some mountaints in the far off distance. But as she gained more height she finally saw what she was looking for- the coast.

Back on the ground Satsuki was curiously staring at Seishiro, who was unnaturally still, he eyes wide open and flickering all over, blinking rapidly. It was a slightly unnerving sight to watch those usually piercing eyes so unfocused and wide.

She was like that for half an hour before finally closing her eyes and seemingly shaking off the strange stupor of a trance.

'I found a small village not too far away, to the southwest. It's on a small island off the coast but its connected via a bridge.'

'Well, let's go then!' Ryuzen stated cheerfully and their group headed in the appointed direction.

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Satsuki discovered a very interesting fact. Ryuzen, along with every single member of his squad, Ghost-san included, were unable to do the simplest of thing- ask for directions. She still wondered how she got the honor of doing so, but Ryuzen's friendly smirk was partially responsible.

So, the moment they arrived in this village, she made way to the first person she had on her sights. A good looking woman with long dark hair, pale skin. There was a boy in her early teens holding her basket with bought groceries.

'Um, excuse me?' she asked the woman, who turned to look at her. 'Me and my friends are travelling and we kind of, um, got lost. I was wondering if you could show us where we are?' She held out the map she was holding in her hands and the woman was all too happy to oblige.

When she had gotten back to her group Ryuzen was all to eager to complement her on a job well done. Despite her bidding and good natured self, she was startirting to feel uncomfortable by his constant over-friendliness. After three or so minutes of his pestering, Ghost finally came to the rescue and pulled the girl aside. When her back was turned to him, Seishiro promptly hit him in the back of his head, quietly scolding him for his pig-like behavior.

'What is it, Ghost-san?' Satsuki asked the pale girl.

'Here.' she handed her what seemed to be a long piece of cloth. She had nicked it when no one was looking. It was a plain cloth, a slightly faded brown in color.

'Ano, what's this for?'

'Wrap this around your head and hide your horns. People were looking at you and we don't want attention on us.'

Satsuki blinked. That made sense, even though she never really thought about hiding the small protuberances. No one ever paid no heed to them back in her home.

'Um, thank you, Ghost-san.' She gingerly took the cloth and wrapped it around her head, like a band.

It did its job, hiding her horns, but it also held her curly golden hair back, save for a single lock that fell to the side of her face.

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'Uchiha Ryuzen, you may enter.' said the secretary.

It was about time, he grumbled mentally, as he nodded and smiled at the pretty thing that was his Liege's secretary. He stood up from his spot and followed her into the huge luxurious office.

'You called for me, Madara-sama.' he bowed respectfully to the masked man who was currently tending to some paper work.

At first he did not look up, opting to finish with the document he was holding. Ryuzen waited patiently to be acknowledged. Madara took a pen and wrote down something on a piece of paper and then placed it on the page and closed the file. He looked up at Ryuzen's stoic and silent form, Sharingan glowing through the eye holes of the mask. The mask itself was a pale intricate thing, coated in gold, black and red with some sort of minimalistic flame design.

Madara stood up from behind his desk and walked over to him. In terms of size, his liege was almost dwarfed. He was only a head an a half taller, but his physique was that of a muscular and broad shouldered male.

'You've grown since the last time I saw you.'

'I have, sir.'

'No trouble with the ladies, I hope?'

'None at all, sir.' Ryuzen could help but split his face with a self-satisfied grin. Girls hadn't been a problem since he was thirteen. Far from it even.

'Good, good. I don't want genes like yours to go to waste, after all. But I haven't called you here for idle chats, no matter how much I enjoy them. Come, take a seat with me.' Madara gestured towards the sofa and the two armchairs with an adjacent cofee table. Ryuzen sat on one of the arm chairs while his liege almost gingerly opened a cabinet and hummed quietly a random tune while picking out a bottle with suitable spirits for the occasion. 'I hope you don't mind some straight malt whiskey. I always like company when having a drink.'

'Sounds fine, sir.' Ryuzen accepted a glass of freshly poured spirits and sipped carefuly, enjoying the warm, burning sensation down his throat. It was high quality alcohol.

'I have this mission for your team.'Madara started. He had yet to sit down as he went back to his desk and after a bit of shuffling pulled out a file which he handed to the Rinnegan bearer. As Ryuzen read through the file, his liege turned his back to him and downed the glass of whiskey in one go, after which he adjusted his mask again.'Usually I wouldn't hand over something so easy to you, but its a short one and since you're all going on a vacation soon, I thought of handing it to you.'

'Project Phoenix Dawn, sir?' Ryuzen looked at his liege after comming across this term for the third time.

'As you know, we Uchiha used to be a promiment fire wielding clan. Nowadays, however, even if there is a single Fire user in our two branches, they'd never produce a fire wielding child.'

'Jiroha-chan.' Ryuzen mumbled. She had been the only Uchiha born in his generation with Primary Fire Element. She had been married early on to a powerful member of the Black Uchiha with Secondary Fire Element. Out of her 5 children only three showed some ability with Fire techniques, due to having Secondary Fire Element, while the rest were water types.

'Ah yes. I remember her. Such a beautiful and talented girl of the White Uchiha. It is sad that she never managed to pass on her ability to her progeny.'

Madara made himself comfortable on the sofa and poured himself another glass of whiskey.

'Sometimes I wonder if we'd ever be able to return the will of fire into us Uchiha. But you were a success. You give me hope that is possible to do so. I've made a list of suitable individuals bearing Primary Fire Element. It wasn't easy but I've narrowed down the search to those who have a history of inheriting Fire. I've already sent several squads to pick up some of the targets.'

'I see, sir.'

'I've left the most special one to your team.' Madara pointed towards the picture of a girl.

Ryuzen raised a brow. She was certainly a looker. And had two small horns on her head.

'She's a Ryu. Genetics is such an interesting thing. Her family tree is truly unique, seeing as she is a Fire Wind type and with an active blood line. The first in ten generations with an active blood line.' Ryuzen could practically hear the excited expression of his leader. ' Who knows what kind of things we can benefit from if we introduce her into the Uchiha clan.'

A Fire Wind type? Wind and Fire alone were so rare it was a wonder she was carrying both. Furthermore they were the type of elements that worked ridiculously well together. He looked at her picture again. She had the most amazing golden eyes.

'Pretty isn't she? She's also of a very biddable nature or so I've been told. Who knows, she could be yours with the right circumstances.'

Ryuzen glanced up at Madara who was watching him with that gaze of his. His leader was quite the manipulative bastard in the best possible sense. He was charismatic and powerful leader. He knew a proposition where he saw one.

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'Wake up, Ryuzen.' Seishiro shoved him not so lightly with the tip of her boot.

One Rinnegan eye slowly peeled open and sleepily looked at his vice captain, whose hair was still disshevelled. She seemed to be in a bad mood, but he wasn't surprised. Ever since the attack she'd been like that. Tense and almost paranoid. Even Kenta had made sure to keep his complains to himself and Daiki had decided to switch out with her to keep an eye on Satsuki. For some reason the girl had taken a liking to the Ghost Trooper and more often than not was next to her when they were on the move. He couldn't blame her. Without her Battle Regalia she looked quite unintimidating and even somewhat plain.

Well...

Not plain. She was quite pretty. Of light build with a very pale complexion and pale blue eyes. Her looks were so deceptive that even he would've had trouble discerning if she had any training or not. And that unnerving deathly calm exterior of hers. She was definately an odd one. Even now she was helping Satsuki pack her things, while Yoko was sitting not too far away cataloguing yet another weed she had found.

Ryuzen cracked his neck and then proceeded stretching and preparing for a quick morning workout. Today they would reach the capital of Fire Country and from there they would figure out what to do. After all even if there were only two people left in the world somebody would always want somebody else dead and even then there were odd jobs like escorts and retrievals. He doubted they'd be idle for long.

The Captain took a good look at his team. They had taken the news quite ...easily to his surprise. It wasn't everyday that you learn you've went 1000 years into the past. Maybe the thought hasnt really sunk in yet. Or maybe this world was so much different from its older counterpart that it felt as if they were in a different realm all together.

A/N: Aaaaand chapter three is done! I hope you like it. The action will start soon but first we need the propper settings. There was barely any mention of Daiki and Yoko but meh, can't please them all. Chapter four would be around soon. Please read and review!