Chapter Three: Reunion
Kanna couldn't sleep. It had been two weeks since Anuri had agreed to lead Squad 51. They had been doing practice missions for the entire time and it was getting a little boring. Kanna didn't even feel tired enough to sleep. She decided she was going to take a walk. She exited her room and crept out quietly to avoid waking her parents. When she got outside, she saw Shikune standing on the sidewalk. She smiled and walked over to her.
"Hey Shikune," she said, "You couldn't sleep either huh?"
"Nope," Shikune said, "These missions have been so boring. I have so much spare energy I don't know what to do with it."
Kanna laughed. "You said it," she said, "Come on, let's go for a walk."
"Sure," Shikune said, "Where should we go?"
"Anywhere we want," Kanna said, grinning, "Just pick a place."
"How about Hokage Stone?" Shikune said, indicating the mountain with the images of the Four Hokages.
"Sounds good," Kanna said, "Let's get going." With that, the pair of them made their way towards Hokage Stone. The trip was longer than they expected, but they made it. When they reached the base, they began climbing the mountain. The rocks weren't ideal for this, but they managed to improve their grips by diverting chakra to their hands and feet. Kanna was doing well when she saw something strange.
"Shikune," she said, "Look up there. It looks like a headband."
"A ninja headband?" Shikune said, "Someone else is here."
"Yeah," Kanna said, "I can't tell, but the symbol looks like the Sunlight Village insignia."
"A Sunlight Village Shinobi?" Shikune said, "Here?"
"I think so," Kanna said, "It probably belongs to a Genin."
"How can you tell?" Shikune asked, "It's just an ordinary headband."
"It's a special quality of the headbands in our village," Kanna said, "When each one is made, it is dipped in a special kind of dye, invisible to the human eye. The dye is inherently able to tell the rank of the person who wears the headband. It signifies this by changing the color of the headband. However, the color variance can only be seen by a shinobi from our village, like me. You see, our village has a sort of global Kekkai Genkai. That is to say, every ninja born in the village has it, not merely one family. Our eyes can see levels of light beyond those of the ordinary human eye. This allows us to see the color of the headbands, which shows us the rank of the person using it. This headband is green, the color for a Genin." Shikune nodded at this.
"I see," she said, "Anyway you can tell who the ninja is that owns it?"
"No, unfortunately," Kanna said, "But they probably aren't very far away. One of the first things we learn in our village is never to abandon our headbands. You'd be surprised the secrets you could learn from such a simple item."
"I see," Shikune said, "Let's look then."
Kanna nodded and they began searching the mountain. It took a couple of hours, but they managed to search the whole mountain top to bottom. However, there was no sign of the ninja who had left the headband.
"Strange," Kanna said, "Why would this ninja knowingly abandon their headband?"
"I don't know," Shikune said, "That's really weird."
Suddenly, Kanna smacked herself on the forehead. "Of course," she said, "Shikune, I think the owner is still here."
"But that's impossible," she said, "We looked everywhere and we didn't see anyone."
Kanna smiled. "We wouldn't if they were using the Blind Spot Jutsu," Kanna said, "They would be invisible to us. Even the eyes of a Light shinobi can't see through it."
"But that doesn't help us," Shikune said, "Even knowing that they're still there, if they're invisible, we can't find them."
"When I was looking, I saw something strange," Kanna said, "There was a petal from a sunflower wedged in one of the rocks. It seemed weird at first, but I couldn't figure out why until now. The whole time I've lived in this village, I've never seen any sunflowers growing."
Shikune began to nod. "You're right," she said, "Maybe that was left by our ninja."
Kanna led Shikune back to the spot where she had found the sunflower. "I think I might know who left it," Kanna said, "There was one ninja in the village who loved sunflowers." She began to call out. "Kyori," she called, "It's Kanna. Are you here?"
"Kanna?" a voice said, "You're alive?"
"Yes I am, Kyori," Kanna said, "You can show yourself to us."
"Okay," Kyori said, "Blind Spot Release." A figure appeared out of nowhere, sitting on a ledge a little higher up the mountain.The figure was a young girl, about fifteen. She walked down the ledge to Kanna.
"It's good to see you," Kanna said, "I wasn't sure if you were alive."
"Same to you," Kyori said, "Your disappearing act gave us all a big scare."
"Sorry," Kanna said, "I was following my father's directions. He said it was necessary to save Raito."
Kyori nodded. "Your father always did know what was best," she said, "He would have made an excellent Kage."
"Thank you Kyori," Kanna said, "So what are you doing up here anyway?"
"Well," Kyori said, "I was looking for something."
"What were you looking for?" Shikune asked, curious.
"A ring," Kyori said, "It belonged to someone close to me."
"Your sister, right?" Kanna said, "I didn't know she was here."
Kyori nodded. "She was," she responded, "Two years ago, she wrote me a letter telling me she left a ring on Hokage Stone. She said she wanted me to have it, but that she couldn't give it to me in person. But before I could find out what part of the mountain she left it on, she was killed in a battle with Kabuto Yakushi."
"Who?" Kanna asked, not knowing who Kabuto was.
"Orochimaru's right hand man," Shikune said, "His specialty is medical jutsu."
"I see," Kanna said, "I'm sorry to hear that Kyori."
"It's all right," Kyori said, "She went out fighting, like a true shinobi."
Kanna nodded. "So, do you have any idea where the ring might be?" she asked.
Kyori shook her head. "No," she said, "I've been searching all over this mountain and I haven't found anything."
Kanna considered for a moment, and then snapped her fingers. "Remember how she always used to experiment with the Blind Spot Jutsu? She was trying to make it work on an object." she asked
Kyori nodded. "Yeah," she said, "But how could she make a Blind Spot Jutsu last after her death? It would need a source of chakra to keep going."
"This ring," Kanna said, "I think I remember it. She showed it to me once. It has a special property: The wearer can pour their chakra into the gemstone and keep it there. Like a storage space for chakra. If she did that, the jutsu would have a source of chakra to keep it going."
"You're right," Kyori said, "She always did have such good control of her chakra. She wouldn't have needed to use a lot to make the jutsu last this long."
"If we use a Blind Spot Release on the whole mountain, we should be able to make it appear," Kanna said.
"But that takes a whole lot of chakra," Kyori said, "None of us have that kind of power."
"I do," Kanna said. She closed her eyes.
"Raito," she said telepathically, "Can you hear me?"
"Yes, Kanna Myubi," Raito said, "I am here. What is it you need?"
"I need to use some of your chakra," Kanna said, "We must find the ring."
"You shall have it, Kanna Myubi," Raito responded, "You and your father were always loyal to me."
"Thank you, Raito," Kanna said. She opened her eyes and began making hand signs. Her hands began to glow slightly. She placed both of them on the mountain and the light coming out of them coursed over the entire mountain. When the light faded, something else became visible. There was a cave cut into the side of the mountain.
"Whoa," Kyori said, "I've never seen that before. It must be in there."
"Could be," Kanna said, "Let's check it out." The three ninja climbed up the mountain and entered the cave. The cave was relatively empty, except for an altar at the end. Visible on top of the altar was a small ring.
"Clever," Shikune said, "She hid the ring in here, then covered the cave with the Blind Spot Jutsu. That way only a ninja from the Sunlight Village would be able to get to it."
Kyori ran over to the altar and took the ring from it. She slipped it on her finger and smiled. "I can feel her energy," she said, "She did store chakra in this ring." She paused for a moment. "Do you think it's all right if I take it out?" she wondered.
"Sure," Shikune said, "She left the ring there and she told you she wanted you to have it. She must have intended you to take the chakra."
"I suppose you're right," Kyori said. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the ring. It glowed blue for a few minutes and then stopped. "I feel it," Kyori said, "My sisters chakra flowing through me. It worked."
"Great," Kanna said, "But we had better get back to the village before someone finds us up here."
"Yeah," Shikune said, nodding. The three of them descended the mountain and returned to the Leaf Village.
