Chapter Four: Heritage
Konohagakure no Sato (The Village Hidden in the Leaves), Fire Country
"Suma-chan? Kiiro-kun?" The pink-haired twelve-year-old looked around nervously. Every direction looked just as menacing as the last, and the genin couldn't find his teammates anywhere in the Forest of Death. "Suma-chan! Kiiro-kun!" he called out to them again.
Leaves rustled behind him and he turned, hoping to see the two people he had called out for. Instead, there was a raven-haired man. Embroidered on his robe between his shoulder blades was that strange red and white uchiwa fan that he had seen in his history book a few times while in the academy. The man turned, and for a moment, Shou thought he recognized the stranger.
"Dad?" he asked, but the dark-haired stranger only smirked, and his dark eyes began to glow red. Shou tried to run away, but found his way blocked by a mirror, and when he looked again, he was surrounded in a prison of mirrors. Where the stranger had stood, there was only a silhouette of a man, and Shou realized it was only a reflection of his now grown body, wearing those robes, and staring back at him with those eyes.
Shou clutched his face and dropped to his knees. This couldn't be him. This couldn't be his destiny!
"Shou? Shou, wake up."
Haruno Shouichi gasped as he took in his surroundings. His girlfriend knelt beside him, worry drawn across her face as she brushed his sweat-soaked bangs out of his black eyes. "Suma?"
"You were having a nightmare."
Shou sat up and breathed a sigh of relief. "Sorry. Did I wake you?"
Suma pulled her mouth to the side. "Only a little. Do you want to talk about—"
"No!" Shou instantly regretted raising his voice and took her by the hand, kissing her fingertips. "No," he whispered. "I'm just worried about what could be coming. I'm training with Kakashi today, though, so hopefully that will put my mind at ease, and you won't get woken up in the night for a while."
"Don't you have to meet him at five?"
Shou glanced at the clock, which read 4:45. "I only said five. I plan on getting there closer to six."
"He's going to be really mad if he gets there before you do," Suma warned with a yawn, lying back down. Her boyfriend flopped down behind her and put and arm around her waist, holding her against his chest.
"We both know that isn't going to happen."
Forest near Konohagakure no Sato (The Village Hidden in the Leaves), Fire Country
Tamaki yawned. "Anything yet?"
A few feet away, Inuzuka Kubiwa raised his nose from where he was trying to pick up a scent. "You know, you're not very helpful," he pointed out. Kubiwa's wolf-dog, Chamaru barked his agreement before going back to his task of finding the scent of whoever had been responsible for the ANBU massacre.
"Sorry. They probably should have sent a real Hyuuga," Tamaki muttered, adjusting his position and leaning against the tree behind him. Just then, Ai and Anju emerged from the forest and came to a stop on the path with Tamaki and Kubiwa.
"We went as far out as five miles, but it was clean," Anju briefed. "I sent my insects out further, so if there's anything, we'll know in a few minutes."
"How are you guys doing?" Ai asked.
Kubiwa grumbled and returned to hunting for a trail. "Not good. Hopefully Ren and Shikashi will come back with better news."
As if on cue, a green blur leapt from the trees, pouncing on Kubiwa's back. "Guess what we found!" she sang.
"Clearly it wasn't a manual on personal boundaries," grunted Kubiwa, flipping the woman off his back a letting her fall onto the road beside him.
Maito Ren bounced back up and dropped a cloth she was carrying into Kubiwa's lap. "My superior sleuthing skills have uncovered this piece of the reprehensible ruffian's robes!"
Kubiwa and Chamaru each took a sniff before cringing. "Ugh. Getting a lot of blood," Kubiwa took a breath and went back in to get another smell. "Under that, there's white pine and… some kind of clay. I'd say probably from the western mountains."
"That's all we have to go on, then, because this thing didn't leave any tracks," came Shikashi's voice a moment before he emerged from the trees to join the rest of the group.
"How could something strong enough to wipe out a platoon of ANBU just disappear like that?" Ai wondered aloud.
Anju nodded, "That's a good question. There's a small village not far from here. Ren, Kubiwa, Chamaru and I will stay here and look into picking up a trail. You three head to that village and see if you can find anyone who saw anything."
"Hai, Sensei," the three said at the same time before taking to the trees without another word.
Konohagakure no Sato (The Village Hidden in the Leaves), Fire Country
"You're late."
Shou scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "I had to stop and pull a cat out of a tree."
Even through his mask, Kakashi's frown was visible. "Right. Let's get started."
"Actually, can I ask you something first?" When Kakashi nodded, Shou went on, "I want to know more about the Uchiha clan."
"Well," Kakashi put a hand to his chin in thought, "Where to begin? They were one of the forming clans of Konoha, most known for their dojutsu, the sharingan." Kakashi subconsciously tapped the headband covering his left eye. "About thirty years ago, Uchiha Itachi went rogue, slaughtering his clan and fleeing the village," Kakashi explained. Of course, this wasn't completely accurate, but it was the story Itachi had died to preserve. "The only survivor of the massacre was Uchiha Sasuke, who eventually also left the village. Both brothers died as rogue ninja, leaving the Uchiha clan extinct."
Shou swallowed, "Am I like him?"
"No," Kakashi answered sincerely. "You're most like Sakura, if I had to name anyone." The copy-nin stretched, "Why such an interest in history so suddenly?"
Shou snorted a half laugh through his nose, "Honestly? I had a nightmare last night."
"Don't take your dreams so seriously. Anything that can change based on what you had for dinner is nothing to live your life by." Kakashi put a hand on the young jounin's shoulder, squeezing it briefly before stepping away and settling into a ready stance. "Now, are we here to talk, or are we here to train?"
Sarutobi Suma had never had the chance to meet her father, since he had died before most people even knew of her conception. This didn't get her down much, though. The role of her paternal figure had been taken over by her sensei, Nara Shikamaru, who had been equal parts discipline and compassion her whole life, and had actually done a great job of helping her mother bring her up right. She had also had the encouragement of her cousin, Konohamaru, and her parents' former students, Chouji, Ino, Kiba, Shino, and Hinata. Throughout her childhood, and even now into her adulthood, she had a virtual safety net of people there to love and support her.
Because of this, Suma was remarkable well-adjusted and average. Certainly better off than many of the other shinobi she knew. Never in her life had she buried someone she loved, which was unheard of for someone born into a ninja family—of course, this could be attributed to having so many family members die before she was ever even born, there weren't many left to lose by the time she came into the world. On top of that, the last Shinobi War had ended shortly after her birth, and the villages had been at peace for the twenty years since.
Yes, Suma was well-adjusted. Her teammate, Kiiro, however, was anything but.
"Listen, you asshole! I don't care if your second cousin's the freakin' daimyo!" Kiiro could be heard shouting before Suma even got in the building.
The crimson-eyed woman sighed, as she entered the gambling den and found the owner with Kirror, being held by two bouncers. The fact that the bouncers, a couple of chuunin past their prime, could hold Kiiro back told her that he at least wasn't fighting. They wouldn't have stood a chance if he was.
"How much does he owe?" she asked as she approached.
"I don't owe this cheating bastard a damn thing!" Kiiro interjected.
The boss, a short, plump man with a big, shiny bald spot on top of his head, glared at Kiiro before grinning at Suma. "I couldn't make a lady pay a man's debts. Especially not the granddaughter of the third hokage."
Suma's mouth gravitated to the side of her face, her default expression when she was irritated. "No, I'd rather just clear it up."
"Nonsense, nonsense. You just take your friend, and have a nice day." At the boss' word, the two chuunin let go of Kiiro's arms.
"But I—"
"Let's just go," Kiiro interrupted Suma's protests, dragging her out of the gambling den with him. Once outside, he squinted in the sunlight, muttering, "Oh, so that was seven a.m."
"I can't believe you just let him take my family name as a form of payment!"
"What's the big deal? We live in an era of legacy. If you can find a distant relative who even looked at Akatsuki back in the day, you're set for life." Kiiro snorted, "Like I care if his second cousin was a corpse handler during the Shinobi War, and they have Uchiha Sasuke's eyes in a vault somewhere!"
"You need to stop going there. You lose all the time, and then you just claim that the dealer cheated."
"He must have! Otherwise, my cheating would have worked."
Suma dropped her head in defeat and groaned. "Kiiro…"
Namiaka Village, Fire Country
After an hour of asking around—which really was saying something, considering there were maybe a hundred people in the whole village—Ai, Tamaki, and Shikashi decided to rest at the village's only teashop. They ordered a pot to share, and sat themselves down at the tabled nearest to the door, paying little attention to the other patrons.
"I guess it was naïve of me to think it would be that easy," Tamaki lamented.
"Too long with the monks," Ai theorized. "They didn't make you work hard enough for information."
"It's all about freeing your mind in the monastery. Knowledge is not something to be hidden away."
Shiakashi frowned, "Back to the topic at hand. There are two pieces to this puzzle: Kurohi, and whatever it was that attacked those ANBU."
"I don't know why so many ANBU were mobilized at once," Ai added, making her teammates look at her. "Look, my dad was ANBU for a long time. I know for a fact that they go in small, subtle groups. Not in large flocks in the broad daylight."
"Are you saying the hokage knows something?" Tamaki asked, a little offended that she might accuse his uncle-of-sorts.
"Not necessarily. Who's in charge of the ANBU other than the hokage?"
Shikashi's face went sour, "I hope you're not talking about my dad."
"Everyone's a suspect, but your dad seems unlikely," Ai assuaged him. "Unless there's a much bigger picture here that none of us are seeing."
Tamaki scratched his head, "So the theory is that somebody with a hand in ANBU already knew about this killing machine, and probably Kurohi, and sent an entire platoon of ANBU to take care of it…"
At a table in the back corner, the purple-haired man's fish-like ears twitched. A single white eye wandered momentarily over his companion's shoulder in the direction of the three Konoha chuunin he'd just overheard. "Don't look now, but we've got friends."
Eana disregarded the first half of his statement and glanced over her shoulder. "We do. I'm gonna go have some fun with them."
Haru shrugged, "Whatever."
The young Hozuki smirked and stood. "Did I overhear you say Kurohi?"
Ai's green eyes flashed suspiciously, "I don't know. Did you?"
"They're dangerous, as far as I've heard. I wouldn't go after them."
"Who are they?" Shikashi wanted to know.
Eana feigned fright, "They're this terrible group of S-ranked criminals."
Ai snorted, "Sounds like an Akatsuki wanna-be group, if you ask me."
"That's awfully brave of you," the blue-haired woman's act continued. "You three must be very strong shinobi." Grinning slyly, Eana pressed herself closer to Tamaki and batted her eyelashes.
The Hyuuga smiled nervously and leaned away. "Well, we can't go letting terrorist groups do what they want."
"No, no. Certainly not," Eana agreed, standing straight again. She looked back at her table, where he partner was scowling at her. "You ready to go, Haru?" she asked.
With a shrug and a sigh, Haru stood and led the way out of the teahouse. Eana only paused to wink at the three chuunin before she was gone as well.
In that next moment, several things clicked into place for Shikashi, and he jumped up, running to the doorway and throwing the door flap aside and looking out. The two were nowhere to be found, though. He turned once more to his curious teammates. "Did you see his cape?" he asked them.
"That tan monstrosity? I wish I could unsee it," Ai snipped.
"Yes, tan. Like the piece of fabric we found in the woods," Shikashi told them. "And did you see what was on the back of it?" At the pair of blank stares he received, Shikashi let out an aggrieved sigh, "It was a black sun!"
Ai hurled herself from the table and darted past Shikashi, "We can still catch their trail!"
"Wait!" cried Tamaki, throwing money down on the table. "Shouldn't we wait for backup?" but his teammates were gone, leaving him with no choice but to follow.
"You shouldn't have engaged them," Haru muttered. He and Eana had just made it back onto the road heading toward Mt. Ougonyama after having to take a short detour to throw off their pursuers. "Nobu isn't going to be happy about this."
"I don't care what Nobu's happy about. If I'm not getting paid, I'm going to do what I want and have fun!" Eana grinned at Haru, "Did you hear how they talked? They'd be dead in seconds if they caught up with Oru."
"There wasn't much danger in that, until you felt the need to draw attention to us. We'll be lucky if they don't locate the base and send every high-ranking shinobi they've got."
"Please, we're still miles out. You're so pessimistic." Eana expected a response, but it appeared that Haru decided to pout instead. They walked in silence for a few minutes after that, before Eana paused and grumbled under her breath.
"What was that?"
"Those three Konoha chuunin are approaching," Eana admitted. "They're persistent little buggers, aren't they?"
"Nobu is really not going to be happy about this." Haru and Eana continued walking nonchalantly, but mentally prepared themselves for the confrontation that was to come. Moments later, Eana felt their trackers come to a stop nearby, no doubt formulating a plan of attack.
Without warning, three kunai cut through the air, all aimed at Haru. The rogue ninja deflected them easily with his Thunderswords, and Eana frowned.
"Why are they attacking you like you're the biggest threat?"
"Because I am," Haru had just enough time to retort before a chakra-enhanced kick was flying down toward his head. Haru dodged Ai's foot before counterattacking with his swords, which Ai somersaulted out of the way of. From her place on the ground, Ai concentrated chakra into her fist and went to uppercut the swordsman.
Eana dodged a round of kunai and shuriken, twisting just in time to block a more direct attack from a tanto-wielding Tamaki. She disarmed him, flipping his tanto and catching it midair to use it against him. Tamaki sidestepped her slice, summoning a double-edged sword as he spun to avoid Eana's follow-up attack.
The woman clicked her tongue at him in pity, "Oh, dear, you really shouldn't have done that." A sharp-toothed grin followed, and in the next second, she had managed to procure his sword. She was much better at using the sword than she was the tanto, Tamaki noted with some distress as he had no choice but to retreat momentarily.
Ai took an electric shock from Haru's Thunderswords, and groaned In pain from her place on the ground. Haru stood over her and prepared one of the swords to finish her off.
"Silly child," he muttered, "Barely worth my time."
"Look out, I—"
Blood stained the road, and Ai shuddered. With a hard swallow, she looked to Shikashi, where he was hidden behind a tree. "Did you cut it close enough?" she shouted at him.
Above her, Haru grunted and glanced back at his partner, her stolen sword stabbed into his back and protruding from his chest. "Why… did… you…?" he managed.
"I can't control my body!" Eana defended. Her body jerked as Shikashi mimicked the act of pulling her sword out, and she in turn actually did it. When she was forced to assault her partner again, he dodged despite his wounds.
Catching on to Shikashi's trick quickly, Haru disappeared from the road, reappearing a second later beside Shikashi, who lost his concentration when Haru picked him up by the neck and threw him back to the ground. An audible crack was heard, and Shikashi cradled his newly-broken arm as he tried to get back to his feet and get away.
With the Shadow Possession jutsu deactivated, Eana was free to do as she pleased, and she pleased to pick up where Haru had left off on killing Ai. Before she could, however, two kunai were embedded in her arm. Eana frowned at the Hyuuga before her arm turned to clear liquid. The kunai hit the ground with matching clangs, and when Eana's arm reformed, there wasn't a scratch on it.
While Eana was distracted by Tamaki, Ai tried to get up, but the lightning had left her body numb. She watched helplessly as Shikashi was also electrocuted, and Tamaki took one of his own blades to the stomach. With one of them unconscious, one paralyzed, and one bleeding out, it looked like Team Anju wouldn't last much longer.
"Freeze, foes, or feel my fury!" a voice echoed, before the green-clad blur that owned the voice had kicked Haru away from Shikashi and into a tree on the other side of the road, the trunk splintering in all directions. Ren stood with her hands on her hips, and mere moments later, she was joined by Anju, and Kubiwa and Chamaru.
Eana smirked and got ready to take on these new opponents, but a cough from Haru made her pause. The man had pulled himself to his feet, but his breathing was heavy, and a large puddle of blood was pooling around his feet. Eana growled, and even though it went against her better judgment, she dropped her weapon and went to Haru's side.
"This isn't over," she told the Konoha-nin as she supported Haru's weight on her shoulder. "When we meet again, you'll all die." With that, the two Kurohi members vanished.
"Don't think you can get away that easily!" shouted Ren, preparing to give chase, but she was stopped by Anju.
"We need to get these three medical attention," Anju said. "Especially Tamaki."
Ai attempted once more to sit up, this time managing to, though it was a laborious task. "Bring Tamaki here," she commanded wearily. Though Anju tried to advise her against it, Ai held firm, and after a few false starts, green chakra began to mend the gash in her teammate's side. Ai's numb limbs didn't control her chakra as well as she'd have liked, and the chakra fluctuated periodically, but Tamaki's wound slowly grew to a more manageable scrape. She'd have liked to heal Shikashi's broken arm as well, but that was non-life-threatening, and she didn't have the chakra for both of her teammates at the moment. Convinced that Tamaki would now survive long enough to get back to Konoha, Ai allowed her exhaustion to get the better of her, and she slept.
"This is all my fault," Eana muttered, pulling Haru's shirt up far enough to get a look at the hole through his chest she'd given him.
"In its entirety," Haru agreed, earning him a sharp glare.
"You're supposed tell me that it isn't my fault, bastard," Eana cursed. Seeing that his wound was too severe to stitch up, she offered her forearm to her partner. "Here, bite into my skin. It will heal you," she told him.
"No. If I am to survive this, it will be on my own," Haru stubbornly refused. "I have a medical kit in my pack. Get it for me."
"Idiot, you won't live long enough to get sewn up."
"Then I am not meant to live," he stated seriously.
With an annoyed growl, Eana did as he asked her, pulling out a needle and suture thread. When he tried to take it from her, she slapped his hands away. "I'll do it," she snapped. "We've already agreed this is my fault."
A/N: So some new characters in this one:
Sarutobi Suma, 20, jounin, is the daughter of Yuuhi Kurenai and the late Sarutobi Asuma. She was on Team Shikamaru with Haruno Shouichi (who is now her boyfriend), and Kiiro.
Kiiro, 20, jounin, is an orphan. He was on Team Shikamaru along with Sarutobi Suma and Haruno Shouichi.
Maito Ren, 20, jounin, is Gai's daughter.
Inuzuka Kubiwa, 20, special jounin, is Inuzuka Hana's son. Chamaru is his wolf-dog companion.
