Asuma-sensei, Ino, Chouji and I made our way back to the Land of Iron in order to recover before departing again. The dojutsu deactivated shortly after the battle had ended, but even though my eyes had returned to normal, my mental state had not. I wasn't sure what to think of the news that I was a Shurikane. My teammates didn't know either, if their silence was any indication. Not that I minded, since my mind was full of more than enough noise to make up for the three of them. These discoveries kept coming one after another, and although I was getting some answers, there was a whole influx of new questions flooding into my mind. It just all seemed a little far-fetched.
It wasn't long before we reached the gates of the city, effectively halting my thoughts.
Upon entering, we almost immediately encountered Ureru-san on our way to the hospital. He appeared to have been on his way home from the market. When he saw us he dropped the bags of food he was holding and rushed over.
"What in the world happened to you all?! You've only just left, too!" Worry was written all over his face, but my sensei reassured him that we just got caught up in an unplanned conflict.
"Ah, would you mind showing my students to the hospital? I'd like to inform Mifune-sama about what happened," he added with a meek smile.
"But Sensei, you could use a little healing, too." Chouji stated with a slight furrow of his brows. While it was true he had fared better than us in the battle, it wasn't like he got off scot-free.
Asuma-sensei responded with a toothy grin and placed his hand on the genin's head reassuringly. "Don't worry about me. I'll drop by as soon as I'm done. Would that be alright with you, Ureru-san?"
The merchant nodded his head furiously, his eyes still full of worry. "Of course, of course! It's not too far off, and I'm sure Mifune-sama would really like to hear about this. The three of you, please follow me."
Our sensei waved us off as we followed Ureru-san towards the hospital. The trip was short and silent, excluding the sound of the wagon and the crunching of our feet in the snow. Concern seemed to be the only expression the merchant could manage given the situation, but it wasn't long before we reached the hospital and a faint smile appeared.
"I'll ask for a nurse immediately," the merchant informed us before heading over to the front desk.
The moment he was out of earshot, Ino immediately spoke up. "Are you sure you're okay, Riku?" she asked, turning to me with concern in her eyes. "That crazy guy was after you, right?"
Chouji was silently asking the same questions as well, and I responded to both of them with a reassuring nod. "I'm fine, maybe a little tired, and plenty confused, but I'm not missing an arm or anything."
"O-Okay, but don't be afraid to tell us if anything's wrong, okay?" The blond pressed again, now firmly gripping my shoulders. "It's just- I don't wanna see anybody else trying to deal with all these problems on their own, got it?" This time, her gaze was solid and unwavering. My eyes widened at her seriousness, but I nodded back nonetheless.
"Y… Yeah, I'll be sure to do that," I answered, momentarily startled. My tension eased when she gave me a placated smile, though. Still, what she said had me a little confused. From the way she spoke, it sounded like something similar had happened before, maybe to another comrade.
Before I could ask, Ino sheepishly announced that she had to go to the washroom. Within seconds, she was around the corner and out of sight. I glanced back at Chouji, who seemed surprisingly deep in thought as well. I realized he may have understood what Ino had been talking about, so I caught his attention.
"Hey, Chouji," I started, waiting until he was looking over before continuing, "Who was Ino talking about just now?"
"Mm..." His small eyes turned to slits, his brows furrowing in deep thought before jumping up as he discovered the answer to my question. "Oh! She was probably thinking about Sasuke."
"Please don't tell me I remind you all of him," I responded, mildly irked. It wasn't that I had anything particularly against the Uchiha; it was mostly because he was a moody kid. I hoped I didn't come off as irritable as he does.
However, Chouji grinned back in response and gave me a look that told me that I wasn't quite right. "You're a lot nicer than him, so definitely not." Ah, that's a relief. "Last year, during the Chuunin Exams, something happened to Sasuke that got his team worried. Then an S-ranked criminal named Orochimaru went after Sasuke, so I guess Shinrin going after you reminded Ino of that incident."
I furrowed my brows, silently wondering what exactly happened during those Chuunin Exams, but decided not to press into it. If Chouji didn't know that many details about it, then it probably meant it definitely wasn't my business or that it was a sensitive topic.
"...I see," I eventually answered, staring at the ground. After a moment of silence, I opened my mouth to speak again, but Ino was already jogging back, limping a bit as she did so. I turned my attention to the kunoichi and gestured towards her bad leg with a faint grin. "If anybody should be taking care of themselves, it's you."
"Oh, this is nothing." She responded confidently. "The Rookie 9 of Konoha has pulled our way through all sorts of things, after all." As she spoke, she flashed a toothy smile and winked, as if to confirm the statement.
Chouji was grinning as well, and I responded with a small smile of my own. "Maa, it sure seems like it," I murmured, scratching the back of my head, but winced as it caused the wounds in my arms to flare up again. The atmosphere became much lighter after Ino's declaration and a comfortable silence fell over us as we waited for Ureru-san's return.
As I sat in silence, I found myself starting absently at my feet thinking back on what Ino said, as well as what Chouji had briefly explained to me. I didn't know much about the past events of Konoha, but I was certain that the genin had all been through a number of hardships before my arrival.
What those hardships were exactly is something I may never know, but I figured they'd be sick of the turn of events they'd been a part of. The more I thought about it, the more I wondered how they weren't fed up with everything. Then again, I suppose that's what they signed up for once they became genin. Still, for whatever the reason, I found myself feeling a little warm inside. Is this was being grateful feels like? I acted on my instincts and sat up straight before glancing over towards my teammates.
"Thanks." I murmured, receiving two slightly puzzled glances in return. Before they could question anything, Ureru-san returned with a nurse by his side.
After being properly healed and supplied with gauze and bandages, we were ready to depart the Land of Iron once again. Ureru-san cautioned us many times to be careful, to which Asuma-sensei responded with something along the lines of "Your samurai may be tough, but you shouldn't underestimate us shinobi, either," which was then followed by a hearty laugh. Eventually, Ureru-san was convinced that we'd be alright, and we hauled ass before his worry could strike him once again.
The few days of travel needed to get back to Konoha passed by with no further interruptions, which was much appreciated. I was also getting the hang of activating and deactivating the Youkugan at will, but refrained from using its power, since none of us were quite sure how it worked. The last thing we needed was to draw any other shinobi or rogues that might be in the area to us. Finally, the village gates came into view we slowly let our guards down.
"Haa, the warm sun beats that snowy place any time." Ino sighed, hugging herself.
"Don't get too comfortable yet. We still need to hand in our report, after all," Asuma-sensei pointed out, laughing as Ino huffed and silently protested. So close, yet so far.
Upon arriving in the Hokage's office Asuma-sensei explained the events that occurred during the mission, though he didn't mention the Youkugan. Tsunade-sama was concerned with the news about the rogues and the damage they managed to inflict on us, though I told her that while they may have had strength in numbers, Shinrin was really the only one worth worrying about.
Finally, the jounin pulled me forward. "I believe Riku has something to share with you," he informed the Hokage.
I looked up at the jounin, who gave me a reassuring smile, before turning back to Tsunade-sama who seemed curious as to what I was going to say.
"Well, err… during this mission, we sort of discovered that…" I rubbed the back of my neck while glancing away. "Uh, this." I murmured and closed my eyes. I still wasn't used to activating and deactivating the Youkugan, but I'd been working on it during our trip back to Konoha. When I looked back up at the Hokage, her eyes widened a bit when she saw my changed eyes, but her expression held more curiosity than shock.
"Tsunade-sama, this is-!" The woman next to the Hokage, whose name I learned to be Shizune-san, gasped.
"Well this is interesting." She murmured while taking her eyes away from my own. "Be careful with those eyes. It's what started the war between Narei and Kumo, after all. Nowadays, though, it's just their rogues that you need to be careful about. Not everybody has forgotten about your clan."
I nodded, a little worried about the new risk I had to worry about.
"Still, the Youkugan…" Tsunade-sama continued, still amazed by what she was seeing. "Then again, I guess it's not too much of a surprise, the Shurikane clan made up a lot of the Ghost Village's population, but this… You're just a one in a million kind of girl, aren't you?" She said with an airy chuckle. I'll admit that her reaction was a lot more composed than I thought it'd be. She'd probably seen all sorts of things, being the experienced shinobi that she was, though.
I deactivated the dojutsu and shrugged. "I guess you're right about that," I nodded. My team grinned in response, agreeing with the statement. This is a little much, though, and it almost feels like some more weight has been put on my shoulders. That's the weird part.
I would've thought that the more I learned about myself, the more relieved I'd be. Instead, the more I discovered, the more burdened I felt. Maybe it was because I shouldn't even be alive. After all, the entire village had been destroyed, so why was I here? Why, of all people, did a seven year old survive such a disaster?
I'd never been so confused about anything, not even when I was trying to learn the difference between a swindler and a merchant. I realized then that maybe there was a small part of me deep down that wished I had never learned anything about myself at all.
Thanks for reading ~
