NARUTO: THE VILLAGE DOUSED IN RAIN
© NARUTO / Masashi Kishimoto
Scroll Nine: "The Road to Dawn: An Unexpected Revelation…!"
The darkness was so thick, Ena swore that she could've just cut a slice of it with her kunai. She and the other seven Shinobi were now blindly venturing through a shadow filled thicket, beyond the Koi forest--they were now on foreign land.
"Risu-san," Ena said, "when will you explain the details about this mission?"
"Soon," she replied, saying nothing more.
After walking until what seemed like forever, the sun finally arose, and the young ninja found themselves in a grassy field.
"How about a short break?" Syrin suggested.
"Sounds great," Ena nodded, grateful at the fitting recommendation.
As they all sat and relaxed on the soft, yet course, grass, Risu began her story.
"We are from the unfortunate village of Genki-Itai, in Kirigakure, where, for some reason, the rain is relentless."
"'Relentless'?" Naruto raised a brow.
"Yes," Risu continued, "the rain it…it never stops."
"What…?" Kiri gasped. "B-but how can that be? That's…"
"Impossible?" Risu interrupted. "It may seem so but it is all very true. Our skies haven't seen sunlight in almost ten years…"
"Haven't your people tried to fix this horrible conspiracy?" Katone asked, curious.
For the first time, Risu's expression faded and became dull and lucid. "Our people have done everything in their power to try and stop it…but all have failed. And after all of those downfalls, it became useless to even try to encourage them…for you cannot lift the clouds from the hearts of those who can never see a blue sky."
"That's," Sakura paused as she looked dolefully into her lap, "too sad."
"That doesn't even begin to describe it," Syrin took over. "Morning, noon, evening, night--some younger children have never even seen so much as the parting of clouds. And it's all because of that monster."
"Who?" Ena edged.
"'The Sea Demon'," Syrin hissed in a vile tone. "Or better yet, a man known as Umiya Kairyu. He suddenly just stormed into our village and took over…and that's when the rain started."
"But how do you know it's this 'Umiya Kairyu' that's causing the rain?" Sasuke spouted. "Just because the rain became unending when he arrived, it doesn't mean that he's the convict."
"Oh, but he is," Risu broke in. "All because of a water route he is creating."
"A water route? Like a transportation canal?" Sakura questioned.
"Exactly. And it's taken this long to perfect it, despite how half of our village is now underwater and in ruins from all of that rain fall." Syrin answered.
It then all clicked into Ena's mind and resulted in her next statement. "So he's doing all this for money?!"
Syrin and Risu were in a downhearted silence.
"That is the reason isn't it? What a sick bastard!" the black-haired Kunoichi raged. "And I guess our mission is to kill him and stop the rain, right? But I still don't see how this is an A-ranked assignment…"
Everyone except Ena, Risu, and Syrin gasped in shock, exclaiming, "A-RANK?!"
"Yes," Risu nodded solemnly. "And there can be no declines now that it has been accepted by all of you."
Ena felt glares from all of her teammates as this information set in.
"As for the reason it's A-Rank," Risu continued, "it's because that Umiya Kairyu is heavily guarded by some of the best mercenary Shinobi in all of the Land of Mist…And that it'll prove to be extremely difficult to infiltrate his mansion, get through his guards, and, hopefully, destroy him and stop the rain once and for all."
"I see," Ena smiled glumly at herself. "But I have only one request that I require from everyone."
"Go on," Syrin tempted.
"If anyone perishes," the black-haired Kunoichi hid her expressions beneath her falling bangs, "I'll take full responsibility."
Katone and Kiri froze, Naruto's eyes widened, Sakura covered her mouth with her hands, Sasuke remained unchanged, and the two mist Shinobi shook their heads in opposition.
"No," Ena persisted, "I will truly take all of the blame for any casualty… it is my fault, after all, that I got you lot mixed up in all of this."
"Ena…" Katone and Kiri started but fell into an unbreakable silence.
Naruto stood up and gave a sickened growl. "How can you say that?! If any of us die it'll be our own damn faults, got it?! You shouldn't be the bearer of all the pain, Ena! And I'll have no choice but to loath you if you choose to be a scape goat!"
"Uzumaki-kun…" Ena muttered, captivated by his lecture.
Sakura, unexpectedly, agreed. "He's right you know…we joined this mission together through our own free wills. (Well, some of us…) And you shouldn't hold that type of responsibility."
"Yeah!" Katone blurted. "All for one and one for all!"
"Besides, none of us will die... We're too amazing!" Kiri chuckled lightly.
"As you can see, we can't help but disagree with you Ena," Risu plainly put.
The black-haired Kunoichi blushed from all of the trust that she had from the others. "You guys…"
"Now enough of this!" Naruto shouted bluntly. "What's done is done here and there's no turning back! Let's hurry and get to Genki-Itai so that we can complete this assignment in no time!"
Feeling her esteem rise once again Ena nodded and exclaimed, "Yes! Let's prove that even mere Genin can make a difference! Let's see through this A-ranked mission!"
And so the eight Shinobi continued down the winding path to the village of pain and happiness, the confidence in their souls rejuvenated and burning brightly.
...
The village of Pain and Happiness--where the falling rain never stops.
"Genki-Itai" literally translates in English to "Good health and bad health". This name had actually been in my mind for sometime, and I had been dying to use it somewhere...=w=;; So "Why not put it into my Naruto fic?" I thought. (I think it was a fitting idea) Also, the antagonist to this story, "Umiya Kairyu", translates to "Dark Sea Water Dragon". He's the so called "demon" who causes the endless rain in Genki-Itai, so I thought the name was most appropriate.
Ah, I apologize for all of these late updates, including my FFVII fic, L o y a l S O L D I E R. I've been sick and ambushed with work, but now that I have an extra day off, I hastily got to work on updating.
Now for my next enemy: mid-terms...TAT;;
Thus, please review for the next chapter... more exciting things await you!!
