Man! It's been a while! Sorry for not updating last week. I had a lot of work to do and I really didn't want to rush my chapters too much. The extra week also gave me some time to figure out whether I wanted to post this chapter or not. Anyways, I'm back with another chapter for 'The Tale of Team 6'. Once again, I'd like to thank each and every one of you who have read this story. I'd also like to thank you guys for following, adding this story to your favorites and reviewing.
After this chapter we can finally move on to the Chunin Exams! So, little note. This chapter is sort of a backstory chapter. It'll provide you guys with some insight, not enough to spoil too much(atleast I hope), into the backstories of a few characters. Feel free to tell me what you guys think this reveals to you. I'd be interested to know if anyone can guess what some of the content in this chapter means. Although I'm pretty sure there's a few things that are still unknown. And they will remain that way until I choose to reveal them...or until I make a mistake and someone guesses it. Either way...
But enough of my babbling. On with the chapter!
Disclaimer: Still don't own Naruto...
Chapter 10
Tatsuo walked down the hallway of his home. The boy silently looked around at the broken and scratched walls. His eyes panned over to the fallen picture frames. Kneeling down to take a look at the images he lifted one of them up to get a better view. Cracks were scattered across the glass that protected the picture, causing him to frown. Fiddling with something behind the frame, the teen unhinged the back of the wooden casing before pulling the picture out.
His eyes widened slightly as they gazed at the people present in the picture, one in particular. The first was a teenage girl, around his age. She had long purple hair that fell down to her shoulders and wore a short-sleeved black shirt with a vest of the same color over it. She wore metal arm guards and a sword strapped diagonally across her back. She also wore baggy black pants with weapon holsters on her thighs and had a cheerful smile plastered across her fair-skinned face.
Beside her was another teen who looked to be, once more, as old as him. The boy had spiky brown hair and fair skin. He wore a black shirt with a grey jacket over it, the sleeves of which were folded up to just below his elbows. The boy also wore baggy black pants with a weapon pouch on his hip and had his hand held up with the first two fingers extended in a 'peace' sign.
The last teen was stood to the right of him. Having brown hair that reached down to his forehead aswell as unusual dark lines under his eyes that were clearly visible on his fair skin. He had on a long-sleeved red haori aswell as baggy black pants with bangles around his wrists and ankles. The boy also carried a sword attached to his hip.
Tatsuo's eyes then moved to the woman standing behind the three teens and for a moment, he lost himself in a flood of memories. The jounin, as was clear by her jounin vest, had black hair that was tied into a short ponytail that fell down to the nape of her neck. The woman had fair skin and black eyes. Her lips were curved up into a smile as she stared at the camera. Underneath her left eye was a small tattoo in the shape of a six-petaled flower. Her attire consisted of a tight black shirt underneath her jounin vest and black pants with the ends tied using bandages. The woman also wore arm guards with a sword hung diagonally across her back.
Tatsuo's eyes widened as he heard a ruckus in the backyard. Letting the picture flutter to the ground the genin rushed to see what had happened. Ignoring the abnormally large hole in the back of the house and the burnt and destroyed furniture around him the boy leapt out into the silent night. His eyes widened as they landed on the still form of a person in the center of the small training field. "No…" he muttered disbelievingly to himself before running to the motionless form and falling to his knees beside the woman.
Dull black eyes stared back at him, forcing tears to form in his eyes. Thunder roared in the skies above him, a flash of lightening illuminating the face of the woman before him. The flower-shaped tattoo under the woman's left eye was all that he needed for his worst fears to become a reality. "No…" he muttered once more as his hand moved to check for a pulse. His eyes widened even more when he felt nothing. "No…" Moving his hands to try and force her heart to start, Tatsuo froze as he felt blood. His gaze moved to the hole in her chest, blood slowly leaking out and soaking her clothes and the ground around her. "Oh God…"
The teen's eyes caught movement, prompting him to move his gaze back to the woman's face once more. "Tat-" the woman's voice was weak, but he could just about make out what she was saying. "Tatsuo…" the wounded woman called, her dull eyes moving to look at the boy. She broke into a fit of coughs, causing the boy to let out a startled cry.
"No…please…this can't be happening…" Tatsuo muttered to himself, his body shaking and tears slowly sliding down his cheeks.
"W-w-why d-did…" the woman began, one of her hands slowly rising up to reach for the boy's face. "Y-you do t-th-this…?" Tatsuo's eyes widened as he watched the woman's hand fall limply against her body and her eyes slowly lose their light.
"No!" Tatsuo screamed, as the lightening lit up the night sky. The boy looked at his hands, covered in the blood of the woman he'd killed. The woman he'd known and loved all his life. And he couldn't help it. He screamed.
"Mom!" Tatsuo screamed, jerking up in his bed. The black-haired youth's eyes darted around the room, sweat dripping down his face. His chest rose and fell rapidly as he took quick short breaths. Wiping the sweat off of his brow with his arm the genin placed his face into his hands as he tried to regain control of his thoughts.
The image of his mother's serene face flashed in his mind, causing him to let out a gasp and dart his head up once more. The boy gazed at his hands, shivering after the nightmare he'd just experienced. His eyes darted to his door and he flung the kunai he kept under his pillow at the person who rushed into his room.
"Whoa!" Naruto let out, barely dodging the pointed object as it stabbed into the wall right next to the door he'd rushed in from. "What's wrong, Tatsuo?!" the blonde asked, his eyes moving around the room to make sure that everything was alright. "I heard you scream a couple of times. Are you okay?"
Tatsuo took a few seconds to stare at his blonde teammate, realizing that he'd almost stabbed him with a knife. "I-I'm sorry…" he muttered. "I just…I need a minute…"
Taking a seat next to the boy, Naruto raised an eyebrow before placing a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder. "That night again?" he questioned, earning a tired nod from the Uchiha. "Why now? You haven't had one for a few years…"
"It…might be because of the whole camp incident…" Tatsuo replied, slowly moving so that his feet were dangling off the edge of the bed. "It's alright…I'm good." Slowly getting to his feet, the black-haired genin made his way out of the room with his blonde companion following him out.
"You sure?" Naruto asked, leaning against the wall as Tatsuo splashed water on his face in the washroom. "We have the Chunin Exams coming up too…we could drop out if you're not up for it."
"No, it's fine…" Tatsuo replied, taking a few deep breaths before looking into the mirror. "We don't need to drop out of the Exams. This isn't going to be a problem…"
"You're absolutely sure?" the blonde Uzumaki repeated once more, hoping to change his friend's mind. The last time the boy had suffered from a similar dream had left him sitting at home trying to forget what had happened that night all those years ago. It had taken a couple of weeks for the boy to get himself back to normal.
"Yeah," he replied, walking out with a towel around his neck with tired eyes. "Don't worry about it." Walking past his friend and heading for his room once more, the boy took a seat on his bed before running a hand through his hair. "But…I might need some help getting it out of my head." Naruto popped his head into his friend's room, raising an eyebrow in curiosity. "You up for some sparring?"
An hour later found Naruto casually leaning against the trunk of a tree. The boy was simply looking ahead as he watched his teammate engage his clones. The black-haired youth had asked him for a distraction so he'd given him a literal army of clones to fight. The young Uzumaki's eyes moved to the side as he heard someone sit down beside him. "Is Tatsuo alright?" Kasumi asked, looking over at her brother with raised eyebrows.
"He had a nightmare…" Naruto replied, returning to watching his friend fight his clones. "And so he needed something to help him get over it." Kasumi raised an eyebrow before turning to look at her other teammate."So, what are you doing here?"
"Haku told me you two were here..." the girl stated. She frowned upon seeing the Uchiha fighting far more aggressively than he usually did. That was definitely odd.
Tatsuo ducked under a spinning kick from one of the Naruto clones before rolling back to avoid the drop kick from another. Rolling to his feet the boy spun around and knocked another clone's fist to the side. Letting out a grunt the boy smashed his own fist into the blonde's face, dispersing the copy in a puff of smoke. Not stopping for a second he blocked a kick with his left arm before latching onto his attacker's leg. Twisting around, he pulled the clone forward and threw him into another copy of his teammate, effectively destroying both of them.
"Is that the best you got?" he taunted, smirking at his opponents. His sharingan eyes darted to each of the blonde clones that rushed at him, catching each of their movements before the genin reacted. Spinning around to smash a foot into the face of one of his opponents he sidestepped a punch and caught the arm of the attacker. Pulling the clone infront of him to use as a shield he smirked as the blonde popped when he received a punch to the gut from his fellow clone.
"Try to keep up…" the Uchiha stated, grabbing onto the shirt of the clone infront of him before pulling the poor teen into his speeding fist. Ducking under a punch he smashed his fist into his attacker's gut before rolling out of the way as another clone tried to smash a kick into him through the smoke. Stopping in a crouch his eyes noticed the two clones darting towards him from either side. Turning to his right he blocked a left hook before stopping the clone's rising knee with his other hand. Pushing the two limbs out of the way he ducked to avoid the spinning kick from behind him before pushing himself back to collide with the clone behind him. Hearing the telltale sound of the copy dispersing he looked back ahead, only to have his eyes widen as a pair of arms grabbed each of his arms.
"Don't get too confident!" the Naruto infront of him exclaimed before he buried his fist into his black-haired friend's gut. Feeling the air leave his lungs, Tatsuo let out a harsh cough before he caught a glimpse, through his narrowed eyes, of the clone pulling his fist back for another attack. Gritting his teeth he hopped up before smashing his feet into the clone's torso. Catapulting himself, using the clone right before it disappeared, he pushed himself back out of the grasp of the clones that had restrained him.
Looking up as he sat crouched on the ground the boy's eyes narrowed upon seeing several clones running towards him. Responding in kind he darted forward, meeting them in the middle. Ducking under the punch from the first clone he smashed a palm into the blonde's gut. Spinning into a low sweep he swiped the feet of another clone from under it before leaping up and implanting his foot into the face of another.
Tatsuo's neck snapped to the side as he received a hard punch from one of his opponents, forcing him to stumble slightly. Jerking his head back to look at his attackers he received a hard kick to his torso, prompting him to cough loudly as he was sent skidding across the ground on his back. Coming to a stop his eyes opened up just in time for him to roll to the side to avoid the descending heel of one of the clones.
Slowly standing up he took in a couple of deep breaths. Looking at the numerous clones still present he smiled. "Guess this does help get my mind off of that dream…" Smirking at the group of clones infront of him he took a second to take note of where each of them was before running towards them.
"Why does Tatsuo seem so angry?" Kasumi questioned, looking over at her brother in curiosity. "He usually doesn't fight so…offensively…"
"He's just blowing off some steam," Naruto answered with his hands behind his head as he watched the black-haired genin go at it with his clones. "It's been a while since he's had a dream like the one he did today…"
"But the Chunin Exams are just around the corner!" the young redhead exclaimed, looking at her brother in surprise. "Are you sure we should be participating if one of us isn't feeling well?"
"He said he was fine…" Naruto stated, closing his eyes and leaning back slightly. "But if I think he isn't doing so well then we'll drop out." Kasumi nodded at her brother's words before looking down at the ground, seemingly thinking about something. "Something wrong?"
"I was just wondering…" the girl started, her voice slightly lower than before. "Have you ever…killed anyone, Big Brother?" Naruto's eyes snapped open at the girl's question before he looked over at her in confusion.
"What brought this on?" the blonde asked, leaning forward so that he was sitting up straight.
"I…" the young kunoichi stopped for a few seconds, her eyes staring at the ground by her feet. "It's just…I wanted to know because I want to understand why you'd have done it…" her words were barely above a whisper and she refused to look at her brother. Naruto's eyes softened upon seeing her in this state before he sighed and crossed his arms.
"It's okay," he comforted her, earning a hopeful gaze from her. "I guess it's better if you learn now rather than later. I have killed before, Kasumi." The boy noticed his sister's eyes widen slightly but decided not to pay it any mind. "But the only reason I've done it is to protect those who are innocent and deserve to be protected." Kasumi tilted her head slightly in confusion, prompting her brother to sigh and explain.
"Remember that time in Wave?" Naruto began. "When Haku knocked you unconscious?" Seeing the girl nod, Naruto continued to explain his point. "Well, I arrived a little while after that and found Mom and Zabuza fighting against a bunch of bandits." The blonde took a moment to look up at the cloudy sky before looking back at his sister. "Seeing them fighting together, I decided to help out. The only thing that I knew for sure was that the bandits would hurt Mom."
Taking a deep breath to prepare himself for what was to come, the boy finally got to the part he'd been dreading. "I tried my best not to kill anyone…" he stated, prompting his sister to lean in closer because of his lower tone of voice. "But there were times when I couldn't avoid it. So I did end up taking a few of them out…permanently."
Kasumi, hearing her brother's words, looked down at the ground. The girl was silent for a few moments, simply going over what her elder sibling had told her. She understood why he'd done it, but she didn't know what to think of it. "I know it's hard to accept, Kasumi…" said Naruto, looking at his sister in sympathy. "But it's something that we, as ninja, have to do. The only advice I can offer you in regards to it is that you don't do it without valid reason or end up enjoying it."
A moment of silence passed between the two, broken only by the occasional shouts coming from Naruto's clones and Tatsuo as they engaged in battle. It was only when Naruto had begun to think that his sister might have begun to hate him for what he'd done that the young redhead actually spoke up. "When was the first time you killed someone?" her voice was barely above a whisper, full of both curiosity and dread.
Naruto raised an eyebrow upon hearing her question before he leaned back and stared up at the cloudy sky. He could definitely see why Shikamaru enjoyed doing so. It was pretty calming and quite peaceful. "The first time I killed someone, eh?" he repeated, his mind slowly going back to that time a few years ago. "Well, that's a bit of a story I guess. But since we've got time…" Sitting up straight once more he looked at his sister with a lazy gaze. "Listen up. It was around five years ago…"
...Flashback…
The sounds of grunts and cries rang aloud through the clearing. A young boy with wild blonde hair stood breathing heavily in the center of the open space. His white shirt and black pants were damp with sweat. The boy glared at the man infront of him, his cerulean eyes boring holes into the white-haired ninja while his lips were curled into a scowl.
The man infront of the boy was tall with long white hair that reached his waist, tied into a long ponytail. Two long bangs framed the man's face, the rest held up out of his face by the horned forehead protector he wore. Said headband had the kanji for 'oil' written on it in ink. He also had fair skin with a wart on the left side of his nose and two red lines painted on his face that ran down from his eyes. The man wore a green short shirt kimono and matching pants, under which he wore mesh armor that showed out of the sleeves and legs of his outfit. His outfit also consisted of hand guards, a simple black belt, wooden sandals, a red haori with two simple yellow circles on each side, and a rather large scroll on his back.
"What's the matter, brat?" questioned the elder man as he smirked at the exhausted boy. "You done already?"
"Screw you, you Pervy-Sage!" the young boy shouted at the man, pointing at him accusingly. "We've been fighting for the past three hours! Ofcourse I'm tired!"
The white-haired man narrowed his eyes at the boy as a vein bulged on his forehead. "How many times do I have to tell you to not call me that, you ungrateful brat?!" he shouted back at the smaller boy, earning him a 'humph' from said blonde. "I am the Great Sage of Mount Myōboku! The amazing Jiraiya!" seeing the small boy ignoring him he scowled before crossing his arms. "And besides, what do you mean fighting? I haven't even been trying!"
Naruto grew red with rage before pointing at the man once more. "Ofcourse you haven't!" he exclaimed with anger filling his voice. "You're one of the Three Sannin! I wouldn't be able to make you break a sweat even if there were a hundred of me!"
Jiraiya rubbed his chin before nodding at the blonde's words. "That is true…" he stated. "But it doesn't give you any excuse to quit!" he roared, pointing comically at the boy with his eyes closed tight.
Naruto's jaw hung open at the red-wearing man's words before he began to grind his teeth in rage. "It's been three hours already!" he shouted at his mentor as he glared at him. "I'm tired! What do you want from me?!"
Jiraiya decided to stop for the moment. It was fun taunting and teasing the blonde but he was just ten. The boy needed a break and so he'd give him one. "Alright already…" he stated, waving his hand around casually as he began to walk over to the campsite they'd been using. "Don't scream my ear off. Take a few minutes to rest up."
The blonde Uzumaki scowled at the elder man as he too began walking towards the camp. A few minutes wasn't going to cut it! He might have been an Uzumaki but he was just ten. Training with the Perverted Hermit was exhausting beyond belief. But he couldn't argue with the results. Four years with the man and he'd grown ten times as strong as he'd been back in Konoha. But then again, he hadn't really had any sort of training back in the village anyways.
As student and master sat on a log, taking a break from their daily training, Jiraiya looked over at his Godson out of the corner of his eye. The boy had grown quite a bit from the shy and timid child that had been attacked back in the Leaf Village. He'd actually made impressive progress over the past four years. But it was nearing the time that he'd have to return to Konoha. Well, if he wanted to be admitted into the Ninja Academy that is.
Seeing as their return was growing ever so closer, Jiraiya knew that there was one thing that he'd need to have the boy do before he returned. He wouldn't trust anyone else with the task. Seeing the boy finishing his drink from his canteen, the Sannin decided that now was as good a time as any. "Hey, brat?" he called, earning himself a glare from the blonde boy. "It's almost time for us to head back, you know." Seeing the slightly fearful look on the child's face caused a burning rage to surface within his heart. To think that the boy was still afraid about what had happened. If the people who had attacked the boy had still been alive then they would have wished that they were slaughtered in the most horrific way possible when he got to them.
"Don't worry about that now though," he stated, seeing some relief on the boy's face. "There's one last thing I want to teach you before we head back to the village." Seeing the boy tilt his head in confusion the white-haired man let out a sigh before finally stating it. "I want to teach you how to take a life, Naruto." His words took a moment to register for the blonde after which the boy's eyes widened in disbelief.
"W-what?" he questioned, wondering if he'd heard wrong.
"You heard me, Naruto…" Jiraiya stated grimly. He didn't want to do this but he would rather have the boy perform the deed and breakdown in a controlled environment rather than in an actual life-or-death situation. "You need to learn that as a ninja you'll need to kill. And I don't want you losing it in the middle of an actual battle where you'd be more likely to lose your life."
"B-b-but…" the boy sputtered, trying to find something to say. But his mind had just gone blank. He couldn't think properly and he didn't know what he was supposed to do or feel. "Why?"
"There are people in this world who deserve death, kid…" Jiraiya stated, staring down at the ground. "And there are times when you'll have to kill someone to protect something precious to you…whether it's an object or a person. I don't expect you to understand the reasons right now, but I'm sure you will."
The young Uzumaki boy looked down at his feet, his mind filled with thoughts and doubts. "How long?"
"There's a group of bandits who've been moving around raiding travelers nearby," the Perverted Sannin explained as he took a quick drink from one of the canteens. "So it'll probably be tonight. I want you well rested for it though so no more training for today."
"Do…you think I'm ready?" the blonde questioned, looking up at his mentor. He earned a confident smile from the man in return.
"Sure you are!" exclaimed Jiraiya, giving the boy a hard pat on the back. "And besides, you'll have me covering for you. So there's no need to worry!" Naruto smiled at the older man, knowing that no matter how difficult things might get he could count on his Godfather to help him when he needed it.
The day flew by quite quickly after that. Too fast for Naruto's tastes but the boy had little choice on what to do. He found himself crouched beside his mentor under the cover of darkness as they looked in on the small group of bandits. The boy was currently wearing his white shirt and black pants with a thin black vest over it and a kunai pouch strapped to his right thigh. "There's only five of them," Jiraiya stated from beside him, causing him to jump slightly.
"Don't be so tense, brat…" the man joked, ruffling the boy's hair much to his disapproval. "I'll take four of them and keep an eye on you when you go up against the last one, okay?" Earning a hesitant nod from the small blonde, the man smirked before running through a chain of handseals. "Here we go…" he muttered.
The next instant, shouts of alarm could be heard throughout the clearing as smoke filled the small clearing. One of the bandits fell to the ground motionless as he received a brutal chop to the back of his neck. The others turned towards their fallen comrade to find the white-haired Sage standing over his dead body with a predatory smirk on his face. "You boys seem jumpy!" Jiraiya exclaimed before moving back slightly as the bandits rushed towards him.
Ducking under the horizontal swing of a small axe he grabbed onto his opponent's neck before smashing him into the ground. The man lay motionless with his eyes having rolled back into his head. Blocking a punch from one of the bandits he latched onto the man's arm before spinning around and throwing him off to the side. The other two thugs halted in their assault, having seen how the rest of their comrades had been utterly destroyed.
The bandit Jiraiya had tossed aside slowly rose to his feet, having slammed into the trunk of a tree. Shaking his head he glared at the white-haired intruder. He shook his head to get rid of the wooziness and began to run towards the man once more before he received a hard kick to the back of his head that sent him tumbling to the ground.
"What the hell?!" the man exclaimed, as he rose to his feet once more and turned around. To his surprise he found no one present. Jerking his head to the side when he heard something the man found nothing once more. "Who's there?! Show yourself!" he shouted, his head darting in every direction to try and spot his attacker.
The man received another kick to the back of the head that made him stumble forward but he managed to keep his balance. Upon twisting around he was hit in the face with a small paper ball. A second later and he found himself coughing as smoke obscured the world around him. The man swore rather loudly, waving his arm around in an attempt to clear the cloud of smoke.
He heard footsteps behind him and swung around, only to feel someone slide through his open legs. The next instant he received a painful cut across his back that had him screaming in pain. He swore even louder when he received another cut, this one across his right thigh. Hearing the screams of pain from his comrades the man knew that he wouldn't be getting out of this alive.
The next few minutes were a pain-filled experience for the man before he finally lost consciousness. Jiraiya approached his student as the boy stared unsure at the unconscious man at his feet. "It's okay, kid…" the Sannin stated, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. "You can do this…"
The blonde Uzumaki's grip on the kunai tightened before he slowly raised it into the air. "You know where to aim, Naruto…take your time..." Jiraiya stated, earning a nod from the boy. And then, Naruto swung down.
…End Flashback…
"And that's how it happened…" Naruto finished, stretching his arms out above him. He looked over to see his sister staring at him with curiosity. "What?"
"What happened afterwards?" she asked innocently, wondering how the incident had affected him.
"I puked," the blonde genin replied blankly. "After that I was depressed for another three days. I had a few nightmares too so I didn't get a lot of sleep. It wasn't until I'd gotten back to Konoha and had a talk with the Old man that I started to get over it." Kasumi nodded at her sibling's words before smiling at him.
"Thanks for telling me, Big Brother…" she said. The girl proceeded to hug the blonde, much to his surprise and confusion. "I'm glad I was able to hear that from you."
"Um…okay?" Naruto questioned more than stated before turning to see Tatsuo heading over towards them. "Hey, seems like Tatsuo's finished with my clones." Kasumi's head jerked around to see the sweat-covered boy approaching them before her mouth fell open in disbelief.
"There were dozens of them!" she exclaimed in shock, unable to believe that her teammate had managed to destroy all of them in such a short amount of time. "How did he beat them all so fast?!"
"Well…" the girl's brother began, rising to his feet. "My clones aren't the most coordinated. Plus, Tatsuo's sharingan helps him keep up with them pretty well." The boy moved ahead to meet his friend before the two began walking out of the training field, Kasumi running after them as her brother motioned for her to follow. "You feeling better?"
"Yeah," Tatsuo replied, wiping the sweat off of his face with his arm. "But I'm hungry right now. How's about some Ichiraku's?" The twin shouts of joy were all the confirmation he needed as the three headed for the ramen stand.
Meanwhile, Kushina stood infront of the Hokage along with Asuma. "Were we able to gain any information from him?" the red-haired jounin questioned, hoping that she'd be able to learn why the man was after her student.
Hiruzen nodded, going through the file he'd received from Ibiki regarding the interrogation. "He was paid to capture Tatsuo-kun," the old leader began. "His employer wanted him alive. They met in a small village in the Land of Wind."
"The Land of Wind?" Kushina muttered, trying to think of possible suspects. "It has to be someone who knows about the Uchiha clan. Or someone who's had some sort of contact with Tatsuo-kun."
"We did receive a description of said employer, however…" the Hokage stated, reading through the folder in his hands. Asuma raised an eyebrow, chewing on the end of the cigarette in his mouth. "Fair-skinned, dark eyes and blue hair in a spiky ponytail. Red lipstick and brown gloves. A green dress with a long left sleeve, short right sleeve and a red turtle-neck with a white high collar. She was also wearing a one-piece red suit and calf-length brown boots."
"Pretty unique appearance," the bearded jounin stated in response. "But it won't do us any good if she's in hiding. No way to track her either." The man received grim nods from the other two ninja before sighing. "Guess we'll just have to keep our eyes open."
"We will indeed," Hiruzen stated as he placed the folder on his desk once more. "Especially with the Chunin Exams coming up. And since both your teams are participating, I'd suggest keeping an eye out for any signs of trouble." The old man earned nods of agreement from the two jounin before he dismissed them with a wave of his hand. After they'd left, he turned around to stare out of the window. "The future seems rather troubling. I wonder what awaits us…"
Phew! That one was interesting to write. Hopefully, the ones after this are a bit longer. Anyways, not much else to say now. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me in a review or PM me if you want. Whatever suits you, I guess. Thanks for taking the time to read my newest chappy. Hope you enjoyed it.
Seeya!