The war had been pushed aside and forgotten by the people of the valley.

Well…almost.

Seifu had wanted the war; the villagers themselves weren't from ninja villages. They lived simple lives; working on the farms, in the shops, and existing just as many other villages did, in the valley and otherwise. They had no wish to expand their 'empire', gaining control over Hoshi valley and then going on from there. The villagers themselves got on with all that lived within the valley, and although they knew of the rivalry that had been going on; it was mostly between those with wealth; with the power in the village. As Seifu had this power, the men hadn't had a choice but to fight in the war, though it hadn't been something they had wanted.

The stories were still there, however, floating around as they passed outside and as people tried to recover from it all, and for those who had been small children when the war had been taking place, the questions were always around as to what had gone on. People outside of the valley might not have cared what had gone on back then, but it was a big thing in the history of Hoshi valley—though not a good thing—and therefore the children wanted to know about something that wasn't too long ago. That they began to comprehend more and more as they grew up.

Seifu's children and the children of his higher ups had been no exception.

Considering they had been in mid-adolescence during the war, knowing their fathers had died after having such power over the valley; they wanted to know everything. They had looked up to their fathers and seen them as role models. Without their fathers, the valley would have been nothing. They had built it up from a few tiny hamlets and made them into what they were today. They had fought for the valley; done whatever they could to get the valley the respect and glory it deserved.

But somehow they had lost it. Now the war was over, Seifu had been pushed to the back of people's minds and almost one more thing about that time that the villagers tried to forget. After all he had done for them…and they dismissed him like he had been nothing. Like he had practically been a stranger to the valley. There should have been a riot after what happened; a mourning that should have taken over the whole village and beyond. Instead everyone merely went on with their lives without another thought towards them.

Though that was about to change.

They had taken the chance—while they had still been considered children—to ask all the questions they wanted to know. Being the sons of the men who had started the war and had been the leaders of the village and knowing how much respect and adoration they felt towards their fathers, their mothers had obliged, not knowing what was truly going on in all of their heads. Not knowing they all took it as a personal thing; that they thought it wasn't right—and they were ready to do something about that fact. They all agreed, when it came down to it, and they still had the wealth and high status of their fathers before them. The opportunity was in front of them, so why not take it?

So having gathered together, they'd gone off to look at the only remaining thing that truly came from the war. It had been away from the battlefield, needing to be hidden, but had strangely crumbled anyway. With the villagers wanting to forget the war, they had left it alone, and it had merely collapsed, leaving nothing but a pile of rubble. A huge amount of people had died back then, and to have something like that still there, no one went near it. They considered it to have a curse, and those who didn't share that view, just saw it as a bad memory. It had been the hideout and control centre for the ninjas and others in the war; the orders had been sent out from there, so there was no need for it anymore. It just brought about bad things, nothing else.

To a man who saw his father as a hero, however, and considered what he did to be the greatest thing the village and valley had ever seen, it was a building where history had taken place. Where things had taken a giant leap forward for the better. And where things had wrongfully been destroyed to ruins. They weren't afraid of heading to the building; it was a necessary stop in the whole scheme of it all. Well, their scheme. At that point in time, there wasn't much they could do, but they wanted to get a good look around at least, and then they could go from there.

A few minutes later and they had arrived, and an automatic scowl appeared on their faces at what the building had become. A hiding place for small animals; a heap of debris that plants were beginning to grow over no one had been there so long. A mere shadow of its former being. A place that had been forgotten unjustly, and that need to be remembered; needed to be brought back into the minds of the villagers who had brushed it aside and left it to rot like the recollections of the war.

Like their father's memory.

Because that was their plan. The respect and glory that Seifu and the others had tried to build up for the valley had been struck down, and the idea of doing so again had been swept away into the darkness. But that didn't meant it was gone. No; that was exactly what they were thinking of doing. That dream wasn't going to die with their fathers; the second generation would take their place, and this time nothing was going to happen that would stop it from occurring. The circumstances back then had been strange; a once in a lifetime thing that wouldn't happen again, and they could take advantage of that. No one would know what they were doing until it was too late. Until they had complete control.

Walking around the ruins, they cleared away the plants from areas and began piecing together how the building had been stationed before. Then they could get the tools they needed, and the building could be rebuilt. It might take time, it was true, but it would be utterly worth it in the end. They could restore the glory that had been taken away from their fathers back then; then Seifu could get the due respect he had deserved when the war had begun and had been carried out. Staring at the sight before them, the dream played out in all their heads as they imagined what it would be like.

When it was cut short as something sped into the clearing.

Kiken hadn't been going in any specific direction, and had been too busy looking behind her to see if anyone was chasing to notice the group of people standing in the clearing up ahead. To notice just what the ruins were; what they had been. But the combination of not paying attention of what was in front of her, and the shock of it all as she finally saw the clearing up ahead, meant that she couldn't stop herself as she tripped, tumbling across the floor to land at the feet of the people standing there.

Her fear didn't decrease as she saw who it was; they looked just like their fathers.

They all stared at her in shock, without a clue as to who she was or what she was doing there. Her skin was covered in scratches, her breathing was heavy and her clothes torn, though she had to be a ninja with the speed at which she was running. Looking her over, they tried to figure out where she might have come from, when Seifu's son halted. He hadn't truly known about the power his father had said would help them win the war. But he knew little things. That a person was in control of it, that it was stronger than anything. That it carried a symbol—a symbol which he had been shown.

A symbol which was just about visible on the small of her back where her clothes were torn.

Staring at her in disbelief and in pure glee, thanking anything and everything for the good luck he was having and the gift that had just been presented to him, he didn't look at anyone but Kiken, too enraptured by her to explain to his friends what was going on, merely whispering in malicious excitement,

"Kiken…"