Given the geographical location of Kiri, rain storms were very common. Their duration and intensity varied. Sometimes a extremely heavy rainstorm would only last for a few minutes while a light drizzle could last for hours. These large number of rainfalls is what contributed to the thick mists that engulfed the village.
And in a dark room the only sound that could be heard was the rain pattering on the windows. No lights were on, save for the ones on the appliances that let you know they were plugged in, and the light from the outside street lights was coming in from the windows. Some of that light was settling on a woman sitting at a table, a woman who looked like she had crawled down someone's throat and died.
Her name was Doguro Natta, but she hadn't been called that in years. Yamime-san was the most common thing people called her when she occasionally went out. It was meant to be respectful of her loss, but to her it was just a bitter reminder. As for her children, her oldest still called her mom in the 'kaa-san' sense, but her youngest preferred to use the 'ofukuro' sense.
Her titles meant nothing to her usually. Little meant anything to her. What was the purpose of meaning in a life doomed to never have a happy ending? Happiness for her was lost long ago, so all she could do was dull the pain of the knowledge that for her the light at the end of the tunnel was extinguished.
Natta had once been such an optimistic woman, especially when she was a child. She had always dreamed of living the good life, where she'd have a loving husband and adorable children, at least one girl, and never have to be involved in a war. She became a ninja like most girls her age mostly because it was what most kids did, and fortunately she was part of the first class to graduate after the infamous Zabuza incident, meaning her class wasn't required to kill each other.
Her career as a shinobi had been decent, no one died on any mission she had been on, and she managed to make it to the rank of chuunin while young. She fell in love, got married, and had two girls instead of just one, and overall life seemed perfect for her. She was never what people considered wealthy, but she never based happiness on money. No, for her that was based on a lack of worry.
Then that all changed one day, the day her husband died.
Recalling that day even now made Natta feel like her blood froze. Her husband's death was still vivid in her mind every time she closed her eyes. Vivid enough that she couldn't sleep afterwards, not without something to block out the dreams. Too bad that out of all the jutsu in the world, not one of them was an anti-dream one.
When her husband died, a part of Natta died with him. Her hopes, her future, the childhood dream of a perfect carefree life. As well as her idealism, kept in tact throughout her career because she had been one of the lucky few shinobi to never encounter the death of a comrade on the job. So she had no ability to cope with the death of a loved one, on the job or otherwise. She had gotten lucky in that regard, but in that luck she forgot that no ninja can be spared tragedy forever. The very nature of the job meant that sooner or later one must face something far beyond the realm of their comfort zone. It had taken her longer than others to get there, and once she had, she didn't have a comfort zone to go back to anymore.
There were no more restless nights. There was no more warm bed. There was no more 'I love you'. All there was anymore for her was loneliness. A loneliness that even her children couldn't resolve for her. Because of that loneliness, her children were practically strangers to her now, but for her that was a good thing. It was good because otherwise they would remind her of her husband far too much. Especially her youngest one, the one who took after her husband the most, and was the last one to truly see her husband alive.
Her youngest child was a painful reminder of Natta's own tragedy, painful enough that Natta could barely be in the same room as her anymore without feeling like fate was mocking her.
"Why couldn't it have been her instead on that day?" The lonely woman asked herself remorsefully.
The next thing she knew, someone had grabbed her from behind, turned her around, and slapped her across the face.
"I don't freaking believe you! Are you that self-absorbed that you'd wish death on your own daughter just to stop feeling sorry for yourself?" The newcomer all but shouted in rage.
Natta only now saw who this person was, it was her other daughter, Miya.
"Look at yourself! Look at what you've become! You were once someone Shiori and I were proud to call our mother, and now, I wouldn't let you set foot in my house if there was a baby in it! You were someone I once wanted to be like you, but now you're pathetic! If Dad were alive today, he wouldn't recognize you anymore!"
Natta just blinked. "You've never spoken to me like that before Miya." Miya indeed had never raised her voice to Natta before, as if respecting her wish to be left alone.
"Well maybe I should have a long time ago. Maybe if you had been given some tough love instead of enabling then you wouldn't have become this sorry excuse of a mother." Miya declared.
"You don't understand. I-"
"Save it Mom, save your excuses for someone who hasn't heard them before." Miya cut her off. "Yes you lost your husband, but you're not the only one who lost him. He was my father, Shiori and I miss him too. Shiori actually saw him die right in front of her while you and I were dealing with another problem elsewhere. Shiori's been more traumatized by that day then you could ever claim to be, but you don't see her milking it for all it's worth."
"You're pathetic, your heart gets broken once and you don't even try to put it back together." Miya continued. "But Shiori's much stronger than you. She grieved for Dad, she still does, but she uses his memory as a motive to get stronger, to ensure she doesn't have to see someone else die in front of her again."
Natta rolled her eyes. "And look what that got her. Her own teammate died, so she should realize there's no happy ending for shinobi."
Miya slapped her again. "Real life isn't a stupid fairy tale Mom, get the hell over it! Not every frog becomes a prince, not every prince is charming, not every good guy can beat the bad guy! And how dare you make light of Shiori's tragedy when it's so similar to your own?"
"I have every right to make light of it." Natta insisted. "Shiori doesn't understand my pain at all. I lost the love of my life. She just lost a mere teammate. Teammates are as replaceable as broken appliances, but true love is once in a lifetime. Comparing her pain to mine is like comparing a scrapped knee to a heart attack."
Miya sighed in frustration and shook her head. "You are such a martyr. Say what you will about Shiori, at least she has the courage to keep on living. At least she has the courage to change things, rather than hide in the dark relying on liquor to make the bad things go away. And at least she's trying to find some happiness in her life, rather than just waiting to die."
"She's young and naive, she doesn't know any better." Natta quietly commented.
"Mom, Shiori cared about Hikaru. Maybe it wasn't true love, but he meant something to her. He meant a lot. Before you devalue her further, are you aware that her former teammate died in her arms? Just mere seconds after she got to him?" Miya asked.
Natta gave a shocked look, since Shiori never gave her information on her personal life anymore. Heck the only reason she knew Hikaru died was because Miya told her, hoping the older woman would offer some sympathy to the young kunoichi. But the shock faded. "Which only proves me right, shinobi never have happy endings."
"That wasn't the ending for Shiori. You know why? Because she won't let it be. Mom, happy endings come after a struggle, not before. No fairy tale ever went 'Once upon a time there was someone who never had any troubles at all and never would'. Happy endings are earned with effort, not given by default. And if you can't see that, if you think you're the one person in this world who was never supposed to cry, then clearly you're more immature than Shiori gives you credit for."
Natta closed her eyes and turned away. "What do you want from me?"
"I'm beyond wanting anything from you. Me and Shiori both. But listen to me good, this tragedy of yours you fixate on, Shiori went thru it too. Once when she was just a child, and again while she's a teenager. Unlike you, she actually witnessed the deaths and it happened twice, but even more unlike you she's moved on and still trying to live. She's faced what you won't and she's doing what you're afraid to do. Deny it all you want, you're still pathetic. And if you ever threaten Shiori for real rather than wishful thinking, I swear you won't live to regret it, Mother."
Miya then left the room, leaving Natta to more thoughts she didn't want to have.
The next day the rain was ceased, and Kiri had one of its normal misty grey mornings.
"What do you want to do now?" Naruto asked Shiori while they were walking down the streets together.
Shiori had stayed at his place during the night rather than return home, and after seeing what she had to go home to Naruto didn't want to reject her request. Actually it had felt kind of nice having some company in his apartment.
Oddly enough, she had insisted on sleeping the couch instead of him, saying it was his home therefore she didn't feel right taking his bed from him.
"I'd like to get some breakfast first, then maybe some training if you're up to it." Shiori offered.
Naruto nodded. "Sure, I hate days where I have nothing to do. I can't imagine anyone who'd enjoy a day where all they did was sleep or be lazy."
"Excellent, then we can meet up Kasumi-sensei at the training field later." Shiori said with a smile. "So what do you want for breakfast?"
"Well how about a nice bowl of-" Naruto began to say.
Shiori stopped him right there, knowing exactly how that sentence was going to end. "It's too early for ramen, but I know a small cafe that serves a little bit of everything."
"Are you crazy? It's never too early for ramen."
"Trust me, you won't regret going here." Shiori insisted. "Besides, where else would you go?"
"Well Hotaru-chan's a really good cook. Maybe-"
"No Naruto, very bad idea showing up at a girl's house specifically to ask for her to feed you. You might as well be asking to be punched in the stomach." The redhead interjected, heading in one direction as if with a purpose. Not really wanting to object, Naruto followed her.
She led him to a small rectangular building that was rather small but there was an fenced outdoor eating area to compensate. The walls were painted green and the rim of the roof possessed a thin blue line ringing around it. Yellow curtains could be seen on the windows and the door to the place was yellow as well. The tables outside were white and circular with red umbrellas sticking out to shield any who ate outside.
When they got there the two saw eight people outside already dining. To Naruto it was no big deal at all, but Shiori tensed, implicating that this wasn't nothing to her.
Naruto looked at the eight people, wondering if there was something significant or dangerous about them that Shiori had spotted. He saw four boys and four girls, each paired together as if partnered like he was with Shiori, but seated close together and conversing. No weapons could be seen other than a sword on one of the guys, but two of the girls had something strapped to their backs, something he couldn't quite identify from his current angle and distance.
One of the boys looked to them and smiled. "Hey Shiori! Long time no see." He then waved, and suddenly the entire group turned to see the two newcomers.
"Hi everyone, I guess it has been a while." The redhead replied though she was not making any attempt to get closer to the group.
"Well don't be so aloof, come on over." A girl offered.
"Is this your new teammate?" Another girl asked, looking at Naruto then smiling. "No wonder you've been avoiding us; hogging such a hottie all to yourself." She said as she winked at Naruto.
Naruto felt a small blush forming on his face as he looked to Shiori. 'You've been avoiding your friends too?' He thought. Before now he never realized that Shiori and Kasumi had never bothered to introduce him to other people his own age, and wondered why. Shiori and Hotaru were the only ones his age he knew in his time here in Kiri, and while they weren't bad company, it suddenly felt like they had been sheltering him from others.
Shiori steeled herself then turned to the group. "I'm going to go order something quickly. You guys get to know each other while you wait." With that she lightly pushed Naruto forward and walked inside the building.
"Well don't be afraid to sit down." One of the girls offered.
Naruto did so and sat at one of the empty nearby tables, feeling slightly uncomfortable with the attention he was receiving. "Hi, I'm Naruto and yes I'm Shiori's new teammate. She hasn't told me a thing about you guys."
"I'm not surprised. Shiori was never the most social girl in the village." The girl closest to Naruto replied. This girl had long brown hair reaching down to her waist, with some of it also resting on her front just above her healthy breasts. She had green eyes, a black dress on that had no sleeves and sported a hitai-ate in the unusual form of a wool cap on her head. More unusual was a cylindrical glass container strapped on her back that was painted bright white, making it impossible to know what if anything was inside it.
"I'm Yushio Aomi by the way. If there's one thing you need to know about me, it's that I always get the job done no matter what." She then gestured to the boy seated across from her, a boy with red eyes and pale brown hair with spiked bangs, wearing a red coat over a black shirt and blue pants. His sleeves had a sort of lightning pattern zigzag going down them. He wore his hitai-ate across his forehead and was drinking from a water bottle at the moment. "And this is my teammate Hozuki Sato."
Sato put down his bottle before responding. "Hi. If you don't mind me asking, did someone cut your face a while ago?"
Naruto touched his whisker marks on one cheek. "Honestly I have no idea."
"They don't look like scars to me." The boy next to Sato commented. He had chestnut brown hair that was a bit spiked like Naruto's was, with blue eyes that looked more tired than he probably felt. He was dressed in an off-grey shirt with black pants and he was the boy with a sword at his waist. But he didn't have just a sword, he also had a kunai hanging from his neck like a pendant for some inexplicable reason. "Hi, I'm Nosho Yan. Don't really know what more to say than that."
The girl across of him rolled her eyes. "Wow, you're such a sloth Yan." From what Naruto could see of her, because Aomi's cylinder was in the way, this girl had earthen brown hair held back by a dark blue bandanna that had her hitai-ate plate sewn into it. She wore a white long sleeve blouse and red pants, which gave her the impression of being a miko instead of a kunoichi, dark blue gloves on her hands, and strapped to her back was a bamboo broom for some reason.
"Better than being a clean freak like you Amaya." Yan critiqued then looked back to Naruto. "That's my partner Machino Amaya. Sometimes I swear she was born to be a maid rather than a ninja."
"Wrong. I may like tidiness, but I need excitement. All maids do all day every day is clean up someone else's mess and take orders from the ones who made them in the first place." Amaya challenged.
"And ninja don't?" Yan replied rhetorically.
"He's got a point." The person seated next to Yan stated. "What else would you call a D-rank?"
"A pain." Yan answered, then looked to Naruto. "This is Yuki Arashi, whatever you do don't get them mad at you. This guy's not afraid to get rough."
Naruto looked at Arashi. This Kiri nin was a year older than him if height was any indication. They had brown eyes, long black hair with two yellow hair clips above the ears pulling the hair back, and wore a beige long-sleeved shirt. They were leaning on the table with their arms crossed in front of them, looking like they were waiting for something. Naruto couldn't see anything else from his angle and with Yan blocking the rest of his view, but something about this one felt strangely familiar to him.
Arashi looked to Naruto. "Don't listen to this clown. I'm not some kind of bully, I just think that if someone wants a fight they should be smarter about who they want a fight with."
"So if I were to ask for a spar?" Naruto tested.
Arashi smirked. "I'd say bring it on, but you better be worth it."
Naruto smiled. "Alright. Haven't been able to spar with anyone other than Shiori yet so this will be interesting. Might be nice to fight a guy for a change." The others present, Arashi especially, gave Naruto looks of disbelief. "What? Did I say something wrong?"
Arashi nodded. "Yeah. I'm a girl."
"Really?" Naruto asked, feeling an incredible sense of deja vu for some reason. Arashi leaned up and then Naruto could see a pair of average-sized breasts under her shirt that he hadn't been able to see before. "Wait, Yan called you a guy."
"I meant in the generic sense, not the literal sense. I call everyone 'guy' like that, boy or girl." Yan justified.
"Don't even think of calling me a girl." The person seated across from Arashi told Naruto, positioning themselves to be more visible. This person had somewhat long hair for a boy but was still short, and Naruto could tell from the voice alone this person was male. They were wearing dark sunglasses but he adjusted them to get a better look at Naruto, showing his eyes were grey like metal and his hair was a soft blonde-orange color, like a mix of a tangerine and a lemon. He sported a royal purple jacket that covered anything else he wore along with blue pants. Other than his hair color he didn't seem to have a distinguishing characteristic, and he looked like he was Arashi's age.
"Then what do I call you?" Naruto asked.
"My name's Kakuremon Yogiri. That should suffice for you." He responded.
Naruto nodded and tried to look at the last two at this meeting. "And the rest?"
These two stood up and moved around so Naruto could see them better. This way he saw that these two were a year younger than him but still wore hitai-ates.
"I'm Kinpaku Suisen." The boy greeted. He had bluish-tinted black hair, teal eyes, and had two prominent bangs framing his forehead. He wore a white shirt with a jacket over it that displayed red, yellow, and green, along with tan shorts and black shoes.
'This guy must like cologne, I can smell it from here.' Naruto thought, smelling something floral coming off this boy.
"And I'm Sekaki Koseki." The girl added. She had black hair held back in two ponytails with white tips, difficult to tell if that color was natural though, purple eyes, and goggles resting above her eyes making her hitai-ate rest on her collarbone. Her attire consisted of a light blue shirt covered by a dark blue tank top, just barely showing a hint of having breasts, a dark red shirt with a white diamond pattern across it, and calf-high boots colored tan and black.
"Let me guess, you two only started this year?" Naruto asked.
"Yes, but we're good. We already took two C-rank missions." Suisen replied.
"We've all done more kid." Yogiri commented.
"But you're still a genin like us even after two years. What's that say about you?" Suisen countered.
"At least we did try to become chuunin." Arashi defended.
Yogiri nodded. "Those exams are tough. Especially for our village."
"Why's that?" Naruto asked, taking a brief glance to the cafe. 'Shiori must be ordering a lot to take this long. Or maybe she's in the restroom.'
"In case you haven't noticed, all of our teams are just two genin." Arashi explained. "Kiri has few students and a low graduation rate, all thanks to our time as the Bloody Mist. Few parents let their kids try to become ninja anymore, and the academy can't exactly lower its standards just to create more genin. That would be just sending more unqualified people out to die. So as a result, instead of the three genin set-up used by most villages, we're forced to settle for two."
"And when the exams are held in other villages, they usually refuse to accommodate our needs." Yogiri added. "Places like Suna and Iwa say 'too bad' to us and tell us we either include another genin or don't participate at all."
"Doesn't that throw off your teams though?" Naruto asked.
"Exactly." Arashi stated. "Which is why since then we try to ensure our teams can work together every so often so next time we're not at a disadvantage."
"You and Shiori should try to participate." Amaya offered.
Naruto grinned, glad to feel included. "I'd like that, though I'll have to check with Sensei, she's trying to rearrange my training schedule."
"What for?" Yan asked lazily.
"Oh well I have been training with two others at the moment, Kaji-sama and Utakata."
Suddenly the table fell silent and all eyes were wide as they stared at Naruto.
Naruto just sat there in his chair, staring back at them. "Umm did I say something wrong this time?"
"Did you just say you are training… like one-on-one personal training with the legendary swordsmaster of Kiri and the former missing S-Ranked ninja Utakata?" Aomi asked, in awe.
Naruto nodded his head slowly and suddenly everyone was crowding up to him, wanting answers to questions like-
"What was it like?"
"Have they taught you any cool special moves?"
"How did you get to be their student?"
Naruto answered each one of their questions, saying that the work was extremely hard and tiring. That they had yet to really teach him any techniques or moves that could be considered special. And that he was not exactly sure himself how he became their student.
But that still did not satisfy their curiosity, they wanted more explicit details on the subject.
It was at that point that Shiori came back with her food and pulled the group away from Naruto so he could have some breathing room. "Back off guys, you're ninja, not tabloid-reporting vultures."
The rest of the meal went by rather peacefully, the group made casual conversation with each other and after a bit Shiori even started to loosen up and become a little more relaxed among her old friends.
After a while though, both Shiori and Naruto excused themselves, saying their goodbyes and agreeing that they should all meet up at some point later to train.
As they left the restaurant and started walking down the street, Naruto looked at Shiori. "They seem nice."
Shiori nodded. "They are. We were all pretty good friends at the Academy together."
"Then why did you start avoiding them?"
"It wasn't on purpose. We just never trained together or went on missions together." Shiori explained. "We did use to get together each week like this to reconnect, but I stopped coming when Hikaru-kun died. It was just too painful to."
"Well…maybe coming here and seeing them was a sign from the universe saying that you should start hanging out with them again." Naruto suggested.
Shiori looked at Naruto with a cocked brow and an amused look on her face "Do you really think that?"
Naruto simply shrugged. "Not really sure, but I do know that it might be a good idea to reconnect with your friends. If you don't then how long will they really be friends?"
The redhead simply sighed. "Alright, I'll think about it. Okay?"
Naruto smiled at her. "Thanks." It was then that he gingerly rubbed his cheek and remembered what Sato said. "Also, can I ask you something, what do you think about my scars?"
"What about them?"
"I mean do they look weird?"
"No no… gives you a fierce look."
"Really?"
"Yeah, as fierce as a kitten." Shiori said with a laugh.
Naruto rolled his eyes. "Ha ha."
"Why do you care anyway?"
"I don't. I mean, not really. It's just maybe they make me stand out a little too much."
"Well you know what they say, every scar has a story." Shiori offered.
That did not help Naruto. "A story I do not know, since I can't even remember where they came from."
Shiori nodded. "Good point." She paused and started to think, after a moment a thought came to her and she smiled and grabbed Naruto's hand. "Come with me, I just thought of a cool idea."
She then dragged him thru the streets to a shop.
Kasumi stood in the center of the training ground; in a circle around her were a number of training dummies. She was standing perfectly still except for her hands, because she kept flexing her fingers.
She then took a deep breath and closed her eyes. There was a moment of silence and then suddenly, fast as lightning she pulled several shurikins from her pouch and threw them at each of the dummies, hitting each one of them even with her eyes closed.
When that was completed she opened her eyes and quickly preformed several handsigns at that moment each of the shruikins exploded and the dummies went up in flames.
Kasmi reached into her pocket and withdrew a ticking stopwatch, pressing the stop button and examined her time. "Darn just two seconds from beating my own record." She said with a huff, ignoring the fast burning dummies.
The jonin waited until the dummies were nothing but piles of ash before she exited the circle. Despite the fact that her sabbatical was coming up soon, she refused to allow herself to become lax in her skills. Nope, she intended to remain at the top of her game both before and after; which meant more practice during her free moments.
Not that she had too many free moments nowadays, especially when there was still so much to plan for the wedding. They still had to book the caterer, they had a few more invitations to mail out, not to mention the fact she still had to do a final fitting for her wedding dress.
So much to do and so little time to do it.
It was then that she heard some slight movement from behind her; she did not even turn around. "Honestly you two, the point of being as ninja is to be silent."
She could hear Shiori curse. "I told you that we were being too loud."
"We were not. Sensei has some kind of super-hearing." Naruto complained.
Kasumi smiled and started to turn around. "Actually when I was a kid I did have this condition that caused my hearing to be-" She paused for a moment when she saw Naruto. "Whoa Naruto… new look I see."
Shiori had taken Naruto to a shinobi outfitter store and there she had introduced him to fabric half-masks. Naruto had chosen a grey colored one, which now covered the lower half of his face, including his whisker-like scars.
Under his mask Naruto grinned. "Yeah, what do you think, Sensei?" He asked, eager to hear her opinion.
Kasumi took a moment to take in the look and after a moment of contemplation she gave him a thumbs up. "I like it Naruto, gives you a kind of mysterious look, it suits you."
Shiori nodded. "Not mention it makes you look pretty badass."
Naruto kept grinning. "Sweet, for a moment I thought I would not be able to pull off the look. But somehow it feels comforting to me."
"Oh you should not be worrying about fashion, Naruto." Kasumi said with a smile "Nope, instead the two of you should be worrying about completing 10 laps of a 3 mile run with exploding shurikens being thrown at you."
Both genin stared at their sensei with a look of disbelief, but both their eyes widened when they saw her withdrew several shurikens from her pouch.
"Did I stutter? Start running you two."
Both of them took off as fast they could while Kasumi chased after them, laughing like a crazy women.
