Blood. There was blood everywhere. Why was everything drowning in warm crimson? Where was Itachi?
Tora woke up with a gasp and immediately sat up, her body covered in sweat. She clutched her shirt over her chest as she tried to calm her breathing to no avail. Something happened yesterday, but everything was blurry. That dream just now… She could feel a headache forming as she thought about it.
Suddenly, everything hit her. She had left her room last night and went to the Uchiha compound with Hana. That's where she saw red and… Izumi… Covering her mouth with her hand, she raced to the bathroom across the hall and collapsed over the toilet, emptying anything her stomach had left. Unfortunately, the images of the bodies she had seen kept reappearing in her mind. However, what she couldn't piece together was how she got back to her room; everything went blank after she and Hana left Izumi's house.
Once she had nothing left to regurgitate, she sat back against the cool wall and tried to contain herself. Why couldn't she remember anything? The layout of yesterday came across her mind again, however the scene changed - the environment was more rocky and there was a heavy mist, like she was surrounded by clouds. Bodies were dropping like flies around her and someone kept yelling at her not to stop. She was there and she could feel the fear as her body was shaking. There was no way this wasn't real.
"Tora? Are you home?" A voice called, however the said female was still frozen against the wall in her daydream, drenched in a cold sweat. In her dream she was still running, but she was younger - much younger. She was being told to just keep running and as she glanced at the hand that was holding hers, her eyes traveled up their arm and to their face, which was her mother's. Hana walked upstairs and immediately dropped to her best friend's side once she located her. Tora looked like she had seen a ghost and automatically, the Inuzuka was concerned. "Hey, Tora… Earth to Tora…"
Blinking, Tora tried to force the images out of her head as a strong headache came out. Holding her head, she glanced to her side and saw the worry on Hana's face. Not saying anything, she leaned over and laid her head on the Inuzuka's shoulder. Tears rolled down her cheeks, however she couldn't determine whether they were coming from the fact that she was facing the inevitable of Izumi's death or the unknown thoughts she just saw. After a while, Hana wiped her eyes of her own tears and spoke up to break the silence.
"A few days ago, we went to the Uchiha compound, and we saw Izumi… resting peacefully in her bed." Hana started, telling herself more than she was telling Tora. "All the members of the Uchiha are dead, besides one - Sasuke Uchiha. They're holding a funeral today. I understand if you don't-"
"We should go." Tora mumbled. "After all, Izumi was our friend and she was my teammate…"
Hana looked at her best friend sorrowfully. "Tora, there's more. About how it happened, they're saying that it was a homicide and..."
"I don't want to hear about that right now, Hana." Tora stood up and walked out of the bathroom to go to her room. "I just want to pay my respects to Izumi and Ms. Mikoto."
With a frown, Hana watched Tora go before getting up herself. Normally she would've continued, however she decided that she would let it go for now. Today would be about celebrating the life of their friend so she left to get dressed. Once she and Tora were dressed in all black, they made their way to the burial grounds. The sun was shining brightly, which greatly contrasted the mood surrounding the day.
There weren't many people at the funeral; a couple of shinobi were sparsely covering the area and there were some villagers who probably knew some of the Uchiha personally. As Tora approached Izumi's gravestone, she frowned at the newly cut rock that had 'Izumi Uchiha' engraved on the front. It was way too soon for this to be made for her. She must have known something was going to happen when they were talking at the barbeque restaurant. How could she do this? Why was the only thing that she said to her, 'thank you'? Who does this and then leaves without saying goodbye?
Hana held Tora's hand as she also looked down at the gravestone. Tears brimmed in the Inuzuka's eyes as she thought of her memories with Izumi and wished there could have been more. Glancing over, she noticed that a familiar face had joined them - Koji. The male didn't look at her but she didn't press it as she looked away. Koji looked over at Tora's hunched over figure and could tell she was trying to hold it together. Placing one hand in his pocket, he reached over and held her free hand with his own. Feeling the presence of her friends, Tora began to shake as she squeezed her friends' hands and cried, her tears falling into the grass.
"How sad… I'm sure his parents are rolling over in their graves right now." Some villagers passed by the group. "To think that a family member could be capable of doing something so horrendous."
Tora's eyes widened as she overheard their conversation. Standing up straight, she turned around to face the group. "Excuse me, what are you talking about?"
One of the villagers turned back to Tora with a shake of their head. "Oh, you didn't know? A member of the clan killed everyone off in one night, besides his kid brother. It's really a shame."
Time seemed to stop in that moment as she heard their words. Killed everyone besides his kid brother…? Her mind thought back to what Hana had told her earlier about all the members being dead besides Sasuke Uchiha. That meant that… Itachi did this? It was a lie, it had to be a lie; there was no way Itachi would do any of this. To his brother, to his parents, to Izumi? "You're lying."
"Tora.." Hana started to speak as she saw the hurt in her friend's eyes.
"Lying? Pft, you can ask the kid yourself." The villager said haughtily. "All of the shinobi here are the same. They'll kill eventually - it's their job. They'll even kill their own family at the end of the day for a paycheck."
"Say it again, I dare you." Tora let go of her friends' hands and clenched her fist. "I said say it again!"
Before the villager could say anything, the female lunged forward and Koji and Hana immediately stepped in to hold her back as she fought against them. There was no way Itachi would do this. Where was he? Why wasn't he here? Why wasn't he defending himself? "Let me go! Itachi wouldn't do anything like this! You're all wrong!" Was she wrong? Did she not know Itachi at all?
"Tora, calm down!" Hana cried as the villagers left to avoid any danger.
"You're all liars! I'm going to find out the truth!" Tora pulled herself out of her captors' grasps and turned to face them. "I'm going to prove his innocence, even if it kills me." With a strong determination in her eyes, she turned away from Hana and Koji and left the funeral grounds.
•─────⋅ ⋅─────•
"We're a couple kilometers away from Amegakure. Once we get there, you're going to meet up with your other team member and I won't see you until the end of the exam, alright?" Hayama-sensei explained as his team traveled. Koji and Tora nodded as they proceeded to jump from tree limb to limb.
Once the village came in view, they opted to walk instead. The roads were barren as the forest thinned out and all that was left was a large lake followed by an array of tall buildings covered in metal pipes. The architecture was a lot different from Konoha and Tora was intrigued, but at the same time she was cautious since it was a new environment.
As she and Koji entered the village, they were immediately checked by security and escorted to where they would be staying. It had been a few weeks after the Uchiha Massacre and, although they were still recuperating, the chunin exams weren't going to wait for anyone. Team F was taken to a general hotel room with the basic necessities - a small kitchen area, two bedrooms, and a common area.
"Do not leave the room unless we come back to take you to the exam site." The escort spoke briefly before closing the door.
Tora walked over to the window, looking out at the buildings around them in awe. "The village aesthetic here is pretty cool, don't you think? Are you ready to ace these exams?"
"I should be asking you that question." Koji rolled his eyes as he moved so he was standing next to her. "We never had a chance to talk about anything after what happened and I want us to be on the same page."
"The same page for what?"
"Izumi."
Tora turned her head so she was looking at her teammate. Seeing how serious he was, her eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms. "You think Itachi-san did it, don't you?"
"I do." Koji nodded. "There are too many reports that say the same thing, however, before you lash out on me… I don't think he did it without a reason; he's not a psychopath. I noticed that after what happened with him and my brother."
"I won't believe it unless he tells me face to face." She clenched her fists. "I was serious about what I said in the graveyard."
Realizing that Tora was not going to change her mind, Koji frowned. "I know and I'm not going to try and deter your mind, however for now, you shouldn't be so vocal about it. That's how you get a target on your back. I'm already worried about you enough as it is. I don't think the Uchiha incident is the only thing that's troubling you."
"You have nothing to worry about." Tora told him firmly. "I'm fine."
"Tora-"
The door opened to the room and a male with short black hair covered mostly by a bandana that sported the Konoha seal. Once the escort told him the same message and closed the door, the leftover trio looked back at each other. "You two must be Koji Izumo and Tora Dakuo. My name is Yatogo Ryugen and I'll be your teammate for the exams." He took a sealed scroll out of his pocket that contained his details and handed it to Koji to confirm his identity.
"So you're pretty decent with genjutsu?" Koji asked after he gave the scroll back. "That must be why they chose you to join us."
"Most likely. Of course, I was able to get some information on you all as well." Yatogo nodded. "That Izumi girl was also good with genjutsu. It's a shame what happened to her. To think that someone would kill her and their other family members out of spite like that. I heard the clan grounds were brutal; the work of a trained assassin and traitor."
Tora narrowed her eyes at the newcomer. Her eyes acquired an animalistic glare and she immediately walked over to him. Before Koji could grab her, she had grabbed Yatogo's collar and pulled him closer to her so he was staring directly into her eyes. "I don't care what you thought you heard, but you shouldn't be spreading rumors. We're here for one thing only. If you get in my way with that load of crap, you better be prepared to face the consequences."
There was a sudden knock on the door and the Amegakure escort was welcomed with a very tense atmosphere. Ignoring the obvious pressure, they rounded the trio together and took them to the site of the first exam - the Written test. It was in a big open room with three desks spaced out in the middle. Seeing as they were just going to take it alone, Tora wondered what the other competition looked like.
The test was tedious, she could give them that. There were over a hundred questions about techniques, scenarios, and academics. There was no cheating allowed and the desks were too spread out for her to attempt to take a peek at Koji or Yatogo's papers. At the end, they were separated and brought into a small room with the examiner, an Amegakure shinobi by the name of Reitarou. He was a tall, broad male who donned the rebreathers most Amegakure shinobi had, however his presence was much more intimidating.
Koji and Yatogo had gone first, so Tora was the last to enter the room. There were no chairs so she stood and faced the male in front of her. Her mind was a little exhausted from all of the prior questions, however she stood firm, knowing that this was probably the end of the first exam.
"I'll ask you the final question for the first exam. The only choices are yes and no. Your answer will determine whether you and your team will move forward to the next section. Once you answer, you may leave." Reitarou explained. After Tora agreed, he spoke again. "You're given the mission of eliminating your family for the sake of the village's wellbeing. Will you complete the task?"
Tora stepped back in shock as the question. What type of question was this? It had to be a trick, right? The logical answer would be to say yes because the village is your priority as a shinobi, but… could she really do it? Could she really throw away her morals for the sake of the village? Could she really destroy her support system because a piece of paper told her to?
"...No." Tora finally answered. "There are too many holes in that question. Shinobi aren't mindless zombies that just follow every order blindly. My answer may change depending on the circumstances, but even so… I don't think I could."
"You may leave."
An escort opened the door and lead Tora out of the room. As they headed back to the hotel, she thought more on the question. There was no way there could be a simple yes or no resolution to that problem. What if she just compromised her team's success in the exams because she said she couldn't do it. Was she not mentally strong enough to take on a task like that? Then it dawned on her.
Was that what Itachi had to do?
Shaking her head, Tora quickly pushed those thoughts out of her head. There was no way. She didn't believe, no, she couldn't believe that he had to make that kind of decision. Was he really put in that position all by himself? How could he do that? How could someone do that to him? Of course, everything was just an assumption but… some of it didn't feel that way.
Tora's eyes widened and she immediately turned around, looking up at the tallest tower in Amegakure. No, she was only kidding herself… There was no way…
"Ms. Dakuo, please refrain from stopping until we reach the destination." The escort interrupted her thoughts.
With one last lingering look towards the tower, Tora turned around and mumbled an apology to the escort before starting to walk towards the hotel again. As they continued walking, a flock of ravens scattered from the top of the tower, cawing as they flew away.