"The mission is simple. You are to disguise yourselves as enemy ninja and kidnap one of the students, bringing him or her to a camp I've already set up for you a few miles south-east."
"Are you serious?" Shigeru gaped, and Echiko was speechless.
"This will be a test for both you and the class." The teacher smiled, which only disconcerted them further. "The other students' objective will be to track you and find your camp to rescue their comrade before the end of tomorrow, while you hinder their progress with the skills you've already learned."
"You mean... traps?" Echiko asked.
"Yes, and everything you know – but nothing lethal. They will also be instructed in non-lethal methods if you're caught, in which case you should immediately surrender to that team. Though if you capture another classmate, then they have to join your side."
"So everyone will know this is basically a game beforehand," Shigeru confirmed uncertainly.
"More or less. What I'll actually tell them is that two chuunin instructors are disguised as their enemies to make it seem harder," the teacher explained. "If by the end of tomorrow no team has rescued your prisoner, then the game is over and you are to return to main camp."
"That seems unlikely, since there is only two of us and a lot of them," Shigeru stated.
"Remember that you can capture others to strengthen your numbers. But of course, if you don't feel up to it I can use you as the prisoner and find someone else," he said in return.
Echiko looked to Shigeru, unsure if they could really work together, but the bigger boy was strangely submissive and he said he'd do it.
"...Who will be the prisoner then?"
"Whoever you like, only you mustn't tell your captive it's a game until after you reach your camp. Of course you'll fail if you can't manage to retrieve someone, so this may be the hardest part of the test for the both of you." The teacher pulled out a parchment from his pocket and spread it out in front of them. "This is a map of the area in which you can operate. Your camp is here," he pointed to a rocky outcropping in the forest a ways from the clearing that was designated main camp. "You'll be on your own tonight and all of tomorrow, though I'll provide you with spare tents and sleeping bags so that no one can tell your stuff is missing."
Echiko gazed at the map. His blood was pumping with a strange sense of excitement at this new challenge. He couldn't imagine why he was excited, being stuck with the one person he didn't get along with who had just earlier tried to drown him in the river and accuse him of being a spy.
"How much time do we have before the game starts?" Shigeru questioned.
"The rest of the afternoon. You may scout out the route to your camp and set up traps, and when dusk falls you must capture your target. Try to make it seem obvious that someone was kidnapped but don't let anyone see you. Any more questions?"
The two boys shook their heads, and the teacher handed Echiko the map before he rummaged through his backpack and threw two worn-looking outfits with fake headbands and masks in their direction. "I'll see the two of you at the end of the game, then. The spare tents and bags are over in that corner."
Well this will be interesting. Aizen spoke up.
You're not even going to be here, Aizen.
Why not?
Because you've already been out for too long, Echiko responded mentally. Any longer and neither of us will have any strength to complete the mission.
You're such a downer. And all this special mission talk was getting me excited after a long and boring journey.
Sorry, Aizen. I may need you later, so please get some rest.
He heard the dragon grumble, but he flapped his wings compliantly and finally disappeared into a puff of smoke before Echiko followed Shigeru out of the teacher's tent, only to stop short when Shigeru abruptly turned around. "We'll meet up outside camp," he said seriously. His whole demeanor seemed to have changed, but he didn't look Echiko in the eye as he walked off, leaving him to ponder what was going through the taller boy's mind. Echiko sighed and picked up his feet to discreetly gather his things.
Once outside the camp, he backed up against a tree trunk and pulled out the map again, glancing in the direction where the 'enemy' camp was supposed to be. There were various traps he had in mind that could be set up along the route, though they'd have to make sure to mark a detour for themselves so they don't end up triggering them accidentally. He began to wonder how good Shigeru was at this. Thinking back to their conversation in the teacher's tent, he was surprised how quickly the boy caught on to the teacher's plan, grasping the game and already thinking ahead as soon as they were dismissed. It was possible... no, it is possible that Shigeru could become an excellent squad leader in the future. Even though he was a stubborn bully and wasn't particularly smart, if he could overcome his superior and arrogant attitude, and valued others...
"This is no time to be spacing out, short-stack."
Echiko blinked, noticing Shigeru sitting on a branch above his head, bags hanging from his shoulder. "I figure you've got some sort of idea in that large head of yours for the trap layout, so I'll leave that to you. I'll handle seizing the hostage tonight."
"Um... okay," Echiko replied, a bit caught off guard. He was actually trusting him to do something?
Shigeru landed beside him. "Who will we choose as our target..."
Echiko hadn't thought that far. He didn't really know anyone well yet, so he couldn't say who'd be the easiest to catch off guard, though he did want to avoid taking a girl hostage if possible. That would just be awkward.
"Heh," Shigeru chuckled suddenly. "Might as well take him out of the picture, though it'll be difficult to sneak up on him with that stupid nose of his."
"...Who?"
There was a devilish look in his eyes. "Kenji. Next to myself, he's probably the strongest and most agile in our class." He saw Echiko's blank expression and added, "Don't you know who I'm talking about? He sits next to you at the Academy, stupid."
Echiko's eyes lit up. The boy who saved him... that was Kenji? Of course... Echiko remembered the teacher say his name in class a few times, and his feral eyes and fang marks on his skin were hard to miss, so it was strange he always forgot his name. "Right..." Just from his near death encounter today, he could tell that boy was on a whole other level than himself in terms of speed and strength. Even compared to Shigeru. "You want... to capture him?"
"Kill two birds with one stone," Shigeru responded. "With him out of the way it will be that much easier to capture others and avoid being tracked. Lemme see the map."
Echiko gave it to him, glancing at the descent of the sun. "We have three hours until dusk."
"Right, then." With his nose still in the map, Shigeru started forward and then stopped again, passing the parchment back to Echiko rather indifferently. "Yeah you can handle the map too."
Echiko followed behind him, confused, though he said nothing, making sure to avoid tripping over the tree roots with his replacement foot-piece at the brisk pace Shigeru was trotting. He continued to check their direction with the map, using a pencil to mark the route and any prominent landmark along the way. He looked up when Shigeru jumped forward, catching a branch and swinging himself into the trees, jumping from one to the other, and pausing for Echiko to catch up from the ground.
He felt a touch of envy, watching him, knowing with his left leg he couldn't follow him. Not just yet, anyway. But he tried to shake the thought away and focus on his task.
They reached the spot on the map and looked around. It was deep in the woods surrounded by boulders that created a sort of hidden nook that you could crawl into, and had enough space to sleep four or so people lengthwise underneath. It was the perfect place to hide.
Echiko threw his sleeping bag inside and pulled out the spare tent he grabbed. "You know... we could use these."
Shigeru popped his head out from the nook. "We don't need the tents."
"No, I mean for traps." Echiko wrapped the canvas around his body, determining the size. "...With enough wire we could snag a whole team at once in this."
"Whatever you say, short-stack."
For the next two hours they worked on designing the traps and making them, and Echiko tore a blank page out of a scroll in his pocket and carefully drew a copy of the map, marking each spot where they intended to place their snares so they could split up. Then they dawned their disguises, and Echiko glanced at himself in the reflection of the river a short ways from camp. The foreign headband was tied over his head so his signature blue hair wasn't as visible, and a mask covered the lower half of his face leaving only his eyes exposed. The outfit was loose but comfortable, the pants long enough to hide his left leg and he strapped it so it wouldn't slide up or down as he moved. Shigeru's outfit was basically the same, though he combined it with his own clothes like a fashion statement, and he wore the headband around his neck. His hair at least was normal enough that no one would recognize him with one glance.
"Alright, let's move." Shigeru hefted his bag full of pre-made traps on his back and took off into the treetops, and Echiko moved to cover the ground. They determined to meet up just beyond the main camp when it was getting dark, which meant they had little over an hour to set up the important traps. "We don't have to set all of them up right away," Echiko had noted while they tested the efficiency of one of the snares. "When we've retrieved Kenji, if you took him back here I could set up the rest as I follow you..."
"That works," was his reply. Echiko stopped at a tree and unshouldered his bag, tightening the wires of one of the devices and setting it down at the most probable place someone would step, rigging the trees beside it before quickly moving on to the next designated spot. By the time he neared the main camp, the light was almost gone and the shadows of the forest shrouded him in darkness. But he was used to darkness. He crouched unhindered and spied on the campfire blazing in the center of the clearing, the other students laughing obliviously, completely unaware of the new challenge that was about to face them. Echiko smiled. This will be very fun. He was joined by Shigeru in a little while.
"Kenji's tent is on the other side," he whispered. They sneaked around the tents, passing as silently as they could, and held their position just behind the one Shigeru spoke of, waiting.
"...Do you know where he is?" Echiko asked quietly.
"Look, right there," Shigeru pointed to the group around the fire, and Echiko recognized the feral boy pounce over the log he had been sitting on and saunter toward them. Echiko bit his lip nervously, but he concentrated on a leaf next to the tent, knowing someone's gaze could be felt. Instead he watched him in his peripheral vision as the boy knelt in front of his tent with a piece of meat and began whispering as if someone were inside. "Hey, boy, got you something," he was saying. "C'mon-aw, there's a good pup! Good boy!"
Pup? Echiko eyes caught the boy laugh and fall onto his back with a furry animal in his hands, licking his face and hands, searching for more meat in his pockets. "Sorry, pup. You gotta stay in here now. There we go, good boy." He placed the puppy back inside his tent, and then suddenly he slumped over, revealing Shigeru with a big stick behind him who apparently knocked him out cold.
Echiko scooted over so Shigeru could drag him into the shadows before someone noticed. "That was... easier than expected."
"Yeah, if it wasn't for that dog he had distracting him we might not have pulled it off." Shigeru hefted the unconscious boy over his shoulders.
"... Should we bring the dog too?" Echiko looked back at the tent, not sure if it was such a good idea to leave it there alone.
"No, knowing Kenji he'd use it to escape or have it howl and draw everyone to our camp. Then it would be game over."
"Oh."
Shigeru paused. "Hey, short-stack. We're supposed to make it obvious someone was kidnapped, right? Write a sign in blood that says 'We've got your friend'. That'll throw them, heh."
Echiko pulled out the scroll he used before and ripped another piece off, slicing his palm with a kunai and using a finger to write Shigeru's message in his own blood. He lifted it up, and the bigger boy nodded approvingly. "Okay, you put that on his tent somewhere and finish the traps. I'll take him back to base," Shigeru said, turning back, and Echiko stabbed his bloody kunai through the paper to the front of Kenji's tent and fled, working his way around in the shadows. He almost wanted to stay and watch the student's reaction, but that probably wasn't the safest idea and he still had several traps left not done. So, reluctantly, he left the warm light of the fire and disappeared into the night.

"You're got to be kidding me!"
"Nope, you get to be our prisoner 'till the end of tomorrow. What an honor!"
"Shut up, Shigeru. At least untie me."
"Can't."
"...I hate you."
Echiko walked up to the arguing duo and sat down, glad Shigeru hadn't started a fire or they'd be found in no time. If their fellow classmates were smart, that is.
"Who's this? Your collaborator?" Kenji narrowed his eyes from his tied up position against the boulder and glared through Echiko, though all any of them could see of each other was just a vague outline in the moonlight. He sniffed. "You smell familiar too. Wait, don't tell me..." He suddenly began to laugh. "The cripple is your teammate? Oh gosh! No wonder you went after me first. You two don't stand a chance in hell!"
"Now it's your turn to shut up, Kenji," Shigeru whacked him on the head with his stick, but Kenji just growled.
"Would you stop hitting me?"
"Hey," Echiko spoke, and they both blinked at him. His hand was outstretched, his fist full of strips of rabbit meat he had cooked while he was out setting traps. He knew a few well placed embers could throw off the direction of any pursuers, and they needed something to eat anyway to keep up their strength. What was it Shigeru said? To kill two birds with one stone?
Shigeru snatched up half and gobbled it down. "Where'd you get these?"
"I caught them."
"Isn't making a fire dangerous?"
"...Not if you do it right."
"Hm. Well, you don't have to give any to Sour-face over here. It's not like he needs the energy, he's not going anywhere."
"As soon as I get out of this I'm going to kill you, Shigeru." Kenji spat.
Echiko said nothing, only shoving a couple strips into the bound boy's hand and sat back and chewed the rest of his half. "I'm pretty sure they've seen the sign by now."
"What sign?" Kenji questioned.
Shigeru and Echiko chewed their food.
"Gah! What's with you two?" Kenji looked as if he was going to start pulling out his hair.
"Maybe we should gag him," Shigeru suggested, and Echiko shrugged. But then a thought struck his mind. "Kenji... I didn't know you had a dog."
"Mind your own business."
"Duh, he's an Inuzuka. Of course he has a dog." Shigeru laid back and gazed at the stars in the midnight blue sky. "You really know nothing of Konoha, do you, short-stack? I mean, seriously. You can't blame me for thinking you were a spy." He twisted his head. "Hey, you said you came from the mountains, right?... What's it like?"
"...Cold." Echiko drew in his knees as a cool breeze swept through their sheltered heap of rocks. "It would snow and rain a lot because there were always clouds in the sky."
"It hardly rains here," Shigeru said. "And summer is so hot you feel like you're going to melt into a puddle if you step outside. Hah, you're so fair-skinned, short-stack, it'll probably kill you." There was a bit of silence before Shigeru added, "Hey... about earlier. I guess I should say I'm sorry."

"Whoa, whoa. Am I hearing this right?" Kenji spoke up. "The Shigeru, apologizing to the cripple boy? Am I going to sprout wings on my back and fly?"
Shigeru ignored him. "I-I didn't know. About all that. I jumped to conclusions. I even abandoned you at the river though I knew you couldn't swim..."
"That was you?"
"...Don't worry about it," Echiko said quietly.
"Hah," he could hear Kenji punch the boulder behind his head, "You two are one stupid, big comedy! 'I'm sorry', 'don't worry about it' – what the heck? Did someone die and go to heaven? Because I sure as hell had to save the cripple from drowning while you ran off like some punk afraid to take responsibility for your own actions!"
"Would you shut up, Kenji!?" Shigeru roared back. "I'm trying to apologize here!"
"Apologize my ass!"
Echiko winced, but he understood fairly well what Kenji was meaning, and what Shigeru was trying to say. "Shigeru... remember what you said, back on the roof when we first met, about the secret war? Is that... personal, for you?"
The air was still again. "My dad hasn't been back for two months," he answered slowly. "He would send messages from time to time about how he was doing well, and then the messages stopped. About three weeks ago. And they won't tell me anything." Echiko saw his hand ball into a fist on the ground. "I was so frustrated, and... I guess, when I saw you, that you weren't from around here, I wanted some sort of excuse to question you about what was going on. But when you didn't know anything, I was mad. I wanted to believe you were hiding something. I didn't stop to think when I saw your dragon summon today. The words just came out of my mouth."
"I understand," Echiko responded.
"...Dragon... summon?" Kenji breathed. "What are you talking about?"
"Heh, yeah, I didn't you had something like that up your sleeve," Shigeru chuckled lightly. "So, can everyone in your clan summon dragons?"
"Not everyone," Echiko acknowledged, "Only the males."
"The girls can't?"
"The women aren't allowed to sign the Contract." Echiko remembered how Kimi hated that rule, which was one of the reasons she left those years ago. But even Emiko was stronger than himself. Things might have turned out differently if she had been allowed...
"That's one weird rule," Shigeru yawned before turning over. "Short-stack, you take first watch. Wake me up if anything happens."
Echiko glanced at his silhouetted form, then back at the stars sparkling brightly over their heads. He probably wasn't going to fall asleep anytime soon anyway, not with what all occurred today. But with how everything turned out, he was beginning to understand that good things can come out of difficulties after all. He wasn't even mad at Shigeru. What was this feeling?
He pressed a hand to his heart, thinking about the miniature scroll he left with Aizen. Whatever is in that scroll must be important for his father to have kept it so close to him, and he knew that the burden now rested with him. He had to become the son and heir that he was expected to be. It was his fate, his path. He needed to stop blaming himself and move forward. That's what he was going to do.
The waxing moon cast a misty blue light on the forest, and Echiko attuned his mind to his surroundings to wait for the game to begin.