Toshida Gaiden Chapter 8: Night of The Weeping Sin

Toshida and Kakashi walk along in the ruins of the former prison colony that was known by its residents as the village of sin. It has been years since the colony has seen any residents and many years since Toshida returned to sight of his painful upbringing.

As he walks along the outside of the cave system, he notices three old logs, cracked and broken and laying on the ground. With a flash, Toshida can see the logs as he remembers them, standing upright with the targets that he and his father painted on for target practice. As Toshida moves closer to the downed targets, he kneels down and notices an old homemade shuriken made out of two pieces of flintstone and tied with seaweed to create a surprisingly balanced throwing weapon.

It becomes evident to Kakashi that the revisit to his former home is an emotional event for the young but talented shinobi. "What happened here?" Kakashi asks as he surveys' the destroyed landscape. Houses created outside are no dilapidated and partially destroyed, evidence of damage caused by fire remaining evident.

As Toshida looks up to the scorched sky above him, he feels an overwhelming sense of depression as the sky above remains rolling with constant storms, rolling lightning, and fierce thunder. In Toshida's mind the storm filled sky begins to part and fade away revealing the bright and vibrant sun filled sky he knew in his childhood.

After my mother had that talk with me outside the colony, we both retired for the evening. When I woke up in the morning, I left to meet with my father at our usual training site. When I arrived, I noticed that he was waiting with supplies and rations for an extended trip.

"Father, what is with all of the supplies?" Toshida asks as he looks to the angry scowl brandished across his father's face.

"You . . . and I . . . have a lot of catching up to do my son." Kunashiro throws a full pack of supplies to his son who catches it and cradles the heavy bag in his arms. "We are going on an expedition for a few days. I have packed enough for both of us. We leave . . . immediately."

I didn't know it at the time, but I would learn that my father had learned about my mothers teachings and had even gone as far as to spy on us during our meetings. Needless to say, he was not happy about the idea of his "weapon" being weakened by such trivial things like music, art, and calligraphy. We set out immediately into the wasteland just as it began to rain.

Toshida and Kunashiro walk away from the caves and caverns of the village of sin as they begin their prolonged training session out in the elements. As the two walk away, Toshida looks behind him to see his mother standing at the mouth of the cave, tears still in her eyes, waving as her son walks away.

We would train out in the desert area for three days and two nights learning how to survive out in the elements and how to create weapons out of anything around. We would also have our standard shuriken and taijutsu training, merely amplified. My father would rush at me with full killer intent and test my resolve, and my willingness to survive. There was a number of times during our training that I thought my father actually would kill me. Never before had I seen anger in his eyes so intense. It was then that I began to think that my father knew what my mother had been doing, and knowing that I could put up a fight, my father took his anger out on me.

After our training sessions were complete, we set back to return to the village of sin on the third night. We traveled for several hours . . . until we could see the smoke billowing from over the horizon.

"Father, what is that?" Toshida ask's as his concern begins to show in his voice and expression.

"I don't . . . I don't know . . . THE VILLAGE!" Kunashiro shouts just before he starts a high speed sprint toward the smoke-filled horizon with Toshida in tow.

The two would race for another hour as the smoke and flames get closer and closer to them. The heat beginning to be felt on their faces as they approach what is mow a smoldering ruin.

The two shinobi walk into the village area and they can see all of the outside encampments and shelters burned to the ground, with remnants of homemade pottery and other utensils, smashed and strewn across the landscape.

We searched throughout the wreckage and sifted through the burning rubble in search of survivors. After examining the area, we could see blood trails and splashes strewn about the sand and rocks, it became evident that the village had been attacked, but we didn't know by whom.

My father searched frantically, more determined and upset than I had ever seen him. He was looking for my mother . . . and so was I. But I could feel deep down in my gut that we would not find anything that we were going to like . . . and when we approached the mouth of the cave . . . we saw the pile.

A pile was made in front of the mouth of the cave of all those that been killed in the conflict . . . there were . . . pieces . . . and remnants of what used to be the people that I knew growing up. All of them had been set ablaze and had obviously been burning for a number of hours. By the time we got their . . . most of the villagers were reduced to ash. The smell . . . was sickening. Sometimes I can still smell it when I close my eyes . . . and I can feel the intense heat on my face even to this day.

Kunashiro watches on in horror as he can see the remnants of the villagers go up literally in smoke and the ashes billow into the sky. He searches around the area of the fire searching for even some sort of proof that is beloved Yuna is not amongst the burning corpses. When his search is to no avail, Kunashiro drops to his knees and weeps. Screaming out into the sky as he watches the entire village . . . his entire home . . . and the love of his life burning away.

My father may have had his faults . . . and he may have been very angry at my mother for what she had been teaching me . . . but he loved her with all of his heart. And when he lost her . . . a big part of him died as well.

As Kunashiro's weeping slows down and he begins to regain his composure, and an angered look makes its way onto his face. "Who . . . who did this? WHO DID THIS!" Kunashiro screams as he smacks a piece of the burning wreckage away from him.

"Father!" Toshida hollers out drawing his father's attention and sending him running to his position. As Kunashiro makes his way to Toshida's position, Toshida says, in a disturbed yet curious voice. "What is this?"

Kunashiro directs his attention to his son's finding, and instead of finding a survivor like Kunashiro had hoped, Kunashiro finds himself looking down on the sword of Murakakumo, stuck firmly into the ground behind the pile of burning corpses. Kunashiro's face files with rage as he remembers back to when he was first injured and banished to the village of sin. He looks down to the ominous steel cap placed on his amputated hand and remembers how it was ruthlessly chopped off by Shin who at the time was wielding the very sword that Kunashiro finds himself looking down upon once again. It is then that Kunashiro realizes who the attackers were . . .

"SHIN!" Kunashiro hollers out bring the tears flooding back to his eyes as he drops to his knees and clutches the handle of his old sword. The sword's handle has been heated by the funeral pyre behind it and the very handle burns Kunashiro's flesh. Kunashiro however does not flinch as the sizzling of his own skin echoes through his own head. "You took my arm . . . you took my freedom and banished me to this place . . . and you took . . . my beloved wife. And now you leave my sword . . . your old trophy behind to mock me? I may not be able to defeat you in my state Shin, but I swear to you . . . through my son . . . I will have my revenge. I SWEAR IT!"

We searched the remnants of the outside village and noticed that they had not made it into the caves when they attacked. It seems that everyone was outside enjoying the weather and sunlight when they attacked, and when the attack began, everyone stormed out from the caves to see what was going on. We searched the caves and confirmed, that no one had been left alive.

We grabbed as many supplies as we could carry and we readied ourselves to leave the village. We left everything behind that we couldn't carry or we didn't need . . . and armed to the teeth . . . we set out toward the guard towers to the south with the intent of killing anyone that was left to block our escape. We were both enraged . . . I was only four years old at the time . . . but I thought that I would at least be able to help my father kill each and every one of the guards we encountered. But to our surprise, when we arrived at the guard towers, they had recently been abandoned. My father believed that they likely abandoned the towers when they realized that they had no reason to stand guard anymore. All of the colonists were dead . . . and they had assumed that my father was with them. I found out later that Shin never took part in the attack, but gave my father's sword to the shinobi he sent to use as a gravestone for the innocent people they would soon murder.

We made our way south and traveled for the night . . .

Toshida turns to his father as they sit around a camp fire they created for the night. "What are we going to do now father?" The young Toshida asks.

"We are going to find somewhere to live. Not far from here are the five finger mountain ranges, which contain a lot of caves and caverns. You and I both know how to live and survive in caves so that should make for a good shelter for now."

"But after we find a place to live . . . then what?"

"After that my son, we need to move onto the next phase . . . and the beginning of your involvement in my plan."

"The plan?" Toshida asks.

"Yes my son. You should know by now, that you are vital in my plan to take back what I have lost. And in doing so, I will give you all that you were denied living in that colony."

"But father . . . how are we going to do that? What am I supposed to do?" Toshida's voice begins to crack as tears begin to form in his eyes. As his father turns to him and makes eye contact with the young boy's eyes, Toshida straightens up and responds in the tone he had shown before when he was nothing more then his father's weapon. "I mean, What do you ask of me father?" Toshida says, displaying all the seasoned character that would be expected of a hardened soldier.

Kunashiro looks on and nods in approval at the showing of obedience from his son and he smiles in satisfaction. "Well my son, when we have found a place to live . . . then it will be time for you . . . to go to the cloud village."

"The cloud village?" Toshida asks.

"Yes my son . . . you . . . are going to the academy."