Chapter 14: A Clean Slate

The newly released sin shinobi walk out from the leaf villages temporary prison and are greeted by several of the leaf villages finest. A greeting party consisting of Shikamaru, Tsunade, Jiraiya, Rock Lee, Kakashi and Neji are all gathering around to here what the sin shinobi has to say for themselves now that they are released.

Toshida steps forward, the smile brushed off of his face and a genuine apologetic expression taking its place. "I must personally apologize to all of you. My team and I have nothing but regret for what we have done to you all in the last 72 hours. It was not our intention to hurt anyone. We were just desperate. I hope you can all understand and forgive."

The shinobi remain silent as Tsunade steps forward. "I have talked to everyone involved, and no one holds any grudges against you for what you felt you had to do. In this village you will find that the people are some of the nicest in the five countries. But if you betray their trust, you will find that they are also the strongest of shinobi."

Keinea finds himself almost overwhelmed by all that is going on before his eyes. "Two days ago we almost killed several of their villagers and now they greet us with open arms? I have never seen or experienced such hospitality. The founders of this village sure did a great job raising such honourable people."

The greeting party begins to break up as many of the young genin are anxious to meet with the new arrivals. Rock Lee is the first to step forward and offer a handshake to Toshida. Toshida accepts quickly and a smile crosses his face.

"You were an excellent opponent for me." Lee says with his trademark smile streaked across his face. "You really made me go all out. Perhaps we will have to do it again sometime."

Toshida smiles and nods in approval, "Perhaps we will. In a friendly exhibition of course."

"I look forward to it!" Lee says, as he gives Toshida a thumbs up.

Meanwhile, Tsunade confronts Maea with some questions of her own. "I was wondering Maea, how is it that you came to learn about me? I am sure I have heard of your last name before"

Maea looks to the Hokage with a smile of her own, "I had heard of your exploits from both my father and older brother. You may have heard of my father, Sukio Nagawa."

"Yes actually I have." Tsunade cups the bottom of her chin as she tries to remember where she has heard the name. Suddenly she remembers, "Ah yes, if I remember right he was one of the medical ninjas that basically wrote the book on using jutsu's to affect the brain. That would explain how you were able to perform such advanced jutsu that affects the nervous system. His work was used in medicine to help people that suffered from serious head trauma. If I remember correctly, he even had success in repairing certain birth defects."

Maea begins to get excited whenever she is able to brag about her father's exploits. "Yes, it's true! He once was able to completely heal a young girl that was born with cerebral palsy! He didn't even ask for compensation when the procedure was finished, and even someone like him, still looked up to you as inspiration."

Tsunade laughs along side Maea and then asks the gorgeous young shinobi another question, "So I suppose it was him who taught you all about being a medical ninja?"

Maea's happy and carefree expression quickly fades from her face, and her face is overcome by look of deep sadness. "N-no, I just knew where he kept all of his records and notes. I studied them religiously every day in hopes of being like him one day. He taught my brothers everything that they knew . . . and they all became great shinobi . . . especially my older brother Kaida." Maea's eyes are focussed to the bottom left corner of her face as she remembers some painful details involving both her father and her older brother.

"My father was too involved with tradition sometimes. You see . . . I am originally from the Hidden Avalanche Village." Maea says, getting the attention of Tsunade as realizes just how unique this young woman is.

"You mean to tell me that you are a shinobi from the Hidden Avalanche village? The now defunct village in the Earth Country?" Tsunade asks.

"Y-yes Tsunade-sama. I became a shinobi just before the village joined with the hidden rock village."

Tsunade cannot help but be amazed as she thinks to herself, "How is it that in a village that does not allow women to be trained as ninjas, such a beautiful and very talented shinobi manages to surface? And how did she end up with these people?"

Shikamaru is the next to talk to the sin shinobi as he makes his way toward Toshida. "I was impressed with how well you and your team worked together. You guys seemed to be able to match us pretty evenly. You're lucky this wasn't a game of shogi or it would have been decisively in our favour."

Toshida cracks another smile and begins to laugh out loud for the first time in a long time, drawing the attention of all shinobi involved. Keinea sits several feet behind Toshida with an amused smile across his face having been eavesdropping on the conversation.

"What's so funny?" Shikamaru asks with a curious look on his face.

"I am afraid if it had been a game of Shogi, you would have been at the disadvantage. Keinea is an excellent Shogi player. I have played him many times over the years, so has Maea and so has Toragai. So far, he remains undefeated."

Shikamaru turns his attention to the cocky looking Keinea who has begun to make his way toward the leaf chuunin. "Well then," Shikamaru says, "I have some spare time right now if you aren't busy. Care for a game?"

Keinea nods, "Absolutely." And he follows Shikamaru back to the Nara household for a friendly game of shogi.

As Toshida also readies to leave the scene he feels his movement restricted by someone's hand that has grabbed him on the shoulder. As Toshida turns his head to the assailant, he sees Neji glaring at him with an unsatisfied look.

"Is there something I can help you with?" Toshida asks. His voice lowered only increasing the moment of tension between the two.

"If I am not mistaken, you still have two other people you need to apologize to." Neji says not showing any signs of fear in the face of the sin shinobi.

In the Konoha hospital, Toshida and Neji approach the bed side of the still comatose Aburame Shino. Shizune walks in the room and checks for any changes in Shino's condition.

Neji turns to Toshida, "What did you do to him? It may help us figure out how to cure him."

"It was another one of the techniques I developed in unison with the dragon's . . . unique abilities. It's called the Ryuugan (Eye of the Dragon), it is a technique I only use if the situation calls for it. It is quite diverse actually, the version I used against this boy uses my own memories and those of the dragons, and projects them into the mind of the victim. Anyone that isn't cold hearted and desensitized to the violence . . . simply can't handle all the images at once . . . and the mind simply shuts down."

Neji tries to restrain himself from striking the shinobi as the mere description of the technique sends chills up his spine. "How in the hell is someone supposed to recover from something like that? You could have permanently injured his mind, WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!"

Shizune steps in between Toshida and Neji, possibly preventing another fight in the middle of the Hospital room. "Stop it Neji! This is not helping!" Shizune turns to Toshida with a serious look as she too cannot help but feel angered at Toshida's maliciousness. "Is there anything you know of that we can do to bring him out of it?"

"Yes there is." Replies Toshida as he reaches into his inner coat pocket and pulls out several black pills. "These pills work as hallucinogens. When someone is being affected by hallucinogens, the mind sends out complicated signals that cause numerous different reactions in the body, sometimes causing the effected person to have a reaction similar to that of being poisoned, usually resulting in vomiting among other symptoms. It was Maea's theory that these signals are so instinctual that they would be able to circumvent the effects of the subconscious mind. She developed these pills to induce such a reflex."

"That may cause him to wake up but how will he be afterwards?" Asks Shizune.

"His mind should be overwhelmed by the effects caused by the poison reflex. Usually symptoms such as depression, fatigue etc. He will wake up having felt simply like he got sick and collapsed back in the wave country. The images will likely be pushed back into the far depths of his mind without him even knowing. When he wakes up, he will remember nothing and will eventually forget all about what he saw."

Neji cannot help but remain shocked at the detail Toshida has described, but even more so, how bad the images must have been to do this to Shino in the first place. "What is it about this man's past that could have been so barbaric that it would send a man into a coma from simply having witnessed it?"

Toshida leans over Shino's bed and places one of the pills in his mouth and forces him to swallow it. He directs his attention to Shizune, "He will regain consciousness soon enough. It would be best that he remains out of action for a while though. And to be safe . . . I should not be here when he awakens."

Toshida turns around and leaves the room and proceeds down the hallway leaving Neji behind at Shino's side. Toshida hears someone coming up behind him at high speed and he turns around just in time to notice an angry Chouji charging at him. Before Toshida can react, he is struck in the face with a thunderous left hand from the angry Chouji, knocking off his hat and sending him to the ground. Shizune comes running out of Shino's room and once again must mediate between the two of them.

"Chouji calm down! He is not our enemy anymore!" Shizune says, yelling into Chouji's ear.

Chouji does not listen however, as he continues to struggle in hopes of inflicting more pain upon the sin shinobi. Toshida rises to his feet with a bruise forming on his right cheek. "I suppose I deserved that, didn't I?"

Chouji cannot hold his emotions in as he scolds the now saddened and stoic shinobi. "Why did you do it? Why did you have to hurt Ino like that? Nobody knows what's wrong with her! She wakes up occasionally from horrible nightmares just screaming her head off in the middle of the night! What did you do to her!"

Shizune looks to Toshida who only seems to fall deeper into a silent sadness with every dagger like word that comes from Chouji's mouth. "Toshida, will those pills work on Ino too?"

Toshida shakes his head in uncertainty, "I don't know. She became incapacitated after using one of her clans mind altering jutsus. That's never happened before, so I don't know what the condition is directly. And judging from this young man's demeanor, it would be better that I didn't stay any longer to try and assess her condition." Toshida turns his back to the two leaf shinobi, still struggling with one another and begins to walk away, picking his hat up off the ground in the process. Toshida throws the container of pills over his shoulder and Chouji grabs them in his right hand. Toshida stops in his tracks and turns around to face Chouji as he puts his hat back on. "Chouji is it? I cannot tell you how sorry I truly am. Those pills however, are the best and only thing I can do to express that. I leave you to take that however you wish." Toshida lowers the rim of his hat to just in front of his eyes and continues on his way out of the hospital.

As Toshida leaves the hospital, he notices Kakashi leaning up against a tree reading the latest issue of his favourite novel. "So what are you planning to do now?" Asks Kakashi.

"In regards to what?"

"Well you have all the resources you could possibly want to have to help your cause, now all you need to do is figure out where to start."

"I suppose you're right. However, I assume that you have a thing or two to say about that. Would I be correct?"

Kakashi lets out a bit of a laugh, without taking his eyes off of his novel. "Yea, I guess you could say that. Gai has been put in charge of training SICT for the time being. I have been reassigned to keep an eye on you."

"I hope you accepted the mission on a professional basis. Only the great Hatake Kakashi can take care of such a dangerous man?" Toshida says in a mocking and sarcastic tone.

"Not entirely. I was told to watch you based on the fact that I could watch you from a distance, as well as easily take you out if necessary. But I also had personal reasons." Kakashi marks the page in his novel and places it in the back pouch on his belt. He then turns his full attention to Toshida and locks eyes once again with the young shinobi. "I want to know exactly what happened at Tarawa Creek. I have read reports and eye witness accounts on the event, but I want to hear your side of the story."

Toshida does not phase at Kakashi's words and he begins to walk past the leaf jounin. "Another time perhaps."

Kakashi places a hand on Toshida's shoulder, causing the shinobi to stop in his tracks. "You WILL tell me what happened that day. Whether I need to force it out of you or not."

With a swing of his arm so fast that Kakashi was barely able to notice it, Toshida bats Kakashi's hand off his shoulder and turns to face the copy ninja. "If I do tell you . . . it will be at a time of my choosing. So let's just say . . . don't hold your breath."

Toshida then continues on his way moving in the direction of the Ichiraku ramen stand. "If you're coming along Kakashi, I need to talk to the nine-tails kid. If you want to know ahead of time where to stalk me, that's where I will be."

Kakashi lets out an unamused sigh as he follows behind Toshida on his way to the ramen shop. As Toshida turns around to glance back at Kakashi, Kakashi disappears before his eyes. "Hmpf. Very Sneaky."

In the ramen shop, Naruto and Sakura sit enjoying a long over do bowl of pork flavoured noodles. As Naruto breaks his chopsticks apart and readies to dig in, he looks to Sakura to see if she does the same. He notices that Sakura is looking at him out of the corner of her eye. Her face is brandishing a large smile, just happy to be sitting with an old friend.

"I missed you too Sakura-chan." Naruto says, causing Sakura to blush slightly.

"It has been too long Naruto, I missed having you around so I am just happy to spend some time with you again." Sakura then breaks apart her chopsticks and begins eating her ramen bowl.

The ramen shop owner looks to Naruto with a large smile across his face, "Naruto I have to agree, you have been gone too long and it is just very refreshing to see you in here again. I mean, don't get me wrong, it is great to have Sakura-sama in here every day, but it is just good to have an old face back here!"

Sakura blushes at the shopkeepers comments as Naruto sits beside her, dumbfounded. "Sakura-sama? What are you talking about?"

Sakura is quick to interrupt, "Oh it's nothing, don't worry about it."

The shopkeeper takes a small amount of offence as he is quick to tell Naruto of some things he has missed. "Not a big deal? Naruto, let me tell you something. Ever since you left the village and so many of the young genin have been out on missions, Sakura-sama has become one of the most respected young people in the village. She has been doing house calls for the Hokage to treat minor health problems for some of the villagers." The shop owner points to the back of his hand which has the remnants of a healing scar on it. "She was sent over here by the Hokage to come and fix my hand after I accidentally burned it when I wash splashed by some boiling water."

Sakura blushes again and just tries to continue eating her noodles, although she finds it hard with such a big smile on her face.

"Sakura-chan! That's great! I guess training under granny Tsunade was a great idea after all. I mean you have gotten a lot stronger since we last saw each other, and now I hear that you are almost as highly praised in this village as the Hokage herself! This is great!" Naruto says as he throws his arms up in the air in celebration.

"That's right Naruto," The shop keeper says, "Sakura-sama has been doing great things in this village. She can't walk down the merchant's street without being showered with free gifts! Why just, the other day I noticed an old lady giving her a bouquet of flowers for helping her son out with broken leg!"

"Ok stop!" Sakura shouts, still with a smile on her face. "Let's just eat!"

The two men nod their heads in approval as Naruto gets back to his ramen, and the shop keeper gets back to work. Naruto still finds himself smiling upon the much more mature Sakura as he continues eating his ramen. Suddenly Naruto realizes that with both of their spirits so high, this may be the time to finally talk to her.

"She is still as pretty as she was a year ago . . . maybe even more so. I have to tell her how I feel about her. If I don't do it before I have to get back to training with Ero-sensei, I will have to wait another two years before I get the chance again." As he notices Sakura reaching the end of her bowl he prepares the words in his mouth, but is interrupted before he can speak.

"Wow, this is a first, I am almost done before you are even half way Naruto!" Sakura says with a mouth full of noodles, "What's the matter? Did your appetite change during your training too?"

Naruto smiles and returns to eating his Ramen, "She is even making jokes now! I have to tell her how I feel. All right . . . here it goes . . ." Naruto puts his chopsticks down and it becomes apparent to Sakura that he wants to say something. He taps his fingers together gently and his face becomes flushed as he starts to sweat.

"What's the matter?" Asks Sakura.

The shopkeeper has been listening in on the conversation and watching Naruto casually. He lets out a bit of a chuckle to himself as he knows what is wrong with Naruto.

"Sakura-chan . . . I . . . wanted to tell you something . . . So I better do it now before it gets too late . . . cause I never know when Ero-sensei is gonna just pack up and head back out for more training . . . So here it goes . . ." Naruto turns around on his stool and faces Sakura, "I wanted to tell you . . . that . . . I . . ."

Before Naruto can finish, the bell attached to the tarp of the ramen shop rings, signifying that someone else has entered the ramen shop. Naruto's eyes begin to bulge out of his head in anger as he knows the dark figure that has entered and interrupted his big moment.

"Y-you! What do you want!" Naruto curses.

Sakura turns around herself to see Toshida standing inside the ramen shop, loaming over both the leaf genins, casting a dark shadow over the both of them. "Y-you! Why are you here?" Sakura asks.

Toshida does not even acknowledge Sakura's words as his face remains stern and serious as he directs all focus to Naruto. "You and I need to talk kid . . . alone." Toshida says to the now furious Naruto. Toshida then looks down to Sakura as he removes his hat, and then bows before her. "I am sorry miss, but could you give Naruto and I a moment alone?"

"S-sure . . ." Sakura says, as she stands up and readies to leave the ramen shop. "I will catch up with you later Naruto. It was nice spending time with you again!"

"W-wait! Sakura-chan!" Naruto says, as he reaches for the leaving Sakura. His path however is blocked by Toshida, who steps in the way.

"Like I said kid, we need to talk. Please just sit down." Toshida points back to Naruto's stool and Naruto retakes his seat. Toshida pulls up a seat next to Naruto as he calls for the shopkeeper. "Excuse me! I will have what he is having." Toshida says, pointing to the half empty bowl in front of Naruto. "And please, another bowl for my . . . associate here."

Naruto almost cracks a smile at the shinobi's unexpected generosity. "Coming right up!" The shopkeeper says as he drops down another round of ramen for the two shinobi.

"So what is it you would like to talk to me about?" Naruto asks as he shovels more ramen into his mouth. "And it better be good."

"You and I got off to a rough start, and I admit that is my fault." The Shopkeeper places a fresh bowl of Ramen in front of Toshida. "Thank you. You and I Naruto, are so much alike that it is almost frightening. We were both cursed from birth to be cages for angry beasts. I cannot imagine how life has been for you I know for me it was indeed difficult, I just hope that things have been easier for you then they were for me." Toshida looks to Naruto and notices that Naruto has barely been paying attention to anything that Toshida has said.

"I'm sorry what did you say?" Asks Naruto, still chewing a mouthful of ramen.

"Never mind, you idiot." Toshida says, as he eats some of his own noodles. "You and I seem to have been almost destined to meet one another Naruto. I want you to tell me all that you know about that demon inside of you."

"And why should I tell you anything?"

"I'm asking you to enlighten me Naruto. You may hold the key to my future Naruto, and I ensure you, that I don't mean you any harm."

"Well back in the forest you could have fooled me."

"Believe me Naruto, if I had meant to harm you back in the forest, you would not be sitting here right now."

"Point taken. Well I don't really know much about how it happened. It happened shortly after I was born from what I have been told. The nine-tails invaded the village and attacked many of the villagers. Many shinobi died trying to stop it, but now one was able to stop it. And then the 4th Hokage showed up . . ."

"The 4th Hokage? What was his name?"

Naruto stops himself in the middle of his reply as he thinks to himself and realizes, "Actually, I don't really know what his real name was. All I know is that when he showed up, he somehow managed to seal the nine-tails inside of me."

"He sealed it inside of you? But why? Why did he choose you?"

Naruto finds himself at a loss for words yet again, and he begins to scratch the back of his head as he lets out a dumbfounded smile. "Well come to think of it, I don't know that either. I just know what I have been told, and I have never really been told the rest of the details."

Toshida shakes his head as he continues devouring his ramen, "Oh just great. I can see that this kid is not going to be any help at all." Toshida finishes his dinner and moves his bowl off to the side. "Naruto, where is the 4th Hokage now? Why isn't he still the Hokage of the village?"

Naruto lowers his head and the shopkeeper pauses for a second to remember the fourth's sacrifice. "Well, the fourth died sealing the nine-tails. The sealing technique required him to use his own life as a sacrifice for the technique to work. So he sealed the demon, but gave up his life."

Toshida looks onto Naruto in shock as beads of sweat begin to run down his face, it appears almost as if Toshida has heard some most unexpected news. "That is why his seal looked that way. It is the death seal! A life must be sacrificed in order make the seal work. Hmpf, no wonder his seal is holding up perfectly, while mine is weakening constantly."

Toshida rises from his stool and turns around to leave the shop. "Thank you for your time Naruto. I hope that you and I can meet again sometime. We may have more in common than you realize." Naruto says nothing as Toshida leaves the ramen shop and begins walking toward the small pond on the outskirts of the town.

Meanwhile, just outside the Nara household, Shikamaru stands off against Keinea. Both competitors appear exhausted with sweat running down their faces. Shikamaru brandishes an uncharacteristic grimace as he strains to defeat his worthy opponent.

"His movements are so fast. He always seems to know my next move, knowing where I am going to strike and how I will react to it. This guy is good." Shikamaru says to himself as he tries to calculate his next move.

Across from him, Keinea shares similar thoughts, "He is always one step ahead. His calculations and strategies are almost impossible to keep up with. I am just barely managing to keep up with him. One wrong move and I will . . . I will . . ."

Suddenly Keinea curses himself as he realizes that he has made a mistake, and this time there is nothing he can do to stop for his eventual defeat. Shikamaru's face lights up as he to has come to the same realization.

"AHA! SUCCESS! I've got you now!" It is then revealed that most of the two shinobi's attention has been directed at a shogi board. "Game over! Finally, after two and a half hours this game is over."

"Wh-what!" Keinea screams, "I lost! I never lose! What the hell are you?"

"You did a great job my friend. You and I will have to play again sometime."

Keinea calms down and casually admits defeat. "I would enjoy that. It is not often that I meet someone that matches me in shogi. The next time, we will find out who is better, hopefully you didn't just get lucky."

Shikamaru waves goodbye to Keinea as he makes his way down the street from the Nara household. As he walks along the streets, he can see Naruto at the far end of the road leaving the ramen shop.

"Oh great. I hate that damn kid. If it wasn't getting late, I would challenge him for a rematch right here in the streets." As Keinea walks closer to Naruto, he notices that someone is watching Naruto from behind a building about a block behind him. "Hmm? Who is that? Why are they watching this idiot?"

Naruto lets out a belch as he clutches his now full stomach. "Oh why did I have to eat the second bowl?" Naruto says out loud, causing the person watching him to giggle. Naruto hears the laughter and turns around quickly to see who was making the noise. But before Naruto can make eye contact, the figure has retreated to behind the building. Naruto shrugs it off and continues on his way.

As Keinea draws closer to Naruto, he notices the figure moving from building to building, staying out of Naruto's line of sight. Whenever Naruto would turn around, the figure would step behind a building to avoid being seen.

"Hmm. Who is following him? It is obvious that they aren't a skilled shinobi or anything. If so, they are really bad. So it isn't like they are trying to hurt him. But why follow him and be so secretive about it? Meh, whatever."

As Keinea and Naruto meet up with one another, neither moves out of the others way and both find themselves at a stare down in the middle of the street. Naruto does not take his eyes off of Keinea, and Keinea does not fold either. Both shinobi stand at roughly the same height and both seem ready to attack one another at a moment's notice.

Naruto is the first one to break the silence, "Is there a problem pal?"

"You owe me a rematch sometime kid." Keinea says as he raises a finger pointing at Naruto. "You may have had the edge over me back at the stadium, but I was under orders to throw the fight. So let's just see who would win when it counts."

"What is stopping you from starting that fight now?" Naruto asks, not phasing at all in the face of the shinobi.

"The fact that I am a guest in your country and in your village. There are ANBU members watching me at all times and I am sure that it would be counter productive to get in a fight with one of the leaf's golden boys."

"Well then why don't we go outside of the village and take care of things right now?"

"Soon you little punk. Soon enough. But for now, brother needs to be on the best possible grounds with both you, and your superiors. So it will just have to wait." Keinea looks over Naruto's shoulder and notices the figure still watching Naruto like a hawk. "That and you are being followed by someone behind that building over there."

The figure tries to hide, knowing that they have been discovered, but Naruto turns around and calls the follower out. "All right, I don't know who you are but get out here right now and tell me why you are following me!"

A soft and high-pitched voice comes from behind the building. "Sorry Naruto-kun . . . I heard you had come back to the village and . . . I just wanted to see how you were . . ." The voice says with a very shy yet cute tone. The figure steps out from the shadow of the building and shows a young girl with shoulder length black hair, wearing a white kimono, with a leaf village head protector hanging from around her neck.

Naruto looks confused for a second as he walks closer, squinting in an attempt to identify the strange shinobi who refuses to look at Naruto. "Wait a second, is that you?" The figure's eyes become visible in the setting sun, showing the pale white colour of the Hyuuga clans trademark bloodline. "It's you Hinata! I didn't recognize you with your hair being so much longer. It looks good on you!"

Hinata blushes as she smiles with delight having heard a compliment from the young man that has unwittingly owned her heart since they first met. "Th-thank you Naruto-kun. How has the last year been for you?"

"Oh it is such a long story I will have to tell you some other time." Naruto then realizes he has left Keinea behind him possibly awaiting a chance to attack. As Naruto turns around quickly and at the ready, he notices that Keinea's eyes of opened wide as he cannot stop looking at Hinata.

"What . . . lovely eyes . . . She must be from the Hyuuga clan. I have never seen a female from that clan. Her hair is so dark and smooth . . . she looks like an angel . . ."

Keinea begins to slip away as he finds himself falling madly in love with the young shinobi. Naruto snaps his fingers in front of Keinea's face, bringing him back to reality and sending an embarrassed blush to his cheeks.

"Hey! Are you ok? What are you staring at?" Naruto asks. Keinea shakes his head and returns to his senses.

Hinata looks to Keinea and finds him to be an interesting looking young man. "Who is he? Why is he staring at me like that? He seems kind of rugged . . . but he seems nice enough."

Keinea stammers as he realizes that Hinata has noticed him staring at her, "S-sorry, but I have to be going!" Keinea runs off down the path he was following, leaving Hinata and Naruto alone and confused.

"Hmm, I wonder what his problem is?" Naruto asks scratching his head in confusion.

Hinata walks closer to Naruto, her hands in front of her chest and his index fingers pushing against one another. She continues to avoid eye contact with Naruto as she begins to ask him something. "N-Naruto-kun . . . would you like to . . . come over for a cup of tea this evening?"

"Well, sure I . . ." Hinata's face lights up as she hears words of acceptance coming from Naruto. However, Naruto does not finish what he is saying as something has caught his attention.

"What is it Naruto-kun" Hinata asks, searching around their immediate area for anything out of the ordinary. "What's wrong?"

"Do you hear that?" Naruto says, as he concentrates harder trying to locate the sound that he is hearing.

"I don't hear anything." Hinata says just seconds before she too begins to hear the faint sound of something in the distance. "Wait. I hear it too. What is it?"

"I think it is music. But where is it coming from?"

"It's coming from the pond!" Hinata says, just as Naruto had begun moving in the direction of the pond. "Go figure. He is back in town for a few days . . . I finally gather up the courage . . . I have him all alone . . . and now this!"

As the two shinobi move closer to the pond they can hear the noise getting louder and louder, telling them that they are going in the right direction. As the sound gets louder, it also becomes clearer. The music is being made by a single flute that is echoing across the pond. The song itself, is beautiful, but sounds like a tragic tune that just emits feelings of sadness and sorrow to anyone that hears it. As Naruto and Hinata begin to see the pond in view, they notice that Sakura has also heard the music and is standing a few dozen metres back from the water's edge, hiding behind some bushes in hopes that the musician does not see her.

As Hinata and Naruto reach Sakura, both of them kneel down behind the bushes and look out onto the pond where a solo dark silhouette stands in the middle with his hair and trench coat blowing in the wind. Naruto can easily make out from the glare off of the water, caused by the setting sun, that the man is Toshida.

Hinata watches the shinobi closely bringing her clutched hands up to her lips. "It's . . . It's . . ."

"Beautiful" Sakura says, "who would have known that Toshida guy was capable of something so pretty."

Naruto's face contorts in a smug view as he turns his head from Sakura, "Well it isn't that great!"

"Yes it is Naruto don't be jealous." Sakura scolds Naruto causing him to become even more angry at Sakura's fascination with the flute playing Toshida.

Toshida stands at the centre of the pond with his hair still blowing in the wind and his flute clutching firmly in his hands and pressed gently against his lips. His face reveals the stoic look that Toshida has become known for. However, this time his face shows a darkness more tragic then all of the expressions he has ever displayed. He looks almost as if he is close to tears as he plays his flute with intense passion.

"It's such a lovely tune. Yet it's so sad . . . I wonder what it is about? And where did he learn to play the flute?" Sakura says to the other two leaf genin crouched beside her. Suddenly a voice from behind them gives her an answer.

"It was our mother that taught him." The voice comes from behind a tree next to the bushes where the genin had been hiding. Keinea steps out from behind the tree as he walks toward the shore of the lake with the three curious genin following close behind.

"It was your mother that taught him to play that?" Sakura asks, "It is such a sad tune. What is it about?"

"The song is called "We love, we lose" Toshida wrote it himself. Mom taught him to play the flute and even taught Toshida how to make his own. But it was brother that came up with that song."

Hinata offers a comment, "He plays with such passion and emotion . . . and to play such a sad song . . . is there a story behind it?"

(Authors Note: Queue; "Sadness and Sorrow" from the Naruto OST)

Keinea lowers his head as he starts to become overwhelmed with emotion. Tears fill his eyes and he clutches his fists together. "Brother . . . never cries. He has always been that way. He was raised from birth to be a shinobi and he has never known anything else. He never went to an academy, or learned to fight with a team by his side like you guys did. He has always been alone. Never known love from anyone, other then our mom. When she taught him to play the flute it was a happy time for us. And then one day everything changed . . ."

Keinea's tears roll down his cheeks as he remembers so many things that he and his brother have had to go through. "But even if people said things to the contrary, my brother is still a human being. He has feelings . . . emotions . . . hopes and dreams. But he was robbed of that before he was even born! He has had to go through hell, time and time again."

Sakura, Hinata, and Naruto cannot help but be moved by Keinea's outpouring of emotion, and none of them dare to say anything as they let the young man pour his heart out. "Brother wrote that song as a way of coping with his feelings. He was taught from birth to never cry no matter what the situation. A shinobi must have a heart that does not show tears remember? So that song is an out pouring of everything that builds up in my brothers heart. Every note is like a thousand tears that have been with held for too long. I have seen a lot of horrible things in my young life, but one thing I know for sure . . . is that seeing a shinobi cry is one of the most heart wrenching things that anyone should have to see."

"Regardless of how old they are, the way of the shinobi is too heartbreaking to watch sometimes. Whenever I hear that song . . . I feel as if my brother is crying out to the world through song to anybody that will listen . . . like he feels it is the only shinobi like thing he can do to atone for what he has done."

"What has he done?" Naruto asks, "What does he have to be so ashamed of?"

"The massacre at Tarawa Creek?" Sakura asks. "I heard Kakashi-sensei talking about it."

"Yea . . . Tarawa creek." Keinea says as he wipes the tears from his eyes. "All I will say, is that after hearing that song so many times over these past few years I know one thing for certain . . . Sometimes I feel like I would rather spend a thousand years in hell, then have to listen to that tragic song again."

Keinea then abruptly leaves the scene, leaving the three genin to watch Toshida finish playing his sad tune. As Toshida finishes, the three genin decide to call it a night and they all leave the pond, and return home.

Meanwhile, on the pond, Toshida returns his flute to the satchel located just under his sheath strapped to his back. He looks out from the corner of his eye and notices Kakashi standing just behind him in the centre of the lake.

"It was a lovely tune." Kakashi says, as he walks toward Toshida. "I think it is time that you tell me what I want to know."

"Ah yes, the Battle at Tarawa Creek." Toshida pulls his hat up from off of his back and begins to walk toward the shore with Kakashi following close behind. The two reach the shoreline and Toshida perches himself on the low branch of a tree near the shore of the pond.

"So are you going to tell me what I want to know or not?"

"I don't suppose I have a choice do I?" Toshida lowers his head and takes a deep breath. "All right . . . where do you want me to start?"

"Just, start at the beginning. I want to know everything, how you came to be . . . up to how you came to be in this village."