Chapter 7: Painful Past
Senko lies down upon the warm shingles of the roof as she continues to look up at the blue sky above her. Putting her hands behind her head, she remembers more of her life back in Kouen.
-Flashback-
"Senko? Are you allright?"
Senko looks up with a tear-stained face after having destroyed the biggest of the training grounds' target boulders to find her close friend, Yoshimi Makoto, standing at the gate of her clan's home. He ran up to her, his short dark brown hair flowing over his forehead protector and his chuunin uniform constricting his navy blue shinobi outfit underneath.
"Makoto-kun," she exclaims as she hastily wipes away her tears.
"Were you crying, Senko-chan?" he asks her upon walking up to her. "Whatever for?"
"It's nothing," assures Senko. "I'm allright."
"I don't think so," confirms Makoto. "What's wrong?"
Senko became silent as she looks at the ground.
"You can tell me, Senko-chan," assures Makoto, laying a finger-gloved hand on her shoulder.
After finding a bench to sit down on, Senko tells Makoto about her brother's odd behavior and the reason he has been acting that way. Makoto crosses his arms and looks down at the ground.
"I see," he says after she was done. "You're brother has no right to treat you the way he does. It's not like you guys have a choice in deciding who gets sealed and who doesn't."
"That's true," agrees Senko. "The decision to become sealed in whoever they wish lies with the tora no youkais themselves."
"That's right," adds Makoto. "So you shouldn't blame yourself for the way your brother treats you. He's just jealous, that's all."
"I guess so," says Senko hesitantly.
"Besides," began Makoto. "He's just being childish. I don't have a tora no youkai sealed inside of me and I'm still a quite excellent ninja."
"That's true," agrees Senko. "Anyone can become a great ninja, regardless of whether or not they have special powers or not."
"Right," adds Makoto with a reassuring nod.
He leans over to give Senko an unexpected hug, which not only surprised Senko but also made her blush a little.
"What's that for?" she asks him."I don't know," he replies. "You just looked like you needed a hug."
Senko's eyes began welling up, but she prevents her tears from falling by closing her eyes and leaning into her best friend.
-End of flashback-
"Makoto-kun," exclaims Senko, sitting up. "Even then, deep down we both knew something bad was coming." She jumps off the roof and dashes towards the Konoha forests scattered throughout the village.
-Flashback-
Senko and Makoto were walking back to Kouen after completing a Class-A mission with their fellow teammate and friend Himura Shiro and their jounin superior Tantou Wazashi. Shiro kept declaring how great he was in the mission when in fact Senko and Makoto did most of the work. Of course, Wazashi made no comments about it, knowing the young blue spike-haired chuunin will eventually get his just desserts.
As they neared Kouen, Wazashi quickly notices the air feeling a little more humid than it was a few miles back. He brushes his dark green hair out of his eyes to see a series of smoke billow out of the direction they were heading in. His eyes went wide with shock as his subordinates and he came closer to Kouen, which was burning brightly with ominous fire.
"Oh my gosh!" Senko cries out as she and her teammates broke into a frantic run towards their home village.
"Senko! Makoto! Shiro!" Wazashi yells out at them as he ran.
The four of them went into the village finding their homes ablaze and no one around.
"Kaasan! Tousan!" the young chuunins cry out desperately for their parents.
"Niisan!" adds Senko.
Suddenly, the four ninjas see a dark figure amidst the flames. The figure emerges through the fire to face them, armed with several shinobi weapons.
"Kagerou!" exclaims Wazashi. "What happened here?"
"Niisan!" exclaims Senko gladly. "I'm so glad you're okay."
Kagerou remains silent as he began walking towards the four ninjas. Wazashi immediately recognizes the look in the seventeen-year-old chuunin's eyes and steps in front of his subordinates.
"Wazashi-sensei," exclaims Makoto. "What's wrong?"
"Everyone, stay back!" commanded the green-haired jounin.
"What's going on?" wonders Shiro. "It's just Kagerou."
"Niisan," said Senko. Her eyes widen in horror upon seeing splatters of blood all over her brother when he came close. "Blood? Why is there blood on niisan?"
"What have you done, Kagerou?" demanded Wazashi fiercely.
In response, Kagerou simply began chuckling, which then turned into a maniacal laughter.
"Sharp as always, Wazashi-kun," said the black-haired jounin. "To answer the question that's floating around in your mind, yes, I did attack and destroyed the village."
Wazashi and his chuunin subordinates all gasp in horror at Kagerou's reply.
"No," vociferates Senko, clenching her fists. "I don't believe it. I knew you hated me, but why take it out on the village?"
"My dear imoutosan," began Kagerou. "My dear foolish imoutosan. I'll tell you since you want to know so badly."
Senko looks at him, afraid of what his reply would be.
"I initially took my anger out on our family," answers Kagerou emotionlessly. "I killed everyone without mercy. But my desire to kill wasn't satisfied with just killing our family alone, so I decided to attack the entire village itself."
"Y-you killed our family?" stutters Senko.
"Yes, I did," replies Kagerou. "As of now, we are the only living members of the has-been Tora Clan."
"But, but why?" asks Senko, tears forming in her eyes. "Why did you do that?"
"I wanted to test out my new strength," answers Kagerou.
"What are you talking about?" demanded Wazashi.
"I sealed an evil tora no youkai within me," explains Kagerou. "Now I have powers just like the sealed ninjas of the Tora Clan."
"Test out your new strength," Senko reiterates in a low voice. "You used our family and the people of Kouen as guinea pigs to test out your new strength!"
She looks at her brother with now blood-red eyes and slit pupils. Her canines had sharpened and grown a little as she clenches her teeth in growing anger. She could feel the power of her tora no youkai surge through her body as she got angrier and angrier. Once fully powered, Senko strikes out at her brother with full force.
"Senko!" Wazashi calls out to her.
Senko curls her right hand into a claw as she envelops it with her demonic red Chakra.
"Tora Tsume!" she cries out as she thrusts her hand towards her brother's chest. "Tiger Claw!"
Senko's eyes widen in surprise, as does her teammates, when her hand is quickly caught by her brother's unseen fast hand.
"Making up your own techniques now I see," comments Kagerou. "Who do you think you are?"
He shoots an ominous glare at his sister before slowly tightening his grip on her wrist.
"Senko!" Makoto cries out as he hears her scream in pain.
He takes out three of his kunais and shoots them at Kagerou, who immediately deflects it with his free hand armed with his own kunai.
"Hold on Senko!" assures Shiro as he and Makoto ran at the Tora Clan members.
"Shiro! Makoto!" yells out Wazashi. "You two aren't strong enough! Get back here!"
Shiro and Makoto both took out their kunais and leap up high into the air. They then proceed to rain their weapons down onto Kagerou. Creasing his eyes, Kagerou releases his sister and the two Tora Clan members jump back to safety. Makoto and Shiro land near their injured teammate.
"Senko, are you allright?" asks Makoto.
"I'm fine," answers the kunoichi. "Don't worry about me."
The three of them line up in their attack formation, prepared to take on their own fellow villager. Just then, Kagerou began doing a series of hand seals. Senko immediately recognizes the seal and tells her teammates to run back. No sooner had they gotten halfway to their superior that Kagerou finally unleashes his most powerful attack.
"Katon: Faiawooru no Jutsu!" he yells out. "Fire Release: Firewall Technique!"
Wazashi watches in horror as his three subordinates are engulfed in the ferocious flames of the Tora Clan Bloodline Limit technique.
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A/N: Katon: Faiawooru no Jutsu (Fire Release: Firewall Technique) and Tora Tsume (Tiger Claw)are jutsus I made up. If they appear in Naruto later, it's strictly coincidental. All Naruto techniques referenced from Wikipedia search for Naruto jutsu.