Lost … Found … Missing
Miharu and Kaito lose a genin! Takumi finds his chunnin! What is missing?
"I'll give it to him, he's clever. " Miharu watched the shadow clone of Takumi disappear. "He waited until everyone was occupied, then he left."
"Any idea to where he went?" Kaito asked. Miharu nodded.
"Well, the officer, Taiki and Sutari left to get the diamond. Most likely…" Miharu said.
"Yeah. Well, since there are an even number of genin here right now, we should split Shun and Michiya. I'll take Michiya." Miharu shook her head.
"No, no, no. Anyone but him. He plays around too much. I'll get the girl, you get the guy!" her brown eyes flashed red. Kaito, still calm, nodded.
"All right. I'll take him." He said. "but if he causes trouble, I'm leaving him in the forest."
Miharu laughed, then asked Kaito if someone should be alerted that Takumi was missing. Kaito shook his head.
"It may sound funny, but out of all the genin, he's the one I worry about the least when it comes to being lost. He can handle himself."
Atokse instantly lashed his thread at Takumi, who leapt off the bramch, throwing stars at the short shinobi. The stars were easily reflected off the needle, and the thread swung at Takumi's ankle. Atokse missed again, then started forming hand signs.
"thread split no jutsu!" he said, and just as fast, the threads split like vines traveling at a high speed toward the Kurokawa clan member. They snapped at him, but Takumi evaded them, not showing any signs of strain. Nataka put her hand up, and Atokse reluctantly called the thread back.
"A Kurokawa clan member. Never thought I'd see one … again." Nataka smiled. "Chiori…"
Takumi felt his adrenaline rushing as she continued.
"It's always tough to lose relative, especially a close one. But loss is a part of life." She said, pausing. "Your four should go. Now."
"Who killed my father?" Takumi blurted. Nataka turned from walking to the house.
"You'll know them soon. Just know that they're closer than you think." She said, without a grim expression. "Tyoh! Shuni, pick your sorry selves up and come in!"
Sutari and Taiki both sat at a the ramen shop, with Taiki feeding Chikoi a bit of his noodles.
"Taiki, I know Takumi is a very smart, capable genin. People who've seen him for more than two minutes knows that. But this running off without permission, it had to stop. Taiki, talk to him." Sutari said.
"I will." Taiki said, fiddling around with the chopsticks. "I will."
"Taiki…" Sutari looked away with a concerned look, then looked back. "The person who killed Takumi's father. Nataka said they were closer than we thought."
"Could it be anyone our group? The only person with that sort of past is Miharu, but she doesn't use arrows." Taiki responded.
"Certainly not Kaito. He knew Chiori pretty well." Sutari said. "I'm not sure if it's our business to start looking, but if they're close, we could be affected."
"Yeah, but we've done enough searching for one day. I need my rest. I'll talk to Takumi, then go to sleep." Taiki picked up his ramen, letting Chikoi eat it. Sutari bid him good night, and sped off to the rooms.
"You don't understand." Takumi said, looking down. "My father…"
"Takumi, I knew him also. He was my chunin. Trust me, before he was an ANBU, he'd take me, Dorin, and Rizo out on missions." Taiki said. Takumi nodded slowly.
"I feel, kind of weak." Takumi said. "It was four years ago when it happened. And do you know what the party was for?"
"No, what was it for?" Taiki responded.
"My fathers retirement. He was pretty young, about 41, but there was a kind of sickness he had. It forced him to retire. It just took away his stamina so quickly when he used charka." Takumi said. "To this day, even though he was struck by the arrow, it was kind of tough to discern whether it was his sickness, or the poison."
"That's why I really don't know how to react when someone talks about him." Takumi continued. "I didn't know whether to listen or to fight them."
"Takumi, I understand your feelings." Taiki said. "I know how bad you want to get away from us and find your brothers. At least stay here and finish the chunin exam. I know you can do that."
"I will." Takumi answered. "My brothers … they treated me nicely, but after seeing you and Sutari and the officer fight, I decided – "
"You were there that long?" Taiki asked. Takumi nodded.
"I was at a distance, but I had a pretty good view. When I came closer … that's when the woman noticed me. But, I decided to go my own path. I'll help the Kurokawa name survive."
"It's the least I can do."
The next day signaled the one week countdown before the chunnin exam. The chunin and their genin trained hard once again, and after Taiki arrived, there was talk of having only six candidates compete. They omission of Endoh was all but unanimous, and Yama was slowly losing interest. Taiki commented that Michiya was progressing like he hoped.
They still had a week, and Miharu, Kaito, Taiki and Sutari decided that they would use this week as an evaluation period to see if anyone was or wasn't prepared.