Chapter 1
That was twelve years ago, and as I promised myself, I am not ninja. I work in the family business as a tailor. Not a fantastic job I guess, but anything is better than being a slave to that old man. My mother took to sewing after my dad was killed; it gave her something to do, a way to numb the grief. As time passed she started to sell on her wares, simple things like frog purses and novelties like that, it made her smile and she got her confidence back and then opened her own store. It made ends meet, and eventually it became a small tailoring business.
On the other hand, I pained myself getting a basic education at Konoha Academy. There are no other schools here, just the academy. I purposely flunked anything to do with the ninja arts, it wasn't hard to do at first, the teachers were too astounded by the boy genius Uchiha to notice my failing grades, and after he was graduated early, everyone started picking on some blonde kid rather than me. I guess I was lucky to slip by unnoticed with these two stealing the limelight.
So here I am, living above the shop in the bustling heart of Konoha's shopping district. Everyone who works here is an ordinary person, no ninja's own shops, not with their missions and training keeping them busy. Everyone here is either too old, incapable, riddled with sickness or permanent injury, and even in some cases, just plain don't want to follow the path of the ninja.
It's not as bad a place as I make it sound, we are all ordinary people living good lives, and I guess it's because of those ninja that we do. Much as I hate to admit it. How can the life of a ninja be a happy one? Each mission could be your last, and what of those that are left behind? We have to keep on living each day missing an important part of our lives.
It was the summer of that year that the nightmare would begin again. Strange characters, ninjas from other villages, started to converge on Konoha. Word passed in later days that the Chunin examinations were about to begin.
People were excited, in the later stages, so I heard, the examinations became quite a show, and let's not forget, a few more feet around these parts will always be good for business.
It was later on, a few weeks after they started that things started to take a turn for the worse. Rumour had it, that in the second trial, there was a madman on the loose and he had slain some of the participants in cold blood. Some said he was one of the legendary Sanin, others said he was a snake-man, many just passed it off as a way of building up the tension for this final tournament.
As I made my way along the path, the huge arena before me, I suddenly had this unshakeable feeling that something bad was going to happen. It was the same feeling I had when the darkness covered Konoha twelve years ago.