Disclaimer: Naruto is property of Masashi Kishimoto, not me. However, Kosu and Hiro are mine. Warning, possible themes of a dark, violent or suggestive nature and use of mature language as the story progresses… They're ninja after all.
Chapter 5
Broken Things
Konohagakure was a hive of almost constant activity. The citizens dominated the streets as they busied through their daily routine, completely oblivious to everything but their own little lives. Kosu found it unnerving. None of them cared how loud they were or which way the wind carried their scent. And with the way the large wall wrapped around the village boarders she was reminded all too easily of domesticated sheep – animals with stupidity and docility bred into them.
Daiki-sensei's words echoed around her head and she found her hands fisting at her sides. He's wrong. Of course she had to stand alone. These people didn't care for her and Hiro, they were too wrapped up in their own lavish lives. Not that Kosu would ever allow herself to rely on them. The moment she became dependent on someone she opened herself to weakness, worse still, she placed Hiro at risk. At any moment she had to be prepared to walk away, to stand on her own two feet – fight or flight. She had expected a shinobi of all people to understand. After all, their dedication to the mission objective was exactly the same as her dedication to Hiro's safety.
Hiro was her mission.
Being in this village has made Daiki-sensei soft.
The female chunin stationed at the main gate nodded a greeting to Kosu, letting the armed child pass beyond the village walls.
The first time Kosu had exited the Village she'd been stopped in the process. The chunin guards were uneasy simply letting a sickly looking child pass into the wilderness alone. They'd made her wait whilst they sent a runner to the dispatch office and felt like fools when the runner returned and confirmed that Kosu, despite being a non-ninja minor, had permission to leave. That embarrassment had been compounded when she returned from a successful hunt.
The Village and all its sheep faded behind her the deeper she headed into the thick forest. Soon enough all noise from the village fell away and since her footfalls were silent, her ears were engulfed by the familiar sounds of the wilderness. Kosu exhaled and slowly her fists unfurled. Predatory eyes swept over her surroundings and she searched for tracks to follow. The Village won't soften me.
X
Rin slowly peered around the corner of the building, spying Kosu further down the street. True to her word Rin was determined to get to know their new classmate. Although, she wasn't making great progress with her self-appointed mission. She would tail after Kosu when she saw him and then quickly lose track of him some way or another. For a boy at the bottom of the class he was very good at going unnoticed when he wanted to.
"Rin!"
A hand clasped her shoulder and it took everything for her not to yelp as she was turned around.
"Obito!" She hissed. "You scared me."
"Sorry." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. Rin couldn't help herself and ended up smiling back at the boy.
"What are you doing here?" She looked between Obito, Genma and Kakashi. "Have you changed your minds about Kosuke?"
"No." Genma replied dryly.
"But we also don't want you going alone." Obito added quickly.
"I can take care of myself," Rin pouted. It's only Kosuke after all.
"We're going to lose him." Kakashi's calm, if slightly bored, voice announced. The white haired boy watched lazily as their target disappeared behind a corner.
"Come on." Rin whispered hurriedly and took the point position of the group. True to their shinobi training the group fell into a ninja pursuit formation without even realising it. They stalked Kosu across the village and the closer to the boundary wall they got the more their curiosity grew.
Kakashi stopped and held his fist up, the unspoken command for the formation to hold. Sometime during their pursuit he'd swapped positions with Rin. She didn't' suit being a point man. Rin was better suited on the flanks as support.
"What's he doing?" Genma whispered quietly from his position at the back of the formation.
"Oh Kami, he's leaving." Rin's eyes widened. "You've made him run away!"
"Relax Rin." Kakashi said. "Even Kosuke's not stupid enough to run away with only a kunai pouch and some rope." Rin paused and spied Kosuke's disappearing figure. True to Kakashi's word there was no backpack filled with supplies.
"Oh,"
"So then, what is he doing?" Obito asked. Kakashi's eyes narrowed as he followed Kosuke until he disappeared behind the treeline.
"For once Obito, you've asked a sensible question." Kakashi said.
"Thank y- Hay!"
"We should wait for him." Genma interrupted Obito before he could start into his typical declaration about unlocking his Sharingan, defeating Kakashi and becoming Hokage.
And they did wait, until the sun was half hidden by the horizon, but Kosu never returned through the main gate.
"Next time we follow him all the way."
X
The pursuit of her prey had brought her around the curve of the village wall so much that she was closer to the Eastern entrance. Although long, the trail had proven to be worthwhile, justified by the prize draped heavily over her shoulders. Kosu wondered if she would have been able to carry such large prey before she started training at the academy. Doubt it.
"Oh wow." The guard at the Eastern gate found himself slack-jawed in surprise. Not necessarily staring at Kosu, more the wild hog draped over her shoulders. The large black belly of the hog was mounted behind her head and put her underfed one to shame. The guard's eyes drifted down to the head of the hog, dangling limply near the child's knees. Even in death the large tusks of the hog looked menacing.
"I left from the main gate. They'll want to know of my return." She said as she walked past him.
"Oh, er right." The blonde nodded. "Do you need some help with that?" He asked, motioning with his hand to the hog. Kosu considered the weight pressing her down, the burn of all of her muscles, the stiffness in her shoulders.
"No." Kosu declined and continued her path into the village. "If you can't carry it, don't kill it." She murmured to herself.
It was lesson she'd learnt after she'd slayed a fawn. The distance between the kill site and Hiro was too great. She made the decision to returned to the tree she'd stashed Hiro safely away in and bring him to the dead deer. Only her prey wasn't where she had left it. A family of foxes had claimed it as their own and left nothing but scraps. Kosu hadn't made the same mistake since. After that incident she killed what she could carry.
She had it down to a fine art. The clean kill, ideally through the eye and into the brain. It ended the animal's life instantly and didn't run the risk of contaminating the meat. The animal was then bled as quickly as possible, normally there and then at the kill site. Once bled, Kosu field stripped the animal by removing the organs and carried the carcass back to wherever she'd hidden Hiro for skinning and cooking.
Now that they were residing in Konohagakure that sequence had been adapted slightly. Hiriko had screamed and promptly fainted the first time she'd caught Kosu stringing up and skinning an animal in the courtyard. The woman's reaction had bemused Kosu. It was only a rabbit. After that, an agreement had been made with the local butcher. Kosu was to take and process the meat there, with the butcher occasionally offering to purchase any extra meat that she had. Although that often depended on the animal. The butcher never seemed interested in purchasing squirrels and rats.
X
"Bloody hell lad,"
Kosu wiped her brow with the back of her arm and turned to face Goro - the butcher. Behind her the hog was strung up on one of the many hooks he had in the back room of his shop.
"That hog's bigger than you are." A deep chuckle filled the room. Kosu had quickly become a regular at his shop. Although he was more used to seeing the child bring in a selection of hares and squirrels. "You selling any of it?" He asked. A redundant question, there was no way Kosu and her brother could eat all of the hog before it spoiled.
"Yeah." Kosu replied as she pulled a kunai from the pouch at her thigh. It wasn't Goro's tool of choice for skinning an animal, but it was obviously the tool the child had grown used to. He watched as Kosu fisted a secure handful of the pig and swiftly began cutting away at the skin. It was impressive to watch. Goro had taught all of his apprentices how to strip and skin an animal, but none of them could do it as neatly and efficiently as Kosuke. The boy wasted nothing. "I'll cut away what I'm taking and leave the rest."
Goro hummed his agreement and watched the child work. It was oddly hypnotic. It took mere minutes for Kosu to skin the hog and cut away the massive loin cut she was keeping for herself and Hiro. She suspected Goro would still pay quite well for the rest of it, there was a lot of ham, belly, ribs and shoulder left hanging from the hook.
Kosu left him to inspect the rest of the hog whilst she returned to the front of the shop to parcel up the loin cut. Her fingers were tightening the string holding the paper around the meat when the bell chimed, signalling a customer entering the shop. Weary eyes regarded the blonde jonin with caution. Between his smile and kind blue eyes he looked friendly, but there was something about him that made the hairs on the back of Kosu's neck stand on end. His presence is like that of the Hokage. She swallowed thickly.
"Hello," He smiled pleasantly. "Are you Goro's new apprentice?"
"No," Kosu replied lowly, taking the large parcel securely in her hands.
"Alright lad, let me just get you your ryo." Goro said as he entered the shop. "Oh Minato-san" Goro's face was immediately overcome with one of the largest smiles Kosu had ever seen. "You're just in time for some fresh ham." He passed behind Kosu and opened the cash register, counting out some ryo into a pouch. "Here you go lad." He handed the pouch to Kosu who shoved it into her trouser pocket.
"Thank you," She said to Goro, her eyes never leaving Minato. Her gut screamed at her not to let the man out of her sight. Minato watched with a curious raised brow as the tense child quickly passed him and darted out of the butchers.
"I've not seen him around before." Minato commented lightly to Goro.
"Yeah, that's Kosuke." Goro scratched the back of his neck. "He's an odd boy, one of Hiriko-san's." Goro shrugged and opened his arms out. "But he's an excellent huntsman so he's welcome here anytime." He chuckled. "Anyway, enough of my ramblings, what can I get you?"
"Some of that fresh ham sounds good." Minato replied. Goro clapped his hands enthusiastically and disappeared into the back room.
Once Goro had left Minato's bright eyes narrowed analytically and he looked to the door Kosuke had just left through. He, like all of the other jonin who frequented the breakroom, had heard of the Deerstalker – nicknamed by the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. Although he'd been sceptical of the details and assumed Inoichi was merely spinning it into a tall tale. Now that he'd actually seen the boy he wondered just how much truth there was to Inoichi's tales.
X
"It smells so good brother!" Hiro exclaimed as Kosu placed the plate of steaming food in front of him. She smiled wryly. She could serve the worst tasting concoction in the world and Hiro would still smile and proclaim how much he liked it. "Itadakimasu."
"Itadakimasu," Kosu echoed from her seat opposite him. Like every meal she had her food in front of her and whatever text Daiki-sensei had her studying to the left of her meal. "So what have you been up to whilst I was out?" She asked. Hiro happily recalled his day, how he had practised his flute, then played with the other children at the orphanage at the park Hiriko had taken them too.
Kosu had reacted badly the first time she found out that Hiriko took the children out during the day. She was so accustomed to knowing exactly where Hiro was every second of every day, to find out that he hadn't been where she thought he was. Kosu was livid. It was only the tears welling in Hiro's eyes that stopped her from shouting anymore at Hiriko and had her apologising for raising her voice. She was still uncomfortable with it, but Hiro enjoyed the park so she tolerated it.
"Kosu, can I ask you something?" Hiro asked. Kosu's eyes rose to her brother. He's never asked for permission to ask a question before.
"Anything," She assured him.
"Is this what it was like?" Hiro's voice was quiet. "Is this what having a home with mother was like?" Kosu's eyes widened and her tongue felt heavy in her mouth. "I don't remember her, or our home, or friends. So, is this what it was like?"
Kosu swallowed thickly and closed her eyes. Those were memories she'd buried deep, deep within her. Hiro didn't remember because he was too young. Kosu didn't remember because she didn't want to.
"Kosu?"
"Yeah, I suppose it is Hiro." She said quietly using all of her control not to let her tone of voice give away her inner torment. Hiro smiled, oblivious to the pain in his sibling's face.
"I'd hoped so. I like having somewhere to call home, to be my friends and family." He beamed.
Kosu felt sick.
A sickness she was struggling to squash down and ignore.
X
Kosu couldn't sleep that night. Her stomach continued to churn as Hiro's and Daiki's words echoed around her head, taunting her tired mind. Eventually, she had enough of lying there, slowly driving herself mad so she left the orphanage.
The village was much quieter at night, but she still found herself straying to the outskirts. Some far-fetched reasoning that the peacefulness of her surroundings would somehow help calm her mind. Judging by how her hands fisted and un-fisted at her sides it wasn't working.
Her wanderings took her to the ruins of a long abandoned, un-kept shrine. The wood had long since been claimed to rot and the entire structure would have collapsed if it wasn't for the strength of the vines that grew through it. Curiosity won out and she entered the damp smelling shrine. Her eyes were naturally drawn to the back wall where 30 oni-masks hung in a 3x10 grid. Above the masks a triangle shaped carving with 3 swirls at each point remained mounted.
Uzumaki. Grey eyes widened in realisation. No wonder the shrine is in ruins.
The Uzumaki clan had all but been eradicated. Their home village of Uzushiogakure had been destroyed years ago, with all but a few of their clansman surviving the genocide. And those few were scattered and hidden away. Their mastery of fūinjutsu was that coveted and feared, that those who sought it had resorted to killing the clan when they couldn't attain it.
With renewed curiosity Kosu pulled the overgrown vines away from the stone tablet in front of the masks. Her calloused hands cleared away the thick layer of grime that had settled over the surface. Carved into the stone face was a sequence of small intricate kanji forming rings with interconnected lines. Fūinjutsu – more complicated than she'd ever seen in a text book.
Time seemed to slip away as she studied the ruins in front of her, trying to decipher the flow of the symbols and their meaning. Kosu was so engrossed in her work she didn't even notice the aged dark blue eyes watching her with intrigue. Excitement followed intrigue as they watched Kosuke approach the masks and reach for one of them – a very specific mask.
"This shrine receives very few visitors."
Kosuke inhaled her squeak of surprise and whipped around, heart racing and hand snapping to the kunai pouch at her thigh.
"And of those few, even fewer can understand what is written here."
From the shadows an elderly woman shuffled forwards. Her long hair, half tied up in two neat buns was a deep shade of maroon with grey starting to bleed through from the roots. Between that and her slightly stooped posture. She was the oldest person Kosuke had ever seen, at least twice the age of the Hokage. Not that her old age helped put Kosu at ease - it did the exact opposite. There are very few who know how to survive that long is this world. For the second time that day Kosu found herself unnerved by the presence of another.
"Tell me your name child." Her smile was warm.
"Kosuke." She replied, fingers stroking the cold handle of the kunai in the pouch. The woman's head tilted to the side.
"And why would a young girl take a male name?" The old woman asked. Kosu's blood seemed to freeze in her veins.
"H-how?"
"I may be old but my eyes haven't failed me quite yet." She chuckled quietly.
"Just who are you?" Kosu narrowed her eyes.
"My name is Mito Uzumaki." She replied, stepping forwards and letting the light from the moon shine through the cracks in the ceiling and onto the black obi baring her clan's symbol.
"That's impossible." Kosu shook her head. The young girl had read about the wife of the First Hokage – no one could survive that long.
"Your shock is not surprising. I have lived an extraordinarily long life, even for an Uzumaki." She said. Even with the slight stoop to her spine the woman still seemed to hold an air of poise around her. This woman demanded respect and with how long she had survived Kosu was inclined to give it to her.
"Tell me child, why did you choose that mask?" She asked. Kosu blinked, words failing her briefly.
"The writings on the stones," She motioned to the moss covered stones in front of her. "It wasn't clear at first, but, that's the item they're on about." Her statement came out more as a question. Mito nodded. Kosu exhaled slowly. "A mask that connects to the dead."
Mito's eyes widened at the young girl's words before quickly being filled with poorly hidden intrigue and excitement. This girl had shown an aptitude for fūinjutsu that Mito had not seen in a long time.
"What do you know of fūinjutsu?" Mito asked.
"I've been taught of the basic scripts involved." She replied.
Mito raised a red brow. Basic academy knowledge.
"Would you like to know more?" She asked. Kosu blinked in surprise and found herself letting go of the kunai in her pouch. More about sealing and summoning. She had to admit the ability to store and retrieve an unlimited amount of things had great appeal to a child who had spent their entire life only managing that which she could carry.
"Yes." Kosu's voice was softer than she anticipated. "Although I feel I must warn you, I've not shown much aptitude for ninjutsu." Mito smiled.
"They are two separate disciplines." Mito said. "Mastery of fūinjutsu requires a very different skill set. Your ineptitude for ninjutsu may aid you." Mito moved so that she was stood in front of Kosu. "May I check?" she asked. Kosu hesitated, eyeing the woman shrewdly, before briefly inclining her head.
Kosu tensed the moment Mito's left hand began to glow green with chakra and hovered over her stomach, slowly her palm drifted up over Kosu's chest and down along each of her limbs. Distracted by the woman's palm, Kosu missed the shocked expression Mito pulled. The palm stopped glowing and Mito sighed.
"You struggle to manipulate chakra outside of your body." Mito stated rather than asked. Kosu blinked, nodding once.
That was exactly it. Whenever Daiki-sensei had her practise the clone jutsu, she could grasp and focus the energy within her, but the moment she tried to expel it to create the clone illusions the energy seemed to slip through her fingers like smoke.
"And have you ever been close to starvation?" Mito asked. Kosu raised an eyebrow. More times than I can recall.
"You know why I can't cast ninjutsu." Kosu said. Mito nodded.
"Are you aware of what happens to the body when a person is starving?" Mito asked. "It cannibalises itself, destroying fat, then muscle and converting them to energy. It is hypothesised, that if that process is allowed to go on, the next thing that the body destroys in order to create enough energy to survive is the chakra network."
"I have no chakra network." Kosu surmised, her lips pulling into a frown.
"You have a damaged network," Mito corrected. "Where the average person has healthy vessels to conduct chakra through to surface of the skin and then use them to control the chakra outside of their bodies. Your vessels are leaky. You will never be able to manipulate chakra outside of your body." Mito stated. "But you may be able to let it flow out of you and into the kanji of a seal."
"Fūinjutsu." Kosu said.
"I will teach you. Return here tomorrow evening." Mito instructed. Kosu nodded.
"Yes sensei."
Kosu made it to the broken door of the shrine when she paused.
"Will you tell anyone that I'm a girl?" She asked. Mito shook her head.
"That is your secret to tell, not mine." Mito said. "Would you tell me why you disguise yourself as a boy?"
Kosu exhaled slowly.
"Women can be abused in ways I have never seen done to a man. I will not be abused that way." She replied, fists clenched. Kosu met Mito's gaze. "Is it obvious what I am?" Are the others just playing along out of pity?
"Even without the use of genjutsu, people often don't see what is really there." Mito replied. She paused, sadness claiming her face. "Fear of others should not have control over who you are."
Kosu frowned.
Fear is exactly what keeps you alive.
**hands up to some fanfiction poetic licence here - Firstly on the appearance off Mito Uzumaki. Who I researched to hell and could not find a death date for, only that "she lived well into the reign of the third Hokage" – so that's my argument for her appearing.
And then also on Kosu's dodgy chakra network – I've made this bit of Naruto biology up based on my knowledge of human physiology in our universe. I think it sounds plausible.**
To LadyAmazon: Kosu does have a very interesting set of skills already, some of which have been explored in this chapter. I will also tease that in the next chapter her survival skills gets explored a little bit more with a bit more input from her classmates :D Thank you for your review and I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
To wyteeth: That's not bad at all haha and I can assure you that I aim to make Kosu's character development as believable as possible. I completely agree that for her personality to do a 180 and believe in the power of friendship overnight would be strange. So I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thank you for your review.
To Miss Luny: Thank you for the review and plenty of Kosu-Rin in the next chapter, I promise. There was a lot of setting up in this chapter which may or may not be obvious at the moment. Hope you're still enjoying the fic.
To Kitca: Thank you! Unfortunately still no proper Kakashi-Kosu conversation, next chapter I promise! But! Massive clue as to her speciality. Thank you again for your review and I hope you continue to enjoy the fic.
To Moonacre BunBun: Thank you for your review. I love to hear that people are getting emotionally behind my OCs, it makes my day :D and thank you! I find children super hard to write (part of me is just wishing I could write them as grown-ups already haha)
To TheWick: Thank you for your review. Yes! I love it when people get invested in my OCs, means I'm doing an okay job haha. I hope the character building has continued to be believable in this chapter!
To Badass anon: Bruhhhh thank you! You review put the most ridiculous grin on my face haha. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and continue to follow The Art of Survival.
To LostPrincessHolly: haha, you latest comment had me grinning as well. And as an author on fanfiction I love getting feedback (constructive feedback haha) as it does genuinely help me develop my writing skills. So glad that you love the two sides of Kosu and that her softness towards Hiro adds rather than distracts from her character. And Kosu has plenty of weaknesses both physically and emotionally, and were explored in this chapter so I hope all of that was believable. My personal view is that by overcoming adversity you become stronger so with that I agree that Kosu has the potential to be a very skilled ninja. Also a relief to hear that the canon characters are in character, the child versions of them are so hard to write! Haha Anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter!
To Prufrock: Thank you for your review! I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
To curlystruggle: :D I'm giving nothing away other than that I smiled cheekily when I read your comment! Haha Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
To the Guest from 13/1/17: Thank you for reviewing and I hope you enjoyed this chapter
To Anon: Seriously dude, thank you for such a wonderful review! Firstly, I agree KakashiOC is a neglected category haha and I'm glad you're happy you clicked on the link! Kosu is almost entirely angst and repressed feelings and I'm glad to hear that her relationship with Hiro is going down well. Thank you for your comments on Kosu's first day at the academy as well. When I was planning the plot, that was the only way I could ever see it going down because mind-set wise Kosu is in a completely different place to them. And, yeah, there was never any mention of one-on-one tutoring at the academy when I researched it. The closest you get to it is parent-child teaching within the clans, but obviously Kosu has no clan. So I figured that tutoring at the academy would be it. Anywho, super happy you've enjoyed the fic so far. I hope this chapter didn't disappoint!
To Gilyflower: Thank you for your review and here you go!