POV Jukou, 1746 AS (After the Sage) or three years after the Kyuubi attack, September 27th
James' eyes snapped open and he threw himself from the mattress. Well, he tried and all he achieved was falling out of it, then smashing his face into a hardwood floor.
But it was strange, his face didn't hit the surface the way it usually did. The sharp pain however, as it typically did, brought his mind into focus. Letting him think clearer.
First, the man pushed himself of the ground, but for some reason it was much harder than it should have been. Sure, he wasn't a morning person, but whenever he woke like this James was ready for action. He was never this weak, even after an intense workout.
Only managing to push himself onto his ass, he pressed his fist against his forehead, but that was wrong too. Not only was the shape of his head off, but his hand wasn't nearly as hard as it's been for the past decade.
Still in denial over what he's nearly deduced, James kept his eyes closed.
Fuck it.
He looked at his hand, and couldn't stop the groan.
He was looking at a toddler's hand.
His toddler hand.
The main lines and grooves were generally the same as his... other pair? And the skin tone was the same, the little scar on his wrist that he had for as long as he could remember was gone though. As were the rest of the little accidents and occasional carelessness that marked his hands.
His dread growing, he jumped at the nearest lifeline. That this was all a dream.
The straws he grasped at slipped from his hands and he landed in anger. Because who the hell dared make him this way! He'd done his time as a youngin' and was just starting to hit bars and fish for chick. This was not fair in the least!
Once his anger passed, James took stock of his bullshit situation.
Judging by the pudginess of his hands, and the current theory that this body was just like his first at this age, he was about three. His taught and bumped out belly supported this. Another thing that helped it was that he managed to stand without difficulty, or skill for that matter.
Looking down, he saw that he only wore the bottom half of his pajamas. Good, he still burned hot. He also saw that his body seemed the same as in the photos his mother insisted she show him.
The reminder of her put tears in his eyes, something that hadn't happened in a long time, and pain in his heart.
Before he could rage again, he remembered that he didn't just wake up here. He died first.
Although, it was at least the way he always wanted to go. Saving those he could and falling in a blaze of glory, even if he was a bit younger than he always imagined him being when it would happen.
As he always did, James took all his negative emotion and ground them into dust.
He felt strangely at peace when thinking of his death, sure his family and friends would be sad and mother distraught. But all who knew him, even a little, knew that he went as close to how he wanted to go out as was possible. They would all eventually move on, so he chose to do the same.
James then felt around for his steel cross, even though he knew it wouldn't be there. Imma just treat this like a test, or a second chance. But it wasn't like he could ever know his God's designs, he'll just do here as he did there. Have fun, and help others along the way, maybe even spread the Word. And as always, as long as no one hurt his ideals or loved ones, they'd be fine.
With his head on straight and ready for this life, he analyzed his surroundings.
The floor he'd been introduced to was made of a dark oak, it would be quite handsome if it wasn't scratched to shit. What he woke up in was the same, the flannel sheets were as worn a could be without being pointless and the mattress was much like his first as a kid, garbage. The room itself was small, about three by four meters with a small window in the stacked-log walls. It wasn't what he had back before, but he felt it would work for the next decade.
James, with the confidence only had by a handsome Canadian white guy, pushed his way past the hanging sheet that served as the room's door.
The small hallway's floor and walls were the same as in the rooms, as was the lack of a ceiling that revealed the rafters. A large window at the end of the hall flooded the space with morning light. The hall had two more "doors" like the one to his room and one wooden door that seemed to him like one for an underground cellar, if the food/stone smell drifting over from it was any indication.
He was pretty close to that door, so smelling that didn't surprise him, as he had a pretty good sense of smell back before. What was surprising was the... depth of the smell. He could tell that the root cellar had one large rock like his Farmur's did and that most of the food inside was various preserved meats and root vegetables.
The used-to-be man's thoughts on that were violently pushed aside by the sudden smell of roasting potatoes and cooking bacon. He felt something swirl first in his stomach, then rush up his nose and the smells deepened.
Storing the discovery of the strange feeling away for now, he listened to his body and followed the incredible scent. Barely noticing that of a woman that felt just as familiar as only one other ever was.
Opposite the hall window was an opening to a kitchen and front room combo. James ignored the front room section, and made a b-line for the smaller of the two wooden seats.
Struggling up onto it, something that humiliated the formerly large man, he made his way onto the chair. He'd rather sit down, but that would make his nose level with the table. So, he stood to observe how the food progressed.
The woman, who he somehow knew to be his here-mother, was a skilled chef. The potatoes were cubed perfectly and were already golden brown, while the bacon was close to perfect. That sweet spot where the muscles were all cooked while the fat was still squishy.
She, his mother he reminded herself, was strongly built while still being feminine. His mother's legs were long and strong, her back straight and her sleeveless arms were well muscled. Her thick chocolate-brown hair, identical to his own before, was done in war braids and reached below her shoulders.
James' now-mother was a woman who looked like she would give him a great spar back before.
She turned to look at him, a soft smile on her lips. She just looked at him for a while, her eyes very similar to his back before. Green-blue irises that suddenly went to a warm-brown around the pupil. The only difference were the pupils, they were slitted. Her face was pretty and without make-up. But she did have tattoos on her cheeks, red fangs.
And just like that, James knew where he was. Now all he needed was when.
"Up already, Jukou-chan?" she asked, in a language that was very much not one he knew. Not English, nor French. But somehow he understood just fine. The name threw him for a loop for a second, expecting his own, but that one could work. Started with the same sound at least.
James had been a mature child before, and since his body seemed just the same as the last one, he decided to act as he remembered.
With a big smile, he nodded and drummed his fingers on the table.
His mother's smile grew as breakfast was divided onto two plates and a steel bowl. She then clicked of the stove off and the fires died. So, after the start of the villages. Need some more than that.
The plates were laid on the table, and the bowl on the floor nearby. "Murasakime! Grup's ready!" seconds after the call, a wolfish dog with prominent pointy ears and a midnight black coat prowled out of the hall and into the kitchen.
Murasakime grunted in thanks and yipped a compliment as she dug in.
James was happy with this, out of all the clans of Konoha he connected with this one the most. Probably because he was, and is, a dog person.
Following the large nin-dog's example, he ravaged the meat and taters. Though he did use his hands.
"Are you excited?" his mother asked, the pretty eyes he knew this body shared happily crinkled.
At James' clueless look, she playfully sighed and reminded him. "You'll be finding your partner today, Pup." she then mumbled loud enough to hear, "Can't believe he forgot his own fourth birthday." and smile bemusedly.
His boyish excitement was immense, James had never had a dog before and this was that turned too eleven.
The birthday boy attacked his meal with renewed vigor and quickly finished. Without even a moment's hesitation, he jumped from the chair and took off towards the heavy door.
"Maaa! Let's goooo!" he didn't even need to turn his speech, his mouth seemed to do it on its own. Though, he would admit that he would say the same thing the same way the day before his death.
Thankfully, both his mother and her nin-dog were quick eaters.
Ruffling his hair as she reached the door, and sliding a sudden woolen sweater over him, his mother chuckled at the man turned boy. She then slid the heavy steel bolt from its place and carefully opened the door.
James, no it's Jukou now, ran through the opening and out into the mid-morning sun. He saw that the outside of the log cabin was a dense forest of pines and oaks, with a dirt path winding away from the cabin. He found he quite liked it.
Not truly knowing what they were going to do, Jukou stood in place bouncing his feet and playing with his hands. He got a laugh at his antics and a kiss to his head, he missed being this small. Only a little though, he'd still rather be an adult.
His mother took hold of his hand, and threw him onto her back. On its own, his body latched on.
"Ready, Pup?" she asked, then he realized that she must have been a ninja.
He fervently nodded, and tightened his hold.
There was a moment of nothing, the whirling in his gut growing excited and traveling his limbs. The feeling was hard to explain, but it was like a wispier blood rush mixed with the feeling of air going through your nose.
Suddenly, the world blurred and wind rushed by him. Going at this speed, he thought that his mother's feet would be crashing into the ground with each step, but he felt none of those vibrations. They must have been barely touching the dirt.
Before he knew it, the trees stopped and they reached an open plane with buildings dotting it's surface. That sight lasted only a moment, until it everything stopped and he almost flew from his place.
Too dizzy to climb down, Jukou waited for his mother to pry him from her back and set him down on firm ground. Because of his stumbling, she had to hold him in place. "Jukou-chan, are you ok?" his mother asked, concern clear.
But he was just fine, "Can we run back too?" he asked, and how couldn't he? The run there was like the sharp falling part of the Leviathan roller coaster and he loved it.
Relief in her eyes, she flashed a smile. "Of course we can, Pup."
He grinned at that, and couldn't wait for when he could go that fast. God, it was exhilarating!
It was then that she turned him around to see a large, fenced in grassy field with a sizable building affixed to its side. There were older dogs roaming the knee-height grass, but no puppies he could see.
"They're in the vet, Pup." his mother said, reading his mind the way only a mother can.
She steered him towards the only structure not made from logs, took his hand, and guided him there.
It took longer than he liked, Jukou cursing his short legs the whole way there, but they eventually made it.
The first thing that struck him when entering the vet was how clean it was, though it shouldn't have given that it was a clinic, but what he saw of the rest of the buildings here set a pattern of uncleanliness. The entrance held a nice desk behind which sat a young girl, around seven or eight if he were to guess.
"Is your mother ready for us, Hana-chan?" his mother asked.
"Mama's almost ready, she jus-" the door slammed open right before the girl could explain, and a wild looking woman with unruly brown hair dragged in a kid by his collar.
"Hana! Keep the brat busy, while I help Ashika with her boy." the wild-woman said, half-tossing half-handing the boy, who seemed only a bit younger than James by his measure, to Hana.
"He's off again, Tsume?" his mother, Ashika, asked with a touch of sadness.
The tough looking woman grunted, and the two women started talking about what mother's usually do. About their significant others and children, though this was much angrier than he usually heard. He tried to tune them out.
"What'd you do this time Kiba?" Hana asked the boy, giving Jukou the final piece he needed to know his situation.
So, I'm about a year or two older than the main cast of the show huh. That'll do fine.
Jukou stood there quietly, taking in all the freely given information he could. Back before he'd always been a reservoir of various facts and factoids, he was going to try to be the same here too. Most of what he just learned wasn't very useful, just that Kiba was getting his own puppy soon and that his and Hana's father was a drunkard that used to be a skilled ninja.
Although, Jukou might be able to trade liquor for techniques or training.
Eventually, the motherly chatting petered out and his mother turned her attention back to him. This prompted Tsume to do this same, "Come on then kid, let's find ya yer partner." the woman said, appraisal in her eyes.
Jukou nodded, his previous excitement returning, and followed the woman through the door she came in from. His mother stayed behind, telling him this was "Something all in the pack have to do on their own." with an air of formality to her voice.
So, Tsume led him passed various facilities and doors, until they reached one with a plaque that had the outline of a dog's paw on it.
"Pick whichever feels right." she instructed, flicking a switch and opened the door.
Jukou was pushed into the dark room and the door slammed behind him. His vision useless, the man remembered the feeling of whirling something, which he now fully to be chakra, and tried to do it on purpose.
He tried forcing it, but it turned out he only needed to prompt it into action. It seemed that his chakra wanted to move that way, which made a strange sort of sense.
When it reached his nose the vague smell of dog deepened into dozens of different scents. The variety shocked him, but even with all the different smells only one felt... familiar? It wasn't quite the right word, he didn't think there'd be any that could fit that feeling.
The natural-born tracker followed the sent, occasionally bumping into a kennel and earning a bark, until it seemed as though he was right on top of it.
He felt around and quickly found the kennel, then the latch. Jukou reached in slowly, painfully so, and stopped midway in.
After a moment, a wet little nose poked around his palms. Eventually, the puppy walked its way into his hands. He pulled her out and stood.
"Hi." he said softly.
A happy yip of greeting was his reply. It was strange, the puppy didn't really use language, but Jukou somehow perfectly understood her intent.
He brought her close to his chest, cradling her in a way, and brought his attention to getting out of here. "Which way to go..." he thought aloud, in English.
The puppy yipped and rumbled instructions, proving that she understood not the words but the intent. Jukou quickly followed them, ignoring all the smells, turning as she said and stopping right when he was told.
Jukou felt around with his free hand and found the door's handle. He twisted and pushed, letting the light blind him for a moment.
She growled her displeasure at the sudden light and he apologized softly. "Well done, boy." Tsume said, "I thought you were still too young, shows what I know!" she laughed, then sent an appraising look at his puppy.
"A maned type, eh? She'll be a pretty one. Long-lived too." the wild woman said, with somewhat sad eyes.
Looking down, Jukou thought the pup already was. With a small face that ended in a long and dark snout, big pointed ears half the size of her entire head, along with big golden-amber eyes. Her limbs were long and dark while the rest of her coat was a fluffy grey that darkened along her spine.
Tsume gestured for him to follow, as he put the puppy down. He followed the woman, while the puppy walked beside him on perfectly silent feet.
She led the two back to the front desk, and found the two kids behind the desk still arguing.
But all that noise was nothing before the smile his mother gave him, bright and proud and all his.
Jukou took her praise with good grace, not at all looking smug at the jealous Hana and Kiba, and they left the clinic with thanks given to Tsume.
Once they were a fair distance from the building, the awaited roller coaster ride was nigh. It was a bit awkward with the puppy, but they made it work by stuffing her into his loose sweater.
The blistering run back to the cabin was just as fun as the first, Jukou resolved to learning the ways to speed first and foremost on the way.
When they arrived, the boy- no still a man, was much surer in step than last time and much less dizzy. The puppy on the other hand fell over after half a beat.
Once she recovered, and was helped back to her feet, both man and dog were led back into the cabin by a glowing mother. Inside, both he and the puppy got forehead kisses and various praises. Much to their shared joy.
The three of them sat together on the loveseat in the front room, while Murasakime gave the puppy a sniff down and a big lick to her head. She responded with a growling bark, but, with how small she was and how high-pitched it was, the sound was cuter than it was intimidating.
The older dog simply huffed into her pretty eyes and curled up at his mother's feet.
She then went to click on the box TV, then seemed to remember something. "Have either of you thought on her name?" she asked them both.
"I-" a yip, "We need time ta think 'bout it." Jukou said.
"Well, usually Inuzuka ninken names come from colours, sometimes attributes." his mother advised, not helping in the least. He'd never had to come up with dog names before, so all he could think of along those lines was Ghost or Greywind.
Fuck it
Jukou turned to the puppy and tried it, "Ghost?" a confused yip asked him to elaborate, "Cause you walk all quiet."
She just stared at him... like she knew. After a moment, an alternative was suggested.
"Yurei? That was neither of the things I suggested." His mother flatly reminded.
He was about to suggest something infinitely better, but a satisfied yip stopped him.
"Are you sure?" he asked her, trying to see past her happy face to any sign of her messing with him.
She nodded.
POV Toph, 1746 AS, December 3rd
The four-year-old cursed as her shin cracked against the coffee table.
"Language, Darling." her mother absently reminded, somewhere to her right. Followed by the flip of a page.
"Who moved this?" the girl asked angrily. She'd just memorized where everything was not even a week ago!
"We had genin come and clean today, madam Toph. It must have been them." Zuyin, one of the more prominent maids, said from somewhere behind her. The manor was filled with maids, one or two for seemingly every room. Most of them there to help the girl with everything from dressing to brushing her teeth. It shocked her that there wasn't one to help her wipe too.
"Guide her, Zuyin." her mother commanded, just as she did last time the furniture was moved.
Toph wanted to refuse it as just another thing her parents would force upon her, like most other things, but with all the furniture moved she had no choice. "My hand is near your left shoulder, madam Toph." she could imagine the pity the woman had for her easily.
The blind girl reached for the offered hand, and missed twice before the maid took it. It grated on her.
"Where would you like to go, madam Toph?" Zuyin asked, while the girl's mother was heard continuing her book, her mother was a fast reader.
"Outside." she answered, prim and proper as her mother likes. Not.
"To the garden then." Zuyin said, just as accommodating as everyone else.
No, outside! "Yes, please." she sighed.
The maid led her through the room, making slight adjustments where she wouldn't have before the clean and entering the halls of the manor. On the way to the patio, Zuyin made her stop off in the dressing room and the maid there dressed Toph in her warmest clothes and boots without so much as a "May I".
Once the girl was thoroughly bundled up, Zuyin took her hand again and led her back to the halls. Then, finally, the back door was eased open and the cold air blasted what little of her skin was exposed. She was led out onto the patio, but still her hand was held.
"Did the genin do any landscaping?" she asked the maid.
"No, madam Toph, they did not." Zuyin paused, then released her hand. "Your parents will be hearing of this young madam." she said loudly, patting Toph on the back as she did.
Taking that as her cue, the girl leaped from the wooden patio and crunched into snow. She rushed off with high stomps, smashing the crunchy snow as she went around the corner and out of Zuyin's sight.
Toph always liked snow, how it crunched under her feet so easily made her feel stronger. If only for a moment.
She went about smashing and flattening around the large stones she knew were there, until she was out of breath and her cheeks burned from the cold. She stopped, shook out her feet and turned to her right. The girl walked until she reached where the wall was, she reached out and her fingers met with its cool surface.
Every time she'd come outside, Toph would visit the old gardener, he was the only person who talked to her like she wasn't made of porcelain. His rough voice prone to scolding and curses, he was the one who unintentionally taught her the one's she knew actually. The man had even chopped her on the head when she was particularly disrespectful. He also happened to make really good peppermint tea, one she could smell even now.
Thinking for a moment where she was, Toph then turned left and followed the wall. After a few minutes of walking, broken up by the occasional stomps, the girl started hearing voices. "... I'll have you know I was quite the ninja, boy." her family's old gardener said scoldingly, to who Toph didn't know.
"Sure you were old man." the "boy" in question said.
Toph felt around for where the wall met the shed, and quickly found it. She then followed the shed wall until she reached the door seam. She stopped, flipped up the ear-flap of her hat, and put her ear against the wooden door.
"Insolent child, whole villages feared the missing-nin "Badgermole" and surrendered before I even arrived!" the old gardener boasted.
"And yet here you are, working as a gardener for a mere merchant family. Quite the retirement plan for such a powerful man." the boy rebutted, his sarcasm obvious.
"Any more audacity from you boy and I'll take back my peppermint tee." the old man threatened.
"Your stories of past power strike awe me, oh great badgermole." the boy said, before rapidly apologising.
"This "mere merchant family" pays me quite handsomely to keep this garden, and take care of little disturbances like you." the old gardener scolded again.
"About the garden," the boy said, seemingly ignoring the obvious threat, "How do you keep it so nice? What with being blind and all, how do you do it?" he asked, sounding genuine. What!
"Well, I see differently than you. I have a sensing jutsu that I can keep active all day, using the vibrations in the ground to "see". Though I had to learn a second for chakra." Toph slamming the door open kept the boy from saying anything.
"You had a way to help me see all this time and you said nothing!" the girl shouted, ignoring the yip from her front-ish right.
"Ah. It seems you have discovered the secret without my knowing." the old bastard said, his tone clearly showing that it was not an accident.
"Looks like your orders aren't valid anymore, old man." the boy said, before continuing under his breath, "Wondered when she'd come in."
"What promise!" Toph yelled, holding tight to her anger.
"Two feet directly in front of you, sit, and I'll explain." he instructed.
The blind girl followed the gardener's words, and her hand bumped into what should've been the chair's backrest. She took hold of it and used the point of reference to guide herself into the seat. "Talk." she ordered, resting her elbows on her knees and folding her fingers in the gap between her legs.
"When you were born and your parents, the people who I work for mind you, discovered you were just as blind as I am they forbade me from telling you anything. They believed if I trained you in anything you would want to be a ninja, just as I was, and put yourself in grave danger. So, I was not to tell you of our shared disability, nor tell you of my abilities." the old gardener said calmly.
At his words, Toph raged silently. Her parent would rather her remain blind for life than chance her wanting to be a ninja. Something she hadn't even thought of doing her whole life, that she might want to do it. Then that she wouldn't be strong enough or smart enough to survive that life. She, in that moment, promised herself she'd prove them wrong.
"Teach me." she demanded.
The old gardener sighed, and chuckled as a chair where his voice came from creaked. A bony hand landed on her shoulder not a moment later, "I will teach you seismic sense, but nothing other than that. Not until you are certain that life is what you want, and not only to spite your parents." he said, gentle but unyielding.
"I guess that's my cue to leave." the other chair creaked and a earthenware cup tapped down on wood, "Thanks for the tea, old man." as the door squeaked, something furry ran rubbed by her leg.
She heard a yip, "Oh, really?" the boy seemed to reply. Inuzuka?
A moment after the yips and words could no longer be heard, the old gardener spoke. "When I am teaching you, refer to me as either Master Shu or simply Master." he instructed.
"Sure thing, old man." she said smiling.
He snorted and mumbled to himself about "Brats these days... no respect."
After a harrumph, Master Shu started their first lesson.
It was brutal, but worth it.
POV Asuka 1746, May 3rd
The roof caved in with a thunderous crash as the rafters finally gave into the flames, the impact shattering what glass remained in her house's windows.
It wasn't the only house in the small village set alight, they all were. And Asuka merely laid there amongst the corpses of the other villagers, their blood cooling on and around her. She dared not shift her weight, it might move the bodies and she couldn't do that. Even though they were probably long gone.
She didn't think of much as she laid there, she couldn't even feel all that bad about the villagers. They hated her, reviled her and her mother for how they were born. Her mother was the only reason Asuka had lived this long, the villagers fearing her wrath should any harm come upon her.
But it didn't matter anymore, her mother was dead, her powerful mother's ruined body only a few feet away from her. Surrounded by the corpses of four of the attackers, only recognisable by the blood-red haired they both shared.
All she did, as blood cooled and fires raged was wonder why. Why was she still alive?
The murderers, in their mizu headbands just like her mother's, had looked right at her and pronounced Asuka dead. Only to throw her in the pile of bodies and walk away.
In her mind's eye, she could still see the man who dragged her there. He looked like a young fisherman, like any you'd pass by without a second thought.
Asuka had heard well what her mother told her as she grew up, that people hated them for their bloodline. Then before the fight, that those ninja were there for her strong mother because of their bloodline. They hated them so much they wanted both of them dead, and Asuka didn't even know what their bloodline did.
She'd seen the end of her mother's fight, the only part taken place in the village, the rest having happened in the woods around it. The great roars, shakes and booms from the beginning had ended in efficient streams of water that cut one of her attackers in two and her mother's gorgeous knife gutting another as she danced away from three ninja.
Two of those three were killed, one forcefully drowned in an instant and the other got her mother's knife through his skull. It was so very brutal, but elegant the way she did it. Even bleeding from all over, and her pretty clothes in tatters... her mother shined like always.
As her mother was about to end the third, the fisherman came from nowhere and stabbed her in the back. Asuka screamed then, but no one even looked in her direction, like she wasn't even there. She kept screaming as the rest of the ninja butchered her dying mother, like beasts tearing apart a lamb. Letting the skies know their hatred.
Then they left, cheering about ridding the world of two bearing the "Bloodline curse".
So, why was she still alive?
It was hours later, the houses were embers and the blood nearly solid around her, when Asuka heard footsteps.
The first sounds other than her own breathing since the crackling ended, they struck hope and fear in equal measure.
Suddenly, one pair started running and Asuka heard a man screaming "NO!" over and over again. Then the runner came into her line of sight, falling to his knees near her mother and staring at the pile Asuka was inside. It was Sato, the fishermen her mother always bought from. The skinny man was always nice to her when she visited his stall.
"S-Sato..." Asuka, her voice feeling broken, softly called.
The man's tear leaking eyes snapped towards her, he then stood slowly and walked towards her. Thank the gods. "You..." he said, reaching her.
Sato pushed the bodies off of her, and pulled her up by the shoulders. "You..." he repeated, kneeling while she sat there. "You." the breathless disbelief turned dark then and his hands moved up.
"This is your fault!" he yelled, the fisherman's calloused hands wrapping around her throat, "You and that whore mother of yours!" he continued, as Asuka weakly struggled. She felt movement at her feet, but only barely.
"Stop!" someone shouted, but she barely heard it. The girl was more focused on the hands, and whatever was moving under her. It felt like water.
All of a sudden, as strength seemed to fill her, a sandaled foot replaced Sato and the hands were gone. "Damn it, Gai!" another voice, another man, shouted. As the movement on her legs stopped, her rescuer landed.
He was young, muscular and wearing his black hair in a bob. There was a headband tied around his waist, it had a leaf on it. "Are you alright, little miss?" he asked, inspecting her up and down.
Asuka couldn't answer.
"Can you walk?" he continued, his dark eyes concerned.
The girl tried, the stranger had to catch her.
"Have no fear, young maiden! You are safe now!" he proclaimed, lifting her off the pile and into his arms. "I'll take deal with it." he said as he passed a masked, brown-haired man.
The skinny man sighed and followed wordlessly.
Asuka, her small form cradled by this muscular stranger's single arm, felt more tired than she ever remembered. The world started to blur past, and Asuka drifted off.
When she woke, the young girl found herself to be somewhere completely different, though still carried by her savior.
All she could see was a giant wall, and a great big gate painted green with red Kanji.
Ever so slowly, those gates opened as they neared. Once they were, Asuka was amazed by the colours she saw. Bright reds, dusky blues and vibrant greens. Trees, filled with more life than she's ever seen, were everywhere she looked.
Then, in the distance, giant faces were carved into the cliffside. Four men, three with spiky hair and one with a bandana. Seeing that sight, one word filled her mind. Konoha.
Everyone in the village talked about it, what with them being on the border between Water and Fire. They always said that the face would be scary, but they weren't. They looked like protectors to her, like they said the iron statues of all the Mizukage looked.
Her savior, who she now knew to be a Konoha ninja, then stopped. "This is to be your home now, little miss." he chuckled lightly, "I assure you, you'll like it." he continued, as a bunch of people in grey vests and white animal masks landed in a circle around them.
"Chunin, you are summoned see the Hokage at once." the lead one said, Asuka felt herself shiver at his voice. Would they hate her here too?
"Very well, Anbu-san!" her green wearing rescuer said, before looking at her. "Never fear, little miss, I will take care of everything!" he assured, and she relaxed.
Then, suddenly, they were somewhere else. An office with a big desk covered in scrolls and papers. There was no one there but them, and an old man in white robes.
Her savior set her down, made sure she could stand on her own, and kneeled before the old man. "Hokage-sama." he said, shocking Asuka. Everyone said that the Hokage was a handsome war hero, but this old man was the Hokage instead?
"Chunin, you have killed a client on a mission. Explain." the old man, the Hokage, demanded.
"The client reached the village safely, and the mission was done. I then spotted a bandit assaulting a four-year-old girl with the intent to kill, so I acted accordingly." the green wearing man said, his voice not at all like before.
The Hokage took a long drag from his pipe, held his breath, then blew out the smoke in the shape of a dragon. The smoke dragon danced beautifully in the air for a moment, twisting and spinning. Finally, it breathed out smoke flames and disappeared into them. Asuka wished she could do the same.
"Your very lucky, Gai, that your mission was only to act as escort." the Hokage said, his sharp eyes turning soft as they looked at Asuka. She found herself playing with her hair under his gaze.
"Child, could you tell me your name?" he asked, putting down his pipe.
She looked to her savior, who nodded. "Asuka..." she told the Hokage.
The old man stood from his desk, and walked over to her. "A very pretty name, I am Sarutobi Hiruzen. But most just call me Hokage-sama." he said, kneeling in front of her. "Do you have any family, Asuka?" he asked.
"No..." not anymore.
"I am truly sorry, my dear." the Hokage said, as Asuka wiped at her teary eyes. "We shall find a place for you and give you the chance to be whatever you wish, I promise." he said with a sad smile, the wrinkles around his eyes deepening.
"Even a ninja?" she asked, filled with hope.
"Of course, Asuka, leave it to me." the small smile she felt grow made both her savior and the Hokage grin.
Asuka would be just like her mother, her savior and the hokage. That was her goal.
After notes:
My second series! Same rules as the first: please give me any constructive criticisms you have, send any question my way and never be afraid to comment!
This is pretty left field of my other work in terms of source material, but the overall tone of my writing will be the same. The setting will be more part 1 Naruto than Shippuden, but I'll still nap some things from the second part.
