Eriya lay in bed heavy breaths passed over his lips as terrifying images disturbed his sleep.
'Desperate cries for help. Petrifying screams of agony. The color red staining the walls and the floor and staining him. Then a boy in the shadows, appeared to be the age of thirteen. He stood there breathing heavily with a manic grin on his face before kicking the body of his last victim of his sword, his father.
Eriya's eyes fell upon the lifeless body. His father wore a blank expression with blood dripping from both sides of him mouth and torso area where he'd been stabbed. "Otou-san…" The boy whispered then looked over at another body off to the far right, his mother "Okaa-san.." He said with a little more strain in his voice. What caused this? Why did this happen? And by the hands of…..him.
"Otou-san….Okaa-san, no." He groaned as he turned in his sleep.
"I did it…." The teen laughed crazily. "I did it!"
"How could you…" Eriya said through gritted teeth as tears rolled down the boy's face Everything was fine the day before. Now this? "Why did you do this….?"
The teen boy in front of him stared at the younger boy with a murderous look in his eyes. Eriya never seen this side of the teen boy before and wondered what could have triggered his madness. The teen boy raised his sword and pressed it against the boy's neck. Eriya began to tremble as the cool metal blade hit his neck, the blood from both his parents ran down the blade and dripped off on to the floor. Was this how he was about to die? So young, helpless and oblivious to why this all happened?
The sword left his neck and Eriya closed his eyes tightly, as the sword came back down quickly. A splatter of blood splashed over his face.
"Noooooooo!" He shouted out as he sat up in his bed. "No! Nuh.." He grabbed hold of his head making sure it was still attached to his body. "!" He trembled violently, body drenched in sweat as he stood up and walked into the hall and down to the bathhouse. Those images, those sickening and horrible images continued to play in his head. The blood….and that screaming…..
The screaming and cries for help…..
Gasp….
He pulled open the door to the bathhouse but suddenly fell down onto the floor and crawled back against the wall, eyes wide and lips trembling with a look of terror on his face. The stench of blood filled his nostrils but the reason for that was clear and in front of him. People were running and screaming as they tried to flee the scene that involved others being killed.
"Again…?"
"No…." He covered his ears as the sounds and cries of help from the people of his clan echoed in his mind. "I-I couldn't do any…anything..I can't"
(You're weak…) A deep but smooth voice said to him in his mind.
(Nothing…)
"I'm not…"
(Then why did you just stand there and allow your family to die? You had a second chance to save them but you stood there and watched like you did before..")
"Allow my family to….I didn't I.." Did he really allow this to happen? Was the death of everyone really his fault? He closed his eyes tight as tears began to pour from them and roll down his cheeks. "I-I was scared….I….he did it…not me."
("And you could have stopped him, yet you did nothing about it…")
("Coward…weakling")
He looked around; corpses littered the floors and the waters, turning it red. And standing there stained with blood was the perpetrator. He could have done something he could have stopped him but he just stood there, again and allowed him to take their lives.
("Kill him!" The voice demanded. "He took everything away from you; kill him to avenge your family.")
The male slowly turned around, holding a corpse by it's hair. Eriya took a closer look but realized it wasn't a corpse at all but his mother, she was alive. "Okka-san!" Eriya reached over his shoulder and grabbed his blade. When he moved to run towards the attacker, his whole body went stiff. He couldn't move. "What the..what's…..?"
The attacker pulled his sword back over shoulder and was swiftly bringing it back towards his victim's throat.
"No! No! No! PLEASE!" Eriya screamed but it was too late.
:::
"OKKA-SAN!"
Eriya's sister quickly sat up in the bed upon hearing all the noise in her sleep. She grabbed four or five shuriken and slid open her room door without hesitance and ran down the hall where the noise was coming from. "The bathhouse…?" She opened the door, prepared to throw the four point blades at whoever dared enter her home at this late hour only to find her brother throwing a fit and swinging his sword around at the air.
"Eriya what are you…" Before she had the chance to finish her sentence the boy swung the sword at her but missed when she quickly evaded it by flipping back. "Hey!" She ran directly in front of him just as he was swinging his weapon at her again, and stopped it by allowing the weapon to crash against her forearm. It hurt like hell but she ignored then kicked the frantic boy back, grabbing the sword in the process.
"The hell is wrong with you?" She said then knelt down beside him. "Eriya!"
"He's behind you onee-san move!" He said pushing the girl to the side and picking up his sword before rushing at….nothing?
"Genjutsu…" (But me entering the room should have interrupted it, why is he still experiencing it. Whoever it is using it must be must be…)
Her thought process was interrupted when she saw a silhouette of a figure appear on the blinds from the outside. She quickly charged towards the window, breaking through the glass to tackle the person but they easily jumped back and bolted like lightning through the village.
"Oh no you don't!" She quickly jumped from roof to roof until she eventually caught up to the attacker. "Shadow Clone Jutsu." She said and seven clones of herself appeared around the man. She hopped down from the roof and knelt down to the ground, placing her hand on her shadow as she concentrated her flow of chakra into the dark reflection. "Shadow Shuriken!" Her shadow twisted and stretched against the ground until it took on the form of a fuma shuriken. She picked up the weapon and flung it at towards the man's direction. At this, she allowed her shadow clones to disappear.
The man thought this to be the perfect chance to make a getaway and began to make a run for it. She waved her arm in an arch and the shuriken she had thrown broke from its original path and clashed with the right side ninja's body, knocking him of balance. She waved her arm in the same arch ten or fifteen times, allowing the shuriken to do a substantial amount of damage to the ninja, the after image it left behind also causing damage. When she thought it was enough she called the shuriken back and caught it in her hand.
The man fell face first to the ground, wheezing an coughing up large sums of blood. He tried to get up but he couldn't feel any parts of his body.
The girl slowly approached him and kept him in place with the shadow bind technique. "Start talking, who are you?" She couldn't see any part of the man's body except for his legs and feet since his top part was covered in a black cloak. The man started out with a low laugh that gradually became loud and obnoxious, which only fueled the girl's anger even further. "I said answer!" She flung the shuriken at the cloaked man but much to her surprise it went poof. "What the…a-a shadow clone!?"
"Reaper Shadow Claw!"
"What!?" She quickly turned around but was not quick enough with her movement and was attacked by the large clawed hand. "GAAAAHGH!" The claw slammed her body against the ground and pierced through her shoulders, arms, and legs.
She huffed puffed and breathed in heavy breaths as she seen her blood soaking up the ground around her. She tried to wiggle around but that only made the pain she was feeling from her wounds worsen.
"You've improved since last we fought…" The voice of an adolescent male spoke.
The girl grumbled as she looked up to see the attacker pulling his hood off of his head.
"But you're still not better than me!?" The male said further as he finally revealed his face. He had a tanned complexion with long dark brown curly hair that he wore in a low ponytail and misty grey eyes identical to the girl on the ground. "Good to see you, Imōto"
She glared as a wave of angry emotions overwhelmed her. If she wasn't stuck in the position she was in then she would….she didn't really know what she would do. "You, bastard, how dare you come here!"
"Now is that anyway to greet your brother after not seeing me for such a long time?" He said calmly.
"You're no brother of mine after the stunt you pulled five years ago!"
The memories of the killings that he performed sometime ago played back in his mind, a smile crept on his lips and he started to laugh. "Oh, that. You disown me because of that? I did it for us imouto and Atarashī Yoake. Join me and you, Eriya and I can follow through with the Jiro clan legacy!"
Atarashī Yoake? Jiro Legacy? "Atarashī Yo-" She coughed violently and cringed at the pain flowing through her body. "I-I don't care who you did it for but you're going to pay for what you've done." With what little strength she had she created four shadow clones behind him without him noticing. "Shadow Shuriken!" The four clones shouted out loud and launched their weapons at the teen boy.
"Nice try." The attack connected but the figure went poof again, as did the jutsu he used on her.
She stood from the ground but fell back to her knees. She felt weak from the amount of blood she had lost and was still losing. "You coward.." She breathed. "Coward, come out and fight me yourself…!" She said, though she was in no condition to fight any further.
"Gladly…" A figure leapt out from a tree across from where she was positioned. "Reaper Shadow Cl-"
"Rasengan!" Naruto shouted, emerging from the sky and attacking the ninja in mid-air. He and the teen boy went crashing to the ground, making a creator in the surface. When the smoke cleared from sight, Naruto wasn't at all surprised to notice the ninja was gone. "A shadow clone.." He hopped from the creator in the ground and felt the presence of another's chakra in the area but they were fleeing. Whoever it was, they were gone now. But who was he?
"Are you alright? He said rushing to the girl's aid.
She frowned, she felt a little ridiculous for having to be save by the Hokage but more or less she was just glad to be alive. "Th-thank….you." She managed to mumble then blacked out.
"Onee-san…" Eriya stood on the outside of the infirmary peering through the small window, watching as Sakura tended to his sister's wounds. The Hokage came to him this morning and explained that his sister was attacked by a rouge ninja in the middle of the night that he couldn't identify. But he promised that he will do everything to find out who it was and take care of the issue.
He sighed sadly and slid down against the door. It's been almost eight hours since the incident and his sister was still unconscious. But what bugged Eriya the most is that he could barely remember what occurred last night except for his nightmare and a voice in his head. After that everything was blank. He couldn't even figure out how he went from his bed to winding up in the bathhouse.
The door slowly swung open and Sakura walked out. Eriya quickly stood up and looked at the woman, who gave a small smile. "I've done what I could. I healed her wounds as much as I could but they were very severe." She explained
The boy dropped his head sadly but Sakura knelt down to him and gave him a reassuring smile. "You're sister is very strong Eriya, she'll pull through I'm sure of it."
"Thank you, Sakura." He walked pass her and into the room. There he sat down on the side of the bed and laid his head on his sister's chest. "Onee-san…."
Sakura gave a small smile and shut the door so the boy can have his privacy.
(Who was that ninja?) Naruto turned from his desk and faced the large window that showed a beautiful view of Konoha as well as the Hokage Monument. The memories of when he became Hokage flashed into his mind and the promises he made. Especially the one promise he made to always keep the village and the people in it safe. But now a new possible threat snuck in last night and nearly killed one of the leaf ninja. He had to do something where would he start he has no lead on this ninja's whereabouts, this only frustrated him more.
"Stressing Naruto?"
The blonde male sighed and kept his eyes glued on beautiful view of the village. "Kakashi-sensei." Even though he was Hokage he still referred to the man as sensei.
Kakashi closed the book he was reading and leaned against the wall, Naruto still made no sudden movements or even attempted to make eye contact with the man. "It's about that attack isn't it?"
Naruto didn't answer so Kakashi took it as a yes. "Figured, no sense in over-working your mind about it Naruto. Out of everyone you're the one who has to remain calm even if you're worried, for the sake of the people in this village." He explained.
"If anything, you should wait until the girl recovers and ask her if she recognized or even knows the ninja."
He was right, but he had no idea when she would wake up he only hoped it would be soon.
"You're right thank you Kakashi-sens-" He turned around but the man was gone.
Naruto turned back towards the window and continued to admire the view, his mind was more at ease now.
Eriya stepped out of the hospital and began walking through town. Everyone was talking about what occurred the night before while some worried about the safety of themselves. He was worried but not as much as they were. Unlike them he was capable of doing something about the situation. All he wished to know is who it was that way he could-
'Out of those three what pushes you..?'
He shook his head twice then glanced up at the sky. The puffy white clouds were slowly drifting across the massive blue as his mind wondered about what he would do if he ever caught, the one responsible for his sister being emitted to the hospital.
'Out of those three what pushes you..?'
"Damn get out of my head!" He shouted, receiving odd looks and distasteful glares as well as ugly comments and whispers from the villagers. He frowned, by now he was used to enduring all of the hate the people directed towards him. It seemed no matter what he did the views of others would never change. To them he'd always be the jinchuriki, a monster. In his mind he didn't care but in his heart he did. If he was going to be a ninja he had to have the trust of others. Without it he'd get nowhere.
How'd the Hokage do it? Be surrounded by so much hate but still have such a positive outlook on everything? Stride through life and become what he is today? The boy just didn't understand.
He huffed. At the end of the day it didn't matter. He had other reasons why he wanted to become a great ninja. And what others thought of him was not going to stop him.
'Out of those three what pushes you..?'
He frowned and stared down at the ground blankly. He remembered when he wanted to become a ninja just to help people, help his village, and do things for the greater good. But then…
That massacre
The massacre of his whole clan and for the purpose of what…? Not even his sister knew what caused that boy to kill their whole family. But he would find and kill him!
'Out of those three what pushes you..?'
"Hate, and vengeance…" He whispered to himself. Saying those words aloud made him want his ambition to be true and accomplish it as soon as possible.
He picked his head up from the ground and continued walking.
"Heeeeeey!"
(Oh boy the pest…) He didn't stop his pace and kept going.
"Eriya wait up!" Hanzi called. "Eriya!"
"What Hanzi?" He said in an annoyed tone, finally slowing down to see what the blonde boy wanted.
Hanzi finally caught up and sat down on the ground to catch his breath. "a-are-are" He breathed. "Are you okay?" He asked and stood to his feet and stretched his arms over his head .
"What are you talking about?"
"Well I heard about what happened to your sister last night."
Geez even he knew! "I'm fine Hanzi…"
"Another thing," the blonde boy added. "Where is sensei, she told us to meet her at the third training ground but she didn't show. I was waiting for an hour and a half!"
Eriya looked away from the boy. "I-I don't know…" He mumbled sadly.
"She's always late, figured you'd be accustomed to that by now." Setsuko stated as she walked out from behind a tree.
Eriya and Hanzi both turned around to see the Uchiha girl, standing behind them. The girl stood with her hands across her chest and the same blank stare that she usually wore. How long was she there? "Oh, hey Setsuko, what's up?" Eriya spoke.
The girl's expression changed up quickly and her eyes rolled from right to left. "I have…" She wanted to ask him something but as usual her pride was getting in the way. She felt like she was stooping down to a lower level when it came to asking others for help or about information period. Especially Eriya, she couldn't stand him as an individual. And her asking him anything would probably boost his ego. She would ask Hanzi but he was dumber than a box of rocks. She pushed the blonde boy to the side and stepped closed to the brunet. "How did…how did you figure out that sensei was using Genjutsu the other day?" She asked through gritted teeth.
Eriya blinked twice before a big smile stretched across his face, something that Setsuko was afraid of. This was rich. The Uchiha girl was asking for his help on something. This was rare! He knew something that she didn't. He chortled and brushed his index finger across the bridge of his nose. "It was obvious, who wouldn't have known. I was actually surprised that you weren't aware of this, since the Uchiha clan are supposed to be very skilled ninja and all. Guess that rumors were false." He laughed.
"Take that back!" She said raising a fist at the boy.
"Now, now you two, there is no need for arguments." He said trying to persuade his teammates not to fight. "Come on, Eriya just tell her."
"Stay out of it Hanzi!" Setsuko said, pushing the boy out of the way.
"Make me!" Eriya said blandly. "You're family is just another clan of average ninja just like any other ninja in Kanoha, there is nothing superior or special about the Uchiha clan, oh wait, except for that freaky thing your clan can do with their eyes. I haven't seen you use it yet, probably can't!"
The Uchiha girl couldn't take anymore of the boy bad mouthing her family and tackled him to the ground. Her fist swung back and clashed with his right cheek. She went for another swing but Eriya caught it and punched her in the face with her own fist then gave her a quick kick in the stomach which made the girl tumble back a little.
"Guys stop it!" Hanzi shouted at them but his voice went unheard.
"That all you got? Is this all Uchiha's can do!?" Eriya said as he stood to his feet. He wiped the little bit of blood from the side of his lip and stared at Setsuko. "Don't make me laugh." Setsuko stood to her feet then quickly dashed at the brunet, sick of him mocking her strength and her family. "I'll show you!" She threw two shuriken in the boy's direction. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
Eriya quickly parried the two shuriken the girl had thrown then landed back on the ground upon his feet. And also evaded the fireball by rolling to the right, but still suffered from a minor burn on his leg for not being quick enough. "Oh so now you want to get serious, about damn time!"
Eriya got into a defensive stance one hand out in front of him while the other one was on the hilt of his sword while observing what his rival was going to do next. When it appeared she was up to nothing the boy made his move. He pulled his sword from over his shoulder with one hand and held it out in front of him. The boy closed his eyes and placed his hand on the swords body. The Uchiha took advantage of this and rushed at the boy without thinking.
"Shadow Imitation Blade." Eriya threw his sword as if he was aiming towards the girl but she dodged it. Setsuko smirked and performed a few hand signs and prepared to use her jutsu but was pulled down to the ground by an unknown force and her whole body went numb.
"Wh-what M-my body..I can't move. What did you do!?"
Eriya smiled and stared at his blade that was stuck in the ground. It wasn't just stuck anywhere, but directly in the girl's shadow. "You were careless. Instead you be cautious you charged in and got cocky. I infused my chakra with my sword, giving it the effect of my shadow technique. I threw the sword at you because I knew you would dodge it. Upon you doing that, my sword pierced your shadow, paralyzing you until I remove it. Guess the Uchiha aren't so great, like I've stated before. Give up now?"
"You wish…why would I give up to someone like you? You're nothing just weak; you got lucky, you really don't stand a chance against me!"
Eriya froze and his eyes narrowed at the Uchiha girl. He grit his teeth and began grinding them together. How dare she insult him like that, referring to him as nothing and weak. Who did she think she was?
"Weak…" He whispered through gritted teeth. His body was starting to grow hot and he could feel his blood quickly rushing through his veins. "I'll show you weak!" Eriya dashed at the Uchiha girl so fast it was almost impossible to see him.
"You're weak…"
"Nothing…"
"No, you're nothing!"
Eriya snatched his blade out of the ground and swung the blunt edge into the girl's stomach, launching her into the air. He jumped up behind her and swung the weapon at her back then followed it up with a combo of punches and kicks.
Setsuko's body slammed back to the grounds surface and bounced back a few feet away from the male. She coughed harshly ash she rolled over and tried to push herself from the ground with her elbows but failed when she started coughing again. She took in a few deep and heavy breaths as she turned her head to face Eriya. The boy still looked at her with narrowed eyes, standing in a position that showed he was ready to fight. She huffed, how was she letting this boy beat her this way. If her father was here to witness this he'd be ashamed. She had to beat him. She stood to her feet slowly but regretted it.
"Ninja Art: Shadow Bind Jutsu." His shadow wrapped around the girl's extremities and pulled her back against the ground. He walked up to her and stood over her, his eyes still burning with anger and rage as he watched the girl try to wiggle free from his shadow's grasp.
("And you did nothing about it…")
("Coward…weakling..") The voice continued in his mind.
"I am not weak!" he said "I'll show you…I'll show you!" He spoke then started performing hand seals while saying them aloud.
"Tora, Ushi, Ne, Ushi, Tora, Tatsu, Mi, Ushi, Hitsuji, Tori, Ushi, Uma, Tori, Ne, Inu, Saru, Tori, Ne, I, Tatsu, U, Mi, Uma, Tora,"
Setsuko still tried to struggle free of the shadow but it was still useless. She had no idea what he was about to do but she had a feeling it was something very dangerous. On top of that Eriya looked enraged. Did calling him weak really send him over the edge like that? What was wrong with this kid?
"Saru, Inu, U, Mi, Ushi, Hitsuji, Tatsu!"
Before he had the chance to speak the jutsu he was going to use, something whisked out of nowhere and punched the boy in the side of his head. The boy flew back and clashed into a tree. Unable to focus his chakra the jutsu he had on Setsuko was released.
The commotion didn't go unnoticed for Naruto emerged from his home. Hanzi stepped back away from the little scenario and stood under the tree across from Eriya. He tried to get the two to stop but neither one of them listened, he wished that he would have noticed earlier that they were in fact in front of his house. He was a little irritated which was rare on his part because he never got irritated but most of all embarrassed that his father witnessed this. Why couldn't these two just get along?
"What's going on out here?" Naruto asked.
Setsuko stood up from the ground and dusted herself off. Once again she made a fool of herself, getting help from another. "I didn't need your help I could of handled him on my-"
"F-father!?" She stammered very surprised that he intervened in all of this. Now she was really embarrassed. Her own father had to step in and save her.
"Apologies Naruto, I was just passing by and noticed the combination of hand seals he was performing and had to stop him."
"What was wrong with the hand seals Sasuke?" Naruto asked.
"I remember fighting a ninja a while ago that used that same combination of hand seals. They perform a very dangerous forbidden jutsu." He looked at his daughter then glared back at Eriya. "What the hell were you thinking, what possessed you to try and use that jutsu? And on your teammate."
The boy did not answer right away and just kept his eyes directed at the ground, his body trembling from the build-up of rage he had against the Uchiha girl after her choice of words she spat at him. Now her father was stepping in. He really just wanted to scare her to prove to her that he was no weakling like she assumed him to be. "Sh-she called me weak…." He said in a vexed tone. His eyes peered up momentarily at the Uchiha and her normal blank expression was present once more, she didn't appear scared or shaken up about anything that had just occurred. Was there anything that could break this girl's stoicness? He wanted to see the smallest fear in the girl even if it was for a second.
"So you decided to use a forbidden jutsu to prove to her otherwise? And of all places in front of the Hokage's home?" He said then looked back at the Uchiha girl who lowered her head.
(Forbidden Jutsu?) Stesuko thought. (How is it that he knows how to do so much and he's just a Genin like me?) She glared at the boy then turned to the side, huffing and folding her arms. Forbidden jutsu was only known by the Hokage or high ranked shinobi, yet this guy was neither and knows one. It wasn't fair. (Lucky my father did show up or I'd probably be dead right now, but still it would have been interesting just to see what the jutsu would do, but at another time.)
"What you've showed was weakness." Setsuko heard her father speak who was still scolding the boy. Setsuko glanced over at Eriya and smirked smugly at the boy but it went unseen by him since his eyes were at the ground. "Trying to prove to others that you're stronger than them by using a jutsu that isn't supposed to be used is beyond weakness. It's cowardice. Real shinobi prove their strength in other ways."
"He's absolutely right," Naruto stated, walking down from the porch. "There are other ways to prove your strength to one another but trying to do that by over powering one another is a terrible way of going about it. I know that in each team there is rivalry and there is always two or one that wish to be better than the other. Sasuke and myself has gone through it already. And I can't stop that. But I will not allow any of you to try and kill one another. If I catch any of you using forbidden jutsu against one another, you'll be stripped of your ranks and never allowed to become a ninja. Am I understood?"
The three Genin looked at one another and nodded their heads. "Yes.."
"Good, you three are a team and will always be a team, it's about time you start acting like one." Were his last words before returning to his home.
Eriya fell to his knees and Hanzi ran to his side to help him up but he just shoved him away and pulled his knees to his chin.
So he was being called a coward? Is that what he was? That's not what he wanted to be called or referred to as by anyone; Eriya the coward. That was so degrading it was already bad enough that no one in the village liked him, to another a terrible name besides monster to that would have made life for him even worse. He shook his head violently and started to weep. That's not what he wanted to be. "I'm sorry Setsuko…" he whispered quietly then ran off.
:::
"You two are always fighting, honestly you two need to try and get along better." Hanzi stated then folded his arms behind his head. He was becoming very irritated with eriya and Stsuko's constant squabbling but Setsuko didn't seem to care and Eriya was nowhere in sight.
His mind floated from his anger toward his teammates and focused on the fact that the brunet boy had ran off earlier. "Where do you think he went off to?"
"Like I care. Why would I search for someone that tried to kill me? If you're that worried about him look for him yourself. I'm out of here." Setsuko took off into the village leaving Hanzi to search for their teammate alone. He sighed. Setsuko could really be full of herself at times but she had a valid point this time. He wouldn't go out searching for someone that tried to take his life from him either. But Unlike Setsuko, He had a better understanding of Eriya than she did. But for him to react the way he did just because she called him weak, was over the top.
"Why does it matter what rank I am? I'm not going that far out of the village!" Hanzi heard the familiar voice and his walking came to a stop a few feet away from the village entrance.
"If you're a ninja and you're under the rank of a Jounin, you're not allowed to leave the village unless you're with your appointed team leader."
"Eriya!" Hanzi yelled, waving his arms in the air so his teammate can see him. "He ran to the boy and stopped at his side. "What are you doing over here?" He asked staring up at the Jounin that was glaring down at them.
"What do you want Hanzi?"
"I was looking for you. You kind of ran off after you and Setsuko fell out. So I just wanted to come see if you're alright."
He looked at Hanzi then back at the Jounin. It appeared that he wasn't going to be getting anywhere with this jerk standing here so arguing with him was pointless. He sighed and turned around where he began walking back into the village, Hanzi right behind him. He sat down on the ground next to one of the shops and sighed.
'Out of those three what pushes you..?' Hanzi's words rang in his ears again.
"Hate and vengeance…" He said out loud again.
"Huh?" Hanzi hummed. "You alright?"
"Remember? You asked me what pushes me to want to become a better ninja. It's hate and vengeance..."
Hanzi blinked twice then looked up at the sky. He remembered the stories that his father told him about Sasuke when he followed the path of vengeance, blinded by nothing but pain. It didn't go well at all. Thousands died at Sasuke's hand while many who lived through the terror are still scarred today. Would Eriya go through the same ordeal? He didn't want that to happen to his friend. "I know, that I only know very little about what you're going through Eriya but, whatever it is, don't let it blind you. Always keep in mind the good things of the person you despise so much if there are any, and if there's none, then try forgiveness.."
Forgiveness was out of the way. That wasn't going to happen. This person has caused him so much grief and pain, no reasoning and forgiveness was not an option. He needed to feel the pain he felt when he took everything away from him. "I will never forgive him. You can try to talk me out of it Hanzi but it'll be like you're talking to a wall. I won't listen to you."
"You're such an idiot!" Setsuko said walking up to the two and leaning against the wall of the accessory shop. How is it that she kept appearing out of nowhere? "My father told me every story about when he went down the path of vengeance and he is not proud of it one bit. Just think about it, you'd do anything to get revenge, even if it means killing innocent people to get to that person. Is that something you really want to do?" She asked the brunet. She was never one to give advice but after overhearing the conversation she felt the need to say something.
The brunet boy looked up at his two teammates and thought for a few seconds. What they said made a lot of sense. It didn't change his mind in the least but the thought of killing innocent people would make him no better than him. He'd never shed innocent blood just to get to the one he hated so much. He nodded. "You're right. Even though you guys cannot change my mind, I'll make you guys this promise;" He took out a kunai knife from his pocket and pressed it against the palm of his hand. "I promise that when I take my path of vengeance, I will not kill innocent people." He said and dragged the kunai across his hand, drawing blood. The wound healed just seconds after.
"That's my promise." He said then dropped his hand back to his side.
Setsuko nodded then grabbed the hand that he cut. "Oath keeper seal technique!" She said then slapped the palm of her hand against his.
Hanzi and Eriya both sweat dropped. "Wha-what was that?" Hanzi asked confused.
"Had to make it official, now if you break your promise I will kill you…" She said darkly.
"That wasn't even a real jutsu.." Hanzi stated.
"It's real if I say so!" She shouted making the boy shy away behind Eriya.
Eriya laughed then smiled at the Uchiha girl for the first time. "Thanks…Setsuko."
She rolled her eyes and huffed. "That doesn't mean I still don't wanna beat you!" She stated but smiled for him afterwards.
"You're on, we'll get our chance and we'll see who's the strongest!"
She nodded in agreement.
Hanzi smiled. He was glad that his two teammates were finally starting to get along he had a feeling it was going to be this way for a long time. "Alright now let's go find Indo-sensei. And when we do we'll give her a good lecture about showing up on time!" The blonde said, pumping his fist in the air.
"That's for sure!" Setsuko agreed.
"She's not coming…" Eriya said, making his teammates look at him. "What do you mean Eriya?" It was Hanzi who asked.
He sighed. Remember the attack that happened last night. Well Indo-sensei was there.." He started.
"Whaaat?" Hanzi exclaimed. "But my dad said there were only two ninja there, your sister and the rouge ninja.
Eriya nodded. "I know. The reason why Indo-sensei isn't here is because she was the one who was attacked. She's my sister.."
"Whaaat!?" Hanzi and Setsuko both said in unison. "Your sister!?" They said in unison again.
"Yes. I had no intentions on telling you guys cause I thought you might have caught on by my weird behavior when she's around but seems you guys didn't." He shrugged.
"So why tell us now?" Setsuko wondered.
"Because I felt that you guys would have thought she abandon us when she didn't."
"Well this was definitely a shocker, at least we know now." Hanzi said casually. "One more thing," he asked.
"Yea?"
"Why does she cover up her face behind those bandages and wear that lower face mask!?" He asked.
"Because she's an Anbu Black Ops." He said. "Only the Hokage are allowed to see their faces."
"Ooooooh, makes sense now."
"How is she?" Setsuko asked, concerned about their sensei's health.
"Well you're mom healed her up as much as she could. I stayed and hoped that she would wake but she didn't.." His face dropped. Indo was the only family he had left and if anything happened to her he didn't know what he would do. It was rare for her to lose or get seriously injured in a battle against anyone. Even when she went out on her missions for the Hokage she never came back with a scratch. So to see her lying up in the infirmary severely wounded devastated him. "I just hope she'll be alright.."
"She'll be fine.." Setsuko said and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "With my mother taking care of her she'll be back in good health in no time, you'll see."
"Yea!" Hanzi stated. "And she'll be back to her old self believe it!"
Eriya smiled he was glad to have the support of his teammates. "Thanks guys." At least he knew he wasn't alone and that when he needed someone he could confide in his two teammates. A morning that started out bad actually turned out to be a good one after all.