Chapter 1
Atari and Ren
"Atari…Atari…wake up Atari! You'll be late for class with Sensei Ike!"
Atari opened his eyes to see his mother Haro hovering over his mat made of weaved corn husks. "About time you woke up. Class starts in I hour! And you still have chores to do." Still wiping sleep seeds from his eyes, Atari sat up and began to roll up his mat. He always rolled up his mat, even if it was his own room. Yawning tiredly, he stretched and grabbed his sword. He gripped the cold black handle and slowly pulled out the polished, distinguished, silver blade. There was a small carving of a dragon on the blade that shone brightly when polished by the sun. He sheathed the sword again and slung it on his back so that the sword was on an angle. After dressing into his shinobi shozoku, and pulling the hood up and tying the zukin so that you could only make out his eyes, he looked like a true ninja. After tying on his black belt to resemble his level, he strung on five metal tipped stars called shuriken. Along with the shuriken he tied on a rope with a hook, a dagger, and two canisters, one carrying an explosive powder he had made with Garu, and the other with walnuts to hurt a pursuers' feet. He then put his deerskin backpack over his sword on his back. However, unlike other ninja-in-training, Atari put his backpack on over the sheath, not the handle. This way, he could still draw his sword without having to take off his backpack. He was also the only one good enough to wear a shinobi shozoku, because he had become a genin before signing up for school. He had been home schooled in ninja arts and basic life skills by Haro and then by his beginning teachers. These teachers only taught him basic techniques and jutsus, but they were mandatory to learn nonetheless.
He proceeded down the stairs quietly. Haro was drowsy still, as she cooked a pot of stew from over their cooking fire. Atari wearily sat down and watched as Haro placed a bowl of stew in from of him. As he sipped the simmering stew, he imagined the day's events. First, he had class with Genjin, the Potions and Powders master, and then he had class with Gi, the Physical Fighting master, then lunch, then study hall, next a class with master Moondy, the Spiritual Arts teacher, a weapon class with master wooden fist, and finally school was dismissed. However, for Atari, training still progressed because after he was dismissed from school, he went directly to the training ground, because Haro was still at work, packaging and smoking meat and veggies for winter. Growing tired of the same schedule, he sighed as he slid open the paper door and proceeded down the road to where the other students waited for instructions to go to their first class. Atari soon found Ren, his closest friend. Together for the day, they strode over to a nearby tree and looked over their schedules.
"Has Yuchi returned yet?" Ren asked, as he always did.
"No, and I'm beginning to think he'll never come back." Atari sighed sadly.
"But imagine what will happen if he does return, after all these years, to see you so grown up and so strong!" Ren exclaimed.
That was one thing about Ren that inspired Atari; he was very optimistic. Atari on the other hand, was always negative towards his own work. His jutsus were never good enough for him, yet Ren thought they were perfect. When Atari failed, he would beat himself up over it, while when Ren failed, he would think about what he did right, and fix what he did wrong. Soon enough, Ren's maneuvers were solid and perfect, performed with grace from a dance. After comparing schedules, they talked about school in general. Ren would always stop their normal conversation to talk about Tamari, a girl in his first and third classes. Tamari glanced at him occasionally, and when she did, Ren would be all tense. Atari would nudge him at one point to stop his staring.
But suddenly, a burning sensation filled Atari's neck and began chopping away at his breath. But after a while it would go back to normal. What caused this was a mark on the back of Atari's shoulder. He was born with it, and he assumed whatever it meant was hateful, because everyone discriminated against him. Over and over again, Atari would try to control the burning energy the mark consisted of. The mark became more like a curse than a gift over time. But after its little episode, class seemed to always start, as so it did here.
Separated for the mere homeroom class, Atari passed the other classmates. Quietly, as always, he took his seat. Behind him was a tall, muscular man with circular glasses, he would always put ice down Atari's back in exchange for his lunch yen, but not today. The man was busy doing his homework that, although supposed to be done last night, was forgotten in his wholesome backpack. Atari quickly unpacked his scrolls and styluses, along with the ink and quills. However, unlike other ninja-in-training, he kept his sword on his back. He felt it was necessary, should an enemy come flying threw the paper walls of the classroom. Again, the curse mark burned with intensity, but Atari's sheer will brought it back under control just as the teacher appeared in the room. The long white robe drifted behind Sensei Ike as he strolled over each desk, collecting their homework. His hand swept over Atari's shoulder, and hid finger stayed on the curse mark for a split second, then he continued drifting about the room. After he collected the homework, everyone left the room for their first class. Atari met up with Ren in the hallway. However, their walk was rudely interrupted by three muscular guys. They were much larger than Atari, whom was small and skinny, while these guys were built tough and tall. Ren stood in a ready fighting position, his books and scrolls on the floor beside him.
"You guys are pathetic," the tallest one huffed.
"Well, I can at least escape in one piece," Ren sneered with confidence. That was another thing about Ren; he had confidence in himself and in others. Ren would always be helping Atari, because he struggled with his self-confidence. He had none, and Ren had a lot. Shaking, Atari slowly put his books down beside Ren's and took a position.
"Oh, so you've brought a friend this time," teased the short bully.
At that moment, Ren sprinted towards them. With excellent form, he drew a kunine knife and swipe at the tall bully's neck. The knife did all but pierce the bully's skin. The tall bully grabbed Ren's shirt and held him high. Ren kicked wildly. As the bullies toyed with Ren like a rag doll, Atari sprinted into action. Flipping threw the air; he landed with his feet planted on Ren's captor's shoulders, and flipped backwards. This threw him off balance and Ren was released. Landing on both of his feet securely, Atari began making chakra hand signs, so fast, that his fingers were mere blurs. After doing three hand signs, Atari jumped into the air and began spinning so fast, that a slight breeze began to form.
"Multiple Shuriken Jutsu!" Atari roared as shuriken appeared on his body out of nowhere and flew at the bullies. They managed to block a few of them, but more and more kept coming. Ren soon realized the distraction and sprinted over to the bullies. Busy blocking shuriken, the bullies never noticed him. Ren was getting ready just as a monstrous fist came billowing down. With quickness filling his feet and legs, Ren rolled in between the attacking bully's legs and bounced up form the ground. Again, with extreme quickness and perfect form, Ren whipped a kunine knife, that hit a direct pressure point in the bully's neck. Stunned by this, the bully pulled it out and whipped it back. But to no avail. Ren was standing on top of his thick head. Ren hopped off, and landed at the bully's feet. Then he swept the bully's feet put from under him. He landed hard on his back and slammed his head against the ground. After noticing his partner was down, the second bully stopped and dashed down the hallway screaming in fear. Slowly, Atari stopped spinning.
"That was an awesome jutsu Atari!" Ren exclaimed.
"Not really, my moves were totally off." Atari hung his head low.
"You're too hard on yourself." Ren advised as they picked up their books and proceeded into the classroom.