Symone: A Naruto Side-Story - "The Heart Of Rain"
Chapter Nine: His Name Is Renji.
During the night, a group of ninja had appeared in a quiet little village that seemed quite a distance from the Hidden Grass we've had the opportunity of knowing, as this unknown territory barely had an occupancy. The lights in the small wooden cabins had been turned off as silence swept over the slight breeze of the crescent moons' night as the black covered ninja had been seen lurking about the sides and the roof of homes.
A man in the shadows is seen standing by his window inside his home, peeking out through his blinds at the clandestine ninja which he had noticed lurking about as suddenly, a thud is heard on the roof. The shadowed figure who's aware of the arrival of these ninja then seems to walk towards his front door.
Outside the house of the shadowed man, three ninja are silently side-stepping across the roof of his home. One of the ninja nods to the other two, giving the signal for them to jump down at the mans front door. As the two land... the rest of the ninja that had accompanied them rush over as surreptitiously as possible as they spread out around the house and slightly distanced themselves from the front door. Suddenly, one of the ninja that had jumped down nods to the other that jumped with him. Quickly, the two ninja kick down the door and start rushing inside the mans home... but he's no where to be found. The ninja look around with an intense ferocity in their eyes as some of the forehead protectors of the ninja gleam in the light of the crescent moon that barely gleamed inside, revealing they were from the Hidden Rain Village. Unable to find their target, they look around curiously, as suddenly... a man stuck to the roof by a katana that had pierced through the ceiling appeared hanging. One of the ninja then notices him as he screams, "He's on the ceiling!". The ninja then start screaming as he had finally been noticed. Most of the ninja had discarded shuriken and hurled them up towards the man. The man then begins to soar downwards as he pulled the katana from out of the ceiling. He begins to hack away in the darkness at the dozens and dozens of shurikens soaring at him, slicing some in halves as sparks emit from the collision of metal, showing vaguely the gorgeous crystaline sky-blue eyes the man had. The man then lands in the middle of a few dozen ninja; his back turned towards the door as the ninja hold out katana's. Silence for a moment engulfs the scene until the man speaks in a dominant high statured yet highly sarcastic voice, "All you men and just little ol' me... oh, how will I survive?". One of the ninja responds as he felt intimidated, "What was that?". "Come at me! All of you!" yelled the man as he turns, revealing his appearance to everyone as he's seen with black, scruffy and rustled black hair. His uniform seems to be the same as a typical Hidden Sand Jounin. Long black sleeves and baggy black pants is also seen, though there was no forehead protector on him that represented any Hidden Village. He throws his sword on his shoulder as he still had it gripped in his palm, caressing his black necklace with a quadracrest hanging down. He thuds one of his brown boots on the ground as he smirks, casting fear in all of the ninja with his sharp, hypnotic eyes. Quickly, the ninja start running at him in the tiny cabin house. A few ninja sweep their swords towards his upper body, but he had jumped up, doing a 180 degree spin in mid-air, landing in the corner; his back facing all the ninja as the first set of ninja that had attacked his upper body accidently cut through each other as they fell to the ground in a bloody mess. The ninja quickly notice his location and a few attack at him with their katana as some attack with Taijutsu, though the man just easily evades all of it with such incredible speed. He finds openings in the ninja's attacks and starts sending gentle swings of his fist towards each of them, easily knocking them back and on to the floor of his home. He then hurls his katana forward, piercing a few of the ninja through their bodies as they collapse upon the floor with their blood leaking in the cracks of the hard wood. "You guys just keep coming back to the village, huh? This border is the Winds land... and you Rain bastards don't belong anywhere else but hell because I, Sanka Renji will just keep killing until there's none of you left!" randomly yelled the man now known as Sanka Renji as he quickly forms a hand seal. "Quick! Kill him!" yelled one of the ninja as Renji calls out the name of his completed hand seal, "Sabaku Suna Kaze Arashi No Jutsu!(Desert Sand Windstorm Technique!)" as sand he seemed to have carried in a bottle that was attached to the backside of his pants started floating in the air around him in a circular pattern. His eyes glaring at the now approaching ninja, though quickly, he tilts his hand forward, grinding his teeth, emitting the sand at an incredibly fast speed in a spinning pattern in front of him, allowing the sand to spin through the ninja as easily as a hot knife through butter. Easily, within seconds, he had diced up the remaining ninja, creating an incredibly bloody pool of red in his home that seemed to be brightening the room as it reflected the faint light of the crescent moon, highlighting the room in a tint of crimson. A scrawny, young man comes rushing into the house screaming at Renji, "I heard some noise over here! What happened?". Renji then replied, "Bangai...", referring to the young man. "Do me a favor... and clean this. I'm going outside for air" said Renji with a vacant attitude. Bangai walks in closer, seeing the entire cabin house full of blood, dozens of limbs and many severed torso's. "GAH!" Bangai grotesquely screams, twitching gently as he looks down at all the flowing blood. "Clean this, Bangai! Clean that, Bangai! Geez! It's his house! Err... how disgusting. He really didn't hold back too much this time!" Bangai annoyingly complains as he walks further inside the house.
Outside the house... that one remaining ninja that nodded to the other two to jump down earlier was still standing on the roof. Quickly... he glances at Renji, and then runs off, slightly capturing Renji's attention as he looks up... seeing nothing...
-----------------------
Sanka Renji(Meaning: Affiliated with range). Age: 27. Born in the Wind Country outside the Hidden Sand Village. Now a dedicated hero to the small border village between the Wind & Rain Countries, living and protecting from the invading North-Western Hidden Rain Village which is controlled by an unruly Government and indiscriminate killers. Raised in the arts of Taijutsu, Fire, Wind & Earth Elements... though is known as a professional with Sand. His personality is harsh and prideful, avid and slightly arrogant, though deep-heartedly gentle and honest.
Yokogao Bangai(Meaning: A Character Extra). Age: 24. An extremely weak ninja raised on the small border village between the Wind & Rain Countries. Best friend of Sanka Renji since childhood. Sort of the clown sidekick of Renji who's forced to do clean ups and chores made by Renji himself, though thankful and very caring towards him.
The pain and agony of a hard life can be differed by the fight of a prideful beast; a hero to encourage and save the lives of those around him. Greed wishes to detest and spit upon the innocent, though he will not stand for such disgrace. Sanka Renji - Tsunzaku(Meaning: To Split. Tsunzaku is the name of the area of land the people of the village by the border goes by) resident and protector shall defile the enemies to a lower form of disgrace. A form lower than they already are in his eyes. The new journey awaits, and time shall be the only handle on this journey. Pride & power; Sanka Renji!
-----------------------
"Woo! It's finally all clean, Renji-kun!" yelled Bangai to Renji about three hours later as he appeared outside, looking at Renji as he held himself up by a stone in front of his home. "Renji-kun?" Bangai asked in question, tilting downwards, looking into his eyes as he realized Renji had fallen asleep. Bangai looks to him and smiles gently. "How can a man so full of the burden of death fall to rest so easily?" thinks Bangai as he sits on the rock, over the shoulder of a sleeping Renji.
Morning has set as Renji wakes up silently without moving, hearing noise from within his house. Renji gets up and silently peddles himself over to the door. He looks inside, hearing noise to his side, realizing it was Bangai. "Ahh! Good Morning, Renji!" yelled Bangai as he's seen cooking on the stove. "You cleaned up good, Bangai" said Renji as Bangai replied, "Thank you, Renji-kun!". Bangai sets two plates of fried eggs upon the table in the corner. "I made you breakfast! Come... sit!" said Bangai with a ridiculously joyous expression grazed across his young face. "Thanks, but I'm not hungry..." said Renji with a depressive tone in his voice as he sat over on his bed, looking over towards the outside of his window as the sunlight beats down onto the wooden floors. Bangai looks to him with a disappointed expression. "Renji... I was thinking..." said Bangai as Renji replied, "Thinking about what, kid?". Bangai states, "I was thinking... we should try to go to the Hidden Sand and report this, and maybe get some help against the Kumogun clan(Meaning: Cloud Force Clan. Apparently the clan the ninja work for that attacked) I mean... This IS the Wind Country, and the Hidden Sand is located directly in the center of it. This should be there fight, too!". Renji looks to Bangai with slightly angered eyes as he speaks, "I want no one's help. This isn't Sunagakure's(Hidden Sand) Village. This is Tsunzaku Village. This empty border of land belongs to US. Sunagakure or North-Western Amegakure(Hidden Rain) has nothing to do with us!" as he yelled slightly. "But..." spoke Bangai, being interrupted as Renji yelled, "But what? But nothing, Bangai! Let them keep coming! I'll tear them from limb-to-limb again! Even that bastard Bankoku!". Bangai stayed quiet as he left the house. Renji looks to him from the corner of his eyes, watching until he walked passed the door, then turning, aggressively yelling, "Teh! Help! How stupid! If you want someone to help so bad then you go! Just know... I will not cater to their needs!" as Bangai heard... walking away as Renji decides to abruptly get up and sit at the table, eating the eggs that have been cooked.
Now, inside Bangai's home... which is not very far from Renji's, Bangai is seen packing a container of water and a bag of food for a journey across the sands. "I know that if I just go and bring back some help... eventually... Renji will accept it. These Hidden Rain ninja that are members of one of the strongest clans in North-Western Rain Country, the Kumogun... they will not succeed in taking over a bigger portion of land for their own growth of evil!" thinks Bangai as he throws a bag of food and water over his shoulder, readying himself for an adventure!
Somewhere in the North-Western Hidden Rain... inside a temple of an unknown location, a man with his chair facing the opposite way is seen sitting upon the floor that is elevated by steps. A blue carpet rolled down the steps and outside the door is seen as the ninja that had ran from Renji's house appears. "Genburori-Sama" spoke the ninja to the man in the elevated seat. "Have you come to bring me news?" said the man known as Genburori. "Yes, Sir! Renji had slaughtered all the ninja sent to assassinate him. Unfortunately, we could not get rid of him, nor take over the land. I apologize... Sir!" said the ninja in reply to his master. "Let me ask you something... Do you know what it means to be a ninja?" said Genburori as the ninja replied, "Sir! To be a ninja means instead of creating the shadows, be the shadows! To accomplish a mission in discreet without defeat, and to lose fear for pride in our honor!". "Do you know which one of those laws you just named you accomplished?" quietly spoke the dark voice of the master, Genburori. "Um..." stuttered the ninja. "That's right! Say it! None of them! I appreciate the news, though I won't be hearing any more news from you in particular!" Genburori yelled as you can see his shadow on the floor tilt to his left, and then nodding to the body that had been standing beside him. "Shouten-kun... please dispose of our dear ninja" said Genburori in a smart-mouthed, sarcastic way. "With pleasure..." spoke Shouten as the white-haired, blue-eyed ninja swooped down the stairs with a katana held outwards with remarkable speed. The ninja gasps as he tries to run away, but with a swish of Shouten's baggy black jumper, he appeared in front of the ninja. He tilts his head to the side, smiling as he raises his katana. "Please! Don't do this! I promise I wo-!" pleaded the ninja, though he was interrupted quickly by the katana of Shouten slashing through the throat of the ninja, decapitating him. The body of the ninja falls down on it's knee's, and then flat on the chest as the head rolls, being stopped by Shoutens foot as the ninja's eyes are blinking emotionlessly with his mouth opening and closing... as suddenly... it just stopped. Shouten laughs insidiously, but silent as Genburori compliments him. "Good work. Shouten... I am gonna send you out with Bankoku to kill this worm once he heals. He should be fine... but to be safe, we will wait a few days. I trust you alone, but it seems Bankoku couldn't even kill him, even though he was already seriously injured before his fight with this 'Renji', Bankoku isn't to be played around with. This will be the final shot before I take my stand" said Genburori. "Sounds fine to me. Whatever our needs may be, I'll be fine to accomplish them either way" said Shouten as he walks back to Genburori's side. "Very good... things will be rather interesting I believe. Ha!" laughs Genburori as Shouten smirks.
It seems this story has completely turned in a different direction. Where will the connection be made to the Hidden Grass and it's elite ninja Mikomi? What about Symone? Where will each stand up, and who will be the true enemies? Secrets, tales & tragedy arrive in the next Chapter of "The Heart of Rain"!
Author Notes: You might be saying... "THIS IS A STORY ABOUT SYMONE! WHERE IS THE CUTE LITTLE GIRL?", but I can't tell you that just yet, though I promise next Chapter she'll be included in some way. This is only the opening to a new arc that I like to call the "Genburori" arc. This is where the story will heat up, and this Chapter supports the entire idea of future Chapters... so if you didn't enjoy, please just bare with it, okay? Mikomi & Symone shall return to my fingertips! By the way... Renji kicks ass, huh? I love the character so much! His name is based off Aburai Renji from Bleach. I'm not a Bleach fan really... though it's interesting to watch, and if I had a character to pick as my favorite it would be Aburai Renji or definitely Byakuya... that sexy bastard. Anyway... Enjoy the Chapters! They're heating up VERY good! This will be a worthy read! I promise... Later!