Four months later, we were getting along quite well as a team on our simple D-rank missions. We had also been training pretty hard. To be honest, I think Yuuta and Asami were competing a bit. I trained so hard because I didn't want to hinder the team and my chakra was a bit hard to control once I started learning new jutsus. Min sensei was real encouraging though, considering my teammates had families to teach them clan jutsus and I had to figure most of mine out on my own. I at least knew I used a not so basic chakra style. The paper that was supposed to tell what type I used had an odd reaction of having a paw print matching the one on my back appear onto the centre of the paper. Min sensei said she'd go talk to the Hokage about it. It's kind of odd it doesn't have an element though.
Today, Yuuta was walking with me, having said he wanted to show me something. He seemed a bit excited, but also a little nervous.
"So, Asami's not coming?" I asked, looking around for her. Usually Yuuta would disappear with Asami or by himself while Asami and I stayed to train a little more or just hang out.
"No, why would she?" He gave me an odd look.
"I dunno." I shrugged, then noted that we were entering the library, then going into the archives. "What're we doing?" I asked as he went to grab an old-looking book.
"I've been looking for your clan. Based on what you told me, I think I might've found it." He said, flipping open the old book that seemed to be keeping records of the village's clans and their known abilities in as little detail as possible. "I haven't found the actual scroll though."
"What? Why?" I asked, sitting on my knees on the chair in front of the table he had the book on.
He looked up from his spot across from me and smirked. "I was curious."
I rolled my eyes. "I'm serious. Why would you do that?"
"Okay, it's also because the Hokage asked me to." He sighed.
"Why not one of his people?"
"He wanted me to because I'm your teammate. And because he has a feeling it wouldn't be good if word got around."
I crossed my arms, both of us becoming completely serious. "Is it bad?"
"It's horrifying."
"Does that effect your opinion of me?" I asked nervously.
He shook his head. "It's how you were raised, but you don't seem to remember a lot of it."
I sighed, rubbing my forehead. "Okay, just tell me."
"Here," He turned the book toward me and pointed to the page. "This clan's called the Torikabuto. It was kicked out of a lot of villages until they decided to form their own small place in the woods. It operated like a wolf pack once on it's own and they attacked any ninja they came across, or so reports said. According to the Hokage, the clan just completely disappeared last year. Some ANBU were looking around where the clan was, but most of the houses were on fire and they only found about twenty-five dead bodies. That's about the same time they found a girl about half a day's trip from that village."
I nodded. "The girl was me. I think I remember that the clan was getting smaller, but there were at least forty. They probably left to another land." I then looked down at the book to start reading the page and a half on my clan.
"Are you sure it's even them?"
"I will be after I read this."
"You know they kept the Torikabuto clan secret after they started living like wolves. I think it was because they didn't want to admit there were ninja that had to unseal their chakra and also branded the children once they completed initiation and actually preferred to act like animals rather than be outcasts. The book doesn't have details, but maybe you'll remember something because of it."
I nodded, looking it over and reading about the clan's background. After about ten minutes of reading and rereading the section, I started to get a painful headache and shut my eyes, gripping my head. Images flashed though my mind, including the fact I had been covered in blood and ash and had to wash it off in a stream a little while before that ANBU found me. The wounds I had washed when I woke up were still bleeding when I had done that though. I remembered my first initiation when I was four, which consisted of the same animals in the same order that I had to hunt for. The difference was the wolf was like a shadow and it's voice wasn't inside my head. I remembered weeks of stealing from people I used to call friends when I was eleven, then I remembered looking at the blood and ash on my hands and panicking. That was it. No in between times, no explanation for the blood and ash, no fond memories. It was just painful.
"Hey, Luna? Are you alright?" Yuuta's worried voice reached me.
"I, uh, I don't know." I mumbled, looking at my hands, then back at the book. I noticed the drawing of a paw print on the page, but it looked different from my tattoo. Who was this from? No, it wasn't anyone's. It was a cheap generalization of the branding we received. For some reason, this angered me. I quickly shook the feeling off.
"Did you remember something?"
I shook my head. "Nothing important. It's just the looks…" I trailed off, cringing at the hateful looks thrown my way after initiation in my memory. The same one Naomi gave me when she stopped teaching me. As if I were a monster. I was just a kid! I still am! Why would they hate a kid so much?!
"Alright." He agreed unsurely. "What about the clan? Is it yours?"
I looked at the name again, then slowly nodded. "I think so. The initiation, the first one, the wolf told me something about being apart of the Torikabuto clan. It's still a bit fuzzy."
"Do you wanna use that for your surname?"
I felt like it would be wrong to use the name, so I shook my head. "Torika. Just Torika."
Yuuta grinned at me. "Luna Torika, huh? Come on, we should go tell the Hokage."
I nodded as he closed the book, then went to put it away. The Hokage approved of the shortening of the name, especially since I was still young and didn't remember much of the clan. He told me to let him know if I remember anything important about the clan. Despite being exiled by the Second Hokage, the clan was still something the Third wanted to know more about.
