Chapter 3

It was definitely good to have a leaf ninja with me since I had no way of knowing where I was going besides east. However, Ino seemed to be more focused on asking question after question. It was already starting to get dark and I wanted to get as far as possible before then. Ino also was much slower than I was so I had to slow down to compensate. "So, are you from any village? I don't see a headband." I smirked. The headband automatically showed what allegence or what former allegence one had. I looked at the back of my hand the mark burning immensly still. This is my headband, I thought.

"I'm from a nomadic group. So no I don't have a headband." I looked at her and she was looking at me oddly. "What?"

"You don't look like a nomad. Don't they usually wear fancy robes?" I shook my head.

"Those are monks. And I definitely don't come from monks. We didn't believe in peace. We believed in balance. For there to be peace there had to be chaos and things of that nature." I had that drilled in my skull since I was 3 so me being 17 I knew those teachings from heart.

"Sounds pretty depressing." I smiled. "Does that mean there will always be tragedy."

"There will always be evil people in this world. It all depends on what side you put yourself on." I looked around. "Ino let's stop here and set up camp." I was tired and Ino was definitely giving everything she had. She nodded and we went to the ground.

"What side are you on?" She asked. I shrugged, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know. I was just kicked out of the side I was on. And I don't know what side the Leaf is on." I sighed and collected wood for the fire. "Evil and good aren't black and white. It's subjective. The Leaf maybe good for now but if someone kills Lady Tsunade and takes over. Who is to say that they will also be good." I looked at Ino.

"But what about your duty?"

"My duty is to protect the people. Not to obey the leader." She huffed and went back to setting up the tent. "Ino, nothing is as simple as people teach you it is." I said lighting the fire. She turned around and saw the mark she looked at me I immediately hid my hand.

"What was that?" I was silent she grabbed my wrist causing more pain. She put my sleeve up. She looked at me. "What is this?"

"Where I come from, this is the mark of a criminal. I was banished." I looked at her telling her I didn't want to talk about it further. We sat around the fire silently until:

"Do you miss it?" I looked at her. "The group." I looked into the dancing flames. I was too busy today to think about the family I left. Now in the silence of the night I found myself thinking about Priest Kelier, who was my father as well as my teacher, and Kala my closest friend who had helped me everytime I was injured. The beautiful sceneries I have witnessed on my travels. Plus all of the students I had trained in my 2 years as the combat instructer.

"Yes." I said, "but it truly doesn't matter what I miss. That part of my life is over, never to be me again. I am now Foren of the Leaf not Foren of the Horned Beetle."

"The Horned... Beetle."

"It was the name of our group. There are many branches. I was part of the Ryu branch we were one of the strongest." I smiled. "We would fight other branches and we would easily come victorious over them. I was the combat instructer." I stood up. "I would look on my fresh students in full armor and yell: 'Here is where you decide if you die or not!' That would always get them." Ino giggled.

"I bet you know alot of different jutsus." She said smiling.

"Jutsus are what got me in this situation. It is against the laws, chakra is to regenerate the body nothing more. That is why I am here, because I learned a jutsu." Ino frowned after I said that.

"So they just banished you because you used a jutsu?"

"And protected a foreigner and fought off other members of the group."

"So you broke three laws?"

"In one millisecond. I have no regrets though." It was true. Eventhough I missed everyone terribly I never regretted my actions.

"Was there anyone special there?"

I looked at her curiously, "What do you mean?"

She looked at me playfully. "You know, like a SPECIAL somebody."

I blushed. Kala came to mind but our relationship was strange. "Well I guess there was one girl, Her name was Kala. She was my personal medic I guess you could say. She was as talented at medical jutsu as I was with using chakra offensively."

"How does that work exactly?"

I held my fist out and watched it faintly glow blue as I controlled the chakra out off my body. "Do you see the glow?" She nodded. "That's my chakra. I'm sure you can walk on water and up trees with no hands correct?" She nodded again. "Same principle but instead of walking its punching or kicking or even..." I took out my sword and watched it glow blue also. "Using a weapon. As long as they are designed to do so of course."

"Asuma-sensei has weapons that do that!" I smiled and sheathed the sword and let my chakra go back to its normal flow. "That's really cool. So can you do any ranged attacks?"

"Yeah but not many it's definitely a weak point, but I make up for it with enhanced reflexes and speed." Ino yawned. "You go on to sleep. I'll keep watch for the night." She looked concerned. "Don't worry I'm a light sleeper." I smiled and she laid on her sleeping bag and I saw her breathing slow showing she was asleep. I looked at the back of my hand again. "This is who I am now." I told myself. "No alignments and no family." I sighed. I will be strong for this village too. I closed my eyes and let my fatigue take over.