Disclaimer: I attempted to get mister Kishimoto to marry me, which would allow me to have the rites to Naruto when he dies... but he bitch-slapped me with a pre-nup. (Damn bastard!) So, I don't own Naruto. (duh) However, the characters of Jira, Kitaka, Fumato, Ame, Gemma, Hana, Kira, Chino, Cala, Eira, Mavri, Kuroshi, and every other OC in this story are the product of my insanity.
Whew! Three updates in one week. I'm a writing fiend I tell you!
Well it's not like a wrote three chapters in one week... these three updates were, of coures, ONE chapter (which possibly makes me MORE of a fiend than typing three updates in one week, you be the judges!)
I'm going to make this chat quick. I really loved this portion of the chapter because it allowed me to foreshadow/touch base/move on with three of the most integral parts for N:K. Seriously, you guys have no idea how much stuff this little section sets up. OR you may have an idea, so let me know about it. I love to see how sneaky I'm being, and I love talking to you guys even more! So, review and ask questions or let me know what you're thinking!
This is going to be the last update for N:K (don't kill me!) until I finish the next Studio 69 one-shot (haha, bet you people weren't expect another one of those). For those of you who are new, my one-shot Neon Lights was the first Studio 69 fic and now it's getting a companion piece. So stay tuned! (and go read Neon Lights if you haven't. I've been told it's 5000 words of pure awesomeness, and that's not coming from me). Well, that's everything for this update. Love you all!
~Sarai
Naruto: Kurashio
Chapter 10 – Cold Currents p. 3
"Night is falling," Mavrí motioned to the peach colored sunset, "Light will diminish quickly in the next half hour."
"You act as if that is a problem for us," Cala's response snipped, showing her irritation.
"I only meant to suggest that many teams will use this time for recovery or rest."
"Are you asking for a reprieve, Mavrí?" Cala turned slowly, her eyes looking up at the taller girl.
"Of course not, Mistress."
Call nodded and continued walking, "Many of the lax genin will be resting, the smart genin will be formulating their strategy for the next day, and those who are ambitious will attempt to attack under the cover of darkness." A thin smile played across her face, "Those more ambitious wretches will find us."
"Yes, Mistress."
Eira giggled, "This is going to be good!"
[…]
"No one has been to this shrine all day," Gemma grumbled, "I'm beginning to wonder if this was such a good idea after all?"
"The good hunter is a patient one," Ame mused, watching the small clearing from his perch inside of a tall spruce, "The first day is not even finished, and already you're irritable."
"It just seems like a waste of time," the boy huffed, "We could be making progress deeper into the mountains."
"There are twenty-eight orbs, according to Kakashi-sensei, which means there are twenty-eight shrines spread out across a twelve kilometer radius," Ame chided, "Probability suggests that another team will pass by."
As if prompting fate, Ame's eyes caught a blur of motion enter the clearing. Slowly and quietly, a shadow detached itself from the others and began stealthily approaching the shrine.
"There's only one," Gemma whispered.
Ame motioned for him to be silent, surveying the surrounding area for the enemy's team members. The pale boy knew the others wouldn't be too far behind, not if an orb was at stake. "Gemma," he whispered softly as possible, "Send your bugs to scout the surrounding area."
With a nod, the young Aburame pressed his palm to the tree trunk, shortly afterwards a steady stream of insects began crawling out into the night. Ame wondered what the chances were of catching another team with the same tactic, but his question was never answered.
Down by the shrine, the enemy genin decided at that moment to pick up the booby-trapped, fake-orb, triggering a loud and fiery explosion. The force of the blast shattered the shrine, launching debris and rubble all around the clearing. Meanwhile, the unfortunate genin who had picked up the orb slowly vanished in a cloud of smoke.
"A clone!" Ame hissed, "Gemma, do you have anything?"
"Nothing."
"Where are they?" Ame stressed.
Suddenly there were shouts, and the sounds of flying shuriken, followed by the noise of combat which quickly began fading away into the distant night. That could only mean that Fuma had found the enemy genin and had engaged them, which, with the boy's luck, meant that he was out numbered three-to-one. Remembering how Fuma had gotten careless earlier that morning, Gemma and Ame shared a worried look.
"Damn!" Ame leapt from the tree, his pale hair flying out behind him like wings. He hit the ground gracefully and took off at a run, heading for the direction where the fighting had disappeared. His eyes strained to find some clue as to where Fuma might have gone, but the darkness of the mountainside hid any signs he could track and the moon offered very little light to see by.
"Geeze, could you wait up?" Gemma said, finally catching the boy, "I don't need both of you vanishing."
"We need to find, Fuma!"
"Ok, ok… calm down and let the bugs see what they can find," Gemma raised placating hands.
Ame was in no state of mind to wait patiently for a hive of insects to crawl around, not when their teammate could be in actual danger. The genin they'd fought earlier certainly weren't holding back, and if that encounter were any indication of the level of skill; then all of the genin in this exam had the potential to be lethal. Fuma was definitely in trouble if they didn't catch up to him soon.
"That way," Gemma indicated to a path bearing northeast. It took them away from the direction of the tower.
"Let's go," Ame ordered, "We don't have time to stand about."
Gemma nodded and they both struck off into the forest. Neither wanted to voice their concerns, though they were fairly obvious: the longer they took to catch up with Fumato, more likely the chances were that he would be hurt—or worse, and not only that; the longer they took to catch up, the more ground they would have to backtrack tomorrow. They were losing time no matter how they looked at it.
[…]
The night exploded into a brilliant daze of fire.
The force of the blast knocked Fumato backwards, slamming him hard against a tree. He could feel the bark digging into his back as he dropped to the ground, but there wasn't any time to focus on the pain. Hitting rock floor with his feet, Fuma dashed away just as another bright incendiary lit up the darkness.
Fuma risked a look over his shoulder as he fled from his attackers, and quickly wished he hadn't. In the violent light of the explosion, he caught the faint glint of a forehead protector and the village symbol was easily recognized. In their studies at the Ninja Academy, every genin knew the symbols of the six major villages, but the people of Konoha knew one symbol in particular quite well: the musical note of Otogakure.
He was being pursued by the team from Sound Village.
Panic threatened to kick in, but Fuma knew it wouldn't help him at all. He needed to find a way back to Ame and Gemma… or at least even the playing field, if possible. To do so, he needed to get out of this grove and onto the steeper terrain of the mountain. He could separate the sound genin that way. Dodging right at the shrill whistle of a kunai, he heard the dull "thunk" as metal embedded itself in the tree next to him. Too close.
Fuma set off for the edge of the tree line. Hopefully he would be able to out run them, or at least cover most of the distance.
His path was cut off by the appearance of a shadowy figure. One of the sound ninja had separated from the others and cut him off, which meant they were the only thing standing between him and freedom. Gripping his short blade tightly, Fuma dashed forward with a downward swing.
The opposing ninja effortless blocked, but thankfully Fuma didn't intend to stick around for an exchange of blows. Using his sword and the other genin as leverage, the small Uchiha flipped over his opponent and dealt the genin a firm kick to the head. Fuma used that kick to propel himself out of the trees like an arrow shot from a bow.
He was just about to grin with his accomplishment when two more shadows shot out of the trees on either side of him, catching him in a pincer maneuver.
Fuma landed just as they were upon him, spinning in an effort to ward off his attackers. He managed to block one of the incoming blows, but the foot of another caught him square in the chest, knocking him onto his back, skidding across the ground. Fuma coughed, winded from the blow, but he pulled himself onto his feet quickly.
Dropping into a ready stance, he prepared for the next attack… just as the world lit up with another explosion. This time the force of the blast was so close to him that the small boy went flying, his sword jarred from his hand. Heat abraded his skin and charred his clothes, and Fuma could feel nearly every rock that cut and scratched his skin as he struck the earthen soil, rolling like a thrown ragdoll.
This time it was an intense effort to pull himself up, struggling to his feet. Fuma looked about, slightly dazed as he tried to locate his attackers. He turned upon seeing a fist out of the corner of his eye, soaring into his peripheral vision. By turning he offered the punch even more access to his face. The attack landed with a smash, lighting Fuma's vision with stars as it floored him.
"What have we here?" a masculine voice cut through the daze in Fuma's head, "A little Konoha rodent…"
"He's nothing more than a mouse," a female voice chuckled.
"A mouse with an iron foot," another male groaned, "I can still feel my ears ringing."
Fuma tried to get to his feet again, but this time he was incapacitated by an ear-splitting shriek. The noise was high-pitched, shrill, and it turned his muscles limp, which was horrifying because Fuma wanted nothing more than to cover his ears and curl into a ball to escape the noise… but he couldn't; he could only lay there and suffer.
Thankfully the suffering didn't last too long, ending as one of the sound ninja decided to gloat, "Not so tough when you can't set up your little traps, are you?"
"Give him a little credit," the girl snickered, "These gauntlets make you do the same thing, Boro."
"Guh... shut up!"
"Both of you shut up!" the first boy shouted.
"Does he have an orb on him?" the girl asked.
Someone's hands began patting him down, searching his jacket and pants for hidden pockets; Fuma could only lay there as his ears still rang and his body refused to respond. He felt sluggish.
"Nah," the boy, on whom Fum had kicked spoke, "He's got nothing… just this sword."
"It's for the best," the other boy said blandly, "We'd have probably broken any orb he was carrying."
"How troublesome," the girl yawned, "I say we kill him. His team can't complete the exam without three members, whether they get a pair of orbs or not. Eliminate the competition."
Panic kicked into overdrive, and Fuma threw himself onto his stomach. He tried to get his feet underneath him, but his limbs were slow to respond—it almost felt as if he were moving through water.
"No," the other boy said, obviously in charge, "We don't want to cause any unnecessary trouble. Just turn his brain to mush, Amura, and we'll move on."
The girl let out a short, harsh laugh, obviously pleased with the order, "When I'm through… he won't be able to string two thoughts together."
Desperately, Fuma attempted to claw himself across the ground, anything to get away from these genin, but he was hit again with that high pitched screech. His entire body convulsed and he slammed onto his back, twitching and contorting as if he were having a seizure. Something warm began pouring down his face, from his ears, and as it reach his mouth… somewhere in the back of his mind, away from his pain, Fuma recognized the taste: blood. He was bleeding. They were going to kill him.
Panic, fear, anger, loathing, desperation… they all melted away in an instant…
And his world became red.
[…]
"This is moderator four," Naruto spoke into his communicator, "Everything in sector eighteen is clear."
"Glad to hear it," Kakashi's voice answered.
"I'm moving on to sector twenty," the blond said again, "I'll check back in thirty."
"You know I wait with baited breath," his former teacher responded.
"Perv…" Naruto grumbled, turning the device off.
He sped along the dark, mountain terrain, eyes carefully focused for any movement and his other senses also acutely aware of their surroundings. So far the night had been peaceful, which was unnatural for ninja... especially those in the Chunin Exam. Normally there were always teams who tried to gain the upper hand by using the cover of darkness, but Naruto hadn't run across any such thing.
Whether or not other moderators had witnessed action, he couldn't say, but Naruto was fit to be tied. Here he was, in the middle of the biggest event in the ninja world, and he was bored out of his mind. The blond came to rest on a prominent, rocky peak, overlooking a vast majority of the nightscape, and he turned his gaze up to the moon.
"You're probably laughing at me, aren't you…?" Naruto smiled forlornly in the soft white glow, "You always had an odd sense of humor, Neji."
If the night weren't so prone to playing tricks on him, the blond would have sworn he felt a hand on his shoulder. The sensation was so real, Naruto didn't want to turn around, didn't want to dispel the dream just yet. Instead, he placed his own hand over that of his phantom's and sighed… at peace.
"Don't rest too easy…"
Neji's cool voice came as a whisper. At times like this, Naruto didn't know if it was his own mind speaking to him… or if he really did get that one wish, the one he prayed for every night. No matter the options—they were all crazy—but Naruto didn't care, he enjoyed these visits, escapes from the certain realities he was forced to deal with.
"You worry too much," Naruto frowned.
"You don't worry enough, sunshine."
"Heh," Naruto chuckled at the nickname, "Funny how you think my hair is like sunlight."
"Why's that?"
"Because…" Naruto hummed, looking up at the celestial matron currently chaperoning their conversation, "Your eyes always remind me of the moon."
"So you say…" Neji chuckled, "So you say…"
"Are you here for long?" Naruto asked suddenly, wondering how long they had together.
"Not this time…"
"Oh," the blond was dejected for a moment, until he caught something, "Does that mean you'll be coming to see me again?"
"When have I ever left?"
Naruto's face fell, "Don't make me answer that…"
"I'm… sorry," Neji said delicately.
"I know…" Naruto whispered, gripping the invisible hand tightly.
There was a long period of silence where neither of them said a word. Naruto was almost ready to stand up and continue his rounds, thinking his spectral visitor had vanished on him yet again.
"I did come for a reason..." Neji said suddenly, very business-like... very "Hyūga".
"Oh?"
"You're about to have a visitor. Be nice..." The way Neji stressed the last two words made Naruto think he wasn't very much going to enjoy this visit.
He wasn't given much of chance to ponder who it could be, because at that very moment there was a sharp surge of chakra. Naruto would have recognized it anywhere, except… it shouldn't have been here. In a flash, he was gone toward the direction of the disturbance, leaving behind peace and happiness in favor of a chance at excitement.
He wouldn't have been the only jonin to notice it either, so Naruto quickly switched on his communicator to the "all-frequencies" channel, "This is Uzumaki. I'm headed to engage the disturbance in sector twenty-one. If I need back-up I'll signal."
There was a series of confirmations and "understoods" from the various moderators, and some perverted comment from Kakashi, but it was apparent that they had gotten his point. Naruto was going to deal with this alone, and extra people would not be needed… in fact they would probably get in the way… or get hurt, depending on what went down.
It only took a few minutes to reach the scene of the disturbance: a small, pine clearing next to a ravine. In it resided a genin team, one Naruto recognized very well: Kit's team. They weren't the source of the disturbance though… and Naruto silently moved around to locate it.
What he found was the mutilated corpse of a Kyoraiyama. It looked as if it had been hit by a plethora of weapons, stabbed in the mouth, and hit in the head with a rock; however, those things hadn't killed it… no, this beast had been suffocated—by sand.
The tiny, slithering granules were still leaving the fresh corpse, trailing their way back to the source. Naruto's head snapped up and caught sight of who had caused the disturbance.
"Gaara…" he breathed, still not quite believing it. He'd recognized the chakra signature, but, considering the way tonight had been going, Naruto hadn't quite expected it to be real.
"I knew you would be the one to come," the redhead said stoically, "I'm… glad. It means I won't have to hurt anyone."
"Why are you here?" Naruto asked defensively, "Only moderators are allowed inside the training area, you know the rules."
Gaara fixed him with a cold glare, those aqua-green eyes looking purely lethal, "I was checking on Kit."
"He's doing fine," Naruto responded tersely, and then motioned to the dead animal, "But you can't just shadow him through the exam. That's cheating."
"The Kyoraiyama was…" Gaara frowned, obviously deciding on the proper words, "an accident."
"And accident?" Naruto raised an eyebrow.
"Yes."
"How so?"
The redhead's brows knitted together in frustration. It was apparent he didn't want to talk about it, "I was… preoccupied. It surprised me. Things that surprise me—"
"End up dead," Naruto nodded, recalling on several occasions in the past where a surprise had almost ended in bloodshed where Gaara was concerned. In fact, he specifically recalled a certain redhead's birthday party, which had taken weeks to set up. The surprise had almost ended up being a massacre of the guests. Naruto had never tried to surprise Gaara again after that.
"You weren't supposed to know I was here," Gaara said bitterly.
"You were coming for the weekend," Naruto shrugged, "I figured you'd stop by the house to pick up, Kitaka."
"Yes," Gaara nodded stiffly.
"But you'd have done it while I was on patrol," Naruto said sullenly, picking up on the other man's edginess.
Gaara's head gave a single nod.
Naruto let out a deep sigh, "You're never going to forgive me, are you?"
"You aren't the one who needs to be forgiven," the redhead spoke, his whisper murderous.
"Stop!" Naruto warned, a little too loudly. Kit wasn't too far away, and they didn't need the genin listening in, nor did he want Kit to see his parents arguing. The boy had a high regard for Gaara and Naruto, and the blond was not about to make him lose his idealization of either father… he was too young not to have heroes.
"Listen, Gaara," Naruto looked at him pleadingly, "You can't make Sasuke out to be a villain… he asked me to go, but… I left." The blond's shoulders sagged, "I'm the one who left, okay? So… blame me."
[…]
Gaara's face was still an emotionless mask, but his eyes softened just a bit, "You never think clearly when he's around."
It was a statement of fact. Gaara was a keen observer, and he could read people better than anyone Naruto knew… which only made him a bit more frightening, but it was also one of the redhead's greatest strengths. Naruto wouldn't have had him any other way.
"You're right," the blond laughed. It was a forced, soft sound of self-disgust, "And I was stupid… things could have been handled so differently..."
"Are you… happy?" Gaara asked tentatively, almost as if he were afraid of the question as much as he was the answer.
"Yes," Naruto answered instantly, but then he paused, "Sometimes… it, well it depends on… things are weird." Naruto turned and looked at the moon, his eyes suddenly becoming very distant.
The blond didn't see the look of concern that came over Gaara's features, nor did he see the discerning glint which took over the green eyes. Gaara could tell something was off with Naruto. He didn't know if Sasuke had done something, or if this was the result of an entirely different problem, a problem which he didn't know existed, but the redhead swore to himself that he'd get to the source of the problem. If it involved Sasuke, that would just be a bonus, but if it was something else…
Well, the Kazekage didn't like not knowing about problems that concerned him, and any problem with his Naruto… was Gaara's problem.
"No," he was forced to remind himself, "Naruto is with the Uchiha… he left you. He even admitted it."
Gaara was used to chanting this mantra in his head by now, over and over again, trying to stop caring about the blond. Back in the day, he would have had another voice in his head that was all to ready to agree with him, but now he had to deal with this inner conflicts on his own—and no matter how he looked at it: Gaara loved Naruto, and Sasuke ruined that.
"I'm sorry," Naruto said, interrupting the odd silence.
"For what?" the redhead said awkwardly. He preferred silence. Silence was easy to handle, uncomplicated. You didn't have to do anything to gain silence, but talking… especially to other people, that was difficult. Gaara felt it would be so much easier to talk to people if he could read their minds.
"For everything," Naruto smiled sheepishly, obviously back to his normal self, "And for spacing out on you with my problems. It's not like you have to deal with them any more."
"Don't." Gaara looked at Naruto with a penetrating glare.
The blond faltered, "Huh?"
"Don't apologize. I…" the redhead pondered the right way to express his feelings on the matter, "I don't mind. It's… better when we talk."
Naruto looked at him as if he were shell-shocked, which unsettled Gaara, but the blond quickly smiled and nodded vigorously, "Yeah! It is!" The blond threw his arms around the redhead, and hugged him tightly. "I missed talking to you," Naruto whispered.
The blond's head was on his shoulder, so he wasn't about to see how red Gaara's face had become. It was silly for the Kazekage to blush over a simple hug, but Gaara couldn't help it. "I… missed you too."
They parted and Gaara quickly turned away, before Naruto could see his blush. This brought the clearing into view, and the redhead as able to see Kit and his companions clearly. They were talking in low voices, being careful not to draw attention to themselves. Gaara found it concerning that they had no idea that two, every deadly ninja were currently only a few dozen yards away from them.
"He's not ready for this," the Kazekage said bitterly, "He should have waited."
"It wasn't really up to me," Naruto muttered guiltily.
"You're his father," Gaara hissed, "You're supposed to be watching over him!"
"I do watch over him," Naruto countered, "But Sasuke is his team leader. If he thinks Kit it ready, then it isn't my place to keep him from taking the exam. Especially when he wants to..." A faint smile played across the blond's lips as he remembered Kit, when he spoke up in the Hokage's office. "He's ready for this, and anything that he's not ready for, I'm confident he'll overcome it."
Gaara was silent, contemplating what Naruto had said. "I just..."
"What?"
"It's hard not being able to be here, with you..." Gaara swallowed, "With Kit and Jira..."
Naruto's face hardened, "I didn't make you leave..."
Before any other words could be exchanged, both men's attentions were ripped westward by a violent explosion of Chakra. It was a huge presence, flaring up with an insane rage and heat before vanishing completely. Gaara looked at the horizon, where the presence had come from, and he couldn't help but think he'd felt that chakra before… it was so similar.
"Who?" the redhead muttered.
"No idea," Naruto looked concerned, "But it's way out of my designated sectors. One of the other moderators will have to look into it."
"Did it feel… familiar to you?"
"I don't know," the blond thought about it carefully, "I've never really sensed a chakra like that, well except for you, back in the day… when you got really angry."
Gaara nodded, his lip twitching as it wanted to smile for the first time that day, "I was thinking the same thing about you."
[…]
"Only one…" Eira muttered, grumbling under her breath, "We only ran into one team, and they were even weaker than the last!"
"There are still four days in the exam," Cala said, obviously disinterested in the gothic child's complaining, "You'll have plenty of chances to fight."
"But… you'll probably get bored and make us head to the tower soon!" the girl complained louder.
"If you keep up, the mistress might make you walk to the tower tonight," Mavrí warned.
"Neither of you are any fun!" the Lolita pouted. She crossed her arms defiantly and stuck out her bottom lip, but no other words escaped.
Cala looked at Mavrí with a thankful expression and then turned her attentions on more important things: mainly what their plan would be for the next day. There was little purpose in moving around at night… that much she had learned. Either the genin teams were active in another area, or they were making certain to avoid the shadow ninjas. Whatever the case, they had made little progress in the past few hours.
They would need more leverage to entice a bigger conflict, so Cala decided that they would spend the entirety of the second day collecting orbs. By her estimation it would take four pair to make them a good target. By possessing that many orbs, they would control the fate of at least a fourth of the possible candidates for the final exam.
The other teams would have no choice but to try and claim them, which would give Eira all the combat she could possible desire—and Cala would be able to eliminate a great deal of the competition. It was a good plan.
Just as she was about to drift off into a mediation for the night, Cala's musing were interrupted by a particularly brash explosion of chakra. Her blue eyes snapped open and her body turned automatically to look in the direction of the uproar. Such a chakra shouldn't have been present in these exams, but it had to belong to a genin.
Cala was certain of this because she had taken care to sense each of the jonin moderators individually. She knew what their chakra signatures were… which would allow her to avoid them if they began a dedicated pursuit. The new chakra didn't belong to any of them, which begged the question: who possessed such impressive strength.
"Ooh! Please say that we're gonna go look!" Eira was practically begging.
"No," Cala said, closing her eyes to return to meditation.
"Why…!" Eira moaned.
"Because these exams just got a little more interesting." The corners of Cala's lips turned upwards into a vicious smile. She couldn't wait until the final exam… she wanted to know exactly who that chakra belonged to.
[…]
Ame burst out of the tree line and onto the rocky expanse just before the land rose up into another peak. He and Gemma had followed the trail of battle to this point, but now the world opened up to rock and stone. The tall, pale youth didn't know how well they'd be about to track Fuma from here on out.
"The kikaichū are acting strange," Gemma said suddenly, "There's something really odd over that rock ledge." Without hesitating, Ame leapt for the ledge, landing atop it and looking down into a small gorge, which was more like a crater.
His eyes widened at what lay inside.
There were charred marks, scorched lines of earch where sand and rock had melted into bubbled lines of dark, macabre glass furrows. Craters, similar to the explosions they had followed, pock-marked the walls of the gorge and the ground… there were kunai, scrolls, and all manner of ninja implements scattered about, and most shocking of all was the amount of blood. Blood was everywhere, splashed and splattered across rock and dirt like grisly Jackson Pollock piece displayed for any and all to see… and in the center of this chaos stood Fumato.
The boy was standing, his arms limp at his sides and his head hung deeply so that his long, raven locks hid his face from view. From what Ame could see, the boy's clothes looked a little mussed, worse for the wear, but he was unharmed. On the other hand, the three bodies which lay around him barely looked human… they'd been burnt and torn apart by something.
The next thought that crossed Ame's mind was much more frightening—they'd most likely been ripped apart by Fuma.
Banishing the thought as quickly as it had come, Ame was besides the small boy in an instant, turning his head up and giving him a careful look-over, "Fuma? Fuma are you all right?"
The boy's eyes were glassy, but their pupils contracted at the sound of his voice. Ame knew he was responsive. He thought there might have been a faint red coloring to the irises, but closer inspection proved that to be a trick of the moonlight, because those charcoal eyes were dark as ever.
"Fumato!"
At the sound of his name, Fuma jerked conscious, instantly defensive as he leapt out of Ame's grasp. The boy raised his hand as if there were a weapon in it, even though he held nothing—Ame noticed that his hands were covered in dried blood.
"It's alright, Fuma…" he raised his hands in a nonthreatening gesture to show he was unarmed, "It's us…"
"…Ame?" Fuma whispered, looking at the pale boy as if he were a ghost.
The tall youth gave him a reassuring nod… and that was all it took.
Fuma launched himself into Ame's chest, sobbing. The smaller boy dug his hands into the long, pale tresses, leaving behind dim, red smudges of blood wherever they touched; Ame didn't mind this in the least as he pulled his teammate into a hug, "It's alright, you're fine!"
"No!" the boy cried, "No I'm not! They were going to kill me!"
"You're alright, shhh…" Ame couldn't think of anything to say. Here this… child was frightened of dying, even though he'd just horrifically mutilated three other genin with what appeared to be his bare hands. How could he not notice?
"I was… so scared!" Fuma's voice came up in muffled sobs through Ame's kimono.
"Gemma?"
The other boy was at Ame's side in an instant, "Yeah?"
"See if you can't find us somewhere protected… I think it's best if we make camp for the night."
Gemma nodded and vanished into the night, silent as a whisper, leaving Ame to console their small teammate… and wonder how something so small and innocent could cause a carnage far greater than anything the older boy had ever witness.
And travelling with Itachi Uchiha for three years… he had witness a great deal.
[…]
The night is my realm.
I see in the dark as well as most people see in the daylight. There is nothing within the shadows that is hidden from me, nothing at all. Darkness is everywhere, a part of everyone, which makes it a most useful tool. Where most eyes fail, my eyes thrive…
The night is my realm.
Moonbeams dance along my footsteps, and the night's fury trembles in my wake. In my hands, the gentle caress of a cool eve can become a deadly blade—an assassin's glee. Ninja use my night, covering themselves in her cloak. They think it hides them, makes them travel with stealth and silence… but they are beacons. The eyes of the Majokage see all.
~A/N~
And that, as they say in show business, is a wrap for this chapter. The first day of the Chunin Survival Exam is over. How many of you were surprised? Anyone, nah... you probably expected all of that, huh? Yep. I'm sure you did.
Well, that's only the tip of the iceberg. I promise my next updates won't be nearly as labored as this chapter was (and I'm not planning on covering every day of the second exam, so if you were hoping for that... I apologize). Jira has kinda gotten the shaft in this chapter, so I'm going to have to see what he has to say for himself, but all in all I'm very happy with how this all turned out. So stick with me for the future, and I hope you all enjoyed yourselves with this week's updates.
~Sarai