From my rotting body, flowers shall grow and I am in them and that is eternity.

~Edvard Munch

Sora was dead tired. He normally had very good endurance, but walking miles through the swamp had warn him out. The last thing he wanted was a stranger to come and take advantage of him like this. On the other hand, it had been too long since the last time he killed. Maybe he could work this to his advantage. His sword came up in front of him and he positioned his feet as well as he could without slipping in the mud.

The face of the man ahead of him was hidden. He couldn't see his eyes or tell the color of his hair in the dark. He spoke up, his voice raspy. "Sora, right?" Sora blinked and lowered the weapon a little. He couldn't tell the age and he knew his name. I'm a wanted criminal. He thought, I guess that'll make everyone know my name.

He kicked off the ground and charged toward the hooded figure. His sword swung down and the figure dodged. He was just as fast if not faster. Every swing was followed by a side step. Sora struggling with his footwork due to mud was making it worse. He managed to correct his stance and get one good swing at last. The man's hair was cut, but no blood. The ritual was useless without blood, so he swung again. This time the man reached out and grabbed the wrist before the sword could come down.

"Keep your katana down. There's nothing you can do with it." Sora was pushed aside and thrown into a large tree. The man pulled up the right sleeve to his heavy cloak. A large pattern of scars was cut into his skin. The teen felt a strong deja vu when they appeared. "Are those-"

Before he could finish, blood shot out of the cuts. It erupted and took the form of spikes, like large needles. Ninjutsu. When did he use it? No handsigns or words or anything! The spikes shot out and landed on him. Some landed lower, pinning the cloth of his pants to the tree. Others landed in the flesh of his left arm and shoulder. He yelled out a little, but the pain was somewhat able to be ignored after that. He had just been surprised. He was used to pain like this.

The man walked over and pulled his sword away from him. "I expected a little better."

"I'm not used to fighting in a fuckin' swamp!"

"Still I'm disappointed, Sora."

Sora frowned and got a better look at the man. He was probably nineteen and his hair was greenish. "...Since when I was Sora?"

"Excuse me?"

"You called me 'Zealot' or something when I got here. You won't even let me say my name."

"You have an amazing memory." The man complimented. "I'm a captain now in case you haven't noticed. You should be more careful. There are guards here who would have killed you on sight if I hadn't refused to give them the okay."

"No signal. I get it. Not my fault. I had a signal and I lost it."

"I see..."

"What's your name again? Emo or something?"

"Gaki." He corrected.

"And what about Pink-y and the goth girl with you? They captains too?"

"Kemuri's dead." Gaki said coldly. Sora blinked. "She was the 'goth girl'. The one who smoked."

"Ahhh...killed?"

"Lung cancer."

"That's why you don't smoke." Sora smirked. He received a punch so hard he heard his jaw cracked. Gaki gave him a cold hard death glare. "Don't you ever speak of her and her habits in that tone."

"I'm just saying." Sora kept grinning. "Smoking kills." He got another hard punch that knocked the smile away.

"Do you have anything else you're 'just saying'?" His eyes glared and Sora could see the blood rushing into them.

"Okay. Okay. What about the other one? The annoying one who liked girls and cute stuff too much."

"She's dead too." He snapped. "Or at least considered dead. She ran off." He sighed. "Just don't talk about them, Sora. Not the time."

"Why the fuck are you calling me that now? You didn't even let me say my nam-"

"I know." He snapped again. "Times changed." After a moment of silence and considering both their positions, Gaki pulled out the blood needles pinning him down. "I guess your friend's to blame for the names." He continued.

"Friend? What are you talking about?" Sora reached down and ripped needles away from his pants, freeing his legs. "I don't have any friends."

"So Misuto Kitai means nothing to you?"

Sora froze up. "I...didn't say that."

"Sounds like you did."

"I...I just forgot about him." He looked down at the ground. "I consider him my friend."

Gaki rolled his eyes and walked away. "Whatever. If you are so close, you'll know where to find him without me."

"I..." He didn't know where the hell Kitai was. He followed. "How's the name thing his fault anyway?"

"Kemuri loved her nicknames. It was more of a hobby than a-"

"I asked how the fuck is it his fault!"

"He ignored the nicknames. Gave out his own name as well as yours. And gave them to the wrong people."

"Wrong people?"

"Konoha spies."

"So what?" Sora groaned. "I've never been to the Leaf Village and I don't plan on going there any time soon."

"Before this, the Leaf Village didn't even know your religion existed." Gaki explained, "Now, they'll be looking for you. Kitai as well." He stopped when they reached the wall.

"This is all I can do. I have to get back to guard duty. If you have money, you can find a place to stay."

Sora shook his head. "I have money, but I don't want to stay here. Where's Misuto?"

"Kitai?" Gaki rubbed his fingers together. "Information isn't free."

"I hate how the world runs on money." Sora growled as he dug through his pockets. "How much?"

"It's not a nice system, but it works." The other commented. "100 ryo."

Sora looked at the bills in his hand. It totaled to just above the price. He would be broke if he paid. "Deal." He said, shoving the cash into his hands. "Now tell me where he is."

"Ironically, he was last seen in Fire Country, near Konoha. The same place you just said you weren't planning on going anytime soon." He tucked the money into his pocket. "He usually travels with company now. One of the most common is a genjutsu master Kemuri liked to call the Violet Illusion. Her real name I believe is Mizuki Yuu."

"Mizuki Yuu" Sora repeated. "Never heard of her."

"Only trying to help." Gaki shrugged. "If you want to get to the Fire Country, go inside the village and walk across the wall until you find the gate that reads 'South'. Remember your symbol and take that path out of the village. The path will continue outside the swamp and stop at the boarder of the Fire Country."

Setting: Fire Country, Unknown Location.

Somewhere on the edge of the Fire Country, Yuu was resting. She had a water bottle in her hand and sipped out of it ever few minutes. She was sitting on a bench outside of a small house with only a few rooms inside it and that was isolated from civilization. For good reason too. Criminals lived in that house.

She didn't really call it home, but she did live in it. She also shared it with two other men who were almost thought of as 'teammates'. They never called each other that, but they acted like that.

The two men were training just a few yards away from her at the moment. They were working with Kenjutsu, something she herself wasn't exactly skilled in.

One of them was in his early twenties. He had dark hair and purple eyes. The eyes had strange markings under them of the same color and there were few alive who knew how they worked, Yuu included. He dressed like a shinobi- with a loose jacket and shorts and bandages covering his limbs- and fought even better than one.

His opponent was about Yuu's age, nineteen. His name was Misuto Kitai. He hadn't changed much from the Kitai that Sora would remember from years ago. His red hair was cut shorter so it no longer reached his shoulders. His outfit had became more complex and shinobi-like. Bandages covered his chest area and his right shoulder where his tattoo was, hiding it.

Kitai was knocked onto his back with a swift blow from the older man's fist. "That was a cheep shot, Mitsukai!" He yelled.

"So?" Mitsukai replied. His own sword came down and the end sunk into the dirt just inches from the Jashinist's head. "It's called using your hands. Don't expect all the attacks to be from the sword.

"People aren't just going to use a katana when fighting you ether. There are a variety of other weapons out there: slings, maces, sai, chain whips, sansetsukon, kusarigama, guan dao, eskrima. Weapons that make a sword look stupid. You're prepared to go against another sword with that technique but not another unusual weapon."

Kitai sighed and stood up. "Well too bad there aren't any unusual weapons we can train with."

Mitsukai pulled his sword out and thought about that. He looked over at Yuu. "Give him a weapon to fight."

Yuu nodded and pressed her fingers together into a handsign. A strong breeze formed. Yuu's long brown hair went wild and her bright eyes seemed to glow for a moment. The wind swirled around and formed what looked two small tornadoes. Purple lights of energy shined through them. The wind died down and two masked shinobi without headbands and in full black appeared. One held two small tools with a handle and three stabbing blades coming out of it: sai. The other carried a wooden weapon with two parts and a chain connecting them: nunchucks.

"They're just genjutsu, but the pain will feel real." Yuu warned, "Be careful." Kitai gave her a small nod of understanding and gripped his sword tightly. The sai shinobi attacked first.

The illusion charged and slashed at him close range with the weapons. Kitai held up the sword in defense and stopped one of the sai with the blade. The fake took the second sai and scraped his arm with it. Nothing more than a cut though. Kitai brought his leg up and kicked the shinobi hard in the waist, knocking it away. "That's right, use your body." Mitsukai muttered.

Kitai went to stab the shinobi, but the sword was knocked away, almost falling out of his grip. The fake with nunchucks was next to him and swinging them around. Kitai yelled out as the blunt end hit his head. He held up his arms and the wood fell against light armor he had strapped on. He threw his fists forward, past the weapon and into the fighter's face. In a quick act of tai jutsu, he had the shinobi falling to the ground. He flung the sword forward, not letting go. It pierced through the left side of the illusion's chest were the heart would be located. The shinobi twitched for a half second, then fell numb and didn't move.

Kitai pulled the sword -now red with fake blood- out. The moment he did, a sharp sting was felt in his left arm and chest area. He turned his head around brought his sword up. It deflected the second sai being flung at him. The first was in his chest, without a doubt hitting his heart. He knew what injury in the heart was like, feeling it so many times. His body just took it as pain in his left shoulder area.

As the shinobi jumped up to retrieve his second, deflected sai, Kitai reached behind him and yanked the sai out. There was a ton of blood on the metal and he felt more pain. Defiantly the heart that was hit. He jumped up. The shinobi was in the air, reaching for the handle for the second sai. Kitai grabbed him by the shirt before he could catch it. He pulled him down with him, the shinobi landing flat on his back on the hard ground below. Kitai landed on his feet, squatting down, on top of the other. He pushed the sai into the shinobi's head straight through the skull and into the brain. A quick instant death if he had been real.

The two corpses glowed bright violet just a little before shattering into little bits of energy and fading away. The blood and pain was all gone. Not a scratch on Kitai that wasn't there before the fight. The missing-nin cursed. "Something wrong?" Mitsukai asked, arms crossed.

"The deaths." Kitai explained. "They reminded me. I need a sacrifice."

"Oh." Mitsukai nodded. "Take all the time you need." The immortal left and disappeared from their sight in thick forest trees.

"That stupid religion." Yuu muttered. "He doesn't even like it. Why does he follow it?"

"Some religions people only follow due to fear." Mitsukai told her.

Yuu's eyes widened just a little. "Oh. He's scared of his god. Scared to go to hell."

"That's not it. It's something else. I'm not sure what though."

"Whatever. You think that sacrifice shit is an excuse to get out of training. Kitai-kun looked a little tired. He might be slacking off."

"He's not." The man said instantly. "He knows he needs us. If you feel that way however, feel free to leave." Yuu rested her face on her hand and frowned at him.