Chapter 11

Tenzen was in utter awe at what he saw in front of him. For the first time since his family's demise he stood in front of the village he was born in. Seishingakure's buildings stood just as tall and immovable as he remembered, with the temple standing the tallest in the very heart of the village. As he took in all the sites he couldn't help but wonder how it is he was back at this place. The place that housed his greatest sadness…

Flashback: 1 week 4 days ago

After the incident with the foreign shinobi, the Hokage called Minato and Tenzen into his office. Both assumed it was to explain to the Sandaime what had transpired on the Hokage Monument.

Standing before the most powerful man in the village, the white haired, yellow-eyed boy prepared what it was he was going to say. He was still a little shaken by the whole ordeal, and image of the tall dark haired enemy shinobi haunted his dreams. He only wished to understand why it was that they came after him, and if they had anything to do with the people who killed his family. He assumed that he would have all his questions answered.

"Now gentlemen, I brought you here to discuss the matter of the enemy shinobi attacking Tenzen upon the Hokage Monument." The Professor began stating what the Seishin had assumed was their reasoning for being here. "I would also like to discuss what Minato has planned for your training Tenzen."

The last thing the older man said surprised Tenzen. What did he mean by planning his training? Hadn't his sensei been doing a terrific job already? Lest he had forgotten, Tenzen did manage to take down a genin level shinobi with ease, and if the Jonin hadn't interfered he would have token down the rest.

"What do you mean by discuss my training Jii-san? Hasn't sensei been doing a good enough job?" Tenzen asked trying to better understand what the old coot was getting at.

"He has been doing a fantastic job. Better than I honestly expected. But, we feel that more drastic training is in order." The Hokage responded. "But we will discuss that in a second. First, I would like to get a full report from both of you. Let's begin with you Tenzen."

The last Seishin stepped forward and recalled all he could of attack up to the point when Minato arrived and saved him. Next, Minato stepped forward and gave his well-detailed report, not leaving out any detail.

"…So you see Hokage-sama, they knew of the limits of my Hiraishin, and how to avoid it. " Minato said finishing up his report and taking a step back.

"I see." The Sandaime said putting his hand up to his face in a pondering manner. "Very well, you report if complete."

"Hokage-sama." Minato spoke up. "Do we have any idea what village they are from?" The Hokage look at Minato with a stern look. Before he answered, Sarutobi reached for pipe and put fresh tobacco in it. Then, he put it between his teeth and lit it.

"You and I shall discuss this at another time Minato." The Hokage said exhaling a large cloud of smoke from his lungs. "For now, we must discuss the train which Tenzen will be under going." Then, as if on cue, there was a knock at the door, and the Hokage's secretary opened the door slowly before sticking her head through the small crack between the door and the wall.

"Hokage-sama, Uzumaki Kushina is here now. Shall I send her in?" the young brown haried secretary said being ever formal with the man many called the "God of Shinobi."

"Ah yes, perfect timing. Please have her come in." Hiruzen said before taking another long drag of his pipe.

The secretary then widened the door open and stepped out of the way to allow Kushina to enter. Then, she closed the door and scurried back to her desk.

Kushina walked to the two before the most powerful man in the village and immediately fell in line. She gave him a light bow in respect, and then straightened her back as any good soldier would do.

"You wished to see me Hokage-sama?" Kushina said not even giving Minato and Tenzen a side-glance. Tenzen knew as well as anybody that every going-on in the Hokage's office was all business.

"Yes Kushina, we were just going to discuss the trip you three shall be taking." The Sandaime said with his pipe now pressed between his teeth. Taking one last hit, he exhaled slowly before knocking the remaining tobacco out of the pipe, and then putting it back into the desk. "Now, you three will be embarking on a two year training trip for Tenzen. In which time, Tenzen will learn the secrets of his family's techniques and gaining important knowledge on how to be a true shinobi. So you will be going to Seishingakure."

Tenzen's jaw dropped. He could believe that the Hokage would send him to the one place that caused Tenzen the most pain.

"Why can't Sensei and I continue my training here Jii-san."? The white haired boy asked with worry in his voice. He never wished to return to his birthplace. It was a place of nightmares for Tenzen, and it haunted his dreams to this day.

"The reasoning for this is because of what Minato and Kushina discovered to their last trip to the hidden spirit." The Hokage continued. "Upon opening the door to the spirit temple. Minato and Kushina discovered that it was quite inhabited."

"What?! Minato-sensei, you told me that those squatters were no where near the temple!" Tenzen yelled angered at the thought of his beloved sensei lying to him.

"Please Tenzen, allow me to finish." The Hokage cut in trying to calm the boy's nerves. "What Minato said was true. The Fuma Clan is camped nowhere near the center of the village. They are not the inhabitants of the Spirit Temple."

"Then who is?!" Tenzen blurted out still confused and frustrated at the whole situation.

"It was the Seishin clan's special summon's." Minato said in a teacher-like manner. "The Fox's."

Tenzen remembered them. They were always all over Seishingakure, especially at the temple. But, why were they still there. If he remembered correctly, his father said that the Fox's came from the Eternal Plain, and they used a summoning jutsu to bring them wherever they needed them. But, he also remembered that many of the Fox's rarely went back to the Eternal Plain after they were used. Many stayed in Seishingakure with who had they're unique contract. Unlike other summons, there was only one fox to one summoner. No one could use the same summon, and they were all very unique. Most were given their fox from the time they were three. Therefore, they could grow up together and their attachment could grow. The fox's and their summoner were inseparable.

Tenzen merely lowered his eyes. Realizing that his outburst was completely uncalled for. But, now everything made sense. The Fox's must have told Minato to bring Tenzen to the temple so that he could train, because the Seishin's kekkei genkai was derived from the special techniques that the Fox summons use.

"I can take it from the look on your face you understand. Good, then I don't need to explain myself any further. You three will leave in two days at 06:00. That should give plenty of time to prepare your things. Now Tenzen you are dismissed, Minato, Kushina I would speak with you a moment." The Hokage said and they all looked to Tenzen to wait for his departure. Which he did after a small bow to the Sarutobi and slight smile to Minato and Kushina. After hearing about the Fox summons, Tenzen was excited for this trip. Perhaps finally he can understand his family's power and what it does.

End Flashback.

Tenzen remained standing in place even as Minato and Kushina began walking even further into the Hidden Spirit. He was remembering many things about the place of his birth, and his family. He saw the training grounds were he used to watch his older brother train. The fountain, which many threw their Ryo into, and right next to it was the bench his mother would sit at while Tenzen tried to grab all the koi fish.

"Hey Tenzen, try to keep up." Kushina yelled dragging the boy out of his memories and back to reality. He ran to catch up only to stop dead at an all to familiar sight. He saw the kennel that all the Fox summons would go to, to relax and also to keep the pups in line. Tenzen then remembered something that he couldn't believe he had forgotten.

His name was Shiro, and he was the fox pup Tenzen was given on his forth birthday. Only two weeks before the massacre. He never knew what became of Shiro, if he had died in the saking. But, now he wanted to get to the Temple right away. Maybe Shiro was even waiting for him, just hoping that he would return and they could begin training together. Tenzen drew himself from his thought and began in a full sprint to the temple. He needed to know if Shiro was still alive. He could only hope.

"Tenzen slow down." Kushina yelled at the boy as he went streaming by them, b-lining for the temple gates.

"He remembered." Minato said to Kushina as a smile crossed his face at his students revelation

"You think? He's never talked about it before." Kushina asked not fully convinced.

Tenzen was now running up the 100 some steps in took to reach the temple grounds. His hopes ever rising at the thought of a piece of his family still be alive. Although Tenzen had only known the pup for two short week, he was still family. They were born the be with one another, and as his father used to say to him "A Fox pact is till death. You too shall be brothers forever." Finally reaching the large doors that blocked off the rest of the village to the temple, Tenzen hesitated. He didn't know if he could handle discovering that his other brother had died. But, he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. He quickly wiped his head around to look into the eyes of his Sensei.

"Go ahead." The blonde shinobi said giving Tenzen a bright smile that immediately brought all the hope back the young boys heart. In a quick motion he put his hands against the door and gave it a big push.

The doors swung open to reveal a beautiful courtyard covered in flowers and trees of different variety. It was just as Tenzen remembered it. Sakura's lined the fairly large pond on his right. To his left there was what seemed like a field of flowers in all shapes and colors. It was utterly beautiful.

Then he noticed them. Walking slowly from the temple were three large foxes. The one on the left had red fur with white paws. Something told Tenzen she was a girl, he vaguely remembered her, perhaps she was someone's summon that he knew. The next fox on the right had very dark, pitch-black fur. There seemed to be no trace of another color on this fox, he was night itself. The last fox in the middle was the biggest and was very familiar. A smile came to Tenzen's face when seeing the all to familiar white fur. His name was Gekido and he was the boss of fox's, and also his father's summon. He, contrast to the other fox on the right, was a solid white, with piercing red eyes.

Tenzen began to remember all the time he spent with the giant fox. He remembered how he used to ride him around town when he was too tired to keep up with his parent while shopping or traveling. He also remembered how he would sleep in his room during a storm because Tenzen was afraid of thunder. But most importantly, he was the father of Shiro.

"Gekido-san!" Tenzen yelled before he ran up to the giant white wolf and tried his hardest to rap his arms around the huge neck. The fox simply lowered his head to seemingly embrace the boy. The other two fox created a circle around Tenzen to welcome the boy back home.

It has been quite some time Tenzen-sama. the red fox said, but not with her voice with her thoughts. Tenzen would never forget the felling of communicating with foxes. It's how he knew the red fox was a girl and how the other two were boys. It wasn't so much telepathy as it was a feeling. It was like he knew what they were feeling and thinking with out even hearing them say it.

He looked to the red fox in an attempt to discover who she was and how he knew her. Then it hit him, like a brick to the head.

"Furea! Is that you?" Tenzen asked his face getting all screwed up in confusion. The young fox gave Tenzen a small nod as confirmation. Furea was his older sisters summon, and the daughter of Gekido.

Remembering more about the foxes he grew up with he turned his head quickly to look at the pitch-black fox. His face lit up once more in realization.

"Yoru!" Tenzen shrieked while he took in the big black fox into a hug. "I can't believe you are all okay."

Minato and Kushina stood their watching the whole ordeal. They were a little confused on how Tenzen knew who they were, when they had come to the temple, trying to communicate with the foxes was like playing charades. The foxes seemed to understand them just fine, but it wasn't until they found a picture of Tenzen did Minato finally understand what the foxes wanted. But, they were content with asking Tenzen questions later, no way were they going to ruin his reunion.

"Minato-sensei, Kushina come say hello." Tenzen said turning away from the foxes and putting his attention on his sensei and his girlfriend. Then he wiped his head around to look at the foxes once again.

"What do mean you already know them?" Tenzen asked the white fox. "You told them to bring me here… anyways they still don't know your names." Tenzen then looked back to the two shinobi he had come here with and pointed to the red fox on the left.

"This is Furea, Yoru, and the fox boss Gekido." The white haried boy said pointing to each fox as they said their names. "And this is Namikaze Minato, my sensei, and Uzumaki Kushina… even if you do know their names it's still nice to give introductions." Tenzen stuck his tongue out at the pitch-black fox, which clearly mocked him in some way.

Minato felt an over whelming sense of happiness for his student. Since the day he met the energetic boy, he had never seen him as happy as he saw him right now. He knew that this trip was the right decision, perhaps his student could finally burry his nightmares and come to terms with his family's demise. Not to forget that they might be able to understand what it was that killed all the Seishin.

"Gekido-otosan, where is Shiro?" Tenzen finally said after several minutes of silence. The question seemed to hang in the air for a long time. Tenzen began to worry something had happened to his beloved fox-brother. But, Gekido gave a hard bark, and Tenzen felt what he had said in that bark.

After about a minute a fox the height of Tenzen came out of the temple. He was mostly white with some black patches of fur that seemed to take shape. Tenzen knew who the fox was. It was his summon, his fox, his aniki, Shiro.

End Chapter 11

So Tenzen is finally back in Seishingakure and he has met the fox summons. Will Shiro remember him? Will he be happy to see him? Find out next time.

I'd like to thank everyone for continuing to read. I know I may not be the best writer in the world, but the support is appreciated. Please continue reading and let me know what you think in a review.

Question: Who is the most powerful ninja to live in the Narutoverse? (Personal opinions)