Chapter 14: Clash with Fire
Shoryu hadn't even unpacked yet when Reizo knocked the next day and told him they were heading out again so soon. As usual, the boy was ecstatic; with his ambition to roam the world, seeing new places had been the highlight of his induction of his ranks into the ninja ever since that day all those months ago when he'd been given his headband. This time they were going southeast, through both the Land of Snow and the Land of Hot Water to the border where the Land of Fire began. There, Hidden Cloud ninja would retrieve the letter and carry it to the Tsuchikage another two countries away.
With his bruises beginning to heal and the sun on his back rather than a tonne of supplies, Shoryu enjoyed the walk far more than he did the last. A gentle breeze drifted across the land and the short grass underfoot made the trek an easy one. Kazuya seemed to talk more often as well; he still walked a few paces ahead, but he joined in on the conversation whenever topics came up that he deemed interesting.
Reizo told Squad Thirteen all about his meeting with the Raikage and his wrath when it came to the clone incident. When asked, he also told Shoryu and the others about the heated argument he'd had with his family. The boy couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt when he heard little to his surprise that the conference they'd held concerned him, and that Reizo had forfeited his position as a clansman for his sake. 'Introducing Reizo Kuroda' he'd said with enthusiasm, having taken on his mother's maiden name.
After hearing that, Shoryu wondered whether or not he should ask his mother for his father's surname. She might take it as an insult, but at the end of the day he wasn't a member of the clan and so had no business sticking with the name Aizawa. It moved Shoryu that Reizo had sacrificed so much for him; he knew right then that he couldn't have asked for a better sensei. When Shoryu told him that he didn't have to go to such extremes Reizo just modestly shrugged and told him not to worry. Of course, he neglected to tell them about the promise he'd made to his father about the Chunin exams. He didn't want to tell them until he knew for sure they were ready.
Reizo still feared for them; the Chunin exams were a dangerous and trying ordeal that many each year still continued to die from. Had he made the right call in rising to his father's taunt? Kazuya might've been able to take care of himself, but Ayako and Shoryu were another story. Still, whatever the result, the Chunin exams would work out well for them if they survived it. The three would be forced to spend time alone together and rely on each other more if they wanted to succeed. Teamwork rarely progressed quicker than when a group were constantly an inch away from danger.
They hadn't even reached the first border yet when the sun began to set over the Land of Lightning. Reizo assured them however that this was normal, and that tomorrow they'd probably cross the entirety of the Land of Snow before dusk. With the southern winds blowing strong and their dangerous proximity to the Land of Snow it began to get cold. Shoryu had the dragon light several fires to keep his blood warm as he fought Kazuya under the red glow of the setting sun.
The pair of them had agreed to keep training for the time being even though Reizo's deal had come to a close with the end of the last mission; Shoryu had practically begged it of Kazuya earlier in the day and he'd finally conceded, saying that he needed the practice. It was only later that Shoryu remembered the heart-to-heart he'd had with him in which he confessed to never having a sparring partner. After remembering that Shoryu realised that Kazuya's initial reluctance was just to save face; he couldn't let the other two see that he was finally getting accustomed to the boy.
That night the samurai instructed Shoryu on how to effectively attack without showing openings or shifting his weight too much. It had been a problem Shoryu admitted was one of his worst; in fact the reason for his wielding two swords instead of one was purely because he didn't have a firm enough centre of balance to pull off a single blade. At the very least he'd progressed tonight, blitzing out skilled attacks as they danced in the small clearing of a nearby forest.
The more and more he'd practiced the faster and harder his strikes had become. In the space of just a week his muscles had developed beyond their natural size to a state where he could flex or look in the mirror and feel relatively proud of himself. He was still not quite so toned as Kazuya, but he was impressed nonetheless.
By the time they finished Shoryu's joints were stiff as swords and his hip ached from where he'd mistimed a blow and received a whack from Kazuya as punishment. He flopped to the earthy, pine littered floor next to one of the three fires and rewarded himself for his efforts by helping himself to a bottle of water. Shoryu tossed the bottle over to Kazuya as the boy sat down opposite him with his back pressed to a tree. It was warm and tasted funny after being left beside the blaze for so long, but any refreshment was good after such a session.
"You thought up of a name for him yet then?" probed the samurai, turning his eyes to the happy little dragon that wandered across the forest floor and licked at his hand.
Shoryu shrugged. "Sort of – I originally thought about being generic and putting the character for 'dragon' in his name,"
"But that's already in your name," said Kazuya.
"Exactly; big coincidence when you think about it isn't it? Anyway I don't have anyone to name him after and I'm completely unoriginal, so I've been calling him Kyoh for the last two days."
"Kyoh?" Kazuya tilted his head. "What does that mean?"
Shoryu shrugged again. "It doesn't really mean anything; it's one of the few words he says a lot and he seemed to like it, so I'm sticking with it unless I think of anything better."
"Kyoh!" agreed the dragon.
"Sounds dumb," remarked the samurai.
"Alright then you think of something."
Kazuya spent a few moments in silence as he tried his best to think of a cool name to fit the cutesy little creature that kept grabbing his sleeve and tugging it in an attempt to get him to play. Eventually he shook his head. "Nope, can't think of anything," he resigned.
"It's hard isn't it?"
"Surprisingly. Anyway did you ask your mother about Kamiko?"
Shoryu lowered his head in defeat upon remembering the brief conversation he'd had the previous day. "Yeah," he explained. "But I got nowhere. My dad had a brother and a sister so she could be the daughter of either of them. I did learn that he was a summoner though; I never actually knew his fighting style before."
"A summoner? I didn't even know you could prioritise summoning jutsu as an offensive technique."
"That's exactly what I thought!" Shoryu agreed. The two allowed themselves a quiet laugh until the boy continued, "So we're heading southeast. Isn't your village nearby?"
"Yes." Kazuya nodded his head with a look of regret. "Normally we'd pass right by it, but Reizo-sensei seems to be taking us on a route where our path crosses it. I doubt it's a coincidence."
"That sounds like Reizo-sensei," said Shoryu. Taking a longer route on purpose to get Kazuya to meet up with his clan wouldn't be much of a stretch for the Jonin.
"Indeed. But about that Shoryu, there's something I've been meaning to ask you. It's a shameful request and I wouldn't be saying this if there was any other way, but I only ask that you consi-" Halfway through his sentence and Kazuya stopped, as if something had caught his attention. His head jerked to the side like a startled prairie dog, to the unknown spaces of the dense woods that the light of the fire couldn't reach.
Shoryu followed his gaze; he hadn't heard a thing, but Kazuya had. The tell-tale rustling noise of a lurking ninja had sounded from the deep. Ayako or Reizo would've announced their arrival. After another minute Shoryu heard it too.
"We're not alone," Kazuya muttered, keeping his voice low as he casually groped for his double edged sword on the floor. If the samurai's intuitiveness wasn't proof enough then Kyoh's rumbling growl and wary stare at the darkened forest was.
"It could just be an animal. Are you sure?" Shoryu asked. He too kept the volume to a minimum to ensure the potential enemy didn't expect a thing. The last time he'd been in this situation Shoryu had fretted like a coward until the time had come to act, this time though he felt tense; exhilarated by the idea of a good fight. He reflected that maybe Kazuya's influence had rubbed off a bit too much on him as he reached for a windmill shuriken from his pouch along with a small, curious bottle that he now kept there for good measure.
"I'm sure. There's something out there," Kazuya confirmed.
By now Shoryu's heart rate had doubled. Knowing that a kunai or some strange jutsu could rush out of the darkness to claim his life at any second activated the fight or flight response that he'd read all about. Last time he'd chosen flight, but this time the will to fight guided him. He unscrewed the bottle and gently spilled its contents onto the folded shuriken, making sure to drench every inch of the metal.
As soon as he'd opened it Kazuya could smell exactly what substance he poured onto the weapon: oil. What it was for he had no idea until Shoryu coolly flipped the shuriken open to its large size and got to his feet, stretching out like a cat to hide his true intentions to any onlookers.
"I'll flush him out," he said quietly, yawning to avoid rousing suspicion. "Nine o'clock, right?"
"Three, no wait." Kazuya did the math. "Yeah, it's your nine o'clock."
"Alright. . ." Shoryu clicked his tongue loudly to force eye contact with the tiny dragon. Once he had it, he raised his voice; it was too late to turn back now. "Kyoh!" he ordered loudly.
Upon his command the beast rushed over, and in less than a second he'd jumped up and coughed a small fire onto the shuriken, igniting the oil and setting it aflame as Shoryu hurled it with all his might into the darkness to his left. Lighting up the forest as it went, the windmill shuriken spun with a dazzling fire until it stuck two inches into the base of a large tree. A shadow danced in the firelight; the ninja's cover was blown. Knowing that he couldn't hide anymore, the shadow ran with all the speed of a Jonin towards their small encampment, right into the path of Shoryu's trio of hand signs.
"Wind Style! Air Slash Stream!" he cried.
Countless arcs of wind rushed from the sign of the bird, carving up deep wallows in the trees and chopping up thousands of leaves to form a cascading storm of green upon the forest. After sustaining two cuts the ninja fled upwards. He darted from tree to tree faster than Shoryu's hands could follow before flipping up and over the very tops to land square in the middle of the clearing.
He was good; better than either of them. Of all the ninja he'd come across, Shoryu knew that only Reizo would've been able to counter that strategy so effectively and turn it into an advance. Now that he was illuminated by the three fires Shoryu could finally see this enemy ninja's appearance.
He was a young man no older than twenty, clad in a dark blue combat outfit with white pants and shuriken holsters strapped to every other limb. Like the two of them he wore a forehead protector, a sign that he came from a shinobi village. Being a samurai, Kazuya would never have been able to identify the exact village that this ninja came from, but Shoryu knew the symbol better than any. This man was from the Land of Fire, a ninja sent from the Village Hidden in the Leaves. His hair of a deep raven was spiked at an odd angle and his eyes had the colour of two pieces of coal, eyes that looked older than his true years.
On both his right arm and his sleeve there was a clan insignia: a red fan leaking into the lower portion of white. Shoryu could've sworn he'd seen the symbol somewhere before, but he had no time to put a name to it as the ninja came rushing his way with a punch connecting to his cheek before he had time to draw a sword. He staggered, almost to the floor.
Shoryu couldn't help but wonder why he hadn't been finished off until he regained his composure and looked around; Kazuya had intercepted him, dragging the nameless ninja into a close-quarters battle with the sword of his ancestor. Shoryu couldn't help but smile; the ninja wouldn't have expected a samurai when he lunged into close range – he had no idea what he was getting himself into.
Yet as skilled as Kazuya was, this ninja bested him at every turn. The samurai spun attack after attack his way, using every inch of the double bladed weapon and breaking out moves so technical that Shoryu couldn't even dream of pulling them off. Not one of them hit. As swift as a puma the Hidden Leaf ninja darted between every slash, meeting every three with a solid punch or a kick.
Kazuya moved in closer, upping his speed with a quick burst of his time manipulation dojutsu and bringing the sword down in a wheeling motion. The ninja sidestepped gracefully, albeit with more difficulty. Now he had Kazuya off his guard, allowing him to deliver three swift consecutive punches to his midsection before flipping back into a kick that sent the samurai to the ground.
Shoryu's turn had arrived. If Kazuya had been beaten so easily he knew that challenging the Hidden Leaf ninja in close combat was a bad idea. With Kyoh hopping up onto his shoulders he let loose a single hand sign, sending a burning blade of curved wind across the grass.
"Flaming Air Slash!" he cried.
The blazing arc scorched the ground beneath it as it careered through the air towards its target. Shoryu's fist had already clenched in triumph upon seeing how accurate his blast had been, yet still the ninja evaded with a swift roll away from danger. Shoryu whipped out the second shuriken and hurled it his way, only to have the weapon impossibly caught by the insane reflexes of the enemy ninja.
"That technique you had was interesting. Fire style was it?" he asked coolly, his black eyes flickering under the firelight.
Shoryu growled in frustration, watching the giant shuriken spin from its centre to a stop upon the man's fingers. He wanted nothing more than to correct the Leaf ninja and tell him that the Flaming Air Slash was actually a wind technique imbued with the power of fire. The ninja formed the tiger seal ahead of him; now he'd receive a real fire style attack. The ninja sucked in a great mouthful of air, filling his lungs and chest out to twice their normal size before he expelled it in one great burst.
"Fireball Jutsu!"
"Wind Style: Galeforce Jutsu!" Shoryu retaliated. His hands were shaking already with the excitement of the battle rushing to his head. Quick thinking on his part meant that the ninja's enormous bowling ball of fire was sucked into the five foot tornado summoned by the wind user. With the combination of wind and flame the typhoon billowed out with a great explosion, spitting tongues of fire onto the forest floor and threatening to set the whole wood alight. Shoryu's marvel at his own genius was his downfall; he spent so much time watching the flaming vortex that he failed to see the Leaf ninja dash behind him, again forming the sign of the tiger.
"Fire Style: Flamethrower!"
This time Shoryu knew for sure it was over. He should've pre-empted his opponent and acted sooner, but with the broad stretch of napalm coming his way it was now too late. He might survive, but he'd be burned forever from the unbearable heat of this powerful jutsu. He covered his face with his hands for good measure, fearing for his life right up until Kazuya's voice called out nearby.
"Ice Style: Frozen Wall!"
Just when Shoryu figured his life was at an end a great, two foot thick barrier of ice rose up from the ground before him. He saw it melt with the heat as an orange hue glowed through the wall, the fire bearing down all its heat in its assault upon the wall. By the time the flames subsided, only a steaming pile of water drenched Shoryu's feet, but he'd been saved. He looked to his left to see that Kazuya had both hands pressed to the floor not far away.
He rose back to his feet quicker than Shoryu had ever seen before, revealing the spiral pattern that had taken the place of his pupils. He must've used the time to add more hand signs into the jutsu, for when he advanced with sword in hand his run was a blur that Shoryu could hardly follow. Twenty five hand signs had been executed; Kazuya was at his maximum speed. Shoryu had only ever seen it once, when he was on the receiving end of it the day he met Kazuya.
It looked as impressive now as it did back then. The flourish of Kazuya's sword left wavering afterimages as he chased down the Leaf Ninja, pushing him back into resorting everything he had into his defence. The ninja fled to the trees and Kazuya soon followed as he hacked away at every branch the enemy stood upon. In spite of the samurai's newfound speed though, the ninja still managed to evade. He was shown no quarter in which to counter, but he hung in there. Shoryu took his chance.
Throwing his last shuriken up into the trees, the boy executed a number of hand signs and began the Shuriken Sway Jutsu. With his chakra manifested as wind Shoryu used it to pressure lightly on the surface of the four-pointed star to send it spinning up into the lofty rafters of the forest chasing after the duelling pair. As Shoryu finally angled it towards the Leaf Ninja something impossible happened: he saw only the flash of a kunai knife flip into the man's hand as he batted the shuriken away as if it was a mere annoyance, continuing to ascend upwards in his attempt to flee Kazuya.
It wasn't over yet though; Shoryu still had control over the soaring blade and with every move Kazuya got closer and closer to hitting his target. Using all his focus Shoryu pulled at the shuriken as hard as he could with his chakra like the leash of a persistent dog. Eventually he managed to set it on a different path, arching up and over the very tops of the trees before it came down at even greater speeds for another pass. At that very moment the ninja leapt from his safe haven amongst the branches, flipped like an acrobat in the air and landed flawlessly back at the very centre of the encampment.
Shoryu's mouth tightened into a grin. Perfect, he nearly said aloud. Right above him the shadow of the shuriken pooled at his feet, growing and growing as it got closer and closer to him. If the ninja saw it he paid it no attention; his eyes were focused upwards, watching with a concentrated look as Kazuya plummeted down after him. They had him now; if Shoryu's shuriken didn't get him then Kazuya would open him from shoulder to hip with a single slash of his blade. Side by side they descended as Kazuya joined the shuriken in free fall. Shoryu saw the gleam of steel in the growing firelight moments before the Leaf ninja smiled and closed his eyes.
"Guess I've no choice then," Shoryu heard him mutter.
With his last words uttered, the two attacks struck less than a second later. He saw for his own eyes the shuriken that lay inches from skewering his head and the two-sided sword that came down even harder. He expected the splatter of blood as metal bit into flesh and ended the ninja's life once and for all.
Instead he heard a strange clash as the attacks bounced away.
In a blast of energy the strange ninja's immediate surroundings suddenly warped into a pale lavender aura, shrouded by chakra so potent that it was visible to the naked eye. Around him the ribcage of some hellish skeletal monstrosity had formed within that aura, encasing him in its protective embrace and making sure that any attacks rebounded. The shuriken sailed into the night and Kazuya was sent spinning into the trunk of a nearby tree that splintered and cracked under the force of the impact.
"Kazuya!"
Shoryu's excitement had faded as quickly as it came upon him. Whatever kind of abominable jutsu this was, it was way beyond his level. Both attacks combined hadn't even chipped a single crumb of bone from the impenetrable defence that surrounded the Leaf Ninja. The worst part of it all was that Shoryu got a horrible feeling that they'd only just scratched the surface of this terrible power. Already he could see the bony outline of a skeletal hand that stomped the ground to his right, followed by the impression of two enormous eyes some ten metres above.
Finally the ninja reopened his eyes. The moment he did so, Shoryu recognised exactly where he'd seen the man's clan symbol before.
A jagged black pinwheel surrounded by eyes the colour of blood stared out at him more intensely than any glare he'd ever received before, and Shoryu had been on the opposite end of many glares in his life. There was no doubt about it now; this was the Mangekyo Sharingan, the highest form of the trademark dojutsu of the Uchiha. Shoryu knew that the clan had flourished and been allowed to grow again since the war, but never in his wildest dreams did he think he'd meet one in person, let alone fight one with such an advanced strain of the Sharingan.
This man must've been a descendant from the same Uchiha who'd fought in the Fourth Shinobi World War - the friend, rival and enemy to the legendary Sixth Hokage. If that was the case Shoryu knew he didn't have a chance. The pinwheels of his eyes spun wildly as he prepared to unleash another devastating attack on the thirteen year old boy. Shoryu closed his eyes and prepared to die for the second time that day, and yet death never came. Instead he heard a whir as the Sharingan powered down followed by quick footsteps as the Uchiha bounded over to him and seized him by the scruff of his shirt.
"Tell me what it means!" the man bellowed, having just noticed something important.
Shoryu stammered; with those charcoal black eyes looking so accusing and the memory of that overwhelming jutsu still fresh in his mind he found that he'd lost the basic ability of speech. "W-What? I don't – I don't und-understand!" he finally managed.
"What don't you understand? It's plain and simple! THIS thing! What is it? Tell me and I might just spare your life."
Shoryu looked down, and to his horror he finally saw where the ninja was pointing. It was the violet symbol of two crescents bowing into each other, the mark on his jacket; his father's jacket. He'd seen it on Kamiko Honami and even the clone they'd interrogated seemed to recognise it. "I – I don't understand!" he cried again once the Uchiha pressed him for an answer. "How do you know about that mark?"
Without a word the Uchiha lifted the sleeve of his shirt to reveal that same sigil inked into his arm, just like Kamiko. He said, "Don't act like you don't know! I've had it my entire life. A few years ago I met a boy named Tomeo Honami who had the same mark – he couldn't tell me about it either. Then last week, when your people attacked us, one of you ninja knew of it. He said he was 'surprised I hadn't been taken yet', and then he killed himself. So cut the act and tell me what it means!"
"Look, I don't know!" Shoryu waved his hands around in protest as a thousand thoughts went around in his head. Who was Tomeo Honami? Was he Kamiko's brother? And what did the Uchiha mean when he said the Cloud Village had attacked the Leaf? Whatever the case, Shoryu knew he had to excuse himself before he was killed. "This was my father's jacket, I don't know anything about it! He died before I was born."
"Liar." Again Shoryu found himself staring into the eyes of the Mangekyo Sharingan as it spun to life, replacing his irises. If he didn't give him information then Shoryu would be dead, of that he was sure. Even so, he had nothing to give; he wanted answers just as badly and yet none were to be found.
"Kiyoshi! Ease off!" called a voice from the shadows.
"Shoryu! Kazuya! Are you alright?" said a second. Shoryu felt his stomach do a somersault; he was saved. The second voice belonged to none other than Reizo.
"He's a Hidden Cloud ninja," the Uchiha spat back into the darkness, clutching the collar of Shoryu's shirt even tighter. "How can you even say that?"
"Kiyoshi, we just met up with the rest of his cell. Their leader is a man named Reizo Yukizawa." As the first voice spoke again Shoryu noticed its origin as a broad chested man with a stout goatee walked into the firelight with Reizo in tow, followed by Ayako and close to a dozen Leaf ninja. Reizo didn't bother correcting the ninja on his new surname; now wasn't the time.
"I don't care what his name is!" cried Kiyoshi Uchiha.
"But I do, and I'm the squad commander here so you'll do as I say! Reizo is an old friend of mine; we served together many years ago. He's an honourable man – I don't believe he had anything to do with the attack on your squad. I doubt he even knows about it. We should at least hear him out," reasoned the Leaf commander.
With a final snarl at Shoryu, Kiyoshi released the scruff of his shirt and got back to his feet. "This isn't over, I want answers," he muttered under his breath.
With kunai and readied hand signs pointed at them from every angle, Reizo and Ayako were surrounded at the centre of the encampment, forced to keep their hands held high where they could do no damage. Ayako was trembling; clearly the same adrenaline that had taken over Shoryu hadn't found her quite so easily.
"I think I've gotten the gist of this supposed attack, so let's see if I can fill in the blanks," Reizo began, speaking coolly as though he'd been threatened with death a thousand times before. He turned to his old friend from the Land of Fire. "Tairo, listen to me, I'm no liar. I'm going to go ahead and assume a squad of yours were already out on a mission when the ninja from the Village Hidden in the Clouds attacked you."
Tairo narrowed his eyes in confusion, turning nervously to the rest of his cell.
"These ninja, were they clones?" Reizo asked. "Shadow Clones, more advanced than any kind of clone you'd ever seen before. They required a fatal blow to kill them – does this ring any bells?"
"He's right!" called a ninja with a shuriken.
"He knows what happened because he was involved in it!" Kiyoshi accused as he drew a knife.
"Calm down Kiyoshi!" roared Tairo the squad commander. "You heard him Reizo: how did you know all that?"
Still keeping his hands calmly raised, the Jonin spoke slowly and carefully. "The same thing happened to us: a group of supposed Stone ninja from the Land of Earth attacked our group no less than a week ago in exactly the same way that I described." As carefully as he dared Reizo lowered his hand to his pouch. He heard the chink of metal as ninja all around him tightened their grip on their weapons, preparing themselves for an attack. "Easy," Reizo said as he finally retrieved the Raikage's letter from his pack. "This is a note from our Kage to the Tsuchikage, demanding to know what happened and whether he had anything to do with it. I know now that it's probable that the Land of Earth had nothing to do with the attack on my squad, just like we had nothing to do with the attack on yours."
After a few long moments the Leaf commander finally spoke. "Alright lower your weapons," he ordered the others. "Reizo is an honourable man – I don't take him for a liar."
Reizo breathed a sigh of relief as each of the surrounding ninja put away their miscellaneous projectiles, even Kiyoshi Uchiha. Ayako meanwhile looked as though she was about to faint. The three campfires and the random blazes that dotted the floor where Kiyoshi and Shoryu had burned them seemed to simmer down with the mood. Now that they'd finally talked their way out of danger Shoryu used the time to rush over to Kazuya's side, still slumped next to the tree he'd been thrown into.
He looked exhausted; the chakra that the highest level of his dojutsu ate up was staggering. Add that to the fact that he'd just been thrown against a tree so hard that it nearly paralysed him and you had a pitiful looking Kazuya. In spite of his condition he told Shoryu not to worry about him as both turned their eyes to the conversation still unfolding.
"Tairo," Reizo started again. "I've explained myself, now it's time for you to do the same. What are you doing here? Why did your squad attack us without warning?"
Tairo suddenly looked ashamed, as if he'd somehow disgraced himself. "Forgive me Reizo; I should've seen through it as you did. I should've known we were being played right from the start. It's just. . . When Kiyoshi's group was slaughtered, the Hokage opted to do nothing in retaliation. We took matters into our own hands."
"The Hokage is a pacifist fool," chided Kiyoshi from the sidelines.
"Pacifist maybe, but the twelfth is no fool," Reizo corrected him. "At least you see it now Tairo. We've all been set up and turned against each other. We don't have much to go on, but I do know one thing though: a Kage has to be behind these attacks; one of them is trying to start a war. If these attacks are happening all over the world then we just need to figure out the village that hasn't been ambushed – then we'll have our culprit. If we don't do it soon it'll be too late. I'll send this letter to the Tsuchikage as instructed, but after that I'll return to the Raikage and beg him to call a summit conference. I'd urge you to do the same thing with the Hokage."
Tairo chewed his lip and nodded meekly. Shoryu could tell he was a headstrong, proud man, but he listened to reason when it mattered. Reizo had made the best outcome imaginable; he'd not only managed to get them out of danger, he'd actually made his attacker agree with him and conform to his way of thinking, gaining another follower in his cause.
"These are dark times we live in Reizo. After that attack I've already been hearing whispers of a 'Fifth Shinobi World War'," Tairo said.
"Let's hope it doesn't come to that."
Tairo nodded. "Aye, so we'll be on our way then. We won't trouble you no more, and we'll tell the same to the rest of the village."
"Give me a minute alone with this 'Shoryu'," ordered Kiyoshi. He turned back to the boy with a menacing stare that made him fight to hide his nervousness. Those same eyes could transform at any second into the Mangekyo Sharingan, one of the greatest weapons used in the Fourth World War. Tairo and Reizo each looked to one another with a glance of apprehension, neither knowing whether or not it was a good idea.
"Shoryu, do you agree?" checked Reizo.
After a few seconds Shoryu nodded. Part of it was the pressure of those intense black orbs boring into him, but another side of him wanted answers, and to get them he'd have to dance with the devil. Nothing good would come without risk.
"Alright," said Tairo, "But Kiyoshi, if any of that boy's blood gets spilled you'll have both me and Reizo to answer to. You might be powerful kid but you can't take us both on."
"It's fine; I won't hurt him," the Uchiha replied.
"You'd better not."
With his final warning spoken, Tairo and his band of ninja turned back into the forest heading west. Reizo and Ayako made their way over to Kazuya and tried to lift him to his feet, yet the samurai was too proud for that. With a wordless protest he pushed them away and dragged himself back to his feet. Nothing but sheer willpower kept Kazuya Takashi on his feet as he straightened himself out with a hand on his back and staggered back to camp.
Shoryu knew just from the look on his face that the mere half a mile's walk would be like crossing the entire Land of Lightning to him. At least he was safe though; tomorrow he'd be almost fully recovered and Shoryu along with him, if he survived the encounter with Kiyoshi Uchiha. Once they were alone the ninja reached out a hand that made Shoryu flinch until he realised that Kiyoshi was actually helping him to his feet.
He accepted it gingerly and allowed Kiyoshi to pace around the camp as the coal of his eyes burned and glistened under the flicker of the flames around him. The Uchiha was deep in thought; a solemn, brooding quality that his kind was known for. A squawk from Kyoh suddenly told Shoryu it was time to send the creature away.
"I feel I owe you an apology," Kiyoshi said at last. "I've been on edge since the incident with the clones; two of my clansmen died you see. . ."
Shoryu couldn't believe his ears; he was actually receiving an apology from an Uchiha. If stories from the last war were to be believed they were hardly renowned for being humble.
"I've been blind to reason this past week. It's unbecoming. Since the war the Uchiha haven't exactly been given a great name. I vowed to try and help restore the full honour of my family, but this isn't exactly the best way to do that - I've just been so frustrated by that mark lately."
"You and me both," Shoryu agreed.
"Tell me about yourself," ordered Kiyoshi as he paced back and forth impatiently. "Maybe then I'll have some clues about that symbol."
Shoryu wanted to ask the exact same question, though courtesy demanded he speak first. He shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. "There isn't much to tell I'm afraid. My mother is from the Zawa clan and my father died before I was born, like I said. There's nothing extraordinary about me; in fact I was born without the Kekkei Genkai of my clan if that makes my story anymore pathetic," remembering the Mangekyo, Shoryu added, "I bet that's pretty different for you."
"It is," agreed Kiyoshi. He stopped pacing slowly and cast his eyes to the floor, looking remorseful as if some distant memory pained him. However it was no memory; it was a story, something his mother had told him a long time ago. "My mother is Etsuyo Uchiha, eight generations descended from the ancient Sasuke who fought in the war. A while ago, she told me something terrible: the way I was born. She was a young woman of twenty or so, walking along the streets of the village one day when she ran into a man.
"She couldn't remember what this man said or looked like, only that it was the last memory she had before she woke up back at her house one day with me in her arms. Time had passed for her in an instant. She couldn't remember anything from it, but her clansmen told her that she'd been gone for a whole year; she'd vanished without a trace and come back the same way as if no more than a second had gone by. She could tell from the changes in her body that she'd had a baby: me, the tiny Uchiha with the strange tattoo on his arm."
Shoryu was shocked by the ninja's horrific tale. Whoever this man was he spoke of; whoever had the capacity to do something so horrible to another must've been evil beyond all measure. He pitied Kiyoshi for being born in such a way. "It sounds like your mother was put under genjutsu," he said. "Powerful genjutsu at that."
"Most definitely, but that's not where my story ends," Kiyoshi revealed. "When I was eight years old my team and I were assigned to a C-Rank mission; it was a simple mission, to protect a man as he travelled from one border of the land to the other."
Shoryu couldn't help but pout in disappointment. This guy had made Genin at eight years old – five years earlier than him.
Kiyoshi continued, "The man never mentioned that he had a bounty of three million ryo on his head. My team and I were ambushed by half a dozen rogue Jonin who'd come for the bounty. My squad leader was cut down first, and then my friends followed. Then when the rogues turned for me, something strange happened: I was an inch from death, looking down the length of a kunai knife headed straight for my skull when the Sharingan awoke. . . The Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan."
The shorter ninja from the Cloud tilted his head in confusion. Had he been reading the wrong books as a child? Had the Sharingan of the legendary Uchiha clan not been quite as well documented as he thought? The last war had seen it in all its glory, hadn't it? He voiced his thoughts. "Hang on a second. I thought that the Mangekyo Sharingan alone took years of training to acquire?" He thought back even further. "And if you want an everlasting one, don't you have to get an operation or something? A transplant, right? From another member of the clan."
"That's right, you do, normally. With me it was different. I never had to train to acquire my Mangekyo and my eyes have not bled once in a decade of using it. Even the veterans of my clan couldn't explain it, but I think it has something to do with my father; it's the only thing that makes sense. It could be a Kekkei Genkai, or he could've experimented on my mother or something whilst I was still inside her. If I eventually find out that's the truth, I'll hunt him down and use this power to destroy him for what he did for her."
Not for the first time Kiyoshi's eyes flashed a dangerous set of intersecting pinwheels on a red backdrop, and Shoryu had no doubt that he'd do what he swore. Even in spite of the tragic fate that had befallen Etsuyo Uchiha, Shoryu couldn't help but feel envious of her son Kiyoshi. They were linked by that same symbol that connected their fathers in some way; Shoichi had it stitched into his jacket and Kiyoshi's nameless father had tattooed it into his son's arm, just like both Kamiko and this 'Tomeo' Honami.
On the one hand Kiyoshi had been blessed with the power of the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, the highest form of ocular power even more famous than the Rinnegan or the Kanzen Raikyogan. On the other hand, Shoryu had been cursed by having his birth right taken away; by being the only one in his bloodline for generations to never even possess the most basic strain of his family's dojutsu.
The two talked and talked for another hour or so, trying to get to know one another in an attempt to find out more about the mark of their fathers. Shoryu told Kiyoshi about Kamiko Honami and how the clone had also recognised his own mark as well. During the conversation he couldn't help but recognize something strange: the two people he'd met so far with the purple symbol etched into their arms were some of the most singularly skilled people he'd ever met. Kamiko had advanced well beyond her years in taijutsu and Kiyoshi had the Eternal Mangekyo from the moment his Sharingan activated.
Thinking this, he asked Kiyoshi whether or not this 'Tomeo' he'd met also had some kind of special power. Of course in keeping with Shoryu's recent luck, Kiyoshi couldn't comment; he'd never seen the boy in action. Still, it did raise the interesting question of where these traits had come from. A form of Kekkei Genkai or some kind of pre-birth experimentation were both equally plausible explanations as Kiyoshi had already said.
After an hour and a half had passed the broad Jonin commander with the goatee, Tairo, came striding through the forest to meet them.
"Kiyoshi, hurry it up, we need to get back to the village," he ordered.
Kiyoshi nodded. "We were just finishing up here anyway," he replied. Suddenly the man extended a hand of thanks, and Shoryu took it, confident that he'd made his first foreign ally in his long career as a ninja, even if he had tried to attack him first. And it wasn't just any ally; he'd befriended an Uchiha, a member of one of the most powerful clans in existence. "I hope we meet again Shoryu," added Kiyoshi. "And I hope you find your answers."
Shoryu nodded politely. "You too Kiyoshi, take care."
And just like that, the ninja were gone, disappearing as swiftly and silently as they had approached. Shoryu felt a tingling sensation race up his fingers after having stood in the presence of such a warrior. He set off back to camp quickly, making his way through the dense forest and back to where they'd set up the tent just a mile or so east of the low road that cut straight through the Land of Lightning
He let out a long yawn and looked up at the stars as the fresh pine beneath him turned to the frosted green grass of the Land of Lightning. They were close to the Land of Snow; and even closer to the Village Hidden in the Glacier according to Kazuya, the village where he'd grown up and would one day rule as the Taisho. Shoryu wondered whether Reizo would take them through there and force Kazuya into an awkward conversation with his family.
It was already night when Kiyoshi had attacked them; now it was pitch black. The fire that Reizo had no doubt used his fire jutsu for had long since melted away into embers, though the voices of Squad Thirteen still sounded from the tent. Reizo, Ayako and Kazuya were still up, talking and snacking until Shoryu returned. The boy swept back the tarp and made his way inside.
"We were beginning to think he'd killed and buried you out there," said Kazuya plainly.
"Why? Did you want the honour for yourself?" Shoryu joked.
"Naturally."
"So what did he tell you?" questioned Ayako.
For the next half hour or so Shoryu spent his time explaining everything that had gone on during his talk with the Uchiha, everything from that strange mark that kept cropping up to the boy's origin and upbringing. The three listened intently and offered opinions wherever they had them.
"If those clones really did recognise the symbol on both occasions then it's possible your fathers or their families could have something to do with the attacks on villages," Reizo offered once he'd finished.
Shoryu didn't want to face that possibility, but it had cropped up in his mind all the same; the notion that the man who'd kidnapped and impregnated Etsuyo Uchiha against her will was involved in the attacks certainly seemed plausible enough, but his own father? Whenever Yuuko spoke of his father she portrayed him as a good, kind-hearted man who'd never hurt a fly unless it attacked him first. More and more Shoryu was beginning to doubt that idea. The symbol Shoichi had stitched to his jacket seemed to personify evil, treason and deception, yet taking it off would be missing a vital opportunity to learn information in case more people like Kiyoshi Uchiha recognised it.
As Squad Thirteen moved onto lighter topics the team dropped off one by one. Reizo was the first to go, resting his eyes at first before dropping off into an uneasy sleep accompanied by a soft snore. Ayako was next; in fact Shoryu had no idea how long she'd been asleep when he finally realised she'd gone, as the girl seemed to have a tendency to talk in her sleep. She would unconsciously mutter generic replies and hums of agreement, giving the others the impression she was awake until one of her answers cut Kazuya off in midsentence.
The two spared a laugh at this before the awkward silence fell. Outside the whistle of the high winds and the mellow crumbling of the fire's ashes were the only noises that sounded. Shoryu couldn't help but remember that Kazuya had tried to ask him something before Kiyoshi had ambushed them. Now that he'd had time to think on it Shoryu knew exactly what he was about to say, though asking him about it proved difficult. Fortunately Kazuya himself brought it up.
"Shoryu," he said at last, fixing the boy with a hard stare that required nerve to meet. "Before the Leaf attacked, I wanted to ask you something. As a samurai there's no greater shame for me, but I just have to-"
"Then don't ask. I'll do it," said Shoryu.
Kazuya's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "But I didn't even ask anything yet," he reasoned.
"You want me to take the Chunin exams with you, right?" Shoryu correctly guessed. "It's the only thing that makes sense – the other day you mentioned that your clan needs money and it grows even more impatient by the day." The boy stretched out his arms and continued nonchalantly. "If you make Chunin you'd be able to take on tougher missions with a higher reward."
Kazuya looked astounded by his deduction, but when it was his turn to speak he frowned again. Separating a samurai from his honour seemed like an impossible task, even after he'd joined the ranks of the ninja. "I don't want your pity," he muttered sourly.
"Pity?" Shoryu made a face, genuinely offended by the boy's remark. "I'm not doing this out of pity you idiot. I'm helping you out because I'm your friend, or does friendship mean nothing to the samurai?"
"Is that why you took a dive in the stream test the other day?"
Shoryu grinned. "I take it Ayako mentioned my attempt to you them? I didn't want to offend you," he reasoned. "Anyway if I ever want to travel the world someday I'll need more ryo than a Genin's pay, so I guess I should take the Chunin exams sooner rather than later. From what I hear Ayako's family are pushing her to do the test as well. She's also got the skills and she's confident enough so I doubt we'll have any trouble convincing her too."
Still taken aback, Kazuya sighed and couldn't help but crack a rare smile. "I don't really know what to say," he confessed.
"No need to thank me, just forget about it and go to sleep; no cheesy moments, alright?"
The samurai laughed as Ayako let out another mumble of agreement in her sleep.
.
Author's Notes: What? An Uchiha? Hell yes! I'm going to presume now that by the end of Naruto, Sasuke is still alive, giving him the capacity to go out and make little baby Uchihas and restore his clan as he intended to from the beginning (though hopefully not with Sakura). If he doesn't survive then maybe I'll just create some kind of loophole and say that he knocked up some girl in the tiny period of time after he escaped from Orochimaru.
Before anyone asks, the Uchiha won't be playing a vital role in Legacies – they'll just be mentioned every now and again. Kiyoshi himself will have a bigger role in the future of course. Also if any of you are wondering: Kiyoshi is the only one descended from Sasuke Uchiha, Shoryu is not; he shares no blood with him. And no, Shoryu isn't the descendant of anyone in Naruto either - I wanted to keep it original where the main cast is concerned. Although in case you haven't figured yet, his family and heritage will play a massive role. It's called 'Legacies' for a reason ;)
There have been a few names dropped in this chapter, some of which are relevant, some of which aren't. Kyoh (the dragon) is the only one which, as Shoryu said, doesn't mean anything at all. He said something about him wanting to give the dragon a name with the character for 'dragon' in it, but he didn't want to because it's already in his own name. This is a reference to the fact that the 'ryu' in Shoryu's name means dragon. As for the other names:
Kiyoshi means 'Pure'
Etsuyo means 'A generation of delight'
Tomeo means 'Cautious Man'
Some might actually come into it (like whether their names are fitting or ironical) but others won't, I just picked them because they sounded cool. There's a lot of names being thrown about huh? I've got a family tree in a folder somewhere that I'll upload sometime during Volume 2 – it explains really simply how Shoryu is connected to all these different people like Kiyoshi and Kamiko, but uploading it now would just be spoiling it.