"The House isn't far now…" Tazuna told us. I nodded my head and glanced to the left at our unconscious Sensei, who was carried by Naruto and Sasuke. Sakura was walking besides my right as Tazuna was leading us.
Finally we could see a house up ahead. "Tsunami!" Tazuna called "it's me, open the door!"
The door opened to show a tall, slender woman who looked like she was in her early thirties, she had long jet black hair and grey eyes. "Father! You're alright!" she cried happily.
"Not now Tsunami, this man needs care and he needs it now" he told her pointing at Kakashi.
Tsunami gasped slightly and hurried us all in the house, immediately we laid Kakashi down and let her treat his injuries. "He should be fine now" she told us, but then turned to me "Your friends tell me you've hit your head?"
Damn them! I told them not to say anything!
"It's fine, I've just got to stay awake" I told her shortly. But Tsunami insisted that she at least take a look at it. Once she finished, she told basically everything I already knew and left me and my team alone with our Sensei.
"Tomoko…" Sakura started "are you sure you're alright?"
To be honest, no I wasn't alright. I was practically seeing double, my head was throbbing and my arms felt heavy. "Stop asking questions you already know answers to Sakura" I told her crossly "I'm fine these side effects were bound to happen."
"Side effects? To what?"
"Wind reading, also known by its olden name: 'pípe bócrædung.' Its an ancient tracking technique, that has been passed through my people for generations. We start training at an early ageand it takes years to perfect it, but during the course of training… there are some side effects and since I'm still quite new to it, so it still affects me in a bad way" I explained.
"I'm so confused!" Naruto butted in "what is wind reading!?"
"It's basically a ninja, who is listens and feels the vibrations carried out in the breeze" answered Sakura, "so say there is an approaching enemy, vibrations of their movement gets picked up and carried."
"Oh wow!" Naruto gushed "I want to learn to do that…"
"You can't" I cut in, which made Naruto furious, demanding why not. Sighing I replied "you have to be taught at an early age, whilst your senses are fresh and keen, starting at the age you are now is impossible."
I took in a breath "it's like learning to walk, to talk, stuff like that. So for us, for me, it was just a nessacercay skill to learn whilst growing up."
"Oh…" Moaned Naruto, "Well in any case Tomoko-Chan I think that's awesome! What age did you start learning?"
Now that I thought about it… when did I start learning? Haruo told me he started when he was about three years old. I always assumed that I started at that age to. No matter how hard I tried, all I could remember was gold fields, bits and bobs of my family and… the attack…
Why can't I remember!? Wasn't earlier today that I remembered seeing Gauto all those years ago… yet I can't remember the rest.
"Tomoko-Chan?"
Naruto's voice snapped me out of my thoughts.
"I... I don't remember…"
"You don't remember?" Sakura repeated "how could you not remember?"
I remained silent for a while, cradling my head.
"I... don't know, I can't exactly think straight at the moment!" I snapped, getting very frustrated.
Sakura shut up after that, not wanting anymore questioning, I stood up and headed to the door.
"Where are you going?" Naruto called after me.
I didn't return back around to say "for some air." I continued forward and gently shut the door, and eventually, exciting the house.
After a short walk, I reached a pier and sat on the end of it, looking out to the lake. It was hard to believe that this calm, moonlit water belonged to a village that was so corrupted. My Vambraces caught my eye, Due to my arms still hurting, I decided now was the time to take them off. Slowly I undid each of the leather straps, and pulled them away from my skin. I felt a stinging sensation, as if I had just ripped off a scab from a still fresh wound. Once removed, I couldn't help but stare in shock.
From my hands to my elbows were very small but deep puncture marks, they were as small as prick wound from a sewing needle. Each laceration was positioned where the metal made contact with my flesh. But this is what disturbed me the most, around these tiny holes was stains of dried blood. I wasn't even aware that my arms were bleeding?!
Looking at my crimson hands and then scanning the area, I made sure no one else was around. Thinking on my feet, I quickly dipped both arms in the lake to clean the blood off, a faint trail of red could be seen within the water, ruining its blue beauty.
Once finished, I lifted my arms from the water, quickly grabbed one of the vambraces and inspected it, trying to find some clue about why my arms are so cut up the way they are.
"What the hell are those things?"
I looked behind my back, to see Sasuke staring at me with a puzzled glare. How was I suppose to answer that? Hell I was just as confused as he was. Maybe, I missed something when Haruo was explaining the use of them.
"They're a vambrace" I replied simply.
'Oh great answer there Tomoko, simply rousing!'
"I can see that" he stated in a bored tone.
'Oh yeah, this is Sasuke I'm talking to!'
"Well what else do you want me to say!?" I probed, why he even cares is beyond me!
"it's obvious they're not from this region, and they were made decades ago…"
"Your point?" I asked getting annoyed, hoping he'd get the hint and bugger off.
"My point is, is that there is more than meets the eye with those things, and just wearing them without knowing much about them is stupid."
He should have left when he had the chance.
"Honestly! You're recklessness is starting to effect..."
"Don't you dare!" I told him venomously "Don't you dare finish that sentence!"
Sasuke immediately shut up, well at least I thought he did…
"Does Haruo and Kinosuke know about this?"
I blinked at him, why the hell is he bringing my horse into this?!
"About, what!?" I demanded.
Sasuke pointed at the Vambrace that I was holding in each hand.
I quickly recovered, by answering "of course Haruo knows! He's the one that gave me them and Kinosuke has nothing to do with this!"
Sasuke made a 'ahem' noise. "So he doesn't know, do you think it's fair on him?"
"WHY DO YOU EVEN CARE!?" I yelled reaching my last nerve, "you never have before!"
Finally Sasuke shut his mouth. Not wanting to be around him any longer, I began to walk back to the house, vambraces in hand.
'You're wrong Tomoko'
That was the thought that was running through my mind as I gazed out into the lake.
'I do care for that creature. I don't want to care, but I do…'
My first memory of Kinosuke flooded back to me, it was some thing I would never forget...
"Tomoko-Chan!" I yelled, she had run off somewhere and we were supposed to play hide and seek today!
"Where did she go…" I mumbled and scanned the area.
Just then, my eyes landed on my Nii-san walking out of our house. "Nii-san!" I called getting his attention, "have you seen Tomoko-chan?"
"Tomoko?" he repeated, "as far as I'm aware she's gone to the stables…"
"The stables? What stables?"
"Sasuke how could you not know of the village's stables?" Itachi asked sternly.
I ran over to him hoping to ask him to take me there, but as usual he was ten steps ahead and poked my forehead. "I know what you're going to ask, and I can't. Forgive me Sasuke… next time, okay?" and with that he walked out of the compound.
I couldn't help but frown, but that frown soon turn on itsel,f as I watched Haruo enter the compound, as Itachi left.
"Haruo!"
The older Mori turned to look at me. "Oh hello Sasuke!" he greeted "how are you?"
"I'm fine, where's Tomoko?"
"Oh, she isn't here?"
I shook my head, which made him put his hand to his chin and pulled a thinking expression, then as if a light bulb clicked in his head, he chirped "wait I know where she is!"
I grinned "you do?"
Haruo nodded, and told me that he'd take me to her once he'd dropped his school stuff in his bedroom. Once that was done, we both began walking through the village.
"Haruo where exactly is the ranch? We've been walking for ages!" I moaned. We probably hadn't been walking for that long, I was just inpatient.
Haruo glanced at me as we walked, "it's just on the outskirts of the village, near the training grounds, come on we're almost there."
"You said five minutes ago" I stated in a huff.
Haruo laughed "and patience, isn't your strong suit Sasuke-chan."
True enough to his word, after about ten minutes, we finally reached our destination. To be honest, I'm really shocked that I didn't know about this place, I must have walked around the training grounds a million times. Yet here this ranch was, right in plain sight.
The stables looked small, but comfortable, with its large fields and wooden hut. On the porch the hut was an elderly woman sat on a stool weaving a basket. She was wearing a lime green kimono and her grey hair was tied in a bun.
"Ah Haruo-kun" the woman mused "you must be looking for Tomoko-chan?"
"Yes" replied Haruo, nervously scratching the back of his head. "She hasn't been bothering you has she Yuuki-sempai?"
Yuuki shook her head and laughed, "no of course not, she should be in the field somewhere."
Haruo said thank you, before walking towards the wooden gate. Quickly I shadowed his footsteps "so how come Tomoko-chan is here?" I asked him.
"She's likes to pay Kinosuke a visit from time to time" Haruo replied simply.
"Who's Kinosuke?"
But that question was answered without Haruo speaking, as Tomoko's giggles could be heard. Looking in the field I saw her riding on the back of the most beautiful white stallion that I had ever seen!
He had a black blaze marking, from his nostrils to his lip, and black full stockings on each of his four legs.
"He's a Peruvian Paso" I heard Haruo tell me, "mostly a ceremonial horse."
"ceremonial?" I repeated, looking up at him.
Haruo shrugged "well, what I mean is, we didn't exactly have him ploughing through a flied. And perhaps ceremonial isn't the right word, since he's seen his fair share of battles."
"Good boy Kinosuke" she said whilst patting him on the neck. The horse shook his mane, clearly enjoying the attention. I figured now would be the best time, to get her attention and climbed over the fence. I called her name whilst running over, making her and the horse turn to look. Once I finally reached her, she slowly got off the horse and took a couple of steps towards me.
"here you are!" I told her, "I've looked everywhere for you"
Tomoko blinked "you were?"
"Yes" I said breathlessly "its hide and seek day! Remember?"
She lookes down at her feet "Sorry Sasuke..."
I told not to worry about it. I could feel a hard gaze upon me, I looked up to see, to my surprise, that it was the horse!
"Hey Tomoko-chan… since when did you like horses?"
"Huh?" was all that came out of her mouth at first, till she realised what I was talking about. "Oh right, erm… this is Kinosuke! He was my mother's horse and he helped us escape from the attack."
I made an 'o' with my mouth, but the horse was still staring at me. It made me a little uncomfortable… I mean seriously! What horse does that?
"Tomoko…" I whispered, "no offense but that horse is kinda creepy, why is he staring at me and not doing… well… horse stuff."
"I can hear what you are saying boy!" The horse suddenly snapped, making me nearly jump out of my skin.
"What!? The horse?! How?!" I shook my head back an forth, trying to convince myself I wasn't going mad.
Tomoko began to laugh nervously, "oh right… I forgot to mention, that he's actually a shinobi horse… well... Sorta."
"Sorta?"
"It kind of complicated" she admitted "but long story short he can talk."
"A shinobi horse?" I remember father telling me, that certain ninja can call upon an animal for aid via using a summoning justu. But you rarely saw the animal out about, as they have their own island that they live on.
"Honestly" Kinosuke snorted, "you would've of thought, that people could tell the difference between an ordinary horse and a horse like me, it's insulting."
"Erm... Sorry" was all I said "but you're kinda the first summoning animal I've ever seen."
"Is that suppose to be an excuse?" He irked.
Tomoko threw him a stern look, "don't act so proud, people here aren't used to seeing a creature like you all the time, now go graze!"
The horse snorted one more time, before trotting off into some other direction. "Sorry about that" Tomoko told me "he's still adjusting to living here, it's a little hard on him. Not to mention that he's becoming a grumpy old man."
"I am not! A grumpy old man!" He scolded, calling back us.
Tomoko rolled her eyes "see? Completely grumpy."
"If he's so miserable, then why doesn't he go home?" I asked her.
Tomoko shrugged, "I'm not sure, we've told him countless of times to do so but he refuses. I think he feels bad for what happened to mother, whatever happened to her, so he's trying to redeem himself by staying with us."
I took another hard look at him, I was still getting over that fact that he talked. Either way, I sort of admired him. He had many opportunities to go back to where he belongs, but feels it's his duty to protect Tomoko. I hope I could have that same honour, like my dad and brother and serve the Uchiha clan…
To avoid more questioning about my arms, I felt it was best to just put the vambraces back on when I wasn't alone. They had long stopped bleeding and with them on, the puncture wounds were well hidden. But just as an extra precaution, I also bandaged them up. It had been three days since our encounter with Zabuza, Kakashi still hadn't woken up which left Sakura a little worried. I wasn't too surprised, as I practically grew up around the Sharingan, I knew how draining it could be. Sasuke's father and brother would come back from long missions, and would be out of it for a week.
A part of me saw Kakashi asleep as a blessing, as I could use this time to inspect the vambrace and figure how on earth my arms got into a bloody mess. Picking up the right vambrace, I studied it thoroughly, by running my fingers over every inch of the metal. Brushing my fingertips over the ancient inscriptions, they told me nothing, just verses of particular prayers said before battle and such. The metal itself was no help either, nothing to indicate how I recieved the wounds.
Why did they react so oddly when enemies were nearby?
According to my mother's letter, they were supposed to protect me, but they seem to be doing more damage. I know I shouldn't put them on again, but I feel some sort of weird connection to them.
Suddenly I heard three knocks on my door, making sure my arms were fully bandaged before hand, I called for whoever to come in. Naruto popped his head around the corner with a smile "Tomoko-chan! Good morning!"
"Good morning" I replied back "how is your hand?"
Naruto shrugged and he walked further into mine and Sakura's bedroom, yep... You heard me right, I'm sharing a room with the pink haired moron. "It's fine" he answered "still aches a bit but nothing I can't handle!"
I couldn't help but smile, Naruto was always one of those people who could brighten up my day, even though he never realised he was doing it. Naruto sat on the edge of my bed, with his hands behind his head. We made small talk for a little while, but I had to know what happened with Zabuza "Hey Naruto?"
"What?"
"What happened whilst I was knocked out?"
Naruto released his hands ans proceeded scratched his head for a moment, "well, Zabuza told us all something really disturbing. He explained that when he graduated, he was forced to kill all of his classmates to pass and he did it at the drop of an order."
"I see" I mumbled as I took it all in, what sick and twisted place forces children to do that! However, Yamakure isn't exactly a walk in the park either. Many people consider mountianeer culture strict and somewhat conventional, but that was just the way things were.
"Anything else?" I pressed.
Naruto gave a hearty chuckle "oh and me being cool and totally showing that I'm better than Sasuke!"
I couldn't help but laugh a little, but he was pretty cool coming up with that idea. I always knew Naruto had it him, at least when he focused.
Suddenly Sakura came bursting in, telling us that Kakashi had finally awakened. Wasting no time, the three of us walked to his room, meeting Sasuke and Tazuna along the way.
"Tomoko-san…" spoke Tazuna "are your injuries getting any better?"
I noticed him staring at my bandaged arms, "nothing I can't handle" I reassured him. All of us walked into Kakashi's room seeing him still lying in his bed, but awake.
Sakura was the first to speak " the Sharingan is amazing, but it puts a lot of strain on the body. I'm not sure if its good or bad."
"I'm sorry" Kakashi mumbled.
This caused me to scoff slightly "why are you apologising? If it wasn't for the Sharingian, we'd all be probably be dead by now!"
"Yes" Tazuna agreed "you defeated such a strong ninja. We should be okay for a while."
"By the way" Sakura cut in "who was that boy with the mask?"
I was silent for a moment "good question…"
"He had the mask of a pursuing ninja" Kakashi answered, "he's from a special squad from the Village Hidden in the Mist's ANBU".
"A special squad?" Sakura repeated.
Kakashi continued to explain that are also known for as the 'fire extinguishing unit' and their job, is to erase all evidence of a ninja that was alive. "A ninja's body will give away secrets of ninja techniques and chakra of the village it was in or any specific medicine that was used on a body, among other things."
Okay now I was a little confused, thankfully Kakashi explaining more further by using himself as an exampl. If he were to die, the secret of the Sharingan would be examined and if worst came to worst, there would be a possibility that his Sharingan and other techniques would be stolen.
"In other words…" he went on, "pursuing ninja will kill exiled ninja who have abandoned the village, dispose of its body and stop any secrets of the village being revealed. They are specialists in the field."
Now I understood it, talking about the ANBU actually made me remember the day we escaped from the attack. Now that I think about it, there was a team of Ninjas who were stationed nearby my village and in the end actually saved us. They never stated why they were there, but we never really questioned it at the time. However, I clearly remember that they were all wearing these strange, animal-like masks, similar to the Hunter-nin who took Zabuza's body.
'That's who they were…'
"Who were?" Naruto asked.
It was only now I realised I said that out loud. "Well…" I began, "when I was brought to the Village Hidden in the Leaves, I remember being surrounded by these masked Ninjas. Back then I never understood why they wore masks but now it makes sense, the where a Kanohagakure's ANBU squad!"
"Whoa you had an ANBU squad escort you back to the village?" Naruto gushed.
"Well…" I wasn't sure how to word this. Because other than Sasuke, no one here knows the reason I left my home country in the first place. Not that it was supposed to be kept a secret or anything, but there were better times and places to tell this story.
"It's all a bit complicated Naruto, even I'm not really sure why I was taken away from my home country" I completely lied. At first Sasuke threw me a puzzled look, that didn't surprise me. What did surprise me was the stare my sensei was giving me, like a knowing look… does he know about the attack on my village?
Maybe… maybe Haruo told him about it, as far as I'm aware they do know each other.
"Hatake Kakashi?" Hauro repeated as he turned away from his cooking. It was the same day I found out who my Jonin Sensei was.
I threw him a questioning glance "Yeah… do you know him?"
Hauro turned around to face me fully "you kidding? He's notorious! Well… among us Chunin anyway. No wonder you're so late!"
"So he's never on time? Great! what else can you tell me about him?" I asked.
"Well I haven't actually struck a proper conversation with the guy, he's always reading a book. But he knows I exist, says hello to me every now and then, but he probably does that to everyone".
"So… you've never been on a mission with him?" I asked further.
Hauro shook his head "nah its rare we're in the same place at the same time. I'm fascinated to see if he'll treat you the way he treated the others."
"wha…. What others?"
Hauro laughed "that my lýtling (little one)! Is something you'll see for yourself!"
I think I finally understood what Hauro meant now.
"What's wrong Sensei?" I heard Naruto ask. I snapped out of my day-dream to see Kakashi's hand covering his face, but his visible eye could be seen peeping through his index and middle fingers staring off into the wall.
"Huh…" breathed Kakashi as he came back to reality. "Oh! its about what I was talking about before, I just remembered that pursuing ninja are supposed to eliminate the corpse on the spot."
"So?" piped in Sakura.
"What did the mask boy do to Zabuza?" he asked us. I thought long and hard about what the Hunter-nin did, I couldn't think of anything completely out of the norm. He killed his target then took the body...
"How should I know?!" Sakura fired back interrupting my thoughts "he took him away!"
"That's right…" Kakashi confirmed. "All he needed was the head to bring back as proof. Also the choice of weapon the boy used to kill Zabuza is questionable."
Everyone one was silence for a moment, "it was just a long needle" stated Sasuke, who finally spoke since entering the room.
I was now starting to piece this all together "could it be possible that we are just really unlucky at the moment?" I asked dryly.
"Yes Tomoko… it would seem we are" answered Kakashi. Both Naruto and Tazuna had no clue about what we were talking about and didn't hesitate to voice their confusion.
Kakashi took a moment before telling them "Zabuza is still alive".