Chapter 15
"Let's see how we're doing today Mr. Sato." the kind medical nin said with a smile. Shinji, who was sipping on a juice box, left the nin to conduct her checkup. After the juice box ran empty, he placed it on the table to his side, right next to the stack of empty pudding cups.
The medical shinobis hand started to glow a faint green color as sweat came to their brow that their headband stopped. After a few moments, her hand stopped glowing and relief showed on her face. She took a deep breath and recovered her smile, "You seem to be making remarkable progress. How are you feeling otherwise?" she asked.
Shinji crossed his arms and seemed to be pouting, "I'm sick of chocolate pudding." he for once acted his age and it made the medical nin chuckle a little. But she did mark it down in her clipboard. His face ceased its pouting look and he uncrossed his arms, "Other than that, i'm feeling good."
"At the rate you seem to be healing you should be out of here next week." The kind woman gave Shinji a polite smile as she began to leave the room. A grimace came over the nine year olds face.
'A week? In this glorified prison cell? Not a chance.' As the sound of the footsteps faded away from his hospital room door, Shinji lifted the blanket off of his body and sat at the edge of the bed. He gave a few preliminary stretches and muscle contractions just to test his body before he fully stood up.
The cast to his ankle was still in place and while the dull pain was there, it wasn't anything too serious. He tried rotating his right hand and was met with more pain than in his ankle. 'Damn, my wrist is still weak.' The idea of visiting the library for some information on that healing jutsu sounded like a good idea, one that would have to come after his escape.
Shinji looked around the room for a change of clothes or anything besides a hospital gown that exposed his bare ass for the world to see. Upon finding a simple pair of black pants and a white tee shirt along with his ANBU sandals, he made his move.
Since his one ankle was still in a cast, regardless of its healing so far, he equipped his other foot in his sandal and put on his other clothing. The moment he got dressed however, he heard the door to his hospital room slide open and his ANBU training kicked in.
The medical nin walked into Shinji Sato's room and began to panic upon not seeing the patient and instead an empty bed. Her own training kicked in as she grabbed the whistle around her neck and blew into it. The harsh piercing sound rang through the hospital as she called out, "We got a runner!" four shadows appeared in the hallway, dressed in pure white outfits that resembled the ANBU except with the exact same, no featured masks they all shared.
"Who's the patient?" the leader of white ANBU group asked the panicking shinobi in a disguised voice.
"Shinji Sato." The medical nin gave the name of the runaway patient to the captain of this team.
"Understood." was all the captain said before he and his group of shinobi left with their own body flickers.
Shinji was now ducking through alleyways he was familiar with at insane speeds, completely aware of the team tailing him. Three of his shadow clones were sent out as distractions and in random directions, all taking off supposedly with a destination in mind.
The pure white ANBU team split up with the captain following the real Shinji. Grimacing upon the realization, Shinji tried to give him the slip when passing through the market district, disguising himself as a random citizen. It worked for a time, until he had to dodge a trio of senbon, all dipped in a tranquilizing agent.
With the chase back on, Shinji was running out of options of where to go, until a disgusting thought popped into his mind. 'Am I seriously considering that?' he asked himself as he held his breath and waited for his hunter to pass, staring at a manhole the entire time.
He sighed, "Fuck it." another clone was summoned and the manhole was carefully lifted, allowing Shinji to crawl down. When he climbed down into the Iwa sewers, his clone compatriot had been seen and poofed out of existence when a line of senbon hit multiple spots of his spine.
"That foolish boy." the captain sighed as he was joined by two other pure white shinobi. "He's gonna infect his stitches at this point." he grumbled once again before he tore the manhole from the ground, tossing it aside.
"You, head to his home and wait for him there. You, make a perimeter, we won't let the HRC record be tainted by this child."
"Uh sir, you should know something before this gets out of hand." sighing at the words of his junior, he looked toward the speaker who was dressed in the exact same uniform as him
"Do you know who we're chasing?" the junior first asked, was that nervousness in his voice?
the captain grumbled and directed his attention to his comrade. "Only his name and injuries, but I feel you're going to tell me more."
"Sir…Shinji Sato is ANBU Captain, Chimera." Underneath the mask of the captain, his eyes widened as his breath caught. High ranking shinobi of Iwagakure knew of the demon known as Chimera, and if they didn't respect the young captain, they surely feared him. For his time in the ANBU had been nothing short of immaculate, with a near perfect record on all accounts and a mind boggling mission count of over fifty in the time he's been there.
Indeed the one known as Chimera was a force dealt out from Iwagakure to ensure whoever they deemed to be a target, would not live to see the light of tomorrow. "If that's the case, we're going to have to double our efforts." The captain replied to his junior with his subordinate nodding their head in understanding.
Another shinobi joined them at that moment and caught the tail end of their conversation. "Sir, he's just a child, is all of this really necessary?" All talks were silenced at the question, and as if a switch was flipped, both heads snapped to the one who asked that question.
The captain was the only one to speak, "That child, as you so eloquently put it, was promoted to ANBU at eight years old and has only gotten stronger, even earning another promotion since." The captain walked forward and approached his subordinate's ear. The whispers were incoherent but the steadily stiffening of the shinobi were all the words needed.
The disapproving tone in the captain's voice could be heard and felt by even the critters scurrying around the alleyway, "It is our job to return runaway patients to the hospital, regardless of who they are, and your complete disregard for our missions have gotten on my last nerve. Head back to HQ, I'll deal with you then." Like a child being sent to timeout, the HRC shinobi left his squad and returned to their headquarters which was an underground hideout that connected the ANBU HQ as well as the hospital.
"Well should we follow him sir?" the other HRC shinobi asked the captain, who both looked down the manhole, hearing the water rushing below.
"I have a better idea, follow me." the two HRC shinobi disappeared in a body flicker, heading off to wherever the captain deemed Shinji to be.
'HRC huh? Thought those guys were a myth.' Shinji thought to himself as he remained transformed as a trashbag, holding back a mad cackle at duping the HRC.
He sat there, ear to the ground and senses sharpened. Thirty minutes of waiting later, resulted in stiffened knees but the sweet release of freedom. The boy stretched his cramped limbs, disguised himself in another jutsu, and began heading to his destination.
After making his way through the village, he arrived at his destination after some near misses with the HRC shinobi. The house…well it was definitely a house Shinji supposed.
"Damn Oni, you lived like this?" came the disguised voice from the elderly woman standing in front of the dilapidated building, ready to collapse. He approached the building and was alert at the slight shimmer at the base of the doorway.
He crouched down and got closer to the shimmer, revealing it to be a line of ninja wire leading somewhere within the house. Shinji kept an eye open as he stepped over the wire and entered the darkened building. Being met with a rancid smell, broken walls and a kitchen that seemed to be used as a storage area-one that had a leak sprung and forgotten about.
Out of all of the junk and grime however, was a singular clean table in the center of what he guessed to be the living room. On that table, was a single, tightly wound scroll.
He moved past the clutter and into the living room, kneeling at the table, transformation jutsu long since been dispelled. His eyes squinted upon reading whom the scroll was addressed to, 'To Shinji.'
The black cord was untied and hung free. It was a simple black scroll, nothing more and nothing less. Shinji didn't know why, but the slight tremble in his hand hesitated when opening the scroll. Squeezing his hand shut and inhaling the stale, rancid air of the building, he finally opened the scroll.
"Well, if you're reading this runt, that means I'm dead. Following my death, you got past my traps and snuck into my home. Don't even think of making some smartass comment about this dump, trust me I already know." Shinji's face contorted with annoyance, but his smirk was intact as he continued to read on.
"First things first, my name is actually Kenji Uzumaki and in this scroll, I leave everything to you, my apprentice. At the time of writing this, it's been six months since I've taken you on as my apprentice and honestly I took you on because I thought you were a bit of a freak,"
"That was rude." Shinji said. "but more than that, the reason I leave everything to you is quite simple, I have no one else to entrust my legacy with. It's no secret I found romantic pursuits to be, well, a waste of time, and that holds true upon my death. But I find myself proud of the boy you've grown into and the man you will be in the future."
Shinji recalled the first time he met Kenji when he was four and how cool he thought his mask was, drawing a laugh from the boy. "We all were dealt a shitty hand in life, Shinji, it's just part of our shinobi world, but training you is something I look forward to every day. I've long since given up on the mystery regarding you. Whoever that Gaston fellow was, I die knowing he prepared you for everything in this land. Even now, there's no records of a town or village called Faroe, anywhere. Anyway I digress."
As he kept reading, Shinji noticed the tone of the letter begin to shift into something more introspective. "I've found myself thinking runt, more so now than during my last few days before the fall of Uzushiogakure. The conclusion I stumbled upon is this; no great village, especially Iwagakure, is worth dying for." Now this piqued Shinji's interest. Oni was known as the most loyal and dedicated ANBU agent, let alone shinobi, within Iwagakure's forces and would go to great lengths to ensure the mission was seen through. While not a large proprietor of the 'will of stone' as was explained from Onoki, Oni still held the kage and village itself with some regard. However that appeared to not be the case according to Oni, or rather, Kenji himself.
"I've done horrible inexplicable things, all in the name of this country, and where did it get me? Commander of the ANBU? That's all well and good, but all it would take is an encounter with the wrong squad of shinobi, the Yellow Flash, hell all i need to do is slip, once, and it's over. The sacrifices I've made, bonds I've forged, would be meaningless, all in the name of this god forsaken village." The words of Kenji sat in Shinji's mind, settling within a thought he had upon being granted the title of genin. 'So I'm not the only one who wants out.'
"You have a gift no one else in the village possesses, Shinji, perspective." paying attention to the next lines, Shinji read on. "There's something in your eyes, it's been there since i first met you and remains to be the very same as of writing this. Shinji, from master to student, I want you to live a fulfilling life, one you can be proud of and look back on your deathbed and say 'Not bad.' I don't want you to die in this war, kid. I want you to find love, build a home, do whatever it is that makes you happy. Keep being the little weirdo who coops himself in his room surrounded by books about plants." the smirk on Shinji's face softened, "You called me little you rat bastard." the letter began to end as he read.
"All of that aside, the reason behind this letter was to leave my legacy to you. Pulling more on the scroll will reveal a blood seal I have made that corresponds to you and you alone. I don't believe I have to explain any further if I did my job right. Perhaps you can figure out the ways of my people where I couldn't. Goodbye Shinji, it has been an honor and pleasure being the mentor of someone as strange as you." Shinji took a moment and let his head lean back following the end of the letter. He found it odd how he didnt want to cry, but felt two different emotions at the same time. Profound sadness and closure.
Shinji agreed with his mentor, the villages were not worth it. His eyebrows creased a little, but not with anger, with thought. Looking back at the scroll and following the instructions left by Kenji, Shinji unfurled the scroll even more and indeed it revealed a unique seal with a spiral pattern in the center. He went to cut his thumb, but in that moment the senses that saved his life in battle so many times told him someone was close by.
In a swift motion, Shinji rolled up the scroll, sealed it away and used the transformation jutsu on himself, turning into a mouse. Running through all of the literal garbage within Kenji's home, there was a broken wooden panel that allowed shinji to slip in between the walls. It didn't take long for the boy to find an exit in this mess and was now headed on the path to his home.
The time spent in the transformation jutsu had begun to take a toll on Shinji's chakra reserves as the boy de-transformed mere blocks away from his home. Gaining a better vantage point yet still cautious about the HRC patrols, he jumped up to a nearby rooftop.
"They really want me back in that hospital." The chuckle that escaped his mouth was on instinct. His eyes focused on the squad of five shinobi who thought themselves disguised around his home. "I relish the challenge." Looking around some more, his eyes landed on the orphanage Deidara resided in, and on the roof of the orphanage, he spotted a head of blond hair laying down with his hands behind his head.
Deciding now was not a good time for a visit, Shinji looked away from his 'little brother' and started devising a strategy to enter his home. 'As long as I make it to my workshop, I'm free.' The shinobi patrolling his home were not hidden per say, but more so keeping guard at all possible angles.
'My chakras running too low to reliably use the transformation jutsu. Hiding like a mole technique will only screw me over regardless. ' Face contorting with thought, he assessed his current level of chakra and what could be done with that. Recalling how he managed to dupe the squad of shinobi near the hospital with clones, what are the chances of that working again?
'That's the thing about people, far easier to predict than a leshen.' Bringing up a single hand sign, an exact copy of Shinji poofed into existence next to the original. Halving his already low chakra left the boy in an exhausted state while the clone was good to go. With the clone running ahead, under the guise of giving himself up and drawing the attention of the shinobi allowed Shinji to barely pass by and into the window of his workshop, landing mere feet in front of the trial pod.
Without sparing a glance to the chamber he made and walking to the adjacent wall, Shinji felt for a loose floor board. Finding it and lifting it revealed a small hollowed out chamber that was empty. The boy's eyes widened upon seeing the empty chamber.
"Causing a lot of commotion out there youngster." an aged voice commented from behind him, one that was familiar to Shinji. The boy straightened himself and looked at the voice. Standing at his diminutive full height, stood Onoki, staring at the boy with a neutral expression.
Quiet for a time and face neutral as well, Shinji responded "I don't have time to stay in that hospital, I have work to do-" however Onoki's previously neutral face soured a little.
"Allow yourself to rest boy! It hasn't even been three days since Kenji's death and you're already raring to go off and do what exactly?" Eyebrow raising just as Shinji's temper did, he questioned the boy of his intentions. The fact of Onoki knowing Kenji's name going over Shinji's head.
"You would have me lay in bed, healing, as we lose this war day by day?" Shinji returned with a question of his own. While the boy's face was neutral, the tone in his voice was anything but. Laced with an icy rage, Shinji continued. "We are losing this war Onoki, I can't allow myself to rest-no one can!" The only change on his young face was the scrunched brow line.
"I wish I could rest, I do, but I'm not gonna stop when more and more of our people die, every single day. Only to be remembered with their name carved into a bloody rock!"
"Do you not think I wish this war could end?! Do you not think I grieve for the loss of every single one of our shinobi? The will of stone-" Onoki began his tirade about the will of stone but Shinji was not having it.
"To hell with the Will of Stone! I want an actual legacy, not some bloody metaphorical rock that's used to raise morale as Iwa is on the brink of collapse!" red faced and slightly breathless, Shinji took a few steps back, the pain of his wrist radiating all the while. Onoki stood, wide eyed at the brazen and disrespectful words of his youngest and perhaps most skilled ANBU agent. The boy was teetering, even Onoki could see that at his age.
His first instinct was to chalk it up to a rebellious phase, but the wisdom he gained in his long life knew far better. This was a young man who if pressed in the wrong way, could do something rash. So Onoki relaxed himself and for once in Shinji's life, looked his age. The young ANBU sighed as he looked to the floor. "Gramps…this war just isn't worth it. we're fighting an uphill battle as a typhoon hovers over our heads." Gone was the rage and what remained was calm and collected shinji, "You said it yourself, you want this war to end. So end it, gramps."
Onokis gaze returned from the floor and looked into Shinji's unwavering and tired teal eyes. However, with all of the deaths, Onoki just couldn't allow them to go unpunished. "If I end this war, in the eyes of the world we will be seen as weak, lesser to even the minor countries. If that happens, the lives lost will truly mean nothing." Onoki grumbled and stroked his mustache. "Do you know what that means for our village Shinji? For the lesser countries to view us as weak?"
Shinji rolled his eyes, "Of course I do gramps, but what's worse? The ability to stop the war now, and bring ourselves back up later, or watch on top of the mountain of bodies knowing you could've done something sooner?" This question was actually one Onoki considered, and the struggle within the tsuchikage weighed heavily on him. His face expressed no emotion over the question.
In a resolute tone, Onoki's voice met Shinji's ears. "I will do what I have to, Shinji." The boy was disappointed and knew what this meant, the third shinobi war would continue regardless of the rising body count.
"Then I will too." Shinji reached behind him and into a pocket, pulling out his genin headband. "Consider this my resignation." he handed the dented headband to the one who first gave it to him who held out his aged hand. Grimacing as the headband was placed within his palm, he knew there was nothing that could change this boy's mind, he'd been like this ever since he first met him.
Awkward silence reigned supreme following Shinji's announcement, with neither knowing how to act. Shinji returned to his task prior to talking with Onoki, still looking for whatever was under the floorboard. The slow footsteps approaching him diverted his attention to see Onoki with a solemn expression on his face and an outstretched hand. In that hand was a small black box with a single button. "If that's what you wish…then I hope you find happiness, Shinji Sato." Taking the box from Onoki, tsuchikage and now former shinobi were interrupted when his front door was busted open.
Revealing a team of HRC shinobi, however, instead of the pristine white they wore, the one leading them had a single streak of dirt from his mask all the way to his groin. "Shinji Sato, you must return-" The HRC shinobi gained an edge in his voice as Shinji stifled his laugh at the sight of his dirt stained attire, but they both stopped when Onoki interrupted.
"That will be enough, captain." there was something in the elder Kage's voice, something that Shinji couldn't rightly identify, was it disappointment? Onoki began to leave the home with the HRC shinobi looking on in presumably confusion. Onoki spared one last look at Shinji before leading the shinobi out of his home. The door shut with a click in place as a strange sensation suddenly filled his mind.
Memories of ducking and dodging through foliage, outpacing the HRC shinobi raced through his mind as it brought on a slight headache. He saw the shinobi with the dirt streak slip on a makeshift trap and go sliding into the muddy ground. "Huh, when the clones pop, I get their memories. Now that is interesting." he said to no one as he shook his head.
"Well, time to work." Shinji clicked the button on the black box and the sound of hissing machinery was heard as a small section of the floor opened up, steam releasing from the hidden hydraulics in the hidden door. The door fully opened, revealing a darkened hole in the ground with a ladder leading deeper into the ground.
Using his non casted limbs, Shinji climbed down the ladder with some effort and was basked in the darkened shaft. He reached the end of the ladder and dropped down into an open room, the size of which was far larger than his house.
Three concrete and painfully bleak walls with the last housing a monitor encompassed the room as the fluorescent lights on the roof automatically lit up upon his entry and multiple air vents leading outside. tables lined each of the walls and the room itself was cold enough for Shinji to see his breath. On each of those tables were an absurd amount of test tubes, large beakers, and a small botanical garden. All either bubbling strange colors under vent hoods, or bottled up and resting.
Hands on his hips, Shinji went around the room, inspecting every experiment he had going at the moment. His interest focused on a trio of large beakers, one a large round based one being suspended over a resting burner, another flat bottomed and round held a red liquid. The final one, this particular concoction, proved to be a challenge for Shinji. On paper, he had the formula for the mixture perfect, however the method of making such a tonic held its own issues.
In the end it resulted in a bright green fluid that was viscous in nature and moved in odd sorts of ways. It unintentionally spawned a grimace on Shinji's face, 'The formula to make a witcher, never thought I'd see it again.' he thought to himself, a deeper part of him disappointed in his actions. Alas, he placed the beaker next to the others and resolved the conflict within himself. He was brought from his thoughts upon his wrist tweaking with pain.
He walked over to his garden and picked a few different plants, ones that had similar properties to the ones he used for alchemy in his past life. 'Can't get drowner brains around here, so I have to improvise.' Luckily, the plants of the shinobi world had been researched so thoroughly, that it was a menial task for Shinji to determine what ingredients he needed.
Putting what he thought to be the right blend of each plant into a mortar, he grabbed the matching pestle with his good hand and began his short task. What was left was a thick, dark green paste that he brought to a nearby burner. Adding a large enough helping of water into another spare volumetric flask and suspending this one over a burner, he waited for it to start boiling. The bubbles began to flow and Shinji added the green paste.
In his old life, he would imbue the potions he crafted with their own bastardized magic, it's how their potions actually worked as intended. The old magic was raw, untamed and sometimes had horrible side effects on the user, but chakra was just the opposite. It had a certain flow through all things and as Shinji learned, was far easier to manage than using his witcher signs.
Believing the process was similar if not the same, Shinji dropped the paste into the flask and watched the water turn green. The sweet and aromatic smell of the mixture hit his nose soon after and he began to infuse the boiling mixture with chakra.
Adjusting his flow of chakra, he watched as a unique reaction formed, creating a bright red liquid that seemed to almost glow. A devious smile came to his face as he watched the reaction unfold before him. Letting up on the chakra and turning off the heat, the bright glow rested and settled into a dull one instead.
Grabbing a stool from under the table, Shinji sat and watched as the steam settled and the mixture cooled off. When it was at a workable heat, he put the newly crafted potion through a strainer and into a regular beaker, measuring out what he deemed to be an acceptable portion.
"I should probably test this on something first…" he considered, looking down into the clear red and slightly glowing liquid, before shrugging. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained." He said as he noted his experiment in a notebook resting on the table and drank the portioned out liquid in one swig.
At first nothing happened other than the feeling of warmth going into his body, then he began convulsing. "Bad-idea!" he coughed out and fell from his stool. Crouched over, drool pooled out of his mouth as sweat covered his body. Itching all over his body settled in and he resisted all urges to scratch his everywhere.
His wrist cried out with a crunching noise and his ankle followed with a small pop, strangely enough though, the warmth spreading through his body settled and the itching feeling localized to now only his wrist. Pins and needles still radiated through the rest of his body but he was beginning to recover from the initial shock of drinking the potion.
Standing like a thin tree on a windy day, Shinji looked to his wrist as the itching now faded to pins and needles. Trying to make a fist, he noticed the lack of pain underneath the cast and his smirk returned.
He grabbed the cast with his other hand and tore it off in one motion and soon following suit with the one on his ankle. He tested both limbs and wanted to cackle like a mad scientist when both responded with no pain whatsoever.
In fact, he felt fantastic right now, walking over to his notebook, he noted the success of his potion. Using the reflection of one of the beakers, he noted also that his scar didn't heal on his eyebrow, nothing too interesting, but it was noteworthy that the potion he created did not heal scar tissue. "Next time, smaller dosage for sure." he said to himself as he measured out and bottled the rest of the liquid in separate corked vials. Storing them in a fridge under the table.
Coming back up from under the table, he noticed the monitor on his wall spring to life, revealing that it was a monitor for a camera he had set up at his front door. To his surprise, it was Tengu, still in his mask and equipped in his gear.
Shinji returned upstairs, shut the door to his laboratory and approached his front door. Opening it, Tengu looked down on Shinji who waited for his former co-worker to speak.
Tengu sighed and relaxed a little before speaking, "Oni's funeral, it's going to be at HQ tomorrow night. Thought you should know."
"I'll make sure to be there, how's everyone holding up?" Shinji asked in regards to the few friends he made in ANBU. Tengu rubbed the back of neck and sighed, some of his actual personality escaping through the mask.
"Well, we're holding in there. Most are just trying to keep it together. What about you? How're you uh, holding up?" Tengu was someone Shinji would consider to be at least acquaintances within the ANBU. He respected his fellow agents, regardless of their age and treated everyone fairly, something Shinji respected.
Shinji let out a sigh, "Hanging in there. I want you to hear it from me first, I resigned from the ANBU." The casual nature of the conversation shifted as Tengu looked on, disbelieving.
"What?" he asked breathlessly and quiet, almost unsure he heard correctly. Shinji only nodded in confirmation. Tengu began sputtering, trying to find an argument to potentially change Shinji's mind, however the boy only lifted a hand to silence him.
"My decision is final, Tengu. Oni's death changed something in me." Tengu waited for Shinji to continue, yet the boy's teal eyes remained steady in their silence. Then, his ANBU comrade did something that caused his eyes to go wide, he brought his hand to his mask and lifted it off his face. Under the mask was a young man, around twenty maybe, with flat orange hair that reached his chin. His black eyes held sadness that was clear as the morning sun and he wanted to say something, but his mouth wouldn't allow the words to come out.
"Fuma, my name is Hideo Fuma." Hideo looked to the floor, orange hair shadowing his eyes as he spoke. He looked up and to Shinji who held a smirk on is face and an outstretched hand. Hideo was confused but took the hand.
"It's nice to see the man behind the mask for once. Nice to meet you Hideo." the two shook hands as friends for perhaps the first time. While a small smile showed on Hideo's face, the disappointment in his eyes still showed.
"I just can't believe I'm not gonna see you in the training hall anymore." he said in a casual manner, his eyes letting up some.
Shinji allowed a chuckle to leave his mouth, "Doesn't mean i'll grow complacent, that just means you and Kappa have it all to yourselves. I expect you two to use it."
"So what are you going to do now?" Hideo asked as he began to relax. Shinji leaned against the door frame as a contemplative look came to his face.
"Not sure. Probably bury myself in work like I always do." the words, while sounding annoyed, the look on Shinji's face was anything but. No, the boy looked excited for his work. Everyone Shinji worked with knew the boy was, in simple terms, an egghead. If he wasn't in the training hall or out on mission, he was always in the ANBU's personal library going to town on everything his little hands could get on.
It brought a sense of normalcy to the otherwise depressing mood of headquarters with everyone moving around quietly and with purpose to their next mission. People started talking again, conversing and building some actual camaraderie. Now that Shinji left though, would the mood return to its previous state? It was a question Hideo now kept somewhere in his mind.
"I can see that." Hideo chuckled mirthlessly. "Anyway, it's time I head out." he said as he lifted the mask back to his face and returned to his usually quiet personality.
"Farewell Tengu, I'll see you tomorrow night." bidding his friend with a salute, Tengu returned with a nod as he disappeared in a body flicker. Walking back inside his home and shutting the door, Shinji sat down on his couch and ran a hand through his hair. 'He just had to be a friend didn't he.' Rubbing the bridge of his nose out of exasperation and to stave off the oncoming headache, his thoughts drifted to Kenji, and most pressing, the legacy he left behind.
With a small poof of smoke, the same black scroll appeared in his hand. Unrolling it to reveal the custom made seal inside, Shinji made a small cut on his finger and dripped the red liquid onto the ink. The scroll itself began to shake, causing it to drop from his hand and onto the floor.
A bigger poof of smoke appeared and on the scroll now lay five objects. One was an older book titled History of the Uzumaki, directly to the right of the book was an aged rolled up piece of paper. Unrolling the paper, it revealed a map to Uzushiogakure.
Other than the book and the map, there were two scrolls that made shinji take a closer look at each of them. Titled Adamantine Chains and the other simply named Sealing. The last and by far biggest object there was another scroll. It was a deep brown color and had the kanji for 'three' on one end.
Sitting back and looking now at all of the unsealed objects, a sardonic smile came to his face. "Do whatever makes me happy huh? I can do that." Reading the words written on Kenji's letter, Shinji grabbed the scrolls, book and map and went back down into his lab.
'I'm sorry I couldn't save you Kenji, that I wasn't fast enough or strong enough.' the former ANBU agent thought to himself as the fluorescent lights of his lab turned on. "That all changes now."