In the village of the hidden cloud village. On the outskirts was a single house by the side of a mountain face. It was a round single floor building with all the essentials in one open room.
Outside was a platform for training and steps leading down the mountain. Inhabiting the building was a family of a mother with long silky brown hair and red eyes wearing a clan logo on the back of her clothes which their child didn't recognise. It was a fan which was split into two colours with a red upper half and white lower half. The Father Had green eyes and short blue hair. He was reasonably tall with a strong build. The child of the family had long blue hair and green eyes. He was outside training with a wooden sword which was his fathers proficiency learning different techniques before his mother called him in for dinner. It was an ordinary day like any other. In the morning he would nag his mother begging her to teach him jutsu but instead she gave him chores to do. Once done she would teach him a little bit about chakra control. After lunch he would train with swords under his dads supervision until it was time for dinner. He would do more training with swords and chakra control then clean up and go to bed. The next day he would repeat this process.
Then one day.
"Apparently a 3rd shinobi war has begun." In a stern and deep voice his father spoke coming back inside the house after running some errands.
"Really, we should be safe hidden here. But in case, were you followed?" The mother spoke from behind a kitchen counter making breakfast with an apron wrapped around her.
"You know me, I'm better than that." The father smirked, proud of what he just stated.
"Mum, mum teach me some jutsu!" The Child clung to his mothers leg begging excitedly for her to train him.
"After you clean your room Andrew, Okay?" The mother looked at him with eyes saying she wasn't asking but ordering.
"Okay!" The boy didn't mind as long as he got to be trained so he let go of his mothers leg and rushed to his room to clean it as best as he could.
About 5 to 10 minutes into cleaning noise started to come from the door.
Who could it be? The boy wondered what was happening so he looked out of his room to see his parents preparing for something.
"Mum, Dad what's happening?" Both the parents turned to face their son then looked at each other. The mother walked over while the Dad was still preparing.
"Nothing son, just stay in there and wait until we tell you to come out okay?" The mother looked concerned as she faced her son trying to not make him worry.
"Okay?" The boy picked up on this and was confused about what was happening.
"Remember Andrew, we love you, now stay and hide. We'll get you when it's all over." The mother grew more anxious on the verge of tears but putting up a strong face for her son.
"When what's over mum?" The boy tilted his head, his father had taken out the katana which was a family relic passed down for generations.
"There here!" The father shouted. He faced the door as it started to move. It was blocked with chairs and a table and whatever they could find.
"I've got to go help dad, but be a good boy and hide okay. Remember mother loves you always." The Mother turned around after brushing her son on the head and took out two kunai and performed the hand sins for a jutsu. The boy went back into his room and hid under his bed still having a clear view of what was going to happen.
The door was bashed inwards and hidden cloud shinobi barged in Rushing with swords and kunai. The mother let off a fire ball jutsu taking out the majority of the first wave but more came flooding in. The both of them put up a good fight taking down lot's of ninja but it wasn't enough and first his mother was cut down. She hit the floor and faced towards her son, mouthing the words "I love you" before being stabbed in the back with a sword covered in lightning.
"NO!" At the same time the boy and father fell into a rage shouting at the loss of the mother. The father rushed forwards towards the burning entrance dodging an attack and stabbing them in the side, twisting it and pulling it out to block another oncoming attack he kicked that person staggering them backwards before slicing their chest killing them. He was surrounded and attacked from all sides. Soon multiple blades were thrust into him one after the other as he fell to his knees. He muttered his final words cursing his killers before falling dead next to his wife, the mother.
The shinobi celebrated their victory by plundering the house, it wasn't long until someone entered the boys room and found him quivering under the bed.
"There's a survivor here." One of the shinobi shouted and a commander walked in and looked under the bed and into the boy's green eyes.
"They're magnificent like emeralds." He was star struck but snapped out of it and picked up the boy.
"NO STOP. WHAT ARE YOU DOING! MUM DAD! HELP!" The Boy was brought out of the house kicking and screaming as he cried uncontrollably. He reached his hand out to his parents who didn't move. Everyone left the house and set it on fire. Everything he had ever known was going up in flames.
"Who recovered the sword?" The commander looked at his men before someone stepped forward.
"I did sir, and boy is it a beauty." He displayed the sword in front of the commander. It was made of strong materials, was well designed and crafted. If sold it would fetch a high price on the market.
"Hand it over." The commander ordered the shinobi to hand it over and without any questions he did. He saluted the Commander addressing him as sir and left.
"Boy, what's your name?" He sat the boy down and crouched so he was at eye level with him.
"Andrew 'sniffle' sir." The boy answered, wiping his nose and eyes with his hands. He was only 4 but he had already lost his parents.
"Here, your family's heirloom. Something to remember them by." The commander handed over the sword. As the boy looked into it he could see his reflection. In his appearance he saw his parents. He knew if he had this with him he wouldn't ever be alone.
"'Sniffle' Thank you 'sniffle' sir." He took the sword from the commander and slightly fell from the weight. It was heavier than the wooden swords he trained with.
A few months later.
"SUPPLY UNIT LE-CLERC. WE ARE PROUD OF YOUR DEPARTURE AND HONOUR YOU AS YOU GO TO HELP OUR TROOPS."
"It's the same bs as always."
"It's not like we'll do anything after all we are only 4 to 6 years old."
"And a supply unit no less, I want to fight."
"I'm more than happy to be doing my part in this war."
All around him people were talking. They were all in the hidden cloud uniform wearing their headband on their foreheads or arms. In front of them was the commander of the unit who would stay in the rear ordering them what to do. Andrew could only think he was a coward but couldn't careless. Everyone knew it. What really was weird was how even though they were in parade formation, everyone avoided him. The unit was made up of 4, 5 and 6 year olds and they hadn't known each other for long. Some knew each other since they had grown up as friends. They were a supply unit of 50 to 100 strong but were all kids. The war had gotten to the point that anyone who could fight, would fight. Andrew had his fathers katana holstered beside him and as he held onto it he knew he probably wouldn't have a chance to unsheath it. It wasn't like their army was going to be defeated so quickly.
"SUPPLY UNIT LE-CLERK WE ARE TO DEPART NOW, ALL TROOPS FORWARD MARCH!" The commander shouted and everyone turned and walked off. There were some adults leading the way to the front line and most of the kids saw it as an adventure to tell stories about while others didn't want to be separated from their relatives. Then some were still in mourning or burning with vengeance as their parents or siblings had died in the war.
Andrew was neither of them. He remained silent the entire march holding onto his fathers sword. He had no one to care about and no reason to fight. He had no desire or dreams. He lost everything. Rumours spread that his parents were branded as traitors and killed. Everyone kept their distance to avoid bringing dishonour to their family name. At this point he lost everything and couldn't even remember his family name. He could barely hold onto his first name.
Days passed and they were still on the march. The unit hadn't got any news since their departure about what was happening on the frontlines or back at home. They could only hope that the fighting was going well. Soon they reached an area where a fight had taken place. The once green grass was charred and burnt while craters scattered the area. There were countless corpses from multiple countries and weapons littered the battlefield. The young unit of children stopped the wagons of supplies they were transporting and waited while the adults who acted as their superiors scouted the area. Murmuring and small talk erupted as suspicions of what happened circulated. Some were in shock puking at the sight being supported by their comrades. Andrew looked down on the battlefield with dead eyes. He didn't feel anything, no emotion or swirling feeling of panic in his body. None of that. He was calm and composed. Seeing this others were calling him a monster behind his back, someone who would probably kill them all without a second thought. In response to this all he could think was how true they were. He could do anything and not feel an ounce of emotion. He had already died back at his house so what's one more death to put an end to it all.
"AHHH!" All eyes were drawn back to the battlefield as they saw their superiors die before their eyes. Children wept while some were stuck in fear.
"LOOK OUT!" Before being sliced open with an enemy sword one of the superiors let off a warning. A shinobi lunged towards them and many ran. The only one who stood and watched the shinobi come was Andrew.
TCHING He unsheathed his fathers katana and blocked the attack staring the man in the face. All of his features stood out from his large nose to his heavy breathing, the small strands of hair to the colour of his eyes.
"They're just kids?" The shinobi was clearly confused and jumped back to get a clearer view of what he was witnessing. There were children cowering behind the wagons and some running for their lives shouting for mercy expecting to be cut down at any moment.
"They're just kids." The man composed himself thinking things through logically while his comrades arrived. All the while one child stood in front of them, sword by his side staring blankly at them as if he wasn't looking at them but someone else miles away. It sent chills down their spine that someone so young could have such deadly intent. The original shinobi approached him trying to find a way to disarm him. As he got closer the Child did nothing. Soon he stood next to him and walked past while the child still stared straight ahead blankly. Knowing it's safe the others advanced trying to assure the remaining kids they won't hurt them or trying to get them to run back home. All the while the child still stared straight ahead blankly.
Soon everything died down and all that was left were the foreign shinobi, all the wagons with supplies, a few kids too scared to move and the dead superiors ahead of them.
"We're shinobi from the hidden leaf. You can go home now." One of the shinobi tried to get the remnants of the Children to flee but they just sat next to the wagon's shadow hiding and quivering in fear.
"They won't move, what should we do?" The Same man turned around to face his comrades. In total there were six of them and it seemed there were more to come to transport the wagons.
"Well we can't take them with us. Can we?"
"They'll probably follow the wagons or stay here until reinforcements arrive."
"What I'm more concerned about is that dead looking blue haired kid. He's just been standing there the entire time."The Shinobi that faced off against Andrew spoke up.
"What about him?" The shinobi who seemed to be the leader finally intervened into the conversation. He had jet black hair and bloodshot red eyes with countless scars both small and big covering his body. With a brown robe and his sword sheathed by his side in an equally dark sheath.
"He's different. If we get too close I feel like he would try to kill us." There was a moment of silence where all the shinobi looked at Andrew. He was still looking at the battlefield so they could only see his back with the hidden cloud uniform.
"We'll take him with us, the others we will leave. If they follow the wagons then so be it. But we don't interfere from here." The shinobi formulated their plan and spread out with all of them except the leader commandeering a wagon. Instead he walked towards Andrew disarming him in one swift motion. Andrew looked at him with his cold lifeless glare not moving a muscle. It was difficult to get a clear understanding of what he was thinking.
"You're coming with us kid, get on." The leader nodded towards the closest wagon before turning away to head towards the wagon.
"You can either stay here or follow us, what do you say? Feel more motivated?" As the leader turned to look behind him the kid was gone, the next moment there was a sharp edge digging into his back.
"That crest, where did you get it?" Andrew finally spoke, holding a kunai to his targets back. His eyes had locked onto his target and his deathly yet uncaring aura changed.
The shinobi leader tried to turn his head to speak to the kid directly but the kunai dug deeper into his back before the tension was released when he looked away again.
"Keep your head front and answer my question."
"So you do speak." The leader forced a smile though he knew the kid couldn't see it. He was treating him lightly not believing he would actually do it despite his comrades warnings and worries.
"Answer me, I won't give you another warning." The kunai dug deeper, breaking the skin but not hitting any vitals.
"Uchiha It's the Uchiha clan crest." Andrew released the kunai and the Leader turned around, finally matching the kid's gaze.
"Those eyes… they're… beautiful." The leader only managed to spit out those few words as he stared into Andrew's gaze, he was perplexed at the reaction but after a few moments he stopped and they both got onto the wagon.
This kid is going to be interesting, very interesting. The leader thought to himself.