The Valley of Beginning

"Miss Tsunade! Wait up!"

Tsunade, holding a sake bottle in hand, turned around to the sight of her barely teenage apprentice struggling to catch up with two giant suitcases in her hands.

"Hurry up, Shizune!" Tsunade bellowed at her winded apprentice in a half-drunken stake. "I have a hunch that today is the day!"

"I thought yesterday was your lucky day," Shizune huffed out under her breath.

"What was that?!" Tsunade shouted, still clutching onto her bottle as if it was her lifeline IV. Though, as of late, it wouldn't be wrong to assume so. The majority of her fluid intake has been through the sake bottle or the occasional shot glass.

"Nothing," Shizune returned with a weak laugh.

"Well then, let's get to it! I'm gonna finally clean out that entire building!" She pointed with drunken, misguided confidence at the local gambling house. To which, Shizune could only sigh and play along with her mentor.

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Two hours later, two figures trodded out of the gambling house. One held her head up high with no seeming shame, while the other exhibited enough shame and embarrassment for both of them.

Shizune followed with hunch shoulders behind her mentor while intermittently mumbling stuff like, "They even took the briefcases," or "We were only on one table the entire time," or "Two million yen... come back, please."

She looked over at her mentor who was calmly walking ahead with her head high. As if the two million yen they just lost was nothing but an anvil on her head that she was now free from. At least her hands were free from the weight of her sake bottle, crushed after the first few losses.

Tsunade, on the opposite spectrum, seemed completely unbothered by the turnout. Whether it was because she had already expected it or she genuinely doesn't care anymore, Shizune wasn't sure.

Lately, she'd been acting strange over the last few months, and Shizune couldn't help but be worried. Instead of her usual mood swings, the norm now mostly consisted of indifference, detachment, and drowning under alcohol. She acted as if she was just waiting to kneel over and die.

It was disheartening to watch.

As Shizune was wallowing around, Tsunade abruptly turned her head to the left and marched in a detour away from their hotel room.

"Miss Tsunade?" Shizune perked up at her mentor's stray movements. "Where are you going?"

Tsunade kept walking, only answering, "I need some air," and headed towards the outer border of the small tourist trap of a city.

Shizune, not having any other options, opted to follow her intoxicated mentor through random alleys and streets. The two walked in silence, as the background noise and blurry lights of the city dimmed until they disappeared.

They came upon a green field of grass and trees stretching for miles; about a 3-hour walk away from the nearest civilization. Yet, Tsunade kept walking, farther and farther into the night.

Now, about 4 to 5 hours away, Tsunade suddenly stopped, much to Shizune's pleasure. They were in a dense forest, one neither had ever come across, at least according to Shizune. Everything was so green and lushes and disconnected from the world that it felt like they were standing on a different planet or some sort of dimensional plane.

Shizune had a weird feeling about the place. Everything was so... natural--too natural, like no one, not one living person has ever set foot within this place since the beginning of time. It was like the trees and grass were full of eyes, piercing straight at her with full malevolence. She felt like she didn't belong and the eyes wanted to make sure she knew--as if she was in complete Konoha garb, walking the streets of Kumo. The green found her very existence offensive.

"Ms. Tsunade?" she meekly asked, trying her best to not flee with all her might.

"Did you know my grandfather always took me out on hikes to places just like this?" Tsunade opened, startling her apprentice a bit. She softly chuckled. "Of course, he would've had to bribe me first before I even walked out the door." She paused for a moment. "He always did spoil me rotten."

Tsunade stepped toward one of the trees and placed her hand on the trunk. "We would walk amongst the trees as they slept and moved--as they waved at us; he was truly one with nature." She flashed a smile. "He always said that we as humans have a duty to the world and all its inhabitants."

Shizune kept silent, listening intently to the Sannin, who was weirdly not being affected by the non-existent glares of the green itself. She could feel the place was sacred. She felt compelled to take off her sandals and kneel. And yet her master looked more at peace than she had ever been in years.

"Our duty..." Tsunade muttered, slowly listing off into silence. She kept her eyes placid upon the billowing leaves as they waved goodbye. "He had a technique he taught me," she smiled softly, "where he'd 'talk' with nature itself. He said it calmed him, uplifted him whenever--"

She stopped.

She breathed in deeply and exhaled in a smooth rhythm, keeping her eyes trained tamely upon the branches' one-handed free waltz under the diamond sky, asking her for a dance.

Shizune crept closer to Tsunade, one light step at a time, pushing back against the stares. She tried to follow her mentor's line of sight but was unable to see what was upon Tsunade's eyes.

"Do you fear death, Shizune?"

Shizune flicked her eyes to Tsunade, deeply confused, and concerned by the question. "Umm..." she muttered, not knowing how to answer.

"I don't." Tsunade's voice remained calm and stable, almost detached from what she was saying. "Not anymore."

"Ms. Tsunade..." Shizune's concern was palpable in her tone.

"Well," Tsunade almost shouted, wiping her face with her smooth, unaging hands. "Let's head back then." She turned away from the wakeful forest and trodded along back to the blistering lights and boisterous chatter and the obnoxious scent of the city.

As the two walked out of the abandoned forest, a low rumble rung beneath the untouched grass. The ground shook as if a mighty locomotive was barrelling through the tunnels of the earth.

Tsunade stopped dead in her tracks. She could feel the nature around her screaming and shouting, twisting wildly. 'I've never felt it so strong before,' she thought. 'Not even when I was with Granddad.'

"Earthquak--!!" Shizune muttered and yelped as she lost her balance and fell to the ground.

"Maybe..." Tsunade replied with confusion on her face, taking all of her muscles to stay stabilized on her feet.

However, the thought was immediately dispelled when the earth gave way. The sound of the very ground being split into two was deafening like the hand of God itself was reaching out from the depths of the unspoiled earth, and, with a thunderous roar of splintering trees and shattering earth, a giant ball of metal sprouted from the depths of the underworld.

As the ball of metal spewed out more and more, the earthquake got worse and worse, forcing Shizune and Tsunade to cover their ears from the pain of the vibrations of scraping metal. And as the sphere was fully revealed to the night sky, the rumbling stopped. Dead in the air. As if nothing happened.

The metal ball was huge, towering over the forest trees, gleaming under the moonlight. The reflecting glare from the moon made the ball look nothing short of majestic.

"What... What do you think it is, Miss Tsunade?" Shizune asked, in awe of the size of the sphere.

Tsunade didn't answer, instead slowly walked forward, gazing at the metal sphere.

Shizune, noticing Tsunade creeping towards the ball, panicked. "Miss! What are you doing?" The metal could contain anything, including harmful things.

"It's weird," Tsunade muttered to herself, standing in front of the giant sphere. She raised her hand and placed her palm on the sheening metal.

"Miss Tsunade?" Shizune asked again, following her mentor and standing behind her.

Tsunade studied the sphere intently with her palm firmly pressed, exploring all the webbings of texture and the intricate strings of nature soothing out of it. It all felt so familiar like it had been there even before the earth where it rests.

As she pulled her hand back, a red print of her palm appeared where her hand was. Then, the whole of the sphere began to tremble with cracks growing and germinating out from the print, covering the entirety of the sphere. The metal screeched in helpless defiance.

Surprised, Tsunade took a step back and leaped away along with Shizune.

"What's happening?" Shizune asked with anxiety in her voice. Both took on defensive positions.

Tsunade didn't answer, instead kept her eyes peeled on the tremoring case of solid metal. The cracks grew and grew like roots strangling the nutrients out of the soil. Cool air seeped out from the cracks, chilling the surrounding.

Then the metal shattered in a radiation of dust and the shrieking burst of enclosed air, escaping from imprisonment. The bursting air burned through the atmosphere and covered the surrounding with heavy smoke, leaving a heavy chill over the trees. A cloaked figure stood in the cacophony of dust and searing smoke.

Tsunade and Shizune took on combat stances and stared anxiously at the mysterious figure. Their minds were grinding, wondering who or what the thing was, and what it was doing in the sphere.

And as the dust settled, a man emerged, sitting still in the middle of the cracked ball. He looked to be about 14, at the oldest, dressed in shaggy clothes. The clothes looked traditional, yet functional; loose, yet fitting. He was wearing a light brown wrap cape and loose grey pants.

The strangest thing about him was his eyes: they were glowing bright blue like the daytime sky itself seeping through the cracks in the night. The nighttime itself cowered in fear, making way for the blue light to devour everything.

As the two ladies got ready to strike in case the man make any moves, the light from his eyes dimmed until darkness returned in its full. The man looked at the two and stood up. "Hi," he uttered as he stood up. "I'm--Ah!" He immediately fell down straight onto the dirt.

The two ladies--well, lady and a half--were apprehensive of the weird man, standing on guard and ready for an inebriated fight. "Who are you?" Shizune called. "What were you doing in that marble?"

"And what were you doing in the ground? Hiding?" Tsunade added. "Running?"

The man pushed himself up from the ground. "Please, one question at a time! I'm still getting used to using my legs much less being conscious." He rolled over and sat on the grass, slapping his legs to wake them up. "Asleep! Of course, you are." He looked over to the guarded pair. "Do you know what happens when you sit completely still for a week? You get this apparently," he pointed to his immobile legs.

"Are you okay?" Shizune stepped forward, feeling somewhat sorry for the funny-looking and talking young man. "We know some medical skills so we could help." Tsunade was much less sympathetic, staring and smirking at the "kid's" little misadventure with his legs, though still maintaining the proper battle distance.

"No, it's okay," he returned nonchalantly. He lifted his right hand over his unconscious legs and did some strange signs and waves. "There we go." He pushed himself up and stood readily on his legs. "See?" he stated happily, swiping and slapping some of the grass off of his pants. "All better."

"You never finished your introduction," Tsunade said, her hands on her hips.

"Ah, hello," he rebooted. "My name is Haru." He studied his compatriates up and down, equalizing the playing field. "And who might you two be?"

Tsunade remained silent, upping her scrutiny of the boy in front of her. She knew what battle-hardened eyes looked like. Noticing her master's silence and lack of hostility, Shizune stepped up, "Nice to meet you, Mr. Haru. My name is Shizune and this is my master."

"And does your master have a name?" Haru trained his eyes on the older blonde woman.

Shizune opened her mouth but was interrupted by Tsunade, "Depends on how you'll react to it."

Haru smiled. "Oh. A big deal, are we?"

"Can't be too careful nowadays," Tsunade shot back. Shizune looked at her. 'As if she didn't just throw away 2 million yen and twice the sake bottles in a very public gambling house.'

"I would say I'm a pretty big deal as well and I still gave my name."

"That was your mistake. Here's some advice, kid. Try to learn from the mistake of others instead of your own. Much less painful."

"Well, I guess--"

"Her name is Tsunade," Shizune blurted, unable to handle all the nonstop chattering from the pair. "Was that so hard?"

Haru contemplated on the name. "You must not be that big of a deal then since I've never heard of you."

Tsunade flared back. "Right back at you."

Sensing that he was being honest about not knowing who she is, Tsunade relaxed her guard. Shizune followed her example. "She's one of the 3 Sannin. The best medical ninja of the era." The pair assumed that the brief title drop would clear up the confusion. Since the kid looked young, he might not know the specific names of the Sannin, but he definitely must have heard of the title. However, the resulting contortion on his face told otherwise.

"Sannin? Ninja?" He scratched his temple. "What is that?"

The two were baffled. "Seriously? You've never heard of ninjas?" Tsunade asked. "What kind of rock have you been living under?"

"That one," he pointed to the cracked metal ball behind him. "Although that one is metal so I'm not sure that counts." He began to stretch to relieve some stress built up over the course of gaining consciousness and being bombarded with questions.

"Are you joking with us?" Shizune kindly asked, as if she was a substitute teacher who wanted to be accepted by her temporary class so badly that she wanted to be made fun of if it meant being included. "You have never actually heard of ninjas?"

"I'm not," Haru answered while stretching. "It's all new to me." He bent his back, looking up at the night sky to come face to face with a blinding celestial body of cremated ash. "So is that," he muttered to himself. "What's that?" he asked his newly found information kiosks, pointing up at the orb.

Tsunade and Shizune followed his finger only to find the Moon. "The Moon?" Shizune asked for confirmation.

Tsunade chortled. "You aren't going to tell us that you have never seen the Moon either, are you?"

"I swear that wasn't there when I got in the ball."

"I'm sorry, but the Moon has always been there," Shizune said in an apologetic tone.

Haru looked back at his supposed temporary prison. "Oh god."