13 Home

After a few hours of practice, the door opened again. This time it was Taketa, followed by the other four kids. It had been three years, and Taketa still looked as unfriendly as ever, with a few more scars on his face. The children looked around, and it was hard to tell if they were excited, afraid, or both. They may have looked like four and five-year-olds, but their mentality hadn't changed.

When Chojuro saw Zitsukani sitting by the pool, his eyes lit up, and the hands he was using to grip his shirt relaxed as a wide smile bloomed on his face.

"Zitsu, look how big we've got!" Chojuro exclaimed as he began to twist and turn, trying to show off how tall he had grown.

Zitsukani smiled back at him, happy to see his old friend again. The other kids walked up looking confused, so they stayed in a group.

Mangetsu stared at the kids for a moment and gently massaged the side of his head, feeling a headache coming. Taking a breath, he walked over.

"I can't teach you anything if you can't even step on the field. Learn to walk on water before you even think about grabbing a sword," Mangetsu said to the children before walking away.

Chojuro looked at Zitsu, confused. "What does he mean?"

"He means that we have to learn to walk on water too," Zitsu replied. "It's like when you stuck the card to your finger but harder."

"How do you do it?" Taisho asked, stepping forward, his fingertips almost touching his ankles. "Teach us."

Zitsu furrowed his brows, side-glancing at the boy. "Do I look like I know?" he asked.

"But you've been here longer!" The girl with longer hair wrinkled her nose and stared at Zitsu. Her sister hid behind her back.

Shrugging his shoulders, Zitsu continued to regulate chakra in his palm as he pressed down. Taisho sat on the edge of the pool and stretched out his long arm, pressing his palm on the water. His hand instantly sank as he pressed down, but he still smiled.

Seeing his actions, the long-haired girl pulls her sister down, and they begin practicing as well. Chojuro just stands there and watches. Seeing this, Zitsu rubs his head with his other hand.

"Cho, sit down and practice."

"Ah! Ok!" Sitting down next to Zitsu, he instantly plunges his hand into the water. The vein on his forehead begins to throb as he watches him. As everyone begins plunging their hands in the water, it causes the water to ripple, making it even harder to control his chakra.

Mangetsu glances over from time to time but offers no help. After another two hours, he finally opens his mouth.

"Ok, it's time for you guys to leave now because I'm going home."

Looking up, the kids are just in time to see him disappear as he holds up two fingers, leaving behind a ripple in his wake. Seeing this, Zitsu quickly stands up to leave. The other kids instinctively follow him outside.

Seeing this, he thinks for a moment before smiling, can he have his own followers?

Lifting his finger, he points at the dorm. "That's where we are supposed to live. We are supposed to receive additional training, but I assume everyone is busy due to a new Mizukage."

The other kids nod as they walk closer to the building. Almost like every other building he has seen, this one is cylinder-shaped. It only has three levels and can be considered rather small.

Arriving at the entrance, he sees that familiar curving path to the rooms, but he notices a lot fewer doors. Looking around, he can see that this building looks almost new as it's not completely covered in moss from the damp dew.

Looking at the kids behind him, he thinks for a second. "We were given no instruction on what to do. To be safe, let's meet here at sunrise tomorrow."

Everyone nods their heads and walks inside. Once inside, there is a plaque placed on the wall with their names on them.

Taisho Itoh 1-A

Emina Iwasaki 1-B

Eminu Iwasaki 1-B

Chojuro Benkei 2-A

Zitsukani Teruya 2-B

Looking at the kids, he sees their confused faces and realizes they can't read Japanese.

"Come, I'll take you to your rooms." Waving his hand, he begins to walk along the curved path.

The first room he arrives at is 1-B. "Emina, Eminu, this is your room."

"How do you know our name?" the girls actually speak in sync this time, looking confused.

Zitsu just shakes his head and knocks on the door before walking away. Cho and Taisho continue to follow him. Soon he comes to learn that each floor only has two doors. Arriving at 1-A, he points at Taisho.

"This room is yours," Zitsu said.

Taisho looked at him for a moment before nodding his head. Walking up to the door, he knocked and tried to open it.

"Let's go, Cho." Not waiting to see if someone answered the door, he continued walking around.

Walking a bit further, they found the stairs. Arriving at the second floor, he noticed it looked like the first. Knowing which way led to side A and B, he headed towards side A first.

"Is my mom really up here?" Chojuro's face became a bit red as he got excited. He began to fidget with his shirt as a smile formed on his face.

"As far as I know, she should be." Arriving at the door, he knocked.

Waiting a few seconds, they began to hear noises from inside. Soon, the door opened, revealing Arita's figure. She looked a little older, and her blue hair was longer, but she still looked like the same caring woman.

"Chocho! Zitsu!" Her eyes instantly became red as she rushed to pick up Chojuro.

"Mommy!" As she scooped Chojuro into her arms, she began to spin in place as tears ran down her cheeks.

Looking inside the apartment, he noticed how nice it looked compared to his old home. Making sure his mother was not inside, he quietly slipped away while they were distracted.

Arriving at his room, he took a deep breath. Raising his hand, he knocked heavily on the door. His heart began beating faster and faster. Would she still love him? On Earth, he was raised in foster care and never had anyone care about him unless they got benefits. The fact that he was a violent child before he discovered anime and Naruto just pushed people further away.

But the love his mom showed him moved his heart, to the point where even he cared for her.

His heartbeat rang in his ears, almost bursting when the door slowly opened. It had only been a week for him, but imagining her loneliness for three years almost made him bleed with sympathy.

The door opened to reveal his mother, Yura.

Her body trembled as her eyes turned red.

Looking at his mother's long auburn hair, purple eyes, almond-shaped eyes, and button nose, his eyes watered as well.

"Mom," a hoarse voice escaped from his mouth. Looking at her red eyes, he realized that he cared, he really cared.

"Zitsu," she dropped to her knees and pulled him into a hug.

Smelling the familiar scent of his mother, his entire body relaxed as he felt safe. This wasn't a game to him; his arrival may have been accidental, but this was his life, this was his mother, the only mother he knew.

They hugged for a few minutes before finally separating.

Looking into Zitsu's eyes, she wiped the tears from his cheeks while smiling. "Silly boy, crying after not seeing your mom for a week, how can you become a ninja like that?"

As Zitsu listened to his mother's words, a smile spread across his face. He stood up and she guided him inside, closing the door behind them. "Look at how I've been living. Isn't it nice? So don't feel sad," she said reassuringly.

Zitsu looked around and realized they were in a living room or common area. He noticed a kitchen towards the back equipped with a fridge and a stove, and three different doors leading to unknown areas. There were a few painters easels with unfinished paintings in the living room, and different paintings hanging on the wall of mountains, animals, and even himself. More paintings were stacked together and leaning on a wall.

Proudly, his mother noticed her son's gaze and puffed out her chest. "Your mom has been painting. Isn't she good?" Walking forward, she pointed at a door to the left side of the room. "This is my room," she said before pointing to one of the doors on the right. "That's your room. I decorated it for you already. Go and see all my hard work." She looked at Zitsu lovingly and waved her hand.

Nodding his head, Zitsu walked towards the door and opened it. The stone walls were entirely painted blue, with the Kiri symbol, Kunai, and shuriken painted on different parts of the wall. Besides a bed, there was also a dresser and another open door leading to a bathroom. In their old apartment, they didn't have a private bathroom, so seeing a bathroom made him really happy.

Looking around for a moment, he crossed his fingers and said, "Shadow Clone Jutsu." As he channeled his chakra, he divided it into nine parts and made eight clones.

[Chakra 28/255]

One of the clones stepped forward and nodded. "We know what to do."

Zitsu nodded and left his room. Walking over to his mom who was sitting on the couch, he sat next to her and laid his head on her lap as she began rubbing his hair. "Mom, what happened in these three years?" he asked.