the mystery of the 10

~mikku~

i wake up in a hospital bed, jeiku and fuya are are sitting in some chairs to the right of me asleep, a window across the room lets me know that its night time, i must have been knocked out for a while, i feel an aching pain and realize several of my ribs were broken, theyre mended now but it still hurts like hell. theres rustling to the right side of me.

"mikku youre awake finally" its jeiku

"how long was i out" jeiku yawns and stretches,

"like 10 hours or so, round one of the tournament is over already"

"that fast?" jeiku nods,

"yeah it went along surprisingly fast for how many people were there, tomorrow is round 2 already, the tournament seems like its going to be going at triple speed until we're broken into smaller groups."

"did you make it through?"

"yeah" jeiku sits up straighter, he seems more awake now, "and fuya and jin as well, there seem to be quite a few strong people here, ive got my eye on a few of them. oh and some of the shinobi fuya, ibuki, and i met on our last mission made it through as well, its good to know that theyre ok" jeiku looks sad now, "considering how brutal the mist village massacre was im amazed there were any survivors really"

"did you see an old man during the tournament? probably in his 70s, from the sand village" jeikus face drops as i ask this.

"yeah, there was"

"did you talk to him" i have to know everything about the old man that i can.

"yeah he said he was in the 10 and that there were multiple people at the tournament in the 10 as well, i met one named saito earlier" that confirms it, the old man exists.

"was there anyone else of note?"

"yeah, a lot, like i said"

"oh right..."

"you should get some more rest mikku" i nod

"you as well"

~the next day~

i want to watch jeiku fuya and jins fights today but im not allowed to leave the hospital bed. its weird to think about how far I've... we've come in the last 3 years. the day before our training even started Rōgan told me something, he said

"i want to become hokage someday, not because i want the position but because i want to bring peace to the ninja world, with so much death and destruction we all need a beacon of hope, i really think i can be that"

at the time i didnt know what to think of that, but after losing so many friends i dont know what to think anymore, i feel so drained of any emotion, and it isnt just me, i see it in the streets of the leaf, people look hollow and sickly, i see it in my friends, they all look thinner and paler and serious, even the wild life looks like its dying. the ninja world is dying, it wont be long before it ceases to exist. maybe Rōgan is right, maybe he is the beacon of hope we need.