Memories.

Segment 18.

When Raiden popped apart the shadow clone, he expected the other one and the real body to come at him at it’s heels. But when the smoke generated by a dying shadow clone dissipated, he was surprised. Naruto, the real body, held out his hands skywards, having a blue sphere floating above his arm. Glowing, rotating, and pressurised chakra was moving there, right above his palm. When the smoke eventually cleared out, Naruto rushed through the smoke, implementing a surprise attack. Raiden realised the attack too late. He never would’ve thought that the boy would have such a powerful technique still up his sleeve.Lunging towards Raiden, Raiden did not have enough time to defend himself. He tried to lift up his Kusarigama to stop the genin’s advance, but it was too late. Kyūbi’s chakra enhanced Naruto’s physical attributes immensely. The nine-tails Jinchūriki sped through without letting the Kama obstruct his path, and forced the ball of chakra onto Raiden’s chest.“Rasengan!!!”A force large enough to break down a full grown tree, attack potency enough to take the living breath out of Raiden and render him immobile. Such was the power of this technique that the young ninja had managed to master in little more than a week’s time. An A-class jutsu, his sensei had called it. When the attack went home, Raiden went airborne, flying through the air, hitting the warehouse’s wall, heavily denting it. Grunting with pain, Raiden tried to move, in vain. Blood covered the entirety of his abdomen, and he coughed up blood. Even trying to cough took too much energy, something he did not have. Crumpled up and lying in a corner, his brain also did not work properly. Due to heavy blood loss, his mind became fuzzy. He wasn’t thinking straight.Seeing Raiden, Naruto too lost all of his energy, his remaining adrenaline which had shot up moments before now seemingly gone. Legs not even able to twitch , much less move, he fell down head first to the front. His head hot the ground, rebounded, and he became unconscious.While Raiden lay lying in a heap, Tsunade stared at him, her own thoughts racing faster than light, most of them incomprehensible. Only one thing she remember almost vividly.Naruto. I have to protect him. I have to save him. I am the only one who can do that, the only one who can heal him. She fumbled through and stood up straight. She appeared to be on the verge of suffering with vertigo. But by perseverance, she scrambled towards Naruto, and kneeled down beside him.Pulling him so that his face faced towards the ceiling, she opened up his jacket. He was bruised; too much to be repaired too quickly. Blood covered his body. She felt like vomiting right now, her throat was burning. But no. No. She would surely save Naruto. She had failed Dan, failed Nawaki, failed herself. She would not fail yet another boy she admired. This boy… His determination crosses all bounds. His willpower was unlike any she had encountered. She would surely not let this boy die. She kept her fears of blood inside, she bottled it up in the deepest depths of her mind, refusing to give any heed to it.She herself had a big gash in her right ribs, and innumerable other small cuts and bruises. Blood gushed out from her wound, but again she payed no attention to her own sufferings.Bending over Naruto’s body, she brought her hands closer to his chest and held it. A faint green light appeared from the inside of her palms, an indication of Medical Ninjutsu.She could only reduce the bleeding and heal the smaller cuts at the moment. Taking her Haori entirely off, she tore it up into strips of ample sizes, and tied it wherever the cuts were too deep, on Naruto. Then something happened. She felt as if the weight of the world had been lifted from her shoulders. She was no longer scared of blood. Blood, which she feared more than death, was now no more than a connective tissue flowing through being’s veins. At first her head became as light as a balloon filled with helium, when suddenly her head turned as heavy as a block of lead, and she started to vaguely hallucinate. At first she thought that she thought there were two Narutos in the same place, perhaps overlapping one another slightly. Then slowly the numbers increased. It kept on increasing until there were more than fifty bodies of Naruto lying parallel to one another, each unstable and dancing in their own oscillating manner. The contrast in the hues of her surroundings increased a tenfold, and her face felt as if it were inside an oven right then.Dizziness exploded inside her brain, and she fell down, right beside Naruto.

Raiden lay in a corner, his body completely paralysed. His mind was fuzzy, and his head ached so much that he would’ve given anything to pluck out his mind and throw it a hundred paces away. His head throbbed as much as his mind, and he could do nothing to control anything.I can do nothing, but grimace inside about how I lost humiliatingly to a genin. A bloody leaf genin. Ugh, how I feel like a saddle-goosing jolter-head right now…I wish I could die… Of all the people in the world, why a genin!?!!… Defeat to the Sannin would’ve been much better. How?! How did I lose… Such disgrace, I cannot bear it. Oh forgive me, Shinju. I could not protect you. I swore to myself once, that I would never again lose, and leave Shinju vulnerable. It’s all because of those sannin. That Tsunade, burn her! Her and the entire hidden leaf, I wish it to burn down to ashes and soot. It all began more than twenty years or so. As the days pass, I start to slowly forget all the minute details, and now in this frenzied state I cannot even remember an approximation on the number of years since the start of the incident.Some twenty years ago, when I was little more than a boy, the Second Great Shinobi War was still ravaging, still raging for more than two years then. Our family, consisting of me, my mother, and my father, lived in the outskirts of kumogakure. Outskirts meaning, the lower regions of the hidden village. Though lower in altitude than the village proper, our wooden home was still well up to be covered and hidden in the clouds. A small house, but well-made and sturdy as hell, it could withstand even the strongest storms in those regions. At that moment, there were only me and my mother living there; My father had gone to war to fight against the other Hidden Villages. One day, suddenly, we received news that father had died in the war. I was devastated, then my resolve firmed and my mind became filled with anger. But my poor mother, sick as she was, was reduced to a state of complete annihilation of her brain. She was bedridden thereafter, and died a few months later. I tried to grieve for my mother, but nothing else remained on my mind except revenge. Pure hatred and revenge to slaughter the people who murdered my parents. Filled and brimming with resentment, I started roaming through the streets of the Land of Lightning. Only negative thoughts , I roamed with an aim of finding out those vile murderers. But first, I had to get stronger, that’s what I thought. If these people were strong enough to kill my father, then I had to do hard training to surpass them. The fastest way was to become a ninja, the most efficient way to become powerful. There were of course dojos and other martial arts academies, but still the training provided by the hidden shinobi was the best. With latent fury burning in my heart, I progressed through the academy with ease and graduated in less than a year.It was when I was a chunin when I met Shinju.We had been assigned to a mission, me and two more ninjas of the same caliber. It was supposed to be a C-ranked mission, though afterwards we found out else wise. A scroll was sent to each of us in the team providing the details of the task. We were to deal with a small group of rogue mountain bandits in the kiri northern mountain range.The three of us set out by first light, and we reached there by midday the next day. A land that was occasionally under snowfall, I heard. Hailstorms and blizzards rarely came there, like two or three large ones at most in a decade. But the climate itself was cool enough at it’s peak to freeze water in an couple of hours.When we reached there, a wiry man in his late fifties came to greet us. He introduced himself to us as a servant to our client, and led us through mud laden roads. Cedar and pine trees lay heavily to either side of the path, with an occasional hemlock or wild yew. Equipped with thick woollen scarves, the three of us followed him, slowly. When we reached the place we were headed to, I noticed that it was nothing special as I imagined. A badly done shack, made hastily, yes. A small cabin, and rainwater leaked drearily through the thatched roof. A muddy road led to it, and we entered a door which was barely attached to a hinge.Inside sat two men, one whose hair was almost completely white, and another just a little older than myself. Other than those, a beautiful woman sat elegantly on a silk mat, of a ripe age. A small girl of seven or eight sat playing with a toy, in a corner of the room where sunlight spilled partially.The younger man, who seemed frustrated, spoke first. “ Oh here they come. At last. Our saviours sent from heaven by God himself.” His voice was laden with sarcasm.The old man beside him urgently spoke, apologetically, “ Stop it, Tobi. I’ve had it enough with your laments.”“ I don’t lam-” The man called Tobi implied, but the older man interrupted him. “Nevertheless, well come to our village. I am sorry we couldn’t provide a proper welcome. I hope your journey was pleasant, for I am afraid your time here won’t be so from now on.”My companion, a cheerful lad with iron skills, approached the man and spoke, “ Don’t you all worry, good sir. We are here for that purpose, to rid you of your worries. Now tell us what happened here, and we will try our entire best to help.”And thus, the old man started his story. “ My name is Asahi Gushiken. Our clan, the Gushiken, is sworn to serve directly under the leader of this village. It has been the same since many generations, but I shall not go into that history now. The Kazehaya clan, the clan that administers and reigns over the village, well, that used to, consisted of twelve members, which rapidly dwindled to one. This pretty lady sitting before you is the last remnant of the clan. Akane Kazehaya. Our guilt is boundless when we think of the eleven members whom we failed to protect.”“What happened?” I asked a little too abruptly. “Were they all murdered by someone? Our mission was to deal with mountain bandits… Were they the ones who did this?”Asahi replied and continued bitterly, “ I guess you can call them that, more so because it was in that form the mission was submitted. I’ll get to who the bandits are. Long long ago, in the Zankoku clan, there arised a prodigy, who himself created a kekkei genkai. Only he knew how pained he was when he found out his heirs did not possess it by birth. Due to him, the Zankoku grew up to become one of the most prominent clans in the village. It used to rival that of the Kazehaya. Though after the great man’s death, the clan’ prominence declined. Until twenty-three years, that is. Twenty three years ago, on a new moon night, was born a child to the Zankoku clan, who possessed the powers, the very same kekkei genkai that the revolutionary man had. They named him Yami Zankoku, for he was born devoid of light. As he grew up, the boy learned about the past glories of his clan, and vowed to bring them back even greater.He wanted his clan to be the best, and wanted to rule the town and beyond. His special powers allowed him to do so with almost ease.”“What is his power, sir?. You keep mentioning them, but you never told us what it is.” I cut in suddenly, and then flashed an apologetic look.“ Ah, that’s where i’m getting to, so bear for a little while. His Kekkei Genkai passed through the bloodlines helps him to persuade others. With words he does, and compulsion takes place. Whoever hears his voice when the jutsu is implemented feels very submissive, and has the obligation to do everything the jutsu user asks. It in itself is a very very dangerous power, so I must warn you beforehand. It nearly costed my dear life to obtain this very information. Owing to the fact of his powers, his greed and animosity grew almost endlessly. His cravings blinded his mind of purity, and he sought out to conquer. But even then, he knew that he was no match for Kumogakure , one of the hidden ninja villages. So he planned to keep his works hidden, and initiated his plot. With his power, he brought about more than a fifty youths and marched to the House of the Kazehaya. If they were ‘dethroned’ , the village would fall into pieces, and it would be ripe for the taking. And that was how it all started. After that, the raids and attacks began. But do not ever underestimate the Kazehaya. They had thirty to forty retainers who practiced the martial arts, and another half of that who were servants. Besides the clan itself, of course. After lasting one week, all of the retainers were dead, except a handful including us sitting in this very room. The leader of the House of Kazehaya was even ready to give up the position to avoid war, an unnecessary idea, in my opinion, but Yami’ mind was filled with killing. His mind corrupt, a genocide occurred. I think I need to explain more on the topic. I, we need you to take care of that upstart who killed my beloved masters. Please.” His words were burdened with cold anger, but the deep sorrow remained eternally in his eyes.“ Alright then, folks. Lets go and get that bastard right hard!” I declared.But right then, my colleague interrupted my speech on how we were going to annihilate them. “Ah, no. Not so hasty, Raiden. Can you tell us more on his present situation? His citadel’s location and fortitude , the number of followers he has, etc.”“ I do not know much, as we are currently into hiding, but occasionally Tobi sneaks around the outskirts incognito to collect information. You see, there are still some loyalists present. Yami has demolished the old Kazehaya mansion and built a stronger and bigger base there. He meant the location to be on purpose, to weaken the hearts of the loyalists. As for the number of people under him, we are not sure, but I am certain that it is well above a hundred. I am sorry, but I don know if there is any other way we can help. Our main priority is on protecting the Lady. And please do be careful, I heard he has placed spies randomly in and around the village.”