I Saw Red

"Yuuki! Seigo! Get your asses here quickly!" Mom yelled as a few crystals shattered. It was a shitty situation. It had been a nice day, or at least better than average. But now, almost everything was in chaos.

"Moriko! Get the kids, NOW!" Of course, mom wasn't the only one panicking. At some point, dad put on a very weird looking armour. It was a brownish red, and it covered the front and back of the upper body as well as the external part of some of his arms. Also, he was wearing a strapped sword on his back.

Now, let's make this clear, because this is important. Dad and mom never, and I mean never, yelled at us. Sure, they might raise their voice a bit when we were doing something stupid, but never going as far as flat-out yelling. So, understandably, Seigo was a bit freaked out, and his tears showed that clearly.

"Tou-san, kaa-san, what is happening?" Seigo said shakily while coming out of his room with a backpack on him. Honestly, I have to give it to my parents. They always made us keep a readied pack with the essentials in order to leave quickly.

I always found it more logical to be there in case of an earthquake, which japan got a shit-ton of, but now its real purpose showed itself. And honestly, it just created more questions than it answered.

Where exactly were we? Why are we being targeted? Why is my dad wearing something that looks like a warring states era armour? Shit, what time was this? I know it has to be at least the first generation kages' time, for there to be fucking ninjas from rock, water, and fire after us. But exactly when? Oh god… We weren't in the middle of a war, were we?

"Moriko, take the kids and leave. I will provide cover." Dad said while unsheathing his sword. Damn. I forgot I love swords.

Mom lifted us up, carrying each of her offspring in a separate arm. And, while we were still very young, there's no way a small woman like her could carry us without problems.

"Kaa-san, what is happening?" Seigo, of course, needed to know. One of the biggest downsides of being smart is the unending curiosity, especially for a child.

"Seigo-chan, we are going to leave. Go on vacation. Close your eyes and relax, I will start running with your tou-san, ok? Yuuki, try to close your eyes too, honey."

"Kaa-san…" Of course, even as a child, Seigo still had a very sharp intuition, and knew something was messed up.

"Moriko, compress your chakra and let's leave. We will walk through the forests until we reach Ame. Hopefully we can evade them."

"Hideki, what about everyone? You are one of the strongest. You are, basically, the main commander of our forces."

"Forces? Moriko, we don't have any forces. We barely have a dozen chunin, a couple of jonin, and some genin. We are, by no means, a match for them." Dad paused for a second and then sighed. "We always knew this day would arrive. They think, just because of our past, we are a big threat, so they sent four squads followed by an anbu unit. Each of them. That's 36 chunin and 9 elite-jonin, at the very least. Even if, by some miracle they fight each other before fighting us, we are outnumbered, outclassed, and outequipped."

"But still, 3 villages in a single night? That's the worse luck we could possibly have…" Mom said while walking.

By now, we were on the edge of town, almost entering the forest. Mom and dad shared a look before nodding. Up next, they jumped up the trees and started moving across them. Of course, I didn't listen to mom and I kept my eyes open. And I've got to say, it indeed looked awesome. After a few minutes, dad slowed down and then nodded.

"Yuuki, Seigo, we should be okay now. But, it is very important that you stay very, very quiet, okay? If you don't, we might not be able to rest and have candy." At the magic word, Seigo nodded solemnly, as if being lectured on gospel. Me, on the other hand, just nodded a little nervously.

We kept moving for another handful of minutes before my dad signalled us to stop. Which mom did immediately. As for why, I could guess. Dad readied his sword with his right hand and made a seal with his left. Damn, seals. Little room for denial now.

After a dozen of seconds, three ninjas appeared in the trees around us. They wore brownish red clothes under a brown vest. And if that wasn't enough, the symbol in their headband revealed their affiliation. Iwa ninjas, from the land of earth.

The three of them eyed us maliciously, before one of them broke into a grin.

"Well, well… What do we have here?" One of them said and the rest of them smiled. "You know, you are lucky we found you here… The town back there is in chaos, there is no way we could've taken you alive…"

My dad tightened his grip on his sword, and I could feel mom shiver a little. But still, her expression was as calm as still water. No doubt to reassure me and my brother.

"What do you want with us? Why are you even attacking the town? They are civilians, most of them. Is this how Iwa shinobis operate? Truly commendable…" Dad said with a sneer, and our three opponents stiffened a little.

"Stop spouting bullshit. You know who you are, what you are. There is no way you were going to stay hidden forever, you know?"

"We are just a town trying to evade the trouble of the five great nations. And yet, you still insist to bring trouble to us. And now, even when we are escaping without touching a single of your comrades, you still hunt us down. What do you want me to think?" Dad retorted with a calm face, but I could feel something coming. The air was… terribly still.

As if answering my thought, a kunai came flying aiming to mom and us. It was a meter away when dad suddenly appeared before us, deflecting the kunai with his sword. We were in trouble, and I mean death trouble, but my idiot mind couldn't help but think 'So that was a body flicker, huh…'

"Tsk. At least you are fast enough." The leader said and with that, he flickered, presumably towards us.

"Moriko, protect the kids." Dad said and flickered away.

Mom jumped to the ground and put me and my brother down. After that, she smiled gently and patted our heads.

"Don't worry, kids. Dad will take care of it." Mom said, smiling.

But even then, she steeled her eyes and started making hand signs. And again, my mind went to the worst place possible, considering the developments.

'Fuck, mom's a ninja too. Seriously, why didn't I know about this? Any of this?'

Mom finished her signs and placed a hand in the ground.

"Earth Release: Earth Clone Jutsu!" She said and, at her side, two pillars of earth started to grow. It wasn't until they were the size of my mom that they stabilized and created exact copies of her. Shit, this was just too much.

And even after that, the three clones started making hand signs again. From what I could tell, the same ones. It had to be said that mom didn't have the ability of a lot of ninja, that I could tell. Maybe she was a genin, a chunin may be possible, but I doubted it.

"Earth Release: Rock Sanctuary Jutsu." My mom and her clones said and some sort of rock house started covering me and my brother. Seigo, by now, was tearing and looking like a frightened rabbit. I held his hand and squeezed, which he returned.

"Nee-chan, what is happening? What is mom doing? Where is tou-san?"

"Seigo, calm down. If you keep talking, the bad guys will come." I answered, trying to sound calm. Which I wasn't, of course. Seigo just nodded and sat on the ground.

"Kids, this is a triple barrier type jutsu. It should be strong enough to protect you from at least three attacks. I will leave a clone here to take care of you, but I must go help your father." Mom looked at us a little conflicted. I could tell.

"Kaa-san, go help tou-san. We will be fine." I answered trying to give her my most presentable smile. She looked hurt, but eventually nodded and left in a flicker.

Seigo was, at this point, crying. Because of the situation, the weird stuff that was happening, the tense atmosphere, but I think mostly because this was the first time we were completely alone.

All of our lives, either mom or dad were there with us, but now there was only a clone, and that proved to be to much for little Seigo. The drop that spilled the water, so to speak.

We were there for a little over 10 minutes. Meanwhile, we kept hearing steel colliding, people yelling their techniques —which always bothered me. Why yell them? You could whisper them, at the very least—, and sounds which I assume were the result of elemental ninjutsu. But then, for a moment everything went quiet. For a second, that is.

After that, the rock building we were in shook violently and started to crack. I couldn't see mom's clone anywhere, so I grabbed Seigo's hand as quickly as possible and then came out of it. Not even a second later the whole construct went down.

"Well, I wasn't expecting two fledglings to react so quickly. More like getting crushed and me taking you out in pieces." A voice said and Seigo shrieked. I tracked the voice to a tree left of us and saw what I could only assume was an Iwa anbu. He wore the same style of clothing with a porcelain mask of a demon, which was creepy, to say the least.

"What do you want?" I asked with my best poker face and placed myself in between Seigo and the Iwa-nin. Which only resulted in a slight laugh from the anbu.

"What do I want? Well, two kids are better than five adults, you know? So impressionable at that age, so prone to brainwashing. So, will you come peacefully? Or do you want me to break something and take you by force?"

"Kaa-san…" Seigo shrieked and curled himself beside me. Holding me tightly. "Yuuki-nee, where is kaa-san?" Poor thing was on the edge.

"Don't worry, nii-chan, they will be here soon." I answered calmly and started looking around for a weapon. Obviously, I found none, other than some twigs and a rock far to heavy for me to lift.

"Well, well, well… I think it is about time we get going, don't you think? We don't want your parents coming back…" He said and took a kunai out of his pouch. He readied himself to approach us, but he stopped and for a second, everything went quiet."

He was too far away for me to tell, but I could barely see a crimson stain in his clothes. Or at least I think that's what it was. It was confirmed when he made a vomiting noise and the lower part of his mask started dripping blood.

"My god, you are a terrible hunter-nin. So much talking, yet you can't tell when someone approaches you." A voice sounded, and I swear it was the best sound I heard so far. The Iwa nin fell from the tree and crashed into the ground face first. If he wasn't dead, he was at least crippled.

But before he reached the ground, something appeared in front of us, my mom. She sighed in relief and held us tightly in a hug.

"Oh god, I'm glad you are okay." She said, voice trembling. "When my clone dispersed, I got sick worried."

"Kaa-san…" Seigo and I said almost at the same time. With them here, with my family here, there were few things I had to worry about.

And then almost like a repeat, a stabbing sound echoed in the forest. My mom stiffened immediately and I took in a sharp breath.

"You know, it is a terrible idea to not confirm a kill, especially while in hostile territory." The Iwa hunter said, and his body on the floor disappeared. I turned to look at my dad, but was greeted with the image of my dad, a person I loved, with a fucking blade sticking out of his chest.

"Moriko… run with the kids…" He said and shaped his right hand into the tiger seal. After a fraction of a second that seemed eternal to me, I saw his tired smile and loving eyes. My world completely silent. But only for a second, before his armour started glowing and the fire took his place.

Later on, I found out that was a dead seal. An offensive seal that activated in the moment of dead.

But that didn't matter. He was gone.

My dad was gone.

My eyes throbbed in pain and I could see more clearly than ever.

The smoke moving, meaning the Iwa nin wasn't dead. Solid pieces of debris falling after the explosion. My mom's tears and Seigo's widened eyes. They were struck with fear and loss, and I could swear I saw my brother's eyes bleed.

My eyes throbbed in pain. My dad was gone. And. I. Saw. Red.