Those Lesser Than

Shame.

Nagisa was sure of it.

For several days, after Nohara-sensei confirmed her exclusion, that was all she felt.

She thought it would go away with enough sleep, but here she was six days later. A sensation of inadequacy is as strong as the first shock.

It looked possible—that feeling that would never go away. Furthermore, before she could bolster her pride, there were episodes of self-loathing.

The reserve genin were getting ready for Chunin nomination, but none of them knew. Everyone would have reasonably expected her to be chosen if they had. Which was why she was feeling so disappointed and contemptuous right now.

Even though Nagisa had not acknowledged her failure out loud yet, it had already left a bad taste in her mouth. As though the mere notion of it was enough to make her wince and contort.

Despite all the warning signs, she could not decide whether she was more angry at those who went in her place or at being left out.

Whether or not she should be jealous or proud of Chusei appeared to be a silent internal conflict. In any case, the emotion was strong enough for her to overlook her confusion.

Trying to divert her thoughts, Nagisa cast her soul into the outpost. When she noticed that the outpost was in worse shape than when she had left it, her motivation for that plan faltered.

Hardly any repairs were made at the location. She was certain that the undergrowth held remnants of flesh that were still decaying, based on the scent.

For most of the first three days, her group was cleaning. A handful of genin went by while on missions. With each jonin by their sides, she deduced from their gleeful smiles that this was their first-ever C-rank mission.

Now that she was on her second outing, Nagisa felt a small twinge of happiness, knowing that she was ahead of the curve.

Only momentary distractions were provided by counting genin and completing assignments assigned by the senior Chunin. She spent the majority of her leisure time training off to the side until she passed out.

Though she was teetering on the brink of total physical exhaustion, she forced herself to acknowledge her failure. She would typically get her second wind from that and keep going to the point of involuntary slumber.

to exacerbate her miserable circumstances.

Sending Kobaru to an entirely new outpost seemed like the perfect solution for Nohara-sensei.

It seemed like something had been planned specifically to make her angry. Since the man's expertise lay in genjutsu, it would not be implausible to surmise that she was a victim of delusion.

Her theory was shown to be incorrect with relative ease.

An envoy showed up on the fourth day, accompanied by a diplomat from the Land of Lightning. Even though they did not stay as long as Nagisa had hoped, he seemed like a well-spoken person based on their brief conversation.

It was oddly pleasant—it was the first time she had met a foreign person who did not want her dead.

Once they left, the outpost returned to the cycle of the mundane.

That is, up until the sixth day, when the candidates for Chunin checked in to begin their journey to the Hidden Cloud Village.

Her failure was especially painful because she had always wanted to go to Kumo.

From her fellow reserve genin, Nagisa received warm smiles and welcoming embraces. She was certain that if they discovered she did not know any of their names, they would take away their kindness.

Chusei was there as well.

Stupid grins guided his every move. His mouth was dripping with descriptions of the horrifying abuse he endured in their absence. The rambling of the orange-haired genin provided the most constant background noise, so she used that time to thoroughly observe the group.

There were two cells containing their jonin sensei and two extra chunin in addition to the reserve genin.

They were more than likely being considered for a promotion, and this served as a great way to gauge performance.

Chusei was oblivious to her identical state because he seemed too busy talking to her and catching up on his own loneliness. The last thing she needed to hear, given the current situation, was that someone could openly identify displeasure.

Considering they would have nearly three hours of daylight left, the group left within an hour after they arrived.

This left her to marinate once more.

Though, for the most part, she had refrained from self-pity, this time it showed up stronger than ever.

She detested it because it was drawling and gave her shoulders the impression of being heavier.

To make matters worse, she was clueless about how to overcome this obstacle. Her only hope was that Kobaru had similar, if not more, grievances. Knowing that the little nine-year-old experienced similar problems always made her feel better.

They were in this together.

Even if Chusei passed and left them behind.

She would have Kobaru.

It was only another eight days before she could reunite with the little cat eyed maggot.

---

Although Kobaru had always been skeptical, he was now almost positive that the universe was against him.

Every time he settled into his life; it sought nothing greater than to kick him while he was down. Demonstrating repeatedly that the only reason he was still alive was because the gods found joy in his suffering.

His leisurely journey to the outpost had quickly turned into a literal struggle for survival in just two days. At such moments, all he wanted was to be whisked away into the pure lands.

The day after leaving Konoha, at twelve hundred hours, he arrived at the outpost. His destination; Outpost twelve.

The bulk of the heavy lifting was handled by the chunin there, freeing him and the other reserve genin to concentrate more on their training. Something that, because Kobaru begged, they were allowed to do.

If he was going to be deemed unworthy for this promotional exam, he'd be properly prepared for the next. Despite the time or place that is available.

On the second day, when a flair was set off in a nearby village, two Chunin were called forth. The request was granted, and Kobaru foolishly went along, owing to his naive begging once more.

His only hope was to get away from the monotony that was already wearing thin on his determination. At minimum, he could observe them from the tree line as they resolved the problem if he went with them.

Rather than what they expected, they discovered two rain shinobi at the centre of a completely levelled village. Crushed and disemboweled bodies littered the clearing. The stench of blood and excrement seemed to hang in the air.

The only survivors are four children.

Ones who appeared to be younger than himself.

Even from Kobaru's hiding place, one could hear the newly made orphans cowering on the sides and sobbing uncontrollably.

Without hesitation, the chunin launched a fierce offensive, attempting to eliminate the rain ninja with deadly strikes. Having separated the assailants in one swift movement to ensure that neither was interrupted.

Kobaru chose to play his part by having his stay-at-home clone notify the Konoha authorities.

They were a half day sprint away, but if they had a fighting chance at arriving sooner. He would make every second of that timeframe count in their favour.

When it seemed the leaf chunin had everything under control, Kobaru sent forth nine clones and stole the kids away. An act that turned out to be a disastrous idea because the newly made orphans were dreadfully bad at sneaking. Astheir attempt was uncovered almost immediately.

Kobaru and the orange-haired rain ninja met in mid-battle eye contact, causing the boy to regret his actions right away.

It was a young man, late teens to early twenties. He had strange piercings all over his face and ears which seemed to multiply his intimidation factor. With such striking adornments, Kobaru had almost forgotten that the man had orange hair. A sign that he may have been of Arashi decent.

Even without words, from his general demeanour. Kobaru could sense that this individual was battle hardened and mostly uncaring. From one glance, one could tell he had the same regard for himself.

His skin was dreadfully pale and from the way his limbs flailed as he moved, he resembled a marionette held erect by invisible strings.

Or a dead man walking.

On a second observation, the rain shinobi could be more accurately described as a dead man floating. As his feet were held at least a foot above the ground.

They both kept looking at each other while the man held off his chunin assailant. He deftly sidestepped the blows to his head as they held each other's gaze.

Kobaru couldn't help but stare back.

He had seen dojutsu before, as he grew up in a village where Hyuga roamed freely. They were so plentiful, however, that no one ever saw it necessary to point them out. In addition, he heard that the Uchiha could turn their eyes into red copy wheels. Still, their eyes remained an onyx black under normal circumstances.

So, no one in Konoha stared at them in question about why they looked strange.

Barring his father, it was the first time Kobaru had met someone with eyes as peculiar as his own.

The man had a fully purple cornea with several rings encircling his pupils in what was a disgustingly unique display.

Yet Kobaru stood entranced by the hypnotic allure, ignoring the impending danger.

What could that be?

The connection was only broken when the leaf chunin tried launching a sneak attack and leaped into the air. Her tanto aimed for the rain shinobi's skull. An advance that was immediately halted.

The man caught the blade in one hand then, out of his shoulder, sprouted a third arm. This was immediately followed by a jet-propelled punch to her abdomen, which sent the girl in his group flying into a tree.

With that, he started his advance towards Kobaru, his spare arm disappearing back into his shoulder.

The boy made a quick move for his kunai, tossing the blade at the man. It stopped right before it hit his forehead and dropped to the ground. His pace remained undeterred.

Before Kobaru could properly formulate another attack,. He felt himself lift off the ground and began floating towards the man.

He stopped as both their frames met. The older of the two did a better job at keeping his countenance expressionless

He allowed himself a low grunt as he inspected Kobaru's face.

Then followed up his observation with a slow paced statement, "I know you felt it."

His voice was confusingly soothing, and he seemed to harbour no real intent behind his eyes. They simply demanded an answer and expected compliance.

Kobaru was almost certain this was the last time he'd ever take a breath. Even then, he continued his struggle to release himself. Completely ignoring the realization that his attempt was truly futile. The least he could do was buy time to guarantee that his clones escaped with the orphans.

The rain shinobi sighed, seeing that Kobaru took too long to respond.

"I know you felt it Museigen boy," then spoke once more, "I don't know where the other Arashi are, or I wouldn't be here. So, tell me––"

"Don't tell him shit," the talkative chunin gasped, helping herself to her feet. The hitch in her breathing was an obvious sign that she had at least one broken rib.

"Of course not," Kobaru grinned even though he had no real way of retaliating, "Konoha didn't raise a snitch."

She snickered but followed up by grabbing her side. The pain growing intolerable.

"People of our lineage find each other, so I know that you've met them by now," The man turned away to look at the chunin that encouraged Kobaru's insolence, "I've read their thoughts and these chunin don't seem to have the smallest idea."

With his right arm outstretched, he pointed his open palms at the leaf shinobi. Slowly a black stake appeared to grow out of his arm, in what seemed to be a painful effort.

"THEY have outlived they're usefulness."

With that, the stake flew at the chunin's head at an inconceivable speed. So quick that before she could contemplate her reaction it had already pierced her forehead protector. The force of it all dragging her through the air and nailing her to the tree.

Kobaru's eyes immediately widened in horror. He expected some form of retaliation but a projectile through the forehead was not what he had in mind.

His chest heaved as he recalled that she had taken it upon herself to feed him breakfast just that morning. Now he could see chunks of her brain and fragments of her skull splattered across the bark.

This feeling prompted a second round of struggling from the boy. He had to escape, there was no way he could die here. He had too much to experience, too much to learn, and far too many people to leave behind.

"Good. You notice the levity of the situation," the man calmly returned his attention to the young genin, "I know that you felt that surge of energy and I would prefer not to use adult methods on a child. If you are to comply, you'll live."

Kobaru's heart rate increased.

He could practically smell the adrenaline in his veins, begging him to fight or flee. If he wasn't being held down by an invisible force, he would do just that.

"I'll repeat because you might not have heard me. I would like to know; Where is Konoha's Arashi?"

Kobaru stopped fighting back; his limbs went limp under him. Not that he needed them to support himself.

If these rain shinobi were truly after Chusei, they had felt the pulse as well.

Kobaru understood his parents sensed the surge, but he had no idea how far it could be felt.

Why was it such a topic of importance that they would risk conflict with Konoha?

Maybe the seal was hiding way more secrets than it initially seemed.

Even with the bombardment of thoughts, his mind seemed to ensure that he realized the most important of them all. If he were to provide information, he would get to live.

Was it a small price to pay?

After all, Chusei was, according to Nohara-sensei, a more qualified shinobi. Even without this difference, as long as he could buy time, they could always return to the village and ensure that Chusei was safe.

Either way, compliance would be his best option.

All he needed was time.