Ch 6 The Turning Point

Sun was setting on Konoha and many of its street lights were coming alive with warm yellow light. Every street light except the one under Aki's feet. That was an apt combination. A shoddy street light supporting a shoddy teen. However, unlike the street light, Aki had a choice.

He could have tidied himself. He did not. Why should he? The Sarutobis disliked him. So he would make them smell his sweat and walk their floors with grimy and wet sandals. After the water walking training session with Dan, he was all that, sweaty, shoddy, wet, and grimy.

"Brat, you know I have to smell you, too."

"Then why don't you turn into an earring, Gin?"

"Ah, you stupid runt. Between me and Dan, only one of us can maintain the heraldry form."

"I already knew that."

"Tell that lie to someone who believes you, boy."

Aki jumped from his perch, landing on a tree in the Sarutobi compound. He walked past many kids playing on the ground, doing his best to avoid their mothers.

The Sarutobis, like many in the Land of Fire, had a fire release. Since most of the clan was full of ninjas and fire techniques, brats from the clan picked on the hand seals for the fire release early on.

That meant little with their meagre chakra and everything, but a faulty seal and meagre chakra could give birth to embers. A pretty devastating thing in the grounds filled with trees and grass.

Hence mothers keeping constant watch on kids, mothers who would chide Aki for his tardiness and remind him of his own mother. So, Aki avoided them.

He followed the stone-paved path to an old building. The clan shrine. Ashes of those who died were enshrined here.

Sometimes, the consequences of our actions become apparent only after it is too late.

In Aki's case, he hated the old farts of the clan for hating his grandfather. But he did not hate the dead of the clan, most of which died on a battlefield. Protecting the peace he grew up in.

They did not deserve mud and sweat in their resting place.

Doors of the shrines opened, and an old man in his Jonin grabs welcomed Aki. Old man Kiyoshi had clearly retired from active duty, and his wobbly legs were signs he would be of no use even in an emergency. Still, he wore his jonin garbs and scrunched his face hard when he saw Aki.

"Little vermin, I should have guessed you'd take after Benimaru. Disrespecting this holy place." Kiyoshi said. "Don't stand there. Follow me. Lord Hokage is waiting for you."

Aki stepped inside, feeling remorse for disrespecting the shrine. But somewhere in his heart, a petty part of him could not wait for the old man Kiyoshi to die. He would gladly come to the shrine to fart in his ashes.

"So, waiting for the trouble child of the family, eh Hiruzen?"

"Yes, I summoned you to just check a few things, Enma."

"Hmm, so any lead on the man in the photo?"

"Who?"

"The man inside the photo with genjutsu?"

"I can't recall what you're talking about, Enam. Ah… yes, how could I forget such an important issue? I will put Shikaku Nara on the task tomorrow."

"Take time to rest, old friend. Your body and mind are fading into oblivion. You can't kick the bucket just yet."

A knock on the door interrupted the chat between Hiruzen Sarutobi and his summon Enma. Moments later. Kiyoshi Sarutobi came in tailed by a dishevelled teen.

Hiruzen raised an eyebrow at the dirty white shirt and muddied yellow haori Aki was wearing, not the colours one would wear for training. His black slacks were wet, and so were his black sandals. Interestingly enough, the boy had taken to wearing a rather flashy black earring in his left ear.

"How did the training go, boy?" Hiruzen asked.

"Were you tailing me?"

"I have better things to worry about."

"So you sent someone to tail me?"

"No, but before you ask or accuse me of more, I can tell by your condition you were training. Unless someone mugged you." Hiruzen said. "So, did someone mug you?"

"No."

What did the old man think of him, a baby who gets mugged? That was back in the academy days when Gin lured him into the red-light district. Oh, yes, the red-

"You're still too young to think about red-light districts."

"You are reading my mind!"

"He is not you brat. Your nose is bleeding." Gin said.

The marten was shamelessly wiping his own bloody nose on Aki's shoulder. Aki reciprocated in kind, wiping his nose on Gin's fur. The white marten cried like a cat, and jumped away from Aki, settling on Monkey King Enma's shoulder.

"Gin said you were healed. Is it true? You must not lie to the Hokage." Hiruzen said.

"He is telling the truth, for once." Aki said.

"Hmm, Enma, check him for me, please."

"Hey, where is the trust a leader must have in his subordinates?"

"I'll let suspicion take over the trust if it saves lives."

Enma stood up and walked to Aki, his right hand clutching Gin in a firm grip. Enma placed his free left hand on Aki's head. Aki felt warm tingles on his head as the Monkey King messed up his already unruly brown hair.

"The body is in harmony and perfectly balanced."

Enma tossed Gin back to Aki and vanished with a poof of white smoke. Aki looked sullenly at Gin, wondering why his summon was so lousy and small. Why couldn't he be like Enma?

"You know why I called you here?"

"I don't know, to check on me? See if I was lying."

"I want you to stop looking for Megumi Higuchi."

"What! No, she killed my teammates, her own students. Those two died protecting me. Revenge is the least I can do for them!"

"Hirai Akimichi is dead."

It was too much for Aki to handle. Hiruzen was dropping bombs after bombs on him. He could not process his thoughts properly, so all he managed for a reply was silence.

"He left the village looking for revenge for his sisters, and your master became the end of him. Just like she was the end of your team, now all that is left of that family is memory."

"Then all the more reason we go after her. What if she ends up killing more of our own?"

"So to stop her, we send more to her jaws, hoping she gets tired and dies?"

"We cannot just do nothing!"

"Hirai left behind a widow and an orphan. Now, I hear his cousins and friends thirsting for revenge."

"I can help them."

"The orphan or the avengers? Who is it that truly needs your help, boy?"

"There will be others to look after little Hiro."

"What if they die believing the same? Where does it end, kid?"

"We do nothing, then?"

"No, we endure, we endure our hatred, our sadness, our loss, and we brave our days with gritted teeth. That is the best we can do, and when the time is right, we seek justice. To endure is to be a shinobi."

"How do you tell that to a seething heart?"

"You don't tell it, you show it," Hiruzen said, standing up. "Remember one thing, child, power is always vested. Once given, it is hardly ever claimed back, and every minute you spend hating your master, you vest in her power to bend your heart to her will."

"She used that power to blind Hirai from his responsibilities. She would use that power to blind you to your reasoning. You're still a green leaf. Not ready to burn in the pyre she is building. For now, do your best to grow your roots and become sturdy and reliable, so when the time comes, you are ready to burn Megumi Higuchi in a pyre of her own making."

Aki remained seated, silent as the night. His brain was working overtime to process Hiruzen's words and whether he should believe them. As he sat there pondering, he felt a hand brush his hair gently.

"You'll do what is right. I believe in you that much, Aki Tsuchisaru. Remember, a shinobi's life is not his own to gamble away. Go now and have some rest. Come to us if you need help with training." Hiruzen said, handing him a letter.

Dinner that night was a muted affair. Even Gin was quiet. Aki could hardly celebrate that. His mind was elsewhere. Whatever Hiruzen had said seemed reasonable. Not that it took his mind away from revenge, but it made him look at things logically.

Every mission he took in the last year was related to rogues and bandits. Always hoping to get intel on his master from them.

But was that the right move? Was life so cheap that he was actively searching for ways to throw it away?

Fortunately for him, Gin's nighttime training had him sweating like a pig, leaving him little room to wonder in his own thoughts.

"No, no, my boy, use your wrists properly or you'll break them."

"Stop… bothering… me… Gin." Aki said, wheezing through every word.

"Then do the exercise properly, boy."

An hour before midnight, when most of the konoha was sleeping, Aki Tsuchisaru was swinging a heavy wooden mace around. The mace, also called a mudgar, was a piece of a heavy log with a handle to swing it around.

"Remember, first hold it upright in front of your chest, then swing it around your back. Use a right-handed grip to train your right side and left-handed grip for the left."

"I… know… can we… start with a… lighter… weight?"

Gin snickered in his heraldry form, which, much like Dan, was an earring. A white metallic earring with a yellow sun sharing lights stylised as chains to every corner of the long rectangular earring.

"Why should we? In this form, I can sense the damaged muscles in your body, which I can then mend with my yang release after I return to normal. This way we strengthen your whole upper body and you will see how to use yang release."

"So… you… use… it… to… heal me?"

"In a sense, but I actually manipulate your vitality toward your torn muscle, so they mend themselves faster."

"How… is… that… different… from any healing?" Aki asked, collapsing in the sandpit of his backyard.

"If we had healed them, they wouldn't have grown stronger. The healing jutsu restores the body to its previous best condition, while what I do hastens up the natural process."

"Come, drink this boy. It is good for you." Gin said, returning to his normal form and shoving his gourd inside Aki's mouth.

Bitter burning liquid rushed inside Aki's mouth, searing its way through his oesophagus, then coming at rest in his stomach. From there, the heat of the liquid spread inside every vein of the boy, burning them.

"Phuu… what was that… poison?"

"Medicinal sake, to keep you going, boy."

"Just kill me already, cunt."

"No, I'm having way too much fun."