"It seems you have really been put through the works, haven't you Yuma?" Kabuto Yakushi stated as he held his green glowing palm towards the back of Yuma Ito.
Yuma was laying down face first in the hospitable, showing his back to the glasses wearing medic ninja. Naruto and Sasuke were absent, off training in some room in Gato Enterprises. Kakashi stood near Yuma's side, gazing at his scarred back that was littered with gashes and cuts, a worried expression on his face. Yuma laid there, feeling awkward at being the center of attention once again.
"Mister Kakashi, what kind of training did you put this boy through to cause this much scarring?" Kabuto asked.
Kakashi shook his head, an ashamed expression overtaking his features.
"As if it was as simple as a training accident, we were attacked, and I was separated from my students by way of water barrier ninjutsu." Kakashi explained, as Kabuto gained a barely noticeable glint in his eyes.
"I see...and who, if i'm allowed to ask, was the ninja that attacked you and your team?" Kabuto asked.
"It was an ex-ninja formerly from the Hidden Mist. Formerly of the The Seven Swordsman of the Hidden Mist, Kisame Hoshigake. He appeared to be after Naruko and had incapacitated both me and Sasuke. Yuma is the only reason any of us made it out, well, him and two others."
Kabuto's hand that was hovering over Yuma's injuries, stopped in mid healing for a few seconds before he resumed.
"I see...You must be quite a talented prospect, eh Yuma?" Kabuto said, a joking air in his tone.
Yuma blushed in embarrassment, glad no one other then Kakashi could see his face.
"N-No, I'm not talented at all, just lucky!" Yuma exclaimed, his voice flustered.
Kabuto lightly chuckled in amusement.
"And modest! Kakashi sir, you have a great student here!" Kabuto exclaimed.
Kakashi looked at Yuma with pride, shocking Yuma in the process as he nodded his head.
"Yeah, I really do don't I..." Kakashi said with a eye smile as he ruffled Yuma's hair, causing Yuma's flustered to increasingly turn an even brighter shade of red.
"No, I really was just lucky, its not like I am special or anything..." Yuma said, his voice getting softer with every word, his eyes downcast.
Kakashi shook his head, the eye smile remaining on his head.
"As I have already told you before Yuma, but it's okay to take pride in what you did. You might think it was just luck, and i'm sure luck did play a significant role, but you survived a almost four minute long onslaught from an S-Class threat. Not many Genin can achieve such a feat. So take pride in what you have accomplished, okay Yuma?" Kakashi said, clearly proud of Yuma.
Yuma dug his face further into the hospitable pillow, embarrassed of all the praise directed toward him.
Suddenly, Kabuto clapped his hands together, shocking Kakashi and Yuma from their moment as he smiled at the two of them.
"Alright! I have completely healed you of your fractures and other wounds. I do believe my business is done here." Kabuto stood up, smiling at the both of them.
Yuma stepped out from his bed, stretching his limbs and bending his back in wonderment.
"Wow! You really did completely heal me! I feel as good as new! " Yuma said.
'I knew Medical Ninjutsu was capable of healing many different types of injuries, but I never realized it was this handy! Maybe I should try learning some of it, it could come in handy...' Yuma thought to himself, completely in awe of the healing he had just undergone.
Kabuto smiled at Yuma, pushing up his glasses, a prideful look on his face.
"I appreciate your praise Yuma, glad to see there are those that still appreciate the art of Medical Ninjutsu. If you're interested, once you return to Konoha, I would be glad to teach you a bit, what do you say?" Kabuto said with an air of confidence before turning over to Kakashi.
"If that is okay with you of course, Kakashi sir." Kabuto said.
Kakashi chuckled and nodded his head.
"I believe that to be a wonderful idea, thanks for the offer, Kabuto Yakushi." Kakashi responded to the offer kindly and turned to Yuma, who had gained a look of excitement.
"Really Kakashi?! You'll let him teach me?" Yuma asked, eyes brimming with joy for the first time in a long while.
Kakashi shrugged his shoulders and smiled at Yuma, amused by the joy in his eyes.
"Why not, besides, Medical Ninjutsu could give you the boost you need to catch up with the others." Kakashi with his trade mark eye smile.
"Y-Yeah, it could couldn't it..." Yuma trailed off, put off by Kakashi bringing up his lack in skill when compared to the others.
'As if I could ever catch up to them...' Yuma thought to himself sadly.
Kabuto, unseen by both Kakashi and Yuma, smiled mirthfully, before quickly composing himself without either of them noticing. He walked to the door, nodding to them as he walked around the bed.
"Well, since everything seems to be okay now, I should be heading back to Konoha. Hope your mission turns out successful!" Kabuto said as Kakashi eye smiled once more.
"Thank you Kabuto, we appreciate everything, give the Hokage our regards."
Kabuto nodded to him, then smiled at Yuma.
"I'll be waiting for you to return to Konoha Yuma. I can't wait to teach you a thing or two about Medical Ninjutsu, good day." Kabuto said, bringing out an embarrassed expression from Yuma before taking his leave.
Kabuto walked out of the medical room, briefly passing by a nurse before stopping, and passing a folded up sheet of paper to the nurse.
"Make sure the Yami no Shinobi reads that letter, a certain snake seeks to make an exchange."
The nurse merely took the paper and continued her walk, as Kabuto let out a fiendish grin.
Kabuto continued his walk as well, walking toward the main hall, then out into the lobby, and finally, out of Gato Enterprises.
As he walked out into the large swampy forest that laid a few yards away from the massive building of Gato Enterprises, a small snake slithered up his leg and under his shirt.
"Lord Orochimaru wishesssss to know how it went." The snake hissed into his ear, bring out a confident smile from Kabuto as he pulled out a small vial filled with black liquid.
"It was a success."
And with that, the ever faithful servant of the snake Sannin Orochimaru, disappeared into the forest, heading back to his normal life as an everyday Medical Ninja from the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
〰️➿〰️
"So what your saying, is Yuma doesn't like us?" Naruko said with a dead pan stare at Sasuke.
"It's a lot more complicated then that, but yeah, that's the short version of it." Sasuke said, wiping the sweat from his brow accumulated through sparring.
Naruko looked at the ground as if she were in deep thought.
"Then the solution is simple!" Naruko said jumping to her feet, a wide grin on her face.
Sasuke looked unsure before asking obvious.
"And the solution is what exactly?" Sasuke asked, arching a brow in confusion.
"We become his first friends ever, obviously!" Naruko stated as if her idea was full proof, causing Sasuke to sweat drop at her response.
"Naruko, it's not that simple. The reason he hates us, as much as i'm ashamed to admit it, is well founded. We ignored him when he was being bullied and acted as if he didn't exist. This isn't a problem you can solve so easily." Sasuke said looking at her as if she grew a second head.
"And that is exactly why we need to be his friends. We weren't there when he needed us, so the least we could do is be there for him now! Besides, this is a good chance for me to earn my right to call myself a hero! If I can't get one person out of their funk, then how can I even hope to be the Hokage?" Naruko said, pushing her chest out confidently.
Sasuke shook his head before letting out a sigh. He stood up from the bench and started stretching.
"I know your an idiot, but I guess i'll follow your plan anyway. Besides, its not like I got any ideas." Sasuke said before Naruko glared at him.
"I'm not an idiot bastard. Whatever, my plan is awesome." Naruko said, puffing her cheeks out in a comical way turning her head away from Sasuke.
"I see both of you are done sparring, may I ask for a turn, I wish to test my metal against the might of an Uchiha." Haku said, appearing from seemingly nowhere shocking both Naruko and Sasuke, amazed that they hadn't sensed him.
Sasuke turned around, apprehensive about fighting a fellow ninja who works for Gato, while Naruko awkwardly shuffled next Sasuke's ear.
"Psst, hey Sasuke, I say go for it." Naruko whispered trying to goad him on as he sighed.
"Is your Sensei okay with this?" Sasuke asked, a aloof expression taking place on his face.
Haku produced several senbon from the palm of his hand and got into a battle stance.
"Master Zabuza does not care, who or what I do battle with, as long as I remain his tool. Now fight me." And with that, Haku rushed Sasuke while he was unprepared giving him a start.
Haku threw several Senbon, pinning his arms into the wall, while bringing out another batch in his left hand, preparing to jab them into Sasuke's stomach.
Sasuke lifted his feet off the ground and imbued them and his back with Chakra to stick to the wall, allowing his body to remain suspended in air upside down against the wall. Haku thrusted the Senbon, but only caught a bit of his hair, narrowly missing Sasuke who was now right above the masked ninja with wide eyes over almost becoming a pin cushion.
Sasuke then forcibly yanked his arms, causing the Senbon pinning his arms to wall to fall out as he stomped on Haku's head with extreme force.
Using Haku's head like a jumping board at a pool, he jumped off of Haku, the force causing Haku to fall face first into the floor.
Sasuke smirked but was caught off guard as Haku immediately rolled back onto his feet and rushed Sasuke once more, making a fist as he neared Sasuke. Sasuke prepared to block what he thought was a incoming punch only for his feet to be swept out from underneath him and fall onto his back.
Haku, having successfully feinted Sasuke by coming in with a fist and then getting low and sweeping him off his feet, produced several more Senbon from his sleeves. He straddled Sasuke's waist quickly, pinning Sasuke down so he couldn't roll over. Sasuke saw the Senbon rushing to his neck and clenched his eyes shut, preparing himself for pain.
Suddenly, Sasuke felt the weight of Haku's body on top of him disappear. Opening his eyes to see a very familiar fist punching Haku in the face hard enough for him to go flying into the wall.
"What the hell are you doing huh?!"
〰️➿〰️
The sound of water petering out from a sink could be heard in the restroom as Yuma washed his hands, having been let out from the medical room shortly after Kabuto left. He stood there, thinking over what he had said to Sasuke. He sighed, disappointed in himself for his lack of composure. As he wiped his hands off, he began to berate himself.
'Seriously Yuma, what the hell is your problem? You should've just kept your mouth shut. Even if he did start it by calling me out, how stupid can I be, I need to learn some self control.'
Yuma walked out of the restroom, deciding to calm himself down by taking a walk around the building. After all, he had never been in any building outside of Konoha before, so he was quite curious to see how it stacked up to his home. With those thoughts he proceeded to roam the halls, curiosity fueling his actions.
As he roamed the halls in awe of all the expensive and grandiose designs and portraits hanging along the pristine walls of Gato Enterprises, he began to become green with envy.
I guess even scum like Gato can have great tastes in interior designs huh? One day I hope to have even a fraction of the fortune he has, even if he is trash.' With those thoughts plaguing his mind, he walked around the corner leading to the next hall, coming face to face with the sparring room.
'...Guess I should try some training, hope this isn't the sparring room Sasuke and Naruko are using.'
As he walked into the room he began to hear what sounded like two people talking coming from past the lockers, and after peeking into the room, he saw Naruko and Sasuke talking to each other causing him to grimace. Due to to them being in the back of the room however, he couldn't make out what either of them were saying.
Great, just my luck. The one time I try to actually make a decision to improve, they are here to ruin it. I'll just go back to the medical room.' Yuma thought, slumping against the wall, overcome with disappointment.
Just as he was about to remove himself from the wall and head back, the door leading into the locker room began to creak. Not wanting to be embarrassed by anyone finding out he was peeking on Naruko and Sasuke, he tried to run to a locker to hide himself in. As he was about to make a run to one of the lockers, he found himself unable to run, and began to panic.
'What's going on?! Why can't I move?' Yuma thought to himself, as the door completely opened. He tried moving his hands, but found himself unable to even do that. It was almost as if he was part of the wall itself.
Standing there was Haku, not wanting him to assume anything embarrassing, Yuma began to try and explain himself.
"It's not what it looks like Haku, I was just uh, you know...?!" Yuma began to sputter out an excuse, but Haku didn't even respond nor look into his direction merely walking past the wall Yuma was stuck to, into the sparring room, bypassing Yuma completely.
Yuma was overcome with confusion, not even sure what had just happened.
What the hell was that, it was like he didn't even notice me, whats going on?!' Yuma thought.
After that, he tried to move his body once more, but to no avail. For a few seconds he just stayed there completely against his own will, stumped on what to do. Suddenly he heard a loud thud directly behind him, as if someone had been thrown forced against the wall, forcibly throwing him from off the wall. As he pulled himself off the floor, he heard another loud thud, as if someone threw something onto the floor.
Pissed off, he stomped to the door and threw it open, angered by the nonsensical situation he had just escaped from.
Only to be greeted with the sight of his teammate pinned to the floor by Haku, Senbon pointed towards his throat.
Of course, anyone who was mildly infuriated and was met with a sight such as this, would immediately assume the worst. After concluding his teammate was being attacked by an enemy, he rushed into the room, and punched the masked boy directly in the face.
"What the hell are you doing huh?!" Yuma yelled at the top of his lungs, Naruko and Sasuke staring at him with wide eyes.
Haku, who was slumped against the wall had his mask broken apart from the force of Yuma's punch, causing it to fall from his face. A shocked wide eye look on the masked boy's now revealed face.
Naruko then ran over to Haku, helping him up from the floor.
"Haku, are you alright, what the hell was that for Yuma?!" Naruko yelled.
Yuma's infuriated look increased in intensity as he yelled right back.
"What the hell was that for? What else do you expect me to do when someone is about to stab our teammate in the fucking throat?!" Yuma yelled, as Naruko then gained a pissed off expression right back.
"You idiot! He was sparring with Sasuke, he wasn't even gonna stab Sasuke, he was just positioning himself so that Sasuke would surrender!" Naruko yelled right back, unused to anyone, especially Yuma yelling at her in that way before.
"How the hell was I supposed to know that idiot?!" Yuma yelled, his rage increasing, going higher and higher.
"I'm an idiot?! Who's the dumbass who mistook a sparring match as a serious threat huh?!" Naruko yelled.
Suddenly, much to their surprise, Sasuke stood up and yelled at them, his voice filled with authority.
"Naruko! Yuma! Shut up!" Sasuke yelled at the top of his lungs.
Naruko and Yuma froze, due to both of them being unused to Sasuke yelling at anyone.
"Naruko, Yuma didn't mean to attack Haku, you would do the same thing if you walked in on a sight like that too!" Sasuke yelled as Naruko and Yuma began to calm down.
Then something happened that shocked all three of them, the sound of laughter echoed throughout the room, as everyone turned to Haku.
"I see you're surrounded by many precious people, aren't you Sasuke" Haku said as Naruko looked at him.
"You're a girl?!" Naruko asked.
"Naruko, rude!" Sasuke yelled at her.
Haku merely laughed some more before picking himself from off the wall and smiled at all them.
"No, i'm not a girl, a lot of people tend to think so due to my feminine looks. It got so annoying that I began to wear a mask to avoid that question." Haku explained, dusting himself off.
Yuma took the moment to run in front of Haku, bowing his head in apology.
"I'm sorry for all that Haku! I just walked in and saw what was going on and made an assumption, please forgive me." Yuma asked in a guilt ridden tone.
"You don't need to apologize, it would be hypocritical of me to berate you for that. If I had walked in on someone having a weapon pointed to my master, I too would react violently, though it probably wouldn't end with just a punch." Haku said with a smile despite the dark threat near the end, causing all three of them to sweat drop.
"I-I'm sorry for yelling at you Yuma, I didn't mean to." Naruko said.
Yuma looked at Naruko momentarily, before looking away.
"Whatever." Was all that Yuma responded with.
Naruko frowned at his attitude, but chose to ignore it in favor of keeping up the kind atmosphere they now had.
Prick
Of course that didn't mean she had to like it.
A knock resounded through the room catching them off guard as Kakashi stood outside waving his hand lazily.
"Yo. Sorry to interrupt, but I need to give my students some info on our objective for the mission. Plus, Zabuza said he was looking for you so...?!" Kakashi said, cut off by Haku running past him, through the door leading into the locker room, and the out of the room entirely, spurred on by merely the mention of Zabuza.
"How loyal can you get, seriously..." Kakashi said astonished by Haku's obedience to Zabuza's will.
"Anyways, like I was going to say, I have some new info on our objective in this mission. More specifically, what it is we have to do."
All three of them tensed up, wanting to hear more from as Kakashi walked in.
"Our current objective is to blend in with the Land of the Waves public, and gather information on where exactly the rebel base is. We have reason to suspect that the assassination target, aka the leader of the rebel group, Kaiza is a civilian who resides there. We will be heading out there tomorrow to gather some intel." Kakashi finished.
Naruko narrowed her eyes, still uncomfortable with the mission being what it say's. However, Kakashi turned to her, a serious expression on his face.
"Naruko, I understand how you feel, but this is something that is required you from the village itself. Put the mission first and your feeling second, that is an order." Kakashi said seriously.
Naruko clenched her teeth and fists, but finally relented before letting out a irritated sigh, crossing her arms in front of her.
"Fine, but when we get back home i'm going to have a talk with my father." Naruko said, frustrated.
"Of course, anyways, it's pretty late, you all should get some rest. We have a big day ahead of us after all. Lucky for us, Gato prepared us some guest rooms to stay in, Naruko and Yuma, you guys have your own rooms. Me and Sasuke are rooming together." Kakashi said, proceeding to walk out of the room, his students following behind him as they headed to their rooms.
Thus, the mission would now officially start when the sun rises.
And so does the sun rise on the first chapter of the tale of Yuma Ito.
〰️➿〰️
For the prologue is now over.
〰️➿〰️
Darkness, that was all that could be seen through the eyes of one young boy by the name of Sai, who was traversing through the many corridors of the underground passages of the Leaf Villages ROOT. Every so often the pitch black corridors would be lit alight with a small lantern adorning the wall, only for it to vanish into the void of darkness, like a small wisp.
Such is the life of a Ninja.
The young boy named Sai moved from corridor to corridor, traveling through the maze of halls like he knew them from the back of his hand.
He was raised here after all.
Every so often, he would pass by another person wearing a mask resembling an ANBU, only for them, much like the light, to disappear into the void. Within these small tight and narrow halls he has lived the majority of his young life. The only the moments he is released is when his Lord requires his steel. Although, since he has been here for most of his life, the darkness does not bother him anymore.
His tears had dried up long ago.
His walk through the passage ways of ROOT lasted for a quite a long time, until he came to a door. He knocked on the door, waiting patiently for his lord to grant him passage. A deep gruff voice said for him to come in, allowing him to twist the knob to enter. A old man swathed in bandages was the first sight that greeted him, as Danzo stood from his desk. Sai walked into the room, and bowed to the floor holding out a sheet of paper.
"I have successfully achieved the mission you gave me Lord Danzo, I bring with me a message from Orochimaru's messenger." Sai said, his voice emotionless.
"Good work, you may go." Danzo said, dismissing Sai from the room.
Sai immediately stood back up, and left the room without a complaint, left to traverse back through the long maze like halls of ROOT.
Danzo took the letter to his desk and sat to read it. For awhile he sat there and read. But, as he read through sentence after sentence, his expression turned from emotionless to furious. He took the paper and ripped it to pieces, disposing of it shortly after by way of Fire Ninjutsu. He stood from his desk and bit on his thumb in anger.
"Damn you Orochimaru, Damn you."
And with that, the Yami no Shinobi left his office.
For he had many things to do.
Many things to do indeed.