Naruto: Akatsuki

[3 years later]

It was a pleasant spring. Enjoying the nice weather where the wind was gently blowing by, the civilians in the land of waves were having another busy day of their life.

And amidst this island of land, two individuals with bamboo hats, black cloaks, and swords were seen to be sitting on a wooden platform, with one table in between the two. With teas on the side, they were playing a game of shogi against each other. And one of them was none other than me.

Tap.

Moving a piece, the one who sat in front of me, Gin, said in a deep voice, "The war has come to an end just as you speculated. Iwa retreated from the field two years ago after Hanzo the Salamander's act. Suna and Konoha fought in the land of wind over years, and the latter ultimately came out as the victor. If there is one thing that we can conclude out of this, it's that Suna lost far too much this time around."

"Indeed."

I replied casually as I took a sip of tea.

Tap.

Moving a piece of my own, I then stated, "But this is just the beginning."

Peering onto the shogi table, my eye narrowed.

"Hyenas—they are lurking around."

Yes, the Second Shinobi World War has come to an end. However, the best way to describe the current situation of the world would be 'calm before the storm.'

"The village known to be the strongest among all five, and possesses a rich environment. Such a powerhouse has gone severely weakened, in comparison to its state prior to the First Shinobi World War." Watching as Gin made his move, I continued my words,

"Iwa. Having retreated from the war early, they quickly rebuilt the force to battle Konoha once again. Having had a taste of how much Konoha has weakened, with the enigmatic decline in the number of Senju clan members, they must be confident of their victory this time around."

"...Plausible enough."

"Then there is Kumo and Kiri. They, having participated in the downfall of Uzushiogakure, were worried about Konoha's counterattack up until now; they, without a doubt, will seek for the right opportunity to strike."

Gin, who seemed to be full of thoughts, then stated with a nod, "Then in order for Konoha to survive in this situation, they must..."

"Induce hostility between those opposing villages." I replied seriously, "Instead of three versus one scenario, they will control the information to form the case where all villages oppose one another contrary to co-operating. It will likely be a success, especially since no one believes that Konoha is as capable any longer."

I stayed silent, with my eye glued onto the board. Then, I resumed,

"…You won't tell me why, will you?"

Gin grimaced, "No."

I couldn't help but be disappointed. 3 years passed since I've begun to learn from Gin. Though I knew it was a selfish request, I wanted to get to know my teacher better. Yet, not even once has he talked about himself, even when I told him all about my life.

But I couldn't force him, and I won't do so. If Gin didn't want to talk about it, then so be it.

With an expected sigh, I moved my hand and played my turn on the shogi board.

"Tsumi."

This game was my win, I suppose.

Gin, who jolted out of his thought, looked down at a board with widened eyes, "Since when—"

Gin's words immediately ceased without completion. The two of us tensed up and our eyes shifted in the same direction.

"...Enemies."

"It seems so."

The two of us exchanged gazes without any hint of goofiness.

"How many?" I asked Gin.

"Five... no, six."

This was the nth time that Kiri has sent ninjas after us, and perhaps, this was the reason why I've been becoming more and more interested in Gin's past.

Gin didn't speak any further. Instead, he dusted his cloak off twice and lowered his bamboo hat; this was a sign only two of us knew.

Swoosh.

At the next moment, the two of us dispersed, dashing away from the area to the opposite direction from one another.

My view blurred from the sheer speed that I was traveling at. From roof to roof, I jumped and silently ran across the busy village, with two Kiri ninjas tailing me.

Two versus one... it was quite dangerous. Though I now reached 11 years old, and have trained up to a sufficient degree, I didn't have enough information about the enemies.

Let's see. We've now entered the dark forest. Dark, meaning that there was no light to portray shadow.

Amidst my run, I trailed with my eye the stationary tree that stood nearby. While hovering in the air, I quickly raised my hands up and formed a seal with my right hand alone,

'Clone Technique.'

Poof!

The clone technique was the basic technique that is essentially considered useless, due to it being amounted to nothing more than an illusion that can't interact with the world physically.

However, what I was doing was different. The enemies didn't see my hand seal, meaning that they don't know which technique I used yet. I overlapped the clone's image over myself, and while the cloud of smoke was still up,

'Transformation Technique.'

Performed another technique.

While the duration of the smoke cloud was elongated, I stepped my foot on the tree bark that I previously sighted while making a seal. Then, I transformed myself into a shuriken right after I propelled myself toward the enemies.

When the cloud of smoke disappeared, what the enemies saw was my simple clone throwing a single shuriken to the foremost ninja, who simply tilted his head to dodge it.

"Heh, what are you—"

That was the last word spoken by that ninja. I transformed out of the shuriken form and swung my already-unsheathed blade, depacitating that ninja with a clean cut.

"Damn it!" The shinobi at the back cursed in shock, shocked by my completely unexpected strike. He stopped in midway, and with a gulp, took out a kunai in caution.

"One versus one. Now it's fair, isn't it?" I said with a cold voice, while shaking the blood off of my sword.

"Tch...!" With gritted teeth, the shinobi charged in at me.

CLANG!

With a spark, I skillfully parried the shinobi's kunai away from his grasp, before spinning around and slashing at his feet, to which he dodged by leaping back. I then dashed with my body lowered.

While continuously leaping back, the shinobi quickly threw three shurikens at me,

Clang Clang Clang!

to which I parried away by swinging my sword rapidly, while dashing without any sign of stopping. My speed was visibly faster than the shinobi's and within seconds, he was within my sword's range.

CLANG!

Quickly taking the kunai out, he once again managed to block my blade. However, I quickly turned around and landed a kick into his abdomen.

PUK!

"Urgh—!!!" The shinobi puked blood while being slammed to the tree that was right behind him. Yet, he didn't lose consciousness, and gathered his mind to ready himself for me...

—or so he thought.

I was already standing by his side in the dark, thanks to the quick utilization of 'Body Replacement Technique.' Due to him dealing with the pain, he didn't notice the sound of 'Poof.' And now, without any trouble,

I depacitated the shinobi's head just like his fellow ninja.

Thud. The headless corpse collapsed to the ground.

Swoosh.

Immediately after, Gin landed next to me, completely unscathed.

"Well done." Gin commented, to which I responded with a simple nod.

I Flicked the blood away and sheathed my sword back. I then remarked seriously,

"They've found us, or to be more specific, you."

"...You were right, Akashi." Gin replied grimly. It seemed that he managed to interrogate one of the enemies, "Kiri is preparing for the war. And prior to an actual start of the war, they want Ryuma."

Ryuma. It was that sword Gin had with him for years since I first met him, and it also was the primary reason why the Kiri hasn't given up on assaulting us.

Its ability was simple. An incredible endurance. Akin to dragon scale, it was nigh-unbreakable, and with this quality alone, Ryuma was considered to be on par with the seven swords that the Kiri possessed.

My eye narrowed, "What then? With them having confirmed our whereabouts, the next coming ones will be undoubtedly stronger."

Gin was in deep thought for a brief moment, before he answered, "We hide in the land of fire."

The two of us vanished then, leaving nothing but two decapacitated corpses in the dark forest.