Ninpo |Open

[Shikijo Natsume]

High above the village, stood the massive tree that shaded the village from the skies above. Deep within the branches of the tree, there was a shadow moving here and there. In quick flashes the shadow blurred from branch to branch, never stopping long enough for its form to be seen.

Following this dark blur, was another, and as these things moved about the tree, dancing almost from branch to branch, the air was tense with what some could feel was hostility in some form. Finally the two beings stopped, and one could be seen as an attractive younger woman, maybe late teens early twenties. The other was a younger boy, whom was huffing and wheezing.

"You ready to give up---and return home?"

Natsume asked, as the kid glared up at her, all bent forward trying to catch his breath. Who he was, an academy student whom had gotten the nerve to want to run away from home. Unlike other villages, Kusa took pride in its ninja and saw to it they were treated mildly better then others, so one of the academy teachers, his teacher no less, was dispatched to find him and bring him home.

"NO... I...am...not...going back there....."

The boy huffed out in between breaths, as he was not used to going this long with all the running and dodging and trying to escape. He was after all, a student no less. Natsume didn't seem phased by all the running, being as her body was trained to this level of endurance. With a sigh, Natsume shook her head and approached the kid.

"Listen, I get that there is something wrong there---dont know what it is, but you just cant run away from your problems"

She said while looking at the kid, whom seem more aggravated that she had said that. The young boy stood up, shaking his fatigue as he glared at her, gritting his teeth.

"YOU DONT KNOW WHAT ITS LIKE---YOU CANT MAKE ME DO ANYTHING!"

He yelled and drew a kunai, she noticed much quicker then he was at drawing but let him have his illusion that he could take her. The boy then leaped off his branch at her bringing the blade overhead and down as he made to stab his sensei. Such an act would clearly make him a rogue ninja, and Nukenin where not treated nicely, regardless of age. With the agility and speed of a more skilled shinobi, she quickly drew her own kunai, and brought it up with enough force to block the boys. She turned while blocking, as her free hand gripped the boys attacking and over extended arm. As she turned, she used his momentum, and her own force as she pulled his arm, flipping him over her shoulder and sending him flying hard into the trunk of the tree.

THUD!!!!!

Before he had even slide down the trunk she was on him, an ar gripping his throat to the trunk and her kunai held but a few inches away form his throat.

"Is this what you want? A lifetime of pursual, of shinobi who wont hesitate to kill you, no matter your age---or your past?

By attacking me, by not becoming stronger then your troubles and giving into your own hate and rage---you would forsake our land our village---for what? Pain?

Pain is momentary, honor is forever...

Now, you come back with me--- and go home, and come to class and learn...

Or you run, and keep running...and when you get outside the village, where no one can protect you, you are all alone... and will die that way, not far from our borders...

Is this what you want?"

She asked, and pushed him harder into the tree, as he looked down solemnly. After a moment, she puts her kunai away and lets him down, to stand there, looking ashamed as she glared down to him.

"But... how? Natsume-sensei...how do I become stronger...how do I get past..."

He let his voice trail off as he thought about the pains of his home, of his mother dying when he was young and an abusive father. He didn't know how to cope with such things, he was just a kid.

"You hide it... for you are but one blade in the field of grass, you move with the wind as do all the others, but when called upon, your blade will cut deeper then most... This is what being a Kusagakure shinobi is... to remember you are not alone, that we are many...and your troubles are few..."

She said looking over at him then glancing off towards the village far below them.

"Now... are you coming---or what?"

She asked, as smiled to him, giving him a bit of reassurance that not everything was lost. The boy looked up, a bit ashamed before looking to Natsume and seeing her smile, he nodded solemnly and the two of them made their way back down from the giant tree, back into the village.