Chapter 22
[Hidden Forest, Academy]
8:00AM, Day 8
KazukiKazuki was walking to the academy with his brother, Kurai.
"..And so I was thinking if I just practice hard enough.." Kurai was babbling on about training. Kazuki was only half listening as he had a lot on his mind and was worried about the war that would heavily involve his family. Kazuki was never one for war or even fighting for that matter but he knew what he would do to those who favoured war. When he killed that strange man for killing his friend he felt good.. really good.
"Kazuki, are you even listening?" Kurai asked, noticing his brother had not replied to him in a while.
Kazuki awoke from his daze into the distance and turned to his brother with a small smile and a nod. Kazuki was also curious why Kurai was so calm about this upcoming war. He knew he heard exactly what he did so why is it not bothering him?
The boys arrived at their school and greeted their friends.
"Hey guys." Kurai grinned and waved at them.
Since Yuki's death, Kurai was almost like the new leader of their little group. Kazuki occasionally had some authority within the group too but no one lead them like Yuki did.
As everyone talked about how Kurai and Kazuki would be put on a team today and be official ninja, Kazuki thought how the war was developing and what the Kage might be ordering right this second. It bugged him but he needed to focus and get ready to meet his team leader.
The bell rang telling the other kids to get to class and Kurai and Kazuki was left waiting outside the school, where they were told they'd meet their team leader. Little did they know, he'd been standing behind them for the past 10 minutes.
"Where is he?" Kurai asked a little annoyed their sensei was late on the first day.
"I don't know. I am sure I was told there would be three of you." The sensei claimed whilst disturbing the brothers.
"Are you-?" Kazuki began to ask, a little disturbed, but got interrupted by the man.
"Yes, yes I am. Where is the third member?" He began to ask, curious as to why he was assigned two members.
"I am here.." Said a boy walking out from the shadows. "I didn't want to meet anyone until you arrived, sensei."
This boy looked familiar to the brothers but they couldn't quite put their finger on it.
"Names, let's get them out of the way." said the boys new sensei.
"As I am now your leader, I will go first. My name is Kiyoshi. I know your parents very well, Kurai and Kazuki. Now, what is your name, boy?" Kiyoshi asked the third boy.
"Daichi." The boy replied with a grin.
The boys looked in shock, remembering when they first met Daichi.
The wind blew in the silence and the leaves in the tree of the academies twisted tree branches.
"Great, take these." Kiyoshi handed them Forest headbands to wear however they liked.
"Well, I am glad that is out of the way. Come now, we have a mission to take care of." Kiyoshi stated taking the lead.
Kazuki stared at Daichi as they followed their sensei. He remembered seeing him in his class with Kurai so how did he pass the Genin stages?
"What is our mission, sensei?" Kurai asked excited to complete their first mission.
They walked through the east gate and a long road ahead faced them, however, there was no shortage of trees rowing the sides of the path, along with street lamps, seeing as they was still within Hidden Forest borders.
"We are heading to the docks as bandits have been raiding in the local area. It's a C rank mission so nothing too hard for you guys. I will also be able to observe your fighting skills there. I'll be looking for teamwork and synergy. If things get too rough, I will jump in." Kiyoshi said to the boys, looking over his shoulder to give them a grin.
Kiyoshi had a very weird outfit, he wore mostly black but had a long green scarf that occasionally covered his mouth making it hard for them to hear what he was saying but he was still understandable. He wore a long grey jacket too but nothing on the length of a robe or trench coat. He also carried a katana on his side, almost like a samurai that was decorated with gold trimmings.
"We're here." He stated as he saw the docks below the cliff side they was on.
"We will wait here for the bandits to strike, when they do we will jump in and counter attack them precisely." Everyone nodded in agreement and Kurai was practically bouncing with excitement.
"I am going to kick so much ass!" Kurai spoke loudly as he laughed, an evil-like laugh, with determination.
Kazuki was distracted by the fact that Daichi was sat on this mission too. Who was this kid?
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