Weakened Warrior CH 1

“Yet again, you’re going to be late. I’m leaving.” the low and cold voice of my sister sounded as I heard her walk through the front door of our small home, leaving on her way to start Star Training for the day.

I sighed heavily and turned to lay lazily on my back as my palms reached up to rub the sleep from my deep gold eyes. The hue in colour was lower than usual due to the sleepiness I was currently feeling. It wasn’t too often I would lag this bad when waking up, but after learning a new jutsu, I was rather repetitious and left myself drained.

I rose from bed and scuffled over to the bathroom to brush my teeth and pull my hair back into a ponytail. “I’ll just shower when I get home.” I muttered softly to myself before strolling out into the front yard. The skies were grey signaling it would probably rain at some point during this rather melancholy day. No one was found outside, no children could be heard giggling or playing in the small park...nothing. It was quite depressing to be frank.

I slowly continued onward, making my way to the cabana that the radioactive star was located in, due to yesterday’s intense work on a new jutsu I was exhausted to say in the very least. A shame.  Although, for a kid who didn’t exactly have a sensei or much guidance at all...I was proud, even for myself.

The door to the cabana creaked as I slowly swung the door open, the hinges obviously needing oil of some sort to fix the annoying issue. I looked in and noticed Mika fully concentrated as she trained her chakra, a few others in the cabana with her. I chose an empty spot and sat down, crossing my legs as I pressed my hands together in the sign of Ram. My golden orbs closed and my head bowed slightly as I began to train my chakra. Today would be a much shorter day for me. Too much and I knew the bad effects of this star and training would leave me in critical condition.

An hour or so passed and the sound of thunder in the distance rumbling broke me from my focus as if reminding me to stop now. I slowly lowered my hands and gave my small body a little while to recuperate and regain some strength before I would go and explore or work on more jutsu.

“Done already? Tch. Not too surprising.” My sister muttered under her breath, not even bothering to open her amethyst eyes to see I stopped.

I decided to ignore her snarky comment and slowly stood up. My legs wobbled ever so slightly as I came to my feet. Walking out I kept a hand pressed gently to the wall to keep my balance.

The fresh outside air filled my nostrils and lungs, the scent of fresh rain laced the air leaving a soft and somewhat comforting smell to it. Many days were spent like this, my sister and I living alone and training alone.

It was a little depressing having to be stuck with my sour puss sister all the time, however, I got through it. In a way, she was what pushed me to train more and higher the bar which in turn not only made me stronger a stronger person, but also a better ninja.

A few weeks past and I was getting even better at the jutsus I knew, and was starting to get a grasp on the base of the ones I was training to learn. I was also perfecting and practicing my skills using a bow and arrow for when I would get assigned to protect the village and keep watch over devil’s ravine. Mika was strong and skilled enough, not to mention old enough, to watch over the Ravine, her archery skills however, they weren’t all that great.

“Hey I am going to be taking my duty by Devil’s Ravine.” Mika muttered as she slipped on her gas mask and left the house, leaving me alone. I nodded and got ready myself to go out. I had a mission I was assigned as well.

The size of the village was rather small. Not many Jounin and only a few handful of young ninja who were willing to continue training. I met up in the large field next to the cabana and noticed Silvia, Ketsu, and the Jounin joining us, Akio.

“Alright guys, our mission, as you know, is to go into the forest, past the Ravine. There it has been said that there are some new people who wish to live in our village. The Hoshikage himself has approved of the mission and given us permission to bring them over.” Akio explained. Silvia and I nodded, both of us rather eager to go and welcome the new villagers.

“Okay, how many are we going to be getting?” I asked looking up to the black haired man. His deep green eyes were a beautiful and perfect contrast to his dark silky hair. Akio chuckled. “There are three of them. One of which a five year old.” he answered, scanning over the three of us to see if there were any more questions or concerns.

“Sounds easy~” Ketsu said, his arms crossed over his chest, his smile saying it all. He felt he was the best of the three of us. He was always cocky and thought he was ‘king shit of Turd Island’ as my sister put it. I wouldn’t argue that...it was pretty accurate.

“Alright, let’s go” Akio suggested before we took off into the woods. We all followed and talked amongst one another. Silvia was speaking to me about this boy she liked, he was another boy from our village who wasn’t training to be a ninja, he was just someone who would help the Hoshikage with paperwork and stats of the village. He was brilliant, really.

“I think you should just ask him out…” I said softly to the small blonde who was running next to me. “I want to...but isn’t it odd for the girl to ask the guy out?” she asked. Before I had a chance to answer, Ketsu intervened. “Of course it is!” he cackled. Silvia glared darkly and formed a chakra rope before tripping him with it. “Oppps.” she said as we continued on, Ketsu getting left behind a little ways. The boy scrambled to catch up making Akio roll his eyes in slight annoyance and sigh.

“Guys...stop monkeying around...we need to appear professional to our new villagers.” the jounin scolded. The three of us got quiet and exchanged looks. My cheeks turned red and I sighed. After an hour or so of travel we came to the entrance of the woods and noticed the small family standing there waiting.

“Hello, I’m Akio Nakimoto. This here is my team of elite star genin and we are here to escort you safely into the Star Village.” he said with a warm and welcoming grin. The three of us smiled and gave a small bow of our head.

The family we were about to escort shone smiles back to us as if to say thank you. The older woman then spoke up, her voice slightly rough yet soft in volume. “Hello, my name is Clarissia, Clarissia Sakunami.” She started with a smile before she turned to the older gentleman which we all assumed to be her husband. “This is my husband, Isao.” she then turned to the child. “And our granddaughter, Kaiya.” The woman concluded, personally introducing her entire trio.

Akio smiled warmly looking over the small family. “It’s a pleasure to be of assistance to you all. Now we are going to start on our way back to the village, sometimes the woods can be a little hard to get through quickly when it’s dark out.” he warned, wanting to get home before the sun went down.

Ketsu approached the small child with caution before he knelt down. “Hello Kaiya. My name is Ketsu.” he said in a much warmer tone than he would usually speak in. Kaiya stepped back a little, her small hand which was still covered by a long sleeve reached up to hide her mouth. Her long deep red hair blew in the soft wind that gusted through the area. I glanced over to Silva who was watching Ketsu closely.

“I was wondering if you would like to ride on my back on the way to the village.” Ketsu offered gently to the small girl. Slowly, Kaiya lowered her small arm and walked around, her small hands gripping his shoulders before she crawled onto his back. Rather surprised, Silvia and I chuckled.

“Alright, let’s go” Akio said with a small nod.

We started off back in the direction of the village and had pleasant talks with the elders we were escorting. It was interesting to talk with people outside of the small village we called home. Hearing about a small outside village with no official ninja. It left me wondering how those villages would keep safe during an invasion or attack...the thought left me a little sad and heavy hearted.
It wasn’t too often young ninja of the Star Village were given missions outside of the Ravine. So we all were so intrigued with the happenings of the outside shinobi world.
After an hour or so of trekking through the woods we were approaching the village, the toxic waves from Devil’s Ravine were now in sight.
“Don’t worry, I have all the gas masks sensei.” Silvia stated as she pointed her thumb in the direction of her backpack. Akio glanced back and nodded.

“Alright, Dominique, would you mind starting to get them out?” He asked looking to me.
I nodded and slowly began to open Silvia’s backpack, reaching in to grab the masks. Once at a close distance, we stopped to secure a mask on everyone, Kaiya of course being the first to get one. Next was Clarissia then her husband, Isao. We all secured masks on ourselves before we jumped over the Ravine, of course the use of chakra was needed to get over it, Mika was still watching over the ravine along with a few others, their attention quickly turning to us.

“Great job students!” Akio praised as we all safely landed in Star Village territory. Ketsu set the small girl down who scuttled over to her grandmother, hugging the woman’s leg. I couldn’t help but to giggle as the gas mask was still clung to her small face.

“Here sweetie, let me remove the mask for you.” I said with a small giggle before I slowly walked over and leaned down, removing the mask gently. “There” I breathed before I stood back up, Isao gently handing me his followed by his wife.

“Thank you all so much.” The man said smiling.

“You’re welcome, it was a pleasure to help you all and be able to welcome you to our village.” I said with a sweet smile, my golden eyes closing.

As we were turning to start a small tour I could hear commotion in the background.

“INTRUDERS! SOMEONE IS TRYING TO GET PAST THE RAVINE!” A shrill voice screamed, a woman holding the hand of her child yelled, as she pointed east, in the direction of where the Hoshikage building was. We were being invaded.