This takes place well after current events. After the Fourth Great Shinobi war had erupted, and the Akatsuki fought with the Allied Shinobi nations. This takes place well after that fateful fight between Naruto and Sasuke. Where only one was left standing, a bond broken, a life shattered, and a future made. In this regard, we should know a little of the past, before we don what has come into the present, and the future that we will explore with our new protagonist....
In the past century, a vicious era was brought to light as the shinobi world was brought to it's knees in understanding the true depths of hell and malcontent human-kind had with each-other. Of the hate spread, a man rallied it into a single goal and dominated. Madara Uchiha grabbed the hatred of the world and spun it to his will, using the distrust and anger the five great shinobi nations had for each other into something he could use. Creating the Akatsuki, Madara Uchiha gained members of terrible nature and launched horrific attacks with a hidden goal. He was successful in his goals: capturing the legendary Bijuu and storing them for his personal use. Through several members, the Akatsuki gained their goals one by one, hunting down the Bijuu relentlessly and destroying anyone who got into their path.
At the same time, we follow our hero, the savior of Konoha, future Hokage, and town favorite, Naruto Uzumaki as he starts his life as a Konoha shinobi. Naruto was placed within team 7, under the guidance of Kakashi Hatake and learned the trade of the Shinobi from him. Also within his group was Sasuke Uchiha, the sole survivor from his clan's mass murder that left Sasuke in the grip of revenge. Here enters our first major obstacle. This drives Sasuke mad over time and eventually leads to Sasuke's falling out of Team 7 and defection to Orochimaru, a Missing-nin, once a Sannin of Konoha. This causes Naruto and Sakura to fret endlessly and causes several problems that leave team 7 desolated and in disrepair.
Over the course of three years, Sasuke and Naruto grow tremendously and become powerful ninja, leading up to a fateful fight to settle things. Naruto and Sasuke see each other more and more as time goes on, always ending up coming to blows, while Naruto continuously fights the Akatsuki, who kill several Konoha ninja on the way. This brings us back to Madara Uchiha, the leader of the Akatsuki, who declared war on the five great shinobi nations. Tensions rose, and tempers flared. Over this time, Naruto and Sasuke grew more and more bitter towards each other, Naruto never giving up on his dream of bringing Sasuke back and Sasuke now deciding to kill Naruto before Konoha.
Now, of course several things happened in between the time of the war and the end, but the recap should only cover the important parts, so we will end it with this last bit. Things came to pass and Madara was defeated by none other than Naruto Uzamaki. Madara did not foretell this and was angry, but knew that Sasuke was still alive. This helped him have some peace. The time soon came, though, for Naruto and Sasuke to fight. This, was what Madara DID foretell. The fight between two ideals that would shape the future of the Shinobi world. However harsh it may be. The fight that ensued was great and harsh. Many times it looked like one side had won then it switched. It was an even power struggle. Naruto held back, hoping to save Sasuke. To his dismay, this was impossible. Sasuke drove Naruto the the edge, and cursed him, saying that Naruto should give up on his silly ideals and attacked once more. Naruto finally accepted that it was impossible and fought back, killing Sasuke right there, relieving Sasuke of the pain he held onto for many years.
Naruto had defeated a powerful enemy. A man that was wanted in all five great Shinobi nations. A missing-nin to Konoha. A friend. His only family. Naruto had severed the bond. Afterwords. Naruto returned back to Konoha to rebuild, leading the world into a great peace that would last a century, to the current time now. Things have greatly changed and moved on. The lessons of the past are almost forgotten, and the shinobi of this generation do not know what war is. But, lurking in the deep, is a pain, a struggle, an enemy...that will soon push the world back to the brink of war once again. An enemy that is much more evil then Madara. Much more cunning than Orochimaru, and much more cynnical than the Akatsuki. It's coming to the end of the century, and a great change is on its way. This is where we come to our protagonist, another child chosen by destiny, to lead on again, and save the world.
.::Ao Perilla
.::Kirigakure Academy
.::Genin
It hadn't been long since Ao had sat in his seat before the homeroom teacher came in. Faelin. He was an alright teacher, Ao guessed. There wasn't much to him, in fact, there was nothing too him. He was a skinny ninja who had fouled up one mission and never was able to go back to doing his job. Ao wasn't effected much by such a trivial matter. He obviously was missing out on some fun. Whatever the reason, there was nothing Ao decided to note more about him and sat back in his chair. He looked around at his class mates. Emi sat on his left and Eiji sat on his right. His two new team mates. They were a nuisance. Emi always gocked at any guy who passed and Eiji sat in his book, paying no attention to the outside world. A true pain in the a**.
Sighing, Ao leaned his head on his hand and placed his elbow on the shoulder, closing his eyes slightly. This was going to be a bigger problem than he thought. Not only would he be stuck baby sitting these two, but he still has his 'other' problem to take care of. He opened his eyes slightly and stared out across the class room, surveying his class-mates one last time. Yes, they were all secure in their village, completely oblivious to the true reasons of being a shinobi. Ao wandered slightly about the past, and what it was like. During the Fourth Great Shinobi War, to fight along such famous heroes such as Naruto Uzumaki, the wielder of the Kyuubi. It would have been glorious indeed. Ao dreamt of such ideals. He continued to dream of proving himself in combat. It was a luxury he allowed himself, for his imagination got him away from the boring thoughts of the world and what it held for him.
"Ao, what's troubling you? You seem rather preoccupied?" Emi said suddenly. Ao started from his stupor and looked over at her, eyes burning holes into her face. She probably was eying another guy again. All the different, she had interrupted his thought process. Tutting loudly, he looked up at the ceiling and clasped his hands behind his head, a smiling panning behind his mask.
"I am dreaming of what it would have been like to be in the war. To prove myself amongst all those Shinobi, and fight with the Mizukage. She must have been one hell'ova fighter." he chuckled to himself and allowed his mind to portray images of what he imagined the fight would have been like, of course, he would be in the front of the fray. A heroic figure, ready to die for comrade and country.
"Such trivial thoughts are lost on us, Ao. We are the generation of peace. There will be no war. You should know that. Such hatred was caused in the past century. According to our text books, we know that the Kages all banded together and fought evil to it's lair and destroyed it once and for all." Eiji said disdainfully. Once again, he had butted in to ruin Ao's thoughts. This made Ao mad more than anything. Eiji always had that way of getting into his thoughts and ruining the idea for him. He was the basic fun killer.
Glaring over at him, Ao retorted "That doesn't mean anything! Being a shinobi with no true villain is pointless! There has to be something out there going wrong!," Ao stopped and slumped into his seat. There had to be something out there, right? After all, the world wouldn't still be relying on jinchuriki and the bijuu. No, there was definitely something out there. There were battles he could still fight. There HAD to be. "Kirigakure was once known as the 'Bloody Mist Village' a long time ago, right?" Ao asked Eiji suddenly.
"Of course, but that was way back when. During the 4th Mizukage's reign. Something like that hasn't happened for a long time. Our Mizukage, the 8th kage of Kirigakure, would never let something like that happen. In fact. In the past decade or so, the relations between the five great Shinobi nations has grown. It's truly a prosperous time. A golden Age, as it were." Eiji replied smugly, his eyes never lifting from his book. He leaned back in his chair and propped his legs up on the desk.
Ao's teeth bit down hard, causing him to taste a dull iron like sensation. Releasing the pressure he returned his gaze to the ceiling. "Those are the times I want to see. I want to test my strength..." he replied, trailing off unsure of what else to add.
"You would die quickly." Came Eiji's quick reply, a monotonous low blow to Ao's ego. Ao growled and stood up in a flash, facing Eiji with his hands clenched into fists.
"You want me to show you that I can kick your a**?!" he retorted angrily.
"If you ca-"
"Both of you, stop it!" Emi said abruptly, she stared both of them down from her seat, her head laying in her hands. Ao had to give it too her. She was probably the only one on the team with the cool head to calm everyone. Her blue eyes pierced him for what seemed like forever. Finally, Ao sighed and sat back in his chair. There was no use in getting riled up over something this meaningless anyway. Placing a hand on his stomach, he sighed softly and returned his attention to the homeroom teacher. It looked like he had finally gathered his things to where they needed to be and then looked up at the class.
"You all have already received your team assignments. Now you may leave and see your instructors. Remember, your instructors will meet you at the rally points I have given you already. Do NOT be late by any means." the instructor said and then smiled, cocking his head. "I am proud to call you all graduates. Make Kirigakure proud as you complete your missions dutifully." He then motioned to the door and the class stood in unison, the three teams within the class moving with each other out of the class room.
It was to be suspected. The teams would click together and move into their separate ways. Nothing abnormal about it. Ao followed his team out of the door and our of the academy. He locked his hands behind his head and walked on, a yawn emanating from his mouth. This was truly boring. Their instructor better be interesting, or so Ao hoped so. His attitude fluctuated throughout the walk as he observed his teammates. Emi frolicked around like a child, hands clasped behind her back and hair swaying as she skipped. She stopped several times to stare at the flowers by the path, noting their features and deciding if they were worth picking or not. She stopped by one, in particular, a yellow tulip, and plucked it from it's roots. Slipping it behind her ear, she gleamed back at Ao, her smile wide and shining.
"Nature sure is beautiful! Right, Ao? In fact, nature is so peaceful, kinda like the world right now? Hopefully our instructor is fun and knowledgeable!" she beamed at him and then turned back around, continuing her stride in between Ao and Eiji. Ao couldn't help but to smile back at her. She truly was happy. He quickly wiped the smile from his face and shrugged. She was acting like a child. There couldn't be such thing as eternal peace. It was impossible. There would be fighting soon, he would make sure of that. There was more to being a shinobi then just playing ninja he thought bitterly.
Ao continued his observation into Eiji, watching him carefully. He didn't seem like a bad guy at first, but during the time Ao knew him, Eiji was always the top dog in the class, battling Ao at everything they did. Ao was truly sick of him. Eiji was nothing but a self-righteous p***k from the Hyuuga bloodline. Eiji stood taller than Ao, his stride was longer and he was better built than him. All in all, Eiji was more of a man than Ao was, but that didn't mean anything. Still, Eiji walked ahead of Ao with a stride that spoke his thought of mind. He was better than everyone else cause he was the top of his class at taijutsu. That was all fine and dandy, since Ao could beat him in ninjutsu. Now that he thought of it, he was so evenly matched with Eiji that if he had ever fought him, the fight would come down to shear luck. Ao couldn't live with that. He would have to train his taijutsu to be better. Eiji's Byakugan may be useful in fighting, but Ao would show that p***k who was better. He would beat him one way or another.
Sighing, Ao looked out to the village, watching the random villages go on with their daily lives. How blissfully unaware they were. It confused him. They learned from Faelin, their homeroom teacher, that a century ago, all villagers in every village knew of war. They knew how it felt, what it was like, and the devastation it caused. No one from that time period was around anymore. No one knows what it is like anymore. So how can anyone judge what it is like to feel at war? It made him curious. Sighing, he dropped his arms to his sides and squinted into the day. Something just didn't seem right with the world they lived in right now. Something was amiss. He could feel it. Touching his stomach, he felt the curse seal that only he knew was there. The burden he remember he had all too often. All the villagers knew about it. The older ones at least. The town elders know about it as well. Ao's Mizukage knew about it all to well. He had gone to see her several times with questions, getting information that he was never satisfied with.
Ao looked down at where his hand lay. The Nibi bijuu dwelt within him, and used him as a vessel. Nothing he could easily forget. Pushing the thought from his mind, Ao looked up at his team. They were still blissfully unaware to what was happening around them. Typical.
It didn't take much longer for their walk to lead them to their rally point. It stood well into the training grounds, the main river running through the middle of the ground before them and forests surrounding them on three sides. it wasn't what Ao thought was the best place for a first meeting with their Sensei, but it was his choice, so he must find it comfortable to some extent. Ao carefully trod forward, leaving Emi and Eiji behind him as he moved towards the middle of the open ground and sat down, crossing his legs and sighing. Their Sensei wasn't there yet. Maybe they were a little early. No matter, they would just have to wait for him. Emi and Eiji soon strode up to stand beside Ao, seeming to think the same thing as he did.
"Looks like we are early. Oh well, this place is absolutely beautiful!" Emi exclaimed excitedly. Her eyes darted all over the training grounds and she moved towards the trees. Ao shook his head and laid back, staring at the sky.
"Ao, why do you always seem so thoughtful. You almost never have something to add to the conversation unless Eiji speaks." Emi said, appearing over his head instantaneously. Ao's eyes widened with surprise and he started, before he settled back down irritatedly.
"Because I am always thinking. And I do not. I am just the only one who will tell Eiji to his face that he is wrong." Ao replied haughtily. Ao heard Eiji scoff at his comment.
"Ao, the only reason you stay quiet is because you don't have anything useful to say. Face it, you will never be as good as me." he said in his matter-of-fact tone, yet again. That is what pissed Ao off more than anything. His tone of voice. Grimacing, Ao propped himself up on his elbows and faced Eiji.
"Don't take me lightly, Eiji, or I will give you a rude awakening with some ninjutsu..." Ao taunted. This seemed to strike a nerve. That made Ao feel better.
"You need hands to form seals, Ao, and you can't do that very easily if I break those wrists of yours with taijutsu." Eiji said, keeping his composure.
Ao frowned even more. Eiji was pissing him off more and more every time he spoke. This would make getting a team to work would be rather difficult. Ao couldn't stand Eiji, let a lone work with him. What was the Mizukage think when she made the squad assignments? Sighing, Ao let it go and sat back down, returning his gaze back to Emi. She was looking at Eiji, a faint blush on her cheeks. So she was infatuated with him as well? He should as figured as much. Sighing, he decided to answer her question truthfully.
"To be completely honest, Emi, its because I have so many questions for this world that I know will go unanswered. I seek knowledge that I can't have. At least try and understand that for me, at least." he said softly and then closed his eyes, slipping his hands behind his head.
"Well, hopefully during out travels and time as genin, we will help you find some of those answers! I am sure of it!" Emi replied with a happy note in her voice. Ao smiled and shook his head slowly. She really was an upbeat girl. That would be nice to have on long missions. Sighing slightly, he let his mind drift once more and his mind raced to things that could have happened during the war, his mind fantasizing about the many battlefields once again. A faint noise caused him to open his mind, and he was startled to see a man standing before him. A jonin stood before them, his team. It looked like their Sensei had finally shown up. He was late to his own teams arrival. Classy teacher already. Ao knew this was going to be a problem from the start.
