Becoming The Azure Devil

[TDG Super Kami]

((O.K. Here's the thing... these are flashbacks... in a way. Takeo, guild wise, can't remember anything before showing up in Kumo, for now at least. The posts here run through his run-in with Natsume and Miriu, his clan blood awakening, and various other events before becoming a Kumo shinobi. So this really isn't a fanfic... more like a rundown of the past. Don't expect many posts, though some may be long.))

"It should be a simple mission: Deliver and return safely."
"And if there difficulties?"
"There shouldn't be."
"Then I'll round up a group to do the job. Anyone in particular you want?"

Aoshi continued to starie out through the large window, stroking his long, white beard. He thought for a moment, but shook his head. "No. Choose whoever you want, Henma."

The young woman Jounin behind him nodded, then exited. Aoshi exhaled. He had a gut feeling about this mission. He said it was simple, but 'simple' never meant 'easy' in the Shinobi world.

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Henma had went through profiles before heading out into the village. There were two in particular that she liked. The first was Raiken Ikazu. The boy was an oddity. He was a taijutsu user, and one of the best of his class. While not the brightest, and he has a history of being a trouble maker all his life, he was one of the strongest Haven had to offer. The second was Aimi Hitomo. She was a hot-head, but her grasp over Ninjutsu was on par with Raiken's Taijutsu power. She was no newb to missions, but she generally did them solo; this was her first group mission.

So that left one other. Henma was torn between a Genjutsu user and a Puppet-Master, when she spotted Takeo Matsuda. The boy was new to Haven, but from what the locals said, he was good... very good. The only reason she'd forgotten about him was because there was no information on him. The only thing on his profile is a name, rank, and shinobi class... that's it. no Hometown, family, nothing.

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Raiken, Aimi, and Takeo were standing side by side in front of Henma as she begant to brief them. "You three have been chosen to complete a mission. These orders come from Haven's Headmaster himself. You are to travel to a rest house not too far from Haven's east boarder and protect it until it reaches its destination. The location will not be given to you per request of the client, but the carage-driver knows the way." Aimi grunted. "And why do you need three people to guard a box? Just send me and I'll get it done." Raiken's hands cracked. "'Cause they want it done right. And if that's the case, just send me. These guys and the carage'll slow me down." Henma sighed and was about to speak, but Takeo did first. "This isn't a normal package, nor is this a normal escort mission. There's something you're not telling us." Everyone stared at him, then at henma, who shook her head, and Takeo nodded. "Whatever it is, she wasn't told either." Henma nodded again. "What I've told you is all the Old Man would tell me. Now, I think it's time we got to know who will be grouped with."

Raiken started. "Raiken Ikazu. Taijutsu Shinobi. Specialties are bashin' the faces of people who annoy me." Aimi followed up. "Aimi Himoto. Ninjutsu Shinobi. Specialties are setting everything on fire and drinking." Takeo finished. "Takeo Matsuda. Medical Nin." Aimi got an annoyed look on her face as Henma began to wonder why she even bothered with these people; they were complete idiots and freaks "What... that's it? Nothing else?" Takeo simply nodded. "Nothing else to say." Raiken joined Aimi. "A Medical Nin? Seriously? We'll need a Medical Nin on this kind of job? We're not apart of the Villages anymore, but we're better than their Chunnin will ever be." Takeo completely ignored everything that was being thrown in his face and walked straight up to Henma. He took the contact scroll from her hand and left as the yelling grew louder and louder.

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The carage was waiting right outside of a giant pair of gates connected to Haven's stone wall. The three were already inside as Henma entered, and then it took off. Everything was... silent, minus the noise from outside. No one spoke; Takeo was staring out of the door's window, Raiken was trying to sleep, and Aimi and Henma were just annoyed. While they were for different reasons, they both thought the same thing: Why her?

After two hours, the caraged stopped at the Rest House. It was a large, three story lodge that might as well have been an inn. The group got out. Henma dusted her sore bottom. "O.k... here's what we'll do--" "Henma and Raiken will standby at the door after getting whatever you need. Aimi will standby on the second floor's staircase after getting whatever she needs. I'll get the package. If anything should go astray, top priotiy is the package, seconded by the carage and driver." Everyone stared at him, including the driver. The only noise that could be heard at that moment was the soft roar of a waterfall, coming from behind the Rest House. He still had that blank expression, and still spoke in monotone. "Unless Henma-dono finds something wrong with that." Aimi was about to yell again, but Henma stopped her. "No... that... that's a good idea. Do as he said. We'll wait for you." Raiken snorted. "Whatever... showoff..."

The ground floor of the place was very... cozy. It had the taste of the living room of a noble, minus the gold coloring. One on end was a large general store, which Raiken went to, and the other a bar, which Aimi went to directly. Takeo went straight for the back of the room, to the staircase, and Henma waited at the front door, half-puzzled. Takeo knew the layout of the place before they even stopped, it was the only possible answer. But, assuming he'd never been there, how was that possible? Yet something else to think about... her mind was going to be fried before the week was over.

On the top floor, Takeo walked down the hall, doors streaming down either side. He eyed the numbers on the doors. 32...33....34... as he neared 35, he heard something come from the other side. He quickly pressed he back against the wall and slid the goggles on his hat over his eyes. He slowly turned the knob and peeked inside. He wasn't expecting what he saw.

On the ground floor, Aimi was still drinking away. "HEY! Takeo's... he's been gone for a while now." She was drunk already. "...The hell he doing up dere!?" Henma's face was buried in her palms. Raiken was sleeping... again. It was about this time that Takeo began to come from the stairs , but stopped about four steps down. He was crouched, eyes darting. Then he spotted whatever he was looking for. He rushed back up as a pair of guys in a black robe and hood get-up walked in. They went directly for Henma. One pulled out a picture and showed it to her. "Have you seen this woman? Brown hair, brown eyes. About my height?" Her voice sounded... hurried. Like she was being rushed. The other one remained silent as Henma eyed them. "No... can't say i have." The woman sighed. "O.k... look... we know she's here, and I can't think of any other reason people not with us are carrying weapons but to go after her too. What are you? Look out?" Henma half grinned. "Somewhat."

Suddenly, the second hooded person looked up, at the stairs, and the hooded woman nodded. Both rushed, but were stopped by Henma and Raiken. Henma had a kunai out, Raiken gripped his right hand into a fist. A tiny spark came from his gauntlet. "Friends o' yours?" Henma shook her head. "No, but glad you could wake up long enough to do your job. You wanted action... right?" Raiken nodded. "Aye,. 'Bout to show you why I'm the best." Suddenly, there was a shattering of glass at the bar. Aimi was standing with a broken bottle in her hand. "What... the hell... is THIS!?" Fire came from her hands. "This isn't sake!" She threw fire at it, then it exploded, catching the whole place on fire. As Henma grabbed Raiken and ducked for cover, the two hooded people used that moment to go to the top, where Takeo was. But when they kicked open the door, the back window of the room had been broken.

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Takeo jogged slowly, for him, away from the building, with the woman the shaded people were looking for trying to keep up with him; she wasn't use to running around and over tree roots and vines. He understood that, though. They came out of the mini-forest to the sight of a cliff and a very large waterfall. He stopped, and she landed flat on her butt, panting. After a minute, a kunai slipped out of Takeo's sleeve, and he faced the trees. The two shaded people appeared from the shadows. The woman held a scythe, and the other held a shark-toothed sword. "My, my, my. You are a hard one to find." Her playful tone suddenly dropped into a more serious one. "Hand her over, kid. She's coming with us." Takeo looked at the woman, then at the girl he'd just help get away from the burning building. He enhaled and exhaled slowly. "Do you trust me?" The hooded woman's head tilted. "Wha...?" The girl nodded, then so did Takeo. He swayed backed a little, as if to charge the hooded duo, who got their weapons ready. Then he side-stepped, grabbed the girl's hand, thew her up to be able to hold her with both hands, and ran straight for the cliff's edge, where he jumped. The duo got as far as the edge before stopping. They watched Takeo's body vanish into the mist caused by the waterfall. "Well... that sucks. What do we do now?"
 

[TDG Super Kami]

Takeo washed up on the beach with the waterfall just barely visible. The river carried him far, far enough to easily be almost an entire day's walk back to the Rest House. The girl was sitting on her knees, just staring at the full moon. There wasn't a cloud in sight either. After a few minutes, Takeo came to, slowly opening his eyes to the sight of the girl looming over him. He slowly sat up, then examined where he was, and where he came from, then the girl. "You said your name was Natsume?" The girl nodded. Takeo got up, swaying a little. "We need to head north; that's the way we were going to go after we picked you up. Do you know the area well?" Natsume nodded. "Yea... there's a Station not to far from here..." "Then that's where we're going."

Without another word, he began to trek up the shore. Natsume quickly followed, but stummbled and fell after two steps. Her left leg had been sliced by the rocks in the water after the fall; there was a large bloodied piece of cloth wrapped around her thigh. Takeo shook his head, crouched, and hovered his hands over the wound. Azure chakra began to pour from his hands into the would as it slowly healed, first mending the insides, then the skin. Not even a scar remained. Without saying anything else, he simply stood, and continued north up the shore. Natsume followed again.

For a while, the only noise that could be heard was from the tide coming in and out, and the occasional animal call from the treeline that occupied the space the shore didn't. "What did you say your name was?" "I didn't.""...So... what is your name?" "Takeo." She paused for a moment. "Who were those people?" "I don't know." Another five minutes passed. "That was... a pretty cool thing you did back there... what was that blue stuff?" "I'll explain later." "Why not now?" "Listening to one sound blocks out others, potentially ill motivated." She satyed quiet for the rest of the trek.

The path was very uneventful. It took about a day and a half to reach the station. Takeo had seen many things before, but nothing like a train."And you're sure this will go north?" Natsume nodded, grinning. "For a while, yes. This will be the fastest way to reach the mountain ranges up there. You never--" "Good." Takeo walked through the entrance, leaving Natsume behind again.

The station was crowded, very crowded. It was so crowded, it made Takeo want to throw a justu into the air just to make them scatter. And the waiting... all of the time wasted waiting in line after line. Especially the baggage, just because he had a pouch on his person. It was ridiculous. Natsume explained that it was all apart of their security measures; that a long time ago, people would try to bomb the trains or use weapons to take hostages. Using the new method, nothing like that has happened yet. Takeo tugged on his shackles, trying to stay sane.

When everything was checked out, they had ten minutes to actually board the train itself. They sqeezed down the aisle and sat just as it began to take off down the tracks. Takeo managed to finally stretch, but Natsume's eyes locked on Takeo. She couldn't hold it in any longer."So... who are you? Who were they? Where did you come from? What was that blue stuff? You promised!" Takeo sighed, sat straight, and leaned forward a little bit.

"Being that you don't know what Chakra is, I suspect you don't know anything about shinobi... what I'm about to tell you never leaves this cell." He shut the glass door over the cell's opening. "There is a world that is hidden from yours. Eight villages train shinobi to become fighters, assassins, healers, whatever they are best equiped to do. These eight villages are constantly war with others, ally themselves with others, and all the other political games in the book that I don't care to follow. I'm a shinobi of Haven, an orginazation of shinobi and commoners alike that wish to bring peace to the Shinobi World. We're tired of all of the fighting and bloodshed. Everyone from Haven is an orphan; we don't take people from their families. I, myself, was found at Haven's doorstep in the craddle, so I never knew my blood parents." He looked up to see Natsume about to bust into tears. "That's... horrible... and I thought I had it bad when Father grounded me from riding Bell." Takeo's head tilted. "'Bell'?""Yea, my horse." "'Your horse'?" Natsume thought for a moment. "Well... one of them, but she's my favorite." "And... how many do you... 'own'?" She quickly counted in her head. "Twenty... four, twenty-five... somewhere around those numbers. Why?"

So she was rich... which would explain some things, but not others. "Do you or your father have any big-time enemies?" Natsume shook her head.

The ride was long and boring. The two didn't much, other than the short lived conversations Natsume would try to get going. Takeo explained a little bit about his mission, and the three he got separated from. When he asked about the goons from before, Natsume apparently didn't know them, but the female's voice sounded a little familiar.

The train itself made three stops on the way to the mountains. Every time, almost everyone got off, and even more entered. By the third stop, it was almost too crowded to sit anywhere, despite how long the train actually was. According to Natsume, it was one of the biggest trains that had been built.

About an hour or two after the third stop, a strange noise came from the front car. Takeo's eyes immediatly shifted as a little commotion started. Takeo shifted his goggles over his eyes. "Stay here." Natsume was about to question him, but he was already climbing out the window to get on the roof. It was the same two from before. They were making their way from car to car, probably searching for the girl. He had to act quickly. He sprinted to the front of his car and jumped down to the conjunction. He used an azure flame to soften the conjunction, then gave it a powerful kick to separate it. As the car began to slow more and more, the two goons appeared at the back of the car ahead of Takeo's. He couldn't see their eyes, but he knew they were glaring at him. The bigger one raised his hand, then pointed at Takeo. A giant gust of wind shot up and detailed the car, causing it to flip.

Takeo woke up on his back right in front of the crashed train car. He groaned, then sat up and looked around. It looked like no one was in mortal danger, just scrapes and scratches from the crash. Then he saw Natsume on her stomach. He turned her on her back and helped her up. Nothing was broken, just bruised. "Next time you do something like that, please let me know ahead of time. Takeo shook his head. "It wasn't me." "Then..." Takeo nodded. He then suddenly stopped and turned around. The goons... again. Their cloaks were ripped, from the crash. The bigger one's attack derailed their car as well. They threw their cloaks on the ground. The woman was angry, but the man was grinning.

"Look what you made us do this time, ya little brat! Just hand over the girl so we can all go home!"