Chapter 2 - Disaster

(Word Count: 2,706)

The Hokage had called for all the shinobi to gather together to receive their missions for the war. Hopefully they wouldn’t be assigned to the Land of Rain.

“Our mission has been assigned. We’ll be heading into the Land of Rain, to fight in the front lines there.” said Mom, and my heart froze. “We need to head out within the hour. Shoji’s squad will be coming as well to help support the rear.”

"Please don't go! Mom, Dad, brother!" I cry out, clenching my first to try and stop them from trembling. I couldn't help it though. My entire family, aside from me and Grandma, were all geared up in their shinobi gear ready to set out to war. Even little Shoji, not even 11 years old. My entire body was shaking in fear from the thought of losing them. "Please stay!"

Mom and Dad shared a look. I usually never made a fuss when they left on missions but now I was darn near inconsolable. Missions were one thing, but this was war, and Hanzo the Salamander was center stage.

Mom crouched down in front of me and gave me a confident smile. I threw my arms around her neck, still trembling. "Don't you worry, my little pistachio, your momma is strong. You just keep Grandma company for us and we'll be back home in no time at all!"

No, you won't. I still couldn't shake the sick feeling of dread in my stomach. That demon’s sadistic sneer kept flashing in my head. It made me want to vomit.

"Yeah!" My brother shouted, "just you wait! We're gonna complete our missions and finish this quickly! Just leave it to your big bro!" He gave a beaming smile and thumbs up.

I didn’t give up though. “But Hanzo! He uses poisonous gas and can wipe out battalions in an instant! I’ve seen it! Him and his salamander summon! You can’t fight him, please!”

Mom was shocked, “how do you know this?” She obviously knew about Hanzo, but she couldn’t understand how her son knew of him. “What do you mean you’ve seen it?”

Screw staying under the radar if it could save my family. These past two years have been the best I’ve ever had. I pulled back from the hug and looked into my Mom’s eyes, trying to convey my sincerity. “I know the future. I’ve seen it, though it’s not really something that I can do. it’s just something that I’ve always known. From it, I know that Hanzo is too dangerous to face head on, and his poison is too deadly. Only the hokage and his disciples can survive facing him.”

She looked into my eyes, and saw that I was telling the truth. I always was a bit too mature for a baby. I could see the worry in her own eyes, at the implications and potential dangers to her son should this news come out. She smiled warmly at me. “Thank you for telling us. It’ll be okay now. Senzo and I will talk to Lord Hokage, and we’ll come up with a battle plan to handle it.” Hearing that, I became relieved. If they knew Hanzo would be there, then surely it’ll be okay. She gave me another kiss on the forehead.

“Whoa, do you really know the future?” Shoji asked in excitement, getting all in my face. “Then, will I become the next hokage? Will I? Come on, don’t leave me hanging!” His eyes beaming with expectations.

I laughed awkwardly, backing up a bit, but the worry I was feeling was easing up again. “I’m sure if you work hard at it, you’ll become a great Hokage.”

Mom laughed, and placed her hand on Shoji’s shoulder. “Come on, Shoji, you need to go report to your team don’t you?”

Shoji’s face was shocked, “Ack! That’s right! Giza-sensei will kill me!” and he ran out the door.

“Now, we’ll need to have a talk with Lord Hokage before we go, so we better get going. Goodbye, son. We’ll be back once the mission is done.” His Dad said.

Before he could flicker away, I shouted “Wait! When you talk to him, make sure that Shimura Danzo isn’t there. I don’t want him to know that I know the future.” I shivered. “If he finds out, he’ll do his best to capture me.” Dad’s face went grim.

“Don’t worry, son. I won’t let him find out.” He came and ruffled my hair, then Mom and Dad flickered away.

Grandma came over and let out a sigh. “Come on, Sakai, let's go get some dango.”

“U-um… You don’t seem freaked out that I know the future?” I questioned, but I took her hand and walked with her.

Grandma scoffed. “Oh, please. I’ve been around since before this village was even founded. When you’ve seen Lord First throwing entire forests around, there’s very little that phases you anymore. Besides, knowing the future or not, you’re still our little pistachio.”

“I, uh… I guess you have a good point.”

Time passes, and I’m living with Grandma. Though most of the time, I’m training. Every day, I spend hours and hours throwing kunai and shuriken. Actual ones this time, I had dug into mom’s closet and found that set that Sakumo had gifted me. I had also gotten a large scroll from grandma, and made sure to write out everything I remember about Naruto’s timeline, every plot and scheme. I also wrote out every source of power, items, key locations, etc. that I could remember. The “star” meteorite, the stone of Galel, the dragon vein in Roran, stuff like that. I don’t know if this world of Naruto I’m in includes the things shown in the movies, but it wouldn’t hurt to write it down just in case. When I’m done, I roll the scroll back up and stash it underneath the floorboards, not in my room, but in the hallway. No one would expect me to hide it under there. I made sure to write it all in english so even if someone did find it, I doubt they would be able to read it.

I also need a plan on how to get stronger. I’m a civilian, so it’s not very likely that I’ll be able to sling around powerful ninjutsu. A strong taijutsu is a must for any ninja, to form a strong base for my skills. Hmm. I tap my chin. Medical jutsu. Sakura, is a civilian as well, was able to produce monstrous strength because of Tsunade’s teachings. Kabuto had also gotten pretty strong as a medical-nin. I also remember from one of the movies, that “doctor” Shinno had his Body Revival Jutsu which was crazy strong. I couldn’t help but grin as I recall a specific quote from Shinno, that using dark chakra with his Body Revival jutsu would potentially allow him to survive opening all 8 gates. If that could actually work… The thought of being able to unleash all of that power made me giddy with excitement.

Another avenue that had insane potential was fuinjutsu. It wasn’t too explored in the anime that I remember, but the examples shown were powerful. The seals that contain the bijuus, the curse mark of Orochimaru, and the chakra suppression seals. Heck, if I can just learn the chakra suppression seals, I can slap that onto enemies and they’ll be toast. 

That decides it. Taijutsu, Fuinjutsu, and Iryojutsu. The last two will take a hecking ton of study to get to a viable level of skill, so I should probably get started as soon as I can. I would also need to find a good teacher. Maybe I can cozy up to the Uzumaki and Tsunade. That would be the best, but I could always go learn at whatever sealing department Konoha has, and at the hospital if I fail to convince them somehow.

We hear news from the front. Hanzo appeared to defend the land of the rain, and killed a lot of people in a surprise attack but luckily the disciples of Lord 3rd were there to drive him off. Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru earned the title of "Legendary Sannin" in the battle. 

On the day of my birthday, we had just gotten back from having dango, when we heard a knock from the door. Grandma answers the door. It's a jonin with a grim look on his face. I instantly recognize this for what it is. Blood drains from my face. Who was it? Which of my family died?

"Mrs. Norihide, I regret to inform you of the deaths of Norihide Senzo, Norihide Rumi, and Norihide Shoji." He bows to them. "I'm so sorry for your loss." And he's gone. He probably has many other houses to visit.

I stand there shell shocked until Grandma lets out a cry and collapses on the ground. "Grandma!" I rush over and she's unconscious. Panicking, I run outside yelling for help. Luckily a ninja was passing by and he helped me get Grandma to the hospital.

After a while, the doctor finishes the checkup. It looks like, due to her old age, her heart was already weak and the news of our family was too much. Luckily they stabilized her. Once I know that my Grandma will be ok, I ask to see my family in the morgue. The nurses look at me with sympathy and sadness, and one of them leads me to them. Soon, I'm looking down at the pale faces of my family. They shouldn't look like that, so pale and ghastly. Their faces should be full of life, smiling. My mom, dad, and little Shoji. He seemed so tiny, laying there. Pain stabs me in the chest and it's suffocating. I can hardly breathe. This feels so much worse than when I got hit by the truck so long ago, and it won't stop.

What a horrible birthday this is.

I don't know how long I've been staring at their faces, but word must have gotten out because I felt a hand rest on my shoulder. I glance to see who it is, and it's the Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. He wasn’t nearly as old as in the anime, he still had brown hair, even if it did have flecks of gray in it. I turn back to look at my parents to hide the flash of anger I was feeling. “I heard that it was Konoha that initiated this war. Tell me, what was so valuable that my family had to die for it?”

I heard him sigh regretfully, so I turned to look at him again and was mildly shocked to see Hiruzen’s eyes so full of sympathy and sadness. It caught me off guard, and the momentary anger I was feeling towards him dissipated.

Hiruzen gave a sad smile, then turned to look at my parents as well. “I still remember the times when Rumi and Senzo were in the academy.” He gave a sad chuckle. “Rumi was always so energetic, always causing a ruckus. Senzo was always so stern-faced, yet he had one of the kindest hearts. They went on to become one of the finest shinobi of Konoha.” He had a proud look on his face. “On their missions, they’ve always done their best to protect their comrades. That was their will of fire, you know, they protected and cared for their comrades.”

“When I heard that they had gotten married, and had little Shoji, I just knew they would be wonderful parents. Little Shoji turned out just like his mother, so full of energy and life. And when he became a genin, it was obvious that he had inherited that same will of fire.”

“Sakai, my boy,” he turned to look me in the eyes, his own eyes still radiating sympathy. “I’m so sorry that this war took your family from you. Your family died following their ninja way, in order to protect their comrades. They may be gone now, but their spirit, their will of fire, lives on within you.”

“The will of fire?” I murmur to myself.

“Yes, it's something that all those in Konoha have. The uncompromising desire to protect this village, and our loved ones within it. It’s what connects us together as a village, as one large family.”

Hiruzen placed a hand on his shoulder. “Sakai, thanks to you, many lives were saved. If we hadn’t been on the look out for Hanzo, it's possible that the entire battalion could have been wiped out. Sakai, if there’s anything more you can tell us, anything at all, you can continue to save even more of our family of Konoha.”

I take a shaky breath. Dang dude. At least wait until my family is buried before pulling the “family of konoha” card. But even still, the sentiment of inheriting mom’s will of fire was somewhat comforting. Plus, saving lives is still saving lives, so I try to think about what I remember. The Land of Sky, if it exists in this world, should appear sometime during this war. There’s also the death of Tsunade’s fami- my heart freezes in realization. This must be close to how she felt, after losing everything. But at least I still have my grandma. Determination filled me. I can’t let anything more happen to those I care about, and for that I must become stronger. Wasn’t the Senju clan specifically targeted in this war, by Danzo and/or Zetsu? If it was Danzo, then there’s no way that Hiruzen is blind to it. Can’t let Hiruzen know that I know that, it would make him choose between Danzo and me, and I’m pretty sure that he’ll choose Danzo. This wasn’t the peace-time Hiruzen, but war-time Hiruzen. He probably noticed my freezing, so I have to tell him something now.

“Well, to be honest, I don’t know a whole lot about what happens in this 2nd shinobi war, I’ve only really seen the fight between your disciples and Hanzo. Most of what I’ve seen only happens around 30 years from now. The only other thing that I’ve seen is about the Land of Sky. I’m not sure if they exist in this world… but they’re a nation from another continent. Sometime during this war, I’m not sure when exactly, they invaded the Land of Fire from the South. I remember that they had machines that helped them to fly and they caught us by surprise, causing a lot of damage. That’s everything that I remember. I’m sorry.”

Hiruzen contemplated what I said. “Hmm… I must say, this leads to a lot of questions. What do you mean, ‘exist in this world’? Are there others?”

“Well, the future that I saw was one where I didn’t exist. So, I think that what I saw wasn’t the future of this world, but the future of an alternate, parallel world. Just a theory though.”

“I see.” Hiruzen lets out another sigh. “I’m afraid that there’s some business I must attend to. Sakai, I’m sorry for your loss. If you ever need anything, you can come to me directly. My office will always be open to you.”

We say our goodbyes, and I’m left alone again. When I was alone, and I was thinking more rationally, I took a scalpel that was laying around and took a lock of hair from each of them. There were plenty of ways to bring someone back after all.

~~~

As Hiruzen walked back to his office, he pondered on his encounter with the boy. He had come to check if Sakai could actually see the future, afterall anyone could have predicted that Hanzo would step in to protect the land of rain. They were already looking out for him anyway. But he recalled the look on the boy’s face as he looked at the bodies of his family. So full of grief. Hiruzen’s heart tightened. Such a young boy shouldn’t even understand what death is, much less be so despondent. The young Sakai truly is wiser beyond his years, perhaps this “land of Sky” thing has some merit to it. It sounded ludicrous, machines to help people fly? But it wouldn’t hurt to place some extra lookouts down south.