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I looked over the snowy plains down below me on a cliff. They surrounded the mountain I was on. It was like a white blanket had covered the earth. My thick clothes shielded me from the biting cold wind that blew everywhere. A rabbit laid in my arm that I had killed for some dinner.
Time had passed by like a short blip for me. It had been three very boring years since that fateful day where we had left the Chinoike clan. I hope that what we had done had truly helped their clan or all that would’ve been useless. One day hadn’t gone by where I didn’t think about the Uchiha massacre and Mariko-sensei’ fate.
Through the years my horns had fully grown out and my hair had turned completely silver along with them. I now also had preliminary control over my eyes that were obtained from the chinoike clan. The horns had completely adapted my eyes making them part of my body. Unlike ordinary people who would have the kekkei genkai active all the time once they steal or take it from the original user like Kakashi, I could activate and deactivate the eyes at my own will.
I hadn’t learnt how to withdraw my horns and use it whenever I could like Hakai but I hadn’t faced any side effects of the horns as of yet.
I took the rabbit and walked into a cave nearby. There Hakai was, sitting beside a flame staring into it. Our relationship hadn’t changed much. It was like we were two magnets with the same poles. No matter how much time went we would never get close to each other. The only thing that had changed was that he was training me a hell of a lot more.
He looked at me and then stared at the rabbit with dissent. “You’re back. You brought a rabbit again? I told you there is no need for it.”
We had this argument plenty of times already. There was a town down the mountain that we would get supplies from. He had somehow managed to create that disgusting tasteless dish even here. I just wanted to have some rabbit meat once in a while and he would start complaining about it whenever I brought one. I had to learn how to skin, gut and cook one because of this guy’s laziness in not helping me prepare it.
“Ippei’s dish is enough for your body.” He told me while I started to skin the rabbit.
“It’s not good for my tastebuds.” I replied. I couldn’t even eat anything or shop for anything because Hakai had instructed me not to. Apparently, it would raise doubts for our ‘pursuers’ and make it easy to track us. Even the supplies we would got were acquired through secrecy and in disguise. We were very careful not to get noticed by anyone. Although I doubted anyone would be after us here in the land of the snow.
Of course, I wasn’t allowed near the town because of my horns that stood out like a sore point and Hakai wouldn’t get anything besides the basics so I had to prepare my own methods to eat something good. I had decent level of mastery even over a utility skill like transformation jutsu because he kept teaching me its importance. Yet he wouldn’t let me use it in the town telling me that it could still be spotted by someone experienced and I was not good enough at it yet. Just thinking about it made me get a higher blood pressure.
After we finished eating, we rested for a bit before moving outside into the open field. I held a katana which was custom made to fit my size. Hakai stood opposite me with his regular wooden katana. It was a very mysterious piece of wood, it couldn’t have been a regular old katana because no matter how much force I put or cut at it, it wouldn’t slice or break.
“HAAP!” I striked towards him with everything I had. He easily deflected my blow hitting my body three times when it was out of balance and send me tumbling to the ground.
“Too stiff, too slow and too predictable.” He said before going into a neutral stance again. We had been practicing kenjutsu and taijutsu for a very long time. No matter how much I insisted he wouldn’t teach me any ninjutsu or hand signs to create them. All he had taught me were the transformation and the shadow clone jutsu. He told me I had to figure out how to control the horns at a level that they can go in and out of my body first before he could teach me.
I had grown utterly frustrated at him. It’s not like I hadn’t tried. I also wanted to hide them and go into the village or interact with others other than this damned old man. “HAAAAP!” I striked again from a different angle. When he was about to hit my katana again, I let go of it suddenly and used all the power in my thighs to jump up to his face to kick him. Somehow, he managed to catch my leg and threw me away to the ground.
“Too rash, too easy to irate.” He commented.
This time I simply rushed at him in a bid to take him down with my raw strength. “HAAAAAAAAA!”
“It will not work.” Hakai suddenly grew his horn. He turned behind him to find Kenji standing behind him with red eyes using his Ketsuryugan.
“Do not use your eyes on me boy. I already told you; you cannot use them in training. They are your trump card don’t use it recklessly.” He had his eyes closed while looking at me.
“Tsk” I had tried to use Genjutsu to fool him into believing I was rushing at him brashly like an idiot but he hadn’t fallen for it.
“I want to back to the leaf.” We had already had these conversation multiple times now.
“No, you are not prepared.” He replied back as usual.
“Why not? I understand the situation about my horns but I’m close to figuring them out, I can feel it. I can just wear a hood to cover them up until then. As for being irrational or angry or things like someone taking over my body haven’t even happened yet. I’m perfectly fine.” I was getting more and more anxious as the days went by.
“It is because of the cold. You do not realize it but the cold helps your mind keep calm. Even then you do not have the discipline to listen to simple instructions like not using your eyes during training. You are not ready it is as simple as that.”
I grit my teeth at him and we continued to train kenjutsu for the rest of the day. We went to the cave afterwards to take some rest.
“Are you not going towards the town today?” It had already been a month since he had gone there to get supplies. I had asked him to bring newspapers whenever he went to keep up with any news from Konoha to find and indications of the Uchiha massacre.
“No” He answered as he tended to his wooden sword.
I was getting increasingly anxious as the days passed by. I had no idea when the massacre would occur. I needed to get back as soon as possible to Konoha but I didn’t even know how many days of travel it took to travel from here to Konoha.
“Can’t you go today and get some newspapers back?” I asked him.
“No, we still have enough supplies for two other weeks there is no need to take unnecessary risks.”
I walked out after taking some rest. Usually, Hakai just left me to by business when we weren’t training. I had also respected his trust in me as I hadn’t done anything reckless. I had also believed that there was no need to go into the village up till now. I had no problem living alone.
However, my patience was slowly waning. I didn’t believe there was anything in that town that could hurt us. Out here in the land of snow we didn’t have to be as careful as Hakai said we needed to be.
I looked back at the cave for a moment in contemplation. I needed to take the chance and get some information. Newspapers weren’t enough. I put a hood over my head to cover the horns and headed towards the town.
Iamnotabot· Feb 16, 2023
