Summary: Kyoma is caught… but is it really the end?
Note: I've been way to preoccupied with another fanfiction idea... :L
Chapter 5
BEEP.
“AAAAHHH!”
The same voices are here again. Screaming in agony, ripping at their hair. Never finding peace, even in my dreams.
BEEP.
I’m still floating here.
BEEP.
I can’t do anything. I can’t move a muscle, I can’t open my eyes. I’m blind to the whole picture here.
BEEP.
BEEP.
HELP US
BEEP.
BEEP.
BEEP.
But I know the boundaries of this cage.
BEEP.
BEEP.
END IT ALL
BEEP.
BEEP.
BEEP.
BEEP.
I found the edge of the darkness again.
BEEP.
BEEP.
BEEP.
BEEP.
When did this sound become regular?
BEEP.


Clutching a hospital blanket to myself, I shake myself out of sleep. Fortunately, there’s no nurse to bother me when I wake up. There’s even curtains. Curtains everywhere.
The eerie white everywhere reminds me of the first time I found myself in a hospital. I idly wonder if someone died again. Except, this time I don’t remember anyone dying. I just remember Kaiza shouting, and an old man ferrying me across a river—
Oh.
Yeah, I’m in Konoha now. The one place I wanted to go, but feared. And Kaiza made that happen.
But at what price? At what price did he pay to get me out under Gato’s nose so discreetly? Was it right to leave Kaiza at the Land of Waves, with his family?
My sword and my little bag of provisions lay on the ground. I get up and rummage through the bag for a scroll that Kaiza handed to me before I left.
I’m about to open the scroll, when I hear the curtain pull back. I drop the scroll back into the bag in a hurry and roll back into bed.
“Child, I know you’re awake.” An old man wearing a red hat shaped like the Raikage’s steps into my vision suddenly. A red fire emblem is imprinted on the front.
Child? I lift my head up, seeing the old man gracefully walk forward, his white robe swishing on the ground. I mean, it’s just a white robe.
The old man continues his introduction. “As you may know, I am the Hokage.” It’s then that I notice the hoard of ANBU standing guard at the door. Or strange, powerful people with masks.
Their presence is doing a great job of intimidating me. I gulp.
One of the ANBU stepped forward. “We had a Yamanaka go through your mind while you slept. It was a precaution towards any hostility you may have had towards Konoha.”
Wait, Konoha has mind-readers?!
“Your mind has been judged as stable, but filled with bloodlust.” The ANBU did not seem satisfied when he said this, and I had a feeling he didn’t want me here.
The old Hokage waved the ANBU back. “The boy passed the examination. I believe he is safe for now.”
“Yes, Hokage-sama.”
The Hokage turned back to me. “Never in my life, whether it be my days of youth, danger, intelligence, being a perverted youth…”
“What?” Did I hear that correctly?
“…I have never taken in a child from another village into Konoha.” He chuckled. “Well, maybe a child traveling with their family… but never a lone orphan.”
I swear, this old man…
“However, given the cir*stances of the Land of Waves, this will be a rare exception.” The Hokage suddenly pulls out a long scroll from nowhere. Because Kages can do that.
Given the cir*stances of the Land of Waves? They’re hardly your concern, if at all.
“This scroll is a binding contract. It can pinpoint your location instantly, even though it does no harm,” the Hokage warned. “My condition for you to stay in the village is this: that your allegiances fall to Konoha only.”
Does the Hokage think that I’d dare try to run away? Again?
I look up at the Hokage, inspecting him. I mean, I should have expected this, but…
“And if you are identified as a traitor, you will be treated as any other prisoner we have here in Konoha.” An obvious threat if I ever saw one.
I had a pretty good idea what ninjas did to traitors.
Either down to interrogation, locked up, or executed on the spot.
I sigh as the Hokage mutters the binding contract under his breath. I can barely even hear him as I feel my heart constrict painfully for a second.
Why would the Hokage accept me so easily into the village?
“You’ll also have to sign this scroll,” the Hokage says as he pulls another scroll out of thin air.
“Great.” This scroll is also long, with a ridiculous amount of text on it. I pick up the brush in the Hokage’s hand and sign my name on the bottom.
The Hokage takes the brush back as I watch the ink on the scroll expand.
Now it’s glowing. The whole scroll is glowing.
I drop the scroll abruptly, getting a chuckle out of the old man. “This is an important scroll, boy. Do you know what it is?”
No, I just kind of signed it.
Reading my expression, the old man explains.
“This signifies your entry into the Academy.”
Um, excuse me.
As I open my mouth to protest, but I’m a genin, the Hokage interrupts. “Your rank in other villages doesn’t count here. Even if you were a jounin or something at another village, you’d still have to become a genin first here.”
…That’s a scary thought. Now I know why people don’t just switch villages randomly.
The Hokage rolls both scrolls up instantly, in true Kage fashion. “Kyoma, you’ll receive a letter detailing you about the Academy.”
He exits the hospital, a couple of ANBU trailing after him.
How does the Hokage know my name?
The rest of the ANBU seem to be keeping watch on me, a little kid. Covering myself with a blanket doesn’t help their presence.
I turn my head to stare at the wall, pretending that I don’t feel some of the ANBUs’ gazes on my back.
How do I swear allegiance if I want revenge?
This post was last edited by MisakiFuuji at 2017-3-17 12:30