Hello ladies and gentleman. It my pleasure to place my hat into this foray of artwork, and may my return be graced and heralded by your opinions. For the time being though, I believe a story is in order. I will mention from the beginning that I do not own anything featured in the Naruto series, but I do own any and all original characters (i.e.- Sentra, Taiyou, and Aisuhina). This is something I had gathered in my mind to be an interesting idea for a story, and I hope that your enjoyment comes to the forefront of this tale. This will have a defined pairing, so I apologize in advance to those who find this fan fiction to not be their taste. I digress though, and without further ado, "A Blackbird's Sorrow".
A chilling breeze falls across the fields of a once heated battlefield. Destruction surrounded the area on all sides of this bloodied plain. Amongst the devastation and carnage, lays a man with golden locks of hair flowing freely in the wind. Not a mark showing though his lack of breathing already stating his death. As his flesh had gone pale and cold, and a smile never left his lips, his mind holding out his only shred of hope for all to see. The 4th Hokage lay dead on the battlefield where he defeated the nine-tailed fox, Kyuubi, by offering his soul and blood as a sacrifice to seal away the beast. A battle that had been witnessed by many, but one man in particular stood above the body, his eyes glowing faintly gold.
"Wouldn't stop sacrificing everything to ensure others' safety, would you?" the man asked with a saddened smile upon his visage. "It finally cost you your life to protect this village. I hope they understand the sacrifice you made for them. Your life and your son are not things to be taken into light account in these matters. Many lives were lost this day, but let us hope that they are remembered with reverence. My old friend, Arashi, may the shinigami have mercy upon you. Kami knows you deserve it." The man turns to walk away only to have his path blocked by a white haired man in red and white. He held his hand out in a gesture of stopping him.
"Sentra," the man states in a threatening manner. "What purpose does an A-ranked Missing-nin have in this place?" the man states placing himself in a lowered defensive position. His hands begin to take to making seals quickly for an entrapment jutsu. As he did this, the man calmly raised his thumb to his mouth, and bit.
"The same reason as you, Jiraiya the Pervert," he says with a small smirk. This caused a moment's hesitation on the other man's part, just the amount of time he needed. He wiped his thumb on the inside of his coat. This caused strange kanji to appear in the ground before surrounding Jiraiya and wings of reddish orange sprouted from the ground entrapping the other man. "Wings of Sealed Rebirth no Jutsu," the man stated softly. "I came to pay my respects to the deceased, Jiraiya. Being captured was not on my list of things to do," he states, still smirking as he heard the sounds of fire jutsu being blasted inside the dome of wings. His eyes widen slightly as he rolls to the side, just barely dodging an explosion in the ground. As he rolls, he begins forming hand seals, blood still coating his fingers.
Sentra finished his jutsu just in time to find gout of flame run toward his direction. He slams his hand on the ground to make a large bird appear in the path. He does a few more, only to be shredded by a hundred shuriken or so. At least it appears that way, until he explodes into thousands of feathers. As the feathers fall, the bird lets out an ear-piercing shriek. As it does, the feathers swirl in the air, until it appears a crimson blizzard of down, blinding everyone on the field. A forceful blast of wind halts the display, making an old man appear, clad in black shinobi armor. Next to him stands Jiraiya, who has a look of self-disappointment. He begins hand seals and summons a large battle armored toad; wielding 2 wicked looking scimitars, and a face in a perpetual scowl. Before them looms a large, angry, and battle hardened crimson bird. The bird screeches at them, as the white and crimson robed Sentra appears in a flash of light on the bird's head, kneeling and softly stroking its head. His golden eyes glow deeply as they look at the two men before them, a look of regret in his eyes.
"I came not to fight," Sentra says, continuing to try and calm the bird underneath him. "But I will if necessary. I came to deliver a message to the next Hokage, and this scroll to the boy when you believe he's ready." He pulls out a set of 2 scrolls, one a simple one, and the other an ornate reddish scroll tied with a gold silken cord. A summoning contract to the Fennikusu clan of summons. With that he does a set of hand seals, then places his palm against the crimson bird. Suddenly the air explodes into a million feathers, revealing Sentra's disappearance to the 2 men and leaving them with 2 falling scrolls. The 2 men caught them, realizing the complex seals placed upon both of them.
"These seals are placed on them so that only a person of a certain blood could open them," Jiraiya stated, after examining them for a moment. "This is the seal to the Phoenix Summoning contract," he says looking in awe of the scroll, as it was said to only be one of the legendary summons. He runs his fingers over it, his thoughts lost to the scroll. The other man speaking was what brought him back to reality.
"What exactly is the purpose of these scrolls?" the man asked, looking at both scrolls with a look of wariness. The one in his hand was a message he had to deliver based on faith. He had no idea the contents. Though he wasn't given a specified time in which to deliver it. Something inside of him was eating at him though. He felt worry for a moment that the scroll contained information that would change the life of the young boy in question.
"The scroll contains nothing more than information about the attack that took place today, and things that are of mild importance in the grand scheme of things," Sentra stated, seeing the concern on the man's face. "Sarutobi," he added," the boy needs to know what he is, and what his father gave him as a parting gift." Sentra smiled warmly at him. "He will need to be protected from enemies, both foreign and domestic in nature," he states giving the elder man a concerned look. "You will probably be asked to take up your previous mantle. Take it to defend that which I have asked you to. I owe the fourth a debt that I can't begin to pay but through his son. Please protect him, and show him kindness where others won't." Sentra looks towards the village. "It seems we will shortly be having guests that won't take kindly to my presence. I bid you all farewell, but know that I will return when the scrolls have been delivered."
With a screech of the bird, and a smile, Sentra takes to the air. As soon as he disappears from sight, ANBU arrive on the site weapons drawn and at the ready. As they assess the area for threats, an ANBU with a dog's mask walks forward to Sarutobi and sheathes his weapon. His stance tells that he is experienced and a hardened soldier. He bows to Sarutobi, before becoming upright. He signals to a few of the others to continue the search, while telling another pair to track the unidentified chakra source from earlier.
"Are you okay, Sarutobi-san?" the dog-masked man asks, a hint of concern in his monotone voice.
"Yes," he says fingering the scroll in his hand. The dog-masked man sees the scroll and looks shows a moment of confusion, before dismissing that thought. He then remembers something suddenly and hands Sarutobi another scroll. The man takes it and looks at it carefully. "A summons by the Council?" he asks, seeming to have a feeling of dread spread through his aged form. The sigh let out was one of despair and exhaustion. "Then let us go." With that said, Sarutobi and Jiraiya vanished in a whirl of leaves.
Council Meeting Room
In a room filled with flickering shadows from the dancing flames of candles surrounding the area, sits a crib where a quietly sleeping child lies in a crib. The child was unlike others, but one would be reminded of the Yondaime if they started to draw conclusions. The child's blond spiky mop of hair sitting atop a face bearing a set of 6 strange markings was a sight to behold. The strange marking looked like whiskers of some beast in the woods. The very look gave him a most feral visage. He lays facing toward a group of individuals who have varying looks from respect to disgust, love to hatred, and sadness to rage. Some in the group hold their kunai in a vice-like grip, ready to spring at a moment's chance at the boy. As one of the people closer to the boy begins to get up to move toward the boy for a fatal strike, Sarutobi and Jiraiya appear, halting his actions with their presence.
"What is it you summoned me for?" Sarutobi asks, glaring at the man getting ready to move toward the boy threateningly. The man sinks into his chair due to fear of the man. He drops the kunai, as it clatters to the floor. "I have matters and funeral arrangements to attend to for our deceased Yondaime," he states coldly.
"We called you to reinstate your status as Hokage," one of the women states off-handedly. Shadows covered her face, but one could tell by her voice, she had something more pressing on her mind to get to.
"I will but only on the condition that the young child be my responsibility," Sarutobi states coldly, giving a demeanor that brooks no argument. The others cower a bit at his presence, trying to avoid his ire. They now knew better than to make an attempt of the boy's life lightly. The man turned toward Jiraiya before handing him the child. Sarutobi then went to sit down at the Hokage's spot.
"We also have another matter to discuss which may become a trouble in the future," Sarutobi began, sighing in exhaustion of his age. "It would seem that Sentra has taken an interest in the boy," he states, as the some of the council members gasp in shock.
A battle scarred elder man leans back in his chair and seems to contemplate the new situation before speaking up. "Why would an A-ranked Missing nin want anything to do with a child who contains the Nine-tailed beast unless for nefarious purposes. I say we train the boy against unnatural mental influence. I would daresay that I would be willing to sacrifice my time to the project," he states in a calm tone with attempts to be convincing. The rest of the council seemed to murmur in agreement. A single ANBU appears next to him and he whispers a few words to it.
Sarutobi frowned before slamming his hand on the table, jumping to his feet in the same moment. "I will not have the boy trained as your personal tool for war, Danzo. He is human, regardless of being the container of the Nine-tail, and he will not be denied a chance at life," he shouts out anger filling the room. "You people are sick to believe a child doesn't deserve at least that. You all make me sick," he says before getting up and moving to the door at the other edge of the room. From the look on some of the council members, his words rang through to some of their hearts. "This meeting is adjourned," states Sarutobi before leaving.
That's all for now folks. I'll be working to update this as quickly as I can. Take care and enjoy the fiction. I will also leave you all a little info on Sentra. He is an A-rank missing Nin, except in Kumo where he is an S-ranked. He is a near master of the Phoenix summon; only lacking the chakra capacity to summon the Phoenix Boss. He has an affinity for air jutsu, but shows a definite creativity for any jutsu he happens to learn. He is a very improvised combat person. His favorite quote is, "If at first you don't succeed, improvise." So until next time folks, have fun.