Reminiscing

I sat atop a tall mountain, the sun warming my skin in an attempt to counteract the cool mountain air. I could see the clouds below me, reminding me of that day over a year ago, the day we had to leave our home. I breathed in, and allowed myself to reflect on what has happened to get me to this point.

Life immediately after Tanpo had been…complicated to say the least.

For the first month or so after the attack we had taken to living in the vast forests of the Land of Fire. It wasn't as totally jarring of a lifestyle change as I expected it to be, Shio and Ietaka had prepared me for this possible eventuality since I turned six and had been teaching me a few survival tricks on and off over the years.

But it wasn't the lifestyle change that was jarring, Shio and Ietaka had started fighting. Shio wanted to go back to Tanpo she argued that leaving was admitting defeat and that she was tired of all the running. Ietaka would say that his job was to keep us safe and that we will find a new life somewhere else, 'it will be different next time,' he would argue, 'just let the heat die down.'

That was ultimately the core of why they began to argue more and more, for that first month I was honestly worried that they would split, and this family that I had begun to finally accept as my own after almost losing it would break apart. They didn't talk to each other much and when they did it ended in a shouting match, I could tell that both of them were on edge, neither of them wanted to be in this situation and I know for a fact if it was just that easy to go back to Tanpo and act like nothing happened than we would've, even Shio knew that deep down.

People saw what they could do, Ietaka and Shio might not have showed our bloodline but in the chaos of finding a place to hide, I was able to see glimpses of the fight and if I could see them then other people could've as well. In a better world Shio and Ietaka would be hailed as heroes for saving the village, they would get a commendation from the marshal or even a letter from the Daimyo if they were really lucky. But that is not how it is, people aren't supposed to know that level of Jutsu outside of a hidden village or a noble's retinue, that's how the masses are kept in check after all. The people of Tanpo might be grateful to Shio and Ietaka but the marshal wouldn't see it that way, he would see a possible insurrection and a threat to the stability of the realm. He would be obligated to eradicate every living soul inside of Tanpo just to be sure that Shio and Ietaka didn't spread their knowledge to other undesirables. Running was both the safe thing to do and the right thing to do, if we ran we looked like criminals and hopefully the people of Tanpo would condemn us to spare themselves the fate of the pier.

But after the month of living in the woods and boiling tensions between Ietaka and Shio, I had to step in and make my voice heard. They were grown adults and at that point I didn't care if I hurt their feelings.

"Kaasan, Otosan, we need to talk." I stated, my arms crossed and looking as serious as my eight year old body allowed.

The pair stopped walking along the game trail we had been following for the past few hours and looked back at me. "What is it Isamu-chan?" Shio asked.

Ietaka looked back as well, he was noticeably further apart from Shio then he normally was, their stances would suggest that there was a literal invisible wall that kept them separated five feet apart from one another rather than an emotional one.

I took a deep breath, not really being one for emotional talks myself I understood their difficulty, but when I of all people have to step in and fix shit then you know it's bad. "Stop it."

Both looked at me questioningly, "stop what?" Ietaka asked.

I gestured to the space between them, "this." Walking forward I made sure I was a few feet in front but noticeably in-between. "This fighting, both of you don't want to be here, we all want to go home, I want to be at the Elder's learning about history, Kaasan you want to be back making new recipes and working on fuinjutsu, and you Otosan want to be back in the shop."

"Son we can't go back," Ietaka pointed out.

A scowl came to my face unbidden as I was interrupted, "I know that, we all know that." I turned my gaze towards Shio, "Kaasan you are right, it's not fair that we can't be who we are, it's not fair that we should run from our homes for doing the right thing." As I was talking my eyes began to water, getting my emotions out in the open wasn't something I liked to do for this very reason. "Otosan, you're right too, we should stay safe, it was a good idea going into the woods to let the marshal and his Samurai to lose interest in us, you saved me from those Ninja and I have never been more proud of you than when you fought to protect our family." I was choking up now, my tears couldn't be kept in, as everything I've bottled up both in this life and the last finally came crashing into me.

"We shouldn't have to live like this, hiding in the woods like criminals, like we did something wrong. People shouldn't have to fear the ones that are supposed to protect them, and you two shouldn't be fighting over something that's not your fault. Your my family, family is the most important thing in the world, so just stop it." My head was bowed as I watched my tears drip onto the dirt below, my arms trembling at my sides.

I felt Shio slender arms wrap around me tightly then a much large pair of arms wrapped around us both, and for the first time in years I allowed myself to cry in the arms of a loved one.

I didn't fix the problems with that little speech, I'm not Naruto after all, but it did help and they both stopped fighting as much. In fact, looking back on it I think the one who changed the most was me, kind, a bit, okay maybe not but I did feel better after having a good cry.

Finally after a month of being in the woods did we allow ourselves to venture back into civilization. The township we came upon was seated near a shoreline of a large lake that acted as a part of the border between the Land of Fire and Waterfall. Being a border town and along a source of fresh water allowed a steady flow of people coming though the town most of the year so three strangers didn't stand out. By then we had changed our appearances, Ietaka had shrunken himself from the large burly man that I had come to know down to a skinny older man with spikey black hair with bit of grey salted in. While Shio made herself taller and weigh twice as much as she did before, her hair was also black which she kept in a bun. To keep with the theme I also changed my hair to black and made it longer taking my chance to style it the same as Ezio Auditore, the objectively best character from the Assassin's Creed franchise.

Our theme at the time was minor nobility, a feat that was accomplished with ease thanks to the expensive clothing Shio had made for us over the years, along with Ietaka having horded most of the bounty money he got from his midlife crisis.

Traveling like a Kaizen is fun, soaring though the clouds or surfing though the trees like Tarzan was probably never going to get old for me, but there is just something about fooling people into thinking you're someone you're not that is just so much more amusing. With this idea in mind Ietaka had bought a cart and two strongly built pack horses. At my suggestion we changed our little narrative and bought some goods at the town, now making us traders. Ietaka had purchased three barrels of the fresh water fish found in the lake and the idea was to go to northern Wind Country and sell them at a premium. Normally such a long journey by land would mean that the fish would've rotten or at had to pickle them. But pickled fish isn't as valuable as fresh fish, in this Shio had once again reaffirmed the shear utility of Fuinjutsu. Thankfully minor Fuinjutsu like sealing perishables wasn't strictly illegal, but we were walking a thin line, so a few Ryo in the pockets of a some officials here and there was needed on occasion.

I believe that becoming traders during that time was very good for Ietaka and Shio, it gave them a tangible goal to strive towards during a time where they lost everything even if it wasn't something that we wanted to do for the rest of our lives. But to be frankly honest it was a very rewarding feeling when we finally arrived at the desert and found a town large enough to house a bazar, and the heavy coin purse that we walked away with didn't hurt either. For over a year we worked that northern trade route from as far west as the bazar of Namjin in Wind, to the rice cover fields of Matsusaki in the Land of Rice, and to the markets of Asahidaka on the eastern shores of Hot Water. We made a killing, which is why I now understand why so many people work the trade.

Looking back on it I would say we were extremely lucky we didn't come across rouge Ninja or very many bandits in general, there was only one time where we were ambushed on the road.

The day was overcast and cold, I was bundled in the back with a thick woolen blanket. The steady movement of the cart was slowly lulling me to sleep as it rocked me back and forth, I rested my head against one of the boxes I laid between and prepared to fall asleep to the sound of hooves and the creaking of wood.

"Halt!" A loud voice called out from a ways down the road.

The cart under me came to a gradual stop, "stay down Isamu-chan," I heard Shio whisper.

Slowly I pulled the blanket over me as to not attract attention with a sudden movement.

"How may I help you sir?" Ietaka asked, my experience with the man told me that he was amused because if he wasn't then he wouldn't have bother with being polite.

"Give us all of your valuables and money, don't worry we'll only take what we need and be off, you can keep the cart and the beasts." The voice was deep and coming closer with each word.

From the small gap between the wood on the cart, I was able to see four pairs of feet at the front of the cart, and a small application of chakra to my nose allowed me to smell four more people to my right and three more to my left, along with one approaching from behind. Shio gently tapped her seat twelve times, confirming what my nose told me.

I might have possibly been able to take a bandit on with the training I've had, but this isn't a video game, just because I am on a higher 'level' than a bandit doesn't mean a stray arrow or a cut to the neck won't kill me outright.

"Well that is a tempting offer, however my friend I think you actually want to go back to the woods, you have a better chance at poaching than attacking people on the road." Ietaka addressed the men around.

There was a moment of silence, the woods around us seemed to even go quite in waiting for the bandit's answer. My nose and ears told me however that the forest was far from quite, even now dozens upon dozens of animals began to converge on our location.

It is said that to attack a Kaizen in the wild is to invoke the wrath of nature itself, or so Shio claims.

"Let's go boys, this isn't our mark," The original speaker finally relented, the men around us grumbled in begrudging agreement and within a few minutes the men had disappeared back into the woods.

I came out from under my blanket in confusion and shifted my eyes to see the backs of the retreating bandits to confirm what I just heard. "What just happened?" I asked.

The cart lurched forward and we began to trot casually down the road once again, Ietaka looked over his shoulder at me, amusement twinkling in his eye. "Son let me tell you something that has helped to keep me alive all of these years," his gaze turned towards the tree line, a smile grew on his lips, "when encountering a potential enemy, the most ideal engagement is no engagement at all. If you can use your words rather than your sword than the day is won, but if you know words won't help than sweeten your words with chakra and you may just walk away without a confrontation."

My head nodded in understanding, "ah so you used genjustu on them." It made since, but I always figure Ietaka to be the front line tank type rather than the illusionist type.

This time it was Shio who spoke up, having seen the look on my face, "you should never exclude yourself from Ninja arts Isamu-chan, even if you aren't naturally gifted with something you should at least have enough understanding of it to get you through most encounters. For example I am actually very, very bad at fuinjutsu, it takes me a whole day to just make a sealing scroll and I've been making those for years. But despite that I still try to get better when I have the chance. Remember a jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one."

A few months after the encounter with those bandits Ietaka sold the cart and horses to a farm in the Land of Hot Water. Our brief stint as traders was over and at Shio's insistence we made our way up north towards her homeland, the Land of Lighting.

A flapping of wings from the right caught my attention, with a turn of the head I saw a black feathered eagle the size of a Labrador land on a nearby rock. "Did you find anything?" I asked the eagle.

"There's a shallow cave about twenty miles east of here, you're Kaasan is already working on camouflaging it, we best hurry before she does too good of a job." Eagle Ietaka answered.

"I'm up then," I walked forward toward the mountain side, my mottled brown and tan cloak flapping as the wind picked up around me. My eyes closed and I focused on the seal placed on my chest, there was a barely audible popping sound and in an instant all of my clothes disappeared. In that same moment I focused my chakra all over my body, controlling the arcane energies in such a way that would allow me to abandon humanity on a physical level. The pain was still there after nearly half a year since first being able to accomplish this, but it was nowhere near as bad as it had been. With a grunt I forced past the pain, my bones became hollow, muscles were being gained and lost, my hair disappeared and was replaced with feathers. Twenty seconds of pain and deep concentration was what it took, where once was a near ten year old boy standing at the edge of a mountain stood a large bald eagle perched and ready to fly.

I felt amazing as I could see and hear much further away than normal human senses ever could even with chakra enhancements , the wind between my feathers was a much different feeling than when it was running though hair. My talons felt more deadly than stubby human toes. I felt powerful and amazing.

"Right, let's go," and with that Ietaka leaped forward and glided through the air towards the east.

I took a leap as well and followed close behind, that feeling that I had only obtained on roller coasters or the one time I flew in a plane didn't compare to actually flying under your own power. My human mind found it incredibly wrong to be this high unassisted and not be falling, the first time I ever attempted flight two weeks ago I couldn't stop falling all day. It took a lot of practice, repetition, and a bit calming genjustu to get me over that mental hurdle but in the end it worked. It also didn't hurt that I was a bit of a thrill seeker in my previous life, the only things keeping me from doing stuff like hang gliding or bungee jumping was money and time.

Ietaka and I sored through the clouds and gradually lowered ourselves down below, a beautiful mountainous landscape was below me. My keen eyes caught a herd of moose fording a river about eight miles to the south east to my estimate, ten miles away was another herd but this was over forty bison grazing in a long valley.

I always loved the mountains, God's country, Grandmamma June would call It. The sight of these mountains and the peace of this moment brought me back to my first home.

We had been hiking on this trail for the better part of an hour, winding down the rocky hillside was not meant for these boots, a fact that my chafed ankle would attest to.

Despite my discomfort I still allowed myself to be led by the hand by my girlfriend. Amber's red hair blew in the wind which would have been a beautiful sight if not for the fact that It was blowing in my face and getting in my mouth. "Ack get your hair outa my face."

Amber looked back at me over her shoulder and gave me her smug grin she always did when she knew she was getting on my nerves. "What you want me to cut it? Maybe I'll have it really short and part it to the side, oh better yet I'll dye it blue and write on blogs about how you're oppressing me right now." She said back sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes, "maybe you should, at least that way the rumors about you being a lesbian would be true."

She laughed, "come on the only one that's gay in this relationship is you."

"How am I gay?" I asked, pulling my arm out of her hand and walking alongside her rather than allow myself to be dragged any further.

"Well I'm not the one with a Ryan Reynolds poster on my wall," Amber pointed out.

"That's a Deadpool poster you autist," I retorted back.

"Deadpool, Ryan Reynolds, what's the difference?" She countered.

I laughed, "guess you have a point."

Amber kissed my cheek, "see gay."

I poked her cheek in retort, "one more word and I'll put you in the kitchen."

She looked back at me with a hooded gaze and bit her lip , "I'll put something in your kitchen," Amber whispered back at me.

I grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her as far as my arms could reach, "what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Before she could reply I felt us arrive on even ground, I turned my eyes away from my weird girlfriend and found myself staring a large flat stone that had a perfect view of Jenny lake and the Grand Tetons beyond.

"This is a good spot to rest," I said, it was my turn to grab her by the hand and pulled her towards the stone.

Amber didn't complain as we rested our tired feet, the space was quite save for the chirping of birds and rustling of trees in the wind. I breathed in and filled my lungs with the smell of pine, the atmosphere was supposed to be calming but my heart was anything but.

My girlfriend gave me a side glance, "why so nervous?" She asked.

I tried to feign ignorance, "I don't know what you're talking about."

She rolled her eyes, "I've known you since we were eight, I see your tells."

I snorted, "like what?" I asked incredulously.

"You bite the inside of your lip when you're nervous, and you keep your hands in your jacket pockets or if you don't have a jacket on you cross them over your chest." She observed.

I stopped biting my lip as soon as she pointed it out but kept my hands inside my jacket pockets. "Yeah well…you say like a lot when you're nervous too, and you stop swearing when you're angry, and if you respect someone you don't use yes ma'am or no ma'am or yes sir and no sir." I shot back.

Amber gave me a light jab with her elbow, "stop trying to derail my train of thought ass hat, tell me what's got you so nervous, you've been like this all day so tell me."

My thumb lightly grazed the small box in my jacket pocket, "well, we've known each other for twelve years now, and the last few have been the greatest of my life," I began. "I know I wasn't the best of friends to you in high school, but in a way your mom trying to get back into your life was a good thing cause it made me realize how important our friendship is to me."

"Deadbeat bitch," she cursed her mother under her breath.

I ignored what she said and continued, "and when our friends tricked us into that blind date with each other it was probably the best prank anyone has ever pulled on me." I stood up atop the flat stone and pulled he up with me, "so…I guess what I'm trying to say is.."

Amber went still, her eyes widened as I kneeled down, "John stop, stop right now," I could see her eyes began to water, "you better not be doing this as a joke or swear to God.." Her voice caught in her throat.

My heart raced as I pulled the small black velvet box out from my jacket pocket and opened it to show a small gold ring with stylized silver vines wrapped around. "Amber Rose McClain, will you marry me?"

She nodded, "yes, yes, yes!" Amber pulled me up to my feet and kissed me.

Relief filled me as I kissed her back, It took all my willpower not to cry from sheer happiness.

"Isamu!" Ietaka's voice brought me back to the present.

"What?" I shouted over the wind.

"half a mile at our three o'clock," he pointed his beak towards a thicket of brush half way up a nearby mountain.

Nodding In understating I followed Ietaka in a dive towards the brush, getting closer I was able to see through the gaps in the brush that there was a shadow beyond the thicket. We swooped down quickly, descending at the speed of a galloping horse. Twenty feet before we reached the thicket I saw Ietaka bring his wings flush to his body, I copied his movements and in a second we passed though one the gaps and into the cave beyond.

We landed on the floor of the shallow cave with only a few twigs and leafs stuck in my feathers to show my entrance in contrast with Ietaka's being completely clean.

Shio was inside of the cave with a small fire going, her current form was that of a woman in her late teens with bright blond hair kept a long ponytail. Her grey blue eyes noticed us as we entered the cave. "Dinner's almost ready," she said whilst wiping her hands on her pair of white shorts that she wore under a red long sleeved turtle neck.

Ietaka shifted back into his current human form as well, thankfully he was much faster on activating his seal so I was spared having to see him naked. With a blink of an eye Ietaka was reviled to have silvery white hair that he kept slicked back, coincidently in a much similar style to that of Hidan the filthy pagan. The similarities stop their however as Ietaka also looked like an older teenager, and because Shio thought it looked cute, he was wearing long black baggy pants and a short sleeved blue tank top. She said it was a some sort of Yin Yang thing the way they looked but I honestly didn't see it.

I came back to my current human form as well, unlike them I was more practical in my wear. I had a mottled brown and tan cloak on that fit with the higher rocky terrain we have been passing through for most of our time in Lightning country. Below my cloak was a black leather jerkin above a grey long sleeved shirt, my pants were woolen and grey like my shirt. My hair was still styled in the way I've been wearing it since we started being traders, Shio and Ietaka always complained that I never changed it up but the spirit of Ezio must live on damn it. I did however change the color to slivery grey like Ietaka, mostly because it just felt wrong having this style with blond hair.

"I see the seals are still working, do they feel fine, no more itching right?" Shio asked as she spun the small rotisserie over the flame.

"Mine's fine Kaasan," I answered.

The clothing seals has got to be the single greatest thing Shio has ever made for us, she had started working on it a few months before we left Tanpo. According to her it was more complicated than just painting a storage seal on your body, the trick was that you had to be able to activate the seal without accidently sucking yourself into the pocket dimension. The code for storage seals on paper verses on skin aren't even apart of the same sealing language, and since Shio didn't have an experienced hand to help her anymore she basically had to start from scratch. But Shio, like always, pulled though and with a lot of experimentation and various outfits and dummies lost to the ether, she was finally able to present her finished work.

"Now, now Isamu-chan remember in this form its neechan," Shio chided.

Something I also had to get used to was the occasional change in identities, we maintained the same forms for the majority of our trading days. The 'theme,' for our 'characters,' in our current forms is that of a sister, Shio, and her boyfriend, Ietaka, traveling up north in order for the boyfriend to ask her father's hand in marriage. I as the 'little brother,' was tasked by this father to travel with them back home in order to make sure that the marriage is 'pure,' so basically I'm a fictional cock block.

If people ask why I don't have the same hair color as my sister our story is that Shio and Ietaka are cousins, which I guess isn't technically untrue. Just that I don't think Shio and Ietaka are that close in blood relations, actually I don't really know, "fuck they could be sibling for all I know." I began to hear sweet home Alabama play in my head.

"Umm, Kaasan, Otosan?" I asked carefully, It was disturbing me the more I thought about it, I had to know.

"Yes Isamu-chan?" Shio asked while Ietaka merely raised his brow in askance.

"Umm we're all a part of the same clan right?" It was redundant to ask but one needs step by step clarification when at risk of ending up like a Hapsburg.

"Yes we are," Shio answered with an amused smile.

"So, like…how exactly are you two related?" I bounced my eyes between the two 'teenagers.'

"Oh we're twins," Ietaka answered with a straight face.

"W-wait what?!" My face went sheet white as I jumped up in surprise.

"Ietaka-kun don't do that." Shio giggle whilst lightly punching his shoulder.

Ietaka smirked at her, not looking a bit remorseful whatsoever.

I huffed in indignation at being got like that, I'm supposed to be the one that tricks people with dry humor.

Shio rolled her eyes, "what he means Isamu-chan is that we're distant cousins. My enclave of the clan moved out here during the dispersion about two hundred years ago." She explained.

I looked at them questioningly, "what was the dispersion?" I sort of knew about the dispersion of the Jews after the Babylonian captivity, maybe it was like that?

Ietaka gestured me over to the small campfire and I sat down, the light casting shadow on his face. "Our clan was once the most prolific people in all the world. We lived in nearly every country, every island, every continent." He began.

Shio picked up the story from there, "it was like that for many years, until a great clan leader from what is now called the Land of Demons started to rejoin than clan together. You have to understand that at the time our people was so vast in number we easily out populated the native people of the Land of Demons within a few generations."

Ietaka grabbed a leg from the cooked duck on the spit and took a bite before continuing, "but not all of the enclaves wanted to leave their homes, the ones who stayed eventually started to marry outside of the clan and over the years they stopped calling themselves Kaizen. Instead they gave themselves new names like Akimichi, Inzuka, Aburame, Kamizuru, Hoshigaki, and many more."

Shio sliced herself a breast from the duck with her claw and ate for a moment before she began her part again, "for a few centuries the Kaizen clan ruled over the Land of Demons but one day it all changed. Some legends say that our leader at the time went mad and killed all of the heads of the branch families during a wedding, others say that a rival within the clan challenged the leader's right to rule and that's what started it, still others would say that we grew too numerous and didn't expand our borders fast enough to compensate leading to a resource crisis. What is known however that the Kaizen killed themselves, the clan warred against itself in a conflicts so bloody that its said to have given the Land of Demons its name."

Ietaka crunched into the bone of the duck leg, "like all wars do it ended eventually and it was agreed that new laws and traditions were to be put in place to ensure that the Kaizen clan would never propagate in such a large number again. Eventually this new tradition created the second era of Kaizen enclave clans, this migration across the world is known as the dispersion."

Shio took the other leg of the goose and bite into it, pointing at herself with the leg she said. "My enclave lived in these mountains in a temple not far from here."

Ietaka picked up from there, "mine was nomadic and traveled across most of this continent but I was born in the Land of Bears."

"So what happened to everyone?" I asked after swallowing my bite of duck.

"The clan wars intensified over the years," Shio spoke, "most enclaves that didn't hide themselves in the deep wilds or in other remote places were killed by the other clans since the enclave system never allowed more than five or six family units to be together at one time."

Ietaka sighed, "the system that was supposed to save us from ourselves didn't take into account everyone else, the hubris of our people believed that only we could kill ourselves."

"Why didn't the enclaves come back together?" I questioned with a frown.

Shio answered, keeping the rhythm of the conversation, "some did, I heard that five enclaves came together and held an island nation for a while. But unfortunately that island was what would eventually become Uzushio, and when the Uzumaki came to colonize the land they showed the Kaizen no mercy. As was the standard practice in those days"

"My enclave was traveling through the Land of Fire at the time when we were approached with an offer of an alliance by the Uchiha clan. My great uncle who was our leader at the time refused stating our wish for continued neutrality, the Uchiha did not take kindly to rejection. Within a day my entire enclave was systematically killed one after another, I was only spared because a boy only a few years younger than me stayed his hand. I am probably one of the only people alive today that can say their life was spared by Madara Uchiha."

That gave me pause, "that shouldn't be possible, that would make Ietaka more than a hundred years old. He can't be that old...could he?" I seriously didn't know the answer but decided to let them continue to speak before I ask any more questions.

Shio squeezed his hand gently, "once the clan wars ended Kumo sent my enclave an offer to join them, the matriarch, my Kaasan, did not want to join in something that could restrict our freedom. A few weeks after she refused the first Raikage's offer, his shinobi attacked us in our temple during a celebration, I was the only one to escape."

Ietaka looked back into Shio's eyes, a silent question was asked by him and answered with a small nod from the blond woman. "The reason why our clan is so sought after by Daimyo and Kage alike isn't so much for our ability to turn into any animal or person we wish, it's more of the consequence of that ability."

Shio sighed, "I didn't want to tell you this when you were younger, but now it's important for you to know before your birthday."

"What is it?" I asked.

"Because we are able to control our bodies to benefit us in any way we see, in a sense we are immortal, we do not die from old age unless we want to and when you become skilled enough you can simply modify whatever body part that catches disease, this same rule applies to some poisons unless it's very fast acting." Ietaka answered.

"Oh," was all I could say, I mean Ietaka had Shio had just admitted they were very old. But immortality? How in the hell do you respond to that? "So that's why we were so numerous, we could just not die of old age and disease huh." Well damn, I'm a fucking elf, an elf druid, an elf druid from a near extinct clan, I'm literally my dead wife's first Dungeons and Dragons character.

Ietaka broke the flow of conversation by talking again, "yes that's true, but a blade to the neck or heart will kill you just the same as any man, and at most times no one from a Shinobi clan lived longer than thirty or forty years old. Your mother and I have only lived as long as we have by being very-very lucky, and very-very cautious."

looking into the dying fire light I asked, "so there is really no one left, it's really just us then?"

Shio scooted around the fire to sit nearer to me and ran her hand thorough my hair. "Believe us we checked, for most of my young adult life I searched for others using this," she brought her hand towards her neck and withdrew her bronze necklace. "This necklace belonged to my Kaasan, it was made with a material from the Land of Demons known as resonance metal. If you run chakra though the necklace it will glow and the light will get more intense the closer you get to someone with a similar chakra signature."

Ietaka also pulled his necklace out, the couple demonstrated and a second later the cave was filled with bright, near blinding, white light. They cut of their chakra and the cave dimed back to normal.

Blinking the spots out of my eyes I asked, "it must've been really lucky that you two found each other, how did you meet anyway?"

The sun had gone down a while ago and in its place was a dark cloudy night, when the fire finally died, Ietaka stood up and stomped out the embers, "perhaps tomorrow we will tell you, right now you should get some rest, we have a big day ahead of us." No sooner as he said that did Shio grab him and dragged Ietaka into a big sleeping bag with her.

Meanwhile I curled up at the back of the cave in my own sleeping bag, and shifted my exposed skin into fur to keep warm from the nipping mountain air.

The next day found us soaring in a V formation high amongst the mountains. Shio lead in her brown feathered eagle form, Ietaka to her right in his black feathered eagle form and I on the left as the bird of freedom. This day was a bit warmer than the lasts, and many of the clouds had drifted away towards the south overnight so the skies were clear for miles around.

We flew higher into the air and around a mountain, that's when I saw it. It was a large temple made of white and read marble stone, the wooden roof was caved in at the middle. The red marble columns and white marble floors were damaged with scorch marks in a pattern that indicated that they were caused by fireballs rather than a natural fire. The temple was situated half way up the mountain, I could see an old overgrown road carved through the mountain side just wide enough to fit a single carriage.

Shio lead us in a dive towards the structure, wind whipped through my feathers as the temple grew larger and larger with each passing second. In moments we landed onto the cool white marble floor of the temple.

The area around was an open chamber there were six columns on the east side of the chamber that held up the roof and six more on the west side. Coming in I could spot stairs that wound up the mountain from the road down below that lead up to the entrance on the south side. The middle was covered in rubble from the caved in roof and rock fragments dusted most of the ground. On the far north side was the only solid wall in the place, it was made of red marble like the columns until it reached within ten feet of the floor where transitioned into white to match the ground. In front of the wall and to the east side was a huge gong twenty feet in diameter, in the direct middle just thirty or forty feet away from the wall looked to be a throne made up of antlers and bone that was raised on a dais three feet off ground level.

"It's not as bad as I thought it would be," said Shio, her voice echoing throughout the temple.

Ietaka shifted back into his current teenaged human from, "I cleaned up a lot when I was last here, the things I couldn't remove at the time I just shoved in the middle."

In a blink I transformed back into my new human form as well, "when were you last here?" I asked.

The white haired man hummed in thought for a moment, "oh I think just a few months before you were born, your Kaasan had some craving for an animal that could only be found in these mountains and while I was here I decided to visit and salvage what I could."

Shio sighed wistfully, being the last one to shift back into her own new human form "the mountain pond eel is the best." She said wistfully.

"So this is what we're doing all day isn't it?" I asked, God it's like being told you have to move you buddies couch out of their apartment, you'll do it but it's not going to be fun. Only with this it's actually tons of rubble and piles of animal shit scattered about.

Ietaka clasped me on the back, "you bet son, this'll put hair on your chest and teach you how to be a man."

I gave him a dull look and shifted my skin to be covered in thick wooly fur, "I already have hair on my chest so I'm good."

He lightly cuffed me on the ear, "cut that out and get to work smartass."

Shio giggled at us before transforming into a huge two storied elephant, "alright boys let's get going we're burning day light!" She trumpeted, with a run she shoved at the pile of rubble in the middle of the floor and began to push a chunk of it towards the western wall that was facing the valley below.

Ietaka raced forward and mid dash he too transformed into an elephant of the same size as Shio and pushed his own chunk of rubble towards the side of the mountain.

Seeing the couple so easily transform into something so huge was very impressive, I didn't have near enough chakra to make that grand of a shift. When It comes to the greater animal shifts, the smaller the animal you change into relative to your current size the more control you needed but not as much charka was used. However if you wanted to shift into something big like an elephant, you need both great control and large amounts of chakra. The largest animal I can manage right now is a bit larger than average bull bison, but thanks to my early obsession for chakra control I had good enough control to shift into something the size of a squirrel.

There was a smaller pile of rubble near to me, with a shrug I shifted myself into the largest bull that I could manage and began to shove it towards the side in the same manner of the elder Kaizen.

For two hours we worked to push the rubble away from the temple, the crashing of wood, rock, and marble echoed though the mountains and valleys around us. We scared more than a few herds of wondering mountain goats and a couple of mountain lions away with the noise if my nose was telling me right. Finally the majority of the rubble was cleared by early afternoon, now we had the unpleasant task of picking up the large amounts of animal feces and carcass scattered around the chamber. Well we would have if Shio hadn't come prepared with a sealed bucket of water, with skill she shot jets of highly pressurized water at the dirty remains, cleaning the floors in only an hour when it would've taken us the majority of the day had she not been thinking ahead.

Back in her human form Shio clapped her hands together with a pleased smile on her face, "this place hasn't look like this in a century." The floor was clear of most derby save for dust and a few stray rocks, the places where she cleaned the animal remains were now so clean they shone with the reflected light of the sun, making the spots almost sparkle to the eye. There was still a long way to go to bring the place back to its former glory but this was a very good start.

I looked around and was impressed with how clean we got it in the time we've spent so far, but something was bugging me. This temple looked more like a place you would visit not somewhere you lived, there were no beds, no furniture, hell no walls save for the one. "You really lived here Kaasan?"

Shio was near the antler throne, her hand gently grazed against the moose antler that acted as one of the arm rests. "Yes I did, my Kaasan was the matriarch so she was obligated to stay at the temple and guard it. Here was the meeting place for our enclave, where we would gather for celebrations like wedding or holidays or the yearly mandatory meeting to discuss news and the like. However most of my enclave didn't live in the temple, rather living out in the nearby region amongst the mountains and valleys. only I, my parents, and my siblings lived here."

I looked around the mostly empty chamber, "so where did you sleep?"

She giggled briefly before walking behind the throne and towards the wall, Ietaka and I followed close behind. Once we came to the wall I was able to notice a large picture that was painted on the wall and damaged by scorch marks. "This was a painting of my enclave's family tree, it goes all the way back to when we first settled here." Shio answered my unasked question. She then pointed towards a name further down the tree, "that is me."

I shifted my eyes to see the name better, my keen avian eyes was able to make out the name, "Mikasa," I read aloud.

Shio smiled wistfully, "a Kaizen can have many name over their lifetime, I have had only a few that I have grown attached to, Shio Is what I chose to be called when I found I was pregnant with you, but we must remember our birth name. It will keep you grounded and help you remember who you are if you ever begin to slip too far away from humanity."

I nodded in understanding, to 'slip away from humanity,' means to be in the form of an animal for too long, it is one of the dangers of the greater-animal transformation I was first told about. When a Kaizen shifts they on all levels except mental become what they shift into, however if one were to stay as an animal for a long enough time then they could begin to slip. The first sign of slipping would be acting more bestial, the loss of higher reasoning like the ability to strategies as well as you used to. The next would be the gradual loss of speech, and eventually total memory loss of who you were, finally you would fully become the form you've taken in every aspect. Different people have different breaking points when they begin to slip, some can only go a few days in an animal form, others can go months, the more experienced Kaizen can go years or even decades. You can train your breaking point but it's something that is very dangerous to train and takes not only a lot of time but a lot of emotional support to get though, which is the reason why I haven't tempted it and have only been in an animal form for two straight days as my maximum I have tried.

Shio then walked closer to the wall and pressed her hand against it, "now where is it?" She mumbled, and walked up and down the wall running her hand against the cool marble, she walked ten feet from the middle on the west side when she stopped and smiled. "Found it," she took out her necklace and channeled chakra thorough it, making it glow brightly as it resonated with mine and Ietaka's chakra. Shio then pressed the claw shaped necklace against the wall and drew it along the wall down towards the ground, as she did a white light followed the path of the necklace as if she was drawing with light. Shio drew an arched doorway of light and ended the display by placing the necklace in the middle of the doorway, pulsing her chakra once again, and like a ripple in a pond, light emanated from the clawed necklace until it reached the outline of the doorway. With a click the section of the wall outlined by light opened on an unseen hinge and into a darkened chamber beyond, "this way everyone, we still have more cleaning to do," Shio lead with a smile.

I followed after Ietaka, the chamber beyond the threshold was dark, the air was stale and smelled of earth and wood. "Ietaka dear could you light this up for me." I heard Shio ask up ahead.

Ietaka took a deep breath before breathing out a gout of flames from his mouth, the chamber lit up with fire light and remained lit by the large brazier at the center. I blinked to allow my eyes to adjust, we were in a large hundred foot tall cave carved into a domed shape, the domed chamber appeared to be a dining area and kitchen. An old clay hearth was on the far eastern side next to small tables made of rocks and stone. In front of the brazier was a long table made of the same stone the chamber was carved into but the twelve chairs around it looked to be made of mahogany. From the domed chamber I could see entrances to other passageways, one directly in the center, one slightly off away from the kitchen area to the east, three on the west side, and two above part way up the dome.

"This was where I would eat breakfast every morning with my family, we always had some extra chairs opened in case one of my cousins would stop by randomly." Explained Shio, she walked towards the head of the table where the chair was slightly taller than the others, "this was where my Kaasan sat, she was kind but very strict." Then she placed her hand on the chair that would be on the right side of the head chair if you were seating in it. "This is where my Otosan sat, he would've love you Isamu-chan, he was our enclave's lore master." She pointed to the chair opposite of her father's, "that is where Niisan sat, he was a bully before he got married and mellowed out." She pointed down the row of chairs on either side where all her siblings sat, Shio had eight siblings in total finally near the end of the table she arrived to her chair. "I was the youngest so I was placed at the very end, I didn't mind though because I would get to talk with my cousins that would visit from time to time."

Shio then walked towards the entrance to the hallway nearest to the kitchen, "this hallway leads to the girl's rooms I shared a room with my Oneesan who was only a year older than me." She then pointed to the middle hallway on the western side, "the middle hallway there leads to the unground springs we used to bathe, the one on the left lead to the boy's rooms, the one on the right was the guest rooms." Shio turned her gaze to the middle entrance, "that leads to my parents rooms along with a training area, the library, and the nursery." She gestured to the two entrances above us near the top of the dome, "those are just the two most obvious escape tunnels, the one on the left leads out a few miles away on the western side of this mountain and the one on the right does the same but leads to the east, my siblings would use them as a quick entrance back home, Kaasan always hated when they did that."

"This place is amazing," I said with awe, it was like being in an underground doomsday vault but more cozy.

"I had no idea this was here," Ietaka added.

Shio smiled with pride eye scanning the dome in nostalgia, "I know right," she placed a hand on her cheek, "but it's much smaller than I remember."

I stepped forward closer to the long table, "so is this where we're going to live for now on?" This was a cool place and all, but I kind of liked being out in the world.

Shio nodded, "this Is a good home, this way we can be both safe and free to live as we please. Kumo has no reason to be in this region since the nearest civilization is sixty miles south east of us."

Ietaka walked towards his wife and wrapped his arms around her, "it's perfect Shio-chan."

Shio kissed him deeply before stepping back, "no more of this though," before my eyes the blond haired teenager slowly transformed into an older woman in her mind twenties with caramel colored skin and messy dark black hair that fell to her shoulders. She shortened in heights to five feet five inches, her eyes became emerald green, she grew a long black tail, and her ears grew larger and more pointed in a very elven fashion . "I am done trying to hide myself from the world, today onward I shall be known as a Kaizen once again." She declared with a fanged grin.

Ietaka took a breath and looked deep into Shio's eyes, which she gave a nod of support in return. At this he transformed as well, his skin color changed from a tan to a lighter more pale color, his white hair changed to ginger red and grew down to the small of his back. For the first time since Tanpo did he grew out a long and full beard again while his ears also became longer a slightly pointed. he grew in height from his previous five foot eight to six foot eight, his shoulders broadened and muscles bulged. He looked like a more pale ginger version of himself from Tanpo only a bit taller and with more muscles. "If that is the case than I guess I should get back to this form as well."

I looked between Ietaka and Shio in confusion, "what's with the new forms?"

Shio smiled at me, lightly scratching her cheek with her right index claw. "We take many forms throughout our lives, but there are forms that you will grow most attached to. This is the form I took when I was a little girl only older, this was also the form I met your Otosan in and the one I was in when we got married."

Ietaka, placed a large hand on my shoulder, "this is the form I took when I won my first battle, when I braved the high seas, and when I met and married your Kaasan." He then poked my forehead lightly, "you don't have to rush or even think about your preferred form, you'll know it when you have it."

"Well we best start to clean everything else, coming tomorrow we'll start your training in earnest Isamu-chan, your tenth birthday is in a few weeks after all." Shio ordered before turning her back to me and heading down the hallway towards the girl's room.

I looked up at Ietaka in askance, "what's happening on my birthday?"

The large Viking man chuckled deeply, "you'll see boy, you'll see."

Hidden deep within a damp and dark cave somewhere in the Land of Tea was a tall man. Dressed in robes of deep black and crimson red clouds. In front of the figure was what appeared to be a miasma of deep shadow that formed into a shape of a person.

"Kakuzu-san we hear you have decided to dispose of one of your assigned partners once again." One of the humanoid shapes spoke with impatience towards the robed figure in a deep foreboding voice.

Kakuzu nodded briskly, "I did, he was becoming a liability to my work and a great annoyance."

The shape spoke again, "do you not realize how exceedingly rare it is to find members that meet the standards of our organization Kakuzu?"

The large man crossed his arms, "I joined because of the pay, if a member of this organization gets in the way of my goals than they aren't worth my time to deal with."

The shape gave a low sigh, "trying to find new members is a waste of valuable resources, I have half a mind to put you to the task yourself Kakuzu-san."

The second shape who had not spoken yet decided to speak, "Pain-sama, what if we do just that?"

Pain looked towards his compatriot, "oh, what do you mean Konan-san?" He asked.

Konan nodded her projection's head towards Kakuzu, "Kakuzu-san, since you seem to have a very particular taste when it comes to partners, is there anyone in this world that you would be willing to work with who meets the standards of the Akatsuki?"

Kakuzu paused for a moment in contemplation, "well… there is one person I can work with."

I know this has been a very long time coming. I'm not under any delusions that anyone actually cares about the reasons why I was gone. Just know that a lot of IRL shit has happened over the last year or so since I updated my story. I'd like to say that I will be back in it and continue to update regularly but with the recent plague going on and the incoming economic depression, well let's just say the future isn't conducive to a very inspirational environment.

I would have loved to write a chapter or two dedicated to that one year long trading stint but I realized that this is a fourteen chapter long intro arch so I decided to summarize it instead. Isamu's skill set will be revealed as the story naturally progresses, I don't like writing or reading long walls of text about training.

Next chapter will pick up on a very important milestone in Isamu's new life and will possibly end of the intro arch. I don't know how long the next arc will span in terms of chapters and timeline wise, but I am very excited to begin and to explore more of what this story has to offer.

Thank you all for reading liking, and reviewing and adding this story to your favorites. All reviews are welcome. Also thank you for all of the suggestions, its awesome that this story as inspired and gotten your creative juices flowing.

I hope this chapter finds you all well and thank you all again!