Naruto 1. The Massacre of Honzogakure, Part 1

_A/N: Hey, everyone. I'll keep this brief. This is my shot at making a believable OC in the Naruto universe. This fic is going to be centered mostly around him and unfold through his eyes, so if that's not your cup of tea, you probably won't like this. Regardless, I do plan on having him take a more supporting cast role as the story goes on, so there is hope for those of you who hate having an OC take up most of the story's focus._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and I stand to gain no profit from this fanfiction. I do lay claim to Tanken Zengosaku, my version of the village Honzogakure, and any other original characters introduced here. Please contact me if you wish to use any of these things. I will be happy to discuss it with you._

_One last thing. If you wish to see what my OC fully looks like as well as his village's symbol, feel free to stop by my profile and check out a couple of links I have there. Some might say that this means I lack imagery in my story, and I would say you're probably right. Then again, a picture is worth a thousand words.  
_

_Anyways, here we go. Time for Chapter 1: The Massacre of Honzogakure, Part I: The Attack._

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"Hey, wait up, Bansotsu! I can't even see you anymore!"

"Come on, Tanken, you slowpoke!"

Wiping the sweat from his brow, the fifteen-year-old Tanken Zengosaku chased after his friend, pressing on through the dense forest that bordered Honzogakure, the Village Hidden in Plants. Brushing his dark brown bangs aside, he leapt from tree to tree, knowing it was futile. Bansotsu Sono was the son of finest farmers in the village, trained to run the fields as soon as he could walk. Tanken was not without his own talents, but he knew that he was no match for his lifelong friend in a race, especially through the thick woods.

Gasping, Tanken quickly adjusted and pivoted off a branch that would have caught him square in the face had he not been paying attention, a scenario that was getting more likely to happen by the minute. After a few more dodges, the exertion began taking its toll on Tanken. His breathing was getting heavier and his body was growing more and more sluggish. As he inhaled deeply, he could feel himself slowing down, finally having to come to a halt on a sturdy branch. Dismayed at the delay, Bansotsu came to a nimble stop and used his momentum to swing around a tree and start back, reaching Tanken in a matter of seconds. Sighing, he landed next to his friend, his voice hinting at his irritation, "No, no, no, no, you can't do this. Just because I'm winning –"

"Shut up, idiot," Tanken gasped, his breathing getting ragged, "Something's wrong. The air feels thick…"

Bansotsu swallowed nervously. When Tanken said something was wrong, then something was wrong. While he was the fastest kid in the village as well as an expert farmer, Tanken knew almost everything about ailments and medicines that there was to know. But Bansotsu also knew that where they lived played a large role in that. Honzogakure, while not a famous or even well-known hidden village, contained some of the most brilliant healing minds in that or any land. Nestled on the Land of Grass' border with the Fire Country, the small village was a secret from everyone around it, known only in rumors and heard only in whispers. That was especially true for the _actual_ hidden village in the land, Kusagakure, whose inhabitants had grown happy thinking that they were the only ninja in the country. As far as the shinobi in the Hidden Plant Village were concerned, that was all well and good. After all, ninja were supposed to be secretive.

The history of the Hidden Plant Village was not even two generations in the making. Twenty-five years prior to the footrace that had just ended, the settlers of the village came to rest on the very spot that marked the Councilors' Terrace of Honzogakure. The forty-five families, every one of them consisting entirely of shinobi, had opted to embark on a secret mission from the Hidden Stone Village to set up an encampment in a separate country. The risks were, of course, great and those who volunteered were forced to relinquish all ties the Land of Earth before they could go. Their mission was one without a rank and each person who left knew of the potential danger.

In essence, the goal was to set up a separate ninja village closer to the other great shinobi nations. The plan was heavily debated, specifically which land to settle in, but the choice came to two options. The first was the Land of Rivers, which separated the Lands of Fire and Wind, running vertically between the two. While it would be an excellent place to set up operations in, many considered the risk not to be worth the reward. It would be very isolated, and if it were discovered, there would be no way to defend it. The villagers would be slaughtered and the investment would be wasted.

Option two was riskier, but the payoff would undoubtedly be much more rewarding. There was a small, untouched area in the southern edge of the Land of Grass. Iwagakure's scouts, after invading the country at the start of the Third Great Shinobi War, confirmed that neither the nation's daimyo nor the Hidden Grass Village knew of it. At the lower border, a large forest made travel difficult, even for ninja. If the volunteer families could make it through undetected, they could reside within striking distance of the Hidden Rain, Waterfall, Sand, and Leaf Villages. Tabs could be kept on all of the Land of Earth's most powerful enemies, the least of which not being Konohagakure.

After hearing the options, the Tsuchikage decided on the Land of Grass. While the chance for detection was greater, an added bonus was that the settlement would be only one country away. The Land of Grass was small and easy to traverse, save for the forested area. Upon an assault, the settlers could simply scatter and assemble back on friendly territory once they had evaded their captors

And so it was that a few dozen families embarked on their journey. They brought only what they could carry with them, including rare herbs and tools for farming the new land. To reduce the chances of being found, all direct ties with the Land of Earth were cut and the village was planned to be self-sufficient. The families consisted of some of the best farming and medical minds from the motherland. This served two purposes. First, the Tsuchikage and the villagers knew that it would be impossible to request food or medicine from the Land of Earth. There was a war in full swing, and Iwagakure wouldn't have time to supply the secret outpost. Second, Honzogakure would essentially be a field hospital for Stone shinobi. With expert medic-nin bunkered down in a completely hidden village, injured ninja could be cared for and sent back to the front in record time. To maintain at least some communication, as well as to relay crucial information, it was planned that a heavily camouflaged trade convoy would be sent once a month with fresh herbs, foods, plants, and medicines back to Iwagakure, staffed by some of the very shinobi who had farmed them.

As the war raged and more of the Stone Village's ninja fell in battle, numbers became increasingly important. Despite the losses, however, even more were saved by Honzogakure's shinobi. With their forces still relatively strong, Iwagakure was able to press deep into the Land of Grass, almost up to the Fire Country's border. Had it not been for the timely destruction of the Kannabi Bridge, Honzo would have become the final staging ground for the Land of Earth's ninja.

Even with the eventual stalemate of the war, however, the Hidden Plant Village made out well from the conflict. New jutsu had been created each year to aid the villagers in their tasks. To become more efficient, each new technique was circulated throughout the settlement, save for one that every family could claim as its own if one of its members had produced it. It had prospered a great deal in private, especially through the medical prowess of its ninja. With no "official" diplomatic ties to maintain and no missions to complete, save for the monthly trips to Iwagakure and healing the injured, the shinobi there could focus entirely on developing their skills and improving their lands.

The following seventeen years saw even further development for Honzogakure. Nestled within the forest that the Land of Fire shared with the Land of Grass, the village saw a time of quiet peace and prosperity. The inhabitants slowly grew slowly in both number and skill until even scattered gossip began to spread of a supposed hidden village of medic-nins and shinobi farmers. Still, nothing was ever confirmed; the villagers made sure of that through simple deception and trickery. They refused to pick a single leader to guide them, instead opting to split power among the most important families. If there was no leader, most outsiders reasoned, then there could certainly be no village, least of all a _ninja_ village. Instead, the Gunshis, the Kurikosus, the Mitsukerus, the Sonos, and finally the Zengosakus each made joint decisions regarding Honzogakure. It was an efficient system, and the village continued to thrive. Until the day two friends went into the forest for a footrace.

'What could it be?' Tanken thought to himself as he panted softly, still standing on the tree branch he had landed on. He forced more air into his lungs, struggling not to cough. 'Pneumonia? A cold? Maybe poison? This doesn't make any sense!' It was at that moment that he picked it up. It was faint, but there was no mistaking it. "I smell… I smell smoke."

Bansotsu groaned softly, running his fingers through his spiky red hair in frustration, "Oh, right, Tanken. Look at all the smoke around us. It's just _everywhere_, isn't it? And you say _I'm_ the idiot."

The other boy swallowed, his mind reeling under the thickness of the air that his friend didn't seem to even notice. "I… I don't… There's gotta' be…"

"Fire!" Tanken bolted up from his bed, the dream he had been a part of dissolving in a heartbeat. Looking around, he found that he could barely see through the smoke filling his small room, and the fact that it was the middle of the night didn't help his eyesight either. Feeling the panic seizing his heart, Tanken flung his covers off and hit the ground running. Grabbing his forehead protector and headband, his equipment belt, and his utility pack from his dresser out of instinct, he made quick work of putting them on. Once everything was secure, he sprinted into the hallway, shouting, "Mother! Father! Get up, the house is on f-… No."

Two masked figures stood in front of him in the corridor. They were both older and taller than he was, and they were dressed head to toe in oddly familiar battle gear. Their brown jackets signified that they were at least a chunin rank and a quick once over revealed that they had recently been in a skirmish that nearly cost them their lives. Looking to the ground near them, Tanken saw who they had fought. A small part of him remained unsurprised to find his own parents slumped over with kunai imbedded in their chests. The blades had cut easily through the nightclothes they wore, making it almost amusing to look at the poor shape of the ninjas' battle armor. Almost. If it had been a fair fight, Tanken was confident that his parents would have won without trouble. But that was irrelevant.

Upon hearing the boy yelling, the two shinobi turned fully toward him, revealing more of their armor in the process. Tanken swallowed, looking them over before speaking meekly, "No. Those shoulder pads… Those flak vests… You can't be…"

The two ninja sighed, one speaking in a deep, oddly soothing voice through his mask, "You should have just have stayed in bed. It would have been less painful for you that way."

The shorter one spoke in a soft, feminine voice, almost too gentle to be a ninja's, "Just stay still. We can make sure this doesn't hurt at all."

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the source of the smoke that was filling his home. The house next to his was ablaze, the fire raging to the point where he couldn't see the actual wood of the structure fifteen feet away from him. Gazing at it through the open window, shock set in as the smoke poured in through the cavity he was watching from. He was vaguely aware of the two ninja drawing their weapons, additional kunai, he presumed, but he couldn't tear his eyes away from the beacon that was his next-door neighbors' house. Slowly but surely, he turned back toward his assailants, needing to be sure of his suspicions. With one final glance at their armor, he confirmed the sight of their thick, hardened shoulder pads. All at once, he was almost positive that his village's own allies were attacking.

As he watched the female ninja crouching and pointing her kunai at him, obviously readying to charge for a quick, clean kill, his eyes drifted to the bodies on the floor. Blinking once, the moment came flooding back to him, and the sight of his dead parents spurred the energy back to his body. In a flash, the woman blitzed forward only to plunge her blade into the air that Tanken had occupied a second before. Gasping, the two looked around wildly, trying to find a trace of the boy they had just been talking to. After a moment of silence, the man spoke, "He went out the window. Set the tags." With a nod, both he and the woman jumped from the house and into the blood-soaked night, but not before setting a few paper bombs around the interior of the home. Knowing their cover was already blown, all it took was an infusion of chakra and the mission switched from infiltration and assassination to shock and awe.

The resulting explosion sent burning splinters hundreds of feet in every direction, decimating the small house and heavily damaging the ones next to it. Tanken was well clear of the blast, rushing for the village's Vigilance Tower so he could warn anyone not already up. Stopping at a nearby storage shed, he looked the tower over, the light from the various fires illuminating the scene well enough to see it. An involuntary growl escaped him as he noticed that the bell they kept to warn of attacks had already been dismantled and the guards were already dead. Upon thinking it over, however, Tanken figured that with explosions tearing up the village, there was no point in bothering trying to warn people. He knew there was one option left after that: strategic retreat.

Sprinting from his hiding spot, he made his way to the village center, hearing the clangs of kunai and shuriken before he could even see what was going on. Leaping up onto the roof of the hospital, Tanken looked over the scene in front of him. What was the most obvious was the massive cage of rock that stood in the middle of the village. Encased by the earth were at least a dozen of his fellow villagers, seemingly unconscious or, as Tanken feared, dead.

Growling softly, he closed his eyes and focused. If the sentry bell was gone, then Bansotsu's parents were probably already dead, as it was their job to watch it at night when there was no harvest or planting going on. Knowing that direct combat would only get him killed, he decided to head to the village's fallback point at the baths, which was reserved for just such an occasion. Crouching low as he ran, he noted that the sounds of battle had died down. He didn't bother guessing which side had won.

Tanken jumped from roof to roof, running as fast as he could to the cliff at the edge of the village's merchant district. Having lived in Honzogakure for his entire life, he knew the layout of the burning settlement well enough to walk it backwards with his eyes closed. From inside the only big forest in the Land of Grass, the village had grown out horizontally. The villagers stayed away from vertically impressive buildings, to ensure that the trees would cover the hidden village. It had worked well up until that night. As the town spanned out, the inhabitants built right up to the cliff Tanken was running for, which was in fact one side of a wide ravine. The land dropped off to a river over sixty feet below with ample shoreline on each side of the water. The river itself was fed by a waterfall whose peak was level with the village and fell where the ravine split apart.

The villagers considered the small canyon a place of relaxation, as the waterfall concealed a cave with a natural hot spring. A bathhouse was built around the warm water, dividing it into a section for men, a section for women, and an area where both sexes could mingle, although there was an unspoken rule that only married couples should occupy it. The rule was usually effective until sundown each night.

The scene was far from relaxing, however, as Tanken scaled down the sheer cliff and landed on the shore with a solid thud. Limping slightly from the quick descent, he made his way through the waterfall and into the cave, hoping there were some survivors at the designated fallback point. As soon as he entered, the boy had over a dozen kunai aimed straight at him, each one held by bruised and battered Honzo ninja. It took a moment for them to see the forehead protector tied around his head, causing one of them to sigh. "Good grief, Tanken, you scared us," a man said as he approached the boy. "Are you okay? Where are your parents? Are they all right?"

Tanken swallowed, the memory of their slumped bodies still fresh in his mind. Forcing tears back, he spoke meekly, not answering the question, "Elder Kurikosu, I'm glad to see you're okay…"

The "elder", which was a title only, as the man not even in his thirties, sighed, waving his hand dismissively and speaking again, "Forget the formalities, where are your parents? Are they okay?"

A few stray tears managed to escape as he simply shook his head, unable to answer the question with his shaky voice. The man swallowed, watching the young teen trying to cope with the loss of his family and his village all in one night. It took a moment for Tanken to compose himself enough to speak without faltering, "Is Mai okay? Did she make it out?"

Tanken and Mai had once been fierce rivals in training as fledgling shinobi. As he grew older, however, Tanken's feelings for her matured. Unfortunately for him, he saw no such change in her attitude, so he set his mind to work. In an attempt to get her to recognize him, he set up an elaborate trap that he would "rescue" her from with his "amazing" reaction time and skills. It involved him weakening some branches in the forest and later challenging her to a race. His hope was that she would land on one of the branches that he had loosened and break it, starting a freefall that he would "miraculously" save her from.

It started out well enough until midway through the race, when he forgot which branches he had weakened. As it turned out, Mai's luck was better than his, and she expertly navigated the trees without incident. Tanken didn't realize the flaw in his plan until, after a rough landing, he felt the branch under him start to give way. A strangled gasp was all he could muster as he began to plummet to the ground.

Thinking he was clever, he had chosen trees with no branches under the ones he weakened, desiring that _he_ be the one to save Mai and not some stray limb. The literally fatal mistake became very apparent as he succumbed to the laws of gravity. Things looked bleak for Tanken as the seconds passed, but just as he readied to hit the ground, he found himself being caught by two slim, strong arms. His eyes slowly cracked open, having been squeezed tightly to prepare for his presumed demise, only to find Mai smirking down at him.

Tanken cleared his throat and looked down to see that they were indeed both safe on the ground. Humiliated, he slowly righted himself and attempted to stammer out a word of thanks only to be cut off by Mai's typical direct speech. In return for saving him, she demanded that he treat her to dinner the next night at sunset. That night spawned a relationship that lasted even until that day. And it was for that reason that her father was not surprised when Tanken asked about his daughter first. He gave the slightest of smiles and nodded, "Yes, she's back in the cave near the baths with the others."

Trying to be diplomatic, Tanken nodded and quietly let relief wash through him. Swallowing softly, he pressed for more information, "What about everyone else? Who made it? Is your wife okay? What about Bansotsu and his parents? " He asked the last question knowing that his friend's parents had almost certainly died at the Vigilance Tower.

The man didn't answer right away, not wanting to overwhelm the boy with so much bad news in such a short period of time. Instead, he tried to instill some hope in Tanken, speaking in a positive tone, "Listen, there's still a lot of people out there. Just go back and speak with Mai until we know what's going on. I'm sure she'll be glad to see you."

Tanken sniffled and nodded, walking slowly into the cave, seeking Mai out. At the entrance to the baths, there were over thirty people standing or sitting, all of them looking disheveled and shocked. Most of the villagers, himself included, were in their night clothes, having barely escaped from their houses with their lives. He heard a soft noise as he continued, and soon felt the same arms that had saved his life encircle him again from behind, the force of the embrace almost knocking him over. He gasped at the sudden impact, but he quickly turned around and returned the hold, his arms pulling Mai tight to him.

As he looked at her, he saw that her usually tough demeanor was gone. Mai was sobbing into his chest, speaking between gasps for air, "They killed my mom, Tanken. They killed her in her sleep…"

He nodded numbly, wanting to break down with her. But he knew she needed him to be strong. He brought one hand up to the back of her head and started running fingers through her brown, waist-longhair. She sighed against him, her tears wetting his white T-shirt, staining the village's symbol of two herbs forming a cross. It took her a few minutes to calm down and stop crying while Tanken continued gently stroking her hair. In a moment, she looked up at him before asking the inevitable question, "Where are your parents? Are they talking to my father?"

He winced, her words cutting into him. He didn't answer, instead slowly resting his forehead against her shoulder in a silent admission of defeat. It took her a moment for her to get the message. "Oh… Oh, Tanken… I'm so sorry."

With a shudder, the dam broke. He sobbed into her shoulder until it hurt to breathe, his arms holding her tight, as if she was the only thing keeping him from dropping off into the void. He cried for countless minutes, the waterfall muffling the noise to anyone on the outside, before he started to compose himself. Around twenty-five other villagers had walked in during his breakdown, bringing the total number of survivors to nearly sixty. Once he had calmed down, Tanken and Mai sat uneasily in a crevice in the cave wall, huddled together for a feeling of mutual security. After initial greetings, there was no talking from anyone, everyone too petrified or shocked to even try to make conversation.

With his mind slowly settling down, Tanken began thinking about the ninjas who had killed his parents. Their masks concealed their faces, but in the firelight of the burning house next to them, he knew he recognized their armor. The brown vests and the thick shoulder pads all pointed to the idea that Iwagakure was attacking them. Still, while he had been sure that the clothing imitated that of the Hidden Stone Village, he knew that mind games were part of the ninja way. A clever enemy that knew enough about the Honzogakure would probably want to make them _think _that the Hidden Stone Village had betrayed them. Either way, not everything added up.

He recalled that the man who had spoken to him didn't appear malicious in his words and the woman almost seemed remorseful. Almost. It also looked as if they might have even taken prisoners, judging from the cage in the middle of the village. Still, it was too risky to toss up to chance. For the moment, he had to assume that the ninja he saw could be either unknown enemies striking due to a hidden agenda or Iwagakure betraying and exterminating them. Tanken knew he had to make any plans for combat or escape based on both possibilities. If they were indeed random enemies, then it would be a good idea to stay in the cave and mount a counterattack. 'But if it really is Iwagakure attacking…'

A look of terror formed on Tanken's face. Glancing around, he realized that if it was Honzogakure's ally, then they weren't alive because they were _hiding_ in the cave, but rather _because_ they were there in the first place. The Stone shinobi would be counting on them all to run for their rocky safe zone. At that point, once they were all rounded up, the attackers would only need to collapse the cave with one of their basic Earth Style jutsus.

Tanken scrambled to his feet, much to the surprise of Mai. A bit of her old spirit came to life as she murmured irritably, having been trying to doze against him, "Hey, watch it…"

He didn't respond, instead running for the mouth of the cavern. When he saw Mai's father speaking with two other elders, Roken Mitsukeru and Suki Gunshi, he sprinted to them, looking panicked. Roken saw him first. Unlike Mai's father, he was an elder who was actually elderly. At the age of 60, he was the oldest member of the village and one of the most respected. His grandson, Soto, was another one of Tanken's good friends, although he tended to get Tanken into trouble more often than not. Still, the old man thought the friendship was beneficial; Soto made sure Tanken's life wasn't boring, and when things got out of hand, Tanken kept Soto grounded. Smiling sadly, he turned toward the boy, speaking in his soft, yet oddly powerful tone, "Tanken… I'm glad to see you are well. Is something the matter? Outside of the obvious, I mean."

The other two elders turned to face Tanken, Mai's father waiting patiently for an explanation while Suki nearly glared at him. She had obviously already heard enough bad news for the moment. The boy swallowed, then thought about how to phrase his sentence before speaking over the waterfall, "We need to leave."

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"What a drag. I can't believe I fell for that trap," said a very tense Shikamaru Nara. He, Ino Yamanaka, and Choji Akimichi were heading back toward the Hidden Leaf Village after a partially successful mission in the Land of Rivers. They had been ordered to patrol the area to find out more information about a group of shinobi who had been causing trouble there, as well as in some of the smaller nations to the north. Shikamaru managed to capture the leader of the cell, a jonin, but the man took his own life without divulging anything useful. When he died, his squad scattered, leaving the Leaf team victorious, but still without information.

During the fighting, the jonin had nearly killed Shikamaru after springing a trap. While he was unsuccessful, he did leave the genius with a large gash across his chest. Ino did what she could to heal the wound, but the cut was deep. It was still going to scar. "Damn… It's still stinging," Shikamaru grumbled. "Let's rest here for the night. I'm not even sure where we are."

Choji peered into the dark forest around them, the lack of sunlight obscuring most of their surroundings. Regardless, he spoke confidently, "I know where we are. We must've gotten a little sidetracked. We're up in the northern part of the Fire Country. Some of the ingredients to my family's food pills are around here." The chubby ninja pointed to a nearby bush to prove his point, where the buds of flowers were waiting for the sun to rise. "Those right there go into the curry pill."

Shikamaru sighed, propping himself up against a tree, "We're way off track then. How troublesome. No matter. We'll get some rest and start back tomorrow morning."

In seconds, Shikamaru was asleep. Ino and Choji, however, decided to stay up for a while longer, chatting to pass the time. After politely turning down an offer of chips, Ino looked around, speaking softly to let Shikamaru rest, "So, how far up north are we?"

Choji shrugged, opening the bag of snacks Ino had declined and eating slowly as he responded, "Pretty far. We're at least up near the Land of Rain, maybe even the Land of Grass."

His teammate groaned softly, "Great. We really are off track." She sighed, looking at the forest around them before continuing, "I guess it could be worse though. At least we all made it."

Choji knew she was thinking of Asuma. Only a few weeks ago, their sensei was walking treating them to barbecue. Now, he was dead. And while it was true that they had gotten vengeance, Asuma was still gone. Choji's own thoughts lingered to his fallen teacher from time to time, although he tried not to. As he glanced down at the bag of chips in his hand, he smiled, remembering Asuma's final words to him, specifically his encouragement of the chubby ninja to diet more. Keeping his soft smile, he tossed the half-finished bag aside, figuring that one night without snacking wouldn't do too much harm.

Ino chuckled as she saw her friend discard the bag, speaking softly, "Throwing chips away? You must be sick. Do you need me to examine you?"

Choji grinned softly, "I've just been thinking I shouldn't eat too much before bed. Who knows, the rest of my chips might come in handy later."

"Maybe," Ino said in response. "Well, I guess I should be getting to sleep. We've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

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All three of the elders wore matching frowns, Suki speaking in a calm tone despite her displeased look, "Tanken, I know you are scared, but we cannot afford to leave the safety of the cavern. The enemy has not tracked us here yet, so this is the safest place we can be at the moment."

Mai's father nodded in agreement, "Right now we are undetected and have the advantage of knowledge. We know the terrain here better, and we can mount an effective defense once we learn who and what we have to work with. With luck, the attackers won't find us here at all."

Looking defeated and terrified, Tanken readied to turn around and walk back to Mai. Roken, however, spoke in his quiet tone that commanded respect, "Hold on. With his parents fallen, Tanken is now the elder of the Zengosaku family. Whatever he has to say, we must listen to it as equals." The old man paused to turn to Tanken, giving him a gentle smile of encouragement.

The teenager breathed heavily for a moment before summoning the courage to speak, his voice evening out, "These shinobi… Their armor makes it look like that they come from a rugged land. I can't be sure, but I think that they might be from the Land of Earth."

Suki scoffed, "What reason would our own founders have to attack us?" While she could be cross, everyone listening knew she was a brilliant military strategist. Her words on battle tactics carried a lot of weight, and Tanken knew he would have to convince her in order to get them out of there.

Sighing, he continued, "I don't know if it _is_ the Hidden Stone Village, but their armor looks a _lot_ like the ones worn by the representatives that visit each year to celebrate the harvest. It could be a trap to make us think that, but I don't think it's worth risking the end of our people. I think we should leave."

Suki frowned deeper, not out of disgust, but out of concentration. She seemed to consider his words before pressing on, "Do you have any other reasons as to why you would suspect our allies?"

Tanken paused in thought, thinking back to the sight at the hospital. "Yes… I saw… I saw a huge cage made of rock or earth in the center of the village. I saw a lot of our people inside of it. It looked like they had been knocked out."

Roken blinked, "That sounds like…" he didn't bother finishing his statement, a sense of grim realization settling in.

Suki sighed, glancing at the other adults before nodding, "I agree with Zengosaku. Tanken may be wrong, but if we stay here, we risk the decimation of our entire people with a single blow. Normally, staying in this location to mount a stand would be an excellent idea…" she paused to let everyone know that her original intentions were indeed well-informed, "…But in this case, if we _are_ actually fighting against Stone shinobi, this cave would be a deathtrap. I say we gather our people and run for the Hidden Rain Village or the Hidden Waterfall Village. But first, we need to make sure we are not followed. We should travel south into the Fire Country and lose our attackers in the forest. Once we are safe, we can proceed to our final destination."

The others nodded, but Tanken spoke up, "What about any other survivors who might be out there?"

Suki hesitated, "We will have to hope they make it out and find us later. We can leave a coded message here so any stragglers will follow us. I wish we could wait longer, but every second we stay here is a second closer we might be to our deaths."

Tanken nodded, letting Mai's father walk deeper into the cave to begin carving the message into the rocky wall. After a moment, he turned to the survivors and explained the escape plan. He detailed how they would mount a full retreat into the Land of Fire in order to lose the enemy in the massive country. He then explained that, once they were safe, they would go to the Hidden Rain Village to rest and consider their options. Everyone slowly stood and started to gather their things, their morale suffering further after hearing of the retreat. Regardless, no one questioned the order and, within minutes, the survivors were ready to go.

Once everyone was set and near the mouth of the cave, Roken turned around, his back facing the raging waterfall behind him. He wore his typical gentle smile and his voice seemed to resonate over the sound of the water, "Fellow villagers… For nearly two and a half decades, we have poured every ounce of our beings into this land. We first settlers crossed through the dense forests together and all shared the joy of reaching our destination safe and sound. We built our village from the ground up and farmed the land for its incredible bounties. We worked tirelessly to invent some of the most remarkable healing jutsu in existence. We created our own way of life, and even to this day, we follow our own customs with no outside influence.

"We raised our families here, doing a fine job, I might add, and I don't believe that there is a single person amongst us that regrets a single moment in this place. Most importantly, we did each and every one of those things together. There were no enemies between us here. We were a family. That is why, looking back at our accomplishments, I see it supremely fitting that we now leave this place together so that we may continue our way of life. We came here as shinobi from the Land of Earth, but I cannot in all good conscience leave our home as anything other than a ninja proudly belonging to the Hidden Plant Village."

By the end of his speech, Roken's tone had shifted from its normal quietness to one of overt pride. All at once, everyone standing before him knew that no matter what happened, they were not alone. Mai's father and Suki slowly approached Roken at the mouth of the cave and turned to face the crowd of survivors. Their faces were stoic, not a single hint of fear on them. The three of them then nodded to Tanken, who slowly walked up to be with them. Turning around, he joined the Elders Kurikosu, Gunshi, and Mitsukeru as the fourth and last remaining Councilor of Honzogakure. While they hoped their comrades and fellow leaders, the Sono family, were alive, they knew that they could wait no longer. Looking out over the people, _his_ people, Tanken's resolve solidified, and he gave a firm, confident nod.

Sighing one last nostalgic sigh, he gazed farther back into the cave. Seeing the coded message in the rocky wall, a sense of hope filled him. He swallowed, then threw his hand into the air, giving the signal for everyone to disperse. In the blink of an eye, the cave was empty, the sound of the waterfall the only one still lingering.


	2. The Massacre of Honzogakure, Part 2

_A/N: Finally, here's the next chapter. I think I'm going to alternate editing this story with writing new parts for my NaruHina fic. So now that this is done, I'm off to write chapter 2 for that._

_Also, kudos to xenu1275 for catching the gaping plot holes in chapter 1. I've gone back and edited what I felt was relevant. Thanks for the heads up.  
_

_Anyways, here's Chapter 1: The Massacre of Honzogakure, Part II: The Escape_

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Tanken couldn't bring himself to look back as the group of survivors quickly scaled up the ravine wall opposite the burning settlement. Once they reached the top, they fanned out and scattered into the forest, each ninja heading south. Tanken was in full sprint as he fled, Mai and her father at his side and the various other villagers within yelling distance to ensure they could help each other if they were being followed.

Everyone there knew they had to be both stealthy and quick, but they placed much more emphasis on the former. It was better to take a bit longer to reach their destination safely than risk being discovered while trying to move too fast. They all ran along the ground, the sound of their feet minimal against the forest floor. About five minutes into the escape, when all seemed to be going well, the group of survivors began splitting off a bit, wanting to increase the odds of survival should an ambush be waiting for them.

Tanken let his arms hang behind him as he surged forward with Mai between him and her father. His mind had slowed down and resumed its normal thought process, starting to wander back over the events of the attack. Despite thinking of his parents, he didn't allow himself to fall into despair. He first had to help his people flee, placing a higher priority on their safety than his grief. To preoccupy himself, he took note of his surroundings. On one side, he saw dense forest and a few Honzo shinobi running with him, but nothing else of consequence. When he looked to his other side, he glanced at Mai and her father, each looking out for each other as the last remnant of their family. Sighing, Tanken wondered who _his_ new family would be, if he would have one at all.

Shaking his head, he realized it would be impossible to keep his mind off his parents during the long run for freedom. He thought back to his first day of shinobi training when he was 8 years old. More specifically, he recalled how painfully boring it was. Tanken had been looking forward to learning to fight and use chakra, only to have his parents spend the entire day telling him of the history of the village and what it meant to be a Honzogakure ninja. After a week of such lessons, he became so upset that he demanded actual combat training from his parents. They simply laughed and agreed, but made one condition. Before they would teach him chakra control and martial arts, they insisted that he learn the Village Code. Their only requirement was that he had to memorize it and all of its tenets, after which they would gladly start his more practical training.

He never imagined that people could memorize something so seemingly inane, but over time, he came to appreciate it. The Code wasn't just an oath; it was the Hidden Plant Village's way of life. Smiling to himself as he ran, he recited it in his head:

'I will do no unnecessary harm.

I will accept the knowledge given to me by both elders and learners, and I will share it with those around me. I will also ask for knowledge if I find myself lacking. I will do so without fear of reprisal or reprimand, for every great person was once ignorant.

I will remember that everything I do involves not only an even hand but also an open mind.

I will do everything in my within my power to aid those who need it, but I will not extend my help to the point where it will be harmful. Should someone request an end to genuine suffering, however, I will honor it with dignity and pride.

And finally, I will remember that redemption is infinite in its possibilities and character is subject to change. I will not strike down any enemy who has honestly renounced his or her ways and has strived for forgiveness, no matter what their crimes.'

He sighed softly as he recited the words in his mind. He had memorized the Code in two days for his parents, but he never truly appreciated it until that night. To Honzogakure, it was a way of thinking that affected how they handled each and every decision they made. The oath was more or less a religion, or at the very least a mythology, teaching them how they should behave to not only each other, but to everyone they met. Still, Tanken couldn't help but wonder how he would handle meeting up with one of the shinobi who had attacked his village.

Shaking his head, he tried to shift to more cheerful thoughts. His mind wandered back to his favorite part of shinobi training, chakra concentration and control. While learning taijutsu was fun, he had always loved manipulating his chakra to work for him. He used to practice his hand seals for hours, even after training was technically over. His ultimate goal was to learn his family's technique, the Life Siphon Jutsu. That one maneuver catapulted his parents onto the Council, the original plan being to have only four head families in Honzogakure.

His parents first dreamt up the technique long before the Third Great Shinobi War. They had overheard an Iwagakure scout talking to a few guards. Tanken's young parents, only 9 years old at the time, heard of a woman in the Hidden Sand Village who had developed a special form of medical care. Apparently, the shinobi said, she used her own life force rather than chakra in order to heal fallen ninja in the field, as well as to breathe life into special puppets. When the mission to create Honzogakure was ordered, his parents' families were chosen to go. They quickly set to work together in an effort to emulate and copy the mysterious technique. Progress was slow, however, and even as teenagers, they spent countless hours each day trying to tap into their respective life forces, only to fail every time.

Their work together, on the other hand, had a different, unforeseen, result. After ten years of research and development, the young man and woman became nearly inseparable. As many expected, when they were both almost 20, the two were wed as a show of commitment to their work and to each other. After a short break from their labor, Tanken's father, Doku, and his new wife, Omoiko, resumed their work together to attempt to imitate the Hidden Sand's healing jutsu.

Their toil finally paid off one day when they attempted to combine the Mystical Palm Jutsu with the faint life forces in their bodies, which they had finally managed to discover. Unfortunately, they found that they did not have the control needed to heal others with their energy. After a few seconds of using the technique, they would become weary and need to stop. Despite the setback, however, they succeeded in making a very important discovery. Instead of relying completely on their own life forces, their jutsu could instead channel the energy of _any_ living organism using a very simple medium: chakra. As long as they could manipulate their chakra, Tanken's parents could transfer the life force of a healthy object or person into someone who was injured. But even with that advantage, there was a drawback. Instead of expending their energy, the technique quickly depleted their chakra. After roughly 10 minutes, of continued healing, they would need to rest. Regardless, the discovery was an important one, and after over a decade of work, they had crafted the Life Siphon Jutsu.

Not content with simply creating the technique, however, the two practiced it tirelessly, looking for ways to improve it. While they found that the jutsu itself was more or less complete, Doku and Omoiko realized that the key to making it more efficient was chakra control. With the Third Great Ninja War over and with little else to do other than work around Honzogakure, they practiced in their spare time. Eventually, they progressed to the point that they could maintain the jutsu for nearly half an hour as long as they were calm and rested.

The village took notice and rewarded their efforts by placing them on the Council of Elders, though Tanken never understood why. There was no war going on and no immediate danger in the area. The jutsu was certainly useful, but there seemed to be no need for it. To him, it was like rewarding someone for finding a way to stop the sky from falling. If it were ever necessary, it would be good to have around. Until then, however, all anyone was doing was waiting for something to happen. Still, he knew that the shinobi world was not always what it seemed. While it could be quiet one day, recent events had taught him that such serenity rarely lasted forever.

Despite the fresh thoughts of the burning village he was leaving behind, Tanken smiled softly as he recalled the story his parents had drilled into his head. As they had created the Life Siphon Jutsu, they were allowed to keep it within the Zengosaku family. The technique was his birthright, as far as Tanken was concerned, but there was a problem. He had yet to successfully perform it. His parents downplayed it as inexperience. The jutsu took them over 10 years to complete, and they didn't expect him to master it right away.

Tanken, however, feared that there was another problem. While he greatly enjoyed chakra manipulation and ninjutsu in general, he had little natural talent in either area. His chakra control was excellent for his age, but he knew that meant nothing if he couldn't put it to good use. Basic healing techniques for his people such as the Mystical Palm Jutsu and the Chakra Scalpel took him one year each to be able to use at will. More advanced abilities, such as the Temporary Paralysis Jutsu, which the Hidden Plant Village used for surgeries, and Honzogakure's secret illusionary technique, the Peaceful Sanctuary Jutsu took him two and three years respectively to learn.

Even then, after years of work, the Life Siphon Jutsu continued to evade him. Tanken knew the hand signs needed for his parents' technique, and he even practiced them regularly. He simply hadn't managed to put everything together. Before he could let himself wonder if he could have saved anyone, had he learned the jutsu before that night, he recited the hand seals in his head, keeping himself distracted. 'Let's see… Ox, then Tiger. That covers the Mystical Palm Jutsu in the beginning. Then it's Snake-Rooster-Snake-Rooster-Boar-Horse-Tiger-Ram-Dog.'

Tanken soon settled his focus on the hand seals, hoping he would have time to practice them later. In the dark and deep in thought, he failed to see the tripwire set ahead of them. As thin as a hair and just as strong as one, neither Tanken, Mai, nor her father felt anything as they ran clear through it, breaking the string and activating the multiple tags attaching it to two nearby trees. A second after they passed through, a blinding light and a piercing, high-pitched screech filled the night. Caught off guard, the three ninja could only cover their ears, shut their eyes, and continue running, trying to keep ahead of their now alert attackers. With their senses shut down, however, the dense forest became more of a hazard than it already was. In moments, the sense of dread within the three Honzo ninja worsened as they heard similar alarms sounding clearly in the forest around them. They hadn't been the only ones caught by the traps, although Tanken silently wished that had been the case.

Rubbing his eyes furiously to restore his sight, Tanken looked around to see Mai still reeling from the effects of the tags. She was staggering forward with her arms shielding her eyes and her hands over her ears. Her father, however, had quickly recovered and moved to pick her up so they could resume their flight.

A kunai lodged into the ground in front of them stopped that.

Looking up, Tanken and Mai's father saw a team of four shinobi standing on a branch above them. They each sported full battle armor, but upon second glance, Tanken was shocked to see that the jackets were pale green, just like Suki claimed. Frowning, he recalled Roken's words and, in a flash, he brought his hands together, calling out, "Release!" His vision blurred for a moment, but when it started to clear, he saw that the four ninja were wearing the armor that he remembered: brown vests with thick shoulder pads. Mai, having finally regained her senses, and her father quickly followed suit, gasping softly as the truth was revealed to them.

Knowing where the standoff was headed, no one bothered exchanging pleasantries. Mai's father set her down before he and Tanken quickly drew four shuriken in each hand, launching them at their opponents with no word or warning. Mai used the time to start making hand signs, preparing to press the attack. Regardless, she stopped when she witnessed the sixteen stars whizzing through the air lodge themselves straight into their targets before they could even react. Stunned, the three shinobi paused, becoming cautiously optimistic. After a second's delay, however, the enemies all disappeared in large puffs of smoke, leaving only the logs that had been substituted in their places.

Before the hunks of wood could even hit the ground, the real ninjas struck from the shadows. Eight kunai flew toward Mai, the attackers hoping to finish the girl off quickly. Tanken was faster, however, and managed to grab her and leap up into the trees before the blades landed. Her father, knowing where the enemies were after they threw their weapons, spun around and focused his chakra with a hand seal, murmuring, "Chakra Shuriken Jutsu." He reached his arm back before thrusting it forward, aiming at a bush that he knew concealed an attacker. From his fingertips came a bright blue light that shot out ahead of him, disappearing into the shrub. A soft grunt was all he needed to hear to know he had hit his target. He quickly shifted his position and let two incoming kunai pass him by and land at his feet. Spinning again, two more blue lights fired off from his hands and connected with their marks.

Wanting to switch his tactics up, he reached into his pack to withdraw a special kunai. Readying to throw it at the trunk of a nearby tree, which he knew two enemies were hiding in, he ignited the exploding tag attached to his blade and readied to hurl it. Unfortunately, the tags on the kunai by his feet detonated first, leaving Mai's father in a crumpled wreck on the forest floor. As he let his own weapon go, death relaxing his hand enough to do so, his own tag ignited and exploded, erasing any hope for rescue.

Tanken and Mai, meanwhile, were sprinting at full speed through the treetops. They ran fast enough to cause a significant delay between the tripwires they were breaking through and the actual activation of the traps, leaving them unaffected by the lights and noises around them. Terror seized at them as they pressed forward, and Tanken, knowing Mai was faster than he was, spoke in a hushed tone, "I want you to stay up on the branches and run along here. Get some distance from me and head to the rendezvous point. You're quicker than me and I'll only slow you down."

She shook her head hard, answering forcefully, "Not a chance. I'm-"

He frowned deeply, cutting her off, "I'm not going to argue this out with you. You're going ahead and you're going to get to the Hidden Rain Village safely."

Mai swallowed. He rarely ever used such a direct tone, but when he did, she knew it was final. It was a trait he had picked up from his father, who sometimes used it with him when he was being disobedient. She didn't know what kind of punishment befell him if he refused his dad after he spoke in that way, but seeing as he never _ever_ argued with him once he used it, she figured it was something pretty severe. She also knew that while Tanken would never hurt her, he apparently felt strongly enough about his idea to use his more assertive tone. Sighing in defeat, she leaned over and kissed Tanken's cheek before leaping higher into the trees, hoping to avoid further traps as she continued onward. In a few moments, the two shinobi could no longer see each other, just as Tanken had intended.

Knowing Mai was safe, he ran as fast as he could, feeling the nervousness in his body start to fade. While he figured that the shinobi who had attacked them were almost certainly in pursuit, he was beginning to think he had put enough distance between the enemies and himself to ditch them. Minutes passed, and in the resulting silence, he hoped that he had finally gotten away. With the adrenaline slowly fading from his system, he could feel himself needing a quick rest.

He sighed gently in relief when he heard the sound of running water ahead of him and, sure enough, when he emerged from the trees, there was a clean, slow-flowing river straight in front of him. Jogging to the bank, he sat down and splashed some water on his face, knowing he had at least a couple minutes to rest before he needed to continue his run.

Gazing up at the sky, he stared blankly at the crescent moon, his eyes fading slightly. In the course of one evening, he had become an orphan, lost some of his dearest friends, watched his home be destroyed, and heard the death of his girlfriend's father. In all likelihood, many more of the survivors were already dead and their numbers would probably be even thinner by the time they all got to the Hidden Rain Village. He figured the attackers had seen through the escape plan and had planted squads in the forest ahead of time to catch anyone trying to flee. Still, he knew Mai was alive, and that was all that mattered to him at the moment.

Looking back down to the other side of the river, he frowned when he saw a wounded animal writhing near the trees where the forest resumed. Sighing, he stood up, focused his chakra into his feet, and walked across the water, determined to at least help something before continuing his run. As he approached the body, he saw that the animal was mostly hairless in the faint moonlight. When he got closer, he could see coverings on it. His eyes snapped open as he realized it was a human, and a second later, he was sprinting for it. To Tanken's horror, he soon recognized the body as Mai's, and by her lack of motion, he instinctively knew she had just passed away, adding to the body count as well as his grief.

As he felt a new wave of sadness wash over him, he heard a noise in the forest nearby. His fists clenched as he heard more rustling in the woods, and just as he prepared to start running once more, he slowly realized that he hadn't been found yet. Shock gradually turned to fear and then to anger as he started toward the forest. Even as he began his charge, his mind screamed the relevant parts of the Honzogakure Oath back at him:

'I will do no unnecessary harm.

I will remember that everything I do involves not only an even hand but also an open mind.

I will remember that redemption is infinite in its possibilities and character is subject to change. I will… I will… No! No, to hell with that! He's dead…'

His mind guided him through the hand seals, his fingers making them with painstaking precision and focus. _Ox… Tiger… _His hands began to emit a pale green light, which surrounded them like an aura. Hearing the movement once again, his anger turned into blind rage, finding himself infuriated at the thought that someone would have the audacity to stay around after killing Mai. He was aware that no enemy would know her importance to him, but logic was quickly taking a back seat to vengeance in his head. _Snake… Rooster… Snake… Rooster… Boar… Horse… Tiger… Ram… Dog._

"Life Siphon Jutsu!"

As soon as he finished the last hand sign, he felt power surge through him, and all at once he could feel himself in a completely different manner. The aura around his hands had gone from pale green to deep emerald. He could still hear, see, smell, taste, and touch in the normal fashions, but there was something more. He couldn't put it into words, but he felt more alive at that moment than ever before. He could feel his body becoming a vortex, attempting to draw in the energy from the trees and bushes around him. But he had no interest in plants. His anger peaking, he burst through a shrub and leapt into the air, his eyes scouring the forest floor for his target.

Spotting something below him, he glanced down to see that it was indeed one of the enemies who had attacked his village. In the dim moonlight, he could make out the thick shoulder pads, and, with another look, he saw that the armor on the man was battered and slashed. His mind raced back to when he had woken up in his home and stepped out into the hallway. Taking a second to think, he recalled the man with the female partner having his armor cut up in an oddly familiar way. Upon realizing that the same man was standing below him, Tanken gravity take over, carrying him in an arc aimed straight for his opponent.

The shinobi was not deaf, however. When he heard something fly through the bush behind him, he turned around, kunai in hand. Rage had taken the boy over, however, and in a heartbeat, Tanken was upon him. Clamping one hand around the man's neck, the Honzo ninja used his other to seize his wrist, not caring about the kunai already embedded in his own shoulder. The pain he felt faded as a new surge of adrenaline raced through him.

The shinobi was too shocked to do much of anything, at first, his eyes wide behind his mask as he saw the pure, unadulterated hatred that seethed from the boy. With his initial attack a success, Tanken winced as he felt the blood starting to flow down his shoulder, staining his shirt. All at once, a dark thought formed in his mind. The Life Siphon Jutsu could be used to transfer the life force from one organic being to another. The ninja in his clutches was organic.

With a soft growl, Tanken slowly began draining the man's energy into his own body, determined to end the person he considered responsible for Mai's death as well as the demise of his parents. As the seconds passed, he felt himself receive the energy he was drawing in. The sore muscles in the leg he had landed on when he jumped into the ravine earlier that night began to loosen up and heal. Cuts that lined his arms from running through bushes and branches quickly closed themselves and stopped hurting. The wound in his shoulder slowly began to seal itself, forcing the kunai in his skin out and onto the ground. The rest of his body followed suit, the aches that had started to build up from his flight easing away and leaving him energized.

The enemy ninja, on the other hand, seemed to grow paler and weaker as the seconds ticked by. When the shock began to fade, he acted, using his free hand to draw another kunai from his vest. Before Tanken could react, the enemy brought the blade up to the boy's chest and pushed it in just below his heart. Tanken snarled in pain but did nothing, continuing to drain the ninja's life from him with cold menace in his eyes.

Starting to panic, the older shinobi withdrew his weapon and brought it back for another attack. That time, he aimed straight for Tanken's neck, the kunai's point rapidly approaching his skin. The teen reacted in time, however, and lunged forward, smashing through the enemy's ANBU mask and making solid contact with his forehead, stunning the trapped attacker. With a great deal of his strength already gone, his opponent didn't have the power to attempt another strike. Dazed and weak, he glanced at Tanken's shoulder and chest, desperately hoping that he was bleeding out. When he saw that the wounds were instead completely closed, however, hope left him. The last thing he saw through his broken mask was Tanken's face bathed in the green light from his jutsu.

As the shinobi's head rolled back for the last time, Tanken slowly released him and stood up straight, letting his technique fade. Breathing heavily, he gazed at the man lying on the ground in front of him. After considering staying there to rough up the body, he decided against it and turned away, moving his leg forward to start running again. The kunai he felt pierce his back stopped him. He heard two new sets of feet land on nearby branches and instantly knew he had to leave the area. Without even trying to get the blade in his back out, he pushed off the ground started sprinting across the forest floor. As he ran, he felt a shuriken join the kunai in his skin, but he felt little pain.

Tanken continued his dead sprint, no longer paying attention to his direction, just wanting to escape. He couldn't hear anything, but he knew the enemy was still close after another kunai missed the back of his head and landed in the ground ahead of him. Knowing he was running out of options, he reached behind and into the weapons pouch on his belt. Withdrawing a kunai with an explosive tag, he flung it into a tree a few feet ahead of him. As he sprinted by it, the paper bomb started to ignite and, four shuriken in his back later, he felt the explosion rock the ground he was running on. The light from the blast illuminated the forest ahead of him, showing him a glimpse of a clearing in the woods while the glow lasted. Removing his utility pack from his belt, he hurled it ahead of him so it landed in the clearing. Knowing that the enemies were right on top of him, he figured it wouldn't be long before they overtook him. Withdrawing another explosive kunai with from his weapons bag, he threw it right at his utility pack resting on the ground, then forced his body onward.

A few seconds later, he heard the massive explosion that followed. He recalled that he kept a number of spare kunai and shuriken as well as many premade exploding tags in the pack. The blast caused a chain reaction, detonating the other bombs and sending the weapons flying out in every direction with incredible force. Tanken kept running even as two of his own kunai flew past him at breakneck speed, propelled the by tags. He considered it a miracle that none of them hit him in the head, but didn't feel as lucky as he his body started to slow down, at least three throwing stars having hit him square in the legs and an unknown number of other blades finding a resting place in his back.

Still, there wasn't a doubt in his mind that the shinobi following him had been incinerated, impaled, or both by the maneuver. He couldn't hear them any longer, though he reasoned that his mind could have been just telling him what he wanted to hear. Not able to get a bearing on his location and unsure of his destination at that time, he swallowed, trying to get reoriented. He could feel the blades stuck in his body doing their jobs, the pain and discomfort starting to take a toll on his energy and quickness. His hands shaking, he readied himself to try the Life Siphon Jutsu once more, hoping to draw the energy from a nearby tree to heal him. "O-Okay… Just take it easy. One hand seal at a time. You've done this before, Tanken," he told himself, his anxiety starting to surface, making it difficult to concentrate. The blood loss wasn't helping matters much either, he reasoned as his body started to sway gently. To help himself focus, he stated the hand signs as he made them, a trick he had picked up long ago to steady his nerves when learning new jutsu. "Alright… Ox-Tiger-Snake-Rooster-Snake-Rooster-Boar-Horse-Tiger-Ram-Dog. Life Siphon Jutsu."

A deep green aura glowed around his hands for a moment before Tanken felt a sharp pain flash through his body. After looking around for new enemies only to find himself still alone, the grim fact set in that he had almost no chakra left, which meant that he could not support that, or any, jutsu for much longer. Tears formed in his eyes as he helplessly stuck his hands to the trunk of the nearest tree, though he knew it was pointless. The minimal life he drained from the plant had little effect on the numerous cuts covering his back and legs. As his chakra dissipated, he hung his head and closed his eyes, not wanting to see the aura, and his last hope, fade from his hands. He could still feel the technique desperately trying to work, but even as he stretched his chakra as thin as he could, he knew it would be over soon.

Sniffling, he fell to his knees, feeling the wounds he couldn't fully close start to reopen, most of the kunai and shuriken still tightly lodged in his body. He couldn't bring himself to let go of the tree, however. He wasn't sure why. The night air around Tanken suddenly seemed colder and, just like in his dream, he started having trouble breathing, finding he had to force air into and out of his lungs. As time went on, he began to lose focus and his vision started to blur. His fingers, while still clutching the tree in front of him, were going numb and he lost the feeling in his feet a moment later. When he started to sway on his knees, he grunted with effort to steady himself, determined not to die just yet.

With more and more of his body starting to shut down, he almost laughed as he saw the first rays of the sun through the scattered canopy. 'You… You've got to be kidding me,' he found himself thinking. 'After all this, I actually got to see the dawn… Who'd have thought it?'

Just as he readied to resign himself to a quiet death against the tree, he heard the grass crunch behind him. While his voice was weak, he made it work, sounding as irritable as he could manage, "Can't you just let me die in peace? Do you really have to come here to end it?"

There was silence, then the sound of feet running toward him. Before he could speak again, a familiar voice quietly sounded, "Tanken? Tanken! Tanken, what happened?"

It was Mai.

His eyes widened as he realized who was behind him. He coughed softly, managing to ask, "How… How are you alive?" He wanted to press for more information, but he knew his time was short. He had to choose his next sentences carefully, as they would be his last. "Nevermind. Mai, just keep going… Get out of here and don't look back. It's over for me."

He could hear Mai kneeling down to get a better look at him, no doubt examining the well over two dozen kunai and shuriken stuck in his back and legs. In a moment, she spoke next to his ear, "Your hands… Is that the Life Siphon Jutsu? It's faint, but look at that, you finally did it." She chuckled softly before he heard her begin a long series of hand signs. In a few seconds, she spoke in the softest, gentlest tone he had ever heard come from her, "Tanken, don't say anything. You're weak right now. First, I just want to let you know that you're an idiot, as always. You got caught in a genjutsu I was using to throw off the squads in the forest." She never meant any of her insults, and he knew it. There was a code for every name she called him, idiot usually meaning that he had worried her a great deal. Her next sentence proved that point, "I'm sorry if I ever ignored you or made you feel bad in the past, but hopefully I've made up for it in the year or so. The truth is… I've always seen something special in you. You deserve more than to die slumped over against this tree in some forest so far from home. You deserve a life and a chance to make something of yourself."

Tanken, who could barely stay kneeling, managed to listen to almost every word, wondering what she was going on about.

"I'm going to give you that chance, Tanken. "

His eyes shot open as he finally realized what was happening. While his family was known for possessing great skill in healing, Mai's could manipulate chakra to an incredible degree. Their most powerful jutsu could actually transfer the user's entire chakra foundation to a target. To do that, once the hand seals were complete, the person's physical and spiritual energy was shifted into the body of another. The potential was enormous. The technique not only gave any and all chakra currently in their systems to someone else, but also permanently added to the receiver's maximum reserves and chakra regeneration rate. Such a powerful technique had a drawback, however. Without a source of chakra, the user could not generate any more for him or herself after the transfer was completed. Because chakra was essential to live, that meant that whoever used the jutsu to its fullest extent would die as a result.

Tanken wearily shook his head, murmuring, "Mai… No…"

She simply smiled, starting the third-to-last series of hand seals. The jutsu required the user to perform each of the twelve signs twelve times in succession in order to build their energies up for transfer. Moving behind him, she leaned forward, continuing to speak softly, "I wish it hadn't come to this, but I'm almost out of chakra, too. If I only give you a little bit of what I have, it won't be enough to heal you fully." She sighed softly, her voice never faltering as she continued her hand seals, "When I'm gone, don't stick around to bury me. I want you to get out of here and make it to safety. I want you to go on with your life and do the great things we both know you can do. Tell Honzogakure's story and make sure nothing like this happens to whoever takes you in. Most importantly, I want you to move on. Don't forget about everyone who's died, but don't dwell on us, either." As she spoke, she finished her hand seals and began to pull the weapons from his back. While she managed to force some out, a majority of them were too deeply lodged in him for her to remove. When she got as many as she could, she moved up against him from behind and wrapped her arms around him. She pressed her body close to his, avoiding what weapons she could and ignoring the few shuriken that bit into her abdomen. Taking a deep breath, she whispered, "I'll always be right here with you. I'll be helping you with your training and through all of the fights you have ahead of you. Be happy, Tanken. That's my last wish for you." She paused for a second as she felt her chakra start to surge. After placing a soft, air-light kiss on his cheek to perfect her new, gentle persona, she whispered her last words, "Goodbye, Tanken. I love you."

Tanken would never remember exactly what happened after that. He felt his body open up to her jutsu and accept the entirety of her chakra in a heartbeat. It was simultaneously the most invigorating and the most excruciating thing he had felt in his short life. With his hands still clutching the tree and having never truly broken his Life Siphon Jutsu, his chakra flared and a familiar emerald light brightened the area. Tanken chanced to look at hands and was shocked at what he saw; the aura was so intense that it looked like his skin was on fire with it. Biting his lip to keep from screaming from the sudden influx of energy, Tanken could feel the tree's life force being sucked into him involuntarily, his body craving it as if he had just spent a week in the desert and he was finally holding a jug of fresh water.

He could hear the tree groaning and creaking under his touch as it weakened in order to feed his body. As time went on, he felt his open wounds sealing up, the blood ceasing to flow from him. He couldn't stop from groaning aloud as his skin started to force the blades in his back and legs out, the tissues under them regenerating once they were gone. He made himself hold onto the tree, willing away the pain as he heard weapon after weapon fall to the ground with soft thuds, though he could still feel some of the blades stubbornly remaining in his back. Next, he felt the marrow in his bones burning as they produced more blood cells so his body could continue functioning. When he couldn't take anymore, he ripped his hands from the tree with a tremendous gasp, his breaths coming in loud pants. Gazing around him, he spotted Mai's lifeless body on the ground to his left, having fallen off of him after the transfer. Remembering her request that he leave her, he noted his location and silently vowed to return soon in order to bury her properly.

Tanken stood up with a loud groan and could feel at least five weapons still in his back. Bending his knees to get the new blood flowing, he turned his eyes to the sky to find his position by the direction the Sun was shining from. He could tell that he was well south of the village, most likely in the Land of Fire by that point. Regardless, he knew for certain that there was no way he was getting to the Land of Rain in his condition. While Tanken felt better, he knew it wouldn't be long before he would have to stop again to rest. He tried to think of any friendly villages in the area only to remember that Honzogakure had been set up to stay away from the local peoples, not interact with them.

Then it hit him. 'The Hidden Stone Village sent us to the Land of Grass,' he thought, 'But Roken said it himself. I'm from the Hidden Plant Village, not the Hidden Stone Village. They have enemies, but we left everybody alone. I doubt anyone outside of our attackers knows we even existed. Besides, the Stone Village was probably the one that attacked us. If anything, I should make my way straight for one of their enemies, at least until I figure out what's going on.'

The problem was that because there was such little interaction with other settlements, he didn't know the locations of any outposts or towns in the Land of Fire. Finding no other options for the moment, he let out a shaky sigh and continued walking through the forest in a southerly direction. It wasn't long, however, before Tanken's body started to wear down, just as he had predicted. He had managed to find a large dirt path in the dense woods, but there were no signs of civilization otherwise. Forcing back his pain, he thought about trying to remove the blades in his back to allow himself to heal. The problem was that he wasn't sure exactly where the weapons were or how many were still in him. He wasn't about to rip chunks of metal from his body and risk permanent damage, not to mention he didn't know if he had enough chakra to perform the Life Siphon Jutsu again. After considering the options, Tanken decided to trudge forward, continuing down the path.

Try as he might, however, he couldn't hold out for long. Exhausted from running, physically and psychologically drained from the night's events, and close to breaking down into tears once more from the overwhelming sense of loss, he finally found himself unable keep going. His legs gave out after a moment, letting his body fall hard onto the dirt road. Incapable of moving but too conscious to pass out, Tanken simply let his eyes close and inhaled the scent of the area around him. He found that it was definitely different from Honzogakure. Not bad, just different. The air was less moist than that of his village's, but it was not unpleasantly dry. The ground was soft, but not muddy, making it surprisingly comfortable to lie face first in. The atmosphere was calm and serene, and for the first time since he had left the cave behind the water, he felt that he could honestly rest.

As he sighed, his breath kicked up some of the dirt and dust on the road, a bit of it sticking to his sweat-soaked cheeks. After a few minutes of relaxation, he felt himself finally preparing to drift off to sleep. Tanken could no longer feel the blades in his back as he entered the zone in between consciousness and slumber. His breathing steadied and soon his muscles relaxed, his mind beginning to wind down with the rest of him. As he continued his descent into unconsciousness, he swore he heard voices speaking over him. One of them, a young male's, sounded slightly tense, but mostly bored, "This looks troublesome. What happened here?"

The next voice his mind heard sounded feminine, "Out of the way! Let me get close! Oh, wow, look at his shirt and all the kunai and shuriken in his back. He must've been in a huge fight."

The first voice responded, "More like a massacre. Talk about overkill."

A third voice, a different male, sounded muffled, as if it was talking between a bite of food, "Wait a sec, guys, I think I saw him move. Is he breathing? And is that a forehead protector wrapped around his head?"

There was a pause, and for a second, Tanken thought something was touching his neck before his mind reassured him that none of it was real. A moment later, the only female voice in the group sounded once more, "Let's see, weak pulse, but there's one there, multiple puncture wounds-"

The very first voice sounded again, "No kidding, there're about ten daggers in his back."

"Shut _up_, Shikamaru," was the quick response. "Dried blood all over his back and on his shirt… He shouldn't even be _alive_. Alright, hold him steady. I need to get these weapons out of him. Ready? And… _now_."

Tanken was asleep before he felt the first kunai being pulled from his body.

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_A/N: Alright, that chapter is done. That took me a lot longer to edit than I thought it would, but I guess my writing wasn't as good as I thought it was. Anyways, now that the scene has been set, expect to see a little less of Tanken and more of the canon characters. The saga continues in Chapter 2: The Awakening._


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