Awakening the Sharingan [Closed]

It was early morning in Sunagakure and Kaibuku Uchiha slept soundly in his bed. The tall boy's legs hung off the ned of his slightly too short bed and his pillows and duvet were strewn about the room, they occupied spaces anywhere but for what they were intended. As he slumbered a scene was playing out in his subconscious mind. The boy had been transformed into a toad with his most distinguishing features kept, his long, black dreadlocks. Around him were three other toads, two larger toads who had no distinguishable features, one male one female. Accompanying them, riding on the back of the larger male toad was a smaller male toad who had a burn scar running down his neck.

The knot of toads traveled along the embankment of a stream, it was a nice day in a temperate idyllic countryside. Although no speech occurred and only occasionally croaks from the throats of the toads, Kai could tell that the other three toads were a happy family. He hopped along behind them, it brought a smile to his face since his own family was so scattered. As the knot of toads left the side of the stream they eventually came to a pathway. The family crossed before Kai and he watched as they hopped across the road. Before they reached the other side of the pathway a giant foot appeared from nowhere and squished the family of toads. Kai took one leap forward before he suddenly was not asleep anymore. 

Kai now sat upright in his bed, intensely sweating. "What the hell was that?" Kai said to himself as he grabbed the waterskin that rested on his bedside table and downed the contents. Kai looked out the window and saw that it was morning enough to get up, today he had a meeting with Fukuwari and they were meant to train. Kai prepared for the day ahead, showering eating, and dressing. Kai dressed in his usual garb, firstly he put on the lightweight bodysuit that covered him from toes to neck. Over the top of it, Kai wore an undersuit of shinobi mesh that his clothes tuck into at the elbows and just below the knees. On top of the mesh, covering his torso he wears a deep v-necked shirt, tucked into a pair of ankle-length trousers. Covering his feet he has high-top boots. Over the top of his trousers, he also wears a piece of cloth that covers down to just above the knees and buttons across the front, in the middle of the cloth hangs a sash with the village headband on it, it is slightly shorter than the sash itself.

Making his way to the gate of the village, Kai showed his i.d. badge to the gate guard and signed out of the village. Kai passed through the cleft gates and made his way to the meeting point. It took Kai an hour of brisk walking to reach the strange oasis that stuck out in the land of Wind. As a valley dropped into the floor the landscape changed from one of an arid desert to something that looked more like a tropical rainforest. Although the colors changed drastically, the atmosphere itself was the same as the desert before it. Kai could not work out if it was a mirage or some sort of st field that allowed the place to change so drastically. However, it did not matter much as all he did was do physical training here, which sucked either way.

Palm trees ringed around the area and a few shallow pools lay about, but the center point was taken up by a natural well. The well was a portal to Mount Myoboku, it was fiercely defended by the toads and no village shinobi was allowed to enter. The toads did not harbor Shinobi that belong to a lord or village since it might cause war with opposing factions, and the Toads of Mount Myoboku were truly natural. They taught anyone they deemed of the right moral standing, putting them on the path to becoming a sage. Many did not make it but had their abilities and strength greatly enhanced nonetheless. Kai waited by the portal, he sat next to it and read through a book he had in his weapon pouch for these exact situations. Although he had signed a contract with the toads of Mount Myoboku and had learned the summoning jutsu he had as of this point not been able to summon any toads. Fukuwari told him that it was because he was weak, and put him through daily physical training. So when he arrived and the Fukuwari, the toad of rage was not here all he could do is sit and wait. Although Kai preferred that he was the one waiting for Fukuwari instead of the other way round, the toad of rage did not like to be kept waiting.

After another 30 minutes passed the portal that lies a meter below the line of the well started to distort. Kai stood up and put his book away, he knew something was coming through the portal and prepared himself to meet the rage of his teacher, Fukuwari. However instead of his usual teacher out bounded two toads that he had not met before. The first of the two was a 5m tall toad whose skin has a light blue outline, and his stomach and back were a paler blue. He wore a large backpack that clips around his front and also a bumbag. His arms and legs both have storage devices strapped around them, such as holsters and pouches. The second was a small red and black toad that was 15cm tall and 5cms wide. The red of his skin was deep and is accented by black lines along the edge of his arms and legs and three distinct thick black lines that start at his forehead and run down his back, giving him the appearance of speed stripes. He had a pair of stylized goggles that he wore on his head presumably to keep the wind out of his eyes when he is jumping fast. They were Fukukato the pack toad and Fukuhama the mini toad of speed.

WC: 1039

The pack toad bounded out of the portal and hopped another time, putting him over Kaibuku's head. Fukukato was 5m tall and proportionately wide. He landed and turned back towards Kai, then sat down on his haunches and rested his face on the ground. On top of his head was a much smaller toad, he bounded up and down rhythmically, not being able to sit still. "Kai, KaiKai, Kaibuku,"  The smaller toad said in a very high-pitched and fast-paced voice. "Job for you, job for you. Fukuwari away. You look after family. Quick, quick, go, go, follow." As the mini toad of speed jumped he beckoned Kai towards him.

Kai started to walk along the side of the two toads, Fukukato bound along big leaps at a time, but at a very slow pace. The giant toad would land and then almost wind up his next jump in slow motion like he was coiling a spring that had an immense amount of force in the opposing direction. Kai could keep up with him with a brisk walking pace. On top of the pack toad a stark contrast of Fukuhama, who could not sit still and was in constant motion, leaping up and down, occasionally adding in a flip or a spiral as he did so. However, he did not seem to mind the pace his bigger slower comrade set and was quite happy bouncing on his own. The conversation flowed between Kai and Fukuhama but very rarely did Fukukato chime in. Fukuhama had a nack of cutting off a sentence and answering a question before it had fully been asked. 

"So what is the mission?" Kai asked as they bounded along, the normal introductions and polite chatter out of the way. Fukuhama jumped once more and performed a 90-degree turn as he was in the air and landed back on the pack toad, but so he was facing kai. Immediately he began to jump up again but this time with slight side-to-side movement so that he kept his place on the giant bounding toad. "Yes, yes. Family important. Passed sage family. yes, yes. Sage dead, family live. Important to toads. Very important. Nearly toad themselves. Fukuwari look after, gone now, gone now. Now you look after. Wife son son." Kai took a second to translate the mini toad of speed words, he spoke in a very peculiar way and did not use conjunctions. "Are they in danger? Or is this a more 'just in case' deal?" Kai's interest peeked, this had been the first mention of a sage since his initial meeting with the Toads of Mount Myoboku, and the first time he had done anything other than physical strength training. "Yes, yes. No, no no. Always danger, never targetted." 

The trio walked and hopped for another hour before arriving at their destination. The terrain had quickly turned back to what one expected out of the Wind country, arid, lifeless, and windy. Fukuhama had begun to do spirals in every leap he took, getting higher and higher as they journeyed towards their destination. He talked constantly, sometimes to himself, and rarely looked for a reply. In the distance, Kai began to see a building with some disturbing terrain surrounding it. Fukukato stopped bounding and turned to Kai and spoke for the first time since introducing himself "If you need us, you know the jutsu. Call and we will come". The toad bowed its head slightly and performed a handseal, then in a puff of smoke was gone. Fukuhama gracefully jumped upwards and performed the same handseal, "Bye, Bye, go, go." before he landed he also disappeared in a puff of smoke.

WC: 611
TWC: 1650

It was around midday when the trio had arrived at the homestead. Kai was used to seeing places like this in his native country, due to the arable land. However, this was the first time he had seen a farm in the Wind country. The farmhouse was a decent size and looked like it could house four or five people comfortably. After all available land out here would not be the problem, the desert had so much unclaimed real estate. The issue is the ability to cultivate things and the security of said land. Around the farmhouse appeared to be plots of crops, although from the distance he sat at Kai could not tell what they were growing. Next to the house was a large single-story barn, Kai could see a horse roaming around inside near the door. Kai continued to watch the homestead from his position for another hour, there were little spurts of activity here and there but generally, the occupants tended to stay within the house or the barn outside of the wind.

Kai sat on a lone rock watching over the house. Suddenly every fiber in his being alerted him to a presence behind him as his muscles tensed, danger. Immediately after he felt this sensation, he heard the whistling of metal flying through the air, an attack. Kai threw his weight forward and rolled off the boulder, half a second later a metallic clang hit off the rock where he was seated. Kai turned and sprung back up so his eyes broke above the edge of the rock. The sight that he saw surprised him, it was a kid, a scrawny malnourished looking kid. The kid was dressed in a loose-fitting t-shirt that was clearly many sizes too big for him, it had tears all over it and was very dirty, he looked perhaps like he lived out in the wilderness. Over the top of the t-shirt, he wore a chunin flak jacket, that once again was far too big for him and was equally dirty. Kai recognized it as one that would belong to a Sunagakure chunin. "That's where he got the kunai from then," Kai noted to himself as he saw it laying on the floor next to him. On top of his head the kid wore a bucket, the handle strapped loosely around his chin to attempt to keep it on his head, but even as Kai noted this the bucket slipped to the side and the kid re-adjusted it.

Kai held his hands up above his head, pointing the fingers straight upward. "I surrender, you got me, kid," Kai said as he slowly raised his body and stood up straight, keeping his hands pointing upward. "What's your name? I'm Kaibuku" Kai kept his voice level and tried to sound friendly. "Don't you move" The kid said as he wiped his nose with his sleeve and then pointed his hand towards Kai. "I'm the ninja of these parts and I won't let you bandits take nothin' from us" The kid then balled his fist and shook it in front of his face, trying to seem threatening. Kai raised an eyebrow, perhaps this kid was from the family. "Hey, Fukuwari sent me, I'm to be your relief," Kai said as he slowly started to move his hand's down not his sides. The kid straightened at the mention of the name "Fukuwari?" he said a surprising look coming over his face. "Yeah, yeah, I'm training to be a sage with the toads," Kai said as he allowed himself to relax, clearly the kid knew the name. Kai began to look around now not so aware of the kid, this was his mistake. The kid walked up to him and toe kicked him straight in the shin. Kai's leg shot up and he grabbed it with both his hands. "WHAT was that f..." Kai began to say as the kid started to flood with tears. "MY DADDY IS THE SAGE, YOU CAN'T REPLACE HIM" Then he punched Kai squarely in the junk "AND THAT'S FOR SPYING ON MY MUMMY". Kai ended up on the floor, his shin aching and his equilibrium completely shot from the attack on his groin. "Well I guess that's the youngest kid," Kai said to himself in a low groan.

WC: 719
TWC: 2369

After a few minutes of painful groaning on the floor, Kai made his way back to his feet. The kid had gone, presumably back to patrolling the vast nothingness around the homestead. The tall Uchiha decided he would go and introduce himself to the rest of the family now, from what Fukuhama had told him there should be an older brother and mother to go along with the kid he just met. As kai neared the house he realized what the family was growing, it was watermelon. Kai approached the house of the door and knocked.

After a few seconds someone answered the door, it was the older son of the family. Now that Kai was stood in front of him he realized how big the man was. He easily stood at 6 foot 4, a few inches above Kai who was tall for his age already. Not only that the man was incredibly well built, clearly the working of the farm had done wonders for his physique. A surprised look was on the man's face "Hello, we don't get many visitors out here". Kai smiled at the man "Yes I have been sent by Fukuwari to watch over the place, I thought I would come and introduce myself". Kai looked over his shoulder, an unpleasant look came over his face "I've already met the youngest". The older brother looked down, a clear look of regret on his face "Yes, he has not taken our father's death well, he stays outside the whole time, sleeps in the barn, and is running around wearing our father's equipment". The chunin jacket and kunai now made more sense to Kai. "I'm Kaibuku," Kai said offering his hand to the big man. The eldest son nodded and shook his hand "I'm Jack, please come in, this is my mother Anna," he said gesturing into the home. on the other side of the room, a woman sat at a table and was carving up a giant watermelon.

The woman looked up from her chore, immediately Kai was struck by kind eyes. "Hello there darling, would you like some watermelon? we were about to eat". Kai had been outside without nourishment for most of the morning and at the mention of the food, his stomach began to turn. Not only was he extraordinarily hungry he also happened to love watermelon. The trio spent the next hour having a simple meal and talking about nothing in particular. "Kai would you take these slices of watermelon to Jr, he normally waits in the barn for food at this time of day. It might be good for him to interact with someone like you, we have done all we can to try and help him, but it's not working". Kai nodded and stood up taking the plate of watermelon from the table and a cup of water.

Kai approached the barn as he entered the doorway the horse he had seen plodding about in the doorway walked up to him. The horse's face got very close to Kai's his mouth opened and a loud neigh came from it followed by a deep snort, then the animal turned around and trotted off into the barn's deeper reaches. Kai had not been around horses much but he did not know them as territorial creatures, but it seemed like the horse was testing his intentions, apparently, Kai had passed that test. Suddenly a voice snapped at him from his right "Turvy don't like no strangers, you should get out of 'is house". Kai smiled back at the boy who had been introduced to him as Jr "Your commanding officer has sent me with some supplies for your mission Jr". The boy could not have been more than 7 years old, the t-shirt and chunin jacket he wore came down to his knees, and the bucket he wore on his head was probably a toy he used himself in simpler times. Kai grew up mostly alone, having his parents be away on whatever missions they took, often not seeing them for months or years at a time. He was looked after by other members of the clan but had no direct family links to them. AS well as this due to the downturn in the Konoha village, there were not a lot of other kids his age, especially in the academy. So other than being the age before he had very little experience dealing with kids, so he did not know how to proceed with this one. The kid certainly seemed smart beyond his years, so Kai was trying not to treat him as if he was stupid, but he was also clearly suffering from turmoil.

WC: 783
TWC: 3152

Kai approached Jr and sat the plate of watermelon slices down on the hay "Eat up, you need to be strong if you are on duty". Kai then walked out of the barn, he assumed if he was not watching then the kid would eat up and not feel too proud to stick to his guns. Kai walked out of the barn door and took a step to the left so he was out of sight of the kid. After a few seconds, Kai heard the plate move and the kid started to eat, this brought a smile to his face and he returned to the main house, leaving Jr with Turvy in the barn.

A few more days passed and Kai helped out around the farmstead there were a lot of chores to take care of outside of the maintenance of the crops. Jack took care of the crops outside and Jr patrolled around the boundary of the farmstead. Kai tried daily to gain some ground with Jr but outside of not kicking him in the shins, there was not much improvement in their relationship. Eventually when Kai, Jack, and Anna were sat having a meal one night, and before Kai went out to find Jr to give him food he asked what had happened to the Sage. Jack pushed his bowl to the side and folded his hands in front of him, Kai knew that it was a heavy question.

"Father was a chunin in the village for a long time, he eventually became a wandering ninja. His loyalty became to the toads instead of to the village, although most of the time they aligned. We tended the farm and he lived his life as a sage of Mount Myoboku, he was the pride of the toads and helped them keep balance all over the continent. I have grown out of admiration for my father, I know that his mission would always come before us, but he knew that the toads would always make up for that. Jr however idolized our father and has taken his death particularly hard. Not even Fukuwari can console him. And as all people in the ninja world know father eventually came up against a foe he could not best and well now he's gone, if you want more specific detail you will have to ask Fukuwari, I did not care to know any more than he's gone and we are now on our own".

Kai listened to the story intently, when it was over he hung his head low, he knew that he could not replace their father and husband even if he did become the next sage. How could he help this little kid who lost a father he barely knew and far too early in his life. Unfortunately, his hand would be forced in the night to come. 

Kai slept in the barn as there were not enough beds within the house. As the night crept in he was awakened by a loud crash and an explosion. Kai rolled from his make-shift bed and rolled out to the front door. The main house was on fire, the main door was collapsed inward and it appeared the roof was entirely gone. Kai saw Jack laying on the ground out the front, he ran over to him and knelt beside h, im, there was blood, a lot of blood. Kai cradled his head as he sputtered up blood "They came from the darkness, I don't know why they kept trying but they have succeeded, I'm done, I don't know where Jr is, Mother is still in the house, maybe she is still alive, do what you can Kai". With those last few words, Jack shifted from his mortal coil. Kai gently let his head touch the floor, he stood up with tears running down his face. He did not understand anything that was happening, all he knew was that he needed to try and save something of this family. Kai vision became blurry, he blinked a couple of times and wiped away the tears with his sleeve, then his eyes appeared red with a tomoe in the corner. Kai looked around him and suddenly could pick out a chakra signature within the house.

Kai made the tiger handseal with his hands and started to push chakra through his system, as it reached his hands he let out a scream of anger as he slammed his hands to the floor. "COME" he shouted once again as a puff of smoke appeared around him. Next to him then stood the imposing figure of Fukukato and on his head was the smaller very not imposing leaping figure of Fukuhama. "Pals, I need your water jutsu to put out the fire, or else the sage's family will be lost for good". Tears continued to run out of the Sharingan that now sat in Kai's eye socket. The toads both made handseals with their hands and huge amounts of water flew from their mouths like living fire hydrants. A break was created in the fire by the toad's water jutsu. Kai rushed into the blazing house and headed towards the chakra signature that he could now see, it was hazy and unable to take any form other than a blob. Kai approached the chakra signature and realized that it was Anna who lay on top of Jr, fire blazing all around them. Anna looked up through teary eyes and cough as the smoke-choked her. She looked upwards and handed off Jr who had passed out to Kai "Get him out". Kai nodded to her and took the 7-year-old "I'm coming straight back for you". Kai rushed out of the house with Jr unconscious in his arms. As he reached the edge of the house he could hear the house start to creak and giveaway. He turned just in time to see a massive flaming beam fall and crush Anna. Kai turned again his face now completely turned to anger, the sorrow he felt now gone. Kai walked out to Fukukato, and placed Jr in his backpack, and slumped next to the toads "This could have gone better".

WC:1029
TWC: 4181

Claiming +27 Speed to max stats. 2000 words for Sharingan, 500 for Fukukato, 250 for Fukuhama, 50 words for 2500/2500 for Temple of Nirvana - previous wordcount, 1312 for Summoning: Iron Maiden, 109 for 275/1000 for Blistering Web C - previous wordcount.

Approved