Game of the Year: A Naruto Quest

For a long moment, you're frozen. The only movement you can make is the heavy heaving of your chest as you struggle against sudden terror to breathe. How- what- why? The man carried you when you were nothing more than a baby, walked you around the village, and has been a constant presence in this life ever since the beginning. And now he wants you dead?!

...no. No. You won't let this happen. You won't be killed here. You still have so much left to do and you can't let it end like this! You won't let yourself die! But more importantly, you won't let Mother die! The two of you deserve so much more than to be cut down in a sneak attack!

Plans flash in your mind faster than you can comprehend them. Ideas ricochet through your synapses and without conscious input, you move.

You turn and dart for the door, sprinting as quickly as your weary muscles will go. Tomorrow, if you live, you'll feel this, but for right now adrenaline is kicking in and it's a hell of a drug. As you run, you call over your shoulder, "I'll get help!"

Behind you, there's a flurry of motion and another snarl of pain. You don't have to look to know that Mother is down again. Heavy footsteps begin to echo down the hallway before abruptly coming to a halt. You chance a glance to see that Tokei has made it to the mouth of the hall- and that Mother is holding onto his ankle like a woman possessed. You've never seen an expression like the one she's wearing now; like a demon from hell risen to slay their mortal enemy.

But she's not a demon, and she can't fight like one. Tokei's able to pull his ankle free from her grasp with almost no issue. He rears back to deliver a kick and your heart stops. From that ankle, he could break her neck! You've got to stop him.

And thankfully, you get the chance to do so before he delivers the kick. You reach out and grab his sword-

"A Samurai's soul is in my sword, Daisuke. It is not a toy. Never touch it."

-in your hand. You hoist it up high for him to see, the long blade scraping the side of the wall. "I've got your sword!" you call out, voice high and frightened. Before anyone can react you keep running, sliding through the open door as fast as you can. Behind you, you hear a roar of anger completely at odds with Tokei's grim detachment, and heavy footsteps start pounding on the soft wood of the hallway. You can only hope you managed to distract him before he could hurt Mother any further; stopping to check could be fatal.

You hit the dirt road in front of your house in a dead sprint, turning left instinctively. Towards that way lies the center square, which means the Hokage Tower and the heart of the village, which means higher security. If you can just draw a shinobi's attention before Tokei reaches you, you might be able to live through the night.

The sound of your front door exploding outwards announces Tokei's escape from your home. You add to the noise with a scream of your own. "Help! Help!" you call out, choking out the words through a too-dry throat. "I need help!" You can only hope that anyone that hears you doesn't think this is some kind of stupid game.

You don't get a chance to see if you're heard; Tokei's thundering footsteps are behind you in an instant. You feel more than see his hand reaching out for you and you move, trying to dodge like you did against Gai-sensei earlier today. But earlier today you weren't carrying a two-foot sword and you weren't being kept on your feet by sheer adrenaline. You overbalance and fall, tumbling forward.

"Daisuke," Tokei growls. "I know this is unfair. But still; meet your end with dignity. Perhaps you will have a better fate in the next life."

...you want to put off your next life as long as possible. Which is why your answer is to grope at the dirt path and spin, launching a cloud of dust into your attackers face.

Tokei, leaning in to remove the sword from your hands, takes it full in the eyes. He freezes for an instant, sputtering to clear his face of the dirt. But it only takes him a second to clear his eyes and ignore the rest. It's what you expected from a trained warrior like Tokei, and it's all you really need. You're outside of his reach by the time he's clear, running with everything you have.

Your arms pump wildly, your lungs burn. Thank god for Gai-sensei; without all your phantom training and your dedication punching Mr. Straw, you would have been caught long before now. But it's not going to be enough. Tokei's footsteps resume; he's going to catch you soon.

You wail and you yell as loud as you can. All around you you can hear grunts of protest from people who went to bed early and calls of alarm from people surprised by your volume, but no one comes out to check what's making the racket. Either there're no shinobi around or they don't hear anything out of the ordinary. With a sinking feeling, you get the sense that help isn't coming any time soon.

A shadow rises behind you, cast by the streetlight. Without thinking you can only move, dodging sharply to the left between two buildings. The shadow misses, Tokei's grasping arm smashing through the air you used to stand in a fraction of a second too late. But the blow did it's job; you're off the main path. You're in an alleyway now, and the only way out is blocked by a seething Samurai.

Tokei doesn't make a move towards you. Instead he extends his hand. "Give me the sword Daisuke, and I will end this quickly. Please. This is hard enough already."

"I'm sorry that killing me is so hard!" you spit back. You're still terrified, but the fear is a constant dull roar, allowing anger to make it's return. "Maybe next time you should build up to! Maybe slaughter a puppy first!"

Tokei's expression is hooded in the shadows. "I understand that this is difficult for you to understand," he grates out. "But there are some things more important than one person's life. The sanctity of the Land of Iron is one such thing."

He advances, and you back away. You need to stall for time. Maybe if you keep him talking, you can buy that time and someone will finally show up! "The sanctity of Iron? Why would killing me save that?!"

"I will tell you when we meet in the next life," is the response.

Fuck. Well, that plan's out.

Which leaves you with one idea. One horrible, terrible, never going to work idea. But it's all you have- and you will try everything before you just lie down and die.

"Fine!" you say. Proudly, you detect a note of your Mother's own snarl in your voice. "Take your stupid sword!" And you point it at him, tip first.

Tokei looks… old. And very, very tired. "I thank you," he intones. "I shall make this as quick as I can." He reaches out, grabs the sheath, and pulls-

And you pull back, unsheathing the blade.

You do not know how to use a sword. Tokei never let you do so much as touch his weapon before, and any attempt you made was always rebuffed. You don't know the simplest of slashes, the most basic of counters, or anything at all about manipulating the blade with chakra like a Samurai does.

But what you do know how to do is stick the pointy end into something you want to stop moving. And all you need is one clean shot.

The steel gleams. Tokei makes a noise of surprise. There's a terrible resistance-

And then it's over.

You don't know how long you stand there in a gory tableau, Tokei's body slumped over top of you, coating you with his lifeblood. It could be hours. It could be days. More likely, it's seconds before you hear a cry of alarm and the body jerks back. You flinch despite feeling the dead weight- could he know a technique to survive getting stabbed through the throat?- and dodge back.

But the body just sags as it's pulled from the steel, and you get a look at the people that removed it. There's two of them. Dark hair. Blue clothes. Angular features. Fans on their shoulder. These two have to be members of the Military Police.

Before they can say a word, before you realize what you're doing you stagger up, glaring at them both. "Where were you?!" you scream out, voice raw from overuse. "Where were you?! I… I-"

The sword in your hand moves as your hands shake, sending the steel lashing back and forth like the tail of an angry cat. The two Uchiha stay carefully out of range. "Son?" one asks. "Please. Put the sword down and we'll take care of-"

"Where were you?!" You yell out again hysterically. Your chest rises and falls as you gulp back sobs. Your shaking intensifies as the adrenaline starts to fade. "Where?! I called and I screamed and I called and-"

One of the police drops to a knee just outside sword reach. "It's okay, son," he says, voice carefully calm. "It'll all over. It'll be alright. Just keep your eyes on mine. Focus on my eyes and-"

His eyes flash red mid word.

And you're out like a light.
***
You spend an hour in police custody as they piece together exactly what happened, but you're not conscious for that. You only wake up when you're safely at the hospital. A day is spent there as they make sure you're physically alright- and then another day when someone from the police comes to give you a formal apology for their slow response time-apparently brought on by under staffing the upper class area you live in- and you nearly have to be put out again. But after those few days, you're allowed to go home with no issues.

Mother isn't that lucky. She survived, thank all that's holy, but she was never a fighter. The few blows Tokei gave her broke bones; she's going to be in the hospital for quite some time. You go to see her the moment you can; she's in good spirits, making the nurse's lives miserable, but otherwise seems unchanged from the experience. At least, she seems that way to anyone who doesn't know her.

You know better.

There's something in the way she hugs you. Something in the way her eyes slide towards you every few moments, even when she's talking to someone else, as if she's reassuring herself that you're still there.

The scars Tokei left may not be physical- mostly- but they're still there.

When you can't visit Mom, you stay home. Gai-sensei drops by every day, full of remorse and regret, but he keeps you busy. At least he does until he's given a mission and vanishes. Before he goes, he tells you that your declaration is accepted. You're going to be a ninja.

...hooray.

When he leaves, that leaves your house feeling cold and empty. No Mother. No Gai-sensei. No visitors. And no Tokei. Even though he rarely spoke and you were never close with him, the feeling of his absence is still impossible to describe. You keep expecting to glimpse him out of the corner of your eye, face pinched in disapproval, but he's never there.

The more you think about who's not there, the more you think about what just happened.

Tokei just tried to kill you. You barely survived and only managed to return the favor because of sheer luck. But still… he tried to kill you.

Why?

You spend days putting it all together. Rummaging through Tokei's belongings, going through Mother's correspondence, doing things you can only do when you're home alone. But by then end of it you think you have the complete picture.

Over the years, you've wondered about exactly who your parents are. You've had ideas but never anything concrete. Now you know.

Your father is Imagawa Toishi- the Daimyo of the Land of Iron. But your mother isn't his wife; she was his concubine. His favored one apparently. From the stories you put together, he saw her walking the streets of Inkuru and simply had to have her. They were happy together and Mother loved him deeply. So deeply that she simply had to bear his child.

And so she began to ignore her birth control- and you were born. And that's where the danger began, for you were born the day that Lady Imagawa announced her own first pregnancy. But you were the firstborn.

Another lord may have bashed your skull against a rock and put Mother to death immediately. But Imagawa would not. He loved Mother as well, and swore he would do her no harm. Instead she was banished, taking you with her. She was placed in the most secure location he could negotiate to live out the rest of her life in peace.

And as for you? You were to be allowed to live as well, so deep was the love between the Daimyo and Mother. But you could garner no recognition. You could hold no accolades, you could do nothing to make a name for yourself. If you were to do so, malcontents in Inkuru could use you as a puppet to unseat the rightful Daimyo. And worse, should you become a shinobi of Konoha, they could do the same, putting you in the seat before attempting to annex the Land of Iron itself.

And so, Tokei acted.

And so he died.

Now you're left in an empty house with nothing but your thoughts, your dummies, and Tokei's sword. The later was given to you by the police after they deemed you not a threat to yourself and others, and the second you touched it the game let out a fanfare and declared that you had 'defeated the boss and claimed your spoils'. For once, you couldn't care less. You're not in the mood.

You have nothing to do right now but train, and think. Think about the fears of Tokei and a far distant Daimyo.

Think about if you should make them come true.

What are your intentions regarding the Land of Iron?
[] [IRON] Nothing. You will do nothing about the Land of Iron. They're far away, and the best revenge is to forget about them entirely.
[] [IRON] You don't know. Everything is too confusing, moving too quickly right now. You'll tuck your thoughts about everything into a little corner of your mind and ignore them. For now.
[] [IRON] They made an assassin of the one you thought was your protector, drove you to kill a man, and hurt your Mother. You will see the entire country burn or be ground beneath your heel.
[] [IRON] Write-In ()

You were awarded Tokei's sword as loot for defeating him. What will you do with it?
[] [SWORD] You will use it.
[] [SWORD] You will get rid of it.
[] [SWORD] You will destroy it.
[] [SWORD] You will send it to his family.
[] [SWORD] Write-In ()