Naruto Another

A numb coldness overtook Sora when he woke up. He slowly opened his eyes to see three figures looking down at him. He raised his hand up, not quite sure what he was reaching for, and then someone grabbed it. The hand was cold, metallic, and weighty, but the fact that it was there provided Sora with some comfort.

"For a man as big as you are, you're one hell of a softy Tsubaki."

The man known as Tsubaki was quite the giant standing at 6ft exactly, and wore tough steel armor coupled with a samurai's helm. He was covered from head to toe in metal and looked extremely dangerous.

Sora let go of the man's hand, and instinctively brought it to his stomach feeling a slick bandage across it - it hurt. As the daze of sleep, and cold went away his memories started to come back. He did not want to follow in his brother's footsteps, and instead wanted to become his own man and make his own decisions. Sora felt that the best way to do that was to leave Amegakure, but in his escape, he'd come across a disturbing scene. A carriage that had been flipped on its side, and those it was carrying torn apart.

The images flashed through Sora's mind forcing him to sit up, turn to his side, and barf onto the cold icy ground - the heat from it radiating up and into the wind.

A man a bit shorter than Tsubaki, but very hefty snorted with his arms crossed. He was wearing a ragged fur coat that looked to be eons old, and rife with dandruff. Sora looked up at him and remembered something else. He'd been stabbed, and this was the man that did it.

"Y-You stabbed me," he cried out, his voice hoarse and dry. The cold air hurt his windpipe.

"Aye he did!" Another voice admitted. Sora turned to see a third man, a much skinner one with his arms crossed.

"You drew your steel, and that meant you were looking to kill. Don't you rich folk know bout' the Rule of Roads?"

Sora looked the man up, and down and noticed that he'd stolen his boots. Sora looked at his own feet, and saw that they'd been wrapped up in old burly leather sacks. They were uncomfortable, cold, and wet.

"Those are mine! Give them back!" Sora yelled, reaching for the man.

Before he could get close at all Tsubaki slammed his heavy metal gauntlet across the boy's face. Sora went spinning onto the ground landing in his own barf coughing up blood, and grime.

The burly man that had stabbed him from before brought his foot down on Sora's head, and rubbed him into his own fluids.

'It h-hurts.' The pain, the cold dizzying pain was all he could think about.

"I don't think you're understandin' your situation boy. So let me explain it to you."

"See what was gonna happen was you were gonna bleed out nice and slow like right there in the snow. Then we was gonna take ya for everything ya got, organs and all. But see Tsubaki here knows a thing or two bout' you village folk, and he pointed out that you're a part of the Norigami family - somethin' about rocks, and mining I don't know or care bout the whole story, but the short of it is you're valuable to the Kusakyu."

'How did this happen? How did they know who I was?'

The large man knelt down, and grabbed Sora by his hair pulling him up just enough to meet his gaze.

"Next time don't go wanderin' around with armor that's got your family crest on it. Idiot."

His words hit Sora like a sack of bricks.

'Why didn't I think about that? All this planning to escape why didn't I ever consider how bad things were on the outside? Why am I so stupid?' Sora clenched his fists in frustration.

"So here's what's gonna happen next."

Sora didn't need him to explain it. It's as he said his family had important connections to the Kusakyu clan. They'd use him as a hostage to extort the Kusakyu out of whatever they could, and once he was returned his family would likely be disgraced and mocked. That's the exact opposite of what he wanted to happen. He wanted to leave Ame and disappear into the night never to be seen again.

"I-I just didn't want to cause anyone trouble," Sora whispered.

"Aye? You say something?"

"I- You don't need to explain anything. I know what happens next."

"Good, so now we're all on the same page. You already know Tsubaki over there. He ain't much for words, but he's strong as hell. My name is Aoi, and this skinny fuck here is Straw."

"Hiya!" Straw said.

After the introductions were over Tsubaki grabbed Sora, and pulled him up. Once he was situated he got another look at his surroundings. They were still on the part of the Rain Road that encircled Amegakure. A few meters in front of the group was the wagon Sora had discovered earlier; the human remains shrouded in mist and darkness.

"D-Did you three..."

"Hmm? Oh, that hot mess? What, you think we got the time to tear flesh apart like that?"

"Y-You did say you'd take out my organs."

Aoi looked up at the sky in thought.

"Hmm, yeah guess I did say that, but that's a little different."

"Results is all the same though." Straw said. "Still end up a feast for crows."

"Yeah, well Straw what we do there's an art to it there's skill involved, and hell we don't take everything."

Aoi looked at the wagon.

"No, that there - that's shinobi work. Inuzuka pups if I had to guess with the Civil War and all."

The Civil War. That was something Sora did know about.

"B-But father told me the fighting wasn't this close to the village."

Straw and Aoi started to laugh, their voices echoing into the night.

"When's the last time your daddy stepped outside the village? Huh, kid? How often does anyone between those walls actually step outside em?"

Sora didn't think of that. His father had weekly meetings with the other family heads, and monthly meetings with the Kusakyu. A lot of the news and information regarding the state of the village had been passed down through those meetings, and naturally, his dad talked to him and his mom about it usually over dinner. But even then Sora had heard the guards talk about the state of the village's affairs as well, and they didn't seem to know any more than he did.

"S-So that means."

"Either your daddy lied to you, or someone is lying to your daddy," Aoi snorted again, "Which ain't all that surprising. If everyone knew how bad things were out here your nice and comfy lives inside would get flipped upside down."

Before Sora could parse through that thought Tsubaki had spoken up. His voice was deep but eloquent. He was well-spoken for someone who lived outside Amegakure.

"Let's get moving."

Aoi, and Straw started to stretch, and yawn.

"Yeah, I guess we should. Those corpses are still fresh ain't they? Saw the smoke comin' up off em when we got here." Straw said.

And so the group started to move. Sora felt a little relieved when they did since they were heading toward Ame's north entrance, the same place he'd planned on going.

As they walked Sora realized they didn't have him restrained. There wasn't anything stopping him from running away or escaping into the darkness. If he ran back the way he came he could sneak back through the hidden entrance, and forget this night ever happened.

'I know better than that.'

The three of them had wasted precious time, and resources keeping him alive. If Sora ran now they'd undoubtedly catch him, and treat him much more harshly - Sora wanted to avoid that. Also, if the three of them were heading toward the front gates then that could mean...

"Are you three mercenaries?" Sora asked.

There was no response. His three captors stayed quiet, clearly refusing to answer the question.

"If so, please don't take me back to my parents. Let me join-"

"Stop talking," his tirade was cut short by Tsubaki, the tallest, and strongest of the three.

"I don't understand. I want to be free like you three, I want to be able to travel the world, and go on adventures."

"Will you shut the hell up!?" Straw lashed out, his voice echoing through the night.

"But I-"

"You know what?" Straw walked over to Sora, and punched him in the gut. The boy fell to the ground coughing and wheezing again; his head pounding like a drum.

When Sora looked up, Straw punched him again. The blows were tough, and hard but not as bad as Tsubaki's gauntlet. Straw proceeded to take off the boy's leather armor. Underneath it Sora wore knitted thermals to help protect him from the cold. For some reason that made Straw angrier, but despite that he dawned Sora's armor, and to keep the boy from talking he gagged his mouth shut with a set of thick rope.

"Now that'll keep you quiet."