History Lessons (I)

“Well then, cross me off the list. I might be a bit of an M, but I am not a complete masochist” Yoruichi pointed out drily with a huff.

“Neither am I” I added my own piece after a small pause. “Well, Namaikina is a total sadist, I believe” I muttered thoughtfully when I glanced at the second requirement.

“True…” Yoruichi trailed off with a thoughtful look on her face. Then she pulled out a kunai from her hip pouch and slashed the scroll, surprising me.

“The fuck are you doing, Yoruichi?! We need to take this to Kumo or we fail the mission” I panicked, looking horrified at her actions.

“I almost died on this mission, so I am keeping this for myself even though I have no use for this” Yoruichi answered while waving around the second part of the scroll, which she decided to keep. “And as for the damage, we had to face a Jonin and we were unable to protect the scroll during the fight” Yoruichi said with a grin.

I narrowed my eyes on her. I thought that she was going to be loyal to Kumo… “So, that is the story you are going to feed them?” I asked with a frown.

“Yes, are we going to have a problem?” Yoruichi asked, her voice gaining an edge.

“No. We are not going to have a problem as long as I can use the scroll, just in case” I answered without wasting any time. After all, I didn’t want to get skanked by my own fuck buddy and from the look on her face, I was sure that she was going to skank me if I said the wrong thing.

Yoruichi stared at me intently for the next few seconds, inspecting me, before her features finally started to relax. “Mah. Mah… Don’t worry about that. We are in this together” Yoruichi returned to her usual persona as she dismissively waved her hand. I wonder how she is planning to deal with Namaikina though.

“We don’t have to worry about Namaikina since she already agreed to play along in return for the three-bladed scythe” Yoruichi added, making me blink in surprise.

“Really? I thought she would be more loyal than that” I muttered with a thoughtful look on my face.

“She is loyal, but she believes in the motto ‘finders keepers’ and since we found it, it rightfully belongs to us and since none of us planning to use such a janky weapon, she decided to take it” Yoruichi explained with a grin and after a few moments, I nodded my head in understanding. That sounded just like something Namaikina would do.

“Alright. So, what are we going to say if they ask about the other part of the scroll?” I asked curiously.

“Don’t worry, leave that to me” Yoruichi answered with a bright smile on her face. To be honest, I wanted to have a bit more reassurance than that, but I decided to drop the matter for the time being.

After that, the two of us simply decided to spend our time in silence while thinking about stuff. I came this close to dying on the mission… I genuinely thought I was going to die and I couldn’t help but feel helpless at that time. I was angry, frustrated, and annoyed, but more than anything else, I felt helpless at my own weakness.

I was only eleven years old and I was training as hard as I could, but that wasn’t enough… I was better than all of my peers, but I lacked experience and power. In front of real powerhouses, I was probably nothing. It was a wake-up call if nothing else… If I really wanted to survive the upcoming war then I needed to become much stronger.

All of a sudden, I was broken out of my musings when Yoruichi started to speak. “You know, once upon a time I was loyal to Kumo. Loyal enough to happily lay down my life knowing that I am sacrificing my life for Kumo-” Yoruichi chuckled mirthlessly. Her eyes and voice were completely hollow, sending shivers down my spine.

“-but a year and a half ago, my eyes were opened to reality… We are nothing more than expendable pieces for our Villages” Yoruichi spat out with a sneer. “We were sent to an island near Kiri, to hold the ground. We were supposed to receive reinforcements, but the reinforcements never arrived and we couldn’t retreat since we were ordered to hold the ground” Yoruichi continued to speak hollowly.

“A lot of us tried to run away, but all of them were killed for desertion by our superiors. Our superiors turned them into examples. ‘They are deserters, don’t be a deserter’” Yoruichi mocked, trying to mimic her superiors. “So, we stayed our ground. It was a bloody battle. It was a losing battle, We were outnumbered and outgunned, but we still held on until all of our superiors were dead” Yoruichi finished solemnly.

“By the time that happened, both of my teammates were long dead and I was barely standing, with only three choices in front of me. I could either surrender, fight to the death, or run away. I couldn’t surrender because I knew very well what would happen to Kunoichis after they surrendered to enemy forces. I didn’t want to die, so I simply ran and ran until Kumo was in my sight” Yoruichi sighed.

“The next time I woke up, I found myself in the hospital with my hands cuffed to the bed. Apparently, I was a deserter-” Yoruichi chuckled mirthlessly before she turned to look at me. She looked straight into my eyes. “-but they decided to take it easy on me and simply saddle me with two Genins” Yoruichi revealed. Did she hate us for that?

“I don’t hate either of you when I know it is not your fault… I might have hated the two of you if I hadn’t discovered the reason why the reinforcements were never sent” Yoruichi growled out and I could see the hate and anger in her eyes.

“They wanted us to die. It was basically a political manoeuvre to gain the sympathy of the Daimyō and the people, so they could gather bigger forces and invade Kiri, but before they could take advantage of our sacrifice, Uzushio fucked up their plans, with their last Fuck You!” Yoruichi finished and started to laugh.

I decided not to say anything… What could I even say? I could never understand the horrors she went through, and I don’t think she wanted my pity. So, I simply decided to keep my mouth shut and I think she preferred that over me trying to comfort her… After some moments, she simply snaked her arm around my arm and snuggled closer with her head resting on my shoulder.

Well, now I finally knew what the hell happened to her last team and now I knew for sure that I couldn’t trust Kumo…