Reborn
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Chapter 4: Humanity
Shinobi use the shadows to hide their existence, to hide their...true beings. It's not uncommon for a shinobi to betray a comrade or for them to live as one thing, but only for some other purpose. Although it's not uncommon it's not common either and the pain of it all still remains. Those who were betrayed may or may not understand, but regardless if they do or not their own honor bounds them to a path of self righteousness.
I had come far in my skills as a shinobi in the 6 years after realizing the secrets of my clan and my duty. What went through my mind was balance, no chance of failure, the protection of my clan and my duty with everything I had. Like the falcon in which my surname represented, I felt majestic. However, I would soon feel arrow of betrayal pierce my wing and render me in a state of disillusion that would last my whole life up until the moments before my death when I finally healed. The arrow that strikes me doesn't only spark from betrayal but from lapses in which I felt contradiction, but it would only be my ignorance of my father's teachings.
The day of tragedy happened so blindingly fast, yet the intensity of it all made the moment feel so agonizingly long. It was as if time stopped for that moment of time just to torment me in what felt like an endless void of pain. The blacksmith, Muramasa, of the province just outside the mountains of my clan, had worked on a new weapon that caught the attention of my father and the rest of the clan. I was sent to retrieve the weapon that was crafted.
Muramasa wasn't an ordinary blacksmith, the way he made weapons so versatile and so precisely, the way they felt in one's hand it was extraordinary. Every weapon of his I've wielded gave me the same feeling I had when I used Ryuuken, a feeling as if the weapon fused with my soul and was an extension of my body. Calling him an expert would be an insult to his artistic skills. His skills were beyond that of a mere craftsman, it was as if he knew the soul of a shadowless warrior.
“Ryu my boy, I take it you've come for my new masterpiece correct?”
“Was that intuition?” I asked plainly.
“No just a prayer, apparently one that has been answered. Not many seem interested in my new work unfortunately.” He said as he walked down from behind his counter. He sighed the sigh of a weak old man, “It's a shame how so many people are afraid of change or improvement.” He said. As the small old man brought me his new weapon, I felt an anxious feeling deep inside my soul that made even my thick dragon blood surge with excitement. I felt like a child getting a new toy. As he revealed the piece of equipment I was impressed by it's uniqueness. “I call it a Kusari-gama.” He said.
Note: Kusari=chain, gama (usually spelled Kama but spelling changed for this name)= Kama. The Kama was a small scythe like weapon. It had a handle and curved blade and was used as a gardening/field tool in Okinawa. Kusari-gama is a chained Kama. It contains a chain at the end of a Kama and the chain has a weighted end. The weapon is used long ranged generally, where one would hold the handle of the Kama and swing the weighted and launch it towards their opponent. In close range the kama could be used to cut one's opponent and the chain has various close quarter combat uses, mainly involving disarming, joint locks and traps. It's a very unique and unorthodox weapon and a hard concept to understand.
I held the weapon in my hands and I felt the connection with the weapon. “When a warrior and his weapon are in sync it shows the great capacity he has of wielding it and also how finely crafted the weapon is. Although, I may just be tooting my own horn here.” the man chuckled.
“Muramasa, your works are that of a person who knows the ways of the shinobi. To be able to create a unique weapon with this and to have it be so harmonic.”
“Well since I was young I've always been one to want to learn the complexities of weapons. I take great pride in my work but I believe a true blacksmith should understand not only the intricacies of the weapon, but of the ones wielding the weapon as well.” What he had said made me think but at that moment my thoughts were interrupted. A member of my clan burst through the door, frantically.
“Ryu...” He said just before he fell to the ground. I saw the arrows, shuriken, and knives in his back as he fell. My face lit with shock at that point. I went to him and tried to wake him up to get an explanation when Muramasa walked over.
“Ryu my boy, he's dead, let him be.”
“I need to find out what happened!” I shouted.
Muramasa took out one of the shuriken embedded into the shinobi's back “Those shuriken belong to the Black Spider Clan, you can tell by the material and the way every other bladed end is a few millimeters.” He took one of the arrows out of the shinobi's back and broke it open, “And the arrows are laced with the webbing of mixed breeds of tarantulas to make them quicker.”
He began to walk back to his counter and the thoughts I once had about the old man came back. “Wait, Muramasa how did--”
“Ryu, I wouldn't waste time asking me questions, your clan is in danger.” He said calmly. I was truly curious about the man but I was more concerned about my village at that moment. “I'll let you keep that Kusari-gama free of charge.” He said. I sped out of the shop and headed towards my clan.
As I entered the confines of the mountains I saw several other bodies soaking in rivers of blood, both of my clan and of the Black Spider. I came under the assault of lower level spider shinobi. I utilized the Kusari-gama, which proved to be a fast and useful weapon against mass opponents. As I entered the village, the smell of blood encased the air and the sight of large flames burning my village and people to ashes was the only thing within my field of vision.
I knew immediately what the shinobi were after, the artifact that they had failed to retrieve the last time, the Seal of the Dragon
Note: The Seal of the Dragon was that pendent from the previous chapter. The ninja who attacked then were also Black Spider shinobi.
I headed to the main palace where the artifacts of our clan resided, cutting down all Black Spider shinobi I came across. The main palace was engorged with flames upon my arrival to the scene. I was less worried about the pendent and more about my parents. They were the ones who protected the pendent.
“Ryu!” I heard a voice cry. I saw my mother on top of the palace roof, holding a tanto and cutting through shinobi with a graceful ferocity. “They took the Seal into the southern woods, your father has gone after them. You must go and help him.” At that moment a shinobi grabbed my mother from behind and restrained her. My heart jumped and started beating heavily. Never before had my discipline been tested, my composure was rattled.
“Hold it right there Ryu. I will be your opponent, unless you'd rather leave and let your mother's body taste my blade.” The shinobi said.
“Let her go!” I demanded, enraged. My body couldn't stop shaking, the adrenaline I felt was just like the time I had first learned to use Ryuuken, only difference was, I was conscious.
“Ryu, don't you dare come here!” My mother yelled. I heard my mother's words, but I didn't listen. My impulses caught the better of me and I leaped up towards the shinobi and my mother. I fought the shinobi but it proved harder then I had imagined. I was confused as to what I had just done, I didn't abandon a comrade, yet I allowed my emotions to fuel my judgment, which allowed my opponent to get the better of me. I swung down with Ryuuken but the shinobi rolled around me and got in back of me. The speed of it all was too much for my slowed reaction. By the time I turned around my mother's blade had intercepted the shinobi's claws, she restrained him but my mother had nowhere near the strength enough to keep her grasp on him. “Ryu kill him now and get to your father!”
I looked at my mother realizing what she was asking me to do. “Mother I--”
“Ryu do as I say, don't throw away our clan.” She cut me off. I gripped my blade and with no hesitation whatsoever, I pierced through the heart of the shinobi...as well as my mother's. I released my blade and the shinobi fell off the side of the building. I grabbed my mother before she did the same and I placed her down. The expression on my face was...emotionless. My mother placed her hand on my face and looked me in my cold eyes, “Good boy.” I left my mother there to die and proceeded onwards to my father.
Something inside me vanished the moment I struck down my mother. It was a piece of something that I didn't know what it was until a few moments later. Once I had reached my father in the south woods I saw him outnumbered by about a dozen shinobi.
“What a fool you are Joe Hayabusa. All these years you could not sense my presence right under your nose. Now you will watch as your clan burns and you will soon die knowing that your linage ends with you.” Those words came from a man standing behind the fray of shinobi. Genshin, the leader of the Black Spider Ninja, a powerful enemy and the eternal rival of my father.
“You're wrong Genshin, I've known of your presence since the beginning. I may die here today but the mighty blood of the Hayabusa clan doesn't end with me.” My father said.
“He speaks of his son, Ryu Hayabusa.” I heard a voice say. To some relative shock I saw Sho Ito appear besides Genshin. I remember the time of my first encounter with Sho and then I realize just how big my failure was at that moment. I gripped my sword and ran down the hill towards others.
“Speak of the devil.” Sho said with a dark smirk on his face.
“No matter, it's too late now. We have the Seal of the Dragon we are half way to releasing the Archfiend, lets go.” Genshin said.
Genshin and Sho run off into the distance and I get besides my father.
“No Ryu, go after them!” My father demanded.
“Father, this new weapon I have can end this quick, I'll give you cover, you go after Genshin--”
“Ryu, that is not my fight anymore.” I look at my father's right side and see his arm bleeding viciously. “My time has come, this is what your duty is as a Hayabusa, you must stop Genshin and the Black Spider Clan.”
I didn't argue with my father, I knew the truth in what he spoke. If the Archfiend were to be released it would mean the end of everything pure. My father threw a flash bomb and I used my shadowless footsteps and leaped past the shinobi and I gained as much ground as I could behind them. I turned around and looked at my father as the shinobi were trying to regain their sight. He was pulling off his shirt and I could see his intentions. I turned around and ran in the direction of Genshin and Sho...a few moments later I heard the explosion.
At that moment the second half of that piece inside me vanished. I stopped, closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I took Ryuuken and licked the blood of my mother that still lay on the blade...I tasted nothing. What had vanished from my entire being was my humanity. The death of love inducted me into the world of the shinobi, no longer was I human, I was an ancestor of the Great Dragons, a Hayabusa shinobi. Killing my mother and leaving my father to die didn't matter to me I only cared about annihilating the Black Spider Clan and any who tried to stop me. That was the obligation I held as a shinobi.
To Be Continued...
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Author's Note:
Alright everybody, in the interest of length, I shortened this chapter and chapter 5 will follow up the rest of this sequence. Normally I try to have one chapter equal one day of memory for Ryu. The one day, one chapter thing makes his telling of his life story more realistic that it's coming form memory. Obviously people remember things that are worth remembering. Anyway this chapter is a pivotal point in Ryu's life. All the other chapters show important points as well, but based on the level this incident is at and what is to come, this little memory holds probably the most significance at this point in time. The title of this chapter was humanity so that could give you a clue as to what this peice is focusing on. I will tell you the title of the next chapter so that you could start thinking about the other piece. When both come together you will see what points link up to give you the full theme of the two chapters and you'll see why it's important. To those of you who read, comment, and/or rep this post I thank you for being interested 
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