Toshiko was dedicated. after 6 years of being bullied, tortured, and abused by his classmates, and his own father, Toshiko decided that he was going to achieve his goals in life. He had told everyone that he was going to become the hokage, and as determined he was there was nothing that was going to stop him from doing so. With all of the bad things that had happened to him in life, he had to make room for the good. No matter how hard it seemed, Toshiko swore that he would get it done. He woke up in the morning, laying on a mattress in his empty home provided to him by his teacher. He looked around, and then sat up in bed. After a few moments, he realized, and remembered. It was the day. The day it happened. The day he lost his mother, and his whole life changed forever. He looked down, grimacing as the memories went flowing through his head. He went up to the door of his home as a child after a terrible day at school, and opened it to find his mother laying on the ground covered in her own blood with a deep gash in her back. She didn't ask for help, she didn't scream, nor did she cry. She simply told Toshiko to run, and that she loved him. After that, Toshiko's father appeared, but he didn't help. He simply came to deliver the final blow. After doing so, Toshiko thought that he was next on the list. Instead, his father simply walked away. Toshiko still didn't understand any of it, and the memory brought great pain to his head and chest. Why had his father done it? Neither of them showed any indication towards the fact that they were fighting not once in Toshiko's life. Even if they were fighting, why would he have to kill her? Why was his mother seemingly unaware or unwilling to fight for her life? The simple thought of the matter brought tears to Toshiko's eyes. "It doesn't matter. I have to go pay my respects to her right now." Toshiko then got from his bed, took a shower, brushed his teeth, and put on his daily ninja gear. After doing so, he grabbed a rose from his kitchen counter, and walked out of the house. There was still about thirty minutes before he would have to attend the ninja academy. Eventually, he came upon the graveyard. Walking around in the place simply gave him shivers as he hated to be around the dead. Toshiko walked up to his mothers grave, and then got down on both knees and placed the rose there. Toshiko looked at the ground, and gave a slight smile. "Mom.......Thank you for everything that you've done for me."

Toshiko stared up at her grave stone. He missed her more than anything else in the world. He didn't have anything to remember her by. He wasn't gonna stand for that. He had to go back. Toshiko stared at her grave stone for a bit longer, and then ran. He ran out towards the other side of Konoha, with one place in his mind. He didn't stop running for anyone or anything. Eventually, he came upon his destination. It was a large house upon the outskirts of konoha. Previously known as his home. Memories started flooding Toshiko's mind once he saw the home after a total of 8 years. Tears filled his eyes as his very life flashed before his eyes. Cautiously, he walked forward towards the steps. Coming up he remembered that day, 8 years ago. Walking up to the steps. He grabbed the door knob, and it cracked wide open as it had last time. Toshiko closed his eyes, looking slowly expecting to see his bloodied mother upon the ground once more. He opened them fully, and no one was there he calmed down a bit, but nothing could deplete the amount of trauma that he had endured that day. Toshiko walked in further, taking a look around it. He remembered when he was a child, and he'd run around and play with his mother and father. Toshiko slowly walked further into  the house, entering his parent's room.

It looked the same as it always had. There was a picture of him and his parents hanging above their bed. His father looked sort of distressed, and his mother was hugging him. Toshiko lost it at that point. He bent down next to the bed, and put his head in the blanket as he started to cry. he wanted to just enjoy his mother and the memories of the wonderful times that they had together, but every time that he tried to he would just realize that she was gone, and that she was never coming back. No matter what he did, nothing would ever change that. He couldn't bring back the dead. To his knowledge no one could. That feeling reminded Toshiko that while he had friends, he didn't have family. No one he knew had gone through that. He felt completely alone. Toshiko stopped his crying after a bit, and then turned his head to the left. His head connected with the sharp side of a counter besides the bed which started to rattle. It slightly cut the side of Toshiko's head, and he moved back a bit. A roll of paper rolled off of the counter, and fell down to the ground. Toshiko bent over, picked it up and read the cover to see that it had said his name on it.

Toshiko opened it up, and started reading.:

Dear Toshiko, hopefully you are reading this when i have passed. I am sorry that i never caught up the nerve to tell you this, but i can't keep you from the truth any longer. Just know that i love you. I love you more than life itself, and i didn't mean to hurt you by not telling you this. After me and your father had you, we were facing some financial issues. I loved you too much to let anything happen to you, so we spent our last dime on you. Then, a year later...............We had your brother.

.............What? Toshiko's heart stopped for a few moments, and some strange feeling came over him as if there were 6 tons upon his shoulders. He had a brother? What? There were so many questions filling his head. He didn't know. He wanted to feel over joyed, but also felt a large amount of anger and sadness. Why did she keep this from him? Where was his brother now? He had to keep reading.

His name is Hideki. Hideki Uzumaki. He was born healthy.....Except he had two strange things about him. He couldn't feel anything. He was born with some strange disease, and we couldn't get him cured. No one could. We didn't have the financial support to take care of him, and we just had to give him away. I felt bad about it. I really really did. But that doesn't change how much i love you. I know that you are going to want to find him, wherever he is. Take not of this. On his right shoulder, he has a crescent moon shaped birthmark. I hope that you get to read this. Remember, i love you. Whether it's in this life or the next, you'll always be my son and one of the greatest things to happen to me.

Toshiko finished reading the letter, and initially didn't know how to react. He had a brother. A brother. He wasn't alone. Not anymore. He had to go find him. No matter what it took. Toshiko clenched the letter in his palm, and then stared up at the portrait above him focusing solely on his mother. "Thank you mother." Toshiko then ran out of the house, back into the town. He had a goal. Find his little brother, and never ever lose him again. Toshiko made it into the town, and didn't really know how to start looking. He came up to random people in the street, asking if their name was Hideki and started pulling up their sleeves to see if they had any birthmark. After checking several others (and getting into fights with them) He didn't find anyone that fitted the description. Eventually, Toshiko wanted to give up. He made his way to the ice cream shop, and then sat down. After he got his ice cream, he sat there for a bit. The store owner came over to him. "What's wrong Toshiko?"

Toshiko sighed. Did he really want to tell anyone? He should just keep it to himself, but he always felt a need to express his emotions. "I.....I just found out i have a brother named HIdeki Uzumaki. I've been looking for him all day, but i can't seem to find him." The store owner looked at Toshiko in shock, and then held his head down. did he know something? "Toshiko........Hideki Uzumaki died in a assassination attack years ago." Toshiko stared at the man in disbelief. He got that feeling again. His heart stopped for a few moments and the weight was put back on his shoulders ten times worse than before. There was nothing else out there for him. He was alone once again. Toshiko dropped his ice cream. There was a bottle of Sake on the counter. Toshiko didn't care anymore. He grabbed the bottle off of the counter, and ran out of the store at top speed. He stopped at a corner a few blocks away from the store, and sunk down the ground. Night had fallen, and the streets were completely empty. Toshiko cried. He just cried. After a while, he took the cap off of the bottle, and started to chug it. He finished it, and his inebriation began.

Word Count: 1707


PER E-2-> D(525/525)

END E-3 -> D-1 (625/625)

Hideki was out and about that cool, dark night. Tired of living alone within his home, within that lonely structure without his brother there to help ease the boredom within, he decided to take a stroll, walking along the dark, deserted streets of Konoha. He didn't mind solitude, loneliness, or just being alone at all, though just remaining inside the home itself at night made him think of his older brother, and how he is still on that mission of his, revealing no signs of returning home, and one thing that he did dislike was missing someone he was close to and not knowing if they're okay or not. That in itself was such a worrying feeling which he would rather forget having.

He could hear a group of people up ahead, civilians from the look of them, talking. One of them was in a fit of anger, complaining and yelling about how someone asked what their name was and then pulled up their sleeve randomly, and how he was beaten up when he reacted negatively towards the said person, allowing the stranger to run away. Hideki would keep looking at the group of people, all of which appeared to be male, and how the remainder were laughing at him because of the sudden occurrence.

"Scum.."

Hideki would quietly say to himself before going down one of the alleyways approximately twenty feet away from the group, successfully avoiding them and going on the route to his desired destination. He disliked it, the rudeness of people sometimes, especially when instead of helping the victim of a recent assault all they did instead was laugh and mock him. It was quite confusing though, for what the yelling man described as a Genin asking for his name and then randomly checking sleeves, only to beat him up almost directly afterwards. In Hideki's mind, that implied that the Genin which assaulted the man was either insane or pissed off about something, though hopefully his observation was not correct at all, because if one of the two is true, that means the young Shinobi will have to put in the effort of combating said Genin, and Hideki didn't like the idea of  losing to someone that is acting as strange and violently as this person.

Having finally exited the alleyway, Hideki arrived at the original place which he wanted to walk to in the first place; an ice cream shop just a few blocks away, though on a nearby street corner, he saw a familiar face that had sunk down to the ground, crying and drinking. Walking over to this person, Hideki took a closer look at who it is, as a way for him to be exactly sure on the fact of whether or not it was the one he thought it was, and he would be right, as sitting there, sulking and drinking away his sorrows was Toshiko Uzumaki, the same Genin that had destroyed the tree Hideki had been sleeping in a small while back.

Now standing before Toshiko, Hideki knew that something had to be done, as the Genin shouldn't be drinking like this in the middle of the street. Grabbing the bottom of the bottle, Hideki would stare at Toshiko, giving him a small glare at his actions as he would begin to pull on the bottle in an attempt to get it out of his hands.

"Drinking doesn't solve problems, it merely makes them go away temporarily, only to come back worse than before. Come on, give me the drink and tell me what's wrong with you, Toshiko."

This would be one of the few  times which Hideki would actually confront someone in such a confident manner, though he knew that this fellow Genin before him had been undergoing some sort of troubling times, and perhaps Hideki can help serve as someone to help ease the burden of him having to be alone in suffering through it.

WC: 665

As Toshiko was about to finish off the bottle, a familiar face came onto the scene. It was the kid in the tree. The one that he had not met too long ago........Hideki Uzumaki......................Wait. "Drinking doesn't solve problems, it merely makes them go away temporarily, only to come back worse than before. Come on, give me the drink and tell me what's wrong with you, Toshiko." Toshiko knew that he was right. Slowly, he handed the bottle to the boy and wiped the tears from his eyes. He stared at him. Hideki Uzumaki.......... Could it be? No. No way. It had to just be a coincidence. Toshiko had to know for sure. But....He heard what the guy had said. His brother died in a assassination attack. He would never see him again. It was just a coincidence. It was quickly eating away at him. Whether or not this kid was his little brother, he would have to no for sure. Toshiko didn't say anything, and slowly stood up. He would have asked, but he didn't care. He was too drunk to worry about anyone else. Toshiko grabbed Hideki's right arm, and then pulled down the part of his shirt that covered his right shoulder. There it was. The crescent moon shaped birthmark. Toshiko was in complete disbelief. He moved over, and faced Hideki. Tears filled his eyes and he suddenly felt it again. He felt happy. The weight had been lifted off of his shoulders, and the pain in his chest stopped. This was him. This way his brother. "Hideki?..........." Toshiko then hugged him, and started crying uncontrollably. That was him. Hideki was his brother.

Word Count: 291

As he was handed the bottle, Hideki quickly tossed it away, causing it to break into multiple shards upon impact with the ground a few meters behind him directly in front of the alleyway. As he turned back around in order to face his sorrowful acquaintance again, Hideki's right arm was suddenly grabbed, and the shirt and part of the jacket which had covered his right shoulder was pulled off of it, revealing his moon-shaped birthmark.

Now crying once again, Hideki would hear Toshiko utter his name before hugging him. Hideki, of course, was confused and now agitated by this sudden turn of events and, by placing both hands in between them both, pushed Toshiko off of him. After fixing his shirt and jacket, Hideki would suddenly glare towards Toshiko.

"What in the hell do you think you're doing?"

Hideki quickly pushed Toshiko off of him. After fixing his shirt and jacket, Hideki would suddenly glare towards Toshiko.
"What in the hell do you think you're doing?" He didn't know yet either. Of course he didn't. Toshiko didn't know how to explain at first. He was filled with joy, and wasn't really thinking straight. Then he remembered. The letter from his mom. That would explain everything. Toshiko reached in his pocket, and pulled out the letter. He wiped the tears from his eyes, and then spoke. "Hideki. I'm sorry about that. I should have explained first. Just read this, and you'll understand everything." Toshiko held out the letter, and gestured for Hideki to grab it. Hopefully that would explain.

Word Count:135

Hideki responded.

Hideki would suspiciously eye the strange-acting Genin as he would pull a piece of paper out of out of his pocket while wiping his eyes, apologizing to Hideki for the sudden actions he took. Hideki would quickly snatch the paper out of Toshiko's hand, quickly backing away a few feet after doing this. He would glance towards the paper, reading it quickly to see what the contents were.

Dear Toshiko, hopefully you are reading this when i have passed. I am sorry that i never caught up the nerve to tell you this, but i can't keep you from the truth any longer. Just know that i love you. I love you more than life itself, and i didn't mean to hurt you by not telling you this. After me and your father had you, we were facing some financial issues. I loved you too much to let anything happen to you, so we spent our last dime on you. Then, a year later...............We had your brother.

His name is Hideki. Hideki Uzumaki. He was born healthy.....Except he had two strange things about him. He couldn't feel anything. He was born with some strange disease, and we couldn't get him cured. No one could. We didn't have the financial support to take care of him, and we just had to give him away. I felt bad about it. I really really did. But that doesn't change how much i love you. I know that you are going to want to find him, wherever he is. Take not of this. On his right shoulder, he has a crescent moon shaped birthmark. I hope that you get to read this. Remember, i love you. Whether it's in this life or the next, you'll always be my son and one of the greatest things to happen to me.

Hideki's hands would visibly shake at the sight of this. It couldn't possibly be true, this sudden revelation of his identity, and that everything he believed to be true was false. It couldn't possibly be true, as he knows who his family is, and right now that family is out on a mission. There was no possible way he could be related to Toshiko, no way at all.

Then again, the description of him was too spot on, as never before had he shown someone that birthmark nor had he told anyone of the illness he had which triggered the numbness in his body, at least no one except for the medical-nin he had went to in hopes of even being treated for it, only for disappointment to reach him when they held no answers to his disease.

"Thi-this can't be true, since i know who my brother is, and he's not you, but then again, few others know these things regarding me. Just...."

He didn't know what to say in response to this letter, though he felt betrayed and neglected as if this parchment were true, then that meant that his real parents abandoned him. He also felt confused and distraught as well, as his entire life was, according to this letter, a curtain that was just pulled down, revealing the real world all around Hideki. Quickly, in response to the realization, the boy would begin to turn around, mumbling "no" multiple times under his breath as he would begin to run towards the alleyway.

"Thi-this can't be true, since i know who my brother is, and he's not you, but then again, few others know these things regarding me. Just...." After speaking, Hideki turned around, repeatedly mumbling no as he started to run away. "Hideki! WAIT!" Toshiko didn't initially know what to do as he just stood there. He remembered what his mother had written. Then, he knew how Hideki felt at that moment. He felt abandoned, betrayed, and alone. Their parents had just given him away as if he was a inanimate object. Toshiko knew how he felt one hundred percent. He couldn't let him just go. Toshiko ran after Hideki, and almost immediately caught up with him. He jumped in front of him, and blocked his path causing him to stop. "Hideki. Just.....Just wait okay. Look, i know that what our parents did, it was terrible. It was fucked up how they just gave you away like that. But that doesn't change anything. I know that you are confused right now and i know that you must feel like shit. But i have felt the same way. I don't know if it is gonna make you feel any better, but our mom is dead. Our dad killed her when i was 6........ I remember it as if it was yesterday. I saw it with my very own eyes and it's still fresh in my head as it will be until the day i die! I didn't have any friends. I was alone. I was alone for a very very long time. I know that must be how you feel and how you have felt, but just know that i'm here. I spent all day looking for you. I thought that all my family was gone. But when i found out about you, i stopped saying that. I didn't feel alone anymore. I knew that there was one person in the world that i could call my family. You're my little brother Hideki...... Just forget our parents, and everything else. I'm here. Right here, right now. That's all that matters." Toshiko had tears flowing down his cheeks, but he had gotten out everything that he had to say. He sighed, and opened his arms for Hideki to console him.

Word Count: 402

Toshiko appeared in front of Hideki, blocking his path. He would tell Hideki to wait before explaining what he wished to say. He would state that he knows what their parents did, and that it was terrible and fucked up that they gave him away as if he were an inanimate object, but it doesn't change anything. He also exclaimed that that he knows that Hideki is confused and that he must feel like shit, but he has felt the same way, and if it made Hideki feel any better, their mom is dead. After stating this Toshiko  would go into explanation as to how she died, stating their father killed her before Toshiko's very eyes.

The fellow Shinobi then continued on, stating that he was alone, alone for a very long time, and that he knows that must be how Hideki felt, but Hideki should know that Toshiko is here, and that he spent all day looking for him. At first, he though all of his family was gone, but after he found out about Hideki, he stopped saying that, and that now he knows there is one person in the world he can call his family. Toshiko went on to state the Hideki is his little brother, and that he should just forget their parents and everything else as he's here, right here, right now, and that's all that matters.

Hideki would simply give off a blank expression in response as he watched the tears flow down from Toshiko's cheeks and his arms opened, as if he was waiting to console the young Shinobi. Those arms would receive nothing though, and those tears wouldn't be matched by more tears, as Hideki always felt alone, straight to the point where he welcomed it, though right now he felt anger, more anger than he ever felt before in his life.

"Forget about our parents? I can't forget about scum that makes other scum look good. At least you were loved by someone up to a certain age. I was only viewed as a close family member by one person, and he's been out on a mission far past it's deadline. Now i have someone that's my biological brother suddenly crying tears of happiness, as if he met someone that he hasn't seen for a long time? I barely even know you, Toshiko, how am i possibly supposed to feel the same feelings you felt, and how can you possibly know how it feels to be abandoned, discarded as if you're trash to someone that merely treated you as a regular student or friend of their child's? I'm not saying that you don't know partially of what i felt, but think of it this way: Are you born with something that made your parents discard you as if you're nothing, and those that know about it view you as if you're some kind of terminally ill patient, pity filling their eyes as they wish to keep their distances, wishing to stay away from someone that didn't choose to be different while also holding some sort of paranoia that the disease would spread? You may have felt loneliness, but you haven't felt neglect, you haven't been unrightfully pitied no matter what, you haven't felt the curse of something that stays with you, no matter what, with no possible way of treating or fixing!"

The young Shinobi would begin to yell out of pure anger at this point at Toshiko, letting out his feelings. Small beads of tears would rush out of his eyes as he noticed the glass shards of the sake bottle nearby. Bending over and picking one up in his right hand, Hideki showed Toshiko the sharp, jagged material.

"Please, if you're my brother, tell me what this feels like if you were the one holding it.."

Hideki would weakly speak his he squeezed his right hand, a dark, crimson substance leaking outwards, dripping off the bottom of his hand as the blood would cover each finger. More and more the boy would squeeze before he would let go of the bloodied glass fragment, allowing it to fall to the ground.

Hideki didn't respond initially, literally only giving off a blank expression towards Toshiko. Why didn't Hideki understand? "Forget about our parents? I can't forget about scum that makes other scum look good. At least you were loved by someone up to a certain age. I was only viewed as a close family member by one person, and he's been out on a mission far past it's deadline. Now i have someone that's my biological brother suddenly crying tears of happiness, as if he met someone that he hasn't seen for a long time? I barely even know you, Toshiko, how am i possibly supposed to feel the same feelings you felt, and how can you possibly know how it feels to be abandoned, discarded as if you're trash to someone that merely treated you as a regular student or friend of their child's? I'm not saying that you don't know partially of what i felt, but think of it this way: Are you born with something that made your parents discard you as if you're nothing, and those that know about it view you as if you're some kind of terminally ill patient, pity filling their eyes as they wish to keep their distances, wishing to stay away from someone that didn't choose to be different while also holding some sort of paranoia that the disease would spread? You may have felt loneliness, but you haven't felt neglect, you haven't been unrightfully pitied no matter what, you haven't felt the curse of something that stays with you, no matter what, with no possible way of treating or fixing!"

"No. Hideki it isn't like that! I understand! You might think that i don't, but i promise you i do. You're right. I don't know the pain that you have felt for that disease, but i have still felt it whether you believe it or not. I know what you mean about our parents. I know it's hard to cope with and understand, and there is nothing that will make up for what they did. But i have felt what you felt through them in different ways. I was abandoned after mom died and dad just ran away from it all. How do you think i felt? I didn't have any friends! I was tortured at the academy and having to come back to a empty home every day. I would cry myself to sleep every night wishing for a friend. I felt neglect. I felt betrayed. I felt like life was pointless. While that was the case, things got better for me over time. I met people that i could call my friends, and i held onto them as i do now. I've found a reason to fight and stay alive through them. I've found happiness that makes me forget about what i had to go through years ago. So you're right. I don't necessarily know what it feels like to go through having that disease, but i still understand. You have to believe that."
Tears flowed down Hideki's cheeks as he Bent over and picked up a shard of glass from the bottle of sake holding it in his right hand. "Please, if you're my brother, tell me what this feels like if you were the one holding it.."

Hideki would then squeeze his hand on the glass tightly, causing it to cut his hand as blood spilled out from it covering his fingers. Hideki continued this, and then dropped the bloody shard of glass onto the ground. he didn't seem to feel any pain from it. That was what he had meant. Toshiko stared at him for a few moments, and then looked towards the shards of glass upon the ground. He then looked back to Hideki, and spoke. "Whatever it takes." Toshiko grabbed up two shards of the glass upon the ground, and firmly grasping them in his hand. After a while, they slowly pierced his skin. Toshiko grimaced as blood started to flow into his palm, but continued pushing the glass into his hand. blood was covering his entire hand now, and he took his free hand and ripped the two shards of glass out throwing them onto the ground. Toshiko then looked back towards Hideki, holding his hand out in front of him. "Hideki. I care."

Word Count: 769

Hideki remained where he was as he watched Toshiko do what he didn't expect him to do. After speaking, stating just a mere three words "whatever it takes", Toshiko would then, right before Hideki's very eyes, pick up two shards of glass from the ground, firmly grasping them in one hand. After a small while of Hideki watching this occur, helpless as he didn't know what to do to stop Toshiko's sudden action, blood began to leak out of the Genin's hand as well, covering the entirety of his hand.

After a small while of doing this, the Genin would then rip the two shards of glass out of said hand with his free hand, tossing them onto the ground. Now with a bloodied hand held out towards Hideki, Toshiko would exclaim that he actually does care. Hideki didn't know what to do at all, as no one ever did something such as this to themselves before, and yet, there his brother was, trying to show him that he truly does care. In response to this action being taken by Toshiko, Hideki's eyes would tear up as he moved towards his older brother, suddenly hugging him as he began to cry.

"I'm happy to finally have someone that cares enough to do that.."

Total WC: 2322
Speed: E~>D for 750
Reaction Time: E~>D for 750
Perception: E~>E-3 for 450
Endurance: E~> E-2 for 225
Strength: E~> E-1 for 75

72 wc remaining

Hideki's eyes would tear up as he moved towards his older brother, suddenly hugging him as he began to cry.

"I'm happy to finally have someone that cares enough to do that.."

Toshiko didn't hesitate to hug Hideki back, consoling him in his arms. "I'm here for you Hideki. Always."