"What's wrong Toshiko? You look like you've seen a ghost!"

there it was. It was his voice, still crystal clear in Toshiko's head. That was what he had said right after slaughtering Toshiko's mother. His wife. Killing her like she wasn't anything to him. Like she wasn't alive. his father took the axe, and killed her with it. For what? Toshiko didn't know, and was sure that he could never find out. That wasn't the only thing. After wounding Toshiko, his father just stared at him. Those eyes......Those dark, twisted eyes. They were blood red, with three strange dots in them. Toshiko hadn't ever seen anything like them before. A few moments after killing his wife, his eyes started to change forming a strange formation similar to that of a pentagram. They were inhuman. From that day on, they weren't just eyes to Toshiko. They were symbols of insanity. Of desperation. Of what happened when someone was pushed over the edge....

Toshiko abruptly awoke from his slumber, sitting up in his bed. He was panting heavily, and his face was coated with sweat. That was the eighth time that month. Not only were the dreams of that day consistent, they were getting more and more vivid each time that he had them. There was nothing that was going to subside them. The thought and memory had been fresh in his mind for the past 6 years, and it would remain that way. His conscious was unresolved as it would remain. Unless...... He was sure that he had to do it. He'd have to find his father. It seemed like a bad idea based upon the circumstances of the situation. He didn't care. Toshiko knew that he'd have to find him, and first and foremost confront him upon what had happened on that night. After that, he'd have to make sure that his father would never have the chance to cause the pain that he caused Toshiko to anyone else ever again. Of course, Toshiko would have to find a way to do that without killing him. Toshiko sighed, and then got up from his bed. He turned to his wall, staring at the large picture upon it of him and his family.

there he was, still a small child with both of his parents right next to him. They were all happy. Even his father. What had happened? Toshiko could ask, and ask, and ask again. He wouldn't get the true answer. Not until he went after him. Toshiko stared at the picture for a few more brief moments, and sighed. He was going to have to train. Hard. Instead of wasting anymore of his time, Toshiko putted on his ninja gear, and walked out of the front door of his apartment. He found himself once again on the busy intersection in front of his home. It was business, as usual. The same stores and carts were out upon the streets looking for people to come by. Everything was normal. Toshiko was going to go out, and do his usual training routine. he ran towards the ninja academy, stopping back at the training grounds. He hadn't been there in a while, and remembered back to his latest visit.

Spoiler:

that day was the day he met one of his only friends, Antanas. it was one of the first days in a long time that Toshiko had been happy. his friends were his reason for going on now. He wasn't really too worried about going after his dad, but still planned to do it. His true reason, was simply to be capable of fighting to protect the innocent and those that he cared about. There was nothing else that he wanted more in the world, and if he was ever going to die he'd die protecting someone.

Toshiko sighed, and focused towards the training grounds. There were multiple test dummies standing up in a row. Test dummies weren't that powerful, so Toshiko wasn't really really sure that they could test out any of his full power jutsu. "These things are a bit too weak to test out my jutsu...... Dammit. Wait a sec. Maybe i can focus on something other than my jutsu today." Toshiko had a idea. He had been completely capable of utilizing his physical strength and jutsu, but he'd need to be able to completely see what was being thrown at him as well. Toshiko walked over to the array of dummies, and pulled out the line and into the grass. After doing so, Toshiko formed a few hand seals and then focused his chakra, and created three spears of chakra that converted into lightning spears. One above his head, and then two more one on each side of him. Toshiko would then focus on them, and force them to move causing them to form into one large spear hovering directly above his head.

Toshiko looked at the lightning bolt hovering above his head, and nodded. "Now!" Toshiko grabbed both of the dummies, and threw them up with his full strength. The two went flying up in the air, and then hovered up over each other. Toshiko held his right hand up above his head, and grasped the lightning bolt. He cocked his hand back, and threw it up in the sky. The lightning bolt went flying into both of the dummies, simultaneously turning both of them into ash in wooden senbons. There were about 14 of them, and they all came back down towards the earth in unison. Toshiko stared up at them. This time, he'd be ready. He just had to treat the situation as if he was going up against a actual opponent. They all were now only inches away from Toshiko, and he reacted as quickly as he possibly could.

He jumped out to the side as the first two came down, and then jumped back as five more came down. six more came to the ground, and Toshiko jumped over, doing a flip in mid air to block them. The final one fell from the sky, and he held his hand above his head, catching it. He looked at the large wooden senbon, and smiled. "Looks like i still got it!"

Word Count: 1445

REA D- D-3: (1175/1175)

Reality was always difficult to escape from.

For the first time in her life, she had killed someone who wasn't her target. Two people caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. She had broken her code and without even realizing it. It was strange to try to describe what she was feeling. It wasn't repentance or regret. She knew how the world worked, how cruel it could be and how those who survived did so out of a strange mixture of skill and luck. Had she been a religious person, she would have now been undergoing some sort of ritual to cleanse herself of her sin. However, she had given up on believing long ago.

Strangely enough, she did believe that hell had a spot reserved for her.

After er death, she would have enough time to repent for what she did in life. No, that wasn't what she felt. It was something more akin to sadness, something that weighed down on her soul. She supposed that some work of charity would help her come to terms with herself, but at the same time, she thought of it as something hypocritical - nothing she did could undo her past actions. The wounds could heal, but scars would always be left behind.

In the end, she had made a mistake. That was all that she could say about the event. She would own up to it. She wouldn't deny it. That was simply how she was and how she had grown to be. Gin was no saint. She knew that.

The young woman walked through the forests of Konoha. It was a rather peaceful setting, even though the area was designed as training grounds. At the moment, Gin was simply using one of the dummies as target practice. All of the kunai she threw hit the center of the target perfectly. It wasn't really training - just something mindless that she could do in order to distract herself. She was zoned out, to be honest. The only thing that broke her out of her reverie was the sudden yelling from the other side of the field.

The young woman lifted her gaze from the impaled target that she now found herself walking to. She grabbed the kunai, shuriken and senbon from it and placed them in the pouch that hung from her waist. She saw the kid on the other side of the field. He was young - maybe half of her age from what she could see. Her bionic eye was covered along with most of her face so that she could travel freely in Konoha for the time being. Therefore, she couldn't zoom in to get a better look at his features. All she could see was a tuft of brown hair and a body decked out in black.

Almost on instinct, she began to walk towards him. Gin didn't quite know the reason behind it, she just knew that he had captured her interest for the moment. She leaned against a tree, crossing her arms over her chest. She inspected him with a sense of mild curiosity. [b][color=royalblue]"Those moves work wonders on inanimate objects, not so much on moving targets," she piped in. Might was well try to lighten her mood by going focusing on this kid. Maybe she could even teach him a thing or two.

[Word Count: 568]

"Those moves work wonders on inanimate objects, not so much on moving targets,"

Toshiko heard the voice coming from behind him. He had never heard it before. It sounded like a girl, but it wasn't rain's voice. She sounded like she was a bit old. Toshiko slowly turned around, and then saw a strange looking girl in front of him. She was leaning on a tree with both arms crossing her chest. She had strange, long white hair. She was only a inch shorter than Toshiko, but for some reason she still seemed to be a bit older than him. Toshiko wasn't really worried about her physical appearance that much anyway. he wasn't one to shun out other people. The girl seemed nice, and what she said was true. Toshiko couldn't tell much about her from her looks. She seemed nice. Maybe she would be up for training with Toshiko.

Toshiko was going to introduce himself. Toshiko blankly looked towards the woman for a few more moments, and then smiled to her. "Well yea that is true. It sure does work for training though." Toshiko slowly walked over to her, and stopped when he was only a few inches away from her. "Hiya there. I'm Toshiko Uzumaki. It's a pleasure to meet you." Toshiko gave the girl a slight smile, and then held his hand out to shake

Word Count: 241

A formal introduction... How... refreshing? No, that wasn't the word that she was looking for. It was more along the lines of odd or unexpected. It had been a while since she had gotten to meet someone in arguably normal circumstances. Introductions with her usually went something along the lines of "My name is -insert enemy here.- You killed my -insert relation to victim.- Prepare to die." That, or it was something along the lines of business with either her seeking a favor or someone setting up a contract. This was a pleasant surprise and one that took her slightly off guard. Not only that but he had held his hand out for her and everything. How... quaint? Yeah, he supposed that was a suitable way to describe her opinion. The young woman almost smiled.

For a moment, the former Kazekage stared at it as if it were something alien to her or a custom that she didn't really understand. She soon shook out of that mild surprise and proceeded to shake his hand with her human arm. There was no need to show him that she wasn't exactly "whole" to put it that way. Her current appearance with her face bandaged for the most part and her skin almost completely covered was already odd enough as it was. "Call me Shinobu," she said, going by her old alias for now instead of her full name. She had her reasons - or reason in this case.

Gin Kuroka had made an enemy the day before. She wasn't exactly sure if he would recognize her name or associate if to her face, but she needed to be careful. This was Sousetsu Senju's territory after all. She would be wise to watch herself while she was still there. Why hand't she left? Largely because one of her kids was still there. She wouldn't head to her next destination before knowing that he was safe and at least giving him a warning that he might be in danger.

[Word Count: 909]

"Call me Shinobu,"

The girl seemed to be a bit hesitant, as if she was trying to hide something. What was up with her? Toshiko hadn't met anyone like her besides yuzu. Maybe she didn't trust him? That seemed to be the only thing that added up with him. Toshiko observed her for a few more moments, and then spoke. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you shinobu." Something seemed weird about her still. "Are you...Are you from this village? I hope you don't mind me asking, i just haven't seen anyone like you before from the leaf."