The full moon was cresting over the village casting a dim light over the village. Zeref walked the streets in his usual attire, armed with all his weapons as always. Over the last few days so many questions had been brought to his mind, why did it seem like the village was preparing for something, why did they send Zeref and Tomohiro on so many missions above their level, and why did he keep having memories flash through his mind at random moments. The most recent one, was a memory of his father, Noc, speaking with a small group of men about training, and seals. Zeref never saw the strange men's faces, nor did he ever find out just what they meant by any of their words. Zerefs father was dead, he died a few years back so there was no chance of getting answers from him, but the best place to start looking for answers would be his childhood home that was built deep in the mountains 

His childhood home was a small compound towards the Kaminari no kuni border, he hadn't been there since his fathers death. There was a small chance it was destroyed seeing as he left as it was being attacked and burned by bandits but it was the only logical place to start. Perhaps his father, being as careful as he was, hid his notebooks somewhere out of reach of the flames that claimed his own life, Zeref only hopped. 

Zeref neared the village gates, as always a few chuunin and jounin were on guard duty, patrolling the entrance. As he neared the opening he was stopped by one of the shinobi at the gate. "And where are you off to as such a late hour?" It was odd, Zeref hadn't been stopped from leaving in a while, they usually just let him slip by with out so much as a second glance. "Just going on a midnight walk. Zeref kept his voice friendly, perfectly hiding his annoyance at being stopped and questioned. The shuunin that stopped him was about to speak again when a jounin placed his hand on the chuunin shoulder shaking his head 'no.' It's fine Ken, he can leave." Ken looked at his superior and then at Zeref a bit confused, but didn't say anything. The jounin smiled lightly at Zeref looking at him "Go on ahead Zeref, you are free to leave, have a nice walk." Zeref nodded giving him a 'thank you' as he walked passed the other guards and out of the village.

The whole exchange, although only lasting a moment raised more questions. Just why was Zeref, a genin, allowed to come and go as he pleased, when others had to get permission or have a higher ranking shinobi with them to do so. There was a lot of things that weren't making sense as of late, and Zeref didn't like being out of a loop that clearly involved him. Zeref pushed the exchanged from his mind for the time being and headed into the forest towards his home.

Zerefs home was near the southern boarder, on the other side off the mountain the compound was, was the ocean that 'Genbu the Turtle Island' was said to roam. Zeref new the route still even though it has been sometime since hes walked it, it was almost like second nature still. The only thing he had to be careful of was the few traps that were around the compound it self, there was no way to know if they were still active or not.

Zeref reached a fork in the road, to the left was the road towards Shimogakure, the right would lead down south and eventually his home. Taking the right road he started up the mountain path that was at a steady increasing incline. After roughly three miles the path was almost vertical, and no wider then a meter, wagons, horses, and such wouldn't even be able to make the climb at this point. Zeref stopped for a moment to catch his breath, looking up ahead he could see the small path that broke off to the right, that path would take him directly to the compound. 

Continuing his hike he split off to the right before stopping, before him was a small cliff wall, with in the cliff face was small hand and feet holds. Most would try and use ninjutsu to climb, but a seal buried in the wall negated any such technique from being used, from this point on it was more climbing then walking. Grabbing a hold of the first hold Zeref started to climb. The cliff was roughly four hundred feet tall, and took him a bit of time to finally pull himself over the edge, luckily the cliff was sturdy and didn't cause any rock slides. 

Zeref, now standing with the cliff behind him, could make out the compound a few hundred meters ahead. It was at this point where Zeref had to stop and think about where the traps were located. He knew that there were three paths, one to the right, one straight up the middle and one to the left. All three would lead to a different gate of the village, but two were heavily booby trapped. The middle was the shortest route to take, but there was a fall pit, three trip wire traps that sent spikes up from the ground, and the gate itself was a powerful seal that once touched would send thousands of volts into someones body, so that left the two paths to the sides.

Zeref stood at the split, looking left, then right, he thought for a moment before taking the left path. He remembered his father saying that three rights make a left, he took a right out of the village, a right at the first split, and a right onto the small path. It seemed trivial at the time, but it was hint on what path was the safest when coming back from the village.

Zeref pushed open the gate that lead before him, as he did it let out a haunting moan as it swung open. Zeref standing in the door way looked into his compound. A few buildings were still standing, holes in the roofs and sides, but standing none the less, others were nothing but piles of rubble, bodies were scattered across the compound grounds, they were nothing more then bones and clothing time had claimed their flesh. Zeref stepped inside the compound, he was home.

1100

Tomohiro couldn’t sleep again tonight. The bloodlust that he felt still had been a problem. Though, not as a problem as it had been. He stared up toward the sky at the full moon. It was such a sight. Kumo had a clear shot at the moon tonight. It was worth taking it in and enjoying. The moon was bright enough that you didn’t even need a torch to travel around. It was a good night for a stroll. There weren’t going to be many people out tonight unless they were shinobi. A walk would probably help him clear his mind further. “A clouded mind is a useless one” as his grandmother used to say. The statement held truth and it didn’t take him years to understand it. A clouded mind made you act irrational. The mind was a mysterious thing that must remain intact. That was something he strived for.

As he moved through the village on rooftop, he passed by a few night patrollers. From what he could tell, they had been a bunch of genin and some chuunin. He remembered that he would need to request another night patrol mission. Not being able to sleep at night would make it a bit easier for him cope. The short stroll was doing it for him. He figured that he would just leave through the main gate. One of the pluses of being a member of clan Nakir, was gate access. The Nakir had mines on the outside of the village walls, which made it easier to go to and fro. Tomohiro didn’t usually have any problems leaving the gate, but sometimes a few of the chuunin would give him a hard time.

The gate came into view as he saw his teammate trying to get through. Tomohiro wondered what caused Zeref to be up and moving about at this hour. Why was he leaving the main gate? What could possibly be out there for him? Not only that, the guards let him go through without any trouble. He figured that something was amidst. There couldn’t have been many missions that required a single genin to leaving at such an hour. This was all too suspicious for his liking. Many questions started to pop up in his head, but he would at least try and answer some of them.

Tomohiro leaped off of the roof landing on the ground. He waited for Zeref to outside the gate before he would approach it. The chuunin, Ken, stopped him before he could go forward.

“State your business,” Ken stated.

“Don’t start this tonight, Ken. I don’t have time for your antics. You know Nakir have free access to go in and out the gate due to the mines. Just because you made it to chuunin before me means nothing. I can still beat you one on one anytime,” he responded.

The jounin that had been there nodded to him as he continued through the gate. Ken just stared with an angry expression on his face. Tomohiro sort of groaned a bit under his breathe. His cousin Ken would give him a headache at the gate. They were old rivals, but Tomohiro had the winning count as one on one battles were concerned. His cousin purposely took on night patrols just to be a pain to other shinobi. He didn’t understand it himself, but he figured he was probably on a power trip. It wasn’t unlike that for Nakir to be that way, but it was sure annoying at best.

Tomohiro followed Zeref from a distance. He didn’t want to alert of his presence, but he didn’t really want him to be ambushed or anything on the way either. They ended up at a fork in the road, which his teammate took a left. He wasn’t sure where he was going, but he knew that was the direction of the border. The first thing he thought was Zeref was trying to defect. Though, why would shinobi go out of there way to join the village to just defect? There were a lot of questions that still had that remained unanswered. He would just need to continue to follow him.

He continued to follow the other genin to a small cliff wall. Tomohiro wondered why did Zeref need to climb the wall instead of walking up it. Tomohiro focused chakra into his feet and tried to climb up it. Though, his foot slipped almost landing him face first into the wall. The wall must have some type of jutsu or something to keep him from climbing it. More or less, probably just a seal that had been placed long ago. This was starting to interest him even more. He climbed the wall as fast as he could trying to get to the top. Once he got to the top of the cliff. He had almost lost sight of his teammate. This would have made it easier if he had a better grip on his Netsugan. The current level of his doujutsu was just basic. He could barely make out his teammate’s figured going down another path. Tomohiro would need to pick up his pace to catch up.

The strange paths his teammate had taken. Zeref obviously knew where he was headed. Tomohiro just hoped that he could get back on his own if he had too. He tried to keep track, but his mind was still a bit clouded and he didn’t really keep track of how he got there. The young Nakir wished that he kept up with where he was going, but he hoped that Zeref could lead him back just in case.

Tomohiro started to move in closer as they arrived at a compound. It seemed pretty dead and dark. Zeref opened the gate that made a wretched screech that he could hear from where he stood. He slowly approached Zeref before he would try to say anything.

“Zeref?” he called out while moving closer.

As he moved closer, there was a sight he would never forget. Holes gaped through the buildings, piles of stone rubble sat untouched, and piles of corpses littered the ground. Tomohiro was a bit speechless. He wondered what the hell happened here and why weren’t the bodies buried or at least cremated in a pyre. This was a sight to behold for anyone young or old. The expression on his face would remain emotionless as he continued to study the gruesome scene. He wondered if more than one shinobi was responsible for this tragedy.

1105

Chakra 145/150:

Zeref stood almost in the center of the compound before Tomohiro spoke his name. Of course Zeref knew he was being followed since the village, part of him hoped Tomohiro would gotten bored, or lost trying to keep up, but sadly neither happened. Tomohiro now found himself standing in the same compound as Zeref. Zeref turned slightly, turning his head to look back at Tomohiro. "You know, you really shouldn't have followed me Tomohiro. But I suppose it's partly my fault for allowing you to do so." At this point Zeref turned fully around to face Tomohiro, his voice no longer held its friendliness, instead it had a harsh like tone, emotionless. Zeref weighed his options, he knew he could best Tomohiro, he could kill him here and now, know one would find his body, not here, not in this forgotten compound. "I'll let you live, I still have use for you." Zeref was no longer bothering to keep up his normal friendly act, there was no point now that Tomohiro has seen his home. Welcome to the Kyōakuna compound, my home.

Zeref turned back around taking a few steps further, his foot coming down on a skull crushing it to pieces. Zeref closed his eyes tilting his head upwards slightly. He could hear the screams of that night, smoke filling the air, the flames licking at night sky, steel meeting flesh, blood flowing like a river. Zeref opened his eyes walking forward again. "I havn't been here since the attack,
since that man, my father died. Two? Three years ago? Zeref shrugged slightly."Kinda all blends together after a while.

Zeref walked over to a half destroyed building, his house, or what was left of it. He pushed over a beam that was blocking the door allowing it to smash to the ground. After stepping inside he looked around, most of the house was destroyed, a large beam was broke in half, one side barely hanging on, the other laid on top of a skeleton. Zeref crouched in front of the bones picking up the skull. "Hello father, did you miss me?" Zeref crushed the skull allowing the shards to fall through his fingers. "For a man who prided himself on always being one step ahead, you never saw this coming. I wonder why that was." Zeref touched the beam that laid on his father, running his hand over it. "And to be done in by something so simple." Zeref Shock his head as he stood up. "Tomohiro, Look around and let me know if you find anything like a note book. If there are some, they will be in some kind of hidden compartment, safe from the flames that ended his life." Zeref didn't bother to look at Tomohiro, he knew he would be following, after all he followed all the way from the village. Zeref stepped over the beam and started to hunt for hidden compartments in the wall, or under the floor, his father had to be writing down his notes somewhere.

512/1612

Tomohiro stood amongst the ruins of the Kyōakuna compound. The announcement of the compounds name echoed through his head. He put two and two together to realize that Kyōakuna was probably Zeref’s last name. Tomohiro slightly chuckled at the fact that Zeref would let him live. It’s not that Tomohiro would even let him try. There wasn’t much left of this place. The change in his overall tone didn’t faze him. He was wondering when the true him would come out. Though, this didn’t explain why they allowed him to walk freely past the gate. The young Nakir held some empathy toward him, but realized that it was probably wasted.

He followed his comrade as he moved deeper into ruins. Zeref had entered to into a half destroyed building. The room held a certain gloom about it. Even after the years, it still smelled of ash and burning flesh. The smell of burning flesh was an unforgettable one. Though, he didn’t think that the odor would last this long. Tomohiro turned his nose up slightly at the smell and would post up in the doorway. That was until his teammate demanded that he help him find a notebook or notebooks it seemed like. Tomohiro said nothing as he entered completely into the room. He began knocking on the remaining of the wall trying to find a hollow point.

Tomohiro focused chakra into his eyes and activated his En Netsugan. He began looking at the remains of the room. The room wasn’t as dark now than it was, but he didn’t really see where the notebooks could be. The room was beyond destroyed. Though, it shouldn’t take too much longer to find what he was looking for.Tomohiro continued to walk until he heard a slight creak in the floor. He looked down at the spot he was standing on and noticed a slight discrepancy in the wood. The desk that had been crushed near the spot he was standing on was pushed out of the way with his foot. He drew his sword and plunged it within the spot on the floor. The twist of the blade pried the wood out of its spot. The hole that remained was a bit dark, but he could make out an outline in the shadow. He sheathed his blade as he continued to examine the spot.

The young Nakir reached into the spot on the floor and removed a sizable steel box. It seemed to be a couple of feet deep, but not too much of a problem reliving it from its location. He brought it over to Zeref  and moved back toward the door post. A release of stale air pursed his lips as he leaned back against the door post to wait and see what Zeref would do with the box. He wasn’t sure if that’s what he was looking for or not. The contents were no concern to him he was just hanging around out of spite.

“Is that it or something else?”

This place was unsettling. It started to make him feel a bit inferior. Whatever caused it or whoever caused it must have been pretty strong. The idea of standing within someone else’s work was a bit disheartening. He started to wonder if this the work of the village or another entity altogether. Who would go out of their way to take out this many people? A small voice in the back of his head subtly said, “you.” He shook it off the feeling that started to creep into his mind. Tomohiro wasn’t trying to let his problems overtake him. He would currently just wait to see what Zeref would do or if they needed to keep looking. He disengaged his doujutsu and leaned his head back against the door post.

648/1753

Chakra 130/150:

Zeref moved around from room to room, it wasn't to big so it didn't cause much of an issue, but with so much destroyed it was hard to tell false wall from damaged wall. Zeref was growing a little annoyed, maybe his father hid his notebooks else where? Out in the yard perhaps. Zeref ducked under a hanging beam and looked to the backyard. Just like the compound there were bodies everywhere, or what was left of bodies. Zeref thought back, the compound wasn't that big and didn't house that many people, but the body count said other wise. In his back yard alone he counted thirteen bodies, it was like a small war had broken out, some of the bodies must of been the attackers. 

Zeref moved around the yard looking for any signs of a door, or well, something but there was nothing to hint that anything was here. It made sense, Noc wouldn't want his notebooks far from him. Zeref returned inside just as Tomohiro pulled out a metal box placing it in front of him. Tomohiro moved away as Zeref took a closer look. There was no latch, no door, no hinges or gaps, it was a solid box. Zeref placed his hand ontop channeling some chakra through it, after a second it melted away reveling a solid leather notebook with a sliver clasp holding it closed.

Zeref picked up the note book turning it over, he wouldn't put it past his father to booby trap something like a note book. Feeling safe that his father didn't do anything he opened the book, sadly he was wrong about there being no booby trap. As Zeref unlatched the book a pulse escaped passing through Zeref, as well as Tomohiro and anything else that was in the area. The pulse would disturb the ground slightly, like a shock wave moving over sand, the pulse would end at the walls of the compound.

"Shit." Was all Zeref uttered as he tucked the book into his back pouch and pulled his sword from the sheathe on his back. The sound of clicking and snapping could be heard all around the compound, then dead silence. From the back room five skeletons burst through, each with a charka like cloak around them creating a transplant body. Zeref frowned slightly letting a 'tsk' like sound slip through his lips. He quickly turned on his heels and ran out the front door grabbing Tomohiro as he past to pull him through as well. As both of them step through, Zeref tossed a Kunia into the building, a second later an explosion went off, the building creaked and screamed as it finally gave way crushing the skeletons inside.

Zeref looked back at his destroyed house, and then around the compound, both him and Tomohiro were surrounded by roughly twenty four of the same creatures. Zeref cracked his neck, if the other yards were anything like his he knew the twenty four around them is just a fraction of the number. "Don't hold anything back, or you will die." Zeref left Tomohiro running into a group of five, punching one with his gauntlet, and slashing at another. The creatures were weak, most likely due to the jutsu being old, but what they lacked in power they made up in with number.

With a string of hand signs Zeref created five fire clones, he then tossed each one a Koton kunia. Zeref with his five clones dashed outward in a ring, slashing, punching through the creatures. One of the clones got jumped and destroyed leaving four clones left fighting with Zeref and Tomohiro. 

Another ten minutes of fighting and the number of creatures went from one hundred and fifty, to fifty. Zeref no longer had any clones left, and he had used up about half of his chakra using other jutsu. Although tired, the fight itself was easy, if the jutsu had been triggered in it's prime, who knows what would of happened. Zeref ran into another group of creatures, using one as a spring to come down on another slicing it in half. 

The battle raged on for almost an hour till it was over. Zeref knocked over one last creature and crushed it skull in. Zeref let out a sigh of relief as the last died out. He looked around at the all the bodies that were not collected in the court yard of the compound. One hundred and fifty, not counting the ones that were crushed in his home, the compound only housed thirty, thirty five tops when Zeref was a kid. Zeref looked over at Tomohiro. "I hate my father." Zeref replaced his weapons back in their spots and started to walk towards the exit. "Lets leave before something else happens"

807/2419

Tomohiro watched as Zeref examined the steel box. He did really take much interest in it. He started to leave before Zeref managed to open it. Tomohiro then heard a noise from a back room. It sounded like someone just collapsed until Zeref had grabbed him by his poncho. Tomohiro raised an eyebrow as he barely caught a glimpse of skeletons that moved on their own.

“What the bloody hell?!” he sounded as the building then collapsed.

He didn’t look too pleased being grabbed by his clothing. His violet eyes turned turned toward Zeref with such fury before he saw the same creatures in the house now surround the building. Tomohiro fully drew his katana again and prepared for the onslaught that was to come. The predicament that they ended up wasn’t questioned. A trap was sprung and they were surrounded by a host of the living dead. This was the last thing he expected to be doing. He never saw the dead walk. Jutsu that animated the dead? He thought that was pure rumor and speculation.

Tomohiro took heed the warning Zeref had issued as he responded under his breath, “Don’t need to tell me twice,” before two groups started charging them from different directions. He didn’t like this predicament at all, but at least it was somewhat fun. Tomohiro performed a low sweeping kick before spinning upward and kicking one in the face. He swung his sword upward as caught one of the skeletons in the throat. The sword quickly lunged through the chakra aura as his sword became honed with fire chakra. He sidestepped out of the way as one tried to swipe at him. His blade of fire came down on the creatures neck. It was on to the next one, as he ran the corpse through with his blade.

The excitement could be seen on his face. This was something that he could get used too. Two on a twenty wasn’t bad. Tomohiro spent the hour or so performing a dance of death. He hacked and slashed as he hacked and slashed. His body hadn’t felt this way in what seemed like ages. This was what he had been dreaming of. It would have been too soon if he had to experience this again. His body felt a bit drained having taking on the multitude of whatever the hell those things were. Though, it was a good workout to say the least.

Tomohiro would sheath his weapon and follow Zeref. The fight was fun, but he had no intentions of doing anything like that again. If he ever wanted a workout like that again, he would just go start fights with a bunch of bandits. This was very interesting to say the least. Not everyday you got the chance to fight a legion of walking corpses. The event started to make Tomohiro wonder who Zeref’s father was and how did he get to the point of needing something like that. The trap was a wild one indeed. He would ask Zeref about the technique later. It may be useful later on.

“Agreed. It was fun, but I don’t plan on doing that again.” he chuckled.

The feeling of crushing his opponents didn’t get old, but he wondered why did they have to be so many. It seemed like a small army had appeared before them. Technically, they did almost literally take out an entire battalion. Tomohiro’s stomach growled a bit. Fortunately for him, he still had a lot of boar left from a previous mission they took. Though currently a bit displeased, he was kind of glad that he tagged along. That was more than the amount of fighting he had been looking for. He figured that he probably would be filled and tired of fighting for at least a couple of days.

648/2401

Zeref nodded at Tomohiros words of not wanting to do anything like that again. "Could of been worse, I have a feeling my fathers jutsu, or whatever that was, was weakened over time, we were lucky." As they both exited the village a bright light shined behind them, turning around Zeref looked in towards the village. "Now what." Zeref was about to draw his weapon as a seal appeared in the middle of the compound, the seal quickly spun in a circle and grew until the whole compound was with in the seal. Zeref noticed the seal looked similar to the clans symbol, with a few added details. Zeref took a few steps back until he was about twenty feet from the walls of the compound. "Well, that's interesting." Zeref knew the seal, or he believed he did, he's seen it once or twice when his father had to 'clean up' a mess, though this one was much larger.

As the seal reached it's final size it let out a ghostly glow, the earth started to shake violently causing trees to snap and chunks of earth to rise. Zeref ignored what was happening around them and kept his eyes on the compound, slowly as if someone pulled a plug in a tub, the compound was twisting inward and downward towards the center of the seal. After a few moments everything with in the compound was gone, leaving a fifty foot crater in it's wake, in the center of the crater was a black chunk of metal with the seal on it. Zeref looked into the crater, his home was gone, without a trace, he didn't really feel much, he didn't have any fond memories of the place, or the people. Zeref turned his back to the crater and started to walk. "Come, I think it's time for us to leave." Zeref didn't bother to look back, nothing was there for him not anymore.

331/2750
Thread end/thread exit

“Could of been worse, huh?” he sighed.

He turned around to see a seal activate and seem to encompass the whole compound. He jinxed it. Zeref actually jinxed it. It definitely had gotten worse. Well, there was no way they were going back there any time soon. The earth then began shaking underneath them. Tomohiro started to get agitated. What more could possibly happen that required the earth to tremor. Lightning was one thing, but tremors were a no go. He didn’t appreciate this feeling at all. Though, it was only temporary.

The seal continued to grow much to Tomohiro’s dissatisfaction. The seal then turned the area into a huge crater. Tomohiro was more than speechless. He really could have gotten sucked up in all of that. The trip wasn’t worth being sealed away into nothingness. If this was the case, he would have gone straight to the Nakir mines than follow Zeref. The fact that they were almost devoured by seal that outclassed them didn’t sit right with his well being. Tomohiro slightly mumbled curses under his breath. This was ridiculous and that wasn’t saying much. He was grateful that he was at least. The young Nakir was ready to leave the first time around. There was no way he was going to stick around and wait for something else to happen. It wasn’t worth his life. There was too much he had to do before he died to die in a place like this.

[Thread Exit]
245/2646