just because discussion

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Kigaru looked forward they were traveling through the marshes on the back of the chief toad gamagita with gamakitsu on his head and itsumo to his side he was still thinking about the old man they met at the shrine and secretly hoped that he could help itsumo control her corpse bone pulse

Itsumo leaned back on her overweight pack and enjoyed the ride while it lasted. Traveling by toad was much faster and more conveinient than by spider, she was sure, though she refused to admit it out loud, especially not to Kigaru, who would only get a fat head. Everything was running through her head so quickly, her new sensei, that mysterious woman on the boat, the message inside the scroll, and of course the little "encounter" she had with Kigaru on the boat to the first island. She tried to filter it all, and organize it by priority like she did most things, but she was having trouble deciding what she found more important.

Kigaru's thoughts then went to his mission he had to be able to catch one of the organization members and keep them alive to send back to the village this wasn't going to be easy especially if it's true that they have the ability to steal kekkei genkais he would deffinatly leave gamakitsu with itsumo he is still to young to take a mission like this and gamagita was to big for this so he would probably have to take gamatisu for this particular job

Itsumo glanced over at kigaru breifly, and then let her gaze wander back to the clouds. No matter how fast they were travelling, the sky seemed to be in slow motion. "You're awfully quiet. Thinking hard about the mission?" She asked, tracing her fingers around the shape of the cloud above her.

he got nervous for a second then remembered the mission she was on and smiled "yeah it's not every day you meet another kage" gamakitsu nodded "yeah just hope he doesn't screw this up and not cause a war" he laughed

"Oh I'll be keeping a close watch....on BOTH of you. I hear the mizukage is a very touchy person, and neither of you know how to speak without causing a scene, so let me do all the talking, Kay?" She leaned farther back, causing her spine to pop in an odd sort of stretch, and combed a hand through her hair, which was pulled tight into a high ponytail. She had half closed her eyes to take a small nap when she heard an strange noise coming from the places below where the giant toad was traveling. "Is it just me, or do you hear screaming down there?" And then in the distance, she saw it. Black smoke rising into the air in thick clouds.


"Kigaru, do you SEE that? Pull this toad over, I think that village is on FIRE!" She looped one arm around Kigaru's neck in a sort of choke hold, and used the other to point towards the smoke. "Hurry up, someone could need our help!" Itsumo's instincts of protection had instantly kicked in, and she was trying hard to calm herself enough to be able to think clearly. She could never stand the sight, or even just rumors of people in danger, or need. it made her want to pull out her wallet and give every dime she had to help out those in need if nothing else could be done, but if she could save someone's life, that was something else entirely.

*this could be easier than i thought i could even have gamagaki swallow him and she wouldn't notice* he thought and stood up "i would hold on to something if i were you" at that moment kigaru crossed his arms and gamakitsu clamped onto his head "hey gamagaki" he said in a flat voice and the toad said back in a deep comanding voice "yeah what is it" kigaru pointed forward "there is a village on fire over there let's go help them out" he said his voice no changing and the toad stopped "yeah we probably should hold on tight kids" he faced the village and leaped in the air towards the village with increadible speed but kigaru thinking ahead had already used his chakra to anchor himself to the toads body and kept hold of itsumo with one are just in case

Itsumo stared forward with a determined expression. She ignored the stinging sensation she felt in her cheeks from the loose strands of hair that thrashed and whipped at her face from the heavy wind created by the fast-moving toad. On the inside, she was praying to whomever it was that was listening to her that they weren't too late to save the people in the village.

As the toad touched down for the final time, she released the chakara that she had pushed into her feet to hold herself down, and pulled away from the arms that secured her. She hopped down from the toad and ran off into the smoke... but that's all there was. Black smoke rose into the air from a fire that had died some time before they arrived.

She glanced aroud, bodies littered the earth in the hundreds, lifeless and bathed in their own blood. she was desperate for something to do, "What could be done?" She asked herself. She crouched down to the ground and picked up a small doll, "there were children." She felt tears stinging at the back of here eyes. She willed herself not to cry. "What happened to these people?"

he searched around for anybody who might still be alive "gamagita go home for a while we're gonna burry the dead i'll call for you when we're done" the giant toad said nothing but nodded dis-summoning himself and kigaru knelt on the ground next to the body of a boy who seemed to only be around 8 or 9 years old his eyes were open but held no fear almost as if he saw what had come and accepted it kigaru closed the child's eyes "i'm not sure if these people were slaughtered by man or monster"

Itsumo glanced down at the doll in her hand. "both...." she mumbled, "though if it were a monster, it would meerely be it's nature to cause destruction, but if it were man, would that not make them a monster?"

he nodded still searching with the sharingon "who ever did this must have been unbelievably powerful mabey even stronger than me and you because no one was left alive" he closed his eyes and gamakitsu looked up "do you think they were looking for something or was this just a random extermination"

"I don't..." She began, but stopped short when she heard a faint noise. "Is that... whimpering?" She began to run in the direction of the sound, "But that's impossible, you were searching with your sharingan, right? How is it that you couldn't sense if someone was still alive?"

he opened his eyes and creased his eyebrows "it's possible that i may have missed something jutsu was used to kill these people the air is still thick with chakra" he walked with itsumo to a small shack and looked inside there was a small boy there still in his toddler stage

Itsumo saw the small boy shudder when he saw Kigaru, so she shoved him out of the way and began to inch towards the boy. "Hey there," she crouched down near him, "My name is, Itsumo. Can you tell me your name?"

"Sa- Satoru. My name is Satoru."

"Satoru, can you tell me what happened here, why you're in here all by yourself?"

"Th-the ninjas came and took everyone away from me. They took mommy away from me." Tears began to well up in his eyes, and Itsumo took his hand into her own.

"There there, it's okay," She soothed. He hooked his arms around her neck and began to sob loudly. She stood, with the small boy still attached to her, and began to walk out of the little shack, to where a dazed looking Kigaru stood waiting.

Kigaru rubbed his head "what the hell was that for" he scowled but then saw the small boy he creased his eyebrows something was really off about his chakra patterns they weren't like anything he had ever seen before especially for a child his age to....powerful he had enough chakra in him to be a full blown sage "who is that"

"His name is Satoru, I'm assuming he's the only survivor, but it's still too early to tell." She rubbed the small child's back, to help ease his sobs. "Hey, Satoru, how old are you?"

Between his heaving and sniffling into Itsumo's shirt, came a muffled, "Six."

hearing the childs age only bothered him more "i'm going to look for more survivors if i missed him i may have missed more" a kekkei genkai is the only logical explaination how that child could have so much chakra and a damn powerful one at that if the organization got wind of a child having such a powerful jutsu they were bound to go looking for it and this village was only recently destroyed they may not be that far off or at least leave a clue as to what he is looking for

Itsumo set the child down on a plank of wood that wasn't charred beyond recognition, and gave him a snack from the pouch at her hip. She wondered about Kigaru, he was usually so transparent, so she knew that something about the child had bothered him, and caused him to go off on his own, though he'd given a good reason to. She set a gloved hand on Satoru's head and gave him a quick once-over. It had been fairly dark in the shack, and she hadn't seen much about him. She combed back his spikey dark hair with her fingers, and noticed all off the soot on his face. "Well, I suppose I'm in charge of you now, unless Kigaru finds anyone that can stay and take care of you. And I say, Children under the watch of Mama Itsumo need to be clean. You need a bath."

Satoru surprised her when he pointed in the direction behind him. "There's a river with a waterfall over there. that's where mommy took me to get a bath."

Itsumo smiled, she'd rarely seen a child that actually enjoyed taking baths. If it were any other child that she knew, they would have told her anything to get out of taking a bath. She patted his head, and picked him up, beginning to walk in the direction he had pointed.

he had been searching for a while no one was alive and he couldn't find any clues so he sat down for a while and gamakitsu patted his head "so what's up with the kid" kigaru smirked of course gamakitsu would notice something was wrong they had been partners since he learned how to summon he took a deep breath letting it out slowly "the child has enourmous chakra it's powerful enough to be a full blown well trained sage so i can only guess that it's a kekkei..." something caught his eye "genkai" he stood up and gamakitsu asked "what's up" and kigaru walked over to a corpse that looked like it had been completely drained of everything it didn't even posses any chakra networks at all "i think i just found out how they steal kekkei genkais" he knelt by the corpse "go back to itsumo gamakitsu tell her i found a blood path and followed it make sure she doesn't come looking for it either" gamakitsu nodded "got it" he hopped off kigaru's head and started back to where itsumo and the child was

Itsumo had retirieved her oversized pack from where the large toad had disappeared, and pulled two large, fuzzy towels from it. "It never hurts to be prepared.... well it may hurt my back." She thought. She helped Satoru pull off his sooty clothes, then let him cannon ball into the water. She supposed there wasn't any reason for her not to take a bath as well, and jumped in after him once she had removed her clothing.

gamakitsu had reached the spot where they had left but saw that itsumo and the child was no longer there "damn where did they go" he crouched low to the ground and felt for the scent "found you" he followed it all the way to the waterfall where he saw both of them taking a bath he quickly hid behind a rock "hehehe kigaru you better hurry"

Kigaru looked over the body it had nothing at all at least nothing the sharingon could detect he reached out and touched it but it crumbled under the touch turning to dust he sighed "so much for analyzing the victim" he stood up looking around once more to see if anyone was around and started back

Itsumo let Satoru play around in the water, she had to admit he was a cute kid when he wasn't covered head to toe in dirt and black smudges. She swam over to where the small waterfall met the pool they were swimming in, and let the rushing water wash over her. She heard an almost silent sound come from the area around the pool. "I know you're there, Gamakitsu, come swim with us!" She called out.

when she said his name gamakitsu froze in fear he saw what she did to kigaru when she caught him peeping but then she invited him to swim with them so he decided to take a chance and dove into the pool

Kigaru returned back to the spot where he had left itsumo and the child and sighed at the fact that they weren't there "of course" he looked around the pins on his sharingon spinning tracking the chakra until he located the path and followed it until he got to the waterfall then quickly covered his eyes "my...my apologies itsumo-chan i'll wait over here"

Itsumo laughed from her spot under the waterfall, lucky for her the water was deep enough to cover most of her body, and all of the parts that nobody should see. She sniffed the air, and made a sour face, "Kigaru, you smell like stale swamp water, blood, and ash. TAKE A BATH!" She splashed water onto Satoru, and was met with a fit of giggles before the water war began.

he hesitated for a moment but decided to take the offer he needed a bath anyway so he began to strip down and eased into the water it felt warm and he relaxed leaning against a rock smiling

Satoru and Itsumo continued their battle for a few more minutes, but then Itsumo gave Satoru a sly, sideways glance, and pointed towards Kigaru discreetly. He seemed to understand her signals, and disappeared under the water. The small boy swam as deep as he could go, then headed in Kigaru's direction. when he spotted a foot in the slightly murky water, he grabbed ahold of the leg it was attached to, and chomped down hard on Kigaru's ankle.

startled by the sharp pain he slammed his other foot into the boys face kicking him off he jumping out of the water examining his foot "what the hell was that for!"

Satoru sprung up from the water, and began to laugh, but he suddenly stopped, and looked down at his hands. The veins had started to rise to the surface of his water pruned skin, and a blackness, like ink was slowly spreading up his arms and down his chest to his legs.

he looked up again and saw that the boys chakra was going heywire and...changing the chakra began to look as if it were someone with the sharingon kekkei genkai "impossible" was all kigaru could manage to say

The boy let loose a pitiful whimper and cried out to Itsumo as the inky veins began to crawl up his neck and around his jaw. Itsumo waded over to where the boy was in the shallower end of the pool, having to get down on her knees to keep herself covered. "What's going on? Kigaru, do you know what's happening to him?"

he leaped down and grabbed itsumo dragging her away from the boy "something that shouldn't exist that's what" he closed his eyes tensing them and opened them activating the mongekyo it looke like a sunburst explosion he kept his eyes on the boy waiting for whatever was going on with the boy to finish and was prepared to kill him if neccisary

Satoru's veins continued to turn black and spread upwards until his entire body was covered in them. Itsumo wished desperately that there were some way she could help him, but there was nothing she could do. "What do you mean it shouldn't exist?" She broke from Kigaru's hold, "he's just a little boy!" then she saw his eyes, they were black lined, like the rest of his veins, but his irises had turned red, taking on a look that remided her of Kigaru's sharingan, "What is going on!?"

"Die." he made a one handed hand seal "Mongekyo sharingon" as soon as he made eye contact with the boy the world around began to twist and change entering the dark world of tsukoyomi, but something was wrong, this wasn't his world this was something completely different snakes were everywhere surrounding him and coiling around him "what..what is this?" they wrapped around his neck and chest crushing the life out of him he tried to rip them from his body but as soon as he lifted his hands two snakes bit into his wrists injecting what felt like acid into his veins kigaru yelled out in pain his sight was fading but in his last glance he saw the boy "you?" he said accusingly he yelled out in anger focusing his chakra to his eyes he called upon the black fire amaterasu to break out of this world but as soon as he broke free he collapsed his eyes crying tears of blood

Satoru began to sink into the water, Itsumo dove under after him. When she'd grabbed ahold of his arm and pulled him closer to her, she began her trip back up. When she broke the surface of the water, she took in greedy gulps of air and dog paddled to the edge of the water with Satoru on her hip. She secured both of her towels and wrapped one around herself before wrapping the other around the child. she glanced around. "Holy CRAP!" She screamed, and ran to the edge of the water. She'd forgotten all about Kigaru.

kigaru almost completely dazed pushed up on his hands and knees his vision was blurred but steadily coming back he wiped the blood out of his eyes looking around "that little bastard....that kekkei genkai shouldn't even exist ...it was wiped out centuries ago" he said between heavy pants of breath

Gamakitsu, completely oblivious of what just happened, surfaced from the water smiling "now this is what i love" he looked around seeing the kid passed out itsumo in a hurried panic and kigaru on his knees like some big fight just went on "what i miss?"

"What the hell are you... OH MY GOD!" she slapped a hand over her eyes, and felt around for her bag, pulling a black towel from it. "Cover your ass, Kigaru! I don't care how pissed off you are, nobody wants to be traumatized like that!" She threw the towel at his face, which hit with deadly accuracy, despite her temporarily 'blinded-by-bad-images-that-will-scar-me-for-life' state.

he then became aware of his nakedness "oh my" he quickly covered himself then winced at the motion "damn it" gamakitsu then hopped on shore "seriously what the hell happened?"

Itsumo kneeled down next to Satoru, with her back turned to Kigaru, to cover her blush as well as tend to the child. "I still don't know what's going on. Kigaru, why did Satoru look like he had the sharingan?" She looked at the boy's skin again, and noticed that the black was beginning to receed in the opposite way it had spread, starting at his face, and ending in his hands. "What kind of kekkei genkai is this? and what triggered it?"

he stood up shakily "it's called the kontan touzoku or soul thief. It's said to be one of the most powerful blood line traits in existance. In an immature state it's basicly useless but when someone with that kekkei genkai tastes the blood of another person with a differen kekkei genkai they have the ability to litteraly copy it and twist it to a version that best suits them" he looked at the boy "as with most kekkei genkais it can only be activated during a state of intence trama his must of surfaced when his village was destroyed and then activated when he tasted my blood" he walked over to his clothes and took a kunai out of one of his pockets "they destroyed the line centuries ago because the people had a bad habbit of letting the power go to their head" he started to walk to the boy "i don't intend on taking a chance on this one"

As Kigaru's arm swung down to thrust the kunai into the boy's body, Itsumo grabbed his wrist, and twisted it painfully until it released the weapon. when she heard it clatter onto the rocks, she thrust the fingers of her right hand in an upward motion into Kigaru's diaphram, just hard enough to knock the breath out of him. The heel of her other hand collided with his breast bone, knocking him back. "Don't you dare lay a finger on him." She hissed, "I made a promise to myself. This boy needs our help and I'm going to make sure he gets to people that can take care of him, and if no one, I will. If you can't deal with that, you can shove off."

"he is a danger to keep alive you don't understand when they copy a kekkei genkai it doesn't leave after he deactivates his it stays with him to him kekkei genkai's are like collectable items he can get as many as he wants there have even been cases to where they can combine them" he was fighting just to stand but he wasn't going to give up so easily on this fight

"Kigaru, I don't want to fight you, but if I have to, I will." She felt the tips of sharp bones begin to poke just under her skin, 'stay calm, I have to stay calm. no surprises, no accidents.' she told herself. "Did you see the look on that child's face when he began to change? I don't know if you know what it feels like to have something happen to you that would cause that look. Sheer terror, that's what I saw. I'm sure at that moment he was sure he was going to die, and if he would have, that would be something different. But I will NOT allow you to kill this child, no matter what his bloodline has done in the past." She realized that this situation kind of reminded her of her own family, and what HER bloodline had done when apart of the Kaguya clan. 'Is that why I'm defending him?'

he creased his eyebrows the piercing eye of the sharingon caught a second thought in her own eyes it seems like something about the boy was personal to her. he sood up straight out of his fighting position took a deep breath letting it out slowly "i'll give the boy a trial period. during this period i will study his actions if he gives me so much as a hint that he may turn out like his ancestors i will kill him"

Itsumo sighed, "If that's how it has to be then fine, but even if he does screw up, don't think I won't be there to fight back for him." she relaxed and stepped closer to Kigaru, glaring up at him. "If and when that day comes, I won't play around." She put the palm of her hand on his chest and pushed him back, then came back to the unconscious Satoru and picked him up, still swaddled in his towel.

he glared at the child everything was going fine until he came around he should of killed him while he had the chance "gamakitsu let's go i think we need some times to cool our heads" gamakitsu nodded wordlessly and jumped on kigaru's head as he made hand signs slamming his palm on the ground summoning the giant gamagita "where to" he asked as kigaru jumped from his leg then on top of his head "anywhere away from here" he nodded and leaped east leaving itsumo and the child behind

Itsumo sighed and looked down at the child in her arms. He hadn't stirred since she pulled him out of the water, but she'd checked his vitals, and knew he was okay. She heard a muffled screaming coming from her backpack, she stood and stared at it for a while until Kebukai popped out like a bed spring from her bag.
"that goddamn TADPOLE! I'll sink my fangs into that little creep. WHERE IS HE?"

"Kebukai?" Isumo was confused, "i thought you went home to papa Dokuyaku."

"Well I didn't. That creep, Gamakitsu gagged me while I was napping and stuffed me in your pack! I couldn't move at all or dissummon myself. I've been in there for SIX HOURS, Itsumo, SIX!" he hopped up and down on his little spider legs, until he finally seemed to notice the child. he stopped, mid-rampage and asked, "Hey, whose the kid?"

kigaru gamakitsu and gamagaki were all relaxing by the shore of the ocean when gamakitsu sneezed and kigaru looked at him "bless you" he said absent mindedly and gamakitsu rubbed his nose "thanks i wonder who's talking about me" kigaru shrugged and stood up jumping back on gamagaki "don't know but i think it's time we headed back i need a blood sample from the kid mabey send it back to ANBU to analyze" gamakitsu nodded "sounds good" he looked down "let's go old man" gamagaki looked up at them "watch your tounge little one" he said before crouching and jumping towards the dircetion they left

After she had filled Kebukai in on the events that had been going on, and showed him the scroll with the sketch of the woman that looked scarily like her, he calmed down a bit and seemed to forget about Gamakitsu, at least for the moment. Itsumo leaned back against a rock. she had finished washing Satoru's sootey clothes while she talked to Kebukai, and the child snoozed soundly in his big fluffy towel. Her arms were stiff and sore from scrubbing. "I swear, Kebukai, this child needs a new wardrobe. I think the next village we come to, which will hopefully be the hidden mist, I'm going to buy him something decent to wear, and then possibly purchase some sand village appropriate wares once we make it back home."

"I say you should just leave him in the care of the hidden mist." Kebukai said, one leg kicking out to rest in the water.

"But government programs are so cold hearted. He needs a home, people that will love him. I'm sure mom wouldn't mind another son, especially not one as cute as he is. Plus there's still the fact that the water country blames the kekkei genkai holders for all their strife and basically wants a complete genocide. I won't leave him to grow up with that kind of fear."

"Whatever you say, Itsumo, but when that kid starts calling you mama, don't expect that you won't get some sort of dirty look, or maybe a rumor or two started about you."

"I'm completely prepared for that, Kebukai, don't worry. Besides, the only people's opinions that really matter to me, are my own, and," She paused, 'no, I'm pretty sure that's it."

Kebukai sighed, "Whatever you say, Itsumo. Whatever you say."

a few minutes later kigaru jumped from gamagaki's head infront of itsumo "thanks big guy we'll call for you if we need you" the giant toad nodded then dis-summoned its self and kigaru not wanting to make the moment any more awkward than neccissary looked away "we should get going we aren't far from the mist village" gamakitsu looked at kebukai and snickered a little "sup buggy enjoy your ride?"