Return from Training

Gamma finally made it back to the village from his day of training in the forest. It was nighttime now and the stars were out as he walked through the busy streets. In flame village almost every night was a party or a celebration, tonight was no different. He limped his way through the crowded streets, being pushed and pushing back at the same time. Even though this would seem aggravating to any other person, this was actually always an exciting and fun part of life for him. He loved the music that would be played by street musicians and the entertainment of street performers using jutsu's for the laughs of the passerbys.

As Gamma continued to walk on he was getting closer and closer to his house. "Heh I haven't been home in almost two days and I never told my mom what I was doing. She's gonna kill me." Gamma continued to walk on down the street until a man walked up behind him, "Come with me..." The man grabbed Gamma by the shoulder and began to push him forward, making a right turn into a Yakiniku (Japanese Barbecue) restaurant. The man pushed Gamma forward and into a booth. The then looked at the receptionist and said " For two please." Gamma was shocked, everything had happened so fast. First he was on the street walking his way home and the next thing he knew he was being pushed into a Yakiniku restaurant and was about to be treated to dinner.

The man then sat down in the booth across from Gamma. Gamma was still confused as to what was happening so he decided to simply speak first, "Hey, who the hell are you!" Gamma spoke with a raised voice, causing others in the restaurant to turn around and stare. The man shook his head, "Calm down...I just needed to talk with you, thats all." Gamma was now even more confused, "Talk with me? Do I know you or something?" The man laughed, "No you don't know me, but I know you...." The man then got quiet, "..Well atleast I think I do..." Gamma looked in amazement, "So you don't know if you know me or not....but you need to talk with me?"The man slumped down a little bit in his seat and then pulled out a black book. He flipped through the pages and stopped at a particular page. "Aha, no doubt about it now." A server then walked up to them, "What can I do for you two today?" The man smiled, "I'll take Yakitori and shiitake mushrooms, how about you?" Gamma looked up torwards the server, "Well since im not paying...I'll take the most expensive thing on this menu." Gamma smirked at the man across from him who was now visible aggravated. The server took this as cue to leave and quickly walked off.

"Now time to get down to buisness. You are the son of Tsunayoshi and Kihmora Akutabi are you not?" Gamma eyed the man, "...How do you know those names...?" Gamma moved his hand down into his pouch without the man seeing, palming a kunai, just in case something was about to happen. The man eyed Gamma as he replied, "By that reaction I assume that you are. It's nice to meet you son of the great Tsunayoshi, I've never had the pleasure of seeing you after you were born, but now is better than never I suppose." Gamma's jaw dropped, "How do you know my father?! Who are you?!" The man shook his head again, "Can you keep it down?! I've had enough with the yelling!" The man unbeknowst to himself was now standing up and causing a scene in the restaraunt. "Oh...um..." The man then quickly took his seat again. "I'll tell you as much as I feel that you need to know, young Akutabi." Gamma nodded his head, he knew not of who this man was or where he came from, but he felt as if he would get more answers from him than he would from his mother.

"Hrm hrm.." The man cleared his throat, "OK then...you know that you are a part of the famous Akutabi clan which broke up into several factions long ago, am i right?" Gamma nodded his head, "And you also know that you yourself are a part of the main branch of the Akutabi, and one of the main heirs of the clan, am i right again?" Gamma shook his head once more. "OK then...what else is there..." Gamma couldn't believe it, was this really all there was to his clan? Even his mother had told him this much, "Oh yes! I almost forgot. Have you noticied anything strange happening with your powers recently?" Gamma thought about his question, "weird about my powers?" Gamma thought back to today's training. "I think so..today I was training my taijutsu..." The server from earlier then arrived once again, carrying their orders. He then placed the Yakitori and shiitake mushrooms in front of the man, and a plate of teriyaka yellow tail and konjac. "Finally been waiting on this food all day!" The man then began to quickly scarf down then food. Gamma shook his head in amazement, How could someone lose focus so quickly? Gamma then shrugged, "Meh, Im kinda hungry myself. He then began to eat his food also.

After about thirty minutes the two had finished eating their dinner in silence. Gamma was getting quite annoyed. "OK then old man, like i was saying before. When I was training my taijutsu earlier the last punch that I hit the dummy with caused it to catch on fire. I don't know how it happened but if that's the kinda weird you were talking about then i guess thats it." The man nodded, "That's very good, you're coming along nicely." Gamma was confused, "Very good? Coming along nicely? Is there something to what happened to that dummy today?" The nodded, "You'll see in due time, but for the time being I want you to take this." The man dug into his coat pocket and pulled out a red scroll with golden string keeping it closed. "Read this when you get home. It'll answer alot of your questions." The man then stood up, "It's about time for me to be going." The man pulled out his wallet and paid the fee for the food, "Also, one more thing before I go....I found out where the men who killed Tsunayoshi are hiding out at. I planned to go over there and deal with them, but I thought maybe I should run it by you before I do that. What do you say? Would like to accompany me there?" Gamma knew what was meant by this offer, he was being given the chance to avenge his fathers death at the three men his mother told him about. He had thought of this before, what would he do when he finally met these men one day. Would he kill them? Would he let them go? Gamma turned these thought in and out of his mind for a while, thinking about the pros and cons of each one.


After about three minutes Gamma looked back towards the man. "Im sorry, but I can't do that. I've thought about it...what I would do to those three men when i ran into them one day. The first way i thought to react to this was to kill them...but then i thought about it. My father..even though he had them beat he still realized that they were his clansmen and therefore were his family and he could not harm them. I will live the way my father did, I will put my family above all others. And that means I won't go out for revenge, I shall forgive them..." The man smiled, "I wish that I could answer the same way...your father was my best freind, what they did to him...I shall never forgive. But...you do remind me alot of him, you're just like him even." The man grabbed his book and pocketed it, "My name is Gokudera, If you ever need anything, let me know. I should be taking my leave now." Gokudera then walked out of the restaraunt, leaving Gamma there.

Gamma was amazed. Gokudera had came and went, but he had begun to open Gamma's eyes more and more about his clan. Gamma got up and dug into his pouch, leaving some money on the table as a tip. He walked out of the restaurant, and continued his way on the street. The partying and celebration has died down from before and it seemed as if many people were finally calling it a night. Gamma yawned, he was pretty tired himself. The night before he had passed on the wooden floor of the dojo, which in his opinion really wasn't sleep at all. But even as tired as he was he still kept thinking back on his conversation with Gokudera.

While thinking back Gamma remebered something. He then reached into his pouch again and pulled out the red scroll with golden string. "This must have all the answers to my questions...." Gamma felt a desire to just pull the string off and read the scroll where he stood, he had been waiting for what seemed like forever for answers and now they were right in the palm of his hand. But Gamma regained his composure, "No...Gokudera told me to read this when I got home. Maybe there's a secret of some sort I can't be reading out in the open." Gamma placed the scroll back in his pouch and continued walking.

Thirteen minutes passed and he was finally outside of his front door. The porch lamp was still on. "Seems like mom left a light on for me." Gamma got out his key and slowly unlocked the door. "Maybe I can sneak in without being noticied..." Gamma walked through the front door and was immediately greeted by a familiar face, his moms. "Umm, hey mom...time kinda flew by while i was training with that Special Jounin--" Kihmora cut him off immediately, "I don't have any concern with that Gamma, I know your training to become a chuunin so it is obvious that you would be out training....Now tell me, did you meet that bumbling idiot Gokudera tonight?"

Gamma was surprised, "You know him?" After speaking Gamma felt like an idiot, he did tell him that he and his fater were best friends so mom would obviously know him. "Yes Gamma I know him, and once again he's prying his nose in our buisness." Gamma didn't understand, "In our buisness? What are you talking about mom?" Kihmora looked at him and sighed, "I guess i might as well tell you now, Gokudera has probably told you more than I have....Your father, Tsunayoshi and Gokudera were best friends. They met each other in the sun village a long time ago when the Akutabi clan was based there. Gokudera is actually not a part of the clan himself, but because he was so drawn to what your father was trying to accomplish he became an "honourary member" of sorts." Gamma nodded his head intently, this was all new to him so hung onto every word, trying to piece together the story of his ancestry.

Kihmora stopped talking for a second. She took a sip from the glass of water she had and continued. "Many years passed after this and your father finally became an S-ranked ninja within the village of the sun. Many people felt that he should have applied for the posistion of Kage, but he declined he felt that he should carry on his mission of unifying the Akutabi clan. A few weeks after this the Sun Village was attacked by insurgents from a rival faction of the Akutabi clan, killing many innocents of the village while also attempting to assassinate your father. The ninja of the village were able to fight back the faction of the Akutabi clan, but not after many casualties. Because of this incident your father and Gokudera were both exiled from the Sun Village and came to live here in the Flame Village. Where i first met him...."

Gamma sat there in anticipation, it almost seemed like an action adventure novel to him. He also couldn't belive that his father was an S-ranked ninja. S-ranked ninja are among the strongest ninja in the world, and his father was one. But for a second it made him feel like what he was doing for was for naught. His father was S-ranked but still didn't have enough power to accomplish his goal, how would he ever hope to be able to do that? And was he even skilled enough to even be that highly ranked in his life-time? Gamma's thought's were cut short as Kihmora continued on, " He lived here for one and a half years before we were married, and soon after i found out that I was pregnant with you Gamma. and then a month later....." Gamma knew what she was talking about, his fathers death.

Kihmora regained herself and continued on, "After your father passed, Gokudera left the village. Swearing on his life that he would find the ones who killed him and make them beg for their lives. I continued to live here and you were soon born eight months later. Somehow Gokudera heard about your birth and requested that when you became a genin that you come with him to train, he said that he wanted to make you as strong as your father was, and that it was the least he could do since he wasn't there when he was killed--" Gamma stopped her, "So is that why he came looking for me? He wanted to train me?! Why didn't you tell me? I've been trying my hardest to learn about my clan and my powers, but I don't even know what they are, and now the best man to train me shows up and you never tell me?!" Gamma was mad, why was everyone keeping secrets from him?

Kihmora then looked at Gamma with a serious look "I will not sit here and be interrogated by my own son...I choose what's best for you and I choose what's bad for. And in this situation I deemed you leaving with Gokudera a bad decision." Kihmora then asked, "Now what would you do with the strength you acquired after training with Gokudera?" Gamma opened his mouth to answer quickly, "I will try and restore the Akutabi clan to its former glory!" Kihmora shook her head, "See, you're trying to follow in his footsteps. Why can't you just live your own life? It'd be much easier than what you are trying to do now." Gamma frowned, "But mom, this is my life. And I want to try and accomplish what he couldn't. I want to make him proud and more importantly I want to prove something to myself." Kihmora was left hanging, "And what would that be?" Gamma laughed, "I want to prove to myself that I am just as strong as dad was."

Kihmora smiled, "OK then...I see now. You're just like your father." Kihmora got up and kissed Gamma on the forehead, "Tomorrow I will contact Gokudera and tell him that I will approve your training with him." Gamma's jaw dropped, "I can go!?" "Yes, you can go...but promise me you won't do anything rash, and to be careful." Gamma nodded his head, "OK mom, thank you." With that Gamma rushed to his room to go and get some sleep, he had a long day in for him tomorrow.

Gamma tossed and turned in his bed, the anticipation for what today was going to bring was getting to him. Gamma rolled one final time and landed with a loud THUD on the floor. Gamma rubbed his face and opened his eyes, it was now morning and that meant it was time to meet Gokudera. Gamma quickly threw his clothes on and packed his pouch full of equipment. He swung his room door open and bolted down the stairs. As he reached the bottom of the stairs he saw a familiar face. "Hey Gokudera!" Gokudera looked up and waved, his mom stood across the table from him sipping a cup of tea. She slowy looked over to Gamma, "OK, it is done. I have spoken with Gokudera and given him my approval about your training. He has even gone so far as to swear his life on your safe return." Gokudera quickly made a face to dispute this but quickly fixed it as Kihmora glared at him. She then nodded to him, as to give him the floor to speak. Gokudera smiled, "Young Akutabi, we will begin your training immediately. You still have that scroll I gave you right?" Gamma looked confused for a second but quickly remebered, "Oh yea! I forgot to read it!" Gokudera extended his hand, "Give it to me." Gamma searched his pouch and pulled it out, giving it to Gokudera.

As Gokudera received the scroll he stood up. "This scroll is instrumental for you training, withoutit frankly, i couldn't train you." Gamma didn't understand this at all, "So what's in the scroll?" Gokudera looked at him for a second and began to laugh hysterically, "You'll just have to wait now. I told you to read it when you got home but since you didn't think of this as punishment for not listening to your sensei." Gokudera said this in a teasing tone, but Gamma didn't pay any attention to that. The only thing that caught attention was the last word that was spoken, "Sensei". He was about to be trained by a man who fought alongside his father. As Gamma thought about this he began to smile, but unbeknowst to him he was beginning to look odd. Gokudera looked at him and then turned back to Kihmora, "What's wrong with him? He slow?" Kihmora let out a slight chuckle. Gamma soon snapped out of this and rubbed his head in embarrasment, "So umm, when do we start training?" A sturdy slap was then felt on Gamma's back, "It's funny you ask that Akutabi, cause we are leaving right now. Lets head out." With that Gokudera walked out of the door.

Gamma looked back at his mother who was still sipping her tea and reading. "Go ahead Gamma, he's an impatient man. He might end up leaving by himself if you're not careful." Gamma began to run for the door, "Bye mom!" The door slammed behind him and he continued his sprint after Gokudera who had already made his way to the village gates. Gamma ran along the street, the foot traffic wasn't as bad as it was the night before. Gamma was thankful for this as Gokudera still continued to walk, leaving him behind. "Dammit! Wait on me you old man!!!" As if he was called Gokudera turned around and stopped. Gamma finally caught up to him and was out of breathe, "Hey whats the big idea?!" Gokudera looked confused, "So you haven't been behind me this whole time? Guess I was talkin' to myself the whole walk here." Gokudera began to let out a bellowing laugh, it caught the attention of many pedestrians. "Hey old man, calm down. Now where are we going? I thought we'd go train at the academy or something." Gokudera looked at him puzzled, "Are you stupid or something? Why the hell would we waste time there? We're leaving this village to go train, you need experience fighting in different terrain." Gamma nodded and followed Gokudera out of the village.