Voices. Jostling. Then, vague awareness. Kotetsu didn't dare move, his primitive instincts telling him not to budge an inch. He couldn't remember where he was or what he was doing. He rotated his foot, only to catch a bolt of pain shooting up his leg. Oh, right. He had been sparring with Atsuo. He couldn't quite remember how that had ended… After a few intense moments of focus, the memories unleashed as a floodgate in his mind opened free. Atsuo was falling after launching himself into the air like a moron, forcing Kotetsu to rush in and save him. He was pretty sure that had settled the fight, leaving Kotetsu as the clear winner. Now with one question answered, he tried to think about the mystery of 'where'. He awoke laying on his back, on a floor that was much too soft to be the forest floor; plus, he was warm and dry. There is no way he was still outside. Carefully, slowly, Kotetsu peeked one eye open.
The sight of a tent roof confused Kotetsu for several seconds. He didn't pack any tent in his bag. Also, the color was off. The Hyuuga clan sported white and grey colours, prim and clean shades. This tent was a horrific dark orange in colour. Kotetsu was pretty sure that his mother would personally burn the tent to the ground for being so off colour. Glancing down, he noticed his clothes were gone, mostly replaced with bandages and covered with thick sheets. In the middle of his disordered trail of thoughts, he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. Kotetsu reflexively closed his one eye. Years of being woken early in the morning for menial chores trained him well. When Atsuo's voice reached his ears, Kotetsu shot straight into an upright position and turned to look.
"Hey, are you awake?"
A tent flap had been opened and a head was peering through the gap. Atsuo pulled back at the speed at which Kotetsu reacted to his voice. Kotetsu looked directly at Atsuo. The two stared at each other for several seconds, until Atsuo scrunched his face up in annoyance.
"Gonna say anything, or just stare like an idiot?"
Kotetsu blinked.
"I, uh… Where am I?"
Atsuo let out a heavy, drawn out breath.
"Yeah. About that…"
Before Atsuo could speak, another head with short black hair popped in beside his own dark brown hair.
"He's awake?" Dan said, intruding.
Atsuo attempted to push Dan's face away. From the other side, Okita, one of the boys Kotetsu had first met along with Dan, squeezed his face in next to Atsuo's. His lighter brown hair completed a trio that Kotetsu found mildly amusing. Atsuo grew more annoyed at the repeated disturbance.
"Hey! You're up! Awesome. You know, we've only had Atsuo's account of the fight to go on for two whole days now. We need your side of the fight, like-"
Okita was cut off as Atsuo wrapped an arm each around both his and Dan's necks, then pulled the two of them out of the tent. The flap closed shut, leaving Kotetsu in vague darkness. Kotetsu was still trying to sort his thoughts out when he caught up with what Okita had said.
"Two… Days?"
Kotetsu had no clue where he was. After a few seconds of contemplation, a wide grin spread from ear to ear, cracking his dried lips as he decided that he didn't particularly care.
—
One day earlier.
The clan mission group arrived, stumbling and generally shambling their way through the camp entrance. The support group had successfully brought medical supplies, which stopped anyone who was seriously injured from slipping into a worse situation. The support group only needed to make one trip. With their help, the mission group made it back to the clan camp ground safely. The mission group had only suffered a single casualty. A stroke of bad luck, Hazuki Uchiha had been singled out for the simple reason of being the first to land a clean strike on the Hyuuga. He drew the elder's ire. The four clansmen that carried Hazuki presented the body with sober faces to the support group leader, Keina. Hazuki's only child. Her expression remained rigid the entire trek back to the campsite.
Upon return to the camp, the mission group had been immediately tended to by the remaining clan members. Eito found his second, Tan, standing over Eito's son, who was sitting on a log. The two were sitting in front of a tent used for medicine. The boy was covered in large bruises and cuts, which had been lightly wrapped in bandages. Tan stood with a stoic expression, while Atsuo sat with a strangely subdued expression. Before Eito could walk off to get his wounds saw to, he felt that this situation awaited his judgement. Letting loose a sigh, he strode toward the pair.
"Judging from your appearance, I'm going to guess that you didn't fall into the latrine hole again."
Atsuo's face grew red from embarrassment. Tan grunted at the remark.
"If it were that simple, Leader, he wouldn't be hiding something from you in this tent behind us."
Eito felt an eyebrow climb up his forehead. Before he could make any sort of remark, Atsuo spoke.
"It is a decision that I made acting as temporary clan leader. I will defend my decision, father."
Eito felt his second eyebrow begin to rise. A headache began to pound slightly just behind his eyes. He needed a drink.
"Boy… Have you done something that threatens the clan?" Eito spoke with a warning tone.
"No." Atsuo spoke without hesitation.
Eito was not surprised at the serious nature of Atsuo's response. What did surprise him was the look of determination and regret that he held. He had thrown out bait, curious to see how his son would respond. It appeared that in the week he was absent, his son had gone through some sort of experience. He made brief eye contact with Tan. The look Tan responded with spoke of a delicate subject. Whatever happened, it was more than just a physical toll. Atsuo's expression morphed as Eito considered this. Now, his face was void of regret, only reflecting determination. He appeared to have made up his mind.
"Very well."
Eito smirked, causing Atsuo to somewhat release his expression. Then, before Atsuo lapsed anymore, Eito blurred. He pushed past his son, stretching one arm out to pull aside the tent flap. Atsuo was too wounded to properly react, despite Eito's own lingering damage. What greeted Eito was a confusing sight.
"Wha…?"
Scanning the scene, his eyes roamed and absorbed various details. A boy with messy white hair, quite younger than Atsuo, asleep in the middle of the tent. His body was wrapped in heavy bandages, even more so than Atsuo. A wet knapsack haphazardly propped against one side of the tent. The sleek sword that lay sheathed next to the bag. Pulling his gaze back to the sword, Eito paused at the sight of the engravings that flowed along the spine of the sheath. He let the scene sink in. His eyes widened at the implications.
Pulling his head out of the tent flap, Eito turned sharply onto Tan. Tan simply nodded at his leader's questioning face.
"I'm almost positive it's Cindersteel. No one can open it to confirm. The kids say that he was capable of opening it, though."
Tan gestured into the tent at the boy. Eito felt his jaw begin to droop as the situation rapidly revealed itself. Turning to a confused Atsuo, he spoke his order.
"Tell me everything."
—
And so Atsuo explained the events in order from that week. The arrival, the challenge, the fights. Eito sat in silence, intently listening as his son laid the story out in the analytical way he always did. Atsuo's words faltered as he spoke of the events of their final fight. Finishing his story, Atsuo fell silent and stared down at the mat between Eito and himself for a few seconds, lost in thought. His eyes slid up to meet Eito, who was still pondering the entire situation. Fui, Eito's wife and Atsuo's mother, sat to Eito's right, working on cleaning and bandaging his wounds. The two of them had sat and listened patiently to their son, all three with matching dark brown hair of various lengths. Atsuo watched his father's face contort slightly as his mother scraped at a particularly stubborn spot.
"Well… You have been busy at least. Ow."
Eito held back a groan through gritted teeth as Fui slathered a cream along his back.
"Atsuo, do you remember the stories we used to tell… When you were younger? About the Azuchi Kingdom."
Suspicious of the conversation topic, Atsuo nodded.
"The Kingdom had once been an empire, owning much of the surrounding lands. It began to wane after a series of events some couple hundred years back. I'm not well versed in the details…"
Fui gave her husband an eye roll at that statement. Atsuo kept his lips from curling into a smile.
"...Anyways, the Kingdom held a mighty strength for many years. This was all thanks to the group of protectors that served both the Kingdom and these lands. These warrior men and women were known as… Cinders."
Eito picked up a rather large mug from a spot Atsuo hadn't noticed and took a sip. He could smell the alcohol from where he sat. Eito smacked his lips, sighed, and resumed his speech.
"The Cinders were strong. They passed down a training regimen born from the shinobi arts, and it was quite effective. But this isn't what lent to their great strength."
Eito caught Atsuo's attention, locking eyes with his son.
"It was their blades. No one knows exactly what they are, or how they are even forged, but a Cinder wielding their blade could equal our entire clan. I've seen it. And furthermore, their blades could not be used by anyone but themselves. Even an unsheathed blade could not be handled by anyone but its owner."
Atsuo thought for several seconds.
"Kotetsu is one of these Cinders? Or, a child of one? And he has one of their blades?"
Eito smiled in satisfaction.
"Yes. But not in the way you're thinking."
Atsuo frowned at his father's remark.
"You see, as far as I am aware, when a Cinder dies, their sword dies with them. The blade becomes a useless lump of metal. Some form of Jutsu that destroys the blade, I'm sure. I haven't seen that for myself, but I heard it from some reputable sources…"
Eito polished off the rest of his drink.
"How did Cinders get their swords then? And what makes the swords so great? And if Kotetsu's blade is one of these blades, how did he get it?"
Atsuo's rapid fire questioning was cut off by a resonating burp rippling over his face, forcing Atsuo to shut his eyes.
"Slow down there, kiddo." Eito wiped his mouth.
"I'm confident in saying that I know where that sword came from."
Atsuo leaned forward in anticipation.
Tan was making a round of inspections through the camp, looking to make sure that everyone was performing their tasks. He stopped at the sight of almost a dozen teenagers all crammed around his leader's tent, staying absolutely still and leaning over each-other toward the tent.
"I've seen Kotetsu's blade… And seeing it here now confirms something I heard years ago. That blade…"
A sound like trees falling from right outside the tent caught the trio's attention. Atsuo quickly turned and opened the tent flap, revealing a pile of collapsed kids and teenagers. They were all boys. Standing over them was Tan with a stern look on his face, and a few girls standing to the side with a look of chagrin. Eito peeked from behind Atsuo, coming to see for himself. Atsuo looked down at the group of boys in consternation.
"Whatever conversation you were having in there was not as private as you may have wished for, Leader."
Eito grinned down at the dogpile.
"That's fine, Tan. This wouldn't be much of a secret once the other adults figured out what Kotetsu's sword was."
While Eito spoke, Atsuo peered around the group, looking for a specific face. However, it appeared that Keina was nowhere to be seen.
Eito pushed past Atsuo to stand in front of the tent. The pile suddenly began to move and disband, boys untangling as they scrambled to get out of Eito's path.
Eito waited patiently for the kids to finish their process. When he saw everyone had their feet back under them, he spoke.
"The Cinders were led by a General. This position belonged to a lineage of warriors, said to have descended from the first Cinders that served the Azuchi Kingdom. Along with passing down their title, this lineage also supposedly passed down a sword. A blade that belongs to their blood. And now, it appears that one of these blades has found itself in the hands of Kotetsu."
Eito's rather short speech ended abruptly. He looked out over the gathered faces, seeing the pondering look on some, and the realisation present on others. The adults that had been eavesdropping in the background were no less surprised by this news, having understood the context without hearing the earlier conversation. When Eito spoke again, the group of kids were jolted from the words intruding on their thoughts.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I need another drink."
Pulling tight on his cloak, Eito walked off.
—
Keina Uchiha had stayed just outside of the camp after their return. She had diligently walked with the mission group all the way back to their home, fulfilling her duty as the support group leader. There were no words to be had with the bearers that carried her father, Hazuki. She had shown no emotion or let loose any control of her Chakra. After they reached camp, the bearers had set the body down at Keina's request. All she had for protection from the cold was the heavy black cloak she donned from the camp. Alone with her thoughts and the body of her only parent, she sat quietly for hours, with the sky eventually falling dark to heavy clouds overhead.
The Uchiha burial custom is to set the body ablaze in a pyre. Heavy drops of rain began to fall, coating her long soft black hair. The heaving sky above lent to cover her own broken tears sliding down her face, dripping onto the cold body below.