Burning Mist (Chapter 4)

I stared up at him in shock and my mom tried to struggle against the grip of the ninja holding her. There had to be some sort of mistake here.
“Under what charges!?” I snapped at him.
“We have reason to believe that you are a spy.” The ninja answered. My mom laughed at this…but there was no humor in her voice. I could tell that the word had caused something to click in her mind.
“A spy?!” She laughed. “She’s a 17 year old girl. Have you lost your minds?”
“I’m not a spy!” I spoke up. “What makes you think I’m a spy?”
“Silence!” The man roared. “You are to come with us immediately, or we shall restrain you.”
“You leave my daughter alone! I’m the one you want!” My mom shouted. I turned to look at her.
“Mom, what are you saying!?”
“Be quiet, Akira!” She snapped back. Her voice was angry…but there was something else behind it too…a fear.
“Then we shall take both of you with us.” The ninja barked. “Restrain the girl.”
“No! She has nothing to do with it! I’ll go quietly if you release her!” My mom pleaded.
“Ignore her.” The ninja ordered as his comrades approached me dangerously. I was too afraid to resist and too confused to know how to respond. But apparently, my mom had some idea.
“I told you to leave my daughter ALONE!!”

Suddenly my mom leaped into action! It was a flurry of fists and kicks. My mom’s hand shot out and struck one ninja in the throat causing him to fall over coughing in agony. She turned once again and this time yanked a knife from her hip, slashing at the other ninja, forcing him to flee. I had never seen this out of my mother before! Mom had never had any ninja training, and she certainly wasn’t a super strong person to begin with! But her movements…her strikes…they were so precise and deadly, as if she’d been doing them all her life!
“GET HER!” The leader roared. My mom responded first and suddenly began making familiar hand seals! But that was impossible! How did she know hand seals?! But what surprised me more than that was the seals she was making. That pattern was so familiar to me, I knew it by heart now! Even if my mom was some Mist village ninja and I didn’t know it…how did she know this jutsu!?
“Fire style: Great Fire Ball jutsu!” From her mouth a giant ball of fire flew forward for the ninja. With a horrified scream of pain and agony, the ninja was swallowed by the ball of intense fire and I watched his body hit the ground, still burning. The final ninja made a move toward my mom. For a split second, I saw my mom’s eyes flash a different color…they flashed red! I felt a twinge of fright and backed away. Her eyes…weren’t normal. There was something about them that made me tremble. Mom ducked the attack and with one swift movement slashed the stomach of the ninja. With a grunt of pain, he fell to his knees and then collapsed. I looked up at my mom in stunned amazement.

“Mom…how did you…”
“There is no time, baby!” She interrupted me. Dropping the knife she knelt down in front of me and hugged me tight. “You must flee the village, Akira!”
“What?” Voices interrupted out conversation. People must have heard the commotion and were coming to investigate. Mom took my hand and pulled me away. She was definitely afraid now. Her face had gone pale and she was stumbling over herself. “Mom, how did you do all that!? How do you know fire style jutsu? Why didn’t you tell me you were a ninja?”
“Enough, Akira!” She hissed. She pulled me behind a nearby dumpster and knelt down, pulling me down with her. “I don’t have enough time to tell you everything…I wish I did. They’ll find me eventually, and when they do, you need to be out of the village.”
“But Mom-”
“No sweetie, I need you to listen to me, because I don’t know how long we have.” Mom said forcefully. I fell silent and listened closely. “Darling, I know I’ve kept it a secret from you for a long time, and I’m sorry…I was afraid if I ever told you the truth, you’d try to develop your blood line trait and it would expose us.”
“I have a blood line trait!?” I squealed.
“Hush!” Mom snapped. “Sweetie, you have no idea how serious this is.”
“Mom what is it?”
“Dear, you were born in the Mist Village…but I wasn’t. I was raised in the Hidden Leaf Village.” She admitted. “…in a family called the Uchiha.”

Her words struck me like a punch to my stomach. This couldn’t be real…couldn’t be true. My mom was a foreigner? I was a foreigner?! Not only that, but she was one of the Uchiha clan, one of the most famous clans in the ninja world!? How could that be true?
“Mom, that…that’s…why?!”
“I’m sorry, dear…we don’t have enough time for a Q&A right now.” She cried. “Listen to me…I ran away from the Leaf Village long ago, back when I was still a young girl. I ran away here, left behind my identity, and never looked back. I met your father here and we had you…so technically, you are a citizen of the Mist…but you will be investigated…and likely punished.”
“But why Mom?!”
“For being of Uchiha blood.” She answered. “Though you were born here, you carry the blood of a foreign clan. Your aptitude for fire style is a testament to this…because that is the signature style of the Uchiha.” As she spoke, I slowly began to see the truth in her words. She was right…I had always found that I was more skilled in fire style…despite the fact that no one else in my class was capable of it. I had always been different…felt different. I couldn’t explain how or why…but there was always this feeling like I was unique.

“What does it mean…to be an Uchiha? What’s this bloodline trait that I have?” I asked. Mom opened her mouth to answer, but suddenly there was the sound of shouting. The bodies of the mist ninja had been found. She grabbed me and hurried me away.
“There’s no more time! You must get away from the village!” She brought me to a clearing not far away behind the lake. “Go through there, and it will lead you to one of the exits from the village. Take it and go south east….go to the Leaf Village.”
“But Mom, I don’t want to go!”
“If you don’t, they’ll execute you with me!” Execute? They’d execute her!?
“Mom…I won’t let them! We’ll tell them we aren’t spies! I can’t let you die!” I ran to her and hugged her tight, squeezing with all I had. I couldn’t let her go…I couldn’t bare to release her. I felt as if letting her go would sign her death warrant.
“Akira, look at me!” She demanded. She raised up my chin and I saw that she was smiling at me, tears rolling down her face. “You’re my brave little girl, and I love you…but I won’t let you die for my mistake. You’ll always be a Mist ninja…and maybe someday, you can come back and be welcomed home…but for now, you need to learn about who you are and what you are truly capable of. You won’t get that here.”
“Why can’t you come with me!?” I begged.
“Because they’ll just hunt both of us down. Taking me will give you the time you need to get away.” She pulled me into her and we hugged for a long time, embracing the other and wishing that things could be different…wishing that tonight had never happened. I cried. I let the tears out, and I gripped my mother firmly. Then I felt her grip loosen…and I choked up. “Now go, baby…go!” I hesitantly let her go and turned, running to the exit.
“I’ll come back for you Mom!” I screamed. I didn’t hear what she said next…or if she said anything at all, because at that moment, I broke into a sprint through the clearing. I had to get as far away as I could. I ran. I ran like my very life depended on it…which it did. I didn’t want to look back. I didn’t want to imagine what might be happening behind me back in the village. I broke through the trees and saw that my Mom had been right all along…the path did lead out of the village walls. The wetlands before me seemed to stretch on forever, and the mist clouded the air, casting the evening in its haze. I could just barely hear the sound of noises and voices behind me.

“Akira.”

I screamed and stopped so fast that I nearly lost my balance. Standing infront of me was her…the last person I wanted to see right now. She was giving me a very serious glare that could melt steel…and I had a feeling that she had the power to do that if she wanted to. I shakily reached for my knife.
“Sensei…please let me by.” I pleaded.
“Akira, I’m afraid that, as the new Mizukage, I can’t allow you to just leave.” She said. I stared at her, and we exchanged a common understanding. I had to be ready now…to kill my teacher. I knew in my heart that I stood no chance against her. This wasn’t training anymore…this wasn’t like before. I had to fight to kill, and I had to mean it. There was no holding back and no mercy…but could I do it? Of course I could…I was a Mist Village ninja!...Right? Was I even a Mist Village ninja anymore? Was I a Leaf ninja? Was I an Uchiha? Who the hell was I!?
“Sensei, I don’t…I don’t want to do this.”
“Then you’re going to die.” She said fiercely. “A ninja cannot be afraid to strike when they need to. A Hidden Mist Village ninja knows this.”
“But I’m not a Mist Village ninja, am I!?” I cried, the tears blinded me. I blinked and I darted at her, knife in hand, prepared to kill. I thrust at her savagely, not even sure of my own intentions anymore.

Before I even knew it, my wrist had been caught and I had been kicked hard in the stomach. I struggled to breathe and I cried out in pain. My sensei, who had trained with me and cared for me like a mother or older sister was now going to kill me…I was going to die…and there was nothing I could do about it.
“Akira, you are and always have been a ninja of the Mist.” She said sadly. “And you were my pupil.” I finally sank to my knees, my wrist still in her hand. I was done. I looked away, ready for the blow. “Forgive me Akira.”
“Please, sensei…”
“Go.”
There was a long pause as I felt the cool evening air blow past my tear stung face. I didn’t feel the blow…I didn’t feel the cold hands of death grasping me.
“What?” I asked. Her hand released my wrist and I finally looked up at her. There were tears in her beautiful green eyes as well.
“I said go…get out of here, Akira.” I climbed to my feet in surprise. My sensei…was letting me go?
“But…you’re the Mizukage!” I gasped.
“Yes, and as such, I can decide whether or not you are a priority for capture.”
“But you’ll get in trouble!” I argued. She grinned and rubbed my head in that affectionate way she used to.
“Oh Akira…always worried about other people and not yourself. I can’t bear to let you be executed…not like this.” She stood aside and pointed out to the horizon. “Go as fast as you can to the Leaf village…there you will learn what you need to about yourself.”
“Sensei…”
“Leave this place behind you, but know that you are and always will be my student, and an honorary Mist Village ninja. Don’t worry about your mother…I’ll do everything I can for her. But you must leave, NOW!” Her last word was said with a hostile tone that pushed me to take off, past her and into the mist. I was putting it all behind me…leaving everything behind. It was a long journey ahead of me, but I had no where else to go but forward, carrying the questions I desired to answer. Who was I? Where was I really from? What are my gifts?

“I want to know…” I whispered to the mist. “…who am I?”