Chapter 16: "New Home"
At the outskirts of Kirigakure, a jounin led the Yagami family to a deserted two-storied house. They stopped before a house covered with branched-out boughs and a veil of an eerie fog. The house had a ceiling broken at the sides and a disordered courtyard swarming with garbage.
"This is where you will live," the jounin said to Kazuya as he passed a set of papers to her.
"Thank you, jounin san," Kazuya bowed gently to the jounin, but the jounin didn't extend the conversation as he suddenly disappeared in a gust of wind.
"Did they have to dispatch a jounin to escort us?" Karna asked as he pushed the wheelchair that held Kyo and entered the house through its tattered door.
"It was their way to show us that they can get rid of us whenever they want." Kyo voiced his opinion while he peeked at the surroundings.
"Now, now, you two, enough speculation. We finally found a new home, so let us groom it, shall we?" Kazuya proposed as she began to clean the house after entering.
"Come here, Karna, help me!"
"Uhh...yes, Mother." Karna ran to help Kazuya while Kyo stared at him helplessly.
After about two hours, Kazuya and Karna finished their arduous work of grooming their new house. The house was neatly cleaned; the floor was shining neatly, and the broken ceiling was repaired. The branches from the tree nearby were cut neatly, and Karna got rid of the scattered garbage.
After cleaning up the house, Kazuya and Kyo went off to sleep as they were already tired because of their long journey; Kazuya, more so, as a fight with a jounin wasn't something she had to deal with every day.
In the courtyard at the front of the house, Karna sat in a lotus position. His rhythmic breathing was like a horn howling an eternal lullaby.
Rustle! Rustle!
The rustling of the leaves broke his meditation, making him frown and look at the tree with dissatisfied eyes. Calm as the surface of an ocean that's about to flood the entire world, Karna went through his thoughts.
'Recently, every little thing is annoying me. From the unexpected attack of Konoha to the inevitable situation of taking refuge in Kirigakure, everything infuriated me.
'The fact that even after making Mother go through all the work, they still tossed us at the outskirt of the village enraged me to no end. Apparently, they couldn't break their long-established culture of castes.
'No wonder Kirigakure declined remarkably after the third shinobi war. Their foolish ideals and beliefs were the driving force behind their decline. All it took was a nudge from Madara Uchiha to crumble this already half-destroyed village.' Karna thought as he looked at the paper beside him signed by the Mizukage; it was the admission paper to the Kirigakure Academy affirmed by the Mizukage.
'From tomorrow onwards, I've to waste away my time in the academy.' He thought to himself as he gave out a low sigh.
He had no intention of becoming a shinobi; being someone else's sword and doing their dirty work for them was the last thing Karna wanted for himself. But, when he put some thought into it, he figured that on his path to pursuing absolute power, it was a step he couldn't ignore. Becoming a shinobi will give him more freedom to explore his abilities and privileges he won't normally have access to.
'Kirigakure is infamously known as the 'bloody mist' throughout the ninja world. The reason was the cruel passing test of the academy and the massacre Zabuza Momochi had caused without even being a student. Thankfully, the stupid test was annulled after that, so I won't have to go through the same thing.
'Currently, the situation in Kirigakure is at its lowest. The economic state within the village is the worst, and poverty is everywhere. Yagura, the fourth Mizukage is trying to fix this mess that the third Mizukage—controlled by Madara– had left for him. Zabuza has yet to attempt a coup; I'm not even sure if he has already found Haku or not. The seven ninja swordsman is still a thing, and a few of the swords are still present within the village.' Karna speculated as he noticed the air turning slightly chilly, tingling his entire body.
The atmosphere in Kirigakure turns colder at night because of its proximity to the sea. So, he gradually stood up, entered the house and closed the ragged door behind him to stop the wind from sneaking in.
'If I want to advance with my plans, I must increase my strength as fast as possible; to the point where I'll be invincible within the confines of standard shinobi, excluding Kaguya or reincarnated hax.
'Also, I need to figure out if Yagura is being controlled by Obito or not. If my speculations are correct, Obito controlled Yagura to work secretly along with Akatsuki under the veil of Kirigakure. They even made a base within the shroud of Kirigakure for their mercenary works, and what better choice than a village already having difficulty surviving by itself?' He thought as he made himself comfortable on the old bed he hurriedly cleaned minutes ago.
'But, I can't expose myself to the Akatsuki yet. I have no idea about the exact time that Obito took control of Yagura, but from how it looks right now it doesn't seem to be too far in the future. Hence, I've to practice extreme caution while proceeding with my plans as I'm still very weak to protect my family.' He squirmed around the bed as the puzzling thoughts clouded his brain.
'But, no matter what, I won't let anything ever happen similar to what happened three days ago. I need strength, and that too as quickly as possible.' He thought as he gnashed his teeth recalling the incident from three days ago.
As he steeled himself for the uncertain future that is to come he realised his eyes slightly becoming heavy. Even though he had a body that barely demanded sleep he could still be mentally exhausted.
'I should rest a bit.'
He had a long way in front of him to walk and 'sleep' looked like an unkind enemy, and as a cliched protagonist, he decided to yield the first move to it.
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Up next: "Academy"
~Karna enters the gloomy academy and meets Kenji.
With this, the first volume comes to an end and the next volume, [vol.2: Subduing Kirigakure] will start from the next chapter.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone