When Yuumaru had heard from street talk that there had been a huge flood in the Borderlands, he rushed towards the place as quick as he could. Please make it in time! Kyoko! Wait for me! Please… The hero felt his heart break into a million piece. This heart shattering feeling was similar to when he had lost Hikari-chan to another boy. This time, however, our hero feared he was going to lose Kyoko-chan to cruel fate. Please, gods! Don’t take her away from me! She didn’t do anything wrong! Please… Our hero couldn’t hold back the tears. The dam that was his will was broken by the onslaught of tears, flooding his face, just as the flood had flooded the Borderlands. After about half the time it usually takes him to get to the Borderlands, he saw the place. It was covered all over by water. Pieces of ramshackle floated here and there. Bodies were floating everywhere. Nooo…. NOOO!!!!! Walking on the water using chakra, our hero struggled to find Kyoko-chan or anyone he knew, including Takeo-chan. “Kyoko! Takeo!! Kyoko!! Takeo!!! Kyoko…..” As Yuumaru had his face lowered in almost surrender, he saw something floating in the water. A blue ramshackle roof. The roof of Blue Beast Academy.
“Help!” Yuumaru heard a voice. He quickly dashed towards the location of the sound, and rescued a man from drowning. The man then helped him locate other villagers. All in all, out of hundreds of people living in the Borderlands, and after about five hours of search-and-rescue, Yuumaru and the rescued managed to save only about forty-five people. More than half of the Borderlands inhabitants had been lost in the deluge. Gods…. why… they didn’t even do anything wrong… Yuumaru kept checking and checking the rescued people for Kyoko and Takeo, but they were nowhere to be found. Finally, a man cried out, “Hey, look! There’s a boy right there! A red-haired boy!” Yuumaru knew who it was. He quickly saved Takeo. “Takeo… I’m so glad you’re alive!” The two hugged. Then Yuumaru pulled away. “Where is your teacher? Where is Kyoko?” Yuumaru asked, almost delusionally. Takeo looked down and started crying. No…. why are you crying, Takeo? Noo…. don’t tell me…. The two just cried there, the other villagers wordless as they watched the two.
When everyone was carried safely by both the Hidden Moon and Hidden Jungle Rescue Teams to respective Refugee Centers, with Takeo being taken to the Hidden Jungle Center (He was scheduled to move to the Hidden Jungle the next week anyway, to start his Academy training.), Takeo pulled Yuumaru aside and talked seriously. “Sensei, I--” “What is it? Spit it out!” “Sensei, I think I saw a couple of ninja scouting the Borderlands earlier, before the flood.” Then the boy started crying. “I-- I’m so sorry! It’s all my fault! I didn’t say anything….” Yuumaru comforted the boy. “It’s okay. It’s not your fault. It’s natural to trust. Now, where did you see these ninja last?” The boy replied with, “Before the flood, I saw them standing on the Cliff of the Guard.” The Cliff of the Guard… the cliff where the Guard used to stand to intimidate the villagers of the Borderlands… does this have anything to do with those crooks? Yuumaru clenched his fists. He was burning with fury. “I’ll be back.” He told Takeo. With that, Yuumaru made his way to the Cliff.
There was no one there. Yuumaru was about to leave when he noticed something. A seal. The hero put his finger on the seal, and did Kai! to release the seal. Surprisingly, the ground under him began shaking, and a hidden location was revealed! The hero entered the secret cavern. Inside, candles were lit, and papers littered everywhere. He noticed newspapers about him and drawings about him. “The Hero of the Borderlands” and “The Genin From the Jungle” headlines were everywhere in the room. Suddenly, the candles blew off. “So… the Hero has found my secret cave, eh?” A voice called out from behind the hero. “Senju Yuumaru…” The figure shook its head. Judging from the voice, it was a man. “You really are a very interesting figure. I must say, great job on finding me here.” Yuumaru couldn’t help shaking. He was so mad, he felt like he could burn the whole world. He looked at the man. “You… what… why did you…” He activated his Hoken no Jutsu. The man laughed. “Muahahaha! Lighting up your famous Phoenix Fist doesn’t faze me, boy. And why? Why what?” The man laughed again. “Oh? You mean that little sprinkle? Yeah, i did that.” Yuumaru now looked at the man clearly, as his eyes had adjusted to the darkness. The man had white hair, with blue markings down his eyes. “My name is Kiyoshi. My mission? I want to purify this world. I want to cleanse it… with my holy water!!” In a snap, a huge water wave came from behind Kiyoshi, destroying the hideout and forcing our hero to come out of the cavern and back down the cliff. The two adversaries faced each other now, with both standing on the flood water below the cliff.
“I see that your Phoenix Fist doesn’t extinguish easily, eh? Hehe, I’ve always wanted to test out the strength of this ‘Hero of the Borderlands!’” The man taunted our hero. “Now show me! Show me your true power!” Yuumaru did the necessary hand seals, and spewed out Fire Ball Jutsu. Kiyoshi easily dodged it, and then waved his left hand toward our hero. A large spear of water came from the floodwater, heading our hero’s direction. Our hero jumped to the air, dodging the spear. It was a fatal mistake. Another spear of water came heading his direction! Yuumaru closed his eyes and prepared for the worst. He heard the sound of piercing. He felt blood splatter all over him. He fell to the water, but with his chakra control, he didn’t sink. He opened his eyes. It was Kyoko. Kyoko had been pierced by the spear. “No… No… NOO!!!!!! KYOKO!!!!!!!” Yuumaru screamed, then knelt on the water. “Why… WHY???!!!!”
The man laughed maniacally. “Oh? Where did you come from? Muahahaha! Just kidding.” Kiyoshi then turned to our hero. “I am the leader of the Guard. The true leader. You killed all of my friends while I was away. I had been waiting for this moment for ages!” The man laughed again. “I could’ve killed you weeks ago. But I wanted you to form bonds. I wanted this place to succeed first. THEN I shall I strike! And this was the perfect time!” The man laughed once again. Then his tone changed to a serious one. “You think you’re some hero? What kind of hero kills another man’s friends? Do you think I’ll let you off scot-free without getting revenge?” As Yuumaru looked at Kyoko’s pierced, bleeding body, still impaled by the water spear, a single tear flowed from his eye. The man finally deactivated the water spear, and Kyoko landed on the water, and floated near our hero. Our hero deactivated his phoenix Fist and carried Kyoko up towards him. The young woman touched our hero’s cheek. “Yuumaru-kun… thank you… for everything. Please… take care…. of everyone…” With that, Kyoko breathed her last breath. Yuumaru let go of Kyoko’s lifeless body, and it was devoured by the flood water.
“No more words. We fight!” Kiyoshi yelled. Then, the villain did hand seals, and finally, yelled, “Water Dragon Jutsu!” A huge water dragon emerged from the water, headed for our hero’s direction. Our tried to dodge, but the dragon’s collision with the water below him made a huge shockwave that propelled him towards Kiyoshi. “Now! Water Fist!” A giant fist made of water now came from the flood water, and punched our hero squarely, making him fly about 50 feet from Kiyoshi. Our hero panted. he hadn’t felt this much pain since his battle with Yuri-chan. This time however, it wasn’t a friendly sparring match. It was a fight to the death.
“Are you ready, Yuumaru-kun?! This will be my last move! The move that will kill you!” Yuumaru thought of all the bonds he had made so far. He had started with no friends, but now…. Yuri-chan, Jiraiya-sensei, Ashura, Umeko-chan, Takeo-kun, and also his old friends Chieko baa-chan and Kouketsu-sama. Finally, he thought of Kyoko. The true hero of the Borderlands. Now, his resolve was true. Now, he could stand tall. Our hero faced the crazy villain with no hint of fear in his eyes. The villain cried out, “TWIN WATER DRAGON JUTSU!!!!” Immediately, two water dragons, each larger than the lone dragon from earlier, sprouted from the flood water, headed for our hero’s direction. Kyoko: Arigatou, Yuumaru-kun…
Waves. Water splashing. It was over. “Muahahahaha! That was it? The Hero of the Borderlands? The Genin From the Jungle?! That was the most pathetic battle I’ve ever fough-- UUKKK!!!!” Kiyoshi felt a stab. A Kunai buried deep into his ribcage, right through his left lung. The kunai then moved and slashed his heart. Blood came out of his mouth. “How-- How-- What the hell?!” The man said in despair. “You-- you should have been dead!! You’re no hero! You’re no hero of the Borderlands!” Yuumaru coldly replied, “You’re right, I’m not.” With that, our hero moved the kunai all the way up to the villain’s head, slashing it in two.
Later, Kyoko’s body was retrieved by our hero, and he had made a special memorial to her deep in the Jungle. The Borderlands was no more. The remaining inhabitants had been moved into the Hidden Moon and the Hidden Jungle because the villages felt sorry for the now homeless people. With Takeo-kun, the two left flowers at the rock that stood above the burial mound of Kyoko. Takeo was crying while our hero had his hand on the boy’s shoulder. Our hero was crying as well. Kyoko, I promise. I’ll watch over Takeo-kun. He’ll be a great ninja someday. And I will make your dream for me come true. I will bring peace in this world.
The engraving on the rock was: HERE LIES THE HERO OF THE BORDERLANDS.
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Subject: Mission 7: Guard Duty