Date: June 14, 2027
Ralph Barkson stared up at the ceiling of his apartment, hoping to get a few more minutes of sleep. He rolled onto his side with humph and turned his attention to the window, watching as the rain left trails as it rolled down his window, dripping off to pool somewhere below his cracked window. He heard birds chirping in the nearby trees as a cool breeze drifted in. He sighed before he rolled over to the edge of the bed and swung his legs. His bare feet touched the cold wooden floor before he scouted his feet around to find his slippers. He didn’t dare to go bare foot in his apartment. The wooden floor had been splinting for the last few years and he was tired of picking splinters out of the bottom of his feet. He had complained to his landlord, but it didn’t help. He knew the Landlord wouldn’t fix the flooring because the apartment building was falling apart and he had been hearing rumors that Landlord just wanted to destroy the building, but according to Grandma Hilton in Apartment 114, the Landlord couldn’t due to contracts with the Government and he was waiting his time to get rid of it.
Ralph shook his head and left his bedroom, heading to the other room in his one bedroom apartment. He glanced over to the window in the living room. A small smile pulled at the corner of his lips. The window held overnight. One of the gangs decided to practice their aim by throwing rocks at the windows on the back half of the apartment building until the local Police Force had enough and rounded up them for punishment. He was sure he saw them working as apart of the Community Services Cleaning Crew.
He walked by the wall calender and paused when he glanced at it. The reason why he didn’t sleep well. He was graduating the Academy, today! He finally finished basic training and be able to start on his path to become a respectable man, create his own clan, and create a legacy to be remembered by. He grinned, brightly, and grabbed the box of matches he had left on the counter top, the previous night, next to a candle. He opened it, pulled a match, and struck the match against the coarse side of the box. The sharp crack followed by a small burst of flame. He held it steady, watching the tiny flickering light dance as he lowered it to the candle's wick. The flame caught, brightening as the wick absorbed it, and Ralph gently shook the match to extinguish the smoky tendrils curling from its tip. In the dim room, the candle’s glow cast warm shadows across his face, softening the edges and filling the quiet space with a calm, amber light.
He carried it to the Fridge. He opened the door and peered into it. A small light pop on. There wasn’t much he kept in the fridge. The second hand appliance had been acting different. He remembered the other day, he had to replaced the cold food because the fridge’s cooling system had stopped working. He had managed to fix it, but he didn’t trust it. He reached into the fridge, grabbing the milk. He briefly wondered if it would be safe to use. It felt cold in his hand like it was the correct temperature, but he didn’t know for sure. He decided to wing it. He hope he didn’t spend most of the day, running back and forth to the restroom. That would suck on so many levels.
He set the milk on the counter, shutting the door for the Fridge, and reached up to the cabinet. He didn’t have doors on his cabinets because they weren’t there when he moved in and he knew the Landlord wasn’t interested in fixing the apartment for the price Ralph was renting for it. However, when Ralph moved a box of dry cereal, he saw a mouse dart through a hole at the back of the cabinet. He looked at the box of cereal and saw there was a big hole in the side of the box where the mouse had been chewed through it and pieces of cereal fell out of the box.
He set down the candle and cereal box before he punched the counter top with a curse. Ralph knew he ran a chance of this happening, every time he bought a cardboard box. Mice chewed through it and ruin the food inside. He took a deep calming breath before he opened the fridge up and pushed the milk back in it. He turned, grabbed the candle and cereal box, before he walked back to his room to get ready. He threw the cereal box into the trash as he walked by. He could get something at work. He had enough money to do that. At least, he hoped he did. Payday was still a few days away and he was leaving the restaurant today. He sighed. It sucked being poor and an orphan.
Rain poured over Raizen as he stood by the Memorial Rock for Clan Isamu. He ignored how close the rumble of thunder was, how bright the lightening flashed above him, as cold drops rolled through his soaked hair and down his neck, disappearing under his collar. His eyes didn’t leave the rock. He already knew what it said by memory. It gave the list of names who were killed in the Isamu Massacre 14 years ago.
The youngest member of the Isamu Clan had been 4 years old. Xenia, the youngest great granddaughter of the Elder of the Clan. She was supposed to have been an older sister in the fall.
The Eldest was the Elder of the Clan, Aries, had been the eldest living member of the clan. He was an old fart, and surprisingly, still powerful at 106. He had been the one to kill the assassin sent to destroy the Clan.
Raizen brought a hand up and ran it through his hair, remembering that night. He had been heading to visit his girlfriend at the time, Mulan. She was the 3rd daughter of a cousin of the Elder Aries, when the fight between the assassin and Aries had reached its highest point. It woke everyone on that side of town up, sending the police and the on duty ninja scrambling to reach the Isamu Compound. He had joined them, in hope, to get there in time to help or save his girlfriend.
However, they were too late. Raizen had burst through the Compound doors as Aries delivered the final blow to the assassin. The Clan Elder died moments later while Raizen, the Village Police, and the On duty Ninja stared at the carnage. Later, when they were going through the bodies for a proper burial, they had found survivors. 12 children ranging from the age of 3 months old to 3 years old. They were hiding in the nursery behind a series of jutsu designed to protect and defend them. Xenia had been found several feet away from the protect nursery with a kunai sticking out of the back of her skull.
Raizen shook his head. It had been 14 years since the Massacre. He had moved on, eventually settling down with another woman in the Village, but every year, the anniversary of the Massacre, he would visit the Memory Stone for the Isamu Clan. He had been the only one. The surviving children had been adopted into other clans, except for one or two, and raised with their new clan, never knowing their birth clan. In a way, the Isamu Clan had died out.
Their compound still stood, in case, one of the orphans or a distinct relative found their way back home, but it was in disrepair. The Clan Meeting Hall’s roof fell in 3 years ago from the lack of maintenance. Several of the Clan houses caught fire from over the years, maybe it was arson or the lack of care or Mother Nature reclaiming the land as her own, none of the villagers really knew. It didn’t stop the stories from emerging about the Compound being haunted by the ghostly members of the slaughtered Clan.
“Good morning, Isamu Clan,” Raizen finally spoke. His deep voice rumbled from his chest as he addressed the Memory Stone. “I see several of your homes are still standing. Mulan, your house was destroyed by a fire a couple months ago.” He paused. “I didn’t come here to give you all an update on the state of the Compound. The children who were 2 years old at the time of the Massacre, they are graduating from Basic Training, today. Unfortunately, I don’t know if any of them were members of the Clan or not. The adoption papers are sealed and under the careful eye of our Leader, Lord Jackson. He recently became the Leader of the Bark Village, roughly four months ago when Lord Thomas stepped down. So far, Lord Jackson’s leadership has been promising. We are seeing an increase of missions from inside the Village and outside of our walls. Hopefully, it will be enough to increase our numbers after the last war we entered.”
The last war the Bark Village had entered was 5 years ago and slashed their able bodied warriors to a quarter of what they used to have. They had been struggling to recover from the War. Thankfully, it only lasted a year. Their trading partner, the House of White Hall, had been attacked by an army across the sea, on the Mainland and the Head of the White Hall Family called on their vessels and trading partners for help. The Head of the White Hall Family even reached out to the Kingdom of Camelot for assistance, but the Kingdom chosen not to help them, even though, the White Hall House had been one of the founding Families and had the honor of an ancestor as a King of Camelot. Upon hearing the news, The Bark Village had answered the call, but they didn’t realized how vast the enemy was and how unskilled they were when it came to Water Warfare.
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“There is talk of one of the White Hall Heirs being married to one of our Clan’s heirs when they reach adulthood,” Raizen went on, “There are six to chose from. Bardock has four brats already, but three of them are triplets.” He laughed. “I’m sure he finds those kids to be a handful, but his eldest, Genesis I believe that’s his name, could be a good addition to the Village. He does have a daughter, Valentina. She is 3 years old. The Village Elders have already expressed interest in her. The other two are a daughter of Clover House and a daughter of Morning Gale house. They are relatives of Bardock’s. I’m sure the Village Elders will be happy to have a daughter of the main White Hall Family or a branch to be married into a Clan.”
He glanced up. The storm clouds were becoming visible, gray and dark, as the sun rose behind the clouds. Raizen wondered if the day will turn out clear. He turned his attention back to the Memory stone and bowed to it, showing his respect. He turned away from the Isamu Memory stone and headed out of the empty Compound. He had to get back home and get ready for the day.
This afternoon, he would be assigned his 3rd team of teenage ninjas since he reached the decision to take on students instead of leaving the village all of the time. His wife appreciated that, knowing he would be close for the next three months, in the last stage of her pregnancy. He was sure he would be in the Village for majority of the next year, making sure his students would be able to take on a high ranked mission if it became necessary. He knew from personal experience, a simple D ranked mission could easy become a A, S, SS, or a SSS ranked mission when the right circumstances. It sucked when a C ranked mission became a SS due to the mission objectives changing in mid-mission. Really, it was just a bad day thinking it could be an easy D ranked mission and the objectives changed to a A or higher. He wanted to make sure his students would be smart enough to know when to hid, when to retreat, and when to fight their way back to the Village, to help. Raizen sighed. If his own teacher had taught Raizen and his two teammates that concept, he was sure his teacher and teammates would be still alive to that day.
Raizen shook his head, sending rain droplets everywhere as he stepped out of the compound and opened up the bamboo umbrella his wife got him. The rain immediately stopped pouring on him, but poured off the edges of the bamboo umbrella. He needed to stop living in the past. He had a bright future ahead of him. He had a wife, got a child on the way, and will be taking on a team of students in the afternoon, once the graduating ceremony was held. Life was going good for him. He eyed one of the recently opened restaurant. He frowned, thinking. That restaurant was the same one his wife loved. She had been craving their foods for a couple days. He just didn’t have the time to swing by and grab her a couple meals from there. He smiled. She would love it if he did bring home a couple breakfast dishes from there.
He glanced up and down the street, out of habit. There wasn’t traffic this early in the morning. Many of the businesses were still closed until daybreak. He crossed the muddy street. He wondered, briefly, if the Bark Village would ever invest in stone streets or not. The Village Elders had better things to worry about then the state of the streets or at least, that’s how the argument would go, in Raizen’s mind. He knew with the amount of students graduating this year, there should be almost 20 teams, maybe 25 teams created. It would more missions will be needed to help those teams to gain experience. Raizen shook his head again. He chuckled to himself as he reached the covered porch and closed the umbrella, shaking it to get the majority of the water off it before he walked into the restaurant. He placed it beside the front door and walked in.
A chime sound rang out, announcing his presence. A flash of annoyance darted through Raizen and he pushed it away. He knew the chime worked to alert the business owners that there was a customer, but at the same time, a ninja needs to have stealth. He witnessed a teenager raise his head from his place at the prep table and waved at him.
“Oi, Old Timer!” the teen turned around and called out, “We got a customer!”
“I heard, Ralph,” the business owner walked out of a small office and came toward Raizen. Raizen’s eyes darted over the owner who kept his hands in sight. As far as Raizen could tell, the owner didn’t have a weapon on him. “Good morning, sir, what can we get you?”
“I would like 4 of your breakfast specials,” Raizen smiled at the owner, “To go.”
“Alright,” The owner wrote the order down and called over his shoulder to the teen boy, “You got that, Ralph?”
“Four of the breakfast specials, to go?” Ralph recited back, not looking up from his work by a counter.
“Yup,” the owner replied.
“Yeah, I got it,” Ralph answered. The Boy turned away to gather ingredients from a nearby shelf, still in sight of Raizen, before he turned back to the table and started to work on the breakfast specials. “You are going to miss me when I leave for school today, old man.”
“No, I won’t,” The owner shot back, “the job will be actually peaceful instead dealing with your hormonal ass.” Ralph sent a glare at the owner. “And stop glaring at me. If you have time to glare, you have time to work.” Ralph, this time, rolled his eyes.
He kept up the banter, unknowingly giving Raizen some key information about the boy. until the breakfast specials were done and packed up in brown bag. He walked around the prepare table to the counter and presented Raizen, his meals.
“Hope you have a good day, sir,” Ralph gave Raizen a wide smile.
“You too,” Raizen nodded and walked out of the restaurant. He reached down, grabbing the umbrella and opened it before he stepped out into the muddy street, heading home. He glanced over his shoulder, looking at the restaurant, thoughtful expression. That Ralph, he could be one of the graduating ninja. He had spotted a ninja pack, sitting in a corner, close to the back of the restaurant. He gave the restaurant a half grin, “Good luck, Ralph, on your journey.”
Back inside the restaurant, Ralph sighed as he grabbed and wiped down the food preparation table. His thoughts turned to what today was as a pridefully grin slowly spread across his face. He was graduating from the Ninja Academy of the Hidden Bark Village, finally, after nearly 8 years. He tossed the washcloth back into the bucket. It landed with a splash, sending some water over the sides and on the counter top. He glanced up at the clock on the wall. It was almost 7, the time he got off. He turned his attention back to the table. He took a deep breath as his mind drifted back to the reason why he felt nervous.
Assuming he was able to graduate from the Ninja Academy, he would receive his ninja headband. He would finally start on his road to become the Leader of the Hidden Village. He will be able to start creating a name for himself, instead of being known as a Child of Bark, a bastard, an orphan. The familiar rush of rage went through his veins.
Ralph never knew his birth family. He did try to gain access to those records, but since he was under age when he tried, he was denied. He hoped to try again once he had some of the money he would get from the various missions. The problem he didn’t know when that will be.
When the instructors went over the pay grade in the Academy, he would only get 5 coppers per mission. That was not a lot. It would mean if he was able to, take on more missions then the team related ones or keep his job and drop down to part, assuming he was allowed to. The fact he was an orphan wasn’t doing him any favors. The Village’s orphanage had requested him to leave three years ago, when he was 13, citing they didn’t want to support a ninja who would fill up the orphanage with more orphans. The account he was given by the Village for the Orphans had dried up a couple years ago, shortly after he had managed to find himself an apartment in the worst part of the village and got himself a bed, some blankets, and the various ninja supplies he needed for his basic training. He considered himself lucky that he had gotten the job working in the restaurant. He knew the other orphans who chose the Ninja path weren’t so lucky and they ended up in the Gray District, fighting to survive.
Ralph shook his head. He would worry about how his account would react to his change of employee when it came to it. He had worked hard, picking up extra shifts in the past few months in order to save up for the change of income. Hopefully, it would help until he was able to start earning more money. He gathered the ingredients he had prepared for the day and took them to the cellar where the rest of the perishable food was kept.
“Hey, Ralph,” the manager spoke up when he came out of the cellar. He looked up and a piece of his grayish silver hair fell into his sight. He reached up and tucked it behind his ear.
“Yes, sir,” Ralph answered, walking over to the manager.
“Grab yourself a hot meal before you head out,” the manager jerked his thumb at the work station, “It’s my treat. Think of it as a way to say thank you for all the hard work you have done in the past three years and my way saying I will miss having you around.”
Ralph’s eyes widened. Usually, when he got a meal from the restaurant, he got 50% off of the price. He grinned brightly, saying, “Thank you!” he paused, “But don’t worry, sir, I promise to drop by every so often to get one of your famous Chili bowls.”
The managed chuckled, “I hope so.”