Naruto: Days of Old

Episode 3: Closing the doors of the Past

Summary: A shinobi from the original rookie squads that graduated from the academy with Neji, TenTen. and Rock Lee returns to the leaf village after being presumed to be dead, but he seems to be different from what he was like and is somehow more powerful than he was back then, just what changed him and how did it change him.

(Note: This story will have sword styles that I create and some that I will borrow from other anime shows, the names and descriptions of all techniques will be at the bottom of each chapter)

RECAP

"Anyways, What are we going to do if he tries to infiltrate the ANBU Headquarters to silence the Shadow Assassin?" Tsunade asked, "I don't expect for him to try it, but if he does, we need to have a plan"

"Leave that to me" Zyden said, as he turned around to walk away, "I'll handle that business myself, but I'll need the assistance of two of your ANBU members"

"Okay?" Tsunade said, confused, "What are you going to do?"

"You'll find out when it happens" Zyden said, walking away

Tsunade shook her head and began to follow Zyden back to the village as the sun began to set once again on the dark clouds of the leaf village, while the drops of rain that landed on the leaves in the trees were suddenly blown out of the trees and a few leaves broke off of the tree and began to swirl around in the air.

---

Nenji walked over towards his students, both of which were soaked because of the rain and even though he didn't want them to train in this weather, they chose to do so because they wanted to prepare themselves for the upcoming Chunin exam that was to occur in about 3 months. Nenji was really impressed with his students improvements and believed that they would do great in the upcoming Chunin exams, but his thoughts kept drawing back to what Tsunade said, about them reopening the investigation to the death of Zyden Kinidi.

'I thought I heard the last of this with the Third Hokage, but what I did was what was necessary to save my team' Nenji thought, as he walked towards his students, 'I had no other choice but to have them take one of my students hostage and if this Shadow Assassin tells them that I did it on purpose, I'll be screwed'

"Sensei?" A voice said, as Nenji looked up to see his female student, a girl with dark hair and blue eyes, wearing some old shirt and pants, "Are you okay"

"I am, Misiko" Nenji said, "That is all for today, go home and get cleaned up, if the training ground has dried up tomorrow, we'll train tomorrow, Kenzu, stay behind a minute"

Misiko nodded and began to walk back towards the village to go get changed back into some dry clothing, but until she was out of sight, Nenji didn't open his mouth for a second and Kenzu kept standing there with a confused look on his face about why he was needed to stay behind.

"Good, she's gone" Nenji said, "Kenzu, they're reopening the investigation to Zyden's death"

"Are you serious?" Kenzu said, "Why?"

"A Shadow Assassin killed someone earlier today and they have him locked up in the ANBU HQ" Nenji said, "He's offering to give them info on Zyden's death in order to drop the charges"

"Damn...if they find out you allowed them to capture and kill Zyden" Kenzu said

"Hold the phone!!" Nenji interrupted, "You were as much a part of this as I was"

"No, I wasn't" Kenzu said, "You were the one that agreed to hand over Zyden to them to allow us to escape"

"Hey!! You were as much in this as I was, you could've stopped me but you wanted Zyden out of the way" Nenji said, "You knew that Misiko had feelings for him and wanted him gone so you could swoop in and take her for yourself"

"It doesn't matter about that, you allowed them to kill one of your students!" Kenzu said, "They'll think you're just trying to draw me in to soften your punishment!"

"I won't have to worry about telling them that, you're going to help me take this guy out" Nenji said

"Am I now?" Kenzu said, "What makes you think I'm going to do that?"

"If you don't, I'm going to tell the truth to Misiko" Nenji said, "You still haven't gotten anywhere close to winning her over and if she hears the truth now, she'll hate you forever"

"...Bastard" Kenzu said, "Fine, I'll help you clean up your mess, now what are you going to do?"

"We're going to go talk with this Shadow Assassin in the ANBU HQ" Nenji said, "During that time, we're going to convince him to not talk, even if it takes force"

"I see" Kenzu said, "We'd better do this now"

Nenji and Kenzu immediately began to run back towards the village and towards the direction of the ANBU HQ, where they were carry out their plan to make sure that the truth didn't come out and ruin them, but none of them were expecting what was really going on or what was going to happen.

Hidden Leaf Village, Apartment Building

Misiko stepped out of the bathroom and into her bedroom, looking out of her bedroom window and into the cloudy skies that surrounded the leaf village then looking down towards her bed and sat down on it, taking a picture off her nightstand and looking at it, which was a picture of her sensei, Nenji and her teammates, Kenzu and Zyden.

'It's been so long since that day that Zyden died' Misiko thought, 'I still remember the conversation that we had before we went to the guild HQ'

Village of Tentzu, Inn, 1 1/2 years ago

Misiko stood in her room and looked out the window to the blue skies that were all around them and the sun shining brightly on such a perfect day, the only thing that could've ruined that moment for her occured when a knock came at her door and broke her out of her peaceful moment. Misiko grumbled a bit and walked over to the door to open it, where she was surprised to see Zyden standing outside the door, which made her smile brightly, as he walked into the room and she closed the door.

"Can I help you with something, Zyden?" Misiko asked

"Nenji-sensei told me to inform you that we were heading to the Shadow Assassin's guild tonight" Zyden said, "Are you okay?"

"yeah...I was hoping that you came here to talk about something else" Misiko said, sighing, "Something I told you before we came here"

"Misiko...I think that after we finish this mission, that we should get something to eat after the mission" Zyden said, as he left the room

"Zyden..." Misiko said, smiling

Hidden Leaf Village, Apartment Building, Present Time

Misiko sighed and sat the picture back down on her night stand, she still couldn't believe that Zyden was dead and she didn't even know how he died, all she remembered was her waiting at the safe point, when her sensei came into the room and said that Zyden was killed by the Shadow Assassins and when she came back to the village, she spent several days in her apartment crying about his death.

"You jerk..." Misiko said, as tears came down her eyes again, "How could you die on me without taking me on that date?"

"A date?" A voice said, as Misiko suddenly sat up and turned around, "I don't remember saying anything about a date"

"It can't be..." Misiko said, staring through the door of her room

Hidden Leaf Village, ANBU HQ

"You wish to see the Shadow Assassin?" An ANBU member said, "Any particular reason?"

"I want to see if he was the one that killed my student" Nenji said, "Kenzu wants to know why he killed him"

"Very well, I'll take you to see him" the ANBU member said, "You'll only be allowed a few minutes"

"Very well" Nenji said, "let's go"

The ANBU member walked out from behind the desk and began to head down toward the detention center and the cell block, followed by Nenji and Kenzu closely behind and once they were able to reach the cell that he was locked in, they opened up the doors to see that he wasn't even in the room, only one that was in the room was an unconscious ANBU member with a note on his back.

"Sir!" The ANBU member said, running in the room to check on him, "Are you okay? Sir!"

Nenji looked down at the paper on the ANBU members back and read it quickly, before turning around and walking away, confusing both Kenzu and the ANBU member on why he just suddenly left without helping the downed ANBU member or at least explaining where he was going.

'That message was obviously meant for me, like he knew that I'd attempt to go after him' Nenji thought, '"I'll be waiting for you at the Forbidden Training Grounds, come alone"'

Hidden Leaf Village, Forbidden Training Grounds

Nenji arrived at the forbidden training grounds and walked into the middle of the training grounds, feeling a bit nervous and over-exposed until he saw someone standing and looking at the plaque that was placed at the otherside of the training grounds, to which he walks down to the plaque and looks at it as well.

"not many people know the location of this training ground" Nenji said, "and only a few know the truth about the truth behind the training ground"

"Yeah, it happened a long time ago, but several Genin were brutally murdered out here" the man said, "Every team that was assigned to this training ground got brutally murdered, so they decided to forbid the use of this training ground"

"True" Nenji said, "No mere Shadow Assassin would know that, so how'd you do it?"

"What do you mean?" the man asked

"How did you survive, Zyden?" Nenji said

"I was taken prisoner by them and locked away for some time until they asked me to join their guild" Zyden said, "I became a Shadow Assassin"

"I see, have you talked to anyone sinc you came back?" Nenji asked

"I've seen the new hokage and a few ANBU Members" Zyden said, "...and Misiko"

"I see, you met up with Misiko" Nenji said, "Kenzu is going to be upset about this"

"I know, Misiko told me about how after my death, Kenzu began to start getting too close, too soon" Zyden said, "well, he wasn't ever the sharpest kunai in the pouch"

"What happened with Misiko?" Nenji asked

"It was actually exactly what I thought it would be like" Zyden said, rubbing his cheek

Hidden Leaf Village, Misiko's apartment, a few hours ago

All Misiko could do was just stand there and look at the one person that she thought was dead standing at the doorway into her bedroom, not being able to move or say a single thing until Zyden came over to her and took her hand into his hand and put it on his face to prove that he was real. Misiko suddenly gained back her nerve and suddenly became really mad at the fact that he was gone for over a year and now decided to come back, when she ripped her hand away and suddenly slapped Zyden across the face.

"Where the hell have you been!!" Misiko yelled, "Everyone thought you were dead and now you come back and act like nothing happened?"

"Misiko, I-" Zyden began, but he was slapped again

"Shut up!!" Misiko said, "I spent 4 months praying that you'd return and nothing!! What makes you think that you have the right to even show up after all this time"

"Misi-" Zyden began again, only to be slapped a third time

"I don't want to hear your excuses, just get the hell out!!" Misiko said

Zyden nodded and walked out of her room and towards the door, when he noticed a pad of paper and picked it up, then after writing a note on it, left her apartment and began to leave, while Misiko suddenly walks out of her room, still made and turns to grab her keys and go get some dinner, when she notices the note on the pad of paper, so she picks it up and begins to read the note.

Misiko,

You are really mad at me and I expect that you don't want to hear it, but the reason I never came back was because I was being held as a prisoner by the Shadow Assassin and when I was finally let go, I was given a choice, with one being join the Shadow Assassins or the other being to stay as a prisoner and die eventually in their prison. I joined their group and I was trained to become A Shadow Assassin, a user of the Dark Arts, and a killing machine. I didn't come back because they showed me that even after that entire mission, no one seemed to care that I was dead, not even my own family seemed to care that I was dead and I believed him that no one cared, but apparently someone did care and I was too arrogant to realize that. I just want to apologize to you about not coming back to the village, I guess I believed that you were one of the people that just forgot about me, but I was wrong and I'm sorry.

Zyden

Misiko crushed the note in her hand and closed her eyes because she felt like a fool, she wouldn't let him explain the reason on why he didn't come back to the village and just slapped him, then told him to leave so he did as he asked and she now felt very guilty about her actions and needed to apologize.

Hidden Leaf Village, Forbidden Training Grounds, Present Time

"I see, so she got pissed about all of that" Nenji said, "You didn't tell her that I was the reason why you were a prisoner?"

"No, because she's going to find out eventually" Zyden said, "You've probably already figured it out that the Hokage knows the truth"

"yeah...and my ninja career is over because of it" Nenji said, "although it's over...I'm actually glad because of it"

"Why?" Zyden asked

"This was a continual guilt in me because of it and now that the truth's come out, I feel like a huge weight is off my shoulder" Nenji said

"Is that so?" Zyden asked, as he traced a finger on his right palm, "So, you hold no regrets, whatsoever"

"None at all" Nenji said, "Do you?"

"No" Zyden said, as he turned to face his sensei, "before you go, I have one more thing to say"

"What?" Nenji said, but before he could do anything, he felt Zyden's palm press onto his chest, where his heart was and a black spear suddenly ripped through his chest, pierced his heart and ripped out his back and Nenji kept standing there with a shocked and pale look on his face, as blood squirted out from his back from around the spear.

"Don't.Ever.Fuck.With.Me." Zyden snarled, as he ripped the spear out of Nenji's chest and it vanished into a puff of smoke and Nenji collapsed onto the ground, "Got it?"

"So, I see you killed him" A voice said, as Zyden turned to see the Hokage standing behind him with a few ANBU members with her

"Yep" Zyden said, "It was something I needed to do, I needed to close the doors of my past"

"I see, and you did that" Tsunade said, "anyways, you just completed these ANBU members mission anyways"

"I see, you were ordered to kill him" Zyden said, as he vanished in a sudden mist of darkness "then since I did it, you can do the clean up"

"well, that was rude" an ANBU member said

"Yep" Tsunade said, "but I have a feeling this isn't the last we see of him"

Black Spear: Another 'Dark Arts' technique, this one is meant for the quick assassination or a merciless kill because you push your palm onto the person's chest and the spear pierces through them and then vanishes and if you do it again, it does it again.