• The next day Toshiro awoke to find Kaori not in their room, so he decided to go see the Shichidaime, Kenji Uzumaki.

    “See ya, Mr. And Mrs. Ammei,” Toshiro yelled back as he waved and walked out the door.

    As he walked down the street he wondered if Kenji would have some cool missions for him.

    I wonder where Kaori is. Toshiro thought to himself.

    As he walked up to the entrance of the Hokages Mansion two Hyuga guards said in unison, “State your name and business!”

    “I’m Toshiro Sugisakii and -”

    “Oh . . . r-right this way Mr. Sugisakii,” the guard on the left interrupted. Toshiro was taken into the Hokages office “please follow me.”

    “Hey, what’s goin’ on, Toshiro?” Kenji asked as Toshiro walked in.

    “Nothin’ much . . . so how ya been?” Toshiro asked.

    “Well, I’m not dead yet . . . so it’s all good,” Kenji said with a smile, “how ‘bout you?”

    “Yea, I’ve been good too.” He replied. “Our new senseis made us all do a little free-for-all battle.”

    “Cool, who won? I bet it was your team. Right?”

    Toshiro then leaned against the wall and sighed.

    “Squad five . . . two of them use Mokuton,” Toshiro exclaimed, “I say they cheated, because that’s the Shodaimes ability.”

    “Yea I know.” he said nonchalantly, “How’d your team lose?”

    “Well, first of all, squad five made a smart move by stickin’ together. They took out squad four first.” Toshiro explained. “I didn’t even get to fight them. Then they captured Kaori with a chakra sealing rope. The Mokuton guy almost killed her but, the sensei of squad six, Ryo Ashikaiga, stepped in so they got disqualified.” Toshiro continued with a sad look on his face. “Then my team agreed to give up . . . ”

    “Well . . . Hey why’d y‘all give up?” Kenji then questioned.

    “Just didn’t feel like fightin’ anymore . . . and Koji Hyuga didn’t wanna fight in the first place, and we were runnin’ out of chakra.”

    “Heh heh . . . yea I suppose that is a good reason.” Kenji joked.

    “So . . . ,” Toshiro began, “do you have any cool two-man missions for me?”

    “Nope . . . not today . . . but I have a three-man C rank mission.”

    “Naw . . . I’ll pass. See ya, Kenji.” Toshiro said. And with that he vanished in a puff of smoke.

    * * *



    Toshiro asked the guards of the Hyuga gate to escort him to Kojis house.

    “As you wish, Master Toshiro.” the guard on the right said. He took Toshiro to Kojis house.

    “Master Koji, Master Toshiro is here to see you.” he yelled as they stood in front of Kojis house. Koji slid the door open and walked outside to face Toshiro.

    “Guard, leave us please.” he said with no emotion as usual. “What do you want?” Koji questioned with a hint of irritation in his voice.

    “Wanna play?” Toshiro asked with a smile.

    “I haven’t the time.” Koji replied closing his eyes.

    “Ok then, see ya later Koji.” Toshiro said happily as he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

    Guess I’ll go find Kaori now. Toshiro thought as he walked into is house.

    “Kaori. Kaori?” Toshiro yelled. “Anyone here?”

    No one answered. He found a note on the kitchen table, it was from Kaori's mom and dad.

    “We are out on a mission, we’ll be back by tomorrow night.” Toshiro read. “We left money for food beside the note, so Toshiro give the money to Kaori,” Toshiro smiled as he finished reading the note. “I wonder what kinda mission they’re on.”

    Toshiro grabbed the money and once again Toshiro left the house in search of Kaori. As he walked down the streets of Konoha he saw Kaori talking to Ichigo Hitoai in Ichiraku Ramen.

    “Hey, Kaori. Where you been?” Toshiro asked as he stepped in the ramen shop.

    “With Ichigo.” She replied.

    “‘Sup.” Ichigo said.

    Toshiro ignored Ichigos comment. “Didn’t you knee him in the balls durin’ the free-for-all?” Toshiro asked.

    “Yes,” she replied with a smile, “but I met him today and he seemed nice . . . so we started talkin’ and now here we are.”

    “Oh, right . . . here.” Toshiro handed her the money.

    “What’s this for?”

    “Your parents are on a mission and wont be back ‘till like tomorrow night. So they left us this money for food.”

    Toshiro then began to leave but stopped.

    “Hey . . . Ichigo,” Toshiro said without looking back, “lets go battle.”

    “Ok . . .” He said as he handed the shop owner some money.

    Toshiro began to walk to the training grounds ready to fight.

    Kaori then grabbed his arm. “Toshiro, no”

    “Oh c’mon . . . why not.” He asked with a smile.

    “You know why.” She replied

    “I’ll be fine.” Ichigo said with a reassuring smile

    They then walked to the training grounds. There was a cool breeze that day, a perfect day for a fight. When they arrived in the clearing of the forest, where the training grounds were, they saw two kids from the academy training.

    “Hey, kids go home for now . . . you don’t wanna die.” Toshiro said to the kids with an evil smile.

    The two kids ran away with fear in their eyes. Toshiro and Ichigo then took there positions as Kaori stood under a tree to watch.

    “Your move . . .” Toshiro called over to his opponent.

    “Ladies first.” He replied.

    “But Kaori’s not in this fight.”

    “Good point,” Ichigo admitted as he formed a string of hand signs. “NINJA ART: HIDDEN MIST JUTSU ”

    “Well . . .” Toshiro said unimpressed as a thick, dense fog filled the area.

    “Lets see how strong he is.” Ichigo said to himself as he threw a kunai at Toshiro through the fog.

    Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu. Toshiro thought to himself as he blew crimson flames. The fireball evaporated all of the fog and melted the kunai. Ichigo then formed another string of hand signs and sank into the ground narrowly dodging the fireball. Toshiro stood still waiting to anticipate his opponents next move.

    Idiot. Ichigo thought as he appeared behind Toshiro and put a kunai to his throat. "I got you."

    "You do, huh?"

    Toshiro then made an attacking movement so he then dropped his weapon and jumped in the air performing a roundhouse kick that Toshiro blocked with his arm.

    “Oh c’mon, is that all you got?” Toshiro asked without emotion just as one of his teammates would have.

    “No!” He yelled as he performed a kick with his other leg.

    Toshiro simply ducked. “If that’s all you got . . . I am out,” Toshiro said as he waved and started walking away, “please come along, Kaori.”

    “What a drag.” Then he disappeared in a puff of smoke

    “Kaori, I can’t even believe you were hanging with that guy.” Toshiro said in disgust as Ichigo left.

    “He’s a nice guy.” She then replied as they started walking home.