Flames Amongst The Stars

In the hidden village of Hoshigakure no Sato, the night sky twinkled with a million stars, mirroring the celestial prowess of its shinobi clans granted to them by the all-powerful meteorite that had fallen from the heavens hundreds of years prior. Most of the villagers were going about closing up the small shops that lined the streets, and some were just tucking themselves into their nice warm beds for the night. It was as though, like clockwork, the night sky above the village blanketed it in slumber.

The sound of yawning echoed throughout the main street leading into the village as two gate guards were closing the gate that led into the village for the night. They would have to return to their post early the next morning and were both anxious about finishing up early enough to get a good night's sleep.

"Hurry up already, Ikari! I don't wanna be here all night, you know." Said one of the men from the small outpost just to the right of the gate.

Ikari, another guard who was in the process of manually closing the large gate, shot an annoyed glare back at his colleague.

"You can help, you know, Onigiri?" Ikari replied. "You always leave me to... Huh?" Off in the distance, roughly twenty meters away, Ikari could see two figures walking down the dirt road that led into the village. If it hadn't been for the full moon looming overhead, he easily would have missed them. "Sorry travelers. We are closing the gates for the evening. I know it's a pain, but you'll have to come back in the morning." The two figures continued walking closer and closer to the gate.

Ikari shrugged with annoyance.

"Are you two deaf or something? I said you ca- Ahhh!"

Ikari's annoyed voice was cut off and replaced with an ear-splitting scream as a large ball of fire completely engulfed him. Concerned, and acting quickly, Onigiri ran over to his friend, but he was too late. The flames, even from a few feet away, were hotter than anything Onigiri had ever felt before. It didn't take him being a genius to know that Ikari was already dead the moment his body had hit the ground.

'Damnit!' He thought. As he began forming the hand seals necessary to activate the infamous Mysterious Peacock Method, a bright streak of heat lightning erupted in the skies above, just briefly enough so that Onigiri could see who was attempting to enter into the village.

"No... I-It can't be you..."

Onigiri fell to the ground, tears in his eyes as he slowly backtracked further into the village. A maniacal laugh met his ears, but within a split second, this laugh had turned into a low, deep growl. Onigiri began to hyperventilate, but his screams soon erupted throughout the entirety of Hoshigakure no Sato as he was quickly and unmercifully ripped to shreds...

---

"You really can't tell when enough is enough can you?"

A young man with long, messy black hair sighed, knowing that his question would simply fall upon deaf ears.

"I'm beginning to think that I should've left you to rot back in Damagakure."

The man stepped to the side as a wooden board covered in burning flame hurled past him with blinding speed. He ran his hand through his hair with a sigh.

"These people got what was coming to 'em." Replied another man, who was standing atop a mountain of burning corpses. "And even if they didn't deserve it, so what?" His mouth twisted into a demonic smile. "This was simply for my pleasure."

"Our only mission was to destroy the meteorite these people praised, not ravage the place to the ground in flames." Looking around himself, all the man could see were countless fires and smoke billowing high into the skies above. The cries of many people could be heard as they slowly burned to death or bled out from loss of blood. It was enough to make any normal person sick to their core, but this was just another day in the life of these two.

"Gah! You're such a lame ass!" The other man, who had slicked-back white hair and reflective crimson-red eyes, jumped down from the pile of corpses to the ground directly in front of his colleague. He looked around at the masterpiece he had created and closed his eyes so that he could focus solely on the sounds of the villagers' cries for help. He relished all of this for a moment before sighing and turning his attention back to the other man. "Well, we destroyed the meteorite, so what's next?"

"The boss needs us back at HQ sooner rather than later. Said he has something to discuss with all of us."

"Lead the way then."

The two men formed the 'Ram' hand seal before disappearing in clouds of white smoke, leaving behind their destruction.

Amongst the flames and rotting corpses, however, a dying elder did his best to ignore the pain he was feeling all over his body. His legs had been crushed by a falling building, and his left arm was completely ripped off from his body at the elbow. He only had a few minutes left to live, and he knew this.

Concentrating as best he could on his breathing, he let out a whistle before biting his finger and performing the 'Summoning Jutsu', summoning a simple scroll and an ink pen. The sound of a hawk screeching echoed through the decimated village as the man wrote out a plea for help upon the blank scroll.

"Must let... Kon-Konoha know..."

The hawk that had been called landed atop the dying elder's chest as he finished up the plea for help. He wrapped the scroll up and with much effort managed to tie it to the hawk's leg in such a way that it wouldn't come loose mid-flight.

"Konoha..." The man said, feeling his last breaths were nearing. "Take it to... Konoha... Ahhh....." With his dying breath, the man's words trailed off as his remaining arm thudded upon the burning ground softly. Wasting no time at all, the hawk screeched loudly again before ruffling its wings and taking off into the skies, heading off toward the village of Konohagakure no Sato...

Kojii wandered slowly down a winding path carved into the side of a mountain. He listened to the wind and birds chirping away as he hummed a tune to himself. The morning dew coated the surrounding shrubbery and the air began to warm under the orange morning sky, his salt and pepper hair beginning to dry. He wore a well aged light blue tunic and black straight legged pants tied together with a thick dark blue rope knotted around his waist, all damp from sleeping under the stars. A small pack adjourned his back with nothing more than a blanket and rations in case food was scarce. He enjoyed walks like this that took him from one nation to another. Where he could be alone with himself and spend time in nature.

He breathed deeply to get a smell of the fresh untainted air he loved so much, only to be greeted with a faint, rather foul smell of flame and death. His gait halted suddenly. He looked to the sky and peered over the tree line. Again reluctantly taking in another smell of the foul air he was able to target the direction and aiming his vision there he saw what he hoped wouldn’t be there. Smoke rising into the air.

Kojii sprang into action and disappeared from the path in a blur, darting towards the smoke using the trees as jump points. “I hope it's nothing, but I can't just walk by,” he said as he sped through the trees.

Once the treeline opened up he saw it. It looked like Hell broke from the earth and consumed this entire village. He stood at the gate for a moment in shock while 2 bodies severely burned laid in front of him. He reached down to the first body. Despite the burns he could tell it was a shinobi from Hoshigakure.

‘This must be the Star village. I have to try,’ he thought to himself. With his hand placed on the body leaves started swirling around himself. The air moved against the natural breeze and the embers seemed to brighten. Kojii strained against an unseen force trying to bend it to his will. Then as quickly as it began, it stopped again. His surroundings returned to normal.

“It's been too long,” he said with a somber expression pulling across his face. “I’m so sorry.” He walked somberly to the center of the village where he saw an old man lying in an odd position and what looked like the remnants of his last moments imprinted in the dirt. He knelt again and touched the hand of the old man. This time he closed his eyes and watched as history played out in his mind. Largely nothing happened aside from flames reigniting around him. Kojii was about at the end of his limits but right as it cut off he heard it.“Kanoha.”

He stood back up feeling the massive drain on his body. “I don’t know what the leaf has to do with this, but it's been far too long hasn’t it.” With that said he began to walk away from the village.