Forgotten Story

Chapter 7 - Lost in Memories

After leaving Naruto and his teammates, Akira went strolling around Konoha. Hidden in the shadow, an ANBU wearing a mask that resembles a cat observed Akira carefully. Akira knew exactly the location of the ANBU. He then shook his head a little as he reminisced a bit of his childhood where he would run away from the ANBU team during his prank time. 

'You're being tailed,'voiced the demon fox inside Akira's mind. 

Akira nodded curtly. 'You'll be surprised to know who is behind that mask,'Akira said in amusement.

'We know him?'Kurama asked looking puzzled. He tried to make a guess but he couldn't come up with any name. 'Tell me.'

'1st and wood. Those are hints for you,'Akira told his fury friend. 'I want you to guess.'

Kyuubi snarled at that,'Playing riddle with me,huh? Damn you blondie!'Kurama then pondered for a while trying to line his hazy memories. Suddenly, he shouted,'HIM?!'

Akira chuckled. 'Interesting isn't it? How fate is really playing with me by placing him now not later.'Akira suddenly felt very tired thinking about it.'I need to be more careful as not to arise suspicion. He's a very careful shinobi; the same as Kakashi.'

Kyuubi remained silent. He couldn't retort what Akira just said as he also agreed with his jailor. 

Akira kept walking letting his feet taking him wherever they wanted to. He then arrived at his favourite place, which is the Hokage monument; a place where he could see the whole of Konoha. 

He saw beyond the horizon and took a good look at Konoha as if he imprinted the image to his mind. He could see children running around, could hear the laughter of the civilians, and could smell delicious food from the food stall. 

However, a flood of memories suddenly flushed through before Akira's eyes.

People were screaming begging for help. Children were crying. Pile of dead bodies scattered everywhere. Houses were razed to the ground. Crimson colour painted the floor  leaving an iron stench in the air. 

Akira felt his heart twist painfully in his chest. His hands clenched hard leaving a trace of blood on them. 

'Kit,'Kurama voiced out softly snapping Akira back. Not knowing what to say to his host, he went back silent. Despite spending many years within Akira, he knew well enough that he couldn't fill the void inside Akira's heart. Right now, Akira didn't have anyone who he could talk to even share his burden. Despite his strength, Kurama really worried that one of these days, Akira would break. Each mistake would weigh him down and Kurama was not sure until when Akira could hold on. Last time, Akira almost gave up his life. And this time, when the time came when Akira finally broke, Kurama was not sure he could do anything to help him. 

Akira then quickly sealed his memories away and looked at Konoha once again. 

This time, I'll protect this place...

Not far from his place, the cat ANBU was hiding on a tall tree while watching Akira. He was getting confused at the traveler. There was something familiar about Akira but he couldn't put his finger on. Also, the way Akira looked at Konoha as if Konoha was something precious to him made him even more confused. However, at this point he decided to ignore what he was feeling and continued on observing the traveler. 

The demon fox asked Akira trying to distract him from whatever he was feeling right now,'What are you going to do now?'

'Meeting the old man. He asked me to come to his office today. I think this is related to the test that I will be taking,'explained Akira.'Also, he wants to interrogate me a little bit about Naruto.'