Naruto Online: To Erase, Or To Be Erased

Prologue - Kyoma Fuuji

A/N: I slightly edited my fanfic, so it looks a bit different from the forums. By the way, the main character here is Midnight, but with the name Kyoma. The other mains sadly won't really appear until Shippuden (if I even get that far).

This was supposed to be just a regular C-rank mission.

But by the end of it, my teammates were killed.

What started out as a mission to meet up with some Konoha jonins went horribly wrong.

I didn't know what business they had here, but I thought we'd be safe; no one knew the mountains like us Kumo ninjas. Surely even jonins wouldn't attack us kids in our own country.

I let my guard down, watching the calm, flowing river on the nearby mountain. Walking along the edge of the riverbank, I closed my eyes and tried to calm my nervous self.

This was my first C-rank mission, and it was near the village. As a new genin, I probably wasn't ready for the possible consequences—but Lord Raikage apparently decided otherwise. He'd said I could handle it.

Well, he was very wrong.

I failed to notice the unusual movement of the fog, nor the faint chakra signatures heading our way. I also noticed the heavy killing intent too late.

Hiroto and Yukina, my newly-minted chunin teammates, were relaxing in their own way. Their closeness got other chunin whispering, talking about how they were like a couple.

I kind of envied that closeness.

Though I'm still not sure if relaxing meant racing each other to climb up the mountains without the use of chakra.

But I guess I took a liking to my new teammates Hiroto and Yukina. Although we hadn't taken a mission together before, they were fun and easygoing unlike most other people I met.

It was kind of... refreshing for me, I guess. Their personalities shined, especially when around each other.

Yukina would hand us advice in the cruddiest of times. She was some sort of violent peacemaker; giving people a nice punch or distraction was her way of breaking up disputes.

Hiroto was also some sort of peacemaker, never liking unnecessary fights. "Makes us all weaker," he'd say.

Their deaths weren't the first ones I had ever witnessed.

Their deaths weren't the last I ever witnessed, either. Life as a ninja guarantees a lot of bloodshed in our lives. We are cold-blooded killers after all. Even six-year-olds like me are included. It's a hard fact that I have to accept.

And all too often, those cold-blooded killers aren't what they seem. Or who they seem. Like the Konoha jonins that showed up that day.

Deception can be found anywhere and everywhere.

Before I knew it, we were trapped.

It was by pure luck that the jonins decided to spare me until the end, merely grabbing my neck in a chokehold. My head throbbed as the muscles in my neck struggled against my attacker.

Hiroto had gone down, sliced to pieces by waves of silver swords. He'd been the unlucky first target, held down by many limbs.

As Yukina futilely rushed over to him, the cursed Konoha jonins lunged in for the kill.

I didn't even dare to look at the bloodshed that occurred.

When the rogue ninjas stopped attacking him, a blood-stained corpse was lying on the jagged rocks. Fresh blood dripped from the jonins' swords.

It looked so wrong, but it was the only image of Hiroto that really stuck in my head.

Realizing that there was no hope for Hiroto, Yukina rushed over to me and bravely charged the man choking me. The man loosed his hold on my neck, and that was all I needed to break away.

The sudden loss of pressure on my neck didn't help my breathing.

Yukina wasn't six years old like me. She was a chunin, and at least 7 years older than me. However, it couldn't prevent her from dodging all of the jonins' attacks as they zoned in on her. The only thing she could do was shield me from the incoming swirl of blades as my former attacker grabbed onto her neck instead.

I stared at Hiroto's body while catching the sharp scent of blood, not wanting to see Yukina getting slaughtered.

Finally, Yukina slumped over completely, revealing the many wounds made on her body.

Looking at what was left of my teammates, I wanted to cry.

They're... they're gone...

There's nothing of them left...

I'll be ripped to pieces too...

The gang of rogue jonin ninja grinned maniacally, as if they anticipated my death gleefully. Their headbands gleamed, all showing scratched-out Konoha insignias. Their green vests stood out and shone like they hadn't been through wear.

SWISH!

Just as the jonins dived toward me, I lurched back from their gleaming blades. I briefly saw red as the weapons reached within centimeters of my face.

I knew I couldn't beat them. I was six and couldn't control my chakra properly. I only knew a few lightning and speed jutsus back then. My stamina was not to be desired when I was young. I could probably ramble on and on.

The jonins seemed slightly intimidated by my lack of expression, waving their swords shakily. I could guess that they expected me to not know anything about death.

And death didn't usually affect me too much, but I couldn't help but notice the stain of my teammates' blood on their swords.

Something dripped off of my face.

I reached up to my face to wipe it off, only to find a red stain on my fingers.

No, oh god, no...

I froze to that spot, unable to move a muscle.

The sharp tang of iron filled my nose.

And then, my back exploded in shriveling pain.

As a scream forced itself out of my lungs, my vision flickered. It went from hazy surroundings to seeing the individual flecks of blood on my fingers.

My own high-pitched scream was drowned out by the sudden, horrifying thoughts that flashed through my head.

THEY HAVE BLOOD. BLOOD. BLOOD...!

KILL, KILL THEM... KILL THEM ALL...!

Just as the scent of more blood traveled to my nose, my world faded away as I lost sensation in my limbs.