Mistake - A Naruto Fan-Fiction 13 Bad Feeling

Moving into Konoha was a ha.s.sle, but moving AND maintaining a grand piano was a lot harder than crossing through borders and climbing through mountains. It was, in fact, a bit of his fault for refusing to place the d.a.m.ned piano in a storage seal because that's how he dearly loved the piano.

And, it wasn't just an ordinary piano.

Though dwelling in the past is not good, Klavier recalled the events that occurred hours before; meeting kind s.h.i.+n.o.bis who accepted his small request to move the piano in an open field and for them to witness his last performance just to reminiscence his old days with his kin, and meeting someone who loves music as much as he does.

Sure, the old man might've had rusty senses, but the one thing he's really good at—looking into people's eyes to learn who they are—definitely made him discover someone that he thought he'd never see again in his timeline. The young silver-haired child was beyond his expectations.

Klavier's keen eyes didn't ignore this.

The seemingly innocent face pasted on the young boy's head truly hid the way how his eyes had looked like. The young boy was pitying the piano. The piano. Moreover, those eyes do tell otherwise of how innocent he might've looked; again, those eyes shouldn't look like they've went through h.e.l.l and back.

The old man really wanted to approach the young boy, but doing that right now would be a bit inconvenient. He hesitated at that moment. He didn't want to linger in a child's memory knowing that this would be his final day.

But it was too good to pa.s.s up. So, when opportunity came, he approached the child when their group decided to come with them… and he was right; the child have a heart for western instruments. It's rather comforting to know than other than his old clan, another person admires the unusual piece of instrument.

When he invited the young child to be with him, he couldn't shake off the fact that the child reminded him of his own son. Though they differ in looks, their pa.s.sion with music is definitely through the roof. He didn't think twice and played, preferably his last play, the piano, hoping that the child would be invited by the tune to play.

To his surprise, the child was a complete natural. The young boy play extraordinarily for his young age. It was honestly enthralling. He didn't want to question whether the child was only guessing notes beforehand in his mind to play, or he knew the piece from the very beginning.

Klavier was tempted to sit back and watch the child play. The little fella's little hands moved like a professional. His closed eyes gave away that he's confident about the piece he's playing, not doubting himself to make no mistake.

It was almost a shame when their duet ended.

He never really thought that something, or someone, would be able to make him want stir him away from death's path. He realised that he fears death more than anyone right now. He wanted to say a word to them, hint them something; he knew this day would come, but why did he feel fear all of a sudden? A bit of regret too, since he wanted to see the silver-haired boy grow up with an audience watching him play the piano.

Then, just like that, they've come and gone in a flash; his death drawing nearer.

Receiving a message saying you'll be dying on your considered deceased son's birthday from a mind-controlled Hyūga clan member was rather unsettling, especially when that Hyūga's eyes are staring deeply into your soul—in a very creepy way, adding the fact that their eyes already seemed empty.

Klavier, at first, didn't fear this message, knowing whom the letter belonged to, but as days came and went by in a rather quick rate, he really couldn't sit still. It was terrifying, knowing when you would possibly die.

Alas, the day came; the man who had kept Klavier waiting, exchanging some unspoken words together. He himself knew that this day would mark the day a horrid force would loom over the Hi no Kuni because…

… he knew his son more than anyone else.

The reason? Xavier would do anything to get what he want—even destroying the village that once took them in. Though Klavier didn't exactly know what his son wanted by going with the lengths of using their clan's Kekkei Genkai, mind control using any musical medium, but judging on how Xavier hated his guts, there's only one reason.

He doesn't want to remember, but the memory kept haunting him. He never wanted for his son to see the horrible mistake he had done yet his son had witness every wrong doing he had made. It only made sense that his son would comb through the whole village to find where he was hiding, for what he did was rather unforgivable.

He regretted every single bit of it. His wife died in his own hands four years ago, and the worse part it, Xavier was there. He witnessed everything.

Klavier wanted to speak, but his puppeteered body wouldn't respond. He was hurt, but he understood that Xavier was more than hurt—since what his eyes told him was unforgettable, to see his own father kill his mother and own kin.

Xavier fell sick, and Klavier had to carry him across borders to escape to Konoha; to escape from that man—though he wasn't sure whether to call him a man or a young boy. Of course, his son took it hurtfully and started using music to tell untold stories in pa.s.ser-by's mind. Soon, Xavier had gone missing—and after days, months, and years of search, he was nowhere to be found and had been considered dead.

Now, as he's being engulfed with the warm fire, the masked-man, his son, bit his lips as he turned around and away from the scene before pausing as a tune reached his ears. Klavier started playing the piano, looking over to his son's sad, warm eyes.

'You knew about the truth… yet you still gave yourself away to serve the very person who killed your beloved kin.' The old man thought, sending him a smile and mouthing a warm sentence, "But I still love you."

Xavier slowly faded into dust as the old man was being consumed by the raging flame, his tears unnoticed for he was behind his white mask, which was soon left there to be his mark.

All Klavier wishes was to hug his son one final time, but that won't happen anytime soon, it seems. He wanted to apologise for being weak… he wanted to sincerely say sorry. He had his share of regrets, but watching his son stir on the wrong path was the worse.

__________

"I'm… sorry…" Kakas.h.i.+ hung his head low, "I've brought you such bad news on this early morning."

Karasu-niisan and I remained silent after the scarecrow spilled the beans he had been keeping since earlier at midnight. It seemed as though we left far too early yesterday, leaving old man Klavier all alone with his beloved piano—burning grand piano.

It was still unclear whether the old man burned himself, or someone had done that to him. I'd say the latter for a few pointed reasons—Kakas.h.i.+ had told us that the old man only knew how to control music jutsu's (thanks to his bloodline) and not the angry flames, and he still have his "bucket list" to be fulfilled—but that won't be finished anytime soon.

"It seemed like they both finally reached their well-deserved rest—the piano and Rukas-san, I mean." It took me a lot of effort to not do a double take at the man who rarely speaks. So this is how the crow pays his respect to the dead, huh?

The scarecrow slowly nodded.

I simply whistled and tucked my lips into a thin line, neutral about the news my uncle brought us. "That's… unfortunate…" I scratched the back of my head, making my uncle raise a brow—probably thinking why I reacted that way. "At least, I made a great memory with him before the incident. He seemed to enjoy the duet I did with him." I smiled.

Kakas.h.i.+ and Karasu-nii directed their gaze towards me before they revealed their smile through their eyes. "Looking at the bright side, huh?" My uncle smiled and ruffled my hair, "Taking everything easy, am I right, my cute little nephew? Though I still have many questions with your music capability, but that's saved for later."

I sweatdropped at the name he called me—still not used to the "my-cute-little-nephew" thing, like the "-kun" stuff I absolutely hate internally but chooses to not speak about it anyways.

"For now, we'll let the Konoha Military Police Force deal with Klavier-san's death." Kakas.h.i.+ explained with his apologetic stare before walking past both Karasu-nii and I. "Oh," he suddenly stopped, making both of us turn to him, "you have all of this day to train or something—but your main task, Ori-kun, is to get Karasu's mask."

"Huh?" Both Karasu-nii and I blinked.

Before he could poof away to somewhere, my uncle saluted, "A~nd, you can start now."

"He's leaving… just like that?" I asked no one on particular. "What a drag." I sighed, slowly placing my gaze at the ANBU beside me.

Kakas.h.i.+ had often left without a word for his duties as an ANBU captain. He never once really gave us any tasks before leaving unless he knows he'd be gone for a long period of time. This time, I'm sure something urgent happened, which meant that that Hatake plays an important role on the 'urgent matter'.

The recent case, maybe?

"So…" I smiled as I cleared away my thoughts, letting my hidden kunai's fall from my sleeves before flicking them towards the said crow. But before the wired kunai's pa.s.s through him, he had already poofed away.

Onomatopoeia at its finest—POOF.

"Not a chance." The crow's voice echoed throughout the Training Ground 13.

I narrowed my eyes, sharpening my senses, trying to find wherever tree the bird perched onto. 'This is gonna be a bit tough…' I thought, suddenly feeling a quick chill at my back, like someone was watching me aside from Karasu-nii, making me look wherever.

'Why do I feel like something's definitely gonna wrong?'

__________

Kakas.h.i.+ appeared right outside the Konaha Military Police Force, Investigatory Building, outside where all of the clan heads were meeting to discuss about current matters. The Hokage seemed to be in there as well.

The reason where he would suddenly disappear out of sight is because of his part in the investigation project for the White Mask Case. It seemed as though when they targeted his beloved nephew, he became prepared to take the case. Though it took them a bit of time to dig in deeper, a crucial clue now appeared to give them the shed of light they needed to finish investigating.

Pus.h.i.+ng the door in a lazy manner, he was greeted by sharp gazes—courtesy from the serious clan heads. He simply bobbed his head to greet them and went to take the empty s.p.a.ce beside the Hokage, who gave him a questioning look. He returned an apologetic eye-smile towards him.

Someone coughed.

"… Like I said, for Kakas.h.i.+ to hear—since he's VERY early," Fugaku of the Uchiha's said sternly, "a mask was found near the burnt area. The blank mask that we knew from earlier cases seemed to be connected with this one." he showed a picture of an engraved mask.

"Music notes have been engraved on them, though we still do not know if it has any meaning. A team's working to decipher whether the emblazoned marks have meaning or not—but since no one's expert in the music area, it's going to take a bit of time." Inoichi stepped up, flipping through his clipboard.

"Although the perpetrator only attacked the main families' children, or the children of the ones close to the main branch, using mind-controlled members of our clans before, the cases from before are sure to connect with this one. Klavier-san did belong to 'that' clan." The Uchiha's clan head folded his arms, "These information still haven't reached the public's ears since panic may rise, but rumours may spread quick."

Kakas.h.i.+ observed the meeting room as it fell into silence. Hias.h.i.+ of the Hyūga's observed along with him.

"Does Klavier-san have any living relatives?" The Akimichi clan head asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Unfortunately," s.h.i.+kaku took a step front, "there's no known living Rukas clan members. Those musicians had been annihilated by their own kin—a war between themselves. Only Klavier-san and his son, Xavier, managed to transfer to Konoha in time to save their dying selves."

Simultaneously, the people inside the room moved their gaze to the Hokage.

"Yes, I had indeed taken them in years ago." The Hokage heaved a sigh, answering their obvious question, "The only people who knew of this before was Danzo and s.h.i.+kaku-kun—for Klavier and his son's protection and anonymity."

Fugaku refrained his mouth from hanging to stop his outburst. Instead, he calmly placed his hand over his face and sighed, "A pretty crucial part of the investigation has been revealed. Thank you." The Hokage only gave him a wry smile.

The Hyūga coughed, "And the son? I a.s.sume that he'd already pa.s.sed away judging by the way you told us that this old man is—was—the only known living Rukas in the Land of Fire."

"His son was considered dead," The Hokage narrowed his eyes, emphasising the past tense he used, "but since we've dabbled on this area, I have a faint feeling that he's connected to all of these heinous acts. The only clan I know that can tackle onto the mind control area, aside from the Yamanaka's, are definitely the Rukas's. The music that the mind controlled victims described before falling into their, well, mind controlled state is also an obvious clue since the said clan adores music."

Kakas.h.i.+ shared the same look as the Hokage under his mask. Gazing at the picture of the emblazoned white mask, he made sure to memorise all of the symbols seeing that he might actually have the gut feeling that someone he knows can crack this case—the topic is music, after all.

His nephew has definitely taken an interest in that area. Who would've thought that his nephew can play an instrument? That child, for all he knows, haven't escaped from his gaze so, how on earth did he manage to sneak the time to practice? He definitely need to ask that soon.

Actually, can Kakas.h.i.+ memorise the marks? There are over seventy music notes on there. He might just actually ask for a written copy directly from someone from them. He doesn't really have a photographic memory like some people thought—he just have a good memory, nothing more, nothing less.

"Anyways," Fugaku sighed, "we also found this from the deceased's pocket," he raised a plastic bag containing something nearly burnt, "a pendant of some sort. It acts a bit like a storage scroll, only which it needs specific chakra to work. Seeing that we have an idea of who can open it—common sense, people, we won't be opening this unless until we capture Klavier-san's son."

"So, our first priority for now is," The Nara head spoke up, "keep this away from the public as much as we can since, whew, rumours fly fast these days, and, of course, catch Rukas Klavier's son, Rukas Xavier." He then cleared his throat, slipping a glance at the only Hatake inside the room.

"I'll be dispatching groups, preferably from the ANBU network since they fit the job perfectly, to stop rumours from spreading, scout for more, what we've a.s.sumed, mind control victims, and gather as much information as we can. Jounin groups will be needed as well for obvious reasons.

Consulting people with interest in the music area will definitely be on the priority list too so, if anyone of you have, or know people who have knowledge on that s.p.a.ce will definitely be welcome to take a written copy of the code—just ask from the people leading the Cipher Unit, whom Inoichi will be informing." With the Nara's stern words, the Yamanaka nodded and quickly informed the people from the said unit using his clan's ability.

'That was convenient.' Kakas.h.i.+ thought, making sure to remember to stop by to the Cipher Unit to get a copy.

Honestly, the meeting was definitely boring for Kakas.h.i.+. He only ever listened to interesting things, and is so close to getting a certain orange book from his pouch to ease definite boredom. The only thing keeping him sane at the moment was the mind-set to get a copy of the code for his nephew.

Several agonising hours later, the meeting finally ended, ending Kakas.h.i.+'s boredom. He actually ran out, almost forgetting about the thing he kept reminding himself about. Stepping into the Cipher Unit Building, he was greeted with welcoming stares coming from people behind gla.s.ses. He asked for a copy and one of the Cipher agents smiled at him.

"Oh? You have an idea how to crack this definition of a migraine?" The agent asked in a sarcastic demeanour while handing him a piece of paper, trying to lighten up the anbu in front of him.

Kakas.h.i.+ whistled, smiling behind his mask. Somehow, one can actually "see" him smiling—his vibe literally gave it off. "I know someone who might be able to help. He might surprise me again on this one—he's full of surprises, really." Kakas.h.i.+ told the agent truthfully, his tone full of pride for his beloved nephew.

It might not look like it, but Kakas.h.i.+ is the type of person who'd put his beloveds' safety first before him—after learning his lesson. After all, in the ninja world, those who break the rules are sc.u.m, which is very true, but those who abandon their friends, and families, are worse than sc.u.m.

After a brief goodbye, he stepped out of the building, a breeze s.n.a.t.c.hing away the paper from his hands. He swiftly ran after it and caught it, getting a small paper cut as a result. He narrowed his eyes, a bad feeling was.h.i.+ng over him. 'Why did I…' he was snapped out as a sudden wave of chakra signal burst near Training Ground #13—where he left Orion and Karasu.

He recognise the repet.i.tive chakra signal bursts being three long bursts between two three short ones (…---…). "f.u.c.k." He could only curse as he recognised the distress signal, running through a quick seal then quickly appearing in the near radius of the distress call.

An unmasked, almost unrecognisable Karasu lied down, blood scattered around him with the source being a hole plunged onto his right chest. He was alive, barely. If it weren't for the crow mask next to him, Kakas.h.i.+ would've not recognised him.

After seeing his subordinate, the only thing inside his mind right now is the safety of his nephew.

Kakas.h.i.+ whipped his head to his right after hearing a whimper coming from a meter away. The sight of Orion in the hands of a bloodied-white-masked man definitely made his blood boil.

With his kunai in hand, he slammed his hand onto the neck of his subordinate and nephew's attacker, pus.h.i.+ng the said man through several trees before stopping hard on a boulder.

"Get the f.u.c.k away from Orion."