Gin

A man, in his mid-twenties, sat on a wooden chair inside an empty warehouse in the middle of nowhere. In front of him were his relatives. His cousins, his cousins' children, and his aunt and uncles, all huddled together, covered in oil.

If someone took a closer look at them, some of them looked different from each other in terms of physical state. The reason for this is because the man kidnapped all of them one by one, every single day. Some of them haven't eaten or drank anything in 4 days, and it's already a miracle they're alive to see they're death in front of their monster of a cousin.

"You know," the man started, "I wonder why I'm doing this. Maybe for revenge for my awful childhood, or just simply out of fun. The first one is unlikely since I don't have a single shred of emotion in me, not even the capability to feel mercy. So it must be the latter. Either way, both of them are the same. Revenge and having fun… they're simply the same."

His second uncle tried to spit on him but found himself incapable due to his mouth and throat being dry.

"Don't waste your saliva; you won't be getting out of here alive. And this place is in the middle of nowhere because this was built by some criminal organization for torturing their victims, and fortunately, they've already forgotten about this. No one knows where all of you are. Even if the entire state of Florida launched an investigation for you people, it would take them months before they finally see a glimpse of your corpses," He said to them while playing with his zippo lighter.

They were looking at him with fear. They couldn't say anything because they knew it was only futile. This man… no, monster will never listen to them. While they've treated him like an animal when he was child, their children don't deserve this. At least he should spare the children but no, he won't.

No matter what they say, no matter how much they beg and plead, all he will do is smile, saying, "I vaguely remember saying, when I was a child, that you guys should just leave me alone. What did you people do?"

It was mostly to show them their hypocrisy but a part of him felt euphoria when he saw them pleading and begging.

Though, as he was looking at them, he noticed that one of them was missing. He smiled, and that smile brought all of them to despair.

Without even looking behind him, he pointed his pistol directly to the forehead of his cousin while he sat, who was right behind him ready to stab him with a shard of glass.

He was stunned before…

BANG!

It was instantaneous. His relatives thought they could hide it from him. But the man was just having his fun.

His cousin fell to the ground, and slowly but surely, fire started to spread on his cousin's body. Because of the point-blank range where he shot him, it caused the sparks from his gun to touch the oil on his (cousin) body, slowly burning the corpse.

He turned his eyes to his trembling relatives, still keeping that smile from before. The entire warehouse was eerily quiet while he slowly stood up, looking at them with emotionless eyes. They were begging him but he didn't bother to listen.

Something inside him snapped when he killed his cousin. His right eye twitched as his mouth curled up to a horrifying smirk. Without hesitation, he pointed his gun towards his relatives.

His perception of time seems to speed up as he shoots them one by one.

As blood touched his clothes, he kept smirking.

The last thing they ever saw was the euphoria inside his eyes.

Shoki woke up on the chair full of sweat. His breath was heavy with his heart beating faster. He felt the panic seep into his body but he tried to calm himself down.

"It was just a dream," He said, "That's the past. I've killed them. They're gone. I will never see them again."

He didn't know what triggered that dream, or why he suddenly remembered that. Guilt? No, he doesn't feel guilt. Maybe fear? But why would he feel fear towards the dead? They're dead; the dead cannot hurt the living.

But as his mind zoned out, he heard the sound of a door opening somewhere in his left, and he turned to immediately kill whoever that was when he stopped himself.

"Calm down," He thought, "Just calm down."

He saw Fubuki coming out of a room near the kitchen, and she looked ready to go to work. She wore a fur jacket along with a leather pants, while on top of her head was a hat that looks a lot like sou'wester,

Noticing him, Fubuki said, "I heard from Kazuki what happened, and I apologize that I didn't realize that you have amnesia. A shame. You were a bright boy."

He nodded, and nothing more.

Seeing that he won't be talking, Fubuki then said, "Kazuki has gone on ahead of me, and I'll be meeting him soon. A shinobi will greet you soon to speak with Lady Mei, after the stunt you pulled yesterday. I heard from Yamura, so don't worry."

She snapped her fingers, and a cloud of smoke exploded. He was alarmed before the smoke quickly faded away, and he saw a completely different person in Fubuki's spot.

He stood up, and said, "What did you do!?" He was cautious of her, and the unknown woman chuckled at him.

"I see. What Yamura and Kazuki said was true. You do have amnesia,``said Fubuki in her henge form.

He raised an eyebrow, and she elaborated.

"This is a jutsu called 'henge', and it's a genjutsu that masks my true appearance. I suggest that you ask Fujiwara-san to take you to our local library. That should clear up some of your confusion."

Shoki, in terms of jutsu and shit, was a complete neanderthal. He doesn't know the first thing about it.

"Anyway, bye-bye," and she disappeared… right in front of him.

If he had no shame, his jaw would be hanging down right now.

A girl, younger than the age of 16, was able to completely disappear right in front of him. It was a disturbing thought that children younger than him could kill him if he let his guard down.

His only saving grace was that he had the power to control and sense metal, making him able to sneakily attack those ninjas. If he and a ninja really fought head on, he would've died a long time ago.

He sighed, and was about to go to the bathroom to wash his face, with the plan of taking a bath, when he heard knocks coming from the front of the door.

"Ah, fuck. Who is it?" He asked as he approached the door.

When he opened it, he only saw a masked person standing in front of him. The mask wasn't anything special; it only has some kind of animal face carved into it. But what caught his interest was the weapons in their black shoulder-revealing clothing. There were so many of them.

To be honest, he was more of a danger to this masked person than that masked person being a danger to him.

"Uzumaki Shoki, come with me. Lady Mei's orders," said, the clearly male voice coming from the masked person.

"So this must be the ninja Fubuki said was coming for me? Well, that was pretty quick," Thought Shoki.

Seeing that he won't get to wash his body, he at least said, "Can I wash my face first?"

After doing what he needed to do, they immediately went to the tower in the middle of the small village. As they were going there, however, he heard whispers coming from the general population when they saw him being escorted by this shinobi.

He, meanwhile, ignored them.

While walking, he noticed a small bookstore right around the corner, and he realized that if he can buy a history book there, he should be able to get the information he wants. But he has no money, and he is currently being escorted to that tower in the middle of this hillbilly.

Soon after, they arrived in front of a door inside the third floor of the tower.

"We're here," said the ninja.

"Well, no fucking shit," thought Shoki, tired of being with this stiff guy.

A voice then said behind the door, "Come in."

With that, the masked shinobi opened the door and he gestured for Shoki to come inside.

The red-head then did just that, and entered the room, only to see the same red-headed woman he met back then.

Now that he thought about it, isn't it weird that she was there as that orphanage was getting slaughtered by those people? He narrowed his eyes, and realized that nothing was as it seemed.

If the orphanage's owner was someone who could use this 'chakra' and 'jutsu', then that means no civilian could've killed the owner. And it was strange that there were ninjas in that small orphanage in the middle of nowhere.

And so, Shoki came to a conclusion; was it her who massacred the orphanage's children? But Yamura said that the Mizukage did it, yet it can also be argued that Yamura is still a child, and he doesn't know any better. Maybe he mistook the person or something.

Seeing him, the woman only smiled with eyes full of mirth.

"So, you survived," she started, "Though it seems like you lost your memories," He was instantly alarmed but she raised her hand to calm him down, and continued, "Don't worry, I heard this from Fubuki."

He breathed a sigh of relief, but then realized something. It's strange. Does Fubuki really know her? That's quite an impossibility due to the fact that this red-haired woman is the leader of this village, and Fubuki is more or less a no-one.

"Now," she started as she got the boy's attention, "this is a secret that only a few knows but I'll tell you. I know that you are wondering why I know a simple girl like her, am I right?" He nodded slowly, "That is because Fubuki Shio is my disciple."

There was no surprise or amazement on his face, she noticed, only saying, "Ah," as if he just solved a problem to a simple puzzle.

"Know that I only told you this because you are her family. Kazuki also knows this but he will never say anything about this to anyone. Though, we've refrained from telling Yamura of this due to the outgoing and easy go lucky attitude that he has," Said Lady Mei

Seeing how pointless this conversation is, Shoki said, "So you brought me here to say that Fubuki is your disciple?"

She smirked, and said, "You've got a lot of guts, boy. But I'll tell you why you're here. Yesterday afternoon, you threatened one of the village guards with projectiles controlled by your kekkei genkai that is presumed to be the Magnet Release."

Something was telling him to run but he couldn't move from his current position. It was as if he was being constricted by something invisible from him.

"And because of that, you are hereby punished by doing 300 missions for the revolution without pay. If unable to comply with the punishment, you will be sentenced to death," She announced to him.

He was a fool; an idiot. He didn't bring any metal to him, and only now did he realize that her entire office is covered with wood. She didn't use any pen, she only used pencils. She didn't even have any metallic weapon on her!

And not only that, he couldn't move. But that would've barely mattered to be honest, since this woman is obviously stronger than him.

Even without the ability to move, he still managed to glare at her.

Honestly, he couldn't care less about this trap but the fact that he came here without any kind of preparation is the thing that mattered to him the most.

"If you try to escape as soon as you get out of this genjutsu, you will be hunted down by hundreds of shinobi all over the continent. Every day, you will sleep with both of your eyes open. You will always look behind your back for every moment of your life. Know that 300 missions are generous for the crime of threatening my soldiers," She was legitimately angry, but that was only a bluff. She wouldn't spend hundreds of her shinobis to hunt down a child.

Mei Terumi treasures her comrades very much. They've been through so much since the death of her step-father, and she was just 13 years old when she started planning this revolution with all of them. They've all been together as comrades for 6 years now. But this boy… this arrogant and self-centered boy threatened her soldiers, and she will never forgive that!

As the leader of this revolution, she must do what she must.

That, and the free labor.

In the boy's eyes, he seems to not be worried about his current predicament, and she would be right.

He was annoyed at himself, angry even. Though, even after all this, he felt a little bit guilty. But he quickly shook it off, knowing that emotions will only hinder him.

Soon, he found himself being able to move again.

He looked at the woman, and said, "Then…" He hesitated, "I understand, and I'll do my best."

She raised an eyebrow, and said, "I'll do my best, what?"

He narrowed his eyes but said it anyway, "… I'll do my best, ma'am."

She smiled in contentment, saying, "Now, you won't be getting any missions as of now due to your inability to use chakra properly. And so, for half-a-month, you'll be trained by one of my Jounins, who, coincidentally, doesn't use metal weapons. After that time is over, you'll be receiving your first C-Rank Mission. Now, shoo. You'll be meeting him at Fujiwara-san's house."

He thought, "The old man?"

After saying that, she dismissed him.

Soon after the boy left, an anbu with a porcelain mask with slits for eyes appeared near Mei's side.

"Was that really necessary, Lady Mei?" He asked in his masculine yet feminine voice, clearly worried for the red-headed boy.

She shook her head, and said, "You don't know about it, Ren, but I made a deal with the Mizukage that day. He had around a dozen men around his side, all of them were jounin level. I only brought Chojuro with me when I visited my brother, and I was not prepared to see his precious orphanage destroyed, as the children's corpses were littered all over the place. There, my brother kneeled right in front of him. The Mizukage was smiling along with his pet. I'll never forget that day when I made that deal with him."

'Ren' was silent for the entire time, he only now asked, "What deal did you make with him?"

"He promised to leave three of the children alone for five years, and in return, I shall not interfere with his operations. But if he attacks us, we will retaliate. That was our deal. But instead of three, four of them survived instead. Uzumaki Shoki survived that day, and he has been nothing but impressive since then," Said she, a little bit giddy.

"Why? Uzumaki is just a kid, and an amnesiac at that," Ren said, confused.

She glanced at him for a moment before saying, "Just yesterday, I heard reports of a Jounin dying of a mysterious death. His forehead-protector caved in, and pierced his frontal lobe to the back of his head, killing him almost instantly. Now, that's a very strange way of killing. In fact, I've only seen this kind of thing when we fought a magnet release user from Suna."

Behind his mask, the raven headed man widened his eyes, and said, "So what you're saying is…"

"Yes, Uzumaki Shoki might be our little culprit. After all, he is the only magnet release user in the entire Mizu no Kuni. And as long as the Mizukage doesn't know about him, the three will live for 5 years. But I heard of their plans of moving to Konoha, which was made by Fubuki. A shame, really,``said Mei, sighing by the end.

As suspicious as he was about that last part, he decided to not speak about it, but instead say, "So you'll have Gin teach him? That's as good as making him dead, Lady Mei."

"Gin has laid down his sword, Ren. Right in front of me, might I add. He's just a drunkard and a gambling addict, but even then, he was my right-hand man at one point, which is your current position, so he'll teach him well," She said in a bit of a somber tone.

He then replied, "That, and you just want to see him back in action. After all, to see the famous Gin Ha in action is, in itself, a miracle."

"Yes, you're right about that. Even the previous Mizukage feared him even though he was only 13 years old at the time," She said, a bit amazed about that fact, "And if I'm not wrong, you two were rivals, right?"

Ren shook his head, and said, "Well, we were, but when he surpassed me, we just became buddies. I don't know how strong he Is now, but the constant gambling and alcohol surely didn't help him. But if we were to battle once again…" The eyes behind his mask shined red as 3 tomoe appeared in his pupils, "I'll be prepared."

The leader of the rebellion only smiled in satisfaction, and nodded at her soldier's, no, comrade's passion. While Gin is strong, he has laid down his sword, and swore to never fight in this war again. But what Gin doesn't have, Ren makes up for it. He's loyal, dedicated, and most importantly, passionate for the betterment of the village of Kirigakure.

Something Gin doesn't seem to care about.

Gin is one of the few people in the world that has almost above Kage-Level strength, and so many people in the world fear him. Even she is unsure whether she can beat him or not in a battle, even when all he's doing at the moment is drinking cheap alcohol and gambling illegally.

He is currently at the age of 27, the peak of his life. Instead he's just wasting it. For what, you may ask? Because some girl died. He killed mountains upon mountains of people during his stay with the previous Mizukage, and he cares about 1 girl dying!?

As ridiculous as it sounds, the famous Gin Ha, only 18 at the time, fell in love with a farmer's daughter. He was so in love with her to the point that he started farming alongside with the girl's father, just to boot-lick to him.

But a tragedy happened.

After a doing an A-Rank Assassination Mission that lasted for less than a week, he arrived to see the girl and her family butchered.

There was a forehead protector there that was left by a Konoha Shinobi, and he grew enraged. He thought that Konoha was the one who slaughtered his loved ones, and decided to charge into the frontlines, killing anyone who he thought was his enemy.

Until, 1 year later, he found out who the real culprit was… it was the Second Mizukage, Mizuku Yamesabe.

Enraged in all of the lies that were fed to him, he made the mistake that caused this bloodline purge to begin with… he killed the Second Mizukage, which caused the current Mizukage to rise in power.

You see, Mizuku wasn't a tyrant to his people, but nor was he a saint. He loved the village dearly but with the war always on the horizon, he had to be ready. So, when he saw his most powerful soldier becoming more and more lazy with his missions, sometimes even leaving them half-finished, and just for a girl? He was disappointed.

But that wasn't his problem, really. The Second Mizukage wouldn't have cared if it weren't for the fact that it left a huge weakness that Gin always has to carry every time he's not with her. If the enemy found out about it, they would target her and her family, and blackmail Gin with them.

He was worried.

So, to cut the roots of it all, he killed the girl and her family, leaving no bonds for his best soldier so that he would have no weakness, and he could focus on his missions more. And it worked well, to the point that all he saw in the visage of his favorite soldier were the countless corpses of the people he had killed.

With only one silver blade in his right hand, with each swipe of his sword, dozens would die… and it was terrifying for the average shinobi to see.

Even the non-shinobi would get caught in his raged slaughtering, and sometimes, even his own teammates.

Seeing that the path he was heading in could potentially make him an enemy of the entire Mizu no Kuni, the Second Mizukage admitted his crime to his favorite soldier… and Mizuku was no more.

At least that was the most popular version of the story. No one really knows the truth, and Gin always keeps his secrets deep into his mind, never letting it slip.

Either way, the death of the previous Mizukage in Gin's hands caused the current tyrant to become the Mizukage, and he ruled with an iron fist. For no reason whatsoever, other than being a xenophobic, he also killed the bloodline users of Kirigakure, weakening its forces. But not only that, he also instigated the people of Mizu to rally against the bloodline user, making them all go into hiding.

But the reason the Third Mizukage hasn't attacked her small village of revolution despite how close it is to Kiri, is also because of Gin. Without Gin, she wouldn't be capable of leaving the village like she did every week to seek out allies from other villages.

Konoha is her primary target since they're the closest major village, and she knew that the current Hokage, Minato Namikaze, is someone who really wants peace. As bad as it sounds, she'll try and exploit that so that Konoha sides with her.

Her only problem is Danzo but that's another problem entirely. If it comes down to it, she'll send Ren and his team to assassinate the old war hawk.

She'd be doing the world a favor, honestly.

But anyway, even with his laziness, Gin is still an important ally since just by being in her village, he is protecting it.

No one dared to poke the sleeping dragon, and if someone, god forbid, does wake the dragon, the consequences would be unimaginable. It was rumored that with one swing of his silver katana, he could slice the earth to make a ravine that's as deep as thousands of meters.

And the same dragon is currently hiding his face behind his playing cards, carefully picking a card to place down on the table.

"Hehehehe, would you look at that," The silver headed man said, as his hair covered his eyes menacingly as he slowly revealed his hand… It was a royal straight flush.

The old men around him had faces like they knew what was going to happen, and just sighed.

"Just take the money, and leave. We all know you cheated using your ninja skills," One of them said in a tired voice, knowing that this guy will be here again tomorrow.

"Hahahahaha! I don't know what you're talking about," He laughed as he took all the money on the table, and if anyone counted them, it would've been rounded to around 10,000 Ryo, which is pretty big to make in a single day.

And Gin will use all of this money to buy alcohol that he will drink for the entire day, essentially making it a substitute for water.

As he left the illegal gambling site, he could hear the old men curse him under their breath but he knew that not one of them could ever fight back against him. He is basically robbing them but what can they do against him?

It's shitty but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do.

"Heh, those old fools. Finally, I'll be able to buy those expensive wines at the store," Thought Gin, his mouth stretching ear to ear.

Though he frowned as he felt a chakra signature on his left, on the top of the rooftop of one of the houses around him. There were many people around him, busy with their lives, so speaking to that chakra signature in this place is probably a bad idea.

He turned left to the alleyway next to a house, and then he said, "You know you guys could just appear like normal people, right?"

A man wearing a blank, porcelain mask appeared in front of him.

"And you should probably stop robbing old men in broad daylight," The masked anbu said, snarky back to Gin.

He just scoffed, and said, "Tch, just tell me why you're here."

Sighing, the anbu replied, "We've been over this, Gin-san. For the last twenty-four hours, we have been telling you to meet your disciple at 9 AM sharp, and it's already 11 PM."

"Why do I have to teach some dumb brat? Just get an anbu or something to teach the kid,``said Gin, annoyed and irritated.

"It's only for 15 days, Gin-san. After that, you can just go on and continue drinking your life away. What happens next is not our problem," The anbu said, tired of this husk of a man, who was once great before.

"And what's in it for me?" He asked.

"Lady Mei will give you twenty-thousand ryo as compensation for each day you spend teaching the boy, which is definitel--- huh…" The anbu found himself dumbfounded when he saw the silver-headed man gone from his sight.

And then he just shrugged, and vanished.

For Shoki, consequences were ignorable most of the time. He can just run away from it, and he's not someone to stay in one place anyway.

Without any hesitation, he immediately grabbed his things, and was about to leave the village when he saw a man by the door.

The man has silver hair, dead-fish eyes, and sported a white and blue yukata with black pants clearly under. He was staring at him along with a paper, and he then said, "Oh! You're my mone—I mean, my disciple! Mhm! Quite a good get-up you have on! You are clearly a gift from heaven, so let's go and train now!"

"This guy is clearly bullshitting," Thought Shoki, annoyed.

As fast as lightning, he controlled the metal around him to kill the silver-haired man.

It was supposed to be quick since he was in a rush to get out of the village, when all of the metal bounced off the man's skin.

He was confused at first but continued barraging him with countless sharp metal, and the man only looked at him, smiling but clearly bored.

The man yawned, and suddenly, he disappeared. Shoki was only able to react when the man was already near him, and with his fist clenched, he knocked the wind out of Shoki.

The boy couldn't help but kneel as he tried to catch his breath, "Huuu! Haaa!" It was painful but he managed.

The man then said, "Oh, I should probably introduce myself," He lowered his body to Shoki's height, and continued, "I'm Gin, and from today on, until our fifteen days are up, I'll be your sensei. Nice to meet you, Shoki-kun!"

The red-headed boy only glared.

Gin only has a single thought in his head at the moment, and that's, "This brat is going to be troublesome, that's for sure."