Zima and Aki were halfway back from the getting back to the Village of Grace. Throughout the whole trip, Zima was either talking to Aki or sleeping on Aki. The sun was slowly rising and Zima and Aki were almost home. Zima could not wait to see Shea and Shin. As they rolled down, the carriage stopped suddenly.
"Why'ed we stop?" Zima asked slowly getting her head off of Aki's shoulder.
"The ninjas need to use the bathroom," Aki replied. "And so do I." Aki stepped out the carriage door, Zima walked out too she needed to stretch. "I'll be back," Aki said, he and two other ninjas stepped off the concrete road and into the deep forests to do their business. Just as Zima was about to step back into the carriage all of a sudden shuriken (Ninja star) came sprawling from behind her, and it hit the door of the carriage, grazing Zima's arm.
"Ow!" Zima jumped grabbing her left arm and saw a thin line that dripped red on her arm. She quickly turned around to see who threw the weapon but saw no one except for the deep woods, beyond the concrete road.
"Who's there!" Zima shouted, her voice was shaky.
All of a sudden Zima heard someone laughing in the woods, Zima backed up and stood against the carriage door. She slowly saw two figures approaching from the woods. They were both men, and one had a smile on his face that made Zima shiver.
The one with the smile and short red hair spoke first, "So this is the wife of the Emperor of the Village of Grace, who knew she was a foreigner, and black." Both were still walking up to Zima, they were wearing red pants, and a shirt with a bubble vest over it. Zima could barely see the other persons face because his vest had a collar was so high that it covered his mouth and nose. Zima only saw his dark, brown bushy hair, and narrow eyes. The man who spoke first wore an evil smile and had mousy short red hair, and along with wide red eyes.
"Who are you and what do you want!" Zima yelled. She let go of her left arm, and her blood was spread on the palms of her hand.
"We didn't mean to cut you their just, we just wanted to make sure no other ninjas were around. "Now, where is the Emperor of the Village of Grace?"
Zima glared back at the men, 'I can't tell them where Aki is, they want to hurt him.' Zima counted to three in her head slowly.
The red hair ninja groaned, "Look we can do this the easy way or the-" He stopped talking when he noticed that Zima made a run for it towards the forest.
"Ugh they always run, come on Iwao lets go," The red hair ninja, and Iwao both bend their torsos, and sprinted towards the forests that Zima ran into with their arms hanging loosely behind them as they ran.
"Aki! Aki!" Zima yelled. Zima searched everywhere in the forest but only saw trees, dirt, and rocks.
Zima turned around the saw both the ninjas sprinting towards her, with their arms behind them. She then turned her head back around and focused on ahead, but bumped right into someone's chest. She fell down on the ground and looked around. She glanced up to see who she bumped into, she was expecting Aki, but instead saw the same ninja that just had the half of his face covered by the collar of his vest. Zima's eyes widened in fear, 'He was just back their how did he move here so quick.'
Zima turned around and saw the short red hair ninja and the same ninja she just bumped into. 'There's two of them' Zima said to herself gasping, she tried to get up. But the other two ninjas from behind her caught up to her, the red hair ninja stepped on her left hand. Zima cried out in pain and turned her body to the left.
"I guess we are going to have to do this the hard way," The red hair ninja said. He dug the heel of his foot tighter into Zima's wrist. Zima cried out even more.
"Stop!" Zima shouted.
"Then tell us where the Emperor of the Village of Grace is,"
Zima then quickly without thinking, bit the red-haired ninja's ankle.
"OW!" He yelled jumping off of Zima's hand and holding his ankle. "The bitch bit me." He glared at her. Zima quickly got up and ran in a different direction. The ninja that did not speak the entire time ran after her, and just as he was about to grab Zima's arm, a kunai appeared and was thrown towards him. He quickly backed up and jumped up on a branch of a tree. The red hair ninja and the look-alike ninja did the same. Suddenly two mystery ninja covered in all black except for their eyes appeared.
"Lady Zima are you okay?" One mystery ninja asked.
"I'm fine where is Aki?" Zima asked worriedly. Zima looked behind the ninja and saw Aki running towards her.
"Aki!" Zima smiled brightly and ran straight into Aki's arms.
Aki hugged her back, "I should have never left you alone, did they hurt you? I heard you yelling." Aki spoke fast, and looked around Zima body, he spotted a bruise on her wrist.
"Don't worry about me, they wanted to hurt you," Zima said.
"Well isn't this cute," The red hair ninja said while standing on a branch of a tree. "The most coldhearted emperor of all Japan has finally found someone that would fuck him."
Aki glared at him, "Why are you after me, and what village are you from?" Aki demanded. Zima stood beside Aki holding his hand, the two other ninjas that looked exactly the same stared at Zima with there narrow eyes on the tree branches that they stood on.
"We just wanted to deliver a simple message, Lord Aki of the Village of Grace," The red hair ninja replied with a sarcastic tone.
"Lord Aki," said a mystery ninja. "There are probably from the Village of fire, they have red pants and red vests. But they are not wearing headbands, or any certain logos so they could be spy's, or ninjas disguised on a mission."
Aki took a step closer to the trees that the three men were standing on, "I'm only going to ask you one more time, who are you and what do you want?"
The red hair ninja rolled his eyes, "Were not from the village of fire, we just have to deliver this scroll to you," The ninja pulled out a scroll, and thrown it down at Aki. The mystery ninja caught it before it reached Aki to make sure it was not a trap or paper bomb.
"It's clean," one said, and he handed the scroll to Aki. Aki eyed it unsurely, and then looked up at the three men on the tree branches.
"Well, we can't stay here all day," The red hair ninja turned to his partner, "ready to leave Iwao."
Iwao nodded, and his clone body that Zima bumped into, puffed out in the air. Zima's mouth hung, 'His clone just disappeared,' she said to herself.
The two men disappeared and left jumping from tree branch to tree branch going farther and farther in the woods. Aki put the scroll in a pocket that was inside his Kimono.
"I will read the scroll when we get back to the village, for now, let's focus on getting back to the village immediately before we meet more enemies." The mystery ninja nodded, and Aki led the way with a shaken Zima back to the carriage.
Zima looked at the cut that was one her arm, from the shuriken that grazed her, it was no longer visible, but a little blood was still on her hand. As they reached the carriage Aki notices the Shurkien on the carriage door, "They threw weapons at you?" Aki asked outraged. He looked down at Zima's hand, which still had blood on it. "Ugh, we shouldn't have let them gotten away!" He yelled.
Zima grabbed Aki's hand, "I'm okay, they were after you, they were just trying to scare me into saying where you were." Zima opened the carriage door and climbed in. Aki came right after, and the mystery ninja ordered the horses to move.
...
Zima and Aki arrived home as fast as possible. When they got back it was morning and sun shined bright. Villagers greeted them, Aki didn't say anything to them but Zima smiled and waved. When they reached the Emperor's palace Aki called for a meeting with his council tomorrow, so he could talk about the scroll that he received from the ninja in the forests. While Aki was discussing the events that happened in the forest to Shin, in the tea room, Zima and Shea walked in the garden.
"So I'm guessing the trip was amazing till the random ninjas came and attacked you," Shea said.
Zima gulped, "I just wished I was able to fight back, I wanted too but I couldn't. And one of those ninjas did something. He was able to make two of him. I tried running away from him and then suddenly another one of him appeared.
"Oh, you mean a clone jutsu?" Shea asked.
"What's a jutsu?" Zima asked in return.
" A jutsu is technique, skills, and supernatural abilities that ninjas use when in battle, on missions, spying, or accomplishing something. There are thousands of jutsu's to learn and use against your enemies but it is not easy learning them. For example, the man in the forest that you said had a clone of himself, he used the clone jutsu. That jutsu can make replica's of whoever is the user. There are different kind of clones you can make like water clones, dirt clones, clay clones, and many more. See look at me," Shea stopped moving and put her hands together she started to move her hands in a series of positions and then yelled, "Water Clone Jutsu!"
All of a sudden water formed next to Shea and slowly transformed to look like another Shea was there. It look exactly like Shea, it was just made of water.
"Whoa!" Zima said amazed. She stuck her hand in the clone and it just went right through the clones face.
"Amazing," Zima took her hand out, her hand was wet from the water but the clone was fine.
"Hey watch where you sticking your hands," the clone said.
Zima jumped, "Clones talk?" she asked the real Shea.
Shea nodded, "They are a replicate of you, so based on who you are that's the way they act. Don't worry their no such thing as clones that will betray you." Shea reached into a small purse that hung around her waist and pulled out a kunai. She threw it at the clone which burst into water and was no longer Shea but just a puddle.
"To destroy clones it ether you throw weapons or something like at it, but if your chakra is weakening or if you get hurt your clones can disappear and just form into the natural source it was." Shea walked to the puddle and picked up her kunai.
Zima still had more questions, " What's Chakra and how many clones can you make?"
"Chakra is what ninjas need in order to do jutsu's. You can't do any jutsu unless you have chakra. We can't see chakra but our organs inside our body help produce it. It's ninjas that use chakra the most. In ninja school, they teach us how to control chakra in our bodies, and how to produce and make chakra. However, the more clones you make the more chakra you use. The harder the jutsu gets the more chakra you need."
"I'm interested in the ninja and samurai world, it was amazing how quick those men were. I wished I could have fought back and beaten them." Zima said.
"You would seem like an excellent fighter," said Shea eyeing Zima up and down. "But let's get you some rest, your journey was long and dangerous." Shea started to walk back into the palace. As Shea walked back inside Zima saw the same kunai and dart board, on the tree with the pink leaves. Zima grabbed the kunai and stood several feet away from the dart board. She steadies herself and released it, and the as the kunai soared through the air. It landed right in the middle red dot of the board. Zima got a perfect landing again.
'Yes!' she said to herself. Zima then heard Shea call for her.
Zima replied, "Coming!" and she ran inside. Zima wanted to learn more about being a ninja, about jutsu's and chakra. She wanted to protect her village and Aki at all costs.
. . .