Chapter 2 - Secret of the Scroll: A Test Long in the Making

The Memorial Stone, a monument to the hundreds of leaf shinobi who had died during missions. The grove where it stood was one of the most revered in all of Konohagakure, second only to the Hokage monument. It was here where Iruka had said Akai was to have his final test, the test that, if he passed it, would place him among the ranks of the leaf shinobi, just like those whose names were written on the stone had been. That was the very reason why Akai was now kneeling in meditation, preparing mentally for the challenge that he knew was lying just ahead of him. Facing the memorial, he had laid out his jacket on the ground before him and set his unsheathed bokuto upon it, as a sign of respect to the ninja who were immortalized on it.

*Well, Akai,* he thought to himself, opening his eyes, *it’s now or never.* He reached into his satchel, which was lying on the ground next to him, and pulled out the fist sized scroll. It was light, no more than an ounce, but Akai knew that there must be more to it than that, especially since it was from Grey-Wolf. He had never known his old sensei to give ordinary gifts, which the ANBU uniform in the closet of Akai’s apartment was a testament to.

Without rising from his knees, Akai set the scroll on the ground in front of him and peeled up the edge of its seal. Then he paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. This wasn’t going to be an ordinary test and he knew it. Finally, after a moment, he finished removing the seal and unrolled the scroll. To his surprise, the heavy grey parchment was completely blank, without a single mark on it. But the second piece of paper that he had noticed earlier, which had been rolled up tightly inside the scroll, was a different story.

*What is this?* The script on the paper was almost completely alien to Akai, written in what looked like ancient, arcane runes and arranged in a circular pattern around the center. The pattern was the only thing that looked familiar to him, aside from his old teacher‘s handwriting, though he could not think of where he had seen it before. He leaned in to examine it, thinking it must be some kind of coded message, which Grey-Wolf had always had a liking for. But, when he did so, he felt a strange energy seeming to radiate from the two scrolls and that, combined with the familiar arrangement, reminded him of what this had to be.

*Summoning Jutsu!* he realized, grabbing his bokuto and leaping backwards to his feet and away from the scrolls. He brought the weapon up to a ready position just as a cloud of white smoke erupted from the two pieces of parchment, or more accurately, from the scroll work on the parchment. The smoke quickly spread into a semi-circle in front of Akai, between him and the memorial stone. *For there to be that much smoke,* he thought as he watched it, *this must be a pretty big summoning.* On instinct, he tightened his grip on the handle of his bokuto.

As the smoke started to clear though, he quickly realized that his assessment had been wrong. None was overly large, but he could make out six shadowy figures through the receding smoke, the largest standing right in front of him, right where the pair of scrolls had been. A gentle breeze started to blow from the south, and Akai could soon clearly see what he was dealing with. A wolf pack.
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A few moments pass with neither Akai nor the wolves making a move. Akai was unsure of what to do next, and was about to open his mouth and ask something when the largest of the wolves, a giant of silver fur that Akai judged was about five feet at the shoulder, beat him to it.

“Don’t move,” the wolf said, taking Akai by surprise. He had expected these wolves to be able to talk, as most summoned creatures can, but he had not expected the malice that tinged this one’s voice. Instinctively, Akai suppressed the urge to run and remained still, but he most certainly had his guard up.

*I don’t think I want to mess around with this one.*

After a moment, during which the pack seemed to be examining Akai, another, smaller figure caught Akai’s attention. It was a young wolf pup, probably no more than a year old though Akai didn’t know for sure, considering it was a summon creature. It was one of four little ones that he had not been able to see through the smoke and that were standing behind two of the larger wolves, who Akai guessed were probably the females in the pack. This first little one, with a coat of earthy brown fur, looked interested in Akai, and started to walk past the adult wolves to get a closer look at him.

Almost immediately, the large silver wolf that had first spoken to Akai rounded on the little one, teeth bared and growling like he was rabid. Akai almost moved to try and stop the larger wolf, but, like before, another wolf beat him to it. This one was a fair bit smaller than the silver one, only about four feet to the shoulder, but Akai instantly felt like there was more to this wolf than what he could see. Its fur was a rich brick red, with a rough yet majestic quality that made Akai think of fire. It jumped between the silver one and the pup, standing his ground to protect the little one.

“Out of my way, Hishin,” the angry silver wolf barked, refocusing his attention on the flame colored sentinel, “or you will take his punishment for breaking ranks.”

“Given that he is a little one,” the second wolf replied as the pup backed away from the two adults, “I will gladly take his punishment, if only to spare him from what I know will be far to harsh for a little curiosity.” He stared the larger wolf in the eyes as he said this, not moving an inch. Akai was impressed.

“Why you little,” began the now furious wolf, raising his right paw as if to strike the red one for some insult, “I’m gonna…”

“But now is not the time for any punishment,” the red one interrupted without flinching, tilting his head in Akai’s direction. “Let’s handle the Grey-One’s business first.” The silver one momentarily glanced at Akai but quickly turning back to his fellow.

“I am the Alpha of this pack. I will decide when we are to handle business.” He raised his paw once again as if to strike.

“Peace, Tenma,” said another voice that Akai had not yet heard. It was deep with age and came from an elderly, tawny colored wolf that now stepped forward. Surprisingly for Akai, the silver one, who he now knew was the leader of the pack, lowered his paw as the old wolf stepped forward. “You will have the chance to punish the insubordinate.” He looked at the arguing pair as he said this and the two backed away from each other. Then the tawny wolf turned and looked Akai in the eyes. “You can lower your weapon now.”

Almost instinctively, as if it were Iruka or Tsunade telling him to do something and not a summon wolf, Akai did as he was told. He couldn’t explain why, but something made him feel like he could trust this older wolf. He slid his bokuto back into the sheath on his back, all while maintaining eye contact with wolf.

“We are the Eihei Wolf Pack,” he explained after Akai had sheathed his weapon and lowered his hand. “This is Tenma, leader of the pack,” he motioned with his head toward the silver wolf, who simultaneously stood taller in an effort to intimidate Akai, “and I am Waizuten, his advisor. This young upstart,” he indicated the fire colored wolf, “is Hishin, the pack’s Beta, or second in command. He still has a good deal to learn but he’s coming along.” Hishin bowed his head to Akai when he was introduced, a stark contrast to Tenma’s gesture.

“I am Kajihana Akai,” Akai said as he offered a slight bow. As he stood tall again, Tenma gave a brief chuckle. Akai turned to face the alpha, who looked rather amused.

“You are Kajihana Akai, the one that the Grey-One wanted us to test?” He chuckled again as finished, which Akai decided it would be best for now to ignore.
“That depends on who this ‘Grey-One’ is,” responded Akai, doing his best to stay respectful with the pack leader laughing in his face. He had an idea of who that might be, but he wanted to be sure before making any assumptions. It was Waizuten who replied.

“The one we know as the Grey-One is an old friend of mine,” the old wolf said, “and he is the one who encouraged me to and helped me form this pack. I believe you probably know him as Grey-Wolf,” he added, confirming Akai’s suspicions. This also raised some questions though too.

“Indeed, Grey-Wolf was my teacher,” he told Waizuten, “it is an honor to meet any friend of his.” He bowed to the old wolf once again as he said this.

“Huh,” interrupted Tenma with another chuckle, “what makes you think we believe that you are or even were the Grey-One’s student? Do you have proof?”

“Only my word,” Akai replied calmly, his dislike for the wolf leader growing even more.

“Your word is not good enough,” Tenma then said, a wicked smile crossing his face, “you are not the Grey-One, and therefore your word has no standing among us.”

“The sheath on his back is proof enough,” interrupted Hishin, glaring at Tenma as he came to Akai’s support, “I can smell the Grey-One on it, as I know you can as well.” Then, turning to Waizuten, he asked, “Do you recognize it, wise one?” He ignored Tenma as he asked this.

“That I do, Hishin, but you forget your place. You do not ignore the alpha under any circumstance.” He stared at Hishin with what Akai could only describe as disappointment, before turning back to Tenma and saying, “I vouch for his word. I believe he is, or at least was, the Grey-One’s student.”

“Very well, then,” agreed Tenma, with a reluctance that even Akai found it hard to miss. “Then we will test him as the Grey-One requested.” He turned and focused his well hidden rage at Akai, who, though wary of angering the wolf further, had a few more questions to ask.

“Wait. Before we begin this test I would like to ask a few questions first,” Even though he wished to direct this comment toward Waizuten, who appeared to be the mediator between the packs two leaders, he directed it toward Tenma, in an effort to avoid furthering the wolf’s temper.

“If you absolutely must,” Tenma replied in a not so comforting semblance of courtesy, “little child.” Now Akai knew that Tenma was mocking him, but he refused to be baited into doing something foolish. Waizuten did not let this escape his notice.

“I understand that Grey-Wolf apparently asked you all to test me,” started Akai, doing his best to control his voice, “but it seems like some of you are not even interested in doing that. So why would you?” Akai expected either Waizuten’s wise words or Tenma’s mocking to answer this, and so was surprised when Hishin spoke up.

“It was part of our agreement with the Grey-One,” he told Akai, looking the shinobi in the eyes. “He gathered us from our separate paths and gave us a chance at survival as a group, rather than no chance as estranged individuals. His only request after doing this was that we test his student when the time came.” He glanced at Tenma, something akin to loathing shining in his eyes, before continuing, “Some of us wish to honor that request.”

*So Grey-Wolf gathered these guys for the express purpose of testing me,* Akai thought to himself. *Well, he never was one for easy tests.* He looked up at Tenma, who was still smiling with some sort crazed amusement.
“So how does this test work?” Akai asked as he stared into the giant wolf’s mocking eyes.

“Simple,” Tenma replied with a grin, “You have to fight me.”

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