Shiroma had done what she could for the girls on the way back trying to comfort Nori though it seemed that the comfort was not wanted or at least there was a lack of response to it.  She still did what she could even for Nanami trying her best to help the two process through what had happened.  Still it was something that was going to take a long time for them to get past.  She herself had liked Sigmund as much as she could since there was something abrasive about the boy that made it hard to try and help him even though she had done her best.

After they docked and the trip to Konohagakure she had stayed silent watching the difference in the land then the one she was used too.  As they came into the large village she looked around with mild awe just at the number of people.  Even in the height of trading season there was never this many people around in her home and it was sight to be seen.  She joined the other two girls in the meeting with the great Sasuke and had to bite her tongue several times.  Although everything that the man said was correct there was still so much that he left out.

Taking the offered head band she thought about throwing it back in his face and making some comment about the leadership style of Konohagakure that she was seeing in him and had seen in Sigmund. Thinking better of it since she did want to stay close to the girls that had been there for her to help pull her out of her darkest time.  She owed them at least that much if not even more.

Watching Nori leave she sighed softly shaking her head before looking to Nanami and smiled slightly waiting for her to finish things up with the receptionist.  Slipping an arm around Nanami's shoulders she smiled, "Come on I will join you on the training ground.  As long as you promise to show me the best place to eat in this village."

Her father, Tataka Yamada, heard the sweet sound of his daughter. It was a reassuring sign she had returned safely from her dangerous mission she had explained weeks and weeks ago. She had been eager to get out f the village and to make a difference in the war effort. It was almost hard to believe that she was becoming the woman she had always set herself to be. ”Nori? Nori is that you?” he called out as he walked out from their living room. ”Oh Nori. God bless that you made it home. Your mother and I have been worried sick. We heard horrible confrontations had been taking place lately and that made us worry more,” he explained the relief as it showed on his face. ”Nori!” a female voice could be heard behind her father as she moved passed him and ran to her daughter, embracing her tightly in her arms. ”Oh sweetheart! I’m so glad you’re back and okay and alive!” she exclaimed as she began to get ready eyed from the excitement of her return.

Nanami and Shiroma:

At this point since you’re going into the village and have nothing special going on in this thread, exit this thread and move your characters to 4.0 Konohagakure as you’ll be roaming the village at this point.

Nanami flipped through the pages. She doesn't notice her moms name "I am guessing not all of the ninja have checked in right?" She asked in a calm voice. Nanami runs a hand through her hair showing a little bit of anxiousness "If Temari Nara checks in, tell her that her daughter is looking for her please." She then turns and then feels an arm go around her shoulders. She looks at Shiroma and smiles "I hate to say it. I am a lot Naruto, as ramen is one of my favorite foods. The Naruto special is awesome! Well and hot food sounds really good after freezing my butt off in the frozen land.." Her arm wraps around Shiroma's shoulder "Let us go. Might as well build up some energy before beginning to train right?" She smiled, and a bit of her felt relieved to be back home and she missed the sun.

<<<<< Moving to 4.0: Konohagkure <<<<<

This message was last edited by a game editor at 00:57, Sun 03 Dec 2017.

In reply to Tataka (msg # 16):

As wonderful as it should have been to hear the sweet sounds of her parents voices when she walked through the door, Nori somehow felt like it wasn't the same. Her parents weren't bad people. They worked hard every day. Even when they struggled, they still found a way to reassure her that things would be alright. They would never show her their worn and tired faces after a long day's work in the fields and market. She knew that they didn't have any bad intentions of keeping a secret from her, but they...they never kept secrets from her. They never lied to her. They always told her the truth...or so she thought. When she saw finally saw their faces and felt her mother's familiar arms wrap around her in a warm, loving embrace, Nori indulged in it for a short moment. "I'm...home, Mom. You don't have to worry. I...won't be going anywhere for awhile," she said as she brought up a hand and lightly patted her mother's back before she flicked her eyes up and looked at her father. "I'm sorry for making you worry so much, but considering everything that's been going on lately, I guess it is a reason for concern." She pulled herself away from her mother's embrace. "A lot has happened since I left and there are things that I found out that I...don't understand. Things that I need both of you to help me understand. Can you do that for me?" she asked them.

<<<<< Moving to 4.0: Konohagkure <<<<<

Shiroma had no idea where she was going so just followed Nanami out of the command center.

In reply to Yamada Nori (msg # 19):

Her mother let Nori go Once Nori pulled away and requested that they help her understand some things that may have happened while she was away. Her father in the background remained quiet for a moment, the concerned look on his face. ”I suppose there’s no harm, however I don’t know if your mother and I can assist you with shinobi business,” he admitted. Nori has mentioned she needed help understanding things that took place on her mission so her parents were of course wanting to help but wasn’t sure if they could be of any assistance as neither of them were shinobi. The scene moved to the kitchen table; Nori’s parents on one side and Nori across from them. They waited in silence as Nori prepared herself to speak and ask.

Nori turned her eyes and looked over at her father. "Well, it's not...exactly shinobi related, so you don't need to worry," she told him when she saw the look on his face. She pulled herself away from her mother completely and walked with the two of them over to the kitchen table. She pulled out a chair and sat directly across from them before she looked at them in the eyes. There was a silence between them. She didn't know exactly how she wanted to do this. Would it be better to break the ice first? Or just get straight to the point? "So, um...a lot of different things happened on this mission and it effected me in ways that I...can't really explain." She clasped her hands in her lap and looked gripped them tightly together. "From Sigmund disappearing to...to..." She turned her head down and and looked down at the table. "My team and I encountered a person who plays a big role in the chaos that is taking place right now. Do you want to know what his name is?" she asked as she looked up at her parents across from her with a solemn gaze. "Ryuu. Does that name mean anything to you?" Nori turned her head and looked from one parent to the other. "It was the name of Sigmund's brother. A brother that I killed when I was a child and you wiped my memories of. Would you care to explain that to me? And don't...don't you dare lie to me. I deserve to know."

Tataka remained silent as Nori broke the ice of the tension that seemed to fill the air suddenly. Once Nori has finished speaking, she demanded answers and very rudely at that. Tataka looked over to his wife. ”It’s best you leave the room. I’ll take care of this,” he whispered to her and she merely nodded. She excused herself and headed upstairs, a look of saddness on her face as she exited the room. ”All right. I see what this is about,” he said. ”However your tone isn’t going to get you anywhere in life so take this as a warning,” he said sternly as he placed his hands on top of the table, hands joined together with himself.

”Ryuu was a boy from your school, yes. I believe he was one of the son’s adopted into the Akitoki clan; he was their eldest son,” he began calmly. ”From what we had been told, there had been some bullying going on that day between the two brothers and you decided to intervene,” he continued on. ”Unfortunately at such a young age, we were told it was through your anger that fueled that death blow to Ryuu’s skull, placing him in a coma. He suffered a stroke and was pronounced brain dead that same day,” he paused as he sighed.

”The whole ordeal was traumatizing to you. You placed yourself in a catatonic state and kept whispering how you didn’t want to go to the academy anymore and didn’t want to pursue your ninja career anymore. As concerned parents we took you to the Hokage himself and see what could be done,” he added. ”Naruto summoned Uchiha Sakura first to diagnose you. It was states you’d never recover from this because your mentality was weak and fragile. She recommended consulting with her husband and Sasuke was summoned. The three of them decided it was best to wipe away the incident and so Sasuke did,” he finished. ”So to clarify, WE didn’t take your memory. They did. So if you want someone to be mad at and blame, blame your Hokage, blame the great Sasuke, and blame the best medical shinobi out there, Sakura. We merely approved it. We followed the advice of three great minds. You lost one memory; you didn’t lose your life and you didn’t lose yourself. They restored you,” he added.

“It seems you already have been told of this incident and just by looking at you, it seems you’ve seen the truth for yourself. So truthfully, by us telling you, I do not see how that’s going to fix what’s been done. Were you hoping it was a lie? Because you can go to Sasuke yourself and he’s be more than willingly to confess,” he added harshly. From Tataka’s point of view, he only saw Nori seeking confirmation.

Nori watched as her mother got up from the table and walked away, leaving her and her father alone at the table. She listened to him speak about the incident and about everything that she had, herself, seen that day when her memories were brought back to her. He was able to fill in the little details that weren't part of what she had seen, but she was aware of. She merely listened to him finish speaking and looked down at the table again. "Lord Sasuke has told me his part in what had happened. I realize that none of this way your or mother's fault. I can't imagine it was easy having to make that decision, but...you are wrong. They didn't restore me, Dad. You do realize that because my memory was erased that I had lost a friendship that meant more to me than anything else in the world. This whole time, Sigmund had hated me because he thought I chose to forget what had happened that day, when in fact, that memory was taken from me. I went on with my life as if nothing had happened while the whole time...Sigmund was suffering," she cleaned her hands tighter together and shut her eyes tightly.

"You've known how much he's meant to me as a child and how much he means to me now. He...was kind enough to forgive me for what I had done. I was only trying to protect him that day and he knew that. He knew that and yet he put up with me. For so long, I...I thought I knew everything about myself and it turns out...I don't know myself at all. My life was built on a memory that was taken from me and because of that, it hurt the one person I...that I love. You may think that losing one memory is nothing, but it means everything to me."" Nori shut her eyes tightly. "I don't expect any validation and I don't expect you to tell me that you would have done things differently back then. You did what you had to do, but did you not realize what your decision would do to my future? You couldn't have been okay keeping this from me. I deserved to know. This is my life. You can't just pick and choose what memories I should have and what memories to take away. None of you had the right to do that." Nori opened her eyes and stood up from the chair. "What else has been kept from me, Dad? Is there anything else? Please tell me."

Tataka remained quiet as Nori expressed her disapproval of their decision from the past. On some accounts she was right but on others she wasn’t. He sighed when she asked him to be truthful about her existence. ”Perhaps when you reconcile with your friend Sigmund; ask him what he told us that day that accident happened. Maybe even ask what his parents told us as well. Once you hear those words, perhaps you’ll think twice on whether or not Sigmund would’ve still been your friend regardless which way things would’ve been handled,” he uttered as he got up from the table and walked over to a picture frame of their family portrait. He rubbed his finger on Nori’s face when she was younger before taking the frame down and it revealed a safe. He grabbed the necklace from his chest and took it off, the family key he held onto all the Time was in fact the key to this safe. He opened the safe and pulled out a small box big enough for a necklace. He placed it on the table, pushing it towards Nori. ”Inside you’ll find a pendant. This pendant belonged to your birth mother,” he whispered.

”We adopted you a month after you were born. A woman from Kirigakure left you to the Hokage and begged that you be taken care of by a good family. At the time your mother and I had been considering expanding the family and we were personally asked if we would take you in. And so we did,” he explained. ”The woman gave us this pendant. She personally wanted us to tell you about your adoptation when reached Jonin level as that’s the age a shinobi is fully mature to comprehend these things. In the beginning, she would send us ryo every month or so as I started to get the shop running. Then she wrote us a letter about how she had to stop the financial aide and that was the last time we ever heard from her,” He explained as he sat back down.

”You can hate your mother and I but if you do, hate your birth mother as well for putting us in this position,” he uttered.

Nori didn't know what answers she was expecting to find out from her father when she had asked him if there was anything else he wanted to tell. While part of her was curious as to if there really was anything, another part of her hoped that there wasn't. However, when she looked up and saw him going towards their family portrait on the wall, she watched his fingertips touch the picture before he set it down, revealing a safe behind it. Her eyes widened slightly. There was a safe? He soon took the key off his neck that he had always worn and unlocked the safe before he opened it up and took something out of it. She didn't know what it was at first, but then she saw him turn around and place the box on the table. She looked down and blinked at it. It looked like it was small enough for a piece of jewelry of some kind. Nori slowly reached out and took hold of it. It was just as she was about to open it that she heard him say that inside was a necklace that had belonged to her birth mother. "Birth mother?" she asked as she quickly looked up at with a confused expression.

She listened to him as he explained that the pendant was something given to them when they adopted her and that she had wanted them to tell her about her adoption when she got older. Of course she wasn't at a Jonin level, but she was old enough. She turned her eyes down and opened up the small lid of her box. It was inside there that she saw a circular, blue pendant of four wavy lines. Wait. Wasn't that...the symbol of Kirigakure? Her birth mother was...from Kirigakure? She took the pendant from the box and held it steadily in her hand, letting her eyes take it in. So she...had sent her parents money when she was young to take care of her? Did she...really care about her? Then why give her up? This was a lot to wrap her head around. Never in her wildest dreams would she had ever thought that she was adopted.

"Who was she?" she suddenly asked in a low, vulnerable voice before she looked up at her father that had taken a seat back at the table. "What was her name?" She lightly curled her fingers around the pendant. "You met with her personally, right? What did she look like? What about my...what about my birth father? Where is he? Do you know who he is?" Her voice cracked at the end as she looked at him with a desperate hope in her eyes. "Please tell me! What else do you know about them?"

((Pendant: ))
This message was last edited by the player at 03:59, Wed 06 Dec 2017.

He had say quietly as Nori baraded him with questions about her birth parents. He placed his hand on her’s From across the table and have it a squeeze. ”She was a shinobi from Kirigakure. She was fairly young at the time when we met her the one time to officially sign you over. At the time she had light brown hair. I can imagine she more likely doesn’t look the same after all these years,” he explained. ”As for your father, I do not know. There was no father in the picture; she seemed to be a single mother and being as young as she was, i’d Like to believe she gave you up because you’d have a better life here rather than with her. I remember she thanked us and that was it. I do not know anything more than that. It was a closed adoption after that and once you became a Jonin, you’d be old enough to find her yourself. The case was closed after she signed you over; she wanted no contact so we never sent photos or talked about your progress,” he finished as he removed his hand from here’s. He knew he did the right thing to tell Nori this now however it was breaking the rules of the adoption all together. He had raised Nori since she was two weeks old. Nori would always be his daughter but he knew she would one day want her answers.

Nori had been sad to hear that her father couldn't tell her more about what her mother had looked like or who her birth father was. All she really knew was that her birth mother had been from Kirigakure and was young at the time she placed her for adoption. So this woman...this woman really wanted nothing to do with her yet at the same time, didn't want Nori to forget who she was, either. She could have only imagine how difficult it must have been for her. How scared she must have felt at the thought of having to raise a child on her own. No one could ever really prepare for that. But still...she was grateful to this woman who, without her, wouldn't be alive today and would never have had such wonderful parents raising. Where was she now, though? Did she ever think of her? She could feel her father's hand squeeze her's and it caused her to curl her hand into a fist underneath. "Did...did she love me?" she asked in a soft voice as she looked into his eyes. "She didn't give me up because she didn't love me, right? There had to have been something there or else why would she do it? She...she had to have at least cared for me a little...right?" Tears welled up in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks.

He smiled as he got up from his chair and brought his daughter into a loving embrace. ”She loved you, Nori. She may have stopped contact however she loved you by sending us what she could for you. She left you this beautiful treasure of her’s. She made the hardest decision to give you up but she did it because she loved you. She wanted you to have a good life even if that meant a life without her,” he explained as he kissed the top of Nori’s head. ”She did this out of love,” he whispered.

An intercom can be heard turning on throughout the entire village.

A male voice can be heard as it turns on, it was Lord Sasuke.

”Attention citizens and refugees of Konohagakure, shinobi and villagers;. An emergency meeting will be taking place in five minutes at Konoha stadium. Please report to the stadium immediately. This concerns all citizens and refugees,” Sasuke has repeated himself three times before the intercom went dead.

People started to make their way to the stadium as instructed. Perhaps many could get the answers they wanted.

Nori watched as her father got up from his chair and walked around the table before he took into a tender yet loving embrace. She just stared across the room at the wall in which their family portrait had been in front of. The more her father spoke, the more the tears spilled down her cheeks. She brought up her trembling arms and wrapped them around him to embrace him in return. She closed her eyes and rested her forehead against the top of his shoulder. It was going to take some time for her to adjust to the fact that she had a birth mother and father out there somewhere and that she had been loved. Maybe not by her father, but by her mother she was most certain. She was now sure of that. There were so many things she wanted to know and that she wanted answers to, but she knew she would not be able to find them here. "No matter what, you and Mom will always be my parents," she said in a low, trembling voice as she wiped away her tears with the back of her hand. "But I...I have to know who she is, Dad. I feel like if I don't, there will always be part of me that is missing." She pulled herself back and looked into his eyes just as she heard the announcement made over the village intercom. "I..want to find her."

As he continued to hold onto her, he felt her the importance of this issue within the atmosphere. She had trembled against him and that only made him hold her tighter to him. That’s when she broke the silence. He felt relieved when she reassured him that he would always be her father just like she would always be his daughter. His oldest, his pride and joy. But she mentioned she needed to find her birth mother and he completely understood. ”You do what you must, Nori. I encourage you to find the answers you seek. You’re a bright and beautiful young lady and you have made this man proud. I hope what you’re looking for is what you need- he was interrupted by the echoing intercom outside. Apparently there was refugee issue and official shinobi business Nori has to tend to. ”It looks like you’re needed,” He uttered as he let her go.

Upon getting his blessing to go and look for her birth mother, Nori smiled brightly up at him and nodded. "Thank you for being understanding, Dad, and for being honest with me. I know you weren't supposed to tell me about this until I got older, but thank you for telling me now. I feel like...like I needed the distraction from everything that's going on right now," she said and looked over in the direction of which her mother had walked to. "Should I...maybe talk to mom? I don't want her to feel like I'm doing this to hurt her." She turned her head and looked back at her father. "I don't know what is going to happen when I find my birth mother, but...whatever the outcome is, I know I'll have my family to come back to," she said as she lingered in his hold for a moment or two longer before the two of them pulled away from each other. "The announcement called for all shinobi, refugees, and villagers, and that includes you and mom. Why don't you go grab her and we'll go, okay?"

He patted her shoulders and smiled at her. ”As much as we would love to accompany you, this is officially shinobi business. I’m too old for that. Besides,” he paused and looked down the hall. ”I think I need to comfort your mom for a bit. You know she gets a bit too emotional,” he smiled and kissed her cheek. ”Off you go. Let us know what happens okay?”

Nori gave her father a little smile. "Please, Dad. You are far from old," she said as she let go of him before she looked down the hallway towards where her mother had walked through. She knew she would have to talk to her about this eventually. The last thing she had ever wanted to do was hurt her and yet she felt like she did just that. "I understand." She turned her head and looked back to her father, giving him a small nod. "I will. Please tell her I love her for me." She gave him one last smile before she turned on her heel and made her way out the door to go to the meeting.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Moving to Chapter 4.0: Konohagakure>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
This message was last edited by the player at 21:16, Wed 20 Dec 2017.

Sarada had panted as she watched as her fire fist had nailed Nori. Her intention wasn’t to use such a strong technique but she couldn’t hold back the urge especially with her father watching, I mean the lord. She stood her ground as she chakra sprinted towards Nori, taking a knee beside her. She looked down at her. She waved her hand to call both of the other two genin. ”Nanami. Treat her if you can. Treat all of you. While you do so, I’ll give you your evaluations,” she explained. ”Had I had an intention to kill, you likely wouldn’t have lived through that,” Sarada explained with a small smile. She placed her hand on Nori’s shoulder for comfort.

Shiroma came over to where her team was gathering at the behest of their sensei she came over to Nori to help get her out of the water and onto dry ground where she could be helped by Nanami.  Shiroma settled down sighing softly.  She touched a few of the small cuts over her arms and winced softly.  Her wounds oozed slowly just a small amount of blood slipping out of the cut and even that was clotting very fast thanks to the cold nature of her body. She sighed and then giggled softly, “Sensei I would hope that you hadn’t intended to kill us.  At least not until the second day of our training.  Killing us on the first day would I’m sure set some new record.” Her eyes blue eyes twinkled softly and the tone of her voice spoke of amusement and teasing.

Nori turned her head up and looked at Sarada with weary eyes as she came over beside her. Despite the fact that the flames had been put out, even the touch their sensei gave to her shoulder made her wince. "It was a pretty powerful move. I'm sure you could have done worse to me if you wanted to," she said with a small, crooked smile before she felt an onset of pain course through her, causing her to lightly hug her body. "I just...hope none of these...burn marks cause any permanent...scarring. Although it...it would definitely be a...story to tell one day that I...got to spar with...the Hime of this land. Not everyone...gets the chance to do...that, right?" She lightly laughed before she closed her eyes briefly and turned her head away from her to look over at Nanami. "I think...she's going to need some healing herself..."

Nanami nodded and placed both a hand on Nori and Shiroma. She took a deep and both Nori and Shiroma glowed "No internal injuries, a few minor bone fractures, cuts, burns, nothing fatal. Beginning healing process." She spoke in a relaxed tone. Nanami used her training and experience. She guided her chakra first to the small fractures in each of her teammates. Then the external and internal flesh begins to mend itself and close. Once all the external cuts were healed their bruises began to slowly fade away. The skintone of both Shiroma and Nori returned to normal. The burns took the longest as the skin first seemed to rehydrate. Then it became soft before solidifying again, and becoming normal. This took about three minutes.

When finished she walks up to Sarada "Shall I see to your injuries as well, Sensei?" She asked. She hoped their Sensei would accept her at least in the aspect of being a strong medical ninja.