Comrades

Memories

Every Friday I go to the house right beside the border of the Uchiha pavilion.  No matter what time I come, my grandfather always seems to be sitting on his chair, looking with a gleam in his eyes when he saw me. Today was no different.

I walked up to my grandfather and sat on the chair across from him, he then looked me in the eyes and said, " You look older every time I see you." I replied back, " Well, you haven't changed at all!" He laughed.

"Of course I have, just not on the outside. Oh that right! You were supposed to be assigned a team today weren't you?" I couldn't help smiling by his enthusiasm. " Yeah, they put me with a bunch of extras from different classes. They're ok, but I wish I was on a team with one of my friends."

"What are you talking about?" My grandfather said quickly. " You should be glad! This is the perfect opportunity to work on teamwork. After all when I was your age I had to change teams more than ten times."

"Why? Were you a troublemaker when you were younger?" He stopped smiling. " You already know the answer, don't you?" I looked at the ground. I knew exactly why he had to change frequently. I just was hoping that he would say something different. He looked at me and sighed. " Listen grandson, you can't just think that everyone will just ignore the fact that you are part of the Takahashi clan. I'm trying to prepare you for the possibility of being removed from that team."

"I remember how determined I was to become friends with everyone on my team, I would train for days to try to make them accept me. However, you can't train your history. They didn't care if I was only a chunin, they gave me the hardest missions with rarely any help. You also have to be prepared for the possibility of their parents informing them of our history."

I looked directly in his eyes, trying to find even a sliver of disbelief, but he was completely serious. " They wouldn't, do you really think they will try to kill me?"

My grandfather looked into the blue sky. "Honestly, Genma isn't the type to kill his students. No, I don't think they will kill you. However, many people in the village despise us and wouldn't mind if I died."

I tried to say something, anything to comfort him, I couldn't think of anything to say. " Listen, this team may seem hastily made, but each person is from a clan with strong prowess on certain abilities, so they might be in the same boat as you. Hey, have you ever tried to remember anything, and it feels like you can actually see and hear what happened then?"

"Yeah." I replied quickly. " All the time."

My grandfather looked at me and smiled. "I have the same feeling. Although, some memories are louder and clearer then others."

He smiled again. " Never try to forget memories, or you might lose something even more precious. Understand?"

I nodded. It was almost nighttime, the golden glow of the sunset illuminated everything around us.

"Just remember I'm always proud of you ok?"

"Yeah, I will."