Kannin thought a lot about his dad that night. His mother always kept the subject a moot point--qny mention of him would sour her mood for a few hours. Kannin had the feeling once he did know who his father was, he would understand, but you can't blame him for wanting to know. All his mother ever told him of his dad was that 'He was the most charming man she ever met, much nicer than his own father.' Which, now that Kannin thought about it, made him even more curious.
He spent most of the next day sharpening his kunai and resting. As he was staring at the ceiling in his room, he heard a knock at the door.
"Come in!"
He saw his mother come through the door holding a long, dusty box in her arms. She seemed to have spent that day thinking about her husband as well, given the sorrowful and dejected expression on her face.
She walked over to Kannin and told him, "This is an old memory of your father's. I know I still can't bring myself to tell you about him yet, but I thought this could make up for it in some way."
She opened the latches on one length of the box and opened it up, where Kannin saw a sword, which seemed nearly as tall as him including the handle. The handle was white, with traditional katana wrapping pattern, but a blade that seemed almost twice as thick as a normal katana, with a meandering hamon. Kannin looked up at his mom, mouth somewhat agape.
"Take it." She said, "I've spent much of my life keeping your legacy from you. This is the best I can do for now. It deserves to be in your hands, rather than gathering dust in my closet. Your father told me that it was a hand-me-down, but he never left home without it. I hope you'll do the same; that way, I'll know he's protecting you."
A tear was streaming down her face as she said this, and Kannin hugged her with all his might. Kannin knew he wasn't from this world, but this woman raised him, loved him, and suffered for him in ways he would probably never know. His memories of his past life were still a little hazy, so she really was the only mom he knew, and he was proud to be her son. Tears came streaming down his face as well. Oh, how they fell.
"Thank you, mom. Thank you."
When Kannin had composed himself again, he took the blade in his hands, and swung it to get a feel for it. Satisfied, he turned to his mom again and asked, "Does it have a name?"
"Your father said it was called 'Koseki.'"
Kannin looked the blade up and down with a wide grin, and put it in its scabbard. He hugged his mom again, and she got up to go rest. Kannin, now energized with his gift, went out to get soldier pills and do some stamina training.
-
The next morning came after a long and arduous sleep, and Kannin was rearing to go. He put on his usual outfit, plus Koseki strapped to his back, made sure his rations were secure and his water flask was full, and strapped his forehead protector to his head before heading to the meeting ground. There he found his team, each one seemingly received some similar type of token for their first mission. Warai had new flame design earrings which dangled beside her cheeks. Tetsu was wearing a new set of goggles above his forehead protector as well. But Koseki definitely impressed when they saw it.
"Woah!" Tetsu shouted, "Where'd you get that sword, Kannin?"
"My mom gave it to me." Kannin replied with a big smile, "It was my dad's."
Warai definitely seemed jealous that Kannin's gift seemed to be much cooler than hers, but she congratulated him on his gift. Kannin didn't talk about his dad to her and Tetsu much, but they did know that a gift from him must mean a lot to Kannin.
Shin had the smallest hint of grin on her lips when she said, "Alright then, enough comparing sizes. We have a job to do." After she said this, she opened up her scroll, and double checked the information, leaving Warai and Tetsu to try to work out what 'comparing sizes meant,' Kannin was a little embarrassed since he felt like a showoff.
"Let's set off then!"
When Shin said that, all four of them got a big smile on their faces and left for Uzushiogakure.
-
In the Hokage's office, Hiruzen sat looking through his scrying ball on Team 4 with a satisfied smile appearing on his face. That is, until he saw the sword on Kannin's back. He squinted at the image in the crystal and muttered 'It can't be...that sword was lost...My eyesight must be going already.'
Looking at the scroll containing the information on their mission, he grumbled, "Hmmm, this shouldn't be too bad, should it? It'll be a good learning experience for them. If we can manage to foster their talent, along with Minato, we could bring about a new era in Konoha!"
-
At the same time, Shin was thinking to herself about the mission they were about to go on. It had a number of secret directives for her alone, and she was wondering how she would be able to complete them while looking after the team. And while there shouldn't be too much trouble, she always thought that one of the other villages might interfere with their work.
"This isn't going to be as easy as I thought, is it?"