Section One: Sunagakure
s.h.i.+n.o.bi are those who endure.
They are those who endure even the most unreasonable circ.u.mstances.
This was fact.
One man held conviction that it was fact. His conviction came from living in a world where you could only survive if you endured.
Suna.
That was where he had been born, and it’s scenery was one that he had become intimately familiar with.
At noon, the temperatures would soar to over 40 degrees Celsius. And at night, they’d drop to below freezing level.
It was a world that rejected the existence of living things. An absolute h.e.l.l where even bacteria were denied the comfort to thrive, let alone plants or animals.
That was the world this man lived in.
And that was why he had to endure.
The man’s name was Gaara.
In the corner of such a desert, a single oasis clung to existence: the village of Sunagakure.
The village’s terrain was strangely shaped, sunk into the very earth. Nothing about it seemed like a natural occurrence. Eventually, people began to whisper of the legendary eras, of G.o.ds like Susanoo and Amaterasu forging the terrain with techniques beyond mortal knowledge.
The centre of the village held an incredibly plain-looking Kazekage’s Office. Gaara, like most s.h.i.+n.o.bi, did not have any interest in extravagance. He thought it would be sufficient to wear clothes that most people wore, and have furniture that was generally used.
It was a manifestation of his abstinence from luxuries. It was also possible that it had something to do with the fact that as a young boy who was the previous Kazekage’s son, Gaara had never wanted for anything or lacked any luxury. He had, however, tasted loneliness.
“Ahh…”
Gaara let out a sigh, and looked up at the sky.
Light from the evening sun fell softly on his hair, a shade that was closer to red than brown, and his face, fair and good-looking, like chiselled marble.
He wondered when he would finally be able to use his own will and freely soar away into sky.
Well, right now he had an opponent to do battle with: a mountain of paperwork.
s.h.i.+nboi had all come together to fight the Akatsuki who had wanted to take control of the world. And the Akatsuki had been defeated, along with Ootsutsuki Kaguya.
However, their battle to save the world had not been commissioned by anyone.
Of course, most of the Daimyou financed the battle since it was technically linked to the national security of their nations. However, the Land of Wind had kept an ongoing limited arms policy for ten years now, so they balked at the sudden expenses from the war.
After all, it was a battle between you ninja alone. They stubbornly argued.
As if that reasoning makes sense. In the first place, isn’t the protection we’ve given you the only reason you’re still alive?
Sunagakure’s s.h.i.+n.o.bi were furious. It wasn’t unreasonable of them to be so.
They weren’t asking for money so they could have luxuries, they weren’t asking for gold.
Sanitary maternity hospitals for the sake of infants, and construction of water wells so no one would be in a difficult situation. Prior investment into research centres so they could keep up with advancing technology. Pensions for s.h.i.+n.o.bi who had been disabled by injuries sustained in battle, and the families who had lost their provider in the war.
For all of those things, the people of Sunagakure needed money.
And the job to retrieve that money from the Daimyou, well, that was currently Gaara’s occupation.
That job didn’t hold any flashy battles of ninjutsu, or adventures with blood spilling down flesh.
Rather, it was wrestling with straight-forward paperwork, inconspicuously laying the groundwork for future accomplishments, and boring mediation efforts between higher powers.
Those were the reasons behind Gaara’s single sigh.
“Gaara, you here?”
The door opened with a clang, and a single young kunoichi entered.
She was a beautiful woman, her hair a golden colour that reminded you of the desert sand s.h.i.+ning under the morning sun.
There weren’t many people in the village who spoke to Gaara –who was, after all, the kazekage– in such a friendly, familiar manner. And, out of all the females in the village, only this one woman spoke to him so familiarly.
This one woman was Temari.
“What’s happened?” Gaara asked, feeling his tense lips relax slightly.
When his elder sister came to the office by herself, it usually wasn’t because of anything important. If it had something to do with work, his elder brother Kankurou would’ve accompanied her.
“Hehe…”
Just as he’d thought. Temari sat down to speak with him, but there was a wide, relaxed grin spreading across her face.
“It’s nothing really,” She said, “I got another letter from s.h.i.+kamaru, you see.”
“I see.”
“He says he’s writing everything on paper because he doesn’t trust the security of the new electronic mailing system yet.” Temari explained. “It’s a pretty odd and outdated method, but still, he does it because he’s being careful.”
s.h.i.+kamaru was his elder sister’s fiancee. He was an incredibly subtle and shrewd s.h.i.+n.o.bi they’d met during Konoha’s Chuunin Exams.
When Temari told Gaara about her and s.h.i.+kamaru’s relations.h.i.+p, he’d been very surprised.
But when Gaara told his brother Kankurou…
“Nah, it was really obvious.”
“Is that how it was?”
Gaara had become extremely concerned after that conversation, and even read the love story ‘Icha Icha Paradise’ to try and understand what signs he missed. But, at the end of the day, he came to the conclusion that those who didn’t understand were going to continue to not understand.
“There are very rapid developments occurring in the encryption system used in electronic mail. The details are in the THX-1138 file sent by the Raikage-”
“No, that’s not what I’m talking about.”
“…We weren’t talking about electronic mail?”
“Ahhh….” Temari let out a very exaggerated sigh, shrugging her shoulder. “Gaara, I wonder why when it comes to stuff like this, you’re just as bad as Konoha’s Naruto.”
“Is there something wrong with what I just said?”
“There is. There really is.” Temari’s tessen was being pointed towards him. “When a woman is talking about stuff like this, she’d prefer it if you listened to what she’s saying about the letter’s contents. Understand?”
“Is there an emergency of some sort?”
“No, that’s why I’m telling you…” Temari gave a strained smile, and looked like she gave up on explaining in detail. “It’s the ceremony, the ceremony. The scheduled date for the ceremony.”
“Ahh…”
The date for the wedding ceremony was, in fact, one of Gaara’s unsolved problems, pinned to a corkboard inside his mind.
Temari was the Kazekage’s sister and, in a similar vein, her future husband Nara s.h.i.+kamaru was an authority figure in the village of Konoha.
Thus, when it came to the ceremony, politics were immediately involved. The details of the ceremony couldn’t be decided only with the intentions of the couple getting married. If an error in judgement was made, over hundreds of s.h.i.+n.o.bi could die.
Since ancient times, Konohagakure and Sunagakure’s relations.h.i.+p has always run very deep.
In the very beginning, at the time when the Five Kage first came into existence, Sunagakure could only survive because Konohagakure had given them a plot of fertile land in a secret agreement between them.
After that, one would note that the southern village of Sunagakure targeted the far more bountiful plots of land owned by the northern village of Konohagakure.
Even back when Gaara and Temari had first met Naruto and s.h.i.+kamaru of Konoha, they had been stuck inside a whirlpool of those schemes and tactics.
But, if you put it like that, then it gave the impression that Suna had always been the unjustified and lone aggressor. However, the s.h.i.+n.o.bi world wasn’t that simple a place.
The truth was that Konohagakure’s side had carried out countless schemes to destabilise Sunagakure as well. For many long years, the two villages kept up the appearances of allied nations on the outside, while tension ran thick and fierce underneath.
It was precisely because of that long-running history that there was such huge political significance in the fact that Temari, the previous kazekage’s daughter, was now marrying into Konoha’s Nara Clan. It was an indication that the two villages didn’t intend to have an alliance on paper only, but to have a genuine detente.
Gaara said, “It would be nice if Konoha’s side said that they’d accept our proposed terms for the date of the ceremony.”
“You’re being unsentimental.” Temari retorted, “How much do you think s.h.i.+kamaru and I have been wracking our brains over this?”
“It would be nice if the security teams in both villages accepted them, too.”
“You’re really not cute at all. Just be honest and say you’re feeling jealous.” Temari said, leaning over and pinching Gaara’s cheeks.
In the past, Gaara would have killed her on the spot for doing such a thing. Now, however, he didn’t feel the slightest inclination to do so.
Rather, the opposite. Surprisingly enough, he thought that having your cheeks pinched by your older sister didn’t feel bad at all.
On that note, it still didn’t change how Gaara didn’t really understand how this relations.h.i.+p of ‘family’ differed from the relations.h.i.+p between ‘man and woman’.
All he knew was just this: when Gaara saw Temari smiling so widely it looked like her cheeks would break, or when he glimpsed the wondrous smile his close friend Uzumaki Naruto would send Hyuuga Hinata, this thought would enter his mind:
Something about it is definitely different.
Gaara’s mother had died soon after giving birth to his jinchuuriki self.
His father never remarried.
Thinking back on it now, Gaara thought that maybe his father had done that to stay faithful to his mother.
“Anyway, if the village of Konohagakure just accepts, all will be well.” Gaara said, getting up.
“Where’re you going?”
“The Elders asked for a meeting with me about another matter. If I show up before they call me, it’ll put them in a good mood.”
“RUGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
A vortex of sand was swirling and churning around, and in the middle of the sandstorm, the shape of a large human was forming.
It’s huge! Kankurou thought. Even though it was his enemy’s work, he couldn’t help but be overcome with admiration at the magnificent sight.
The morphing body had to be ten…no, twenty metres tall. The size of a small building.
It’d be one thing if it was a summoned spiritual animal who was this big, but it was incredibly rare for a s.h.i.+n.o.bi to be able to transform themselves to such a gigantic size.
It’s different from the Akimichi Clan’s Multi-Size Technique…! Kankurou thought as he watched. I guess this is something that’s only held by A rank runaway-nin in the Bingo Book!
“Kankurou-sama! I’ll handle this myself!”
“!”
One of Kankurou’s subordinates, Amagi, had leapt out to the field.
“The enemy hasn’t made a move yet!” Kankurou barked, “It’s too early to make attack!”
“Sir, if we wait, it’s just giving the enemy time to gather strength for an attack!
Amagi was still young.
He had cleared the Chuunin Exam at 13, and come under Kankurou’s direct supervision at 15. He was a generation who hadn’t experienced the battle with Kaguya. Amagi was a young boy with androgynous features, like his cherubic chestnut brown hair, that sometimes had him mistaken for a girl.
“I’m heading out!” Amagi cried, and ten…no, twenty kozura* flew out of his sleeves towards the enemy. In the same instant, Amagi himself had also thrown several handfuls of daggers.
It was a very artistic show of Amagi’s skill, but even the jounin Kankurou would have the ability to create a timing that would let him deflect a barrage of small, sharp weapons in an instant.
“UOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” The giant moved his arm to brush away the annoying projectiles.
But, that was what Amagi had been expecting.
“I’ve got you!” Amagi yelled, and the kozura he’d thrown suddenly pulled together like silver belts. They changed course in mid-air, deflecting the giant’s arm and heading straight towards his heart instead, rus.h.i.+ng forwards like a meteor shower.
Ah, so he used chakra strings after all, Kankurou thought.
It was a specialty of Sunagakura s.h.i.+n.o.bi to use the chakra that s.h.i.+n.o.bi had and turn them into strings that could control puppets. Using chakra strings to control kozura’s directions, sort of like a homing device, was an original technique invented by Amagi.
But, like I said. He’s still young.
“RUOOOOOOO!” The giant roared, gathering all his strength.
“!”
Amagi noticed something unusual was about to happen, and hurriedly moved to retract the kozura from their course.
But, he was one second- no, half a second too late.
It was lightning.
A bolt of lightning burst out of the giant’s body, and struck the area where Kankurou and the other s.h.i.+n.o.bi were gathered.
“Amagi!” Kankurou yelled.
He and the other s.h.i.+n.o.bi were fine. They’d only lost their footing from the impact of the thunderclap.
But Amagi wasn’t. He had still been connected to the threads of his kozura, and received the full brunt of the electric shock from the lightning.
Amagi crumpled like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
“Ah…”
People say that the moment you die, you see bright, revolving lanterns.
Amagi had imagined his own death would be under more heroic circ.u.mstances… but reality hadn’t turned out that way.
He’d survived countless battles after his first fight. Who would’ve ever thought that he’d be brought down by his own jutsu? He certainly hadn’t, and it had been his downfall.
Am I just going to die like this? The thought threw Amagi into chaos. I still haven’t…I still haven’t done anything…
He could feel his consciousness slipping away, falling into a dark abyss.
“Hey.” Somebody said. They were holding him close, keeping a warm arm around Amagi.
“Ah…?”
For just a moment, Amagi thought the person holding him might be his father or his mother.
It wasn’t anything to be ashamed of. It was a natural feeling that those in the battlefield would all have.
“So you’re alive, huh.”
It was Kankurou. There was red kabuki makeup on his face as usual, and his kind eyes were looking down at Amagi.
“It’s basically a Magnet Release: Raijinga** technique.” Kankurou said to Amagi. He’d placed the young s.h.i.+n.o.bi under the shelter of a relatively safe boulder. “Like the name suggests, you use your electromagnetic powers to absorb the ma.s.s around you, expanding your body’s scalar appearance, and take on the shape of a giant. In a nutsh.e.l.l, it’s a jutsu that creates a huge human form out of iron sand.”
Kankurou knew Amagi had already heard the explanation back at the briefing, but he was explaining it one more time to help Amagi get back to his senses.
s.h.i.+n.o.bi were special people who constantly put themselves out into the battlefield of missions, and receive various types of training. No matter how much blood has been spilt, no matter how much they fear death, if they just hear the details of their mission again, they instinctively start to calm down.
Kankurou didn’t know whether this behaviour was a blessing from being human or not.
All he knew was that right now, he didn’t want the young subordinate in front of his eyes to fearfully die. He’d applied first aid to stop the bleeding too.
“He does use Lightning Release for his expansion in size, but when it comes to his electromagnetic power, it’s a different matter.” Kankurou continued. “The giant’s walking creates a piezoelectric effect where subterranean graphite is crushed, and electrical discharge is created. So, he takes that energy from the natural world surrounding him, and uses that instead of being limited by his own reserves.”
“…I’m sorry.” Amagi mumbled, tightly clinging onto Kankurou’s hand.
It looked like his mind was still a bit muddled, but Kankurou understood why he was apologising.
Amagi’s thoughts were probably along the lines of: I got in the way of the jounin I admire. Anyone would have those sorts of thoughts. Especially since this was the first A-rank mission Amagi had ever experienced.
Well, I guess the only person who’d remain unshaken after their first A-rank is Gaara. Kankurou’s thoughts strayed towards his poker-faced brother.
Gaara’s first A-rank, in other words, the first mission that pitted him against other s.h.i.+n.o.bi of jounin rank, had been when he was twelve years old.
The A-rank mission hadn’t been long after Konoha’s Chuunin Exams had ended, and along with that, the end of Orochimaru’s Konoha Crush plot.
Honestly, considering how one of the Legendary Sannin, as well as several kekkai genkai users had all been involved in the Konoha Crush, it had definitely qualified as an A-rank mission all on its own.
But, that being said, at the time Kankurou and the others had felt like the words ‘A-rank mission’ would apply to a mission with certain aspired qualities.
Back then, Kankurou had been fourteen, and his elder sister Temari had been fifteen.
Thinking back on the incident in Konoha now, Kankurou felt terribly nostalgic. That moment, in the middle of fighting, they’d met a person who was like a sun.
Uzumaki Naruto.
“Kankurou-sama, it’s coming!”
One genin’s calling voice pulled Kankurou out of his reminiscing.
“Okay, we’ll be heading out soon.” He said to Amagi. “This time, let’s act according to the plan, alright?”
“…Yes.” Amagi was cooperative now. Even after thinking he could die in the middle of this dire mission, the child prodigy had managed to regain his strength.
The lightning-collecting giant took one huge step towards them, and Kankurou deliberately leapt out into the enemy’s path.
In a fight between s.h.i.+n.o.bi and s.h.i.+n.o.bi, jumping out and exposing yourself was, eight or nine times out of ten, an attempt to lure the enemy towards you and aim at their weak spots.
Well, people like Gaara and Uzumaki Naruto were exceptions to the rule, but exceptions were exceptions.
In this case, Kankurou was stepping out to lure the giant towards him, and their enemy naturally knew it too.
But, the giant still turned towards Kankurou anyway. Every footfall rang out with a great thud.
It looked like their enemy felt extremely confident about their Raijinga.
This feels familiar. Kankurou thought. He was being reminded of his younger brother Gaara.
Sand and electromagnets may look different, but at the end they both used ‘an absolute defense’ jutsu.
They protected their body with an invincible armour, and simultaneously used that armour as a weapon against others. If any difference was to be found, it was how Gaara didn’t use his jutsu in such a flashy and gaudy way to turn himself into a towering giant.
But then, being the size of a giant had its advantages beyond appearances.
He’s fast!
In the blink of an eye, the giant had already approached Kankurou.
People usually expect large things to move slow.
Be it whales or blimps, or monsters like the Ten Tails, huge things look like they’re moving slowly.
But, that was just an optical illusion.
When a creature’s one step covered a large distance, then that creature was fast. It was something that’d be easily understood if one thought of a parent and child racing against each other.
Large things are fast.
Thinking that small beings could nimbly avoid large ones is nothing but a delusion.
The giant casually raised its foot over Kankurou. Just the underside of one foot was bigger than the roof of a small house. If one stepped on you, you’d be crushed to bits.
Tak, tak, tak.
Kankurou managed to leap out of the way three times in a row when the giant tried to step on him.
But, the fourth time, Kankurou didn’t leap away. He leapt up.
He leap up aiming for the giant’s own knee, intending to climb all the way up to his face.
Any s.h.i.+n.o.bi of jounin cla.s.s could quickly jump off scaffolding as meagre as leafy branches on trees. The giant’s legs were beyond ideal footholds for Kankurou to jump his way up.
But, the Raijinga wasn’t the giant’s only jutsu.
Kankurou-sama! Amagi couldn’t shout out loud, but his horrified shriek rang out inside his head.
The instant Kankurou had touched the surface of the giant’s knee, the electromagnetic field that was the driving force behind the giant’s movement effected Kankurou too, and the man’s entire body literally scattered to bits.
The giant laughed.
Every single part of his body was a weapon to be used against others. That was his absolute and defense, or rather the offensive strategy of his absolute defense. Any person who attacked him would be destroyed to tiny pieces the instant they touched him.
The giant had probably never tasted failure in his life.
And that was why Kankurou laughed.
“!”
Kankurou didn’t come out immediately. His continued existence had only been partially given away by the sound of his sneering.
As for ‘Kankurou’ who had shattered to pieces, his remains turned into countless sharp shards and flew back to pierce the giant’s body, a sharp woosh sound piercing out as the sand of the giant’s body was disturbed.
The place on the ground where Kankurou should’ve fallen held only his black cloak.
It was a rather simple trick.
The ‘Kankurou’ who’d seemingly leaped up to the giant’s knee had, in fact, been the puppet that Kankurou carried on his back. He’d swapped places with the puppet at the last minute, diving underground himself as he sent the puppet up to meet the giant.
The trick itself was rather simple, but the impeccable timing and exploitation of a human’s psychological weak spots were all Kankurou’s originality. It wasn’t surprising that the inexperienced Amagi had been fooled too.
Amagi, and the giant too. The giant couldn’t possibly observe the goings on at his feet with much diligence. It was a weak spot from his eyes being too high up.
“GAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGHHHHHHH!” The giant shrieked as it writhed in pain.
From what Amagi could see, the giant was uselessly sending electromagnetic waves through the puppet’s threads. Well, that was to be expected. Going by his writhing, the giant was in unbearable pain.
“He’s not just suffering from being attacked by the fragments.” Kankurou crowed as he watched the spectacle.
There was an extremely delighted look on Kankurou’s face. It was the expression a performer would have after successfully pulling off a magic trick in front of a wide audience.
He was talking about the giant’s Chakra Pathway System.
The cornerstone of ninjutsu was the Chakra Pathway System that carried living being’s energy –ie chakra– through its pathways. Kankurou had unmistakably launched his own chakra-laden strings towards the giant in his attack.
He had, in a nutsh.e.l.l, turned the giant into a sort of ‘living puppet’.
Of course, Kankurou didn’t have a jutsu like the byakugan that’d let him perfectly see the chakra pathways of his opponents. But, if you studied the matter diligently enough, then you could easily send your chakra to invade the Chakra Pathway of your opponent, thus creating a countercurrent of chakra and throwing their jutsu into disarray.
Unable to maintain his Raijiga jutsu, the giant fell to his knees.
If he was an experienced s.h.i.+n.o.bi, he’d be able to stand back up after a few seconds.
Their opponent definitely was an experienced s.h.i.+n.o.bi, but, an unfortunate one.
The second he fell down, Kankurou sent three chuunin flying to dogpile on him, and the giant…or rather, the s.h.i.+n.o.bi who used to be a giant, was instantly captured.
“‘Raijinga’ Kajuura, jounin terrorist from Is.h.i.+gakure village, you’re under arrest.” Kankurou said, and not a second later, the runaway-nin Kajuura’s mouth and hands were covered in shackles.
It went without being said that the shackles were there to prevent the criminal from attempting suicide.
“We’re not going to kill him, sir?” Amagi asked. He had a vexed expression on his face. “He killed all three of his own students. And in the process, ten citizens.”
“Is that so?” Kankurou asked.
Kankurou was long past the stage where he felt emotionally overwhelmed with that number of deaths.
In the war, dozens and hundreds more s.h.i.+n.o.bi had died.
“Do you want to kill him?” He asked Amagi.
“Yes.”
“Alright then, you can kill him.” Kankurou said, placing a kunai into Amagi’s hand, “But, you can only kill him if you can guarantee that you’ll be able to bring back the genin and citizens that he murdered. How about it? Can you do that?”
“Th- that’s…”
“If you can’t do it, then after you kill him, you’ll be killed as well. Putting aside what this b.a.s.t.a.r.d’s relations and village will do if you kill him, a dead s.h.i.+n.o.bi doesn’t carry the secret techniques people want returned. A dead s.h.i.+n.o.bi is just a pointless chunk of flesh. I don’t need a subordinate who creates such pointless things.”
“…I won’t do it.” Amagi said.
“I see.”
Amagi had given a good response. If he managed to survive a few more battles, he’d definitely become a good s.h.i.+n.o.bi.
“Amagi,” Kankurou said. “When it comes down to it, I want to kill him too.”
“…Captain.”
“He’s a terrorist for hire, and even if we’re only looking at the number of victims we know, he’s killed over a hundred little girls. Of course n.o.body wants to let him live.” Kankurou was looking down at their captive as he spoke. Kajuura’s eyes were blindfolded as well, just in case he could use doujutsu. “But, if we kill him out of hate, then we’re not gonna be any different from him. We can’t be like this guy.”
“s.h.i.+n.o.bi are those who endure…” Amagi murmured.
“Exactly.” Kankurou said, and gave a broad grin. “Alright, let’s go home! You guys safely completed an A-rank mission today. It’s something to celebrate! I’ll treat you guys to a heap of roast lamb!”
“OOOOO!” The young s.h.i.+n.o.bi all let out a delighted cheer.
“…And now I will mention the results of this strategy to capture Kajuura that was carried out three days ago. Kajuura’s interrogation has revealed the existence of a larger organisation behind him. Our intention is to carry out a ma.s.s-arrest in a number of days. The matter of Kajuura’s custody after that event will be discussed between the Five Kage.” Gaara finished reading the long report to the elder Counsellors lined up in front of him.
The leader of Sunagakure village may have been Gaara, but the really powerful influences were the elder s.h.i.+n.o.bi who drew away from the frontlines.
They were a group of representatives from several tribes who organised the village, and Gaara couldn’t make a decision without running it by them first. The weekly meetings they had about reports were in reality occasions for Gaara and the Counsellors to come to mutual understandings on subjects.
“Ahum.” One of the elders spoke. “As expected of the kazekage. None of us have anything we’re concerned about.”
As he said that, the line of wrinkled faces nodded in unison.
“Ah, and now that you mention it…” Ebizou, the head of the Counsellors, gave Gaara a broad smile from where he sat in front of Gaara.
‘About time you got there.’ That’s likely what Gaara’s friend, Uzumaki Naruto would’ve said. He probably would’ve stuck his tongue out, too.
But, Gaara couldn’t say things like that.
He just thought ‘as I expected’, and let the slightest of furrows come between his brow.
“From now on, this is just going be a friendly chat with some grandpas and grandmas.” Ebizou continued, “Alright, Kazekage?”
“Yes.”
‘Friendly chat’ my foot.
From now on, the counsellors were going to discuss the real reason behind the so-called report session.
Every incident Gaara had reported until this moment was already long known to the Counsellors. His ‘informing them’ was just for show, an empty ceremony.
The fact that they were about to ask the Kazekage for a ‘personal’ favour was just another show of how the Counsellors were the real power in Sunagakure.
It was absolutely ridiculous.
Sometimes it’d be something about how someone’s genin grandchild was having bad luck in missions, and could he have a word with the chuunin in charge?
Or other times it’d be about how the sand piling up on the roads making things difficult, and oh can’t you do us a favour and talk to the Daimyou about it?
In those cases, they were talking as influential people in the village.
Those cases were bearable.
It was when they started speaking as s.h.i.+n.o.bi that the situation turned awful.
For example, ‘My jutsu desperately needs a cactus that only appears every thousand years, but we don’t have any. They say there are some medicinal stores in Snow Country that have them, so send some young ones to get them for me, will you?’
For example, ‘Some s.h.i.+n.o.bi from Amegakure have stolen a hiden scroll from us. We don’t want to kick up a fuss, so, Kazekage, save our face and handle the situation behind closed doors.”
For example, ‘Say that you’re expanding the budget for medical users, and make a special jounin position for a few poison-users from my tribe.’
Everything the Counsellors asked of Gaara always had to do with dirty business or irrational personal favours.
Gaara used to listen attentively when he’d just become Kazekage, but lately he’d learnt how to deflect or ignore their requests.
If he just listened to everything they said, then his position as Kazekage, as well as the detente between the Five Great s.h.i.+n.o.bi Villages could both disappear.
I wonder what’s in store… Gaara thought, filling his navel with chakra.
This was no joking matter.
Experienced s.h.i.+n.o.bi were capable of loading chakra into their voices and instantly s.n.a.t.c.hing away people’s will. There were people who could use the skills of instant hypnosis or paralysis even at simple meeting places like this. For s.h.i.+n.o.bi, the location of any negotiation was no different from another battlefield.
“Now, Gaara.”
“Yes?”
“You’ve steadily grown, and reached the age of twenty, haven’t you?”
“Yes…”
“You’ve quickly advanced.” Toujuurou said from where he was sitting next to Ebizou, “As to be expected from a jinchuuriki child, a genius s.h.i.+n.o.bi who was called Gaara of the Desert…!”
Toojuurou let out a great laugh.
Ebizou’s health was weakening lately, and Toojuurou was being eyed as his successor, the Number Two of Sunagakure’s Counsellors. It had been several years since he’d stopped working as an active s.h.i.+n.o.bi, and as one would expect, his muscles had weakened, and his hair was white and balding. But, his power of insight hadn’t weakened at all. The man was like a rock.
“During the ‘Konoha Crush’ that genius of yours was tattered to shreds and fluttering in the wind, wasn’t it? Ahahaha, well I suppose even monkeys can fall from trees.”
“The end of that matter was embarra.s.sing.”
In the past, Gaara probably would’ve killed them on reflex, but his present self had no intentions of doing that.
Gaara knew that a person’s world was built on spoken exchange like this, and it was precisely because he didn’t kill every person he came across that the present world his mother and Naruto loved existed.
For that reason, Gaara was even capable of lowering his head in apology.
The Elders are taking a long time with their introduction…just what do they want to say?
The looks on their faces didn’t look like they had complaints about his work.
Rather, the atmosphere around the elders was very relaxed. The atmosphere was calm. Most likely, the topic they were going to bring up was something they’d already laid the groundwork for, something n.o.body disagreed on.
“Twenty is a very good age.”
“I see.”
“And that’s why, Gaara…” Ebizou shook his head, and grinned widely. The smile was like that of a child’s. “Take a wife.”
“Hu…huh?”
My voice sounds idiotic. Gaara thought to himself.
He felt like he’d been attacked from a blind spot. He’d had a blind spot outside of his consciousness.
A person wasn’t able to keep watch 360 degrees in every direction, but he’d still be able to tell if, say, a friend was approaching from outside his field of vision, or if a pet cat was playing at his own feet.
That was because a person’s consciousness was able to reach out to their surroundings and ‘see’ what was ‘unseen’.
s.h.i.+n.o.bi forged and improved that consciousness, using even their intuition, until they were roughly able to sense all their surroundings with all their six senses. To still have something you hadn’t been able to sense despite that consciousness was due to not being able to so much as imagine what to look out for.
If you couldn’t even imagine it, you definitely couldn’t see it, and you couldn’t sense it.
It was a blind spot in every meaning of the word. And Gaara had been attacked completely unprepared.
If Ebizou had been a genjutsu user, Gaara could’ve died in battle.
Cold sweat was running down Gaara’s back. An ordinary person would’ve shuddered, but Gaara was a s.h.i.+n.o.bi through and through.
I still haven’t trained myself enough.
“With all due respect,” Gaara said, “Why me?”
“You don’t know?”
“….is this possibly about my sister Temari?”
“Yes.” Ebizou nodded. “Listen well. Our previous Kazekage had three children. Temari, Kankurou, and you, Gaara. You, who carried the power of a Jinchuuriki then became Kazekage. I a.s.sume you understand the grave importance of such a bloodline.”
“Yes…”
Most of the world of s.h.i.+n.o.bi was built on heritage.
Of course, that didn’t mean s.h.i.+n.o.bi were never succeeded by people from another clan who showed talent. For example, the Sarutobi clan who held such high authority in Konohagakure village never had another clan-member as Hokage beyond the Third.
But, a large portion of jutsu used by s.h.i.+n.o.bi was inherited, and furthermore, kept inside the clan as a guarantee of preserving their prosperity. And for that, one needed blood relations.
“Of course, if it’s only to preserve the existence of the house-name, then even an adopted child or son-in-law would do. But, in the end, if it isn’t a blood succession, then the people will not accept it.”
“Sunagakure’s roots lie in its tribes. And the tribes value blood ties.”
“…”
Gaara didn’t have anything he could use to retort to the elders’ words.
If he argued carelessly, they’d immediately pounce on him with retorts. He could see that, and that’s why he was listening silently. Like an obedient grandchild.
“Now we come to the main point. Temari is marrying into Konohagakure’s Nara clan… this is fine. We, too, have deemed it acceptable.”
“However,” One of the elders, Ikanago, slammed her fan against her knee. “Let’s say that in the future, a misfortune befell you and Kankurou. Let’s say that Temari and Nara s.h.i.+kamaru had a child at the time. In that case…that child would become the only remaining bloodline of the kazekage.”
“I understand what you’re trying to say.” Gaara said, “In that case, you would feel the need to approach the child, and bring them back here to protect the Kazekage bloodline. Isn’t that right?”
What disgusting words I have to force out my mouth. Gaara thought.
Even though he himself had been cursed to be used as a tool by his parent, here he was talking about a child his sister hadn’t even given birth to yet, and rather than talking about congratulating her, they were talking about using the child as another political tool.
The seat of political power might be great and mighty, but it’s also a cold and desolate place.
“But, if that happened,” Gaara continued, “Then the Nara Clan would be paternal relations to the Kazekage. Then, naturally, Konohagakure would become deeply intertwined with Sunagakure’s affairs…. And this is the outcome that every single one of you elders fear. That’s what this is, isn’t it?”
“Exactly.”
“But, if I got married first, the tradition of marrying off the eldest to youngest would be disturbed. First, you should look to settling down my elder brother Kankurou.”
Gaara said that, but he wasn’t particularly looking to push this troublesome matter onto his elder brother. Kankurou had a smooth, glib tongue that Gaara didn’t have. The one who was able to hang out with younger s.h.i.+n.o.bi and listen to their troubles was Kankurou, not Gaara.
Gaara had wanted to be able to do such things as well, but whenever he tried, things didn’t work out well. The other s.h.i.+n.o.bi respected Gaara a great deal, and didn’t want to bother him by meeting his gaze.
“Of course you’re not Kankurou. Gaara, you’re you. I’m not Kankuorou either, you know.” Naruto had said sometime in the past, laughing. “Like, there are friends who you go out and play with, but there are also friends who stand by you during hard times, the kind you’re really grateful for. Gaara, if you ask me which type you are, you’re definitely the second type.”
Those words might have been just part of an everyday conversation for Naruto, but for Gaara, they were like a salvation.
Above all else, Naruto thought of Gaara as a friend, and the fact that he said those words without any hesitation made him extremely happy.
But Kankurou did hold more popularity, and Kankurou did seem like the better option here. Nothing made Gaara think that other than his cool-headed disposition as a s.h.i.+n.o.bi.
“We thought so as well. However, Kankurou refused.”
“…Oh.” Gaara replied after a pause. He had abruptly realised that Kankurou had been the one to push the troublesome matter onto him.
No matter how you looked at it, Kankurou was a very flighty person. Even though he had the same good looks as Gaara, Kankurou went to all the trouble of hiding it under makeup, and playing around.
Kankurou was the kind of man who hated to be tied down to anything. When Gaara and Toujuurou had nominated Kankurou to be head of the Anti-Terror division, they’d had a very hard time getting him to accept.
“He said that getting married while the Kazekage didn’t have a wife would be a sign of disrespect and that we should get you married off first. His reasoning was logically sound.”
“…Indeed.” Gaara muttered.
“And that’s not all. Several of the Daimyou have been saying things to criticise us about how you are still unmarried and without heir.”
“You see, Gaara,” Ebizou’s yellowed eyes held just the smallest glimmer of kindness in them. “This isn’t just all about politics or jinchuurikis. We ended up causing you to live an immensely harsh life. We want to give you a family. We want you to be happy. Your happiness would be our tribute to those who have pa.s.sed.”
“…”
Gaara no longer held any ill feelings towards his deceased father.
Those old feelings had been washed away by their second meeting brought about by the Edo Tensei, because he had found out that, even if it was just for a short amount of time, he had been born into this world loved by someone.
“So that’s how it is, Gaara. Everyone in the village…no, probably even your friends from other villages, as well, everyone wants this for you.”
“Your match has already been picked. She’s a nice girl.”
“Indeed, indeed she is.”
They even brought out a photograph.
It had already become clear that this wasn’t something he could run away from.
Kicking and screaming in the face of death was unsightly behaviour unsuited for a s.h.i.+n.o.bi.
A s.h.i.+n.o.bi had to face death and keep thinking about how he was going to live.
“…I understand.” Gaara said, and bowed his head. Cold sweat dripped down his forehead without him realising.
This was really just another mission, with just a different modus operandi.
“I respectfully accept the matter of having a marriage meeting,” Gaara said. “I would be pleased if you would pick a date and get into contact with the other side.”
He put all of his effort into saying those words.
Translator’s Notes:
*knives attached to sword scabbards, best seen rather than explained.
** Raijinga literally means ‘Lightning G.o.d Self’, but the jutsu’s frequently mentioned, so I felt like it read smoother with just the romaji instead of the full name.