Ezekiel threw off the blanket that covered his legs and easily got down from the bed with no problem. Even though he noticed that everyone was staring at him, he ignored the people while looking for the leader. When Ezekiel spotted Sarutobi, he crossed the distance between the two in a step.The present ninja did not take that well. The weapons drawn were leveled at Ezekiel and the weapons ready to be drawn were drawn. Ignoring Jiro"s "advice" about beating everyone up to show his power, Ezekiel began negotiations.
"I want to go home. I heard from Jiro that you and the Uzumaki have the best chance of getting me home. I will help you all in exchange for you helping me get home."
The door to the room was suddenly opened. The village elders rushed into the room several other masked ninja flanked them. Ezekiel narrowed his eyes at the sight of them, but Sarutobi remained calm.
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In the mindscape of Ezekiel, a gloomy place, Jiro suddenly sighed. He could recognize that Ezekiel was getting agitated. He got up from his previously slouched form to carefully observe what was going on. Jiro got ready to stop Ezekiel if he went crazy. Ezekiel"s bad memories about elders and having multiple people in power were still vivid in Jiro"s mind.
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Sarutobi indicated for the elders to sit. Several Anbu brought moved out of the way as the elders sat down on the chairs their ninja had brought. The Anbu still kept their eyes on Ezekiel, but their focus was on the other ninja.
"I am fine with accepting your help. However, we have no guarantee on how long it might take."
Ezekiel was slightly confused at how slow the others seemed to be moving, but he didn"t care. He wanted to go home and the head of the village stood to represent the village"s decisions. However, he was slightly reminded of his own situation after seeing the elders burst in. His fists were clenched, but he tried to remain calm
"How about Ezekiel works for five years after the Jutsu for him to go home gets developed?"
Ezekiel watched as Sarutobi and the elders argued about the negotiation, but his mind wasn"t present. He was seeing his memory come back to life. There were elders in charge with a puppet leader. The puppet leader was incapable of winning against the elders. It was just as filthy as his own clan. Rotten to the core.
As the Killing Intent in the room suddenly spiked even higher, several Anbu immediately moved as did the other ninja. Junichiro and Akane didn"t move as they were aware that their specialties in Genjutsu would be useless against Ezekiel"s still active Mangekyo Sharingan. Aiko was paralyzed by the intense amount of Killing Intent.
Ezekiel swung his hand and the Anbus who had charged at him all fell back. Streaks of blood burst into the air, as shattered pieces of broken metal fell to the ground. The Anbu were severely injured in one blow and would have died if it had not been for them blocking with their weapons.
The ninja who had accompanied the elders were all dead. They had been carrying kunai which could not mitigate the force and sharpness of the blow. Sarutobi and Enma immediately joined the fight. The monkey summon punched towards Ezekiel, but Ezekiel leaned to the side completely avoiding Enma"s punch while he returned a body blow.
A hole suddenly appeared in the room as Enma was sent crashing up several floors of the hospital. Sarutobi sent mult.i.tudes of tentacles towards Ezekiel. He wasn"t trying to harm him, but he was intending on binding him. Ezekiel simply slashed tentacle after tentacle apart with his hands turning the room into a place covered by water.
The Anbu stood at the side of the battle intending on not interfering. As Ezekiel continued to blow the tentacles apart, Sarutobi realized that Jiro was probably right. If Ezekiel could kill them, then he better put forth as much effort as possible. As Ezekiel sliced the final tentacle, Sarutobi summoned Enma to his side as an adamantine staff before swinging towards Ezekiel.
A series of blows were exchanged as the water tentacle continued to break into pieces. A shockwave echoed through the room as the windows of the room and adjacent rooms were blown apart. Sarutobi spared a glance towards the door to notice that it was open and Tsunade along with Fugkau, Teuchi, and Duy were present, staring at the battle in awe.
Ezekiel saw more and more similarities to this village and his own clan. A strong leader that was a puppet to the will of others. Strong, but not enough. Charismatic, but not the bona fide leader. It sickened him.
A scream of rage sounded as Ezekiel suddenly rushed towards the Tsunade and Jiro"s friends. Only one thought was running through Ezekiel"s mind as the charged. "You haven"t suffered enough. You think it"s fine to be a puppet? No. Puppets are disposable and get thrown away. Take away those you care for and a puppet becomes a slave. I"ll teach you what it means to lose, to suffer. Then, you will choose to not be a puppet."
At this critical moment, Jiro took action. Ezekiel suddenly paused as Jiro took over for a brief moment. Jiro wasn"t planning on doing this, but he had to take action to help his friends. Everyone let out a breathe as they sensed the Killing Intent lessen dramatically.
"Sensei, Ezekiel"s suffered a lot. Stop him. Direct him to Uzushiogakure. If there is no hope, I"ll stop him."
Jiro turned to his friends and parents before letting out a small smile. He immediately went back as Ezekiel took control again. Sarutobi grabbed Ezekiel and threw him out the hospital to reduce the possible damage. After tossing him out, Sarutobi jumped out the window with his adamantine staff.
As he swung the staff, Ezekiel grabbed a hold of it. Sarutobi immediately extended the staff sending Ezekiel out of the village as he extended the back of the staff in order to launch himself after Ezekiel. Outside the village walls, many trees got blown apart as Sarutobi exchanged blows with Ezekiel.
After experiencing the staff"s ability, Ezekiel was careful to avoid being tricked by it. However, as the battle continued, Sarutobi heard the groan of Enma in his mind. "He is attacking the same spot again and again. Summon me back so that we can team up against him."
The battle changed into a battle between Enmna, Sarutobi, and Ezekiel. Sarutobi and Enma both rubbed their bruises as they eyed Ezekiel. Ezekiel had avoided all their blows and struck back with extreme force that would tear the bodies of even Jonin apart. Ezekiel was covered in some burn marks and dirt, but no significant wounds.
"Hmmph. I"m going to Uzushiogakure. There better be a solution or else."
Sarutobi and Enman both collapsed to the ground as Ezekiel immediately jumped away. Blood poured out of their mouths as they finally stopped holding it back. The ground around them was destroyed with uprooted trees and broken pieces of wood scattered all over the forest. Several Anbu landed near Sarutobi and began to carry him back to the village.
The hospital was already being repaired and the citizens were already out of the bunkers. In the hospital, Tsunade was writing something on a scroll while whispering to her sensei who was covered in bandages. She finally finished writing and summoned a toad who grabbed the scroll in its mouth before disappearing.
When Tsunade walked out of the room, Sarutobi pondered on the words of Ezekiel. As he recalled the actions that the village elders had taken as well as the ninja they had brought, he seemed to be thinking. "Am I really just like a puppet to the ideas of my friends, the elders? Do the elders really have Konoha"s best interests in mind?"
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In the mindscape, Jiro was thinking of something. As he stared at the gloomy dark skies in the mindscape, he seemed to have finally accepted something.
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On a dusty road that was leading towards the Village Hidden by Whirling Tides, two figures occupied the road. Although, dust covered the ground, the sides of the path were marked with many trees. The trees in question were mostly saplings. An overabundance of brush colored the sides of the road a healthy green.
As the two cloaked figures took off the cloaks covering them, it was revealed to be Jiraiya and Orochimaru. Both ninja had grown taller, but their worn down clothes and long hair showed a lack of care towards appearance. Their clothes in particular were too short at this point, but the two raced with ease, not bothered by the restrictions of their clothing.
Dust continued to be kicked up by the two as they raced down the road which was the most straight forward path towards Uzushiogakure. The trees and other shrubs pa.s.sed by as a blur. The cloaks held by the two Chunin were quickly put into a storage scroll.
The afternoon sun shined down rays of heat and the lack of clouds only reinforced how hot it was. Despite the heat and intense exercise, no traces of sweat were on Orochimaru or Jiraiya"s face. Jiraiya had a face that showed how preoccupied he was with his brows frowning and scrunched up. Orochimaru was less bothered, but his face was full of confusion.
He recalled that Jiraiya had read some message from Tsunade before he immediately took off towards here with Orochimaru following.
"Is heading to Uzuzhiogakure a good idea? We only established two places as spy networks. I think we need to create more places as spy dens before we begin to expand beyond the Land of Fire."
The silence continued as Jiraiya walked forward completely ignoring Orochimaru. Orochimaru was much more willing to be patient with his normally happy teammate so he asked once more.
"Talk to me. What happened. Why did we abandon our plans and suddenly head here?"
Jiraiya finally stopped as he looked up into the sky where the sun still stood high in the air. He finally reached into his pocket and pulled out the scroll he had gotten from Tsunade who had sent it via the toad summon. Orochimaru pulled the scroll open and his already pale face lost even more color. The scroll detailed a grim message.
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Jiro has another soul living in him. The name of that soul is Ezekiel. Yesterday, Jiro was brought to the hospital. He had fought with Ezekiel resulting in very minor memory loss. Ezekiel apparently came from another world and wants to go back. The problem begins here. We currently have no way to send him back.
Jiro let Ezekiel take control in order to let him negotiate with the village. Unfortunately, the village elders did not want Ezekiel to leave so easily. They wanted some price from Ezekiel, specifically, serving the village for five years before being allowed to go back. However, they stated that Ezekiel helping the village while the Jutsu for transporting him was worked on would not contribute to the five years.
I didn"t have a problem with that. We could probably make something happen if we all dedicate our time. Especially if the Uzumaki help out. However, Ezekiel must have had some past trauma or something. He started to go into a rage and Jiro was temporarily able to subdue him from the inside, but Jiro was unwilling to stop him because that might damage both their souls further.
Ezekiel took off after beating basically almost everyone. Trying to stop him would only result in casualties so we let him go. Ezekiel and Jiro are heading to Uzushiogakure. Try to tag along in order to see if you can communicate with Jiro. Don"t worry about negotiations. The village sent a couple Anbu to follow Ezekiel and a Jonin level diplomat.
Be careful
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