This is really good stuff!
I, for one, am sitting at the edge of my seat to find out what happens next. I want to know if Tobi lied about Itachi's illness...that would be something.
keep going pwease!!!!And thanks for doing this
reading every installment bro.
and GREATLY appreciating it.
Thanks guys...Your comments give me great motivation....
CHAPTER 2 SUMMARY (1/4):
Sasuke sets off to Howling Wolf Village. After walking south for 8 days, he reaches the sea. His head aches, but his eyes feel better, although he sees white flashes from time to time. He figures it's because he's still getting used to the Mangekyou Sharingan. To prevent himself from thinking about Itachi, he asks the people he passes about Howling Wolf Village. It seems the village really did declare neutrality a couple of years ago.
Sasuke gets on a ferryboat. The boatman talks about Howling Wolf Village. It's situated on Howling Wolf Mountain, which is part of a 3 mountain range. The mountain is full of medicine plants. There's a legend that a beast called Rouen used to live there and attacked the village. It was 50 meters high and was covered in silver fur. It had the head of a wolf, the body of a tiger and walked on two legs. The Kodon Clan got rid of it about 10 years ago. The Village's blue fire powder couldn't beat it but Tenma, the former Kodon Clan Head, defeated it with a hypnotism-like medicine technique ("saigenzai"). Nobody knows what happened exactly. By the time everyone awoke, the beast was gone and Tenma was dead.
Sasuke gets off the boat. He's now near Howling Wolf Mountain. It's been 13 days since he left Tobi's hideout. Eighteen red torii (Shino shrine archways) are lined up on the mountain. If he passes under them, he'll reach Howling Wolf Village. The mountain is filled with plants, flowers and animals. It's full of both medicine and poisonous plants. He walks deeper into the mountain's forest. The trees cut off the sun and he loses track of time. A torii is like a boundary between the secular world and sacred ground. That's what Sasuke was taught in the Academy.
Direct translation: "Those who visit this village have to shed the secular world each time they pass under a torii. Did Itachi also pass under these torii? I absently thought about such things. Why couldn't Itachi shed the secular world called Hidden Leaf Village? This question which will never be answered forces me to take step after step. I push forward. No matter how much I hurry, I will never catch up to Itachi. No matter how far I stretch out my hands, I can never reach him. The only thing I can do is move. If I do so, I can fool myself into thinking that I'm moving forward. If I don't, how else could I outrun the rain --- the rain that poured down on Itachi's corpse?" (p.44)
Sasuke reaches the last torii and sees the sun set. When he reaches the end of the stairs, the forest ends. The village is surrounded by high walls and you have to pass under a big gate to enter the village. The left gate door has the character 薬 (medicine) on it and the right 毒 (poison). There are many stalls lined up alongside the road to the village. Saleclerks are try to sell all kinds of medicine to the visitors. The place is really lively. One salesclerk calls out to him, calls him too pale and tries to sell him something. Sasuke ignores the guy's chats, shows him the receipt he got from Itachi and asks where the shop on the receipt is. The salesclerk recognizes the shop - apparently it's called Rengyoudou - but doesn't answer Sasuke's question. Sasuke asks again but the salesclerk remains silent, looks uncomfortable and then runs away to bug other customers. Sasuke is left confused. Then another salesclerk grabs his arm, a woman this time, and again says he looks pale.
Sasuke: "Do I really look that pale?"
Salesclerk: "Beyond pale! It looks like you haven't slept in years!"
Sasuke: "…."
She tries to sell him some stuff. Sasuke asks after Rengyoudou again. She looks uncomfortable and asks why he would want to go there. He says he wants to pick up a medicine there. She turns red and looks like she's about to hit him. She glares at him, returns to her stall and glares at him some more. Sasuke asks three more people; they all react the same. One of them whispers into his ear that he shouldn't mention that shop. Sasuke asks why, but the man simply says "please don't get in the way of business" and drives him off.
There's some kind of police station next to the main gate. An official calls out to Sasuke to hand over his sword because weapons aren't allowed inside the village. Sasuke refuses, gives him a look and says the official will have to take it by force if he wants it. The official throws a fuss. Sasuke responds: "I go where I want to go. I take instructions from no one. Besides, this type of weapons-hunt is pointless. If you guys are strong enough to take this sword from me, there's no need for you to fear one sword. On the other hand, if you can't take it from me, I could crush this village with my bare hands, sword or no sword." The official flinches, clicks his tongue and asks why Sasuke came to Howling Wolf Village. Sasuke responds he came to get medicine. The official asks how long he'll be staying and to which shop he's heading. Sasuke answers he'll stay two or three days and that he's heading to Rengyoudou. The official glares at him and says "You too?". The official assumes Sasuke is interested in "saigenzai". He complains youngsters treat it as a toy and he says it got banned a year ago. The official explains that saigenzai throws off your vision, hearing and balance. Once it's in your body, you're a dead man. It's known under many names, such as Shoutengan, Gokurakuko, Jiaigan and Youshingan. Sasuke now understands why the salesclerks glared at him. They thought he was some kind of addict looking for saigenzai. Even so, Sasuke asks where the shop is again. The official warns him some more - apparently possession of saigenzai is a capital crime in the village – but then tells Sasuke that the shop is located behind the Kodon Shrine.
[To be continued.]
For those not familiar with Japanese culture: imagine the torii pathway to look something like this, but with much more space between each torii...
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I've summarized about 1/3 of chapter 2. It turned out quite long xdxdxdxdxd