EmotionalRockfish
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Was having trouble with the site last night, so I couldn't put these up, but shit is getting serious. I really like this section of the book, the action is actually really good. Enjoy.
New: My blogs translation index is now up,
Anyway, this chapter's in four parts because it was pretty long and I didn't have a lot of time at the start of last week, so what happened happened I guess.
Part 3 - Here
*wipes forehead* Phew! This was a lot of work.
New: My blogs translation index is now up,
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. Links to the 4th Databook and individual chapter translations are on there. I'll probably add alternative links to all the NB posts too later, just for easy access and everything.Anyway, this chapter's in four parts because it was pretty long and I didn't have a lot of time at the start of last week, so what happened happened I guess.
You must be registered for see links
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Part 3 - Here
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The man had continued to endure. For the sake of his family and for the fate of blood. He thought being unable to marry someone you loved was, as a shinobi, an inevitable path. But the shadow that had appeared before this man had been too magnificent, too brilliant. The shadow had everything the man had ever wanted, and he hated it, envied it, and became regretful over it.
So, the man had decided to stop enduring.
That shadow was the one they called the Kazekage.
・・・・・・・・
Suddenly, the sound of an explosion shook through the ground.
…!
By reflex, Gaara lept over the table, grabbed Hakuto in his arms and dropped to the floor.
“Get down! Don’t talk!” This was not the same naive man perplexed by the young woman. Without hesitation, Gaara held Hakuto down before she could object.
The explosion… it seems to be about 200 metres west. It’’s probably a diversion, but….
The next explosion could be in this very building. Gaara made a protective wall out of the sand built up in his gourd, to serve as a shield. The wall had been placed not necessarily to protect himself, but to keep Hakuto safe from the shockwaves.
“It this… terrorism?”
“Likely, yes.”
There was a look of surprise on Hakuto’s face, but not a hint of panic.
He knew that she had been trained how to respond to situations like this.
But this was different to the atmosphere of combat. Her face was already going pale,, he could tell that she was afraid.
I expect Baki and the others will have to head towards the explosion site.
Diversion tactics like this are a nuisance, because even if one knew it was a trap, it often seemed the reality was that it had to be dealt with. Terrorism often gave the attacking party an advantage. Gaara and the others on the defensive side must be vigilant of attacks at any place and time, because the attackers could strike freely.
Speaking of that, if he may borrow his soon to be brother-in-law’s words, “Like a game of shogi, the board is infinitely vast, and the enemy’s king can be placed anywhere. To make matters worse, because they can see the battle formation, they can place their pieces wherever they like each round, in order to avoid attacks. Furthermore, you can’t even tell where the enemy’s king is…”
That was the current situation.
What would you do…? Should I continue with the sand barrier…?
It took Gaara no more than two seconds to determine that was cowardly. His shield of sand was automatic, using his late mother’s chakra, therefore it could be used infinitely. But, it was different when his own chakra was necessary. To do things like move, detect or attack - but he had enough chakra for those things at the moment.
At the moment.
It’s likely the opponent knows of my ability. Any attacks that can’t surpass the automatic defense will not be effective.
Many things had been gained during the last shinobi world war had been great, but there were also things that had been lost. One of those was were the many clan’s secret jutsu. During the ninja war, these jutsu were exposed. As a result, their secret advantages were lost. Even Gaara’s absolute defense was no exception.
“I…” Hakuto was shivering, and Gaara squeezed her hand. Vaguely, he remembered Yashamaru, or maybe his mother, doing something similar to ease his own mind when he was younger. “…I’ll protect you.”
He dispelled the sand. At the same time, shuriken came flying towards them. It had come from the window.
“I saw through that!”
He concentrated wind style chakra in the palm of his hand, repelling the shuriken with ease.
There were two figures who had lept out the window.
“Don’t separate,” While he held on to Hakuto with his left hand, with his right hand, he threw the hidden shuriken that he’d prepared earlier towards the upper right, at an angle of 90 degrees.
There was a short scream, then a rain of blood. At the same time, the two figures had collapsed mid-leap.
Just as he thought. Puppet jutsu.
Gaara knew that the puppets had been controlled by chakra strings, with the aim of ambushing them from behind, and had he been any closer, they’d have been able to. It wasn’t a cunning plan.
He slid back to the sand barrier.
Hakuto was as light as a feather in his arms. She hadn’t become a hindrance to his movements, but he had difficulty using his hands.
The guards outside haven’t come yet, so they were probably brought down…
He wasn’t even worried. He wasn’t even angry.
There was only one thing he accepted as fact.
Death… was death.
・・・・・・・・
This was a mistake…!
Lurking in the ceiling, Temari’s limbs had been restrained by the ninja behind the chakra strings. Both her feet, torso, right arm, left hand and her mouth had been restrained, and the only part of her body she could move seemed to be her left shoulder.
This was nothing but her just deserts for snooping on her brother’s marriage meeting.
“Hehehe… keep struggling, keep struggling!” A voice from the other side of the threads mocked.
Temari thought she might have exposed her location with her celebrations of triumph. This seemed to all be a matter of course.
“Be frightened, gasp for air! But this thread is made from the chakra of ancient, giant spiders. If you struggle, you’ll only be squeezed more and your chakra drained. Even with that wind style you bastards have, it can’t be cut or loosened.”
Her chest had been fastened in a way that made breathing difficult. This person’s words did not seem to be lies.
Even so… that guy’s words make me sick.
If the opponent was a mere woman, there were many male ninja that would get cocky and over-confident. On the hand, if a Kunoichi saw their opponent was a man, they might get tense, and the extent of human stupidity didn’t change in a circumstance like that either.
Kunoichi were the ones that often took advantage of that circumstance however.
“I should be dead already… Kill me quickly!”
Her words might have been a little too forced, but she was confident in her plan. She spoke loudly, making sure the enemy could hear her.
“Oh?” As expected, there was a sign of movement amidst the darkness.
Got you now… This was like pulling in a fish with bait.
So, the man had decided to stop enduring.
That shadow was the one they called the Kazekage.
・・・・・・・・
Suddenly, the sound of an explosion shook through the ground.
…!
By reflex, Gaara lept over the table, grabbed Hakuto in his arms and dropped to the floor.
“Get down! Don’t talk!” This was not the same naive man perplexed by the young woman. Without hesitation, Gaara held Hakuto down before she could object.
The explosion… it seems to be about 200 metres west. It’’s probably a diversion, but….
The next explosion could be in this very building. Gaara made a protective wall out of the sand built up in his gourd, to serve as a shield. The wall had been placed not necessarily to protect himself, but to keep Hakuto safe from the shockwaves.
“It this… terrorism?”
“Likely, yes.”
There was a look of surprise on Hakuto’s face, but not a hint of panic.
He knew that she had been trained how to respond to situations like this.
But this was different to the atmosphere of combat. Her face was already going pale,, he could tell that she was afraid.
I expect Baki and the others will have to head towards the explosion site.
Diversion tactics like this are a nuisance, because even if one knew it was a trap, it often seemed the reality was that it had to be dealt with. Terrorism often gave the attacking party an advantage. Gaara and the others on the defensive side must be vigilant of attacks at any place and time, because the attackers could strike freely.
Speaking of that, if he may borrow his soon to be brother-in-law’s words, “Like a game of shogi, the board is infinitely vast, and the enemy’s king can be placed anywhere. To make matters worse, because they can see the battle formation, they can place their pieces wherever they like each round, in order to avoid attacks. Furthermore, you can’t even tell where the enemy’s king is…”
That was the current situation.
What would you do…? Should I continue with the sand barrier…?
It took Gaara no more than two seconds to determine that was cowardly. His shield of sand was automatic, using his late mother’s chakra, therefore it could be used infinitely. But, it was different when his own chakra was necessary. To do things like move, detect or attack - but he had enough chakra for those things at the moment.
At the moment.
It’s likely the opponent knows of my ability. Any attacks that can’t surpass the automatic defense will not be effective.
Many things had been gained during the last shinobi world war had been great, but there were also things that had been lost. One of those was were the many clan’s secret jutsu. During the ninja war, these jutsu were exposed. As a result, their secret advantages were lost. Even Gaara’s absolute defense was no exception.
“I…” Hakuto was shivering, and Gaara squeezed her hand. Vaguely, he remembered Yashamaru, or maybe his mother, doing something similar to ease his own mind when he was younger. “…I’ll protect you.”
He dispelled the sand. At the same time, shuriken came flying towards them. It had come from the window.
“I saw through that!”
He concentrated wind style chakra in the palm of his hand, repelling the shuriken with ease.
There were two figures who had lept out the window.
“Don’t separate,” While he held on to Hakuto with his left hand, with his right hand, he threw the hidden shuriken that he’d prepared earlier towards the upper right, at an angle of 90 degrees.
There was a short scream, then a rain of blood. At the same time, the two figures had collapsed mid-leap.
Just as he thought. Puppet jutsu.
Gaara knew that the puppets had been controlled by chakra strings, with the aim of ambushing them from behind, and had he been any closer, they’d have been able to. It wasn’t a cunning plan.
He slid back to the sand barrier.
Hakuto was as light as a feather in his arms. She hadn’t become a hindrance to his movements, but he had difficulty using his hands.
The guards outside haven’t come yet, so they were probably brought down…
He wasn’t even worried. He wasn’t even angry.
There was only one thing he accepted as fact.
Death… was death.
・・・・・・・・
This was a mistake…!
Lurking in the ceiling, Temari’s limbs had been restrained by the ninja behind the chakra strings. Both her feet, torso, right arm, left hand and her mouth had been restrained, and the only part of her body she could move seemed to be her left shoulder.
This was nothing but her just deserts for snooping on her brother’s marriage meeting.
“Hehehe… keep struggling, keep struggling!” A voice from the other side of the threads mocked.
Temari thought she might have exposed her location with her celebrations of triumph. This seemed to all be a matter of course.
“Be frightened, gasp for air! But this thread is made from the chakra of ancient, giant spiders. If you struggle, you’ll only be squeezed more and your chakra drained. Even with that wind style you bastards have, it can’t be cut or loosened.”
Her chest had been fastened in a way that made breathing difficult. This person’s words did not seem to be lies.
Even so… that guy’s words make me sick.
If the opponent was a mere woman, there were many male ninja that would get cocky and over-confident. On the hand, if a Kunoichi saw their opponent was a man, they might get tense, and the extent of human stupidity didn’t change in a circumstance like that either.
Kunoichi were the ones that often took advantage of that circumstance however.
“I should be dead already… Kill me quickly!”
Her words might have been a little too forced, but she was confident in her plan. She spoke loudly, making sure the enemy could hear her.
“Oh?” As expected, there was a sign of movement amidst the darkness.
Got you now… This was like pulling in a fish with bait.
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Gaara, holed up in a corner of the room, hadn’t noticed Temari’s presence. But then, even if he had, Hakuto would have been his priority at the moment. It goes without saying that this wasn’t because he was heartless towards his older sister, but instead because he had faith in her abilities. Considering this, his focus on keeping Hakuto alive took priority over even his own safety.
“Gaara-sama.” Hakuto stared up at Gaara’s face with wet eyes. Gaara understood.
She had just seen someone die for the first time in her life.
A death on the battlefield was completely different to one in a hospital bed. Someone, who until just now had been moving, could so suddenly become expressionless and motionless. Then, in the next moment, you wondered if that could happen to you too.
In a situation like that, the fear was substantial.
If fear was a figment of imagination, then it was because it was something that brought about greed for the desire to live. That is to say, because a person was able to imagine tomorrow, they were able to be afraid.
In fact, a person in despair would be unable to feel any fear, and Gaara had seen this many times.
What he meant, was that Hakuto’s fear was a sign of good health.
Nevertheless, this is bad.
Even though she was a medical ninja, Hakuto had the qualifications of a genin, and was really an amature. The most frightening thing was that she could succumb to that fear, an action Gaara wouldn’t expect, and get herself injured.
“My apologies for this…!” With Hakuto in his arms, he lept, aiming for a window a far away sniper was aiming from. The enemy wouldn’t expect Gaara to make his escape from where the snipers were situated These ninja had probably been lying in wait all this time.
They were aiming for Gaara’s weak spot.
He kicked the window and jumped over the ledge in one go. Looking down, he could see the hotel’s garden.
That was a bad move. He was protecting someone and had jumped over an open field with a watching sniper. If this had been the academy exam, he would have gotten a zero.
But the sniper’s actions were a moment too late.
Before Gaara’s eyes, a kunai flew towards him with supersonic speed. It had probably been accelerated with something like lightning or wind style, and if Gaara had been an ordinary ninja, the kunai would have penetrated his brain, killing him. However, his sand knocked it away with ease.His sand shield was the absolute defense protected him, completely unconnected to his will.
He deflected the supersonic speed with wind style chakra. Even with Hakuto in his arms, Gaara could perform the hand signs without wavering in the slightest.
He leapt down from the garden trees, using his sand to glide down towards the sniper.
There.
Hidden in the steel scaffolding of an under construction building were two ninja in camouflage. There was an observing ninja, serving to guard the sniper and watch for the target. But Gaara saw them become panicked when they recognized him.
Too slow. Time and time gain, I’m starting to think all they know how to do is run around in panic.
Many ninja planning a surprise attack didn’t expect to be the targets of another surprise attack. Gaara knew this from experience - after all, he had survived numerous attempts on his life by assassins who had reacted the exact same way.
“Close your eyes.”
“…Okay.”
Diving down, Gaara severed the guards’ heads with a blade of sand as they crossed paths. Now that the guards were gone, the sniper was without protection.
What kind of ninja had they been?
What kind of life had they lived?
And why in the world had they wanted to kill him?
Right now, Gaara didn’t think about those things. They would matter when he had to be the Kazekage again. This situation was different. As a man, he only thought about his desire to protect the shivering woman in his arms.
He was not an innocent young man puzzled by his first love affair. Instead, like the desert wind, he was a man with a solid will.
The sniper weaved the hand signs for a wind style jutsu. The vacuum blade jutsu, to be exact.
The vacuum blade was a jutsu where a vacuum was created in the atmosphere out of chakra, able to cut the target with the surrounding difference in pressure. It was a fundamental technique. But, if someone wanted to destroy a body, flashy jutsu were unnecessary. Using a reliable jutsu was good judgement.
If the enemy was an ordinary ninja.
The vacuum sword taking form would be ineffective against his sand shield. If it was normal sand, the atmospheric pressure might scatter his sand, but every grain was soaked with Gaara’s chakra and soul.
In a way, the sand was alive.
With a roar, the sand scattered. The vortex of sand took the shape of human hands, restricting the sniper’s air supply.
Gaara had no intentions to kill this time.
After all, you couldn’t talk to a corpse.
“Are you okay?” Gaara let Hakuto down besides the steel frame.
“I’m fine. Gaara-sama, what about you?”
“I am…” As he spoke, his brow furrowed.
Descending from the elevator were ninja with identical faces, both painted with a grin. At first glance they seemed to be two ordinary men with medium builds. But there was one indication otherwise - the smell of blood.
“So you’re the Kazekage…”
“And you?”
“I am Etero Konjiki, and this is my brother, Metero Konjiki. I hate to ruin your fun but… you’re going to die.”
The man that called himself Etero had eyes filled with red, murderous intent.
It was something he’d hoped to see.
“Gaara-sama.” Hakuto stared up at Gaara’s face with wet eyes. Gaara understood.
She had just seen someone die for the first time in her life.
A death on the battlefield was completely different to one in a hospital bed. Someone, who until just now had been moving, could so suddenly become expressionless and motionless. Then, in the next moment, you wondered if that could happen to you too.
In a situation like that, the fear was substantial.
If fear was a figment of imagination, then it was because it was something that brought about greed for the desire to live. That is to say, because a person was able to imagine tomorrow, they were able to be afraid.
In fact, a person in despair would be unable to feel any fear, and Gaara had seen this many times.
What he meant, was that Hakuto’s fear was a sign of good health.
Nevertheless, this is bad.
Even though she was a medical ninja, Hakuto had the qualifications of a genin, and was really an amature. The most frightening thing was that she could succumb to that fear, an action Gaara wouldn’t expect, and get herself injured.
“My apologies for this…!” With Hakuto in his arms, he lept, aiming for a window a far away sniper was aiming from. The enemy wouldn’t expect Gaara to make his escape from where the snipers were situated These ninja had probably been lying in wait all this time.
They were aiming for Gaara’s weak spot.
He kicked the window and jumped over the ledge in one go. Looking down, he could see the hotel’s garden.
That was a bad move. He was protecting someone and had jumped over an open field with a watching sniper. If this had been the academy exam, he would have gotten a zero.
But the sniper’s actions were a moment too late.
Before Gaara’s eyes, a kunai flew towards him with supersonic speed. It had probably been accelerated with something like lightning or wind style, and if Gaara had been an ordinary ninja, the kunai would have penetrated his brain, killing him. However, his sand knocked it away with ease.His sand shield was the absolute defense protected him, completely unconnected to his will.
He deflected the supersonic speed with wind style chakra. Even with Hakuto in his arms, Gaara could perform the hand signs without wavering in the slightest.
He leapt down from the garden trees, using his sand to glide down towards the sniper.
There.
Hidden in the steel scaffolding of an under construction building were two ninja in camouflage. There was an observing ninja, serving to guard the sniper and watch for the target. But Gaara saw them become panicked when they recognized him.
Too slow. Time and time gain, I’m starting to think all they know how to do is run around in panic.
Many ninja planning a surprise attack didn’t expect to be the targets of another surprise attack. Gaara knew this from experience - after all, he had survived numerous attempts on his life by assassins who had reacted the exact same way.
“Close your eyes.”
“…Okay.”
Diving down, Gaara severed the guards’ heads with a blade of sand as they crossed paths. Now that the guards were gone, the sniper was without protection.
What kind of ninja had they been?
What kind of life had they lived?
And why in the world had they wanted to kill him?
Right now, Gaara didn’t think about those things. They would matter when he had to be the Kazekage again. This situation was different. As a man, he only thought about his desire to protect the shivering woman in his arms.
He was not an innocent young man puzzled by his first love affair. Instead, like the desert wind, he was a man with a solid will.
The sniper weaved the hand signs for a wind style jutsu. The vacuum blade jutsu, to be exact.
The vacuum blade was a jutsu where a vacuum was created in the atmosphere out of chakra, able to cut the target with the surrounding difference in pressure. It was a fundamental technique. But, if someone wanted to destroy a body, flashy jutsu were unnecessary. Using a reliable jutsu was good judgement.
If the enemy was an ordinary ninja.
The vacuum sword taking form would be ineffective against his sand shield. If it was normal sand, the atmospheric pressure might scatter his sand, but every grain was soaked with Gaara’s chakra and soul.
In a way, the sand was alive.
With a roar, the sand scattered. The vortex of sand took the shape of human hands, restricting the sniper’s air supply.
Gaara had no intentions to kill this time.
After all, you couldn’t talk to a corpse.
“Are you okay?” Gaara let Hakuto down besides the steel frame.
“I’m fine. Gaara-sama, what about you?”
“I am…” As he spoke, his brow furrowed.
Descending from the elevator were ninja with identical faces, both painted with a grin. At first glance they seemed to be two ordinary men with medium builds. But there was one indication otherwise - the smell of blood.
“So you’re the Kazekage…”
“And you?”
“I am Etero Konjiki, and this is my brother, Metero Konjiki. I hate to ruin your fun but… you’re going to die.”
The man that called himself Etero had eyes filled with red, murderous intent.
It was something he’d hoped to see.
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Heh… Well then, you seem like an understanding man, right?”
With a lustful smile, the man approached Temari.
He didn’t seemed bothered by the fact that Gaara had left the room beneath their feet, so this ninja’s duty must have been the elimination of any guards. Saying that, it was obvious if she was defeated this ninja would then go find Gaara.
Well, she didn’t know if a chakra thread user like this could also defeat Gaara… however, it was still a fact that, being optimistic, this enemy would at least be a surprise.
More than anything, she wouldn’t end up dead.
“Even I am a man who can recognize compassion, hey.” The man was close enough that Temari could feel his breath against her neck.
Now! Without hesitation, Temari moved her left shoulder, the only part of her body she could move, in a way that caused it to come out of its joint.
“…! You…”
Of course, popping out her shoulder didn’t get her whole arm free. However, as a result, the threads restraining her had warped.
It was enough time for her to grab the explosive charm she kept up her sleeve.
“Here it is!” She didn’t think about doing a foolish thing like throwing it at the enemy. Instead, her target was herself.
At point-blank range, the charm exploded.
The man jumped out of the way, but, he was slow.
Now, Temari could move her right arm, torso and left leg. Being able to move that much was more than enough. Her whole body burned in pain, but that was proof that she was alive.
While she avoided the man’s attempts to tie her back up, using her right arm, she put her left shoulder back in it’s joint.
There was a second attack.
Pulling out her fan with her left hand, Temari fired a gust of wind to repel the chakra strings coming her way. The threads weren’t heavy enough to resist, and this was their weak spot.
She spun around. Her right leg was still stuck, but she moved in a way that was similar to a dancing around a pole. While avoiding the third attack, she spun around like she was dancing, slicing any chakra threads that remained with her fan.
“Well… let me return the favor for all the amusement you’ve given me!” Even this late, the enemy was fixated on their chakra strings, and while they were definitely powerful, he probably didn’t have any other techniques stronger.
But, to be sure…! Relying on her wind attacks and summoning was hard because she was indoors. However, she threw the shuriken she had prepared up like one would throw flowers.
The man withdrew his chakra threads and created a shield. “I thought you’d come back like this!”
She swung her fan downwards, aiming for the shuriken she’d thrown.
Wind style: Flashing Splendour!
Like a meteor shower, the shuriken riding the wind of her fan hit the floor and sprung up.
…!
The man had sensed her true intentions. However, he had been too slow. The ricocheting shuriken pierced the man from the weak point in his shield. Blood bloomed like a flower from his whole body, and the man collapsed.
“Phew…!” She’d been able to endure that, but she was considerably exhausted.
“This was a mistake!” With a grumble, her field of vision shook.
At this rate, I’m going to look like a complete idiot, jan!
Someone was holding her body.
Eh?
Amidst her fading consciousness, she could make out the person’s face.
“Ah-!” It was an unexpected face, but at the very least, it was an ally.
“I’m sorry… but can I entrust Gaara to you for a bit?”
・・・・・・・・
The two ninja who called themselves Etoro and Metoro walked along the steel frame with foolish smiles. Besides, there was no more indications of movement in the elevator, nor thirst for blood in the surroundings. It seemed like the remaining assassins had been overcome by baki and the others.
However, even so, they had to be confident to approach him like this.
“You’re the Konjiki twins from Ishigakure? I’ve seen your faces in the bingo book.”
“Heh, for even the Kazekage to know our names, we must have become quite infamous, hey Metoro?”
“…” Compared to his talkative older brother, the younger brother seemed reserved.
For the time being, Gaara recognized the older brother as the one with the flashy piercings and the younger as the one with the clinking rings.
Twin ninja often used their similar appearances as the means for tricks. It was a good idea to guess they had other means too.
“I’ve heard of you.The cowardly missing ninja who destroy merchant ships and buildings.”
“Heh, heh, well, in the case of our number of kills, we’re not defeated by you. Things like tankers and buildings - we’ve destroyed countless of them.” Etoro smiled and stroked his ear piercing, “Even then, even then, we don’t kill like you, Gaara of the desert.”
“…!”
“We’ve also heard of you. Mostly from our fellow missing ninja. Because we became chunin just before the ‘Konoha Crush’ plan, we never got to meet face to face, but… the devilish murderer of the sand, you were very famous, hey. You killed anyone who didn’t please you… you killed anyone who stood before you… and you didn’t care if they were your enemies for allies. Well, compared to that, because we brothers kill by our own will, we’re not completely the same! Not at all!”
He knows that, standing behind him, Hakuto was shivering in fear.
She wasn’t afraid of only the two ninja before them. She was also afraid of him.
Now, Gaara understood. The crimes of the past, a time where he had hadn’t been loved, when he thought love was worthless, they still had weight. Like the love he carried, his crimes wouldn’t disappear either.
Ever.
“You’re boasting stops now.”
“Oh? Did that hurt, Kazekage-sama?” He wasn’t going to say it didn’t hurt, but Gaara wasn’t one for mere chit-chat. He’d been talking to buy himself time.
Sand coffin!
The sand creeping under their feet rose and consumed the two enemies.
…!
But, there was no resistance.
Clones!?
It was a tired trick, but it was ingenious in that it seemed to have been combined with a genjutsu. However, when Gaara became aware of what they’d done, he dispersed the sand from his jutsu and instead used it as a sensor.
The sand, infused with chakra, could spread out to a vast distance and recognize movement. Identifying each movement was practically impossible, but, in this case, it was obvious any movement would be the enemy.
Above?
Right overhead. Like they were piled up, the brothers Metoro and Etoro, with sun shining on their backs, stood right above Gaara.
“Let’s go!” The older brother used lava style and released a ring of fire, while his younger brother used steel style to form a ball of steel.
“Let’s show him the way we Konjiki twins kill our enemies!”
At best, Gaara didn’t think the large metal mass that had been created would get through his absolute defense, but the twins had Hakuto set in their sights. It was an obvious move, but Gaara had to react. If the Kazekage lost his marriage partner, the princess, he would lose authority.
No. That wasn’t the problem. That was his outward, official stance.
If, for example Hakuto had been the daughter of an unknown villager, or not a woman at all, Gaara would have been doing the same thing. If anyone with no power to fight requested his protection then that meant he would do so.
I’m relying on this! The sand rose into a giant wall and became Gaara and Hakuto’s shield.
“I expected you to do that! It’s too late to be a hero now!” Passing through the ring of fire, the huge projectile came towards them.
It wasn’t as fast as Gaara had thought, like the sniper’s supersonic kunai from before. Gaara’s shield could easily handle this speed.
Even this mass can be held at bay…!
That was a fact.
Then the impact came. The huge projectile hit the sand shield and was stopped. Faster than it had been pierced, the shield of chakra infused sand repaired itself. One before, he’d used the shield to stop a bomb from falling on his own village. He’d brag that his shield could stop even two-ton heavy boulders.
However.
“Look out, Gaara-sama!”
“…!!”
With Hakuto’s warning, Gaara’s reaction was a mere moment faster.
The huge projectile changed form.
No… it melted?
That was the result of their lava style jutsu. The ring of fire that the steel ball had been flung towards had been sealed inside it, and that flame had exploded from within. The energy of the explosion had formed a crimson helix shape. Because of that shock wave, the pressure had melted the steel ball into liquid, and on impact, had aimed towards the point of impact and erupted. This was also the same for the shockwave.
The steel ball had acted as a barrel head that concentrated the shockwave at one point.
When something like this happens, what's the best thing to do?
“Take cover!!” The sand converged at one point. But, the lava style flame at that point was tremendously powerful, and pierced the sand defense.
Gaara clenched. The sand had collapsed and scattering in the surroundings. While it hadn’t been a direct hit, the storm of fire had smothered the two of them.
Wind Style: Multilayered Gale!
Because of the multiple layers of vacuumed walls, like a mille feuille, they barely avoided a direct hit.
His right upper arm ached in burning pain. It had been a long time.
Pain often taught him something.
It wasn’t my intention to make light of this jutsu, but….!
“Hahahaha! How did you like that, how did you like that? Do you understand why we brothers are feared so?” From the other side of the cloud of dust, Etoro sneered.
“Certainly, you seem to purposely use overkill ninjutsu. To kill just one person, it’s an extremely exaggerated jutsu.”
“If it’s a body of mass, there’s not a thing we can’t break through. We judge your value like that of a castle’s.”
Of course they did.
Certainly there were still many options for escaping this situation. The problem was, with those options, Hakuto would get hurt. That alone was something he would avoid at all costs.
A moment is all I need… what can I use to distract those guys…?! He had already expended his chakra for his current defense. An attack would be difficult against two enemy ninja of jounin rank.
Winning was not the problem. It was how to win.
“You’re guards aren’t coming…. They’re in the hands of roughly twenty skilled ninja right now. They wouldn’t lose to even the Akatsuki.”
Saying they were at the Akatsuki’s level was probably exaggeration, but if their skill was anything like the brothers’, they’d certainly be strong. Generally speaking, Baki and his subordinate chunin would be at a similar level.
And these two assassins had by by far the most war potential. With a combination of two kekkei genkai, they were users of a sort of pseudo-kekkei touta. You couldn’t imagine something that excelled that kind of ability.
I can’t rely on reinforcements. It seems I should attack at least one of them.
This was nothing like desperation. Ninja were realists.
Reinforcements wouldn’t arrive in time, he decided. And the biggest factor in his victory here was protecting Hakuto. He had sworn nothing less, if he broke from those words, his ninja way would be worthless.
It was time. Splitting the empty sky, a single shuriken swooped down on Metoro. It was what was called a houshuriken, a pole of iron without blades. It’s slicing ability was lesser than a shuriken, but it’s weight could take down a horse with one hit.
Metoro, who had swept away the weapon with his hand, had not comprehended it’s weight. Because his bones were infused with chakra, it couldn’t break them, but the weight caused his arm to become numb.
Whoever threw the weapon, it doesn’t matter. He believed it was an ally.
“Now!” If he missed this chance, another wouldn’t come.
Wolf Cornering Sand Castle!
The sand that surrounded them coiled into a vortex. It had been scattered from the previous attack. However, he hadn’t been only receiving the attack. Rather, he’d scattered the sand in such a fashion as the preparation for a counterattack.
But one moment was all he needed.
Amongst the sand, numerous eyes suddenly opened. All of them were directly connected to his optic nerve. If Gaara had been an ordinary person, the incoming information would have been too great, he would have lost his sanity in an instant, but Gaara was capable of handling it.
Gaara could perceive everything amongst the sand simultaneously. This act was, in some way, calming.
This was because Gaara’s sand was possessed by the spirit of his mother. That chakra could manipulate the sand separately from his will. Gaara, connected to the sand, was fatigued but not in pain. That was a sign that his mother supported his desire to protect others.
With just that, he was able to withstand the ten or so simultaneous fields of visions.
“There!” Literally, sand bullets came at Metoro and Etoro from all directions.
“This was dangerous, Metoro!” The giant steel shield that the youngest had created repelled the sand bullets. But something like that wouldn’t stop the attack. Gaara’s sand bullets attacked every blind spot. He was not just blindly firing. He was firing them based on his current field of vision, and the two were encased by a barrier of warring sand.
The two just managed to avoid a direct attack to their vitals.
“I offer my assistance.” An unfamiliar figure stood by Gaara’s side.
It was a woman.
The kunoichi resembled Hakuto, with a slender body that reminded Gaara of a crescent moon. Regardless of her thick glasses, she was a beautiful woman.
This is…
He remembered.
He’d seen the female ninja escorting Hakuto before. He had the impression he’d seen her before but he had only thought anything besides from that she resembled Hakuto. Even so, now was not the time to think about that.
“I received a request from Temari-sama to help out here.”
“…You really did help.”
How Temari had known his location, he wouldn’t bother to ask. He knew it was because she worried about him.
“I’m Shijima of the Houki clan.” She revealed eight more houshuriken from her sleeve, situated between her ten fingers. With those eight, she would strike at the same time. With shuriken, one would say throw, but in this situation, it was not strictly correct. One would say strike. A ninja would focus their energy into one point and strike, and killing intent was necessary, as it’s purpose was different to something like a smoke bomb.
The woman who called herself Shijima struck with her houshuriken, with an unmistakable killing intent. All eight flew towards Etero like meteors.
“Don’t you make light of me! Don’t you dare! These are mere metal poles!” With a look of anger, Etero melted the houshuriken with his flames.
…!
Gaara sensed something had changed in the atmosphere and gathered the wind around him. His prediction was correct.
“Wha- what is this?” The eight houshuriken exploded. The fragments of the weapons scattered, piercing all of Etoro’s body. An appalling splash of blood came rushing out.
Compressed air!? She seems to be a wind style user, using houshuriken with compressed air inside. When the lava style jutsu destroyed the weapons, that air broke out and the fragments were able to take down the enemy…!
“Older brother!” The silent Metoro’s impatient voice rang out. Gaara didn’t miss the break in his opponent’s guard.
“Where are you looking?” I’m here. Don’t take your eyes of your opponent.”
“…!!”
The storm of sand became like giant blades, stretching through their steel shield like a multi-headed snake and mangling Metoro’s body.
“Metoroooo!” Etoro wailed with tears of blood.
Metoro’s body fell from the building, a hight close to that of a skyscrapers.
In addition, Gaara had torn the body’s vitals. There was no way to save him.
“Waaaaah! Murderer, murderer!” Etoro used up all his chakra firing countless bullets of flames. He was no longer a cool-headed killer sent to assassinate Gaara. He was resentful - his younger brother had been stolen from him.
“Your reasons were selfish.”
He ran out of flaming bullets. He was no longer a threat to Gaara’s absolute defense.
While protecting himself and Hakuto, he charged with his sand.
“You scum destroyed buildings and sunk ships with people on them - but you didn’t consider that. That is your crime.”
“Ah, Aaaaah! Mo-monster!” A giant lump of sand swallowed the insolent terrorist. It was certain someone would think the scene was inhuman.
“That is correct.”
Grinding and crackling.
It was a familiar feeling to Gaara.
A person’s life was stained in the sand and they disappeared.
“Me and you, the monsters called shinobi, are both murderers.”
Scraping and crackling.
Now, the thing that was once Metoro, or possibly Etoro, had stopped moving.
“Being aware of this - living while controlling our powers. If you can’t do that - you’re not even a ninja.”
It had vanished. Without a trace.
This was an ordinary occurrence for Gaara.
With a lustful smile, the man approached Temari.
He didn’t seemed bothered by the fact that Gaara had left the room beneath their feet, so this ninja’s duty must have been the elimination of any guards. Saying that, it was obvious if she was defeated this ninja would then go find Gaara.
Well, she didn’t know if a chakra thread user like this could also defeat Gaara… however, it was still a fact that, being optimistic, this enemy would at least be a surprise.
More than anything, she wouldn’t end up dead.
“Even I am a man who can recognize compassion, hey.” The man was close enough that Temari could feel his breath against her neck.
Now! Without hesitation, Temari moved her left shoulder, the only part of her body she could move, in a way that caused it to come out of its joint.
“…! You…”
Of course, popping out her shoulder didn’t get her whole arm free. However, as a result, the threads restraining her had warped.
It was enough time for her to grab the explosive charm she kept up her sleeve.
“Here it is!” She didn’t think about doing a foolish thing like throwing it at the enemy. Instead, her target was herself.
At point-blank range, the charm exploded.
The man jumped out of the way, but, he was slow.
Now, Temari could move her right arm, torso and left leg. Being able to move that much was more than enough. Her whole body burned in pain, but that was proof that she was alive.
While she avoided the man’s attempts to tie her back up, using her right arm, she put her left shoulder back in it’s joint.
There was a second attack.
Pulling out her fan with her left hand, Temari fired a gust of wind to repel the chakra strings coming her way. The threads weren’t heavy enough to resist, and this was their weak spot.
She spun around. Her right leg was still stuck, but she moved in a way that was similar to a dancing around a pole. While avoiding the third attack, she spun around like she was dancing, slicing any chakra threads that remained with her fan.
“Well… let me return the favor for all the amusement you’ve given me!” Even this late, the enemy was fixated on their chakra strings, and while they were definitely powerful, he probably didn’t have any other techniques stronger.
But, to be sure…! Relying on her wind attacks and summoning was hard because she was indoors. However, she threw the shuriken she had prepared up like one would throw flowers.
The man withdrew his chakra threads and created a shield. “I thought you’d come back like this!”
She swung her fan downwards, aiming for the shuriken she’d thrown.
Wind style: Flashing Splendour!
Like a meteor shower, the shuriken riding the wind of her fan hit the floor and sprung up.
…!
The man had sensed her true intentions. However, he had been too slow. The ricocheting shuriken pierced the man from the weak point in his shield. Blood bloomed like a flower from his whole body, and the man collapsed.
“Phew…!” She’d been able to endure that, but she was considerably exhausted.
“This was a mistake!” With a grumble, her field of vision shook.
At this rate, I’m going to look like a complete idiot, jan!
Someone was holding her body.
Eh?
Amidst her fading consciousness, she could make out the person’s face.
“Ah-!” It was an unexpected face, but at the very least, it was an ally.
“I’m sorry… but can I entrust Gaara to you for a bit?”
・・・・・・・・
The two ninja who called themselves Etoro and Metoro walked along the steel frame with foolish smiles. Besides, there was no more indications of movement in the elevator, nor thirst for blood in the surroundings. It seemed like the remaining assassins had been overcome by baki and the others.
However, even so, they had to be confident to approach him like this.
“You’re the Konjiki twins from Ishigakure? I’ve seen your faces in the bingo book.”
“Heh, for even the Kazekage to know our names, we must have become quite infamous, hey Metoro?”
“…” Compared to his talkative older brother, the younger brother seemed reserved.
For the time being, Gaara recognized the older brother as the one with the flashy piercings and the younger as the one with the clinking rings.
Twin ninja often used their similar appearances as the means for tricks. It was a good idea to guess they had other means too.
“I’ve heard of you.The cowardly missing ninja who destroy merchant ships and buildings.”
“Heh, heh, well, in the case of our number of kills, we’re not defeated by you. Things like tankers and buildings - we’ve destroyed countless of them.” Etoro smiled and stroked his ear piercing, “Even then, even then, we don’t kill like you, Gaara of the desert.”
“…!”
“We’ve also heard of you. Mostly from our fellow missing ninja. Because we became chunin just before the ‘Konoha Crush’ plan, we never got to meet face to face, but… the devilish murderer of the sand, you were very famous, hey. You killed anyone who didn’t please you… you killed anyone who stood before you… and you didn’t care if they were your enemies for allies. Well, compared to that, because we brothers kill by our own will, we’re not completely the same! Not at all!”
He knows that, standing behind him, Hakuto was shivering in fear.
She wasn’t afraid of only the two ninja before them. She was also afraid of him.
Now, Gaara understood. The crimes of the past, a time where he had hadn’t been loved, when he thought love was worthless, they still had weight. Like the love he carried, his crimes wouldn’t disappear either.
Ever.
“You’re boasting stops now.”
“Oh? Did that hurt, Kazekage-sama?” He wasn’t going to say it didn’t hurt, but Gaara wasn’t one for mere chit-chat. He’d been talking to buy himself time.
Sand coffin!
The sand creeping under their feet rose and consumed the two enemies.
…!
But, there was no resistance.
Clones!?
It was a tired trick, but it was ingenious in that it seemed to have been combined with a genjutsu. However, when Gaara became aware of what they’d done, he dispersed the sand from his jutsu and instead used it as a sensor.
The sand, infused with chakra, could spread out to a vast distance and recognize movement. Identifying each movement was practically impossible, but, in this case, it was obvious any movement would be the enemy.
Above?
Right overhead. Like they were piled up, the brothers Metoro and Etoro, with sun shining on their backs, stood right above Gaara.
“Let’s go!” The older brother used lava style and released a ring of fire, while his younger brother used steel style to form a ball of steel.
“Let’s show him the way we Konjiki twins kill our enemies!”
At best, Gaara didn’t think the large metal mass that had been created would get through his absolute defense, but the twins had Hakuto set in their sights. It was an obvious move, but Gaara had to react. If the Kazekage lost his marriage partner, the princess, he would lose authority.
No. That wasn’t the problem. That was his outward, official stance.
If, for example Hakuto had been the daughter of an unknown villager, or not a woman at all, Gaara would have been doing the same thing. If anyone with no power to fight requested his protection then that meant he would do so.
I’m relying on this! The sand rose into a giant wall and became Gaara and Hakuto’s shield.
“I expected you to do that! It’s too late to be a hero now!” Passing through the ring of fire, the huge projectile came towards them.
It wasn’t as fast as Gaara had thought, like the sniper’s supersonic kunai from before. Gaara’s shield could easily handle this speed.
Even this mass can be held at bay…!
That was a fact.
Then the impact came. The huge projectile hit the sand shield and was stopped. Faster than it had been pierced, the shield of chakra infused sand repaired itself. One before, he’d used the shield to stop a bomb from falling on his own village. He’d brag that his shield could stop even two-ton heavy boulders.
However.
“Look out, Gaara-sama!”
“…!!”
With Hakuto’s warning, Gaara’s reaction was a mere moment faster.
The huge projectile changed form.
No… it melted?
That was the result of their lava style jutsu. The ring of fire that the steel ball had been flung towards had been sealed inside it, and that flame had exploded from within. The energy of the explosion had formed a crimson helix shape. Because of that shock wave, the pressure had melted the steel ball into liquid, and on impact, had aimed towards the point of impact and erupted. This was also the same for the shockwave.
The steel ball had acted as a barrel head that concentrated the shockwave at one point.
When something like this happens, what's the best thing to do?
“Take cover!!” The sand converged at one point. But, the lava style flame at that point was tremendously powerful, and pierced the sand defense.
Gaara clenched. The sand had collapsed and scattering in the surroundings. While it hadn’t been a direct hit, the storm of fire had smothered the two of them.
Wind Style: Multilayered Gale!
Because of the multiple layers of vacuumed walls, like a mille feuille, they barely avoided a direct hit.
His right upper arm ached in burning pain. It had been a long time.
Pain often taught him something.
It wasn’t my intention to make light of this jutsu, but….!
“Hahahaha! How did you like that, how did you like that? Do you understand why we brothers are feared so?” From the other side of the cloud of dust, Etoro sneered.
“Certainly, you seem to purposely use overkill ninjutsu. To kill just one person, it’s an extremely exaggerated jutsu.”
“If it’s a body of mass, there’s not a thing we can’t break through. We judge your value like that of a castle’s.”
Of course they did.
Certainly there were still many options for escaping this situation. The problem was, with those options, Hakuto would get hurt. That alone was something he would avoid at all costs.
A moment is all I need… what can I use to distract those guys…?! He had already expended his chakra for his current defense. An attack would be difficult against two enemy ninja of jounin rank.
Winning was not the problem. It was how to win.
“You’re guards aren’t coming…. They’re in the hands of roughly twenty skilled ninja right now. They wouldn’t lose to even the Akatsuki.”
Saying they were at the Akatsuki’s level was probably exaggeration, but if their skill was anything like the brothers’, they’d certainly be strong. Generally speaking, Baki and his subordinate chunin would be at a similar level.
And these two assassins had by by far the most war potential. With a combination of two kekkei genkai, they were users of a sort of pseudo-kekkei touta. You couldn’t imagine something that excelled that kind of ability.
I can’t rely on reinforcements. It seems I should attack at least one of them.
This was nothing like desperation. Ninja were realists.
Reinforcements wouldn’t arrive in time, he decided. And the biggest factor in his victory here was protecting Hakuto. He had sworn nothing less, if he broke from those words, his ninja way would be worthless.
It was time. Splitting the empty sky, a single shuriken swooped down on Metoro. It was what was called a houshuriken, a pole of iron without blades. It’s slicing ability was lesser than a shuriken, but it’s weight could take down a horse with one hit.
Metoro, who had swept away the weapon with his hand, had not comprehended it’s weight. Because his bones were infused with chakra, it couldn’t break them, but the weight caused his arm to become numb.
Whoever threw the weapon, it doesn’t matter. He believed it was an ally.
“Now!” If he missed this chance, another wouldn’t come.
Wolf Cornering Sand Castle!
The sand that surrounded them coiled into a vortex. It had been scattered from the previous attack. However, he hadn’t been only receiving the attack. Rather, he’d scattered the sand in such a fashion as the preparation for a counterattack.
But one moment was all he needed.
Amongst the sand, numerous eyes suddenly opened. All of them were directly connected to his optic nerve. If Gaara had been an ordinary person, the incoming information would have been too great, he would have lost his sanity in an instant, but Gaara was capable of handling it.
Gaara could perceive everything amongst the sand simultaneously. This act was, in some way, calming.
This was because Gaara’s sand was possessed by the spirit of his mother. That chakra could manipulate the sand separately from his will. Gaara, connected to the sand, was fatigued but not in pain. That was a sign that his mother supported his desire to protect others.
With just that, he was able to withstand the ten or so simultaneous fields of visions.
“There!” Literally, sand bullets came at Metoro and Etoro from all directions.
“This was dangerous, Metoro!” The giant steel shield that the youngest had created repelled the sand bullets. But something like that wouldn’t stop the attack. Gaara’s sand bullets attacked every blind spot. He was not just blindly firing. He was firing them based on his current field of vision, and the two were encased by a barrier of warring sand.
The two just managed to avoid a direct attack to their vitals.
“I offer my assistance.” An unfamiliar figure stood by Gaara’s side.
It was a woman.
The kunoichi resembled Hakuto, with a slender body that reminded Gaara of a crescent moon. Regardless of her thick glasses, she was a beautiful woman.
This is…
He remembered.
He’d seen the female ninja escorting Hakuto before. He had the impression he’d seen her before but he had only thought anything besides from that she resembled Hakuto. Even so, now was not the time to think about that.
“I received a request from Temari-sama to help out here.”
“…You really did help.”
How Temari had known his location, he wouldn’t bother to ask. He knew it was because she worried about him.
“I’m Shijima of the Houki clan.” She revealed eight more houshuriken from her sleeve, situated between her ten fingers. With those eight, she would strike at the same time. With shuriken, one would say throw, but in this situation, it was not strictly correct. One would say strike. A ninja would focus their energy into one point and strike, and killing intent was necessary, as it’s purpose was different to something like a smoke bomb.
The woman who called herself Shijima struck with her houshuriken, with an unmistakable killing intent. All eight flew towards Etero like meteors.
“Don’t you make light of me! Don’t you dare! These are mere metal poles!” With a look of anger, Etero melted the houshuriken with his flames.
…!
Gaara sensed something had changed in the atmosphere and gathered the wind around him. His prediction was correct.
“Wha- what is this?” The eight houshuriken exploded. The fragments of the weapons scattered, piercing all of Etoro’s body. An appalling splash of blood came rushing out.
Compressed air!? She seems to be a wind style user, using houshuriken with compressed air inside. When the lava style jutsu destroyed the weapons, that air broke out and the fragments were able to take down the enemy…!
“Older brother!” The silent Metoro’s impatient voice rang out. Gaara didn’t miss the break in his opponent’s guard.
“Where are you looking?” I’m here. Don’t take your eyes of your opponent.”
“…!!”
The storm of sand became like giant blades, stretching through their steel shield like a multi-headed snake and mangling Metoro’s body.
“Metoroooo!” Etoro wailed with tears of blood.
Metoro’s body fell from the building, a hight close to that of a skyscrapers.
In addition, Gaara had torn the body’s vitals. There was no way to save him.
“Waaaaah! Murderer, murderer!” Etoro used up all his chakra firing countless bullets of flames. He was no longer a cool-headed killer sent to assassinate Gaara. He was resentful - his younger brother had been stolen from him.
“Your reasons were selfish.”
He ran out of flaming bullets. He was no longer a threat to Gaara’s absolute defense.
While protecting himself and Hakuto, he charged with his sand.
“You scum destroyed buildings and sunk ships with people on them - but you didn’t consider that. That is your crime.”
“Ah, Aaaaah! Mo-monster!” A giant lump of sand swallowed the insolent terrorist. It was certain someone would think the scene was inhuman.
“That is correct.”
Grinding and crackling.
It was a familiar feeling to Gaara.
A person’s life was stained in the sand and they disappeared.
“Me and you, the monsters called shinobi, are both murderers.”
Scraping and crackling.
Now, the thing that was once Metoro, or possibly Etoro, had stopped moving.
“Being aware of this - living while controlling our powers. If you can’t do that - you’re not even a ninja.”
It had vanished. Without a trace.
This was an ordinary occurrence for Gaara.
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“Gaara-sama! The first thing Hakuto did was run towards him, remove the small silk cloth from the sleeve of her kimono and move to use it as a bandage for his burns.
“I’m sorry… You protected me and…” Hakuto’s eyes dampened with tears, “At least allow me to treat your injuries.”
“No… An injury this bad isn’t a problem… Troubling your hands with something like this isn’t…”
“I won’t allow it!” Those wet eyes glared up at Gaara sternly, “If we are in the middle of a battle, I will follow the Kazekage’s commands. But, sicne the fight has ended now, please listen to my words, as a medical ninja. If the burns remain unclean, I don’t know what kind of bacteria could infect it.”
“I-I see…” Hakuto’s skills were impressive.
She used wind style and cooled the burn, before washing the affected area with clean water, then while healing the cells with her chakra, wrapped the cloth around it.
“This silk was originally made to be used as a bandage. Because it helps heal the cells, please don’t remove it.”
“Sorry…”
“No-” Hakuto smiled, “Speaking honestly, I’m still shaking in fear. But, if I do things like this that I have practiced, I always feel relieved afterwards.”
‘Me too.”
“Huh?”
“I am also the same. If one uses a ninjutsu they are familiar with and have practised to protect people, it can help you forget your fear. I am… shinobi are all like this, aren’t they?” Gaara thought that was probably something that would come from Naruto and gave a clumsy smile.
He could see his smile reflected in Hakuto’s eyes, and he could see her smile delicately in return. This kind of accomplishment that Gaara felt, it was different to when he had killed the enemy.
・・・・・・・・
“Will you continue with the marriage meeting-?” Baki’s report confused Gaara, “Because that’s how these things are customarily dealt with…” He was completely nonchalant.
Gaara had been told that half of the enemy ninja had been beheaded by this man. Even so, there wasn’t even one drop of sweat on his face, but Gaara expected this from a man of Baki’s skill.
“If this public event is suspended because of terrorists, many more will become active. This should be treated the same as a Yakuza threat.”
“But… be that as it may, there is a chance Hakuto could get injured.”
“Oh.”
“Is that to say, you like her?”
“No, that’s…”
“You don’t dislike her.”
“…Well, it seems to be something like that…”
With a laugh, Baki patted Gaara’s shoulder. “If that’s the case, then you have even more reason to continue the marriage meeting - but I also wanted to talk about the matter of Kankuro…”
Their eyes met.
Baki’s eyes were those of a man who was careful, who lived in a world of schemes and ploys. He took out several photographs of an unknown young ninja meeting with counselor Tojuro.
“Tojuro-dono?”
“He was meeting with one of Kankuro’s subordinates, Maizuru. For half a year or so, the young ninja have grown dissatisfied with you, and their opinion of Kankuro has risen.”
“…As the eldest son of the previous Kazekage?”
“I seems so.” There wasn’t even a single slice of emotion intervening with Baki’s words. However, he was only stating the truth and his tone reflected this. They feel that compared to the Kazekage who forces them into situations from behind his desk, Kankuro, who risks his life alongside them, is more suitable of the title.”
‘Are you saying Kankuro would betray us?”
“It seems that is a possibility. This could have been a scheme to get you out of the village.”
“It was certainly a convenient attack. It could not have come from the outside, it had to be an inside job…” The foundation of Gaara’s political power was not as solid as a rock. The Akatsuki had killed him once, and in a life and death situation with an unknown outcome, he had been dropped from his position as Kazekage. Although, that had come from a place of trauma, as the village had been taken over by an enemy once already when the previous Kazekage had been killed by Orochimaru.
So, Gaara had no choice but to continue investigating schemes like these. Even if he had to deceive a trusted ally.
・・・・・・・・
Gaara had entrusted command of the security to Baki and with the chance to retreat to the room he had been assigned, he came across Hakuto in the hallway. She was with her guard Shijima.
“This… has become some sort of unthinkable situation, hasn’t it?”
“I also… have never heard of a situation like this.”
“Political power resembles a staircase, my late father would have said.” Gaara was involuntarily surprised that he was repeating his father’s words. He was surprised because they had met unexpectedly in the fourth great shinobi war and Gaara had thought he held no more ill feelings towards his father, but he also hadn’t thought he remembered any specific memories of his father.
“A staircase?”
“If you go higher, the more higher you go, the more you can see, but you won’t be able to see below you.”
“Is that so?” Hakuto smiled. It wasn’t an unpleasant smile, “But, Gaara-sama, because you have many people willing to look below for you, I think that is something to be desired in itself.”
“…!”
Gaara’s eyes widened in surprise and Hakuto bowed before continuing down the hallway. He watched her leave, frozen like a puppet.
・・・・・・・・
“You’re doing well, aren’t you?”
“Temari?” Her characteristic silhouette was the same as always, but his sister, whose state he could see down the hallway, had her whole body wrapped in bandages that were painful to even look at.
“Are you okay now?”
“The Houki clan medical ninja are certainly excellent, aren’t they? I’m all good now.”
“I see. If that’s the case, may I request something?”
“Well… Is this something to do with Hakuto?”
“It is.” Gaara wasn’t even embarrassed, he wasn’t even shy. That being so, he took out a letter, “This is my request.”
“I see. You’ve come to understand things a little, haven’t you?” Temari’s lips turnt into a smile.
‘What? Is something amusing?”
“I think… you’ve also taken after father.”
“…Is that so?”
“It is.” Temari looked up to the sky through the window in the corridor. She looked at the miserable sky, without a cloud in the sky, without any rain.
Unlike the land of fire, they were not blessed with water and trees, and this was the sky of those that lived amongst sand.
“We were born here. As our mother and father’s children. If Kankuro or I had had the qualities, you would have never been burdened with Shukaku.”
“It’s okay, you know. Shukaku is our friend.”
“Thank you.” This time, Temari’s smile definitely wasn’t sad. “Really, I was only worried a bit. Worried if it was okay if only I got to be happy. But, I guess now I’ll do as I like.”
“I hope you do.”
Gaara knew very well how much Temari had sacrificed up until now to support her brother and the village. Now, he expected her to hope for her own happiness.
“Then, you can rely on me to deal with this letter.”
“I entrust it to you.” He said only that and went to find his assigned room. Going to sleep whenever he was able to was a habit that had came from being once possessed by Shukaku.
・・・・・・・・
The small amount of Hakuto’s scent that drifted from the silk cloth caused Gaara to recall some dearly missed memories.
Was it a memory from the distant past, of his mother worrying about his premature birth? Or, was it a memory of his uncle Yashamaru, who had raised him? Or possibly it was even something to do with Temari and Kankuro, or even Naruto?
Before long, Gaara was carried off to sleep.
・・・・・・・・
“Something bad has happened.” It was Baki who interrupted his sweet dreams. As the man had entered his room without permission and stood at his bedside, Gaara understood the urgency of the situation.
Therefore, Gaara didn’t expect to hear something trivial.
“What’s happened?” It was a short question. Their relationship meant just that such ways of talking were acceptable.
“Hakuto has been kidnapped.”
“…!” For a moment, just a moment, Gaara cursed himself for flattering, but then he saw the cloth wrapped around his arm and reconsidered, as it was not the time to think about something like that.
Baki and Gaara were the same in their belief that the aim of the attack had been the Kazekage.
It was not necessary for shinobi to have regrets. They had to continue to endure though this.
“I’m sorry… You protected me and…” Hakuto’s eyes dampened with tears, “At least allow me to treat your injuries.”
“No… An injury this bad isn’t a problem… Troubling your hands with something like this isn’t…”
“I won’t allow it!” Those wet eyes glared up at Gaara sternly, “If we are in the middle of a battle, I will follow the Kazekage’s commands. But, sicne the fight has ended now, please listen to my words, as a medical ninja. If the burns remain unclean, I don’t know what kind of bacteria could infect it.”
“I-I see…” Hakuto’s skills were impressive.
She used wind style and cooled the burn, before washing the affected area with clean water, then while healing the cells with her chakra, wrapped the cloth around it.
“This silk was originally made to be used as a bandage. Because it helps heal the cells, please don’t remove it.”
“Sorry…”
“No-” Hakuto smiled, “Speaking honestly, I’m still shaking in fear. But, if I do things like this that I have practiced, I always feel relieved afterwards.”
‘Me too.”
“Huh?”
“I am also the same. If one uses a ninjutsu they are familiar with and have practised to protect people, it can help you forget your fear. I am… shinobi are all like this, aren’t they?” Gaara thought that was probably something that would come from Naruto and gave a clumsy smile.
He could see his smile reflected in Hakuto’s eyes, and he could see her smile delicately in return. This kind of accomplishment that Gaara felt, it was different to when he had killed the enemy.
・・・・・・・・
“Will you continue with the marriage meeting-?” Baki’s report confused Gaara, “Because that’s how these things are customarily dealt with…” He was completely nonchalant.
Gaara had been told that half of the enemy ninja had been beheaded by this man. Even so, there wasn’t even one drop of sweat on his face, but Gaara expected this from a man of Baki’s skill.
“If this public event is suspended because of terrorists, many more will become active. This should be treated the same as a Yakuza threat.”
“But… be that as it may, there is a chance Hakuto could get injured.”
“Oh.”
“Is that to say, you like her?”
“No, that’s…”
“You don’t dislike her.”
“…Well, it seems to be something like that…”
With a laugh, Baki patted Gaara’s shoulder. “If that’s the case, then you have even more reason to continue the marriage meeting - but I also wanted to talk about the matter of Kankuro…”
Their eyes met.
Baki’s eyes were those of a man who was careful, who lived in a world of schemes and ploys. He took out several photographs of an unknown young ninja meeting with counselor Tojuro.
“Tojuro-dono?”
“He was meeting with one of Kankuro’s subordinates, Maizuru. For half a year or so, the young ninja have grown dissatisfied with you, and their opinion of Kankuro has risen.”
“…As the eldest son of the previous Kazekage?”
“I seems so.” There wasn’t even a single slice of emotion intervening with Baki’s words. However, he was only stating the truth and his tone reflected this. They feel that compared to the Kazekage who forces them into situations from behind his desk, Kankuro, who risks his life alongside them, is more suitable of the title.”
‘Are you saying Kankuro would betray us?”
“It seems that is a possibility. This could have been a scheme to get you out of the village.”
“It was certainly a convenient attack. It could not have come from the outside, it had to be an inside job…” The foundation of Gaara’s political power was not as solid as a rock. The Akatsuki had killed him once, and in a life and death situation with an unknown outcome, he had been dropped from his position as Kazekage. Although, that had come from a place of trauma, as the village had been taken over by an enemy once already when the previous Kazekage had been killed by Orochimaru.
So, Gaara had no choice but to continue investigating schemes like these. Even if he had to deceive a trusted ally.
・・・・・・・・
Gaara had entrusted command of the security to Baki and with the chance to retreat to the room he had been assigned, he came across Hakuto in the hallway. She was with her guard Shijima.
“This… has become some sort of unthinkable situation, hasn’t it?”
“I also… have never heard of a situation like this.”
“Political power resembles a staircase, my late father would have said.” Gaara was involuntarily surprised that he was repeating his father’s words. He was surprised because they had met unexpectedly in the fourth great shinobi war and Gaara had thought he held no more ill feelings towards his father, but he also hadn’t thought he remembered any specific memories of his father.
“A staircase?”
“If you go higher, the more higher you go, the more you can see, but you won’t be able to see below you.”
“Is that so?” Hakuto smiled. It wasn’t an unpleasant smile, “But, Gaara-sama, because you have many people willing to look below for you, I think that is something to be desired in itself.”
“…!”
Gaara’s eyes widened in surprise and Hakuto bowed before continuing down the hallway. He watched her leave, frozen like a puppet.
・・・・・・・・
“You’re doing well, aren’t you?”
“Temari?” Her characteristic silhouette was the same as always, but his sister, whose state he could see down the hallway, had her whole body wrapped in bandages that were painful to even look at.
“Are you okay now?”
“The Houki clan medical ninja are certainly excellent, aren’t they? I’m all good now.”
“I see. If that’s the case, may I request something?”
“Well… Is this something to do with Hakuto?”
“It is.” Gaara wasn’t even embarrassed, he wasn’t even shy. That being so, he took out a letter, “This is my request.”
“I see. You’ve come to understand things a little, haven’t you?” Temari’s lips turnt into a smile.
‘What? Is something amusing?”
“I think… you’ve also taken after father.”
“…Is that so?”
“It is.” Temari looked up to the sky through the window in the corridor. She looked at the miserable sky, without a cloud in the sky, without any rain.
Unlike the land of fire, they were not blessed with water and trees, and this was the sky of those that lived amongst sand.
“We were born here. As our mother and father’s children. If Kankuro or I had had the qualities, you would have never been burdened with Shukaku.”
“It’s okay, you know. Shukaku is our friend.”
“Thank you.” This time, Temari’s smile definitely wasn’t sad. “Really, I was only worried a bit. Worried if it was okay if only I got to be happy. But, I guess now I’ll do as I like.”
“I hope you do.”
Gaara knew very well how much Temari had sacrificed up until now to support her brother and the village. Now, he expected her to hope for her own happiness.
“Then, you can rely on me to deal with this letter.”
“I entrust it to you.” He said only that and went to find his assigned room. Going to sleep whenever he was able to was a habit that had came from being once possessed by Shukaku.
・・・・・・・・
The small amount of Hakuto’s scent that drifted from the silk cloth caused Gaara to recall some dearly missed memories.
Was it a memory from the distant past, of his mother worrying about his premature birth? Or, was it a memory of his uncle Yashamaru, who had raised him? Or possibly it was even something to do with Temari and Kankuro, or even Naruto?
Before long, Gaara was carried off to sleep.
・・・・・・・・
“Something bad has happened.” It was Baki who interrupted his sweet dreams. As the man had entered his room without permission and stood at his bedside, Gaara understood the urgency of the situation.
Therefore, Gaara didn’t expect to hear something trivial.
“What’s happened?” It was a short question. Their relationship meant just that such ways of talking were acceptable.
“Hakuto has been kidnapped.”
“…!” For a moment, just a moment, Gaara cursed himself for flattering, but then he saw the cloth wrapped around his arm and reconsidered, as it was not the time to think about something like that.
Baki and Gaara were the same in their belief that the aim of the attack had been the Kazekage.
It was not necessary for shinobi to have regrets. They had to continue to endure though this.
*wipes forehead* Phew! This was a lot of work.
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