Shadow of the World
Part 2
The rain seemed to beat down harder on Don with every step he took further away from Amegakure. He dared not turn around for he feared he might see Konan watching him leave with tears in her eyes. If that were to happen, he would truly have died. He left on the hope that one day he would be able to return to her and finish the work that they both had started.
He continued to walk until he reached a fork in the road. One path leading south, and the other leading north. There was nothing for him in the south, perhaps the north? He began to walk down the path that led him north. It took Don a couple of days to reach the border of the land of earth, and another few days to be within reach of Iwagakure. He took a great sigh of relief when he saw the village off in the distance. He would finally be able to restock on supplies and get a good night's rest, or so he thought.
When he got very close to the village gates, he was approached by an earth ninja.
"Hold it right there. You're coming with us." the man said.
"What for?" Don inquired.
"Do as I say or suffer the consequences." the man replied.
"I don't think I want to." Don said turning around to run away. As soon as he did, a hand reached from the ground and pulled him under. Don blacked out and awoke to find himself in an interrogation room.
"What is your business in Iwagakure?" his interrogator asked.
"I'm just a mere traveler, Iwagakure was my next stop. Why am I being interrogated?!" Don exclaimed.
His interrogator punched him across the face. "Don't lie to me boy! We know you are one of the Akatsuki! Our intelligence reports you having establish and maintained contact with members of that organization, do you deny this?"
It was obvious it was a loaded question, but it was true. Konan was a part of the Akatsuki, but he did not find out until the day before he was forced to leave.
"Yes..." he replied.
"People like you make me sick. People like you are the scum of the earth." the man said punching him once more knocking him to the ground where he proceeded to kick him repeatedly.
As Don lay helplessly on the ground feeling his body being beaten and bruised, he could only think that this was a rightful punishment for abandoning Konan the way he did. He only hoped that Konan would forgive him; one day he would make it up to her.
"That's enough!" an old man said as he walked into the room.
The interrogator immediately stopped and stood at attention, "Yes sir, Tsuchikage."
Don's eyes widened, the leader of the village? Here? How could this be?
The old man picked Don up off the ground and took a look into his eyes. "When I heard they had captured one of the Akatsuki, I rushed over to see for myself. To say I'm not disappointed would be a lie. You are just a mere boy."
"Lord Tsuchikage, our intelligence states that..." the interrogator began.
"However, there is something about you that is similar to them. You have the same look in your eyes as them. Filled with darkness and hate, filled with loneliness and despair. The fact that you were reported consorting with the Akatsuki, the odds are truly stacked against you, boy."
"Yes, so it would appear, but I can assure you, I am not one of them." Don replied.
"Convince me otherwise." the old man said.
"If I was one of them, then I'd have the proper attire." Don began.
"That's a weak reason, you could easily be a spy for them." the old man replied.
"And if you were really watching the Akatsuki that closely and saw me with them, then you must have only seen me with two people. One man, one girl. Correct? I only met the man twice and never got to know who he was. The woman was my friend. And if you had really been keeping an eye on us, you would have seen what we were doing. Last I checked, what we were doing was no crime." Don said in a frustrated tone.
"The Akatsuki always work in pairs, how do we know you two aren't partners and planned on having you infiltrate our village to cause damage?" the old man said.
"You don't, there's no way for me to prove my intentions were either ill or not. I just came here because I'm traveling on my own right now, and this was my next stop. Is it a crime to want to have a place to stay temporarily and restock on supplies?" Don asked.
"No, but being involved as much with the Akatsuki as you were, then to come here where we punish people like you severely, yes, it is." The old man said.
"What? That's absurd!" Don shouted.
"That's too bad. Take him away. I'll be generous and spare your life, but you will have to be locked ups for a long time." The old man said. "Lock him up in the East Tower." the old man said.
"Are you sure sir, that is where..." the interrogator began.
"I'm very well aware he is locked up in the East Tower as well. Maybe time there will straighten this young one up. It will teach him how things are run around here." the Tsuchikage said.
A bag was thrown over Don's head and he was knocked unconscious so he could be dragged more easily to the East Tower. He awoke hours later with a splitting pain on his head from being struck so hard.
"Rising shine sleepy beauty." A man with a deep voice called out to him.
Don looked up as a man appeared from the shadows in the room and held a knife to his throat. He was a big, muscular man who looked to be about in his late thirties. He had a grizzly looking face, and his clothes were worn from the many years he had them.
"You must be a special case for them to have put you in here with me. They usually put people in here who they are too cowardly enough to kill in a public execution. No one would ever question an inmate killing another inmate. So tell me son, what's your story before I gut you?" the man asked.
"I don't have much of a story to tell. I didn't even make it to the village gates before I was abducted, thrown into interrogation, and then brought here." Don replied.
"If it were a simpler matter, you would have been thrown in the actual jail with all the rest of the petty criminals. You must have done something to piss them off." the man said.
"So their spies reported I was 'consorting' with the Akatsuki. Such a loaded statement, I couldn't deny nor agree to that statement. I met a girl who I became good friends with, and she hid the fact from me she was part of the Akatsuki. I didn't find out until the day before I left her that she was one of them." Don said sadly.
"So let me guess, they thought you were a spy and came here to cause some trouble, eh?" the man said.
"Yep." Don said taking a big sigh after.
The man raised this knife, Don did not flinch. He heard the sound of metal clashing with metal and his arms dropped to his side. His shackles had been cut.
The man threw his knife in the ground and spat to the side of him. "You aren't worth my time, kid. I can't believe they put you here for such a dumb reason. They must be really desperate if they are giving a kid like you to me based on the so called charges they have against you. What a joke!" he said angrily.
"Why did you believe me but they didn't?" Don asked.
"Listen kid, understand one thing. I know a true son of a bitch when I see one. I ought to know because I am one. I've looked into the eyes of every man I've ever killed and I knew deep within their hearts, there was nothing but evil. Taking one glance at you, I can tell, you aren't a man who is ready to die. You do look like you have a lot of baggage, but that's a fight you have to take on with your own terms. You story was convincing because I could tell you meant it. Most of the men I've killed in this cell try telling me a sad story to have me spare their lives, but it only makes them look worse." the man said.
"Oh. Well thank you." Don said.
"You don't need to thank me. I'm not a wicked man, I'm just one who's outlived his use." he replied. "And please, call me Ganseki. Though I prefer Gan for short." Gan extended his hand to Don.
"My name's Don." he said shaking his hand.
"That name sounds familiar... hey you wouldn't happen to be from Konoha, would you?" Gan asked.
Don's eyes widened, "Yes, why?" he asked.
"You're Natsu's kid aren't you?" Gan said in surprise, looking at him harder he began laughing, "You are!"
"How do you know my dad?" Don asked.
"Me and your old man go way back, back to when practically every nation was at war with each other. Every time I fought, Natsu was always there to square off against me. Though back in those days I was better known as the Shadow of the Earth, your father, the Shadow of the Forest. He was quite the warrior. I think we tied in our win-loss record. 100 wins each... Good man. Good times. I never thought I'd get to ever meet his boy that he bragged so much about." he said.
"He used to brag about me?" Don asked.
"Of course! I haven't seen him since you were born, but when he came to see me from time to time; he'd always go on about how happy he was he was a father and how excited he was to have you. He couldn't wait to train you and teach you to become a fine young man. How is he by the way?" Gan asked.
"He's dead..." Don replied sadly.
There was a moment of silence between them. "I'm sorry to hear that... How long ago was this?"
"I was eight when he died. All I know is, he was on some mission gathering intelligence and he was found dead some time later. His killer was never found even after an extensive investigation." Don said.
Gan sighed. "Hey kid?" Gan said.
"Yeah?" Don said looking up.
"I'm gonna bust you out of here. Know any earth type jutsu?" Gan asked.
"No, I don't." Don replied.
"Well then, I guess I'll get to train you." Gan said with a smirk on his face.
"How can we train in here, won't the guards or someone notice and stop us?" Don asked.
"They don't put guards up here, mainly because they have traps and obstacles to keep me from escaping. I will teach you everything I know, how to use my jutsu and how to overcome the obstacles to escape. I can show you how to truly become a shadow." Gan replied. As he spoke, the room grew dark as the shadows engulfed it.
Don watched in amazement at what he was doing. "So you and my dad both knew shadow based jutsu?" Don asked.
"Yes we did. It made things more interesting with us trying sneak up on one another better than the other to kill them, but were never able to succeed." Gan said.
Don chuckled.
"That aside, what kind of things do you know? I'm sure old Natsu taught you a few things before he passed, didn't he?" Gan asked.
Don just stared at him blankly not saying a word.
"Anything... at... all?" Gan asked. "That old fashioned bastard! You mean to tell me he never taught you any family trade secrets?"
"No... he only showed me what I was to learn when I turned eighteen. Other than that, the academy was to be suffice for my lessons." Don replied.
"Ok, and what of this academy, what did they teach you? Surely you learned a lot. You're Natsu's kid after all, you had to be a top notch student." Gan said with hope.
Don looked away in shame.
"Don, what the hell do you know? How old are you now? Sixteen? You should at least have something or else you wouldn't have made it this far!" Gan said with frustration.
Don sighed, "I'm more of a strategist than a fighter. However, if you are wondering how I managed to survive this long, it was mainly because of my wit. Though, during my time at the academy, I did learn some basics that helped me pass... barely."
"Like what? Spit it out!" Gan said.
"I learned the Hidden Lotus taijutsu style from Rock Lee, I learned how to use a variety of weapons from his teammate TenTen, and lastly, I learned the shadow possession jutsu from an acquaintance of mine, Shikamaru. Oh... and." he stopped before he said more. He though back to the abilities Konan had taught him, but it hurt too much to think back on it.
"And?" Gan asked.
"Another friend taught me how to transform any slip of paper into an explosive tag along with how to manipulate paper to my will in general." Don replied.
"That might actually come in handy. That aside, I'm amazed you were able to make it this far on so little. No mind, I'll make you into a man yet. When I'm done with you, you will be a deadly assassin. You will eat, live, and breathe in the shadows. You will see the world in a much grander view than those who live normal lives. In the end, you will be able to escape from here with no trouble." Gan said.
"You make it sound so easy. If it's that simple, how come you haven't escaped yet?" Don asked.
"It's not much of a challenge if I did. Plus, I do enjoy being alone. I've lived my life. My time is over and I'm of no use to this world anymore other than eliminating those who deserve it from the comfort of my prison." Gan replied.
"Well, if you ever change your mind, I hope you'd come find me. Any friend of Dad's is a friend of mine." Don said extending his hand.
Gan took it and shook it, "It's a deal. If I ever decide to escape from this tower, I will come looking for you and you will then get to welcome me into your home. After all, it's the least you can do for your godfather."
"What? Godfather? You?!" Don said.
"Yeah. I forgot to mention that tiny detail? Sorry about that." Gan said embarrassed. "It makes me feel bad that I didn't know about Natsu's death sooner. I would have busted out of here and come to be by your side."
"No, it's fine. It wouldn't have made much difference. No offense, but I would still wind up here, only I wouldn't have you here to be showing me how to get out." Don said timidly.
"What do you mean?" Gan said.
"The whole reason why I'm even our here is because I abandoned Konoha. I didn't feel like I belonged there. Ever since Dad died, I've been treated as such an outcast. It's been lonely. I'm like a shadow to everyone. I finally got tired of it so I left. I've been looking for a new home since..." Don said expecting to get a stern lecture.
Gan just looked at him slightly puzzled. "I've never been one to approve of someone deserting their village; however, I never have been one to disapprove of a man choosing how he wants to shape his future. If this is truly what you want, Don, then go forward at full force. If you find a new place to call home, you make sure you protect it with your life. I know this may not mean much now, but do not hold a grudge against Konoha, it will only destroy you on the inside and your father would not want you to be held back from a petty grudge you still hold. Learn to forgive the village that you despise so much and things will get better."
"Thanks for the advice, but it's easier said and done. I could care less about that village, just like it could care less about me." Don replied back emotionally.
Gan said nothing about what Don just spoke. He just moved onto the more important matters.
"Well, it's pretty late. It was nice getting acquainted with you Don, but it's best if you get some sleep, because tonight will be the last night you get normal rest. Starting tomorrow, I'm going to train you until you drop, and continue training you even when you can't get up. During the day, you'll be learning earth jutsu, by night, you'll learn the shadow jutsu. So by all means my dearest godson, rest well. For tomorrow, you will be in hell." Gan said laughing.
Don closed his eyes one last time, for when he opened them next time, they would never be shut again. For a month, Don trained rigorously nonstop. By day, he was learning earth jutsu, by night, it was shadow jutsu. Don finally collapsed to the floor out of breath, his mind and body completely drained.
"Well, I'm a bit surprised. You completed your training. You aren't as useless as you let yourself on to be." Gan said happily.
"We...We're finished?" Don said weakly.
"Yes, and tomorrow will be your big day. You'll break out of here and be on your way." Gan replied.
"Great..." Don said passing out.
Gan looked out the window, up at the moon. "You're kid is something else Natsu, he will grow to be a great man one day. Be proud." he thought to himself.
Don slept late until the middle of the evening when the shadows were just starting to form around the village. When he woke, he felt fully rested.
"Well, Don, you ready?" Gan asked.
"Yeah, but I'd like to have some sort of plan before I just bust out of here." Don replied.
"So here's how it will go down. You're going to break out of here using the abilities I gave you. If you were to just slip out of here in the dead of night, they would only hunt you down and drag you back here. However, if you were to plow through the best of their ninja and escape, then they'd see no reason to pursue you. I'm not saying you have to get half the village trying to stop you, but just enough to make a lasting impression." Gan said.
"I see what you mean." Don said.
Just then, noises could be heard from outside the door. When it opened, the Tsuchikage walked into the room. He looked at Don who looked like he had been through hell.
"It looks like your time has served you well. I told you that this village doesn't play games." the old man said.
A spark of inspiration immediately filled Don's mind. He knew how he'd make his lasting impression.
Don panted lightly, "You were right. This village is full of hard asses. I stood no chance."
The Tsuchikage glared at him, "Don't mock me, boy. It will only make things worse for you."
"I don't think you could do any worse than what my cell mate did to me, besides, you are just an old man. You're way past your prime." Don cooed back.
"Old?! I'll put you in your place!" the old man yelled and shot towards Don.
Don sidestepped his opponent and immediately threw out a monstrous punch. It was so powerful, it sent the Tsuchikage flying through the wall of the tower.
"You were right about another thing, my time here has served me well, so I think I'll be leaving!" Don called out to the old man watching him fall.
"Guards, the prisoner is escaping!" the old man shouted as he fell towards the ground. He watched as Don sped down the tower's wall leaving a vapor trail behind him. He made a quick hand sign and began to float in mid air. He pursued Don as he came closer to the base of the tower. "How did this kid get so good? He feels different, like he changed since the last time I saw him, before I locked him away in that tower, but how?" he then looked up to see Gan waving at him smiling. "Him!" he thought angrily.
Before Don hit the base of the tower, he shot off of it like a cannonball. Almost immediately a huge wall of rock shot up from the ground in an attempt to block his path. Don performed a quick few hand seals and the ground below up shot up, propelling him over the wall. There he could see a spread of ninja waiting for him. They all shot boulders at him in an attempt to slow him down. Thanks to Don's intensive training, he simply treated them like stepping stones and zoomed past their source.
He kept running for a bit and stopped when he realized no one was in sight.
"All too easy." Don laughed, but was cut off when walls of rock formed around him and caged him in.
"You honestly thought your silly tricks would be enough to let you escape?" Don heard the Tsuchikage say through the wall.
"Well yeah, because you were stupid enough to fall for them." Don said pompously.
The old man began to boil with anger. "We'll see who is the stupid one!" he shouted. His shouting was stopped when he heard a loud banging coming from the inside of the cage.
"What's that noise? It sounds like someone is trying to break through the wall, but it's solid rock, and that kid is too weak to break through that." one of the ninja said.
The wall busted open as a rock golem broke through the wall allowing Don so shoot out the cage. The ninja pursued him once more.
"Crafty little brat. Seems that he learned a few tricks from Gan while he was there with him. This, I did not foresee." the Tsuchikage said to himself.
The shadows continued to creep more and more as Don led the ninja on a wild goose chase around the village. When enough shadows had formed, Don slipped away into them. The ninja pursuing him stopped.
"Where did he go?" one said.
"I don't know. He just slipped into the shadows. He couldn't have gone far." another one replied.
Just then one of the ninja pursuing Don let out a shriek as he was pulled into the ground in the blink of an eye. As the other ninja took notice, their comrades too began to disappear into the ground. They didn't have much time to react, and one by one, they were all pulled under.
Don surfaced from the shadows and smirked, "Earth style: Head Hunter's technique, Land Shark. Sweet dreams guys."
Don ran as fast as he could toward the village gates heading east. He stopped in his tracks when he saw the Tsuchikage before him backed by a whole platoon of jonin ranked ninja.
"This is where your charade ends, boy." the old man said.
"Really now? Because I thought it was only the beginning, but if you are tired of losing, you can just let me go now and we can end all of this." Don replied boastfully.
"Just give up; you can't win. I have all my best jonin here and not a single one of them would hesitate to kill you if you took one more step forward." the old man said.
Don kept the smirk on his face and took one step forward. He immediately was surrounded by five ninja and they began to furiously attack him. One managed to strike him, but it was only a substitution. The shadows around them came alive as the shadows around the ninja connected with theirs, paralyzing them. The shadows began to engulf their bodies and constricted them until they had passed out from suffocation.
"Gan has taught you well, boy. I have not seen such talent for a shadow user since Gan fought in the last shinobi war, however you still have a long way to go!" the Tsuchikage said stomping his foot on the ground splitting it open.
Don shot from the ground and threw a blast of tagged kunai at the group of ninja making the scatter. Don performed a hand hand sign releasing the seals that were on the tags. From the clouds of smoke that formed, came rock golems, the same kind Don used earlier to bust him out of his cage.
"This is absurd, this kid is actually holding his own against my best." the old man thought to himself. "Looks like I'll have to finish this myself."
Don ran forward only to be confronted by the Tsuchikage. The Tsuchikage reached into the ground and lifted it up, and like shaking out a sheet, caused a wave of earth to fly at Don. When Don jumped out the way, he looked up with shock to see the old man had a mountainous boulder lifted above his head.
"This ends here!" the old man shouted, throwing the boulder down at Don with great speed.
Don didn't have any time to think, so he jumped toward the boulder at lightning speed looking as if he was going to break it. The second the boulder hit Don, he disappeared, and in the blink of an eye, reappeared shooting out the other side and toward the Tsuchikage himself.
"No... way." The Tsuchikage thought to himself as he floated in mid air stunned at what he has just seen. He shot to the ground as Don gave him a strong right hook. As soon as Don landed, he zoomed off out of the village and disappeared into the shadows. The old man sat up shocked, and looked around at his ninja who were equally as shocked.
Gan, who had been watching the whole time, smiled. "You did it kid. That was mighty impressive. Your father would be proud. Good luck to you." he said watching as the remainder of the sun set behind the mountains that surrounded the village.
Don headed east at a breakneck pace. He didn't stop until he knew he was across the border into the next country over. After a couple weeks of intense traveling, he made it to the land of hot water where he took a break from traveling and took a week to rest. While he was staying there, he took a trip to the land of whirlpools, or what was left of it, as a sight seeing venture. At week's end, he took a boat to Kirigakure, in the land of water, the next point of interest on his journey.
Years later, after Don had been revived, and tried to get back to a normal life, he had been sent back to Iwagakure on a diplomatic mission with Rain and Gazu. The whole trip there, Don said nothing about his past experience with the village.
"I wonder if anyone will recognize me after that incident a couple of years ago?" he thought to himself.
When they could see the village gates off in the distance, Don stopped walking. Rain and Gazu stopped as well turning to Don.
"Hey, buddy, you ok? Why'd you stop?" Gazu asked.
Don looked around expecting to be ambushed again, but when nothing happened, he then diverted his attention to Gazu, "It's nothing, I thought I heard something." he said chuckling.
They entered the village without a problem and were escorted to the Tsuchikage's conference room. When the three entered the room, the Tsuchikage greeted them happily, until he saw Don and then glared right at him.
The Tsuchikage walked right up to Don with his gaze fixated on him. He floated above the ground to where he was eye level with Don.
"Boy." the Tsuchikage said.
"Old man." Don replied glaring back.
There was a long pause in the room. Rain and Gazu weren't sure what to say because they didn't know what was going on.
"Never thought I'd see your face back here again. Shall I show you to your old room?" the old man bantered.
"Still sore about the right hook I gave you and the beating I gave your men?" Don bantered back.
Rain and Gazu's faces went pale. To think Don had struck and old man, but the Tsuchikage? They didn't know what to think anymore.
"You got lucky, that's all you were." he replied.
"I'd love to chat about the past, but I'm here for business, so if you don't mind." Don said.
The old man floated back down to the ground and cleared his throat. "Very well. You may tell your Kazekage that we accept the conditions to our agreement. However, there is one thing that I require."
"And what would that be?" Don asked.
"You need to tell me how you did it, how you escaped that day. When I threw that boulder at you, you jumped through it. How?" he asked.
"I gambled on the idea that once the shadows formed on the boulder, I could pass through them and then make my way to you, knock you out and be on my way." Don replied.
The old man looked shocked and then began to laugh after a few moments of silence. "Gan truly did teach you well, for you to have tricked a man like me!"
"That reminds me, I need to go see him." Don said.
"Well you don't have to go very far." a familiar voice called out.
Don turned around to see Gan standing in the doorway. Don ran up to him and gave him a hug.
"It's been a long time, and I see you're a sand shinobi now? You finally found a home that makes you happy! Please, introduce me to your friends!" Gan said happily.
Don introduced his friends to his godfather. They concluded their business with the Tsuchikage, and went out to catch up on old times. However, Don had to pull Gan off to the side and tell him that what happened during his stay in Iwagakure must remain secret. It was a time that would arouse too much suspicion if people knew. When his friends asked what had happened, they made up a story how Don was issued a challenge by the Tsuchikage and he succeeded despite the odds.
Squad seven returned home having another successful mission. Although Gazu had been convinced of Don's story about the relationship between the Tsuchikage a himself, Rain had a feeling it was a lie. She remained quiet about it until she could actually find proof he was lying. However, if Don decided that one day, he would tell them, she would wait to hear the truth.