Sea of Yesterdays, Bridge of Tomorrows
Summary:
Crossover with the world of Junni Kokki / 12 Kingdoms.
The Land of the Five Nations has been embroiled in war for generations. Now, their king has been found. The king know as Naruto.
No matter how much they would decry their loss, the daimyos and kages can never argue with divine mandate, for the land's Kirin has bowed before him and declared him the rightful ruler.
Notes:
This was suppose to be an exercise in meshing in the story of Naruto into the world / setting / principals in Junni Kokki. It's not a total meshing in for this is still much a Naruto story. In fact, this begins at the Pein invasion, though there is a critical major change before these events. I leave it to you dear reader to note.
This idea was also formed because I noted Naruto's world was a Feudal society and if my history serves me right, normally countries before breaking up into feudal domains where once empires w/ a centralised power, namely an emperor / king. I ran with this idea so I decided to make the 12 kingdom setting as the psuedo-backstory of the world of Naruto.
I do hope this mishmash is fairly decent and you do enjoy reading this dear reader. Please do comment. I am curious how successful this exercise has been. Thank you.
.
.
I - Sunne in March
.
.
The air was thick with dust, redolent with blood and destruction. Sasuke stepped into Konoha after so long. It was strange to feel the heat, the gentle rays of the sun, and the soft rustling of leaves. Too many seasons had passed since Sasuke had felt the whole rhythm and chime of the Hidden Leaf, after he had been carried away and cocooned in the howling wind and snow. His eyes swept past the ruin, a testament to Konoha's unpreparedness to counter the multiple attacks by Pain. It should have bought a pang of grief, the sight of the once proud village brought down to its knees and rubble strewn emptiness. In a way it did, for it was once home even with all its sins, but Konoha could not hold his attention. Not any more, it could not. He had come heeding a siren call. An incessant tug that burned bright and painful as he stood hidden amidst the wreckage.
Sasuke did not move though. 'Not yet,' his mind whispered as he watched the flash and bang of two combatants, Naruto and Pein. They danced their own cadence of death and destruction as Sasuke forced himself to stay rooted at the spot. He had to see this through. No matter how much Naruto's presence tugged in a searing sharp pain, he fought the silent command. Dug his nails at his palm until it drew blood. Shook with the very force of his resistance.
He kept himself still, even when Naruto was pinned to the ground, defeated. Watched with baited breath as Pein loomed over the still struggling man and demanded, "How will you face this hatred in order to bring peace? Let me here your answer."
Sasuke too wanted to here Naruto's answer. He wanted to know the mettle of the boy, so young that he is. Sasuke knew his choice had long been made for him by divine will, but even in his powerlessness, he wanted to be able to make his choice with his eyes wide open.
"I don't know," Naruto spoke in reply. His voice fierce. "I only know I want to protect those I love. Protect people, no matter how weak or strong."
Sasuke's eyes widened at those words. They echoed in his mind, thrummed through his very veins, and dissolved his own resistance. His heart tugged. It roared in a intense flame that grew hotter and hotter. Sasuke took a hesitant step forward. Another and another, unseeing and uncaring as he revealed his presence.
"Taiho," he heard his guardians whisper worriedly. "Be careful."
He ignored the admonishment. All his attention was wholly focused on the mad tableau before him.
Sasuke demanded, "Do you mean it?" His voice cut through the air, bringing everyone's attention to him. He dismissed the gasps of shock and surprise at the sight of him. He who had simply disappeared from Konoha with nary a whisper. Nearly everyone had chalked him as lost. Most had thought him dead, the final chapter of an extinct race.
Sasuke could feel the heat of their regard. Even the normally shy Hinata who had been about to leap had gaped at him in stunned stillness. Even Pein had torn his attention away from his prey and turned the full force of his curious contemplation to Sasuke.
He saw none of it. All he saw was Naruto. Naruto, whose features first flittered from disbelief to hope, from happiness to horror.
"When you said you wanted to protect," Sasuke continued to speak, as he took a step, forwards and onwards. "When you invoked the name of this kingdom, Go, did you mean it?"
"What the hell are you doing here?!" Naruto had cried out in barely concealed panic. He had begun to struggle in ernest while Sasuke continued on his single-minded pace towards the centre of the battle.
"Will you swear to me that you will always keep that in sight."
"This isn't the time," Naruto pleaded. "Get away from here!"
"Will you swear?" Sasuke refused to be denied. He had already found himself in front of Naruto's prone form. None had tried to stop him. None did he acknowledge except this foolish dreamer he swore he will exact a promise from.
"What? Of course," Naruto spoke, his azure gaze bore through Sasuke. They were filled with grief and bitter regret of promises that he could not keep. "I'm sorry I failed you, but I won't fail again. Now run!"
"Idiot," Sasuke replied ever-so fondly. He tasted blood on lips, felt the dust in his cheeks, heard the soft whisper of the wind, and saw the light in his heart. Sasuke folded himself to the ground. Gasp of surprise followed his actions, but he ignored it. He simply drew breath and spoke. He spoke the fateful words that proclaimed Naruto as the true ruler of the land.
"To serve you always in utmost loyalty, this is my pledge…"
.
.
.
.
In those whispered words, Sasuke forever changed the Land of the Five Nations. This land, known formerly as the Kingdom of Go, had been one of uneasy peace. A kingless place split between various nations with their own feudal lord, all ostentatiously waiting for the rightful king to ascend the throne but behind scheming to prevent such an occurrence.
It had been countless of generations since the last king had sat on the wintry iron throne. Too long a time had passed, that the tales of kings and queens had nearly faded into legend. Only the old clans and the nobles still remember their history. The story of the former king who drove the land into civil war via the murky depths of corruption, debauchery, and madness. It was a dark time that even the nobles and ministers scrabbled like starving wolves. The heavens had swiftly struck in retribution. Go's Kirin had succumb to illness and death, taking with him the King. None was born to take their place and Go crumbled into a land of scorched earth. Its name struck out and lost from memory. Gone was the Kingdom of Go, the Kingdom of Enlightenment. In its place was the Land of Go, the Land of the Warring Five Nations. Its people hopeless, helpless, in the realm of never-ending violence…until now.
The heaven's have at last answered the people's unknowing prayer. Sasuke had appeared and revealed himself as Go's Kirin. An propitious sign from such a land long bereft of hope, the rarest of all. A black Kirin that gleamed like an ebon star shinning brightly in the night. Goki, he would be known. The vessel of divine will whose duty is to find the land's king and bestow upon the divine mandate to rule. The land's Kirin who would faithfully serve the king as the first of his ministers. Goki who had walked through the deluge of war and destruction to bow before their king. The king whose name was Naruto.
The daimyos, the nobles and even the ministers might despair at the king's arrival and the end of their unchecked power. They might deride the king's youth, his honest features, and his wilful innocent naivety. They might even scorn his shinobi background, no matter how prestigious his parentage. But they could not argue for Naruto had ascended Mt. Hourai and descended with the legendary imperial sword, Kusanagi, strapped at his waist. They could not dispute his claim for he contained the strongest of all demons, that he was blessed by the power of the gods. It was the power known as Kyuubi. The nine tails for the ninth king of Go. Kyuu for nine. Kyuu for salvation. Kyuu for strength and bravery. Kyuu for sky. For such a set of auspicious meanings, they could not disagree with the heaven's will. They would bow before the Sky King.
.
.
.
.
Sasuke's words changed Naruto as well. Naruto, the dreamer boy, had to cast aside his limited worldview. No longer would he only be a shinobi of the Leaf and its rustling forests. He had to look past the verdant green to the rocky outcrop of earth, the yellow wash of sand, the clear blues of the sea and the desolate whitewash of snow. Naruto whose eyes had to truly look and see the land riddled by death and men's faces twisted with despair.
Understanding was difficult at first. The learning, clumsy. Naruto was a brash warrior. The various nuances of the nobility were initially unfamiliar to him. The twists and turns of politics was practically anathema to his nature. He was an honest and blunt force. He had little patience for the wordplay of the daimyos or their conflicting interests.
Sasuke attempted to lend his assistance. He had been more familiar of the byplay of aristocrats by virtue of being born into an ancient clan. His years in the capital as its kirin had lent him a better understanding of the wheels and cogs of the government. But all his attempts were rebuffed. The ministers only saw the fragility of youth. His King, on the other hand, could not forget the weight of history between them. In exasperation, Sasuke retreated to his halls with only his guardians as company. He seethed as Karin gave him her reports. Paced as Suigetsu spoke of his observations. Sighed as Garuda and Juugo bought him news. Yet out in the public halls, he simply stared stonily at every social gaffe and at every disrespectful gesture from an impatient minister. He kept his silence.
When Sasuke began to despair in this never ending list of disappointments, Karin had taken his hand and led him to the private halls of the king's study. There he found Naruto cradling his head in his hands, a picture of despondency.
Naruto looked up at Sasuke's entrance. They found themselves staring at each other wordlessly, before Naruto stood and walked towards his waiting Kirin.
"I've been a prat," Naruto admitted with a self-deprecating twist of a lip. "I'm sorry. I should not have shut you off."
Sasuke stared at the ernest blue eyes. For a moment, he was easily drawn to the charisma of the sincere gaze and the aura of command every kirin felt from his sovereign. He would have forgiven Naruto anything. But he shook himself out of his stupor, he told himself he would not give in. The stubborn fool had brought him nothing but a constant pounding ache in his head. The idiot needed to realise he could not just simply rely on his charm and idealism to navigate the world.
Sasuke forced himself to scowl. He turned his head away bringing the all too familiar whine from Naruto. It was certainly nostalgic. It brought to mind their early days where they were nothing but little boys with an innocent view of the world. Sasuke's lips twitched in fond remembrance. Naruto unabashedly grinned at the sight. Irritated at his own weakness, Sasuke slapped the remorseless Dead-last's arm before he huffily marched to the waiting reams of paperwork. There is a kingdom to be fixed.
.
.
.
.
"It's just that," Naruto spoke in the icy moonlit night. The work was a deluge of ink and paper between them, interspaced with cooling cups of tea. "I was so angry and so afraid when I saw you. You were snatched away in the chuunin exams, gone forever. We were so young. We were supposed to protect each other…"
Naruto's voice trailed into a hush. A sad downturn lip greeted Sasuke's sight. He watched as the shadows painted weary brushstrokes at the blue eyes, hollowed with guilt.
"Then you were there," Naruto continued in a distant voice. "Just like that, with nary a care whether you lived or died, whether you were missed or not."
"It's not as if I didn't care," Sasuke attempted to explain. His voice, halting, he painted a picture of his confusion when he awoke from his rescue by Karin and Garuda. The sense of disorientation and uncertainty when he found himself at an unknown place. His sheer disbelief at General Mifune's pronouncement of his role as Kirin. The denials even again all proof, even against the unwavering certainty he felt yet hid from himself. He spoke of his despondent realisation of his unescapable fate. The unmistakable call of Naruto's presence that forced him to awaken. His desire to reach out. The strength of will he dredged out to keep away. He knew they were not yet ready, both of them too young, too blind.
Sasuke stopped his ramblings. His throat raw. It dawned to him that the sky had darkened to an even deeper black. He turned a startled gaze to meet an equally stunned look by Naruto whose features morphed into a smile, mournful yet achingly warm.
Sasuke felt a strange warmth settle at his chest, even amidst the chill. Plagued with confusion, he tried to tuck his hands to his body. Large appendages halted his retreat. Calloused palms cradled his own in a protective cocoon.
"Don't worry I won't fail you."
And so he kept his promise.
.
.
.
.
Months slipped by, and slowly, ever so slowly, Naruto and Sasuke began to find their rhythm with each other. It was awkward at first, used as they were to the other's absence. But Naruto forced himself to stop and listen, and Sasuke learned the art of explaining his thoughts. Bit by bit, the court began to taste the measure of their King and Kirin.
It made for interesting times, as the lords and ministers began to see the unbending moral compass beneath the sunny warmth of their monarch. Coupled with the implacable cold resolve of the first minister, the sycophants and the self-serving began their furtive frantic struggle to survive. Go had begun to reclaim its name.
It was through blood though, that the Kingdom of Go learned to raise its head high in the Sky King's name. Like the language of all men and warriors, Naruto first tasted victory and defeat in battle, and with it the homage of its people.
Violence erupted in the Province of the Rice Fields, spilling into the Province of Fire. Harrowing tales of a legion of lost men and women who scoured the earth with the battle-cry of the forsaken. Boot shod, Naruto set out armed with the Kusanagi. The royal army followed faithfully behind him, their golden banners gleaming in the sun, and the Royal General Mifune by his side. None was allowed to gainsay his decision. Even Sasuke had simply sent two of his guardians as protection.
"I need to see it with my own eyes," Naruto spoke with resolute eyes. It was the same resolve he brought to the melee. A great and terrible figure he was. He stood at the head of his troops of samurai and Konoha nin, crowned by the sun, blessed by the wind, and the imperial sword unsheathed in his grasp.
In the end, all bowed down at the might of the Sky King. The rebel leader and his ragtag group of the desperate laid prostrate on the muddy ground. Naruto gazed sadly at the sight. His eyes flickered at the grim faces of his men. His mind remembered the land as it was before. The Land of the Rice Fields with its wet earth and clean rivers, the acres and acres of paddies filled with laughter and abundance. Naruto closed his eyes and breathed the scent of the land. The scent of blood and fire filled his lungs, coupled with the hint of the past green verdant fields. Clear blue eyes opened, and in his place was the ruler of Go.
So the Sky King decreed, "You are all pardoned. Show me your land, show me your homes, and show me your fields that you have bled and lived for. Help me rebuild your land to plough, to sow, and to reap, so that you may live as what your fathers have worked for."
Lord of Mercy and Compassion, the people of the rebelling province named him that day. Its leader in a fit of gratitude and guilt, offered his life in payment as well as the plans of the Akatsuki. The rebellion was a feint in order to attack the capital, and Naruto fell gullibly and heady taste of victory was coupled with the bitter taste of defeat. It was a cruel lesson about the depths men would sink to. A forbidding look of understanding would pass between him and his royal general. He would be reminded of the fate of a King and his Kirin.
"I cannot come," Naruto would remember Sasuke informing him stiffly when he burst into the man's study, ready to drag the man with him to the Province of the Rice Fields. He stared back in confusion and hurt. No matter the reason for travel, it felt too nostalgic not to go together.
"The King is tied to the land, and his life to his Kirin," Sasuke clarified, his features stony. His voice had a strange lilt, a mixture of longing and frustration. "If the king dies, the land falls into chaos. But another king can rise with the auspices of the kirin. But if the kirin dies, so will the king and with it the land. Generations of chaos will occur until another is born to find the next sovereign."
Naruto returned swiftly to the capital. Instead of the triumphant arrival many envisioned, the king and his army thundered through the countryside to battle for his reign. Perhaps his only comfort was the missed presence of his former teacher, Kakashi. Or the silence from their link to the other guardians that Garuda and Suigetsu reported. The repentant province, he left in Mifune's and Shikamaru's capable hands with a select group of men. He would keep his promise.
Long shadows were cast by the sun when Naruto's gaze alighted at near silent city. There was a miasma of stillness in the thick cloudy sky, couple with the smell of fire and lightning. Karin was a welcomed presence that greeted them at the palace gates. Her news of the successfully repelled attack quelled the tense drumbeat of Naruto's heart. The sight of his Kirin, faithfully guarded by Juugo, seemingly unharmed in the milling mass at the courtyard gladdened him. He swiftly strode towards Sasuke's engaged form, neatly cutting through the hoards of men.
"Idiot!" It was the first words that greeted Naruto's ears, amidst Juugo's discreet coughs at the admonishment. Sasuke's features was a picture perfect scowl as he continued to speak, "When I said I could not come, it didn't mean I couldn't fight. You should trust me a bit more."
Naruto felt his face split into a grin. Oh he laughed. The sound was a clear booming bell, filled with uproarious joy.
.
.
.
.
The people of Go would remember these events with reverence. They would speak of how the Kirin of Go rose to its people's defence. They would describe him as a shimmering blade in the darkness. The righteous sword that brought the full wrath of the gods against the interlopers. Tales of awe would reverberate around their lips. Whispers abounded about the ebony flames by the black kirin that brought out the raging storm and the mighty crash of lightning.
They would look at their Sky King and hear the accounts soldiers would bring back from their battle. With amazed hearts they would repeat the name bestowed upon their monarch, Lord of Mercy and Compassion. Then, they would gaze at the ever present shadow besides him. Their Taiho, they would call Goki as their own, their Righteous Sword of Justice. The citizens of Go would breathe a sigh of relief. They would bow in honour before their King and Kirin.
The court of Go would be not so easy to appease though. The destruction brought by the battle was staggering. The Taiho's halls were nearly reduced to rubble. The outer courts were razed. The guardhouses and weapons vaults, a smoking wreck. The dead and the wounded even more so. The guard contingent of Go's Kirin was nearly all killed. No platoon was spared from injury or loss.
Naruto and his trusted men of war would look at the invasion and the rebellion and realise how easily they had been played. The minute by minute review brought to light the Akatsuki's uncanny ability to exploit the minuscule weaknesses of the Iron capital with nary a sweat. The palace which was supposed to be the most fortified fortress in Go, easily breached with so many lives lost. The invasion had been too uncanny. The interlopers too knowledgable to show anything but treachery. It was only thru luck or perhaps duplicity by Akatsuki's own that they were successfully repelled and Go's first minister safe.
It was a harsh lesson. The very first consequential blunder in the long string of stumbles and falls on the business of ruling. It brought sneers from the ambitious. Wails from the alarmists. The vultures had begun to circle for carrion. Brazenly, Naruto would shake himself up and hold court amidst the mutters of the uncertain and the fear mongers. He would not be cowed. He would take comfort in Sasuke's presence by his side. His Kirin who carried the proud mien, blazing with the absolute certainty of his choice. Raising his head up high, Naruto would tell his people of his grief for the fallen. He would honour his men's sacrifice in a funeral befitting their bravery. At that day, he would vow to protect the men and women of Go with all his might.
.
.
.
.
"How is the old hag?" Naruto would speak at the backdrop of the full moonlit night. His former teacher had come to bid him a fond insouciant farewell before his return to Konoha.
"Still asleep," was the reply Kakashi gave.
Naruto felt a pang at the news. It had been expected. How could he not expect it as such, when a ragtag group of shinobi had easily brought their rebellion raging into Konoha's borders? Konoha, the most powerful of all hidden villages, barely responded until it was too late. No self-respecting kage would allow such a weakness to materialise. Naruto knew the old hag. She would never play with the lives of her people. Not her. Not ever.
Naruto would remember Sasuke staring at him with pitying eyes as he raged and denied the analysis his Intelligence Chief Saitou provided. The idea that his beloved village may had a hand in the events had been repugnant. To think their home may have both wanted them dead.
"You're no longer Naruto. I'm no longer Sasuke," Sasuke would tell him with a uncompromising yet soft voice. "You're now the Go's King, a threat to their power. And I, am the symbol of that threat."
He heard it, that sentiment. He understood, but it was so hard to swallow. He would study the reports in all their bitter glory. It left a harsh taste in his mouth. To read how the rebellion had easily spread within days past the borders uncontested. Konoha, who had been busy in rebuilding, had ostensibly sent most of its shinobi to missions en masse. Too little was left to realise and counter the violence coming its way. It was only thru Team 10's fortunately timed return with their temporary commander Kakashi that a flagging Konoha defence was galvanised to hold the line. Couple with the rebel leader's confession, all coincidences were too suspect.
Naruto would remember breaking down in grief. It was a sense of betrayal. He mourned the loss of innocence. The simple view of the world in black and white.
A gentle weight rested on his head. Naruto looked up in surprise to see Sasuke's regretful features. His kirin would kneel down to meet him face to face. Naruto stared at Sasuke with wide eyes as the man spoke, "I've been gone from Konoha too long."
A pause. Sasuke bit his lip in a fraught gesture, but his dark eyes were steady and intense against Naruto's own. "But I do know," he continued, voice strong and clear. "That you still have people you love and trust there. Have faith in them. It will give you the answers you seek."
"You're different," Naruto would say in wonder. It had nagged him all these long months they've scratch the path to the future. He wasn't sure. There were times he thought he had been dreaming, and it had been a simple facet of them adapting to each other. But here, now, it had been to glaring to ignore.
A sad smile was Sasuke's answer. "Truth. Reality, does that to people."
Naruto would gaze at Kakashi and keep in his mind that answer. In a voice echoing with sorrow, he prodded, "And for the meantime, how is Konoha?"
The jounin straightened from his easy-going slouch, transforming instantly to the shrewd warrior people knew him to be. The hooded look he threw said it all at Naruto's eyes. The reply was a death knell. "Danzo and the elders have it at hand, for the meantime."
Naruto did not speak. The words echoed between them, filled with too many implications. He simply continued to study his former teacher before him. There was a weight in his stare. A weight nearly foreign to the brash innocent of yesteryear. A sigh and Naruto stepped out of the shadows. "Tell me Kakashi," he spoke with an equally weighted tone. "Do I have your loyalty?"
Kakashi's eyes widened at the near demand. One. Two. He took a deep breath and spoke softly and ever so clearly. "You have it," he would say. A pause and with a wistful voice, he murmured, "You've grown."
Naruto did not answer. What could he say? Sasuke was right, he could no longer simply be Naruto. The Kingdom of Go and its people needed him. He will be their Sky King, their salvation. This he vowed upon his Kirin's bowed head.
.
.
.
.
Further Notes:
A couple of wordplays due to the Japanese language having different words / kanji that have the same pronunciation.
- Go: the kanji for five (for land of the five nations) and the kanji that means enlightenment (for land of enlightenment)
- Kyuu: means Nine (for nine tails / Kyuubi), but with a couple of different kanjis, it could mean- salvation, strength & bravery, or sky