10/10/2013 - 175 Reviews, 174 Favorites, 186 Followers

From now on, omakes will come with a little bracket stating whether they're canon or not. I'm sure you can figure out why.

1) Umineko -Achro-eye

2) Seijaku

3) Umineko Chiru EP7 BGM - 7-weights

4) Umineko no naku koro ni BGM - Hane

To make things significantly easier, these soundtracks can now be accessed in nifty playlist form. Unfortunately, youtube search doesn't seem to like it, but this one's under the title "Failed Reset Chapter 25 Soundtrack". Failing that, the hyperlink is [ www. youtube .com / watch?v = rZrsFoY9Z1o&list = PLL7Nn61ylhYDwgtyD3D-4CsTg2aHYTlz1], but with all the spaces removed. Trust me, in my completely non-partisan opinion, it's worth the listen.

Also, sorry about the screwy formatting. This site really does not like hyperlinks.

Chapter Twenty-Five: Grime

xXx

(Suna) (1)

Gaara kept his head high, his gaze firmly turned to the front. Kankuro, Naruto and Jiraiya trailed silently behind him, striding through the dark streets of Suna.

Of all the complications, all the calamities that had occurred after Salvation Da... The Night of Stone, this one was somehow the most awful. He did not want to do this. He did not want to look in the eyes of the one who had saved him from darkness and watch as trust and faith morphed into hurt and dismay. He did not want to have to be the one to pull Naruto down to the cruel horrors of reality. His friend wouldn't understand. He couldn't. Despite his protestations, despite the hatred he had suffered personally, the very idea of blind racism was so alien to Naruto's worldview that he simply couldn't comprehend the sheer vitriol that Gaara had been faced with.

He had tried. Oh, how he had tried. He had talked and talked, using every shred of eloquence he possessed, and the council had just sat there and ignored every word he'd said. And they weren't even driven by blind hatred, at least most of them weren't. They just didn't seem to be able to understand why Suna should have to spend time, money and resources helping out Konoha.

A door nearby opened and an older man in a grey coat was just stepping out when he caught a glimpse of Gaara. The man went ghost-white and ran back inside, slamming it after him. The sound of clicking locks echoed around the black, empty street.

In the future, it would have been different. After the Kumo Dispute, after Deidara, Gaara had won the respect and loyalty of his people. He had proven himself. If this refugee crisis had happened then, then he would have been able to dictate Suna's response to the situation to the letter. In fact, he would have been able to dismiss the entire council with nothing but a thought. Now, though, his only standing in the eyes of the majority was that of a murderer. Last time, that hadn't mattered, because he hadn't had to do anything that contravened the wishes of the councillors. This time, though, they were dead set against him, and if he pushed too far, it was well within their power to have him removed.

Plus, there was apparently now a new player on the field. Councillor Ryota hadn't even been a blip on his radar last time; in fact, Gaara couldn't remember him ever doing anything of note. His memories on the subject were a little faded, but if he recalled correctly, Ryota had actually died in a freak accident during the last timeline, about a year before Deidara's attack. The man had been walking along a street when a dilapidated building had simply collapsed on top of him, killing him and two others. It had been a complete accident, a mischance that Gaara highly doubted was going to occur twice.

The thing was, Ryota alone was no threat. The man had no advanced shinobi training, no Mangekyo Sharingan or legendary bloodline to threaten Gaara with. He was nothing but the son of a low-level aristocrat who had somehow wound up on the Suna advisory council. Gaara had even had one of his best sensors discretely observe the councillor, and contrary to his suspicions, Ryota really wasn't hiding some incredible secret power. In fact, the councillor's combat skills were approximately equivalent to those of an academy student. If it came down to a physical confrontation, if Ryota tried to mount some sort of violent coup, Gaara would eliminate him within seconds.

A pair of Suna shinobi approached them from the opposite side of the street, saluting him as they approached. One of them bore a passing resemblance to Sasori. Gaara nodded back.

The problem was, Ryota wasn't actually doing anything that bad, at least not yet. it wasn't as if Ryota had been converting people into puppets or forming some secret paramilitary organization on the side, as far as Gaara could tell anyway. The councillor had subverted the loyalty of some of his subordinates, true, but it had been done with the greatest of subtlety. There was no physical evidence, nothing that could truly be of use in justifying an attack on the councillor.

He could almost imagine bringing his 'evidence' in front of the advisory council. Ryota had pre-arranged that one of his jonin should have a lighter ready when the councillor pulled out a cigarette? To do so would be insane.

The councillor had even supported him in getting his refugee motion past the rest of the council. Indeed, the only proof that Ryota had even set himself against Gaara were the actions of Tanaka, the shinobi that Ryota had blackmailed him into putting into the position of Jonin Commander. Tanaka was an unremarkable jonin in his twenties, a man of reasonable intellect and a sort of vague, generalized cheerfulness that made him difficult not to like. His new Jonin Commander had begun undercutting his authority, not overtly, but in a subtle, quiet way that had Tanaka regularly questioning his decisions and bringing his authority into doubt. It was maddening, but he wasn't willing to defy Ryota by getting rid of him just yet, not while the fate of the refugees still hung in the balance.

Because whatever else Ryota was, the man was clever. How clever, Gaara wasn't sure, but he was clever. And that was bad. Because clever alone wasn't going to be enough when someone like Deidara or Sasori or Tobi took it upon themselves to bring Suna down. Ryota had read him perfectly, he had twisted Gaara's bonds into a weapon to be used against him, but that had only worked because there had been some moral feeling to manipulate. If there hadn't been, Ryota had attempted it even two years earlier, then he would have left that office as crushed, bloodied sand. The same went for Tobi's organisation. Ryota was undercutting his ability to deal with Akatsuki, and the world might very well pay in blood as a result.

A harried-looking woman with aristocratic features dressed in distinctive Kumo garb stepped out of a side street, then froze in her tracks, her eyes settling on Jiraiya. The woman gave a soft squeak, then scuttled down into an alley, her eyes wide and fearful.

He didn't have time to deal with insurgence in his own ranks. After The Night of Stone, the political landscape of the Nations had been irreversibly altered, and Gaara was scrambling to keep up. Across the continent, people were just beginning to realize that at least three of the five major powers had vanished from the face of the earth, and already, the conflicts had begun. The Land of Clouds was shaping up to be a bloodbath waiting to happen, with about four major factions (and several dozen minor ones) looking to be vying for power. Fighting had already broken out in Earth, where loyalist troops clashed with shinobi who had turned against the Daimyo. Dozens of independent warlords had sprung up across the continent, each seeking to carve themselves out a piece of territory, and Gaara expected that hundreds more would follow within the next few months. Just two days ago, Gaara had had to dispatch a team to dislodge a bandit leader from a small village on Suna's east coast. The woman had turned out to be a Sand chunin who had gone rogue after somehow falling under the misconception that Suna had been wiped out too.

To make matters worse, many of the minor nations had decided to take the opportunity to expand their own sovereign borders. Earth Country had been the worst hit, with no less that eight minor nations launching expeditions into its territory. Reports from Takigakure and Kusagakure suggested large-scale militarization occurring in both countries, and there had even been reports of Sky ninja skulking around Fire and Lightning. Making things even more difficult, there was still no news from Kiri. The small team he'd sent to investigate had yet to report, and he was hesitant to send anything larger for fear that Kiri might have survived the cataclysms. If a Suna military force of any magnitude were to enter Water territory unannounced and Kiri's forces were still intact, it could be taken as an act of aggression. It might even spark a war, considering how hot things were right now, and a large-scale military conflict over a diplomatic misstep was the last thing Suna needed.

"Homeless, help the homeless, homeless, I'm homeless, homeless." sang a ragged, thin-looking man as they passed, punctuating each lyric with the rattle of a metal tin. Gaara dropped in a few coins. The man tipped his hat.

Things had just gotten a lot more complicated, and holding onto the position of Kazekage had become a balancing act. Ryota, Naruto, the Wind Daimyo, Gaara was under pressure from all sides.

With all the immediate issues he was faced with, it was easy to forget that the real threat lay with Akatsuki. Gaara had deployed significant resources in an attempt to track down the rest of the jinchuriki before Tobi could, but the results had not been promising. Shukaku had returned to being caged within Gaara's body; regaining consciousness to find it muttering incoherent sounds of anger in his head had not been a pleasant experience. Yugito and Utakata had almost dropped off the face of the Earth, with no recorded sightings of either of them since the Night of Stone. The Sanbi had been missing for over a decade, with the only documented human encounter since its disappearance being the one that had occurred approximately a year in the future with Naruto. Roshi had already been captured and murdered by Akatsuki prior to the Night of Stone.

In fact, the only three jinchuriki that Gaara really had a fix on location-wise were himself, Naruto and Fu. Sightings of a tall man in red shell armour had drifted in from both Kusagakure and a ruined temple in Fire Country and Bee had supposedly been spotted a week ago on an island just off the coast of Fire Country, but both sets of sightings were over a week old, and dubious at best. Fu, on the other hand, was still in firmly located in the heart of Takigakure. Gaara had taken the step of sending the village a carrier pigeon informing them of the Akatsuki situation, but he doubted he would get a response. The two villages hadn't exactly been on the best of terms since the end of the Third War.

So that just left Naruto, one of the three people whose opinion he cared about most in the entire world. (1E)

And now he was here.

Gaara came to an abrupt halt, raising a hand. The three men behind him followed suit.

The sun was just beginning to rise, irradiating the crest of the great ring of stone that surrounded the village with brilliant golden light. As the shadows began to melt away, the dark buildings around them came into focus.

Jiraiya's head snapped around towards him, a sickened realization dawning in his eyes. (2)

They were up in the extreme north-east fringes of Suna, in a section that bordered the walls. Ahead of them lay a mass of decrepit, mud-brick buildings, derelict, ramshackle structures that oozed filth and grime. The structures seemed to all be built into one chaotic mess, snarling and twisting into one another like a great, crumbling labyrinth. A demented spiderweb of channels ran between the buildings, tiny, disgusting avenues that were encrusted with dark coatings of muck. Gutters of brown slime dribbled out into the street at intermittent intervals, protected from the hot sun by the great mass of dwellings that surrounded them.

No lights could be seen any of the nearby buildings, but there were obvious signs of recent inhabitation. Piles of rotten vegetable matter lay in natural gutters next to the buildings, and hundreds of dirty footprints caked the street, as if there had recently been a great exodus.

What really caught all their attention, though, was the crude red graffiti scrawled across across a crumbling brown wall.

BABY KILLERS

WE WILL BURN YOU OUT

He had taken them to slums. He had taken them to the slums, and God forgive him, that was where they were going to be staying.

Naruto looked at him. "Gaara? Why have we stopped?"

Gaara hardened his heart, then turned to his friend. "This is where you are going to be resettled."

"Huh?" Naruto took another look around, then gave a nervous laugh, rubbing the back of his head. "What... What do you mean?"

Gaara clenched his jaw. No emotion, not now. This would be easier with a cloak of apathy. "The refugees of Konoha are going to be resettled in this area, until such a time..."

"Hey, wait a second!" Naruto demanded. "Gaara!"

"...Until such a time when other settlement becomes available." Gaara continued. "Should you wish to purchase lodgings at another location..."

"A ghetto. You're putting us in a ghetto." Jiraiya breathed.

"...You may negotiate with the legal owner that property, and decide upon..."

"Gaara!" Naruto grabbed his shoulders. "What the hell do you mean you're resettling us here? It's a slum!"

"What the hell did I tell you, Uzumaki?" Kankuro grabbed the back of Naruto's shirt and yanked him away from Gaara."

"How could you do this to us, Gaara?" Naruto's sky blue eyes were shining with hurt and betrayal. "How could you do this to me? Those people need help! Konoha needs help!"

"I know that." No emotion. He couldn't handle showing emotion at this point. "I have done what I can. This is all I can give."

"All you can give? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Naruto was angry now, his face flushed with pain and fury. "You're the leader of a fucking village! You were supposed to save us!"

"Goddamn it! Has nothing he had told you sunk in?" Kankuro was angry too now, his voice tinged with disbelief. "He nearly got himself kicked out of office trying to help you!"

"Then why did you offer? Why the hell would you offer to take us in if we were going to be put in... this!" Naruto swung a hand towards the slums. "We just lost our village, Gaara! Our homes, our friends, our families!"

"I know."

He was resettling the refugees of Konoha in a decrepit, disgusting slum. Really, it would be stupid to expect Naruto to act in any way other than the one he was doing now. But that didn't mean it didn't hurt.

"Then why..." Naruto was shaking his head in disbelief now, and the corners of his eyes filled with moisture. "Why would... This is... This is... We're friends, Gaara."

"Yes. We are. This was the only way."

"But... There must have been something. Some other way. They're innocent, Gaara. Can't you do something to me instead? Let them take out their hatred on me!" Naruto went down to his knees. "Beat me! Starve me! Torture me! Just, please, don't do this to them. Please!"

No emot... no. He couldn't do this anymore.

Gaara knelt down and put both of his hands on Naruto's shoulders. "Naruto... I can't. Do you understand me? I. Can't. You need to appreciate the politics of this, the sentiments of... I wouldn't be presenting you with this location without a good reason. You have to understand that."

With great deliberateness, Naruto lifted Gaara's hands off his shoulders, then got back to his feet. His friend shot him an icy glare. "There's no reason that can explain this."

"Naruto, I tried my best." his protests sounded weak, even to himself.

"Your best? You wouldn't keep dogs here!"

"I... We all have masters, Naruto. The people of Suna are mine."

"And what, the people of Suna demanded that we live in..."

"The people of Suna don't want to see you living in conditions superior to their own."

"This isn't just inferior, Gaara! This is disgusting! This is wrong!"

"Stop being such a whiny, dramatic baby, Uzumaki." Kankuro growled. "Whatever happened to 'I don't angst, I don't whine, I get stuff done'? You..."

"Shut up!" Naruto snapped, whirling around. "Just shut the hell up, Kankuro!"

"Both of you, be quiet!" Jiraiya stepped forward, glaring at both of them. "You're acting like brats. Show some goddamn discipline."

Naruto and Kankuro were momentarily silent, each glaring at the other.

The Sannin turned to Gaara, and gave a tiny nod. "I get it. I don't like it, but I get it. You've been put in an untenable situation, and you've done the best for us that you can."

"Good." Gaara paused for a second. "There is... another condition."

Jiraiya's eyes flickered to Naruto, then back to Gaara. "Hm."

"Fire Country no longer has a shinobi village." Gaara said. "The few ninja who have remained in Konoha will unable to police such a vast area, and without shinobi assistance the Fire Daimyo is living on borrowed time. Your people can't defend it. Other nations are already preparing to invade."

Jiraiya leaned back. "And is Wind Country one of those nations?"

Silence. Then a nod. "Yes."

Naruto's eyes flashed to his, and a look of absolute shock and horror crossed his face. Then, his friend's eyes hardened. Head downcast, Naruto simply turned around and began walking away.

"Naruto? Where are you going?" Gaara said.

"Back to the convoy." Naruto muttered, tone dripping with bitterness and anger.

"We still have things to..."

"Talk to Jiraiya."

"Naruto..."

Jiraiya shook his head, and made a 'let him go' motion with his hands. The other man cleared his throat. "Naruto, I'll be with you in a minute. Wait by the gate, and don't leave until I arrive. It's too dangerous to be out in the desert alone right now."

Naruto didn't answer.

Gaara looked over at his brother. "Kankuro, go with him. Make sure there isn't any trouble. And... keep a distance"

Kankuro sighed and put his hands in his pockets. "Fine."

The puppeteer trailed after Naruto. Gaara and Jiraiya waited until the other two had vanished from sight.

"He still blames himself for Konoha." Jiraiya said finally. "This is the worst issue he could have been pushed on. Give him time." (2E)

Gaara made a soft clicking noise with his teeth, then turned to Jiraiya. "Let's just get this done." (3)

Jiraiya nodded again. "Alright. When you say invade, what sort of area are you talking about?"

"Konoha, and the area that surrounds it, will be left untouched. Current plans are to annex approximately half of Fire Country." he hesitated for a second. "Make sure that Naruto is aware of that fact."

"Was there any way that this could have been avoided?"

"No. It was a direct order from the Wind Daimyo. All I could do was limit Suna's expansion."

"How much did they want?"

"All of it."

"What about the people who live there?" Jiraiya said.

"There will be little change. The only difference will be the recipient of their taxes."

"And you want, what, our assistance in ensuring the transition?"

"I would appreciate it. It is my belief that doing so could help avoid unnecessary bloodshed."

"Is that a condition of our resettlement?"

"No. It's a request. In fact, someday I hope that those lands can be returned to Konoha control."

Jiraiya gave a whistle. "Is that so? You know, if anyone from your own village heard you say that..."

"I know. That's why I'm only saying it to you." Gaara turned back to Jiraiya. "Takigakure is probably going to invade Fire Country before the year is out. As I'm sure you know, such a transition would not be nearly as peaceful as the one that I hope for. Should Takigakure fail, there are a dozen other villages waiting in the wings. My proposal is the only possible way Konoha might be able to retain any significant portion of its land for future generations."

"...Alright." After a long pause, Jiraiya spoke. "Alright. Is there anything else you can do for us without crossing the line?"

Gaara almost sighed in relief. The fact that Jiraiya was able to comprehend the impossible situation he had been put in was an incredible reassurance. Not even Kankuro got it, not fully, and Gaara didn't want Jiraiya as an enemy.

"There are a few things." He'd had to be subtle, but he'd been able to slip a few things past. The fact that he had to slip things past people he should be able to overrule was humiliating in of itself, but he'd done his best. "Food and water supplies. Blankets. Medical care for any of your people who get sick. It's not much, but..."

"It's the best you could do. Yeah, I got it." Jiraiya said.

"I must say, you're being remarkably calm about this." Gaara said. "Aren't you angry?"

"Oh, livid." Jiraiya said, giving him a small smile. "But honestly, what would getting angry at you solve? I get the position you're in, and I can see that you've done the best that you can for us. Someone has to appreciate it. Besides, we've got several dozen shinobi with us. I'm sure that we can fix up our living conditions pretty quickly. We'll live."

"I appreciate it."

"Good." Jiraiya stretched out, then rubbed his hands together. "I guess we should get on with figuring out the logistics, then."

"I suppose we should." Gaara reached into his coat, and pulled out a notebook. "The first thing that requires immediate consideration is..."

There had been no selfishness in Naruto's plea, no guile or manipulation. His friend truly cared only for the fate of his people, and that somehow made it a thousand times worse. Because even if he wanted to, he couldn't grant Naruto's request. The rest of Suna didn't care about him. They cared about making sure that the people of Konoha weren't better off then themselves, and if Gaara tried to take that away from them, he was finished. Gaara had done everything that he could. He had done everything in his power to help Naruto, and he would not allow himself to feel guilty or ashamed about the way things had turned out. It stung, but the hurt would pass.

He had made the best choices available to him, and no matter how events progressed from now on, he would face them with a clean conscience. (3E)

xXx

Omake: Bear (Canon)

(Eastern Wastelands - Land of Rain) (4)

A great clap of thunder split the sky, and Hanzo of the Salamander rolled over onto his back and stared up at the ceiling.

The Land of Rain had decided to live up to its name. Great torrents of ice-cold water were pouring from the sky, and generally making the country an extremely unpleasant place to live in. For most people, anyway. Hanzo didn't mind that much.

He'd found himself a nice droughty cave to hole up in, and was currently trying to sleep on the delightful stone floor. The process was certainly toughening him up, though he still had a long way to go before he'd be back to his former glory.

"Pffft."

Suddenly, the sound of a loud snort reached his ears. Immediately, Hanzo flipped himself over onto his stomach and focused his attention on the area immediately outside his cave.

A brown, furry shape of gigantic proportions was approaching the cave, plodding slowly through the rain. It was a Shimura bear, with huge, muscular limbs, black eyes and a slightly elongated snout, and it seemed to be looking for a refuge out of the cold.

Suddenly, the bear saw him. It stopped, then pushed back onto its legs and stood up to full height. It was easily the biggest Shimura Hanzo had ever seen, almost four and a half meters tall. It probably had a summon in its ancestry somewhere.

Hanzo stood up, twirling the curved end of his kusarigama in lazy arcs. One strike. That's all it would take. A simple cut to the...

Hanzo took another look at the bear, then back at his kusarigama. His swings slowed, then stopped, the chain dangling limp in his hand.

Hanzo tossed the weapon to the ground, then spread his empty hands out wide.

He didn't need it. Not anymore.

The bear seemed to grin, revealing a set of razor-sharp white teeth.

Hanzo grinned back, then took a step backwards and took off in a charge, straight towards the bear.

The bear fell down onto its front legs and took off in a running charge, straight towards him.

Hanzo drew his fist back.

"HYYYYYYYAAAAAAAA!"

"ROOOOOAAAARRRR!" (4E)

xXx

What happens next? Will Hanzo be killed by a bear? Find out next time, on the next thrilling installment of...

Actually no, screw it. No, Hanzo does not get killed by a bear. That would be stupid.

There was going to be an extra short scene at the end where Naruto arrived back at the convoy, but it didn't really fit with what was already there, so it got scrapped.

So hey, it's going well for Gaara, huh? Sorry this took so long, I had to go be in another country for a few weeks. The next chapter is already in production though, so that's good. And at least Hanzo seems to be havin' a good time, wrestlin' bears and sleeping in caves and whatnot.

Yep, unfortunately, this is one situation where Naruto being extremely melodramatic and trying to 'take all the hatred onto himself' isn't really a viable option. Which is a pity, because it's a pretty noble sentiment.

It's not just Suna and Konoha, exciting and terrible events are in process all over the continent! That'll be explored in an upcoming chapter.

I suppose invasion isn't really the right word for what's going to happen between Wind and Fire. It's more like a change in leadership. Most of the ordinary people aren't even going to be affected at all. It's a pity that Fire Country is such a convenient target, but Lightning is too far away and Stone is bordered by angry smaller villages and filled with foreign incursions and Iwa-on-Iwa conflicts. Plus, with Fire they can just slip though the Land of Rivers.

I did a few substantial rewrites for this chapter that I'm not too sure about, so if anything seems out of place, let me know so that I can fix it in future.

To tell the truth, I've actually experienced this sort of anti-refugee sentiment myself. I live in Australia, which you may or may not recognize as a country that violates international law (UN) regularly in its treatment of refugees. Last year, there was public outrage over the fact that the houses that newly-arrived refugees were being settled in were too nice. Asylum seekers have been known to develop psychological conditions from merely being in Australia's detention centers. The current prime minister has termed the influx of refugees as being a "national emergency". So whether you think it's justified or not (and whatever your opinion is, we're still cool), this sort of feeling is present.

Just to recap, next chapter = Pakura, Asuma, Zabuza. The one after that: Tobi's recruiting drive. I promise.

Failed Reset is brought to you by the letter S: For Suna!

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