Hello everybody, thesaiyanjedi is back yet again with the latest chapter of "Shinachiku's First Adventure!"
I always feel the need to thank you guys for sticking with this story throughout all of it's delays and development; you guys truly are the ones that make the whole thing worth it!
That being said, I should warn you up front that this chapter is going to be very different than previous chapters. You'll find out why as you read it, but be warned that it gets pretty heavy and dark as it goes on, especially at one point a little over two thirds of the way through.
With that said, lets get to reading!
Chapter 25: Land of Confusion
It was in the wee hours of the day that Uragi Rimonō finally finished his paperwork for the day and was at last ready to retire. Clocking out, he left the office and made his way to the Hokage residence, former home of the first six kage's until the Seventh refused to take up residence there in favor of living in his family's colossal estate.
That home...a symbol of the Hokage's opulence...his arrogance...his corruption and inability to relate to the common man.
'Uzumaki...They call you the savior of the world...You call yourself the one who will end the cycle of hatred...What a fool you are! You want to protect the world, to save it, but you're not doing what needs to be done to change it. As long as the Kage system exists...as long as this ninja world exists, there can never be peace.'
As he made his way back to his residence, Uragi noticed some of the looks that the villagers were giving him. For every look of respect they gave him for his current rank and authority, others scolded him for everything that has happened these last few days. After all, his decision to put the entire village on lockdown following the Seventh's escape has put a lot of ninja families out of work.
'Soon...soon they will all understand. The Seventh Hokage, the Fifth Kazekage, the Fourth Tsuchikage, the Sixth Mizukage, the Fifth Raikage...ALL of them shall be the last of their dynasties, and with them gone Taka can finally start this world anew. Taka can show them the true path to peace, to order. Soon we will be ready to dig our hands in and clear away the filth that this world is too blind to see with it's illusion of peace and love.'
He at last made it back to his home. Uragi hated using this place, but it was necessary to keep up the Hokage image until the time was right to change things. As he put away his stuff and unwinded, he poured himself a glass of sake and sat in his chair.
He allowed his mind to drift to days past. He remembered a time when he was much younger than he was now. It was the day he left the village in search of whatever it was that he had been missing...
"Well, I suppose this is it."
An old man with long white hair tied in a pony tail and wearing a horned forehead protector with the kanji for 'oil' on it looked at the black-haired man before him now.
"Uragi," the old man said, "are you sure that you need to do this? Wouldn't you at least like to stay until after the Chūnin Exams?"
"I'm afraid not Jiraiya. I can't explain it, but I just don't feel like I belong here right now. I feel like something in this world is out of whack...Like something's missing. And I know that I'm not going to find the answers here in Konoha."
"Well be that as it may, I've secured arrangements with the Third so that you may be able to pick up and reclaim your place as a shinobi and citizen whenever you should return."
"I appreciate that old friend." Uragi hesitated for a moment because he was fully aware what was on the Toad Sage's mind. "I want you to know that you don't need to worry about me, alright? I promise that I'm not going to end up like Orochimaru."
"I'm hope not, for your own sake."
"Oh by the way, have you heard from Tsunade lately?"
The old man glared at the Rimonō in annoyance, "Uragi, you know full well that I haven't spoken to her in years. Loosing her brother and her lover was just too much for her so she took Dan's niece and skipped town."
"I'm just saying, I know how much she meant to you..."
"There's no sense in dwelling on the past, all we can do is learn from it so we may forge a better future."
Uragi grinned, "Truer words have never been said." As he was about to leave, the black-haired man stopped again as he remembered something else. "In speaking of the future, have you gotten in touch with the Fourth's son yet?"
"Naruto? No not yet...I get the feeling that we'll cross paths soon enough though."
"Are you planning on telling him the truth when that day comes?"
"...No."
Uragi looked shocked. "But Jiraiya, they were his parents—"
"Which is exactly why I think its better he doesn't know yet, not until he's ready."
"I don't understand."
Jiraiya sighed, "I've heard rumors about that boy; he's loud, stupid, impatient, a bit arrogant, and he's desperate to prove himself. If all of that is true then that kid's got a long way to go before he's mature enough to know the truth about who his parent's were. And my instincts tell me that his sensei feels the same way...Besides, the Third ordered that the boy's heritage be kept a secret anyway, for his own safety."
"...Maybe...Still, it seems cruel to have to keep a child's own heritage a secret from him. Just to be clear, you do plan on telling him one day right?"
"When he's ready for it, yes."
"...Oh well then, I guess I'd better get going. What are you going to do now Jiraiya?"
The old man suddenly got a very perverted expression on his face. "Well...I was thinking of stopping by the bath house to get in some research for my next book."
Uragi merely groaned and shook his head. "You know, one of these days your perverted actions are going to land you in some really hot water. Well, see you later."
With that, the man left the village of his birth with no clear idea of what the future held for him or where he was going the find the answers he sought. All he knew was that his answers were somewhere out there, and his soul would never be at piece until after they were found...
It was months later, and Uragi was renting a room for the night in a small inn near the Hidden Cloud Village. He was sitting at a table eating his meal when he heared some sort of commotion going on at a nearby table.
Curious, he decided to walk up to the group of complete strangers as they were having their discussion. "Excuse me gentlemen, but what exactly are you taking about?"
One of the men turned to face Uragi and replied, "Beat it."
"Hey! That wasn't very nice," the other man said as he turned to look at Uragi. "I'm sorry about me friend here, he's a bit drunk."
"It's quite alright. So what were you two talking about, may I ask?"
"We were talking about the rumors that have come out of the Leaf Vilalge recently."
Uragi raised an eyebrow, "What rumors?"
"Word has it that the Uchiha kid betrayed his entire village to join with Orochimaru."
Uragi's eyes widened, "What?! Why?!"
"Rumor is that he wanted to gain more power to get back at his brother for wiping out his clan."
Uragi's overreaction softened at that. 'Of course, how could I forget that night?! It was the worst tragedy the Leaf has had to endure since the Nine Tails attacked...Itachi Uchiha, Anbu Black Op, pride of the Uchiha clan...the man who ruthlessly butchered his own family in cold blood. No wonder that boy wanted revenge, but to turn full traitor, especially to go to scum like Orochimaru...'
"Hey buddy! Are you alright?"
"Huh? Oh yeah, sorry about that. My mind kind of zoned out for a second there. Thank you both for your time."
"Whatever," the drunken man said. "Now get lost."
It was years later, two to be precise, since Uragi left the village and he had learned of Sasuke Uchiha's betrayal. He was wandering the western borders of the Land of Wind, trekking through the dunes of sand.
He was struggling just to keep his eyes open amid all of the dirt and sand that was blowing in his face, making it a challenge just to walk, yet alone see.
And then he did see something. It was a shape in the distance that he could barely make out, but it resembled the form of a man. A tall man with a fit-yet-thin form that looked like he was wearing some sort of cloak. A cloak with red clouds printed on it.
The stranger approached Uragi amidst the sand storm and spoke coldly to him. "What brings you out here stranger?"
Uragi did not know if he should reply, in fact, it was probably wise that he didn't. But there was something about this man that made him feel as though he could be trusted, something almost hypnotic in his eyes...
"My name is Uragi, and I have come from the Hidden Leaf Village in search of answers."
"And to what questions do you seek the answers to?"
"...I do not know. I suppose...to why the world is such a mess."
"A mess?"
"Yes. My...my parents were both killed on a mission outside of the village when I was just a boy...killed by my own uncle. Many of my friends were killed by the Nine-Tailed Fox when it attacked the village. One of the Legendary Sannin, Orochimaru, betrayed my village to gain power, and now the last of the Uchiha clan has chosen to join him all just to get revenge on his brother. I cannot make sense of any of it."
The stranger merely stared at the black-haired man before him with no expression before his spoke again. "Perhaps you and I should have a talk."
The sound of a bird squawking could be heard overhead. The two men looked up to see a large hawk circling them in the air, as if it were looking for it' latest prey.
"Funny thing about hawks," the stranger said, "they can be some of the most savage hunters in the animal kingdom, but once domesticated they can also be your closest friend. Someone once said to me that when they take flight on their mighty wings it represents the wings of change. There's another name that some call hawks by also...taka."
"Who...Who are you?" Uragi asked this in the slightest bit of intimidation as he only now noticed the short red hair and the disturbing piercings that adorned the stranger's face.
"My name is Pain, and I am of the Akatsuki."
"...Never heard of it."
"Then we clearly should have a talk. I have a vision for this world that perhaps you would be interested in. Perhaps you may even be willing to consider me a friend."
Uragi hesitated, "I-I should let you know that I don't trust people easily...And I don't take well to treachery either."
The man who called himself Pain extended his hand. "Do not be timid. I can promise you that I will not betray you..."
"That bastard!"
Uragi was in a run down apartment in the Hidden Stone Village, getting drunk on bottles of cheap sake, one of which he threw against the wall of his apartment, breaking the glass and sending shards all over the floor.
'He gave me his word! He said he had a plan to make the world a better place! He never said anything about destroying the damned village! He never proposed GENOCIDE! I could never become a monster like that! NEVER!'
He threw another empty bottle against the wall, shattering it as well. He then slumped in his chair and sobbed. Pain's near-destruction of the village was not the only reason he was so depressed...He had heard another rumor too. Pain had betrayed his trust and killed one of his few friends, and it was a friend he wasn't even especially close to as it was.
'Jiraiya...old friend...I'm sorry. If I somehow had known...I would have killed that Akatsuki bastard right then!'
There was a loud bang on the door. "Go away," Uragi yelled.
"Stop throwing things against the wall and I will," a voice outside the door said. Uragi recognized it as his current landlord.
"What do you want?" Uragi shouted rudely.
"I want to know why you are wrecking one of the rooms under my lease, that's what I want! And if I don't like your reasoning, I might just have to throw you out of here smartass!"
Uragi groaned, loudly, as he got up and opened the door, revealing his ticked-off landlord on the other side.
"If you must know," Uragi said in drunken sarcasm, "I'm throwing bottles against the wall because I'm pissed off. And I'm pissed off because someone I once thought was a friend nearly wiped out my home village."
The landlord looked at his tenant is shock. "You...you've gotta be kidding me! You're telling me you're friends with the Pain guy that just wiped out the Leaf Village!"
Uragi sat back down at the table and poured himself another drink. "Sort of...as much as I ever allow myself to become friends with anybody."
"Well," the landlord began, "than you might be happy to know that the red-headed bastard was killed by a Leaf ninja."
That revelation snapped Uragin to full attention. "What?! Who?! Was it the Fifth Hokage?"
"No."
"Well then it had to be Kakashi Hatake; I can't think of anybody else that would have been powerful enough."
"No, actually it was some genin who did it."
"A genin? Defeat Pain? That's impossible!"
"Hey, its what I've heard! They say the kid's name is, um, what was it? Naru-something. Uzu-something else I can't remember—"
"Naruto Uzumaki," the black-haired man said in realization.
"Yea, that's his name! How'd you know?"
"Another friend of mine talked to me about him once...Thank you sir, I feeling better now, and I sorry about any damage I may have done to the room."
"Bah! Don't worry about it! Just try not to break anything else in here alright!"
With that, the landlord left and Uragi was left alone in the apartment to contemplate his own thoughts.
'Come to think of it, Jiraiya did talk to me once about some crazy story he heard once. Something about a 'Child of Prophecy' that would one day rid the world of the cycle of hatred...Maybe that's it? Maybe that's the answer? Maybe Naruto is the one! Maybe he can finally wipe this world clean of the cesspool it has become.'
He was about to take another drink, but he decided against it, instead leaning back in his chair with a smile. "Minato, you should be proud of your son. He is going to change this world in ways you can't imagine."
It was a mere days later that Uragi had heard yet another rumor coming out of the Leaf Village. It concerned a certain two-faced elder and the leader of a secret organization called Root.
His name was Danzō Shimura, and he was an embodiment of everything that Uragi hated. He was old, scheming, obsessed with power, and had his hands in pretty much everything bad that went on inside the Leaf. Often his moves for gaining power came at the expense of everyone else, and Uragi hated that.
Uragi would never, NEVER become a monster like that...!
The stories he had heard were that Danzō was killed by the traitor Sasuke Uchiha, whom Danzō had personally come to kill for his crimes rather than allow him to be taken back to the village to stand a fair trial.
'What do you know,' Uragi thought, 'I suppose I owe that Sasuke kid something after all...Maybe things can finally get back on the right track? Maybe this is a sign that the world is finally heading towards a better place?'
War! It was a word that everyone in the world hated and feared whenever it was uttered. Over the course of this world's history it has seen no less than three world wars fought between the five great ninja villages, and now it had seen yet another.
For Uragi Rimonō, the Fourth Great Shinobi War was a big fat slap in the face to every, EVERYTHING that he wanted to see this world grow and become! The only difference was that this time, instead of the five nations at war with each other, this time it was all five of them fighting together to stop some all-powerful threat in the form of those bastard Akatsuki.
It should have made him feel better, but it didn't. Death was death. A lot of families had lost loved ones. A lot of villages lost some of their heroes. Loss...nothing but loss.
And the worst part? At the heart of all of it was the so-called 'Child of Prophecy.' Naruto Uzumaki not only fought in this war but, apparently, he was one of the main reasons that war was fought at all!
'What a waste! What arrogance! What stupidity! What a complete disregard for one's destiny! That boy was meant to bring an end to this world's suffering, not aid in it!'
The stories that came in after the end of the war claimed that after some nonsense about defeating an ancient rabbit goddess, the blonde-haired young man and his former black-haired friend, Sasuke Uchiha again, had fought at the Valley of the End, for the second time supposedly, and each of them came out of that battle loosing an arm.
'Good! Let that be a lesson to both of those little shits! Whether you betray your village or betray your destiny, traitors all deserve to be punished...!'
...But they weren't. Not long after the war ended and all of the ninja returned home, Uchiha was apparently acquitted of his crimes and went back out into the wilderness again as a free man...and it was all thanks to Uzumaki's support of him! The blonde-haired brat even got himself a brand new arm out of it too, one grown out of Hashirama's cells. And to top it all off, that Nine-Tailed hell spawn got himself promoted to Chūnin without ever taking the fucking exam, got together with some pink-haired harlot that used to be all over the Uchiha boy, and now was living out of some stupidly lavish house, no, palace that he inherited from his parents!
And did he deserve any of it? NO! In truth, Naruto Uzumaki represented everything that was wrong with the world today. He coasted through life, he climbed a ladder of violence and death, all the while claiming to be some great hero, and now that he's gotten what he wanted he indulges himself in his own success at the total expense of everyone else!
Naruto was a fraud! Plain and simple, that boy was a fraud...'Child of Prophecy' indeed...
...And yet something else about that battle was weighing heavily on Uragi's mind. Uchiha had apparently plotted to bring an end to the world's cycle of hatred himself. Only he had someone directly to blame for it all...The Kages, all of them!
'The Kages make the world what it is. As long as the ninja system exists at all, the cycle of hatred, the cycle of violence and death care never hope to end.'
This had been on Uragi's mind for hours. Uchiha may have been a no-good traitor and a criminal, but for once a criminal's words made sense to him.
He needed to get out of where he was currently staying, and soon! He needed to see more of the world. He needed to know first-hand what the world really was coming to now that the war was over and what kind of world, what 'new era of peace' Uzumaki was working to create...
...What Uragi found over the last several months was almost the exact opposite of peace.
Scratch that, peace was alive and well, supposedly. None of the ninja villages were angry with one another. Friends were made among all sides, there were even a few intermarriages popping up.
Yes, politically everything was fine...On the streets, on the ground level however...that was a different story. What he saw, once he looked past the sunshine and rainbows and all the happy families, was that there was still an under layer of crime, theft, discord, murder, rape... Evil, just plain evil.
At one point, Uragi had picked up a newspaper and read a story that changed everything forever. It was a story about a man who never knew his family as they were murdered soon after he was born. The man was taken in by a godfather that taught him the ways of the ninja, but who would get drunk and abuse him in horrible ways that would make anyone who heard them sick to their stomach. So it was for years, until finally, the man, who was merely a boy then, was forced to kill his own godfather in self defense.
The boy grew up into a man, a fierce warrior that thrived on death, representing everything he hated. And so he traveled alone until he made friends with a band of traveling mercenaries whom took him in and became his friends, especially their leader. It was while among this group that he met a woman and fell in love, ultimately leaving the mercenary life to settle down and start a family.
And so his role in this world's cycle of death would come to an end...Until that terrible day when the mercenary leader went mad and betrayed his old friend by storming into his home, beating the man to a pulp, pinning him in a trap from which he was unable to escape, raped the man's wife and then murdered both her and their children...Then when it was all over, he merely left the man to wallow in his own grief...
...The man took his own life within the hour...
When Uragi had read that story, he had had enough! More than enough! He was not going to live in a world where such evil could exist, where such disorder could lie just beneath the surface of this so-called 'era of peace.'
This world, and all the people in it, all the powers, all the governments, it was too much. Too many men, too many people, too many problems, and he could see little love in any of it. Instead, all it left him with was confusion...confusion...
I must have dreamed a thousand dreams
Been haunted by a million screams
But I can hear the marching feet
They're moving into the street
Now did you read the news today?
They say the danger's gone away
But I can see the fire's still alight
They're burning into the night
There's too many men, too many people
Making too many problems
And not much love to go round
Can't you see, this is a land of confusion?
This is the world we live in
And these are the hands we're given
Use them and let's start trying
To make it a place worth living in
Ooh Superman where are you now?
When every thing's gone wrong somehow
The men of steel, these men of power
Are losing control by the hour
This is the time, this is the place
So we look for the future
But there's not much love to go round
Tell me why, this is a land of confusion?
This is the world we live in
And these are the hands we're given
Use them and let's start trying
To make it a place worth living in
I remember long ago
Ooh when the sun was shining
Yes and the stars were bright
All through the night
And the sound of your laughter
In the wake of this madness
As I held you tight
So long ago
I won't be coming home tonight
My generation will put it right
We're not just making promises
That we know, we'll never keep
Too many men, there's too many people
Making too many problems
And not much love to go round
Can't you see, this is a land of confusion?
Now this is the world we live in
And these are the hands we're given
Use them and let's start trying
To make it a place worth fighting for
This is the world we live in
And these are the names we're given
Stand up and let's start showing
Just where our lives are going to
And so here he was. Uragi Rimonō was poised to take his own life, out on the very same desert lands where he had met Pain years before, only to experience one of a myriad of betrayals in his life.
But that didn't matter anymore. Nothing did. Uzumaki, Uchiha, all of them! They could keep this disorderly world. He was done with it!
And so he held the kunai up to his throat and thrust it forward...
...Only it never made contact. His arms were being held back.
He looked up to see a hooded figure preventing him from making his escape from this world.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," the stranger said.
Uragi was furious, "Go away! Leave me alone!"
"You're lost. You have so much to live for. You have seen life for what it really is and because of that you can effect real change."
"Don't! I have been betrayed too many times in my life already!"
"I have not come to betray you Uragi Rimonō. I have come to make you an offer."
Uragi relaxed long enough to put the kunai down and stare at the hooded stranger in suspicion. "Are you from the Akatsuki?"
"No. I come to you as a friend, something you seem to be in short supply of it seems."
"What do you want from me?"
"I represent an organization, one that is neither loyal to any of the Allied Shinobi Nations nor are enemies of any of them."
"So what are you then?"
"If you require a classification of some kind, think of us as a secret society. We exist in the shadows, influencing things from within. We are working to bring the established order down from the inside, beneath even the five kage's blind notice. We are hatching a plan to finally bring about that change, to establish a new world order as it is meant to be, to bring discipline to all of the chaos..." The stranger smirked beneath his hood, "...Something that Naruto Uzumaki has utterly failed to do."
The utterance of that name sent a cold shiver down Uragi's spine. "And just how do you plan to do this?"
"There are...relics in this world. Powerful relics that date as far back as the dawn of the ninja age itself but which history itself has forgotten. It is by finding them these that we will hatch our plan. We have leaders and agents that we are planting throughout all of the five great hidden villages, and we believe that you, Uragi Rimonō, would be perfect to lead our infiltration of Konohagakure."
Uragi had to admit, this stranger, whoever he was, had captured his interest. "And what are these 'relics' exactly?"
"I'll show you."
The stranger held out his right fist, palm facing upwards, and opened his hand to reveal a strange blue gem, one that glowed with a hypnotic blue light. It was entrancing, beautiful, and it was seriously getting into the black-haired man's head.
As quickly as Uragi saw it, the stranger closed his hand up again, snapping the deeply troubled man out of whatever stupor he had just been in.
"Do you understand now?"
"Yeah...What was that thing?"
The stranger spoke again. "The key to changing this world, one of seven. Together, we will all set the mighty bird free and take flight on the wings of real change.
The hooded stranger then brought his right fist into his chest in a sort of salute. "HAIL TAKA!"
Uragi remembered that word. It was said by one who had betrayed him years ago, but the metaphor he had used still stuck with him regardless.
He was not a monster, he was a revolutionary. He would not take his life today. Why would he when he was destined to bring about real change not only for the Leaf Village but for the entire world?
Facing the stranger and grinning like a madman, he stood straight and stiff and brought his right fist into his own chest. "HAIL TAKA!"
It was a year since the end of the war and at the gate of Konoha, a hooded stranger came into view. The two security guards, Kotetsu Hagane and Izumo Kamizuki, stopped the man dead in his tracks.
"Halt! Who goes there?" Izumo demanded.
"Uragi Rimonō."
"Who?" Kotetsu asked in confusion.
"I am a former resident of this village that left on a quest for enlightenment shortly before Orochimaru's attack and the unfortunate death of the Third Hokage. Master Jiraiya, rest his soul, made arrangements so that I may be able to pick up the remnants of my old life if I should ever return."
"And why have you returned?" Izumo asked.
"My quest is done and I have seen the world for what it is. I am at peace now and I am ready to return home."
The two shinobi looked to each other before turning back to the man. Kotetsu spoke for them, "We think that it is for the best that you take this up with Lord Hokage sir. Please follow us and we will escort you."
"No need, I can still remember the way to the Academy. I look forward to speaking with Lady Tsunade."
"Actually sir," Izumo corrected, "Lady Tsunade retired from her post a year ago. Kakashi Hatake is the Hokage now."
"Oh really?" Uragi asked surprised. "That is news to me. Very well then, I will see him at once then. Thank you."
Several minutes later, Uragi had arrived at the Academy and approached the front desk where the Hokage's personal assistant, Shizune, sat.
"Excuse me m'lady, but I would like to have a word with the Sixth Hokage if you don't mind?"
"Do you have an appointment?"
"No, but the guards at the front gate said that in order to renew my residency here it was best that I take my business directly to the Sixth."
"Oh...alright. What is your name sir?"
"Uragi Rimonō."
"I'll let the Hokage know you are here. Please take a seat."
"Thank you my dear."
It was only a few minutes later that she came back and told Uragi that the Hoakge would see him now. He climbed up the staircase and knocked on the door to Kakashi's office.
"Come in," the former Copy Ninja said from the other side. The door opened and the black-haired gentleman stepped in. "Uragi I presume?"
"Yes m'lord. I am—"
"I know, I know. My assistant told me your name and one of the front gate guards informed me in advance of why you were here."
Uragi chuckled, "Leaf Village Ninja always were expedient."
Kakashi leaned back in his chair, "You know, Master Jiraiya was a good friend of mine, and he brought up once that he had a friend who moved away from the village on an enlightenment quest...but he didn't say much else." He eyed the man in his office suspiciously for only a moment, "It is an honor to finally meet you sir."
"Arigato Lord Hokage."
Suddenly, there was another knock on Kakashi's door. "Come in!"
The door opened and in stepped a young man, about eighteen years old, with short blonde hair, blue eyes and three whisker-like markings on either side of his face. He wore a pair of orange pants, black sandals, a black jacket with orange trim, and a black Leaf Village headband. His right hand was completely covered in gauze bandages.
"Kakashi-sensei, I came by for my latest mission briefing..." The young man then noticed the other occupant in the room. "Oh...hello?"
Uragi had to fight to hold his lunch down at the sight of the person before him now. There were so many things that he wanted to say to this boy...But no, if this plan was going to work then it was going to require patience...lots of patience. For right now, good old fashioned manners and the fine art of deception were required.
"It is a pleasure to meet you young man."
"Naruto, this is Uragi Rimonō, a former resident of this village that has returned after six years. Uragi, this is—"
"That's alright Lord Hokage, I know exactly who this is."
Uragi noticed a curious, somewhat clueless look on the boy's face...yet another thing that irritated him now that he was standing in his presence.
"Naruto Uzumaki," Uragi began, "I've heard a great deal about you while traveling the world. You seem to have made quite a name for yourself."
The blonde jinchūriki rubbed the back of his head and grinned, "Well, I try not to brag but—"
"I was a friend of Master Jiraiya. As his final student and the son of the Foruth Hokage, we all expect great things from you young man...I would be an honor to consider you a friend of mine as well." He stuck out his hand and Naruto, in total ignorance, shook it and smiled.
"Thanks, it was great to meet you too sir!"
'Look at him,' Uragi thought. 'That ignorant smile, that blissful demeanor...This fraud doesn't deserve to lick the dust off my shoes!'
The two men let go of each other's hands and Uragi bowed to the Hokage. "Lord Sixth, Naruto, I bid you farewell."
As he left the office he could hear Naruto and Kakashi getting down to their own business. There was also some comment made about Uragi's polite manners, but he couldn't have cared less about any of that. But as he went down the stairs to the exit, he noticed a young shinobi about Naruto's age sitting in a chair rather impatiently. He had a youthful yet rugged face for his age and had dark brown hair and eyes.
The shinobi noticed Uragi looking at him. "What do you want?"
"Oh nothing, don't mind me. Are you here to see the Hokage?"
"Yeah, but I doubt it'll matter any."
"Oh? What does that mean?"
"The old man hardly lets me do any missions anymore. And I'm good, I know I'm good! Hell, I could probably make Anbu if given the chance! But no, instead he keeps seeing that Uzumaki guy all the time..." It was only then that the shinobi realized what he had just said. "Oh God! I'm sorry! Please don't tell Lord Sixth that I said that!"
Uragi grinned slightly, "Its quite alright. My lips are sealed."
The shinobi relaxed somewhat, "Y'know, sometimes I wonder if anything we do here is really making a difference or not. I mean, we're only a year after a major war, but there's still crime and other crap out there to deal with. I wonder...I wish I could know for sure whether or not we were really doing anything to make any real change."
Uragi looked at the young ninja in interest. "What is your name son?"
The young shinobi looked at him, "Odaku."
"Well Odaku," Uragi said grinning as he placed a hand on the young man's shoulder, "I think you and I should have a talk..."
All of that was a long time ago, and now here Uragi was in the Hokage's residence, of all places, fulfilling his role as the time for the pending revolution was underway.
Of course, there were still the loose ends of the Seventh, his wife, their children, the Uchiha, and all of their allies that needed to be dealt with...Come to think of it, there were a lot of loose ends left to deal with.
But no matter! That would all have to be tomorrow's problem. For now, it was time to rest after a hard day's work and look forward to the Kage's Summit.
'Soon, very soon it will finally be time. All the waiting, all the filth, all the chaos, all of it will come to an end soon.'
As Uragi laid in his bed and prepared to sleep, he said two words aloud, words that he has been saying in private company over and over again for years and now, on the brink of victory, meant more than they ever did before. "Hail Taka."
There you go! That concludes another chapter!
I realize that this was probably not what a lot of you were expecting, but in the interest of good storytelling, I felt that it was something that I would have to deal with at some point, that being the origins and motivations of our villain. So, much like how I devoted Chapter 11 entirely to fleshing out all of Naruto and Sakura's friends and kept them and their son out of it entirely, I decided that the best way to flesh out Uragi's story arc was to just devote the whole thing to it's own chapter.
Frankly, I'm not even sure how well it came out as I had to figure all of this out on the fly as I wrote it. I hope I got his downward progression down and how he kept looking at all of the wrong things which blinded him to how much better the world really was now...Or is it any better? Consider that debate fuel to do with as you please.
I warned you that things were going to get really dark about two-thirds of the way through, and what material gets darker that rape and suicide?! I want to say right now that both of these topics are extremely serious and it was never my intention to make light of them in ANY WAY whatsoever! I hope that this chapter, somehow, can serve as a cautionary warning against such behavior in our society or inspire others into action or intervention if they personally know someone who is currently going through, or whom then even suspect is going through, either of these issues.
Incidentally, the horrific story that Uragi read about in the newspaper was inspired by the origins of Guts from "Berserk." If you've ever read that series or seen the anime (or even watched the recent Guts vs. Nightmare episode of "Death Battle") then you'd know just how dark and horrific Gut's back story is and what unforgivable things Griffith did to him. And in a world where such evil things like that can happen, is it really any wonder why Taka believes that a new world order is required?
It has been a long time since I included another song in this story, and this time I chose quite an unconventional one: "Land of Confusion" by Phil Collins and Genesis, later covered by Disturbed. I love the original Genesis version of this song, especially the unforgettable music video done with the puppets from "Spitting Image" (even though I fully admit that it might be nightmare fuel for some folks), and the Disturbed cover with it's own video animated by Todd McFarlane (yes, the same Todd McFarlane who founded Image Comics and created Spawn) is a terrific track as well.
I do realize that I have perverted the original intention of the song to a certain extent. Both the Genesis version and the Disturbed version were meant as anthems against governmental corruption in one form or another. Here, it still serve taht purpose, except that they guy thinking these things just happens to be our VILLAIN!
Oh yeah, and in case you didn't catch it, the day that Uragi first left the village was meant to be the same day that Naruto and Jiraiya first met, hence his reference to heading to the baths to do 'research.'
That's about all I've got for this time. I hope you all liked it, and if you did please feel free to leave a comment.
Until next time, HAIL TAKA!