Authors Note: Time to get to Iwagakure, I'm surprised I got to this point. Also, I realized that I mixed up the voice of Chomei with Saiken, so I'm just going to fix that in this chapter with a twist.
Disclaimer: I obviously do not own Naruto, the world, the characters or any of the situations. All of these belong to the creator Masashi Kishimoto.
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Chapter 17
Traitors of Iwa
The bountiful geography and life of Takigakure eventually faded as more rocky terrain took over, leading to the Land of Earth. Approaching the border of the rocky landscape, they observed the tall rocky spikes that created the natural border.
"That looks so cool!" Naruto said while walking through the rocky columns with the others, eyes beaming and full of life.
"Yeah, but be careful, you never know what could happen kid." Yagura chastised from up ahead, planning their next course of action.
Fu was near the back, with Yugito and Gaara. She was strangely quiet as she had been the last few days after leaving Takigakure. Most of the other jinchuuriki assumed she was feeling a little homesick and thus tried to help. However, she was not homesick, which was what she said so they backed off after some time.
What she was heavily pondering as they travelled, was the issue of her mother and Chomei. The past few days Fu had tried to reach out to her tenant, who had been silent ever since Shibuki told her the story of her mother.
The group of jinchuuriki settled to camp in the rocky stalactite border for the night, leaving most of them to their own devices. Fu sat in her tent with Gaara and Naruto who were both fast asleep trying once more to reach the seven tails.
"Chomei? Chomei come on! I want to talk to you." She bugged insistently with worry and concern.
Lately she was getting no response, just empty silence and more silence and echoes from the surroundings. Just when the young jinchuuriki was about to give up again and get some sleep, the seven tails responded.
"Hello Fu." It simply said quietly, without it's usual high pitch.
"Chomei! Wait, what happened to your voice?" Fu questioned at the sudden pitch drop, Chomei's voice was now deep and scraggly, unlike what Fu had heard for the past eight years.
"I really don't feel like keeping up that voice for now Fu." Chomei replied in a quiet tired tone.
"Keeping it up? You mean it's not what you usually sound like?" The shocked jinchuuriki asked.
"No, I usually sound like how I am now. I keep the voice you've usually heard as most jinchuuriki seem to like it better, plus it lets their guard down around me." The seven tails explained.
"Can we please talk now Chomei? You haven't been saying anything the last few days and I'm worried." Fu asked somber.
"I've been somewhat worried about what you would be thinking of me, you're my first jinchuuriki to be genuinely nice to me after all this time." Chomei admitted guiltily.
"You're talking about what Uncle Shibuki told me earlier, about my mama?" The mint haired girl questioned to confirm.
"Yes that." The bug like beast affirmed quietly.
"I want to hear from you about it first Chomei." Fu said with serious finality.
"I understand Fu." Chomei went and began recounting the story of Fu's mother.
When they were done telling the story, full of regret and shame, Fu was silent. The beast did not think that their jinchuuriki would like them anymore.
"So, mama was mean to you, why?" Fu asked after a short silence in the tent, the night whispering the silence.
"Sayako never liked me. She never listened to me and acted rude towards me whenever I tried to be nice. She was scared I would be the reason for something terrible, and I was in a way. I was mad and angry when I was released." Chomei explained with a distant tone.
"You were never mean to me though Chomei." The young jinchuuriki noted.
"No Fu, I did end up regretting what I had done when I saw how you were treated. I disliked the humans, but seeing that abrupt change after I did something terrible made me start thinking. If I had done nothing, not attacked, you probably would not have been treated so badly." The seven tails explained.
"Shibuki always told me my mama was a good person." The mint haired jinchuuriki went.
"Your mother was a good person, you don't have to like everyone to be a good person. Though I do believe she misplaced her anger, I don't blame her for anything." Chomei continued.
The girl was silent for more minutes, the silence unbearable as wind rushed through the rocks outside. Then, after taking a breath she began to speak. "I still like you Chomei, don't worry. You're still my friend." Fu stated firm yet genuinely kind.
"But Fu…" Her tenant protested, shocked.
"I don't care about what happened. You're my first friend. Mama is still my mama, and Shibuki and everyone else at Taki is still Shibuki and everyone else." The girl concluded with determination.
"I… Thank you Fu. You truly are my favourite jinchuuriki." Chomei said in their gruff voice, though it was extremely touched.
"You're welcome Chomei. So, are you going to keep talking like that?" She asked curiously.
"I would prefer that honestly, it has been ages since I used my actual voice with the jinchuuriki. But, if you preferred the high pitched, happy Chomei, then I would be okay being them instead." The seven tails answered with some hesitation.
"Talk how you want to talk. But you'll always be my friend, lucky number seven Chomei." Fu told the tailed beast easily.
"Indeed I am Fu." Chomei replied in their deeper voice as the two continued to talk about things.
Later, as the moon shown in the sky, Fu was asleep content.
—
The seven tails jinchuuriki was much more social after that night, now that she and her tenant were on good terms again. She never told any of the other jinchuuriki about what Chomei told her, and no one inquired about it.
Crossing the rocky border, the group headed toward Iwa in the northeast, but more east from how they were travelling. The terrain remained mostly unchanged with rocky and empty landscapes. Luckily they planned ahead and had enough food to last the journey.
Yagura was conversing with Utakata when they finally entered Iwagakure, surrounded by large rocky mountains.
"What do you know about Iwa's jinchuuriki?" Utakata casually asked to make conversation.
"I believe they're names are Han and Roshi, they were very prominent during the last two shinobi wars." Yagura revealed, thinking as they walked toward the Tsuchikage's tower, made of rock like every single other building in the village.
"Really, they must be strong then." The younger male noted.
"Yes, I am curious to see what they have been up to." The Mizukage said with a slight grin as they entered the tower.
The entire group was shown to the Tsuchikage's office, where Onoki was located.
"Is this about your jinchuuriki mission Mizukage?" The old Kage asked irritated.
"Yes, so you already know about it then?" Yagura prodded though he was surprised.
"You've went to see the other Kage's already, it was bound to reach me sooner or later." Onoki answered in the same irritated tone.
"Through your spies probably…" Yagura mentally thought as he continued. "Ah okay then, so you already know what I'm going to ask." The younger Kage said politely with a smile.
"I don't care about what you do with our jinchuuriki Yagura. But good luck getting them to come with you." The Third Tsuchikage growled, grinding his teeth.
That statement confused the group, especially Yagura.
"I do not understand what you mean Onoki. Can you please elaborate?" The Mizukage asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Both of our jinchuuriki are missing-nin, both have been so for years now. So, I really don't care about what happens to them at this point." Onoki cold and angrily clarified before dismissing the group and practically shoving them out of the tower.
This shocked most of the group, but Yagura had a unique reaction to this new development.
Walking throughout Iwagakure with the group, his blood felt cold. Despite the raging heat of the sun overhead, he felt very cold in the village made of rock and earth.
"Traitors… the jinchuuriki are missing-nin… traitors." He thought again and again though his face remained impassive. "How… I mean… becoming a missing-nin, what does this mean?" The Kage thought as his eye twitched a little, just slightly only.
By then, the others had noticed the three tails jinchuuriki's silence.
"Yagura, what do you think we should do?" Yugito asked carefully, with a composed look on her face.
Yagura remained silent, lost in his own thoughts.
"Yagura! Yagura! Yugito's talking to you! Hey Yagura!" Naruto poked at the out of it Kage, annoyed.
The short man still didn't react, just kept walking aimlessly, staff on back, face composed in an emotionless mask.
"YAGURA!" Isobu yelled from within his own mind, startling the jinchuuriki. He stumbled and shook his head.
"Isobu, what was that for?" He mentally asked confused but still irritated at his thoughts being interrupted.
"The others are talking to you shorty." The turtle simply pointed out.
"Oh." Yagura curtly replied as he turned to face his observing group. "Apologies, I was lost in my own thoughts. What was that Yugito?" The short jinchuuriki innocently asked with a strained half grin.
Yugito looked like she was thinking about her own thing, before repeating her question.
"What do you think we should do now then? With this new information." The two tails jinchuuriki replied cooly.
"Oh. I think we should just ask the shinobi around Iwa for information on them, the other, the other jinchuuriki." Yagura stated, having to avoid saying missing-nin or, traitor. "We already know their names are Han and Roshi, so it's something." He added carefully, before lightly shaking his head again.
Yagura's head felt weird for some reason, he was kind of dizzy and in a daze as well. Taking a deep breath in, he turned and began walking away with his eyes closed. "Maybe split up and ask around to gather more intel, don't go alone though, Onoki can be shifty sometimes." The Kage called out while walking off.
"I need to go think for a second." He continued in a firm voice, thoughts not as collected as they normally or should be.
"Hey wait! Where are we meeting after all of this you say?" Killer B rapped and Yagura uncharacteristically snapped.
"We'll meet at the gates." He quickly said with a dark edge, hissing extremely quietly that no one but him heard.
"Yagura, you're acting-" Isobu tried to say before being mentally cut off.
"Isobu, can you please be quiet. I, really, need to think right now." Yagura harshly asked, struggling to reign in his killing intent while keeping up his composure.
"Will you be alright going alone Yagura?" Yugito called out in a subdued tone, not wanting to draw attention to their group.
"I'm the Fourth Mizukage, I will be fine." The three tails jinchuuriki said before shaking his head once more while rapidly stalking away.
"He seemed weird." Gaara noted as they organized into smaller groups.
"I saw. Utakata can you check on him? He didn't seem to be in the right state of mind when he left." Yugito asked the remaining Kiri shinobi who dutifully nodded and chased off after the Kage.
—
Outside the village, Yagura was sitting on a flat boulder near a rocky valley, in a dazed thought process.
"What am I doing, what am I thinking?" He suddenly asked himself out loud, as he held his head frustratingly.
Then, he remembered his remarks he had issued to his group, feeling regret instantly. "What was I thinking?" Yagura questioned himself as he shook his head more, harder.
"You were acting weird earlier." Isobu calmly noted from inside the Kage's mind.
"Gosh Isobu, I'm sorry about snapping earlier. I don't know what I was doing." The jinchuuriki apologized profusely.
"It's fine Yagura. I hear your thoughts so I know what you were going through at the moment." Isobu calmed in his old wise tone.
"I swear there's something wrong with me Isobu. Whenever I even hear the word tra… trait…" He tried to think up but found he couldn't. "Are you kidding me? I can't even THINK the words without entering a moment." Yagura mentally cursed.
"It's not surprising, considering your past Yagura." The three tails pointed out knowingly.
"I know Isobu, I know." The short man said after a while, losing himself in thought once more.
Suddenly, he felt a large amount of water being dropped over his head. Sputtering, he looked around to see a smirking Utakata.
"What are you doing here Utakata?" The Kage asked annoyed before noticing that despite his smirk, the shinobi was slightly shaking. "Are you all right?" Yagura asked concerned and confused.
"You're letting off a large amount of killing intent Y… Yagura." Utakata informed him with a slight stutter.
Realizing he had in fact, been releasing a lot of killing intent, he drew it back in and the other jinchuuriki eased.
"Thanks, guess I was thinking too hard." He tried to say before stopping himself slowly. "So why are you here again?" The pink eyed adult questioned.
"The others were worried about you, so i'm making sure your okay." The bubble user answered calmly, but the look on his face said he knew Yagura wasn't okay. "Let me guess, it's because you found out that the jinchuuriki are missing-nin." The brown haired shinobi asked, watching as the other jinchuuriki have a visible twitch at his last words.
"Possibly." Yagura curtly replied, sighing loudly before sitting down on the rocks again.
"Everyone knows that traitors to Kirigakure are harshly punished when found, missing-nin in general are punished harder in Kiri then in other villages, care to explain?" The six tails jinchuuriki asked as he sat down next to the Kage.
Sighing again, and despite the mention of his trigger words, Yagura began speaking. He told the teen near adult about his childhood, and his encounters with traitors, and then about Mori who altered his original perception of what a traitor was.
"You know, I'm only that harsh to missing-nin. I learned a long time ago that there are people still loyal to their village even if defecting, like lets say in a rebellion." Yagura mused. "Missing-nin however, they forsake themselves and have no loyalty to their village left, they are traitors." The short Kage continued.
Utakata just silently listened the entire time even after Yagura finished recounting his original story. He contemplated his answer before speaking.
"I was going to become a missing-nin once." The bubble user simply stated to make the Kage pay rapid shocked attention.
"You, what?" Yagura quietly asked.
"It was during and after Saiken's near extraction. I remember thinking about how this could've happened and just wanted to leave and never return." Utakata explained as he watched the Mizukage take the information in.
*In one world*
Utakata did leave. For the Fourth Mizukage didn't have it in him or the power to care at the moment. The masked man could care less if the jinchuuriki suffered. There was no need to come to the teens rescue. Besides, the two had grown distant for some odd reason after Yagura became the Mizukage. This would be both of their downfalls.
*In another world*
"Why should the jinchuuriki have any loyalty to the villages?" The bubble user prodded, interrupting before Yagura could object. "Most of us have been mistreated since childhood, hurt by the villagers we are meant and sworn to protect." He continued still calm.
"Sure there are people who leave because of greed, leave for selfish reasons and deserve the harsh punishments." The six tails jinchuuriki lectured.
"My point is Yagura, that there are ulterior motives and reasons for becoming a missing-nin. Not all the factors in leaving is entirely because of loyalty to the village or not. We of all people should know that the village can be at fault as well for the missing-nin." Utakata concluded, standing up and walking away back to Iwagakure, leaving the stunned Mizukage to their own thoughts once more.
The silence enveloped Yagura as he contemplated what he had heard. Inside though, sitting on the rock, he was thinking one thing.
"He's right."
—
Authors Note: I finally used the one/ another world thing again, probably should use it more, seeing as it's why this story is titled what it is. This one conversation was a big thing when i was planning the story by the way. I hoped you enjoyed the story and please review!
Next chapter switches to Han's backstory and perspective.