Chapter 23: To Understand
He kicked an innocent stone out of annoyance " Hn, some things are worth fighting for?! " he said sarcastically as he walk the streets of their village " what does he even know about those things?" Sasuke asked himself remembering the images of his massacred family in his mind. " he would gladly go to war to protect people he doesn't even know and risk this very village we made? Our own family? Really?!" he kept walking as people evade the obviously seething Uchiha.
"Forget it! How can you even risk your own family like that?!" he asked himself again thinking about Minato reconsidering the war.
" Mind if I talk with you Sasuke?" he turned around as he heard the voice of Kushina. " I'm sorry I'm not really in the mood Kushina-sama" he said trying not to disrespect the woman. She frowned at this " you know you can call me kaa-chan right? You've been family to us" she said as he could only nod.
"So…"
"I just don't understand why Naruto would be so willing to wage this war and risk our people!" Sasuke said comfortably showing his more intense emotions to Kushina. Kushina nodded " that's understandable Sasuke-kun, no one would willingly risk love ones for that…" Sasuke looked at her with hope of sympathy " but you know Naruto, he's got the knack for always doing what is right"
" then the right thing to do is to keep the peace for our people…. right?" Kushina shook her head smiling softly at the Uchiha " Would you really be at peace knowing that somewhere out there are people suffering and knowing that you can help?" Sasuke lowered his head in understanding. "Still….." he continued unsure.
" what are you fighting for Sasuke? "
" to protect my family "
" and that includes?"
Sasuke looked at her confusion visible on his face " the village? " Kushina nodded in understanding " and at what lengths will you go to do that? " Sasuke kept his facade not knowing what to answer " I've long enough Sasuke…" she said looking distantly as if reminiscing memories "….. I have known people that could go so far just to protect the bonds they created. Some even willingly condemn themselves….." she said remembering the memory of her best friend "…. and I bet you the Naruto is one of those. Just think about it, what will happen after the war?" she asked before leaving the raven haired guy to his devices.
Sasuke himself was remembering different memories, his brother who had always been loving to him, his father who had always been cold bastard, the Uchiha clan who looks down to people outside the clan and finally, his brother telling him to get stronger 'could it be?'
~~BREAK~~
The six paths are currently standing in front of an unconcious body of a pale white man wearing blue robe and has black hair. Infiltrating Mizu no Kuni had been easy with the war now heated more than ever. All the big guns of the elemental villages are now out, this gave Pain the chance to capture jinchuurikis that are out of the war 'if only I could find the Kyuubi, Hachibi and Yonbi jinchuuriki' he thought as the rest of the jinchuurikis are now actively fighting the war.
" Konan" he said emotionless as the said woman moved closer to him " Scout for the Sanbi, it should be revived now. Abduct someone that is able to hold it" she nodded in response before her body broke into multitudes of paper that flew in every direction.
"It seems successful on your part" a voice said as Zetsu appeared from the ground. Tendo Pain looked towards the smirking Akatsuki spy-army " have you expected less from a god?" Zetsu's smirk grew ever slowly. " Hidan and Kakuzu died, Kumo is really showing itself as one of the top villages" Pain nodded " It's a necessary sacrifice, continue. I hope their…. demise, haven't interrupted the advance towards Kumo" he replied.
" Madara deployed two more edo tenseis to replace those two. I'm willing to bet Kumo won't last another week with those two now in action" Zetsu sadistically chuckled, Pain nodded again " which village will go down first?"
" Iwa is not holding much, they are slowly getting pushed back seeing as they only have two war heroes now since the fence sitter died. Suna as expected grew stronger in their home turf. The Kazekage and their Jinchuuriki is powerful enough to halt the army's advance, even the third Kazekage and Sasori had to be careful" the plant guy reported " what about Kiri?"
" Kiri is putting up the strongest front, they're holding our forces on the Fire Country's beaches seeing as Konoha ninjas are mostly fire types" Pain kept looking impassively at the spy " Tell Deidara to keep the pressure in Iwa, I expect no trouble from the jinchuuriki seeing as we have Jiraiya-sensei. Instruct him not to kill the jinchuuriki under the pretense of war deterrence. The rest should be able to keep going."
" what are you going to do?"
" Madara should be here any moment to take this jinchuuriki, I will seal the sanbi to Kiri ninja. Then, Ichibi…"
~~BREAK~~
One look to her boyfriend and she knew that he isn't okay, and she was getting worried. Although she knew that Naruto is the silent type person, he would at least strike a conversation especially during their dates. Like their lunch date right now, supposed to be.
She watched worried as her man kept eating while in deep thought ' he even chew his food exactly five times before swallowing subconscious' she thought "Naruto, are you okay?" he did not respond seeing as he is in deep thought with himself. She reached with her hand and held his cheek " Naruto-kun?"
"Huh?" he said clueless has he regained his focus towards her "I'm sorry, what was that?" Sumire sighed " You've been like this since the meeting with your father" she commented. Naruto looked down as he couldn't meet her eyes " am I wrong?"
"What do you mean? Of course not! It's naturally you to want to help" she replied, he remained unconvinced as he replied " but I'm risking the village with my selfishness" She sighed as she flicked Naruto's forehead making him look at her in surprise " look, it isn't even your decision. You just said what you think. Whether we help or not is still your father and the whole village's decision. "
" I would still go you know " he voice was lowered but Sumire could still catch it " that's just you being you. And you know I would follow my hard headed boyfriend anywhere right?" she said smiling at him. He felt at ease as she said those words smiling while shaking his head " I love you, you know that?"
" Maybe " she said smirking " why don't you show me tonight?" she teased him. The blond managed to keep his blush in check as he schooled his features, he raised an eyebrow at her " are you insinuating something miss?" he asked trying to sound as innocent as he could. Sumire giggled at her boyfriend's antic " Probably " she pinch his nose before resuming to eat.
A bell rung stopping the two in their current activities and apparently every villager as they spread their sight. " Tousan's gonna announce something" the blond said shrugging.
~~BREAK~~
It had been a Pyrrhic victory, the Yondaime Raikage A won his battle simultaneously defeating Hidan by bursting his skull and driving the current Hokage away. He managed to achieve the feat by bastardizing the yellow flashe's method of continuously leaping place to place 'one of his stupidly named absurd jutsu' he thought remembering Darui's recount on how the blond bastard wiped Kumo's first battalion.
However the lightning armour is not meant for quick changes in direction so by turning it off and turning to another direction then turning it on again he manage to do it, however he compromise so much of his chakra, which lead to them unable to do anything to his father. It was luck that those white zetsu clones have been wiped for the day forcing those monster ninjas to retreat but he knew that they will return soon.
He put his burly hand on his second in command's shoulder " He sacrificed himself knowing that you would win the fight Darui. You should honor him" he said to the silver haired ninja. Grief is present in Darui's eyes even if he tried to look bored as much as he can. Tears slowly drop as due to his leader's words. " But I could save him Raikage-sama, I could have…."
FLASHBACK
He swung his sword which the old man dodged with ease. Darui was forced to dodge as a masked puppet blew a huge fire towards him. Samui was not idle during this time as she finished her hand signs just in time to send a lightning bolt that destroyed the offending masked puppet. Kakuzu growled " You're gonna have to pay for that…."
" I don't think so! " his voice rung as C swing his sword towards Kakuzu's blind spot, he did not expect a very strong gust of wind blew him away as the ninjas on the line of fire of the wind jutsu were shredded. Darui caught the flying guy as they collided with an earth wall before they both had to dodge as multiple zetsus tried to dog pile them.
A masked entity engaged Samui through all this blowing water jutsu at her that kept her from throwing her jutsu. " Samui! " C shouted as the woman nodded. Plan in mind he went through hand seals while Darui guarded him "Raigen:Raikochu!" he shouted as white light blinded all those who has him within his line of vision. This includes Kakuzu and his puppets as the blond woman and Darui turned away in time. Using the chance Samui quickly hacked the water using mask which turned into black puddle of goo. Darui quickly slashed the wind one himself and was about to take the fire one but the thing managed to dodge in time and return to Kakuzu.
The ancient man growled in anger " How dare you!" he seethed 'did they fucking know my genjutsu weakness!?' he thought worried this time as they still might have several genjutsus in their arsenal but this time he is prepared. The three watched carefully as the fire mask merge with Kakuzu turning his innards into black strings and the same strings came out of the orifices of his face turning him into more monster like than human.
"Darui?" Samui asked as the silver haired ninja silently planned " I'll take the front, he seems susceptible to genjutsu. Give me the support and try to go behind Samui" the two nodded as the silver haired leader went through hand signs "Ranton: Reiza Sakasu" he whispered before blue lasers appeared from behind him attempting to attack the said ninja. Not wanting to test his defense against such lightning based jutsu, the Akatsuki member dodge the lasers by running away from the direction of impact which is kinda hard seeing as Darui can refocus his jutsu to his direction.
As the jutsu stopped Darui run at him attemptingg to cleave himbut instead his blade bounced as a loud CLANG! Was heard after it hit Kakuzu "Doton: Domu" Kakuzu informed the surprised look of the sword user in front of him. " Get back! " Samui managed to shout before Kakuzu kicked the still surprised ninja making Darui tumble some fifteen feet away.
" Raigen: Raikochu" came from C again as Samui did a follow up " Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu" the blond guy tried to get in trying to end the fight, his kunai in hand. A hand suddenly grasp his foot before reaching the S-rank "I'm not falling for that anymore" he said tauntingly before the said hand that is connected to Kakuzu via string slammed the guy on the ground. Kakuzu managed to dodge just in time from a lightning jutsu from Samui. He pulled the dazed C close to him and clasp him on the neck using him as a human shield.
" Now, you get to be my replacement" he said calmly using the guy's body to shield him from Samui's jutsus. A loud CLANG! Resounded again as Darui attempted to cleave him again to no success " That's one hard bastard" the silver haired ninja commented as he jumped away to the non reacting shinobi. He carefully observed as black thread started to invade C in a procedural manner "Samui!" he shouted in panic as the woman flashed through hand seals for another genjutsu that will hold the S-rank "Magen: Jubaku Satsu" as a tree started to entangle Kakuzu in his mind. He recovered from it just in time to see the silver haired ninja approaching with his sword.
He quickly put his captive's body in front of them making Darui skid to a halt an inch away from cutting C before Kakuzu punch a whole to C's neck almost reaching Darui's face. Blood splattered in his face as he wailed " NO!" lightning punched a hole from behind Kakuzu as Samui did not stop, unsurprised because she wasn't able to see the death of her teammate from behind the ancient man.
The attack was success putting a whole to where Kakuzu's heart to be but the only response of Kakuzu being affected is him vomitting blood yet he remained standing. Darui cleaved through C channeling lightning to his sword unconsciously. The attack succeeded cutting Kakuzu and his dead teammate. The old ninja tried to crawl away with his hand breathing hard while trying to connect his lower body which Darui just kicked farther away as the angry Darui slowly walked to him "You scum" he seethed. He stepped on Kakuzu's remaining appendages as he channeled as much lightning to his sword as he can before his cut Kakuzu into ribbons.
"C…." Samui said disbelievingly.
FLASHBACK END
A soft slap regained Darui's attention to A "It's not your fault Darui. He knew and accepted the risk. You have a lot of time to mourn later, we still have to stop my father and the Hokage" he said not knowing of the next monsters that will be unleashed on the battlefield. Darui nodded "You're right A-sama" he said as he observed his comrades.
'All of Kumo ninjas, and almost half was killed in that battle alone because of the third Raikage. We can't stay here ' he thought before looking to his leader. "Raikage-sama" the bulky leader looked at him curiously "We have to retreat….."
~~BREAK~~
Minato sighed, in front of him is the people of the still unnamed village. Their combined efforts created peace that they kept all through out the war, and here was his decision that could probably shatter that peace and split the village in half 'I have to handle this carefully' he thought.
"Well it's hard to start a speech without a village name" he joked trying to ease them up as they chuckled. " Four years ago, most of us left our respective village, we left many bonds behind and left the only place that we could call home. With almost nothing with us…." he sighed " remember when we built this village with nothing in mind but the want to have a peaceful life?" he asked as most people smiled reminiscing " and then over time, we started planning a village, we developed new skills and most of all created new bonds that we would happily protect" more and more people smiled at his words.
" it's nice isn't it?" the people nodded silently at him, smile still plastered on their faces " having peace while it last" he nodded to himself " but then I had my spy report to me something that made me rethink" he said seeing some people with rising confusion.
" Why do we even go to war?" he asked rhetorically " to protect our loved ones? To protect our village? No, none of those are important…" he paused seeing as his people were about to protest "…. at least not to people in position. No. Konoha waged war out of greed! Kumo waged war out of petty revenge! Suna and Kiri waged war because of greed and fear of being destroyed next! Iwa waged war out of bloody revenge! But you know whose dying out there!?"
he took a deep breath " people we once knew….. bonds we once created and protected with our lives. People that we have to leave behind because of some bloody bastard of a people, people dying because they don't have the peace that we have. And we have already proven that we can do that"
he said spreading his sight to his proud village " so if it's within my capacity, it's time that I have to go and protect my old bonds. I am not forcing you to go to war with me, because this time, I am going not because of some bastard's petty reasons. No, I do this because this is what I think is right. Because I want to protect these bonds with my own hands!"
" So…. PEOPLE OF VILLAGE INSIDE SEAL….. will you COME!… and bleed with ME!?" he took a deep breath as silence prevailed through the area. Said people processing what their leader just said. That was until shouts of unity was shouted at the same time. People shouting in happiness and courage as they proclaim to remain beside their passionate leader.
"FUINGAKURE! FUINGAKURE! FUINGAKURE!….."
~~BREAK~~
" I don't understand?" he asked himself in confusion looking at the loud band of people " why are you so willing to die Naruto? Why are THEY so willing to die?" he could not comprehend why waging war would make people happy. He looked towards his old sensei still in the platform watching his people with his kind eyes " is it the same bond you tried to protect in Konoha, Itachi?" he asked in confusion before he quietly slipped out of the crowed.
'It's about time you explain yourself…..brother' he thought.