Ch. 41
Orochimaru was working in his lab when he heard some clamoring outside. The Sound wasn't really that much of a village so hearing the people making a ruckus was unusual. He decided to put his work on hold and go investigate. Before he could even put his tools down, his lab door burst open. He turned around and saw that it was Jugo. He gave him an inquisitive glance and asked, "What's going on out there?"
Jugo said, "You're gonna wanna see this…"
The two headed outside where they met Suigetsu and Karin. As Orochimaru and Jugo joined them, Suigetsu nodded towards the sky and said, "Look who's back…"
Orochimaru looked towards the sky and saw that there was a man floating a good distance off of the ground. As his eyes focused in, he said, "That bastard has the audacity to come to my village…"
Karin shook her head and said, "I don't think it's him..."
Orochimaru turned and said, "What?"
Karin replied, "He hasn't really been doing much since he arrived. He's been hovering there for some time now. It's like he's waiting for orders..."
Orochimaru turned to her and said, "You think it's a shadow clone?"
Karin shrugged and said, "Maybe...but if it is, I can't sense the real one anywhere near here..."
Jugo said, "If he's not close enough for you to sense him, how is he even sustaining the shadow clone from wherever he is?..."
Orochimaru paused for a second then said, "Hikan's chakra reserves are large enough for him to pull off something like this...with practice. I'm just wondering what he's planning." Right after he said that, the shadow clone stretched its hand towards the sky. Everyone watched as a small black sphere floated out of his hand and started hovering in the sky. The shadow clone then folded its hands and remained blank faced as it floated above the village.
Orochimaru looked up and said, "He has another thing coming if he thinks I'm just going to let him activate that thing..."
Before Orochimaru could do anything, the televisions all around the Sound started flickering. Orochimaru looked around at the static screens and said, "What's going on?" Suigetsu, Jugo and Karin looked as confused as he did. After a few more seconds, the screen finally came into focus. The four turned to a screen that was visible from a small shack nearby and saw that it was none other than Hikan. Orochimaru said under his breath, "What game is he playing?..."
Hikan looked into the camera with a grin and said, "Hello citizens of the shinobi world. I'm sure that by now, most of you know my name." He wore a proud smile and said, "A fact I'm very proud of..." He cracked his knuckles then said, "Up until now I've made sure to keep my name clean in association with any recent attacks. Due to what's about to happen, that probably won't be possible anymore..."
Orochimaru gave an eye squint and said, "What's he doing?..."
Hikan grew serious and said, "To start things off, I was the one behind the destruction of Konoha, and I was the one behind the bombings at the Stone. I'm also the one who's responsible for the little experiment that's about to take place. You see, I'm doing some research into the human condition. Unfortunately for two villages, they will be the platform for this social experiment. Those two villages being the Hot Water and the Sound."
Orochimaru scoffed and said, "So we're just supposed to be a part of his game..."
Hikan continued and said, "If you live in either of those villages, you will see that I have shadow clones there. If you look at the two shadow clones, you will notice that they have created very small black spheres. Those spheres, if activated, will have the gravitational force to kill a loooooot of people..."
As the Sound's people started to murmur amongst themselves, Hikan raised his hands and said in a sarcastically happy voice, "Fortunately, both of the spheres don't need to be activated!" As the people started paying attention again, Hikan raised an eyebrow and said, "One village can save itself... All that village has to do is have their leader yell up to my shadow clone and let it know that you want your village to be saved. My shadow clone will dispatch itself and remove the sphere, thus giving me knowledge of what happened."
Hikan smiled into the camera and said, "Quick footnote, if you tell my shadow clone to spare your village, you will be responsible for the destruction of the other one..." Orochimaru wore a small scowl as the people started to make a ruckus again.
After a short pause, Hikan wore a sarcastically sad frown and said, "If both villages refuse to save themselves by noon...then I just activate both spheres and nobody wins..."
Hikan raised a finger and said, "Ground rules: If my shadow clones see anyone leaving the Sound or the Hot Water, they will activate the spheres; if anyone tries to attack my shadow clones, they will activate the spheres; if anyone from outside the two villages tries to provide aid, my shadow clones will activate the spheres; and if my shadow clones even think something suspicious is happening, they will immediately activate the spheres... I think you all get the picture..."
He looked into the camera and said, "So who's it gonna be... Will the scum of the Sound prove that they're worthy of their title or will the Hot Water prove that it hasn't forgotten wars after all..." He clapped his hands and said, "On that note, I'll leave you all to decide what to do...and you might wanna decide quickly before the other village makes a decision that doesn't favor you..."
As the TV cut off, the Sound ninja started clamoring towards Orochimaru. Orochimaru made sure to retain his iron grip. He turned towards the crowd and said in an authoritative voice, "This is my choice and my choice alone! I built everything you all see and I will decide what happens to it!" He looked at the crowd with a stern look and said, "If anyone has an objection to that, step forward..."
The people slowly quieted down until there was complete silence. Orochimaru said, "I thought not." then turned around as he started thinking to himself.
Suigetsu asked, "There's nothing we can do to stop that thing?..."
Orochimaru paused then said, "It wouldn't be easy. We'd have to destroy it, either before it was activated or early in the process...but if we did that, I'm pretty sure the shadow clone would dispatch itself. As soon as that happened, Hikan would know what happened then he'd destroy the Hot Water."
Suigetsu gave Orochimaru an inquisitive look and said, "I'm surprised you care about the Hot Water... Going soft?..."
Orochimaru replied, "Tch. I just don't want Hikan to get what he wants, and what he wants is for one village to destroy the other... I will not be a pawn in his game..."
After a short pause, Suigetsu looked up at the sphere and said, "Well you better think of something by noon, or we're gonna be a part of his game whether we like it or not..."
Meanwhile in the Hot Water, the Hot Water Daimyo was standing in the center of the village trying to calm the people. After Hikan's speech, the village was in a tumult about what should be done.
The daimyo raised his hands and said, "Settle down. We'll talk this through as a village."
A random woman yelled out, "While we're talking, the Sound is probably condemning us to death!"
The daimyo said, "You all would cause the destruction of another village to save yourselves...out of fear?"
One villagers eyes widened as he yelled, "If it's a village of murderous nin, without question!"
The daimyo's eyes widened as he said, "I can't believe what I'm hearing! Aren't we supposed to be the village that has forgotten wars?!"
One man stepped forward and said, "This is the real world! If you want to forget wars, be ready for the day when they force you to remember them!"
Another villager yelled, "He's right! The Sound is probably damning us right now and you would stand giving speeches while Yugakure falls!"
The daimyo turned to the mass and said, "Silence! In all my years as the leader of this village I never thought I'd hear such things..."
One person muttered, "This is hopeless... Maybe we would've been better off listening to Hidan after all…"
The daimyo finally snapped and said, "ENOUGH!"
After his outburst, there was a prolonged moment of silence from the crowd. The daimyo's assistant noted the heavy atmosphere then put a hand on his shoulder and said, "Maybe the best thing would be a vote..."
The daimyo quickly turned to her and said, "Don't tell me you support this as well?..."
The assistant sighed and said, "No, but we're running out of time and the people are restless..."
The daimyo looked at his wristwatch. 11:50 AM. He sighed and said, "We only have 10 minutes..."
His assistant said in a serious voice, "Yes..."
After a long pause, the daimyo finally resigned himself and said, "Fine...Take a vote."
As Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi arrived at the Valley of the End, they saw a small building on one of the cliffs overlooking the valley. It was mostly gray and had a huge satellite on top of it. It looked like it was designed to be moved from one place to another as needed. The advanced technology had obviously come from the Rain. It had that same sharp feel to it.
As Naruto's Kurama avatar disappeared, he looked towards the building and said, "I can sense him in there..."
Kakashi looked at his watch. 11:53 AM. He turned to Naruto and said, "You ready?..."
Naruto continued to look at the building and said, "I hope so."
As the three approached the door, it made a small hissing sound and automatically opened. Naruto looked inside and said under his breath, "Not ominous at all…"
As they stepped inside, they saw a large control station. It was the only thing inside the building. The rest was just empty space. The setup of the control station was similar to that of a computer, but magnified. There was a large keyboard below the apparatus and multiple wires running along the floor. In addition to that, there were two large screens, but both of them were off. In front of the station was a large chair, presumably for whoever was working at the moment. The chair wasn't facing them so they couldn't see if anyone was sitting on it. Naruto, however, could sense that Hikan was there.
The chair slowly rotated to face them, then Hikan opened his arms and said, "I almost thought you wouldn't make it."
Naruto scoffed, then sharply said, "Wouldn't miss it."
Hikan smiled and said, "A little attitude. I like that..."
Kakashi redirected the conversation and said in a stern voice, "What are you planning?"
Hikan replied, "Correction. I've already planned it. I only needed Naruto here so that he couldn't interfere...and so that he could be a witness to what's about to happen..."
Naruto wore a serious expression and said, "What did you do?"
Hikan looked at Naruto and noticed that he looked a lot more ready for their encounter than last time. He wore a small smirk and said, "You're much more composed than the last time you were here... Interesting. With you letting that bomb go off at the Stone, I would've thought that you wouldn't be mentally ready for this, but you've recovered pretty well..."
Naruto wore the same expression and said, "That's not answering my question."
Hikan noted Naruto's focus on the problem at hand and said with a smirk, "I can't even distract you anymore... Impressive..." He studied Naruto for a little longer then stood up and said, "Don't worry. I've just set up a little experiment to look into the human condition."
Naruto gave him a suspicious glance and said, "What does that mean?"
Hikan picked up a remote resting on the control station and used it to turn on the two large screens.
He looked at the screens and said, "Those two live video feeds are showing the Sound and the Hot Water. As you can see, I have a shadow clone in each of those villages."
Naruto asked, "You're sustaining two shadow clones in those villages from here?"
Hikan replied, "Don't sound so surprised. You did something similar in the war and with far more shadow clones. With my chakra reserves all I needed was practice and time. Fortunately, I've had a lot of both."
He looked towards the screen and said, "Those shadow clones are actually carrying out my experiment as we speak..."
Kakashi said, "Are you going to actually tell us what you did or not?"
Hikan said, "Of course, it wouldn't really make sense to call you here otherwise."
Hikan looked towards the screens and said, "I've informed both of those villages that they have a choice to make. At noon, those black spheres will activate taking a significant portion of their villages out. I've given them both a way out. They just have to have their leader speak to my shadow clone and tell him to spare their village..."
Naruto said, "What's the catch?..."
Hikan shrugged and said, "Well, if they do that, the other village will be destroyed."
Naruto started walking towards him and said, "You dirtbag."
Hikan raised a hand and said, "No, no, no... I think I'd prefer to keep you at a distance. Come any closer and I'll make my shadow clones activate the spheres."
Naruto said, "I doubt you can send mental commands to a shadow clone. And even if you could, I'm pretty sure you couldn't do it from here."
Hikan smiled and said, "Try me."
Naruto let out an annoyed grunt and stopped in his tracks. Hikan looked at him and said, "That's better..."
He lowered his hand and said, "I didn't think you'd be as focused as you are now, but after our last talk, I knew you'd figure out why I do what I do. If I would've made some plan involving you, you would've done everything in your power to prove me wrong. That's why I've taken it out your hands and mines. Now neither of us can do anything. It's up to those people you so fully put your trust in. That way we know that the result is accurate... No interference."
He sat back down on the chair in front of the control station and said, "While you guys were on your way here, I broadcasted what's going on to the known shinobi world, so now the shinobi world is also aware of what's happening...and they're watching. Those of them with modern technology anyway."
Kakashi thought to himself, 'Looks like Naruto was onto something after all… It's all about proving something…"
Hikan relaxed and said, "I'm pretty confident that either the Sound or the Hot Water will prove me right. I've even admitted to all of my previous crimes...you know why?"
Naruto said, "Because with shadow clones of you in those villages you can't cover this up like the other times..."
Hikan smirked and said, "That and the fact that after today, the shinobi world will never be the same. If the most likely scenario occurs, and the Sound destroys a portion of the Hot Water, I'm pretty sure that there's gonna be a war, and if the Hot Water destroys a portion of the Sound, we know there's gonna be a war. And we both know how fragile peace is... After today, my vision will be a reality..."
Naruto gave him a disgusted look and said, "You're sick."
Hikan rolled his eyes and said, "No, we've already established that I'm ahead of the curve, and you'll see that..."
He looked over to the time at the bottom of one of the screens. 11:58 AM. He turned to Naruto and said, "Right now, the pressure is gonna start mounting, and when the pressure is on, they'll show you who they really are... They'll show you the truth..."
In the Sound, everyone was waiting for Orochimaru to make a decision. Suigetsu, Jugo and Karin were trying to think of ideas, but the fact that this wasn't only about the Sound made it near impossible to save themselves without playing Hikan's game.
After a few more moments of thought, Suigetsu turned to Orochimaru and said, "Any ideas..."
Orochimaru shook his head and said, "Not any that won't make us pawns..." He looked over at the time. 11:58 AM. He looked down and said, "I'm surprised that our sphere hasn't been activated by now."
Suigetsu said, "Well the Hot Water does claim to be a peaceful village..."
Orochimaru looked up at the shadow clone and said, "Still...it's very interesting..."
...
As the daimyo's assistant brought him the vote results, the daimyo let out a resigned sigh. The overwhelming majority vote was for them to save their own village.
After sitting with a contemplative frown for a few seconds, he looked up to the shadow clone who was now looking down at him and waiting for an answer.
...
Jugo looked at a nearby clock. 11:59 AM. He turned to Orochimaru and said, "We're out of time." Karin gave Orochimaru a worried look and said, "What are we gonna do?..."
The people of the Sound were also waiting for Orochimaru's answer.
After a long pause, Orochimaru crossed his arms and said, "I'd rather have to deal with that sphere going off than play his game... So we just won't play..."
...
The daimyo looked at the paper for a few more seconds then stood up. He let it fall to the ground then raised his hand to his hat and abruptly pulled it off. He threw it to the ground then looked towards the crowd and said, "I'm resigning as daimyo..." As everyone in the crowd started murmuring, he said, "I'm pretty sure that the shadow clone will listen to you if you wear that. One of you can take that and inform the clone of the villages decision. I, however, will not stain my conscience..."
As he started walking away, an eerie silence fell over the formerly boisterous crowd.
After a long pause, one villager finally stood up and said, "So no one wants to get their hands dirty..." He stepped forward and said, "Fine. I'll do it..."
As he picked up the hat, the full weight of what he was about to do hit him. He looked up to the shadow clone and saw that it was now looking down at him intently and waiting to see what he would do.
The man stood there motionless as he thought about what he was about to do. After a short pause, he lifted the hat to his head and stepped forward. Before he could do anything else, an elderly man slowly stood up and said, "We're supposed to be the most peaceful village in the shinobi world...and look at us. We're about to doom another village to save ourselves." He looked around at everyone present and said, "If we're still here, then those murderous nin you all were speaking of haven't doomed us." He looked down and said, "I think that if we examine ourselves right now, we'll find that we are the murderous nin..."
There was a tangible silence as the weight of the man's words took over the atmosphere.
After a while, the man who had stepped forward slowly took off the hat. After staring at it for a few seconds, he let it drop to the floor, then walked back into the crowd with a face full of shame. As the man walked back into the crowd, many of the people in the crowd also dropped their heads.
The daimyo looked around and saw that no one else was stepping forward. The hat he had so abruptly ripped off was still on the floor. He looked to his assistant and whispered, "If we somehow survive this, maybe I'll still be the daimyo after all..."
...
As the people of the Sound waited in tense anticipation, Orochimaru turned to check the time. 12:01 PM.
As Orochimaru wore a contemplative expression, Suigetsu said, "Shouldn't we be in real trouble right now?..."
Orochimaru paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "No one played his game..."
...
In the Hot Water, the daimyo noticed that a significant amount of time had passed, then looked at his wristwatch again. 12:01 PM.
He looked at his assistant and said, "Nothing has happened..." His assitant looked towards the shadow clone and said in a confused voice, "It's not doing anything..."
As the people in the crowd realized it was now past noon, they started to murmur amongst themselves as well.
Hikan looked over at the two screens with a wide smile on his face. After a significant amount of time had passed, his smile faded slightly as he looked at the screens.
On one screen, Orochimaru stood with his arms crossed in staunch defiance. On the other, the people of the Hot Water stood contemplative and confused.
As he realized that neither village had saved themselves, he contemplatively looked at the bottom of the screen to check the time. 12:01 PM.
A small frown crept up to his face as he looked back up to the screens. His face took on an expression of genuine confusion, then he whispered under his breath, "That's not possible..."
As Hikan stood perplexed, Naruto looked at him and said, "What's the matter?... Disappointed that deep down everyone isn't as sick and twisted as you?" Naruto slowly shook his head and said, "You're alone."
Hikan paused for a second, then slammed his fist on the desk in a fit of rage. He turned to Naruto and said, "Can't count on anyone nowadays." He wore an angered expression and said, "Fine. I'll do it myself..."
Naruto shrugged and said, "Go ahead."
Hikan turned to him with a look of confusion and said, "What?..."
Naruto repeated himself without changing his tone. "Go ahead." He didn't really mean it, but he needed to try to get Hikan closer so he could try to make him lose his focus. Hopefully he'd also lose his connection to his shadow clones.
Hikan wore an angered expression and said, "All I have to do is send the mental command and those two spheres will activate killing a good amount of the people in both of those villages. Maybe you should be a little more concerned."
Naruto said, "Yes, some people will die, but they'll die with honor...and they'll die having proved you wrong..."
Hikan half-yelled, "You've proven nothing!"
Naruto maintained his composure then shrugged and said, "You're right. I haven't. I thought that when I came here I'd have to find some way to prove you wrong, but you've done that all by yourself. This shinobi world just showed you that it's still got a whole lot of people who are willing to believe in something more than self-preservation."
Hikan started angrily walking towards Naruto and said, "You think that just because they didn't turn on each other now, they won't later? They'll prove me right...after I break their spirits completely..."
Naruto crossed his arms and said, "You're not gonna be doing anything else to hurt anyone."
Hikan scoffed and said, "Is that supposed to imply that you're gonna kill me? Because, let's not kid ourselves, it's not really your style."
Naruto shook his head and said, "I won't have to kill you. Didn't you say that you admitted to all of your crimes while broadcasting to the whole shinobi world? Your cockiness is gonna be your undoing. I'm sure the Shinobi Union is already thinking of ways to deal with you. All we have to do is bring you in, and I guarantee that won't be a problem..."
Hikan wore an angered expression then stepped towards Naruto so that they were face to face. He balled up his fists and said, "It might be more of a problem than you-"
Before Hikan could finish his sentence, Naruto aimed straight for his nose and gave him the hardest headbutt possible.
As Hikan fell to the ground, he grabbed his nose and let out a yell of pain. Naruto quickly looked over to the two screens and said, "Come on..." A second later, the two shadow clones disappeared in a puff of smoke. He smirked and said, "It worked..."
Kakashi turned to Naruto and said, "Well played."
Naruto gave a small nod and then turned back to focus on Hikan.
As Hikan knelt down on the ground, he said, "You caught me off guard...you sly dog..." He looked over to the screens and said, "And you made me lose the shadow clones..."
As he rose to his feet, he wiped the blood from his nose and said, "So we're fighting dirty are we..."
Naruto grew serious and said, "You're going down."
Hikan replied, "We'll see..."
Author's Note
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