Tale of the Setting Sun
Chapter 28: "Emergence of Talents"
It was raining in Amegakure, the Hidden Rain, but that was nothing new.
Neon signs flickered, glowing sullenly in the dark of the night. Numerous metal pipes scaled a sea of rusty towers that groaned under their own weight. Copper wires, dangling from tower to tower, swayed haphazardly in the wind.
To the west, the tallest tower in Amegakure spiraled above the surrounding area. Other than its height, it was easily made distinguishable by the four humanoid faces that protruded from each side of the tower. The village's dead were all brought to this tower for processing. It was also the rumored dwelling of their savior, Lord Pain.
Ever since the Lady had brought news of their Lord's victory over Hanzō to the village, the hard look in everyone's eyes had changed.
Ajisai could still remember the first time she saw the Lady appear before the village people. With her beautiful stoic face and her wings that spanned the length of the sky, she looked every bit the role of an angel sent from the heavens. It was so overwhelming, Ajisai cried.
News quickly spread of Lord Pain after that. Following the deaths of Hanzō and the members of his faction, the civil war they had thought would never end came to a close. Now, the entire village was united under Lord Pain's mission of peace and hope.
Lady Angel warned them that the hidden villages of the Five Great Nations would not react so favorably to Hanzō's death, and so, they continued to perpetuate the notion that their civil war was still ongoing. Months had passed since then, and none of the other villages seemed to have noticed. Nobody, Ajisai included, was too surprised. Given the other nations' history of waging battle in Rain territory and causing further havoc for their village, she didn't expect them to care about anything other than themselves.
It was raining, as always, when Lady Angel appeared before Ajisai and the other genin. She descended without warning, her paper wings keeping her afloat. As she turned her pale, serene face towards them, Ajisai froze, her mind reeling at suddenly coming face-to-face with her idol. Then, coming to her senses, she immediately prostrated herself on the ground.
"The Hidden Leaf has invited the Hidden Rain to participate in their Chūnin Selection Exams this year. Your teams will go, in the pretense of participating. The other villages must continue to believe that Hanzō of the Salamander rules the Hidden Rain."
"Yes, Tenshi-sama," they spoke in unison.
"Team Ajisai..." said the Lady, and Ajisai found her mind once again going into overdrive at the revelation that the Lady knew her name. "I have a special mission for you. Take advantage of the chūnin exams to find a jinchūriki."
"A jinchūriki?" Ajisai cautiously ventured, raising her head.
"Suiren." The Lady looked at one of her teammates. "Use your sensory perception skills and look for a shinobi who harbors an enormous amount of chakra."
"Is that what a jinchūriki is?" asked Suiren.
Without answering his question, the Lady continued, "Even if you don't find a jinchūriki, bring back intel of any extraordinary shinobi from other villages."
She heard the sound of flapping wings—and then the Lady was gone.
The other genin began to murmur in awe amongst themselves. Ajisai shared a nod with Suiren, before turning to her third teammate.
He was a relative newcomer to their village. He had a pretty face but didn't talk much, speaking only when necessary. Ajisai did not know much about him beyond that he was yet another war refugee—and that he was incredibly strong. With him by their side, Ajisai had little doubt that they would be able to carry out the Lady's mission to the finish.
When she saw his face, however, she found herself taken aback. The usual calm demeanor was gone. Instead, a blazing look of fury burned in his eyes, and she could see his visible hand clench so hard, it shook.
It wouldn't be the first time that a war refugee in their village had suffered at the hands of the Hidden Leaf. Sympathy welling up in her heart, Ajisai wondered whether her teammate was the same.
For as long as Gaara could remember, the voice had always been there, whispering in his head.
When he was younger, while he was aware of the voice's presence, he did not understand it. It was purely a constant stream of noise; its volume and tone tended to vary by the day and it was relentless. He did not understand it, but it kept him up at nights when the rest of the village had gone to sleep and the sand of the desert shimmered like water in the moonlight.
It was on the night of a full moon that Gaara fell to his knees before the dying body of his uncle, and felt its blood boil for the first time. The sensation wracked the entire length of his body and it was unbearable. The sand that had always served as his protection erupted around him and everything that had been building up inside exploded into mindless, unadulterated rage.
By the time the sand settled down, he knew that it was not just a voice; it was the voice of the monster inside of him, and it told him he was alone in the world.
Over the years, Gaara's father—the Kazekage—tried to assassinate him five more times, but he survived and persisted. Shukaku continued to torment him, threatening to take over his body the moment he let down his guard, but while Gaara no longer slept, he continued to fight.
His father hated him. His siblings dreaded him. His village feared him.
Yet Gaara alone loved himself. And so, he lived.
When he grew older, he was placed in a three-man team with his siblings. However, while he was initially signed up to participate in the Chūnin Exams held at their village, upon receiving the list of registered genin from the other villages, his father withdrew Gaara from the exam. With Kankuro's promotion to the rank of chūnin, Gaara's current team consisted of his sister Temari and another genin whose name he didn't bother to remember. She was a replacement of a replacement; Gaara had killed the first following a disagreement on a mission.
He didn't expect the new genin to last much longer.
At some point, members of another village began to show up in his village—they were from Otogakure, the Hidden Sound. Though Gaara didn't know nor care for the details, he knew that the two villages were plotting to attack one of their former allies, the Hidden Leaf. Stating a period of mourning, Konoha had not held a public chūnin exam in some time. However this year, as hosts of the exams, they were finally opening their doors to the other villages once more. From the increased frequency of meetings between his father and the Sound's representatives, Gaara knew it was time to strike.
Nights passed, and the day of their departure grew closer. Gaara sometimes closed his eyes to rest them, but he dared not sleep.
In the full moon, its blood boiled.
It was a dark, quiet night. The moon hung low in the sky, a giant pale orb that witnessed all in silence.
He was there, standing before him.
"Foolish little brother. If you want to kill me, then blame me. Hate me. And live on in shame. Run and run..."
Glowing red eyes with spinning black tomoe pierced into him, and suddenly he could see the members of his clan falling in slow motion around him. One by one, they died in a spurt of red blood and soon, he was the only one left.
His brother turned his back to him. "Cling desperately to life. Then one day, come before me with the same eyes I bear now."
"Oi, Sasuke! Are you even listening to me?"
His eyes slightly widening, Sasuke refocused his gaze on his teammate. "Ah...sorry, what were you saying?"
From his reclining position against the railing, Menma rolled his eyes. "I said, I heard rumors that the Hidden Mist isn't participating in this year's chūnin exam. They're in mourning since their Mizukage died, or something."
"Show some respect, Menma," Sakura snapped. "How would you feel if it was the Lord Third who died?"
"That's a moot point because that old man's never going to die," said Menma in a smug tone.
Sasuke looked down his reflection in the water below the bridge. "It wasn't that long ago that our own village was in mourning."
In the corner of his eye, he observed both of his teammates exchanging somber looks.
"Well," Menma said in a fake cheerful voice. "It's the first time in years Konoha is hosting an open chūnin exam. I heard it's going to be a pretty big deal, with a bunch of villages attending. Everyone who's not on a mission is being called back for security." He hesitated. "Do you think Naruto will come back for it?"
"Who knows? Even Kakashi-sensei's been very hush-hush about the whole situation." Sakura gave Sasuke a coy look. "Has he told you anything, Sasuke-kun?"
Over the past two years, the jōnin known as Copy Ninja Kakashi had taken over their late teacher's responsibilities. In that time, Sasuke had come to realize that Kakashi's seemingly lackadaisical demeanor was merely a front—there was true steel to his gaze, and a lifetime of hard-fought battle experience to back it. Sasuke never asked any questions however; following the events of Wave country, there was a mutual unspoken understanding to let sleeping dogs lie.
"Not really," he said. Taking his hands off the railing, he left his teammates and began to head back towards the training grounds.
As they always did, Sasuke's thoughts trailed back to the moonlit events of his past.
He knew that he was growing stronger with every single passing day. But Itachi's words gnawed at him deep inside—had been gnawing at him. Going on B-rank missions and the occasional A-rank, sparring with his teammates, waiting to be promoted to the rank of jōnin... Was that all there was to it? Was that enough to kill his older brother?
Sasuke didn't have to search deep in his heart to know that it wasn't. The only way to defeat Itachi would be to obtain the same eyes as him. The question was—how?
This was where Kakashi came in. Sasuke knew that the jōnin somehow had the Sharingan; he had caught a glimpse of it once before, when a simple reconnaissance mission had turned into a full-on skirmish with enemy forces in Rain country. However, Kakashi had never brought it up again—until yesterday, when out of the blue, he had offered to train him one-on-one. Sasuke's cynicism warred with his frustration, and frustration won the bout. There was a restless energy inside of him that refused to subside, and he wondered whether training with Kakashi would be enough to subdue it.
Before Sasuke reached the training grounds, he caught sight of the figure of his thoughts and came to a stop.
Kakashi was standing in front of the memorial stone. Sasuke couldn't see his face, but even if he could, he doubted he would have been able to read anything in his masked expression.
Awash in the glow of twilight, there was a white carnation at the foot of the stone slab. He wondered whether Menma, whose clan ran a flower shop, had been by.
Sensing Sasuke's approach, Kakashi turned around and raised a hand in greeting. "Perfect timing. Ready for your training?"
"You're three hours late," Sasuke said, folding his arms across his chest.
Kakashi feigned a look of surprise. "I don't know what you're talking about."
There weren't enough cots in the medical tent for all the groaning ninja being carried in. Strewn across the hectic space, ninja with bloodstained bandages wrapped around their heads or the stumps of what had once been limbs, drifted fitfully in and out of consciousness. Shouts filled the air as medic-nin rushed back and forth, their palms glowing with medical ninjutsu.
One of them noticed Karin and impatiently waved her over. "Well, come on! It's about time you got here!"
The unhealed bite marks on her body were already starting to prickle. Karin hesitated—and the medic-nin, scowling, grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to a man with a head wound. She braced herself as the man hefted himself up—then, baring his teeth around her wrist, he bit down. Hot pain seared through her body, and she felt the immediate loss of chakra.
This continued, bite after bite after bite, until Karin was so spent, she could no longer prop her own head up. Her whole body was covered in new bites; she felt as empty as a dried husk. But there must have been a few drops of chakra left within her, for she was still alive—and with that, she was left to lie down in a corner to recover.
They had learned their lesson with her mother.
In her crushing weariness, Karin closed her heavy eyes—and when she opened them again, sunlight streamed painfully into her eyes. As soon as the stars had disappeared, she saw the head ninja of their village, Zōsui, appraising her with his cold grey eyes.
His words for her were as usual, emotionless and to the point: "The Hidden Leaf will be hosting the chūnin exams this year. You're going in one of our genin teams. This is your chance to redeem yourself from your failure in Sunagakure, and I'll be personally there to watch this time...you know what will happen if you fail me again." With the threat hanging in the air, he left her to pick up after herself.
The memory of the look on Zōsui's face when he found out that none of the Kusa genin had passed the chūnin exam still brought goosebumps. She suspected the only reason why she hadn't been drained of her chakra on the spot was because the daimyō of their country had personally commended Karin on her fight in the third test.
Zōsui had said it to her: "Your only use is your chakra."
Karin lived alone in a hut along the fringes of the village. The area was empty; despite the increasing shortage of ninja as of late, Kusagakure was sending more and more out on missions to earn money for the village. Two houses down, there was an older woman named Midori who had used to share some of her food with Karin. She had been sent out five months ago and had never returned.
Just as she closed the door behind her, Karin's stomach growled loudly and she considered her options: She could go back to the medical camp for food...but her chakra reserves were still low, and she knew they would make her heal again.
So instead, Karin lay herself down on the ground. It was early morning, and a few rays of daylight seeped into her hut through the cracks in the roof. However, in the haze of her weariness, everything seemed dark. She shut her eyes, but it was the same. There were no chakra signatures around her; it was dark, and she was alone. She felt herself drifting away, and wished she would never have to open her eyes again.
Time passed, and hunger pains shook her awake. Sluggishly getting up, Karin put a hand over her grumbling stomach and made up her mind: Though she lacked the energy to go hunting, there were plenty of patches of mushrooms and greens to placate her hunger.
The sun shone high in the sky. It burned the back of her neck as Karin slowly gathered what she found in a woven basket. As she got farther and farther away from her village, she eventually found a riverbed. Taking care to put down the basket, she lowered herself by the water and rinsed the dirt off a mushroom. Closing her eyes, she opened her mouth to eat it—when she froze.
While she hadn't been paying attention, there was a large chakra signature in her vicinity. It couldn't belong to any of the villagers—it was so large, it far eclipsed theirs. Was it in the water? Reaching for a kunai, Karin backed away from the river's edge and retreated into the forest. Though it was possible the owner of the chakra had already caught sight of her, she suppressed her chakra and watched from the shade of a tree.
A beat passed. And then two—the river's surface broke.
A bare-chested boy—no, a teenager, stepped out of the water on the other side of the riverbank. The first thing she noticed was his hair; it was red, burning like fire in the sunlight. The second thing she noticed was that he was holding a large fish in each hand, which explained what he had been doing in the water.
Her gaze shot to the basket she had left by the riverside. However, he didn't seem to have noticed as without a look back, he began to head into the forest.
There was something familiar about him, both physically and in his chakra. His hair color was the same as hers, and it wasn't a common color by any means. Everything still felt cloudy, but she wracked her mind and soon, a hazy memory drifted into her consciousness: A small red-haired genin, holding a blade to her neck.
Could it be him? The Leaf genin she'd fought against in the chūnin exam?
Karin closed her eyes and checked his chakra signature again. She shuddered: It was him. It had matured in the years since she'd last felt the chakra, but it shared similarities to the one she remembered—cold and guarded, and intermixed with an immense dark chakra that made her stomach twist.
However, as she probed deeper, she started to note several differences. Where it had previously been cold enough to cause her to flinch, it was now cool in the way the river water had felt on her hot hand. And where it had been rough, it now seemed more worn down; there were rounded edges in the place of sharp corners. It was chakra full of contradictions, and Karin wasn't quite sure what to make of it.
When she opened her eyes, the chakra signature disappeared and all she could see was the riverbank. No—she peered her eyes and checked: There was something there. After making sure nobody else was around, she came out of her hiding spot and waded through the river to the other side. There, where the teen had been standing, was one of the fishes he'd been holding, flopping about on the rocks.
Karin felt her heart stop. There was no way he'd dropped the fish on accident. Had he noticed her before she hid her presence? Why had he left this fish behind? Was it poisonous?
Her stomach rumbled. After a moment's pause, she added the fish to her basket.
When Karin returned home from scavenging, she cooked the fish over a campfire. The smell of freshly cooked fish caused her to salivate, and she quickly tore into it, burning the roof of her mouth as she did so. It hurt, and she was no stranger to pain, but for some reason, her eyes began to sting. Taking off her glasses, she rubbed her face clean.
Had food always been this delicious?
The fish must not have been toxic for that night, she found herself still alive, and she wondered why. She wondered whether Zōsui would knock on her door. And as she lay on the ground looking up at the dark sky through the cracks in her ceiling, she had a sudden thought: Had that boy left the fish behind for her?
Just before she drifted away, the memory of her last fight as a genin came back to her. It had been far away from here, in Wind country, where the air was dry and the sand shone in the moonlight. They had brought out a white cloth there with names etched on it in black, showing the match-ups for the third exam.
She could remember it now. It had been the very first name –
Uzumaki Naruto.
A/N: Consider this an interlude chapter. The next few chapters will outline some of Naruto's journey before we get back into the main plot.