And here we have the penultimate chapter for the first act of C&B. I hope you enjoy it and please leave a review, always appreciated and helps a lot with motivation.
CHAPTER 11: The Fall Of Sunagakure Pt. I
"THE EQUALLY INFAMOUS AND FAMOUS TOAD SENNIN JIRAIYA!" Jiraiya posed flamboyantly atop the head of Gamaken, Jiraiya smirked victoriously when, just according to plan, the man he had to assume was Daichi Jin had his attention focused squarely on Jiraiya.
One Hour Earlier
About thirty minutes after Naruto had sent the message Jiraiya appeared in Gaara's office with a serious expression on his face. The occupants of the office congregated around Jiraiya, Kakashi, Baki, Naruto, Gaara, and Sasuke stared at Jiraiya expectantly. Jiraiya wasn't surprised by the attention, but Naruto's rather reserved demeanor did catch him off guard a bit. That spoke to just how serious of a situation Jiraiya found himself involved in.
"I've done all I can but…" Jiraiya halted his sentence briefly, not thrilled at all at the news he had to share with them.
"But what!?" The voice of Uchiha Sasuke of all people demanding answers from him, with obvious concern for the situation the Kazekage and his sister were in through Jiraiya for a loop. Up until this very moment Jiraiya honestly believed that whatever Sasuke was doing in Sunagakure was for Orochimaru's benefit but now, seeing the raw protective rage in his eyes, Jiraiya started to think he was wrong about the Uchiha brat.
"But the counter-seal is missing one crucial piece… the blood of its bearer, without Temari's blood I cannot put the final touch on the seal." Jiraiya's revelation caused the hearts of everyone present to sink. With Temari in Jin's clutches, their odds of placing a completed seal on Temari's body were low enough, but the chances of them being able to get a sample of Temari's blood and then have Jiraiya use that sample to finish the seal, all underneath Jin's nose was most likely almost zero.
Daichi Jin stared at the Sannin who just showed up to ruin his plan, disdain and slight panic overtaking his mind. If anyone could potentially pose a threat to his grand goal it was him, Jiraiya The Toad Sage, of the Sannin. Jin was not concerned in the least about his chances against Jiraiya in combat, no one possessed the power to match his after all.
But as one of the most well-known and respected seal masters in the world if given the chance could undo his plans to use the seal to get rid of both Gaara and the Shukaku. With a flick of his wrist, Jin proverbially swats the flies surrounding him, sending them flying away. The air itself is his tool as it folds in on itself blasting Naruto, Kakashi, and Sasuke several meters away from him.
Eyes locked with the legendary shinobi standing across the village from him. Determination swelled to an overwhelming degree in his heart as Jin steels himself to deny Jiraiya that chance. With a burst of his chakra, Jin sends himself spiraling towards Jiraiya at his highest speed.
Sasuke watched Jin fly towards Jiraiya, as his heart threatened to burst out of his chest, he'd only have one chance at this and he'd have to make it quick at that. Sasuke tensed, he observed Jin's body language with his Sharingan until he was sure that his focus was squarely on Jiraiya. Satisfied that Jin wouldn't notice Sasuke quickly moves from his current position to the roof of the Kazekage Tower, and more importantly right next to Temari.
As she was hanging upside down with her facing the roof Temari couldn't see him, though, by the way, he saw her tense, he knew she heard him land. She was visibly shaking, he could tell that she was strongly overcome with emotion, his heart ached at the fear that racked her being.
Kneeling next to her he whispered her name in her ear.
"Sasuke?" She almost wailed his name, her voice wavered, as if she couldn't believe what she had just heard. Sasuke grunted in affirmation as Temari let loose a sound of relief, that was halfway between a sigh and a cry.
"Temari… I can undo the seal but I need your blood to do it." Temari wasted no time nodding her head up and down.
"Of course, whatever it takes. I trust you Sasuke." Her confirmation of trust in him made his heart skip a beat, but more strongly it ached because he knew, deep down in his soul that he didn't deserve it. Steeling himself Sasuke recalled the procedure Jiraiya had shown him earlier on how to create the counter seal. With his confidence as high as it could be in this scenario and his determination as strong as it's been throughout his entire life, Sasuke set himself to work.
Daichi Jin watched in amazement as his hero The Fourth Kazekage Rasa as he stared down The One-Tailed Beast, Shukaku. It wasn't the first time and as much as Jin wished it would be, it almost definitely wouldn't be the last. Jin could hardly fathom how it must feel to be Rasa at this moment. Staring down a beast composed of nothing but chakra, rage, and destruction.
Jin knew despite the fact he swore to uphold his duty, that he would be too scared to do it if he was called to. This understanding of his own limitations of character drove Jin mad with self-loathing. If he ever found the opportunity to rid himself of such weakness he swore on his late mother's grave that he would jump at it.
After all, if there was one thing his mother taught him, it was how to be a good Shinobi; she told him that in order to be a good man you must be strong in spirit, and if you want to be a good Shinobi your spirit must have strength in country!
'Strength In Country' those words passed onto him from his late mother were the foundation he built his life around, they are carved into his very soul. They're the most important thing in the world to him, just like his mother was when she was alive. These life-defining words were the reason he couldn't abide Gaara's rule, Gaara believed in 'Strength In Peace' which as far as Jin was concerned was an oxymoron because strength couldn't come from peace with others but from within. Gaara's continuously looked outside the village for strength not from within, he forgave transgressions against the village instead of stoking the fires of rage within his people for strength. Gaara's views went against everything that made a shinobi strong and Jin's village deserved better and Jin will give them better, no matter the cost!
Flying towards Jiraiya at breakneck speed Jin arrived at his prey in a nanosecond right hand reaching towards the Sannin's neck, only to pass through as he turns to smoke. Following the dispersal of the Kage-Bunshin Jin landed on the head of the giant war toad, who quickly responded by thrusting his trident towards the unwelcome guest upon his head. Unconcerned Jin raised his left hand, the tip of the giant weapon bouncing harmlessly off its palm. Hearing the familiar sound of swirling chakra behind him, Jin swiveled around using once again using his left hand, this time to catch Jiraiya's wrist and redirect it downwards. Jiraiya's Rasengan smashed into his allies head, causing blood to come spewing out.
"Daichi-kun I have a mission for you of the utmost importance." Hearing this from his idol made Jin's heart flutter with pride, the idea that Rasa would call on him for a private mission was mind-numbing. Jin readjusted his posture and redoubled his focus, he couldn't afford to let down his Kazekage not when he had finally noticed him.
"A powerful artifact has been stolen from the vault, it is called The Riaritirokku. It was created by the Shodaime Kazekage, who quickly after realizing what he had created sealed it away in the vault because he knew without a doubt in his mind, that The Riaritirokku would cause the fall of Sunagakure." As Rasa briefed him, Jin's heart began to race he had never heard of this artifact before, but if it really was as dangerous as the Shodaime Kazekage believed, then Jin was terrified at having such responsibility thrust upon him. Doubt was an emotion Jin was well acquainted with, had followed him like a black cloud ever since the death of his mother when he was nineteen.
"Do we know exactly what this 'Riaritirokku' is capable of? Why the Shodaime was so afraid of it?" Jin's question was an attempt to mask his uncertainty. He didn't really believe he could fool his leader, though merely attempting to hide his panic made Jin feel more in control. Rasa furrowed his eyebrows, years of looking up to the man allowed Jin to recognize his expression as annoyance at being interrupted.
"Not much, unfortunately, just that in his writing the Shodaime declared that while The Riaritirokku grants its wielder tremendous power, it also attacks their mind until the user eventually loses the ability to tell friend from foe." This new piece of information really put things into perspective for Jin, an object that grants awesome power at the cost of sanity? Truly terrifying.
"The Riaritirokku was stolen by a shinobi of ours named Arrada Shinjiro. He's a member of our vault defense division, both he and The Riaritirokku vansihed during his shift, while his fellow guards were found unconcious."
"So my mission is to track down this Arrada and recover the artifact?" Jin nearly bit his tongue off when he realized that he had interrupted his hero once again. Rasa glowered at him, eyes promising pain should he dare interrupt him again. Gulping, Jin nodded his head respectfully, motioning for his leader to continue.
"Recovering the artifact is not the goal of this mission, destroying it, actually, is what you'll be doing." Jin's eyebrow's furrowed as he digested his idol's words. If such a dangerous artifact could be disposed of, why would it have been sealed in the vault instead?
"To answer you're unspoken question, we have been secretly develping a method of destroying The Riaritirokku. In fact, we were just putting the final touch on our preparations when Arrada made off with it." Curiosity sated, Jin straightened his back and steeled his mind for what was to come.
Pleased with the renewed focus and professional demeanor Jin was now displaying, Rasa moved on and began to walk Jin through the process of destroying the Riaritirokku.
Taking care of Arrada was no difficult task, he was clearly the more strategy and theory type of shinobi. Jin stared at The Riaritirokku, it was about the size of a house cat, a lavender shade of purple, riddled with jagged edges and cracks that seeped a strange purple glow. The Riaritirokku was sitting on the ground of the desert cave Jin found himself in. A complex sealing matrix, drawn in Arrada's blood surrounded the dangerous artifact.
Drawing a deep breath Jin readied his soul to begin The Riaritirokku destruction jutsu. According to Rasa's explanation, the chances of the jutsu failing its objective were astronomically low; however should he not execute it perfectly Jin could very well follow it into destruction.
'Don't do this Daichi Jin.' All of the calm he had built up in his soul disappeared swiftly when a mysterious voice began to whisper in his head. His first thought was that he must be going insane, but then he remembered what Rasa said about The Riaritirokku driving its user insane. Jin's eyes widened as fear as well as wonder flooded his mind, he had assumed that there was something about the chakra contained in the rock that contaminated one's mind. Jin never would've guessed that the relic was sentient.
'That's right I am alive, and to destroy me is tantamount to murder. That's why Arrada-San attempted to rescue me because he saw the injustice of it all.' Jin hated that the strange creature had a point, however... "I am a shinobi, to kill for my village isn't murder it's duty." Jin felt a little strange to blurt that out loud to a stone, but no one was around to notice, and of course, it was rude to ignore someone. Even if that someone was a rock that shouldn't be sentient in the first place.
'You know I actually agree with that last part' The Riaritirokku replied causing Jin to raise an eyebrow in confusion.
'My sentience is a cruel joke of reality, I haven't the slightest clue how The Shodaime created me, or why that despite the fact that he didn't intend for me to, I posess sentience.' Hearing the creation of the legendary Shodaime Kazekage speak of him definitely sparked Jin's passion. No one loved the history of Sunagakure's leaders more than him. Jin's training told him to destroy the treacherous stone before its attempts to sway him bore fruit, however, his desire to learn more about The Shodaime overrode his sense of duty.
'Reto at first, was not very bothered by my sentience though that soon changed when I began to seriously question my existence. I asked him if I had free will and if I had to do what he said no matter what. His response was to tell me that I was a weapon and that my purpose was to serve him so that he could better serve his people.' Jin started to understand where The Riaritirokku's tale was going and he could feel a spark of empathy, a quite dangerous spark in this situation.
'Slowly, I began to understand what it meant to exist, I began to understand the want to live and the fear of death.' There was a nostalgic melancholy in the stone's voice that convinced Jin it was truly alive. Jin knew that no matter what he couldn't let himself be swayed by The Riaritirokku, but its story fascinated him equally as much as it endeared him to the relic.
'I realized that my query had deeply disturbed Reto. Beforehand Reto spoke to me about a great many things, I believe that he thought of it as thinking out loud with relatively pointless responses, after my question he stopped telling me about anything outside of my existence as his weapon.' There was a sadness in The Riaritirokku's voice that seemed so human that Jin knew, the stone had just won him over.
'The more Reto attempted to dissuade me from searching for more from life, the more I longed to be more than just his weapon. However, despite my power and sentience, I am still just a rock I can not move on my own. So I reached out with my senses and found the mind of Reto's right hand, Sendou Misaki. She was a kind-hearted soul, warmth radiated from her mind I knew immediately that she would have empathy for my plight.' Jin almost fell over in shock at the name, Sendou was his mother's maiden name.
'Truly?' The Riaritirokku exclaimed in wonder. 'That's incredible, I knew I sensed something familiar about you. So you're Misaki-Chan's descendant, are you? That's wonderful, truly wonderful.' The Riaritirokku's words were said with surprise, however, Jin had to wonder whether or not the relic had read Jin's memories and merely used the name to manipulate him.
"I understand the concern Jin-Kun but I assure you, you're memories are inaccessible to me. I possess many abilities but the ability to look into your past is beyond me.' As much as Jin wanted to say he disbelieved The Riaritirokku and justify ignoring the strange creature and finishing his mission, unfortunately, he did believe the stone, and more importantly, he desperately wanted to hear more of its story.
'When I explained myself to Misaki-Chan she immediately saw Rasa's ignorance. It didn't take too long for me to convince her to help me escape.' Jin furrowed his eyebrows at this, the idea that one of his ancestors would so easily decide to commit treason disturbed him greatly.
'Why, what's so disturbing about someone seeing something wrong with their leader's decision and deciding to do something about it.' The Riaritirokku questioned Jin's perspective vehemently. Jin was caught off-guard by the passion with which The Riaritirokku defended Sendou Misaki's decision. There was genuine anger and defensiveness in the stone's rebuke. Once again, Jin found himself amazed at how alive the relic truly was.
"Because she chose to become a shinobi. To be shinobi is to swear loyalty to your Kage!" Jin nearly yelled this, even though he only had to think it for the stone to hear him. That's just how important his mother's code was to him.
'Really? 'Cause I thought a shinobi's loyalty was to their country." The Riaritirokku countered skeptically. That's the same thing; Jin argued back mentally.
'Is that so? Even if your Kage is ruled by weakness? Even if that weakness will spread across your country like a virus.' Jin wished he could shut the stone down immediately but The Riaritirokku's argument got him questioning his position.
'Misaki realized that Rasa's fear of my sentience would prevent him from allowing me to reach my full potential and help bring Sunagakure to true greatness. So she and I devised a plan to go above his head. She would help me escape from Reto and take me to the Wind Country's Daimyo and plead my case in hope that he would have greater foresight than Reto.' Jin could hardly process the story he was being told. It made him question his understanding of his mother's lessons.
'Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful Reto caught Misaki in the act and killed her and disgraced her good name, claiming she was brainwashed into commiting treason.' Jin's eyes widened as he finally remembered an interaction he had with his mother when he was younger. She told him that it was his destiny to reclaim their family's respect, she said that her family's name had been tainted by the stink of treason. He remembered how she rolled her eyes and scoffed, whispering under her breath the word, lies. Had his mother somehow been aware of Misaki's plan and her reasonings? Did she support Misaki's decision? Is following Rasa's orders what would she want him to do or would she want him to side with The Riaritirokku? How he wished she was here so he could ask her.
'I would not be surprised if your mother knew the truth. Misaki did leave a letter explaining her actions to her husband and two sons.' Jin of course knew how easily The Riaritirokku could be lying to him. Though despite this, he believed it; there was something about the story that rang true with his memories of his mother's lessons.
'Does that mean you've decided not to destroy me?' Jin hesitated to answer, unsure of his convictions as well as how he would proceed if he decided to spare The Riaritirokku.
'We could become one?' The Riaritirokku offered. The offer confounded Jin. What exactly did the stone mean by that, He asked himself, while he didn't fully understand what the stone was proposing, some part of his soul told him that this was his destiny. Whether that part of himself came from him or The Riaritirokku he couldn't be a hundred percent sure.
'I assure you Jin-Kun I am not influencing your mind in any way other than with my words as for what exactly I am proposing, is for me to transfer my consciousness from this stone to your body.' What? Jin was baffled by this latest statement by the relic; how would that even work, why would he ever agree?
'I assure you it would be painless, you would still be in control of your body, I would merely be a voice in your head. Similar to the relationship of Jinchuriki and Bijuu my power would be accesible to you.' That could work, Jin realized, with The Riaritirokku and its power out of the stone he could easily destroy the rock and bring it to Rasa as proof he had completed his mission.
'Can you truly not transfer your consciousness against my will?' Jin questioned the stone in hopes its answer would help him find his own.
'In all honesty I could, however I do not believe I would be able to take control of your body, or do anything to prevent you from telling your Kazekage what happend.' Once again Jin couldn't detect any signs of deceit in The Riaritirokku's words. Jin hated how much he felt like accepting the deal, but he appreciated and respected the strange being's honesty. It took Jin several minutes of internal deliberations to come to his conclusion, and in the end, it came down to his memories of his mother's lessons that led him to his answer.
"I accept"
Jin and The Riaritirokku shared a body after that, and along with The Riaritirokku's voice in his head Jin was granted tremendous power, not that it was an immediate process, it took many years for The Riaritirokku's power to truly manifest in his body. The deception worked just as planned, Rasa believed Jin had destroyed the artifact and rewarded Jin with increased trust and responsibility.
Jin always felt a little bad for deceiving his hero and Kazekage, however, he truly believed that he made the right decision for his village. When Rasa was killed Jin lamented never being able to apologize. When Rasa's son Gaara was declared his successor Jin was initially thrilled, certain that Rasa's offspring would follow his footsteps and continue to push Sunagakure to new heights. He quickly realized that Gaara was nothing like his father unfortunately, he was weak, he relied on other villages and would undoubtedly lead Sunagakure to ruins.
Jin and Riaritirokku began to plot Gaara's downfall. As they planned they realized Jin would need to become even more powerful and so, they decided to break down the barrier between their souls, now it was impossible to tell where one began and the other ended they were truly one. Now Jin, armed with tremendous power is minutes away from his goal and he won't let anyone take it away from him, not Gaara, not Baki, not Kakashi, not Naruto, not Sasuke, and, not even the legendary Jiraiya The Sennin.