Toshida Gaiden Part 4: The Dark Secret
(I know it has been quite awhile since my last update, and I apologize for that but school has been quite hectic lately and it is hard to find time, and to finds motivation. I will to update about once a week but you never know. School is over in a month and after that I can guarantee more frequent updates.)
Kunashiro awakens in a severe pain, his eyes unable to focus and all his senses almost numbed. He soon realizes that he has been heavily medicated, likely in an effort to speed up his recovery. As his eyes begin to focus, the first thing he notices what remains of his left hand has been capped with a piece of metal, and bandages have been wrapped tightly around his wound. He uses his right hand to try and use his sense of touch to determine the extent of his injuries. After feeling around he notices his ribs have been taped up and wrapped with makeshift gauss wrappings. Upon further inspection he notices he is recovering from four cracked ribs, and with a little time he is able to deduct the extent of his other injuries.
"Man I am a mess." Kunashiro thinks to himself, "How did I get here? Speaking of which, where the hell am I?"
Kunashiro looks about the room he is in which is dark and secluded, lit only by candle light. By a makeshift cabinet at the other side of the room, Kunashiro notices the same old man that cauterized his hand standing with his back to Kunashiro. The old man turns around and cracks a smile at the wounded shinobi.
"Well then," the old man says, "it's nice to see you finally awake. We were worried that you may never wake up"
"How long have I been out?" Kunashiro asks.
"Roughly three days. You would wake up every now and again in a daze and in extreme pain, so we'd give you some more painkillers and you would fall back asleep."
Kunashiro rises up in his bed and grimaces in pain briefly before settling in his upright position. The old man moves closer to Kunashiro checking to make sure that none of Kunashiro's wounds have worsened.
"I thank you old man. You have treated all of my injuries to the best of your abilities. Now what do you want from me in return?"
"Nothing at all young shinobi. When they found you, it was obvious that you had been decimated by another strong shinobi. The chakra burns, the clean cut that took your hand, it seems either like you fought an opponent you couldn't beat and ended up here, or you resisted when you got arrested."
Kunashiro raises his voice in an outrage, "I was not arrested! And I did not fight an opponent I couldn't beat. I was outnumbered by the Raikage and his personal guard."
"The Raikage? Why would the Raikage look after a criminal?"
Kunashiro finds himself trying to strike the old man, letting out a rabid swing with his amputated left hand. "I am not a criminal dammit!" Kunashiro grimaces and almost falls out of his bed and the old man rushes to his side, returning him to a comfortable position.
"Ok I understand young shinobi. Do not strain yourself, you are still in horrible shape and you still need rest." The old man then walks to the cabinet and grabs a bottle of brown liquid from the cabinet.
"I was betrayed. I used to be the Raikage's personal assassin. And he only used me to take care of some of his dirty work."
The old man puts some of the liquid into a cup and gives it to Kunashiro. "Here, this will help with the pain." Kunashiro drinks the awful tasting liquid back and returns to his resting position.
"To do all of this for a stranger in this place is truly astonishing. Speaking of which, where the hell are we?"
"You are in the Raikou prison colony my friend. This is "officially" a maximum security prison colony reserved for only the most dangerous criminals in the thunder country. And some criminals from the other countries. However, about sixty percent of our population are second generation prisoners, born after their parents founded this place."
"Parents? Founding a prison colony?"
The old man chuckles out loud as he realizes Kunashiro's confusion. "Not quite! It has always been a prison colony since it was founded by the Raikage, over a generation ago, but the first inhabitants realized that there was no guard tower, or security frontier throughout the area. The only thing was, that the storms never stop, the sun never shines and there is no life here at all. Nothing to eat, nothing to hunt, nothing to farm. It is simply where the trash was sent to die." The old man sits down beside Kunashiro and remembers the early days of the colony.
"After dozens of prisoners died in this wasteland, one of them found their way to these caves and found shelter in the massive series of caverns and tunnels. When the reached the lower levels of the caves they found underground waterways that was able to supply them with a variety of fish and other sea life. The inhabitants had food, and they had shelter as well as the ability to distill the salt water from the waterway. So, a village soon sprang up over the years in these caves."
"This place has become a village? A village of criminals?"
"Yes it did. In this place you have to pull together and work as a community in order to survive. Everyone's criminal past became second priority because they had no time to act with an ego or with some kind of hostile attitude to the other inmates. If you wanted to survive, you worked and you pulled your weight or you were simply left to die. Receiving no provisions or fresh water or even shelter. We have never had a problem in all our years here."
"But why didn't you ever try to escape from this place? Storm the guard towers and stage a revolt?"
The old man laughs at Kunashiros optimism, "I am afraid that we aren't all fighters down here young shinobi. You are one of only five shinobi that have ever been sent to this place, and all of those shinobi have since passed on. We are a peaceful people and we make due with what we have here."
"And what do you call this village of yours old man?"
"Although officially it is designated as the Raikou Prison colony, all of us have so affectionately referred to this place as the Village of Sin. So that we may go about our lives in peace and prosper, but never forget why it was that we came to be here."
Suddenly a young woman walks into the room looking for the old man, and as she turns she notices Kunashiro sitting up in bed. After looking at the shinobi in amazement for a few moments, she soon regains her composure and addresses the old man.
"I am sorry to disturb you Shobu, but my father wishes to see you. His wrist has been bothering him again and he has finally realized that all his procrastinating to talk to you about it wont allow him to continue with our workload."
The old man replies, "Ah yes, your father can be a stubborn man indeed my dear. Oh by the way, as you may have noticed, our friend has regained consciousness."
The young woman looks to Kunashiro wearily, trying to avoid making eye contact with the shinobi, although she cannot help but cast the occasional glance. "Y-yes I noticed. I am glad to see that you are doing better shinobi-sama."
The old doctor turns to Kunashiro who finds himself curiously inspecting the weary woman. "Um th-this was the woman that saved you and brought you here. You are lucky that her and her father were out gathering flint rocks when you found yourself in the colony. Otherwise you may have been nothing but a skeleton by the time another soul would pass by you." The old man redirects his attention to the shy woman, "Well I suppose I should formally introduce you two. Yuna, this is mister . . . well come to think of it I never got the man's name. What is your name anyway young shinobi."
Kunashiro catches eyes with the young woman briefly as he stammers out his name. "K-Kunashiro. Akira Kunashiro, former shinobi of the village of the hidden cloud. I must ask you. Yuna was it? Why is it that you do not look me in the eyes?"
The young woman is caught by surprise and begins to blush in embarrassment at Kunashiro's question. "S-sorry shinobi-sama, I-I mean Kunashiro-san. I was told by my father that the shinobi are ruthless and dangerous and they could kill you with a single glare if they thought that your glance was offensive. I was simply avoiding the risk, I apologize if I made you angry."
Kunashiro smiles for the first time in many days. He shakes his head and waves his remaining hand at the young woman. "You may look at me in the eyes anytime you wish. I assure you that you have nothing to fear from me."
The young man returns the smile to Kunashiro, but is quickly interrupted by a loud bellowing called from the adjacent room.
"YUNA! IS HE GOING TO LOOK AT MY WRIST OR NOT?" Suddenly Yuna's father walks in the room and then redirects the question to Shobu himself. "So are you going to look at my wrist or not doc?" The tall and lanky man's attention is soon drawn to Kunashiro who sits upright in his bed with his attention directed to the new arrival. Suddenly the tall man turns blue in the face and quickly lunges at his daughter and covers her eyes with his left hand while covering his own eyes with his right.
"D-D-D-DON'T LOOK YUNA! THE SHINOBI'S GLARE CAN KILL YOU REMEMBER? DON'T MAKE HIM ANGRY! I AM S-S-S-SORRY MR.SHINOBI, BUT M-M-MY DAUGHTER DIDN'T KNOW ANY BETTER." The old man remains trembling at the knees as he refrains from looking at Kunashiro at all.
Kunashiro cannot help but laugh out loud at the strange man's actions. His laughing is cut short as the pressure on his broken ribs becomes too evident and he grimaces slightly in pain. "What has this guy heard about shinobi? If I was healthy, I could kill him before he even realized who he was looking at, but why would I want or need to?"
The old man shakes his head and lets out a sigh in response to the father's actions, "Will you stop it already? This man is a new arrival here. He is not here to kill anyone. Now open your damn eyes and let me take a look at your wrist. Otherwise, get out of the infirmary and find some work to do."
The man slowly opens his left eye and then does the same slowly with the right. He scratches the back of his head and smiles with a tooth baring grin in an attempt to hide his embarrassment. "S-sorry sir. I have just head a lot of stories about the shinobi of the cloud village being so strong and ruthless that they could kill you with a single glare . . ."
"If I thought your glance was offensive. Yes your daughter was kind enough to let me in on that information." Kunashiro says, sending a slight laughter throughout the room.
Yuna smiles again as she looks Kunashiro in the eyes, and Kunashiro returns the favour. "Anyway, Mr. Kunashiro this is my father Keinea, and I must apologize for his ridiculous behavior."
"I assure you it is quite all right young lady." Kunashiro replies return the smile.
(Narration from Toshida)
For the next few weeks my father would learn about the way of life in the village of sin, and was able to become a successful member of the colony. His wounds were still slowly healing, but he did what he could with only one hand. He learned about their water distilling process, the fish hatchery's they had developed, how they worked to maintain their structural supports that kept the entire village from collapsing in on itself.
Over that time, he also developed a courtship with Yuna, who you may have guessed, later became mine and Keinea's mother. Keinea of coarse having been named after our grandfather.
For the first time in awhile, my father seemed to be happy living amongst the villagers, and living in the village. Although for all of those weeks, he never set a foot outside the caves of the colony, and never saw the outside of the colony. That combined with his ever present amputated hand, my father slowly corroded inside. He put on the facade of a happy man to all of the villagers so that no one would bother him, or become worried about him. But inside he was still filled with a deep hatred for Shin . . . and for The Raikage. Then finally one day when most of his major wounds had healed, he ventured out to the outside of the caves, with Shobu the doctor acting as his guide.
Kunashiro looks up into the sky and is still awe - struck by the churning sky above him. The clouds are black even during the day, with lightning and thunder coursing through them like the blood and very life force of the clouds.
"This cannot be some kind of natural phenomenon." Kunashiro says to Shobu, "The clouds are churning and boiling over constantly, as if the sky was angry. Forever brooding over itself . . . it is almost poetic in a way isn't it Shobu?"
"Why yes it is young shinobi. And you are right about another thing, this isn't a natural occurrence . . . "
It was at that moment that my father received the information that would damn me to bondage before I was even born.
"The stormsare the result of an ancient evil that was locked away generations before our ancestors were even a thoughtAs the story is told, hundreds of years ago one of the legendary demons was banished from it's own realmand sent to ours.The transition left the beast severely weakened and out of fear of its capabilities, the shinobi nations at the time that were still in their infancy, used all of their combine powers to hunt the beast down, and then followed it to this area which was once rich in resources, wildlife, trees and streamsThe shinobi used a massive sealing technique, and they were able to separate the beast's soul from its body. They were able to destroy the beast's body, but they found that the demon's vicious spirit was unable to be destroyed. In a moment of panic, the shinobi did what they could, and imprisoned the beast's spirit in somewhat of a celestial cage high above the mountains of this land in the hope that over the years, the beast's spirit would weaken and eventually fade away. The beast's spirit has been there ever since, churning and brooding over itself in anger for hundreds of years, simply waiting for its bondage to be broken, or its demise to become reality."
Kunashiro looks on in shock to the wise old man, baffled by the mans outlandish story. However, deep down the fairy tale has sparked Kunashiro's curiosity. "You cannot be serious Shobu, parents used to tell their children stories of demons that would seek out disobedient children as food. It is ridiculous."
"Yes I agree with you completely. However, that is the tale and there is no possibly way that somewhere in nature those kinds of clouds could be formed. Those clouds and these storms have scourged across these lands for many years, long before this village was even established. And many people that have journeyed through the colony say that the scars of the sealing technique can still be seen, burnt into the grounds of the wasteland."
"Once again Shobu you are right. You may go back inside if you wish, the fresh air although stagnant and reeking of dust is somewhat soothing when compared to the dank air in the caves. I wish to stay out for a little while longer, I assure you I will be ok and I can find my way back."
"Very well Kunashiro. Do not stay out too long and do not wander. It would be very easy for anyone to succumb to the weather out here."
The old man returns into the caves, leaving Kunashiroalone at the mouth of the cave system to take in the sights and be alone with his thoughts. Kunashiro finds himself unable to shake the thoughts that perhaps the myths and fairy tales are not as fictitious as he had once thought. He uses his remaining hand to pull over the hood on his brown and matted cloak, given to him by his new friends, and he sets off into the wasteland.
"I have to know for sure. The stories told about the demons tell of them possessing great power and endless amounts of chakra. If I could some how harness that power, then I would easily escape this hell hole and bring swift revenge to that bastard Raikage." Kunashiro thinks to himself as he continues wandering throughout the wasteland kicking over rocks and piles of dirt looking for the slightest hint that the sealing technique may have occurred at some point in time.
My father eventually found the signs he was looking for as he was ready to give up. He noticed that the ground itself had been burned so badly that it actually turned the sand into glass. He would later be able to uncover the entire sealing symbol and committed it to memory as he stood in the middle of it.
"Interesting. It appears to be a seven-part seal with five smaller seals circling the main seals. This was it . . . this had to be it! It wasn't some fairy tale or some myth made up to scare little children." Kunashiro finds himself ecstatic and unable to hold his joy in. "IT WAS REAL! THE DEMON DID EXIST AND IT IS SEALED ABOVE THIS WASTELAND." Kunashiro exclaims out loud as if screaming at the sky itself.
Kunashiro then kneels to the ground and begins to recreate a scaled down version of the seal in the dirt in front of him. The seal takes the shape of a large seven sided polygon with a pentagon at each point, anchoring the seal down even further with additional seals. Kunashiro studies the design of the seal and tries to figure out the proper modifications needed to accomplish his goal. On the scaled down version of the glyph, Kunashiro omits two of the anchoring seals on each point and redraws them slightly differently.
"That should be able to pull it off. If I switch the polarity of the anchor, I should be able to banish the seal temporarily. But then I have to find away to bind the demon's spirit to this world . . . " At that moment, Kunashiro is hit by a dark and disturbing epiphany as the solution he was looking for suddenly comes to him.
"That's it . . . I will bind the demon's spirit with my own. If I become the container for the beast, I will reap the benefits of its power. If I make the corrections to the seal with my own blood, I should be able to use it as a medium for myself and the demon's spirit. If I can redirect its spirit to anchor with my own, then I should be able to bypass it and simply use it like a summoning."
Kunashiro then moves to the first point in front of him and bites down hard on his thumb, and begins making the additions to the anchors using his own bloodAfter a short time, he has successfully made the additions to the anchors and readies himself in the center of the symbol and readies himself to make the summoning. Before he can begin to make the appropriate hand seals however, Kunashiro notices a problem with his logic.
"DAMMIT!" Kunashiro screams out loud. "How can I make the proper hand seals if I don't have a second hand?" An idea soon hits Kunashiro as he reaches into his pack pocket and pulls out a pair of gloves given to him by Shobu. "This may just work . . . If I can concentrate my chakra into the glove and fill it up, it may work like a mold and allow me to control the glove as if it were my hand." Kunashiro puts the glove over the stump of his former hand, and begins trying to focus his chakra into the glove. After several minutes of high concentration, the fingers on the glove begin to move. Kunashiro smiles with delight, as he begins to move all of the gloves fingers, as if they were his own.
"Well it isn't perfect, but I suppose it will do. All I need is for it to hold up against my other hand so I can make the appropriate seals." Beads of sweat begin to form on Kunashiros forehead, as the concentration is quickly taking its toll. "Dammit. I can't keep this up for very long. The concentration and chakra needed for this is too much for me to handle at this point."
Kunashiro then slowly brings his hands together and after a few tries successfully forms the seal of the boar. Then in sequence he slowly forms the remaining seals, dog, rooster, monkey, and ram. He takes one last look up at the clouds that have begun to churn more and more violently, tumbling over one another as if fighting for position. The lightning strikes in the colony increase exponentially and the winds begin to pick up by more then ten mph.
"I can almost feel the beasts excitement. It wants me to unleash it . . . It wants to be free again." Kunashiro smiles as the wind blows his hood down, sending his long black hair out behind him as it blows in the wind. "Well you won't have to wait much longer my friend. It is time for both of us to regain what we have lost . . . and what was taken from us!" With that being said, Kunashiro slams his hand down to the ground in the center of the glyph sending out the summoning script and connecting it all to the corresponding points on the glyph. The symbol begins to glow with a bright green light that is matched by an identical light that glows from the sky.
"KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU!"