Night of Rage: Enter the Kazekage!
(Someday I might own something, but Naruto and Boruto ain't gonna be on the list. Enjoy)
"How did this happen? How could this happen?" Zeko stood at the precipice of his village wall with the setting sun giving him a beautiful view ahead of him, behind him was the moon in its waning crescent phase but it wasn't what he wanted to see. The view behind him wasn't something he could bear to look at, not only because of its brutality but because of what caused it.
Himself
The moon was full that night and it gave a beautiful view of Suna. If only the beauty of that night was matched by peace. "Mama!" A little girl tried her best to move the rubble off of her mother's legs but she wasn't having any luck, people ran by and didn't even spare a glance to their struggling.
"You have to run, don't worry about me." The woman was crying not only from her broken legs but because of the fact that her daughter had to leave or they'd both die.
"Sorry little lady but mother knows best!" Chakra strings pulled the girl into comforting arms but still she reached out to her injured mother, Rei did his best to comfort her all the while. Rei felt shivers running down his spine as they moved from the girl's pinned mother, whatever caused this was nearby and he didn't want to stick around for it to come back. He saw three shinobi leap across the rooftops in the direction he just came from, at least they'll be able to deal with whatever was going on.
"Mommy!" Her cries were not ignored by him and he tried to comfort her as he ran to the nearest shelter. Whether it be sandstorms or what was happening tonight, the disaster shelters held up every time. It was almost entirely genin escorting people to safety, some chunin mixed in wherever higher authority was needed. Rei looked around and didn't see his older brother anywhere and that unnerved him greatly, but he didn't have time to worry about that since the safe haven he brought the little girl to was almost full. "Will my mommy be okay?"
Somehow he'd almost forgot he was still holding her to his chest and the puppy dog eyes she was giving made his typical blank expression crack and show a mix of concern and something else, "I'm sure that someone will help her out, you'll see her again I promise." He was being hopeful. Whether or not he was right didn't matter to him, he just wanted to make her have that hope to shine in the darkness.
He didn't know what was going on any more than anyone else around him. He and his friend group had only been out of the academy for three days, team assignments were supposed to be next week but with whatever was happening… "You felt it too right?" Rei came out of his mind and looked at the man beside him, he looked older and clearly more experienced with life. "That anger that flooded the streets out of nowhere, it was oppressing wasn't it?"
"Y-Yeah. Next thing I knew I was being told to round up every civilian I could and to get them somewhere safe."
The man sighed. It wasn't out of irritation but of relief. "There's really only one thing this could've been. Kazekage-sama should've kept it on a tighter leash!"
Rei wasn't sure what the man could've been talking about but his powers of intuition gave him an idea. He didn't bother to continue the conversation and decided to focus on the girl clutching his leg for comfort, he found it endearing so he let her do it… even he could all use something to hold onto right now.
Yuuji was a normal person, well as normal as a shinobi could be. Genin at twelve and Chunin as of this year at fifteen. He joined the Suna police force just to help keep a sense of peace around the Village, but no amount of training or rank advancement would've prepared him for the maelstrom that was tonight. He was just walking the beat when there was an explosion of chakra so vile that he felt his blood freeze in his veins, and there was also the literal explosion that he heard in the distance that added to the fear factor. There was panic in the streets and orders from the police force to escort civilians to the shelters but the sounds of destruction and fighting made him curious as to what the threat in the village was, even more so because even as a chunin he was told to avoid any conflict and protect anyone who couldn't fend for themselves as well as he could.
Yuuji just watched a blue haired genin pull a little girl from her mother who was stuck underneath some rubble from the waist down. He felt the malicious presence moving away so he had the chance to help this woman before whatever just left decided to finish the job. "Ma'am! Can you hear me? I'm gonna get you outta here."
"Thank you! Thank you so much!" He started moving the debris from her mangled legs, groaning all the while at the deceptively heavy rubble.
"Don't thank me yet, we need to find you a-" Yuuji's body screamed at him to run away, to run away and leave the woman who'd only slow down his escape. Of course he didn't listen to that sense of self preservation.
"Nunoshibari no jutsu!"
His mind couldn't even process what happened but he knew that there were suddenly three giant rolls of cloth surrounding… something just out of his line of sight. The three shinobi using the cloth binding technique were visibly straining to pull that something down from a building. Yuuji pulled out a leather piece and gave it to the now free woman. "Bite down on that and hang on." He whispered, whatever was going on didn't include them and he wanted to keep it that way as long as possible.
He slung her arm around his neck and got ahold of her right below her shattered knees. At least the leather was doing its job since all he heard out of her as they retreated were grunts of agony, but the sounds of crashing and thudding were loud and clear and they made him speed up his escape from the scene.
Something was wrong. It shouldn't be quiet, not after what he'd just seen. Yuuji resisted his instincts again and stopped making his bounds to turn around. That was a mistake…
Touka wasn't any type of sensor but the sheer wrongness of the air terrified her. She got her orders directly from the Kazekage instead of her sensei and they were simple; Don't fight it, make barricades in the evacuated streets. She didn't even know what half of that meant but she nodded and was off. Even though she was only a decade old, Touka was already getting ready for her chunin exams and could uphold the simple objective she was given. 'What am I not supposed to fight though? There isn't anything that could've gotten in that I can't deal with. Whatever.' Graduating much earlier than most of her age group would leave her with some inflated sense of self so of course the girl wouldn't think much of their state of emergency, but that changed once she felt the emotions running through the air.
She felt the highest concentration of anger stop moving right when a crowd of civilians and a few shinobi rushed past her on the streets, once the last person went by her she started weaving hand seals and slammed her palms into the ground. "Shōton: Shōheki." A light blue wall of crystalline earth rose from the sandstone and walled the street off entirely.
"Touka!" Ruby red eyes turned and caught the arms that wrapped around her. Erumi was only two years older but her strength made sure that Touka wasn't breaking free anytime soon, as innocent as the contact was. "I'm so glad you're okay in all of this!"
"All of what? I don't know what's going on." Erumi let the younger girl go and looked at her with surprise.
"You- You don't know?"
"No I don't, and I feel like you don't want to tell me."
Erumi smiled bashfully and darted her eyes to the wall of crystals blocking the street off. "Uh… It's not that I don't wanna, I thought you knew and would tell me." Touka deadpanned at the nervously smiling girl across from her, but they couldn't start conversing again on account of the sudden tension in the air around them. Whatever was causing the problem in the village just got even more angry and it made the two quit idling around. They nodded at one another and went their separate ways to help however they could.
Tonight was really not going Yuuji's way, at the very least he passed the injured woman off to a boy who looked a lot like the one that got her daughter to safety. The bad part of that meant that he was still on his own in getting away from it. 'Look on the bright side, I'm gonna die but at least it'll be quickly.' He turned a corner and was greeted by the body of someone else being in his way. They both worked themselves up as the presence grew closer and Yuuji saw that he ran into a man in a white flak jacket, and a woman in a black flak jacket was behind him. "Oh thank Kami, now I might not die." He noticed that they had masks on that matched the color of their jackets, and that they both had short brown hair.
"We're just here to stall for time. I'm Shiroi, she's Kuro." No time for questions since the presence was on them, sand whipped around the corner and they all lunged back to dodge it. Around the corner came a monster by all means, but this time it had a tail made of sand emerging from its lower back. The monster looked at the trio with bloodlust in its eyes and to their shock… smiled. It lunged and its enlarged arm was caught against black, her body not wavering in the path of the beast but it decided the game was done and rose its tail then swung for her with full intent to slaughter. "Chakra no mesu!" That was all the time Kuro needed to get the hell out of the way, the tail slammed into the street at the same time as a mass of sand. The beast's arm hung at its side with sand falling away in clumps.
"Looks like you can get through the sand with that one, hey kid. Stay behind us! This is too much for you." The beast inhaled and blew a violent gale into the ground ahead of them and it raised its head, the trio broke apart leaving Yuuji on his own. It jumped with its right arm flopping in the wind.
'I should've went to the red light district with the others when I had the chance.' Dying with regrets is always a bad experience, and Yuuji only had that holding him back.
"Sabaku shōfū!" Something was on that boy's side tonight since death just couldn't grab him. Kuro's foot collided with the monster's chin and sent it into the air where it spun and landed on its three good limbs while its arm started flopping less. "Not letting you die today kid, you're too cute for it." Embarrassing comments aside Yuuji had to stand up since the beast got use of its arm back, and the sand that fell off started to reattach once more.
"K- Kill… I'll kill you!" The sheer fury that radiated through the air brought the trio to their knees ahead of the demon that was staring them down from only a few meters away. The air went from still to heavier than steel. Kuro, Shiroi, and of course Yuuji were stuck watching the demon come closer towards them while sporting a monstrous grin on its face. Tendrils of sand wisped away from its arms and latched onto Kuro's mask, then in a sudden burst of activity it was crushed and a massive claw wrapped around her body.
"Stop! This isn't you, don't let that thing control you!" Yuuji found his voice leaving his body without his own control factoring in, Kuro saving him from a violent death moments ago probably factored into his loss of self preservation and attempts to sway the transforming child's mind back to the normal world. Unfortunately his plea was unnoticed by the demon as its eyes changed from being dull yellow stars to brighter ones with four dots around them.
"Eyes…" That voice was anything but peaceful and it showed as it dragged its gaze across the woman in its clutches. "Lungs…" Despite the age difference between the demon and herself, Kuro somehow didn't feel covered enough while it stared at her chest. "Pancreas… So many snacks, so little time." An elongated tongue slipped out of its mouth and worked its way across her face. She felt dirty. Despite this being a child behind all of that anger, Kuro, an adult, felt violated. The tongue withdrew and a mouth of sharp teeth opened and grew closer to the woman but it stopped when something made the suicidal choice to injure the demon. A kunai was lodged in its cheek and Yuuji was barely on his feet from the pressure being exerted into the air.
"I'll go down saying I went for it!" It flung Kuro away and Yuuji showed no fear as its mouth snapped around his right arm and thrashed him around angrily. Yuuji was given another shot of good luck since his body was sent crashing into a building, at least he'd survive without the arm that the demon had in its mouth. It took seconds to rip the limb away and even less to swallow it with only a few bites.
The demon turned its attention back to Shiroi and grinned but the man wasn't paying any attention to the monster ahead of him, no for some reason he was looking just past it. The demon turned and saw a head of shoulder length blue hair and ruby red eyes approaching, the killing intent that it was actively pouring into the air didn't deter the person at all. Their white robe being blown back by the wind of the desert but in all she was unaffected. Wait, she? "Y- Yuna? Yuno? What even is your name?!" Some of his voice was coming back at the familiar face.
"Yunao, but I've been called both so whatever you say makes no difference. Zeko you will stand down or I'll have to stop you myself." Her tone held nothing other than command, and her words were serious. Zeko paused for a second at the mention of his name, so far he'd only heard the moniker of monster or demon so being called his name drew him from the dark for a moment. "Your parents wouldn't want this." And he was plunged right back in with that. "Shit, didn't mean to open that scar!"
Zeko lunged with his claws ready to rip and rend, so far nothing had been able to fully stop him in this emotional rampage… So imagine his surprise when he wound up looking at the beautiful full moon in the night sky, not because he turned his head but because of the foot that slammed into his jaw with all the mercy of a rock through a window. Yuno was performing a beautiful one armed handstand with her left leg sticking straight out, contrasting that view was Zeko's sand armored body sailing into the air. 'What?' He landed and before he could even attempt to fight back a palm to the chest sent him reeling as his armor started to crystallize at his sternum. "What?!" Yuno dashed forward and landed a shattering kick that sent fragments of crystals and sand flying… Oh and the rampaging kid that they came from.
Shiroi fully recovered from the terrifying aura and appeared at Yuno's side while Zeko struggled to his feet. "What are your orders?"
"Get Kuro and that boy out of here now! I'll take over from here." She rolled her neck and stretched an arm to end the statement. "I haven't stretched my legs in a while so I hope I'm not too rusty." The speed that Shiroi went through the rubble to find the two that were at his side when they bode for time was surprising, even more so since his body was still shaking from fear. Zeko got up with heavy breaths and sand working to his chest.
"Be careful Kazekage-sama!" With that any distractions were gone- Wait a second, Shiroi said… Zeko looked at Yuno with confusion obviously plastered across his monstrous face as the sand reformed into a thickened hide. He was looking more and more like his roommate with each passing minute.
Yuno chuckled and pulled her robe over her head and let it land beside her in a heap. Her outfit was plain to be honest, a simple brown shirt with disconnected sleeves leaving her triceps bare and pants that matched in color while her footwear was close toed and black. "Didn't put it together in the last four years? Least now I can show you how I earned the title."
This time Zeko raised his claws and sent sand coursing straight at his Kage, and she stood there with a hand on her hip with a cool expression on her face. "Die!" Yuno formed a half seal and the sand just stopped… Well calling it sand wouldn't have been accurate since it was just spires of crystal that were now threateningly poised ahead of her.
Crystal release was very unique since it was able to crystallize anything that was in its way aside from chakra since there wasn't any physical matter. Anyone who controls sand has to use their chakra to pick it up in masses and move it with their will, however the sand itself isn't composed of chakra and is a physical object. As it stood there was no more use of sand since it wouldn't be able to reach the Kazekage, but that wasn't something Zeko would let hold him back.
He jumped onto the spiraling structures and leapt straight for Yuno with bloodlust in his eyes, but this time she only clasped her hands into the snake seal with a serious expression on her face. The twisted spires cracked and broke apart right before spearing into Zeko's massive arms. "Are you even fighting back for control? Pull yourself together already!" The only response she received was Zeko taking a deep breath but not only through his mouth… All across his sand coated body sharp toothed mouths opened and inhaled then closed just as fast. Experience and quick thinking let Yuno drop to the ground and slam her hands down, a jade green wall of hexagonal crystals emerged right as Zeko's body swelled to its limit.
'Futon: Mugen Sajin Daitoppa!' A blast of wind and pellets of sand came spewing out of Zeko's mouth. The wall held together, that is to say it didn't shatter against the blast of wind and sand, but the street they were on couldn't say the same and neither could the buildings after that attack. Yuno was only in better shape because of her wall of crystal that had a perfect internal geometric structure, said wall shattered once the attack was finished.
Yuno stood up and cracked her knuckles with a smirk on her face while the sand fell away from Zeko's body entirely and revealed that while he wasn't impaled by the spears he was still cut along his arms. The wounds sizzled and healed but that wasn't what mattered to him, or whatever he could be called at that moment. "If you want to calm down now you'd be disappointing me but it makes it easier on everyone else." Her sleeves fluttered lightly in the wind as she returned to her hand on hip stance. "But my needs come after those of the village so I'd rather you just pass out now so we can call off the state of emergency."
Zeko stood there with his arms loosely at his sides with his head tilted downwards. His hands twitched and in a split second Yuno was on top of him and split his hands from each other, stopping him from forming any hand seals. In a lapse of attention she was on the receiving end of damage when he ran up her body and kicked off her chest but it wasn't much relatively speaking. Once he landed he brought his hands together again but Yuno was there to separate them, and thus the chain of Zeko pushing her back to get some room and the Kazekage immediately stopping him from making any jutsu began. The only damage that Yuno was getting were scuffs on her clothes while she left light bruises on Zeko's skin whenever he tried to fully strike her and it wasn't a stalemate since they weren't equally pushing each other, no, Zeko was losing ground each time she moved in close.
Enough was enough. Sand coated Zeko's arm in a spire and he thrusted it straight into Yuno's gut. His grin turned into shock when her body shattered into pink crystals, but the most surprising thing was the fist that introduced itself to his cheek. He turned his head just in time to see her leg coming his way but he wasn't fast enough to move out of the way. He went from standing on the street to being embedded in the wall of a building in the blink of an eye, and his head finally fell and showed that Zeko was out cold. "Not bad for a little leg stretch. This could've gone worse." And that was all Murphy's law needed.
"Free."
It was quiet but she definitely heard a voice from that wall. "What did you just say?" Yuno took a step forward right when 'Zeko' raised his head but the look in his eyes was all she needed to see to know that this definitely wasn't the same boy. "Oh hell!" She made the ram seal and crystals grew from the ground and encased Zeko's body, but Yuno had been around long enough to know a trick when she saw one. "We aren't playing hide and seek!" The crystals shattered and revealed that the only thing that'd been caught was sand.
"Pain…"
She looked at the roof of the building and saw 'Zeko' clutching his hand and she smirked at the remnants of crystal on it even while he ripped it, and the skin of his hand, straight off.
"It hurt… I felt it…"
The wind stopped and the sand stood still, his fists clenched and Yuno could sense that something was wrong. His skin regrew even as his veins pulsed and his fury grew even more.
"It hurt and I felt it!"
"That sounds like-"
"HROAAAAAH!"
The sand and wind erupted with movement and centered on that sole building, Yuno braced while it felt like the desert itself came to life and focused on gathering in one spot. A number of people were terrified that night but in the face of what was happening that was only an appetizer for the main course that was being cooked now. Yuno had to leap back since the sand started to lash at her and saving chakra would definitely help her with what was about to happen.
"HA HA HA! It's been a while since I could cut loose! And a full moon too?!"
The beast of the wind and sand, the demon tanuki, the monster of the desert, it had many names but the commonality was that it was dangerous nonetheless. "Shukaku…" Yuno clenched her fists, three buildings were reduced to rubble just from Shukaku emerging. "I know I can't kill a tailed beast but if you killed Zeko just to try and destroy my village-"
"I didn't do anything, he let himself go and you let me out by putting him to sleep! So I'm gonna have my fun while I can!" With a swipe of a massive arm three more buildings were demolished. A giant grin was across the face of the tailed beast as the buildings fell but it's joy was cut short once something slammed into it from behind. "Aw hell!" The jaws of a giant crystal dragon locked around his shoulder, but the Tanuki decided to cut its loss and just abandon the arm entirely. "Yes! Let's do it, bring it on Kazekage!" The sand whipped and spun around while Shukaku darted his eyes around to find Yuno, his arm regrowing all the while. The dragon shattered and decorated the ground with glittering debris.
"Shoton!"
"Found you!" Shukaku raised and slammed an arm on his bulbous stomach. "Futon: Renkūdan!" He shot a giant bullet of air straight at Yuno, sand and wind alike gathered in the blast.
'If that lands it'll take out part of the village!' Above all else, protecting her village was the top priority. She finished her last hand seal and the ground around her shook. 'Tajū Hoshō Koryū.' Six blue crystal dragons formed in the air, one was sacrificed to the air bullet and the rest charged for that tailed beast. Shukaku grinned and raised his arm, now it was a contest of who could shoot faster. He slammed his stomach and shot four more bullets of air, four more dragons shattered into the night air. The last one was too fast and latched onto his shoulder but unlike the first it wrapped its body around his. 'That should hold him for a few minutes.'
Shukaku struggled against the crystal dragon but its grip didn't loosen against his efforts, but he did notice something important in his efforts. 'Earlier those crystals turned my sand into crystal but now they aren't. The Kazekage has to be close to turn things crystal!' He opened his wide mouth and shot an air bullet at the head of the dragon and freed himself from its grasp. Shukaku shook with glee once he saw the Kazekage where she'd been before. Shukaku opened his mouth and started inhaling a massive amount of air.
Whatever the next attack was it definitely was more than a drilling air bullet and Yuno knew that, but she wasn't sparing time to pull any ridiculous jutsu or anything like that. All she did was create a giant shuriken out of jade crystal and fling it at the tailed beast. Right as Shukaku reached the apex of his attack the shuriken made itself known to him and lodged itself into his face, right into his left eye. In an instant he turned his head and fired a beam of wind into the night sky and the few clouds present were blown away.
"That fucking hurt! How about I blow your village away?!" He pointed his head upwards and started to gather chakra but Yuno was having none of that tonight. She slammed her hands onto the building she stood on and a spike of crystal jutted out and while this happened, bubbles of blue and red chakra started gathering and condensing in front of Shukaku's mouth.
"Shoton: Shodan." That spike shot out and soared straight for the purple mass in front of Shukaku's mouth. There aren't many ways to describe what happened when the crystal made contact with the purple orb but a giant explosion is definitely a start. The tailed beast was blown off balance with half his face missing and his eye was becoming dull quickly. He had some fun so at least there was that but Rasa had an easier time dealing with him than whoever this was… Then again Rasa just had heavier sand and she could just stop his sand entirely, he wasn't going to linger on that since he could sense something waking up around his forehead.
"Oi Kazekage! Might wanna catch the brat!" With that Shukaku was gone, the sand fell to the ground lifelessly but that wasn't the concern. Yuno saw that a kid was among the falling sand and she sprinted towards him and leapt into the air to catch him before he could find out what happened when you landed headfirst on the ground at that speed.
Yuno looked over Zeko and saw that he was pretty unharmed. Not even any scars from her cutting his arms but his face had a bruise along the jaw… "Eh he'll be fine." His eyes fluttered and he opened them slowly to see her looking down at him.
"Yuno-san? I do-" Memories of what happened came flashing back to him and he covered his mouth, not out of horror but to hold back the instinct. What instinct? The one he gave into once he separated from his Kazekage. He emptied his stomach into the street they stood on, the flesh and bone of Yuuji's arm definitely left a bad taste across his tongue. Once his stomach was empty he passed out onto the cold sandstone with Yuno quickly picking him up.
It'd been two weeks since the rampage. Of course he'd be on a team with Ran and Hanatsu, they were the first three finished so they had to be the best team available. The real surprise was the fact that Rozu was their sensei, but the more they thought about it it made sense. She was watching over a classroom that had a jinchūriki in it so clearly she'd have to be able to delay or even take him down before he managed to cause any massive damage. Of course it was still a surprise that she wasn't actually of Chunin rank and just had to pose as such to monitor Zeko, it did also explain why she was always nearby when he was in the academy.
Right now they were training since Rozu was less than pleased at their team dynamic. Each one of them was very skilled in what they did but Ran and Hanatsu were best at close quarters combat while Zeko was a jack of all trades and adapted to whatever she threw at him. She did notice that over time his reaction speed grew slower so she decided that having all of them come at her with intent to kill would help him. "Katon: Gōkakyū No Jutsu." That fireball blew into the air with an odd calm surrounding it, as if it was fire that didn't want to burn. Rozu raised her red tessen fan and with a great swing blew the flame apart.
Hana took that chance and approached their sensei from behind with tense hands. Her nails were sharp and ready to show that she was a cat that could scratch. "Nekoken: Omacha tsume!" In an instant she landed not one but two quick slashes across Rozu's back and ruined her tan brown top in the process. The genin had to jump back to avoid the heavy fan swinging for her face but the wind that it brought sent her flying into a wrecked building. Their training ground was in a block of the village that was wrecked two weeks ago, on the upside it was an area scheduled for demolition already so now it was being put to use.
That was when Ran took his chance and sprinted forward with a serene expression. He dropped to the ground and propelled himself upwards foot first. "Sabaku shofū!" The only thing he made contact with was a closed metal fan and Rozu smirked right before she grabbed his ankle and held him upside down. Ran weaved through hand seals and inhaled but his jutsu was interrupted by his sensei putting her knee into his gut. She tossed him into the air and lifted her fan with a grin on her face but when she tried to swing she found that her weapon was caught by sand coming straight from Zeko's gourd.
Being a Jonin obviously meant that she wasn't going to go all out against these kids but they could definitely pull some good moves on someone who wasn't as experienced as her, the heel drop that Ran was attempting was testament of that. All Rozu did was sidestep the attack and return to a relaxed demeanor signifying their training as done for now. Ran, Hanatsu, and Zeko all withdrew and sat down beside one another while their sensei took a moment to reminisce. These three were possibly the most promising of this year's class.
Not only did she have their jinchuriki but his friend that was seen as more or less equal despite having no bloodline or particular mutation, but she also had a girl that managed to trick him into literally carrying her through their exam… Granted he revealed that he figured it out beforehand but still it was a clever play on her part. What really surprised her was the fact that all of these three managed to keep their cool and take the lives of another human with little drawback. They had a pursuit mission after some escaped prisoners a week ago and to her surprise it wasn't only Zeko who managed to put down their targets with ease, granted Hanatsu was not happy with having blood on her outfit but that was the only snag they'd hit… It was almost concerning how easy the trio had done it but in this line of work everyone had their own issues so she wouldn't pry so long as their safety or the safety of the village wasn't in question.
"Okay guys it's Saturday and you've been working hard to kick my ass so I think I'll dismiss you for today." Ran and Hanatsu sighed with relief while Zeko remained stoic. "It's only noon so enjoy the rest of the day and we'll meet back here, same time tomorrow." She strapped her fan to her back and walked off leaving the three alone.
"Well I have things to do at home so I'm going too." Hana stood up and stretched her arms over her head while Ran looked towards the marketplace.
"Hey Zeko you think they're selling- AAH!" It became a common issue for the blue haired boy whenever his feline teammate saw his back turned, and when she did she always gave a hard open palmed slap to his ass.
Zeko didn't even smile at the humiliating moment despite Hana laughing herself away while Ran rubbed his rear with clenched teeth. "They might have the knives in stock now, let's go check…" Zeko stood up and walked ahead while Ran trailed behind.
They didn't talk much on their way to the ninja tool and clothing outlet but once they got there even Zeko broke his calm façade at the beauty of the weapons and equipment present. There were swords, fans, and trench knives all over but the arsenal didn't stop there. Ran looked all over for what he wanted but he couldn't see them anywhere. "Damn do they not have it yet? I want to cash in on my favor." A whistle drew his attention to Zeko who was staring at a red box, and Ran's eyes widened while he pushed a woman out of his way. "The Red Flying Swallow!" The scientific ninja tool codenamed 'Flying Swallow' was something that the preteen had his eyes on for some time. It was a specially made ninja tool that resembled knuckle knives but that was where the resemblance stopped, they were made out of a special alloy of chakra conductive metal and when worn could create an extended blade out of whatever their user's nature affinity was. To Ran there was nothing cooler than having knuckle knives with an extended flaming blade as his weapon.
"Still gay that you want a stupid tool like this, but I'm just buying it." Zeko didn't like scientific ninja tools in the slightest, only because he saw them as a crutch to people who didn't have the actual skill to utilize chakra.
"Funny that you're the one saying something's gay mister; 'I don't even like girls that way!'." A tick mark appeared on Zeko's head as he pulled out his wallet and the two went to the register. The shorter of the two really couldn't stand the users of the tools as of now either.
However Ran didn't care since he just thought it was, 'Beyond badass!' So purchasing the weapons with all the money he had in his snake wallet was all he could do since he couldn't object to the favors that he owed. The two left the store while Ran marveled at his new weapons the same way their fangirls would stare at them. Of course they'd both have fangirls still since they were shockingly good at what they did already. Even after the rampage two weeks ago Zeko's fangirls count didn't dwindle, especially since he'd openly defied the rumor of being gay way back when, so his surprise when he found out that some batshit crazy girls only wanted his attention more upon learning that he was responsible for the damage done that night was abundant. He chalked it up to girls just being a different species. His father even told him that women are attracted to dangerous men for some reason but he wrote it off… Even now the man teaches him when he isn't around.
"Onii-chan!" In his thoughts he forgot the real world was a thing and Ichika being wrapped around his body made him forget about his troubles for a few moments even as looks of fear or disdain were thrown their way. Obviously most of the civilian population didn't appreciate what happened and only pushed their belief of him being a monster even further, but the girl wrapped around his waist still loved him so what did any of that matter? The embrace only lasted a few minutes since the girl had her own things to do with her parents. "I gotta go Zeko-nii but I'll see you later!" Zeko smiled as she walked off and he turned to his teammate who still was adoring his new weapons.
Zeko deadpanned and shook his head. "Ran, I gotta get the last of my stuff from my house."
"Yeah cool…" The preteen didn't even care that he was being dragged by the scarf since he had what he wanted. A brisk walk brought them to Zeko's family estate where Ran still hadn't paid any mind to the outside world… But the platinum blonde had to admit that the flaming extensions of the weapon were pretty cool.
'Won't catch me saying that out loud…' He unstrapped his gourd and handed it to his teammate with a simple, "Here you go!" Ran snapped back to reality and realized there was gravity when he tried to catch the gourd but he stopped and let it fall with a thud.
"What the hell's in that?! That felt like it was two hundred pounds!" The cracks on the sandstone helped his panic at the sudden weight of the object but Zeko scoffed at his exclamation.
"Calm down it's half empty." Ran gaped at the gourd and figured that his tiny friend was definitely stronger than he looked.
"This house of memories…" Zeko ran a hand across the dining room table and saw that it really was well tended to. He remembered the conversation he had with his Kazekage about what would happen regarding this house.
"Unfortunately you're too young to live there alone. You'll have to move into the Genin boarding house for now. When you're of age you can claim the property as yours since it was already paid off. Until then you're free to enter and do as you please with it and it'll stay maintained until it's in your legal possession."
"Thank you Yuno-sama."
The boarding house wasn't bad but it wasn't home… Not even close yet. He walked up the stairs and entered the study to be greeted by the prone form of Chomusuke. "Zeko-dono, you've returned for today." Zeko nodded and looked at the desk that had a written message on it. Recalling everything that Chomusuke disclosed with him led him to come to the conclusion that someone in the village really wanted his father dead. But the real question of the matter was,
"Who? Why?!" He slammed his fist through the desk and knocked the paper to the floor. His sharingan using its enhanced sight to read what he could of the paper but partly through it scrambled again. "Whatever Tou-chan did with this he really didn't want anyone to see it unless they had the eyes… I won't know what he wanted me to know until my eyes get stronger."
"I'm more surprised that your eyes didn't evolve once you heard about what happened to him Zeko-dono." Chomusuke said as he licked his left paw.
Zeko looked back at the panther with squinted eyes. "You really don't remember anything after the scorpion thing?" The panther did his own form of a shrug to the boy's question.
"Akira put me under some genjutsu, I don't remember anything apart from having to bring you that scroll and that jar." Zeko looked at the jar that was on a bookshelf beside the broken desk. It was completely blacked out so he couldn't see the contents and worst of all he just knew that the way to open it was written in that message. Irritation was all he felt so he left the study and his guardian to go to his room. His bed and dresser were gone already, his mirror he brought the day before along with his odd trinkets. The only thing in that room was a kunai and it was on the floor.
'I'm really starting to think you're insane…' Shukaku mused from within. Zeko picked up the kunai and pointed it toward himself. Sand whipped up and caught the weapon right before it could make contact with his throat. 'I keep telling you that I'm not letting that happen.'
Zeko struggled for all he was worth to bring the weapon closer to his neck but it was no good, the sand was stronger than he was. He let go and it dropped to the floor again. "Why… Why won't you just let me die?" Tears rolled down his face as he spoke and Shukaku was quiet while they did. This wasn't the first time since the rampage that he tried this, it wasn't the second or third either… Easily the tenth in his attempts at making up for what he'd done.
The boy found himself back in his mind but unlike the subterranean sewer it was before, the landscape was now a great desert and Shukaku was behind the bars of a pyramid shaped cage.
"Just cause you liked hurting people doesn't mean I'm gonna let you kill yourself brat. You're not a monster." The tanuki still wasn't good at emotional aid but that didn't matter since the bot was stuck in his way.
"Fifty injured… Thirteen missing… Eight dead…"
"Ooh don't forget one of them was pregnant! Or the ones that killed themselves cause they lost people!" Zeko stopped his crying just to glare at the demon tanuki for his outburst. For all his intimidating size and appearance he wavered at the glare of a child. "Maybe I should've kept that to myself. Hey I told you to calm down before it happened, it was a full moon. I'm always a little… Thirsty during them."
Zeko calmed down and thought about that but no matter what he did he couldn't help but blame himself. He let himself go to anger and didn't bother fighting back for control, it was one thing to kill someone who threatened you but it was another to enjoy hurting people who didn't do anything to you. But in the end what he couldn't see was that he wasn't himself and his mental roommate couldn't find the words to describe that so he was stuck in his belief of being a monster… At least he was wrong.
They approached the boarding house and Ran whistled at its appearance. It was a giant building that was unharmed from the rampage and yet looked clean and almost new. Windows showed where rooms where and the entrance ahead of them had a desk with a man seated there. Ran was almost jealous since the place looked oddly comfy despite being for younger shinobi without parents. "So what, can a genin come into your new place?" Zeko had to double take at Ran's question and shook his head.
"Fuck you, I'll see you at the field tomorrow."
Ran sucked his teeth in irritation. "Man don't hate me cause I'm taller than you short boy, maybe if your puberty finally started you'd grow up and girls would start trying to talk to you." He turned to walk away but decided to speak more of his mind. "Oh better yet, maybe Touka would talk to your dumb ass if she ever stops messing with that Chunin or whatever she fucking with." He turned back again for a nail in the coffin. "Baka~"
"What?!" Ran didn't bother turning around to dignify the question and kept walking away. "Fucking dickhead…" Zeko walked inside and ignored the man at the desk ducking lower to avoid being seen. The teen banked left to the male dorms and walked down a hallway with rooms and room numbers. He turned left again and walked up the stairwell to the third floor and walked down the hallway again. "Three hundred seventeen…" He put his ID card into a slot and the door unlocked. He'd been staying here almost two whole weeks but still couldn't get used to it… Cause it was awesome.
He might not have called it his home yet but it definitely wasn't a bad place to live. Kitchen right beside the door and his bedroom beside that, then a small leisure room with a television. Only requirements to live here were paying rent and being an active shinobi… Not a bad deal for a ten year old at all. He set his gourd down beside the door and walked into his bedroom where he placed the black jar and encoded scroll onto his desk. A knock at the door made him leave his room and go answer it but the only thing there was a box with a letter on top of it. "You deserve this." He opened the box and only his reflexes managed to encase it in sand before the flash could spread. Whoever left him this wanted him to go blind since he could still see the flash through his sand. 'What a shock, more hate mail.' He left the burnt box outside of his room door and went back inside. Somebody had to make dinner after all. "I think I'll go with scorpion steak and rice as the last meal."
That all brings us to now. Sunagakure's wall that overlooks the desert. Zeko stood at the precipice of this wall with his village behind him. Almost three weeks since his rampage and sixteen attempts at suicide and he had enough. Shukaku wouldn't let him do the honorable thing so he'd take it into his own hands. With just one step he was off the wall and closer to having the relief he was after.
In his mind however things weren't so calm.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"
"It's pretty obvious what I'm doing, and there isn't much you can do to stop me. My eyes are closed so I can't tell when I'll hit the ground."
Shukaku was seething at how quickly this kid would throw away everything he had but that wasn't the issue. "You'd really get rid of your life just cause of other people?! Fuck them! Your parents did everything just for you and you're about to kill yourself just cause you feel bad?!"
The boy heard his words and let them in… The more he thought about it the more sense Shukaku made, why was he trying to do this? He really wasn't himself when what happened happened. "WAKE UP! FIGHT TO LIVE ZEKO!"
Zeko turned and looked at the Tanuki, why in the hell was he doing this? His parents gave their lives for his sake and here he was about to just fall to his death?! "DAMN IT!" He focused himself as Shukaku grinned.
"I'll just raise some-"
"NO! I got myself into this, I'll get myself out!" The boy faded away and left his tenant alone to contemplate things, the ridiculousness of the situation aside he could at least appreciate the boy's sense of responsibility.
"Humans really are entertaining…"
His eyes opened and he looked down at the rapidly approaching ground. "Shit!" He pulled out a kunai and drove it into the wall of sandstone. He slowed down and left a trail along the wall as he fell… but it wasn't anywhere near enough and the kunai was knocked free by a solid rock. "Damn it!" He pulled out another and embed them both into the sandstone, he slowed down even more this time but it was for nothing. The first kunai snapped and he kept falling until the second was dislodged by a crack of tougher stone. Zeko looked at the blades and saw that they were no good and worst of all… he was halfway down. "Fuck. FUCK!" He slammed his hands behind him into the wall, bones snapping and skin tearing as he slowed down. His shirt going upwards as the wind fought with him.
This time he had to take his hands out by choice since the pain was too great. The ground was less than a hundred meters away and getting closer. His options were low and there was an odd pull around him. 'I can't die here! I've come too far to die now! They wanted me to live then I'll live!' His will was given form, and that form was black powder that burst free from the wall and gathered around him. Whatever it was it helped since the ground didn't kill him when he landed. Zeko stood up as the powder around him shifted to his will. His hands sizzled as his skin slowly regrew and his finger bones snapped back into place. His nose told him what came to his rescue and he was nothing short of speechless. "Heh, I guess the iron sand doesn't want me to get hurt either… Kaa-chan called me her little demon, but she didn't say what type of sand it had to be."
'Whatever makes you feel better about trying something that retarded brat.'
It was definitely new having to get a pep talk about surviving from a tailed beast but looking back just fifteen seconds ago, it was appreciated. "Yeah yeah, let's go finish that scorpion steak. I guess there was a reason my last meal had leftovers." He closed his eyes and walked for the entrance to the village.
Arguably one could say that Zeko did die at that wall, at least whatever drove him to have such a skewed sense of responsibility. What did he really owe the people who were hurt? Nothing at all, but what did he owe his father's killers?
"Something worse than the death I thought I deserved-" His eyes opened and revealed their three tomoe as a smile crossed his face.
"That's what."
Author's Notes: The story was already pretty AU but with the newest Boruto chapter... Yeah it's obvious AU now, cause I don't think the fox is coming back. That aside this one was something I wanted to do for a while. Favorite, comment, pm, or don't cause you have that freedom. See ya next time.
