Author's Note
Dear readers, I will take this opportunity to point out that Riverman made his very first appearance all the way back in Chapter 3. I hope this helps you with the mystery!
Also, thank you for all your support and reviews as of late, even with the story growing this long. I appreciate them like nothing else!
Cheers, and thank you!
- Rii
Chapter 114 - Lawful Chaos
Andou's results came in late in the evening. He ran into Naruto's office, cheeks flushed, breathing heavily.
"I found something, I found something big," he explained.
Naruto made sure the door was closed, before they continued.
Andou spread the papers on Naruto's desk, so the both of them could look at them. "Before the war, there didn't seem to be any use of Edo Tensei at all," Andou explained. "However, I did find something that's extremely relevant."
"What is it?"
"These are records from the Day of Crushed Leaves, thirty years ago," Andou said. "A quadrant of ANBU observed a duel between the Third Hokage and Orochimaru. And here—it says right here—Orochimaru used the Edo Tensei to summon both the First and the Second Hokage, and used them to fight the Third!"
"So he had summoned them before…!" Naruto said.
"Yes, but I'm not finished," Andou said. "The Third Hokage dispelled them and also severely crippled Orochimaru using a sealing technique; the name given is… Shiki Fuujin."
Naruto's eyebrows lowered. "The shinigami technique? Huh... And then the Third died from that, right?
"Yes, it took his life," Andou replied. "The two summoned Hokages were then reduced to piles of ash, from the report, since they got sealed away. I assume they were cleaned up when the ANBU went to collect the Third's body…"
"So… whoever that Riverman guy is, then, he can't be the Second Hokage…" Naruto said. "Who the heck is he, then? Looks awfully similar…"
"Maybe another Senju?" Andou said, helpfully.
Naruto shrugged, slightly. "Could be anyone, at this point. Can you go tell Sakura this for me?"
"Of course." Andou collected the papers.
"Thanks, buddy."
Naruto stayed at his desk for a while, however, trying not to let all the information overwhelm him. Trying to stay optimistic.
The news leaped in short hops from Andou to Sakura to Karin, the latter two briefly talking about it together in the hallway outside her room.
"Well… it was a theory," Karin said. "We're no more or less informed than we were before, okay."
"Back where we started," Sakura added, sighing. "At least, if he's an Edo Tensei, regardless of who he is, we can probably find a way to seal him away so he's not causing trouble."
"If we can get him away from Orochimaru," Karin said.
"Right…"
"If anyone could do it, though," Karin added, somewhat quickly, "it'd be Naruto."
"Yeah, definitely…" Sakura said, with a slight, half-felt laugh.
She slept in the on-call room, that night, after calling Lee and explaining that she wanted to stay at the hospital until the threat passed. Lee came by an hour later with a complete dinner for her, and several kisses and kind words.
Takeru returned to the house in the evening, and despite a short lecture from Inoichi, he showed no sign of wanting to stay in the house if he didn't want to.
Night fell, creaking in its darkness, over Konoha.
And in a cell, hundreds of feet below ground, the Riverman dreamed.
His first memory was of his mother.
Overheard. He never met her. She died giving birth to him. Some people blamed him.
But not his brother.
He was different. Both of them were different.
He had been born with pale skin. Like an outsider. White-old hair. Blood-colored eyes. They had no word for it but "different."
His brother belonged. And his difference was better. He was dark-skinned. Dark-eyed. He made things grow. He was beloved.
Beloved.
His first memory was of his mother. Throwing him out of the house in a drunken argument. An apartment overstuffed with children.
Maybe.
Or maybe she wasn't his mother. Some taken-in woman. Either way. He was out of the stuffy and sticky and crowded place and into the cold and open and empty place. Not freedom. But not worse.
His mother really was that angel-person. Not male but not female. Who told him he was special.
Special.
He wasn't special. He was different. The sun hurt his eyes and he got sick often.
His brother took care of him. He wasn't his mother. His brother. Yes. And he cared for him more than their father did.
Their father died young also. Joined the wife he didn't even talk about. He had never remarried.
Too young. Leaving such young boys alone to fend for themselves.
Not like the world cared. Another orphan on the street meant another pickpocket and another thief and another worthless piece of trash.
But he was special. Mother-Master said so.
She was the most beautiful person he'd ever seen.
Red hair.
No. Black hair. With such flowing robes. A man's body but a woman's tongue. And promises. Such promises.
He would be his mother. She would be his master. He would be there always.
And she belonged to his brother.
His brother was more of a mother to him than anyone else ever was. Who reassured him and comforted him and nursed him whenever he was injured after battles. Because he was always injured. His brother never was. His brother was special. He healed.
Their mother had only been sixteen upon her death. He wrote a law in her honor when the world began to gain form. No marriage and no children before twenty. No boys left alone. No brother-mothers. No miserable childhoods.
Didn't stop some people from throwing children away. No. It didn't.
The world needed more law. More control. His brother's dream of uniting the clans and forming great nations. A stupid dream. An unrealistic dream. Supported because it was a dream of law and of rules and of order and of stability in war.
But the Uchiha clan? Why them first?
Uchiha clan. Arm-breaker clan. Horrible clan.
The fox's clan.
How his brother had broken his back for that man. That worthless man.
There were better people to form allegiances with.
People that valued you.
Nurtured you. Called you special. Made you special.
Even with pain. With air in your arms. Broken arms. Surgery and pain.
Those were worthy masters.
Not equals. They would never be equals.
Why had his brother mourned so for that worthless fox? He was a lost cause. He had caused nothing but misery.
But his clan wanted peace. Wanted order. So did he.
He wanted her.
Beautiful and that red hair and those beautiful hands.
But she was his. So very his. She even mourned the fox like he did. She had no reason to.
For all the law he could create and for all the stability the way his brother got people on his side could not be compared with.
Clans. More and more clans. Joining across borders. Forming nations. Starting wars.
Always wars.
His Master said that there was a war and he wanted him on the front lines. She valued him so much trusted him so much that this most important job this role was his and his alone and two others.
Those two weren't as worthy. They hadn't been modified as much as he had. His Master did not care for them as much as he cared for him. They were just there for the sake of formality. Nothing else mattered.
Three students per team. Standard. Order. He took sick pleasure in seeing how others took his ideas. His influence spread.
He was not alone in his ideas.
His brother wasn't either. He preached of spirituality and peace. Soft and spreadable words.
His words and his ideas were hard and solid. Giving bones to his brother's flesh.
He used to think that he depended on his brother. Now he saw that his brother depended on him. He couldn't get anything done without his support.
Without him wouldn't his dreams have stayed dreams? Unformed and fetal settlements. Soon dissolved by dissent and by a lack of law.
And wouldn't he himself have remained fetal and bawling and drunk and incoherent in the wake of his unsuited duel with that Uchiha? Would he not have remained useless had he not been there to nurse him and support him and heal him?
He didn't depend on anyone. The three-man team was just for show. This was his mission. He was the leader. His Master loved him above all others.
Others were the ones that depended on him. He was strong and reliable and knew what he was doing. He built nations. He survived when others didn't.
Master loved his resilience.
But she didn't love him. She resisted him. She looked at him like he was disgusting. She loved his brother.
Shallow and fickle woman who only seeking power where it was immediately visible.
No wonder the fox lusted for the fox. His brother's match but not his equal. She had no sense.
But she was so beautiful and so intelligent and kind and yet so lacking in sense.
Master was better. Kind and intelligent and so beautiful and she told him he was special. Not different. Special.
She made him special. She valued this. He valued this.
Not in the way that other people valued things. Shallow value. Shallow love lacking in reason and in strength.
For no other reason could such wonderful people have loved such horrible things.
He loved order and he loved peace more than he loved her.
He loved his Master more than anything.
He had reasons for his love. He was loved and made special. He was special.
And it was reciprocated.
He knew this.
Though others lied.
She'd lied about feeling nothing. Of course she felt something. Of course she hadn't seduced his brother and not him because of power.
She'd lied about the Master not feeling anything for them. About them just being pawns and experiments.
What would she know? She was the pawn. She was the useless one. She was the one that was only taking up space.
His last memory of her was of a tree swallowing her up for her lies.
Master had come to them after the preliminaries. After the insects in his arms. After the agony. He said he was not angry. He had another task for them.
Master trusted them. Loved them. Valued them. He had gone to them specifically for the task.
And he had students that valued him. Loved him. Trusted him. To use the half-formed spirituality of his brother he said they carried his will.
They knew who not to trust. Uchihas couldn't be trusted. Ever. No matter what they tried to say to gain your trust.
Uchihas.
Had stolen his brother and his love from him.
Even his Master's love. Somewhat. He'd been charged to track the Uchiha boy. The last one. The arm-breaker.
Even now his Master sought the Uchihas. They mattered so much.
But he knew whom he could trust.
He knew what his Master's goals were. His goals were with the water-bodied man. The man he had stretched and shattered into oblivion.
He knew whom he could trust. He knew who shared his ideas. His Master knew his mind.
They were going to find the Uchihas. They were going to find where they lived and root them out and kill them.
This was what his Master wanted.
But his Master slumbered in his arms. They had to wait.
He accepted this uneasily. He knew what happened when people waited.
Brothers died. Loves lost. Laws lost. Hearts swayed and fooled and stolen.
Especially with Uchihas.
The silence of the place gnawed at him.
If he waited then the Uchihas would just continue to poison people. Ruin more lives.
He had a duty.
He roused his Master.
"Mm, what is it…?" The boy-body was loose and safe in his arms.
"We have to go, Master. Get, out, of here, now. We have to, go."
"What, already…?"
"The Uchihas, they, can't get away, they can't, we have to, go now, Master, we have to."
He held the tiny body gently and felt those little and new and still-loving hands move over his body.
"Now, dear?"
"Yes, now, we, we have to, we can't, stay, here we can't, or, or something might, happen, Master…"
He felt legs straddling his arms and moving to his back.
"Onward, then. I was beginning to get bored of this place, anyways."
With his Master on his back he rose and summoned waters from his mouth and wind from his hands. For the door. For the ones in masks that kept them unrightfully prisoner.
He had written the laws. He did not deserve this treatment. His Master didn't. Uncouth. Horrible.
They would pay.
And the Uchihas would die.