Naruto Shippuden -H-: Chapter 024: Jesei's Reason
Sakura was trapped within Jesei's Mind Release jutsu, and had found herself trapped in Jesei's memories.
"Here is a new friend I found that we can play with Hirudeguarn, she is beautiful isn't she?" asked the young Jesei to his shy friend.
"Ummm, I, I guess so, if only you don't mind." said the boy as he hid his face again.
"How do I get out of here, there is no telling what that freak Jesei is doing in the real world right now." thought Sakura to herself.
"You look sad, here is a flower I picked this morning, umm, you can have it." said Hirudeguarn as he held his little hands out with a daffodil he had picked.
"Listen, none of you are real, this is a genjutsu of some kind, now go away, I need to get out of here!" yelled Sakura as she was getting more and more upset.
"I, I am sorry, I... did not mean to hurt your feelings." cried Hirudeguarn as he ran off down the road.
"You did not have to be so mean to him, he is a very sensitive person." said the young Jesei as he ran off after his friend.
"My my Sakura, you really have no compassion, hehehe." laughed the real Jesei as he appeared in front of Sakura.
"I don't know what you think this will accomplish, but I can break out of this in no time." said Sakura with determination.
"But my dear, this is not a genjutsu, I am not going to hurt you, I just want you to understand me." said Jesei as he disappeared again.
"I don't want to understand freaks like you, and I will get out of here, I will not let you fuckers hurt Naruto!" yelled Sakura as the scene shifted around her, and she was standing in the Konoha Academy with many young students waiting to be picked to their teams.
"I am in the academy now, but this looks like a long time ago, it must be another memory of that Jesei.
"I cannot wait to be a ninja, my dad and grandad were also shinobi." said a young Danzo to the children around him.
"I want to be a good shinobi like my father, Sasuke Sarutobi, and I want to be the best Hokage that there ever was." said a young Hiruzen with a smile.
"I will show the bad guys the fear of my sharingan, and I will protect my friends as well." said a young Kagami with pride.
"Hey, there is that girl again that was mean to Hirudeguarn, she is standing next to our teacher." said the little Jesei to his friends.
"Who is that girl, I have never seen her before." said Hiruzen as he was curious.
"She is a good person, she is just having a hard time right now." said the young serpentine boy with a smile.
"And the members of Team Hashirama will be, Jesei Leikough, Ranma Inuzuka, and Hirudeguarn Naga." said Tobirama, who was the academy teacher at the time.
"Huh, that is the Second Hokage, but the only ones that can see me are those kids over there." said Sakura to herself as she was waiting to see what would happen next.
"The members of Team Four will be Hiruzen Sarutobi, Danzo Shimura, and Koharu Utane." said Tobirama as Danzo and Hiruzen were happy to be on teams.
The scene shifted again, and now Jesei was at home with his mother, he appeared to be around twelve years old at this point.
"Is Jesei controlling what scenes from his memories appear before my now?" thought Sakura to herself as she was waiting to see what would happen next.
"Jesei, how was your mission today?" asked a woman with medium length brown hair.
"It went good mom, our teacher is the best, he is the Hokage and he is our sensei." said Jesei as he sat down on the porch outside with his mom.
"Are you glad you became a ninja, I remember when we were offered to stay in this village, your father died trying to save us from those mercenaries, but thanks to his efforts, we made it and you will now be able to follow in his footsteps." said Jesei's mom with a smile.
"I will never let anyone hurt you mom, I will be the strongest shinobi this world has ever seen one day, just you wait, and I will fight in the name of dad and all of the villagers of our land." said the young Jesei as he got up, hugged his mom, and ran off into the young village with joy.
"Is he trying to get sympathy out of me, he seemed to be a good kid, but I just don't understand what he is trying to achieve with showing me this." thought Sakura to herself as the scene switched again.
Jesei was now a Chunin, and around sixteen years old, standing in front of the village gates with his friend Hirudeguarn as they were walking back to the village.
"If only Ranma were here to see this, I wish we could have saved her, I am sure Hashirama would be dissapointed in us." cried Jesei as he was upset they lost their teammate on their last mission.
"Don't worry Jesei, I miss her too, but this is the reality of being a shinobi, we put our lives on the line to protect this village and it's people, and with Tobirama being the Second Hokage, we will make sure to serve him well, and avenge Ranma Inuzuka." said a teen-age Hirudeguarn with confidence.
"That is the shy boy from before, he looks a lot like Orochimaru more than before, is he one of those Knights of Dawn perhaps." thought Sakura to herself.
The scene shifted yet again, now Jesei was a Jonin, and he was around twenty-one years old.
"My mom was killed last night in an attack from the Hidden Stone, if I find the people that did this, I will kill them!" yelled Jesei as he was leaning on the ground in a forest near Iwagakure as it rained.
"Get up Jesei, now is not the time to mourn, we must finish this mission, for that is all that matters, personal relations must be abolished, and emotions must be cast aside for the good of the mission." said a young-adult Hirudeguarn with a stern voice.
"That once kind boy grew up to be an asshole, he must definatley be directly related to Orochimaru after all." said Sakura with a look of anger.
"I still have my wife, Ivory at least, I will not let any more of my friends or family die, I will even protect you Hirudeguarn." said Jesei as he offered to give Hirudeguarn a hand shake.
"Focus on the mission, any of this remedial and trivial bullshit will get you killed." said Hirudeguarn with a look of fierce intent.
"You are right, let's finish this mission now." said Jesei as the scene shifted to five more years later.
"With Hiruzen as the Third Hokage, our village has lost one of the greatest shinobi there ever was, Tobirama Senju, and thanks to his valiant efforts against the Kinkaku Force of Kumogakure, we can prosper again." said Danzo with a look of pride.
"I am more disappointed that one of you useless shits was not the one to die, Tobirama was my greatest rival, and yet he had to give his life to save you all!" said Hirudeguarn with a look of hatred.
"Brother, don't be so mean, please just relax, mom and dad want the best for you." said a six-year old Orochimaru as he was picked up from the academy by his brother.
"Hirudeguarn, you do not need to act like that in front of your little brother, show some compassion and be a positive role model." said Kagami with a serious tone.
"Hehehe, whatever you say Kagami, but remember this, we are just soldiers for our leader, just another group of prisoners in the grid iron world of ninja." said Hirudeguarn as he walked his little brother home.
"He has taken Tobirama's death personally, he was this way when Hashirama passed away too." said Jesei as he was the only one who sided with Hirudeguarn.
"I like his ideals, he should have been Hokage instead of Hiruzen." thought Danzo to himself as he was a frequent training partner with Hirudeguarn.
"I am going to see my wife Ivory now, every one take care." said Jesei to his former class mates as he headed towards his home.
"I don't believe this, Orochimaru had a brother, no wonder he ended up the way he did." thought Sakura.
Jesei was walking away from the village, as four more years have passed, and the now thirty year old man was walking with a hooded figure.
"Fuck this worthless village, they could not protect my wife while the ANBU Tree Corps was out on a mission, I will never forgive Hiruzen for this." said Jesei as he decided to cut ties with the village.
"Hehehe, the will of god has been done Jesei, but relax, we do not need Konoha for our needs, we will create a village of our own, and one day we will be the ones who judge mankind." said the man with the hood and old-fashioned samurai armor.
"Okay Hirudeguarn, but one day, I hope to see Ranma, Ivory, and my mother again, that is all I want now, nothing else in this world matters anymore." said Jesei as the two men walked off into the distance.
Sakura then found herself awake and outside of Jesei's memories, standing beside Shikamaru, with Jesei and his sword standing to her right.
"You vanished again Sakura, but only a few minutes later, you and that Jesei reappeared, I guess you were able to overcome his jutsu." said Shikamaru as he held his Chakra Trench Knife in his hand firmly.
"No, I did not break out, he released the jutsu, he showed my his memories, I guess he was trying to make me understand his actions, but I also found out something else." said Sakura as she could see Lunesto laying on the ground next to Naruto and Sai a few kilometers in front of her.
"Those three women, they were the guideposts of my life, and as you know, when you loose someone, it leaves an effect on you, but only those that are able to overcome their grief will succeed." said Jesei to Sakura with a stern tone.
"Then why did you show me this stuff, what can I do for you?" asked Sakura as she gathered more chakra into the marking on her forehead.
"You don't need to do nothing, your test is almost complete, can you be the fourth woman in my life to show me the right way to live, since you were able to overcome your own hardships?" asked Jesei as he started to perform more hand signs.
"This old man is in despair, but he is trying to use you as a leeway to feel better again, I guess he only thrives on the misery of others." said Shikamaru to Sakura.
"You have no idea, Komittomentto: Sacred Spirit of the Haunted Siren!" yelled Jesei as he held up his sword, and conjured a spirit of a ghastly looking woman with long finger nails and a scythe.
"Now, you must overcome my own experiences, and let me tell you, you will not, for you and all of these others do not deserve to be in the presence of Naruto Uzumaki, you are all just burdens to him, and no one has been a bigger burden that you Sakura." said Jesei with an intense look of hate as he had the spirit fly towards her.
"Is that so, I guess you are right about how I used to let Naruto handle all of the problems that arised in the past, but now, I will take care of my own business!" yelled Sakura as she ran towards the spirit and threw her right fist towards it with high speed.
Sakura's attack was unable to connect as she went right through it and landed on the ground.
"Shadow Possession Jutsu." said Shikamaru as he attempted to bind the spirit, but was unsuccessful in doing so.
"How do you expect to be able to attack or bind the haunted siren, hehehe, you will be at her mercy, just like how I was at this pathetic world's mercy back when I was a shinobi of the leaf." said Jesei with a sadistic look.
Lunesto had gotten up off the ground and managed to get some ground between him and Naruto.
"It seems your friends are having some trouble over there with Jesei, how much longer do you think you can focus on me?" asked Lunesto as he was trying to distract Naruto and Sai.
"I would not worry about that, Sakura and Shikamaru can handle themselves, as for you, well your history." said Naruto as he created a shadow clone and prepared another jutsu.
"This time, I will use two Wind Release: Rasenshurikens and have this clone also attack at the same time, that should through Lunesto off guard." thought Naruto to himself.
"I will attack from above as well." said Sai as he performed the Ninja Art: Super Beast Scroll to create several hawks to fly above Lunesto.
"Oh boy, now I have done it." laughed Lunesto as he did not seem to be worried.
"Laugh while you can, but whatever you and your friend Jesei over there have planned, it will not come to pass." said Naruto as he threw both Rasenshurikens towards Lunesto and also had his shadow clone run towards the man as well.
"Glass Release: Shards of the Greater Sun!" yelled Lunesto as he created a large wall of glass, which then absorbed him and separated into hundred of shards which surrounded the area, causing the Rasenshuriken to miss him and explode onto the ground.
"I am glad we got the civilians out of here, but what did he just do?" asked Sai with confusion.
"Heh, I am glad for once, if these guys wanted me to go through the trouble of meeting their boss, they should at least be a threat themselves." said Naruto as he studied the area around him, noticing the hundreds of pieces of glass around him.
"He is hiding in one of these pieces of glass Sai, we need to find out which one, and the best way to do that is to just destroy them at once." said Naruto.
"Okay, I will be on lookout whenever that Lunesto guy shows himself." said Sai.
Sakura and Shikamaru were struggling to find a way to deal with Jesei's most fierce jutsu.
"What is the matter, unable to prove your worth now that my own misery has taken form?" asked Jesei with a saddened tone.
"You can bitch and whine all you want, but in the end, my own will shall show you the truth." said Sakura with a smile.
"Sakura, aim for the scythe of that spirit, it appears to be the only corporeal quality of the jutsu, maybe that will be the way to overcome that man's jutsu." said Shikamaru to Sakura.
"I hear you, time to try that one technique again." said Sakura as she held out her ring finger and surrounded it with fiery pink chakra.
"Hah, that jutsu again, how can you harm my siren with a physical attack?" asked Jesei as the spirit rapidly approached Sakura.
"I will show you!" yelled Sakura as she ran towards the siren and prepared to poke the scythe with her empowered finger.
"Now!" yelled Jesei as the spirit disappeared in front of Sakura and reappeared behind Shikamaru.
"Let's see how far your compassion goes, you infidel." said Jesei as the siren stabbed Shikamaru through the back with the scythe.
"Ugh, damn it, I could not react in time." said Shikamaru as he fell to the ground.
"Shikamaru, damn it, how could I let this happen?" asked Sakura to herself as she was starting to panic.
"Now, I want you to feel the same despair as me when the angel of my life turned into a devil." said Jesei as a tear fell from his eye.
"Hold on Shikamaru, I will be right there!" yelled Sakura as she ran towards her injured friend.
"And now, to kill you too!" yelled Jesei as the siren appeared in front of Shikamaru and threw the scythe, now surrounded by four blue orbs, towards Sakura.
-To be continued next time with Chapter 025...-