The domed ceiling ascended toward heaven. An enormous glassy lens focused the light of the sun downward, striking Gaara in the middle of his body. Gaara himself floated motionless, suspended by the force of some ethereal power. To each side of Gaara, a figure cloaked in shadow stood, their white cloaks whipping back in the wind. To the sides of the room several stone chairs rested, numbering twenty in all. In the chairs there was no one, an absence of both light and color surrounding the space of the stone.
"Sit down." Shishi gestured to a chair somewhere in the room. His brown eyes behind the mask glimmered with faint light. His black ponytail streamed down his back, glimmering with the reflected light of the stars. He himself stood near one of the chairs, motionless and holding himself with a loose stance. A silver katana, inscribed with the image of a twisting serpent (or so Naruto guessed), rested in his belt, glimmering with radiant silver light.
Naruto remained silent. His eyes narrowed as he stared at Shishi. He stepped forward, the sound of his footfall echoing through the massive chamber.
"You must be exhausted just standing here. That power is inimical to your existence. It really would put my mind more at rest if you'd sit down." Shishi shrugged his shoulders. "But I suppose it's immaterial whether you sit or stand. Really, I guess it's more my preference than anything. I'd be a fool to ask more of you than hearing me out, so I'll leave it be."
"That voice." Naruto frowned. He tilted his head to one side. "Aren't you that Anbu who caught me before my exam?" He thought back, surprised by the similarity of vocal qualities. If it was not that Anbu, it was one who resembled him in almost every particular, including his average height and bland tone of voice.
"Good ear." Shishi sat down himself in one of the stone chairs. "That must have been—what, four or five years ago? At any rate, quite a while ago, and to a person who wasn't important to you at all. I'm impressed that you can keep me in mind so long. Or perhaps it is that you remember something important to you." He shrugged. "Of course, that identity no longer suits me, but it remains possible that I am remembered for such minor details."
Naruto scowled. I have to buy time for either Sasuke or Kōju to make it over here. Or even if Soyokaze can make it. Judging by his bearing, he's way stronger than anything I've fought before. "What is this all about?" He frowned. "No, before that, who are you?"
"My name wouldn't mean a thing to you or anyone else in this world. And without my name everything else about me is meaningless. For any of it to make any sense you have to know what my name means." Shishi paused briefly. "Well, no, perhaps that is inaccurate. Your father might have known it, and there is at least one voyager here who certainly does, as well as one who has forgotten that he knows it, mayhap." He paused. "So please do not ask me to reveal a name that does not matter to you. To tell the truth, I doubt that beyond my name I have any more relevance to this world." He leaned against the throne. "But, if you must call me something. Call me Shishi. That is my name, and all you must know of me for the time being."
Naruto scowled. "Then, what are you after? Why—" He pointed toward Gaara. "This? You say you're going for peace, but all I can hear is that you're the aggressor here."
"You ask a fair question, so I'll answer it. The short answer is discord, or at least the undoing of a system that has too long and with too fierce an eye cast judgement upon the weak. The overturning of the Allied Nations is our primary goal. That's what we're after. The long answer, and the why." Shishi glanced toward the floating figure in the center of the room. "How long do you think he'd live, if we hadn't taken him? Putting aside Blood Prison. Assuming he hadn't suddenly started slaughtering people during the middle of the test." He looked toward Naruto with a stern expression on his face. "Take for a moment the hypothetical that neither of those things had happened and he remained loyal to the Hidden Sand. In that case, how long from then until now would he have lived? Or would he have died before the present time?"
Naruto's fist clenched. He glared at the figure before him. "What? I mean—he's a human life! How can I make a guess?!" he shouted. "It's just wrong to do that kind of thing!" He growled, his fist clenched as he stared at the figure before him.
"A pity that you won't venture a guess. At an estimate I'd personally give him about three years. No more than that. Probably not less, but if he ran into another nation that's questionable." Shishi sighed heavily. "It's not just that the shinobi system encourages discord. Certainly it does, as most arms races do. People motivated by fear or anger will inevitably try to kill that which gives them fear. That in and of itself is not the problem here. It's that sacrifices and living people alike are viewed as casualties, expendable in the process of war. In my home, this kind of chaos lasted about a hundred to two hundred years. We never used children, but then, the power involved was certainly different—most children couldn't carry nine-tailed foxes within themselves. We had other mysterious powers, much closer to bloodline limits."
Naruto noticed, suddenly, that Genkuro was completely silent. He looked at the silver-hilted katana by the man's side, and wondered again about his similarity to a shinigami.
"It's not that we're any more evil than the allied nations." Shishi shrugged his shoulders. "In point of fact, I would consider myself as pure as the driven snow in this matter. We certainly aren't the ones who created this state of affairs."
Naruto's eyes widened in shock. "What?" He took a step forward, his fist clenched.
"You heard me correctly the first time. I know that in my heart, I am free of the evil of the Allied Nations. I feel deep regret for that boy's death there." Shishi's finger rose, pointing toward Gaara. "But without excessive power my associates cannot break the system that controls this world." He looked toward the doorway, his expression serious.
"This world? What the hell are you talking about? I don't understand what you're talking about! This world is fine the way it is!" Naruto demanded. He reached into his pouch, grasping one of the tagged kunai.
Shishi sighed heavily. "I suppose it isn't fair to expect someone to follow a thought process only by hearing the basics. I'll go backward for a moment. Sometimes it's better to start with the history of a problem. What would this boy have been, if not a jinchūriki? No, further back than that—why do jinchūriki exist to begin with?"
Naruto blinked in surprise. "Well." He hesitated, thinking the question over. "To balance the power of the nations—no, to make sure the smaller nations are safe from being taken over," he answered after a long hesitance.
"Correct. Better than a textbook answer, not quite as good as the answer of experience. But anyway, it addresses the beginning well enough. These groups were organized in response to concerns regarding the balance of power in these newly created nations." Shishi paused. "Well, strictly speaking, those jinchūriki exist because of the fear of small or weak nations of the Great Nations that they will be subsumed. But ultimately that is an unnatural construction. It's made because the smaller nations are afraid of losing 'sovereignty' or 'rights'. It doesn't have to be that way. In point of fact, if one nation were to conquer all the others, jinchūriki would be a moot point. There would be no concern of sacrifice or need for a shinobi system, given a few generations under that dominant power. Peace could endure following war."
Naruto frowned. "But that isn't just going to happen. That's why we have Kage and things—so this kind of stuff doesn't happen."
"Correct. You're much smarter than your instructors claimed." Shishi paused. "So sacrifices must be made if this system is ever to be imbalanced. By gathering the jinchūriki to us and creating new ones from S-Rank criminals, my associates will create an organization capable of disrupting this balance of power." Shishi glanced toward the floating figure. "It's nearly done now," he continued in a quieter voice. "Sacrifices will ensure the dominance of this system."
Naruto's hand rose in the air. The Whirlwind Bullet gathered above his hand. I have to stop this from finishing! He swung down his arm. There's no point in waiting for those two now. I have to finish this on my own— He was suddenly seated. His hand pressed against the stone of the chair. A whirling pattern engraved on the surface beneath him as the swirling winds dissipated. Chips of flying stone rested against the edge of the chair. He stared wide-eyed at his hand. "Eh?!" he demanded sharply. His hand lowered, winds flying outward around it.
"I haven't finished talking yet, so please wait until I finish explaining the details," Shishi remarked, a faint hint of irritation entering his voice. "Hear me out until the end. You won't be able to stop the extraction no matter how hard you try. That is a fact. Even if I weren't your opponent and you had to fight only those two, they would prove far more dangerous than anything you can presently imagine, so let me finish explaining to you."
Naruto stared wildly at Shishi, his fist clenched. What in the Emperor's name did he just do? I was standing up and then I couldn't move. It, it was like I just got stopped mid-motion or somehow moved. I gotta do it again! His fingers clenched on the stone. He started upright, found himself sitting again.
"That attack of yours will never reach me, or the people who are accompanying me. I will guarantee that as well. What I would like to ask you about," Shishi continued as though nothing had happened, "is whether you would like to try to save this young man's life, even if it costs you your own." He gestured toward the body. "I'm familiar with the nature of your father's abilities, particularly what he could do with his secret talismans and fuīnjutsu. Given my own powers it would be difficult to be unaware of them. But I also know of another significant fact regarding these abilities." He paused. "Using these is very dangerous to you. You use them, and it costs you almost everything—your ordinary life, pieces of your chakra you can never regain. You can, however, teleport almost indefinitely. So if I let you take his body you should be able to figure out what to do."
"You're letting me take his body?" Naruto's eyes widened. "Tsunade can probably heal this. If she can, he'll survive." He took a step toward the body, warily glancing toward the pair. This time he remained in position, not restarted through whatever strange ability his opponent possessed.
"In my opinion, it is only fair to give you the option this once. If we meet again, my associates will probably kill you on sight, or at the least begin the extraction process of your inhabitant. The process is much the same." Shishi paused. "But if you do decide to aid your friend, the chakra drain will almost certainly kill you. On the other hand, if he doesn't receive healing, he will most certainly die. We still have a few minutes before the ritual completes. So you have time to think over your decision. To me, at least, what your choices are are clear. Are you going to subject that child to the fate that they have gifted him, imprisonment through a madness that came through their meddling with his soul? Or will you resist their structures and shatter the dominant world? What side are you on? To me, that's all this question comes down to." He leaned to one side in the stone chair. His fingers touched the side of his mask.
Naruto stared at Shishi with wide eyes. He turned his gaze toward the body floating in the air, his eyes wide. This is a real opportunity. If I can save Gaara's life, then we'll at least know some things about this group. Plus, even without his jinchūriki powers, he's still a pretty tough guy. But. His gaze turned toward the figure seated in the chair. This guy isn't that kind. No way is he that kind. There must be some kind of trick. "You're not going to intercede?"
"I'm not so human that I must perpetually go back on agreements I have made. As I've said, for the time being I'm merely an observer." Shishi's voice betrayed annoyance. "I will let you do whatsoever you wish with his body. Bury it, restore it to his people, heal him. It is all the same to me." He spoke in a deceptively even tone, but his fingers tightened on the stone.
This guy doesn't like having his honor questioned. Naruto grinned. I know how to get him angry when we fight. He turned his gaze toward Gaara's body, floating motionless above the ground. But then, I still have to decide what to do about this situation. It's definitely not that easy to make a decision. His smile faded. He's right. If I do this there's a strong chance I'll die. He exhaled heavily. He's right. If I do end up dying from this I'm going to lose my ability to become Hokage, my friends, the life my parents gave me. Everything. Everything I have, and everything I've ever had. He walked toward Gaara's floating body, his blue eyes filled with a sudden determination.
"It seems that you've come to a decision." Shishi's eyes narrowed. "What do you say?"
Naruto opened his mouth. Everything seemed to have come to silence, everything from the creaking of the stones to the ritual around him. Everything stopped moving or sounding.