"Are you certain you want to do this, Mashiro?" Haruma-san asked, his tone heavy and his piercing eyes locking onto mine. "This is not a decision that can be undone," he emphasized.
I met his gaze, firming my resolve. "Yes, I'm convinced," I affirmed, feeling the weight of this decision settle on my conscience. "I cannot take the risk of either of them attempting to escape and getting us into trouble."
The conversation with Muishiro and Ashira had not yielded the desired outcome; their hostility towards each other had diminished, but it was clear that they still did not trust one another. I couldn't leave them alone, lest they get into a fight. If they were engaging in light sparring, I could accept it, but they were not; they were visibly trying to harm each other permanently, if not still attempting to kill each other outright.
"I want the seal on both of them", I declared, firming my resolve. The seal I was referring to was simple, a cursed seal similar in nature to the Hyūga's Caged Bird Seal. With a simple gesture, the person under the seal would either be subjected to intense pain or be killed outright. I didn't plan to implement the torture aspect of the seal; that was a step I couldn't take. Instead, I intended to use the seal to render the traitor unconscious by pouring lightning-natured chakra into them, effectively knocking them out.
He nodded and accepted my decision, adding a cautionary note, "This will be a slippery slope, Mashiro." As he sat down and began to draw some starting references, he incorporated aspects from Ashira's already chakra-sealed state to develop the lightning aspect of the seal. As for Ashira's chakra-bound state, we had already found a solution to it. I had been waiting for their hostility to die down, but it seemed that wouldn't be happening anytime soon. I could tell that she would soon cotton on that we were purposefully stalling on unsealing her chakra, which could prove disastrous to a small measure of our progress.
I slumped down, my shoulders sagging in defeat. "I don't want to be the leader anymore," I muttered, the weight of my responsibilities bearing down on me. To an outsider, a decision like this might seem simple, but I knew better. I'm certain that before the merger, I would have perhaps had no qualms about putting a seal like the Caged Bird, but the memories of the previous Mashiro kept bubbling up, filling me with guilt. The harsh reality was that the previous occupant of this body was still only fifteen.
It wasn't as if I had been a Chūnin for long; I had been promoted just a couple of months prior and had reveled in taking solo missions. The previous occupant of this body wasn't particularly fond of his teammates, and their dynamic wasn't exactly harmonious. It wasn't as bad as Part 1 Team 7, but it was certainly close.
I couldn't help but wonder sometimes what had happened to them?
"If you don't want to, then who will? Muishiro? Ashira?" Haruma-san asked, his tone laced with skepticism, accompanied by a derisive snort. "I'm old, I doubt I have much time left," he said, a light cough escaping his lips. "The work on the bloodline tracker is nearly done, Mashiro. Perhaps you'll find someone willing to take this burden off your young shoulders."
I shook my head, my mind made up. No, I didn't trust any of my clan members to lead. I could delegate tasks, but I wouldn't let a situation like what happened to Uzushio happen again. The truth was that there were hundreds of ways we could have defended the village, making it virtually impenetrable to outsiders. That was what I would do.
To be honest, many people in my situation often wished to be immortal, to never die and to rule forever. But I didn't want that. I wanted to leave a legacy that would last forever, to immortalize my name in this world. I wanted the next thousand generations to look upon my history and feel a sense of awe. I wanted a world where a nine-year-old child didn't need to be tortured. If that meant eliminating every single person in these Nations who stood in the way, then I would gladly do so.
I let out a tired sigh, my exhaustion palpable. "Let me worry about that, lest you pass away from overexerting your mind," I said dryly, my tone laced with a hint of sarcasm. I turned my attention to the matter at hand, my gaze fixating on the elderly Uzumaki. "Are you finished with the seal, old man?" I asked, my voice firm but weary.
He harrumphed, "Kids these days, no respect for their elders," he huffed, looking slightly amused. Though the look soon turned serious as he wearily nodded, "Indeed, it is. Both of them will need to have it carved into their skin, similar to Ashira-chan's existing seal," he informed me.
"It should be relatively simple to convince both of them to have seals carved on their flesh," I thought to myself. A simple matrix could make the seal as small as a fingernail, and shinobi were surprisingly vain about their appearance. Muishiro would agree because he looked at me as his sensei – a notion that would only twist the dagger of betrayal further if he ever found out – and would happily comply. Ashira would understand because we had to carve a new seal to unlock her chakra and destroy the previous one, so we could sneak it in while unblocking her chakra.
"Ashira, Muishiro!" I called out, "I need both of you in my study!" I said, and after a couple of minutes, both of them arrived, responding with affirming noises. Instead of bickering like they might have previously or attacking each other, they stood silently, not even looking at each other. This was how they would act in front of me after our talk, but nothing had truly been resolved. I would need to have separate talks with them, and I could already feel the phantom headache that those conversations would cause me.
"Ashira, Haruma-san and I will be removing your chakra-blocker today," I said, and for the first time since I met her, Ashira's face broke into an honest smile, looking eager. In contrast, Muishiro's expression soured, as if he had taken a bite out of a particularly sour lemon.
"Muishiro, instead of removing your seal altogether, I will be implementing a switch into the seal that would allow me to take away access to it," I said. "I've decided the seal will be carved in, which will strengthen the seal, though I will only allow its usage in battle against enemies," I added, my tone turning harsh at the end.
He bowed his head in acceptance, his face etched with a mix of sadness and slight relief, likely due to the fact that the seal wouldn't be taken away permanently.
Ashira's face had transformed into a fox-like smirk at the mention of the seal switch, but her smile faltered at the strengthening of the seal bit. "Hold on, for nearly killing me, he gets an upgrade to his combat capability?" she said, her expression darkening into slight anger. At this, Muishiro's face lightened into a smirk.
"It is for his safety, and do not worry, I have been working on something for you to strengthen you as well," I said, my tone laced with disappointment. "Believe in me, Ashira."
She looked away, feeling slightly guilty, and it seemed to hurt her as she muttered, "I'm sorry," underneath her breath. I smiled, sensing that there was still a chance for her to grow. If only Muishiro could see that as well, it would solve all of my issues. I turned my attention to Muishiro's slight smirk and said, "Of course, that won't be all of his punishment." His smirk faltered as he looked at me, and Ashira's guilty expression vanished, replaced by an eager grin. I quickly shot down her enthusiasm, saying, "Which will be between the two of us only." To which she pouted.
"Now, Ashira, out. I'll call for you when you're needed," I said, and it looked like Ashira wanted to say something to Muishiro but held her tongue and walked away.
"Now, the process of carving the seal will likely be painful. I trust that you have no issues with me knocking you out, Muishiro?" I questioned, to which he shook his head.
"No, sensei, thank you..." he said, gulping, and I felt confused. What did he think - Oh, I slapped my forehead, "The punishment wouldn't have been to have the seal carved while conscious, that's barbaric," I snapped. The idiot thought that I'd painfully carve a complicated seal while he was awake.
"Though now that you mention it..." I said, as if I was contemplating it, and Muishiro's face paled. "If you do something like this again, I will do so," I said, my tone firm, looking him straight in the eyes to convey that I would do it if he pushed me far enough. He rapidly nodded his head in affirmation, his eyes wide with understanding.
I stood over him, and he tensed as I pretended to chop his neck. It was difficult for a shinobi not to react to an attack, even a feigned one. I gazed down at his unconscious form, feeling the weight of my responsibility as I began to work on carving the seal. Haruma-san occasionally threw in tips on faster carving techniques, which I followed closely. It took nearly thirty minutes to successfully complete the seal design.
I threw him over my shoulder, walked over to his section of the lair, and dropped him down on his softened-earth bed. I had bandaged the cuts and applied some ointment that should help to quickly heal everything except for the seal.
After that, I called for Ashira - a note to self, work on communication seals - and when she came, she looked eager as I gestured for her to sit down. Her smile turned to a frown as she noticed my serious expression, and she let out a sigh.
"If I say I don't want your therapy, will you stop?" she said, clearly annoyed. I rolled my eyes in response.
"No," I deadpanned. "Look, I need to be sure about your current animosity with Muishiro." I said, "I'm not taking the risk of unblocking your chakra and having you go and kill him." I warned, "Ashira," I said, as I started to release my dense chakra filled with killing intent, making the area suffocating. "I will not tolerate you attacking him," I said warningly. "We are currently hiding from being slaughtered and tortured."
Ashira looked a bit pale but decided to surprise me, "I-I never planned to do that," she said through gritted teeth. I hadn't expected her to be able to speak at all, considering my chakra had condensed enough to form a visible aura if I really pushed it, which is what I was currently doing.
She took a deep breath and seemed to steel herself, "I never planned to attack him," she said, looking me straight in the eyes, her eyes determined even if her face was pale.
I nodded and let go of my chakra, hiding signs of my exhaustion from that little show.
I gave her a small smile, able to detect the sincerity in her words. If she turned out to be lying, that's what the seal was for. "I'm happy for you, Ashira," I said, as she looked away, embarrassed, a light dusting of red on her cheeks, muttering a 'tch, whatever!' as I chuckled and called Haruma-san.
"I'll knock you out for the procedure, unless you want to experience what the enemy-nin did to you again?" I questioned, being a bit harsh and drawing on that traumatic experience to ensure that she would agree to being knocked out.
Thankfully, she didn't surprise me with her reaction to this one. She turned paler than she had when I had released my killing intent, her pupils dilated in fear, and she started to breathe slightly faster, "I- not at all," she stuttered, likely feeling the phantom pain of their blades roaming over and carving the seal on her body.
As much as I didn't want to carve the cursed seal on her, I had to, as it would be unfair to Muishiro, and, truth be told, I still didn't fully trust her. Hers also took longer as I took extra effort to ensure that even if she tried to decipher the seal, she wouldn't be able to. After an hour or so, I picked her up and gently laid her down inside her room, leaving her to rest. I... had a lot to think about.
Hey there! I would appreciate if you could read this through:
It's Spider-Lite dropping by as usual. I've now started to use my /spiderlite) and provide some benefits other than story commissions - which are still available - Supporting Characters ($5) and up will now get access to an advanced chapter before the public.
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The next chapter 'Consequences of Hubris' is out already on .
Preview: "I detected a group of seven ninja, consisting of six Chūnin and a Jōnin, approximately 35 kilometers west of our current location."
As usual, Spider-Lite out!