Chapter 42: Confronting Your Elders
"Well, that was something," Lady Nishimura admitted, shaking her head after witnessing something that not many were privy to. ". . . Never in all my years did I ever think I would ever see Elder Chiyo chuckling."
"Eh? What do you mean by that?!" The old woman asked, immediately turning her intimidating stare on the younger woman. "You thought I was incapable of laughter?"
"More like you lost the ability to do it as you grew old over the years," Lord Kikuchi mumbled under his breath, though it wasn't enough to save him from the elder's ire, if the sandal straight to his unsuspecting face was anything to go by. ". . . OWWW!"
"You should be lucky I threw my sandal and not a kunai," The old woman griped as Lady Nishimura and Kankuro tried in vain to hold back their laughter. Temari and Baki were unfazed by the strike, and Gaara just looked on tiredly as Shukaku cackled in the recesses of his mind. ". . . Or worse, a poison dart. We would not want the world to miss out on your valuable insight, no?"
"Say no more! I've learned my lesson, loud and clear," Lord Kikuchi conceded as he got up, holding his hand up to slow the flow of his bleeding nose. ". . . If you excuse me, your Grace."
"By all means, take all the time you need," Temari practically drawled as the man scurried to his room. She then turned her attention on Chiyo, who looked rather pleased with herself. ". . . You planned that."
"Indeed, I did," Chiyo proudly proclaimed as she looked over at the ANBU in the room. "Camel, Armadillo, if you will?"
The two nodded before the smaller Armadillo walked over to the other side of the room, directly across from where her partner stood. The two went through a series of hand signs before slamming their right palms onto the walls behind them, initiating a privacy barrier that encompassed the entire room.
"So, this part of the conversation must not reach Lord Kikuchi's ears then," Kankuro mused as he looked over to the elder, a woman he practically idolized due to her profound influence in revolutionizing puppet ninjutsu in their kingdom.
"The man is an insufferable prick," Chiyo almost cackled as she looked over at the door he disappeared through. "He is no friend of anyone in this room after all. . . If he could use any info to paint a person negatively at court, he will use it gladly if it can serve him and his clan's ends."
"Oh, so it's not just to protect your reputation then?" Temari dared to ask, ignoring the warning look Baki sent her way.
"As if I care about that in my old age!" Came Chiyo's quick response, smirking slightly at the young blonde's audacity. "I didn't care about it when I was young, I didn't care about it when I was middle aged, and I don't care about it now!"
"But you must admit, your reputation is a fearsome one," Lady Nishimura cut in, her tone slightly placating.
"That tends to happen when you let your actions on the battlefield speak louder than any words said about you." Chiyo said in return.
"Let's save the talk on reputations for another time," Temari suggested as she looked between the women. ". . . How exactly does this barrier work to keep Kikuchi out?"
"It consists of a genjutsu that will keep him busy for the next hour or so as soon as he tries to open the door. Quite a subtle piece of trickery developed by the Genjutsu Unit," Lady Nishimura explained as she clasped her hands on her lap. "Once the hour is up, Kikuchi should be too tired to join us for the remainder of the night."
"I'm sure he won't miss much. . ." Temari conceded, nodding in approval. "Now then, Elder Chiyo, where should we start?"
"Well, isn't that a loaded question. . ?" The old woman mumbled, sarcasm lacing her tone as she leaned back in her seat. "Hmm, how much do you all know about the process that creates jinchuriki?"
"Not much, considering that such a . . . procedure is usually kept a heavily guarded secret within the kingdoms that are lucky to possess a tailed beast," Temari mused. "Only those that need to know actually get to know all the details."
"And has Shukaku ever told you about his experiences going through the process, Prince Gaara?"
No, I have fucking not! The tanuki grumbled as his vessel's eyes widened slightly, having not expected the question. How can I when the process is always done in a way that prevents me from really seeing it. . . The teapot you people always keep me in when a human isn't available doesn't have windows after all!
"He's never mentioned it to me, mainly because he's never been able to really see it to truly discern what's exactly happening." The redhead admitted as the tanuki continued to grumble, his response being less obnoxious than his tenant's.
"And that is, and always will be, by design," Chiyo declared. "The seals, as well as the containers that house the tailed beasts when a candidate is unavailable, are designed the way they are to prevent them from ever seeing how exactly they are sealed away."
"Makes sense. . ." Kankuro mused as he brought a hand to his chin. "Wouldn't want the all-powerful beings you plan to keep imprisoned to know a single detail on the process that keeps them entombed in human bodies right?"
"Correct . . . Knowledge is power, and giving powerful beings made entirely of chakra such knowledge would be absolutely idiotic at this point," Chiyo declared, shaking her head. ". . . Not to mention deadly."
"The same can be said for anyone that we consider an enemy," Temari mused. "Since the seals used for such a process are unique to each beast, such information would be highly valuable to have."
"To a point," Chiyo admitted. "Fuinjutsu is not a common art like the big three. It is highly specialized for a reason. One kanji out of place could mean certain, irreparable harm . . . The many risks is a large reason why there are so few fuinjutsu masters in the world right now."
"And would you consider yourself one?" Temari asked. "A fuinjutsu master, that is?"
"I am a master when it comes to the seals that we use within the Puppet Corps," The old woman admitted, glancing over at Kankuro as she spoke. "When it comes to other seals, I only learned about them if the situation called for it."
"Including the seal used for sealing Shukaku away?" Gaara was the one to ask, more curious than annoyed with the old woman, at the moment.
"Well, when it comes to that particular seal, I was actually pressed into service, if you will. . ."
Lady Nishimura and Baki were absolutely shocked at the woman's admission, having not expected to hear those words come out from her mouth. Kankuro was visibly confused, and Temari was looking aggravated, but Gaara's face was a cool facade, hiding the growing confusion and anxiety that was growing within him.
Not even the guards were immune.
Shukaku was the first to speak, and though only Gaara could hear him, his words neatly summed up what everyone else was currently thinking.
What the actual fuck?!
"Hmm, didn't expect to hear that, now did ya?" The old woman had the audacity to ask as she looked around the room.
"Um, if you don't mind me asking Elder Chiyo. . ." Lady Nishimura was the first to say, finally finding her voice once again. "What do you mean when you say that you were pressed into service?"
"Yes, I think we'd all like to know what you mean by that?" Temari jumped in, more angered on her brother's behalf than Gaara was for himself. ". . . What you just said is quite the damning insinuation after all."
"At this point, with how old I am, I have reached the point in my life where I just don't give a damn anymore," Chiyo admitted, smirking slightly. "Then again, I have barely given a damn about what anyone says about me over my long life, so why should I start now?"
"Um, for legacy's sake?" Kankuro suggested, slightly befuddled by the old woman's blunt demeanor.
"As if I could care about my legacy when I'm dead and buried six feet under?"
The old bat makes a fair point. Shukaku admitted as Kankuro's face took an owlish turn at the old woman's words.
"But back to my . . . damning insinuation, as you just described it, your Grace," Chiyo declared as she turned her gaze back on the young queen. "In simple terms, I was not the one originally intended to conduct the sealing ceremony that led to your brother becoming the One Tails' latest vessel. In truth, I was the second choice."
"You were the back up?!" Temari asked, her tone steady enough to hide her surprise. Kankuro and Lady Nishimura had no such qualms, both looking completely flabbergasted at the news.
Baki and Gaara were somewhere in the middle with their reactions, remaining silent, though their eyes conveyed their shock and surprise well enough.
"Indeed. . . The original seal caster was supposed to be Hidetomo Kikuchi. I am sure you all are familiar with that name, yes?"
"Lord Hidetomo is, well, was Lord Hijiki's grandfather," Baki was the first to say, having only a faint recollection of the man. "And served as the head of the Sealing Unit before officially retiring from active service . . . Wait a minute. He was well into his retirement years around the time Prince Gaara was born."
"Five years in fact, but King Rasa wanted Lord Hidetomo to be the one to take lead on the sealing process. At the time, he was the most well versed on the particular seal we use in the kingdom to seal Shukaku away . . . After all, he was the one that successfully sealed Shukaku in the prince's predecessor," Chiyo explained. "Despite his retirement, he was the natural choice for the role."
"Until he was unable to fulfill it," Gaara mumbled, speaking the words that were running through everyone else's minds. "Why is that?"
"He died, apparently of an illness."
" Apparently?!" Kankuro asked. "You mean that you're not certain an illness was the exact cause?!"
"It was accepted as the official cause of death, and announced as such to the court at large, but many that knew Lord Hidetomo well knew that there was something . . . off about it all," Chiyo admitted, shaking her head. "I had met the man three days prior to the announcement to consult with him over a new seal that he wanted to present to the Puppet Corps, and he was the absolute picture of health when I left him."
"A lot can happen in three days. . ."
"Indeed, a lot can Prince Gaara, but when you come from a family as internally secretive and high strung as the Kikuchis, you can't help but be suspicious," Chiyo declared. "Coupled with the fact that the Kikuchis have a long history of . . . assassinations within their ranks, can you blame me for not believing one word that Lord Harusame said?"
"Do you think Lord Hidetomo was assassinated by his own family members Elder Chiyo?"
"I wouldn't put it past one of them to put a hit out on the man," The old woman admitted. "Unfortunately, since it happened within the clan, it was considered a private matter."
"A private matter that could have become public thanks to the king's decree," Temari countered. "Father would not have accepted Lord Hidetomo's death so easily, especially when he was charged with such an important task such as the tailed beast sealing."
"That is true, but he had no time to launch such an investigation once he received word that your mother's labors had started," Chiyo's words sent a sense of foreboding down everyone's spines as her eyes found their way to Gaara once again. "Thanks to prior blood tests, we knew that you were the one compatible enough to hold Shukaku, but your father tasked him to test an idea of his that he thought would be successful for the sealing process."
"And what idea would that be?" Kankuro asked, having the feeling that he wouldn't like what she was about to say, not one bit.
"Well, it's customary for the candidate to be young when they are eventually turned into a jinchuriki, preferably a baby that's grown a few months or a toddler. There have been older jinchuriki before, but the caveat to that is that they can never achieve the perfect control that younger candidates are capable of," Chiyo explained. ". . . But your father, pfft, had the bright idea of testing out the idea of sealing a tailed beast into a child before they finally came into the world."
"You mean, he thought Gaara would have better odds controlling Shukaku if the tanuki was sealed away while he was still in our mother's womb?!" Temari loudly whispered, her tone harsh as she glared at the woman.
". . . Oh Shinigami dammit, what was our old man thinking?!" Kankuro added, before turning to Baki. "Did you know about this?!"
"No, I did not," Baki responded emphatically as he faced the puppeteer's accusing glare. "Your father made no mention of this idea to the council or any of his advisors. Whatever ideas he had he kept between those that would be directly involved in Shukaku's sealing."
"Your father is, well, was a private man. When it comes to his secrets, he only lets certain people in." Chiyo admitted.
"Did she know?"
"Gaara. . ?" Temari asked as everyone's eyes turned to the redhead, his face expressionless, his eyes unreadable, giving absolutely no clue as to how he was truly feeling inside.
"Did our mother know?!" The prince asked, his tone barely above a whisper. When he spoke again, it was much stronger, and much more biting. "Did the old man ever bother to tell her?!"
"I didn't know until I was called in to conduct the sealing," Chiyo admitted, not disturbed by the young ninja's change in demeanor, practically expecting it in fact. "The plan was to seal Shukaku into you about two weeks before you were predicted to be born."
"But that plan was ruined when Gaara decided to come earlier than expected." Kankuro concluded, sneaking a glance at said redhead, who remained still as a statue as he continued to take in the conversation.
". . . But you still went ahead and sealed Shukaku in our brother before he could even take his first breath," Temari groused, tapping her fingers along her armrest. "Gaara's question still stands: Did our mother know about our father's plan to seal Shukaku in Gaara before he was supposed to be born? Yes, or no?"
Chiyo did not back down from her gaze, but as the seconds ticked by, the confidence and arrogance that came with old age gave way to a new emotion, one that wasn't usually associated with the esteemed elder.
Guilt.
"No, your mother did not know."
A/N: Please review!