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Chapter Fifty-Five: Consequences
The gut feeling came back.
Shikaku looked at Hidan, who licked the blood straight off of the blade.
He felt something tremble across his spine.
Death.
Tsunade was having a pretty normal day, which as it currently stands, was quite a rare occurrence. Every hour since the day her master left the mantle of the throne behind was a hectic one. Even her sleep wasn't safe, for the dreams that plagued her mind were anything but pleasant. It was a busy life, but also a motivating one. It was motivating to know that her work was directly impacting the village in one way or another, and the fact that people depended on her to work was enough for her to wake up every day at the crack of dawn to continue.
It was tough but fulfilling.
Thank Kami that Shizune exists. Tsunade thought internally while eyeing the black-haired assistant who walked in carrying a stack of papers in her hands.
She dropped them next to the Hokage's desk with a deep sigh. "These are all related to the trade negotiations with Iwa. A bunch of rules and regulations to make it as fair as possible to both parties—hopefully, anyway. I've read through each of them for any mistakes, but just skim through just in case before signing them."
Tsunade nodded, silently pleased with the news. "Hmmm, that was quicker than I thought it would be."
"According to the report, Iwa's trade has been declining for the past decade, and a greater connection to the Land of Fire through the largest shinobi village there would be more than helpful."
That was good, more than good, in fact. The Iwa and Konoha treaty thus far had not amounted to much. Sarutobi-sensei had said that those types of things took time. Especially with the still-present tension between the two nations. But that was time that they didn't have. If Jiraiya's estimations were correct…. Tsunade shook her head, breaking her mind out of the moment before she got stuck in the web of poisonous thoughts that often visited her brain. She needed to be optimistic. She needed to see the good in things before the bad. Things were finally looking up.
"Dare I say, this could be the major breakthrough for the treaty to finally sink in," Tsunade said with a small smile.
"Yes, Tsunade-sama!" Shizune replied excitedly.
"One thing is—"
A loud slam resounded across the room as the door burst through from the outside, breaking the wooden frame along its corner where it made contact with the wall. Shizune dropped the pen in her hands to a fighting position almost instantly, prepared to risk her life for the Hokage's, even though she knew that the blonde Senju had multiples of her strength.
Jiraiya stood in the open room, panting heavily as he placed his hands on his knees in exhaustion. For a brief moment, his heavy breathing was the only thing audible in the room except for the chirping of birds entering through the open window.
Shizune lowered her hands, an angry expression rearing her face.
Tsunade couldn't be angry. She knew Jiraiya better than her student and understood that whatever he was here for was something serious.
Her mood darkened.
Her friend's face was pale, his eyes gaunt, and his bright smile nowhere to be seen. This is serious. She realized with a frown. Please…
"Shikaku is dead."
She dropped the paper in her hands onto the floor. "What?"
"The Jonin commander, Shikaku Nara, is dead. The body just came in—I came here as fast as I could. The rest of his team carried him inside. Choza was mostly fine except for some burns across his back, and Inoichi…is missing an eye."
Tsunade felt confusion spike up in her stomach. "But it was a simple scouting mission. Even if it was deeper than usual, nothing should have happened to any of them!"
"Two of the Akatsuki were there," Jiraiya stated, his eyes downcast. "I don't how they managed to get past our sensors without any detection."
"Akatsuki? Why? Why would they randomly—" Tsunade started but cut herself off the moment she saw the glint in Jiraiya's eye. "Oh…."
"Yes."
"He won't take it well."
"Naruto certainly won't. He's the type of person to blame it on himself. That's why I think it would be better if we keep the manner of death a secret for now. If we do that we can keep everything under control for a bit before revealing it once we have more information. That's fine, anyways. But I'm more scared of what Shikamaru is going to do…"
Another orphan. Konoha seemed to be rearing many of those these days. At least Shikamaru would still have his mother. The thought left a bitter taste in her mouth. No matter what they did, the empty hole that Shikaku left behind could never be filled again. Whenever someone is a part of your life, they leave a specific imprint. The moment they leave, the imprint becomes soulless and is too specific a shape to be filled by anything else.
Tsunade winced. "Does Yoshino know yet?"
"No, but I believe his teammates are going to break the news to the family soon. A tragedy has occurred, Tsunade. The Akatsuki are growing bolder and bolder," Jiraiya said, anger seeping into his voice. "To attack our borders without any fear of repercussions at all…just what kind of backing do they have?"
Tsunade hummed in agreement. "They're clearly a well-organized group, that's for sure. I hate to say this now, but did we manage to glean any information from the altercation at all? Anything good that came out of a net loss?" She asked, desperate for some sort of news that could help her view the situation in a different way.
"Something, yes. It seems during his final moments, Shikaku was able to decipher one of the Akatsuki's abilities. He used Inoichi's telekinesis to send a message even through his dying breaths. He was loyal even in his death."
"Yes…." Tsunade closed her eyes. She took a deep breath and steeled her heart. "There is no time for mourning. Shikaku wouldn't want us to do that, in fact. We have many important plans to commence."
Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. "What could be so important?"
"Mourning him is a lost cost…but getting vengeance on the fuckers that killed him?" She slammed her hand onto her desk, a loud thud that silenced everything. "That's a different thing altogether."
[—NTLS—]
Naruto walked casually along the coast of the lake that glistened in the sunlight, sending sparkles of light into his eyes. His first Chuunin mission was a success, to say the least. Well, "mission" was overestimating it. It was similar to Genin missions but with a touch more responsibility attached to it. Patrolling a designated area, having to memorize the area codes of most of the village, plus a bunch more regulation codes to cram into his brain. Compared to his first mission outside of Konoha as a Genin, this was absolutely nothing.
He almost got a headache with how much information he needed to memorize, but also understood the importance of what he was learning. Good coordination required that everyone needed to be on the same track, and thus these types of
exercises were necessary in advance so that whenever the real thing happened, they would be ready. His Intelligence stat must have helped with the learning time because there was no way the old Naruto could have understood and perfected that many symbols and codes so quickly.
The Chuunin vest was also something to get used to. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but the look of respect in the villager's eyes that noticed him was more than what he had imagined would have happened. Sure, most of them still preferred to ignore him outright, but that was better than the glares of hate he used to receive when he was younger. The rare but somewhat increasing amounts of reverence in his fellow residents' visages was heartwarming to see. It somehow made all the hard work he had done and the numerous life-threatening situations (that he was forced into) worth it in some way.
Naruto continued along the path until he saw a figure lying down on the sloped grass to the left of him a bit further up. He squinted his eyes. Hmm. It's that…Shikamaru?
Shikamaru was staring at the clouds, unmoving as always as the white balloons of air moved across the sky.
Naruto quickened his pace, greeting the boy with a big wave. "Yo, Shikamaru!"
Shikamaru…there was something off about the boy. He looked as passive as ever, but there seemed to be something missing in his eyes. The final piece of the puzzle that went missing, pushing the entire piece into disarray. Naruto, despite not being the sharpest of the bunch intellectually, quickly understood that something had gone wrong. But he was also not insensitive enough to question what happened so soon.
So he continued like he didn't know anything.
Shikamaru smiled, but even that was a fragile one. "Hey. Did they send you to get me? I don't think I can come back right now, but thanks for coming anyway."
Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Send me for what? I just randomly saw you."
Shikamaru's expression suddenly turned into disbelief. "So you just happened to find me of all people without any knowledge beforehand?"
"Yeah!" Naruto said, shrugging. "Why? Did anything happen?"
The Nara chuckled weakly. "Something like that. But let's push that aside. How was your first mission?"
"Let's see—it was mostly boring, to be honest. It was the first mission, so I didn't really expect anything too special, but it was really boring. I mean, I almost fell asleep when that one Chuunin that I forgot the name of was going through the codes."
"Yeah, I can see you doing that."
Naruto grinned. "I bet you almost fell asleep too, and when the guy asked you to recite them you managed to do it perfectly on the first try."
"That's…scarily accurate," Shikamaru said, blinking in surprise. "How the hell did you guess that?"
"Cus' that's exactly what happened with Iruka-sensei so many times! You would laze about in the class and answer questions in your own way which Iruka couldn't really mark as wrong. I was really jealous of how things came naturally to you, hehe," Naruto laughed quietly, rubbing his hair. "Things were so much simpler back then, huh?"
Shikamaru smiled, a slight curve on the end of his lips. "Yes, yes they were. Remember when Iruka-sensei found Choji's stack of chips inside of the drawer on the right because he was too lazy to go every day and grab one?"
"Of course I do! Iruka yelled so loud I thought my ears were going to burst. Choji had the gall to take back the store the second sensei left, too!" Naruto said, cackling loudly. "You'd think he'd have learnt his lesson, huh?"
The black-haired boy laughed—this time a proper one. "You can teach him anything, but once you bring food into the table he becomes the most stubborn guy I've ever met."
Then time went on, with each of them recollecting stories of the Academy, both trying to make the other laugh as hard as possible. The number of times Naruto got rejected by Sakura, the day Shikamaru managed to sleep through every single lesson without getting up once, and the greatest pranks Naruto had managed to pull off.
An hour quickly flew by, and with that came the passing of the sun, which now rested at the horizon, a small portion of the red body peaking at them from below.
The world was a musty red.
A comfortable silence was the current situation.
"Things were way more simpler back then, eh?" Naruto asked suddenly, looking into the musky sky along with Shikamaru next to him. The grass beneath him was soft and lush, the perfect place to rest on.
"Hmm, they were," Shikamaru replied. "Back when we didn't need to worry about all this political shit. Back when we were all safe…back when—back when Da-Dad was still…"
Naruto looked at his friend, alarmed by the sudden shift in conversation. Shikamaru stood up, his fist clenched tightly and body shaking. Water pooled up on his lower eyelids, threatening to fall over.
It was time to ask the question.
"Shikamaru…what happened?"
Little did they know that the answer would be the catalyst to a series of events that would change everything.
[—NTLS—]
The funeral was a small one. There were more people invited then from the actual Nara clan itself, considering how small the clan actually was with the number of deceased members being quite large. They were located somewhere within the Nara clan's forests, reportedly a sacred site where only the clan heads were buried.
Rain poured from above, falling onto the mush ground through the various crevices that weren't covered by the trees that were above them. It was as if the world itself was weeping along with them. The somber mood was evident with the greyness of the world around them. As if the color was sucked out of the environment entirely. Along with that, everyone wore full-black robes, a shinobi tradition that had been around for centuries.
All of the Rookies were present. They wouldn't dare miss something like this. Even Sasuke, who was busy training his ass off, came exactly on time. Sakura's eyes were teary as she stood quietly by herself. The other members of Team Ten were openly sobbing, Choji especially. Most of the Jonins were present, many of which Naruto didn't recognize. Kakashi stood silently near the coffin of the body, his body not making even a centimeter of movement. Jiraiya and Tsunade stood a bit further away, with Shizune right by her master's side, so Naruto couldn't exactly specify their reactions.
A young-looking woman nearest to the body was bawling her eyes out, with Shikamaru close behind her laying a hand on her shoulder.
The pineapple-haired boy seemed to be holding himself together pretty well. He wasn't crying, that's for sure.
Then the moment of burial finally came.
Naruto heard the rustling of leaves from his side. Everyone did, in fact. The absolute silence made it difficult to miss.
What the…
Packs of deer stood around them, their eyes shining in the shade. They stood almost somberly, as if they understood exactly what was going on, and have come to give their blessings. The animals were the picture of grief and sadness, their pure souls seemed shaken by the death of Shikaku.
The funeral ended without much dalliance.
"Let's go meet Shikamaru once, shall we?" Sakura asked the rest of the Rookies, who murmured in agreement. "Where are you going, Naru—"
Naruto gunned in the direction of Jiraiya the second he saw him and Tsunade trying to sneak away from the crowd.
He stopped right in front of them.
Jiraiya chuckled awkwardly. "Naruto?"
"Who was it?"
"What do you mean?"
Naruto glared. "It was the Akatsuki, wasn't it?"
"When did I ever mention—"
"Don't lie to me," Naruto hissed, venom seething into his tone. "Shikamaru said they were a group of unauthorized shinobi. Who else could it be? Do you think I'm a fucking idiot?"
"Calm down, Naruto," Tsunade asked, no, ordered.
"They were coming for me, weren't they? Why else would they be here? They were after me, and Shikamaru's father is dead because of it!"
"I wouldn't go as far as to say that—" Jiraiya began, but was immediately cut off.
"Yes," Tsunade confirmed coldly. "They were after you. You're a Jinchuuriki, and the Akatsuki want you. I don't want to sugarcoat you from the truth like Jiraiya here seems to want to do. However, don't try to convince yourself that Shikaku's death is in your hands. He knows his duty as a shinobi and would lay down his life for it. His death is entirely his mistake, and his own decision to make. Don't sully it by making it about you. Now, the real question is…what are you going to do about it?"
Naruto paused.
What am I going to do?
What was I even doing?
I never even thought about it.
But everything is clear now.
I'll end it all.
Tsunade's eyes widened after a torrent of chakra erupted from the boy before her. An angry, purposeful intent filled the air around the boy, whose body was brimming with steely, cold anger. There was so much energy that the air itself felt thicker, more viscous, and filled to the brim with life force. She nearly took a step back with how much pressure that was arising from Naruto.
Even scarier than the amount of chakra leaking into the real world was the look in his eyes.
Blazing blue gems condensed with pure, liquid rage.
This, this boy is…
Naruto clenched his fist tightly, drawing blood into the open air.
"I'm going to kill each and every one of them."
[—NTLS—-]
My Pa tre on is back online for those who want to read THREE chapters or THREE WEEKS ahead (chapters 56, 57, 58) and support my endeavor to become an author. So if you can't wait for the next update–check out:
P a treon . com (slash) PaladinKaladin
Yo!
Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Yes, there will be consequences in this story, and sometimes that results in deaths. Cus' the Akatsuki seem to be functional earlier on in this version, the original Naruto series characters simply can't scale to the same strength, meaning death will have to happen.
Like I said, this chapter is a major turning point, in a way.
Naruto's motivations are deeply changed by the roots itself, forming a variant of the character who has different values and makes different to present the right note on those emotional scenes with Shikamaru was the toughest part. Shikamaru was glad to talk to a friend who didn't just look at him with pity for the first time in the entire day, and Naruto was glad to cheer up a friend who didn't look the best.
No question this week :)
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