Chapter XXXVI - He Who Brought Peace
Gyatsō would take a moment before lowering the blade until it was above Akazo's head. The dark-haired ANBU member closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, angered at the fact that this was the second time he was bested by Gyatsō, even more so since these were the exact same circumstances that made him brace for death earlier.
Akazo truly felt inferior to Gyatsō, whether he wanted to or not. To him, it didn't matter how Gyatsō attained such power and strength, the fact is he has it.
"Have you finally come to terms with your death, boy? There is nobody here to stop me like last time," Gyatsō said quietly. Akazo couldn't make out what he said entirely, as he was still slightly disoriented from that immense light attack.
When he failed to respond, the white-haired male instead moved the blade to above his hand before shoving it down, pushing the steel until it came out the other side of Akazo's hand.
Akazo's teeth would grind harder as he writhed and scratched his fingers into the earth as he looked up to Gyatsō with an enraged facial expression. The Osore leader stared into Akazo's eyes before slamming a foot against the young man's face in retort and smiled in satisfaction when he spat out a tooth.
Gyatsō felt free to let his anger take over him. Failing to retain the Mugetsu Shaolin; being forced to use his trump card against a group of ninja he thought he was superior to; having stages of his plan continually stopped - all of his frustrations went into the beating he gave to Akazo.
By the time he stopped stomping on the younger male's bruised face, Gyatsō was lightly panting. He looked down at his foot that was resting on top of Akazo's head and composed himself to remove it. He then slowly crouched to lift up his opponent's head with a single finger.
"Go to hell," Akazo spat out. Gyatsō ignored the small drops of spit that landed on his face.
Without giving the male a verbal response, Gyatsō's hand tightly clutched Akazo's neck and applied even more pressure to lift him up to his feet. Akazo's eyes began to grow faint as he felt his life being squeezed out.
He was unsure why Gyatsō just chose not to fatally stab him, but he found himself to be caring very little as his hands tried to force the shinobi to let go. After a very short while, Akazo's body forced itself to give up.
Gyatsō let go of the still male's body before he could die. No, Gyatsō wouldn't just kill Akazo off right now as he did to others. He wanted him to suffer in prison along with the other shinobi who tried to intervene.
Turning his back to the fallen Sasuke, Ketsueki, and Akazo, Gyatsō would redirect his attention to the male who was approaching him. It was Hikari, who seemed to have been untouched by Gyatsō's kekkei genkai.
Hikari looked over to the bodies before looking at Gyatsō and bowed his head with respect.
"I'm assuming you used the Light Style to defeat them," said the blonde haired male.
Gyatsō nodded.
"Konoha is mine now. Very soon, this village will be transformed into a part of my Hidden Dark Nation," Gyatsō replied. Hikari smiled lightly at his superior's delight for taking control of the village.
"The Hokage is dead. Who will be the main head of authority within the village specifically, Lord Gyatsō?" Hikari asked, taking a second to look at the damaged Hokage Stone Faces.
"I would appoint you as leader of this soon-to-be province, but I require your assistance in overthrowing the remaining Great Nations. I told you long ago that you'd get your revenge on the Stone through me, do you feel indifferent towards your vengeance?" asked the Osore leader.
Hikari closed his eyes as he clutched his fist, memories of the harassment he received from the village flooding his mind.
"Of course I do, my liege."
"Very well."
Gyatsō began to walk towards the northern part of the village in search of Orochimaru. Hikari followed him close behind. Smirking to himself, Gyatsō levitated through a window on the side of the Hokage Residence.
Sitting comfortably in the seat of where Nori used to sit was Orochimaru with a wide smirk on his face.
"I knew that you would be here, Orochimaru," said Gyatsō as he crossed his arms. Orochimaru bowed his head in respect before standing up, rubbing his hand against the Hokage hat before picking it up. He wanted to put it on but decided not to. The Sannin gently chuckled to himself as he placed it back on the desk.
"It's all in good fun, Gyatsō. Truth be told, if not for that bastard Hiruzen, I'd be the one sitting in this chair right now," Orochimaru said with a grin. Gyatsō scoffed as he turned around.
"That is Lord Gyatsō to you. Now come, I need you to perform the Reanimation."
"On whom, might I ask?"
"All of the deceased Osore members other than Nagato and Konan. In case of their death, Nagato asked me to never revive them. Since they were loyal subordinates, I'll respect his wishes. We are moving on to the Hidden Sand Village to do as we did here."
Orochimaru widened his eyes a bit as he followed Gyatsō and Hikari out of the building.
"We're leaving already? When your jutsu's effects come undone, who will lead my Sound into apprehending any resisting Leaf shinobi?" he asked. Gyatsō let out a sigh as he moved his arms to either side.
"Seiko will be appointed the new leader of the village, do not fret over trivial things," he replied. Orochimaru let out another soft chuckle as he shrugged his shoulders.
"Lord Gyatsō, if anything, what do you think of yourself?" he asked.
Gyatsō stopped walking as he looked into the Sannin's slit pupils.
"There's nobody on this earth that is superior to me. I am a being created from the failures of this shinobi world. I am the one who will lead this world to true peace," he replied.
"How fitting of you, the once weak Mataba child from the Hidden Grass, to say that so confidently," said Orochimaru.
Gyatsō began to walk forward once more, scoffing at Orochimaru's comment before replying.
"Well then, the weak Mataba child from the Grass has become a God."
The three shinobi now stood outside of the Hokage Residence. It was peacefully quiet outside, but the smoke was still hovering in the atmosphere. Corpses of both Konoha and Oto shinobi laid against cracked walls and damaged residences.
"I've perfected the Reanimation even more than that naïve Kabuto. It isn't required for me to possess the DNA of shinobi I resurrect, nor a human sacrifice. All I have to do is really concentrate on who I want to bring forth from the world of the dead," said Orochimaru.
"That's quite an improvement," Gyatsō said as he once again crossed his arms. Hikari was actually surprised he complimented the Sannin.
Orochimaru let out a small grunt, acknowledging his comrade's words as he began to perform multiple hand seals. He quickly closed his eyes before slapping his hands together. Gyatsō watched his hand movements closely and smirked to himself.
So the hand signs for the Reanimation are tora, hebi, inu, doragon and a single clap. I'll need to remember that as a precautionfor later.
"Summoning... Reanimation!"
Just as before, four large wooden caskets slowly rose from the ground. The seals on the caskets glowed red as the cases collapsed onto the ground, revealing Sebbech, Seiko, Hide, and Zuko to be inside of said caskets. He only summoned these four upon Gyatsō's orders.
When Orochimaru moved forward to implant directions inside of them, Gyatsō held his arm out in front of the Sannin to stop him.
"My Osore members are not your puppets, Orochimaru, they are mine. Not in the sense that they're unaware of what they're doing, anyway," he said. He would then perform the hand seals needed to summon the King of Hell. Realising what Gyatsō was going to do, Orochimaru nodded and stepped back.
Just like how the jutsu worked for Itachi, the green light swirling inside of the King of Hell's mouth shot out and engulfed the Osore members' bodies. In a few moments, they were fully brought back to life.
Once they all looked over to Gyatsō, they bowed out of respect.
"Lord Gyatsō, please forgive me, that bastard Ketsueki Kuraiya got me when I wasn't looking! I beg of you, give me the order to rip that little shit to shreds!" said Sebbech, who was clearly agitated with how he died.
Seiko timidly looked over to Zuko, who flashed her an emotionless glare. Seiko gritted her teeth and moved closer to Sebbech in caution.
"That's enough, Sailor of Blood. Ketsueki Kuraiya is dead. I have brought you four back with a mission that is of great importance," said Gyatsō as he would smile softly to himself. Being surrounded by loyal subordinates calmed him in a way.
"Oh, I see. You killed that pest, my lord? Serves him right."
Gyatsō walked forward to place a hand on Zuko's shoulder. When Zuko looked up into Gyatsō's eye, he shed a tear and looked down at the ground.
"Lord Gyatsō, I apologise for my incompetence. You would have retained your Mūgetsu Shaolin if not for me," the black haired male said gently.
"Do not scold yourself, Zuko. Doctorisha showed his true traitorous nature by allying himself with Itachi in my own damned body. He is to blame for this inconvenience, not you. Although it's true I cannot transplant the Mūgetsu Shaolin into myself, I will develop a new means to wield but one of those eyes," Gyatsō told the younger male.
"Lord Gyatsō, I ask that you keep me away from Zuko as far as possible," said Seiko. She frowned at Zuko before inching away from him even more. Zuko scratched the back of his head as he looked away.
"Seiko, Temptress of Hate. You will stay inside this village and rule over it as its new leader," said the white-haired male as he slowly levitated into the air.
"Y-yes, my lord. I thank you."
Staring at the Hokage Stone Faces, Gyatsō deemed that its existence was not necessary anymore. With a single movement of his fist, the Faces were completely destroyed, with large fragments of the rocks falling to the village.
When the rocks landed on the ground, Gyatsō, Hide, Orochimaru, Sebbech, Zuko, and Hikari were already at the gates of the silent village. Seiko stood on top of the Hokage Residence with her hands resting on her hips. Her cloak was wrapped around her slim waist. Her long, silky, orange hair danced in the peaceful wind as she looked down to the departing Osore.
Gyatsō turned his head to look back at the village before smiling once more. Smoke was still floating in the air, which in turn slightly clouded his vision, although it didn't matter.
In his eyes, he was imagining the future of the village - a future in which the Hidden Dark Nation ruled the world. A future in which the flag of the Nation hung proudly. That was to become a reality very soon in his mind.