Naruto: Child of Chakra - Chapter 127

Shiroken had to eventually drag Monari home and use the teleportation to reach back home. She fumed in anger at his forceful evacuation, “Come on, she was just getting to the juicy part.”

“There is no juicy part. Now get back to farming.” He told her.

She pouted, “I’m not some slave labour.”

“Of course, you are my dear lovely sister. Won’t you help your Shiro?” He twisted Monari’s fondness for her little brother and won.

….

Kumogakure,

Raikage A, his father’s name was also A, who was also the Raikage. The Raikage before that was also named A and the one before him as well. The village seemed to be in love with the letter A for some reason.

Kumogakure was a fairly successful village despite being in a not so suitable location. The village was located in a range of tall mountains and was literally hidden in the clouds. The buildings were also suspended in the air with metal joints connected to the many mountain peaks. They always had beef with Konoha since they tried to create trouble on multiple occasions.

Kumo’s efforts to amass power often entail stealing secrets and kidnapping shinobi from other villages. This behaviour has only provoked the other villages to employ the same tactics in kind.

Several years before the Third Shinobi World War, Kumo shinobi kidnapped Kushina Uzumaki from Konoha in order to study her unique chakra, but were foiled by Minato Namikaze.

A few years after the Third Shinobi World War, Kumo sent its Head Ninja to Konoha to sign a peace treaty, a cover for an attempt to acquire the Byakugan by kidnapping Hinata Hyuga. When the Head Ninja was killed by Hiashi Hyuga in the attempt, the village still tried to obtain the Byakugan by feigning knowledge of their soldier’s actions and threatening war unless Hiashi’s body was turned over to make up for the Head Ninja’s death. In what was now called the Hyuga Affair, Hiashi’s twin was given to Kumo instead, as his Byakugan was sealed upon death due to the slave seal and making it worthless.

Shiroken didn’t like this village for such reasons. It was too scummy for his taste, not that others were not like it. Kumo however took the cake for it since they talked peace and yet practised such things, it was basically their state policy. While Konoha’s Hokage had an official policy of making real peace, though Danzo still made a mess.

This country was going to be a challenge for Shiroken. The reason being the commoner population of this country was not as poor and disturbed as others. The Daimyo was a shrewd and smart man. The Raikage too was a proud and strong man who had firm control over his village.

Raikage A was meeting Lightning Daimyo, Akimoto in the Daimyo’s suspended palace that day.

“The recent attack by Kirigakure also failed. Not just that, Kirigakure is now more consolidated than ever. He will focus on Kumo and Iwa next. We must start preparing for his eventual invasion.” Raikage explained to Daimyo.

Daimyo, with a tired face and glasses on his eyes, looked at the many documents on his table that explained to him what was happening. He sighed and put his glasses down, “Wrong, Raikage. We have already been invaded.”

Raikage stood up in shock, “WHAT? When? Why wasn’t I told? How many men survived?”

Akimoto shook his head in disappointment. “This is what you lack, Raikage. Your brain cannot think about anything beyond physical war. Wars can be of many types, an ideological war, religious war, economical war and many more. What this so-called “Supreme Daimyo” has done is wage an economical war on us.

“Did you know that 80 per cent of items sold in the whole country come from Dama Country and other territories under Shiroken Dama? This means, he basically has control over our whole economy because we don’t export much.”

Raikage felt the horrors of this statement, “Then… ban all trade.”

“Then what? Wait for people to revolt against me? You need to understand how demand and supply work. If people suddenly feel that there isn’t enough supply as much as there is demand, they will try to hoard, and in return, things will become much more costly. We’re stuck in a position where we can not do anything.” Akimoto explained.

Raikage scratched his head, “We need to do something. Iwa is with us. In total, our military might is big enough to handle anything. Iwa still has a tailed beast, we have two and both are in good control. While they don’t have any since Shiroken Dama took them away.”

“You want to start a war? We will be fighting against three countries. We cannot afford a large scale war. What we must do instead is use small scale guerrilla tactics and scorched earth tactics. We invade, burn everything and return. Once they are utterly weakened, we strike.” Daimyo suggested.

Raikage was in support of this plan. “Then I will start planning. You can talk with Earth Country’s Daimyo. It will be better if there are two hammers to strike the nail.”

And from there, Kumogakure and Lightning Country’s policy became clear.

…

Konoha,

A crisis was looming over his head, Danzo knew this. He didn’t have much time left, he also knew this.

Ideally, he should have run away, but he was smart. He knew what Shiroken actually wanted, which was peace. Because of this, he was still alive due to his influence on the village.

This was his secret weapon. To use the various clans and public to his advantage. But, the current biggest eyesore to him was Tsunade. She had been going hard on him, trying to find evidence about Root and also sending spies after him.

“I need to deal with this woman while he’s away. But first, I need to send Jiraiya away. Thank you, Kumo, for this opportunity.” Danzo planned from his secret base.

…

Danzo had no idea he was slowly digging his own grace, with each action he dug it deeper. Kumo and Iwa were doing the same, not understanding that Tailed Beats were not the peak power in the world anymore.

But Shiroken didn’t care, since he knew that if he were to prevent all the evil from happening, the people will never learn to appreciate what they have right now.

“Tell me everything about Gaara’s past. He told me that his uncle tried to kill him and his mother didn’t love him. Where did he get such ideas from?” Shiroken asked Chiyo, whom he had called into his office. Today Orochimaru’s execution was also going to take place.

Chiyo sighed and told him the whole story, “Rasa was obsessed with controlling the tailed beast… Shukaku, I mean. But he was not able to find any perfect Jinchuriki, he even tried Temari and Kankuro, but they were not compatible.

“Gaara was found to be compatible. And hence, a very dangerous procedure was performed. The tailed beast was put inside Gaara, right when he was inside Karura’s womb. This was mainly due to Rasa’s crazed wishes and inability to wait.

“Due to that, Gaara was born prematurely, he was so tiny that one could hold his entire body in their palm. The whole beast transfer procedure left Kurara tired and weak, due to which she passed away right there.

“Little Gaara was then treated harshly by Rasa, trained to become a tool, a weapon. But, no matter how much they tried, Gaara couldn’t control the beast. Shukaku would often take over him and cause rampages across the village.

“Eventually, Rasa planned to test Gaara. He wanted to stimulate Gaara’s emotions so he could harness the tailed beast’s powers. So, the closest and most loved person to Gaara, his uncle, was ordered to attack Gaara, and tell him his mother never loved him, that he didn’t love him.

“The truth was far from it, but Rasa’s orders were words on stone. Gaara ended up killing his uncle and hearing all those lies. From that day, the little sweet Gaara disappeared, and came the unstable, silent and angry Gaara, the weapon Rasa always wished for.”

Shiroken silently listened to the whole story and couldn’t help but feel bad for the little kid. He wondered how a father could be this cruel with his own child.

He stood up, “What were you doing then?”

“I was a mere elder, an advisor. No matter what we say, he never listened. To him, we were expendables.” Chiyo said.

*Sigh*

“Do you understand now, Chiyo? Why I do all this? I don’t want another Gaara in this world. But more Gaaras will continue to be made as long as there is war. And since boundaries create wars, why don’t I just remove them?” He said and moved out to start Orochimaru’s public execution.

Chiyo stayed sitting in the office, thinking about his words. She was no stranger to Shiroken’s abilities and deeds now. He owned the Wind Country and also the village. Yet, she felt that the village was happier, richer and vibrant than ever before.

~*Sigh* Does this mean… Sunagakure has been in the wrong since inception?~ she wondered.