Chapter 89 - 89. 5 Done, 4 More To Go.
Chapter 89 - 89. 5 Done, 4 More To Go.
Shiroken saw the condition Shukaku was in. It didn't look good. He had completely gone berserk. But, it was an incomplete form, as what Shiroken saw was not what Shukaku truly looked like.
Here, Shukaku was smaller, rather than being the size of a mountain. Shukaku was also somewhat affected by his Jinchuriki, it seemed. Shiroken had seen the Jinchuriki of Shukaku, a red-haired small kid, smaller than his peers.
"SHUKAKU! WAKE UP!" Shiroken shouted near the beast.
The various Jonins of Konoha who had been trying to stop the beasts looked at him with fear. After all, they understood that this man here was able to one punch Orochimaru and defeat him, while also ordering around the rest of the Hokages. They didn't know the details of everything as none were there, but this was what they understood from looking.
*WOOSH*
"Shiro, I was waiting for you. I tried calling his name but he wouldn't wake up. So I brought him out of the village." Monari appeared beside Shiroken.
"Hmm, something must have happened. What about Orochimaru's lackeys?" He asked.
"Caught all five of them. They tried to run away the moment you nabbed Orochimaru. They didn't even erect the seal they were supposed to." She revealed.
"Hmm, keep them locked. I will deal with them later. For now, let's deal with Shukaku. I will reach out to him and try to maybe talk through the seal. Though it will be hard to find that boy in that sand. You keep all these Jonins away from here. Don't want any of their deaths to be put on my head now." He ordered and flew to the rampaging Gara/Shukaku.
"Shukaku, it's your boy, Shiro. Did you forget me so fast? And I'm angry at you, you said you will return in a year, but never did." Shiroken latched onto the raging head of Shukaku and started blabbering.
This was not the real body of the Shukaku, so Shiroken was constantly digging in to get to Gaara's body.
His words were probably not reaching the boy. And Shukaku was known to go through tantrums and being petty, so it was not surprising that the boy had such anger issues.
Slowly, he dug out a big chunk of the head. More sand tried to take its place but Shiroken didn't allow it, dispelling it with his own body's energy. The surrounding nature was his territory after all.
"HAHA... trying to play with nature near me? COME OUT NOW." Shiroken was excited. Shukaku was the first to go away and probably didn't even know what happened to him and the family. Maybe he knew about the tailed beasts being sealed, but not about him.
"AH! I SEE RED!" Shiroken saw red hair inside the sand monster. He quickly dug more and was able to touch the forehead of Gaara. And in an instant, he was connected with Shukaku.
...
It was dark, there seemed to be water on the ground everywhere and no end in sight in any direction. Yet, the water looked blue, as it would in the daytime.
Shiroken turned around and finally saw the big raccoon. Shukaku was carefully assessing Shiroken. The last time he had contact and verbal chat with someone was with Bunpuku, his last Jinchuriki. Shukaku had actually liked that Jinchuriki, as he didn't consider him a beast and treated him with kindness.
He looked at Shiroken in suspicion with his big black starry eyes. "How did you enter here?"
Shiroken smiled from ear to ear, "Hehe... Did you forget your little Shiro so quick?"
*BLINK BLINK*
"SHIROOOOOOO..." The next moment Shukaku ran towards him at full speed and picked him delicately. He probably didn't know how strong he had gotten by now.
Shiroken patted Shukaku's face, "I missed you, Shukaku."
"DAMN RIGHT! I missed you all, hell, I even missed that stupid fox." Shukaku was in bliss. After decades, the moment he had been waiting for had finally come.
Shiroken though quickly informed him about Kurama, "Shukaku, do you know, after you didn't return for a year, it was Kurama who went out to find you because he felt guilty. But then he was caught by Madara Uchiha and then sealed in the wife of Hashirama Senju."
Shukaku calmed down, as if in deep thought. "Really? Kurama did that? You're not lying?"
Shiroken strongly nodded, "Why would I lie to you? You know what, I just found Kurama. Poor him had his existence split in two and half of him was sealed with a demon. I just got him back. Now, I will be taking you and Kurama back to our Dama Country."
"COUNTRY? WE HAVE A COUNTRY?" Shukaku became excited. It was always their dream to have something more than a village. A place where they could roam around freely.
Shiroken smugly puffed out his chest. "Yes. Not just that, but I have also taken over Sunagakure. I'm also fully in control of the Land of Water and the Land of Waves. Now, I'm going to take over the Land of Fire."
"WOAH! You're a big boy now. Good job, these humans deserve to be ruled by us. We let them do it themselves and we saw the result." Shukaku said. He was probably never going to fully love humans now. But maybe they could get him to change slowly after the playful kids of Dama Country try to play with him.
"I'm going to take you out of Gaara soon. So please calm down and don't make the boy go on a rampage." He requested.
??? Shukaku seemed confused, "Rampage? What do you mean? I protected this little boy. He was looking for his brother and sister when a few ninjas with Anbu masks attacked him out of nowhere. They tried to release me out of his body as quickly as possible. If I had not stepped in, this boy would've died."
Shiroken fell into thinking, ~Hiruzen was with me. Who ordered them to attack Gaara?~
"Then you can calm down now. I will make sure the boy is safe. I will later take you out with my new and safe method." He assured Shukaku and left the mind of Gaara.
...
Outside, when Shiroken was talking with Shukaku, the big sand body had stopped moving. The silence made all the jonin in the area attracted towards it.
"NOT SO FAST!" Monari was there to stop them in their tracks. She was strong enough to beat a Kage to a pulp, what were a few Jonin to her.
"Genjutsu: Flower Petal Escape" A woman, with pretty red eyes and dark brown hair all of a sudden turned into petals.
Monari scoffed, "Huh, using Genjutsu on me? Even after seeing my eyes?"
*BAM*
She raised her arm in the air and grabbed something. It turned out to be the neck of the woman. Monari didn't kill her, just threw her away.
"KURENAI!" Suddenly a man ran towards the woman and caught her.
Monari chuckled, "Oh, young people and love." But then she noticed an ashen-haired man. She cheered up and in a fraction of a second appeared in front of him.
"Kakashi, right? Haha, I remember you. You're so grown up now. What happened to your eye?" She asked Kakashi and ruffled his hair.
It all happened so suddenly that everyone was left in shock. Even Kakashi was, but he didn't fight her as he recognised her the moment she had appeared.
A memory from his childhood reappeared in his mind. That day, when he met Monari for the first time, was the first day for him, Rin and Obito in the Minato Team. He remembered her because she was the only person who actually called his father a hero, instead of a traitor as most others did.
"BWAHAHA... Who is she, Kakashi? Your girlfriend?" Guy from the side laughed loudly.
Monari's brows twitched, "Young man, you better phrase your next words carefully. I am old enough to be your grandmother."
"WHAT?!" Guy had a shock stricken face.
Kakashi nodded, "Yes, she's telling the truth. I met her the last time when I just started on the Minato team. She looked the same even back then. How are you, Lady Monari."
*PAT PAT* She patted his shoulder while laughing, "I'm good."
But then she suddenly came close to his ear and whispered something. "Rin is alive. She's in the Dama Country."
Saying this, she moved away from them and headed to Shiroken. Kakashi's one visible eye widened in shock. Guy noticed there was something wrong with him.
"What happened?" He shook him.
Kakashi as if just woke up, "HA... ah... yes. No, nothing happened."
But he looked at Monari's leaving image. He wondered if what he just heard was only in his mind because of remembering the memories. ~But... that felt so real~
As they were trying to see what happened to the monster. The sand from the monster started to shed down from the body. From that emerged the body of Gaara. The little boy was unconscious now but his dark eyes were still open. Shiroken forced them to close.
He picked him in his arms. "Oh, this kid is so light. How did he end up being so small?"
He then turned at the various Jonins standing there. "Return to your village and help the villagers. Your Hokage was also gravely injured not long ago due to his own stupidity. Also, anyone who touches this kid, dies."
The last words felt much scarier and more threatening than the ones before. None of the jonin there knew anything about Shiroken, heck, they didn't even know completely what was going on, so they silently left. They will most likely get briefed later on.
"Where is Naruto?" He asked Monari.
"I left him at Ichiraku ramen with the option to eat as much as he wanted. I think he's probably still there." She reckoned.
"Then let's get to him. We didn't come here to do all this, but since things have turned out like this, I will take Kurama and Shukaku with me." He decided.
The two went to the still-intact part of the village and landed near the Ichiraku Ramen shop. As soon as Shiroken rolled in there Teuchi recognised him.
"AH... You're... You're the one who paid for Naruto's food." he exclaimed.
Shiroken chuckled and took a seat after putting Gaara on the side and placing his head on the counter so he could sleep calmly.
"Yes, it's me. Why don't you give me the same stuff I ordered that night?" He responded.
With great enthusiasm, Teuchi got back to work. He remembered Shiroken so clearly because the night Shiroken was here, he had warned Teuchi to close the shop earlier. As it turned out, the Uchiha massacre took place that night.
"Coming right up!" Teuchi got to work happily and soon showed them his fine pieces of art in a bowl.
Shiroken, Monari and Naruto merrily ate together. Naruto though had short term memory, "OLD MAN! You were so awesome back then. How did you beat Orochimaru so quickly? I heard he's as strong as the Pervy Sage."
*BAM*
Shiroken knocked on Naruto's head softly, "I told you to call me Lord Dama, or Uncle Shiro. I'm not that old."
Monari snorted, "Sure, you're only what? 369 years old or something maybe?"
A strand of ramen slipped and fell from Shiroken's mouth. He complained, "COME ON! Don't tell people that. Do you know how hard it is for me to find a girl to date?"
Monari had stars in her eyes. Women loved playing matchmaking and she was no different, "YOU WANT TO DATE? Wait... I think I know a few girls from our clan."
Shiroken quickly rejected her offer, "Please... all of them are too young. I instinctively see them as kids. But... finding an old woman who also looks good is too hard. I guess... I'm doomed to stay single."
Just then Naruto jumped, "WAIT, WAIT! You are FRICKING FOUR HUNDRED YEARS OLD? You're not an old man, you're an OLD OLD OLD OLD... MAN."
*BAM*
"AWOOOO..." He received another blow to his head, this time a little painful.
[A/N: The fact how each tailed beast gets so happy when they hear about Dama Country shows how much they longed for a place, land, a home that they can call theirs.
Tsunade will appear in chapter 100, though don't expect fast romance.]
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