Chapter 100: Letting Go! The Dust Settles (1/2)

“In conclusion, what I had originally thought of as little more than a strange footnote that the Second Hokage had recorded in his notes regarding the use of Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei. In fact, it proved to be severely understated. Still, I wonder why he didn’t just outright state how a subject brought back to confront a target that they had negative feelings toward may lose their very soul and become a demon if the strictest controls were not used and maintained. But it does explain why he was insistent that friends or loved ones be used against a target, despite being aware of the risk that it could result in a subject being lost as it transcended whatever worldly concerns it had that originally allowed it to be called back. I suppose being the pragmatic man that the Second Hokage was known to be, he felt Edo Tensei was too powerful a jutsu to simply discard when used as a psychological weapon, particularly when the worst that could happen is losing a subject to it ascending. In that regard, it is possible that he kept his notes vague as a type of security measure against those who would misuse his technique. Hoping they’d end up destroying themselves by bringing back a subject that they would ultimately lose control of, as it isn’t too hard to imagine that had Hayate not been dealt with by Naruto, chances are he’d eventually decide to pay me a visit as well.”

Kabuto closed his notebook, as he finished recording his thoughts in regards to the memories that he had received from the Shadow Clone that he had used as a backup to monitor the events he had set in motion. He was glad that he had taken the precaution, since he would have been left in the dark once Hayate had broken free of his control. He stood from the desk, and turning away began to move towards a long large table at whose center, a glass covered object resided, along with a multitude of shogi boards which covered the rest of the open space. Although currently only one side of the boards had any game pieces on them. Except for the two at the center of table which sat before the glass covering and which had been turned to face each other with the sides containing the majority of the game pieces being furthest from each other. While he studied the two boards, he imagined that to a professional shogi player it would look like someone had thrown a bunch of game pieces from multiple boards into a big pile, and then haphazardly placed them on the board however they pleased, sometimes with several pieces stacked on top of each other for no rhythm or reason. Yet for Kabuto, the boards were how he kept the various organizations and people of worth straight within his mind, particularly the schemes he had at various stages for or against them. With each piece representing a particular individual associated with the overall king that each board held. As such, some board had a multitude of pieces, while others only had a handful. Furthermore, some of the boards held more of a certain piece then would be allowed in an actual game. In order to identify who each piece was meant to represent, outside of the kanji which called out what rank the wooden piece was, he had added another which was a code word for who the person was. As while the hidden lab he was operating out of had been set up by him, with funds Orochimaru had given him for just such a purpose, he wouldn’t want the information the boards contained to fall into just anyone’s hands.

He frowned as he looked at the current boards, where one was filled with pawns outside of the king, that he marked with the word I. While the other board, whose king he had codenamed Fool, was bereft of any. Something, which he used to consider a weakness, especially since a part of how he had determined the rank of what each individual would hold on the board was for how much he imagined the Fool cared for them. Which, automatically guaranteed the lack of pawns on the board, something his gaze highlighted for himself as it swept over a knight with the codename Ghoul that had started out as a pawn on his board before being captured, and now was tied to several powerful pieces on the Fool’s, including another of his former pawns, First. He focused on where the two boards touched, and was where he had placed a few pieces from each although they remained on their respective boards for the moment. From his, he had placed a single pawn with the word lover written on it, which stood opposite of several pieces from the Fool’s. Looking at the Fool’s side, he recognized that with what he had learned from the scheme the current arrangement was meant to represent that he would need to add a few more pieces, since it had proven that at the very least those who shared a roof with the Fool were prone to become powerful pieces on his board. A lesson that he had learned years ago, although the woman that taught to him hadn’t been sharing a roof with him at the time. His gaze switched to the Gold General that represented her on the Fool’s board, which he had named Hag. For it had been her turn around which had served as the inspiration for his latest actions, to see if what had transpired was tied solely to the Fool’s resemblance to her dead brother, or if it was something tied more directly to him.

Which brought his focus back towards the edge of the board, where directly opposite from his pawn was a rook that had the word Neko on it. He had chosen the rook to represent the woman as while a powerful piece in its own right, it tended to be single minded in its focus as it could only move in a straight line. Reaching toward the two pieces, he first picked up his pawn from the board, before then flipping over the rook indicating it had been promoted, which gave it the means to move both as a rook, and a king. It also took on the rank of dragon.

Kabuto felt suddenly tired, and closed his eyes as he tried to calculate what the ramifications would be, only to be greeted by the sight of Yuugao throwing herself before Naruto as Hayate had moved to cut him down, which had been one of the last few images he had seen before losing control. To his surprise, he was filled with a sudden surge of anger which caused him to crush the piece in his hand, before then slamming his fist on the table. Luckily, it proved to be able to withstand the blow, although he had heard wood splintering indicating it probably wouldn’t take another. He stepped back from the table for a moment, afraid another surge of emotion would cause him to break the table completely, and while he could recreate the boards from memory, he feared damaging the item beneath the glass case. He frowned as in his concern for the item, he noticed the shock of the blow had disturbed it enough so that the light shining on it was no longer making what laid behind it impossible to see. A pair of broken, and blood splattered glasses.

He turned away quickly, and closed his eyes, but found no respite as he again saw Yuugao trying to protect Naruto. But this time as he relived Hayate’s charge towards her, the purple haired Anbu Captain seemed to slowly morph until she resembled his adoptive mother Nonō Yakushi. He tried to stop his charge but had no control, so hoped that much as it had played out in reality just before he lost the ability to view the events through Hayate’s perspective, that the Uzumaki would protect her. But instead, he stood by and did nothing as she was cut down. Yet, rather than a blade as Hayate had been wielding, it was his own chakra incased hand that sliced open her chest. Then the tunnels of Ruin were replaced by the rocky plains of the Land of Earth as he stood alone and stared down at his mother, who hadn’t even recognized her son had been the one to kill her.

He was glad he took the precaution of stepping away from the table, as the desire to smash everything within reach became almost too much to bear as he was filled with an intense fury. Which he directed towards Danzou, and the shinobi world as a whole. But he forced it back down so he could try to think rationally again and began to wonder if the anger was perhaps a side effect remaining from the link that he had formed with Hayate in order to witness events through his eyes, as while the anger was always a part of him, he didn’t typically have such outbursts. He figured it was possible, but ultimately dismissed it as some sort of side effect, as he suspected what truly had set him off was the sense of betrayal Hayate had experienced, as just before the link had been cut the former Leaf jounin had been positive Naruto, and Yuugao had become lovers. Which, he imagined having experienced that feeling through Hayate was what had caused his own mind to link what happened in Ruin to how Danzou had betrayed both Nonō and him, for the crime of being too good at the very task he had set them out to do.

Finding his center, Kabuto further analyzed what had prompted his outburst being due to how if Hayate was right, then he had vastly underestimated just how poorly his scheme had gone. As while, it had proven the idea that the bonds Naruto had formed with the women living in the Hidden Eddy Inn were formidable. If he had taken them all as lovers, then the negative effects could cause his next target to spite him, despite the pawn he had recently acquired being meant to secure her allegiance in helping him get what he needed from the Uzumaki. Not just because of her own feelings for him, but for the feelings that he imagined had to extend to the other women in his lifer similar to how pulling on one strand of a web sent vibrations all throughout it. Granted, that had been a risk from the get go since they had been friends even before they both had begun living under the same roof. But he figured the hook he had planned to use would be too powerful a temptation to resist.

Now, he wasn’t nearly as certain as although he knew it had been the least likely of ways for the events to play out, there had still been a small hope that Yuugao would be aware of Naruto’s ability to raise the dead, and would enlist his aid to resurrect her lost love. Naturally, he hadn’t put much stock in it although he taken precautions so he’d be able use Hayate as a conduit to siphon Naruto’s chakra off for his own needs. Just in case, but since he imagined that if Naruto was in the business of raising the dead, then he was certain that Iruka and Jiraiya would have been first in line. Which, was why he had first attributed Haku and Kin’s return to the land of the living as being due to the actions of the beast that he had contained. As such, he had tried to steal the Bijuu with his next attempt only for that to also fail, but as he had gleamed the knowledge of how it had been done from Mito as she applied the technique to herself, he wasn’t so sure if would work if Naruto wasn’t a part of the equation. Still, as his third attempt when he had implicated Gaara in the murder of Joseki had literally blown up in his face, when the Land of Snow Chakra Suppression device he had modified to store chakra hadn’t been able to contain all the chakra the Bijuu within Naruto had supplied it with. Yet, as the device overloading, and releasing much of the charge that it had held had resulted in Karura’s resurrection. The fact that it hadn’t also brought back the sacrifice he had used confirmed that it wasn’t entirely the Bijuu’s doing. Which was when he decided to enact his next plan, in the hopes that he’d be able to get his hands on a subject to study, since he had doubted anyone would care what happened to a living head of hair riding a corpse. Sadly, things didn’t exactly go as planned, although he did end up getting his hands on a subject. Sadly, the chakra of the Black Kyuubi that Sora contained proved to be poisonous to most living cells, much as Bijuu chakra was supposed to be. Which considering how the technique Kazuma used to bring the Black version of the nine-tailed fox into existence was like taking a sapling of a tree to effectively clone it meant it was living representation of what the fox had been before being sealed in Naruto.

Kabuto paused suddenly, as something occurred to him which had long nagged at him ever since the events in the Land of Vegetables. Namely, the sudden appearance of Kushina Uzumaki. Having bugged Sora’s base when he had freed Kazuma, and as a result had heard Fuen’s end, he knew it wasn’t as Sora had assumed which was that the red-headed Uzumaki had killed her in an effort to save her son. A belief that although he had stated to Sora that wasn’t what happened, he had never bothered to set the record straight that in actuality, it had been the real Fuen that had confronted Naruto and Fuka, only to find herself taken over by the female Uzumaki. Mainly, as he didn’t want Sora to have even an inclining of why he had been so interested in his chakra, before sending him to spy on Sasuke. Still, while Kushina’s resurrection had seemed to be a violation of Naruto’s apparent self-imposed rule against bringing back the dead, as the blond had sounded unconscious or not entirely lucid at the time, he had written it off as some sort of fluke with perhaps his mother being the one who had done it. “Still, the fact that it was even able to be done must have meant…” Kabuto thought trailed off as the implication hit him with the force of a ton of bricks falling on him.

Kabuto was about to turn to record his thoughts in his journal, but stopped the impulse as he wasn’t keeping any notes on this particular matter. As even though the lab was secret, although Sora had been there a few times although he had never been allowed in directly, since when he had asked to meet in order to run a particular experiment, Kabuto would use a summoning circle that he planted in a different area to call the pseudo-jinchuriki to his lab. Still, even though he was confident he was the only one to know its location, he didn’t want to take any chances. As getting his hands-on Naruto, or his chakra was the ultimate goal he had set for himself with his recent actions against the blond Uzumaki. He smirked, as he recalled how when he had first summoned Mito, she had stated his ambition seemed lacking, almost like he had been simply going through the motions, and in truth she had been right, since for the most part all he had been doing was keeping the wind of change Orochimaru had set in motion with his attack on the Leaf village going. However, he wondered if she would say that about him now.

Yet, he let the sense of whimsy fade as he began to postulate on what Kushina spirit having resided within her son actually meant. He felt foolish since it never occurred to him, that if Naruto had been able to set his mother’s spirit free in another body, it meant he could potentially do the same for another. Say a certain Bijuu which had resided within him. He reasoned, that if Naruto and his Bijuu had come to some sort of accords, it would undoubtedly desire freedom, an act which would normally kill him. However, if Kushina’s spirit had somehow been separated from her body, and had resided in Naruto since her physical death, she would have needed some means of sustaining her existence according to the Three Pillar Principle, much as Fuka had needed to continue to consume chakra to sustain hers. He moved back to his desk, and opening a drawer pulled out a log book he kept on events which happened in the various villages. Looking through the section related to Konoha, although not sure what he was looking for, he continued to ponder, “When Naruto was on his little training trip, the fox nearly broke free, and almost killed Jiraiya, who just managed to contain it, although not without sustaining serious injury. So, by that point, they were still enemies apparently. However, when I crossed paths with him in Wave, the Bijuu took over and fought Haku and surrendered his body without complaint.” He frowned as he recalled details of both events, and remembered how it sounded like a red glowing female had been the form it had taken in Wave while when it had fought Jiraiya, it had been more beast like. Thinking aloud he said, “So, somewhere between these two events they apparently became allies, or at least agreed to work together.” He looked up from the book for a moment as he amended, “Unless, the Bijuu that faced Haku was Kushina.” He knew the idea of it was crazy at first glance, since the rogue Sky-nin Shinno’s work when creating the being Ido from the Karuma clan heir had showed that two entities couldn’t exist in a similar plan without massively affecting one another. Hence why Bijuu were sealed in a separate dimension within their hosts, and even then, some traits carried over. Something, he imagined neither Kushina, nor the Bijuu would agree to with both spirits existing in the same body. Yet it would almost have been necessary in order for Kushina to maintain her existence for sixteen or so years. He amended his thought as he quickly could think of several in which it was possible, such as her being sealed in the same pocket dimension as the Bijuu, but syphoning some of the purified chakra escaping through it into her son. Still, while if that had been the case, he could understand why Naruto wouldn’t have viewed his having brought her back as breaking his taboo, since she hadn’t died but effectively lived on within him. Still, he reckoned such a method wouldn’t have allowed her to take direct control of her son, since that would have quickly drained a disembodied soul of its energy. “Therefore, the Bijuu body had to have been vacated,” he thought with a surge of triumph as he found what he had been looking for.

Moving back to the table, he looked over the board where the King was nicknamed the Fool, and found the piece he sought. Which was ranked as a knight since the woman it represented tended to move rather uniquely particularly for a business owner. Which, as the knight was the only piece capable of leaping over another piece, he felt represented her well as she seemed to be a driving force for the Fool’s seeming desire to bring the various villages together, and was able to avoid opposition most shinobi would face. But, if he was right then he had vastly underestimated her worth as the chakra wave that had happened shortly before Naruto had left for Wave had been meant to hide how a supposedly brain-dead woman awakening was just one among the other numerous miracles that had happened, when in actuality what had awakened that day had been the Bijuu Naruto carried. While Kushina Uzumaki must have taken possession of its original form. He felt almost giddy at the prospects this raised for the completion of his goal since with Kushina also receiving her own body now, he imagined that she had also been changed by her time as a Bijuu.

Still, his glee was short lived, as he began to think the matter over rationally. He began to break out in a cold-sweat as the thought occurred to him, that if Naruto was indeed sleeping with the women who lived under the same roof as him in the Hidden Eddy Inn, then as that building was owned by the Great Tree Shipping Company, whose owner he now suspected may be a freed Nine Tailed Fox, then in all likelihood he had angered a being who for many thousands of years was considered an ill omen for all of humanity when it turned up. He could only imagine how much worse it would be for him, since as the events in Ruin had demonstrated, the Uzumaki had effectively not only changed Yuugao from the revenged obsessed women he had assumed her to be, but had effectively captured her heart as well. If that was the case for the Bijuu as well, then should it get ahold of him, he was sure his suffering would be as horrible as it was short, and if it had inherited Naruto’s ability to raise the dead, then he imagined he could be in for a very bad time indeed. Particularly, as it occurred to him that the other mysterious women who worked for its company, may very well be the missing Bijuu who had been extracted from the statue the Descendants of the Moon had recently recovered.

However, Kabuto steeled his resolve, since he imagined earning the ire of the Nine-tailed fox had always been a possibility, and while it was too late to stop being the monster that he had become. If he was successful in his goals, then at the very least he could erase the mistake that had set him on that path. But, before moving forward, he had to contemplate on the best method how, which suited him fine as he hoped the old saying that time healed all wounds was true, and so planned to allow quite a bit to pass before enacting any other plans, at least in regards to the Uzumaki. Instead, he felt it may be time to shift his focus to a few of the other players for a while, since in truth, should he ultimately achieve the desire that had arisen within him, he believed it would be best if it happened in a world that the Fool was striving for.

Yet, before he got too carried away, he put the piece he would rename Fox going forward down on the Fool’s board, and pushed the dragon ranked Neko back so that it resided with the other pieces he had marked as of having some importance. Although, he realized he would have to add quite a few more, as he knew the Fool wouldn’t consider any of its lovers as being unimportant. He also realized, he’d have to look more closely into the assets of the Great Tree Shipping Company, and imagined quite a few pieces he hadn’t even considered would be added, primarily from outside Konoha. Once, they were properly grouped, he pulled the two boards apart enough to add a new one between them. He frowned as he tried to open a drawer within the table, and found it wouldn’t pull out smoothly. Still, as with most things it eventually did what he wanted when enough force was applied.

He pulled out the new board and set it on the table, before reaching into a small box within the drawer until he found a new king piece. He placed it in the center on the edge furthest from him, before taking a piece from the Fool’s board. Although, the piece was a golden general, he placed it on the king as it had the word One written on it, to represent the person it had been. Planning to add the name to the new king later, for now he’d let the general represent it. He then pulled a pawn from the same box, before forcing the drawer closed and stared at it as he tried to come up name that would represent it. His mind offered up cyclops, which he quickly rejected since that was a name he already had settled on for a piece on the Fool’s board, and while several pieces with the same name could be found on multiple boards, it was simply because depending on the player the same people could appear in various games, although what rank they were represented as tended to vary, Finally, he settled on the name Trash, since it seemed the king One was willing to throw him away as such, which didn’t much matter to Kabuto, but he assumed sooner or later such a mindset would lead to a confrontation between the king he had just played with, and the one who had made a devil’s bargain with him to set the events of that game in motion.

*******

Gaara was being led through Konoha by several Anbu who had met his party and him at the gate, although to his surprise, it didn’t appear to be towards the Torture and Interrogation Department as he had imagined. Yet, despite the upscale part of the village not matching where he had expected to be meeting his former sensei, he had little trouble picking out their destination as outside of a large several story building, named the Majestic Leaf Hotel, which he had frequented several times since becoming Kazekage, a small crowd of protestors had gathered on either side of the entrance. He assumed that they would be blocking it, if not for several genin teams of Leaf-nin preventing them from doing so. Yet, what the crowd lacked in size it made up for in vindictiveness as they hurled insults at him and his party ranging from calling them murders to betrayers. An insult which caused him to internally flinch, although he masked it for the most part although it did cause him to turn to see who had hurled it. He locked gazes with a heavy-set woman, with short dark hair, and a sleeveless purple blouse which was held closed by several golden clasps, while its open neck was low enough that it exposed a fair amount of cleavage. Seeing she had captured the Kazekage’s attention, she shouted, “What’s the matter? Did I strike a nerve? Did your murdering sensei at least have the decency to stab Hayate Gekko in the front when he killed him?”

Gaara turned away not willing to give her any more cause to believe she had bothered him, although it seemed the crowd had sensed blood in the water due to his giving them even the slightest sign their words had gotten to him as their insults increased in pitch and fervor. Fortunately, they were drowned out for the most part as the automated doors closed behind his party. He didn’t smile although his mood improved as Sari said, “Who did that cow think she is?”

“The wife of the Akimichi Clan head, unless I’ve missed my guess,” Suna’s current Head Anbu Foo stated. The small elderly man with short spikey grey hair and bushy mustache, and who was dressed in a modified Anbu armor which was black, and had several metal plates rather the more earthen tone flak jackets favored by Suna’s current generation, scoffed softly as he added, “She’s still no doubt sore that her sister abandoned this village in order to become a member of the Wind Daimyo’s royal guard.

“It doesn’t matter,” Gaara said dispassionately while also indicating that he was telling his party to drop it.

With the Anbu that had escorted them from the gate remaining by the entrance, a young purple haired woman wearing the uniform of the hotel’s management approached, and bowed politely before them. “Welcome back, Lord Kazekage,” the woman whose nametag read Ami said professionally, “Although, I wish it was under better circumstances. Will you be staying long? Should we get your usual room ready?”

“No,” Gaara replied curtly, but politely. He could tell the woman was worried that they had arranged for other accommodation so added, “Our business will not be keeping us in the village for more than a few hours.”

“I understand,” she replied as she moved to the side, “Please ring the front desk if you need anything.”

Gaara nodded before starting for the elevator as his group fell in behind him. A short elevator ride later, he stepped through to find another pair of Leaf Anbu flanking the doors leading from it. Although there were several rooms on the floor, again he had no trouble recognizing his destination as there was a single Anbu wearing the traditional Suna variation of the uniform. When they were just about half way to her position, she moved to meet them making it several steps before she dropped to a knee, as she said sounding a little surprised by their arrival, “Lord Kazekage, Master Foo, I didn…”

She was silenced by a powerfully delivered backhand from Foo who had stepped before the Kazekage. Kashike didn’t complain, as she simply lapsed into silence as Foo said disapprovingly, “Is that all you have to say for yourself, when you have failed in your duty so spectacularly?”

Kashike didn’t respond, so he asked harshly, “I have no excuses to offer. I was taken unawares, and my charge was snatched away.”

“Get out of my sight,” Foo said starkly, “Return to Suna, and contemplate on just how badly you have failed, and what it has cost the village.”

Kashike stood stiffly, and bowed before standing to the side to allow them to pass although as they did so, he noticed Foo did briefly place a hand against his subordinate’s arm in a reassuring gesture. Gaara entered the rather luxurious room while indicating the rest of his party should wait outside, before closing the door behind him. He found his teacher looking out the window, no doubt watching the people protesting him, which as he turned from he said jovially, “I don’t know about you, but I think that as far as prisons go, the Leaf could do much worse.”

Gaara winced internally at the jest, but rather than commenting said, “I’m glad to see you are being treated well.”

Although, aware his former student, and current leader had never been the most communicative of people. Baki frowned at Gaara’s almost distant tone, before commenting, “I’m surprised to see you to be honest. It has only been about a day and half, even moving at full speed I didn’t think a Suna delegation would arrive for at least another day or two. Let alone to find you among them.”

“I was in the Land of River capital when the messenger hawk found me, so came straight here,” Gaara replied before asking. “Is it true that you murdered Hayate Gekko?”

“It is,” Baki answered without any show of remorse, “I was speaking with Kabuto in regards to the upcoming Invasion, and he was eavesdropping. I killed him to maintain the operations secrecy.”

“I understand,” Gaara said with a nod of acceptance at the explanation, “Based on what the message I received said, it sounds like you and Hokage have already worked out most of the details, as you intend to plead not guilty, and the trail location is being set in the Land of Grass provided they agree to it.”

Baki nodded while jokingly saying, “While I believe the Hokage would conduct a fair trial, as you might guess from the people out front, finding unbiased jurors might be rather hard to come by. This way I figure if worse comes to worse, I can just bribe the Grass-nin to…”

“I want you to change your plea to guilty,” Gaara interrupted.

Caught off guard, Baki said, “Sir, I’m not sure why I would do that. My actions were done for the sake of our village. Hell, I could tell that even the Hokage understood the reasons for them even if she couldn’t come out and admit as much. If there was anything that they could throw at me, it was that I should probably have come forth and admitted the truth while our villages were negotiating the peace, especially in light of how things went down in Ruin, but as the negotiations between our villages were so touch and go in the aftermath of the invasion, it didn’t feel wise to give the Leaf any additional leverage over us.”

“I know,” Gaara replied, “I also understand it isn’t fair of me to ask this of you. But I feel I must, as there is a mission that I want you to undertake.”

Baki frowned for a moment obviously confused about how he could conduct a mission from a prison cell, but nevertheless his features grew stern as he stood ramrod straight to state, “As you command. How can I best serve the village?”

Gaara felt a sense of pride in the man, who was properly demonstrating how a shinobi should be willing to sacrifice for the greater good. He allowed a small glimpse of that pride to appear, before his face returned to its more natural stoicness. “Thank you. I promise your sacrifice for Suna’s wellbeing will in time be made public.” Receiving a curt nod, he continued, “I have recently learned the location of a powerful artifact called The Box of Ultimate Bliss. Legend says that it is capable of granting any who open it any wish of their choosing, although my source also says this isn’t the case. Rather, it houses a creature called Satori. I hope to capture this creature, as a replacement for the One Tails.” Although, Baki didn’t say anything, Gaara could tell that his former teacher had some reservations about his mission, something he had also noticed when he had assigned him the one to the Land of Ruins. However, he simply continued with his explanation, “As it turns out, Hozuki Castle was originally constructed to house the box, and it is believed the warden is the guardian of it. Rumors are also circulating that elements within Grass are trying to open it.”

Baki inclined his head in understanding, while stating, “I get it. You figure that if I change my plea to guilty, you’ll be able to negotiate that my sentence be served out in Hozuki Prison, where I’m to verify if the box is indeed there, and if so, piggyback on these rogue elements within Grass efforts to determine the means of opening it. At which point, I’m assuming we’ll step in to relieve them of the box”

Gaara nodded in agreement with Baki’s assessment of his mission’s objectives. He could tell his former sensei still had some misgiving so stated, “Speak your mind Baki.”

The older man took a moment to collect his thoughts, before finally asking, “Sir, between this, and the mission you sent me on to Ruin… I have to ask; do you no longer believe in the alliance. While, I can accept my mission to Ruin was about getting our hands on a supply of weapons which may help give us a leg up against the Darkness Village. This feels like a step towards arming ourselves for an upcoming war, not defending ourselves from a hostile force that thanks to the Alliance, we already massively outnumber. I mean, not even taking into account how Grass would respond should we steal such a powerful artifact from them if this creature can rival a Bijuu. I also can’t imagine Konoha, Kumo, or Ame would be particularly happy about it either.”

“I understand your hesitance,” Gaara said tactfully, “However, after what happened in Ame, I fear I alone will not be enough to protect Suna from the likes of Sasuke. I hate to admit it, but since losing the One Tails, I have been diminished significantly. Moreover, while I have not lost faith in the Alliance, I have lost faith in our ability to be taken seriously as equal partners. Should we come to rely completely on the Alliance in general, and Konoha in particular, I fear it would only be a matter of time before we found ourselves once more in a situation where we would need to either strike out on our own, or come completely under their control as we lose the means to be taken seriously. While I’m confident that the current administration harbors no such intentions, sadly those come and go. I would rather not wait until such a time as we feel we can only lash out, to make it known of our intention to maintain our independence.”

Gaara would admit to feeling a little unclean, as he saw that the reasoning he provided while true enough was tainted more to have successfully stirred up whatever lingering resentment or mistrust Baki may have harbored towards Konoha. As such, he could tell his former sensei was more on board with the mission, as he stated, “I will not let you down Lord Kazekage.”

“I know,” Gaara replied with assurance, “You are an example for which every shinobi should strive to be. I plan to meet with the Hokage now, and I will inform her of your decision.” Receiving a nod in reply, Gaara turned away confident he was taking a step in the right direction to ensure his voice wouldn’t be drowned out by a chorus of women bound to the Naruto. That it also served to demonstrate to said Uzumaki how those claiming to supposedly have a greater purpose themselves should act, made it all the better.

*******

Lee felt a sense of exhilaration as he stood at the center of the arena where the demon that had attacked the city had met its end. Standing opposite from him was the man who although hadn’t slain it, most of the city’s inhabitants were calling him a hero as he had pinned it down long enough so that the local mages and priests could banish it. A title that they had heaped upon him as well, along with the Anbu Kashike and Yuugao, who Naruto had returned to Konoha immediately following the battle. But Lee felt it was a mere formality when used in association with him or the Anbu, as the people of the Land of Ruin didn’t seem to attach the same reverence that they did when addressing the Uzumaki. Which he associated to the fact that unlike when Naruto had faced the demon at the arena, when he had done it there hadn’t been an audience. Lee felt this was the case, primarily as the only other shinobi that the people of Ruin, or more accurately its adventurers, seemed to regard with the same measure of respect for his talents was his sensei Maito Gai, although admittedly they still kept their distance from him. Which he guessed was due to how the Capital Guild members had experienced Gai’s talent first hand.

An event that the Guild Master Pluton had used towards the tail end of the victory speech he had given at the banquet held the night after the battle to illuminate how Ruin needed to reform its own practices for raising up Adventurers by creating an academy similar to how the shinobi trained their up-and-coming genin. Rather surprisingly, it was the adventurers themselves who seemed most against the idea, as they had shouted their disagreements with most saying it spit in the face of what an Adventurer was. Others voiced the opinion that the reason the Guild wanted to establish an academy was to squash the independent spirit that was at the core of each Adventurer in order to forge a more cohesive militaristic force.

Pluton hadn’t exactly denied it as a reason, but rather than substantiating it he had instead pointed out how Gai had effectively single-handedly crushed the guild, and how the only reason most of them were still alive was because he had held back. At which point, he then drew the debate back to the mater of cohesion as he stated that the reason Gai had triumphed was because although they had him surrounded, when they had moved in to attack, they had done a more effective job of getting in each other’s way then in confronting their opponent. Which was due to how despite being used to working in parties of five to seven members. As soon as more than one party was forced to work together, it tended to end in disaster since for one they tended to compete against each other, but also because the parties tended to lack the skills to assist one another in the same way they were able to within one. Pluton then made it more personal as he made a point that many of the local Adventurers working out of the Capital were doing so because they lacked the skills to challenge the Frontier.

Which from Lee’s limited understanding was the majority of the Land of Ruin, as outside of its eastern border, which was relatively safe along with the territory around the capital since most of the dungeons and ruins had already been picked clean. The rest of the country was pretty much unsettled, although there were several frontier towns of varying sizes westward from the capital which were trying to settle the land, and were where many of the countries more impressive adventurers could be found. Mainly as the jobs posted within the frontier towns tended to be more challenging, and thus more lucrative as well.

Lee had sympathized with the gathered adventurers as he could see it was a bitter truth many of those gathered had come to accept. But Pluton then began offering them excuses that they could latch onto in order to prevent the blame from falling squarely on them. For those who may have lost their nerve to challenge the Frontier, he explained that it was often because they had accepted what appeared to be an easy job, such as cleaning out a nest of some low tier creature. But, because they may have had some prior experience with it outside of its normal circumstances, such as facing a solitary creature when it typical attacked in groups. A party they were with may have accepted the job, expecting just more of the same even when facing the increased numbers or felt their party would offset the danger, only to find themselves completely overwhelmed as the creatures were vastly more dangerous in a group since it covered for their weaknesses as opposed to during solo encounters. And as such, more often than not the party would be crushed, with the survivors either quitting completely or having lost their confidence would limit themselves to jobs they had already completed and so knew what to expect. To these adventurers, Pluton explained that establishing an Academy would allow the guild to teach them such things in advance making them forearmed in terms of what to expect from the various creatures which called the Land of Ruins home, and therefore hopefully prevent parties from experiencing such soul sapping defeats in the future.

It was an argument, which Lee could tell was taking root in quite a few of those gathered. However, he imagined the idea wouldn’t be nearly as effective in the Frontier towns, as those would be populated by Adventurers who had probably overcome such encounters, or had picked themselves up afterwards. He imagined the counterargument such Adventurers could suggest would be that the Parties that were crushed because they were ill prepared to face their early challenges, may indeed survive longer if they were better trained, but were in all likelihood still doomed to fail when they encountered a situation for which they hadn’t been prepped for. That it was in fact their early missions where so many parties succeeded or failed where they learned the most important skill a party would need, how to confront the unknown and succeed.

An argument which may carry some merit, but Lee imagined it would be one made more out of a desire to protect the more lucrative contracts found in the Frontier from a sudden influx of Adventurers who were more consistently overcoming the early hurdles that they faced, then out of any real concern that they had merely pushed their deaths out to a later date. But, while none of the Adventurers located within the Capital Guild Hall had made such an argument. That very fact highlighted an issue Pluton would experience even if he did manage to scrounge up the funding to establish an Academy, namely he doubted he’d be able to staff it with worthwhile instructors.

Particularly as those who would best be suited to teaching at it were likely the men and women currently working on the Frontier, and had come by their skills the hard way. As such, since the Adventurers all seemed to be bereft of a common goal or purpose, he doubted they would want to train those they may one day be competing against for a job. A fact that Lee suspected probably served as the greatest hurdle to Ruin ever establishing an Academy.

Although, Lee did believe that if Pluton was serious about starting one, he could recruit some of the more successful local Adventurers as instructors to help prepare new Parties for the challenges they’d face early on. The members of these new Parties would thus be more likely to make it to the Frontier, and as such, remembering how they were aided early on would in turn perhaps be more willing to pass their gained experience on. However, Lee suspected the reason Pluton was perhaps hesitant to go such a route in establishing an Academy was because it would likely be decades before any real results were achieved, and as such would be a drain on Guild resources with very little to show for it. With the lack of a financial incentive probably being the biggest reason Pluton hadn’t begun one, despite how passionately he had been arguing for it.

It was the next argument that Pluton had made, which highlighted why Ruin needed one, but also proved to be why it would be so difficult to get off the ground using the local Adventurers. Namely, most of the Adventurers, outside of the Priests and Mages, were self-taught in terms of their fighting abilities. Therefore, since the majority of them hadn’t progressed too far along, and thus had not refined their skills, they would be all but useless in trying to pass such knowledge onto up-and-coming Adventurers. Or perhaps even worse, would prove to be detrimental to the development of them as they passed along bad habits that they had picked up, which had not been lost as they refined their skills through encountering harder and harder challenges, or died because they hadn’t managed to lose them and some enemy took advantage. Naturally if that happened, it could result in even more Adventurers failing early on and exacerbating the issue an Academy was supposed to be correcting.

It was an issue Pluton knew he needed to correct, and so felt the best way to do so was to show what those who had passed through an Academy system were capable of. Thus, to that end, and likely hoping to impress not so much those he had been excusing for their lack of progress in their chosen field with his arguments, but those up-and-coming Adventurers who were bound to head to the Frontier in time, he had asked Gai, “Do you not agree with me, Master Gai? What was your honest assent of the warriors you faced, and would an Academy not insure more of our Adventurers meet with success?”

Lee could tell Gai had been caught off guard at suddenly becoming the center of attention. But he gave the matter some thought before replying, “I suppose that depends on what you mean by success.” Pluton had appeared less then pleased by the answer, fearing Gai would be less than supportive. “Yet, in regards to providing an assessment of the adventurers I faced, well as you pointed out it was in a situation that they were not accustomed to fighting in. They lacked cohesion and I was able to take advantage of that. With that said, I doubt many of them would have fared any better in a one-on-one encounter with me. For to be honest in terms of their technique, well I’d have to call it sloppy. I saw a lot of wasted movement, and openings in guards which would be easy for a skilled opponent to take advantage of.”

Pluton nodded, even as many of the gathered Adventurers bristled and began to murmur among themselves. Hoping to drive home his point, he asked the jounin, “Perhaps you’d be willing to show off your skills again. Say, a friendly match in the arena against various challengers.”

Gai seemed to consider it for a moment as he looked about the room taking stock of the gathered adventurers, but replied, “I think I will have to pass. If your warriors couldn’t stop me when they thought me as an enemy who they were free to use full force against. I do not believe there would be much more for them to learn just by having another fight in a different venue.”

Pluton was obviously disappointed by the reply, but not one to give up said, “Then perhaps you’d be willing to demonstrate a battle between a couple of shinobi.”

Lee had perked up at the idea, particularly as he noticed Gai had as well. “Now that is an idea that has some merit,” Gai stated as he rose from the table he sat at alone, outside of Kakashi, who was engrossed in his book, which perhaps was not too surprising since most of the gathered Adventurers were giving him a wide berth. Lee felt a sense of excitement as despite the disagreement that had occurred between them, after Gai had found him in the temple, things for the most part had seemed to return to normal. Of course, a reason for that outside of his sensei’s concern for his well-being, was because Lee had done his level best to give Naruto a wide berth. An easy enough task as the Uzumaki had directed most of his efforts since the battle to help clean up the mess. In fact, the celebration of said battle that they had been attending had been the first time the two of them had been in the same room together, outside of a brief exchange of pleasantries when Naruto had checked on him after returning from dropping Yuugao and Kashike off in Konoha.

Still, with things having calmed between his teacher and him, Lee had been prepared to accept the challenge that he imagined was about to be issued to him. So, if felt like a slap in the face when Gai asked, “So how about it, Naruto? Are you open to the idea of putting on a demonstration of what a real battle between shinobi would be like?”

Lee could see that it was Naruto’s turn to have been caught off guard by the request, as had Tenten who had been sitting next to him. They both sent a look towards him, having likely both been expecting Gai would have used the opportunity to promote his favored student. As a result, the Uzumaki hesitantly asked, “Um, why me?”

Gai gave a wide grin as he said, “Well, normally I’d of course challenge my rival, Kakashi and try to even the score between us. But, as it is his turn to pick what form that challenge will take, I doubt the warriors of Ruin would find much entertainment in watching a game of rock-paper-scissors.”

Kakashi looked up from his book for a moment as he responded to his name, “Did you want something Gai?”

“Only to say, I love that cool and aloof attitude of yours, Kakashi.”

“Thanks,” the one-eyed jounin replied as he gave a brief smile behind his mask, before returning to his book.

Returning his focus to Naruto, Gai continued, “So, outside of Kakashi, I must confess to being most interested in seeing how far along you’ve come Naruto.”

Lee felt a spike of anger as Naruto allowed a pleased smile to appear at being recognized by the jounin. He looked like he was about to accept, but Lee stood first stating, “With all due respect Gai-Sensei. I do not believe such a match would best serve the Guild Master’s wishes.”

Curious Pluton asked, “How so?”

“If you are interested in demonstrating the benefits of the shinobi academy system, would it not be best for the participants to be more recent graduates of it,” Lee stated before indicating towards his teacher. “Gai-sensei is truly a masterful shinobi. But I do not feel he would make for a good example of the Academy’s benefits, in the same way one of your Platinum ranked Adventurers would not be a good example of what you feel your own system is lacking.”

“Hm, I see your point,” Pluton said after a moment of consideration, “You’re saying that much as a Platinum ranked Adventurers has been shaped by their years of experience rather than by a lack of formal training, Master Gai would no longer be an accurate reflection of the young shinobi your academy produces.”

“That is correct,” Lee replied before adding, “However, I would be more than happy to take part in such a match. Although, it has been seven years since I graduated the Academy. I do believe I would be a more accurate reflection of its benefits.” Pluton looked like he was about to agree, but as Lee suspected it would be for the original battle royal style match he had first proposed, quickly turned his focus to Naruto as he asked, “So, how about it, Naruto, would you like to help show the people of Ruin the skills possessed by a Chunin and Genin of Konoha?”

Despite having added an inflection to stress Naruto’s lower rank, Lee kept his face impassive, and took a small amount of satisfaction as he noted the corner of the Uzumaki’s mouth threatening to break into a frown. Rather than Naruto responding it was Tenten who tried to say, “Lee not to be rude…”

“Then do not be, and allow Naruto to speak for himself,” Lee interrupted her quickly, and rather harshly.

Tenten looked shocked at his response, and he noticed despite his previous digs at the Uzumaki throughout the mission, for the first time a flash of genuine anger appeared briefly in Naruto’s eyes, at which pointed he answered, “Fine, let’s do it.”

“Excellent,” Pluton said excitedly, “We’ll hold the match tomorrow.”

*******

Lee smiled as the memories began to fade in favor of focusing on the fight to come. He would admit to feeling a little guilty about how harshly he had cut off Tenten, but believing how she had been about to tell him that he didn’t stand a chance, much as she had when he continuously had challenged Neji, he felt he had needed to shut her down. But what he found most surprising; was that he was coming to believe that it had been how he had spoken to her which had prompted Naruto to accept the challenge. After all, even the reminder of his lower rank, while it had obviously dug at his pride somewhat, hadn’t elicited the same emotional response. Although, Lee supposed it could have simply been due to how Tenten and him had been spending quite a bit of time together as she endeavored to learn the Hirashin jutsu from him.

Lee looked at the gathered crowd filling the stands, and felt like finally it would be his time to shine. As he felt that at last, he had a stage on which he could show everyone exactly what a true underdog could do. As although he hadn’t swung completely over to Neji’s old ideas in regard to destiny defining one’s path, he would admit to feeling as if it had been conspiring against him ever since he was born. First by cursing him with a body which meant he would need to struggle harder than any of his peers only to achieve a third of the results as his inability to harness chakra meant he would only be able to master one of the three techniques that most shinobi relied on. He had next felt destiny’s stacking the deck against him again during his first run through the Chunin Exams, as despite having the trump card that he felt would help him finally triumph over his rival Neji, he had instead been forced to use it against a true monster in the form of Gaara. Which while he had been proud of how well he had done, despite the damage that had been done to his body. It had been a slap in the face to realize it was probably due in part to how hard he had pushed Gaara, and exposed the scope of just how strong his defense was, that Sasuke was all the more prepared to face him. All in all, making him feel like destiny had selected him to be the fodder sent to attack a fortress and expose its weaknesses so the chosen elite would have an easier time of it. But, as bad as that was, learning Naruto, who had railed against destiny all throughout his match with Neji, which Lee felt should have been his, was in fact touched by, if not by a mystical being selecting the winners and losers in life, he certainly had through the Konoha leaders’ efforts to manufacture a hero narrative, had been a whole lot worse.

Lee couldn’t exactly say exactly when he had come to believe the narrative which had surrounded Naruto to be nothing more than village propaganda. After all, he had learned of Naruto’s status as a jinchuriki shortly after the Uzumaki had left the village on his training trip with Jiraiya as Tsunade had told all those close to him of the dangers he faced due to Akatsuki targeting him. At first, Lee had felt sorry for him, feeling it must have been a heavy burden to be rejected by the village because of something that had been forced upon him at birth. But he suspected it had planted the seed that Naruto’s victory against Neji had not necessarily been his. Thinking about it now, Lee was coming to believe it wasn’t a single point in time which opened his eyes to the lie that was Naruto Uzumaki, hero of the leaf. But rather his ever-evolving history which as the lies were replaced with the truth showed the Orphan nobody wanted was instead the child of one of the most beloved Hokage, the dead last in his class was handpicked by said Hokage, his father, to hold one of the most powerful bijuu. Practically insuring he would not be allowed to fail, and was in fact fated to be taught by one of the greatest shinobi ever produced by Konoha, who not only trained the Fourth Hokage, but had been trained by the Third himself. Lee even suspected that Kakashi had been selected as Naruto’s sensei due to his ties to his father.

Lee would admit that despite being a false underdog, Naruto was capable of facing the many challenges that he encountered. But again, Lee felt that by sealing the Nine-Tailed Fox into Naruto, the Fourth Hokage was ensuring his son would be at the forefront of the shinobi world no matter what. He also believed the Fourth Hokage had to have a strong belief in destiny himself to seal the bijuu into his just born son, when sealing it into someone like Kakashi would make infinitely more sense as with a Bijuu’s chakra, he’d probably be able to use his Sharingan eye almost indefinitely.

Still, regardless of who would have been a better host for the Bijuu, Lee was rather grateful the Forth had chosen Naruto, as he felt it was the opportunity that destiny had so long been denying him to make the statement that he was someone to take seriously. A feeling which extended back to how despite being one of the strongest competitors in his second appearance in the Chunin exams that had been held in Suna and, where he had even met someone afflicted with the same curse as him, and so felt by appearing in the Third Round, he’d be able to make that statement. However, again destiny had denied him as instead due to domestic matters in Suna the final round had been canceled. Yet, now he felt that perhaps destiny had instead just been postponing for this moment since by besting Naruto here or failing that, forcing him to call on his Bijuu to show that he was nothing without it. Lee believed now that the truth was known, it would be all the more impactful if the false underdog was shown to be nothing without all the advantages that he had been given, but which had been hidden away so people would cheer him on, and he was the perfect vessel to drive that point home

He smirked as Naruto limbered up across from him having traded in the Paladin armor he wore for his usually clothes and sage cloak, while likely believing in his own legend, and suspecting that he would not be facing much of a challenge. A feeling that Lee suspected all of his comrades from the Leaf shared. But he promised himself that he’d make them choke on that belief, especially since both he and Naruto had faced the Demon head on, and both had been bested by it. With only Naruto’s holding a Bijuu being the deciding factor as to why he had recovered enough to act as the distraction for it while the mages and priests of Ruin actually set about banishing it.

Lee’s attention was pulled to the arena’s viewing box as Pluton called to them, “Warriors of the Leaf, are you ready to begin?”

Lee dropped into his fighting stance, before replying that he was, and allowed a scowl to appear on his face as Naruto indicated likewise, although he remained standing in a relaxed manner. Lee intended to make him pay for his hubris, as Pluton shouted, “Begin.” Yet, before his brain even processed the Guild Master’s words to begin moving Naruto simply disappeared. For a moment, Lee feared he had used a genjutsu on him, but then his senses of danger began screaming at him to evade so he dodged to the side, and felt the wind as Naruto fist blew pass him. The blond quickly came to a stop, and spun to face him before launching himself towards him again. Lee froze for a moment, as despite being unable to use chakra himself, he had found that made him somewhat adapt at sensing it. Not in the same scope as a sensor, but rather it made him able to sense it usage within his vicinity as generally he’d feel a small charge that would make the hairs on his body stand. An ability Lee had honed, to act as an indicator for when an opponent would attack, since pretty much all shinobi used it to enhance their speed and reflexes, and it would give him a slight edge by allowing him to attack first or prepare to defend. However, both in Naruto’s first charge and now as he dropped into his second, Lee had failed to feel that small charge making him realize that Naruto had not used any chakra to achieve his speed.

A fact which caused Lee to frown as this time around he found that he could easily follow Naruto’s movements even though he was probably moving faster than most of those watching could follow. As such Lee charged to meet him. But, as they clashed and each began throwing a flurry of punches, he found that each of his was in turn met by a punch from Naruto, and as their fists collided over and over, he began to feel the charge that indicated the jinchuriki was using chakra. However, while for a split moment Lee felt a surge of elation that he was forcing Naruto to rely on his chakra after all, he quickly came to realize that he was doing so in order to coat his hands with it. Lee suspected he had done so because the Uzumaki recognizing the fact that as he trained by punching wooden posts with his bare hands, and so in a head-to-head clash without the protective coating Naruto knew he’d come out the loser. Which was a minor win for Lee, but it was a far cry from the statement he wanted to make. However, Lee quickly recognized it wasn’t even the minor victory that he had initially felt it to be, as he tried to increase his speed and frequency of his punches, hoping to break through the stalemate they had seemingly fallen into. Yet, Naruto simply began to match him, forcing him to admit that as the jinchuriki was able to read his movements and respond in time to launch a punch of his own which countered his, it was likely that he was capable of launching an attack that Lee wouldn’t likely be able to stop.

Tired of allowing the Uzumaki to lead him around by the nose, Lee dropped back and when Naruto moved in trying to press his seeming advantage, he raised up a knee aiming it for the Uzumaki’s midsection. Naruto threw a punch, which collided with his knee knocking it back down, which Lee had expected and so flipped forward into an axe kick that he tried to bring down on the blond’s head. Naruto however simply crossed his arms above it, and blocked the attack. He then latched onto the leg and stepping back pulled Lee after him as he spun and tossed him.

Lee hit the ground, but quickly rolled back up to his feet and into a guard position as he expected Naruto to continue to press the advantage. However, instead he found the blond standing in the same relaxed manner he had begun the match in. while the crowd erupted into a thunderous applause. A sound which cut through Lee almost more than if they had been jeers, because despite the flashy display they had put on, he knew from the word go, Naruto had only been toying with him. Although, Lee wasn’t quite sure if the word toying was exactly accurate, as he began to feel as if Naruto could end the match at any time that he wanted, and if he truly wanted to, he could demonstrate to the crowd exactly who was in control of the fight.

The idea filled Lee with a burning fury as he charged Naruto at top speed, not needing to drop his weights since he hadn’t been able replace the ones that had been damaged during his fight with the demon. He took solace that upon reaching him, Naruto seemed to be on the backfoot as he surrendered ground, while Lee primarily sent various kicks his way, hoping the increased distance and power that they afforded him, would keep his opponent off balance. But, just as Lee began to feel frustrated, that he had yet to get anything through Naruto’s guard. He found his head rocked back, when Naruto sidestepped to the right of one of his kicks, and extended out his left hand with the palm facing outward which he drove into his chin. Lee tried to clear the cobwebs the sudden blow caused, but then gasped in pain as Naruto delivered a kick to his sternum which sent him stumbling backwards.

Feeling frustrated as Naruto began to charge him, Lee waited until he was just within reach, before quickly digging into his ninja tool pouch behind him and pulled out his nunchucks, and swung at the blond. Naruto stopped at the last moment, and gracefully leaned back as the wooden handle passed inches from his face. He then stepped back, and caused Lee to gnash his teach as a small amused smile appeared on the blond’s face at the apparent desperate move. A move, which caused a few of the crowd to turn on Lee as they saw his sudden pulling of a weapon as a cheap tactic. Which, naturally caused the anger in Lee to grow even hotter as he found his hero narrative crumbling to dust. Pushing it out of his mind, he charged Naruto who simply responded by creating several shadow clones which met him, but failed to withstand the blows to them that he delivered, even in the cases where they managed to block him as the damage was sufficient enough to dispel them. Lee appeared from the smoke cloud the clones’ demise had created to find Naruto waiting for him, while holding a pair of fighting sticks.

Lee rushed in undeterred only to find that, much like his punches earlier, every time he swung his nunchucks at the blond, it was battered away by one of the sticks. However, despite both being seemingly made of wood, the exchange of blows had a noticeable detrimental effect on his weapon as the handles began to splinter and crack. Lee switched which handle he lashed out with several times, as he tried to keep Naruto at bay, but finally one of the handles gave way as it shattered to pieces, leaving him wide open, at which point Naruto let fly a devastating front kick to his chest. Lee flew back, and landed hard, belly first on the ground as he felt like a rib may have snaped from the blow. Clutching at his chest as he struggled to get back to his feet, he watched Naruto tuck the sticks behind him and beneath his cloak before resuming his relaxed stance which screamed at Lee to attack him.

Staring at Naruto, Lee had a thought that hadn’t really occurred to him since he faced Gaara in the first exams, “He’s a monster.” Feeling that desperation again, perhaps even more acutely as unlike back then where he had felt as if he had been pressuring Gaara to some extent. Lee felt as if he was simply an insect waiting to be stepped on. Unwilling to allow things to end like that, he stood as he said, “This isn’t over yet. I will not lose here.”

Crossing his arms before him, he began to open the chakra gates within his body allowing him to harness his limited chakra in order to enhance his strength and speed for a time. However, before he could fully open them, Naruto disappeared from his sight and jammed his hand into Lee’s stomach folding him around the blow, before his follow through sent him tumbling away. Lee felt he must have blacked out for a few seconds, as he found himself face down in the dirt. He could hear the crowd roaring appreciatively, and felt Naruto approaching slowly. Finding his arms beneath him, as he had instinctively grabbed his stomach following Naruto’s blow, he rose up to his knees but kept his head down, hoping to enter the stance to open the Gates from his downed position.

“Don’t bother,” Naruto stated, which Lee didn’t need to play dumb as he found his limited chakra refused to enter the accelerated stated require to open the gates, so suspected the blond’s last blow had placed a suppression seal on him. Raising his head, he found Naruto had stopped a few feet away, and was glaring at him angrily, at which point the Uzumaki said harshly, “You’re pathetic, were you really going to open the gates to try and beat me?”

Lee found the anger that question filled him with was enough to make him forget about the pain in his chest and stomach, and he quickly surged to his feet. He threw a punch intended for Naruto’s jaw, but it was blocked as the jinchuriki raised his left arm to intercept his incoming attack. Naruto then stepped to the side, and locked his right arm, before using his own to deliver several punches to Lee’s exposed midsection. He then threw Lee over his hip so that he landed on his back again. Shaking his head as he crouched near the exhausted Lee’s head, the Uzumaki said, “Honestly, was that your game plan. It took you opening Four Gates, and wrecking your body to come close to beating Gaara, when he was a genin. What price do you think you’d need to pay to come close this time around?”

“Go to hell,” Lee said, his chest feeling like it was on fire, “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Oh, but I do,” Naruto said a note of sympathy entering his tone, “Only too well. But assuming you did beat me. What would that prove? You’d be a cripple, and I’d just continue on being that much stronger than you. Would being able to say you were stronger, for what, a few seconds, minutes maybe really be worth the cost you’d have to pay for the rest of your life. Don’t you have anything in your life worth more to you than your pride?” Naruto’s question prompted a vision of Fuki and Kasumi to flash before him for a moment, which caused a small measure of guilt to well up inside him which for a moment seemed to hurt worse than the number Naruto had done to his chest. The Uzumaki seemed to sense, what his words had conjured up in him, but rather than commenting on it stated, “If not, you should just retire from being a shinobi.” Lee was caught by surprise at the blond’s statement until the Uzumaki said, “Listen to that crowd. From their perspective, we put on quite the show I imagine, and if all that matters to you is your pride, you should stay here, become an adventurer. I’m sure Pluton would consider it a great boon to take you on as an instructor in this academy he is trying to get off the ground. There’s no guarantee you’ll match up against their top ranked adventurers, but considering the crowd’s reaction to our bout, you’ll probably be in the running I imagine.”

The crowd’s cheers were dying down as they seemed to realize the fight was over, a fact Lee was grateful for as the cheers had been rather painful to his pride since he knew they were undeserved at least in regards to whatever portion of them were being directed his way. Coming to accept that Naruto had been in control of the fight from the very beginning Lee asked, “Why?”

Naruto didn’t need for him to elaborate why he had allowed the crowd to believe the fight had been at all competitive, as he explained, “Because, I do understand where you are coming from. I already told you about how when I first started out as a shinobi, all I wanted to do was make everyone acknowledge me by becoming Hokage. I was fighting for my own pride then. But I met someone who told me that true strength comes when they have something truly important to protect. I hadn’t yet fully come to understand the truth behind those words even by the time when we first met. I was still caught up in winning acknowledgement, from the village, the person I saw as my greatest rival, Sasuke, and even guys like you and Neji. But now I see how pointless such things are. Being recognized as the strongest is never going to be fulfilling enough so long as there is someone else out there who is potentially stronger than you. And, no matter how much a crowd proclaims that they love you, such things are not going to keep you warm on a cold night. I am strong. Not because of anything my father put within me, although admittedly it didn’t hurt. But because I have people who are truly precious to me, and so will fight to protect them, and all they hold dear with every fiber of my being.” Naruto looked away, and seeing some medical personnel carrying a stretcher between them as they approached stood as he added, “Should you ever find that for yourself, I believe you’ll become someone who is truly strong.”

Naruto began walking away as Lee groaned slightly when he was picked up to be placed on the stretcher. As he was carried away, he contemplated some of what Naruto had told him, when it suddenly dawned on him how outside of a single use of the shadow clone justsu, and enhancing his hands along with the fighting sticks he had used, Naruto had bested him without using chakra. He began to feel a deep shame at his behavior towards the Uzumaki, who had not only beaten him in a manner which had left the crowd with the impression the match had been competitive and thus had protected his pride, but now found that it had also instilled in him a sense of hope. Since Lee couldn’t deny there was a chasm which separated them in terms of their abilities, one which the Uzumaki had displayed had little to do with the inherent advantages and disadvantages that they had been born with.

*********

Tenten was fuming as she walked through the tunnels that run underneath Ruin’s arena. A feeling she had kept hidden from her lover, as she had just finished congratulating him for his victory over Lee, who for the most part she admitted had gotten what he had coming, having been tempted to smack her old teammate a few times herself during the trip to Ruin due to some of the barbs he had sent Naruto’s way. Still, even with that being the case, she in truth wasn’t even all that angry with Lee, since a part of her felt some manner of responsibility for how bitter he had become and feared that with how she often stated that he’d never measure up to the likes of Neji, it had planted the seeds of bitterness that he had recently been directing her lover’s way. Yet, what truly had her stalking towards the room where Lee had been taken after the match was the anger that she felt towards the man who had often acted as her opposite number, and cheered Lee on, and who she felt had instigated the fight between her lover and the Green loving Chunin.

Reaching the door, she threw it open to find Gai sitting in the small room near a closed door, behind which she assumed Lee was currently resting. Upon noticing her, Gai gave her a smile full of teeth in his usual manner as he said energetically, “Ah Tenten, its good of you to come. I’m afraid if you’re here to see Lee, he’s currently resting. It appears he’ll probably have to wait until our return to Konoha before he is fully healed. It looks like since most of the priests can only cast their healing spells one or two times a day. So, they’re less inclined to waste them on people who choose to get injured fighting for what they feel isn’t a valid reason.”

Tenten nodded, absentmindedly as she could understand why since she had learned from Moegi that the Priest and Priestesses, described their abilities as miracles, which they believed were bestowed upon them from the gods. The orange-haired Kunoichi, had taken an interest in it upon seeing just how quickly and completely the local clergy had healed Kashike and Lee, and figured it would be something Tsunade would be interested in since even medical ninjutsu would probably need several treatments to achieve similar results. Tenten had been a little annoyed that she hadn’t thought of it first, even upon coming to the conclusion that in the end her role model would find it interesting, but ultimately useless in all but the most extreme cases as she believed the results were due to the priests effectively wasting vast amounts of chakra, which may serve to overcast their miracles giving stronger results, but was also why they could only use them a time or two a day. She imagined that what the priests effectively believed was their gods bestowing them an extra miracle or casting of a new spell as they grew more experienced, was just them rudimentarily learning to cast it more effectively, thus giving them extra uses.

However, she shook such concerns from her mind as she focused on her former sensei who was still smiling at her to ask, “What the hell is wrong with you?”

Gai’s smile faded as he replied, “I am not sure what you mean, or why you appear to be so angry with me.”

“Really,” Tenten stated, annoyed with Gai’s professed ignorance. “So, you’re going to pretend that you didn’t intentionally rile Lee up by challenging Naruto to a match.”

“Not at all,” Gai stated calmly, “Only that I am unsure why you seem so angry about it. I’m sure there were plenty of times during our days together as a team when you could have made a similar case against me working Lee up so that he’d challenge Neji.”

Tenten frowned at Gai’s reply, as she worried if perhaps, she was protesting too much due to her feelings for Naruto, since the truth of the matter was much as he had stated. Hoping to shift the matter away from how she was angry at how he had manipulated matters to drive her former teammate and lover to blows, she said, “Maybe because we both know Lee never stood a chance against Naruto.”

Gai gave her a knowing smile as he sat back in his chair and countered, “Hmmm, that’s funny. I remember you often would tell Lee that he had no chance against Neji either. So, I’m not entirely convinced that his lack of a chance is where this passion is coming from.” Tenten suddenly felt like a genin again, who was trying to conceal something from her teacher, who knew that was exactly what she was doing due to the look Gai was giving her. She tried to hide her reaction, but doubted her success which was why she was surprised as he dropped the matter to say, “But, what I am convinced of is that you desire to understand why I would wish Lee to enter a fight I was sure he would lose, considering the negative feelings he was harboring towards Naruto. No doubted because you are concerned those feelings would only intensify.” Receiving a nod, Gai indicated a nearby wooden chair, and once she had taken a seat, he explained, “You’re right, I did manipulate Lee into fighting Naruto and expected that he would lose. I did this because I wanted Lee to learn the resiliency of a loser’s heart.”

“You wanted to give Lee a loser’s heart,” Tenten said not quite believing her ears, “How is being a loser going to help him?”

Gai sighed and allowed a slight tone of annoyance to enter his voice, “There is a difference between being a loser, and having the resiliency of one.” His tone took on the familiar tenor that he would use when trying to impart a lesson to his students, which took her back to her genin days as he began to explain, “Imagine you have two teams, one is the heavy favorite to win, while the other is all but assured to lose. Who do you think is feeling the most pressure to win?”

“I don’t know,” Tenten replied feeling the question lacked too much context to arrive at a clear answer. “Truthfully, it could be either of them, neither, or both.”

To her surprise, Gai nodded proudly as he said, “Exactly right. The answer would be the same if I asked you who would feel the most pressure not to lose.”

“Isn’t that the same thing?” Tenten asked a little confused, not used to her former teacher speaking in riddles.

“Not necessarily,” Gai answered, as his head turned slightly as if something had caught his attention. But he continued on as he stated, “A winner is a winner because he wins. But a loser only becomes a loser when he gives up.” Tenten figured her sensei must have seen that she wasn’t entirely on board with his philosophy so he elaborated, “Let me use a more specific example to highlight my point, “When Naruto was to meet Neji in the Chunin Exams, who do you think felt the most pressure to win?”

“Naruto,” Tenten answered without needing to think about it. When Gai arched an eyebrow, she elaborated, “Neji believed he was destined to win. While Naruto wanted to show him that there was no such thing as destiny.”

“Are you sure?” Gai asked, indicating that her answer might not necessarily be the case. “It is true that Neji definitely didn’t show he was nervous or felt any pressure. Mainly, because he knew he outclassed Naruto as a shinobi. But, Neji’s entire outlook on life was riding on the outcome of that match.”

“Naruto’s was too,” Tenten said quickly, feeling the need to point out her lover also had quite a bit riding on the matches outcome.

Gai nodded in agreement, although he countered, “True, but that doesn’t that mean they stood to lose in the same fashion. If Naruto had lost. I have little doubt, he’d just get back to his feet and challenge Neji again. He’d learn what lessons he needed to, and then throw himself at the challenge again. However, Neji had crafted for himself a world view where if he succeeded it was because he was naturally talented, and if he failed, it was because he was simply destined to. He created for himself an existence where he didn’t strive for anything better, even as he secretly longed for it. Which is why he was so bitter, a side of himself he showed in his preliminary match with his cousin, and it also came out to a lesser degree in his match against Naruto because he continuously challenged his view.”

“Okay,” Tenten said not entirely sure of the point her sensei was trying to make, “So you’re saying Neji was actually feeling far more pressure to succeed then I originally imagined. But, what does that have to do with why you’d manipulate Lee into challenging Naruto?”

Gai’s face wrinkled at her use of the word, ‘manipulate,’ but let it pass without comment. He collected his thoughts for a moment, before stating, “It is tied to it because you believe I favored Lee over you and Neji during our time as a team.”

Tenten felt her hackles rise slightly as she said, “Maybe because you did.”

“Did I,” Gai replied his tone making her question herself for a moment, but she still responded with a nod. “True, I did spend more time and effort on Lee,” Gai said, causing Tenten to make a face which conveyed she felt that was never open for debate. However, he continued, “But, that was solely because Lee was the most open to being taught. Neji, on the other hand was too busy teaching himself Hyuuga techniques to seek my opinion or console. You, on the other hand would come to me from time to time, but only for the most rudimentary of pointers. After your loss to Temari in the Exams, I thought it would only be natural for you to seek me out to correct your dependence on weapons. But you had other ideas, and doubled down on an aspect of ninjutsu you had long since mastered.”

Tenten crossed her arms, and frowned since she was of the belief that it had Gai’s preoccupation with training Lee which was why she had felt neglected. “You still could have offered.”