Resolution (2)

10 advanced chapters on my Patreon: Fiction Haven

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In one of the secret rooms under the Hokage's office, I found myself carving seals on the ground with Jiraiya. I made it sound like I was forced into doing this, but that was just a hyperbole on my part. Nonetheless, I pretended not to seem willing, so Hiruzen prepared an incentive for me. In truth, though, I needed this chance, so I would have done it even if I didn't get any incentive.

"Are you seriously going to add a self-destruct seal to the Bijū Seal?"

Jiraiya's question caused me to slow down for a moment. I pondered for a second before resuming my pace.

"It's not what you think, Jiraiya."

"Then, tell me how it works."

"The seal won't blow up the kid. It will only scatter the Chakra of the Bijū until it disappears, thus I call it the Self-Destruction Seal."

I could sense Jiraiya frowning. His silence was all I needed to know.

"Are you saying you can kill Bijū?"

"A Bijū is a clump of dense Chakra that gains sentience. Killing them is impossible since they will reform after some time. My seal can neutralize Bijū and make them inaccessible to anyone. Though, I think it only works on weak Bijū like Ichibi."

While that was possible, what I would do to Gaara's seal was not that. The additional seal would be the gateway for quick Bijū transfer. I had promised Kurama that I would free him and his siblings. Of course, until the world was free of threats, I couldn't just let them roam freely, lest people would capture them again. Therefore, until the time came, I would host them.

In a sense, my goal aligned with Akatsuki's. Of course, I kept my intention to myself. I didn't plan on staying in Konoha forever. I didn't want to give them more reason to make me stay. Although I could fight my way through when push comes to shove, I would prefer the less troublesome path. Regardless, it was bound to cause a commotion.

"Now, I get the reason why Sensei thinks you and the Nidaime are alike. Only you and Tobirama-sama can think about cheating a deal with other villages."

"It is being smart, Jiraiya. We can't risk having them turn their power against us. Remember that we could have extracted Ichibi and never given it back to Suna. Preparing that measure for the ugly day is fair in my opinion. They don't need to know about it."

"That is not honorable, though…"

Honor. Such a weird thing I found in Shinobi. They were taught to be ruthless and sly since they were young, but somehow they wanted to remain honorable. Shinobi were the last people who could claim they lived an honorable life. If they managed to remain honorable, they weren't Shinobi or were failed ones.

Shinobi sabotaged and killed people for their villages. In every action they deemed honorable, there were disgraced people. An honorable man doesn't kill. It is impossible to live that way in this world. Therefore, it is all right not to become an honorable man in this world. After all, people would still respect you for what you do for your villages.

"All right, we are done. You can bring in the kid."

A quiet yes came from the corner of the room. The air shifted as the Anbu guard went out. I walked to the center of the room and stood across from Jiraiya. The pervert was examining the seal, making sure that nothing was wrong. I didn't need to check on my work as I knew Fūinjutsu better than him. The only seal he needed to worry about was the one he wrote.

The door opened and a killing intent washed our body. Jiraiya and I quirked our eyebrows as we turned our heads to the source. Gaara looked at us as if he was going to swallow us whole. With the help of Shukaku, he was more than capable of doing that. However, he had no access to Chakra. On top of it, even if he managed to unleash Shukaku, he would be the only one dying.

"Have you finally decided to kill me? I knew you had an ulterior motive when you treated me kindly for the last three days. You are just like my uncle."

Gaara scowled and his killing intent intensified. The Anbu personnel holding him tensed their muscles. I motioned for them to relax and they immediately loosened up, to my surprise. I had expected them to doubt me, but not them treating me like their superior.

"No one is going to kill you, Gaara."

"Lies! I know I am going to die once you extract Ichibi from me."

"Hoh? No longer calling him Mother, I see." I sneered lightly. "Anyway, you are correct in that regard. You would die when Ichibi is extracted from your body. However, we are not going to extract Ichibi from you."

I activated the Hiraishin Mark nearest to Gaara, snatched him from the Anbu personnel, and then laid him on the sealing altar. Everything happened in less than a second. The Anbu personnel even still had their hands firmly grasping Gaara's nonexistent body. I could see their eyes widen under their mask. I guess there were some merits in carving the Hiraishin Mark to every surface I saw.

"We are going to fortify your seal," I stared at Gaara's widened eyes. "Instead of distrusting us, you should be thankful to us."

I activated the seal we had carved, causing it to bind Gaara to the altar. I unlocked the seal they put on Gaara's Chakra and Shukaku immediately tried to gain control. The coward settled down when I glared at him with Kurama's eyes. Jiraiya and I immediately got to work. He fixed the half-assed seal meanwhile I added the Quick Transfer Seal. In the future, as soon as I activated the seal, Shukaku would be immediately transferred to me.

The process took roughly an hour. Gaara was thrashing around during that period, but we conveniently ignored him. At the end of the procedure, Jiraiya was sweating and Gaara was sleeping. I was barely winded. I knew the seal would work perfectly, so I didn't share Jiraiya's nervousness.

"Good job, Brat," Jiraiya grinned as he ruffled my hair.

Fixing my hair, I retorted, "That should be my line."

"Hey, I'm the Seal Master Jiraiya. I know more than you do!" I quirked an eyebrow and stared at him silently. His smile gradually crumbled. "Okay, maybe not, but I am more experienced than you."

I shrugged and deactivated the seal. The characters that we had carved for hours lost their glaring luminance and gradually disappeared. We couldn't risk anyone using it for the wrong purpose. Of course, I had to instill that idea into Jiraiya's mind first before we agreed to create a one-time-use seal.

I excused myself and got out of the room. The Anbu personnel thanked me for my work and then dealt with Gaara. He was all Hiruzen's problem now. I didn't want to get tangled in this mess anymore.

…

"I don't get why you like this food so much. In my opinion, ramen is better."

"Huh… please, keep that opinion to yourself. Nothing beats sukiyaki."

How did this happen? Why did I become a babysitter?

"It is a pretentious version of ramen. Ramen is more straightforward and manages to give you more pleasure with fewer ingredients."

"Are you seriously comparing a well-balanced dish with junk food like ramen? But most importantly, in what part does sukiyaki resemble ramen? What makes ramen… ramen is the noodle. Sukiyaki doesn't even have noodles."

"Both of them are served boiled. That is the same thing."

"If that is the case, chicken porridge is ramen too."

"Ridiculous. Chicken porridge doesn't have broth."

I might be getting crazy, but I kind of saw Gaara's point. Of course, I deemed the discussion a waste of time, so I dropped the matter quickly. The kid was experiencing life for the first time. I would let him have his moment. He would change his mind in the future, I believed.

Ah, is that why Naruto could get so close to Gaara?

It is easier to bond over the same interest. But I also wondered if Gaara was secretly an Uzumaki. That rowdy bunch seemed to have a ramen fetish, after all. As soon as we finished our meal, we decided to chill out at the public bath. The villagers looked at us warily as we walked through the street, but no one glared at us. Although they were still afraid of Jinchūriki, some education about Jinchūriki gave them a deeper insight into what it meant to live as a Jinchūriki.

A few moments later, Gaara and I sat side by side in the onsen's pool. The kid was silently staring at the father and son playing across from us.

"Father, are we going to Mom's grave after this?" the boy asked innocently.

"Yes, and we will bring some flowers for her," the father replied with a chuckle.

"Let's buy a lot of flowers for her and make her grave pretty!"

"Yeah, let's do that."

The innocence of a child makes it easier for him to deal with death. They can't properly grieve as they have yet to understand the concept of death. The father of the boy was trying his best to smile through it, but the pain was evident in his eyes. He must have recently lost his wife. I deduced that the Oto and Suna invasion was the cause.

"What happened in the past is something unmendable. Live better to prevent the same thing from happening instead of wallowing in your past."

I didn't want to be Naruto, but I couldn't help myself from saying those words to the still Gaara.