Chapter 24: Zaraki and Ryuma
Their third match, which had lasted exactly seven hours straight, had finally ended in a draw as well. Although Altay had won the first two matches, the duo had considered those early games mere warm-up rounds since Kurama was just learning chess. However, this final game on the board was a true battle of wits. After hours of intense brainstorming, only their kings were left on the board. For a moment, they looked at the empty chessboard and then at each other in silence, without moving. Altay was the first to break; his chuckle quickly turned into a booming laugh, and Kurama immediately joined him. The tired but joyful laughter of the two echoed off the wide walls of the seal room.
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” x 2
As Altay got up from his seat and stretched to relax his numb muscles, Kurama also stretched his massive body and yawned. Due to remaining still for a long time, the faint sound of popping bones could be heard from both of them. As they stepped away from the table, the wizard chess rapidly repaired itself, restored its pieces, and returned to its starting setup. Mentally exhausted, the duo headed for their beds without wasting any more time. Settling into his comfortable bed, Altay couldn't help but ask the question on his mind.
“Kurama, do you think I should teach Naruto Boxing?”
Kurama paused for a brief moment at this sudden question and immediately focused on Altay’s memories, roughly reviewing the martial arts techniques there.
“I think Muay Thai would make more sense. If Naruto uses moves like that outside, it would look very suspicious.”
Lying down, Altay nodded slightly. He was thinking more or less the same thing, but a detail in the sentence immediately caught his attention. He turned his head with a bewildered expression and looked at the giant fox.
“Muay Thai? Why did you choose that?”
Kurama explained in a relaxed manner, as if stating a very obvious fact.
“It's more flexible than boxing and a bit more suitable for ninjas, whereas boxing is somewhat clunkier. Yes, boxing has dodging, but it won't be very effective against ninjutsu. Furthermore, to attack properly in boxing, a solid footing is crucial, but you know ninjas—they fight while jumping and bounding around. Also, don't forget you're teaching a 3-year-old child his first martial art; once he forms a habit, it will be very hard to break.”
Realizing this logical detail he had missed, Altay lightly slapped his forehead in surprise.
“...I forgot about that detail...”
Meanwhile, the gears in Kurama's mind continued to turn. After a short silence, he shared a new idea that had come to him.
“Why don't you direct Naruto toward swordsmanship? You can add close-quarters combat as a bonus. You already have the White Fang’s and the Uchiha’s swordsmanship notes anyway. Plus, teach him the basics of the White Fang’s swordsmanship. When that Kakashi brat and Naruto meet, this might catch Kakashi's interest and take him by surprise. With the right story, we can force Kakashi to look after Naruto.”
This idea instantly resonated in Altay’s mind. His eyes lit up, and several different strategic plans began to form in his head. Giving a thumbs up, he responded with a cunning smirk on his face.
“A tactic worthy of a fox.”
Kurama proudly accepted this compliment and sprawled out on his bed. Altay also got under the covers in his pajamas and got into a comfortable position. The next day, he would start training Naruto seriously for the first time. Moreover, he needed to handle the Kakashi matter; in short, a rather busy day awaited him tomorrow. Closing his eyes, he murmured in a calm tone.
“Good night, Kurama.”
Kurama merely responded with a soft grunt in his own unique style. To shake off the fatigue of the day, the duo fell into a deep sleep in the quiet and safe atmosphere of the seal room.
---In a desolate forest within the borders of Konoha---
A man in civilian clothes was waiting in that desolate forest area near the village borders where the trees grew thick. This man, in his late middle ages, with black hair, chestnut eyes, and various scars covering the visible parts of his body, was leaning against a tree trunk, smoking his cigarette quite calmly. Before long, someone else in an ANBU uniform arrived just behind the tree he was at, crossed his arms over his chest, and leaned his back against the other side of the same tree. The newcomer was the first to break the silence.
“I got your message, Zaraki. Why did you want to meet urgently?”
Zaraki took a deep drag from the cigarette between his lips. After slowly blowing the smoke into the cool night air, a hard, slightly mocking smirk appeared on his face.
“A man says hello first, Ryuma.”
From Ryuma’s tone of voice, one could instantly tell how displeased and exhausted he was.
“Because of you, I used one of the leave days I accumulated with great patience. I wanted to go on a long vacation with Ayane! But thanks to you, that vacation is one day shorter!”
Feeling his eyebrow twitch in anger, Ryuma took a deep breath to calm down, but wasn't very successful.
“I hope this is important, Zaraki! Or else you'll have hell to pay! Sometimes I don't know whether I'm married to you or Ayane!”
Zaraki chuckled slightly at his friend's outburst, but immediately after, that relaxed expression on his face completely vanished, replaced by a rare seriousness.
“Hahaha… I wish it was unimportant… We have a ***** situation.”
Hearing that unusual tone in Zaraki's voice, Ryuma, wearing a fox mask, furrowed his brows, and an uneasy feeling suddenly welled up inside him.
“What happened?”
Zaraki let out a heavy sigh and, starting from what he learned in the Hokage's office, began recounting everything he had experienced over the last few hours, piecing together all those missing puzzle parts one by one. As Ryuma listened to the story, his brows furrowed even deeper at first; as Zaraki continued to speak, his eyes behind the mask grew increasingly sharp and cold. A few minutes later, when Zaraki finished his words and fell silent, Ryuma stood perfectly rigid with his eyes closed. The two were old friends who had known each other since the ninja academy; Zaraki knew exactly what his friend's silence meant. Ryuma was currently reanalyzing the entire past in his mind with these new truths he had heard. Not wanting to interrupt him, Zaraki slowly leaned his head against the tree behind him and waited silently, watching the star-filled night sky. After a few long minutes, a violent sound shattered the silence of the forest.
BAM! CRACK!
The punch Ryuma suddenly threw had shattered the trunk of the tree next to him. Without turning his head, Zaraki muttered with a deep, weary sigh.
“So I was right… The Captain didn't commit suicide… He was strategically subjected to a perceptual assassination.”
Both of Ryuma's hands had formed into fists so tight that his nails dug into his palms, and the blood seeping from them dripped onto the ground. He was clenching his jaw so fiercely that blood had already begun to ooze from his aching gums inside his mask. When he opened his eyes, there was only pure hatred and a massive, all-consuming regret in that gaze. He shouted with a sharp and trembling voice.
“YES! DAMN IT!”
Unable to control his anger, Ryuma violently struck another tree next to him; the trunk split right down the middle. Then, unable to stop his momentum, he punched a large rock just ahead, and the rock shattered into small pieces. He wasn't using a single drop of chakra while doing all this; he was merely spewing out that toxic hatred inside him using pure physical strength. Zaraki, unable to watch any longer, instantly appeared next to Ryuma using the body flicker technique. Grabbing his raised, bloodied fist tightly, he spoke in a very calm tone.
“Enough.”
Ryuma's fist hung suspended in the air, but his body still trembled uncontrollably. His voice came out as shaky as his body.
“How did I not realize this sooner!”
Unable to bear it any longer, Ryuma fell to his knees. It was as if all the strength in his legs had been drained. He gripped the soil on the ground tightly with his hands and whispered in agony, with a profound disgust for himself.
“How did I not see the signs!”
With tears streaming from his eyes, he deeply blamed himself, tearing his soul apart. He was Sakumo’s right hand, his most trusted man, yet he had been completely oblivious all this time. He could never see this truth himself; only Zaraki, setting off with the pure curiosity of a three-year-old child, was able to wake him from this deep slumber.
Seeing his friend writhing on the ground like this, Zaraki sighed softly. He couldn't help but think how ironic the situation was. In the past, he was always the one on the team whose anger could never be controlled, the one who flared up at everything. But they weren't young anymore; they had reached their late middle ages, having survived two great ninja wars and a devastating tailed beast rebellion. Zaraki, as someone who had buried that old anger deep within, tried to explain in a calm voice.
“It was impossible for you to see because they blinded our view, they kept our minds occupied for a long time. Remember, the person we are up against is called the darkness of the shinobis. He is someone who is very good at reading psychology.”
Ryuma responded to him with a body still violently trembling.
“...Still, I should have felt something… when our teammates disappeared, I should have felt something; when the rumors started, I should have felt it! *****!”
Squinting his eyes, Zaraki sighed once again.
“We were in wartime… I mean, everything happened at too perfect a time, don't blame yourself, the captain wouldn't want this.”
Ryuma slightly raised his head and looked at Zaraki with that searing fire of anger burning inside him. It seemed senseless to him that the man across from him could stand so emotionless.
“How are you so calm? You should be angrier than I am right now.”
Hearing this question, Zaraki remained silent for a brief moment. Then, he slowly released from his body the intense bloodlust he had chained deep within his soul for years. He was a ninja at the absolute peak of the elite jonin tier, but this suffocating killing intent spreading around had a feeling so dark and heavy that it surpassed even the limits of a Kage. A hard and ruthless smirk appeared on Zaraki’s face. There was only pure coldness, madness, and bloodlust in his expression. He whispered in a voice chilling enough to freeze a man's bones.
“Calm? It only seems that way, and I came to you specifically because of this, because at any moment I could flay the advisors and Danzo alive and slowly… but that would be too simple. Hunting down the two advisors is easy, but Danzo is on another level; that cowardly dog has built a solid defense network around himself.”
Although Ryuma instinctively flinched at this intense and dark aura radiating from Zaraki, it helped him gather his wits. Pulling himself together a bit, he adjusted his posture on the ground, moved into a sitting position, and asked.
“What do you want to do?”
The cruelty in Zaraki’s voice pierced the silence of the forest.
“I want to strike the snake with its own venom, Ryuma! I want Danzo to be remembered as the greatest traitor in Konoha history!”
While Ryuma remained silent, bewildered by what he heard, Zaraki continued speaking with a mad fire shining in his eyes.
“I want to ruin his and the other two advisors' reputations so utterly that everyone in the village will hate them to the bone! Let's make them suffer ten times what they did to our Captain! Let them become Konoha's greatest traitors, surpassing even Madara Uchiha or the Sannin Orochimaru! No! Let them exceed even their infamy! I want to mentally destroy them!”
As Zaraki finished his speech with all the fury and hatred he had built up inside, he resolutely extended his hand to Ryuma, who was sitting on the ground.
“But I need your help! Ryuma! We owe the captain this much!”
Ryuma looked at his friend in astonishment. He had never seen him burning with such deep and calculated anger before in his life. But he didn't object, nor could he. Anyone who had spent time with Sakumo Hatake and witnessed his unparalleled virtue—especially the members of the unit who had grown up as orphans and viewed Sakumo as a father, an older brother—would definitely feel the exact same things right now. Ryuma shook off the helpless sorrow clouding his mind. With determination in his eyes, he firmly grabbed the extended hand and stood up.
“I'm in!”
A short while later, Zaraki and Ryuma—who had completely calmed down and returned to his old cold-blooded ANBU profile—were sitting across from each other in the forest. Zaraki asked with sharp focus.
“What's our plan?”
Ryuma took a deep breath and weighed the strategies in his mind. After a few minutes of silent and intense thought, he explained the first phase of the plan.
“First, we must gather evidence, real tangible evidence; not just about the captain's death, but we must collect every kind of evidence we can use to smear Danzo…”
Aware of the difficulty of the situation, Zaraki let out a deep sigh.
“That means an SSS-rank mission… ROOT doesn't leave traces behind easily, and ROOT elites are no different from the walking dead. They creep me out even as an ANBU; it is impossible for us to interrogate them due to the loyalty they've gained through Danzo's brainwashing and the curse seals…”
Ryuma nodded in agreement with these observations, but his eyes held the gleam of a hunter who has cornered his prey.
“Yes… A total pain… but we can hunt down the bastards Captain Sakumo saved.”
Zaraki pushed his mind for a moment, trying to recall past missions and names.
“Are any still alive?”
Ryuma nodded confidently.
“Yamata Gouto is alive, I saw him two days ago… he's become a Jonin…”