Naruto Hiden Vol 2 Chapter 12

The Hokage’s office back home couldn’t even be compared to the enormous size of this hall.

s.h.i.+kamaru was crouched down in the middle of a deep crimson carpet rolled out from the extravagant double doors at the entrance towards the interior of the room. 

Both of his hands were in manacles behind his back. Two of the Enlightened Ones stood by his sides so he wouldn’t get any ideas about standing up and causing trouble. Well, they were originally s.h.i.+n.o.bi, so they’d notice the moment s.h.i.+kamaru did anything suspicious.

Rou and Soku were behind him. They, too, had their hands in manacles behind their backs, and guards by their sides. The only difference was that both their faces were covered in dark bruises and gashes, clear evidence of the torture they’d been suffering.

Going by the number of meals and the state of his stomach, it had already been 10 days since they were captured.

In all that time, s.h.i.+kamaru hadn’t been tortured even once. Gengo had visited him countless times, staying a bit to make some meaningless small talk, and then leaving. He would always say things like ‘should I make a speech today I wonder’ or ‘what should be eaten for lunch?’ useless, stupid stuff like that.

“Lower your head.” the Enlightened on s.h.i.+kamaru’s right side ordered, and slammed his forehead onto the carpet.

“These are important guests. You mustn’t handle them roughly.” Gengo’s voice came from some distance ahead of s.h.i.+kamaru.

The moment he said that, the EO let go of s.h.i.+kamaru’s head in a hurry, straightening up as if deeply embarra.s.sed at being scolded.

“My subordinate has been rude.” Gengo said. “Please, raise your head.”

s.h.i.+kamaru had already been lifting his face even before he was given permission. A marble staircase started where the crimson carpet ended ahead of him. At the very top of the staircase, there was a wide floor with a long, extravagant statue of a dragon with a throne carved into it.

Gengo sat there, one leg thrown over the other. His left elbow was leaning on the armrest, and he casually cradled his cheek in his left palm. The cool, composed gaze with which he looked down at s.h.i.+kamaru was exactly that of the ruler of a country.

“Bring them closer.” Gengo commanded.

The EO’s at s.h.i.+kamaru’s sides put their arms through his, dragging him to his feet. They hurried him across the carpet, until he was at the bottom of the great staircase. Rou and Soku were dragged along in the same manner.

“Have you gotten a little bit curious about my words now?” Gengo asked.

“Sorry but, I have no idea what you’re trying to say.” s.h.i.+kamaru said.

Gengo let out a small laugh at the immediate and resolute reply.

There were several EO’s lined up along each side of his throne. All of them were  looking down at s.h.i.+kamaru with the kind of haughty eyes that made him suppose they were Gengo’s advisors or close aides. s.h.i.+kamaru saw Sai’s figure among their ranks, already adorned with the black cloak that all Enlightened Ones wore. Although they were supposed to be comrades, Sai’s eyes looked down at s.h.i.+kamaru without any uneasiness or hesitation. Sai’s eyes had never been very expressive to begin with, but they’d never looked as blank and empty as they did now.

“Someone as intelligent and well-known as yourself…” Gengo said, “I think you’ve long figured out what I want from you.”

Of course s.h.i.+kamaru had noticed what Gengo wanted. He’d sensed it ages ago, but it was a ridiculous notion. It wasn’t ever going to happen. So he kept his mouth shut, and didn’t even waste his breath on it.

“Become my right hand man, s.h.i.+kamaru. If it’s you, then you will be able to bring a new world into existence alongside me. I can see that you are a man capable of that.”

“I’ll pa.s.s.”

s.h.i.+kamaru immediately spat out his reply. His eyes seethed with murderous rage as he glared up at Gengo.

But the country’s ruler didn’t seem the least bit affected. He calmly met s.h.i.+kamaru’s bloodthirsty gaze as if it was nothing more than a pa.s.sing wind.

“Someone who reacted to my sudden proposition with immediate joy and acceptance would not have been someone I would want. You’re doing very well, s.h.i.+kamaru.”

“You’ve been p.i.s.sing me off more and more with that all-knowing tone of yours, acting like you can see through everyone. What could you possibly understand about me?”

s.h.i.+kamaru wasn’t actually p.i.s.sed off. He wasn’t the sort of person who let things like this anger him enough to make him lose his cool. He was just acting like he was itching for a fight because he wanted to see his opponent’s reaction. That was all that it was.

“It’s impossible for one person to completely understand another.” Gengo said, “Isn’t that why I’m holding a conversation with you? I’m not seeing through you. I’ve simply lived a little longer than you have, so I can perceive your emotions a little. If that somehow seemed to manifest into an arrogant tone, then I apologise.”

“It’s exactly that kind of tone that p.i.s.ses me off.”

“I see…” Gengo closed his eyes and laughed in a self-deprecating way.

For a while, there was silence. Gengo’s gaze wondered around the room as if he was thinking.

He had deliberately created a chance for s.h.i.+kamaru’s ‘anger’ to cool down…

If you looked at the situation from afar, you’d think Gengo was simply pausing to gather his own thoughts and prepare for another conversation.

However, the reality was that if Gengo had continued the conversation with its current atmosphere, then s.h.i.+kamaru’s ‘anger’ would have continued to brim over until he was so incensed he would obstinately refuse to listen to anything. Gengo had deliberately created a lull in conversation to avoid that outcome.

Creating a pause for both parties to breathe and calm down would effectively change the strained atmosphere between them. Even if s.h.i.+kamaru had insisted on spitting out vitriol, with the absence of Gengo’s reply it would’ve been nothing more than empty howling that would release more anger than increase it.

Gengo was pus.h.i.+ng the conversation down the path that he wanted it to go.

This man had a lot of practice with negotiating…

Finally, after a long pause, Gengo’s eyes returned to look at s.h.i.+kamaru.

“There’s just one thing question I have for you, but would you be willing to give me an answer?”

“What?”

s.h.i.+kamaru regretted the word the moment he let it pa.s.s his mouth. But it was too late to take it back.

“Why are s.h.i.+n.o.bi so oppressed and downtrodden?”

Oppressed? s.h.i.+n.o.bi?

s.h.i.+kamaru didn’t understand what the man was getting at.

His silence encouraged Gengo to continue speaking, reinforcing his question with more talk.

“The villages that s.h.i.+n.o.bi live in are always, without exception, described as ‘hidden villages’. Why must s.h.i.+n.o.bi stay hidden? In all the countries in this continent, how much land do s.h.i.+n.o.bi really get to call their own? You’ll find that it’s a very small portion. And why is that? Because there are others who rule the majority of this continent. The daimyous.”

Well, he wasn’t wrong. s.h.i.+n.o.bi villages did have the t.i.tle of a ‘hidden village’ added to their name. The majority of the continent was indeed governed by Daimyous.

So what?

So the Daimyous governed the countries, so the s.h.i.+n.o.bi stayed in villages that were called ‘hidden villlages’. That didn’t make s.h.i.+n.o.bi oppressed.

s.h.i.+kamaru held a job in the very backbone of the s.h.i.+n.o.bi Union, so he knew a little bit more about the state of the world than others. The Daimyous, and the citizens who lived within the countries that they ruled, they all co-existed alongside s.h.i.+n.o.bi in a satisfactory, mutually beneficial relations.h.i.+p.

“Think about it, s.h.i.+kamaru. Why are s.h.i.+n.o.bi oppressed by the daimyous?”

“When have s.h.i.+n.o.bi ever been oppressed by the Daimyous?”

“It’s not just the daimyous. We’re oppressed by every single person who isn’t a s.h.i.+n.o.bi.” Gengo’s eyes looked like they were spitting flames as he looked at s.h.i.+kamaru. “I will ask you one more question.”

“You said you were just going to ask one…”

“I’m asking another.” Gengo sharply cut him off. “s.h.i.+n.o.bi hold a power different from all other humans in this world. Do you agree?”

Chakra and ninjutsu…

Well, you couldn’t deny that they were abilities that clearly separated s.h.i.+n.o.bi from normal people.

s.h.i.+kamaru silently nodded.

Gengo seemed satisfied by that, and continued speaking.

“And the power that s.h.i.+n.o.bi hold is one that far surpa.s.ses the limits of a human’s abilities.”

Again, s.h.i.+kamaru nodded.

The Great War that took place two years ago had been a battle that would decide the fight of the whole world. If the s.h.i.+n.o.bi alliance back then had been defeated, then neither s.h.i.+kamaru nor Gengo would be here talking now.

Whether it was Uchiha Madara, who had planned to drag every human on earth into a giant genjutsu’s dreams, or Naruto Uzumaki, who had taken all the tailed beasts into his body so he could end the battle, both were prime examples of living beings that simply couldn’t be called ‘human’ anymore. It was possible that with the developments of the last era, s.h.i.+n.o.bi had broken away from the path of ‘humanity’ all together.

“Why must s.h.i.+n.o.bi who surpa.s.s the limits of human beings be forced to live in ‘hidden’ villages? Why must we endure living that kind of life? Why must we be forced to work for our daily income as the daimyous’ errand boys? In the Great War two years ago, who was it that saved this world from destruction? It wasn’t the daimyou. It wasn’t the citizens.”

Gengo’s voice increased in power, pus.h.i.+ng down on s.h.i.+kamaru from every direction.

“Wasn’t it we s.h.i.+n.o.bi who saved this world?”

What was this power…?

It was making his heart thump erratically in his chest.

s.h.i.+kamaru felt something he hadn’t felt at all until this moment: exaltation.

Why did he feel like that?

…Maybe because Gengo had taken the same dangerous feelings that lurked in some repressed corner of s.h.i.+kamaru’s heart, and clearly put them into words.

He was right…

Two years ago, s.h.i.+n.o.bi had saved the world.

“Countless s.h.i.+n.o.bi fought and sacrificed their lives to protect this world, but just how many citizens actually know about that fact? The name of Uzumaki Naruto, someone adored all across the s.h.i.+n.o.bi world for being the hero that ended the war– it isn’t even known to a handful of citizens! Uchiha Madara, Uchiha Obito, Uchiha Sasuke, Hatake Kakas.h.i.+, the Five Kage, the Akatsuki, all of them, isn’t it a fact that n.o.body outside of the s.h.i.+n.o.bi world ever talks about them?”

It was exactly as Gengo said. No matter how much s.h.i.+n.o.bi put their lives on the line to protect the world, none of the citizens living within society would ever hear about it.

“This era of peace was built upon piles of s.h.i.+n.o.bi corpses, and yet the daimyou come and sit atop it without a moment of hesitation, comfortably continuing to rule the citizens without a single thought for us. It’s for the sakes of those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds that we s.h.i.+n.o.bi went out into the battlefield at the time of the Great War. We became living barriers for the daimyou and citizens. And yet, in return?”

Nothing had changed.

Well, s.h.i.+kamaru thought that wasn’t an unreasonable outcome.

The antagonists against the s.h.i.+n.o.bi alliance during the war, Uchiha Madara and Ootsutsuki Kaguya, had intended to pull all the people in the continent into a genjutsu so they could use their chakra as a living battery. 

The result had been that in the height of that fierce battle, all the citizens and daimyou had fallen into a deep sleep.

But still…

The fact remained that it wasn’t as if no one knew what happened during the Great War. They simply didn’t speak of it.

“Why are we s.h.i.+n.o.bi who hold the greater power forced to live in ‘hidden villages’, constantly lurking in the shadows as we go about our daily lives?” Gengo stood up from his throne. “Is it really for the best?”

Gengo took one step down the stairs. Then another. He slowly descended, holding s.h.i.+kamaru’s gaze as he kept speaking.

“s.h.i.+kamaru. The next question is what I really want to ask you.”

Gengo reached the bottom of the stairs, walking forwards so he stood right in front of s.h.i.+kamaru’s eyes.

“Wouldn’t it be for the best if s.h.i.+n.o.bi governed this world instead?”

‘You’re wrong.’ 

s.h.i.+kamaru couldn’t say those words. No, he couldn’t answer the question at all.

He didn’t know what was right anymore.

‘We are s.h.i.+n.o.bi because we endure.’

No matter how great the powers you held were, you served the people unseen and from the shadows. That was what s.h.i.+n.o.bi were defined by.

However.

Endless possibilities stemmed from the chakra and ninjutsu used by s.h.i.+n.o.bi. If s.h.i.+n.o.bi really took control from the daimyous the way Gengo said, and if they governed all the countries, then wouldn’t the world make even more remarkable progress than it has up to now?

What was really the best choice for the people?

He couldn’t give an answer.

“With the power of s.h.i.+n.o.bi, I am slowly going to elevate this country.” Gengo said. “I am going to put a clean end to this this unrelenting era of war lords. With the power of s.h.i.+n.o.bi, it’s possible!”

Killing the man called Gengo…was it really for the best?

s.h.i.+kamaru wasn’t so sure anymore.