Weight of the Maelstrom.
Chapter 5: The Cost of Taboos.
Itsuki Uzumaki.
The mercenary stared blankly at his bleeding digit, his brain struggling to process the speed of the amputation. He surely tried to move and run away, his body convulsing against the thick roots of the tree.
Not that he would, obviously.
There was a genuine difference between a civilian and a ninja, even someone like me who hadn't graduated by the time the attack happened was leagues away from someone like him.
Hell… he was weaker than the normal mercenary I had seen back in Uzushio while I grew up. Significantly so.
To the point that it made me frown in confusion. Like… sure, I didn’t expect him to be capable of molding chakra or anything like that, but I expected something a bit more than the pathetic sight in front of me.
At this point I didn’t even consider him a mercenary, he was more of a thug.
My hand clamped firmly against his mouth, drowning his screams that started increasing in volume before I pushed his head against the tree with a resounding bang.
“Breathe through your nose,” I instructed calmly, “If you hyperventilate, you will pass out and I will be forced to wake you up. You don't want that, right? Nod if you understand.”
His frantic eyes looked for any hope behind me, or anything, but there was nothing in my senses area. He nodded fearfully after slumping against the tree, tears falling down his eyes in a way that disgusted me.
I slowly removed my hand from his mouth, keeping the blood-stained kunai resting against his ear.
Ignoring the admittedly mixed feelings I had about what I was doing, I continued calmly, “your employer. Tell me about him. Exact numbers, security, what does he want from Wave?”
“He… he has a hundred men,” the thug stammered, feeling the kunai press against his ear, “Maybe a bit more, a hundred and fifty, tops. We mostly stay around his own compound, he vacated the houses next to it and we sleep there in bunks.”
“What do you do apart from scaring the people? Do you have any other orders?”
He shook his head pitifully, “We just scare them, man. Gato doesn’t trust us to do much more, he has another group focused on the business side. We’re just here to keep things under control.”
I didn’t expect much better from his kind, but it still disgusted me to the core. Fucking pests.
“What about his other forces then? You’re not enough to make them this afraid. He’s got to have someone strong enough to cull their attempts to overthrow him, all magnates like him do. Does he have ninjas under his payroll?”
I pressed the kunai hard enough to draw blood.
“There’s no ninja! I swear on my life, man! Gato doesn’t trust them not to backstab him! Unless things go much, much worse I doubt he will call for them! He does have some ronin, that's all!”
My eyes narrowed behind the mask, frowning. Fuck.
“How many? How strong?”
“Three, I saw them tailing him once. I swear!” he shook his head, “But they are monsters, you have to believe me! One of them cut a man in half because he spilled wine on his boots. They guard Gato personally and rarely leave his compound. They don’t patrol like the rest of us.”
I nodded, thankful for the mask that hid my true feelings.
I genuinely doubted Gato had some strong samurai with him, but each one would be at least comparable to a Genin, at the bare minimum. In a fair fight, they would complicate matters a lot for me.
On the other hand, I was a ninja, I didn’t fight fair. And I didn’t particularly intend to get into fights with Gato. I was here only to plan my next move in peace, not for long.
A small part of me shouted I wasn’t like that. Another part that sounded a lot like Kiyoshi was disappointed in me that I didn’t put myself in danger to save the civilians.
And the last part, which sounded a lot like elder Aoi said that this wasn’t my fight and I was doing the correct things keeping a low profile.
I ignored all for the moment.
Samurai were… surprisingly tricky for a ninja. Much more so than the monks, at least.
They didn’t depend on hand seals or flashy tricks to do the most damage, no. They were just unbelievably fast for their strength, and a single lucky strike would probably do more harm than a normal jutsu.
“That’s all I need to know about Gato,” I patted his shoulder, “but we’re not done. When was Uzushiogakure destroyed?”
The mercenary blinked in confusion, “What? Uzu-what? I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. Please, I gave you everything I know man, let me go.”
Clenching my fist, I drove it against his sternum with every fucking ounce of strength I had. The tree groaned behind him as his eyes went white for a second, but I was breathing heavily as I ignored the falling leaves against my head.
Then slapped his head hard enough to feel a mild sting on my palm.
“Think.” I ground out, grabbing him from the collar and pulling him close enough that his nose touched my mask.
The sudden movements dislodged the hood from my cloak and the fabric slipped back, exposing my bright red hair to the rain.
That alone stopped the panic in his movements as his clarity returned, his eyes going wide before a new kind of horror entered his expression. He stared at me like he was looking at a ghost, and honestly, he wasn’t that far off.
“You…” he choked out, voice trembling, “The red hair… I heard about you. The cursed island. The island where ghosts still roam.”
I backhanded him once more, feeling a fire deep inside my chest at hearing him call him that.
“A ghost wouldn’t be able to harm you, I very much can,” I said coldly, “Answer the fucking question! When did it happen!?”
He spat a glob of blood onto the mud.
“Thirty or so years ago,” he whimpered, crying once more, “it was just before the second ninja war started. Everyone around here knows the story… That clan used to help the people from Wave in the past. They say it’s since then that things have gone poorly for them.”
My vision swam, and I felt a few stray tears escape my eyes no matter how hard I tried to stay in control.
The sound around the forest disappeared as I focused on the terrified expression on the thug, looking deeper with my new senses as I tried to sort past all the fear.
He was telling the truth. Three decades. Three fucking decades since the attack happened.
Since we were left alone inside that seal.
An entire generation, basically.
I forced my uneven breathing to calm, barely suppressing the urge to vomit everything inside my stomach. I shoved the existential dread deep into the darkest corner of my mind. I wouldn’t break in front of him.
“I doubt you know much about the ninja villages, so I won't waste our time. Talk to me about Konoha,” I demanded firmly, “The leaf. Who is the Hokage right now?”
He sighed in relief. Any other time, that would’ve brought a snort out of me, but I couldn’t even do that.
“The third,” he responded quickly, “Hiruzen Sarutobi. The God of Shinobi. He’s the current Hokage.”
That did bring a snort, but it wasn’t one of amusement. It was of disbelief at the gall of such an idiot. Unless things had changed that much, Hiruzen Sarutobi shouldn’t be capable of carrying in the tree humper’s sandals.
And I frowned after the snort, feeling confused.
Hiruzen was older than me, obviously. I still remembered the monkey faced bastard that visited to beg for one of our clansmen in case of Mito’s death. He was around mid-twenties or so when I last saw him.
He had to be ancient by now. In ninja terms. Ninja work wasn’t particularly kind to old age.
Why the hell was he still in power? Kage’s were supposed to give way to the younger generation at one point.
“Talk of everything you know,” my voice rose slightly, “everything. Every fucking major conflict since the thirty years ago.”
The thug didn’t wait for a second, “the second war. It started as soon as the island burned. Konoha won, beating the sand and other hidden villages. The Hokage’s students made themselves legends by surviving Hanzo the Salamander. There was another white-haired man that became popular, the white fang. I don’t know the details, man. Please don’t hurt me.”
“What else?” I motioned at him to continue.
“The third war was the biggest, but Konoha still won. They defeated the mist, cloud and stone by themselves. They had the yellow flash; he basically made the stone surrender by himself. He became the fourth Hokage after that.”
I had no fucking idea of who he was talking about. He was either younger than me, or Konoha had kept his prowess under wraps for a long time. Someone who could defeat a village by himself wasn’t someone simple.
I ignored the hatred burning inside my chest at Konoha’s situation. They survived; they were probably thriving after they ignored our plight. When they had the force to help us.
“And then?” I pressed, “Where is the fourth Hokage? Shouldn’t he be in power?”
He shook his head as a hint of fear that didn’t belong to the situation wormed into his heart and almost consumed the one I was causing.
“The nine-tails attacked,” the thug shivered, “Fifteen years ago. The demon fox attacked the village and the fourth Hokage died stopping it. He is a hero, but the third took over again and has remained in power since then.”
I experienced once more the absolute silence from a bit before. This time… it felt even worse.
The Nine-Tails attacked the village.
Mito had sealed the beast inside herself, and the loud brat Kushina was taken from us to take her place. If the fox broke out and devastated the village, it meant the vessel failed. That the seal broke.
It meant that Kushina was dead. Almost assuredly.
I didn’t feel the satisfaction I believed I would get when I thought of her after we came out of the seal.
Instead, a profound, suffocating loneliness crashed all over me. In the ruins of my home, I had told myself I didn’t care about her. I had cursed her name in my head more times than it was healthy, feeling anger and jealousy at her being safe with the enemy and not doing anything to help.
Ignoring that she was probably too young to even do anything. Away from her family, probably hearing the news and feeling as alone as I currently did.
But I thought I hated her, I convinced myself that she wasn’t a true Uzumaki like the rest of us that died in our home.
But hearing something that would only make sense with her death felt entirely different. Horrible in a way I couldn’t articulate.
She was one loud, obnoxious brat. One that had too much energy for someone her size. Her energy probably stored itself on her cheeks, which was why Kiyoshi found adorable to pinch the small redhead every time she could.
“How?” I whispered almost brokenly, “how could the beast cause that much damage? You said it yourself that Konoha came on top of every other village, they had the forces to contain it! Where were the Third’s students?”
“The Sannin?” the mercenary snorted, before a coughing fit started because of his injuries, “Orochimaru went rogue before the attack. He betrayed the village or something, I heard he was making experiments with children. The slug princess hasn’t been with them since years before the Nine-Tails, gambling and running from town to town in the Land of Fire. Jiraiya, I have no idea. I just heard the rumors after it happened.”
“What about the White Fang you mentioned? The Third? The other two students of Tobirama?”
“The White Fang killed himself years before that happened, man,” he groaned in pain.
“What about Kagami Uchiha?!” I growled at the man, grabbing his throat, “Fuck, his fucking clan!? Their eyes are the perfect counter to the Tailed Beasts. Where were they?!”
The man’s eyes bulged as my fingers cut off his air supply. I loosened my grip just enough to let him speak.
“I don’t know any Kagami!” he rasped. “I don’t know what they were doing, but things turned for the worst after that for them. The Uchiha clan was massacred by one of them, Itachi Uchiha, nine or so years ago. There’s only two Uchiha left, the insane one and the kid he spared.”
I didn’t let go of his throat as my vision darkened. What the actual fuck happened while I was inside the seal. I couldn’t believe everything the thug was saying, but it was the best I could get from far away from the main villages. I didn’t want to risk asking these kinds of questions around Tazuna, he already suspected me enough.
The thug continued weeping as my hand tightened unconsciously. “Please, man, let me go. I told you everything I knew! I’ll leave the country and I swear I won’t say anything to Gato. You’re obviously a ninja and I don’t want anything to do with ninja business. Just let me live… please.”
I stared at him.
My mind was not aiding my decision making at all. A mixture of disbelief, hatred, depression, grief and so many others made everything blur. The world had moved on after my clan was wiped out.
I wasn’t that surprised by that, but it still hurt. That was all we were, a footnote in history books. Our allies, the winners of the previous two ninja wars were a shell of their former self and probably at the weakest they had ever been.
The only survivor I had expected to hate was not in this world anymore, and I didn’t know more about her line. What if she died without having a child? Was I truly the last of the Uzumaki clan?
Could my clan have done anything to change the outcome of the attack?
Yes… Yes, we had the methods there.
But my clan died because they refused to delve into it. The majority of the elders valued family and the sanctity of life beyond everything else.
We were scholars first and ninjas second.
They possessed the knowledge to bend chakra under them but refused to use it because they deemed it taboo.
They didn’t follow every study possible because it was too dangerous.
And look where that took us.
Morality was a luxury exclusively for the victorious.
I looked down at the thug, then at the stump on his hand. At his flesh, then at the alarmed pulse of his blood vessels thanks to the stress of the situation.
I could feel in the back of my head his very own chakra, shackled under his skin.
The body. Our sanctuary.
A canvas.
My head thrummed like I was hit by a physical blow for a moment as my eyes brightened.
Something must have shown in my eyes because the thug started to fight against his bindings like a man possessed.
If I wanted to survive, if I wanted to bring back the name of my clan to the respect it deserved and start it anew, I couldn’t be bound by the taboos of the elders. I needed to weaponize everything the God had implanted into my mind, not being too afraid to use it to my advantage. I needed to understand why the body was so important for the God to impart so much medical knowledge into me.
“You’re staying with me,” I said, my voice devoid of emotion.
He trashed harder and harder, and a flutter on my back broke through the cloak as my chakra chains bound him even tighter against the tree.
He was pinned so thoroughly that he wasn’t capable of even flexing his muscles.
“You! You were supposed to let me go!” he cried out.
“I’m sorry,” I replied simply, “But take comfort. Your body is about to serve a much higher purpose.”
Reaching into my pouch, I unsealed one of the high-grade ceramic ink pots and the finest brushes Uzushiogakure had.
“What are you going to do to me?!” he shrieked, his eyes tracking my every movement.
I ignored his pleas, stepping forward and slicing the sleeve of his shirt with my kunai to expose his bare shoulder and bicep.
I closed my eyes, and focused in my internal library to call upon the massive medical archive buried inside my head. Smiling as the exact section of that part of the body came to mind.
According to the book, a very tiny thing called Brachial Plexus. A bundle of nerves that start from the spinal cord and branches to the shoulder and arm.
Then I sought for the low-level seals. Things that were usually put in high-quality parchment.
A pain override seal.
I pressed the brush against his skin and the ink glowed faintly as my chakra infused the very strokes.
“Let us see how long you last,” I whispered.
I finished the final kanji and flared my chakra to activate the array. The formula flashed brightly under my hopeful glance.
The result was instantaneous and horrific. The mercenary's arm seized violently. The nerves misfired completely. Instead of blocking pain, the seal amplified the ambient sensory input into an agonizing overload. Blood began to pour from the man's nose as his brain struggled to process the pain signals. He bit through his own lip, unable to scream over the violent muscle spasms.
I watched it in detachment. Focused only on the lines to understand where I had made a mistake.
But it wasn’t entirely my fault. His own electric signals from his nervous system affected the array of the seal.
Curious.
Dragging my kunai across the seal, I severed the ink lines and broke the array.
The man slumped against the tree, gasping for air as his arm trembled uncontrollably.
I moved to his opposite arm, exposing the flesh over his radial artery. The goal was to limit blood flow simply by manipulating the pressure inside the vein.
It was a basic seal that normally served to add pressure into things. Not specifically bodies, but I was here to learn.
I pushed my chakra into the finished seal.
The mercenary shrieked. The thick vein on his forearm bulged unnaturally against his skin. The pressure equation was a bit too high for such a sensitive place. The blood pooled instantly.
A massive purple bruise spread across his arm in seconds, but the vein did not burst through the skin.
He would live.
A dark, but undeniably real thrill shot through my veins. A whisper that sounded like Elder Aoi congratulated me softly for forcing myself to go through with it.
I broke the taboo of my clan. I had successfully (maybe?) integrated an external sealing matrix into a living being.
I could do almost anything… theoretically.
For training purposes I could add gravity seals directly inside my body. Strengthening seals that would make my bones and flesh stronger. I could add seals into my eyes to make them better.
I could maybe add seals around my nerves so that they worked at a higher level than normal.
Ink my heart to make it more efficient.
The potential was limitless. Monstrous, yes, but limitless.
I looked at his stomach. I wanted to try one final experiment. To see exactly how much stress the physical human body could take. I couldn’t experiment on myself without risking killing myself even if my body was much sturdier than normal.
I started painting the same seal I used on the chain that hung on my neck.
"Please," the mercenary wheezed, his body broken and exhausted. "Stop."
I finished the final line and closed my eyes.
A spatial seal worked by using chakra to tear a microscopic hole in reality, anchoring a pocket dimension to a physical object. The silver chain was strong enough to hold that anchor.
Him? I didn't know.
I placed my palm flat against his stomach and channeled a massive surge of chakra directly into the array.
The ink flared for a second before everything went to hell.
The human body fundamentally rejected the dimensional tear. The seal collapsed inward with a sickening, high-pitched whine.
The thug did not even have time to scream.
The center of his torso simply detonated.
The explosion was entirely localized, but the sheer force of the spatial collapse ripped his abdomen apart. I couldn’t even start to name the damage the seal had done to his body, but I ended up dripping with parts of him.
The golden chain snapped back into my spine, vanishing instantly. What was left of the mercenary collapsed into the mud with a wet thud.
I stood completely frozen.
The hot blood dripped slowly from the chin of my oni mask. The metallic stench of human viscera filled the humid air.
My stomach violently rebelled.
I fell to my knees, ripping the mask off my face. I vomited the meager contents of my stomach directly into the dirt. Heaving until my throat burned and my eyes watered, coughing violently as the adrenaline finally crashed.
I had killed before, but it was before the invasion. Part of the Academy was taking the life of one of the prisoners to get us used to it. But they were the vilest of the trash.
This was entirely different. This was plain murder. I had butchered a defenseless man purely for the sake of my own strength. I had knowingly and willingly shattered the sacred taboo of my family.
I was a monster.
I knelt in the mud for ten minutes, letting the freezing rain wash the worst of the gore from my hair and face. I stared at the ruined corpse.
"Morality is a luxury," I repeated aloud, my voice hoarse.
I forced myself to stand. Wiping my mouth with the back of my hand and secured my mask.
I went through the mercenary's discarded gear mechanically, grabbing his stash of Ryo and tossing them into my own storage scroll.
I formed the hand seals for a basic Earth jutsu, opening a deep fissure beneath the tree roots and kicked the mutilated remains into the hole and sealed the earth back over it, leaving absolutely no trace of the execution.
Turning my back on the unmarked grave, I sprinted through the treeline, moving like a ghost through the downpour that had somehow gotten worse.
Slipping back through the attic window of Tazuna's house I cursed as the first hints of dawn began to lighten the eastern sky. Fun... I would get barely any sleep.
I stripped off the blood-soaked gear, sealing it away immediately. Maybe I'd get the chance to clean them on a river or the ocean one of these days.
I collapsed onto the thin mattress in the corner of the room. My body was entirely exhausted, and my mind was fractured, but the knowledge I had gained was undeniable.
Closing my eyes, I tried to get little rest, and for the first time since leaving the ruins, the screams of my clanmates were silent.
Drowned under the sound the thug made before he died.
Author's note: Itsuki is in a place I don't usually write. Elias did hard things for love. Dante does hard things because it was his nature and it's just now learning how to be mortal. Itsuki is a good kid in a fucked-up situation, watching what his family's morality cost them, deciding the lesson was that they were wrong. That's a different kind of dark and I'm finding it harder to write than I expected.
This chapter also locks in the direction his power is going to take. If you've got ideas for what he could carve into himself, drop them in the comments. I'll read all of them.