Chapter 58: Do No Harm
It was the day of the Tournament. Phase 3 of the Chunin Exams. The time when Konoha needed all hands-on deck. The Hokage had to be present to ensure the Kazekage felt the suitable amount of courtesy and respect owed as the host of the Exams as well as making sure the Tsuchikage and Raikage didn't try to seize the allegiance away from Konoha. Each of the teams needed to be there, even if they weren't competing the cheer on their fellow teammates.
There was just one person that wasn't there.
That was Shimoda Daisuke.
Hiruzen took a puff of his pipe, sitting there in the Kage box at the end of the row. Directly to his left was the Kazekage, his face covered. Further left was the Tsuchikage, Onoki sitting there with an impassive expression and on the furthest seat was A, who sat there with his arms folded, glaring at the field as if daring it to try anything against his Shinobi.
Hisako had been reprimanded, of course, her attempts at venting her anger had accomplished the exact opposite of what the Hokage needed. Shimoda had been out of line, but the matter had been handled and now what the Hokage feared since their argument in the dunes after his battle with Orochimaru had happened – Daisuke had left. Perhaps permanently.
Given Daisuke's statements, it was easy to see that Shimoda's loyalty was faltering. According to the Will of Fire, a Shinobi needs to feel safe, protected and most importantly, loved to be a strong asset to the village. Daisuke's handicap was biological and attempting to teach him in the traditional ways had only eroded the Genin's trust.
The Hokage took another puff of his pipe, surveying the arena below.
It had seemed to work at first; Kakashi had reported resounding success with the tactics training, and so they had assumed that they had finally started to get through to him. Unfortunately, they had assumed wrongly; something else had gotten through to him, and they didn't know what it was. Perhaps Daisuke's unique summons had something to do with it?
They needed to understand what it was if they wanted to get through to him in the future. His handicap, as had been slapped in his face several times over this trip, was both a problem of personality and a problem of biology and it was the latter they had not truly taken into consideration.
Hiruzen took a moment to refill his pipe and light it with a fire jutsu. The Tsuchikage and the Raikage were both engaging in diplomatic chest pounding, while the Kazekage attempted to play mediator and make sure they remembered they were in his village and thus; guests.
Cell 13 was as distraught as any team in this position should be. Hisako hid her feelings behind a steely façade as she trained with the other teams. Nichiren, however, was afraid.
"We had a Shinobi with flawless Taijutsu and the ability to make up Ninjutsu on a whim," Nichiren had said. "And we just made him very, very angry."
Hiruzen had almost agreed with him and he was right about one thing, making Shimoda Daisuke angry was a very, very bad thing. But if there was one thing he had learned about Shimoda, it was that he was no Orochimaru. They were both genius's, but that was where the similarity ended. He actually cared about his friends and his team, anger at Hisako not-withstanding. They just needed a way to get him back, and there was a plan in place.
Shimoda's involvement in the exams had not been canceled as part of a gamble – if there was one thing that the Hokage could count on, it was Daisuke's thirst for combat bringing him back. Of course, if he didn't show up, it would be downright embarrassing for the entire village.
It would be tempting to try to simply capture him, leverage the Yamanaka to rewrite his mind. It was something that Hidden Stone or Hidden Cloud, or Danzo would've done in a heartbeat. But the Hokage had the Will of Fire and such an action would be considered abhorrent to anyone who truly held the Will of Fire as sacred.
Hiruzen was one such person. Such a thing had been ordered in the case of the Kurama clan, it would never happen again if he had anything to say about it.
The announcer down in the arena had announced the first match. The Sand Genin with a puppet arm verses one of the Cloud Genin. The Hokage paid attention as it was his duty; he had been curious how much trouble the Suna Genin would turn out to be given he was a prodigy of puppeteering.
The match went on with the Suna Genin victorious and Hiruzen nodded to himself. He could potentially be a lot of trouble.
The next match featured Hisako, fighting a Genin from stone. The match was over in seconds as Hisako unleashed a senbon barrage, paralyzing the Genin before she even knew what happened and she fell over. Being declared the victor, Hisako reclaimed her needles quickly and quietly, taking her spot in the stands after.
The next, another Cloud Genin and another Stone Genin. They were serviceable. The Cloud Genin won by impressively using a Shoto, but other than that, both were unremarkable.
Afterwards, was Nichiren's time to shine, fighting a Genin from cloud. It lasted seconds, just like the previous one. Nichiren drove into the ground and wires sprung up from the ground, tying the Genin to the ground, then had a cloth with chloroform wrapped around the Genin's face to induce a swift knockout.
Hiruzen sighed and puffed his pipe. Neither of Cell 13's current members were in any mood for showmanship; perhaps he should simply have given the team a battlefield promotion shortly after the Sewer Incident. It would've solved many, many different problems.
More fights, some dramatic because the Genin loved to hear themselves speak, some short because of the sheer difference in skill. Eventually, they landed at the last match of the first round.
"Final match of round one," The Proctor called out. "Shimoda Daisuke and Nogi Ayako."
A sudden blur arrived in the arena and the Hokage stopped to catch his breath. Shimoda had returned. Clad in his blue armored coat, gauntlets and boots, but also wearing a mask similar to his Sensei's. That would mean he wants to hide his appearance, which if the earlier reports of Daisuke's 'super henge' were accurate, means he had succeeded.
His problem was solved.
Which could mean a dozen new ones have cropped up…or everything was going to be fine.
Hope for the latter, prepare for the former.
The Hokage leaned in.
"Begin!"
The Proctor called.
Ayako, the Cloud Ninja flew into a flurry of hand-signs, her hands cackling with lightning. Daisuke simply rolled his shoulders. Ayako threw the lightning bolt out. "Lightning Release: Shock Bolt Jutsu!"
Daisuke slid to the side almost instantly, dodging the bolt that impacted the back of the arena. Then he charged forward, fist cocked back. The Hokage gripped his pipe tightly as he instantly wondered with dread if Daisuke remembered his command not to kill any of the other examinees.
But then Daisuke's fist slowed. Visibly slowed enough to give Ayako the opportunity to parry or dodged the blow. She parried, and did so without being blown into bloody chunks across the arena. The Hokage let out a long, long puff of smoke. Daisuke had remembered.
The two engaged in a melee, neither saying a word. To the Hokage's surprise, Daisuke was making a show of being on the defensive, allowing the other Genin to attack and show what she could do. Occasionally, she'd jump away and perform a lightning Jutsu, and Daisuke, instead of simply charging forward and stopping her from casting it like the Hokage knew he could do, allowed her to do so, dodging to the side and moving forward to chase after her to reengage her in melee.
This cycle repeated twice more before Ayako simply started running, throwing bolts of lightning behind. Daisuke chased after her, performing seals of his own and blowing a large number of small fireballs out at her. She dodged, but the balls fell to the ground behind her, leaving field of burning pits that she now had to dodge.
Impressive, The Hokage started to smile.
"You'd think he'd just end the fight," The Kazekage mused. Daisuke's mission history was on record, of course, so they all knew that he had taken on two S-rank missions and had grade 5 Ninjutsu and Taijutsu. "His teammates did so."
"We train our Genin well," The Raikage sneered.
"After the previous two members of his team simply shut their opponents down, I think he's trying for the showmanship angle," Onoki weighed in with a dismissive sniff of his red nose. "Doing an adequate job of it, no more."
Eventually, the fight was ended, with Shimoda shoving Ayako to the ground and her failing to muster the energy to get back up. "Shimoda Daisuke is the winner."
Daisuke disappeared, and reappeared in a seat at the far end of the arena.
The Hokage let out a sigh of relief. Things were going well. So far.
The Tournament continued. Ai, a member of team 3, was able to win her engagement with an impressive use of Bunshin. Nichiren, now smiling in relief the entire time, turned the arena into his own personal spider web, climbing and dropping from them while the beleaguered, Shoto-using Cloud Genin desperately tried to follow him and failed miserably. The only thing chopping at the ninja wire accomplished was a chipped blade.
Unsurprisingly, Nichiren was declared the winner.
Hisako's 'match', if you could call it that, was just an extended comedy act. She attached a Genjutsu to her opponent, making him believe he was in a desperate melee with Hisako and while he attacked, blocked and whirled against a phantom opponent, Hisako stood to the side, gesturing to him and looking utterly confused.
Onoki had buried his face in his hands in shame for his Genin. The Raikage looked at him with a glare that was not entirely without sympathy. The Genin ended up tiring himself out, collapsing in a heap and Hisako was declared the winner.
Daisuke's next match was more of the same. A careful look at him as the fight was started revealed that, yes, he did have his 'weapon' on him. He just wasn't using it and the Hokage wanted to applaud his restraint. Then he thought that it was remarkable that he wanted to applaud a ninja for just following orders.
Hiruzen held in a sigh, so as to not signal to the other Kage's he was troubled; it would not do to show any form of weakness. But he would need to have another talk with Daisuke and for all he knew, he might've been a completely different person with completely different motivations; it seemed like too much to hope that he was simply the same person but with a greater understanding of the world he inhabited. Enough, at least, that he would exercise common sense.
The match ended in Daisuke's favor. Of course.
Next round. The Suna Genin with the puppet arm against the final Cloud Genin. The Suna Genin won by dousing the nin in a poison cloud. A looked thoroughly disappointed. Hisako fought another Genin from Stone and beat her in seconds, dual wielding Kunai. The next match was Daisuke…fighting Nichiren.
"Hey, no hard feelings, right?" Nichiren asked hopefully, the sound of his voice carrying all the way to the Kage box.
Daisuke's only response was to shake his head.
"Right…great…" Nichiren said, sounding disheartened.
The match started. Nichiren jumped straight into the air, starting to weave his spider-web again and Daisuke sunk into the ground without a word. Nichiren sat high in his web, scanning the ground for Daisuke, waiting for him to charge out with his fist ready.
The web was anchored by a series of steel bolts that had dug into the walls of the arena. That detail only became relevant when Daisuke emerged near one of the walls, his hands cackling with lightning. He grabbed one of the wires, which just so happened to be the one Nichiren was standing on. Nichiren jumped to another wire, causing Daisuke to dive into the ground once again and reappear at the end of the new wire. The web that had been meant to ensure Nichiren's safety had become a deathtrap.
This continued until Nichiren had finally stepped on the wrong wire and was shocked, collapsing to the ground, face first. Daisuke ran to his side, and knelt, checking his pulse. With a groan, Nichiren stirred, and faced himself up.
"The winner is Shimoda Daisuke," The Proctor announced.
Daisuke extended his hand to help Nichiren up, and he took it.
"Good match," Nichiren said, sounding just a little nervous.
Daisuke's only response was to nod his head.
That was concerning.
If there was anything Daisuke was, it was talkative. He was constitutionally incapable of keeping a secret. Well, not incapable, he just didn't care. Sure, he was anti-social, disliked meeting new people that weren't targets and his only interest, by and large, was missions, but when you got him started on something like Jutsu, he wouldn't stop. Some of what he said was revolutionary but most of it was incomprehensible. Sometimes you couldn't tell which was which until after you thought about it, but he was talkative.
Now he wasn't saying anything at all.
Was it something as benign as sounding different and wanting to wait until a proper introduction or has his mindset changed where he doesn't want to say anything at all? The former was understandable, the latter could be disastrous for their R&D at the absolute least.
An aide came to the Kazekage's ear and whispered something, handing him a clipboard. After a moment of examining the clipboard, he leaned toward the Hokage.
"Hokage-dono, it has come to my attention that the last match will feature three competitors," The Kazekage whispered to Hiruzen. "Two of them are from your village. In the interest of keeping things fair and providing more entertainment to our potential clients, I have a solution."
"Go ahead," The Hokage replied.
"My own son is a highly skilled shinobi in his own right," The Kazekage eyes narrowed as if they were smiling. "I suggest that he and Shimoda be the final match of Phase 3."
The Hokage took a moment to think.
Shimoda might know that Gaara is the Jinchūriki. He wouldn't have any reason to know, but he had known things he shouldn't have before. If that was the case, this fight would be Daisuke-kun's wettest dream. It was all there, challenge, a suitably strong opponent, lots of progress toward his next level of power, everything he could possibly want.
A fight like this, so long as Shimoda didn't kill Gaara, might go a long way to repair the burning bridges between the Hokage and Daisuke. Then maybe, just maybe, given his newfound awareness that may or may not actually exist, they might be able to have a conversation. A real conversation. About his behavior, about the misunderstandings that have happened, about what they're going to do in the future.
"That is acceptable," The Hokage nodded, standing. "I will go speak with him, we wouldn't want to leave our future clients without a grand finale, would we?"
"No, we wouldn't," The Kazekage stood turned to the other two Kage. "We will return shortly after arranging for the final two rounds. Please Kage-dono, help yourselves to the refreshments, have as much as you want."
Onoki and A offered their thanks, everyone gave a formal bow of farewell.
Hiruzen used the brief time in the trip from the Kage box to Daisuke's seat down to prepare. Of course, that time was brief, and he quickly found himself standing next to Daisuke's seat. Sitting next to him was Hisako, who had been looking at her newly returned teammate with wariness and then Nichiren to the side from her, looking nervous. "Daisuke-kun."
Daisuke slowly turned to face him. His eyes seemed more…alive than before. Less statue like. Hisako and Nichiren turned to face him as well.
"The final round was going to be a three-way fight, with two of the nin being from Konoha. In the interest of preserving fairness, the Kazekage has offered to allow you to fight his son, Sabaku no Gaara, whom you met," The Hokage explained. "I had accepted the offer. Will you be alright doing so?"
Daisuke nodded.
"Are you aware of the…unusual circumstances surrounding his son?" The Hokage asked.
Daisuke nodded again. There was no look of confusion, no deadpan and annoyed expression that conveyed his lack of understanding or his bloodline telling him that, yet again, he had failed to understand something, just a nod.
"Do your best not to kill him. But if he makes that impossible, do what must be done," The Hokage ordered with a frown.
Daisuke nodded again.
The Hokage stayed for just a moment to see if Daisuke would say anything.
"Hokage-sama," Daisuke finally spoke. His voice was soft and quiet, almost to the point that Hiruzen had missed it. "So long as I don't kill Gaara, do you care how I handle the fight?"
Hiruzen blinked. "No. I do not care. Just…make it flashy."
Daisuke nodded and made to sit down.
"And Daisuke-kun," The Hokage said. "After the tournament, we need to have a talk."
Daisuke stopped, looked at Hiruzen, and nodded. Then he sat down and The Hokage shunshin'd back to the Kage-box.
"Well?" Onoki huffed, cup of sake in hand. "Don't keep us in suspense. What's going on with the final fight?"
"It was going to be a three-way brawl," The Kazekage replied. "A treat for our potential clients who haven't seen something like this before. But since two of the combatants are from the same village, we've broken them up into two fights. One of the finalists will be fighting my son Gaara. The other two combatants will fight each other."
"And Hokage-dono agreed to this," Onoki's eyebrow had raised as high as it could.
"I did," Hiruzen nodded.
"You're both very confident, it seems," A explained with a raised eyebrow.
"We're just wanting to give the clients a show," The Kazekage said coyly.
It was patently obvious that every Kage was hoping for a fatality, Hiruzen included. As the Jinchūriki with power over the sands, Gaara was all kinds of terrifying to fight on the battlefield, no matter who you were. If the Land of Wind had more resource value, to make it worth conquering, Gaara would be the only reason no one would actually try.
Of course, the other Kage were hoping Daisuke would die horrifically because none of them wanted to see what he would do to their forces once he reached Jounin. In A and Onoki's wildest dreams, it'd be a double fatality.
"Next match of the two final matches, Yamada Hisako and Ueda Aritomo. Contestants, are you ready?"
The next match started. Hisako opened with a Genjutsu, which was quickly dispelled. Ueda's puppet arm opened and started shooting senbon at Hisako, who jumped into the air to dodge and threw out needles of her own. Eventually, they both ran out of needles, so Hisako charged with a pair of Kunai in her hands.
Ueda jumped back, leaving a cloud of poisonous gas from his arm behind him, which Hisako barely stopped herself from entering, instead charging around the cloud as the wind blew it away in the opposite direction.
Two more clouds that Hisako only barely avoided entering and then they were set to Taijutsu. A sword extended from Ueda's arm and the two met each other in a melee. Kicks, punches, slices, stabs until Hisako managed to break the puppet by bringing her kunai's pommel down onto a critical point, causing it to fall apart.
She kicked him to the ground and held him at knife point.
"The winner is Yamada Hisako," The announcer called. "The next match will be between Shimoda Daisuke and the Kazekage's own son, Sabaku no Gaara!"
Gaara appeared in the arena in a large gust of sand and wore a blood thirsty smile on his face, as if he had been looking forward to this for a month. Given the reports on the Kazekage's son, he likely was. Daisuke had taken his spot opposite of the Jinchūriki.
"Contestants ready?" The Announcer asked, sounding just a little nervous. "Begin!"
Daisuke jumped to the rear end of the arena, his hands flying through seals before activating some jutsu. The trouble with Daisuke and his techniques was that he was not in the habit of announcing his jutsu which while robbing enemies of knowledge of what was to come, it prevented his allies from knowing when something impossibly dangerous was heading their way.
Gaara sent a tidal wave of sand at Daisuke and Daisuke…just walked toward him. Just walked. Made no attempt to dodge to one side or the other, just walked.
The Hokage took a long puff of his pipe. This had better be good.
As the sand rushed toward him, a distinct hum started to rise at the edge of Hiruzen's hearing. Then the sand started to…warp. It was as if some Genjutsu had been placed on them, because the sand that had rushed toward Daisuke was twisted and contorted by some, unseen hand, forced to divert its course and go around him.
The hum had grown loud, surging in volume with each attempt by Gaara's sand to crush and destroy the Shinobi walking toward him but passing harmlessly around him. Gaara himself was now growing frantic, pulling sand from outside the arena and shoving it at Daisuke, adding to the hurricane of sand that trying and failing to murder the opponent.
Hiruzen suppressed the urge to laugh at the Kazekage's twitching eye.
Until finally, Daisuke had reached Gaara. Daisuke flipped through several hand signs and placed his open palm on Gaara's stomach, and the sandstorm died immediately. With that done, Daisuke withdrew several paces back.
"Wha-what did you do?" Gaara demanded.
"You should be getting control of your sand in a few minutes," Daisuke replied, clearing his throat. "As for what I did, I fixed and improved the seal that had been written on your stomach."
"You what?" Gaara also demanded, taking a step back, looking down right terrified. "Why can't I hear mother?"
"I'm afraid that wasn't your mother you were hearing," Daisuke replied sternly. "That was Shukaku, the demon sealed inside you. As for why you can't hear him, I added some tools for you to use to shut him out and prevent him from speaking to you if you don't want him too. Ultimately, he won't be able to take over your body while you sleep and he won't be able to give you nightmares any more. You can still talk with him if you wish, but I would recommend doing so sparingly until you come to some sort of peaceful arrangement. Your sand will still spring up to defend you, asleep or awake, regardless."
Gaara was sputtering, even as the sand around him started to rise again.
"I think what you can take away from this is that you can finally get some goodnights sleep again," Daisuke summed up, sounding like he was smiling underneath his mask. "After this match, I'd recommend doing so. Going as long as you have without sleep isn't really healthy."
"But…why?" Gaara looked thoroughly lost and confused.
"Because I could," Daisuke nodded. "And it seemed like you could use the help."
"…why didn't you kill me?" Gaara said, still sounding completely thrown off.
"I didn't want too," Daisuke shrugged.
"But…that…I…" Gaara's sputtering was starting to sound comical.
"I didn't want to hurt you," Daisuke explained.
"But you should be trying to justify your existence," Gaara objected.
"My existence doesn't need justification," Daisuke answered with pity. "Neither does yours. Anyway, I've got things to do, I think you should go take that nap. I think I'll still be in the village for the day if you've got any more questions."
"The winner is Shimoda Daisuke," The announcer called from his place near the top of the stands, sounding thoroughly confused.
Then he zipped back to his seat.
Hiruzen sat there, in his seat, thoroughly dumbfounded. Absolutely, completely dumbfounded. From his singular most blood thirsty, vicious and almost amoral Genin came perhaps one of the greatest gifts of generosity and kindness that he had ever seen.
He took a puff from his pipe. Things have changed.
The Hokage had gathered everyone together. Kakashi, Anko, Hisako, Nichiren and himself. It was time to finally speak with the new Daisuke, who stood off from the group, shuffling nervously in his feet.
"Alright, Daisuke…do you feel comfortable taking off your mask?" Kakashi asked.
"Yeah, give me a second," Daisuke pulled his mask down and lifted the goggles off of his eyes, revealing Daisuke…but looking healthy. His skin had a natural tone to it and his eyes seemed to shine with both a new life and a… sadness behind them. "I didn't want everyone to freak out when I showed up looking and sounding so differently, thus the mask."
"Daisuke…" Hisako almost looked breathless.
"It's still me, Hisako," Daisuke replied, wearing a gentle smile on his face that seemed so genuine it almost seemed impossible that this was still Daisuke. "It's finally fixed."
"I'll say," Nichiren said with a smile of his own.
"So…what was that?" Hisako asked. "In the arena?"
"I saw a kid who desperately needed some help," Daisuke shrugged. "I don't feel bad for what I did, I figured that if I could help set him on the road to recovery, that'd strengthen our ties to Suna. We do want that, right?"
"We do, yes," The Hokage replied with a nod, still trying to figure out what to make of this Shinobi.
"Anyway, I do have something I want to talk about before we go any further," Daisuke said, looking firmly at the Hokage.
"And what is that?" Hiruzen asked with a frown.
"The matter of my resignation," Daisuke said with a frown of his own.
Hisako and Nichiren both groaned in severe disappointment.
Of all the things that the Hokage didn't want to hear at that moment, that was pretty high up there. "And why are you resigning?"
"I'm unfit for duty," Daisuke replied matter-of-factly. "In my lust for blood and power, seeking progress at all costs and my general mental instability, I've repeatedly violated Konoha's code of conduct and demonstrated that I'm a danger to both myself and those around me. I have no desire to continue this trend and I don't want to put my fellow shinobi at risk."
Hisako's mouth fell open.
"Normally, I would agree with you," Hiruzen replied. "But you just saw the plight of a complete stranger and moved to help them. I do not believe that you remain a danger as you say."
"While I have achieved a greater awareness of my behavior and the affect it has, that does not mean that my instability has been cured," Daisuke explained with a frown. "If pressed, I cannot guarantee that I won't act rashly or without thought simply because the problems are still there. They're getting better, but I'm not going to be at the point where I'm serviceable for a long time, if ever."
Hiruzen let out a breath. "There's still the arrangement we came too after you had handled Orochimaru. Would you be opposed to a trial run, just to see if you can handle missions acceptably? If not, we will allow you to resign."
"Thank you," Daisuke let out a sigh of relief.
"But only if Konoha can call upon you in a state of emergency," Hiruzen replied, recalling the condition that his pupil Tsunade was allowed to roam the country side as a drunk gambler.
Daisuke stopped for a minute. "That is acceptable. But I refuse to have anything to do with assassinations."
"That is fine," Hiruzen smirked. "We were never interested in having you perform assassinations…you're much more suited to open warfare."
Daisuke looked at the ground in…was that shame?" Yes I am, Hokage-sama. Yes I am."
Things have changed, Hiruzen thought as Hisako placed a hand on Daisuke's shoulder with a concerned look. Things have definitely changed.
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