Capítulo 26: Land Of Waves Arc (3) : A Real Man.
Naruto and Sasuke soon swapped with Tachibana while Kakashi remained awake.
Before going to sleep, however, Tachibana performed a simple divination.
"The danger that awaits us on our current Mission."
Tachibana muttered the statement seven times before using cogitation to fall asleep and initiate a dream divination sequence.
His vision abruptly shifted to an overview of a dense forest. It was night and Loki could see the campfire that was still burning with Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi sitting around it.
'Is this the forest we are currently in?'
The view then slowly shifted to the trees where Tachibana spotted a shinobi team waiting and watching Kakashi and the entire team.
They didn't have their weapons out and neither were they on guard.
Tachibana could make out the designs on their headbands but when he did he frowned.
'Shinobi from Kumogakure?'
'Was there a plot like this in the original?'
'I think not. Something's changed.'
But the vision didn't end there, it shifted pushing through the trees until it broke through to show light.
It swam over the mist-covered waters before reaching a bridge that was under construction. Except there were no workers on this eerie bridge. It was empty. And all of a sudden the bridge exploded. Sending chunks of rock and cement attached to rebar flying through the air.
The ground was dyed red and light footsteps were heard, before Tachibana saw Kakashi's head on the floor, his eyes open, gazing into the empty vastness of the sky. Maruboshi lying dead similarly with one of his legs lost and a blade sticking out of it.
There were bodies of various other shinobi's too, but he couldn't recognise any of them apart from Haku and Zabuza.
The area was a bloodbath.
Tachibana woke up with sweat covering all of his forehead.
The back of his shirt had become wet and he felt like he couldn't go back to sleep.
'Should I tell Kakashi about it?'
'No…even if he doesn't do anything to me for now, I don't' know what'll happen to me once I go back.'
'I'm sure Hiruzen will be happy enough to throw me to the root to dig out all my secrets.'
'But what then…'
[ The host has come across a particularly grim vision. Generating Mission. ]
[ Mission has been generated. ]
[ Mission : Prevent the worst from occurring. ]
[ Reward : Access to a custom contract with a spirit world creature. ]
Tachibana froze when he saw the mission that the system had assigned to him.
'Seriously? Getting involved in that?'
'I don't even want to continue this mission any longer.'
'What can I with half-assed clones and barely over a month of taijutsu training do against some of the top per cent of this world?'
[ If the host does not perform the mission, nothing will happen. There is no penalty. The host will only miss the reward. ]
Seeing this made Tachibana *sigh* in relief.
'Alright then, I'll just divine the possibility of me surviving in the mission tomorrow and then once they know that it'll be very risky to take me along they'll allow me to leave.'
Tachibana was about to go to sleep, but he stopped and performed another divination instead.
"Why are the shinobi from Kumogakure interfering with this mission?"
Tachibana repeated the question seven times before using cogitation once again.
His vision shifted once again, and he was transported to a top view of the world.
Tachibana's eyes caught sight of the entire sea surrounding the island nation of the Land of Waves.
His vision shifted for Tachibana to end up with a document that was on the Hokage's table. A document that Hiruzen was reading.
'Strategic Military Camp Sites For Early Detection Of Invasions.'
'Ah.'
Tachibana understood what was going on.
'This deal was probably held by Hiruzen so that he could slowly set up a base camp for Konoha in the Land of Waves to spy on Kumogakure and Kirigakure.'
'Is that why Kumogakure wants this deal to fall through?'
'So that they don't have to have Big Brother Konoha breathing down their necks?'
'...I could hint at this tomorrow in our conversation. But I don't know what would Kakashi's response be if he learnt that I knew something like this.'
'It's a military secret after all.'
'One that's probably closely guarded.'
'Though, it probably doesn't take a genius to figure out what Konoha wants from this deal. But I'm not this 'genius' who can know about military tactics just after a month of being in the village.'
'Even if it's possible, it'll only make them suspicious of what more I can learn that they don't want me to know about.'
'And who let this secret slip out of the village anyway?'
'Danzo?'
'But why?'
'To have an excuse to start a war or something?'
'No, Hiruzen doesn't want another war with how he gave away Hizashi to Kumogakure after Hinata was kidnapped. So he'd only compromise again.'
'So why would Danzo leak these plans when he knows Hiruzen lacks a spine?'
'It's more likely that some Kumo spy in the village learnt about this.'
'And then there's also Sasuke? For his Sharingan.'
Tachibana performed a few simple pendulum divinations and found himself confirming the guess he had made.
'They do want to destroy the possibility of Konoha forming an outpost in the Land of Waves. And as an added bonus they're also after Sasuke's Sharingan.'
'Huh. Nothing to do with me. I'll be gone tomorrow.'
'The faster I leave, the safer I am.'
Tachibana fell asleep soon after, trusting his life in the hands of Team Seven who stood guard all night in rotations.
Tachibana woke up the next morning with a smile, until it vanished as he saw Maruboshi arrive outside his tent.
"Not happy that I'm here?" Maruboshi asked with a smile. He thought he was being clever about it but didn't realise that it was exactly what Tachibana was thinking.
'I thought I'd just have to convince Kakashi to leave, not him! This would've been so much easier if it was just Kakashi.'
"No. I performed another divination." Tachibana lied without a pause, as easily as breathing.
"And?" Maruboshi asked, leaning in with curiosity.
"The trip will be the death of me. Literally." Tachibana explained in a grave tone. "I won't go back alive as long as I take part in this trip."
Maruboshi frowned at the information and was about to say something when a different voice interrupted. "Nothing will happen to you!!! I will protect you!!!"
Tachibana almost cursed out loud. His hand reflexively moved to toss a few shurikens into the mouth that was surrendering him to a gruesome scenario.
The shout revealed Naruto and the rest of Team Seven were just behind the tent listening to their conversation. Kakashi caught Naruto, slinging him over his shoulder before walking away along with Sasuke and Sakura as Naruto shouted to be let down.
Maruboshi had a smile on his face as he looked at the leaving team seven before looking at Tachibana. He put his hand on Tachibana's shoulder and explained, "Tachibana-kun, don't you like to enjoy in peace? Like those kids we saved, the kids you enjoyed playing with in that village?"
"Yes. I love peace. Shamelessly." Tachibana nodded with determined eyes, ready to do anything for it.
"...then you should do well to remember this. Peace doesn't exist only because it is something that everyone enjoys. It exists because people are fighting day and night somewhere out of your sight for you to enjoy it."
Tachibana's eyes dilated as his mouth hung a little loose.
'He knows.'
'He knows that I'm lying.'
Maruboshi patted Tachibana's shoulder a few more times before walking away while saying, "You can decide what you want to do Tachibana-kun, I won't stop you. We all have our fears, but it takes a real man to face them."
'I don't want to be a real man.'
'Is it so hard to understand that people don't want to go on suicide missions?'
For the first time after coming to this world, Tachibana's eyes dilated like he'd heard something that had touched him to the core, not in a good way.
'How easy it is for them to demand my life while they treated me like an outsider when they learnt I could use divination to learn 'hidden' things.'
Tachibana's expression was odd and felt a little scary like he was hesitant to allow someone from a world he wanted to run away from to influence him so deeply.
His eyes lay on Maruboshi's figure as he walked away, thinking about what he should do.
Before he let out a deep *sigh* and walked back into the tent.
'Got to get my stuff so that I can at least put up a little resistance before I eventually die.'
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