First blood
I returned to the hidden waterfall village, limbs sore from my encounter against the Hokage. However, archers lined the walls as the town's gate was barred. I gestured them to open the door as I wasn’t an enemy, yet no one budged. Something was off. Before I could work out what happened, if our village was overtaken by some foreign forces, elder Sato’s voice boomed: “Failure is treason.”
I supposed punishment was adequate for failing any mission, but treason? That didn’t sound right. If I wanted to betray us, I’d have bailed without even approaching the fire country. Perhaps the council didn’t know how powerful Hashirama was. Even though they had more intel than I did, they didn’t fight him personally. If I made my case, they’d understand—
But they didn’t give me time to say anything or let me at least see Miyu and my daughter. "We can't afford to have leaf village retaliate us for your failure. Putting you away is for your own protection." None of my team members were there either when I got arrested. Rather, they had instructed another squad to put stone cuffs around my wrists that were etched with paralysis fuinjutsu and escorted me away to Bat's Burrow, a subterranean cellblock carved into the village’s sacred mountain. Its walls pulsed with cursed seals that suppressed chakra which doubled as a vault for forbidden jutsu scrolls.
I was branded on both my arms with the infamous prison tattoo and fed moldy rice. Each day the solitude and the screams next door stung me like a knife, and I couldn’t understand for the life of me why the elders pinned me here. It didn't seem like protection at all. Would they ever let me out? Would they torture me next or just wait till I've been wasted to nothing? I wanted to see my daughter Mirai. I wanted to hug my wife and tell her I’m back. I wanted to spar with my team every morning and drink till we pass out. It had been 3 days, and still no news of any trials whatsoever. What was their game? At other times, when I ran out of speculations, I thought of the most powerful forbidden jutsu of our village, and why it had that name. Where it could be buried. It must be feeling the same way I do, scared and angry, if it had no company but the same silence each day and every day at the bottom of this hellhole…
During a guard shift, the guards “whispered” just loud enough for me to hear: “Elder Sato bet 10,000 ryo he’d die in a week. I say three days.” And the puzzle pieces in my head finally got put together: the cool glances from the top brass, the suicide mission, my missing team and the imprisonment... They never wanted Hashirama dead. They wanted me dead. After all I've done, this was my reward. Then… what was to become of Ren and Jiro if they spoke up for me? What of my Miyu and Mirai? Would they hurt them too? No, no, no…
“I have to know… are they alright? Miyu, Ren, where are they?” Hands shaking, I pleaded the jailors as I was sent to repair dungeon pipes in exchange of a demented cackle that I’d never forget even if I lived to be as old as the earth itself. “She dead, all their lot! Shut it and dig!”
What?
Dead?
The hell do you mean?
I dropped the shovel which the guard whipped my back for, but I couldn’t unhear what he said. “I said pick it up, you useless weepy fuck! Yer nothing! Yer friends and wife’re all dead! And you are to dig the pipe out until you give out too, you hear? Miyu, wasn’t it? Lovely brown tits she got. Even lovelier her screams. We gave her bloody corpse for all the other prisoners to enjoy after we finished her first because they’re shared property, treasonous fucks are… and you, well, you’ve had quite enough of that the last few years, haven’t you.” He knew her name. It wouldn't have been possible if... I picked up the shovel mechanically, and started off on the work. One, two, … before the man could taunt me further, I splashed the dirt into his face and punctured his chest with my bare hand as he fumbled around for his weapons.
Maybe he was bluffing, but at this point, the only way out was through. Cowering wouldn't help me, and I had only myself to depend on. That moment, something in me clicked. Put your own oxygen mask on before you help others do the same. Won't be helping any loved ones if I stayed here to rot.
Hearing the commotion, the other guards rushed in. I slid my hand into the dead man’s pocket and found the keys, freeing myself from the shackles, but the prison walls still restricted my chakra for the most part. I aimed at their foreheads, their legs or their eyes and delivered fatal blows when they got closer, praying that my taijutsu would be enough to buy me time. Got to get to the core because knowing the elders and how they think, that must be where they’d hide the forbidden jutsu.
Earth Grudge Fear.
Follow the fear.
Follow the rage.
Feel it.
It’s mine. I earned it.
When I arrived at the heart of the mountain, there it was, a small, black furball whose black tentacles were pulsating and emitting heat. It seemed so alive and alone on the altar there, practically beckoning me to get closer, so I did. Then, it tore my chest open before I realized what was happening, and consumed my beating heart. I almost screamed my vocal cords off, but it wasn’t satisfied, no. As my heart literally went out to it, I felt what it felt. It was so hungry, all this time being buried here like I was, perhaps even longer, and no one bothered feeding it. The gnawing emptiness must've consumed its mind like it would've consumed mine if I let myself rot for any longer. I could've chosen to run, to break my chains, but it had no option but wait to be freed. Poor creature, another victim to the system. As it laid in the cavity of my heart, chewing happily away in the refuge of my ribcage, I realized that my veins weren’t enough for its consumption; My innards were just an appetizer. It needed more to survive, and I was willing to help. At this point, what did I have to lose? Those scums talked that about Miyu like it was nothing, and I didn’t know if my daughter was alive, so fuck them. FUCK THEM.
Black threads torn at my joints, breaking free out of my skin. I fell on the ground, gasping, barely conscious. But then I heard footsteps approaching cautiously, and my instincts pulled me out of the trance. Feed now, or be the food.
Whether that thought was mine or the parasitic jutsu’s, I stopped giving a shit. I slithered out of the cave, and it weren’t my feet that supported me, but the threads. The guards were speechless, unable to process what happened, or not willing to. Either way, your turn to die.
We devoured them though I blacked out for a part of the process. The sudden surge of energy was almost too much for me, but I didn’t just let the parasite eat my consciousness along with everything else. In order to use it as my own, I must show strength.
It’s possible those people lied. Perhaps my family and friends were okay, because they could've escaped before the elders aimed at them. But if they tried to plead for my freedom or fight against the rest of the town or simply never saw the knife hanging over their heads, there'd be only one way that could end. Please tell me you’ve gotten out. I got home the first thing after getting out of the Bat’s Burrow, but no one else was there. Mirai’s crib was empty. There was blood… on the window sill, on the bed, splashed everywhere.
BASTARDS, YOU PUT ME IN PRISON, YOU KILL MY WIFE, YOU TOOK MY CHILD, AND YOU DARED TO PIN IT ALL ON ME? ME GETTING BACK ALIVE’S NOT MY FAULT, BUT IT’S YOURS, BECAUSE YOU DIDN’T SEE THIS COMING, DID YOU? I WILL KILL YOU WHERE YOU STAND, YOU VICIOUS PIECES OF SHITS!
While I raged, Sato and his men got to my residence, ready to kill me on the spot. Some of these men, I knew, but I was beyond caring: “Leave now. This is just between me and those lying leeches. If you don’t, I’ll hold you all fucking complicit!”
Half fled. Half I killed along with their leader after taking his water natured heart. Let’s see. Who else were culpable? Time to pay the piper.
Even without the jiongu, it’d be all too easy. I tore through their armors and flesh the same way Earth Grudge Fear tore through mine before taking their hearts. The maid in the chamber and their guards in the council watched dumbfounded as the bloodshed unfolded, forgetting to stop me as I finished the job and left the wreched place.
I knew that since most people didn't know what really happened, they'd probably side with the leeches I killed, seeing them as the rightful leaders. I didn't feel like explaining myself and risking being labeled a violent madman and a liar, since all the closest friends I grew up with were purged before I came back, but neither did I want to hurt the rest of the townsmen, as they didn't take parts in what the elders did to me and my family. I spent my life protecting this village and everyone in it, so if they'd leave me be, I'd leave them be.