Chapter 8
„I think we should go back. I have something to tell you,” Jiraiya suggested, paying for the food and they went to the castle together. They walked through the side corridors so that no one would bother them until they reached Naruto's room. There they sat on his bed opposite each other.
„What do you have to tell me?” Naruto asked.
„Do you know how I can't stand in one place and how I like to travel?” he replied, and the prince just nodded in agreement. „As you told me about Gaara, the name seemed familiar to me until I remembered. You know how you were kidnapped by a dragon. So it was a dragon and at the same time your Gaara.”
„I don't get it.”
Don't worry, I'll explain it to you. A few years ago, I think you were just five, I went to the land of the wind. Directly to the capital in the Kingdom of Sand, to Suna. The king, who had three children, ruled here. He had two sons and one daughter. The youngest son was the same age as you. But their family was not completely normal. Her entire pedigree was fundamentally affected by a curse that lasted for all generations, and even the king's children inherited it. This curse may not have fully manifested itself in their life, but it was still there. For example, I know that this curse was manifested in the king himself and his youngest son. This curse turned them into dreaded and very powerful dragons. It manifested itself most often by the fact that the cursed people turned into dragons during the sunset and changed back during its sunrise. The problem arose when they changed, as the dragon that came to the surface embodied its own personality or their hidden instincts. They had the classic symptoms of dragons as if they loved gold and constantly guarded it.
The king of that kingdom was one of the few who could tame and control his inner dragon. Thanks to that, he could change whenever he wanted and he could also use his power, such as spewing fire. However, his son was much worse off. His inner dragon could completely engulf him, and at times he changed during the day. I was there when it happened and it wasn't very nice. They all hid and prayed that nothing would happen to them and that the king himself had a problem taming his son.
Because of these incidents, almost all people feared the royal family. But they were most afraid of the youngest prince. Everyone avoided him for a mile and he remained abandoned. Even his siblings, who didn't awaken this curse in themselves, avoided him and only confirmed that he was a monster and nothing else. The younger prince believed it.
The second time I visited this kingdom, it turned bad. A group of brave, strong and cruel people who called themselves Akatsuki invaded the kingdom. They encouraged the citizens to revolt and occupied the castle. The king resisted, but when his children were captured, he had to give up. The crown then fell to Sasori, Count of the red, nicknamed bloody, sands who himself was a member of the group.
By the end of the week, they had set new, cruel rules, and the next day the execution took place. The former king was brought to the centre of the square, where he was beheaded in front of everyone. I must say that he held his head up until the last moment and died with the honour he had left. They then brought in his son, who was chained and had a gag around his mouth. People roared at him and threw rotten vegetables and fruit at him. I couldn't look at it. Sasori himself was at the execution, and he then asked, quoting, „What are we going to do with the monster?” The people were silent. No one dared to speak.
„Send him to exile!” I shouted, moving so they wouldn't know who it was. Then I repeated it like this a few more times before the others joined me. Sasori insisted on the execution, but fortunately, he eventually had to give to the people.
„Sabaku no Gaara, I hereby expel you from this kingdom forever. You will never come here, even if someone wants to. And if you come here for revenge, you will face immediate death. And this will be true even if you ever show up here for any other reason. I will have you executed, but before that, I will execute your siblings before your eyes. Is that clear?” Sasori said.
The prince didn’t react to this and instead let himself be dragged to the borders that united our kingdom. There they sent him away in chains. This is how they got rid of the last probable danger.
Since that, I haven't heard about Gaara. Only about a dragon that occasionally showed up over our territory and occasionally stole a cow. That is, until his visits began to escalate and he kidnapped you,” Jiraiya finished his story. Naruto listened intently to him all the time and didn't even dare to make a sound.
„So Gaara is a dragon?” he finally asked.
„Yes Naruto, that's right.”
„God... poor man, how much did he have to suffer... Gaara isn't bad... maybe he's quiet and doesn't say much, but I can't imagine him as a monster. And now... now he is dead,” the prince sobbed.
„Oh, Naruto, I didn't mean to upset you,” Jiraiya hugged him. „I’m not sure he died. Kurama said he left him wounded at the mercy of his fate. That doesn't mean he died. Maybe he saved himself and he's coming for you.”
„Do you think so?” the prince asked.
„I'm sure of it. Do you want advice? Go to sleep. Get some sleep and you'll be better in the morning. Trust me,” he smiled at the prince.
„Thanks for the encouragement,” the prince smiled weakly, curled up in the duvet, and fell asleep in a moment.
The old man quietly left his room and went to one of the other empty rooms. There he had one of his informants sent. He gave him a task and an assignment that he must return as soon as possible. Then he went to his room, where Tsunade was already waiting for him.
„How did you do? ” she asked.
„Much better than I expected. Now I know what bothers Naruto, ” he replied.
„Really and what?”
„Our grandson fell in love, but Kurama told him he had killed his love.”
„God, that's why he's so sad.”
„But I have a hunch that his beloved has survived, ” he replied, crawling into bed to Tsunade.
„What gives you that assurance? ” she asked him. „If you give him false hopes, it will only be worse for him.”
„I know, I know, ” he replied, turning to his book. When he looked at it, he got an ingenious idea of how to put everything in order.
„Jiraiya, don't tell me you got one of those crazy ideas.”
„Excuse me. All my great ideas worked. And I'm sure nothing can go wrong with this,” he replied smugly. He had already planned to explain his plan to everyone except Naruto tomorrow. It will be a surprise for Naruto, of course, and he thinks he will succeed with Minato, who wants his son to get married.