Beneficium Accipere... [Hiruzen]

Age : 31 Posts : 1495

Follow Up To

After a long and rather sensitive trip, while discussing topics that didn’t give allow them to reach serenity of spirit, Mana and Hiruzen finally arrived to the Fire Temple. Mana didn’t know what exactly Hiruzen’s goal in this temple was nor did she have any interest to, somehow it felt like it was personal, involving Hiruzen’s family life and the work of his grandfather and possibly even some secrets of the Temple. It was best not to involve herself in those things. She trusted Hiruzen and trusted his intentions were pure and that they were enough to convince the monks to do whatever he wanted to do. The young Uchiha wouldn’t have travelled so far if he had something impossible set in mind. The magician knew that whatever Hiruzen had set in his mind was probably going to be allowed, maybe it was something like access to some hidden or ancient places in the Temple or something like that – on her way here Mana made sure that Hiruzen was a good person, the monks would see that.

Mana’s own reason for coming was something that the girl didn’t really want anyone but the head monk to hear. There were no female monks, such was the ancient way but Mana did not strive to become a monk, she wanted to lock herself away in the Temple and live here eating only what she herself could grow and meditating through the day. Such was the price of social isolation that Mana craved and she knew that this was a long shot of a request to be approved. Why would the monks accept someone into their ranks who was not a monk and did not answer to their rules? Also the magician didn’t want Hiruzen to know about her reason for coming here, he’d probably react harshly to it and arguing with him now that her mind is so all over the place may not have been the right idea – she could’ve hurt him with her words again. Hiruzen was a strong fellow, he would’ve taken it but Mana couldn’t live with knowing what she’d be able to tell him. No. The Uchiha was better off not knowing.

The first thing that came into the view entering the Fire Temple area was the humongous rice field, that was one of the main sources of food for the monks. Some traveling merchants sometimes traded some spices and meat for some wooden or metal religious statues that monks made every day. These men knew what it meant to live in isolation, Mana hoped that they would accept her. Seeing the fields completely empty was strange, usually there should’ve been at least a couple of monks working the field. Mana moved in through the field towards the giant main gate hoping for Hiruzen to follow her. She was lead by the desire to seal her fate, to lock herself behind that gate and that wish was what pushed her to be a bit more bold than she would’ve been usually.

“That’s far enough…” a voice came from to the side, a bald head of a young monk working the fields popped out, Mana appeared to have missed him, he had such a low chakra level that he evaded even her sensory. The monk ran up to the gate and knocked on the golden plate with a mace size knocker. Slowly the gate opened. It appeared the monks were doing their morning training routine and that was the reason why they were all behind the Temple gate. All except the trainee who barely had a chakra level at all. The monks were training their taijutsu in slow and highly coordinated movements – it was a true testament of their skill and coordination. Challenging the Fire Temple with a gate like that and such powerful and well trained warriors inside would’ve been a suicide even for the best of ninja. And yet Mana was curious as to why were they allowed inside so easily, there wasn’t really an intense questioning process behind it.

The trainee ran up to one of the monks and spoke to him, the monk broke off the formation and shouted something incomprehensible for the formation, sounded like he ordered them to keep training. “I can’t believe you, Yukichi, you let in outsiders!? Master Basaru will be disappointed!” the monk yelled out loud, he looked really angry. “B-b-but one of them is a Konoha ninja…” the younger trainee monk started whining out in a rather high pitch voice, this kid couldn’t have been much older than Mana but he was still in his early puberty stages. “Or some bandits with a headband taken from a Konoha ninja they killed!!! When will you learn to use your head!?” the elder monk kept scolding his apprentice before he got a glimpse of the duo. Mana didn’t really think that the ninja monks were big fans of her shows so she only counted on her rank being the deciding factor and yet something told her that the sight of her inside the Temple ticked the monk off.

“The Sorceress?! Yukichi, you let the Sorceress in?! Get out of here, young woman, we do not accept your kind here!” the elder monk started yelling. That was a rollicking good start for Mana’s attempts to stay in the Temple, apparently the monks had some sort of a grievance with her and she wasn’t the most desirable person to be seen inside the walls. The monk appeared to be completely oblivious to a foreign ninja also being inside the Temple for no reason known to him but all he cared about was her. “You became an enemy of every Temple in the world the day you hurt Guru Ayushi, he may not have shared our religion but he was the most sacred man in our world, he was an honorary guest of this Temple, begone from our lands, girl!” the monk pointed at the gates. Mana turned her head at Hiruzen, “I’m sorry, it doesn’t really seem that I’m helping your case here, I think I’m actually harming your cause, I think it’d be better if I waited outside or something…” Mana mumbled to the boy silently, the monks appeared to have no trouble with Hiruzen being there but Mana’s presence irritated them.

She should’ve known this would happen, it wasn’t exactly rocket science that Guru Ayushi was well respected in the spiritual world, she was supposed to know this as a history reader, she was stupid to have come here… Even if these monks would allow her to stay close to the Temple what were the chances they’d let her live here? Something told Mana she was even more of a fool even daring to dream of such chances…

Age : 32 Posts : 1178

Going along with everything Mana did in terms of getting inside of the building, he just kept his mouth shut while following her. From what he could see, the architecture matched what he had seen in the lightning temple, increasing the odds of him actually furthering his research in here. When things started become problematic when another monk came up to them, one that seemed to be more influential than the trainee that let them in. From what he could hear, the man was under the impression that the two were bandits that had stolen a headband from a shinobi to get in. Giving the man a dirty look when he looked at the Uchiha, he figured that him wearing a black robe with the Uchiha clan crest together with his appearance would be enough of an indicator that he was not some common bandit. It was not until Mana was recognized by the thing she told him about earlier, her magic tricks. When the monk started talking down on his traveling partner for something she had done to a man known as Guru Ayushi, he could only assume that the man had done something wrong if someone like her did something about it. Apparently, whatever had happened between her and this Ayushi person had gotten her a life long ban on every single temple in the ninja world. Starting to get annoyed at the behavior shown by this man, he gave him a chance to finish his words before he would respond in kind. The moment he told her to leave “Their Lands”, Hiruzen had gotten close to reaching his boiling point, something that would not help anyone in this case. Once Mana told him that it might be a good thing

“Excuse me, my name is Hiruzen of the Uchiha clan. I am the grandson of Tetsuo Uchiha from Kumogakure. I was sent here by him to look into something the former head of the lightning temple Hideo had been working on with him. I have already done a full sweep of the temple of Raijin and received the blessings of Hideo’s son, the new head of the temple. This girl came with me as a guide and an assistant, so I would recommend that you keep your big mouth shut right about now. While I may not look like much, I happen to have some rather powerful associates that really want to see what comes out of this inspection of the fire temple. Many believe that it can bring the temples closer together and assure the survival of your religion, but we’ll leave if you really want us to”.

Turning around to face the exit, he started looking around the place while he let his words sink into his skull. He knew full well that his threats were not exactly fair and that Mana was neither his guide or his assistant, though he would not stand for such an injustice happening right in front of his eyes. He was always told that monks were supposed to be peaceful men that only turned to offensive measures once they were under attack, though this man had gotten rather violent without either Mana or himself even doing as much as raise a fist. Still unsure if this would be enough to get him to reconsider the things he had said, Hiruzen still had several bullets left in his chambers that were ready to be fired in the form of even more threats.

“You seem to have a good life around here, it would be a shame if you were no longer allowed to stay here by working against this inspection that has been given the divine blessings of your “Gods”. After all, what is a monk that works against his own deities. Personally, I don’t think your head monk will want to keep you around if he got word of what we are trying to do after you told us to leave, do you?”.

As if his earlier threats had not been enough yet, he had taken into account that his quest had been given the blessings of Hideo’s son, meaning the head of the lightning temple had blessed his cause. While Hiruzen had no idea as to how the head of the temple would respond to the whole ordeal once he personally got word of it, he figured that he would not be against an inspection of a specific room in the temple. Going by the expression on the face of the monk, he could tell that he was either going to stand back and let him do as he pleased, or he would make an attempt at attacking him. Whatever the case might be, Hiruzen would not let the man attack him without defending himself. For the sake of this man and the fire temple, he could only hope that the man would make the right decision. After all, angering the Uchiha clan and an allied temple was not a good idea if they wanted to keep up their peaceful way of life. While the lightning temple might just respond by cutting the fire temple out of the Christmas card list, the Uchiha would not let one of their own get sent away once he had gotten the proper clearance already. They were a clan of elite fighters that would not stand for one of their own being attacked or hurt over something such as this. Looking the man straight in the eyes with his defiant expression on his face, it did not take long for the trainee to step in. Stating that he would be willing to take Mana and Hiruzen to the place they wanted to see, the monk himself could go to the head of the temple. Agreeing to this plan, Hiruzen knew full well that if they entered the temple and were later forced to leave by the man in charge, they would have no way of standing against them. Estimating that there were over a hundred monks living in this temple, he would not stand a chance if he tried to stay after that point.

With a pained look on his face, the monk nodded at the trainee before leaving them behind and instantly making his way to the chambers of the head monk. Assigning two guards to Man and Hiruzen, the trainee started leading them towards the room under the temple. Giving the trainee and the guards very clear instructions as to where he wanted to go and what he wanted to see, they instantly started guiding him, a good sign indeed. Having no idea as to how long it would take for the monk to try and get them to leave the temple by convening with the head monk, Hiruzen constantly urged both the trainee and the guards to get a move on so he would get as much time as he possible could in order to work out the things he needed to know. If things went well, he really wouldn’t be needing a whole lot of time. If things did not go well, he would not get to finish his work in what one would call a short amount of time. Right now, he could only hope that the inside of the room would be worth while and that he would get enough time to study the place, if it was even there at all. While it was a small chance, he still had to take the possibility of the fire temple not having one of these rooms into consideration. For now, he would just keep moving.

Age : 31 Posts : 1495

Mana wasn’t surprised that Hiruzen didn’t say much throughout the whole trip through the field and during the entrance to the yard area of the Temple. From the last words that the Uchiha said it was apparent that he was really determined to get this thing done, as if it was a matter of honor to him. A strong sense of honor was something Mana had a great deal of respect for. Honor and morality were not too far off, someone with a sense of honor was much less likely to behave in a way that Mana found repulsive which Hiruzen’s ancestors were known of – mindless violence and murder. Of course Uchiha had a sense of honor and overall the magician was really glad that those were the qualities that Hiruzen took from his clan of killers. While Mana was still sickened by the notion of killing for power, something the Uchiha had to do, Hiruzen branched off from his clan in her mind to the point where she barely even associated him with them anymore.

The way that Hiruzen responded however was rash and irresponsible, of course it was rudeness answered to rudeness but that wasn’t the ideal way to handle things. Now all of the monks would’ve seen that their new guests were easy to get out of balance and didn’t pay the required respect for the monument and it’s inhabitants. Mana would’ve much rather stayed outside the Temple and waited for Hiruzen to handle things without having to resort to badmouthing and shady threats, whether they had merit or not. He also called Mana “his assistant” which the girl understood was a part of play in order for them to get inside but she still didn’t feel very nice about it. Despite her knowing that this was just something to get them in, Mana still got a little angry for being called that inside.

Mana liked to think of herself as just coming here with Hiruzen just because they both had goals here. She didn’t know nor really wanted to know what was Hiruzen’s business in here, mostly because she thought it was none of her business. It was something that Hiruzen’t grandfather worked on and because of that it was very much a personal family issue. Mana had no place in that sort of a thing, all she wanted was permission to close herself away inside of the Temple and she only came with Hiruzen because he was going here as well and she wanted to apologize to him. Now it appeared by telling them that she was his “assistant” he dragged her into all of this thing he had to do and also made it more difficult for Mana to do her own thing later.

If she was to stay here she’d have to tell whoever was in charge that they basically lied to them, that Mana was not an assistant and that they only said it so they could get inside. Bonds started on lies weren’t the most firm of the kind. She’d have even more trouble to be allowed to stay here now that she’d have to start the conversation with “Hey, sorry but we lied…”. Mana was about to interfere with the small standoff that the hostility from both sides caused (if one could call Hiruzen and Mana a side). But then the trainee gave in and told that he’d take them to the room which Hiruzen wanted to see and that the rude elder monk could report the situation for the head monk. “So there’s a head monk… That’s where I wanted to be before being dragged into this…” she thought as she crossed her arms and slowly followed after where the trainee monk was leading Hiruzen. It was her duty as an “assistant” to assist her master after all…

The trainee was leading the party through the main temple into the northern wing, Mana rushed up to him and whispered to him. “I’ll want to see the head monk too after this…” she said to him, the trainee looked a little surprised. He probably started to catch on a little that the magician may not have been just an assistant and a leading party of Hiruzen. Mana then slowed down her pace and kept walking from behind both Hiruzen, having only the guards walking from her back, and the trainee monk as he walked them through bunch of statues and paintings and all kinds of other holy-looking objects before he reached a small wooden platform on the floor. “It’s usually accessed by the head monk himself, Irudo-san doesn't even have the authority... I don’t really have permission to enter there but… Sorceress-sama is a Konohagakure Sennin, as part of a pact the Fire Temple has with Konoha, high ranking ninja may override head monk’s orders in most cases… That is if you…” the trainee looked at Mana, she girl clicked her tongue and looked at the wall, “Yeah, sure, open it up…” she said as the trainee pulled the platform up and it fell down from the pull making improvised wooden stairs.

As the wooden stairs went down, they eventually connected to the stone stairs that were covered in dust. It didn’t look like anyone the way down was much longer than it had any right to be, at this point even Mana felt a little curious as to what Hiruzen came so far to see, despite her feeling like she’s wasting her time getting her nose into Hiruzen’s family matters. And then the trainee ran further into what could only be assumed to have been the room they were descending to and lit several torches. As the light covered the underground walls Mana looked around and couldn’t help but feel a bit underwhelmed. It was just a room with nothing inside just covered with all kinds of weird symbols on the wall. Of course the interesting part was that the room looked much older than the actual temple but as to why would the monks defend it so much was beyond the magician, maybe the monks themselves didn’t know the translation and just protected it just for the hell of it.

Mana just stood in the corner and leaned against the wall with her back with her arms crossed on her chest, she didn’t really feel there was any point for her to even try to understand anything that was going on there. Even if she tried to decipher the symbols there’d have been no hope for it. The only useful things accomplished so far was to find out that such a room exists and being able to have helped Hiruzen out (even though she did none of actual helping and was actually mostly hindering his progress)… The guards looked questioningly at her, seemingly surprised by her lack of activity or attempts to explore the small room. She shrugged at them, “Don’t look at me, I’m just an assistant, unless master asks me to bring a tool or something, my job is done…” she said to them at which point they kept closer eye on Hiruzen who probably had a lot of reading to do, if he was able to make sense of everything that is…

Age : 32 Posts : 1178

Knowing full well that his behavior had not exactly been respectful, he did not believe that the monk had earned his respect. From the very moment of him opening his mouth, all that had come out of it was along the lines of disrespectful statements made about something Mana had done without even trying to figure out what had happened from her point of view. Hiruzen had grown up believing that those who treated someone with respect deserved the same respect in return, which was exactly the reason why this man had received not even the slightest shred of positivity in Hiruzen’s response. While Mana made it clear that she did not appreciate being called an assistant, Hiruzen had to make a quick call to assure that she could come in with him. Whether she liked it or not, he had been trained to think fast when it came down to things such as these. This was exactly what he had done. While he had no idea as to what Mana was actually planning on doing at the temple, he figured that the monks were not that happy to have her. In a way, she should have just been happy that he managed to get her in after they got this far. He had thought that Mana would understand this much, but given her tone, she did not appreciate it at all. This once again brought him back to one of his popular thoughts. “Why help someone when they did not want to be helped in the first place?”. At this point, Hiruzen let go of the fact that his help had not been requested and was not needed for that same reason. For now, he was just glad that using Mana’s clearance as a high ranking shinobi was enough to get them into this restricted part of the temple.

When he had first used his Sharingan to show Mana that he had suffered enough to awaken his own ocular powers, he had seen that she had a lot of chakra. That said, he had not taken someone like her for a Sennin in terms of personality. In those respects, if someone put Mana and Hiruzen next to one another, most would most likely be more inclined to believe that he was the one holding the higher rank. Shifting his attention to the thing that mattered the most right now, the place the trainee and his guards had taken them to. Heading down by a wooden staircase that soon became a stone staircase that lead into a room similar to that in the lightning temple, a grin appeared on his face. The fact that this temple had a place that was similar to one of the others meant that there was someone, or something, that had been using these locations before they became temples used by the monks that lived in them now. Walking into the place, he looked around in every corner of the room, occasionally touching the walls and letting his fingers slide across the wall. Every single detail he could remember about the texture of the walls, the dryness inside of the room and even the way in which the symbols had been engraved into the wall was completely similar to the one in the lightning country. For a moment, he was just overcome by the feeling of joy. Once people started leaning against the walls however, something had to be said about it so they knew why they were not allowed to do that.

“If you all wouldn’t mind, I would like it if you could relocate yourself to the center of the room. Every bit of this wall is different from the part before it. The lightning temple had a room underneath it that was a lot older than the temple itself. The fact that this temple has the exact same situation proves my grandfather’s thoughts of a far older group of people being responsible for the building of this place. In fact, I would go as far as to say that this directly relates to some of our most ancient ancestors. The lightning temple had a room exactly like this in terms of design, though the words scribbled on these walls are completely different and won’t make sense to someone that as not properly studied it or has a deciphering tool.”.

Activating the Sharingan, he made it a lot easier for himself to read the words on the walls. Having studied the symbols that had been deciphered by his grandfather and Hideo, he could use his Sharingan to quickly put the pieces of the puzzle together. It was a dead language after all, and even if he had managed to learn all of the words and symbols on his own, he would have to spend days down in the temple to figure out what was written down. Trying to scan every single word on the wall with his Sharingan so he would be able to memorize it all at a later point in time, it was as if the symbols themselves transformed under the gaze of the Sharingan. This was not because of some magical seal, it was because he had memorized every single symbol and their meaning and using the perceptive capabilities of the Sharingan. This was the reason why they could literally show him the meaning of these words instead of the mass of symbols everyone else in the room saw. While deciphering every inch of the wall, he slowly turned his body around so that every single one of the walls would get their turn to be analyzed and memorized. Most likely not getting to work on the whole thing while in the temple itself because of their earlier discussion with one of the more seasoned monks, there was really no time to waste. Figuring that he could try to give a minor explanation to the people in the room, he formulated it in a manner they would be able to understand.

“Now that I put the pieces of the puzzle together, I can honestly say that the words written on this wall make about as much sense as the ones in the lightning temple. That means that there is really no point to any of these symbols at all, which in turn makes no sense either. While I have a theory I would like to try out, for now, the best I can do is to just keep scanning this room over and over until I manage to print it into my brain with my Sharingan to help me. Please be patient with me until I am done here, it should only take a couple more minutes.”.

Age : 31 Posts : 1495

Mana just kept standing by the wall waiting for Hiruzen to finish his work. What if he suspected something? What if the Uchiha suspected from the way Mana spoke earlier that she was heading to the Temple to isolate herself, to do something self-destructive or to impose suffering on herself for failing to save her mother. What if he noticed her larger than usual for a small trip bag and put two on top of two? Maybe that’s why he tried to involve Mana into this, so that he could keep an eye on her so that she doesn’t sign any deals she wouldn’t want to, so that she doesn’t pull some stupid nonsense like staying in the Temple. If Hiruzen was just another Uchiha, the magician wouldn’t have believed that he cared enough but he was different from his clan, differences were not complete opposite but they were still there.

Hiruzen was kinder and wiser than the Uchiha described in books, he was more social, more forgiving and less violent. He didn’t try to make enemies out of everyone he saw. It’s easy to understand where that trait of ruthlessness comes from in the Uchiha when one realizes how they obtain their power. When power comes through stressful experiences and murder, every person becomes that one person they should kill to try and achieve more power. To unlock other levels of the Sharingan, who knows, maybe if they killed this one more person their power would grow, they’d unlock some hidden ability no one knew about the Sharingan. Such was the mindset of the Uchiha, maybe not Hiruzen, he was different. He didn’t crave the power he received but he didn’t shun it either. There was something really interesting and worth noting about Hiruzen, something a bit intriguing…

Hiruzen wasn’t proud of his Sharingan or how it was awakened, he’d much rather had it not happen to him even if that meant he wouldn’t have awakened the power inside of his eyes. That was a trait very uncommon for the Uchiha, usually they justified any sort of sacrifice as long as it meant obtaining more power. So what if all of their squad died, they became stronger, that’s all that ever mattered. That was the Uchiha way of thinking, that was the way of thinking of the old days. That was the way of thinking Mana fought against her whole life and tried to live by the opposite ideals. And yet that was not the way of thinking for Hiruzen, he didn’t really look like he wanted or appreciated the deaths of his friends to awaken his power, that was different and very welcome thing to see in an Uchiha. Such differences alone made Mana appreciate Hiruzen as a friend even if he may have thought of her as a tool to achieve his ends.

That may not have been the case – he accepted her apology and comforted her about her loss somewhat but all of that could’ve still been done just to make her a more efficient tool for his use. A guide who is constantly whining and self-destructive is of no use, something that is useless would not interest an Uchiha. Mana knew that Hiruzen didn’t mean it when he called her his “assistant” but still she somehow thought that he may have meant it more than he liked. Maybe it was because of how he lost his friends, he now didn’t want to bond with anyone because this world is a cruel one and he may end up losing them again, that was why he viewed people just by what he could get from them, like bags of items that he could obtain. That was a cruel way to think of someone but the magician was not yet making assumptions or adjusting Hiruzen’s description in her mind, just pondering while he was working.

The Uchiha asked everyone to move away from the walls, Mana moved like asked and proceeded to stand around waiting at the center of the room while the young man read the walls. Even if he didn’t see other people like people and only would’ve judged them by how useful they were to him, he was still interesting. Even if he would much more rather have his friends back than have the Sharingan he was still not treating it as a curse – he wasn’t afraid to show it to people, people he just met, he also probably used it in battle without a problem. That was a very cold look at things, someone like that was much more likely to fit Mana’s previous assumptions about him. Normally, if Mana obtained such a power just by killing someone or seeing someone dear to her die she wouldn’t use it. She’d treat it like a curse, like that thing that would remind her of the death of those dear to her. Hiruzen was not like that, he may not have been entirely an Uchiha but he had more in common with his clan than he thought, even if those things weren’t the worst things he could’ve had in common…

Hiruzen spoke of how he just needed a little bit more time, Mana didn’t mind that, she was already dragged into this so she may as well wait for as long as she was needed to. Slowly the magician crept up to the trainee monk and whispered to his ear, “Do you think they’d allow me to stay here?”. The trainee looked surprised that she was talking to him, maybe he was always bullied and bossed around and that was why it was surprising that a Sennin asked him for an opinion. “Why would you do so, Sorceress-sama, there’re no female monks, you know that.” the trainee whispered back, their conversation was so quiet that it was hard even for Mana to make out everything that was said, she had to stand around for a while to decipher it all. “Not as a monk, like a prisoner, you guys close me somewhere so I can stay in solitude and meditate, that’s all I want, isolation.” she said, the trainee looked even more stumped “I-I’ll talk to the head monk about that, it’d be very stupid of you though, haven’t you seen it? Everyone hates you around here after what happened, why would you stay in a place where you are not appreciated?”

Mana thought for a while, certainly she was acting in a very self-destructing manner. Maybe she still blamed herself for her mother’s death, for all those unfortunate events that happened to people she tried to save and wanted to suffer for that. Since the world didn’t give her enough suffering she’d impose it on herself by herself. She wanted to be hated, to be shunned and cursed until the end of her days, to be isolated and alone for what happened because she still blamed herself. Mana was now lost, was this the right thing to do? She wanted to talk to this head monk but not only to start her own suffering but also she needed help, she needed guidance and that guy looked like a very smart fellow…

Age : 32 Posts : 1178

As his eyes analyzed and memorized the content on the walls, it bugged him that the words here were just as random as those in the lightning temple. Aside from not really getting anything that would directly further his research, he had all he needed from the room they were in right now. The first thing he needed to do now was talk to Mana for a moment. Preferably doing it in a manner that would keep the majority of the monks out of it. That said, the trainee seemed rather helpful in spite of what the veteran monk displayed earlier. Already respecting the younger monk a lot more than the one he had given a piece of his mind, he figured that he would be able to use what the man might know to further his research. Behind him, he heard Mana whispering with the trainee, something that did not sit well with him. As a shinobi, he was trained to think whispering was highly suspicious. As such, he pretended to work a bit longer while listening in on what they were saying. While he had missed out on a good deal of it as far as he knew, he heard the trainee specifically saying that it seemed like it would be weird for her to stay in a place like this when everyone hated her here. From what he heard, it seemed like Mana planned to stay in this place, though such a thing would never work out for her. They had both seen that she was not welcome in this place, so asking if she could stay there just seemed like an incredibly stupid idea. It was like Hiruzen choosing to live in the slums of Kumogakure where everyone hated it and would not mind seeing him dead or in pieces. As if his own work had not been enough, he now had all the more reason to talk to these two people before moving on with his own plans.

“Mana, if you don’t mind, I would like to have a talk with you outside. You, the trainee, if you wouldn’t mind joining us, I am sure I could find some use for you as well.”.

Leading the group of people back the way they came, he looked for a good place close to the gate leading out of the temple. For Hiruzen, there was really nothing left in this place that he needed. He did not need to speak to any head monk, nor did he intend to wait around for the disrespectful monk to return with news about how he was going to kick them out anyway. Knowing that this was the likely follow-up on the current situation, he would very much like it if Mana understood that she could not stay in this place. Just as happy as he would be to leave, that was also how reluctant he was to go beyond the gates because the trainee might not be able to leave the temple grounds. Looking for a middle ground, he walked out through the open gate and looking for a place where the earth was solid enough for him to do something most people his age no longer did.

“First of all, I would ask you to reconsider staying here. It is as he says, people do not want you here and you do not deserve to live in some sort of prison. If you are indeed a Sennin of Konoha as these people say, you should know that there is an entire village counting on you. While the things that happened to you are sad, that does not mean you can just give up on your home. That said, there are a few things that make very little sense to me that I hope might make sense to one of you. Give me a moment while I write them down.”.

Bending through his knees, he accessed the stuff he had memorized from the two walls and wrote them down in a manner that made the most sense. While a lot of words seemed like they were just in a random order, he wrote them all down on the ground with a kunai. Once he was done rearranging the words in an order that made the most sense, there were several sentences carved into the soil. From the first to the last, it said “All hail the Vajra of glory and sacrifice. All hail the instrument of divine righteousness. All hail the exultant and glorious celestial jewel. All hail the swift thunderbolt of exalted strength, virtue, and glory. Homage to all-pervading diamond thunderbolts. Utterly crush and devour. All hail the glory of Agni. All hail the radiant divine all-illuminating light, bursting and streaming forth in all directions. Glory to Divine perfection. All hail A ra pa ca na. May all those who preside over warriors be my vanguard. All hail Tamon-ten, armor-clad punisher of evildoers. Clad in iron, listening to many teachings of Sanrō”. There was no doubt in his mind that all of this was most likely some sort of peculiar scripture that was part of a religion, though he had no idea what to make of it. Considering that a monk of the temple might know what all of this meant, he figured that someone who knew as much about the history of the villages and the shinobi world as Mana might know how to work out the meaning behind all of this together. Now, it was just waiting until he got the responses he hoped for.

Age : 31 Posts : 1495

Maybe for a lot of people watching someone work and analyze some historic object may have been boring but Mana had to admit that the hidden historian in her relatively enjoyed the sight of the room. She had absolutely no idea what this room was all about or knew anything about what’s written on the wall but just the idea of how old this place was and how the two of them were allowed to see it was fascinating in its own right. Seeing Hiruzen working and skimming through the writings on the wall was also pretty interesting, this youth was pretty intelligent and probably confident that he could read it and figure it out, otherwise he wouldn’t have come so far just to bump into an unreadable wall. His confidence and intelligence was a bit intriguing, his ability to focus was very impressive as well. Not many youths could just let go of everything around them and focus on a task. That feature was something Kimiko enjoyed about Mana, her ability to focus and appreciate meditation in such a young age.

A couple of moments later after Mana had finished discussing her business with the trainee monk Hiruzen asked them to leave outside for a talk. Could he have been stumped? Maybe he overestimated his own intelligence and bumped into a puzzle that he couldn’t solve, that is of course if there even was one to begin with. The magician nodded and followed Hiruzen, so did the trainee. Hiruzen appeared to give some sort of exclusive attention to this place for some reason, of course it was the work of his family line but his absorption was different. He tried to extract something out of those texts, some sort of idea when there may not have even been one. Maybe he was actually misguided, maybe he tried to take something away when there was nothing to take? No, from what Mana saw about Hiruzen he was anything but blind.

Mana was stumped as to why was Hiruzen leaving the Temple grounds as he not only left the room but the Temple itself and walked through the Temple gate only to stare at the ground for a moment. The magician was surprised to hear a short remark about what she said to the monk, it wasn’t impossible to overhear something from that exchange of whispers but Hiruzen revealed that he cared at least a little about Mana, that she wasn’t just a tool to him like she was starting to think. And it wasn’t a preachy speech too, he just let his own mind be known and left the final decision up to her, he just wanted her to consider his words, just let his own opinion be out there.

Hiruzen then bent to the ground and started writing something on the ground with his kunai, Mana was a bit curious to know what the youth’s translation and thoughts of the ancient room were so she observed his hand movement and the sentences written carefully. To her it looked just like a bunch of religious stuff crammed into one place, like a prayer or something, made a lot of sense for something not overly useful to be written on the walls of a religious site. “I’ve had my share of historical texts, Hiruzen, I must say most of this doesn’t make much sense and it sounds like a prayer or a mantra of some sort. I don’t know what do you expect to find in this but it may not be something more than just religious text. That’s just the way they are, all about praising their token Gods, no offense.” she said looking at both Hiruzen and the trainee monk with the last part being more meant towards the monk. She didn’t want to offend his religion, something that was soon to be his whole life.

“You are almost right, Mana-sama, this is something called Kuji-in, they are religious mantras that consist of nine syllables. They were very important to our ancestors and they still are to us. The original text, the full compilation of the Kuji-in are spread throughout the world in every temple, Fire Temple being so large hosts ten sentences of the Kuji-in while most others only have nine or do not deserve the honor at all. Yet from what we’ve been told, their meaning is purely religious, a mantra, just like Mana-sama assumed.” the trainee monk finished his explanation. For a second Mana felt a bit sad for Hiruzen, could it have been that he came so far in vain? For just a moment she herself wanted to believe that there was a meaning just because Hiruzen did, Mana closed her eyes and forced herself to believe it, if she didn’t, looking for the answer would’ve been impossible.

“You said they were mantras of nine syllables, most Temples host nine sentences, there is a clear fascination with a number and historically it is not uncommon. I think one of those sentences is more important than the others, one of them has a meaning while the others are pure religious mantras to distract the reader from what is supposed to be told to him, to make them think, to make them explore the meaning of the words and deepen their understanding.” Mana suggested, maybe just one of those sentences was actually relevant for Hiruzen’s cause. The trainee scratched his bald head, “To me they all sound important, I’m afraid I won’t be of much help for the non-religious…” Mana once again looked at every sentence trying to read into each and every one. A lot of names of deities and creatures in the mantras sounded familiar, many of them were read about during her book reading sessions.

“Sanro… You said that similar writings were in the Lightning Temple too, right, Hiruzen? Temples are surrounded by three mountains for protection so that they could only be entered from one side, so that the monks could focus their protection in case of an attack, just like the Fire Temple is and just how, I assume, most temples are. I’m pretty sure I’ve read about a tense battle near the mountain of Sanro, it is what is called the Wolf Mountain and from the sound of it, it surrounds a Temple.” if Mana’s assumption was correct, it was in fact the tenth sentence that was relevant for Hiruzen’s quest for whatever he was questing for. Once again the girl’s eyes ran through the tenth sentence, “Clad in iron could mean Iron Country, that would make sense geographically because the Wolf Mountain is nearby Iron Country meaning there’s a Temple there and it’d probably be your next destination, Hiruzen…” Mana finished her assumptions.

That was the best she could do, these texts were nothing more but religious chaff and trying to find actual use in them was difficult to say the least, Sanro was pretty much the only name in there that had actual geographic relation to an actual place of which Mana knew. Yet she did not want to misguide Hiruzen, to send him on a fool’s errand away into the Iron Country where he could bump into an empty wall or get killed in the process. Suddenly a worry seeded inside her heart, what if she was wrong, what if Hiruzen takes her too seriously and goes off into a quest doomed to fail. A simple mistake was all it would take for the young Uchiha to go the wrong path and never complete his grandfather’s work. Mana looked at Hiruzen with those troubled eyes and wondered if she should say something, try to ask him to really think about his next destination well, try to make her idea look stupid so that he figured out his own, anything. Nothing left her mouth.

Age : 32 Posts : 1178

Listening to the Sennin and the monk as they each explained what they could come up with, it was all fitting in with what Hiruzen believed. He had already come to the conclusion that a part of the stuff he had been reading belonged to some kind of religion, though he had no idea why they were hidden underneath a temple. A long time ago, Hiruzen had established that the monks of the lightning temple, in spite of it being named after Raijin, were in fact Yamabushi. Where these things contradicted one another was that Raijin belonged to Shinto religion whereas Yamabushi and the Kuji-in as well as the mantra this monk spoke of were in fact Shugendo Buddhism. When he thought about all other contradictions between the use of Shintoism in the naming of temples and the use of Shugendo in terms of design, he thought of the two large Tengu that sat right behind them on either side of the gate. Tengu had been showing up in stories and myth as bird-men that dressed themselves up in the garbs of Yamabushi and often held some important positions in Shugendo cults. While he had never seen one and just assumed that they were just a myth, it still seemed strange that men such as these would really believe that Tengu were some kind of guardians of their temple. Knowing all about the Sealed Iron Wall jutsu placed on the gates that allowed one to enter any of the temples he had seen so far that only opened when one poured their Hermit chakra into it, he came to the conclusion that the Tengu here were just for architectural reason. Sitting down in a lotus position to help him think about the things he had been told by the monk, he then considered the things Mana had told him about the more literal translation of the last sentences.

Speaking about Sanrō, it was her belief that the final sentences were supposed to be taken in the literal sense. Apparently, the part about being “Clad in Iron” could be a reference to the Iron country, claiming that it made sense in a geographical manner. Hiruzen could relate to this because all of the temples he had seen so far had all been in the mountains, located either at the very top like the Lightning temple or between several mountains such as the Fire temple. Sanrō was in fact the Three Wolves mountain located in the Iron country, though it also made a reference to Tamon-ten. Tamon-ten was the reason why Hiruzen slowly started seeing a pattern to the things he unearthed whenever he entered a temple and went to decipher one of the word walls beneath them. Earlier, Hiruzen had been thinking about the contradictions between the temples, though it was Tamon-ten that made him think about the similarities. In Shugendo Buddhism, Tamon-ten was known as Vaísravana, the chief of the Four Heavenly Kings. Protectors of the world and destroyers of evil. Each of the kings is said to command several legions of supernatural creatures such as the Tengu to protect the Dharma. In Buddhism, Dharma was an incredibly important thing, referred to as the “State of nature as it is” and “The teachings of the Buddha as an exposition on the natural law applied to the problem of human suffering”. It was no secret to someone like Hiruzen that there was a lot of suffering among humanity, something that had become all too clear when he wandered the streets of Kumogakure and saw the way people looked at him because he was a member of the Uchiha clan and did not need to work for his wealth. While Hiruzen could walk among people while ignoring their glares, a lot of others could not and would get aggressive.

In Buddhism, he knew that there was a thing known as the Samsāra, a continuous flow of birth, life and death. In it, people were constantly reborn and praised or punished for their past life. To Hiruzen, it was too easy to believe in something such as this when people were suffering because of the mistakes of others. It was too easy to believe that because they had done something wrong in a past life, they were punished for it in their current life. As far as Hiruzen knew, life ended the moment someone got killed, and when that person was killed, they would not come back as a baby. Continuing his line of thought about the one called Tamon-ten, he started pondering on what he had learned about the other side of the coin. In Shintoism, Tamon-ten is known as Bishamonten, the armor-clad god of warfare and patron of all warriors while also being one of the seven gods of fortune. Aside from that, he is also a vanquisher of all things evil, which was at odds with Vaísravana of Buddhism. While both of them were vanquishers of evil, Vaísravana was a pacifist king while Bishamonten was an active warrior that would wipe out evil with his own hands. Hiruzen had seen statues of Bishamonten in the small temple on the Uchiha clan compound, a place primarily used for funeral rites and marriage of a clansmen or woman. These statues were all shown holding a spear in one hand and a small pagoda in the other. While Bishamonten was a Shinto god, the pagoda was a tiered tower that was mostly used by Buddhists for ceremonial rites and were located near their monasteries. The more he had started learning about religion as a child, the more he had started to wonder why a Shinto god would be holding a Buddhist building in the palm of his hand. The more he started to think about all of this, the more started to make sense to him. On the other hand, the more things he could explain to himself just gave rise to more questions he could not currently answer.

“I would like to thank the both of you for your insight on this matter because I believe you both are right. While it raises a lot of questions, it has also answered a lot of them that will allow me to further my own research and maybe get to the bottom of this. The Kuji-in are a thing of Buddhism while Tamon-ten being clad in armor and vanquishing evil is in fact a thing of Shintoism. Vaísravana and Bishamonten, the other forms of Tamon-ten in two religions are opposites of one another, yet he is portrayed as both in this story. Whatever the reason is that tied these two religions to one another as opposed to it being one of the two, I am sure I will find it when I find the lost temple at mount Sanrō. Now if you would not mind, I would very much like to return to the Hidden Leaf. Are you coming Mana?”.

Nodding at the monk, he shot at a glance at Mana as if he wanted to ensure her that there would be no future for her here. With that, he started walking away from the temple and would follow the road leading down to the foot of the mountain. Giving her the time to talk to the rookie and make her choice, he would make use of that time to ponder on his own thoughts. Once he got at a distance of roughly a hundred meters, he would wait a couple of minutes to see if Mana would come back to the village or if she would go back into the temple with the young monk. As he waited, he stared into the distance to where mount Sanrō could be seen as nothing more than a small black dot on the horizon. It was to be his final destination, the place where he would be able to end his search and finally finish the work of Tetsuo and Hideo. While he did not owe it to them, he still believed that it was the right thing to do. After all, he had spent so many years trying to figure everything out that stopping now that he had gotten so close was just stupid. When he thought about making decisions, his mind drifted back to Mana. Hopefully, Mana would make the right decision and come back to the Hidden Leaf village where people would no doubt be glad that she had returned.

[Exit]

Age : 31 Posts : 1495

Just as Mana suspected Hiruzen took the interpretation of the text by the monk and her quite seriously, at least with his explanation of why he thought it was correct he calmed Mana down and proved to her that he indeed knew what he was doing. It seemed that the Uchiha didn’t just blindly followed his gut or tales of old or clues that the others provided him, he had a clever mind of his own and an intelligence to impress. He knew what he was doing perfectly and made the impression of possibly the most intelligent young man Mana had ever met. He took the crown from a Nara from Allied Ninja because where Shikari was intelligent and well spoken he was also arrogant and acted the opposite to what he said saying that he treasured life more than Mana did but instead choosing to take life when given a chance.

Then Hiruzen claimed that he wanted to go back to Konoha suggesting that his quest was now complete, at least the part in Konohagakure and that now that he knew his next destination his journey could continue. It brought up to Mana once again that Hiruzen was a foreigner, a traveler who never stayed in one place too long unless it was his home. That made her a bit sad, knowing that she is very unlikely to meet the man again seeing how the Uchiha were people of logic and reason and there were no more reasons to return to Konoha for Hiruzen. He was pretty much set to depart to the Iron Country the next day. Knowing that she probably will never see the young Uchiha again for some reason was very depressing. At least the magician knew that Hiruzen was a remarkable ninja and won’t fail his mission – he had the strength and intelligence to succeed.

“I respect your opinion and what you told me previously, Hiruzen, but I’m afraid just like you have a journey of discovery traveling around the world exploring the temples, I have mine. I still have unresolved matters here and I wish to speak with the head-monk about them. I guess that means it’s a farewell then…” she said softly, a bit sad that she had to utter those words. She watched Hiruzen then leave the area, after she could no longer see him with her eyes, only sense his extraordinary chakra Mana turned at the trainee monk. “I would like to see the head-monk now…” she uttered. The young monk bowed slightly and yelled out “Yes, ma’am!” as he started leading the way. The manner in which Mana refused to follow Hiruzen and acted more like a partner than an assistant made the monk realize that she wasn’t just his lackey following him around and acting on Uchiha’s orders. It made him show much more respect now that it was clear to him.

The trainee lead Mana through the temple, after the two ninja left the premises previously the monks returned to their morning training. Quietly the trainee lead the magician through the yard inside the main building and Mana followed him to the office. The monk who was less than hospitable for the two ninja before was still arguing in the head monk’s room. The trainee managed to yell loud enough to overwhelm the high pitched loud voice of his superior. “Head-Monk, sennin of Konohagakure, Mana-sama wanted to speak with you!” he yelled out as he bowed before an old monk in the center of the room. It was a bulky elder, his eyebrows overwhelmed his eyes running over them, his moustache was also almost comically overgrown making Mana incapable of taking this man completely seriously. His voice sounded kind and warm justifying the girl’s belief that a man looking so funny could not be a mean person.

“Mana-sama, despite what my younger brother here believes, it is an honor to see you in this Temple! To what do we owe the honor to have such an honorable guest?” the head-monk said, with every word he uttered his moustache waved around in a comical manner. “Are you kidding me? Have you not heard what I was telling you about, Head Monk? This young woman is the one who pummeled Ayushi-sama around!!!” the older monk who was still in the room started yelling, the head monk’s raised palm interrupted him. To be honest at this point Mana herself believed that even the head monk could start hating her all of a sudden. Then again, that was what she wanted, suffering.

“Enough! I will not tolerate this disrespect towards our honorable guest! It is true that Mana-sama has committed a crime in her youth but she answered for it and she is redeemed, if you cannot understand that I suggest you leave this room now!” the head monk said. “Please, Mana-sama, tell us how we can help…” the head monk said as the other monk left the room with an angry expression. Mana could recognize that hate, it was the hate not of a person, not of their behavior but of their existence. The person with those eyes wanted to destroy not only her life but also every part of the reality that was affected by her existence, she met this same kind of hatred in Kirigakure. It was painful knowing that your very existence offended some people, that the only way to make those people happy was to be unborn.

Mana sat on her knees on the mat in front of the monk and bowed, “I wish to stay in the Temple, I wish to stay here as a prisoner and not be let out. I know you have the facilities, I’ve researched enough of your history.” The head monk scratched his moustache, “Your request baffles me, Mana-sama, you are welcome to stay as a guest but why would you wish to take such measures? Obviously you would be mistreated here having in mind that most monks do not believe in you having redeemed yourself… Why do you wish to expose yourself to this hate?” Mana raised her head from the mat to face the head-monk’s. “I am a protector of my village, I love its people and people beyond its walls. But I cannot help but see that most of the times my help hurts them, by helping them I make things worse so I want to be kept away from helping them. I cannot be allowed to return.”

The head-monk stroke his chin, “I’m afraid as an old man I’ve learned to see beyond what people tell me, Mana-sama, you are in pain, a lot of pain. But you wish to hurt yourself more because you blame yourself for something you’ve done. We are not going to be a part of a punishment you did not deserve, the Nakotsumi Mana we’ve heard of is a kind protector and a messenger of peace between Konoha and Kirigakure. Such a person deserves no punishment and does not deserve to impose suffering upon herself. There is a reason we are not allowed to be our own judges, Mana-sama, because we’re not objective towards ourselves. Usually we are more lenient towards ourselves but in your case, you are too strict, I suggest you allow yourself to go through a fair trial of the people you’ve helped instead of your own. Let them decide if you deserve this self-imposed suffering, either way, the Fire Temple is a place for lost souls. If you decide that you still deserve your suffering after you talk to the people of your village, return here and we will help you find your way. For now, go home, young one.” The head monk said.

Mana was stricken by his words, maybe he was right? Maybe she wasn’t entirely capable of determining if she deserved to be hated and pushed around and spend her life in isolation? The magician decided to follow the man’s advice, she thanked the head-monk and bowed to him. With a slow but firm step the magician left the Fire Temple and went through the Fire Temple gate. She couldn’t sense Hiruzen’s chakra anymore, he had probably given up on her seeing reason by now and left his own ways, Mana sighed to herself. It was either that or he never bothered waiting for her because he didn’t see her as a friend but just as tool to achieve her means. Either way, she would never know… Hiruzen had probably long returned to the village by now. Slowly and without a rush Mana started moving towards the village through the forest herself. She wished to sell her freedom for the Fire Temple but do so she needs to be sure she’s a liability for those she loved, she needs evidence that she indeed is a Witch and not the Sorceress, that she is a negative force and only brings disaster to those she tries to help…

[EXIT]
[TOPIC END]