3

3

The square in front of Fushu Castle was jammed; Shikamaru could easily believe every person in the village was in attendance. And not just revolutionaries in their long black coats. Young, old, man, woman, people of all different classes—no distinction made between rich and poor—gathered in the plaza and waited impatiently, eager for the leading man to appear, faces all similarly lit up with passion, eyes all sparkling. They were in high spirits; the people chatting nearby were loud enough to warrant a grumpy look.

Under his long coat, Shikamaru felt his skin dampen with sweat, possibly because of the heat radiating from the people in the square. Ro was next to him. If all had gone well, Soku was hiding in a concrete building in a corner of the plaza.

Ro’s jutsu had transformed Shikamaru’s own chakra into that of the coat’s owner, a perfect copy in quality, amount, and every other detail. Similarly, Ro was cloaked in the chakra of his own coat’s owner. They both wore disguises, again thanks to Ro’s skills. No matter how good a physical disguise was, an enemy could see through it quickly enough if they took a moment to closely examine the nature of the chakra hidden underneath. But Ro’s jutsu took this sort of uncertainty out of the equation. A disguised chakra was difficult to take a closer look at. On top of that, they had this crowd. There was no way anyone there could see that Shikamaru and Ro were enemies of the revolution.

“For the time being, let us draw near that location,” Ro said, voice hushed. He turned his eyes on the bare bones of a stage, nothing but a framework and wooden stairs to step up onto it, with nothing on top of it. There weren’t even any guards, despite the fact that the crowd jostled so close they could reach out and touch the base of the structure.

“Do you believe that Gengo will truly come?” Ro asked doubtfully.

And with good reason. It was simply too dangerous for the leader of an entire nation to stand unprotected onstage. Especially a stage like this one, which seemed to boast that no one involved in its construction had given any credence to the idea that someone might target their leader’s life.

“We’ll get close and wait, anyway. If it’s not Gengo, we can quietly sit it out.”

“Understood, sir.”

They just had to get within range of his Suffocating Darkness technique. Once he sealed off Gengo’s movement, Soku’s chakra would strike the final blow.

“It appears that he has arrived.”

Before Ro had even finished muttering this sentence, an enormous cheer rose up from the crowd near the stage. This rough wave spread in the blink of an eye throughout the plaza and enveloped Shikamaru. In the midst of a storm of voices so loud it threatened to rupture his eardrums, he pushed his way through the crowd toward the raised platform.

Finally, a single man appeared on it.

His jet-black coat was the same design as the revolutionaries’, but the silver-worked fasteners were much more elaborate. A pattern of countless snakes was embroidered on the sleeves in silver thread. The man’s hair was a rich indigo blue, his physique manly, jaw jutting out slightly, nose straight and sharp. The eyes that calmly looked down on the crowd housed a cool intelligence, and a slight beard grew on his chin. He was perhaps in his mid-thirties.

“I would assume that that is Gengo,” Ro muttered, without stopping.

Shikamaru kept pushing forward without responding. In his heart, however, he felt fairly certain the man before his eyes was Gengo.

The man on the stage slowly raised his right arm. Instantly, the boisterous cheering stopped. As if satisfied with this, the corners of the man’s mouth turned up slightly as he closed his eyes. He opened them again after a deep breath and began to speak with a cool composure.

“First, I thank everyone who has come together here.”

His voice was deep and heavy, and yet refreshingly clear, with a mysterious quality, as though it were seeping in through the listener’s entire body rather than through their ears. Shikamaru felt an indescribable itch, like the man’s voice was caressing his heart.

It seemed that Ro felt the same sensation; he glanced in Shikamaru’s direction as he walked. But Shikamaru didn’t meet his eyes as he quietly moved forward.

The man bowed lightly and began to speak once more. “Already ten years since I rose up in this land. Now, many likeminded souls have come together around me, and this land of ours has begun to flourish. However, not a single one of our hopes has yet been realized, not one of our wishes fulfilled.”

The crowd listened in silence. When the man onstage broke off, an abnormal stillness rose up. With just a few words, the plaza had fallen completely under this man’s sway.

“I want to ask all the citizens in the Land of Silence!” the man said, suddenly fierce, with no trace of his previous calm. He threw his arms out to both sides as he let forth this cry from his soul. “This land under the rule of the daimyo, and this land now—which is the better world to live in?”

“Lord Gengoooo!” The citizens raised their voices as one, enormous, loud, full of approval for the man onstage.

“It appears that we are not in error. That man is indeed Gengo,” Ro said.

Shikamaru nodded and stepped toward the platform. A few more meters would bring his target within range of his Suffocating Darkness. All he had to do then was quickly restrain Gengo when a suitable moment came along.

One chance…

Gengo raised his right hand high. The citizens fell silent.

“You have shown me only too well how you feel. The power and knowledge of the daimyo pales in comparison with our own, we of ninja birth, and that dark era when we were once ruled by daimyo is over. Citizens, you are safe. Will we revolutionaries not offer you eternal protection with this power and with our very lives? Citizens, you must merely push forward undaunted and live in a sincere way. That is what we revolutionaries truly desire.”

The crowd was drunk on his words. Some people were even shedding tears. It was a truly bizarre spectacle. Shikamaru was pretty sure that the speech so far did not warrant this kind of reaction. Never mind that they had only heard the introduction—Shikamaru wasn’t convinced that Gengo’s oratory was actually all that good. But he had to at least admit that there was a strange power in the man’s voice, a power that made itself felt by means other than the content of the speech.

“The Land of Silence is in the borderlands of the continent. The history of this nation is a history of persecution by other nations. Our ancestors did not close this land off to sever ties with others. They did it to protect us. Our nation was so weak and small that we had no choice but to close our doors to the outside world. But all that is over now.”

The pressure in Gengo’s voice gradually grew.

“The ones who can heal this world are not the daimyo, but us! We who hold the power of the ninja! The power of the ninja is the true justice; this alone will bring about peace for all people. It is the true nature of the world that those who excel, those who possess real power, should rule over those who do not. We have no need of daimyo or others like them who would place ninja and citizens below themselves, living solely for their own desires! Look at this nation. Ten years since we exterminated the daimyo, and our land prospers like never before.” Gengo thrust his chest out.

“Soon,” Shikamaru announced to Ro beside him. In a few steps, they would be within range.

“I will exterminate the daimyo from this world, and we will build a new world. Why must ninja be discriminated against? Because we have powers superior to the daimyo. Is it not because we bear powers that exceed those of mere mortals? But why must those with superior powers be persecuted? Should not excellence be championed? Even an average citizen can pull themselves upward by excelling in some way or another. It is precisely because the daimyo and their ilk fear the arrival of such a world that they discriminate against the ninja, segregate us, keep us under their thumbs. Ninja and citizens alike are victims of the desires of the daimyo.”

Pressing in close, Shikamaru thought he saw blue flames flash up in Gengo’s eyes.

“A revolution…”

Just one more step, and they’d be in range.

Judging from the wild enthusiasm of the people, the man before his eyes was in all likelihood Gengo himself, and Shikamaru was surprised at how smoothly they’d been able to get so close. He considered the possibility that it was a trap. But he couldn’t believe that Gengo had detected them. And he couldn’t even consider letting this opportunity get away.

“Akatsuki came forward to build a new world. But they were destroyed by ninja. They were destroyed by ninja locked in the old ways, content with their lot, content with discrimination, content to be controlled. And Akatsuki, after all, Akatsuki… They were nothing more than a portent of the dazzling morning. Hear me, people of the Land of Silence awaiting the dawn.” Gengo spread his arms coolly, almost as if he were readying to welcome a god from the heavens. “The sunlight of a new era shines on the Land of Silence!”

The people cheered, drowning out all other sound.

The perfect chance!

Shikamaru released his shadow toward the stage. Two black snakes slithered through the framework and raced toward Gengo’s feet. The moment the snakes’ fangs latched on to his feet, Gengo would be unable to move, and he would lose his life to Soku’s chakra. Until then, he could get as drunk as he wanted on his own words.

The snakes were at Gengo’s feet. But they didn’t latch on.

“Wha—!” He was sure he was within range. And yet his shadow did not extend forward.

“Little mice there.” Gengo shot an icy gaze at Shikamaru.

“We are detected!” Ro shouted.

Several shadows flew up from behind Gengo. The darting darkness bent over Ro, pinning him down. “Ngh!”

Once more, Shikamaru urged his shadow toward Gengo.

“It’s pointless.” Gengo said, sounding callous.

Shikamaru’s shadow would not obey him anymore. The shadow that he had, until that moment, been able to move like one of his own limbs, lost its target, a kite with the string cut, and squirmed and spun on the ground.

In which case…

Shikamaru flew up onto the stage. If the plan was ruined, all that was left was direct physical combat.

Gengo didn’t flinch, a thin smile playing on his lips, despite the blade closing in on him.

Shikamaru pulled out the kunai at his waist, set his sights on the other man’s throat, and swung.

The instant the tips of his toes touched the platform, someone kicked Shikamaru from the side. The impact sent him tumbling along the stage before he could pull himself back up to ready his kunai, braced on one knee.

“Y-you, you’re…”

A man blocked the path between Gengo and Shikamaru. He looked sick, face pale, eyes too cloudy for Shikamaru to read, mouth pulled into a straight line—an expression of his honest nature. No mistake, it was him.

“What are you doing…” Shikamaru called the man by name. “…Sai.”