Chapter 118: Journey to the Land of Lightning
Kumogakure, the Village Hidden in the Clouds. Deep within the jagged peaks of the Land of Lightning, a highly classified compound sat under the heavy guard of elite shinobi. In the center of its secluded courtyard, Ye lounged comfortably in a wooden chair, turning her face upward to bask in the crisp, high-altitude sunlight.
Ever since a patrol of Cloud shinobi had scooped her up and brought her to the village, she had been subjected to around-the-clock surveillance. The perimeter was locked down tight. Aside from the Third Raikage and a handpicked squad of trusted Anbu, absolutely no one was permitted to come within a hundred yards of her quarters.
It was a perfectly reasonable reaction. What Kage would not lose their mind with joy over a living, breathing Wood Release user literally falling right out of the sky into their lap? Well, aside from the Mizukage in the Land of Water, perhaps.
The current Third Raikage, still relatively young and fiercely ambitious, practically drooled over her potential. If he had his way, Ye would magically age up overnight, fall madly in love with a strapping young Cloud shinobi, and start churning out a whole litter of Wood Release babies. He was already dreaming of establishing a brand-new branch of the Senju Clan right here in the mountains of Kumogakure.
The Raikage's fantasies did not stop there. He envisioned molding her into the ultimate, fiercely loyal weapon for his village. When the next inevitable Great Ninja War erupted, he pictured Ye stepping onto the battlefield and casually summoning a True Several Thousand Hands wooden statue. The sheer, unadulterated shock of seeing Konoha's legendary kekkei genkai used against them would probably cause the Leaf Village elders to drop dead from sheer apoplexy.
Because of all this, Ye's current lifestyle was nothing short of luxurious. Playing the role of a tragic, blind little girl meant she was waited on hand and foot by terrified, overly gentle attendants. Aside from the minor inconvenience of being confined to the base, she had every single thing she could ever ask for.
Lounging around all day, eating premium snacks, and passively farming mood values and benefits from both the Third Raikage and the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki—honestly, what could be more blissful than this?
Still, she could not afford to break character. Right now, she was a pitiful, traumatized, unloved little thing whose eyes had been ruthlessly gouged out by a cruel master. She had to keep her act steady. No getting carried away and laughing out loud.
A moment later, the distinct crunch of heavy boots on gravel echoed through the courtyard. Blue B approached with slow, deliberate steps. The imposing shinobi knelt in front of her chair, his massive shadow blocking out the sun. A large, calloused hand gently rested on top of her head, stroking her hair with surprising tenderness.
"Ye," Blue B murmured, his deep voice laced with concern. "You have seemed down these past few days. Did something happen that I do not know about? You can tell me."
Back when the border patrol had first discovered Ye and frantically called for backup, Blue B had been the very first heavy-hitter to arrive on the scene. He was the one who had carefully carried her bleeding, eyeless form back to the village. Because he had been the first chakra signature she recognized upon waking up, the traumatized little girl had naturally become incredibly clingy toward him.
She constantly asked for him, demanding his presence every single day. Unfortunately, being the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki did not exactly leave him with an abundance of free time to play babysitter. The constant mental battle to suppress the massive beast sealed inside him required intense concentration. To prevent the Eight-Tails from going on a sudden rampage, Blue B spent the vast majority of his life in total isolation, avoiding contact with the rest of the village.
He only managed to visit her occasionally, entirely because Ye kept throwing pitiful little fits requesting him. If the female medical-nin assigned to Ye had not urgently reported that the girl was spiraling into a deep depression, the Third Raikage never would have authorized this visit.
Truth be told, Blue B had initially viewed retrieving her as just another high-rank mission. But after spending a few quiet afternoons sitting by her bedside, a deep, aching sympathy had taken root in his chest for this exceptionally well-behaved, broken child.
The Yamanaka-style mind-walkers in the Cloud Anbu had carefully sifted through her surface memories. Their findings painted a horrifying picture: the little girl was a discarded experimental subject from some underground laboratory. She had been brutally punished by her master for the loss of her eyes, and had only managed to blindly stumble out into the wilderness while the laboratory owner was away searching for those very same missing eyes.
The Third Raikage had smugly concluded that she was undoubtedly a rogue Konoha experiment. How a top-secret Leaf project had ended up wandering near the borders of the Land of Lightning was a mystery, but ultimately, it did not matter. Now that she was here, she belonged to Kumogakure. Her Wood Release was their kekkei genkai now.
Blue B understood all too well what it meant to be a vessel. For a fragile child to survive human experimentation and successfully integrate the volatile Wood Release cells into her body, she must have endured agonizing, mind-shattering pain. It mirrored his own existence. As the current Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, the physical and psychological torment he endured on a daily basis was entirely unimaginable to normal people.
Bound by that shared, unspoken trauma, and disarmed by how sweet and obedient she acted, Blue B often caught himself falling into the illusion that he was raising a daughter of his own.
Ye's small hands fumbled blindly through the air. The moment her fingers brushed against his flak jacket, she lunged forward, burying her face deep into Blue B's broad chest.
"Big Brother Blue B," she whimpered, her voice trembling with perfectly manufactured tears. "I... I am fine. I just missed you a little."
In this era, the Jinchuriki of Kumogakure were feared even more intensely than in future generations. The village had only recently captured the Tailed Beasts by sheer, bloody force, and the memory of those catastrophic rampages was still fresh in the minds of the villagers. Everyone who crossed paths with Blue B looked at him with thinly veiled terror, avoiding him like a walking plague.
To have this tiny, fragile child suddenly cling to him with such absolute trust... for Blue B, it was like seeing a single, blinding ray of sunlight piercing through an endless, suffocating night.
He wrapped his massive arms around her small frame. "Then can Ye tell me why she is so unhappy?"
Ye sniffled, rubbing her face against his vest. "The medical ninja uncle came by the day before yesterday. He said my eyes would be healed soon. Is that true?"
"Of course it is true," Blue B replied softly, gently patting her back to soothe her. "But optic nerve recovery takes time. You cannot rush the healing process. Just bear with the darkness a little longer, okay? I promise, you will be able to see the sky again in a few more days."
Ye tightened her grip on his shirt, her voice dropping to a fragile whisper. "That is good, as long as my eyes recover. Once I can see again, I will be able to train my Wood Release properly. I can become a useful person. I will not let Lord Raikage down."
Blue B's hand froze mid-pat. He looked down at the blindfolded girl, noting the deep, ingrained unease etched into her delicate features. His jaw tightened, but his tone became even softer.
"Ye, you are still just a child. You do not need to worry about village politics or being a weapon. You only need to focus on recovering, eating well, and growing up."
But his comforting words did not seem to bring her any peace. Ye reached out and gripped the wooden armrest of her chair, her knuckles turning stark white from the pressure.
"But Pitch-black told me..." she stammered, her voice cracking perfectly on cue. "He said that if I was not a Wood Release user, if I was not somewhat useful to him, he would have killed me a long time ago. I will study hard, Big Brother Blue B! I promise! Please do not abandon me, okay? I can be very useful!"
Children who grew up bathed in cruelty and adversity were always forced to mature faster than others. They might not voice their fears, but they understood the harsh reality of the ninja world perfectly.
Blue B's heart gave a painful, violent twist. Unable to bear the sight of her trembling, he scooped Ye up entirely, cradling her securely in his strong arms.
"It is not like that, Ye," he promised fiercely, his voice thick with emotion. "People who truly care about you will never give up on you just because you lack combat ability. They will not discard you just because you have lost your eyes, or because you are broken. What they care about is you. Just you."
He shifted his grip, carefully enveloping her small, cold hands within his own warm palms.
"I will not lie to you. Lord Raikage values you because of your Wood Release. But to me? You are just Ye. A little girl I want to protect." He rested his chin lightly against the top of her head. "I will always stay with you. Forever and ever. At least until you can see again, and you no longer need a clumsy guy like me."
'Such warm, sappy words,'Ye thought, her face still buried in his chest to hide her dry amusement.'Jinchuriki really are built differently from normal shinobi.'It was almost too easy. Anyone burdened with a Tailed Beast was fundamentally starved for affection and drowning in loneliness. If you just reached out and offered them a tiny sliver of warmth, you could waltz right past their defenses and firmly plant yourself in their heart. The people of this world craved the apocalyptic power of the Tailed Beasts, yet viciously ostracized the very humans who acted as their cages. What a wonderfully distorted, hypocritical world.'Speaking of which...'Ye mused silently, running through her mental inventory.'Once a Tailed Beast is extracted, the Jinchuriki dies immediately, right? Considering how well Blue B has been taking care of my daily needs, I suppose I owe him. What is the harm in tossing him a Resurrection Package when the time comes?'
Meanwhile, far away from the snowy peaks of Kumogakure, Black Zetsu was still blissfully unaware that his precious, highly abused Wood Release experimental subject had completely vanished from the board.
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