The Patient, The Hungry, And The Song Of The Dead

It was round, the size of a fist, and gave off a sweet, tempting smell. It had an emerald green coloration which seemed to change to lighter shades under certain lighting angles. Even after thinking of all that it could possibly be, he still had no clue of what it was.

It was a fruit - that much was given. But the way it shone and reflected light made it seem more like a gemstone than being anything close to edible. Aside from that, he could sense a condensed amount of pure nature chakra hidden inside the strange fruit. This wasn't natural.

"What is this?" Gaara asked Lee, finally voicing out his confusion. Just what kind of fruit even contained such immense amount of chakra anyways?

"This-" Lee rubbed his nose in pride. "Is the fruit of Nuwa's tree."

Gaara blanked. That old tree in Lee's house actually produced fruits? The same tree which converted natural energy into chakra? What?

"It only produces one fruit a year. I managed to get it this year cuz my grandpa lost a bet to me! He said I'd never be able to run a thousand laps around the whole neighborhood but I did!" Lee exclaimed, eyes sparkling as though he were a puppy begging for praise.

Gaara smiled at Lee and patted his shoulder, quenching the boy's thirst for validation, albeit still confused. "So, why are you giving it to me? You won it with your hard work, Lee. You should enjoy it for yourself."

"Well, the main reason I accepted the bet was so I could get the fruit for you!" Lee said, cheeks reddened with embarrassment as his eyes darted to the side. "The extra chakra won't be much use for me anyways since I can't really use it outside of my body. It would be more useful if you have it. And I uh-"

Lee's voice got increasingly quieter the more he spoke, causing Gaara to inch closer so he could hear what he said. Needless to say, Lee just ended up freezing onto himself, face reddened.

No matter how he tried to distract himself, he couldn't help but think of his recently increasing risky thoughts.

1)They were in an onsen resort. 2)Gaara is wearing a yukata. 3)They shared a room with each other and no one else. 4)They were going to sleep in the same room for three nights.

"I... wanted to give you something..." Lee stuttered, tongue tied and helpless. At this moment he could no longer think of anything. "Like a gift."

One that might get Lee into Gaara's heart in the future.

"But, this is a product of your hard work. It wouldn't feel right for me to accept it." Gaara said with a troubled expression causing Lee to deflate. However, what he said next made Lee grin, almost smacking himself in the face for not having thought of that sooner.

"I suppose the only solution for this problem is to just divide the fruit in half and share it, isn't that so?" Gaara smiled at Lee as both boys had a silent agreement.

As the two boys quietly ate their own halves of the fruit, Gaara felt a strange warmth course through his body and settle into his chakra pool, though, for some reason, a large part of that energy seemed to be drained by something else.

But, before he could think more about it, a harsh piercing sound destroyed the atmosphere, causing the two to immediately jump up, battle-ready and alert for any dangers.

Subconsciously, despite all the years they spent without the need to fight for their lives, they still retained their acute senses honed from years of being shinobi in a world with such frequent wars.

And, at this moment, those exact senses were blaring red, warning of a nearby danger and bloodshed, which were proven correct with just one look towards the window.

Outside the resort, the previously bustling festival had been turned into a large chaos carnival as stalls and establishments lit up in flames and people ran, stepping on top of each other in hopes of escaping their assailants quicker.

Instantly, the previously warm atmosphere disappeared, replaced by a dreadful chill and heavy tenseness.

"Lee, I need to go and make sure the others are safe. Can I trust you to keep an eye on the situation outside? If any who harbors malice come close, I need you to warn me immediately." Gaara said with a grim expression. "I'll send my sand clones with you."

"You can count on me!" Lee grinned in reassurance with his trademark pose- having his thumbs up and teeth sparkling in the light. 'I will protect you.' Though that sentence was left unsaid as he jumped out of the window and into the chaos of the outside.

At the same time, Arima stood by the entrance of the resort with Chisaki, overlooking the destruction with a grim expression, his hands clutching a black cane tightly.

"Troubles from our past catches us unaware, it seems." Arima sighed upon the sight of multiple powered up, bestial villains. Despite them having severed connections with the villains' origins for several years already, there was still a tiny possibility that they'd get caught up in whatever the Villain Factory was planning.

This was going to be a long night.

...

Outside the resort, Lee stood atop a street lamp, surveying the damage and the chaos, hands clenched tightly to his sides as he silently counted the many unmoving and injured bodies that laid on the streets. Below him, Gaara's sand clones were checking for anyone who needed help nearby.

What once was a jubilant celebration mere moments ago had suddenly turned into a death carnival brought upon by a group of villains, seeking to destroy peace and joy.

Why did they do this? What was their purpose? What good can causing havoc and despair bring?

Or did they just do this purely for the sake of bringing about chaos and nothing else?

Within the burning city of Tottori, dozens of powerful villains ran freely to cause widespread terror to all, with heroes trying to catch them, but the villains were far too cunning and spread far apart, forcing the heroes to split up in order to deal with them.

Lee was never a smart guy. But even he could tell that the villains had planned this out all too well and at the best time to cause the greatest chaos.

Tottori was burning and no one could do anything to save it.

He should have known. Everything was not really what it seemed on the surface.

This society was never safe nor peaceful. It was just as rotten and war-torn as their previous world. Only carefully hidden under the blanket of the heroes' light.

And now the city falls because of ignorance and a false belief of security.

"Lee!" Suddenly, a familiar voice calling his name snapped him out of his thoughts.

Below the street lamp where he perched, Gaara and Kurono regarded the burning city in the distance warily, their eyes cautious and worried.

"Gaara. You should go back inside. It's not safe out here." Lee spoke in a grim tone, one which startled Gaara, having never heard Lee speak that way before.

"No, I-" Gaara breathed deeply to recollect his thoughts, his eyes flashing a brilliant golden light as he tugged on two particular chains. "Arima and Chisaki aren't here. They went to the city. We need to get to them quickly!"

Lee's eyes widened in shock. They went to the city?! In this chaos?!

Towards the side, Kurono hid his shaking hands in his pocket, uncharacteristically silent as his eyes reddened. His chest felt constricted and his knees felt unstable, for the first time in a while, he felt fear. Not for himself, but for Chisaki who ran off to the burning city to do who knows what.

That idiot! He was always acting like he was so smart, why can't he use his brain now?!

"I've already told Nemoto and Irinaka to find heroes or police officers to help us locate them but, with this chaos, I doubt anyone would be free to help look for just two specific people." Gaara spoke, his tone calm and collected despite his inner turmoil. "We need to get to the city and locate them quickly. We don't need to participate in the fights. The heroes exist for a reason so we'll let them handle the villains. But, in case we are unable to get out without a battle, Kurono can handle what comes after. He has a quirk usage license."

It was during this moment that Lee remembered who he was dealing with. This was Gaara, the fifth Kazekage.

"It might be a bit selfish to do this, but we need to prioritize locating them rather saving anyone else." As shimmering gold eyes gazed upon dark orbs, a spark of realization flared on Lee's eyes.

"Alright! I'll travel through the roofs to find the quickest way to the city. Stay safe." Eventually, Lee agreed to Gaara's decision despite every part of him screaming to get Gaara as far away from danger as possible. He understood. One-sidedly protecting the other won't make Gaara love him. If anything, it might form resentment.

Because that was how he would feel if he were in Gaara's position. That was why he chose to trust him.

In any case, Gaara was strong. Far stronger than anyone he ever met before.

And so, for the first time in a long while, Gaara summoned a large wave of sand to scatter towards the city, sensing all over in order to locate his missing family.

...

At this moment, in front of a half crumbled remnant of what was previously a tall building in the city, Arima stood along with Chisaki, face grim with his lips set on a thin line.

If what his son in law said was true, then this building was where Arima's daughter and her husband would have been staying at for their business trip.

Fortunately, they left Eri with a babysitter back at Kyoto instead of taking her here with them.

This building was one of the tallest buildings in Tottori, but now, it was no more than a part of the collateral damage brought upon by the sudden villain attack.

Chisaki sent a pulse of chakra through the ground, sensing for any people trapped in the building that had chakra signatures similar to Arima, though, moments later, he silently shook his head.

Arima closed his eyes, fists clenching and unclenching repeatedly. Desperately, he wanted to go to the building and dig through the rubble, but he knew that doing so would only pose more danger to both him and the people that might still be trapped inside. There was no other way than to wait for rescuers to arrive.

He still hadn't been forgiven by his daughter.

Atleast, for one more time, even if she never forgives him, he wanted to apologize and be a father to her again.

Suddenly, the ground began to rumble and a nearby building seemed to be hit by something heavy, causing it to come crashing down in a pile of debris.

"Oyabun!" Chisaki shouted, immediately pulling the older man away and shielding him behind his back, guarding against the dust cloud which rose up from the crumbles infrastructure.

Chisaki covered his face with his arm, for once, keeping quiet about the dust and dirt than no doubt contaminated him, eyes focused on the dust cloud, or, to be exact, the figures moving within the dust.

"Kuheehehehe... It's pulsing." A muddled voice slurred and, suddenly, a pair of crazed red eyes locked themselves onto Chisaki and Arima. "It's pulsing! It's pulsing! It's pulsing!"

"AAHHahhahaHaaaH!!!" The villain laughed madly as his muscles bulged, sprinting towards his new targets. "HOW WARM IS YOUR BLOOD?!"

...

"I found them!"

Standing atop a water container on top of a still mostly undamaged building, Lee gazed at the city which was getting more and more destroyed by the minute.

The power had long been cut in many areas, leaving only the fires from the destruction as his source of light.

But it was through this darkness that Lee was able to quickly spot the unmistakable fire that came from a Kāton jutsu off in the distance.

Looking towards the direction Lee pointed to, Gaara and Kurono looked at each other silently before Kurono nodded towards Gaara, coming to a decision.

"I'll head on first. You two, take care." Gaara said to his companions as they nodded with similar determined looks, dispersing his body into sand to travel faster.

Off in the distance, Chisaki and Arima were faced with several villains, many of them obviously being under the influence of a certain type of drug.

"KIEKIKIKIKI!!!" A villain laughed, easily punching through a wall of asphalt which Chisaki overhauled to contain them, and dashed towards his target, fist ready to crush his victim with a single punch.

But, before the villain could reach him, the villain found himself punching through a wooden crate instead, with Chisaki having used Kawarimi at the last second. Without even processing what happened, two thick, steel rods lashed towards the villain and began to meld together, encasing the villain in a metal cocoon from head to toe.

"Kāton: Ryuuka no Jutsu." As a finisher, Chisaki blew a stream of flames towards the metal container, as screams of pain could be faintly heard while the villain was being cooked inside.

That's the third out of five down.

"Chisaki!" With a loud shout, Chisaki turned around, coming face to face with two other villains who were getting ready to ambush him before they were slowed down by an old man with flashing silver eyes.

As Arima himself was not fit to join the fight, the only thing he could do to help was to keep an eye on the battle and to slow down the villains if they got too close. Aside from that, he just had to make sure to stay away and avoid getting injured.

Unfortunately, no plan could ever go perfectly.

Unknown to Chisaki, while he concentrated on facing the villains in front of him, another villain was quietly making his way behind Arima, climbing down from the side of a building with his clawed, metal hands.

Chisaki's hands were already twitching, a telltale sign of quirk overuse, and his chakra was starting to run low as well. Still, in order not to waste Arima's efforts, he had to finish it while the villains were still slowed down.

"Kāton: Goukakyuu no Jutsu." With one large breath, a massive ball of flames greeted the frozen villains, burning them into ashes at the moment of contact before bursting the part of the street they stood on into flames, slowly turning asphalt and cement into magma.

They were dead. Turned into dust.

All but the single villain who was now right behind Arima.

"Kkah!" Arima coughed out blood, face scrunched in pain as clawed metal hand protruded from his chest, right as Chisaki turned around.

"Oyabun!!!" Chisaki shouted, using Shunshin to catch Arima before he fell to the ground, but he still had to solve the villain who dared to target his adoptive father.

"Kāton: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Using a single hand to form handseals, he blew a large ball of fire towards the villain, charring the man's skin and boiling his blood. If he wasn't dead by then, then he was crippled at least.

But, even though the villain was out of commission, it still wouldn't change Arima's situation. He was stabbed straight to his heart, completely destroying it and part of his left lung.

It was bad.

Bad to the point that even if Chisaki were able to use his quirk to fix it completely, it still wouldn't change Arima's fate. But, Chisaki still tried to fix it even though he already overused both his quirk and chakra.

"O-Oyabun- I, please hold on. I can fix it-" Chisaki muttered, hands trembling, trying to fix something but his quirk wouldn't respond properly. Time was running out and he only managed to fix half of Arima's crushed heart. "I- I can fix it. Just, please-"

Contrary to Chisaki's nearly delirious panic, Arima was much calmer despite being so close to his death.

"Aha... I never did... get to ask... did I?" Arima smiled weakly, holding Chisaki's hand. "Why you never... called me father..."

Chisaki's lips pursed tightly, hands shaking as a single drop of tear left his eye, watching as Arima's breaths turned shallow, still doing his best to fix the elder's body despite knowing that time has run out.

"Father..." Chisaki whispered, holding a cold hand.

The ground trembled as a nearby street exploded.

Moments later, seven villains appeared, along with a cloud of sand.

...

"Ha... hahaha..."

Along a desolate street, a large mass of sand began to converge into a person.

As Gaara laid his eyes on the defeated form of the man he came to see as his father, his head turned blank before the realization came crashing down all at once. "I should have known. There was no way the world would permit me to live a happy life."

Despair.

"Really." With extreme negative emotions overpowering his thoughts, his chakra lashed out, activating both his Dōjutsu, golden eyes gleaming, revealing their tomoes and the slit on his forehead opening to reveal his Rinne-Sharingan.

"How naive of me."

Hundreds of golden chains escaped from their container, swinging about wildly, depicting the turmoil their holder held but didn't know how to express.

It itched and it hungered for something it couldn't quite grasp yet.

Latching on anything it could hold on to, the chains greedily devoured.

"SKREEEYYIIIEE!!!" A villain who happened to be snagged by a chain screeched in pain as he felt something being drained from his body.

The chains, having tasted something incredibly delicious, began to converge, targeting all other living beings in the area. All, except Chisaki and Arima.

For a while, all that could be heard was the screaming of the villains amidst the backdrop of the crumbling city

Moments later, all those targeted by the chains grew quiet, stiffly maintaining a single posture as they hung on golden chains. Though, as soon as the chains retreated from their bodies, they immediately crumpled like a pile of stones, turning to dust as they contacted the ground.

But, it still wasn't enough.

Not finding any other living being in the area, the chains turned to the ground, latching onto the cracked asphalt and began to drain from the land itself.

Little by little, the chains glowed brighter and the Rinne-Sharingan began to spin, slowly at first, then gradually grew faster.

Blankly, Gaara turned to look towards the night sky, feeling his chakra growing immensely though it seemed to be drained by something else at the same time.

As the full moon slowly turned red, Gaara closed his eyes.

"Good night, father."

With a loud thunderclap, a giant creature appeared before the red moon, gracing the world with it's presence for the first time.

The survivors of Tottori, the busy heroes, and the rampaging villains collectively looked up at this single moment in both awe and fear.

As the evening wind blew across the desolate landscape of what once was a great city, the Juubi opened it's single eye.

"KRRRIIIIIEEEEEEE!!!"