chuunin_archive | Jinraiden CHAPTER 3 SUMMARY

On 2 November, Akira Higashiyama's novel JINRAIDEN was released. Sasuke is the main character and the story is set in the period after his battle with Itachi.

I finished summarizing chapter 3~

CHAPTER 3 SUMMARY

Sasuke and Kina are going to do stakeouts at night. In reality, Sasuke doesn't really take it serious but he plays along. Apparently the killer strikes once every three, four days but never at the same place twice. The murder victims all end up looking like mummies, having their chakra sucked out. Sasuke will stakeout at Kuchinashi Lake and Kina a little further south at Keisanryou. Keisanryou is the tomb of the ones who founded Howling Wolf Village. Sasuke asks why Kina won't leave this case to the village's defense force. Kina thinks the murderer is a shinobi that's too strong for the defense force. Sasuke comments: "That means you can't beat him either, right?" Kina says he has his own weapon: his own special saigenzai. Kina wants to keep the stakeouts a secret from Reishi. They'll begin once Reishi has gone to sleep and return before Reishi wakes up. Kina leaves to wait for nightfall, he looks really excited. Sasuke watches him go and wonders why he's even going along with this. Sasuke takes a nap. He dreams that he is Itachi and Kina is Sasuke. Kina says something mischievous and Sasuke pokes him in the forehead. He sleeps well for the first time in ages.

The next three days, they stakeout. No killer shows up. Villagers keep insulting Kina and his family, and Kina keeps beating them up. Kina gets beat up too though. Sasuke just silently observes him. But the fourth day is different. Kina reaches his stakeout spot, Keisanryou, but there are some shinobi there. They're high on saigenzai and pick a fight with Kina. They apparently ran into Reishi once when he was picking medicine plants and they beat him up. Reishi apparently pleaded them to stop. After observing Kina for three days, Sasuke knows Kina is going to back down. Shinobi or not, Kina would take the bait. The shinobi beat Kina up severely. Then one shinobi gets ready to stab Kina with his kunai: "This village is worthless. Let's just kill the brat and become Rogue Ninja." Kina just glares at them, unafraid. But Sasuke steps in ("If you go any further… I'll kill you guys"). The shinobi don't take him seriously. Kina is shocked ("S-Sasuke-san…? Why are you here…?"). Sasuke responds: "You usuratonkachi… This isn't even a fight. You're just staging your own suicide." Kina tries to respond but one of the shinobi throws a kunai at Sasuke's face. Sasuke catches it and throws it back. It hits the shinobi in the upper leg. Sasuke tells the guys to go and dig their own grave. The shinobi just curse at him. Sasuke says "Oh well, then I'll dig one for you" and hits a Chidori into the ground which scares the shinobi shitless. Sasuke says: "Don't lay another finger on the brat. Got it?" The shinobi quickly run off. Kina is unconscious by now. Sasuke picks Kina up and walks back to the shop with Kina on his back. Sasuke thinks about how he stuck his nose into unnecessary business. He feels like he fed a dog he isn't planning to keep. No, worse. He's already starting to think of the dog as his own. Kina wakes up halfway but doesn't ask Sasuke to put him down. Sasuke doesn't really mind. They return to the shop.

Reishi scolds Kina harshly ("What were you thinking?! If not for Sasuke-san, you could've been killed!!) and Kina yells back ("I'm not scared of dying, unlike you!!). Reishi slaps Kina. Kina keeps yelling, he repeats the shinobi's words that Reishi got beat up and begged for his life. Kina calls Reishi a coward. Reishi says he promised their father to protect Kina no matter what. Reishi tells Kina to bear it; some things just can't be helped. Kina says he's been bearing it all his life and it isn't going to get them anywhere. Kina says he's heard Reishi talk to himself and blame their father ("Father, why did you do that? Because of you, Kina and I are like this now. Father, I hate you.") Reishi tells Kina to shut up. Kina says Reishi is just scared of fighting. He says complaining isn't going to them anywhere. Kina storms off out the house.

Reishi stares off in space for a while. Then he thanks Sasuke and says "It seems Kina made some foolish requests to you…" Sasuke tells him he needs no thanks, he was "hired", after all. Reishi asks "Hired?" and Sasuke answers "With okaka rice balls." Reishi's face softens a bit. He pours Sasuke a very bitter medicine-herb tea and they sit in silence for a while. Sasuke asks why Reishi and Kina don't just leave the village. Reishi admits he has thought about it many times, but this place is a paradise to a doctor (with the plants and stuff). Also, he asks: "Besides, is the outside world any better?" Sasuke thinks about how everyone simply shouts about peace while hurting others at the same time. Sasuke avoids answering and apologizes for prying.

Reishi mentions that, in this personal opinion, the shinobi world will end soon. They'll be supplanted by new techniques, like the way blue fire powder did in Howling Wolf Village. Reishi mentions that the powder was accidently made when people were trying to make a medicine that would give you eternal youth. The Kumanoi Clan added some more ingredients and raised the explosion power. Sasuke comments on how ironic it is that the powder is now a killing weapon. Reishi mentions how not everyone can be a shinobi and how shinobi need years to perfect their special techniques. Reishi: "And that's where the problem lies…" Apparently Hidden Rain Village (Amegakure) tried to take over the three villages on the mountain range because they wanted the medicine plants to themselves. The other two villages, Rouki and Rougurai Village, were quickly defeated. Howling Wolf Village had no great shinobi. The village was weaker than Rouki and Rougurai yet managed to defeat Hidden Rain Village thanks to the blue fire powder. The Kumanoi Clan uses the powder in cannons and landmines which were easy to use and didn't require years of training (unlike shinobi techniques). A shinobi isn't that easily replaceable but it didn't matter if a villager died, because another could easily take his place. That's why Howling Wolf Village won. And that's why Reishi thinks the shinobi world will end.

Sasuke comments that it sounds like Reishi doesn't want the shinobi system to end. Why? It would mean the end of bloody battles. Reishi disagrees. Sasuke asks why. Reishi explains that when they defeated the shinobi, the villagers made them into prisoners of war. Reishi's breathing speeds up, he even forgets to blink. The Kumanoi Clan drove the prisoners to Jidamaga Field. It was a place where landmines filled with blue fire powder had been placed into the ground (to fend of the previous shinobi attacks). The mines would be triggered by the weight of an adult stepping on it. The Kumanoi Clan drove the prisoners to Jidamaga Field and surrounded the field. Reishi mentions he was only 7 years at the time but he'll never forget what happened next. The Clan aimed at the fleeing prisoners with their cannons. Those who managed to avoid being shot to death would step on one of the many landmines and be blown to pieces. Whenever a landmine would go off, the Clan would cheer. (Reishi is getting more and more worked up as he relives the story, Sasuke tells him to calm down a few times.) Everyone kept laughing. There was blood everywhere. A severed hand even came flying Reishi's way. Reishi: "Father wasn't wrong… Everyone was laughing. Why were they laughing? Is the sight of people dying so funny?" Sasuke grabs Reishi by the shoulders ("Enough already! …I get it… Calm down, Reishi.") Reishi looks disoriented for a moment. Then he slowly comes back to his senses. Reishi apologizes.

[direct translation]
"Don't worry about it." I said. "You're not the only who is breaking apart."
"…"
I wanted to confess everything about Itachi.
How much better would I feel if I did?
How much lighter would my heart feel?
I wanted someone tell to me, "You're not alone". To tell me, "You're not wrong."
But, there was no way I could do such a thing.
The words got stuck in my throat, as if my tongue had been sealed. In the end, I am a person full of mistakes and I can't escape from my loneliness, no matter where I go.
[/end]

Hearing Reishi's story made a resolution grow inside Sasuke: if the shinobi world is really about to end, then it's OK if Sasuke were to end it with his own two hands. And those hands would first destroy Leaf Village. The dark flames which had quieted once he had entered the village started to flare up again.

Reishi starts talking again. He says the village wasn't ready for a weapon like the blue fire powder: things were changing too fast. He says his father just tried to slow the speed of this change down. Sasuke stands up and says he doesn't care about Reishi's family. They're the same as the other villagers. They're all happily enjoying the peace which the fire powder brought. Reishi disagrees. Reishi yells that his father used Rouen to show everyone not to depend on the powder. Sasuke points out that the rumors were true then: Reishi's father really did release Rouen's seal. Reishi rebuts, voice shaking, "What… do you know…? Shinobi kill, that's true. I know that sometimes there's no other choice. But… but, shinobi don't forget the ones they've killed." Sasuke suddenly remembers Itachi's final words ("Forgive me, Sasuke… this is it.") Reishi is crying by now, he says that no one remembers the fire powder massacre. His father just wanted to tell everyone that, if you take someone's life in order to save your own, you mustn't forget them. Sasuke responds that if not for the fire powder, Reishi and the villagers would've been killed instead. And even if Reishi didn't care about dying himself, what about Kina? Would it have been OK if Kina, just a baby back then, would've been killed by the shinobi? Reishi doesn't answer.

Sasuke stands up, leaves the shop and goes back to the shrine. He lies down, looking up to the sky (there's a hole in the ceiling.) He thinks about how people will do anything just to prolong their own lives. The fire powder will continue to protect lives and take away lives.

That same night another murder took place. It was at Keisanryou (the same place were Kina had been staking out the previous nights.) Kina tells Sasuke the news. The victims were the shinobi that Sasuke beat up last night. People are saying that the one who threw the kunai in the shinobi's leg is the murderer. Sasuke says, "Well, that makes me the killer. I'll just go hand myself in then." Sasuke stands up to leave. Kina asks where he's going. Sasuke says he's leaving the village since he has heard all he had to hear about Itachi. Kina says the eye medicine isn't ready yet. Sasuke says he doesn't need it; his eyes feel OK. Kina asks Sasuke to come to the crime scene with him. Sasuke repeats that he's leaving. Kina calls it a detour. Sasuke pokes Kina's forehead again. "Listen up, you usuratonkachi. If you hadn't gotten into a fight last night, you might've been killed instead." Kina just pouts. And they end up going to Keisanryou anyway.

They arrive at Keisanryou. There's a group of about 40 men there. Kina points out that the guy in front is Sendou Jiryuu. Kina puts his hawk mask on. Sasuke assumes it's to hide the fear on his face. The other guys are all Sendou Clan members. They're wearing black kimono's with a white dragon pattern on their sleeves. Their heads are shaven. They definitely look like criminals. And they are staring right at Kina and Sasuke. They both stare back. One of the members whispers something in Jiryuu's ear. Sasuke notices it's the same guy that sold him the saigenzai a few days ago.

Sasuke and Kina walk up to the group. Both sides stare silently at each other. Sasuke decides to speak first: "Get lost". The men get angry but Jiryuu holds them back. Jiryuu says that's a bad way to greet someone. He calls Sasuke 'the bodyguard who's been staying at Kodon's place'. Kina fires up and accuses Jiryuu of starting the fire at his house. Jiryuu laughs it off ("Got any proof?"). Kina insults Jiryuu and his men. One of them charges at Kina. Sasuke trips him. All the others charge them too now. Sasuke thinks that Kina getting mangled a little bit would teach Kina to be less rash. But Sasuke decides to just finish those guys off because letting "the brat" (i.e. Kina) get hurt would give him bad dreams. Sasuke fires a Kadon Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Fire Spell) at them. The guys in the front get burnt, the guys in back panic and run into each other in panic. Jiryuu scolds them but then cowers ("W-wait… Don't be so hasty… W-we can talk about this…") Sasuke moves behind him and points a kunai at his neck ("I'll say it just once more. Get lost.") Jiryuu asks who Sasuke is. Sasuke says he's Uchiha Sasuke and Jiryuu reacts to the name. Jiryuu's henchmen get small guns-like things (with blue fire powder in it) ready. Kina warns Sasuke not to get hit. Sasuke pushes the kunai into Jiryuu's neck and a stream of blood flows out. Sasuke tells Jiryuu to order his men to throw away their weapons. Jiryuu obeys. Sasuke comments that it seems Itachi went easy on them before. Jiryuu agrees, he has broken into a sweat by now. Sasuke adds he's "not as good as Itachi at holding back." Sasuke kicks Jiryuu away and warns them not to near the Rengyoudou Shop again. They run off. Kina throws rocks at them as they go.

Sasuke figures this probably won't be the end of it. Even losers have their pride, after all. But what could he do? Sasuke going to leave the village. He figures all he can do is to play along with Kina's detective game a little longer.

Sasuke approaches the crime scene. Kina searches the place, top to bottom. Suddenly, there's a throbbing pain behind Sasuke's eyes. It's like his eyes are on fire. He covers his eyes with his hands. His eyes are "stirring up." It's like they're trying to tell him something. He remembers that Mangekyou Sharingan activates when you kill someone dear to you. It's been 22 days since he killed Itachi.

[direct translation]
The death of a loved one.
Even though I hated him so much… Even though I hated him with every fiber of my being…. Even though I welcomed Itachi's death as the rain poured down on me... If Tobi's words are true, Itachi tried to grant me Mangekyou Sharingan by killing him.
The death of a loved one.
The death of a person who I Iove.
Yes, I saw it clearly in Itachi's eyes. What laid at the depth of my hatred, what even I couldn't see.
That's why the Mangekyou Sharingan chose me.
What should I do?
Does Itachi wish for me to become Leaf Village's protector?
Does he wish so from the bottom of his heart?
But if I couldn't see what laid at the bottom of my own heart, maybe Itachi couldn't see what laid at the bottom of his own heart either!
Itachi… Are you truly OK with this?
Do we have to protect Leaf Village, even exchanging the lives of our clan for it?
That kind of thing wasn't what I wanted. Not that kind of ending. What I wanted, was…
Black flames are swallowing my heart.
[/end]

Kina touches Sasuke's shoulder and asks if he's alright. Sasuke slaps the hand away and says: "Don't touch me that familiarly! I'll kill you." Sasuke says he's sick of everything. Sick of Kina, sick of Reishi, sick of this village. In his thoughts, he adds that he's mainly sick of himself. There's blood on Sasuke's hands (from his eyes.) But he feels like the fog has cleared. Everything is perfect clear; like the way a candle burns the brightest just before it burns out. Sasuke feels he's about to burn out too. His heart is being burned by Amaretasu.

Kina says they should go back and let Reishi fix a medicine for Sasuke's eyes. Sasuke tells him to get lost and pushes him away. Then Sasuke suddenly sees something in the grass. He picks it up. He doesn't understand why it's there. Kina asks him what's wrong. Sasuke looks at Kina and realizes that Kina is genuinely worried about him. He thinks about how not necessarily everyone in the world is trying to use him and hurt him. He's always known that. The flames in his heart slowly fade out.

Sasuke apologies and holds out his hand to Kina. Kina takes his hand and uses the leverage to jump up and poke Sasuke's forehead. Kina laughs, "I'll forgive you just this once. You, usuratonkachi." Sasuke averts his eyes, calls him an idiot and suggests to get a bite to eat on the way back to the shop. Kina agrees. They get some dumplings. Sasuke watches Kina stuff his face and he thinks:

[direct translation]
Even though the entire village is their enemy, Kina and Reishi stand firm. Just together as two brothers. I realized that once again.
There's no way I could hate those kinds of guys.
Those brothers' way of living is something I desire, and it's impossible to feel otherwise.
Kina ate another bad-tasting dumpling and crammed it into his mouth, looking like they tasted delicious.
In the end, it was a pretty good afternoon.
[/end]

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