Chapter 14.4- One Thousand Hands

“The tools of the Sage of Six Paths?” I replied, running over each word slowly. What sort of hare brained scheme was I about to get let in on. Those tools were stupid as fuck. Word soul? Taking out a person because they say the word they say most often? Sure, it made for a very interesting fight scene in the anime as we watched Darui and the Kumo contingent try to figure out how the weapons worked, but it was just too unrealistic in this universe. Very few shinobi spoke in combat. Even worse, very few fights lasted long enough for any of that to be a factor. The truth of the matter was that a fight was only likely to last long if both combatants were somewhat relative in strength.

That rarely happened, being honest. More often than not, a fight would last a minute or two at best, and then end with one of the participants either dead or worse. There was simply no value to be gained from the tools in combat. Even worse, they only affected single targets or small groups at the same time. What use would that be in a war where you could find yourself in skirmishes involving dozens? Those weapons had little chance of being any help, and I had to be the one to deliver the bad news to him.

“Yes, the delightful tools of the Sage. Are you aware of them?” he asked, looking eager to delve into the topic.

“Yes. Hyuga Kimora ran me through on several artefacts within the Elemental Nations and their significance to the villages in question. I remember there being something about the treasured tools coming up, but I can’t remember what exactly what that was, beyond the fact that they are in the custody of the Hidden Cloud, there’s nothing really of note about them. Well, there was a fan that allows one other draw on any of the five elemental nations, but it is nothing that can not be matched with the proper training”

“Oh. Those.” He looked disappointed almost instantly.

“Those aren’t the tools I speak of. The Sage of Six Paths made several tools in his lifetime. Of them, the five in the possession of the Hidden Cloud are the lesser ones among them. Powerful and complex tools, to be sure, but nothing like what the Sage made earlier in his life. The writings tell of tools like the Sword of Nunubuko which had the power to cleave the earth in two with a single swing. Weapons like the Heavily Jewelled Spear which the sage used to lift the lands from beneath the water and expand the continent massively. Tools like the Kanju-manju, a set of links in the Sage's necklace that could grant whoever wielded them complete control over the tides. They say he used them to fight the waters back as he created the Land of Iron from nothing. Those are the tools we need. Legends speak of dozens of them. Some with complex histories and notes as to their use and importance, while others are mere footnotes in the annals of history as the accounts that spoke of them find themselves lost in the sands of time.” There was audibly passion in his voice as he spoke of them.

“Whatever we make, whatever we create, is nothing but a shallow rendition of a song so beautiful that it echoes across the ages. We need those tools here. To level the playing field. None in the Land of Earth would dare stand against me with the sword of nunubuko in my hands. With the Kanju-manju, you could drown the Hidden mist village at will. With the heavily jewelled spear, you could crush the mountains Kumo calls home with a mere application of your will. This is the way to keep Konoha safe. To fulfil my brother’s dream in spite of those who would see it ruined.” Almost against my will, I began to feel caught up in the images he weaved. I could see it now, a necklace with two beads around my neck as I commanded the water to rise and obey me with nothing but my will. It was like being a water bender on steriods. Next, I imagined a spear that gave me power over the entire world as I tossed shinobi around this way and that way as I willed.

There was an undeniable allure to it. To what he described. So undeniable that I could not even tell from where to begin opposing it.

“So how do you plan on finding these, Granduncle? I doubt it could be that easy” I said, giving the most obvious problem to this plan of his. If these tools had indeed existed and were so powerful, I doubted that we would be the first to go looking for them.

“The Kanju-manju will be somewhere in the Land of Iron. I know that for a fact. All accounts are equally in agreement on this. When the Sage went to create the Land to protect the continental mainland from tsunami’s, he had twelve jewels around his neck. He returned with ten. That means two of them are somewhere there.” The Land of Iron?

“You would create another enemy in the search for weapons to defeat the ones we already have?” I asked, leaving unsaid the fact that I thought it was a brandead plan. The sharp look he gave me told me that whatever I did not say was still heard loud and clear by him.

“No. The Kanju-manju can be saved for later. What we should be seeking is the infinite pouring pot”

“The what?”

“An infinite source of water. A pot of water that constantly pours out water and never runs dry”

“And how are we going to find that one?”

“Where do you think the Rivers in the Land of Rivers find their source?” His smile was as sharp as ever. A smile I found myself returning. This was the kind of mission I could get behind. Rivers had no notable military apparatus. We wouldn’t be making any powerful enemies here. They were allied with Suna, but those guys already hated us.

A/N: Chappy finished here because I can. And I want to move on with the plot on a new page so here ya go.