The Child Delivers Judgment

Chen walked through the city with an entourage of Iwagakure shinobi. By now the entire world knew that every grain of sand in the Land of Wind belonged to the Earth Country. It was a historic twist of fate that hadn't been seen since, well ever. Chen could not recall a time where the Land of Earth so decisively controlled the fate of their fellow western Great Power. For centuries the power balance only ran one way and it was almost always in the Wind's favor. Led by the Kazehana, the Land of Wind had made it their business to dominate the Land of Earth. While it was Chen's nation of origin he held no love for the polity. It was by happenstance that he arrived in this part of the world and due to Suna's barely functioning administrative beauracracy, it was easy for him to fashion a new identity here. It had been a failed state for several years and even acquiring the most basic degree of training was impossible. Chen had left the nation for rockier pastures only to come across the great Masaru Tatsudashi. He had seen value in Masaru's leadership and agreed to become his protege. It was either that or waste under the stagnation of a failed village.

Chen had risen through the ranks to become a leader of the Earth Country. Through the efforts of himself, Masaru, Yui and even Shin, they received a seat at the Five Kage Summit. It was there that the fate of Kaze no Kuni was unceremoniously dumped on them. Nozomi, who had been masquerading as Ei the Kazekage, named them the rightful successor to the land. Months had passed without any significant change in policy however. Aside from the fact that they could draw on the nation's wealth, nothing had been done to actually integrate them. Chen had plans for how he was going to bring them in line with their new governance. It wasn't a pretty strategy but it was acceptable by most people's standards.

Ethereum changed all of that.

When he got back from the wreckage of the Heavenly Emporium, Chen threw out all of his old plans and started from scratch. He knew that what needed to be done was far more controversial. It would violate the international norms that had been set by the Second Kage Summit. It would almost certainly put a blight on the Earth Country's honor and might even provoke the world to war against him. Chen didn't care. It needed to be done. An example needed to be set as to what ought be done when the crimes of the Old Guard reached too high.  Chen was so driven in this mission that he had not consulted the new Tsuchikage about his plan. While it was true that Shin was now technically his superior, Chen believed that this was in his right and power to do. The influence of the xeno-fungus spurring him on anytime he received an inkling contrary to that agenda.

Chen walked up to the front of the Kazekage Building and approached the podium that had been constructed for him. So many of the old generation were fond of long and passionate speeches. They enjoyed hearing themselves talk and so they pontificated endlessly about what they intended to do and how they intended to do it. Chen's address to the shinobi and people of Sunagakure would be short and simple. He'd tell them what was about to happen and why.

"Shinobi of Sunagakure. People of the Land of Wind. As of this moment you are all part of the Earth Country. You are bonded to the Will of Stone and will yield to the desire of the Tsuchikage. By the power vested in me as Diarch, I am taking control of this jurisdiction. Sunagakure as of this moment no longer exists. It will be dissolved as a military institution and will forever be dependent on our charity. It will be renamed and its structure will change. The elderly have waged war on the people of Earth for generations and now they will pay in blood for their crimes in supporting the illegitimate Kazehana Empire. All persons over the age of 60 who are in this village will be put to the sword. Several buildings will be razed as punishment for their evil and incompetence. This village is mine. My Desert. My Oasis. My Oashisugakure."

The crowd that had gathered to hear him speak began to panic. He raised his hand and gave the signal. The shinobi of Iwagakure leapt from around him and began to attack the old amongst the throng. Chen's age cut-off was arbitrary and he had no process of verification. He had ordered his ninja to act in an ad-hoc fashion dispensing judgment based on looks. Chen blamed the old for what they had been done to him. Ethereum had extended this irrational hatred to almost all spheres of life: politics, military affairs even love. The number one enemy were those who were stuck in their old ways and unable to change for the good of the people.

It was why Suna had collapsed into nothingness so often and so spectacularly. The cycle of collapse would occur no more. Its power would be broken and turned over to Iwa. Its people would find employment in less consequential sectors and the city would be less a military installation and more of a tourist destination. This was what was best for Iwa and by association him. Konoha's problem was that it had allowed Iwa to continue functioning after the conquest. Once that was done, it was only a matter of time before the Stone diasposra rallied around a charismatic leader and restored the nation. He could not let the same happen to Suna. It had its chance and now he'd break its back so that it could never question Shin's authority.  

As the ageist massceres erupted across the village, the streets would be lined with dead bodies. Bonfires would be erected and corpses would be burned. Schoolteachers, nurses, village officials and clan elders would be hung from construction cranes or stoned to death. The streets ran red with blood and the stench of geriatric genocide hung in the air.

Chen activated his Rinnegan and left the stage. It was time to crush the Sand once and for all.

[Exit]

Tadara was not like his sensei in the way that his Sensei seemed to enjoy attention. In fact a spotlight on himself was an unfortunate situation. Given his role as an assassin. He was capable of a great many things but actually being the face of anything was not one of them. If anything Tadara was the man one chose when they needed something handled in the shadows. It was part of why he had wondered why Chen had involved him in something so public. Luckily he had packed his disguise. He had a small bit of notoriety back home in Iwagakure as the owl but here he would be hated. For he would not be in the direct light...but someone who would be most useful in the massacre that was soon to come. Cloaked in a feathered, black hooded cloak with an owl anbu mask upon his face...he stood out slightly among the other Iwa nin by appearance alone. Though even as Chen finished dictating the horrific fate of the village they stood in and the screams began Tadara would only remain where he was. Watching through the holes in the mask. Black eyes not wavering nor seeming to care. Only calculating and waiting.

The initial wave of death held no interest for him. It was merely clearing up space for a younger generation. Less broken and stubborn in their ways. Some would rebel of course but those who survived would learn a hard lesson from their elders last moments. Instead during the chaos Tadara would spawn in silence a hundred bees. Using them to track down and locate a hundred elderly at a time. Tracking them and only moving onto another if the elderly individual were eliminated. By doing this Tadara established a pattern as he moved with the death squad. Indicating where targets were located by his bees but otherwise simply directing effectively. What could have taken weeks to root out the elderly and those hiding them or trying to sneak them out under the cover of night was all but finished overnight. By the time the sun was rising piles of bodies burned as the elderly in the village had been systematically and pathologically wiped away from the map. The village no longer even sharing the same name....No longer was it Sunagakure. But Oashisugakure. The village hidden in the Oasis. Still Tadara would tend to this without excitement or remorse. Simply wiping the board clean.

Only once the task was finished would he report a ninety five percent likelihood that all elderly from within the village walls had been eliminated. There was a limit to his ability with his bees after all at five hundred meters and there was a small percentage of a chance that there were some elderly still spry enough with help to slip between the grid. However should they be found they too would be eliminated along with anyone protecting them. However not once would Tadara remove the mask or cloak in public. Only in whatever abode he could find to hide himself away in without windows and close to his master. Resting the appropriate amount of measured time for his chakra and mind to recover lost energy consumed during the search. This could only be a beginning. The scent of smoke filling the air with the cries of those who lost their parents and elderly. Blood soaked the rivers but slowly washed away with fresh clear water. So too would the past here be washed away and the future of the village...with a bloody start new soil would become more fertile.

Exit thread
15 exp