Chapter 24 - 24. A Place Of Our Own

"SHIRO! Let him go!" Monari pleaded. She was on the ground, utterly tired and unable to move.

"NO! I can't! Not before I take away his whole life force. As long as he lives, he will be a danger to everyone… You, the Bijuu, Jin, the village. All will be in danger." He replied sternly. ​​

*SHHH*

Slowly, the crystal covered Minoshiki's form entirely, and now it started to extend to Shiroken's arm which had grabbed his heart.

"BUT! What will happen to you? What if that crystal kills you?" She cried in anxiety.

"I cannot, I have his energy to survive. Remember, Monari, I am the Lord of Dama village, and it is my duty to protect you all." He replied, with a hint of sadness.

He had already started to drain Minoshiki's energy, and he was shocked by how much it was. This was what thousands of years of training gave him. But Shiroken did not know if his body could even handle all this.

~*Sigh* This will take me years to absorb~ He realised.

Shiroken looked back at all the tailed beasts, his eyes were sad and on the edge of tearing up, "Chomei, Gyuki, Son Goku, Kokuo, Isobu, Matatabi, and Saiken... I will come for you, I promise. No matter what. So please be safe."

"NO SHIRO, LET HIM GO!" Saiken shouted while fighting the Buddha statue's many arms. All of them were throwing Bijuu-dama one after another at it however it only destroyed a few arms. Hashirama had also used his enlightenment power to put 2 of them to sleep already.

"There is no other way. Nobody can beat him if I don't do it. He will destroy this planet if I let go today, and that will be the end of all of us." Shiroken replied. He heard stories from Kurama about the Otsutsuki clan, and he had a rough guess of the risk they posed.

Shiroken turned to Hashirama as the crystal nearly reached his head, he boomed, "YOU BETRAYED HUMANITY TODAY! History may be kind to you, but I won't be."

Hashirama's face fell.

Those words hit him heavier than any blow till now. He didn't have the time to understand the motivations of Shiroken. All he saw was a strange inhuman being made of Natural Energy, which could even make him look weak.

He remembered the only attack he received from that horned man, and it was just a simple punch, but he couldn't even take it and it destroyed half of his body. Only with quick regeneration was he able to continue.

He felt he was not really a threat to either Minoshiki or Shiroken. If he was fighting one on one with either of them, he may not have won.

"STAY SAFE! UNTIL I'M BACK, My dear family" Shiroken spoke his last words, as his eyes shined brighter than ever before and stayed open.

"NOOO..." Monari tried to crawl towards the crystal and dig it. But her sword broke down in an instant.

Hashirama tried to come and see it too, thinking maybe he would be able to help somehow while feeling slightly crestfallen.

Seeing this, all the Tailed Beasts panicked.

"PROTECT SHIRO!" All the tailed beasts raged, now truly looking like mindless beasts. Madly trying to get away from the hold of the Buddha statue.

They threw Bijuu-dama one after another on all sides. Hashirama stopped on his way and went back to trying to hold them still and bring them under full control with his wood release.

*BOOM*

Gyuki soon was able to reach his tentacles near the crystal. In one fell swoop, he smashed at it.

It surely didn't break, but it was sent away flying into the sky so high that it went out of vision soon. To land in some random place.

~If it didn't break with my blow, there aren't many who can break it then~ Gyuki sighed in relief and turned to Monari.

"RUN! RUN AWAY! Shiro will be back soon, and until then, you must keep the village alive. Until we all return, you must keep the village safe. We will be together once again, he promised that, and we promise it too," Gyuki loudly said.

Next, all the tailed beasts touched each other, while Gyuki put one tentacle on Monari's head softly. They transferred some energy to her weakened body so she could escape as fast as possible.

"GO AWAY! Take care of my farm, Monari. I will make the best cake when Shiro is back." Saiken told her jokingly.

She laughed and cried at the same time, looking all messy. But she accepted their command and ran away.

"PLEASE, BE SAFE! Saint Beasts..." She muttered and vanished into the jungle, tears constantly flowing from her eyes.

Back at the battlefield, now only Hashirama and the 7 tailed-beasts were left. He had already caught them, now all he needed to do was to temporarily seal them so he can transport them to the trading location.

The beasts had calmed down, knowing that what was going to happen now can't be avoided. And, most of them were the calm ones, except Son Goku.

Matatabi turned to Hashirama and spoke, "You could have found hundreds of other ways to bring peace, but you chose the path of violence."

"Now don't mind us when we do the same, and decide to destroy your villages when we are set free again." Son Goku threatened.

However, Hashirama seemed too confident in his abilities. "I will stop you again then."

Gyuki scoffed, "Hahaha... don't be so proud of yourself, human. You will eventually die, but we are immortal. And next time, there won't be an Otsutsuki to stop Shiro either. Just count your days to ruin now."

Hashirama decided to ignore their threats and contain them. It was a Jutsu and only he and Madara were able to do it till now. Through this, they could put the tailed beasts into sleep or fully control them.

After that, all he had to do was use his wood release to transport them. But before leaving, he looked in the direction Monari had left. ~She had the Mangekyo. I hope she never comes to the Land of Fire again, or I will have to act.~

Next, he looked at the direction Shiroken was thrown at, "I must send men to look for that boy."

It took Hashirama a few days to transport all the tailed beasts to the location where the 5 Kage summit was held. All the other Kages were present, along with the first Jinchuriki. The leader of the Uzumaki village was also there, to personally aid the sealing and hand over the key to the village Kage.

Sunagakure's Kazekage had come without a Jinchuriki as their village already had the beast. Kumogakure's Raikage had brought a young two-year-old girl named Yugini and a toddler boy, named Blue A.

All the other villages had also brought either young children or early teenagers. Hashirama didn't like this as it was akin to torturing a child, but he couldn't say anything about this.

He oversaw the whole sealing and in the end, all 5 villages signed a peace treaty. Hashirama, happy and satisfied, returned to the village. But he hid all that happened while catching the beasts. He feared that these villages would get paranoid and think the Fire Country had such powerhouses.

He also didn't want Shiroken to fall in someone else's hand, as a body made of Natural Energy was very valuable for research.

He soon arrived back in his village, "Tobirama, did a boy named Shiroken arrive here?"

Tobirama nodded, "Yes, and I told him about Suna's beast and sent him to you."

Hashirama sighed, "You did well. But we have more important work to do. That boy was very strong, strong enough to probably kill me. And we have a bigger problem, the Otsutsuki clan. Possible beings from space, who eat energies of whole worlds to get stronger..."

Hashirama told everything to his younger brother. In the end, they sent many teams of Ninjas to look for the crystal Minoshiki and Shiroken were trapped in.

While Hashirama planned to make his village stronger, he didn't know how, but he had to. Though a surprise was waiting for him, a gift from a certain black blob.

...

*WOOSH*

Monari reached the fleeing villagers. Jin was leading them to the south of the Fire Country, in hope of finding a good land to settle.

Her hair, her face, all looked smudged. Her eyes were red with tears, and her Mangekyo was still active. She had run for a whole day to reach them.

"MONARI!" Jin immediately hugged her and brought her to a temporary tent. Fumiko and the village leader also gathered there. From the looks of her, it was probably not good news.

She was given some water and then asked what happened.

*Sniff*

But she teared up. Jin helped her calm down for a few minutes before she could start.

"I... Shiro is gone, and so are the saint beasts..." She told them everything from start to finish. They already knew about the attack of the Otsutsuki as she had informed them before the evacuation.

But how the fight ended shocked them. "Gyuki said that Shiro will surely return, but when... that's not clear. The saint beasts asked me to make sure our village stays strong and growing. So we can all be together again someday."

Everyone, from young to old, cried at the tragedy. Their beloved Lord was gone. They felt powerless and helpless, even after being inhumanly strong, they felt they were too weak in comparison to Shinobi. They cursed the gods, or whoever made them. Why they didn't make all humans the same? Why make a few strong and the rest weak?

Jin clenched his fist, feeling the same, but he couldn't show his sorrow in public, "Where should we go now? Dama village will most likely be searched for by them."

Monari wiped clean her eyes, ~I can't be weak... I must lead them... I must not cry... not until Shiro is back~

"We will go to the Tea Country. There are no Shinobi villages. We will slowly take over the Daimyo's position and rule the country. We will surprise Shiro with the first Dama country. A country where the Saint beasts are loved and cherished." She firmly decided.

Everyone's hearts felt warm, this was a good dream, and an achievable one for them. They all left the tent for her to rest. Jin stayed by her side.

He hugged her and also shed a few tears. Jin was the first human friend of Shiroken. Since he was 5, he had seen Shiroken grow up and had played with him all his life. To him, Shiroken was as close to his heart as his mother or Monari, "We are with you, Monari. If these countries can't accept us, then let's make a country of our own."

Monari silently hugged him tight and nodded repeatedly.

And so, they crossed over from Fire Country, into the Tea Country. There, they first set up a temporary camp in the jungle.

...

Unknown Location.

Shiroken was still conscious, although he was trapped in the strange crystal. He was not strong enough to break it. And the only one strong enough was under some Genjutsu.

He looked around through his open eyes at the location. ~It seems I am in some kind of a cavern. But which country it is, I don't know. I will be back, everyone, please don't give up~

This was going to be his home for the foreseeable future until he can get out of this crystal.

[A/N: Now, Shiroken's existence itself will lead to some small changes to everything that happens in the world in his absence.]

[You can see Monari and the crystal on my Discord - https://discord.gg/DgHkrAn OR see them on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mister_immortal_novel]

I LUB STONE! SO STONE ME!

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Special thanks to *Douglas Flower* *Umar Latif* *Julian Rocamora* *Darrien Steely* *Franklin Walley*

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