Maya - a Naruto Fanfic

48. Do You Hear The People Sing?

After Tsunami has be patched up to her liking, my arm tucked in a makeshift sling to avoid me pulling at my stitches, Inari takes me around the houses of everyone he thinks might help.

"Go away, Inari," someone shouts through the door, "I've already told you, it's useless to stand up to Gato."

"The people of Nami no Kuni outnumber Gato's thugs 10 to 1." I call back.

"Do we?" Inari asks in a whisper.

"Hell if I know, but it seems pretty solid." I whisper back.

"Peh." The man behind the door spits, and I scowl.

"Are you really satisfied with being a victim all your life?" I shout, "is that how you want the children of this land to grow up? You want them to live knowing nothing but subservience and complacency? Do you really see a future where Gato is allowed to reign uncontested? Is that what you want?!" My voice cracks, and by the time I've finished I'm breathing heavily, rage hot and tight in my chest.

"Of course not! But there's no way to defeat him." Inari's jaw clenches and he looks about ready to punch the door. I rest a hand on his shoulder and take a steadying breath.

"... There will always be people," I begin hesitantly, "who are bigger than we are, stronger than we are, richer than we are. There will be someone stronger than Gato out there, someone crueller than Gato. How long will it be before someone worse comes along and takes control? The only way to prevent that is to make sure those people know you will not just sit back and let them do as they please!"

"And if we lose?" The voice asks after a moment's pause.

"Then you lose knowing you fought for something." I say with as much conviction as I can.

"Kaiza fought for something, how much of a comfort was that to him?!" I heard about Kaiza over dinner, and my stomach turns just thinking about it, but I have to stay resolute. Fear is what is holding these people back.

"I don't know," I admit, "but dying for something is a hell of a lot better than dying under the heel of some thug. At least, I know which one I'd choose." He doesn't reply to that, and the silence stretches between us until it's almost unbearable. Then, we hear a click, and slowly the door opens.

The man standing in the doorway has not aged well. His shoulders are hunched forwards and the lines in his face are pronounced almost to an extreme, leaving him looking almost completely defeated. But when I look in his eyes, there's something, something long buried, burning deep inside.

"Do you have a plan?" He asks.

"No." I reply honestly.

"Weapons?"

"Yes."

"What?"

"A frying pan and a trench knife."

"That's not much." He tells me, and I shake my head.

"No, it's not."

"So what makes you think you can do this?" He crosses his arms and stares hard at me. This is the deciding moment.

"I don't know if we can." I say simply, and Inari's jaw drops so fast it nearly hits the floor.

"Then guarantee me one thing."

"What?"

"Keep Inari safe. If we fail now, someone has to continue what Tazuna has begun."

"I understand. I'll make sure he comes out of this alive." I nod.

With one person convinced, it got steadily easier to summon the others, and we were quick to find the women just as eager to help as the men. The sun had barely moved before we had amassed a small army of villagers armed with farm equipment, craft tools and kitchenware. Tsunami in particular held a rather large meat cleaver that made me fear for any thug unfortunate enough to cross her path. Inari held a slingshot and a handful of rocks, and I had Tasuna's knife and Tsunami's frying pan. We weren't ready by any stretch of the imagination, but this was as good as it was going to get.

This is by far the weirdest and craziest thing I have ever done in my life.

A/N: I was gonna write something else but I would just like to acknowledge @xXMissJayXx for completely catching up in 2 hours. That was amazing and my notifications are FILLED with your votes so thank you so much!
On a heavier note, for those who don't follow me, the lack of update yesterday was intentional. The tragedy that struck the LGBTQA community yesterday was huge, and I wanted to in some way acknowledge that on here. Ta-ta will come back when I can end on lighter notes again.