Mount Kikyo — Few hours before daytime
"Everyone, we have to hold for only a few more hours. When reinforcements arrive, we will kill all the trash of Sunagakure." Urakishi, an elite Jonin of Konoha of the same generation as Tsunade and Jiraiya, shouted with anger.
Although, by seeing the situation, he knew that everyone would die by the time reinforcements arrived, but it was his duty as the commander to hold the enemy until death. As for retreating from this pointless battle and waiting for reinforcements to arrive and counterattack, he didn't dare. Even if what he did was right, Sakumo Hatake's death before him was a good warning to him. To him, death for Konoha was better than death by Konoha.
"Yes, Urakishi-sama, we will not let a single bastard of Sunagakure breach the lin—"
Reverse Secret White Technique: Esematsu's Ten Puppets
Before the Konoha Jonin could complete his sentence, ten Konoha ninjas surrounded him and slashed him at once, leaving him no place and time to dodge. The next moment, the Konoha ninja was divided into pieces.
"KAKURIIII!!!!"
"No need for grief, you can meet your friend soon." Chiyo appeared at some point in time and comforted Urakishi, but it would have been better if Chiyo could keep quiet.
"YOUUU OLD HAGGG!!!! DIEEEE!!!!"
White Secret Technique: The Chikamatsu Collection of Ten Puppets: Heaven Attack
---
One Hour Later
"Elder Chiyo, Elder Ebizo, we have completely controlled Mount Kikyo. According to recent intel we have extracted from those Konoha ninjas, Konoha's first batch of reinforcements would arrive at the earliest by today's noon. Nara Shikaku and Hyuga Hiashi are leading the group with a strength of around 400 ninjas. Sarutobi Hiruzen has given the order of war preparation and their full force would arrive in three days. We can hold Mount Kikyo for one month at most, should we ask for reinforcements as well?" One ninja reported the latest intel to everyone in the makeshift tent. Hearing the news, everyone became solemn. Although they won the first step, they still had to wait for other Ninja villages to attack Konoha as well or they would have to face Konoha alone. Then, it would be mutual destruction of both sides which Sunagakure doesn't want.
"Hmm, what is the result of yesterday's meeting in Konoha? Will the Uchiha clan return the Seven Tails or not? And what about their joining in the war?" Chiyo then remembered the special occasion yesterday and asked with curiosity. Hearing Chiyo's question, everyone also became curious and the Jonin, hearing the question, smiled brightly.
"Hehe, I was coming to this topic. Yesterday, after some unknown disturbance in the Hokage Building, they finally released the news that from now on Konoha and Uchiha are independent of each other and the Seven-tails is currently with the Uchiha clan. We do not know further details as they are confidential and it will take some time for the spies to get other terms if there are any. "
"Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. As expected of Sarut....." After hearing the news, everyone smiled in relief and happiness. Now they have one less enemy, and a greater possibility of winning this war.
"Quie....."
---
Edge of Sunagakure Camp
A little boy around seven to eight years old stood at the edge of the circle of tents, quietly watching the ninjas partying, bragging, and laughing. There seemed to be a dimensional barrier between the two sides; one side was filled with light, heat, and joy, but the other side was filled with darkness. A little bit of light reached the other side, but to the child this light wasn't filled with warmth but with coldness and loneliness.
SWISH
Just when the child was standing there in confusion, the sound of wings flapping and leaves rustling came. Gaara noticing the sound became alert and looked around him and found a crow sitting on a nearby branch, also looking at him with curiosity. Gaara was shocked seeing a crow able to come near him and not run away in fear. Due to the influence of the One-tail inside him, no animal dared to come near him. It's like an instinct, so to Gaara it was a first.
'Does this crow not fear me? Is it an idiot or is it strong enough? Is this a ninja beast of Konoha? Should I kill it?'
"KRAA" Just when Gaara was wondering how to make this crow a tomato sauce, Yatagarasu raised one of his wings and waved to Gaara as if greeting him.
'This....is this crow saying hello to me?' In his few short years of life, he never encountered such a sentient crow. For a moment, Gaara forgot to make tomato sauce and became more curious about Yatagarasu.
---
Yatagarasu's POV
My name is Yatagarasu. I am the God governing the cycle of reincarnation, life and death, cause and effect, and fate. My favourite hobby is gaining knowledge and exploring the unknown. I am only a few tens of thousands of years old, and have left my original world after the death of my partner. I usually travel through space and time, finding my partner's reincarnation and also exploring new worlds.
In the past thousand years, something strange happened. I got caught in a space-time turbulence and I found myself in the Ninja world once again. But, strangely, my partner didn't exist in that world, not even his soul.
Then, something outrageous happened: Itachi Uchiha massacred his entire clan with his own hand, with the help of another Uchiha. I then understood that this was not my world. I didn't travel back in time; instead, I travelled to a parallel world, a concept my partner explained to me. After that, for the next thousand years, I have been travelling from one time-space to another, and sometimes I find parallel Ninja worlds. My favourite thing now is to find the differences in different parallel Ninja worlds, and just now I entered this world.
I didn't expect to find young Gaara here all alone. In my original world, my first official fight was against Gaara, and after that we had a pretty good relationship.
Hmmm, should I help him?
---
"Hello, my name is Gaara." Gaara, after a minute of internal monologue, gave his first introduction to a crow, though Gaara didn't mind it. Seeing that the crow was still not flying away, Gaara thought for a bit and then ran to the nearest camp and after a few seconds came back with a clenched fist.
Then when Gaara was three meters away from Yatagarasu, he opened his fist and inside it were a few unsalted peanuts. Yatagarasu, seeing this, finally made his decision and leapt from the tree branch and settled on Gaara's hand, picking one peanut at a time. Although Gaara was nervous the entire time, controlling his bloodlust and trembling a little, he finally didn't hurt Yatagarasu.
"Do you want to be my friend?" Seeing Yatagarasu complete eating peanuts, Gaara asked with hesitation. Since when he could remember, people had always feared him. Even his mother died because of him, only Yashamaru talks to him but he is usually busy. As for children his age, they run in fear just seeing him from a hundred meters away, so although Gaara longed for love and friendship, all he got was loneliness.
"KRAAA" Seeing the crow once again raising his wings, Gaara smiled awkwardly as he hadn't smiled before. And for the first time he could feel comfort, the comfort of the absence of interference of Shukaku. Gaara didn't know why this happened, but he knew that it was related to Yatagarasu.
"Hey, do you have a name....."
For the next hour until sunrise, Gaara talked with Yatagarasu. Even though Yatagarasu didn't speak human language, Gaara was very happy to have someone for company.
Just when Gaara thought of taking Yatagarasu with him to Sunagakure, the crow looked towards the rising sun and waved his wings once more as if saying goodbye and flew towards the sky. Seeing this, Gaara panicked and unconsciously sand started to gather around him, ready to capture Yatagarasu.
"KRAAAA!!!!" Just then, the screech of a crow rang out and Gaara lost control of the sand around him. Then, Yatagarasu, with a final screech, disappeared behind the clouds.
"This.....even you do not want to be friends with me?... You" Just when Gaara was holding back tears and anger, a black feather fell on his head.
"This is Yatagarasu's feather?" Gaara held the feather in his hand, which felt cool to the touch. The next moment, Shukaku inside him, who was screaming, calmed down. Gaara then felt the calm feeling again.
"Is this your answer, Yatagarasu, my friend? I.....I will find you again....Just wait for me...."
After saying that, Gaara fell into sleep holding the feather tightly, not wanting to leave it, with a slight smile on his face.
---
Yatagarasu's POV
"Hmmm, I, Yatagarasu, did another good deed today. Sigh, I am truly a good man. Let's see, in the future, Konoha, Iwagakure and Kumogakure will attack Sunagakure on the crime of killing a Daimyo and Gaara will die in the war, participating as a Jinchūriki???
Tsk tsk tsk, you Sunagakure are truly pitiful. In the dozens of parallel worlds I have travelled into, Sunagakure is a loser in all these worlds.
Gaara, for the peanuts you fed me, I will do Sunagakure a favour. Anyway, goodbye."
---
Hello everyone,
I think after this chapter there will be little to no appearance of Yatagarasu. Maybe one or two paragraphs here and there, but nothing major.
Also, I honestly don't know how I wrote this chapter. It took me two full days to complete it. And to be honest, it didn't turn out as good as it looked in my mind — especially Gaara's emotions, his friendship with Yatagarasu, and his acceptance of him and everything that happened between them.
I feel like I still don't have the skill to properly write what I imagine in my mind onto paper. But still, thank you all for reading and staying with the story.
---
Just changed the story synopsis from AI to self-written. Check if it is okay.