The Shadow of Surrender
By iamgaki
Disclaimer: Standard Disclaimers Apply. No major character in the Naruto-verse died.
Heavily influenced by The Tomoeda Arcana by Arabidopsis.
Summary: How much more could she take before she had enough? In a world where chakra is the core of each life, Sakura has been forced to question her existence by the very energy the world manipulates. She found herself herself alone, fading, and embracing the truth that maybe, the world does not need her.
A/N: Follows events up to End of Fourth World War.
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PROLOGUE
The sun's light made shadows creep up to the towering room of the current Hokage who was, for all the time, muttering curses about the damn paperwork stacked at her desk which she was convinced that no matter how much she did, kept on multiplying. She was hunched over, grabbing a document after another, stamping one for approval then another for rejection and thus continued on. Furrowed brows could be seen and lines were slightly appearing across her forehead. She bit her lip looking at one document she was holding at her hands then placed it down to the 'for review' pile. Political Unions and Tax Reforms were clearly grating on her nerves. She nudged her aching temple with both of her hands before signing another document and placing it above the mountain of papers in front of her. She let out a long tired sigh before continuing what she called "the curse of a hokage", picking up yet another paper, this time a mission report on the escort of a group of merchants to wave country.
Where was Shizune and her requested afternoon Imagawayaki and some Daifuku. If she was confiscating her stash of Sake, then she demands some suitable replacement.
She let out again another groan. All these work and no sake to keep things lively. Maybe she could hustle some poor genin or chuunin to get her one.
"My, my," a long boring voice dawned on the still room. "Aren't hokages supposed to be grand and poised? Not some overtired grubbers hunched over chairs like some old granny."
Tsunade did not stop reading the document but an angry vein was threatening to pop on her head. Still holding the paper in front of her face, she peered over the intruder for a second who was perched by the window sill just beside her. A boring look etched over her features but one more word and he'll say hello to her fist.
"It's troublesome," she said after a weary sigh. Her voice even sounded the same to her ears and the uncanny resemblance to the Nara's penchant for almost the same sentiment did not miss her.
She casted him a dull look before straightening herself over, attempting to dignify herself but both knew she would slump down in a second. "What are you doing here you perverted old geezer?" she said, glaring at the intruder. Her voice returning to the stubborn and hard-headed tone she's famous for.
Jiraiya let out a chuckle before trotting over and leaning at the side of the table Tsunade was hunched over earlier. He reached out for the forgotten pen with fluffy pink cotton feathers decorated at the top of it and twirled it between his fingers before a mocking a hurt look with matching tone effect for his voice.
"Can't old teammates visit one another?"
Tsunade slapped him by the arm, the only place she could reach, before snatching her fluffy pen from him and continuing her duty. "No! You just don't know the word visit as it is."
And it's true. Seldom does the legendary Sannin Jiraiya visits his old teammate. Even if one of them is indeed the Hokage of the Hidden Village of the Leaf. He claimed there were so much more important things to do with his time like Data Collecting, which everyone knew was his term for peeping, girl watching and other perverted things.
Jiraiya let out another chuckle before slouching himself on the desk this time watching Tsunade who was yet with another bored look on her face reading a document and writing at the same time using that fluffy pink pen of hers. He snatched a glance at the document before letting an indignant sigh.
"What's this?" he asked pointing at the paper Tsunade was holding and with both his eyebrows raised upwards. "Trouble again at the western part? People here surely loves a chaotic world. Didn't we just survived a war?"
Tsunade laughed at his remark. "You know how people are. If it's not trouble looking for them, it's them looking for trouble."
"Well, so much for wanting peace around here."
"Don't worry about it. I already dispatched a few jounins to sort it out."
"Who said I am worried?" he muttered with voice lowered down. "Those freaking idiotic people can go keel over themselves. Like I care about them."
"Heh! All you cared about are those women who wouldn't even walk in the same street if they knew you were around."
"Hmph!"
They lapsed into a comfortable silence with Tsunade continuing her duties and Jiraiya just slouching on the desk with a contemplative look on his face. He was debating whether to tell Tsunade about his concerns right now. But this matter may involve Konoha so he shouldn't think twice about it. The problem is how to explain it in simple terms for even he can't really understand it at all.
He casted her a look. She was still busy on yet another set of papers now concerning the Konoha Hospital.
"If you're gonna say something then say it now. These damn paperwork are making my head feels like lead. And Shizune stole my sake!" she gave him a stern look that project stiffness and strictness.
"All this grumpiness and paperwork are making you older than you already are."
A raised eyebrow was her reply. The look she gave him was enough to convey that if he does not shut up on the old thing, she will smash his face in the table. Paperwork be damned.
"I'm kidding!" He finally said with his face into a grin and both his hands in front of him waving into a silly gesture.
She straightened her back and placed both her hands intertwined together on the table and casted him a serious look that meant business.
"What are you really doing here?" Tsunade finally asked, eyeing him sternly. "The last report I had of you was you were in Kumogakure. Researching in hot springs. There are no reports that would cause alarm to the village. Border patrols saw no suspicious activity. And no brewing of hostile intent from neigboring countries."
He really must commend on her ability to deduce his motives. He supposed it all came to his habit of appearing whenever there was development on Akatsuki. If he was in the village, then it would mean that something serious just happened or he uncovered something deadly and detrimental to the village or its inhabitant. But Tsunade was right to conclude that there was no cause for concern considering that they were in a time of peace and with the union of the great countries, and all the peace talk the leaders conducted every year, no war would be brewing anytime soon.
He gave a long audible sigh before straightening up from the table and made his way to the window. He stared outside to the sky with the clouds getting a dull gleam from the afternoon rays the sun was emitting before letting out another sigh again.
After a couple of second with which he deliberated, he faced Tsunade who was watching him all this time.
"I don't know exactly what it is. It would be better if you have a look at it first hand. I'll show you." He said before jumping from the window down to the ground outside.
"What the-?" hell, she finished in her mind before grumbling that the idiot doesn't know how to use a door. She was slightly anxious on the trivial concern of her teammate. Something was making him apprehensive. It was different from before where he stated facts straight up without hesitation.
This was unconventional of him and that alone unnerved her.
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They were perched on top of Konoha Mountain directly at the top of Yondaime. Wind was blowing lightly over them and the blinding light was lightly dimmed by the clouds hanging above covering the sun's rays. It was a dull afternoon and yet Jiraiya thought otherwise.
The place overlooked Konoha to a great extent and this place was just perfect for what he planned on showing Tsunade. They were atop the highest possible land in the village and with this location, they could oversee the vast land of Konoha. He placed his hands on his hips, breathing in fresh air and exhaling deep before facing the now curious Hokage who was looking over the village as well.
"Something's here in Konoha." Jiraiya started drawing a breath again. "I don't really know who it is or what it is, and where it came from. I just noticed it a few days earlier while I was enjoying the hot springs at the far eastern side." his voice faltered and silenced continued around them.
"Take a look across the village. You'll know it when you see it. Stick to the skyline and rooftops. It drifts past the winds and the clouds so you'll just have to look." He pointed across the horizon indicating where he wished she focus her scanning of the village.
If it wasn't for the seriousness of the situation, she would have slapped him across the head for the anxiety he was giving her.
She swept her gaze across the village, wondering silently what exactly she was looking for. It must be serious if Jiraiya couldn't even described it. He with his literary prowess tucked under his belt. She stood there looking yet feeling the surrounding of the whole village, trying to sense anything that was amiss. Jiraiya stood next to her doing the same thing. There was the academy and its newly painted sign glowing under the sunlight, then the roofs of Konoha Hospital, the old district with its quaint houses, the bustling market a couple of blocks away and the newly built apartments near the main gate.
What is she really looking for? There was nothing as far as she could see. Everything was normal as it appeared to be.
Wait.
She suddenly looked up at something. She could have sworn she saw a black patch just now. Was it the wind? Some smoke? It moved at a speed almost undetected by a normal human eye.
What was that?
She knew she saw a quick movement at the corner of her eyes. Fast, quick and subtle. She strained her eyes more hoping to catch whatever it is she supposedly saw. She glimpsed it near the training grounds then near the hospital.
"You saw it didn't you?" Jiraiya whispered into the air making her skin shiver.
"I saw something. At least I think I did." Tsunade kept squinting at the plane trying to catch yet another glance at it.
"That was it. You won't be able to see it if you look for it. The most that you could see are quick glances. You have to look at something else and let it stray your vision."
Tsunade never left her gaze on the horizon. "What is it?" she whispered to him.
"It's hard to tell. I've been keeping track of it for a few days now and I came out with nothing. Absolutely nothing at all. It has no sign of life, chakra or energy. it's possible I just couldn't detect it. It's like darkness itself that consumes the light and sticks to the shadow…" he paused, unsure of the words coming out of his mouth. "…it's like nothing itself."
Tsunade let out a thought, "How could nothing exist?" She was horrified at the thought that something was roaming at the village undetected.
Her vision never wavered from the outlook of Konoha. This time, while her gaze swept over the business district, she saw it. It camouflaged itself, fitted itself across the winds. She saw a cluster of dark swirling leaves twirling across the threshold of the rooftops. The cold and dark empty feeling that the thing emanates could never be disguised.
The feeling itself gave the chills that run down her very spine.
She had to have it monitored and captured if possible. The problem was how. How to capture it when you could barely even locate it. Shit. Not only that, how was she to explain it to the ANBU and other Jounins. She had to consider who best to assign to this. She had to be discreet even. She couldn't risk having a full blown paranoia to be swept to the village not when they have just attained peace.
How will you catch something you can't even see properly? And the important question – what is it doing here? Did it come for Naruto?
"Whatever this thing is, it only means trouble." She stated as a matter of fact.
Jiraiya could not do anything other than a nod of his head. But as an afterthought he added, "I'll try to find something more about it. We don't want to be helpless now when that thing comes to us directly."
The wind continued to soar across Konoha hovering over the two Sannin that watched over it as the sun's light dissipates. Their faces with sheer determination and strength and yet one can trace the grim feeling both were having.
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