Part 2: Shiranui Genma
They looked too much like someone I once knew.
xxx ooo xxx
This is what happens which Yujirou doesn't and will never know:
By the time Genma comes back from the ANBU mission that took him out of the village for a month and a half, the bodies of the murdered Uchiha clan members had long been burned and scattered in the wind in a ceremony attended by most of the village's shinobi population, particularly those belonging in clans. (After all, the Uchiha had been one of the strongest in the village if not the strongest. The in-village peace was kept by the said clan. To have them wiped out in a single night? And allegedly by a single man, the clan heir himself?)
This is what happens:
Genma is tired and sore. He just wants to shower and sleep for a week straight. But first he needs to give Yuji-chan a present he picked up after completing the mission objectives. His teammates might think he was trying to tease the boy by giving him such an unconventional weapon (even if their clan symbol was a fan), but they didn't know Yujirou the way he did.
Genma's first hint that something was wrong came the moment their five-man team was within the Konoha patrol's range. All five of them stop upon seeing Hound waiting for them barely two kilometers away from the village.
Genma's second hint that something was very wrong came after Hound sent the other four ahead. Then, after a few minutes, ensuring that there was no one else but them around, Hound removes his ANBU mask, revealing the half-covered face of Hatake Kakashi. It was then that Genma knew things were taking a turn for the worse.
He wasn't so stupid to think that the Hokage has ordered his execution. As far as he knows, he hasn't done anything that would warrant treason. And if he were accused of one, he wouldn't be killed without at least defending himself.
He and Kakashi were never really close. Their grief from the Yondaime's untimely demise seemed to be the only point of commonality between them. Still, they were comrades in ANBU who knew about each other's real identity and that counted for something.
Genma copies Kakashi's actions and clips his ANBU mask back on his side. The silver-haired shinobi gestures for him to follow. They don't go too far. They reach a small clearing and jump down from the trees.
It was Hatake Kakashi he was facing, Genma noted, not Hound. This is more personal business then.
"Sixteen days ago, there was an attack on the village," the man starts and Genma instantly stills. "Uchiha Itachi had gone rogue after killing every member of the Uchiha Clan. Only his brother, Uchiha Sasuke, survived the attack. Instead of killing him, Itachi had put his brother under a strong genjutsu. As of the present, only I, Itachi, and Sasuke are the only known user of the Sharingan. A mass funeral was held thirteen days ago. Only the clan heads Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Mikoto were given their own tombstones, after ensuring their eyes will not fall on the wrong hands. The other hundred and sixty-seven victims of the massacre were cremated.-" Genma's ears were ringing. Only years of ruthless shinobi experience keeping him frozen in place, face passive and devoid of emotions. "-As one the few people with relations to the Uchiha, the Hokage had asked me to relay this to you in person."
Genma knew he heard the words. But he couldn't… couldn't… comprehend what the other man was saying. Uchiha, massacred? But what about Yujirou? Wasn't he Uchiha? But he couldn't be dead. That's not possible. Was this some kind of test? You had to be tough in ANBU, afterall. A surprise psych eval? But Hatake was looking like he had just found Uchiha Shisui's corpse all over again. And right… Uchiha Shisui was dead too. Dead. With both his eyes missing. Gouged out. Dead. Dead. They said Itachi killed him too, didn't they? But Yujirou said that was stupid. The older Uchiha members were suspicious of Itachi too. But Yujirou said it was stupid and they were stupid and Yujirou is dead too. Dead. Dead. Dead. And he didn't even have a body to bury anymore. It was Kenta all over again. And no one's going to care, because he is statistics now. A team of seven men, all dead in an ambush by an A-class missing nin who didn't have the right to be there. One hundred and sixty-seven Uchiha killed in one night by one man, the clan heir who snapped. The prodigy who went mad killed and killed and Yujirou's dead. And he doesn't even get to say goodbye properly.
"-Genma," Kakashi's voice was even. Th man speaking to him right now was the ANBU Captain Hound albeit without his mask, not the mess of a jounin Hatake usually portrayed himself as. "Uchiha Yujirou died immediately after a strike to the heart and decapitation-"
Died immediately.
It was quick. Painless.
He wasn't bleeding out and wondering if a saviour would come if Genma would somehow come to help him.
He didn't suffer long. At least.
"Itachi-sama is gentle. He couldn't have killed Shisui-nii... And if it had been him, he wouldn't have made it so painful for Shisui-nii. Shisui-nii's an idiot. There are quicker ways to kill yourself. Less painful. He's stupid... He wrote that note. I would've recognize his chicken scratch anywhere. He tried to teach me once, you know? But he was a terrible teacher... That stupid, stupid Shisui."
There wasn't enough time to feel too much pain.
It was quick.
There were worse ways to go.
Uchiha Yujirou was still dead.
The scroll where Genma sealed his present felt heavy in his pocket. It felt like it was burning a hole through his skin.
He can't even remember the last time he properly spent time with his kid.
"Uchiha Itachi's pursuers came back three days ago. They lost him on the borders of Ame. Investigations being conducted right now are under S-class ranking. Fewer than ten will be privy to it. Hokage-sama expects not to see you for at least four days. He also said that he could be convinced to let you in on the investigation, if his pre-requisites are met. He did not elaborate. The clan compound is currently abandoned and off-limits. But you have permission to visit and take anything from Uchiha Yujirou's living quarters." Kakashi finishes with a nod and promptly disappears.
Genma thinks that he appreciates the Hokage evenmore now. There was no reason to do this. On paper, there nothing connecting him to Yujirou. But the God of Shinobi cared about his soldiers enough to give Genma this. Because there was nothing concrete connecting him to his kid. It would not take Genma much to make others look the other way if they start making a fuss. They could bend the rules to let him in on the investigation to get to the bottom of that bloody night.
And he will.
Shiranui Genma is an infiltration and assassination specialist, and part of his job was information gathering. He has worked mostly for T&I since he was promoted to chunin rank. Even the Yondaime acknowledged his prowess in this field. Genma was never going to be a powerhouse like Kakashi or Gai. But he was a competent and highly-skilled shinobi all the same.
Genma does not remember how long he stood there or when he started running in Konoha's direction or how he finally reached the entrance of his apartment. Here there is an empty room that he had been saving for Yujirou. He did all the paperwork again. This was the ninth request he sent the administration. There was a packet on his doorway when he arrived. The request was denied by one Shimura Danzo. Again. Everyone knew if it got stopped by Danzo, the Hokage will most likely never see nor hear about the matter.
(Had Genma been any less rational of a man, he would have cursed Danzo's name. The Uchiha compound was ways away from where he lived. If he had been allowed to take Yujirou with him, he would have been safe from the massacre. And even if Itachi had been deadset on killing every single Uchiha in existence, he would have had a hard time attacking Yujirou with other shinobi within close vicinity.)
It doesn't matter now though. It doesn't matter that he was prepared to do this for as long as it took to get custody of his kid. Yujirou never knew about this. They stopped talking about it when he started going to the academy. He wanted to surprise him.
It doesn't matter now.
Genma disables his traps, body moving mechanically as his mind still reels from the news. He goes straight to his bedroom, refusing to look at the closed door from across it.
Nothing matters now. But he needs the truth.
"Itachi-sama is gentle..."
He believed-he believes his kid. But Uchiha Itachi killed his whole clan. That is a fact.
Is it, though?
Uchiha Itachi is a gentle soul who killed his whole clan.
The statement sounds absurd, but it could be the truth too.
Or Uchiha Itachi is a gentle soul. But he snapped and massacred his whole clan and tortured his beloved little brother.
He was, after all, a prodigy. There's only so much difference between genius and madness.
He strips all of his gear from his person, but doesn't bother changing out of his dirty uniform before sitting on the edge of his bed. He sat with his elbows resting on his kness, hands tightly holding the storage scroll holding a pair of sharp-edged tessen fan. He was going to get a blacksmith to scorch the Uchiha clan symbol on the weapons.
He knew Yujirou took pride in his clan. They were a proud bunch, Genma knows. But they had reasons to be. And it wasn't like they were particularly boastful about it. They had rather been subdued recently and most of them have been staying with the MPF. Even higher ranked Uchiha hadn't been taking missions outside Konoha. Even ANBU Uchiha.
And right at that moment, something clicks in Genma's mind.