Creed winced. He hated when that happened. Slowly, Creed turned around until he was facing the Hokage, and inwardly winced again as he was that he was not alone. Not only that, but the stranger was viewing Creed with exactly the right amounts of confidence and caution, to convince Creed that the stranger was a real threat. Creed put his odds of winning this fight, when he included the fact that he had a hostage, at somewhere very close to zero.
Creed realised that while all this had been going through his mind, the Hokage had been speaking.
"Why did you break out of there Creed?" asked Sarutobi in an overly polite voice, "I was under the opinion that you owed me a debt, and that for that debt, you were not going to break out."
"I did?"
"I see!" said the Hokage, his eyes lighting up, "So you've forgotten... tell me, do you remember somebody by the name of Orochimaru, and I warn you Creed, the only way that you will get out of this situation is if you answer truthfully. I am the Hokage. Therefore, I can instantly tell a lie, especially from you. If I see a lie, you have no hope of escaping this situation."
"No, no I don't know anybody called Orochimaru."
For a second, the Hokage's smile couldn't have been much wider. Then the Hokage realised what else this could mean.
"Can you remember anything of your life before the asylum?"
Creed released Arru, eyes wide, as he too realised just what had happened. "You are the Hokage, I am Creed... and I know who I am, or at least, I know what I like dislike, and otherwise, but other than that..." Creed dropped to his knees and attempted to remember everything. In fact, he would have settled for remembering anything, but try as he might, he could not remember anything about his life. He knew things, such as what a ninja is, how to throw a kunai, but he could not for the life of him remember how he knew them, or where he had gotten the knowledge.
"I see..."
Creed just knelt there, jaw slack, unable to comprehend the enormity of what had happened. He could have been anyone, done anything, and he would be none the wiser. Well... he must have defeated a male at some point in his life... unless that letter was simply lying to him. Creed remained oblivious to the world. About a thousand thoughts were passing through his mind. Thoughts such as: why was I in that asylum, could I have done something terrible, what the heck happened to me?
"Creed... Creed..." the third Hokage was looking down with a sympathetic look at the kneeling sixteen year old before him. All right, the kid was actually thirty seven, but really, he should not have been viewed as anything but a sixteen year old, or so the Hokage felt.
Creed looked down at the ground that he was kneeling on. All of a sudden, its every detail seemed important. Creed needed something, anything to fill his empty mind with. The ground was dry, but not cracked. A thin layer of dust lined it. The grass was green, and brown in almost a camouflage like pattern. Creed was so engrossed in the tiny details of the patch of grass in front of him, that he didn't notice as the piece of paper slipped from his pocket, and landed on the dusty floor. However, the future Hokage was not so oblivious to the actions that were happening around him. Realising that Creed was either choosing to ignore the world around him, or he was unable to remain focussed on such things, Minato strode forward and picked up the letter. It could have been nothing, but his instincts told him that this folded piece of paper would have something of importance on it. That, and as far as he was aware, Creed would not have been supposed to have any personal possessions while in the asylum, so where on Earth did he get- well that changes the situation. Minato Uzumaki looked down at the letter that Creed had received earlier, the very same letter that had caused him to escape.
"Sir, have a look at this."
The third Hokage leaned over, and read the letter.
"Creed!" he yelled. There was still no reponse. "Alright Minato, I believe that the thousand years of death technique should rouse him."
Creed's eyes widened, before he leapt straight up, to attention, as if being drilled in the ANBU academy again.
"No need to do that sir! I am fully aware now, never been more aware of my surroundings. Oh, is that a new hat you're wearing?"
Minato couldn't help but grin. No matter how engrossed he might have been, the mention of that technique was enough to rouse anybody from the deepest stupor. Still, he couldn't resist the opportunity to tease Creed now that it seemed like the situation was not going to have to develop into combat for the present.
"Weren't quite so oblivious as you were pretending now, were you Creed?"
Creed couldn't let him get away with that, but for the moment, he played humble, with a short embarrassed smile. Unfortunately for Creed and his pride, he had no idea of quite who this man was, so the shadow clone he was attempting to bring up behind Minato got a kunai between the shoulder blades from the future Hokage's own clone.
Creed grimaced for a second, before smiling, and without moving his lips, conceding defeat.
"Alright... you got me then." Creed placed unusual emphasis on the "then". Minato smiled. He would look forward to when they next met, since he was certain that Creed would try again to get the better of him.
Meanwhile, the third Hokage was deep in thought. Assuming that Creed had not forged the letter, then Orochimaru's debt was now settled as soon as Creed performed this deed for him. It was possible that Creed had forged the letter, but if he had not forgotten so much, then surely he would still remember being asked to remain in the cell. No, Creed had definitely forgotten about everything. Hmm, well perhaps he still remembered that he still owed somebody a debt, but he couldn't remember specifics could he?
It did not matter, assuming that he did still remember the fact that he owed a debt to Orochimaru, then there were two possible scenarios. Firstly, Creed had received a different task from Orochimaru, and showing incredible foresight, he had forged this letter beforehand to mask the real task. Alternatively, this could have been what Orochimaru asked of him. However, assuming that Orochimaru had asked Creed to do something against the Hokage, wouldn't this be the perfect opportunity to have done it, if he didn't know about Minato, he should have leapt at the opportunity to corner the Hokage without a bodyguard. No, if the debt was a threat, it was a threat to Konoha. Who this "he" was, the Hokage just couldn't fathom. To the best of his knowledge, Creed had never defeated somebody that Orochimaru could not defeat himself. So either Orochimaru knew something about Creed that he didn't, or Creed's real mission threatened Konoha. Afterall, why bother to hide the real mission while in Konoha if Konoha in general would simply allow it to happen anyway. Under normal circumstances, he would have Creed taken back to Konoha and have the ninja police examine the evidence until they realised which option was true, but Creed had just escaped from the asylum, another punishable offense that would cause him to be imprisoned again. No, it would not come to that. Creed had served enough time for things that were not his fault.
All of a sudden, the Hokage was struck by how foolish he was being. There was an easy way to discover the truth.
"Arru, what happened to Creed before he escaped? Did he undergo a change after receiving this note, or beforehand."
Arru took this opportunity as an excuse to nonchalantly move the sharp stick away from his throat, and to step forward a few steps, all the while acting as if he was simply answering the question. Creed of course noticed his ruse, but didn't mind if his hostage escaped now. The hostage was not increasing his odds in this scenario.
"After lord Hokage," said Arru falling to one knee before the Hokage. Creed raised an eyebrow. The man had chosen to kneel in an exact position that he could be mouthing anything to the third, and Creed would be none the wiser. Not only that, but from his kneeling position, had Creed been the greatest assassin in the world, he would not have been able to kill Arru from where he was standing. All of Arru's vital areas were concealed by his pose. Also, had Arru wished to attack Creed, he was placed in a perfect position to turn and attack Creed with his scythe, fighting at the perfect range to make full effect of the added reach of the weapon. Finally, from where Arru was kneeling, his cloak fell across his hands. He could have been doing anything, and Creed would not have known until it was too late. Creed also noticed, that from where the Hokage was standing, he would only have to drop his hands slightly, and they would be obscured enough to perform hand seals without his enemy being able to react, or predict them, since they would not know that he was performing them until too late. Creed instantly decided that this man could be just as dangerous as many a ninja. Well, either that, or it could be just total chance. If he did that sort of thing again... well, then Creed would be impressed.
Sarutobi was about to accept this answer, when he realised that this man could have been a shadow clone. Unfortunately for Arru, there was only one way for him to test things like that. Minato however was just a little quicker to test this. When he hit Arru about the back of the head, Arru did not disappear. That only left the options that this Arru was either a genjutsu, or one of Creed's own techniques, dreamed up to serve the purpose of the moment. An illusion dispel from Minato disproved the first option, and when the Hokage sensed Arru's chakra, it felt like Arru's chakra. The Hokage realised that he probably should have done that first, before Minato had hit Arru around the back of the head. Unfortunately, he hadn't, and Arru was lying face down on the floor, groaning.
Creed had known that that would probably happen, but it still didn't stop him from cringing as Arru went down. He was not a medic ninja, nor would he ever have the long term patience to become one. Therefore, all Creed could do to try to heal Arru's body and pride, was to walk over, and offer his hand to help the man up. Shaking his head, Arru looked for a second like he was going to decline Creed's hand. However, after a moment's hesitation, Arru took the offer of assistance, and Creed pulled him out of the dust.
"Alright Creed, I'm going to let you go. After all, what could we do when you had a hostage?"
Minato turned towards the Hokage. One eyebrow on his face was raised.
"Not only that, but somehow, you had covered your hostage in exploding tags."
The other eyebrow followed the first.
"And with the fact that you had single handedly evaded the best guards that were guarding the asylum, there was nothing that would prove that you weren't just another clone, and the only way that we could check would mean certain death for the hostage, isn't that right Minato?"
"Yes, of course it is. No, neither of us could have done anything to stop the escaped convict, as he escaped with his hostage. Especially not as he somehow performed several warding techniques without seals, all within the space of a second, no, we would have never been able to catch him again even if we had pursued."
"Are you alright with this Arru?" asked the Hokage in a much lower tone of voice.
"I... I am not certain that I understand the question Lord Hokage."
"Well Creed, being Creed, and an escaped convict... well, we couldn't just let him go off free without some sort of guardian."
"That, and technically, I am underage." Creed said, with a grin spreading across his face.
"But I have friends back at Konoha!" exclaimed Arru
"It is your choice. But if you don't go, we will be forced to bring Creed back to Konoha, and put him back in the asylum." Minato said.
Arru thought for a second. It was true that he had friends back in Konoha. But inmate 418, no, wait... Creed was also his friend. Arru didn't abandon his friends. Not only that, but something told him that this was going to be an adventure. No, this was going to be a quest against evil. This was his chance to truly live out what his childhood dreams of being a police officer was. It was time for him to do the right thing.
"I'll go with him," mumbled Arru, then he realised that everybody was still looking at him. Arru came to the conclusion that they hadn't heard him. He was about to repeat himself, when he realised that not only were they still looking at him, but they were not moving. Arru stepped forward, until he was within arm's reach of Creed. He waved his hand in front of Creed's face. There was no response. Arru turned around. Behind him, there was a shadow sliding towards him. However, there was no object to create the shadow. The shadow had no real shape. It stopped just a few feet from Arru, before a snake's head appeared from the mass of it. For a second, the head regarded Arru. Then, it seemed to nod, and moved back into the mass of shadows, and the shadow was gone.
"Brilliant," said Minato.
"In that case, we certainly couldn't have pointed you towards a travelling slave trader that goes under the name of Second Birth. No, we most certainly didn't tell you that in order to gain back your memories, that would be the first step. We also could not tell you not to tear the place down until you had found a clue as to where to head next."
Minato smiled at Creed.
"Goodbye Creed, and good luck. I'll look forward to our next encounter."
Creed smiled, and clasped the soon to be Hokage around the back. He then stepped back, and inclined his head towards the current Hokage.
Arru bowed to both of these people in turn. As the two walked away, Arru could not help but notice the looks on the faces of the third and fourth Hokages. Something told him that now, he had two more people who he could now count as friends. This meant that he had two more people who he would not let down on this mission. As much as the vision he had seen had disturbed him, he wasn't about to let it get to him. After all, it might just be that he had spent too long in the nuthouse. Arru did not want his friends to lose faith in him, so he did not mention it as the two parties split. No, he tried to put all thoughts of such things to the back of his mind. Still, he had never been the sort to dream up things like that before...
The Hokage smiled as he saw Creed and Arru depart. For a second, he wondered how exactly he was going to explain this to some of his critics. Then Minato turned away and headed back to Konoha.
"Umm, Minato..."
"Yes?"
"You have something stuck to your back."
"What!"
Minato practically ripped the scrap of brown envelope from his back, where it had been crudely folded into the hood of his jacket.
To... well, you know who this is to.
I have lost the battle, but I will not lose the war
-Creed
Minato smiled. He would definitely look forward to their next meeting.
Author's Note: Even if I get hate mail for continuing to write this... I WILL NOT STOP! Alright, only two people have viewed the second chapter. That means that two people like my work enough to read on. Considering that seventeen people have visited it, this means that over ten percent of all people who have seen it have liked it enough to read on, and this is enough to make me happy. Now if only I could get a review...
