Orochimaru's organization was hierarchical.
He was at the top, the mobster boss in charge of all affairs. His second in command was Kabuto, who would look at the executive performance of the snake's underlings. The organization was well-known across the underground world of organized crime, and its main goal was to take control in every major city. Under Kabuto's supervision were the younger generation of the organization. Suigetsu overlooked the drug distribution in all the areas Orochimaru controlled, and Jūgo served as his master hacker. They had already cleared the field in Otogakure, where Karin was stationed as the deputy leader while Orochimaru went to different places.
Other cities fell to the same model. The snake would appoint a trusted subordinate who had worked arduously to deserve the position of deputy boss. His recruitment methods were simple, so simple that institutionalized authorities did not really notice his the true intentions. Orphanages were excellent sources of new material; broken, corrupted young souls barely had a chance at succeeding in life in the flawed social system. They would always be cast aside, making them the perfect candidates for Orochimaru's organization.
He would pick up children for spying, cybercrime, anything that he needed. Sometimes, though, he would find a special child who would stand out among the crowd. Uchiha Sasuke was one of those.
When Orochimaru had found the young Uchiha, he thought that the raw power behind his black eyes was the perfect fit for the type of hit man he needed. Surely, Sasuke's arrival, along with Naruto's, only brought a division within the organization. Jiraiya decided to leave with the Uzumaki boy, seeing a 'bright future ahead of his life.' It was all a lie; Jiraiya had left because he didn't agree with the idea of using children as experiments. Much less as murder machines.
And that was what Sasuke had become. He had been given his first weapon at the age of ten, and was trained to become one of the best and most silence hit men in in all of the cities Orochimaru had touched. The tragic story of losing his parents to his older brother was enough incite to drive the boy towards revenge, and to shape his goal of killing Itachi by becoming a successful assassin.
However, Orochimaru encountered the problem of Sasuke's moral code. Even at such a young age, the boy knew that killing for fun was rather erroneous. There were many things the snake had to keep hidden from his disciple if he wanted to keep him in line. Consequently, the human trafficking and experimenting was mostly kept secret. Suigetsu's arrival in the Uchiha's life led to some uncovering of the darkest part of the organization, but Sasuke did not seem to pay much mind to what Orochimaru truly did with his subjects. The snake had had the organization for decades before the arrival of the Uchiha. By keeping him in line, he knew he would have the best killer the world has seen on his side and that his operations would not falter.
Besides, Sasuke was a necessity Orochimaru could not afford losing; he was one of a kind.
Hence why he was given the task of keeping tabs on Haruno Sakura. Orochimaru's mouth tilted sideways, thinking about how everything would unfold in the future months. Not many people knew who the Haruno girl really was, and Danzō had made a wise choice by requesting him to follow her around. After all, she was also an important piece in Orochimaru's chess board.
CHAPTER SEVEN
CITY COUNCILLOR KUMADE TORIICHI FOUND DEAD
The youngest member of Konoha's city councillor was found dead in his apartment last night at approximately 2:30 AM. The forensics department has not released any information on how the politician passed, but it is alleged that Kumade Toriichi was murdered in his living room an hour prior to the discovery. His neighbours allegedly stated that they heard several footsteps in the apartment before it 'all went quiet at around two in the morning.' More information will be known once the police releases a statement after the official autopsy. There were no witnesses, but it is rumoured that other members of the city council were involved in the murder due to Kumade's involvement in political corruptions.
Our deepest condolences go to Kumade-san's family and friends. His contribution to the city of Konoha will never be forgotten. The mayor will be in live television tonight to give a statement about the events. A memorial service will be held a week from today at the city hall. Information can be found in the city's official website and on our own site.
(More on page 9-10)
Sakura read the headline with a surprised expression. She read it once again, staring into her laptop screen, waiting to see if the photograph of the young man would move or if the headline would refresh itself and say that it was all a bluff. The assassination of a politician was a serious issue, she reckoned. It felt like the newspaper was throwing information at its readers without checking the sources.
Was there really political corruption in Konoha? This was the first time she had heard anything like this happening in a peaceful place like her own city. She knew that the streets were safe at night, that her university was well-recognized, and that corruption was not a normal world in the everyday Konoha lingo. Her curiosity led her to her search bar. She typed in the name of Kumade Toriichi and several links popped up. Many were from newspaper sights similar to Konoha's main newspaper, as well as websites from different parts of the country.
Sakura scrolled down, looking at leaked pictures of a corpse covered in blood. She noticed how the blow to the head had in fact been fatal. The rest of the corpse, on the other hand, showed evidence of torture before killing. Her stomach suddenly felt sick at thinking of how the poor man might have suffered before they finished him off. She wondered if it was right to feel sorry for someone who had allegedly been politically corrupt, or if it was just the media playing with her emotions.
A link captured her attention.
IS AKATSUKI INVOLVED IN THE DEATH OF THE POLITICALLY CORRUPT COUNCILLOR!?
It didn't seem like a valid source, but she clicked on it anyway.
The secret organization known as Akatsuki could potentially be behind Kumade Toriichi's murder. Akatsuki, which started in the city of Amegakure as a group of revolutionists, gradually turned to the world of organized crime to decimate the world of evil leaders who pursue selfish ends. If all of our information is correct, Kumade Toriichi was involved with a local mob in stealing money from the government to invest in several red light districts across the Fire Country.
In the cyberworld, Kumade Toriichi was always referred to as the 'Golden Boy of the Underground World.' It was a nickname that was picked up after somebody had hacked into his computer and found a picture of him with one of the most powerful international mobsters, whose identity is known as the Snake. Although the mainstream media did not pick up on this discovery, we took the responsibility of uncovering the corrupted politician's ties to white-collar crime. It is no wonder that an organization as well-regarded as Akatsuki would have wanted to kill him.
The following documents are evidence of the twisted mind the young politician had:
Sakura's eyes skimmed through the list of alleged law violations that Kumade Toriichi had committed throughout his political career. Human trafficking, extortion, tax evasion, counterfeiting of municipal cheques. She could not believe that someone would be in such a position of power and hide all of illegal acts from public eyes. She scratched the back of her head, feeling that it was about time to go to sleep for tomorrow she had an early class.
After she closed the tabs on her browser and turned off her laptop, Sakura headed off to her bed wearing the same clothes she had worn all day. She was too tired to bother changing into her sleeping shirt. Her eyes closed while her mind kept thinking about the line she read at the bottom of that Akatsuki article.
Dawn is upon us.
The politician's death was all they talked about the day after. Sakura yawned, regretting not having slept in her class. She could have asked Sasuke for his notes, but a small part of her felt that her study partner would not have paid enough attention during lecture. She rubbed her temple with her fingers, trying to wake herself up for the rest of the day. It was one of her busiest days of the week, with class from eight in the morning until six at night with no breaks. After it, she had to meet up with Sasuke to begin studying for an upcoming test.
"Here."
Sakura opened her eyes and found a hand sticking out a white cardboard cup of coffee. She trailed the hand up the arm until her eyes found Sasuke's blank face. Silently, she took the offer and gave him a small nod in gratitude. The bitter liquid warmed up her throat and she told herself that in a couple of minutes she would feel much better.
Sasuke sat beside her on the curb near the library, the place were they always met for their study sessions. He briefly examined her, giving Sakura enough time to notice that she was being observed.
"I'm not one of the lab's experiments. Stop looking at me like that," she said, taking another sip of her coffee.
"You look like one, that's all. We will not have a study session tonight. Go get some rest."
"But-
"I have something to do. See you around."
And with that Sasuke got up and walked away. Sakura stayed down, wondering how he always got away with everything while staring into his defined back. She needed to keep herself in check before he began to notice how his presence was affecting her. Sakura took another sip of her coffee, telling herself that the blush on her cheeks was due to how hot the drink was and not the effect Sasuke had in showing some sort of concern for her.
Sakura was growing on him. Perhaps it was because they spent so much time together due to his undercover mission. Or perhaps it was because she was one of the most intelligent people he's ever met, was more than tolerable, and seemed to carry a special effect on him whenever they were together. Nevertheless, he knew that today's worst decision was to leave Sakura's side.
He was stirring up on the inside thinking about the most recent murder in Konoha. Not many people knew about its actual corruption, and he thought about how it was going to change everything from now on. Orochimaru liked to keep things hidden for as long as he could. In their previous cities, he passed unnoticed until he was involved with the highest ranks and seemed to pull out a trump card.
His organization was as secret as it could get. Nobody, other than the people involved, could know about it. Sasuke had to respect that, understanding that although its morals were constantly questionable, he was able to gain a reputation that would keep many criminals off the streets.
Akatsuki, on the other hand, was an organization that was much more well-known due to its growing online fanbase. According to Jūgo, many netizens seemed to agree with Akatsuki's goals of eliminating every form of corruption in power with assassination. A shiver ran down Sasuke's spine as he thought about how the Akatsuki could easily take everything away from him if he didn't play his cards right.
Especially now, knowing that they were finally in town.
"Yo, Sasuke," Suigetsu had spoken from the other line of his cellphone. "It's confirmed. They're here, and they're planning on getting stationed for a while. Apparently that Kumade guy was only the beginning and they wanted to make a statement. Not a very subtle one if you ask me. But anyway, Orochimaru needs you to come by tonight for debriefing. He expects to hear about your babysitting job."
Sasuke remembered the conversation he had with Naruto not too long ago. He wondered if Sakura, with her growing involvement in his world's affairs, would finally find a place in the intricate puzzle he was creating in his mind.
However, right now, he needed to focus on the arrival of the Akatsuki in Konoha. It only meant one thing: Itachi was making a public move. He making a statement at Sasuke.
Dawn is upon us.
On Friday morning, Sasuke decided to skip his lectures that day and focus on what was truly important. Sakura would hand him the notes next time they saw each other. She would probably throw a fit at his absence, but the thoughts running through his mind were priority.
After setting down a mug on his coffee table, Sasuke turned on the tablet that Jūgo had provided him. It was time to do more background research about who Haruno Sakura might truly be. He decided to, once again, start by typing in the girl's name on the search browser to see if something new would appear. Much to his dismay, the pages concerning Sakura were still the same as before.
Sasuke took out the folder that contained all the information he'd been given about the Haruno. He went through her file, as he had done many times before, and skimmed for something that would miraculously give him a hint.
Full Name: Haruno Sakura
Birthday: March 28
Gender: Female
Important notes:
-Parents information: uknown.
-Student at Konoha U's Faculty of Medicine.
-Orphan. Adopted by her aunt.
-Spent her childhood moving from city to city.
After that, there were random notes and scribbles he'd written down about Sakura's behaviour and activities he had learned from tapping on her cell phone, such as how much she enjoyed studying at the library or the times she had gone out with her friends. Sasuke could not grasp the concept of how someone so normal as her could be of interest to Orochimaru and whoever Danzō was.
Danzō...
Sasuke looked for the letter that he had received from Orochimaru at the beginning of the school year. He remembered wanting to find out more about that name, and what the connection was. Once he found the snake's letter, he held it up in front of his eyes and read it multiple times, trying to find a clue that might ease his curiosity. If he was a colleague of Orochimaru, then Danzō could be anyone. He could be an important public figure, the head of a large conglomerate, another mob boss whose imprint is in Konoha.
He typed in the name on the search browser and waited until results came up.
The skyline of Konoha could be well appreciated from where he was sitting. His desk chair was now facing the large window, which went from ceiling to floor, and exposed every vulnerability that the city carried in its streets. The office was on one of the tallest buildings, but it was strategically located on the twelfth floor, enabling his one eye to observe Konoha from up above as a god, yet still close enough to see what all its citizens were doing late at night.
He touched the bandaged side of his face, recalling the time when fire had almost killed him. It happened many years ago, but the feeling of scorching fire burning his skin remained with him, and every time he closed his eyes he replayed the same scene in the back of his mind. His skin had healed, but the scars left behind had created an identity that was better represented with half of his face covered.
After all, his reputation was covered. His profession; his life. He was the shadow puppeteer who controlled what actually mattered in the city. He was the one who took care of the dirty work for those undeserving bastards working at the city hall. Pride and prosperity were a nice cover up to the real Konoha, the one that actually functioned with extortion, secret alliances, and a secret group of people who were in charge of doing the impossible to keep the city running.
He remembered how everything almost slipped out of his fingers during that fire almost two decades ago. The Night of Amaterasu. Konoha's underground world had never been so unstable as that same night, not until the other fire that killed one of the country's most prominent families. Konoha could only survive by finding stability in corruption, that he had concluded several times.
He took a sip of his drink, thinking of how the risk of losing it all again was right around the corner. They'd been hiding her for too many years, running away, protecting her until they thought she was not going to care about taking it all from an old man like him. She was the largest obstacle in his complex weave of organizations and power. She should have never lived, he noted, though the speculations that she was too interested being a normal person were quite true. The snake had taken care of getting to know her better, and had reported back to him that she was less of a threat than the fly on his window.
Nevertheless, he knew that power could corrupt even the most innocent of souls. He'd seen it happen before; give a humble man the idea that he can rule the world and he will do so. Ambition was part of human nature. It cannot be stopped.
"I have a new request for you," he said aloud.
Though it looked like he was sitting alone, looking out his window, he could hear the ruffling of clothes from behind his chair. His disciples were trained to be quiet, to be the darkest of shadows in the lightest of days. He and the snake always had that in common; they liked silent business over large explosions. Keeping their reputations out of the spotlight was what made them and the real public figures happy. Either way, the money always fell in his pocket.
"Yes, Danzō-sama."
The old man turned around with his desk chair and looked straight into the pale face of his most valued disciple. Hidden amid the darkness of his office, Danzō could still recognize the outline of the boy's straight black hair and slender build.
Danzō could confess that he had been blessed when the young boy had fallen on his presence. Finding scum to do his every day business was a normal thing to do; he had disciples of disciples who took care of that. He never bothered scouting for young apprentices who could take care of his organization once he was gone, but when he first laid eyes on the young man in front of him, he'd seen a potential that transcended every imaginable possibility in his affairs
The way the boy killed, at such a young age, was what caught his attention. Even while he was living in the sewers around Konoha, he'd already learned how to choke small animals for survival, and knew how to hide from the light, passing by unnoticed by the every day residents of the city. For Danzō, though, this meant an opportunity to have a wider peripheral vision on everything that concerned him. Not many knew about the boy's existence; he was a ghost in broad daylight much like Danzō himself.
He liked to keep it that way. The less his inferiors knew about his approach in keeping tabs on everyone the better. However, the boy had to get out of his comfort zone and appear in the public sphere without any sort of connection back to Danzō. The fact that he did not remember anything from his childhood, or the way his facial muscles worked to express emotions, would not hinder his new assignment.
The snake had appointed someone to look into the girl for him. Danzō could not fully trust his colleague. It was a universal rule in the world of organized crime. He had to place his own set of eyes in the sky to see what could not go unseen.
"We are going to have you act as my hawk eye once again."
"Jūgo, put the snake on the phone," Sasuke ordered, one hand holding his cellphone and the other on his steering wheel.
A part of his was getting desperate in finding more information. Although he decided to head over to Orochimaru's office after he'd exited his apartment, he felt that his car was not going back enough to ease his mind. He needed to know more. There were too many things left unsaid that were bothering him.
"Geez, next time check who picked up the phone before saying a random name out loud. Always trying to sound like a genius," Suigetsu replied. "Orochimaru's not here. He decided to leave for a couple of days to check on Otogakure."
"Shit."
Sasuke took a sharp turn to the right, heading down a narrow alley where he parked his car. He got out, and started pacing around his car, his pulse quickening. The deserted corridor was enough space to let out his anger.
"Sasuke- you still-?
Sasuke didn't let Suigetsu finish his question. He threw the cellphone on the ground and opened the trunk of his car. After rummaging through his clothes, he found his concealed weapon. He unsheathed his katana and headed towards the filled garbage bags that were laying around on the sidewalk. Although the feeling of flesh cutting under his blade would be absent, he needed to slice something. He needed to let out his frustrations. Now.
The alley's silence was interrupted by the sound of plastic and empty beer cans falling on the ground. Sasuke continued slicing through the garbage bags as thoughts raced through his mind. He barely let himself lose control. Often, he would sit down and meditate, but the need to run his blade across Orochimaru's face would not be satisfied so soon and it angered him even more. It was as if the snake knew what was going to happen. That after giving Sasuke certain clues he would figure something out and then take off when the time was right.
That insolent bastard.
Sasuke let out a loud grunt after he had finished destroying the garbage bags. With heavy breathing, he returned to his car and sat on the driver seat, his katana placed beside him. He tried to once again recollect his thoughts of the last hours of the day.
The names Danzō Shimura, Orochimaru, and the Night of Amaterasu kept swirling around in his mind. After finding the results for Danzō, Sasuke had learned of the old man's last name and his obscure reputation in Konoha. He was, to very specific websites' users, known as the 'one who washed Konoha's dirty laundry and then dried it up.' In other words, this Danzō figure acted as a connection between the public figures and the underground world, Sasuke concluded.
He was Orochimaru's colleague. He had been behind the death of his family. There were enough articles on the web about his involvement in the Night of Amaterasu, the night where Sasuke had lost everything he had ever cared about. And Orochimaru had probably known this all along; he took Sasuke in as a young boy and trained him to become one of his pawns, thinking that the Uchiha would never betray him.
Not to mention that both old men held an interest in Sakura, and it was still something he had yet to discover. A small tugging sensation on his chest caught Sasuke off-guard. The thought of giving the girl's personal information and whereabouts to the snake and Danzō made him feel slightly uneasy for some odd reason. He quickly dismissed that sensation, reminding himself that Sakura was just another piece in their bigger board game and soon enough he would not have to deal with her.
Right now, though, he still needed to find more information on Akatsuki's whereabouts. They were in town. Itachi was in town, waiting for him to show up.
Sasuke's death list just kept getting longer and longer. After he was done with Itachi, Orochimaru would be next.
And after that, he would kill Danzō.
I'm on a roll at the moment. This is what being a recent uni grad does to you. Also, applying for a master's is a bitch and a half.
Probably going to update less frequently now because I need to pay attention to life. Throw tomatoes at me if you'd like, they're my fave.
Sincerely,
MSM
