Next chapter. Please review :). Next chapter will be up in the next day or two if I get some good reviews :).
And thanks to everyone that has reviewed so far. Review count sort of disapoints me, but I'm really thankful to those that did review.
Chapter 6: The Politics of Death
Kiba slowly followed the ANBU member as they made their way to the Hokage's office. The ANBU member had remained quite after he had told Kiba the news initially; ignoring the barrage of questions Kiba had hammered him with. Kiba's mind was racing now. How could his teammates get themselves captured? If only two of them were captured then what had happened to third? Which two had been taken? Kiba hoped that they would be alright although he knew that it was unlikely they would come out of this completely unscathed, it at all.
Kiba had heard stories about some of the enemy villages torturing their captives to get information before brutally murdering them. He had also seen what Konoha did to some of the people they had captured and prayed that his teammates wouldn't have to go through anything like that. And with all these thoughts rushing through Kiba's head, he couldn't help but think this was partly his fault as well.
The two ninja had now arrived at the Hokage's office and stood in front of the woman as she rubbed her temple while reading a small scroll. She sighed, looking up from the scroll at Kiba.
"It looks like the rock nation has taken Kurenai and Hinata captive," the Hokage said, getting right to the point. "The Rock village claims to have no killed them but other then that we don't know anything about their condition."
"What about Shino then?" Kiba asked, fearing the worst for his other teammate.
"He's fine," Tsunade said, causing Kiba to breathe a small sigh of relief knowing at least one teammate was alright. "He managed to escape using his bugs or so he said."
"So we're going to go save them right?" Kiba said anxiously.
"It's not that simple. If we send a team to retrieve them we will most likely have to directly invade the hidden rock village. If we do this, the rock will take this as an offensive move and a war will start."
"But we can't just leave them there," Kiba weakly said, fearing that he may never see his team again.
Tsunade looked down at her desk again, deep in thought. She picked up the scroll she had been reading before and examined it again. "We got a message shortly after Shino had returned," Tsunade said, showing the scroll in her hand to Kiba. "They have sent a request. They say they will release both Hinata and Kurenai if we release one of theirs that we currently have captive."
"Well do that!" Kiba yelled.
"Again, it's not so simple," Tsunade said, annoyed by the loudness of Kiba's voice. Although she had to admit it was nice to see the boy show at least a little energy for the first time in a while.
"How can it not be that simple?! We're only releasing one of theirs while they are releasing two. What's there to think about?" Kiba said, his hands morphed into tight fists.
"While both Hinata and Kurenai are very adept Shinobi and would be great assets if a war were to break out, it may not be worth it to release the Rock nin we have just to get them back," Tsunade said calmly, getting ready for Kiba's inevitable loud retort.
"Assets? How can you talk about them like that!?" Kiba cried. "We can't just abandon them! Why did you call me here anyway? Just to say 'they got captured and we're not going to do anything about it'?! I mean how important can one damn Shinobi be!?"
"He's just not a normal Shinobi. He's their top strategist and war planner. Releasing him could cause dozens of unnecessary casualties and without him the rock is at a major disadvantage."
Kiba didn't respond to this. He just growled and balled his hands into fists again.
"You can go now. I'm sure Shino would be happy to see you at the hospital. I know this must be hard for you but we still have to weigh our options before acting. I'm sorry, but I felt it was better if I told you." The Hokage said, looking back down at her desk and started to shuffle through more papers.
Kiba shallowly bowed and left the room. He still had his hands balled into fist and he was viscously gritting his teeth. Right now he was more furious then remorseful about what was happening. He knew if the Hokage refused to release the captive that Hinata and Kurenai would surely die. He also realized that releasing the captive if he was so important wasn't such a good thing. But that didn't matter right now. All that was important right now as that he had to save his teammates; Kiba didn't think he would be able to live through losing two more people that were so important to him.
He had to think of some way to save them. There was nothing he could do on his own, he was still too weak to do anything on his own, especially something like breaking into an enemy's village. Maybe he could get enough people together to form a small team to rescue them? Surely Shino would help and he could probably get a couple other people from their class.
Kiba kept thinking like this, trying to think of ways to save his teammates. All the while trying to push back the intense feeling of guilt he had right now. If he had been on the mission would have been able make a difference? Would they not be captured right now? No, even if he had gone he wouldn't have made a difference. Of anything they would just have a third hostage right now.
Kiba continued thinking as he headed towards the hospital, planning on talking to Shino. Maybe he could come up with a plan to save them, he was always better at stuff like that.
When he arrived at the hospital a nurse lead Kiba to where Shino was. Shino was sitting upright in his bed, seemingly staring forward at the wall although Kiba couldn't really tell as he still had his sunglasses on.
"Hello, Kiba" Shino said quietly, hearing Kiba as he entered the room. "So you heard what happened?"
"Yeah…" Kiba replied just as quietly. Being in the room with Shino when Shino was in this kind of mood immediately toned down Kiba's mood. After a few seconds of silence Kiba remembered why he had come. "We have to go save them, Tsunade said that it may not be worth it to rescue them but we can't just leave them there."
Shino didn't respond. He just sat there still, as still as a rock.
After a few minutes of painful silence Shino finally spoke. "I don't think we'll be able to do that."
"What do you mean!? Even if it's hard we still have to at least try and save them!" Kiba roared, angry with Shino's apparent nonchalant attitude. "You can't be happy with just doing nothing and sitting here waiting for them to die!"
"Look, Kiba. Even if we do try and rescue them, the consequences will be far greater than the reward even if we succeed. We will start a war which we can avoid for a while longer if we do not take this kind of action." Shino said, entirely seriously.
"You can't be serious. You're just going to let them sit there and die!?" Kiba said, now furious with his other teammate. "Do you want them to die or something? I mean how did you even manage to escape and leave them behind?"
"Kiba, I don't want our teammates to die, don't take it that way. If I get an opportunity to save them I will, but right now that is not possible." Shino replied, trying to calm down a now furious Kiba. "And I had no chance to save Hinata and Kurenai when I escaped. We were ambushed by 3 teams and each of us was taken in different directions by separate teams so we had no chance to communicate. I was only able to escape later when I made my bugs slowly suck out my captor's chakra and chew through the ropes they had bound me with."
"Oh…" Kiba responded, quietly now. He knew that Shino cared about their teammates and he wouldn't just abandon them, he was just angry that Shino hadn't shown as much need to get them back.
"Kiba, in war and battle, sometimes sacrifices need to be made. If Hinata and Kurenai need to die so that many more people will not, then I'm sure they will understand what they need to do, no matter how hard it is. If a war starts then many more people may be sacrificed like Hinata and Kurenai may be, and like Akamaru was."
"Akamaru wasn't a sacrifice, he didn't have to die, and it was all my fault he died. It's all my fault that Kurenai and Hinata were captured. What purpose did Akamaru's death serve?" Kiba was getting angrier still. Akamaru didn't need to be a sacrifice. Hinata and Kurenai didn't need to sacrifices. "If I was stronger, then none of them would have to be sacrifices…"
"None of this if you fault Kiba, so stop giving yourself all the blame. There was nothing you could do to save Akamaru and even if you had come with us on this mission you would not have been able to save Hinata and Kurenai. You just would have been another hostage."
After Shino say all this, Kiba couldn't hold himself up anymore and collapsed into a chair next to the bed. Whether what Shino was saying was true or not, he didn't care right now. What had happened had happened, and there was nothing he could do about it now. He wished now desperately that he could remember what had happened on that mission and how Akamaru had died. He wanted to know what Akamaru had sacrificed himself for.
"Kiba, just try to calm down. There is nothing we can do until the Hokage makes a decision." Shino said, trying to calm Kiba down.
Kina nodded and stood up weakly from the chair he had fallen in to. He gave Shino a silent good bye and walked out of the room.
He knew there was nothing he could do by himself right now, but his mind with still swarming with meaningless plots to save his friends that he knew would fail. Once Kiba had exited the hospital he decided to head back to his house. Instead he headed towards the prison. If someone was so important that they would let both Hinata and Kurenai die to keep him, then Kiba had to see what was so special about the man for himself.
Kiba had only been to the prison a couple of times. Usually only to drop off a criminal who they had captured for a mission. He wasn't sure if they would let him go in and see the man, but he had to try.
The prison was on the outskirt of town, secluded from just about everything else. The building was pretty depressing just to look at. It was made out of solid concrete and there were barely any windows on the entire thing. There was a loan metal door that was the only entrance and exit. It didn't look like Kiba would be able to sneak in even if he wanted to.
Kiba approached the door and placed his palm on the cold metal, pushing it slowly open. Inside the prison there was a bitter smell. It smelled awful, Kiba was almost unable to take the horrible smell of the stale air. Kiba proceeded to enter the room with his hand over his nose, trying to block out the acrid smell.
Sitting in front of the only door leading deeper into the prison was a loan guard at a concrete desk. The guard didn't seem to acknowledge Kiba at all and Kiba quickly realized that he was actually asleep. Kiba snuck forward, trying not to make any noise as to not wake the guard. As Kiba reached the door with successfully keeping the guard from waking he groaned as he realized the door was locked. Kiba looked around for the key, looking over the guard to see if he had any keys on him, which sadly, he didn't. Kiba was about to give up when he realized that the key was just sitting on the edge of the desk. Kiba quickly grabbed it and inserted it into the lock and turned it.
A yelp sounded from Kiba as he instantly shocked by the key. He cursed at the door and rubbed his hand.
"You can only get passed that door if using chakra of someone that is authorized to pass," The guard said, causing Kiba to jump in shock. "I was awake the whole time; I just thought it would be funny to see you get shocked." The guard grinned and walked over to the door and easily pushed it open.
"Bastard…" Kiba muttered. He was about to turn and leave, figuring that now that he was caught it was pointless to try and get further. But then he realized the guard was actually motioning for Kiba to follow him through the door. "You're going to let me go in?"
"Yup. I know who you are. The Hokage told me that you would probably come and I should let you go in." The guard said rather cheerfully. Kiba was surprised anyone could be happy in a place like this, it was just so depressing and smelled so awful.
Kiba stepped forward and followed the guard deeper into the prison. "Aren't you worried that I'm some rock Shinobi or something?" Kiba asked. The guard didn't ask for any proof that he was who he said he was and just let him go in. If he was a rock Shinobi he could easily just use a transforming technique and break in.
"Heh, I wouldn't be so stupid to just let some enemy walk in here," The guard replied, "Besides, this whole place has a special seal on it that prevents and jutsu from being used. So if you were transformed when you walked in the jutsu would instantly be dispelled I would see who you really were."
Kiba followed the guard through several turns and through a couple more doors before coming to a small corridor that ended with a dead end and had a lone cell on the left side. Kiba looked through the thick iron bars of the cell at the man he had come to see. He was dressed in tattered prison garb and he had several scars and bruises on him, obviously he had been tortured. He was sitting on the back wall of the cell, and when he saw Kiba and the guard on the other side of the bars he gave a wicked smile.
"So you came to visit, huh?" The man said, standing up and walking towards the bars. "Long time no see mutt boy."
Was this guy really a genius planner? He didn't seem too bright, especially using such taunts as 'mutt boy'. "Long time no see?" Kiba responded, "I've never seen you in my life." He had no idea who this man was, although he did look kind of familiar.
The man ignored Kiba's comment and continued to talk. "So where's your dog, huh? I am to understand that he's not with us anymore?"
This man. Now Kiba remembered who he was. It was one of the few things he vaguely remembered about that mission. He was the one that was standing over Akamaru right after the explosion. "You bastard," Kiba said, barely audibly. "You killed him didn't you?" Kiba took another step towards the cell, ready to attack.
"Heh, I guess you could say I was responsible for that giant mutt's death," The man laughed. "I gotta admit though, that thing was a pain in the ass. I must have done you a favor by killing that thing; it can't have been very fun to take care of."
This bastard! Kiba wouldn't let anyone talk about Akamaru in such a way, especially the one that had killed him! Kiba lunged towards the man, drawing a Kunai from his pouch. "I'll kill you!" Kiba bellowed as he attempted to stab at the man.
The man just laughed as the Kunai stood still just inches from his neck. The guard had jumped in front of Kiba at the last second and grabbed his arm, preventing him from stabbing the imprisoned man.
"Heh, looks like you won't be killing me today." The man said: a grin still spread across his face. "I guess you're not as grateful as I thought you'd have been then, huh? It was a pretty good trade for you though. Three of my men for a damn dog."
"Don't talk about Akamaru like that…" Kiba growled, taking a few steps back from the cell. "You better believe me. As soon as I get a chance, you're a dead man."
"Heh, better hurry up with that whole killing me thing." The man retorted, "From what I hear I may be getting out of here pretty soon. Don't worry though; when I'm back in my village I'll be sure to put you and your whole village out of its misery. It should be easy if everyone I'll be plotting against is as slow as you."
Kiba was now furious. He was practically rabid, his fangs bared and his hands clenched in tight fists.
"Okay, I think that's enough," The guard said, dragging Kiba from the room.
The man just grinned manically like he had been the entire time and waved goodbye to Kiba and the guard. "I'm looking forward to seeing you on the battlefield again." He said, letting a small laugh escape again.
"Mark my words you bastard," Kiba growled, "I will make you pay for what you did to Akamaru and my team."
Review! I don't really know why I made Shino such an asshole in this fic, especially since he's one of my favorite charachters. Guess it just fit. If anyone has any requests or suggestions as to what they want to see in this fic, just post a review and ask. I'll try to fit it in if I can.
