In His Own Right:
Chapter Nine:
A crescent moon danced ever so slowly along the dark skylines of the village hidden in the leaves. It was a dark and rather cool night. Naruto had decided that he was not tired, he was wide awake as a matter of fact, and couldn't bring himself to stay at his apartment, instead, he was here in team seven's old training ground, enjoying himself. At first, he had started off by running and attempting to build on his stamina, through aerobics mainly. But soon he found himself laying down in the mossy grass below admiring the cosmos above, the stars that littered the dark sky and the moon that emanated light upon those below in a corresponding fashion. Yes, he was admiring the beauty of the night, it was almost like art, almost as if someone had gone ahead and created all this for his viewing for his entertainment. Naruto smiled a great big genuine one, at no one in particular. He just smiled, everything just seemed rather peaceful and elegant. His keen cat-like eyes narrowed as he saw movement in the atmosphere. A shooting star of some sorts. This only made his smile widen, he was truly happy here, he had learned to enjoy the small things in life, which ultimately allowed him to enjoy fundamentally life in general. There were many things he liked. He LOVED Ramen, the taste was just something that made his taste buds explode in a feeling that could only be explained as magically delicious. He liked training, he liked hanging out with Ero-Sensei, and he liked people. Depending on their personality, of course, and moral standings. His eyes closed as his mind shifted to a certain Uchiha that had grasped his attention more than he'd like to admit.
Izumi...
The beautiful Anbu Captain, and sister to his best friend.
It made him wonder, it really did. How would Sasuke react if he were to tell him that he liked his sister? Whoa, that would be awkward! Thinking about it, probably should keep it a secret, it was enough that Shisui knew. But Sasuke was his best friend, and best friends did tell each other everything. Then again, Sasuke never exactly talked that much, nor did he have any interesting things to speak about the majority of the time.
Disturbance in the air above him caused Naruto to bring himself to his feet, removing him from his thoughts as blue eyes fell upon a slender figure.
"Izumi, ah! You scared me.", the girl that had just been the center of his mind appeared almost out of thin air.
"You are needed in the Godaime's office.", she spoke, her voice as nonchalant as ever, but an unrecognizable sternness to it.
"What, but why?", he asked.
"All will be explained at the Hokage's office. Follow me.", she took off into the trees above, leaving Naruto to stare dumbly.
Why did Tsunade want to see him? He shrugged before jumping after Izumi in the direction of Tsunade's office. They dashed from rooftop to rooftop before finally reaching Tsunade's office and entering through the window.
"Really, the window?",
Naruto Shrugged and Izumi simply didn't respond to it.
"So what's up, Izumi tells me that I'm needed for something?",
Tsunade cleared her throat. "Yes, well somethings come up, and your skills may be useful for this certain assignment.",
"A mission, huh? I thought I was banned from any mission for a six month period.",
The Blond haired Hokage nodded, "Well yes, that would be the case, however, a certain series of circumstances have made things quite different.",
"I'm all ears", he replied, as the woman explained what had occurred little under thirty minutes ago, his eyes widen feeling anger swelling in his chest, he balled his first.
"So this Danzo bastard, why isn't he in chains?", Naruto pointed at Tsunade, his eyes narrowing, he rarely got angry like this and when it occurred it usually involved some asshole being a complete asshole.
"The court proceedings will take quite awhile, we must deal with the Akatsuki first. However believe me when I say I'm going to punching the living shit out of the old bastard.", a sense of calming spread over Naruto.
"Alright I understand, Izumi and myself are to meet up with Ero-Sensei, report of the events and bring him back to the village.", his voice was straight and serious, from what Tsunade and Izumi had informed him, some shit was going down. And Akatsuki, they had made another appearance, and if it were true then they still wanted Naruto, for the beast within.
"Do not make me regret doing this, Naruto.", she spoke in a soft and almost tired tone. He felt a small string of sympathy for the woman.
"Ah Baa-ch-", his words were cut short, as Izumi unexpectedly defended him. "He won't, Hokage-sama. If need be I'll make completly sure of it otherwise.",
Naruto trailed his eyes over the girl, surprised at her outburst, she made no move to acknowledge his gaze, keeping her own eyes on Tsunade.
"I'll be abolishing this Root personally, I've given that bastard Danzo too much freedom." Tsunade's honey eyes fell back to Izumi.
"You are to leave immediately, I want Jiraiya here within this week, preferably before the Chunin exams. Izumi, as of now your ten-year mission is over.",
Ten-year mission?
"Hai!", Izumi replied, almost immediately.
"His last known whereabouts was somewhere in the village Hidden in the Stones. He had been investigating Akatsuki movements in that area, while also... Doing...Research...", she looked done at her desk almost disapprovingly. He almost laughed, that old man was always getting himself into trouble. He was doing exactly what Naruto expected of him.
"Typical..", Naruto started scratching the back of his head.
"Yes, I know. So while you guys are at it, make sure the idiot doesn't get himself into trouble.",
"Gotcha Baa-chan.", he answered.
"Of course Hokage-Sama.", Izumi said much more professionally.
"And, please don't enter my office through the window, ever again.",
Sasuke ran into the hospital, his face as straight as always but his head racing. He ran over to the front desk, a frown placed on his face as he stared down where a small brown haired girl with no headband and a pale face sat, contently. "Sakura Haruno, where is she?",
"..uh..Sakura-sempai? She's currently in surgery. Why?", the girl responded uneasy at Sasuke's aggressive nature.
Damn it, he needed Sakura if he wanted to see his cousin Shisui without, getting permission from the Hokage. Sakura was the Hokage's apprentice, after all, she could just pull a few strings and poof he wouldn't be in trouble. The perks of having the Godaime's apprentice as a best friend. His face shifted in irritation. Everything was weird and happening so fast, he had awoken early in the morning to his mother crying about how Shisui was in the hospital and possible critical condition, that they had not a single idea of what happened to her last night. His sister had disappeared, so he couldn't even ask her if she knew anything. So, after that he immediately left the Uchiha compound, making a while dash for the hospital, he wanted, no needed to see for himself and he was curious as to what happened.
"Shisui Uchiha, where is he and what happened to him?", he demanded, his words coming out much more aggressive than he had wanted.
The girl looked at him, almost as if she weren't going to answer. "Come on, I don't have all day that's my cousin!",
"Room A37, but the Hokage has strictly instructed that there be no visitors, Uchiha-san.", he noted that she purposely left out what had happened to him for him to be placed in the hospital. He shrugged that off and headed right, towards the direction of the room.
"Wait, didn't you hear me? Uchiha-san!", he kept walking ignoring the girl at the desk as she moved from the desk and made her way towards Sasuke.
"You can't just do that, excuse me.", she ran up to him, catching up to his pace.
"I just want to see my cousin, and make sure he's alright.",
She shook her head "I understand, Uchiha-san, but Tsunade-sama has strictly-", Sasuke cut the girl off already predicting the words that were going to fall out of her mouth. "I'm already punished, what else could she do?",
"Please, Uchiha-san.",
"You're not convincing me otherwise. So stop!", his eyes scanned each door, as he pressed forward. A34... A35... A36...
He stopped directly in front of the room, the door closed and the door number printed boldly at the top. A37
The girl stopped speaking realizing that her words were painfully in vain. Sasuke was stubborn and he knew this all too well himself. When he decided that he was going to do something, nothing would stop him, no matter how simple or trivial the task. He looked back at the brown haired girl, who on gazed at the door nob and him in defeat. He shrugged, family was more important at this point, as he grabbed the doorknob and opened the door to the hospital room. The door to room A37 opened, the light from the hallways poured into the dark room like a river, brightening the dark room.
He stepped into the room, as he blinked a few seconds. Were his eyes deceiving him? A figure clad in a brown robe and an Anbu snake mask with purple markings by the cheeks stood over Shisui, Kunai dangerously close to the carotid artery on the right side of his neck, an extremely vital portion of the body, which supplied oxygen to the brain.
"Oh my!", the medic ninja squeaked, backing up behind Sasuke.
the man gazed at the two, weapon still dangerously near Sasuke's elder cousin.
"An assassin, just what the fuck do you think you're doing here?.",
The younger Uchiha took wasted not a second not even waiting for a response, as he jumped towards the man activating his sharigan, as the familiar feeling of chakra surrounded his hand, as he felt the tingling sensation of his Chidori being conjured to his hand. He didn't exactly dash at the man, but instead, he shot the technique that sounded of a thousand birds at him as if it were a lightning bolt. The assassin jumped backwards, in an attempt to evade the attack. However, the bolt was too fast and it impaled him, shooting his body with a significant charge of electricity. He didn't react too much to it, he was not satisfied. Sasuke was not surprised when the man turned into smoke, he had substituted, before appearing again only mere feet again. The man tossed a kunai -aiming it directly at the younger Uchiha before bursting through the window and falling into the dark night and landing on the ground floor. Sasuke kicked the Kunai in a swift motion, hitting it at such an angle that it wouldn't touch or hurt anyone, but instead hit the wall farthest from them and Shisui.
Sasuke turned to the girl, his eyes looking a bit surprised seeing a weird yet familiar weapon in her hand. The Johyo, if he remembered correctly, was the name of the weapon. She twirled it around her hand with ease.
"You thought I'd sit back and allow that bastard to kill one of our patients? No, but it looked as if you got it.", he ignored that statement.
"Get some help, we'll need a searching party the bastard is still on the loose.", she nodded shyly, before backing off and running to get someone.
This shit was ridiculous, he truly didn't understand what the fuck was going on, nor why an Anbu operative was trying to kill his cousin. He stepped through the broken glass said glass crunching under his feet as he stepped forward to examine his cousin. He seemed to be asleep, or in some sort of comatose state, or something. His eyes narrowed, as he vowed to get to the bottom of this.
Suddenly a presence appeared behind the Uchiha, a familiar one. He turned meeting faces with the masked shinobi that he once considered his sensei. "Kakashi..",
The man glanced around the room quickly surveying the area. "What happened here?", he asked, gazing at a motionless Shisui, still unconscious in the hospital bed.
"...did that girl call you?",
The white haired ninja shook his head. "No, I was in the neighborhood and heard all the ruckus, looks as if you handled it already.",
"Someone tried to kill Shisui. An Anbu operative at that.",
Kakashi's one free eye widen at this.
"Anbu?",
"The Anbu work directly under the Hokage. Either this dude has gone bonkers, or the Hokage has ordered his assassination.",
Kakashi rubbed his masked chin. "It doesn't seem like something Tsunade-sama would order. But if anything we should get to the bottom of this immediately.",
Sasuke nodded, as the brown-haired girl rushed into the room followed closely by Sakura and four other medical ninja. The girls emerald eyes immediately drew to the broken window and shattered glass, before falling upon Kakashi and Sasuke.
"You didn't tell me Kakashi-sensei was here Matsuri!",
The girl, Matsuri, if Sasuke remembered correctly was a shinobi from Suna, who trained under Gaara the Kazekage. She must have became a student of Sakura's to obtain knowledge in the healing arts.
"He must have just arrived, honestly, it was only Sasuke and the patient a few minutes ago.", Sakura seemed aggravated and yet concerned.
"Is he alright?", the pinket asked her teammate.
"Other than the fact that he's in the hospital? Yeah, he's fine.", Sasuke responded, looking toward his motionless elder cousin. "At least, I believe so",
"Get him out of here, bring him to another room and inform the Godaime of what Matsuri's told us.", Sakura ordered as the medics rushed to complete their jobs rolling the bed past Sasuke and Kakashi, exiting the room.
"Sakura, could you kindly tell me what the fuck is going on here?", The Uchiha questioned.
"The hell if I should no, I'm just as lost as you. All I know is that Izumi-san brought Shisui into the hospital last night and he was badly burnt, injured and unconscious before she ran off to god knows where. Tsunade has ordered that no one visits Shisui. Other than that I don't know what the fucks going on.", he shook his head.
"Somethings not right, and I'm willing to bet it has everything to do with Danzo.", Kakashi said most definitely.
"Danzo?", Sasuke inquired.
"Come on Sasuke, we should go see Tsunade-sama, this could be a threat to national security.",
He nodded stiffly, a bit still angry and confused about the events that were currently taking place.
"Make sure Shisui is okay, alright Sakura..", his eyes went to the brown haired girl "Matsuri.",
"Of course, that's our job.", Sakura replied. Both Kakashi and Sasuke nodded, glancing at each other with a mutual gaze, before dashing out of the broken window and leaving.
They had been moving all throughout the night. They were close to the edge of the Fire Country borders, they had stopped for a short break before setting off again into action. Izumi sat against a tree, her eyes gazing into the bright blue morning light, completely day dreaming and thinking of the scenario that had occurred yesterday night. Danzo had sent people to kill her cousin. For what reasons, remained unknown to the girl. But she knew Danzo, how persistent and unimaginably evil the man was. Yes, she knew this all too well, maybe too well. Truthfully, she feared for her cousin's life. It would have been no problem if he were awake, Shisui was not a push over as a shinobi, however, he had been unconscious when she'd left him and Izumi was willing to bet that he was still in that state. She was just worried, really. Which was rather stupid, after all, she had left him in the hospital, where he would be undebatably safe. Right? Then why was she worrying?
"Izumi, you don't seem too well, you alright?", The shinobi with the sun-kissed hair walked towards the girl, her charcoal black eyes falling upon him.
"I'm perfectly fine.", she stated simply. She watched him sit down, his eyes looking up towards the blue morning atmosphere.
"You know what Izumi?", he began, before bringing his gaze back to the girl. "I think you're lying.",
She shifted in the position that she sat, sighing at his words. "I'm simply worried, that's it. I shouldn't ponder on this any longer, we have a mission to complete.",
"Is this Danzo guy. How bad is he, really?",
"Pretty bad.", she answered simply.
"I understand, but how bad, like what has he done other than this?",
Her eyes closed, as memories of a dark time flashed through her mind, a scarlet vision of what could have happened and what didn't colliding and swirling through her mind, and suddenly she thanked everything that she had chosen the right decision.
"He ordered me to murder the entirety of my clan.", the words came out nonchalantly, as she stood to her feet leaving the blond in a small sense of shock, as he gazed at the girl at the depressing news. He seemed to be absorbing what she'd just explain to him.
"We should be moving soon, prepare yourself, Naruto.",
*Fun Fact: This chapter has been erased, written, erased and written again more than four times since the last update. I seriously had this chapter done on August 7th, but deleted due to it not being up to what I considered good.
*Anyway, sorry for the slow update I've been quite busy preparing for school, this is going to be my senior year of Highschool -Yes, I'm so young.- and I had to get a chapter out before I became super busy with school. So, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, please review, favorite and follow if you liked it. Otherwise if you did not, still pass me a review.
