Welcome back to Trust By My Side. Finally getting back into it and gotta say I have been away from the story for far too long. I am pretty much put my second story on a 'work on when I feel like it' kind of status.
I like the story and like where it could go, but getting around 30 views on it in a few weeks was a let down on that one. Every chapter I write on this story however, I usually end the chapter well before I assumed I would when I started the chapter.
This usually leads me to having trouble actually starting the next chapter. I did that pretty hard this time around and am starting another story as well. Not going to spoil it but the first chapter is going to be very long and should explain the basics of the story pretty well.
Enough with the other stories however, let's get into Chapter 11 of Trust By My Side.
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It was nearing two weeks after Hiruzen and Karasu's meeting. Tonbo was back in the village and scheduled to meet the hokage in just a few short minutes.
Hiruzen idly fidgeted with his pipe as he was still struggling to come up with a peaceful solution. All peace talks with the Uchiha clan were met with indifference and snide comments of weakness. Hiruzen knew he was not seen as a tyrant and that was how he preferred to be seen.
He was too old for a civil war and Konoha was still suffering from the Kyuubi attack. They were close to their former glory, but with Kumo and Iwa strengthening their military for the last few years, he was unsure of their position as strongest village.
There had not been much poking at the borders, and that was a good sign that they still had time before war would inevitably come back around. He wanted to be sure they were at full strength before that happened.
He was snapped out of his musing when he heard a knock at his door. Karasu and Tonbo came in and Hiruzen waved the rest of his anbu protection out of his office.
"Welcome back to the village Tonbo, I trust your mission was a success?" Hiruzen asked calmly. "Of course, Hokage-sama." Tonbo replied evenly.
"I will go over your report another time, until then, do you know why I called you here along with Karasu?" Hiruzen asked, maintaining his calm demeanor as long as he could.
"You wish to discuss the growing friction between the Uchiha clan. Is that correct Hokage-sama." Tonbo asked back. "Yes, what is your view on all of this?" Hiruzen asked once more.
"I believe that internal struggle will weaken the village far more than the potential gain my clan seems to think would come from their actions." Tonbo replied evenly once more.
"Then where do your loyalties stand. With the village, or with the Uchiha clan?" Hiruzen asked nervously.
"With the village Hokage-sama. I am disapointed with my clan and would personally cast my name aside if I would not be hunted because of my power." He replied calmly.
"What of you Karasu? Would you cast aside your ties with your clan if it meant protecting the village from a full on civil war?" Hiruzen asked, feeling far more confident with Tonbo's confession.
"Yes Hokage-sama." Karasu said simply. "Then I have a SS-rank mission for the both of you." Hiruzen said before pausing to take a puff from his pipe.
"The Uchiha clan are mere days away from declaring full on war on my leadership. This will cause many casualties and leave the village in disarray. I cannot take action myself without causing every clan in the village to lose trust. Therefore, this mission will be completely off the record. This mission will officially never have happened." Hiruzen said firmly.
"Tonbo, you are to go before the Uchiha council and use your gen-jutsu to sway them against the coup. If this buys time, it is a success. If it completely stops the coup, it is an even greater success. If it does nothing, our hand will be forced to move on to the next mission." Hiruzen said pausing again to smoke.
"If this first mission fails, you have a month long mission waiting for you here. You will accept the mission and leave the village. You will then infiltrate the village and make your way to the Uchiha compound in the dead of night. You and Karasu, will be forced to eliminate the Uchiha clan, all but one Sasuke Uchiha. He is deemed to young to be a part of the coup and an official heir will be needed to maintain a direct line back to the first Uchihas." Hiruzen said quietly.
Watching to see if either of his anbu would flinch, Hiruzen was pleased to see no such reaction. "Karasu, you will first assassinate the Uchiha clan head and his wife. If Tonbo's assumption of how he awakened his fully evolved sharingan is true, this should enable you to gain the same power." Hiruzen said, once more watching for a flinch or something.
"If your eyes evolve, complete destruction is the next step. Assassinate every one of the clan silently. If the rest of the anbu catch on, you are to disable them but not kill them. Karasu, for your part, I will be forced to label you as missing nin and banish you from the village. The cover of this mission will be you and you alone killing off your own clan. Do you accept this mission?" Hiruzen asked.
"Yes Hokage-sama." Karasu said with a bow. No emotion coming from behind his mask. Hiruzen nodded at this and expressed his thanks.
"Now, Tonbo, when you are finished, you are to escape outside of the village walls and as far as you can make it. Complete your cover mission and return when it is done. You and Sasuke will be the only remaining Uchiha. Sasuke will be the heir to the clan, but until he makes chunin rank, you will be standing head of the Uchiha clan and will be required in all council meetings. This means you will have to step down from the anbu. Do you accept this mission?" Hiruzen asked carefully.
He knew Karasu would accept the mission. Karasu trusted Tonbo completely and Hiruzen could not deny his shinobi record. It was completely spotless and the sign of a true shinobi.
"Yes Hokage-sama." Was his response and Hiruzen let go of a breath he did not know he was holding.
"Very well. Karasu, these are instructions as to what to do when you leave the village. You must escape on your own and be spotted in your escape to solidify yourself as the culprit. Tonbo, this will be your mask to wear upon your return to the village." Hiruzen said before handing Karasu a small scroll and Tonbo a blank white mask.
"This mission will begin as soon as you both deem fit. The cover mission for you Tonbo will be open until you are ready. The day you accept the mission, I will know it is underway and will retire early as I have been for the last week. If an emergency signal goes off, it might buy you an extra minute. Use it wisely." Hiruzen said before putting his pipe down on his desk.
"This is for the future of the village. Failure will result in a full civil war that we can not afford. That is all, and for what it is worth. I am sorry." Hiruzen said sadly before Karasu and Tonbo walked out of his office.
Hiruzen criticized his plan over and over again after they left. He had not been able to find any other solutions and he prayed he never did. The feeling of find out he could have solved this differently would be a fear he did not want to face any time soon.
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Night had fallen over the Uchiha district as yet another council meeting was coming up. The Uchiha had a council built of their top shinobi and influential clan mates throughout the village.
There was one civilian among then and he was in charge of the civilian side of the Uchiha Police Force. His counterpart was the head of the shinobi dealings in the force and they were both walking with three other members to the meeting.
These five men were currently under Tonbo's gen-jutsu and were opposed to the coup after much thought. At least that was how the felt.
When the meeting came underway it brought a frown to Fugaku's face when he heard concerns about following through with the coup. It had been a unanimous decision for the last few years of preparation and now, with only two days to go, there were five members that felt like backing out.
When asked why, they brought up points like win or lose, the loss of manpower would cripple the village. Also who would follow a man who had betrayed his hokage. It was not a good enough example and they would be left in charge of a broken village.
Fugaku was not sure what to do anymore. The members opposed to the idea were very high up in the council and had almost as much pull as him. Almost.
He decided to put his foot down and call them out and force them to go with the plan under threat of banishment and death. Tonbo's gen-jutsu was very powerful but was not absolute. Slowly, they broke under the pressure and their Uchiha pride managed to break the gen-jutsu.
None of them knew they were under a gen-jutsu and never said anything about it. Tonbo had never told anyone of his prowess with his sharingan and it was a gen-jutsu that hadn't been seen in years.
Fugaku ended the meeting with the vote still siding with the coup and starting in two days time with the assassination of the hokage by Fugaku's hand.
Itachi had been part of the meeting as the highest ranked anbu Uchiha. He sighed internally when the decision had been made. He had thought of openly siding with the five men Tonbo had tried to swing to their side.
Being Fugaku's prodigy son might have prevented him from threatening banishment. In the end, Itachi saw how pointless it would be and did not bother blowing his cover. It would make his mission that much harder.
Two days time. Itachi understood that meant that there was no more hope left to save the Uchiha clan. Everyone had been called back from and withheld from missions so every Uchiha was in the Uchiha district for the next two days.
They were very isolated and that meant there would be no innocents in the district tomorrow night. The call had been made to conserve their strength and get plenty of rest the night before. That would put everyone in bed earlier and made the slaughter even easier.
There would only be a few guards roaming on that night. Tonbo had accepted that he would be the one to take the guards out while Karasu was killing the clan head and his wife. They would meet up in the house as Karasu would hopefully be acclimating to his new found eyes.
The raw emotion of watching your loved ones die should awaken his eyes. The clan head and his wife may not be loved as much by Karasu, but doing the deed himself should make it enough.
The next day had come and dark was approaching. Tonbo had went to the hokage tower and gotten the cover mission from the hokage first thing in the morning. It was an A-rank assassination mission all of the way in Iwa. It was a minimum of a three week mission but being a solo mission that called for him specifically, it was expected to take a full month. He was ordered to leave within the hour.
Tonbo took the mission and gave the hokage a deep bow before exiting. The anbu in the wall saw the exchange and only understood a fellow anbu accepting an A-rank mission that would take at least three weeks.
Anbu were typically kept away from anbu mission reports, but when a mission was given, they were told to observe the exchange. There had been a few times when a mission would be sent out with a team and they abandoned the mission and faced no punishment because they destroyed the record. This way, all missions had at least three witnesses and all three of them could testify to the objectives of the missions instead of waiting for a reply from the contract dealer.
After Tonbo left the hokage sighed internally and once more prayed he had made the right decision. Back in the Uchiha district late that night. Two shadows looked upon the district with focused eyes.
"Are you ready Tonbo?" Karasu asked. "Yes Karasu. With our actions tonight, the Uchiha honor might finally be restored." Tonbo replied.
They both nodded to each other and disappeared. Tonbo made quick work of the guards that were out in the district. They had a set pattern and never truly deviated from it. This made them predictable and easy targets. Tonbo was also widely considered the fastest Uchiha alive and made true that boast.
While Tonbo was taking care of the guards, Karasu casually walked into his own home. He took a turn at his room and continued on to his parents room. A lesser man might have paused at the door, but Karasu soundlessly continued through the door.
Karasu had a perfect control over his emotions as he looked down at his targets. He withdrew his tanto without a sound and effortlessly slit both of their throats. He had never given his father reason to not trust him and now it had paid off. He had let his guard down in the safety of his own home thinking his family was all loyal to the Uchiha name. He was wrong.
Karasu barely got his tanto back in the sheath before a new surge of chakra flowed to his eyes and made his vision turn white for a moment. He dropped to his knee in pain and forced his eyes closed. He stayed like this for a few seconds before he felt a comforting hand on his shoulder.
He had felt Tonbo enter the room so he did not turn and attack him. He could tell the hand on his shoulder was a notion of understanding and had helped him take his focus off the pain in his eyes. It was about a minute later than the pain started to leave and the white left his vision.
He stood and looked and Tonbo with his mangekyou sharingan for the first time. Tonbo blinked for a moment after seeing that his was different from his own.
"It seems your mangekyou sharingan looks different than mine. I wonder if the abilities are different?" Tonbo mused as he produced a mirror for Karasu.
Karasu nodded as he admired his new eyes before blinking and having them revert back to normal and blinking and having them change back.
Tonbo nodded at how quickly Karasu had managed to control his new eyes and they both disappeared once more. They met zero resistance in their mission until Karasu met up with the elder of the clan.
"Are you the one to end my life Itachi-kun?" The elder asked quietly. He had not seen him enter and he surely did not hear him.
"How were you aware of my intentions elder?" He replied back cautiously. "I can feel the cold of death upon me. The time has finally come for our clan to pay for our sins, hasn't it?" The elder asked once more turning to look at Itachi.
He just nodded in reply. "Will there be any survivors?" The elder asked one last time. Itachi just replied with a small nod.
The elder dropped down to his knees and bowed as far as his old body would let him. "I pray our sins will be forgiven in the afterlife. I have failed our clan and was unable to stop the decent into darkness. I thank you for your generosity in not ending our clan entirely. I ask for one last honor from you Itachi-kun." The elder lamented before he removed a small sword from his side.
Without pause, he plunged the sword into his own stomach and pulled it from the left side to the right. Karasu was slightly surprised that the elder would choose seppuku to regain his honor. He nodded at the man and swiftly decapitated him with his tanto, leaving behind a thin strip of flesh so that his head would not fall off.
He sheathed his tanto and bowed to the elder offering a short prayer for the man hoping he found peace in the afterlife. The elder had been the last person he needed to kill and the regret he had for killing his clan was slightly eased at how the man accepted his fate and brought back what honor he could to the clan.
Karasu stepped out of the elders home and stood in the middle of the road. Tonbo met up with him shortly and they both nodded. They stood quietly for a moment, fully accepting what they had done.
It was a minute later that they heard a gut wrenching scream coming from the clan head home. "That must be Sasuke-kun. Tonbo, stay safe and teach him to be a proper shinobi." Karasu said. "I will, don't die making your escape." Tonbo said. He gave Karasu a firm pat on the shoulder before he faded from sight.
Karasu blinked as he actually managed to see Tonbo leave. His old sharingan had never been able to see anything other than him vanishing out of sight. Actually seeing that he had indeed used a normal shunshin was impressive to say the least.
He did not have long to be impressed as Sasuke ran out of the house screaming until he saw Karasu standing in the road. "Brother!" Sasuke yelled running at him as fast as he could until he saw that he was covered in blood.
"Why are you covered in blood? What happened? Who killed mother and father?" Sasuke asked in quick succession. Karasu looked down at his brother and simply told him that he killed everyone to test his power.
Sasuke shook his head in denial before Karasu looked him in the eyes and managed to use tsukuyomi on him. It took all of his self control to not seem surprised at the gen-jutsu he had used. He was trying to use gen-jutsu to scare Sasuke but managed to use tsukuyomi on instinct.
He realized he had full control of the world around him and swiftly built their compound and put them in their parents room. He made a copy of their parents and himself and made Sasuke watch him slit their throats over and over again.
"You will never forget this sight. They died because they were too weak. This entire clan was too weak and too blinded by their pride in their sharingan. They were beyond salvation so I ended them." Karasu said as he let the gen-jutsu drop.
Sasuke swayed twice before he fell to his knees, vomited, and screamed as hard as he could. An anbu walking near the edge of the compound had saw that there were no guards stationed at the gate and had poked his head inside.
Moments later, he heard Sasuke scream and started to stealthily make his way toward the scream. He stumbled across one of the guards he commonly saw standing watch, his throat cut wide open. He called the murder in and met a full squad at the front gate seconds later.
The four man squad rushed through the area just in time to see Karasu give Sasuke a quick chop to the back of the neck to knock him out. "What have you done here Karasu?" The most senior member of the anbu squad asked.
"I killed my clan to test my strength. Their foolishness in hiding behind the sharingan had made them too weak to stop me." Karasu said simply.
One of the anbu drew their tanto and tried to tell him to stand down. He was met with Karasu charging into the group. Or at least, that is what they thought was happening. Karasu had substituted with an exploding clone before they arrived and detonated him before he got within lethal range. The four anbu were tossed back but relatively unhurt.
When they opened their eyes again they saw Karasu gone. They split up to find him but he was already long gone.
The hokage had been woken up by his anbu when word that Karasu had betrayed the village and slaughtered the Uchiha clan. He showed his surprise and anger convincingly and hurried to get dressed in his battle armor.
It was a full minute but it was one extra minute he gave Karasu to get out of the country. He went with his anbu to begin the search. It was an hour later when they decided he had escaped the village and Hiruzen sent a few anbu squads to look for him with orders to be brought back alive for interrogation.
Upon finishing the search of the village, Hiruzen met with the medical staff in the Uchiha district checking for survivors. There were none and Hiruzen was shocked to see that several eyes were ripped out of some high ranking Uchiha.
"Where are some of these people's eyes?" He asked forcefully. "Hokage-sama, we have not removed any of their eyes, this is how we found them in their homes." Dr. Alda said as he walked over to Hiruzen.
"Well Dr. Alda, can you tell me if you think that they were taken before or after they were killed?" Hiruzen asked. "I would say within an hour of their death. Most have been dead for at least an hour however so I couldn't tell you." The doctor explained.
"I see, I will let you get back to it then. However, remove, document, and preserve the remaining eyes. It would be a waste to leave them to rot." Hiruzen said darkly. Dr. Alda just nodded and got back to work. He had been ordered to do worse after all.
Hiruzen continued to wander around the district, appearing to be distressed. It was a bit forced but still at least a little genuine. He saw Sasuke being attended to, he seemed to be unconscious but very much alive. That much was good. He also did not see a body of Tonbo or hear reports of a second suspect. More good news.
He finally allowed himself to release the breath he had been holding all this time. Their mission was a complete success and he may be able to rest easily tonight. No more coup, no more council hostility. He was also not a stupid man to believe that the slaughter would go unnoticed by the other countries.
They were now missing one of their strongest clans and the enemy may not let them get away free with that. He expected there to be a bit of commotion in the coming months and he would need to scramble some men to put up a strong front.
He just prayed it would not affect the new genin coming from the academy. He had seen what happens when genin are put on the front lines and the loss of life was not something he would enjoy ordering. He felt bad not being able to be on the front lines anymore. He had been a big stick to wave at enemies to keep them at bay in his prime.
Hiruzen was mentally going through the current shinobi he had at his disposal. He knew Kakashi and Gai were both nearing S-rank status and he might need to push them to break that barrier. His son Asuma was still at the fire temple, Kurenai was still too fresh of a jonin to be able to put in charge of a large force either.
He had strong ninja, there was no denying that. What he needed was strong leaders in this coming time. Kakashi was the only choice that really stuck out in the anbu as well as Tonbo for jonin he would have. He would have to bring back the hokage guard platoon and get them to start advanced training as well.
If peace failed, he would want the best as his guards and those three were very skilled. There were however still only chunin and he would need elite jonin if trouble were to break out. He might have to accelerate the retraining of some of Danzo's old men as well. Not a great prospect. Tenzo had shown promise with the retraining so it would have to work for the others.
There will be some arguing with the council after all is said and done. He was going to have to take the old Ino-Shika-Cho team out of reserve and put them back in the front lines again. Times like this was making him wish Hizashi was still around. He would be a great asset in this coming times.
Letters would go out to the blacksmiths around the village to start mass production as well as retraining for reserve units that had been inactive for the last few years. He may also push to get more medics trained as well. Tsunade had always said a medic per team would lower casualty rates and she was correct.
He thought on the idea of offering her the position as head trainer of the medical arts but she would probably not return for such a request. He would send Jiraya with a message regardless. The village would need combat medics and they had a few years yet before there would be full war if it were to come around. He almost considered asking Dr. Alda to teach but he already knew that was far less likely than Tsunade.
Alda however may be willing to give a few anbu a crash course in field surgery. Maybe if he called it meatball surgery Alda would go for it. Hiruzen almost chuckled when he thought back on when he first heard that saying but remembered where he was.
After overseeing the cleanup of the Uchiha district, Hiruzen once more set back to retire for the evening. He would have to put Itachi in the bingo books and was a little concerned what to put. If he put kill on sight Itachi may end up killing any men that went after him. A flee on sight order might be better but would not make it past the council.
In the end, Hiruzen was planning on a do not engage alone tag and hoped it would also deter enemy ninja as well. A small smirk came to mind, maybe I will put a large bounty and have the enemy nations kill themselves over trying to claim it. Itachi was easily S-rank and he had no doubt that anyone short of a large anbu squad or a kage trying to kill him would fail easily.
Maybe putting a bounty on him after Tonbo returned so he could be the one to place the bounty would be best. He would put a large bounty and make it seem like it is from the survivors of the Uchiha clan. That would keep the enemy villages away for a short while.
Tonbo could also put a much larger bounty than he could. Going from a large clan to two members overnight tended to leave some money behind. It might also ease little Sasuke's mind a bit knowing everything that could be done to avenge their clan was being done.
Hiruzen kept thinking about little Sasuke. The Uchiha had always been a clan driven by hatred and pride. If he was consumed with hatred it could be a major problem for the future of the Uchiha clan. He prayed that Tonbo would be able to keep his hatred under control. He would have to step in if he could not.
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The academy had been rather quiet for the last week. Everyone was wondering where Sasuke was. Everyone heard that he would be returning and everyone was curious as to why he was gone.
Iruka had heard the news of the Uchiha massacre but he was told to not tell the kids. He knew the kids would hound the Uchiha heir about why he was gone and he did not see this day going well. He decided he should get another cup of coffee before he started class.
He had really enjoyed his class and usually would sit in earlier than most teachers. Most would come in when it was time to start but he would rather answer any questions his class had from yesterday before class started. Today however, he would rather get the extra cup of coffee.
When Iruka stepped out the class erupted into a frenzy of excitement. Many of Sasuke's fangirls were buzzing about why he had been gone. One girl thought he must have gotten hurt training too much and stayed home. Another was saying that he was just too cool to come to school all the time.
Naruto and Tenten could really care less. He was a prick and they didn't like his attitude. They were both hard working shinobi in training and those that got coddled and cooed made them sick. Ino, Shikamaru and Choji were all heirs to a clan and none of them had the same air of blind pride in their clans. They didn't let their lineage go to their heads like Sasuke had.
When Sasuke finally entered the classroom, everyone knew they were wrong. He came in with an air or loss around him. Naruto and Tenten could both see it plain as day. Neko had come back like that once when she lost a member of her team. Someone close to Sasuke was definitely dead. They just hoped it wasn't Itachi.
Sakura was the first one by his side hugging him and telling him how much she had missed him. Ino got up to go comfort him as well but was pulled back by Naruto. "He lost someone dear to him." was all he said and Ino quit struggling. Ino looked back at him and could tell he was pretty messed up. He wasn't fighting the girls swarming him. Not even a little.
He was just there. Most of the girls didn't see this and only saw how close they could get to the Uchiha. They were pulling him every which way and trying to get their arms further around him. A few managed to get a peck on his cheek before Naruto finally had enough.
"Enough." He yelled from his chair. He stood and walked to the group of girls that were just staring at him like he was growing a second head. He grabbed Sakura by the shoulder and threw her back and grabbed Sasuke's arm and dragged him to where he usually sat.
By this time Choji, Shikamaru, Tenten and Ino managed to get in the way of the girls as Naruto sat Sasuke down. "What happened Sasuke, who did you lose?" Naruto asked calmly. "Everyone." Sasuke replied meekly.
Naruto blinked in confusion. "What do you mean everyone?" He asked, still talking slowly and calmly. "The Uchiha clan is gone." Sasuke replied once more not looking up at Naruto. "Who could have killed them all?" Naruto asked mostly to himself. Sasuke slammed his fist into his desk. His hand dripping with blood from forming his fist to tight. "Itachi." He spat out.
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Well that is a wrap. Leaving out Naruto's reaction because I can't really think of anymore cliffhangers to leave at the end there.
Tell me what you think, I still kept the Uchiha slaughter in there but did it a bit different. I did not really believe the whole, Obito coming around to help Itachi kill the clan. Instead he stayed closer to his father so he never had a reason to doubt him and let his guard down.
Itachi also getting his mangekyo sharingan by killing his parents seemed a better way than just watching Shisui's suicide. Another kind of weird thing I did not like about cannon.
I have Tonbo avoid Danzo in this story because I always thought that was a cheap way to kill off a character that had so much potential. So as of now, Danzo does not have a mangekyo sharingan in this fic anymore.
Outside of this story, I should hopefully be posting a second Naruto fic that should be a fairly long one in the coming few weeks. As always, this is my first story and will always be my focus until this one is complete.
I have also been playing with the idea of making a few one shots. I have a lot of ideas I want to write up but some of them I do not think I can not pass 100k words so they are not really long enough for me to want to do in multiple chapters.
If a story is a one shot I will of course label it as such and state it as complete at the first chapter. This is a chapter I kind of needed a long notes section at the end and I'm sorry about that. Trying not to do this too often but there is quite a lot happening at once so wanting to clear up any confusion before it gets started.
Anyway, see you next chapter, hope you liked it.