Chapter Soundtrack: Black Steel – Tricky, Cumbersome – Seven Mary Three, Chaos – MuteMath

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Disarm
Chapter Fourteen

*

He couldn't say when the madness started, not that he cared to delve into whys and hows. As long as he had lived, even through his tragic past which didn't interest him at all, Orochimaru had always worked for himself. He got things his way because of his subtle tugs, his careful puppetry of the people around him. Life was a game to him. The only problem was, everyone lost eventually.

Well, Orochimaru was a terrible loser.

Orochimaru was the kind of man who played his game well. He was in total control. He loved the little things that disturbed others, loved like he loved nothing else striking that reaction of illness showing so plainly on the face of his victim. His psychotic behavior inspired fear because he cultivated it to. The madness came easily to him – and in turn, he loved how easily others fell before him because of it. He didn't mind crushing a few throats or slicing a vein or two to manipulate others. Usually, he didn't have to. He had a gift of peering inside others, of identifying that one factor that perturbed them above all, and using it against them. He cared for few people, and those he cared for were usually kept around for his own benefit. Yes, everything was destined to become Orochimaru's. During games you must sometimes step backwards in order to proceed. He had believed he had been at a disadvantage. Not so. The dice had rolled in his favor.

He was bound to win this game.

*

They had ordered him to return to T07, but Naruto for once did not bother wasting his breath on rebellion. Instead he gave Tsunade a you-gotta-be-shitting-me stare and stood firm, and she had no time to rebut him. More weird shit was going on, and he'd be damned if Konoha kept any more secrets from him. Plus, he really wanted to know.

That didn't mean he was looking forward to seeing that man's face again.

He grabbed a Browning from a guard and followed into the main hall. Konoha was prepared for Orochimaru's arrival. Naruto heard no announcement but he had no doubt every soldier on base knew of his presence, and like him they stood still in morbid anticipation. From beyond the metal doors there was the faint sound of rumbling, of muted feet and various other sounds. There weren't that many soldiers in the main corridor, only the guards and the important personnel, but the tension manifested itself into a mob. Barely anyone breathed. Everyone had something pointed toward the approaching intruder, whether it was a gun, eyes, or apprehension.

With a low rumble the doors glided open, and a frigid gust of air blew in. The first thing he saw was a guard leading the line, gun held ready. He marched straight to Tsunade. Right behind him was Orochimaru.

Naruto felt a shiver up his spine and some undeniable discomfort as the man of his childhood glided closer. Some of his men walked casually behind him, but Naruto didn't recognize them. At the end of the line were more guards, and before the massive doors closed again Naruto saw a strange vehicle painted all white, with a black symbol adorning both sides. He didn't have to strain his eyes to know what it was. Then a final flurry of snow rushed in and the doors closed with the sound of finality. Silence reigned.

Orochimaru had arrived in Konoha.

Tsunade, flanked by every official and high-rank officer in the entire base, regarded him with cold casual eyes. Orochimaru was wearing his simple artic gear like he would wear a royal cape, and his face was set in his eternal sneer. There was almost a solid line of hatred and distrust between the two. Naruto almost felt like slinking away from the crowd despite his insistence on being here. Orochimaru being here just felt… wrong. Stupidly, he wished the elder man wouldn't see him.

"What a warm welcome," Orochimaru purred, regarding the small entourage. "I see Konoha is as efficient as ever."

Tsunade tilted her chin, almost glaring at him. "Stop your nonsense. Why are you here?"

Orochimaru pretended to look offended but his words could not deny his mockery. "I've barely arrived and you're interrogating me! It was quite a long trip you know, but I was just so anxious to see my God-son. I would appreciate something warm to drink for my men and I."

It was an insult to stroll into a military base and ask for petty comforts. Naruto expected Tsunade to bristle, but she did not budge, ignoring his statement completely. "Tell us why you're here."

Orochimaru looked at her solidly, then shrugged and made to move past her, only everyone with a firearm lifted it and aimed straight for him in unison. Naruto was no exception. He stopped and looked around.

Then his eyes landed on Naruto. It was like the world narrowed.

"Pointing a gun at me, son?" He asked softly, dangerously.

The same old weariness that budded in his stomach every time Naruto spoke to him resurfaced. So he thought he'd be nervous, but his voice did not waver. He said, "All unknown intruders must be apprehended and interrogated until their motives are known. You have not declared your intentions. Sir."

Everyone in the hall waited for Orochimaru's response. His grin grew. "I see they've taught you well."

"Please declare your intentions, sir, so that you may proceed." Naruto said flatly. Inside he was laughing at the craziness of it all, and maybe it was a slightly hysterical laugh. Him, talking down to Orochimaru? Unbelievable! He'd receive a beating for it had he tried it when he was younger.

But on the outside, all the others saw was a calm soldier waiting for a chance to shoot.

"Hm." Orochimaru turned to Tsunade. "I told you. I came to see my God-son, which you've taught to point a firearm at me, and meet with my dear comrades again after so long."

Tsunade was clearly restraining herself from throwing punches at this blatant lie, but she could not refute anything. She couldn't keep him standing there all day either. Tsunade motioned with her hand and the soldiers lowered their weapons - but kept alert. "Fine, but don't think Sarutobi won't hear about this. We better get a real motive out of you real soon. You are far out of line." She breathed in deep. "Defense, get a hold of Sarutobi. You, follow me." She glared at Orochimaru, then turned.

Orochimaru just laughed. Naruto knew he wasn't the only one who got goose bumps when he did.

Like in a procession, most followed. She looked behind her and caught Naruto's eye – with a slight nod of her head Naruto understood he was to keep her company. Most of the line dispersed further when Tsunade entered her guarded office. Iruka, Jiraiya, Shizune and Cell Seven were also waiting inside for them. Naruto's eyes sought out Sasuke then quickly looked away. As soon as he entered, every face was looking into Orochimaru's, and a few flickered to Naruto's. No one showed any emotion, but there was plenty of stiffness in the atmosphere of the room. It suddenly felt much too small, even for its capacity.

Tsunade motioned brusquely for Orochimaru to sit while she did the same behind her desk. He did so as if it had been his own idea, sitting regally on the stiff cushion chair, and smiled at her.

"No bullshit this time. Why are you here."

Orochimaru finally straightened. "To help you."

Jiraiya raised a brow. It was clear from Orochimaru's arrival that there was a bitterness towards him. This was obvious in his tone as he spoke. "…Help us? Like you helped us during the first war?"

The other man smirked. "Like I helped you with Naruto."

Alarm bells went off in Naruto's head. "Excuse me, but what the fuck," he cut in, thinking himself reasonably calm. Everyone turned to look at him.

Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru all sent him glacial looks that firmly told him to shut up, though Orochimaru's looked more interested than panicked like the others. Everyone else in the room frowned… but not necessarily at him. Sasuke, for one, had an eagle eye on Orochimaru. Naruto was definitely getting an opinion about this later.

They continued as before. "To help us," Tsunade restated slowly. "Why and how would you think that we needed assistance?"

Ah, if Orochimaru's smile was any creepier, evil clowns would tremble in fear. "A little weasel told me."

A few notable reactions took place. Iruka, Kakashi, Sasuke, Shizune, Tsunade, and Jiraiya, among others, all seemed to freeze – then their faces turned to either horror or disbelief. Then they all composed themselves, save for Sasuke. His gaze should've set the room afire by now. Tsunade noticed this, and did not push the subject.

"…I see. And how did you plan on helping us?" She asked.

"Why, I brought my finest vehicle with me as proof that I am prepared to assist you against Olympus. I need only call and countless more G-35 tanks will be at your disposal. Imagine the stopping power and destruction! …Of course, the final strategy has yet to be decided, I presume." Orochimaru smiled again. "I am open to a change of plans, to assist Konoha, my cherished home, any way I can."

There was silence as everyone contemplated his words. The loudest voice in Naruto's head was crying "BULLSHIT!" and he was sure he wasn't the only one. Still, there had been an underlying threat. I need only call, Orochimaru had said. This meant more tanks were probably just out of range of a Hyuuga's eyes, waiting for the word should Konoha provoke Orochimaru. Naruto contemplated the strength of Konoha's structure. Would its walls, for all their protection, survive a direct assault from Orochimaru's army?

Probably not.

So they had to pretend to keep Orochimaru happy or lose an entire base. Naruto's head almost hurt just thinking about the treachery and lies. It was like a fatal game of chess a la Vonnegut.

"Alright. You and your men will be escorted to your rooms. We will discuss this further at a later time." Tsunade's eyes flitted over to Naruto. "Dismissed."

The soldiers filed out first. Naruto was in the first wave, but he stuck around until Sasuke and Sakura got out. "What was that," he hissed to Sakura. She looked nervously to him, Sasuke, and the rest of the exiting crowd and shook her head, so Naruto kept silent. The three of them diverged and relocated in T07. Naruto had the vague impression of having just gotten out of a sea of sharks. Both his comrades looked slightly shaken as well.

As the door closed, Naruto breathed in deep. "Wow."

Sakura sighed as she dropped herself into a chair. "Yeah. Wow."

Sasuke, however, was in no mood to converse. He looked angry as hell. He was like Naruto's scab – Naruto just couldn't leave it alone. "What's up with you?" he asked, frowning.

Sasuke just growled "Nothing. I'm leaving."

"We have to wait for Kakashi," Sakura said worriedly. She looked like she wanted to place her hand on Sasuke's arm to comfort him, but knew he wasn't receptive to that.

Sasuke didn't reply. He just grunted and opened the door with much more force than strictly necessary, leaving again.

It was Naruto's turn to sigh. He let himself sink to the floor, lying down as he gazed at the ceiling. "He's such a girl. He should've been named Sa-sulk-e."

"Shut up," Sakura cut in sharply. "You don't know what's wrong with him."

"What, and you do?" Naruto lifted himself by his elbows to look at her.

She looked torn between telling him and keeping Sasuke's privacy. Before she could decide against saying something, Naruto cut in. "Please. Sakura. This is directly related to me, and I need to know. You heard what Orochimaru said. He 'helped' Konoha with me, somehow. They've been using me since I was adopted, Sakura." He took a breath. "I don't need anymore secrets."

Sakura was quiet. She clenched her hands together, then nodded. "Okay. Well, it's this. You know Sasuke's brother, Itachi?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, how could I forget him. He saved my life."

Sakura sighed. "Yes, and it's caused quite a stir. You see, he's something of a …double agent, or a spy. He worked with Akatsuki for so long that they accepted him as one of them. And in all respects, he is – except he leaks information about their movements and such to Konoha." She smiled tightly. "How else did we know so much about a mountain that is so impenetrable."

Naruto bit his lip. That made his encounter with Itachi inside Olympus make much more sense. "Only – what if he told Akatsuki intel on Konoha?"

She looked incredibly sad at this. "Well, he supposedly never leaves the mountain, only relating information to our messengers. The messengers are trusted soldiers who never relate information back to him – it's a one-way chain. At least, we believed it was." Naruto raised a brow, and she continued. "Do you know what Itachi means, Naruto? The name, I mean."

Naruto frowned. "No, I don't."

Sakura smiled grimly. "Weasel."

Realization struck so hard, Naruto almost staggered despite lying down. He sat up and crossed his legs. "What! You mean, Orochimaru is saying that Itachi told him intel on us?!"

"Exactly. Meaning Itachi is triple-crossing us… as far as we know. Obviously we can't be sure if Orochimaru is in league with Akatsuki either."

"And it means the messengers are also unreliable fucking spies. And how'd Itachi get in touch with Orochimaru anyway? Aren't we surveying the hell out of every centimeter of snow around this place?! " He knew Sakura had no clue, but still Naruto's blood began to boil. "Damn all this! Why'd it have to get so much more complicated?!"

Sakura shrugged sadly. "So that's what pissed Sasuke off – not only is his brother working for the enemy, but he's a traitor all around. I think his family died at the hands of Akatsuki as well, and he can't accept the fact that his brother joined them, even if only to – we thought – destroy them. Then… he turns around and sells us to Orochimaru." Sakura said bitterly. She put her head against her knees and for the first time in Naruto's eyes, she looked weak. It nearly broke his heart.

"Why do people do this, Naruto?" she said quietly. Whatever was left of Naruto's rage instantly turned into an overwhelming desire to protect - he never truly forgot that others had suffered too. "Why do people promote violence and encourage slaughter? What amount of money or bribes could surpass the conscience of being responsible for so much pain?" Her voice was a whisper now.

Naruto got up and walked over to her, sitting down at her feet and resting a hand against her knee. He said softly, "I don't know."

She ignored him. Her back started trembling and sure enough, he heard quiet sobs. "Why… why would someone resist those trying to fucking help?! How could someone… how could they…" her voice died into a silent sob.

Naruto closed his eyes and fought off the surge of sympathetic pain. He didn't want to admit that he didn't know, and he didn't want to think about people that were just fucking rotten to the core. So he lay his head against Sakura's and stayed quiet. With a small sigh of sorrow, Sakura collapsed from her chair and reached for Naruto, clinging to him as she cried silently. Her forehead pushed against his shoulder and his leg cramped under her weight but Naruto didn't care, didn't think about their positions – only their pain. He wrapped his arms around her as if trying to protect her from the evils of the world, even when he knew it was already too late.

"We'll stop them, no matter what," he whispered. And he meant it.

*

Fifteen minutes later, Naruto and Sakura were still alone. Once she had cried herself out, she politely apologized for the wetness on Naruto's shirt, which he brushed off, and disentangled herself. It was not awkward or romantic. Naruto knew he loved Sakura as a sister, and couldn't delude himself anymore. He breathed in deeply and tried not to think about her, or Sasuke, or Konoha at all. But after another ten minutes, Sakura looked a lot better, mainly because she was angry.

"What is taking him so long?" She glared at the door angrily, kicking it. "It only takes, what, five minutes to get here? Damn."

Naruto was getting irritated as well, but he needed a serious break from anger. It showed up way too often lately. "He stayed behind to see Tsunade. Something could've come up."

"Well it doesn't take --" right then the door opened, making Sakura fall silent. It was Kakashi, and he didn't look very happy.

"Where's Sasuke?" he asked curtly.

"He left – you were so late –"

"Well bring him here. We need to talk."

Sakura pursed her lips and nodded. "Yes sir." She quickly dashed out.

Naruto tried to interrogate him. "So what's all this about Orochimaru 'helping' Konoha with –" But Kakashi raised a hand. "Not now," he said sternly. "We have more pressing matters to deal with." Naruto wanted to seethe, because oh sure, being lied to all your life doesn't qualify as important, but again he kept his silence. Something else must've come up with Orochimaru.

Sakura returned shortly with Sasuke in tow. He looked just as happy as he did before – that is to say, not at all. Now that the entire cell was gathered, Kakashi looked them straight in the eyes and said, "We have trouble. Cell Ten was captured."

Everyone's jaw dropped. "What!" Naruto exclaimed loudly. "You mean, inside Olympus?!"

Kakashi nodded. "Yes. It seems that their backup, Cell Six, was apprehended as well. There was only a muddled message transferred for about ten seconds, then it died. We can assume the transmitter or the speaker was killed."

Sakura's face was frozen in horror. Sasuke asked, "We're going in to save them, right?"

Their leader nodded. "Of course. We'll wait one day for any sort of message from Akatsuki, then retaliate. We're thinking this is directly related to Orochimaru's arrival." He paused, letting that sink in. "That means, team, that one day from now is the final assault on Olympus."

Naruto's mouth went dry.

*

After being driven to the ground in training, they were finally allowed to return to their rooms for the night. But it was no surprise that, despite his weariness, Naruto couldn't sleep. He felt an ailment in his chest that he didn't know how to cure. Getting up quietly, he made his way out of his room and down the hallway, stopping just in front of Sasuke's. He closed his eyes and knocked.

A gruff "what" sounded through the door. Naruto opened it without introducing himself because, hell, Sasuke probably already knew who it was anyway.

Sasuke sat up and glared at him. "I hope you don't make it a habit of intruding into my personal time."

"Don't worry," Naruto waved nonchalantly as he sat himself comfortably at the edge of Sasuke's bed. "It won't be a habit. It'll be an all-the-time thing."

Sasuke scowled. "What, you want more girl talk?"

Naruto stuck his tongue out at him. "Hey, drop the assholery for a moment, okay? I need to talk to you."

"I'm not telling you anything about my brother."

"I don't want to know anything about your brother."

"Then why are you here?" Sasuke raised a brow.

"Magic," Naruto answered simply. At Sasuke's irritated silence, he elaborated. "Well, I mean 'energy', but it's pretty much magic, right? Have you ever thought about it? Really, what exactly is it? Where does it come from, and why does it run out?"

Sasuke blinked, processing the question. He slouched forward in thought. "I… don't know."

"I took it for granted up till now. But it works in strange ways, doesn't it?" Naruto leaned back, cradling his head in his interlocked hands. "Only some people have it, and even then they can only do certain things with it. It's almost like it was decided by some greater mind or something, you know?"

Sasuke looked up at him. In the dimness of the room, his eyes were still fiercely bright. His gaze was searching. "Don't tell me you're religious."

"No," Naruto answered curtly. "That's not what I meant. It brings me to my next question though…" he rolled over on his back, kicking his legs in the air like a child. "What are demons?"

"Fallen angels? Or… Nine?" Sasuke asked, frowning. "I don't understand."

"Yeah, kinda like Nine. I mean, what is a demon, technically – a malevolent spirit? A mass of negative energy?"

"Or dark energy in physical form," Sasuke said wonderingly. "Manifested energy so powerful it could control itself." He leaned back against his headboard.

"So there's stuff out there that's powerful – like something powerful enough to manifest inside humans, like Carriers, or something able to possess a mountain. But why is it always evil?" He dropped the thread he was picking and starred into Sasuke's eyes with deadly intensity. "Why aren't there any immaculate or benign energies?"

Sasuke didn't break the gaze. "Maybe there are. Maybe they're just not as powerful."

"Are you saving evil is stronger than good?" Naruto unconsciously leaned closer, almost accusing.

"I…" Sasuke blinked and looked away. "I'm inclined to think so, yes."

"Then why are you here?" Naruto grit his teeth. "Why are you still trying to fight evil?"

"Because…" Sasuke trailed into silence and closed his eyes, drawing his knees to his forehead. "Just because I admit it's true, doesn't mean I have to lie down and accept it."

Naruto felt his anger deflate. Yes, he felt the same. He knew Sasuke was crushed by the latest betrayal on the part of his brother. He felt like embracing Sasuke too, and telling him everything would be alright. But he couldn't, because… because…

Oh, what the hell.

He reached for Sasuke's hand and gripped it tightly. With utmost sincerity, he said, "Everything will be alright. We'll make sure of that."

Sasuke did not protest.

*
To Be Continued