Hey everyone, welcome back to another chapter. I still own pretty much nothing, and I certainly don't own Naruto.
I hate funerals. I always have. I mean, I've only really been to one other funeral, and that was my mom's, and I don't remember it since I was only three, but I'm sure it was just as sad and terrible as the Hokage's. I saw Kakashi leave halfway through the ceremony, after he had given his little speech about the Hokage, and saw, as I walked through the crowds, that Naruto and Sasuke were both noticeably missing, even though I walked to the funeral with them. Not that I was surprised, nor did I blame them. Having his entire family killed probably resulted in, among other things, Sasuke having to go to innumerable funerals. And the Third Hokage was always exceptionally close to Naruto. They were both probably hit really hard by the entire event.
I caught up to Kakashi as he walked through the empty village, everyone having gone to the funeral. "Where you going there, Kakashi?" I asked, falling into step next to him. He looked disapprovingly at me.
"Shouldn't you be at the Hokage's funeral still?" He said, trying to scold me. I just kept walking. "Shouldn't you be there?" I asked, my eyebrow quirking questioningly.
Kakashi sighed, and just kept walking. I walked with him through the village until we found ourselves standing in the same clearing as the Memorial Stone. My eyes widened as watched a purple haired woman, who was clearly Cat, as she kneeled in front of the memorial, her shoulders shaking slightly as she sobbed. Next to her was Anko, who had put her arm around Cat's shoulders comfortingly.
Kakashi walked up and stood next to Cat quietly, and I found myself joining him unconsciously. We stood there for a long time while Cat's sobs were the only sound in the clearing. "I was sorry to hear about Hayate. If it's any comfort at all, the last time he and I talked, just about the only thing he could talk about was how much he loved you, Yugao." Kakashi said, as he pulled out a bouquet of purple flowers, placing them down in front of the Memorial Stone.
Kakashi and I stood there quietly for a long time while I read some of the names on the Memorial Stone. Unsurprisingly, I saw a plethora of Uchihas and Senjus on the Memorial Stone, including the first two Hokages, who were joined on the stone by both of their successors. The most recent entry on the stone was Hiruzen Sarutobi, immediately preceded by the names of everyone who had died during the invasion. The name Hayate Gekko was the first to start this portion of the list.
After a long time of standing silently, Cat, sorry, Yugao, stood up very shakily, her eyes bloodshot and red, her kimono scrunched up tightly in her hands. "Thank you for coming to make sure I was okay," she said, barely above a whisper. "But I think I would quite like to be alone for the time being." I looked over at Kakashi, who was looking at the ground sadly.
"Very well, Yugao. We will leave you alone then." He said, and turned to walk away. I was just about to turn to follow him as well when Anko very angrily and aggressively slashed her hands through the air.
"NO! Fuck that! I'm your friend! I'm not about to just leave you to wallow in your sadness and self pity until you turn into another Kakashi! I won't let that happen!" Anko yelled, grabbing Yugao by the shoulders. "I know you're sad, but you can't just cut yourself off from other people! You're the only real friend some of us have…" Anko was starting to cry, and when I turned to look at Kakashi, he didn't seem angry about Anko apparently talking shit about him right in front of him. He stepped forward, putting a hand on Anko's shoulder reassuringly.
"I don't think that she was insinuating that she would never talk to you again, Anko. Why don't you give her some space for the rest of the day, let her figure out what emotions she's going through. Then, tomorrow morning, you go visit her, and you can talk to her again then." Anko slowly seemed to calm down as Kakashi talked, and her arms dropped to her sides. She took a small step back, as her hands clenched and unclenched a couple times.
"Fine. I'll leave you alone for now, Yugao, but I swear, if you try to make me leave again, I will tie you to a chair, and you will never leave my apartment." Anko said, wiping her eyes furiously before she turned to leave. Yugao thanked Kakashi as she started to walk off towards the city before she noticed I was still there. Smiling, she briefly pulled me into a hug before leaving in the same direction as Anko.
I looked at Kakashi, scratching the back of my head. "What was that all about?" I asked, confused. Kakashi smiled at me for a second before he spoke, "Where do you want me to start?" I quirked an eyebrow in confusion, "Uhhh, the beginning, i guess."
Kakashi chuckled for a second before he got a lot more serious. "Well, as you may know, Hayate Gekko, tokubetsu Jonin of Konohagakure, was murdered the night before the exams and the invasion." Here he paused for a moment, taking a deep breath, "He and Yugao, who you knew as Cat until now, had been dating for something around, two or three years, I think. Yugao was, understandably, very distraught, but she had to help defend against an invasion the next day, so she steeled herself, ignoring her emotions like all Anbu are taught, and using the mission as an outlet. That behavior, is, obviously, not very healthy for one's emotional state. Luckily, Yugao only did it for one day, so she should be fine in the long run. It might take her a while for her to properly come to terms with what happened, but whe will."
Kakashi rubbed his visible cheek thoughtfully for a moment before continuing to speak. "Anko is a different matter, and I don't know the whole story for sure. What I understand is, Anko was orphaned as a baby, and, when Anko was very young, she, as a Genin, was on a team that had Orochimaru as it's sensei, back before he became a rogue shinobi. Anko was his favored student, and he taught her many of his signature jutsus, including letting her sign the snake summoning contract like he had. He cared about her in a way no one else in the village did. So, when he fled the village, she went with him. At some point he forcibly marked her with his cursed seal, much like Sasuke, and then abandoned her. With nowhere else to go, Anko returned to Konoha only for the villagers to sneer and glare at her because of her connection for the village's most hated rogue shinobi. So, at some point I think Anko learned to hide those emotions behind a mask of joking indifference, and went through life without any real human connections. I wasn't aware that Anko and Yugao knew each other, much less that they were friends."
A little stunned by the amount of fairly personal information I learned in the span of a minute or two, I let out a very articulate "Uhhh, wow." Kakashi just nodded his head, and walked over to the Memorial Stone. I stood there with him for a while longer in silence. I didn't want to go home yet, but I couldn't think of anything else to do. After an hour of standing there, I heard a man walk up behind us. Kakashi and I turned to see a very tall man, well over six feet, who looked even taller with his geta sandals. His spiky white hair fall past his waist, with two bangs falling on either side of his face to his shoulders, and the rest was held back by a horned forehead protector with the kanji of oil on it. He had a wart on his nose, and red lines went down from his eyes all the way to his jawline. He was wearing mesh armor under a green kimono and matching pants that stopped at about his calf. He also had on hand guards, a red haori with yellow circles, and a giant scroll was on his back.
"Kakashi, good to see you. I'm taking Naruto on a mission with me for a little while." He said, a very serious look on his face and a very serious tone in his voice that left you with a feeling that trying to object would just end up with you nursing your gratuitous amount of bruises. Kakashi smiled, and nodded, clearly not fazed by this man at all.
"Very well, Jiraiya-sama. May I ask what you will be doing on this mission? Will you continue training Naruto as you did for the exam?" Kakashi asked, the smile never leaving his… eye.
"We're going to find my old teammate." Jiraiya said, simply, crossing his arms. Kakashi's eye widened in surprise. "Surely you don't mean Orochimaru? I don't think Naruto could help you with that." Kakashi said.
"No, I don't plan to go looking for him for some time. Naruto and I will be looking for Tsunade, to bring her back to the village at the very least, and hopefully convince her to become the Hokage as well." Jiraiya said, turning to leave.
"Well then, good luck." Kakashi yelled after Jiraiya, who only grunted as he disappeared into the forest. "Well, we should probably leave, shouldn't we?" Kakashi said, walking off towards the city. I stood there for a moment longer before I headed home.
The next week and a half were exceedingly boring. I would wake up, eat breakfast, before running out the door to help with the rebuilding around the village. Just like most of the other shinobi still in the village, I was pretty much just a glorified pack mule, carrying wood around the village from the main stockyard that got set up on the outskirts of the city proper. I would break for lunch in the late afternoon, and afterwards spend a couple hours training. Then I would go eat dinner, before spending the next couple hours reading scrolls, which were usually about kekkei genkai. I spent most of my evenings trying to locate any remaining family members I might have, in the hopes that they might be able to help me learn to better use my kekkei genkai.
Unfortunately, it looked like the only clan that was even remotely linked to using steam jutsus or anything similar got wiped out during the bloodline purges in Kirigakure, which had started almost two decades prior. My mother probably only survived because she didn't have the kekkei genkai, though she unknowingly passed it onto me, something my father must have known when he sealed it away when he tried to kill me. Small consolation though it was, I did finally know my clan name, and I got it registered at the information office.
It wasn't until a week and a half after Sarutobi's funeral that something of real note and interest happened. It was a rare day where all the active Jonin senseis were back in town on the same day, for a day off before they took more missions in earnest, as they had done since the funeral. I saw three of them, Kakashi, Asuma, and Kurenai, standing in front of a tea stand. I dropped down to say hello, and saw them briefly glance in on the tea shop to take a quick look at two men in the tea shop who were wearing black cloaks that covered their whole body, except for their heads, which were covered by conical hats with what looked like blinds hanging from the brim. I looked over at the Jonin for just a moment as Sasuke walked up to Kakashi to talk to him, only to look back and see that both of the men were gone. I saw Kurenai and Asuma nod at Kakashi, who nodded back, before the two of them shunshined away.
I looked at Kakashi, pulling my broken Anbu mask out of my weapon pouch and putting it on. He saw me and only shrugged his shoulders, as if to say, 'Do what you want. They should be able to take care of it, but, well, you never know.' I nodded to Kakashi, and quickly blinked after Kurenai and Asuma, knowing full well that I shouldn't show myself to help them unless absolutely necessary.
I waited in the trees off to their side while they stopped the two men, who removed their hats after a minute of talking. 'Man, gotta get me one of those hats. They're super fucking cool.' I thought, watching as Asuma called out the black haired one as being Uchiha Itachi, and the taller man, who looked rather like a shark, with the blue skin and some strange marks on his cheeks that looked like gills, as being Hoshigaki Kisame, a former member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of Kirigakure. What followed I suppose could be called a light scuffle, as Kisame brutally shaved some of the skin off of Asuma's arm, and Itachi seemingly turned Kurenai's genjutsu around on her, from what I could tell.
Kisame, taking his opening, dashed forward and swung his sword, connecting with Kurenai's side, throwing her towards the river. Before I really processed what I was doing, I had shot forward out of the trees, blinking to get in front of Kurenai, and catching her before she hit the water. I set her down on her feet on the river, realizing the depth of my mistake when I felt rather than saw, Itachi seemingly appearing behind me on the river. Back on the bank, Kisame was flying through hand seals, and the river started to roil. A shark made of water shot out of the water, flying towards Asuma, who seemed to brace himself for a moment before an identical shark shot forward and intercepted Kisame's, causing both to explode, showering us with water from the explosion.
Kisame smiled broadly at this, even laughing a bit as he saw Kakashi step out from behind Asuma. "Oh, Itachi, this just got interesting. Copy Ninja Kakashi decided to show up after all. You know, after you and the little ginger brat over there's fight with Zabuza, I've wanted to fight you. After all, anybody who can beat Zabuza without almost dying in the process is certainly worth lopping apart!" He said, punctuating his last word, by swing his sword down from his shoulder and pointing it at Kakashi. The Kakashi that appeared behind Itachi, headband already pulled up to reveal his Sharingan, looked at me and motioned with his head in a way that said, 'Go help Asuma, I'll deal with Itachi.'
I nodded, jumping up onto shore next to Asuma, crouching down slightly, my hand on the hilt of my katana. Kisame just laughed, swinging his sword menacingly, gearing up for a fight, before Itachi's voice rolled across the area. "Don't fight them yet, Kisame. More have shown up than I planned already. We are looking for something, perhaps you all can help us find it." He said, even more infuriatingly mysterious than Sasuke could be at times.
Kakashi answered for the rest of us before we even had a chance. "What are you looking for?" He asked, a harshness to his voice that I had never heard before. Itachi turned around, his gaze leaving Kurenai and the bank of the river, and focusing on Kakashi.
"Well, you see, we are on the hunt for a rare piece. It's quite special. After all, there's only nine like it in the world." Kakashi's, Asuma's, and Kurenai's hands all tightened around their kunai, and I felt my hand tightening on the hilt of my katana on reflex.
Kakashi's voice got more forceful as he brought his kunai closer to Itachi's throat. "I ask again. What are you looking for?" Kakashi asked, forced calm keeping his voice even.
"I thought it would be quite obvious, Kakashi." Itachi said, unaffected by the kunai held to his throat. "We are looking for the legacy of the Fourth Hokage."
A stunned silence fell across the Jonin present, while I sat there, confused. 'What in the hell are they talking about?' I thought, hoping my face didn't express my clear confusion. I watched as, in the span of maybe a couple seconds, Kakashi jumped away from Itachi as he dropped a brace of shuriken into his hand, only to summon a wall of water as Itachi sent several spirals of water at Kakashi, only for them to be rebuffed by the wall. Itachi appeared behind him, making my eyes widen in surprise at his speed, before Itachi stabbed Kakashi, who melted back into the river, having been a Mizu bunshin. Kakashi burst out of the water a moment later, grabbing Kurenai and pulling her away from the Itachi who was still standing in the same spot where he started just in time for them to get just outside the blast radius of the clone exploding, throwing water up all around it.
Asuma and I stayed on the bank, waiting for Kisame to make his move, before we heard Kakashi yell for Kurenai to not make eye contact with Itachi. Barely a couple seconds after Kakashi jumped away from Itachi, he fell on his hands and knees on top of the river, breathing heavily. Kisame disappeared, appearing next to Itachi in another startling demonstration of speed. Asuma and I dropped down next to Kakashi and Kurenai in response, pointedly not making eye contact with Itachi.
"So, Itachi, should I kick them around a bit before we ask them some questions, or do you want to do questions first, kicking later?" Kisame asked, resting his sword on his shoulder.
"That won't be necessary. I already know everything we need." Itachi said, and I felt shock ripple through my body. Even Kisame seemed a bit confused.
"Naruto is not in the village. To stay here even longer would only alert more people to our presence, which would result in more people showing up to try to stop us. We don't need that. We will take our leave." Itachi said, and both of them disappeared from the river.
A moment later, Kakashi collapsed. Only Asuma grabbing his shoulders kept him from falling into the river. I picked up Kakashi, throwing him over my shoulder, intending on taking him to the hospital. Right then, Might Guy showed up on the river as well. Asuma just looked at him, saying simply, "Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame are after Naruto. He is currently on a mission with Jiraiya-sama to find Tsunade-sama. I believe they were nearing Tanzaku Gai, last time Jiraiya checked in. Find him and warn him." Guy nodded before dashing off.
"Alright, Jeremiah, I think we should get to the hospital." Said Asuma as he clutched the bloody gouge in his arm. I nodded and ran after him to the hospital, carrying Kakashi on my shoulders still.
When we got to the hospital, Kakashi and Asuma were immediately admitted, and the doctors pulled Kakashi off of my shoulder onto a gurney, rushing him down the hall immediately. I sat down, putting my head in my hands, at a loss for what to do. 'I was just another body in that fight. Kisame and Itachi could probably have destroyed us in next to no time, and left without any real problem. They only didn't kill us because Itachi wanted to ask us questions.'
My hands clenched hard, the nails threatening to break through the skin on my palms. 'I have to get stronger. I need to find someone who can help me get stronger.' I thought as I stood up and started walking home. 'How can I help people when I'm not strong enough to protect them? How am I supposed to help Naruto and other people I care about when people like Itachi and Kisame exist in this world?'
'Itachi has already caused Sasuke unimaginable pain by killing his family. What am I supposed to do against people who are too strong to beat one on one, and can overcome being vastly outnumbered? Kisame reportedly killed daimyos, sneaking his way into the compounds, and then fighting his way out against literal legions of samurai, overcoming odds that should be impossible to overcome.' I stopped walking in an alleyway, my hands clenching and unclenching, before roaring in anger and slamming my hand against the brick wall next to me.
Thankfully, I didn't put any chakra behind the blow, so the only things that broke were my knuckles, which had split open and were bleeding. I stared at my knuckles for a long time before running home, washing my hand to clean out my knuckles, and then wrapping them in clean bandages. I pulled a scroll out of my weapons pouch, the one I had gotten from Zabuza. I just sat that way, on my bed, for a long time, staring at the closed scroll.
"God damn it!" I said, throwing the scroll across the room to bounce off of the wall. I stood up, picking the scroll up and putting the scroll back in my weapons pouch. I pulled out my full Anbu mask, turning it over in my hands before putting it on. I left my apartment through the window moments later, heading towards the intelligence office. I stopped at the main desk and got the attention of the man working there.
He looked up, saw the mask, and immediately got scared. 'Good, that'll help.' I thought, staring at him for a long moment. "Anbu-san, what can I do for you?" He asked, his voice shaking slightly. I waited to respond for a couple seconds, just staring at him, watching the shaking in his hand get more intense. The next couple things I asked from him would require him not asking too many questions.
"I need all information you have about or relating to Momochi Zabuza including his last known location, the civil war in Kirigakure, and the resistance movement in Kirigakure." I said, keeping my voice emotionless and monotone. He just nodded, and practically fell over himself to get to the records room. He came back a couple minutes later, holding seven files. I tilted my head to the side, and he stammered out, "Th-th-the top file is everything about Momochi Zabuza, the next four are on the civil war, and the next one is about the resistance movement, mostly their motives and actions over the past two years since they were formed in earnest. The last file is a dossier about every known shinobi or civilian that is part of or is connected to, the resistance."
I nodded, grabbing the files and sealing them away into the scroll I got from Zabuza. I turned and left, the intelligence department worker sighing loudly as I walked out the door, leaving him alone.
I ran home as fast as I could, and started to furiously read through the different files. Zabuza's was the easiest. I had already read through most of his file after the mission to Wave, I really only needed his last known location, but Anbu never ask for just the last location, they ask for the entire file as well, in case there is anything they need to know. Reading through his file, I saw his list of known associates had shortened, with the Demon Brothers dead, and Haku as well. The last page put his last confirmed location not terribly far from Wave.
I read what I could about the civil war, but quickly became too infuriated to keep reading. Konoha had refused to back the people who were clearly trying to fix the pain and oppression that the Yondaime Mizukage had created. There was a small note that said should the rebels start to push back their oppressors, and should Konoha be in a good enough position to give them aid, Konoha would send a couple teams of shinobi to help them win the war.
I ran my hands down my face, looking out the window. The sun had long since gone down, but I needed to complete this. I sealed the files on Zabuza and the civil war back into my scroll, and started opening up the files on the resistance. They had primarily been fighting with guerilla style tactics, never trying to stay around long enough for the enemy to recover or regroup or have reinforcements arrive. But a couple months ago, they got embroiled in a quick skirmish with some of the Yondaime Mizukage's troops, and a quick skirmish quickly turned into a full blown battle. A civilian village that had been there the week prior simply didn't exist anymore. And, sure, the rebels hadn't won the fight exactly, but they hadn't lost. Both sides had mutually retreated to lick their wounds. The rebels were starting to get some real traction in the war. Since that battle, they hadn't done much in the way of big attacks. They had settled for assassinating several key member of the Yondaime's regime, and cutting off what supply lines they could.
I slowly closed the file, sealing it and the personnel file away into my scroll, and putting my scroll back into my weapons pouch. I'd read the last file when I got back after the day's work. I left my apartment, and got to helping rebuild Konoha. Most of the major infrastructure had either been rebuilt by now, or had been largely untouched during the invasion. After lunch, I skipped training to sleep, waking up only to eat dinner before I lay back down, and waking back up sometime around midnight. I opened up the personnel file, seeing several people who had made the bingo book recently. One man, named Ao, wore a blue eye patch over his right eye, with blue hair, talismans dangling from each ear, and, in the picture, wore the traditional blue flak jacket of a Kirigakure shinobi. Another blue haired person, named Chojuro, was apparently a Seven Ninja Swordsman, his sharpened teeth visible in the wide smile he wore in his picture. He had glasses, and though he was smiling, looked fairly unsure of himself.
I leafed through the file further, not seeing a whole lot of people that were of actual note. Most of them were former Kiri shinobi, a good portion of them former Anbu, most of the ones who weren't Anbu had kekkei genkai, especially the ones who hadn't ever been Kiri shinobi. I kept flipping pages, uninterested, until I got to the last page, recognizing the face and hair immediately. It was a face I saw every day when I looked in the mirror, though slightly different in it's own right. I grabbed the picture, putting it in my pocket, and started packing up everything that I would need.
I had had a 'Go bag' hidden in the wall behind my sink since they taught us about them in the academy. It had enough money to get me from Konoha to Iron country, and back again several times over. Most of the money from my missions had gone into this bag, including all the money I earned on the long-term observation mission I had before the Chunin Exams tournament. It had some MREs I had scrounged from the Jounins when I went on missions with them. Before I left, however, I pulled my full Anbu mask out of my weapons pouch, and put it on my kitchen table, face down. I put a quick note inside the mask, and jumped out the window, accidently leaving the rebellion personnel file behind me on the table, right next to my Anbu mask.
A couple minutes later, I found myself running up the walls around Konoha. I waited for a Chunin on patrol to walk past me, before jumping over the top of the wall, running down the other side, and running off into the forest.
A week or so later at a full sprint almost the entire way, I found myself most of the way across the newly made 'Great Naruto Bridge.' I smiled as I reached the end. Looking around, hiding from the civilians, I saw a cliff with a lone tree growing on it. I ran there as fast as I could, and, when I got there, found Zabuza sitting there, cross legged, his massive sword balanced on his knees while he leaned back against the tree, a small grave next to him, really just an engraved piece of driftwood with Haku's mask on top of it.
"I knew you'd come eventually." He said, planting his sword in the ground, and using it to leverage himself up onto his feet. "So, what actually brought you here?" He said, placing his sword on his back as he walked up to me.
I pulled out the picture in my pocket, showing it to him. He nodded, staring at the picture for a long moment, drinking it in with his eyes. "So you found her. I hoped you would eventually." He stood there for a long moment. "I knew her well, before I left. If you want, we can go meet her." He said, showing more compassion than I had seen him show before. I just shook my head. "No, I'm not strong enough. I can't help her yet." Zabuza opened his mouth, and I quickly cut him off. "I know she's plenty strong in her own right, but I want to be able to help her. I can't really help her as I am." Zabuza nodded, silent for a long moment.
"Alright, kid. You want to get strong enough to help her? I can help you get there. But I warn you, this isn't some summer camp. You will bleed, and you most likely will, at some point, cry. I say this, because I know what you will go through. It is the same training that made me who I am today. Can you handle that?" He said, his voice harsh and unforgiving. I nodded, steeling my nerves, and mentally preparing myself.
"Good. We start now." Was the only warning I got before Zabuza shot at me, his massive sword cleaving the air on it's way towards my head. I brought my own katana to bear, blocking the massive sword with the flat of the blade, thought I pulled my left hand from the handle up the blade to brace it against the massive force it was trying to stop. After what seemed like an eternity, Zabuza withdrew his blade.
"Good. If that had killed you, you wouldn't have been worthy of being my student. The real training starts tomorrow, but today we have to move. If I were a betting men, I would bet that at least a couple Konoha Anbu are trying to track you down right now. We need to leave here, and will likely have to keep moving for at least six months. Got it? I'll be back. When I return, we leave." I nodded, and stood there, waiting. Zabuza came back with a Go bag of his own, and we ran off in the direction of the border to find a ship to somewhere that isn't Wave or Konoha.
Yugao's POV, the same day
I stood, talking to Anko, out of uniform, when a boy I recognized as Uzumaki Naruto, flanked by Uchiha Sasuke walked up to us. "Excuse me, ma'am, we're looking for Jeremiah. See, I just got back from a mission, and I kinda wanted to see if he wanted to spar, since I've gotten a lot stronger, and Sasuke wanted to fight him too, 'cause he's gotten a lot stronger too, and, well, basically, Kakashi-sensei said you might know where to find him." I looked at them for a long moment, confused.
"Hasn't Jeremiah been helping with the rebuilding? I saw him just last week helping put back together some lady's restaurant that got blown up during the invasion." I said, tilting my head in confusion. Naruto just shook his head. "No, we went to go ask the Chunin who hands out all the assignments, but apparently that was the last assignment Jeremiah took. He hasn't shown up for missions since."
I looked at Anko, my eyes full of concern for my former student. "Well, I know where he lives, why don't we check there?" I said, leading Anko and the two boys to Jeremiah's apartment. We found the door unlocked, and let ourselves into an apartment that, even though it looked like it had been cleaned out a bit, at best could be described as spartan. The only real decoration in the apartment was a mirror propped up against a wall. Looking around I saw, on the kitchen table, an intelligence file, open to a shinobi file, though the file conspicuously lacked a picture. I grabbed the file, and noticed, lying next to it, the mask I had given Jeremiah, a note lying inside of it. I slowly picked up the note, putting it in a pocket on my flak jacket, and quickly hid the Anbu mask away in my flak jacket as well, though not fast enough for Anko to miss it. Her eyes widened, and I could feel my eyes getting wet. Blinking furiously, I rubbed one of my eyes with the heel of my hand.
"Well, boys, he left this here, so if we go talk to the intelligence division, they might be able to tell us what else he was looking for." I gave a pointed look at Anko and she jumped out the window to go talk to the Hokage. I left the apartment with the two Genin moments later, closing the door behind us. We ran to the intelligence division, bursting through the doors. The man at the front desk looked up, startled. I slammed the file down on his desk, and stared at him hard for a long moment before talking.
"I need to know who last asked for a copy of this file, as well as whatever they asked for, and a complete copy of the original file, I believe this particular copy is missing something." The man behind the desk just shook his head, clearly scared of me, but he must have been more scared of Jeremiah, since he answered by saying, "I'm sorry, miss, but an Anbu came in and requested that file as well as others. I can't say what they were asking for, regular shinobi aren't allowed to know about Anbu business. That was the first thing they taught me when I got here."
"Godammit! I'm an Anbu captain for fuck's sake! Now tell me what this person was looking for, since I assure you that they are not Anbu. I'm the only one in Anbu who wears this mask!" I said, showing the mask that Jeremiah definitely used when he was here. He was shaking quite violently, and ran off to the back, with a very stuttered "Yes, ma'am."
I turned around to see Naruto staring at me with the widest I had ever seen, and even the stoic Uchiha staring at me, curious. I pointed at them threateningly. "You tell anyone what I just revealed there, and I will personally hunt you down and end you." I said, letting Anko's influence on me take over briefly. Both boys nodded dumbly, thoroughly scared, and I turned back around to see the the man carrying seven files in his arms. He dropped them down on the table.
"The Anbu person asked for these files." He said, his voice still wavering slightly. "One is about Zabuza Momochi, including his last known location, four are about the civil war in Kiri, one is about the rebellion's actions in Kiri, and this last file," He said, pulling the bottom file out and handing it to me. "Is the file that you said was missing something. It's a file containing everything we know about all known combatants and noncombatants working for the rebellion. A picture was missing from one of the shinobi dossiers in the file."
I picked up the file, flipping through the file to the last dossier, and immediately stopped when I saw the picture, my breath hitching in surprise. From over my shoulder, I heard Naruto exclaim, "Holy shit, that lady looks just like Jeremiah, if he were a girl and a lot older!" The Uchiha just grunted in agreement. I read the file quickly, seeing words like, 'last known survivor of clan', 'former confidant of the Yondaime Mizukage', and 'wielder of two kekkei genkais'. I had to read the name on the file over and over again for it to really sink in.
'Holy shit, Jeremiah is related to the leader of the rebellion.' I thought, before I scooped up all the files, and sealed them all away into a scroll and tucking it away into a pouch on my flak jacket, putting away the mask I had given Jeremiah as well. I looked at the two Genin, "I have to go talk to the Hokage. Don't tell anyone what happened here today." I said, looking at them, and then the man at the desk. Hearing three 'Yes, ma'am's, I ran off to the Hokage tower, where I found Anko talking to our newly inaugurated Hokage.
"Hokage-sama, I have news." I said, pulling out the scroll, unsealing all of the files I had sealed inside of it. "Jeremiah, a Chunin of Konoha, having been field-promoted by Sarutobi-sama, has left the village. I believe he has gone to join the Kirigakure rebels." The Hokage actually looked rather stunned at this.
"How long has he been gone?" She asked, though it was immediately followed by more questions. "Why did he leave to join the rebels? How did you find out about this? And, finally, why do I care about some no-name Chunin who left? He hardly has any state secrets to sell, am I right?" She looked at me sternly for a long moment, and watched as my face got more and more sullen as she spoke, and her face softened. "I'm sorry. Tell me everything."
And I did. About how Jeremiah had been an orphan who came to Konoha in the hopes of becoming a shinobi, leaving behind any connection to a family he may have had, how he had trained day and night, working himself to the bone in the Academy to become the best that he could. About how that work ethic had not left him when he had been put under my tutelage, and I worked him into the ground. About how he had been longtime friends with Naruto, who the Hokage considered something of a grandson, though the two had never officially said it, it was plain with how they treated each other when they talked. How he had been one of the few to get Sasuke to open up, according to Kakashi, when he accompanied Team Seven on their mission to Wave.
I told her about how he had helped Kakashi face down Zabuza, the Demon of the Mist, how he had killed a boy no more than a year or two older than him while on his first mission. I told her about how he had thrown himself into his training in his grief, and how when he went on a mission to Iron country, he helped Asuma defend Team Ten against the Genin team of Han no Futton, and how Asuma told me that Mifune and Jeremiah had talked after Jeremiah had slaughtered just under a dozen men in self defense. I told Tsunade about how I had requested that Sarutobi-sama let Jeremiah shadow me during the Chunin exams, and how when the exams went belly-up during the second test, Sarutobi had promoted Jeremiah to Chunin so that he could help Team Seven defend themselves against Orochimaru, even though it ended up being futile, and Jeremiah had been in a medically induced coma for several days afterwards so he could heal.
I told Tsunade about how I had requested that Sarutobi let me train Jeremiah in masking his chakra signature and following people while remaining undetected, even though I had to sacrifice my days off. I told Tsunade how I had been so immensely proud that my student, and he was my student, had passed my tests with flying colors, becoming almost a ghost among the streets of Konoha, and I had gifted him one of my old masks as a gift to reward his success. I told Tsunade about how, during the invasion of Konoha, Jeremiah apparently rescued the medic nin in the infirmary of the arena, as well as some injured contestants, before escorting the entire group to the hospital. I told her about how, during the invasion, Jeremiah had fought alongside the Tsuchikage and Roshi no Yoton, helping them as they decimated swathes of invading shinobi. How Jeremiah had helped my team hold the perimeter of the kill area. How, when I was grieving for Hayate, he had come with Kakashi, and though Jeremiah likely came unwittingly, he had stayed, and though he said nothing, just his presence had been comforting.
I told Tsunade about how I hadn't been able to see him since then, but he had apparently been throwing himself into helping the village rebuild, and still training as hard as he could. I told her about how Kurenai had told me that Jeremiah and Kakashi had shown up to help her and Asuma against Kisame and Itachi when they showed up in the village. I told Tsunade about how, somewhere along the way, I had started seeing Jeremiah as part of the family that I had long lost hope in having. And I told her about how Jeremiah had left to look for a woman named Mei Terumi, the leader of the Kiri rebels. I told her about how alike Jeremiah and Mei Terumi looked, and that she had to be related to him. I told her about how happy I was that Jeremiah had finally found his family, but that it came at the cost of him leaving the village, possibly forever. And by the end, I found myself kneeling in front of the Hokage, tears streaming down my face, with Anko hugging me from behind.
When I was done talking, Tsunade sat there, a sad, almost wistful look on her face, as she looked at me. "It is a shame to lose such a remarkable shinobi. And I am truly sorry for what you have to go through, especially after all you have done and sacrificed for this village. However. The rules on these type of matters are very clear cut, and I cannot afford to be lenient about this, not when I just got into office. I will make my announcement tomorrow. I am very sorry, but Jeremiah must be declared a rogue shinobi. I will assess his threat ranking tonight, and, by the end of the day tomorrow, he will be in the Bingo book." Tsunade said, and though the words she said were cold and harsh, her tone was anything but, like she knew what I was going through, or at least had felt something similar.
I stood up, and wiped my tears, taking a deep breath. "Hai, Hokage-sama. As you say. You cannot afford for this to happen again especially so soon into your tenure. I understand. You need to make an example of him." I turned to leave, and my hand was on the doorknob when I heard Tsunade speak, calling after me.
"Yugao, for what it's worth, I know what you are going through, and I am deeply, deeply sorry." I just bowed my head, turning the doorknob and walking out, hearing Anko following close behind me. I let Anko follow me all the way home, where I promptly lay down on the couch in the apartment Hayate and I had shared for so long, and pulled out the note that was still in my flak jacket. It was written on a small piece of paper, that looked like it had been torn from one of the files. I looked at it for a long time, not really reading it while Anko started making some food in my kitchen. It took Anko coming out and asking me what it said for me to really read it.
In deliberate and neat handwriting that perfectly represented Jeremiah, he had written, 'Cat, sorry, Yugao, hard habit to break. I am really sorry. I know that my leaving can't be easy for you. I've come to think of you as something like the older sister I never had, and if you feel similarly, I know that this isn't easy for you. I'm sorry for that. I appreciate everything you've done for me, and I will never be able to thank you enough. I hope you understand that I have to meet Mei Terumi. I know I'll probably be labeled a missing nin, and I should be, I'm leaving for a really selfish reason. I want you to know that, no matter what family I find abroad, you will always, to me, you will always be my older sister, and I will never forget you.
-Jeremiah Terumi'
The Next Day, Sasuke's POV
All the shinobi in the village were called to the Hokage mansion pretty early in the morning today. I had walked over with Naruto and Sakura, and though Sakura was still annoying the shit out of me, Naruto and I had finally started to get along really well. Life was starting to go really well for us. I had my curse mark under control, Kakashi-sensei was out of the hospital, and, apparently, Naruto was going to leave on some big training trip with Jiraiya in the next month or so. I had talked to Kakashi, and he had said that, if I wanted to go on one too, he would talk to the Hokage, and get something worked out. I was, for the first time in a long time, genuinely happy.
But the universe likes to fuck me and Naruto over, and, even though we were really happy, we didn't know what had happened to Jeremiah. We hadn't seen him for what seemed like forever, and, when we try to find him by talking to his sensei, we get dragged along on a trip that ended with her shouting at an intelligence officer, and threatening us to keep our mouths shut. It wasn't hard to figure out that Jeremiah had probably left the village, probably to look for Zabuza and that Mei woman who looked so much like him.
So, standing in front of the Hokage's mansion, I was more than a little worried, and Naruto looked like he was too. Our friend, who we had gotten to know pretty well disappeared and the next day the Hokage calls us all together to tell us something? That is not a recipe for a happy. So Naruto and I stood with Kakashi and Sakura, surrounded by the rest of the Rookie Nine and their senseis, as Tsunade Senju, our Godaime Hokage walks forward to the railing and clears her throat.
"Konoha shinobi, yesterday, it was discovered that Jeremiah Terumi, previously of no clan affiliation, has left the village. As we cannot spare the manpower currently, we will not send anyone after him. However, he has been added to the Bingo book with a bounty on his head of 500,000 ryo, dead or alive." I heard Asuma scoff from behind us, causing several of us to turn our heads. He looked at us, and our confused faces before he responded. "Please, the kid's worth at least ten times that amount. Tsunade's doing the kid a favor. His bounty is relatively low for how good he his, which means that he'll easily kick the shit out of hunter nin and bounty hunters looking for a weak kid to beat up and get an easy bounty. Iwagakure listed the reward for the kid at six million ryo." Kakashi even looked surprised at that, thought likely for a different reason than us.
"I thought he helped the Tsuchikage fight off Suna and Oto shinobi?" Kakashi asked, to which Asuma only shrugged. "I guess he helped a little too well for the Tsuchikage's liking." Asuma said, lighting another cigarette.
Tsunade's voice boomed out again, grabbing all our attention immediately."Let it be known, however, that should any more of you try to desert this village, I will send every available Anbu and shinobi after you. Not to bring you in so we can put you in jail. If you desert the village, I will send shinobi to kill you and bring me your head so I can give them reward money for a job well done." Tsunade said, turning sharply on her heel and walking back into the Hokage mansion.
"Hope none of you all were planning on deserting, doesn't look like it's much of an option anymore." Kakashi joked, his eye curled up, indicating he was smiling. I just nodded in stunned silence, as I walked with Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi to go get some food. News like that needed to be properly processed over some barbeque.
The same time, Iwagakure
Kurotsuchi burst into the Tsuchikage's office, furious, and flanked by Roshi, who looked pissed as well, and Han, who looked as impassive as ever. "What the hell is this, jiji?" She said, slamming a black leather book on the Tsuchikage's desk.
"Well, that looks rather like a Bingo book, if I'm not mistaken." Onoki said, his face and voice emotionless.
"That's not what I'm talking about and you know it! Why is Jeremiah in the Bingo book with a reward of six million?" Kurotsuchi asked, flipping to the page in the book that showed Jeremiah's Konoha registration photo.
"Because he is dangerous." "He probably save my life!" "I don't care!" Onoki yelled, slamming his hands on his desk, sufficiently cowing his granddaughter. "At 13, he was fighting Anbu and Jounin to defend Konoha against an invasion. I don't want to see what he can do should he reach 16! I don't want another Copy Ninja Kakashi, or Yellow Flash, or Sannin, or White Fang. I know it is extremely unlikely that he will be as strong as them, especially the Yellow Flash, but I can't take these chances! Uchiha Itachi and Hatake Kakashi are perfect examples of what he might turn into. Itachi is an S-rank shinobi who can kill daimyos and walk out unscathed, and Hatake has probably one of the greatest mission completion and success rates of any shinobi I've seen, and that's not counting the Anbu missions. They both have body counts the size of a small mountain, and neither look like they have any intention of stopping."
Kurotsuchi, now quiet, just stood there with her head down. Roshi as well, though he was not looking down, looked sufficiently cowed. Seconds later, a messenger fell through the door in a huff, breathing heavily.
"Tsuchikage-sama, I have important news. You said you wanted to hear about anything major that happened inside Konoha, right? Well, we just got news that Jeremiah Terumi has been disavowed by Konoha's Hokage Tsunade Senju. He fled the village and has since been marked as a rogue shinobi. It is believed that he has joined up with the rogue shinobi Momochi Zabuza, and is likely going to join up with Mei Terumi and the Kirigakure rebellion." The messenger said, straightening up, and staring silently at the Jinchuuriki of the Yonbi and the Gobi, as well as the Tsuchikage and his granddaughter, who all stood in stunned silence.
The tsuchikage, in one sentence, summed up the feeling of the room. "Well, fuck, that can't be anything good."
(A/N) Hey guys! Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. In case you couldn't figure it out, no Sasuke retrieval arc. I'm not a huge fan of it. It purposefully pits Naruto and Sasuke against each other as the others foil for shippuden, and I don't like it. I also think Naruto spends far too much time searching for Sasuke, when he could and should be training so that he can fight Akatsuki better. Don't worry, Sasuke will still still get a summoning contract, though I'm deciding which one to give him as I write this. Naruto and Sasuke will come out of their respective training trips hopefully stronger than in Shippuden but we'll see.
The next chapter will be a filler chapter that runs down some of what Jeremiah goes through while training with Zabuza, and will probably have him meeting his last living blood relative. So, tune in next time! PEACE!