Ch. 20 The Cheater of Death
Tsunade and company along with Rain and Gazu stood shocked when they saw Don at the scene. When Don saw them, his body became frozen.
"You! What are you doing here? You are supposed to be dead!" Gazu shouted as he rushed towards Don with his swordsman summoned and ready to decapitate him.
Don reacted by pulling out one of his earth swords to block the attack. The two blades met and Gazu and Don glared at each other. Don then managed to push Gazu's puppet back however Gazu just became more determined to kill Don.
"Gazu, hold on, let me explain." Don shouted at him as he fended off Gazu's furious attacks.
"You've lost your chance for explanation Don. I'm going to finish what Temari obviously failed to finish." he shouted back hacking away at Don but made no successful blow.
He then ran around his puppet while Don was distracted fighting it and rammed into Don knocking to the ground and his sword from his hand. The puppet raised its sword and right before it was about to stab him Tsunade rushed Gazu, punching him hard enough to send him skidding across the ground.
"That's enough." She said.
"What the hell Tsunade? Why are you protecting this traitor?" Gazu shouted at her.
She sighed, "I have a very good explanation for all of you if we all can just calm down and find some place quiet to speak."
Don made a hand motion and a tiny wooden house sprang from the ground. The house had no windows, only one door; here they could talk in private. They all entered and sat down at the large table that was placed in the middle of the room.
"Explain to me what the hell is going on here?" Gazu barked.
Rain remained silent, she stared at Don not believing her eyes. Don would occasionally look over at her but then would return to looking at Tsunade who was trying to explain the situation as best she could.
"Do you guys remember one year after Don's actual death I told you Kabuto was after some immense power that lied with Don's family?" she began.
"Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?" Gazu asked.
"It seems that there are other powers that are the same as the one that Don has hidden away. Kabuto found out about this and after his failed attempt to get it from Konaha, he set out to find the other powers to control for himself."
Don remained silent hoping that his friends would be able to make sense of this. He had been on this mission for what seemed like forever.
"What kind of power are we talking about?" Rain asked, breaking her silence.
"That is a question best suited for Don." she replied.
All eyes fell on Don. Don took a deep breath.
"There is a jutsu, a very old and forgotten jutsu that allows a ninja to summon great and powerful monsters or titans as I call them. There are five five titans each manifested with an element: Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, and Wood. Each titan can only be summoned by an individual, it is not the type of summoning anyone can learn. It turns out, my family was chosen to be able to summon the wood titan. However just because my family was chosen to be able to summon the wood titan, not everyone in my family was able to. There was a puzzle to be solved in the scroll that instructs you how to summon the titan. I think I may have solved the puzzle so I can summon it." he said.
"Wow, that's very intense. I would have never guessed a power like this existed." one of the ANBU said.
"I was sent on a mission to find out information about these titans and see if I could prevent Kabuto or anyone else from gaining control of that power and destroying everything in the world. I managed to find temples in each major country that told the story of the titans which is how I began to understand the reason why I had to somehow stop the titans from being summoned and used to destroy everything. However from what I can tell, there are only four people alive currently who can summon a titan."
"Wait, Don, if there are five titans, how come you said there are only four people alive who can summon a titan?" Gazu asked.
Don smirked, "Do you remember not too long ago how Sunagakure was being plagued by those sandstorms?"
"Yeah, they were really bad, the worst I've ever seen. They caused a lot of damage too." he replied.
"Yes, well they were caused by the wind titan. When I heard that home was being plagued by abnormally strong sandstorms, I checked it out. The titan was being controlled by some little punk who hated Sunagakure and wanted to stir up a little trouble. When I tried to stop him, he insisted on fighting me..." he paused for a moment and his face turned serious and dark, "So I killed him."
The room fell silent.
"Did you ever complete your mission?" Tsunade asked.
Don shook his head, "No, I have one place left to visit. I've been trying to avoid it as much as possible because of it's location."
They all looked at him curiously. "Where is this place located?" Gazu asked.
Don sighed, "I have to make a trip past Konahagakure however recently it seems as though someone beefed up security to protect the village within a 100 mile radius. Getting past the security will be tricky but I think I can manage."
"And as you know Don, since the day that you took this mission, I can't help you." Tsunade said.
"I know." Don replied.
"You know this is all fine and dandy about saving the world an all but this still doesn't explain why Don was in the Akatsuki." Gazu said.
"I can explain that." Tsunade said. "I sent Don as an undercover intelligence agent to join the Akatsuki. I needed someone on the inside to help figure out how I was going to pick them apart piece by piece. I told him he was on his own and he would be treated like a criminal and traitor if and when he got caught. If he would have been caught, I would have had him executed."
Gazu and Rain's faces turned pale. "Wow, you were really serious about this stuff weren't you Don?" Gazu asked.
Don looked down, "Yes, I was." he said sadly bowing his head in humility, "Please forgive me for all that I've had to do. I did it so I could protect the ones I care for. I take full responsibility because I was willing to make the sacrifice knowing in order to save my loved ones, I would have to betray them. Please, I beg you, forgive me. I'm very sorry."
He kept his head down and then felt Rain hugging him. "I forgive you Don." She said softly kissing him on the cheek.
Gazu held him in a neck lock "I guess I can forgive you." he chuckled.
Tsunade smiled seeing Don and his squad together again and the damage undone.
"I hate to break up such a touching moment but there is one last thing I have to say before we all go our separate ways." Tsunade said her face turning very serious.
The three sand ninja looked at her as did the ANBU.
"Everyone in this room is to forget everything that happened here. As far as I'm concerned, Don is still dead traitor. If anyone asks about what happened here, you tell them that we are investigating it."
They all nodded.
Everyone headed outside, Rain and Gazu heading off in one direction, Tsunade, her two ANBU and Don heading in another.
"You two go on ahead, I have something to say to Don." Tsunade said.
The two ANBU nodded and kept moving ahead.
Tsunade hugged him tight, "I'm so glad you are still alive after all this time. I'm sorry I've had you endure so much pain." A tear fell down her face and she wiped it away. "I know it's not what your father would have wanted me to do, but I know he would be proud of you." she smiled.
Don hugged her back. "I'm sure he would. My fight isn't over yet so don't be going soft on me now ok Aunt Tsunade?" he smirked.
She flicked him on the head and Don grabbed his forehead in pain. "You know I don't like it when you address me as your aunt."
Don chuckled, "I know, I'm just messing with you."
"Make sure you stay a safe distance behind me and my guards and then I wish you the best of luck getting past my patrolling ninja. Also Don?" she said.
"Yes?" he asked.
"If you successfully manage to reach that temple, come see me and there is a full pardon waiting for you." she smiled.
Don smirked. "Ok."