Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Destined to happen
Chapter 21
"How the hell did this even happen?!" Tukiko muttered under her breath. She was leaning against a tree, biting her thumbnail in agitation. She was by a stream near the campsites that acted as the homes of the people of Konoha with Naruto and Sakura with her.
"This isn't fair! Why can't Danzo just wait?!" Naruto yelled in anger. He was clenching his fists and glaring darkly at the ground.
"But Kakashi-sensei was right. Sasuke-kun is a rogue ninja but..." Sakura bit her lip, not liking any of this one bit. All of them weren't.
Shortly after Kiba revealed that Danzo was Hokage now and ordered Sasuke's death, the three grew upset. They couldn't let Sasuke get killed by other ninjas! They didn't find him yet. Sasuke couldn't die at all! Normally a rogue ninja is to kill on sight. With Tsunade, she never ordered anyone to go and kill Sasuke since she knew how much he meant to them. Now with Danzo as the Hokage he could order all of them to kill him. Sakura and Naruto thought it was unfair that Danzo was the Hokage and tried to go and talk to him to change his mind. Kakashi was able to stop them by telling them that all the jonins had to vote on Danzo being Hokage. When they had a proper vote Danzo might now be Hokage anymore and whoever was could stop the order. For now, however, they had to deal with the fact that he was Hokage.
"This so isn't fair!" Tukiko banged the back of her head against the tree trunk behind her. She was upset, frustrated and just plain damn nervous. Not only was Sasuke sentenced to die on sight, Danzo was Hokage! To tell the truth, Tukiko didn't really care about Sasuke right now. After what recently happened with him killing the father of her child and their brother, she could care less about her brother. Sasuke was the least of her worries. Danzo, on the other hand, was. There was something about that man that creeped her out. Hell, she didn't even trust him nor the council. After reading that they were the ones to order Itachi to kill their entire clan, she tended not to listen to any order they gave her. That was why she was on Tsunade's personal ANBU squad. She took direct orders from Tsunade, not the council. Danzo was the one she didn't trust the most. She heard rumors about him in the ANBU and all of them bad. Like how he had this secret organization called ROOT, the place where Sai came from.
And now that she mentioned it, Sai probably knew about him! He knew things that Danzo might be planning on doing as Hokage! For all she knew, one of those orders was to send her to jail because she was "part of the traitor clan."
Tukiko decided on that. She asked Naruto, "Do you know where Sai is?"
"Sai?" Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Why do you want to know?"
"Because he might know about Danzo." Tukiko straightened up and made to walk back towards the camps. "I'm going to go find him."
"Find who?" A voice said behind them. The three turned around to see that it was Sai walking towards them.
"Perfect timing, Sai," Tukiko commented, walking towards him. "We wanted to ask you something."
"What?"
"We wanted to ask you about Danzo," Sakura asked. She got why Tukiko needed to know about Danzo. They didn't know him very well either and the only one who did was Sai.
Sai was silent for a second before saying with no emotion, "I can't."
The three grew angry.
"Why not!?"
"Are you taking his side!?"
"Just tell us!"
"No, that's not it. I literally can't talk about him because of this." Sai opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue. On the very back of his tongue was a black fork-like seal seperated into segments. They were surprised.
"A...seal?" Sakura muttered.
"Huh. So Danzo's that cautious, huh?" Tukiko mused, staring at the seal. She knew that type. It was the kind that made the person sealed freeze up if they were to do anything that the seal forbid. She just didn't know that Danzo would actually do that.
Sai nodded. "Yeah. Danzo put it on me. If I try to talk about him, my whole body will be paralyzed and I'll be unable to move or talk. All the foundation members have it."
"You mean ROOT, right?'
"Yes. Danzo and the foundation are top secret. We've done a lot of dirty deeds to protect the village. So he has to make sure no info can get out. Even if we're captured, no one can make us talk."
"Oh yeah. I read about that." Naruto, Sakura and Sai gave her weird, curious looks. She put her hands up in defense. "I read Tsunade's papers, okay? Don't tell anyone but I wanted to do a little background check on everyone on the council, even on the top secret ones. I read somewhere that Danzo made ROOT and it did so many things that the Third Hokage went against for the way our village's safety was earned. The only thing I'm really sure about Danzo is that he really does care for the village. It's just his methods are a bit...crude." She had a tone of distaste at the end.
"They why did he go back on Tsunade's promise about Sasuke?" Sakura demanded. "He's trying to kill Sasuke!"
Sai tensed visibly. "R-Really? I haven't heard anything about that," he said in genuine surprise. Tukiko knew he was telling the truth since she knew how to read a lie or the truth from a person's words and tone.
But Tukiko paid no more attention to that as she sensed someone come up near them. She slid out a kunai she hid in her sleeves just as something came near Sakura. She pushed herself in between Sakura, kunai ready, as a sword came out of nowhere. Metal met metal, a clang sounding the area. The person who weilded the sword was a girl with a bandanna tied around her head. On her forehead was the symbol of Kumo.
"Tell us everything you know about Sasuke Uchiha since you seem to be friends with him!" The girl demanded, using her sword to push her back.
"Not a chance!" Tukiko knew she couldn't work with a regular kunai. She was at a disadvantage. Luckily, Naruto decided to help out and threw kunai at the girl and her friend, a boy with short hair and a lollipop in his mouth. Naruto sprang into action and tried to elbow the girl, but the boy took out his sword on his back and used the hilt to block his elbow. Naruto then made the handseal for the Kage bunshin. As he was doing this, the girl spun around the boy's back while twirling her sword and almost let go of it. The sword was stopped, however, by Naruto's clone as he clamped his palms down on the blade.
While all of this was happening, Sakura and Sai came from both sides of the two Kumo ninjas. The boy evidentaly saw them coming and kicked Sakura and sent her flying in one direction. Sai missed when he tried kicking the girl. The real Naruto went to go catch Sakura as Tukiko ran over to her. The girl elbowed Naruto's clone in the face to dispel it. Then she and the boy jumped away from the Konoha ninjas and onto the water.
Tukiko knelt by Sakura to check if she was okay. Sakura didn't look hurt. Seeing her hurt, Tukiko grew pissed and shot a glare at the Kumo ninjas. If there was one thing Tukiko hated, it was seeing Sakura get hurt. She saw Sakura as her surrogate sister ever since that day three years ago when Sakura helped her with getting over Sasuke and vice versa. And she was the godmother of her fucking child, goddamnit! They had an agreement! "What the hell are you Kumo ninjas doing in Konoha?" Tukiko hissed, venom lacing her words.
The boy pointed a finger at them. "You were talking about Sasuke! Tell us about him!"
"What does it have to do with you?!" Sakura demanded.
"Everything! Sasuke Uchiha attacked our village!"
The four Konoha ninjas were shell shocked. Did they just hear that right?
"That missing-nin Uchiha took our master! We don't even know if our master is dead or alive!" The girl shrieked, anger and hatred in her words.
"N-No way...Why would Sasuke do that?" Sakura stuttered, still stunned.
"How should I know what Akatsuki wants?" The boy retorted.
"What do you mean Akatsuki?" Naruto asked. Tukiko felt dread filling her, the same when Deidara and Itachi were about to die. She wasn't going to like this news, was she?
"Huh!? Are you kidding me! Sasuke is a member of Akatsuki!" The girl pointed a finger at them, as if accusing them of the crime.
Tukiko felt her whole world shut down. There was no way...no way...Sasuke a part of Akatsuki? The very organization that took away her brother and lover? That couldn't be true. No...no...no! She didn't care about Sasuke anymore but a deep part of her didn't want her to go there! Not in that organization! People in that group were always known to die since they were S-ranked missing-nins! Sasuke was going to die if he stayed with them. And he went to Kumo? To capture the Jinchurriki? Which one though?
"H-Hey. Who was your master?' Tukiko hesitantly asked. She's been in Kumo the second longest she's ever been. About nine months. During that time she got to know all of the people there, including the two Jinchuriki who were there. Both of them were her friends and they taught her all sorts of things. Hell, they even proved that she was a lightning type!
"He was the eight tail Jinchuriki, Killer Bee! And your damn Uchiha caught him and probably killed him!"
Tukiko gasped in horror, a hand to her mouth. She knew him! "H-He c-caught Bee? H-How!? He was the strongest person there was in Kumo! Even stronger than his brother! How in the hell did he lose to Sasuke!?" She couldn't believe this. Sasuke caught Bee. Killer Bee, she respected the most. He was one of the best swordsmen she has ever seen and the very one who taught her even how to weild one. She couldn't weild one until she grew older because she was too small to back then. To hear this happen to him was just horrible. And for her twin brother to do this of all things! "I mean, I liked Bee more than Yugito since he never got mad at me but...ugh! How the fuck did he lose to Sasuke of all people!? He's not that strong! Hell, I couldn't even beat Bee! And we're the same type and use the same jutsu, damn it! That's so not fair! And it's only because he got the Sharingan and uses it more than me!"
Everyone stared at Tukiko as she started to rant on about how Sasuke beating Killer Bee was totally unfair. That was when the Kumo ninjas just noticed that Tukiko looked a lot like Sasuke and had the Uchiha crest on her choker. They tensed up, growling. They got into a battle position.
"You! You're Sasuke Uchiha, aren't you!?" The girl accused her. "Your appearance matches that closely to the ones that the scouts gave us!"
Tukiko paused mid-rant, letting her face fall to an experssionless one. She then glowered at them. "Are you idiots? Do I look like Sasuke to you? I would never be him."
"Then if you aren't that damn criminal, then who are you?!" The boy demanded, pointing his sword at her.
"My name is Tukiko Uchiha. And that 'damn criminal' happens to be my twin brother." Tukiko scowled at the pair of them, standing to her feet and putting a hand on her hip. She glared at them, her Sharingan activating. "The twin brother that I hate right now for more reasons than I can say, but my twin brother none the less!"
"Then if you're the Uchiha's twin, tell us all about him! We need to get our master back!"
"No."
"Just tell us-"
"I SAID NO!" Tukiko felt a surge of power go straight to her eyes as she glared at the water under their feet. Black flames bursted at their feet. They jumped back in shock, staring at the black flames. They glanced up to meet Tukiko's eyes to see that the tomoes in her eyes had melded together into a fuma shuriken pattern with a curved wheel next to the straight lines of the fuma one. A single black circle lined her black pupil. "Do you two honestly think that I'll tell you my twin brother's weaknesses? Do you honestly think that I would betray my own blood!? You guys have another thing coming if you think I'll tell you! Get the hell out of here before I burn both of you to ashes with my Amaterasu!"
As if to emphasize her point, the black fire on the water seemed to grow larger.
"Oh, shit," the guy muttered. He studied Tukiko even further and finally realized who she was. "That's the Bloody Swallow!"
"What?! No, it isn't!" The girl aruged.
"Of course it is! The only Uchiha alive other than the one we're after is a girl who's nicknamed the Bloody Swallow!"
The two secretly shuddered at the name. Anyone would know of that name. She was the best assassin Konoha had. Rumor had it she completed more assassination jobs better than any of their own assassins. Plus, they heard that she didn't hold back. She was merciless.
"Ugh! We have no choice." The girl glared at the group of them. "You win this time, Uchiha. But mark my words, we'll fucking kill you on spot if we see you again."
With that threat lingering in the arm, the girl disappeared. The guy followed soon after.
After they were gone, all the energy seemed to leave Tukiko. She sank to her knees, her Sharingan fading away. Sakura rushed to her side, put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Tukiko-chan, are you alright?"
"I'm...fine," Tukiko breathed. She brushed her locks of hair away from her eyes. She unconsciously used the Mangekyou Sharingan without meaning to. She was just so pissed. But she shouldn't have used it since it will only lead to her blindness.
"What were...Weren't those the flames we saw when we found that Uchiha hideout destroyed? The ones that burned on the surrounding forest?" Sai asked, pointing to the water. The flames were still burning strongly.
"The-The Amaterasu? Y-Yeah. It's an ablity users of the Mangekyou Sharingan can use." Tukiko rubbed her eyes to see if they hurt. Strangely, they didn't. This surprised her since whenever she used it her eyes would burn for days. They didn't at all right now.
"The-The Mangekyou Sharingan?" Naruto whispered in a small voice. It was hard to hear him, but she did. "T-Tukiko-chan...do...You have the Mangekyou Sharingan?"
Tukiko opened her eyes and looked over her shoulder. The one thing she first saw was the disbelief on his face. Then the sadness in it. She smiled sadly. He knew. "So you know about it, huh, Naruto?"
Naruto slowly nodded. He bit his lip, frowning. Sai and Sakura just stared between them.
"What's the Magekyou Sharingan?" Sakura questioned.
"The Mangekyou Sharingan...It's the next step after the Sharingan. It's more powerful than the regular Sharingan and has more jutsus to use." Tukiko dropped her eyes to the ground. Her smile faded until it was emotionless. "But there's a heavy price if you want to gain it."
"And what is that?" Sai asked.
"To kill..."
"The one who is closest to you," Naruto finished. He was trembling by now, from both sadness and anger.
"Yes. To kill the one you call your friend. That is the price to gain the Mangekyou Sharingan."
Sakura gasped. "What?! Tukiko, how could you have gained that? That's terrible! But who did you kill?"
"I didn't kill anyone." Tukiko glanced up at Sakura with unshed tears. "It wasn't my choice either. It happened when I was in the hospital when I was thirteen; right after Sasuke left."
She briefly explained her dream she had while in the hospital. Naruto, Sakura, and Sai didn't look very happy about it.
"So you gained it because it felt like you killed Sasuke, who was your best friend at the time?" Naruto asked.
She nodded. "Ever since I found out about it, I tried to never use it. How terrible it is to use a Sharingan that was gained by thinking you killed you brother. Plus, I don't want to go blind."
"Then why did you just use it now?" Sai asked. He was just getting curiouser about her Sharingan.
"I don't know. When I lose my temper I activate my Sharingan. I was really pissed about them telling me to tell them about Sasuke and...I just snapped."
"Of course her new powers would be used when she's angry," Sakura muttered.
"Not my fault. I have no control on my temper." Tukiko couldn't take it when they ordered her to tell them about Sasuke. She knew that they were going to kill him using that information. That was something she couldn't tolerate. Sure, she felt like she wanted Sasuke dead but not when other people were out to kill him as well. It was hard to explain. She could only stand it if she were the one to kill him. But that promise to Itachi and Deidara...She shook her head, tears threatening to fall. With Sasuke out there killing people and capturing Jinchuuriki, she had to do something. She couldn't let him continue on. Only she could settle this.
Aniki, Deidara...I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to break two promises at once.
She shakily stood to her feet. She started to walk towards the direction of the village. Naruto, Sakura, and Sai stared at her.
"Where are you going?" Naruto asked.
"Back to the village."
"Why?"
Tukiko paused, looking over her shoulder. They were all surprised to see a replica of Sasuke's emotionless face staring back at them with cold, steely-grey, silvery-lined eyes.
"I'm going to talk to Danzo. I'm going to tell him that only one person can kill Sasuke and that's going to be me."
The three were sent into shock. Tukiko used this time to run and escape towards the village before they could convince her otherwise.
For the next half hour, Tukiko started to search through the camps that were currently Konoha. There were many tents and she had to search through each one. Each time she met with failure. The thirty minutes passed by and Tukiko still hadn't found him. She even checked the tents where the elders were supposed to be in but no one was there.
"How hard is it to find an old man who was named Hokage?" Tukiko muttered under her breath. She was slowly walking behind the more important tents where meetings were currently being held. She already checked those tents. He wasn't in any of them. This was getting on her nerves; more so than usual. Maybe it was just her hormones that were making her more pissed than usual.
She passed by the tents where the Hyuugas were supposed to be staying. As she started to walk by, Neji stepped out from one of the tents. He spotted her right away and called out to her. Tukiko lifted up her head to see him walking towards her.
"Tukiko, what are you doing here?" Neji asked her. The Hyuuga tents were on the other side of the grounds from Tukiko's tent. She wouldn't walk very far due to her growing exhaustion. He was planning on visiting her soon. Her exhaustion seemed to have surfaced after she died. It was growing even more now. He hoped that she was alright. (A/N: If only he knew...) Seeing her standing in front of him, he saw that she was.
"I was just looking for someone," she curtly answered. Neji noticed the cold tone in her voice. He could tell that she was worried about something. He knew Tukiko enough to know that when she used her cold tone, she was either upset about something or angry. Tukiko glanced up to his lavender eyes. "Have you, by any chance, seen Danzo around?"
"Danzo?" He asked in surprise. Why would she want to know where Danzo was? He knew that he was the Hokage now, but what could Tukiko possibly talk to him about? Tukiko always complained to him about how creepy Danzo was. She always avoided him. Why would she willingly see him now? "He's not in the village anymore."
"Huh? Why?"
"There was a notice about an emergency meeting between the Five Kages of the Shinobi nations in the Land of Iron. He left for it some time ago. Why would you want to find him?"
"I need to talk to him about something." Tukiko walked past Neji, ignoring the look he was giving her.
Neji walked behind her, trying to catch up. Tukiko was walking even faster. "What do you need to talk to him about?"
"It's about...something," Tukiko lied. She couldn't tell Neji. Neji was her best friend. If he knew that she was planning on going out and getting permission to kill Sasuke, he would only try to stop her. He would spout out words that revolved around that promise. She hated it when he spoke about that promise. It didn't mean anything to her. Not anymore. Her feet began to walk even faster. "I have to go. Goodbye, Neji."
Before Neji could ask anything, Tukiko used her chakra to speed home. She left him standing in the street, confused and worried.
Tukiko sped her way effortlessly towards her tent. She didn't want to do this, but she was going to have to if she wanted to talk to Danzo. Since Danzo was out of the village, she was going to have to go to the Land of Iron herself. This she didn't look forward to. She wasn't sure if she could make it with her current condition. She was going to have to grin and bear it until she arrived there. It might take a few days but it was going to be worth the risk. She hoped.
She arrived at her tent and immediately began to grab all of her things. She got out her mission bag and started to throw any of the things she would need. She put in a few weapon scrolls, provisions, a first-aid kit, and a few extra clothes. After she got that packed, she threw off her current clothes and put on the clothes she got from Granny Cat. As she was putting on the obi, she made sure to strap on her chakra-blade katana. After all of that was on, Tukiko went over to a mirror in order to tie in her hitai-ate. When she did so, she regretted ever looking into the mirror.
Her reflection showed a pale, delicate heart-shaped face. Her short haircut was styled in the usual stuck up style it was before when she was thirteen, albeit a few bangs had grown over her eyes and forehead so it was no longer parted. A scowl was on her face. And her eyes, those dark, silvery-hued eyes...They looked so sad...so desperate. Yet at the same time, they were so determined. Determined to right any of the wrongs that have happened in the past.
Tukiko turned her eyes away from the mirror. She couldn't bare to look at it any longer. That face would only remind her of Sasuke. Her twin brother Sasuke, who was apart of the Akatsuki. She sighed, tying her hitai-ate around her neck. She couldn't put it on her forehead since the bangs only covered it and her hair was too short now to even put it like Sakura's. So she could only tie it around her neck. After all of these things were done and over with, Tukiko slung her bag onto her shoulders. Then she grabbed her black cloak. She knew from experience that the Land of Iron was very cold during this time of year. She snapped the cloak into place. She was ready to leave, except for one thing.
She went over to the temporary dresser where some of her belongings lay. Next to her books lay her Swallow mask from when she was an ANBU. She snatched that up and turned to head out the door. She pulled the mask onto her face. She needed to cover her identity for now. If people knew she looked like Sasuke she could get killed before she even reached the Land of Iron. Her mask was her identity for now. The cool porcelain touched her face gently, caressing her skin. She couldn't help but smile. It was like an old friend had returned to her. Her mask was her only link to her ever being in the ANBU. It could also be the only ticket to get safely to Danzo.
With her mask in place, Tukiko pulled on her hood so that her hair was covered. Only her mask was the thing seen. She walked out of the tent not as Tukiko Uchiha, but as the Bloody Swallow once again.