Author's message: Good day, minna-san! I thank you for reading this story, Changing Motives, until this point. Probably, this is the last [official] chapter for this story. I'm really, really, thankful for those who have read my story and I'm happy for finishing it until this point.
I started this story at November 21, 2009 and I ended on March 14, 2010 - a good 113 days. Well, that's not so bad a time span for a 100,000+ worded story, right?
Thank you again!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Changing Motives
Chapter 23 – End
More than two-thirds of the rogue ninjas were annihilated when Iwa had successfully captured Takigakure. In the ensuing fights, most of the rogue ninjas retreated to random locations, trying to evade the wrath of the Tsuchikage. Since they were the primary targets of the Tsuchikage from the beginning, they were being effectively wiped out, almost all of the Iwa invasion force being used to hunt down the escapees.
Takigakure, surprisingly, only lost a fifth of its whole ninja number – a good two-thousand ninja in estimate. Being held as captives and prisoners of the whole Iwa invasion group, Takigakure had simply been the largest prison in the elemental world, since it was being effectively used as a large cage to contain the Takigakure ninjas. But since the Iwagakure ninjas were treating Takigakure ninjas with a degree of care – as per Tsuchikage's order – it was surprising to find out that no Takigakure ninjas were trying to at least resist with the most recent developments. The injured were being tended by the Iwa medic-nins and the ANBUs and the other capable ninjas were still guarding the whole village from attacks.
Shibuki was walking along the random corridors of the cold walls and dark illuminations of Takigakure, together with an ANBU escort trailing around with him. Technically, the war between Takigakure and Iwagakure hadn't been officially ended, even though it was clear that Iwagakure had won. Shibuki had already been briefed that the Tsuchikage's goal was to eliminate the rogues that were threatening Iwagakure for many months now, and he needed the Taki-Iwa war front so as to totally destroy that pesky ninjas around the territorialities of Iwagakure and Takigakure.
Shibuki didn't like it.
How could someone like to have his village be used as a façade for someone to do more things just to escape from the eyes of others? They'd been invaded three years before and it wasn't a good memory. All of their citizens were conscripted to be ninjas, and their village also became the spawning grounds of rogues since Kakuzu captured the whole village. All of them suffered so much under the rule of Kakuzu, his iron fist ready to kill people who wouldn't recognize his leadership. They'd been tortured; they'd been imprisoned, just for them to be taught the lesson of obedience. He especially endured more, since he was the lone spirit that could re-ignite the courage of Takigakure. He was kept away from his fellow citizen. He was kept hidden. Since he was the key – the hope of Takigakure – he was shunned from the eyes of many.
Who would like to experience another invasion from another village?
He continued to walk, repressing the thought to attack the Iwa ANBU with him as a retribution for being attacked while they were in their weakest – not that the ninjas produced by Kakuzu's rule was worthless – but their wills and heart as a real Taki ninjas had been burned and staked by the mockery done by the Akatsuki. They could have fought back, but they were too dispersed and weakened. He reflected, thinking of the possible future left for Takigakure. Would Takigakure have a future?
He saw an Iwa ninja looking confused, holding some sheets of paper on his left hand while scratching the back of his head with his free hand. For Shibuki, the ninjas was rather weird to be considered an Iwa shinobi – as long as he could remember, most citizens from Iwa had rather some brown hair, which ranged from light to dark. This one had some perfect black hair that matched his dark orbs – a rare feat from Iwa. When they were twenty steps away from each other, the ninja with the spiky black hair looked at him with some anticipation that he didn't expect.
Shibuki stopped walking as he saw that the other one was gaining a speed in his walk towards him. Once the other one reached his spot, he smiled to him and started to talk. "You're Shibuki-san, right?"
"Hai," Shibuki answered, hesitatingly. "What do you need of me?"
"You can call me Kakumo, Shibuki-san," the other one bowed curtly towards him. "I was sent here by a messenger of the Tsuchikage to send you a message." The other one said, before slightly turning his head away and muttering a 'Damn that old man for making me a messenger for his messenger', which Shibuki didn't fail to hear. "It seems that this matter is of serious degree, and he wanted the message to be delivered to you instantly."
"The Tsuchikage? I haven't seen him…" Shibuki replied.
"I'm sorry; I for one don't know where he is now." Kakumo replied. He started to hand over the topmost paper towards Shibuki, gently handling the fragile paper into the other one's hands. "Here… This is the paper that they wanted me to give to you as soon as I saw you."
Shibuki accepted the paper, instantly seeing the name of the Tsuchikage signed in the material. He scanned the paper from the topmost portion, not minding the minor details that always came with some formal letters. He drifted his eyes on the content of the message, digesting the most fruitful and meaningful parts that were noted worthy of his attention – the ones related to the condition of Takigakure and its people. After coming across the particular part of the message, his eyes suddenly widened in surprise and shot it towards Kakumo. "W-what is the m-meaning of this?" He asked, his mouth stuttering because of the overcoming shock.
"Hai, Shibuki-san," Kakumo answered, "Tsuchikage-sama wanted to hand over you the leadership of Takigakure, under the direct supervision of Iwagakure."
"Don't," Shibuki lowered his head. "Don't use those words; I perfectly know what the Tsuchikage wants." He slightly raised his head, flashing a deadly gaze towards Kakumo. "He wanted me to become a puppet leader of Takigakure, for Iwa."
"That is the pessimistic way to put it, Shibuki-san." Kakumo answered. "But as an advice, it would be the wisest decision to protect the stability of Takigakure, although I don't like it."
Shibuki shot a questioning glare towards Kakumo. What was this guy trying to say?
"You have no choice," Kakumo continued to talk when he saw the eyes of Shibuki. "You are being held in the neck this time, and the choice that you'll be choosing isn't part of your personal decision. You are asked to choose because you are the leader figure that the people approve of. Honestly, I feel sympathy for you."
"It's surprising to hear that from an Iwa nin,"
"I may be an Iwa ninja, but my heart will always tell the same,"
The answer seemed to have provoked the ANBU guard of Shibuki, since he started to walk closer towards Kakumo. The latter was wary of the action and just observed how the masked figure came closer towards him. "Kakumo-san, I must note that your radical idealism is rather being poorly accepted. Please make sure that your words and minds are of the same side as of the idyllic of Iwa."
"I don't need your opinion, ANBU," Kakumo answered, his right eye suddenly transforming into the infamous pinwheel formation of the tomoes, a red background replacing the black irises. Silently, the ANBU fell towards the floor, his limp body almost lifeless.
Shibuki was more than surprised of what happened. "What did you do? Why do you have the Sharingan?!"
"I told you that I may be an Iwa-nin, but my heart feels differently." Kakumo answered. "In Iwa, I am always being reprimanded for having some different thoughts of how things must go, but I don't let them sway me into their ideals. The Sharingan… well, let's just say that my origin is most likely not of Iwa."
"But… then…" Shibuki was out of words.
"Shibuki-san, listen to me this time." Kakumo said. "Accept what the Tsuchikage is proposing you. It is the best choice you have right now, but I assure you differently in the future." He paused for a while, moving nearer Shibuki. "Actually, it may be better for you to play under the Tsuchikage's hands and move under his supervision. It will make you less oblivious. I know that you don't want to stay under a puppet government, but you have no more choices now."
"What are you trying to tell me?"
"In the future, we'll help you escape the clutches of the Tsuchikage."
"I don't believe that it will happen without something in return…"
"Shibuki-san, all we need is the pretext of your want to be independent again. We'll do the rest."
"You know… what you are doing is a direct incitement of uprising against your kage."
"That is already the plan…"
Kakashi was unusually silent went his group of fellow Konoha shinobi traversed their ways back to Konohagakure. Even though the Hatake was naturally silent, there were still the eyes of the people who could easily read the gestures and non-verbal cues being expressed by a person, which told them that there was something wrong with the Copycat ninja. Usually, Kakashi was warily passive – silence being accompanied by extreme caution in every moves. But that time, it was increasingly obvious that Kakashi was being impassive, and it seemed that he was living in another world of his own, detached from the reality of his fellow ninja.
Kakashi was carrying a burden. And no one from his allies knew about it. He was carrying a burden that was indirectly handed over to him by Obito, and he perfectly realized that by accepting what the latter had told him was the same as being the foundation of errs and sins. It was already too late to discern that Obito had taxed him one of the greatest lies in the world, and he was being intended to be crushed by it.
He finally realized the reason why Obito was too carefree that his identity was exposed to him prematurely – Obito was so certain that Kakashi would not dare to tell the others that he was alive, and that he was now currently working in Iwagakure. Obito was so sure that Kakashi would protect his existence from Konoha, so as to save the last thread of peace that held the stability of the ninja world. Obito knew that Kakashi would not do it, since Obito knew that Kakashi's weakness would not permit him to expose him to them.
And Kakashi hated it that Obito was too damn correct that he would not admit that he was still alive – now that he had Naruto with him.
In short, Obito had never intended Kakashi to go back to Konoha without any retribution. He had heard it from his old teammate – he was angered by the fact that Kakashi wasn't able to protect the last legacy their sensei left in the world. He failed to protect Naruto when he was in Konoha, which left the young man to go into a different village. Obito was both willing to protect Kakashi from the wrath of Iwa, but the Uchiha himself prepared something against him. And now, Obito had left him one of the heaviest burden that needed instant decision.
What would he choose now? Would he choose his mission? Or the safety of both Obito and Naruto? Would he tell Tsunade that Naruto was alive and risk a possible war? Or would he hide it from Konoha in order to prevent a conflict?
In his thoughts, he could see Obito grinning at him, a silent mockery against the problem he had given him.
What would he choose?
Following the turmoil that had grown in the northeastern part of the ninja world, spy networks from different elemental countries restarted to function, trying to gather as much information regarding the reaction of the ninja leaders and daimyos. The apparent increase in their activity wasn't surprising, but the Hokage Office was already alerted of some abnormal movement of one of their spy network.
The spy networks scattered among the elemental countries directly held by the Hokage, and some constituents were handled by the Intelligence Division. But most of the informants that worked as spies in those countries were either directly or indirectly linked to Jiraiya, thereby making him the database of newest information regarding the spy missions. Because he was the person responsible for collecting the different information, he was the first one to be alerted in the difference from the normal pattern of one of the networks, particularly the one at Lightning Country.
"Can we relate it to some possible actions of Kumogakure?" Tsunade quickly inquired, as she observed the disappearance of the latest messenger frog from the table.
"No, I think not." Jiraiya answered, folding the paper containing the most recent information regarding the Lightning spy network. "It rather seemed that the Lightning Daimyo is the one making the sudden fuss in the country. I find it… unusual."
"Of course," Tsunade answered, folding her hands in front of her chest. "It's always unusual for a daimyo to make some sudden movements, especially of his troops. Most of them are samurai – hired or not. It will not be surprising if we find out that the daimyo have already contracted Kumo for his actions."
"But, Tsunade, something is clearly not right about this one." Jiraiya answered. "It almost tells us that they know something that we don't."
"The Fire Daimyo has sent us no message regarding this one, although the tension present in the capital is ever-palpable." Tsunade said. "What makes you think about that?"
"It's better to be cautious, Tsunade." Jiraiya responded. "Lightning Country boasts one of the largest numbers of ninjas, since Kumogakure is in there. The Kumogakure ninja force can rival that of Iwagakure's."
"Are you saying that Kumogakure is preparing for a war as well?"
"I don't know, Tsunade." Jiraiya bowed his head as he sighed. "But we do know that conflicts in this place always come in a chain reaction."
Silence dawned at the two people inside the office. Deep thoughts began to scramble inside their minds, imaginary scenarios being played in their thoughts. Both of the two sannin were thinking of the future events that would inevitably shape the history of the ninja world, and they had clearly no better idea of the development of all things. Due to the lack of information due to the sudden surprise that came, they were hard-pressed in discovering a proper trend to pinpoint the next event.
There was a knock in the door, followed by its slow opening. It revealed a lightly tall figure, whose head was covered with the seeming purpose of hiding what was under it. He had two scars running diagonally in his face, over his cheeks beamed with his angular jaws. He looked impassively at the two people inside the office, yet his eyes could not hide the anticipation and worry in itself. He moved closer to the Hokage's table and handed over a piece of envelope.
"Hokage-sama, we've finally made real contact of one of our people in Lightning." He said.
"That's good." Tsunade answered. "What do you have me now, Ibiki?"
"Hokage-sama, we do not know of the whole details, but our intel suggested that Lightning is being alerted for a possible attack." Ibiki answered. "We also have some information supporting that there had been a mass movement of Kumogakure ninjas towards Fire Country."
"What?!" Tsunade almost yelled. "Explain what you mean to me."
"We're still working on it, Hokage-sama. But due to the fact that continuous surveillance could led to the discovery of our personnel, I am afraid to tell you that the group Kumo ninjas that will be entering Fire Country is not being followed. They might enter the country freely with the use of a disguise."
"A possible attack? But they've put some ninjas inside Fire…" Jiraiya said, scratching his chin. "Perhaps they are trying to stop the attack… but that means that their attackers came from Fire."
"Fire and Lightning hasn't anything against each other." Tsunade affirmed.
"Chain reaction, Tsunade. Chain reaction…"
.
.
"Obvious motives are hardly to be trusted at all."
.
.
I am Uchiha Obito, one of the last Uchiha in the elemental world. I am here, standing alone at the outskirts of Takigakure, having the time to think alone of the things that had happened recently. I became part of Iwagakure during the Third Great Ninja War, as a prisoner first under the torturing of the Tsuchikage himself. After some years of living as a prisoner and pardon coming from the kage himself, I was eventually entered into the ninja ranks of Iwa – to serve the village that was my enemy at first.
I went actively with missions, each of them decreasing my hate and anger towards the Hidden Rock Village. I started to love the village and its citizens, a hidden wish for me to be able to protect and to serve the village that treated me as its own. I eventually become an accepted as an official Iwa citizen, a ninja always ready to serve the Tsuchikage in the time of need.
Some years after, I came across Naruto, the blond and loud ninja that originally came from Konoha. I had known that he had been travelling across different countries before he decided to stay at Iwagakure. He'd shared to me that he was a target for assassination some three years ago. He was helped by an anonymous person, and he travelled around the elemental countries for one year before settling in Iwa two years ago. He was a strong ninja, possibly because of the experiences he had gained when he was travelling all alone. Surprisingly, he didn't have any rage and anger towards Konoha, which was a great mystery to me.
All was well when the fate of Iwa and Taki met together… it was also the moment when Kakashi – my old teammate and rival – and I met again in the battlefield, as enemies.
It was the moment that entangled all our fates together, that of Naruto and me…
For now, I would just like to tell you the next event that would happen after Takigakure…
I am the conglomerate of all sins in the world.
For I am Obito Uchiha… I am Kakashi's pain.
For I will be the living ghost to torment the Copycat ninja… for him to be disabled. That will lead me into the weakness of Konoha itself.
More will happen – I know it.
Will the truth be known? But it is still too early.
Changing motives will prevent the discovery of the truth.
An attack against Lightning? Hmm… That is proven to be interesting. Well, we wouldn't always know what will happen next, right? Kumogakure… interesting…
The Tsuchikage just relayed the plan to capture the territories near Iwagakure. Sunagakure will be next in the list. Nobody knows of this… yet.
- End of Chapter -
Note: I intentionally left this chapter with gaps regarding the end of the story. Well, it's still part of the writer's strategy, right?
Thank you, everyone~!