Chapter Thirty Five – Hunted and Cornered
"Because they saved me from myself, they rescued me from my loneliness. They were the first to accept me for who I am. They're my friends." - Uzumaki Naruto
There was a sliding sound, and Naruto looked up at the noise of the door opening from the hallway. A moment later Shisui came in, his bare feet sagging and his ANBU uniform was sporting new cuts and rifts. She arched a brow and felt curious about what had happened but knew she couldn't ask about his mission. Stupid ANBU protocols...
"Hungry?" Naruto asked, and Shisui gave an "hn" sound in reply while he sat down on the other side of the kitchen table. She took that as a yes.
Getting up she walked over to the fridge and found the leftovers from the day before. Kagami was out on a mission and they didn't expect him back for a couple of days. There was an unusual amount of work at the Police station these days. Naruto didn't know how much work they had normally, but from Shisui's random comments here and there it sounded like Kagami had more work than usual these days.
In silence she warmed up the dish, making a bit more rice on the side to fill out the meal a bit more. They were ninja, and they all ate a ridiculous amount of food compared to civilians. According to Tsunade those with larger chakra reserves had a faster metabolism. So Naruto herself was pretty much screwed if she didn't get enough to eat.
Shisui hadn't moved from the table, and Naruto glanced worriedly over at him. ANBU had cool uniforms, but what wasn't so cool was when Shisui spent hours after coming home from those missions in silence.
Naruto now understood why Kagami never pestered him for details or how he was doing. It was a sure way to get Shisui to close up completely, and if he was especially agitated he'd jump out the window and not come back for hours. It was an adjustment period. Not always though. Some days he was fine right away, but from just the energy radiating from Shisui Naruto knew this was not one of those "fine" days.
Shisui got up as the food was almost finished. His steps were effortlessly soundless while crossing the floor and started helping out with setting the table. Naruto wondered if she should remind him that he hadn't taken a shower yet, but decided against it. Kagami was the one who was so strict about that sort of stuff.
A couple of minutes later they were eating, and Naruto could almost see the moment Shisui snapped out of his dazed state. His movements a bit more purposeful, he ate faster and he didn't look so pale anymore. Maybe he was just hungry this time?
Naruto had spent the day training with Anko, but the next day they had a mission again. Team Kasai had an escort mission where they would definitely get attacked; it would be a miracle if they didn't, so they needed all members to be prepared and ready.
She glanced at Shisui. Would he be ready to go on the mission? She couldn't see any serious wounds, but who knew what ANBU did to their members.
The new client was some rich snob who'd made enemies with a ninja. The ninja was well connected, and they were paid to escort him safely to his wife's family estate. It would probably take a little over a week. She huffed internally at the idea of having to meet up at the Hokage office for briefing, but it wasn't like there was anything she could do to avoid it.
It had been almost a week since the confrontation between Naruto and her father. Since then she'd kept their contact to strictly polite. During mission briefings she barely spoke at all unless a direct question headed her way, but even those were less. In a way it was more awkward than ever, but the anger had faded. Naruto had used a lot of time just thinking which Shisui had picked up on.
"You are quiet." He said curiously. "Is everything alright?" He wondered, breaking the silence surprisingly early. She had been prepared for a quiet evening. In a way she was quite proud of her ability not to snoop into his business, and until now she'd thought he'd appreciated it.
"I'm fine." Naruto replied and started scooping herself more rice. "I should be asking you that actually."
"It was just another mission. It went well actually, but you don't seem fine. You've been painfully silent all week." Shisui commented after taking a bite with his chopsticks.
"I am fine."
"Is it Hokage-sama?" Shisui wondered with a pointed glance. Damn. How the hell did he know?
Naruto stuck her chopsticks a bit too harsh into her bowl, making it slide sideways and almost tumble off the table if it wasn't for her fast reflexes.
Shisui's brow arched. "I take that as a yes." He murmured and bit down on his chicken.
She studied him for a moment. He looked like he'd spent the majority of his mission rolling around in dry bushes, and he was in dire need of sleep if the shadows under his eyes were any indication, but apparently he was as observant as ever. Internally sighing she realized there was no reason to keep it secret anyway. It wasn't like Shisui didn't know there was tension between her and Minato already. "It's nothing. We just… had an argument."
Shisui sent her a small comforting smile and thankfully refrained from prying. After a few minutes he looked up. "I never thought I'd say this; but I'm starting to miss your exuberance. I know I'm not Anko, but feel free to bad mouth him. I promise not a single word will make it back to Hokage-sama." He made a grimace at the end, but his tired eyes were filled with mirth.
Her lips pursed as if thinking about it, and then Naruto put on an automatic grin. They came as easy as breathing. "Nah, there's nothing wrong, Shisui. Just a mission disagreement. I'm actually more annoyed about the fact that our flat isn't ready yet. I'm starting to miss having ramen for dinner every night. You and Kagami-san eat waaay too much vegetables." As to prove her point she pointed to the chopped broccoli in her bowl.
Shisui smiled fleetingly but didn't reply. There was a sceptic glint in his eyes that told her she hadn't fooled him this time.
On the other side of the village Minato was thinking furiously. His mind working a lot faster than his mouth as he made absolutely sure there was no confusion between him and his former sensei. "Are you sure?"
Jiraiya sighed. "Yes. That was Danzō's chakra. I couldn't see him, but I'm positive I felt his chakra moving through one of the tunnels."
Minato nodded and stood up, he froze for a moment before he slowly sat down again. "I see…"
"Are we going in then?" Asked Jiraiya.
"No… Not yet." He replied quietly.
"Why? Wasn't this part of the plan? Take down the base while the ones in charge was down there? Danzō is definitely involved one way or another. If not he should have reported to you about this base he's in right now." Jiraiya argued, wondering what his old student had in mind this time.
Minato was as hard to read as ever. He was thinking furiously, the tight jaw and his narrowed eyes gave him away, but exactly what his idea were remained a mystery.
"We'll wait. You are to continue the surveillance. Do not make contact with Danzō, and do not enter the base. We'll infiltrate during his next visit there. It will give us more time to map out the interior of the base and get a better picture of what we can expect. We don't wish to go down there without a proper understanding of what is going on. Where these soldiers came from, or if there are more people in our ranks with associations to the base."
"More people?" Asked Jiraiya confused. Minato was expecting someone else might be involved?
"Yes… Root for one." Minato replied with a pointed glance.
"How could they? Root is more than busy with their missions from you. You've kept an annoyingly tight watch on them for years now. I think this base is actually composed of new soldiers. Maybe even missing nin from other countries." Jiraiya answered.
"What makes you think so?" Minato asked, his attention snapping back in full focus as he met Jiraiya's eyes.
He shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure. It's their movements. I've seen a few of the people at the base. Their… behaviour. It doesn't really consist with either ANBU operative or Root for that matter. Well… Some of them might, but others… It's like a mix of different ninja."
"That doesn't help me at all, sensei." Minato replied with a sigh.
"Doesn't it?" Jiraiya replied with a tilt of his head.
"Well, maybe, but it only makes me more sure of my decision. It just proves we have too little information to make a move at this point in time."
"Ah! It's so good to be home!" Naruto exclaimed loudly. She traced her fingers over their new wall, a small smile on her lips before she turned towards Anko with a wide smile.
"Yeah, it's nice to be back again." She replied with a small smirk. "Did you miss me, Naru?"
"Yes!" Naruto answered at once and bounced over to the kitchen counter. She let her hand trace over the surface lovingly. It had been nice staying at Shisui and Kagami's place, but there was a difference. No matter how welcoming they had been it was always supposed to be temporarily. You could never be as comfortable as a guest compared to being at home.
Anko was chuckling at her good mood and walked up to check out their brand new windows. The frame was pristine with no wears from their countless hours sitting on it, or Kakashi's most used travel route between their flats. Naruto then spotted the state of the couch and sighed. "I think we need a new one." She told her roommate and pointed towards the sorry piece of furniture. It had smudges from getting the wall collapsed over it, and half of it had imploded from the weight.
"A new table too." Anko agreed and gestured towards the corner where a pile of plank had been placed. Naruto recognised the dark splinters of wood that had once been their coffee table.
Curiously she started picking out pieces. If they put in a bit of an effort they might be able to save some of this. They would need some very sturdy glue, and might have to find a replacement for a couple of the legs too.
Eagerly she shared the idea with Anko, and soon they were trying to put together the pieces of their old coffee table. It was a complicated sort of puzzle where they had to figure out which part went where, and they soon realized it was harder than they thought. A few of the larger pieces were obvious, but the smaller ones were much more numerous and harder to place. It was already late afternoon when they started, but as darkness fell over the village their task was interrupted by Kakashi.
"Mah, back again?" Kakashi asked with a wave from the window. Naruto grinned widely while Anko gave a smug smirk.
"Do you have any wood glue?" Asked Naruto and pointed towards the almost completed table top on the floor between them. Kakashi studied the pieces for a moment and arched an eyebrow.
"No, but wouldn't it be easier to buy a new one?"
"We got this from Ensui! It has history, dattebayo!" Naruto argued at once.
"Hey, I got it from Ensui." Her roommate corrected her.
"Huh? When did-" And then she stopped and smacked her forehead. "Of course. For your first apartment. Man, I completely forgot you used to live by yourself. Half the stuff in here was at your other place first, wasn't it?"
Kakashi came over and nudged one of the mystery pieces at the side with his foot. It clicked into place perfectly against one of the sides. Annoyed both girls looked up. They'd been turning their brains for an hour trying to figure out where it went. Kakashi smiled innocently back so they continued on with their task while ignoring the smug energy from their downstairs neighbour.
"How do you think that place looks like now though? It was on basement level. It must have gotten completely flooded during the storm." Anko mused thoughtfully.
"It would have. Be glad you only got a horse carriage through the wall. That place is probably a lot worse off than here." Kakashi pointed out and sat down to help them with the table top.
"How would you know? You never saw it." Anko replied back annoyed.
"He's probably right though." Muttered Naruto so low the other two barely caught it.
"Mah, Anko-chan, why do you always have to disagree with me?" Their downstairs neighbour whined. Or at least as much as Kakashi could.
"Well, one of us must keep you in line. Naruto always listens to you, but I keep things real." Anko replied haughtily.
"Good thing Naruto keeps you in line then." He muttered with a roll of his visible eye.
"It's a perfect triangle!" Naruto realized with a bright smile. "I keep Anko in line, Anko keeps Kakashi in line, and Kakashi keeps me in line." There was no point lying about it. Naruto still had a habit of thinking of Kakashi as her sensei. Following him came pretty easy compared to most others.
"Mah, what will we ever do the day one of us move out, huh?" Kakashi pondered with fake seriousness.
"Move? Why on earth would any of us move?" Asked Anko, and unlike Kakashi she seemed pretty genuine in her concern.
"Well… What if you marry Kato? I doubt Naruto will want to stay here if you move him in. In fact; I'd think you would move out in that scenario." Kakashi thought aloud.
"Marry? I'm way too young for that. Anyway, I don't even know if I want to get married. Marriage usually leads to kids." Anko said the last word with a shudder.
"You don't want kids?" Asked Naruto confused, though her roommate's expression was enough of an answer.
"You do?" Retorted Anko horrified.
Naruto simply shrugged. Once upon a time that question had been completely irrelevant. She'd mostly focused on staying alive and growing up herself. But Minato did have a point when he said that Naruto was not a child anymore. She might be fifteen biologically, but her mind was a decade older. The idea of having children wasn't completely alien to her, but before she had any she had a long list of tasks to complete. Like live long enough to get rid of Madara.
"Who would the lucky baby daddy be then?" Anko drawled, her sly smile growing on her lips. Naruto almost shuddered by how similar she was to Orochimaru when she wore that expression.
"Eh', I'll take it as it comes. If anyone is crazy enough to be with me then I'll figure it out then." Naruto replied with a mischievous smile. She then looked Kakashi up and down with an evaluating expression. The young man shuffled away, his cheeks heating up which caused Anko to burst out laughing.
Naruto had barely a scroll worth of supplies at Shisui's, so moving in again had been very quick. Though ever since they returned to the flat both Anko and Naruto had a habit of admiring the new wall each time they entered the living room.
It was just so pretty! And new. The paint was fresh and there were no holes or stains on it. They were both really pleased with the whole ordeal, especially since they hadn't had to pay for it themselves.
In contrast the clumsily patched together coffee table stood in horrid contrast to the wall, but as long as it did its task neither of the girls complained. They got a second hand couch a week later. It was about the same size, but the shade of beige was lighter. Anko was fantastic at bargaining, so they got it for a very good price.
Though Naruto was glad to be back there was one thing she could do without though, and that was the numerous visits from Kato. Luckily Anko hadn't forgotten their deal about not bringing him every night, which Naruto could only be grateful for.
Shisui had also been more absent after Naruto moved back to her flat. He was rarely there for their team practice, and she mostly saw him at team missions these days. He was getting increasingly busy with his ANBU duties, and Naruto realized Anko might have a point about him being more absent than before.
And with Shisui's absence, it meant Kato was around more. Naruto couldn't be sure, but she was getting the impression Kato and Shisui avoided each other out of mutual dislike. She couldn't fault Shisui exactly, because Naruto herself had started coming up with excuses to be out of the flat whenever Kato came over. She had no idea why though, and couldn't point to any obvious reason to feel the need to leave when she heard he was coming over. He had never been rude or cruel towards her and whenever they met he acted rather pleasant.
It was a mystery, because Naruto usually liked people who were nice to her. So why did she have such a problem with Kato? All she knew was that she hoped Anko didn't marry him. For some reason Naruto felt their friendship would suffer over time if that happened.
One thing that saved her though, was the missions. So far she hadn't been on any long term missions, but that was about to change. At the end of November she was called into the office, and was expecting a normal team Kasai mission, but was surprised to find someone else standing in the hallway.
"Hey! What are you doing here?" Asked Naruto as she spotted Ensui. He stood in front of the door to the Hokage office when he turned towards her.
"Hi, Naruto. I have a mission." Ensui replied with a small smile. It was an automatic gesture - a reflex he still did. She hadn't really seen him genuinely happy since she came back from her probation. Not since before the Kiri mission.
"Me too! Have you seen my team anywhere? They're all late." Naruto muttered and gestured around the empty hallway. As she turned back towards him Ensui glanced over her shoulder and nodded.
"Yeah, Rin-chan is here."
Naruto turned to find Rin wave back. She looked well rested and ready for the day as she stopped in front of them. Not a second later Orochimaru came up the hall, his nose in a book as he barely bothered to acknowledge their presence.
The receptionist came up the hallway after him and nodded towards the door. "Hokage-sama is ready. You can go in now."
Sharing a confused glance with Ensui, Naruto turned the handle and walked in. The others followed after her in silence as they came into the office.
"Good morning." Minato said pleasantly and held up a scroll. Orochimaru immediately moved forwards and opened it before Naruto could ask what was going on. "This mission can't wait, so I hope you don't mind the mix up. You four will have to execute it together."
"Eh? But what about Shisui and Kakashi?" Asked Naruto.
Minato gave an apologetic smile. His eyes meeting hers. It was weird having him pay attention to her like this. After their confrontation he seemed more at ease around her despite Naruto's attempt to keep away from him. "They are required here in the village, so I thought it better to put you four together. You'll leave the village right away and I'll be expecting you within two weeks if all goes well." Finished Minato.
Orochimaru, Ensui, Rin and Naruto nodded in understanding. "Capturing?" Asked Orochimaru curiously and glanced over at the three teenagers.
"Yes. Hiamo Naoki has been seen twice now in under two weeks. We are pretty sure where he is headed."
"Who is this? What did he do?" Asked Naruto curiously and tried to peek at the scroll Orochimaru was still reading, but he pulled it away with an annoyed glare in her direction. Right. Boundaries. It was a while since she'd worked with him, but he hated when people bothered him while he was doing a task.
When Naruto leaned away Orochimaru replied bluntly. "He defected during the war and killed his genin squad by cutting their throats in their sleep."
Naruto's eyes widened as she straightened up.
"Capture if possible." Reminded Minato and leaned back in his chair. "He's dangerous and don't expect him to come quietly. He was always temperamental."
"Kunai, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto shouted and threw the kunai. It multiplied in the blink of an eye, and over a hundred kunai cut deep into the mountain side.
Ensui walked up and studied her handy work. "Powerful. Do you use wind chakra in the blade too?"
Naruto nodded proudly. "Yeah. Effective isn't it? Ero-Sennin taught me."
"That is impressive chakra control." Orochimaru mused. "To not only multiply the kunai, but to multiply the wind chakra used within it too. That attack is lethal. But then so is most of your techniques. Maybe you should focus on more C rank techniques and blocking attacks?" It was a sad truth that Naruto was one hundred percent front line attacker - a heavy hitter with less than subtle moves. It was wonderful for the village during wartimes, but less useful in times of peace. Naruto knew Konoha would have used her to the fullest during the Third War if she'd just been a few years older.
She was still proud though. That attack didn't need to be used with wind chakra. She just wanted to demonstrate that she could. The unique kunai was a gift from Tsunade a few years back. Her favourite tool was the academy standard kunai, but the Slug Sannin had gotten her a few that was compatible with wind chakra. Though the kunai kage bunshin wasn't the only thing she'd worked on while on the road. "I did. I've been working with my chakra chains. Mostly on blocking though. They can create quite a counter shield against ninjutsu."
"How?" Asked Rin interested.
Naruto beamed at her question. "I read the chakra coming towards me, and by pushing the counter affinity through my chains I can nullify ninjutsu. It was really difficult at first, because I need to read the attack so fast, but Ero-Sennin kept throwing different ninjutsu at me until my chains were fast enough to keep up. And if someone throws a kunai at me I can use the chains to block them too."
Orochimaru nodded in understanding. "I guess that's something. You should still get a larger repertoire of attacks for more versatile results though. You don't always want to kill your opponent. Maybe you should speak to Shisui about the sunshin when you return to the village. You have the speed for it."
"The sunhsin? Yeah, that would be cool." Naruto agreed thoughtfully. "But it's still cool with the new bunshin technique right?!" Naruto said and punched the air. "I worked really hard on it, and now I have it down!"
"You did a good job, Naruto." Rin agreed with an encouraging smile.
"Yeah you did. But maybe we have slacked enough? We still have to figure out which road our target might have taken." Muttered Ensui and folded his arms in front of him.
"Ensui-kun is right. Let's get going. You two," Orochimaru said and pointed towards Rin and Ensui. "Go east. Naruto and I will take the west side of the mountain. If anything happens you return to the meeting point, and if not, return at two o'clock. If you find any decoys you know what to do."
Ensui and Rin both nodded while Naruto stretched her arms before folding them behind her head. She fell in step with Orochimaru as he started walking up the hill while Rin and Ensui walked down towards the shore of the lake.
They kept their eyes out for any tracks. It was one field Naruto had never really got the hang of, because it was all about details and not much action. It was no secret that Naruto worked best under pressure. Usually they did this type of work in silence, but for once Orochimaru was the one to break the silence. "There's one more thing you need to work on."
"Oh?"
Her old sensei gave her a dry glance. "You need to stop sucking up the attention. You don't learn techniques to brag about them."
She pouted in reply. "Why not?" It was a lot of work to get all her new techniques down, and it was so much fun showing off! "I worked hard. I put in time and effort, and now I want to share it with them. It makes it much more fun to learn!"
Orochimaru huffed, and Naruto could tell from his expression that he found her question idiotic. "You learn for the simple reason of growing powerful. Letting anyone willing to listen find out all your strengths will only give them an unnecessary advantage. It's how others learn how to take you down." He explained.
"I don't tell random people. I tell my friends." Naruto replied sourly.
"There's no difference. You tell, and therefore others know."
They were heading out of the field and into a thickly growing forest, and they both bent down to pass underneath the low hanging branches. Naruto was more focused on their conversation then their task though, but Orochimaru's statement set off some concern in her. "That is such a sad way of learning though. I like sharing. It makes life so much better."
He pushed away some more branches with an elongated hand and let Naruto walk first as he replied. "Really? Or does it make life much more depending?"
She looked up at him confused. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"I mean; what will you do if all your friends died tomorrow. What would you do then? Throw yourself in front of a chidori again?" He asked sarcastically.
Naruto grimaced at Orochimaru's casual tone. "Um… That's the point of getting stronger though. That way I can protect them from dying tomorrow."
Orochimaru shook his head, disagreeing with her, but he didn't reply. "Hey." Naruto said while tugging at his arm and causing the Sannin to look down at her with an arched eyebrow. "Do you remember when you learned the three climbing exercise for the first time?"
"… Yes? Why do you wonder?"
"How did you learn that?" Naruto asked curiously.
"I was taught by Hiruzen-sensei back when I was a genin."
She nodded at the expected answer. "Did you learn it with Tsunade and Ero-Sennin?"
"Yes." Replied Orochimaru annoyed, his patience already fading.
Her smile was growing at his irritation. "So you learned together, and I bet that the moment you could do it you told the others."
Orochimaru pursed his lips. "I did..."
"So you trained together, you accomplished it and then you shared your success with them. It made the accomplishment sweeter, didn't it? I bet you even rivalled against Jiraiya for who could do it first."
Orochimaru snorted at her guess. "It wasn't much of a competition. Tsunade always had good chakra control, so she managed on her first try, but Jiraiya was awful. He used days while I managed within a few hours."
"Still! You tried your best and managed to walk vertically. You then told your team."
He sighed, clearly not grasping the point of this but playing along with her anyway. "Yes I did. But I would still have learned that myself some way or another. Even if they weren't there that wouldn't stop me from learning to walk vertically."
"Probably, but it wouldn't be as good. It wouldn't mean as much if you couldn't rub it in Jiraiya's face that you learned it faster. Having friends to compare yourself against was the only way you knew you were a prodigy. The only way you had someone to measure yourself against and train harder because of that. Your friends made you stronger, and in return you made them stronger."
Orochimaru used a few moments of thinking about her argument, but then; "You could achieve the same if you had an enemy."
Naruto shook her head from side to side, starting to grow irritated that he couldn't grasp the point. "No. Having friends - and therefore someone to protect - always make you take one step more than you would if it was only yourself. It makes you work a bit more, push you a bit further and train a bit harder if it means keeping them safe."
Orochimaru stopped walking, and Naruto halted at his abrupt stop. "Friends can betray you. What then? Will you stop growing stronger because your friends define who you are?"
Naruto's brow furrowed. "Of course not. If your friend betrays you it is even more of a reason to grow stronger. That way you can kick their arse to make them see what an idiot they've been."
He was looking at her speculatively, and she could almost feel him contemplating what words to use next. "I see… So when will you beat up the Yondaime?"
Naruto's eyes widened and she didn't have a reply. Orochimaru smirked in victory.
"Five years ago your own village turned their back on you for being strong. For going one step too far for your friends, and it ended up exploding in your face. How did your bonds help you in that scenario? In the end all you could count on was your own strength and your own decisions."
Naruto looked away. "That situation… It was too complicated."
"Really? Because from my perspective your own father almost executed you."
Naruto didn't answer.
"You get stronger for others. You share your little secrets with them. But the way I see it, that isn't enough. Go ahead, pour your bleeding little heart out to those willing to listen, but it won't do you any good when they come back and rip it out of your chest later." Orochimaru told her seriously.
She huffed at his cynical view. "You're just a ray of sunshine, aren't you? The thing is that you hold theirs as well. It's a double edged sword, Orochimaru."
"Well… Only if you let it be. You hold too much regards in others, Naruto. I had hoped you would start to see that on your own already. You let your heart rule you instead of your head. It cause for unnecessary worry and heartbreak. Especially in our occupation where we risk our life so often. Even if they don't betray you they can still simply die."
His argument was ended with a challenging glance, and Naruto shook her head at his stubbornness. "Maybe from your perspective. But you're a cold hearted bastard, so I don't usually take your advice to heart anyway."
"And you're an emotional basket case. I don't usually take your words seriously either." Orochimaru replied with a smirk as they started walking again. Naruto remembered she was supposed to look for tracks, and she hurriedly glanced around the forest while listening with half an ear. "You know I never liked you much. I found you fascinating, and that's why I pushed to have you on my team. Otherwise I would never have bothered with someone as demanding as you."
The insult only made her grin as she studied a broken branch for any signs of human tampering. "I know that. You told me years ago why you picked me to be on your team. I'm still pissed about that actually. I sort of hated you. A lot."
Orochimaru hummed in acknowledgement. "I know. I found it refreshing really. For all your delusions at least you have a lot of guts."
Naruto looked up at him strangely. "I guess you have brains. For some things at least. You're actually kind of loyal."
"Loyal?" Mused Orochimaru surprised. "I thought I was arguing about not blindly following your heart."
"Well… You fought for me didn't you? You fought for my freedom against your own sensei and the leader of the village. That's loyalty."
Orochimaru didn't answer for a long while as they passed over a small river. "Hmmm… I actually kind of regret that. Keeping you locked up would probably be easier. You're a lot of work sometimes."
That made her laugh. "I'm a lot of work? What about you? You are impossible to argue against. No matter what I say you never actually agree!
"That has nothing to do with stubbornness. It has to do with your words. Because what you say is usually idiotic."
"Is not! A lot of people listen to me, dattebayo!" Naruto argued.
"I know. Which speaks more of their level of intelligence than yours." Orochimaru replied drily.
She narrowed her eyes and ran ahead. Her feet getting wet as she stepped in a puddle of water but ignored it in favour of insulting the Snake Sannin. "A lot of people listen to you too, and I don't get that. Your face alone doesn't really gather a lot of trust you know."
"Are you criticizing my looks? I think I'm holding up fine considering my age."
She snorted rudely. "Your face has nothing to do with your age. It's the experiments. You have to stop doing that crap, dattebayo." Naruto muttered. "What are you even doing? I hope it's not human experiments. I take personal offence to that crap. Always have, even before I ended up one myself. Strangely enough Shisui isn't against them, though his own mum ended up in an Iwa lab once."
"Shisui can distance his emotions from his job. You should try it yourself sometime." Orochimaru snapped without heat.
Naruto pursed her lips in annoyance. No matter what she said Orochimaru always shot her down. It was like talking to a brick wall. "Why do you do the experiments? I still hate the way you work. It's not right. You do to them what Kiri did to me, and yet you taunt Minato for his actions against me. It's really hypocritical, isn't it?"
"It is. Though I've never locked up my own daughter with the threat of execution over her head."
"You don't have a daughter to do that to." Naruto pointed out.
"Yes, and I have no wish for them either. Children are a biological necessity because of the human instinct to reproduce and carry out the continued existence of the species. But if you can break the restrictions of a life limitation then having a child doesn't become a priority."
Naruto blinked. "Eh?"
He gave an amused but not surprised sigh. "Children are the future, but if you can live forever you don't need children."
Naruto rolled her eyes. "You're still on that path, are you?"
"Of course."
"Why though? Why would you want to live forever? I never would have wanted it myself."
"That is because of your attachment. You care too much about people, and the idea of having to continue without them is probably the worst fate you can imagine, isn't it?" Orochimaru answered causally as they stopped next to a boulder. They both checked out the terrain with interest, seeing as the boulder was the only rock without any moss or growth on it. It was an unnatural addition.
When Naruto answered her voice was lower than before. "Yes… But I could survive. The question is if I could find new people to fight for. But you're not like me. You don't connect with people easily, so wouldn't it be really lonely? When you lived on while Jiraiya and Tsunade grew old and died? When everyone you let yourself care about is gone and it's only you left? What is the point anymore then?"
His reply was short and matter of fact. As if it should be a given. "To live."
"You know… Living and existing are two very different things. When I was locked up after the Kiri mission… I was alive, I was breathing and talking but I wasn't… I felt purposeless, which is so much worse than being powerless. I had two bijū inside me and I was so pumped up on chakra I could probably have blown up Konoha if I got angry enough, but I would never trade that for those I care about. That power felt so meaningless without anyone to protect it with. My friends, my job, my village… It's worth so much more than any ability I might acquire."
Orochimaru was quiet for a long moment and looked. "But it's not supposed to be like that. You were punished for becoming too dangerous too soon, but we live in a ninja village. Working for power should be encouraged, and not within the limits that's put down today... They expect people to walk around like sheep, to follow every rule that's put in place to limit them. The restrictions stop people from evolving to the next level."
"...I don't get that." She said, honestly confused. Konoha had never put a limit to how strong you could get. Orochimaru didn't know the whole story, so he couldn't possibly know how conflicting her situation had been during her imprisonment. At long last she was starting to realize Minato had a reason for his actions. She might not agree with all of them, but they were not done out of a wish to limit her. Out of spite or some sort of revenge. He'd thought about the village best interest, and that had come at the expense of Naruto's wellbeing.
It wasn't a strange concept. They were ninja, and their occupation was all about sacrifices for the village's best interest.
Orochimaru's slithering voice drifted back to her consciousness and snapped her out of her thoughts. "Not many decades ago the general level of shinobi was a lot higher. There was constant war and it pushed people to the limit without restraints. That's how the likes of Senju Hashirama, Uchiha Madara and Senju Tobirama came to be as strong as they were. Today we call them Gods of Shinobi, but how did three of that level pop up simultaneously? They were close in age, they lived in the same country but today you will have a hard time finding anyone who could stand against them in all the nations combined. That is the system, Naruto. The system gives people a sense of laziness. It stops people from working towards new heights."
Naruto frowned and looked ahead. "But unlike how it is today, they were desperate back then. The system we use today protects people from having to go to such extremes anymore. It is the reason for the hidden villages isn't it? The price of a handful extremely strong shinobi was the life of thousands of others. That's not healthy. That's not right. The hidden villages gave people a chance to mature and grow strong at their own pace, and not through some death race to see who could stay alive the longest."
He nodded in acknowledgement, but he wouldn't be Orochimaru if he didn't have a counter argument. He never let her have the final say if he could help it. "Maybe for the weak minded, but for me? For you? We strive for power, and then we're punished when we reach for it." Naruto was about to object, but Orochimaru held up a hand. "You do, it doesn't matter what your reason is, but you do push yourself harder than anyone Naruto. Just like I strive for power. Our reasoning might be a little different and our methods varied, but the goal is similar. Get strong or die attempting. You have come too close to dying one too many to deny that."
Naruto grimaced. She was being compared to Orochimaru? Seriously? They actually had something in common? She'd never seen that one coming. "You grow stronger at the dispense of others though. How can you argue that the system is limiting people when you take their choices away completely through your experiments? How can you justify your own methods and yet blame theirs at the same time? My method doesn't hurt anyone except myself. While yours have caused who knows how many to suffer."
Orochimaru had grown serious by now, and some of their usual causal banter had turned more sober. "I have seen and survived two Great Wars Naruto. That has shown me one thing very clearly. People are dispensable. The kage sends their people out to die and suffer while fighting for something not everyone can recall by the end of the war. By then the losses is what keeps them going. It fuels their hate. Those bonds you cherish so much is the main reason that wars happen in the first place and lasts for years. Tell me; why did the Third Shinobi War start?"
Naruto opened her mouth, but then she closed it. What was the reason? He nodded at her confusion. She'd just confirmed his point.
She knew why she fought. Someone was threatening her home, and she defended it in response. By the end of the war she had felt genuine dislike for both Iwa and Kiri because they were responsible for her own suffering. But… why had it come to that?
"You killed others to save your own friends. But the other nations fought for the same thing. Peace is a fleeting thing we humans have no idea how to hold on to, and we have very little interest in keeping it either. It's only in the contrast of war that we cherish peace, but as peace comes upon us we find excuses to keep our hate and fuel it in the memory of what we lost to achieve it. It only breeds more conflict."
Naruto shook her head, suddenly realizing something she'd never really imagined before. "So that's why? That's why you don't form friendships? You can't bear to care about someone who's weak enough to die?"
Orochimaru missed a step and looked startled at her. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"You only care about really strong people. The Third, Tsunade and Jiraiya. They're all super strong, and there's very little chance of them dying."
He was too startled to snap a reply, but after a pregnant pause he put on a sarcastic expression. She could see it as the defense mechanism it was though. "You don't think I care about my students?"
Naruto pursed her lips thoughtfully. "You would be angry if we died, I'm sure. Because you've put in a lot of effort into us. But would you be sad? I'm not so sure. However; if Jiraiya died?" She paused and looked up at the snake Sannin. "I don't think you'd ever admit it, but I'm pretty certain that would hurt you."
They finally manage to make it out of the forest and up over the tree line, the terrain now mainly consisting of grass and moss with lower bushes. Naruto had yet to spot any tracks though.
Orochimaru summoned snakes to make their way through the grass and rocks, some of them hissing at the cold wind. Naruto kept herself alert. The missing nin was somewhere around, but if he wasn't in their area it would most likely mean he had headed for the village close by. Not unlikely, but if he did there was a possibility he'd stay the night there. Perfect for them to locate and later capture.
They worked in silence as they scouted the area. Orochimaru seemingly in deep thought, but if it was about the mission or their discussion was unclear. He was good at multitasking though, so Naruto guessed it was both.
They started heading back by a different route than they came from, trying to cover more ground. Orochimaru broke the comfortable silence rather abruptly though. He was unusually chatty today.
"I think you're right." Said Orochimaru as they made their way down from the mountain.
Naruto tilted her head. "About what?"
"If my old teammates died it would hurt." He sounded annoyed though, and Naruto chuckled.
"That's a good thing Orochimaru. It means you still have something worth fighting for."
Orochimaru didn't seem to agree though, and Naruto rolled her eyes at her emotional stunted sensei. He was a horrible piece of shit, but he wasn't beyond help. "You have to get over it to truly know strength."
Naruto snorted. That didn't make sense at all. Orochimaru continued though. "Only strength matters. No bonds of friendship or love will ever help you unless you overcome them. Look at what your own father did to you, Naruto. Because he was able to distance himself from his emotional ties to his own flesh and blood he came out stronger, while you – who let your emotions rule you – for the first time lost. It is the first time I've actually seen you defeated."
Naruto bit her lip, hating that he had to keep bringing up the subject of her imprisonment, but Orochimaru continued with a frustrated tone. If she didn't know him better she'd think he was stressed. "I never want to fall to my own limitations, and from everything I've observed I can only conclude that emotions are a biological limitation. These emotions are why Konoha breeds people too short sighted to see past their own clans or friendships, and yet we pretend it is our strength. Konoha is supposed to be the nice village, but there's nothing nice about the fierceness of which we protect what we claim as ours." Orochimaru said in a low hiss.
Naruto raised an eyebrow, because from his rapidly speeding speech pattern he was working himself up. Naruto had never actually seen Orochimaru frustrated before, but she was suspecting this was how it went down.
He fiddled with a kunai in his hand, almost measuring it with his long fingers that traced the sharp metal. "We preach the Will of Fire as if it is an ultimate law, but the truth is few hold a spark of it themselves. The will of Fire - The will to never give up… And yet so many do. Your father gave up on you, Naruto. Hiruzen gave up on his title, and even you gave up your life when you tried to commit suicide. I don't wish to be that way. I want to be greater. I have the will of fire and I will never give up. To break all the rules of our lifespan and create a path where no one can even dream of touching me."
"I don't give a crap about how strong you want to be, Orochimaru. It's about how you get there, not the goal itself!" Naruto shouted, abruptly snapping Orochimaru out of his own musing as he looked at her with a flicker of surprise. "If you fight your way through friends and foe the power you gain is tainted, but if you allow the people around you to help you on the road you can succeed - you might even go further than you dreamed. To get help isn't a weakness - It's an acknowledgement. It's proof you actually exist, and that all that effort wasn't done for nothing."
They stared each other down, Orochimaru not willing to back off just yet as Naruto continued ranting. "You don't seem to notice that the strength you want so much can destroy you. How can you think for a second all this power will mean anything? If you became as strong as Uchiha Madara himself you'd still end up just like him. Thrown away by the village to stew in your own filth with nothing but vengeance to keep you company."
Orochimaru opened his mouth as Naruto took a breath in between words, but she plunged on, going increasingly red from her lack of breathing. "Strength in the hand of the lonely almost always leads to hatred... And don't you see why? It's because they're lonely.It's because they have no one to share that power with - share that effort with. It's all empty and meaningless and eventually you rot in your own empty existence. Because… It's like when you're far away on an exotic island, and you see the most spectacular sunrise in all history, but there will be no one but you to see it, so the sight will lose its uniqueness if you can't tell anyone about it. Don't have anyone to share it with. You shouldn't push us all away. I might have hated you with a passion when we met, but right now I'm kinda fond of you." Naruto's brows furrowed.
Wow… That was one sentence she never thought she'd ever say. It was true too. She actually liked Orochimaru despite his slightly twisted world view.
Orochimaru was miffed at her admission, and he was looking at her as if she'd grown a second head. "I will never believe that having someone precious to me will ever make me weak. I have been there myself, I've been alone, and it's the most pathetic existence imaginable. My bonds can never be a weakness." Naruto said assuredly. Her eyes hard as she stared him down. She almost gasped as his eyes flickered down. Did he finally get it?
"Within limits perhaps..." Orochimaru allowed eventually.
For a few passing moments a bird singing punctuated the silence.
"Gah! You're impossible, dattebayo!" Naruto exclaimed her hands flapping at her side in frustration.
"I don't think you really understand what I mean. You can have friends... I guess... and still be strong, but you can never rely on them like you do yourself."
"Of course I can!" Naruto protested.
"No. If you could then tell me all your secrets, Naruto. Right now. It's for the benefit of our bond, is it not?" Orochimaru told her in a slithering tone. He was goading her, and Naruto's teeth clenched.
"Ku, ku, ku." His laugher never failed to make Naruto shudder. She suspected Orochimaru did it so often because he was aware of it too. "Exactly. You have some level of survival instinct then. That's good to see at least. Because even your closest friends don't know everything do they? Do they know who your mother was? Who you father is?" He asked though he already knew the answer. Orochimaru didn't give her an opportunity to reply either. "No they don't, because you're too sad about the fact that Minato is so ashamed of your existence he's denying he even has a daughter."
It was such a slap in the face Naruto faulted in her step, and she felt her pulse quicken in anger, yet her voice remained icy as she answered. "What Minato feels is not a reflection of me. I'm proud to know that the Yellow Flash is my father. No one is perfect, no matter what rumours say he is only human, and whatever he might think is irrelevant to my own emotions..."
Orochimaru tilted his head curiously. His expression going carefully blank, but his eyes told a different story.
Her hand lowered until she was clutching the fabric over her stomach, right above where her seal was located. "To me… I know what he is at heart. Anyone can make mistakes. In my life I've made more than I can count. But how you choose to act when death comes for you shows your true character despite the mistakes you made along the way there. I know as well as I know that grass is green to the extent of Minato's sacrifices. And for that… he will always be my hero."
The Sannin tilted his head, a puzzled frown curling his lips as he studied her. "Minato? He of all people is your hero? I would never have imagined he was your role model. You want to be like him, even after everything he did to you in the name of the village?"
The corners of Naruto's lips slowly rose, a small mischievous smile growing on her face while her eyes sparked with hidden secrets. "Neh, don't you know it's not about being like your hero, Orochimaru? It's about surpassing them, dattebayo."
Kakashi flew over the rooftops while heading for the ANBU station. He was in a dashing rush, there were little time and he'd stalled in favour of taking a shower before leaving home.
The workload was getting ridiculous. If this continued he would have to make a choice between his ANBU career and continuing with team Kasai. Not that there was much of a question which one he'd pick if it came to it, he would choose his friends in an instant.
Though that didn't take away the fact that Minato was pushing the limits of how long a person could go without sleep with his ridiculous hours these days. Recently he'd actually fallen asleep on the floor thanks to exhaustion, and woken up to Akino sitting on his face and almost suffocating him. Either they needed more ANBU or he was resigning. He needed some spare time. He wanted to have time to read his Icha Icha book. Was that really too much to ask?
He landed on the street in front of the ANBU station, his hair more ruffled than usual thanks to the fast pace he'd used to get here, and apparently he wasn't the only one. Quite a few people were heading into the station, and immediately his thoughts of reading and spare time left him.
So many turn ups at the same time couldn't be a good thing… could it?
ANBU worked quite differently from normal teams. The most prominent difference was their lack of bonding amongst the members. As they dealt with both dangerous and dirty missions the fatality rate was higher than in the regular forces, but there were other differences too.
Most commonly they were usually divided into squads, but there were other forms of formations within the organization. Unlike when put into genin teams, where the ninjas were still maturing and finding their specialty, ANBU squads were more well thought out from the beginning.
Squads could have a number varying from five to fifteen people, though the most common was around ten or nine. Smaller squads were usually put together for sole purposes. Like the strategy squad was a squad of five, and that number never changed even if one of their own died. In that scenario another took their place with similar skill sets. The leader of that squad was ANBU Fukurou. Or as Kakashi had first met him; Nara Shikaku. They were higher up in the ANBU because they had a hand in almost every mission any of the others squads were asked to fulfil later. They also rarely used masks. It was an unsaid rule that the strategy squad were honourable ANBU who didn't really have a choice about joining. Their skill sets was not required. It was demanded.
Kakashi's own squad - Ro - was first and foremost specialized in heavy hitting, front line attacks, but they were also part of a three squad platoon where each squad had abilities that the other lacked to some extent. Though they rarely worked together across squads, there were still some occasions where they needed all three to cooperate for a particularly large and difficult mission. Which from one glance around the numerous turn ups at such an odd hour of the day seemed was coming up ahead.
Rō was mainly a heavy assault squad. Ibo was a tracking and infiltration squad. While Kem was the capture and reconnaissance squad.
The three squads together were usually referred to as the Komorebi platoon, an anagram of the three squad names Ro-Ibo-Kem. It was an ironic name, seeing as Komorebi meant light filtering in through the leaves of trees - yet they were ANBU.
His own squad consisted of nine members. They had been ten, but their captain had died a year ago on a mission. Though he was far from the oldest on their squad, he had still been promoted to captain, and now this squad was his responsibility. Just like team Kasai was.
Personally Kakashi didn't understand why he kept on receiving leader positions. From experience he had not exactly proven himself a natural leader. Far from it.
The first people he ever led; three academy students back when he'd still been genin himself, had ended up in disaster. They came up last in the competition after almost drowning, one breaking his leg and all but one cheery blonde ending up sick. Two of his three charges had ended up in the intensive care at the hospital, and he himself had to face the Chūnin exam with a bad cough. Though luckily no one suffered any lasting damage that time.
After that he wasn't so fortunate anymore. His first time leading a real team; his own genin teammates, they might have succeeded with blowing up Kannabi bridge, but before even making it there Rin had been kidnapped and Obito ended up dead, before Minato had to save the two still alive after Kakashi fainted from chakra exhaustion.
Then it was the first time he led a squad; the Uzumaki rescue mission. Where they arrived too late to save one imprisoned Uzumaki and came close to killing off the other one himself. Iruka had died while it also led to Naruto getting kicked out of the village for years and a lifelong sentence as jinchūriki. That particular mission had gone down as the worst memory of his life, which said quite a bit considering his track record.
If he'd been superstitious Kakashi would suspect he was cursed. Because the worst case scenarios always seemed to happen the first time Kakashi led any new type of formations. He was pretty sure if he was ever paired up with a partner instead of a team his new partner would die on their first mission just to keep to tradition.
The insecurity always nagged at him, but so far he had pushed through. Was there anything those missions had taught him it was the importance of your comrades. Not just for his own sake, but for others too. Because it wasn't just his subordinates that relied on his leadership, it was also everyone who cared about those he brought into danger.
So he might not know what each of his squad members favourite colour was, but he knew their strength and weaknesses, he knew who cooperated better and he worked endlessly to make sure everyone came home safe. That way less people would end up screwed over by his mistakes yet again.
Today his entire squad had been called in, and from the looks of it so had the rest of the Komorebi platoon. In the hallway leading to the locker rooms he spotted Shisui and Raidō, both hurrying on their way to their own locker rooms. The two were in squad Ibo together with five others. A smaller squad than his own, but a very competent one.
"Inu taicho." Kō asked, better known as Tonbo within their current crowd.
"Yes?" Kakashi replied and turned towards the doorway. Kō was a couple of years older than himself, but his short stature and soft face made him look younger.
"We need to hurry. They want us in the meeting room in five minutes." He replied with a sigh. Kakashi grunted in reply. Great. The entire Komorebi had been called in simultaneously and they had to hurry to get changed. This had all the signs of a disaster waiting to happen.
In the end they found Hiamo Naoki in the small mountain village after all. They had waited until he left the next day, making sure to follow him at a distance until he left the village on his own. They wanted to catch him without making enemies out of strangers. A lot of destructions could be caused during a capture, and since Hiamo seemed to be in a rush they didn't have to wait too long before he was well alone a long way from the village.
The plan had been simple but effective. The hard part was actually tracking him without losing him again, but the capturing part had been surprisingly fast and easy.
Orochimaru had charged first, while Rin and Naruto came from the side. They'd chased him straight into Ensui's shadow, which efficiently stopped the terrified man with a Sannin after him.
However, if tracking him had been difficult, Naruto didn't realize how hard the return journey would be. They hadn't walked for more than an hour, and had yet another five days until they were back home, and it was already a nightmare.
Hiamo just wouldn't stop screaming and pleading.
"I did what I had to! You have to believe me. We were too deep inside Iwa. We were surrounded! If I had left them to save myself they would have died anyway. Iwa would capture them, torture them and then kill them after they were broken! The best for them was a quick death without fear!" Shouted the man hysterically. Naruto sent him a nasty glare, Rin looked angry while Ensui kept a blank expression.
"Really?" Asked Orochimaru drily, pushing the man forwards to make him keep the pace up. "So how do you excuse your own escape? Why not come back to the village if their deaths were so unavoidable? Why not let them die and come back?"
"I- I..." The man's eyes looked crazed. He was sweating and mumbling under his breath, and Naruto had to keep herself back from beating him up. His genin students had been nine and ten years old. He'd killed them after drugging them to sleep. It was disgusting.
"I wanted to live. I didn't want to do it, but I… I had to. I couldn't go back! I can't go back!" He shouted, again trying to get free, but Orochimaru's gripped his neck with an elongated hand and squeezed.
"Weak minded idiot." Orochimaru murmured. Naruto doubted the other two could hear it though. He glanced over at the three of them, and his voice gained volume. "Shut him up. Everyone in the country will hear this if he continues wailing." He ordered, and Ensui stepped up at once.
The man struggled and begged, but Ensui's face stayed carefully emotionless as he dragged back the man's head by his hair and stuffed a cloth into his mouth.
As captain of his squad Kakashi stood first in row. His other squad members in a line behind him. To his right was squad Ibo led by ANBU Kumo, where Shisui stood third in line under his Kawauso mask and behind him stood Raidō with his Yagi codename.
The Komoreb squads were all lined up neatly along a few random others. With one glance though Kakashi spotted a large number of people who had peculiar specialties. Mainly from infiltration and TIF. Inoichi, Ibiki, Hiashi, three Inuzuka, a couple of Aburame and even Anko stood amongst them with a few people Kakashi could neither identify nor recognize. Nara Shikaku was there too, and Kakashi was surprised to see his ANBU mask propped to the left side of his head. That meant he was joining in on this to. A rarity, seeing as he almost never went on missions for ANBU himself. They usually needed his brains more than they needed his muscles.
Minato came into the room followed by the Sandaime. They both looked deadly serious as they came to a stop in the middle of the gathering. "We are on the clock, so pay attention." Said the Yondaime strictly and gestured towards the hill. "We have gathered information of a secret base, and we're about to infiltrate it. We have reason to suspect Shimaro Danzō is behind this, and I warn you all to be vigilant. This will not be easy. Scouts have found two entrances. The main one and what is most likely an escape route. The order is to capture if possible, but kill if necessary. This is a clean out, and I myself will lead this."
Kakashi straightened up. Minato would lead the attack? The Hokage was leaving the village? His eyes wandered to the Sandaime. That meant he would most likely be the one in charge while Minato was away…
"Nara Shikaku-san is my second in command, and Hyūga Hiashi-san is third." Minato continued. "Your tasks will be explained now." Minato stepped away as Shikaku came up.
"This is a large base, and we will split up to cover more ground. Here's the map. It might be incomplete, but from our research this is the rough draft of how the base is put together." One of the ANBU came over and handed everyone a map each.
Kakashi glanced down at the map, shocked at how large the thing was. It also looked intricate… A lot of incomplete tunnels connected larger rooms across multiple levels. The base was oval in shape, with what looked like two identical halls in the middle. They were huge compared to the outlined passages, and if the passages were large enough for a person to get through it would mean the halls in the middle were easily the size of one of the training ground. Though as Shikaku had said, the map wasn't entirely completed.
Shikaku continued going through the plan. Kakashi took in each word carefully, but no matter what Shikaku explained he already knew what this meant. They were in for a blood bath, and if failed, there would be a lot more at risk than an unsuccessful mission.
"HEGDY! GEESHO! SHAAA!"
The muffled shouts of their gagged prisoner was getting very annoying. Naruto glared up at the man she had no sympathy for and was growing highly annoyed with. "You piece of shit! Shut up!" Naruto growled and hit their prisoner hard in his jaw.
The man looked dazed from the impact and Rin glared at Naruto. "Stop doing that. Now I have to heal him again, and the less I have to deal with him the better." Rin scolded her and stood up.
"Just wait a moment. Let him stew in the pain for a while. He deserves it, dattebayo!" Naruto growled. The prisoner was a pain in the arse.
Ensui sighed and stood up. "Or Rin could put him to sleep. He's making such a spectacle and I'm assuming you have the right equipment with you?"
Rin nodded and stood up at once. Naruto tightened her hold on the man's arm, just to make sure he didn't do any sudden movements as Rin came forward. She took up a needle and filled it with something from a capsule. Next moment it was pushed into the man's arm, and the affect came almost immediately. His eyes grew heavy, his constant whining dwindled and soon after he sagged and fell down.
Naruto didn't bother to catch him.
Orochimaru glanced at each of them in turn with an unimpressed scowl. "Since you decided knocking him out was a good idea you three can sort him out yourself. I'm certainly not carrying him."
Shisui took a deep breath. He did this before any mission started. It was a way to calm himself down before a particularly nasty mission. This one was no exception.
Shisui glanced back at Yagi who had his eyes glued towards the forest surrounding them. Their taicho was the calmest of the lot though. He was sitting lazily on branch, but Shisui knew he was as aware as the rest of them. Their ANBU tattoo would sting any minute now.
The seal on their upper arm was there as a way to communicate between the ANBU on mission and the operation station. It was a very simple but effective system. Sometimes the code differed, but in this case it would signal their start by a simple sting in their arm.
After the start signal a simple sting in their ANBU mark meant "backup." A sting that lasted for two seconds meant "mission completed," and a sting that lasted for five seconds meant "mission failed."
Team Ro and Kem had already entered along with Minato and his team. They were heading north inside the base while Shikaku would lead the second infiltration group south. His own Anbu squad Ibo was in the second group and they were still waiting for the clear signal.
He was using the time to focus on his breathing. He wasn't more nervous than normal, but it was an efficient way to start a mission. It cleared his head and pushed away everything else. When he had his Kawauso mask on he was no longer Shisui. No longer an Uchiha. He was only an ANBU and nothing else. Here Shisui's problems were not the ones Kawauso had. Kawauso was a clean slate. A blank page with only room for the mission. It made things so much easier, less complicated considering the missions they were sent on. Because what he'd done as ANBU Kawauso was not something he'd ever do as Uchiha Shisui.
At least he liked to pretend so.
It was a weird mentality, but it was one many used to prevent the scenes they partook in from eating them up from within.
The skin on his arm tightened slightly. It was as if his muscles cramped up around the ANBU seal burnt into his skin. And next moment they were all moving.
Fukurou was in the lead, Shisui was close behind him and followed at a fast run. They arrived at the base soon after, and as planned Shisui and one other ANBU continued while the others stopped. His Sharingan activated as he looked for any enemy agents.
Four people lay unconscious by the entrance which was the work of infiltration group one. His comrade was scouting too, his byuakugan visible as he turned towards him and gave the clear signal.
With a small nod he signaled for the rest and soon the group made their way into the base.
Minato glanced back at the team following him. Without meaning to his eyes lingered a bit longer on his old student. It was a habit he couldn't quite shake off after years of being responsible for his wellbeing.
At least Rin and Naruto wasn't here, the two should be safe far away from Konoha at the moment under the protection of Orochimaru. He was incredibly relieved to find no indication what so ever that Orochimaru was connected with the base. It seemed Hiruzen was right. Naruto's influence had changed him this time, and from Fugaku's and Hizashi's rather repetitive reports he didn't do anything more suspicious than psychologically torture his research staff by giving cheery death threats if they didn't step up their work efficiency.
The base was a maze of passages and corridors. They had already had to split up once already, and now they had to do it again. Minato was getting frustrated too. He'd be faster alone. But for now they needed to stick together until they reached the room in question.
Jiraiya and his squad was outside blocking off the exit routes in case someone got past them or tried to escape through the hidden exit. They should have all routes covered, but this was a nightmare of a base and Minato knew they were running out of time.
"Incoming, ten o'clock." Someone said from behind him, and they all snapped to attention. Their attackers came fast though they all halted slightly as Minato charged first. If they didn't fear the Yellow Flash, they at least feared the Hokage of Konoha, and with good reason too.
It was extremely efficient teamwork, and Minato had only time to take down two of the eight attacking before they were all down.
With a sigh he let the others clean up while he looked down the three corridors they could now pick from. The base itself was made to confuse. It was made like Konoha itself, the structure was designed to warp your perspective and prevent infiltration. He glanced back at his subordinates and started signing hurriedly. "We're splitting up."
Kakashi hated traps. They were always around. He watched with a frown as Tonbo deactivated their twenty sixth trap carefully. His movements iron steady as he worked to loosen the threads without activating the whole death trap.
If she'd been with them Naruto would be having a field day with all these set ups. She might accidently set one or two off, but she had a strange sense of luck to never get caught in them. He always thought if Naruto had been a bit more dark and damaged she'd do wonderful in his own squad in ANBU. Though the idea of Naruto in ANBU was as ridiculous as Kakashi dyeing his hair mint green.
Tonbo gave the thumbs up. The trap was deactivated, and they continued forward, their tempo a lot slower now than before.
The passage was sloping down and growing smaller with less refined and rough surfaces. Half of his team had split up from them, taking another route to clear out. While ANBU usually didn't cooperate with the regular forces, today was different. The rest of team Ro was joined by Ibiki and an Aburame, while Kakashi had somehow ended up with Anko amongst his subordinates. He guessed having TIF members was a strength in this situation though. While ANBU teams were there for the clean out, TIF were with them to gather information.
He'd give Anko credit though. She wasn't here simply because she worked for TIF, because he could easily see that infiltration was definitely one of her talents. Though the girl loved attention more than anything, she was very skilled at being sneaky too. It was a strange contradiction, and if she wanted to she'd do well in Ibo with Shisui.
Kakashi made them hurry down a couple of stairs, making sure his footsteps were soft and soundless. He repressed his chakra so tightly even the sensor on the team would have problems detecting him from a few steps away.
The further down they got the air around them changed. It had been uncomfortably warm for a while, but there was a draft coming from this passage, which was why they had continued this way.
The base had a lot of dead ends, but the fresh air along this passage indicated it connected with something other than a wall. Kakashi had a grudging respect for whoever had designed the base. It was an infiltration team's worst nightmare and it was a good thing Minato had prepared for this infiltration, because otherwise they would have been lost from the beginning.
They came into a passage. A round room with multiple exits leading into seven different passages. Kakashi frowned. Where the hell did they go from here… He thought back on the map. He had an idea where they might be, but the map had showed five exits, not seven. Then again it might not have been picked up on.
He studied the ground and found traces of dirt and wear on the floor. Three of the exits were used more than the other four. To follow them or take one of the lesser travelled ones? He glanced back at his subordinates, still trying to decide what to do when Anko stepped up. "Split up?" She signed in question.
Though he understood where she was coming from Kakashi didn't like it. They were already reduced to five, and splitting up now was not a good idea. The only backup they could count on to come on time would be Minato, they all had the Hiraishin mark with them, and they could get immediate help if Minato could afford to go. Though if Minato was busy then the others would need to come themselves, and Kakashi was quite certain by now that if they split up it would be a nightmare to find them again. But then again...
"Yes." Kakashi replied in sign language. He didn't have a choice. The mission was too important to waste time. "This is the last split. We'll go in two teams and Anko is with me. Tonbo will be in charge of the remaining members of team Ro."
Team Ibo and the TIF members had stayed together for about three corridors, before Fukurou split them up. Shisui followed half his squad after Fukurou, while the other Kem members took a different route with their taicho.
But they hadn't been split up for more than four minutes before the first opposition arrived. Guards ambushed them in their sixth corridor, and Shisui didn't as much as blink as two of his comrades hit the ground.
It was about efficiency, and from their performance it seemed their enemies was also all about the same principles. They were clad just as Shisui remembered from last month. The grey cloaks and faces obscured in black ninja masks.
He jumped and spun midair to twist out of the rain of shuriken, landing vertically on the wall as he sent his own towards their attackers. It was a feint move from his part, because while the shuriken still spun in the air he cast a genjutsu on two of their attackers. Causing them to think everyone was closer to them than they actually were and throwing off their aim.
Yagi was one of the two fallen, having been hit in several places. Shisui didn't have time to help now though. First eliminate the enemy, and then help the fallen.
Fukurou had trapped seven in his shadow, making it easy for two of them to knock them out brutally and concentrate on the three still standing. One tried to get away, probably to sound the alarm or report back, but Shisui sprang after him. The operative had a head start, but Shisui was faster and had a clear shot.
A second later the enemy fell. Three shuriken sticking out of his back. All in crucial points. Shisui stopped in front of him and sent a precise hit. Leaving the man unconscious before he dragged down the cloth covering his face.
Shisui had no idea who it was. A man. That was all. Fair skin and brown hair. With automatic movements he threw the man over his shoulder and returned to the team.
The rest were already busy with the cleanup, and the enemy survivors were currently being restrained. Fukurou was treating Yagi the best he could, his injuries didn't look life threatening, but he would be a liability if he continued which meant he was off the mission. They all knew he would have to make it out of the base on his own for now.
They couldn't turn back, and they couldn't bring the two injured men with them either. On the other hand, it was probably safer to go backwards than forwards at this point. They were a tracking and infiltration squad, and this mission was their specialty. They all knew the protocol like a dog knew how to bark.
Shisui stood guard while the rest finished, looking out for any enemies while the squad regrouped. Yagi got to his feet shakily, and with the help of Fukurou the two men was standing upright. With a nod from the two injured the squad continued without them.
They had barely gotten into the next corridor before they all felt the repetitive short stings on their upper arm.
They halted in unison, none of them having expected such a call to come this quickly. The stinging continued. Short burst of pain in their shoulder which could only be a desperate and repetitive call for backup from somewhere inside the base.
.
.
.
to be continued…
Author Note: Thank you so very much for reading! The chapter was beta'd by AnjoRemix!
Horrible, horrible chapter to write. Extremely tiering and annoying to type and I'm still not really pleased with it...
And I apologize so much for the long wait, but my computer met a swift and abrupt end in the beginning of May. So rest in peace my loyal beast of a neck breaker (it was soooo heavy to carry around in my rug sack…) he did his job faithfully for the first two years, and then it went steadily downhill.
So yeah, that's why the update is so late. I'm borrowing a computer right now since I'm saving up for a new one, and it might affect my updating schedule for some time. (I'm a student, so food trumps tech) At least the next chapter is mostly completed though, and I promise it will be up by Sunday (at the latest). I'll warn you now; the next chapter will be bloody and violent with a fair bit of action too.
ANBU masks translations;
Inu (Dog) – Kakashi
Kawauso (Otter) – Shisui
Yagi (Goat) – Raidō
Kumo (Spider) – Shisui and Raidō's captain
Fukurou (Owl) – Shikaku
Tonbo (Dragonfly) – Kō
Komoreb (sunlight that filters through the leaves of trees.)
Have a nice day everyone!