"I know you have plenty more of your story to tell, Kanata. I may not have the power in this village that I did once, but wasting away in ignorance is not my style."—Danzo Shimura

Kana's Bad Day: Part II/Kana vs Danzo!

"Get off my porch," I repeated in a frustrated tone. Out of all the people who could have appeared on my doorstep, I would say Danzo was probably one of the last on my list who I wanted to see. I had no idea what Danzo wanted and I truly didn't care. I just wanted to be left alone.

Danzo leaned against the railing and glared at me. But then again, he always looked angry no matter what the situation was. "Is that any way to treat your elders? All these years have done little to improve your manners."

"My manners?" I said, taken aback. "Who's trespassing on my property without my permission?"

"You made it difficult to track you down, today," he replied in a factual tone, as if there was nothing weird or creepy about an old man waiting on the doorstep of a girl half his age all day. "So I thought I'd wait for you here."

I smiled sarcastically. "Great. But I'm not really in the mood today, so do you think maybe we could take a rain check and you could come back… say… never?"

A tiny smirk appeared on his face, which creeped me out even more. If Danzo was smiling, we had a serious problem. "You've changed, Kanata. I must admit that you are bolder than I remember."

"Well, I did squeeze about fifty years' worth of patience into the last twenty-seven," I said coldly. "You could say I'm a running low." Massaging my temple lightly with my middle finger, I sighed exasperatedly. "What do you want, Danzo?"

As he gave his answer, Danzo walked down the steps and came in my direction, stopping beside me when we were shoulder to shoulder. "Why don't we take a little walk?"

He kept going, and I turned around and eyed him suspiciously. The last thing I was in the mood for was more tricks and manipulation, and this man was a master of both. He was the one I had feared above all the other elders, even though he hadn't actually been a member of the elder council since his attempted assassination of the Third Hokage. I had known that the Hokage wouldn't have allowed Danzo to have any influence over him and that I was safe as long as he was in charge. But now, no one was in charge. And I was alone on an empty street with the man who probably hated me just as much as I hated him, and who I'd be willing to bet had secretly wept tears of joy when Orochimaru captured me more than ten years ago.

I couldn't trust him.

But I wasn't going to be a coward, either. Praying that I wasn't about to put myself in a position to have to fight, I followed after Danzo. I fell into step a few paces behind him, just to make sure that he didn't try anything. And oddly enough, he didn't comment on it.

As we walked, Danzo remained silent, and my imagination went ballistic with every single scenario I could come up with for the reason behind this sudden visit and request. I couldn't help thinking that it wasn't only the desire to have a conversation that brought Danzo to my step. He wanted something else. Would he pull any sinister tricks or try to kill me? I wouldn't have put it past him; he was a serious extremist. But he also wasn't stupid… he wouldn't try anything without a strategy. Which meant I had to keep my eyes open for signals and anything that set off a light in my head.

Eventually, by the path we took, I realized where we were headed. He was walking us to the memorial stone, of all places. I couldn't decide if I thought he had a reason for wanting to visit the stone or if he just wanted a secluded area where no one would hear me scream. Seriously, it was feasible.

By the point at which we reached the memorial stone, we were completely alone. We were no longer even surrounded by houses and shops; it was just the two of us. I silently accepted my responsibility; no one was going to come to my rescue if I needed it.

For a long moment, Danzo simply stood in place and kept his eyes leveled on the stone, as if he was paying his daily respects. But I knew better.

"Enough with the games," I said. "What do you want?"

"I'm sure you're aware that Hiruzen Sarutobi…" he said in a dark tone. "Has deceased."

"Yeah," I murmured. "I'm sure you're thrilled."

"I believed that he would bring this village to its downfall," he said. "But he was once my friend."

I frowned. I wasn't sure how to respond. Had my comment insulted him? If so, I had no pride in it, but it was hard to imagine Danzo feeling sorry about the death of a man whose assassination he had ordered himself at one point.

"Okay…" I said. "So, what does that matter to me?"

Danzo rotated his head partly so that he was facing me at an angle. "The fact that, until this day, I would never have been able to approach you like this." I tensed, but Danzo continued. "I always wanted to contact you, to ask you about your trials and tribulations over the last ten years, but Sarutobi… was rather insistent that you not be questioned by anyone but him."

"That's really none of your business," I said firmly. "My 'trials and tribulations' were matters to be discussed between Lord Hokage and me, only. And what he saw fit, he explained to the elders. That has nothing to do with you."

Danzo lowered his gaze. "No… you're right. Not anymore. However… something did slip through the cracks—your curse mark that was given to you by Orochimaru."

I swallowed and took a step back. "So, what?"

"And… a few more bits and pieces here and there."

Glaring at him, I demanded, "What kinds of bits and pieces?"

"Not the ones I need to know the full truth," Danzo said, "I know you have plenty more of your story to tell, Kanata. I may not have the power in this village that I did once, but wasting away in ignorance is not my style."

I gritted my teeth in frustration. He was right. It was ridiculous of me to have expected him not to have found out that there was more the Hokage and I kept hidden. Danzo was a resourceful, cunning man. My guess was that he probably had spies all over the village that even the Hokage hadn't been aware of. He knew how to stay under the radar. He was in another league entirely, as far as everyone in this ninja world was concerned.

I jutted out my chin and straightened my stance. "Okay, then… what about it? Using that to try to manipulate me won't work."

"Oh, I'm sure it won't," he said. "But I have other methods."

"Other methods of…"

"Of convincing you to open your mouth and spill all your secrets so that I can lawfully get rid of you."

For a second, my body froze. But then, I felt the corners of my mouth turn up and I began laughing. "Danzo," I said, "I think that's about the first joke you've ever made that was actually funny."

"It's not a joke," he said gravely, turning to face me directly. "I'm perfectly serious."

"Well, it sounds like a joke to me," I said, dropping any humor on my face and replacing it with bitterness. "There's no way I'm telling you anything."

"Then perhaps you should pack your things and leave while you still have the freedom to do it yourself," he said darkly. "It would be what's best for the village."

I shook my head. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but your idea of 'what's best for the village' really sucks in my opinion. I'm staying here. This is my home and this is where I'm staying."

Danzo remained silent for a few seconds before speaking again. "So… that's your answer. You won't change your mind?"

"No," I said definitively.

His visible eye narrowed. "Then… I suppose this means we're doing this the hard way."

As soon as my brain processed the meaning of his words, I bounced back, just narrowly evading his frontal kunai attack. Without hesitation, I created a frozen blade in my fist and brought it up, flinching from the impact as it collided with Danzo's kunai. I glared up at him, shaking as I held him off with my blade.

"You're… pretty strong for an old man…" I hissed. Grabbing the frozen blade with my other hand, I mustered up the strength to shove his kunai away. During that split second period of time, I somersaulted out of Danzo's direct path and found myself at his back. I went with my first instinct and grabbed the collar of his robe, pulling his down as hard as I could on his backside. But despite the jarring impact, Danzo was back on his feet in an instant, and his foot struck the side of my face, sending me flying into the grass.

Moving my jaw around uncomfortably, I pushed myself up. "All right, then," I muttered, forming a hand sign. "I'm not playing your game. Ice Crystal Deluge."

All at once, sharp, tiny icicles began to rain down from the sky toward Danzo. He glanced above him at the thousands of icicles falling toward him at a rapid pace, and looked only slightly distressed as he made a hand sign. As the icicles drew near, he tilted his head back and exhaled, shooting a huge blast of air at the icicles, redirecting their path. Each of them began flying off in random directions, and I was forced to duck down in the grass to avoid being pierced by the product of my own jutsu.

Immediately after the defense attack, Danzo followed up with another Wind Release Jutsu quite similar to the first. While I was in the process of standing up, Danzo shot wisps of air at me like bullets. Feeling my heart rate quicken, I forced my body to act as quickly as it could, in an attempt to dodge bullets that I could barely see with my own two eyes. I grimaced as I felt one air bullet graze my arm, and again when another brushed my cheek.

As my adrenaline pumped violently in my chest, I noticed the bullets that surrounded me were slowing down. I glanced at Danzo, who was still shooting air bullets, but his body appeared to be in slow motion. I knew then that this was my one chance. Carefully maneuvering around the air bullets that now were moving like tiny breezes to me, I rushed toward Danzo. Reaching out, I knew that all I had to do was get a hand on him, and it would be over. But as I approached him, time was already speeding up.

No, no… not yet.

I put my hand out desperately. Just a few more centimeters…

"Sub… zero…"

I caught his shoulder with my hand, and time caught up to me in a flash. Danzo's leg came up, and once again he landed a blow against me, only this time my chest. The air rushed past me, and I choked in pain when my back collided with the trunk of a tree.

Danzo stood over me, gripping his shoulder and shivering. "You…" he breathed heavily, "Are such a pain."

I could barely breathe myself at that moment, and was unable to avoid Danzo's unfrozen hand as he reached out to me. I winced as he grabbed a fistful of my hair. And with a thrust of my head against the tree behind me, my world went black.

When I opened my eyes, my head felt fuzzy. I couldn't quite remember what I had been doing before I lost consciousness or what was going on around me. And I couldn't see anything. I thought perhaps that the two were related at first, until my eyes started to adjust to the darkness.

And I was in a dark place. It was a large room with no windows, and, disturbingly, a large collection of torture instruments. In a panic, I tried to run for the door, but I realized upon doing so that I was immobilized. My wrists were bound to the arms of a chair.

What the hell…? Is this some kind of nightmare?

I looked up, startled, as the door opened. Within the door stood none other than Danzo himself, with his usual angry expression on his face.

As I slowly remembered what had happened to put me in this position, I chuckled. "Resting bitch face, much, Danzo?"

Ignoring my comment, Danzo walked forward and closed the door behind him. "I'm glad you're finally awake, Kanata. Welcome to the Honesty Room."