IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE AT THE END, PLEASE READ!
I won't bother to hold you up, Epilogue as it is. All I can say is: ENJOY!
ZZZZZZZZZZ
Soft hands flitted over human flesh, an aqua glow suffusing its surface with a halo of light. The blonde woman they belonged to frowned and tapped her forehead in consternation before scribbling something on her clipboard on the table beside her.
Shisui lay as dormant as ever, face pallid, eyes sealed. If she hadn't known better, she'd have thought he was dead. But Tsunade did know better; he wasn't, his coma was induced and she had a very strong idea of whom and what was causing it.
She ghosted over his gut, wiry muscles flaccid and unused for many months not even twitching in the slightest. How the Uchiha had fallen.
No, for all intents and purposes, his hormone levels were normal. In fact, they had been low according to his report. He'd been administered with Serotonin a couple of times…
But that, in itself, was strange. Serotonin, or 5-Hydroxytryptamine, was a protein that induced most feelings in the human body. When you feel hungry or sad, happy or depressed, by and large 5-HT was the cause of it. Yet it was stored in the gut and so shouldn't have any effect on a coma. It could cause sleep induction, but only in large amounts inside the brain. It was very hard to trace there, being a natural protein produced for drowsiness and the like.
Tsunade didn't know how long she simply stared at the once-jolly Uchiha's drawn features before deciding to check the medical records again. Swiping the clipboard from the bedside table, she rifled through the scrawling script of a dozen doctors and nurses as well as her own most recent additions. She looked for something, anything, that was out of the ordinary, not within procedure or against common medical practise. Her eyes sought out the 5-HT administrations once again; she knew it was something about this hormone, something she was missing.
She re-read the passage for the thousandth time.
October 8th: 16mg, intravenous.
October 18th: 16mg, intravenous.
October 28th: 16mg, intravenous.
It continued on and on, every ten days, another dose of 16mg. It made no sense, not with his incapacitation anyway. Sixteen milli-grams was a tiny amount for the gut.
Wait…
It never said it where it was administered. Her blood began to pound in her ears as her mind ran through all the possibilities. Was it possible? Could they do something so reckless?
She feverishly tore the pages of the report aside until she was met with the drug-sourcing. It would tell her exactly where the hospital was getting the Serotonin from. Her finger traced down the list until she found the glaring 'S'.
It was empty, only a 'Mikazuki Medical' was printed beside it. She almost punched something. Danzou was hiding his steps well.
"Shizune!"
The younger woman stuck her head through the door.
"Yes, Tsunade-Sama?"
The blonde nodded to her apprentice.
"We're moving him to a safe location right away. I need you to help me."
Shizune stared worriedly.
"Err, Shisho…this is a hospital right?"
"Don't you think I know that?" She snapped.
"S-So, it should be safe…"She trailed off at the glare she received from her teacher.
"Sorry to burst your bubble, but it isn't! His coma is induced to dangerous levels. We need to get him somewhere that Danzou can't reach him before we wake him up."
They covered him with a deceased shawl and wheeled him from the ward. As they edged beyond the door, Tsunade caught sight of one of the other long-term patients, a certain Hyuuga girl.
A Hyuuga girl with the Byakugan Kekkei Genkai.
It was almost as if a physical click reverberated within her brain. Her spine locked ram-rod straight causing the patient trolley to rattle to a halt in front of her.
"Shisho?"
"We're taking the Hyuuga girl too. Quickly. We'll get them both to my old family house."
Shizune didn't protest this time, but she continued to shoot doubtful looks at the Slug Sannin. She held her silence until they cleared the entrance of the Hospital.
"Danzou, Tsunade-Sama?"
She sighed. "Yes Shizune, Danzou."
XXXXXXXXXX
There was something mildly disconcerting about an empty Hokage's office. Anko shut the left of the double mahogany doors with a soft click as she slid into the room. Her eyes swept the once invitingly sunlit surfaces, now settling with a thin layer of dust on its surface. The soft browns of the large wooden desk, the muted canary of the walls, the aura of Chakra lurking like mist throughout the whole expanse; everything seemed dull without the Sandaime to occupy it.
She sighed wearily. Plodding around the huge desk, she placed a hand on the top drawer behind it and tugged. The handle rattled as the lock caught on the edge. She dropped her arm only to run it through her tangled purple hair. She felt guilty enough for not having returned the Seeing Ball all this time, and now that old Sarutobi was dead…
He had smiled at her, a brief ray of sunshine when Orochimaru had abandoned her. She had been thrown into this very room when she'd made it back to her home village. It held so many memories, happy and sad alike. How many times had she stood at attention as a Genin, then Chuunin and now Tokubetsu Jounin? How many comrades had stood beside her under their venerable leader's appreciative gaze only to not return?
She stifled her tears before they fell. She had cried her fill. She'd been doing that a lot recently. No, it was time to honour Hiruzen's memory and leave his legacy to the next leader of the Leaf. Reaching into her cloak, she retrieved the Seeing Ball from its depths and placed it on the surface of the Hokage's desk. Sapphire seals flared to life, spinning and swirling over the walls and ceiling before settling into transparency again. Not for the first time did she marvel the beauty of the workmanship from the Shodai's era.
Her palm lingered on the soft, smooth surface of the glass ball and just as she was meaning to pull back and leave the confines of the strangely claustrophobic room, she heard voices.
"…Yes, but she has refused enough times. We do not want a leader who neither cares nor wants the position."
Anko frowned. Her hand remained connected to the Seeing Ball.
"Then who? That is my question? If not the Senju line, who else deserves the position?"
Anko's mind whirled. It was Homura and Koharu, the two elders. Koharu seemed to have some reservations against Tsunade's appointment to Godaime. They'd all thought it was a sure thing in the previous weeks.
"Certainly not Jiraiya. Lord only knows where that shameless man is off gallivanting to."
Anko gritted her teeth; he may be a shameless pervert, but he was doing something the Konoha Council didn't have the guts to do. He was out searching for the Hokage-elect! The rightful Godaime who'd been driven to abandonment by his own Village!
"No, I think Danzou would be the best choice in this case."
Anko's blood froze at Koharu's words. They wouldn't really give a maniac like Danzou the Hokage hat would they? His ulterior motives for world domination were practically common knowledge amongst the Shinobi population. Plus, he was senile; he likely couldn't remember his own name in the morning.
"He's a patriot, a veteran of two wars and he only has the best interests of Konoha to the best of my knowledge."Koharu was really pushing it.
Ï'm not so sure. He wouldn't exactly be called fit for the job. Haven't there been rumours of his vigilante group lingering even after Hiru dissolved them? What were they called again?"
"Nee."Koharu replied shortly.
"That's the one. I doubt it would be a good idea to allow someone who defies the law to take such a prestigious and honourable position."
"Be that as it may, how different is it than to allow a mere green teenager the seat of our power?"
Homura fell quiet. Their footsteps reached the door to the office and stopped. Anko held her breath for the door handle to turn, but it never came. They began to discuss Danzou's appointment again. She contemplated all that she'd heard; none of it was good. At the very least, the two most trusted figures were not going to be voted in.
She looked down to find her hand still laying atop the Seeing Ball. She'd forgotten its presence in the conversation there. She stared at it now though.
Did she really want this in the hands of someone like Danzou? She decided that the mere thought of it left a bitter taste in her mouth. True, it was the Sandaime's and without a doubt he'd want it used for the Village's protection but…
But Danzou would use it to spy and control the populace. That would be unacceptable. No, the ancient relic was Naruto's by Hiruzen's choice, Danzou could not have it.
Yet, Naruto wasn't the Hokage…
As her mind warred with itself, the conversation outside the door continued until it sputtered to a stop. Anko's head rose as she felt them come to some sort of decision. Steeling her resolve, she gathered the glass trophy into her cloak once more and made for the window.
When the two elders entered to declare Danzou as the Godaime on the scroll of sealing, all that was left was a fluttering curtain and an open pane of glass to suggest someone had been there not moments before.
XXXXXXXXXX
"Yocchan! Wha's zat?"
Imada Yoichi's rebuttal died in his throat as the pair reached the fields that would later become known as the Lawn of Lament. He and Mattaru had travelled far since Bassai, things had truly taken a turn for the worst. Just the two of them, little food and shelter and the outdoors. In a way, it was a refreshing change to the trail of destruction they had left behind. After leaving the Woodsmen town, now ruin, the two had found a gigantic crater the size of a sprawling metropolis about twenty miles out. It was terrifying. The ground was blackened and smooth. The mud had been baked to sand and then crystallised to glass. Black glass.
He'd never seen anything like it before. Where had the Leaf's forces been? Why weren't they there? It was so strange that something was happening in the middle of Fire Country and the government were staying quiet. Yoichi had a feeling that this whole situation was far too big for him. He was eleven for God's sake! He'd seen more death than even a grandmother, the last of her generation!
And now this. A corpse in the middle of long grass with a short-sword sticking out of his middle. What the heck was wrong with the world?
"Looks like a dead guy, Matt." They approached slowly, cautiously. Shinobi deaths were dangerous in that you never knew what sort of trap they left near a dead body.
"I can see tha'" Mattaru's blue hair, strewn with every and all form of outdoor dirt, yet somehow still shining ethereally.
Yoichi placed a tentative hand on the Wakizashi protruding from the corpse's middle only to retract it quickly with a yelp as he was burnt. A flash of Delphinium lit up around them before disappearing quickly. Yoichi shook his head; he'd thought he'd seen some kind of reptilian animal with bright blue eyes hover of the hilt and roar at him there. Great, now he was going crazy on top of everything else. Maybe he was already nuts, it would explain a lot.
"Yocchan! Thar's anofer one over thar too!" Mattaru's yell was a lot louder as his hand met the cold steel of the second of the pair. Yoichi's gaze lingered before returning to the cold body propped on the ground. It exuded power like a waterfall. This guy had been amazingly strong when he'd been alive. These weapons must be incredibly powerful to have killed him. Weapons he could use to make this rotting world right and avenge his friends, his family and his life.
He firmed his resolve and tightened his fist over the hilt of the Wakizashi. A dull throb of pain stabbed up his arm but he ignored it. He would need to bandage his hands later.
"Mattaru, grab the other one. We need to go."
And so it was that Naruto wouldn't be re-united with his trusty swords for years to come.
Years in which he'd begin to realise how important they were.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Uchiha Itachi tightened the buttons of his cloak as he stepped into the cave high atop the Hidden Village of Ame. He shook off the vestiges of water clinging to his raven hair, stepping resolutely into the confines of the hideout.
As he moved further into the shadowed cavern, the light of a small candle became visible, flickering and sending shadows skittering across the roughly hewn walls of stone. A blue, pony-tailed head turned to greet him, dark, glittering eyes regarding him neutrally.
"Welcome back Itachi-san."
The Uchiha Survivor inclined his head to Konan. He took his place at her side. The remaining forces of Akatsuki were gathered around, some in body, some by universal projection; one of Pein's many skills.
"Tobi wasn't very skilled anyway. His death means little to us overall."
Pein remained silent at Sasori's words. Itachi mused over whether he was actually sad that the Uchiha Patriarch had finally died. Maybe he was more shocked that someone even he could not defy had ended at the hands of the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki. He knew the repercussions of such an event; Pein would go after Naruto-kun himself now. He would treat him as an extreme threat and emerge all guns blazing.
"You must be happy, eh Deidara? Nobody to annoy you now."
Deidara scowled irritatedly.
"No, you were always worse, Sharkface."
Kisame looked scandalised in all his rainbow coloured glory. His image wavered slightly as his expression turned predatory.
"…Or maybe…maybe Deidara-Senpai is actually blubbering that his friend died!"
Itachi ignored the banter as he regarded the official leader of the illegal organisation. Pein met his gaze solidly for a moment before nodding.
"Deidara, Kisame, enough. Now that the Kyuubi's Kinchuuriki has finally shown his true strength, we would do well not to underestimate him. I am certain I advised the exact same thing in our previous meeting."
The room became silent as if sensing an order was coming.
"Itachi, Kisame, you two are to join Zetsu with retrieving the Nibi. I shall capture the Nine-tails myself. That is all."
When the mutterings began to die down, one-by-one, the Akatsuki members departed until it was only Pein, Konan and Itachi amongst the phantom shadow soldiers dancing around them. They held their silence, almost expectantly waiting for the other to speak.
Itachi turned away.
"Are you disappointed?" Pein's voice reached him, softly as always.
His head turned to the side, a single Sharingan above pronounced facial features regarding the Akatsuki leader.
"I was under the impression he was your teacher and confidante."
Itachi's eyes swept over Konan's bowed head. This conversation had been premeditated.
"We had no such relationship. He was merely a guide for a time. A guide far past his prime."
Pein nodded in acknowledgement.
"Perhaps."
Itachi exited the cave to the perpetual storm falling on Ame. He really disliked this place. Now that He and Kisame had been re-assigned, his mission would become harder. The coasts of Mizu were far from Kumo. The last clue from the Eddian Library and the tablets of Bassai had pointed to the mythical Dragon's Roost. It was the nickname of the ancient home of the Rikoudou Sennin, the huts that had fallen from the surface of the Earth.
He knew that it would only get more difficult, hiding his motives and allegiances, acting the villain with the entire world at stake. He would commit suicide if he were an ordinary man. The times to come were far too gruelling than anything he had faced before. The power that was the Jyuubi no Ryu…
Only the scars of the earth lay testament to its extravagant presence. All was forgotten in the minds of man.
He shivered, drawing his cloak around his lithe body. If only…
Small rays of light peeked through the ever-present clouds as he disappeared in a burst of speed.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
And that, my dear readers, is the end.
The end of KNP. I shall cry manly tears of loss at ending this. It has been a mainstay on my mind for the last year and a half. Plotting, planning, revising….
What a time it has been! What a year and a half, a whim that has grown to rival the storms of the Amazon!
And it could not have been done without every single one of you. Extra Special thanks to Lainana, Ageant, InARealPickle, Knuckz, Althia9, jolteonforever, Dreamweaver Mirar, WatchingWinter, Shivakashi, Mrriddler, Obsy, Lanalisha Thezii, Luvindigo Empress, RikoudouSennin and Lord Ezra'íl. You guys have been my pillars of support and ideas for so long. Never will you find a more vibrant, varied group of people as the forums have spawned. So a heartfelt thank you to you lot and everyone else there for everything. Feel glad, for a sequel is soon.
A sequel is soon…
You know what would be so awesomely cool as a send off for this story? If every single reader, every single one, dropped a review my way. That would be so incredibly gratifying, but I guess that may be too much to ask.
And so we end KNP, and move on to KaHF. Expect it soon.
Signing off for the last time on this story,
MegaB
