Without further ado, part 2, electric boogaloo.


Chapter 44: How Does One Move On?


The first thing Sakura thought to do was take a step back.

Their opponent skipped happily forwards, bowing as he approached, and just in general enjoying making a mockery of all of them. Shikaku seemed to take this the least well, walking forward with his weapon drawn and pointing it, once more, at the man's masked face.

"Alright then, Tobi." The man spoke, an uncomfortable air hanging over his words. "Surrender yourselves to questioning under the authority of the Hokage. You-"

"Oh, under the Hokage?" Tobi put a single finger on his chin, pondering that for a moment, before he waved the eyeball he was holding in his other hand. "Unfortunately, the Hokage is out of commission at the moment, but if you'd like to leave a message, I'm sure he'll get back to you!"

Shikaku let out a breath that ended up as more of a growl.

"I'll repeat my earlier question, how and why did you kill Danzo Shimura!?"

Tobi looked back towards his accomplice, still stood in the shadows and shrugged towards the man as if to question whether or not he was allowed to answer.

"Eh, It doesn't really matter, not like they could stop us anyways." The more high-toned voice sounded out, followed almost immediately by the gravelly, but similar voice that apparently belonged to 'blacky'. "Keep it brief. I know you like to play, but now's not the time."

"Aw…" Tobi's voice shot out, sounding legitimately disappointed. "You're both no fun."

There was a brief pause.

"Oh, right!" The cheerful man suddenly sprung back to life. "You asked for details! Silly me, I almost forgot."

Tobi stood to full height, making a long 'hmm' noise as he thought about what to say.

"Alright, I've got it!" He shouted suddenly, making everyone in the room, including his partner stood at the back, recoil slightly. "So, basically, there we were, sitting inside our base a couple of days ago-"

"Skip that part." The accomplice called out. "Gods I swear you're trying to get us caught…"

"Aww…" Tobi pouted, and Sakura could tell, even if she couldn't see it. "Well, anyways, a few of our members already had a bit of a personal grudge with the guy, like 'Big Time Hate', y'know?"

She couldn't help but feel this man should've been taking this more seriously, because despite his cheery atmosphere, she felt she was about to pass out from the stress.

"Anyways, so we hear the leaf's about to rebel against Danzo and arrest him, and we think "Hey, that seems like a pretty good opportunity to sneak into his base and kill him!"" The man spoke about plotting a murder about as casually as if he was talking about a barbeque with his friends. "So basically, me and Zetsu over there-"

"You weren't supposed to say my name!" The other man called from the shadows, before sighing audibly and stepping out of them. "Fine, I guess if I no longer have anonymity, I might as well introduce myself."

Upon seeing more than the man's silhouette, Sakura realized that he wasn't actually all that tall. In truth, he was of average height. The giant Venus Fly Trap that he wore as a collar, however, was what made up the brunt of his height, and it made him look more than a little imposing, easily towering above everyone else in the room. He, like Tobi, wore a black kimono that had a red patterned cloud design set along it.

"Zetsu." The man introduced himself simply, giving an ominous smile as he walked over to stand behind his ally. "A pleasure."

"Anyways, as I was saying, this mission was entrusted to me and Zetsu! So, we use our super cool Jutsu's to get down here, wait for Danzo to send almost his entire division out, deal with the stragglers, confront him, and then kill him!"

There was a heavy silence that Sakura felt she could almost grab hold of. It stretched far longer than she thought it should've, only ending as Tobi himself coughed, tilting his head as if he were confused.

"So uh… any more questions?" He asked awkwardly, like a child presenting a school project. "Because if you don't, then we've got places to-"

"So…" Shikaku spoke, sounding, strangely, like he was exerting himself a bit. "What's with the eye?"

"Oh, this?" He held up the glossy orb, and Sakura cringed slightly. "Well, y'see, a long time ago, during the culling of the Uchiha-"

Tobi suddenly stopped moving, making a rather intriguing noise as he struggled against the binding force of Shikaku's shadow.

"Oh? Ohoho!?" The man's mask turned upwards, looking towards Shikaku. "That's quite impressive, Mr. Nara! You actually casted your shadow control from behind the two of us so we couldn't see it!"

Sakura saw that Zetsu had also been caught up in the ability as well, their two shadows conjoined in the candlelight by Shikaku's black threads.

"Still, you didn't have to interrupt my story! I was just getting to the good part." Tobi seemed to be almost completely unaffected by the Shadow Constriction, reaching up with his hand and showing off the pale, fleshy ball in his palm. "As I was saying, during the time of the Uchiha massacre, Danzo Shimura actually had a few agents under the command of Root! One of whom was Shisui Uchiha!"

Shikaku's hold on the two seemed to fluctuate for a moment, before he was able to find his 'footing' once more, and re-anchor the two of them.

"No… You…" The older man shook his head. "You're suggesting that-"

"That Danzo helped to manufacture the slaughter of the Uchiha clan for his own aims?" Tobi tilted his head to the side, and Sakura thought she could almost see the man's manic smile, even past the mask he wore on his face. "Why, I'm not suggesting anything, my dear 'Shika'. I'm just saying that it's awfully coincidental that he was in possession of multiple Sharingan, not the least of which was the eye of Shisui himself."

What!? Sakura felt like all of this was coming out of nowhere. But… when Sasuke told us this story…

"Well… any questions?"

"But Sasuke said it was Itachi who killed Shisui!"

Everyone in the room turned towards her, and it still took Sakura a moment to realize it was her who'd acted out. She shivered as the black hole in Tobi's mask turned towards her, and the man's posture became almost teasing in nature, despite the supposed control of Shikaku's shadows.

"Ah, of course." The man spoke, his voice suddenly lacking in its previous cheery nature. "You're the one on a team with… How very interesting."

Anko stepped in front of her, breaking formation to directly protect her.

"Ah, and you're the one Orochimaru experimented on so very long ago." Tobi spoke out. "How funny that the two of you would form such a relationship. Master and Student, but both affected by the same man."

Anko drew a weapon, pointing it towards the man's face. In response, Tobi merely held his hands up in a playful surrender.

Shikaku's eyes widened once more.

"How are you moving!?" He asked suddenly, trying to intensify the hold of his shadows. "I have you under my-"

"Oh, right, Sorry!" The man suddenly froze in place. "Is that better?"

Shikaku actually growled, as did Anko as she walked up to the man, her weapon drawn.

"Sir, permission to unmask this one?"

"Granted."

Anko reached forward with her hand, gripping the edges of the man's mask.

"Ah, wait, wait! It'd be very bad for Tobi if his secret identity came out!"

Anko breathed out a laugh, clearly uncaring to the man's plight, and pulled on the mask.

Her hand phased right through it.

"Wait… what!?"

"Well, y'see… it's a bit compli-"

Anko swung her blade at the man's mask, evidently trying to break it right off his face, but the blade phased through him, and Tobi continued to completely ignore her as she jumped backwards and out of his effective range.

"Ah, I guess my secrets out." Tobi spoke, clearly pouting. "That's a crying shame, I was going to reveal it in this really cool way!"

"You've played around long enough, Tobi." Zetsu called from behind the man. "Hurry and wrap this up, we don't have all day."

"Ugh, fine, fine." The man stepped forward, ignoring the shadow constriction that was supposed to be keeping him in place. "Well, you heard the guy." The man looked back over his shoulder, as if checking to see if Zetsu was watching him, and then put a hand up next to his mask, as if to stop his partner from reading his lips. "He's one of my bosses, so as much as I'd like to keep playing around, I've kind of got things to do, sorry!"

Tsume and Kuromaru leaped at him from the sides, trying to dig their claws into his body, but they merely phased right through. Shikaku threw a flash grenade right at the man's feet, filling the room with light, and thus, breaking his shadow's control, though it should've at least stunned Tobi in his tracks.

Yet he simply kept walking.

"Ah, wait, I almost forgot!" The joker turned back around, and he looked Sakura directly in the eye, or, at least, she assumed he did. "You asked me if Itachi was responsible for killing Shisui."

Her eyes widened as the man held up the eyeball before them, showing off the intricate windmill pattern that resided on the irises.

"Well, I'll say that while Itachi certainly did kill his clan, that wasn't the only thing happening that night." His voice seemed to take on a different edge, now. There was something inside his cheeriness that so very clearly labeled it as fake. "Conspiracies were in play dating back to long before the First Shinobi World War, and they were coming to a head before Itachi did what he did. But if you're asking who killed Shisui Uchiha?"

The man stepped backwards, pointing towards where Danzo's corpse lay on the ground, unmoving.

"Your only real answer would be the body before you."

No one in the room spoke, but Tobi reached up and began to massage his chin with one hand. His voice seemed different now, like it was being processed in some way, forced out of a machine in his throat, almost entirely artificial.

"Not that it matters. People are always so eager to brush tragedy under the rug, forget about the reasons it happened, and walk away. That's never changed, and it never will."

Sakura took a step back as the man's words grew more and more frightening. A moment later, however, Zaku stepped up in front of her as well, joining Anko in a protective formation around her.

"Ah, the hopeless romantic trying to protect a young, fragile flower." Tobi's voice sounded completely different now, taking on a dangerous, raspy edge that seemed to make everyone in the room tense. "How utterly… nostalgic."

"Oi." The black side of Zetsu called out, interrupting the man's spiel. "Tobi. We're going."

Whatever spell the masked man had been under, he seemed to snap out of it, suddenly reaching up with both hands and clapping them together, making everyone in the room jump.

"My mistake, everyone!" Tobi called out. "I went and got all serious, completely ruined the mood!"

He stepped back, and everyone watched as Zetsu grabbed Danzo's body with his massive headpiece, and the thing absorbed the corpse on the spot, seemingly eating it before their eyes.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I've had a lot of fun today!" The men both walked until their backs were against the wall. Zetsu seemed to melt into the stone, sinking further and further into it until he vanished from sight. Tobi took one last bow, completely ignoring three of Homer's shuriken phasing right through his upper body. "May we meet again, everybody!"

His body phased straight into the stone behind him, until only his mask was uncovered.

"Toodaloo!"

And then the two were gone.

There was a complete lack of noise that, rather than detract, seemed to only add to the intense feeling they were experiencing. It felt as if any moment now, those two would reappear and attack them once more, and yet…

"Spread out!" Shikaku called to all of them, already walking back into the tunnel they'd taken down here. "I want any and all men that aren't busy cleaning this place up gathering info on those two! We have names, or at least aliases, interview anyone and everyone until you've got something! Set up a perimeter in the forests around, tell them not to approach under any circumstances, I'm labeling the both of them as S-class threats!"

"Yes sir!"

Sakura followed along behind the group, taking their same formation as they climbed the tunnel's stone steps. When they made it to the top, they were greeted by familiar faces.

"Shikaku." Choza spoke, looking a bit worse for wear, and sporting a few decently sized cuts along his arms and legs. "What of Danzo?"

"Dead."

"Ah, well, I suppose it couldn't be helped, he was-"

"Not by our hand."

The Akimichi's eyes widened, and he took a step forward, almost wanting to step into the tunnel himself. He held back, however, likely seeing the way some of their postures were still stilted from fear.

"Then… who the hell killed him!?"

Shikaku laughed quietly, a mirthless thing that died the moment it exited his mouth.

"Yeah." He spoke softly. "That's what we're going to find out."

/-/

Relief efforts for people you'd been trying to kill only a few hours ago were a weird thing for Sakura.

Especially since she was officially starting to lose it in terms of staying conscious.

The world is spinning. Sakura thought as she leaned against the wall beside her, trying to fight off her exhaustion. Why is the world spinning?

Anko had told her she could go to the hospital as soon as they'd gotten back, but she'd also said her sleep schedule would basically be forfeit if she did, and that if she toughed it out, at least until the evening, she wouldn't have to worry about that.

Which was a fine idea in theory, until Sakura actually had to set about putting it into practice.

She very nearly tripped on her own two feet, before someone caught the box she was carrying in her hands, holding it and her aloft.

"You oughta' be more careful, brat."

She looked up into the eyes of the ninja in front of her with a blank stare, still trying to process where she was and who the hell this really tall guy thought he–

"Zabuza!"

"Kid, if you actually forgot I existed-"

"I didn't!" She argued, trying to shake away the grogginess in her head. "I'm just… just really tired right now."

"Hah." The man laughed at her pain, taking the box from her and signaling with his head for her to follow behind him. "I've heard you ingested an errant food pill."

"Who told you that?"

"Well, you probably told Ino, who told my brat, who then told me," The man sighed, rubbing his temples. "Because apparently anything out of the blonde's mouth is worth me hearing about."

Sakura laughed at the man's misfortune, earning a glare from him as they stepped out of one of the many connecting hallway's in Root and into one of the main training grounds, which had, for the time being, been converted into a makeshift detention center.

She was also beginning to see just how brainwashed some of these people truly were.

"If you think we'll believe that garbage, you've got another thing coming!" One Root member screeched out, hair flying every which way.

"Yeah! Like hell he's dead!"

"If Lord Danzo's really dead, then show us a body!"

Sakura felt a feeling of annoyance wash over her, before she smothered it, and forced herself to keep walking. Talking with those people wasn't her job, her job was to move relief supplies, and the more she let herself get swallowed by it, the sooner it'd be evening, and the sooner she could sleep.

Well, more accurately would be visit the hospital for quite a few days, but, hey, she wanted to forget about that part until she actually had to do it.

I wonder what it feels like to get your stomach flushed out… Sakura pondered quietly. Like… is it going to feel like I've swallowed a ton of water… or more like I'm getting a tube shoved down my esophagus?

"Oi, still alive over there?"

Sakura blinked, looking up towards Zabuza's face with a hazy expression.

"I'm fairly sure, yes."

"Heh, smartass. Fine, carry your own box then."

He threw the crate back at her, which she caught with an obscene amount of effort, panting dramatically as the fifteen-pound object nearly brought her to her knees.

"Oh, don't be a baby."

"I said I was tired!"

Zabuza went back to work, actually waving goodbye as he did, which Sakura was pretty sure was about as close as she was going to get to the man admitting he liked them. A small bit of commotion out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. She turned towards where a few Leaf ninja were arguing with some cuffed Root soldiers, who even now clung to the fact that Danzo, who was apparently their lord and savior, was in fact very alive.

"He might've retreated for now, but he'll come back!" The woman shouted, a manic smile on her face. "He'd never abandon us!"

The leaf ninja, who from this distance Sakura vaguely recognized as the captain of Team 8, Kurenai, nodded and walked off, clearly deciding her attention was better utilized elsewhere, but that wasn't the end of the woman's ramblings.

"We would gladly give our lives for his cause, you cannot contain us!" She shook against the seals binding her wrists and arms. "If you honestly think you can tame us, then by all means, try your-"

"STOP DELUDING YOURSELVES!"

All sound in the area stopped, including that of the Leaf Ninja playing interference. All heads turned towards the woman who'd screamed, standing up from her spot at the edge of the room. Like all the other Root ninja, she was bound with many seals across her body, though there was something about her conduct that seemed to declare that, despite the bindings, she was still in charge of the situation.

"You claim that Lord Danzo's only retreated, and yet you all know the truth, do you not!?"

Every member of Root who'd been screaming and shouting suddenly went quiet, looking down at the ground.

"The marks on your tongues… have they not faded?" Ra called out to them all. "Have they not disappeared!? Please, if any of you still retain the seal, then by all means, speak up!"

None did, instead, it was as if any energy the soldiers had once was taken from them, sapped by some strange mechanism that stole their will. Ra took a breath, and it seemed, for a second, that that would be the end of it.

Instead, she continued.

"Danzo stole… everything from us. He gave us brothers and sisters, friends and confidants, and violently ripped them from our sides, made us do the dirty work, made us strip ourselves of our humanity."

There wasn't a single person not transfixed by the woman in the room, even Sakura, with her sleep-addled brain, couldn't help but hang on the doctor's every word.

"And some of us might've thought that was it… that we'd simply die to forgive ourselves of that sin, hell, I know I did." Ra took another breath, trying to recover from shouting so loudly. "But we can't just let him take everything from us and get away with it!"

Sakura noticed Sai out of the corner of her vision. His head was down, and he was gazing forlornly at an old looking book. He seemed to cradle it in his hands, and Sakura knew almost instinctively that it must've been extraordinarily important to him.

"I don't know any of you, not really. Danzo made sure it stayed that way. Never show emotion, never talk to anyone unless it's a part of your mission, never interact with anyone outside the compound unless required…" Ra breathed hard, grinding her teeth together in anger. "He wanted us to be goddamned machines! And we all just… just sat there and called him our lord!"

The stunned silence of those who'd previously been so proud of Danzo was unmistakable, as if that part of them was leaving, and by the minute, they were losing some sort of buoy they'd been using to float across the ocean of life, their safety net. In a moment, they'd be left to tread water on their own, no help coming.

For some, it seemed to much to bear.

"I… I can't!"

It was the woman from earlier, who'd screamed out that any and all of them refused to be tamed or controlled, that they'd fight for Danzo until the end of their days. She was holding a kunai to her neck, preparing to end her own life.

"Without him… without Danzo… even if all of this is his fault, even if he stole everything from me… without him to direct me, or give me orders, or tell me what to do, then… then where are we?" The woman asked, smiling despite the blade to her throat. "I can't… I can't get back what I've lost… so why should I bother trying to start it all up again!? Why should I keep fighting!?"

"Because there will be no greater insult to that man than for us to move past him."

The woman's eyes widened as Ra took a step towards her, gently outstretching her hand as if to reach out to her.

"He wanted us to be disposable garbage, tools to be thrown at the closest problem, cold, unfeeling." Ra smiled; despite all she'd just said. "But we're people. We're human beings, with thoughts, and feelings, and emotions that can't be caged by some bastard with an eyepatch."

The doctor reached the woman across from her, but her counterpart still held the knife to her neck, digging into it slightly.

"What's your name?"

The woman's hands shook, drawing a small stream of blood that, while frightening, certainly wasn't lethal.

"Don't… have one…"

"You don't remember it?"

"I…" The woman dropped her head, closing her eyes as she seemed to be falling apart. "Forced to forget. We had no need of names, we never needed-"

"Those parts of your memories should be returning." Ra spoke. "I know mine are just beginning to."

The kunoichi let out a rasping breath, having seemingly found some sort of resistance.

"I… I can't remember it… I don't want to remember it!" The woman screamed. "My… my mother and father… everyone… I don't…" She shook her head, as if denying their very existence. "I can't remember them now… I don't… they're…"

Ra said nothing, merely nodding as she kneeled in front of the woman before her.

"I'm sorry it hurts so bad." The doctor Sakura had been working with for over two weeks now put a hand on her heart, smiling at her as gently as she could. "My name is Ra. May… I ask what yours is?"

A silence that seemed to stretch to eternity itself filled the training hall, and no one could so much as blink as the woman let the blade fall from her neck. She still clutched it tightly in her right hand, though there was a certain sedated mood to the woman's movements that suggested she'd lost that last little bit of fight.

"Mary." She spoke quietly, only barely loud enough for Sakura to hear over the silence. "It's Mary…"

The relief on Ra's face was evident as she scooted forward ever so slightly, trying her best not to aggravate the woman in front of her.

"Then Mary… I'll ask… if there's any part of you that thinks you could keep going," Ra held her hand out. "Then please, try."

The woman across from her seemed to break in that moment, a small, quiet sound coming from the back of her throat that sounded, vaguely, like a sob. She let the blade fall from her hand, the kunai clanging against the stone beneath her with a palpable weight.

"Thank you." Ra spoke simply, reaching out and hugging the woman before her. "Thank you."

Mary broke down almost instantaneously, huge, echoing sobs that wracked her body as she grasped onto Ra's body.

She might've gone from one lifeline to another… Sakura thought to herself, smiling despite the underlying darkness they faced. But I have a feeling this one will treat her much better.

A loud clapping echoed out from behind Sakura, and she turned on a dime to see just who the hell–

Wait… what?

A blonde woman in a green kimono stepped past her, and following soon behind her were three familiar faces, and another she didn't know.

And also, apparently, a tiny pig.

"Now, that's what I like to hear." The blonde shouted out, stepping into the room with a sharp grin as she surveyed her surroundings. "Well done there. So, where's this operations leader?"

No one in the room answered her.

"Hey, what's the matter?" The woman stomped her foot down on the ground. "Get up and get moving, I haven't got all day!"

Who's this asshole? Sakura couldn't help but wonder as her eyes narrowed. Can she not read the mood?

A room that led outside of the training hall opened up, and the commander of their mission stepped in, flanked by the other sub-commanders, Choza Akimichi and Inoichi Yamanaka.

"My apologies." Shikaku Nara ran towards the woman with a tired smile. "It's been an awfully long time, Lady Tsunade."

"Huh!?" Sakura let out without thinking, far louder than she perhaps should've been given the circumstances. "This lady!?"

Several ninja behind her gave a laugh, evidently feeling much the same way about the sudden celebrity arrival. It seemed like most of the younger ninja didn't exactly know who the woman was, while many of the older ninjas shushed their peers, seemingly holding the Sannin in much higher regard.

"What was that, kid?" The woman stepped up, a fragile smile on her face that looked like it could explode within a moment. "Got something to say?"

"Lady Tsunade." The woman who held the pig in both hands called out to the blonde in a firm tone. "What did I say?"

Tsunade visibly deflated, a small, almost guilty expression appearing on her face.

"N-no fighting with children." She murmured quietly.

"Yes. No fighting with children."

The Sannin muttered something under her breath, something that sounded more than a little like a rebuttal to her compatriots assessment, but she must've thought it wouldn't fly against the woman, for she certainly didn't say it out loud.

Seeing Tsunade before her, a ninja who supposedly stood on the same level as Jiraiya and Orochimaru, being told off by a woman holding a pig, and she herself more than a little drugged up from a lack of sleep, Sakura couldn't help but say the first thing that popped into her head.

"Well," She said with a small, loopy smile. "You're a bit disappointing."

Pandemonium struck almost instantly.

The Sannin's face went beet red, while her teammate, Jiraiya, let out a wheezing laugh, falling to his knees as he clutched his mouth, trying to reign in his smile.

"What the hell did you say, brat!?"

"Oh my god, it was all worth it." Jiraiya stammered out between breaths, falling uselessly to the floor as tears gathered in his eyes. "All those times of getting called a pervert, or a frog guy, or a fake sage, it was all worth it for that!"

"L-Lady Tsunade!" The woman's retainer reached under the Sannin's arms and held her back, likely saving Sakura's life. "Please, hold yourself back!"

"Didn't you hear that goddamned kid!?"

"I heard her!"

"And you're still holding me back!?"

"Child abuse is never the answer!"

"It certainly feels like the answer!"

Anko walked over to Tsunade, bowing before her with a nervous smile.

"Eheh… I'm sorry about my student." She let out, actually nervous. "I'd appreciate if you could – Sakura for the love of all that is holy, bow your head."

Sakura did as she was told, feeling like she didn't exactly want to be murdered any more than the next guy, and was rewarded with a low growl from Tsunade.

"Disappointing she says." The woman practically hissed. "See what she'll say when I demote her a rank…"

"Genin is the lowest rank, Lady Tsunade."

"Be quiet, Shizune." The woman spoke as she walked past her. "I don't need your truths right now."

She conferred with Shikaku for several minutes, arguing back and forth about something or another. And at last, Sakura found an opportunity to speak to the final two people who'd just entered the room.

"Hey guys." She smiled groggily, trying to fight back some of her exhaustion as she walked up to them. "Been a bit, I suppose."

"Saakuraaaaa!" Naruto tackle-hugged her as soon as she approached, smirking in that sun-like way he always did. "We missed you!"

Sasuke nodded, offering her a light, almost awkward handshake.

"Good to see you." He smiled subtly. "We were worried."

"Heh, speak for yourself!" Naruto flaunted, crossing his arms over his chest. "I knew she'd be fine."

"Naruto, you very nearly puked from the nerves on our way back."

"Ergh… you weren't supposed to mention that."

Sakura laughed, an honest, free laugh that she hadn't had the chance to make in… nearly a week and a half now. It might not have seemed like much, but spending that long in what was basically a prison was an experience for the girl.

She really, really hadn't been expecting to start crying though.

"Uh… Sakura?" Naruto looked afraid, and rightfully so, given Sakura had, basically, completely broken down in front of him with no warning. "Y-you alright?"

"I'm fine!" She stressed as the tears kept flowing. "I'm actually fine, I don't know why I'm-"

She was enveloped in a hug from both of her teammates, and the warmth of their bodies pressed against her own was enough to cause her tears to dry up.

"I…" She murmured under her breath, still more than a little embarrased. "Maybe I wasn't so alright for a while… but I'm alright now."

The conversation Tsunade had been having with Shikaku seemed to have ended, for she stepped away from him, wearing a victorious smile that seemed to contrast oddly with the other man's exasperation.

The Sannin placed her hands on her hips as she stood in the center of the room, looking around at the numerous Leaf and Root ninja that permeated the space. She took a deep breath, then looked towards Ra and Mary, the latter of which had only just separated from the former, her eyes red and puffy.

"Right. So, from what Shikaku's telling me, Danzo's really dead."

The two couldn't quite meet Tsunade's eyes, looking down at the floor and nodding.

"Well, for the time being, at least until we can get Root integrated into our regular forces, and help rehabilitate you all, you're going to need someone to lead you." The blonde woman smirked, pointing a single finger at Ra. "And I think it should be you."

The Root operative seemed taken aback, pointing to herself as she swiveled her head, seeing everyone in the room looking at her. It didn't seem as if there was anyone doubting her, yet, on that same coin, it didn't necessarily seem as if she had any real supporters as of yet.

Well, except for perhaps one.

"Y-you should!" Mary spoke up, trying her best to smile. "I… well, I don't really know anything about leadership…"

"None of you would," Tsunade shit talked. "Having only Danzo as an example."

"But!" Mary continued, perhaps choosing to ignore the Sannin's words. "I think you'd be great at it."

"M-Me?" Ra seemed rather unsure herself. "But… I'm just a doctor."

"Hey, welcome to the club." Tsunade smirked. "I'm just a doctor as well, and here I am, Hokage of the Hidden Leaf."

"Well," Shikaku coughed. "That's technically still unnof-"

"Shhh."

"Right, sorry."

"As I was saying," Tsunade said, regaining her footing. "You don't have to be some super warrior to lead. In fact, I think what Root needs right now is someone who can help them through this transitionary period."

Ra shook her head, evidently still denying what the woman had said.

"Why not Fu, or Torune?" She argued, turning to look towards them, where they'd been bound in the center of the room, using six seals each. "They're more powerful than I am, and they served directly under Lord Danzo as his left and right, they're-"

"Like I just said, power's not everything." Tsunade rebuked, stepping over towards the two ninja. "Besides, I think if you asked them, they're not exactly the types to lead."

Torune stayed silent, but Fu looked up, acknowledging the woman.

"There's a chance I could lead, but… I've certainly always preferred taking orders." The man admitted honestly. "I've always lacked the drive that prevented me from wanting to lead more than a squadron, let alone that would allow me to try and succeed Lord Danzo, of all things."

"But…" Ra seemed in denial. "That's…"

"Welp, there you have it!" Tsunade turned back towards her. "I do believe you've just been promoted to temporary leader of Root."

"I– this…" Ra sighed loudly as she ran a hand down her face, before she stood, and, with a tired smile, bowed before the Sannin before her. "I am honored."

Tsunade held her hand out, which Ra shook after a second spent deliberating.

"From one Medical Nin to another?" She smiled. "I think you'll do just fine."

/-/

The patterned stone walls surrounding them were lit by the flames of numerous candles, spaced evenly apart so that they made the shadows dance in intricate ways.

Kabuto had always hated this place, no matter what he might've said about it. It was too cramped, too damp and soggy, too warm and humid, too… too…

"Lord Orochimaru." Kabuto spoke as he entered the man's chambers, flanked on both sides by the person's he'd been given responsibility over. "I've brought them."

"Excellent." The shrill voice of the Snake Sannin sounded out from the darkness, and a single wave of the man's hand called for the dismissal of everyone in the room who weren't those five. "Leave us, Kabuto."

It was a rare sight indeed that he would not be invited to listen in on a plan. He'd been with Orochimaru for… too many years, and at this point, he liked to think he'd have earned the man's trust.

Turned out that Orochimaru was overwhelmingly paranoid, although perhaps for good reason. The man had joined and left more dangerous organizations than one could realistically deal with, including working alongside Danzo, and the Akatsuki, who were only now beginning to start their plans.

Still, he acquiesced to the Sannin's request, bowing and allowing the sound five, well, four now, to pass by behind him, kneeling down in front of the man and waiting to hear of their mission.

Despite seemingly wanting secrecy from him, if was not as if Kabuto couldn't guess the nature of their request. There was only one thing left in the Leaf that would still interest the Snake Sannin, and Kabuto didn't have to guess as to what that would be.

Somehow, someway, that man intends to obtain Sasuke Uchiha. Kabuto knew without any doubt. The question now… is what did he mean earlier…

Kabuto stepped down the spiral staircase leading into the heart of their base. He wound threw the tunnels for five or ten minutes, until, at last, he arrived at his own living area. He stepped into it and slung off his bag of ninja tools, sitting down at the nearby desk and yawning fitfully.

He had grown a bit tired of dealing with the Leaf Village, especially recently, having to aid Danzo of all people during their raid. Their ally he might've been, but that didn't mean he ever wanted to have to deal with the man responsible for his mother's death.

When they'd finally met during his first infiltration into the Leaf Village, alongside Orochimaru, his rage had been a thing he'd barely been able to keep under control. He'd not even been able to kill the man, for he was too useful to the Snake Sannin's schemes.

He poured himself a small saucer of sake, downing it in a single gulp and letting out a breath as it burned against the back of his throat. He was barely under the legal age, though he was fairly sure no one in the building was checking. Still, they might not have been, but…

"Sorry, mom." He muttered quietly. "I guess I ended up drinking before I was supposed to."

He raised the empty saucer towards the wall before him, pretending as if he had some form of memento to remember his mother by on it, instead of the blank, cracked stone wall in front of him.

With Danzo dead, however, and his mother vicariously avenged, he couldn't help but feel a tiny, almost inflamed righteousness in his chest.

It was contrasted by a melancholic feeling, one which only intensified as he took off his glasses and set them down in front of him, choosing to use his mother's old pair as a way to remember her.

"Since today's a special occasion, I felt I'd celebrate somehow." He smiled sadly. "hope you'll forgive me."

There was no response, and he couldn't help but feel a bit stupid as he leaned back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling above him and sighing.

"Damned kid…" he mumbled quietly. "Why'd you have to make me think about this stuff?"

The particular kid he was thinking of passed through his brain, and even in his head, annoyingly enough, he was still smiling. He was left thinking about the other child he'd been fighting a day or two back, who'd soon be the target of another of Orochimaru's schemes.

Kabuto still couldn't get the man's words from a few days prior out of his head, the ones that had been capped off by a laugh as sinister as he'd ever heard from the Sannin.

What did he mean when he said…

That he'd kill two birds with one stone?

End Chapter 44


Yo yo yo!

Another week another chapter. Capping off The Root Invasion, and moving into the next arc, which will begin soon, probably.

First of all, I'm going on vacation for a week in three weeks, so you'll get no chapters after the 25th of March until the 8th of April (Which I'm just now realizing is only actually one week of missed chapters).

Quick sidebar, because I'm not quite sure how people feel about OC's in stories, but I wanted to clarify how I'll be using them, especially now that the story will be branching out more and more from the original show.

Almost all OC's, like, for example, Homer in the last chapter and Mary in this one, will be one chapter exclusives. They show up to help illustrate the point of the chapter (Mary), or just to make the world seem a bit larger and make a bit more sense (Homer), and then they're gone. The occasional OC, like Ra in this arc, or Reis in Zaku's arc, might show up in future arcs, but they'll never eclipse a major character in any way outside of their exact moments, since their arcs are over. Some characters may also be added to give depth to characters who, in the original story, had none, like Zaku with Reis. I hope that clears up any concern, because we will be visiting a few places in this story that the main show never went to, and it would then make sense for some people to be there that were never actually encountered in the story, even if I can't exactly give examples of that right now, 'cause spoilers.

Tldr: Ra's not going to be a mainstay, and neither are any other OC's. They may cameo from time to time, but don't expect them to take on major roles outside of their arcs, if they take them on at all.

Anyways, that's all for right now, see you all next week!