Note. Hi y'all, welcome to the penultimate chapter. I'm so grateful for the reception this story has received and it's saddening to know that it's coming to an end soon. Still, I thank you for joining me on this adventure and suggest that you strap in; things are about to get wild.
Satori (Between the Lines)
Chapter 29
Sakura shuts her bedroom door before stepping over to the window to close her curtains. She doesn't feel the most comfortable leaving herself exposed to prying eyes, knowing that Celandine's shadowy master undoubtedly has someone watching her.
Somehow, she doubts they are as charitable as Celandine is.
She settles at her desk, keeping a mindful eye both toward her door and toward her window. Sakura pulls free a sheet of paper, tracing out the familiar patterns of the code. Sakura thinks she knows this code better than the Will of Fire tenets that the Academy has them recite, given how many times she's pondered the cipher's mysteries. She glances over the coded message, taking in again the way it seems to be formatted like a recipe.
Sakura takes a bracing breath, centering herself as she pulls free her copy of Torifu's journal. She feels a little guilty as she places it into her lap, knowing that she technically shouldn't have this book off the Intelligence Division's premises. Sakura tamps down the feeling, focusing instead on the anticipation that thrums through her. It spikes alongside anxiety as she considers that her quest for answers to this particular mystery might just be coming to an end.
Or perhaps yet another dead end.
Sakura shakes herself of her morose thoughts, glancing once more at her surroundings which remain still before cracking open the journal, flipping through to the first page listed in the cipher.
Hopefully, hopefully, this works.
The.
Well, not the most auspicious of starts, but many sentences begin the same way.
Process...of...Extraction.
Sakura furrows her brow. Extraction? That sounds ominous. What type of recipe involves extraction?
Step 1. Subdue the target. To subdue a target, one must approach the task with care. Genjutsu is ineffective with a target; instead use ninjutsu and physical force.
Sakura swallows against her dry throat, a pit sinking within her gut.
Step 2. Activate dōjutsu. Once target is incapacitated, target dōjutsu must be activated. Target dōjutsu responds to heightened emotion; torture is sufficient in forcing dōjutsu to activate.
Dōjutsu? Sakura's eyes go wide as a chill creeps up her spine. Her thoughts turn to that hazy afternoon spent with Torune, the secret of the Aburame clan revealed with Torune's midnight blue eyes.
What the hell is she reading?
Sakura glances around herself once more, anxiety heightened by the sensitivity of this cipher. Yet, as before, everything is quiet, despite the way Sakura feels her equilibrium has shifted. She's figured out the key, but Sakura isn't entirely sure she wants to tumble this lock.
Not this one.
Still, her mind latches onto Torune's eyes once more, the vacillation between midnight and iridescence and the beautiful twilight in between.
Could this be why Torune was taken?
Sakura shifts away whirling thoughts of potential connections and implications, focusing once more on the cipher. There's still multiple steps left to unravel.
Step 3. Prepare instrument. Place the instrument around the subject socket. Instrument can be adjusted to fit frame. Should release slight noise upon fit.
Step 4. Activate instrument. Instrument is keyed to activate to chakra. Fluctuate own chakra and use hand signs: ram, tiger, monkey, ram, rat, boar, dragon, hare.
Step 5. As instrument works, prepare containment unit. Combine same parts water an (Here, the word "formaldehyde" is spelled out, using additional numbers to indicate page number, line number, word number, and letter number.) to creat e.
Step 6. Once instrument completes work, remove specimen from subject socket. Specimen will still be active and responsive to movement, which is a good sign.
Step 7. Repeat steps 3 through 6 with opposite subject socket.
Note. Young subjects are not able to activate Uchiha dōjutsu. Subjects should be cultivated at ten years of age at minimum. This extraction technique prepared with Uchiha dōjutsu specifically; does not apply for other dōjutsu.
Sakura blanches as she stares down at the named clan.
Uchiha.
Sharingan.
Sakura remembers Shisui's troubled expression, the handful of Uchiha children who disappeared in the last decade. Alongside them, a Yamanaka and an Aburame, both of which possess clan-specific kekkei genkai. The Inuzuka is an anomaly by comparison, not possessing a known dōjutsu…
Did Torune's abductor know about his dōjutsu?
Or was he chosen because of his special kekkei genkai?
Sakura retches into her waste bin as thoughts of an eyeless Torune intrude into her mind. Tears stream unbidden down her face as the gravity of the cipher catches at her, scraping the thin veneer of mystery in place of this harsh reality. Konoha's children are being broken...extracted for the sake of some person's desire for power.
When she pictures Torune like that, broken down and consumed for his parts which are so much less than the whole of his person…
Sakura shudders, allowing the acrid bile past her lips. She keeps herself quiet, blurry eyes sharpening on her still curtained window. She cannot let anyone know what she knows.
A few harrowing minutes pass as Sakura collects herself, looking over the cipher once more. She still does not know the key for the second cipher, the one which was originally written in the margins of the original recipe that Sakura thought was so innocuous.
Still, she doesn't have the luxury to wait to puzzle it out. Sakura knows now that she was foolish not to bring this cipher to the attention of the adults around her earlier. She should've let Shikaku know or Jiraiya. Still, she had no idea that a stray document left languishing in the Records Room for the prying eyes of an Academy student could be so dire.
And that strikes her as odd too, the fact that she even had access to this document in the first place. Isn't something like dōjutsu extraction a state secret?
Something to kill for?
Sakura holds her crib sheet over her candle, burning the answers and the questions they spawn to cinders. With a bracing breath, she pokes at Midori, her stalwart companion.
Midori hisses as Sakura unspools her from her ankle, watching Sakura with intelligent dark eyes.
"Go to Anko," Sakura says softly. "Tell her to get Ibiki and Jiraiya-sensei to meet us at the Intelligence Division."
Midori disappears in a wisp of smoke and Sakura stands to dress herself. Thankfully, impromptu visits to the Intelligence Division in the dead of night are not uncommon for her, not since Torune's disappearance. She always sends Midori ahead to fetch Anko who in turn comes to fetch her, heedless of the hour. Sakura places her journal back into her satchel as she waits for Anko to arrive.
She hopes that, with their help, they can begin to untangle this complicated, murky web.
"Why'd you summon us here?" Ibiki asks, looking from Sakura to the other Intelligence Division operatives. He knows that Sakura sometimes comes into the office in the evening to meet with Anko—he's run into them several times in the midst of it—but those meetings were solely with Anko. It's strange that Jiraiya and he have been called here specifically.
"Marasakino please?" Sakura says, looking up at Anko.
Anko glances at Jiraiya. "I think a silencing seal will suffice. Jiraiya is an adequate hand at fūinjutsu; he'll keep any curious ears from prying."
Sakura contemplates it for just a moment. The interior of Marasakino was damp and unpleasant; it would've been difficult to walk this group through the cipher in there. She nods in agreement.
Jiraiya scrutinizes her for a moment but, seeing Anko's stanch gaze, he acquiesces silently. Sakura stares numbly as Jiraiya's thick fingers grasp a brush and nimbly paint out a complex array of symbols.
"Kid," Ibiki murmurs, deliberately softening his voice as he catches her by the shoulders. "You're shaking."
"Am I?" Sakura says, voice distant even to her ears. It almost feels like she's underneath water, able to comprehend what's going on around her but all of it fuzzy and somehow off. Sakura's eyes chase down the source of warmth against her arms, coming to rest on Ibiki's heavily scarred hands. Beneath his touch, her shoulders quiver erratically. "Ah, I am."
Ibiki kneels, hunching to make up the height difference that still remains. He holds her gaze, furrowing his brow deliberately.
Sakura shakes her head, unwilling to speak about why she's here until Jiraiya finishes his seal. Instead, she raises her hands to grab at his wrists, squeezing with gratitude. She appreciates his concern, even though she's not really in a state to receive it.
"And done," Jiraiya says. The artistic black lines flare brightly to a brilliant white as the silencing seal takes hold of the room. "Anyone try to eavesdrop they'll hear a rousing story from Anko's genin days to cheer up Sakura."
Anko snorts. "Is it one of your stories?"
"Trust me, I gave it your sadistic flare," Jiraiya snarks before redirecting his attention to Sakura. "Now, what brought us here tonight, Sakura?"
"I've been working on a cipher since the early days of my time working at the Intelligence Division. I believe I found this cipher in my first month of working for Nara-san. It was while I was cleaning up the Archives room; all low-level clearance stuff of course. I was working through documents on Suna's culture when I came across an unfamiliar cipher. Well, two ciphers actually.
"I thought it was a test; that it was some simple recipe. I memorized the contents and left it in the Archives room. Ever since then, I've been trying to break the cipher." Sakura reaches into her bag, pulling free some paper. She begins to write the unbroken code, unwilling to meet anyone's eyes as she continues. "I didn't tell anyone about the code, though I asked questions of both Nara-san and Jiraiya-sensei regarding aspects of the code. I'm not sure why I kept it a secret; I guess I just wanted to keep this small mystery to myself. Only, it wasn't a small secret."
Sakura swallows, allowing silence to fill the air as she finishes sketching out the cipher. "I cracked the first cipher tonight, but the second is still unbroken. However, I felt that the message of the first warranted this meeting. As you can see," Sakura begins, showing Jiraiya the page, "the first cipher is a book cipher. And the book used was Akimichi Torifu's journal." Sakura proffers the book to Jiraiya as she pulls out a blank sheet of paper, beginning to transpose the translated code onto it.
Even in her distant state, Sakura can feel Jiraiya's incredulous gaze upon her, questions undoubtedly burning in his mind. She's sure he's mulling over all of their previous conversations in light of these revelations, realizing just how pointed her queries truly were.
"The cipher…" Sakura pauses, bile threatening once more. "It's instructions on dōjutsu extraction. More specifically, it's instructions on how to extract the Sharingan."
Jiraiya snatches the two pages from Sakura, flipping through the journal rapidly as he confirms her translation.
Sakura forces herself to look at Ibiki and Anko. Both of them are pale, twin scowls etched into their faces.
"You found this in the Archives?" Ibiki confirms.
Sakura nods.
"That wouldn't be left there by mere accident," Anko says. "Someone wanted it to be found; someone to uncover the secret."
"Most likely an internal affair then," Ibiki replies, eyes dark as he contemplates.
"Most certainly an internal affair," Jiraiya contradicts. "This cipher is not known outside of Konoha. There are very few who know this cipher; my teammates and the old guard, those who remain in power from the Second Shinobi World War. It is a secret, personal cipher."
"That leaves very few options," Anko mutters. Her eyes brighten with suspicion as she stares Jiraiya down. "I won't insult you by asking if this is your work." She strides forward, posture hostile as she stops in front of Jiraiya. "But I remember another time when your attachment resulted in decisive apathy." Anko offers a sardonic smirk as she casually lifts a collar, displaying a seal on her neck. "I bear the direct consequences of your purposeful inaction. Were you aware of this...extraction technique?"
There's a loud snap as Jiraiya's brush snaps beneath the pressure of his grip. However, he makes no movement as he steadily holds her gaze. "I am not infallible; I was out of Konoha and unaware of the atrocities Orochimaru took part in within our walls. When I learned the truth, I took action. I am sorry that my former teammate did to you what he did, but it was not my fault."
"I know," Anko replies, eyes flinty. "It's why I've never attacked you. But if we're discussing a cipher from the elites of the Second War, that means you, your teammates, the Council of Elders, and Sarutobi know this cipher. All people within your circle. You still haven't answered my initial question. So, did you know?"
"No! Damn it Mitarashi, no! I had no idea that such things were taking place within our village. I wouldn't stay silent if I had." Jiraiya runs his hands through his hair, making it even more wild. "Do you truly think so little of me?"
There's a damning silence that follows Jiraiya's question.
"There have been disappearances," Sakura pipes up, desperately trying to deflate the ratcheting tension. All eyes turn to her. "There have been sixteen Academy-aged and accepted children who have disappeared in the last decade. Nine were civilian-born and seven were from shinobi clans. One Yamanaka, one Inuzuka," Sakura swallows, breath hitching on Torune's name, "one Aburame, and four Uchiha. This has been happening for years, but the disappearances have been suppressed; the Police Force cannot get any direct answers. It suggests that the disappearances are somehow supported by Konoha."
"Explains the specialized cipher," Ibiki mutters, crossing his arms. "It certainly suggests that multiple people are in on this travesty."
Jiraiya turns toward Sakura. "What about the second cipher? It may shed light on who is involved."
"I can write it down," Sakura says.
"Please do," Jiraiya replies, watching her fervently. He pulls out a scroll from his side pouch, flicking it open. To Sakura's brief glance, it appears to be filled with indecipherable scribbles. "I'm preparing to contact my sprouts, depending on what we're able to glean from the second cipher. We may need to bring Shikaku and Inoichi in to get it deciphered. Regardless, we'll need to gather some of the clan heads together."
Sakura sees Ibiki and Anko begin to make complicated hand gestures toward each other, seemingly hosting a speechless conversation with only their hands. Jiraiya joins in and Sakura shakes herself, returning to writing the second code.
"In the original document, this code was below the first. It looked like endnotes following the first cipher and it was done in different handwriting," Sakura says.
Anko snaps and Midori disappears from Sakura's wrist, twining instead among Anko's fingers. "Midori, go to the low-level Archives and find the original document." She lifts the undeciphered code to show to the tiny snake. "Be discreet and swift."
Midori nods and disappears in a puff of smoke.
"This is the second code," Sakura says, spreading the document on the table. Everyone leans in. "I really have no leads on this other than it was different than the first and written by a different hand."
Jiraiya hums in thought as he stares down at the code. "It looks familiar, truth be told. Definitely a Konoha operative, but it's more specialized than the standard cryptography training received by operatives."
Anko staggers back, looking rattled as she falls into a seat. Sakura looks at her, surprised. She's never seen Anko so flustered, the woman is typically unflappable. From the startlement on Ibiki and Jiraiya's faces, Sakura figures this is just as odd to them.
"Anko?" Ibiki says.
"I...I recognize that cipher," Anko whispers.
"What?" Ibiki asks.
"You don't?" Anko replies, a bitter smirk twisting her lips. "You were just as familiar with her as I was."
Ibiki's eyes widen. "Kōri?"
"Kōri," Anko confirms.
Sakura ducks her head against the palpable tension crackling between Anko and Ibiki. Sakura knows Anko's relationship with Kōri; knows the burning loss Anko still experiences. She's less certain of Ibiki's relationship with the MIA agent, but given the looks that Ibiki and Anko are exchanging, Sakura thinks whatever feelings were there ran deep.
"This is Kōri's signature cipher," Anko says, voice wavering only slightly. "The letters she sent me were all written in this code." Anko stands, shoulders braced defensively as she turns toward her desk. Anko bites the heel of her hand, carelessly smearing blood against the inside of her desk. There's a hollow popping sound as a shelf falls free. With a gentle hand belying her hostile behavior, Anko gathers a bundle of missives, passing them over to Jiraiya. "Here are all my documents with this cipher; there's the cracked codes as well. Will this be enough?"
Jiraiya looks up at Anko from his seated position, eyes shadowed with compassion. His hand hovers for a moment near her forearm, obviously wanting to offer some form of comfort before he refrains, taking the letters and rifling through them lightly. "Yes, this will be more than enough. Thank you Anko."
Anko nods stiffly, jaw ticking with repressed anger. She turns away from all three of them, bracing her hands against her desk. The room falls quiet, the only sound being the swish of Jiraiya's brush against paper.
Sakura glances at Ibiki, breath catching at the raw pain in his eyes. His facial scars stand out in livid display from the way his jaw is jutted and clenched. Her mind is still racing from all of the revelations of the evening, but she focuses on the stark lines of bunched muscle in Anko's back.
Sakura winds her way across the room, making sure that Anko can hear her coming. She can see the way Anko's flat hands curl into fists, fingernails digging into her palms. Sakura comes to a stop beside Anko, reaching out a hand and laying it over Anko's.
"One day at a time," Sakura says softly, repeating the words Anko told her as she comforted Sakura about Torune's disappearance.
Anko tenses further, eyes cutting across to Sakura in a glare. Sakura tries not to take it personally, knowing that Anko, much like the snakes that are her signature Summon, strikes out with venom when she's made vulnerable. Sakura tightens her grasp on Anko, bringing her other hand up to massage Anko's fist and trying to coax her into relaxing it.
Anko stares down at their joined hands, eyes bright with emotion. Finally, she exhales shakily, body unwinding from its coiled position as she loosens her fist, turning it instead to grasp tightly at Sakura's hands. Sakura holds on in turn, ignoring the sticky wetness of blood that coats both of them.
It's all she can do to hold on as they await what will hopefully be answers from Jiraiya.
Jiraiya curses loudly and creatively, words strung together with a filthy, imaginative flair. Ibiki quickly covers Sakura's ears, waiting until the outburst ends.
"Well?"
Jiraiya shakes his head, passing the document to Anko. "Kōri was thorough; she was serving undercover with Root. My guess is that she managed to get this report to the Intelligence Division before...before she was discovered and culled. Somehow it got lost in the shuffle."
Anko makes a wet, wounded sound, tightening her hold on Sakura's hand before releasing it entirely.
"It's Danzō; of fucking course it's Danzō. He's been obsessed with the Uchiha since his teammate died." Jiraiya runs his fingers through his hair again, seemingly a self-soothing gesture. "He's taking Uchiha children and stripping them of their dōjutsu. He's placing the Sharingan into his own body."
Jiraiya gestures toward the document that Anko passed on to Ibiki. "Kōri provided coordinates for the laboratories where these extractions take place. From her notes, it looks like Danzō has also made some attempts to stimulate the development of kekkei genkai and dōjutsu in non-clan children. His main focus is on the Uchiha though."
"Explains why the Police Force is so restricted in their movements," Ibiki adds, stroking his cheek scar. "Danzō wouldn't want them cottoning on to his experimentation."
"Most of the laboratories are within Konoha's walls," Anko says, scowling. "There's no chance that Danzō is working alone."
"No, he isn't working alone," Jiraiya says. "The cipher mentions a 'Monkey King' sanctioning the laboratories; that's Sarutobi-sen—Hiruzen. Hiruzen knew about the labs and even endorsed them."
"And they've apparently existed since his inauguration," Ibiki mutters, studying Kōri's notes. "That's decades worth of entrenchment; it'll be difficult to weed the corruption out."
"Was it Danzō who took Torune?" Sakura asks, the question bursting from her. She's been wrestling with it since Jiraiya first named a culprit.
All three adults look at each other.
"Given Danzō's seeming preoccupation with kekkei genkai, most likely," Jiraiya says.
Sakura's stomach heaves, threatening to force itself up. Again, an eyeless Torune flickers through her mind. "Do you—what do you think he did to him?"
Silence ensues.
"Most likely he's intact," Anko says. "From Kōri's notes, it seems like, other than the Uchiha, Danzō mainly trains the kidnapped children up to be loyal operatives; it wouldn't be conducive to injure Torune."
Sakura stares at Anko, trying to determine how sincere her words are. Sakura doesn't want a sweet lie here; she would prefer the bitter truth. Anko meets her gaze squarely.
"Okay," Sakura says, shoulders slumping as relief flows through her. "Okay."
Jiraiya stands, moving to stand beside Sakura. "You were right to come here to us," he says, ruffling her hair. "It was brave of you. I don't think you realize just how important this cipher is." He kneels, pressing his forehead to hers. Sakura watches him, surprised by how aged and haunted he looks. How must he feel, knowing that his teacher who he respects so much is involved in such nefarious doings? "Thank you, Sakura. For now, you'll need to stay here; I've no doubt Danzō still has an operative tailing you. I'll send out agents to collect your parents and bring them here."
"I'll alert the clan leaders," Ibiki says with a sigh. "This is going to be a bitch."
"What happens now?" Sakura asks, heart thrumming at the possibility of Torune coming home. It still hasn't sunk in yet, the true gravity of the situation. Sakura thinks a part of her mind is blocking it so that she can stay coherent. The moment she's left alone, Sakura thinks she'll fall to pieces.
Is this enough—is she enough—to bring Torune home?
"Now?" Anko says, biting her hand so more blood wells as she summons several snakes. "Now we weed out the system; raze the whole thing to the ground in blood and fire. Then, we start anew." Anko's eyes take on a fervent, bitter gleam. "It's what Kōri would've wanted."
Note. As this story comes to a close, I've been contemplating my next ventures. I've been thinking about doing more "what-if" stories (probably not to the length of Satori) where Sakura ends up on a different field experience assignment. Right now, I'm contemplating several ideas: 1) Sakura works at the Inuzuka Veterinary and she would develop friendships with Hana, Kiba, Tsume, Kakashi, and Anko and 2) Sakura's assignment is with the Konoha Police Force and she would get to know the Uchiha well, in which case she would develop friendships with Shisui, Itachi, and Mikoto...
Any thoughts? Any other field experience assignments you can think of?
