"If I didn't know you better I would say you were worried about your little brother."
Anyone would have quailed at that, considering the circumstance. Uchiha Itachi, though, wasn't just any ninja. The young man met his stare with one of his own, eyes slack and lazy - like he was having a conversation with a street vendor and not a living god.
The chakra connection was strong enough that Nagato could hear the absolute evenness in Itachi's breath when he said, "Sasuke has my eyes." Pain searched his face hard, but all he could see was the serine front the Uchiha put up for everyone, as well as the rolling psychosis bubbling under the calm surface.
Truthfully, if there was one person in the organization that Nagato might have been afraid of it was Itachi. His peers were all sadistic, insane monsters, but he put such a fine mask in front of it that sometimes it seemed like that was his real face.
Nagato knew better though. He was god, after all, and god had to be omniscient. God knew that Itachi's only goal in life was to cut out his brother's still-bleeding eyes once their dojutsu had fully matured.
He had been surprised when the chakra markers he'd kept on all of his Akatsuki members had pinged both Itachi and Kisame in the Land of Fire, closing fast on Konoha. Nagato had a lingering doubt that maybe Itachi wasn't so clinical about his former loyalties as it seemed, but the young man had instantly stopped and opened a connection with him once it was requested. He'd even donated his own chakra to manifest Nagato's projection without Kisame's help, which would leave him badly exhausted for days.
He's checking up on his future eyes. That had to be it. Konoha was in the middle of what would likely become another World Ninja War and those had a habit of leaving mountains of dead ninja. He would have tried to hide his position more if it was anything else.
Unless he knew about the tracking. But was that even possible?
I'm being too paranoid. A healthy paranoia was a must in Hidden Rain, but Itachi had been nothing but loyal for years. He'd killed enough Konoha-nin, after the Uchiha massacre, to earn him a place in the village's Bingo Book several times over. No one could be that good of a double agent.
"Very well," Nagato said, feeling annoyed with himself for wasting so much time and chakra on this to begin with. "Observe the village and report what you see. There are ready buyers for information in Hidden Stone and Hidden Cloud. I was going to assign Kakuzu to it, but you two are already positioned. I'll leave your brother to your discretion."
Itachi nodded, as he had never assumed otherwise. Kisame, though, stepped forward.
"We could pick up the Kyuubi while we're here. And the Ichibi, if Suna brought him. Two jinjuriki at once."
That was an interesting thought. "Do you believe Suna would be so desperate?"
"It can't hurt to take a look, could it?" Kisame asked, likely grinning at the thought of one-upping Sasori and Deidara. "What do you think, Itachi-san?"
"As you say, it wouldn't do us any harm to check. With permission."
Nagato nodded. "Do it. If you have a chance to get both, take it, but if you can only get one take the Kyuubi. It would do us well to secure it before the vessel learns to command its power."
They both nodded and Nagato dropped the connection. Back in his body, Yahiko's body, he let out a rare sigh and slumped back into his chair. Well, Hanzo's chair. He hadn't gotten around to replacing it yet. Or fixing the blown-out wall, which was letting in the rain. It was peaceful, though. Maybe he would keep it open.
"You seem disturbed," Konan said. She was never far, as always, and was good at reading his moods.
Nagato thought about how much he should worry her with. "It's Itachi and Kisame. They are infiltrating Konoha." He drummed his fingers across the top of Hanzo's desk. "We could have both the Kyuubi and Ichibi in our possession shortly."
Konan's face didn't change, but Nagato could almost feel the mental shift in her. "I don't trust Itachi," she said, as she had said for the last few years on a nearly constant basis.
"Nor do I, but in this case he will be useful to us no matter what his true aim is. We will either get the bijuu or we will get information we can sell to the highest bidder. And a new Ninja War would only help us grow our coffers and give us opportunities to secure the other jinchuriki in the confusion of battle."
"It seems too soon," Konha said, looking around at the lingering destruction. It had only been a few weeks since Hanzo had been killed, and Amagakure was still in a state of flux. There were near weekly loyalist attacks on the city and assassination attempts. Many of Akatsuki had to be kept in the village just to keep a lid on things, which was hardly ideal.
But… "It's too good of a chance. Konoha was always our greatest issue. If we can separate the Kyuubi from them now, it will be worth the extra care in keeping him until we can extract the bijuu."
Konan nodded, like she always did when Nagato had decided his course of action. She was loyal if nothing else. "We have another issue." And also supremely observant. Nagato walked over to her, by the hole in the wall. She pointed at some distant place out in the city. "Zetsu is acting strangely."
That hadn't been what Nagato had been expecting. He closed his eyes and focused on the city, in all the places his Rain Tiger at Will jutsu was falling. It wasn't a precise technique, but combined with the little chakra receivers each member of Akatsuki carried with them he could suss out exactly where any one of them were at any given moment as long as they were in the village.
Zetsu, the personal minion of Uchiha Madara, who had been pressed into the organization against Nagato's will, was walking on one of the lower levels of the village, down by the central canal. Natago felt him stop at certain times, and even flicker away to the top of a building. It wasn't odd - he, like every other member of Akatsuki here, was on patrol duty.
Nagato followed him for another few minutes before opening his eyes. "I do not see the strangeness."
"He walked along the canal, flickered up to the Tenure Tower, then stayed there for five minutes. He turned north, then south, then east, and activated his remote viewing jutsu and surveyed the western swamp approach. Which he should still be doing. In exactly fifteen minutes and forty-five seconds he will deactivate his jutsu and return to the canal."
Konan's eyes narrowed. "He has over a dozen sets of actions he will do, randomly, whenever he patrols. When he is not patrolling he returns to Sasori's laboratory and does not move until his next shift."
"You know he is not human, Konan. His actions have always been strange." But it was a bit concerning. Not wholly because of what he was doing, but because Konan had decided it was worth so much of her time and observation. Nagato had learned to rely on her instincts when it came to surveillance. "Is there anything else?"
Konan nodded. "He's only one color now. I don't know what that means."
Neither did Nagato. It could very well be just a normal process of Zetsu, or some experiment that Sasori was running on the Mokuton husk. He knew that the black half of Zetsu was supposedly Uchiha Madara's "will", some sort of remote clone or jutsu. Madara hadn't been seen in weeks himself; maybe it was just that he couldn't maintain the jutsu?
But then, maybe not. "Keep watching him," Nagato ordered. "I want to know when his pattern breaks."
Better safe than sorry.
Loyalty: Chapter 39
Never in her life had Sakura run so hard for so little distance. Even with Ino pulling her along, the last few dunes were a nightmare marathon of gasping, cursing, and pure animalistic locomotion. Bare feet digging into the sand, pushing her forward on all fours, while the one great motivator drew closer every time she dared to look.
And it was laughing at them. Great, booming laughter that shook the sand loose from the dunes with every cackle.
Sakura's brain still couldn't comprehend the size of the creature; she had no sense of scale out in the sand-blasted desert. Was it as tall as the clouds? Not quite. Was it taller than the highest dune? By orders of magnitude. The thing inhabited the murky, terrifying space between those two bookends. Its shadow was like a cloud over the face of the sun, stretching out over the desert like a plague of locust, choking Sakura's will to try and outrun it.
She focused on Ino. The blond was out in front, leading the way to the pits and pulling Sakura up at the tops of the dunes. Sakura watched her heave over the top of the dune they were on, but Ino didn't pop back up like it normally did, hand outstretched.
The insane laughter chased Sakura up the last hurdle. She nearly recoiled at the top - the pits were right there, billowing smoke, but hundreds of feet down, at the foot of this last, great sand dune. It was like staring off the top of the Hokage Monument.
"Slide down!"
Sakura hadn't seen her at first, but Ino's echoey voice came from a speck of blond streaking down the sand.
She hesitated. Smoke from the pits was being pushed against the dune by the wind, washing up and over the top. Sakura reached up to her face and her hands came back black and soot-stained. Was whatever was down there truly better than facing the monster behind?
The ground shifted. Sand on either side of Sakura began to slip in small cascades, but with each massive stomp of the creature behind the slides became rivers.
Sakura looked over her shoulder. Not even a dozen training fields-lengths away was a foot larger than a Konoha house. Her eyes followed the sandstone-colored stump of a leg up and up and up, over the round pot belly with tattoos that looked like stress veins on a pregnant woman's stomach, past the mouth that looked like a toy, complete with comically large teeth, and finally settled on the eyes.
The ones that, despite being the size of ox carts, seemed to be fixated right on her.
Yes. Yes the pits are better.
She threw herself over the edge, first in an uncontrolled tumble, but righting herself after a few bumps. The sand tore at her legs and arms and hands as she created drag against the downward slide and all the smoke made it hard to judge where she was going, but Sakura angled herself as much as possible toward where she'd last seen Ino.
The bottom wasn't a gradual, gentle slope. Sakura nearly screamed when she hit loose desert gravel and hard wisps of vegetation. She skidded to a stop a few meters from the edge of a pit and even through the sudden agony she could feel the heat of it; hear the crackling.
Ino pulled her up. The blond wasn't in much better shape but at least she looked mentally focused. "We have to find the old man."
That was easier said than done. Sakura looked out over the enormous space between the dunes which was littered with burn pits, each belching thick black smoke. Crosswinds from the desert pushed the smoke in every direction and past a certain point Sakura couldn't see a thing.
She let Ino pull her forward, into the smoke. Sakura wondered if the blond didn't care what she was breathing in because she was just that professional or because, being a Yamanaka, she was unfazed by mental projections.
Or maybe all the rumors about what goes on in Interrogation aren't just rumors.
But that thought slipped away as Ino pulled her into the deep smoke that lingered in between the burn pits. Away from the periphery, the heat and smell and thick smoke was oppressive. Sakura ripped a piece of her shirt off and used it as a mask. Nothing looked like it had in reality and she had no sense of direction in here. Finding one old man would be next to impossible…
Ino suddenly spun Sakura around. "Don't think negative thoughts," she ordered, holding up her hand to keep too much soot from getting into her mouth, eyes frantically darting around. "We're sharing this mindscape, but you're the one leading it. If you think you'll find the old man, you'll find the old man. If you think it's hopeless, then it will be hopeless."
Sakura jerked away. "You don't even know what's going on and you're telling me to 'stay positive' and hope everything will go right? This isn't some comic book, Ino! We already almost died and that monster is out there, about to squish us like bugs!"
She didn't even see the punch coming. All she saw was Ino turn and a set of knuckles come straight at her, then a sharp burst of pain on her face. Sakura fell right over; her legs went out.
Both of Ino's fists were curled up. The whites of her teeth showed with every harsh breath she took. "Shut up!" she screamed. "Shut! Up! There is bigger shit to do out there, in the real world right now! The village is burning to the ground! Suna invaded! My dad and Choji and Shikamaru are all fighting! Even Anko!" Ino grabbed two fistfulls of Sakura's shirt and yanked the stunned girl up, straight off the ground like she didn't weigh a thing. "You're going to help me find solutions or you're going to be quiet!"
Sakura's face went red. She lunged out at Ino's legs, catching them and toppling the blond. She got one good punch in before Ino headbutted her and they both rolled around on the sand screaming, scratching, biting, and punching each other. Ino was still moderately fresh though, so she quickly got the upper hand - literally. She caught Sakura's hands and pinned them to the sand over her head with one hand, then started punching with the other. Sakura tried to buck her off, but the second punch caught her square in the temple and the world went sideways.
She felt Ino roll off of her, but Sakura didn't have any strength to start the fight again. She was breathing hard through the liberal trickling of blood in her mouth, probably the first punch she'd caught on the jaw. Sakura was almost thankful for the numb pain in her head from the temple shot; it'd probably hurt a hell of a lot more when that wore off.
"You… dead…?" Ino huffed. Sakura found enough energy to at least flip the blond off. "Good. We still have to find… that old man…"
Fuck the old man is what Sakura wanted to say, but she didn't have the energy to fight Ino anymore. And she wanted out of here too, so she let Ino drag her back up to her feet. Everything was still wobbly though and the blond had to carry most of her weight.
Serves her right, Sakura thought. She didn't know if the dimness of her vision was from the smoke or an oncoming concussion, but Sakura couldn't see more than a few feet in front of her. She could only be pulled along blindy by Ino unless she wanted to be left behind.
"You're so much trouble," the blond muttered. "I should just leave you here."
"Your life would suck without me."
Ino huffed a little louder, which might have been a laugh. "It would be more boring," she allowed. "Where the hell is this old man of yours?"
Sakura head lolled to the side so she could give her friend a flat look. "Like I know? You're the one chasing him. He could be here, he could be back in the desert, he could be with that racoon monster thing, or…" Her eyes caught on something in the smoke and her throat clenched. "He's right there."
Not a dozen feet away, sitting cross legged on the sand, was the old man. Sakura couldn't believe it. She honestly, one-hundred percent, couldn't believe it. It had to be a trick.
Ino pinched her. Hard. "Stop thinking negative thoughts!" she hissed. "Come on!"
They hobbled over to him. Like every other time Sakura had seen him, he didn't move, or call out to them. Long beard, bushy white hair, eyes closed like in some kind of trance - same old man.
Sakura flopped down to the sand in front of him. "See? I told you that he doesn't respond or anything. Nothing I ever did got him to -"
"So, it has come to this," the old man sighed. "This is not the outcome I wished to come to pass. I want you both to know that."
"You could talk this whole time!" Sakura yelled, crawling up to man. "Why didn't you ever say anything!? I tried for hours!"
He tilted his head toward her. "Because I did not wish to speak with you," he said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I had hoped that another possibility would present itself, but events have rapidly spun out of control and I have been drawn here." He sighed. "It is not the ideal scenario."
Ino and Sakura shared a look. "Could you sort of… dumb this down for us?" Ino asked. "Scenarios? Outcomes? You're just a jutsu trigger. We need to get out of whatever mental jutsu this is, so we can get her," Ino gestured at Sakura, "back to her body. So, you know, trigger or something so we can hurry this up."
"A jutsu trigger?" The old man considered. "I suppose that is an acceptable deduction. I am the one keeping the both of you in this place between life and death, after all. I had hoped some other force would come to your aid and they would be more acceptable, but that clearly has not come to pass. And there are other travelers here as well."
Almost on cue something roared out in the desert. From the rim of the valley the head of the monster that had been chasing Ino and Sakura poked up above the tallest dune. Ino took a stance, ready to run, and Sakura somehow got to her feet out of blind panic.
But the old man merely held up a hand. "That will be enough, Shukaku," he said, as quiet as a conversation. Amazingly, though, the monster quieted.
"Are you sure you want to go with these two? They're not really what I'd call the heroic type," it bellowed. "That pink one was going to leave the blond one to die a little bit ago during one of your tests."
"I knew you were taking too long to say something!" Ino hissed.
Sakura flushed. "I wouldn't have actually done it," she lied. Then, eager to draw the attention away from how she'd nearly left Ino for dead, she turned to the old man. "And what's a 'Shukaku'?! What is that thing!? And what did he mean by 'tests'? Did you send all those things at us?!"
"He is Shukaku and he's a very old friend. As for testing you, of course I did. I wished to see what measure of persons you were. You two may not be the best, but you are all I have to work with. All the entire world has to work with, I'm afraid." And he did sound tortured by that admission. He held up his hands. "Now. Come here."
"Why?" "Not a chance!"
Sakura looked aghast at Ino. "You can't be thinking of doing anything he says, can you? He admitted to being the thing that's keeping us here!"
Ino glared at her. "And he clearly knows more than us. I'm almost positive that he's not part of this jutsu now. There's too many things that don't line up with anything I know about the mind." She crossed her arms. "And I am done with being locked in here with you. So yes, Forehead, I'm curious."
The old man's face might have crinkled a bit into a smile. Ino lingered a moment, then shot Sakura a furious glare before she stepped up to him.
His hand reached out to her face. His old, spindly fingers tapped the center of her head and Sakura felt… something. She didn't know exactly what, but it rippled through her all the same. Like something was buzzing in the air.
"A descendant of my Indra," the old man muttered as his hand dropped. "Very distant by way of… the Hyuuga? Are you a child of the Hyuuga?"
"That was… a long time ago for the clan," Ino said, rubbing her forehead where she'd been touched. "Just the branch family. We only got the eyes. Not the special ones, either," she said, glancing at Sakura's stunned expression with a bit of a blush. "I'm a Yamanaka, old man. Not Hyuuga."
"Middle of the mountain, eh? It is a strong name. A good name for a decedent clan." He turned his head toward Sakura, expectantly.
But the girl took a step back. "No. No way," she said. "I don't know who you are, or what you just did to Ino. Did you read her mind? You are not reading my mind!"
"That one is no good!" the thing - Shukaku - called out. Sakura had nearly forgotten the monstrous witness they had.
"I agree, but my hand is forced."
Suddenly the old man wasn't sitting. Sakura hadn't even blinked; one second he was one place, the next he was in another - right beside her, floating in the air. Her legs and arms were locked up; his hand reached for her.
Something made the old man stop. Sakura's eyes darted over his shoulder to Ino, who was hovering midair behind him, fist stopped mid-swing.
"You have very good friends," he told Sakura. "I am not certain you deserve them." His finger landed right on her forehead and she felt the air buzz again. His eyes, still closed, seemed to focus on her; Sakura saw them move under his eyelids.
A shot of chakra went through her like a bolt of lightning. It made her entire body tingle and she found she could stand up without feeling the strain of her body.
"Your soul has a tenuous hold on this world. It is stubborn, but that is not necessarily a bad thing." The old man let out a deep sigh and tilted his head, like he was trying to coax something out of their connection. "Ah, an offshoot of Ashura, distantly through the Senju. Your clan name - Haruno. Spring field. Fitting."
The connection ended and Sakura jumped back, feeling refreshed and energized. Her mind was moving a thousand miles an hour again. "How could you know anything about my family?" she demanded. "You… didn't read my mind, did you?"
"I did not. I simply asked your soul the questions I needed answered. From the both of you," he said, turning to Ino. "Luckily, you are both suitable vessels. It seems as if you both will work after all."
He opened his eyes. At first Sakura thought she was seeing things, but she wasn't - his pupils were just a series of thing black rings. It was unsettling; the same feeling she remembered having when she looked right at Hinata's eyes when she was using her dojutsu.
The old man seemed to realize the effect and he smiled, but the expression didn't go any further than his lips and it only made Sakura more ill at ease. He floated back a few feet so he could see both of them. Sakura saw… something… floating under him. Several somethings. Little black balls, nine of them, and some weird staff. Where had those things come from? Sakura hadn't noticed the old man summon them, but there they were.
"I am called Otsutsuki Hagoromo - you may know me as the Hermit of Six Paths', the founder of ninshuu."
"There's no way," Ino muttered. "You want us to believe that you're… god? You? And you're just hanging out in Sakura's head?"
Sakura knew who the Hermit of Six Paths was, same as Ino. She wasn't religious, but the Academy still taught all the legends and things about the Great Hermit. He created mountains and oceans with a sweep of his hand. They said he even created the moon with ninjutsu. It was just some silly legend about some ancient warlord, though.
He turned to Sakura, eyes narrowing. "Not ninjutsu. Ninshuu. Ninjutsu is a thing humanity created for war and violence." His staff had zipped around his back and now pointed directly at Sakura. "And yes, I did read your mind that time."
While Sakura began to hyperventilate, Ino mustered the courage to ask, "What… what did you mean when you said we were suitable vessels? What do you want from us? And why are you keeping us here?"
"Because you are needed. There are things in motion now that I cannot stop. Things that have not gone to plan. Things that I, as a being of pure chakra, cannot put a stop to." His staff whipped around until it was resting across his lap. "Make no mistake, young Yamanka - your world is hinging on what happens here, right now, and what is required of you two."
"Something has gone wrong," Hagoromo continued. "There are two people in your world that were supposed to be here, many years now, but they are not ready. And I cannot simply force them to be ready, no matter how much I wish it were so. You two, distant daughters of Indra and Ashura, must suffice."
Ino held up her hands. "Hold on, who or what are Indra and Ashura? And what do you want us to do?"
"They were my children. Indra and Ashura - one possessed of a great mind and talent, the other possessed of a great personality and hidden strength." Hagoromo's lips thinned and he was silent for a long moment. "There is a history there," he continued, slowly, "but it is not necessary for you to know."
"You're pulling the 'it's above your pay-grade' card? Really?" Sakura blurted. "All you told us was that they're your kids and, apparently, our ancestors!"
Hagoromo considered that. "Yes," he decided. "Really. You are not the ones that are owed a deeper explanation."
And that was that. Sakura and Ino both waited on him to say something else, to maybe explain further, but he didn't. Sakura let out a frustrated sigh. "Fine. What about this thing you want us to do? If we say no, will you still let us out of here?"
"Of course. It is not my intention to cause your death if there is a path forward for you."
"Great! Then let us-"
Hagoromo held up a finger. His staff rattled loud enough to cut Sakura off. "You would only survive for a few moments, though. The body waiting on you in the waking world is not your original one. It is a great taboo for a soul to take a new body, even one freely given. Your friend does not have the talent to ensure a successful habitation."
It was Ino that gathered her wits first. "This is blackmail!" she shouted. "You're saying that unless we do what you want, you'll just let Sakura die! That's the same thing as killing her!"
The old man shook his head. "Haruno Sakura is already dead. It was only through a perversion of ninshuu that she was kept from the Pure Land. The natural cycle of life and death cannot be defeated by any mortal."
"But you're implying that, if we help you, you'll make sure the body out there won't reject her!"
"You are correct. It is within my ability to return to the world you know without issue. If you agree to help me I can ensure the transfer happens without issue." Hogoromo's voice didn't change; neither did his expression. He was speaking as evenly as his initial greeting.
Sakura felt her arms and legs go cold. Her mental attention focused down to a pinprick - she would die, unless they did exactly what this old man wanted. God of Shinobi or not, whatever he wanted wouldn't be easy. Or painless. He called it a threat to the world! What could two kids do against that?
"I'll do it," Ino said, not even taking a second to think about it. Sakura looked at her like she'd grown a second head. "What? I came here to get you back. When have I ever failed at anything? So I'll do it."
And at that, Hagoromo did actually smile. "Perhaps humanity is not as fallen as I believed," he said.
He held up a finger. At once, one of the little black balls hovering around him zipped over to it, spinning slowly above his fingertip. "This is a Gudodama. The Truth-Seeing Ball. It is the purest expression of ninshuu - itself without a single chakra nature, but containing the potential of all." His finger curled, now pointing directly at Ino. The ball zipped toward her at an incredible speed but stopped right in front of her nose.
"My gift for the one who has acted against her better instincts, who believes in the power of connections."
The ball sank into Ino's head. No, it passed through it. Sakura watched it slip in and slip out, all in the space of a breath. No entry or exit marks. Now it floated in a lazy circle behind Ino's back.
"Where'd it go?" she demanded, sounding faintly frantic, turning this way and that, trying to see it, but it kept behind her no matter how she tried to look.
"If you so will it, it shall appear. It is yours now, a part of you, just as surely as your soul and chakra."
Ino was still patting her head. "That sounds insane," she said. "You're saying if I just think about it then- oh!"
The orb popped into existence not a hair's width from her nose. She jerked back away from it, but it stayed right where it was, slowly rotating. Waiting, it seemed like. Licking her lips, Ino narrowed her eyes at the ball and raised a hand. It zipped back over to her, resting right above the skin of her palm.
Sakura expected her to say something snarky, but Ino did seem totally enthralled with the little gift. Sakura didn't really see how some orb of chakra would be of any use, though. She couldn't sense anything from it. It was like… it didn't exist, even if Sakura could clearly see that it did. Like it was a hole in the world. For lack of a better word, it was creepy.
And speaking of creepy. Hagoromo was looking at her now. Considering. Sakura crossed her arms. "Do I get a magical ball of chakra too?"
"No. It is, franky, too powerful to entrust to you. Like the world did with ninshuu, you would abuse it. I am entrusting that my Indra's decedent will watch you, and check you should you choose to abuse the gift I must give you." His lips drew narrow. "It is a small comfort that you would be a lesser concern that what now faces the living world. I have little choice in this matter other than to take this risk."
He held out his hand. "Come," he ordered. "Accept this gift, descendant of Ashura. One who cares only for her own interests, whose only concern is to survive. Take this power so that you might live and deliver your world in the process."
That certainly wasn't the most ringing endorsement. Whatever insult Sakura might have felt was buried under her lingering fear of the so-called God of Shinobi, and of his lingering threat not to help her.
What does he know about me? He's dead. He's been dead for centuries, she spitefully thought, hoping that he was listening in. You don't know me. You don't know anything about me, or what I've been through.
"But he does know you. He's been watching you for a loooong time."
Sakura blinked. A face in the smoke looked back at her - a coal-black face with white eyes and white shark teeth that smiled across its face like a hideous zipper.
"What in the hell is that thing?" Ino asked. The face turned to her. It grew a neck and a torso and two spindly arms, but the smoke itself was its body; the black ashes of the burning dead its skin.
"I am what I am," it said. "Little Yamanaka with a new toy. Going to throw that one away when you get tired of it too? Lucky for you it can't grow up to hate you for being abandoned."
Hagoromo's staff cut the thing in half, but it disappeared into a scattering of smoke before reforming behind Sakura. "He's an angry old goat, isn't he? No ability to put himself in someone else's sandals." The girl jumped away and the thing just grinned at them all.
The Hermit of Six Paths's strange ringed eyes narrowed. "That is the enemy," he said, answering Ino. "It is the will of an evil, misguided man that died nearly a century ago. It is the thing you must defeat."
"It's the little bastard that has control of my power!" Shukaku yelled, voice booming over the valley.
"You still haven't told us what you are yet," Sakura muttered. This was rapidly becoming some kind of sideshow, what with the supposed God of Shinobi, some kind of talking racoon monster, and now this thing. Why was her head the gathering place for all of this madness?
"It is getting crowded, isn't it?" the creature asked. It had once again moved by Sakura. It seemed to be able to travel anywhere in the smoke. "But I'm good for the answers you want. I won't leave you with questions. That's what a teammate is for!"
Sakura punched straight through its smiling mouth. Of course, she didn't damage it at all, but it helped calm her nerves when it reformed out of her reach. "I don't know what you're talking about! I've never seen anything like you in my life!"
"Cruel!" it cried. "Just cruel! I've been with you since the beginning of this little journey of yours and I know so much that no one is telling you."
"Do not listen to it," Hagormo warned. The thing's smiling face grinned savagely at the old man, a look he returned with aplomb. "It will lie to you. It has a very precious window of weakness, before it can fully control its new powers. If it is allowed to escape, untold numbers will suffer."
Ino set her stance. "So we should attack it?" she asked. The Gudodama floated around her head like a small moon. "We just have to kill that thing and we can get out of here?"
Hagoromo sighed even as the creature snickered. "This is a place between life and death. If it was so easily dispatched here, I would do it myself. It simply has a connection to that one's soul, so it can infiltrate this place, much like Shukaku and myself."
Ino looked askew at Sakura. "A connection?"
The thing slithered through the air, looping around Sakura's shoulders. "Oh yes, we've very close friends. Roommates, really."
"What the hell is he talking about, Sakura?" Ino asked.
She's very demanding, isn't she?
A shock went through Sakura. That was her voice, her inner mental voice, but…
Across from her the monster smiled wider. Hello, Sakura. Nice to meet you in person.
"Get out!" she screamed. Ino looked at her like she was insane.
But we've been such a good team these last few months. It was unexpected, but not unwelcome. You've been very decent company.
It wasn't possible. It couldn't be possible. I would have known! I would have realized! But… but thinking back on it, her inner voice, her inner Sakura had been… strange since becoming a spy. More… ruthless. More paranoid and angry.
The creature laughed at her expression. "Like I told the Yamanaka, I am what I am. It was a mutual partnership. Kabuto's experiment with the body he put your soul in had the unintended effect of letting me form a connection with your mind. I simply found it already occupied and stepped into the role already there. See?" The smoke twisted and churned. Before Sakura's eyes it changed into a mirror image of her in silhouette. "A girl has to be tough to survive. Isn't that right?" it asked in Sakura's own voice.
With a flicker it switched back to its original form, all smiles. "I deceived you, it's true. But our partnership doesn't have to end on a sour note. You don't want to be on anyone's strings, right?"
"Do not listen to it," Hagoromo cautioned. "Do not believe it. Do not accept anything it offers."
The thing frowned. "So very rude," it said, before turning its grin back on Sakura. "I'm simply offering you another choice, but first how about a token of good will? Something freely given, to show my sincerity."
"First you tell me who and what you are, then why you were in my head," Sakura demanded.
It considered, head tilted, tapping its smokey chin. "That's three things… but all right. I'm nothing if not fair."
Suddenly the smoke rolled and a whole creature, legs and all, jumped out. It was tall and thin, but it kept its distance as it took a bow. "You can call me… Tobi. As to what I am, the Hermit has already told you - I am the manifest will of a great man. Something like a bunshin, if that helps you understand it. Not a full clone, mind you, but working toward the same goal."
It waved its hand. The ash and smoke around it started to coalesce and another thing appeared, whiter than the sand under its feet and just as tall as the thing that called itself Tobi. It had cropped green hair and dull yellow eyes, pupilless. Ino made a disgusted noise in the back of her throat that summed up what Sakura thought of the thing.
Tobi gestured with both arms, presenting. "Behold, the body that you were inhabiting for the last year! The result of experimentation of brilliant men, but built on the foundation of something older."
"A victim of evil ninjutsu," Hagoromo interjected. He looked angry, eyes narrowed more than a bit as he stared at the new thing. "It is a mockery of life and an insult to the dead." His eyes turned to Tobi. "You and your master play with things best left buried. All will suffer should Madara's plan come to fruition."
Madara? Sakura mouthed to Ino. The girl shrugged. She had no idea.
"That is where we disagree," Tobi said, waving away Hagoromo's concerns. "And it has no bearing on my story! Sakura here wants to know why we had our unique connection. The reason is that these things are not unique. There are hundreds of them, all needing to be managed because, let's be honest-" He knocked loudly on the head of the creature, "-these things have no brain to do it themselves. Either you manage them via jutsu or you put a soul in one."
Finally, it clicked for Sakura. And it was horrifying. "You're saying that… I was one of these… things? For a whole year?"
Tobi gave her a big thumbs up. "Bingo! You see, Orochimaru was a member of a certain organization I work for. He stole a few when he exited and Kabuto stole one from him, which he then used to create your body after he killed you. Make sense?"
"No," Sakura admitted in a small, frightened voice.
"Good, because it gets better! Because of some unique modifications Kabuto made to this particular body, it's now the perfect thing for controlling a bijuu, which I'm going to take control of."
"Question," Ino called out. "What's a bijuu?"
"Me," Shukau answered, shaking everyone not floating with the growl in his voice.
Ino let out a deep breath. "That's what Suna wanted with Sakura, isn't it? Because somehow they found out that Sakura's body could contain the Shukaku so they worked with Kabuto and ripped her soul out!"
"You got it in one, kid!" Tobi praised. "And now thanks to them I have a body that has access to more raw power than any single member of my organization."
"Which is why this farce needs to end immediately," Hagoromo stated. His staff floated out in front of him and the little metal rings on it jingled. All at once the desert came alive with a windstorm. It blew away the smoke, the soot, the ash - even the monster Tobi had conjured.
"Showoff," Tobi hissed.
Hagoromo ignored it. Instead, he held out his hand to Sakura. "You now know what is at stake and who your enemy is. Should he escape Konoha with Shukaku your world will be in terrible jeopardy. Come. Accept the power I offer you and assist with the sealing of this evil will."
"Or," Tobi called out, "you listen to me and I get you out of here, no strings attached. That's the real reason for this show and tell. This is bigger than you are, Sakura. Much bigger. And I know that you are smart enough to not want any part of that."
"I also know that you have a lot of problems that I can solve for you right now. We've already talked about the body thing. That's easy to fix. But what about all those other things you want? I can fix those too. You want to rejoin Konoha? Done. I'll make sure before I leave that everyone who doesn't trust you is dead. Danzo? The Hokage? His councilors? All gone. You can talk your way past whoever they put into the seat next, with my help. We'll come up with something, some heroic thing, to make them all forget."
A smile from the creature. "And your mother? She'll be fine. I won't lay a finger on her head. Or your teacher, the one that stood up for you. Or your little teammates. They're not even in the village. Think how happy they'll be to have you back in Team Seven?"
"Don't listen to it, Sakura!" Ino hissed. She grabbed Sakura's shoulder and forced her attention. "This thing is talking about killing the Hokage! The council!"
Tobi tapped her other shoulder. How had it gotten so close? It's smiling, empty face pressed up to her ear and Sakura couldn't pull away.
"And that one I can deal with too," he whispered, but loud enough that Ino could hear. He smiled at the terror on her face. "I can make it so she never makes it back to her own body. Then you don't have to share. Not your mother, not your spotlight. You can finally be the main character in your own life. No more being in her shadow." It stroked the side of her head. "No more of those… confusing thoughts rattling around up here. You can put it all to rest. Just don't take the old Hermit's offer. Don't play second fiddle to Yamanaka Ino again. You heard him before - you won't get parity in power with her. She's your watcher."
The blood had drained out of Ino's face. "Sakura, please."
Sakura shrugged out of Ino's grip. The girl's hand fell back limply to her side.
Tobi straightened back up with a laugh. He rested his hands on Sakura's shoulders and sent a vicious look to Hagoromo. "You thought this would all play out as if you'd written it in a book, didn't you? Shame this isn't your story to write. It's mine. It's always been mine and right now this is my main character."
Hagoromo stared at her. Not with a glare, not with sadness. Just with empty expectation. "Is that your answer, Haruno Sakura? You let your village die to make your life easier?"
Was it? "I-"
Tobi's braying laughter cut Sakura off. "You're playing the loyalty card? Now? After everything you know about her?" The thing ran its fingers, it's claws, through her hair. "Tell him what the village is. Tell him what you told Kakashi - that it's just an idea. That dying for a concept isn't loyalty, it's suicide." It turned to Ino. The blond was shaking, fists clenched, staring at the sand. "Loyalty is something treasured by the talentless."
He leaned down again, whispering, "Tell them what loyalty is. Put the final nail in this coffin so you can finally begin your life in full. Without restraint. Without confusion. Without fear."
"Loyalty is… loyalty is…" Sakura swallowed. She looked up at Ino. She looked at Shukaku, sitting in the distance and snarling. She glanced to the side at the rows and rows of sharp teeth smiling in sadistic victory.
She looked at Hagoromo. Arm still outstretched. Eyes firm.
Sakura closed her eyes. "The village isn't loyalty. It's not worth risking your life for. I'm weak by myself. I can't change anything. I want to wake up from this. I want to keep living. What Tobi's offering lets me do that. I'm sorry…"
Tobi's smile grew magnitudes wider. "That's a good ending to this little story, isn't it, Hagoromo? Nice and neat. You lose again. Madara's will is absolute and there is nothing you can do that can stop-"
Sakura grabbed the hands on her shoulders, cutting off the creature. "I'm sorry," she said, looking back up at him, "but everything you're offering me… that's not what I mean by living. What you're offering isn't living-"
Her head rocketed up, slamming into Tobi's jaw. Its claws ripped their way out of her and Sakrua jumped forward. "-It's just not dying!"
Her fingertips brushed against Hagoromo's.
The world went white.
End of Act 4
Another update another step closer to the end. This one is the end of Act 4, though, so its a big step. This marks the beginning of the final act in Loyalty. I can't promise that I'll finish it by year's end, but I'll give it the old college try! If you feel thrown off by this chapter, I encourage you to re-read the story - all the hints are there!
As always, much love to my readers. Loyalty is 12 years old now. It takes a lot to follow a story for so long without giving up on it.
