Anko shifted excitedly as she waited outside the containment area. A high profile target had been brought into the T&I cells, and she wanted to know who it was. She wanted to know which lucky person had been given the job of interrogating him. If she had been taken off another case to do this one then it had to be something good. Not perfect, Ibiki would have taken it on then.
In a few moments, Ibiki would hopefully appear and tell her that she had the job. She licked her lips at the prospect. She would make them stew in their own fear before breaking them. She would unpick their mind. So many glorious things she could do!
She began hopping from foot to foot as she waited for the news. The harsh echoes of heavy boots on the concrete floor of the corridors made her look up.
Ibiki strolled towards her as if nothing was different in life, as if he were walking through the park on a fine summer's day.
She hopped as he got close, nearly fully jumping up and down.
"Can I have them? Can I have them? Please? Please? Please Ibiki-kun? Can I have fun now?"
"He's all yours Anko, but there is additional information you need to know before..."
"Yay! This is going to be awesome!"
Ibiki tried to grab her before she entered the doorway to the cells but she had gone too far already. He sighed. She was in for a rude shock. Still, it would teach her to listen to him first.
She bounced off a wall and came to the cell door. She peered inside. There was the silhouette of someone in the corner of the cell. A small, barred window let in a dismal amount of weak light into the room. The person was huddle up. Probably scared. That was no fun. She preferred defiance.
"Hello there...I get to play with you today! It's gonna be fun! I have so many toys to share with you!"
Her cheerful voice echoed and re-echoed off the walls of the concrete cell. The figure didn't move, not even an inch.
"Oh...you're not going to be fun?"
The only answer was her own echoing voice. She smiled. A tough guy then? Someone who thought they could block her out indefinitely? This was going to be better than she'd hoped.
"Ready or not, here comes Anko-chan."
She undid the lock and kicked the door in, allowing the metal to rebound off the cell wall as it swung round. It clattered and clanged with an apocalyptic noise. She grinned as she advanced on the lump in the corner.
She gripped it by the neck and pulled. The blanket came away and she was blinded with smoke from a bomb hidden beneath it.
She coughed. How the hell did he still have equipment on him? Surely it had all been confiscated?
There was a note where he had been. It was only one word.
'Sorry'
She turned and ran out of the door towards where Ibiki had been. He was still standing there.
"Quite a surprise then Anko?"
"You're not fucking kidding!"
"Look, I was going to tell you when..."
"Tell me he's fucking gone?!"
It took a lot to surprise Ibiki. This was something that had managed to. Anko realised that this was probably not a good thing.
"What?"
"He's gone and he left a smoke bomb."
"Fuck."
"Who the hell was that?"
"No time, we need to go the confiscated equipment area."
"Why?"
"Because that's exactly where he will be going."
They ran, junior torturers getting out of their way with efficient speed. If Ibiki was running, then shit was going down. As he ran, Ibiki called on everyone he could see to either get out of his way, or lock down the T&I department. They did so with speed. An escaped prisoner would cause havoc.
Ibiki's heavy boots dug a gouge into the surface of the floor as he rounded corners, metal clad soles ripping the smooth surface apart as he followed the corridors to the confiscation area.
The door was open and he powered on through.
"Guards!"
He looked at the two booths, each on opposite sides of the entrance, each a perspex box, windows two inches thick glass and a door that was locked from the insides. Both doors were open and both men unconscious.
"How the hell?"
"We may not be too late."
They split, running through the storage room. Dull overhead lights blinked occasionally as they swept the room.
Ibiki reached the storage box that should have contained his equipment. He too found his head engulfed in smoke and he became giddy. A sleep bomb?
He focused himself and shook off the weak chemical. It would take more than that to knock him out.
Anko came up alongside him and sniffed the air.
"Did he leave a sleep bomb in this one?"
"The scent is unmistakable."
Ibiki threw the empty box aside, letting the noise clatter and slam as it hit the wall. He hit the shelving for good measure, leaving a sizeable dent in the steel.
"How the hell did he do it? No one escapes their cell, sneaks through T&I and then steals back their equipment. This does not happen."
"Who is this person Ibiki?"
"Naruto."
"Oh that's just all kinds of shit. We're gonna need some ANBU."
Talon moved along the rooftops along with every ANBU that had been in the barracks when Ibiki had barrelled through the door.
Right now, they were spreading over the entire city as quietly and quickly as possible, trying not to cause a major alarm. He suspected there were going to be even more jonin up here sooner rather than later, and he wanted to get this call done first.
He knew where the house was. He knew where to look, and this time he wasn't going to bother with a quiet entry. The days where it was a game to try and get his attention and test him were long over.
He kicked through the window and twisted his body to avoid the expected crossbow bolt. There was nothing, broken glass and the curtain he had ripped off the wall were all that was on the floor. A thick layer a dust had been disturbed and blasted up into the air in the apartment.
He felt out for chakra and found nothing. That meant nothing; the boy had managed to escape T&I. He moved a quickly as he could to slam the light switch on and the apartment was revealed once more to him.
No more shadows for Naruto to hide in. The only other place was the bathroom if he could be there. He kicked the door off its hinges and hit the switch there. Nothing.
He turned right into sleep bomb and slumped onto the sofa, silently cursing the boy's brilliance as his brain shut down.
He would wake up to find a note with the word sorry written on it pinned to his jacket.
"Repeat this to me again. He escaped T&I, my ANBU captain isn't reporting and was found unconscious in the target's house, and nobody has been able to find him?"
"That is as far as we know Hokage-sama."
"Ibiki...what the hell? Is this a nightmare genjutsu you're testing on me?"
"I wish. I'd be in less trouble for it."
"Damn right."
She drank from the bottle of sake directly and deeply.
"Who is on it?"
"All of ANBU available, every Inuzuka, Aburame and Hyuuga we could discretely get into action and every elite Jonin we could find."
"And still nothing? Kami help us if he left Konoha. We caught him by chance the first time. Where is team 8?"
"You think he'll try and find them?"
"He'll try to find Hinata, if her statements are accurate and I'm guessing right."
"She should be in the Hyuuga compound. He couldn't possibly?"
"He could. Find Kakashi and let's move."
The sound of something outside her door woke her.
She hadn't really been sleeping, more a sort of half doze where her mind refused to let fully go of consciousness. She needed...answers. She wanted to be awake and doing something, not leaving it to other people.
She slipped out of bed and pulled the nightrobe around herself before slipping out of her room. There was a place for her to be.
She made no sound as she walked on the smooth wooden floors of the compound. She could see nobody else was around, and even if they had been no one would really have challenged her. Enough of them had seen her do this.
She slid open the door to the small garden at the centre of the compound. It was the place of her earliest memories.
Playing here, long ago. When life had been simple and she felt the love of her parents. Both her parents. So long ago.
She sat by the still pond at its centre, resting on the smooth flagstones that spiralled out from it like the swirls on the Konoha chunin vests. The night was still and cloudless, and she spared a glance up at the sky.
The stars spread out before her, encompassing the heavens. She could see the thin bands of distant stars sweeping out around her. She saw one of them blink quickly.
Stars did not blink.
She snapped on her Byakugan and couldn't sense any chakra signatures. She focused the vision to look for the outlines of anyone in black and white around her.
There was nothing. She must have blinked.
She shut off the vision and shook her head gently, hair sliding over her eyes before she pushed it back. She was definitely too tired to be thinking straight. Perhaps this was a dream.
If it was, it was a good dream.
She looked at the still waters and saw the reflection of the moon in them. And the face of someone else looking into her eyes via the reflection from behind her.
She nearly made a noise before the hand covered her mouth. She fought for a second before calming. He wasn't going to kill her. The hand with withdrawn slowly and she remained silent until he was seated on the other side of the pond again.
"You?"
"Yes. I needed...see your face?"
"Why? Why mine?"
"You're in...dreams. They're better...you smile."
She stared at him. This was definitely uncomfortable.
"Ano...I...I..."
He waited, impassively staring at her from under his hood. She felt a surge of anger burst from inside her at what he was doing to her. How dare he enter her compound and disturb her.
"You killed him."
The words sounded venomous but she meant it. She wanted to mean it. She wanted to be angry.
"I..."
"You killed him."
A tear fell from her face and hit the still waters of the pond. The ripples spread and distorted the images she could see, the chaotic dance of the wave interference enacting as waves bounced off the smooth rim.
"I didn't not kill him. Sasuke...used him...shield."
"You still fired."
"I didn't...want...kill."
"You still did."
"I'm...sorry."
More tears fell into the pond, the ripples growing and colliding even more, his image swirling. She felt his thin arms wrap around her gently. She allowed him a couple of seconds before she shoved him away roughly. He backed off, walking across the surface of the pond, the chakra he used to stay on its surface calming the ripples.
There was a noise at the entrance to the compound and she looked at his reflection once more, only to see that he was gone.
The pug dog sniffed carefully around, nose twitching as he smelt the smells. With a nose as sensitive as his, he could sense the trails that others left almost as if he could see them.
Right now, he was frustrated. Hinata had met him, she had talked to him. She had indicated right where he had sat and he could barely get a trace. That trace was thin and disorienting.
He growled deeply as he concentrated to pick out the trail. They were good, but his nose was better.
He set off, hearing the rest of the dog pack following in his wake, Kakashi then behind them, ready for action.
It was an odd trace; he couldn't put a colour to it like he normally could. It was a dark smell. Not black, just dark. That was off-putting.
It was a jinking trail, but it was so thin he had to follow it nearly exactly. If he was quick, then he would be able to outpace him.
He pushed his limbs onwards in the chase. A small movement caught his eye as a rat darted into an alley. He resisted the urge to chase it down. He was on a mission.
The trail then split. He cursed the fact it did so, and carried straight on. It had the best chance of finding the target, and its height was about right for a straight on run. He was annoyed to find the figure had just looped around back across its own path.
He pressed on, Kakashi and the rest of the pack following in his wake, each searching with their own senses for the target.
He rounded a corner and his smell burst into bright green agony. The target had dropped something that smelled very, very strong. Peppermint? Where had he even got that?
He coughed as the smell got more potent. The trail was completely obliterated by the peppermint smell.
Kakashi landed next to him.
"I can smell the mint from here Pakkun; I'm guessing the scent is dead."
"Pretty much, I could try picking it up outside the peppermint cloud, but I suspect he's left a second. I'm not underestimating the kid. He's elusive."
"Don't worry; I think direct tracking isn't going to quite work on him. We have to think this one through. You can have a rest."
"Good, my nose hurts from that smell."
The dog disappeared in a puff of smoke and Kakashi sighed. Naruto was loose in the city and he could be anywhere. There were jonin and ANBU everywhere, and he had been in the Hyuuga compound with no difficulty. Where would he have been?
What would he have talked to Hinata about? What would she tell him?
He ran for the monument. It was odd to be running there, he normally went there to relax and rest, and now he was hunting down someone who sought absolution.
He landed as the rain began to lightly fall from the sky, and approached the monument at full speed. He suspected Naruto would sense him coming anyway, stealth was useless. He was definitely faster than the boy at this stage.
The ground in front of the monument was barely disturbed, but someone had been there. Someone had sat in front of the monument and tried to read the names.
Unconsciously, Kakashi found his gaze drawn to the names he knew. He noted them quickly; there was no time to be reverential. He paused when he read the name of one of his students when he realised the full truth.
Naruto didn't know that name. He didn't know who he was going to be on trial for killing. He wanted the answers. He moved for the tower as the rain fell.
The first crash of thunder sounded as Tsunade was looking out over the city. She could see her forces sweeping the city to find one person. One elusive person.
She turned to the only other person in the room, Shikaku Nara. The jonin commander had just finished giving her an update.
"You're sure?"
"Entirely. Give it time."
She kept watching the city as the power in the room went out.
"Commander, what are the chances of a lightning strike taking out the power to the Hokage Tower?"
"Extremely low."
"How unlucky we are then?"
"Indeed."
She went back to waiting. There was the sound of silence. She turned back into the office as the lightning flashed once more, revealing the figure standing in front of her desk for the briefest of moments.
"His...name. Tell...me."
"Did you have to cut power to the tower?"
"Didn't want...light. Want...name."
"Why should I tell you? You never asked. You never asked him. Why should I tell you?"
"You...know...name."
The crossbow swung up; despite his unsteady speech his motor control was as tight as ever. The point was not moving at all, and she knew it was pointed right at her jugular.
"You think threats will work?"
There was silence.
"Why do you want to know his name? He was precious to me, like the son I didn't have. He was the living embodiment of two people I loved, and now he is dead just like them. He looked so like Nawaki and he used the same technique Dan did. I would sooner die than tell you his name."
She knew he was conflicted. Killing her was against everything he stood for; it wasn't an ordered kill, or one in combat. It would be murder. He needed the information. She saw his fingers tighten and stop.
"Shikaku has you in his shadow jutsu doesn't he?"
"Yes. I...wish...talk."
"Make him put the bow away commander. I should order him to kill you right now you do realise?"
The bow was deliberately and carefully disarmed and slung back over his back.
"Yes...you won't."
She realised that was as well as he could talk. How long had it been since he had last had a conversation? Since he made any noise louder than a whisper? He was trying to string words together and words were missing.
"Why won't I, give me a reason."
"You don't...like...secrets. If you killed...now ...this, people...questions. They...know something..happened and you..answers...not."
"Any other reasons?"
"You don't...killing."
"True. So, why shouldn't I throw you back into T&I, secure with chakra restraining cuffs and cut off your legs so you cannot escape again?"
"I...report...mission?"
"What mission?"
"Retreive...kill...Uchiha."
"That mission was ended three years ago, the retrieval team was unsuccessful, and four of them nearly died in the process. One of them actually died."
"I did not kill him."
"It rather looks like you did. It looks like you and Sasuke both had a go at him, then you both disappeared. You know that looks like you're a traitor. Danzo was arguing that killing Sasuke would be a mistake. You see why I might be suspicious?"
"Sasuke...dead. Poisoned."
"Your doing?"
"Yes."
There was no lie in his eyes or his voice. His voice lifted at little at the words, and she saw a glimpse of his being resurrect a little.
"Proof?"
"Visual...corpse."
"Any other proof."
"I can...witness."
"Your testimony is sketchy at best."
"I need...summon."
She nearly slipped from her chair at that request.
"You want to perform a summoning jutsu in my office whilst my jonin commander restrains you?"
"Yes."
"Shikaku, allow him to perform the jutsu."
The lights were still out, so she couldn't see the puff of smoke, or if he whispered the summoning jutsu. She did hear a muffled squeak, and something scratching up her desk.
A rat, barely visible from what little light the window now let in, appeared on her desk.
"Commander, could you find some kind of light source for me?"
"Of course. Shall I bring Shizune in as well?"
"Yes please, and then you may stand down the remainder of our forces. Including Kakashi. Actually, please come in, you must be soaking out there."
A bedraggled Kakashi moved quickly through the window before closing it. The rain pattered on the glass surface.
"Thank you. Is that you Naruto?"
"Yes."
Came the response from the darkness in front of him. He pulled back his headband to try and see him better. The Sharingan stripped away a little of the shadows, no doubt caused by a genjutsu, to reveal a faint outline. He looked thin, so thin. So gaunt, the beard seeming to elongate his face. He was still short.
"Given you're not a smudge on the floor, I take it we're all talking nicely?"
"Just for the moment Kakashi. Naruto is reporting back from his mission."
It was the voice that you used around a mentally unstable person, and Kakashi decided not to relax just yet.
"Oh."
A quieter, oddly deep yet scratchy voice also spoke.
"Are you done humans?"
They turned to the figure on the desk. It was a large rat, which wore a tattered black piece of cloth with a few lines on the back like some sort of character. Kakashi sized him quickly, realising he was probably about Pakkun's size.
Tsunade looked at him closely for a few seconds.
"I apologise, I was distracted."
"I noticed. It is good you take care of your pack. I am Naruto's summon, and his witness to the death of Uchiha Sasuke."
"Why should I trust you? With respect, you are the summon of someone who may be an escaped missing nin, wanted for murder, who has just returned from the base of one of our greatest threats with a previously unknown contract."
"Unknown? The contract is almost as old as the snake and toad contracts. Merely forgotten by the years and derided for our lack of visible techniques, and human scorn for my kind."
"Forgotten or unknown, you are unexpected. May I know your name Rat-san?"
"My name is Fitch, The Rat Lord, Hokage-sama. If you wish to verify the Rat-clan as a summoning contract, I suggest you summon one of your slugs. Or perhaps have Kakashi-san summon one of his dogs. Or Naruto can summon more of my kin until your office is full."
Tsunade shuddered at the thought.
"I will summon Katsuyu to verify your claim. Kakashi, please summon Pakkun."
The animals were summoned in puffs of smoke. Katsuyu slid up onto the desk, in a smaller form than her largest size. She looked around and gave a short bow to Tsunade who nodded back to her, before running a hand over her blue markings. Pakkun looked for permission from Kakashi before gleefully jumping onto the desk, sitting down to meet with his fellow summons.
The meeting was one of the least likely things that Tsunade had been expecting that evening. A slug, a dog and a rat having a conversation on her desk.
She watched fascinated as Pakkun showed deference to the two smaller animals. She realised there was some sort of order to animal summoning clans, but that it was so complex and well observed was new.
The rat bowed to the slug, who returned the gesture. The rat beckoned the dog to stop and began to squeak. There were nods and more animal noises, and it finished with another round of bowing.
Katsuyu turned to face Tsunade.
"Fitch-sama is indeed the Rat Lord Tsunade-chan."
Tsunade nodded.
"Thank you Katsuyu, Pakkun. You are dismissed."
The summons disappeared in smoke and she faced the rat.
"My apologies Fitch-sama."
"Accepted, although drop the sama. You do no simply gain respect so quickly, so do not flatter me."
Tsunade narrowed her eyes at the insult, but maintained composure.
"So Uchiha Sasuke is dead?"
"Yes. I observed his corpse myself; he was practically bleeding toxin from his corpse."
Her attention snapped towards Naruto, who stood silently before her desk in the darkness.
"How did you manage that?"
"It...in...report."
"You have a report?"
"Yes. You instructed me...write."
He produced a scroll and set it on her desk. Fitch placed a hand on it.
"The report is sealed within. It is quite long."
"It can't possibly be that long can it?"
"See and believe."
The rat unsealed the report and around two dozen notepads appeared suddenly from the scroll. Tsunade eyed them up quickly.
"Thirteen volumes?"
"Almost every night he updated it. He stole it, like most everything else he had to eat or use."
"Nearly a thousand nights?"
"Yes."
Naruto and Fitch echoed the word together.
"I...will read this when I can." Tsunade stuttered slightly as she surveyed the report. Thoughts of turning this into a book were forgotten, this was unprecedented.
"As for his innocence over the death of the Konoha shinobi, it is not my tale to tell. However I trust him as our summoner. I believe you are upset for more than professional reasons."
Tsunade bristled with anger at the statement.
"You may be the chief of your clan, but speak like that to me again and you will suffer my wrath."
The rat spat on her desk.
"I am right. Examine yourself!"
Her fist descended onto the table as he disappeared. The desk splintered beneath the blow into two pieces. Shizune came hurrying through the doorway.
"I came as soon as I could and...oh. What happened?"
"I'll tell you later Shizune."
She wiped her hand on her clothes and sighed. That had been a rash move to make, and she already regretted it. He was right, infuriatingly right.
She turned to Naruto, who remained still.
"I may have been hasty in throwing you to T&I, and I apologise for that. However, I must uphold law. You will be examined over this before you are declared innocent. As my judgement on this matter is impaired, Shizune will read your report and judge its worthiness."
"What? Tsunade-sama, you can't expect me to be able to judge such a document! I am a doctor, I am not prepared for such a..."
"You are the perfect candidate. You are chief of my psychiatric division, and the only person who will take a balanced view. T&I look for suspicion everywhere, and no one else is as precise. Plus you like reading his reports."
"I...suppose so Tsunade-sama. I will do so. Where is the report?"
Kakashi gathered up the notebooks and handed them to her in a large pile. His eye-smile was visible as he leaned out from behind them.
"Enjoy!"
She nearly staggered under the sudden weight he dropped into her arms.
"Get too it Shizune. This is a mission of great importance."
She wobbled out of the room, still surprised at what was going on. Tsunade turned her attention to Naruto as the lights blinked back on. She smiled.
"Ah, that is better at least. Let me see you Naruto. Take off the hood."
"I...dark...not...light."
"I order you as Hokage."
"Hai."
He dropped the hood and Tsunade looked at his face. It was pale. The whisker marks looked almost black in comparison to how he had before. His face was thinner and gaunter too. The beard too. It would be adorably poor if it wasn't for who wore it.
"Remove your cloak."
He dropped the garment to the ground, and she only then realised how ragged and patched it was. Then realised that if it still covered him he hadn't really grown. Then she realised that his body glove was loose.
"When did you last eat a full meal?"
"Months."
She ran to him as he collapsed. Kakashi caught him before he hit the ground. Tsunade straightened up as she looked at Naruto and the full damage at three years of hiding in vents away from the light did to a person.
"Hospital. Now."