Chapter 18: Letter to Dana.

"We returned to Konoha mostly without any problem." My grandfather was continuing to tell his story. It was obvious that it would not have ended here.
"We had to stop a few times, for me. I could still use Chakra, as the battle before demonstrated, but having lived the life of a civilian for two years took a lot of my prior stamina.

During those stops, I confirmed that the Anbu I suspected was indeed Koji. He admonished me for 'ruining his cover' but still spent a little time with me.

He told me that, during those two years, he became an Anbu captain. He watched over my daughter for me. She grew to be a splendid field agent and, as I feared, hooked up with the little fucker. Sensing my feral side going up, he quickly explained me that, until now, he had been a perfect husband and no I will not demolish a fellow Konoha nin.

He also confirmed my other worse fear. Shiroi, who at some point during the conversation had vanished, told everyone about my totally romantic declaration of love to Manami. And it spread like wildfire.

I had the distinct honor to learn that, apparently, 'Pulling a Kiba' became an unofficial way of saying 'Finding the strength within you to do an insurmontable task, gloriously fucking everything up and, weirdly enough, succeed in the end'. According to him, it sticked.
All discussions in our little camp stopped when he said that. The glare I sent them didn't help."

Yup. Totally using that phrase now. Also don't worry gramps. Or… Yeah, worry the fuck. Your namesake will definitively continue the family tradition.

"When I asked him, he refused to confirm or deny that it was his idea. Which, in his style, was a way to say he totally did it. I swear to the kami, when you have friends like mine? You don't need enemies."

Kiba was obviously amused when he said that part of the story.

"Anyway, we arrived at Konoha a few days later. I was told to take the day off and rest before giving my report. I rushed to the Inuzuka compound and finally met my daughter again.
The second I saw her, I immediately embraced her. She was startled, not knowing that I was back, but quickly adapted and returned the embrace.
Oh, and she gave me a stern taking to. Apparently since she temporarily was the Fierce in my absence, she tried to create a persona of The Fierce and that I was kind of ruining it in front of her husband.

That's when I noticed that your father was in the room, slowly trying to slither away.
I think he felt the intent of murdering the shit out of him for defiling my daughter that radiated from me, but your mother quickly shut that down.

Then, I was introduced to the newest member of our pack. Your older sister, Hana, was born three months ago.

I'll admit, the constant crying in the house should have tipped me off, but I was a mess of emotions after seeing my daughter for so long.
Or seeing my daughter for the first time since I decided to see her as her own person.

My daughter held her child in her hand and made me hold her.
I think she might have felt the rising savagery within me because I was realizing that my cute little daughter had se… Hum, sorry, forget that. You'll get it later."

Nope. Still getting it right now. And I agree with the sentiment, for once.

"But when I held your sister in my arms, the feeling of Protection raised within me again. I understood that life will always continue, and I was holding the proof of that in my arms.

As I told Manami when I had my first report, me must move forward.

I did my report the next day. The mission was deemed a failure. Since the one who provided me with all the information I reported was a plant, then everything was considered untrustworthy. Not that I blamed them, everything in my reports showed that the Rain country was close to collapse on itself, but they still managed to stab us in the back.

I thought about everything Manami said to me, how her shock and despair sounded genuine, but couldn't deny the facts.

I was put out of the active register. I wasn't disgraced or anything. Sometimes missions fail. If you expel a shinobi after his first failure, Konoha wouldn't have many active shinobi left. But I was given time to get back into shape, having spent two years as a civilian. "

And maybe watch over you, in case you decided to go Full Native. Which you did, by the way.

"During those time, I took care of Hana. Caring for the new life that was the proof that my newfound convictions weren't wrong. I could still do some good things in this world.

Your father confessed to me, when he found the courage to do so, that he was grateful.
Apparently since I came back, they had their firsts nights of rest in months… Wimps…
Life was nice. After a few months, Tsume and I were reinstated into the active roster. Your mother was sent into tracking missions. She obviously had a talent for it, all Inuzuka does, but she demonstrated excellence in it.
She would someday become the Head of the tracking division and I was, once again, filled with pride for her.

As for me, I was put in a different mission. As you know, my talent resides in killing things until they are dead. So I was put on a delicate mission that could finally turn the balance and end the war.

I was tasked with the assassination of the Jonin commander of Rain.

The commander was an elusive person. Always draped in the standard Anbu uniform, always moving in the shadows. The profile showed multiple proficiencies: ninjutsu, taijutsu, the whole nine yard. Our intelligence thought that the 'commander' was multiple persons using the same alias. Or the title was simply given to the next one without anyone knowing about the change.

This 'commander' was apparently an expert in Chakra Thread usage. A puppet master, if you will, and his identity was suspected to be Kishimaru. A member of the Seven Swordsman, Kiri's most elite force, who used threads in his fighting style with deadly efficiency.

By killing him, our new Nara Jonin commander said, we will not only cripple their fighting force but also destroy their morale. The commander had been spotted leaving the village and heading toward the capital for a report. We will ambush him and publicly snuff out the last light of hope they had.

I wanted to refuse the mission. Manami might be among his escort, but the reports of our spies showed that no women of her type were among them. She was an intelligence division operative, after all. You don't send those on an escort mission.

I took the ordeal, hoping that I could use some time after the deal is done to track her.

After saying my goodbye to my daughter, we both knew how mission can turn to hell, I left the village with my team. Koji wasn't among them. He had his clan to lead and his twins, Hizashi and Hiashi, were both geniuses with a temper that demanded all his free time.

We infiltrated the Water country, even easier than last time, and found an excellent place for an ambush.

We lied in wait; our quarry arrived the day after. We launched the attack and Hell befall on earth again.

It was… It was an equal-opportunity Hellhole. We attacked the group and they immediately sprung into action. They were expecting an ambush.

I directly fought the commander. But in the midst of the mayhem, I slowly started to notice that our forces were evenly matched. For each Kiri nin that died, a Konoha nin paid the Price.

Each time an enemy attacked me, and I took the time to kill him, the commander used his threads to force one of our own to lower his guard and be killed by his opponent.

The commander was a true monster. Never making a sound and I felt that he wasn't even losing his calm. He was always keeping an eye for the battlefield and always finding a way to lower our forces with the least amount of strength required.

I tried my best to keep his attention on me, narrowing avoiding death a few times thanks to my Focus but our shared army was soon depleted.
At the end of the day, we were left to four. Me, Him, Shiroi and an extremely skilled Akebino swordmaster.
We all looked at each other in the eyes and the pact was sealed.
Shiroi and the 'honorable' Akebino went away, leaving me dealing with the commander. And then we all moved.

I threw everything at him. And he countered all of it. We were equally matched, his attacks easily avoided, mine never finding their mark.
Somehow, in my heart, I started to respect him. And then everything broke.

In a blood curling scream, Shiroi managed to plant his fangs in the throat of his opponent. But not before the swordsman plunged his own weapon close to his heart.

My Focus, at that moment, became even more potent.
I could move.
I watched my Friend being killed in slow motion, taking the life of his killer with him in a last blaze of glory.

Then I watched the commander unravel his sleeve, a sealing seal was engraved in it, but this move left him completely opened.

I grabbed the opportunity and moved inside his defenses. Then I took his head in my hands and ripped it out of his shoulders.

Enjoying each second that my Focus gave me; I watched the mask the commander was wearing felt.

I was going to enjoy every second of it.
I enjoyed seeing the light in the eyes I somehow knew fade out.
I enjoyed seeing the smiling mouth that I kissed before.
I looked… At Manami's face..."

Holy Fuck. Did NOT see the crit coming…

"I was still holding my focus. Refusing to admit the truth in front of me. I tried focusing harder and harder on her eyes so that they never lost their life. But I failed.
Her eyes slowly started to drop, in only a second that took an eternity. I closed my eyes to engrave her smile in my heart and heard her body fall to the ground.

Silently crying and still holding the head of my love in my heads, I felt Shiroi dragging his body towards me. Silently, he curled up in a ball at my feet, like the first day we met. And I felt our imprint being severed forever.

I stood unmoving for a long time, surrounded by the bodies of my friends, my comrades and my love. I… Don't know for how long I tried to reorient my thoughts.

Death is a natural part of being a Shinobi. So is life. You will never have one without the other. And now this senseless massacre will soon stop. Life will find a way. Life will. Now I must move forward…

I used a Katon Jutsu to immediately incinerate the head in my hands, in the traditional Inuzuka rite for the departed and finally allowed myself to open my eyes. I looked at her body and noticed that the object she tried to summon, and the end of our fight, was a long scroll."

Kiba took some time to calm himself. Did he really have to relieve all of this so that I 'would understand'?

"I will show you again my memories. I cannot… I cannot say it out loud…"

I let his presence takes over mine. I was now looking at a small scroll. One that my hands opened.

The handwriting was exquisite.

"To the man that killed me and holds this letter, let me preface it by telling you how grateful I am. Thank you, for having freed a soul trapped in hell.
My name is Inuzuka Manami. I took that name after meeting a mountain of a man. One that showed me there was good in this world. And in me.

I was one of the highest intelligence operative Kirigakure had, and I was given an S-rank mission.
A team of Konoha infiltrators had been spotted in our country. The scouting party was considered out of it's league when it saw that they were led by Inuzuka Kiba, The Wise.

Our filed showed us that they were outmatched.
Among us, only our Seven Swordsman and maybe me, if I had the element of surprise, would have a chance against him. And he was also noted to be stronger when he had someone to protect.

We chose to observe them using tracking summons and understood their goal. We then found that they stopped in a village recently burned by Rock. Officially. Truth comes in layers in Kiri.

So, I was given my orders. I was sent on a long deployment mission where I would meet the man they will send. Seduce him and feeds him false information so that Konoha underestimate our willingness to destroy them and the real state of our forces. We were already on the verge of collapse then and needed time.
Then kill him with the help of an assassination team after his physical conditioning was depleted enough.

I will leave alone to not raise any suspicion and will brief the village on what to say and what to hide from him. Then I chose to betray my home.

Let me say this. All that I told, all that he reported. Is true.
The depravity of the families, the corruption, the abuse. The fear…
It's all true.

I chose not to tell anything to the villager.
Introducing me as a girl native from here having come back to the village to help them. They would corroborate my information.

Then I waited and welcomed the man who I will call my love in the future.

I immediately understood that what I knew about him was true. He was a kind and caring person. It shown in the little acts of everyday's life, how he always tried to help people around him. How genuinely pleased he was when teaching our young.

I was an expert intelligence officer. I knew deception. This wasn't, that was him.

When I asked him questions about his former 'home', one I knew was Konoha, his body language was always one of longing. He loved his village, was aching to go back but didn't out of pure duty. There is no one like that in Kiri.

I felt completely in love.

The day he confessed to me was the best day of my life. I had just finished preparing my report for the next day when I saw him go outside to make his own, with all the information I had about the Kishi.
I just wanted to be with him a little more, so I came outside. And did something completely stupid.
I felt asleep with my head on his shoulder.
I didn't stay that way for long. He did the same thing, and I awoke with his head close to my own.

Realizing that I might have, in his own words: 'fucked everything up', I was blindsided and acted like myself for the first time in years. I screamed like a little girl.
But my faith in him was rewarded when he seemed like he was summoning all his strength and manliness and did the most adorable confession any Kunoichi dream to hear one day.

I happily returned his feelings, after I stopped laughing of course.
I hope you would have seen him that day.
Then I became the woman of the most wonderful man in the world. That night I selfishly took the name 'Inuzuka' out of love for him.

I thought about deserting. Telling him the truth and running away together but something stopped me.

But there is something within me.
A conviction that I cannot begin to explain. Someone will soon come into this world and change the Water country. I needed to do something for him. I don't know why but I know, from the bottom of my soul, that someone will soon come and free us from this cage. I needed to do something. The country is on his last leg, but it isn't doomed, not yet Someone will fight for us, and I have a part to play.

The next day, during my report, I was commended by my superior officer for 'having him dance around my little finger'.
I though how I could not hate this place more but kept the thought to myself.

The next month was both a paradise, living with him and everyone around us finding joy in our own and the alarming reports of military escalation in the village.

Then, before Kiba could warn you, they attacked.

I was told, after, that I was deliberately kept out the loop in case the 'bloodthirsty monster' discovered the truth while torturing me.
I discovered, then, that YES. I could hate this village even more.

But back to the attack. That night I broke down. How, in a single thoughtless act, everything will be destroyed. The one who will save this land would only have a charred husk to save. Kiba, always the oblivious romantic, pledged to 'Protect me'. But it was too late.

The assassination team came and Kiba killed them in one instant, one that I took to run away. He didn't give chase, out of love and lack of reason, and use the body of the assassination team to fake our death.

I vanished in the mist of our home, and then returned to my own personal hell."

I took some time, in my personal headspace, that she subtly lied by omission to hide the fact that my grandfather blew his own cover himself. Smart girl.

"I arrived at the village and did my report. The council praised my work to high heaven. According to them, the false information I gave him made Konoha think that we were weak. So, they didn't suspect a thing when the plan was launched. Also, I managed to survive fighting an S-rank enemy shinobi when all our team was immediately slaughtered. This was, for them, the proof that I had the strength and the presence of mind they needed for their new Jonin commander. The last one died, mask-less, in the attack.

My past paradise became my present hell. I took the role, you can't really refuse it, and watched helplessly from the top as our country slowly continued his descent into madness.

The new Kage was a young boy. A boy now the keeper of the Sanbi. He was a kind kid at first and I had hope he would change things; he might even be the one I expected. Then, with time, became more and more influenced by his prisoner and became distant and uncaring."

Nope, that's Obito's revenge starting.

"The Kage and the Daimyo let more and more power in the hands of the seven families, who abused every drop of it. I was ordered to train with Kishimaru of the Seven Swordsman. My 'tactical abilities' were deemed high enough to use ninja wire as a primary weapon. I accepted. When the real chosen one will come, I will be strong enough to fight at his side.

And then, one day, I understood that I had become my own personal prison.

Before I continue, I want to ask you, the one that finally freed me, to keep this letter from my love. Until he's able to move forward without me.

Three months after we separated, I discovered that I was pregnant. And everything collapsed around me.
I thought, many times before, about defecting. As the Jonin commander I was under constant protection. It would be hard, but doable.
But now, I was carrying his child and I couldn't do that anymore.

I could tolerate failing to escape and being killed. Kiri doesn't take kindly to defector.

But I couldn't do that to his child. I was trapped.

Thanks to the large clothes the Jonin commander is expected to always wear, I was able to hide my pregnancy and clandestinely give birth. I, with the help of a disabled elder I helped many times before, gave Kiba a daughter.
I called her Minami and made my friend promise that he would hide her among his clique of war-torn refugee. So that they never discover that she could use chakra and will be sent at the academy.
Then, after a week of desk duty. I felt something that would bring us to this moment, my savior. My friend from His village.

The conviction. The knowing, that someone will come… Changed to the feeling that someone had come. While I gave life to my daughter, the wheel of destiny started to move again.

I had done my part.

My daughter would either become the one that will save this land or accompany him as a companion. A source of strength. But while this land will burn, she'll be inside the flames. I condemned our own flesh and blood to a life of death and misery, to save a land that will never care about her.

The next day, my friend was killed, and I watched Minami being send to the orphanage. The entranceway of the academy.
She was meant to be there. To suffer, to hate, to fight and kill for a country that didn't deserve her.

I couldn't do this anymore. Whatever the wheel of time had in store for me, I didn't want to be a part of it anymore.

So, I went to the Mizukage. And I proposed a plan. I will go to the Daimyo, officially to report the status of the war. My travelling itinerary will leak, Konoha will take the bait and send a team to eliminate me. Since they still don't understand our frontier are manned with tracking summons, we will detect them and bring a superior force to crush them. Then morale will come back.

The plan was accepted, and I was praised again for my tactical mind and selfless mentality against our enemies.

Little did they know they just signed everyone death warrant.

So. When you came here, my friend, my savior, know this.
I chose and used you.
My strings will make sure that only you survived.
I will make sure that a Konoha nin dies for every Kiri nin that fall. Until there is only you and me.
Then, I'll let you kill me and the seal I had on my arm will finally release this message.
Know that I am sorry for the senseless loss of life that resulted from my decision. Those might have been your friends, your family... But...
Know that no life in this world matter to me anymore, except from Kiba's and my daughter. Not even my own.

A civilian friend is close by. He will run away when the fight starts and report my death publicly. The village will see that everyone died with me, and I did not 'betrayed' them. My daughter, should they even found her, will be safe.
I beg you that you don't chase him. The damage will be done, Kiri will fall, my love will learn about this and, in time, will move forward.
I ask you again that you show this letter only when he is ready. The next part is for him.

Kiba, my sun, my source of strength, my love, this is for you.

I'm so sorry...

The time we spent together were the best, the only good time of my life. I'm sorry for being a coward and choosing the easy way out, but I'm tired. I don't know how this world could be saved anymore. I hope that you will find the answer where I couldn't.

If you can, please find our daughter after the Rain country is saved. She cannot be allowed to leave. This I know, no matter how much it pains me, but your daughter is destined to great things.

Also, don't you fucking DARE come to me yet.
Know that I went to the Pure Land with a smile, and your timid one in my mind.
Now, I want to build a house. Those things take time after all, we build a lot of those during our time together.
Know that this will be the biggest, warmest and loving house you've ever seen.
Oh, I'll also bring Inuzuka Amane to help with the construction. I think she won't mind.
So, if you ever come here before it's finished? You'll be sleeping on the porch. No arguments.
This is goodbye again, my love. Thank you. I loved you."

The vision stopped. The hospital room was still as calm as ever. And Kiba was crying in his chair.

"And that's the end of the story of Inuzuka Kiba, The Wise who lost everything again and again. Now I can finally do what I wanted to say all those years. I can finally tell My Rules to an alpha. And finally, be relived of my duties and see that house myself…"

OH, FUCK NO!
No! Just no! I won't let that fucker dies before he could see his daughter… DAUGHTERS! You will stop fucking things up! This I swear!

I used my newly discovered focus to look around the room. Trying to find something, anything, that could delay it.
And found a used syringe on my nightstand.
A syringe they used when, apparently, I had night terrors (I don't remember having them, but that the very nature of it) but still had a few contents in it…

Okay, screw the Hippocratic oath.

The eyes of my grandfather were closed, to halt his tears.
He didn't saw me grabbing it, plunging in my arm where they usually used it and pushed the last pieces in my veins. He heard the sound though.

"I'm sorry, gramps… But Inuzuka Shinji is actually…."
Holy shit that shit is strong…
"Undergoing technical difficulty and…"
Finish the phrase, finish the PHRASE!
"Won't be available for a moment. We apologize foooooor the incooooo…."
You know what? Good enough.

As my eyes closed against my will, I looked at the face of my grandfather. He was smiling.

"You annoying piece of shit…"

And I welcomed this dreamless sleep.