Author's Note: And after an episode of building up, here comes the action! Though, don't think everything's going to go smoothly. Danzo isn't going down without a fight.
Enjoy:
Chapter 78:
The Enemy Without
or
Uprooting the bad weeds
Hokage Monument, early in the morning
"Boy, I wasn't expecting so many people here," Naruto said, as he looked the crowd around him.
"Whatever happened, it must be big for Hokage-sama to gather this many people," Haku observed.
Kurenai's Assault Squad started their morning routine as usual, with some training before seeing any mission that could suit them. After half an hour or so, an ANBU had appeared, requesting the three of them to meet with the Hokage at the Hokage Monument. It was an odd choice of place, given that Jiraiya often briefed every team he tasked a mission with in his office.
"No wonder Jiraiya-sama told us to meet him here," Hinata added. "His office is pretty big, but I doubt it could fit this many people."
"There are a lot of known faces," Naruto said, as he scanned the crowd. "There's Shizune-neechan and her team, Team Bushy-Brow Sensei, Team Kakashi..."
"Team Asuma as well," Hinata continued. "But... oddly enough, Ino-san isn't with them."
"Maybe she's indisposed?" Naruto guessed, sounding unsure. "Maybe she ate a lot and now is bedridden with indigestion."
"That doesn't sound like Ino-san at all," Hinata replied, shaking her head, before smiling at him in a teasing way. "That sound more like you, Naruto-kun."
"I can also see some ANBU, as well as several Military Police members," Kurenai said, speaking for the first time. "Whatever happened, it must be big if Hokage-sama needs so many people."
"Do you think it has to do with the last jinchuriki?" Naruto asked, sounding rather agitated. "Given our string of failures, I wouldn't put past dad to send an army to secure him."
"It's a possibility, yes," Kurenai conceded, a hand resting under her chin. "Though sending this many people to a single mission has a lot of drawbacks, such as-"
"It seems we're about to find out, sensei," Hinata interrupted the raven haired woman, as she nodded towards Jiraiya, who was walking towards them.
"Wait, isn't that Ino walking behind him?" Naruto asked, narrowing his eyes.
"Seems to be the case," Kurenai said, looking as puzzled as her students. "Anyway, now let's be quiet. I'm sure Hokage-sama will explain what's going on."
All the ninjas present there immediately stopped chattering with each other and stood to attention once the supreme commander of Konoha got closer to them. He scanned the crowd, and smiled while nodding, confirming that all the people and teams he had summoned were indeed there.
"Greeting. I know what you're thinking. Yes, this is highly unorthodox, even for my standards," the Hokage aknowledged. "However, time is of essence, and I couldn't afford to debrief every team and ninja present here one by one. The reason as for why I gathered you here is because we're going to carry out an operation against an enemy of Konoha which has been hiding within the village itself. Said enemy is the Black Ops organization known as Root, headed by Danzo. I'm sure that name rings a lot of bells."
Naturally, this revelation caused a lot of people to murmur among themselves worriedly, with some even asking what was going on. It was known that Jiraiya and Danzo didn't get along, but this was going too far.
"What did Danzo do to merit this?" an ANBU asked.
"Rest assured that everything has an explaination," Jiraiya continued, hoping to soothe their concerns. "I had the feeling that there were spies within the village that leaked our intelligence to our enemies. More especifically, regarding those related to our operations of search and rescue of jinchuriki. Now I know that it was Danzo's group the one behind these leaks. What they expected to gain by helping our enemies, I don't know."
"Do you have any evidence on this?" another ninja asked.
Ino then took a step forward. "I've been tasking Ino Yamanaka here with a counterespionage mission. Sadly, it took us quite some time, but we finally have the proof needed."
Without being told, Ino started to speak. "I've been following one of Danzo's agents, whose name is Sai. Thanks to my clan's psychic jutsu, I was able to collect information that incriminates Danzo and Root. Said information has already been shown to the people in the T & I department, as well as the Council of Elders."
"I knew that guy was trouble the moment I laid my eyes upon him," Sasuke said within the crowd.
"Well, it's a relief to see that Ino wasn't being manipulated by that asshole," Sakura added, and had to raise an eyebrow when she realized of the implications. "Actually... it was the other way around. Huh, didn't know Ino had it in her."
"I remember telling you that you should give Ino a little more credit," Sasuke reminded his girlfriend. "She's a kunoichi after all."
Near them, another Uchiha was also talking to his romatic partner. Even if said Uchiha was usually really nice and friendly, today he was shaking with anticipation. Shisui never forgot the confrontation with Danzo eight years ago. It's hard to forget when somebody gouges your eye out. And even harder if said someone gets away scott free.
"If it wasn't for Danzo," Shisui thought. "The Uchiha Insurrecion and all the pointless bloodshed it caused could have been averted. Today, you will pay for your crimes!"
The Uchiha was snapped out of his thoughts when a hand grabbed his. A hand he knew too well.
"Shisui? You okay?" Shizune whispered her husband.
"Don't worry, I'm fine," Shisui replied, grinning at his wife. "Let's say that I've been waiting this day for a long time."
"I can imagine," the medic-nin replied. "Though try not to get to carried away, okay? This is an important mission for Konoha as a whole."
"Don't worry, I'll behave," Shisui reassured, as his smile widened. Though Shizune could tell it wasn't entirely genuine.
Jiraiya, meanwhile, continued talking.
"Root has several installations that they use to carry their missions. Of course, none of them is their general HQ," Jiraiya stated. "Danzo believes that the location of his true HQ is unknown to us, but he forgot that I used to be the one in charge of the village's intelligence network, so finding it wasn't that hard for me.
"I'm sure that word of this attack will reach Danzo's ears before we can storm his base, so expect heavy resistance, as well as an escape attempt," Jiraiya said. "That's why we will split into two forces: the Vanguard Unit, and the Hunter Unit. The Vanguard Unit will be the ones to invade his base, and capture, disable or kill every member of Root you come into contact with. The Hunter Unit will spread around, and will capture any Root agent trying to flee. I expect Danzo will sacrifice several of his own agents to create a path to escape. Remember, Danzo is the main objective of this mission. If we can take him down, Root will go down with him.
"That's all. I myself will lead the Vanguard Unit in the raid. Everybody knows your roles Now let's go!"
Jiraiya jumped off the cliff, using the carved faces as footholds, until he reached the village, and headed towards the main Root HQ, with the ninjas of the Vanguard Unit closely trailing behind him. Meanwhile, the many squads that composed the Hunter Unit moved into their positions.
As this happened, three people were observing the display. These three persons were Koharu Utatane, Homura Mitokado, and Hiruzen Sarutobi. The retired Hokage looked at the rushing ninjas with melancholic eyes.
"To think that it would end like this..." Hiruzen began. "Danzo, just what did you do?"
"Guess it's a good thing we didn't offer the hat to Danzo when he asked for it after the Uchiha Insurrection," Koharu said, shaking her head.
"I believe Danzo had the skills to be a competent Hokage," Homura replied, earning a glare from the other councilor. "Though, his war-like tendencies made him a unsuitable candidate. Not to mention that further militarization of the village isn't what people wanted after the horrors of the Uchiha Insurrection."
"Danzo was also too stubborn. He always believed that his ways to solve problems were the only correct ones," Koharu continued. "But to leak information to the Akatsuki..."
"Danzo and I used to be friends," Hiruzen solemnly said, before straightening himself. "And I used to believe that, despite our differences, he loved this village as much as I do. But sadly... this treason cannot go unanswered.
"I'm sorry, old friend. I deeply lament this had to end like this."
Of all the times Hiruzen was glad that he was rid of the burden of being Hokage, this moment was the one he appreciated it the most. Just like what happened to Orochimaru, he was afraid that he would let Danzo go if he confronted his old friend. Fortunately, Jiraiya didn't have any kind of emotional connection with the War Hawk, and would do what's needed to do.
Shaking his head, he turned around and walked towards the village.
"Let's go," Hiruzen told his former teammates. "There's nothing left to see here. All we can do is wait for the news of Jiraiya's victory to arrive."
…
Root Underground Base, at that same moment
Just like Jiraiya had expected, Danzo got wind of the operation against Root. Its leader wasted no time, and gathered all the available agents he had in Konoha around him. Time was of essence, and there were many things to do. Though he had hope his men and women could deliver the results he was aiming for.
"My ninjas, what we feared has come to happen," Danzo started. "It seems that Jiraiya has evidence of our dealings with Akatsuki. Naturally, he didn't even bother to contact me and let me explain why I did this and how Konoha can benefit from it. As we speak, a batallion of ninjas loyal to him rush to this very base, ready to either kill or capture every single one of us."
As expected, none of his ninjas said anything. They remained quiet, still bowing to him, merely awaiting orders.
"Fortunately, I already had a contingency measure in case something like this came to happen," Danzo continued. "For the time being, given how outnumbered we are, the best course of action will be to flee the village. In order to do so, several of you will need to stay behind and fight Jiraiya's forces so you can buy the rest of us time to escape."
Again, none of his agents ever protested. If Danzo told them to die, they would die. Since they believed that that was for the best of the village. The thought of questioning such orders wouldn't even cross their minds.
"On top of covering our escape, we need to take several crucial assets for our organization to continue," Danzo finally said, as his single eye rested on a particular group of ninjas. "It's time to carry out Operation: Rising Phoenix."
…
A few minutes later, the Vanguard Unit, lead by Jiraiya, arrived at the entrance of Danzo's main base. It was an old, wrecked textile factory that had been severely damaged by the Nine Tails when it first attacked Konoha sixteen years ago. Since then, a new textile factory was opened, and this one was left unused. That's it, until Danzo decided it would make a great hideout.
"Is this the place?" Jiraiya asked the kunoichi besides him, who happened to be Hinata.
Hinata's Tenseigan flared for a second, and nodded. "Yes. There are several tunnels that lead to a large underground base. There are several ninjas placed inside the factory, as well as many others in the base."
"As expected, they know we're coming," Jiraiya confirmed with a nod. "What else? Do you see where Danzo is?"
Hinata's eyes scanned the underground base, until she finally found the man in question.
"Found him," Hinata said. "He's in the deepest part of the base. He seems to be issuing orders to his ninjas. Some of them are gathering around him while others are coming up. I believe he's planning to send half his forces to stop us while he escapes with the other half."
"Just as I expected," Jiraiya said, smirking a little. "Even if Danzo escapes our grasp –and I think it's a possibility– the Hunter Unit is going to give him a really nasty surprise. Now, if he plans to ambush us, it would be best to send somebody who's utterly and completely expendable. Naruto!"
"HEY!" the blond protested. "Who are you calling expendable?"
Jiraiya sweatdropped. "...I was talking about your clones."
Naruto's anger dissipated, replaced by a feeling of embarrasment. "Oh... yeah, that makes sense. Though you could have worded it differently."
"Naruto-kun, we have no time for this. For each second we stall, is one more second we give Danzo to escape," Haku reminded him.
"Oh, yeah, sorry!" Naruto replied, making his favorite hand seal. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
A hundred Naruto clones popped into existence. Without waiting for the original to issue a command, the orange and black clad army poured into the abandoned factory like predators breaking to their prey's lair. And just like they had expected, the Root ANBU ambushed them. Two Root agents leaped from their hideouts, weaving the same set of hand seals.
"Water Release: Water Wall!"
The two Root ninjas expelled a stream of water through the hole in their masks, quickly flooding the floor of the factory. As this happened, other two Root ninjas appeared, weaving a different set of hand seals from the first two.
"Lightning Release: Thunderbolt!"
Their hands started to crackle with electricity, before they shot lightning botls from their fingertips at the ground below. The water conducted the electricity, instantly dispelling most of the Naruto clones.
"Good job guys, you just wasted that carefully prepared trap on a bunch of clones!" one of the surviving clones boasted. "Everybody, come inside!"
"Everybody, watch out!" Hinata warned the ninjas breaking into the factory. "More Root agents remain hidden in the shadows! Expect another ambush!"
Just as Hinata had said, more masked Root ANBU jumped out of their hiding spots, and tossed kunai with paper tags attached to them. It didn't take a genius to realize what they were.
"Explosive tags! Take cover!" Asuma warned.
"Those aren't explosive tags!" Hinata shouted.
And indeed, upon closer inspection, they could see they had both a different color (dark blue rather than the usual faint yellow) and sealing patterns. The mysterious paper tags started to glow with a pink light, and suddenly an array of seals quickly started to spread all around the ground. Once the array was complete, they started to glow with a blue light, and the effect was immediate.
"Aw, what the hell?" Ino protested, as she was frozen in place. "I can't move!"
"Me neither!" Sakura replied.
"These seals seems to form an energy field that paralyzes whoever gets close," Sasuke deduced. "If we destroy the paper tags, it will be undone!"
"And you think we're going to let you?" a voice said from above, as more Root ninjas emerged from their hiding spot. All of them were carrying large sealing scrolls. "DIE!"
The ninjas above them unfurled the scrolls, whose contents were quickly unsealed, and the paralyzed ninjas found themselves about to be showered by a rain of multiple swords, kunai, shuriken, and other weapons and very sharp objects.
"Hinata-hime, your turn!" Naruto said.
Hinata, who had remained behind, floated into the factory, before flying upwards, completely immune to the effect of the paralyzing seals.
"Since I'm not touching the ground, I'm safe from that trap," Hinata thought, as she made several hand seals. "Tenseigan Chakra Cloak!" Hinata started to glow with a lavender aura. "Truth Seeking Balls!" The Hyuga Clan head created two dark orbs out of thin air. "Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion!"
The two Truth Seeking Balls merged into a single energy orb, which exploded into a silvery tornado that began moving upwards, blowing the rain of weapons away, until it destroyed the roof of the factory. The tornado not only pushed the storm of steel away, but several of the Root ninja were caught inside it as well.
Most people present watched in awe at the sheer destructive display of the Hyuga Clan head.
"Well done, Hinata!" Jiraiya praised, snapping the others out of their astonishment, before using a fire jutsu on a section of the ground. The section now revealed a tunnel that led underground.
"Hinata-hime and I will take care of this and secure the building!" Naruto volunteered, as he proceeded to produce more clones. "The rest of us, go downwards!"
"Very well then, son!" the Hokage agreed, before turning to the rest of his troops. "Everybody, go inside! Beware of any traps!"
The entrance tunnel to the underground base was very narrow and only allowed them to move in rows of one. Even if the tunnel itself was devoid of traps, such bottleneck was perfect for an ambush at the other end.
"Hokage-sama, there are a multitude of ninjas waiting for us to come out at the other side of the tunnel," one of the Hyuga ANBU accompaining them warned.
"As I imagined," Jiraiya said, as he bit his thumb. "Don't worry, whatever they're planning, I'm sure they're not accounting for what comes next."
…
At the other side of the tunnel, a large group of Root ninja waited patiently for their enemies to appear. The sensors had already warned them of their presence, and now they could hear them talking, even if they couldn't discern their words. Several agents were surrounding the tunnels' exit, ready to strike at whatever came out of that gate. And it seemed it would be Jiraiya, the Hokage. Danzo had told them that he would lead the attack, and to make him a priority target.
Yes, getting rid of that weak Hokage would be a huge service to Konoha.
However, those who underestimate Jiraiya would pay for it dearly, and the Toad Sage was about to show why he was a living legend.
"SUMMONING JUTSU!"
There was a burst of smoke, followed by a large, six meter tall toad, breaking through the tunnel, tearing it apart completely. The toad was blue skinned with a yellow belly, holding a kanabo in one hand and a rectangular metal shield in the other. While the Root agents didn't expect soemthing like that to happen, they didn't hesitate and unleashed a barrage of elemental ninjutsu on the toad.
"Yikes!" the toad cried, as he hid behind his metal shield.
"Sorry, Ryoko, but you were the best one to use for this situation!" Jiraiya hastily apologized as he leaped above the toad. "This place is too small to summon the larger toads, and Ryoko's shield makes him the perfect candidate for a meat wall. Though I better not say that out loud." Jiraiya thought
Aside form that, Ryoko also blew a huge hole in the wall connecting the tunnel, destroying the bottleneck and thus allowing the Konoha ninjas to pour into the base in large groups, while also using the giant toad as a meat shield.
"Goddamit, why is that when I'm summoned, is to be used as an improvised shield?" Ryoko complained. "It's because I carry a shield myself?"
"Again, sorry, Ryoko! I promise I'll make up to you!" Jiraiya told him, as he endaged in combat with a Root ANBU that carried two swords.
"You better!" Ryoko complained, before he noticed what was going on. "Hey, wait a minute, all these guys are Konoha ninja, what gives?"
"Let's say we managed to find that they weren't as loyal to the village as we thought," Jiraiya replied, as he traded blows with the dual wielding ninja.
"Er... this is going to be rather complicated..." the toad grumbled as he looked at the battlefield around him. "You guys are wearing the same clothes and all that..."
"It's okay! Just stay there and cover our ninjas as they enter this place!" Jiraiya told the giant toad.
A few seconds into the fight, circular sealing patters started to appear all around the ground. While some of them didn't know what they mean –other than a potential trap–, many others, especifically those who took part in the Kirigakure Civil War, remembered very well what was going to happen. Still, every ninja, Root or otherwise jumped backwards to give the seals space.
"You have to be kidding me..." Sasuke groaned.
The seals started to glow, until produced a burst of smoke each. And from the smoke, a humanoid mechanical construct emerged.
"Chakra Golems," Jiraiya hissed, narrowing his eyes. "Did Danzo steal the blueprints as well?"
These golems ressembled greatly those used by the Blood Mist, except that they were black with red hightlights instead of red, and had Konoha's crest on them instead of Kiri's. Jiraiya could also see that they had more sealing patterns written all over their steel plating than those Naruto and the others brought from Kiri. The fight had become much more difficult.
"What... what are those things?" a Konoha ANBU asked.
The Chakra Golems started to hum as the fuinjutsu patterns across their chassis started to glow with a blue light, signaling that they had been activated. Recognizing the Konoha ninjas not affiliated to Root as enemies, the mechanical creatures stomped towards them.
"They're Chakra Golems. Mechanical constructs animated by Uzumaki fuinjutsu and powered by chakra," Karin quickly explained. Some Konoha ninjas started to form hand seals, but the redhead interrupted them in time. "They can absorb ninjutsu, so only those who are good hand to hand combat should fight them!"
"Too bad we didn't brought Tenten-chan's team," Haku lamented. "Gai-sensei and Lee-san would make short work of these machines."
"Thank goodness I'm here to trash these pieces of scrap," Sakura eagerly said, as she took a step forward while punching the palm of her hand. "Come on!"
The pinkette lunged towards an incoming golem, delivering a brutal chakra-enhanced punch to its chest, blowing a large hole on it. The force of the attack was such that the golem was hurled backwards, before slamming against a wall.
"Were those golems this fragile, or it's me who became stronger?" Sakura wondered aloud, enjoying the situation. "Who cares. The faster I can get rid of them. Guys, cover me while I trash these overgrown toys!"
Sakura dashed towards another Golem. Two Root ninjas, a large man carrying a massive sword, and another, smaller man wielding bladed tonfas. However, the two of them were unable to reach the pinkette, as their weapons clashed against a katana and a shoto. Sasuke Uchiha was the one holding the blades parrying their weapons.
"If you want to touch her, you'll have to go through me first," Sasuke cooly said, as he spun around his feet, turning himself into a brief bladed whirlwind, pushing the root ninjas aside.
"Thank you, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura said, as she was about to reach the second golem. "Now let's turn you into scrap metal!"
However, before Sakura could reach, one of the seals in the golem's chestplate started to glow. Then, a circular sealing pattern spread from the golem's feet, covering an area of two meters in radius. And the moment Sakura entered the sealed area, she was paralyzed on the spot, much to her shock and confusion.
"What the...?" Sakura asked, as she struggled to break free. "What's going on? Why can't I move? This is like being trapped by Shikamaru's jutsu!"
The golem stomped forward, and raised one of its massive fists in order to crush the pinkette. Sakura let out a scream.
"Sakura!" Sasuke shouted, as he tried to help her, but the large man with the broadsword got in the way.
"You're not going anywhere, Uchiha!" the man shouted, as he brought his sword down, forcing Sasuke to parry.
"GET OUT OF MY WAY!" Sasuke hollered, while delivering powerful and swift blows with his katana.
"Ice Release: Ice Barrier!"
Just when the golem's fist was going to hit the defenseless Sakura, a wall of ice developed between the two of them. The mechanical warrior hit the frozen barrier, but only suceeded in cracking it a little. The cracks quickly disappeared as if the ice had a healing factor. As this happened, Karin rushed forward, making a hand seal.
"Adamantine Sealing Chains!"
Several chains wrapped around the golem, pulling it back, and thus releasing Sakura from the fuinjutsu paralysis trap. Wasting no time, the pinkette climbed the wall of ice, and used it as a springboard before jumping into the air.
"Heavenly Foot of Pain!"
Sakura landed feet-first into the downed golem, the impact shattering it into tiny pieces of metal. She looked at Haku and Karin, and smiled in gratitude.
"Thank you, guys. A second later and I would have been a goner," Sakura told them.
"It seems that this golems know more tricks than those we fought in Kiri," Haku observed. "Better advance with caution."
"Though we shouldn't spend too much time fighting these mooks," Shisui called, as he traded blows with another tanto-wielding masked ninja. The Root ninja slashed at Shisui, but his weapon phased through him as if he was an illusion, before slowly vanishing. The real Shisui appeared from behind, and plunged his own tanto into the man's back, killing him instantly. "Danzo is probably preparing his escape as we speak."
"I sense more ninjas in the lower levels, but they're still," Karin relayed, as she directed her Mind Eye of Kagura down below. "I think they're planning a series of ambushes when we get down."
"Thus confirming that this is mere a delay," Jiraiya stated. "Half of you stay here and fight these Root agents! Everybody else, with me! Let's go downwards!"
"Don't let them advance any further!" a female Root agent cried.
"Shizune-chan, let's cover them! Time for our combo!" Shisui called.
Shizune nodded, and made a hand seal while taking her head back.
"Posion Mist!"
Her cheeks puffed before expelling a stream of purple, poisonous gas. The Root ninja immediately jumped back, careful not to let the gas even touch them. It was too late when they noticed Shisui weaving hand seals.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Shisui bretahed a fireball at the growing toxic cloud. Not too big, since he didn't need it to be large for what he was planning to do. The moment the fireball touched the purple cloud, it instantly ignited, producing a chain of explosions, making the whole underground base to shake.
"That's out chance! Now go! Go! Go!" the Hokage urged, as he dashed towards the staris that led to the lower levels, followed by several of his ninjas.
And, as expected, the moment they reached the next sublevel, they were welcomed by yet another ambush, with several Root ninjas unleashing a barrage of elemental attacks, kunai and shuriken on them, followed by several Chakra Golems charging forward. However, there was a new element that wasn't present in the previous fights: large animals made of ink.
"Sai is here!" Shikamaru pointed out. "Can you guys see him?"
"He's not fighting us directly," Ino said, as he made hand seal, in an attempt to sense him. An attempt that resulted in a success. "He's hiding in a nearby storage room. He's probably drawing and animating creatures before sending them to fight us."
"That way, he can fight and help his friends without exposing himself," Asuma deduced. "Cheeky bastard."
"I'll take care of him," Ino decided, as she started running towards the room Sai was hiding in.
"Ino, wait for us!" Choji said, as he and Shikamaru rushed after her.
"No!" the blonde replied, much to her teammates' confusion. "I want to do this alone. There's something I need to tell Sai. Plus I may be able to end this in a nonviolent way."
"Ino," Asuma said in a somewhat forewarning tone. "I know you care about Sai. But he's with the enemy, and has always been. Don't let your feelings get in the way of what has to be done."
Ino scolwed, and averted her gaze, looking as if she was wrestling with conflicting feelings. Eventually, she returned her sensei's gaze.
"Don't worry, Asuma-sensei. I'm a kunoichi. I know what to do."
And Ino went to face Sai alone.
…
"Super Beast Imitation Drawing!"
As expected, Sai was sitting alone on a half empty crate inside one of the building's many storage rooms, calmly drawing pictures of various animals before bringing them to life and sending them to support his fellow Root agents.
"Sai." a voice called.
The pale boy loked up, and saw Ino glaring at him, a kunai in hand. Her eyes were glinting with anger, but she was doing an admirable job at supressing it.
"Oh, Ino, hello," Sai said, giving her a smile. "I wasn't expecting to see you here."
"What did I told you about faking a smile, Sai? You aren't fooling anybody, much less me," the Yamanaka heiress hissed.
"This smile isn't fake. I'm smiling because I like seeing you," Sai truthfully replied, as he furled his scroll, and stood on his feet. "I enjoy and appreciate your company."
"Why, Sai? Why did you help Danzo? Why did you guys leaked intel to the Akatsuki of all people?" Ino angrily asked.
"I don't know. It's not my place to question Danzo-sama's orders," Sai replied, and Ino once again could tell he was being honest. "But if he says that it will be for Konoha's benefit in the long run, I believe him. However, I must ask: how do you know Danzo-sama was responsible for the leaks? Root's security is tight when it comes to keep our operations a secret."
"If you don't remember, Sai, I'm not just a Yamanaka, but the Clan Heiress," Ino replied. "While I wasn't as suspicious of you as others were, it took me no time to find that you were a spy. And with the Mind Fragmentation Jutsu, I was able to see and hear through your eyes and ears as if they were my own."
"That can't be true," Sai said, looking a bit confused. "A Yamanaka Root agent that's stronger than you scanned my mind after all our meetings just in case you tried something like that. He never found anything."
"Quite pretentious to assume that guy to be stronger than me, don't you think?" an annoyed Ino said, as she placed one hand on her hip. "I did tell you that it's a jutsu I created, meaning that no other Yamanaka knows about it. And I refined it so I could create a shard of my mind so small, it could go unnoticed for anybody who would try to scan your mind, unless they knew what they were looking for."
Sai smiled again. This time, it was a smile of admiration. "So, you knew that I was spying on you. And used the opportunity to turn the tables on me. Truly outstanding. I had to admit that I underestimated you, Ino."
"Why are you smiling!?" Ino screeched, her face turning red. "I pretended to be your friend, but I was just using you! Why aren't you angry at me!?"
"Why should I be? You were doing your job, nothing less, nothing more," Sai said with a shrug. "The only thing I should feel is regret for letting me fall to your tricks. But I will supress that feeling too. After all, emotions are the enemy of the ninja."
Ino took a step backwards, his face no longer contorted with anger, but reflecting a look that was a bit of shock and pity.
"Just what they've done to you!?" Ino asked, her voice cracking with horror.
"I am a tool of Danzo-sama that he will use to shape the world into a better place," Sai replied, his cheerful demeanor, fake or otherwise, disappearing, as it was replaced by stoic determination. "And tools aren't allowed to feel emotions."
"You lie. Even if it was a farce, I refuse to believe that all the time we spent together didn't influence you in any way," Ino replied, before narrowing his eyes. "I can feel your inner turmoil. How you struggle to supress your emotions. It has been incresingly difficult the more you got to know me, right?"
"That's not true. My emotions are in check. My mind is clear," Sai declared.
Ino shook her head, unconvinced. "Chakra doesn't lie. I'm a sensor, remember? And your chakra fluctuates in a very irregular way. Your chakra isn't that of a calm person."
"Why do you care about how I feel?" Sai asked. "I'm your enemy. A ninja doesn't show compassion to an enemy. It's illogical, and goes against common sense."
"Maybe because I'm lying to myself. Maybe because I'm a lovestruck fool. Maybe because I'm still an idiotic little girl pretending to be a kunoichi," Ino replied, shrugging. "And humans are rarely driven by logic."
"And you still plan to fight me? In that condition, you will barely be able to stand against me," Sai replied.
"Why? You may think that emotions are a ninja's enemy. But I was taught that my emotions can also be a source of strenght. When you fight to protect something you love..." Ino began, as her body slipped into a fighting stance, while her face reflected nothing but determination. "...is when a ninja's at their most powerful!"
"Very well then. I believe no more words are necessary. Now, we fight. Show me this power of yours, Ino," Sai challenged.
Ino's lips curved into a smirk. "It will be a pleasure."
True to his words, Sai didn't say anything. Instead, he pulled a smaller scroll, unfurled it, and started to draw something on it at a lightning speed pace.
"Super Beast Imitation Drawing!"
Several inky black snakes jumped out of the scroll, and quickly slithered their way towards Ino, hissing loudly as they came closer. The blonde kept calm, slowly walked back, and carefully eyed the drawn reptiles as they prepared to attack.
The moment the snakes lunged at her, Ino pulled out several shuriken from her ninja tool pouch, and tossed them. The close distance made aiming much easier, and the momentum the snakes carried made them impossible to dodge, and thus they were turned again into small puddles of ink once the shuriken hit them.
Ino then rushed forward, and her hands started weaving hand seals, just like Sai was busy drawing more pictures in his scroll. Ino finished her jutsu faster.
"Water Release: Water Gun!"
Ino's cheeks puffed, before shooting several water bullets at Sai.
"Super Beast Imitation Drawing!"
Several large dogs emerged from his scroll. However, before the dogs could leave the scroll completely, the incoming water bullets destroyed them. One of the water bullets even hit Sai in the shoulder, dropping the Root agent to one knee, while instinctively clutching the damaged spot to soothe the pain.
"You'd do well not underestimating me, Sai," Ino hissed, glowering at Sai.
The pale skinned boy stood back on his feet, and nodded. He stopped clutching his shoulder, and pulled another scroll, this one being larger.
"Of course. That was careless of my part," Sai said, as he quickly started drawing once again, his hand moving so fast it was almost a blur. "I promise I will throw at you everything I have."
Multiple ink bats emerged from the scroll, and flew at ino in a circular formation, so the blonde wouldn't be able to destroy all of them at once. Not that Ino wasn't going to try anyway.
"Water Release: Water Gun!"
Once again, Ino started to shoot small but deadly watery projectiles at the bats, each creature hit being turned into a small puddle of ink. And the bats were small enough that the bullets kept most of their momentum after destroying once. Unfortunately, there were many of them, and spread too wide to destroy individually.
A shadow alerted Ino that the bats might be a mere distraction. Looking up for a split second, the Yamanaka Heiress saw that Sai was riding a giant bird made of ink, and the pale Root agent was still drawing more creatures to throw at her.
"Super Beast Imitation Drawing!"
Four tigers jumped from the scroll, and pounced at Ino, letting out loud roars.
"This is bad. I can't defeat him in direct combat," Ino forced herself to admit. Her hand drifted towards her ninja tool pouch, and grabbed something. "Time for a different approach then!"
Ino tossed something to the ground, which exploded on contact, followed by a burst of smoke, and a grey cloud covering the area, and most importantly, hiding her from Sai's eyes. Sai commanded his bird to vigorously flap its wings, producing a constant gust of wind. The wind quickly dispelled the cloud of smoke.
But when the smoke cleared out, Ino was nowhere to be seen, just Sai's ink tigers, confusedly looking around for their prey. The Root agent was also confused as to where Ino could have gone. That's it, until Sai, perceptive as he was, noticed what was finally wrong with the current situation. There were five ink tigers, and he had only drawn four.
"I admit, that wasn't a bad tactic, Ino," Sai said, as he began to pull five kunai. "But it ends here."
Sai tossed the five kunai at once at his ink tigers, all of them hitting the target with flawless accuracy. Four of the tigers dissolved into a puddle of ink, while the fifth one burst into smoke, revealing Ino, who was clutching the knife now stabbed into her gut, as she fell to the ground.
"Don't worry, Ino, I won't kill you," Sai softly said, as his bird descended. "But you need to surrender, otherwise I can't give you the medical help you need."
Ino, still panting and heaving, shot Sai a murderous glare, before it turned into a smirk, much to the black haired boy's confusion.
"Oh, it's YOU who'se going to be in need of medical attention!"
And Ino poofed away, leaving nothing but a burst of smoke.
"A Shadow Clone? Since when did she-?" Sai asked aloud, before realizing that something was above him. Much to his surprise, that something was Ino, who was using chakra control to stick herself to the ceiling.
Before Sai could react, Ino dropped from above. Sai was unable to move in time, and the Yamanaka heiress landed on his bird, but did so with such force, that the fabricated animal burst into multiple blots of ink, making the two ninjas fall to the ground.
Ino ignored the pain, got on her feet as fast as she could, and hobbled her way towards Sai, this was her only chance to do it.
"Mental Scourge Jutsu!"
At such close range, the jutsu didn't miss, and the pale skinned boy felt prety to a short but intense headache. And he had seen that jutsu in action more times to know that the migraine could be the first of many if he wasn't careful.
"Alright then, let's see how well do you fight," Ino began, still panting and hurt, while she grabbed a couple kunai. "Now that you can't rely on those little scribbles of yours."
"Danzo-sama trains all his agents to be more than just one trick ponies," Sai stated, as he unsheathed his tanto. "I can still fight even if ninjutsu is no longer an option."
Ino frowned a little. Not because she knew he was speaking the truth, but because she also knew that not only was he better than her in close combat, but he made no signs of boasting. He wasn't underestimating her. Say what you want about Danzo, but the man knew how to train a ninja in order to be good at their job.
Sai dashed forward, his tanto in hand. His steps were fast and precise. Ino had to take a step back and raise a kunai to preemptively parry an incoming slash. However, before she could counterattack, Sai quickly attacked again, this time with a stab that Ino was barely able to deflect. Sai, however, managed to quickly strike Ino's wrists, knocking one of the kunai out of her hands.
"Shit!" Ino cursed, as she jumped backwards, in a vain attempt to put some distance from Sai.
"It seems that now you're realizing the mistake of engaging me in hand to hand combat," Sai calmly said, as he dashed forward once again.
As panic started to seep in, Ino's hand went to her ninja pool touch, and grabbed another smoke bomb. She noticed it was the last one.
"I definitely need to carry more," Ino thought, as she tossed the small orb into her feet, producing a burst of smoke, followed by a cloud of blackness.
Just as expected, Sai broke his dash, and slipped into a defensive position. While the smokescreen was up, Sai would be blind while Ino could track him through her sensor abilities. A whirring sound warned him of an incoming attack, and raising his tanto, he expertly parried the four shuriken aimed at him.
"The shuriken came from there!" he thought, as he dashed towards the spot he thought Ino was. But much to his disappointment, Ino was no longer there. He could hear the faint sound of quick footsteps, but he couldn't pinpoint where they came from, other than telling him that Ino had changed her spot.
More shuriken, coming form a different spot this time. Once again, Sai prepared to block. But before he was about to do it, another whirring sound coming from behind alerted him of an attack coming from that direction. Sai quickly dropped into the floor and rolled, narrowly avoiding the steel stars.
"Two different directions, she must be using a clone," Sai deduced.
That moment, the smoke started to dispel, and the Root agent could see the shape of Ino. He didn't know if she was the real one or a clone, but he didn't care. Even if she was the clone, destroying it would make the fight easier. So wasting no time, Sai charged towards her, tanto in hand. He could see Ino grabbing more stuff from her ninja tool pouch –just how many weapons it could carry?–. He rolled into the ground just as Ino tossed him a handful of kunai, before striking her.
Sai's tanto slashed Ino's bare abdomen, resulting in a spray of blood, which confirmed that she had struck the real one instead of the clone. And indeed, he heard said clone poofing behind him. Ino stumbled backwards, and quickly started to heal her wound.
"Man, I'm going to be so pissed if this leaves a scar..." Ino grumbled, as she tried to heal her bleeding wound.
"Your atittude is rather casual for somebody who just lost a fight," Sai said, as he prepared to strike again.
"Oh, I didn't lose," Ino said, sounding incredibly sure of herself. "In fact, I just won, you just haven't seen it yet."
"You haven't lost that much blood to become delirious," Sai stated matter-o-factly. The smoke was now almost gone.
"You think so? In that case, take a look at where you're stepping," Ino said, as her eyes moved to Sai's feet.
Even if it was most likely a ruse to distract him, Sai allowed himself to take a quick look down. Ino, however, didn't attack. She didn't need to. Because much to the pale teen's horror, he was stepping onto several explosive tags in the ground. In fact, the entire floor was littered with explosive tags.
"Move one step, and you'll blow up," Ino told him while she continued healing herself. "And now you're going to tell me you have a way to counter this tactic, do you?"
That's what Sai wanted to say. But no matter what he thought, he couldn't find any solution to his problem. If he couldn't move, he couldn't defend from Ino's attacks. And given that the blonde removed his ability to use ninjutsu as well...
"So, while I was focused on finding you and blocking your ranged attacks, you were covering the floor in explosive tags," Sai guessed. "A very clever strategy."
"I may not be the strongest ninja out there. My taijutsu is so-so, and my ninjutsu is mostly suited for support rather than direct offense. However, if there's something I'm proud of being, that's being observant as hell," Ino told him. "When I use smoke bombs, I always notice that the opponent will either try to find me, or get ready for an ambush. But almost nobody takes into account that I might use the cover of the smoke to set up a trap. Now tell me, how do you plan to get out of this situation?"
"I'm afraid I have nothing," Sai admitted, dropping his tanto, and holding his hand sin the air as a sign of defeat. "Rooted in a single place, I have no means to continue fighting."
"Rooted?" Ino repeated, as a small laugh escaped her mouth. "Was that a pun?"
"I found it fitting for my situation," Sai replied.
"You may not be as hopeless as I thought..." Ino said, her smile softening.
"What are you going to do with me?" Sai asked.
"I'm going to capture you. Then, I'll hand you to Hokage-sama, who will decide your fate," Ino stated, before a realization dawned upon her. "Wait, are you going to let me capture you? I thought you Root guys were ready to die before letting the enemy win."
"In the past, I would have moved and let the explosion kill me," Sai stated in a jarringly neutral tone. "But now... I don't want to. I don't want to die. Not because I'm afraid of dying but... but because I don't want to die this way. Not like this. Maybe Danzo-sama was right. I let you influence me in a much greater way than I had expected. In the end, I couldn't help but underestimate you from the very beginning. And now I pay the price."
"Don't give to despair, Sai. Life has many surprises in store for us. Some of them are good," Ino said, as she walked towards the brunet, and placed a hand on his forehead. "Sleep."
Sai dropped down instantly, with Ino quickly catching him before he could hit the floor, and carefully placed him down.
"Okay Sai, let's see what your mind hides. With some luck, Danzo might have said in your presence where did he plan to flee," Ino wondered aloud, as he placed both hands over Sai's head, and started to scry his mind. And as she had hoped, Sai's memories proved to be a treasure trove of information regarding Root and Danzo. She kept digging further and further, until she reached a certain point where she was forced to stop.
All color disappeared from her face upon hearing Danzo talk about the Operation: Rising Phoenix, and all what it entailed.
"No...no!" Ino said in horror, as she quickly got up. "This... this is bad! I have to tell Hokage-sama!"
Fortunately for her, her telephathy would allow her to contact Jiraiya immediately, and warn him about what was going on. She simply prayed it wasn't too late.
Author's Note: When I was planning this story, one of the things I wanted to do is not only stick to the six canonical couples we got at the end of the manga, but also trying to improve them and making them more believable. Sai and Ino proved to be by far the most difficult to approach. Even when I finished Part 1, I still wasn't sure what I could do with them. Fortunately, thanks to a suggestion from fellow Naruhina writer The Flare Blade (go to read his story "Because I love You: Chasing After You" if you want a good read), I was able to come up with an arc that's both relevant to the story as a whole, and impactful to their characters.
While Sai's development in canon was okay, it always bugged me that it was tied to Naruto. Naruto did become a very important person to Sai, but Sai was basically an afterthought to Naruto. I always thought that it would be much better if Sai's devleopment was tied to that of his future wife. Plus, not everything has to revolve around Naruto, you know?
So yeah. This battle was meant to represent the crux of both their character arcs. Also, another opportunity to showcase how badass Ino can be, and that not every battle has to be won by the ninja with the most destructive jutsu.
Thanks to Ookami88 for betareading this chapter.
Like I said above, Danzo isn't going down without a fight. What is "Operation: Rising Phoenix", and how will affect the heroes? Will Ino's warning reach them in time to stop it? Find out next chapter! In the meantime, don't forget to leave a review! reviews make me really, really, really happy!