No one talked on the way back from Wave, and before you could go home, Crow whispered "Danzo want to see you now," in your ear.
You sighed in resignation before you headed towards the underground entrance. Why couldn't you get some peace? The only thing you could do was to take your time, that bastard could wait.
When you finally entered your room, he didn't look happy. Danzo never looked happy.
"Don't let me wait again," he said and hit you over the head with his cane.
"I'm sorry," you muttered.
"I've something I want to teach you as a reward for your performance in Wave," Danzo told you.
"No thanks," you replied. You didn't want to give him more ammunition to mess with you. And besides, "I don't deserve a reward for ruining people's livelihood and dooming the village to poverty," you said.
"It is not optional," Danzo said. "Let me show you."
He put a paper tag on your desk and put his fingers on it. Moments later a storage seal manifested itself.
"I'm sure you will find this useful."
It was. Not that you would use it for storage seals, but he wouldn't show it to you if it weren't more universal.
"Alright, teach me," you replied.
Danzo brought out a black bottle, ink? And put it on your desk.
"Drink it," Danzo ordered.
"You want me to drink ink?" You asked.
"Yes," he replied. "Don't you usually use ink for your seals?"
"I do but," you were going to say more, but you shut up as Danzo lifted his cane and you grabbed the bottle.
It tasted horrible and you stopped after a mouthful, you had to fight to keep it in.
"Feel for the ink as it goes into your body. It will be easier with some practice."
"I think I'll just do it the old way," you said.
A gentle tap from Danzo's cane made you reconsider.
"You will do the same as you did when you first learnt Fūinjutsu. Start with simple strokes and build yourself up to a complete seal," he explained and put a blank piece of paper in front of you.
That didn't explain how, but you had an inkling of an idea. You drew on the ink as if it was chakra and made a mental brush stroke with it as you touched the paper.
It was nothing fancy, but seeing the line one the paper made you smile. You couldn't tell it apart from a real brushstroke.
"You can figure out the rest yourself. I'll be checking on your progress, so do not disappoint me," he said and left.
You spent the rest of the day practising, making the symbols more and more complex, but not close to a seal yet. The ink still tasted bad, but you started to get used to it.
-x-
The team training the next day was a boring slog, but not every day as a ninja could be fun. Just as you got back home, someone knocked on the door.
Outside stood Shin. "Hi, can I come in?"
"I'm going to eat now, I just had a whole day of training with my team and I'm hungry," you said.
"I know, so I brought some food, I want to talk to you," he said.
"Did you watch me?" You asked him.
"Of course. What do you expect of me, I'm a Yamanaka. That's like being surprised that a Nara is lazy or that an Uchiha is moody," he said.
"It is a bit creepy you know, but come in," you said and held up the door.
"Thanks," he said. "You've people watching you all the time, would you call the ANBU creepy too?"
"Yes, I would," you replied. "Just sit down and I'll set the table."
Shin had brought some chicken curry and rice that he packed out.
"It's good," you said after taking your first bite.
"Thanks, my dad helped me make it. I need to learn how to make my own food in case something happens."
"Something happens?" You asked.
"Everything that happens from tomorrow on is a lie," he said.
"What do you mean?" You asked.
"I'm sure you can piece it together, I'm not allowed to tell you," he said.
"If I were smart, I wouldn't be in as much trouble as I'm now," you said.
"Hmm… Danzo right? Dad was told to keep me away from you, but…," Shin replied.
"You would be an effective spy with those mind-reading abilities of yours," you said.
Shin just smiled at you.
"Oh… so that's why you've been watching me and acting a bit weird, you've been practising?" you asked him.
"Not much of a practice watching you. Have you regretted anything you've done on a mission?" He asked.
"Yeah," you replied.
"What happened?"
"I'm not allowed to tell you," you replied.
"I'm not asking exactly what happened. I'm talking about why you regretted it."
"I guess ruining the lives of people who have done nothing wrong and only helpful should be clear enough," you said.
"I'm going to make my clan proud. I will still be joining Shikamaru and Choji on their genin team. Maybe you'll be our jounin sensei," he joked.
"I don't think that. Should you really be telling me all this?" You asked.
"It's not like you're going to tell anyone. Just watch out for Shikamaru and Choji. If they ask, tell them that I hope we can still be friends," he said.
"I will," you said and took another bite of the food.
"Thanks," he said. "How do you safely use explosive tags?"
"Explosive tags aren't exactly safe," you answered.
"What if you didn't want to risk killing someone if something goes wrong, just cause some minor injuries in case of an accident?" He asked and took a sip of water.
"You could use smaller ones with less firepower, they will be less effective so you need to use more of them for the same result, but they should be safer to handle. They're quite good for training, but they're also quite boring, so don't get your excitement up for them," you explained.
"Uhhh, where do I get some?" He asked.
"I can make you some," you said and got your bag. "It won't take long."
You had given away your batch of weak tags to Tenten and you hadn't made any since then, but it would be fast to create some new ones. You grabbed about ten blank paper tags, that should be enough for now.
You pushed aside your plate and began drawing with Shin stretching over the table to look, but it didn't seem like he understood much.
When you were done with your little pile, you handed them to him. "Here, be careful. They'll have a short fuse before they explode, so practice with them first to learn how much time you have. Just push some chakra into it and throw them or get away from them."
"Thanks," he said and put them in his pocket.
"Do you think it is enough?" You asked.
"Yeah," he said. "I think I need to be going home now, it's getting late."
"Good luck," you said.
"Thanks and don't tell anyone I was here," he said and went up to you and hugged you. "I'm sorry," was the last thing he said before he let go and left.
You forgot to ask him what he planned to use them for, but he seemed responsible enough, so why worry?
You cleaned up the dishes and put the leftovers in the fridge before going to bed. There wasn't much to do at your apartment, so better get a good night of sleep so your body would be prepared for whatever Raidou would throw at you.
-x-
You were about to go home from team practise the next day when you heard footsteps behind you.
"Sota, we want to talk to you," Shikamaru said. Ino and Choji were standing behind him.
"What is it? I'm hungry so if you want to go out and eat, I'm in," you replied.
"We know you framed Shin," he said and pointed a finger at you.
"What are you talking about?"
"Don't try to play stupid. Shin wouldn't have attacked Sasuke," Shikamaru argued.
"He did what?"
'Don't tell me you used the explosives I gave you for that you stupid stupid Yamanaka!' You thought to yourself.
"Iruka heard an explosion before school started, and when he went to check, he found an injured Sasuke with Shin next to him. So Iruka concluded it must have been him. He swears he didn't do it, and we found strands of red hair in the classroom."
"I've not been to the academy since I graduated. Where is he now?" You asked.
"He… escaped the village. I know it doesn't look good for him. But he panicked I guess as no one believed him. The hair points at you and there no one else with red hair that it could be that also likes to blow up things."
"We both know that Shin doesn't like Sasuke, so why is this so unbelievable? What motives do I have?" You asked.
"Shin isn't a violent person and I believe in my friend," he said. Implying you weren't. "Sasuke attacked you similarly in the past, so this would make up for perfect revenge. Or you got ordered to do it, our parents didn't warn us against you for no reason."
"You're wrong about me," you said.
"Do you think I believe that?" Ino asked and lunged at you with a kunai. You quickly sidestep her attack, it wouldn't do anything, but you didn't have to let her know that.
She didn't give up with that, she kept trying to get in a hit. But her movements were slow and telegraphed.
"I don't think we should mess with him Ino," Choji chipped in.
She gave her all in one last attempt at stabbing you, but as she tried to charge at you, her right foot refused to follow. Behind her, Shikamaru had grabbed her with his shadow. It was far from what he'd be able to do in a few years, but one limb was probably impressive for his age.
Behind them, Uchiha Fagaku appeared walking towards you. "What is going on here kids?" he asked.
"We're going to make Sota here admit that he attacked Sasuke and laid the blame on Shin," Ino answered while trying to free her self from Shikamaru's grip. But as she failed, she decided to just throw the kunai at you, a throw you easily dodged.
"I believe in his innocence. Could you follow me for a bit Uzumaki?" Fugaku asked. "And Yamanaka, I will tell your father about this."
"Are you going to lure him away and kill him where no one can see you?" Ino asked.
He just shook his head and began to walk away and you followed him into an alleyway.
"I want to talk to you about Sasuke, there is one thing our investigation didn't make clear and I hope you could help me figure it out," Fugaku said.
You nodded anxiously.
"Where did Shin get his explosive tags? The academy doesn't hand out that to anyone his age, and nothing was reported stolen. Which brings me to you," he said and pointed at you.
You had to get away from there. It was all a trick. You turned and around and tried to run away, but his firm grasp on your shoulder stopped you.
"If you want to appear innocent. You shouldn't run away," he said.
You grabbed your sword and pointed it at Fugaku. Your hand was shaking.
"I'm not going to hurt you," he said. "And do I need to tell you that threatening the police chief is a crime?"
"I don't trust you," you said with a shaking voice and took a step backwards.
"I just want to know what happened to my son!" Fugaku voice was strained.
"I didn't know what Shin wanted the tags for, I didn't think to ask. He wanted something that wouldn't cause too much damage, so I made some for him," you were shaking more and more but you kept your sword aimed in the direction of him.
"So he was purposefully making sure that Sasuke wouldn't get too hurt?" He asked.
You stayed silent. It seemed like a rhetorical question and if not, there was no good answer there anyway.
"Is Danzo involved in this?" He asked.
"I don't know. Unless Itachi has done something wrong," you said, hoping that your answers wouldn't trigger the seal. The mysterious seal that seemed to live its own life.
"I will talk to Itachi myself, I won't tell anyone about your involvement. The other evidence against you is clearly fabricated as there was too much hair on the crime scene for it to not be planted. He should be ashamed of himself doing such sloppy work. And since he's gone, there is nothing more we can do than to close the case," Fagaku said and turned his back to you and walked away. Not at all worried by your sword. To be fair, it wasn't like you were stupid enough to actually attack.
"One more thing," he said and turned back around. "You're welcomed back for dinner again when Sasuke is out from the hospital," he said and left.
It was time for you to go home. It would be good to get some sleep. But as you unlocked your door, you saw a note on your table.
'Come back down'
There was no name, but it was clear who it was from. Couldn't you get a break from that bastard for one night?
-x-
When you got back in your underground room, you were greeted by Danzo and one of his medic-nin. They hinted for you to sit down on your bed and with a touch to your head you began to feel weaker, you could probably push against it, but there was no point.
Your vision went to black before you quickly wake up again. "Your leg has grown fine, I've replaced your old prosthetic leg with a new one now that you've your knee back," the Root medic told you.
"Now that you're able to move properly, I want to retest your abilities in about a week. You are allowed kunai, your sword and any defensive seals. Your opponent will not be told about your tricks so you have a chance to surprise them," Danzo said.
"No, I don't want to do this again," you said. "You can't make me."
"You know very well that I can," he said and tapped his cane on your head.
"I can live with my foot like it is, getting back my knee gives me the mobility I need to function as a ninja," you argued.
"The fight will start in a week no matter if you're ready or not," Danzo said and left.
-x-
Later that week Itachi came knocking on your door. "Sasuke is out of the hospital now, so I'm here to get you, Father invited you for dinner remember?"
"I don't want to intrude," you said.
"Mother will come and get you yourself if I come empty-handed, so let us spare her the time?"
"Alright," you said and put on your shoes before following him to the Uchiha district.
"It's good to be out of the hospital, the air isn't exactly right there," Itachi said.
"Wasn't it Sasuke and not you that was hospitalized?" You asked.
"Do you think I let my brother be alone in the hospital?" Itachi asked. "We've made up again, he's back to being my cute lil brother. A week ago he didn't even want to see me, and during his stay, he was anxious when I just went to the toilet."
"So there came something good out of what Shin did?" You asked.
"You can say that. I just hope it won't have any long-lasting effects on him," he said.
"Sasuke is strong, so he should be fine. He hasn't unlocked his Sharingan right?" You asked.
"No, should he?" he asked.
"No, but keep a look for it and maybe ask, just to be sure."
"Sota, is there something you're not telling me?" Itachi asked.
"No."
When you reached the gate, the Uchiha guards made no fuss and just let you pass.
"I'm glad father is letting you back in," Itachi said.
You nodded back and in not too long, you arrived at his house.
"Welcome Sota, the dinner is ready in a minute, so just sit down you two," you could hear Mikoto from the kitchen.
"Thanks, nice to see you again," you called back.
Sasuke was glaring at you as you approached the dinner table. He was still full of bandages, but other than that he seemed fine.
"Hi Sasuke, are you okay?" You asked him.
"Why are you here bastard?" He asked you.
"Language Sasuke, and don't be rude to our guest," Fagaku told him.
"I don't want him here," he said.
"Life isn't always about what you want Sasuke," his father told him.
"Life is never about I want," Sasuke pouted.
"I'm giving you one more warning Sasuke," he threatened.
It seemed to be shutting up Sasuke who turned his gaze away from you.
If you had known it would become this uncomfortable, you would never have come here no matter Itachi's threats. And just as you needed a distraction, Mikoto came in with the food.
When everything was ready and she had sat down, Fugaku stood up.
"I want to say a few words before we eat," he said and cleared his voice. "Every Uchiha should strive for perfection, but lately I've come to realize that I've steered far from the course.
"I've failed as a father to protect my family." He looked at Sasuke. "and distrusted those closest to me," looked at Itachi, "I've failed as a leader for our clan. When this village was founded we built bridges. But now all we're doing is widening the rift that started with Madara. If we don't reach out to the village, it will be the end of us, even if that means concessions in the short term that might hurt our pride."
Did Itachi tell Fugaku about the massacre? You turned towards him, but his face gave nothing away.
"I don't think we ever apologized for what Sasuke did to you Uzumaki," he said.
"It's fine, nothing to worry about, I bear no grudges," you replied. It was better to just get over with it.
"I think we should eat now," Mikoto said.
"Very well," Fugaku said and you all greeted the food before eating.
-x-
After you had eaten, Itachi asked you to follow him out. You walked together to the lake and sat down by the water and began skipping stones. It was good to get out of the house.
"So how was the mission with Shisui, I heard it didn't go so well?" Itachi asked and skipped a stone of his own.
"Crow was a dick, I ruined the livelihood of an entire village. But it wasn't all bad. Shisui started to teach me the body flicker and I finally got to tell him everything I know," you explained and looked for another flat stone to throw.
"Umm… Shisui told me that he never got any chance to talk to you in private, that the Root guy was watching over you two at all time," Itachi said and looked at you.
"I heard him speak, I saw Crow sleeping...No... It all makes sense now. He planned it from the beginning. That was why he made sure he and Shisui were dressed up the same all the time. How he was so vague when pretending to be Shisui, he was fishing for information and I gave it all away. How could I be so stupid." you said threw your rock straight into the water.
"Sota, you're not stupid. That Root ninja knew that he was doing. It's like with combat, no one expects that you should be able to beat someone with a lot more fighting experience than you. So why expect that you should be able to deal with someone with a lot more experience with manipulation than you?" Itachi asked.
"But," you tried to get in.
"No buts," Itachi said.
"So what now? Have we fixed it? Your father seems to want to make peace," you said.
"I hope so, but we need to be careful, my father still needs to convince the rest of the clan and Danzo might cause new issues reopening the rift," Itachi said.
"I don't think I would be of much use anymore, I've already exposed way too much to Danzo, and I'm not sure how well I'm able to keep any secrets when he is hitting me of that cane of his. I trust that you, Shisui and your father will be able to create lasting peace from now on. Just one thing, don't trust anyone calling themselves Uchiha Madara, warn your father about him if you think it's the best path forward. He's a fake and is responsible for what happened seven years ago," you said.
There was something else you needed to get done before you forgot, so you took a piece of paper from your bag and wrote a short message on it.
'If we fail, destroy the Naka shrine before anyone else can access it. Don't tell Itachi about this unless you're dying.'
You folded it up several times so it wouldn't open.
"Give this to Shisui, and do not look at it yourself," you said and handed the folded up paper to him.
Itachi accepted it with care. "Shouldn't you give it directly to Shisui if it's important?" He asked.
"Danzo is giving me more and more trouble lately. Who knows maybe next time I go down there he won't let me out again. And I don't want to forget about it. I know I can trust you, so I don't have anything to worry about right?" You smiled at him.
"Why are you keeping secrets from me?" He asked.
"You've already made the mistake once before in the future, I want to make sure you won't do it again," you said.
Without the shrine, the Uchiha secrets would be lost and couldn't be used to corrupt Sasuke and Itachi. It would be better to destroy it right away, but the Uchiha would probably not take lightly to Shisui smashing it into pieces.
"I don't know how I feel about you knowing my future," Itachi said.
"Don't worry, when we change it I will know as much as you do. I can only see one reality with varying amount of accuracy, not any of the branches stemming from any new decision taken. And don't try to fight fake Madara, he's too strong. He can turn himself intangible, cheat death and enter his own pocket dimension."
"Now I'm curious about what you know about me that you won't tell me," he said.
"Don't worry, I don't know much," you said and skipped another stone.
"I think I should go back to Sasuke now, I don't want him to get mad at me for spending too much time with you again," he said and hugged you. "Stay safe, Sota."
The way home was peaceful and you took the chance to really look around you in the Uchiha district.
People were living peacefully, children were running around and some were practising their kunai-throwing with a variable amount of success.
You hoped that destiny was beaten and that blood wouldn't be flowing here again.
No one here was accusing you of attacking one of them either, he had managed to keep that down and you faced no other problems on your way home.
-x-
A week later, you were finally ready for Danzo's challenge. Your seals could defend you against swords, kunai and shuriken just to be on the safe side. You just had to repeat the tactic from the last time to win.
"Are you Crow?" you asked the Root agent standing there in the arena.
"It is not nice to eavesdrop, Sota," he said.
As soon as you got the signal to start from Danzo, you ran towards Crow, he put the sword in front of him to put some distance between you, but that didn't matter at all this time. All you needed to do was to cut him, and he should be aware that you were willing to risk getting stabbed to win by now.
But as you reached him, he sidestepped and struck his sword into your back without any hesitation. But there was no stinging pain, just the feeling of the cloth hitting your back.
Crow made no response to his sword disappearing out of his hands.
How the turntables, it was time for you to be on the offensive. You turned around to face him again and used the body flicker to close the distance. You kept your sword aimed at him and slashed as you got close. But he was too fast and jumped backwards before throwing a volley of kunai at you. But they all disappeared one after another. While he didn't say anything, his body language made it clear that he did not see any of this coming.
It was time to become stupidly cocky. "Is that the best you've got Crow? I thought you liked to stab me!" you yelled and ran at him again using the body flicker at the last moment to catch him. But again he jumped, but this time he kicked you in the head causing you to fall and hit your head hard at the ground. Everything was moving around. Another kick hit your sides and you were thrown to the wall. Then another.
"Please stop," you begged.
"You're not so tough after all," he said and kicked your ribs again.
"Defend yourself!" You could hear Danzo yell at you.
And another hard kick straight in your stomach.
"Please," you cried out. The pain was getting worse and worse and you did not manage to move any.
And another.
"P…", you never got far as he made contact with your head.
By the next kick, a blue cloud formed around you and Crow winced.
"Thank you, thank you," you muttered. Matatabi had finally come to the rescue.
"We'll end it here, Crow please leave," Danzo said.
Through the blue fog, you could see Danzo walking towards you. But he wasn't doing anything to you. He was just waiting to see what you and Matatabi were doing. Was he for once going to do something nice and have her heal you before shutting off her chakra?
Your head got slowly better and your vision sharper again. But still horrible pain in your abdomen. You were coughing up a bit of blood. He must have caused some serious injuries with his kicks.
Minutes passed by till the pain was gone and Matatabi retracted back into your body. You still felt awful, but your body was fine. You got up again.
"What a pathetic performance, you failed harder than last time," Danzo said.
"I thought I did well," you replied.
"Did you accomplish the task?" He asked.
"No."
"So why do you think you did well?" He asked.
"I defended myself against his sword and didn't get stabbed like last time."
"Getting stabbed allowed you to win last time, but instead you took away all his weapons giving him no choice but to fight unarmed, something you were unable to counter," Danzo explained. "I've trained babies with greater tactical prowess than you."
"I don't care what you say, I think I did well. You cannot expect me to win against someone several times my size at hand to hand combat."
"I'll arrange for a rematch in about two weeks, please be better prepared by then. But I can see what you're saying. I'll allow you to use any offensive seal too, but I will not allow you to use the two-tails' chakra. It is the last resort, not something the village want to flaunt."
Bastard! Nothing was good enough for him and next time Crow would be even more prepared against you. There was no chance in hell that you could win. Getting better than him in just two weeks was impossible and you were not allowed the help from Matatabi? So what the hell could you do?
It was a problem for tomorrow. You had no time to lose, but today you didn't want to think more about it.
-x-
Another day of team training was in session and you were yawning while Raidou began talking about the plans for the day.
"I'm boring you Sota?" Sensei asked.
"No, I'm just having trouble sleeping lately," you said and yawned again. Danzo's constant meddling, the night attacks and everything just made sleeping quite hard.
"Try to go for a run before bed, you'll sleep better if when you're tired," He suggested. That was pointless, you're body was a Duracell bunny that never got tired.
You nodded approvingly anyway.
"Alright, the plan for today's exercise. I've seen you carry around that bow Sota, but I've never seen you use it. So I've devised an exercise to help remedy it," he said and walked the three of you to the edge of the training ground close to some bushes and other vegetation.
"Kabuto, Torune, you'll be trying to sneak, run, or whatever you feel for back and forth here without getting hit, and you're going to try to hit them with your bow Sota," he explained.
"Hit them?" You asked. "I don't want to hurt them, I'm not saying I will hit, but getting hit by arrows isn't something you should take lightly."
"Don't worry about that," Raidou said threw a quiver to you. "Catch."
You grabbed it with ease and looked at it. "They look different than normal arrows."
"It's training arrows, they won't cause any injury if you hit Torune or Kabuto," he said and grabbed an arrow from your quiver.
"The tip is soft and the shaft will break under too much pressure," he pressed the arrowhead to demonstrate and it easily deformed. "So don't be worried about hurting anyone."
"Are you sure about this? I've not had much practise with the bow," you said.
"Believe in yourself Sota," Kabuto said and patted you on the shoulder, you quickly jerked away in response.
"Can't we start with something easier?" You asked.
"That will just be a waste of time, you didn't become a prodigy by taking the slow route did you?" Raidou asked.
You responded with a sigh. Your classmates wouldn't graduate for many years, you had time, Raidou didn't have to treat every activity as if you would excel at it as some super kid.
"Alright," you said and got into position.
Shooting at anything that moved was of no use. You had to hit where they would be going, which was easier said than done. With enough tries, you were bound to hit one of them in the end, but so far your quiver was getting more and more empty without much to show for.
Your focus, for now, was to hit Torune, ignoring everything that looked like Kabuto in the leaves as he was much faster and less predictable.
You got a glimpse of his black clothes and aimed a bit to the right, you had done this enough times that you were sure you got it now.
The arrow flew through the air, through the leaves and hit.
"Good work Sota," Raidou said behind you.
"Thanks, I guess I have to hit Kabuto too before you're happy?" You asked.
"No, you won't hit him, he's too good for you. To get good at this, you need a lot of experience to make your eyes and brain get used to the fast movement," he said.
He turned towards the woods and called out. "Torune and Kabuto come back!"
"This is an exercise best suited for an Uchiha or Hyuuga. What's important is that you get a feel for it so it's not new when you're doing it on a mission," he explained.
Your two other teammates quickly arrived.
"Kabuto, did you manage to keep a meters distance from his arrows?" Raidou asked.
"Not always," Kabuto replied.
"And that's why it can still be effective even if you cannot hit your opponent, imagine if your arrows exploded. Any low-level attacker will probably flee if you get close enough. I will try to fetch us an easy C-rank escort mission when your leg has gotten better. I want you to make some explosive arrows till then and maybe get in some practice on your own. Sounds good?" He asked.
You nodded and saw something crawling inside Kabuto's sleeves.
"What's that?" You asked and pointed to his arm?
"Oh, this?" He said and dragged out a small snake that was curling around his hand. "I found him while in the trees. He's not dangerous, the venom is quite useful for medicine."
It reminded you of the Orochimaru style of snake Jutsu. Could you even be sure he found it and didn't just conjure it up as he was bored?
"Torune, did you see any snakes?" You asked him.
"Uhh, no," he replied.
"What is this about?" Raidou asked.
"I don't want to say it while he's listening," you said.
Raidou sighed. "Can you whisper it to me?" He asked.
"Alright, but have him turn around," you said.
Kabuto took the hint and Raidou got down on his knees and you whispered to him. "I think he's working for Orochimaru. His love of snakes and his refusal to graduate points to that. I think he keeps retaking the exams so he can gather intelligence on the different genin of Konoha and our allies."
"Sota, I'm disappointed with you. I don't get why you dislike Kabuto and you've been acting strange around him from day one. And now you're accusing him of being a spy for that traitor, just because he likes snakes? I will bring this further up, not that he's a spy, but that you're throwing baseless accusations against your teammate. I ask you to go home for the day, you've no place here if you cannot respect your teammates," Raidou said.
"But," you tried saying.
"I don't want to hear any more from you today. A team only work if everyone can trust each other. You don't trust Kabuto and I'm not sure if I can trust you do not injure him. So I want you to take some days reflecting over things. I will come to get you when you're welcomed back" he said.
There was no other choice for you, Uzumaki Cassandra Sota, than to go home. You weren't completely sure about it, but with everything that was at stake, distrusting him was a much better bet than not. The only other thing you were wrong about it was Hisashi's death. That had to be the key to this puzzle. You had to figure out if anything was connecting you as a Jinchuuriki for Konoha, his lack of death, and Kabuto.
Matatabi once belonged to Kumo, it was Kumo that demanded Hizashi's head and got Hisashi's. Something could connect those two events. So if you worked by the assumption that there was just one change in the past that lead to this point in time, you'd several options. Either Kabuto had to be a spy; Somehow Konoha's way of handling the Hyuuga incident this time changed the way Orochimaru left the village; Or made Danzo never demand Kabuto from the orphanage.
You could try to fish some information out of Danzo. You could ask him if Kabuto was ever spying for him, as that later caused him to be found by Orochimaru. But you had no idea if he would be telling the truth, and he should logically not know that Kabuto was a spy. As not even his alliance with Orochimaru would cause him to allow an Orochimaru spy in Konoha, or would he?
-x-
It was finally the day. You would not let yourself get beaten by Crow again. You had just the plan ready to defeat that bastard. The hours spent studying down here the last weeks was not a waste.
Hundred explosive kunai and many more seals to defend against said explosives. Just in case he somehow countered your attack by using some of his own to overload your defences.
You threw some at him and he dutifully dodged clear of any potential explosion. But that didn't matter, none of them would explode till you activated them. So you kept moving around to avoid getting kicked again and throw kunai all around you. Till there were nowhere in the room you could stand without getting hurt.
"Give up Crow, you've lost. Cut yourself so I can win!" You called out, with your snake seal ready.
"I don't think so. If you make one explode all the rest of them will explode too. You're hoist by your own petard. Why do you think I manipulated you into moving into your explosive tags?" He asked.
As Crow seemed to be moving towards you, you pushed chakra through your fingers activating all the explosives. The room was shaking, dust was everywhere and you fell to the ground.
You squinted with your eyes and held your sword in front of you, ready for him to attack you. But he was hopefully in a weaken state so you could defeat him. As you couldn't see any movement, you got up and moved closer to the where you last saw him. As the dust settled, you could see him laying on the floor lifeless full of blood.
"No, no, no," you muttered, you didn't intend to kill him. You only intended for him to give up, or that he had something up his sleeve since he refused to give up.
You had to take a better look. You got down and crawled over him keeping your sword ready just in case he was still alive. You put two fingers on his neck but there was nothing. You couldn't feel a thing.
His mask was cracked, you reached for it, wanting to see who he was, but as your fingers got closer and closer, you got pushed back by Danzo's cane.
"That's enough," Danzo said. He had sadly found a way to defend himself, he knew this was coming so it wasn't surprising.
"Why did you make me kill him?" You asked.
"I didn't, it was all you," Danzo replied. "The only one with blood on their hands in here is you."
You took a look and them and they were soaked red.
"No, no. I'm not a murderer," you said as you continued to look at your bloody hands. "I had no other choice. It's all your fault "
"How do you feel?" Danzo asked.
"I… feel… like… a... monster…" You took deep breaths between each word, tears beginning to drip onto your hands.
Danzo hit you in the head with his cane.
"Why do you feel bad for Crow? He stabbed you, threatened your friends, threatened you, took pleasure in hurting you. You should take pleasure in killing him," Danzo argued.
"No, I'm not like that," you said and shook your head.
The cane hit you again.
"Some say that a ninja shouldn't cry, they are fools. It matters little how one express oneself, a ninja shouldn't be sad. Laugh!," Danzo ordered.
"What?" You exclaimed.
Another hit to the face.
"I can't, I can force myself to laugh. If you weren't such an emotionless bastard you would have known."
Danzo kicked you in the side making you fall over and hitting your head into the floor. You started getting a bit dizzy.
He wasn't going to take a no for an answer. What could you do? What could make you laugh? Itachi acting like a cat after Shisui's ability misfired?
You started to laugh, it wasn't a good thing to do over someone's dead body. But it somehow lightened the mood. as Crow was dragged away till you got to your senses again.
"That feels better doesn't it?" Danzo asked.
"No," you denied.
"How do you plan to protect your friends if you cannot even kill your enemies without breaking down?" He asked.
"Crow wasn't my enemy!" You yelled out. "We're both Konoha-nin."
"What makes someone your enemy?" He asked.
"I..," how were you supposed to answer that. "Someone who believes in different values than me. No… that's not right either."
"There are much worse people out there than Crow. Are you going to cry for them too? Are you going to give their allies the chance to take revenge on you? Or are you going to laugh in their face and make them feel terror as you chase after them, making sure Konoha and everyone you know is safe?"
"I can respect my fallen enemies and still protect my friends," you said. It was what Naruto did all the time.
"Your enemies want you and everyone you know dead, so why allow them to continue to live? Either you go after them with no mercy, or the people you actually care about will get killed."
"No!" You shouted. You were not a murderer.
"Why did you become a ninja? Why were you so eager to graduate?" Danzo asked.
"The academy was boring, I wanted to get stronger, and I wanted to protect my friends," you said. Protecting them by informing them about the massacre and working to prevent it.
"Why bother getting strong if you don't want to use it?" He asked.
"So I can fight back when there is no other choice," you argued.
"Wouldn't it be better to defeat your enemies before that?" He asked. "Remove the problem while it is still manageable?"
You were tired of his stupid non-sense and said something you should have perhaps not said. "Just as you did with Akatsuki? Killing Yahiko and turning Akatsuki into a much more dangerous organization?!".
"You!" Danzo had no words, he just smacked his cane into your temple and you fell to the side, losing consciousness.
-x-
Your head was dizzy, where were you? The hard dirt floor in Danzo's arena was gone and wet grass was brushing your face.
Had he thrown you out? It didn't matter, you didn't want to go back there anyway. You didn't recognize where you were, partly because it was dark, and partly because Danzo wasn't stupid enough to leave you knocked out right outside one of his secret entrances. How long had you been out?
You could see the street light and people were still walking about, so it couldn't be too late but at the same time, you had probably laid there for some time and you were a bit cold.
There was something in your hand, you could recognize the wrapped fabric handle from your sword. Where did that come from? You hadn't used it against Crow, so why? You tried putting it away, but your sheath was gone. Had something happened while you were out that you couldn't remember? Not that it mattered, you could just hold onto it, carrying a sword around in a ninja village wasn't that strange.
As you walked back home you through the streets noticed many ugly looks in your direction with people moving away from you. Did the sword have a bigger effect on them than you imagined?
You then saw Naruto running towards you. "Hi Sota," he said with a smile. "Who did you prank?"
"Huh?"
"You're full of red paint," he sniffed into the air. His eyes got more serious and walked close and dragged a finger along your shirt. He looked at his bloody finger with wide eyes. "What did you…," he didn't finish his question, his eyes had wandered towards your sword along with yours. It was covered in blood. What? Where did that come from?
"Naruto, I..," you wasn't sure what to say, because you definitely could not explain.
But he wouldn't listen, it was futile, he just walked backwards a few step before he took off running.
"Naruto, please stop," you yelled after him, but he didn't stop.
You began to pick up your speed and ran to your apartment. You needed to get clean, get rid of all the blood before even more people saw you.
You quickly unlocked the lock, opened the door and lock shut behind you as fast as you entered.
You didn't like what you saw in the mirror. Blood splatter along with sot on your face and your shirt was covered in blood. You had forgotten about the blood from Crow.
You smashed the mirror. You couldn't stand looking at your eyes, it was like someone inside the mirror was judging you.
You threw off your clothes and hurried into the shower. You scrubbed yourself clean as hard as you could, making sure there was nothing stuck under your fingernails and nothing hiding in your red hair.
You picked up one of the shards of glass that was on the floor to see if you had gotten rid of all the blood, it seemed like you were fine. It was late, you were tired and stressed out, you got into your PJ and served yourself a large bowl of cereal before going to bed. You had to sleep this off and forget about everything that had happened today. And maybe, maybe you could wake up tomorrow and find out that nothing was true, that the stress from Danzo just made you imagine things.
-x-
You were still a bit groggy when you wake up. But you weren't in your bed. Cold air was striking your face and your blanket and bed were gone. Instead, you were sitting on something a bit hard and a bit soft while grabbing onto something. Opening your eyes, you saw a man under you, wearing a Suna headband. You were grasping onto a kunai that was stuck into his chest.
"No, no, no," you said and got off the dead man. This had to be a dream. It couldn't be real. You couldn't have sleep-killed someone. Looking at his uniform, he was clearly Suna ANBU, it just couldn't be real.
You heard laughter around you, your own childish laugher. Cold went down your spine as another mop of red hair appeared to your side. Small bloody fingers started to poke your cheeks.
"Why are you not laughing?" He asked in your voice.
"I don't want to!" You called out and tried dispelling your clone. Where did he come from? You were unable to make new clones after you got your prosthetic leg. Your clone didn't copy your injuries either and here you could see his artificial leg peek out of his PJ. So it just had to be a dream, he was impossible otherwise.
"Danzo will hit us again if you don't," he said and grimaced before he walked around you and got into your face with a big smile. "And it will make us feel better."
"No," you said and tried pushed him away, but he quickly dodged. Before you could do something, he rolled you over and started to tickle you. You were at his mercy and you couldn't do anything but laugh.
"Ha, ha, please stop it," you plead.
"It's making you better right?" He asked while continuing his assault.
"Yeah," you said between laughing and breathing. Anything to make the tickle demon stop.
"Don't make me remind you next time," he said and finally let go of the tickling.
"Thanks," you said.
"He deserved it you know," he said and started wandering around. "Remember when they tried to kill us in Suna? He's the guy that attacked us and made us lose our leg and almost killed us. What's wrong with taking pleasure in killing someone who tried to kill you?" He asked and stabbed the air as if he was holding a kunai.
"I don't know. Being obsessed with revenge is wrong," you said.
"But we didn't obsess over it. You saw him and took the opportunity. Revenge is only bad when it envelops everything you do. Check his pockets," your double ordered and pointed to his dead body.
"Why?" You asked.
"Maybe he was sloppy and kept his mission information on him," he said. "If there is more of them, we need to know what they're doing."
You crawled up to the dead body and search both his left and right side. Your double was right, you found a scroll tied to his pants.
As you rolled it open it, being careful you didn't ruin it with your bloody fingers, you saw an image of yourself along with an order to kill you.
You dropped it to the ground, but your double was quick to pick it up.
"Be careful, it is evidence. If Suna complains about you killing one of your their ninja, you need proof that they were planning to kill you, or else they will have your head," he said and rolled up the scroll and put it in your pocket.
"None of this matters, none of this is real. He's not dead, I'm just imagining stuff," you said and moved away from the corpse.
"Reality doesn't change by you denying it," he said.
"You make no sense, who are you?"
"I'm you, or one part of you. You're under duress, so your body has created an optimistic positive clone that can help you cope with everything," he explained.
It made no sense, the body couldn't do that.
"Since Suna is out to kill us, and they've shown that they're able to infiltrate the village, I don't think it is safe for us to stay in our apartment. We should stay down with Danzo, we're safe there and the guards will stop us if we start to sleepwalk again," he suggested.
"No, I don't want to be so close to Danzo all the time. This isn't real anyway, and if it is, we just warn people that Suna is trying to kill me, they will find his body, the village will protect me." As you said that, a flaring sound could be heard and a bright light came from the corpse as it was burning up in front of you. Leaving only a bit of ash left.
"Seem like we were unlucky there," he said. "But who will protect you? Our Sensei? He doesn't seem to like us. We cannot trust the Hokage. The ANBU let this happen. The only one we can trust is Danzo."
"No, we cannot trust Danzo," you argued.
"Why not? Everything will be better if you stop letting your emotional and irrational side guide you."
"How can we trust him after every trial he has thrown at us?" You asked.
"He only does that because we're being stubborn and disobedient. You know what he's saying is right. We demand and demand things from him but gives nothing back. Everything would be better if we join Root for real."
"No! I will not join Root!" You yelled out. You had completely forgotten that there were other people in the world than you for the moment.
"Why not? We're becoming more and more distrusted in the village. Our old classmates think we were responsibly for attacking Sasuke. Torune's father already thinks we're in Root and have made everyone else distrust us with him. Kabuto can not be trusted. And Raidou won't listen to us. Who is there left for us out here?"
"Itachi, Shisui, and Naruto," you said.
"How often do we spend time with Itachi and Shisui these days? And they only have interest in us because of the information we hold. When they've made peace with the village, they'll abandon us and stick with friends their own age. And we don't spend much time with Naruto either, and now that he's seen you all bloody, I don't' think that would change."
"You're lying!"
"Maybe I'm wrong about Itachi and Shisui. But will you ask Naruto if he wants to hang out with you tomorrow, only to see him run away and scream?"
"Uh, no," you said.
"There you see. We're getting more and more like outcasts. But if we join Root, we can make new friends there," he said.
"Friends Danzo will make us kill because he thinks killing your friends make you stronger. He must have drunken from the same water as the Uchiha," you explained.
"Why do you think he would do that?" The other you asked.
"Sai and Shin, not Yamanaka Shin, another one. It is probably not even their real names. At the end of their training, he will make them fight to their death to remove all emotions because he believes emotions make you weak. Root is messed up. If you're the optimistic positive one now, I'm the realistic one. I've not scratched the surface of what messed up bullshit Danzo can throw at me," you told them.
"What if you make an offer to him? He makes sure both of them lives and you join Root? You gain friends and save them," he suggested.
"You don't do bargains with Danzo," you said.
"It's not really bargaining with him. We give him something he wants and in return, he promises to not make you kill your friends. Inside Root, you can also do more to stop the massacre. It doesn't help if the Uchiha makes peace if Danzo refuses to accept it. We need someone on the inside, and that will be us."
"Danzo knows I'm onto him, he's not stupid. He'll use it to control me even more. I will have fewer opportunities to stop things, and it will cut my contact with Itachi and Shisui. I don't want to help them, just lose them another way," you said.
"Isn't that a bit selfish? You would rather let your friends die than to help them if you can't see them?" He asked.
"I don't mean it that way. It's a stupid path to go down when it wouldn't solve anything, it would just sever my bonds when a better path is possible. Where I can keep my friends and my friendships. You're not me. You're just some Danzo goon who pretends to be a split part of me to make me reveal information and I've already said to much," you said and charged the fake you and shoved him into a tree.
He winced in pain as he hit his head. "What are you doing?!"
You grabbed the kunai that was lying on the ground and lunged at your fake's neck.
He grabbed your wrist with his right hand and punched you in the head with his left.
You lost focus for a second, allowing the fake to get in a kick making you fall back, while he ran up the tree like a coward.
"Stop it, this isn't you Sota," the fake plead.
"It's you that isn't me," you yelled while tracking them with your eyes as they were climbing the branches.
"You're making Danzo get to your head," he yelled back.
"I'm tired of you playing mind games with me," you yelled to your fake and ran up the trunk and moved towards him, kunai first.
He just stood there at the end of the branch while you got close and closer, all while laughing the way Danzo had told you to. "This is what you wanted right Danzo?" You asked.
"Please, I'm not Danzo, I'm you," he begged.
That was enough tricks, you drove the knife into him, or at least you tried. Moments later you felt a tug on your ankle and you were dragged off the branch, hitting the ground back first, with the fake landing on top of you.
In the process, you lost the grip of the kunai the fake was quick to grab it. But instead of using it, he threw it away before holding you down by your wrists.
"Enough now!" He said. He was crying now.
His tears were dripping onto you.
"You're not tricking me Danzo!" You yelled out and headbutted him. It hurt a lot, but you managed to get him to lose his grip. You took the chance to roll you around and went for his neck. He tried to push your arms away, but you got him now. He hit hard, but you were a ninja, you could handle this.
You started to feel short of breath along with him, and the grip around his neck was weakening, so you leveraged more of your body weight on top of him.
"Die... Root... scum…," you said between each attempt to take a breath.
He tried pushing you away, but he was way too weak. He was getting blue in the face, you had gotten him now. Maybe that would make Danzo lay off you.
Dark spots started to appear in your vision and your fake was barely moving. But then your body gave completely up, you fell on your fake and your vision got completely black.
What had you done?