Traveling through the forest with Lee was not the simple straight-forward exercise Sasuke had hoped it would be. Lee didn't chatter, which he appreciated, but he also didn't take directions well. After setting them on a straight path from the gate they had entered through, Lee refused to deviate more than a few feet from that path. When Sasuke warned him of a trap he either went over or right below it, sometimes with only a few feet to spare. It put Sasuke's nerves on edge and he didn't feel comfortable complaining about Lee's stubbornness the way he would have with Naruto. Then there were the obstacles. Lee was retracing the path his own team had taken during his exam, eager to see how quickly he could traverse it, and when downed trees and overgrown brush appeared that hadn't been there before he insisted on plowing right through them. Sasuke hadn't expected to be shoving his way through tangled branches and creepers, and there was no possible way to know what creatures might be hidden in those dark roadblocks until he or Lee was halfway through them. It was unnecessarily reckless. Then there was the jumping. Going for a run, Naruto had said. He should have known better. Most of the trip was done through the trees and while launching from one to the next felt good and the speed was satisfying, the landings were more jarring than he cared for. He was in a foul mood by the time they reached their destination and did his best to blame himself for it. What had he expected? This was an overgrown forest in the land of trees. If there were any places within the village where a person could simply run over flat ground for an hour or more it was probably limited to a small circular patch for students who hadn't yet learned to climb trees.
At least Lee hadn't made any obvious efforts to slow down on his account. He had simply set off and expected Sasuke to keep up. Sasuke did appreciate that.
"Our team was the third to come in," Lee said, as they looked down at the domed building in the distance. "Kiba's team was first. They had Akamaru's nose in addition to Hinata's Byakugan to help them avoid enemies after securing their scroll. But we could have been first if Neji hadn't refused to take the scroll from Shikamaru's team. He wanted a better challenge, which I fully understand. But still, it would have been nice to finish first."
"You finished before Sound's attack, then?"
"Oh, yes. Since we couldn't be first, we should have lingered a while. Then we might have been in a position to help Naruto and Sakura." Lee sighed heavily. "Instead we finished third and were then left out of everything. They wouldn't let any of us leave the building once we had finished, not even when the attack began."
Sasuke wondered what difference the presence of Lee's team might have made. Maybe they could have prevented Kabuto from escaping. At the very least they might have been able to keep Sakura from being caught up in Naruto's fight with Gaara.
Lee turned to him, his expression very sober. "Tenten said she and Sakura had both challenged you. Do you intend to fight them? According to Naruto, Sakura's fighting skills are almost entirely offensive, with only healing as a defense. Tenten also specializes in offense with little in the way of defense. It would be both dangerous and demotivating for either of them to fight someone like you without their teammates as backup."
Someone like him? He wondered exactly what Naruto had told him. Not that it mattered.
"I have no intention of accepting challenges from anyone," Sasuke said flatly. "I have no idea why Sakura in particular is so set on fighting me when she has never even sparred with Naruto."
"Tenten says it's a matter of Sakura proving herself to both you and Naruto. That's understandable, but I'm glad you don't intend to fight her directly. There should be far safer ways for her to display the results of her training with Tsunade-sama. Perhaps a demonstration would suffice."
"I'd be in favor of that."
Lee beamed at him. "Good. Our three man teams are very well balanced so I'm sure you'll appreciate Sakura's contributions to the new Team Seven once you see what she is capable of for yourself."
That team business again. Sasuke gritted his teeth and shoved down his annoyance. "As for your teammate, she only thought of challenging me because Naruto insulted her. If she wants a fight, she can fight him."
"She said you had suggested that." Lee shook his head. "I don't know why she doesn't do just that. Naruto would benefit from improving his defense against weapons and his clones would be very useful as moving targets for her to practice with. But she has never shown interest in working with anyone outside our team. It's strange that she even considered fighting you. That isn't like her at all."
As far as Sasuke was concerned, Naruto was entirely to blame for that. He shrugged and looked back the way they had come. "Are you ready to head back?"
"Ah," Lee said quickly, "not yet! I want to speak with you about the training Naruto intends to do with Kyuubi and-"
Sasuke cut him off. "I only found out about that last night. All I know is that if it does happen, it won't be any time soon."
Lee's shoulders slumped. "Then you don't know who Naruto will be taking with him? Neji says that he, Shikamaru, and Sakura would be the most useful to have on hand should things go badly. But having a few teams nearby would surely help to prevent outside interference. I could be very useful as a supplement to Kiba's team, for instance. And if Shikamaru goes, then it's only right that Chouji be included - he could join us in the defending line. I know Naruto is primarily concerned with the danger he might pose to us, but with all of the focus on him he could be very exposed to outside attacks."
Was that why Kiba had brought the question up last night? Were all of Naruto's friends hoping for a chance to go along? And arguing about who would be most useful, apparently. Lee's expression was earnest and pleading, as if Sasuke had any say in the matter of who Naruto took with him when - if - this training with Kyuubi happened. From what he understood, Naruto didn't want any of his friends involved because he was afraid he might hurt them. Were they hoping Sasuke would be able to change his mind? "I suspect that will be up to the Hokage rather than Naruto."
"Hopefully not," Lee sighed. "If he leaves it to Anbu then none of us will get to help. As his peers, we're the ones who will be working with him whether this training is successful or not. We should be the ones protecting him now and helping in any way that we can."
"I agree."
Lee blinked in surprise. "Really?"
"Yes. You're the ones who will be supporting him as he advances, so you should be involved, if only so you can understand what he's dealing with."
It was very simple to him. They were Naruto's future. They were the ones who would become the Jounin and Anbu that Naruto relied on as Kage. Even if half the current Anbu were his father's age or younger, there were undoubtedly older remnants from the previous Hokage's generation making up the current elite. Those shinobi wouldn't be getting any younger. They also weren't likely to accept Naruto changing long established traditions, such as meddling with the clans. If Naruto was serious about outlasting and outnumbering the old guard then he needed to surround himself with like minded people, and those people needed to know what their leader was capable of. The good and the bad.
"Unfortunately," Sasuke shrugged, "I doubt my opinion on the issue will matter."
"It matters to us," Lee said firmly. He smiled and clapped a hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "It's good to have you here, Uchiha Sasuke. I look forward to working with you."
Sasuke didn't wince, but he wanted to. Lee's easy acceptance of him as an ally, simply because he had agreed with him on one issue, struck him as painfully naive. He could have been lying, just saying what Lee wanted to hear. He was a complete stranger whose word should not mean anything. Lee really did have a lot in common with Naruto. Taking advantage of him would be far too easy.
They headed back at a slightly slower clip because Lee was now eager to talk. Sasuke couldn't complain about the chatter or the resulting pace. His lower back was starting to ache. Far too many jarring landings. He asked Lee about his easy use of chakra on the lake and found that a sufficient distraction. Lee's logic made no sense whatsoever. It was almost mind-numbing.
"It's all instinct and training my body to do what it does best," Lee explained. "I couldn't climb trees no matter how hard I tried to focus my chakra. Guy-sensei understood right away. It's like a muscle disconnected from the mind. The wire has been cut so the mind can't tell it what to do. But because it's a muscle it's part of the body, with the memories of the body, and so it knows what the body knows. The breakthrough happened when I stopped thinking about it. My teammates were waiting for me on the roof. I couldn't use my chakra to climb my way up there. I couldn't think myself up there. I had to just go up there, because they were waiting for me. So I walked up there. It's the same way with water. I just don't think about the fact that it's water and I'm supposed to use chakra to hold myself above it. Water is to be walked on the same as land, so I do so. My body knows what to do. It's only when I fall wrong that I remember it's water. Then I sink."
Sasuke was both amused and confounded. This was an active shinobi, someone in line to become a Special Jounin. Lee had learned this bizarre way of thinking from his Jounin instructor, another active shinobi trusted enough to be in charge of teaching others. And somehow this 'explanation' was responsible for Lee's ability to casually do what would take most people years to achieve?
"Mind over matter?" asked Sasuke. It sounded like 'magical thinking' to him.
"No, it's more matter over mind," said Lee.
Of course. Because that made far more sense. As Lee expounded on this 'body memory' theory, which seemed to consist primarily of doing hundreds of repetitions of an unending variety of exercises, Sasuke began tuning him out. It was all nonsense. At least, it should have been nonsense. It clearly worked for Lee. Maybe it would work for others who had difficulty using chakra deliberately. It might even be similar to the way Naruto claimed his techniques were easier when they required more chakra and less control, because simply doing an action was easier than trying to learn why and how the action was performed. Fair enough. He could hit any target he aimed for without being able to plot out the mathematics of it because he had practiced enough for it to be instinctive. If Lee had trained his body enough for his chakra to work the same way, so be it. That just meant that nothing Lee was saying would help him use his own chakra the way Lee had used his at the lake. As usual, he was going to have to try it for himself, in private, and keep trying and failing until he figured out a way to reproduce what he had seen.
They had retraced their steps about halfway through the forest when a moving glint of silver caught Sasuke's eye and the tree directly in front of them exploded. The impact shattered the trunk, tipping the crown of the tree at them even as it was engulfed in flames that smelled heavily of burning oil. Sasuke shot a quick look at Lee as the burning branches forced them apart. A rain of kunai was pushing Lee further away, the attacker openly following and putting his back to the burning tree and Sasuke. Then Sasuke was evading his own rain of weapons, except these were senbon and some of them exploded on impact. He darted back and to the side, very aware that he was being separated from Lee. Hopefully they wanted Lee out of the way rather than dead. He doubted Lee's taijutsu would be very useful against someone who attacked from a distance. But Naruto had trusted Lee's abilities so Sasuke would have to do the same. He was the obvious target of this attack, after all.
He quickly focused on the surroundings. They had traveled through this area twice now so he had a good image of the trees and brush, the tiny clearing to his left, and the knotted branches of the tree just beyond it. He took shelter behind that tree, arming himself and getting his first look at his attacker as the man ducked into the foliage on the other side of the clearing. The man was wearing the same clothing as the one who had attacked Lee, the same gray Anbu-like uniform as the man at the lake, but his animal mask was pure white with no markings and there was no sword visibly strapped to his back.
Sasuke dropped to the ground long enough to prepare the same earth trap the last man had used on him. It wasn't a very good trap as far as earth techniques went, but Sasuke wasn't very good with earth techniques to begin with and at least this one required little chakra. He didn't actually expect the man to fall for it, especially if he was connected to the last one who had attacked him. But it would make the clearing a safe spot for him to fall back to if needed. That was enough for the moment. He quickly returned to the cover of the canopy and began circling around. The man was attempting to mask his chakra and failing. Did that mean they had teleported into the area or had the other man kept them both hidden? There could be more than two of them. He kept that in mind as he attacked. An open kunai throw revealed his location and sent the man evading to the right. Sasuke moved with him, dodging the senbon the man threw back and mentally wincing when something behind him burst into flames. If they were that willing to burn the forest he might as well use katon himself. Two more kunai drove the man up and further to the right so he landed on a slender branch. A shuriken aimed at his head had him pivoting to his left and then Sasuke embedded a poisoned senbon in his left thigh. The man jerked as the leg stopped working and he fell off the branch. Definitely not a real Anbu.
The man was quick to catch himself with his hands, though, flipping off a lower branch and attempting to get back up into the cover of the canopy. Sasuke hit him with a few more poisoned senbon, one in each arm and one in the ankle of his other leg. Then Sasuke was forced take cover himself as a rain of shuriken sliced through the branches around him. Backup had arrived. Was it the man who had chased off Lee or a third one? A chakra-laden haze in the air had Sasuke diving into the underbrush. The wind cut right through the enormous trunk of the tree he had been in so the crown crashed down, luckily to the right of the clearing. But then the heavy branches caught fire. They really did seem set on burning the forest down. It was starting to piss him off. Were they hoping he would be blamed for that? Or did they know he had no way of controlling flames he hadn't created himself? He would wonder about that later. This seemed more like a murder attempt than a warning, so these people might not even be connected to the last attack.
He blanked his chakra and crept close enough to spot the two men through the smoke. The new arrival had lowered the immobilized man to the ground and was leaning over him. The opening was too obvious. Sasuke took the shot anyway and then raced to a new hiding spot when the man used the replacement technique to force his injured comrade to take the hit in his stead. Sasuke had aimed the kunai at the back of the crouching man's neck. Instead, the poisoned man took it to the face. Utterly ruthless. He doubted even an Anbu would do that to a comrade. So much for trying to take one of them alive so Ibiki could have someone to interrogate. Maybe Lee would have better luck with his opponent.
He pulled a small cloth covered ball of dried poison from his weapons pouch, wishing he had taken the time to prepare a few more of them. He hadn't expected to actually be using it. It had just been a way to keep busy while Naruto fussed over him that first day out of the hospital. But the poison had worked nicely on the first man. Did that prove these attackers weren't from Konoha? Or did Konoha shinobi not have an immunity to a poison that grew in their own backyard? He would ask Ibiki about that later.
He returned to the canopy, looking everywhere for the slightest hint of chakra or movement. The underbrush gave him better cover, but the fire was spreading and wind attacks were hard enough to see and evade in the open air. If there was a way to actually block a wind jutsu, Sasuke had never heard of it. Evasion was the only option. Unless he wanted to fight fire with fire? The forest was already burning.
A flicker of white caught his eye, the mask, and then the man was coming directly for him. This man was very good at masking his chakra, even from the sharingan. A direct attack was foolish, though. Sasuke could read every move he made before he even finished making it. That made dodging much easier. Unfortunately he was dodging falling flaming branches in addition to the chakra-coated weapons the man was throwing at him. He didn't have time to look up, but judging from the heat and the amount of burning rubble the very top of the canopy was on fire. If something wasn't done about that, soon, the entire forest could burn down. This forest was the only part of the entire damn village he actually liked.
He would tell himself later that anger hadn't influenced him. Countering a direct assault with a direct assault of his own was just the quickest way to finish things. He ducked under a wind-laden shuriken and flashed closed enough to crush the ball of poison right in the man's masked face. The mask was just a shield. Had he been wearing a cloth mask under that covering the poison would have taken a little longer to reach his lungs. The man jerked back, hands at his throat, and Sasuke sent him crashing to the ground with a roundhouse kick to the head. He had aimed at the clearing, where the earth trap could finish him off. Instead, there was a flash of chakra as another masked man rushed in to catch him and soften the impact. Sasuke's breath actually caught when the earth trap skewered them both. But the new man poofed out so only his original target was left bleeding on the torn grass and that moment of amused disbelief passed. Kage bunshin or some other similar technique? Three more masked men dropped from the canopy, one of them driving Sasuke back as the other two snatched up the bodies below and teleported away with them. Sasuke swiped his new attacker with a wired shuriken only to have this one poof out as well.
The crackling of the fire made it hard to hear anything. He waited, straining to see any hint of the enemy. There was a faint voice somewhere to his left. Lee, calling his name. That made him feel better about not giving Lee a moment's consideration. He had assumed he was the target of the attack and that Lee would be able to handle himself. It was good to be right.
They met up at the edge of the fire. Lee's clothes were cut in a few places, but he appeared intact.
"Are you all right?" asked Lee. "I'm so sorry I couldn't get back to you."
"I'm fine. But they got away."
Lee was quick to admit that his attacker had also escaped despite his best efforts. He had almost taken the man out, but he had been rescued at the last moment by three men. The same three men Sasuke had seen? Or maybe the men recovering the bodies had all been clones created by someone else watching from the shadows. They could wonder about that later. For now the fire was spreading and Lee refused to leave Sasuke behind to contain the fire while he went for help. Either they would both go and hope the fire didn't destroy too much before help arrived or they were going to have to stop it themselves. Sasuke was fairly sure he could contain the fire. He wasn't as certain he could put the fire out, but he intended to try.
He explained his plan to Lee and then summoned the snake he had marked. It arrived promptly and didn't seem the least bit bothered by the fire raging so close to it. Sasuke was using a genjutsu to tell it what he wanted when he heard a harsh crack. He whipped around in time to see a nearby tree fall in a billow of smoke and fire. Lee's hair was standing on end, his skin ruddy and steaming with chakra, and he flashed Sasuke a grin and a thumbs-up before breaking a fifteen foot trunk with a single punch. Sasuke's left eyebrow twitched. Taijutsu specialist, indeed. No amount of 'matter over mind' nonsense or insanely repetitive endurance exercises could explain that sort of strength. That was clearly some seriously advanced ninjutsu. He refused to believe otherwise.
He finished instructing the snake, emphasizing that it was to only knock down the trees on the opposite side of Lee. A circle with the heavily burning trees broken inward would contain most of the fire. Windblown embers would still let it spread, but a little rain would stop that. He got as high as he could, traveling in a circle through the closest trees that weren't burning, and set the sky on fire. The dragon fire jutsu he had used on Naruto's rasengan had created clouds fairly quickly, but the rotating wind from Naruto's technique had kept the heat centered and concentrated. This was a much larger area. On the other hand, the air was already hazy from the burning trees and the accelerant that had been used. That was bound to help. Short bursts of his hottest flame all around the perimeter got the clouds forming. Then he dropped to the snake and used its height to get up over the burning area, as close to the center as he could reach with the heat and smoke rising up at them. From there he fired as many sustained katons as he had the breath and chakra for. He fired one too many, as it turned out. He was trying to catch his breath and watching the rumbling clouds darken when a raindrop landed in his eye and he slipped right off the snake.
The snake caught him with its tongue and for one awful moment he was suspended in thick choking smoke that made his eyes blur and heat so intense he felt it might singe his eyebrows right off. Even worse was the throbbing in his midsection as the snake lifted him up. The last thing he wanted was to wind up back in the hospital. Then he noticed that the snake wasn't just raising him with its tongue, it was also retracting its tongue. What if it swallowed him? He was wondering if Lee would be able to punch a hole in the snake as easily as he had broken the trees when he found himself being placed on the snake's snout. Good. He did not want to want to find out firsthand what 'slug therapy' entailed. The snake was watching him with its eyes half-lidded against the smoke. It looked amused. He probably deserved that. Sasuke expressed his gratitude and directed it to find Lee. They were going to take the easy way out of the forest.
They were soaked and the storm was expanding rapidly by the time the snake got them to within throwing distance of the fence. Sasuke didn't have the chakra to disable a gate or get them through the traps surrounding the ungated parts of the fence. So they would go right over. Lee supported that plan with enthusiasm. Lee's hair was plastered to his head and he was gripping one of the snake's nostrils in order to keep his balance since he had no 'body memory' when it came to using chakra to cling to a snake, but his grin was wide and bright and he appeared to be in a very good mood. That made one of them. Sasuke was beginning to suspect he had overdone it a bit with his little 'make it rain' idea. The black clouds were churning violently and moving faster than they were. The entire village was going to wind up soaked. Well, that was better than being burned down. Probably.
It wasn't until the snake threw them over the fence with a jerk of its head that Sasuke realized exactly how low his chakra was. He couldn't tell if the sky and ground were spinning or if he was. There was a jerk, a thud, and then Lee was letting him down from where he had apparently pulled him half over his shoulder.
"You looked like you were going to land badly," Lee explained. He was still happily showing off all of his bright white teeth.
Sasuke winced and muttered, "I was. Thanks."
"No problem!"
They trudged their way through the village because Sasuke didn't have the chakra for rooftops, his side hurt too much to run, he refused to be carried, and Lee refused to go ahead without him. The few people on the streets were rushing to take cover. Sasuke was thinking about how long it had taken the clouds to form, how many fewer katons it would have taken to keep the storm contained over the forest, if there was a way he could have made the storm form more quickly while still keeping it contained in a small area, and whether Naruto was ever going to let him out of the apartment again. Then there was a flash as lightning cracked down to strike an abandoned metal cart just a few feet away from them. Sasuke's chakra gave tingly frizzle and the hairs on his arms stood up. Lee bumped into him.
"That was close," said Lee. "Are you sure you won't let me carry you?"
"I'm sure," Sasuke snapped. Then he blinked. Lee wasn't looking bubbly anymore. His bushy eyebrows were drawn, he looked paler than usual, and he had a hand over his stomach. "Were you injured during the attack?" He should have asked that sooner. If nothing else, that technique Lee had used to tear down the trees must have worn him out at least a little bit.
"Only a few scratches," Lee said quickly. "I suspect I inhaled too much smoke. I'm a little sick to my stomach, that's all. If you let me carry you, then we can-" He stopped talking when Sasuke grabbed his arm and sniffed the cut there. "Sasuke-kun...?"
Sasuke couldn't smell anything from the cut except residual smoke. If not for the rain they would both still be covered in soot. "Stick your tongue out."
Lee's eyes widened into an exaggerated expression of worry. "I really think I should carry you now. You appear to be suffering from fatigue and not thinking clearly."
"You may be poisoned," Sasuke scowled. Even without Lee sticking his tongue out, he could see a hint of orange past those white teeth. If the poison was affecting his stomach then escaping acid could be causing the discoloration. Or maybe he had swallowed something that had damaged his stomach and it had nothing to do with the cuts. It probably wasn't serious if it had taken this long to affect him, but that wasn't the point. He definitely had gotten Naruto's friend poisoned. This day was a complete disaster and it had barely started. "You need to be checked by a medic."
"It's just a minor stomach ache," Lee assured him. "We need to report to the Hokage right away." He frowned, blinked, and then changed his mind. "On second thought, you're right. The hospital is closer. We can stop there first if you insist."
If he insisted? Lee was willing to go there because he thought Sasuke was the one who needed to be checked out by a medic. Sasuke would figure out a way to avoid that when they got there. If they got there in one piece, he thought to himself a few seconds later as another crack of lightning struck an electric pole just feet away from them. Was it following them? His chakra was definitely reacting to that. His fingers played with the outside of his weapons pouch as he considered the possibilities.
He barely noticed the arm Lee placed behind his shoulders to hurry him along and support him if needed. So long as Lee didn't attempt to pick him up and carry him, he would tolerate his fussing. He had more important things to think about. Lee directed him under some overhangs that were clattering in the wind, giving them a break from the worst of the rain. Sasuke quickly drew a kunai from his pouch and closed it back up. They were in the thick of the storm when the hospital loomed up ahead. Sasuke looked back over his shoulder. The street was narrow but empty and if Naruto freaked out as badly as he expected there was no telling when he'd get another chance like this. He threw his kunai and watched with grim satisfaction as a bolt of lightning drove it right through the paved street and into the ground beneath. The hole was steaming and it had only taken the tiniest hint of chakra. Now this was worth rusting his entire pack of weapons. He reached for his pouch again.
Lee grabbed his wrist and dragged him into the hospital. "Touching metal in a lightning storm is dangerous. I'm so sorry. I should have simply carried you from the start as I promised Naruto I would. Your judgement-"
"I did that on purpose," Sasuke spat.
"I know you did, but there was no one there. You may be hallucinating. This is all my fault. But we're here now and the medics will have you better in no time. Excuse me, we need assistance!"
Sasuke seethed as he watched Lee flag down the nearest person. The moment a medic reached them, Sasuke intervened. "He has been poisoned. Look at his tongue."
Lee grimaced. "I'm afraid my friend is-" He was cut off by the medic, who gripped his chin and looked in his mouth.
Lee's expression when he found himself being rushed down the hall instead of Sasuke almost made up for having to tell Naruto he had gotten his friend poisoned. Sasuke watched him until he was out of sight, snorted softly, and then went back out into the storm. If the Hokage and Naruto were in the mission room then that was a fair walk from here. He had eight weapons left in his pouch. If anyone else tried to attack him they were going to get an unpleasant surprise.
.-.
Ibiki was playing a game with him. Sasuke found it difficult to focus on that when all he wanted to do was sit down somewhere, alone, and think about the lightning. Had he been able to direct the lightning because the storm itself was infused with his chakra? That would make it useless except as a last resort. Or would he be able to do the same thing with a naturally formed storm? A natural storm wouldn't have any of his chakra seeded in it, so would it require a lot of chakra to try and control the lightning created by such a storm? There hadn't been any natural storms in Konoha since he had arrived here. Lee would probably tell Naruto exactly how this storm had formed, so there was no chance of him 'accidentally' creating another one. Sasuke had left that part out of his report, merely stating that they had contained the fire and the rain should have put it out. He had been relieved when the Hokage had sent him to Ibiki and sent Naruto to join the team checking the forest for clues. But Naruto would undoubtedly be checking Lee before picking him up here, and Lee was the sort to babble every bit of information he had. At best, keeping his report succinct had only bought him a bit of time to think things through before Naruto interrogated him for real.
"Well?" asked Ibiki.
The man didn't sound the least bit impatient. He could probably tell how distracted Sasuke was.
"The resemblance is uncanny," Sasuke admitted. "If he had survived, he would look just like this now. But his right ear had a wire piercing that this body lacks." Piercing was putting it mildly. The boy he had met had wire through his lobe and threaded up and around the shell of his ear. Perhaps that had enhanced his hearing in some way. He had operated almost entirely by sound and should have remained hidden underground until long after Sasuke made his move. Instead he had broken cover to save the sole female member of the team, making him the eleventh to die and buying her just a few extra minutes of life. Had Eleven followed his own plan the Anbu might not have found him at all, and then he really might have aged to look just like this corpse.
"Is there anything else that makes you believe this is not the same person?"
"Yes," Sasuke said flatly. He didn't know what Ibiki was hoping to get out of him. He felt like the man was waiting for him to slip up and admit something he preferred to keep to himself. But what? Sasuke had nothing to hide as far as his genin team was concerned. Konoha had recovered the bodies. They would know more about where each member had originated than he did. All he knew was how they had treated each other, how they had treated him, how they had fought that night, and how they had died. He closed his eyes for a moment, trying and failing to muster up some patience. Ibiki wasn't like Kakashi. There was a point to Ibiki's game. Surely.
"First," said Sasuke, "I watched him die. He broke cover early, taking the attack head on." That had caused a lot of damage to his torso, which was also noticeably missing on this corpse. "Second, Naruto told me that Konoha had recovered the bodies. From what little I know of the reanimation technique, even if you failed to dispose of this one and and he was revived, he would be the same age he was when he died. Third, the voice was different." That was the most important point. Eleven's voice had been scratchy, hoarse, and very deep for his age. This man's voice had been nothing like that. He sent Ibiki a sharp look. Was this what Ibiki was waiting for? A bit of bluntness? Very well, then. "If this was a message, it wasn't for me. I wasn't intended to see his face, so there was no need for the voice to match. Besides, if they wanted me to believe this was him, he would have asked me about her."
"Her?"
"The only female member of the team. The one he died for."
Ibiki went so still he might as well have flinched. Sasuke's eyes widened. He should have controlled his own reaction better. He was too startled and...hopeful? Did it even matter after all this time if one of them had survived? If she had walked away from that mission, she had most likely died soon after while on another mission without her teammates to protect her. She had been more of a supplemental medic type than a fighter. She should never have been sent on a mission like that to begin with.
"How many bodies did you recover?" asked Sasuke. "There were twelve members on that team, not including me."
"We recovered eleven. None of them were female."
It didn't matter. It really didn't. But Eleven would have been glad to know he hadn't died in vain. That was something. Or maybe Sasuke was so tired he was giving in to sentiment. Just because Konoha hadn't recovered her body didn't mean she hadn't died. He forced himself to focus on what was important. "This man could have been a relative of the boy he resembles. He could have been picked for the resemblance. His features could have been altered to create a resemblance. Regardless, if the resemblance is a message then it's a message intended for you, not me."
"I suspected as much," said Ibiki.
He was admitting it? Freely? Sasuke watched him suspiciously.
"And today's attack?" Ibiki prodded.
"The uniforms resembled Anbu, but the masks were blank and they didn't have swords. The first one didn't seem good enough to be Anbu. The second one did. Neither of them was immune to the poison I used." Ibiki had declined to say whether or not Konoha shinobi generally had immunity to that poison, so that didn't tell him anything definitive. "They didn't speak to me and made no attempt to drive me away or to capture me. If they intentionally left Lee alive, then their disguises could have been a message to Konoha. To me, the disguises were just a way to make them all look alike so I can't be sure how many attackers there actually were. If there was a message for me in this attack, then it was the same as the last one. Leave or die." But if they wanted him dead they were going to have to be smarter about it. An ambush on a crowded street would be much better than getting him alone where he was free to defend himself.
"What do you think the message to Konoha is?"
Had Naruto already told them who Sasuke suspected? Probably. Not that it mattered. "I think whoever is behind this," and he waved at the body, "wants you to believe Sound was behind that attack. Whoever was behind today's attack didn't want you to recover any of the bodies because they would have revealed who is really behind the attack. If it was the same group behind both attacks, then it's not Sound but they want you to think it is."
"And do you think it is the same group behind both attacks?"
"No. This man was a warning and a trap to set me against your Anbu. Whoever sent him wanted me dead at Konoha's hands or far away from here. What happened today was an assassination attempt waged by someone who knows nothing whatsoever about how I fight. I suggest you ask Lee about the man he fought with, and whether that man's goal was to kill him or to keep him safely out of the line of fire."
Ibiki waited so long that Sasuke knew his annoyance was visible in his eyes. Did he have to spell it out for him? Why did he need to say what Ibiki already knew?
"I believe this man was sent so I would be able to suicide at the hands of your Anbu without appearing to do so." Sent by the clan, with Sand's full support, so he could follow his father's order. And by not doing so, he had marked himself as a traitor. Just like Itachi? He refused to consider that right now. "I don't know who was behind today's attack, but they obviously want me to believe it was Konoha."
"Because of the way they separated you from Lee?"
"That, and the fact that they knew I would be in that forest and were able to set up an ambush. They also appeared able to teleport into and out of that forest, one of your own training grounds. Would outsiders have been able to do that so easily?"
Ibiki gave a subtle smile. It reminded Sasuke that he was dealing with a professional interrogator. A torturer. He shouldn't have let himself be goaded into being so honest. But he was tired, damp, and his back still hurt. He didn't have the patience for this. Without a body Ibiki could identify this was all speculation, anyway.
"Not easily," said Ibiki. "And not without leaving considerable evidence behind. They most likely relocated to someplace nearby to regroup, counting on the fire to make tracking them more difficult. If they did teleport to somewhere outside the village, we will know very soon. That level of teleportation is impossible to hide from those who know what to look for. Even a reverse summon would leave blatant markers if performed over a long distance."
Blatant markers? That was a nice warning. Sasuke was surprised and appreciative. It was good to know that if he was ever forced to take Terra up on his offer, then Konoha would know what he had done. But would they be able to follow him? He couldn't ask that. There was no telling what motives Ibiki might read into a question like that. He would ask Naruto instead. If Naruto could use the forehead protector to follow him over such a long distance then it didn't matter what Konoha thought about it. On the other hand, if Konoha could follow him using the markers he left behind that meant others could as well. Using a reverse summon to flee wouldn't do much good if his attackers could follow him...unless there was someone like Manda waiting on the other side. He needed to have a frank talk with Terra, the sooner the better.
"You seem to have reached the same conclusion we have," Ibiki informed him. "Whoever is behind these attacks wants us to blame Sound and wants you to blame us. Where we differ is that we believe it is one group behind both attacks, with the simple goal of having you out of this village, whether dead or alive. The question isn't who would want you dead. The question is who would stand to profit from keeping you alive and, presumably, on their side."
"If I allowed myself to be driven out of Konoha I wouldn't be on anyone's side." He would be an outcast, no different from...Itachi. Right. Ibiki did raise a good point that he hadn't really considered. "I suppose that would point to Sound if you consider how much I have worked for them. But I wouldn't work for them now. I'm more likely to work covertly for Sand, or to work openly for Mist or Rain."
Ibiki raised an eyebrow. "I understand Mist, since you would have plenty of work dealing with their rogue elements. But why Rain?"
"Because they don't involve themselves with other villages as a rule. Nothing I did for them would affect the clan."
"Of course. In the end, it all comes down to that, doesn't it? You're loyal to your clan. Whoever is behind this knows that and is counting on that."
Unless the clan was behind this, in which case he had already proven he wasn't loyal in the way they expected him to be. He dropped his eyes to stare at the corpse. A traitor. No different from Itachi. No better than Itachi. His view of the world and his place in that world was threatening to twist on him. He had based his entire identity on being loyal to the clan. He had done everything expected of him up until the moment his father had killed him. That symbolic death had freed him to be loyal in his own way. Hadn't it? Or was he merely justifying his choice? From the clan's perspective, he really was just an inferior version of Itachi, acting of his own accord and leaving them to suffer the consequences. Naruto had him almost entirely convinced that an alliance with Konoha would benefit the clan in the long run. Was he allowing himself to be persuaded because he wanted to believe it? He wondered what Itachi believed. He had convinced himself that Itachi didn't care how his actions reflected on the clan. The clan elders surely felt the same way about him now. The clan elders were wrong about him, so could he be wrong about Itachi? The only real difference between them was that Itachi had openly defied the clan, while Sasuke had remained obedient until they had disposed of him themselves. His view of the world wasn't just twisting, it was swirling into a frightening mess. Lee was right. He wasn't thinking clearly. These were useless thoughts. He had chosen his path. It was too late for second thoughts.
Ibiki was watching him when Sasuke finally looked up. Did the man have any idea what was going through his mind? Those eyes seemed to stare right through his own blank mask to the turmoil and confusion raging in his mind. Ibiki could see it. Was that because he had expected it? Because he had set it in motion with one simple comment? That was paranoia. Why would Ibiki want to do that? But Sasuke didn't care about the why. He was more concerned with the how. If he was being influenced, he had left himself open for it with his instinctive respect for this man, his surprise at having Ibiki respect him enough to offer frank warnings and information, and most of all the confidence in Ibiki's steady gaze. Ibiki knew things he didn't know, things he wanted to find out, and this was his chance if he just gave Ibiki what he wanted in return. Was it just paranoia? Sasuke was in over his head when it came to politics. He knew even less about the manipulation tactics an interrogator might use. But he was interested in learning. Who better to learn from than an expert?
"What would you do if you were me?" asked Sasuke. There was audible amusement in his casual tone. He hadn't put that there intentionally, but it sounded just right.
Ibiki didn't hesitate. "I would do whatever is necessary to get to the bottom of this mystery as quickly as possible."
Well, yes, that was what Sasuke would do if it were his choice and he wasn't in danger of being locked in a hospital room or Naruto's apartment for the foreseeable future. Today proved that his attackers were quick to take the bait. All he needed was a way to stop Naruto's protests before they could form. An easy out. Something less complicated than a reverse summon into Manda's territory. "That would be easier if someone taught me the teleportation jutsu."
Ibiki smiled. "I know just the person."
Of course he did.
.-.
TBC