At the Hokage's office, tensions reigned over the environment. The Fifth was sitting on her chair, behind her desk. The traditional hat worn by her predecessors under her hand, and over the table where she also signed countless documents. Her brown eyes were cold, but also raged with power, as if it was blue fire.
She used her left hand to raise a paper and read it. Those papers were put down almost instantly, though, as she preferred to ask the details to the group of shinobi in front of her, rather than reading yet another document.
"Shizune," she handed over the documents to her assistant, "make sure there are no contradictions, I'm tired of reading."
The young black-haired woman nodded, and skimmed through the papers while the shinobi started to speak.
"So, was the mission successful?" Asked the Hokage, her hands being put together on the desk.
Yuichi shook his head, getting the attention of Kakashi and the younger group of shinobi standing next to him. "Sasuke Uchiha, the target that was supposed to be rescued, escaped successfully from our reach, leaving no trace to follow."
Tsunade seemed disappointed, though unsurprised. Everyone in the room was sure she already had been informed of the final outcome of the mission. She closed her eyes, and then glanced at Gohan.
"Any casualties?"
The group remained silent, so once again the man of the face tattoos spoke up. "Chouji Akimichi on our side, his body has been recovered by the ANBU and is to be buried once the respective procedure is done. On their side, multiple sound-nin have also been recovered by the ANBU, but no sign of Orochimaru or Sasuke Uchiha."
The Fifth Hokage nodded in response, and then glanced at her assistant. Shizune also nodded, to confirm everything was in order. And so, the blonde woman once again faced the shinobi, but before she could ask anything else, one of the voices interrupted her.
"There are more casualties I can confirm." The boy of the spiky, black hair confessed.
Tsunade remained silent for a couple of seconds, but as the saiyan expected a reply, she gave it to him. "Go on."
"I killed Orochimaru in battle." Gohan stated.
Tsunade sighed, and then facepalmed. Kakashi and Yuichi turned to look at him with confused expressions, while his teammates remained silent. Naturally, the more experienced and older shinobi believed this to be a lie, as it would make no sense.
"Look, kid, it's not that simple." Tsunade tried to explain, but the jounin of the blue haori raised his voice over hers.
"There was no trace of his body, we would have found it by now."
"And he is possibly immortal, his durability is far too much to simply be killed by a kid." She added, ignoring the gray-haired man's words. "I've heard you are impressively strong, but I am afraid this might be too much for me to believe."
"There is no trace of his body because I disintegrated it." As he lowered his head, he spoke. Everyone around him was left surprised, as that implied that one of the legendary Sannin was overpowered by a mere kid. "After that I hurried for Naruto, who is still recovering at the hospital, close to where Sasuke was."
"And why did you let him go?!" Yuichi asked, not letting the Hokage comment on his previous statement.
"I didn't, he disappeared along with a masked man." Gohan explained. "He was also wearing the same cloak that Sasuke's brother was wearing when I fought him, as well as the other man that accompanied him."
"Akatsuki..." Muttered Tsunade.
"One of the Sannin killed..." Yuichi suddenly found himself sweating. "What the hell is going on...?"
The Fifth remained silent as she dived into her thoughts.
"Shizune, update the Bingo Book." As the woman finally said something, Yuichi was surprised to learn she believed the boy. "This mission might not have been a total failure. However, we have an even bigger trouble regarding Sasuke Uchiha now... But you may go now. Except Yuichi, please stay."
The shinobi nodded, including Kakashi, before the group left the room. However, one of them took longer to leave than the rest. It was the boy who fell from the skies.
"Excuse me, ma'am, I'd like to ask for a meeting later, is that possible?" Asked the boy.
"Who do you think-" Yuichi was interrupted by the Hokage, who replied.
"I have some time later today, so if you are available..."
"Of course, I don't have much to do now." Gohan laughed nervously before bowing in a sign of gratefulness. Then, he left the room.
As he exited the office, he noticed the presence of a certain blonde girl on the hallway. She wore the same purple outfit she usually wore, with the bandages underneath it, covering all the way to her knees.
The saiyan did not know how to react. He had avoided contact with his friends ever since returning from the mission, not being able to face them believing he was responsible for Chouji's death.
"Hey." She said.
Gohan merely waved, while dodging eye contact with her.
"Why haven't you talked to us? Shikamaru is frustrated." Ino insisted, grabbing him by the arm to keep him from leaving.
"I don't know..." The saiyan looked away, but he also did not want to run away again.
Ino glanced directly at his face, but the boy refused to look back at her.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing." He replied.
Yamanaka lowered her head. She knew Gohan would not just say what he felt out loud, not to mention that she was already sure of what was happening to him. For such, she understood his replies, but his distant attitude in the recent days was out of character for him. Before, he had been caring and friendly with mostly everyone, he had helped many people and saved the village.
She snapped out of her thoughts, and let the saiyan's arm go. However, as Gohan turned to see her, surprised that she just let him go, the girl hugged him. Her arms wrapped around his body, and then pressed tightly.
It had been a while. And curiously enough, the last hug he received was from Ino, but quite some time prior to that moment. He had avoided it, not because he did not want that warmth, but because he knew he would break again.
And so, his lacrimal glands released all the tears they had not been able to let out in the past days. He placed his forehead on the girl's shoulder, and quickly made it wet with how much he cried.
Ino's reaction was to simply accept him. Her hug remained just as tight, and she placed one of her hands over his head, as to not stop hugging him with her other one. She stroked his hair, while the boy tried to compose himself.
"I'm useless. No matter how I do things, someone always dies because of me." He said.
"No, you aren't."
"Chouji died because of me. I could've avoided it!"
"You were busy fighting, you couldn't predict it." Ino moved her hand down to his back.
Gohan stepped back from the hug. "Nobody there was strong enough to keep me from going back to help him."
The girl remained silent this time, as her arms were softly pushed away.
"My father expected me to succeed him as the protector of earth, but I have failed time and time again to save the people I love the most. How can someone like me hold such a responsibility? I'm weak, and I can't protect anybody." After speaking, the saiyan realized how much he had opened himself. Surprised, he started running away, but Ino grabbed one of his arms.
"Gohan!"
"I'm sorry, but I think you are safer without me." He concluded.
The boy pushed his arm away and fled the place. He was too fast for his teammate, and he knew it. Ino watched through the window, trying to find him, but was unable to. She bit her lip and lowered her head.
Two masked shinobi, wearing the ANBU uniform, were walking through the dark depths of a tunnel. Behind them, the only source of natural light from the sun, the entrance of said tunnel. All the way through the tunnel, however, several torches marked the way.
From the entrance, another shinobi descended through the metal ladder. He also wore an animal mask, but his own resembled the face of an armadillo. He carefully followed the pair of shinobi all the way to the end of the tunnel.
Several other doors were scattered through the tunnel, leading to other tunnels, but those weren't the ones the ANBU were looking for. After walking for about ten minutes, they reached the end of the tunnel, which was marked by a bigger, metallic door.
The ANBU of the armadillo mask stepped forward and placed his hand on the door. A seal, with a pattern that resembled a drawing of burning flames, was revealed. As the masked shinobi channeled his chakra through the seal, it glowed with an intense blue light.
As he took his hand off the seal, the light dissipated along some smoke, followed by the pattern itself. The metal door opened, revealing a big room hiding behind it. The two shinobi went in, as the one of the armadillo mask stayed behind.
Once the pair were in, though, he also entered and closed the door.
The room inside was mostly empty. Its walls and roof were metallic, like most of the tunnel itself. Inside it, only two paintings decorated the lateral walls. The one of the wall to the right, depicted a detailed drawing of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The one on the left wall, depicted a drawing of the symbol of the Shimura clan.
Further into the room, small stairs led into a throne. The throne was metallic, but it was clearly made out of a different material, given its shinier look compared to the walls of the tunnel. Behind it, there was a sculpture of a red burning flame, twice the size of the throne itself.
On the silver throne, an old man was sitting, expecting the visit of the ANBU. His right eye was bandaged, and wore a white shirt under the black robe that covered the right side of his upper body, and the entirety of his lower body.
As the ANBU kneeled in front of him, the old man stood up. He grabbed, with his only visible arm, a cane he was keeping close to the throne. He slowly and carefully took two steps forward.
"Sir, the men you asked for." Said the man of the armadillo mask, getting a nod in response from the old man.
"The final report of the recovery mission regarding the young Uchiha has been completed. The terrain was successfully scouted, without the government of The Sand noticing." Explained one of the ANBU. More specifically, one wearing a cat mask.
"As you asked, we omitted certain details from the official report, sir." Added the third shinobi, who wore a mask resembling the face of an owl.
"Good." Said the old man, remaining completely expressionless.
"We can confirm the death of the legendary Sannin, Orochimaru. Recently, the Hokage updated the Bingo Book, as well." Explained the one of the cat mask.
"However, we had barely any doubts that he had died, given the testimonies of what happened to him. The confirmation comes from the boy who fell from the skies, who admitted to killing him in battle." Said the ANBU of the owl mask.
"Nothing new, it seems." The old man said before sitting back down.
"Yes, sir, there is something new." Said the one of the cat mask.
"The Akatsuki were present at the time of the battle. Proof has been found, mainly a burnt piece of fabric, which has part of a red cloud drawn into it. Somebody fought against one of them, leaving that near the battlefield." Explained the one of the owl mask. This sparked the old man's interest once again. "And that is not to mention that, in the same testimony where the boy who fell from the sky confirms killing Orochimaru, he mentions he saw one of them taking Sasuke Uchiha with him."
"I see..." The man of the chin scar with the shape of the letter 'X' said. "So that is why the Uchiha was nowhere to be seen... But that is far from being the main issue." He stood up. "Rather, the main concern for the village at the moment, is that the last two members of the founder clan of Uchiha have betrayed the Land of Fire, their home."
The three ANBU nodded without hesitation, as the man once again grabbed his cane to stand up. His figure, even while being that of a frail old man, imposed respect, authority and, above all, a clear reflection of the village's interests.
"I will propose to the council the immediate addition of Sasuke Uchiha to the Bingo Book. But even if they reject it, or the Hokage vetoes the decision, we must be ready to eliminate the traitors by ourselves. An inefficient government will not stop the Will of Fire."
