CHAPTER FIVE

A/N: Well, I'm getting mixed reviews! That's a good motivator if you ask me. d_scribe noted that I've stretched this story for too long that I managed to drain its juices and suggested that I'd go home. I'm not mad at you, d_scribe, in fact, thanks for pointing that out. I always seem to let anything go about by itself, pretty much like letting a toilet roll falling down a long road and leave it to roll down by itself. And also, that the story is getting too long to be read. Okay. This time it's short. Enjoy!

p/s: for d_scribe (if you're reading) this chapter and the proceeding paragraphs is dedicated for you.


He was still running. Night had fallen, and the once pristine forest now had become a field that determined his life or death.

"For chrissakes!" he muttered even as his breath caught in his throat. "What the hell was that?!"

He felt blood run into his eyes and wiped it off, almost forgetting the wound on his forehead inflicted earlier. He never saw anything like that before. Being a merchant, he had had his share of highway thieves, bandits and missing-nins. This… this was nothing like before.

Suddenly he felt his legs gave way underneath him, and darkness filled his sight. He bit onto the skin between his forefinger and thumb to restrain himself from shouting, even as he fell down the hole. When he hit the bottom it took a while to get his bearings back. Then he realised that the hole was not that deep. He could stay in here until morning, then run back to Yukihama town and tell the authorities about this. With this thought the current predicament was somewhat forgotten, and closed his eyes.

He was not sure whether he had fallen asleep or simply because time moved too fast, but when he reopened them, the dark sky had turned bluish, and the stars were fading. Smiling with joy he reached up and pulled himself out of the hole.

"Thank goodness. Now I can run safely back to Yukihama," he said to himself. Turning, he broke into a run –

- only to run into someone, who must have been standing behind him silently because he did not realise his presence there before. "Where are you going?" said he.

"YOU!" the frightened man said. He wanted to leap back away, as far as he could, but the other man held him closer, as if in a bear hug. "YOU – ack!!" Slowly, even as life seeped away from him, he saw the skies and they were still dark and full of stars.

What the… genjutsu!? he wondered briefly before another sharp pain stopped his thoughts. "Damn…!"

"Shh… not so loud… you'll wake him up."

And he twisted the scalpel deeper and harder, watching with blank eyes as Doi Shiga, 39-year-old male merchant from Yukihama, single and previously healthy, gave out a death rattle and slid off from his shoulders and away from existence.

The moon had just begun to ascend from his cradle when he began incising the man's body into neat parts. There was no blood; not anymore, anyway, because he had drained them away earlier, but not throw it away. Nothing was wasted; the lines on the stony ground were drawn from blood.

After taking the skin apart he started to carve out the organs and laid them out systematically on a massive slab of stone. If seen from above, the lines join to become a square, with arcane scripts running down both sides of the square, also done in blood. Inside it, the organs – lungs, heart, spleen, brain and eyes – were arranged at the four tips of the square that were oriented to the four main directions, with the exception of the brain. It was put in the middle.

The moon was fast rising, but the man – his hair was greyish under the pale moon – sat still, motionless and waiting.

Three hours later, with the moon directly overhead, he stood up and stepped into the square and stood over the brain and whispered inaudible words, while his hands made hand seals faster than the common eyes can see. The seals lasted for fifteen seconds when the square began to glow with an eerie inner red light. It seemed something from underneath the ground was trying to get out because the surface of the huge slab of rock was trembling horribly.

Then he said loudly:

"Part-seal, kai!"

From nowhere a strong wind began to blow. He stood firm, retaining the last seal his fingers had made the best he could. This was the most critical part in this forbidden jutsu. Release the seal, and everything will be for naught.

The square was now shining with a strange shade of red, highlighting each of the organs before they disappeared, starting with the heart and followed by the spleen, the eyes and finally the lungs.

The wind blew even stronger. This time, it contained blood instead of air. It swirled about the man, faster and thicker. Some went splat on his face, his clothes. Some even blinded his eyes. He did not even flinch. The last seal his fingers made was still intact.

Finally the square ceased to glow. The blood-wind died out and fell around him. But it was not the end.

"Part-seal, seal!" he shouted, and quickly moved away and out of the square, but not before placing some sort of a container upon where he had stood.

This time the brain under him began to glow. Along with it the words that ran down on each side of the square glowed, too. Slowly four lines began to form from the tips and arched inward into the small container. As the moon began his descent, the red, fine lines began lessening in luminosity and strength. Finally the lines disappeared.

He gingerly stepped into the square and took up the container. Under the light of the breaking dawn, one could see that it was a small iron kettle. Quickly he took out some fuda and stuck them onto the cover. It glowed briefly before it became still. He put it in his backpack and walked off. There was no cleaning needed. The whole justu had consumed everything.

"Pig, complete," he said. "Next is the Monkey."


***

It was 10 in the morning.

Tsunade sat down facing Kakashi, also seated, in her office. Both seemed calm, and Tsunade took the first plunge.

"You're late, as usual. Please don't make this a habit whenever meeting me, Kakashi."

"Sorry, I met a lost doggie and I happened to know the owner, so I decided to send the little fella to the other side of the village and then –"

Tsunade reached for an envelope opener that looked suspiciously like a scalpel and Kakashi decided to shut up, period. She said as she reached for an envelope and opened it with the gleaming metal device: "Save it. I have no time to listen to your weak explanations." After reading the contents, Tsunade added: "I know, Kakashi."

"About what?"

"No need to play dumb. I know now how you managed to let Sakura have the mission. I only want to know why."

Kakashi sighed. "Very well. The truth is, the village where Kin had massacred the children used to be Sakura's village for some time. Her family moved to Konoha Village when she was four years old to let her study in this academy."

"Sentiment is not an excuse to commit this errant conduct, Kakashi."

"Did you remember how the news of this matter came to your knowledge?"

Tsunade gave him a puzzled look. "What do you mean?"

"Wasn't it Satoshi who informed you about Kin?"

Tsunade slowly nodded. "What of it then?"

"He learnt of it from Sakura."

Her eyes slowly widened in surprise. "Are you lying to me?"

Kakashi's uncovered eye stared back at Tsunade in a sort of weary earnestness. "Didn't you want the truth? I'm telling you now, and you doubt me."

"It's because you lied to me before."

"It's the truth. You can look at the report details afterward; it's there amongst the COMPLETED box," he pointed it out to a box that lay on Tsunade's left-side. "I guess that was why somehow you had had your worries and qualms when I let Sakura handle the mission. It's like flipping through a book; you remember certain words and forget the rest, but the important ones remain."

She does have that habit, although this can be blamed upon the piling paperwork every day which she had to face. "And that bothered me until today." Tsunade turned her gaze outside as a soft knock at the door somewhat interrupted their conversation.

Tsunade called to whomever that was to come in and the person entered. She turned out to be Shizune who carried with her a tray of teapot, steam escaping barely through its tightly shut lids, some rice cakes, and two warmed cups. Feeling as if she had intruded, she finished pouring their tea into respective cups and left quietly.

"Hmm. If that's the way it was, then I think even I couldn't have stopped her," Tsunade said. She was in no way trying to save herself; Tsunade knew for a fact that if Sakura feels strongly about something, she will pursue it relentlessly. "She was the one who first learnt about the terrible news, eh?"

Kakashi nodded. "She did so, from the worst possible person – a childhood friend who had lost her son and daughter – twins – and was forced to see it as Kin butchered the children."

Tsunade shook her head in despair. "Why did they leave their children alone? It's already dangerous as it was!"

Kakashi nodded. "True, but the village was one of those where no crime ever happened. Nothing major like this one, save for petty thefts. This was totally unexpected. And although they did leave two men to guard the village, these men had gone off hunting that day."

Tsunade fell into silence. Kakashi stayed silent, too, waiting patiently.

"You may go, Kakashi," she said after a while. "But next time don't repeat this mistake. You cost us precious lives and manpower that time, and I don't mean that money-wise. I don't want to lose more good shinobis this way."

"Yes, Tsunade-sama." He stood up and bowed before left silently. Tsunade watched as the door closed behind him and then at the cup opposite hers. She wondered;

"Is it because Shizune made the tea or he simply won't suffer to open that irritating mask to just drink?"

She smiled at herself, then slowly her happy mood fell as her fingers wrapped themselves around a necklace. Tsunade stared at it and began to lose herself in memories.

I want to become Hokage!

I want to protect my people!

I don't care if the person is a woman! I will KICK HER ASS!

Become a good man… and a respectable Hokage…

Tsunade-sama… I no longer am able to wear this necklace with dignity. I have broken my own rule and in doing so, my promise to you and the people of Konoha Village.

I am no longer a Leaf Shinobi.

Tsunade forced herself to stand up, trying to drive away the memories. But as she did so, she was standing at the window which opened up to the village and the green woods surrounding the village, save for one spot, which can be seen especially from here, in this office.

I can no longer be Hokage.

"You fool," Tsunade muttered to no one in particular. "Why did you have to go that far to save him? In the end, the saviour becomes the monster."

Tsunade turned away from the window. She had decided now and then that the window needed a good thick curtain.

To Be Continued...