Entry #465
There are 69 Hours until the Execution
Contrary to what many would claim, I feel a full range of emotions. Anger, Joy, Sadness, Envy, Regret, Lust; all these are familiar to me. Yet in my current situation, I find myself incapable of describing how I feel. Perhaps the only way to help you understand is to describe my position in as simple terms as I can, allowing you to draw your own conclusions.
I am currently in a place I don't want to be, with 3 other people who don't want to be here either. Everyone around us is a potential enemy, and as we are in the middle of a large village, there are a great many potential enemies.
I have led us here to rescue someone who will most assuredly try to kill me and/or my companions at least once or twice during the course of the rescue, and this is while simultaneously fighting off an army of shinobi who will be very VERY pissed off at us.
People have been calling me crazy for years; only here and now do I start to consider whether they might have a point.
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Entry #466
Only 44 hours leftI find that as the rescue attempt draws nearer, I feel my need to write down my thoughts grow even stronger, and I am not foolish enough to delusion myself as to the reason. It is entirely possible that, in the course of this mission, I will die. If that happens, I, oddly enough, feel the needleave at least some piece of myself behind, so without further ado, I give you my philosophy for life.
The thing I find most perplexing about the human race is their obsession with 'why?'. It has generally been my observation that often people pay more attention to why something was done than what was actually done.
An excellent example of this theory being of course my claim to fame, the so-called 'Uchiha massacre.' Let us say, hypothetically, that I killed off my pathetic clan for noble reasons. It's not true, but that's why it's hypothetical.
Due to the advantage of our Sharingan, a member of the Uchiha clan used to kill an average of 12 people in a lifetime.
Let us say, to account for the old and middle age shinobi, who have already killed a number of people, and the babies who killed none, that every person I killed would have themselves killed an average of 6 people had they lived.
Exactly 47 people died by my hand that day (another 11 died due to 'friendly fire') and based on our math so far, in killing them, I have saved 235 lives. Expanding this notion, if one looks at the people I kill even today, most of them are the large stupid rude ones, the ones who tend towards irrational violence.
One could view it as my doing the world a service, as there are probably hundreds more people who are only alive today because I removed those who would have killed them. If this had been my intention all along, to save lives, people would view me very differently than they do.
The truth is, I killed the foolish clan into which I was born to test them and myself. I found them lacking, so they died. I kill people today not because they are evil or crude or unjust, but because they annoy me. It just so happens that these traits are often found on the same people.
Looking at it statistically, I have been doing unintentional good and saving lives my whole life. If people judged my actions just on my results, I should get a medal.
The thing is, people don't think about the unexpected benefits of the people whom I happen to kill dieing, they just look at why I did it. I don't really care if they judge me, but its astonishing, because that way of thinking implies that the result of an event is different because of the intentions that led up to it, an idea that is completely absurd.
I need look no further than the justice system, where murder is different from manslaughter, as if killing someone by accident makes them less dead than if you meant to kill them.
This magnificent self-delusion is to protect the people from what we all know on some level, killing is killing, and death is death. No matter the reason 'why'. A shinobi's brain cannot acknowledge this, because it would mean that the 3rd Hokage was the same type of person as Orochimaru was. In an interesting bit of irony, the snake and 3rd had probably killed about the same number of people when they died.
People have speculated endlessly about how people like me can live with ourselves, and the answer is simply thus:
Good and evil are subjective. Justified and un-justified are subjective. Wise and foolish are subjective.
But strength is not.
Rather than make up thin excuses for my actions, immersing my self in the justification of 'why' this or that was done, I simply do what I want to. It is power that allows me to live this way, outside the borders of society, and it is for that reason that I seek more power.
I don't expect anyone to completely understand these words I have written, I don't understand them fully myself. But even if whoever is reading this dismisses my ideas as crazy (which you inevitably will), I hope they are at least remembered.
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Itachi sat back and re-read his most recent entry. It was unusual of him to be so blatant, even if he was just writing in a diary. Honesty did not come easily to a man who led a life of secrets.
It was true, he mused, what he had said in his second last sentence. He had sat down intending to try writing out his thoughts, but what had come out was something he didn't fully comprehend.
He closed the small black book with a snap, and slid it into his pocket before rising up from his bench and stretching his shoulders. He hadn't planned to writing for so long, and he had a sneaking suspicion that he was late.
He grabbed up what few belongings he had brought with him, and left the park, striding through the streets of Konoha with confidence.
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Temari leaned against a lamppost, glancing around nervously. Itachi was 15 minutes late, and for a moment she wondered if someone hadn't recognized him.
This thought was dismissed as soon as it came, for even in the unlikely event of Itachi being recognized, he wouldn't have gone down without one hell of a fight, and everything had been peaceful all morning.
But it didn't stop her from worrying.
She was just about to leave without him, when she spotted him turning the corner two blocks away. A minute passed, and when Itachi was just passing her, Temari started walking with the throng of people in the streets, one more drop of water in a stream.
A few minutes later, they were bouncing through the forest.
It had been decided that Kisame and Naruto would stay behind in camp, due to Naruto being a familiar face in Konoha, and Kisame just looking funny. This meant that Temari and Itachi had spent most of a day gathering information with regards to Sasuke's execution. A mind-numbing activity, as most people knew the same things, so one could spend hours listening to the same rumors and learn almost nothing of value.
Needless to say, after a day of droning gossip, both shinobi were ready to relax.
Just a few feet from the edge of camp, Itachi stopped and suddenly grabbed Temari's arm, "Look"
Concealed in the grass was a wire, but it took Temari a moment to see it, "Naruto set traps?"
Itachi shook his head, "Kisame. Even I almost missed the wire, and Naruto isn't that good at being subtle"
Both carefully stepped over the wire and started towards the tents, only to feel something pull at their legs. Temari looked down, "Oh, crap"
A huge log came hurling out of the upper foliage, but Itachi and Temari watched in a kind of trance as it missed them by more than ten feet. They followed it with their eyes as it swung into the brush to the left of them, and heard the log hit something with a THUMP - click
The thump was normal, but the click had Itachi mildly concerned.
5 large bolts were fired into the air, the log obviously having set off another trap, but again, none of the bolts seemed to be aimed at where Itachi and Temari had set off the initial trip wire.
But as each of them landed, Itachi heard more of that mechanical click.
This went on for a whole 20 seconds more, and it seemed that every type of trap in existence had been wired up in a few hundred square feet of forest, each set to trigger the next ones.
The grand finale was when three kunai traps were set off, each kunai bearing an explosive tag. They were angled to they hit a tree trunk at three different spots, and one large explosion later, the tree toppled slowly towards Temari and Itachi, who stepped out of the way, allowing it to fall between them.
There was one more click
The falling tree had set off the initial trip wire that he had so carefully stepped over, and he found himself hanging upside down. Needless to say, Itachi was not amused.
Unfortunately, everyone else seemed to be.
Temari was at least trying to hold in her giggles, whereas Naruto and Kisame emerged from one of the tents laughing openly. Determined to retain his dignity, Itachi wordlessly cut himself down, landing on his feet with all the grace of a cat.
After slowly examining himself, un-wrinkling every wrinkle, and straightening every hair, he languidly stretched his shoulders, took a few deep breaths, and turned on 'the glare'.
There were no fear stimulus used for 'the glare', nor was his Sharingan activated. In fact, 'the glare' was so effective because it showed people just how frightening he could be, even without any of his ninjutsu and genjutsu.
When he spoke, his voice was positively glacial, "Now that you've alerted every shinobi within 10 miles as to our presence, I suggest you get ready to go. You will explain this incident as we travel"
As the four of them bounced through the treetops, Naruto was jovially describing the morning's events.
/-/-/-/Flashback/-/-/-/
Kisame looked up at the sky.
Naruto looked up at the sky.
They were bored. Very bored.
Naruto suddenly sat up, "Know what's fun? Dominos are fun."
Kisame rolled his eyes, "Oh good, I'll pull some out of my ass and we can set them up"
"A tad sarcastic are we? Didn't you ever set up huge patterns of dominos to knock over?"
The shark man snorted, "Why would I want to do something like that?"
"Because its fun, seeing if you can line everything up perfectly"
"As I mentioned before, we don't exactly have any dominos"
Upon hearing these words, Naruto suddenly got an idea, "Ne, Kisame. Isn't it possible to set a trap to trigger another trap?"
A grin slowly split his Kisame's blue face, "Why yes…it's quite a common tactic, actually…"
/-/-/-/End Flashback/-/-/-/
Naruto smiled at the memory, "So, as I'm sure you've guessed, things just kind of snowballed at that point, and soon we were using up all our trap kits."
As they continued away from their old campsite, Itachi fought the urge to start yanking at his hair.
Back in said campsite, a group of leaf Chuunin dropped to the ground. The leader scratched his head in bewilderment; it looked as though every type of trap in existence had been set off in just a few hundred square feet of woodland. He groaned, it was going to take weeks to sort this out…
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Later that night, they sat around a campfire exchanging information. Itachi was the pseudo-leader of the mission, so he spoke first, "Okay, people, we have a few major problems. We need to get in while remaining undetected, stop my stupid brother from being fried, and get out with everyone still possessing all their body parts."
Naruto considered for a moment, "Getting in shouldn't be a problem, the village doesn't have the resources to guard all the walls, but the execution stage will be packed with ANBU, so we'll need to make our move before the execution itself"
Itachi wagged his finger, "Yes and no. I have an idea that's just crazy enough to work, but it doesn't account for the third problem of how to escape."
Everyone just looked at him expectantly, and Itachi realized he was supposed to elaborate, "Ok, it goes like this. The first thing we would need to do would be to nab four ANBU and take their uniforms, thus allowing us to enter into Sasuke's cell. Since any discrepancy in the number of people coming and going would be immediately noticed, I will take my brothers place"
Kisame held up a hand, "Wait a sec, here, Itachi. Even assuming we could pull off the deception, how is you being dead better than your brother being dead?"
Itachi had to yet again sigh at how his usually sharp minded partner could be so dense sometimes, "I'm not planning on dieing, Kisame. Since its death by fire jutsu, I can use Amaterasu to protect myself from the flames"
It was Temari's turn to raise her hand, "Correct me if I'm way off base here, but wouldn't you still then be surrounded by an army of Shinobi?"
"Well, yes. But since the Hokage will have to confirm the 'death' herself, I should be able to take her as a hostage"
Naruto started to move, but Itachi grabbed his wrist, "Ok, you don't need to raise your hand, just talk."
The boy lowered his arm sheepishly, "even assuming you manage to take Tsunade hostage, the stalemate wouldn't last for long, Konoha would quickly organize a strategic attack, and even you cant hold back a village"
Itachi scratched his head, "I know, that part is still a problem"
Naruto felt, for the first time in some while, a stirring at the back of his mind. "Give me a second guys, the bastard fox wants to chat"
Naruto allowed his mind to fall into the dreamscape "Whaddaya want?"
The Chibi-fox was wearing a smile, "I've been doing a little eavesdropping on your conversation, and I know of a way to solve your problem, brat, or rather, the Uchiha's problem"
Naruto's reacted the same way he did to anything the fox said, with skepticism, "How exactly could you help solve our problem?"
The chibi-fox's smile darkened to an evil grin(which it should be noted, looked very odd on his rather small body)
"What would you say to completely immobilizing all of Konoha for 15 minutes?"
"If I belived that was possible, which I don't, I would say: 'What would you want in return?'"
"Nothing, brat, this is personal. I just want to see the look on the Hokage's face when the lot of you walk out from under her helpless nose"
"Okay, I can see you wanting revenge, but I still don't understand how you could immobilize that many people…"
"Okay," the fox amended, "Maybe not ALL of Konoha, but all the Shinobi at least. And also, note I didn't say I was the one who would do this. I just said there was a way to do it"
Naruto instincts said something was wrong about this, "And who other than you would have even near enough power to pull off that kind of jutsu?"
/-/-/-/-/10 Minutes Later/-/-/-/-/
Temari shook her head, "That's insane"
Kisame looked like a child with a new toy, "I think it sounds fun"
Itachi tapped his finger on a kunai, "We would all be betting our lives on this, but I think it's our best shot"
Temari continued the head shaking motion, "You are all nuts!"
Naruto tallied everything up, "Okay, that's three 'yes' votes, and one 'your all crazy' vote. We're going for it"
The Uchiha glanced at the rising moon, "Are you going to meet 'him' tonight?"
Naruto shook his head, "Kyuubi said I should be well rested, apparently any mistake or oversight while talking to 'him' might get me eaten"
"Then I'm guessing," Kisame said, amused by the mental image of Naruto being gobbled up, "that we should probably get to bed soon"
Naruto nodded, "probably"
Temari rubbed her head, "Remind me again why I put up with you fruitcakes and your ideas?"
Naruto stroked his chin, "Our devilish good looks?"
Itachi tilted his head, "Our razor sharp wit?"
Kisame held up a hotdog he had been cooking over the fire, "Our masterful culinary ability?"
The sand girl resisted the urge to throttle something, "THE QUESTION WAS RHETORICAL!"
They all watched as she stomped out of camp, then Naruto started to get ready for bed, "Ne, Itachi, could you play something?"
The Uchiha silently nodded and took out his guitar, playing a soothing melody while Naruto drifted off and Kisame ate his hot dog.
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I was late that night when Temari crept back into camp, sliding into her sleeping bag as silently as possible. She was feeling proud of her sneakiness when she saw Naruto's bag shift and his head emerge.
"That was a long walk," He remarked dryly
"I had to blow off some steam. It bothers me when you don't take my concerns seriously!"
"We're all concerned, but Itachi was right, there's no other options. We either have to try using Kyuubi's idea or let Sasuke die, and the latter is not an option. I owe Itachi at least that much."
"But still…"
"Then how about you come with me tomorrow? Then you can judge for yourself whether this will work."
If anything, Temari looked even more disturbed, "You want me to go with you…"
"Yeah, why not?"
There were a million reasons why not, but Temari knew that most of them were irrational. The fundamental idea disturbed her, but she had never been one to back off.
"Fine then," she said resolutely, "I will."
/-/-/-/-/Next Morning – 23 Hours Until The Execution/-/-/-/-/
Naruto took a deep breath and slammed his sword into a cliff wall, watching as it sunk in, forming a black portal.
He looked at Temari, "Ready?"
She nodded shakily, and they walked in together.
Temari had the momentary sensation of being immersed in cold water, but then it was gone, and she found herself quite dry, and in total darkness. The only thing she could perceive was Naruto, an that was only do to his breathing, which she realized annoyedly, was much calmer than her own.
Naruto started to move, as if guided by some other sense, and she followed silently.
They walked for what could have been 5 minutes or 5 hours, Temari found her sense of time was skewed. The first sign they had reached their destination was that Naruto stopped moving, but she soon felt another presence, one far more terrifying.
Naruto bowed low, and broke the silence for the first time since they passed through the black portal, "I am Fushichou Naruto, and have come to seek aid. I humbly ask the name of the one who stands before me"
Temari heard what seemed to her to be the rustle of a chain, and suddenly noticed that there was now a small bit of light coming from somewhere, and she fought as all her instincts told her to flee.
Towering above them stood a canine form, its glowing red eyes being the source of light. It's body appeared to be made of nothing more than dark blue smoke, but it was completely bound by chains, preventing the great beast from moving much in any direction.
There were 8 pegs imbedded in the ground surrounding the creature, and 5 of them had chains attached, while three more chains hung lose, obviously having once been attached to the three other pegs.
The two humans studied the demon, as it also studied them. When it finally spoke, its voice was deep and echoing
"Never have I met a human who was so polite, and you are brave to enter a place like this, so let it be known that the greater demon Fenrir will hear your request."
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Author's Notes:
Well, there's good news and bad news.
Bad news is this chapter has been split up into two parts; good news is the second part will be done shortly.
For those of you who don't remember, the black portal is the Kyuubi's dimensional gate jutsu, last used in chapter 12.
Next Chapter: The Nukenins put their plan into effect, and we see more of Fenrir