Chapter 142
For Who's Sake: A Shadow's Path and A Mother's Love
"What have you done to me?"
His voice was but a pitiful groan, a pathetic weep that no more commanded answers than an Academy student could command a Jōnin to do their homework.
It was humiliating. Just as humiliating as the feeble, shriveled up body he now occupied.
Anger flushed over his skin. It was all that damnable woman's fault! That Anbu agent who's identity was hidden behind a cat-motif mask distinctly marked by three red stripes, who had stolen his power—no, sealed it away with some advanced technique and left him in this twisted body of perpetual agony and shame.
Through hazy vision, Mizuki glared at the kunoichi responsible for his humiliation, looming over his deformed body how the cold moon looms among the stars, providing no warmth or life to those beneath it.
He glared with all of his spite, his hatred and shame and, were he able to, he would've spat at her feet. But he could not—his mouth and throat were parched, burning with acid back flow which made his breastbone ache.
In return, her emotionless eyes held his gaze. She was undeterred by his spite, dismissive of his feeble rage, and his shame was merely tedious to witness. Were it not for the odd blink now and then it would've appeared as though her eyes were apart of the lifeless mask she wore.
"What was that jutsu you used?"
She said nothing. But, just like Amaririsu's eyes, he saw her judgement through the thin veil carefully drawn over her emotions. Judgement. No matter where he looked, no matter what he tried, he couldn't escape it.
"Answer me!"
His demand was a desperate cry—a shrieking wail.
Lying supine in the grass in his own feces and urine, the humiliation was equalled only by the acidic agony burning up his esophagus, by the terrible pains irradiating from every organ, by the harsh tightness that stabbed and twisted the knife with every sharp palpitation of his heart, leaving him breathless.
It was only matched by physical pain and convulsions that paralleled a cheese grater grinding the flesh off his bones.
"What have you done to me? What have you doneeeee!"
"Oh, shut up already."
The curt and dismissive voice belonged to the woman kneeling over him, applying Medical Ninjutsu to his twisted and deformed body, colored like dark rye bread, wrinkled and sinewy to resemble an old man several decades his senior.
It belonged to Tsunade Senju—the Fifth Hokage. The granddaughter of the kunoichi he Reanimated.
Were it not for the Leaf's rules and laws regarding captured shinobi, Mizuki knew she would've killed him on the spot. He'd seen it in her furious brown eyes, old and cold unlike her youthful and buxom appearance. He'd felt in on the air, thinned by the startling amounts of power washing off of her in cascading waves.
He saw her consider it as she knelt beside him, as they both could sense that it wouldn't take a fist or a poison or a carefully crafted 'mistake' with Medical Ninjutsu.
She could've killed him with her smallest finger. A single poke with her super strength alone could've finished his weak and pathetic body off.
In fact, she still could. The Hokage was, by his measure, the single shinobi within the Leaf who could kill a helpless prisoner with near impunity.
Yet she tended to his deformed body instead, though not without resignation or plans to hand him over to the Torture and Interrogation Unit for a thorough discussion.
"She didn't do anything," the Fifth Hokage stated as an indisputable fact.
"Do you think I'm an idiot?" he hissed.
"I do, actually. Simply for trusting Orochimaru. You can thank him for this, by the way."
"You're wrong! She placed a Seal on me! She did this!"
His attempt to point at her resulted in his arm twitching on the ground, and nothing more. He didn't have the strength to move it anymore. He didn't have any strength left at all.
"The Seal she placed on you was a Contract Seal," the Fifth Hokage lectured as if explaining it to an incredibly illiterate and stupid child, sounding more bored than anything else. "All she did was sever your control over my grandmother. What you're experiencing now is because of that potion you drank."
"Impossible. I felt the power of the Ultimate Body. I conquered the pain and made it my own. It was mine!" He broke out into a haggard cough. "Lo- Lord Orochimaru gave me—"
"He gave you an experimental Curse Mark and potion," she cut him off. "It was all just another experiment of his. A game."
"No, it can't—"
"He used you. As a test subject and as a pawn in his twisted game." She glanced at him. "Considering you're still alive, I'd say you surpassed his expectations. Congratulations," she said dryly.
"How dare you mock me…"
"Either way," she didn't even acknowledge his words, "the potion has run its course. There isn't a single system or organ that hasn't been damaged in some way—kidneys, liver, heart, lungs, stomach, your immune, muscular, digestive, excretory and endocrine systems. Your epidermis is in worse condition than some burn victims I've worked on."
"I'll recover," he groaned. Turning his head to one side he glared at the cat-masked kunoichi. "I'll recover and I'll kill you."
The Anbu agent said nothing. She didn't react in any manner, and the lack of reaction was telling of what she thought of him.
He was a gnat. A grotesque, dying gnat she felt nothing except contempt for and would not give the dignity of a quick death.
"Give it a rest," the Fifth Hokage hissed at him. "All of that power permanently damaged your Chakra Network. To oversimplify, the Curse Mark and potion acted like a corrosive agent; the more you called upon its power, the more you corroded your Chakra Network, steadily damaging and destroying your body and its organs from the inside. You will never fully recover."
"What?"
"Your days as a shinobi are over."
Mizuki let out a pathetic groan, but resolved to prove them all wrong and one day extract his vengeance.
Nearly six months later his heart would fail as he lay in a prison hospital bed, having suffered every day in unspeakable agony and humiliation.
There was a calm that swept over the Leaf shinobi in the final moments of dusk before the last, dim lights of the sun vanished behind the starry curtains of night. Adrenaline faded, tension loosened, the stress of combat and tumultuous emotions was slowly replaced by fatigue, soreness, and a sense of relief.
They'd come full circle, in Mizuki's own words.
Sitting crossed-legged in the grass, leaning slightly forward, Iruka felt something that fell just short of relief. He felt his tension and stress easing now that the battle had ended, and ended without the death or permanent injury of his former students or his comrades.
Full-fledged relief escaped his grasps. It lingered just out of reach, where he could feel it brush against the tips of his fingers as he squirmed and tried to stretch to take hold of it, but like a battery that rolled beneath a couch, he could never quite reach it no matter how much he squirmed or contorted his body.
The sting of betrayal Mizuki's words and actions left him lingered on. The last of the poison was still running its course, still damaging cells and organs on its way out of his system, and he could only sit and wait and hope he could one day recover.
Iruka lowered his gaze, exhaling a soft breath.
Everything Mizuki had done over the years to further his suffering, his loneliness, even going so far to drag Tsubaki into his twisted game. And that's all it was to his former friend—a game.
They meant nothing to him. They never had. He was a lonely fool, an easy target for Mizuki to manipulate and laugh at while being idolized. He was just someone "everyone had to feel sorry for" because his parents died. A class clown. A loser.
And Tsubaki… She was just a means to an end. The thought of it made him curl his fingers into his pants.
Tsubaki's heart, her feelings, the time she devoted to Mizuki, he twisted it in his selfish and cruel game. He made her believe in a person that wasn't real. He made them all believe in a man who did not exist—a friend who was no more a friend than a starving, wild tiger.
It was all just…sad.
"Iruka…"
"Huh?"
Iruka blinked and raised his head, somewhat startled. Beside him was Tsubaki, standing with the support of Shikamaru Nara and Chōji Akimichi, who had arrived alongside Ino Yamanaka, the Fifth Hokage and Tonbo Tobitake.
For a moment he held her silent and soft gaze, looking deep into her dark eyes, losing himself in them as he did as a schoolboy and not for the first time thinking of how beautiful she was. How he'd have to be a far braver, far more charming man than he could ever hope to be for someone like her to ever take any interest in him.
The old thoughts caught themselves in a dense net quickly, for in her dark eyes he could see the trauma of recent events, and in that trauma the dark thoughts she harbored that melded into her sorrow and hurt, and it reminded him of his own. It reminded him they were no longer innocent school children.
His eyes fell to the dark bruises on her face, then to her abdomen, wrapped in bandages beneath her torn shirt and flak jacket. He felt a frown tug at his lips.
Unbeknownst to him, Shikamaru was observing the whole situation. He felt the palpable tension; there was history between his Academy teacher and the stranger who asked for his and Chōji's help. And, if he was judging right, it included Mizuki somehow.
They needed to talk, but it didn't seem like they knew where to start. So, like Naruto before him, he took the initiative to break the troublesome tension.
"Is this good?" Shikamaru asked in relation to where she wished to sit.
"Yes. Thank you both."
"Ah, don't mention it."
"Nice and easy. We don't want to agitate your injury anymore than necessary," Chōji said as they helped her sit down.
Once Tsubaki was seated beside Iruka, the two boys dismissed themselves without a word, walking off to join their classmates.
Across their small encampment he could see Naruto was still asleep—run to his absolute limit—beneath his broken and blood-stained jacket.
Sasuke, Sakura, Amari and Ino all sat nearby, joined by Kurenai, who knelt on one knee beside her daughter, discussing something he couldn't quite hear.
Whatever it was led to Kurenai poking Amari gently in the forehead. She smiled, hugging the young girl and pressing a kiss to the top of her head. She spared a word with Sakura, Sasuke and Ino before rising; he assumed it was about their plans to return to the Leaf.
Shikamaru and Chōji joined the group, sitting to rest. Kurenai rested a hand on her hip; the trench knives hanging partially out of weapons pouch were in quick reach.
Even in limited light Iruka didn't miss how her red eyes scanned their surroundings, sharp and vigilant.
Kurenai wasn't lowering her guard, and he couldn't blame her. Not after the events of the evening.
Somewhere in the darkness, where his eyes couldn't see, Atsuko and Osamu kept watch over all the Leaf shinobi.
"Are you all right, Iruka?" Tsubaki broke the tense silence first.
"Yes," he answered after a moment of thought. He glanced off to his right, where Tsunade was kneeling over Mizuki's deformed body, shadowed by the kunoichi Anbu agent.
"Lady Mito healed my wounds," he said. "When the time comes to move, if Naruto is still asleep, I'll be able to carry him. Assuming he hasn't gotten too heavy from all the ramen he eats," he added with a half-hearted smile.
"I didn't mean your wounds."
"I know," he admitted, voice softer.
He stared at what little of Mizuki he could see—his pencil thin legs and deformed feet, his balding head and shriveled face. He stared and felt the sadness well up inside of him; it was cold, colder than the crisp winter night air, and it felt like he was missing something inside.
What was missing wasn't an extravagant power like that which Mizuki lost, but something he thought he had settled after the initial betrayal. A severed bond he thought he had accepted and moved on from.
"I just… I want to ask him for who's sake this was all for," he began after another short silence. "I know what his answer would be. He's made it so clear, not only in words, but actions. If it were only words," he mused in his sadness, "if I couldn't see the pattern of his actions now so clearly, I might think it were only the cause of the Curse Mark. I would think I might someday get through to him if I kept at it. If I helped him work to reform the parts Orochimaru had twisted.
"However, it goes beyond a Curse Mark. Far beyond it. This all began long ago, before we were even shinobi.
"And so, even though I know the answer, I wonder for who's sake he's done all this. Despite the answer being so clear, I simply don't understand it. He had the respect of his peers. He possessed talent and strength. He had people who aspired to be like him, who considered him a friend and would have died for his sake.
"But what does he have now?" Iruka asked, pity slipping into his voice. "He betrayed everyone who cared for him. He betrayed his allies in this incident. He sacrificed everything and everyone to gain this forbidden power. Now he doesn't even have that. He has nothing. Nothing at all."
"Before today I would have agreed with you," Tsubaki said after a thoughtful pause. "Now I think he never had anything to begin with."
Iruka turned to look at her. "What do you mean?"
"It's true we respected him. It's true people aspired to be like Mizuki. There were those who considered him a friend, who loved him, as I did."
Tsubaki ran her fingers tenderly along the gouge in armor. "But the person we respected, the person we loved and called friend, I think you were right to say he never existed. In that way, Mizuki has been alone all this time. He has lived in the shadow of his own lies."
"Why lie, then?"
"Perhaps he felt he couldn't be his true self in the Leaf," she theorized. "Or perhaps it is a failing of our medical systems; we did not recognize the traits of psychopathy he clearly displays, which could be the result of a lack of evaluations for mental health and treatment options among the children and shinobi.
"Could it be genetics? The environment? Nature or nurture? Are there other factors we do not know of that contribute to it? I do not know. He may not be a psychopath in the clinical sense; he may only possess traits that are similar to psychopathy. Frankly, it is a complex mental disorder we have only recently begun scratching the surface of.
"Were there centers dedicated and focused specifically on mental health, perhaps Mizuki could have been treated. Perhaps he could have been the shinobi and man we admired and felt safe enough to be himself in the Leaf. Or perhaps nothing would have changed him. I cannot say."
"It's strange how much it hurts," Iruka said.
"It isn't so strange. We spent years together. All of us. We shared in camaraderie and friendship…and love." Tsubaki glanced down at her healed wound. "Only now we know the person we spent all these years with was a complete stranger. Our feelings were betrayed. It is going to hurt. It will likely hurt for some time."
"Yes. I think you're right." Iruka watched her tenderly rub her wound, soft features solemn. "Will you be okay?"
"I do not know. I am beginning to realize how much of my life and my identity I sacrificed for Mizuki." Tsubaki placed her hand over her heart. "I think… I feel as though I've lost a part of myself. I feel as though I am somehow betraying him. I am anxious for what comes next, I'm afraid of what a life without Mizuki will entail."
"You aren't betraying him. He betrayed you."
"Yes, he did. But I still feel these foolish feelings."
"They aren't foolish."
"I didn't realize how isolated I have become. We haven't spoken in…years."
"I thought life caught up to us," Iruka admitted, looking up at the canopy and to the dusky sky beyond. "I was always teaching at the Academy, grading homework, preparing lesson plans. You were always busy working in the hospital or on a mission or planning your wedding. At least that's what Mizuki would say when I asked. I took him at his word, like a fool."
"He did everything he could to separate us. All so you would suffer."
"I'm sorry," he apologized sincerely, lowering his head. "It's because of me he dragged you into this twisted and cruel game of his. All the horrible things he said and did… Because I…"
Tsubaki leaned closer and rested her cold hand on top of his; it felt warm despite the temperature. He met her soft, dark gaze again.
"You did nothing wrong, Iruka. You aren't to blame for Mizuki's cruel behavior. The pain I feel is because of him. His actions, his words, his lies. You did nothing wrong. You did not hurt me. Besides," she smiled softly, "even if you are a fool, it is not like you are the only one. We are both big fools, remember?"
Iruka exhaled chuckle and felt the relief that had escaped his grasps wash over him.
"I guess Naruto was right about that."
They sat in a comfortable silence for a brief moment.
"What will you do now?" Iruka broke the silence.
"First I must atone for the pain my silence has caused the Leaf. After… I don't truly know what I will do after. For the first time in years I am free from Mizuki's manipulations and lies… I am hurt and heartbroken, but I am free. It's a lot to process."
It was. Iruka hadn't fully processed his feelings or thoughts either, and he doubted he would for some time.
However, despite that, he knew Tsubaki was right. All these years they hadn't known how their lives were being poisoned by Mizuki, how they were being manipulated and used and laughed at for his own sense of cruel satisfaction. But now they were free from Mizuki's manipulations and lies.
They were betrayed, hurt and heartbroken, but they were free.
That was enough.
"How did this happen?"
Tenzō rested his head back against the trunk of the tree he sat at the foot of and exhaled a long breath. Controlling his breaths kept him calm, it helped him to consolidate the pain, to push it to the farthest corners of his mind where it was almost non-existent.
Almost. The mind only had so much power, and his forearm was in bad shape—evident by medic-nin's question. She sounded shock his arm was still attached at all.
He wasn't surprised. He knew the gauntlet was all that was holding the fractured bones in place. Without it…
He grimaced behind his mask, a stitch of agony shooting up to his elbow, numbing his fingers. He inhaled another deep breath and exhaled it in a controlled, measured fashion.
Kneeling beside him, Shizune held his forearm tenderly along the crushed gauntlet. He could barely feel her hands. He wasn't confident of the reason, whether it was her phenomenal, gentle bedside manner, the Medical Ninjutsu, or the result of potential nerve damage.
Tenzō glanced down at his arm. The warm green halo of Medical Ninjutsu emanated from Shizune's hands, illuminating his swelled up arm, colored beet red, and making her fair skin glow like pale moonlight. If pale moonlight was slightly tinted green, anyway.
"Mizuki managed to grab ahold of me," he finally replied when he felt confident he could speak calmly.
"He grabbed you?" She didn't seem to believe him.
"He had a strong grip."
"I've seen injuries caused by war-clubs that resemble this."
"He had a very strong grip," he emphasized.
"Apparently," Shizune exhaled an abrupt, womanly chuckle. "I'll do what I can for you, but you'll need to report to the hospital once we return."
"Thank you. And I will."
"You will also need to prepare to take time off active-duty so it can heal properly."
"Mm. I'll have to discuss my assignment with Lady Tsunade and Commander Shikaku," he said, more thoughtful than insistent. "Amaririsu and Sasuke still need protection, especially if either are cleared for duty before I am. Although…" Tenzō trailed off.
His eyes, like his thoughts, drifted across their small encampment to his fellow Anbu agent, who had moved to perch in the dark shadows of the tree, all but invisible to the naked eye if you didn't know where to look.
He had no doubt her senses were a vast net spread across the surrounding area. With Kurenai Yūhi and Tonbo Tobitake present as well, Tenzō knew the slightest enemy presence—Masked Man or otherwise—would be sensed instantly.
However, he also noticed how her eyes were locked on Amaririsu. How they constantly moved back to the child.
"Although what?" Shizune asked.
"Hm? Oh. It's nothing. Just a feeling," he replied, smiling behind his mask.
It seemed to him their circle of trust, as Shikaku and Kakashi called it, was gaining another member.
Yūgao Uzuki, student of the Mistress of Shadows.
Maybe Mizuki was right, he squeezed his eyes shut against a stitch of pain. Maybe it really was fate.
"Don't close your eyes," Shizune commanded gently.
"I'm not losing consciousness."
"No one ever thinks they are."
Tenzō opened his eyes at her insistence and met the soft, dark gaze of the Hokage's assistant, glinting in the green glow of her Medical Ninjutsu and reflecting the halo of light like a mirror.
She smiled kindly at him. "Tell me about your battle against Mizuki. Think of it as a debriefing."
Behind his mask Tenzō couldn't help the upward tug of his lips.
"All right…"
He liked her smile.
The shadows of dusk integrated the foliage into its darkness, stripping them of their distinguishable colors until the dying yellow leaves, too, appeared black. The cold breeze fluttered the leaves, hissing.
Hidden amongst them, Yūgao was another indistinguishable shade, stripped of color, integrated among the darkness where only strands of her long purple hair undulated when the breeze was strong enough. It did not betray her concealment.
She watched in silence. She watched her comrades heal their injuries and rest in their moment of respite. She watched their surroundings, seeking out foreign chakra signatures.
She watched Haya.
Yūgao watched her interact with Kurenai and the other children. She watched her smiling, teasing, giggling at times. Other moments Haya simply listened and watched, just as she was, her mismatched eyes attentive to all details in her immediate surroundings.
There was still an innocence to Haya despite everything. There was light within her. Light that was overwhelming to her senses, which were until recently cold, stripped of all color, light and shape, much like the shadows she inhabited.
It was like she'd lived for years inside a dark, soundproof cabinet, cramped and cold, where there was truly only the absence of feeling. Hollowness that could not be escaped. And then someone opened the door to the cabinet and shone a blinding flashlight inside, and while she could not see, they gently pulled her out into a world where fireworks were exploding in the sky on a pleasant spring day.
That was Haya. Light. Purest light.
Yūgao could have been blind and still she would've been able to feel the emanating presence of her Master's little shadow, the life-force which, when she shut her eyes and simply felt as only a Sensory Type could, ignited across the cold dark void like an aurora borealis in a wondrous display of shimmering warm colors.
When she shut her eyes and intertwined her senses with Haya's life-force she saw the warm colors playfully dancing through the darkness, streaking vibrant, rippling trails of ticklish greens and soothing blues all around her.
They stretched as far as the eye could see. And beyond. Farther and farther, going beyond the horizon, beyond the atmosphere, beyond space itself, stretching across the universe.
Sparkles of glistening starlight rained from the light. It rained down around Yūgao, leaving trails like silver raindrops streaming down a window.
She cupped her hands together as though trying to scoop fresh mountain water from a stream to drink and watched as the starlight landed in her palms. It hovered and glowed, pulsing, humming, and warming her cold hands.
A calm roar echoed from what seemed to be a distant mountain far, far away. Looking up at the aurora borealis, Yūgao was left in awe.
Among the streams of light she saw the airbrushed outline of a dragon swim peacefully through the streams of light.
She opened her eyes to the dusky forest and looked at Haya in amazement.
It was almost too much for her. The sensory overload after what seemed like years of sensory deprivation nearly brought her to tears. There was still so much light and love within Haya despite all she'd experienced.
In lulls of conversation, where Yūgao could see the scars—the scars beneath the surface, the scars on her heart and wounded soul—the light did not dim. In fact, she could sense it was still growing. Still in its infancy despite its magnitude.
Below, unaware of what she had experienced, Haya was clearly thinking of the whole incident; it was in her body language, in her flattened lips and squinted eyes, in how she didn't take part in the ongoing discussion of the Demon Brothers and the Idiot Brothers.
She was thinking of how narrowly she and Naruto Uzumaki survived. How fortunate they were. And somewhere among those thoughts she recalled her experience with the Cloud shinobi, their plans for her, and what it all meant.
Yūgao could see the fire in Haya's eyes; she was learning, dissecting the battles and the weight of her lineage.
She was preparing. For the next battle. For the next incident. For the future.
And as the Anbu agent watched her Master's daughter she realized an important fact:
Haya was no longer an innocent child.
Haya had become a shinobi. Right under her nose, no less.
Yūgao smiled. It was a smile afflicted by her sorrow, her joy, and her pain.
Haya, you've grown up so much…
"I suspect you have questions, yes?"
She did not move. It was the only way to conceal how greatly Atsuko's smooth voice startled her.
"I do."
Atsuko emerged from the shadows, from a place beyond sight and sense, to perch herself on the kunoichi's shoulder.
"Allow me to start by saying we did not keep Young Haya's survival from you out of malice or distrust."
"I believe you, Lady Atsuko. I am still hurt and angry and joyful," she said, voice breaking from the swell of emotions she kept buried. "But Haya is here. She is alive. That child down there, who has laughed and smiled with her friends, it's her. It's really her."
"It is," Atsuko confirmed, dipping her beak once.
Her vocal cords tightened, then trembled. She curled her fingers into her pants and blinked away the burning sting of tears.
To hear the Head of the Crows confirm it, even when her sensory abilities left no doubt, was almost enough to break her composure.
"Great pains were taken to hide Young Haya's survival," Atsuko continued. "We kept her fate secret from even Shikaku and Yoshino. For three years they lived believing she perished alongside her parents, slain—murdered in cold blood by Itachi Uchiha. What you are feeling now—the hurt, the anger, the joy—they understand those same feelings. Intimately."
Yūgao considered the Crow's words. As she did, she watched Chōji Akimichi share his chips with Haya, Sasuke and Sakura—apparently the team hadn't eaten dinner before the incident.
"The body I found was an identical double of Haya," she began finally. "It was perfect. There were signs of suffocation. However, Itachi would not have been fooled by a body double." She shook her head. "He would not believe Haya was suffocated by her parents, nor would he have wasted time planting it himself. Haya was gone before the massacre began."
"Astute as always. Young Haya was secured within the Nara Forest, far out of sight and reach to those who meant her harm. We were tasked to watch over her."
"This doesn't make sense," Yūgao shook her head. "If this is true, she knew Itachi would strike that night. She prepared and secured Haya for the worst possible scenario. However, that doesn't explain the body double. Itachi would know Haya was secured somewhere."
"It was not meant to fool Itachi."
"Who, then? Me? Shikaku and Yoshino?"
"It was not meant for any of you, truly. However, cruel as it is, your confirmation of Haya's identity and death and Shikaku's and Yoshino's grief snuffed out any investigations into her potential survival."
"Investigations?" Yūgao looked at the Crow on her shoulder. "What investigations?"
"Young Haya's parents did not go into battle expecting to die. This was not what they wanted, for their children, for the Leaf, for the Uchiha Clan or for those they held precious.
"However, they still prepared us all for the worst to occur. Even you."
Yūgao's eyes went wide. "You know what she asked of me."
It was a statement of shock more than it was a question.
"I do," the Head of the Crows confirmed, nodding once. "Haya's parents and Shisui concocted a plan I have done my best to follow. It was always our intention to reunite you two. However—what is the human saying? Man makes plans, and the gods laugh?"
Yūgao digested the new information in silence.
A perfect body double of Haya on the night of the massacre was what tricked them all. It'd been confirmed by Miyako Nara's handpicked pupil, no less, all while Haya's true location was kept secret from Shikaku and Yoshino.
All of this to snuff out potential investigations into her survival should the worst happen. But who would investigate it if not allies? Had there been no body double, she would've hunted high and low for Haya until she did find her, no matter what anyone else told her.
Even if it meant chasing down Itachi Uchiha to the darkest corners of the world, even if it meant dying to save Haya from his grasps, she would have done it.
However, the body double existed. It was used to make the whole Leaf believe Sasuke Uchiha was the sole survivor of Itachi's night of bloodshed. Yet it wasn't meant for Itachi, her or Shikaku and Yoshino.
Were it only Itachi Uchiha the Crows and Lady Miyako were hiding her from they wouldn't have kept her out of the Leaf all this time, she dissected. They would have turned her over to Shikaku and Yoshino as soon as Itachi vanished.
Which can only mean there was another threat. A threat within our walls besides Itachi. A threat that may still be there, considering Sasuke Uchiha is still believed to be the only survivor even among the Anbu networks.
It was the only logical conclusion.
Could there be a sleeper agent within the Leaf? Someone who aided Itachi in preparing the Massacre to weaken the Leaf?
The thought of it unnerved her. Already Kabuto Yakushi had infiltrated their ranks and aided the orchestration and information gathering for the Invasion. If there was another…
"Who are you protecting her from?" she asked after a pregnant pause.
"You know that answer. He was there that night. In fact, he and his agents were quickest on the scene, which is quite suspicious when you consider it was a surprise attack. And, intriguingly, after every single man, woman and child was slain."
The air may as well have been knocked from her lungs.
"No," she whispered, eyes wide.
"The Mistress of Shadows was an adversary," Atsuko refuted her pitiful denial. "A political opponent, you might say. As the leader of the Hokage Guard she was a voice of reason to the Third Hokage, an influential voice he was valuing more and more, often over the opinions of his usual council. Her leadership within the Anbu—the true Anbu—proved the Foundation, its ideology and its ways of training shinobi was ultimately unnecessary.
"He and his ways had become obsolete. A new Hokage—an Uchiha at that—was on the verge of being elected. Shisui had found a means to settle the unrest within the Uchiha Clan. His chance to become Hokage was slipping through his grasps, his influence over the Third Hokage waning, and so he did what his Master taught him—he removed those he considered enemies and threats to 'the Leaf.' Starting with Shisui."
Yūgao felt her heart stop. Skip. Then begin a quick crescendo into a sprint.
"Shisui… They said he had taken his own life."
"He did. However, he only did so because he was poisoned by the Foundation. We tried to locate or craft a cure, but…" Atsuko exhaled a breath of pain and regret. "We ran out of time."
The Anbu agent had to lower herself to a knee, legs unable to hold her weight any longer. She rested a hand over her rapidly beating heart, burying her fingers into her flak jacket and undershirt. She could feel the palpitations pump harshly in every part of her body.
Her throat was tight, her stomach seemed to be occupied by a dozen fishes flopping about. A vile taste built at the back of throat.
Shisui was murdered…
Shisui was murdered by the Foundation.
"Now you understand the necessity of secrecy."
There was much she was beginning to understand. There was even more she was beginning to feel. Grief for the suffering Miyako had endured but never spoke of. Heartbreak for Haya, who had her whole family stolen from her by an organization meant to be an ally of the Leaf.
And seething rage that made her whole body shake, her teeth grind together and her vocal cords go taut.
That night, he had walked among those bloodstained streets, amid the corpses of adults, teenagers and children who were heartlessly murdered, and he lied to them all! He walked past the corpses of Miyako and Kiyoshi without sparing a single glance. And that man, that man had told them it was all Itachi's doing. When it was him.
He had orchestrated Shisui's murder. He had a hand in killing Miyako and Kiyoshi, the very people who were embodied the best of the Leaf's ideals. And yet… And yet…
A growl worked its way up her throat, thrumming through her entire body.
"Why?" The single word was all she could form at first. But then she found more. "Why is he still alive? Why do you suffer his existence when you know what he has done? Why should he be allowed to persist in living while Shisui and…"
For a moment she was a young girl again. Her mind pulled her through space and time to stand within Miyako's and Kiyoshi's home one more time, and they were there. They were there, untouched, full of life and joy and love.
She saw Shisui descending the stairs. Wrapped around his torso like a sloth, sleeping soundly, was Haya.
He kept his arm secured around her no matter what he did, moving about the house without making a sound, without Haya's sleep ever being disturbed by his efficient movements.
And he never seemed bothered. In fact, he was happy. It was clear by the warmness in his eyes when he glanced down at her, by the unconscious smile on his lips.
When Miyako quietly offered to take Haya from him, he refused, shaking his head silently; to Yūgao it was as if he was afraid letting go of her would separate them forever. That she would somehow be less safe and out of his reach if he ever put her down.
God, the warmth of love on Miyako's face when she looked at the two together could have melted a glacier, the pride and love in Kiyoshi's dark eyes as he smiled could have saved the most isolated person from despair. The love between Shisui and Haya was too precious.
Then the world of love and joy shuddered violently and she found herself once again on that moonlit street, collapsed at the body of her precious Master, clutching her limp, bloody hand desperately in her own.
She saw the corpses littering the dark streets, the pools of blood glinting in the pale moonlight. She saw Miyako's, Kiyoshi's and Haya's dead faces all over again.
Yūgao's second growl was drowned out by splintering wood. She didn't realize it was her fist that had shattered the tree trunk's bark until a light throb of pain began to pulse from it.
Her fist shook and trembled, pressing deeper into the rough wood.
"He stole everything from her!" she hissed, looking at Haya.
"He did. And, in time, we will steal all he holds precious from him," Atsuko replied, fatally calm. "This rage coursing through you, I feel it in every fiber of my being when I think of all his crimes. Do not doubt that. Many times I have considered a brazen and bold assault that would cause the Foundation to tremble in fear beneath the combined wrath of all of my agents.
"However, we cannot act rashly. You cannot. More is at stake than merely avenging the deaths of Haya's family and the Uchiha Clan. Were it so simple, he would no longer draw breath, I assure you," Atsuko affirmed coldly.
Yūgao was incredibly assured. She let her fist go limp and her arm to fall back to her side.
"What more is at stake?"
"The world, Yūgao," said Atsuko. "The world and its future."
The bold declaration fizzled out her rage and left behind uncertainty. She recalled the words of her Master, and felt trepidation swell.
"She will change this world, Yūgao," Miyako's voice rang from her memories. "She is light and hope in a world that is shrouded in darkness and despair, and I will sacrifice my life to protect her."
She'd only thought Miyako was speaking as a loving parent. A mother who loved and believed fully in her child…
"The path Haya will be then forced to walk will be long and difficult. There will be darkness and pain, and I will not be there to help guide or protect her."
She thought she was referring to the shinobi world as it was.
"She will come to bear the burden of her heritage and all it entails."
Enemies Miyako and Kiyoshi made, the burden of a kekkei genkai and the Uchiha Clan's unrest, maybe, but not something so immense.
"You can't ask this of Haya." Yūgao was no longer certain if she was speaking to Atsuko or her Master's spirit. "You can't ask her to…decide the fate of the future and bear the weight of the world on her shoulders. Hasn't she suffered enough?"
"Young Haya has endured a great deal, yes. But even still the fire in her heart burns brighter than the sun," replied Atsuko. The Crow's dark gaze lingered on Haya. "That pure child is destined to ascend, regardless of what you or I would otherwise prefer. It's in her blood. And for that reason she has no choice but to bear the burden of her heritage.
"Enemies lurk in the darkness. Inside the Leaf and beyond its walls. They seek to twist her, to claim her, to break her, or to simply make her disappear forever."
Atsuko took on a grave tone that matched her dark feathers.
"Whether it is because of her kekkei genkai, or simply her ancestors, this current world will never allow Young Haya to know peace," the Head of the Crows said, and Yūgao knew it to be true. "She will be forced to fight all her life in a never-ending cycle of bloodshed, until eventually she, too, perishes, leaving this cycle to the next generation to solve. Unless the world changes.
"Take this incident, for example. How many of the escapees do you think departed simply to claim the Sharingan and Byakugan she wields?"
"I understand that, but…" Yūgao looked at Haya, dark eyes soft and scarred. "Aren't we asking too much of her? Isn't it cruel of us to ask her to bear this alone?"
"Young Haya will never bear this burden alone," Atsuko asserted. "You have watched her for some time now, yes? Surely you can see it, the light that burns inside of her."
"I can."
"The Wills of her parents and Shisui live on inside of her. They make her light burn brighter than ever, bringing together friends, family and comrades who cherish her as much as they did. Like Lady Kurenai. Like Team Seven. The bonds she has formed stretch beyond our walls. They cross Nations. Worlds, too," she added, a hint of smile forming.
"She seeks to blaze a trail to the future. That is the path she has chosen," Atsuko gestured with her wing to Haya. "It is my duty and my pleasure to guide her along that path. And it is my sincere hope you will stand alongside her on it as well."
"I will," Yūgao didn't hesitate to answer. "I will protect her," she vowed.
"When we return to the Leaf, we will speak to Shikaku. There is too much to discuss here, and we must remain alert until we are safely inside the Leaf."
"Of course."
Questions still needled the kunoichi. Questions of what Haya's path truly entailed, and the enemies and obstacles upon it that Atsuko hadn't yet mentioned. There was still much she didn't fully understand.
For now she focused on guarding the perimeter.
And watching Haya very much alive and very much bursting with light.
Naruto awoke from a dreamless slumber to a dusky sky and a canopy of leaves that all looked black to his bleary eyes.
He did not bolt upright in a panic; his final memories of the battle were intact. He also didn't feel the hot, hatred filled Nine-Tails chakra running rampant any longer. The fur ball didn't seem interested in growling or thrashing, either.
Blinking away the fog, he felt the blades of cold air against his chest, cutting through the tears in his bloodstained jacket. He felt the cold earth beneath him, piercing through his damaged clothing. He groaned, annoyed by the tight, invisible band of tension that was tied tightly around his skull.
Most of all, he was hungry. So hungry. His stomach decided to voice a formal complaint in the form of a loud growl.
Yeah. I hear you. He thought, shutting his eyes, resting his hands on his stomach beneath his jacket. And we were supposed to go to Ichiraku Ramen before all this. I was going to eat a nice fresh bowl of miso ramen, with extra pork…
"Mmm. Ichiraku ramen." He could feel himself almost drooling.
"Geez. He even dreams of the stuff, huh?" a familiar voice drawled lazily.
"Well, can you blame him? Ichiraku ramen is the best ramen shop on our continent."
"High praise from you, Chōji."
"No one can top the ramen at Ichiraku."
"He's right, Shika. Best ramen shop on the planet and beyond."
"Nothing in the Hero world topped it?" Chōji was the one to ask, of course.
"Nope. The ramen there was okay, but nothing at all like Ichiraku. The seasoning wasn't perfect, the broth and noodles were kind of… They were just okay. Now sweets…"
A longing sigh escaped Amari.
"Mr. Kojima's cheesecake and blueberries, his macarons… I must find the door back the Hero World. There is no other option now. I must walk among the heavens again."
"Is it the sweets you seek, little one? I heard you saw heaven while you were there. Something about it being 'so soft' if I recall correctly."
The smile on Kurenai's face was tangible even with shut eyes. And she was definitely recalling correctly.
"Atsuko, Osamu, you traitors!" Amari called out to the shadows.
"Hmhmhm!" Atsuko's silky laughter was ominous and cruel in the best way.
"My wings were bound, Lady Amari. I was helpless, I say. Utterly helpless."
Osamu was totally not helpless, and he was totally enjoying it, too.
"So, thinking of that Yukiko girl again, huh, 'Risu?" Shikamaru never missed a moment to tease his troublesome cousin.
"I- I was talking about sweets!"
He could see Amari's blush even clearer, and it made him smile.
"Mmhm. I also recall hearing there is a plane of existence that surpasses the satisfaction of sweets. What was it called again, little one?"
"M- Mooom!"
Kurenai's laugh was warm and womanly. Sakura's girlish giggle was sweeter than Kojima's sweets. But he couldn't tell Amari that. She'd call him a blasphemer.
"Were they really that good?" Ino was the one to ask.
"Don't doubt Amari's judgement," said Chōji, somewhat seriously. "There isn't a connoisseur on this earth that knows sweets like she does."
"I am the soul of sweets. Fear me, blasphemers."
"Hmph," Sasuke snorted.
All the talk of food only made Naruto hungrier. And bit frustrated he wouldn't have any of it.
Stomach growling, he opened his eyes and sat up, letting his jacket slide down off his chest. He massaged his temples, groaning.
At the sight of movement he looked up to see Ino looming over him, a hand resting on her hip. She stared at him through narrowed eyes.
"Finally awake, huh?" she said by way of greeting.
"Uh, hey Ino," he greeted awkwardly. "I'm sorry I didn't make it back in time to help. Things kind of got hairy. How'd you guys manage?" he asked, looking around the visibly irritated kunoichi to Shikamaru and Chōji.
Maybe they could save him from whatever her deal was.
"The Fifth Hokage saved our skins," Shikamaru answered. "Came out of nowhere and beat those two into pulps. I don't think they'll ever eat again. Or walk," he added beneath his breath.
"Granny Tsunade showed up?"
Naruto looked around at their surroundings, first seeing Iruka and Tsubaki, then a guy with bandages wrapped around his head he remembered from the first test of the Chūnin Exams. He saw the Anbu guy who used Wood Style sitting against a tree as Shizune tended to him.
"Where is she? And where's Granny Mito? Wait!" He was struck by a sudden fearful thought. "She didn't get sent back yet, right? I still have a whole lot of questions I want to ask her."
"Easy, Naruto," Amari calmed him. "Lady Mito is still here. She went to retrieve the Reanimation Jutsu scroll Mizuki used."
"And Lady Hokage is just out of your line of sight checking over Mizuki," Shikamaru added.
"Never mind all of that!" Ino interrupted. She jabbed her finger at him. "You've got a lot to answer for!"
Naruto recoiled slightly. "What did I do this time?"
"Don't you play dumb with me!"
"But I'm not. I haven't got a clue what you're angry about. Wait," a lightbulb flickered on in his brain, "is this about whatever caused you to slap me? Because I was totally out of it. Come to think of it…" He scratched his cheek. "I don't really remember anything that happened. One moment I was about to get crushed by those colossal idiots, and then you slapped me."
There was a whole span of time where he obviously had said something to piss Ino off, but the memories eluded him.
"Then let me refresh your memory. First, you called me and Sakura pushy and mean."
Naruto blanched. "You've gotta be kidding."
"Actually," Shikamaru piped in, smirking, "first you called them beautiful and delicate flowers."
He slapped his palms to his cheeks and found them warm; the color had returned and taken on the color of a beet.
"I did whaaattt!"
"Yeah. You said they were the prettiest girls in the Academy," Chōji added, grinning.
"Ahhhhhh!" he cried out in embarrassment. His head was on the verge of shooting out more steam than a train whistle.
Amari, Sasuke and Kurenai, he noticed, giggled, snorted or smiled at his expense.
"I mean, it's true!" he blabbered. "But those big jerks must've put me way out of it to just blurt stuff like that out!"
"It's true, huh!" Ino fumed. "So I'm pushy and mean, then!"
Naruto recoiled and scooted back on his butt. "Well, uh, I didn't mean… I mean, you're kind of proving it right now, but—"
"Give him a break, Ino," Sakura came to his rescue, and he couldn't have been more elated. "We were pushy and mean to Naruto back then."
Ino half-turned to look at his teammate. He sighed in relief, grateful his worst fears had passed, which was included but not limited to two girls pounding him into the dirt for saying embarrassing stuff and calling them pushy and mean.
It was relief that came too soon.
"You say that because you haven't heard the worst part, Sakura," Ino declared.
"Uhhh." Naruto swallowed nervously. "Worst part?"
Without looking, Ino jabbed her finger at him. "This jerk, this idiot, this jackass said some boy named Haku is prettier than us both!"
Naruto's head exploded with steam that could've been seen from the Sand Village.
"Whaaaattttttttt!" he shrieked.
Amari died then and there. She died in a fit of giggles that tumbled her over and left her gasping for air, legs kicking at the air as if fending off the playful tickles of a cousin or parent.
And that was his supposed best friend, giggling madly at his horror.
Sasuke snorted and shook his head, chuckling beneath his breath. He offered the ever helpful statement of,
"You brain-dead idiot."
Chōji hid a snicker behind his hand. Shikamaru openly smirked at his expense, shrugging when he looked at him for aid as if to say, "Can't help you. Sorry."
Kurenai smiled, but returned to scanning the environment. He could almost sense Iruka sighing in exasperation and burying his face into his palm. And he knew deep in his core that the Crows had just been gift-wrapped blackmail he would never live down.
Sakura blinked a few times, a blank expression on her face. It looked like she didn't know how to process the information, or that it had caused her brain to crash and require a restart.
Conversely, horror and dread swarmed Naruto faster than the Nine-Tails chakra. He could only wail wordlessly, steam shooting off his red face into the highest points of the atmosphere.
He was vulnerable and weak and they were totally going to pummel him! Those blasted Idiot Brothers, they'd knocked all the sense right out of him.
What kind of idiot was I saying that out loud!
Sakura blinked again and seemed to come to. She brought a knuckle to her lips as she, too, began to giggle.
"Wh- why are you laughing?" Ino was stumbled by the response.
"If you could see both of your faces right now—"
"This isn't a joke, Sakura!"
"You're right. Haku was very pretty."
"It's impossible." It was Ino's turn to have her body controlled by horror and dread. She had to take a step back. "There's no way a boy can be that pretty!"
"Maybe he is. Maybe he isn't," Sakura goaded. "But surely you don't actually think there's a boy who could be considered prettier, right? Where's your confidence and pride?"
Naruto looked between the two as if watching them juggle kunais across a gap. He couldn't understand what they were doing or why they were doing it, but he sure was glad it wasn't him in the crosshairs.
"Man, the whole world's gone crazy today," he muttered.
Somehow, someway, he survived. He just wished his concussed brain wouldn't have said something so utterly embarrassing.
Glancing off, he wondered when Mito would come back.
He had a lot of questions. About his mother. About being a jinchūriki. About everything, really.
No one had ever talked to him about his parents before. As a child, he had a vague memory of asking the Third Hokage about them, but it never went anywhere. They were dead, the Third said, so it didn't matter who they were.
But it does. It matters to me.
He hadn't possessed the courage to say it back then. He just sort of shut down when he'd been told that. He couldn't have told the Old Man why it mattered, only that it did, and he knew it wouldn't have been enough. Definitely with that whole decree he'd been unaware of before Mizuki spilled the beans on it.
It did matter, though. To him, anyway. Just like it mattered to Amari knowing she hadn't just been abandoned callously, it mattered to him, too, to know who they were and why they weren't around.
"Because you exist, Naruto. You are the proof of her love. I cannot say what befell Kushina, but I know her love and her spirit remain within you. You share her dream, after all."
Naruto slouched forward, hand resting over his heart—it ached. He shut his eyes, feeling the sting of tears.
Those words…
"To become Hokage. You carry her Will within you, Naruto. That is the truth. Just as Amaririsu carry's the Will and love of her family—Madara, Yua, her parents and cousin—you carry Kushina's Will and love. Never doubt that."
All his life he had wanted to hear them. It was all he wanted.
His mother—Kushina—her love, her Will and her dream had always been with him.
The thought of it nearly brought him to tears.
"Sacrifices like the ones Amaririsu's family made—like your parents made—will always be meaningless!"
He buried his fingers into his shirt.
Sacrifices like his parents made, it stuck out to him now that he wasn't overwhelmed by the Nine-Tails chakra.
"And if my parents sacrificed themselves for me then that means they believed in me, too! That means they died entrusting everything to me. Their hopes, their dreams, their love and Will, they're all right in here! So don't you dare say it was meaningless!"
No, it wasn't meaningless. Amari's family and his parents sacrifices, they weren't meaningless at all.
"Are you all right, Naruto?"
He didn't realize Ino was kneeling at his side until then. He didn't realize her hand was on his shoulder at first. But he noticed her voice was gentle, and he appreciated all of it. Even if she could be pushy and mean.
"Uh, yeah," he sniffled. He squeezed his eyes shut tighter to keep the tears at bay. "Just…thinking of something Granny Mito told me."
"What did she say?"
He lifted his head. And smiled with quivering lips.
"My mom, she loved me. Hehe!"
When Orochimaru first approached her at Tanzaku Castle, offering to revive Dan and Nawaki, Tsunade hesitated to tell him to take his offer and slither off to whatever hole he crawled out of.
Selfishness made her hesitate. Selfishness and grief. She just wanted to see their smiling faces one last time. To hear their voices, to hold them in her arms. Just one final time.
If there was some way to achieve that, no matter how unethical, she would consider it for that one final chance to hold them close.
Grief, it was quite the toxin. Truthfully, she wasn't sure there was a real antidote for it. Grief resembled more of a lifelong virus—once infected, you were stuck bearing it until your final day. It weakened the body and the spirit. It could even kill, if powerful enough.
Orochimaru recognized her weakness and exploited it. He was always good at that, she supposed. Intelligent and observant as he was, he never struggled to find an enemy's weak point and utilize it to maximum effectiveness.
Who was she fooling, anyway? One final time? If Nawaki and Dan could be revived once, they could be revived again and again and again. Especially if performed with the Reanimation Jutsu.
And so, like gambling, she would've been drawn back again and again, promising herself this time it would be the last time. This time she would hold them, then send them away and move forward.
She would've held onto the grief. She would've drank the poison again and again, slowly killing herself.
Holding onto grief and pain, staying in that dark, cold and seemingly inescapable place where there was only the absence of feeling, that was all she would've done if she accepted Orochimaru's 'gift.' His hooks, really. His puppet strings.
As best as she could see, without a real cure, grief was an illness that could only be managed. The medicine for it, if it could be called that, was moving forward. Finding a cause, a reason, a goal, a passion, a mission, a person, anything that gave you a reason to unbury the parts of yourself that grief tossed into a fresh grave.
You could live a full life with grief. It didn't have to be fatal, but it would always be there.
"Tsuna."
Tsunade opened her eyes to see her grandmother approaching. She stood just outside of their encampment, out of the sight and earshot of the others for a chance at a private conversation.
Mito walked with her hands hidden inside her loose-fitting kimono, bearing a red rhombus on her forehead, the flesh of which was old, wrinkled and cracked. Some of it was simply old age. The cracks were apart of the Reanimation Jutsu.
Seeing her again, it made Tsunade dig her fingers into her arms, crossed stiffly over her stomach
"I had a moment of weakness," Tsunade began suddenly, voice trembling. "A moment where my grief and selfishness almost led me to allowing the same man who is responsible for your Reanimation to desecrate Nawaki's spirit. And Dan's. I wanted to see them one last time. I wanted to hold them in my arms.
"But seeing you here, Grandmother…" She grit her teeth. "This is a terrible jutsu."
"Indeed, it is," Mito agreed softly. "When your grandfather learned Tobirama was researching it, he reprimanded him and said he was to cease all research. Using the dead as tools of war was immoral, unethical, and profoundly disgusting. Tobirama saw differently."
"I'm sure he did," Tsunade couldn't hide her bitterness. "I bet he never imagined it would be used to Reanimate him and Grandfather to fight Sarutobi-sensei."
"No. I imagine he did not."
Mito stopped in front of Tsunade. She looked her up and down in scrutiny and frowned.
"Hiding your age behind a Transformation Jutsu, hm?" she scolded. "Tsuna, you should age gracefully. It is the natural evolution of life."
Tsunade recoiled back, sputtering at the sudden reprimand.
"I also hear you gamble and drink in unreasonable amounts." Mito's withering and grandmotherly gaze was as terrifying as ever. "Your grandfather's influence is partly the blame. But I thought I taught you better. Must I reiterate my lessons on moderation? On the importance of image and reputation among kunoichi?
"Now that you are Hokage, those lessons should resonate to a greater effect! You should know well by now that your image and reputation are equally as important to your strength. If you become known as a drunkard and gambler, you will lose the respect of all the other Villages. They will see you as weak. A weak woman, at that."
"I- I am not a drunkard, Grandmother!" Tsunade finally found some words. "How did you even…" Her eyes widened, then narrowed. "Those little twerps! It'll be dog walks and babysitting for them!"
"You will not punish Naruto or Amaririsu for telling me the truth," Mito commanded.
Despite being shorter and older, and dead, Tsunade found herself feeling like a toddler instead of a seasoned shinobi beneath her grandmother's gaze.
"Moderate your vices, Tsuna. Or eliminate them entirely. The Leaf was not founded so you could lose it in a game of Chō-han."
"Grandmother," groaned Tsunade.
"Hm," her grandmother hummed a short laugh, her smile creating deeper wrinkles around her eyes and the corners of her lips. "Seeing you again warms my heart. Though I fear there are dark times ahead of you."
"So they told you, huh?" Tsunade said, relaxing somewhat.
"As much as they could under the stress of combat." Mito flattened her lips in a frown. "Do they still possess two jinchūriki?"
"They do."
"How old?"
"Han and Roshi are seasoned veterans. From what our Intel tells us, they can utilize and control the power of their Tailed-Beasts at a high-degree."
"The Stone will use them in their war efforts. Be certain of that."
"Yeah." She glanced off into the shadows, in the direction where she knew Naruto was sitting. "Lately I've been wishing Grandfather never created the jinchūriki system. Had we just left the Tailed-Beasts alone, you, Kushina, Naruto, all the children and shinobi who have died as the Tailed-Beasts escaped and rampaged, or were sacrificed to wield their power as weapons of war, none of you would have suffered."
"I willingly sealed the Nine-Tails inside of myself. In that effect, I created the jinchūriki system. Not your grandfather," Mito refuted. "Or you could say the Sand began it. Let's not forget the Shukaku was already in their possession, though we may not have yet known it.
"Regardless, who you blame is unimportant, as the system is already in play. You must focus on navigating it. In this regard, your main priority should be preparing your shinobi for battle against other jinchūriki."
Tsunade pursed her lips. Preparing shinobi to battle against jinchūriki who had years of experience in controlling their Tailed-Beasts was a tall order. Frankly, the majority of the Leaf's forces weren't prepared.
The harsh reality: Any battle against Han or Roshi presently without seasoned veterans on their side was a bloodbath waiting to happen.
"Fortunately they can't be on every battlefield at once," she thought aloud. "And I don't see the Stone placing Han or Roshi in a position where they may be captured or killed."
"No Village wants to lose their jinchūriki," Mito nodded. "We are symbols of power, no matter how poorly we are treated. You also have the Crows of the Leaf and their network of agents; it may aid in preventing unnecessary casualties."
"True."
"You must ensure Naruto reaches his potential," her grandmother stated plainly. "Do not deviate from your current strategy, Tsuna. I can tell you favor Naruto. I understand why. He is a good child; his passion and drive remind me of Nawaki."
"Me too," she admitted softly.
"So do not cage him, as I was. Allow him to grow and blossom beside his friends and comrades and he will one day reach his dream. He will surpass Kushina and I if he is given the chance."
"I couldn't cage him even if I tried," Tsunade replied honestly. "He'd find some way out. I've never met a fool more stubborn, hardheaded and driven as that little snot."
"Yes," Mito chuckled. "I sensed that, too. In that respect he reminds me of Hashirama. And like your grandfather he possesses passion that can change this world. He may even change the view and role of jinchūriki."
"Of that I have no doubt."
Truthfully, he was already changing that view. It was incremental changes, nothing he or his peers may have noticed. Resentment didn't disappear overnight. However, fewer and fewer people saw the Nine-Tailed Fox running around the Leaf.
She hadn't heard a single complaint since the Sound Four incident. She'd heard the opposite, actually. There was a collective worry in the aftermath for Naruto, Amaririsu, Sasuke, Mimi and all the other runts, hoping they were recovering well, joyful, even, that they'd all succeeded and made it home.
People were finally seeing Naruto Uzumaki.
In time, with his perseverance to become Hokage, he could change the view and role of a jinchūriki. She truly believed that. And she hoped to see it. She was certain Jiraiya did, too.
"On the subject of Naruto, why does he know nothing of Kushina?" Mito asked.
Tsunade exhaled a long sigh. Then explained the situation in full.
The truth was it all stemmed back to the Nine-Tails attack on the day Naruto was born. Little was known about the events that led to the Nine-Tailed Fox breaking free from Kushina's body; all the people in the room that day were now long dead.
What was known didn't fully explain the situation, at least not to her mind.
It was a known fact that the Seal containing a Tailed-Beast becomes weak when a female jinchūriki goes through childbirth. Tsunade hypothesized that was one of the contributing reasons why jinchūrikis were historically male.
It was difficult enough to find a candidate for the duty of jinchūriki anyway, the process required the person to firstly be compatible or the Tailed-Beast would break free and kill its new host immediately. Or the power itself would kill them.
Even if a person was compatible there was still the struggle of containing the Tailed-Beasts now inside of them, which was a task of greater difficulty than finding a candidate that was suitable in the first place.
Why risk additional chances for a jinchūriki to lose control when simply finding a male candidate eliminate the risk of pregnancy altogether?
Far as the reports said, the Nine-Tails broke free and went on to wreak havoc inside the Leaf Village. Alone that wasn't shocking. Except it had miraculously appeared in the center of the Leaf Village rather than at the secret location where Kushina gave birth.
As though summoned.
More wrinkles creased Mito's old and cracked skin as she frowned deeply at the news. She knew, as did Tsunade, that the last man to wield the Nine-Tailed Fox as a Summoning animal was none other than Madara Uchiha, which could only mean he either cheated death, or someone had managed to take control of the Nine-Tailed Fox just as he had.
Tsunade explained how the Fourth Hokage eventually went on to Seal the Nine-Tailed Fox inside of Naruto, how he and Kushina saved the newborn from death at the cost of their lives.
The top-secret reports left by the Third Hokage explained that Kushina survived long enough to tell him Naruto's name, and that the Fourth's last wish was for Naruto to be seen as a hero who saved the Village.
"That's how it should've turned out. Or, well, the incident shouldn't have happened at all," Tsunade corrected. "But since it did, Naruto should've been treated as a hero for the sacrifice and burden that was forced onto him as an infant."
"However, the Nine-Tails tainted him in the eyes of the Village," Mito judged. "They did not see a hero. They saw the Demon that destroyed their homes, that had stolen loved ones and unleashed its hatred upon them."
"Right."
"For all that changes, so much remains the same."
She explained the decree the Third Hokage put into place, outlawing any mentions of the Nine-Tailed Fox in order to protect Naruto from the Village's misguided hatred.
It hadn't, of course. There was no way to stop how they looked at him—the hatred, the disgust, the fear.
He couldn't stop them from pulling their children away. He couldn't stop the verbal and physical abuse he suffered, not without assigning bodyguards to him, but few shinobi would have volunteered for the role, and many may have even used it as a chance to rid the Village of the Demon Fox.
So Naruto had to face it, alone. Never understanding the reason for it, never knowing his parents names, their sacrifice or their love for him.
Her grandmother's disapproval was palpable.
"I can grasp how he concluded the decree was necessary, even though it was naïve to believe that alone could protect Naruto from the pain of the Villager's hatred," Mito said. "I question his decision to tell Naruto nothing of his parents.
"His burden was immense for being the jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails after its attack. Withholding the mere knowledge his parents loved him—died for him—was unintended cruelty veiled as well-meaning kindness."
"You always said love was how you kept the Nine-Tails hatred in check," Tsunade said thoughtfully, crossing her arms over her belly again. "It makes me wonder what Sarutobi-sensei was thinking.
"From what I know, Naruto had a few friends among his classmates—the few who weren't prevented from interacting with him by their parents. It wasn't until Amaririsu returned to the Leaf that he had his first true friend. Before her, though, he was alone, at the mercy of the Villagers hate and fear. I can't imagine how he felt all that time."
"No, you cannot," Mito said simply. "It is something only a fellow jinchūriki can ever understand. Hiruzen should have known better. An empty vessel left unattended in the elements will still be filled. Spiders will nest inside, rain will fill it, an animal may knock it over or break it. He should have known better. Learn from his mistakes, Tsuna."
"I will. What about you? Will you speak more with Naruto of Kushina?" she asked.
"Yes. There are also lessons I can teach him as a former jinchūriki, lessons Hiruzen should have imparted onto him before dying."
Mito's expression changed. She scrutinized Tsunade long and hard, yet unlike last time the Fifth Hokage sensed she was trying to peer into her soul for an answer rather than examine her physical appearance.
"What is it?" she asked, confused by the shift of mood.
"Since Yua's murder, the Uchiha Clan and its fate has been decided and twisted by the Senju and its allies." Her grandmother eyed her. "I wonder, what are your intentions for the Uchiha Clan? What will happen to Amaririsu and Sasuke, hm?"
Tsunade frowned. "What happened to the Uchiha Clan was a tragedy. Worse, it was entirely avoidable," she said. Then shook her head. "I can't change what happened, but I can support them as they rebuild and reform their Clan."
"You hold no ill will against the Uchiha Clan?" Mito asked.
"No," she replied simply, and she sensed that her grandmother was monitoring her chakra fluctuations for lies. "The Uchiha Clan has been apart of the Leaf for as long as I've been alive. Why should I bear ill will? Because of wars we never fought in? Because of hatred and bloodshed we never witnessed?"
She scoffed at the idea. "Tobirama poisoned the minds of his subordinates, they bear his grudges and prejudice—fear, even—because of events they never experienced. They thought of the Uchiha Clan as dangerous animals. Is it any surprise the Uchiha came to believe a coup was the only option left?"
"No. It was likely by design, unfortunately."
She'd suspected as much. But it still ignited a flame of irritation no ointment could mitigate to hear the suspicion not confirmed, but echoed by her grandmother as well.
"This world will never know peace if we keep holding onto ancestral grudges," she declared fiercely.
"Very true," her grandmother nodded sagely. "I sense the honesty and passion in your beliefs. You should know, you will face opposition in supporting Amaririsu and Sasuke. They are the last remnants of the Uchiha Clan. They are the last of a Clan some erroneously claimed possessed cursed blood.
"If Hiruzen's subordinates believe they will one day endanger the Leaf, or come to hate it for the crimes committed against their Clan, they will see them removed as well. Especially should her lineage become widespread. The apple did not fall far from the tree, at least in potential. And that potential is something Tobirama's subordinates will still fear; it likely played its role in the Massacre, which is why her identity is hidden."
"You never miss anything, Grandmother."
"No, I did," Mito refuted. "I failed to see what my brother-in-law was plotting. Had I only seen it sooner, Yua—my dear friend—would never have been murdered in cold blood, and Madara would not be the devil he is portrayed as now. Everything would be different."
"Grandmother…"
"However, do not falter, Tsuna," Mito commanded. "Your heart is true. As are Amaririsu's and Sasuke's. You all have a chance to finally bridge the divide and be free of the grudge that has shattered the bond between Senju and Uchiha.
"We of the Senju bear the blame for it. The soil the Uchiha Clan sought to grow from was poisoned and razed by one of our own before they could blossom.
"Time, though, has healed the land. Now new life is growing. It is sprouting in freshly laid soil, no longer soaked in the blood of our shared dead."
Mito's expression became serious. "However, this will be its last chance to blossom. If it is poisoned or razed again, the Uchiha Clan will vanish. Forever. Please, do not let that happen."
"I won't let them vanish. On my word as Hokage, I will protect them."
"You've grown into a fine woman, Tsuna," Mito smiled. "Your Grandfather would be proud of you, I know I am."
Cocking an eyebrow, the Fifth Hokage asked, "Even though I gamble and drink?"
"Hm. Perhaps not as proud as I thought."
"Thanks, Grandmother," Tsunade chuckled at the well-meaning jest.
After discussing the plan to break the Reanimation Jutsu, a comfortable silence fell over grandmother and granddaughter.
Their plan wasn't all that complicated. By all descriptions, the Reanimation Jutsu was just another form of the Summoning Jutsu.
Both techniques required a sacrifice of some manner—the Summoning Jutsu required a blood sacrifice to bind the contract, the Reanimation Jutsu required a living sacrifice to bind the soul to the mortal realm—which, to the sharp mind of Shikaku Nara, meant there had to be some means for the Reanimated soul to undo the technique.
Like how a Summoning animal could Reverse Summon themselves, there was likely a means for the Reanimated soul to Reverse Summon themselves to the beyond that awaited them all.
How was the only question left. However, that, too, had a solution.
Inside the Scroll of Seals all of the information on how to use the jutsu was detailed. Knowing the Second Hokage, the means to undo it was also inside should his Forbidden Jutsu ever be used against the Leaf.
Tobirama was too pragmatic and calculating to leave it to chance.
"I have to return to the Leaf," Tsunade broke the silence. "The Village needs me there. In this fragile time, and with the Foundation just waiting for a chance to seize power, I can't leave it unattended for long… I wish we could talk more."
"This is not goodbye yet, Tsuna," her grandmother comforted. "You must go and be Hokage. I will remain to protect your shinobi. We will see each other again before I depart."
"Stay sharp, Grandmother. There is a masked man who uses a space-time ninjutsu that allows him to appear from nowhere and vanish without a trace of his presence. He's after Amaririsu. And…"
"And?"
"He claims to be Madara Uchiha."
"Hm." Mito furrowed her brow and flattened her lips together. "That is foreboding, and not unlikely. Madara was a genius shinobi. If he tricked us all into believing he was dead, then he may have found a means to extend his natural life. He may have even learned how to use space-time ninjutsu as well."
"We aren't certain if he is the real Madara," she tried to sound optimistic. "They may just be a surviving Uchiha member who is using Madara's name. All the same, what he's spoken of to Amaririsu and another kunoichi is enough to make the Crows believe it could be Madara."
Tsunade stepped forward and rested her hand on her grandmother's shoulder. "Be careful."
"You need not worry about me. I am already dead."
"I…know." She'd almost forgotten. Almost. "Still, it's the perfect opportunity for him to reach Amaririsu."
"I will keep them safe, Tsuna," Mito nodded. "And should this man appear, I will be ready. He will not harm any of your shinobi, you have my word."
"Thank you, Grandmother."
Review Response to NarutoFan: Happy to hear you loved Mito storing the Nine-Tails chakra. As I was thinking of what to do in this arc for the ending, because I knew I wanted to have Mizuki use the Reanimation Jutsu I just wasn't sure who and went through a few ideas, when I finally settled on Mito and I researched her character I hit upon the idea that the red rhombus was a Seal like Tsunade's, and since it was red I thought it would be cool if it was the Nine-Tails chakra she had sealed inside of her.
Additionally, I thought it'd be interesting that when she released it that the shimmers of gold showed through meditation and years with the Nine-Tails she had gotten on verge of controlling the Nine-Tails chakra, like Naruto in the Power Arc in Shippuden, just to make her that much cooler. So I'm happy you enjoyed that and it does seem that she is sticking around. Still some lessons she can pass on to Naruto, Amari and the others before departing.
Yep, the Mistress of Shadows herself had a student in the form of Yugao. I've enjoyed the bits I've been able to write so far elaborating little by little on her character and history with Amari's family. We'll learn more of why she was kept out of the loop as we go.
A little step, maybe. He is a stubborn fur ball, after all.
I'll do my best to keep giving other characters a chance to shine and develop as we go. It's one of the joys of writing this, honestly. Just being able to give characters a chance to show how cool they are/were/could've been were they given the time and attention keeps me invested always. Like Kurenai and Sakura, like Mei and Chojuro, even what little exploration I've done so far with Yugao, Tenzo, as well as smaller roles like Anko and Genma and Ibiki. I love writing Amari and her journey, but I also love writing all the others to see how they are reacting to the world around them, their feelings, their growth as they experience new struggles or personal dilemmas and what the world and Amari look like from their perspective. I think the only team who didn't show up in this arc, besides at the start, was Team Guy, but I promise there is a reason for that. They weren't forgotten.
Thank you for the review and thank you for reading!