A/N: so I have a long chapter (another one over 10000!) to make up for two weeks of absence. Beta'd by Alice J who was nice enough to accommodate my habit of procrastination and beta at the last moment.
Chapter 37 - Root of the Lies
I raised my fist in front of the door, ready to knock on the apartment whose sole occupant probably wouldn't welcome me all that much. Before I could decide on the volume of my knocking, the door was opened abruptly. Judging by the annoyance on his face, I had probably interrupted his session with his precious novels.
"Really, Maiko? It's one in the morning," Kakashi complained, still as grumpy as ever. "What could possibly be so important that it can't wait until morning, or even better, next week."
"Shimura Danzō." The two words that came out of my mouth were barely louder than a whisper, but it was definitely enough to guarantee a reaction. Before I could continue, he had already pulled me into the apartment and locked the door. He dragged me inside so violently that I would have stumbled and crashed onto the floor had I not steadied myself with the wall.
"Was there anyone following you?" All the annoyance and laziness in his voice disappeared and they were replaced by seriousness I hadn't heard in a long time.
"I don't know. I made two shadow clones before I came here. I sent one of them back to Shun's apartment and the other to the Uchiha Compound. I tried my best to hide my presence, but I don't know if it worked," I answered honestly. I saw Kakashi's expression settle into that of concentration. After a few seconds, he shook his head slowly.
"I can't smell anyone foreign, but try to keep your voice down." Compared to the solemnness of his voice, I nodded rather absentmindedly. His living room was as empty and bland as usual, with a bluish-grey wallpaper that looked more grey than blue at the moment, making the room feel more desolate than normal.
When I brought all my fleeting attention back to the owner of the apartment, I found him looking at me expectantly. Right, I was supposed to talk to him about Danzō. But I don't want to talk about him anymore because it's like a trigger for something 'unsafe' and it makes me afraid.
It was a good thing that I stopped myself before sprouting those embarrassing words, but I wasn't sure that staying frozen among the gaping silence was any better.
"What's wrong?" Vaguely, I heard his question, so I shook my head and closed my eyes just to calm down a bit. Whatever Danzō did, it scared me, I would admit that much. It was like my mind was being snatched away and he was the sole light that led me by a thin wire. The worst part was, those thoughts sounded so real and logical that I had actually believed them.
"Danzō, I saw him earlier, or should I say, he forced me into a 'meeting' as he called it. He wanted me to join this special faction in Anbu. I don't know what he did, but I almost said yes, despite knowing that he was up to no good." I said as calmly as possible, knowing that what happened still gave me the chills.
"What do you mean you almost said yes? Did he brand you already?" Brand, what? What Kakashi asked didn't make sense, and it didn't help that he sounded more worried than he had ever been on the topic of me.
"No, I don't know what you're talking about. But, I said things… and thought things I would never think of usually. At that moment, it had all made sense, but only after I'd said it, I would realize what had just happened." I answered, just barely reigning in my anger so I wouldn't burst into a cursing fit. Whoa, before it was fear, and now anger? I'm having a great day.
"What exactly did you say?" Kakashi asked with a raised eyebrow. Yes, I would like to know that as well.
"I didn't say much, but for some reason, I told him that I wanted to kill Itachi, and I sort of bitched a bit about Hokage-sama." I could just imagine Kakashi's silent wince as he covered his face with hands, but I ignored that and continued. "It was not so much as what I had said, but more so what I had thought. I swear, for a few seconds, I genuinely thought he was the best person to lay down my trust with. He was screwing with my mind, big time, and I had no idea how he was doing it." This time, I really couldn't control my emotions anymore, and before I knew it, I had already punched his coffee table and let the loud crashing sound reverberate throughout the room.
"I'm sorry, I can't control my emotions right now." I apologized hastily, grabbing onto my fist to stop it from doing any more stupid things. My thoughts, my actions, they were all scrambled up now, blurring the line between reality and imagination.
"It's fine. Why don't you sit down, and next time punch something soft, like the couch. Have you checked your chakra system? It might be a genjutsu." I followed his advice and sat down on the couch as I shook my head promptly.
"I tried the regular genjutsu kai, and my Sharingan wasn't picking up anything unusual. The mind control thing, these fake thoughts, I can clearly distinguish them now, because all I've got for Danzō is disgust. But I can't stop them from occurring along with a shit ton of emotions that I can't control. I'm feeling so angry that I want to smash Danzō's head apart; I'm scared out of my mind because I'm afraid that he can control me again, and I'm obviously way too anxious, seeing that I am pouring it all on you…" My voice faded little by little as the stress took over. I was sure that somewhere along the line, Danzō had exploited my negative emotions for his own purposes, but the question was how.
"The heightened state of emotions, it might be drugs. Danzō's secret faction, Root, is very good at mind control, eliciting and suppressing emotions. The atmosphere, the lighting, and the drug in the air, they can all accentuate your emotions and maybe even screw with your mind." Kakashi said calmly, his voice sounded so steady, like a stone anchored amongst wild waves, dragging me back from the brink of exhaustion.
"Root? Is that the name of his web?" I asked.
"Yes, Danzō picks talented shinobi, Anbu or orphan, it doesn't matter. He trains them to be merciless and erases their emotions and they listen to no one but him. It used to be a legal organization back in the days, but now it's more like Danzō's personal army. It's a good thing that you resisted because it takes a lot more than a 'no' to get out of it." Kakashi explained mockingly, but I could hear the bitter tone in his voice, that faint lingering regret. Suddenly, I realized, it would make sense if he had been recruited by Danzō before. It would explain his knowledge and it would also explain his strong opinion about me staying away from Danzō.
"He is not going to let go, is he? He doesn't seem like the forgiving type, and I'm sure that I pissed him off when I told him to stay the fuck away from me, not that I said it in those exact words though." I asked in a light voice. There was a period of silence as Kakashi hesitated. After years with him, I was definitely getting better at reading his expressions. Right now, his hesitation wasn't about the answer, but it was more like he was debating on how to gently break the news to me. Sure enough, he nodded slightly, confirming my unease.
"Do something for me. I need to get a sense of how screwed up you are." Probably very. I raised an eyebrow at him as he continued. "When I ask you something, tell me the first thought that comes to mind. Don't fight it, no matter what you think, just tell me."
I stared at him for a second, unsure if this was a good idea. "I won't judge, promise." I supposed that this settles the deal, so I nodded compliantly. As soon as he got my permission, the short, succinct questions started; it felt like a game of truth and dare - just without the dares … and the presumed truths were not necessarily truths.
"Your name?"
"Uchiha Maiko."
"Age?"
"Almost sixteen." Okay, so far, I'm still sane.
"Tell me about Sasuke." Whoa, he really got to the point right away. So likewise, I followed through on my part of the bargain.
"I can't protect him." I began to wish that I hadn't agreed in the first place because I was already regretting it.
"And Itachi," he prompted without batting an eye.
"Revenge." I wanted to stop, but nevertheless, I finished the thought as promised. "He took everything from me."
"What about Hokage-sama?" Hah, that one! My thoughts weren't so bad for that one.
"I have sworn my allegiance to him, forever. But there was always a nagging feeling that he's lying to me, about something important." Actually, that sounded quite bad. The Hokage was the leader of the whole village. He was a military leader, to put it nicely. However, to put it even more plainly, every Kage was a dictator whose single-handed decisions could start a war or end one.
This was why Danzō was unsettling. Have you ever seen someone try to divide power from a position that doesn't share power in the first place? That was usually the start of a civil rebellion.
Thankfully, he really didn't judge. I wondered if he was treating this like an interrogation - no, not an interrogation, that would imply that I had the potential to give out useful information, not this useless crap that was filling my subconsciousness.
"And Shimura Danzō?" See, this one, I had the most control in tuning it out because of the sheer amount of rejection for the thought. Yet, at the same time, it was the strongest thought that resonated in my mind.
"He is the one that can help me achieve my revenge. He can give me what everyone else couldn't." It was simply terrifying, hearing the words that were leaving my mouth.
"Damn."
Damn was the right word. Yep, I was very screwed up.
"Just out of curiosity, any distortions about me that I should know about?" I raised an eyebrow at his question. Doesn't he realise that it's dangerous to share these thoughts?
"I don't think that's a good idea," I mumbled hesitantly. It was different to share your most disastrous thoughts about someone when they were right in front of you.
"Whatever these thoughts were, they were triggered by a certain topic - or a certain name. Therefore, it was always better to know exactly what topic was distorted. A bit impractical seeing the complexity of human mind and the amount of information it could hold, but the most immediate threat is always a good place to start. Let it out, so if it starts to resurface, you'll know they are fake. We need to know what we're dealing with here, so say them exactly as you have thought of them, I told you I won't judge. Pretty sure you've already used all the insults you could possibly think of on me anyway." I couldn't deny the logic, so reluctantly, I searched in my mind, grasping for that dangerous parasite, feeding on my old memories.
"Captain …" I slipped into the habit, " … you let my genin teammate die."
Silence. I raised my head and I saw a shocked eye before Kakashi turned his head away. What happened to no judging? Literally, I shared my (wait, they weren't even mine) darkest thoughts with him, what happened to having a bit of faith? He should know that I would never blame him for what happened to Daichi; he should trust me on that.
"We need to get you to Hokage-sama right now, and maybe have a Yamanaka look at your head … add a drug test on that list as well." Just like that, the crack resurfaced for less than a second before it was hastily patched up and covered again. He knew it was fake; all of these things were fake. I had to believe that he was definitely smart enough to see that.
"Now? First of all, it's past midnight, the Hokage wouldn't even be in his office unless the village were under attack. And second, I don't think I'm in the best mentality to accuse a village Elder in front of the Hokage. You heard the distorted thoughts, it would be like adding incoherence to an absurd testimony and then off to the interrogation unit I go." Pause, think. I sounded … angry, much too distrustful of the Hokage.
"You have a good point, but can you last for another six hours?" A very good question.
"Yes, I have to," I answered with determination as I stood up and walked towards the door. Mind tricks were scary because they were intangible, but my mind wasn't some playdough Danzō could just manipulate without a single ounce of resistance.
"I'll come find you at six. Who knows, maybe it's just drugs and it'll be out of your system by tomorrow morning." That was a pathetic attempt at easing my worries. I could tell from his face that even he didn't believe that.
In the face of the unknown, my determination flickered as I reach out for the doorknob. Beyond this door, there would be nothing but darkness. No seals and no traps to protect me from Danzō, and I knew that he could get to me through so many different methods. I hadn't felt so afraid since my encounter with Orochimaru, this acute fear that froze me; this feeling in which I knew a trap was coming, yet I couldn't get myself to avoid it.
I don't want to open the door. I don't want to leave and face nothing but fear. I want to stay here, where I have people I can trust. I want to stay right here, where I know it's safe.
So is this fear programmed by Danzō? Or is it just me?
"Are you sure that you can last that long?" Kakashi asked as his eye flickered between my frozen, outstretched hand and the door with suspicion. I had hoped that he wouldn't sense my fear, but who was I kidding? If Pakkun could smell my sorrow when it was just a small leak, then Kakashi could definitely pick up the fear that was coursing through me like a flood.
"They are not real, you know." I suddenly spoke up, but it was more for my sake than to answer him. "They may sound real, but all well-woven lies have some fragments of reality that they build on - rule number one of framing a genjutsu. In the end, they are just lies, and I won't let them dictate my actions."
"You pushed me to answer under the pretense of a safe and confidential environment, and I did, so don't hold me accountable for the lies that weren't even mine." With a sudden stroke of anger (a great alternative to fear, by the way), I pointed at his chest defiantly. "I'm fighting them, resisting them, and you should flush them down the drain as well."
"Noted. Be careful," Eventually, he replied as I pushed the apartment door open. The wind, it was definitely more chilling than usual, and the darkness, well, it had never really changed.
So stop feeling afraid.
(づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ fuwa~fuwa~desu~~~
Pop! That imaginary sound signalled the return of my second shadow clone. The first one was popped quickly as soon as I got back to the apartment to take its place. An hour later, the second one I made for the Uchiha Compound dispersed itself after dragging out boxes of wires and shuriken and trapping the entire place.
Having no cares about chakra preservation, I laid down genjutsu traps every two steps. If anyone tried to sneak into the compound (notably, Root), they would get a really nasty paralysis from the genjutsu before acquiring a porcupine costume made from senbon, kunai, and shuriken.
Mhm, no sign of any suspicious personnel and a third of my chakra has just disappeared. I thought silently as I digested the information my shadow clone relayed back to me. Stop being so paranoid! I screamed at myself internally. No trouble was good, there was no point to go and wishing for trouble.
However, something was wrong with this situation regarding the Hokage, Danzō, and Root. There was no way that the Hokage wouldn't know of Danzō's activity, not when Kakashi could explain the MO of Root backward to me. Therefore, either Root was a division that was unofficially sanctioned, or the Hokage had closed an eye on Root for various reason. Either way, there was a carefully conserved power balance between the two - the Hokage had to be careful of Root's reach, while Danzō would have to be on a constant look out because there were no guarantees for his organization.
Oh dear, ignorance really was a bliss. Although, logically speaking, if the above case were true, then it would be the best situation for me because the mere presence of little me wouldn't be able to upset that carefully established homeostasis between the Hokage and Elder Shimura. The Hokage would order Danzō to leave me alone and I would most likely get a 'shut-up' order. A bit infuriating, but it would definitely be the most trouble-free solution.
The moonlight cast a wavering shadow on the couch, barely illuminating the dark room. Well, in a week or so, I was going to move out anyway.
The main house in the Uchiha compound had been completely fixed, and I was just waiting for the wall paint to dry. Shun had already found a place near the Intelligence Division with Inoichi-san's help, so he had already moved. Meanwhile, the bookcase, working desk, and my old bed - which I haven't been able to sleep on for forever - got taken apart, ready to be transported once the paint had dried, leaving only this sofa bed that I was planning to sell once moving back. Yoshino-san had graciously taken in Sasuke for a week while I was sorting out the move, but right now, I wasn't sure moving back was a good idea, seeing that I had just feverishly changed the compound into a death trap due to paranoia.
My heart nearly skipped a beat when I felt a presence approaching the staircase, the steps light and fast. Shinobi. Immediately, I picked up a kunai with a strand of wire attached to the handle - some leftovers from the earlier trapping session.
I was fully prepared to make a hole in someone's head if the wrong person had appeared, but then I heard the clicking of a key being fitted into the locks. The heartbeat returned, but I still kept the kunai light on my fingers. It was only when the door opened without any malice that I flicked the kunai away from the sight.
"Why are you running?" I asked as my soon-to-be-ex-roommate appeared with slightly hitched breathing.
"I'm not sure, but I think you should read this before seven." Shun didn't waste any time before throwing a pile of stapled papers in my face. Despite the ominous phrasing, I grabbed the files and started the examination.
"What the hell!" I totally did not just yell that out. "They are demolishing the Naka Shrine?"
"Judging from that expression, I'm guessing that no one has told you about this." I wouldn't be screaming if they did, I thought as Shun closed the door behind him to prevent me from waking up the entire building.
I flipped through the pages, noting the important bullet points highlighted by Shun. "Can they even do that? Naka Shrine has been my family's shrine for generations, just because … just because … " Oh, actually, they can. That's right, the Uchiha have fallen.
"It's been annexed by Konoha some years ago, Maiko, since the council ruled it as not being part of the Uchiha District for some reason," Shun explained with a hint of pity. "Three months ago, the patrol reported severe damage to the structure of the shrine, so it's been deemed a public safety hazard. Also, since it's right next to the border, the fallen debris is obstructing the village patrol."
"Look at the date of when the demolition order was issued." Shun flipped the file back to page one for me and I followed his finger. March. That was three months ago. "It said that the previous owner - you - had been notified one month prior to the date of the demolishing, which is today, so that you can move out all relevant possessions before, well, the construction company go and flatten the buildings."
"I think I would remember if someone had notified me about the decision to mow over my family shrine! How did you find this report?" I asked, frantically flipping through the report again just in case there was something else the Konoha council wanted to destroy.
"I was archiving the reports today. Normally, I wouldn't have noticed this report since it's technically not considered shinobi affairs, but the name 'Naka Shrine' reminded me of that one time when you had asked me about its location, so I decided to take a look at the report." I did inquire about the shrine a year ago before the whole Orochimaru thing had happened. I only went to look at it once before being called away. Let's just say that after that mission, my mind wasn't quite on the Naka Shrine anymore.
"And the Hokage approved of this?" I inquired with disbelief, despite seeing the Hokage's stamp and signature clearly in front of my face.
"I checked the records of the construction company. Yes, a contract was indeed made about a month ago after the date of demolition was determined with Hokage-sama's approval and the government's deposit. There was also a C-rank mission assigned to a team of chunin to help with any potential traps. However, I then checked the D-rank missions issued by the courier system; a message of an unknown topic was due to be sent to you a month ago from the Hokage's office, but it was retracted before it could be sent out. You're moving, but you've never mentioned once about cleaning out the Shrine, I just thought it was weird." I couldn't help but applaud a bit at Shun's thorough research, always the one who was able to present all the evidence.
Everything seemed to suggest that I had been deliberately left out of this matter with Naka Shrine. The only person who could have done that was from Konoha's higher hierarchy and the most obvious person was the Hokage-sama. Perhaps he thought that the matter was too personal for me and he would be right. I would have fought for the shrine because it wasn't something that I had the right to give up.
But what if there's something in there that the Hokage didn't want me to find out about? Everything was so 'hush-hush' with regards to the Uchiha Clan after the massacre. Of course, I didn't mind that most of the time, so I just let it be. If Shun hadn't mentioned it, I probably wouldn't have found out, at least not until the completion of the demolition order. After all, Naka Shrine was nothing but an empty shell of memories that I had long forgotten the existence of.
The guilt for my negligence stung like a thousand needles, but it also made me determined to do something about it. Quickly, I grabbed a few more projectiles threaded with wires from the piles at my feet. Within a few seconds, I had a pouch packed with lethal weapons and other shinobi gear.
"You are going to the shrine, aren't you?" I gave Shun an 'isn't it obvious' look as he facepalmed.
"You see, there aren't any scrolls in the Compound about the Mangekyou Sharingan, so I might as well try my chances at the shrine before it gets reduced to wooden splinters." The excuse rolled off of my tongue easily. It wasn't a lie, but the last time I had checked, the place looked like it was pillaged, so empty that it would surely incur the displeasure of any God it used to worship.
"Can't you wait until morning? If you ask the Hokage-sama for an extension, he might …" It seemed that he had reached the same conclusion that I had. A project that was already decided months ago wouldn't be postponed on such short notice. Besides, if it really was the Hokage who didn't want to notify me, then I would have no chance of stopping the demolition. If I wanted to get anything from the Shrine before it was turned into land fillings, I only had a few hours left before sunrise.
But what was I looking for in an empty Shrine? Only the Gods would know. Perhaps, I only needed a reason to stubbornly hang onto what's left, as though I would regret it if I didn't go there before it was gone forever.
"Konoha may own the land, but that shrine along with every last candle left in it belongs to my clan, so I'll salvage whatever is left of it, even if they are just 'useless things' as the Konoha council called them when they made the decision without telling me," I said with quite a bit of spite in my voice.
"I should have expected this …" My friend complained, but then, he asked, "Pass me a few projectile weapons, please." Immediately, I knew what he was implying.
"Aren't you on a shift right now?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. There was a reason why I didn't want to involve Shun in this. The Hokage wasn't the only one who could stop my access to the Shrine. If I remembered correctly, Danzō had already gained control of the Konoha Police station and he did try to gain the Uchiha Compound as well. A weird and frightful thing had happened earlier this night, and with even the slightest chance that this event was related, I didn't want Shun to be involved.
"Someone needs to make sure that you don't do something rash like trapping the place so that the construction company can't get close," Shun rebutted in a bland tone, still holding his hand out.
"Inoichi-san will kill you if you abandoned a shift and didn't finish organising the reports." When I made no move of wanting to hand him any weapons, he just walked in and took the weapons himself. It seemed like that there really was no convincing him here.
"Fine, I'll give in. Do you know how to make a shadow clone?" With no other choice, I suggested an alternative.
"You insult me," Shun answered with displeasure. Of course, how could an information specialist not know how to make a shadow clone? It was the most convenient way of gathering information.
"You can send a clone with me if you want. This way, you can pass a message if I ever do find the need for a storage scroll." With my own chakra level at a little more than half the usual after my earlier boost of paranoia, I really didn't feel comfortable making another one of myself on the same day. Although, I seriously doubted that I would actually need a storage scroll, based on my previous observations of the shrine.
But still, Shun made the hand seals for a standard shadow clone as I buckled the sword belt tightly around my waist. When I turned my attention to the door again, I saw two copies of Shun scrunching their eyebrows in concentration.
After much contemplation, one of them asked, "You're going to make me pay for the storage scroll, aren't you?"
"Yep."
(づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ fuwa~fuwa~desu~~~
"Your Clan held meetings in a place like this?" Shun asked with disbelief as I kicked rubble aside from the entrance. To say that the Shrine was old was an understatement. The torii gate at the entrance was creaking and swaying slightly in rhythm with the wind and all the paint on the shrine walls had peeled off, showing the sad colour of grey underneath. It was hard to imagine that the once prideful Uchiha clan would ever set foot in it.
"I'm sure it was in a better condition when my clan was still around," I said casually. The shrine had been in a better condition a year ago when I last came, but still not by much. It took us quite a while to navigate the complex terrain surrounding the shrine, so if we wanted to get it done before sunrise, then we should probably hurry.
"Let's go inside first, I might have missed something the last time I came here," I proposed. Without any more complaints, we set foot into the desolate shrine that radiated penury and abandonment.
The inside, it was just so… empty. There were really no words to describe it other than empty. The main hall was lined with dusty tatami mats, but there were barely any decorations inside which made me wonder if this had really been a shrine for worship. Last time, my investigation had ended here, barely scratching the surface before my attention was divided elsewhere.
However, something was definitely different from the last time that I had seen this place. For starters, there was a huge hole in the back wall of the shrine where a decaying tree had fallen, stuck in the middle. I was lucky that the shrine was quite big and durable so that one fallen tree wouldn't completely collapse it. But a few more trees … Yeah, okay, I can see the point about it being a public safety hazard.
After a few moments of shock, I returned my gaze to the rest the shrine - the not destroyed, but still dusty parts. Tatami mats, the only things in the damned place, not even a candle or a statue for worship was left. So why the hell was my clan 'worshipping' in this place?
Slowly, I bent down and traced my fingers over the tatami mats, looking for some kind of trap or trigger. The hall was so empty, so if there was anything worth hiding, it would be hidden by one of these tatami mats that had been left despite the fact that all the other shrine artifacts were removed.
I wonder… I lifted my fingers from the mats and saw the thick layer of dust gathered on my fingertips. This is going to be stupid if it doesn't work, so here we go. I grabbed the corner of the mat and flipped it over in an abrupt motion. As Shun coughed and cursed because of the sudden heavy storm dust motes that had been stirred up, I walked around and flipped over all the other mats without hesitation.
"First of all, a warning would be nice next time. Second, what is this?" Following Shun's voice, I walked over to where he stood. My eyes widened at the sight in front of me: a giant slab of stone was embedded in the stone floor, nothing unusual, except for the fact that there was a large Sharingan symbol engraved in the middle of it.
"My clan's secret," I answered instinctively, not sure where it came from. Over the last two years, my obsession with the Uchiha massacre had definitely waned a bit after my near-death experience with Orochimaru. Shisui was right that there was more to life than a single path of obsession. But this sight in front of me, I felt like I was very close to uncovering a dangerous secret that I had been searching for a very long time.
And it just has to be now, when I am not even trying to search for it; when I wish nothing would happen. Things don't get more ironic than this. My fingers trembled a bit as I touched the slab of stone. I traced the lines of scribbled black ink at the top all the way to the middle, where the black Sharingan laid. This was a seal, no doubt about it, but the problem was how to activate it. Sharingan, the clue can't get more obvious.
Immediately, I looked closer and locked my eyes with the lifeless eye on the stone. For a second, nothing seemed to happen, but then, the inked eye began to spin. The black lines extending off of the Sharingan swiftly moved around and formed instructions. Not wasting a moment, I brought my hands together and started to make hand signs following the ever-shifting instructions on the stone slab.
It took a whole five minutes for the Sharingan to stop spinning. With the completion of the last hand sign, the stone slab made a loud 'thud'. With some strange mechanism, the stone was popped out of the place and began to slide over the floor to the side with a loud and scratchy noise before it finally stopped, revealing a staircase leading to a hidden basement level of the shrine.
"Nevermind, I can definitely imagine your clan meeting in a place like this," Shun mumbled from behind, but I just ignored him and stepped into the dark underneath. It had some pull in it, like an unexplained attraction, urging me to go down and uncover what I had left behind.
"My clan… my father, my mother…" They all sat here in this dark room lit only by torches, I thought with a newfound awe as I surveyed the basement floor. The twin Uchiha insignias proudly stood on the wall, greeting all the descendants who dared to venture down. Right now, even I, who had very little attachment to the clan, couldn't help but feel a sense of respect and pride because of my clan, my bloodline, my Sharingan.
At that moment, it was as if I had forgotten everything about what I came here for as I was completely immersed within this bubble of nostalgia.
My eyes rested on the giant piece of stone monument placed in between the two Uchiha fans. The things that are written on it… I want to read it. I stepped closer and closer to the stone tablet until I was only a few inches away from it. Was this the secret? The secret that I had longed for, but it's right here, so painstakingly simple.
'The three-tomoe Sharingan can be evolved into a more powerful form, the Mangekyou Sharingan, by witnessing the death of a loved one. With the great power of the Mangekyou Sharingan however, there is a price. The continual usage of such power will result in the fading of vision until there is permanent blindness…'
The words were cut off here and I was a bit disappointed. These were all facts that Father had told me before, which I was sure of now that this was where it came from. But there had to be more, right? The words didn't end here, yet the rest were like a fuzzy jumble that I couldn't interpret.
"Are you seeing a jumble of nonsense like I am, or does the Sharingan allow you to see something I don't?" Again, Shun's well-timed complaints broke me out of my daze. Wait, did he say that the Sharingan allows me to see something he can't?
The Mangekyou Sharingan was the key to the rest. The moment I realised that, I activated my Mangekyou. After a few seconds, some of the remaining sentences cleared up and started to assemble themselves into actual words. Without a second of delay, I continued to read.
'The power of Mangekyou varies between users. However, one thing in common lies with its enhanced genjutsu ability. It is so great that even the tailed-beasts, the most powerful creatures since the beginning of mankind, can be controlled by it.'
Now that was something new I hadn't heard of. Suddenly, my mind went to Naruto, the cheerful ball of orange that my brother had somehow befriended. Does anyone know that the Mangekyou Sharingan can control the tailed-beasts, in other words, Naruto? If they knew, then why would they willingly let Naruto hang out with Sasuke, who had the potential to activate the Mangekyou? Or me, who had already activated it? I knew that the majority of the village couldn't care less about Naruto the boy, but they definitely cared about the nine-tail inside of him.
'The legendary Clan Leader of the Uchihas, Uchiha Madara, eventually reached a solution for the blinding effect of Mangekyou Sharingan. By transplanting the eyes of his younger brother, Izuna, into himself, two Mangekyou were able to become one. This method allowed Madara to gain the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan, which is void of the side effects experienced by the regular ones.'
And that was it. No matter how hard I tried to squint my eyes at the last few paragraphs, they remained to be a bunch of jumbled nonsense. Why? Do I have to have the next evolution of Mangekyou to read the rest? But what is it, the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan, or something else?
Suddenly, a horrifying thought came into my mind. All of this information written on the tablets, even though they sounded perfectly innocent like some textbook, the methods in which it described the Mangekyou and the Eternal Mangekyou, they were very ambiguous. Witnessing the death of a loved one and killing a loved one; transplanting a sibling's eyes and stealing them… The fine line between these actions was left ambiguous in the texts. Without the rest of the texts, there was no way to find clarification for it.
So did Itachi kill the clan for the power of the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan? No, I can't believe that. He left me alive with my eyes intact, if there were one person whose eyes were the most suited for him, it would be mine. Maybe it was the clan, they were always seeking for power to rejuvenate the clan position. As brutal as the tablet sounds, I honestly wouldn't put it past the elders.
So is this what made Itachi snap? The immoral decisions of the Clan elders? Sasuke did tell me that Itachi had said: "I've lost all hope for this pathetic clan"... Wait, no, let's not jump to the conclusion just yet. The entirety of Itachi's actions could be a mere façade, and would something like this really make him snap into massacre mode?
"Maiko, what is this?" Vaguely, I heard Shun's ghostly voice, but I was too concentrated on the tablet in front of me to care. After a few seconds of no response, Shun must have felt very annoyed because the next thing I knew, he had already dragged me over to the side by my shoulder until I saw a small wooden shelf in front of me.
"What the hell are you doing? Can't you see I'm busy?" I might have sounded just a bit too unappreciative than I had imagined. But as I eyes trailed on the stone tablet, unwilling to leave, Shun's next sentence forced my attention away.
"Obviously something has gotten into you somehow. You are so obsessed with something that you can't even pay attention to your surroundings, which is why I think coming here was a horrible idea in the first place. And what makes it even worse is this." Shun, who was standing by the only bookshelf in his enormous basement, threw something at me and I caught it immediately. It was a scroll, but unlike the other scrolls on the shelf, this one looked very new without a speck of dust on it. When I opened it with a suspicious gaze, I widened my eyes in shock and fear. Because something was horribly wrong with this sight I was seeing.
The scroll was full of information on Anbu missions, missions that I knew about and missions that I didn't. The mission in Kirigakure where I met Terumi Mei was on here, despite the fact that she had burned the documents and I never told a single soul. There were also some other missions that I had no idea had happened, but they all involved foreign nations in some way, shape, or form, meaning that if any of this got leaked, Konoha would get into a lot of trouble. The worst part, it was all in my handwriting.
"Why is there classified information in your family shrine - where it would be easy to leave Konoha because of its location - and in your writing? Also, I clearly remembered that this basement is only accessible with Sharingan, and there are only three Sharingan users in the whole village." Shun's analysis chilled me to the bones, but he wasn't finished. "If they were to demolish the Shrine tomorrow, they would sure find that not-so-discreet entrance with a freaking Sharingan engraved on it. All they need to do is to summon a couple of sealing practitioners, or just Hatake, and then all of this illegal information would be exposed."
"Give me an explanation, Maiko. You've been acting strange with paranoia all the way from the apartment to the shrine. Are you being mind controlled or under a genjutsu?" Mind control, maybe, but definitely not about this. But before I could speak, I felt his chakra invade my brain circuit, trying to drive out any foreign chakra. With a flare of anger, I pushed him out of my mind
"It wasn't me," I shouted out each word with swirling frustration as I grabbed onto his shoulder to keep him from panicking.
"I've never set foot in the shrine for the past year, but this couldn't have been here for more than a few days." I couldn't blame him for wanting an explanation for this messed-up situation because it looked really bad. As a trained shinobi with all the naivety removed from an early age, it was his job to make sure that all possibilities were accounted for. That earlier attempt at genjutsu breaking was his way of trying to make sure I was not compromised by an external force.
"If I had anything to hide, I wouldn't allow you to follow me here," I said with a clear voice, but at the same time, the gear in my brain was turning a million miles an hour trying to figure out what purpose was there in Shun and I finding out this scroll of illegal information.
"Holy shit, I'm being framed," I whispered as realisation dawned on my face. Why hadn't I thought of this before? I underestimated Danzō, I thought that he was still trying to hypnotise me somehow, but unbeknownst to me, he had already thought of other ways to get rid of me.
Shun stayed silent for a moment, most likely assessing the validity of my claim. It was a bold one, with one primary flaw being that only I had the Sharingan, the rank, and the information about this place to set this basement up as a hiding spot. But still, I could hear myself screaming internally, Believe me! Believe me! Believe me!
"Then we need to get this scroll back to the Hokage before anyone sees you. After that, a mind swipe will get you cleared of everything." Ah, he believed me, I wanted to sigh with relief. If Shun really didn't trust me, then he would definitely probe me first before deciding the next course of action.
However, my relief didn't last for long when Shun suddenly looked up to the ceiling alertly. "There's a party approaching, around two hundred metres away … six, concealed so well that I couldn't sense them before." Shun paused for a second as horror dawned on his face. "They are heading straight for Naka Shrine." Well, so much for getting out of here without anyone seeing this. I seriously doubt that they are here for the tourism.
"Why the hell …" Hang on, the demolition of Naka Shrine was buried for so long, what a coincidence that Shun had managed to find it before the actual demolition date.
This was a trap all along. Danzō had never planned to just frame me. He wanted me dead with a dirty reputation.
Back in my past life in OLYMPUS, one of my first assignment as 'Artemis' was to kill a high government official who had been promoting the passing of a clause that would seriously impede OLYMPUS' operation. Under Heracles's watchful evaluation, I had assassinated the target and framed the murder as him being killed by a drug trafficker while he had been receiving bribes. The man was squeaky clean, yet with a few vague clues implemented, which were designed to be found by a small analyst in the investigation bureau, I turned him into a man who was killed because he was corrupted. The investigation was hushed quickly because of the possible scandal, and the untold story would be forever buried along with the official's corpse.
After all, once someone was dead, all the stories were free to be manipulated with little chance of clarification. A dead girl like me with no clan to back her up, no one would have the power nor motivation to avenge me. Besides, an Anbu Captain stealing classified reports that could start the next great war? Scandalous, it would be much better to keep it under control.
"They are here to kill me, Shun, they've ―"
"Planted the perfect evidence to get a legitimate excuse for your death. Yeah, kind of figured that part out when you said you were being framed." Oh, good, we are on the same page, I thought as Shun asked again, "Who are 'they'?"
"It's best if you don't know right now … In fact, can you disperse yourself so that you can inform the Hokage?" I asked. Honestly, the Hokage might not believe me, but it would definitely look better if he could be informed of the possibility that I was innocent before Danzō started to whisper in his ears.
Wait a second, if Danzō orchestrated for Shun to show me this information, then how did he plan to keep him quiet?
Shun was different from me. He came from a squeaky clean family with no missing-nin brother, his clan was actually a functional clan with recognition, and his shishou was none other than the Yamanaka Clan head who actually had some say in the village. Unlike my case, Shun couldn't just be written off by a half-assed story, so how else would Danzō ensure Shun's discretion …
Oh. OH. Shun's role is the low-level analyst from the investigation bureau.
With Shun bringing me the information, it was almost guaranteed by our history that he would come with me - we are all stubborn as hell. Besides, I was the one who proposed the shadow clone, which would be easy to pop with a simple excuse of me needing a storage scroll. In that case, I would most likely need to show him the underground basement in order to send him away with the excuse of packing up the bookshelf or the stones or whatever. That way, even if the underground basement was discovered tomorrow, I would have a perfect alibi using Shun in showing that whatever's here is perfectly innocent as I hid away the illegal evidence while he was gone.
I just found a loophole in my own alibi, because this was what I did back in OLYMPUS: Assassinating targets and frame them on someone else. I made up stories from fragmented pieces of information and discreetly suggested them from the shadows. If I could make it up in a few seconds, then I was sure that Danzō already had a few written down.
Shun wouldn't testify against me, but he would have no choice. With our emotional ties, anything he tries to say in my defense would be regarded as invalid. Looking back, he was the only one who knew that I had actively sought out Naka Shrine because I had asked him to find the location for me. He himself even stated that I was acting strange today - agitated, paranoid, rushing to the shrine without consulting the Hokage - and the piece of news that had tipped me off (at least according to him) was the demolition of Naka Shrine. This could be regarded differently in several ways, but when you had a narrator leading the strings, it was easy to fall onto one conclusion.
I had never really given him a reason to trust my innocence other than our friendship and he couldn't deny the fact that he saw a Sharingan-based seal. If all of the above failed, there was still that stupidly dangerous mind control thing that Danzō had used on me. Look at how it had influenced my perception of people! With some appropriate suggestions, all of these vague and indirect facts could steer the conclusion to one particular end: I deserved to die for the crime of treason.
"Shun, when your memories return, act like nothing has happened. They probably put a surveillance on you to make sure that they can control your side of the information. If you can find Inoichi-san, inform him first …" I ranted on and on as I ran my hands over the rest of the shelf. The rest of the scrolls were all old and untouched. Compared to this shelf of ancient history, the one in my hand was sticking out like a sore thumb.
I checked the shelf for any other possible incriminating pieces of evidence, but then I realised that Shun wasn't answering me. Hesitantly, I asked again, "What's wrong?" Do you not believe me? Are you still in shock? Are you still breathing...!
Ah, damn it, I'm panicking as well.
"I can't disperse." What? "I'm not the shadow clone. The shadow clone is in the Intelligence Division right now, I'm the original body." I stared at the man in front of me with disbelief. There was a moment of dreading silence before ―
"Are you serious!" I yelled, "Which part of 'send a shadow clone' did you not understand?" I turned around and let out a groan of frustration.
"What did you expect me to do? You can't sense your own chakra, but to me, it's very obvious that something's wrong. When I look at you, I see an ocean current that just can't be calmed. You've kept your Sharingan on for the whole time ever since I met you tonight. It's like you're afraid to turn it off, even for a second." Ah, we were way too familiar with each other - and way too stubborn as well.
"Whatever you're thinking, hurry up, they are only a hundred meters away." Shun reminded me grimly as I bit my lower lip in irritation. I wished that I could send some electricity into my brain to make the nerve impulses fire faster.
Not a shadow clone, not a shadow clone … Danzō would never let a real corporeal body come near here. Shun's designated role may be the analyst, but it would have been a different story if he were the witness. Shadow clones can be easily disintegrated - just a stray kunai will do; hell, Root doesn't even have to do it, I could disperse Shun's clone myself - but a real body will witness the entire murder. And we can't have that since I'm supposed to be killed in the name of self-defense because they didn't have any other choice. So that means …
"They also don't know that you are not just a mere shadow clone." After a second of unbearable silence, I spoke up. "They will be expecting you to disperse, so while I'm stalling them, you are taking the scroll back to the Hokage."
A shadow clone might be considered more advantageous in this situation, but a real body had its own uses. First of all, it could actually transport the scroll without the chance of dispersing and leaving the evidence behind (first rule of infiltration: let the shadow clone do the scouting, but never let the shadow clone transport any important items alone). Moreover, Shun could dictate where he would go. He could escape the surveillance near his workplace and go somewhere, or find someone else. In the rare but possible circumstance where Danzō decides it's better to just kill off Shun, he would at least have a chance to escape.
Quickly, I pulled out one of the older scrolls that were similar in size and colour to the scroll containing the Anbu evidence. When I pulled it open to examine the content, the word "Susanoo" popped out immediately. By the trend I was seeing with naming Mangekyou Sharingan's abilities with the names of Gods, I would say that this scroll contained some jutsu relating to the Mangekyou. I had been hoping for some useless family pedigree chart, but this will have to do.
"Pull out the scroll spine, and switch this on." Shun pushed down his protests when I sent him a determined glare. Quickly, the shiny metallic spine on the fake scroll was replaced by the worn out wooden spine on my family's scroll. After rolling the fake scroll on the dusty ground for a few seconds, it looked just as old as any other scroll here.
"How in the world do you plan on convincing them to let me go?" Shun asked worriedly. "They will be alerted of your Sharingan and you won't have a chance to put a genjutsu on all six of them."
"Shun, at this point, if I still have to rely on the Sharingan to be able to cast any genjutsu, then I might as well just resign from Anbu," I said while fastening the Uchiha scroll onto my belt and handed the Anbu scroll to Shun who immediately hid it in his jacket.
"How far are they now?" I asked before pricking my thumb with a kunai.
"sixty metres." Without any more hesitation, I pressed my thumb onto the dusty floor until the familiar circle of ink appeared.
"You are early this time, Maiko-chan. How may I be of your service?" Fuyuki said as she tried to shake the dust off of her body.
"Right now, this is a pretty intense situation in which I am being framed by a nasty person. So would you please escort Shun here back to the Hokage's office with the incriminating evidence so that my name can be cleared?" Yep, that seemed like a good summary, I thought proudly, but Fuyuki still gave me a confused look.
"Shun will tell you the rest, I need your Deep Earth Travelling technique to hide Shun's presence and to travel as fast as you can." Fuyuki's proficiency in earth release was gained through decades of training in the unforgiving realm of ice and snow, where the actual earth was buried metres down below the solid ice. Travelling deep into the soft earth of Konoha was child's play for her, even when she had to take one person (who was usually me). With them deep underground and my genjutsu, I just might actually be able to fool any sensors.
Genjutsu, right, I need to prepare for a strong genjutsu. Without wasting any time, I pulled out a roll of wire from the pouch and tied it to the hilt of my tantō. Letting the sword hang from my wrist, I made four hand seals in a blur of motion before grabbing the hilt. Immediately, the silver glow radiated brightly as it had many times before, nothing unusual.
"Twenty metres." Shun's chilling reminder snapped my attention back to the entrance above our heads.
"Is there any chance that they are just scouts for the demolition?" How hopeful and optimistic, I thought silently in response to Shun's suggestion. Not that I could blame him, poor Shun, so confused, and I wasn't any better.
"Five hours before the demolition in the dead of night? How diligent of them." With soundless steps, I walked up the staircase.
"Fuyuki, can you travel from the basement?" I asked the wolf as she placed her paw gently on the stone floor.
"Sorry, the stone ground only extends for a few metres beneath. Whoever built this war chamber quarantined this area with metal. Impressive, I must say." Well, at least some Uchiha ancestor could be happy about the compliment in the afterlife. As for the current living ones, not so much.
"Okay then, hide within the earth as best as you can and wait for your chance." With a sigh, I ordered. Fuyuki's mastery with earth release allowed the whole ground to be her hiding place, so with a nod, she sank down under the stone floor and I soon lost track of her signature.
Just above us, I could hear the six sets of footsteps entering the creaking temple with caution. This is it, I'm at the end of my road. I've prepared for all I can. And now, I only have two goals: guide Shun away and stay alive.
If you really thought about it, the story that Danzō made was pretty half-assed. So many plot holes, so many speculations, so many uncharacteristic events. But it would work, as long as one condition is fulfilled.
I would have to be dead. It mattered not if I had died with a tainted reputation or an innocent status. As long as my death occurs, it would be all over.
"I promise that I will get this back to Hokage-sama." I heard Shun's whisper behind me as I opened the stone entrance with the Root agents probably waiting in anticipation. "Just please don't kill any of them. If you kill anyone from the village who's not declared a missing-nin, no matter how legitimate your excuse is, you will forever be in the dark part of history."
I know that! Do you think that I can't feel the pairs of eyes scrutinizing me ever since I joined Anbu? And they've only increased since my promotion. Judging me with caution, waiting for a mistake, any mistake, and making sure that I don't turn out like Itachi. Why do you think Danzō made such a brazen move? It's because he can afford to. But I can't! I have no room for mistakes.
"I'll try." That was all I could answer before I spied the six figures standing a few metres away from the sliding stone, spread out against the front wall and blocking the large entrance to the shrine. Anbu masks, black cloaks, but all of them have a tipless tanto pulled out in front of them in an offensive position, separating them from the normal Anbu unit with the standardised twenty-five-inch long chokutō.
Doesn't anyone know that you just don't give black-ops members uniforms or any identifying traits that will connect them back to a single organisation? Sometimes, I felt the need to judge this world's definition of what a black-op organisation was, with the theme of animal masks and tattoos and all. With the hatred put aside, OLYMPUS was definitely more pro than Anbu or even Root in this department.
My eyes ran over them, irides still bleeding red. They lowered their heads a bit to avoid my eye level. Even with the shadow from the masks, I could tell that they were staring at my hands instead - a standard counter when facing a dōjutsu user.
Go on, I wanted to yell out as my right hand tightened around the silvery tantō with the wire attached. Say your piece, let's see the story that you've spun to tell and get it over with. And if they were brave enough, they would say it while looking at me straight in the eye.
Despite all the confusion and uncertainty I was feeling, my goal couldn't be any clearer at the moment.
Stay alive, because only a living person has the voice to speak the truth.
A/N: So, keep in mind that our protagonist is an unreliable narrator to a large extent. She's trying to figure things out using limited information, and she used her past experience as a template, so a lot of her deduction may or may not be what was really planned by Danzo. She might be overestimating his bullshit skill, or underestimating how far he's willing to go, who knows. Also, there will be some instances where Maiko will attribute many events to Danzo when in fact there are other parties at play. For example, who really was the person that retracted the notification for Naka Shrine's demolition and for what reason?
So, again, the update schedule is floating in the wind somewhere, another two weeks, perhaps? Well at least, it's not 'gone with the wind' (sorry for the pun, I'll let myself out).