A/N: I'm sorry! for disappearing off of the face of the Earth for five weeks. I thought I could post a chapter in between my exams, but then I realised that I actually need to study a lot more ... My month-long exams just ended this Friday, I was going to update on Saturday, but then I sleep through Saturday like a rock ... Post-exam crash, I swear ... Anyway, the update will return to normal now that my exams are over, and here are 13k words for all you amazing people.
Beta'd by Alice J
Chapter 38 - Pandora's Box
"To what do I owe the honour of this visit, for the lot of you to appear in my family shrine in the dead of the night?" To be fair, I already knew the answer to that question. However, they didn't have to know that.
Patience. Patience was key. Right now, I couldn't make a rash mistake such as attacking first. So whatever violence they had planned, they would have to instigate it themselves.
"Uchiha Maiko, you are under arrest for the investigation of a possible breach of Anbu security," one of the Root agents said, albeit a bit unwillingly. With Shun still standing halfway up the stairs, just tall enough to peek up the floor and observe the whole scene, I bravely took a step forward. Immediately, the Root agents' tantō glistened as they shifted uncomfortably.
"Really? On what grounds do you suspect me?" I asked with feigned nonchalance. Go on, let's hear how good your story is.
"A suspicious figure had been sighted entering and exiting the Archive room for Anbu documents multiple times without reporting and only Anbu captains have access to the code without triggering an alarm." As the speaker recited the lines that were clearly pre-choreographed, I digested the information silently.
"So? There are dozens of Anbu captains, have all of them been arrested for the investigation?"
"The incidence of sighting matches the dates that you were not on missions; most of the other captains all have officially issued missions as alibis." Upon hearing the well-crafted story, I frowned. Exactly how long have they been spying on me in order to get the detailed schedule of all my missions?
"You know that you can't arrest someone with the rank of an Anbu captain without the Hokage's warrant. Show me the warrant." I pressed on immediately. Being an Anbu captain did have its perks. For example, I had access to the code that allowed one to pass the village barrier without being detected and I also had more access to files than most Jōnin in the village. Of course, most of those advantages would probably be used against me in this situation, but the one thing they couldn't manipulate was the fact that only the Hokage could decide my fate. Him and no one else, not even Danzō.
"The warrant is only necessary for an execution order. This is but a preliminary order for investigation, so drop your weapons and come with us and no harm will come to you." You sure about that? Because you are pointing six swords at me right now. Truly, I was amazed at their abilities to lie so blatantly. But then again, we couldn't exactly survive without this certain skillset.
"Come back with a warrant, and then I'll come with you." I said to the six of them before I added helpfully, "If you're worried that I might run away, Shun here can keep an eye on me. He's not on your investigation list, is he?"
I could see their gazes shift between Shun's supposed shadow clone and my weapons, unsure of what to do. I guessed that they weren't really prepared for a situation where I had not dispersed Shun's clone already.
"Yamanaka Shun is not a suspect in the investigation, but now that he's seen with you, he will be dealt with as a witness if the need arises in your investigation. In the meantime, he may remove himself from the scene and wait to be summoned." Now that wasn't very subtle, was it, I mocked silently. It seemed that their improvisation skill could only go so far. I could hear their wishes for Shun's shadow clone to disappear oozing out of their voice. But no, I wasn't going to disperse him, not until they pushed me to.
"Fine, then some of you may stay to watch me while the others go run along and get that warrant along with some actual Anbu agents. Six, really, you flatter me." I was pushing their buttons and I knew it. At this point, if I attacked first, then I might win the battle, but I would lose the war.
"Stop playing games and come with us. Your arrest is not negotiable. If you don't come with us willingly, then we would have no choice but to take you by force." One of them - a different one this time - growled in a harsher tone. His eyes flickered to Shun behind me, probably thinking of a way for a stray kunai to hit him accidentally so that he wouldn't witness the real reason why they were here. So immediately, I took a few steps forward and positioned myself further away from the basement entrance, directly between the party of intruders and my friend.
Yep, Danzō would definitely rather kill me than see me in jail. But why? If we are only talking about me rejecting his offer, I sincerely doubt that it was enough of a reason to kill me, especially since he seemed very successful in keeping his operation alive despite having someone like Kakashi knowing about it. He is not brash and reckless like the Snow Daimyo. Unless I was stepping on something else that's dangerous for him?
"Oh, I'm willing to cooperate, but the problem is that your accusation doesn't seem very legitimate, and neither do you." They were definitely unnerved by my sudden move. Just like that, agitation spread like a wildfire as their previously motionless bodies repositioned themselves quickly in preparation for the impending attacks.
"Then, we have no choice but to apprehend you by force." As soon as the last word dropped, three of them charged towards me with flashing blades as the other three stayed behind and guarded the entrance with alertness. A good choice. They were showing me that there was no way to escape and forcing us to disperse the shadow clone under the façade that it was our only way of communication to the outside.
Just a little longer, Shun, and then the genjutsu will activate. The moment they rushed forward, crackling lightning engulfed my left hand.
Meanwhile, two blades sailed over my head as I ducked swiftly. Raising my own tantō that was still glowing silver, I flicked the two blades together and pushed them in the direction of the third sword in front of me.
The blades never crashed together because the momentum was resolved neatly in the air as the blades narrowly avoided each other. Locking on that moment when their attention was focused on one another, I pressed the electricity charged palm onto the stone floor for a Lightning Release: Electrifying Web.
I was being nice since I didn't add Chidori to that, but still, five electrical surges fanned out with me as a centre point. Two jagged surges of icy blue aimed for two of the Root agents in front of me, pushing them back towards the front entrance, while the other three bypassed them and headed straight for the three guarding the door, lighting up the entire shrine.
As soon as the tingling electricity left my hand, I turned my attention back to the one that I had deliberately left out of the earlier attack. The man took a step back to avoid the centre of surging electricity as he twirled his sword into a reverse grip and stabbed down mercilessly.
He was fast, perhaps well enough to be an Anbu agent, but not fast enough. Honestly, I did not become an Anbu captain just because I had a sob history and a maniac of a brother. Before his blade even came close to my head, I flicked it up above and slithered into that distance between his sword arm and his torso.
Metallic sparks flew above my head as I kneed him sharply in the kidney. The strong force caused him to double over without even realising what the hell was going on. Suddenly, I felt a piercing force coming from behind me as his sword grip was once again adjusted to stab me in the back.
Ducking once more, I escaped from the front and appeared to his left. Upon realising that his target was gone, he had just enough control to stop his blade from piercing his own flesh. But then, my left hand gripped onto the back of his neck from the side, letting a stream of electricity down his spine.
There, that should stop his nerves from working for a long while, if I haven't already fried his spinal cord. Oh, he was going to fall quickly because of the paralysis, but I couldn't just let him sleep here. Reaching out with my tantō, I easily disarmed him and flicked the weapon to the side now that there was absolutely no resistance on his part. Of course, I didn't forget to flash the silver sword in front of his face casually as part of the disarming motion before I sent him to join his brethren on the front wall with a chakra enhanced kick.
As soon as the first one crashed into the wall, the rest got free of the troublesome web of paralysing lightning, mostly injury-free. When they were about to charge again as they attempted to surround me in a semi-circle, I knew that this was the time.
So against everything Akira-shishou had told me, I threw the tantō like a shuriken. The blade fired away like a rocket, but I managed to catch onto the slipping wire attached to its hilt before it could leave my hand. Like a whip, I swung the blade in front of me in a wide arc.
Apparently, my move was quite surprising because hello, why would I throw the sword when I have plenty of actual projectile weapons. But still, as the blade passed by, every one of the Root agents halted in their steps to avoid gaining a new unaesthetic scar on their faces.
The airy cloud of silver passed by their faces one by one until the Root agent at the far left finally gathered up the courage and blocked the weapon in its trajectory. The metals clashed in front of his face and before he could confiscate my weapon, I reeled the wire backwards and let the tantō hit the ground at my feet. The silver glow had faded as soon as it hit the stone cold floor, but it didn't matter now.
Done, genjutsu activated, all six of them. From now on until one of them managed to break out of it - which wouldn't be anytime soon seeing that all six of them were affected at once and I poured out so much yin-chakra into it - their sense perception and point of focus would be under my control.
So now, I just needed to get Shun and myself a chance to get out of the shrine.
As hands were clapped together, a series of seals were formed fluidly. A powerful gust of wind slashed through the air, crashing the five that were still standing into the flimsy wall. Not wasting a moment, I whistled lightly. Turning my head slightly to the back, I pointed at the giant hole at the back of the shrine that was caused by the fallen tree.
One second later, Shun flickered to the hole. Two seconds later, Fuyuki appeared out of the basement. She gave me a slight nod before following Shun out of the shrine and together, they disappeared out of the sight. Once Fuyuki was twenty metres below ground, not many people could find her, not even most sensors. Of course, Byakugan users excluded.
The process would probably take around eight seconds, so currently, I was doing the exhausting job of supplying every one of the Root agents a different scenario than the one that had just happened.
The crash from the wind release earlier was mostly for my sake as people's perception was most hazy when they were regaining their footings. Therefore, I would be able to get away with supplying fewer details. I sincerely believed that one of the most useful qualities of Sharingan was its keen sense of observation. Just one look at the shrine and I was able to get most details down - the arrangement of the floor tilings, the spatial orientation from all angles … With that, I was able to recreate the vivid image of what they would see while they were recovering, just without any perception of Shun and Fuyuki.
To put it plainly, it was photoshop at its finest.
However, other than just removing the two variables, I added two very important details as the points of focus. One, the slight poof of smoke originating from a shadow clone popping, barely visible above the ground level; two, the flash of the scroll that contained all the incriminating evidence on my waist as I hastily ran past them out of the shrine.
People have selective attention, and therefore, it wouldn't be a surprise if certain details popped out to them as I redirected their point of focus. Although not counting the one currently unconscious, only three Root agents got a hint of those two details. After all, not everyone could see the same thing.
Come on! Come after me! I prayed as I rushed out of the front entrance, not forgetting to pick up the tantō in the process. I just needed to keep the genjutsu activated for ten seconds before slowly relinquishing the control and letting their perception return to normal.
Soon enough, I heard five sets of rushed footsteps following quickly from behind. Good, I got all of their attention, more lethal weapons for me. Straight away, two strings of kunai shot past my head and made a sharp turn in front of me before I could blink. One of them shot to the left and the other one, right. The two strings of ninja wire made a loop in front of me that threatened to take off my head if I hadn't ducked at the last moment.
I slid under the wires and drew my swords up hastily to block yet more incoming kunai and shuriken, tilting them slightly so that they punctured the nearly trees instead of me. When I raised my head again, I saw a shadow flutter swiftly above my head.
Messenger hawk, I recognised immediately, so without a second thought, a kunai shot out of my hand. If that hawk wasn't used to call more backup, then it was used to inform their friends who were probably spying on the intelligence division. Either way, I couldn't allow it to fly away.
Before my kunai could pierce through the bird, it was slapped to the side by an incoming shuriken. Cursing silently, I jumped up to the tree branches in order to avoid that seemingly inexhaustive supply of projectile weapons aiming for my back.
The bird was flying about a dozen metres in front of me, so I tried again, flicking two kunai from my fingers straight at the hawk. They were both deflected immediately like I had predicted. It was kind of embarrassing that as an Uchiha, my bukijutsu wasn't as good as it was supposed to be. However, this time, I didn't bother to retract my extended arm. At the same moment as when the metals hit each other in mid-air, a single senbon of a dim, icy blue colour shot out of my fingertip.
It pierced past the projectiles weapons and went through the bird. A second later, the poor hawk fell silently and disappeared somewhere into the treeline. That was a technique I had used to practice lightning chakra control; it might not be enough to kill a human, but it was definitely enough to immobilise a bird.
The moment my senbon hit its target, the branch that I had landed on cracked with an unpleasant sound and I was forced to jump down from the tree. Suddenly, an earth spike rose from the point of my prepared landing, aiming to impale me before I could change my momentum.
At the last possible moment, I threw the tantō and it hit a nearby branch. The wire brought my fall to an abrupt halt before I swung over the array of earth spikes and landed in the clump of bushes on the right. I only had enough time to retract my tantō, which apparently was a really nice whip, before I had to keep on running endlessly.
The next ten minutes consisted of a lot of run-and-chase as I ran in a zigzag formation around the terrain full of obstacles. Shurikens and kunais rained down on me like a tsunami, followed by a stupid and endless amount of earth spikes rising under my each and every step.
Soon, I realised my first immediate problem other than the fact that I was being hunted: their teamwork was amazing. Seriously, it was as if they always knew where I could go despite my irregular course, and some of them would always appear in front of me, pushing me off my planned route and driving me back towards the village border. At this rate, I would never get back to the village. In fact, before I had known it, I was back at the shrine again, with its decaying wooden structure staring back at me mockingly.
Ah, damn it, they must have a damn good sensor on their side, along with some way to contact each other within moment's notice. If I wanted to get back, I would need to shave off some pursuers.
I flipped down to the ground when for the millionth time, two Root agents blocked my way and forced me to go another direction. They were hot on my trail now, with one of them immediately behind me and another disappearing in another direction, probably attempting a formation to try and close in on me.
After a moment of thought and making sure that the two of them were far enough from each other, I suddenly bent down and touched the ground right after forming three hand seals. Without delay, a two-metre earth wall rose behind me.
In all honestly, Earth Release was my worst element, because its concrete nature in order to gain the defensive power was everything that my shapeless fire nature was not. However, having Fuyuki as my companion had taught me that Earth Release has more than a simple defence purpose.
Hearing the footsteps arriving right behind the earth wall, I jumped a huge step forward before putting my hand on the ground again. This time, the earth fluidly swallowed me as I sunk down. Compared to Fuyuki's Deep Earth Travelling technique, mine was, using her words, a pup's practice exercise. However, it did allow me to hide my presence for a little while before the earth turned into my prison instead.
A light thud sounded above me, signifying that my pursuer had jumped over the earth wall. Catching that moment, I broke through the earth and gathered a large amount of wide lightning at my palm at the last second before surfacing.
I grabbed the Root agent's ankle and sent the lightning down his leg mercilessly. Soon, I started to smell charred tissue along with some screaming. When I was fully out of the earth, the agent had already dropped to the ground, unable to stand again. If that leg heals in less than a week, I'm going to be pissed.
I was totally going to start running again, now that the original party of six was reduced to four. But before I had the chance to me, the creepy feeling of being locked on by someone sent a chill down my body, because someone else was clearly trying to invade my mind.
Yamanaka's secret techniques, I cursed silently, just how far did Danzō's web reach? I didn't have that mental block of yin-chakra anymore to boot him out, but I did have something horrifying called the Mangekyou Sharingan. You really don't want to see my mind, because even Shun agrees that some minds should just be left alone. As the alternate consciousness tried to wrap around me, I blinked into the Mangekyou. The struggle for mind lasted for less than a second before that consciousness retreated.
Unfortunately for me, since I was being pursued by Root, a second was all they needed to catch up to my faltered steps. The moment my consciousness was clear again, I saw a blade aiming for my head.
Clank! The two tantō clashed forcefully as I stopped the blade from advancing into my brain. The man in front of me, who wore a mask resembling a gorilla, immediately tried to grab onto my exposed arm. The instant I saw his abnormal purple skin colour, I instinctively stepped back and missed his swing by just a few centimetres. That purple skin, I had no idea what it was, but like hell I would let it touch me.
The moment I drew back from the gorilla masked man, all the other Root agents surrounded me in a square formation. Blades were drawn and breaths were halted; a few moments where our movements halted indefinitely. Suddenly, I bent my legs sharply in preparation for a jump, but the attempted jump never came because I whipped my head back instead, locking eyes with the unprepared masked agent behind me. Immediately, he tried to put up an earth wall to block my sight. Smart decision, not closing his eyes to giving me any room for an attack… if only you were faster.
The earth wall stopped rising as the man fell unconscious onto the ground. Before any of the other Root agents could react, I jumped onto the half-formed earth wall. The elevation cleared the path in front of me and I used it as a platform for a long distance body flicker.
I appeared over a dozen metres away from my original position when they finally realised what the hell had happened. Despite my shortened breaths, I ran as fast as I could towards the line where the rocky forest terrain would end. Just a few more minutes, and then they can't hide behind the mask of anonymity anymore.
What wishful thinking. My mind couldn't help but go back to Kakashi's ninken training sessions where I would always get ambushed at the last moment. I was so close to getting out when a cloud of purple poisonous something erupted behind me.
I ducked awkwardly so that this disgusting purple paint wouldn't touch me, and it definitely didn't help that the Yamanaka mind controller decided to strike at this time. Ignoring the pain on my body when the jagged rocks stabbed me, I could only give the last push to roll out of the forest and onto the open dirt field of training ground 25 before my mind seemed to freeze in shock.
He learned from last time, instead of a mind-body switch, he used the disturbance so that he wouldn't have to face my mind. I didn't know why I was complimenting him because clearly, I was surrounded by the three remaining Root agents once again.
I can't believe I am being hunted in my own damn village, now that's another level of screwed up on my top three list.
The disturbance only lasted for a few seconds, but when it finally cleared up after my constant resistance, three glistening blades attacked from various directions, threatening to trisect my body.
I gave you a way out, so stop pushing me! I could just feel the anger rising in my chest when I pulled out the ninjatō from its sheath as wild electricity sizzled through the twin blades. With a clean but abrupt swipe, I deflected one blade that was aiming for my chest and let the lightning travel along the blade and into the Root agent's sword arm, before flipping almost horizontally in mid-air between the blades that were aiming for my neck and thigh respectively.
Once I landed on the ground again, I lowered my body and swung the blades in a circle. Two of them had enough speed to jump backwards at the last moment, but the one who had the luck to be the first one standing in my ninjatō's path got sliced in the left ankle.
Quickly, before the Root agents could close in on me again, I gathered chakra in my legs and applied a body flicker right towards the agent who was trying really hard to keep his balance with one injured leg. This better not be the Yamanaka who might be Shun's first cousin, because it's getting really hard to get them off my case without killing them.
Cursing my own bleeding heart, I twirled the sword around in my hand and slammed the hilt into his ribcage. Due to the sudden acceleration from the body flicker, the agent was flung backwards a few metres by the force while his chest made a small cracking noise.
Before I had the chance to put this one under a genjutsu, I experienced that dreadful feeling of being possessed again, but this time, I knew exactly where it was coming from. I whipped my head to the right and glared at the man who was currently making a Yamanaka hand seal right at my head. Immediately, his attempt at mind transfer was halted when he lowered his eyes and moved his hands to reach for a weapon.
Hey, it's rude to not look someone in the eye. Our blades slammed together between our bodies, but instead of the sound of crackling lightning, it was the soft glow of the silver yin-chakra that greeted the Yamanaka.
Genjutsu required a medium to carry the yin-chakra close to the target in order to influence their chakra system. Eyes, sound, even air were all mediums for delivering a genjutsu, but they differ in their capacity to carry yin-chakra. Sharingan, being part of an Uchiha's natural chakra system, had the greatest advantage in casting genjutsu whereas air, being spread out and thin, required the most effort in casting a genjutsu.
When the shade of silver reflected on his mask, the Yamanaka's movement was only frozen for less than a split second as a small wave of vertigo hit. Catching that precious moment, I sliced my other sword upwards. It made a clean mark across his mask before it broke in half and fell down, revealing a head of orange hair and a young face that perhaps had a fifty percent similarity to Shun when he was my age.
I was contemplating how to best incapacitate him without giving him significant damage since given my experience, sensors and medic-nins had to be the first ones to be put down and this applied especially well when it was a Yamanaka plotting against you.
A genjutsu was ready to fire from my eyes, but my opponent swiftly moved his body to the side, resembling the motion of falling, therefore moving out of my vision diagonally. My eyes trailed after his face, trying to catch him in another more permanent genjutsu. Suddenly, in my peripheral vision, a glistening blade appeared where the Yamanaka's head had once obstructed my vision.
I didn't have enough focus to dwell on how well-timed that attack was. With a sidestep at the last moment, I had barely managed to avoid that precise strike as it scraped past my ear, leaving a small nick.
"Stop!" Come on! Not now. Before I could perform a counterstrike, I heard a very familiar voice yelling at us. The problem was, my attack was halted by the yell because I knew him, but my enemies clearly didn't care. Seriously Kakashi? Pick a better time because unlike me, they are not used to listening to your commands.
A hand clawed onto my left ankle, holding me in place as the two people in front of me raised their swords to try to impale me again. Without even looking down, I knew it was that guy I disarmed earlier but didn't quite manage to paralyse.
I could just feel the emotions bubbling in my chest again; a sense of unfairness, anger all mixed together. Chakra flowed down for enhancement, my right foot stomped on the ground, and my body was bent backwards. The backflip was so abrupt and forceful that it broke through the tight grip on my left ankle as my legs whipped through the air and managed to kick back their blades and stopped their advancement.
My right foot landed first, but when my left foot landed, I was immediately forced into a kneeling position as I brought my swords up before the two tantōs could decapitate my head.
"I can walk by myself for an audience with Hokage-sama, thank you very much." I squeezed the words out of my mouth very carefully as the slightest movement could result in a shift of position between our weapons, not that the positions were very favourable in the first place - one was halted above my head and the other, barely blocked next to my neck.
"Retract your swords. Her rank doesn't allow you to execute her on the spot." Kakashi flickered beside me and said in a voice full of authority. Still, their swords didn't move.
"Hatake Kakashi, mind your own business. She attacked and tried to run away with classified Anbu information, I am only executing the order that says to eliminate threats to the village." Suddenly, I felt very humiliated at being called a traitor by someone who had obviously set me up for this farce.
Excuse me? I was the one who tried her hardest to return to the village centre while the lot of you were playing tag to drive me out.
"Any of her alleged crimes will be judged by Hokage-sama directly." Yeah, I tried that. Come on, Kakashi, you can do better. "Luckily, I have a summoning order issued directly by the Hokage - even signed with chakra signature - to bring her in for some questioning, alive." With that being said, Kakashi promptly pulled out a very nice-looking scroll and flashed it in front of the Root agents' faces (the ones still standing anyway). I had no idea how he got it within such short notice, but it did seem very legitimate.
"You may come with me to present the evidence and oversee the process if you so wish, but it's not your place to kill her." At this point, it was pretty clear to the Root agents in front of me that the secret assassination had failed. So after what felt like an eternity, the pressure on my blades finally disappeared.
"Now put the swords back." Nobody moved. "All of you."
That hint of impatience in his voice prompted me to take a step back and placed my swords back into their respective sheaths. All this time, my gaze never left the two, now three - since one of them had finally crawled up from the ground with his hands were still twitching - enemies in front of me.
Immediately, Kakashi confiscated my belt as a whole, not even bothering to pick off individual things. The swords, the scroll … everything was taken away from me. Now that I actually had a chance to look at the scroll, I realised that it was fully covered in mud, dirt, and occasionally, grass, like a pottery casing enclosing whatever it was inside.
"We're heading to the Hokage's tower. Leave or follow us, your choice." Just like that, he pushed me forward and ushered to walk first, before following me a step or two behind. A few seconds later, a cluster of footsteps sounded behind him, signalling that the agents had decided to follow him.
"Wait." One of them suddenly called out - a young but calm voice. Against Kakashi's irritated gaze, the Root agent quickly fished out a pair of ugly and chunky handcuff and held it to us. "As per the standard procedure that applies to all missions, if the target for questioning has shown a previous tendency to struggle and a chance of violence, sealing their chakra is the protocol upon apprehension."
Oh, come on! That's only for … For a second, I found myself unable to find a proper excuse to fight that. A previous tendency for violence? Check. It didn't matter who started it and what reason it was for, the forest still contained evidence for an in-village fight. The arrival of an official order from the Hokage granted me official immunity from any harm not ordered by him, but it also implied my position as a 'target for questioning'. It was a weird place, the one I was stuck in. Not classified as a criminal, but also not quite in league with the trusted good guys either.
But still, that's so unfair. I took a step forward with agitation, totally ready to argue for my justice. But before I could do that, a hand clapped on my shoulder and pulled me back harshly.
"Behave, you're still under investigation." With that, plus a cold glare, my anger was partially deflated. Kakashi was right, he was making sure that everything he was involved in followed standard procedures - even dangling that supposedly incriminating scroll in plain sight for scrutinising, with no intention of hiding it - so that no fault can be picked from it. I needed to do my part as well.
Obediently, I held out my hands in front of me. With one more critical look at the obsidian metal, Kakashi took it from the Root agent's hand and clasped it on my wrists.
The metal clicked together as the chill seeped in from the cold surface. Just like that, something important, a spark perhaps, was gone inside my body.
(づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ fuwa~fuwa~desu~~~
I could have sworn, most of the time, my fear had to do with losing something. But at this moment, I was feeling more angry than afraid.
Yes, they left me in a cell, with chakra-restraining devices wrapped around my wrists. I couldn't generate any chakra flow, and this emptiness in my body was making me afraid of losing something. No, the cell was not well lit, in fact, this darkness was making me think as if there were some kind of monster hiding in the shadow, waiting to devour me at my weakest moment.
Ridiculous, now I'm fantasising fairy tales, so get your― I did not get to finish that thought since a sharp pain in my skull forced me to shut my eyes tight in the effort of trying to dull the sting. I had no idea why my head was hurting of all places since I didn't remember hitting my head during the earlier fight.
Kakashi said that I would be questioned by the Hokage and I was definitely looking forward to that with mixed feelings. But it seemed like Danzō beat me in terms of speed - hence why I was waiting in a temporary cell in the tower - and who knew what kind of lies he was feeding the Hokage-sama right now.
Shun, I wonder if he returned safely. I lost my connection with Fuyuki when my chakra was sealed, and most likely, she was already gone because of the lack of chakra to supply her existence in this dimension.
Just as I was trying to conjure up a mental map of Konoha and calculate the time Shun needed for travelling, I heard the creaking sound of the cell door being pushed open. So after leaving me here for Kami knows how long, he finally decided to give me a status update.
"I thought you were afraid." That's not the best way to open a conversation in a cell, I criticised silently as the man walked in and sat down on the bench across from me.
"I was, and I still am," I answered.
"So what the hell were you thinking? When I said to go home and rest, I didn't mean that you should go out to a shady location in the middle of the night based on some suspicious information." He sounded just a bit angry, so I dropped my gaze and avoided his.
"It's not a shady place; at least, it's not supposed to be," I voiced stubbornly. Sentimentality, I swear, they mess up everything these days. Upon hearing that, all Kakashi did was to let out a sigh and rub his temple to ease his annoyance. Suddenly, I remembered Shun and the scroll, but before I could ask, he already answered me.
"Your Yamanaka friend caught me with your wolf summon, or technically, I smelled your snow wolf. I already gave the scroll to Hokage-sama earlier when I got that summoning order. What else … right, your brother is still in the Nara compound, and he should probably stay there for a few days." Those were three questions he answered before I could even sort out how to ask them. Efficient, I guess.
I opened my mouth for the fourth question but I got interrupted before even making a sound.
"How did I get the summoning scroll so fast?" This is what happens when you talk to smart people. "I was debriefing him about your earlier encounter with Elder Shimura, so it wasn't hard to convince him to draw up an order on the spot to get you out of the mess first." He paused for a second, before continuing, "Hokage-sama will believe your innocence, he has seen your character develop over the years, and it's not the first time Danzō has tried to pull something like this. It's just that usually, he succeeds before anyone could ask any questions." Well, that's reassuring… no, not really. "But your case has a lot of questions and unfortunately, some of them are not in your favour. Long story short, you should answer exactly what Hokage-sama asks with full honesty, nothing more, nothing less. Do you understand?"
"Of course, it's not like I have anything to hide," I said immediately. As soon as I finished the sentence, I felt the splitting headache returning. The abrupt pain made me hiss as I tried to bring my hands up to press my skull, but the heavy metal piece just dragged my arms down.
Damn, it's getting worse, and a lot more frequent as well.
"What's wrong? Is it the chakra-restraining cuff?" I heard him asking as this particular bout of pain dulled quickly.
"I don't know, never had the honour of wearing one before. Is it supposed to hurt like someone is punching a needle in your skull?"
"You might feel a bit numb and heavy-headed because of the restricted chakra in your body having nowhere to go, but your body will adjust accordingly after a while. You shouldn't be feeling more than a slight numbness." He looked a bit conflicted as he eyed the metal cuffs on my wrists. Since we were still doing this the proper way, that meant he couldn't take it off without the Hokage's order, especially not in a cell - that would just be the introduction to a story of how one flees the village after being arrested.
"This is definitely not a slight numbness, so how long do I have to wait before I can take this off?" I asked, eager to direct the conversation back to the most important issue at hand.
"Not long, in fact, I came here to get you. Just a warning, he will also be there, so control your anger and be careful of what to say." Right, so far, Danzō has been playing me into his hand, and I still have no clue as to what he's truly capable of.
Once again, he pulled me up by the shoulder and led me out of the dingy little cell. Two sets of stairs, three turns in the hallway, and seventy metres. Then, I arrived in front of Hokage-sama.
"Someone can take off her restraints, it's fine." Kami bless you, Hokage-sama, I almost yelled it out loud when I heard Sandaime's words. Someone, I really didn't care who it was, released the restraints. But then, everything went haywire.
For a second, the humming voice overwhelmed me as the feeling of my head being split open returned. By far, this was the worst. I had expected the return of my chakra to be wobbly because it hadn't been flowing for a while, but it just came rushing out like a wild wave over a broken dam. They didn't leak out through my body in the form of electrical sparks - that would have been much preferred. Instead, they went straight to my eyes.
I felt like a bystander looking through the glass, acutely aware of the fact that my eyes were shifted into the Mangekyou Sharingan, skipping the transition stage entirely. Before I could stop it, a ball of black flames sprouted near the Hokage's desk.
"Close your eyes!" Vaguely, I heard someone yelling at me as a sharp blade aimed for my neck. For some reason, I decided to trust that voice and closed my eyes instead of trying to block the strike. Eventually, the black flamed was quenched, and that blade? It never even reached my neck.
"See? That girl is a danger to the village. With those eyes of hers, who knows what she is planning to do." As I desperately tried to calm my chakra and revert my eyes back to normal, I heard that spider's manipulative voice.
"Hokage-sama, the side effect of having chakra restraints on is that the wearer will have no control over chakra after it has been taken off. She doesn't have sufficient knowledge to know that, I apologise for her actions." Ah, he didn't have to do that, in fact, this was my reckless mistake and now, my position of innocence would be even harder to argue for.
Finally, after much trouble, I suppressed the chakra enough that at least my eyes returned to normal. As for any ninjutsu, it would be the best case scenario if I only blew myself up. When I opened my eyes again with uncertainty and hesitation, I saw that blade aiming for my neck reflected my own eyes, but it was stopped at the last moment by a kunai. Both of them struggled to overpower each other, one for the sake of killing me, the other, saving me.
"Please, no weapons in here. Danzō, if you will." So the Hokage already knew that the faction of Root belongs to Danzō. Now, this was something I couldn't understand: why let him live if one had already caught wind of his traitorous actions? It was like waiting for disasters to happen.
When the Root agent sheathed his tantō, albeit very unwillingly, I recognised him as the one who had taken my handcuffs off upon the Hokage's order, seeing that it was Root's device. By now, that handcuff was already out of the view like it had never existed before.
Eventually. The Hokage laid his eyes on me. As for what I saw in his eyes? There was a bit of everything: pity, apology, and a bit of uncertainty as well.
"Maiko, seeing that Elder Shimura has some disturbing doubts, I will be asking you some questions, and I wish that you will tell me the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth." I nodded at his words, returning my gaze to the floor, my movements so slight as if a bigger breath would destroy something else, like that desk which now had lost one of its corners.
Calmly, not paying any attention to his destroyed furniture, the Hokage immediately began the inquiry. "Why were you there in the Naka Shrine, especially at such an inconvenient time?"
"I heard the shrine was being demolished," I answered in a light voice. There was a silence from the Hokage that confirmed the fact that my family shrine was probably gone forever, whether I had chosen to protest or not. Since there was no point in dwelling on that detail, I continued with my speech. "I wanted some information about my kekkei genkai techniques since I couldn't find the information in the compound, I decided to go to my family shrine. I needed to determine some side effects with my techniques before I can use them anymore." It wasn't a lie, in fact, that probably made up of 50% of the truth.
"Side effect? Don't lie to us, some sharingan powers should just be left alone. Who knows what kind of knowledge you wished to gain, especially the ones that will harm Konoha." Ah yes, how could I forget about him, that spider who twisted everything I said. But the way he phrased the words, it seemed more intentional in purpose than just some random accusation. It almost seems like he was referencing to history - a history that only the Hokage and he know.
"And did you find the information you were looking for?" The Hokage asked me, ignoring Danzō's interjection. I thought back to the random scroll I pulled out of the shelf, something about 'Susanoo', I nodded.
"Where did you find the scroll." I was about to ask for clarification because I took more than one scroll, then I remembered what Kakashi had told me earlier: 'Answer exactly what he asks, no more and no less.'
"In the basement of the Shrine, Hokage-sama. It's a place where the Sharingan was needed to enter." Upon hearing my confession, Danzō seemed very pleased. How he had entered my clan's personal vault, I had no clue.
"Then how do you suppose that the incriminating evidence got there in the first place?" I don't know, how about we ask you? I really wanted to shout that at Danzō, but Hokage-sama seemed like he got it all under control, so I shut my mouth and let him continue.
"Let's not jump to conclusions. Firstly, let's take a look at the evidence you spoke of, Danzō." With that, the Hokage promptly opened his drawer and pulled out the scroll. The mud was still all over the scroll, but with a little searching, it wasn't hard to pull the canvas open.
"Mhmm, I'm not sure what this big fuss is about. It seems like all there is in the scroll are some Mangekyou Sharingan techniques and explanations. So Danzō, what exactly is she being arrested for?" For a second, everyone seemed to freeze in the room. Everyone was looking at Danzō, who furrowed his forehead just a bit. It was not hard to guess that he had never planned for me to live until this point, probably would have saved him a lot of trouble if I had just died earlier.
"Would you like to check for any seals? Or do you want to confirm that it's still the same scroll that your shinobi had discovered on Uchiha Maiko earlier?" That was a trick question. It wasn't malice that was in the Hokage's light inquiry towards Danzō, it was a challenge for him, daring him to infringe further on the Hokage's absolute authority.
This was not the first time during this conversation that I got the feeling of "this is kinda about you, but this is really not about you". It was like those two men of power were discussing on some higher plane, using my case as an example, but really, they were competing for something else. Power? No, that fight wouldn't leave any suspense. Ideals, then.
In the end, it was Elder Shimura who took a step back and surrendered. Of course, there were just no other acceptable outcomes.
"I apologise for the rash decision, Hokage-sama. However, she fought furiously when she was arrested. If she had nothing to hide, she could have just peacefully surrender herself."
… This whole thing of 'I don't plan to kill you but you decided to kill me and now you didn't get kill me so you plan to accuse me of attacking first' is getting really, really annoying.
"If this is all cleared up, then I will take my leave, Hiruzen. However, I do warn you to remember what the Uchiha and their Sharingans are capable of. Think about what they had planned to do the last time when you had left their eye powers alone. I'm merely making sure that the unfavourable circumstances of the past are not being repeated." That was the last thing he said before he led his lackeys out of the Hokage's office, realising that his schemes were not going to work this time. The door closed with a loud thud, and so did the pounding of my heart.
Something was wrong - not right now, but just beginning to stir in my mind. These two people, they were men of history and they were definitely not just talking about me and this whole suspected treason thing anymore.
"Unfavourable circumstances of the past", what would that make one think of? If this was yesterday, I would undoubtedly arrive at the memory of the Uchiha Massacre, of my brother murdering all of our kin in cold blood. But that was what he 'had done', not what he 'had planned to do'. And "they" suggested more than one person.
Something was wrong with my train of thoughts, but the focus at hand was to make sure the train I was currently riding wouldn't end in a crash. After readjusting my focus, I spoke up, still keeping my eyes on the ground for the sake of safety. "Hokage-sama, I deeply apologise for the mess I've made."
"I am sorry as well that you have to be in this mess. But I wish you could've told me first when something suspicious happened." I dipped my head even lower at the patronising tone in Hokage-sama's voice if that was even possible.
"It's lucky that your friend returned the scrolls for you. As you may know, it's very dangerous to have Anbu mission information leaked. If I hadn't already received the scroll before the council caught wind of this, you would be having a very hard time explaining everything right about now."
"Hokage-sama, I truly didn't know―"
"I know, Maiko, and that's why you were very lucky this time. Take this to the intelligence division and have Inoichi corroborate the information and look for any suspicious signs before destroying it." That last sentence was directed at Kakashi, who took the wooden-spined scroll that had magically appeared from another drawer diligently and exited the office through the Anbu exit in the ceiling. Then, I could feel the scrutinising gaze returning back to me.
"Maiko, regardless of what you think, there has been a report made to me about potentially suspicious activities around Anbu mission storage. The Jōnin Commander and I have been planning to conduct a secret investigation to determine the truth in that. However, now that Danzō has decided to bring it up for the goal of … this, that complicates things."
I frowned at this new piece of information. An information leak was a bad thing, but it really wasn't unheard of, whether it was in the normal department or Anbu. Espionage was quite alive nowadays and every year, the villages tried their hardest to steal information from each other. A security layout, score! Anbu mission details, jackpot! When we get one of those reports, we investigate. If nothing was stolen, great; if not, then we steal the information back and silence anyone who knows.
However, if the matter was about a defective from within, the problem got more complicated. What tangled things, even more, was not knowing which part of the report was true and which part was fabricated, which was a situation that Danzō had effectively created for the Hokage.
This was really not about me. The Hokage was just more mad at Danzō for complicating his investigation.
"So, my question for you is how did you know that the demolishing of Naka Shrine would occur today." It was just one simple question but it gave me more than enough information. One, yes, the Hokage knew of the plan; two, he knew that I was being kept out of this.
"My friend found the order issued by the civilian council and informed me, but he had nothing to do with my decision of going there." I bit my lower lip lightly, wondering if I should ask what I wanted to ask. "Did you … purposely not inform me about the demolition, Hokage-sama?" In the end, I asked anyway.
With my half-raised eyesight, I saw the Hokage putting down whatever report he was reading and rubbing his temple as if to ease the tiredness.
"Yes, that was me." His answer was awfully honest. "I'm sure you've realised that the village owns that property right now, so no matter what you do, you can't stop the civilian council's decision. Knowing about it would only cause you hurt and anger." … Was that really the reason? Suddenly, it sounded really forced. If I had any reaction, the Hokage surely ignored them when he continued his explanation. "Nevertheless, that was before I was informed of the fact that there was still an occupied room in the shrine. With this incident, the demolition would have to be delayed, but it would only be for a week at the most."
"Then may I have my family's scroll back? I went to the shrine to clean out the remaining properties anyway." Don't show any spite, don't show any sarcasm, I chanted silently as I proposed my request. The man stared at me for a few seconds, judging my intentions. But eventually, he pushed the muddy scroll a bit further in my direction and signalled for me to come and get it.
"Thank you, Hokage-sama," I said with a bow as my hands clutched onto the wet material.
"You're welcome. I'm afraid you will have to come to the Intelligence Department at eight. Kakashi has told me of your concern of possible mind control, so I'm ordering Inoichi to perform a mind check on you, then you can go to the hospital for a drug test."
Yamanaka mind check, huh. I supposed that I wasn't off the hook just yet. But then again, the Hokage had every right to confirm or reject any suspicion raised at this point, so I answered with a clear voice, "I understand, Hokage-sama."
Just before I left the office, I remembered that earlier train of unsettling thoughts. "Hokage-sama, if I may ask, what did Elder Shimura mean by 'the unfavourable circumstances of the past'?" Perhaps I was particularly brave today, or just too scared, but I decided to push on.
"What do you think he meant by that?" I didn't need to be a genius to tell that the Hokage was losing patience in that rhetorical question. The answer is obvious, it should be, he was saying, because there is no other acceptable answer.
"I have faith in you for not turning out like your brother, but perhaps it's time to move on. Sometimes, it's better not to dwell on the past," The Hokage warned me as the door opened in front of me, signalling the end of the discussion and the time for my exit.
(づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ fuwa~fuwa~desu~~~
'Susanoo, the ultimate technique manifested by having both Mangekyou Sharingan activated. Susanoo is created with the user's chakra, by having a humanoid avatar surround the user, this is the ultimate defence technique… Izanagi and Izanami are the two forbidden jutsus of the Uchiha clan. By sacrificing one sharingan, the user can temporarily use Izanagi or Izanami, therefore temporarily alter the line between reality and genjutsu…'
After scanning through the scroll, I shut it abruptly, not wanting to look any further. In any other time, I would love to just sit here and read through it multiple times, especially the part about Susanoo. But right now, my mind was on something else. None of these techniques mentioned had the same effect as that; none of these techniques could inject fear into the people of Konoha like that one could.
The nine-tailed beast. The same tailed-beast that the Mangekyou allegedly could control.
That was when it had all started, that night when the village was attacked.
Suddenly, it all clicked. The last piece of the puzzle that fit into everything seamlessly. I remembered my father's sighs when we were forced to build the Uchiha Compound on a different location than before after the nine-tail attack. I remembered Father's frustration when the jurisdiction of the Uchiha Police Department diminished after each and every council meeting. Before, I hadn't thought much of it because I was a selfish child living inside a bubble, but now, it all made sense.
I had formulated some pretty impossible theories before, but none of them explained things as well as this one: My Clan, my family, my father. They had tried to regain power once more in Konoha but in the end, they had failed, because Itachi had killed them all.
When pushed too far, even the rabbit bites back. My clan was pushed too far, so they tried to bite back; my brother was pushed too far, so he did bite back.
What could they be talking about in that sealed off place beneath the Naka Shrine? Fuyuki said it herself, it was built to serve as a war chamber where all plans of war were discussed and drawn out. Why was the Hokage so unwilling to draw my attention to the shrine? Perhaps he was trying to hide any possible clues that might have been left there when my clan members just … disappeared.
Shisui's supposed nonsense in limbo, my clan's tense atmosphere right before the massacre, my father's lack of resistance before his death. The suicide note, the strange exchange between the Hokage and Danzō, the meetings … click, click, click, a horrifying melody was slowly being pieced together.
Stop! Just stop! The keyword here was "theory". Just because the puzzle pieces seemed to fit on an empty canvas didn't mean it was the only explanation. There were still so many empty spaces, so many bits of unexplained details.
Shisui said that the outcome wasn't as he had expected, so how had they originally planned to end the rebellion? And Danzō, what had he been so nervous about? If the truth were to come out, then the people would only blame the Uchiha for their own stupidity. What was his involvement in all of this?
Ah, suddenly, I started to wish that I had never opened the Pandora's box. Sorry, girlie, there's no 'undo' button, the Gods and the demons had said to Pandora. Once the thoughts seeped in, I just couldn't stop thinking about this horrifying new possibility. So what if, what if it was true? What if it wasn't my brother who had committed treason, but my entire clan?
But… it's not like I can blame anyone… my clan made their decisions, so did my brother.
I couldn't believe it, all the rage I had felt before regarding the massacre… where did they go? All I could do was to sit there in dead silence and … Ah, here's the anger.
Crack! The teacup in my hand shattered into pieces as scalding hot water soaked through the fabric of my clothes and burned my skin. In front of me, the view kept on changing. The image became clearer and clearer until I could just see the rims of the image glowing red and then―
That was when I closed my eyes before Amaterasu could be unleashed again.
I wanted to blame someone! I wanted to unleash my anger towards this unfair impasse at someone! Oh, I could just imagine my brother's perspective. If all were to be blamed, then none should be blamed. Therefore, he willingly took the blame for the whole clan so Sasuke and I could live in a pretence …
Shut up, Itachi. Just shut up.
Mother had once said it was petty to blame others for your misfortune. If that were the case, well then, we were all just petty human beings. I, the Uchiha clan who thought to overthrow a stable government with a powerful military was a good idea, and the villagers who thought that my clan would be stupid enough to release the nine-tail.
Like a new academy student, I tried very hard to suppress my chakra, but it just wouldn't listen. Underneath the eyelids, the wheels shifted and turned. Petals to tomoe, tomoe to black irides, black irides to petals …
If, and only if, my clan was really planning a rebellion, then was there really no other way of stopping it? This distrust between the Konoha and the Uchiha. I assumed that Shisui and Itachi tried to do that by stopping our clan's coup, but clearly, Shisui's planned method was different than the real outcome. So what went wrong?
… the tomoe turned to black iris and it stopped, finally. It seemed that adding a bit of rational inquiry into the mix helped with stabilising the explosives.
So what went wrong? I tightened my fist around something to force myself to concentrate on the unknown instead. A sharp pain stung at my palm and when I looked down, red blood was already dripping down the broken teacup shard.
"Maiko-senpai!" I almost jumped when I heard the yell from my window. When I turned my ghostly pale face at the source of that voice, I found a Raven-masked boy standing on my window.
"What are you doing here, Ryuu?" I asked, returning my gaze to the broken porcelain pieces fallen all over my lap and on the couch. Try not to burn him into oblivion, seriously.
"Hokage-sama sent me here to watch you. He thought that you would prefer a familiar face." He answered flawlessly, eyes still on the mess of teacup shards.
"Did he now?" I raised an eyebrow and the boy nodded. So Anbu was here, to keep out Root members? To keep me from leaving before the mind check?
"If you are here as an Anbu, then be a good one and hide from your target," I said to my kouhai as I shooed him lightly with my hands. I was afraid if I had to carry on a conversation any longer, everything would break loose.
Soon, I turned around and started to clean the broken pieces away. Picking up all the shards, I cupped them in my hands and walked towards the trash bin.
It was then when something slammed into me so forcefully and fast that it knocked the wind out of my lungs.
In less than one second, I was being pressed to the floor with a hand wrapped tightly around my neck. The Chakra flow in my body had stopped completely, well, not stopped, but slowed to a point that I couldn't gather anything from it.
"So that's how he got my mission schedule …" I muttered absentmindedly as Ryuu tried his hardest to choke me. His blade - not his usual katana, but the guardless tantō I'd seen so many times in the past few hours - raised above my chest, exactly where I taught him to stab if he were to aim for the heart.
"I'm sorry." That was the last thing I heard as he brought his blade down.
I should have seen this coming, I totally should have, because it would have been a miracle if Danzō had decided to leave me alone. But despite everything I said about judging Ryuu with suspicion, I never thought he would be the invisible thread that belonged to Shimura Danzō.
Why? Compared to everyone else, he had the most suspicious background, an unknown heritage. I supposed it was because he was Akira-shishou's student, my kouhai, and my subordinate. But if Danzō thought he could kill me because of that, then he was very wrong.
Unfortunately, right now, I was like a gun loaded and aimed, ready to fire, and the boy had just walked straight into the gun barrel.
Before the blade could touch my chest, I knocked his other hand on my neck - which supported his weight - away with my elbow. Immediately, the boy lost his balance and instead of a hole in my chest, the tantō made a deep gash on my forearm. The moment his grip on my neck loosened, I flung him off of me and let him crash into the wall.
"If you think you can kill me like that, think again." I could hear the anger radiating in my growls, silencing the boy before he could say anything to defend himself.
"Come on, let's see if my last ten months' teaching has paid off, or did Danzō teach you something I couldn't." I criticised him relentlessly as I brought my hands up to prepare for the close combat. Slowly and shakily, Ryuu stood up, still clutching onto that blasted tantō from Root. For a second, he just stood there, like a deer caught in the headlight, unsure of what to do.
Stop acting like you are sorry when you just planned to strike a blade through my heart. Fine, if he didn't want to move, I would do it. After all, the rule was simple: If you plan to kill someone, then be prepared for the possibility of dying in the process.
He finally brought his sword up at the exact moment my fist arrived at his neck, so instead, I turned and slammed my other elbow at his ribs from the side. As I ducked to avoid a slash that sailed over my head, I heard the familiar crunching sound of the bones.
Since the chakra was circulating again in my body, my first thought was to get a lightning release up and running. However, the moment I started to speed up the flow for a ninjutsu, my eyes acted up again. Black irides to petals, it skipped the mid-step altogether.
So, it's all or nothing in terms of jutsu? I had to halt for a moment, close my eyes and focus my attention on shutting the chakra system to a minimum. Although I probably wouldn't mind turning the person in front of me into nothingness, there was something wrong with potentially burning the whole building down.
During my sudden stop, I could feel the cold wind brushing against my skin, signifying the direction of the next strike.
Something sliced down without hesitation, but it narrowly missed my collarbone as I stepped to the side at the last moment. Then, I felt something crashing into my ankle, making me fall backwards ungracefully.
Falling would be a horrible option here, so I just did a backflip, kicking my leg up in the process, aiming right for the position of his head. The tantō arrived just in time to block my kick to the jaw. When I landed on my feet again, my chakra system was finally stable enough for me to open my eyes.
Breathe in, breathe out. If I can't control any ninjutsu, then I might as well not use any. With that in mind, I bolted towards the intruder once again.
Perhaps if Danzō had chosen any other assassin, the outcome would have been different. But whatever was Ryuu's deal, he fought like he had thrown everything he had learned out of the window and devolved back to an inexperienced genin.
It wasn't even suspenseful anymore when he crashed into the wooden floor face first. Before he could regain his balance, I held him on the floor via a knee on the spine.
"Here's a news flash: I gave you a life before, and I can take it back," I whispered as I leant over his head. Usually, this was where I wrap my arms around his neck and twist it with full force. But for some reason, as I looked at his vulnerable and exposed neck, I decided against it. Instead, I gripped onto his sword arm and pulled, dislocating his shoulder.
Anger was one thing, but I still retained a sense of rationality. Before I could find the link between him and Danzō and be sure that he was sent by the man, if he were to die in my house, then it would only bite me back in the end.
There was this period of silence as his arm went limp until the sound of his tantō clashed with the floor, breaking that pause. For some reason, he had stopped struggling, nor did he try to fling me off. We just stayed in that position, with my hands still holding tightly onto his shoulder and my knee digging into his back.
"I'm sorry," That seemed to be the only thing he could repeat today, and it made me want to laugh my head off.
"For what? For not being able to complete Danzō's mission?" Come on, say it, give me something I can use against him.
"No… I couldn't do it… I couldn't say no to his orders …" At first, I thought he was just having trouble speaking because of my tight hold. But soon, I realised that something was very wrong, because the boy underneath me was shaking uncontrollably, and this spasm caused him to be unable to say another word.
"Ryuu? Ryuu!" I yelled as I quickly got off him and flipped him over. By now, he looked like he was having a seizure with the amount of foam coming out of his mouth. I tried to calm him down, but nothing worked. All I could do was to stare helplessly, wondering what the hell was going on.
"Hang on! Just tell me how to stop this, please!" I pleaded, but all he did was making some choking sound. Very weakly, he raised his hand and pointed at his face or something, but as soon as I caught that glimpse of his gesture, he went paralysed on the floor. Except for the fact that I could feel his heartbeat, there was nothing distinguishing him from a corpse.
"No! Wait, don't do this to me!" Please don't make this some kind of cyanide suicide pills! I prayed as I wrenched open his mouth. I was quite hopeful when I didn't smell any poison, but then, I laid my eyes on the black figure on his tongue.
Did he brand you already? I remembered Kakashi had once asked me that. So was this what he was talking about, some kind of secret fail-safe just in case the agents want to spill? From what I knew of my old world, yes, that was very likely. But this one, it was no pills or mini-bombs, this was a seal, which meant that I had no idea how to deal with this.
Unfortunately for me, I didn't have the time to figure it out anyway. Crack. My shoulder bone just popped out of its socket. The hell― and I was once again being thrown onto the floor.
A flash of dark metal appeared in the corner of my eye. No time to gasp for pain, apparently. With a swift roll to the side, I narrowly dodged the kunai to my head. Quickly, I rolled up to get a good look while still clutching my dislocated right arm to prevent it from getting worse.
Falcon. Why?
He looked different from Ryuu, well, in terms of being an assassin. He wasn't in any uniform, nor did he have that signature Root tantō. The only weapon in his hand was a kunai that he put in his pocket just in case something went wrong. In fact, he looked like he was taking a walk when he was off-duty and just suddenly decided to join in―
Oh. He was most likely in a genjutsu.
As I was running the diagnosis in my head, he was already charging again. His movements were a bit sluggish compared to the usual - could be explained by the lagging in perception due to genjutsu - and there was no recognition in his eyes. None at all. Somehow, I got a feeling that he was seeing a different world than me.
Okay, step number one, use the Sharingan to identify the area affected and then use chakra to break him out― I didn't even finish that thought before my eyes just took the cue and changed at the first flare of chakra.
My right eye landed on the couch behind Falcon, and the furniture was on fire.
Wait, stop! I closed my eyes in the middle of the battle. The next thing I knew, a strong force hit my chest and I was on the floor again. A heavy weight stopped me from getting up and an iron grip tightened around my throat. I couldn't make a sound, and there was definitely no air for me to try the 'breathe in, breathe out' method.
I heard a sound and felt a slight movement above my head - the kunai. Without thinking, I brought my hands up. A cold metal surface scraped past my hand and at that exact moment, my hand grabbed onto him, halting the weapon in mid air.
His other hand was still choking the life out of me, but I managed to find one of his fingers and snap! Fortunately, the kunai fell out of his hand and landed beside my head with a cling. Unfortunately, that didn't break him out of the genjutsu.
A genjutsu that completely overrides a pain sensory system … no, perhaps the genjutsu itself already takes the factor of pain into consideration when it programs a new scene, meaning it's tricking the brain to think the pain is expected and normal. Adding to the fact that it completely replaces the old setting, this is an amazing genjutsu that even I will have to use the Mangekyou for a chance to cast.
So is the Sharingan the only option … No, that couldn't be. The chance of me setting him on fire was too great and with this matter, I couldn't accept that margin of error. Come on, I lived a life before this chakra thing started to invade my sense of normality, so there was got to be way out without chakra.
Those thoughts seemed like they had taken up a long time, but in reality, perhaps only two seconds had passed. My hand went straight to the kunai that had just fallen and at the same time, I opened my eyes. Black irides, no chakra flow, nothing special.
I needed to release myself from the choke hold first, so that meant I needed to immobilise Falcon. But where? Small cuts wouldn't do the trick now that pain wasn't an option, and nowhere fatal because that would just defeat the purpose.
The lack of oxygen was making my brain lag as time passed. Elbow then, if I cut a tendon ever so slightly, it would render his arm useless. Got to be careful though, if I cut too deep, I might just ruin his career. No hard feelings.
The hesitation left me as I locked onto the targeted spot, but still, my movement was halted in mid-air, simply because the weight on me was suddenly gone. The choke hold was released and immediately, I gasped for oxygen despite the pain it caused me to breathe.
Somewhere in the background, I heard a crash and then there was silence. Right away, I readied the kunai just in case there was a third one coming, but when I finally saw exactly who it was that had flung my assailant away, I fell back down in relief,
It was actually a pack of dogs, all of whom I was so glad to see. Their owner arrived through the window a few moments later.
"Can you tell me what's going on?" He asked and all I could do was shake my head, so he didn't waste any time and walked over to check the two fallen bodies on my apartment floor. Oh, the fire, please tell me the fire is gone now. Turned out, it was extinguished, and what went with it was most of my couch.
"He's paralysed by the seal, but I don't know how to release it. Your other teammate, however, doesn't have the Root seal, but other than a concussion, he does have a chakra circuit in his brain more messed up than Kirigakure."
My brain functions had just barely returned when I heard his words. Genjutsu, that was definitely a genjutsu. Suddenly, I was very thankful that it had actually left a mess instead of that subtle mind control technique where I couldn't even find a trace of. Tiredly, I swiped the hair out of my face and just laid there and tried to breathe. It hurt. It really hurt, every breath I took felt like a saw was ripping down my trachea.
By the time I found the strength to push myself up from the ground, Kakashi was already ordering the ninkens to carry out the two intruders. Just watching the scene in front of me, my head suddenly became heavier as my eyes found it increasingly hard to focus.
In less than one day, Danzō has pretty much ruined half of my life.
This isn't even a proper assassination attempt. It was just a warning. Look, he seemed to be saying, look at these two, I could ruin your life in more ways than you could imagine. Using all kinds of methods, all kinds of people, even making you ruin your own life.
The world fell silent as I gasped for air. I just wanted to make a sound, any sound! But I couldn't even breathe as some imaginary hand tightened around my throat and squeezed harder and harder until every last―
Pop. "Aaugh!" The sound escaped without me even realising it as someone popped my shoulder back into its socket. The yell had a hoarse undertone that made it sound more like a dying gurgle of a dog. But nevertheless, I realised that I could still make a sound which meant that air was still passing through my larynx and into my lungs.
"I told you to be prepared for the pain." He probably did, but I was just too far away to hear it. Now that the newest pain on my shoulder was so overwhelming, the feeling of suffocation faded into the background.
"Come on, I need to get all of you back to the Hokage's tower," Kakashi said as he ushered his ninkens to drag or carry the unconscious people out of the window. "You can still walk, right?"
I nodded without a word.
You cannot freeze under the fear, I told myself repeatedly. You can't break, you just can't. One show of weakness and you're dead; one more and the people around you will be as well. Besides, you still have things you want to know. I took a deep breath regardless of the pain it caused and laid my eyes on where my couch would have been.
The one-fifth remainder of the couch fell lopsided on the ground, revealing the swords on the ground. It seemed that Ryuu had kicked my swords under the couch before he attacked me. I grabbed them before leaving the apartment and off we went to see one of two men who knew the history of the Uchiha Massacre.
Is it better to not dwell on the past? Perhaps that would apply before I had opened the Pandora's box. No, actually, it was never possible to begin with.
That part of the past had always been a demon within, hungry for the truth, no matter how ugly it was.
A/N: phew, that was long, anyway, I felt so foreign with my writing style after a month of not touching it, like, I think some of my pent up anger with exams got carried over here ... What's it called, creator's breakdown? Anyway, Sharingan-brand image editing tool, just one eyeball away, and it's yours.