AN: A somewhat shorter and definetely darker chapter this one. Still, I hope you enjoy =) The titel is indeed a reference to Jack Nicholson's Joker in Tim Burton's Batman Forever. Why? Because I like the quote. No other reason than that, really.
Chapter 9 - Dancing with the Devil in the Pale Moonlight
Sarutobi Hiruzen, Third Hokage, the Professor, God of Shinobi, yadda yadda yadda, sat down on the only chair in the living room of his former advisor, Shimura Danzo, with a bone-rattling sigh, wiping a wrinkled hand over his tired face.
The sound of a quill scratching on paper made him look up at said advisor, who was sitting across from him at a low table, dutifully filling out absolutely massive piles of paperwork. The man's expression was unnaturally serene, and his movements almost robotic. It appeared as if the traitor wasn't even aware of the Hokage's presence at all.
There was no signs of the wounds that Danzo received during the desperate battle from almost a week ago, but this was done intentionally by Hiruzen; the cover-story was that old age would eventually claim the traitorous advisor, but visible wounds from a fight would immediately blow that plan out of the water.
Of course, they were already on thin ice as it was. The fight between Danzo and Uchiha Shisui's ANBU protection-squad had not gone unnoticed. While Hiruzen had managed to deflect the more overt inquires, claiming everything from training exercises to apprehending enemy infiltrators, there was still an air of suspicion amongst the higher ranked shinobi in his forces.
The Uchiha began to grow restless.
"Fū, take these documents and secure them in my personal vaults. Use combination 11B/C and make sure to check the security seals when you leave."
"Hai, Danzo-sama."
Bowing at the waist, Shisui gently took the papers out of Danzo's hand, pausing only long enough to stare into the ROOT leaders eye with his own spinning red ones, before silently moving away. The young ANBU stumbled for a moment, squeezing his eyes shut and pinching the bridge of his nose as a thin tear of blood rolled down his face.
"Here."
Face made of stone, Hiruzen extended a white towel to the Uchiha, would looked surprised, but grateful at the gesture. The Hokage waited for a moment, allowing his ninja to clear his face and center himself once more, before gently asking his questions.
"How is it going?"
Silently, Shisui handed Hiruzen the file Danzo had given him moments before.
"The illusion still holds strong, Hokage-sama. He thinks that I am one of his most trusted operatives, and that he has decided to document all of his actions since he has founded ROOT. Other than that, his world is entirely blank."
"You are sure of this?"
"I'm not gonna lie, Hokage-sama." Shisui said with an exhausted sigh as he moved towards the kitchen, where he thankfully poured himself a glass of cool water.
Hiruzen raised an eyebrow at the Uchiha's informal tone, but decided to let it slide in this instance; from what he knew of Kotoamatsukami, it was only meant to be used around once or twice a month.
Shisui had been using it multiple times a day for the past week.
Quite frankly, it was a miracle the young ANBU was functioning at all.
"His mind is strong, Hokage-sama. I have never encountered such mental willpower before. And that's without the traps his own Yamanaka have installed in his mind."
Hiruzen frowned, his hands clenching into fists at the reminder of his ex-friend's craftiness.
When Hiruzen had ordered one of his loyal Yamanaka to delve into Danzo's mind in order to extract any information that the traitorous advisor had kept to himself all this time, he had nearly lost his ANBU operative altogether, a pre-made defense trapping the Yamanaka in Danzo's mindscape.
It had taken three other Yamanaka a full day to retrieve their clan member, and he came out… wrong. Hiruzen had been forced to order a complete mind-wipe, and dismiss the nin from ANBU on the grounds of excessive mental trauma.
"But we have disabled those traps, operative Uchiha. You yourself have made Danzo admit to that."
Shisui gave a nod, before finishing off his glass in a single gulp. He immediately turned back to the sink in order to refill it. Speaking over his shoulder, the young Uchiha continued.
"True. But apparently, he has several routines in his daily schedule, specifically designed to warn himself if he is ever mind-controlled should he ever deviate from those routines. There are also several notes and journals that serve the same purpose. He even has trigger-words installed in his mind."
"Trigger-words?"
"They initiate a complete reboot of his mind, essentially clearing most mental compulsions. I only found out last night, when I suddenly woke up to him standing over my bed with a raised kunai."
Hiruzen only barely managed to hide his wince at that. He began to suspect that the bags underneath Shisui's eyes were for other reasons than overusing his technique.
"What happened?"
"As you instructed, I started giving him orders to make a written report of all of his covert operations he has undertaken since his time with ROOT, all the while making it seem as if it was his idea in the first place. Apparently, he had a specifically designed trigger-phrase, which was almost literally the order I tried to give him. He managed to free himself from my jutsu at least partially, but before he managed to strike, I used Kotoamatsukami on him again, making him decide that he suddenly wanted to get a nap."
Finishing his third glass, Shisui gave a weak chuckle, before moving over to the spartan chairs in the dining room, letting his head fall on the table with a dull 'thud'.
"Since then we have also started pumping him full of drugs, since the reboot only clears mental afflictions. So, now I am Yamanaka Fū, trusted operative of Shimura Danzo. And he doesn't have a clue." The young ninja said with a hint of bitterness.
Hiruzen joined his ANBU operative at the table, allowing Shisui a moment of peace, before continuing with his questioning. It was harsh, but they had little time, and they needed to pump Danzo for all that he was worth, before the next complication exploded in their faces.
"Are the trigger-words dealt with then?"
Not lifting his head from the table, Shisui nodded, before glancing at his Hokage from the corner of his eye, an exhausted look clearly visible in the dull onyx of his pupils.
"Hai, Hokage-sama. To keep this as contained as possible, I ordered the same Yamanaka who removed the mental traps to identify and remove the trigger-words and phrases, then had them wipe each other's mind from everything that has happened here."
Hiruzen frowned at that, stroking his pointy beard in thought at the young Uchiha's actions. ANBU ranks were kept vague and fluid on purpose; not only did this make it more difficult for infiltrators to join their forces, or for spies to identify the civilian identities of his operatives, it also allowed him to form highly specialized teams on the fly, regardless of whatever rank the individual ninja held within ANBU itself.
Still, while Shisui was the unofficial leader of this operation due to his eyes being imperative to its success, to order the mind-wipe of not one, but three senior operatives was unusual to say the least.
'Then again, these are highly unusual circumstances as well.' Hiruzen thought to himself, studying the young Uchiha with a critical gaze, his expression softening somewhat when he saw that Shisui was on the verge of falling asleep where he sat.
'Nearly dead on his feet, but still sharp enough to take charge of the operation, and not hesitating in doing what's necessary to keep it contained as well, even if this means ordering around his superiors. Fine qualities for an ANBU. For a Commander, in fact.'
While Salamander was a formidable ninja in his own right, the fact remained that losing an arm drastically reduced a shinobi's combat capabilities, no matter his specialization or experience.
Danzo himself was a perfect example for this.
Still, finding a replacement for Salamander was still a while off, thankfully, Hiruzen having bought them all a little time by doing something that still turned his stomach whenever he thought about it.
In order to keep spies on the wrong foot (and there were spies in Konoha, there was no doubt about that) he had ordered a few ANBU to remove their own arm, as well as ordering several "accidents" amongst the civilian population. This way, even if a spy managed to uncover that ANBU Commander Salamander had lost an arm, they would be unable to figure out his civilian identity by searching for people that had suddenly and mysteriously lost an appendage.
This should buy them enough time to search for a replacement Salamander, the title being passed on to whoever held the position. While the ANBU Commander was supposed to head Konoha's black-ops operations, and as such should be unknown to the other Villages, this was simply not the case, either due to the intelligence provided by spies, or by sightings on the battlefield during wartime, the Commander's sheer strength sometimes necessary in order to turn the tide of battle.
Which meant that Hiruzen had to get a ninja out there with the Salamander mask on, or the other Villages would immediately see his absence as a sign of weakness in Konoha's strength.
Thankfully for Shisui, there was still a little time before a new Commander would step unto the world-stage, and as it was, it would probably one of Salamander's current lieutenants, due to their greater skill and experience.
That didn't mean that Shisui couldn't be trained for the position, however.
Shaking the thoughts of promotions and the cloak-and-dagger power plays that were always going on between Hiruzen and his fellow Kage, the aged Sarutobi gently shook the young Shisui by the shoulder, causing the ANBU-operative to literally jump out of his chair, one hand raised to his temple.
"Uchisui Shiha, reporting for duty, sir!"
"At ease, operative." Hiruzen said calmly, just barely able to mask his amusement.
"Thank you, sir!"
And with that, Shisui collapsed back into his chair, his head sinking back towards the table. Hiruzen quickly cut that off, by coughing into his fist, before continuing with his questions.
"So, all trigger-words are removed, all mental traps dismantled and I assume that you have questioned Danzo on his routines and journals?"
Seeing Shisui's tired nod, Hiruzen held up the stack of files the young Uchiha had given him under the guise of Yamanaka Fū.
"And this documentation? It is accurate?"
Shisui barely managed to stifle a yawn, before nodding again.
"Hai, Hokage-sama. One of the first things that we managed to get out of him are various safe-houses for his ROOT-operatives hidden throughout the Elemental Nations, as well as shut-down commands for his forces. We have managed to capture several of them here in Konoha, and they are refitted for our own use as we speak."
'True ninja rhetoric that; waste not, want not. Only taken a little bit more literal, in this case.' Hiruzen thought to himself in wry amusement.
"And the operatives themselves?"
"Broken. Completely and utterly. But alive, at least. All of them with a seal that makes it impossible for them to talk about Danzo or his operations, but we are starting to get bits and pieces from his notes about how to circumvent this."
Hiruzen lifted a graying eyebrow at that.
"Bits and pieces?"
"Hai. In order to keep the illusion as secure and subtle as possible, it's essential that Danzo keeps thinking that he is responsible for his actions. It also means that the pressure I can put on him is limited; if what I order him to do is too different from what he would usually do, then he might break free completely."
"I thought that your Kotoamatsukami circumvented this entirely; that's what makes it such a formidable Genjutsu, is it not?"
"Normally? Yes. With him? Apologies, Hokage-sama, but after the scare he gave me last night, I'd really rather not risk it, drugged or not."
"Fair enough." Hiruzen allowed, somehow not surprised that his former rival managed to thwart him even when he was essentially being mentally enslaved to him.
For a moment, there fell a silence in Danzo's kitchen, Hiruzen staring out the window at the sunlit houses of Konoha, the only sounds that of a quill softly scribbling on paper in the living room and several birds happily singing in the trees that lined his former advisor's back-yard, as an old lady shambled past, a bag of groceries in hand, being assisted by a ninja who was probably her son, if her questioning about when he "was finally going to grow up and find a nice young lady to settle down with, so that I can have a few grandkids before I die, huh?!" was anything to go by.
Outside on the street, a young Hayate Gekko hurriedly coughed in his hand, an impressive blush lighting up his face.
"Hokage-sama?"
Turning to the young Uchiha next to him, Hiruzen was surprised at how nervous Shisui looked, his utter exhaustion completely forgotten. Making sure that his expression was gentle and inviting, the Hokage inclined his head, prompting his operative to speak his mind.
"Yes, operative Shisui?"
Briefly, Shisui squirmed in his seat, before blurting out his question.
"Hokage-sama, during your fight with Danzo… you said that you had checked all of the graves… what did you mean by that?"
Hiruzen sagged in his seat, resting his hand on his fist as he stared at the young ANBU in front of him, wondering how he should deal with this situation.
'I just can't catch a break, huh? Damn it all Minato, it should be you sitting here, I'm getting too old for this shit. No, I already am too old for this shit!' Hiruzen thought to himself, before sighing deeply.
"You are briefed on the Kyuubi reports about the identity of the mysterious ninja that released and controlled him during the attack, nine years ago?"
"Hai, Hokage-sama. The figure claimed that he was Uchiha Madara, and while we do have records of Madara controlling the Kyuubi in the past, the Demon identified the masked ninja as an imposter."
"Indeed. Following that revelation, I ordered Salamander to look into all records of Uchiha that have are MIA or KIA, as well as checking your graves."
Seeing Shisui's affronted expression at the revelation, Hiruzen quickly continued, too tired to get into a confrontation with one of the few Uchiha still loyal to his Village.
"We had to be sure, Shisui. Grave-robbing, as distasteful as it is, is a possibility we must keep in mind. After all, the Uchiha do not possess a seal as the Hyuuga do, and we all know how desperate the other Nations are for a Sharingan of their own."
Somewhat mollified, Shisui settle down, though he still had his arms crossed, and glared at the Hokage suspiciously.
'Good. No ninja worth his salt should be so easily swayed, no matter what or by whom.' Hiruzen thought grimly to himself, before he continued.
"As we checked the graves, we saw definite signs of tampering with the bodies. Some we believe to have been performed by Danzo, others appear the work of another party. My best guess is Orochimaru. His obsession with the Sharingan is well known, and he is depraved enough to stoop to something as disgusting as grave-robbing." Hiruzen said in a harsh tone, though inside, his heart ached.
Yes, Orochimaru had been a traitor to the Leaf for a number of years now, and yes, he had been a monster for many more, but he had been a trusted student and even a son to Hiruzen for far, far longer. To think about the horrible being the bright young man, whom Hiruzen had taught his very first Henge, had turned into still cut deep into his heart.
"As it is, Danzo and Orochimaru have probably remained working together even after ROOT's dissolution, but we'll get conformation about that out of Danzo sooner or later. However, when we checked the graves, we found that one was empty."
"Uchiha Madara." Shisui breathed, his mind still managing to catch on quickly, despite the fog of exhaustion heavily weighing on all of his thoughts.
Hiruzen nodded, his face gaining a grave expression.
"When I say empty, I mean that in the most literal way; it wasn't emptied, since there never was anything inside in the first place. We now believe that Madara didn't die at the Valley of the End in the fight with my sensei, but instead managed to escape."
Shisui frowned in confusion, worrying his lip between his teeth.
"But, the Kyuubi said that it wasn't Madara that released him? So doesn't that mean that Madara died there anyway?"
"Whether or not Madara did indeed perish at the Valley of the End is of no consequence at this time; old age would've claimed him by now. While there are ways of expanding your lifespan, from what I remember of him, Madara would be far too proud to actually use any of them. No, what we are looking at is a disciple of his, continuing his plans after his death in his name. In this case, literally."
Shisui slumped in his seat, a defeated expression on his face as he mulled his Hokage's words over in his head.
"So the villagers are right then? An Uchiha released the Kyuubi and ordered the rampage from nine years ago?"
Briefly Hiruzen hesitated in answering the young ninja, before steeling his heart. Shisui had more than earned his headband for several years now, the time for coddling was long past, no matter how much Hiruzen wished it wasn't.
"Not necessarily, as he could have simply gifted his eyes to his disciple, but it's very unlikely. Not only would Madara never give up his eyes, his brother's eyes, if the legends are to be believed, but the subjugation of the Tailed Beast is a highly advanced technique of the Sharingan, and if Hatake Kakashi is anything to go on, non-Uchiha would be unable to perform it. The chakra cost of the technique, combined with the drain from keeping the dōjutsu activated would outright kill most ninja."
Shisui buried his face in his hands, his body shaking at the revelation that one of his own family might have been responsible for all of the pain and suffering the Kyuubi had caused during his rampage, and the subsequent tensions between the Uchiha and the rest of the Village.
"But can't we use this? Reveal this to the Clan?"
"I fear that at this point, they would view it more as an attack on their person, rather than an explanation. And do not forget, we came to this conclusion on the word of a Demon and evidence gathered from desecrating their families' graves. No, I am afraid that only your unique jutsu could broker peace between the Uchiha and Konoha now." Hiruzen answered with a heavy voice, his tone subdued.
"And I can't use it on the Clan, since I'm stuck using it on Danzo here, or he'll do even more damage. And we can't just kill Danzo, because he still has a ton of useful information, not to mention unknown fail-safes for just such a scenario." Shisui laughed bitterly to himself, clenching his fists hard enough that Hiruzen could hear bone creak.
A heavy silence fell across the dining room, and Hiruzen suddenly realized that the sun didn't seem as bright anymore, or the birds singing as joyful as he had before. He was shaken from his observations by a shaky sigh from Shisui, and when he looked back, he pretended not to notice the way the young ninja desperately wiped his sleeve across his eyes.
"So, assassination then?"
Hiruzen froze in his seat, before very slowly forcing himself to relax. A heavy weight seemed to settle across his shoulders, while guilt seemed to drag his heart out of his chest and into an unfathomable abyss.
"Yes." He whispered softly, looking at one of the few remaining loyal Uchiha with sorrow in his eyes.
Shisui nodded, before desperately wiping his eyes once more. He tried to speak, but had to swallow a few times before he managed to actually form words, and even then his voice was still shaky.
"You… ahem… you can't use your own ninja. The Hokage attacking one of Konoha's own Clans would spark a Civil War, and in turn a World War. You can't wait for the Uchiha to make the first move, for the same reasons. It needs to be an internal affair. It'll make Konoha look weaker, but it won't ignite a war at the very least." Shisui reasoned, his voice full of pain, even as he gave up on keeping the tears flowing down his face.
Hiruzen felt his heart break for the youth in front of him, but forced himself to remain seated; if Shisui were to truly follow in Salamander's footsteps in the future, or even to simply hold together the remains of the Uchiha Clan after the Execution, then he would need to become a lot more hardened than he was now.
'It is a cruel thing to do… but then again, it is a cruel world we live in. Minato… Sensei… what would you have done?'
Slowly, Shisui managed to regain some of his composure, and continued with his reasoning. Hiruzen let him do so, allowing the young Uchiha to both settle his mind, as well out of a faint hope that in making Shisui go through the problem on his own, he might find a way that didn't require any bloodshed.
He wasn't counting on it though.
"So, it should be an Uchiha who… who k-kills the members of the Clan that wish to perform the Coup. No easy task, so the Uchiha in question needs to be incredibly powerful, while at the same time still loyal to Konoha… I'm stuck in here, which means… you're planning on using Itachi, aren't you?"
Hiruzen simply nodded, not reacting when Shisui completely stilled in his seat, the only movement he made being the tears that steadily flowed down his face.
"I see." The youth choked out, before mechanically rising out of his seat and moving over towards the sink.
As the young Uchiha rinsed his face, Hiruzen rose to his feet, catching Shisui by the shoulder when he made to return to Danzo in the living room.
"Operative Uchiha Shisui…" Hiruzen began, his voice stern, but not harsh.
However, when Shisui looked at him with eyes that were completely dead inside, he softened his tone.
"Shisui… will you be able to handle what's to come?"
There was a brief pause before Shisui answered, his tone as dead as his eyes.
"Hai, Hokage-sama. Now, if you don't mind, I must return to my mission. If I don't apply Kotoamatsukami on Danzo regularly, he might escape."
And with that, Shisui stiffly left for the leaving room, leaving an old man behind, whose back was bent under the mountain of guilt he carried in silence.
"Out of the way! Move!"
"What the hell, gaki!?" "Hey, watch it!" "What's the big idea, huh?!"
"I'M LATE!"
And with that, Naruto Uzumaki, prankster extraordinaire, jailor to the fearsome Kyuubi no Yoko, and perpetually late person, took to the roof with a burst of chakra to his legs, leaving a gale of wind in his wake.
'Damn it all to the very depths of Hell, little one! Do you have to be so loud?' came a grumbling from the boy's mind, the fox stuck in the extra-dimensional prison tied to the ink on Naruto's stomach clearly not appreciating being waken up in such a manner.
'I. AM. LATE!'
'I KNOW! So stop screaming about it already!'
'But this is the first day of the Academy! If I am late now, then the teacher will hold that against me for the rest of my life, I just know it!'
'Then stop screaming to me about it, and just run faster damn you! Are you a ninja or not?'
'Right! Thanks Foxy-san!'
'AND MY NAME IS NOT-'
But Naruto had already closed the link, and began channeling even more chakra to his legs, making leaps tens of feet long. Even in his haste to reach the Academy on time, the blond couldn't help but laugh at the top of his lungs, as he sailed over houses and streets alike.
'Being a ninja is so awesome.'
And with that thought, while still in mid-air, Naruto flew through several handseals, before being enveloped in a large cloud of smoke. What came roaring out of the cloud had several civilians (and one rather embarrassed ninja) shriek in fright.
Flapping an enormous set of leather wings, an honest to god dragon flew out of the smoke, ruffling the hair of the people below with the speed it was flying, its long sinuous body stretched as straight as an arrow behind the gigantic wings propelling the Naruto-dragon in a mad dash towards the Hokage-tower, proudly standing tall over the rest of Konoha.
Unfortunately for Naruto (and the Academy) his training with flying forms were more centered around birds that could achieve great heights, rather than great speeds. In fact, this was the fastest that Naruto had ever gone (his chakra-fueled charges didn't really count, since those were more accidents than anything that Naruto had actually done) and he quickly discovered this when the Academy suddenly became a lot closer than he had expected.
As he tried to brake, and only succeeded in tumbling head over tail through the air, one final thought rang through Naruto's mind.
'I think this is actually going to make a worse expression than coming late to class.'
And then he crashed through the window.
And the rest of the wall.
Mere moments before
"Hello class, my name is Umino Iruka, but you may call me Iruka-sensei. As your sensei from this point forwards until you graduate in three years' time, I wish you all the best, and look forward to working with you all!"
The young Chunin, a thick scar running over the bridge of his nose, smiled at the exited class of ninja-hopefuls in front of him, stealthily keeping an eye on the Clan children in the room.
'So many of them in a single year? And most of them the children of Clan Heads? That cannot be a coincidence. Best that I keep an eye on all of them.'
"Let's start with the roll-call, shall we?" he said aloud, receiving a chorus of enthusiastic "Hai sensei!" in return (except for the Nara, of course, who appeared to have fallen asleep already).
He quickly went down the list, recognizing some names from his comrades in Konoha's ninja forces, and others from various shops that he frequented in the Village. With those, he made sure to make small talk, politely informing whether or not they were related to the people that he knew, and building rapport with them as he did.
With those that he didn't recognize, he invited them to reveal a little about themselves, and he made sure to react positively on whatever they said (no matter how inane) in order to gain a positive relation with them as well.
Umino Iruka was a nice guy second, but a ninja first, after all.
However, as he approached the end of the list, his eyes widened slightly, before setting into a carefully neutral mask.
"Uzumaki Naruto?" he called out, pride that his voice was steady, and without any note of hostility, though the more perceptive children noticed that the warmth was gone from his voice as well.
Hearing no answer, Iruka tried a few times more, while a dark vindication made itself known in his gut.
'Tch! Leave it to the demon-brat to come late to class! Honestly, what do you expect of-'
'No! That's not fair! I promised that I would teach with an open mind, and I will do so! Maybe he was held up? He is a person of interest to Konoha after all, maybe he was called away for something?'
Iruka was shaken from his internal dilemma by the shrill voice of Yamanaka Ino, only daughter to Yamanaka Inoichi, part of the current Ino-Shika-Cho unit.
"Sensei! What's that!?"
"Hmm?"
Looking up distractedly, Iruka's eyes widened suddenly when he saw a large black shape hurl towards the Academy at break-neck speeds.
In fact, it even seemed as if it was heading to his classroom…
Eyes wide, even as he grabbed a kunai from the pouch on his hip, Iruka screamed at the children as he dove at them in order to protect them with his body.
"EVERYBODY GET DOWN!"
He briefly saw several of the Clan children having done just that already out of instinct, while most of the civilians were still staring at him in confusion.
'CRASH!'
With the sound of glass and wood shattering apart, the black blur slammed into his classroom, ending up on the ground where mere moments his (beautiful, brand-spanking-new, extremely expensive!) desk had stood.
When the dust cleared, both Iruka and his students stood with mouths agape as they stared at what appeared to be real-life dragon lying on the floor of the classroom, surrounded by splinters of wood and broken glass.
The titanic being of myth gave a mighty groan-
'poof!'
-before it was enveloped by a cloud of smoke. Hurriedly using some chakra, while holding his kunai out in front of him, Iruka blew away the grey smoke, revealing-
"Ouch, my head hurts…"
-a small blond boy, sitting up while rubbing his head, where an impressive bump was forming before the teacher's very eyes.
Feeling the gaze of Iruka and the rest of the class on him, the small child slowly turned towards them, before looking up at Iruka's steadily reddening face. For a second, the young blonde looked like a dear caught in a Katon jutsu, before he gave Iruka a gigantic grin, stretching the whisker-marks on his cheeks while closing his eyes.
"H-Hey there sensei, he he he… Sorry 'bout the wall, but ehh, ya see, I was getting late… sooo-"
"YOU…."
With wide eyes, the child shrank back, while thunderclouds formed over Iruka's head, his voice shaking the room they were standing in to its very foundations.
"… DETENTION!"
There hung a short silence in the room as Iruka's voice echoed throughout the entirety of Konoha, before it was broken by a low whistle from one of the children in the classroom, who were all peaking over the edge of their desks.
"Damn Naruto, that must be a record or something."
"Shut up Kiba."
Above the newly remodeled Academy, Sarutobi Hiruzen looked down at the illustrious place of learning (now with a brand new ventilation system) before letting his head drop in his hands.
"Naruto… what am I going to do with you?" the Hokage asked himself, not sure whether to cry or laugh and eventually settling on an odd mix of both.
Uchiha Itachi, 15 years old, prodigy and ANBU-Captain, was a man (well, boy really) on a mission. Night had fallen over Konoha, and the moon was hidden behind the clouds. While Itachi's body was steady, his heart was hammering inside his chest.
A few days ago, he had received the order from the Hokage that the orchestrators of the coup were to be eliminated, lest Konoha be plunged into another World War.
Which included Itachi's parents.
Thankfully, tonight was only a recon mission; while he was powerful, he wasn't powerful to go up against the majority of the Uchiha Clan alone and emerge victorious. Not that that really would stop Itachi; if he managed to take out enough of his family before they managed to kill him, they might decide to still abandon the coup either way.
Unfortunately, there was no way of knowing this, and could very easily backfire on Konoha if the Clan was to decide that his "snapping" was the fault of Konoha's machinations.
That in a manner of speaking they were right certainly didn't ease the young ninja's mind.
Which was why he was now patrolling the Uchiha Compound, having volunteered for a couple of border-patrol missions in order to do so without any suspicion. He was looking for every possible hole in the defense of his Clan's Compound, preferably large enough for the quick entrance and exit for an elite ANBU kill squad.
Itachi was no fool; despite being only 15 years old, he was already the veteran of one of the bloodiest wars his world had ever seen. He knew the horrors of war, and he knew just how precariously close they were to unleashing them upon the world once more.
This needed to be fast, this needed to be quick, and most of all, it needed to be pinned on him.
Itachi knew he was basically throwing away his life by continuing with this operation, but he wasn't as bothered by this as he had expected to be. After all, are not all ninja prepared to die for their Village the moment they donned their headband?
The only difference was that his body would keep on serving Konoha long after he had died.
Because there was no doubt in his mind that Uchiha Itachi, son to Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Mikoto, wouldn't survive the night. What would emerge in his stead the day after, however, was anyone's guess.
He jumped towards the nearest tree, hoping for a better vantage point, before suddenly twisting in mid-air, throwing a brace of shuriken and kunai, his Sharingan whirling madly as it came alive, nearly glowing in the darkness.
The presence he had only now sensed managed to dodge the barrage of weapons, before several strands glinted in the faint moonlight, revealing themselves to be ninja-wire, allowing Itachi to quickly redirect the shuriken in six different directions simultaneously with nothing more than a flick of his fingers.
The rapidly changing shuriken forced the unknown figure to make a wild leap to the left, but suddenly Itachi was right there, still controlling the multitude of shuriken with his left hand, while his right hand whipped out the tanto strapped to his back.
His eyes slowed everything to a crawl, the spinning tomoe already throwing a multitude of high-level Genjutsu in short succession at his opponent, even as he closed in with his short sword in a frontal assault, the gleaming tip shining brightly in the moonlight, while the shuriken (and even some redirected kunai) flew towards his enemies' unprotected back.
Pinned as he was, Itachi fully expected the mysterious ninja to dodge to either side in an effort to flank him with taijutsu or maybe some hidden weapon, concealed underneath the large and shapeless black cloak his opponent was wearing.
It was almost like an unspoken agreement between them that neither ninja considered ninjutsu; both were here on a secretive mission, and drawing attention to themselves was the last thing either one needed right now.
That didn't keep them from trying to stab each other to death to their hearts content.
Which is why Itachi was surprised when his opponent didn't dodge, or even took out a weapon of some kind; instead, he simply allowed Itachi's tanto to pierce him in the gut.
Itachi's eyes widened in surprise at the action, completely taken off guard by his opponents apparent death-wish. However, this allowed his enemies' arm to shoot out like lightning, and grasp Itachi's outstretched arm in a vice-like grip, the sound of bones grinding against one another audible in the stillness of the forest.
With an agility that should be impossible with a sword sticking out of your gut, the unknown ninja twisted around, dragging Itachi along and throwing him at his own shuriken. Itachi managed to hold onto his tanto as his assailant released him, the sword sliding out of his body without any resistance at all, before he managed to turn on the spot and striking all of the thrown weapons out of the air with a single swing.
Turning back to his opponent, Itachi glanced out of the corner of his eye at his tanto, and wasn't surprised to see that the blade was still clean, without even a hint of blood. A quick glance at his opponent showed that his cloak didn't have so much as a cut or tear, despite Itachi having seen with his own Sharingan that his sword had penetrated the other ninja's body for at least a couple of inches.
"Who are you?" Itachi asked, his voice calm and his face completely impassive.
Young as he was, he was still a very experienced ninja and this wasn't the first time that he went up against an opponent who was immune to attacks for some reason or other, though in the privacy of his mind, he admitted that something like this was new, even to him.
The ninja stepped a little closer towards him, the moon coming out from beneath the dark clouds that had hidden him for so long, bathing the man's mask in a cold pale light.
"My name is Uchiha Madara. And I have a proposition for you, Uchiha Itachi."
AN: So, Naruto has finally met Iruka, which means that I am almost caught up with the start of the series. Also, "Uchiha Madara" has come to the stage! What horrors and anguish shall he inflict upon the ninja world?! I dunno, to be honest, and quite frankly, it's gonna be a pain to figure that out.
Fun Fact: Since nobody seems to have caught on to the symbolism of having the Commander's mask be a Salamander, allow me to explain: in classical folklore around the world, Salamanders are often connected to the element of fire, with some legends even saying that they were in fact born from the flames themselves. Early travellers from the Western World that traveled to the Far East were often shown garments, supposedly made from salamander skin. In order to prove this, they would throw the garments in fire, only to reveal that the clothes weren't burned at all. It was later discovered that this wasn't, in fact, because they were made from salamander skin, but asbestos instead.
The more you know =)