Woohoo! Kinda fast update! Also, this chapter is the longest so far! I'm pretty proud lol. Thanks for reading, and thanks for leaving reviews/comments, they're all much appreciated and wonderful!
12th Year of Danzo's Rule (forgot to mention this in the last chapter, but Naruto and Co are 12 now and finally moving up in the world)
Naruto and Shisui silently crept down the hallway toward Orochimaru's laboratory. He had seals prepared and stashed in a storage seal on the inside of his right ankle, and weapons in one on his right hip. Nerves were curling in his stomach, and his shoulders ached with tension but he was unable to relax. Shisui was weak and shaky beside him, but no less quiet.
There was no light shining from under the laboratory door, but the two boys slipped in anyway. Orochimaru-sensei and a pale-haired, glasses-wearing teenager that Naruto had never seen before greeted them with a nod.
He reached down to unseal his manuscripts as Orochimaru worked on breaking Shisui's chakra collar and forcing more bitter medicine down his throat. The pale-haired boy was placing silencing seals around the room.
"Sit down, Shisui, this will be unpleasant. Kabuto, if you'll hold his shoulders."
Naruto watched, stunned, as Orochimaru bit Shisui's hand and his friend winced and started screaming. Surprised and angry, he turned on Orochimaru, "What-Sensei! You're putting a curse seal on him? That wasn't part of the plan!"
"Not part of your plan, Naruto, no. But Shisui won't survive much longer without it. He needs the power and the strength to drag you two out of here and his sickness calls for desperate measures."
"It doesn't look like he's getting much power or strength from it! It's horrible!"
Shisui's cries were softening, but he looked more ill. He was shaking and curling into himself and the seal was blurring and stretching across his had as if it was trying to adjust itself.
Orochimaru sighed. "It will help him in the long run, Naruto. Now, place the seals you prepared beforehand on yourselves. We don't have all night, guards usually check in around eleven-thirty o'clock."
The blond boy tried to quell his anger and worry and drew his seal manuscripts out from the storage seal. He applied them to himself first, on his forehead, arms, legs, and torso. Every limb and member had to have the preservation seal. He finally covered his mouth and nose with a web-like seal, laying the paper on his lips and peeling it away to leave the black ink behind. Shisui flinched when Naruto approached, but allowed him to attach the seals in the same manner. He helped his friend from his chair, wrapping Shisui's arm around his shoulders.
Naruto slipped a small square of paper into Shisui's palm and whispered, "One more seal, Shisui. But you'll have to direct your own chakra to this one; it's for the pain."
They followed Orochimaru and Kabuto to a door in the back of the lab. The room was small and hot, but Kabuto moved to turn the temperature down as much as it would go. The doors to the chute wouldn't unlock and open without the fires burning, Danzo was too smart to leave such a convenient exit. He didn't take into account however, that Uzumaki Naruto would become a burgeoning seal master.
Orochimaru gripped Naruto's shoulders. "You know what to do. Shisui will take care of things on the outside."
"Why don't you escape, Orochimaru-sensei? I can give you copies of the preservation seals."
The dark haired sannin almost glared at him. "Someone has to be here to start the incinerator. Besides, I am more useful here. I have a puny laboratory, unlimited numbers of test subjects, and much work to do for the underground. I am not a part of the Old Konoha Shisui has told you about, but I have my own people to whom I am loyal."
He nodded and began to turn away, but was stopped by Orochimaru's tightening grip.
"Naruto, if you meet Tsunade and Jiraiya, ask them: did they forget about their poor deranged teammate? Let them know, imprisonment has a way of reviving one's humanity."
He nodded again and debated hugging the creepy man. Orochimaru-sensei had been there as long as Danzo-sama had been, and while he wasn't nice, he wasn't unkind. He decided against it.
Naruto and Shisui slid onto the metal slab and applied the painkiller seal. The slab was slid into the metal tomb and the door clanged shut. They gripped each other and surged chakra into all the seals temporarily tattooed on their skin, and almost immediately, the incinerator ignited.
The burning was indescribable. Naruto tried to catalogue everything in the situation. Only a few more minutes he told himself. The painkiller seal was just enough to prevent Naruto from going insane from the agony, but it was a near thing. His skin still cracked and burned. He could barely feel Shisui's grip on his arm but took comfort that the tighter Shisui held on the surer Naruto could be that he was alive. He couldn't open his eyes, stupid, why didn't he think to make seals for the eyes?! Hopefully, the seal on his head would prevent any damage. The seal on his mouth and nose prevented him from breathing in. Any of the scalding hot air and heat waves breathed in would result in internal burning of his lungs, so instead of suffocating from the fire it was decided it'd be better to suffocate from an airtight seal. He couldn't feel Shisui's hand anymore. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't feel anything.
When he did open his eyes again and take his first breath in what seemed like eons, Naruto found himself staring at a frantic Shisui. A dark sky was the backdrop behind his friend's head, littered with millions of stars. He stared, mesmerized. The sky was a beautiful and enormous monster, swallowing the world whole.
Shisui was shaking him. "Naruto, say something! Please, you have to be okay, please."
He gasped in another breath. "I'm fine, Shisui-nii."
Well, he felt a little ill, but he didn't need to worry the other boy. Shisui didn't look too good himself. There were open lesions and sores from the heat, and patches of his skin were painfully cracked and dry. Naruto imagined he didn't look much better.
"Good, well if you can stand, we need to get going. I already killed one Root guard. The curse seal activated while we were in the incinerator. It was difficult to deactivate."
Shisui looked odd. Naruto squinted at his friend and didn't move to get up. After another second, he reached his hand to his own head and felt his eyes grow wide. "…Shisui…we don't have any hair."
Sakura waited patiently for news of Sasuke's and their classmates' graduation exam. She had plenty of practice being patient; all of her life was a waiting game. Izumi had snuck her over to the clan head's house and they were quietly sitting in the kitchen. Due to the rationing of food, there was no mochi or cake, but Mikoto-san had managed to buy some expensive tea as a treat for Sasuke. Izumi and Sakura had worked to grow tomatoes in Izumi's garden and they were just ripe enough in time. Itachi was, unfortunately, on a mission and would miss his brother's becoming a genin, but had cleaned and polished their father's old tanto and wrapped it in stiff, brown paper.
The pink-haired girl smiled as Mikoto placed watery tea in front of her and Izumi. She was so grateful to the Uchiha. After her parents' death, they had hidden her in Izumi's dark house on the outskirts of the compound. For the first year, she was hardly allowed outside, staying in the tiny room behind the old grandfather clock, and it was miserable. She had no family and no possessions, and was alone the majority of the day until Sasuke would visit after class and share what they had learned. Izumi herself had often been busy with missions, and Mikoto and Itachi were busy with clan and Old Konoha duties.
As an eight year old girl, being imprisoned and alone so often was detrimental to her physical and mental health, and she knew she was forever in debt to the enemy shinobi that ruined Izumi's left leg on a mission three years ago and caused the older girl to take an early retirement.
Izumi taught her advanced chakra control exercises and iryou-ninjutsu. She brought her books from the library and helped her train in taijutsu and ninjutsu. She watched over her as Sakura cautiously played in the small garden and told her stories and histories that were banned since Danzo-sama became Hokage. It was thanks to Izumi that Sakura was on par with her now genin classmates.
She didn't wonder how long she would have to stay in hiding, thoughts of that were forbidden. She was still too young and unskilled to survive outside of Konoha, but if worse came to worst, Itachi had told her there was a safe place for her in one of the other shinobi villages. She didn't know what kind of connections Itachi had with foreign villages, but she was smart enough not to ask.
The sound of the door sliding open alerted the three girls to Sasuke's arrival. Mikoto went to greet him as he pulled his shoes off, and Izumi and Sakura stayed seated at the table. Sakura smiled when she saw the shiny hitai-ate on Sasuke's head. She was proud of her classmate.
The boy gave a small smile in return before seating himself across from the two girls and proceeding to explain how the examination went.
"It wasn't hard. I think they want everyone to graduate so that they can join the ranks, and as our class was weeded out consistently every year in the academy, anyone left was certainly able to pass. But…Kiba failed."
Mikoto jerked around from her place at the counter. "Inuzuka Kiba? Why wouldn't he have passed?"
Sasuke shrugged. "I don't know, Kaa-san. He is loud, but he's not unintelligent. It was strange. I know that his grades dropped even lower after his sister was taken to the Root training camps, but as a clan heir he should be passed almost immediately."
Izumi shook her head. "That may have been true when clan heads had a say in the government, but now I don't think that Tsume-san taking an issue to the Hokage about her son's failure will bring positive results."
Sakura shuddered. She knew, it didn't matter who your parents were, or how influential they might have once been, Danzo didn't care.
Shikamaru watched as Mizuki-sensei approached a confused and forlorn Kiba. Something wasn't right. Kiba had been in their class as long as anyone else, had worked with his pre-determined teammates Shino and Hinata through countless exercises, and was able to perform just as well. While the other boy was brash, he was caring and brave, and perhaps more importantly, he was the son of a clan head.
Mizuki-sensei must have had a reason to fail Kiba, and Shikamaru planned on finding out what it was. He waited until the white-haired chuunin finished talking to his classmate. Kiba had an even more confused look on his face. It was slightly suspicious too. The brown-haired boy forcefully sent Akamaru home, not relenting on his order of the puppy leaving. Shikamaru slowly rose from the Academy steps and shuffled toward the swing, startling his friend.
"Kiba, what did Mizuki-sensei want?"
The brown-haired boy fidgeted. Anxiousness, suspicion, and a great fear still lingered in his gaze.
"Kiba, we've been friends for six years; I know you're strong enough to pass the graduation test. Tell me what happened and let me help."
"I don't want to get anyone else involved. It's a load of trouble."
At Shikamaru's glare, Kiba looked down and mumbled, "I have my own special test. Mizuki wants me to steal the Scroll of Seals from the Hokage's office."
Shikamaru felt his face pale in shock. "That's a death sentence. Danzo-sama and his Root agents will catch you!"
The other boy gave a feral scowl. "I know that! But, Shika, I have no choice. With Hana-nee sent to the training camps, I am the remaining clan heir. I have to become a genin!"
"Do you think that if you get caught that you won't also be sent to the training camps? The Inuzuka will have lost both clan heirs. As loyal as they are, they'll try and revolt. Your clan will die, Kiba."
Kiba made a pained, frustrated noise. "Why do you have to be so logical? What kind of friend tells another of their imminent failure and their family's succeeding massacre?"
"Don't be so dramatic." Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "I have a plan. Do you know why Mizuki wanted the Scroll of Seals?"
"He didn't say. Just told me I needed to use my ninja skills to steal it and then to meet him after the curfew later. But…he didn't seem nervous suggesting a crime, just smug."
Shikamaru thought that over. Why wouldn't Mizuki be nervous while discussing a treasonous plan to steal from the Hokage? "Hm. Come on, we've got to make a couple of stops before heading to the Hokage tower."
The two boys waited somewhat impatiently in Akimichi Choza's office. The muscled man was thinking over Kiba's explanation of the situation and Shikamaru's half-formed plan. His arms were crossed and he was glowering at the stack of papers on his desk. Chouji was sitting next to them, glancing wide-eyed between his friends and his father.
Choza sighed. "You are as smart as your father, Shikamaru. But Danzo-sama's cunning knows no bounds. Danzo kills or arrests everyone he fears, and I have been lucky so far to have been underestimated by him. I can be a witness, but I don't know if I will be enough. Anything more and I put the Akimichi in danger too."
Shikamaru dipped his head. "Maybe you can still be underestimated? He won't do anything to hurt me; he needs me as insurance for my father's obedience. I can confront him and you can act as simply the concerned uncle you are."
Choza smiled sadly. "Alright. Let's ask Mikoto-san to come too. Danzo seems to have forgotten she was once an ANBU captain and is not only a broken, weak-willed mother. But, she has influence over a still powerful clan and hopefully Danzo will behave with us accompanying you."
The large man stood, and Shikamaru wondered at how Danzo could underestimate such a fearsome figure. He asked Chouji to stay in the Akimichi compound for a while before inviting the rest of their classmates to barbeque for dinner and informing them of the situation behind Kiba's graduation exam failure.
Shikamaru and Kiba then followed Choza to the Uchiha compound. It was Sasuke who answered the door, and he didn't look surprised to see the Akimichi clan head and Shikamaru and Kiba on his front step. He just gave Shikamaru a knowing and slightly exasperated look before inviting them inside.
Shikamaru recognized Mikoto-san and Uchiha Izumi, and he was happy to see Sakura seated next to the older girl. This time, he and Kiba sat with their classmates while Choza explained Shikamaru's plan to Mikoto. They didn't speak much, Sasuke and Sakura were already quiet preteens, and Kiba was too nervous and dejected to be his usual loud self.
Mikoto and Choza returned to the kitchen. The dark-haired lady placed her hand on her son's shoulder. "Sasuke, you will run a message to Tsume-san and then return to stay with Sakura and Izumi. I must go immediately with Choza-san and Shikamaru and Kiba. Sasuke, I-I'm sorry. Congratulations on your graduation."
Sasuke waived her apology away. "It's okay; we'll celebrate when Itachi returns from his mission."
Shikamaru watched as she briefly frowned. "Well, at least you can open his gift. I have a bad feeling you may need it sooner than when he returns."
Mikoto handed a long, brown paper wrapped package to Sasuke. The other boy gently tore the paper off to reveal a finely engraved and well cared for tanto.
"This was Tou-san's." Sasuke visibly gulped, and his eyes were wet. "I…I guess he really isn't coming back for it. I'll take care of it, I promise."
"Let it take care of you, Sasuke." Mikoto moved to hug her son, and Choza, Kiba and Shikamaru moved into the front room. Choza took Shikamaru aside.
"You mentioned earlier, Shikamaru, that Danzo-sama wouldn't hurt you." A large hand was lightly placed on his shoulder, and Shikamaru made sure to keep eye contact with his father's friend. "Don't, for one second, think that he won't hurt you. Don't doubt that he will. Are you sure you want to go ahead with this?"
He looked at Kiba standing not five feet away in the small room, but was staring at his shoes in an effort to give them privacy. He pictured Sakura in the kitchen, pale and small, but her eyes so full of relentless hope. He thought of Sasuke, the moment he realized whose tanto was being gifted to him. He remembered one of his father's lessons: A good leader is only as loved as his people are loved. Troublesome.
"I am sure Choza-ji. Thank you."
Kiba came to his side then too. "Whatever you need Shika, the Inuzka will give it to you with the best of their ability…I will give it to you."
