Chapter 17

The ROOT of All Evil

Kakashi lay on his stomach waiting for the spasms running through his body to subside. He'd known the removal of the blocking seal would be painful – especially considering the creator of the seal was not the one removing it – but even he'd been surprised by the intensity of that pain. He knew he'd managed to reopen at least a dozen of the barely healed injuries he'd sustained from Orochimaru, and right about now he was seriously wondering if he'd made a tactical error in having Iruka remove that seal at all.

"Where does it hurt, Kakashi?"

He turned his head until Pein's face came into view. To an outsider, it probably looked like the young leader of the Akatsuki was emotionless. But Kakashi had been living here for the better part of a year, and had been interacting with Pein enough to notice the slight narrowing in his black and white eyes and the way his lips were pulled tight. These two things were more than enough to tell Kakashi that the Leader was actually very concerned for him. Kakashi frowned as he tried to push that thought to the side. After all, he knew now that he'd been brought into the Organization under false pretenses, and complicating that fact with thoughts that these villains might actually care for him was not what he needed right now. Kakashi sighed.

"Why don't I tell you where it doesn't hurt. The list is shorter."

Pein's eyebrows raised at his comments. "Perhaps you could point out where it hurts the most instead?"

Kakashi chuckled softly and closed his eyes, trying to pinpoint where he actually did feel the worst. It had to be his left side...just below his ribs. Orochimaru had pierced him with a rather nasty pronged fork, and those deep tunnel-like wounds were proving the most difficult to heal. He knew that Tsunade would have been able to fully mend the wound with little effort, but his classification as an enemy while back in Konoha meant that she, and all of the medic-ninja, were strictly forbidden to fully heal him. Only once he had been cleared of the charges would he have been allowed to be brought back up to full health. It was a very successful policy used to keep a prisoner suitably subdued, but it definitely was not enjoyable if you happened to be on the receiving end of it.

Kakashi opened his eyes just as another spasm wracked his body. He pushed his words through gritted teeth. "The puncture wound on my left side is the worse spot. I don't suppose you've added a medic to the group while I was gone, Leader?"

Pein narrowed his gaze and proceeded to kneel next to Kakashi and examine the indicated wound. "There is nothing I can do for this aside from applying a fresh bandage."

Kakashi tried to chuckle at that, but ended up groaning instead. "I'll take that as a 'no' to the medic."

"I can help him...if you'll let me." Iruka's heartfelt plea caught and held Pein's attention.

The Akatsuki leader stared back at the chunin as though trying to judge what was said. After several minutes where no one spoke, Pein finally broke the silence. "Bring the chunin over here, Itachi."

Kakashi shifted on the bed until he had a clear view of Itachi guiding Iruka across the room. The chunin was now chained, hand and foot, so he was forced to take three short steps for every full step Itachi took. His hair had completely escaped from its normal hair-tie, and was dancing along his shoulders with each awkward step. Once Iruka and Itachi made it to the bedside, Kakashi watched Pein move over to join them.

"Why should I let you touch our Brother when the last time I did just that, you did nothing but cause him pain?"

Iruka frowned. "Seal removal isn't meant to be easy you know. If it was, they wouldn't be as effective as they are. Besides, healing is something I am much more skilled at."

Pein narrowed his eyes. "Just how skilled could someone like you be, chunin?"

Kakashi rolled his eyes when he noticed Iruka's face beginning to change into the deep red hue he had come to expect when the man was angered or insulted. He had figured he should defuse the situation before Iruka's hot temper got him into more trouble than either of them could get out of.

"Iruka is an Academy sensei, Pein. He teaches weaponry classes to the pre-genin. All such instructors in Konoha are required to maintain advanced healing skills at all times. He will likely be more skilled than most second-year medic-ninja."

Pein's gaze shifted from Iruka to Kakashi. "And do you feel those skills would be adequate to fully heal your injuries?"

"I doubt he can fully heal them, Pein." Kakashi chuckled, causing Pein to raise his eyebrows and Iruka to glare at him. "He just doesn't have the chakra levels for that...especially after the seal removal. But I do think he can take the brunt of my pain away, and hopefully keep me from bleeding out anytime I need to sneeze."

"You seem to hold a great deal of faith in this man, Kakashi." Pein narrowed his eyes. "Perhaps a bit too much faith."

Kakashi tried to think fast. One wrong placed word and he and Iruka could be in worse danger than they already were. "I never would have figured that you would confuse logic with faith, Leader. Have things changed so much since I was taken?"

The ghost of a smile crept across Pein's lips. "I am glad to hear that you were taken, Kakashi. After all, there were those among us who were certain that you had voluntarily left us."

Kakashi noticed Kogoejini and Kisame tense slightly at Pein's words and knew he'd need to be careful around the former Snow and Mist shinobi. The last thing he needed right now was to give any of the Akatsuki a reason to watch him too closely. He shifted enough to cause a flare up of pain and he knew exactly how to respond to the subtle accusation.

"Right...because everyone knows I can never have enough alone time with Orochimaru and his penchant for torture."

Pein's lips actually twitched with what might have been humor. "You make a valid point, Kakashi."

Pein stepped aside and motioned for Iruka's wrist chains to be removed. He then had the young man brought closer to the bed and forced to his knees. Kakashi held his breath as Pein placed one hand onto Iruka's shoulder.

"We'll be watching every move you make, Sensei."

Knowing that Kakashi was the only one in position to see his face, Iruka rolled his eyes at Pein's comment and mumbled his reply just loud enough to reach the Copy-ninja's ears. "I'd be disappointed if you didn't, you paranoid prick."

The smallest look of warning lit Kakashi's eyes, and Iruka let loose a loud sigh to cover his bit of rebellion. He leaned closer and went to work examining the wound on Kakashi's side. It was obvious why the thing was causing the Copy-ninja so much pain. The entry points were red and inflamed, and there was more than a bit of off-colored puss leaking out.

"I need you to relax, Kakashi. It shouldn't hurt as much this time."

"Is that a promise, Iruka-sensei?"

The faintest smile made its way to Iruka's lips, and he was about to make a comment worthy of the Copy-ninja himself when Kakashi's eye went wide and every muscle in his body tensed in obvious pain. This was followed by the most unearthly howl of pain Iruka had ever heard in his life. Before he even had time to react, he felt himself being pulled away from Kakashi's bedside and thrown to the ground a few feet away.

Pein's foot landed firmly onto the back of Iruka's neck, effectively pinning him to the ground while Kakashi continued to scream in the background. "What have you done to him, chunin!?"

Iruka tried desperately to get loose, but the strength behind that foot made it impossible to budge. He knew he was just shy of panicking and did nothing to hide that fact from his voice. "I didn't do anything to him! I hadn't even started yet!"

Before anyone could say anything else, explosions went off around the room, casting the area into a thick fog of gray smoke. Iruka could hear the sounds of battle, steel on steel causing faint sparks of light within the gloom. Still, the foot remained firmly planted on his neck. Iruka held back the urge to laugh at the fact this single act of brutality against him actually kept his lungs free of the cloying smoke as his face was pinned down in the only clear air around.

Of course, the moment those thoughts made it into his head, the foot moved off his neck and a hand gripped Iruka by his hair and pulled him back up to standing. It had happened so quickly that he didn't have a moment to think before he instinctively sucked in a lungful of air in response to the absolute pain he felt at his scalp. Of course, this resulted in Iruka choking back against the smoke he'd inhaled.

The hand in his hair tightened and kept him from moving very far in his attempt to clear his lungs, and soon Iruka felt the cold steel of a kunai edge pressed close to his neck. "One more step and the Sensei dies."

Iruka's heart beat sped up as he peered out to try and see just who Pein had made that threat to. The smoke was already starting to clear away – no doubt helped by a wind jutsu or two – and now Iruka could see just who had caused this disturbance. The perimeter of the room was lined by a dozen and a half shinobi dressed in varying types of ANBU battle gear. Many of them wore dark gray cloaks and a style of white mask that was extremely nondescript. But there were a handful of others that he actually recognized from his encounter with them in Kakashi's Konoha hospital room, such as Puma, Hawk and Wolverine, in addition to Ferret and Jackal. The sight of them made Iruka think he might still survive this nightmare, but his hopes died the moment another voice sounded out into the room...a voice he knew all too well from his times helping the Third Hokage over the years in his office.

"Do what you like with the chunin, I'm not here for him."

Danzo stepped past the ring of ANBU and moved toward where he and Pein were standing. Iruka tried to swallow back the lump that was forming in his throat at how callously the counselor wrote him off, and was rather painfully reminded that there was still the very sharp edge of a kunai leaning against his skin. He felt Pein tense ever so slightly as Danzo continued to speak.

"You will surrender the Copy-ninja to us now. He is no longer of any use to you."

Wolverine took two steps toward where Danzo stood leaning against his cane, before three of the unknown ANBU blocked his way. Iruka realized belatedly that these must be members of the ROOT section which was under Danzo's direct control. Wolverine growled while Jackal spoke into the room.

"ROOT has no authority in this matter, Danzo."

The heavily bandaged man turned until he was face to face with the ANBU Jackal. "How rich it is that I would be lectured to by someone who, just this morning, was declared a missing ninja by the blond bitch. What do you think the Princess would do if I returned to Konoha with your heads in the same bag as the Copy-ninja's, hmm?"

Iruka watched Jackals hands clench, but it was Wolverine who chose to reply to the open threat to himself and his companions. "Many have made that threat before, Danzo. Are you really so foolish as to think you might succeed?"

Danzo smiled darkly at the ANBU, and the look of it sent a shiver up Iruka's spine. "Unless you are more foolish than I thought, Ibiki Morino, we will never know the answer to that question."

Iruka's eyes went wide at how Danzo had just thrown out Ibiki's name like that, but he noticed Wolverine made no outward reaction to the information at all. "What are you getting at, Danzo?"

The counselor tipped his head back toward the bed where Kakashi was still struggling to keep the screams from escaping his lips. "If you want the Hatake brat to live through this encounter, there are a few things you all need to acknowledge. I am the only one who can put a stop to the jutsu that is causing those chakra seals to torture him from the inside." Danzo shifted his glare to where Jackal was fishing out a handful of senbon. "And if you think killing me would release the fool...think again! If I die before the jutsu is released, Kakashi Hatake will writhe in agony until his weak little heart finally gives out."

As though to punctuate Danzo's threat, Kakashi let loose with another soul-crushing scream. Iruka cringed. He'd never heard such sounds pulled out of anyone...let alone Kakashi. He felt his heart clench more and more with each horrendous sound made until he thought he'd scream himself.

Wolverine growled once more. "How did you manage this one, Danzo? No one was present when I placed those seals except myself and the Hokage."

Pein's voice next to Iruka's ear reminded him that this was far from just between Ibiki and Danzo. "So then you are not as important as Kakashi led us to believe, Sensei."

Iruka tensed as his mind tried desperately to find some way to keep his value in the eyes of the Akatsuki. "I can still heal him. Isn't that worth something?"

The blade at his neck lowered. "True enough. We will need a competent healer once we break our Brother free of this Danzo's torture."

Iruka wanted to sigh in relief, but what happened next made his heart skip a beat. Pein grasped him by his collar and pulled him in close. "Stay close to Kakashi and do not leave his side...no matter what."

With that said, the young leader of the Akatsuki tossed Iruka toward Kakashi's bed. It took all of Iruka's concentration and skill to keep from landing head first into the bed, considering his ankles were still chained together. But he managed to come to a stop by bracing his arms against the side of the mattress even as he slid awkwardly across the floor. When he got there, the rest of the room faded into the background as his eyes locked onto the writhing form of Kakashi Hatake.

The Copy-ninja's body was curled in on itself in almost a fetal position, and there was a thick layer of sweat covering his exposed skin. Every muscle in the man's body looked so tense that Iruka feared the man's bones might break under such a constant pressure. His breathing was coming in short gasps...when he wasn't screaming, that is. His mismatched eyes were glazed over in pain, and Iruka doubted Kakashi even registered his presence at his side. Iruka couldn't even begin to imagine the level of pain the jonin was enduring...and that in itself made it clear to him that he wouldn't abandon Kakashi. He'd stick by the man's side until this was finished, one way or another.

Another wave of pain caused Kakashi's muscles to contract farther, and Iruka narrowed his eyes as he noticed how the muscles affected rippled outward from the seal. He took a moment to get a closer look at that seal. He knew Ibiki had set the thing in place weeks ago in a secured location under the watchful eyes of the Hokage. So, the obvious question was just how had Danzo been able to gain influence over the seal?

The act of creating a chakra seal was something Iruka was quite familiar with. He actually taught the basics to other chunin who were readying themselves for their jonin exams. Granted, it was never anything more than how to use the ink to draw the specific patterns needed to guide the final infusion of the creator's chakra into the final seal, but still...it meant that Iruka did at least know that no one could possibly hijack a sealing without the creator noticing it. Unless...he stared once more at the intricate ink drawing that covered a large portion of Kakashi's back...could that be the answer?

Iruka licked his lips as an idea pushed to the front of his mind. He looked back over his shoulder to where Danzo was being confronted by Pein and Ibiki, while the other members of the Akatsuki and the ANBU focused on the ROOT members scattered throughout the room. Iruka scanned the area for what he suspected was there, and just when he was ready to give up the search, he caught sight of one more member of ROOT partially hidden in the shadows of the far wall. The masked and hooded shinobi held their hands firmly in a sign Iruka suspected was the cause of Kakashi's current predicament. The hand-sign was commonly used in interrogation techniques. At least that's what Iruka had read over the years.

Iruka looked for some sign of whether anyone else had noticed the skulking ROOT member, but it appeared he was the only one. He glanced around to see if there was something...anything...that he might use to disrupt the hand-sign, but there was nothing. Iruka frowned and tried to think of what he could do. His ankles being tethered made his own thoughts of attacking the ROOT member out of the question. He doubted he'd manage to make it two steps without tripping over the chain, and his transport jutsu on a good day wasn't all that accurate...something he'd meant to work on, but with his busy schedules between the Academy and the Mission Desk, he'd just never gotten back to it.

That left only one possibility...Itachi Uchiha. As much as the concept of pinning his hopes on the traitorous Uchiha made his stomach churn, the fact of the matter was that Itachi was the closest person to him at that moment, and he really couldn't be choosy if he truly wanted to help Kakashi. Swallowing his pride, Iruka used a small amount of his remaining chakra to pitch his voice so that it would angle toward the ear of his intended target...Itachi. It was a trick he often used when the pre-genin got out of hand back at the Academy, and he took a small bit of pleasure in how he was actually proving the skill's worth in an actual battle situation.

"Itachi...you need to take out the ROOT member at the far wall!"

Iruka watched Itachi's shoulders tense slightly, but the man gave no other sign that the message was received. This left Iruka in the unfortunate position of not being sure if he had been heard. He bit his lower lip and glanced back at where Kakashi's voice was screaming out again, and decided he'd just have to try again. He turned back to where Itachi had been and was surprised when he didn't see the Akatsuki member there.

Iruka's hope soared and he shifted his gaze to the far wall where the ROOT member had been spied. Sure enough, Itachi stood over the still body of the masked shinobi, a puddle of blood pooling at his feet. Iruka sighed in relief and smiled at the small nod of acknowledgment the Uchiha gave him before launching himself back into the fray. Iruka kept the smile on his face as he returned his attention back to Kakashi.

The smile shifted back to a frown when he saw the state the Copy-ninja was still in. Although the pain being caused by the unknown ROOT member was obviously gone now, the damage had already been done. Kakashi's muscles continued to clench sporadically...almost as though he were still under the influence of the jutsu. But it was likely just muscle memory that was causing the damaging movements now. Iruka stretched a hand out to rest between Kakashi's shoulder blades, hoping to comfort him, and pulled it quickly back when the man cringed at his touch and a pained moan escaped from the jonin's lips at the contact. It wasn't a scream, but it still bothered Iruka that just touching the man caused such a reaction.

He moved closer to where Kakashi's head was laying on its pillow and he leaned close to the man's ear. "Kakashi. Can you hear me? It's Iruka."

Kakashi's silver hair was plastered to his forehead by sweat, and the way he was positioned meant only his sharingan eye was visible to Iruka. Still, that eye seemed to focus on him after he spoke, so Iruka held onto the hope that the man would understand what he had to say.

"I need to try and get your muscles to relax, Kakashi, so you don't do any more damage. That means I need to place my hands on you. Do you think you can let me do that?"

Kakashi closed his eye and took a slow, deep breath through his nose. Iruka watched one corner of the man's mouth twitch up into what might have been a smirk before words were forced past the jonin's lips.

"I knew...you'd come around...Sensei."

Iruka felt the telltale blush cross his cheeks at the words, but he had to admit those were the best words he'd ever heard. It meant Kakashi's mind wasn't shattered by the levels of pain he'd been in, because he'd recognized who Iruka was, and managed to abuse him at the same time.

"In your dreams, pervert. Now hold still so we can be ready to move when we need to."

Ibiki had faced off with all types of enemies over his many years in ANBU, but he'd never expected that Danzo would be amongst that list. Still, he needed to face the fact that this man...one of the esteemed elders of Konoha...had played a part in the tampering of the seals placed on Kakashi Hatake. It took Ibiki a few moments to figure out just what Danzo meant by his words, but then the answer was as plain as, well...as plain as ink on paper. Or in this case...as plain as ink on skin.

ROOT was known to contain shinobi who held the innate ability to infuse their chakra into various inks. It wasn't too far-fetched to think that the leader of ROOT had somehow managed to make sure some of this altered ink was on hand when Ibiki created the chakra seals on Kakashi's back.

Ibiki prided himself with his overly cautious nature. It was a trait that had saved his life, and those under his care, more times than he could count. So, to learn that he had been undermined with something as simple as swapping out his ink-pot...well...Ibiki was not a happy shinobi. And as anyone who knew Ibiki could tell you, an unhappy Ibiki was a deadly Ibiki.

He pulled his lips back in a snarl and launched himself at Danzo. His attacks were blocked with a fluid grace that belied the fact the man was bound, hand and foot with bandages, and walked with a cane. The older man's style was vaguely reminiscent to the Third Hokage's taijutsu moves in how Danzo could move seamlessly from one combination to the next. That, however, was where the comparison ended.

The Third Hokage, when engaged in a deadly battle, moved in such a way that the enemy's death would be swift. Danzo seemed to enjoy using moves that were meant for optimum pain rather than death. It was almost as though the elder took pleasure in crippling those around him. It was simply one more reason Ibiki's opinion of the fool was lowered even more.

Midway through another round of blocked attacks and parries, Ibiki watched Danzo form a single hand sign while sending his cane in an arc toward his head. Midway through that arc, Ibiki's eyes went wide when the sturdy wooden cane transformed into a long double-edged blade. His plans to block the cane's movements with his arm fell to the wayside as Ibiki desperately twisted out of the deadly path of the blade.

His movements proved to be just a touch too slow and Ibiki grunted when he felt the sharp edge of the blade dig into the back of his right shoulder before being wrenched free for another strike. Not wanting to admit defeat quite yet, Ibiki threw himself down with his palm flat to the floor. He used the position to thrust his legs out behind him in a sweeping motion and felt a moment of satisfaction when his foot caught Danzo's ankle...pulling the man forward with the hit. Unfortunately, that satisfaction was short-lived when Ibiki saw the glint of Danzo's sword as the man angled the blade to allow for maximum damage on his descent.

The blow, however, never came as a series of thick chains shot out and wrapped themselves around the elder's body, effectively pinning the man's arms to his sides and forcing him to land hard on the floor next to where Ibiki was crouching. Those chains pulled the elder out of Ibiki's reach and before he could do move than shift his weight to prepare to regain his feet, Ibiki felt his own arms being pinned to his side...although not with chains. He spared a glance down at his chest and growled when he recognized the vines for which Zetsu was famous as they coiled tightly around him. He strained to break free but it was impossible.

The half-plant freak gripped Ibiki firmly and lifted him into the air as though he weighed little more than a feather. He was brought to where the Akatsuki leader was already standing near Kakashi's bed, and he knew his comments earlier to Danzo had obviously been overheard by these men.

Pein's voice was strangely quiet amidst the chaos of the room. "Your services are required, Ibiki Morino."

Before he had a chance to respond he found himself face to face with Itachi Uchiha's sharingan eyes. He fought to keep his control, pulling into play his many training sessions with Kakashi over the years. But inevitably he couldn't win against a full-blooded Uchiha. The edges of darkness claimed him and all he could do was hope that they would all find some way to survive what was surely to come.