Chapter 16
"This is not the way to begin your career. This is a failure of devastating proportions. I needed that man. Everything is complicated further now." Danzou flung the severed hand back into Even's face. The nin's swift reflexes enabled him to intercept the thrown object easily. "Prepare that to send to the verification board. I want the bounty at least."
A moment of silence passed. The dark-armored shinobi began to turn away to take the hand and prepare it as ordered.
"Do you understand what the worth of a ninja in my command is, Even?" Danzou asked sharply, freezing his subordinate in his tracks. He had regained his composure and clasped his hands together in weary, tested patience. "Obviously, this is something I did not convey sufficiently in your training, so let me educate you further. There is but one worth. One value, above all. It is performance. You are not what your bloodline lends to the rich pantheon of the village; you are not the keeper of morality, nor the nurturer of the young; you are not the protector of the weak. There are others assigned to cover those incidentals. You are a shinobi of ROOT now. For you there is only performance of duty. If you cannot perform, then cease to exist. Do I make myself clear? By your own hand. Not," he added with a re-emerging snarl of anger, "not by bringing me a hand that proves nothing but failure!"
Even nodded. "I had the subject secured and was returning with him when Hatake Kakashi detained me at the perimeter. When…"
"No. Stop. Shut up. I have no interest in your excuses. If I wanted a report, I'd have asked for it." Danzou shook his head in disgust. "Go prepare the hand for submission. I have to take over the situation now. Disgraceful."
His single, gnarled hand made a sign that caused a fat, speckled grey pigeon to appear in his palm. He took it to the transom and set it on its usual way.
"When you've finished, come stand by. I have sent for someone who's interested in meeting you. When he arrives, do as I say and volunteer nothing. You will only answer if I direct you to."
Danzou felt a bit of déjà vu as he was reminded of his frustrations of the past - the biggest drawback with making the ROOT shinobi so unaffected by pain and devoid of emotion was that it was nearly impossible to punish them.
After a good hour had passed, the expected visitor finally made his way to the door.
"Ugoi, come in," Danzou said warmly. "You wanted to meet Even…he's returned from his mission now. Even!"
"Eh," the old man grunted as he waddled across the threshold. "You didn't haul me over here for that! Get to the point, man. Did he bring back the right one? Let's see the prisoner. There's no time to lose."
"Well, you see, Ugoi, that's the thing," Danzou smiled humorlessly as he closed and locked the door. His voice grew cold. "Even was unable to complete his mission."
From the shadows, Even seemed to materialize as he stepped into the lighted center of the entry. He had removed the masks, but was still in the full armor that was lightly splattered with bits of brain and bone.
"Why, that worthless…wait. Why did you roust me out just for this? What's the rush to tell me something like that?" Ugoi was staring openly at Even's face, suddenly growing nervous.
Danzou made a hand signal, and Even moved immediately, taking the old man in a ridiculously efficient restraining hold.
"I called you here because I need you, Ug," Danzou said. "Take him to the training room, Even. To the table."
"No. No!" The old man's struggling was pointless, completely ineffective as he found himself being carried forcibly out of the foyer. "This is insanity! You can't be thinking of using me! Are you? I'm too old, it will never work!"
"You're wrong." Danzou was reaching into his robe and freeing the leather pouch as he followed Even and his writhing cargo down the hallway. "You'll work just long enough."
While Even immobilized Ugoi by strapping him to the table, Danzou retrieved the prepared surgery tray. It had been readied for the arrival of the rogue nin, and now it would serve this new recipient instead.
"You know I wouldn't do this if I didn't have to," Danzou said quietly.
Ugoi's eyes had begun to water. "Please, Danzou, please! After all we've been through, working together…I've been completely loyal! The other members have never been trustworthy, you need me watching your back! You're crazy if you think I can survive this!"
"I'm well-grounded in reality, dear Ug. I'm aware that you won't survive. His presence will displace you at once. And after that, your body won't last him more than a couple of weeks at best. But we've run out of time. You know as well as I do that without a new infusion of life force, these precious eyes will expire. There was a time, Ugoi, when you would have fought for the chance to lay down your life for this man. Would you now let him complete his disappearance into thin air, just to extend your stay here?"
"Put them in him!" Ugoi sputtered, straining at the straps to extend his shaking fingers and point to Even. "He's young, strong…he can be the permanent host!"
But Danzou was tapping the freshly-filled syringe, jetting just a bit of the yellowish drug out of the needle's tip to prime it properly. He plunged it unto the strapped inner arm, ignoring the desperate, fearful curses of his former associate.
"We must buy time. And, unfortunately, we must use your life as the most logical one to barter for it."
As soon as the old man stopped moving, disregarding the fact that he had not completely lost consciousness yet, Danzou began to make the incision to surgically remove his right eye.
Even witnessed it all in obedient silence, assisting as directed when ordered. Once the eyes were set, he felt a strange chill, as if an icy wind were blowing clear through his soul.
The half-lives in the room had passed right through him in their rush to be near their newly-revived master; they sought the revitalized force of the one they were so irresistibly drawn to, so lovingly attached to.
It was the first thing that Ugoi noticed when the anesthetic wore off. "My villagers," he smiled warmly, his voice toned with a composure and grace it had never known before. "Your Lordship has returned."
"So you have," Danzou bowed his head for a moment. "I'm honored to be the instrument for your resurrection, temporary though it is."
"Remove the bindings."
"Of course." Danzou quickly stripped off the straps and assisted Ugoi in sitting up. The elite nin frowned in disdain as he pulled the shirting open and observed the belly covered in gray hair.
"Is this your idea of a joke? Even in this old thing, I am fully capable of sending you to be crushed in the depths of the ocean with a snap of my fingers." He grumbled at his gnarled hands. "Maybe. If these accursed things can even snap."
"Don 't be vain. Aren't you the one who's always been so disparaging about physical appearance? It's only temporary, of course. We'll have you set up with something more suitable very soon. Won't we, Even?"
Even nodded.
"Heh heh. Even. Who are you trying to kid? I ought to know my own jutsu when I see it, Danzou. I know this man."
"Well, this man is the one who failed to retrieve the first choice body for you, so don't be getting in his head. He needs to concentrate on securing you something appropriate."
Even's hand came to his face absently as Ugoi/Jeninki gave a rich, rumbling laugh.
"I have missed our constant bickering, Danzou. Our little verbal sparring matches. You just can't resist trying to tell me what to do."
"I thought that being your advisor meant giving you advice. You should heed it far more often than you do."
"Pft. I do as I see fit." He felt a slight wave of nausea as he straightened up in the unfamiliar body. "So, Iruka-sensei, how have your lessons gone for you? Have you learned all that there is to know about being unwanted?"
"Many things became known to me that I might not have experienced otherwise. There were a number of consequences that I did not foresee. Although some were clearly predictable."
"Oh, my, Iruka. I was being a little facetious - but I see that you are entirely serious. Surely you weren't completely unwanted."
"I ceased having interactions other than official duties. Because those interactions stopped of their own accord."
"My. My my my. I knew Konoha was a bitchy little village, but not this petty. I should explain, Iruka-sensei. It was supposed to open your eyes and build your character. Not grind you under the disdaining heels of ignorant cruelty." Ugoi rose up on shaky, thick legs. "By my will, I shall see to it that you feel unwanted no more!"
"Not so loud. This isn't the amphitheatre," Danzou griped. "He doesn't have any concerns about such things any more. He's my shinobi now. I have just one thing to ask of you in his regard. Reverse the jutsu on his face. You've made him somewhat of a celebrity; one look at that mess and enemy nin from far and wide know exactly who this is. Not a very handy feature in his line of work."
"Oh. Oh! Well, for that purpose…I mean, why not. Come here, Iruka."
"Even. He is no longer Umino Iruka. He has a ROOT name now."
"ROOT? So, that's why he has that get-up. He looks like a fetish model. Very provocative. You're sick as ever, Danzou."
"Not everyone has an armor fetish. The provocative nature of that uniform is all in your head. Enough of this inane blather," Danzou groused.
Ugoi/Jeninki chuckled. "Come here Even. Will you be able to stand still for this?" His question rang out rhetorically, bemused. "What would you think of my hands upon your tender face once more?"
But Even stepped up without hesitation, unflinching when the plump fingers splayed in a replay of the touch that diverted his course in life irreversibly.
"This feels sort of intimate," Ugoi sighed. "I feel like I should ask for a little privacy here."
"Get on with it."
"Silence, Danzou. You remember, don't you, Iruka? You do remember."
"Yes. I cannot forget."
"So honest." With that, Jeninki tried to loft Ugoi's time-worn voice into the right notes. It took three failures and a coughing fit before he finally had the control of those foreign vocal chords enough to find the right pitch. On the fourth try, it became immediately apparent that he'd found his voice. The mutilated flesh under his fingers began to liquefy and crawl. He marveled at Even's imperviousness to the pain. The pain of restoration far out stripped the pain of applying the jutsu. And this was not going smoothly.
When Even's face began to resemble a lava flow more than a human countenance, Jeninki finally had to admit there was a problem.
"Agh…someone has tried to restore him by laying on another jutsu. I can't just reverse it. I can only deconstruct and remove everything down to the unaffected depth. Then he'll have to recover from that on his own. It will take some time to heal."
"Just finish the removals. Once you remove everything , I can follow up and do the healing."
"Hm. As you say. So you went ROOT. Turned tail when things got rough and ran away to join the circus instead of sticking with it and developing a little character amongst your fellow Leaf. It was a waste of my time and talent to plant that jutsu on you. You. Learned. Nothing. You just ran away."
But Even had no emotional reaction, and it was more of a soliloquy than a demand for response, so he was silent. The facial deconstruction required his full attention in order to handle the pain without reaction.
"There. Done. Your turn, Danzou. Have a care, this is very delicate work. Work up the regeneration in layers overall, not sections, or he'll end up looking like a crazy quilt."
With that, he slumped down into the chair nearby, and concentrated fiercely. It was extremely difficult in such a body, but he succeeded. He deactivated the Uzingan. To the closest observer, even to a Hyuuga, he now had liquid brown, beautiful, normal eyes. Well, it would likely seem odd to any close acquaintance of Ugoi, the old man's grey eyes had grown so pale with age and cataracts that they were nearly colorless. But he was just that, a reclusive old man, and a rather unpopular one at that. So no one had likely looked at, much less paid attention to, his eyes besides Danzou in many, many years.
"Was it some medic-nin that worked on you?" asked Danzou, taken aback at the difficulty of the task that had just been handed to him.
"Lady Tsunade."
"I guess I should have waited," Danzou said quietly. "But without this complication, you would already be as you were before."
Even was laid out on the table, stoically using his training to its limit to tolerate the excruciating procedures that forced regeneration of his flesh. "We don't have time to finish this now. But I had no idea that you had Tsunade's filthy jutsu upon you. You should have volunteered this information to me. I only knew that you refused to let her give you a false face."
His patient had been instructed to be still and silent, and still and silent he remained.
"Well, this will have the same result in the end as if she had never laid a crooked claw on you. It will heal into your natural configuration. Perhaps a detectable line or two between the next healing and the original skin that was left around your features."
"You keep fiddling around with him like that and we'll run out of time," Ugoi grunted. "This body is going to have a short usable period. Two weeks, perhaps, if I don't use any more chakra."
"If we get in a bind and you lapse, as a last resort I'll put the body in supported suspension. It will sustain you safely, almost indefinitely. And those meddling mice of Tsunade's won't know you're here, even if they look right at you. They'll think I'm trying to draw out the life of my dear old sick friend. A touching display of mercy." Danzou wiped his hands, leaving his last procedure to cure on Even's motionless face. Already the redness was muted; the rough, spongy expanses roped with veins and exposed ridges of muscle were being coated over with an even, smooth, opaque layer. He looked to be frozen in mid-morph between some medical textbook depicting anatomy and a teacher photo from one of his old classes. One could clearly begin to see the face of Umino Iruka, regardless of that classic clue of the scar across the bridge of his nose, left whimsically intact thanks to Jeninki's careful cutting.
It was really the first time Danzou had seen his student's true image. It was…refreshing. He looked forward to seeing the healing completed. But a few days would have to pass before the cells would have matured sufficiently to be called upon to multiply once more.
They couldn't afford to waste those days.
"I'm afraid, this time, Even, that I haven't a set target for you. You must travel beyond these Fire Country borders and find a healthy nin of Mist or Sound. Only take Sand if you can be absolutely positive that you are not seen. Rogue nin are preferred; but I want this body in prime condition, and uninjured rogues can be hard to come by. I would expect that you will end up killing several before you manage to take a suitable one in the right condition. Sack and bring back the heads of the dead that have book values. Destroy the rest without a trace. No apologies or reports regarding collaterals or bystanders. Just disappear them and your traces as well."
"If Hatake tries to stop you this time, I will leave it to your discretion. Be sure that this time he does not jeopardize your mission. If you kill him, I want that head for certain. I want that eye intact. If you choose, you can reveal yourself to him and enlist his assistance to bring your prisoner in. Teleport in and bring him inside, and eliminate him here. Well, you may not see him at all. But he does do perimeter management around here when he's not on assignment, and lately he's been here all the damned time, according to Ugoi."
Jeninki raised his tired old head and gestured to himself. "This was your spy?"
"No one ever suspected. An old man in the Hokage courtyard, dozing on the bench…he was there to feel safe, of course, a feeble soul in the protected circle where Konoha's great minds are ensconced. He heard so many things those fools thought were secret…and he brought word straight to me. He was a good man and a good soldier, right up to the end."
"He's still fine, Danzou. I sent him to join my villagers. He's here in the room now, enjoying our plotting and planning and happy to be rid of this tiresome shell."
"Then you are saying that there really is a village," Even said, adjusting his leg armor in preparation for departure.
Danzou gave him a serious look and shook his head. "Don't concern yourself with this. All that exists for you from this point is your mission. When you complete it successfully, we can take up your other questions with Hidata at length."
"You shouldn't send him off yet, Danzou. He needs a few hours at least, twenty-four would be optimum. If he gets to over-using his chakra before then, all the work we've done on his face will be for nothing. And he'll be hard-pressed to go forward afterward with his forehead melting down into his eyes, no matter how damned good you think he is."
"As you say, then. We'll delay until morning. Get the armor off and clean it properly. You've gotten it dirty."
"You can sleep with me tonight, I won't make you use any chakra," Ugoi barked in laughter. "Irresistible, am I not?"
Danzou scowled, and the youthful eyes in the old man's head narrowed.
"Oh, you don't like that joke? Don't forget, that's my man, Danzou. I drafted him for my village. He agreed. I can reclaim him at any time."
"Ridiculous. Do you have any idea how hard it was to train an adult into a ROOT shinobi? Your induction process is just a flick of the wrist. Pick another patsy."
"Are you defying me?"
"You should remember what your needs are at the moment, Jeninki," Danzou warned darkly. "You're in a very precarious position right now. And you expect me to be willing to risk so many things - my standing in Konoha, my best friend's last days in this life, my livelihood - and for all of that, you would negate all my hard work bringing Even to life? We will need ROOT to live again. He is Tsunade's concession to that goal. If anything happens to him, it all ends. She'll shut me down again."
Keeping an ear tuned to the bickering, Even had stripped off his armor and retrieved the saddle soap and wax from the cabinets. After flicking the chunks of matter off into the trash, he sat cross-legged on the cold floor, unmindful of the discomfort to his bare skin. He began to apply the wax to the armored plates, polishing them clean and shining.
In the end, he was left alone in the training room, working the leather back into pristine condition in relative silence. The two old men had moved on with their bickering, out into the hallway and beyond.
It took time to massage the conditioner into the leather properly. It was late when he finished and found the uniform holder his equipment had come on initially, loading the armor back onto it in order to store it properly. The place was quiet. His quick check told him he was the only one left awake now.
Danzou had not told him where in the house he was to be staying. Rather than disturb the peace, Even eased himself onto the steel table and shifted his metabolism down to prepare for mission sleep.
xxxxxxxxxxx
Kakashi stood, a living testament to poor posture, leaning against the front of Tsunade's desk with one hip.
"Don't get any of that on my papers," she said, pulling the pile of proposals she'd been reviewing closer in defense.
The silver-haired nin gave a bemused masked frown and looked down at the stains and yes, there were a few bits and chunks here and there on his utility vest. His head swiveled to watch the door a full two seconds before Ibiki burst in through it.
"Ah. The gang's all here. Now, Hatake, report." Tsunade ordered.
His run-down of his observations while tailing Iruka held them rapt.
"So he was bringing in a live one. He took the right hand, you say? That's a secondary bounty item. They must be looking to collect."
"I saw them all. If it was just bounty he was after, he would have capped and sacked the other two when he had the chance, they had book value. But he burned them intact. I don't think it was book value he was unhappy about, even though I damaged his prisoner so severely the cap wouldn't have been proof of anything. He wanted that man alive."
"In keeping with the theory that he has the eyes. They won't last much longer now." Tsunade stared at her hands. "It may force him into something he'd prefer not to do. We may need to pull Iruka out, just to make sure he doesn't end up as that Sound nin's replacement."
"Maybe we can come up with some special mission and request him temporarily? Unless you're calling this off, we need a convincing story to get Iruka out of there temporarily. Don't forget, we have this alter-ego to deal with. Danzou would give you back Iruka, Special Jounin. My guess is that he won't give you Iruka, ROOT shinobi. I don't know how this will work."
"Team him with me, so I can keep an eye on him," Kakashi offered. "Time is closing in. If he's going to use Iruka, he'll do it soon. You need to pull him now."
"Yes, yes, it makes sense. Suggestions, then? What is our life-and-death mission here?"
"Get him out of there first, tell him to prep his gear and report. Give him the mission scroll here. That's how it usually works, going up blabbing about it won't ring true. It'll take him a little time unless he comes in his ROOT gear. He'll have to get his equipment from home." Kakashi urged.
"Can the messenger birds navigate through that shield he's set up?" Tsunade raised an eyebrow at Ibiki.
"It suppresses detection. It doesn't prevent anything from passing through it, " the towering shinobi answered.
"Look, it's getting late. If he was going to do anything today, he's probably already done it anyway. We can send the messenger pre-dawn with less suspicion, and if we stay on this now we can have the mission scroll ready and our stories straight as well. I hope you two didn't have plans."
Ibiki and Kakashi glanced at each other guardedly, each confirming that the other didn't appear to have concerns about foregoing any plans.
"What about surveillance?" Ibiki asked, just ahead of Kakashi's open mouthed attempt to ask the same question.
"You don't have anything in place?" Tsunade asked, surprized.
"I have a bird on the apartment and one at Danzou's. But they'll just alert me when he moves."
"Not good enough. I can put a man on it tonight," Ibiki frowned.
"I'll send Pakkun. His stealth will come in handy right now."
"Go with the dog in stealth, we can't afford to be detected and warn him. Get to it now, Kakashi." Tsunade rose and swept the piles of paperwork off her desk and into a heap on the floor before striding to the doors and sweeping past the ANBU guard.
"Shizune. This will take us until dawn at best. Keep us in hot tea, and make sure you're ready if we need something. First, I need a priority scroll blank and oxblood ink brought to my desk. Then you'll start the tea coming. Understood?"
"Yes, Lady," Shizune said. "Right away."
They worked diligently through the night, and by the wee hours the story had come together, the cleverly stylized scroll looked to be from another land, and Kakashi had geared up and was ready to go. The three waited impatiently after the messenger was sent. Twenty minutes passed, then forty. By six, an hour had passed with no reply or return of the messenger, and still no Iruka. By six-thirty, as the sun began to show on the horizon, it was apparent that there was a hitch in their plan.
"We might be too late," Ibiki said grimly. "Perhaps he implanted the eyes in Iruka last night."
"I won't indulge in guessing games yet. Kakashi, call in your ninken. See what he knows." Tsunade was leaning heavily on her elbows, staring the lone item on her desk - the mission scroll.
"Oof," Pakkun grunted, staggering as Kakashi called up his body and essence at once. The gloved hand steadied him, and he gave a grudging nod of thanks.
"Pak. Report." Kakashi knelt down on one knee.
"Not much to report. When I first got there, someone was going in the gate, but they were just past the barrier. I couldn't tell who it was. You sent the bird-brain in this morning, I'm guessing? It flew in. It didn't come out. No other activity around the place whatsoever. Nothing else went in or out. And from the outside, that shield is completely effective. Can't tell who's in there at all."
"Shit," Ibiki smacked a fist on his rock-hard thigh. "He might have done it. Sounds like he has at least one accomplice. It would have helped to know who went in. They may have been bringing the eyes from wherever he had them stashed."
Tsunade was getting a sinking feeling as well. What would they be facing then; Iruka with Uzingan powers? Would he recognize them, would he still be an ally?
"I'll sending the condor. We'll at least know that he's defying me openly if he disregards this message."
She finished her note with a flourish and used her official chop. It would be insubordination if he did nothing in receiving this one. The ANBU, alert as ever in spite of the night-long watch, came for the note without being beckoned and took it to the perches on the balcony's alcove.
Once the large bird was away, Kakashi nodded to Pakkun and sent him back to keep watch. Hope was getting slimmer, but the copy-nin wasn't quite ready to think the worst yet.
tbc