Aka Ame: Red Rain Chapter 4: Finding Despair, a naruto fanfic

A/N:I need to change the genre of this one; it's becoming a thriller and apparently not a good one.

also, have you missed me as much as i have missed you?

Aka Ame: Red Rain
赤雨

Children dream, right? I used to dream about clouds and sunshine and skies and sometimes about my future. When I was small I used to chase the endless skies with my eyes, wanting to know where they came from. Wanting to know who made them.

Kaa-san once told me Kami-sama made them, the skies I mean, so we can stare at it to our heart content.

I dreamed, but my dreams were hardly like the others. The girls liked to dream about prince charming and princess and happily-ever-after's. I knew I would never be a prince charming and I wasn't all that handsome, there was no use in denying it.

I was lazy, I knew that. I guess it runs in the family, my Tou-san was lazy too. I slept a lot during my academy years; it was pointless to listen to those teachers anyway. They always spoke about things I already knew or things I didn't need to know. We didn't actually need to know about the past, the First Shinobi War or about all of the Hokage's Konoha had and what they did for the village. Maybe if they had taught about how the ANBU worked or the plans of the Elders then maybe I would have listened.

I slept instead, my academy years was all a blur. I didn't do the tests either, they were quite pointless too. We didn't need written exams to show our intelligence. Besides, Tou-san said that I had an IQ above two hundred. I was happy, content with my life.

I never expected this ever to happen, writing all this, I guess I never really knew how troublesome writing was after all. Maybe that's why I never wrote the exams in my Genin years. I never really tired to write the Chunnin exams. I, myself, am surprised that I passed and became a Chunnin.

The first time I ever took the Chunnin exams, I was the only one who leveled up. One month after that, the Uchiha left to gain power. One year after that Hyuuga-san became a Chunnin. Three weeks after that Sakura-san disappeared.

Naruto told me that her parents were killed.

Two years after that Uchiha came back. He hadn't killed his brother yet, but had killed Orochimaru. Right after his arrival, his fan girls woke up from their slumber or something. Every time he passed, girls were screaming. It irritated him, it irritated me, and hell it irritated everyone. Funny, Ino didn't chase after him anymore. I think she started to hate him, she thought he was the reason Sakura left.

You could see it in his eyes; he misses the pink haired konoichi, maybe he misses her even more than any of us…?

How I know Sakura? She saved me and for that I am forever in her depth. She didn't care thought, said that it was her duty.

After she left, everything changed. Hokage-sama had to recruit more medics; you would have to be stupid to not see the pain she was enduring at that time. I was permanently a comforting shoulder for Ino. Naruto didn't smile as much, only some occasional smiles.

Uchiha was miserable, you could see it in his eyes. Hyuuga-san didn't seem all that affected or maybe he was but was better at hiding it than the Uchiha was. And on those small meeting I had with everyone else, I could see they mourned too.

Sakura was never said to have died because they never did find her body, nor had they classified her as a missing-nin. Thinking of Haruno-san as a missing-nin is like thinking of Choji stopping eating. Both of which was utterly wrong and weird. After all of that, life became boring again. There was nothing to do except go on C-rank or D-rank missions and sleep. None of the villages were doing anything to threaten Konoha and the rouge-nin were surprisingly laying low. Or so we were made to believe. Sometimes I was given a Genin three cell team to take care of which was weird since some of them were somewhere near my age.

One year after Uchiha's return, we were sent on a mission, a mission, which changed all our lives. Back then I was sure that it was not for the better.

Sometimes I wonder why I am even writing this. I always stopped and wondered if anyone would find it and tell stories about my life. Pride was never my thing, pride, I was taught, will always bring you to your knees. But then again…

My name is Nara Shikamaru and I am seventeen years old and this is the story or my life, the story of all our lives.

…

Chapter 4: Finding Despair
-By the Shutterbug

…

(Can you breathe now?)

…

27th September,

5: 23 pm,

The borders of the Northern Dessert of Sunagakure

Konohagakure no Hyuuga Hinata didn't let the tears fall from her eyes as she held her broken leg tightly against her chest. She could almost see her broken ribs because one of them was poking thought her skin, even out of her burnt, bloodied and dirty clothes. She was sure her back bone was damaged very badly, no wonder she couldn't move at all, her head was bleeding, it wasn't bad enough to make her unconscious but it still hurt! It hurt so much.

She wondered how the others were; she wondered if everyone was alright, she wondered if anyone was unfortunate to lose their lives.

Her battle with the blue haired Akatsuki member was horrible, too horrible. Every time she blocked the many paper planes directed towards her, more kept coming. And the worst thing was the Akatsuki member didn't even move from her place and didn't even break a sweat.

She was so tired and wanted to go home so badly, but she couldn't move.

She heard a bark, a soft one of course but she still heard it. She snapped her head up, winching with the pain and then looking around her surroundings, trying to find out where the sound came from.

"Hinata!"

In a few seconds, Kiba was standing over her. His eyes full of worry and uneasiness and Hinata smiled, only lightly because her cheeks hurt and she didn't want to feel more pain.

"Ki… Kiba-…Kiba-kun"

It's been a long time since she shuttered and Kiba knew that. He had practically seen her grow up in front of his eyes. He had seen her become stronger, he saw her stop being so nervous all the time, he had seen her stop shuttering and grow up. Kiba's eyes saddened.

She looked at him and her throat felt dry all of a sudden and she wanted to cry for the first time in so long. She didn't see the others behind Kiba, she didn't see Shino's worried look. All she can see is Kiba because he was there… he had always been there for her.

Kiba smiled gently. And Hinata couldn't help thinking how much she liked Kiba's smiles because unlike his grins which lit up the room, his smile went into one's heart like Naruto's and she felt full, somehow. Kiba leaned forward, wrapped his hands around her and pulled her closer being careful not to hurt her.

Hinata ignored the small pain she felt bolt though her when he pulled her closer, she buried her face into his chest. "It's okay Hinata… I'm glad you're okay, well as close as okay you can get." she could feel him smile into her hair.

And then it all started coming out, the pain, the sadness and everything she was feeling till now. She grabbed his shirt and cried and screamed because she was too tired and she needed to let things out and Kiba was there and he was holding her and he wouldn't have minded getting his shirt wet.

So she pulled herself closer to Kiba's body and let out the tears because everything is so wrong and nothing was going the way she wanted it to.

Sakura was gone, she wasn't one of them anymore, and she had fought against the Akatsuki and survived. Sakura was part of the Akatsuki, she was one of the bad guys, and she had betrayed Naruto, Sasuke, Ino and mostly them, Konoha. So she cried, she screamed and lets the pain out and for the first time, she wanted to die.

Kiba slowly sat down and brought her closer to him, he didn't know what exactly happened to Hinata but he understood, somehow he did. Because Hinata was Hinata and she's easy to read… well at least for him she is.

"S-… she… Kiba… -Kun… I could- I couldn't-… couldn't do anything…-" She cried and wept and felt a part of her die inside because everything was so wrong and she was tired and sick and wanted to sleep… maybe even go home.

He didn't say anything more because she didn't need to… not right now.

…

27th September,

5: 30 pm,

North of Sunagakure, Northern Dessert

"Someone there!" Karin blinked as she looked though the dust which had risen due to the wind that was blowing at high speed. Lifting a hand, she tugged at Sasuke's elbow, ignoring how he pulled it out of her reach the next moment.

"Who?"

"Someone… it is a male… I can sense his chakra… it's very weak...," Karin whispered "like he's dying."

Tenten blinked as she looked over Naruto's shoulder. He had carried her since she practically fell down all the way and couldn't keep up with them. Shikamaru was carrying the unconscious Ino in his hands; Ami seemed to be able to walk on her own. Sasuke moved pushing himself though the sand, his hand coming up to shield his eyes against the sand which was threatening to enter his eyes. Naruto followed him, shifting Tenten on his shoulders.

Something was wrong; Tenten gripped Naruto's shoulder tighter. Juugo blinked as he moved in front of Karin, Suigetsu next to him with a grin on his face.

The sand cleared and they would see clearly now, the landscape was practically destroyed, big chunks of rocks were jutting out from everywhere, there were deep big gapes in the sand all around them.

There was indeed a body in front. It wasn't moving... or breathing.

…

27th September,

5: 30 pm,

Konohagakure, Interrogation Room No.15

A tall man stood, among others, in the middle of a windowless room. He listened to the almost inaudible voice coming out of the transistorized microscope strapped to his neck, and a thin wire led to his left ear. He was of indeterminate age, somewhere between twenty four and thirty four – those years so well observed in active men with strong, muscular bodies. Several feel behind him was a wall made up of stainless, unbreakable and transparent glass. To his right and left, at the corner where the horizontal walls met each other and the roof, were two microscopic cameras and a voice recorder each, to record the happening in the room.

His hair was light blond cut short. His face was broad with high cheekbones, together with his gently sloping blue eyes, were evidence of a well matured Nin.

He listened to the voice coming out of the microscope, and then repeated the words to the two men alongside himself. His attentive ears heard every sliding tone, every nuance; the characteristic short pauses that followed the partially sibilant S's. The voice coming out of the microscope was that of the supervisor who was sitting behind the glass wall.

There was only two other people in the outer corridor: two ANBU whose postures were rigid, ready to snap into action at the slightest sound. Katana's were strapped to their backs, a weapon pouch strapped to both of their thigh. Dressed in the usual uniform, their faces were covered in masks: one wore the mask of a dog the other wore the mask of a fox, inside which were microphones. Both of them stood at attention at either side of the door staring ahead. Other than them the hallway was deserted. Not even a speck of dust should be allowed to enter the door; those were the exact orders giving to them by their leader.

In the room behind the glass wall were four men: two ANBU captains and the other two were supervisors, one bald, and the other not bald by a long shot. The bald man had a microphone in front of him which was to transmit whatever was said into it to the microscope worn by the man inside the interrogation room. The other man sat next to the bald man with a grim expression on his face, not moving. Monitor blinked above both of them showing videos of the empty corridors. Beside the black haired man was a speaker also connected with the man inside the room, one of the ANBU behind the men shifted his weight from his left leg to his right leg.

"Shall we start interrogation?" The man inside the room spoke through the microphone. In contrast with his appearance, his voice was soft with a slight hint of an accent. He listened and raised his head to look at the man in front of him, who was raising his eyebrow.

"Affirmative"

Ibiki nodded and then glared as he stared at the man before him, he bent forward clasped his hands together and exhaled lowly, his eyes never leaving that of the man before him.

"We will start this with a few questions and you shall answer because I have many ways to make you, but do tell me what you prefer: Physical pain or… mental?"

The man before him gulped but didn't answer and shifted uncomfortably in his seat, making Ibiki's eye twitch. This wasn't going the way he had planned it, he thought to himself. If this had to go his way, this man in front of him would have been spitting out answers so fast that by the end of it he wouldn't have even the time to breathe.

"Who ordered you to attack Konoha? All of you mindless bastards wouldn't have been able to attack it without a leader to guide you."

The man didn't answer and Ibiki's resolve broke, in a quick motion he was standing up and a loud slap echoed though the room, the other men in the room twitched and turned their eyes away from the scene, they all knew better than to make Ibiki mad when he was in a bad mood. Hell, it was bad to even make him mad when he was in a good mood.

"Tell me, now or else"

The threat remained unfinished but the suspect already knew that this threat wasn't an empty one. But the man didn't answer but only spat out blood. Ibiki grew angrier.

Another hit was delivered, and following it another and then Ibiki finally lost it, "I will make sure you will have a painful death if you don't answer me right now, right this second. Or I know I will make sure you don't die and I will keep torturing you. Tell me, how do you like the idea?"

The man let out a howl as another hit was delivered to his cheek, Ibiki's hand was covered with blood but he didn't seem to care. Currently, he didn't have any patience, especially not with this man in front of him. His right eye twitched as he saw the pathetic creature in front of him. He smiled mercilessly, this man would not get any pity out of him.

"I don't know! I don't know anything… Stop hurting me I don't know anything"

"Do. Not. Lie. To. Me"

Ibiki glared and pulled his hand back for another hit and this time didn't hold back, sure there wasn't any chakra involved in the punch but it did knock the man off his chair. The blond man behind Ibiki shifted closer obeying the orders given to him by the supervisor, putting his hand on Ibiki's shoulder he murmured, "Hold on Ibiki-san, you mustn't kill him".

Ibiki sighed and turned towards one of the men behind him, "Bring him in, we'll get nowhere with this guy"

"Hai! Ibiki-san"

The man with the microphone murmured into it and then the bald man inside the adjoining room mentioned towards one of the ANBU, muttering orders. The ANBU captain nodded and moved towards the door to his left and spoke quietly to the man outside. The monitors showed one of the guards moving and pressing a button on his microphone and saying something softly into it, the other man next to him did not move at all.

A few second later, he entered. His blond hair was still tied in a braid; he was dressed in his usually clothing an arrogant smirk present on his face as he looked at Ibiki. His eyes were full of mirth and his stride was full of confidence as he walked towards the interrogator in front of him. He almost laughed at the expression on the man's face, it was priceless.

It was known to all that Yamanaka Inoichi and Morino Ibiki always had a competition going on between them. They were rivals for all to see and not one dared to come in between them when they were having one of their usual quarrels. But it was also well known that neither one would stand and do nothing if the other was hurt.

It was almost un-spoken.

Ibiki rolled his eyes at the blond man and nodded towards the unconscious man on the chair in front of him and muttered, "It's up to you now" Inoichi grinned some more, feeling superior and Ibiki could see it by the way he carried himself. He shifted away from the man and allowed Inoichi to take his place.

"Is this guy I'm supposed to interrogate? Because if I say so myself, he's half dead. What did you do Ibiki, slap him to unconsciousness? "

"Well, of course it is this guy; you don't see any other man in here do you?" Inoichi scoffed and made his way towards the practically comatose-d man,

"No seriously Morino, what did you do to him? He's almost dead"

"You're over reacting, Yamanaka. He isn't dead and isn't going to die either"

Inoichi rolled his eyes before mentioning towards the men behind Ibiki, over his shoulder and muttered, "Come on here boys, hold him properly for me"

"Hai!"

Ibiki watched as Inoichi put a hand onto the man's head and closed his eyes, he could sense the sudden release of chakra given out by Inoichi and then Ibiki turned away, not wanting to look anymore. He could hear the jerking of the chair as the man on it moving painfully, trying to get away. He knew what Inoichi was doing.

He raised his hand to his face quietly traced the scars and sighed softly. The scars were deep and dark, and sometimes he liked it that way, it reminded him about the pain and torture he had gone through. It reminded him about his past, a past which he had survived. Sadist much maybe but he had stopped caring about what people thought about him a long time ago.

Inoichi frowned as he saw the glimpses of the man's memories flashed through his mind. A women smiling, blood on his hands smeared with tears from his eyes, screaming to the sky, and then he saw what he wanted to see: clocked figures, one of them giving out orders, offering money and a hand reaching towards him then erasing his memories.

Ibiki stopped in-between his musing when Inoichi called out to him, "Oy Morino, I'm done"

Ibiki blinked and moved forward as the Jonnins who were holding the man steadily moved back since there're job was done. Inoichi rubbed his head gently and then shook it, because skipping though other people's memories was hard work. Especially after what he was, he almost shivered.

"What did you get?"

"He doesn't know much, but he was given a large sum of money to do this job, and the person or should I say people who led this were-" Inoichi was cut short when the door opened rather loudly announcing the entry of someone.

"Hokage-sama!"

"Well got anything Morino?" Tsudane didn't even bother wishing the people who called out her name back. Her face looked stressed and looked like she needed to get some sleep. Her eyes oppressing everyone inside the room before it finally fell on the unconscious man in the chair. His cheeks were bruised and red maybe purple. A trail of saliva trailing down his cheek and then down his chin. She was absolutely disgusted maybe that was why she tried her best not to come inside the interrogation sector.

"Hai Tsudane-sama!"

"Well then spit it out!"

Ibiki directed his head towards Inoichi and looked at him and Inoichi looked at the Hokage, his eyes serious, "Well Yamanaka who directed the attack?"

Inoichi shifted and looked away and muttered one word that made the Hokage's eyes widened then narrow, one word that made the Jonnins gasp and Ibiki glare the hardest he ever could.

"Akatsuki"

…

27th September,

5:33 pm,

North of Sunagakure, Northern Dessert

Hinata couldn't move, she couldn't speak all she could do was stare at the sight in front of her, hey heart ached her mind screamed at her, telling her to move but her body was frozen and didn't respond.

Kiba was holding her hand, his own face twisted in sadness as he watched the girl above the body cry, her tears falling onto the body. Naruto was next to her, his own tears flowing down his cheeks.

"Nii-sama!"

In a second, Hinata was stumbling forward almost falling but picking herself up again. Kiba didn't move, his body slightly shaking. The dog beside him whined as he smelt the smell of blood in the air, sometimes he hated that his sense of smell was so developed.

The blood made his head spin around and made him want to puke. He wanted to stop looking, but he couldn't bring him to look away from the dead body. He looked at Neji, broken arms, shredded cloak, shattered mask and his blood, so much blood, the scene almost made him choke. He watched as Hinata fell down besides his dead body and watched tears spill out of her eyes like a waterfall and wondered if she deserved this. No, none of them deserved this.

He remembered the first time he met Neji, it was on a mission or maybe it was before that he didn't remember. But he remembered Neji and Sakura and sitting on the green grass and wishing he could be like this forever. He remembered Sakura's laughter and Neji's arrogance and remembered Akamaru's happy barks and teasing Neji's long brown hair. Hell, he remembers most of it and he never once thought that this day would come.

It almost made him want to cry.

He watched as Hinata and Tenten cried their broken tears and saw Naruto sitting down next to Neji and trying to hold back the tears and wished he was fast enough, strong enough to have stopped this. His body felt heavy and the next moment he was on the ground, his head in his hands and tears rolling down his cheeks.

It wasn't meant to be this way.

IT WASN"T FUCKING MEANT TO BE THIS WAY!

"Wait… his chakra sparked" Karin shook.

"WH-what?"

"His chakra sparked, it sparked dammit! He's alive; we need to get him to a hospital. NOW!"

…

27th September,

5:43 pm,

Northern forest, Outskirts of Konohagakure

The light made the corpse look even gruesome than it actually was, he wasn't surprised that the chunnin had puked two times already, even he wanted to puke himself.

The dark carcass sat upright, with its back resting on the bloodied bark of the pine tree. A long deep slash was on its torso, its clothes dripping with blood from the cut and by the looks of it, someone had thrown water on him because the man was drenched: with blood and water. The air leaked of the metallic smell of blood and made him wrinkle his nose. It had brown hair but looked like it had red because of the blood. Its face was burnt, like someone got so tired of looking at its face and couldn't any longer. His fingers broken and bent in a way it shouldn't.

His left leg bent awkwardly under him and the young ANBU captain was reminded of the empty carton of yogurt he had thrown carelessly after he had finished eating it this very morning.

'It's weird. When one dies he or she is just referred to as 'a body' and not by his or her name. Ironic', He thought as he stared at the corpse. Light fell on the dead body through the clearing in the forest making it look even more gruesome than it already was. Who in the world would torture a person like this? It was far more than cruel. He didn't have a word to describe it. It wasn't that he hadn't seen worst before he had and had participated in some too, but this was still horrible.

It was too early to see a dead body.

Especially for the chunnin, how old was this guy? Probably fifteen or something close to that, he almost felt bad for the small boy who looked like he would puke again.

"Who is he? I need an identity."

"His name's Nakatsui Usui, Jonnin Captain and forty-seven years old, Sector 108 'Red OPPS'. He has a wife but no children, mother and father deceased. Specialty is taijutsu and manipulation."

"Anything else?"

"Cause of death was torture and electrocution, looks like he was being interrogated. Time of death is estimated to be around five o'clock." The man beside him muttered and then turned to him before asking.

"Permission to speak freely, Shintaro-sama"

"Granted"

"Well, I think that he was murdered, tortured for information. Electrocution is a method used by the Sound and I presume that this is probably their work, if not then he probably got attacked by the rouge Nin who attacked our village. Those are the only two possibilities."

"Ah! Nothing I haven't thought of but good guess work," He turned around and walked away, "I guess someone will have to deliver the news to his wife."

"Um, Shintaro-sama you might want to take a woman with you sir, you will never know but the women might be a clinger, she is a civilian after all." Shintaro frowned before walking away.

He hated clingers; they just made his job much more difficult.

…

27th September,

6:02 pm,

East Wing of the Main Hospital, Sunagakure

Morimoto Natsushi was not a happy man, hell he hated this almost as much as he hated sand in his shoes, which made him highly uncomfortable. But this, this was unforgivable.

It was his day off dammit.

And the worst part he had to fix his front door, which he wouldn't have to do if those three ninjas hadn't broken it down in the first place. Seriously, they could have knocked; it wasn't like someone was dying in their house. His wife was pissed and he knew it, and his children probably thought that knocking down the door was cool.

He didn't even know how to fix a broken door. Why couldn't those people just break in like normal people?

After breaking in they had proceeded to inform him, more like command him, that he was needed in the hospital and it was an emergence acting like they didn't know that it was his day off (Which they probably didn't) and drag him to the hospital. Hell, those people didn't even apologize to him about it. If they had maybe he wouldn't have been so pissed.

He sighed, really? What sin had he committed by wanted a day alone with his family?

For this shit, he was definitely going to demand a rise. These people definitely didn't pay him enough for all the shit he did for them, he was tired. Wasn't healing four badly injured people enough for them? A man had needs and sleep was one of them.

Natsushi wasn't one to curse; if he wasn't so angry then maybe he would have had a smile on his thirty-three year old face. He practically never cursed; he prided himself in being a headstrong, cool and collected guy. But sometimes even he lost him cool especially in times like these. His wife was much better at handling these kinds of situations, so much better. He had also promised to take his two children out for dinner. He was never one to break a promise especially to his family. He was a family person and would do anything for them and sometimes being a family person sucked.

He sighed again, he needed sleep and his head was aching.

Whoever this guy was, he owned him.

Bad.

The red-haired nurse next to him was talking –Acute internal bleeding, two broken ribs, pectoral griddle broken, punctured lung, heartbeat one forty-nine, unconscious and maybe comatose, chances of survival twenty-three to hundred, broken Lumbar vertebrae and Sacrum, concussion, lactic acid infusion with blood- but he was hardly paying attention.

Because as soon as he saw the kazekage standing there with a couple of Konoha Ninja's next to him all he could think about was 'This man should be important, if I don't save him-' he saw the crazy looking in the Kage's eyes '-I might just be as well as dead'.

The red-headed Kage looked at him and then muttered, "Save him"

And all Natsushi could do was nod as he walked towards the operation theater. Yup he was definitely right; these people did not pay him enough for all the shit they made him do.

…

27th September,

6:10 pm,

Easter side of Konohagakure

Kurenai hated cleaning up after her mess. She just hated it, especially if it involved dead bodies and the metallic smell of blood. She preferred her team to do the dirty work. And by dirty she meant dirty. Another thing she didn't like was when she was made to clean up the dead bodies of the people she was supposed to save because it just meant she wasn't strong enough to protect them. That she had to train harder become stronger, faster, and wiser. And she hated it because she did not like feeling weak.

Next to her, Anko was cleaning up and the mark on her shoulder stirred. It hadn't for a long time. She frowned, it was impossible. Orochimaru was dead, long ago. Thanks to a certain Uchiha Sasuke.

"Hey, Kurenai-san!"

Anko snapped around already recognizing the voice. The same gentle voice she has worked next to for years. It was a sin, really. That guy did not know what his voice was so recognizable.

"Ah! Shintaro-san, what are you doing here? I heard that you were assigned to Sector 10" Kurenai smiled at the man in front of him, her smile almost equal to the grin on the man's face.

Anko looked at him slowly from top to down. The man was well-built and probably had a few girls on him asking for dates every now and then. High cheekbones and gentle brown eyes with long eyelashes, his hair was tied up in a small ponytail making him look older than he already was, it was strange color of red. He had a sharp jaw. Well developed muscles with rippled with every move showing off years of training. A mask was clenched in his right hand, his grin still present in his face.

"Ah, I was but I have some work for you. We'll leave in some time" he smiled gently almost apologetic. His gaze passed over from Kurenai to Anko looking at her with a gentle look in his eyes. It was a surprise this man was an ANBU captain. Anko smirked at him.

"What for?"

Anko twitched looking at the expression on the man's face. He didn't know that she could read him like an open book and the expression he was wearing right now, Anko knew that she was glad that she wasn't the one he chose for whatever he needed Kurenai for. She turned at Kurenai and then laughed at the expression on Kurenai's face.

He smiled.

"I need you to hug a crying widow for me."

…

27th September,

6:15 pm,

Western side of Konohagakure

It was shortly past six in the evening, and it was not an uncommon site to see an armed man walk through the Tenth Street of the Western side of Konohagakure. The short street was a dead end, ending with the imposing gates of a rich ANBU genjutsu specialist's residence, the Konoha symbol significantly displayed on the stone pillars. Two-thirds of the way down the block, on the right, was a faded white house belonging to a forty-seven year old Jounin captain.

It was getting dark now, the streetlights were turned on.

And every once in a while unnamed shinobi patrolled the area with radio transmitters strapped to their legs. It was said the third Hokage ordered such patrols to check for unwanted specious activities by unfavorable foreign countries. Frequent complaints were registered with the Hokage office about the unnecessary visits by shinobi to civilians every time they thought anything suspicious going on. This was the cause of most of the paperwork that had to be cleared by the Hokage.

The western side was not so important anyway.

The armed man previously walking towards the blind alley made a U-turn and retraced his steps back to Tenth Street, where he walked right for fifty yards, then turned right again into a row of garages. At the end of the garage complex was a stone wall that bordered the rear grounds of 256 Ninth Street Place, Usui's residence. Two houses directly in front of Usui's house had windows that overlooked the residence.

The man also knew that in one of the house, the one on the right, a married couple of two years stayed. Both of them were Chunnin and were now helping clear out the mess in the Eastern side. The other house belonged to an old woman whose husband had died a few years ago. A caretaker came everyday and stayed till five thirty. The caretaker would have left by now and the old lady would be alone. She would be sleeping but even if she woke up she wouldn't have been able to do anything.

The old lady was blind.

Everything was on schedule. The man looked at his watch; it was nearly time to do it. He crossed the road rapidly to the pole. He looked around. There was no one. He looked up at the end of the pole and in the next few seconds he was standing on top of the streetlight.

The spill of the streetlight was too bright, too dangerous. It hung suspended from a short metal brace just below him. He reached into his weapon pouch and pulled out a kunai. He scanned the ground, the alley, and the windows above the garages. He bent down on his knees, reached down and plunged the kunai into the light.

There was a spit, instantly followed by a static of electric filaments.

The lights went out.

He waited slightly; there was no sound. In the darkness, he pulled out a pair of senbon this time from the inside of his cloak, it was two inches long. On one end it was covered with a mild dose of lysergic acid. The senbon would be enough to kill but the acid was there just in case. If the senbon did not complete its purpose then the disorientation and the minor stress would be enough. There would be no traces of it in the bloodstream at the time of death.

He waited.

Minutes passed slowly, he stole a glance at the dial of his watch; it was six thirty-four. He could not wait much longer, his time was running out.

Then he saw the porch light. The door opened and the man felt a wave of relief flood over him. A huge animal came into his line of view. It was Usui's large dog, rumored to be one of the most vicious dogs in Konohagakure. The custom of years was being carried out. Every evening between six and ten, the lady of the house would let the dog out. Its waste would be promptly picked up in the morning.

The door closed, the porch light remained on. The man on the pole moved his weapon slightly aiming at the animal's enormous throat. In a quick motion, the man flicked his hand with great precision, through his sight he could see the dog's eyes widen in shock; the huge jaws sprang open, but no sound came.

The animal fell to the ground, dead.

…

27th September,

6:47 pm,

Location Unknown

A middle aged woman sat in a small room which had only one window through which no light entered the room. She looked at the closed door through which she had entered the room. The man who had accompanied her had dropped her off in the room and had walked out without a word. The woman was mildly curious of who the man was but had not dared to ask. The man had emitted a dangerous aura even though he did nothing to show it. In the corner of the small room stood two suitcases, both were fully packed. In two hours the woman and the suitcases would be on a run, bound for Kirigakure no Sāto.

She was a widow, a former voice imprinter for a group of rouge ninjas when they had found her. The rouge ninjas had used her to get ransom from people. Since she could impersonate any voice she heard, she was useful to them.

But then a few days ago, mysterious men had showed up when they were enjoying a banquet around a campfire. They had asked for her and had offered to leave peacefully if their wishes were granted. And being the idiotic ninja's her companions were, they had refused and the rest was history. None of them had survived to even finish their meals.

Her mind drifted as she stared at the wall.

She and her husband were caught, held as prey, during the shinobi war and had never recovered. Her husband, considered a great man by many people, never got over it and had fallen into depression. At the end of his time, his heart had burst with anguish. He had died in an underground dungeon never to see sunlight again. She had gotten out months after that but she had never gotten over the pain and loneliness of losing her husband. They were going to have a child; she had never gotten to tell him that.

She was not told why she was here.

The sad-faced woman watched the seconds tick by. She was no fool. The strange man who had led her here explained very little, but enough to let her know that what she was about to do was a good thing. Desired by far greater men than the man who had led her here. There was one word associated with the man who had led her here: subversive.

She thought of her husband.

Minutes ticked by and the lady stared at the door, waiting watching for any sign of movement. She was getting impatient. She needed to know why she was here. The agonizing slow pace of time was irritating her.

Five more minutes passed by and then the door opened.

The woman did not remove her gaze from the people who entered. Five men and then a lady. Each of the men was wearing straw hats, none of them looking at her. And behind them the lady walked in, she was beautiful. The lady couldn't help but look; this lady was erotic, the epitome of beauty, it didn't matter to her that she might be exaggerating but she couldn't deny that she was mesmerized. The men surrounded the beautiful lady, close but still far. They were protecting her she knew it, but from what?

The lady was looking at her now from top to down like she was judging her, not one word passed through her mouth and then after a few unbearable seconds she nodded. The man nearest to her moved and looked at her.

"What am I doing here?" she asked, she deserved to know. These people confused her; they had not told her anything. Her gaze was directed towards the lady in the middle.

The beautiful lady smiled her voice was gentle as she said, "You are perfect for the position my dear. You will be useful, Kami-sama will be proud of us for finding someone as perfect as her. A few minor adjustments to her body and she will be ready. Do not worry Urihara-san, we will not hurt you."

"What do you mean?"

"You my dear will be part of something beautiful, something so amazing that it will change the course of the world. We are making the world a better place for everyone. You shall help us, won't you? You shall be given a high place in the new world, I assure you of it."

Urihara Miko stared at the lady in front of her. Thinking; deciding, she was afraid. What were these people going to do to her? But she always wanted to be part of something great and this lady was not lying to her, she was sure of it. The lady herself seemed to believe in it as much as she wanted her to believe in it.

This is for you my darling, she thought.

She was primed; the adrenalin was flowing through her veins just as it used to flow. Then calm swept over her. She was confident again, a professional. She smiled and then agreed before reached to grab the anonymous women's extending hand.

This was going to be the performance of her life.

…

27th September,

6:51 pm,

Western side of Konohagakure

The man on the pole jumped down and quickly crossed the street again. He looked up and down the block, no one was in sight. A few blocks down a couple strolled returning to their house. It was getting late. Especially after the attack, everyone was told to return to their houses for safety. The man was thankful for it.

He had exactly five minutes, twenty one seconds and after that he would have only thirty seconds to get out. He nodded to himself and walked rapidly back towards the pavement, the crepe soles of his shoes noiseless on the pavement. He swung into the shadowed drive and pulled out his kunai just in case, and hoped he wouldn't have to use it. He looked at his watch again; he had eleven seconds to get inside. He would add three just for safety. He dug into the pocket inside the cloak and pulled out a key. Nice seconds left, he muttered to himself.

Now.

He inserted the key, turned the lock, opened the door and entered inside leaving the door ajar. He walked inside, his mind ticking off seconds. Time was his enemy now.

He stood in the hall and listened. The lights were on; one blub glowed right above his head. The faintest sound of a television reached his ears; it was the six thirty news. The man wondered briefly what tomorrow's news would be like. He wished he could hear it. He crossed the room and entered the living room, so silently that it seemed like he wasn't there at all. At the doorway, he stood without a sound but listening for one.

He turned the knob carefully, not making even the slightest sound and opened the door. The woman inside had dozed off, her head resting on the pillow to her side. In her feminine hands she held a pair of glasses which were not used by her but was used by her husband. The woman wore civilian clothes, nothing out of the ordinary.

The man went to the television and turned it up so that the noise would fill the room. He crossed back and stared down at the woman directly in front of him. He smiled. She had no idea, did she? No naïve, like an innocent little child. The lady's head snapped down and then abruptly up. Her face startled. Her eyes were unfocused for a few seconds and then she looked startled.

"What-… What's going on?"

The man smiled a forced smile. He was hoping she didn't wake up, it would have been easier. But apparently she was a light sleeper, but the man already knew that.

"Who are you?"

"No one important," the man smiled again, "but I'll have you know, I've met your husband. Quite a charmer, that fellow. We could have been good friends."

"What-?" the women looked him up and down and said, "Are you a friend of his or are you one of the patrollers?"

The man ignored her but moved forward, the woman was standing now, "I met your husband recently actually," he reached up and traced the woman's cheek bone, the lady shivered in his touch, "He was so stubborn. But such a good fellow, he was so loyal to his village. I was impressed; I thought people did everything when they were threatened about their lives, but I guess I was wrong. I promised him I would come see you."

The woman shook trying to move away, this man was a sadist.

"I was the last person he saw, you see. Do you want to know why?" the man grabbed her hand tightly and the lady winced. She was afraid, the man smiled again.

"I'm afraid I have bad news for you, my darling. You're a widow now. I killed your husband."

The woman's eyes widened.

With that he pulled out a kunai from his pouch and plunged it into the woman's stomach. She grunted and then slid into his arms, her eyes wide and her mouth open. No voice coming out. Blood pouring out of the wound like a river. The man stood there unaffected, his grip on the kunai tightened and he twisted it making more blood pour out.

The man moved away, there was no trace of blood on his clothes. He was an experienced killer, the man smile to himself. He reached down and pulled out the radio strapped to his leg. He pressed the topmost button twice and then listened attentively the whole time looking at the woman lying on the floor.

The radio cranked, "Two Yards. Is the work done?"

The man smiled lifted the radio to his mouth, "Pace one is completed. Threat is deleted, husband…. and wife." The man lowered the radio and pushed the second button thrice. The radio cranked again and then all was silent. He looked down at the woman again, no remorse for his actions. Swiftly, he moved away and walked towards the door, a content smile on his face.

The lady was dead, just like her husband.

…

27th September,

6:52 pm,

Western side of Konohagakure

Konohagakure no Shintaro and Konohagakure no Kurenai rounded up the corner heading towards the widow's house. It was located on Tenth Street an almost isolated area of Konoha. Not many lived there because it was a region mostly attacked by rouge Nins. But now the Eastern side had been attacked, most of the shinobi were helping sort out the rumble. They would have been helping too if it hadn't been for the murdered man.

Shintaro was almost grateful.

"You never told me what happen to the guy. I need to know something at least when I'm consoling the woman." Kurenai smiled at the man. He was a head taller than her. The man looked down at her a small smile on his face. The man was always smiling. She never saw him without that grin on his face.

"The fellow was murdered. Electrocution and tortured, but we won't be telling that to her. We don't want her making your shirt wet do we?" he raised his eyebrow and Kurenai laughed. This man really was something.

He had delivered bad news a lot of times, this wasn't his first. But it got harder every time he said it. But he knew the wives of shinobi's were strong, even stronger than the ninjas themselves. They always knew that there was a chance their husbands would never return and had learnt to accept the facts. Most of them had taken the news quite well, not crying until he had gone.

But everyone was different right?

"He was a Jounin specialist. I'm guessing he didn't give the men whatever they wanted to know and that's why they killed him, because they had no use for him anymore. Electrocution is usually used in Sound and we're guess it was them but we have no idea. The man Ibiki-san interrogated didn't give him any news about the sound. But-" he cut off, he shouldn't be telling her more than she needed to know.

"But what?" but Kurenai already knew he was not going to continue talking; Confidential, she knew and she wasn't going to force him into telling her which she doubted he ever would. The man could be secretive when he wanted to be especially when it concerned matters of the village. They had reached the garage complex and she looked ahead.

Shintaro stopped suddenly looking up towards the sky, "Something's wrong here"

"There's nothing wrong, Shintaro-san."

"The streetlight, it's broken"

Kurenai looked up towards the light. It was broken; the glass fragments from the glass had fallen down around the pavement. It looked like it was broken recently, otherwise the glass fragments would have been removed and the streetlight would have been replaced. Kurenai frowned and looked at Shintaro wondering what he thought about this.

"Probably was done by some irresponsible Genin or Academy students, don't you think Shintaro-san? They probably ran away and didn't tell anyone." She continued to look at the man. He didn't say anything for a long time.

Shintaro shook his head; Academy Students rarely came towards the Western Side. They were told to keep away from it because of the rouge ninja attacks. They usually obeyed. And Genin breaking the lamp was highly impossible, they generally owned up for their mistakes. No, this was done by someone else.

But who was it? Shintaro looked down at Kurenai, "Doesn't matter now, we'll report it later. But let's finish what we came here to do first, okay? I need to get home. I'm tired." It was a lie and Kurenai knew it. The man had not done any work, he hadn't helped clear up the mess the rouge ninja's had created. So why was he so restless?

Both of them moved swiftly towards the faded white house.

Shintaro froze for the second time, his hand coming up to hold Kurenai's wrist stopping her, "Someone's inside the house. And it's not the widow; her chakra would never have been this strong; she's a civilian." Kurenai nodded her hand going to her weapon pouch. They watched quietly as, after a few seconds, a man came out of the house, a satisfied smirk on his face. He seemed to sense them because his head jerked up and stared at both of them for a few long moments.

Shintaro snapped into action almost immediately, "Go and see if the lady's okay. I'll take care of the man". He moved so fast she almost didn't see him. His voice was commanding, like the voice of a leader's.

The man quickly turned around, Shintaro followed him.

A second later, Kurenai bolted towards the open door, pushing it so hard that it banged against the wall loudly. But she didn't stop. She looked at the hall, no one was there and then she entered the door towards her left just as quickly. The living room door snapped open and Kurenai could smell the sharp smell of blood. Quietly she moved closer to the couch.

At the foot of the couch laid a woman, blood might have been pooling out of her stomach at a rapid pace because there was a lot of blood on the floor, but the blood flow had stopped now. The female's hair was painted dark red because of the blood around her. Her clothes were drenched with blood too. Kurenai knelt down placing her fingers on the base of the woman's neck feeling for a pulse. Begging Kami-sama, hoping they weren't too late.

There was no pulse. The lady was dead, just like her husband.

…

27th September,

7:56 pm,

East Wing of the Main Hospital, Sunagakure

"Shikamaru said we're going back to Konoha tomorrow."

Uchiha Sasuke nodded him head in agreement, he wanted to go back home as fast as he could. Tsudane needed to know what had happen. He closed his eyes and continued leaning against the wall his mind filled with images of pink haired green eyes girls. How could Sakura do this to them?

He shook his head, now was not the time to think about her. Inside Hyuuga Neji was being operated on. A few feet away from him, on one of the plastic chairs, Tenten buried her hands in her face. He drifted his gaze and looked at the other occupants. Naruto was sitting on a chair next to him leaning forward. Suigetsu stood next to Tenten not moving and finally the Kazekage stood away from all of them but still close enough. His face was masked in a frown.

"We're going to have to carry Ino. I hope she's isn't heavy." Naruto said while laughing a hollow laugh trying to lighten up the mood but not succeeding.

No one laughed.

The corridor was filled with worry.

Inside, the monitors recording the heartbeat of the beeped softly indicating that the heartbeat of the man on the bed was normal. His face was stitched up and healed leaving no traces of injuries. His broken arms and ribs were healed and so were the punctured lung and the concussion. The lactic acid infusion would take some time to become normal but other than that, nothing was wrong with the man. Except for one little fact Morimoto decided to ignore.

He wanted to be happy he saved the man rather than be sad about the inevitable.

There was no way the man could have come out without being scratched. Hell this man in front of him should have been dead by now. It was a surprise he was still alive. Beside his stood his colleagues beside who stood two nurses.

He turned to one of them and spoke in a low tone, soft but yet audible, "Go tell Kazekage-sama and his friends that the man is out of danger now. They should stop worrying. But do not allow them to enter. He will not be having visitors, he needs his rest."

The woman nodded and walked swiftly out of the operation theater.

In the outer room stood four men and one woman, where were the others? Probably were admitted because of their injuries. She wasn't sure but then again that was her best guess. She stared at the shinobi in front of her and smiled slightly to ease the tension. Not one was moving she doubted they were even breathing.

"How is he?" the brown haired woman whispered almost as if she didn't want to know.

The nurse smiled, "Don't worry, you're friend is fine now, and he's out of danger." All of them seemed to relax visibly each one of them letting out a sigh of relief. Tenten smiled and raised herself moving closer to the nurse, she was bruised the nurse noticed but the girl didn't seem to mind.

"Can I see him?"

"No I'm afraid you can't. The doctor said he needed his rest, I agree with him. He looked like someone had thrown his off a cliff or something. But please, do not go in. he needs rest. But I advise you to go rest yourself, you are injured."

Tenten smiled at the women, concern in her eyes, "I'm fine don't worry about it"

The nurse smiled at the women and looked around her. The Kazekage was looking at her slightly, not a word slipping out of his mouth. She would have been lying is she said that she wasn't intimidated. The man scared her but demanded her respect at the same time. He had heard about him before, when he was a child. He was said to have been a serial killer, but he had changed.

"Kazekage-sama, I shall take my leave." She bowed and walked away quickly not waiting for a reply. She had more work to do, the doctor would probably so back home and rest. He had worked very hard.

Inside Morimoto Natsushi had not moved at all, he was still staring at the man in front of him. He almost didn't want to go out and face the Kazekage. He didn't want to tell him the news; the nurse wouldn't have told them about it. He raised and scratched his head; he was too old for this kind of stuff. This was nerve breaking.

He turned at the woman beside him, the head nurse and asked, "Do you believe in miracles?"

The lady raised her head to look at her, "No Morimoto-sama, I don't. Miracles are only for people who still believe, I stopped a long time ago. I stopped ever since my child died on a mission."

"Whether you do or not, I will need one right now. And this was definitely a miracle; it raised my belief in Kami-sama." He turned and pulled off his gloves dropping them in the steel tray by the operation tools. He turned and walked out into the waiting room.

Outside Tenten smiled even brightly. The man who had saved her teammate had just come out, she had to thank him. But the man spoke even before she could open her mouth.

"I believe the nurse didn't tell you the bad news?"

Naruto's eyes widened, "What bad news?"

"Your friend, I saved his life but," the man sighed and pulled out his surgical cap, "He's in coma."

Tenten's world shattered all around her.

…

27th September,

8:34 pm,

Konohagakure, Interrogation room No.15

This was the second time Ibiki had come into the same room to interrogate. It was like a never ending ritual and it made Ibiki sick. He was tired of everything and needed to rest. His mind was working double time and his head was spinning. It was like someone was playing with them even though he didn't have any proof to back up that assumption.

He turned around and looked at Inoichi and then looked at the three Jounin in the room. They were not the same ones who were with him before. They changed the observers every time for security purposes even Ibiki didn't know of. The people in the room behind the glass wall were the same men as before. He stared at them.

Like before the man in the middle had a microscope strapped to him, he raised his head and slightly acknowledged Ibiki's presence. Ibiki nodded back and the man whispered into the microphone again. Ibiki shifted his gaze towards the visualization room, looking as the man in front of the microphone leaned back and looked back at him.

"Shall we start interrogation?"

"Affirmative"

Ibiki nodded and walked towards the man sitting in the room. He watched him carefully; the man stared back with an expressionless face. Ibiki shifted and moved to stand directly in front of the man. The man's face was looked young; he was probably in his twenties. He had black hair with bands hanging in his face almost covering his eyes. He had a small body, fragile and it looked like he would break any second. He had a thin small face which was so porcelain, it was almost like the man had never killed a fly.

In contrast with his face, his eyes were sinister. The eyes of a killer. It was light blue, the lightest shade of blue Ibiki had ever seen, if it were to have been any lighter then it would have been completely white. His eyes were narrowed, his eyebrows together.

Ibiki smirked, what was this man trying to do, intimidate him?

Ibiki sat down silently. Behind him Inoichi frowned, he was hoping to get the chair. He shook his head; this was no time for games. This man had just murdered a civilian and not to mention a dog too. Inoichi moved towards the table and stood next to Ibiki staring down at the assassin in front of him.

"Let's start, shall we? We shall begin with a few questions; failure to answer will result in the use of severe methods of torture. Physical and mental. You are advised to correspond positively and talk or we will do what we must to get the information. Is that clear?"

The man in front of him grinned, "Crystal"

"What is your name?"

"That my friend," the man leaned forward and smiled again, "is none of you business."

"Maybe it isn't, but I'm making it my business. You killed a civilian, a lady who did nothing to harm you or whoever you work for. You had no reason to kill her unless you were paid to do so, now will you tell me what I want to know or do you want me to use force?"

"Name's Yoshiro Shin, call me Shin."

Ibiki's eye twitched. He did not like this man's attitude; the man was so full of himself. He had the arrogance with rivaled a certain person he knew. Ibiki was head to head with the man he was interrogating. It was as if nothing could intimidate him, like he was fearless. Ibiki was sure that this man across of the table believed they would not kill him, like as if he had accomplished something and now he had no fear of dying. It made Ibiki sick; he hated people who had no value for life.

"Who do you work for?"

Shin burst out laughing, it was not a laugh of happiness but of superiority, "I work for a man so powerful that on the flick of him hand you're worthless village will burn and vanish into dust. He will show you all what true power is. Kami-sama will come and save me. You just wait, he will be furious you ever touched me. I did what he told me to do; I will have a place in the new world he will create. Then you people will look up to me, all of you."

The man continued to laugh, Inoichi's eyebrow twitched. The arrogance of his man was impeccable. He waited and looked down at his partner waiting for him to do something but Ibiki just smirked. This was getting interesting.

"Who is this person you speak of?"

Shin twitched, didn't these people know? "You are not worthy to even speak of him let alone know his name. Kami-sama will be unpleased with me if I tell you of his identity."

"I see, why don't you tell us why you killed the woman then?"

The man's smile disappeared and suddenly he looked serious, "I had to. I felt bad for her, she had nothing left. Her husband was dead and so was her dog. I didn't want to. I had to. I didn't want her to suffer."

Inoichi shook furiously. What the hell was this man thinking? He wasn't lying and Inoichi knew that. The man's chakra hadn't wavered at all. This man before him was crazy, fucking crazy, "How did you know her husband was dead?"

The crazy grin was beck on the man's face, "I was the last one he saw. I was the one who killed him."

"You crazy bastard," Inoichi couldn't control himself any longer. The man's face snapped to the right from the slap he just received. Inoichi inhaled heavily, why was he losing control over him emotions? He glared.

"You fucking bastard, you killed that lady because her husband was murdered? What kind of reason is that you piece of shit?" Inoichi raised his hand again to deliver another slap only to be stopped by Ibiki who shook his head slowly at Inoichi.

The man was looking forward having recovered from the slap. The grin was still on his face. The left side of his face red and in a few moments it would become purple but the man seemed to take no notice of it.

"It was beautiful you know I mean when the light left his eyes. He whispered her name. He was a fool, so stubborn and irrational. He didn't listen, didn't go and help the others fend off the rouge ninjas. No, he wondered. Why would anyone attack the Eastern side when it was usually the western side which got attacked? He followed me. I had to kill that man, so foolish. He didn't listen to reason did he? I told him to go back, forget everything he saw. Help the others but no, he wanted to know why we attacked. He tried to convince me, I almost believed him too. 'Shin,' he said, 'It don't have to be this way. Come with me, we can help you' and I almost believed him too if it wasn't for Kami-sama. The man knew too much, I had to kill him, that's what Kami-sama told me and I obeyed."

Ibiki shook, "What did he know?"

"Four months ago, the man was sent on a mission to sound. He was supposed to bring back the scroll those people stole from you guys." Ibiki remembered. It was a solo mission and A-Rank. The mission was successful but the man had come back with several injuries and everyone had assumed that it was due to the mission. It didn't look like anything had happen on the mission which they needed to know about.

"Nakatsui-san finished the mission and then he was heading back but then something happened, I don't know what. But suddenly he came towards us, I don't know how he knew we were there but he came. We were interrogating a man for information we needed and Nakatsui-san found out. Kami-sama found out and ordered us to kill him but then that man had got away. He entered Konoha territory before we could finish him off. Kami-sama told us to hold back, he wasn't important. We could finish him off anytime."

"Then what happen?"

"We thought the man would drop it, forget it since he would get killed if he ever told anyone about what he had heard and we were right, he didn't. But then suddenly a week ago, he decided to tell the Hokage what he knew."

"How do you know that he decided to do that?"

"You seriously don't think that we would allow him to roam around freely, did you? We put surveillance on him, traced ever move he made, made sure he didn't say a word. He didn't for a long time because we threatened to torture his wife. Make her pay instead of him; he agreed not to tell as long as we didn't touch his wife. It was quite a compromise."

"I don't believe it. Why wouldn't he tell the Hokage? We would have protected his wife from you."

"You imprudent man, are you crazy? Don't you know who we are? Don't you know who we work with? The man knew and he didn't want anything to happen to his village. He was an intellectual. He knew what was good for him. You're worthless shinobi could have done nothing to stop us. We are too powerful for you to do anything to us."

"You're a bunch of rouge ninjas, that's all you are. You couldn't have done anything to Konoha. Maybe all you could have done is make a mess of our infrastructure and maybe injure a few of our Shinobi. That is all you could have done."

The man's face became expressionless for just a moment before he burst out laughing, "You don't know anything, your foolish man. You don't know anything. Do you really think that I work with those rogue ninjas? Well you are mistaken; I work for someone so much more powerful than that, more powerful than Konoha, more powerful than all the great countries combined."

Ibiki's eyes narrowed, "Explain that."

"Those rouge ninjas were just a distraction. We wanted to get the guy, thought that if we took his wife then he'll come to us. But then we didn't even have to because he came to us first."

"Those rouge ninjas were a distraction?"

"Yes, we knew that a surprise attack will be sufficient and it was. It distracted you and the shinobi on the western side went to help, we could finish our work without any distractions."

"You attacked civilians, destroys our buildings and injured our shinobi because of that? You did all that because you had to get the Usui's wife so that you can hold her as bait for Usui-san? Do you know what would have happen if our shinobi hadn't reacted as fast as they did? There would have been so many innocent deaths."

The man's eye gleamed because of the light coming from the florescent light bulb. It was a look of imperviousness; the man did not care what happen to Konoha. All he wanted was the death of a certain Natsushi. People like him didn't care if others got hurt in the process. All they want to do is reach their goal. People like him sickened Inoichi.

"So what, the lesser the better isn't it? You all will die sooner or later. Those people who died today would have died anyway. The only difference is that they died sooner than they had to. Anyway, why should we care if we hurt civilians? You people mean nothing to us."

"Bastard…," One of the Jounin behind them muttered. Ibiki agreed.

"Who are these people you work with?"

"You should know by now, shouldn't you?"

"No, I don't. But I rather you tell me who you mean."

The man sighed and rolled his eyes, "The people I'm talking about are very popular in the world. Everyone knows them, I'm sure you will agree with me. Don't you remember? They are not people you can forget. In fact, they are the people you will remember till you die. They're in the bingo book too. They are people who should be either killed on sight or not confronted at all. I believe they are the people you call 'missing nin'."

Inoichi shook with realization, his hands balling up in tight fists, "That's impossible. The Akatsuki don't work with anyone."

"You're mistaken then. They do now."

In a quick motion Ibiki was standing his hands fisted in the man's shirt. His eyes narrowed dangerously. His voice almost in a whisper which made it even scarier, "Who do they work with?"

The man laughed not at all affected by Ibiki's anger, "With us of course. Or should I say we work with them, under them, for them; take whatever you want. You can pick anyone of them."

"Oh god," Inoichi was still shaking. This was turning to be a nightmare. This man had to be lying, "That means that the Akatsuki ordered the attack on the village but we already knew that."

Slowly the pieces were coming together to form a picture but something was missing. The Akatsuki ordered the attack on the village; they used rouge ninjas as distracting. They attacked so that Natsushi Usui could be killed easily. He was killed because he knew something the Akatsuki did not want him to know. They were going to use his wife as bait but they didn't have to, Usui came to them.

Everything was planed out perfectly the only reason they had got caught was because Shin had gone to kill Usui's wife. Shintaro-san and Kurenai-san had found him and brought him to the ANBU. He was interrogated and this man had answered without any resistance. Ibiki shook his head clearing the images. He had to think, there was something missing. Something important, something Shin had left out.

How did the Akatsuki know the inner workings of Konoha? They were a dangerous organization but they couldn't have known how to put Shin inside Konoha. That meant that someone had told him that there were daily checks in the Western side. But that information was classified, only the topmost ranks knew of it. The patrollers were changed every day and so was the password. The patrollers needed a password to start, that meant that someone from the inside had told Shin the password. Someone on the inside had given out top secret information but whom? But there was another possibility.

"How do you know the inner workings of Konoha? Who told it to you?" His clam behavior scared Inoichi.

"You should know that. That person has been missing for a long time. You should know by now," the man shook his head.

"Who are you talking about? Tell me now!" Ibiki roared. The three Jounin behind him flinched. Everyone was alert now; all of their focus on the man who was being interrogated.

"You dull-witted man, haven't you been listening to me? The person I'm talking about-"

The man stopped abruptly, his mouth hanging open in a silent scream. The man shook his head back and forth like he was having a spasm. His body shook violently making the chair under his shake too. His eye became wide; bulging. The man's hands gripped the arms of the chair he was sitting on, he was still shaking.

Ibiki was already standing up shouting orders to the two Jounin behind him, "Come hold him dammit. What's happening to this guy?" Ibiki turned and looked at the man with the microphone strapped to his face, "Go call a medic-nin now!"

The room was filled with the man's screams now. They were loud and nerve breaking. His hands were held by the Jounin but the man was still shaking. In a quick motion, he bent down vomiting blood all over the floor near Ibiki's feet. He was mumbling as he whipped back so fast that the back of the chair broke.

Inoichi threw the table across the room; it hit the wall opposite to him and shattered. Ibiki moved forward and grabbed the man's shoulders making him stop shaking, "What's happening to you?"

The man was staring at the roof, his mumbles were growing louder and finally he was screaming, "Please. Please. Kami-sama I did as you told me to. I did everything. Don't kill me now, please. You promised me a place in the new world. Please, I'm begging you. I don't-"

The rest was cut off by another scream flowing through his mouth. His shaking increased tenfold, he was moving rapidly arching his back. His legs and hands moving in ways it shouldn't move. The man was going mad.

"Please. Please. Please-"

In a powerful motion, the man pushed Ibiki's hands away from his shoulders. He was bending down again and puking out blood. Ibiki moved back, the blood splatter onto his shoes. The man didn't get back up; he pulled hands up and hugged himself. He was still mumbling, his hands crawling at his back leaving angry torn marks on his shirt.

The sight was pitiful. The Jounin looked like they were trying to hold back from puking.

The man was still crawling at his back vigorously like as if he was trying to rub out something on his back. The skin on his back was moving like worms, Ibiki noticed. What was happening? Ibiki moved forwards, gripped the man's shirt and tore it pulling it off his body.

There on his back was a making; a seal and it was spreading. The seal had spread all over his back. Never before in his life had Ibiki ever seen a seal like this. It was still spreading, burning red every alternate second. Blood poured out of the man's back. It was like the seal was burning him slowly and painfully.

Another scream echoed in the room followed by several others. Every now and then blood poured out of the man's mouth and the medic-nin still hadn't arrived.

A final scream echoed in the room. The man slumped forward, dead.

…

27th September,

8:36 pm,

ANBU Interrogation Division: Entrance

Shizune looked up at the huge metallic door of the building's main gate. The walk over to the ANBU Interrogation Division's building was like a continuous roll of hammering drums. Her head was hurt and her body was tired. The list of people who needed to get medical attention seemed to be never-ending.

Shizune sighed and walked forward towards the metallic doors.

Up those steps, inside that door, somewhere within that five-story grey and white aristocratic building, was a large room. And beyond that room was a man who was dying or, depending on Ibiki's mood, un-conscious.

The walk from the hospital had taken a long time. Unlike the hospital, the ANBU Interrogation Division was situated away from the village for about a few miles deep within the forests. The area had been selected with care, with precision. It was bordered by a fifteen-foot-high hurricane fence through which a paralyzing –not lethal- electrical current flowed continuously; and every twelve feet there was a forbidden sign that warned observers that this particular section of land was the property of the ANBU. It was highly convenient for the privacy of the people being interrogated inside the enormous compound.

There was a single gate at the center of the northern side which could be reached by a back road of Konoha. Over the gate, between the opposing guard towers, was a metal sign. In block letter it read: ANBU INTERROGATION DIVISION: KONOHAGAKURE.

No other description was given, no purpose indentified.

Another name given to the Interrogation chambers was 'Ibiki's play house'. The name was given a long time ago by a few Chunnin. Every time Shizune heard the name it made her laugh, she didn't disagree with it though. In fact, Ibiki liked the name himself.

Slowly, she climbed the steps leading to Ibiki's play house, as the Chunnin liked to call it. She passed by the huge pillars of the second entrance, both of whom proudly displayed the Konoha symbol. Two ANBU guards looked at her closely without shifting their eyes. Shizune hoped they wouldn't stop her like the last two did. They were wearing the usual ANBU attire, the sleeveless shirt showing off the ANBU symbol. It made her nauseous.

"Shizune-san", the man on the right smiled at her as she neared them, "What brings you here?"

"Ibiki called for me." The man on the left walked away from then but not before offering her a smile. He walked towards a counter and muttered something to someone inside and waited for a few seconds before turning and looking at her.

"Right, I heard they were interrogating some guy who murdered a civilian, fucking bastard I hope you don't heal him." He ushered her towards the counter. The man inside the counter handed her a book and asked her to sign.

"I wish I could but then I would be breaking the rules, wouldn't I?"

The man laughed before turning around and answering her, "You probably would."

The man led her to a steel door that was the single entrance inside. The man placed his hand against a grey plate in the wall. At the instant of contact, a small white bulb was lighted, remaining so for two seconds and then went off; the guards inside had been warned. The anonymous man opened the door and walked into the hallway with her in tow.

They walked in silence down the long, starched-white corridor, the ANBU in front. Shizune walked behind him; her sandals making a hollow sound against the marble floor. The man's companion walked behind her not making a sound. It made Shizune feel like a prisoner who was going to be prosecuted.

They reached a bank of elevators and once more went through the ritual of identification, the grey plate and the white light bulb. A soft buzzing sound reached Shizune's ears and she watched silently as the door of the sixth elevator opened. The man in front of her moved towards it and stood waiting for her to get in first.

The elevator descended six stories below the surface of the earth, to one of the deepest levels of Konohagakure. As Shizune and the two men emerged into another white corridor, they were met by a tall man in ANBU clothes a mask covering his face. The men she was with obviously recognized the man in front of them because both of them smiled.

"He'll take you to Ibiki."

Shizune nodded and followed the masked ANBU member. There were three doors, two on the sides and one at the end of the hallway. The masked man led her to the door at the end of the hallway and opened it. There were stairs behind the door; one leading up and the other leading down. The man moved led her down two flights of stairs to another plain white corridor.

There was only one door and two guards were stationed outside, neither one moving a muscle. The masked ANBU walked on now acknowledging the guards existence and paused outside the door and turned to her.

"Ibiki-san is waiting for you inside."

"Hai"

Shizune walked forward and put a hand on the door and pushed it open. The door was not brightly lit but enough for her to see clearly everything that was going on. She turned her gaze towards her left and looked into the room behind the glass. Two men and three ANBU members looked at her; only one of the five offered a smile. Shaking her head slightly, she turned her gaze to the five men huddled around.

"Ibiki-san, you called for me?"

"Hai I did," Ibiki sighed and turned to look at her, "but you were too late. The man's dead."

There was a pool of blood on the floor, Shizune noticed. A broken table laid across the room smashed completely and the back of a chair was on the floor near the pool of blood. A man sat on the broken chair in-between the group of people surrounding him; a trail of blood running down the length his face. His shirt was pulled up.

"He wouldn't have been dead if you had gone easier on the guy."

Ibiki stared at her for a long second and then laughed a short humorless laugh before asking, "You think I killed him?"

"Didn't you? At least did you get the information you needed?" Shizune slightly shifted her weight from one foot to another and placed a hand on her hip like a mother scolding her spoilt child.

"We did…" Ibiki turned and looked at the dead body, "But I wasn't the one who killed him, no matter how much I wanted to."

Shizune blinked and moved closer to him, "What do you mean, if you didn't kill him, who did?"

"That's what we'd like to find out. Our main guess is the seal."

"What seal?"

Shizune walked over to the dead corpse. It looked worse from where she was standing. Her gaze immediately went to the man's back where the seal was. It had a dark black circle in the middle made of kanji letters, from the circle long lines which looked like tentacles made out of kanji letter spread all over the man's back and disappeared into the man's pants. She could smell the metallic tinge of dried blood and it would have made her cringe if she had not been so engrossed in the seal.

"This… this is impossible."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean exactly what I said, this is quite impossible."

"Elaborate."

"There are only three people in the world who know about this jutsu and know how to use it."

Inoichi grinned like a mad person and placed a hand on Shizune's shoulder pulling her rigid body closer in a friendly gesture. This meant that only three people in the world could have put the seal so now the list had narrowed down to only three people.

"That's wonderful news Shizune-san. Now tell us who those three people are so we can interrogate them. One of those three people is the person who ordered the attack on the village."

"That's absurd!"

"What do you mean Shizune-san?"

Shizune shook slightly. This was impossible; there was no way this man could have gotten that seal on his back. Did someone else know about the seal? No, that was not possible; this seal was only known by three people in the world and neither would have told it to someone. Then how did this seal appear on the man's back?

"I don't think even one of the three organized the attack on Konoha."

"Why not?"

"Why not?" Shizune echoed, "Because the only people how know how to use it are people who respect and would do anything for Konohagakure. One of the three who know this jutsu is the Hokage herself, Tsudane-sama and the other is I."

"What-… What?" Inoichi shook his head. Neither Tsudane nor Shizune would have done something like that to Konoha and even the thought of it made him feel weird. They would do no such thing. He shifted his gaze to Ibiki who hadn't spoken a word.

Ibiki was thinking hard. He knew Tsudane or Shizune would do nothing to put Konoha in harm's way. Then who was the culprit. That Kami-sama Shin was talking about? No, something was telling him it wasn't him. Then who? He shifted his weight from one foot to another, his mind running hundred miles per minute. Something in the back of his mind was nagging him. What was it?

"Who's the third person?" Ibiki asked not looking at the medic-nin next to him. His mind still running at an impossible speed. The word 'who?' repeated itself in his mind over and over again. He was getting impatient. Who was it that dared to attack Konoha? Was it any of their enemies? Sand was out of the question. Maybe Sound; but Sound didn't have a leader. But there were Sound-nin who participated in the attack. Was it Kirigakure? No, they wouldn't have done something like that. Then who the hell was it?

Shizune shook her head. The third person wouldn't have done anything like that. No, that person was someone she trusted with her life. But people change over time right? No, what was she thinking? How could she even think of suspecting that person?

"What is it, Shizune?" Ibiki barked.

"Its-… Its-"

"Well who is it?"

Shizune looked up right into Ibiki's eyes and he could see the turmoil in them. She was fighting with herself, should she tell them? They needed to know. But that person had been gone for such a long time, then why had that person surfaced again now? OH God! What was happening? No one could find that person, not even the ANBU. That person was believed to be dead, but now what was happening?

"Who is it, Shizune?" Ibiki spoke harshly.

"Haruno Sakura."

…

28th September,

4:27 pm,

Forest of Kazesenpu, Western borders.

The light evening breeze blew the bands on his face away from it. Sunlight flooded through the gaps in the canopy and danced on his face making him look like a god. His face was set in an indifferent mask not displaying any of the emotions running inside him. He looked like a person completely at ease with nothing to worry about but on the inside he was completely the opposite.

"Bird sped up. Should we move faster, Hawk?"

Sasuke nodded not bothering to look at the person who had just spoken to him. Behind him, Naruto jumped onto another branch and yawned. Next to him Karin rolled her eyes at the blond before speeding up and jumping next to him, a grin coming onto her face. Her face was scratched and her hands bandaged. The rest of his team ran on the ground not making a sound.

His mind blocked out everything again. He was too busy thinking about someone.

Memories of that person ran inside his head at such a high pace that even he was beginning to think that it was impossible. Her laugh, her face, her smile even her warmth all of which had now turned into indifference. It made him nostalgic. It wasn't meant to be this way; everything was not the way it was suppose to be.

She was supposed to be there, waiting for him, when he had come back home. She was supposed to be there with tears in her eyes and warmth in her touch. They were supposed to be a team again: Kakashi, Naruto, Sakura and him. It was together till the end right? She had promised to wait, she had promised-

"Bird stopped."

Sasuke nodded and sped up immediately sensing the team behind speed up too. He could sense Shikamaru, he had stopped and they weren't moving. They weren't being attacked, he couldn't sense anyone else. The team on the ground moved in front of them, still running on the ground. They were going to go in first.

In a few minutes they had reached the place Shikamaru's team had stopped. The small team had started to set up camp in a small clearing in the forest. The tents were being set up and there was already a fire burning in the middle. Shikamaru walked over to them and nodded at him. Behind him the other team had arrived and Sasuke could see Kiba's big dog, Akamaru run over to the fire and curl up and let out a small whine.

"We are going to set up camp here. We'll be moving again when it's dark."

He nodded not moving, everyone else was already moving around to help to set up the camp. He felt Naruto move next to him uncomfortably. There was nothing they could say to each other; nothing they even needed to say. It was like the mutual understanding that had come together with friendship.

Sasuke turned on his heal and moved towards a tree and then sat himself down at its roots. He was tired. He was allowed to rest, he at least deserved that. After all this, everyone deserved it. The clearing was filled with people who were moving around without talking. All of them in deep thought or in deep grief. Near Akamaru, the body of Yamanaka Ino laid, unconscious and pale. Sunlight flooded through the clearing illuminating the whole clearance.

He sighed, his mind spinning-

He felt it. It was small like as if it was meant only for him. He looked up to see if anyone else had noticed; a hand coming onto his side to lift himself off the ground. No one else had sensed a thing, not one. Was he just imagining it? No it felt real. He was tired but not delusional. He could still think properly.

What was that?

There it was again, like it was fading if he didn't run to catch it.

He knew the chakra signal like the back of his hand. He was so close to it and it was fading away and suddenly he knew that he wouldn't let it slip through his figures. With the support of his hand he pushed himself off the ground and stood up. With a quick motion he was running through the woods, his companions hadn't even noticed him leave. He had made sure they hadn't.

Where are you?

He brushed aside the branches with were obstructing his vision and moved faster towards where the chakra was coming. It was stronger now but not strong enough for the others to notice it. It was leading him, closer. His mind was spinning. This chakra, this chakra was so much like the one he knew. Maybe it was that person he wanted to see. He could see light seeping through the leaves and that chakra was right there, a few feet right in front of him. So close that if he jumped and reached out then he could catch it but still so far away.

I'll catch you this time. You're not getting away from me this time. This time, it'll be different. I'll make you explain, I'll make you take back everything you said to me. There no one with me now, so no one will stop me from-

There was another clearing; he didn't know how far away from the camp sight, he was. The light almost blinded him; it was hot almost as hot as Suna but not so much. The warmth spread through him almost making him shiver. A small river flowed through the clearing; the water looked like it was sparkling because of the light it reflected.

The person stood facing the river, back facing him. The person's long hair flowed to the right gently like the river. He landed a few feet behind, his palms sweating with anticipation. His mouth almost forming the person's name but not quite there. His hands itched like as if he wanted to reach out and hold something. His mind spinning.

The person turned around and he was immediately struck by the color of her eyes and the fire in them. Bands framed the person's face it made his heart beat twice its speed. The person's body was rigid like it was ready to strike him at any time. Hands were limp by the sides, looking indifferent. It made his heart ache like someone had stabbed him right through the chest. His mouth opened, his eyes burned and suddenly he was alive.

"Sakura"

It was like he was flying but his legs still hadn't left the ground.

A/N: I changed my name. Virtually.