Title: Underneath the Underneath: The Break
Pairing: Kakanaru eventually perhaps some other pairings mentioned along the way.
Part and Rating: 9/25; PG
Disclaimer: All characters depicted in sexual situations in this post/fanfiction/fanart (including material in the comments) are fictional and are intended to be and considered to be by the author of said material of the legal age of consent in the United States state of California, regardless of what age these characters may be in the material they are derived from. Also, song is "Barely Breathing" by Duncan Sheik.
Notes: I did make the Whirlpool Village have the Kansai dialect; but it won't play much of a part, but I thought I would mention that it is a true dialect. Un-betaed. It's been a while, but I'm back into the swing of things!
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Cause I am barely breathing
And I can't find the air
I don't know who I'm kidding
Imagining you care
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In Konoha, Ibiki was waiting out Endo Kaya. She would speak eventually; it was only a matter of time. Patience was a key element to interrogation.
"You do realize that even if you lock me up there are many more people who will step up to the plate? They're ambitious bastards. This will only get worse."
And there it was, her sing-song voice telling him that resistance was futile. Ibiki's face lapsed from its hard features into a sly grin for only a moment. He caught himself. No emotion while interrogating a suspect. As his features smoothed out, he reminded himself not to answer the question. He would not respond to her taunts.
"Why don't you tell me how all of this started." Not a question: a demand. Endo Kaya only stared.
Patience was key; he would just have to wait it out.
-----
I know what you're doing
I see it all too clear.
I only taste the saline
When I kiss away your tears.
-----
The pairs were introducing themselves to each other if they had not already met. Keiko made sure to spread out the remaining Earth Country shinobi; while the remaining ANBU and Jounin were paired together to eliminate any favoritism.
Gai sharpened a kunai while standing with his back to Kakashi, speaking low over his shoulder, "Obviously you're the choice for the next Hokage."
Kakashi stayed quiet for a while, mulling over it. The Hontokage's mask looked up from where he was going over last minute details with the ANBU Captain. Kakashi sighed, his words muffled by the mask as he spoke to his friend. "I won't count my chicks before they hatch."
Gai shrugged it off and turned back to his own partner.
It wasn't long until the ANBU Captain was barking commands and the pairs were fanning out. Keiko weaved between the others, making his way to the silver haired Jounin. Kakashi found his stomach had turned upside down and his skin had flushed. He swallowed thickly and checked for the fifth time that his weapons were easy to get to.
"Ready?"
Kakashi looked around; only a few pairs remained. He turned back to the sapphire eyes watching him through the slits of a ceramic mask. He nodded. Keiko turned, a gust of wind fluffing the golden blond hair that stuck out of hasty wrappings. His blue eyes sparkled in the morning sun. His weight shifted as he took off for the trees. Not even a split second later, Kakashi followed.
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You really had me going,
Wishing on a star,
But the black holes that surround you,
Are heavier by far.
-----
It didn't take long to travel to through the Earth Country border. No one stopped them, they encountered no problems. That was, until the radio buzzed and they heard a rustling, a whisper, and a scream. Immediately Keiko stopped. High in the branches of a tree, he signaled for his partner to stop. Kakashi stopped two trees away from him and looked around. He dropped to a crouch. It was silent. The breeze picked up and brushed their skin. Keiko gazed forward.
"There's a network of wires ahead. If we proceed, we fall into a trap."
Kakashi looked ahead, trying to find the wires with his lone eye. After a moment, the breeze shifted some leaves and the sun glinted off a couple of the aforementioned wires.
"We could go around it."
Keiko looked over at him and grunted. "Or we could disassemble it."
Kakashi was about to voice his protest, but the Hontokage continued.
"It's likely that they've laid traps, but aren't watching them. Most people use traps like these as defense and don't really expect an attack. By the sound of it, someone already tripped one of their other traps. We should take it apart to ensure no one else gets hurt by it, and then continue. It shouldn't be too difficult."
Somehow Kakashi doubted that it was going to be as easy as it looked. Or maybe that was just his paranoia coming to the surface. He nodded anyway and they proceeded with taking down the wires.
It didn't take as long as Kakashi had feared; by radio they learned that one of the ANBU had nearly gotten an arm lopped off, but was fine. The group was relieved, but still anxious as they pressed on. Every other pair was on the look out for traps, but only a few encountered them. As the small legion closed in on buildings, they would stop, call for another pair close by to assist them and sweep the area. All resistant forces were apprehended or killed: whichever was easier.
-----
There's not much to examine,
There's nothing left to hide;
You really can't be serious,
If you have to ask me why.
-----
Kaya only grew violent once. Ibiki was lucky to have a table available for pushing in the way of her attacks. She couldn't gather chakra, thanks to a new mechanism created by the Black Ops for situations like these, but her ninjutsu was formidable. Perhaps that was why she was a Hontokage. Ibiki had escaped with a few bruises, but went in again after giving her time to cool down. He swore that dealing with people like this was like trying to keep a wild animal calm. Reasoning with a tiger—that's what his Sensei had called it. He rather liked that analogy.
They were getting nowhere with the perpetrator; nor did Ibiki think they ever would. In his mind, if she was to die in an "accident" and they cleaned up the mess she had created, it would all be okay. Then again, Ibiki also realized that the Hokage wouldn't rest until he had answers. So he opened the door and went back in. Kaya stared at him from across the table.
-----
I believed in your confusion,
You were so completely torn;
Well it must have been that yesterday
Was the day I was born
-----
Kakashi followed the Hontokage through a maze of trees. It didn't seem to Kakashi that they were heading straight, but he didn't want to ask why they were headed in a zig-zag pattern. And after a while of thinking it through, he noticed that they were assisting the groups around them, plus covering their own swath without missing a beat. Kakashi had to admit that he was getting tired, though. Mostly he had been taking out guards and getting the 'slaves' free; they hadn't come across any resisting forces yet.
Keiko figured that there would be a final battle somewhere between half-way and three-quarters of the way through the sweep. As much as he tried not to get tense, he did. He didn't voice his thoughts; in fact he was being completely quiet as he mulled it over. As Keiko didn't want to keep everyone in the dark and cause possible casualties, he spoke over the radio, alerting the group to the possibility of what lay ahead of them.
It was after the sun was beginning to set that they encountered the opposing side. It seemed that someone had taken over as 'leader' and had rallied the troops. Most were shinobi, or had some basic training towards being one. But they didn't come out in the open—oh no—they dashed about in the trees, keeping themselves invisible to their enemy. It was sudden, their attack, but violent. Bombs rained down with kunai, shuriken, and rocks.
They were taken so off guard that two people were lost immediately. They didn't have time to react to their losses, but instead readied their favored weapon. Keiko pulled a short sword from his belt loop, glad he had grabbed it before leaving Iwagakure. He held it in defense, his back pressed against Kakashi's. In a second, he crouched. He counted the seconds as he looked through the silent trees. Searching for the culprit; searching for movement. Light, paced breathing through masks was all that was heard.
A sudden sharp pain sliced through Kakashi's right arm but he ignored it in favor of pin-pointing the origin of the weapon. His eye found it quickly but before he could take action, an orange clad arm extended past his left cheek and the wrist flicked, sending a shuriken into the leaves. Without Kakashi's being able to react, Keiko spun around the man and let fly more sharp objects. Pinning one of the perpetrators to the trunk of a tree, Keiko kept his distance and held his short sword at the ready.
"Who are you following?" The vehemence in his voice was enough to snap the Jounin back into motion. He positioned himself back to back with the Hontokage once more, watching his surroundings carefully. The young shinobi being questioned stayed quiet, grinding his teeth against the pain of the blades cutting into his skin. When he didn't get an answer, he dropped to a crouch and caught the boy's eyes.
"I'll ask you once more: who are you following?" Keiko ground out the words, causing the boy before him to shiver and divert his gaze. He stayed silent for a moment before he cried out.
"Endo Kaya! We're following Endo Kaya, alright?!"
Kakashi snuck a glance at the Hontokage when all hell broke loose.
-----
Everyone keeps asking, what's it all about?
I used to be so certain and I can't figure out
What is this attraction? I only feel the pain
There's nothing left to reason and only you to blame
-----
Kaya's legs pumped faster as she took to the trees. Sirens blared behind her, alarms went off and shinobi sprung after her. Within seconds she had a plan formulated to get out of this disastrous mess. She wasn't a Hontokage for nothing…
-----
And I could stand here waiting
A fool for another day
I don't suppose it's worth the price, worth the price,
The price that I would pay.
-----
The attack came from his blind spot—the spot he should have been observing far more carefully than he did. Kakashi's folly was that the boy's confession distracted him momentarily. No, it wasn't so much the confession as what the Hontokage did with it that distracted him. He knocked out the young boy. This wasn't something Kakashi had ever gotten used to: children on the battlefield. Even if he had once been one of those children. But still, the attack came at the worst time. The Hontokage was busy tying up the boy when the flash of a kunai caught Kakashi's eye. He had time to call out vaguely before he spun himself around and blocked the hit aimed for his partner.
He didn't even get a good look at this new threat's face when he disappeared in the leaves to the side. With the Hontokage now on alert, the Jounin felt better. Several more flurries of attacks assaulted them, but they held strong. Just when they thought they knew where he was coming from next, the attacker changed tactics. This caused the Hontokage to be attacked at the side he wasn't ready to block for. The tip of the sword slid past his block and jabbed into his ceramic mask. A centimeter closer and his face would be cut. Any deeper and he could be dead. The force of the blow made a crack in the mask.
Keiko ignored this and started to counter attack. After that it didn't take long for the two to dance around in the trees, an intricate dance—but oh so deadly. Another block and Keiko moved to counter once more to find a fist coming directly at him. Without a hand to use in defense, he allowed his mask to take the brunt. He would have a bruise on his cheekbone, but he doubted it would throw him off tremendously. He was correct, but at the cost of losing half of his mask. As it crumbled away and the under-wrappings were revealed, he followed through with his own attack. The punch landed directly into the diaphragm and his opponent's breath woosh-ed out of him.
Kakashi stayed well out of range, knowing that the best way to be of help was to not allow anyone else into the fight either. So he crouched next to the unconscious boy and watched for any new threats. The cracking of the mask and subsequent falling off caused him to take notice of the fight going on in front of him. When his eyes landed on the victor—on the Hontokage—his onyx eye went wide.
Naruto?
Kakashi shook his head and looked more seriously at the situation. Absolutely not. His spunky student was not even close to being in league with the Jounins, let alone the Hontokages. Besides, the likeness stopped at the exterior of the two in question. The look in the Hontokage's eyes, for instance, was something one would never see in Naruto's. Those were the eyes of someone who had killed before. Kakashi looked to the downed opponent and frowned beneath his mask. Two down. How many more to go?
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I've come to find, I may never know
Your changing mind, is it friend or foe?
-----
Defeating the remaining resistance was not very difficult. Most of the shinobi were just barely trained in using weapons, or were older and not in the best of condition to be fighting. Once they had drawn out the enemy, it was no problem for their meager forces to apprehend them. They left guards with their new prisoners and continued the sweep. With the main sections officially under Konoha's control, the Hontokage went back to one of the larger facilities with Kakashi in tow. As they discussed what went on, Kakashi found questions springing to mind. He was now used to seeing the pale skin showing instead of a ceramic mask, but the initial shock was still lingering in the back of his mind. It took quite some time until he could get alone with Gai, but he found the tired out man and sat down with him while the Hontokage went to discuss something with the ANBU Captain.
"That sure was fun, wasn't it?"
Kakashi just looked at his friend blankly. Gai gave up on his loud persona in favor of getting whatever it was that was bothering his friend, out into the open. Kakashi sighed and sat down next to the man.
"How does he fight?"
"Like any well trained shinobi." Kakashi narrowed his eye and slanted it in the man's direction.
"No amazing jutsus?" Gai was slightly taken aback. Wasn't that what a position in high standing called for?
Kakashi paused for a moment, thinking it over. "No."
There had been some, but nothing out of the ordinary. Just extremely well timed. He gazed out at the trees, watching the wind bend the branches and flutter the leaves. He spoke again, before Gai could say anything else.
"Who do you think he is?" His voice was full of wonder when he spoke: like he was thinking of possible answers while he asked. Gai looked at his friend for a silent moment, leaning back and crossing his arms behind his head.
"I don't know…"