My word! This has been a long time! You'd think that summer would give more free time to write this stuff, but it's become so much harder to find the time. My most humble apologies for not keeping up to date with things, but a revitalised love for this story has urged me to continue with a passion! So without further delay, on with the story :)
"Yes, yes, yes, for god's sake I get it!" Kaishin cried; the strenuous feeling of being hung-over had collided with the tedious task of gathering appropriate intelligence on Danzo.
For the Military Police Force, gathering intel is especially difficult, since their jurisdiction lies within the borders of a ninja village. To this end, the police are employed to collect information on ninja whom knew every hiding spot in said village, and will have usually taken the appropriate measures to keep their secrets locked up in any of these spots. What is more, any investigation can only be kept private for a matter of hours – considering how you are trailing a ninja in his home turf.
All of which showed why Kaishin found it a little too convenient that within two days of his investigation, he had encountered no trace that his suspect was watching him. Had this been another case, he would have jumped for joy; praising his own ability to blend into a crowd and move underneath the criminal's nose, but he had half hoped to agitate Danzo into action by publically requesting information on the man.
To add more difficulty to the task, any information he was able to gather from the helpful residents of Konoha was mired in admiration to the ANBU operative.
"Oh, in his youth, he could come 'abduct' me anytime!" One elderly shopkeeper cackled, much to Kaishin's disgust. Turning to her equally tooth-riddled friend, he hoped beyond hope that a more constructive response awaited him – he was again disappointed, "Oh my, when he and that dashing Hiruzen would march back into the village, their pipes hanging gloriously from their mouths, ooh, it made me quiver!"
After giving a quiver of his own, albeit through disgust more than anything, Kaishin bid the two ladies a good day and proceeded down the nearest side-street, resisting the temptation to bash his throbbing head against the wall until either his brain or the pain within it fell out. Snarling up at the clear blue sky, he cursed the day god - or whatever other deity was up there - decided to mock mankind by creating a ball of infinite light and alcohol, when it was clear the two would never mix.
Retreating into the nearest open door along the side-street, Kaishin turned awkwardly into the chest of another man, and stumbled quite gracelessly onto the floor, causing others within the premises to turn and mutter.
"Mama, why does that clumsy man stink!" One little girl obnoxiously cried out, pointing at Kaishin, lest anyone fail to identify the clumsy and stinky man. Growling as he rose to his feet, Kaishin shot the brat a glare and turned to face the man whom had rudely barged into him.
"Y'know, the least you could've done is…" He trailed off as the man's stern face came into his blurred view.
"…what? Help you up? Show you the etiquette on how to act when in an art store? Teach you how to properly walk through doors? Do I need to continue?"
A bony old man, appeared as if my magic at the man's side, head slightly bowed and grabbed Kaishin by the collar.
"Show some respect when you're speaking to Master Shimura, he is a great man!" He bellowed, much to Kaishin's bewilderment.
After being viciously shaken for several moments, Kaishin has unhanded by the angry old man, and gathered how many customers were in the quaint shop; all of whom were now ignoring the fine pieces of the art and had their attentions fixed on the farce taking place near the front door.
Panting, Kaishin turned immediately to the man he was originally confronted with, and geared himself with as much resolve as was possible in his haggard, unfit body.
"Sulking away in some dreary corner of the village, eh, Danzo? Why would that be?" He asked, face full of venom and cynicism.
"…I do hope you aren't implying I wished to hide away in this cool, tranquil environment because the sun was too bright and strong – like I was some kind of irrelevant alcoholic…"Danzo replied plainly, leaving the gravity of the final statement to linger in the air so that the majority of the other patrons could laugh at the fool before him.
Kaishin was not a man to be outdone by, rational, witty men with their hidden puns and their logical explanations. This old bastard had, at least by his speculation, insulted him and made him look a fool. Ungraciously abandoning the aide of evidence and common sense, he theorized that this supposed art store was one of his dens in which to instruct Root, and was adamant that the only way to stop Danzo was to expose him here and now, for all to see.
Growling at the jaded old man, he stormed past the little brat and her mother, whom both retreated slightly, and pointed at a particularly fine portrait of the sun setting over the dunes of the Wind Nation. Turning to Danzo, he grinned manically and pointed at the painting, his hand shaking with the concoction of booze, lack of sleep, anger, and excitement.
"Nice painting, huh! I wonder what's behind it?" He asked unevenly.
"A wall." Danzo swiftly replied, no tone of emotion in his harsh voice.
"A likely story! Y'know what I see when I look at this, huh? Huh? I see a huge hole where you and your scum-army hide!" He produced a Kunai, resulting in several gasps and screams as many of the more nervous patrons fled.
Giggling at his own brilliance, Kaishin slashed at the painting, until dozens of pieces lay ruined upon the floor. Much to his dismay, Danzo's prediction was accurate in every sense of the word – a wall did indeed lie behind the painting. However, Kaishin was a man of conviction and wouldn't allow this minor setback to ruin his theory. He clearly needed to find a different painting. The entrance must have been behind one of these.
He proceeded to attack each painting in the room with equal violence, terrifying everyone but Danzo and the now seething old man, who gingerly tried to climb on him in order to subdue the drunkard. Kaishin was not having any of this, yet his lack of proper training and the abuse his body had been subjected to from his drinking caused him to collapse with fatigue, scattered pieces of paintings surrounding his fallen figure. Danzo drifted over to the two and sighed.
"Are we done, boys?" He asked lazily.
Both Kaishin and the old man turned; the former with stubbornness and fatigue, the latter with an air of shock and nervousness.
"The dunes painting cost seven thousand, the next three you destroyed cost eight hundred each, and the rest are…how much?" He turned to the shaking store clerk, whom stuttered to attention upon being addressed.
"Er-er I think, tw-two thousand five hundred, s-sir!" He stammered.
"Thank you…two thousand five hundred." Danzo finished, producing a scroll and began to record the addresses of both men before handing it to the clerk.
"If they aren't at home, they'll be at that decrypted ruin of a station near the Uchiha estate, I'll have each bar informed of their debt, so they won't be hiding there-"
"Hey! That's not fair!" Kaishin cried, clearly scandalised at that last statement, until the old man struck him about the head.
"Come now gentlemen; I have little to no interest in playing cat and mouse with people as intellectually-challenged as you. I would have you return to Tsunade to discuss your endless failings, yet sadly she has gone missing. Since she makes no attempt to follow any of my guidance in the current political climate, I have decided to wash my hands of any of it, and am merely browsing around the stores of my beloved village. It must be said that you two only further express her lack of good leadership, if this fiasco is anything to go by."
Rising slightly, the old man began to stammer and disassociate himself from Kaishin, until Danzo interrupted.
"Do shut up Buraindo! You've been following me for two days straight! Disguising yourself with props! You haven't even used a Transformation Jutsu!" He mocked.
Immediately dropping the hurt old man routine, Buraindo began to glower at the cold figure before him.
"Now go, crawl back to that cesspool of failure, away where our village can forget you and that pitifully deceased force you cling so desperately to." Danzo spat then turned.
"It wasn't pitiful enough for you to ignore it, eh, old man! A lot of friction between your organization and ours! And you ANBU have always groomed your psychopaths from a very young age! It wouldn't take much for someone as charismatic as you to…say…direct one of those lunatics onto his own clan-" Kaishin roared, still motionless on the floor with his head beetroot and resting on the wooden surface. Despite looking so ridiculously stupid, Kaishin was unaware of how fearful he looked to Danzo right there.
"…what did you say?" He asked through his teeth.
"Kaishin, that's enough!" Buraindo yelled, clearly hurt that his friend would bring up the massacre at this point. Everyone still present was equally offended. The little girl, however, was too young to recall the fate of the Uchiha clan, and was the only one noticing the stern old man Danzo begin to sweat.
"-Sweet-talk the twisted little freak, did you? A few throw-away comments here and there, about how the village couldn't survive with the clan still in place. Having him and all his mask-wearing friends stalk his own compounds-"
"…You've no evidence…"Danzo hissed quietly, now shaking with fury.
"-I mean, come on! He was good, but one man against his whole family! I've spoken to Kakashi and Asuma over time; there's no one man that could've done that the entire clan – and if he had help, then tell me; who's that well trained to cover up their tracks, huh? Isn't that Root's field of expertise?"
"Be Silent, you worm!" Danzo cried, though the obnoxious drunkard was now on a roll.
"Only you guys would have been careful enough to cover your tracks from beneath the Hokage's nose. Wouldn't want him to know both sets of his boys were at each other's throats! Talk Itachi into doing his bit for the Village, and let the little psycho become the scapegoat. People blame him; I'm more interested in who let him off the leash!"
Within a flash, Danzo had lifted Kaishin from the floor, and barged him into the wall hard enough to crack it.
"I said be si-" Danzo began.
"I bet you loved it didn't you? Setting Fugaku's own son against his clan! I bet that got you going on cold nights didn't it? No more snooping Uchiha asking questions about you palling up with Tanzo of the Hidden Rain-" A fist had at this point collided with Kaishin's big mouth.
Danzo growled to notice his rage created an opening in which Buraindo had bought a Kunai to the man's throat. Taking one deep breath, Danzo counted each and every face fixed on the three ninja. He weighed up what was more damaging, Kaishin's bold declarations, or him silencing them with a raised fist – it certainly gave gravity to such claims.
Indeed, many of the customers were taking the lull in the argument to contemplate the likelihood that such conspiracies could occur. By the expression on some of their faces, it wasn't as strange a theory as, say, the ancient Madara being a Mizukage, or the Yodamie having a secret love child.
Turning to face the old Buraindo, "I advise you lower that weapon you've got there."
"I advise you lower that idiot you've got there." He retorted.
For the intensity of the heat outside, the room became very cold, until, finally, both men lowered their arms.
Kaishin collapsed to the floor, rubbing his bloodied nose, as Danzo brushed himself of any dust, before nodding to the shopkeeper and swiftly departing from the store, leaving a wake of tension. When several seconds of motionless occurred, the shopkeeper mustered enough courage to turn to the two ninja and begged them to leave the store.
Both departed rather sheepishly and continued until a block away, finally collapsing onto a bench. Turning quietly to his friend, Buraindo took a deep breath, and unleashed all his anger.
"What…the…hell…were…you…thinking! You've just ruined all our work you massive dolt! You wrecked an entire art store, you slandered the name of the Konoha Police Force," Kaishin seemed to ignore the complaints, lighting a cigarette and laughing, further infuriating his partner, "What's so funny?"
"heheh, I had hoped you noticed it…" He responded quiet cryptically.
"What! How much of a moron you made yourself out to be? Honestly! A hideout in an art store!" Buraindo mocked.
"Well, no, I wasn't talking about that. He seemed to brush that wild accusation aside without any concern. But the moment I talked up the massacre," He gained another snarl from his elderly friend at this point, "He seemed to snap."
"…do you have any evidence to those ludicrous claims?" Buraindo asked, sighing with disappointment at Kaishin's lack of professionalism.
"No! I just wanted to rattle him, I'd have said anything! I made the whole thing up! But you've got admit, I struck a nerve there. Everything I said seemed to scare him more and more. Why'd he advance once I bought up Itachi being sent to kill the clan? Why'd he hit me when I bought up Tanzo? I was just making the connection in name, nothing more. But he read so much more into it!" Kaishin explained, waving his cigarette around as he did so, and wiped more blood from his nose.
"Why can't it be that he was saving face? You were being as disrespectful as you could to his reputation." Buraindo retorted, still not seeing Kaishin's point.
"No! Effectively, the guy was shutting me up! It wasn't to save his 'respectful' face, it was to stop me spilling more 'secrets' out. And considering how easily he attacked me, I'd wager my next five pay-cheques-"
"That's not that much-" Buraindo mocked.
"-that at least one of those accusations was damn near right… and they were all very illegal! Seriously, we've got to tell the Hokage about this!" He stood up, resolute and so determined that the nagging pain from his nose and hang-over was drowned by a sense of victory.
"…She's not here, remember. That was one thing I know Danzo wasn't lying about." Buraindo stood up with less enthusiasm, still cynical about his friend's theories, and already worrying about how they would pay that massive debt to the store.
It was at this moment that both saw the tiniest glimmer of light from the other end of the street, and leap apart as several Kunai tore through the air, hitting a passing man and leaving him instantly dead. Both dived for cover as shuriken began to pelt the walls as snipers lingered on several roof-tops.
The Land of Greens had grown at a modest rate since Princess Haruna came to the throne. The cultivation of much of the lands vegetation was only just beginning to show, and with frequent aide from their allies in Konoha, the nation had opened several squares for commerce. The land had only recently celebrated the birthday of their Feudal Lady when the assassination attempt took place. With so many of the citizens fearing the return of the terrorists that had killed Haruna's father had somehow returned, a sense of fear and disarray shuddered through every inch of the land. Conflicting reports from farmer to trader spoke of the princess's death, the brewing of a civil war from the more wealth-orientated citizens, and that the nation had been liquidated into one of the five greater ones.
All of which worried Hanabi to no end. She would often hear Hinata talk about her misadventures here; how she, Uzumaki Naruto and Choji of the Akimichi Clan did battle with a trio of rouge ninja, and how her sister personally defeated a goliath figure by the name of Jiga. Each time she spoke of battling the monstrous man who could manipulate the magnetic waves around metal, Hanabi could envision herself fighting with all her might, just as her sister bravely did. She had hoped for an opponent such as Jiga, yet sadly her own experiences with enemies were far more humble, and lacked any air of heroic achievement.
The country's nervous disposition prompted her to ask why she and the other ninja couldn't simply deliver a statement to towns across the nation; explaining the real situation.
"Surely, with each area of the nation properly informed of their Lady's safety, the identity of the real culprit and the active protection of us Leaf ninja, that could only help us, right?" She was met with a silent room of stares.
"I mean, if we tell the towns to keep a look out for this guy, and maybe man each town-"
"You mean separately? There are five ninja for seven settlements, not including the palace. That means there are three targets not manned at all," Yamato explained plainly, "What's more, with each of us acting as a single man cell, there is a chance he may target your area, or Konohamaru's. You two had trouble with him last time. If he does strike, how are you going to deal with the large number or potential hostages?"
"W-well, he'll be out in the open more, nowhere to hide, I can use my Gentle Fist easier that way, plus Konohamaru can…er…I dunno, distract him with that Sexy Jutsu thing…" Hanabi's argument was quickly failing.
"What's more, alerting each town could have a negative impact; Telling them there is a very real possibility of another attack will cancel out any good news on the Lady's well-being, the people will panic at the prospect of being targeted more than they were before. Plus this guy is disguised as Akatsuki; they're pretty well known nowadays. Informing any civilian that a guy wearing the red cloud may pass by is enough to provoke a riot. Furthermore, there's no telling how they will react to seeing any ninja at all; including us."
This one reason stumped Konohamaru, who felt the urge to ask why they could have a negative effect on the people. Sakura turned at this.
"There are rumours about the assassination being the work of one of the five nations. It wouldn't be hard to suspect any one of the superpowers of literally 'expanding their horizons'. Seeing any Leaf Ninja could cause them to suspect we had a hand in this."
"What! We're here to help them, why should they be scared of leaf ninja!" He retorted, scandalised that the village his grandfather lead could be suspected of foul-play. They were the good guys after all.
"…Please try to see it from their point of view. They did not grow up in Konoha like us, they can only pass judgement on what is commonly known about our people and our history." Sai explained.
"We are trained killers – that is a fearful thought to a civilian, we've colonized many settlements that in history lay on the edge of our nation, therefore we are, or were imperialistic. We've participated in every single Shinobi war, thus making us aggressive. And finally we've contributed to some of the world's most infamous rouge-ninja; Orochimaru, Itachi, Sasuke…" He glanced at Naruto at this point, to ensure he hadn't offended him. By Naruto's serious, yet stable expression, Sai assumed he hadn't, "which also makes us seem unstable and lacking control of our people. All of which makes us seem quite barbaric at times."
Konohamaru glowered at him for a few moments, then realised he had no retort so resorted to crossing his arms and pouting.
Yamato, feeling as though the young man had finished his contribution to the meeting, felt the urge to continue with his own plan.
"If what you mentioned is true, and I'm very inclined to believe you, then at this moment in time you two are the only ones who know of his secret. He is aware that both of you have seen his transformation falter, and if you should pass on such information to any ninja clan or village, hi whole façade will be ruined. He won't come back here for the princess, since she was never his intention. He'll come back for you two. You'll be at the top of his bingo book right now."
He let this fact sink into both their minds before continuing. Hanabi suddenly felt hairs stand up on the back of her neck; she was officially in a ninja's bingo book. She was now top priority to kill. She was marked. Is this how each of the Leaf's greatest ninja had felt when they first discovered this fact? She hoped they didn't, because all she felt was a churning in her stomach: that somewhere in that forest, there lay a man who was brooding over how he'd kill her. No matter how it felt before, encountering the real Akatsuki or those bandits, this felt so much more personal.
"Yes! I am victorious!" Cried Konohamaru raising a fist to the air. So unexpected was this outburst, that no one but Naruto had a response – and by response, he only followed suit and proclaimed he knew Konohamaru could do it, giving him a thumbs up that made him look horrifyingly like Jiraiya.
"Naruto, you idiot! You don't even know what he's talking about do you?" Sakura roared, ragging him back to his chair.
"W-well no, but still…he did it!" Naruto wept with joy.
"…why are you victorious?" Yamato asked over this scene.
"Because: neither my gramps nor Uncle Asuma got into a bingo book until they were older. That makes me the most notorious Sarutobi ever!" He grinned obnoxiously.
"Really? Because the longer one can remain out of a bingo book is a true testament to-" Sai's mouth was covered by Hanabi's hand, as Konohamaru began to laugh at how great he was, so much so he didn't hear him say anything. Whispering into Sai's ear, Hanabi explained.
"This has literally made him the happiest he's been since he found out he was going on a mission. The poor guy's ego's so fragile; I think he needs this to carry on." She elaborated, as Sai nodded in agreement. What she didn't tell Sai was the real reason. His ego probably could have taken a put-down. But he seemed so happy and confident. She liked him a lot more when he was like that. It made her feel the same way.
Despite the impending sense of death, Kaishin felt smug enough to note that ANBU mysteriously attacking them, when only minutes after accusing Danzo of betrayal, certainly gave more gravity to his theories. All the two men had to do now was survive the attack long enough to meet with Tsunade or one of her people.
Deciding to make this a fight, Kaishin raised what little weaponry he was armed with, and began returning fire, waving for Buraindo to move to a different cover. The number one priority, at least for the Police Force, was to move the fight away from the street. The poor man's body was going to be found; the last thing the two wanted was for those who find him to rush over and also become a potential casualty.
"Oh my God!" One woman cried, as she and her two children dashed over to the body. A sweat drop poured down the side of Buraindo's face as he turned in horror, calling out for the three to leave. His cry received the ominous response of three thuds, the noise he noted that was made by three bodies collapsing, lifeless.
"Sons of Bitches!" Kaishin roared, attaching a paper bomb to his Kunai before launching it. It was intercepted by Buraindo's, much to his anger.
"Are you mad! If that had hit anything, the blast would attract more people!" He cried, bringing Kaishin to his senses. Buraindo turned to the direction of the attackers and bellowed.
"This is officer Buraindo and officer Kaishin of Konoha's Military Police Force! With authority granted to us by Godaime Hokage Tsunade we order you to cease fire immediately!"
The sound of Kunai slicing through the air of the street halted, and Kaishin saw an arm of the ANBU raise up, signalling a halt on the attack. Buraindo, sighing, went to rise when Kaishin waved over to stop him, feeling as if that was too easy.
"Officer Buraindo, Officer Kaishin. Under authority granted to us by the office of Hokage, we place you under arrest for murder. Come out immediately!" One of the commanding ANBU officers called out.
"What!" Kaishin cried out.
"It was your attacks that killed-"
"You will surrender yourselves immediately in response to the three civilians you murdered," At this one of the two children groaned lightly, and stirred enough to gain everyone's attention. A glimmer of hope lay within the two ninja. At least one of them had survived. The moving stopped as abruptly as it started, and the child's groan was replaced with the small trickle of blood, as another Kunai flew across the street into the child's neck. Both men turned back in horror.
"As I said, you will be charged for the murder of those four civilians. I will not give you another warning." Came the same, malicious voice from the ANBU operative.
With Root ANBU turning up the heartless-villain-meter to the max, The police force have to make a choice; Fight or Flight! Meanwhile, our heroes execute a plan that will draw out their enemy, and finally beat some answers out of him. Do you like what you've read but feel a need to express yourself through the wonders of reviewing? Well if so, then the handy review/feedback icon is just the thing for you! Why not try it? Go on, have go!