Chapter 19 – Choices That Define Us
It wasn't that he couldn't tell something was amiss, in fact, Minato could sense that something was terribly and horribly wrong, it was just that at this particular moment he didn't want to think about it. He could feel the constant nagging in the back of his mind that kept reminding him that now he was the Hokage and that the village was first and foremost, the most important thing in his life. However, looking at his sleeping wife and cradling his precious newborn son in his arms reminded him that not too long ago, before he was the Hokage, he had been just a man, and first and foremost his family had been the most important thing in his life, and if he was being honest with himself, which he wasn't, it still was, even if it wasn't supposed to be. This left him with a moral dilemma to which he had no answer, which was why it was past 4:00 in the morning and instead of climbing into bed with his wife and son, or suiting up to head out and save Konoha, he was instead pacing the length of his bedroom, staring off into the night sky. Torn between his duty to the village and his love for his family, Minato couldn't make up his mind, and it was tearing away at him. Then the decision was made for him.
A messenger pigeon flew in through his open window landing on a silver rattle perched precariously on his nightstand. Elaborately covered with an intricately molded design, it was a beautiful piece, and a gift from Hyuga Makoto that Minato was positive was very expensive. However, it was his own opinion that Naruto might put it in his mouth, as he'd heard babies were prone to do, and silver shouldn't be in his baby's mouth. He'd polished enough of the stuff in his genin days and seen enough of the dirty rags left behind to know silver was not clean, and no matter what Kushina said, or how often she said it, Minato was throwing that rattle out before it ever got near his son's mouth. Luckily he'd now been given an even better reason to do so. There was no possible way his son was keeping a rattle touched by a disease infested carrier pigeon. Speaking of said pigeon, Minato placed Naruto in his basinet and took a look at the hastily written message.
"1000 SAMURAI IN FOREST OF DEATH. MOVING TO INTERCEPT. – Tsume"
In seconds Minato, the family man, was gone and in his stead remained Konoha's Yellow Flash, Hokage-sama, leader of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Using the incredible speed he was famous for he flashed down to the mission desk managing to scare the crap out of the dozing teenager on duty. So startled was she that she fell out of her chair and then stared up at him blinking owlishly, still not believing it was her hokage standing before her at such an ungodly hour.
"Hokage-sama?" she asked sheepishly.
"Hai, Tsubaki-san," he answered sternly but without malice. "There is trouble in the Forest of Death. Make the call to mobilize units 59 and 78 for battle. And have Hyuga Hiashi, Kewano Teruo, and Nara Shikaku organize teams to back me up, immediately. Understood?"
"Hai, Hokage-sama." Tsubaki saluted and set to work assembling the troops. Not that Minato saw any of it, as he flashed his way over to the point of invasion he hoped Tsume hadn't gotten herself into too much trouble as of yet.
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Practically at the gate Tsume and Kuromaru had never made such good time. It seemed fear for her students well being was much more motivation then she'd ever thought it would be. Once again she was blown away by the impact her team had made on her life and by how much she actually cared about them. General consensus in Konoha stated Inuzuka Tsume was a rowdy bitch, severely loyal too, but a bitch first and foremost, one who didn't care about anyone outside her family and clan, but Team Kick Ass (sweet Kami why did Rikku have to choose such a stupid name for their squad?) had changed that. With worry coursing through her very veins Tsume almost wished they hadn't. If something happened to them, and she lost even a single one, she didn't know what she'd do, she would be inconsolable; a lump formed in her throat at just the thought of it.
Reaching the Forest of Death's entrance Tsume slowed her approach, having no idea what was actually going on inside and running in half cocked, guns a blazing was a rookie mistake that she couldn't afford to make, not with her teams' lives on the line. Peering through the gate she saw nothing and decided to run on through, she knew where Rikku's seal was placed, even if the girl thought she'd been clever getting one in there, and she could pick up their scent from there. Heading off west toward the seals' location she stopped at a word from Kuromaru.
"What?" she asked impatiently.
"East of here, about a half-mile, the enemy has three leaf shinobi captured. I'm not sure what they're doing but the smell of blood is thick in the air."
Sniffing expectantly Tsume could indeed smell the iron that signaled a great deal of the crimson body fluid had been spilt and she grimaced, "Come on lets go, our kids aren't there."
She started off west again only to find Kuromaru was not following behind her.
"What now?" she asked exasperatedly.
"Last I heard all of Konoha was part of the pack," her nin-dog reminded her. "Am I wrong? Did someone change that?"
"Hai, you're right," she said with shame.
Turning east Tsume and Kuromaru moved stealthily toward the smell of Konoha's shinobi. The pungent metallic odor of blood hung heavily in the air and it wasn't long before Tsume recognized the scent of one of the victims. It was Fugaku's boy, the one whom Hana had said she would marry if things didn't work out with her Zumo-kun, and as far as her nose could tell Itachi was suffering from some massive bleeding. Picturing the small stoic boy eating dango with Hana she cringed thinking she had almost left without helping him. What would Fugaku have thought? They hadn't worked together in years but he'd been on her first jonin squad and had remained there for two years before he was tapped to take the position of clan leader. They'd gotten along then, but what would he say if he found out she'd left his 6 year old with the enemy when she could have easily saved him? Wait, what the hell was a 6 year old doing out here in a battle? Forget what Fugaku would say to her, what would she say to him about his poor parenting skills.
Coming upon the captive leaf shinobi it was obvious Fugaku's boy and Orochimaru's reject, known in certain circles as Izumo's lady of love, had been knocked out long before becoming captives, which meant the remaining prisoner had to have been carrying them both. He must have been ambushed and unable to defend himself due to the precious cargo he had been carrying. Otherwise he was just a terrible ninja, these yahoos holding them were pathetic and even an academy student should have been able to take them out in a fair fight.
Noticing the condition of Itachi and Anko, Tsume realized why he'd risked everything to carry them both. Without medical attention, like yesterday, neither of them was going to make it. The three idiots holding them captive foolishly continued arguing the merits of keeping their prisoners, never once noticing the kunoichi creeping up behind them or the giant dog following her and when she finally sent three kunai colliding with their head's and skewering their brains through the back of their skulls they'd still had no clue what had happened.
"Arigato, arigato," the genin began thanking Tsume. "Thank you so much, I had no idea how –"
"Hurry up and get them to the hospital," Tsume cut him off. "Kuromaru, take the boy."
"Hai," the nin-dog said, picking up Itachi and running off toward Konoha General.
"You should be able to move faster now," she observed.
Taking a hint from her earlier remarks the boy picked up the remaining kunoichi as her body continued convulsing and simply nodded at Tsume before sprinting for the gate. Now finally free to move west and find her own students Tsume really hoped they weren't in the same condition as those other two.
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Hizashi could not have been prouder of his students. They'd shown remarkable courage and poise in battle; even Yugao had managed to keep her emotions in check, an amazing feat for the hot-blooded kunoichi. When the fighting had commenced they had held their ground; protecting Hatake and Uchiha above everything else and refusing to leave their comrades behind. He'd noticed the samurai's tactics of attempting to bait his apprentices and goad them into giving chase conveniently leaving their colleagues unprotected for easy pickings. Noting this, Hizashi made sure to keep an eye on the proceedings without actually warning his team. With himself as backup, he made sure to test them on how well they had listened to the mission parameters. As it turned out, they'd listened very well; neither had been enticed furthermore both remained steadfastly at the side of their comrades and Hizashi couldn't have been more delighted. Their progress in the few short months he'd had them was remarkable, and he couldn't help but to think it might have something to do with him as well; that all of their accomplishments were as a team rather than as individuals. He was glad to have gotten a team, while he'd done his best and made sure their fighting prowess had increased tenfold, they had helped him in ways he hadn't imagined. Because of them Hizashi found himself free of the Hyuga cage and hopeful about life once again, and he couldn't help but think he'd gotten the much sweeter side of the deal; he'd forever be grateful to the Hokage for putting them in his life.
After the original attempts to lure his team away had failed and it became apparent that the enemy would not be getting to the incapacitated ninja, the samurai began avoiding them like the plague. They couldn't hope to match the shinobi in skill and so had made the collective decision to just stay away from them. While this meant it was infinitely easier to protect Kakashi and Obito, it also meant none of the invaders were getting the justice that they deserved, and Tsume's genin were getting in all the practice. It was decided then that they would move the unconscious ninja and Hizashi would guard them to give his team a chance to get some fighting in as practice for the upcoming chunin exam.
Watching his team (as well as guarding the chunin and jonin) Hizashi noticed that Hayate seemed to be taking the first watch, while Yugao whirled wildly through their enemies, cutting them down indiscriminately, only the problem was he wasn't supposed to be watching. He was supposed to be fighting, which was the whole reason Hizashi was not. Fortunately this was soon remedied.
"Baka!" he heard shouted at the boy in warning before the palm of a hand smacked the backside of his head and then Yugao was dashing away from him again to wreak havoc on their enemies. Finally, Hayate too began to move. Where his female counterpart was all power and intensity, a real bruiser, Hayate was grace and speed cutting a deadly dance through their opponents, his sword weaving through the crowds effortlessly. Hizashi was impressed and wished the invaders were a bit stronger; he had really wanted to witness the jutsu they'd worked so hard on in a real battle. However, high caliber warriors these men were not, and using ninjutsu on them would have been overkill. Instead he'd restricted them to only taijutsu, turning this into more of a training exercise than anything else.
In conjunction with Tsume's team they made short work of the remaining samurai and soon the two teams converged on the center of the battlefield.
"I think we got them all," Tsume's spikey haired genin proclaimed proudly. "Haha! Taken down by a bunch of genin, it's no wonder Konoha is the best ninja village ever!"
"Hell yeah! Team Kick Ass gets shit done bitches!" the small blond girl shouted with a mouth that Hizashi would have sworn couldn't come from such a pretty face had he not heard it for himself. "We're just a bunch of samurai killing machines, and they were just punks."
"Those idiots never stood a chance. When Team Kick Ass is on the job the mission gets done," the spikey haired kid spoke again.
"Oh really? And just who sanctioned this particular mission Kotetsu?" an angry voice growled in the night and the spikey haired boy, apparently named Kotetsu, froze in place. The rest of his team stood gaping; just as easily cowed. Hizashi silently wondered how Tsume had managed to instill such fear in her squad, and if he might be able to get some pointers to do it with his. His own group respected him and listened to him, but he'd never seen them respond quite like the Inuzuka matriarch's team was right now, and he had to admit he was a little jealous.
"Izumo did it," the girl piped up, throwing her remaining teammate under the veritable bus. "He woke us up and said we had to save his precious Anko-chan, and sensei you know as well as I do that even if we hadn't gone he would have went on his own. And you taught us that we should work as a team so we couldn't very well say no."
"Anko-chan? That girl's a crazy psycho." Hizashi heard Hayate whisper to Yugao and tried not to snicker when Tsume's eyes narrowed on him and his student shrunk back in fear (yeah, he was definitely going to have to ask her how she did that). It seemed Hayate didn't have any knowledge of the Inuzuka clan's abilities, because just a minute later he was murmuring to Yugao about the scary woman with fangs, and Tsume was grinning evilly. Hizashi would have to remedy that, who knew whom the boy would wind up facing in the chunin exam and he should at least have some idea about the capabilities of Konoha's most prolific clans.
"You three are all in serious trouble, regardless of whose idea this was," Tsume barked at her cell. "Take those two over there and get them to the hospital now. Then go home, you'll all be punished soon enough. The Hokage is not going to be happy about this."
"Hai sensei," the three of them said in unison, and then moved toward their fallen comrades. The boys picked up the unconscious shinobi and Hizashi heard Yugao snort and give the smaller girl a hard time, because of course Yugao would never let her male teammates look better than her. The blonde's eyes narrowed at the remark but she only smirked in response, letting her jutsu speak for her as she and her teammates simply disappeared, probably reappearing in Konoha General if gossip about her abilities was even remotely correct; leaving his own student to gape foolishly at the now vacant spot they'd just been standing in.
"Don't ever underestimate a shinobi Yugao," Hizashi chided. "You never know their abilities. Your arrogance is going to cost you one day."
"Sorry sensei, it won't happen again," the humbled kunoichi answered.
"I hope not. Now you two go search for survivors. We need to know who set this up. Go now, and hurry back. This mission is not yet over," he ordered.
With his team out of the way Hizashi turned to Tsume, the only other shinobi in the vicinity he'd feel okay with bringing along to face the Kyubi.
"What is it Hizashi? What are you seeing with those eyes that I can't see? I know that damned chakra didn't come from these samurai. There's no way my students would even be alive right now if it was, not even with your help. So what gives? What is it?" Tsume's somber tone showed her trepidation and looking into her eyes Hizashi saw a seriousness he hadn't even known she could possess.
"It's a demon. No, it's the demon. The Kyubi no Yoko; strongest of all the tailed beasts," he said matter-of-factly, remaining as cool and detached as he possibly could. It would do nobody any good for him to admit his all consuming fear of the beast.
Tsume's fist came up to her mouth in a nervous gesture and her face turned whiter than her student's had before. "The nine-tails? Are you sure?"
"Hai."
"Shit!" She shook her head in disbelief. "Where is it? What is it doing here?"
"It's headed north, toward the Valley of the End, but I don't know why. And I'm guessing the only people who do are all unconscious at the hospital right now. Unless of course you think your genin know something they aren't telling us."
"No, they don't know anything. They don't even know about the demon or they wouldn't have left me here. As far as they're concerned they've already eliminated the threat to Konoha."
"Then I guess we'll never know why it's here," Hizashi said gazing off into the distance, savoring the night air.
"I guess not. It's just you and me, huh? I know we can't win, but maybe we can slow it down a bit. Maybe save a few people before we go?"
"Let's hope so."
"Sensei!" Yugao shouted from the distance. "We found four but we're having some trouble."
"Trouble?" Hizashi questioned, it seemed relatively quiet with no sounds of a struggle.
"They're heavier than we anticipated sensei," Hayate explained.
"They're fat sensei!" the purple haired kunoichi exclaimed. "How can they claim to be warriors when they're in such pathetic condition? It's no wonder they were so easily killed, they couldn't even have run away. They're too fat to get very far, and just forget about them being fast."
As he and Tsume came upon his students dragging four large bodies behind them, he saw that though crass, Yugao's assessment was correct. The men were obese, barely fitting into their armor. Even knocked out they were still breathing heavily from what could only have been a short run due to how quickly his genin had returned.
"Why would Ame send such worthless opponents to attack the most powerful of the great shinobi nations?" Hizashi asked aloud. "Were they so sure they were going to fail that they sent only the most expendable of their forces?"
"If that was the case, why attack at all?" Tsume puzzled. "Unless they were sure they would win?"
"But why would they think they could win with these guys?" Yugao interjected.
"They didn't," Tsume responded with confidence. "They knew about the fox. They didn't have to send their best warriors because the Kyubi would do all the hard work. They'd only have to do the clean up."
"And they wouldn't send their best soldiers to fight alongside a demon. By sending inferior fighters they insured that any casualties were of those that were expendable, which would explain why there weren't any ninja with them when attacking a shinobi village. They didn't want to chance accidentally losing anyone important to the demon," Hizashi reasoned, agreeing with Tsume's theory.
"But how would they know the demon was going to be here?" Yugao asked.
"An inside man," Tsume growled as the reality of it hit her.
"But who?" Hizashi was perplexed.
"Sensei?" Hayate spoke up.
"Not right now Hayate, we need to think about this clearly. I need to concentrate," Hizashi answered, his mind so busy going over possible traitors to Konoha that he didn't even bother to look at his student.
"But sensei it's important," the boy answered back.
"What Hayate?" Hizashi said with all impatience. "What could be more important than figuring out who did this before they can do it again? Oh—"
As he turned to reprimand his insubordinate pupil he knew immediately what the problem was. While they'd been deeply involved in their conversation, their other allies had not been. It appeared the four men in their possession were the only remaining samurai in the forest because they were now completely surrounded by the mutilated corpses coming to collect their prey. As far as he could see the reanimated bodies filled the forest, intent on only one thing, the destruction of Konoha's enemies; even now the ones closest to them were beginning to pull lightly at the arms and legs of the captives, as if to remind the Konoha shinobi what needed to be done.
"If you want to ask them anything I suggest you do it quickly," Hayate offered timidly. "I don't think they have much longer."
"Hayate," Yugao said coolly. "Throw one of them into the mob. With their focus on him it should buy us some time to question the other three."
"What?" Hayated stammered. "You can't be serious. We can't do that."
"She's right," Tsume conceded. "We can do it, and we have to do it."
"What? No way! Sensei?" Hayate's voice rose in pitch as he gawked at the two obviously disturbed women and then turned toward his mentor, sure that Hizashi would be the voice of reason in lieu of the kunoichis insanity. They could not throw these men to their deaths, to be ripped apart by these mindless zombies.
"It has to be done Hayate," Hizashi answered while pushing back the encroaching horde. "We need the time with the other three. As horrible as it seems, it's the only option. We need information to secure Konoha's safety."
Hayate's face paled as he came to terms with their current situation. He knew Yugao was right, but it didn't make it feel any better. Looking at the four overweight men tied and gagged at his feet he could see the terror in their eyes and he wanted to vomit. How could he choose one to be torn to pieces? Who was he to make that choice? Realizing for the first time the repugnant nature of the job he'd chosen Hayate cracked on the inside.
"Step aside if you can't do it," Yugao demanded, pushing her way over and eying the prisoners.
"I guess you wish you'd eaten more desserts," she said heartlessly to the thinnest of the group before reinforcing her muscles with chakra and hoisting him above her small body; tossing him out and over the awaiting puppets. As she did so, Hizashi and Tsume flashed to the remaining captives, each grabbing one of the tied men and jumping into the tree branches above. One remained at his feet and just as he'd managed to shake himself from the moral daze he'd been inflicted with and moved to pick the man up, Yugao once again beat him to the punch; leaping into the tree with the gagged man. Below, the puppets must have knocked the gag from the man's mouth because suddenly the forest was filled with the agonizing screams of a man being torn apart limb from limb slowly and painfully. The sounds being ripped from his throat were terrifying and soul piercing, even Yugao was flinching occasionally at the horror of it, and each and every tormented wail broke Hayate just a little bit more.
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Ripping the gag from between the soon-to-be-dead man's lips Yugao now knew why she was the only one getting personal instruction from Hizashi-sensei; she was the only one on their team capable of making ANBU. Iruka was too kind for the shinobi life, some people just weren't cut out for it, she didn't think any less of him; she just felt sad that she wouldn't get to work beside him for the rest of her career. She'd thought she'd at least have Hayate with her, but today's events seemed to have proven otherwise and it looked like she'd be on her own.
Grabbing the prisoner by his hair she held his face in front of her, glaring only inches from his face, she demanded an answer to her question, "Who were you meeting here?"
"I don't know," the man answered tearfully, the salty drops running generously down his face over his chubby red cheeks.
"Who were you meeting here? And who set this meeting up?" she asked again, continuing to stare the man down.
"I don't know," he sobbed another time.
"You don't know?" she said, with disbelief in her voice.
"No, I don't know anything, please believe me," he whimpered.
"I think you're lying," she said smiling wickedly, and Hayate cringed, a 12 year old girl should never be able to look that evil. "But thank you, because since you're lying, I get to hurt you, and I'm going to like hurting you."
"I don't know anything," the man reiterating while continuing to weep. His eyes followed her hands as she pulled a kunai from her pouch, moving it to his throat, and finally pushing the sharp metal point into the soft flabby skin of his jowls.
"Like I said, I think you're lying," she repeated, drawing a shallow cut down his flesh, causing him to cry out in pain. From his vantage point behind her, Hayate was sure from the blubbering man's moans of agony that he didn't know anything, and this was going to get them nowhere. Standing up to attempt a stop to Yugao's cruel actions he caught a glimpse of the samurais' face and knew he'd been wrong all along. Where he'd believed the guy to be telling the truth he'd been wrong, Yugao had been correct, the man knew exactly what they needed to know. Now that he'd realized the small kunoichi wasn't playing around with him he'd dropped the charade. His face was blank and his jaw clenched in defiance, he wasn't going to say anything. Hayate felt like a fool, this whole time he'd been protecting an enemy of the village, someone who would see it destroyed and everyone in it killed, and he'd tried to defend him; he promised himself he would never make that mistake again.
Yugao smirked homicidally at the samurai and even chuckled psychotically in his face. "I knew you were lying; now it's only a matter of time before we know what's in that ugly little head of yours."
"I'm not telling you anything bitch," the man spat.
"I disagree," she said, pushing his hand up against the trunk of the tree with her left hand to keep it still, and using the kunai in her right to cut off his pinky. Howling in misery, the man doubled over in pain only to be kneed in the face by Hayate's purple haired teammate.
"So who sent you here?"
Apparently having had enough, the man answered truthfully for the first time that day, "The Kouukage."
"Bullshit!" Yugao raged. "Rain doesn't have a kage. They haven't earned the right to the title yet."
"Hahaha," the prisoner cackled. "Konoha is so arrogant. You know nothing. You think you're all so strong, that nothing can touch you, but the Kouukage is right. Konoha is nothing. So blinded by your conceit you can't see what's in front of you. Those that you are so proud of will be your downfall."
"Oh really? So you do know who the traitor is. Now you'll have to tell me that too."
"Why would I tell you anything? I'm going to die regardless of what I tell you. Even if I give you everything I know I'm going to die anyway, so really there is no incentive to help you out."
"You—"
"Ano sa, please step aside Yugao," Hayate cut her off and gently picked her up, turned around and set her down behind him in his previous location while he now occupied hers.
"Hahaha," the man chuckled. "Am I supposed to be afraid now? The big bad man is going to try torturing me… oh no! You've got to be kidding me. You should have let the girl do this; you don't have the chutzpa kid. Neither of you are gonna get anything out of me, but she had a much better shot at it. You don't have the stomach for what needs to be done. But your girlfriend over there, she does. I bet she could disembowel me without even blinking. She's dead inside already, because that's what the high and mighty Konoha does to its children; breaks them from the inside out."
"Shut your mouth you piece of shit! Hayate if you aren't going to hurt him get out of my way. I am going to disembowel this piece of trash," Yugao fumed.
Smirking the man looked Hayate in the eyes, " You better let her at me boy, you don't have it in you. You're still to kind, let the heartless bitch do it."
"She can't," Hayate stated simply. "You're going to tell me what I want to know, not because you're afraid of me, or what I'll do to you, but because of what I'll do for you. Something my associate over there would never have done."
"That's crap Hayate," Yugao shouted at him. "Anything you can do I can do too."
"I bet she can, and probably better kid. Because she doesn't care."
"That's exactly my point," Hayate affirmed. "I do care, sweet Kami I wish I didn't care, but dammit I do. Which is why I know you'll believe me when I make this offer. You tell us who the traitor is and I'll kill you."
"You're kidding me right? That's my incentive? Death? Fuck you, teme."
"Yeah, that's the incentive. You tell me who the traitor is and who he was talking to in your village and I'll kill you. Slit your throat, or put a kunai in the back of your skull. Your choice. It'll be quick and relatively painless. You don't tell me, and I drop you to the zombies. The fall will break your legs so you can't run away, and you'll be alive while they pull you apart piece by piece biting and scratching at your flesh. You heard your friend go that way, is it something you want to emulate?"
The samurai looked him in the eye, then looked back toward Yugao, and then down at the milling dead.
"You have 30 seconds to decide." Hayate declared, they were running out of time, every second they took was another one that the Kyubi was out there destroying the land of fire, but he was met with silence.
"Tick tock," the kunoichi called in an obnoxious sing-song voice. "You're running out the clock. 15 – 14 – 13 – 12…"
"Yugao!" Hayate snapped and the female was silent.
"I don't know his whole name. He's an Uchiha. Super powerful. He and a few others were to meet us here and they were going to summon the demon, then we would clean up anything it missed. Our Kouukage was meeting with him. Even if you Konoha bastards don't acknowledge him, it doesn't mean he isn't there. That's all I know,' the man finally answered, melancholy now replacing the rancor his voice had once held. "Please make it quick."
Turning the man around so he faced the tree, Hayate's sword plunged through the back of the man's head, killing him instantly.
"Good job," Yugao said softly, knowing what doing it must have cost him. "I didn't think you had it in you."
"Neither did I and I almost wish I didn't," Hayate admitted, hanging his head dejectedly as he made a move to jump down out of the tree. Before he could though, a firm hand gripped his forearm tightly and he looked up into Yugao's eyes.
"He was wrong you know," she said, her gaze filled with sincerity. "About me, about Konoha, about you. He was just wrong. I'm not dead inside, and I'm not broken, and neither are you, or the children of Konoha. He was preaching at us but can he honestly say his village is any better? Ame can say what it wants about Konoha, but our Hokage would never have sent 1000 untrained out of shape men to their deaths. I know I was cold and I was cruel, but that man, those men, were enemies of Konoha, of our home, they were here to see a demon wipe us off the map, shinobi, civilians, the elderly, women, and children, all of us. And I will always do what I must to protect what is precious to me, I hope you remember to do the same."
A/N: I don't know anything about torture or interrogation (which I actually think is a good thing) so I don't know if that's how it would get done, but for the purposes of this story, that's how it went I guess. If you have any suggestions for improvement please let me know.
Also if you could provide me with a review I'd love you forever and ever, I'll even offer favors for them, whatever you need, if I can do it, its yours.