The Best Laid Plans
Chapter 20: A Train Wreck in the Making
Arun
Disclaimer: A crooked smile!
Unproofed. Read at your own risk.
xxxxx
Kakashi thanked the toad summon for the scroll and offered her a bit of candy before she went on her away. Alone, he lifted the slime covered cylinder on his table once she'd vanished, mentally weighing it and tried to decide whether Naruto's gift called for a grin or a frown.
News of the jinchuuriki of Nibi no Nekomata's capture was going to cause a lot of consternation in Kumo and would certainly strain relations between Wind and Lightning. But it'd also give them more reason to stay the course against Hi no Kuni. In the final analysis, this meant that Fire faced the same situation it'd invaded Tea to avoid – a war on two fronts.
But reading between the lines, the Fifth thought things weren't really that bad. While he had no formal report from his children, Kakashi could well imagine what must have happened for the Nibi no Nekomata to fall into Konoha's hands. Suna must have suffered a defeat somewhere in its deserts and while there was no telling the scale of Leaf's victory without further information, he was inclined to believe it pretty huge. And thanks to his team's efforts, instead of facing two jinchuuriki on two separate fronts now, Fire would face only one. That combined with Fire's naval advantage, the new volunteer regiments and the other assorted knickknacks meant that Hi no Kuni was very well off, indeed.
"And what should I do with you, my little pretty?" he asked rhetorically, flipping the scroll in the air. He'd seen pictures of Yugito, the Two Tail jinchuuriki, in the bingo book and he grinned gleefully at the thought of having her helpless in his arms. It was almost a dream come true, though it'd have been better if she'd been a lover rather than a prisoner.
xxxxx
"You want something, One?" the leader of the largest band of nin operating in Rice country asked the masked shinobi before him.
Konoha ANBU operative One was a messenger from the leader's Hi no Kuni allies. The conquest of Tea and the destruction of Oto three years back had sent all nations and hidden villages scampering to beef up their defenses as their world slowly ground towards a new era of war. It also left Rice a lawless power-vacuum as Leaf couldn't afford to maintain a large garrison with the demands Tea and Wind placed on its ninja corps.
Naturally, Rice became a covert battleground for Leaf, Cloud and Rock as the elemental nations maneuvered around each other for an advantage. The only reason Rice did not become a sparking point for a very open and very bloody free for all was because all three villages and their parent nations had found their freedom of action restricted in various ways. The biggest factor had been that none of the three concerned hidden villages had considered themselves ready for an intense campaign against the others. To Konoha's disadvantage, they were stretched with their nin engaged in counter-insurgency operations in Tea as well as extending their influence in Sand through Danzo's peacekeepers. To the detriment of Kumo and Iwa, they did not share a common border with Rice, but this was more than offset by a porous coastline. However, they had to fight an already entrenched Leaf within the late Orochimaru's fief that was small but powerful as well as a native population that was sympathetic to Fire. But all three players had plenty of money to throw around and sow mischief, however, though the safe bet had been on either Cloud or Rock with Konoha coming a distant third if only because the former could bring more mass to bear to the battlefield.
Fortunately for Hi no Kuni, they had Jiraiya to head the proxy war for most of the crucial first year and he'd managed his campaign adroitly. Initially, he allied Leaf with clans that'd fought Orochimaru and then, as ANBU anger against the traitor and his helpers wound down, the Toad Sannin had made it policy to recruit those who surrendered. He'd also recruited unbonded nin – a euphemism for missing nin used by the hidden villages for those they worked with – for the war.
The old samurai who'd replaced Jiraiya when the latter left command for reasons unknown hadn't been as skilled, but slowly, as in Tea, Fire gained the upper hand. Thanks to his hard work and the sacrifices of the men under his command, Rice was mostly peaceful these days. But the proxy war was far from over. If there was peace, it was simply because the opposing sides were catching a breather before the next war, which everyone knew was less than a year down the line.
"Momotaro-dono requested me to personally deliver this communiqué to you, Hanzaki-sama," One replied.
"Indeed?" the Fuuma clan leader frowned as he collected the proffered scroll. He'd talked to Momotaro the day before during the weekly meeting, where they'd covered at some length issues of operational and tactical note. The retired samurai had reassured Hanzaki that the news from Hi no Kuni was all good. So, what was in this scroll? "Thanks, One. You may go."
One nodded silently and disappeared.
Hanzaki opened the document and read its contents. Then, he sent for his second in command. They didn't have a year more to prepare for war, after all.
xxxxx
"I note that your report does not mention the fate of the Two Tail jinchuuriki, Haruno," Danzo asked mildly.
"We felt that the less people who are in that compartment, the better, Sir," Sakura replied primly.
The one-eyed cripple nodded gravely, acknowledging the young kunoichi's skillful sidestep. Danzo's good humor at the Wind diplomat's discomfiture had died an untimely death once he'd realized the jinchuuriki was not among the POWs brought in by Kakashi's little bastards. He'd almost lost his temper and ordered them tortured then – and weakened as some of them had been by their battle at that point, his men would have subdued them easily – but he'd managed to control himself. They'd certainly sent the Two Tail to their Godaime and there was nothing he could do to get it back.
Now, after listening to the pink-haired kunoichi deliver the mission report, Danzo was glad he hadn't acted rashly. To have won a victory of such magnitude as young as they were, why he wasn't sure if the Jiraiya-Orochimaru-Tsunade trio would have been able to pull something similar off at that age! Kakashi had created something remarkable with his students and if somehow, Danzo could suborn their loyalty to himself, his long term goals would come that much closer to fruition. And the more he about it, the more he realized that he even had the right set of tools for the job.
"All right, Haruno, you've given me a lot of information to digest. I'm going to have to think about the implications of this mission long and hard, but it seems clear to me that we have an unprecedented window of opportunity on our hand."
Sakura nodded silently, wondering when the old fool would get to the point. If he wanted to launch an offensive against Suna, why couldn't he come out and say it straight?
"You're dismissed. Feel free to goof off for the rest of the day within the confines of the fort. Inform Uchiha Sasuke that I want to meet him at my tent later in the evening."
Sakura stood up and saluted.
"Yes, Danzo-sama."
"Relax and get some rest. You've earned it and more after this mission."
xxxxx
The field hospice stank mildly of shit and rang with the groans of the sick, but for all that, it was surprisingly clean, thanks to the orderlies. The cause of the stink, the commandant of the Suna garrison was all too familiar with. There were forty very ill men under the massive tent and another hundred or so samurai outside who had the runs to varying degrees of severity.
"Report," the commandant ordered after inspecting the sick.
The senior doctor on duty scratched his chin. The man looked overworked, sleep-deprived, very ragged and his uniform looked scruffy, but he and his compatriots had done a great job saving as many people as they had. So, the commandant was willing to overlook the man's lapse of discipline for the present.
"The numbers of infected has come down for the second day in a row. Hopefully, we've got this thing beat and the trend will continue to improve."
"How many today?"
"Seven serious enough to admit and about forty more that are infected, but don't need to be admitted. We've got them all quarantined, of course. And four dead."
"That's one more dead than yesterday," the commandant pointed out with a grimace.
"Yes, but I think we've lost as many people as we're going to. Oh, we may lose a handful more before we eradicate this outbreak, but that's about it."
"Good. How soon can the sick return to duty?"
"The first one'll probably be fit day after tomorrow. But the number of unfit isn't going to come under 100 for at least a week."
The commandant nodded grimly. His men had followed sanitation procedure by the book for the most part. The only instruction in the damned manual they hadn't followed was to properly heat water or disinfect it with alcohol before drinking. Since he'd known from firsthand experience how unruly his soldiers were under the influence, he'd been unwilling to grant them access to booze. And their austere and rather limited supply chain couldn't bear enough wood for the required volume of potable water and still carry enough comestibles for the men to survive. Even still, for the runs to spread this fast through the garrison, it was certain that the water supply was compromised by saboteurs. And if the commandant ever got his hands on the guilty party, he would ensure the bastards were skinned alive and quartered for killing close to seventy samurai.
xxxxx
The watch stander at the messenger bird tower in Konoha enticed the newly arrived pigeon into her reach with an offer of grain. The bird drew ever closer, pecking one kernel after another until the watch stander's hands swooped down from behind to catch it by its neck.
"Sasaki-san," she called aloud, recognizing the breed of the bird, "One of the special pigeons just came in."
Sasaki, the middle-aged caretaker of Konoha's messenger birds emerged from his office with a frown on his face. The special pigeons – there was no name for the breed and in fact, they did not officially exist – were the product of Konoha's own experiments after the founding of the village. The objective was to create a breed of homing pigeons that could fly higher and faster than any other. The early results had all been failures, but Leaf had succeeded some forty years back and reaped the just rewards since.
"That'll be all. Return to your duty," the caretaker told the watch stander, collecting the bird.
"Yes, Sir."
Sasaki nodded and walked back to his office, wondering whether he wanted roasted pigeon or pigeon soup this evening and feeling glad that he wasn't an active shinobi any longer. No news that the special pigeons had carried back to Konoha had ever been good, after all.
xxxxx
Kakashi looked the three golden pips nestled in the ANBU Intelligence Captain's hand and shook his head.
"Yet another confirmation?" he asked his ANBU adviser tiredly. It had been a long day and he'd been neck deep in paperwork and meetings. Why couldn't his Intel chief see that there was no need for more confirmation of Kumo's complicity in Suna's treachery. "I don't think we need any more confirmation that Suna and Kumo have got it in for us."
"This one's from Grass, Hokage-sama," the masked commander replied somberly.
Kakashi sat up straighter in his seat. Grass equated to Iwa and those bastards were tough customers.
"Grass? You sure this is correct?" he asked. Then, resignedly, "Of course, you are. You wouldn't be here if you weren't disturbed by this news."
"It was one of our sleeper agents in Grass that sent this, Sir. There are four more, but we've received no confirmation from the others. We're trying to obtain independent confirmation now."
Kakashi thought about it.
"We'll forward the message to the Daimyo, of course, but with the addendum that we haven't got independent confirmation on this one."
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
"What's the status of our units on the Grass border?"
"Weak," the ANBU commander replied. "Grass being one of our oldest and staunchest allies, we maintain several nominal garrisons on their border as you're no doubt aware."
"And they are garrison troops in the truest sense of the word, too. Even the shinobi complement," Kakashi appended, feeling less confident by the second.
"I'm afraid it's much worse, Sir."
"Oh?"
"We sent a communiqué two days back to move some of those troops to reinforce the garrisons on the border of Rain and River."
Kakashi groaned inwardly. This was exactly what a commander wanted to hear on the eve of a war: One of his flanks was unprotected and an enemy was about to spring a surprise attack to exploit his weakness on that front.
"Now I know why you hurried here with this message. How bad is it really on the border?"
"The forces are spread thin, Hokage-sama. The western highway and the provincial capital are well-defended and we can hold them against even a full-scale attack, but everything to the west of the highway is exposed and vulnerable."
Kakashi nodded grimly and turned to his aide. Fire had trusted its long time ally Kusa no Kuni to stand by its side in the coming war and all signals from the Grass court had implied such was certainly the case. Naturally, since Kusa's loyalty was assured and because Grass hadn't indicated any hostile moves on Iwa's part – and Konoha's spies within Earth hadn't indicated otherwise, either – Hi no Kuni's planners had assumed it was okay to order some of the troops stationed on the Grass border to the hot frontier with River, Ame and Taki. Now, they were going to pay for their mistake.
"Send for Jiraiya-sama. Tell him that I need his advice," he told the chuunin. To the ANBU commander, "We'll continue this meeting in another thirty minutes with Jiraiya-sama sitting in. In the meanwhile, see to it that the messages to the Daimyo as well as the garrison commanders are prepared. Most importantly, we need independent confirmation of Kusa's betrayal. Work to expedite that."
xxxxx
The Tsuchi no Kuni commander raised the teacup to his lips and took a sip. The green tea was scalding hot, which was just the way he preferred it.
"It goes good?" he asked his Grass counterpart.
The Grass polished off the last sushi and nodded.
"Surprise is almost complete. Fire has little or no idea that we're coming at them, Inouye-san."
Brigadier Kanao Inouye, commander of the four regiment strong taskforce sent to invade Fire, smiled pleasantly. It wasn't everyday that you were able to surprise your enemy thus. Konoha had managed it against Orochimaru during the Chuunin exams held in Leaf three years earlier and look what happened to the snake sannin.
"I concur," he acquiesced, "which brings us to what we're going to do about our advantage. The agreed upon time table is a week from now."
"You intend to advance it, Bridagier?" the liaison asked.
"Yes, I do. Tell me, how soon can your troops be ready to launch an attack?"
The Kusa Colonel thought it over for a couple of seconds.
"I can have them prepped for an assault by mid-morning tomorrow."
Inouye smiled.
"Let's not rush the men. Given their dispositions, the Fire pussies will need at least three days to concentrate before they dare challenge us on the open field. And that's once they learn about my men and I."
"They'd have learnt it from the farmers by now, which means we have plenty of time to organize our forces," the Kusa Colonel observed. "Dawn day after tomorrow sound good to you then?"
"Yes, I think it does."
xxxxx
Jounin Rensuke Isogai rose from his bow and handed the Daimyo of Kaze no Kuni the scroll delivered by the signals people. The ruler of Wind nodded curtly at his jounin guard – the only one visible of the dozen in his security detail – and unfurled the scroll expertly.
When he was done, the Daimyo laid the message beside him and turned to his guard. The communiqué had been sent by Koiso, who'd been informed by Danzo of the Two Tail jinchuuriki's capture and who'd also seen some of the captured Kumo and Suna shinobi. Danzo's sheer effrontery was galling and the Daimyo had just about enough of the cripple and his band of murdering troublemakers.
"Isagai-san."
"Yes, Lord."
"I want to send a message to Suna as well as the units hemming in Danzo and the feckless fiends of that madman. It must reach the concerned parties before nightfall, today."
"It'll be done, Lord."
The Daimyo thought about it.
"The message is simple. The cripple has declared war on Wind. Our forces are to rescue the hostages held at the old war-cripple's fort. Towards this end, they will attack the fort and take it. Tell them I want Danzo's head on a pike before the end of the week."
"Yes, Lord."
"Good."
xxxxx
It was so hot that there was scarcely anything alive on the desert floor, but for a few ants here and there. There was no wind and absolutely no humidity.
Presently, one of the ants scurrying along the desert surface met a sudden end as rubber-soled foot stepped on it. The ant passed away unremarked and unremembered as its nemesis took a minute off to crack his neck and spit on the ground.
"I hate this fucking desert," the man cursed.
The man's partner, the mercenary, glared at psychopath. The object of his ire appeared immune to his anger, which was normal behavior for the asshole.
"I mean, I get the whole fucking dead zone, devoid of all life and all that crap, but honestly, this sucks. There's simply no fucking thing to kill around here. How's a man supposed to worship his God when there aren't any fucking sacrifices around?"
"I'm getting tired of your constant complaints, Hidan," the mercenary replied through gritted teeth. He left unsaid his desire to rip out his companion's throat and stomp on his grave. That part was implicitly understood after yesterday when he'd tried and accomplished just that.
"Like a servant of the God could expect anything better from a godless heathen like you, you coin-counting whore," Hidan retorted.
The mercenary snorted, clamping down on the berserk fury that threatened to burst forth.
"Think what you will, Hidan," he warned, "but you're approaching the point where I grind you to paste and feed you as pig slop. We'll see how you enjoy your immortality as pig-shit."
The psychopath spat on the ground in reply. Like a heathen had any real hope of killing a True Disciple.
"What are we going to do, Kakuzu?" he asked. "We have been on station for more than a week now and if there's been a second patrol of those Konoha pussies in our general direction, it didn't come within a dozen miles of us. The fucking cowards!"
Kakuzu had been debating the same question himself. Since Hidan ran amok among the Leaf patrol and the heavily reinforced force came to retrieve the shredded corpses, there hadn't been any squads sent out on their flank as far as he could tell. This was bad given the unofficial bounty attached to the heads of each of Danzo's men in Wind, and because he and Hidan had been instructed by the Akatsuki leadership to weaken the war cripple, which they couldn't do if the latter avoided them.
"Well, I guess there's only one thing left to do. If they refuse to come to us, then we go to them."
xxxxx
"How are you, my poor baby?" Inuzuka Tsume asked.
Kiba grinned foggily at his mom. He's awakened from a drug-induced slumber only minutes earlier and wasn't thinking all that well.
"I'm feeling great, Mom," he slurred, "How's Akamaru?"
Tsume looked at the bandages that covered the amputated stump of Kiba's right hand and tried to mask her thoughts. She'd seen Kiba's canine companion earlier and Akamaru was even worse off.
"He's doing fine," she replied, faking a smile. She started to say more, but a masked ANBU interrupted her and asked her to wait outside the room. Kiba was a firsthand witness of the Two Tail's capture and Konoha wasn't about to take any chances of him blurting out that fact while under the influence of painkillers.
Tsume shot a look at her son and walked out before she burst into tears. The amputation was clean and the medics had promised they'd have her son fully healed before the end of the week, but Kiba's days as a frontline shinobi was over and with it went his dreams.
xxxxx
The shepherd was frightened, but then, he had good reason to be. He was in the middle of an army camp surrounded by armed soldiers and facing the commandant.
"You're serious?" the young fop of an officer asked disbelievingly for the seventh time. Major Toshiaki Mukai was a pleasant enough fellow and a very amicable one who was very popular with the ladies, but he was not officer grade material. Not by a long shot. His father was a moderately powerful nobleman in the Fire Damiyo's court and he'd received his command through patronage.
If the idiot had been one of his sons, the shepherd would have taken a belt to the imbecile's scrawny ass by this point. But with samurai around and the moron being the son of a noble, he was powerless.
"Yes, Lord. A combined Kusa and Tsuchi army is amassed near the border. My son-in-law heard Earth country samurai in the woods this side of the border when he was returning with firewood this morning."
"The poor bloody fool is frightened out of his wits," the Major told his adjutant, who was no intellectual heavy himself.
The XO nodded sanely. Mukai was right, of course. As he always was. The shepherd was probably a hysteric.
The shepherd shook his head. He'd come to the camp for the reward money he'd thought the samurai would give him and because as a patriot of Fire, he did not want the Earth country savages in the land of his ancestors. But his message was falling on deaf ears.
Well, so be it. It was the samurai's job to defend the land from invaders and if they couldn't be bothered to do it properly, then pox on them and their clans. The shepherd had his family to mind, and he and they would head to the nearest fortified city this very day. Hopefully, the garrison there would be more competent than these cretins.
xxxxx
"Well, it's time for me to meet Danzo-sama," Sasuke said with a bright grin as he stood up and stretched.
Naruto made a face.
"What do you think he wants with you?" Sakura asked.
The sharingan wielder shrugged.
"Don't know. Honestly, I'm more interested in how Kiba's faring."
"I'm sure he's doing fine," Naruto replied.
"Kiba-kun had nothing life threatening," Hinata added, "but I'm concerned about his hand."
Sakura put an arm around the Hyuuga heir. The pink-tressed kunoichi had examined Kiba herself before they sent him to Konoha and the bones in his hand had been crushed to powder. She didn't think even Tsunade or Kabuto could save it.
"Don't fret, Hinata," Shino consoled the girl. She'd spent a while crying for her teammate and his dog. "Kiba's a survivor."
"I'll be back soon," Sasuke, who looked distinctly uncomfortable, announced and left.
Naruto turned to Shino and raised an eyebrow.
"You want to play shogi or something? I'm bored."
xxxxx
The meeting had gone well so far. Danzo had struck to small talk so far, though Sasuke got the feeling that this was really an interview and he was being felt out for a possible alliance.
"Help yourself to another cup of tea," the old warhawk suggested, lifting the tea kettle to serve Sasuke himself.
"No, thank you," Sasuke replied, "I'm stuffed."
Danzo nodded and put away the kettle.
"So, tell me, are you satisfied with your position in Konoha?" he prodded.
Sasuke smiled indulgingly. It was an interview to see if he could be bought, after all. Normally, he'd have gone for Danzo's throat, but Kakashi-sensei had asked him to leave the old fool alive. So, he'd suffer the crippled, cane-wielding idiot's foibles.
"Very much so, to tell the truth. It's very exciting."
"And your personal life?"
"What's there not to have? My team is my family and I have great friends and teachers."
Danzo smiled sardonically at the reply. Family! What a laugh!
"Indeed? What then of revenge?"
The smile on Sasuke's face faded a bit.
"It'll come when in due time. The Uchiha will be avenged before the clan arises from the ashes once again."
"That's really too bad," Danzo stated.
"Oh?"
"Yes, it'd be such a shame to kill your brother."
Anger flashed in Sasuke's eyes now.
"Permission to speak freely, Danzo-sama," he said.
"This is a conversation between an officer of the Ninja Corps and a clan leader. You may feel free to speak as you will without fear."
The raven-haired Uchiha nodded curtly.
"Very well. If you value your life even a little you'll apologize for your ill-advised comment regarding the murderer or I'll call you out and strangle you with your entrails."
Danzo smiled.
"My apologies if I've hurt your sensibilities, Uchiha-dono. It is sad that you hate your only surviving kin so."
"Kin?" Sasuke ground coldly. "He murdered my parents. He massacred my relatives. He made me relive their deaths a thousand times as a child that night. I assure you, the crazed murderer is no kin of mine."
"Well, as you say, he murdered your parents. He massacred your relatives and for whatever reason, he made you relive their deaths a thousand times. But was he crazed or did he do it for a reason?"
Sasuke's eyes narrowed further.
"What do you imply?"
"What if I told you that your brother is perhaps the greatest patriot of Fire country that's alive today?" Danzo asked in reply.
"He's a lunatic and a murderer," Sasuke replied, raising his voice a little.
"He's a patriot who executed your clan because they were plotting treason. He did so at the behest of the Third Hokage, one of the teachers you so love."
Sasuke's eyes turned pinwheels and he tensed ready to explode, drawing on his Seal of Power. The nerve the cripple must have to accuse his besmirch his clan honor, and to tarnish their good name and that of the Sandaime.
"Don't you want to know the truth of that terrible night, Uchiha? Listen to me and then decide whether you want to act rashly or not."
"You have two minutes," Sasuke said, calming down and releasing the heady power granted by the seal, but not his sharingan. "If you fail to convince me, your life is forfeit for treason against the Godaime by virtue of attempting to suborn his shinobi against him."
Danzo barked in laughter, waving his guards away.
"No tailed beast has ever attacked any village, Uchiha-dono, except the Nine Tails. Did you ever wonder why it attacked Konoha some fifteen years ago?" he asked.
Sasuke nodded assent. Yes, he'd wondered. Hell, Sakura had even asked Jiraiya-sensei the same question during their training. The sannin had not been able to answer her then and he did not have an answer for the old cripple now.
"Then consider this. The Kyuubi ignored the traps we set, the obstacles we built and the resistance we offered that day."
Sasuke scowled and did not reply. But his mind drifted to Sakura's discussion with Jiraiya on the subject.
"Tell me then, is it normal behavior for any sane animal to walk into danger when there is safety in another direction? Don't bother with an answer for it is obvious.
"But the Nine Tails did exactly that, Uchiha. This raised suspicions that it was being controlled. Now, there have been two methods of controlling the Kyuubi in written history and both relied on bloodlines. The Senju Mokuton and the Uchiha Sharingan to be precise. And the Mokuton never drove any tailed beast crazy. The evidence, you'll admit, pointed to the Uchiha."
Sasuke snorted.
"That's not evidence. It is conjecture at best and a flimsy one at that. Here's an alternate explanation. New bloodlines are born even today and maybe there's a new one that can control the Kyuubi? Or how about an even simpler one. The Kyuubi went mad. Animals in the wild do tend to do that, you know? And not just from rabies, either."
"True," Danzo conceded, "but your clan was murdered years later. And the story is only begun. Do you want to hear the rest of it or do you want to denounce me now and try your hand at assassinating me? If the latter, I promise that you will not succeed."
"Say your story, snake-charmer," Sasuke retorted coldly.
Danzo barked laughter again.
"There were suspicions against the Uchiha at very high levels after the Nine Tails was beaten. And they were very aware of it. Promotions and opportunities were denied them. Watchers were assigned to the clan compound. The powers of the Uchiha police were curtailed. The clan prodigy, your brother Itachi, was weaned away from the elders and into Sarutobi's fold. The feelers your clan sent to make peace were denied. There was to be no compromise.
"What else was your clan to do in such a situation? What else could they do? The Sandaime forced them to plot revolt and so they did. And when their plot was discovered, Itachi was ordered to carry out an execution. He was to sacrifice his honor and your clans so that the Third could rid himself of one of the major political blocs in Konoha.
"This is what happened, Uchiha-dono, and this is the true face of your masters."
A frown marred Sasuke's face.
"Such an order wouldn't have been written. How is it you know, Danzo-sama?" he asked. Clearly, the cripple was hiding something. But what was it? Sasuke did not doubt that there was some truth in the story, but he needed to know how much was fact and how much fiction?
"When Sarutobi, Homura and Koharu plotted your clan's death, I was the only one to speak against it. The Uchiha had served the village loyally for too long for their loyalty to be rewarded with treachery, but their decision was made and I could not sway them."
Sasuke snorted.
"Yes, woe be you," he said, turning to leave. He had much to ponder and he could best do it in the company of his family. For one, what should he do if Danzo was telling the truth? What would Naruto and Sakura do for that matter? Should he forgive Itachi? Should they leave Konoha? What should he do?
"Wait, Uchiha-dono."
Sasuke turned.
"You'll understand that if Konoha learns you know the truth about your clan, your life is forfeit, don't you?" Danzo asked.
"Of course."
"Good, then. I hope you'll consider what you've learned today and make the right decision as to whether you want to serve the murderers of your family or avenge your clan's deaths."
"Yes."
After Sasuke left, Danzo motioned to one of his guards.
"Keep an eye on that one. If he takes a false step, poison all five of them."
xxxxx
Author's notes:
Please leave reviews.
Well, that last act was perhaps the hardest conversation yet. I hope it was believable. If not, feel free to point out what isn't and I'll do my best to correct it. But bet you thousand to one that no one expected Danzo to try to suborn Sasuke this way! ^_^
As for the overall plot, for those of you who thought that everything was going hi no Kuni's way up to this point, this chapter must be a rude shock. Iwa has achieved strategic and tactical surprise. And Fire's forces are not positioned to thwart them. That's can't be good, can it? LOL
Last, I thought that someone would comment about me using Seal of Power instead of Cursed Seal in the last chapter, but no one did. Oh, well. Saves me some explaining, but happy to know you guys understood the reasons without my explicitly stating them.
Keep reading!