Loss of hope rather than loss of life is what decides the issues of war. But helplessness induces hopelessness.
-B. H. Liddell Hart
Chapter 45: Helplessness induces Hopelessness
"Fuuton: Shinkuugyoku!" Anko cursed as seven bolts of wind shot towards her. She sprung backwards just in time as the jutsu sliced the air beneath her. Anko grunted as she landed on the ground again, sprinting towards Danzo. The old man just never gave up! Anko had hoped that the decades Danzo had spent in the office would have lowered his stamina, if only slightly, but it seemed that it was not the case. Anko dropped to the ground and rolled out of the way as a shower of kunai flew above her. The snake around her torso hissed angrily as Anko's weight dropped down onto it.
"Not my problem, Tamotsu! I'm a bit busy!" Anko snapped at the summon. Anko snagged another senbon out of her pouch and hurled it at Danzo. She forced back the pit in her stomach as she charged towards Danzo, preparing to use Sen'eijashu. Her senbon pouch had felt abnormally thin. Anko almost didn't want to count the senbon in her pocket because she knew it would only stilt her movements. She couldn't have more than ten left at the very most. Anko wasn't sure what she would do when she ran out of senbon. Most of the senbon she had thrown were embedded in the wall in small clumps of three or four. It would take time to yank them out, time that she didn't have right now.
Suddenly, a tiny flash of red caught Anko's eye, and she fell flat as Koharu's hairpin skimmed perilously close to her neck. "Oi! Watch where you're throwing that thing!" Anko yelled as she got back up on her feet. Luckily, Danzo had been as surprised to see the hairpin as Anko had been. Danzo leaped out of the way, but the hairpin barely managed to slice into his cheek. Danzo grunted as a trail of blood trickled down his cheek. He had to end this battle quickly. He had taken far too long to defeat Anko, well over five minutes, and the lapse gave Homura the opportunity to die on him.
Homura wasn't a vital piece to his plan, but his presence had helped to smooth over the civilian conversion. Ever since Homura had retired from his ninja duties, the civilians had grown to see him as one of their own rather than "just another ninja." Danzo was loathe to admit it, but it would have been difficult to sway the civilian populace to join his side without Homura's help. However, now that they already sided with him, Danzo knew they would be too stubborn to switch sides. The loss was still regrettable though.
Danzo jumped into the air just as three snakes went spiraling beneath him. Anko shunshined beneath him, and the two snakes on her shoulders hissed violently at him before flexing their fangs. "Fuuton: Shikuujin." Danzo spat out a glob of chakra onto one of his kunai and slashed the air before him. The chakra slammed into the flying venom, splattering it across the room. Anko flitted in and out of the droplets as she raced for where she knew Danzo was about to land. "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Fire spewed out of Anko's mouth and stormed towards Danzo. The fire exploded as it crashed against the ground, engulfing Danzo in flames. Anko breathed heavily as she watched the flames with hawk-like eyes. It couldn't be over that easily, could it? "Hmph."
Anko's eyes widened, and she whirled around just in time to stare Danzo in the eyes. "What the?" Anko barely got the words out before Danzo's fist slammed into her face, sending her careening back into a wall. The wall cracked beneath her as she slipped down to the ground, gasping for breath. Anko yelled at her body to move, but it was too late. Danzo shunshined towards her, kunai in hand, and stabbed through the snake binding her wound and into her chest. Anko bowed her head low as she tried to hold back the pain that was begging to make its way out.
"Mitarashi-san!" Koharu shunshined towards Anko and flicked her hairpin at Danzo, only for him to dodge out of the way. Koharu's eyes widened. Danzo had seen through the genjutsu so easily? That was when she saw the eye. "You... how?" Koharu stuttered out. Danzo took the opportunity and moved towards her, kicking at her stomach. Koharu ducked out of the way and stabbed at Danzo with a concealed kunai. Danzo's hand flashed out and caught her hand by the wrist. He yanked her closer and twirled her around before pinning her down to the ground. Koharu tried to escape, but it was no use. A second later, she felt the ice of metal against her neck. Her breath hitched in her throat.
Above her, Danzo sighed and shook his head. "So the woman got to see what she wanted after all... At least she won her little bet. I am sure it will console her after she is dead." Danzo snorted. "I'm afraid that you have seen it as well. It's a pity. You could have been useful if you had only chosen to side with us." Koharu blocked Danzo's words out of her mind as she tried to comprehend what she had seen. How on earth did Danzo have the Sharingan? He didn't have an ounce of Uchiha blood in him, and it was well known that Itachi had gouged out the eyes of his family when he left Konoha. Unless...
"You fool," Koharu growled. "If Konoha knew that you took the Uchiha eyes, then you wouldn't survive the day. You, of all people, should know how rarely secrets stay secret. One day, your followers will realize what you have done, whether I live to see it or not." Koharu winced as the kunai dug deeper into her neck. "You won't win. There are others that will take up the fight after I am gone. It was my duty as an advisor to make sure that the genin of Konoha were reared strong. If I have succeeded at anything, I have succeeded at that. It seems that my duty is over now, and they will have to take over for me."
Danzo let out a barking laugh. "You have become brave in your final moments. If only your words were worth something, then perhaps you would die in peace." Danzo sliced into Koharu's throat before stepping away. As Koharu's life trickled into the stone, she gave Danzo one last hateful stare before her world fell into black.
Danzo glanced over towards Anko who was still pinned to the wall by his kunai. Anko glared at him venomously, each breath sending a jolt of pain up her side. "I'll kill you," she growled. Danzo quirked an eyebrow as Anko tried to lift a hand to pull the kunai out of her chest. Each time she tried to move her shaking hand, she only failed. Anko let out a scream of frustration and a tear slipped down her cheeks. Danzo exhaled, and said, "I shall allow you one minute to think of your final words before I put you out of your misery. You have done well in lasting so long against me, so I shall grant you that. Think of it as my mercy."
Anko spat before Danzo's feet and hissed, "Mercy? I don't think you even know the meaning of the blasted word. I hope you rot in hell." Danzo snorted and shook his head.
"You should not insult the one who holds your life in his hands." Danzo twirled the red-coated kunai in his hands before fling it at Anko's chest. Anko gasped in pain and bowed her head tightly to her chest, trying not to make a sound. Danzo stared at Anko a moment longer before her body sagged, and she went limp.
Danzo looked at her for a few moments longer before he turned away and walked towards Orochimaru. It had been over ten minutes since Ino had entered Orochimaru's mindspace. Normally, it took a Yamanaka five minutes or less to probe a mind and return with information. If Ino was stuck inside Orochimaru for ten minutes, it meant that she had run into trouble or she was less talented than Danzo had assumed. And since Danzo was rarely ever wrong, Danzo could only wonder what was going on inside of Orochimaru's mind.
-TSUME-
It was dark, very dark. Ino reached out blindly as she walked around Orochimaru's mind. Ino didn't consider herself a professional at mind probing, but she knew enough to say that this wasn't supposed to be happening. She was supposed to be projected into a large hallway with hundreds of doors leading off to certain memories. Instead, she was stuck in some black pit with no clue where she was going. "Oh come on! Why isn't there ANYTHING!" Ino's yell echoed around the emptiness, and Ino felt sadness well up in her chest. She dropped down onto her knees and hugged her chest tightly.
She hated mind probing. She hated being a place where she was unwelcome, unwanted. Whether it was at the Academy or in her team, it was all the same to her. She had thought that the rebellion would be the end of her being left out, Danzo had even called her necessary one time, but she was wrong. And here she was again, in the mind of an S-class criminal that certain didn't want her walking inside of his mind. Ino shuddered as she thought about what would happen if Orochimaru's mind stumbled upon her while she was inside of his head.
Ino got up onto her feet and clapped her cheeks soundly. "I can't sit around here and let him find me. I have to keep going." Ino broke off into a run, blindly running ahead into the black. If she ran into something, then she would have at least found a wall which was a good start. Ino ran for what seemed like hours before she finally saw a sparkle of light in the distance. Ino held a hand over her eyes as she made her way closer to the light. As she came closer and closer to the light, the sound of her footsteps changed. Instead of the barely audible clicks of her shoes against the ground, she heard her feet thumping along the pavement.
As Ino reached the light, her eyes frantically searched the area, wary of Orochimaru. Instead of seeing the pale-skinned man, she saw a broken, empty hall. Black marble stretched out beneath her and crawled up the walls, enclosing her. A few squares along the ceiling let in the sun's rays while columns held the roof in its place. Green vines covered the black stone, making the pillars more green than black. Ino walked down the empty hall with a hand covering her nose. The room smelled musty with age, and Ino knew that Orochimaru hadn't visited the room for a long time.
As she walked down to the end of the hall, she looked around for any signs of why the room had been abandoned. And then, she saw why. The corpse of a woman that Ino might have once called beautiful was strewn against the ground. Tears paused midway down her pale face, frozen in Orochimaru's memories. Her long black hair was draped along her back as she clawed at the ground. Behind the woman, a blonde man was propped up against the wall with a kunai sticking out of his forehead. Ino's eyes flicked up to the eye-catching red words painted above the man's head. "Father," she whispered softly. Her eyes flicked back to the woman that she knew had to be his mother.
Ino bowed her head slightly, offering a silent prayer to the fallen. She straightened herself awkwardly and looked from the bodies to an oak door just a little ways away. "I'll be going now," Ino said hesitantly before speed-walking away from the two. She pulled open the door and stepped through it before closing the door a little too fast. The blonde leaned up against the door and gave a sigh. She didn't know that it was possible, but she almost felt a little bad for Orochimaru. His parents didn't look too old, so they must have died while he was still young. Ino stared down at the ground, briefly wondering if her father and mother were still alive. She hadn't seen much of the rebellion, and she hadn't heard any news of her father's death. She didn't know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing because it kept her wondering.
Ino wandered down the narrow hallway, glancing from door to door. Since she was looking for a particular piece of information, it would give off signals if she came nearby. None of the doors showed any signs of the mental waves, so she passed them by without a thought. Seconds turned to minutes as she made her way through Orochimaru's mind. Suddenly, Ino stopped midstep and stared at a pool of red that was seeping out from one of the doors. She moved to walk around it when she felt a tingle in her forehead. Ino let out a groan. It couldn't be... could it?
Ino took a step closer to the door, dipping her shoes in the blood, before resting her hand on the wood. A jolt of energy shot up her arm, and Ino knew it was the right place. Her shoulders slumped. This was ominous. She hadn't even entered the room, and it already appeared to be a place of death. A moment's hesitation gripped her, and Ino almost stepped away from the room when a warning signal flashed in her head. Ino whipped around as thunder boomed throughout the mindspace. "But how?" Ino yelped in surprise.
Someone else had entered Orochimaru's mindspace. Oh shoot, oh shoot. Ino's hand snatched the door handle and yanked it open before slamming the door behind her. If someone was in here, it meant that she was either incredibly late and Danzo had found someone else to complete the mission, something she found highly unlikely given the circumstances, or someone was here to stop her mission. Either way, it was not a good situation to be in.
Ino looked up from the ground to see bookcases lining the room. A dim green light shone in the room, giving the room a sinister color. Small pots dotted the shelves, and Ino moved closer to one before stepping back. A floating eye stared back at her, causing Ino to shudder. What kind of place was this? "Well, well, look what we have here?" A chill ran up Ino's back. There shouldn't be another living person in here other than Orochimaru and the intruder. The intruder couldn't have found her this quickly so... Ino turned her head slowly backwards, coming face to face with Orochimaru. His white skin accentuated his piercing yellow eyes, catching the breath in Ino's chest. Ino's mind went into overdrive. She had to get out of here. A voice in the back of her mind told her to look for the information before escaping. Ino didn't feel like complying, but...
"I don't appreciate it when people wander into my mind. For this, you must die!" Ino dove out of the way as Orochimaru slammed into the bookcase, shattering one of the jars. Ino jumped up from the ground and bolted through the laboratory, speeding up when she heard Orochimaru's scream of frustration. A long table stood beside her, carrying various beakers and vials bubbling over with chemicals that she knew not. She snatched two of the beakers off the table as she ran past and chucked them behind her. The glass smashed into the ground, and Orochimaru swerved out of the way to avoid the concoction.
Ino continued grabbing various vials and throwing them behind her, acutely aware of the fact that invaders couldn't use chakra inside of someone else's mindspace. "Sen'ei Tajashu." Ino squealed as she rolled under the table to the other side of the room just as dozens of snakes bit into the ground where she once stood. As she forced herself up from the ground, Ino's gaze caught the dark blue cover of a book resting atop the table. A flash of recognition hit her, and Ino realized that it had to contain the information she was looking for.
Ino sprinted up from the ground and snatched the book off the table. She immediately started flipping through pages as she continued to zig-zag along her side of the room. "Come on, come on! Got it!" Ino exclaimed as she flipped two a page containing scrawled notes and diagrams. Behind her, Orochimaru hissed and shunshined towards her, grabbing her by the neck. Ino gasped as the book dropped from her grasp, and she clawed at the hands around her neck.
The world seemed to get faint around her as she couldn't force any air into her lungs. Would she lose her consciousness forever inside of Orochimaru? Ino's hands dropped down by her side just as the door at the end of the hall slammed open. Teru burst into the room, slamming the door into the wall. Orochimaru started in surprise, his grip weakening slightly. Ino took the opportunity to squirm out of his grip and fling one of the syringes on the table. The needle pricked his skin, and Orochimaru hissed as he jerked it out. "Move!" Teru yelled as he pulled on one of the long bookcases. Ino's eyes widened as she snatched the book from the ground and dashed out of the way. Orochimaru moved to follow her, but he was caught by the tumbling bookcase.
Teru leaped on top of the fallen bookcase and ran towards Ino, who was reading the book feverishly. She closed her eyes and chanted the information in her head, willing herself to remember everything that was in the book. When she opened her eyes, Teru was in front of her, his arm reaching out towards her. His fingers tapped her in the forehead, and Ino let out a cry as the ground seemed to vanish beneath her. She was being forced out of Orochimaru's system.
-TSUME-
Ino's body lurched back from Orochimaru, falling to the ground. Beside her, Teru groaned as he receded back into his mind. He couldn't believe that he had actually succeeded. Teru shook his head as he tried to clear his mind. He pushed off the ground and stood up onto his feet. "Mitaraishi-san, Utatane-san, I did it!" Teru said excitedly as he turned around. When he saw the sight before him, his face went a deathly pale.
Danzo stood before him, staring him directly in the eyes. Teru let out an unmanly squeal and jumped back, bumping into Orochimaru, who was still strapped to the chair. He glanced past Danzo and saw Anko's body leaning against the wall. Teru swallowed nervously. If Anko was down, then he assumed Koharu had been defeated as well since there wasn't a fight going on. And if both of them had been defeated, there was no way he would stand a chance against Danzo.
Teru fumbled for a kunai and held it out in front of him like a protective charm. He trembled in fear as he tried to think of how he could escape, but he could find nothing. Danzo rushed forward and stabbed him in the chest, and Teru's kunai clattered to the ground. Danzo shoved Teru forward, sending him falling back against the wall.
Danzo frowned slightly. Defeating a defenseless and terrified child left an ill taste in his mouth, even if his purpose was good. "Nngh?" Danzo's eyes flicked over towards Ino, who blinked her eyes open. Instinctively, Danzo snapped his left eye shut, hiding the Sharingan from view. "Where am... Oh wait, I remember." Ino sat herself up and rubbed her eyes wearily. When she took in the scene around her, she jumped in surprise. She stared at Danzo with incredulous blue eyes and opened her mouth to say something before closing it again, thinking better of saying anything.
"Did you find what you were looking for?" Danzo demanded.
"I did," Ino said hesitantly. "But are you sure that you want-"
Danzo cut Ino off as he snapped, "Of course, I am. Why do you think I have spent months in preparation for this moment? I wouldn't back of this now that we have come so far. There is no turning back, Yamanaka-san. Remember that." Ino gulped and nodded hurriedly. Danzo's eyes softened slightly, and he said, "You have done well." Ino visibly brightened at that. Ino got up off the ground and brushed herself off quickly. "Follow me." Danzo turned and lead Ino towards the exit when suddenly, the door to the room snapped open.
Asuma hurried into the room, panting. He propped himself up on his knees as he heaved in and out, "I- I got the scroll." Asuma's body shook with exhaustion. After being forced into a corner, he was forced to search the Forbidden Scroll for any jutsu that he could use to escape. He found one, but it required a massive chakra drain. Asuma wasn't sure he would have been able to do it if he had used an ounce more of chakra in any of his earlier battles. The jutsu was a variation of the Fuuton: Shinkuugyoku, but it quintupled the amount of wind blades created at a single moment. The barrier snapped under the strain of the jutsu, but it took Asuma all he had to sprint away before the Suna ninja found him. Asuma shook his head and sighed. It would do him now good to think about it now. He had completed his mission, and that was enough. Asuma took the large scroll off of his back and held it out in front of him.
Danzo eyed the scroll before saying, "Put it back on and follow me. We must make haste if we are to complete this mission. We have already wasted enough time as it is." Danzo stepped around Asuma and down into the tunnels, his shoes clacking along the floor. Ino and Asuma met eyes, and they both shared a look of despair before turning to follow Danzo.
The trio quickly navigated their way through the dark halls. Finally, Ino gathered enough courage to ask, "Where are we going?" The look that Danzo gave her in return was enough to make her squeak. Danzo shook his head and turned away, continuing his walk.
"We are going to the underground detention cells," he said simply. "There is a special patient that we must meet there."
Asuma scrunched his face up. "What patient? I don't recall that many people being kept down here. They are either criminals or they have been labeled dangerous to society. Neither are people that we want on our side." Danzo rubbed his forehead.
"It is not necessary for me to detail my plan to you, but I suppose I will if it consoles you at all. I plan to meet with Haruno Sakura."
Author's Note: The rebellion is about to reach its climax! Most of the small battle scenes have been completed, and from here on out, the real meat of the rebellion shall begin. Team Tsume will end in approximately three chapters, so I hope you stick with the story until the very end! ^^ Thank you so much for your continued support!