A figure melted out of the shadows in an empty room, brown hair covered by a black bandana, ANBU style mask covering his face. Bolt gear, nearly identical to ever other ANBU force, was upon his body, and a ninjato was across the back of his waist. His target was a scroll in the center of the room, one guarded by many seals, which he soon began to neutralize. It took him only a few minutes to do so, but it was more than enough for him to sense someone coming. Unable to leave the scroll, as the lack of protective seals would be obvious immediately to any who would see it, his hand drifted towards the ninjato at his waist, vanishing into the shadows once again.
The door opened, a blond man with blue eyes walking through, and he paused immediately upon making it through the door, instantly on guard as he saw the tampered with scroll seals.
"Come out come out wherever you are little spy." He said, eyes roving the room as he lightly pulsed his chakra to dispel genjutsu. He still saw no one, but his instincts had him whirling around, a puff of smoke and a clang announcing the arrival of his massive broadsword, held steady against a ninjato point. A slight smile was upon his face as he looked into the featureless mask of his opponent, and he spoke again.
"Tell me who your master is, and I may let you live." The two disengaged, the brown-haired man slicing at many different parts of the Bolt Leader Cloud, but all of them were deflected by tilts and slight movements of the giant blade.
"Come now, surely whoever sent you told you who I am….engaging in Kenjutsu with me is suicide." The weapons met again as Cloud's broadsword became charged with electricity, intending for the current to run through the intruders blade to shock the man into unconsciousness, only for the man's blade to glow white, and the electricity to be stopped cold. Cloud's head tilted slightly to the side, both in acknowledgement of the technique and in curiosity. No one had ever countered his lightning blade with fire before.
"Very well then, I guess we must fight. Let us see if you can match me." Their blades began to dance, tightly controlled fire and wild lightning dueling equally as the blades met over and over. A decapitating chop was ducked by the intruder, but his retaliatory stab to the stomach was blocked as Cloud used his blades momentum to spin it into the smaller weapons path. For well over two minutes they dueled, an intense kenjustsu battle that gave no time for a breather, at least until Cloud managed to land a kick upon the intruders stomach, knocking him back. A backflip landed him on the wall, and Cloud gained the sense of a predator glaring at him as the man's mask rose, and a burst of speed beyond the level they had been fighting at took him by surprise, allowing both techniques to land.
"Crescent Moon."Fire arced out of the man's foot as he appeared inside Cloud's guard, jumping into a very fast backflip and using that momentum to kick the Bolt commander under the chin, fire burning into the man's skin. His other foot stopped the back flip midway, lightly kicking off Cloud to gain height, easily going up to the ceiling.
"Eagle Dive." His hand pressed the ceiling, a light blue aura pulsing off of it before he was launched into Cloud, his foot driving deep into the already wounded Cloud's body. He picked his foot up off the sawdust, turning to face the slightly-burnt Cloud. He was impressed, the man had managed to substitute after the first attack. Regardless, it was over.
The intruder vanished, leaving Cloud quite confused, until he saw the missing scroll. 'An accomplice…damn.'
~Break~
Hanzo ran out of Kumo, followed by three men attired exactly as he was, and smiled. The four ran in perfect synchronization, the target safely sealed away inside his arm. This scroll was far more important than the amount of guards suggested, which was only proven by Cloud himself coming to defend it. They knew what it was, and it had already been confirmed. The alliance treaty between Sand and Cloud, which could no longer happen thanks to their interference. Considering that Kirigakure was still considered in a civil war, though admittedly it was in its "twilight stage", it would be assumed Danzo or Gaia had ordered the theft, and would be moving to counter whatever moves the alliance might make. It was risky business choosing to ally with someone these days; one never knew just who watched, waiting for the moment to strike.
Four months had passed since the beginning of another Shadow War, and it was so far surprisingly bloodless. So far there had been nothing more than skirmishes, making Naruto believe that none of the villages were truly ready for fighting, but circumstances had forced their hands. Akatsuki actually joining a village, even temporarily, had been a great shock, even if they had now abandoned Iwa. All that Gaia had gotten out of her move had been death and a loss of funds, not something that was good. But that was what she got for being impatient, unlike in the Three Great Shinobi Wars, where everything could depend upon one move, the shadow wars were about territory and influence, both of which Danzo had the most of, and as such he was already in a favorable position for winning any wars.
A World War was a total war; every element in the entire village was devoted to coming out on top. In a Shadow War, one could kill hundreds and there may be no change in the overall standing because of the various backup plans that are in place. In a world war, the slightest change can have terrible results, yet in a war of shadows, influence was far more important than any single life.
It wasn't long before they made it to their ship, sailing back to Kirigakure. Hanzo had spent the month infiltrating the last two villages, despite the difficulty involved. He had been forced to rush a little, but thanks to shadow clones he had gotten it done. After all, it wasn't safe on the continent right now for Kiri. It wasn't safe for shinobi in general, but even less so for Kirigakure. If their interference was found out, then at least one of the other villages would attack, likely two or more.
They were travelling quickly, getting the hell out of Lightning Country before Cloud's forces were able to mobilize; the scroll he had stolen was quite important to Kumo-Suna relations, and with it it was possible the two nations may form an alliance, which wouldn't be good for any nation. An alliance between the two major countries could eventually defeat Danzo, provided the man didn't ally with Iwa. It was completely possible, as Danzo was incredibly convincing and Gaia would likely join him just to spite Cloud for what he had done to her four months ago.
The War had been surprisingly bloodless these few months, but if this alliance went through it was likely to be subjected to immediate change. Kumo and Suna would form up and pin Konoha in between the two of them, Konoha being forced to split its forces down the middle in order to compensate. Something like that would leave Konoha quite open to an invasion, or betrayal, by Iwa or the minor villages the Leaf Forces controlled.
"Sir." The monotone voice of one of Hanzo's subordinates cut the man from his thoughts. Four men ran behind him, one of whom had moved slightly closer to him.
"Yes?" He asked, wondering just what could cause the man to break silence. His forces were usually quite silent, a by-product of their training. He had taken all of Yagura's remaining ANBU and sealed them, causing them to be intensely loyal to him, and him alone. Of course, a nasty side effect of that was that they were rather stoic, borderline emotionless in fact, based on what he had observed.
"The others and I were wondering about something. We've been on several ops so far, and you still haven't told us. How did you get that scar over your right eye?" That confused him. Why would they want to know about that? No, scratch that. How did they even know he had a scar on his eye? To his knowledge they'd never seen him without his mask on.
"What scar?" He queried, not willing to release any information that wasn't necessary. Not only that, but since the incident with Tobi, the only scars on his body had been his whisker marks, and only those because he had been born of a Jinchurikki.
"We saw it at the hot springs on the first mission. It trailed up from your jugular vein, through your jaw bone, up your cheek and ended just above your eye. It's the only scar that we can't figure out a reason for, and I, personally, am rather curious." Maybe they weren't so emotionless after all. Learn something new every day. Regardless…that scar had been something personal, a mark of one of his biggest failures. His first attempt at Sage Mode. Then came the memory that this group hadn't been with him when he still had those scars. Something wasn't right here. So the answer became clear to him, tell a truthful lie, at least until he could find out just how these four knew of something that was no longer there.
"I'm sure you're all aware that the life of a shinobi is perilous." He sensed the nods behind him.
"You rise….you fall…you're down and you rise again." His gloved hand came up, tracing where the scar used to be down his mask.
"That scar is a fall, caused because I refused to stay down." The four shinobi waited for several minutes for more of an explanation, but there wasn't one forthcoming. The one who had spoken up drifted back with the others, and they travelled in silence for some time. At least until Hanzo's raised hand stopped the entire group, landing on the ground.
"Sir?" His fist clenched, both shutting the man up and alerting the others that something was wrong. The scraping of blades leaving their sheathes resounded through the clearing, Hanzo's other hand resting on the hilt of his Katana.
"We have company. You four go ahead, get this scroll back to base at any cost. I'll take down the followers and catch up." He tossed the scroll at them, and in under a second it was caught and his shinobi had shunshinned away, a slight click announcing the partial draw of his Katana.
"Come on out, shinobi of Bolt." From the shadows flickered four forms, one slightly ahead of the others, all four having the standard brown hair. It didn't matter what you looked like or what style you preferred your hair in, if you joined any kind of stealth organization it was cut short and dyed brown, that being the most common color in the elemental nations.
"So what can I do for the four of you?" He asked, not saying anything about the two behind him, the three above him, or the two below him. The scroll was quite the worrisome item in the wrong hands…or the right hands for that matter.
"You know exactly what you can do for us, Earth scum. Return the scroll, or lose your life." Hanzo's head cocked to the side, somehow projecting an aura of curiosity and offense despite his covered face.
"Earth scum? I should kill you for daring to imply I serve Iwa!" He snarled angrily, intentionally playing into the trap of the Cloud-Nin. He was well aware of the grin behind the man's mask.
"Than what are you?" Hanzo almost chuckled as he masterfully finished the deception, every shinobi there stumbling slightly back in shock as lightning surrounded his fist, held in the secret salute of Bolt.
"I am the ions that make it possible for the lightning to strike. I am the power behind the mighty bolt of lightning, the supporting strength behind the storm. I am the thunder that obliterates all before it, the focused lighting in the hurricane. I am Bolt, and I serve Kumo."
"Bullshit! If you served Kumo then you wouldn't have gone against Cloud-sama!" The man screamed in rage, quickly calmed down by Hanzo's bitter chuckles.
"For years I've sat back and watched as Cloud has driven away the pride of Bolt. Look at us!" He yelled, turning around and glaring at every single shinobi that had come after them, palms rising up in the air as the members of Bolt rose from the ground and fell from the sky, all eleven of them now surrounding him, a tone of insanity entering his voice.
"LOOK AT US! Here we stand, on the brink of another war, and what does Cloud do?" He reached into his pouch, paying no heed to the other shinobi doing the same in case he attacked. From the pouch he took a scroll, one exactly like the one he had given to his team. He spoke again, putting all of his effort into weaving this illusion.
"Do any of you know what this is? What it really is? We were told that this was a scroll holding the terms for the Bolt-Dust alliance. This is true, to a point." He unrolled it, slowly turning it to allow everyone to see. He had read the original, and this one was an impressive forgery, though there were several changes made to it.
"This lists the terms behind the alliance." He pointed a finger along several parts, several key parts, feeling the shock as the leader of the group before him read it.
"As you can see, these aren't terms that would be of any use to Kumo. Paying Suna? Giving up territory and goods? No, I was outraged, and I can tell that you all are too. But what the finisher was, what has driven me to betray Kumo until such a time as I can get rid of Cloud, are these." He fully unrolled the scroll, revealing two things to the horrified shinobi. The first was a clause granting the service of Bolt Shinobi unto Suna, perhaps one of the deepest treacheries possible for a leader. The various organizations were to only be used for the good of their village, not another's.
The second was Cloud's Signature.
The leader was standing there shaking his head in denial, and he wasn't the only one.
"I love Kumogakure, always have and always will. It's why I can't stand to see Cloud lead us to ruin. Let me go, at least to take this treaty to a safe place. I would destroy it, but then what proof would we have of Cloud's treachery? I will come back and face justice then." Several of the shinobi were leaning towards Hanzo's perspective, but the leader, while convinced, wouldn't let that scroll out of his sight.
"No. If Cloud really is a traitor, then we need to get that to the Raikage, immediately." Hanzo shook his head, laughing bitterly.
"What good will that do? We all know that Cloud is stronger than A. Maybe Killer B could beat him, but only with the full power of the Eight-Tails behind him. Cloud has more skill and a great deal more experience in combat than A will ever have. If Cloud is the traitor I know he is, then A himself is likely already compromised." The man in front of him seemed to stumble, but regained his bearing easily enough. That likely hadn't occurred to him.
Still, the man hadn't become a squad leader in Bolt by being fooled this easily, and it was then that he remembered the others.
"Then answer me this, Bolt Shinobi. Whose aid did you gain, and why did not trust the scroll with them?" Hanzo scoffed, inwardly nervous. He only had so much time before Cloud himself arrived.
"Remnants of my old squad. Most are dead, but the three of them survived alongside me. We discussed the decision beforehand. If it was our comrades who found us, I would remain behind in an attempt to convince them, while they took a decoy scroll in case there was another group." Hanzo wasn't quite sure when the deception was seen through, but he had been expecting it from the beginning. Without using a genjutsu it was nearly impossible to fool someone who had spent years deceiving everyone they know, but he had known it was coming. The minutes spent in conversation had been more than enough for his soldiers to get away, however, and thanks to a certain little seal that he had applied to the fake he'd given them…well, let's just say that if they were actually traitors like he suspected, they wouldn't be living much longer.
The leader of the squad made several subtle hand signs, followed by several members of the group. Others moved to encircle him, in order to prevent his escape. A small bit of chakra escaped him, encircling a stone right behind the enemy commander, unnoticed by all of his foes. His expression set in stone behind the mask, he listened as the other man finally spoke again.
"I'll admit, you almost had me convinced. You're good, too good. I have no doubt that if I could see your face I would have been convinced, for a face is always trusted more than a mask, but you failed in one little thing." The man's hands flashed through seals even as he spoke.
"I know all the senior members of Bolt, which you would have to be! Now die! Raiton:…" Whatever jutsu the man would have performed was lost to the world as his head hit the ground, Hanzo slowly sheathing the katana, standing behind the slowly falling body.
Almost as if it was a signal, the other soldiers slowly fell into various pieces as well, several forms around the clearing crumbling to dust as the earth clones the Kiri shinobi had summoned faded away. He cast one look back at the fallen ninja, speaking one final sentence before dashing away.
"Liar, you were the traitor." A small, almost unnoticeable piece of paper fluttered away from the now dead body, very small orders from Iwa written upon it. Hanzo found it amusing that someone that deep in an organization was a traitor.
AN: Jesus Christ this was hard to write. I've spent the past few months trying to type up this pathetically small chapter whilst I was able to make a chapter with over 10,000 words in my new story…in less than a day. The fuck.
Anyways, I don't exactly have internet access at the moment I'm typing this, so I'll just address the questions I can recall.
Strength wise the leaders of the various shadow organizations are stronger than the respective Kage. Think about it, a great deal of training, natural talent, and far more experience. After all, fighting in one or two wars is no match for living a nonstop one.
Yes, I am still writing this story, and the next chapter should be written before too terribly long…provided the wonderful world of the internet doesn't slap me in the face again.
ChronoMitsurugi…maybe I spelled that right…last I remember reading one of your reviews I think it was talking about Danzo spotting Naruto as Hanzo too easily? I have a reason about that as well. Thinking logically, Danzo trained the boy. Taught him everything Naruto knows about infiltrating a village, even if Naruto has learned some new things. He recognizes Naruto's work, his…touch, if you follow me.
Someone commented about my story being shades of grey instead of black or white, well, I'm glad it's been recognized so many times. I'm a believer that there is no such thing as good or evil, only power, and those too weak to seek it (J.K. Rowling). The Roman Empire promoted slavery and suppression of women, and they were the kings of the world for a long time. History is written by the victors, and what we see as terrible, such as the segregation of blacks and whites, was considered the best thing to ever happen not even a century ago.
I've read some confusion about my choice of pairing, Mei. The vote for her passed overwhelmingly, and she will be the one with him, but I think it was age differences that they had a question with? Well, as I've stated previously, Naruto looks seventeen or eighteen, and he sees no reason to inform anyone that it isn't true.
I've had some people complaining about the way I've portrayed Kakashi's strength, or rather lack thereof. My Kakashi is more powerful than the anime's, do you really think that Akatsuki won't be more powerful as well? Kakashi vs. Hidan, whom I consider to be the weakest member of the Akatsuki, would be a difficult fight on Kakashi's part. The Sharingan, Kakashi's over-used trump card, is useless against the immortal priests fighting style. The sheer unpredictability of the weapon ensures it has no point a or point b. Kakashi's over reliance upon his Sharingan would be his downfall. A mere second of surprise and…dead.
Vs. Kakuzu, the stronger of the pair, Kakashi would be completely outmatched. Five hearts, five elemental natures, specialist in Ninjutsu just like Kakashi, except with a ton more chakra, many more jutsu, and two more elements to draw from would overwhelm Kakashi eventually. While Kakashi could pull out a win, it's really a toss-up. Kakuzu would die several times, but five times? I'm not sure.
Again, sorry for the sub-par, but still decent chapter. A nice example of Naruto's charisma, and evidence that even in the very best of organizations…the only one you can trust…is yourself.