Flash of Red and Black
Chapter XI
"Listen up! In teams of four, you will sweep the area detailed in your mission orders and map out any secret passages remaining from the war. Any and all information available in the area is to be sealed and sent back immediately. If any enemies are discovered, take them out. Those presumed to be part of Orochimaru's experiments are to have their bodies sealed and sent back. Until we know more about the new curse marks, don't risk trying to capture them. Leave within the hour. Dismissed!"
Instantly, ten teams consisting of mostly jounin dashed away to prepare for their mission. I couldn't risk sending any more ANBU than were already out since I needed the remaining teams and the Suna ANBU around for backup. In the week since I sent teams out after the Kage meeting, reports from the squads had been flying into my office. All of them described how certain curse-marked individuals would enter into one of Orochimaru's bases in one area, and would leave the base miles and miles away where another ANBU team was posted. However, no one ever left the base in the Land of Whirlpools, only entering. But the most concerning thing was a report giving the descriptions of three individuals entering the base in the Land of Whirlpools. The descriptions matched Taka's members perfectly.
"Naruto. Let's get back inside."
"Right," I said, giving Shikamaru a little nod before heading back into my office. "Call Sai and Neji. And get Moegi and Udon."
Shikamaru instantly sent out the orders and then joined me in my office.
"Shouldn't we call Shizune or Tsunade-sama? They'll be doing the analyzing, right?"
"'Course they will, deba. But that's what Moegi's for, and Udon will be delivering all documents to decryption. Tell everyone to get ready," I said just before Sai and Neji appeared in my office. I explained the situation to them as Shikamaru relayed the rest of my orders.
"So the majority of our jounin are now headed out of the Land of Fire."
"Right. Sorry but your job might get a little difficult, Neji."
"It will be taken care of," he said and I nodded, leaving him to do what he needed to make sure the village would still be well-protected.
"I have not uncovered anything more about Danzo yet."
"Alright. Just let me know if you find any references to either Akatsuki or Orochimaru. I need every heads-up that I can get at this point," I said, giving Sai a tired smile. He looked like he was about to say something, but apparently he thought better of it and just nodded before leaving.
"Well, what do you think, Shikamaru?"
"It's too early to say," he said, not looking at me when he responded. Instead he was staring out the window behind me. If it weren't for the frown lines marring his brow, I would've thought that he was just watching the clouds pass by.
"I know that there's something on your mind. You may be a genius, but if you think you can fool me when your face looks like that, you're an idiot."
He gave me a half-hearted glare before sighing.
"We all know how Sharingan-obsessed that snake is," he finally said, pausing to look at me. It felt like my stomach had turned to ice when I saw that look on his face, and I knew that I wasn't going to like the rest of what he had to say. "And Kakashi is the only person alive that still has a Sharingan now… I can't say for sure, but I would keep him away from Orochimaru's bases until we can figure out what his plan is," he said, eyeing me steadily, but I could tell he didn't like saying it aloud.
I sat there in contemplative (and worried-out-of-my-mind) silence for a few moments before giving a slow nod. I didn't like it. Not at all. It felt like I was pushing Kakashi into the same position that I was when the war started, and I couldn't let it stay like that.
"I'm going to go talk to Kakashi. I'll be back soon. Tell Udon and Moegi what to do once they get here," I said, vanishing before Shikamaru could even mutter troublesome.
"I thought you would be in your office. You're waiting for reports from the teams you sent out, aren't you?" Kakashi asked as soon as I appeared in the living room.
"There shouldn't be any reports for at least a day."
Slowly, Kakashi got up from the couch and walked to where I was standing, eyeing me steadily. He could tell that something was wrong.
"What is it?"
"Shikamaru thinks Orochimaru is after you," I said, holding his gaze. He looked a little surprised for a moment, but it didn't take long for him to come to the same conclusion as Shikamaru.
"The last Sharingan, huh? Meaning, I won't be going on any more missions near any of his bases anytime soon."
I nodded.
"What will I be doing, then?"
"Help Sai and Shikamaru with the reports once they start coming in. You'll be off guard duty until further notice too. I'll let Neji know." I suddenly felt more tired than I had since the first round of the Chuunin Exams started. Kakashi nodded, but he made no move to leave just yet as he started at me.
"We're not at war, Naruto, and I can be of use even inside the walls, so stop making a face like that. There's no reason for you to feel guilty, and you don't need to worry," he said finally, stepping forward to hug me. I nodded weakly. Saying it was one thing, accepting it was another.
I stayed there for a while, but eventually I sighed and pulled back.
"I need to go, dattebayo. You should go ahead and start working with Sai."
He nodded, but he was still looking at me worriedly up until I disappeared back to my office, finding Moegi and Udon there.
"Hey, guys! I guess you already know what you'll be doing, right?" I asked, rearranging my emotions for the moment. Being worried wouldn't help anything. Only doing my job could solve the situation, so I decided to get to it.
"Yes, Naruto-niichan," they both replied.
"Good. I don't know if Shikamaru told you, but Konohamaru is out there getting that information too, so I know that you guys are going to make sure that his work doesn't go to waste once the reports start coming in. Time will be of the essence, so help out around the hospital and decryption as much as you can, but be sure to come back here as soon as possible to keep delivering the reports. Don't bother with the formalities, just be quick about it. And just to be clear, everything you'll be hearing is S-rank information, got it?"
The pair looked at each other a little nervously, but once they looked back at me and nodded, their nerves were as good as steel. I smiled before motioning for them to sit. It would be quite a while before the first report came in, but I wanted everyone to be ready, just in case. In the meantime, I worked on more paperwork and Shikamaru headed out to the balcony to stare at the clouds. Some habits are just impossible to kill.
Udon and Moegi both helped me with paperwork for a while, saying that they were just sitting there so they might as well help me out, but all three ended up falling asleep after several hours. I didn't mind, though and just let them sleep. I knew that they would be busy soon. After another few hours, I sent one of the genin downstairs to bring us all some food. She came back a while later with a bento for each of us and I thanked her before letting her get back to her day.
"Sorry guys, but the first report will probably arrive soon and you'll be busy after that, so eat up," I said, handing each of them their bento after I nudged them awake.
They ate gladly and chatted lazily for a while until someone came bursting in with the first report.
"Hokage-sama! A report from the teams searching the Land of Sound has arrived," the man called, rushing to hand me the scroll. I nodded my thanks before he left and immediately opened it. The two teams had arrived in Sound without incident and were ready to begin their sweep of the country. It would take several hours to do the weep, and then they would start infiltrating Orochimaru's old base there. If all went well, it would take them less than a day to finish and then they would be able to return. I couldn't help hoping that that would be the case, but I knew that they could always run into trouble or that there would be more to search than expected. Even over two years after their defeat, it was still unknown just how far Akatsuki's reach extended.
After that, reports steadily started coming in as each team arrived at their destination and began sweeping the area. After a day of reports, I asked Udon and Moegi to go home and sleep, and I had some other chuunin fill their spots. I tried to send Shikamaru back, but he said that he'd be fine for a while longer. And since he willingly passed up an offer to not work, I decided to let him do as he wanted. If the genius shinobi with a reputation for being lazy refused to stop working, I figured that there was probably a good reason for it.
Some reports mentioned that the bodies of all the Zetsu that had been taken down during the war, whose bodies were mostly abandoned or burned there once the fighting ended, were nowhere to be found. Shikamaru suggested that they may have just decomposed quickly since they were basically plants to begin with. I accepted the idea easily enough and continued reading through the reports.
A day and a half after the first report was received, scrolls with bodies, data and chemical solutions started coming in. All the bodies and solutions were immediately taken to Tsunade and Shizune (and Sakura said she'd help when she was free too) and the data was immediately sent out to be decoded. Once decrypted, copies were sent to Sai and Kakashi along with the copies given to me and Shikamaru. It was basically either data on experiments or lists of shinobi with rare jutsu or bloodlines. So as for that, not much of the information was new, but it was still thoroughly reviewed, just in case. Another half day later, we received a report from the teams in the Land of Sound that they had finished and were en route back to Konoha. The other eight teams were expected to take longer since there were probably still tunnels running under the battle field that Akatsuki used, and based on what the ANBU reports said, those tunnels were probably still being used by Orochimaru. By the third day I finally convinced Shikamaru to at least let Shikaku relieve him for a few hours while he got some rest. He didn't leave until I agreed to call him back immediately if something happened, and as it turned out, he was only able to rest for a few hours.
"Naruto, Shikaku-san!" Sakura exclaimed, bursting into the room.
"Report," I demanded, watching out of the corner of my eye as Shikaku immediately summoned his son.
"It's about the bodies of those with strengthened curse marks and the chemical mixtures. From what we can tell by its chemical components and the decrypted experiment data, some of those solutions are attempts to chemically create the Sharingan out of normal eyes, though from what we can tell, Orochimaru didn't succeed before Sasuke killed him before the war. We have no idea what stage the experiment may be at now, though," she said, staring at me seriously. I resisted the urge to curse and nodded for her to continue, glad that Shikamaru had shown up quickly to hear most of Sakura's report. "The other solutions seem to be for the curse mark. It seems that the DNA of the Senju Clan has been used to strengthen the curse mark further, and the concentration of Senju DNA is even higher in the bodies with the new curse marks."
I couldn't help glancing over at Shikamaru and Shikaku. Both of them had concerned looks on their faces that probably matched my own.
"None of the teams reported mokuton users," I said, looking back at Sakura when I saw Shikamaru nod in agreement. I knew that I wouldn't have missed something that significant in all those reports, but it was reassuring to see Shikamaru agree.
"It seems that the DNA is mainly concentrated in the curse mark. There is only a small amount of the DNA in their blood, less than Yamato-taichou's even. I guess they may be able to use basic mokuton techniques with the curse mark if the individuals originally had suiton and doton affinities, but we can't say for sure either way yet."
"Alright. Anything else?"
"One more thing. As you know, the curse mark shortens the subject's lifespan each time it's used. However, the Senju DNA in the curse marks seems to counteract this, so not only are Orochimaru's followers stronger, they are also able to live longer than before, making them that much harder to bring down."
I couldn't resist heaving a sigh, wondering what else that snake could possibly come up with to threaten the current peace. Though Shikamaru and Shikaku refrained from sighing, I could tell they were just as disturbed by the news as I was.
"Thank you, Sakura. I'll give a copy of your written report to Sai and Kakashi. Keep at it, but make sure that you guys don't wear yourselves out."
"I could say the same to you, Naruto. Keep eating, at least, but try to get some sleep," she said giving me a once-over to make sure that lack of sleep really was the only issue. I gave her a little smile and nodded and she returned the gesture before leaving to return to the autopsies. They had more work set out for them than I did, so I was more concerned for them than myself.
"What do you guys think?"
"Keeping Kakashi in the village for the time being is definitely for the best. Even if you were planning to use him as a reserve for if a team requires backup, send someone else in his place. We can't risk it at the moment," Shikaku said, and I nodded grimly. I may not have liked putting him back in ANBU, but forcing him to stay in the village just left me with a sick feeling in my stomach. It was too much like what the Kage tried with me when the war started.
"I don't understand why Orochimaru would try to extend the lives of the curse-marked guys. He isn't one to care about how long they live, so he must be able to use it for his own sake somehow, but we just don't have the information to figure out what he's planning with it yet," Shikamaru said as face twisted into a deeper frown.
"He really wouldn't just do it for the sake of having his own army of super-thugs?" I asked, looking at my two advisors.
"He could, but he still wouldn't need to lengthen their lifespans. To him, they're all sacrificial pieces, and he's the type that will use any means necessary to capture the opponent's King, even if it means sacrificing all of his other pieces to get there," Shikamaru explained, and Shikaku gave a slight nod, though the same frown that marred his son's face was present on his own.
"So we're just going to have to wait for more information or go in blind," I said, looking at the two. Their frowns grew, but they both gave short nods.
"That doesn't mean that we'll be unprepared. You've beaten bigger odds since you were in the Academy, Naruto. We won't fail," Shikaku said. I was a little surprised that he would say something like that, but I nodded. I knew that I could trust them to come up with the best plan possible, and I would try to come up with a backup plan myself. I refused to let anyone else die because of that snake.
"I know. I have total faith in you guys. I just don't like knowing that we're missing something, and this time we don't even know how big that something is." The two glanced at each other and their brows scrunched together fractionally more, telling me that they felt the same.
About half a day later, the two teams that investigated Sound appeared in my office. They didn't have anything else to add to their last report from the field, so I dismissed them and returned to looking over the reports that were still steadily flowing onto my desk. However, I didn't get to look over them for long before Ino and Neji suddenly appeared in my office.
"Is there something I can do for you?"
"There is, actually," she said looking at me seriously. I was a little worried that something was wrong with the training school. "Go get some rest. It's been nearly a week since you sent the teams out, and you haven't slept at all."
"Ah, well, this is all pretty important, and I'll be fine for—"
"Naruto. Go home. Neji and I can replace you for a few hours," she said sternly before glancing over at Shikamaru.
"I'm fin—"
"Don't even say it, Shikamaru. You go home too," she said before Shikamaru could even reject the idea.
We both stared at her for a few moments before I finally sighed and stood, looking over at Shikaku.
"Get us immediately if something new comes in," I said, looking at him seriously. He gave a short nod and then I yawned and gave a small smile to Ino and Neji.
"Thanks. I'll leave it to you guys then." They nodded and I left, though I was still a little reluctant to go.
Once home, I saw several bowls set out on the table, all covered with a note on top from Kakashi, telling me to eat up before going to sleep. I couldn't help smiling a little, and once I finished eating, I took a quick shower and crawled into bed, sleeping like a rock.
"—ruto… Naruto!"
I shot up out of bed, looking around, finding Kakashi standing over me, shaking my shoulder gently.
"Come on. There's news," he said, backing up to give me room to get up. I nodded and changed quickly before we both vanished to my office. Immediately I sat behind my desk, looking expectantly at the chuunin that was waiting.
"Report," I ordered before glancing through a copy of the scroll on my desk.
"Decryption has finished with some of the documents from the teams in the Land of Frost. It seems to be an outline of Orochimaru's plans since the war to create Sharingan eyes, and there are references to Uchiha Itachi's body. However it sounds like he hasn't retrieved the remains, at least not at the point that the documents were written," the chuunin recited quickly.
"Anything else?"
"No, sir."
"Good work. You're dismissed," I said before looking over at Kakashi as the chuunin left. "Anything new from you and Sai?"
"We found paperwork documenting Danzo and the council's plans for bringing Uzumaki Kushina to the village to become the Nine Tail's Jinchuuriki and documented plans detailing how to keep her and yourself detained within Konoha. However, we haven't been able to find much past that, other than the occasional reference to Uzumaki Mito, the Shodaime's wife and Jinchuuriki before Kushina. He had a few documents on Sasuke's group, Taka, before he died, but not much."
"Alright. Thanks. Keep at it," I said, and Kakashi nodded and eyed me for a bit. I could tell that he wanted to make me go back and sleep more, but I looked to Shikamaru before he could speak up, so he just left after giving me one more worried glance.
"I guess you're dad is relaxing again?"
"Yeah. I've slept plenty now anyway. But I'll get you up to speed on the other reports," he said before reciting all the reports during the time that I had been asleep. Shikaku had done a good job of catching him up before I arrived, apparently.
"So what do you think of all this, then?"
"I can't say that Danzo's interest in the Jinchuuriki is very surprising. The same goes for his information on Taka since he tried to kill Sasuke even before he was appointed Hokage. What I find most concerning is that Orochimaru is looking for Itachi's remains even though he's sure to know that Sasuke took his eyes. It's something that the autopsy teams may be interested to know."
"I'll stop by on my way to the school and give them the report," Ino said.
"Thanks. I'll leave it to you, then," I said before she nodded and immediately left as Neji spoke up.
"Within the village, everything is going smoothly. The ANBU from Suna has asked if they could be of any help, but I assured them that things are fine for the moment. They have taken to training during the day."
"Alright. Can you call them here for me? And thanks for letting me get some sleep earlier too."
Neji nodded before taking his leave, and I turned to Shikamaru again.
"Are you—"
"I'm fine. You've had even less sleep than me," he said before I could even finish asking. I stared him down for a long moment, wondering just what exactly he was seeing that made him so concerned. I was just about to ask more, but the two ANBU teams from Suna appeared.
"Hokage-sama, you asked to see us?" the apparently female leader asked.
"Thanks for coming. From what Neji told me, it sounds like you guys are getting bored, right?"
"No, that is—"
"Yeah. Pretty much," said a bigger male from behind his captain. She stiffened and I could tell that she was only keeping herself from yelling at him because she was in my presence. I just chuckled.
"It's fine. I really need all of you here for backup in case something happens while most of my jounin are out, but just sitting around doesn't suit you," I said, smiling a little and the captain inclined her head slightly in agreement. "Well, would you mind doing me a favor? I was wondering if you would want to train with some of my ANBU who are in the village at the moment. I'll have someone give you a tour of the headquarters too so that you guys can get some gear or anything else you need," I said, and the room was instantly filled with silence once I stopped and I looked around, confused by the slightly surprised look on Shikamaru's face. It made me feel a little awkward since I didn't get it, so I scratched the back of my head and turned back to the quiet ANBU in front of me.
"Well, if you don't want to, that's fine … But sorry about not giving you a tour of Konoha's ANBU headquarters sooner, things have kinda been crazy lately, so it slipped my mind," I said, letting an awkward silence fall for a moment again until Shikamaru tried to cover a laugh with a cough.
"You're serious?" asked the same male ANBU as earlier. His captain again stiffened and I could feel a slight pulse of killer intent from her, which made everyone else in the room stiffen. One of my own ANBU instantly appeared behind me, and Shikamaru was about to wave him off before I stopped him.
"'Course I'm serious… Do you not want a tour?" I said, still confused, but Shikamaru "coughed" again behind me. I was about to glare at him when the captain spoke up again.
"It's not like that, Hokage-sama. It's just… Normally, outsiders are not allowed to enter the ANBU headquarters of other villages. There are too many secrets there. Even its location is usually kept as a highly-classified secret," she said, trailing off. She sounded a little embarrassed to be lecturing me on my own policies, but before I could say anything, Shikamaru spoke up.
"Before becoming Hokage, he was known as Konoha's Number One Unpredictable Ninja. By his standards, giving you guys a tour isn't very surprising," he said, smirking a little, and I couldn't help scratching my head sheepishly.
"Anyway, Dog, will you give these guys a tour? And point out the rest of the new guys to them too… That is, if you want to train with them?" I asked, turning to the Suna ANBU.
"Of course, Hokage-sama. Gaara-sama's orders were for us to do anything you ask, so we are totally at your service and the service of Konohagakure no Sato," said the captain. I grinned and Dog nodded.
"Alright, then. Let me know if any of you need anything. And Dog, make sure that they all get whatever supplies they want," I said, grinning at Dog, and I could just see the smirk on dog-breath's face, even with his mask there.
"Can I take my partner with me this time?"
"Sure. Oh! Give him these for me too," I said, grabbing a little bag of dog treats out of my desk and tossing it to him.
"Thanks! He's gonna love them!" he said, before turning to the other ANBU and leading them out.
Once they were gone, I let the smile fall off my face as I turned to reviewing the reports lying on my desk. I read and reread all the reports from the teams that had been gone for days now, but nothing was coming any clearer. I figured that I needed more reports from the autopsies and Decryption before anything would make sense, but that would take time, time that I was afraid that I wouldn't have enough of it before Orochimaru started moving.
After a few hours, my nerves were even more on edge. I hadn't received any new reports from the teams out, which meant that the last report was from half a day ago. Ordinarily, I would assume no news to be good news, but with the Snake involved, my worries continued to pile up, so once another hour passed, I called in an ANBU.
"Bring me Sakura," I ordered, and instantly he vanished. Shikamaru silently continued going through the reports, shifting them around as he tried to make all the connections in his head.
Soon, Sakura arrived, concern showing through the moment she laid eyes on the two of us.
"We look bad. I got it, but we're not going to look any better for a while," I said, snapping at her a little before she could even give her medical advice. She looked a little taken aback, but gave a short nod.
"What do you need, Naruto?"
"Sorry," I mumbled quickly before continuing. "Have you guys figured out anything else about those curse-marked guys?"
"Not much. We compared the Senju DNA in the curse marks to our samples of the Zetsu and to Yamato, and the curse marks are less concentrated than either the Zetsu or Yamato, but not by much. It still seems that they weren't able to use mokuton techniques. Like Neji suggested while you were resting, we've been working with the Intelligence Division to reference all the corpses against those of known missing-nin, but so far there haven't been any matches."
"Alright. Anything else you can tell me?"
"That's all I have for now. I'm sorry I can't help more," she said, a frown of concern and worry on her face, but I gave her a smile.
"You're the best at what you do. I'm sure you'll figure it all out," I said. Even though my grin was forced, my words were true. I knew that Sakura had already surpassed Tsunade.
She gave a small smile and a nod before going back to her work, and I turned to Shikamaru.
"Well?"
"Even though none of the corpses match the records of missing-nin, that doesn't mean that Orochimaru doesn't have some working for him. And if he's given any of the high-ranked missing-nin curse marks, the teams are in trouble."
"But that was always a possibility."
"Right, but the fact that we don't have their corpses means that they haven't been killed yet. Which means that either we haven't encountered them yet, Orochimaru doesn't have any, or some of our teams are having a really rough time of it," he said, grimacing, and my expression matched. "I'd like to think that no one has seen them, but since it's been several hours since the last report, I'm inclined to think that everyone's too busy with fighting to send a report," he said, but the shadow in his eyes had more to say.
"Or they're dead or near to it, right?" I said, staring at him. His grimace deepened, but he made no reply, and I called in another ANBU.
"Make sure the hospital is ready to take care of the teams that are out. We haven't gotten word yet, but the chances are high that they will have some severe injuries. Ready some medical teams to meet up with them," I said, and he vanished the moment I was done. I cringed and stared at the floor for a moment before making a clone to stay in the office while I disappeared.
As soon as I arrived at my destination I let myself fall onto the body next to me.
"If you're taking a break, you should get some sleep."
"I'm not taking a break. My clone is still working in my office," I said, but silence filled the small room. The office was small and normal-looking, but it was filled with every document found so far that was related to Root, and as such its exterior was covered with traps to make sure that no one would end up seeing something they didn't have permission to see.
"Things are about to get bad, aren't they?" Kakashi asked as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me to him. My body simply shuddered in response. I was not looking forward to what was coming. Everyone involved knew it would be bad, but no one knew just how bad.
Sorry for it taking so long to get this chapter out. I hope the next one will be up a little faster. Lots of excitement to come. Also, if Naruto seems a little depressed this chapter, it's because he's afraid of not being able to protect everyone. He's trying to deal with that, but it's a lot for him to handle since he doesn't want to see anyone else die like in the war.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it!