As Kakashi and Zabuza bargained, the Hokage read the second letter that had come from that team that day. The first message he'd received that morning from Kakashi and Tetsuo, who had used the Saida town messenger hawk which was reserved solely for emergencies, had been exceedingly worrying. This one, which had arrived via dog, was less worrying, but concerned him greatly nonetheless. Bargaining with missing-nin was always a dangerous prospect. While as a whole, missing-nin tended to be a mixed bag as far as morals and ethics were concerned, they were all willing to do what it took to survive, even kill people who had considered them to be their allies if they thought it was necessary.
While he was loathe to do so, he would wait for another message from Kakashi to arrive before sending out a search party. A team of ANBU popping up at the wrong moment could turn what would otherwise have been a dangerous but otherwise relatively stable situation into a deadly one that could have catastrophic consequences for everyone involved, especially if Sasuke or Naruto were killed in the crossfire. Besides, there was a strong possibility that any team he sent right now would show up too late to be of any use, either too late because the team had already dealt with the situation, or too late because Naruto's team was dead, either way, too late.
All he could do for the situation right now was wait. Wait and hope.
Mitokado Homura sighed as he watched his teammate sit there and do nothing. There had been a time when the man would have promptly taken action if he'd learned that a fellow Konoha ninja was being held captive by missing-nin. Now however, the man was content to sit back and deal with the criminals as if they had any right of being bargained with rather than killed like the traitors to their village they were.
He would have to do something, something other than to go to Danzo over this, as the man held enough leverage over him, and didn't need more. This would be a bit difficult however because, unlike Danzo, he didn't have a private army of ANBU at his beck and call, and the regular ANBU had all been ordered to double check all orders given to them by the Council with the Hokage after the incident with Itachi.
Speaking of Itachi, he wondered how the poor boy would feel if he learned that his precious little brother had been captured by missing-nin...
Danzo studied the situation report he'd received from the operative he'd had discreetly following the Boy's team. The situation the Boy's students were in was rather interesting to say the least, and he would continue to follow it to see how it would play out, considering the fact that the group that the Weapon had allied himself with was apparently gearing up to remove a minor thorn from his side. Of course, Momochi Zabuza had the potential to become an even bigger thorn in his side later on but, at the moment, he was useful. Not only had the man removed a couple of problems before he had been forced to deal with them but, the search for him also tied up a small portion of Kiri's forces.
Despite the fact that he had no intention of doing so, and was doing this for his own reasons, Zabuza was doing him and Konoha a favor. If that group of criminals who had made their base in Hot Water Country weren't gotten rid of soon, it was possible that the small coastal nation would be taken over by them and return to being a militarized state, as that was one of the leader's stated goals. This would of course not be helpful to Konoha, as the demilitarization and subsequent restructuring of Yugakure had removed one of the threats that constantly surrounded the village.
Despite the violent reputation that preceded them, Zabuza's band was a bunch of political dissidents rather than the usual criminal trash that became missing-nin. That didn't mean that they wouldn't kill if doing so would further their cause though. From the reports that he'd had compiled on the man who might have a chance at becoming Mizukage upon Yagura's death, he had learned that Zabuza had a sense of honor, and something of a soft spot for children. Both of these traits were things that the Weapon, who had been smart enough to use all available resources in order to ensure his team's survival, could use to his advantage.
So far, things had been stable in regards to the Boy's team's situation, and looked to remain that way for the immediate future. It wouldn't do to do something rash and risk losing the Weapon, especially not when the Weapon and the group he was with were preparing to take out a threat to Konoha's security. He would send a team with orders to not interfere unless the situation looked to be becoming untenable. Otherwise, there was no point in risking Konoha's valuable resources, especially in a situation that might sort itself out by the time the team got there sometime tomorrow.
"Deal." Kakashi said, offering his empty hand for the leader of the group of missing-nin now that they had reached an accord that both had found reasonable.
The other man briefly took his hand. Their hands clasped for a shake for an instant before they simultaneously let go, not wanting to be in the other's prime killing range any longer than necessary. Both had acquired international reputations for being indiscriminate killers, though, considering what Zabuza had done to earn his moniker, his reputation had been well deserved.
"I was thinking we'd go in tonight." Zabuza said as he moved to a spot that was more comfortable for him. "The sooner we get this done and get gone, the better."
"What's the plan?" he asked, hoping that the other man had something other than rush in, kill everybody, and hope the hostage was still alive when they reached him.
"We're still working on that." the man named Renji said. "We've mostly got one hammered out, but we need a few details filled in."
The man rather pointedly looked at the prisoner the group had taken, making his meaning very clear to everyone including the moron who had thought he could get away with drugging and kidnapping Konoha ninja. The almost eager look in Sasuke's eyes when the man had made that statement unsettled him slightly. If the kid wasn't already well on his way to becoming a basket case, he would introduce him to Ibiki. The two of them would probably get on like a house on fire.
Over near the fire, Shimura and Meizu were bundling the small children in preparation for travel. It had been agreed that one ninja from each team would bring the children back so there would be no accusations of underhandedness when it came to collecting and distributing the promised pay for the children's safe return. After the pay was given, Shimura would send Konoha's share back to Konoha along with a report so all of the proper paperwork could be filled out, and the pay distributed correctly according to mission pay guidelines.
Hopefully, Shimura would be able to get there and back before they started the raid on the crime boss' base, which was located in the far southern end of the country. While he was gone, they would be interrogating the prisoner and preparing for tonight's mission. Since Sasuke was so eager to join in on the torture, he thought he'd let him. It would probably be better to see how the kid reacted to blood now since it'd just suck if he was stuck rescuing the boy because he'd had some sort of flashback in the middle of the base attack and froze up or went psycho or something.
"So, which one of you lot is going to do the Interrogation?" he asked.
"That'd be me." the woman named Mai replied.
"Mind if my student joins in?" he asked. "Sasuke seems to think he needs a little experience in that area."
"Sure." Mai said with a sweet smile that frankly scared the crap out of him. "I'll be sure not to scar him too badly."
He snickered at Sasuke's nervous swallow as the boy followed Mai over to the prisoner.
Several hours into the interrogation, Sasuke was doing his best not to throw up. Hearing about these kinds of things as they were being bantered about over drinks when Mom was away was one thing, actually seeing them being done was something else entirely. Was this why his father had hated his job with the police? If so, why did he brag about these things with his officer relatives when he had a few drinks in him?
The interrogation had started out simply, with words, then with words and the occasional blow and/or offer thrown in amongst the questioning. The prisoner had remained silent throughout it all. Then things got violent, and had later started moving beyond mere violence into something that was purely sadistic, until finally the prisoner began to speak. Throughout it all, Mai had kept smiling like it was just a game to her. He however had wanted to leave several times, but hadn't managed to muster up the courage to do so, for fear of having the woman's attention be turned towards him.
There was blood on the walls and the floor of the small side cavern they had commandeered for the interrogation, and the prisoner was making small keening noises, begging to die.
"Well little boy, it's time you became a man." Mai said as she handed him a kunai.
He looked down at the kunai, and at the prisoner who was barely recognizable as a human being now. He hesitated. He'd never killed a person before, and when he'd imagined doing so, as he frequently did in regards to Itachi, it had not been like this. He felt shame over hesitating. He was a ninja, he was supposed to kill. What sort of ninja would be reluctant to kill when it was part of their job?
"Finish it." the woman said.
He moved slightly shakily to the prisoner who was bound to a rock, and brought the kunai down, closing his eyes as he did so.
"Next time, don't close your eyes little boy. You could get killed that way." Mai said as she pulled the kunai from his unresisting fingers when the deed was done.
As he entered the main cavern where the rest of the group sat waiting, he found himself wondering if this had been how Itachi had gone mad. ANBU were required to do worse things than normal ninja in the course of their jobs. As he sat down, he found himself looking over at his teammates who were seated huddled together, going over some aspect of the plan. Sakura seemed to notice that he was looking at them first. When she caught sight of him, there was horror in her eyes. The Uzumaki looked up next. Rather than looking at him in horror, he looked at him in understanding. Kakashi however, the look in the man's eyes was completely blank.
"Well then, that just leaves Sakura." the silver haired man said with a shrug before going back to the map that the trio had been huddled over.
As he sat there wondering why he couldn't be so casual about death, the boy who had handed him his breakfast that morning sat down next to him.
"What do you want?" he asked, wishing the boy would go away and leave him alone.
"My first time wasn't all that easy either, neither was every time after." the boy who had made no move to leave said. "There's something wrong with you if it is. You do it though because you have to."
"Tell that to my- that bastard who slaughtered my clan." he snorted.
Did it because he had to? Yeah right. That bastard did it because he was nuts, and if he ever found the S.O.B who had helped him, he was dead meat too. Even if killing made him want to puke his guts up.
"When people don't have something precious to hold on to, a reason for doing, a reason for being, they get lost." the boy said quietly. "Sometimes they find someone who will give them a path, and find the strength to find their way back, and sometimes they remain lost and have to be put down for the safety of others."
"You can't hold onto people, they turn out not to be what you thought they were, they leave, or worse, they die." he replied, snorting at the thought that the Itachi he'd grown up with was merely "lost" somewhere.
"That's why you become strong enough to hold onto them for as long as you can." the boy replied. "It is when you have someone precious to protect that you become truly strong. You have to in order to keep them, and keep them safe. If you have no-one to fight for, you become lost, and lose sight of everything including yourself."
"Avenging my clan will be enough." he replied wanting to end the conversation that was making him feel uncomfortable.
"And, what will you do, and who will you have at your side when you have avenged your clan?" the boy asked curiously. "If you chase everyone away like you do now, you will find yourself standing alone with nothing to do, and nothing to be afterward, and you will be completely empty. I myself may be nothing but Zabuza-sama's tool, but at least I am something, and I have someone precious to me to be that for."
With that, the other boy got up and left, leaving him to think things he had never even wanted to consider before alone. The truth was, while he had paid lip-service to a desire to restore his clan, he hadn't really thought of the future besides becoming strong enough to defeat That Man, and avenging his clan. He had told himself that he would think of the after when it came. But, what if that day that could be years down the line that he was waiting for turned out to be too late like the other boy had said it would?
Edited 10-6-12