Chapter 86 - Written Confession

"…ritsu Hashiki-san, sir, she's… … brought him to us…"

"Ah, thank... …me what happened… …found him, ma'am…?"

Yakata slowly awoke to two voices conversing near him.

The closer, louder voice, was husky, full of smoke and concern. "Well, I found him on my way home from work. I work in the metalworking district, you know. And I pass by the forest and a bunch of other training grounds on the way home."

"Uh-huh."

"And I just saw him lying on the ground there in front of the security fence around the forest, and it was all torn to bits."

Fence…? What fence…?

"And of course I was worried, what with the weather and the shape that fence was in, like an animal had ripped it apart."

The fence around the forest…?

"Not to mention that the poor thing was all scratched up. So I picked him up and went to the nearest guard post to get help. I figured something had happened."

"Yeah, I saw that."

What had happened…?

"Thank goodness he wasn't too badly hurt, though, just a little roughed-up, that medic said. And healing from those burns besides, poor thing."

"Yeah, yeah. Did you see anyone that might have left him there or torn the fence apart? That was some damage, y'know." Ah, that was possibly Naruto, raspy and bright.

But what had happened?

"Surely not that boy, he's so small."

Where was he? How had he gotten out of the forest…?

His eyes were still far too heavy to open. He felt dry blankets on his body, bandages around his limbs, and a hard surface beneath him.

"Yeah, I think we can rule him out."

He couldn't remember how he had gotten there.

Dreamy half-memories throbbed in his temples.

Surely not…?

"Whoever's responsible, I'd like to give them a nice smack on the bottom," the husky voice continued. "Leaving a child alone in the Forest of Death, can you imagine? No child goes in there willingly, unless they're particularly foolish, and I doubt such a gentle face would have that temperament."

How had he gotten out of the forest?

"Well he wasn't supposed to be anywhere near that forest, ma'am, believe me, y'know. And as soon as we figure some things out, I got some people I need to talk to about this."

Yakata started to moan, lightly, trying to move his body.

How had he gotten out?

"Ah, is he waking up?" the husky voice said. There was a sound of a shifting chair. "Hey, are you okay there?"

Yakata managed to open his eyes and saw, indeed, Naruto sitting on a folding chair, and a taller, rougher-looking person, whom he supposed was a woman from all the "ma'am" talk. She looked far more worried than Naruto did, and had dark, wet hair tied back with a white handkerchief.

"Wh-where, where am I…?" Yakata managed to croak out.

"You're in a guard station, Yakata-kun. Senritsu-san here found you and brought you here," Naruto said, now standing. "Do you remember what happened to you?"

What had happened?

He was in the forest to hide, there were people trying to kill him, and then in his panic—something about a centipede, and bears, and a fleeing panic...

"Yakata-kun?"

His breath was quickening. He couldn't remember anything clearly, and everything he did remember was falling through his mind like water in cupped hands.

Something had destroyed the fence.

Yakata had wanted to get out.

"Yakata-kun, are you okay?"

And he remembered the centipede clearly.

Surely his hands were also as powerful.

"I, I, I, I'm sorry, I, I didn't mean to, to destroy the fence, I, I really didn't, I'm sorry…!"

After all, he had killed his family at thirteen another lifetime ago, hadn't he?

(Had Itachi remembered doing that too? Or had he also blacked out, unable to control his own actions?)

"Yakata-kun, hold on, you did that to the fence…?" Naruto said, coming closer.

(Or maybe his body had moved of its own volition, the mind aware of it the entire time, but unable to do a thing to stop it.)

Yakata pressed himself against the wall next to the cot, shoving the blanket to his feet. "I just, I just needed to get out, I was, I was scared, I'm so sorry…!"

"Yakata-kun, please, calm down, it's okay," Naruto said.

"I, I, I, I swear, I didn't want to, to hurt anyone, I don't, I don't know what happened, oh please don't kill me I'm, I'm sorry…!"

A curious, nervous smile snapped over Naruto's face. "Yakata-kun, nobody's going to kill you, y'know. Now let's calm you down, okay?"

And he reached out and touched Yakata's forehead with a warm hand, Yakata flinching and shivering at the movement, when a strange, familiar sensation trickled behind his eyeballs and relaxed his limbs.

"You're safe now, and nobody's gonna hurt you," Naruto continued, with a quiet, calm voice, as he removed his hand. "I promise. Now can you tell me what you were doing in the forest in the first place?"

Yakata gulped heavily, and looked around the room as he tried to gather his thoughts.

The woman in the room, the only other person beyond Naruto and two green-vested people in the corner, was bent over slightly, blinking slowly. She had a heavy, somewhat masculine jaw that did not match her angular, gentle eyes. Her clothes looked well-worn and rural, and had many soot stains on them.

She seemed common enough—she had found him and brought him to safety, hadn't she?—and Naruto was looking out for him too, or so Takeru had said, but the two in the corner…

Their eyes were narrowed, mouths stretched in appraisal.

What would be safe to say…?

"Ta-Takeru-san said that, that he wanted me to, to, to wait there while he, while he made sure it was safe to… to proceed," Yakata said, trying not to look at the assassins in the corner. "He said he, he would come back to, to, to pick me up after only a few… a few hours…"

"Takeru-kun left you there?" Naruto said.

Yakata nodded.

Naruto's face lost a great deal of its warmth. "What in the world for?"

"A horrible reason, I'm sure," the woman said, shaking her head. "Really."

"Senritsu-san, please," Naruto said. "He said it was for safety?"

Yakata nodded, again.

"…then I think I have some questions for Takeru-kun," Naruto said. "Yakata-kun, there is no reason you should have been left in that forest at all, y'know. Takeru-kun's job was to get you home safe and immediately, and I don't see how that helped."

"But, but, but he said-" The words slipped out before Yakata could reclaim them.

"Said what?" Naruto said.

The two guards at the door shifted their position.

"…that, that, that it wasn't safe, that we could, could, that there were people who might get in… get in the way…"

Yakata averted his eyes, digging his chin deep into his chest. His hair was still slightly wet.

"Well that's… weird," Naruto said. "If there was anything out there that would make Takeru-kun hesitate then I'd surely know about it, y'know…"

The relaxed feeling in Yakata's limbs was starting to fade. He started reaching for his knees.

"Well, again, I'm gonna be sure to ask Takeru-kun all about that," Naruto continued. "In the meantime, Yakata-kun, did anything happen to you in the forest? Are you hurt at all?"

He had his arms wrapped around his legs, now. "I, I, I don't know, it was, it was scary and it started to, to rain, I don't, I don't, I don't remember much…"

"Well, I don't blame you if some stuff's fuzzy," Naruto said. "And you said you don't remember how you got out?"

"…well I, I must have, must have… gotten out somehow…" Yakata mumbled, softly.

And before he could stop himself, he started to cry again. "I'm, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to do anything, I'm sorry, I really don't want to hurt anyone, I'm sorry, I, I promise, I don't, I promise I won't kill anyone, I promise, I'll leave, I'll leave all of you alone…"

"Yakata-kun, what are you talking about?" Naruto said, leaning over to put a hand on his shoulder. "You didn't do anything, y'know, and why would you think you're going to kill anyone?"

He was just being kind, wasn't he? Naruto knew who he was. Yakata didn't answer, just mumbling, again, through his sniffles, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…"

Because that always worked with everything else.

"It's okay, dear, I don't think you could hurt a fly," the woman said. "You have a good face. And I know a good face when I see one."

Yakata's shoulders hiccupped with another sniff.

"Well, we'll figure it out soon enough," Naruto said. "I'm gonna go out and see if I can talk to a few people about this, okay, Yakata-kun?"

"…can I, can I go home, please…?" Yakata asked.

"…as soon as we can manage, Yakata-kun, I promise," Naruto said. "Ah, Senritsu-san, now that he's awake, did you want to go home too…?"

The woman—Senritsu, apparently—shook her head. "No, I'm staying here until I know everything's all right. If that's okay with you?"

"Totally fine, y'know," Naruto replied. "I'll be back soon."

And he stood up and left the wooden-walled guard room, leaving Yakata alone with Senritsu and the two guards.

Somehow, he felt far safer than he thought he would have. Maybe it was her presence—they wouldn't attempt anything with a commoner woman in the room, surely? He didn't want to check their expressions to make sure.

But there was also something… soothing about her being there. It put Yakata in mind of when he was home with his own mother, or with Nadeshiko…

…just thinking about her, or any of the other people in that family, made him tense up and whimper slightly.

And suddenly, Senritsu's hand was on his shoulder, much like Naruto's had been. It was heavy and the fingers that touched the back of his neck were rough. "There, there. It's all right to be scared. There are enough critters in that forest to give a grown man nightmares for the rest've his life," she said. "But you're safe, now, okay?"

Yakata lowered his head instead of a nod he barely believed in.

"Your name's Yakata, isn't it? That's what Naruto-san said. I'm Hashiki. I actually have a son about your age," she added, fondly. "His name's Go'on. Gonna be in the chuunin exams this year! M'so proud of him."

Yakata lowered his head further, resting his face against his folded arms.

"…well, it seems small talk won't help here," she said, with an embarrassed chuckle in her deep voice. "Sorry about that."

"…it, it, it's okay…" Yakata said.

There was a mild quiet, filled with the drumming of the rain on the guard station's roof.

"You know what," Hashiki said, leaning in closer. Long wisps of wet hair were coming out of her handkerchief and hanging limply from her head. "I don't really think you ripped that fence open. No child your size could do that."

Yakata's shoulder rose, as did his hands up his arms. He didn't answer, but thought, But you don't know who I am.

"You know, if you don't really remember what happened to you, you might've been spirited off by the Woman of the Woods."

He looked up, at that, but only slightly. "Oh, re-really…"

"Yeah! She's a forest guardian, see. Been around almost as long as Konoha, m'sure. My papa told me 'bout her when I was a just a little girl, anyways. She takes care of lost people, if they're innocent souls."

"And, and, and what if they're not innocent…" Yakata said, lowly.

"Well, I hear they get sealed into trees for a while, 'til they learn their lesson," Hashiki said, rather a bit too cheerfully. "But that's obviously not happened to you."

Yakata felt uncomfortable warmth in his cheeks, and lowered his head again. "O-oh…"

"Mind, it's prob'ly just a legend," Hashiki said, carefully, after a while. "But, hey, it's nice to think that someone was looking out for you, right?"

"I, I suppose…" Yakata said, truly doubting it.

"…either way, I still don't think you tore that fence up," Hashiki said, leaning back in her chair and crossing a leg over her knee. "My professional opinion as a metalworker says that it's highly unlikely for someone your size to do that much damage."

Again, Yakata did not answer.

So Hashiki sighed and put her hand on his shoulder again, with a motherly smile. "Don't worry, kid. Everything will be all right. Hokage-sama will get you home, at any rate. He'll figure out what went wrong."

Home. That was the only thing Yakata could focus on.

After all, if he was home, then, conspiracy or no conspiracy, he'd at least have less to worry about. Only critical-eyed neighbors and pushy once-classmates.

(That is, if he could keep his thoughts of corruption down, like food in a restless stomach.)

(The thought of harming even them.)

Yakata dug his forehead into his knees and battled with his mind until Naruto came back, Hashiki keeping gentle watch the entire time, stroking his shoulder with her calloused and burned thumb.

Naruto, meanwhile, was angry. Very angry.

Something had gone wrong here, and rage coated his chest in a sheet of prickly warmth.

Takeru was too clever and too skilled and too proud to allow anything to get between him and the completion of a mission. Naruto had known this about him since he was small. And it was unthinkable for an abduction to have occurred, not on Takeru's watch.

Something had gone wrong here, and he was going to find out for himself, and quickly.

Naruto exited the guard station where Yakata was being kept and made his way to the Manor, brushing past people with a fixed expression, and finally arriving at the roof. The rain had not let up at all, but he hardly felt it.

His skin began to glow with yellow chakra-fire, filling his limbs with lightness and his eyes with bright spangles. The city below him unfolded into a sea of stars, and each star was a person.

And one of those stars was Takeru.

Finding him was easy enough. He was nestled comfortably in one of those pridefully obscure lounge-cafes, his chakra oil-smooth. He had no worries, clearly.

Naruto did not put out his fire as he went out to meet him there. He wanted to be noticed.

And he was. His light gleamed off the windows of the lounge as he landed, catching the rain on the glass. Though he faded gradually upon entering, ignoring the flustered greeting of the receptionist as he walked with purpose to where the boy was reading—or had been reading—in a cushy green armchair.

"Hello, Takeru-kun," Naruto said, without smiling. "Would you mind comin' with me for a moment?"

To anyone else, Takeru would have appeared only mildly surprised, a book lying open in his hands.

But Naruto felt the metallic green spine of panic that appeared as soon as he had spoken.

Still, Takeru replied casually, "Why of course, Hokage-sama. What do you need to talk to me about?"

"A mission you're s'pposed to be on." Naruto jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "We can talk about it in my office."

Takeru closed the book over his finger. "Naruto-san, I can honestly explain-"

"We'll talk about it in my office, okay?" Naruto said.

The gentle force in his voice made Takeru close the book and return it to a handsome wooden shelf nearby. He drained a cup of tea from a table by his chair before taking his umbrella and leaving with Naruto.

He made only one attempt at conversation on the way over. "Naruto-san, if this is about Yakata-kun, I can explain, honestly."

"Later, Takeru."

And Takeru fell silent, quivering with yellow resentment and fear.

The walk back did not feel long, despite the rain and the tension. And Naruto made Takeru leave his umbrella in the lobby of the Manor before continuing, alone, to his office.

Naruto did not sit down. "So, Takeru-kun," he said, closing the door behind him. "Why aren't you taking Yakata-kun home? I thought I sent out the mission statement yesterday, y'know. Did you not get it?"

"Oh, I got it," Takeru replied.

"Then please, explain. I want an honest answer, y'know."

Naruto could feel the insincerity emanating from him like chilled air long before Takeru even opened his mouth. But he let the words come out. He wanted to hear them.

"Well, I have to admit my laziness got the better of me, here. I didn't feel like it, so I passed the job on to someone else."

"Someone else, huh."

"Mm. It's been hard, constantly stuck in the house on guard duty. I wanted some fresh air. The job was easy enough, anyways, so-"

"I said I wanted the truth, Takeru," Naruto said. "You didn't give me it. Why didn't you take Yakata-kun home today?"

Takeru blinked, thoughtfully, a hum of nervousness behind him, like a rattlesnake's rattle.

"I'm merely delaying our trip out," he said.

"Then where is Yakata-kun now?" There was no need to ask why.

"I left him in the library," Takeru said. "Figured he deserved at least one trip there while he was here."

"No lies, Takeru. Not even half-ones."

"Fine, then." And Takeru's eyes grew hard and narrow. Familiar. "I left him in a forest."

"Which one, Takeru."

"Just a forest. One of the parks."

"The Forest of Death?"

No change in expression, but a cold sheet of fear and hatred suddenly descended between them.

"We found him, Takeru. About an hour ago, y'know," Naruto continued.

"Dead?" The hush in Takeru's voice could have been fear, but not of the concerned sort.

"No. He was collapsed outside of the fence after tearing it open to get out, he was that scared. Why did you leave him there, Takeru?"

Takeru considered this with an expression on his face like a shogi player contemplating his next move, eyes lowered, mouth thinned thoughtfully.

He finally looked up. "The entire truth, that's what you want, isn't it?" Naruto nodded. "Well, then, I suppose I'll have to stoop to full disclosure, then. That boy, Yakata, was a menace in my family, and I wanted to give him a taste of fear so he wouldn't come back willingly."

Naruto jumped on the first word to snag him. "A menace?"

"You should have seen how he was affecting my father, Naruto-san. And you know who that boy really is, surely. Oh, I had a feeling for a while, who he was. I heard my father explain it to my mother the night he arrived. Unthinkable, I thought, but I was proven wrong." He began pacing the office with smooth, ball-bearing steps. "He was driving my father insane. Giving him delusions. Impeding his judgment. He hasn't been able to think clearly for weeks."

Takeru swiveled around near Naruto's desk, prepared with his next statement before Naruto could even reply. "You don't live in my house, Naruto-san. You don't even speak with my father every day any more. So you are not a worthy judge on his behavior. But I am. I'm his son, after all."

"I know, Takeru," Naruto said.

"So, since the responsibility of bringing Yakata back to his place of origin fell so neatly into my lap, I decided to put forth some preventative measures of my own. On the way out, I'd leave him in the Forest of Death—say I just wanted him to wait while I scouted the way out—and come back a few hours later, just enough time to give him a good scare. Nothing serious. It'd keep him from wanting to come back."

"Takeru, that place is used in chuunin exams. Yakata-kun is an untrained civilian, y'know."

"An untrained civilian that managed to rip open a chain-link fence on his own. Who also happens to be a genetic duplicate of my very talented late uncle, as we both know. And besides, Naruto-san, there hasn't been a death in that forest for thirty years. I knew it was safe."

Takeru began pacing again, like a defense attorney making his closing statement. "No harm has come to him, anyways, correct? I would have picked him up and brought him home once I'd finished that book I was reading when you interrupted me. Nobody would have known had he not… escaped like that." He stopped, his point poised on his tongue. "Besides, he doesn't belong here. Not in this village, nor in my family."

The expression on his face was quietly triumphant, and slim.

(Sasuke's expressions of victory were quite sharper and flashier, not this smooth, muted expression.)

Naruto, however, had long ago learned to stack away his rasher emotions and keep the pathway to good decisions open.

"Why don't we ask your dad if he agrees?" Naruto said.

Takeru's smile frayed at the edges. "He won't care either way. He's trying to forget that boy already. I know my father. He throws away things he's ruined or can't have. You know this, don't you?"

"You're going to come with me back to your house," Naruto said, "and we're gonna explain to your dad what happened. C'mon, let's go."

He opened the door and tilted his head back.

"Now, Takeru."

Takeru forgot his umbrella on the way out, though his stride remained princely, strong, confident.

The rain continued.

Ino, who answered the door, looked confused and scared upon receiving them. The air smelled like half-cooked dinner. "Naruto? What's going on?"

"Hi, Ino. Takeru and I gotta talk to Sasuke, it okay if we come in?"

"Well, of course, I mean he just got home, but—what happened?" In a smaller voice, as she processed things in speaking, "Where's Yakata-kun?"

"He's recuperating in a guard station, an' he might get moved to the hospital later if he doesn't get better soon," Naruto said. He took his shoes off standing up. Takeru didn't.

"What? What happened? Takeru?" Ino said.

"That's what we gotta talk to Sasuke about, y'know," Naruto said, and stepped out of the foyer. "Where is he, Ino?"

"In the—living room, should I be there?"

"Listen in if y'want, but… well, it might get nasty, so be careful," Naruto said.

(He was far franker than Sakura, though he understood their situation far less than she did.)

Sasuke was sitting on the couch with his arms crossed, staring at a wall. Though his eyes darted sideways as Naruto slid the door to the living room open.

"Hey, Sasuke. We gotta talk," he said.

Sasuke didn't say anything.

"Actually, it's more Takeru who's gotta talk with you."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. The two intruders joined him on the couch, on the other arm.

"Well, what is it," Sasuke finally said, in a toneless growl.

"Takeru, why don't you tell him," Naruto said. He settled into a comfortable sit, with his forearms on his knees.

Takeru's eyes slid from one side to the other.

(This was a challenge, and he knew it. No cream-cautious half-truths, not with Naruto there.)

"I failed in my mission of bringing Yakata-kun home," he said, "because I made the decision to punish him before we departed."

"Punish him." Sasuke said. An invisible cat's tail of annoyance swished behind him in whip-fast movements.

"I thought to leave him for a spell alone in the… Forest of Death. I knew there was no danger. I just wanted to scare him a little," Takeru said.

"Why," Sasuke said. Swish.

"Why, what, Father? Why did I leave him in the Forest or-"

"Why was he punished." Swish.

"Well, I didn't think it was… healthy for him to want to come back. Not here. So I wanted to give him a good reason not to return."

Sasuke's arms were still crossed. "What about Yakata being here is unhealthy, Takeru."

"I think your mood is enough evidence, Father. Look at how stressed you are. It's all because of him, isn't it?" He spoke carefully, each phrase like a clack on the chessboard. "Plus all this unneeded psychological baggage between you and your brother-"

"Takeru," Sasuke said. "You're speaking out of turn."

"Naruto-san gave me permission to speak, Father. Also, didn't you ask me a question? I had to answer."

Naruto remained silent, impartial, observing as the simmering moods collided.

(Waiting on Takeru's wager.)

(A sick feeling in his stomach telling him that he was going to lose.)

(That Sasuke wouldn't do anything.)

"You need to recover, Father. And I didn't think it would be wise to have the risk of that boy coming back left intact before we left. I don't wish any actual harm on him, why, not at all. But I do want you feeling better."

"What gives you," Sasuke replied, "any right to choose what's best for me. I am your father, and you're not even an adult."

"Your behavior's been irrational lately, Father. Because of the boy. And," Takeru added, "didn't you always tell me never to judge a person on their age? Skill and cleverness come at any year."

Sasuke's fists clenched.

"Leave me alone," he said, "and do not show me this level of disrespect again. Go."

Takeru got up without hesitation. And Naruto followed, leaving only a sad, disappointed glance behind him.

"You are suspended from missions indefinitely for this, Takeru," he said, as he put on his shoes. "Any further punishment will be decided by your father and the Council."

"You're truly merciful, Hokage-sama," Takeru replied, with a parody of a humble smirk.

Naruto left before his disgust could grow any further, consoling himself in the fact that other people would probably get angry about this, if he told them.

(And Takeru polished his small trophy in his mind.)

(Even if he weren't his father's favorite, he still would have gotten away cleanly.)