Snake
When he was small, Norio's mother used to tell him that snakes were the servants of the Whispering gods of the forests. They were messengers, she said, much to his delight. Sometimes, they slithered forth to whisper good secrets to the people. Other times, they were harbingers of death and a foul future.
A snake could mean good fortune, or a terrible omen.
In Norio's case, it was the first.
It had all happened the night the Kazekage's caravan had been successfully bombed. The Brotherhood had hooted from their places in the rock cliffs when they regrouped to look down upon it after back up had arrived to carry the Kazekage to safety. The ruins had yet to be examined by the enemy nin-which were, according to reports, at least a good hour or two away. There had been a full moon that night, and it filled the canyon with light. Norio had stood on the dunes, allowing himself a slow smile, feeling that the hot breath of desert air were the gods singing his victory.
It had been a glorious sight.
The ninja had been horribly injured. Too many were dead. All that Norio cared about was the Jinchuuriki. They crept down the canyon side like geckos. Stealthy, swift. Time was in their favor.
He remembered how his heart had stilled, how his breath had caught, when he noticed the blond hair and the hitai-ate in the rubble. His hands had shook and he thought of his dead wife as he threw the splinters back, only to howl in rage.
It hadn't been Uzumaki.
Tricked! The Brotherhood had been fooled. And Norio had cursed the stranger that had appeared to him a few nights before to hell. The strange, cloaked man who had told him all he needed to know about the one called Naruto Uzumaki, and where the coward was hiding.
Even worse, the Kazekage had survived the attack. Once the team fell back to check on their fighting brothers, Akira was nowhere around the camp, and Huang was lying in a puddle of his own drool in the sand, unable to move or speak.
A traitor was in their midst. A genjutsu had been cast! And Norio had hissed through his teeth and demanded that Akira be found. Akira would know what this was. He would know what to do.
But the boy couldn't be found. Murmurs of unease began to spread. Some began to panic. Moments later, devastating news reached Norio: the engineer, Kenta, was dead. The entire camp had been blown out of the sand.
Norio remembered the old woman in Saka.
Sasuke! Sasuke Uchiha! the mad old bitch had screeched, and a cold fury bit deep into Norio's gut.
Akira's a good boy, Norio remembered Eiji saying. And Eiji had been an honest man. A weak man, but honest nonetheless. Even Eiji had been fooled. The Akatsuki hadn't shown up in Iwa until after Akira (Sasuke?) had arrived.
Norio sent a shot from his fire lancer blasting into the night, enraged. Sasuke. Sasuke fucking Uchiha! The Brotherhood had been traveling with an Akatsuki member in their midst, and tonight, he had finally picked the perfect moment to strike!
Damn him. Sasuke Uchiha was a tricky bastard.
In a rage no one could hope to cool, Norio had marched to his camp. He upturned tables, ripped the map he had bought to get to the canyon, kicked at the sand and threw knives at practice dummies made out of straw until he had ripped them to shreds.
It was then, in the quiet, hot dark of the tent, that the snake found Norio.
It was a snake sent from the very gods. White as an oyster's pearl. It was curled on his bed, hissing softly, opening its black mouth wide and showing off deadly fangs. It rose like a snake charmer's cobra, swaying its bright head and watching, daring Norio to put a knife or a bullet through its eye.
Norio had let the knife drop to his feet, remembering his mother, and the snake slithered from the bed, across the floor. It wrapped around his ankle like a lover and climbed his leg, wound around his waist, found his shoulder, and finally coiled around his neck.
Doubt had flashed through his mind then. He had been afraid when its dark, forked tongue had reached out to taste his cheek.
But then the snake told him secrets.
The Fire Lord, it whispered. The Fire Lord is traveling through Saka tomorrow. You'll find he has a lovely, and influential, wife. Do not be discouraged. The ninja will pay. The Jinchuuriki will pay for tricking you this night. Sasuke Uchiha will pay for what he's done.
Norio wasn't one to not heed the advice of gods. The next morning, they set out to Saka, the snake hidden in his pack.
Sure enough, a royal litter was being carried through a busy street downtown. The Fire Lord had come to meet with the Wind Lord, and Saka had been the Wind Lord's childhood home. She owned a grand estate on this side of the desert, with a beautiful rock garden and private oasis.
Mika, the FIre Lord's wife, was a pretty sight. Like a flower in the sand. But, Norio had mused, she couldn't hold a candle to his Saiyuri.
Woo her, said the snake.
Norio did.
He kept up team morale, though the losses had been heavy, and Kenta's death monumental. But, Kenta has passed on his knowledge at hatred of Sasuke Uchiha kept the brothers alive. The Brotherhood wandered out of Saka, but knew their Sand allies would keep the word spreading through the dunes.
Every day, the snake told Norio more secrets.
Perhaps, it had hissed, the time has come to give the Brotherhood a better image. An image all civilians will revere you for. Already, they hear you. Already, many seek you out. But it is not enough. They will think you heroes! Vigilantes! Defenders of justice in this time of strife!
They gave more speeches. Saved more women and children from Akatsuki members and burned the rogue ninja in the streets.
Once, they saved a woman from being raped by a Chunin in an alley, and the word spread fast. See the nin? See how they abuse their power, hold it high over the heads of honest working people when they should be fighting? they had shouted.
The people heard.
The people shouted for justice.
Where was the Hokage when the people of Konoha, and everywhere else, needed her? Needed her nin? She was sitting in an air conditioned office, scribbling at papers, giving her best fighters to protect the coward Jinchuuriki!
The people shouted for spread like wildfire, and within a week, the Brotherhood had gained more followers in such a short time than they had in a month's time.
One day, the snake said, now it is time Norio. Mika adores you. The Fire Lord will have a lot of sway in what it is to come. In this time of war, people look to the hidden villages, but the king will be our aid. If we succeed, the Jinchuuriki will be killed for us. The nin will be handled well for us. Sasuke Uchiha will suffer from this decision for deluding you.
So Norio began to whisper the secrets to the Fire Lord's wife.
When the meeting had happened, and the Jinchuurikis outlawed, Norio had sat back in his bed at the inn he was staying at, watching the snake coil itself on top of his chest.
"What now?" he asked it. "The law passed. I have listened to you and done everything you asked of me. Now, it is time for justice." He said justice like a cuss word, harsh and unforgiving.
Sasuke and Madara Uchiha, the snake whispered, and Norio grinned.
I can tell you a secret, Norio, said the snake, I can tell you how to make Sasuke Uchiha suffer. I can tell you how to kill Madara Uchiha. In the mountains, near the Northern face of the country, lies a temple, and beneath it, an ancient and most heavily guarded tomb long forgotten. There are secrets hidden within its catacombs, secrets you and your brotherhood will destroy...
Norio shivered with excitement. It was almost too much, but his mother had once said he was born under a lucky star. What incredible power had he been so fortunate enough to stumble across?
Surely, he thought, the Brotherhood was in good graces. He must be doing the right thing for his people, for his world. He thought of his wife and unborn son, slaughtered before his eyes, and of the rifle under his bed.
"Tell me," he said.
And the snake did.
Kabuto Yakushi was a man of many secrets. He was born with them. He was a bastard child and his father had never figured it out, not once, even though his son's hair color was lighter than his own.
From my side, Kabuto's mother had said, and his father never once doubted it. And so, Kabuto kept his first secret.
His next secret came when he was only thirteen, and wilting under the hungry gaze of Danzou.
"You're a good boy, Kabuto," the Elder had said, his scarred face twitching with a smile. "A very good boy. A smart one. Great things come for smart people." Danzou had gripped his shoulder, walked him into a cold, underground room with metal walls that sapped any damp warmth from the earth.
Kabuto had seen the Sharingans from long dead Uchiha, and so, he kept his second secret.
There were many others. Too many to count. The lure of Orochimaru, beckoning Kabuto forward with a long, white finger and whispering of ancient power. The taste of his knowledge of his skin. The drive to be someone important, even at the expense of others. There was Sasuke's secret, so blatantly obvious that Kabuto wanted to laugh, and Madara's, so black and twisted and sad, that Kabuto wanted to laugh harder.
Then there was the secret of his snakes that Madara had not figured out. Kabuto's body might be dead, but he had come prepared. Now, he slithered along the floors, along Norio's shoulder, and whispered in his ear. Secrets from spies he had planted all over the countries. From birds to insects to beggars on the streets and whores in brothels and unwitting monks.
FInally, Kabuto's most favorite secret of all, had been Itachi Uchiha's secret of the Mangekyo, and not even Madara could have known. Madara believed Kabuto dead, and his body safely hidden in a new place.
But Kabuto was alive, and he knew the hiding place well. Kabuto curled around Norio's neck, tasting the air.
There was only one purpose in life now that he had failed. Only one revenge. Madara would die, thanks to Itachi's secrets. The hidden village that had forsaken him would no longer stand, and Sasuke would be ripped of all he loved.
It was only fitting! Seeing as how Kabuto was now ultimately denied Orochimaru. Sasuke had failed to come to him, and now he would pay the price.
Kabuto thought of Danzou as a day on the roads back to Fire Country began to dim.
You're a very good boy. A smart one. Great things come to smart people.
Did they ever.
If Kabuto had had a mouth that could smile, he would have grinned, laughed even. Instead he only curled tighter in his basket, and dreamed of what was to come.
A/N: And we have more dastardly plot. The Fire Lord and others have just decreed something huge here, and the ninja way of life is now at stake. Now Naruto will not only be hunted by Akatsuki and the Brotherhood, he might as well be a criminal in the Fire Country. His assassination was just ordered.
Kabuto was denied his original plans, and now he's willing to do anything to bring Madara, and now Sasuke (because hey. he turned him down, and Sasuke shouldn't get to be happy when Kabuto isn't!) down. Most importantly, all those chapters ago we saw Kabuto studying Itachi. Later, he had stumbled across something important but it wasn't revealed. It still wasn't, but it was heavily hinted at, that it's something Kabuto could use to actually kill Madara. It will be revealed in another chapter or so.
Next chapter is entitled The Ninja Way. We'll see Sasuke and Naruto again and it will be mostly about them, traveling and coming to terms with each other. How will their relationship be salvaged after everything that has come to pass? There will also be a reappearance of someone else who hasn't been seen for a bit, and someone who was just introduced in Warhead and will make one reappearance and an important decision to help the plot along. Who could it be?
Where will this drive Naruto and Sasuke next? How much longer can they hide?
Yay for more chapters xD