Chapter 11: Heightened Stakes
The rusty, metal steps creaked and groaned underneath his weight as Kakashi slowly climbed up the steps one by one. Despite having gained complete control over the village, the Ame trio insisted on keeping their headquarters at the dilapidated tower, the remnants of an abandoned high-rise apartment complex. The tower always gave off the impression of being in a state of almost-collapse, with holes littering the surface of the cement wall. The arched roof felt like it would cave upon any additional weight.
The interior…well Kakashi had never seen the interior, but he doubted it was in a much better condition than the exterior seemed to be.
But for some reason, Yahiko liked it here so much to the point he'd rather spend the Akatsuki's measly funds to constantly patch up the place rather than move into Hanzo's now unoccupied mansion.
When Kakashi asked Yahiko why he insisted on staying, a twinge of nostalgia was prevalent in his response. This was where the Akatsuki first started. This was the place that served as a representation of their camaraderie. This was the first place that had given orphans like them a semblance of home. The reluctance to leave the place behind wasn't only felt by Yahiko, but by Nagato and Konan and everyone else too.
The only two people who didn't have an attachment to the place were Kakashi and Kakuzu. Then again, they weren't the original founders of the Akatsuki and they hardly spent any time in the Rain village.
For Kakuzu, he hated the constant dreariness of the downpour, the humidity that made it difficult to breathe in the summers. Besides, he hardly fancied the idea of being ensnared in a village doing menial tasks when he could be out seeking his next bounty. Kakashi assigned him the task of being on the lookout for their next recruit, to which Kakuzu responded with a wry stare, murmuring underneath his breath, "If I don't kill them first."
That was as good of an agreement as Kakashi was going to get from him.
As for Kakashi, there were too many things for him to do for him to stay rooted to one place.
This time, only Nagato was standing on the balcony of the tower. His bright red hair shone like a beacon through the bleakness, through the varying shades of gray that this village seemed to be known for. For kilometers around, there was nothing to be seen other than the rooftops of abandoned industrial factories, constructed by slabs of gray stone and cement. The gloomy skies overhead blended right into the color scheme.
Nagato's hand stretched out from underneath the covering, the beginning of a light drizzle splashing off of the palm of his hands.
"Okami."
"Where are the others?"
"Away," Nagato answered curtly. "I don't think they will be back any time soon."
Although Kakashi hoped to catch all three of them in the village, his inconsistent schedule made it impossible for them to predict when he was going to show his face again. And Kakashi wasn't inclined to wait around for them or come back another day – he had another self-imposed mission to get to.
"I have come to tell you that I'll be gone for an extended period of time."
Nagato didn't ask why; he knew better than to do that. "Alright. Anything you want us to accomplish in the meantime?"
Kakashi stepped forward to stand next to Nagato, propping his arms on the rusty railing that overlooked the village. Empty. Abandoned. Desolate. Upon first glance, those were the words that anyone would use to describe the village, yet Kakashi had an inkling of a feeling that this sight wouldn't be the same one he would come back to.
The Akatsuki would be the ones to shine a beacon of hope onto the village who had suffered too much and for far too long.
"Keep doing what you have been doing," Kakashi replied. The trio knew what they were doing, far better than Kakashi did concerning the operations of a village. "I leaked the word out to the public that the Akatsuki had won the civil war in Ame. I think our next step is to recruit as many as we can from all over the world."
"Shinobis?"
"Anyone. Traveling merchants. Shopkeepers. Farmers. Civilians. Shinobis. It doesn't matter. Right now the goal is to expand our network. If we want to achieve worldwide peace, then we'll need eyes and ears in every village and town. I suggest Konan be the spearhead of the recruitment effort."
Nagato cocked his head. "Why?"
"Her paper jutsu is most suitable for long distance communications and affords her greater mobility than you or Yahiko. And from my understanding, she has always been the one to manage your informant network, no?"
"That's true, but Yahiko is busy trying to reform the village and Konan is managing the Akatsuki members. Sometimes I feel like I'm not contributing anything to the group. At least recruiting is something I could help with."
Kakashi shook his head. "You serve a far greater purpose than that, Nagato. What do you know about your eyes?"
"The Rinnegan?" Nagato asked, hesitantly. "Not much. These eyes hold a great deal of power that I cannot control so I haven't used it much."
"A while ago, another group approached me to offer an alliance. Their plan was to ultimately take over the world by casting a genjutsu that would allow everyone to live eternally in their perfect world. Among other things, one of the things they needed was the power of the Rinnegan."
Nagato's eyes widened a fraction. "My eyes?"
Kakashi nodded. "I killed the man who proposed the idea. However, he was working with someone by the name of Zetsu. My gut tells me that he won't give up on the idea easily. Likely, Zetsu will find someone else to carry out his plans. So–" Kakashi angled his head to look Nagato in the eye. "You need to train. Figure out the extent of your power. When he comes for your eyes, you need to be able to protect yourself. Don't let that power fall into the wrong hands."
Nagato's hand trembled. "But that doesn't mean I am the right person to utilize this power either. I have killed people with this power."
"For self-preservation or to protect your friends," Kakashi suggested. "As shinobis, we face a great deal of moral ambiguities. We all have our own reasons for doing what we do. However, enacting such a genjutsu upon the world is an ambition driven by the prospect of one's own selfishness without regard to anyone else. I cannot allow that to happen. Would you?"
The question hung in the silence between them.
After a few moments, Nagato slowly shook his head. "No."
"I'm going to track down Zetsu. In the meantime, you should make preparations just in case there are others out there that share his ambitions."
"What do you plan to do?"
Kakashi disappeared in a swirl of leaves, leaving Nagato's question unanswered. He didn't know why he even bothered to ask.
Nagato already knew the answer.
When Cat saw Danzo exit the Hokage's office with an irritated scowl, his instincts gnawed at him to follow Danzo back to the Root headquarters. Slinking along the shadows that stretched across the walkway, Cat kept his footsteps silent. When Danzo's gait halted, Cat's gloved hand wrapped around the metal railing before he flung his entire body over it. The momentum carried him to the underside of the bridge and Cat used the tiniest bit of chakra to stick the palm of his hands.
The tapping noise of the cane indicated that Danzo had started walking again. Cat followed. At the end of the bridge, Cat waited a few moments before the tapping noise grew faint before he pulled himself back onto the walkway again.
He quickly darted in the obscurity of the shadows just as another Root member walked by.
Instead of turning right towards the direction of his secret lair, Danzo veered to the left. His pace sped up, suspicious eyes constantly sweeping the area as if he expected someone to jump out at him. Cat hurried his pace to not lose sight of him, yet not trading any stealth for the sake of speed.
That was the dumbest move he could make, especially in the presence of someone who was overly paranoid like Danzo.
Danzo rounded a corner to reach a dead end. Back pressed against the wall, Cat hesitantly peered around the corner to see what his leader was doing. The tip of his cane was tapping all along the walls, the noise resonating in the enclosed space.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Danzo repeated the action until his cane landed on a particular spot, one that emitted a hollow sound upon contact of his cane. His fingers sparked with a bit of chakra, hand brushing over the brick. The kanji for "open" shone brightly in the dim lighting of the hallway before Cat's ears picked up on the sound of concrete scraping against itself.
Daring to be bold, Cat craned his neck just a bit further to see the supposed dead end wall had given way, revealing a secret tunnel.
Danzo stepped into the tunnel.
Before he could properly think this through, Cat summoned a Wood clone and sent it to the other side of the tunnel. For a few seconds, Cat contemplated whether he should go himself. The combination of not knowing what was waiting for him on the other side and having a team meeting in half an hour ultimately swayed him not to.
The trap door had already closed on him before he made up his mind.
Cat would just have to count on his clone.
"Kukuku, what brings you here?" Orochimaru didn't look up from his notebook as he scribbled his latest findings from his most successful trial run. Excitement was bubbling underneath the cool facade, a small smile curled at his lips as his long tongue darted outwards to lick his lips.
He was getting close to success – Orochimaru could feel it. Just a little push and he would be there. Victory lingered ahead. After years and years of undertaking multiple projects and devoting a great deal of his time towards obtaining success, this project would finally be his breakthrough.
"You're being too careless. Hiruzen is onto us," Danzo scolded. "What were you thinking, kidnapping Shisui Uchiha's sister? You know that would surely garner attention to the missing children. And now that the Police Force has figured out a list of missing Uchiha children; it's only a matter of time before they track you down. In that case–"
"Relax," Orochimaru hissed. "You haven't done anything to incriminate yourself so why are you worried? You think I'll rat you out?"
"Of course not. You wouldn't be caught that easily."
"I need you to stall investigations or throw them off my tail. I'm close to having my first successful experiment; I just need a little more time."
"Oh?"
"And here I thought I would need someone with a stronger Uchiha bloodline to activate the Sharingan. Imagine my surprise when that half-blood girl already unlocked the first two tomoes. Just one more and then I can move onto the next stage of the experiment."
Orochimaru jerked the bottom of his chin towards the shelf, drawing Danzo's attention to the two vials sitting on the second shelf. "Your payment for making sure Konoha doesn't find me."
Danzo swiped the two vials off of the shelf. The vial contained a yellowish translucent liquid that filled the tube to three-fourths full. Floating in the viscous liquid was an eye.
A one tomoe Sharingan.
"Only one tomoe?"
Orochimaru huffed. "It's a pity that the subject died from my last experiment, but that's alright. I found a more promising subject."
Danzo pocketed the vials. "Whose eyes are these?"
The corner of Orochimaru's lips tilted up into a vicious smirk.
"Emiko Uchiha. I'll leave you to take care of the body."
When Kakashi summoned Pakkun, the last he thing he expected was for his summon to inform him that Tenzo was requesting them to meet soon. To keep their connection unnoticed, the two rarely met other than briefly in passing. Other times, information was passed via his summons or at their established dead drop location.
For him to request a meet-up, Tenzo must have found something big. Veering off his original course, Kakashi found himself stepping into the borders of the Land of Fire. After transforming himself into a nondescript civilian, he ventured into a small town not far from Konoha.
And then he waited for his kohai to show.
His time was spent loitering around the village, poking his nose in feigned interest at every single souvenir shop. On occasion, Kakashi would pop into a tea shop, spending a ridiculous amount of time finishing one drink. It had gotten to the point where the shopkeeper had gotten annoyed at his presence; he was taking up space for hardly any business in return. He remained unperturbed by the shopkeeper's glaring daggers at him, skin having grown so thick that even the sharpest blade wouldn't nick it.
And no matter how convinced the shopkeeper may be that Kakashi was loitering around to spite him, he was more so staying for his interest in the conversation that was happening two tables over. Subtly, Kakashi scooted his seat backwards as much as he could without bumping into the backside of the chair behind him.
His ears picked up the tail end of a distressed statement. "...what do I do? Children are going missing, like they're just snatched up from under my nose. If this continues, there will be no children left at the orphanage."
"You need to keep this a secret," her companion advised. "If the word gets out to town, the reputation of the orphanage will be ruined. You know we rely on donations to keep functioning and if our donors hear that our children are being kidnapped–"
The woman's fist slammed against the table. Her tea cup jumped from the plate, landing back with a resonating clink. Luckily, the tea shop was currently bustling with activity from the afternoon rush; no one paid heed to her sudden outburst.
"Children's lives are at stake and all you can think about is money?" the woman hissed. "I confided in you because I want solutions, not tactics to pretend everything is okay. How long can we keep it from the rest of the town? A noticeable drop in numbers is bound to get someone's attention."
"Okay, okay I'm sorry," the man said, trying to placate the woman. "I think it's best if we keep the children in the orphanage for now while we investigate what's going on. We don't want more of them to go missing."
The woman nodded, her anger diminishing when she finally received some semblance of an advice. Kakashi was eager to hear more but when he saw Tenzo breeze past him, waving some Anbu hand signals to meet in a private place, Kakashi knew that it was his cue to go. Tossing some ryos onto the table – more than the tea was worth to appease the shopkeeper – Kakashi slipped out of the tea shop.
They reconvened deep into the woods. Kakashi immediately threw up a sound proof barrier and then layered two different genjutsus on top of the barrier. In the unfortunate case that someone would stumble upon this location, all they would see was a dense layer of green foliage.
"Tai chou, you know about the missing Uchiha children, right?"
Kakashi nodded. "You sent me a message about that last time. Did you find more about that?"
"Orochimaru is behind the kidnapping. He's experimenting with the abducted children to see if he can terrorize them into unlocking their Sharingan. His goal is to unlock the next tier of Sharingan. And he's working with Danzo. Danzo is collecting the Sharingans from the failed experiments."
"The Mangekyo Sharingan," Kakashi murmured, recalling Madara's explanation of the evolution of Sharingans. After the Mangekyo was the Eternal Mangekyo, obtained by taking the eyes from a loved one and planting them in their own. And the next evolution after the Eternal Mangekyo…was the Rinnegan.
Underneath his mask, Kakashi gritted his teeth. Had Zetsu already begun to make his move?
"What does Orochimaru get out of collaborating with Danzo?"
"Safety. Danzo is the one keeping the Third Hokage from investigating Orochimaru. He's also the one to dump the bodies of the failed experiment. In fact, Orochimaru just handed off another body for him to get rid of."
"Well?" Kakashi held out the palm of his hand, expectantly. Tenzo rolled his eyes, murmuring something about how he was so bossy and slapped a small piece of fabric into his awaiting hand.
"Sorry I couldn't get much more than this. My clone was almost caught."
His fingers played with the loose thread of the cloth, a piece that seemed to belong to the sleeve of a shirt. "This will be enough. Any ideas on where I should start looking?"
"All of the trails of the missing children lead to the Forest of Death, but I don't know if it'll be that much of a coincidence that the bodies are buried there too."
Kakashi pocketed the fabric into his weapons pouch. "The most obvious hiding place is often the safest place. From my understanding of Danzo, he most certainly would be the type to play that sort of mind tricks on us."
"I'll leave that to you. If I hear anything else, I'll update you. Also, Danzo wants me to keep an eye on Itachi Uchiha. To see if he's fit to join the Root. Do I intervene?"
"For now, just do as you are assigned."
Kakashi certainly had plans for the clan heir, but the time wasn't now. Not while he was still a nine year old susceptible genin. Not while the scar of the death of his teammate was still fresh on his mind. Not while traces of naivety in his outlook of the world still lingered.
The boy was a reflection of the person who Kakashi used to be. Until the day Itachi reached his breaking point, experienced the very thing that made him snap, only then would their paths cross again.
Until then, Kakashi was content examining him from the shadows.
In the middle of the Forest of Death, Kakashi crouched down with the torn fabric in the palm of his hands. All eight of his ninken circled around his outstretched hand, each taking their turn to sniff the fabric.
"For now don't search beyond the boundaries of the Forest of Death. We'll reconvene here at the end of the hour."
When Kakashi flashed the signal to scatter, the eight of them disappeared in blurry streaks.
The moon hung high in the sky, illuminating the blur of the cloaked man's silhouette as he darted across the rooftops of the buildings in the Uchiha district. To those sleeping soundly inside of the house, his footsteps sounded nothing more than the pit patter of rain droplets splashing against the roof shingles.
But if anyone looked outside, they would realize that there wasn't a single droplet of rain to be seen.
Most opted to turn over in their beds, allowing the lull of sleep to take ahold of them all while an unknown presence streaked across their rooftops.
Upon reaching the third house at the end of the street, the cloaked figure allowed the chakra at his feet to recede. Without the aid of chakra to stick, the soles of his shoes scraped against the shingles as he descended. Landing deftly on his feet, chakra was used to muffle the impact of his landing.
Rounding to the eastern side of the house, the cloaked figure sped past the partially opened window.
Shisui jolted awake upon hearing something tumble against the wooden floor. In a flash, he was by his window, arms lifting to open the window all the way. Sharingan activated, his eyes roved in the darkness for a sign of the intruder.
There was nothing. Not even the faintest trail of chakra was left behind.
Shisui shut the window, turning the lock on it. With a brush of his hand against the wall, he activated all of the seal traps. Whirling on his feet, fueled by the worry that another one of his sisters had been taken, Shisui almost shunshinned himself to Aimi's room. However, just before he activated the jutsu, the tip of his foot made contact with a foreign object. Glancing down, his eyes zeroed in on a scroll.
A plain, nondescript scroll but for all he knew, it could be a trap. Snatching the scroll off of the floor and tucking it into the waistband of his sweatpants, Shisui went to check up on Aimi.
He let out an audible exhale of relief upon finding her safe and sound.
For his own ease of mind, Shisui also passed by his father's room to confirm that he was alright too. Emiko's disappearance weighed heavily on his conscience, resulting in many sleepless nights – Shisui simply didn't know if he could physically or mentally handle another heartbreak.
As it already was, the chances of Emiko returning home alive was diminishing by the day. Mentally, he cursed himself for being an inadequate brother, for never being home when his sisters needed him, for being so incompetent that he couldn't even find her. What was the point of being hailed as one of the most outstanding Uchiha of his generation if he couldn't even protect his family?
The only thing he could do right was keep the remaining two members of his family safe, but even then, Shisui failed at that too. Someone had come close to his home tonight. And if the intruder wanted to, Aimi would have been gone before Shisui could even react.
An useless older brother. A disgraceful son.
Although a chilly breeze sent goosebumps all over his arms, the damning scroll felt searing hot in his hand. His Sharingan detected no hints of a trap embedded within the scroll, but he couldn't help but wonder if this was their way of getting rid of him. To stop him from continuing the investigation that would ultimately uncover the location of the children.
Only death would stop him.
Shisui tossed a glance over his shoulders, getting a glimpse of his dark house in the distance. Where his father and sister were sleeping soundly, unaware that someone had gotten close to them tonight. Ignorant of the internal struggle Shisui faced as he warred with himself to find out the contents of the scroll.
His fingers trembled as he reached to undo the string tie around the body of the scroll. The string fluttered to the ground as Shisui slowly unraveled the scroll, prepared for something to jump out at him.
Nothing happened. No sudden flashes of brightingly blind lights. No weapon shooting out of the scroll.
Absolutely nothing other than a map of Konoha with the Forest of Death circled with a thick black marker. An x was marked towards the upper left corner of the circle. An arrow pointed to it, followed by two numbers. Deciphering the messy scrawl underneath the numbers had taken a moment, but when realization hit him, Shisui's blood went cold.
You'll find what you're looking for here. Tomorrow morning, six o'clock. I have more to tell you.
A/N: Hi again!
The stakes have gone up. The villains have been revealed. A race against time on both sides - any predictions on what is to come? Thank you for reading and until next time!
-MM