Obito-Sensei Chapter 36
The Spy and The Corpse
It was drizzling when Sakura reached the bridge, the omnipresent kind of rain that she was already learning to ignore. She tightened the collar of her poncho, feeling pleasantly chilly, and looked around. Ame was lit up at all hours of the day, and the play of neon and flame in the puddles that were gradually forming in the gutters by the sides of the road was entrancing.
The street was as busy as she'd thought it would be, people of every age and means running around like it was the middle of the day. Someone had hauled a cart out to the main thoroughfare and was loudly selling mochi: Sakura thought that didn't sound half bad, even on a night that was a little cold. But she wasn't looking for desert, she was looking for her friends, so she settled back in the shadow of the bridge, crossing her arms and trying to look as uninteresting as possible as her pink hair poked out from under her poncho's hood.
People scurried by and the night dragged on to five minutes past ten. Sakura looked around, feeling a bit of uncertainty creep up into her chest. What if the letter had been a weird test? Had this been a trap after all?
Before she could ruminate on the possibility, she saw a glint of golden hair in the crowd farther up the street, and her heart skipped a beat.
When she and Naruto locked eyes, his smile lit up the whole night. He rushed forward with a laugh and looked like he was about to sweep her up in a hug before he caught himself. Sakura grinned.
"Hey," she said, and Naruto just grinned back. He was wearing his new hitai-ate like he had his old one, a traditional forehead placement, and had the same old orange jacket under an equally orange poncho. Sakura had to admit that he blended right in. Even more than her now, he looked like a native.
"Hey," he said back, jittering with excitement. "So you got a letter from Sasuke too?"
"Yup!" she settled back into the shadow of the bridge, and Naruto followed her, squatting at her side. "No idea how he found me though." She was getting less looks now, she saw; having a friend made her stick out less.
"Me neither," Naruto said with a shrug. "He could always do stuff like that. Maybe it's an Uchiha thing." He scratched his nose. "You been on a mission yet?"
"Yeah," Sakura said, without elaborating. "You?"
"Yeah," Naruto said, scrunching his face up. "But it wasn't very exciting. We just escorted some girl to the Land of Rivers. Barely anything happened."
"Who'd you go with? Did you get the whole cadre talk?" Sakura asked. Her teammate nodded.
"Yeah, I did. I was with Kabuto and that big guy, Zabuza. Kabuto was nice, like usual; he seemed really happy we were here." Naruto frowned. "But I dunno if Zabuza likes me or something. He was weird the whole time. Really like, old fashioned, you know?" He took on a stern tone. "'We're here for her, not to talk.' Grumpy stuff."
"Huh," Sakura said. "I wouldn't have thought that, from how Haku talked about him." She waved off Naruto's questioning look. "Nothing much. So it was boring?"
"Yeah. I guess that's good. It felt like any other C-Rank. Well, except for that one, you know." Naruto shifted on his feet, looking uncomfortable. "So you haven't seen Sasuke? I figured he'd be here first."
"Yeah, I did too," Sakura said with a frown. "But maybe he's-"
"Oh hey," Naruto interrupted, and Sakura jerked her head up and away from him. "Look at that."
The crowd had cleared for a moment, the street falling quiet, which made the lone figure approaching them only more obvious. Sakura knew in an instant it was Sasuke; he walked with an unmistakable purpose, and his clothes were as dark as ever. He approached the two of them fearlessly, striding right up and looking them both over.
"Hey," he said. "So you're both here, huh?" He peered at Sakura with a bit of uncertainty, and she didn't know why. She cocked her head with a clear question, but Naruto was the one who spoke.
"Well of course!" Naruto said. "Why wouldn't we be?"
"I dunno," Sasuke said, crossing his arms. His Sharingan flashed on for just a moment, as if he was checking to make sure she was real. "I was just surprised to find that letter. How'd you find my apartment, Sakura? I went looking for yours and Naruto's, but-"
"Wait." The hair on the back of Sakura's neck was suddenly fully raised. Naruto shot to his feet at her side. The rain wasn't falling on them. No one on the street was paying them any attention. "Sasuke, you didn't write that-?"
Without warning, the street beneath them vanished, and Sakura and her friends fell. The ground ate them alive.
They tumbled into the darkness, though it wasn't a long fall. Sakura slammed into the ground and spun to her feet in an instant, hand going to her knife. Naruto and Sasuke had done the same and they all instinctively clustered up, going back to back and circling as they tried to understand what had just happened.
There was a tunnel below the street. They were in the midst of it, inside a small antechamber with a short ceiling. There was light down here, but Sakura couldn't tell where it was coming from. There weren't any visible light sources. She panted, looking around and still unable to get her bearings. This place didn't look like a sewer or anything like that: it reminded her of Waterfall for some reason.
Earth jutsu. It hit her suddenly. This place had been carved out with earth jutsu; the smooth walls, the perfect circles of the tunnel, the lack of construction. They were truly beneath Rain, in the bowels of the earth.
"Hey," Sasuke said in a low tone, and Sakura spun at his voice. He was staring down the tunnel he'd been facing. There was someone there now, Sakura realized; it had been empty just a second before, she was sure. She didn't recognize the man.
He was tall, dressed in a tan cloak, with a rain hitai-ate hanging from his neck and covering his throat like a metal collar. His skin was as pale as paper. Sakura's whole body was thrumming with adrenaline, and she slipped into a low pose, feeling Naruto do the same next to her as they watched the man take a step forward. She tightened her grip on her knife as Sasuke called out.
"Stop right there," he said, and the man did, regarding them with amused eyes. They were strange, Sakura thought, narrow and yellow. His pupil was just a slit, like a single harsh stroke of a pen. His face had the same kind of severe beauty she saw in Haku, but while in Haku it was charming on this man it was inhuman. He looked like a carefully crafted porcelain doll.
"You wrote those letters." Sasuke said it with so much certainty that Sakura couldn't disbelieve him. "Why'd you want us here? Who are you?"
"Wonderful questions." The shinobi's voice was silky and warm, like an expensive blanket, and it only put Sakura more on edge. "And perceptive as expected." The man smiled, spreading his arms. "The Hokage told you you would have a contact in Amegakure, did he not? Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha…" He paused, his lip twisting into a grin. "Naruto Namikaze?"
Sakura straightened up, the tension not leaving her body. "And if he did?"
"And if he did," the man smiled without joy, "then I'm your man." He made a mock bow, his eyes shining with silent laughter. "Orochimaru of the Sannin, at your service."
Sakura's heart skipped. One of the Sannin? One of the Sannin had defected to Rain? Or faked their defection, it seemed? How had she not known this? This man was one of Jiraiya's original teammates? She was thinking too much to speak.
"Please," Orochimaru said, cutting down any of their words before they could form. He spun, gesturing from beneath his cloak, and made his way down the dark corridor. "Follow me."
###
They walked for some time, whispering among themselves and casting suspicious looks at the Sannin, before they arrived at their destination: Sakura would have estimated ten minutes, but it was hard to tell down there in the dark. The tunnel grew wider and the light grew brighter until they were spat out into a large chamber, big enough to have a house in it, and with other corridors leading to more rooms beyond it.
Sakura looked around and her teammates did the same, taking it in. This place had obviously been painstakingly carved out with earth jutsu, she thought, and over the course of a long time if it hadn't disturbed the city's foundations. They must have been deeper than she'd first thought. The room was filled with machines and computers, most silent but some humming with activity. There was a long line of glass tubes along one wall filled with orange liquid, and more equipment that defied her categorization. Though she'd only seen one in passing in Konoha, Sakura could only call this place a lab.
"Sorry that I haven't cleaned the place up," Orochimaru said. "I so rarely have company down here." He gestured towards a corner of the room where some furniture had been piled, including a couch and some chairs. "Feel free to take a seat, though I doubt this first meeting will be very productive."
"If this is something set up by the Amekage, it's pointless," Sasuke said, and Orochimaru cocked an eyebrow. "Sakura admitted to being on a mission as soon as she arrived. That shouldn't matter."
"Of course she did," Orochimaru said with a sigh. "Nagato Uzumaki is a monster. It's impossible to hide anything from him."
Uzumaki? Sakura glanced over at Naruto and found that he was looking at her, eyes wide. Nagato and his mother were related?
"Oh, don't be so surprised," Orochimaru said, sounding bored. "The clan scattered to every corner of the world after all."
Sasuke ignored the jibe. "Not so impossible, if you've hidden this down here." He looked around to prove the point, and Orochimaru chuckled.
"Well, that's a good point, but you're assuming this is hidden from the Amekage. They're aware of my little haunt down here."
"What?" Sakura said. Orochimaru rolled his eyes.
"What?" he mimicked, and Sakura felt herself turn red. "Did you think anyone could hide from a man like Nagato? The Rinnegan essentially allows the bearer to read the minds of anyone they touch. I'm sure you felt that when you arrived, Sakura. The only way to conceal the truth is through truth." He waved his hands. "And I have other measures, if necessary." He let out a sickly laugh. "Partially inspired by that insipid Flying Thunder God. Consider it your father's contribution to this mission, Namikaze, since he clearly didn't give you much else."
"What?" he said. Sakura was taken aback: the man had transformed from conspiratorial to cruel in the blink of an eye.
"Well, he was certainly stupid enough to send you here," the older man said, leaning back against a desk. "There's been no sign that Itachi or the Nanabi have come to Rain, but then, that tells us nothing. Even the Yondaime would know that…"
"You gotta problem with my dad?" Naruto demanded, leaping off the couch, and Orochimaru laughed.
"I don't have a 'problem with your dad,'" he said in a mocking lilt. "I have a dislike of idiots." His eyes shone. "Would you call him one?"
"Naruto!" Sakura's hand shot out, catching Naruto by the sleeve before he could storm forward. She was surprised at her own decisiveness. "Wait, okay?" Naruto glared back at her, and she looked past him to Orochimaru. "Please, I don't care if you don't like the Yondaime. That's not our business anymore. But you're our contact: you're here to help us." She stood up as well. "What should I do? How am I supposed to accomplish this mission? I don't even know where to begin. I'm not a spy."
"You came to a foreign village to learn its secrets." Orochimaru smiled. "You are already a spy purely by definition."
"That's not really an answer," Sakura said through gritted teeth, and the man grinned.
"Well, what did Namikaze tell you to do? If anything?" he asked, glancing over at Sasuke as he wandered the room. His eyes were laser focused on the Uchiha, and Sakura noticed they darted towards one of the other chambers that Sasuke was drawing closer to. Was something in there?
"He told me to act like I'd actually defected," Sakura said. Orochimaru shrugged.
"Somehow, that's good advice," he said. Sakura could hear Naruto's teeth grinding. "If you want to find out the truth, you'll never manage it as a turncoat shinobi of the Leaf." He pushed himself off the table. "The best you could do would be to become trusted ninja of the Nation of Rain… as you've already put yourself on the path towards, Sakura. All of you must renounce your old lives, as I did."
"It can't be that straightforward," Sakura said, still keeping an eye on both Naruto and Sasuke .
"No, that's not what you're saying," Orochimaru said, amused. "You're upset that I haven't given you a definite goal." He began gradually making his way towards the entrance Sasuke had approached, running his hands over the table and sweeping up a layer of dust. "If that's what someone like you needs, I'll give you this."
He stopped. "There's only one organization in this nation that has unrestricted access to every level of power. The shinobi aren't trusted because many of them are mercenaries, spies, or traitors. The government and bureaucrats are hold-overs from the country that was devoured: they are kept around for their experience, not because Rain has any affection for them." He grinned. "Only the revolutionary vanguard would be trusted with the secrets of a stolen Bijuu. If you want to accomplish your mission and go home, Sakura Haruno, your goal should be joining the Akatsuki."
Sakura thought that should have upset her, for some reason. The Akatsuki didn't seem easy to join: in fact, Haku and the Amekage were the only members she'd seen since arriving in the Nation. Even Nonō and Zabuza hadn't shown their colors. But in her heart, that had been her desire ever since she'd accepted the mission.
'At its heart, all Akatsuki wants is to prevent war.'
"Okay," she said, and Naruto gave her a surprised look. "I think I can do that."
"Wonderful," Orochimaru said. The way the word came out made it seem anything but. "While you work towards that goal, your friends should likewise look to rise up the ranks. There are always opportunities in this nation, especially for ninja of their…" His face twisted. "Pedigree."
As he spoke, still moving slowly towards Sasuke, the Uchiha poked his head curiously into the other chamber and froze. He turned back, seeing Orochimaru coming, seeing Naruto grimacing at the back of the room and Sakura still, pondering her future.
"Who is that?" he said, gesturing with his head towards the room and locking eyes with Orochimaru. Sakura blinked, and Naruto snapped out of his fugue and stepped forward, quickly crossing the room.
"What?" he asked. "Is there someone else down here, Sasuke?"
"There is," Orochimaru said softly. Sakura's skin crawled. "Would you like to meet him?" He nodded towards the room.
Naruto poked his head around the corner and frowned, and Sakura was compelled to follow. Acutely aware that she was putting Orochimaru to her back, she came to Naruto's shoulder and peered into the room.
It was darker and quieter there than it was in the main chamber; there were no flickering electric lights hanging from the ceiling, and no humming machines filling the air with soft background noise. It seemed mostly barren; a thick carpet covered the floor, with a large armchair placed in the center of it, and across from it, there was another, smaller chair, bare gnarled wood without even armrests.
There was a man slumped in the armchair. Sakura sucked in a breath as Sasuke took a step forward towards the figure. He looked ancient and withered, long white hair covering his face and cascading down his back, but it was more than that. He was draped in a black cloak, but wherever his skin showed, on his chin, his arms, his knees, there were cracks running through his skin, like earth broken open by drought.
"That's impossible," Sasuke said, breaking the silence that had covered the room. Sakura stared at the seated man: he wasn't bound in any way, but he seemed stuck to the chair. If he was breathing, it was so faint she couldn't detect it. Only the occasional minute flutter of his hands or the shifting of his long white hair betrayed any life at all.
"I've seen pictures of this guy before," he said, turning back towards Orochimaru. The Sannin favored him with a nasty smile. "But he's dead."
"Very," Orochimaru said, striding forward and shaking the man by the shoulder, once, violently. The ancient man started, letting out a frightened cry and looking around. He didn't have any eyes, Sakura saw immediately, just two empty sockets. He started muttering under his breath, a constant stream of slurred words that held no meaning. Sakura felt her stomach twist: it reminded her of her great uncle, who hadn't even recognized her by the time he'd passed away.
"Then how can he be here?" Sasuke said, taking a step back. He looked scared, Sakura saw, which was exactly how she felt. She didn't understand what she was seeing, but she knew it was wrong.
"How can Madara Uchiha be here?"
"Well, that's very simple," Orochimaru said. "I brought him back."
"You're lying," Naruto interjected as Sasuke withdrew into himself, staring at the ancient muttering man in the corner. "You can't bring dead people back. That's stupid."
Orochimaru laughed. "It's funny, Namikaze. Did you know your father stole his Hiraishin from the Second Hokage?" He gestured at the talking corpse. Sakura couldn't speak; the implications were too overwhelming for her. "This was one of the Nidaime's jutsu as well. We were in competition for the position of the Yondaime, Minato and I, and we both decided that the best way to achieve it was to improve on the jutsu of our predecessors." His laugh twisted into a snarl. "But the Second's Edo Tensei required human sacrifice, while his improved Hiraishin would only kill thousands in the blink of an eye. The Third Hokage, my own sensei, said much the same thing as you, though with longer words." He crossed his arms, glaring at Naruto. "How amusing that a foolish old man and a stupid young boy should have the same opinion. It seems your blinders transcend generations."
"He was killed by the First Hokage," Sakura finally said. She couldn't shake the feeling they were in danger. Were they allowed to know this? Orochimaru had just let Sasuke wander into this room, so it seemed to be the case, but reanimating the dead definitely seemed like something that should be hidden. "Did Konoha have his body?"
'Do the Amekage know? Do they approve?"
"No," Orochimaru said, giving her a curious look. She hadn't objected, she realized, just asked questions. "I found his corpse in the Land of Water, tucked away in a hidden cave. It seems that his death at the Shodaime's hands was overstated." He smiled. "Not that it helped him. I brought him back to answer my questions. The Sharingan has always fascinated me, and the genesis of the villages as well."
He gestured to the trembling man. "I keep him at the moment of his death; alone, confused, too frail to do anything but speak. It's funny, isn't it? Even the mighty Madara Uchiha was rendered helpless by age. Whatever he was hoping to accomplish in that cave went to waste."
"This is torture," Sasuke said, stepping closer to his ancestor. The man was still mumbling, his hands shaking in his lap. "He doesn't deserve this."
"He was a traitor to the village who tried to murder the First Hokage," Orochimaru said slyly. "Surely, as traitors yourselves, you understand that there's nothing that would not be condoned against a man like that. And besides… it's gratifying to have one of the men who founded the Hidden Leaf here at my whim, relieving the last moments of his regret-filled life. I don't think I'll ever tire of it."
Sakura felt she was starting to gain an understanding of him. This was a man who delighted in showing how clever he was, she thought. But if he'd been in Rain and was trusted enough by the Hokage to be their contact despite some obvious personal animosity, he might actually be smart enough to back that up. He was telling them this for a reason.
"You…"
The man croaked, and everyone in the room, even Orochimaru, jumped at the clarity of his voice. He was leaning forward towards Sasuke, empty sockets wide; Sasuke just stared at the zombie, face twisted in disgust. The man's cracked hands came up as if to cradle Sasuke's cheeks, shaking violently the whole way.
"I know you…" he groaned. "Izuna… I lost my shadow… how stupid can an old man be…"
"That's enough of that," Orochimaru said. He raised his hand, two fingers extended in a Ram seal, and Madara stiffened, his jaw going slack. Some dust drifted from his mouth as he stared straight ahead, inanimate.
"Let him go!" Sasuke spun around, his eyes wide. He was scared. "Let him die!"
He launched himself at Orochimaru, and Sakura found herself following without a thought. The man laughed and spun back, slipping past Naruto and jabbing a finger into his forehead as he went. Naruto stumbled back, rubbing at his head in confusion.
Sasuke went in, his Sharingan flashing, and the older man made the same jabbing motion. His finger grotesquely extended, shooting out more than five feet and slamming into Sasuke's forehead, and Sakura's teammate was thrown back into the wall, head lolling.
"Wait!" she shouted out as Naruto collapsed. "Don't-!"
"An edifying meeting," Orochimaru said, suddenly behind her. Too fast for her to do a thing. She spun, the knife coming up-
His fingers slammed into her forehead, and the world began spinning, melting and slipping away. Sakura stumbled, feeling foreign chakra burning into her brain, and collapsed to one knee. She looked up at the Sannin, her vision swimming as anger boiled her heart.
"I look forward to our next one," he said, and then the world was buried in darkness.
###
Sakura woke up in her bed and looked around. She was hyperventilating: had she been having a nightmare? It was dark outside, the walls of the buildings beyond her window dancing with neon lights. The digital clock on her nightstand read 1:26.
She sat up, rubbing her eyes. It was strange: she was usually a solid sleeper. It felt like there was something stuck in her head, swimming behind her eye like the beginning of a headache. She didn't even remember getting into bed. She'd gotten home from the mission, she'd been exhausted… she'd seen Sasuke and Naruto, she thought. She'd gotten a letter to see them. They'd met up at the eastern bridge. They'd gotten a late dinner. They'd agreed to meet again, as soon as possible. It had been really nice. She'd felt like she completely belonged again.
Sakura sat back, her eyes slipping closed as the rain outside lured her back to sleep. Nothing to worry about it, she thought, the notion slipping through her mind like molasses. She just needed to be loyal: she just needed to be strong.
Everything else would work itself out.