Hinata of the White Lotus

Into the Void

Alarm bells blared at full volume.

The terrible ringing echoed off the small cramped walls and bounced the sound around incessantly. Hinata squinted against the wailing cacophony, cupping both hands around her ears in a vain attempt to stifle the awful noise.

"What's happening?" Naruto yelled, though no one could hear him. Hinata only knew he spoke at all, because she could read his lips with her Byakugan. She had been monitoring the trail between him and Sasuke, using it to guide them deep into the catacombs beneath their village.

The depths to which Root had made their headquarters beneath Konoha was unimaginable. It was like a whole other village existed down here, descending deeper and deeper than she would have thought possible. To think this had all been beneath them this whole time and yet she never knew about it.

Anko seemed to have a good understanding of the layout of the winding labyrinths too, able to deftly guide them despite having nothing more than Hinata's vague directions to go off of. The whole time they had managed to avoid any and all detection.

So why the alarms? If they hadn't set them off, then who?

Hinata expanded the range of her Byakugan, scanning all the corridors and trying to make sense of what was happening. It looked to her… like the forces of Root were scrambling. They were racing towards the surface, which implied their group hadn't been discovered after all.

"I think Naruto-kun's message got to the Hokage!" Hinata didn't bother to yell, simply making sure Anko could see her mouth move as she spoke, being extra careful to enunciate clearly.

"That doesn't make sense!" Anko mouthed back. "The Third Hokage would never mobilize a force against Root… against his friend, Shimura Danzo." What Anko said might have been true, Hinata didn't know either way. However, she knew someone that might if he were in charge. This meant Itachi must have survived the effects of the Moonfire Elixir. And while she didn't know how he felt about Sasuke, it was clear he didn't appreciate Danzo kidnapping him.

"Doesn't matter what it is!" Tayuya got between them, pointing their way further downwards. "It's good news for us! We can actually move without having to sneak around now!" That was true, their infiltration before now had been painfully slow. Now that the forces of Root were emptying out the place, they could afford to be less cautious.

"Alright, let's go!" Anko nodded in agreement and the four of them broke from cover to begin sprinting down the hallway. In truth, they had already managed to descend quite far. Although it was impossible to tell how much time it had actually taken them. Sunlight couldn't reach this far beneath the village, leaving it in a perpetual state of darkness.

The walls were damp and the floor slick. The very air was thick, making it hard to breathe. Hinata couldn't imagine having to live down here for extended periods of time. It was a whole other side to her beloved village that she had never seen before and would have been happier not knowing it existed.

The faster they could reach their destination and then get out of here, the better they would all be for it. So it was with some relief when the end of the line came into range of her extended vision. Relief, but also trepidation.

"There's something up ahead." Hinata called out, the alarm now far away and only the faintest echo reaching them all the way down here. This was as far as the labyrinth seemed to go, only a single pitch black pathway ahead of them now.

"Something?" Anko snapped, her voice demanding more of an explanation than that. It took Hinata several moments longer to find the words for it.

"It's a… gate." She finally decided on; that being about the only way to describe it. Not just any kind of gate, but one with a demonic face on it. The frame of the gate was decorated with giant red spikes. As she explained this, the color on Tayuya's face paled.

"The Rashomon Summoning." She uttered darkly under her breath. All eyes turned to her. "It's pretty likely Orochimaru is involved, after all. At the very least, Sakon must be here." That meant the members of Tayuya's old team.

"Isn't that summoning a defensive art?" Anko wondered aloud, apparently somewhat familiar with the jutsu. "What good is it just sitting around out there?" Her misunderstanding made sense, as she couldn't see it the way Hinata currently could.

"I think it's being combined with some other kind of space/time Jutsu." She said. "The gate is closed right now, but I can tell… it leads somewhere." Where exactly that was, even her enhanced vision couldn't be certain.

For now, it looked like the gate was unguarded. The whole situation screamed that this was some kind of trap, but as far as Hinata could see, there was no one waiting for them either. So with no better option but to go forward, the team moved ahead.

In a matter of minutes, they reached the end of the pathway and the sight of the massive gate became visible for the other members in their party. Naruto let out a low whistle, gawking at the size of it. The demonic face glared down at them, as if daring them to try and enter. Even now, no enemy revealed themselves. Not that it would be possible to hide from Hinata's vision to begin with.

"So Sasuke is on the other side of this gate, right?" Naruto walked right up to it with no fear, putting a single hand on the gate and feeling the strange metal beneath his fingertips. Even though he didn't have Hinata's visual powers, he could feel the connection to Sasuke now, or rather Asura's connection to Indra. It seemed the more attuned with Asura he became, the more such senses came naturally to him as well.

"I think so," Hinata answered, walking up to stand next to him. So far things had proceeded easily. Perhaps too easily. So it was only a matter of time before something went wrong. Just when it finally did, Hinata had expected to see it coming.

What she hadn't expected was the tear in space and time that opened up behind them, a single man in the Akatsuki robes and orange mask stepping out from it. "Hello!" He called cheerfully, waving at them as if greeting friends he hadn't seen in a long time.

"You kids get back!" Anko didn't waste any time springing into action, leaping in between her team and the man in the orange mask. She threw her left hand forward, long snakes sliding out from the loose sleeve of her trench coat. With loud, angry hisses, the snakes slithered towards the masked man, snapping at him-

And phasing through his body like he wasn't even there.

"Ah! Snakes!" The man yelled in shock, jumping up and down, flailing his limbs like he was drowning. Yet no matter how he moved, the snakes continued to float through him as if he was an apparition.

"It's not Genjutsu…" Hinata could say that for sure. Just what kind of ability it was for sure though, she had no idea. Although she did feel like she somehow knew this person.

"This is that creep that asked us to track down Naruto." Tayuya reminded her why that was a moment later. It wasn't that she ever met him, but this had been the one Tayuya warned them about. If she remembered correctly, then his name was Tobi.

Just what was he doing here? Did this mean the Root had teamed up not just with Orochimaru, but the Akatsuki as well? The further into this mission they delved, the more complicated it became by the second.

"Oh, you remembered me! I'm so happy." Tobi clapped as if the emotion was genuine. Never mind that none of them bought his act for even a second. He seemed to realize this, settling down with an awkward cough before shuffling back and forth on his feet. "I've been looking forward to this meeting, although I must admit you all arrived much faster than I was expecting. I had to improvise my plan when I realized what was happening." His tone was as goofy as ever, but there was something slightly more sinister to it now.

"You're the one that kidnapped Sasuke!?" Naruto growled, taking a couple steps forward before Anko's arm blocked his path. His normally blue eyes had turned blood red, the iris becoming slit like a fox's. "So you're saying all this was just another attempt to capture me?" He asked.

"Yes, but also no." Tobi sang, clearly enjoying himself. "I am not the one that took Sasuke, but I did help with that. And while it is true I have use for you, there is much more going on here than you seem to realize." It was only then that Hinata realized he appeared to be looking at her. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Hyuga Hinata." He greeted her, their gazes having met.

"Me?" Hinata asked, not sure what else she could possibly say. Just why was it that everyone seemed so interested in her all of the sudden? Then again, the rumors going around was that it had been her to kill Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame. Was this man out for revenge against her?

"You performed quite the miracle last time." Tobi chuckled as if enjoying some kind of inside joke. "I do wonder if you can do it again?" The moment he finished talking and the world around him seemed to distort again. A moment later and someone else appeared standing next to him, as if walking out from that distortion.

"Sakon," Tayuya called out the name of the strange blue-haired man as if uttering a curse.

"I see you're here as well, traitor." Sakon sneered back at her with equal venom. It looked like he might charge her at any given moment, until a simple movement from Tobi seemed to put an end to any such thoughts. For the time being at least.

"Now then, I think it's time you all hear the rules of the game." Tobi said, his words causing the four members of Anko's party to glance at one another.

"Who said we were playing along with your stupid game?" Anko asked him. Despite her bravado, Hinata knew what she was really thinking: They needed a way out of here. Just like she said, the moment things went south and she was scrapping the mission, and this was about as south a situation as it got- A member of Akatsuki along with Orochimaru's own personal guard.

Too bad it was those same two that stood between them and the only exit. The only other way was through the gate behind them and they still didn't even know where that went. Still, it might be better than taking their chances with whatever Tobi's strange power was.

"The rules are simple," Tobi continued as if Anko hadn't said anything. "Sakon here is going to open the gate for you. I've connected it along with two gates to my Kamui dimension. Behind one of those other gates is the exit to the forest just outside Konoha. Behind the other is Sasuke. If you can take Sasuke and escape through the other gate, then victory is yours. If the Sound Three kill you… well, you're dead." He snorted at his own joke.

"No way in hell!" Anko gave one last attempt to talk her way out of it, but they all already knew it was to no avail.

"If either side breaks the rules," The next words that left Tobi's mouth were delivered with a bone-chilling cold completely unlike his happy-go-lucky persona until now. "I kill you all." A moment later and it was back to sunshine and rainbows, "Well then, y'all have fun! I've got one other job to take care of, but don't worry! I'll be watching!" He waved them goodbye, before disappearing in a swirl.

Silence followed his sudden exit, everyone taking stock of the situation. In truth, Hinata didn't understand the enemy's motives at all. Why force them all to play this 'game' of his if it was so easy for him to just move about as he did? If he wanted, she had no doubt he could have taken Naruto in the blink of an eye and they wouldn't have been able to stop him.

The only logical conclusion then was that he had some other goal in mind. And while she didn't have any proof for this, she couldn't help but feel it had to do with Kali and her mission. Such a thing shouldn't have been possible, but the meaning of such a word like 'impossible' had long since lost all meaning to her now.

As she fretted over this internally, Sakon had bent down and placed both hands on the ground. He channeled chakra into the very earth they stood upon and with a loud creaking noise, the door behind them slowly began to swing open.

"You're really just going to quietly go along with whatever that maniac tells you to do?" Tayuya spoke down to him, her disgust apparent. She may not have ever liked or even trusted her old teammates, but she at least held some modicum of respect for them. Which was now almost completely vanished.

"Who's fault do you think it is that we're forced to do this?" Sakon hollered back, spit flying from his mouth. "You betrayed Orochimaru and got his favorite pawn killed. As punishment, he just threw us away to be used by that masked freak!" His face warped in anger slowly transformed into a manic grin. "At the very least this way will allow us to get revenge on you." He took a threatening step forward.

"Not so fast," Anko stepped between him and Tayuya. "Unfortunately for you, but she's a valuable asset for us on your former boss. I can't just have you taking revenge on her." She turned back and grinned down at Tayuya. "You should be grateful, I think with this situation I feel like you've earned a little bit of trust."

"Eat me," Tayuya shot back, not caring in the slightest bit. If it bothered Anko, she didn't show it at all as she turned to look over Hinata.

"This situation is my fault." She said. "I'm not sure what the enemy's plan is, but we've fallen right into their trap. I'm counting on you to pull off another miracle like what you did against Itachi and his partner." Hinata's mouth went dry, no words escaping her lips. Why did everyone expect so much from her now? Before she could respond, Anko finally faced Naruto, leaving him with a single message.

"Save your teammate."

"You got it," Naruto smirked back. With that, Anko turned back around and leapt forward to engage Sakon. As she did, Naruto and Tayuya spun the other way, sprinting full tilt towards the blackness of the void that waited on the other side of the now open gate.

Hinata hesitated a moment longer. She didn't want to leave Anko alone here to fight by herself. However, she couldn't just leave Naruto and Tayuya on their own either. What was in front of Anko was a known quantity. Whatever laid ahead wasn't. She had to trust in her comrades, in the same way Anko was now trusting in them.

"Be careful," Hinata whispered, not even sure Anko could hear her. Then she was off, running after Naruto and Tayuya. The two of them jumped forward, disappearing into the void of the unknown. Hinata was only a second behind, leaping past the gate after them.

And entering a world of total darkness.

Danzo stalked down one of the many dark hallways that made up the foundations of the village, two of his most trusted guards walking on either side of him.

The rest of his men were battling, giving their lives so he could escape. Things had become an utter mess, and he had to make like he was fleeing the village. That was the only way to assure his and Tobi's plans could be rectified.

Danzo had underestimated Itachi and the lengths he would go to for his brother. The upstart had utilized Kotoamatsukami and goaded Hiruzen into attacking. That was the only explanation for events as they were unfolding that Danzo could currently see. Otherwise, there was no way Hiruzen would have dared muster up a force to finally invade his territory.

For as long as Hiruzen and Danzo had been friends, they had never exactly seen eye to eye on what needed to be done in the interest of the village. All the same, they both understood that the other was necessary. That was why they had managed to exist in this state of uneasy tension until now. It was Itachi's intrusion that threatened to destroy the whole balance that protected their precious village.

He would be the death of Konoha.

Starting with Root, the very foundation on which the village had been built.

From the darkness ahead, there was a small, almost imperceptible squawk. Anyone not as paranoid as Danzo was might have thought it was a trick of the imagination. No- he knew better than that. This was not mere paranoia, there was no way Itachi would let him escape. He had come for him.

All according to plan.

The important part was how things went from here on out.

"Sir?" One of Danzo's guards asked. His expression was impossible to see behind the specialized Root mask, but even if his face had been warped in absolute terror, it wouldn't have been sufficiently terrified enough. The threat Itachi posed would throw even their best laid plans in peril. Everything had to go exactly right.

"Both of you stand in front of me." Danzo ordered, sticking his cane into a crack in the brick floor with a loud clack. "I need time to prepare my eyes." He was already reaching up with his one good arm to remove the bandages that hid Shisui's eye. He couldn't afford to fight with the eye handicapped, not when Itachi had the other one. Any little hindrance would be the difference between victory and defeat.

"Yes sir!" Both his men obeyed him without question. They surely knew to do what he asked meant their certain deaths. Yet neither one of them cared. This wasn't through the power of genjutsu, but indoctrination. Danzo had raised them from their early formative years. They saw him like a child did a parent. His will was immutable.

The sound of heavy footsteps in the distance echoed in the small hallway, the width barely wide enough for the two guards to stand side-by-side. The ceiling was only a meter above their heads. This was far from an ideal location for a battle between Ninja. There was no dodging here, Itachi would have been better served ambushing them at the exit.

Was he so impatient that his thought process had become impaired? Danzo could only hope so. The element of surprise was going to be the thing that decided this upcoming battle. He who struck first was assured of their victory.

A thought his subordinates appeared to share. Or perhaps more likely it had been the nerves. The sound of Itachi's footsteps was enough to unnerve even the most veteran of Shinobi, to say nothing of those as young as Danzo's henchmen. From within the darkness a pair of red eyes appeared to glow in the darkness.

That was the final straw. Shuriken flew. The two Root guards unleashed not just one, but multiple volleys each, their arms nonstop blurs as they unloaded every single piece of weaponry attached to their persons.

Sparks flew and metal echoed on wet brick. The red eyes shimmered and disappeared, more like a mirage brought up by fear-induced delusion. Or more likely- Genjutsu.

As if in response to the echoing clangs of the shuriken, a murder of crows cried out and the flapping of wings added to the cacophony. Out in the open, the sounds would have been bearable, but inside this suffocatingly claustrophobic hallway, the overlapping chaos was nauseatingly loud.

"Damn birds!" The two men were swarmed by the crows, the black birds practically invisible in the already low light. They swung at them wildly, kunai in hands striking down a crow with each swing. Corpses hit the ground with loud thuds, their blood beginning to pool all around them.

As they did this, Danzo redoubled his efforts, removing the final layer of cloth that hid Shisui's eye and letting the cloth fall at his feet. Next was removing the brace which contained his right arm. Six screws held it in place, an impossibly large number. Just as he began to unlatch the first screw, that bone-chilling voice which haunted his nightmares spoke the last word he wanted to hear.

"Amaterasu!"

Following that single word, were the anguished screams of his men. He couldn't see it in the darkness of the hallway, but he knew what had happened. No- What was happening right now.

The two men he raised from adolescence dropped to the floor, writhing in unimaginable torment. The heat from the invisible, pitch black flames licked at Danzo's face, forcing him to squint. Even so, he didn't avert his gaze. He watched his men until their screams ceased, replaced by silence. That was the only way he could honor them now.

All the noise from before was gone. The crows had vanished, like they had never been there to begin with. No more Shuriken flew and the two corpses of his men didn't make so much as a peep, instead only kindling for a flame that could never be extinguished. Only the cackling of this black flame filled the otherwise eerie silence.

That and the sound of Danzo undoing the second screw that held back the power of his arm. Only four more screws left now. Then he would be able to fight at full strength. There was no way Itachi would give him the time for that. It was a long shot, but Danzo knew he had to stall by any means necessary.

"You really think that you can do what's best for the village, Itachi?" Danzo goaded, glaring out into the darkness. There was no sign of his opponent, but he knew he was there. Just beyond the flickering black flames that separated them. "You, who murdered his whole clan. A man hated by his brother, his only living family, and forced to fake his death to hide from the terrorist organization he joined. There is no home for you here, or anywhere, for that matter."

Silence followed his taunting remarks. It went for so long, Danzo thought he might have just wasted his breath. Even still, he continued to wrestle with the bolts holding his brace, the process slowed by nerves that caused his aging hands to shake.

The third screw came loose; the halfway point.

"The village needs to learn to look ahead." Itachi finally revealed himself, standing just on the other side of the black flames now, was like he had always been there. "Lord Third had it right when he picked Namikaze Minato to lead the village. If he were still alive, I'm sure something could have been done about my clan. So long as Sarutobi Hiruzen had you whispering in his ear, my clan was doomed. I see that now, and I regret being a pawn in that."

"That's a simple delusion." Danzo continued to work at the next screw. "You regret doing what had to be done for the village. And now you're running away from it by talking about the possibilities that only exist in your own mind. You've become weak, Itachi. No wonder you returned to try and rule." The fourth screw came loose, hitting the floor with a loud thunk.

"My eyes are finally open." Itachi's left eye was no simple Mangekyo Sharingan now, but had taken on the shape of a seven-pronged Shuriken, reflecting both his own Sharingan and Shisui's. As if he was carrying both their wills. "What's best for this village is leaving behind old fossils like yourself, who fight for outdated ideals of what a Ninja should be."

"My ideals are what has kept this village alive." Danzo knew deep in his mind he should be suspicious. Why did Itachi continue to talk with him? He must have realized what he was doing. "The only thing you will accomplish is burning us all to the ground." Just like the black flames that ate at his former subordinates.

"Your ideals are only about keeping yourself in power." Itachi rebutted, speaking over the sound of the fifth screw hitting the floor. Only one left now. If Danzo could just undo that last screw, then he could fight and he could win. "You've become afraid of losing that power. It's why you're so terrified of me."

"You?" Danzo had to bite back laughter. "I have nothing to fear from you. You have nothing, no support, no friends, and not even your own brother." That was right. There was nothing to be afraid of here. Itachi may have been gifted with incredible talent, but that by itself wasn't enough.

"I have allies." Itachi said, not responding to the part Danzo had expected. "She might not seem like much, but I know that she can be counted on in a pinch. That's why I'm leaving my brother to her."

"…Hyuga Hinata" Danzo had thought it was strange. So Hinata had been in on his secret, which was why he had been able to fake his death in the battle against her. Just when did they establish communication with one another? No, that wasn't important now. He would kill Itachi first.

He could deal with the enigma that was Hyuga Hinata after that.

The last screw came loose. The golden brace fell open a second after, clattering to the ground in a loud ruckus. And the arm Danzo had been hiding was revealed. A pale white arm, covered in closed eyes. Not just any eyes, but Sharingan that had been cultivated in secret with Orochimaru's assistance.

The arm that would be his key to victory.

An arm that was lying at his feet, the golden brace still attached to it.

"…Wha-?" Danzo failed to finish that exclamation, the pain from his severed arm rocking his whole body and causing him to collapse to his knees. He reached up with his left arm to grip the stub that remained on his right. No blood oozed out from the wound. Instead, it was solid wood, a result of the Hashirama cells that had been used to cultivate the arm. Not much different than what Uzumaki Naruto had done to his own arm on his last mission.

The Itachi that had been standing in front of him began to disappear, breaking into a murder of clones that flew into the darkness of the hallway. Even that was simply a trick of the mind. Itachi had never been in front of him, it was all just a mere illusion. Even with his own Sharingan, Danzo hadn't been able to see through it. Of course he hadn't.

This wasn't his eye.

It had never been. It was like Shisui was telling him that he chose Itachi. Danzo couldn't even utilize Kotoamatsukami to its full potential. Yet Itachi had awakened it as an Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan the moment he took it up.

Why?

"What is wrong with the path I took?" Danzo asked no one in particular. He just didn't know what he had done wrong. Why wasn't he chosen as the Hokage? Why did Shisui's eye not accept him as its master? What did he have to do to get what was promised to him?

"You took my brother." Itachi answered, stepping around to stand in front of Danzo, a blood-red sword in his hand and sake gourd at his hip. The Totsuka blade: a sword that if stabbed with would trap you in that gourd. An eternal damnation to a genjutsu of which there was no escape. "I'm far from without sin, and fully intend to pay for mine someday as well. Yours just happen to have caught up with you now." He raised the sword, prepared to strike Danzo down.

Unbeknownst to him, there was a swirl ripping the very fabric of the world apart behind him. Danzo only saw it just in time. He smirked.

"No, Itachi. Your sins aren't nearly as far behind as you seem to think." He said, just as Tobi materialized in the space between them.

"Ya hoo!" Tobi sang, placing a hand on either man. "Hands and feet inside the ride at all times please!" There was no verbal response from Itachi. He swung the sword, aiming to strike down both his opponents. A strike that never got the chance to fall.

One second, they had been in the dark depths of the roots beneath the village.

The next second they were surrounded by brightly shining lights. Laughter and drunken merriment wafted in from all around them. Itachi blinked several times a second, brain still trying to process what was happening.

This was- It was the middle of the village. Civilians and Shinobi walked all around them. Just people enjoying their twilight festivities, drinking after a hard day of work, some on the way home to their families, and on the way to meet friends. None of them knew a battle to decide the fate of the village was happening beneath their very feet.

No, it was no longer deep below and out of sight. It was right here, out in the open for them all to see. Their appearance had been sudden, like a trick of the eye. Tobi was gone, but Itachi and Danzo didn't disappear, the crowd slowly beginning to take notice of them.

The merriment and happy chatter gave way to cries of terror and shouts for help. The Shinobi in the area began to run on the scene. They didn't know what was happening, but anyone looking at the situation could quickly draw one easy conclusion.

Danzo sat on the ground, a pitiable old man missing an arm. And Itachi stood over him, sword in hand to strike him down.

He had fallen right into the enemy's trap.