A/N:I know, I know. I'm starting to act like Pain17ification but I promise, I'm working on the last bit of "No More." Really. I am.
I wanted to thank #Killjoy3000, #FoxHero007, #Nappatheloveable, #Warlover1015, #The Great Dullahan, and #codywhite162 for taking the time to review. It really does help me clean up the story as we move along. Positive feedback, even if it has corrections or story issues to point out, is always welcome. I'll try to keep this section short, but if business picks up I'll move the A/N section to the bottom.
Not much to say other than here we go with Chapter 2. It's a nice day out and I thought I'd share an update even though I still owe one for "Nature of the Savage Beast" and *sigh* "No More."
Until then, enjoy as you will.
~Siva'a
~III~
Act I: Exiled Arc CH 2: To Dream No More
~III~
The Blue Pharmacy, Orario
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Tsunade broke away from the connection jumping up from the table and knocking her chair to the floor, her back thumping heavily against the thick stone walls of the breakfast nook. Despite the lingering warmth in her body from whatever technique he used, she could not help the shiver that ravaged her spine in the fading rush of adrenaline.
"W-W-What the hell was that!?" She was having a hard time slowing the painful thrumming of her heart and her head felt fuzzy bordering on numb. To make things worse, her entire arm tingled from her shoulder down to the stinging tips of her fingers and shaking her hand repeatedly did little to stop whatever was happening.
"And who the hell was that white-haired kid at the end?!"
She seemed confused and a little disjointed but that was to be expected with her unfiltered brush with Mana for the first time.
"Be calm. The effects take a few moments to fade for those not used to our…power. Also, ignore the boy for now. While he's a part of young Naruto-kun's new life in Orario, he is not the focus of our efforts." He was half-risen from his own chair, palms gently patting the air to indicate that all was well. Unfortunately, the rapidly wrinkling brow of the attractive woman before him was signaling a completely opposite opinion, one that – from what Miach observed from Take's weekly shenanigans in the Pleasure Quarter – seldom bode well for the nearest male occupant.
"That doesn't answer my question!" she roared.
Shaky nerves were slowly being replaced by frustration and Miach decided that another shouting match would not do if they were to continue. The fact that the hooded figure fixing their brunch had paused and was now watching with equally growing concern only spurred him on with greater urgency.
Instead, Miach retook his seat and calmly folded his hands together, one atop another.
"No one ever believes that the gods are real."
He could see the sudden confusion in her face as her pale brown eyes blinked rapidly so he pushed onward.
"No sane person wants to believe that the gods would willingly agree to become like them, seal away the vast majority of their power, and live among mortals." Miach desperately tried to exude a sense of calm as he spoke.
He could see the clear confusion and building disbelief in Tsunade's eyes but pressed on before she could gather enough steam to cut him off. "What you're experiencing," he began nodding his head in the directing of her still flailing right hand, "is the after affects from purging all chakra from your limbs so that my…energy… could allow me to sufficiently link us together and build a composite mental image of what has been happening from everyone's perspective. Mine. Yours. Shizune's." He paused to nod in the equally confused younger woman's direction, her own left hand flexing repeatedly between open and closed. "…Naruto's."
That last name seemed to cool growing tempers enough to keep the conversation civil.
While Shizune's eyes were trying to bug out of her head, Tsunade's face twisted up in uncertainty when it was not frowning in clear incredulity.
"Energy?" the younger woman asked almost as if she was afraid to speak, her eyes briefly flickering to the figure in white robes.
Miach nodded slowly.
"Energy not chakra?" the older woman asked as her face twisted even further.
Miach touched the right side of his nose with one fingertip.
"Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight."
Her undignified snort of further disbelief only caused her apprentice's face to burn a brighter shade of red at her master's childish behavior.
"Next thing you'll be telling me is that magic is real and unicorns exist." She started laughing and kept doing so until she noticed Miach was not joining in.
Her laughed withered completely then as he calmly blinked in return waiting for her good humor to die down. As hope seemed to dawn on her confused face, Senju Tsunade slid gently back into her seat mouth agape.
"Wai-wai-wait a minute," she sputtered out, eyes glistening with growing moisture. "You're… not trying to tell me that unicorns are…real, are you?"
She pointedly ignored what sounded suspiciously like the slapping of a fleshy palm to Shizune's face as the younger woman groaned in agony, Tsunade's chin trying to lift ever so slightly upward in righteous indignation.
"And I am not being childish, Shizune. You know unicorns were my favorite magical creature growing up." The just-under-senior-citizen-status kunoichi sniffed disdainfully at her apprentice's obvious embarrassment.
If Jiraiya could perv on women, the world's strongest female shinobi could quietly wish for a unicorn summoning contract.
For his part, Miach held back a simmering chuckle and chose discretion to move the conversation along peacefully.
"Is it really so hard to believe that energy other than chakra could exist in the world? It wasn't so long ago by history's record that chakra was gifted to mortals by that meddlesome Six Paths Sage you all whisper about behind closed doors."
Tsunade's quiet blinking reflected a tumbling furball of mental activity before she exploded into a raucous laugh that echoed off the cozy walls of Miach's kitchen.
And echoed.
And echoed some more.
When she finally paused enough to breathe, a monumental effort that nearly parted her kimono top to Miach's blushing realization, the woman's tinkling giggle let slip a nearly complete thought in between her spasming shoulders.
"Y-You… (giggle)… a-a-actually believe… (sniggle-snort)… in those… (snicker)… old wive's t-t-tales?!"
Miach's blunt retort was a terse, "Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo was not an old wive's tale."
The name gave the kunoichi enough pause to focus up and listen, her face frozen halfway between humor and confusion. "Who?"
"Surely you didn't think he went around his entire existence calling himself by that ridiculous name mortals gave him, did you?" The calm yet serious look on his face conveyed more than his words that Miach wasn't joking, and that simple uttering of the Sage's true name slapped a small semblance of severity into the stubborn woman.
Or was it that her grandfather made mentions of the Sage in his personal memoirs and the fact that these two disparate beings knew the same name could not have been coincidence.
Suddenly the grainy wood beneath her fingertips felt callous and uncomforting. Vaguely, somewhere in the back of her distracted mind sought guidance in the alternating shades of brown lines on the wooden tabletop, her mind noted the age spots on the back of her left hand seemed faded just a tad but she couldn't be distracted right now to let this subject go.
"The Sage was a fairy tale told to Clan children to make them behave. 'If you're not good, the Sage will come take you away!' they used to tell us." Amber pearls hardened beneath knitted brows. "He's. Not. Real!"
Miach smiled as she tried to convince herself but would not yield, not now that he had a foothold.
"Then what is your explanation for chakra? Where did it come from and why is it not used here in Orario if it is indeed everywhere?"
The pretty lines of her mouth parted, lips wide to spew forth an opinion, but only a stuttering mumble emerged before… nothing. The more she reached for cold, hard logic, the more it eluded her grasp, and she hated him for it.
"Okay then, Mr. Know-It-All, if you know so much then tell us where chakra came from?" Tsunade folded her toned arms beneath an expansive and impressive chest hoping to make him uncomfortable as well as convey her disbelief.
Miach merely took a sip from his tea and offered a soft smile in return apparently immune to her charms. "If you know the story of Hagoromo, his brother, and their mother, The Rabbit Goddess," he paused as recognition flickered across the woman's face, "then I won't repeat it. The fruit spawned from what would become the Jūbi-. "
"I'm sorry, did you say 'Jūbi'?"
Miach nodded to the pig-cuddling apprentice. "The nine Bijū were once one all-powerful and uncontrollable creature of malevolence seeking the restoration of it's stolen chakra. In the Sage's final days, he split the nightmare into the nine chakra beings you know of today as bijuu, much good that it did anyone once your beloved Grandfather imprisoned them as weapons of war for all time."
The disdain in the otherwise placid voice of their host was not lost on either woman and Tsunade took immediate offense.
"That was never his intention!" she roared hands slammed flat across the table, the sound of wood splintering shattering the calm of their morning discussion.
"Does it matter now what he intended once you see what the shinobi world actually did with the hosts they were given?" Miach shot back without heat or vitriol.
The silence following his response was thunderous. It was like ice cold water being thrown into Tsunade's face.
How often had she ridiculed Naruto for his altruistic nature? How many times did she call him a naïve child for believing he could save and befriend anyone? His childish belief that everyone deserved a second chance? It wasn't how shinobi thought or acted and his too gentle heart often frustrated her knowing that a traditional shinobi would take advantage of him every chance they got.
Naruto should have known better. He-
Then it hit her like a giant toad landing on her back and she hated herself for never once questioning her grandfather's action, for never once considering the after effects of his choices. In her eyes, her grandfather, though gentle and fallible to her charms that he was, could never do wrong in her eyes.
Maybe that was the problem?
Her Grandfather should have known better. He was the one that raised her to act and think like a kunoichi. He was the one that cautioned her around other shinobi and how they would, in turn, think and act – what they would and would not do if given the chance and that list was very one-sided. He should have seen how the villages would have used his "gift" of the chakra beasts, and, with that deduction, her rage at the perceived insult to her beloved grandfather faded even though it was a very bitter pill to swallow.
Miach caught her internal conflict and pushed forward.
"I will explain more later on the power I am using for this…fact finding session we're conducting. For now, understand that we've been given special permission from Lord Ouranos otherwise your questioning would be done with the guild under much less comfortable circumstances."
Both women grimaced at the mental image of the hooded weirdo beneath the city's Guild and his bunch of creepy interrogators.
For now, let's continue since we have a lot of ground to cover and very little time to do it in." Miach held out his palms once more waiting patiently for them to join hands.
Shizune did so without hesitation.
Tsunade, after a heavy sigh, did so without slamming Miach's palm and tried to embrace the warm energy flowing once again up her arm to the base of her skull allowing the world to fade to white.
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~III~
Konohagakure, Hokage Complex
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Danzo tried everything in his power to stop the Hokage. He knew that she was acting out of spite to get back at him for exiling her pet Jinchūriki and he could tell from the malicious glare in her eyes that she knew that he knew. The problem was that she was entirely within her right to met out punishment on the spot, as she so eloquently reminded him when Tsunade shot down every counter-argument the three elders threw up to block her citing Konoha's laborious laws chapter and verse.
It was not like he had a ton of choices with which to block her.
Option 1: Use the tribunal that he was organizing behind her back to exonerate the Uchiha? Per Konoha law, it was an option reserved for Jounin and above or an office-holding clan head of a functioning clan. The status of the clan was irrelevant as was intended by the Shodai to prevent favoritism. Sasuke was part of an inactive clan pending his attempts to reestablish and rebuild it so they could not use that excuse, especially not since they just finished shooting down the Hokage on a similar matter once she revealed Naruto's parentage in a desperate attempt to delay his exile.
Even though she was telling the truth - and he knew it for a fact - there was enough outcry and anarchy throughout the entire Council to shout her down. At the time he was thankful for dodging that proverbial kunai as it kept his plan to secretly reclaim the weapon and use him to gain access to the sealed Uzumaki estate and its treasures.
In hindsight, Danzo reminisced on him closing that legal door may have been a bit premature but he did not think the woman possessed the backbone to be this aggressive.
While her return legal volley was impressive, it would not change his plans for the weapon. The weapon's heritage did give him new avenues (not previously available with the destroyed ruins of Uzushiogakure) and he happily filed away that bit of information for later use. It also made understandable the Toad Summons' unbelievable level of hostility towards Konoha about the weapon's conditioning while growing up in the village and their threat to burn the village to the ground before hopping on its ashes should it continue. While not happy at Jiraiya's removal of the weapon from one the legendary summoning contracts, it made sense at the time to prevent the Hokage from reverse summoning the boy out of his reach at an inopportune moment in the boy's future conditioning.
The Toad Sage was very clear on the level of threat the angered clan of beasts presented when focused on a single point, like a village. Perhaps -once the weapon was properly trained and conditioned to be absolutely loyal- they could regain access to the formidable summoning contract.
Mmmmmmm... on second thought, no. The oaf had been incredibly difficult to put under his stolen eye's power and that may have been due to his extremely strong bond to Toad Senjutsu. No, better to make sure his hold was unbreakable before even considering it.
It didn't matter now that he'd won the first stage of his plan. He'd won and it almost made his mouth twitch in an unfamiliar fashion. Oddly enough, he felt uncomfortably warm inside. Dare he say... contented?
He might even allow himself a second round of tea this afternoon as a means to celebrate. Couldn't let himself get too crazy though. That way led to Sarutobi-esque levels of frivolity.
Option 2: Bringing back in the Civilian Council to bolster his position and win a vote mitigating the Uchiha's punishment? Unlike the weapon which was characterized as a threat to the entire village, thus a loophole in the "Shinobi Rules for Shinobi Protections" clause that allowed him to push his law through despite almost three-quarters of the Shinobi clan heads turning against him, the Uchiha was only a threat to himself as a runaway traitor. The boy trying to flee to one of Konoha's S-ranked nukenin only cemented his guilt as a traitor. The Uchiha didn't possess the power to be a credible threat and, as a lowly Genin, didn't know enough of the village's secrets to raise his threat level outside of it.
Certainly, a ninja of Orochimaru's caliber could weasel useful information from the Genin but he'd be too focused on the child for a couple years to prepare for the transfer of bodies. By the time he could make use of any useful tidbits, Danzo would have had time to make those helpful nuggets useless and the Snake would find a much different Konoha awaiting his return.
It would be a Konoha ready and willing to do what was necessary to permanently end the Sannin threat. First, he needed to focus inside the village...
Option 3: Threaten the Shinobi Council or their families to bring them inline? He could not openly do that here. Far too risky. The acoustics in the chamber made it exceedingly difficult to hold quiet conversations. Furthermore, he could not guarantee that one of them wouldn't out his intentions to the Hokage. That would be very problematic given that the penalty for threatening a sitting Council member would cost him his head and everything else he'd scrounged to build under his former teammate's smoke-filled nose.
Even worse, the Shinobi Council could only advise her on this matter as Sasuke was never promoted during the Chūnin Selection Exams despite Danzo's best efforts and bribery. Not that it would have mattered anyway unless he managed to get the boy promoted to the rank of Special Jounin, which given his lack of a notable specialty would have been difficult if not impossible.
Punishment and reward for Chūnin and below remained the sole purview of the current Hokage, much to Danzo's ongoing frustration.
Her sudden bout of ambition, to quote a lazy but brilliant clan head, was troublesome. If only he had more time...
And that's why he could only gnash his teeth in futile resentment as the Hokage strode from the chamber with her chin held high, his sole eye staring balefully at the woman having just sent one of her substandard ANBU off to have her Chief Torturer permanently seal the Uchiha's chakra and strip his pitiful shinobi career from him.
"Should we free the Uchiha, Danzo-sama?"
Speaking of Option 4...
His eye never left the gliding hips of the cow-breasted woman pleased with her temporary outmaneuvering of his ambitions.
"No."
Despite being alone in the now empty chamber, he kept his voice low enough to force his tool to lean in close.
"Freeing him gains me nothing but unwanted attention. He is being sealed not executed as he should be given his traitor status. Despite the seal being used having only having two keys, one for the current Hokage and one for that fool of an interrogator, it is an either-or solution to correct the mistakes of the Shodai that can later be used in our favor."
Danzo knew all of the stories.
As a peddler of secret information, he had to know them all as it made for good business. The dual-key sealing was allegedly developed by the Nidaime to correct the sealing of what was later proven to be an innocent shinobi doomed forevermore to a life as a yam farmer. In that regard, the fallout from Tsunade's vindictive ruling was not unrecoverable for his ambitions; it amounted to an insignificant pause and little more.
The Uchiha would have to suffer for a few years but that would only make him hungrier for power, and more receptive to Danzo's olive branch. Therefore, his plans remained on track and his primary business, as always, was to become the next Kage. Once done, he could just as easily undo the sealing, and, while he was at it, apply one of his own.
He would just need patience to succeed this time around unlike his previously-failed coup against the Sandaime. This Hokage would not overlook his personal ambition as his former teammate once did should he fail.
Then he could work toward making Konoha unstoppable. The rest of the elemental nations would grovel at his sandals before he was done and Shimura would become the greatest name in elemental history.
'Blood for blood, Senju.'
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~III~
Konoha, Office of the Hokage
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The short walk from the Council Chambers to her office (two floors up) was the longest trek of Tsunade's life.
She'd begun roaring for her apprentice to join her in-office long before her massive chest jiggled its way around the hallway corner before the rest of her body.
"Shizune!"
All conversation in the administrative cubicles filling out the Hokage's level of the tower instinctively froze, like prey before a rampaging lioness. Every administrative shinobi, both male and female, knew the tenor of that feminine roar. Many secretly hoped that they were not the current target of their legendary boss's infamously short temper and right now she seemed to be out for blood.
Tsunade, in her volatile fit, didn't see the ramrod straight ANBU standing at attention in front of Shizune's desk and nearly bowled him over before barking out a terse,"What?!"
When the male's body twitched like he'd been kicked in the pants but didn't answer, she urged him to unlock his jaws with a growl as her fists slowly rose to rest on her curvy hips, the same motion she'd used to imply imminent and impending pain upon whatever figure lay lined up between the picture frame made by her pointed elbows.
"Ma'am! Ibiki-san sent me to let you know he holds Naruto Uzumaki in Interrogation Cell number 3 awaiting your arrival!" His gloved fist slapped spasmodically against the ANBU vest right where his heart would be -if it was not currently trying to climb out of his terrified throat.
No one messed with the Slug Princess in one of her moods, unless they had absolutely no other choice.
For her part, Tsunade blinked once very slowly, then blinked a second time to clear the crazy from her brain as she took a single, excruciatingly slow step closer to the now trembling special agent caught directly in her hardened sights.
"And just what soon-to-be-dead man authorized this action on a near critical patient of mine that should still be in bed recovering?"
Her words were smooth this time, no raised heat or growling undertones at all, and that's what scared the battle-hardened agent the most.
"He was brought in wearing these chakra manacles by a couple of Councilor Danzo's private security. Ma'am."
The nervous clinking of the chains and handcuffs drew both Tsunade's eyes and brows downward as she recognized the barbaric devices Danzo once proposed in one of her earlier meetings with the Council. She didn't need the dried blood on the inside of the cuffs to remind her why she refused to authorize them.
The spiked barbs welded inside the inner ring to prevent prisoners from struggling reminded her how inhumane the devices truly were and that by itself was enough. That he'd authorized their use on one of her shinobi without her consent... that he'd had them used on Naruto...
Snatching them from the still locked-up soldier she barked out a harsh, "Tell Ibiki I'll be there in half an hour."
He blinked in shock when she snatched the shackles, his entire body flinching up toward the ceiling for the briefest of moments, before firing off a lightning-fast salute and then fleeing in a seal less[Body Flicker]a second later. Tsunade nodded once then continued her rampage into her office yelling for Shizune to "Get the lead out!"
An understandably confused apprentice cleared the Hokage's doorway just barely ahead of the S-ranked sealing barrier that locked it shut only to see her Mistress pacing back and forth behind her desk.
Pacing and growling.
"Um, Tsunade-shishou?"
"They banished him, Shizu!"
She could only be talking about Naruto. I mean, who else could it have been? The Council only ever complained about two things: him and their never-ending loss of revenue.
Shizune was stunned for more than a few seconds because of the banishment of her little brother. Once her old nickname surfaced, Shizune knew things were deeply bad. The last time her master used it was in the few weeks immediately following the death of her uncle, Dan Kato.
So, this must be really bad.
Though Tsunade's voice decreased in volume, Shizune understood the screaming message of tears sliding down her mistress's cheeks all too well. She thought she had seen them for the final time when her uncle died. When Dan died, what little light left her mistress's eyes dimmed and Tsunade pretty much turned off her emotions in favor of self-medication through sake.
Then that blond knucklehead came into their lives and turned everything upside down! The up side was that twinkle in her eye was finally returning.
But now this...
"Two can play this game, Shizu." Tsunade's glistening eyes hardened and she started pulling things out of the drawers of her desk, presumably from seals hidden somewhere if that large wooden box was any indication. It alone covered nearly half of her desk once she pushed the day's paperwork to the floor. Shizune lacked even the energy to argue about the mess.
Naruto needed them now and that came first.
Shizune snapped out of her stupor as other items began to join the ornate chest. Paper. Sealed ink wells. Fresh sealing scrolls. The official Seal of the Hokage and its chakra ink pad. An odd set of keys linked to a tiny three-pronged kunai…
She was too busy trying to figure out what was going to happen next to connect all of the dots but a few were lining up.
"Cat! Hawk!"
Two of her personal squad landed into a crouching kneel, their right fists to the floor.
"You will go with Shizune and retrieve the list I am about to give her." Tsunade's hand was flowing across a single sheet of paper, her other hand already having unsealed the box to retrieve two blood vials. "Let no one stop you. Class 1 responses are authorized."
Shizune Kato blanched in surprise. There were four levels of force authorized in Konoha's general rules of engagement and the lower the number the more violent the response tended to be. The ANBU had five when you included detention and interrogation but they both shared the same Class 1 use of deadly force Konoha's general military employed.
This had to be serious for the Hokage, a proven battle medic, to authorize death on her own citizens.
Once Tsunade jotted down the final lines of hastily scribbled script, Konoha's first female Hokage blew the ink dry then affixed the official seal to the bottom of the paper. Folded. Wax sealed. Envelope stuffed and passed to her apprentice, she growled out a short sentence.
"Be back here in twenty minutes."
It was not a request.
The still snarling Godaime unsealed the office long enough for them to vanish, then immediately reactivated the security seals. Once she was absolutely sure no one not allowed to be anywhere near her for the time being snuck in during the interval, she stepped away to a hidden panel, flashed through forty hand seals, then pressed a bloody thumb to a symbol on the wall next to the far left bookshelf in her office.
With a soft click, the same panel that once locked away the Forbidden Scroll of Seals popped open letting her dash in and return with a wooden scroll tube bearing golden swirls along its length. The exquisitely-crafted object was barely the length of her forearm with the diameter of her first three fingers.
The seals along its outer shell also made the wood casing tougher than a sword forged from chakra steel.
She closed the door then yelled for her remaining escorts. Boar and Dove appeared a half second later as she scooped up two more vials of crimson liquid to accompany her scroll case.
"Let's go."
The three of them left behind the once again sealed box on the Hokage's desk as the current Hokage plotted the bloody murder of her advisory council.
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~III~
Konoha, The Rusty Kunai (Shinobi Only Bar)
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An old cuckoo-style clock behind the liquid-stained bar struck ten o'clock.
Red eyes framed by flowing shoulder-length locks of ebony took in the table's occupants before asking, "Anyone seen Inoichi, Anko, or Kakashi in recent memory?"
Another pair of depressed eyes glanced around the dingy table nestled deep inside the dark and depressing shinobi-only bar before shaking left to right with their attached head sporting a horrific bowl cut hairstyle.
"My eternal rival was called away to the Hokage's office not ten minutes before," came the unnaturally subdued response from Konoha's Magnificent Green Beast. Even the near silent clinking of ice swirling in the tumbler glass filled with clear amber liquid seemed unnatural since Gai did not normally drink anything harder than green tea.
A Gai not yelling at ear-splitting levels seemed wrong on so many levels but, before anyone could do more than raise a questioning eyebrow, their thoughts were interrupted as two of the Ino-Shika-Cho combination, followed by a gloomier-than-normal Asuma Sarutobi, brushed aside chairs so they could join the crowd. None commented at the groaning protests of Chouza's seat as he settled.
They were more interested in the juicy gossip from their latest Council affair.
A still missing Inoichi Yamanaka and Ibiki Morino only heightened the general brooding air around the ten-person table normally reserved for this stand-offish collective of friends. They were all used to Ibiki's frequent absences but both?
Something dark was brewing and shinobi, by trade, are nosy gossips.
"So?"
Shikaku brushed off the incomplete thought from the admittedly gorgeous brunette with a brusque, "Troublesome," retort even as he reached across the table for the glass decanter holding the more expensive western distillation. More than one face twisted up into concern as the respected Councilor shot straight past his normal plum sake without pause, if that was any indication of the severity of news to follow.
"C'mon, don't leave us hanging Shika... Chouza?" the brunette opined. She turned her gaze to the new Sarutobi representative pushing her question towards him through all-too-concerned stares. "Asuma?"
"Might as well, guys," Chouza chimed in even as he ordered his typical flagon of beer. "It'll be all over the village by tomorrow morning if those bastards have their way." He didn't even look up as he began to chug the first of what would become many refills of the night.
Knowing that getting information from the lazy Nara was a long shot, Iruka slammed down his cup (filled with grape juice) and fixed his glare on the youngest of the three Council members.
With a heavy sigh, Asuma downed a shot for courage then blurted out a hushed mumble while the burn was still fresh in his chest.
Whatever he said was unintelligible.
"W-What?! Repeat that so we can understand it!" Kurenai shot back raising more than a few eyebrows not used to outbursts from the normally stoic kunoichi.
"I said," Asuma retorted as he finally lifted tired eyes from his cup to meet her frustrated stare, "that the Council voted to exile the Uzumaki."
Since he wanted to keep his spleen free of sharp, metal objects, Asuma conveniently left out the fact that it was a unanimous vote against the Hokage. While he liked the kid, he was not risking his clan for a family-less orphan.
And some of the threats bandied about before the meeting made that reality abundantly clear.
For several moments, the only sounds were the clinking of glasses and eating utensils in the background. Stunned eyes blinked stupidly into the dim lighting of the common room only to lower to the stained wooden planks of their table in utter shock and disbelief because a loyal shinobi was being kicked out of the village for succeeding in doing what he was ordered to do.
Then Iruka dumped out whatever was left of his sugary drink to the floor reaching immediately for the nearest sake bottle he could find.
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~III~
ANBU Detention and Interrogation Block
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Tsunade flowed through the halls of Torture and Interrogation like a hurricane on legs. Those ANBU unfortunate enough to be in her way found themselves indented into the nearest wall with a casual flick of her hand and with no warning.
Before too long, the word spread and she found her path remarkably clear of human obstacles, not that it made her feel any better. Her mind was tumbling, a complete mess. At the moment, she was mourning the pending loss of her Gaki while simultaneously relishing how badly she was about to screw over her own village.
Her grandfather would be so ashamed of her right now but she no longer cared. Konoha had just taken one more family member away from her, even if only temporarily, and it needed to pay for its crime. Unlike her predecessor, she knew exactly where to lay blame and, if she had any proof, would be more than happy to go after the decrepit senior citizen along with all of his cronies.
The Council needed to pay.
Danzo needed to pay and they would. Later.
First, she needed to focus and she hated every moment of why she needed to do it.
By the time she stopped outside of a metal door with the Kanji for "Three" plated to it, she was in fact feeling the third worst of her entire life and it showed as the corners of her amber eyes tightened and her vision began to blur through the liquid gathering in them. Pushing through the frustration, she blinked away a fresh round of tears, grabbed the handle, and wrenched the door open to see the huddled form of her favorite Gaki slumped in a chair, steam still rising from his healing body as his tenant tried to stop the unnecessary bleeding she fought hours to fix.
Damn that jutsu Kakashi taught to a flight risk shinobi from a spoiled clan!The fact that the wound was filled with her former teammate's corrupted chakra only made healing him all the tougher. The corrupted wound fought her every step of the way and she had to imagine it was what was making thebijū'sjob of keeping Naruto alive all the harder.
'Damn them all!' she internally roared.
Across the far side of the room stood Kakashi and Anko both - Anko having left the bar immediately after Azuma's reveal to find Ibiki, their backs to the door as they stood over what she hoped were dead "security personnel" belonging to the one-eyed bastard she'd be firing later today. The groan from the floor told her at least one was still alive making her frown just that bit more than before, her mind logging the need to critique them both over being thorough in their work.
Ignoring the short bow from Ibiki, she stepped forward allowing the door to close behind her with an ominous THUD.
She waited for his weary head to rise, the one exposed eye to focus enough to recognize her and her heart nearly shattered at the hope she saw in that one deeply blue orb. 'Damnit, Senju! Get a grip! You can't help him if you're a wreck!'
"Naruto Uzumaki, it is my responsibility as the Godaime H-Hokage," here she paused to fight back a heart-wrenching sob as she watched that burgeoning hope slowly die the more she spoke, "to order your exile from the Village H-Hidden in the L-Leaves."
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~III~
Naruto's immediate sensation of joy at his beloved Baa-chan walking through the door to rescue him deflated like the punctured balls he'd once used to learn his father's trademark A-ranked jutsu. If the sad look in her tear-filled eyes hadn't been enough of a warning, her stuttering words shattering his future promise to rescue her from the evil of paperwork had been enough to wipe any hope from his heart. He could literally hear the broken pieces falling from her massive chest to the floor of his mindscape.
"And the other shoe finally drops." Deep inside his mindscape, the great nine-tailed fox twisted up its muzzle in disgust at the humans claiming to be his vessel's comrade. 'Her emotions are all over the place. She's angry but not at Kit.'
"W-W-What?" Though his voice was dry and cracked the broken word was clear enough to just be hearable to everyone in the very crowded interrogation room.
Unable to hear Naruto's internal byplay, she repeated her statement but without the stuttering.
For the hurt and confused Genin, it didn't make the situation any better as things seemed to clow to a crawl around him.
"This is not her doing, Kit, so don't stab the messenger."
Naruto took a second to pause and take stock of Tsunade's teary face and defeated posture. It was faint but it was there. 'But it's still happening. This is still happening.' Even his own words sounded defeated in his mind.
For several eerily silent moments, he just sat there staring at her in complete disbelief wondering why. Surely this was all a mistake. M-Maybe, maybe if he could explain it to the C...
Then it hit him like a mountain of rocks and broken bottles. Somehow those bastards were behind this all and going to them would not help him one bit. It showed in the Hokage's stern face trying to hold back tears. His violent rousing from the hospital by unknown ANBU in chains that sapped his chakra, cut him off from his inner furry, cut up his wrists, and made him weak. Ibiki's almost cordial company since he arrived and Kakashi's timely arrival to get those damned cuffs off...
No, despite his idiot's mask to hopefully keep the villagers off his back, he wasn't nearly as stupid as they all hoped. He might not be the sharpest leaf on the tree but it didn't take much to connect the branches, so to speak.
As he sat and watched the woman he secretly called "Mother" fight back her tears, the reality of the situation began to fully sink in. Konoha would never -could never- acknowledge him for himself. He was never human to the village or the Council. When it all came to a head, he'd been used and discarded like a broken kunai. This was always Konoha's plan.
In the end, maybe he did too good of an acting job.
Tsunade's next words snapped him painfully back to the real world in all it's unrelenting horror.
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~III~
Tsunade could tell by the look in his face the moment Naruto pieced it all together. Sniffing back another strong desire to weep, she calmly reached into the deep fold of her cleavage and pulled out the wooden scroll from her office placing it on the table in front of her favorite Genin.
It hurt her that her final silly act couldn't even get a rise out of him.Damn those Council bastards for all of this.
"Your exile is to last for no longer t-than...," she paused to regroup, "three years, at which point your case will be revisited by the current Hokage."
She was planning for it to be her and then she'd be done with this nest of vipers for good. She'd be sure to take her Gaki with her just to rub it in their faces, safety of the village be damned.
"In that scroll is everything you're entitled from the village. I suggest protecting it no matter how betrayed you may feel."
Given his penchant for being a "bit slow," she tried to convey her hidden message with grief-stricken eyes and over-emphasized words but one could never know what was going through his scrambled head. It's part of what kept him so hard to pin down; Naruto didn't think like a normal shinobi.
She could only pray to Kami that he was following along with his mind fuzzied up by pain killers.
Tsunade took a huge breath, her chest straining the fabric of her battle kimono as she fought down another wave of anger and hopelessness. "You have two days and nights to prepare for your departure. If you are not out of Konoha by then, you will be imprisoned in Hozuki Castle, the Blood Prison, for the entirety of your banishment sentence."
Her eyes flickered to the backs of her shinobi keeping Danzo's flunkies under their heel. "Kakashi. Anko. See to it he is left alone until then and escort him beyond our walls as soon as safely possible."
No sound came from the Cyclops but he nodded to acknowledge the order. Only Anko Mitarashi's very quiet, "Hai, Hokage-sama," let her know that Naruto would be in good hands.
On that note, she finally burst into tears only to spin on her heels and storm from the room. She couldn't take the confused pain on his face any longer.
As the two elites in their respective fields began to gather up their charge, Ibiki Morino rose from his chair to storm out after his Lady Kage. The only difference was that he was in search of a stiff drink or twelve.
For him it was going to be many very long nights of futile soul searching in the bottom of a cup once this was over.
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~III~