Genin
By Flashfyre5
Chapter
Six: Enlightenment
“My first message is for the people of Konoha,” the woman named Masako
announced, just loud enough so that the overnight gate guards could hear
her. “Orochimaru is dead. The war between the Leaf and the Sound
is over.” At this rather surprising
statement, the guards looked at each other warily for a moment, while Masako
stood mostly in the shadow of the gates.
Sunlight shone on her face brightly, yet she did not so much as squint at
it. Her pale blue eyes reflected
the sunlight, while her thin lips pursed in silence. She wore her hair, an odd shade of
bluish black, short and very mussed, almost like a man’s. Though the cloak hid much, she had no
figure to speak of. If it weren’t
for her soft voice, it would be easy to mistake her for a man, an illusion she
did nothing to dispel.
“Wait there,” the female guard shouted back at Masako, as her male
counterpart leapt from the gates.
“We need someone to confirm this.”
Masako merely nodded and waited patiently. As time passed, and the sun began to
beat down on her cloaked body, Masako released the strings holding the front of
the garment together. Underneath,
she wore a simple gray short-sleeved shirt to cover her torso and a pair of
baggy black pants. They were
gathered at her ankles with bandages, which then descended to wrap around her
feet. The woman wore no shoes. Eventually, the gates opened, and a
rather well endowed blond woman stepped out, followed by a pair of male
shinobi.
“Hello,” Masako greeted the woman, inclining her head
slightly.
“So, this is Orochimaru,” the well-endowed woman asked, examining the
head on the pole. Masako found it
interesting that the woman had not even greeted her.
“Yes,” Masako replied simply.
“We found and executed the man in the Sand country. He was trying to use the desert caves as
a hiding place.” Masako turned to
face the well-endowed woman, her cloak slipping a bit as she did so. The sun glinted off of something metal
inside the woman’s cloak, and Masako quickly pulled the garment back into
place. The well-endowed woman was
facing her; Masako had no doubts that she had seen it.
“Well, you’re telling the truth, at least,” the well-endowed woman said
with a half grin. “This is
Orochimaru’s head, and he is dead for good. His spirit still lingers over the
body.” She turned to face the
shinobi that had come out of the village with her. “Take this garbage and incinerate it,”
she instructed the man simply. He
nodded, yanked the pole, and walked through the gates of Konoha, carrying
it.
“Godaime, I presume,” Masako ventured, having noted the shinobi’s
immediate obedience.
“You presume a lot,” Tsunade replied, her tone turning cold. “You said that you were carrying two
messages. What’s the second
one?”
“I’m sorry. Those words are
for the ears of Uchiha Sasuke alone,” Masako shook her head, her voice still
soft. Tsunade’s eyes narrowed a
bit. “May I enter your village?”
Masako asked softly, after a minute.
Tsunade stood in place for a minute, thinking.
“I’m sorry, but I’m not quite sure what to make of you,” Tsunade mused
aloud, walking slowly around Masako.
“You bring us news and proof of the death of the village’s greatest
enemy, you act as a messenger to the person that that enemy most wanted,” she
continued, her scrutiny unabated.
Masako did not flinch under the woman’s unwavering gaze, but it was easy
to sense that the fifth Hokage was none to happy about her
appearance.
“And yet,” Tsunade started again after a short pause, reaching inside
Masako’s cloak suddenly and withdrawing her right hand. On the ring finger glinted a small golden
ring, inscribed with a seldom-used character. “By the ring and the… butchered hitai-ate,
you are Akatsuki, and not an underling.” Masako pulled her hand away from Tsunade,
who let the limb go. Masako tucked
it back under her cloak.
“You speak the truth,” Masako admitted simply, saying no more on the
subject. Tsunade finished circling
the woman and regarded her seriously again.
“You will make no move against any man, woman, or child in the village,”
Tsunade demanded suddenly.
“Particularly Uzumaki Naruto.
If you take such an action, all of Konoha will mobilize against the
Akatsuki.” Masako nodded
slightly.
“The organization has no further interest in Uzumaki Naruto. Our research has revealed that, contrary
to what we had thought previously on the subject, the Kyuubi is uncontrollable
once removed from a sealed vessel,” Masako explained quietly, her tone
even. “The Uzumaki child is too
uncontrollable himself for our purposes anyway.”
“Fine,” Tsunade relented, stepping aside. As Masako passed her, she added quietly,
“But you will be watched.” Masako
stopped, nodded slightly again, then continued into the village of
Konoha.
* * * * * *
/So, does this mean that you’re coming over to my side?/ Inner Sakura
asked cheerfully. Sakura, walking
just a bit awkwardly, scowled at her counterpart’s
question.
“Just because you hid all my real underwear and I had to wear this… thing
doesn’t mean anything,” Sakura said with a blush. She was wearing her red jeans higher
than usual today, in a desperate attempt to keep the strings of her… underwear
hidden from the rest of the world.
Strapped across the small of her back was her new ninja-to, which she was
more than proud of. Even though
Inner Sakura was by far the more skilled of the two of them with the weapon,
Sakura could wield the weapon with skill as well. In her left hand, she carried the scroll
that Sasuke had left in her possession.
/It’s not like you actually looked very hard for your normal stuff,/
Inner Sakura taunted, and Sakura’s blush deepened by several shades. It was true; upon discovering Inner
Sakura’s rather risqué idea of underwear, Sakura had only spent about five
minutes searching for her proper under things before putting it
on.
“Shut up,” she growled at her inner self, which only sent the mischievous
girl into fits of laughter.
Finally, she arrived at her destination: the apartment building in which
Naruto lived. Carefully, the girl
looked up. There, on the top floor,
was the only apartment with a porch, which Naruto had installed himself. With a nod, Sakura jumped up to the top
of a nearby building, which was much shorter, then again to another building
that was within leaping distance of Naruto’s porch.
/You want me to be in control?/ Inner Sakura taunted her as Sakura was
about to make her final jump. She
stopped, knowing that she couldn’t afford the distraction on such a long
jump. /If you do, I can make sure
that Naruto-kun gets the full benefit of your laziness from earlier this
morning,/ Inner Sakura said with a mental wink.
“Aaah, you pervert!” Sakura shouted at herself, unable to contain her
response from her surprise. “You
know full well that we’re waiting for… for…,” Sakura trailed
off.
/For Sasuke?/ Inner Sakura asked, her mirth dispelled by Sakura’s
remembrance of the raven-haired boy.
/You know damn well that he’s never gonna have anything to do with you,
at least not in the way you wanted.
Naruto-kun… well, he’s right there./
“I know,” Sakura admitted with a sigh. “I’m just not ready for that kinda
stuff. It’s just…” she trailed off
with a sigh.
/Too much to deal with, I know,/ Inner Sakura finished for her. /Don’t worry. I’m not gonna hijack your body to have a
wild night of passion with Naruto-kun.
I promise,/ Inner Sakura reassured her. Then, with a wave of mischievousness,
added, /unless you want me to./
“Shut up,” Sakura rolled her eyes, pushing Inner Sakura do the recesses
of her mind. She had a jump to
make.
“Hey! Sakura-chan!” Naruto’s
voice intruded upon her, just as she was about to ready herself to make the
jump. Sakura looked up to see
Naruto leaning against the railing of his porch and waving at her “What’s up?”
“Hey! It’s just me,
Naruto. I need to talk to you!”
Sakura shouted back. Naruto moved
away from the railing to give Sakura a place to land. With a running start, Sakura leapt from
the building she was on and landed easily on Naruto’s
porch.
“Actually, I kinda needed to talk to you too,” Naruto said as she landed,
then blushed and looked away.
“What is it?” Sakura asked before she remembered what she was
wearing. With a yelp, she pulled
her pants higher up; they had fallen just enough for the strings of her…
underwear to become visible. “Inner
Sakura’s idea of a bad joke,” Sakura said by way of explanation, her cheeks
burning red. Naruto seemed to relax
a bit at that, but he kept his eyes fixed rigidly on her
face.
“Anyway, I needed to apologize for being such an ass and not coming to
see you sooner,” Naruto explained, his right hand scratching the back of his
head. “I just got jealous of Sasuke
again. I’m
sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Sakura replied with a sigh. “Actually, you were right about him all
along. I thought he was just
playing hard to get, but I’m pretty sure now that he doesn’t like me.” Naruto did a double take, then checked
her eyes.
“Are you sure that you’re not Sakura-chan?” he asked upon discovering
that Sakura’s eyes were indeed green.
“It’s a long story,” Sakura said with the type of sigh that closed the
subject. “Actually, I want you to
take a look at this,” she continued, handing the scroll that she was carrying to
Naruto. He took the cream-colored
scroll and opened it, scanning over the characters.
“I don’t get it,” he shook his head, rolling the scroll back up. “I know that it’s not a summoning
scroll, but aside from that, I’m clueless.
Why do you want to know?” Naruto asked quizzically.
“Well, Sasuke got me to copy this thing over for him, and he played me
pretty hard to get me to do it,” Sakura explained as she leaned against the
railing of Naruto’s porch. “I’ve
never seen him go that far to get a technique. I’m worried.”
“Really?” Naruto asked.
Sakura simply nodded. “Well,
then,” he declared with a grin.
“Let’s go find out what it is!”
“Huh?” Sakura asked dumbly, confused.
“Tsunade-baba owes me a couple.
I’ll just ask her!” Naruto confidently declared, taking a running leap
off of his porch. He landed on a
nearby building, then turned and waved for Sakura to follow. She too took a leap off of Naruto’s
porch.
“What do you think you’re doing?” she asked heatedly as she landed. “Tsunade-sama’s not gonna just let you
burst in and ask her. You’ve gotta
make an appointment!”
“Trust me, Sakura-san,” Naruto reassured her, jumping off towards the
central offices. Sakura found
herself following the blond-haired boy with a nod as he hurried from building to
building. Naruto was much faster
than she was, but he didn’t go so fast that she couldn’t keep up. As they were making their final approach
to the offices, Naruto suddenly motioned with his right hand. Sakura looked, and saw Tsunade walking
down the road, followed by a cluster of shinobi. Naruto leapt toward the group, and
Sakura followed.
“I want at least two Anbu on her at a time. She goes nowhere without us knowing.
And I want to know everything about her training.
She wears a Konoha hitai-ate; she lived and trained here at some point,”
Tsunade demanded curtly. All
of the ninja followed her made motions or statements of agreement, and one
of the shinobi leapt away from the group, heading towards Anbu headquarters.
“Hey! Tsunade!” Naruto
crowed as he landed. The procession
came to a halt as Tsunade, at its head, stopped to regard the young
ninja.
“What is it, Naruto? I’ve
got a lot of stuff to do today,” Tsunade said, her tone betraying a hint of
exasperation at the hyperactive ninja before her. Sakura landed behind him somewhat
meekly, then offered a bow to Tsunade.
“It’s quick, I promise,” Naruto said, tossing the scroll to the
Hokage. “We just wanna know what
that is, okay?” Tsunade gave a sigh
and opened the scroll, glancing its’ contents. Her eyes narrowed, and she opened the
scroll further, examining it much more closely.
“Where did you get this?” Tsunade asked directly, looking up from the
scroll. One of the ninja behind
her, a Hyuuga by his eyes, was murmuring to another ninja, his face showing
obvious concern.
“Sasuke gave it to me to copy,” Sakura explained before Naruto got the
chance. “What is it?” she asked,
worry darkening her face.
“This is a Hyuuga blood scroll,” Tsunade replied, rolling the scroll back
up. She turned to the Hyuuga
standing behind her, who immediately snapped to attention. “Tell Hiashi-sama that I need to see him
at his earliest convenience,” she said to the silver-eyed man. He nodded and leapt up, moving quickly
away from the group. Returning her
attention to the two younger shinobi before her, Tsunade said, “I’ll take care
of this. You two should go
train. After all, the jounin exams
begin in less than a week.” The two
youths nodded dumbly, and Tsunade moved away from them, making her way towards
her offices. The two shinobi left
in her little procession quickly followed her, leaving Naruto and Sakura
alone.
“What the hell’s a Hyuuga blood scroll?” Naruto asked nobody in
particular once Tsunade was gone.
“I don’t know,” Sakura shook her head. “Of course, they are the Hyuuga
clan. Not exactly known for being
up-front with the rest of the village,” she continued after a moment with a
snort.
“Yeah,” Naruto agreed.
“Well, I’m gonna go try and get some training done. You wanna come?” Naruto asked, having
seemingly banished the odd scroll from his mind. Sakura couldn’t help but smile at
Naruto’s ability to simply deal with any random unpleasantness that he came
across.
“I’m not going to get any stronger or faster in a week, Naruto,” Sakura
replied with an exasperated look.
“Anyway, I’ve been doing my best to practice my new genjutsu in my room,
so nobody sees what they do before the test,” she explained when she saw
Naruto’s disappointed expression.
“All right,” he nodded in response, and made to leap
away.
“Wait,” Sakura said impulsively, and Naruto practically fell over; he’d
gathered himself to jump, and was now badly overbalanced. The boy managed to keep himself from
tumbling onto his face, however, and turned to regard the pink-haired girl. “Well, umm…” Sakura stammered, her
sudden impulse not seeming like such a good idea anymore.
“What is it?” Naruto asked, smiling. His easy confidence gave Sakura a bit of
her own, and she was able to continue.
“Well, you always wanted to go out with me when we were younger, and
we’ve been friends for so long,” Sakura said. As she spoke, she could actually see
Naruto’s eyes widening in surprise.
Inside, Sakura found herself wondering just how much of what she was
saying had been influenced by her inner self. “If you still want to go out with me,
I’d like to give you the chance that you deserve,” she finished in a rush, her
cheeks turning a pale pink with embarrassment.
/HELL YEAH!/ Inner Sakura shouted inside Sakura’s head. Sakura couldn’t hold back a tiny wince
at the volume of her other self’s voice.
“Sakura-san…” Naruto trailed off, trying to formulate a response. He’d dreamt of this when he was younger,
but he’d come to realize something himself in that time. A short while after Jiraiya had left
Konoha, Naruto had stopped trying to get Sakura to go out with him. Now, he found himself at a loss for
words.
“I do, but,” Naruto paused, trying to find the right words. “There’s a part of me that you don’t
know about. A part of me that I
don’t want you to know about, because it scares me. I never really dealt with it, because I
didn’t think you’d ever be interested in me.” Naruto paused again, and he could see
Sakura’s face falling, her disappointment easily apparent. “I just need some time,” Naruto hedged;
he could guess how Sasuke had let her down, and he wasn’t about to do the
same. “Maybe after the jounin
exams,” he finished with a wan smile.
/Goddamn fox,/ Naruto thought angrily. /The one time I get what I want, I’ve
gotta pass it up because you’re too damn unpredictable!/ The demon inside Naruto pulsed against
his seal malevolently for a moment, then settled back
down.
Sakura was silent; she could think of nothing to say. The silence pressed on between then
until it was uncomfortable. Even
her inner self had nothing to say.
Naruto turned back around, obviously intending to
leave.
“Naruto,” Sakura said quietly, before Naruto had an opportunity to gather
himself. “Just don’t make me wait
too long.” He looked back at her
and smiled, then leapt to a nearby roof.
“Sakura-san!” Naruto shouted back at her. Sakura looked up in surprise, just in
time to see Naruto pulling his pants up in an exaggerated fashion. It took the pink-haired girl a moment to
grasp his meaning. With another
yelp, Sakura again pulled her pants higher, which provoked a fit of laughter
from Naruto.
“Not that I’m complaining or anything!” Naruto shouted down at her, then
stuck out his tongue.
“Pervert!” she shouted back, laughter in her voice. Naruto simply turned and jumped to
another building, making his way away from her.
/Now,/
Inner Sakura said smugly, /Aren’t you glad that you wore them after
all?/
“Shut
up,” she told her inner self as she began her trek home. Inner Sakura didn’t respond, instead
sending waves of smugness toward the side of her that was currently in
control. /After all, I didn’t
exactly say ‘no’ there,/ Sakura mused to herself. Somehow, she had a hard time convincing
herself that she would have, had her inner self pressured
her.
* * * * * *
Toru Masako was annoyed.
This… was unusual for her.
She was a patient woman, and would gladly admit that the thrill of the
hunt was far better than the rewards of finding one’s prey. Still, she had been in Konoha for three
days now, and she had yet to find the Uchiha boy. She had asked many people in the village
for help in finding him, but nobody would offer her any assistance, even when
she offered money. This was most
likely due to the Anbu that shadowed her everywhere.
“Damn it.” Masako said to herself in an unusual fit of exasperation. “I’ve got three days left until the jounin
exams begin, and a week until ‘he’ arrives.” She glanced backwards, and an Anbu scooted
into a convenient bush. This
was fine with her; the Anbu had been far enough back that he couldn’t have
heard what she’d said. Masako
had left her cloak at the inn she was staying at, and wore a shirt unburdened
by the Konoha hitai-ate that adorned her fighting clothes.
Masako saw a flash of red and white, and turned her head in time to see
the symbol of the Uchiha clan, a red-and-white fan, on the back of a
black-haired teenager. He was
moving towards the village’s forested training areas, and Masako couldn’t help
but smile. /Perfect,/ she thought,
smiling thinly. /Now, to lose the
Anbu./ Masako followed the teenager
as best she could. He passed over a
red-painted bridge, and made his way towards the memorial. Masako allowed him to vanish into the
trees, knowing that she could catch up to him easily. She could sense the Anbu behind
her.
“Come out of hiding,” she called out to them, her voice quiet enough that
she was unsure that the Anbu squad would hear her. “I need you to take a message back to
the Hokage,” she said more loudly, turning around. Only one Anbu emerged from the trees,
her face hidden by a raccoon-like mask.
Masako ground her teeth a bit at this, but she knew that the other one
was nearby.
“What is it?” the woman asked warily. She fingered a short sword strapped to
the outside of her left thigh, but did not draw it. Masako suddenly brought her hands up,
her fingers forming a circle.
Chakra exploded off of her, but she spoke before either Anbu could
react.
“Maru no Suimin no Jutsu,” Masako said quietly. The Anbu she could see fell to the
ground, asleep, and Masako heard clearly the sound of a body falling out of a
tree. She walked over to the man
and checked to make sure that he was actually asleep. Satisfied, she crossed the bridge and
stepped carefully over a faintly glowing white line in the ground. If it were broken, her genjutsu would be
undone, and the two Anbu behind her would awaken. With one last glance backwards to ensure
that she was free us surveillance, Masako made her way to the fallen shinobi
memorial. She was more than
surprised when a man dropped out of the trees as she was on her way and put a
kunai to her neck from behind.
“Who are you, and what do you want?” he asked curtly, the tip of his
kunai pressing uncomfortably into her neck.
“My name is Toru Masako. Are
you Uchiha Sasuke?” Masako asked, her voice steadier than her confidence would
suggest. /I’m not sure weather this
guy is very good or very bad. I can
barely sense his chakra,/ she thought to herself.
“Yeah,” Sasuke replied quickly, then the pressure his kunai was applying
to her throat lessened. “Where do I
know that name from?” he asked himself aloud.
“I have a message for you from your brother,” Masako stated flatly,
relaxing somewhat. /If things have
worked out that way I planned…/ she thought to herself as she resisted the urge
to nibble her lower lip in nervousness.
The kunai was quickly withdrawn from her throat, and Sasuke took a step
backwards. Masako stepped away from
him and turned to face the youth.
He looked at her with an obvious interest, poorly masked by affected
boredom. Masako noted with interest
that he had already returned his kunai to the holster he wore on his right
leg.
“What is it?” Sasuke asked, looking off to his left. Masako had to work to keep a smile at
his poor acting ability from surfacing.
“Itachi is coming. He will
be here in little more than a week,” Masako explained simply, having never been
one for preambles. “And he plans to
kill you this time.” Sasuke
regarded her dispassionately, and Masako found herself wondering if his acting
ability was indeed poor at all.
/Either he’s a lot better at acting than I thought,/ she mused to
herself, /or he’s supremely confident./
“Good,” Sasuke nodded, a grim smile crossing his face. “I’ll be waiting for him.” The Uchiha boy moved to leave, but
pulled up short. “That’s where I
know you from,” he said coldly, looking at her. Masako found herself meeting his gaze,
somewhat to her chagrin. “I’ll
never forget those eyes,” Sasuke growled, his eyes
narrowing.
“You seek to blame me for what your brother did?” Masako asked simply,
her expression betraying nothing.
“You stood with him before, and left with him afterwards. You were there,” Sasuke accused coldly,
turning to face her properly, his eyes never leaving hers. “You were his
woman.”
“I was his partner,” Masako replied, her tone finally betraying an icy
coldness. Her own eyes narrowed as
she glared at the young Uchiha.
“And I still am. I merely
hoped to spare you from a quick death at your brother’s hands.” Masako took a quick gamble, guessing
that the younger Uchiha was not hiding his chakra, but simply didn’t generate
enough to be easily sensed. “You
are weak. If you don’t want to die,
leave here now. I won’t tell him
where you’ve gone,” she stated coldly, her accusation eliciting a sneer of anger
from Sasuke, telling her that she’d guessed correctly.
“You’re wrong,” Sasuke returned, stepping forward so that his face was
mere inches from hers. Seething
anger was apparent in his tone.
“This time, Itachi will die, I promise you. Then I’ll kill you, for letting him get
away with what he did.” Masako did
not respond, but continued to glare at Sasuke.
* * * * * *
Itachi walked slowly from the ancestral Uchiha home. The street he entered was littered with
the corpses of those who had stood with his family when he had attacked. Standing alone in that street was a
woman made remarkable only by the fact that she was alive. Itachi joined her, and said something to
the woman. She had nodded, and
Itachi left. Then, the woman had
turned her head to look through the open door of the Uchiha home, from which a
terrified seven-year-old child stared.
Cold blue eyes met wavering brown ones for a long moment before she
followed Itachi.
Sasuke had never forgotten the intense coldness of those
eyes.
* * * * * *
Masako finally turned her eyes away from Sasuke’s gaze. He snorted disgustedly, but allowed her
to move around him. Without another
word to her, he continued towards his chosen training grounds. Slowly, thoughtfully, Masako returned to
where she’d left the Anbu sleeping.
Carefully, she stepped over the softly glowing line and resumed the
position that she’d taken when she’d used her jutsu. Then, with a flick of her wrist, she
tossed a shuriken behind her. It
arced up, over the bridge, and came down in precisely the right location to
sever the glowing line in the dirt.
Immediately, the two Anbu began to wake up, quickly shaking the effects
of the forced sleep from their systems.
“Tell the Hokage her Anbu are in need of more intense training,” Masako
stated simply once she was sure that they were roused enough to hear her. The anger that the two exuded was
palpable, but Masako simply made her way past them and walked back towards the
village. /Perfect,/ she thought
with a small nod. /Absolutely
perfect./
* * * * * *
Hyuuga Hiashi, the strongest member of the strongest clan in Konoha, slid
the doorway to the Hokage’s personal quarters shut behind him with a soft
thump. He removed his shoes and
stepped up into her home. Tsunade
was waiting for him, obviously less than pleased. She turned and began to lead him into
her living room.
“Thank you for coming to see me, Hyuuga-sama,” she addressed him with a
false smile. “I trust that my
couriers conveyed the urgency of this meeting?” the Hokage asked, her politeness
obviously forced. Hiashi made an
effort to keep his anger in check; though he was the head of the most powerful
clan in Konoha, it would not do to offend the Hokage.
“They did,” Hiashi replied, his tone conveying neither disrespect nor
anger. “I trust that my couriers
informed you of the unimportance of the matter?” he asked with a bow of respect,
attempting to remind Tsunade that he had, he thought, dealt with the matter
sufficiently.
“That is not for you to determine, Hiashi,” Tsunade stated flatly, the
diplomacy fleeing from her voice.
Hiashi paused for a moment at the intenseness of her tone before he
continued to follow her. “The
council installed me as Hokage. You
were a part of it. As such, when I
try to perform my duties, I expect you to cooperate,” Tsunade continued, finally
losing her temper. “It has taken me
four days to get you to come here.”
“I am sorry, Hokage-sama,” Hiashi replied, uncomfortable at being on the
defensive. “But, as I am sure my
couriers have informed you, a Hyuuga blood scroll will only work for someone
capable of using the Byakugan. It
will not function for anyone else,” Hiashi continued as they entered Tsunade’s
living room. Hiashi sat down on one
side of her table, his outermost kimono pooling around him on the floor as he
sat. “It is not the duty of the
Hokage to waste the time of her most capable supporters,” he said calmly,
returning her earlier barb. With
narrowed eyes, Tsunade tossed a cream-colored scroll to the elder Hyuuga. He opened it, gave it a cursory glance,
and closed it again.
“It is a blood scroll, yes,” Hiashi said, his tone finally betraying his
exasperation. “Now, if I may? I need to supervise the completion of
Neji’s training. The jounin exams
are only days away.” The elder
Hyuuga moved to rise from the table, whereas Tsunade had not even
sat.
“Look again,” Tsunade commanded, sliding the doorway to her living room
closed. Her anger was apparent to
Hiashi, and it put him off-guard.
Tsunade had never been like this to him before. He opened the scroll again and spread it
on the table, examining it more closely.
“It’s the scroll for the Shijuukaigan Sharingan,” Hiashi exclaimed,
surprised. He looked up at Tsunade
with alarm.
“I know,” Tsunade replied coldly, moving to sit down across the table
from the elder Hyuuga. “Since you
refused to grace me with your presence, I had to track down all of the recorded
histories of the uses of Hyuuga blood scrolls. Much to my surprise, I only had to look
as far as the Uchiha rebellion.”
“The technique that created the Uchiha clan,” Hiashi breathed in
amazement, looking again at the scroll before him. “I thought that all of the scrolls
containing this technique were destroyed long ago.”
“Apparently not,” Tsunade replied dryly, her anger abating somewhat. “The histories told me what it was, and
how to identify it. They didn’t
tell me how it functions. Would you
be so kind as to fill in the gaps?” she asked, sarcasm dripping from her
tone. Hiashi, having little other
option, nodded once and rolled up the scroll.
“The Shijuukaigan Sharingan wasn’t only the technique that liberated the
Uchiha clan,” he began, his tone low.
“It was the technique that created it. In those days, it was simply known as
Shijuukaigan no Jutsu, and had been developed recently as a way for those Hyuuga
clan members who were talented in ninjutsu to fight back against their opponents
more effectively. It changed their
Byakugan eyes to become what we now know call the Sharingan permanently. We learned later that the change was
genetic, and would be passed on to their children.”
“In those times, we were much less cautious about who we allowed to use
out blood techniques,” Hiashi continued, his tone betraying a bit of shame. “It required a great deal of chakra to
change our Byakugan eyes. The man
that invented the Shijuukaigan Sharingan, Shinda Uchiha, discovered that,
through a specific combination of seals and blood symbols, it was possible to
increase one’s chakra generating and physical combat capabilities
permanently. What we didn’t know
was that the power surge would strip the user of his sanity. We also didn’t know that Shinda was
obsessed with being free of the Hyuuga clan’s dominance.”
“He gathered capable shinobi to his cause quickly. They called themselves the Uchiha clan
because, as they said, they would burst free from the Hyuuga house like a tidal
wave,” Hiashi continued. Tsunade
leaned forward, her interest piqued, the histories of the Uchiha clan rebellion
having been vague at best. “When
they made their move, we found out very quickly how unstable and powerful their
technique had made them. They could
no longer use our techniques on their own, but their Sharingan eyes allowed them
to copy us perfectly. Those few
that chose to activate their technique again were the most devastating of
all. We had to let them go, or risk
being destroyed, despite our overwhelming numbers.” Hiashi stopped for a moment and drew in
a deep breath, then released it.
“To someone that already has access to the Sharingan, the power surge of
the Shijuukaigan is overwhelming,” Hiashi explained, finally addressing
Tsunade’s question directly. “It
strips the mind of any semblance of sanity. Whatever thoughts the user has at the
moment of activation consume him, turning him into an obsessive maniac. Furthermore, paranoid schizophrenia and
psychosis are common along with this.
In exchange for this madness, the user of the Shijuukaigan Sharingan has
his or her capabilities in taijutsu, ninjutsu, and genjutsu increased
proportionally from the levels they are at when the technique is
used.”
“You’re kidding me,” Tsunade said, her brow furrowed in
worry.
“That’s not all,” Hiashi said, shaking his head. This caused Tsunade’s eyes to widen a
bit, but he continued before she could say anything. “The Shijuukaigan Sharingan temporarily
allows its user to see moments into the future, by allowing them to read chakra
patterns as they prepare a muscle to move.
With sufficient speed, a user of the Shijuukaigan Sharingan will become
undefeatable in combat, simply because he can execute a counterattack before his
opponent has even finished performing their own attack.”
“And if what Haruno-san says is true,” Tsunade thought aloud when Hiashi
stopped, “Sasuke already a copy of this scroll in his possession.” Hiashi thought about this for a moment
before he replied
“If that is the case, then we must retrieve the scroll from him, then
destroy it,” Hiashi stated deliberately, striking his shaven chin
thoughtfully. “We must not,
however, give him any indication that we plan to do so. Also, we must not push him in any way to
use the technique. Once he does, he
will readily use it again to defend himself.”
“Damn,” Tsunade cursed under her breath. “I’ll have to inform the jounin taking
part in the examinations. We can’t
take the chance that one of them will push him too far in the Anbu or the
Assassination sections.”
“Agreed,” Hiashi nodded, his lips pursed in thought. He was silent for a moment, then nodded,
as if to confirm his own thoughts.
“There is not enough time before the jounin examinations begin to take
the scroll from him safely. If, by
some chance though, he does use it, he will be a danger to the whole
village.”
“I know. It will be up to me
to deal with him if that happens,” Tsunade nodded, rising from the table. She made her way to the door to the
room, opened it, then turned to regard Hiashi again. “Next time, I trust that you will be
more compliant when I summon you,” she stated flatly.
“Yes, Hokage-sama,” Hiashi replied humbly, also rising. They walked out to Tsunade’s landing
together in silence.
“We might have been able to take care of this before the jounin exams if
it weren’t for your arrogance,” Tsunade noted, moving aside to allow Hiashi to
step down to put on his shoes. He
did so in silence, his head bowed.
“I know, Hokage-sama. I am
truly sorry,” Hiashi repeated, then bowed again. Without another word, he left, his
wooden geta-style sandals clicking quietly as he walked
away.
“Electric
Clouds,” by po! This is a very
nice, relaxing remix of the Zeal theme from Chrono Trigger. Well-done, and of a variety that I think
everybody’d like. Nice and relaxing
for a chapter with almost no ‘action’ in it.
Character
Themes:
Toru Masako:
“The Journey to the West,” by Strider Yokoshima. This is a remix of the excellent song
by the same name from Princess Mononoke.
It’s quiet, yet fast.
New
Moves:
Maru no
Suimin no Jutsu- Circle of Sleep Skill:
This jutsu inscribes a circle around its user. Anyone caught inside this circle, aside
from the user, is immediately put to sleep by this powerful genjutsu. The radius of the circle is dependant
upon the amount of chakra that the user puts into the technique. Any damage or smudging will cause the
jutsu to cancel. This jutsu is not
resistable.
Translations:
(Shijuukaigan is under here because Hiashi-sama told us what it does!)
Shijuukaigan
Sharingan- Continuous Enlightenment Copy Wheel Eye
Baba-
literally “Old Woman.” Naruto calls
Tsunade this.
Hitai-ate- Those cool forehead protectors that everyone wears.