Chapter 27
Chapter 27
Sakura jerked awake in the present, her heart pounding as her mind reoriented itself. The memory of Shisui’s death had Sakura’s chakra spiking violently and the steady pounding of footsteps announced Izumi’s approach before the girl slammed a sliding paper door open, eyes red rimmed from crying. A moment alter, Izumi crumpled to the ground as she nearly fell on top of Sakura, pulling the younger girl into a tight hug.
“I heard what happened.” Izumi’s voice was rough, proof Sakura hadn’t been alone in her misery. The girl’s chakra was burning slightly, proof she was a true Uchiha but it was under control, kept at bay by Izumi’s steady nature and calm heart. “Are you alright? Itachi was terrified and his eyes…”
“He awakened the mangekyo.” Sakura realized and Izumi let out a strangled noise, confirming her last memory before she’d blacked out and ended up in the past. Resting her head on Izumi’s shoulder, Sakura gathered herself. She’d had an entire day in the past to gather herself and steady her emotions. She was shaken, but she’d pull herself together soon enough.
‘His death won’t be in vain. Whoever went after him, who caused this, I swear I’ll kill them.’ Sakura promised herself with Inner and the Kami as her witnesses. Putting a hang on Izumi’s shoulder, Sakura silently leaned back and brushed the few tears that had fallen from her eyes off her cheeks.
“Izumi, where is Itachi, Anko and Naori? We need to talk.” Sakura felt her stomach twist at the utterly helpless misery on the older kunoichi’s face. Whatever had happened while Sakura was unconscious hadn’t ended with Itachi simply dropping her off.
“Anko and Naori are in the other room, resting. They spent all of last night adding traps to the district, it’s…” Izumi took a shuddering breath and shook her head. Snake summons hid in every nook and cranny of the Senju compound. Their eyes tied to Anko’s allowing her to see the entire compound. Proximity seals had been set all over the place, tied to poison bombs, alarms or traditional explosive seals while kunai and shuriken launches were so plentiful Izumi wondered where Naori had gotten them all. At this point, Izumi wouldn’t be surprised if Naori now owned the largest collection of traps in Konohagakure.
“And privacy seals?” Sakura asked, though she knew the answer. The Senju main house where Izumi, Naori and Anko had set up shop was sealed to the nines. The only way to eavesdrop would be to physically enter the building as even radios didn’t make it through the wards.
“Anko may have added a few extra genjutsu seals she picked up from her errant sensei.” Izumi noted and Sakura rested her head on her hands, wondering exactly what she should say to her teammates. In the end, this entire situation could have been prevented if Shisui had just opened up a bit. If he’d just told her, shared his mission with her she’d have been able to help him. There would have been no need for him to put himself at risk charging off alone into danger.
“We need to have a team meeting immediately, can you wake them up?” Sakura asked and rose to her feet. Sleep still clung to her body, her muscles somewhat sore from the river the previous night and bruises making her movements sluggish and painful. The fact that she hadn’t been brought to the hospital was proof that something was extremely wrong in the village right now.
“Give me a moment,” Izumi replied and soon enough Team 7 was gathered once more. Naori’s arms were crossed, bags under her eyes while Anko yawned, blinking tears from her eyes as she sat across from Sakura. Despite the exhaustion everyone was feeling, nobody was about to fall asleep and the mood in the room was tense, understandable since it was clear that Naori was expecting an attack and the Uchiha were on the verge of kicking off a civil war.
“The Uchiha are planning a rebellion. The cause is the continuous prejudice they face throughout the village. They’re the scapegoat for the Kyubi’s attack eight years ago in the public eye and the Sandaime has made no moves to support them or silence those slandering them. Worse, he’s in on it, seven years ago the Uchiha were forced into a ghetto, even those with other surnames were renamed Uchiha and shoved into the compound.” Sakura glanced at Izumi who had gone utterly pale at her words. The girl had been named Senju on her birth certificate, her father’s name. He’d died when the nine tails attacked and even though she’d grown up being Senju Izumi, she was unceremoniously renamed, along with her fully Uchiha mother and thrown into the Uchiha compound.
“We need to get my mom out of the compound.” Izumi stated quietly and felt buoyed when Anko gave her a grim nod. Across the table, Naori met her eyes and slowly dipped her head, a promise that she had the woman’s support.
“That goes without saying but more importantly we need to speak with Itachi. I don’t think Bear-sama is in the know.” Sakura didn’t know the woman, there was nearly a century between Tsukiko and ANBU’s Commander Bear but the girl had been honorable as had her father. The man hadn’t died in the fighting, at least not yet. History said the Chinoike had been forced from Kaminari after a bloody Uchiha assault, but there were no records of their secret meeting or talks of relocation and yet they had happened.
“You think Itachi would know?” Izumi asked and Sakura thought over everything she knew of the situation. Shisui had been sealed, Itachi might be sealed, Bear probably wasn’t. If the woman was sealed, Konoha was so jeopardized that a civil war wasn’t just reasonable but necessary. As it was, Sakura could not blame the Uchiha for revolting, the clan deserved better then being thrown into a ghetto and shunned by their own government. Sakura was almost tempted to reach out to the Uchiha and offer her support.
“Shisui and Itachi are the Hokage’s eyes and ears into the situation, the turncoat Uchiha.” Sakura stated and ignored the unease of her teammates. If they couldn’t see how the Uchiha were justified in their actions, that wasn’t her problem. She wasn’t about to join the clan’s rebellion after all, she was far too logical for that. When she came for those responsible, it wouldn’t be in a village wide uprising. People would die, but the trail wouldn’t lead back to her. Having masters of stealth and illusions as summons were helpful like that. Not that she was strong enough to consider such lofty ambitions in the short term.
“So Itachi would know who else is involved because he’s giving them reports.” Naori extrapolated and Sakura nodded in agreement. It was a testament to Naori’s trust in Sakura’s intelligence that she hadn’t once doubted the eight year old. She just took the girl at her word, trusting it implicitly. Sakura knew she didn’t spend enough time with her teammates these days, ANBU took up most of her time but after this, if they all lived, she was going to lobby Bear to recruit them into ANBU and make Naori her captain.
“We’ll have to find Itachi and then move from there. How long do we wait if we can’t find him?” Anko summarized and Naori frowned because if they couldn’t find him they’d be operating in the blind. Worse, they had two Uchiha present, two targets if tension turned to violence. It was far from ideal but at least none of Team 7 were weak. They had a strong base of operations to move from and forewarning that things were likely headed towards a fight so they could prepare.
“I’ll reach out to some friends. Comrades from the third war.” Naori was old enough and had fought in the war long enough to know about Konoha’s dirtiest little secrets. ANBU Root was where the threat would most likely to materialize from, or the Uchiha clan themselves depending on the situation. She wasn’t about to ask the Hyuga for help either, detestable slavers that they were. “Izumi you stay in the compound and search the village for Itachi using your chakra sensing. Consider it training. Anko you’re in charge of finding Itachi the old fashioned way, take Sakura with you. Sakura, if we don’t find Itachi within three days you’re going to take all of us to Bear.”
Naori’s logic was sound. They would be harder to kill as a team and if the Hokage did decide to eliminate Team 7, they had a better chance escaping the village together then separate. Kirigakure’s rebels would welcome them without batting an eye and Naori didn’t need to mention that fact to them since Sakura knew it to. Anko and Izumi wouldn’t take well to talk of such contingencies but if push came to shove, they’d likely go along without arguing if only because they wouldn’t want to be separated.
“Alright, we have a plan. Let’s get moving.” Anko declared, always one for decisive action. Sakura was grateful the older girl was taking charge, Anko might act unhinged and wild but she was older and more experienced then Sakura, though soon Sakura’s double lives would have her catching up on Anko’s experience even if her age, mental and physical, seemed to move at a normal speed.
‘For a child soldier.’ Inner tacked on unnecessarily as they left the compound, Sakura already focused on sniffing out Itachi’s scent.
***
Itachi walked through the corridors of ANBU HQ, mind still reeling from what he’d just seen. He felt the familiar chakra of one of his newly assigned squadmates approaching him and turned to find the masked Aburame coming to a stop behind him.
“Taichou, Bear-sama wants to talk with you.” Beetle’s voice was blank, emotionless, proof that even in ANBU, Root had sway. Itachi knew he wouldn’t escape Danzo’s surveillance and could only hope that Sakura wasn’t once again on the man’s radar. “He’s waiting in meeting room three.”
“Thank you Beetle.” Itachi answered, keeping up his polite mask as he made his way over to the meeting room. Sakura was probably still asleep and when she woke she’d be able to heal any injuries her fall had inflicted. She hadn’t broken any ribs nor suffered a concussion so Itachi wasn’t worried over her physical well being so much as her mental state. She’d gone into shock, her chakra burning within her in a way that Itachi had thought only an Uchiha’s could but Sakura was a Mizu orphan, a distant relative of the noble Haruno clan, not an Uchiha bastard like Naori, so perhaps his assumption that his clan’s chakra was different had been wrong.
Putting his hand on the door, Itachi felt Bear’s chakra on the other side and pushed it open. Onyx eyes met mismatched dark gray and sharingan red, Shisui’s eyes spinning angrily in Danzo’s face. It was too late to react, the meeting had been a set up, no this was normal. Itachi was a member of Root after all, it was expected that Danzo would have a private meeting with him and using Bear’s name to hide it was a way to keep such discussions from the leaves that didn’t need to know of their own Roots.
“Itachi, report to HQ. We have much to discuss.” Danzo ordered and despite the oddness that washed over him, Itachi obeyed.
***
“Uchiha Shisui,” Hiruzen knew what had happened to the boy already. He wasn’t nearly as ignorant to Danzo’s machinations as the warhawk suspected.
“Is dead, Uchiha Itachi killed him, at least that is what any investigation will uncover.” Danzo answered, placing a sealed scroll down on the Hokage’s desk. It was Root’s mission report, a full analysis of the fight, of the Uchiha’s susanoo and Itachi’s arrival at the perimeter alongside the other child prodigy in the village right now.
“We need to ensure that only Itachi takes the blame for this.” Hiruzen said after he finished reading. Danzo dipped his head in agreement, after all he still wanted to get his hands on the pink haired civilian prodigy that Bear had snatched up in an unusual display of initiative.
“That will be simple enough, I have secured his cooperation in Operation Downfall.” Danzo’s voice was smooth, relaxed even. It was far too casual a way to refer to the genocide of an entire people. The Uchiha clan had been carefully pruned over Hiruzen’s tenure, reduced from a clan numbering in the thousands to a little over three hundred souls. Still they were the largest clan in Konohagakure and the Senju no longer existed to counter them. The only way to eliminate them now was to turn one of their own against them.
“I haven’t given that the go ahead yet. Eliminating the only remaining founding clan will weaken Konoha in the eyes of the world.” Hiruzen knew the Uchiha were too dangerous to ignore but eliminating them would be a heavy price to pay for security. Kumogakure only agreed to peace five years ago and they had taken the life of the Hyuga’s second strongest fighter as the price. Worse, without the Uchiha, Konoha’s primary source for prodigious fighters would be utterly eliminated. The Hyuga were talented taijutsu specialists which made them excellent bodyguards and scouts but in combat they were regularly outshone by civilian born kenjutsu specialists.
“They will strike within the month, can you really risk all of Konoha for a clan that needs to be put down? You’ve weakened them to the point that they can’t ignore it anymore. They know you’re plotting against them, my spies inside the clan have confirmed that. Hiruzen, give me the go ahead.” Danzo met his old friend’s gaze and Hiruzen let out a tired sigh before nodding. “In writing.”
“You wish to tie me to this?” Hiruzen demanded, indignation coloring his face red but his anger was quelled by a single hard glare. Shimura Danzo was Konoha’s greatest servant but he would not allow Hiruzen’s petty need to protect his conscience allow him to be turned into a scapegoat. “Very well, I’ll sign it in blood and chakra, that is what you want yes?”
“And your clan’s seal.” Danzo replied, earning a grimace from the hokage. The Shimura watched as Hiruzen raised the seal and pressed it firmly into the mission scroll and flared his chakra, activating the security seals that lined the paper. “The operation will go ahead Friday night. Have your ANBU patrol elsewhere.”
“I’ll have it handled.” Hiruzen agreed and rose to his feet as Danzo left the office. The old man looked out at the stone heads that covered the Mountain. He knew that Hashirama for all his power and decisiveness would never have approved of such measures. The man was a living god and while propaganda bestowed the same title upon Hiruzen, the Sandaime knew that for the jest it was. Hashirama wasn’t human, his power was beyond comprehension and there had been no reason to decimate the Uchiha’s numbers or eliminate them during his reign. His existence had been enough to keep them in line.
Tobirama had seen the threat on the horizon though when he took up the hat. He had made moves to placate the clan while simultaneously isolating them. Tobirama had cut them out of the village’s command structure and he did it so brilliantly it took a generation for the Uchiha to even notice. Fortunately the great wars kept the clan from really doing anything about it, peace was so transient they couldn’t muster the strength or will to oppose Tobirama and Hiruzen’s plans for them.
‘The greatest threat to Hi will finally be eliminated.’ Hiruzen looked up to his sensei’s stone face. He knew Tobirama would be proud of him, finishing the great project that the white haired Senju had begun. Hiruzen had wavered many times on his path. He’d foolishly believed in Uchiha Kagami before the man died, devoured by his rage over Tobirama’s death. It was the first time Hiruzen had seen the Uchiha’s curse of hatred and far from the last. It manifested in every pure blooded Uchiha, consuming them utterly and turning them into nothing but a mindless beast hellbent on killing whoever had triggered it.
‘Soon, we will have lasting peace and I can finally step down. Perhaps Hatake will take the hat, or Jiraiya.’ Hiruzen didn’t even consider Tsunade, after all women were supporters not leaders. He wished she would return to manage the hospital, not that he’d give her the funding she’d no doubt demand. She had no idea how to run a village after all but he missed her all the same. A bang on the door drew Hiruzen’s attention away from his thoughts and a familiar blond rascal barged in.
“Hey old man!” Naruto shouted, and Hiruzen smiled, happy to be distracted from his heavy thoughts. He knew he should be feeling victorious right now, it was the eve of a great victory, yet something in him was screaming, something that sounded like his conscience but he knew better then to listen to his cowardly heart.
***
Sakura could feel her heart in her throat as she walked into ANBU HQ. She had her mask over her face and her henge covering her appearance even though she knew it was pointless. Everyone in the building knew Tiger’s identity but right now she needed the extra height it provided. It bolstered her, made her feel stronger, older then she really was. The less like a child she felt, the easier it would be to put on a brave face and throw the dice that might very well decide the fate of her clan, Konoha could burn for all she cared right now.
“Any reason you’re bringing in those who don’t have a rank?” The familiar voice of Gecko asked as Sakura passed the man in the hallway. He was one of ANBU’s top assassins and fairly friendly. ‘Shiranui Genma,’ her mind tied the mask to a name and though she didn’t stop walking Sakura still turned her head to answer.
“Meeting with Bear-sama, they’re expected. All three might be pulled in to form a new team and as the only ANBU available that knows them,” Sakura’s words weren’t a lie, simply an omission. Naori, Anko and Izumi were all being considered for ANBU though Sakura had far more too talk about then her teammate’s possible inclusion in the shadow ranks.
“Well good luck then,” Gecko waved and walked away, content with her answer.
Sakura didn’t let out a sigh of relief, she hadn’t even broken stride as she’d answered and soon enough Team Naori came to a stop in front of Bear’s door. She opened it without ceremony, Bear was already aware of their arrival. Seeing Tsukiko under such a perfect disguise was jarring, especially considering Sakura had just witnessed her fight against Madara. The current Tsukiko had to be worlds apart from the one she’d met in the past though and Sakura knew if things came to blows, it would be a tough fight even with Naori backing them up.
“Tora and Team 7 at large.” Bear’s smooth voice filled the room, the male disguise perfect as ever. Steel gray hair reflected the light of the overhead seals, appearing metallic even in the dim halls of ANBU HQ. Bear’s mask was on, hiding the ketsuryugan Sakura suspected were active behind the white armor and black eye holes. “You’re all being considered for ANBU and interested to boot.”
“Don’t attack,” Sakura signed, confident that while their might be bugs in the room, perhaps even literally with the Aburame, none of the surveillance equipment would be able to intercept an auditory genjutsu. Bear tilted her head to the side as Sakura’s very limited genjutsu brushed up against her senses, adding to what she was hearing rather then overriding it.
“The Uchiha are planning a coup, the Hokage has intentionally whittled away at their numbers and isolated them and the clan is fed up. Shisui was going to use a genjutsu to convince them otherwise, on orders of the Hokage but Danzo intercepted him and committed doujutsu theft. Shisui did not survive his wounds.” Somehow it was easier to pass the information through a genjutsu then speak it. Still Sakura’s throat tightened painfully and her shoulder shook as she relived Shisui’s final moment, her sharingan coming to life behind her mask unbidden.
A flare of chakra washed over the room the moment Sakura’s genjutsu wrapped up, several pinpricks of brilliant heat marking the deaths of kikaichu or listening seals. A second pulse followed before Bear shifted, leaning back in her chair and slowly eyeing the group.
“You bring me information but not what you intend to do about it. The Uchiha cannot succeed, they are far too outnumbered even with ANBU’s help…” Bear trailed off, the implication obvious. She wasn’t going to join the coup attempt, though she very well might turn them in. Sakura doubted it though, her chakra was far too relaxed, angry yes but peaceful. She wasn’t intending to throw them into T&I, at least not yet.
“We need help. The Uchiha have a point, the Hokage has proven to be an enemy of the clan-” Sakura was cut off as Bear raised a hand, her chakra pressing down on the rosette who took in a sharp breath.
“Haruno, you will calm yourself or I will put you in time out for the next ten minutes. I’ve done it to Hatake, don’t think I won’t do it to you.” Bear’s voice was relaxed, but the tone was unmistakably reprimanding and Sakura nodded her head. “Now, I’ll tell you what I can and cannot do.”
“Four days ago, the day after Uchiha Shisui went missing, the Hokage ordered me to change the patrols around Konoha. From the Hokage tower to the Uchiha complex, a wedge was taken out of ANBU’s routes and temporarily replaced by ANBU Root’s soldiers. They have a mark on their tongue that seals them so they cannot speak of their missions or name Shimura Danzo as their leader.” Bear explained while simultaneously proving she didn’t have the seal. It was an immediate relief for the members of Team Seven who were fairly certain by now the ANBU Commander wasn’t about to attack them.
“I can have ANBU on station to intervene regardless, but I’ll have to make it believable, that means I need a tripwire. Someone who has the ANBU tattoo who can alert me if anything is going on in the compound.” Bear’s words instantly singled out Sakura. She was the only one of the group who had the tattoo and knew how to use it. Naori could probably figure it out quickly enough but she didn’t have it currently and rushing her through the process would raise red flags and likely tip off both the Hokage and Danzo that they were up to something.
“Sakura is a chunin,” Naori answered, her tone cold as Bear looked at her. The woman did not want to put her student into the line of fire but if it meant heading off a civil war or worse, a genocide, she wouldn’t stop the girl. It was unfair that so much was riding on a child but such was life and Naori had long since grown used to that fact.
“I’ll do it.” Sakura replied confidently and Bear tilted her head, making it obvious she was now looking at Izumi.
“You need to stay in the Senju compound, Naori I’ll have you issued a blank mask and shuffled into a team that won’t recognize you under it. Anko, every member of Team ten is going to be under surveillance, I’m assuming you only came to me after failing to find Uchiha Itachi?” Bear asked and Anko nodded. She’d been searching the village for the Uchiha Prodigy without much success. Izumi hadn’t been able to sense his chakra and even Naori’s efforts had come up empty handed. “Keep searching but stay near enough to the Senju compound to help Izumi if something happens. You four need to stick together until this blows over. Do not trust anyone beyond your team.”
***
Izumi couldn’t shake the anxiety that seemed to cling to her mind. Dark bags shadowed her eyes and she could feel the weight of her exhaustion pulling at her yet she couldn’t sleep. Seven days had past since Shisui’s death and Itachi was a ghost. Anko hadn’t found him, Bear-sama hadn’t either and it was obvious that her teammates had given up hope. Even Sakura seemed resigned to Itachi’s death at this point.
Letting out a sigh, something Izumi knew she was doing far too much of lately, she gripped her sword and lit the edge with chakra. She hadn’t quite figured out how to compress the glowing energy yet, forgeing it down into a thin ribbon of pure power, but she was getting there. No longer did her chakra fly away from the steel, instead hugging it and resonating within the double bladed jian she’d settled on for her kenjutsu.
A spike of chakra caught the edge of Izumi’s senses. If she hadn’t been straining herself for days, pushing her chakra to constantly feel her surroundings she would have missed it. Izumi felt her heart skip a beat, she knew that signature and before logic could assert itself she took off in a sprint, racing over rooftops and leaving the safety of the Senju distract in hopes of catching Itachi before he vanished once more. Unnoticed by Izumi, one of Anko’s snakes saw her, relaying the information to the serpent summoner who immediately changed directions to meet up with her friend.
Itachi’s signature was coming from deep within a patch of forest in Senju Park, just adjacent to the Senju’s main compound. It was outside the area patrolled by regular ANBU, with Root providing security for the night, not that Izumi remembered that fact as she arrived in a small clearing, onyx eyes locked onto Itachi.
“Izumi,” Itachi’s tone was polite but blank, far too blank. Izumi could feel the warmth within him still, along with the sad storm that he had carried with him since he’d first become a shinobi but it was all muted.
“What happened to you Itachi?! Shisui died and you dropped off Sakura half drowned then just disappeared!” Izumi’s hand jerked towards her sword when Itachi’s eyes spun crimson. Instead of a normal pupil and three tomoe, a twisted three pointed pinwheel pattern emerged and the moment Izumi met his eyes the world fell away.
“Tsukuyomi,” Itachi announced and then reality twisted. Izumi lived a lifetime, Itachi alongside her. They grew stronger together, trained, had children, had a life Itachi could only dream of and then Izumi died, old age claiming her first. Her heart stuttered, though it wasn’t enough to kill her the mental overload would keep her thoroughly unconscious.
“Itachi! What the hell did you do?!” Anko’s shout broke the silence that had fallen over the clearing after Izumi had hit the ground, her long brown hair splayed out around her head. Her chest was barely moving, each breath shallow. The sight pulled at Itachi, his heart twisting but he had his orders and he would protect Konohagakure.
“Testing myself. I always wondered how much stronger you would be if you activated that curse mark Mitarashi. Shall we put that to the test? Because I do not think you can beat me otherwise.” Itachi drawled and dodged as wave of snakes as Anko lunged forward. Senbon, hidden under a genjutsu whizzed towards him but Itachi blocked them with a single slash of his katana and then closed in on Anko. His sharingan spun, locking her in place for a split second and the hilt of his sword came crashing down into her skull.
Anko hit the ground hard, growling the whole way down. Itachi watched her struggle, too dizzy from her concussion to get back on her feet.
“Disappointing. No wonder Orochimaru abandoned you.” Itachi knew the words would hurt the girl but instead of rage, Anko just grinned.
“Oh? Don’t you know? I turned him in. You’re next Uchiha.” Anko promised as Itachi drew his foot back and cracked her across the chin, sending her into the black embrace of unconsciousness.