Deviation Actions
Literature Text
*******
Okay… I shouldn't even be writing this… I don’t even know why I am writing this… if this journal ever does become a book about being in the ANBU… The following bit will definitely be left out…
So… It was my day off. I was back at my grandmother's house, hoeing the vegetable beds, helping out with the pigs and gathering eggs… it was going to be a long day, I still had to milk the goat and finish up my other farm-type chores. I was super dirty and sweaty and looking forward to taking a shower… when as I came back from the hen house, I found Nana waiting for me on the porch. He arms were folded in front of her and her face was fixed in a scowl. “Chizu!” she barked, and her pigs sat up at the sharpness in her tone. “You’ve got a visitor.” She turned and glared back at the house as if this unwelcome guest would steal her silverware if she took her eye off them for a second. “It’s a boy.”
I sighed. “If it’s Yudai again, tell him I’m not interested,” I said putting the basket of eggs at her feet, and quickly walking away in the opposite direction. Yudai Akimichi had been making a nuisance of himself lately, showing up unexpectedly to ask me to several of the clan feasts, and sulking and moping about when I inevitably told him to buzz off.
I had just rounded the corner of the barn when there was the rush of displaced air. “Um… Hi!” called a familiar voice. “I was hoping that I could have a few words with you… um… it’s kind of important.”
I turned around quickly not sure what to expect, but ready for an attack just the same. Spending six month in exotic locales where you could be arrested/executed at a moment’s notice had taken its toll on me. It was a young man in a Konoha Military Police uniform. He held up his hands in a nonthreatening manner. “I’m unarmed,” he said quickly. “I just want to talk.”
I recognized the wavy hair and the thick, almost feminine eyelashes. “Shisui Uchiha,” I said quietly. “Are you running around Konoha without a pass again?”
He relaxed slightly. “Good… I was worried you... wouldn’t recognize me… things might have gotten awkward if you didn’t.” He waited for me to make some response. When I didn’t, he cleared his throat and rubbed at his forehead in a pained way. “So… um… look… our mutual friend asked me to talk to you.” He paused.
Itachi… he asked for me. I felt a flash of cold and hot at the same time. I wondered if I should just turn and walk away… But I am an ANBU, a member of the elite shinobi brotherhood. I should at least be courteous to my former senpai… no matter what he did to me. “Yes? What about?”
Shisui chewed on his lip for a second and then blurted out. “He wants to meet with you… to discuss some... stuff. Can you make it to training ground three sometime this afternoon?”
Well I had been planning to do some shopping in the village, but there was no reason why I couldn’t combine the two… Plus… Itachi had asked for me specifically… My curiosity was growing, as was my excitement… I told myself I was just eager to see an old friend again… nothing more. “I think I can make it there about Three PM. Will that work for your associate?” I didn’t know what all the secrecy was about, or why I shouldn’t mention Itachi by name, but I was willing to play along.
Shisui agreed on the time and vanished once again. I tried my best to finish my chores, but my mind wasn't really on my work. I guess I was a little eager to be seeing Itachi again. Nana noticed and was more shouty than usual.
I showered, dressed, and headed into town. Right before I headed to the training field for our little rendezvous, I stopped by Aunt Bidanko’s Dango stall, and picked up a full order for two… not exactly a peace offering… but more of an Akimichi thing… you know… how everything important in our lives has to take place over food.
Boy am I glad I brought the dango.
I got to the training fields and was slightly disappointed that there were two figures there instead of just one. Having just seen him, it wasn’t hard for me to pick out Shisui’s silhouette. Itachi looked different. He was taller, still not as tall as me, but he’d had a major growth spurt, you could see that his ANBU jumpsuit was getting short at the wrists and ankles.
He stood up straighter as he saw me approaching. When I was within speaking distance he gave me a very polite very formal bow. “Chizu-san,” he said with nary a hint of emotion in his voice. “Thank you for taking the time from your very busy schedule to see me.”
Shisui snorted. “Careful… don’t knock her over with that overly warm welcome or anything little cousin.”
“I’m trying to be polite!” snapped Itachi.
There was an obvious eyeroll from Shisui. “You were the one who insisted we ask her.”
“Ask me what?” There was silence from the two Uchihas. I took the time to study Itachi. He might be taller, but he was also thinner. His face looked like it was drawn tight over his skull. The stress lines around his eyes had deepened, as had the creases beside his nose.
Shisui nudged him. Itachi coughed. “I’m… I am going like to ask a serious favor from you Chizu… but I’m... not sure it’s in your best interests to take it.”
I shrugged. “Well, I’ll be the one to ultimately decide that won’t I?” I dug around in the bag and held out a skewer of dumplings. “You should eat something senpai… you look terrible.”
Itachi didn’t move his hand, he just stared at me guardedly. “I’m not quite sure how much I can tell you…”
I pulled back the dango skewer and bit the top one. “So… after all we’ve been through together… you’re saying you can’t trust me? I’m hurt.” I was trying to make light of it, like I was kidding. But I’m certain he noticed the truth under my words.
He stiffened slightly. “You have a point. Very well then, be warned that the information I am about to tell you is… of critical importance to my clan and Konoha.” He looked up and for the first time in this meeting his dark eyes met mine. “I’ll warn you, there will be parts of this information that could quite possibly put you in serious danger.” He crossed his arms. “So I think it’s only fair that I give you the chance now to just walk away…” He looked up at me questioningly.
I was getting slightly nervous by this time… but I was also quite curious. I had been out of the loop for all things Leaf and ANBU related for half a year… and whatever this was… it sounded interesting. I went back into the take-out dango bag and handed a skewer of dumplings both to him and Shisui. “Understood… it’s top secret.” I looked at the pair of Uchiha standing in front of me. “And when I say ‘top secret’ I mean not ANBU top secret… I won’t say a word.”
Shisui coughed. “Actually, I’d like a little more than a promise… I’d like to hear her oath on it.”
“You don’t need her oath Shisui!” snapped Itachi.
“Given what’s at stake, I don’t think we should be telling her at all!” the older Uchiha snarled back. “If it was up to me, I’d put a genjutsu block in her head and let her go wandering back home with fond memories of our boring little picnic… You’re the one who insisted on dragging her into this!”
“Dragging me into what? Will the pair of you just tell me what the hell it is you’re talking about?” I roared.
Itachi and Shisui looked at each other. Finally Shisui shrugged. Itachi took a deep breath. “Chizu… this matter concerns the well-being of Konoha and the Uchiha clan. I believe that if something is not done soon… there is a very good chance that Konoha and my clan could be at war.” He paused and let that sink in. “I wouldn’t even bother telling you if I didn’t strongly believe that you could be of great assistance to us in preventing this… but… if you would rather... not get yourself involved… I will understand.”
I shut my mouth with a click. Civil War? In the Leaf? Oh boy… Shisui was giving me a wary stare, but Itachi almost seemed to have a pleading look in his eye. “Well,” I said, pausing to clear my throat. “I’m not going to run away just yet… why don’t you tell me a little more?”
Itachi nodded. “Remember how I was telling you about the tensions between the Uchiha clan and the Hidden Leaf? And specifically the ANBU? Well they’ve gotten worse since you left… After the assault on Orochimaru’s hideout, all of the remains of the missing Leaf citizens were returned for burial… all but Yuzuki and Mari and their three children.”
Shisui stirred beside him. “In a rare show of goodwill the Konoha Military Police were allowed to search Orochimaru’s hideout along with the ANBU… we found their effects… but not a single Uchiha body.”
“So Orochimaru took them to a different lab?” I asked, not quite understanding what the were getting at.
Itachi shrugged. “A week or so later my father was informed by Danzo-sama that the bodies of the missing Uchiha family had been located. Unfortunately... due to their questionable condition, they had to be cremated at once because they were a public health risk!”
“Okay… I still don’t see how that’s too unreasonable…”
“We weren’t informed before the cremation!” Shisui snapped. “There weren’t any Uchiha present to witness the condition of the bodies!”
Itachi could read the confusion on my face. “The earliest of all Uchiha clan customs is the one that states: ‘An Uchiha’s eyes belong to themselves and no other.’ It is enforced very strictly… in fact, it is the primary duty of an Uchiha to destroy the sharingan of dead or dying clansmen, to ensure that they they are not abused.”
“Ah,” I said finally making the connection. “And your clan is worried that someone might have taken the sharingan and implanted them.”
“Worried is too weak a word for it,” grumbled Shisui. “The clan is livid. This is just the tip of a whole army of insults that the Uchiha have suffered in recent months. The duties of the KMP have been reduced to the point where over half of our force doesn’t even bother to show up for work any more! The number of passes granting free travel outside of the Uchiha district has been cut by seventy five percent… Seventy five percent! Just last month the Hokage passed a decree that all foodstuffs entering the Uchiha district must be first inspected by the ANBU, and after these so called inspections, over a third of it mysteriously vanishes! Fugaku-sama has made formal appeal after formal appeal to the Hokage trying to resolve the situation… and his overtures have been rebuffed at every turn.The ANBU at the main gate to the Uchiha district refuse to let any messengers through, or accept any written proposals.”
Itachi sighed. “Tempers are quite understandably rising in the Uchiha district… Even the normally cooler heads are getting frustrated… If something isn’t done soon to ease matters, there will be violence.”
“Well… have you told the Hokage?” I asked.
Itachi and Shisui shared another look. “It’s like this Chizu…” Itachi started to say.
“Actually…” interrupted Shisui. “Now would be a very good time to give Chizu-chan another one of those opportunities to walk away.”
Both Uchiha turned to watch me. I stared back at them. “I’ll hear what you have to say.”
There was a relieved look in Itachi’s eye as he continued. “We’re not sure if… there is much of a point to telling all this to the Hokage… this might be what he is ultimately after…”
I was feeling anything but relieved. “What?” I yelped. “How can you say that?”
“The Hokage has been out to get our clan since the Nine Tails attack,” said Shisui darkly. “It’s no secret that he blames us for Biwako-sama’s death.”
“The Hokage is also trying to change things!” I said forcefully, pointing to Itachi. “Why do you think he recruited an Uchiha into the ANBU? A position, I might point out, that your clan is using to spy on the upper echelons of the Leaf!”
“There are many in my clan who would argue that Itachi was recruited because it would cause a surge in internal suspicions on his father,” grumbled Shisui. “Fugaku Uchiha is the Head of the Clan… and his eldest son has ‘sworn’ to forgo the Uchiha… how do you think that looks? Someone is trying to keep us divided and weak!”
“Don’t forget, the operative word there is ‘someone’ Shisui,” Itachi pointed out. “In his emotionally delicate state, many of the Hokage’s decisions were probably influenced.” Shisui just snorted.
I looked over at Itachi. “So you suspect a conspiracy then?” Again Itachi and Shisui shared a glance. “Just tell me already!” I snapped. “Enough of this sneaking about with this cloak and dagger, ‘Ooh… we’ll give you a chance to walk away without actually knowing what we’re up to…’ crap.” I pointed at the pair of them. “You said you would need my help, well you wouldn’t have even come to me for that help in the first place if you thought there was a possibility I might not be trustworthy.” I stared at the both of them, for a second and then just focused on Itachi. “I can’t believe you’d think this of me! I’m your partner! I’ve kept your secrets so far… And despite everything you told me, I became your friend! I’m still your friend, Itachi. I’m still your friend... even after you kissed me and then dumped me to run off with that Kei girl! So just tell me what the hell it is you need me to do!”
Itachi looked very embarrassed at my outburst. Shisui stared in stunned silence at his younger cousin for a moment or two. Then he began to laugh. “What is so funny?!?” I snarled at him.
“Honestly? It’s just that so many little things all make so much sense now,” he said, swallowing the last few chuckles and wiping a tear from his eye.
“What is that supposed to mean?” I snarled at him.
“It means… he finally understands why I feel that I know you well enough to trust you with something that is this important to the Uchiha clan,” said Itachi, still not meeting my eye. “And hopefully he will now agree that you are the best option we have…”
“Option for what?” I asked.
“I would not ask you this if I was not desperate… We need an inside man in the ANBU,” Itachi muttered quietly.
Itachi did his best to explain why they needed a spy. They needed to find out whether or not the Hokage knew about Orochimaru’s activities. Many Uchiha suspected that the reason why Orochimaru managed to escape from Hiruzen-sama was because the Third Hokage let him go. I thought that was complete and utter garbage. So did Itachi and Shisui, but the fact of the matter remained that there were several of their clansmen who did.
If Hiruzen Sarutobi was innocent, then (Itachi and Shisui’s reasoning went) the Uchiha would see that there was no cause for alarm and calm down some, if he was guilty then we could bring the evidence to the forefront of the council and start proceedings to have him removed as Hokage in a peaceful manner.
This is so far outside my oath to ‘protect and serve Konoha and the Hokage’ that I don’t even know where to begin. I told Itachi that I would need some time to think about it. Shisui wasn’t too happy, but my old senpai had convinced him that I should be left to my own devices.
It didn’t take much digging to find out that what Itachi and Shisui had told me regarding the new orders for the Uchiha-district was true though. I had a quiet chat with Kira and Tenzo, and they filled me in on all the reductions in missions for the Uchiha and basically confirmed the new orders given regarding searching everything that went into or came out of Uchiha town.
Something had been happening while I was gone… There was a shift in attitude in the Hidden Leaf. What used to be a low level resentment towards the Uchiha clan was drifting into something darker and more sinister… there was an edge of violence to the words and jokes the ordinary citizens were tossing casually about.
I’d met the Third Hokage, and I liked him… everyone liked him! That’s why grandma insists he is the best leader we’ve had so far… He seems like such a nice, kind old man.
I find it hard to believe that this same old man would be willfully trying to destroy one of the clans in the village. But if he isn’t then who is? One of the other advisors on the small council? The Commander of the ANBU? Still… whoever might be behind this… someone needs to put a stop to this… before another riot happens.
In the end… I agreed to take this mission. Partly because I wanted to help, but partly because I wanted to see if I was good enough to sneak into the Hidden Leaf’s most secure records depository and find out who was issuing the orders to make the Uchiha’s lives hell. What can I say… the past six months have made me cocky.
*******
So… I’ve made my way into the Hokage’s private office.
Yeah… I know… that’s high treason if I’ve ever heard it.
So far so good. I’ve found a lot of interesting stuff, stuff I don’t want to get into here because… well… there are limits to treason you know? It’s one thing to go sneaking around because you suspect someone of wrongdoing, it’s another to broadcast all their secrets for the world to see… I will say this though. Hiruzen Sarutobi really did love his wife. I found what must have been over a hundred letters written to her over the years.
It hasn’t been easy either. The number and quality of the wards set on the Hokage’s private office are amazing. I can see why they call him ‘the professor of shinobi’ Holy smokes! That lightning trap seal was more dangerous that the one the Raikage had on his private chamber!
Let me tell you something about traps. Most of them are geared up for people who are human-sized. When you can shrink down to my size, the only things you have to worry about are cats and mouse traps… I happen to get along really well with cats and mouse traps are never baited with anything that would ever interest me.
Anyway it looks like the Hokage is innocent. The thing is, when I said as much to Itachi and Shisui… Shisui’s response was, “Only a moron would expect that the Hokage would keep records of his dark deeds lying around in his office.” I retorted back that given the number and nature of seals and traps in his office, I would say that Hiruzen-sama’s desk was safer than the Hyuga gold vaults.
Itachi convinced me that I should consider looking in another spot… just to make sure. And that’s why tomorrow, I’m going to head to ANBU HQ, to see what I can find about the source of all the orders which are oppressing the Uchiha clan… I mean… someone has to sign off on them all, right?
I am slightly worried about my sanity though… I mean… I agreed to do this without even a second thought. I am over Itachi... aren’t I? I don’t feel anything but friendship for him any more… I can’t afford to… I know that he is practically betrothed to Kei Uchiha at this time…
And yet.. he just asks and I go... As if this will somehow make him forget all about the perfect Kei Uchiha and her perfect hair and perfect lips and narrow waist and graceful movements and the full approval of his clan and family.
I am such an idiot.
*******
You know when I first partnered with Itachi, he told me that being a successful spy was half art and half craft. The craft part is knowing how to do the basic things, like bypass locked doors, traps, alarms, tripwires… how to spot lures and boobytrapped items.
The ‘art’ is to know when all your adversary’s careful preparation has defeated you, and yet… you can pull off a victory anyway. Let me explain…
You know how I said that Hiruzen-sama’s library must be the most secure location in all of Konoha? I was wrong… very wrong. Getting into Danzo-Sama’s supposed office inside ANBU HQ was the most difficult thing I have ever done. The corridor outside is under constant surveillance. The main lock on the door required a custom built three headed key and the activation of a secret catch to open. The door itself was a solid steel core that could have withstood enough explosive tags to bring down the building. The walls were poured concrete. The windows were blast-proof glass. There was sealing jutsu at every point of entry, alarm jutsu laid across every threshold. There was sleeping gas, electric shocks, paralysis poison tipped needles…
All to protect an empty room. Never you mind how I eventually got in...a girl’s gotta have some secrets… but there was a layer of dust on the floor a centimeter thick. This room in the penthouse of the ANBU building that we had all been told was the Commander of the ANBU’s office hadn’t been used in years.
So I went back and thought about things logically. I found Shimura-sama’s true office by doing what I should have done in the first place. I followed Ryu-san when he filed his daily reports with the commander.
I normally don’t like shrinking myself down past mouse size. If you get too tiny things get weird, like water starts to stick to you, and it limits what I can see and hear. I don’t like it, but sometimes you’ve just got to suck it up and deal with the mission.
Instead of heading up to the upper reaches of the ANBU building, where all the officers quarters are, Ryu-san went down. Somewhere deep in the cellar of the building was a tunnel concealed by the boiler. I couldn’t see how he opened it, hiding on the scabbard of his tanto sword.
He walked forever through darkened tunnels. Some of them were obviously used for Leaf infrastructure. They were lined with electrical cables and steam pipes. Once or twice we went along an open sewer. Many of the tunnels however were just rough hewn passages carved into the bedrock, as if the were made by a jutsu.
He turned a corner and all of a sudden we were surrounded by people, pushing past us this way and that. It was like we had almost come across a small town, all buried underground. All the adults were wearing ANBU masks, but I was surprised by how many children there were… all of them marching past in ones and twos, not talking or laughing or playing, all of them keeping their faces carefully blank.
A hand reached out of the gloom and seized Ryu by the shoulder, right next to the sword I was riding on. I thought I was caught for sure.
The figure that stepped out of the shadows was wearing a smooth white mask. One of the faceless men that my grandmother would always go on and on about when I was a kid, saying things like how they would come and take me away if I talked back, or if I didn’t eat my vegetables, or if I didn’t go to bed when I was supposed to: “Bad little girls get taken away by the faceless men,” she told me.
And here I was… most definitely being ‘bad’ and I was face to face with one of them. “What do you want Tamago?” Ryu-san asked, his voice carrying a snarling, posturing edge to it.
This Tamago person didn’t say a word. He just stared at the sub commander. “What?” Ryu-sa asked again. He kept his voice calm, but this time I sensed a quickening of his heart rate through the bigger man’s shoulder. “Was there something you needed Tamago-sama?” he asked a third time.
The faceless man nodded, placed one hand in the center of Ryu-san’s chest and pushed him out of the way. Ryu just watched as he walked past, but when Tamago was well out of earshot I heard him mutter the phrase: “Creepy little freak” under his breath.
There were several more minutes of twists and turns in various passageways and then we were in a huge well like chasm, surrounded by walkways, bridges and corridors. There were men in masks everywhere, jumping this way and that on errands. I’d never heard about anything this big being under Konoha! Using my mental map, and estimating distances from the start of my journey from ANBU HQ, I figured out that the mine shaft was almost directly under the Hokage’s mansion… go figure. Ryu weaved his way in and out of the chaos and stopped abruptly in front of a plain wooden door. He knocked three times and entered.
Seated on an old tatami mat and working on a traditional scribes stand was Danzo Shimura.
The two men spoke no greeting. “News from Amegakure,” Ryu rumbled. “After your… intervention the region has descended once again into a civil war.”
“Strategic projection?” asked Danzo in that dry rasp of his.
“The rebels will triumph within six months to a year, depending on what tactics Hanzo decides to use to fight them.”
Danzo grunted and scribbled something down on the scroll in front of him. “If I had known the boy possessed that kind of power, I would have found a much more subtle way to do away with him.”
Ruy shifted uncomfortably. “Our agents in Hidden Rain would like to know their orders.”
The ANBU commander produced a fresh piece of parchment and began writing. “Tell them to go to ground. Report for critical reasons only. No aid to Hanzo, and no contact with the rebels.”
“So we are abandoning Hanzo then?”
Danzo pointed the back of his brush at the folder of documents Ryu was holding. “I do not agree with the assessment of your analysts... The leader of Hidden Rain is a wily fox, whereas those young rebels, though powerful, are painfully naive. Hanzo the Salamander may surprise them yet.” The Head of the Shimura clan scribbled for a bit. “But… if Hanzo should fall… then I shall have to step in and take care of these upstarts myself.”
Ryu-san coughed. “Is that wise sir?”
Danzo put his brush down with a click. “Are you questioning orders?” he asked in a dead emotionless voice.
“No sir. I’m just voicing concern,” replied Ryu in almost the same way. “The new leader of the rebellion did best an entire company, plus Hanzo by his lonesome…”
Danzo brushed at his right arm that was swaddled and slinged. “He took us by surprise… It shall not happen again. When this arm is fully operational, there will be no force in the universe that can stop me.” The ANBU commander sighed and picked up his brush again. “It will just take time.. and materials.”
The dragon masked ANBU nodded vigorously. “Yes sir… on that front, Hebi-san believes that he has developed a method to produce more.” Hebi-san… the snake… I felt a shiver run down my spine. Was that code name for the missing Sannin? I couldn’t be sure. In an organization where everyone is known by their mask, it might just be a coincidence. I’d need more...
For the first time since this conversation began, Danzo-sama looked up from his paperwork. “Go on.”
“He reports that with the proper genetic material he can…” Ryu-san stopped at another knock at the door.”
“Danzo-sama,” said a cat masked ANBU with a deep bow. “You asked to be reminded before the meeting with the ambassador from Hidden Mist? The ANBU commander nodded and the man went out.
“I want you to come and observe this,” said Danzo, rising slowly from his kneeling position. “Our masked friend has found a way to gain the ear of the Mizukage himself… I’ll want your impressions later.”
Ryu-san turned to go and I was faced with an immediate dilemma, to stay with the man, and hear more about this Hebi-san and what he had discovered, or to abandon him, and look for evidence of the Hokage’s innocence in Danzo’s quarters.
While Danzo-sama was reaching for his walking stick, I jumped from Ryu’s sword hilt, slid down the wall, and hid myself under the corner of a bamboo tatami mat on the floor, appearing to be naught but the smallest wrinkle. Danzo and Ryu left. The door shut with a click, then there was the whispering hiss of a seal being applied.
I was trapped.
I still went about my duty. I had learned in my six months abroad that opportunities come to those who are patient. So I took the time to have a close look around. The ANBU commander’s room was bleak in its spartan simplicity. Knee table, paper, brushes ink… an old chipped teapot on a small wooden stand, a small china cup, the pattern worn off from long use, and an ornate wooden box.
My first stop was the knee desk. He had left his papers there, and I was hoping I might get lucky. Alas, all of his writings were fairly mundane business. Overviews , summaries of orders, assessments of various nations and their leaders… not what I was looking for.
I tried the small chest next, checking it for traps and alarms. It was about what I would expect for something very important. Screamer tags, paralysis seals, sleeping gas, poison needles in both the lock and spring loaded in the handles.
It was easy to disarm them all… too easy. I opened the chest and looked suspiciously down at the scrolls that were neatly tucked in the box. I thought back to my infiltration of Danzo’s ‘office’ in the ANBU building… and this had the same sort of feel to it… a decoy. My instincts were telling me that something wasn’t right.
I took one of my kunai, tied it to the end of some of my wire and lowered it gingerly down into the box. Instead of landing with a thump on the scrolls, something struck the knife, making it ring with a soft ting as is swung about wildly on the end of its string. This was followed by a scuttle and a soft chittering sound. I slowly pulled my kunai back up. There was something alive in that chest. Something alive and deadly and hidden behind a permanent genjutsu. That must have been incredibly difficult to do. I could think of only a handful of shinobi who could pull something like that off… and I was positive that it wasn’t Itachi.
With all the obvious places for hiding documents out of the way, it was time to look for the less obvious ones. This is where being small really comes in handy. It’s surprising how many clues you can notice when looking at something up close and in minescule detail.
I found the hidden panel in the far wall. One of the bamboo frames for the decorative wall hanging was polished along the bottom, as if it would slide. I grew to add to my strength, and then pushed it just enough to leave me a crack to slip into in one of my smaller forms. I then pulled the panel shut behind me.
It took a second or two for my eyes to adjust to the gloom. The tunnel mouth in front of me was covered with a thick curtain to prevent a telltale breeze from giving the hidden door away.
I checked and double checked but there were no seals, genjutsu or other jutsu protecting this entrance… nothing that would give anything away to any sensory type shinobi able to detect chakra. There were plenty of mechanical traps though. Pressure plates disguised as flagstones in random spots. Tripwires that crisscrossed over my small head. I wasn’t that worried, it has been my experience that most people will hesitate to blow up their valuables simply because a mouse has snuck in.
“Bingo!” I whispered to myself as I entered the room at the end. It was a document store room, if I was going to find out anything about the wrongdoings of the Hokage, it would be here. Filing cabinets lined the walls, floor to ceiling. On the far wall was a walk in safe made out the same chakra absorbing metal that the Hidden Mist uses in their collars for prisoners and slaves. That much metal would probably be worth a fortune here in Konoha, and the ANBU commander was using it to protect his ‘valuables’. The door to the safe mounted a combination wheel numbering from one to a thousand, and was finely etched with an insanely complex seal, as sophisticated as anything one of the legendary Uzumaki priestesses would come up with. Whether the seal was part of an alarm system, or a trap or simply part of the unlocking procedure, I had no idea… and I also had no time to try to figure it out.
What most people fail to realize is that you can learn as much from an opponent’s day to day filings for logistics and basic operations as you can from reading their big secret battle plans. For example… the Tsuchikage is assembling a special strike force for shinobi, but you have no idea where they are headed, or what their ultimate mission is. Now, one could try to infiltrate the Tsuchikage’s palace, make their way past legions of guards and traps and sneak into whatever repository that they store their orders in and find and steal the mission… or… one could simply break into the equipment storehouse, find the requisitions ledger, and see that the commander of that shinobi squad recently put in a request for twelve sabotage kits and twelve sets of desert gear. From there you can assume that four squads are heading to Suna to blow stuff up.
Everyone talks about how shinobi are ‘shadow warriors’ always hidden from view and operating in secret. You can try to keep an army secret, but all those men have to be fed. You’ll need to purchase and transport rice. They’ll need weapons, so you’ll have to buy the steel from somewhere. They’ll need a place to sleep, so construction in an area booms… A good spy can pull all of those little clues together and find your little ‘hidden village’.
I was hoping to have the opposite of that sort of breakthrough here. I was hoping to prove to Itachi and Shisui that all this talk of Konoha ‘conspiring’ against their clan was nothing but shallow fear and ignorance.
The filing cabinets had simple electrical alarms on them for security. I’m good at splicing around those. The problem was, there were so damn many of them and they were all in series. When I finally finished, I gingerly opened a cabinet drawer. Nothing greeted my ears but the faint rustle of paper. I breathed a sigh of relief and started digging.
I found it in the sixth cabinet, second drawer. A bill of sale. Most of it was laboratory equipment, long itemized lists of laboratory equipment. Glassware, bunsen burners, huge stocks of chemicals, cages… what caught my eye was a glossy brochure for a meat freezer ‘walk in, 100 m cubic capacity’.
I dug through the thick folder until I found a single receipt, buried in a huge pile of ordering information. It was a bill of sale for a pair of matching pre-war shortwave radios, Amegakure manufacture, 50,000 ryo.
Hebi-san and radios… that was all I needed to make up my mind. Not only had Orochimaru’s actions been known by Konoha’s leadership, but they were deliberately planned out in advance!
I was closing everything up when there was the faint clack of the main door unlatching. I heard voices in the antechamber and the slow slide of the secret panel being pulled back. I hid behind one of the filing cabinets as footsteps echoed in the hall. “... impressive to think that he could control the Mizukage like that,” floated Danzo’s voice from the trapped corridor. “He is clearly twisting Hidden Mist policy towards his own personal goals… but what?”
“The ambassador seemed to indicate that he is looking to secure the border while he remakes Mizugakure to his own liking,” said Ryu-san softly.
They stepped into the records room. “I disagree with that assessment. Our masked friend is a very shifty fellow. Just look at the way he can come and go as he pleases.” Danzo Shimura shook his head quickly. “No… his very nature is one of deception. It would safer to assume that his first move is a feint, as would be his second, third and fourth.” The commander of the ANBU reached the door to the huge walk in safe and reached out for the dial.
I tried to maneuver myself into a position where I had a clear look at the tumbler, but between my small stature and Ryu-san being in the way, I couldn’t get there. The door of the safe opened with a loud clack. Danzo stepped inside and returned moments later with a thick file. “Then what do you propose we do?” asked the dragon masked commander.
“Hm… a worthy question,” muttered Danzo, opening up the folder and starting to add pages to it. “He is a most difficult fellow to get in touch with when he doesn’t want to be found… We may have to dangle some bait in front of him to catch his attention.”
“The Nine Tails again?” asked Ryu-san. I sucked in a breath and held it. Again? What the hells did he mean by again?
Danzo shook his head. “No… He came too close to taking it last time… that demon is Konoha’s weapon to wield.”
Ryu-san nodded. “True… the damages were extensive.”
Danzo snorted. “Not enough in my opinion… He may have succeeded in removing that young upstart from the picture, but then dear old Hiruzen simply stepped back into his old seat.” He shook his head. “That was a disappointment.” The commander of the ANBU stepped into the safe.
There was the clatter of a filing cabinet sliding shut, and then he returned to shut the door closed. He spun the dial wildly. “There have been too many setbacks as of late,” Danzo said bitterly.
Ryu-san cleared his throat. “We could always take a much more direct approach.”
There was a brief hesitation from the ANBU commander before he shook his head. “No. It is best to remain patient… If I handle this matter with the Uchiha satisfactorily, the Council of Elders will have no other recourse but to award me the Hokage’s seat.” They started walking back down the hallway. “Onto other matters… Have you heard back from any of our agents in Hidden Cloud?”
“They confirm that the Raikage does have a new wife.” There was faintest hint of weariness to Ryu-san’s tone.
“And?” prompted Danzo.
“And she is described as a petite woman, with dark hair and blue eyes.”
“I knew it,” said Danzo, his voice full of vicious triumph.
“My Lord... They also provided documents proving that the woman has been a citizen of Kumo all her life. Her family tree shows…”
“Fabrications,” Danzo insisted, “created to throw us off the trail.” There was the slide of the secret panel as it opened and closed. “No… it is her,” came the ANBU commander’s muffled voice. “I can feel it in my bones… I want to dispatch an assassination team to…” His voice became completely unintelligible as the door to his outer office shut behind them.
I had no idea what any of that last part meant, and I didn’t care. I had more important matters to take care of. I found my exit and it was considerably easier than I thought it would be. A rather ambitious mouse had managed to follow the piping for the spigot that filled the commander’s tea pot and chew a hole through the plaster. As I said before, I like climbing. I made my way through the lath and cinderblock walls that were used to divide the space of the cavern into rooms. A few hours of exploring and I found an exit in a kitchen storage locker. I cut a hole in a large bag of rice and made sure to tip over a few canisters of dried fruit to thank my little furry trailblazer. From there I found my way back to the sewers and from there… home.
And now, here I sit, alone in my room with the lights off, writing underneath my blanket with my ANBU issue flashlight.
Holy shit. This is freaking me out. So the commander of the ANBU definitely knew about Orochimaru’s experiments and supported them, but did Hiruzen Sarutobi? There seemed to be some indication that he was turning a blind eye to the Uchiha clan’s suffering, but was he actively trying to destroy them?
And what did Danzo mean when he said: “No. It is best to remain patient… If I handle this matter with the Uchiha satisfactorily, the Council of Elders will have no other recourse but to award me the Hokage’s seat.” It was just like Itachi said... there are schemes within schemes within schemes.
Does doing this make me a traitor if my whole village isn’t dealing with the Uchiha clan honorably? Do I follow my oath and serve the Hokage? Do I betray my vow and help Itachi? What is the right thing to do?
I need to sleep on this… and yet, I don’t think I’ll be doing much sleeping tonight.
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