Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Shinobi and The Miko ❯ A Tale, Told ( Chapter 30 )

It was a few more long moments before Kaguya managed to collect her thoughts and find the strength to speak. When she did, her voice trembled noticeably.

 

“After Sasuke and I… after we escaped, we were headed… well, nowhere, really. But we found Itachi, and… Kisame.” Her brow furrowed at this, though Tsunade was unsure why. Something to ask about later, perhaps. “Sasuke fought Itachi, and killed him, but he was severely injured in the process. When I went to help him, he was unconscious, but there was someone there… someone invisible to my senses.”

 

Tsunade shot a look at Kakashi. “Madara?” she asked, though she had a feeling she already knew the answer. The jounin nodded anyway, but then turned back to the girl without elaborating.

 

Kaguya continued. “He… we made a deal. You see, during their fight, Itachi he… felt some things that probably would have contradicted whatever Madara told Sasuke. I would be allowed to treat Sasuke and keep my life on the condition that I did not reveal this to him.”

 

Tsunade felt her lips purse. “And so he got swept up in Madara's worldview. Without evidence to the contrary, he would have believed just about anything.”

 

The girls swallowed audibly. “I made a mistake, I realize that now. But you have to understand: I don't think it matters. Sasuke… after Itachi's death, he wasn't the same. Madara could have told him anything, with or without proof, and I think he would have believed it. Sometimes… sometimes he was almost his old self again, and I felt like I could get through to him. For the most part, though… he was just so distant.”

 

Kaguya's face fell visibly, and Tsunade's frustration turned in a different direction. She has a point… I doubt Madara would have let her keep her life if the information she had was truly damaging. Deciding to let it be for now, she prodded for more information. “Do you know what he was doing during this time?” This was less a question about Sasuke's activity and more one about Kaguya's; the Hokage needed to know if there were any other kages with grudges against her or if she bore any culpability in certain events beyond that she had not stopped them.

 

“I… he wouldn't say, and I was not allowed outside the hideout.” That, at least, was an honest answer.

 

“Then how did you end up here?”

 

Kaguya leaned her head back against the wall behind her and took a deep breath before continuing. “Sasuke heard Madara telling someone to kill me, so he told me to run, and I ran. I don't know how long I kept going, but I collapsed eventually. After that… I wandered around for a while, but then I started to worry. I figured I should either find you or Sasuke,” she said, turning in Kakashi and Anko's general direction.

 

Tsunade passed a hand over her face. “Sakura told me about the time you contacted her. It was after that that you were attacked?”

 

“…Yes. I was following Sasuke's trail. I didn't know where the hideout was in relation to where I found myself, but I can sense him over longer distances than most people.” Here she stopped, and Tsunade could tell it would likely be traumatic to continue, Still, she had to know what was going on, and Kaguya was the only one who could tell her at the moment.

 

Before she could speak, though, Kakashi beat her to it. “Kaguya,” he said quietly, “We need to know what happened.”

 

The girl in question bit her lip, but nodded slowly. “By the time I came within range of them, it was too late. I don't know if they expected me to follow, but I thought they could lead me to Sasuke. I imagine they knew I was there before I even decided to tail them. Either way, Madara told Kabuto to go ahead of him. He… he told me that I was no longer useful, that I had to die so that Sasuke wouldn't betray him.”

 

“That's enough,” Anko growled. “I think we can all guess the rest.” Tsunade regarded her carefully. The kunoichi looked like she was about ready to punch something, and the Hokage supposed she was right. Going through what had happened on that battlefield was unnecessary.

 

“Just one more question then,” she said evenly. “Sasuke… is he with Madara or with us?”

 

Kaguya brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them tightly. “I don't know,” she whispered.

 

***

Three days later, Anko and Kakashi were summoned back to the Hokage's office, along with Naruto, Sakura, and Kaguya.

 

Anko knew she was fidgeting, but she frankly couldn't care less. She'd been itching to kill something, preferably Madara or Kabuto, since she'd heard the kid's story, and all this waiting around doing nothing was beginning to irk her. All the other jounin were doing something or other that was actually important, while she'd been on forced leave. I swear, if I don't get some action soon, I'm gonna go off the deep end.

 

She mentioned something to this effect to Kakashi, who merely looked at her askance. “Your self-awareness is impressive,” he replied in his usual deadpan. Problem was, Anko couldn't tell if he was insulting her or not. He easily could be implying the opposite: that she was already crazy and unaware, or still insulting her by stating that it was obvious even the smallest provocation would cause her to lose it. Or he could maybe be actually complimenting her.

 

She rubbed her temples. That man made her head hurt sometimes, and she was pretty sure he knew it too. She decided that she should most likely be insulted and settled for shooting him a glare, to which he said nothing further.

 

She might have called him out on it, but Tsunade chose that moment to walk into the office with the younger shinobi and the… well, Anko supposed the best title for Kaguya was `miko' even though she wasn't one anymore.

 

The Hokage lowered herself into her desk, fixing each of them with her best authoritative stare in turn. Anko returned hers without flinching, though she remained silent out of respect.

 

“I want to begin by saying that anything discussed here does not leave this room. Am I understood?” There were general murmurs of assent. “Very well. As you should all know by now, there is an impending war on the horizon, and one that would be very costly to our already-damaged forces.”

 

Naruto looked like he was about to say something, but Tsunade cut him off. “I know that several of you are very… concerned about finding Uchiha Sasuke, but I have neither the time nor the manpower to invest in the matter at this point. We're running on almost nothing of anything as it is.”

 

Sakura, who has looked almost as desperate to speak as Naruto, nodded, though her face fell considerably. Kaguya remained as impassive as ever, though Anko could have sworn she felt a twinge of guilt that was not her own.

 

Naruto would not be placated so easily. “Then just send me,” he implored, though there was little of the immature kid that Anko remembered from the Chunin Exams in it. Naruto had apparently matured while she wasn't watching.

 

Tsunade shook her head. “Just listen to me for a second.” Waiting to ensure there would be silence, she proceeded. “The instigator of this conflict is none other than Madara Uchiha, a dangerous enemy to us all. The other hidden villages are almost as stretched as we are, though we still have one capability they do not.”

 

Kakashi's eyes narrowed as though he understood, and Anko wondered briefly if this was going where she thought it was going. The only thing the Hidden Leaf has that other villages don't are people like Kakashi, shinobi who have had extra training in assassination…

 

Comprehension dawned on Anko just as Tsunade decided to elaborate. “Konohagakure has long claimed a mastery in assassination that other villages cannot match. It is a darker part of our history, and it was not always honorable. Some of our operatives,” she paused significantly, though Anko guessed that only three of the people in the room knew why. “Some of them chose to remove themselves from that discipline because of that. This does not mean, however, that they are not still suited for… certain tasks.

 

“What I ask of you is this: those in this room are to undertake a search-and-destroy operation on Uchiha Madara and whatever remains of Orochimaru. If you are successful, the war effort will become much easier, perhaps even moot, and it will have been Konoha that was responsible. You understand, of course, why this would be significant.”

 

Yeah, so the other villages are obligated to leave us alone for a few decades, until we're back on our feet, Anko thought wryly. She didn't much care for politics, but she understood them well, and what Tsunade as suggesting could easily become a stroke of pure brilliance. Or it could be suicide, and we all die.

 

As if reading her mind, the Hokage broke into her musings. “I will no lie to you: the danger is great. There is a chance that you will not come out of this alive, and I have no guarantee that such a death would be swift.” Her tone held a note of caution, and Anko wondered why until she remembered that the younger ones probably still didn't quite think of this as a deadly game.

 

“If we should do this,” Kaguya broke in quietly, “and we should find ourselves aided by Sasuke, what are we to do?”

 

Tsunade's eyes narrowed, and she fixed the girl with a shrewd appraisal. “if he helps you, fine. If he hinders you, you are to remember that your mission is to kill Madara at all costs.”

 

Sakura gulped, and Kaguya inclined her head in deference. Anko wondered what the Hokage was playing at. She was sending a team unlikely to be able to kill him, herself included, given their time on Tsunade's shadow squad together. And the kunoichi considered herself the most likely to do the deed.

 

Before any more could be said, the Hokage finished. “Your mission is simple: find and kill Madara and Kabuto. Do not hesitate to eliminate anyone in your way. Naruto, Sakura, and Kaguya, you are dismissed. You should prepare yourselves to leave tomorrow.”

 

The three nodded, the girls bowed, and moments later only the adults remained in the room. “Ask your question Anko,” Tsunade preempted.

 

“Why us?”

 

“If I may,” Kakashi interjected, and their commander assented. “I do not believe you truly wish Sasuke dead?”

 

Tsunade raised an eyebrow as if amused. “Oh? And what makes you say that?”

 

“You would not be sending the group of people most likely to get through to him if you simply wanted him out of the way. You intend us to find him along the way, and bring him back.”

 

The Hokage smiled wryly. “In a sense. The kid's been fed a lot of misinformation, but I cannot fully pardon him of his crimes because of that. Still, I would rather he be tried here in Konoha than elsewhere, where someone is bond to make a spectacle. It would not be too good for the village if one of our own was brought up for war crimes in, say, the Hidden Cloud Village. Make of that what you will.”

 

Anko smirked inwardly. That explained why Kaguya was tagging along at any rate. “Well,” she drawled, “I guess I'd better go catch some shut-eye before we head out to save the world, huh?”

 

Tsunade just shot her a look, but she was pretty sure Kakashi was smiling underneath his mask.