Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Those to Come ❯ The Question ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Another segment.

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3 Months after the Prologue on one fateful evening

“Why?” The words came out shaken and full of sorrow, Sarutobi couldn't believe what had just taken place. `She killed him.' He clutched the body of his fallen comrade searching desperately for signs of life. Shakily he slowly moved his eyes to meet the cold blue eyes of the betrayer. Emi stared blankly at him with a bloodied kunai in hand; she slowly entered another ready stance her blue dreads were freely falling in front of her face, the forehead protector that use to keep her hair in place was now in the firm grip of Ryou's dead hands. Nothing about the situation was right. Jumping to his feet Sarutobi roared in rage and charged towards her blindly. Talking the Kunai directly to his arm he tackled her to the ground ignoring the pain that encompassed him. He straddled her waist and held both of her arms with his slightly larger ones he shifted her arms over her head and freed one of his arms by holding her down with just one hand. He met little resistance as Emi seemed to stare out into oblivion waiting for him to use a killing blow. Taken aback by her seemingly callous demeanor he pulled his fist back as tears streaked down his cheeks.

“What's wrong with you?” he whispered sadly, quickly he thrust his fist towards her face stopping an inch away from its target. Not even a wince. Letting go of her arms he grabbed onto her shoulders and began to shake her. “How could you?” He screamed while sobbing “He was your friend, he loved you.” Emi took advantage of her freed hands grabbed his arms folding her legs under his and threw her body into a roll switching their positions so that she now hovered over him pushing her knees into his elbows. She placed her hands on his face, as he stared at her in shock of the speed of her movements.

“You wouldn't understand Saurtobi.” Her voice was resigned she sounded defeated. “We are ninja, this is what we do.” She sounded as if she had to reassure herself. She slowly withdrew one hand from his face and began to reach for her weapon pouch.

“It can't be as easy as that.” Sarutobi yelled “you didn't even try to explain!”

Trying to shift out of her pressure hold he unconsciously called out for Emna. “You just killed Ryou your best friend, what else is there to understand?!” he snarled at her “Murder!”

“It must be nice.” She said solemnly “To still be able to think in black and white.” She lowered her face and gently kissed his forehead. “There is no room for friendship in this world we live in, just death.” At that she raised a kunai from her weapon pouch over his throat. Before she could make her attack something jumped onto her back and pushed her forwards, giving Sarutobi enough room to squirm out of her hold. Using his uninjured arm he shoved her off of him and rolled away to gain some distance before jumping to his feet. Right away he noticed that what had distracted Emi was Emna who was now scratching at the girls face as she madly thrashed she tried to get a grip on the monkey. Seeing his chance Sarutobi ripped the kunai that had been used to injure him and kill his teammate from his arm. Examining it the kunai with shaky hands, rage and sorrow took over and before he could tell himself to move he was charging forward with killer intent. Just as he was closing in on his target something hard and mental struck him on the back of the skull with enough force to knock him to the ground. Disoriented he tried to move but pain filled his body as his eyes started to feel heavy. He lifted his eyes with difficulty as he watched Emi rip Emna off her face and through him to the ground as a few figures appeared beside her someone walked directly over him and also approached Emi.

Mist forehead protectors were worn by several of the new arrivals; a few others bore the familiar leaf symbol. They were talking but he couldn't understand a word they said all he heard was a jumble of sounds that were getting quieter as time went on. Slowly they all turned to leave including Emi, Sarutobi reached out his hand and tried to call out her name but his voice only came out as a sick gurgle. She heard him though and slowly turned her head to look at him once more their eyes met and for a brief second he caught a glimpse of the Emi he knew. The image was broken as she turned her back to him. Slowly unconscious began to take him as he watched her retreating figure run into the night.

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Tanzou Hatake sat idly in the waiting room of the Konoha hospital. His face held a blank expression but anyone who knew him well could feel the overwhelming dread coming off the young man. He had been waiting here ever since he found the corpse of his young protégé and then the injured remnants of Sarutobi, his other student Emi was still missing which worried him even more. The entire village had been in an uproar; he thought his students were out of the danger he hadn't even realized they were in peril until it was too late. Konoha had been hurt badly and their attackers were still at large. Explosions had gone off on the west side of the village, that's where all of the reinforcements had been, his students hadn't been anywhere near the original attack so he guessed that had been a distraction. His students had ended up in right in the middle of an enemy invasion and there had been no one to protect them. `I failed them' He gripped his head in his hands. He was trying to wait patiently for his only accounted for student to tell him what had happened but grief was making the wait agonizing. A medical ninja came out of the emergency room.

“He is stable and should wake up soon; you may go see him now.” She pointed to where his stood resided then entered back through the doors for more work.

Tanzou approached the door slowly as if an enemy lurched behind the door; hesitantly he opened it and entered. His Sarutobi lied unconscious with an excess of bandages covering him. A particularly large cut on his forehead was covered by a square bandage. His breathing was coming out in heavy unhealthy sounding rasps. Walking over to his bed, Tanzou lightly brushed his young student's forehead affectionately; something the vivacious boy would never allow if he was awake. A groan came from Sarutobi's throat as he slowly opened his eyes, they opened wider as he shot into a sitting position and started looking around.

“Sensei, where is Emi?” he sounded desperate “Has she been caught?” he looked at Tanzou hopefully

“Sarutobi I need you to tell me exactly what happened. Emi is currently missing and Ryou…” His sentence dragged on as a fresh wave of grief came over him, he kept his face masked for Sarutobi's sake.

“Dead.” The boy's face was angry “She killed him.” He spat bitterly

“Who Sarutobi?” trying to keep him focused he repeated the question “Who killed Ryou?” Sarutobi slowly turned towards Tanzou their eyes connected and his expression put ice in veins.

“Emi sensei, she killed Ryou then she ran away with a group of Mist nins.” Grief turned into despair at that statement `Emi killed Ryou' he couldn't think of that now.

“Are you sure of what you saw?” he said evenly silently hoping it was just an illusion.

“Yes Sensei I am positive.” Tanzou was rushing out the door before his student had even finished, he needed to see the Hokage and quickly. If what Sarutobi said was true there was a huge problem. Racing through building tops as fast as his muscles allowed he quickly arrived at the office of the first Hokage `Shodaime' bursting past the chuunins that guarded his office he threw himself into the room. Inside was a meeting of council they were all piled around circular table reviewing reports from the incidence that had occurred that night.

“Shodaime sama I must speak with you right away.” He bowed quickly and watched as everyone in the room turned in surprise at his outburst.

“Tanzou we are in a very important meeting, if you would like to sit in that is acceptable but please control yourself.” It was one of the council members that spoke

“This is of utmost importance, please permission to speak Shodaime.” He gave his mentor and expression that conveyed the urgency.

“Go ahead Tanzou-san” Shodaime responded while standing to approach him.

“My student reports he was attacked by Mist nins last night.” The reaction to this statement was instantaneous everyone in the room started talking at once.

“Can you be sure of what your student has said?” one of the council members said irritably at the intrusion “He was struck on the head wasn't he?” He reasoned

“Do you have evidence of this Tanzou?” Shodaime asked squarely

“Shodaime, my student Emi Suiren was the one who killed the Genin Ryou Nara.” Shocked silence followed his statement. “Sarutobi reports that she left with a group of Mist nins.” Shodaime placed his palm over his forehead.

“Than it is as we feared.” He sighed gravely. “The Mist has allied with the Rock.” He looked towards Tanzou with sympathy. “It would appear that the Suirens were Mist spies, which means this alliance has been going on for a lot longer than we knew.” Shock came over Tanzou

“You knew!?” He stared at Shodaime in horror “You knew that this might happen someday.”

“It is my job to know what could happen.” The 1st Hokage sighed wearily “I knew the Suirens were originally from the Mist. They were legally allowed into the Leaf but they were always under surveillance.” He turned away and looked out the window “and yes I had a suspicion that the Mist had forged and alliance with the Rock, you just confirmed it.” Tanzou hit the desk in rage.

“What are we going to do about this?” He yelled, all of the faces in the room dropped slightly.

“War Tanzou that is the only option left.” Tanzou stood solemnly at the statement. “We have always been fending off the attacks of the Rock, but they were not a threat by themselves. With the Mist on their side and god knows who else…” Shodaime's jaw visibly tightened “That attack last night, wasn't ninja's infiltrating the village, they were fighting their way out taking as much of our recourses as they could.” Moving to sit at his desk Shodaime looked old and tired. “Thirty-seven civilians, Three Jounin, five Chuunin, and 1 Genin, anyone who was in their way…” He paused staring intensely across the room. “They killed mercilessly.”

“Permission to have access to Emi Suiren's file.” Tanzou stated the Hokages words heavy on his mind.

“Denied that information is classified.” One of the Council members quickly cut him off.

“With all due respect, I have a very confused student who need an explanation on why one of his friends is dead and the other is betrayed the village.” Frustration was evident in his voice but he managed to keep it calm.

“You may take the file Tanzou, please use your judgment on how much you show your student, there are some parts I doubt he can understand at his age.” Shodaime passed the file into Tanzou's hands. “Please pay my respects to your wife Tanzou.” Shodaime bowed to him as he left the Hokage's chambers. With a heavy heart Tanzou began to head back to Sarutobi's hospital room. They both needed answers desperately and this file was the only link he had to any of them.

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