Chapter 47-INTERLUDE-I
As chaos enveloped the village because of Kiri's attack, Danzo found himself helpless as the ANBU refused to let him leave his House. The Hokage himself had put a seal around his house, to stop him from leaving his prison.
And so he found himself helpless, and frustrated for he was unable to do anything even as his own village burned around him. He was an elder, one who had fought in a hundred battles yet here he sat uselessly confined to his prison in a corner of the village.
He had been given the minimum amount of information regarding the attack, and all his power and access were stripped from him as Namikaze treated him as a criminal.
Suddenly, he felt a foreign presence in his home and tried to turn around when suddenly a tanto was placed around his neck.
"Don't move," and he recognised that voice in an instant, he could never mistake the youth and rage of it.
It was him.
"So, you are finally here, boy," he whispered, and it was the person who had put him in this miserable condition—the one who was responsible for his demise.
"I just couldn't let go of an opportunity like this. Every second you breathe is a disgrace to the memory of the friend you murdered with your machinations," the young boy continued as Danzo scoffed as he glanced back and saw those red eyes glaring at him.
"You know nothing about me. I did what I could to protect the village, and if I had been allowed to act, this attack today would never have happened," he scoffed, as the cold steel cut into his skin, and made him bleed.
"I don't care. I have been wanting to do this for years, and I have decided that I will wait no more," and with that, the boy made to swing. Danzo knew he had to act, and he had the perfect weapon for it, and yet just as he was about to push chakra into his legs, he stilled as his body refused his commands.
"Do not move!" and suddenly he felt his body still, as pain ribbed through his face as he found his eye being torn out, as he screamed in agony.
"AGH!" he screamed, yet he remained unable to move his body.
"YOU! YOU!" he grunted, as the young Uchiha looked down at him, as he held one of his eyes in his hand.
"You are not worthy of that eye," the boy snarled as Danzo's eyes widened as he looked into his eyes and saw that they were not the three tomoe Sharingan. No, it was the Mangekyo Sharingan.
"What have you done?" he eeked out, his body still refusing to heed his commands. The boy smirked as blood dripped down his cheek.
"You need not know," and with that, his voice shifted once more as the boy suddenly swung his blade, and yet the pain he had expected never came, a
THUNK!
And as he opened his eyes, he saw that the blade was struck into the ground right infront of him, as the boy simply looked down and uttered the ominous words.
"KILL YOURSELF!"
0000
JIRAIYA-The Toad Sage
It had not been easy for him to infiltrate Ame, but the village seemed to be fortified beyond anything he had ever seen. He did not know how, but he found his location compromised many a times before he finally managed to get into the village.
It was as if there was an invisible power tracking him and helping the Ame guards look into him, yet he had no proof of this omniscient power. Still, he managed to infiltrate the village where it never stopped raining and found the atmosphere tense.
The very air was filled with tension, and as he scoured through his network and put his ears to the ground, he finally found the reason behind this tension.
A battle.
A grand battle had taken place in the village, and though he did not yet know the details, he heard that Hanzo himself had come out to face this enemy, an enemy he feared were his own past students.
Akatsuki, the organization had been gaining some prominence in Ame for quite sometime. It was headed by three shinobi, the description of whom quite easily matched the one of the three students he had once taken in years ago, but now if the rumors were to be believed the organization had come into a direct confrontation with Hanzo.
And as strong as they were, it was not good news. For no shinobi was ever ready to face the likes of Hanzo the Salamander. And so, after some proding and probing, he was able to learn about the location of this battle and headed there to find out all he could.
And as he reached the clearing, the sights there disturbed him, as he saw signs of an extensive battle. The battle had been recent, by his estimation, and had been quite bloody, if the ground was anything to go by.
"You fools, better be fine," he whispered as he noticed something rather strange and reached down to pick up a piece of porcelain —a shard left behind by accident. Yet, the material seemed awfully familiar to him.
"ANBU?" he guessed, and from what he could glean, it was not just any ANBU mask. No, this one was from back home, from Konoha.
There was no way that Minato, or even Sensei, would ever sanction an ANBU mission inside Ame, and yet, Leaf ANBU had been here. And there was but one person who could command the ANBU apart from Minato and Hiruzen-sensei.
"That bastard," he cursed as he examined the ruins carefully and gathered all that he could before he vanished into the crowd once more. And so began his search for the Akatsuki, and by the rumors, the organization had taken a massive hit during the attack, with its major leaders getting slaughtered.
It was a rumor he prayed would turn out to be false, yet if the ruins of the battle were anything to go by, it was not entirely out of the realm of possibilities. Still, as he tried to search for clues about the hideout of the Akatsuki remnants, he found himself relieved when he received a message from Izuna-kun.
The boy had returned, much to his joy, having won himself a contract with the White Snake Sage—accomplishing what even Orochimaru had failed in doing.
It was a relief, and a part of him knew that he had to return to the village. However, even Minato had agreed that there was something to investigate here. After some communication using the toads, he was granted permission to extend his stay in Ame to investigate the matter closely.
And so, he put his ear to the ground and, using all his expertise, began to search for the remnants of Akatsuki. Days turned into weeks, and just as all had seemed hopeless, he found himself a small lead, as he heard of another battle taking place in a distant corner of the village.
The place was supposedly the Headquarters of Akatsuki, and Hanzo's forces were attacking what little remained of the organization. As soon as he heard about that, he headed towards the location and found himself in a small, dreary town, where a massive tower stood in the center, with smoke rising out of it.
And so, he rushed towards the place, and indeed there was a battle going on there. Hanzo's forces were attacking what seemed to be the 'Akatsuki' or what little remained of it, and he knew that this was his chance to intervene.
And so, as half a dozen Ame-nin encircled the Akatsuki members, he decided to intervene.
"Ninpo:..." he began as he hid in the water below them and signed away.
"...Giant Toad Prison!" and a toad emerged from the water and gulped down on the three Ame-nin in an instant as he slowly slid out of the water.
"What!" "Who was that!" the Akatsuki members gasped as he appeared and smiled at them.
"Is that any way to greet your savior?" he taunted as he rubbed his head, and it took them all but a few seconds to register who he was.
"It's him," one of them gasped.
"It's the Sanin," and it seemed as if their fame had not lessened in Ame, as they recognised him.
"Indeed, it is I, the Toad Sage Jiraiya, and I would be much obliged if you lead me to your leader," he added with a smile, as the men tensed up.
"What do you want with her?" they asked protectively, and he raised a brow.
"Her?" and suddenly, he felt another presence behind him and turned around to see a purple haired kunoichi appear behind him, her face pale and dreary as she looked at him with widened eyes.
"Is that you, sensei?" she gasped, and he finally realized who it was. And the years had aged, the little girl who had once presented him with the gift of a paper crane, and yet the hope and vigor she had gained under his tutelage seemed to have been lost once more as she looked at him with the same broken expression as all those years ago.
"Konan...."
0000
FUGAKU UCHIHA
The atmosphere within the village was tense, and the entire force was on high alert as Konoha prepared itself for any misadventure from enemy nations. The attack by Kiri had devastated parts of the village, yet thankfully, they had prepared extensively for such a tragedy.
And the quick intervention on their parts, aided by some lucky coincidences, meant that Konoha had managed to come out of this battle with minimal losses. Though, still each life lost was a great burden on the village, and though they had managed to keep the number if lives lost to a minimum, the damage to the village infrastructure was still massive.
It had taken Fugaku a few days to recover from the battle he had fought, and upon doing so, the first thing he called for was a clan meeting, for there was an issue that needed to be addressed at once.
Izuna was skeptical of the loyalties of the clan elders, a few of whom had been on friendly terms with the traitor Danzo, but their status within the clan meant that making any open move against them would cause great divisions within the clan.
But the invasion had boosted his reputation within the clan and the village. And since the Uchiha were the first to mobilise their forces in response to the attack, it had done much to bridge the strife between the clan and the village.
And the elders had tried to stop it. Defying his orders, they had tried to have the clan retreat its forces at the height of the battle, in clear defiance. And so, he decided that it was time to act, and he gathered the clan, standing before them as their leader.
Izuna, his son stood in one corner, leaning against the wall. Though the details of his own contributions from that night were kept a secret, but it was well known that he had played a major part in saving Kushina Uzumaki, the leaf's most valuable jinchuriki.
"Today, I have gathered you all here in these tumultuous times to address you as your clan leader, and speak to you of the changes that shall take place within the clan," and there were a few murmurs at that as he stood there in the Naka Shrine as the whole clan sat infront of him.
"But before that, I know that you have many questions that need to be answered," and indeed.
"And answer them I shall," he finished as he took a deep breath.
"The attack on our village was a coordinated effort by Kirigakure and a hidden enemy, one whose identity remains a mystery to this day. Kirigakure has denied any part in this attack, and calls it an independent action of their infamous Ninja Swordsmen," and that was a lie, and the clan reacted with disgust and rage at that.
"The Mizukage has denied all the allegations, and the situation at the border remains tense. The decision to retaliate has not yet been made, but I have been assured by the Hokage that this aggression will not go unanswered," and that seemed to satiate some of the anger.
"Konoha will not back down!" The clan cheered at his words, and with that out of the way, it was time to get to the main reason for this gathering.
"But before we do so, we must unite ourselves, band together, and remove all those who would sow discord and division within our ranks, and in that regard, I am here to announce that from this day onwards, I Fugaku Uchiha remove all the clan elders from their rank and position." The surprise was evident as the three elders sitting behind him reacted quicikly.
"Preposterous!" "Have you lost your mind!" "You bra..."
"SILENCE!" his voice tore through the air as he turned around and faced the three older men, who became quiet as his chakra rippled through the air.
"You should be thankful that I have not taken your heads for your treason!" he uttered as his eyes lit up.
"What treason do you speak of?" asked Gin Uchiha, the bald elder who was the closest to Danzo and the most suspicious. It had been he who had tried to defy his orders.
"During the attack, I had left clear instructions to the clan members, and yet you three saw it fit to try and change my orders," he replied and saw them shift in embarrassment and guilt as they looked to the ground.
Even Gin Uchiha seemed nervous as he replied.
"We were just trying to protect the clan, and save...!"
"You would have turned us into cowards!" Fugaku thundered.
"You would have had this clan stay back as the village was destroyed! The Uchiha clan has no need of such cowards. And so from this day on, I remove from you the title and privileges of Elders," he finished as the blade elder rose to his feet in outrage.
"You cannot do that. We are the pill..." but before the man could continue, another voice cut through the air, as Izuna's clone stepped out of the shadow and appeared behind the bald elder.
"Sit down!" his voice was cold and chilling, and the elder's face paled as he found a tanto placed around his neck.
"Speak another word, and I will not hesitate to slit your throat," he warned as Fugaku continued with his sentencing.
"For the crimes of defying my direct orders and interfering in the clan matters beyond reason, the three of them will be stripped of all ranks and titles and will be put under House arrest. The clan will provide them with their necessities, but you shall live the rest of your life in solitude, and have no part in the running of this clan and village," and they wanted to try and argue, but Izuna's presence made them still as the three of them gritted their teeth, and lowered their heads.
"We are grateful for your mercy, clan head," and their reluctance was obvious, as Izuna stood tall, and added with a smile as he spun his tanto and put it back into teh scabbard.
"Now, that wasn't so hard was it....
0000
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