Moratorium
Title: The People We've Become (16/?)
Summary: At first, no one realizes the consequences of Uzumaki Naruto's disappearance. However, his departure begins a chain of events that changes the fate of Konoha and the two teammates he left behind. Seven years later, Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura are on the S-Class list and Team Seven assembles once more. AU, NaruSasu, SakuLee.
Rating: M or R
Warnings: Death, mentions of child abuse, torture...
It is only after a few months of taking S-class missions does Sakura come in contact with Root. It isn't supposed to exist anymore, of course, but Sakura doubts even Tsunade-sama herself is not unaware of its continued presence.
She had met it's "former" head, a cripple by the name of Shimura Danzou, before. Several times, in fact, while he and her shishou argued over the correct way to run the village. While Sakura tends to agree with his methods over Tsunade-sama's, she does not like him. He does not call her shishou with the proper suffix "-sama" instead preferring to call her "Tsunade-hime," which Sakura finds incredibly disrespectful.
Two of her teammates, now subordinates, know Danzou and greatly revere him. Since they do not know her true identity as Haruno Sakura, apprentice to the Fifth Hokage, they have no problem expressing their opinion that this "Danzou-sama" would make a much better leader. Sakura finds this disconcerting and even makes a point of telling Tsunade-sama about the dissonance in her ranks, but she merely waves it off, telling Sakura that there will always be people who disagree with her tactics.
Sakura gets a message from a fellow ANBU captain right as she is leaving for home after a particularly tiring mission that Danzou wants to see her. She frowns in both annoyance and apprehension, but complies, following the captain to a building with a high, spiral shaped roof.
The guards at the door are expecting her, something that unnerves her even more, and they let her in without even asking who she is.
The building looks even bigger from the inside. The roof, which is hollow, is held up by four huge pillars and Sakura cannot help craning her neck to see the ceiling. She walks down one of the four wide paths that converge in the middle where the crippled figure of Danzou is waiting for her. She bows respectfully once she reaches a close enough distance, but he ignores her, dismissing her guide with a wave of his hand. It is only when the captain disappears behind the double doors which she entered from does he speak.
"You've certainly caused a fuss at Headquarters, A756," he says in a gravely sort of voice, "Considering the short amount of time you've been a member of the ANBU, your track record is…impressive."
"Is there a problem, sir?" Sakura asks, even though she knows there is not.
"Hardly," he scoffs.
He pauses and looks at her critically for a few seconds.
"Take off your mask," he says abruptly and Sakura hesitates.
Danzou appears annoyed by this, "Do you really think I don't know who you are?" he asks arrogantly, "Haruno Sakura."
Sakura stiffens, but then removes the tiger mask. There is no point in keeping it on now.
"You are certainly an interesting specimen," he says, talking like she is an animal rather than a person, "I would have not expected such potential considering the many years you have spent under the tutelage of our esteemed Hokage."
His bitterness is palpable, but Sakura holds her tongue. Instead she clenches her mask tightly.
"I take it you do not find Tsunade's methods to be the most…effective."
The complete lack of an honorific jars her and she opens her mouth to disagree, but he cuts her off.
"No, no, don't answer that," he says abruptly, "I already know your answer. And that's hardly the point."
"What is the point?" Sakura thinks, but with a pang, she realizes she already knows. He wants to recruit her. But recruit her to do what?
"I have a mission for you," he says, "This is top secret. You will tell no one, and that includes the Fifth Hokage."
"Sir!" she protests, because words like these are downright treasonous, "That's-"
"This is a mission the Council has approved," he says, interrupting her smoothly, "And those are the requirements."
Sakura opens her mouth, but then shuts it, confused. She knows, of course, that the Council does have the power to keep things from the Hokage, but why? Has Tsunade-sama done something to anger them?
"We don't have much time," Danzou says, "It's an assassination, and a highly important one too."
Sakura nods her head curtly, but inside everything is all in a turmoil. What is going on? The Council is siding with Danzou? Why? An awful thought comes to her. Could it be that this isn't the first time they've done something without her shishou's knowledge? She knew that Tsunade-sama didn't particularly like (or respect) the Council, but this is…
"You are aware, of course," he continues, "of the situation with the jinchuuriki."
"Yes, sir."
It seems strange to be discussing a top secret mission in this huge room. Sakura may be paranoid, but it seems unsafe.
"We have received intelligence that at least one of them will most likely be in the Hidden Rock Village sometime in the next week or two."
She begins to feel cold.
Danzou pulls a thick manila folder out from his yukata. There is a picture clipped to the front and Sakura stares at it. It is a new picture that hasn't been released to the public yet. She wasn't even told that he had been sighted again.
It isn't at all like his old picture. He's not smiling, sticking out his tongue, or making an obscene gesture. He's older and he's not looking at the camera (is probably completely unaware of it) but instead is frowning at something just beyond the camera's range.
She glances up at Danzou to see if he knows-he has to know, he must have done research on her before this-but by the look on his face, she is wrong. He doesn't know. Uzumaki Naruto is just a monster to him. He wouldn't even think of looking to see if they had any connection.
"No," she says softly.
He actually looks surprised, "No?" he repeats, "This isn't a request, Haruno. You have no choice."
"I said no," she says, taking a step back.
Anger starts to show on his face, "This is an order," he says, sounding furious, "You will complete this mission or-"
"Or?" Sakura nearly laughs, "Or what? You're going to punish me? You can't do that without gaining unwanted attention."
Danzou freezes and the threat seems to echo all through the large building.
"You've underestimated me," Sakura says, still clenching her mask, "You should have done your research."And then she's gone before he can say another word.
Tsunade-sama is, strangely enough, not surprised when Sakura tells her what happened.
"Well, of course he wanted to recruit you," she says, rolling her eyes, "You'd be the perfect spy."
"But that's not the point," Sakura protests, shocked that she is just brushing this off, "Danzou and the Council are doing things behind your back!"
Tsunade-sama smirks and lowers her voice, "That's what they think," she confides, "But I have spies, just like they do. There isn't a mission they give that I don't know about."
If Sakura were younger, this might have comforted her, but she is still uneasy.
"Tsunade-sama," she thinks, "What are you getting yourself into?"
But by the time she figures out what really is going on, it is too late.
Chapter Sixteen-
She drags Sasuke out of the rain, under an overhanging cliff. He is staring off into the distance and Sakura has to shake him twice to get his attention.
"Sasuke," she whispers, though it hurts to even talk because of her injuries, "What happened?"
"T-They were planning a coup," Sasuke says quietly, words spilling out of him faster than she can comprehend, "And Konoha used Itachi as their spy and when they couldn't figure out how to stop them, they ordered him to kill them and he did because he hated war. But he couldn't kill me, so he left and he just let me kill him and I'm going to destroy-"
"What? Who?"
Sasuke struggles against her, and she has to grab to make him stay still or his wounds will only get worse.
"Konoha!" he snarls, and she has never seen such anger in his face before, "They ordered, they killed… It was Danzou, and the Sandaime, and Homura and Koharu. They told him to and he did and I'll rip them apart, I'll-"
What? Konoha orchestrated the Uchiha massacre? But why-
"-why would they do that, I don't understand. Where's my sword, I'm-"
She hits him hard across the face and it stuns him momentarily.
"Sasuke," she says, taking advantage of his silence, "They're all dead."
He turns his bloody, wet face to look at her in the darkness, "What?"
"Danzou, the Sandaime, and Homura and Koharu," she whispers as gently as possible, "I killed Danzou, Orochimaru killed the Sandaime, and Homura and Koharu were killed last week, remember? The revolt."
He stares at her for a long time and Sakura presses her hand to her abdomen and begins to heal herself.
"Then I'll," he says, a determined look coming over his face, "I'll wipe Konoha off the map."
Sakura gapes at him, "What? Why?"
He puts his hand up against the rocks and tries to pull himself into a standing position, "Everyone from Konoha benefited from the Uchiha clan's slaughter," he snarls, eyes wild, "and they'll pay for-"
Sakura backhands him in the face and he collides with the cliff side. She hauls him up by the collar of horrifically gay clothing, seething.
"Don't you dare," she hisses, "Don't give me that bullshit! You go near them-you just try-and I'll fucking kill you!"
"I wouldn't expect you to understand," he replies dismissively, but Sakura is not hurt. He is angry and sad and confused, and only means to push her out of his path of self-destruction.
She hits him again and he snarls and knees her in the stomach, causing her to double over in pain. Anger takes over and she throws herself at him, bowling them both over and they grapple until she finally pins him to the wall again.
"Now you listen to me, Sasuke," she says, spitting out a mixture of rainwater and blood, "You're not going to attack Konoha. You're not going to do anything. You're going to sit here and let me heal you. And do you know why? Because. It. Is. Over."
"It's not over!" Sasuke shouts, but his voice breaks pathetically, his soaked body making him look more like a drowned rat than a feared S-Class nin, "It can't be over!"
"Why not?" Sakura challenges, refusing to relent even though the pain in her abdomen is excruciating, "Because you'd know!?" She laughs without mirth, "This is it, Sasuke. This is what revenge feels like!"
"And how would you kn-" he starts, eyes flashing, desperate to hold onto the anger that has no doubt been sustaining him for the better part of twelve years.
"I," she says, cutting him off, "beheaded the man who killed my shishou less than a month ago. And while I can't know what it is like to lose my entire family, I sure as hell know what revenge is."
"I tried to tell you," the small part of her that isn't too caught up in anger thinks, "But you didn't listen. You didn't want to hear."
Sasuke chokes, spits out blood onto the damp cavern floor, shaking like a leaf.
"That's not," he whispers frantically, "It can't be-That's not-"
"It is," she says, letting him go and taking two steps back, "It's over."
"They should pay for it," he hisses, eyes flickering between red and black. "Someone should pay for it!"
"They're innocent!" Sakura retorts sharply clenching her fists tightly at her sides, shaking with pain and frustration. "And even if what you were told is true, someone did pay for it! Your brother may have been their tool, but he still did it! He still slaughtered your parents, your aunts and uncles, your cousins, childre-"
"Shut up!" he shouts, eyes scrunched shut, "Don't pretend like you know what you're talking about!"
"No," she says, past the point where she cares about being sensitive and understanding, "You're the one who doesn't know what you're talking about. You think this changes anything?! It doesn't. They're still dead. Just because other people were involved doesn't make them any less dead or him any less guilty for killing them. I don't care what was going to happen. He murdered his parents! He killed them, Sasuke! They're dead and they're not the only ones! Children, Sasuke, how many children did he kill?"
"Stop," he whispers.
"How many cousins younger than you did you have?" she demands, grabbing his chin and forcing him to look at her, "I read the report, Sasuke! I read the testimonies of the cleanup crew, I saw pictures of the bodies, I know."
"You can't know!" he snarls furiously, "You weren't there-you didn't see-"
"I don't have to!" Sakura says harshly. "If you had to make a choice between a bunch of strangers and your family, the people you loved the most, who would you choose? Who would you choose?"
"Stop it!" he says again and liquid falls from one of his eyes, but it is not water. It's blood.
She gives a hoarse laugh that soon turns into a painful cough, that wracks her body. When she recovers, she spits on the ground and wipes her mouth indelicately.
"No one does that," she says plainly, "We both know that. Nothing has changed. He's still the same person, and orders or not, he deserved worse than he got."
"You didn't se-"
"I didn't," she agrees, so, so tired all of the sudden, "But I'm not the one who's blind. You can't distance yourself from this. You've probably tried, but you can't. But I can. And that's why I can see the truth."
He closes his eyes again, hands grappling against the rock.
"It's over, Sasuke," she says gratingly, "Don't delude yourself into thinking your brother was anything that he wasn't. It's. Over."
He gasps, exhaustion probably finally hitting him, and he slides down the rocky wall. Sakura comes to kneel beside him, pulling open his shirt to check for injuries. His left eye is bruised in a strange way that Sakura can only imagine came from someone ripping it out. It shouldn't be possible for him to see out of that eye at all, but Sasuke has long tested the limits of possibility. She bandages it and begins healing both of their torso wounds. Healing two people at one time is hardly a walk in the park, but Sakura has been in worse situations. She summons what is left of her chakra and goes to work, willing the job to take over so she won't have to think anymore.
Neither of them say anything for the rest of the night.
When Sakura wakes it is morning. The rain has stopped, but heavy clouds remain; it is unusually cold for a spring morning. Despite the chill, Sakura is grateful. She doesn't think she could stand it if it was bright and cheery outside just like-
-that morning, all those years ago, when she woke up in the hospital and they told her tha-
-some stupid cliché. Sasuke is still asleep, curled against the cave wall in a sort of fetal position, and Sakura quietly creeps outside, pulling her cloak around her reflexively as she goes.
It is only a short walk to the clearing, but Sakura finds herself there sooner than she expected, sooner than she wanted. She didn't think she would be prepared enough, but when she gets there she doesn't know why she even bothered. He looks pathetic, lying there cold and dead, on the damp ground. Hardly like the feared S-Class nin that he is. Was. He didn't even get a chance to close his eyes all the way and Sakura leans down to look at them. They are black, not red, but they still send shivers down her spine. She resists the urge to rip them out.
She does not know whether what Sasuke was told is true or not. It doesn't seem to make much sense, but hindsight is always 20/20. It was probably less clear at the time. Even though she has been a traitor for three years, she does not like to think that the country of her childhood could do such a thing. But if the Uchiha were planning a coup…She shivers as she thinks of all those Sharingan eyes.
It's probably true.
Sakura knows a lot more about Uchiha Itachi than most people. She spent a lot of time researching him during the months following Sasuke's departure. She learned the most horrific things about his past, awful things besides the Uchiha Massacre. He was a young prodigy born during a time period of war and strife and his country used him accordingly.
She does not hate him, not like she did when she was a child, but she cannot like him or even respect him, either. Growing up like that…something was probably broken. Something that could never be fixed. Because no one could ever be completely sane and do the things he did, much less a child.
Part of her would like to leave him rotting outside in the cold, but it's just not practical. Their whereabouts could be become common knowledge if she just left him there for anyone to find. And though Konoha is going through a series of rebellions at the moment, it can't hurt to be too careful. But mostly, she does not want Sasuke to see him again.
She takes a shovel from a nearby farming village and digs a shallow grave, right on the spot where he died. Sakura pushes his body into the earth with her foot and sticks the shovel upright into the loose earth next to the hole.
"Goodbye, Uchiha Itachi," she says to his corpse, "See you in hell."
And she buries him.
--
Sasuke cannot think.
--
Naruto always feels apprehensive when he returns home, but now he feels especially worried. He knows it isn't an emergency-there's a different signal for that-but he doesn't know how he's going to explain about Sasuke and Sakura-chan. He doesn't know how he's going to explain the two missing fingers on his left hand.
His fellow jinchuuriki all, to a certain extent, despise normal people, though Tsuyu is the most vehement of them all to the point where she denies her own humanity. And ever since the treaty the Five Great Shinobi Countries made, the jinchuuriki have generally been less than cordial towards them as well. If they find out about the circumstances of his injury, they're going to want revenge and though Naruto is the strongest of them, he doesn't think he can stop them all.
It takes him four days to get from Lightning to Earth and it's weird traveling alone. The loneliness is something he's used to, but it doesn't make it any less better. It isn't half a day before he starts missing Sasuke and Sakura-chan and he feels stupid for needing to rely on them so much.
It also annoys him how much he thinks about Sasuke while he's traveling. Sure, he likes Sasuke, he thinks he's hot, he likes the sex, but if he were to, for example, actually develop feelings for him, he'd have to throw himself off a cliff in shame.
He's forced to cut across a northern part of the Fire Country, which is more nerve-wracking than he'd like to admit, but at least it's only for two hours. He makes a quick stop in a small tourist town in southern Waterfall and buys a couple packages of azuki bean paste that makes the shop clerk give him an odd look, and then he is on his way.
It is about three in the afternoon when he finally reaches the dense redwood forest, which has been home to the jinchuuriki hideout for about three and a half years. It is a really cool place for a hideout, but it's also practical as well. The forest spans the borders of the three surrounding countries, making it hard for ninja to know when exactly they are crossing into each other's territory. Of course, there have been attempts to mark the border, but these endeavors have always gone mysteriously awry. For the past three and a half years anyway. On the Earth side there's a mountain range just beyond the forest separating it from the rest of the country, and the Waterfall and Grass Countries don't have a lot of shinobi anyway. The fact that none of these countries really get along also helps.
Naruto used to get really lost in the forest, but by now he knows where he's going. Usually anyway. After a brief…er…wrong turn, he finds the large rock pinnacle that signals he's getting close. He clambers over it and surveys the area carefully for five minutes before leaping down to the ground. He approaches the giant tree, at least four times the size of it's companions, and digs through his bag for the card that took Yugito six months to develop.
He pushes apart a thick growth of vines and presses the card to the complicated symbol carved onto the huge tree's bark. He stands back and there is a puff of smoke. When it clears, there is a dark open space in the tree. Naruto pushes back the vines and enters, hearing the entry close behind him. For a while there is total darkness and Naruto gropes for the switch that he knows it there. He finds it and the room is illuminated by a series of weak oil lamps. Naruto removes jacket and moves forward where a stairway leads down into the earth. Two flights down and it levels off, and Naruto switches off the lights and opens the door.
There is no electricity in their hideout because it would attract attention, but they do just fine with oil lamps and natural light. Naruto walks past main room and into the kitchen where Gaara are Yugito. They seem to be looking over a Bingo Book and discussing it in strangely animated tones.
"Naruto," Gaara says, looking up when he enters, "You're back. What took you so long?"
"I was all the way in the Lightening Country when I got the message," Naruto says casually, sticking his left hand in his pocket and sliding in a chair at the table, "What's going on?"
"We just got a copy of the new Bingo Book," Yugito explains, "Did you know that four Akatsuki have been killed?"
"Oh yeah, I knew about that," Naruto says, glad it isn't something more serious. They give him shocked looks and he amends his statement, "I mean, I just found out too. Hidan, Sasori, Kakuzu, and Zetsu, right?"
"Zetsu?" Yugito questions, stiffening up.
"Yeah, you know the creepy plant guy? You told me about him a couple of years ago. He was spying on you over in Rai…" he trails off as he realizes the implications of her question, "You mean to say another Akatsuki member is dead?"
"Deidara," Gaara replies, looking at him carefully, "He was sent to destabilize Konoha more after the revolts- you heard about those right?" Naruto nods, "He was killed by Copy Ninja Kakashi two weeks ago."
"Kakashi?" Naruto gapes, "I had no ide-wait, is that in the Bingo Book?"
Gaara shakes his head, "No, but the other three are. You know him, then?" he asks carefully, glancing at Yugito.
"He was my teacher when I was still…" Kakashi-sensei? Naruto knew he was strong, but he didn't know he was that strong.
"You said Zetsu was dead? How did you hear that?" Yugito asks.
"Yeah," Naruto says uncomfortably, the remaining fingers on his left hand clenching the fabric of his pocket, "I sorta…killed him."
Yugito raises her eyebrows and Gaara looks impressed, but before they have a chance to say anything they are interrupted.
"Nice one, Uzumaki," Tsuyu says, entering the room and ruffles his hair. Naruto scowls and ducks, though more because he doesn't really want to be congratulated on killing someone than because he dislikes being patronized.
"So that means," Yugito says, comprehension dawning on her face, "that only Itachi, Kisame, Tobi, Pein, and Konan are left."
"Pein?" Naruto asks, confused, "Who's that?"
"Their leader," Tsuyu answers, "He's the guy with the piercings who nearly killed me two years ago."
"Weird name," Naruto observes, but they're all too busy discussing the recent developments to hear him.
After a while, with nothing further to contribute, Naruto gets up citing fatigue from travel and leaves the room. He walks down the hallway and goes to his room which is lit by natural light that seeps in from up above without attracting attention. He's not exactly sure how it works because it was Yugito's idea and Gaara was the one who implemented it. Naruto throws his bag on a chair and lets himself fall onto the orange bedspread on his bed. There is an angry hiss and he jerks his leg up.
His fat orange cat glares balefully up at him with it's ugly green eyes.
"Sorry, baby," Naruto says, scratching his pointed ears apologetically, "You kind of blend in with the bed. You miss me?"
His cat yawns loudly and jumps off the bed, leaving his room with his tail high in the air.
Naruto rolls his eyes and lies back down. But he finds that he doesn't really feel all that tired and stares at the ceiling instead of closing his eyes.
It's not that he doesn't like his fellow jinchuuriki. He cares about them a lot. It's just that the evil demon in his stomach aside, he doesn't have all that much in common with them. Not that he particularly has much in common with Sasuke and Sakura-chan, but he seems to get on with them better. Maybe he only feels like this because he's keeping secrets from them.
He'll tell them eventually, he tells himself, once he comes up with a believable story, or if enough time has past so they won't be hankering for revenge. But for now…he'll only be here for a few days and he'll henge if he has to to keep them from finding out.
After about half an hour of failing to fall asleep, Naruto decides to go visit to Waka. He gets up and grabs the packages of sweet bean paste. He exits his room and walks toward the door at the end of the long hallway.
He knocks on the door carefully, "Hey, Waka, it's me, Naruto. I'm going to come in, okay?"
He opens the door slowly and enters the room. There is nothing in Waka's room, but a bed and a collection of stuffed animals that Tsuyu keeps adding to, even though Waka should have outgrown them years ago.
Waka is small for his age, most likely the result of all the abuse he suffered in his earlier life. He has strange yellowish eyes and short black hair, and he refuses to wear anything else but the green shirt with his number on it Tsuyu made him. He's sitting on the floor, reading a book about…proper maintenance for weapons? Naruto rolls his eyes and sits on the side of the bed. A book about weapons. It was probably Yugito's idea of a gift. Go figure.
"Hey, kid," Naruto says, as Waka smiles up at him, "I got you some azuki. I know how you like it so much, even more than ramen."
He opens the package and tosses it down to Waka who catches it and digs out a handful of the reddish brown sweet greedily.
Even though he is nearly thirteen, Waka does not act like it. Naruto remembers that age, being hyper all the time and making dirty jokes nonstop. Waka is nothing like that. It's like he is frozen permanently in time. After reading a bunch of books on psychology, Yugito came to the conclusion that he would probably stay like that. Mute, immature, and overly cautious. It's awful and sad, especially as his body begins to grow up in ways that his mind will never catch up to, but there's nothing they can really do about it. The damage is permanent.
While Waka eats, Naruto picks up the forgotten book and closes it, placing it on the far end of the bed. When he turns back to him, he find Waka frozen in mid-bite, bean paste all over his mouth.
"Er…" Naruto says, gesturing, "You've got something…"
But then he realizes that Waka is not staring into space as he often does, but is staring at his hand. His left hand, which he carelessly used to pick up the book. Waka makes a horrified noise (though lower than it would have been months ago) and raises his yellow eyes up to stare at him.
"Oh, fuck," Naruto swears and hides his hand behind his back, "Look, Waka, I…uh…got in an accident, but it's okay, really. It doesn't hurt or anything, so…"
Tears trickles down Waka's cheeks.
"No, no, don't cry," Naruto says frantically, patting him on the shoulder, and checking the door just in case, "It doesn't hurt at all. Look," He holds out his hand for Waka to inspect, figuring that the damage is already done. "See, it looks scary, I guess, but there's no pain, right?"
The boy warily takes his hands and runs his fingers over the stumps where Naruto's pinky and ring finger used to be.
"It's okay," Naruto tells him gently, "I promise."
Waka scrubs his eyes nods after a while, but does not stop looking at his hand for a long while.
He eventually pulls on his pant leg, a sign that he wants Naruto to tell him a story and so Naruto does. He tells a story about a kickass princess who ran away from home to find herself, a disillusioned warrior, fighting for his family's honor, and a lonely demon who just wanted to make friends. They join up, go one tons of adventures together, beat the bad guys and save the day. Waka falls asleep by the time he's finished and Naruto gently picks him up off the floor and tucks him under the covers.
And Naruto thinks, if it could just stay like this, all peaceful and calm, things would be perfect.
But, of course, that is too much to ask.
A/N: Argh, I do not like this chapter. I wanted the scene with Sakura shutting down Sasuke's moronic plan to destroy Konoha to go differently, but it just would not work. Also, I felt that Naruto's POV was boring and I wanted to add in more about the other jinchuuriki, but I just didn't have the patience. So sorry if this chapter sucks.
Anyway, the two year anniversary of TPWB was in November (God, time flies)…which was…three months ago. Wow. I really need to work on the whole updating on time thing (Not going to happen, though, sorry! ^_^;)
If you have any comments or questions about this chapter, please review!