After Pain
Chapter 1: Wanted: Sasuke UchihaChapter 2: For a Friend
Chapter 3: Anbu
Chapter 4: The Hidden Leaf Jounin
Chapter 5: A Worthy Opponent
Chapter 6: Kakashi Hatake
Chapter 8: The Right Moment
Chapter 9: The Quiet Before the Storm
Chapter 10: A Man of Many Shadows
Chapter 11: A Leaf on the Wind
Chapter 12: The Konoha 11
Chapter 13: Epilogue
Chapter 4: The Hidden Leaf Jounin
The Hidden Leaf's Jounin were not to be taken lightly. Neji was called to a meeting of the Jounin Council just a few minutes after Lee left his home. They spent all night discussing the laws of the village and the situation with the Anbu. While others feared even to say the word Anbu, the Jounin were not afraid. And unlike the secret dinner meetings in which they discussed their discontent this meeting was no secret. They were discussing village law, and their own role in the absence of the Hokage, and so they did not need to worry about secrecy.
Of course there were those on the Jounin council who supported Danzo as Hokage, but the Jounin Commander, Shikaku Nara led the discussions expertly, never letting them feel like there was anything anti-Danzo about the meeting.
"Why not wait until the Hokage comes back and discuss our concerns with him?" one of the elders on the council said.
"Our concerns will no longer be relevant when he returns to take the reigns," Shikaku said, not letting a single hint of his dissatisfaction with Danzo slip through. "In the Hokage's absence it is for the Jounin Council to handle certain affairs, such as mission reports from Ninja who have returned from their missions, and so on. The Anbu have taken it upon themselves to by-pass this law. This cannot be allowed to happen. As you know, the village Anbu report to the Hokage and the Jounin Council, not the other way around."
"But they seem to have their orders from the Hokage in this matter."
"They certainly act like they do."
"But that is irrelevant. The Hokage did not inform the Jounin Council or any legal changes to the protocol, which means that the protocol remains the same and they are bound to follow it. We have just swept through all the village's legal documents and they are very clear on this matter."
"How do we proceed, Jounin Commander," Tsume Inuzuka said, using Shikaku's official title as Neji would expect.
"We must send them a formal notice explaining the law and asking them to cease their unlawful activities." Shikaku said. "Our next step would then depend upon their answer."
"Let us include a time limit for their response," Raido Namiashi said. Being the third hokage's bodyguard he was experienced in these sorts of politics.
They gave the Anbu two hours for their response. By the time the sun rose, two and a half hours later, with no response whatsoever from the Anbu sitting in the Hokage building the Jounin Council had made their decision. They walked to the Hokage building as one and, ignoring the Anbu posted as guards, they took control of the room in which mission reports were being made and informed the Anbu in charge there that he was not invited to stay. He did stay, but they made every effort to ignore him as the day's work began and ninja came in to report on their missions.
...
"It took us a long time to find you, Kakashi Hatake," Gaara said in his deep voice.
"I am honored by your visit, Lord Kazekage," Kakashi said.
"I see the rumors are true, you have left your village. Are the rumors about the reason for this also true?"
Kakashi smiled, even though Gaara would not be able to see it through his mask. "I've been finding it difficult to keep up with the rumors from outside the village. What do they say about me?"
"That you left your village and went rogue in order to help a wanted man: Sasuke Uchiha,"
"Sasuke is our friend!" Naruto jumped in.
Gaara turned to him and looked him over with a certain fondness and respect that still surprised Kakashi. "I admire your willingness to stand by your friend, but what do you think he needs your help with. Surely you do not intend to join the Akatsuki and help him in his attacks on other nations. You understand, Naruto, that you are one of the Akarsuki's main targets."
"This has nothing to do with the Akatsuki!" Naruto began.
"Quiet, Naruto," Kakashi said. "Control your anger, please. This is not the time for it, you are among friends who understand you and who are willing to hear you out."
Gaara nodded and turned back to Kakashi.
"I will tell you our goal, Lord Kazekage, but I will ask that after you hear it you relay the message you came here to relay even though I am no longer in the village."
"That will depend upon your answer," Gaara said.
Kakashi made a tiny bow of acknowledgement. "As his old Sensei I have decided to help Sasuke by bringing him justice for the murder of his family and the abuse of his older brother. Certain information has come to light recently, and I hope you will keep this between us for now, that our new Hokage, Danzo, had a hand in the slaughter of the Uchiha clan, and that he used Itachi Uchiha for that purpose. If this is true, then he must be brought to justice. I also cannot allow Naruto to fall into his hands at a time like this."
Gaara met Kakashi's eye with a look of deep respect. Kakashi ducked his head. He might have deserved that respect if he had acted on this sooner, if he had gone after Sasuke himself right from the start and brought him back to the village to seek justice all those years ago. But he had failed and Sasuke had been allowed to sink deeper and deeper into darkness. He did not deserve this respect.
"Kakashi Hatake," Gaara said. "You give a fine example of the Hidden Leaf Jounin. I would follow a man like you to battle."
"I do not deserve your respect, Lord Kazekage."
"Please call me Gaara, thought as you expected I did come here with a message from the other Kage."
Kakashi simply waited. Gaara's siblings were standing on either side of him like bodyguards, but they made no comment as Gaara went on.
"Danzo possesses the Sharingan eye of Shisui Uchiha. He was caught trying to use it to influence the Five Kage Summit in order to set himself up as the leader of an alliance of the five great nations. He fled the Summit soon after his discovery. I do not know if he has been captured or not, I did not wait for the Ninja who went after him to report."
Kakashi stood there in shock. He could see, very clearly in his mind's eye the bandages that covered one side of Danzo's face. Why had no one ever noticed? The leaf was crawling with exceptional ninja, it was crawling with Byakugan users who could detect the slightest... but they wouldn't have known to look for it. And Danzo always worked in the shadows.
"Shisui," he said, trying the name on his tongue after so many years. "Shisui Uchiha?"
"Yes," Gaara said. "There's no time for shock, Kakashi, we-"
"So the summit broke down." Kakashi said.
"No," it was Gaara's brother Kankurro who answered this time. "The leaf is not the only village who possesses exceptional Ninja, Kakashi. Lord Kazekage fought to unite the Shinobi forces. He reminded the other Kage of their responsibilities to themselves and those who rely on them. The four Kage have agreed to an alliance of Shinobi to counter the threat of the Akatsuki."
"And Sasuke?!" Naruto asked, trying hard, but ultimately failing, to hide his emotions.
"Sasuke is not our top priority right now," Gaara said. "But if he is captured he will be held accountable for his crimes, especially for his attack on Lord Killer Bee of the cloud."
"Understood," Kakashi said before Naruto could say anything. "Am I to take it that Danzo is also wanted by the other four nations?"
"The Leaf village has a place waiting for it in the Alliance as soon as any other Hokage takes charge. With Danzo as Hokage the Leaf is outside our alliance, but we will not do anything to harm the leaf village."
Kakashi was impressed. Gaara was very young, but he clearly held a lot of sway among the other Kage and he was handling his village's interests and his old alliance with the Leaf very well. by any rights the other Kage should be demanding Danzo's head, but they were giving the Leaf village time to recover and deal with the matter themselves.
"How much time do we have to deal with Danzo?"
"The Kage will not take action against the Leaf or Danzo if I can help it," Gaara said. "But if Danzo should do anything to antagonize us that may change. The Kage will meet again in three weeks time. It would be ideal if your village was ready to join us then."
"Three weeks is not much time," Kakashi said.
"The Akatsuki have attacked three small towns in the past week looking for the eight tails and Naruto. We don't know what other activities they have been carrying out in secret. We don't have time to waste."
"I understand," Kakashi said.
Gaara hesitated. His siblings seemed ready to leave, but he lingered.
"Now I've completed my mission as the messenger of the Kage," he said finally. "I can speak now as a friend. If you should require any help that does not put my village in danger I would be happy to give it."
"Thank you, Gaara," Kakashi said.
"Temari," Gaara said. It was gentle, but it was an order. One she did not seem too happy to carry out. She bit her forefinger and summoned a bird, one of the species of eagle that was commonly used by the sand to send messages.
"Be careful with that," Konkurro spoke up. "It's her personal pet. She won't have mercy on anyone who puts it in danger."
Kakashi nodded. "Then allow me to give you a means of communicating with me also, if the need arises." He summoned his smallest ninja hound and ordered it to go with the sand ninja before accepting the bird from Temari.
...
"Its Chakra is disturbed for sure," Hinata said. "But not in the same way. There's a different feel to it, I think this group of insects was attacked by someone with the same kinds of powers as the masked man, but not by him personally. If that makes any sense."
"Byakugan!" Neji said. He did not say anything after examining it, simply nodded to show that Hinata was correct. Shino could see the strain in the Jounin's eyes. Being a member of the Jounin council was stressful enough these days, with the tension between them and the Anbu, and Neji had the added responsibility of being Hinata's bodyguard. Shino hated to give him more responsibility, but he had to be open with his friends and keep them informed.
"The masked man disappeared with the first group of insects that I showed you a couple of days ago. They were not able to get back to me on their own. I had to use the summoning to get them back and they returned in the state you saw. With the help of an Inuzuka elder I took this group to another dimension for a few seconds."
Neji nodded.
"You believe that this type of chakra disturbance is caused by travel to a different dimension?"
"Yes," Shino said. "That is my theory. But it's difficult to find Ninja who are capable of this kind of transportation in order to confirm the theory."
Neji stepped closer. "You need to go see Kakashi," Neji said. "He has a Jutsu that will help us. And I believe that the Cloud village has some Ninja who can preform special summons."
"That would involve leaving the Leaf Village," Shino said.
"Come to the Jounin Council this afternoon and ask for permission to go search for more insects. Say yours were injured in the recent battles. I will make sure that you are able to leave the village."
"But the Hokage-"
"The Hokage made the mistake of underestimating the Leaf Village Jounin," Neji said. "You must set out quickly before he returns."
Shino nodded.
"Come, Hinata," Neji said. "I must return to the council."
"Kiba and I could escort her back home later," Shino said. "Mother was hoping to have her over for lunch today."
"I do not doubt that you would defend her with your lives," Neji said seriously. "But I cannot disobey Lord Hiyashi's orders."
Hinata made no objection, but she looked very sad as they left together.
,,,
Rumors had been spreading like wildfire in the village. They said that the Hokage Danzo had been attacked by Sasuke again on his way back from the summit. They said that he had been named the leader of an alliance of the five great nations. They said that Kakashi had defected from the village to create his own village. Tenten knew that most of them were not true, but she sensed that one, at least, was accurate. Danzo was on his way to the village.
She could feel it in the hurried way that the council approved Shino's mission, even overlooking the fact that Tenten had been appointed to "guard" him by the Anbu. She saw them send out three other teams on missions before Shino had gathered his belongings to leave town. He had gathered a lot of things for a simple insect search mission, but she did not comment on that. The Anbu had ordered her to "convince" him to go speak to Sakura and Naruto and Kakashi with the supposed intent of convincing them to come back to the Village and beg for the Hokage's mercy. The real intent was to spy on Kakashi through Sakura.
"Let's go," Tenten said, as several Anbu came rushing into the village. Danzo would be here soon.
As they left the village they heard a new rumor circulating among the guards at the new wall. Rock Lee had single-handedly faced a team of Anbu and sent them back to the village in defeat. They said he had set up a dojo overlooking his hometown and was protecting it from any and all attacks. Tenten smiled.
"Let's go, Shino," she repeated.
...
She felt him coming, but too late. She was slow to react. she had only completed two out of three hand signs by the time Kabuto attacked her. She had the span of a breath in which to complete her jutsu or defend herself. Anko Mitarashi was a hidden leaf Jounin. She held out her hand and sent several snakes shooting towards him.
In the heat of their battle, in his excitement to capture her, Kabuto did not notice her complete the third and final hand sign. He was distracted by the dozen large snakes that were attacking him and did not notice the tiny one slithering away towards the leaf village.
She had known he would capture her, but Kabuto had not known that she was prepared for this outcome.
"Is that all you've got?" Anko snarled. Under her breath, as he dragged her down and pushed her face into the mud Anko whispered a plea. Her information had to get to the leaf village. She made one more hand sign and imagined, because she could not see it, the snake splitting into five much smaller snakes, almost the size of worms. One headed for the sand village, one headed for Kakashi Hatake, one headed for the village hidden in the cloud, one headed for Shizune, and the last one headed for Inoichi Yamanaka. If just one of them got through her efforts would not have been in vain.
Her world faded to black.
...
Shizune looked down at the three men, panting. She may not be a famous, well-known ninja, but she was a Leaf Village Jounin, one of the finest medic ninja in all the nations. They really thought they could get through her and get at Lady Tsunade? Idiots. she turned to look down on the still comatose form of her mentor. One day, Lady Tsunade would come out of her coma and help this village stand on its feet again. She could not doubt that. In the meantime, it was up to Shizune to protect her.
She pulled out a bit of rope and tied the three Anbu up tightly, one hand twisted up near their shoulder so that they could not preform hand signs. The Nara kid appeared at the mouth of the tent all of a sudden. That was pretty quick. He looked like he was going to die from the strain of running here. He composed himself and helped her tie them up.
"Well, now we know your shadow trace thing works," Shizune said. "And how long it takes you to run here."
"I'm sorry," he said. "I came as fast as I could, more help is on the way."
Shizune nodded and looked down at the attackers again. There was no mistaking it. They were Anbu. But who had sent them to kill Lady Tsunade and why?
"What should we do with them, Lady Shizune?" Lady, eh? That was kind of cute. Was he trying to make himself seem even younger than he actually was or was he just that bad at the whole politeness thing?
"I think I'll leave that to your father as Jounin Commander," she said. "We need to transport them without being seen, though, don't want panic spreading in the village."
The Nara kid nodded, his hair bobbing out just like his father's did. The help he had talked about finally arrived. Inoichi and his daughter and two other Chunin she had seen hanging around those dinners. She explained the situation quickly before they could ask. Inoichi nodded and pulled out a scroll.
"We can't use this for long, I kind of commandeered it from the unit, but we'll be able to transport them to a safer location before it's missed."
"That was an elite Anbu unit," his daughter said in awe, looking from the Anbu to Shizune.
"Well," Shizune shrugged. "I'm an elite Leaf Village Jounin."
"Yeah, but what were they doing attacking Lady Tsunade?!"
She finished that sentence with a hastily muffled scream as a snake slithered into the tent and towards Shizune.
Kakashi simply waited. Gaara's siblings were standing on either side of him like bodyguards, but they made no comment as Gaara went on.
"Danzo possesses the Sharingan eye of Shisui Uchiha. He was caught trying to use it to influence the Five Kage Summit in order to set himself up as the leader of an alliance of the five great nations. He fled the Summit soon after his discovery. I do not know if he has been captured or not, I did not wait for the Ninja who went after him to report."
Kakashi stood there in shock. He could see, very clearly in his mind's eye the bandages that covered one side of Danzo's face. Why had no one ever noticed? The leaf was crawling with exceptional ninja, it was crawling with Byakugan users who could detect the slightest... but they wouldn't have known to look for it. And Danzo always worked in the shadows.
"Shisui," he said, trying the name on his tongue after so many years. "Shisui Uchiha?"
"Yes," Gaara said. "There's no time for shock, Kakashi, we-"
"So the summit broke down." Kakashi said.
"No," it was Gaara's brother Kankurro who answered this time. "The leaf is not the only village who possesses exceptional Ninja, Kakashi. Lord Kazekage fought to unite the Shinobi forces. He reminded the other Kage of their responsibilities to themselves and those who rely on them. The four Kage have agreed to an alliance of Shinobi to counter the threat of the Akatsuki."
"And Sasuke?!" Naruto asked, trying hard, but ultimately failing, to hide his emotions.
"Sasuke is not our top priority right now," Gaara said. "But if he is captured he will be held accountable for his crimes, especially for his attack on Lord Killer Bee of the cloud."
"Understood," Kakashi said before Naruto could say anything. "Am I to take it that Danzo is also wanted by the other four nations?"
"The Leaf village has a place waiting for it in the Alliance as soon as any other Hokage takes charge. With Danzo as Hokage the Leaf is outside our alliance, but we will not do anything to harm the leaf village."
Kakashi was impressed. Gaara was very young, but he clearly held a lot of sway among the other Kage and he was handling his village's interests and his old alliance with the Leaf very well. by any rights the other Kage should be demanding Danzo's head, but they were giving the Leaf village time to recover and deal with the matter themselves.
"How much time do we have to deal with Danzo?"
"The Kage will not take action against the Leaf or Danzo if I can help it," Gaara said. "But if Danzo should do anything to antagonize us that may change. The Kage will meet again in three weeks time. It would be ideal if your village was ready to join us then."
"Three weeks is not much time," Kakashi said.
"The Akatsuki have attacked three small towns in the past week looking for the eight tails and Naruto. We don't know what other activities they have been carrying out in secret. We don't have time to waste."
"I understand," Kakashi said.
Gaara hesitated. His siblings seemed ready to leave, but he lingered.
"Now I've completed my mission as the messenger of the Kage," he said finally. "I can speak now as a friend. If you should require any help that does not put my village in danger I would be happy to give it."
"Thank you, Gaara," Kakashi said.
"Temari," Gaara said. It was gentle, but it was an order. One she did not seem too happy to carry out. She bit her forefinger and summoned a bird, one of the species of eagle that was commonly used by the sand to send messages.
"Be careful with that," Konkurro spoke up. "It's her personal pet. She won't have mercy on anyone who puts it in danger."
Kakashi nodded. "Then allow me to give you a means of communicating with me also, if the need arises." He summoned his smallest ninja hound and ordered it to go with the sand ninja before accepting the bird from Temari.
...
"Its Chakra is disturbed for sure," Hinata said. "But not in the same way. There's a different feel to it, I think this group of insects was attacked by someone with the same kinds of powers as the masked man, but not by him personally. If that makes any sense."
"Byakugan!" Neji said. He did not say anything after examining it, simply nodded to show that Hinata was correct. Shino could see the strain in the Jounin's eyes. Being a member of the Jounin council was stressful enough these days, with the tension between them and the Anbu, and Neji had the added responsibility of being Hinata's bodyguard. Shino hated to give him more responsibility, but he had to be open with his friends and keep them informed.
"The masked man disappeared with the first group of insects that I showed you a couple of days ago. They were not able to get back to me on their own. I had to use the summoning to get them back and they returned in the state you saw. With the help of an Inuzuka elder I took this group to another dimension for a few seconds."
Neji nodded.
"You believe that this type of chakra disturbance is caused by travel to a different dimension?"
"Yes," Shino said. "That is my theory. But it's difficult to find Ninja who are capable of this kind of transportation in order to confirm the theory."
Neji stepped closer. "You need to go see Kakashi," Neji said. "He has a Jutsu that will help us. And I believe that the Cloud village has some Ninja who can preform special summons."
"That would involve leaving the Leaf Village," Shino said.
"Come to the Jounin Council this afternoon and ask for permission to go search for more insects. Say yours were injured in the recent battles. I will make sure that you are able to leave the village."
"But the Hokage-"
"The Hokage made the mistake of underestimating the Leaf Village Jounin," Neji said. "You must set out quickly before he returns."
Shino nodded.
"Come, Hinata," Neji said. "I must return to the council."
"Kiba and I could escort her back home later," Shino said. "Mother was hoping to have her over for lunch today."
"I do not doubt that you would defend her with your lives," Neji said seriously. "But I cannot disobey Lord Hiyashi's orders."
Hinata made no objection, but she looked very sad as they left together.
,,,
Rumors had been spreading like wildfire in the village. They said that the Hokage Danzo had been attacked by Sasuke again on his way back from the summit. They said that he had been named the leader of an alliance of the five great nations. They said that Kakashi had defected from the village to create his own village. Tenten knew that most of them were not true, but she sensed that one, at least, was accurate. Danzo was on his way to the village.
She could feel it in the hurried way that the council approved Shino's mission, even overlooking the fact that Tenten had been appointed to "guard" him by the Anbu. She saw them send out three other teams on missions before Shino had gathered his belongings to leave town. He had gathered a lot of things for a simple insect search mission, but she did not comment on that. The Anbu had ordered her to "convince" him to go speak to Sakura and Naruto and Kakashi with the supposed intent of convincing them to come back to the Village and beg for the Hokage's mercy. The real intent was to spy on Kakashi through Sakura.
"Let's go," Tenten said, as several Anbu came rushing into the village. Danzo would be here soon.
As they left the village they heard a new rumor circulating among the guards at the new wall. Rock Lee had single-handedly faced a team of Anbu and sent them back to the village in defeat. They said he had set up a dojo overlooking his hometown and was protecting it from any and all attacks. Tenten smiled.
"Let's go, Shino," she repeated.
...
She felt him coming, but too late. She was slow to react. she had only completed two out of three hand signs by the time Kabuto attacked her. She had the span of a breath in which to complete her jutsu or defend herself. Anko Mitarashi was a hidden leaf Jounin. She held out her hand and sent several snakes shooting towards him.
In the heat of their battle, in his excitement to capture her, Kabuto did not notice her complete the third and final hand sign. He was distracted by the dozen large snakes that were attacking him and did not notice the tiny one slithering away towards the leaf village.
She had known he would capture her, but Kabuto had not known that she was prepared for this outcome.
"Is that all you've got?" Anko snarled. Under her breath, as he dragged her down and pushed her face into the mud Anko whispered a plea. Her information had to get to the leaf village. She made one more hand sign and imagined, because she could not see it, the snake splitting into five much smaller snakes, almost the size of worms. One headed for the sand village, one headed for Kakashi Hatake, one headed for the village hidden in the cloud, one headed for Shizune, and the last one headed for Inoichi Yamanaka. If just one of them got through her efforts would not have been in vain.
Her world faded to black.
...
Shizune looked down at the three men, panting. She may not be a famous, well-known ninja, but she was a Leaf Village Jounin, one of the finest medic ninja in all the nations. They really thought they could get through her and get at Lady Tsunade? Idiots. she turned to look down on the still comatose form of her mentor. One day, Lady Tsunade would come out of her coma and help this village stand on its feet again. She could not doubt that. In the meantime, it was up to Shizune to protect her.
She pulled out a bit of rope and tied the three Anbu up tightly, one hand twisted up near their shoulder so that they could not preform hand signs. The Nara kid appeared at the mouth of the tent all of a sudden. That was pretty quick. He looked like he was going to die from the strain of running here. He composed himself and helped her tie them up.
"Well, now we know your shadow trace thing works," Shizune said. "And how long it takes you to run here."
"I'm sorry," he said. "I came as fast as I could, more help is on the way."
Shizune nodded and looked down at the attackers again. There was no mistaking it. They were Anbu. But who had sent them to kill Lady Tsunade and why?
"What should we do with them, Lady Shizune?" Lady, eh? That was kind of cute. Was he trying to make himself seem even younger than he actually was or was he just that bad at the whole politeness thing?
"I think I'll leave that to your father as Jounin Commander," she said. "We need to transport them without being seen, though, don't want panic spreading in the village."
The Nara kid nodded, his hair bobbing out just like his father's did. The help he had talked about finally arrived. Inoichi and his daughter and two other Chunin she had seen hanging around those dinners. She explained the situation quickly before they could ask. Inoichi nodded and pulled out a scroll.
"We can't use this for long, I kind of commandeered it from the unit, but we'll be able to transport them to a safer location before it's missed."
"That was an elite Anbu unit," his daughter said in awe, looking from the Anbu to Shizune.
"Well," Shizune shrugged. "I'm an elite Leaf Village Jounin."
"Yeah, but what were they doing attacking Lady Tsunade?!"
She finished that sentence with a hastily muffled scream as a snake slithered into the tent and towards Shizune.
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