In Which Danzo is Blamed for Something He Didn't Do (for once)
To the layman, the corpses she was examining would appear to be in order. They weren't a pretty sight by any means, but the advanced state of decomposition made sense when the climate and time since death had occurred. They wouldn't have had any eye material left at this point anyways, and most observers wouldn't have been able to tell anything was wrong.
Shizune wasn't 'most observers', however. Much like Sasuke was specializing in disease and pediatrics, and her mentor specialized in chakra enhanced field medicine and poison removal, Shizune had a concentration in diagnosis and analysis of post-mortem specimens, usually in order to glean information about other villages.
To her, the bodies she had examined may as well have been actually speaking to her. There would have been buildup on the eye cavity, and traces of maggot activity in the sockets if the eyes had decayed normally. She respectfully flipped sheets back over Uchiha Mikoto and Fugaku, (two of the very few who hadn't been cremated) and directed an assistant to have them returned. He didn't look particularly pleased, but she didn't care as she tugged off her hairnet and disposable gloves, tossing them straight into the biohazard container.
It was probably for the best that Sasuke hadn't been involved in this, not that he would have been allowed to anyway. It was against policy for staff to be involved in the medical treatment of blood relations if at all possible, including post mortem work. It was just unwise and emotionally compromising.
Being asked to give permission to excavate his parents had probably been traumatizing enough, to be frank. Especially since Tsunade hadn't wanted to explain her suspicions to him unless it was absolutely necessary.
While she had them up, Shizune had taken the opportunity to acquire a genetic sample from both Uchiha. It might be useful to Sasuke in his investigation of the bizarre disease that kept popping up in his family line, which Tsunade had thought might serve as a good consolation if the exercise was for naught. If Kakashi's theory about missing eyes had proven to be incorrect, there would have been no point in worrying him.
Unfortunately, it looked like Kakashi was right, as he was prone to be. Someone had run off with prime examples of the Uchiha bloodline and used them to incite unrest between Konoha and their allies.
What's worse, they had to be someone highly placed in Konoha, either through legitimate means or with spies.
She didn't bother to knock or introduce herself, as she knew that Tsunade-sama should be out of appointments at the time. Sasuke was in the office, and he looked up with an unusual amount of curiosity. 'He must have rushed over after he finished with his patients for the day,' she realized dully. 'I bet he didn't even stop back to his office before coming here to wait for me.' Shizune cringed, but didn't bother suggesting that he should leave. At this point, he should know what was going on. They couldn't ask him to allow her to excavate his parents and then claim it wasn't important.
"Bad news, Tsunade-sama," she said unceremoniously. "Kakashi was right." She ignored the groan that sounded suspiciously like, "That smug bastard," and continued. "Someone…" Her eyes wanted to flicker over to capture Sasuke's reaction, but she contained the twitch. "committed bloodline theft on at least two members of the Uchiha clan, probably a day or two at most after the time of death."
"Fuck," Tsunade muttered, rubbing at that migraine she kept insisting she didn't have. "Just- fuck!"
Sasuke was pale, composed, and hard. But the glitter in his eyes gave away the fact that he was definitely experiencing a strong emotional response. "Do we have any suspects?"
At the clipped tones, Tsunade looked at her younger apprentice with visible sympathy. "Not exactly. It would have had to be someone either in-village with the opportunity to make a move very quickly and the authority to get around security, or…" she trailed off, not certain if it was wise to suggest the opportunity, now that she remembered Sasuke didn't yet know that Itachi had been under orders.
"Or if they knew what was about to happen and had been able to make arrangements beforehand," Sasuke finished quietly, cold with anger.
Shizune exchanged a dry look with her shishou, full of meaning. Tsunade struggled not to make a face. Her elder student was probably right—it was time that Sasuke got the full story. She trusted him, and he was clever enough that he might already be sensing hints that something was wrong about the story he'd been told. If he figured this out on his own, he would never trust them again.
"If that," Tsunade agreed quietly, averting her gaze. She looked downright pained, which to Shizune was as good as an admission that she agreed. "Sasuke… Do you remember what I said, about information that you needed to have but didn't have clearance for?"
"Yes," he bit out, practically vibrating with tension. "But I'm not yet sixteen or a Jounin."
"This… changes things," she muttered. "I think you have to know, now. Uchiha Sasuke, what I am about to impart is an S-level secret. Insensitive use of this information will compromise multiple lives, and possibly the administration of Konoha itself. If you do not feel able to responsibly possess and protect this information, say so now."
She hadn't expected that he would falter. Tsunade knew how block-headedly stubborn her younger apprentice was.
Seeing his faultless bow and murmured promise that he would protect this secret still filled her with pride. He was a good kid.
"Alright, then. ANBU, out of the room, set up a perimeter." A whoosh of black was visible for just an instant, and then the door was shut more securely. Shizune wordlessly traveled the room, activating hidden seals.
Sasuke was looking a bit disturbed at this point, to her expert eye.
"This information," Tsunade began, "was known to only three people before I was informed, as far as I know. One of whom is Shimura Danzo," (Shizune scowled), "one is the Sandaime Hokage, and the last would be Uchiha Itachi."
Now both her apprentices were scowling.
"You're not going to like this," she sighed. "but this story actually begins when the Kyuubi attacked Konoha."
Sasuke's confusion was almost palpable. Normally, Tsunade would have mocked her apprentice for the blankly dumb look on his face. She could hardly blame him for that—the connection was hard to see.
"Apparently, the idiotic masses went looking for scapegoats in the wake of their pain. One of those you know—Naruto. The other…" She paused. "Well, I'm sure you're aware of that old story about how Uchiha Madara could control the bijuu with his Sharingan?"
Sasuke twitched. "That's a children's story," he said flatly.
"Well, it apparently holds equal appeal to small minds of all sorts," Tsunade said dryly. "Because several elements of the conservative faction allied with the nimrods who came up with the connection, and the Uchiha came under suspicion. Danzo, among others, used the opportunity to push sanctions against the Uchiha, who he had apparently never trusted."
He appeared spectacularly unimpressed.
"Obviously, I don't believe that the Uchiha were involved in a brilliant scheme to summon the demon that devastated their home as well," Tsunade said dryly. "But unfortunately, your father wasn't much of a politician, and chose to deal with the idiocy as if it would pass if he just sneered at it long enough."
Shizune face-palmed at the 'accurate but not particularly kind' summation of the situation. Sasuke just shrugged.
"My keen intuition tells me that he overestimated the intelligence of the general populace."
The condescension in the otherwise bland statement was all but palpable. If nothing else, Sasuke had a damn good poker face when he wanted to. Tsunade gave a sideways smile devoid of humor, and added, "Unfortunately for all involved, he also underestimated their competence. He chose to cope with the political difficulties by removing them from power."
At his blank expression, she rolled her eyes. "Tsunade-sama means that he was advocating overthrowing the Hokage and the Council and taking control of Konoha's administration," Shizune explained gently. Sasuke wavered for a moment, and then sat down with a thump on the couch.
'Me too, buddy,' Shizune sympathized silently. Damn if the kid didn't look like he needed a hug at the moment.
"I assume they were successful," Sasuke drawled, sarcasm as easy to spot at the tremors in his hands.
'He's burying it deep.' Shizune did her best not to twitch in irritation. Sometimes, the emotionally removed act got old.
"Yes, well, they might have had a brilliant opportunity to fight and possibly die against the combined capabilities of the rest of Konoha's military, if it weren't for the fact that someone tattled." Tsunade flexed a foot under the table. She'd been sitting so long that her legs were cramping up, but now probably wouldn't be the time to announce a break and go for a walk. "The Sandaime planned to diffuse the situation with diplomacy. His council disagreed, covertly supporting Shimura Danzo who coerced an ANBU captain into acting as his spy… and putting down the rebellion by killing every man, woman, and child affiliated with the Uchiha. That agent, tricked into believing the order came from the Hokage, accepted the mission because rejecting it would have meant someone else would have taken it, and everyone really would have died," she finished quietly.
Then she watched a young man's world break apart.
"So…"
Sasuke's voice broke, and his pulse jumped in his throat. Shizune shifted uncomfortably, considering doing something about the fact that he appeared to be near hyperventilation.
"So Itachi was acting on orders."
He swallowed.
"Not the Hokage's orders. Danzo's."
"Yes," Tsunade said quietly. "Or so I was told after I became Hokage. Itachi is currently acting as our spy in a group of S class criminals who want to rule the Elemental Nations." She was visibly sympathetic, but there was only so much she could do.
Shizune shuddered, roughly wiping tears off her cheeks. 'I've never seen Sasuke cry before.' He didn't seem to be aware of the water rolling down his face, or the fact that his hands were trembling. She closed her eyes, feeling sick. The information had been bad enough without witnessing how it affected the only living Uchiha who hadn't known.
He didn't even try to resist when she quietly sank down into the cushion beside him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, curling his head onto her chest.
Sasuke cleared his throat. His voice was deceptively steady when he asked, "So when are we going after Danzo?"
"As soon as we can pin an unrelated crime on him," Tsunade said gently. "If he's taken to trial for what he did to the Uchiha, Itachi would be exposed as a fraud and probably killed. However, we do have an angle. Many years ago, the Sandaime discovered that he had a private force among the ANBU, and ordered him to disband it. But we don't think that he did. Unfortunately, proving it requires that we get hold of one of those soldiers alive and get around the seal placed on their tongues that renders them incapable of speaking."
"How did you know to look?" Sasuke demanded. "What did Kakashi have to do with anything?"
Tsunade blinked, but easily adapted to the subject change. "He and his team discovered that the supposed Kage of Sound was being controlled by a genjutsu so powerful that Kakashi didn't see how it could have been cast by anyone but a Sharingan user specializing in it. He had worked with Itachi in past, and didn't believe Itachi was capable of such a thing." She snorted. "Even if he was capable of it, I think you can see why I didn't think he had any motivation to set Konoha and Sand against each other. Or set Konoha against the Fire Daimyo, depending on how much information was meant to get out," she added, just to be thorough, although that outcome made less sense to her.
"Of course, now that we lay it all out that way…" Shizune scowled and involuntarily tightened her grip on her kohai. "It sounds like Danzo had the opportunity to commit the bloodline theft we discovered today."
"And he opposed the alliance with Sand," Tsunade breathed. "That…"
"That fucker," Sasuke hissed, choking on tears.
It wasn't a bad summary, Tsunade thought. That fucker indeed.
Shoulders held high with more effort than usual, Sasuke stalked back to the hospital to safely deposit the samples Shizune had taken for him. He carefully did not think about the fact that he was carrying genetic material from both of his parents. They were samples, that was all.
Out of sheer force of habit, he stopped by reception on his way in to see if there had been any changes in status for his patients. There hadn't, but there was a note from last shift's secretary. He eyed it wearily, unfolding it to find that Aiko had apparently stopped by in the last morning.
A brief glance out the window reminded him that it was almost six at night. Surely she had figured by now that he had been busy. But, still… maybe it was something important. Either way, it would be a distraction.
Right now, he didn't want to think. He just felt sick, like he might shake and fall apart if one more nerve was pressed the wrong way.
He had been wrong. He had been lied to, and he had been a gullible fool. Sasuke had even noted that Itachi's claim that he had killed the family to test his abilities had made no sense. The story that Tsunade had shared… it made a lot of sense.
That meant that years of his life had been wasted. All the bile and effort spent hating a certain man- no, Itachi, hating Itachi, the only loyal Uchiha he'd known- had been less than a waste.
The worst part was just how easily he could accept that his father might have done such a thing to protect his clan's future and welfare.
'But that means… mother, too?'
Could she have- would she have turned against the village? Mother had been loyal… but had she been more loyal to her family than to the village?
'Yes,' he registered dully. There wasn't really doubt to be had.
And that would explain why she didn't appear to have fought Itachi when he came to kill her and father last. They knew his choice, and chose to stand down once it became clear that their plan had failed. She wouldn't have fought her own child.
Sasuke blinked, and realized that his hands had been moving without his consent. His feet, too—he was in the lab, and labeling his two samples. On another day, the lapse in attention would have been alarming, but he couldn't be bothered to care.
What was he going to do?
The bloodstains on the compound that he had seen every day for years as a reminder of why he needed to harden his heart and kill aniki. The habit caused him literal pain when he thought of it now. He had been so wrong, so stupid for so many years. He had lived with the blood of traitors in his home and hated the one living person who loved him enough to accept the monstrous mission to kill their clan.
Sasuke had hated his brother as a traitor for years… but he felt a hypocrite now when he thought of re-evaluating that judgment. It was just impossible to redirect his hate to the real traitors. His father had just been trying to advocate for his family's rights. The path he had chosen was wrong, but things could have been worked out. It could have, if it weren't for Danzo.
His feet led him across town, but not in the direction of the Uchiha compound. Sasuke paused outside the Uzumaki's door without announcing his presence for a moment, torn. Why had he come here? He couldn't tell Aiko what was going on. Even if he did, what could she do about it? Nothing. His old teammate could do nothing.
Sasuke turned away.
Aiko had been standing in the path to the house, looking at him curiously. Then she blinked, concern crossing her face. "Sasuke?" Then she seemed to comprehend something. "Oh! I'm so sorry, did you come because I stopped by the hospital earlier?" Before he could muster up a reply, she was moving on, pushing past him to open the door. "I just wanted to see if you'd like to get lunch, but obviously that didn't work out. Would you like to come in? It's a little cold to lurk out here."
Was it? He hadn't noticed.
Sasuke had only been in this house twice before, and briefly both times. That hadn't stopped someone from getting him his own pair of house slippers. His brow furrowed at just how damn odd that was—how many visitors did they have? There were a downright shocking amount of shoes in the genkan—but he didn't bother to ask.
He didn't need to, as Aiko glanced over at him when she tossed him the slippers. "Karin thinks communal shoes are gross," she said, as if that explained everything.
It was best not to spend too much time thinking about Karin. He often got the unsettling feeling that she was undressing him with her eyes when he saw her. Considering her best friend was a Hyuuga… there was a decent possibility that she really did know what was under his clothing. He'd had creepy stalkers before, but that concept was a new and disturbing one.
"I see," he replied quietly, digging his toes into the soft material. He rather preferred the more traditional ones, but Sasuke had been raised with better manners than to criticize a gift.
"Tea?"
He didn't bother to reply, knowing perfectly well that she was already making it. Aiko was a creature of habit. At a time like this, that was something of a comfort. With a clatter, he pulled back a wooden chair and settled in at the kitchen table. His old senpai –she wasn't really anymore, he really shouldn't still refer to her that way—glanced over at him, then pulled down two blue teacups with a light bump against the counter.
"Long day, huh? Want to talk about it?" She didn't seem bothered when he shook his head. "I see. Did you see Fukiko today?" Aiko gave one of her impartial little smiles at his nod. "Ah. How was she?"
Now that he'd been presented with a question he couldn't answer via sign language (without resorting to actual hand signals), Sasuke drummed his fingers on the tabletop. Sharp eyes caught the uncharacteristic fidget, which he didn't find annoying coming from her. She was always that way—always looking. "She's doing well," he answered finally.
It was true. The symptoms were easily treatable, and she was actually feeling much better than she had been in past. He had yet to make any real progress on the actual disease she had—hell, it hadn't even been named outside of the lab assigned number. That felt like a personal failure, even though it was his first major case and only been worked on for a few months.
"I'm glad to hear it."
She actually did sound glad. That was one of the things he liked about her. It wasn't always obvious, but she cared in her own awkward way. It was a little easier to deal with than Naruto's very verbal method of expressing concern.
"Yeah." He muttered. The teapot's shrill call disrupted the temporary calm that had fallen over his mind, and Sasuke jolted. Aiko stood to retrieve it, but his mind was miles away.
How had he so easily forgotten what he had been worrying about? He had much more important things to think about than tea. What was wrong with him?
Brow furrowed, Aiko whipped around when she sensed that something was wrong. A nerve in her lower eyelid twitched. "Are you serious?" she whined, glaring at the mailbox sitting in Sasuke's chair. 'Why can't that boy use the door?'
She had to groan. He must have been desperate to escape… and getting really good at the replacement technique. She didn't know if she could rip up an object secured at the end of a curb outside the house to switch with. Impressive show of skill aside, it was going to be a pain in the ass to fix.
'God, why is everyone I know so weird,' she grouched, setting the kettle back down with a clatter and moving to lift the mailbox. It was hard to know if Sasuke could be fairly judged as being as much of a looney as the Yamanaka she'd escaped from earlier that day, but at the moment... Well. It didn't look good for him, that was all.
Several Days Later
"So, you want to remake the seven swordsman of the Mist," Mei mused. It wasn't really a question, so Suigetsu just nodded and attempted to look sincere.
It wasn't his most natural look.
To be fair, he wasn't feeling the emotion at the moment. It had been surprisingly easy to get re-accepted into Mist for an audience asking for reinstatement. Their forces were depleted, and apparently it had been a relatively common occurrence as bloodline users who had fled the purges returned when they found out the new Mizukage was a bloodline user herself. He had used that ready excuse and the fact that he didn't think anyone was around who would know that he had left for other reasons, like the fact that Mist was a shithole and the seven swordsmen had become a refuge for corrupt assholes.
He didn't really give a rat's ass about this Kage one way or the other. She was probably going to fuck things up as badly as Yagura had eventually. But she was weak and sentimental enough to give another poor, mistreated bloodline user a personal audience and reinstatement back into the active forces.
For now, he would play along. The training he had been given as a future member of the legendary swordsman group was a valuable commodity, and so this bitch was likely to help him acquire at least one sword so she could use him. Since they were allies with Konoha, she would have information about what the hell had happened to Zabuza's sword, and possibly information on the others.
Suigetsu gave the Mizukage's two bodyguards a toothy smile on his way out, twisting the fabric of his new headband between his fingers. The old one was impassive, but the twitchy fuck with the large sword couldn't meet his eyes.
That was fine. As soon as he had everything else he could get out of them, he would kill that brat and take the sword he so cavalierly hauled around. Suigetsu had much more right to it.
When the door shut behind the newest Mist Chuunin, Mei snorted. "What an idiot," she drawled, crossing her legs and ruffling her hair contemplatively. But even idiots could be useful.
"You don't trust him?" Chojuro inquired cautiously.
Ao gave him a spectacularly condescending look. "Why else do you think she didn't tell him we already have that sword?" His tone clearly added, 'idiot', at the end of the phrase. The younger man flushed. Just about no one knew that Mist had Zabuza's sword, so the ruse was unlikely to be discovered any time soon. In the meantime, they could use the brat.
"Now, now, be nice, boys," Mei chided lazily. She let her lips curl into a catlike smile, but didn't deign to comment.
Frankly, the boy's poorly hidden preoccupation with the little girl who had technically killed Zabuza was amusing. As part of the deal for borrowing the girl's abilities, Mei had been required to covertly release the information that she'd cashed in Zabuza's bounty. Konoha couldn't do it themselves without the ruse being obvious, but Mei had managed to get the information onto the girl's bounty without letting the idiots who set the bounty know the information was a purposeful attempt to make the girl seem like an unappealing target. Unless Rock raised their set bounty, no one would probably come after the girl now. It just wasn't worth the trouble to tangle with a kunoichi who could kill Momochi Zabuza for such a small sum.
Mei knew perfectly well that even if the girl had technically landed the killing blow, it had to have been a hilarious fluke of some kind. The girl might one day be that kind of shinobi, but she sure wasn't yet.
'But I was told not to let anyone know she's being over-exaggerated,' Mei thought with an innocent flutter of her eyelashes, as if she'd been telling the lie out loud.
She had to get her kicks somewhere, anyway.
Anachronistic Omake- Since people apparently miss Naruto.
"You can't have my wallet," Naruto dead-panned, holding it out of Jiraiya's reach. There was no possible good reason for a full-grown man to want to hold onto a kid's money.
The old dude spouted some crap about shinobi temptations and prohibitions or something, but he just concentrated on giving his best 'unimpressed' stare. It was his go-to tool when he didn't actually have a clever response. It was better than shrieking ineffectually. He would never be as clever with his words as Aiko was, but at least he could make his words count when he did use them.
Speaking of which…
He tried a logical approach. "If those prohibitions are so important for shinobi to be able to resist, then I need to be able to cope with them on my own. Earlier, with the Rasengan, you said that being my teacher meant that you would give me the tools to figure out my own problems and not that you would guide me through them. By that admission, you should be letting me struggle with the prohibitions on my own instead of protecting me from them."
Jiraiya stared for a moment, and then he started laughing. "You're brighter than I thought kid, but not bright enough." He held up a frog-shaped wallet, winked, and then scarpered off.
If he wondered why Naruto wasn't chasing him, he didn't let on.
"Idiot," Naruto muttered, digging out his real wallet. It probably looked a bit lewd, since he'd stuffed it in his pants, but that was just about the only way he could think of to keep the pervert's paws off of it. He'd been with Jiraiya long enough to know he wasn't the man's type. A passing man clapped his hands over his preteen daughter's eyes and sent him a nasty glare.
'Why's he so mad? She's giggling. Obviously she doesn't care,' he thought. He didn't reply, just gave the man a big, wide apologetic grin.
For some strange reason, he turned red and hustled away even faster.
Naruto shrugged. Whatever.