Kurenai Yuhi was sitting in a small bar right now, the atmosphere around her was gloomy to say in the least. The smell of sake, foul stench, raked the air...and the people who wanted to forget about their griefs or wanted to drown themselves in happiness came to such a place.
But she was different, she was neither sad nor happy at the same time. It had been weeks since Naruto left the village, and she was still trying to deal with the after effects of his actions.
A funeral had been held for the deceased Anbu shinobi, their bodies were already destroyed as per the Anbu code, and the entire village had gathered to mourn the loss of their soldiers.
The Hokage had given a tearful speech and many of the people were crying that day...but somewhere deep in her heart, something didn't feel right.
Then there was the fact the two of the Sannin had showed up in Konoha, and one of them had almost killed the Hokage...the villagers felt a little safe as Jiraiya and Tsunade were in the village, this was certainly a great relief seeing Konoha had suffered such a devastating blow in their forces, so two of the legendary Sannin being in Konoha would send a strong message to all other villages that Konoha was still strong.
"What's on your mind?" asked a feminine voice curiously,
Kurenai looked straight and saw Anko looking at her, she had to admit Anko was a damn good friend. She had certainly stood by her side, when the person she loved the most betrayed everything he stood for.
"Shouldn't you be with Kakashi?, I can handle myself," said Kurenai nonchalantly, and Anko gave a tired sigh.
"Yes, you can handle yourself, but I'd like to stay with you rather than Kakashi for now, seeing him still reading porn irritates me to no end," said Anko with a frown, making Kurenai chuckle a bit.
"Somethings never change, do they?" asked Kurenai with a small smile on her face, as Anko was glad she got to see her smile even if it was just for a moment.
"How's your training with Guy going?" asked Anko quickly, trying to divert Kurenai's mind from sad thoughts.
Now this made Kurenai a little more relaxed, in these weeks she had improved her skills to a great extent. Genjutsu was still her most powerful weapon, and she had invented a few new techniques to help her in battles. Her ninjutsu skills were also improving and she could perform water jutsu's well.
But her most significant improvement was in Taijutsu...Guy maybe an idiot, but the man was a tough shinobi. He refined her Taijutsu and helped her combine it with her genjutsu, doing so was not an easy job and she had broken quite a few bones in this process...but it was all worth it.
She was certainly not a master...but her speed, strength and reflexes had improved a lot in these weeks.
"Certainly very well...Guy is a good teacher, although his talks about "flames of youth" gets on my nerves," said Kurenai jokingly, and Anko chuckled loudly on hearing that.
"If he had his way...then I could certainly see you wearing a green spandex and running around Konoha screaming at the top of your lungs," said Anko mischievously, and the cold shiver which she saw Kurenai feel made her laugh more and more.
Both the females slowly drank their sake, this was the toughest phase of their lives till now, and things had turned upside down for everyone, but still...
"Thinking about the good old days of Team 7?" asked Kurenai sadly, and Anko was quite surprised that her friend read her thoughts so easily.
Team 7, it was a hell of a squad. All of them were so close, and now it all seemed like a dream...a dream that would probably not come true.
"Yeah...I was so happy in that team, none of you discriminated me for being Orochimaru's student, and you kept up with my annoying habits. Even that emo dumbass certainly warmed up to me over time," said Anko with a true smile,
"Sasuke has changed a lot, he has became what he was before he met Naruto,...and Sakura is certainly not the girl I knew, she has become a lot more cold," said Kurenai sadly, and drank another sip of her sake.
"Things change, people change...you changed," said Anko seriously, and Kurenai gave a tired sigh.
"What do you want from me, Anko? I'm trying my best to pick up what's left of my life, I know I'm not what I used to be before...the kind and loving Kurenai is all but an illusion," said Kurenai harshly, but was quite surprised when Anko pressed a finger on her chest.
"No, you're still there...you've just shut off your feelings. I'm going to ask you something, and I need an honest answer," said Anko flatly, and Kurenai looked at Anko suspiciously for a few moments but in the end gave a hesitant nod.
"Shoot"
"Can you kill Naruto?" asked Anko stoically, and Kurenai's eyes widened on hearing that, what answer could she give?
The rational part of her was screaming to say yes, but her heart was telling her otherwise, no matter what had happened she still couldn't bring herself to kill the one she loved.
Ultimately, it was the heart who won.
"I can't..." whispered Kurenai sadly, and Anko smiled a little on hearing that.
"Then why did you say you wanted us to kill him during the team meeting?" asked Anko curiously, and Kurenai rubbed her forehead tiredly making her beautiful raven hair swirl wildly in the air.
"It was protocol, he is a missing nin...and I just wanted to let the team know what to do with him. I was pissed, I was frustrated with Naruto, angry at the villagers, angry with the Hokage, angry with myself for failing to stop him go down on such path...hell I'm still pissed, and when I find him I'll break every bone in his body, but I just can't kill him," explained Kurenai tiredly, and a few tears slipped from her eyes.
Anko wiped the tears from her friend's eyes, she was glad that the old Kurenai was still there...maybe she could make things better. Even if these times were tough, she truly felt that this would pass.
Both of them knew Naruto was not evil, it was far from it. They knew the real Naruto, which almost none of the people of Konoha knew. And they were not going to accept Naruto as a criminal, even if everything was against him they were not going to give up on him.
Even if he had used them for his own benefit like the Hokage had said, he had still helped them and they would not abandon him at any cost.
"Until I hear the truth from your mouth...I won't accept you as a murderer, Naruto. You are like a brother to me, and I am not going to give up on you..." thought Anko firmly,
"I'm sorry for being such a burden on you," said Kurenai apologetically,
"Don't say things like that, idiot!" said Anko furiously and bonked Kurenai on the head.
Kurenai rubbed her head slowly, but was quite shocked when Anko grabbed her shoulders firmly, and made her look straight.
"You are not a burden, if you are hurt then I'll support you, if you are in pain then share it with me!" said Anko vehemently,
Never in her entire life had Kurenai seen so passion for her well being in someone else's eyes except for Naruto, did Anko really care so much about her? Was she really so much oblivious all these years?
"Why?" asked Kurenai slowly,
"Because you are my best friend..." said Anko truthfully, and for the first time in weeks a large smile appeared on Kurenai's face, a part of her heart felt happy after hearing that, maybe there was still some good people left in her life.
Maybe there was still some light left in their lives.
In a small room of the hospital, an old man was silently resting on his bed. Looking at the plain white walls of the hospital made him leave a tired sigh.
"Damn, I can't even smoke..." thought Hiruzen frustratingly,
He still remembered what happened a few days ago, and never in his entire life had he come close to death.
(Flashback: A few Days Ago)
Hiruzen Sarutobi was a very strong ninja, he had fought in three wars, and had been a Kage for decades, but right now one could find him sitting nervously in his chair.
Well, he had to be nervous as he was soon going to face a really really pissed of mother figure, and the fact that this woman was the strongest Kunoichi in the world was more depressing for him.
Tsunade Senju was not someone whom you would like to piss off, and Hiruzen had failed in protecting the boy, whom she loved as if he was her own child.
He still remembered the day, when a tearful Tsunade had begged him to look after Naruto, and not let anything happen to him.
And now...
Before he could think further, he heard loud footsteps approaching his office, and the KI was murderous.
"Here we go..." said Hiruzen tiredly, and prepared himself
The door of his office was so violently punched that it broke into small wooden pieces that flew everywhere in the room, and Hiruzen's worst fears came true when a murderous Tsunade stepped in his office.
Her entire body was glowing with chakra, and Hiruzen noticed her appearance had not changed since the last time he had seen her. Still the huge bust and long shiny blonde hair with a gorgeous face.
A squad of Anbu immediately had their swords around various parts of her body, and she did not even look alarmed.
"Disappear," said Tsunade firmly, and in one fast sweep gave devastating blows to the Anbu squad, and in a few seconds they were lying flat on the ground completely unconscious.
"You're dead, you senile old geezer," said Tsunade angrily
"I can explai-" said Hiruzen but was cut off as Tsunade punched him straight in the face, the sickening cracking voice made Hiruzen realize she had already destroyed quite a lot of his bones with that punch.
Hiruzen tried to stop her, and grabbed her hand firmly but she gave him a solid kick in his groin, and threw him straight towards the wall.
The Hokage realized Tsunade was out for blood, and he had to take her seriously now or else he would die by the hands of his own student.
"You bastard...YOU PROMISED ME NOTHING WILL HAPPEN TO MY NARU-CHAN!" yelled Tsunade and gathered a massive amount of chakra in her hands,
Hiruzen realized she was going to give him a lethal strike and prepared to defend himself, but he was sweating nervously. Tsunade had monstrous strength and one hit was all she needed to kill him.
Shizune arrived at the Hokage's office, she was panting harshly and a lot of sweat was on her face. Seeing her master beating the Hokage, sent chills up her spine, she could already feel several Anbu converging on their location in a matter of seconds,
The fact that Tsunade had attacked violently and taken out a squad of Anbu was already a major upset,
"Tsunade-sama...STOP IT!" said Shizune in a panicked voice
The chakra in Tsunade's hands started taking the form of a tiger, and Shizune knew if that attack hit Hiruzen, he would die.
Before she could scream to stop her master, a new person suddenly popped up in the room, and grabbed Tsunade's hands and threw her into a wall, the impact was disastrous as the entire wall was destroyed to pieces of dust.
Shizune's eyes widened in shock, when she realized who this person was.
Right in front of her eyes, was standing the strongest shinobi of the world, Jiraiya was leaking a massive amount of KI, and the fact that the Anbu who had appeared in the room collapsed along with Shizune was a clear answer to the man's power.
"That's enough..." commanded Jiraiya sternly, his voice was so commanding that for a moment even Tsunade looked at him in shock.
"Jiraiya, you..." said Hiruzen in surprise, as his most loyal student had just saved his life.
"I'm not talking to you...Hiruzen, and I know what you did, SO SHUT THE FUCK UP!" said Jiraiya distastefully
Hiruzen's eyes widened in horror, as he realized what Jiraiya had said, and if he and Tsunade were to team up against him, then his death was imminent and that would not be good for Konoha or anyone at this time.
"Jiraiya...I need answers right now," said Tsunade seriously, and her hazel eyes bore into the man's soul...
Jiraiya didn't even look at her, and went towards the squad of Anbu, and now stood in front of the Anbu commander, who almost had his hand on his sword, the Anbu behind him were in a similar position.
"Get your men out of here right now..." said Jiraiya stoically, he was dead serious right now.
"But-" said the Anbu commander in protest but was cut off, when Jiraiya leaned against his ear and whispered darkly
"That was not a request...the fact that you and your Anbu force have played a part in this mission...and know Naruto's truth does not bode well for you. Get out of here Yamato, or I'll kill you," warned Jiraiya and Yamato took a step back when Jiraiya's KI flared murderously,
He looked at the Hokage, he had a lot of blood coming from his face, and many of his teeth were broken; but he gave a weak nod and the Anbu commander and his men bowed one last time before they disappeared from the room.
Jiraiya took in a deep breath to calm himself down, even he was enraged as he came to know what his teacher had done.
He was quite surprised, when Tsunade grabbed him quickly and looked him straight in the eye, and he saw the tears that were freely flowing from her eyes.
"Jiraiya...please tell me, what did they do to my Naru-chan..." begged Tsunade in a broken voice
Jiraiya's heart broke a little on seeing Tsunade in such a state, and he put a hand on her shoulder to give her some comfort, but his eyes never left Hiruzen as he gave him a disappointed look.
"Why?" asked Jiraiya flatly
"It was unavoidable..." said Hiruzen sadly
"UNAVOIDABLE...ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU HAVE DONE!" yelled Jiraiya in frustration
Hiruzen bowed his head down in shame, even if what he had done was right for the village...but as Naruto's grandfather figure, he had failed.
"Jiraiya-sama...what do you know?" asked Shizune worriedly, the fact that the Hokage couldn't meet Jiraiya's eyes ran danger bells in her mind, something horrible had happened, which no one knew.
"When did you come back to the village?" asked Hiruzen slowly, he just had enough...he could not bear this shame and decided to come clean.
"I was in the village since the past week, and I found out the real truth...Operation Ghost, you son of a bitch...you used Naruto for your own gains," said Jiraiya accusingly
Tsunade and Shizune's eyes widened in shock, when they heard what Jiraiya had said.
"Don't you say that...I had to do what was best for the village," said Hiruzen in protest, he was not wrong as a Hokage, or was he? He just didn't know anymore.
"Cut the riddles and get to the fucking point!" said Tsunade in frustration
"This man standing in front of us used a young boy and sent him on a suicide mission," said Jiraiya darkly
"A Suicide..." said Shizune in fear,
"Mission?" asked an enrage Tsunade
"Try to understand, if you know the truth...you know what's at stake here," said Hiruzen firmly
Jiraiya grabbed Hiruzen roughly and thrashed him in the wall behind him, and looked at him straight in the eye.
"I'm not falling for your bullshit, you used Naruto to wipe out Danzo and the entire Root Anbu force who were planning to revolt, then you covered that entire mess up with your Anbu force playing a part in this and framed Naruto as a traitor and a murderer...Isn't that right, sensei?" asked Jiraiya sternly
Tsunade felt as if the ground beneath her had just shattered, her Naruto was used for such an atrocity,
"Is this true?" asked Tsunade darkly. and blood was leaking out of her hands, she just wanted to kill this man right now.
"It is true that Naruto wiped out the entire Root Anbu force along with Danzo Shimura on my orders," said Hiruzen truthfully, and in the next moment he saw Jiraiya grab Tsunade's hand tightly as she tried to kill Hiruzen right there.
"Calm down...he is still the Hokage, do you want to make things worse for Naruto?" asked Jiraiya angrily, and Tsunade just looked away.
"I still don't understand...how can young Naruto take out an entire Anbu force? More so, how does he know about Danzo and Root? I believe you had disbanded Root years ago, Sandaime-sama," said Shizune flatly, and Hiruzen just went towards his seat.
"Things are not as simple as they look Shizune, after the Kyubi attack I diverted my entire focus on rebuilding the village and keeping it safe. In doing so, I failed to realize the threat Danzo was posing, and he restarted Root right under my nose, we never got any hint of his activities until..." said Hiruzen slowly, he was hesitant to speak the next part.
"Until what?" asked Tsunade impatiently,
"Until it was too late..." said Hiruzen shamefully, he really wished to go back in time so that he could change everything, but the fact was he couldn't.
"What does it have to do with Naruto?" asked Jiraiya curiously, he had a rough idea about what must have happened but he was not too sure, and saying his baseless theories in front of Tsunade was not the right thing to do.
"He was the Root Operative that Danzo trained to kill me and start his rebellion to take over the leaf village," said Hiruzen shocking everyone to the core,
"This can't be...Naruto was a Root agent?" asked Jiraiya in shock, he had no idea his absence in young Naruto's life would lead to such disastrous outcomes.
Meanwhile Tsunade couldn't believe what she was hearing, she knew what Root was. And her Naruto was a part of it sent shivers down her spine, what had he undergone so far?
"A captain to be precise...however it was quite the opposite, instead of supplying intelligence to Danzo, Naruto made me aware about the invasion Danzo was planning. He had joined Root a few years ago, he could see what threat Danzo posed to the village and the people he loved, so he became a double agent and risked his life, but Danzo was far more smarter than any of us and Naruto was not able to find out about Danzo's entire plan until it was too late..." explained Hiruzen briefly,
"Why did he do such a thing?" asked Shizune desperately, Tsunade was in shock right now and Shizune was wary of what further truths were going to be revealed.
"Naruto was different...he never had a normal childhood until Kakashi adopted him, he had his first kills when he was 6, I'm sure I've told you that Jiraiya," said Hiruzen seriously, and Jiraiya nodded. It was true that Hiruzen had told him about the incident when Naruto awakened his sharingan.
"And you never told me about this, both of you?" asked Tsunade furiously, and both the men didn't look her in the eyes, they had thought it was best if Tsunade never knew about this or she would take Naruto away from the village, and that wouldn't be good for anyone.
Shizune realized the tension was rising again, and decided to intervene before things could get violent.
"Then what did you do, when Naruto told you about the invasion?" asked Shizune quickly,
"I asked him to get away from Root, but he made me aware that somewhere Danzo and Orochimaru had worked in the past, also he provided me intelligence about some invasion being planned against Konoha, Naruto had performed black ops mission all over the world, and he knew many enemies were gathering to take this village out...so he proposed a solution," said Hiruzen seriously,
"And that was to volunteer for the mission in annihilating the entire Root force, become a criminal...go behind enemy lines, join the biggest traitor of Konoha and report his plans back to you as your double agent, was that Naruto's solution or yours? All of us know damn well, whose solution it was..." said Jiraiya disappointingly,
"How do you know about all of this?" asked a shocked Hiruzen, and doing so he had lowered his guard which led to him getting another punch from Tsunade that sent him straight into the wall.
"Was that really necessary?" asked Jiraiya tiredly, and rubbed his forehead in frustration.
"Fuck you.." said Tsunade angrily,
"Well I would like to.." said Jiraiya nonchalantly, and the next instant he was punched straight into the wall.
Shizune was just gobsmacked on seeing this, were these two the famous Sannin? They acted like teenage kids...
"This is going to be a long talk," thought Shizune sadly,
The same feelings was not being mirrored by the Sandaime Hokage of Konoha.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was feeling like shit, quite a few of his bones were broken and he was currently lying flat on a hospital bed. It had been a long time since he had such a beating, and he did not resist it.
He knew Tsunade had every right to be pissed, and he didn't blame her one bit. And if he had tried to fight with her, then she would surely desert the village, she had nothing left to keep her here, and losing a Sannin at such a time would be disastrous.
Hiruzen knew if Tsunade was to be declared as a missing nin, then Jiraiya would protect her as she was right, and the village was wrong and that would lead to a bloody mess that Orochimaru would gladly exploit. So he had pardoned Tsunade for attacking him and the Anbu on grounds of an "accident" and was just restricted to house arrest for a few days.
"It seems the meeting was disastrous..." said Kakashi tiredly, Hiruzen had to admit this man was quite reasonable.
Even if Kakashi was not in favor of Operation Ghost, he had still adapted to the situation and was behaving as a shinobi should. He was controlling his emotions, something which Tsunade lacked.
"Hai..." said Hiruzen disappointingly, even speaking much hurted him as Tsunade had broken a few bones of his face.
"How did Jiraiya-sama found out about the mission?" asked Kakashi curiously, he didn't underestimate the Sannin but this mission was top secret and only three people knew about it.
Kakashi's eyes widened when everything made sense to him, of course Jiraiya would know where to look. He was not the best spy of their world for nothing.
"The Anbu commander..." said Kakashi sharply, as he realized what Jiraiya had done.
"Exactly...he knew I would never tell him the truth. So he secretly came in the village, and for a week he searched for clues, he raided the morgue and found some evidences, then he observed the reaction of the people. The plan which I implemented was full proof for the general populous and shinobi...and even it could have fooled Jiraiya...but he didn't see Danzo anywhere during this time, and that ran danger bells for him," explained Jiraiya briefly,
"Of course he knew about the Root and its past..." said Kakashi flatly, Hiruzen should not have underestimated his own student.
"Yes, and since a major force of our Anbu were taken out as per my statement to the people...he realized apart from me, only the Anbu commander must have known the "real" truth, and he went after the Anbu commander," said Hiruzen seriously,
"That is borderline treason even for a Sannin, and I know the commander. He maybe not be as strong as Jiraiya... but he is definitely not a weakling, he won't break easily," said Kakashi persuasively, and Hiruzen gave a nod accepting Kakashi's point.
"That may be true...but Jiraiya used his Toads and put him under a very strong genjutsu, and got the truth out of him," said Hiruzen frustratingly, why can't things go right for once?
Kakashi's eyes widened on hearing that, and before he could go in further panic Hiruzen intervened.
"The commander had sealed everything he knew about Rei deep into his sub conscious mind...you can't get such information out with a simple genjutsu, even if it was done by Jiraiya's toads, the only way to find out the truth of Rei is from a genjutsu of the Mangekyo Sharingan...that is the only way," explained Hiruzen briefly,
Kakashi siged in relief, for a moment there he was sure that Jiraiya had found out the truth, and he knew Jiraiya would certainly not be willing to keep such a secret from Naruto. Even Kakashi wanted to tell Naruto, but now was not the time, maybe when this was all over and in a span of few years when Naruto got a little more mature, he would tell him.
But right now he had to make Hiruzen believe he was in on his plan, otherwise he would be killed. It was a simple rule of their world : Those who knew too much, were the first ones to be taken out.
This was a world of lies after all.
The sound of a door opening was heard in the small apartment and a person slowly walked in.
Kurenai walked towards the couch and slowly sat on it, what a tiring day. After her talk with Anko, she had trained for hours with Guy, and damn that training was painful to say in the least.
But she knew she had to do it...she couldn't just give up now.
She had to find out the truth from Naruto...and had to make him see his errors. No matter what he had became now, a part of her heart still believed that the old Naruto was still there.
In all this grief and thirst for revenge, Naruto had lost sight of himself and it was now up to her to save him.
"I know how you feel...just like there is hole in your heart due to what you have been through, there will be a hole in my heart if I lost you...I can't say I hate you, but what I do know is that I understand you," thought Kurenai calmly,
She knew her relationship with Naruto was not stable, but they both understood each other. Maybe they didn't love each other truly, but they did care about each other with all their heart.
There had to be a reason for his actions, she just couldn't accept that bullshit reason that the Hokage had given everyone.
She was suddenly interrupted from her thoughts when a small crow landed on her window, the small bird made a noise and she went towards the window.
Kurenai was just about to take the bird in her hands, when she heard loud banging on the door of her apartment.
"Who is here at this hour?" thought Kurenai curiously, and turned around to open the door despite the crow's calls.
She opened the door and was surprised to see Kakashi standing there, the fact that he was dressed up for a mission and had all his equipment was a sign that it was time.
"Kurenai...we have received the green light. Operation Wave is a go, we need to move in an hour, the Hokage has ordered you to gather the force, while I will see that the weapons and transport are ready!" said Kakashi hurriedly,
Naruto had given them the signal and now they had to move right away, they couldn't waste any more time.
"All right, let's go" said Kurenai firmly, and went to pick up her gear.
In a few minutes both Kurenai and Kakashi went to their respective tasks, meanwhile ignoring the crow that was still on the window.
One thing was certain...this invasion was going to be a hell of a ride, and everything was going to change.
Operation Wave had just started...