Chapter 46: Chapter 5: Prologue, Part Four
Two weeks later, at the Red Lotus Inn...
Midnight in the Imperial Capital. Inside his room at the Red Lotus Inn, Sai was making the final preparations for his mission. It had taken two weeks of covert preparation, but he and the two squads of ROOT ANBU who had came in disguised as tourists from the East were primed and ready to strike at the heart of the Imperial Nation.
Unfortunately for Sai, the innkeeper had recognized Sai from his previous visit with Jiraiya and the Konohagakure envoy, and notified his wife. Minutes later, Fu had delivered word that Sai had returned. The innkeeper began to report a rising number of tourists coming from the Elemental Countries, which had set off an automatic red flag to the Imperial Council. When it became clear that Danzou had sent Sai and a hit squad of ROOT ANBU to assassinate the senior Imperial hierarchy, Naruto quickly reacted.
Which is why as Sai finished making the preparations, one squad of the Demon Brigade led by Haku, while the second squad of Hellcats led by Yugito Nii, quickly and quietly intercepted the would-be assassins, incapacitated them, and had them brought to the Imperial Complex for further questioning. With Sai's hit squad incapacitated, Naruto would deal with the ink user himself.
A gentle knock on Sai's door had interrupted the ink user from his preparations. Curious as to who would be at his door at this time of night, he walked over to the door and opened it...
...and found himself face-to-face with the Emperor of the United West.
"Hello, Sai," Naruto deadpanned.
WHAM!
Sai dropped like a sack of potatoes, the end result of Naruto's fist bouncing off his skull. Stepping to the side, Naruto allowed three Hellcats to enter the room. Once Sai was searched and properly restrained, one of the Hellcats began to search Sai's belongings, and came across the mission scroll.
"Chief, I found something," she said, handing the scroll to Naruto, just as Haku and Yugito approached the Emperor.
"All of the ROOT ANBU has been restrained," Yugito reported. "What's that?"
"A hit list," Naruto replied. "And Hinata and myself are on the top of the list." He closed the scroll and turned to Haku. "Haku, go to North Kimon and bring me Hiashi, Hanabi and both generations of the Ino-Shika-Sho. I want them at the Imperial Complex in no less than fifteen minutes. They need to know about this."
Haku nodded and rushed off to obey.
Imperial Complex, minutes later.
Hiashi was not very happy when he was roused from his sleep. Then again, neither were the Ino-Shika-Cho or their heirs. But Haku said that it was urgent, and that it had something to do with all of them.
Upon reaching the Imperial Complex, the sight that greeted the four clan heads and their children shocked them.
In the courtyard, were twenty bound shinobi. Anyone from Konoha recognized them as part of the ANBU, particularly those from Danzou's private security corps. They were being guarded by Yugito's Hellcats, blades drawn, ready to kill the intruders. Kurama was in her fox form, about the size of a horse, her nine tails waving lazily in the air. She was resting on her haunches, but watching the events rather closely.
Last, was Naruto and Hinata, who was talking with A, Benisato, Takuma and several members of the council. Hinata had noticed that her father and the others had arrived and pulled her husband away from A and the others.
"You came. Good," Naruto said. He gestured to Sai and the bound ROOT ANBU. "Recognize these men? You should, as they belong to Danzou's ROOT ANBU." He pulled out the mission scroll and tossed it to Shikaku. "Sai had this on him."
The lazy Nara head opened the scroll and read it, Hiashi, Inoichi and Chouza all crowded in around Shikaku in order to read it. Hiashi looked up in disbelief. "This is a hitlist," he said, disbelief written on his face.
"Very troublesome," Shikaku said. "It's from the three council elders. The Emperor and his wife top the list, as does Takuma Uzumaki, the Imperial Council...and us."
Ino's eyes widened. "That old bastard tried to kill all of us," she whispered.
"My guess is that the Hokage, Jiraiya and the council does not know about this black-ops. The blood and the motive, right in your hands, Nara," Naruto said. "If they penned it in snake venom, I wouldn't be surprised." To which he turned to Benisato and said, "No offense."
Benisato smiled meanly. "None taken, Chief."
"My guess is neither the perv nor the hag know about this, but I have to be sure before I plan my next move," Naruto said. He turned to Inoichi. "Inoichi...Ino...you're both up."
Inoichi and his daughter both nodded and walked over to Sai, who started to struggle. The seals on his tongue kept him from talking about Konoha, but he was defenseless against the Yamanaka's mind jutsu. Two Hellcats quickly restrained him, leaving him helpless. Father and daughter stood before Sai, and after taking a deep breath, each raised one hand and placed it on Sai's head.
And they saw everything.
"Tsunade has reprimanded Sasuke for his actions back in the West. As of this moment, the Uchiha is under house arrest and cannot leave the village."
"Tsunade knows that Sasuke falls under my jurisdiction. Only I can decide his punishment."
"Unfortunately, she has the backing of the Fire Lord. Which means that his authority overrides your own."
"The Emperor has refused to join with us. So now what do we do?"
"There is no way around it. If the Empire refuses to join us, then it is a threat to the Leaf. And if the Empire decides to join our enemies...that is a risk that we cannot take. I have been planning for something like this in the event that the Empire refused to come to our side."
"Such as...?"
"A decapitation strike. Cut off the head of the snake, and the body dies. The Empire is only held together by the Emperor and his wife. Remove them from the equation, and the Empire will revert back into its warlike state. At the same time, we kidnap some of the Empire's top prospects and bring them back here in order to strengthen the Leaf."
"If you do this, then eliminate the traitors to the leaf and their heirs. No one betrays Konoha."
"Takuma Uzumaki is also a threat. He must die as well."
"Fair enough. Sai."
"Lord Danzou?"
"This is a S-class black-ops mission for the good of the village. You will return to Kimon with two squads of ROOT ANBU. There, two weeks from now, you will eliminate the Emperor, his whore and the Imperial Council. They are your primary targets. Your secondary targets are the four clan heads - the Hyuuga, the Ino-Shika-Cho and their heirs. Last, you are to eliminate Takuma Uzumaki."
"Understood, Lord Shimura. Your will shall be done."
Inoichi and Ino broke the jutsu and snapped his hand back, shocked and horrified. Inoichi turned to Naruto and Hinata. "Danzou and the two elders," he whispered. "They ordered our deaths. They wanted to kill all of us."
Ino, in the meantime, fought the urge to throw up.
"That's all I need to hear," Naruto said.
Hinata turned to Haku. "Take them to Zabuza, Anko and Ibiki," she ordered in a voice that could freeze hell over while Naruto handed him a second scroll detailing how to remove the seals on the ROOT's tongues. "Four of them is more than enough for interrogation purposes. Execute the rest. Tell them that for these four, the kid gloves are off. Nothing is out of bounds."
At a bar and grill in Kimon...
Zabuza Momichi and Ibiki Morino stopped in mid-drink. "Is it just me, or do I have this sudden urge to kiss the Empress Consort full on the mouth all of a sudden?" Zabuza asked.
"Yeah," Ibiki seconded. "It suddenly feels a lot like Christmas all of a sudden."
At a nearby dango stand, Anko Mitarashi stopped in mid-bite. A psychotic smile crept across her lips as she found herself loving her job with the Imperial Interrogation and Torture Unit.
Back inside the Imperial Complex...
Before Haku took them away, Naruto turned to Sai and bent low enough to whisper into his ear. "Remember this day, Sai. Remember in the little time you have left that you tried to kill Naruto Uzumaki and failed."
Sai's eyes went as wide as saucers. 'The Emperor was the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki?!' was the last thing he thought before being taken away.
"So now what do we do?" Hiashi asked.
Naruto turned to his father-in-law. "I think a personal visit to Konoha is in order."
"Not to be a total buzzkill, Chief," Shikamaru pointed out, "but you really are not one of Tsunade's favorite people."
"You forget who I am, Shikamaru," Naruto replied. "I am the unpredictable one. Since the old hag is not responsible this time around, I'll leave her out of this." His expression darkened. "Sarutobi's two teammates are past their time for retirement. I'm going to see to that personally."
For Hiashi and the three clan heads and their heirs, they made a mental note. 'Note: Do no piss Naruto and Hinata off. Ever.'
Konohagakure no Sato, one week later...
Following a meeting with Danzou, Koharu and Honmura had returned to their separate homes. When asked about the Kimon Mission, Danzou had replied that Sai had not brought back word of the mission's status, but the warhawk was not worried. Sai was one of his best operatives, the ROOT ANBU who had went with him were the pick of the litter. Danzou had no worries that Sai would be successful in his mission to decapitate the Imperial hierarchy.
Honmura reached his home first. He had lived in a modest two-story home in Konoha's residential district, five houses down from Koharu. Following the Konoha Exodus, he decided a change in living quarters was in order. He had his eyes on the Nara Ranch, but the Hyuuga Compound looked very promising. As midnight approached, Honmura entered his home. Despite not being an active shinobi in decades, Honmura could tell that something was amiss.
Either that, or he was starting to get paranoid in his old age.
From the shadows, Naruto Namikaze watched his target. Using the Demon's Gate Jutsu, he had arrived in Tanzuka Town, far enough from Konoha. Rather than using a henge to disguise himself, Naruto instead wore the ANBU uniform pilfered from one of the ROOT ANBU who had tried to kill him along with Sai. Only this time, he wore a kitsune mask to hide his face.
Sneaking into Konoha was easy enough. Security in Konoha was incredibly lax, as they had gotten complacent in their abilities. He had toyed with the idea of killing both Sasuke and Hatake, but decided against it. Sasuke still had some use to him alive, and Zabuza wanted to take Kakashi's head himself.
So he decided to check out the town. Using the Rinnegan, he spied on his former cellmates, the remnants of the Shinobi Council, and the civilians. No genjutsu he was not aware of. Even Jiraiya and Tsunade did not show signs of being under any type of genjutsu. As night fell, he hid inside the Namikaze Estate, the seals allowing him access, as he was of the Namikaze line. To kill time before his personal mission, he even reinforced the seals so that Jiraiya could not break them. With his father's home secured and the midnight hour approaching, Naruto began his mission.
When Honmura entered his home, he had sealed his fate. Naruto knew he had to make his death look like either an accident or natural causes, or else Tsunade and the others would know that something is amiss. He knew that Koharu had heart problems and had her already taken care of. For Honmura, however, he decided on a more straightforward approach.
Honmura began to ascend the stairs which led to the second floor of his home. Imagine his shock and horror when upon reaching the second floor landing, that a kitsune-masked ANBU emerged from the shadows, grabbed him by his shirt and had him hanging on his tiptoes over the stairs, the only thing keeping him from falling to his death was the ANBU's iron grip on his shirt.
With his other hand, Naruto removed the kitsune mask, allowing the elder to get a good look of his face. "Recognize me now, Mitokado? I guess not. It has been six years since I was banished."
Honmura's eyes went wide. "You...Uzumaki?!" he gasped.
"You can call me Emperor," Naruto replied, enjoying the look of sheer terror on the elder's face. "Oh, yes, I know about Danzou's little plot to have myself killed, along with my wife, the council, my uncle and the clan heads who defected. I also know that you and Koharu supported this little scheme. Don't worry. Koharu will be joining you in death soon enough. It wasn't enough for you to kick me out of this cesspool for doing my job. Now, you and those two relics try and pull this stunt?"
"Naruto...please..." Honmura pleaded. "I'm sorry...we did what we thought was best."
"I know that you're sorry, Councilman..." Naruto's eyes then shifted into the Rinnegan. "...but for the sake of argument, let's pretend that you are not."
With that, Naruto released Honmura, who fell backwards, screaming as he fell down the stairs. The screams stopped when Naruto heard the unmistakable sound of a neck snapping. The now-dead councilman landed in a mangled heap on the first floor.
Walking down the stairs, Naruto inspected the body. Honmura was dead, his neck twisted at an unnatural angle. If the broken neck did not kill him, then the cracked skull most certainly did, the pool of blood pooling around his head.
'One down,' Naruto thought as he secured his kitsune mask and vanished via shunshin.
Koharu's Home, minutes later.
Koharu Utatane sat at her table, sipping at her tea. It was her favorite - jasmine petal, and has been since her days in Team Tobirama. She had been worried that Sai had not sent word or returned from the West, and he was due back days ago.
Koharu was always a realist, in some cases, even more so than Danzou and Honmura. She had always believed that Konoha was the strongest of the shinobi villages. She also believed that the elders should rule the Leaf, and that the position of Hokage should be in most cases, abolished. Well, not abolished, but the Hokage would be more of a figurehead. Only problem was that Tsunade was gaining more power and influence with the council.
She continued to sip at her tea as an ANBU wearing a kitsune mask appeared from the shadows. Koharu wasn't worried, as she assumed that the ANBU was one of Danzou's pets, and that if the ROOT was inside her home, then that means that Danzou had an update on the Kimon Mission.
"I take it that Danzou has sent you to give me an update on the mission into the Empire?" Koharu asked.
She was most surprised when the ANBU pulled up a chair and sat down across from here. "No," the ANBU replied, right before removing his mask, showing Koharu his face.
Koharu's eyes widened. The ANBU seated before her looked a lot like Minato Namikaze, but with Kushina Uzumaki's hair color. Her eyes narrowed slightly before they widened in realization as to who was seated across from her. "Naruto Uzumaki..."
"The one and only, you old bitch," Naruto replied.
Koharu continued to sip at her tea. "So you decided to show yourself after Sai and the ROOT ANBU murdered your beloved Emperor," Koharu snorted. "Is that it, demon? Some sort of misguided revenge?"
"You'd think that, wouldn't you?" Naruto replied. "For the record, Sai failed in his quest. The Emperor is still alive."
"So you know him, then?"
"I should," Naruto replied, eyes shifting into the Rinnegan. "The Emperor is me, Utatane. Hinata Hyuuga is my wife."
Koharu put the pieces together, hiding her shock that the Demon of Konoha was the most powerful man in the West. "It was through your wife that the clan heads and their children were allowed asylum."
"That, and the fact that out of all the clans in this village, the Hyuuga and the Ino-Shika-Cho trio saw me as what my parents wanted the entire village to see me as: a hero. Their children does not see me as a demon. By granting them asylum into my Empire, I am merely repaying them for their kindness towards me."
"So Sai failed," Koharu murmured as she calmly sipped at her tea. "What now?"
"Easy," Naruto replied. "I came here to watch you die."
"Bold words, demon brat," Koharu replied acidly. "You kill me, and then what? You won't make it out of Konoha, let alone Fire Country." She began to cough. "Tsunade will see to that."
"The old hag can't see past her sake bottle," Naruto replied. "As to the part where I kill you, I did that thirty minutes ago before I paid your teammate a visit."
Koharu blinked. Then she felt the pain in her chest. She began to gasp for air, the teacup falling from her hands and smashed upon impacting the floor. Her coughing grew even more violent, up to the point where she was coughing up blood. She stumbled to her feet and began to stumble around the room, all the while Naruto calmly sat at his chair.
"Feel the pain in your chest, do you?" Naruto taunted. "The shortness of breath and the feeling of impending doom? You met my captain of my Elite Guard back in Kimon. The Minazuki clan also specialize in various types of poisons. Benisato was more than happy to assist in my personal mission. The poison you ingested through your tea basically causes you to go into a myocardial infarction. In other words, you're having a heart attack."
"You...you...bastard!" Koharu gasped.
"The poison is also untraceable, and will leave your system upon your death," Naruto continued. "Your death will be written off as heart failure, given your past medical history with your bad heart. Oh, and don't worry about your precious Uchiha. I won't kill him...yet. He still have a use for me. He will be the catalyst for Konoha's desruction."
Koharu let out a cry as she keeled over, her body twitching violently before laying still, the death rattle escaping from her lips.
"Give my regards to Hiruzen," Naruto deadpanned as he retrieved his mask and slipped it back on. "Two down."
Underneath Konohagakure...
Danzou Shimura walked down the corridors of his underground ROOT compound. Having dismissed both Koharu and Honmura, Danzou retired deeper into his underground chambers. He shared the same concerns as did Koharu and Honmura, but he was not as worried as they were. Sai was his best man, and had never let him down just yet. He would have sent Sasuke to lead the mission, but decided against it. He had big plans for his Uchiha involving Konoha.
'Such a shame,' Danzou thought as he headed to his office. 'The Empire would have been a worthy ally to the Leaf. Shame that they had refused to join us. But this has to be done to make sure that they do not join our enemies. Sai will not fail me. He does not know how to fail."
When he entered his office, he was greeted with a horrific sight.
Resting on his desk, was Sai's head. Drained of blood, looking even more pale, eyes gouged out, tongue ripped out the face locked in a mask of eternal pain. The cane clattered to the floor as Danzou stumbled forward several steps, then fell to his knees as the totality had struck him in full force.
Sai was dead. His most loyal ROOT operative was dead.
It was at that moment Danzou realized that he could not move. Looking down at the floor, he saw that he was on an advanced-looking seal. "Wh...What is this?!"
"Magnificent, isn't it?"
Danzou turned his head. Naruto emerged from the shadows, still dressed as an ANBU, the kitsune mask hiding his face, Rinnegan active. In one hand, was the tipless tanto the ANBU used for their primary weapons. "Fuuinjutsu is a very interesting art, wouldn't you agree, old man?"
Danzou looked at the eyes and saw the Rinnegan. "You...the Emperor?!"
Naruto grinned. "Got it in one, Shimura." He gestured to the seal that Danzou was on. "Just because I am a leader does not mean that unlike you, who lead from the shadows and believes that all shinobi are tools, I can get my hands dirty. That seal is of my own design, if I can be so modest. The seal is designed to drain you of your chakra and nullify any type of dojutsu, offensive and defensive seals you have on your person, and various bloodline-based abilities. The more you resist, the more painful it will be. So to recap...your mission failed. I'm still alive, as is my wife. The Council is still alive. Takuma Uzumaki is still alive. Oh, and the four clan heads and their heirs are alive as well." He gestured to Sai's head. "Removing the seal from Sai's tongue was pretty easy. He and the three other ROOT ANBU we kept alive for interrogation purposes gave us some pretty useful information...well, that and where you keep your dirty little secrets at," Naruto said, holding up a black book which had all of Danzou's past crimes written inside with great detail.
"I know that you and Sarutobi's former teammates orchestrated this little mission. Mitokado and Utatane had paid for this offense with their lives," Naruto continued. "A broken neck with a cracked skull for Honmura and a heart attack for Koharu...terrible business. I also know that you have a Sharingan behind those bandages, and that you tried to use it to persuade the council into agreeing into the alliance with Konoha," Naruto continued. "Like I said, fuuinjutsu is a very interesting art, especially when used to repel genjutsu." He tapped at the fake arm hidden inside his robes. "I also know about the special arm with the multiple Sharingans and the Senju DNA grafted to you. Now how would your little Uchiha pet and the old hag of a Hokage would react if they somehow find out that you ripped off their clan's respective bloodlines, hmm? Oh, I destroyed your reserves, by the way."
"You...you have any idea what you have done?!" Danzou grated, furious.
Naruto continued to twist the knife. "I also know that you conspired with the Uchiha in their attempted coup, but when Itachi notified Sarutobi, that forced your hand. I also know that you sold out the Uzumaki clan and Whirlpool to her enemies in the last war. Good thing that the Yondaime's wife did not trust you, as the Uzumaki fled west. You also conspired with Hanzou the Salamander and Doto Kazahana. The Devil's hands have been very busy. For your crimes, I can just as easily kill you like I did to the other two. I can just as easily do to Kohona what you tried to do to my Empire; kill the Godaime, that super-pervert of a teammate. I can just as easily execute the Konoha Council, wipe out the shinobi clans and their heirs. Better yet...I could have Naruto Uzumaki come back and unleash the Nine-Tails upon this village. But I'm in a merciful mood and I will spare them, since they are innocent...for the time being. Your life will also be spared, so you can bear witness. Konohagakure no Sato will fall by my hands." He pocketed Danzou's black ops book. "In the meantime, I will keep this to make sure you keep your mouth shut. So listen and listen good. If you, or anyone else from the Leaf attack my homeland, my people or my interests...I will return...with my army."
Naruto rose from his feet and exited the office, but not before incinerating Sai's head with a flame jutsu. Thirty minutes later, the seal which kept Danzou in place was gone and the old warhawk collapsed onto the ground. By the time he was able to move under his own power, Naruto was long gone, having used the Demon's Gate jutsu to safely return to the Empire.
Later on that day, inside the council chambers, Tsunade had reported the passing of both Koharu Utatane and Honmura Mitokado. With their deaths, Danzou had lost his top two backers. But his hands were tied. If he told Tsunade what he knew, then the Emperor would literally unleash hell on Konoha.
And before that, both Tsunade and Sasuke would kill him for stealing their respective bloodlines.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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