Chapter 35: White Reaper Revealed

"Shirotsu, Shino, I'm glad to see you two are alright. I didn't see you during the battle." I say to my friends the day after the Pain attack, finding them both walking down the street."Ami." Shirotsu turns to greet me. "We were fighting with a woman made of paper.""Konan." I say in surprise. I never really knew where she was during the fight. "I bet that was a bad matchup for her." I say proudly to my friends. I've long since learned the Aburame clan are one of the most unappreciated clans here, yet one of the most powerful. The more I fight alongside one of them, the more I'm surprised I ever beat Shirotsu at the Chuunin exams."Indeed. Why? Because she fled soon after being surrounded by our insects." Shino says mysteriously to me."Better her than me, that's for sure." I jokingly say back to them with a shiver, imagining being surrounded with the bugs. Shirotsu sees this and smirks at me. "Don't you dare." I glare at him until his smirk goes away and he sighs."We hear you were the one who saved the village from being destroyed." Shirotsu says proudly to me. "They are calling you and Naruto the heroes of Konoha.""Naruto is the hero. He got Pain to bring all the dead back to life. Without him, there would have still been so many casualties. I just saved some buildings." I say dismissively. It really was a pointless risk I took, one that Neji wasted no time in lecturing me about for over an hour last night, going into full big brother protection mode."Be that as it may, you still helped save many people. What do you think will happen now with the Hokage in a coma?" Shirotsu asks us both."Likely, a temporary Hokage will be appointed." I say with a shrug, "At least until Lady Tsunade wakes up. With the village still in disarray, there needs to be a leader."I stay and chat with them a while longer, going over what they went through during the attack and giving them a summary of what I did. We part ways, me heading outside of the village to send a message to Sasuke about the attack via Haitaka. Once my message is sent, I head to the hospital to visit Kakashi."You did damn good out there, Ami." Kakashi says to me when I sit next to his bed."The whole village did great. In the story, the village was completely destroyed and everyone was caught off guard with the attack. This time, we were all prepared and ready. I still don't know why Naruto was so late though." I say in contemplation to him."Ah, I asked him that... He apparently needed to prepare his sage clones before he left. Turned to be a moot point since all the intel we had from you made him only have to fight the one Pain. Oh well, better late than never." He sighs and shrugs at that."You know, I think you should just make this your new permanent home. You're here so often you might as well. Do you even remember where you live?" I tease him mercilessly as he just groans at me. He hates the hospital with a passion. "At least this time it's just exhaustion from the Raikiri, and not from Kamui. So there's that." I offer up to him."Yes, at least there's that. I'll be out of here by tomorrow." He says, a fake smile on his masked face while I giggle at him."Do you think he will be appointed Hokage soon?" I ask vaguely to him, knowing there are ears potentially listening nearby."Likely today. The elders won't wait long to replace Tsunade." He says, and no sooner were the words out of his mouth than Kiba came running into the room, looking at us both in a panic."Lady Tsunade has been dismissed as Hokage!" Kiba says loudly in urgency. "Some guy named Danzo has been named the 6th Hokage. He's some shady guy, and that's not the worst part! He just declared Sasuke a rogue ninja and gave permission to dispose of him!"Kakashi and I both glare at the news. I didn't know the Sasuke rogue declaration part from the show, so either I didn't remember that detail, or it changed. Either way, it doesn't matter for right now. I head out after sending Kakashi a knowing look, going to find Naruto. He needs to know this information, so Kiba and I head out and find him with Sakura and Sai. Kiba tells them the news, and both Naruto and Sakura start to freak out. It takes a lot of convincing, but in the end, they don't listen and try to go after Danzo to beg for Sasuke's life. As they are all yelling amongst themselves, I notice two new shinobi heading our way, and they are from the Cloud village. I step back a bit, putting distance between myself and Naruto's group."Tell me everything you know about Sasuke Uchiha!" The Cloud girl says, pointing a sword straight at Sakura's face. "Since you're yelling so much about how he's a friend of yours. I'm going to kill him, tell me where he is."Before the others can even contemplate reacting, I have my scythe summoned and wrapped around her neck from behind her. "Look at this, Cloud ninja coming into Konoha and demanding someone's head." I say darkly in her ears. She freezes up for a moment, clearly not having seen or sensed me near her. "I won't allow a Cloud ninja to enter into my home and take anyone else, so I suggest you retreat now.""Who the hell are you?!" She yells at me angrily."I am Ami Hyuga. Daughter of Hizashi Hyuga." I growl out to her and watch her and her companion's eyes widen in recognition. "Oh good, you know of me. Now state your business here before I behead you. Or don't, I do love cutting down you Cloud ninja the most." I say aggressively. It's true, most my assassination missions Kakashi and I went on brought us to the Land of Lightning. It's where I got my nickname."You're the White Reaper." The guy growls out at me in recognition. "You've butchered dozens of my friends and allies.""You need better friends." I sneer back at him, and as he moves to attack me, Naruto and Sai immediately intercept him, blocking his movements. I smile at my friends, they just proved they have my back."Your friend Sasuke killed our Sensei, the Raikage's brother! And you assassinated several of our friends! This village just breeds murderers!" The girl yells out at me angrily, but she can't move because of my scythe."Assassinated? Ami would never! And I know Sasuke wouldn't kill your Raikage's brother, whoever he is!" Naruto growls out angrily at them. Tensions are really high."Sasuke Uchiha killed Killer Bee, the eight-tails Jinchuriki. He's a member of the Akatsuki! Your Hokage just gave us permission to kill him!" The boy counters him. "We will have our revenge!" I release the girl and let them yell at each other some more.Naruto and the Cloud ninja talk for a while longer, and Naruto falls into depression, vowing to help them find Sasuke and to also let them beat him up to make up for what Sasuke did. Before the girl can throw the first punch, I catch the girl's fist."That's enough. You will shed no Konoha blood here today. You have your permission to hunt Sasuke down, go do with that what you please, not that you will be able to harm him at all. I will not allow you to hurt anyone here to aid in your goal." I tell the loud ninja firmly, my intimidating stance sending waves of murderous intent towards them both while I nearly crush the girl's fist. The girl ripped her hand back towards herself once I let her. She tried to swing again, and the boy caught her fist before it made it very far."Enough, Karui. As much as it pains me to say, the White Reaper is out of our league. She is not why we are here, and those other idiots promised to help us find Sasuke already. Give it a rest for now." He says, glaring into my eyes as I stare hard back, betraying no emotion at all.Their other team member comes then and collects them after they talk for a while. They leave, and Naruto and Sakura turn towards me. Naruto speaks first, "Ami, who the heck is the White Reaper? And why do you hate those guys so much, I've only seen you that mad before with Kabuto.""Yeah, I was wondering the same thing." Sakura chimes in. I shoot Sai a glance, he already knows."I am the White Reaper. I am an assassin for Konoha, and I earned my codename in many Bingo Books as the White Reaper. My white eyes and reaper scythe are the last thing many of my targets see before they die, so that's where the name came from." I tell them and their eyes go wide in shock. "Please understand, this is a secret identity. Usually on those types of mission I wear a mask, but my eyes are still identifiable. Most people here know me as a wind user, and a Hyuga, so I don't often get spotted for being the Reaper. You cannot tell anyone, it is a village secret." I tell them firmly. "As for why I hate the Cloud so much, do you remember when you fought Neji at the Chuunin exams? He told you about how our father was sacrificed in order to save the family head. Our father was sacrificed to satisfy the Cloud village." I say bitterly. They begin to nod and then question me about my missions, of which are all classified and I tell them nothing about.I part from them and head home to pack my bag. I need to get to Killer Bee, and I need to get to the Land of Iron. The next day, I go to check on Tsunade myself. I go into her room, where only Shizune is attending to her. There are ANBU stationed around her as well, outside of the room, but they are all her personal guards and good shinobi."Tsunade..." I whisper to her when I get down to her level. "Are you awake?"She doesn't move for a moment, so I poke her hard in her ribs and Shizune freaks out at me. Tsunade opens her eyes and glares at me for hurting her, and I just grin at her as I wrap my hands around Shizune's mouth to shut her up."Shizune." Tsunade whisper yells at her to be silent and the woman in my arms stops struggling. "You will tell no one I am awake. You will continue to act as if I am in a coma. This is very serious Shizune, there can be no one who knows I am awake.""And if you cannot vow honestly to keep this quiet," I whisper darkly in Shizune's ears, "Then we will place a bed next to hers for you and your very real coma." I threaten her. I only do this because Shizune sometimes goes behind Tsunade's back to the elders, and also because she is a blabber mouth. She needs to know the seriousness of the situation. I feel her nod in fright against my hands, and I slowly release her from my hold."Lady Tsunade..." Shizune goes to her and whispers in concern. "Why fake a coma? Why allow Danzo to be Hokage?""You don't need to know that, Shizune. I will 'wake up' once he has left for the summit." Tsunade tells her impatiently and goes back to laying down on the bed. "Until then, you will say nothing and I will continue to act." She says with finality.Later that day, I keep a watch from the distance and see Danzo leaving to go to the summit. I grab my bags, and let Tsunade know I will meet her en-route to the Land of Iron. Our plans are to get her there shortly after Danzo disappears from the summit, assuming the events roll out similar to the story. If not, she will declare him a traitor at the summit when she arrives. He did restrain his Root members from the Pain fight, and there is evidence of him working with Orochimaru to take down Konoha.I head out shortly after Danzo, running at a high speed to get to the Hot Springs village. I have to move quickly in order to keep on schedule, I sent Sasuke a message to head to the Kage summit in order to get Danzo. I need to find Killer Bee quickly, assuming he is even here. When I arrive the next day in the resort village, I start rapidly searching the different resorts to find him. I make four clones in order to search faster, since that is my limit to be able to control for a long time. Visually, I can't find him anywhere in the main resorts. As I release my clones and walk around the main street, I start to hear awful rapping coming from inside one of the taverns. I look inside, not seeing Killer Bee and almost leave, until I hear the rapping coming from a young man drinking and writing down notes in a book. That must be him, just using a transformation jutsu."Interesting lyrics." I say in way of greeting as I walk up to the young man."I'm the best there is, ya know!" He says to me arrogantly in rap as I sit down next to him. He looks at me in interest as I smile at him kindly."At least you're better than the last rapper I heard. I was in the Land of Lightning, and this strange older guy was rapping awfully. He claimed his name was Killer Bee, but I couldn't care less since he was rapping so bad I just wanted to shut him up." I say innocently to him and watch his patience snap at my slighting of him."Killer Bee is the best there is, ya fool!" He stands up and yells at me."Oh?" I say coyly, "I thought you were the best." I say pointedly to him."I am the best because he is the best." He raps some more in words that make no sense to cover his mistake. "Who are you, ya know?""Your contact, Killer Bee." I say while staring hard at him in the eyes. "You were sent here to meet with me. I'm glad you actually came.""Hmm." He says, changing to a serious tone. "Which means either you're an Akatsuki spy, or the Uchiha boy is a Konoha spy. Either way, you're no match for me, just like he was.""Sasuke is... a spy for me and me alone. He is not yet ready to show allegiance to Konoha again until certain evils are eradicated. I am on my way to the Five Kage summit, and I will be meeting with the real Hokage on the way." I tell him honestly. "Please accompany me, they will be making plans for yours and Naruto's safety, since you are the last two remaining Jinchuriki's. You might as well be there to make the decisions about yourself. Your brother is on his way as well. You being kept alive and hidden here up to now has been my plan, and it is of utmost importance that Sasuke's involvement is not mentioned yet. I think it will be more than believable if you just tell your brother that you tricked Sasuke and escaped, and that I ran into you here while on my way to the summit."I watch him contemplate for a while. And a while longer. My patience is good, but it's not great and I can feel my eyes twitching in impatience. "Fine, ya fool. I'll go, ya know." He goes on to rap some more, but I stop listening. I sigh in relief and stand up to leave, him following behind still rapping loudly. I just keep a mantra to myself, 'you can survive Sensei, you can survive this' repeating over and over to calm myself down from his annoying voice.When we get his stuff gathered and get out of the village, he finally drops his transformation and turns into the Killer Bee I know from the shows. We move quickly to get to the meetup location along Lady Tsunade's route."Lady Tsunade" I say as Bee and I run and appear behind her and her two chosen guards, Kakashi and Shikaku Nara. "I have brought Lord Killer Bee, as planned.""Well done, Ami." Tsunade congratulates me."What is going on?" Shikaku asks slowly in confusion. "I thought that Killer Bee was killed by Sasuke Uchiha, that is what the emissaries from the Cloud said.""Because that is what we wanted them to think." Tsunade answers. "Shikaku, this is a top Konoha secret, but Sasuke Uchiha has infiltrated the Akatsuki in order to send Ami information about the war. He planned to fight and allow Killer Bee to escape while keeping up the pretense of being a rogue. He has taken great risk to aid the village, but it cannot be known outside of this group in order to keep his status secret.""So he is not a really a rogue. Has this been in place since he left all those years ago?" Shikaku asks after getting over the initial shock."No." I admit truthfully, "He was cursed and coerced to leave by Orochimaru, and he did leave to join him. However, he received information that day he left that started to change his mindset. I will not claim he is innocent in wanting to avenge his clan, as is his right.""That day? You were the last to see him, Ami. I see then." He says, narrowing his eyes to me. "You really do spend too much time with Shikamaru if you're planning this many moves ahead." He says with a small smirk, a hint of pride in his tone."He's a bad influence." I joke to him about his son. We all start to head out towards the summit again, talking quietly about plans along the way. By Shikaku's estimation, which to be honest is probably the most accurate guess in the world, we will arrive at the summit an hour after it starts. That should get Tsunade there when Danzo has already fled. Bee has spent the journey annoying the crap out of us the whole time, until finally we reached the Land of Iron and he thankfully had to shut up. It is also just way too cold for him to continue talking anyway, so the last leg of our journey is silent. I keep watch from the front, occasionally activating my eyes to see our surroundings, but I want to keep my chakra up for the upcoming battle. I have no intention of joining Tsunade and the others at the summit if Danzo is already gone.