Chapter 137

[Tsunade Senju]

"Thanks for not sending Team 8 away while we were on our way here. I know it took us a while," the boy of the moment told her.

She had to smile wryly at his words. What else could she do? Tell him that she couldn't do anything other than what he asked? That'd make him entirely too insufferable to deal with. Besides, he was likely aware of that already.

"It was no problem, brat," she replied, clinging to that semblance of control she still had. It was a little pathetic, but she'd seen worse lows through her life, quite honestly. "Any plans for the moment? I'd like to know where my loose cannon is pointing, if nothing else," she added. And that was nothing but the truth.

Tsunade knew, after all, that Eiji was basically a free agent. Hell, he'd been one for most of the time she'd known him. It was only the fact that he played the part of dutiful shinobi well enough that made nobody care that he was doing what he wanted. Now though, with peace and no immediate great threat to get his attention and make them willing to just point him in that direction… It became a lot more evident that he was going to do whatever.

'To think I met him bedridden and begging to be taught medical jutsu,' Tsunade thought wistfully. Granted, maybe things hadn't quite played like that, but she could at least fool herself into thinking they had. He'd already been a monster back then, and she'd learned that very quickly once she came back to her village.

At that moment though, Eiji Satou had reached a whole new level. That wasn't the most frightening thing though. No, the scary part was that he was still growing, that he'd reach even further as time passed. One day, he'd be so far ahead that the mere idea of confrontation would be laughable. He'd be spoken off as a boogeyman by more than one person, something that had already started in Kumogakure.

"The team and me want to go visit the Nations we haven't been to yet," Eiji replied from where he lunged on the couch of his office, looking to the world like a person without a single fuck to give. Which she guessed was accurate. After being out and about, fighting impossible battle after impossible battle and being thrown off the deep end more than once… Tsunade kind of wondered how fast the polite and respectful boy that Hiruzen often spoke about had turned into what she knew.

His words also brought much to think about for her too. The Nations he hadn't been to so far. That meant the Land of Water and the Land of Lightning. And a whole lot of smaller nations too, but that wasn't as important. The former would be interesting, since the boy was very connected to them in a number of ways. Two, mainly, since he had a pair of their legendary swords in his possession, the mad bastard.

Mei was sure to welcome him like he was her best ninja as it was. Tsunade wondered how the woman would react if she knew he'd been one of the catalysts to the Leaf deciding to get involved and help her side in the Civil War. Maybe she would tell her that, just to see what happened. There were no downsides to that, really, and it would spread the influence of an already very important person.

And it would probably, maybe, cause some harmless annoyance to the brat, which would be great. Especially since as far as Tsunade knew, he still wasn't aware of the fact that he'd been involved in that mess, besides the Sword Retrieval mission. Yes, it was sounding more and more like a good idea the more she thought it over.

"I don't like that expression, old hag," Eiji called from where he sat, looking at her, unimpressed.

"It's nothing to worry about, I assure you," she told him with a grin that clearly stated she was lying through her teeth. "Regardless," she continued, before he could further ask anything. "I'm sure A will be overjoyed to learn that."

That was, if anything, even more of a lie. If the Suicide Squad visiting the Land of Water would be interesting, then them going to the Land of Lightning would be a shitshow. With how Kumogakure's previous encounters with Eiji and his Suicide Squad had gone, well, they were sure to react to his visit. How they would react, Tsunade would pay good money to see. It was just unfortunate that she wouldn't get the pleasure, but maybe she could talk the brat or his worse half into showing her through an illusion.

"Not that I don't appreciate the company," she started then, tilting her head at the boy. He seemed to know where she was going, if the grin he gave her was anything to go by. "But I still don't know why you decided to visit. I really doubt it was to thank me for keeping your friends here."

"Partly for that reason, honestly," he said, waving vaguely in the air. "It was also to tell you, more directly, that I will be kicking your ass if you do something stupid," Satou told her, as if he wasn't threatening a Kage. "I know you are unlikely to do so, especially with the old man advising you, but I thought better to make it clear."

"Noted, brat," Tsunade told him with a wry smile. "Honestly, this job is already a nightmare without having to take into account possible hostilities. I wouldn't bother with those even if I wanted to."

"Good," Eiji nodded, leaning back on the couch. "I'm also here to tell you that I'll be taking out a possible risk to peace sometime soon, possibly today."

"Oh?" Tsunade replied, narrowing her eyes. It took barely a moment to come up with a handful of options as to who the "possible risk" could be. One of them, in particular, almost surprised her. "And who would that be?"

"I'm sure the old man and you are very aware of them," the boy replied, making one of the options stand up all the more, which was also a surprising one. "The fact that it'll be doing a favor to one of my friends makes it even more important that I do this and quickly."

"And you are waiting because…?" she asked, more curious than anything.

"Because I have two rather good spy and sabotage experts in my team that are doing their thing as we speak, with some help from the rest of the squad," he told her and she could only pity his target. If the boy was terrifying on his own, the pack of monsters he'd created was even worse, if only because they had numbers.

Everyone was sure the Suicide Squad members would reach a proper S ranking soon enough. Hell, Eiji himself was S rank in name only as it was. There were already whispers about making a new ranking just for him. The same kind of rumors that had spread around when Minato Namikaze was unleashed in the battlefield. The talks hadn't gotten anywhere back then, since he'd been made Kage and that was a ranking of its own, but now, now it would probably be very different.

"I'll be honest, I thought you'd try to stop me," the boy continued speaking then, regarding her now as if she were some kind of interesting puzzle. "The old man was happy to leave them be, it seemed. I thought you'd carry on with that."

"First of all, it was a necessary evil for my sensei, a necessity from a time where Konoha was not as strong as they portrayed themselves as, weakened as it had been," Tsunade explained, turning to look out the window. She was disgusted by what she was saying, but it was true. "We couldn't afford the sort of in-fighting that would come if we tried to do anything against them and, in a way, they were helping Konoha."

Tsunade expected the boy to jump on that, to call her out on her "bullshit". To tell her that they'd all been wrong and that there were other, better ways. He should have told her all that and more, probably storming off out of her office. Sometimes she wondered, how bad were things going to be that such actions had to be condoned to make things "better". She honestly didn't want to know.

"I hate that it makes a semblance of sense," Satou replied instead. "It's all wrong, but… Well, this world is all sorts of wrong too. It's getting better though and now they are no longer necessary, however."

"And I agree with that," Tsunade told him with a bitter smile. "Which is why I didn't say anything."

"Is it ironic or poetic, that I'll be the one to make them disappear?" Eiji asked then, looking out the window, even if his eyes seemed to stare at something entirely different from the view of her office. "They made me, they helped me get where I am and they made it possible for me to get where I am. And now… I'll destroy them and everything related to them."

"I think it's just the way it was always going to go," Tsunade told him. "They existed for a purpose and now… Now they are obsolete. There's no need for them to be anymore. They knew there wouldn't be retirement in the end for them, there was only one way things would go for them, eventually."

"I guess you are right about that," Eiji replied, sighing. "I thought I'd be done with deep and troubling thoughts once Akatsuki was dealt with," he continued, chuckling wearily. "But life goes on, and there's always something to do."

"That's how life works, yes. There's no happily ever after and the end. Things keep going and life is full of setbacks and issues that we have to deal with," Tsunade said, laughing much like he had. "We aren't that lucky, I'm afraid."

"Yeah, I guess we aren't," he nodded. Then, both of them noticed the spider that crept her way inside her office from the window. A spider bigger than one hand that continued moving, unfazed by the attention it was getting from two very prominent individuals. Eventually, she reached a point on the ceiling where it let go and fell, straight to Satou's lap.

"Contractor," the arachnid greeted formally. "Yakushi and Nii say that they are waiting for you now."

"I see," Eiji replied slowly with a nod. "No rest for the wicked, I guess," he mumbled, standing up as the spider climbed its way to his shoulder. "I'll see you later, Tsunade."

"Don't make a mess, Eiji. I really don't want to have to deal with that," she told him, making him smile, even though it was far from reaching his eyes.

"Yeah, somehow… I don't think you have to worry about that. As you said," he commented, looking and sounding about as old as Tsunade's own teacher did. She could only lament the way the world seemed to become harder instead of easier the stronger one was. It was rather the sad reality they had to live with, however. "It was probably always going to be like this and they knew it. If anything, I think this is what they wanted."

"You might be right about that, I imagine," Tsunade told him, taking a deep breath in.

"Anyway… better to get on with it, I guess," Eiji mumbled, before he just disappeared in a small cloud of smoke.

Now alone, Tsunade sighed, deflating on her seat before bringing a hand up to massage her eyes. She was feeling oh so very tired at that moment. As such, she felt more than willing to indulge herself with a drink. A single glass, to lament the fact that a boy had to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders and there was very little she, as a Kage could do about it.

There was also the fact that she'd have to deal with the mess that was coming, even if Satou would likely try to make it as small as possible. That wasn't saying much though, all things considered. So, Tsunade guessed it'd be better if she prepared herself.

[}-o-{]

[Danzo Shimura]

"So, you finally came, huh?" he said as a way of greeting who was probably his greatest creation. It was just a shame that Danzo couldn't really take all the credit for that. Eiji Satou had been destined to be a monster all along, he'd long since known. The only thing he did was facilitate his way to that point.

"I did," Satou replied, standing in front of him, in his office, in the Root base that was supposed to be known only to them. Danzo was unsurprised that the boy had found them though. He had more than capable people under him and, more importantly, knew what to look for. "Anything you want to say before I kill you and make your organization disappear?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact," Danzo answered without hesitation before giving the boy a smile. It wasn't a radiant thing, of course, but neither was it bitter or sad. It was, he supposed, proud. It was also something that surprised even himself. "Everything I did, I did for Konoha. I stand by that and I'm not ashamed of any of the things I did. However, I'm also happy… Happy that people like me won't be necessary in this world, for some time, at least."

"People like you should never be necessary," his student in all but name commented.

"Should not, indeed, but we are, at times. And you know that," Danzo told the boy, who stood there, impassive as he spoke. "You know that, which means that even if the need comes back, I won't need to be here. Because you will be here."

"That's what you wanted all along, wasn't it?" Eiji asked then, not precisely shocked but just the smallest bit surprised. "You didn't want a successor to take over your organization. You wanted someone that would turn into you, make their own Root if it became necessary."

"You give me too much credit," Danzo replied with a chuckle. How long had it been since he'd truly laughed? He didn't remember a time when it had happened after the wars. "I did want you to be my successor. However, you are right that my goal changed once it became apparent that you and Hiruzen would get what you wanted."

"You are remarkably unbothered by the fact that there's peace through the world now," Satou pointed out curiously.

"I don't want war, as much as you might think I do. Although, I do hope you realize that peace will not last forever. It might take a few years or much longer, but war will come back. It's a constant of life. Peace and war, constantly fighting to be the one to reign," Danzo explained to him, leaning back against his seat. "So, be ready for when the thing you've fought so hard for inevitably loses that fight."

"I'm ready for it to happen right now, nevermind later down the line," Satou told him, making him smile just a little bit wider. "And I have plans, plans for peace to continue existing even after I'm no longer around."

"You do, do you?" Danzo mused, before sighing. "I guess that's all I can hope for."

"For what it's worth," Satou started, running his fingers through his hair. "Thank you, for all that you did to help me get where I am. Without you, things might have been much more difficult. It's the whole reason I even give you the benefit of the doubt regarding a lot of the things you've done. Both, those that I know of and those that I don't."

"I probably don't even deserve that much," Danzo acknowledged. "And it's likely that I've made mistakes along the way, but who hasn't? We can only do things to the best of our abilities and hope that it's enough."

The conversation was interrupted by the sound of an explosion. His Root members were ordered to surrender immediately, however, so he didn't know what could have caused it. There'd been little point in fighting what was coming, even if he'd wanted to. His people were good at what they did, manipulating things from the shadows. They were certainly no direct fighters, however.

"It seems one of mine found something they didn't like," Satou commented, head turned to the side, regarding what had just happened. "I almost don't want to know."

"I'm not proud of a lot of things I've done," Danzo admitted, leaving aside the fact that he was also not ashamed of them either. "There's a number of things that could have caused that" he added, almost as an afterthought.

"Yeah, I guess there would be," Satou mused, just as idly if a bit bitter.

"Good luck, Eiji Satou," Danzo said then, welcoming what was coming, unafraid. It would be almost a relief to finally be able to let go. He'd grown so weary through the years, his body barely holding itself together, not only because of its wounds but also because of the experiments. His mind and soul did little better, if he was honest. He was tired, but he'd refused to stop until Konoha was where it had to be. "Konoha is in your hands, yours and everyone else. It's time for us old timers to retire. Hiruzen did so, and is already enjoying himself, relaxing. I think it's about time I did the same."

"I guess you could look at it like that," Satou told him with a wry smile. "I don't know if you deserve the reassurance, but I'll give it regardless. I'll do my best to keep Konoha safe."

"That's all I could ask for, even though you probably don't care about that."

And then, Danzo Shimura closed his eyes.

[}-o-{]

[Kabuto Yakushi]

It was… weird, to be part of the group that took down Root, an organization that had been part of forming what he'd once been. He couldn't say he felt badly about it though, not really. After all, Danzo Shimura and Root had been part of the reason why he'd ended up being a person that couldn't tell what was a mask and what was himself.

So, Kabuto was happy to see the whole place being taken down. The only reason they hadn't bombed the whole place was because it'd be much more noticeable. However, Root was no more regardless, going out with a whimper instead of with a boom. Personally, he thought they would appreciate that, really. The organization had been intent on remaining in the shadows, after all, so they'd probably be fine with staying that way even when it went down.

'My name is Kabuto Yakushi,' he chanted in his mind, as he usually would when he was reminded that, once upon a time, he'd been less than a person should be. 'I like dogs, medicine and the Squad. My dreams for the future are keeping the peace and opening an orphanage. In the meantime, I like spending time with dogs, especially at the Inuzuka vet, or with the team. I also like researching medical subjects and I hope to make some breakthroughs in the future. Mainly, I like finding out things about myself.'

He'd started changing that little speech as time passed, and it'd become a bit of an improvised mess, he supposed. However, he couldn't bring himself to actually improve it. After all, he felt like a mess barely put together himself often enough. Why shouldn't his description/introduction fit that? And besides…

Kabuto turned to the side, where the Squad was gathered after Root was taken care of and they left things in the capable hands of the Anbu and the Hokage. Eiji and Tayuya sat back to back, as they usually did. Fu seemed to be pestering the redhead for one reason or another, probably for the sake of annoying her, really. Jirobo was meditating as usual, since he was so intent on getting his Cursed Mark firmly under control. Yugito and Temari were discussing something, although Kabuto didn't care to find out what. It was probably related to the former's situation with her village if he had to guess.

He'd leave the woman alone for the moment, since she'd proved to be… somewhat reliable. However, Kabuto would keep an eye on her regardless. He wouldn't trust her so easily, and he knew Eiji trusted him to notice if something was off about her.

And then there was Yuki, the adorable dog that she was, who was keeping him company at that moment. Kabuto wondered if she did it on purpose, sensing that he needed more support than the others. She likely did. Not only was she a smart dog, but she was also very perceptive when people were feeling bad, he'd found.

As he looked at them, Kabuto thought that it wasn't so bad to be a mess. Every single person in the team was one and the squad itself was one too. There wasn't a single person in the group that could be called even remotely normal. Even Temari, who was the closest thing they had to such a thing. So, he decided that he was fine being like that too.

After all, the Squad had become much more than a team for him, just like he knew it had become much more than that for Tayuya, Jirobo and Fu. Even Yugito and Temari had started thinking along those lines, if to a lesser extent. Nobody ever said it, but Kabuto didn't need them to.

They were a team, yes, but they were also friends. Almost family, he'd dare to say. As such, things became even more complicated instead of less, however. Because not only did he have to worry about performing well in his role. He had to worry about the others doing well, he had to worry about helping them even when it wasn't required of him and he had to worry about a lot of other things.

He found that he didn't mind that at all though. After all, just like Kabuto worried about them, the Squad worried about him. It was… nice. It was also something he'd never had before too. Now that he had it, he would never give it up.

Thus, he had set a few goals for himself. One, he would help Eiji and Tayuya recover from the loss of lifespan they'd suffered. No way he was letting two members of his developing family die an early death. Two, he'd give others what he had been given himself, eventually. One day, when he wasn't as needed out in the field anymore, he'd build an orphanage, to make sure that kids like him turned out nothing like he did. Three… Maybe, just maybe, he'd be able to start an actual family of his own, by blood this time.

Kabuto was confident he'd be able to do it, at least the first two. The third he'd see, but he felt fairly confident in his ability to find a partner, if he did say so himself. He also already had someone in mind to try his luck… He just hoped it went well.

A laugh interrupted his thoughts and he turned to see his leader standing up.

"Ok, guys, I think my brother is a bad influence," he announced, still chuckling. "Now, who wants to join me for some ramen at Ichiraku's?" he asked, drawing a few snorts from the rest of the Squad, but they approached him regardless.

Because above it all, he was the one they owed quite a bit to.

Kabuto most of all.