Chapter 105 : Death of the War Hawk (2)

"You were right. There is a lot of anger in the boy." Ibiki reported to Naruto, the two deep under Konoha beneath the ANBU headquarters.

"I thought so." Naruto responded. On the other side of a special mirror, the ROOT operative codenamed "Sai" sat strapped in a chair, which was the only thing inside the room he was being tortured in.

"I want to talk to him." Naruto stated.

Nodding, Ibiki gave him the key for the door, and began to walk away. "And Ibiki," Naruto began, stopping the T&I commander, "Thank you. I think you're the only person who could actually break one of Danzo's men." Ibiki merely nodded again, leaving Naruto alone.

He had just left the hospital, after having a conversation about privacy with Kurama. Sasuke was already heading for the location they would be training for the next month, and Naruto would join him soon.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto steeled his nerves, his expression slipping into cool stoicism. His mind and heart became an impenetrable fortress, the cold, uncaring shinobi side of him showing its face.

He was Nezumi now, the embodiment of ANBU. He had used this side of himself since he woke up, not wanting to allow his emotions to weaken him. The words of the woman he called sister still stung his heart, and he loved two women who couldn't love him back because of his indecisiveness.

He was almost as broken as the ROOT operative he was going to speak to.

He left the room he had observed Ibiki work from, and slid the key into the door that held Sai behind it. Opening the door, he slid into the room, closing the entrance behind him. Sai didn't even bother to look at him.

There was no blood, no bruises; no sign at all that the Ne agent had been tortured. Nothing.

But that's why Ibiki's methods were so beautiful. He didn't have to physically harm someone to put them through hell, which was why he was given the position of Head of the T&I Division.

Some speculated that Ibiki was actually an Uchiha, in possession of the Sharingan, which would be an easy way to explain how he was so good at torture genjutsu. But Naruto knew that to be a lie. Ibiki was just that good at the art of pain, be it physical or mental.

Naruto could feel Sai, and how broken he was. But most of all, he could feel something that pleased him a great deal. Anger. Sai was angry, incredibly so.

All the anger he tried to suppress behind that fake smile of his was finally at the forefront of his mind, and there was nothing he could do to hide it. All Sai knew was anger, sheer, white-hot rage that flowed through him like a rampaging waterfall.

"Sai…" Naruto started. That's when Sai finally acknowledged his presence.

The Kamikage had never seen such a pissed off expression before from anyone.

He smiled.

"So you're angry, then." Naruto began. "Why? Why are you so angry? What did he do to you?" The emotions where enough to paint the picture he needed. "You can't say, huh? He's cursed you…"

Sai was silent for a moment, his rage-filled eyes falling to the ground. After a few moments of silence, he stuck his tongue out for Naruto to see, the Curse Mark Danzo used on his operatives greeting the blond.

"Hmm…" Naruto hummed. The emotions Sai began to feel were so strong, so fierce, so vivid, that Naruto could actually see what Sai saw. And what he saw angered him. "He made you kill him, right?" Sai's eyes widened.

"He made you kill your closest friend, your brother… and then he made you forget… He made you forsake your own family for his own goals…" He chuckled. It was a humorless chuckle. "You hate him, don't you." It wasn't a question. "You despise him. He sickens you, doesn't he." Again, it wasn't a question.

Sai stayed silent, his rage never dimming.

"You know exactly who I am, and what I am about. We are both Konoha ANBU, no matter what Danzo tells you. We are brothers of the creed, Sai." Sai looked up into Naruto's eyes. "Brothers." He said again.

"And as your brother, as all of ROOT's brother, I am promising you, by my blade as an ANBU operative of Konohagakure no Sato, that Danzo will die. Soon." Sai swallowed hard, his rage still there, but something else was beginning to blossom.

"Uchiha Sasuke wants him dead. Uchiha Itachi wants him dead. I want him dead." Naruto smiled.

"You, too, want him dead." His smile faded. "Sai, I want you to become my student." Sai widened his eyes in shock.

"That hatred of yours… Danzo has taught you that it is a weakness. He has taught you that all emotion is weakness. I'm standing here before you, telling you now, that he was wrong.

You want to avenge your brother, you want to be one of mine, then accept me as you sensei, and let me teach you how to tame your hatred."

"Yes." Sai whispered, not even loud enough for Naruto to hear.

But Naruto didn't need to hear his answer, because he felt it.

"That was a rather fast decision…" Naruto observed.

Sai was silent again, his eyes falling to the ground once more. For a moment, he didn't move. He didn't even breathe. For a moment, Sai was gone. Where he was, Naruto wasn't going to intrude.

He was thinking of his brother, the boy who was taken from him, and the man who took him. Naruto knew this, but said nothing. These were the feelings of a man who had nothing else but his anger.

And his wrath.

"Okay then." Naruto whispered. "I understand." Sai's eyes locked onto the Kamikage's, and where fear once traced his orbs when looking at the monster, there was nothing but resolve.

Naruto cut the restraints off of him, and Sai rose as something new. Something darker. "Welcome to the fold, Sai." He whispered.

Sai's rage, his resolve, his emotions, everything vanished in a second, all hidden behind that fake smile he always wore.

"Thank you, shishou." He spoke with a silky smooth voice, the old Sai completely back, as if nothing had happened at all. Except this time, it was a façade, and not his attempt to produce human emotion. He was one of them now.

Another. Naruto had another monster under his command.

The Bringer of Hope smiled.

...

"Are you sure we have that long?" Tsunade and Jiraiya were sitting in her office with multiple silencing seals littering the walls.

Jiraiya nodded with a serious expression. He was the legendary Sage of Mount Myoboku right now, not the perverted joker.

"Yeah, I'm sure. The Akatsuki can't afford to move for at least three years now, thanks to Naruto. They need to recruit and prepare. They may be criminals, but they aren't stupid, the opposite, actually. They're organized, especially now that we know they work out of Ame.

They have an entire hidden village backing them, and I'd put good money on them striking up an alliance with Iwa, and possibly Suna, if we don't push the peace treaties."

Tsunade sighed. As she rubbed her temples, she spoke. "Three years… that's not a long time to prepare for a war of this magnitude…" Jiraiya poured the two of them sake, and Tsunade drank her cup in one gulp.

"And where the hell is your godson? What was so important that made him leave when he should be hear, strategizing?" She asked.

The Sennin chuckled, sipping from his sake as well. "If its Naruto, you can trust that whatever he's doing, it's to prepare for this war. He's probably got an army for you by now." He chuckled again.

Tsunade huffed. "That kid's something else, that's for sure." She had never met or even heard of anyone quite like him before. "He's so serious… so powerful. It's hard to see him as human."

Jiraiya nodded. "I know how you feel. When I first met him, he was four, and he could already kill seasoned jonin by then." He was silent for a moment, memories of the past flooding his mind.

"He reminded me so much of Minato I almost thought he was. There's something in those Namikaze genes, hime, there has to be." He chuckled again.

"I wouldn't doubt it…" Tsunade said before pausing.

"But… before we left Tanzaku-gai, when he was informing us on what was going to happen… there was a moment when… I don't know… he seemed like a regular person, like a thirteen year old kid."

It had been on her mind for a while now. When she brought up the reasoning why he brought back his father, she saw his humanity for a split second. In that second, he wasn't a hero, he wasn't a monster, he wasn't the godslayer… he was just Naruto, just a kid.

Jiraiya sighed. He knew she noticed it, too. "You still have a keen eye, hime." He poured more sake, and drank before continuing.

"Naruto is a powerful shinobi. He is the kind of person who gets excited at the thought of battle.

But these things don't make him something different than human. He's a person, a young person, and even though he's still extremely mature, he's still only thirteen. He just doesn't show that side of himself.

He doesn't like it."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes. "Why not?"

Again, Jiraiya drank before answering. "He hates himself." He answered simply, surprising Tsunade.

"What?" the Hokage asked incredulously.

"My godson was born with his empathy gift. He was born with the ability to feel the emotions of everyone around him." His eyes met Tsunade's, and he could see the spark of understanding within them.

"He was the Jinchuuriki… so the village hated him…" Tsunade's hands clenched into fists, her anger visible on her pretty face.

"Yeah…" Jiraiya began. "Since his birth, he's felt the hatred of the villagers. Since birth he's felt the hatred of the Kyuubi." The Toad Sannin looked out the large window behind the woman he loved… the woman he loves.

"So he hates himself. He feels like his happiness is a bad thing, and tried his hardest to limit that happiness."

"Tried?" Tsunade asked.

The perverted smile on Jiraiya's face made Tsunade narrow her eyes at him. "Two beautiful women managed to sway his opinion on the subject." He answered in a strange sense of pride and gusto.

The Godaime's narrow eyes never left her old teammate as she tried to determine whether or not he was being serious. After a long enough pause, she began. "Two women? Really?" she asked. "What the hell has that godson of yours been up to?"

Jiraiya laughed once again, the loud sound annoyingly contagious. "He took to my teachings, hime, that's what! His old man stopped after he hooked himself only one beauty, but Naruto, that glorious bastard didn't stop there!" The smile on his face really irritated Tsunade.

"He's surpassed his father in every way! I couldn't be more proud!" After a few moments of laughter – and a death glare from Tsunade – Jiraiya continued, his serious expression back.

"But all joking aside, those girls saved him from possibly the only thing that can actually harm him."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "And what would that be?" She asked.

"Himself." Jiraiya replied, his voice deep and his tone weary.

Before either of them could continue on about Naruto and his love life – and who was a part of said love life – a golden flash interrupted their conversation.

Naruto, Sasuke and Gaara were suddenly in the Hokage's office, their knee bent. "Hokage-sama." Naruto greeted as he stood.

"And what exactly have you been up to, godslayer?" Tsunade asked.

Naruto's expression was serious and hard, slightly unnerving both Tsunade and Jiraiya.

"Shimura Danzo is dead." The Kamikage spoke, his voice holding multiple emotions that they couldn't determine.

"What?" Tsunade asked; her voice wary.

"Shimura Danzo is dead, and ROOT is gone." Naruto replied, adding the part about ROOT at the end.