The Path Of a Hunternin

Identity Revealed

It was a clouded day as the rain was doing everything it could to wipe away the scene of destruction caused by Sasuke and Itachi's fight. The trees were all but wiped out and the entire clearing was surrounded by black fire, courtesy of one Uchiha Itachi. It easily resembled a full-scale war, had it not been for the fact that no bodies were sprawled on the ground. Anyone who witnessed this could only imagine how fierce the opponents were if they were able to cause this much destruction.

This was the scene that Zetsu saw upon materializing from the ground.

He managed to track Itachi's chakra to this location, but as he looked around neither Itachi nor Sasuke could be seen. Immediately, Zetsu concluded the worst. He knew Sasuke grew strong under Orochimaru's guidance. What was even stranger, though, was that Zetsu could also feel the snake's scent in the vicinity, further keeping him from knowing the truth of what exactly transpired here.

The worst news, right now, was that with Itachi's body gone so was the ring that enabled the demon sealing.

Certainly, Madara wouldn't be happy with the ordeal as the man had his expectations in regards to this fight. He foresaw Itachi's defeat to Sasuke as this happened to be what Itachi wanted in the first place. Then Madara would convince Sasuke to join Akatsuki's cause by revealing the hidden truth behind the Uchiha Massacre. Now, not only did Akatsuki not possess one of the rings, but also the group was now one member short.

Remembering about Itachi's partner, Zetsu vanished below ground once more and managed to track the shark shinobi's scent close to his position. When he materialized close to the place where Naruto and Jiraiya fought against Kisame, Zetsu frowned once more as the shark's body was nowhere to be found just like Itachi. All he saw was more dark fire and he reasoned that the hellish creation had somehow managed to spread through the entire forest.

Plus, he could feel the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki's chakra as well as the sannin Jiraiya, which meant the two, had fought and perhaps managed to defeat the former member of the Seven Swordsmen. Certainly, this meant even more terrible news to Akatsuki as not only was the organization two members short, but also their respective rings were forever lost.

===In Konoha===

When Tsunade woke up this morning, she thought it would be a good day.

Yesterday, her favorite hunter-nin managed to capture not only Uchiha Sasuke, but also Uchiha Itachi's dead corpse. Therefore, Konoha was as of now rid of the majority of its enemies, all courtesy of both Naruto and Jiraiya. The woman was just waiting for Sasuke to wake up, then she could have some time alone with him and teach him some manners of loyalty.

As she arrived in her office, though, she noticed the solemn look on everyone's faces and started to worry. She knew something bad happened because of her apprentice's face.

It got worse once the stationed Anbu requested her presence in a crime scene that occurred sometime yesterday. When she asked what happened, the Anbu chose not to relay the news right away so he instead stated that Tsunade should see for herself.

When she arrived at the scene, she was surprised to see that they were in Danzo's cottage. Something terribly wrong happened. She could feel it as the strong smell of blood was an indication. Upon entering the room, the Hokage had the decency to flinch in exasperation. Dozens of bodies lay dead on the ground, all covered by blood in one of the most horrible death scenes ever witnessed inside a closed space. She could very well see Anbu masks not allowing their identities to be revealed, but Tsunade wasn't aware of any Anbu agent either dead or missing in action, which meant that they are all part of Danzo's secret Root Anbu Program.

"Where is Danzo, Tori (bird)?" Tsunade asked, wanting to ask some questions as to the existence of his root program.

"He's right there Tsunade-sama…in the middle." Said the Anbu, startling the woman at the implication that the old war hawk met his end at the hands of whoever did this.