The Trouble With Itachi [On Hold]

15; Revelations

A/N- Ahhh ohk finally chapter 15 is here, sorry for the wait. Not much in the way of 'action' this time around, Anyway I hope you enjoy it, because the following chapter will have alot to offer, and hopefully make up for it :)

 *    *    *

Chapter 15- Revelations

My jaw dropped. I was dumbfounded.

“How? When-? Who-? Was it Rain?”

Sasuke shook his head and glanced away, “Orochimaru.”

“Orochimaru?!”

Orochimaru ?? He’s active again? I thought, This was significant.

Orochimaru had long held a grudge against Konoha. I learned recently that he had worked with Tsunade and Jiraiya for some time as part of the Legendary Sannin. But then he started practicing forbidden techniques and was expelled from the village, labeled as a missing-nin. His whereabouts were unknown after that, though he was rumored to be connected to the Sound village at one point.

As for Rain, it was unclear what his objective was, but it was well known that the two didn’t get along. I had heard gossip in the village that said that the large crater that stood between the Land of Rice Fields and the Land of Hotsprings was caused by a huge fight about 10 years ago between the two.

Nothing had been heard from Orochimaru for a long time.

Now Rain had given me a curse seal. And Orochimaru had given Sasuke a curse seal.

Something big was once again brewing between them.

“It happened just before you came to Konoha while we were preparing for the Chuunin exams. Tsunade had just become Hokage, and when she found out she sealed it,” Sasuke explained, “I’m guessing Rain was the one who gave you your curse seal.”

“Yes. Maybe that’s why Kakashi and Jiraiya went off so suddenly.”

A crying woman walked by us, held by her husband as they made their way down the street.

“Let’s put out the fires quickly.” Sasuke said decisively.

I performed a few hand seals, “Suiton- Suishouha!”

A large volume of water appeared as it was drawn out by the nearby river. Sasuke directed me to the fires, where I released a little at a time to douse the flames.

*    *    *

“If what you’re saying is true, then we need to destroy Akatsuki once and for all,” Tsunade said, banging her fist on the table.

“Tsunade-sama,” Jiraiya interjected, “According to our sources, Akatsuki are looking for this girl Sayuri.”

“Yes,” Tsunade nodded, “There must be something unusual about his girl.”

“She does have the rather uncommon ability to use Lightning,” Kakashi said, “Even though she is from the Land of Water.”

Tsunade nodded, “Her files point to the Land of Water, but then how was she able to produce Lightning? It could be a bloodline limit, but none of that is mentioned here. I also need to seal that curse seal don’t I. Go and fetch her. I would like a few words.”

Kakashi bowed low, “Yes, Tsunade-sama.” And he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

“Do you think there is some element of foul play?” Jiraiya asked.

“Possibly,” Tsunade answered, “We are definitely missing something, and I’m going to find out what.”

*     *     *

I was following Sasuke back to the abandoned Uchiha compound. He told me there was a secret doorway that held the Clan secrets, and also an in-depth history of the Ninja World.

We were going to look for any mention of Rain.

In a word we were going to do research.

Once we got inside the ancient Uchiha complex, which was located at the back of the abandoned Uchiha compound, he went into a back room and found a trapdoor in the floor.

I don’t know how he got to know of this place, and I didn’t ask.

I assumed he would have known since it was his Clan, but at the time the events surrounding Itachi went down, he would’ve been pretty young.

Not my business, I told myself, and followed him down the creaky stairs.

There were several bookshelves and glass cases housing small books, weapons and other family heirlooms. Sasuke walked past all of these and went for a large chest in the corner of the room. Breaking the lock, he yanked the lid open and pulled out a huge textbook. In fact there were three of them, each as big and imposing as each other.

He lit a large candle in the corner of the dark room. Its light filled the room with a faint glow then he went back to the books.

“These are the history books,” Sasuke said while he opened one, “I’ll look at this one, you look at another. Better get comfy, we could be here a while.”

Hours of probing the books revealed little in the way of Orochimaru or Rain.

Orochimaru was mentioned briefly along with Tsunade and Jiraiya.

After that, he seemed to disappear from history.

It was as I looked in the last book that I saw a possible lead. Mentioned in the history of the Hidden Mist village, was a boy who was expelled from the village as a missing-nin, though he wasn’t named. It said that he went off to follow his Master, the King of Snakes.

I called Sasuke over, “King of Snakes? Sounds a lot like Orochimaru to me. This could be it.”

“It says he went to follow his Master… so does this mean that Rain was a student of Orochimaru?”

Sasuke tilted his head, “Could be. Does it say anything else?”

I flicked through the pages, “A few years go by and it seems the hidden Mist Village is consumed by civil war. Next is the Lightning Country. There’s a small record of an occurrence between Hotsprings and Rice Field country. A huge explosion, unexplained. But I’ve heard that this could be the result of a fight between them.”

“Where did you hear that?” Sasuke asked, eyebrow raised.

I shrugged, “Gossip. Jounin talk a lot.”

“Well that’s interesting. If it was them, it shows a history of disagreement between the two.”

“The record stops at the Great Battle of Konoha. The nine tails beast is sealed away and the village is saved.”

I closed the book and closed my eyes, trying to put the pieces together in my mind.

Rain was a former student of Orochimaru.

They supposedly had a huge fight about 10 years ago.

Clearly there was some love lost between them.

The only thing missing was their objective, and the reason for their hatred of each other.

“What does Orochimaru want though?” I asked out loud.

“Its known he’s got a grudge against Konoha,” Sasuke answered, “But it doesn’t seem like he wants to destroy it. When he gave me the curse seal, he told me to go to him in search of power.”

“He knows you want to go after your brother,” I told him.

“But why would he help me?”

“Because he wants to get rid of him too. Win, win for him.”

Sasuke lay back and let out a long breath through his nose.

“We need to figure this out.”

*    *    *