Itachi came to light on a utility pole, looking down on the carnage, and scowled under his cloak.
The site of the explosion had been easy to find. Ninja and civilians were scurrying every which way marked the location as much as the cloud of smoke curling above it.
Sharingan eyes spinning to dispel any illusion, Itachi was able to confirm that Sasuke's head, blown clear off a body that was now so many steaming entrails spread across the scene, was the real one.
His brother's eyes were also missing, either torn apart by shrapnel in the blast - or removed beforehand and expertly made to seem so.
Danzo.
Itachi made no noise as he sped off through the night to a new goal. Danzo and the village council had been warned what would happen if his little brother came to any harm.
"Hi there," a harried Iruka looked up from the bloody spot he'd been cleaning on the floor to the trio just entering the building. "Starting the ninja academy today?" The teacher, exhasted already before even the first class of the year had begun, didn't bother to wait for an answer and just motioned towards the appropriate doors. "Registration desk is in there, your first classroom over there. Nobody is at either at the moment, but I'll get to them as soon as I can finish up here."
"Is that what I think it is?" Sakura's mother pointed to the bloody spot on the floor, not sure whether to be confused or horrified.
"Probably not," Iruka gave a tired grin and returned to his cleaning. "Mizuki, our taijutsu instructor, he was going to take the class while I ran the front desk, slipped on a stray kunai some student had dropped on their way in this morning. Fell bad. Had a slick spot on his shoe from stepping in something left behind by an excited Inuzuka dog, so he came right down. Sat on it. Cut the femoral artery, was dead before anyone else came in. Nasty bit of business. A million in one chance, but today's been a real lucky one for Konoha, hasn't it?"
"I heard about the council. I've been an assistant to them for some time." Sakura's mother tried to steer the little children she was escorting around the puddle, towards the classroom, while trying to shield their horrified little eyes from staring too long at the stain. "Danzo was a great man." She rattled on, trying to distract her daughter and the blond boy who was now her best friend. "And the Hokage's teammates. Now all gone, along with the rest of the council."
Iruka nodded, focused on his work and not mindful of what he was saying, or to whom. "Yeah, the Uchiha dead, and the Military Police with them, along with the council and our numbers still not up from when the Kyuubi attacked... I'd say things are going to be a mess around here for a while. I don't know when anyone is going to get around to hiring a replacement for Mizuki."
Sakura's mother had not the experience to detect that the thought entering her head was not her own. "Well, I am a mother, not a ninja. But I do have some experience in babysitting. Perhaps I could keep the children from getting too rowdy while you clean up here?"
The genuine relief in Iruka's eyes as he raised his face to thank her was heartwarming. "Thank you. I'll finish up here, then take care of the registration desk just long enough to get today's papers in order, then I'll relieve you as soon as I can, ok?"
"Please don't take too long," the civilian adult plead, realizing what she'd just gotten into. "I'm not sure how good I'll be managing children who are armed."
"Just read the book on the desk to them," Iruka offered. "Tell them there will be a test on it later today. That'll get half the class studying, and the rest to fall asleep, barring the one or two troublemakers every class seems to have. Assign those laps around the academy if they cause any problems. The rest will take care of itself. I'll be there as soon as I can, I promise."
"Alright, then," the mother led Sakura and Naruto on, just pausing long enough to snag registration papers for them to fill out while she managed the rest of the children.
Sakura had had plans for planting false evidence to get Mizuki convicted as a traitor, and the teams to get some real training just after graduation. But without the Uchiha to dodge around or play nice to, she had figured, why wait? What reason did she have to let the man spoil six years of education for everybody?
Just like Kabuto had died that morning of a fatal heart attack. A minor figure here or there would hardly be missed in the confusion as the Konoha police and command structure tried to rebuild itself from the Uchiha Massacre last night, and the death of every member of the civilian council early this morning.
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(Posted Tue, 01 Feb 2011 00:09)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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