Chapter 33: A Tactical Conspiracy

(Flashback: 3 days ago)

He ran through the dark corridors of the now destroyed Root base, everywhere around were dead bodies; blood was flowing like a river on the floor of the base.

The smell was sickening, and if not for his years of training; he would have immediately thrown up.

It was a total massacre, this was one of the darkest nights in the history of Konoha; and he had been a first hand witness to this madness.

Yamato never imagined that such a day would come, when he would have to see so many leaf shinobi be killed by one of their own. Was this really worth it? Had these men just died in vain for one man's madness?

Then he remembered some words that the Third Hokage had said to him, when he had become the Anbu commander.

"All it takes to change the course of history, is the will of a single man,"

It was really true, but in this case there were two men who were fighting to change the destiny of Konoha. One of was Naruto, while the other was Danzo.

He firmly believed that Naruto would emerge victorious, and he was quite impressed by the boy's resolve. Looking at the side, he noticed one of his clones was carrying the body of the now deceased Sai Satou, former Root Anbu, in his arms.

"You really saved all of us today, Sai" thought Yamato gratefully

Now the only thing left to do, was save this person Naruto had told him about. He really was confused, why was Naruto so persistent to spare this Anbu?

"There is a small turning up ahead on the right, it must be just a few meters away," said Yamato's clone seriously

"Alright keep your eyes open, there may be hostiles nearby," said Yamato firmly

Yamato and his clone reached around the corner, and quickly took a turn on the right. Yamato had his sword drawn and was ready to attack if there was any enemy left.

After a few moments of running, he saw some light ahead. He observed more carefully and now he could clearly see there was a large puddle of water, there was some ice around it too indicating the water must have been formed due to the melting of the ice.

He wondered if some Anbu had a hyoton bloodline, it was highly unlikely but anything was possible in their world.

But his beliefs were proven to be incorrect, when he saw a person lying in the center of the puddle of water. Now there were many dead bodies around, but this person was special.

It was a child, and Yamato's sharp eyes immediately recognized the blonde hair, could it be?

His senses were telling him that this was his target, he and his clone rushed ahead quickly and now he clearly saw this was a small girl.

But one look on the girl's face made him realize, why Naruto could not kill this girl and had asked them to spare her.

She had almost the same face as Naruto albeit with some good feminine features, her hair were even more silkier than Naruto's. She barely looked 6-7 years old, and had Anbu uniform on her body.

Yamato instantly felt a little angry, it was important to protect Konoha, but turning such small children into Anbu soldiers was unacceptable to him.

"Taichous...is she the one?" asked his clone hesitantly

Yamato was just about to answer his clone, when his eyes widened in shock as he realized the girl was not breathing at all.

"Get your ass over here now!" said Yamato quickly

His clone instantly complied and laid Sai's body on the ground, and rushed towards his caster. The clone touched the girl's body and it was cold.

"She is so cold, we need to get her to the medics," said the clone quickly

The clone then started to perform medical ninjutsu right above the girl's chest but was halted as Yamato grabbed his hand.

"What are you doing?" asked the clone seriously

"It's already over, She is dead" said Yamato sadly

The clone's eyes widened in shock, how could this be? There were just minor injuries on the girl's body, and nothing was lethal enough to kill her. He checked the girl's pulse but couldn't find one.

The clone looked in shock, as Yamato pointed around the area, there were pieces of big wood scattered all over the area. That only meant one thing, this girl had just used Mokuton when she was not ready for it.

"There is not a faint of chakra left in her body, it has already been more than a few minutes since she has died from chakra exhaustion," said Yamato regretfully

"But-" said the clone in protest

'Mokuton is not something anyone could handle, even we were not able to use it till we reached a certain age. This girl must have been ordered to stop Naruto at all costs, and by looking at the destruction around I can fairly say she used that jutsu," said Yamato seriously

"It's impossible, even we cannot do that jutsu without spending more than 80% of our chakra," said the clone in disbelief

"World of trees ninjutsu of Mokuton was one of the strongest arsenal in the Shodai Hokage's attacks; even we cannot perform the jutsu effectively. What chance did this girl have of surviving after using such a dangerous ninjutsu?" asked Yamato flatly

"Is there nothing we can do for her?" asked the clone quietly

Yamato knew this night had just turned out to be worse than a nightmare, he remembered Naruto's warning that if anything happened to this girl then he would destroy Konoha.

The boy had almost unleashed the Nine tails tonight, he was clearly not fully in control of his emotions.

The shock of killing so many of his comrades had almost broken him, and if not for Sai's sacrifice Konoha would be living the nightmare that happened a few years ago again.

If Naruto found out that his daughter was dead, Yamato feared what the boy would do.

He had just went 5 tails state a few minutes ago, and if this truth came out then their worst fears would come true.

He knew it was just another hour or so, before Naruto would defeat Danzo and head back to check on his daughter.

60 minutes, he had just 60 minutes to make a decision that would determine that destiny of Konoha and the shinobi world.

It all came down to his thinking, if he made one wrong move the world would be facing a far greater avenger than Madara Uchiha himself, and he doubted anyone could defeat Naruto if his hatred went out of control.

"What should we do?" asked his clone worriedly

Yamato quickly performed his hand seals, and placed his hands on the ground, and there was a puff of smoke.

There was a small hawk standing in front of both of them, Yamato immediately took out a small scroll, and the clone watched as his caster immediately wrote something on the scroll.

He then tied the scroll on the hawk's feet and it disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Minutes passed and both the men thought about their options, the situation was dangerous and they were on thin ice. They could hear faint sounds of battle from a far corner in the base where Naruto and Danzo were fighting.

Yamato had already informed the Hokage of this new development, but it would take time for orders to come, and until then he was in charge.

"After Operation Ghost, I'm quitting Anbu," said Yamato tiredly

His clone just nodded silently, Yamato had been an Anbu for years and it was well past his time to retire, he had already served more than 8 years in this outfit which was far more than many others had lasted.

This job was highly risky, and tense. The traumas Anbu suffered were enough to make any normal person go insane.

"Alright, we'll take both of these bodies out. You put Sai in a body bag, while I'll handle Naruto on my own," said Yamato firmly

"I just hope this plan works," thought Yamato worriedly,

(Present Time: Hokage's Office)

Kakashi stared in shock, as Hiruzen narrated the truth about the massacre and the casualties they had suffered; to find that Naruto's daughter was now dead was a major blow.

"After that the Anbu commander put a genjutsu on Rei as well as her surroundings making Naruto believe that she was alive but unconscious. He did his best to stay calm and normal, Naruto barely had any energy left and it was a miracle he was standing, as a result he could not see through the genjutsu, and fortunately the plan worked," said Hiruzen briefly

Kakashi was in shock, he didn't know how Naruto was going to react to this? He was already bearing so much pain, and he doubted Naruto could survive such a devastating blow.

"You said Danzo created her from Naruto's cells with Orochimaru's help. Wouldn't Naruto find out the truth from Orochimaru if they ever met?" asked Kakashi solemenly

Hiruzen then took out a small diary from his desk and handed it to Kakashi.

"This is Danzo's personal Journal in which some of his activities have been mentioned, it was not easy to get it. We had to raid his base in order to find out everything, Danzo never told Orochimaru that the genes were of Naruto, yes Orochimaru would have found out that they had Uchiha as well as Uzumaki DNA in it, but he does not know that Minato was from the Uchiha clan; so we can rest assured that Orochimaru does not know that Naruto has the sharingan, less Rei's father. That is the only good news I've heard in days, Kakashi," said Hiruzen tiredly

"What should we do now? Should we tell Naruto-" said Kakashi hesitantly but was cut off

"Absolutely not! Are you insane? We would have another Madara on our hands, and this time there is no Hashirama Senju to stop him, Naruto is already on the edge of a break down, revealing this would drive him insane with guilt and he would fall to the Uchiha's Curse of Hatred," said Hiruzen furiously

"But she is his daughter," said Kakashi in protest, Naruto had a right to know.

"No, you must understand. I cannot tell Naruto that his daughter is no more, and we failed to save her. He would unleash the Nine tailed fox on this village, a lot of things are on the line Kakashi. Do you know Naruto almost lost control and went 5 tails during the mission," said Hiruzen seriously

"WHAT!" said Kakashi in horror,

"Yes, imagine the guilt of killing his comrades made him go this far, now what would happen if he found out what happened to his own flesh and blood?" asked Hiruzen sharply

"He would go nuts," said Kakashi honestly

"This Operation is already on thin ice, Naruto's comrade had to die to stop him from going on a rampage; I cannot afford such a blunder now, it is not only dangerous for Konoha but more for Naruto. He wouldn't be able to live with this truth," explained Hiruzen seriously

"Then what do we do?" asked Kakashi sadly, even he knew it was best if Naruto never found this truth or he was gone for good.

"I have already destroyed all evidence that were a proof of Rei's existence, her body has been buried in a secret location with all proper respect, and her sharingan has been preserved. I'm declaring this event as an Z-class blackops secret with only me, you and the Anbu commander knowing of this. Kakashi, you must swear never to reveal this truth, we have to bear this burden and take it to our graves for Naruto's sake and his sanity," said Hiruzen worriedly

Kakashi thought about everything, Z-class secrets were secrets that were forever buried. And it would be forever lost as the people who knew it died with the passage of time.

If he wanted Naruto to have a normal life some day, this truth would have to be hidden from him.

If Kurenai found out about this, then their already destroyed relationship would have slim to no chance of reconciling.

"Hai" said Kaksahi reluctantly, sometimes they had to make a deal with the devil himself.

And now Kakashi had just made a great sacrifice for Naruto's sake, as hiding this truth from him would forever burden Kakashi.

"But how you will you convince Naruto?" asked Kakashi silently

Hiruzen looked at the village and the people in it, he knew what he was doing was right as a Hokage and he wanted to keep Naruto sane, but still this was painful for him too.

The things he had to order as the leader of the villlage still haunted his soul.

But he was ready to pay the price, even if it meant he would have to spend all eternity in the Shinigami's belly in the after life.

"We will wipe out Rei's memory from his mind forever...and I have just have the perfect man ready to do this job,"