Chapter Thirteen

P.O.V. Sakura Haruno

I passed the same guard I had threatened, he quickly stood upright seeing my darkened face. I moved right past him through the old metal door, to his joy without giving so much as a glance in his direction.

Hanare still remained where I had left her, still grasping out for breaths due to being crushed between the metal chair she was strapped in and the table.

Good.

I summoned chakra ropes, wrapping them around her body I heard her gasp as she was realizing I had returned. After my blue ropes wrapped around her body, draining all her chakra from her reach rendering her weakened I pulled the leather binds from her right arm, dropped her hand freely onto the table.

"Is he alive-?"

"I-" I cut her off as I felt the darkened twisty side of me that I kept locked away stir awake, "-am going to make that 'Honest Room' look like child's play." I breathed glaring into her eyes.

"I can take whatever you throw at me." She bit at the air,

"Are you sure about that?" I questioned as I raised the large cleaver I previously taken from the table.

"Ye-" Hanare rolled her head but before she could spit in my direction, I brought the cleaver down onto her fingers. Hanare screamed as she stared with wide eyes at her three middle fingers getting scraped away off the table.

"Are you attached to your hands?" I questioned, roughly gripping her face to bring her shocked expression to look into my swirling eyes. "There is no one inside that room-" I gestured to the window, "-it's just you and me here."

"So, what-"

"Ibiki and Inoichi are not here to save you." I crumbled her situation own her throat as my eyes ignited into their diamond wreaths, I began to weasel my way through her head as I did the same to her left hand, I unwrapped and let it drop onto the table, I knew her body was completely paralyzed, she couldn't run nor fight me. She was the best kind of pray.

I didn't move to stop the monster that I was from coming out, I slammed the cleaver down as Hanare screamed as I shouted for her to talk. Kakashi's image of seizing out on his bedroom floor was scorched through my head, replaying repeatedly as I felt more anger bubble from within my belly. I wanted to be with him right now, not with this scum. I grabbed Ibiki's blow torch, it was small and fit almost perfectly in my hand as I cauterized her bleeding hands. I didn't need her bleeding out on me...just yet.

I snacked a lighting jutsu, shooting it through Hanare's body before throwing the damp towel over her face, kicking her back against the wall and drowned her. I felt the sickening smile on my lips as I allowed myself to enjoy breaking her arm and feeling her femur shatter beneath my fingers, I never felt so satisfied.

Hanare's torso bolted to the left, her stomach convulsed as she dries heaved stomach bile onto the floor.

"Don't go breaking on me just yet-" I called, "-the fun is just getting started." Hanare turned, yellowish substance dripped down her chin as her eyes locked onto me.

----

I dragged up a chair to sit in front of Hanare who I had strung up by her arms with chains, her bare toes barely brushed the ground. This girl had to be reaching her wits end by now, she was left wearing sports and her shorts bra. She had multiple lacerations running along her skin, they leaked blood causing a small puddle to begin to form under her feet.

I smiled, seeing Hanare had flinched when I moved to sit.

"So, are you ready to begin?" I asked,

"Wh-What?" She gasped out; blood dripped from between her lips.

"This is me just fucking around." I smiled,

"You-Your enjoying this."

"Your damn right I am."

"Yo-You're a monster."

"Oh honey-" I grinned, "-you have no idea, but you can't sit there on your high horse and lecture me. Your no better than I am."

"I am not a beast like you!" Hanare cried.

"How not?" I tilted my head, having gone through much of her memory. I caught Hanare's gaze, dipping her into a much different, much darker place than the one she sat inside. This was my favorite kind of manipulation; the real world was so restricting.

I set up Hanare in a pitch-black pin, every time the naive girl closed her eyes she would be pillared into a different and new horrid torture technique. While she was hanging from her arms much like she was in the real world, a creature I conjured up stood before her wearing a blackened rope almost blending into the surrounding space except for its face, its twisted and pale face froze Hanare's blood and had tears pressed against her eyes.

As I learned more about the Lock Village through Hanare's knowledge, the stupid girl closed her eyes. I looked over seeing the scenario had morphed away from the bleak room to her being thrown on a stained mattress, wires wrapped around her arms and legs as she felt herself being electrocuted. The creatures with a plate face moved towards Hanare, she screamed scrambling to get away from it, he placed a jar upon her stomach with a large sewer rat placed inside.

Hanare whimpered at the feel of the anxious animal, time inside Hanare's head sped up, the more time that passed the angrier and hungrier the rat became. Soon it began to dig at the exposed flesh of her smooth stomach as its attempt to be freed. The rat would bite and claw its way through Hanare's abdominal cavity ripping apart her internal organs until it reached the other side breaking to sweet freedom.

This method always turned even my stomach; this was an old method but that didn't stop Kaguya from using it on me.

Hanare screamed bloody murder, she shut her eyes, but the girl was smart and caught on quickly I will give her that. Hanare refused to open her eyes as tears poured down her face like an open faucet. After a couple seconds, the creature reached out with its cold bony fingers, digging around Hanare's eye until it got a grip on her eyelids.

It pulled them outward as it raised a pair of rusted scissors, slowly cutting away the thin skin tissue. Hanare finally begged for it to stop, but the creature quickly wrapped a plastic bag around her head and began to suffocate her. Hanare's fingers desperately scratched at the creature's hands around the bag trying to break free but was enviably going to fail.

I broke the hold I had over Hanare, allowing her to come stumbling back inside her own head as I deactivated my eyes and let out a deep sigh. Hanare looked around at all points of the room, until her eyes landed on me. Her eyes were large like a coin, her lips parted as she unsuccessfully tried to pull in breaths to her empty lungs.

"Breathe." I said leaning back in my chair, I heard her take in a deep breath and to my surprise she let out an ear-piercing scream. I blinked, rubbing my left ringing ear as she screamed her throat raw.

"Girls got a set of pipes on her." I glanced over seeing Carver and Tsunade walking into the room.

"Welcome to the show." I said holding my arms out.

"What did you do-?" Tsunade breathed studying my work.

"My job." I answered getting up and moving towards them. "How is Ka-"

"Monster!" Hanare stretched causing me to turn around.

"Do you want me to start again?" I asked her, "I haven't even begun to show you what I can really do."

"Sakura-" Tsunade breathed pulling my eyes back onto her. "Did you find anything-"

"You will burn!" Hanare interrupted, "You and this ragged village all come crumbing down."

"Maybe." I said, moving closer to her, "But you won't be around to see it."

"I will kill you." Hanare glared at me,

"That's what they all say." I replied leaning closer to her. "But I must say, your little jutsu was nice."

"Huh?" Carver blinked believing I was talking about the one she placed on Kakashi.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Hanare sneered her teeth at me.

"Yeah." I nodded, "Go ahead and bare your teeth at me, I'll rip those out one by one just like I did with her fingers."

"Sakura?" Carver called, "What is going on?"

"You can't do the trade with the Lock Village." I began to explain.

"Why not!?" Tsunade breathed, "They have-"

"Hanare knows everything about the Leaf." I said, "She knows about the tunnels underground, she knows the entry and the exit points, she knows the guard rotations, she knows everything about you."

"What?" Carver gasped, "How? Kakashi only knew so much-"

"She didn't learn what she knows through Kakashi, he was just a pawn in her little game."

"I don't understand-" Tsuande shook her head,

"Hanare here has a fun loving jutsu, its rare and I barely even caught onto it but her jutsu allows her to look into her own mind-" Hanare's eyes widened, causing me to believe it hit the nail on the head with this one.

"Who the fuck would want to look into their own head?" Carver crossed his arms over his chest, "That doesn't make any sense."

"It wouldn't-" I agreed, "-but when someone else is trying to rampage through your mind, the jutsu then allows her to see into the mind of whoever is playing tag inside her head." I looked over at Hanare, "Isn't that right?"

"What does all this mean?" Tsunade questioned,

"Inoichi-" I said, "-that is where she got all her info from."

"That's insane!" Tsunade breathed running her hands through her hair, "He would never allow any information to leak-"

"He didn't know." I said, "Which is why he was so dead set on Hanare and saying something was off about her, because she went through his mind without him knowing and that leaves an annoying little itch inside the persons head."

"Wow." Carver blinked, taking all this in.

"You wanted to be caught." I went on turning to Hanare, "You knew you would learn nothing from the villagers, especially from Kakashi so you waited until you were discovered. You are highly trained in this field, which is another reason why Inoichi couldn't break you, you got your ass cut up and handed to you before breakfast every day."

"Does that mean she got inside your head?" Carver asked me.

"No." I answered, "You couldn't, there is no chance in hell I would ever let something like you read my mind."

"But why do all of this?" Tsunade asked, "What was the end game?"

"This is how her village works." I said, "I didn't think much of the Lock Village, they left me alone, so I gave them the same courtesy."

"What do you mean?" Carver asked, "How does the Lock Village work?"

"We thought they were strong and shouldn't be messed with." I turned to them, "But that isn't the case, the Lock Village's is weak. They don't have the manpower to be a real threat against villages like the Waterfall or Leaf, so they did the next best thing, they send out little worms like Hanare here to gather dirt on the other villages. Then they use the stolen Intel against them in blackmail or to get the upper hand."

"I can't..." Tsunade shook her head, "...believe any of this."

"Your village is pathetic." I said to Hanare, "You all should have been extinguished out years ago, but since you left me alone, I never set my sights on you until now."

"My Village will-"

"You don't know what your village will do." I cut her off, "You never even stepped foot inside the Lock Village. This was their way of training spies, if they were to ever be caught then there would be no detail to find on them."

"What do we do now?" Carver asked,

"For starters-" Tsunade sighed, "-lock her up."

"I'll escort her." Carver offered moving to unchain Hanare, I watched with sharpen eyes as Carver wrapped an arm around her and practically dragged Hanare with him out of the room.

"So, everything with Ka-" Tsunade went to say.

"There's more." I rashly cut her off once we were alone in the room.

"M-More!?" Tsunade gasped, "What more could they possibly be!?"

"The Lock Village-" I said, "-from the small bits I gathered from Hanare, they are working with the Sky Village."

"What!?" Tsunade breathed,

"Yeah." I said, "I don't know why or for what but if we have a super charged village that can fucking fly and another village living in the dirt collecting Intel on all the big villages than-"

"Only trouble can brew from this." Tsunade breathed, sitting down in a free chair that wasn't splattered with blood.

"Yeah." I agreed as Tsunade leaned against the arm rest, her forehead being held up by her hand her hair covered her face, but I could see the tension inside her shoulders, this stress couldn't be good for Tsunade or the baby.

"What are we going to do?" Tsunade breathed to herself, lightly sniffing I looked over seeing she had tears falling from her eyes.

"There something I don't know?" I asked as my heart strangely clinched seeing the tears in her amber eyes.

This was the woman who banished me, she uprooted my entire life and threw me into the dark where the wolfs were hungrily waiting and yet...all I wanted to do was stop her eyes from tearing up.

"You must be hungry-" Tsunade said wiping her left eye as she faked a smile, "-and you must want to check on Kakashi, come on." She said leading me out from the room.

"Are you going to tell me what has you so tense or do I have to play investigator?" I asked as we quietly walked through the screaming halls where the damned resided.

"No-" Tsunade lightly chuckled, "-you don't have to do that it's just..."

"It's what?"

"In the last attack on the village, we lost both our chief of the regular forces and the head of the black ops and I have been running back and forth trying to keep the village together but I am dropping balls left and right and running in circles and I-"

As Tsunade rambled on, I saw the stress weighing her down. I noticed the dark circles under her eyes as she fakes a heavy smile within her pale lips.

"Have you decided who you're going to replace them with?" I questioned; curiosity having gotten the best of me.

"No-" Tsunade heaved, "-don't get me wrong, there are so many fantastic shinobi inside this village but I'm just not sure which ones could properly stand to help lead and protect this village."

"Careful now-" That same annoying little voice giggled in the back of my head, I rolled my eyes hearing Alethea; my lazy jinchuriki stir awake. "-you might burn for this village."

"I'm worried that I'll put the wrong person and charge, and I feel like I have done enough damage to this villages name because of what I did to you so I just have so much anxiety-" Listening and watching Tsunade's facial expressions, I believed her. I fully believed she regretted what she had done, and I forgave her banishing me.

I licked my lips pulling my eyes to stare at the cave floor, it was coated in moisture from the high humidity. Inside my chest I felt a consuming warmth wrapped around my heart.

Dawn was right, I would burn for this village but in return they could clean my hands, purify all my stains...I wanted to burn for them...

"I could combine the two roles and only have one job to worry about filing but then who would I place in charge? Who would want to be responsible for every shinobi inside this village-" Tsunade rambled to herself.

"Me." The word slid so effortlessly off my tongue, tasting sweet.

"What?" Tsunade blinked, she stopped walking.

"I'll do it." I repeated.

"I-You-You're the...you...what!?" Tsunade wheezed.

"I said-"

"No, I heard what you said but I can't let you do something like this. Sakura, you built the Waterfall Village from nothing. You made their name, I...you-you are their Commander, how could you just walk away from that?"

"I am not their Commander." I simply answered, "Dawn rightly took my title, she has done a fantastic job at keeping the village running these past years. It wouldn't be right for me to step over her and take back the throne, it's her turn to make her own name for herself."

"I-I just don't want you to do something you'll end up regretting." Tsunade shook her head, almost appearing like she couldn't believe this moment was real life. "You were so adamant on not being the next Hokage that I didn't expect you to-"

"I won't be." I said, "I don't want to be the next Hokage-"

"But-"

"Tsunade-" I sighed, "-Kaguya trained me to be a soldier, a war machine-" Tsunade's mouth opened to object but I quickly continued, "-and I am fine with that. It took me a long time to accept what I had turned into and as crazy as it may sound, I like who I am. I know I can lead this village with the strength I gained while under Kaguya. I can take on this villages symbol and I can lead you all with pride, but to do that I'm no good sitting behind a desk."

"Sakura-"

"I am best on the front lines." I said, not giving her room to speak. "That is how I can best do my job. If I knew this village wouldn't be ok without me as Hokage I would never turn down the job."

"You're always looking out for us."

"I am." I nodded with a smile blooming along my face.

"I-I can't-!" Tsunade sputtered with a quick shake of her head, "-I can't ask you to do this!"

"You're not asking-" I replied, "-I'm offering." Tsunade took the last few steps getting into my personal bubble, she placed her hand on my forehead making me chuckle.

"Are you feeling ok?" Tsunade questioned searching my eyes, "Did using your eyes tried you out and that's why your-"

"Tsunade-" I said with a smile on my face and a lightened heart. "-this is the best I have felt in a long time."

"Are-Are you sure?" Tsunade sounded so unsure of herself.

"I wouldn't be offering if I wasn't absolutely sure, but I do want an office." I half joked.

"Yes-" Tsunade laughed, leaning forward. "-you will get an office."

"With like walls and stuff-" I added as Tsunade tightly hugged me,

"Yes!" Tsunade agreed, "Thank you Sakura, thank you so much! Oh my gosh, there is so much to do now! I have to get your paperwork started, I need to find an office for you, we have to get you sworn into the village and I-"

"Breathe." I said lighting gripping her forearm. "That can all be done in due time, but right now we have to make plans on getting Riichi back from the Lock Village."

"You have a plan?" Tsunade looked at me as if I held all the answers of the universe within my grasp, Why did I have an aching feeling this was going to come back and bite me in the ass?

"I always do." I shrugged.

"This is perfect!" Tsunade bounced, "I can announce you as our Commander during the same meeting I announce my apprentice!"

"You picked an apprentice to become the next Hokage?" I questioned.

"I did." Tsuande looked so proud of herself.

"Who is it?" I wondered.