"He's gone?" Naruto looks up from a very tiny toad that he was playing with. He was bored and took Alvarcus' advice: summon a toad to hang out with. Unfortunately this blue and green toad is too young to talk so they've resorted to playing a few games of tic tac toe.
Naruto is losing badly.
"Yep." Shikamaru lazily drawled out from the doorway. "Anko confronted him and he bolted. Not too surprised by that."
"Can't blame him for bailing." Naruto shrugs and turns back to the ongoing game. "Anko is… well…"
"Yeah." Shikamaru agrees with Naruto, no words were needed to convey the meaning. "Who could have guessed that she'd change Ino so much so quickly?"
"Dude I know right?" Naruto makes his move and hands the pencil off to the toad. "Kinda makes you wonder if Anko pushed Ino into going after Alvarcus."
"Most definitely." Shikamaru doesn't even pause to think about that, he came to the same conclusion a very long time ago. "Anko has been pushing Ino a lot. I can't wait to see Inoichi's reaction to his daughter's new style."
"That's going to be… eventful?" Naruto scratched his head as he's working on his next move. "Is that even the right word?"
"Close enough." Shikamaru turns to leave. "By the way Naruto, your toad is cheating."
"WHAT?!" Naruto shouts as he pins the toad in a mock angry glare.
"No I'm not!" The toad croaks out while holding his front legs up in a placating gesture.
"Wait I thought you couldn't talk?" Naruto accuses the toad.
"Er uh…" The toad looks around as if an excuse will conveniently jump out from around a corner. "I meant croak?"
...
"So Ino." Anko throws open the door to their shared room. "A little birdy told me that you and - Ino? Are you okay?"
Ino is sitting on her bed with her knees drawn up to her chest. She has her arms wrapped around them, hugging them closer to herself. She has taken a blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders and is staring blankly off into space.
"Ino?" Anko asks softly again after a long pause.
She still doesn't get an answer.
"Ino Honey?" Anko sits down next to her on the bed and lightly lays a hand on Ino's shoulder.
Ino flinches badly at the contact, jolting her whole body away from the gently gesture.
"Anko?" Ino asks in distracted confusion. "When did you get here?" She just noticed her fellow kunoichi.
"Not too long ago." Anko tells her as she wraps the young girl in a hug. "Ino what's wrong? You can talk to me."
"I… I don't know how to do that." Ino confesses as she scoots deeper into the comforting embrace. "It's so complex and strange and outlandish that I don't know if you'd even believe me. I don't know if I believe it and I was there."
"Start from where you think is best." Anko gently starts rubbing Ino on the back. "Take your time, we're in no rush."
A long silence falls between the two Konoha kunoichi. Anko keeps rubbing Ino's back to try and comfort the distraught girl and is waiting patiently. Ino's face is switching from emotion to emotion over and over. They range from fear, disgust and revulsion to smiles, happiness and longing.
"Anko?" Ino finally musters up enough courage to speak. "Can I ask you something?"
"Of course." Anko instantly replies. "I'm here for you."
"You were Orochimaru's student for a while." Ino says as Anko stiffens slightly, just enough for the genin she's hugging to notice. "Did he ever… ever make you do bad things? Terrible things. Like torture and killing innocents and worse?"
"Ino where is this coming from?" Anko has stopped rubbing Ino's back.
"Alvarcus." Ino shamefully admits. "I might have overreacted and invaded his mind and he showed me what life in Oto is like. He showed me horrible things. Things that I couldn't even begin to imagine yet he's lived them. He's done them. I want to know if he made it all up. I want to believe that he's not capable of those atrocities but they were so real. You're the only other one here that knows Orochimaru, would he force someone to commit murder because he wanted to test their loyalty?"
"Yes." Anko clutches Ino tighter for comfort. To comfort Ino or herself she's not sure anymore. "Orochimaru is more than willing to do that. He's done it before Alvarcus and Sasuke went to him, I don't see him changing. Ever. Ino whatever you saw was real."
"O-oh." Ino wilts in Anko's grasp.
"I'm sorry you had to see those things." Anko needlessly apologizes but she feels like she has to regardless. "But I have to ask Ino, why did he show you them? It must have hurt him so very, very much to relive those experiences. They're some of the worst parts of our lives. If not the worst part of our lives. Orochimaru is that bad. So why did he show you them?"
"To protect me?" Ino says even though it is more of a question than an answer. "I think he wanted to protect me from myself."
...
Two Hours Later
"Well shit." I stare out at the rapidly expanding large fields of grass that are replacing the cold snow on the ground. "So much for a superweapon. I think I just killed an ecosystem. That's a new one."
I turn back to the pedestal that the Hexagonal Crystal went into. I'm ignoring the tall imposing reflective constructs that rose in the air as I put the key in its hole.
"What kind of an idiot builds a giant heater?" I scoff out as I twist the Hexagonal Crystal in reverse and remove it. "This would kill the country, such and extreme climate change would kill off practically all the wildlife. Not to mention how much ice it would melt, that could raise the oceans up a lot and kill off any coastal town or port. Hell this could be a world effecting thing, I bet that climates all over the world would change if such a massive cold spot became a warm one. Cuz that wouldn't fuck anything up at all."
The constant hum of the machine fades as it shuts down.
"Now, time for the real question." I crush the Hexagonal Crystal in my hand, turning it to dust so no idiot can turn the heater back on. "How the hell am I getting back to Oto?"
~You could swim?~
"Fuck that." I shiver at the idea of doing that. "Fuck that sideways with a rusty shovel that's been dipped in dirty swamp water then sprinkled with just a dash of red peppers."
~How do you come up with those things?~
"You don't wanna know."
...
In Konoha, Danzo's Livingroom
The feeble old man with a cane is pouring a cup of steaming tea. This is something that he rarely has time for nowadays, simply enjoying a cup of tea by himself. Running an underground branch of ANBU is a lot more time consuming than people realize. While maintaining the secrecy of the entire unit on top of that? The Elder has almost no time to himself so moments like these are rare. Very rare indeed.
Which is why he's in a very foul mood because before him kneeling on the floor of his living room is a ROOT shinobi.
"Explain your presence here." Danzo places his displeasure to the side for the moment. He will hear what his subordinate has to say before jumping to conclusions or doling out punishment.
"You wished to be immediately informed of anything about a specific rouge shinobi." The kneeling masked ROOT member emotionlessly says to his commander. "We have found something… disturbing."
The shinobi falls silent, waiting for Danzo's permission to continue.
"So Alvarcus Mar has come out of the shadows." Danzo takes a sip of the still steaming tea, nearly scorching his mouth in the process. That's okay though, this is when he thinks the tea is the best. "Orochimaru has let you off your leash. Continue, leave nothing out."
"Of course Danzo-sama." The shinobi continues in his emotionless tone. "We believe he's behind the recent destruction of the Kusa outpost."
...
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