Will of embers

Chapter 19

The mist in this country seemed to be never-ending. No matter how many times she came here, she was still surprised by the scenery. It was her first time coming after the war, but the cold and bleak atmosphere didn't seem to have changed much from what she remembered. Hopefully, she will be able to end these negotiations quickly and return home under the scorching sun she grew up under.

"They're late," she said to her comrades. She barely knew them as it was the first time she had worked with them, but she trusted them as they were fellow shinobi of Sunakagure. "Are we sure that they aren't planning anything?"

"Don't worry," She wouldn't say that she liked the confidence and the lack of respect towards her portrayed by her comrades. "Maybe they were delayed a bit. But it doesn't change anything."

She could only agree. But she couldn't get rid of this chilling feeling she felt on her back. Maybe it was because of her revealing clothes and the moisture around her. Kirikagure wouldn't do anything after asking for peace negotiations. It was long overdue anyway. The war was over for more than a year. And it was only formalities by now.

The sooner she finished with this mission, the sooner she could return to her student. That cheeky girl couldn't get enough training, no matter what she said. She was going to be a great shinobi one day, and she couldn't wait for the day when her student became the next hero of Sunakagure. Hopefully, it won't be during a war and this peace will last longer than the previous one.

"Finally, they are here," The mist thickened around them, and she could tell that the people she had waited for were finally coming. "No, why are there so many of them? Let's retreat."

Something was wrong. Only a squad or two should have come to meet them. There was no need for so many of them. It was only a formal exchange, nothing more, and they weren't even close to Kirigakure. She had to retreat as she was responsible for her comrades. She couldn't risk their lives if there were even the smallest of chances of danger.

"Sorry, but you aren't coming anywhere, Pakura."

"Why?" Pakura of the Scorch Release, the Hero of Sunagakure, gasped as a kunai was stabbed at her lower back.

"It is the price for the peace," her comrade, the people she trusted to watch her back no matter what answered as he took out another kunai to finish her off. "Blame the higher-ups if you have to. But this is the price for the peace. And you were chosen to be sacrificed."

Pakura felt as if her world had shattered into pieces. Had she not sacrificed enough? She trained every day ever since she could walk. She fought and killed for the village. She gave up on her personal life to dedicate her life to protecting her village. All of it was thrown back at her face as her comrade was going to kill her.

"No!"

She couldn't accept it. It has to be a lie. Frustration and anger boiled her blood as she unleashed her chakra, creating heat orbs that instantly killed her comrade. The second kunai fell from his mummified hand to the ground. She stared at him and then at her other comrades, the people she would have done everything to protect. Now, she could only feel furry as more and more heat orbs surrounded her.

She was alone. Her village has betrayed and abandoned her. She had no comrades. She will kill them all, even if that is the last thing she does. No one could escape her rage as heat orbs bypassed their meager protections, killing them instantly. Her comrades died first. Now, only the Kirigakure's shinobi were left.

"Oh," Pakura felt another three kunai strike her back. She stumbled forward, turning at thirty or so shinobi surrounding her. She was losing blood quickly. Her vision was already blurry, and the mist around her only obscured her sight even more. Still, she held out her hands, ready to take as many as she could before falling.

Three, seven, four more, she couldn't even think at that moment as her heat orbs killed everyone they touched. How many have she killed? She couldn't remember. Only mummified bodies lay around her could tell. Yet, there was still more. She had learned it long time ago that there is always more. No matter what.

She didn't even realize that she was on her knees and the puddle under her was her blood. She only had the strength to lift her head to look at her executioners. Still, she would curse Sunagakure, her home that she has sacrificed her life to protect, to the bitter end. As she prepared to take the final blow from the silent Kirgakure shinobi, she closed her eyes.

The blow never came, and when she opened her eyes, it wasn't the darkness that greeted her. What greeted her was masked shinobi that dismantled the Kirigakure's forces. A mask of a dog, a mask of a snake, the latter was just a kid. Was this a dream or delusion she had entered in her last moments? She didn't know, and she didn't care as she fell to the ground only for firm hands to capture her.

…

There came a time when Hiruzen had to decide without knowing if it was right or wrong, without knowing where it would lead him in the future. Nobody would agree with his decision, definitely not Danzo. But if Hiruzen knew one thing, then that thing was to do everything opposite to Danzo. It was the best way to run this village.

When the piece of information came to him that Suna had sent Pakura to the Land of Water for peace negotiations, gears started to turn in Hiruzen's head. He suddenly remembered who Pakura was and what she was capable of. And most importantly, he knew her ending.

So, for the first time, he would have to borrow tactics from Danzo and manipulate an emotionally vulnerable woman to do his bidding. Thinking that way gave Hiruzen a nasty taste in his mouth. But he needed to do this, no matter how wrong it was. When such an opportunity fell into his hands, he couldn't turn it down.

"Ding! New quest. The Hero of Sunagakure, Pakura, is bound to be sacrificed by her village for peace. A tragic and unwarranted death awaits her. Save her and change her fate. Ding!"

The quest was simple, and if Hiruzen had listened to it, he wouldn't have had so many doubts. But it wasn't the quest that spurred him to act. The reward was just B-rank ninjutsu, and the penalty for failure was a random reduction of his stats. The system didn't tell how much, but it might even benefit him more as he still finds it hard to control his strength.

But neither of those things mattered. He thought of different things, including something that had made him uneasy ever since he came to this world: Akatsuki. He didn't know how much he could rely on his memories when he had already changed quite a few things. Orochimaru won't join them, and he has no intention of letting Itachi leave the village either.

Yet, if he wanted to counter them, Hiruzen needed to know about their plans and actions. He needed someone inside. He thought hard about it but always put it in the back of his head because he couldn't decide who he could use for such a mission. But then, information about Pakura came into his hands. And the plan instantly formed.

"How is she?" Outside the village, in an isolated cabin in the middle of the woods, he looked at Tsunade as she left to clean her hands.

"Give her a moment, and then you can come in."

"Did you do everything I asked?" After Tsunade answered, I turned to Jiraiya.

"Nobody that saw us is alive, and we kept our mask at all times. Not even a strand of hair was left behind, and we destroyed everybody, leaving no signs of what killed them."

"Did you find anyone following you," Finally, Hiruzen turned to Hizashi Hyuga.

"No one," he replied, his Buakugan still activated. "I haven't stopped looking ever since we left the village."

Hiruzen nodded with relief. After seeing that Kakashi and Anko were fine, he entered the cabin. Inside, there was only a table, a chair, and a small bed. Even Hiruzen's office was bigger. He looked at the bandaged and pale woman sitting on the bed, waiting for him. He had planned many speeches to give to her to convince her to work with him, but at that moment, he forgot it all.

"Let's get over this first," Hiruzen took a chair that creaked as he sat. "Common ask what you want. I promise to answer everything to my best abilities."

"Why?" Pakura said only one word, yet it was quite a loaded question.

"Why is your village deemed acceptable to sacrifice you?" Hiruzen asked back but didn't receive an answer or any reaction. "I could give you a couple of reasons. None of them justifies their actions, nor is it something I would agree with. Why did I save you? Would you believe I did it out of the goodness of my heart?"

Hiruzen felt heat rising in the cabin quickly, and the moisture present quickly evaporating before his eyes. Yet he didn't see any orbs flying around her or, more importantly, at him. Hiruzen raised his hand, as he knew Hizashi would see Pakura's action and would spring into action to protect the Hokage. Seeing as the doors weren't kicked open, he thought that Hiruzen saw his movement and deemed not to interfere.

"No?" Hiruzen wouldn't have believed it either. "That's fine. I have a better reason. I need your help, so I saved you. That's all there is to it."

"And if I don't want to help?" Pakura asked, dangerously narrowing her eyes, but the heat seemed to lessen.

"You can leave," Hiruzen said. He had already given up on using grand speeches as they just didn't feel right. "Nobody was going to stop you. Aside from the six of us and you, nobody knows that you are here. And all I would ask is to keep it to yourself as you leave."

Pakura stood up, looked around the cabin, and walked to the doors. Even if Hiruzen wanted to stop her, he couldn't. He had already accomplished his mission and received the reward, so he wouldn't be losing anything. In a way, this would simplify his work in the future, as he would just put Akatsuki somewhere deep into his head and forget about them until they showed up before him.

"What am I supposed to do?" Pakura asked as she stood by the door, gripping the handle. "I believed that loyalty to friends, family, and village makes a shinobi strong. That is what always pushed me forward, further than I thought I could go. Yet was it all a lie?"

"To trust them was your choice," Hiruzen replied, not turning to look at Pakura because he felt she didn't want anyone to see her. "To betray that trust was their choice. I won't pretend to know how you feel, but your choice wasn't wrong. And your actions for your village weren't for nothing. A village isn't just the higher-ups who only see people as resources. A village is a place where children don't need to fight and can be just children. Your actions over the years have made it possible."

"If it wasn't anyone else but you, I would not have believed a word and thought it to be bullshit," Pakura backed away from the door and walked back to the bed before taking a seat. "What would you have done in their shoes? Would you have sacrificed your shinobi for peace in the future?"

"If I needed to sacrifice someone for someone, I would sacrifice myself," Hiruzen replied truthfully; he couldn't imagine a scenario where it would be easier to sacrifice someone else's life rather than his own.

"It is the first time I am face to face with you," Pakura chuckled as she looked at Hiruzen. "I can see, no, I can feel the burning will inside you. Is that what they call the Will of Fire?"

"Mine is nothing but a will of embers right now," Hiruzen laughed. "I probably would have been disappointed the first if he saw me trying to manipulate a woman after she had been through so much. And the second would scold me for being a fool and not dedicating myself fully to this plan. The Will of Fire that they left to me is nothing but embers I so desperately cling to with each decision I make."

"Ridiculous," Pakura laughed out loud, making Hiruzen a bit embarrassed that he had shared his true feelings. "You are the God of Shinobi, feared and respected by every shinobi in the Elemental Nations. I can't tell if everything you have said is a lie or you are simply bullshitting. And yet, why are your eyes so clear? Why do I want to believe you? Are you using a genjutsu on me?"

Hiruzen stayed silent, lost. How was he supposed to respond to that? He was just starting a conversation so she would be more willing to hear his request. Should he continue? In the end, he stayed silent and waited for Pakura to speak.

"Tell me what you want from me. Tell me to do something," Pakura seemed desperate in Hiruzen's eyes. "Because if you won't, I will return to my village and kill everyone I see before I am put down."

"Have you heard of Akatsuki?" Hiruzen hastily asked as he somehow could feel despair in Pakura's expression.

"A few mentions; apart from that, I don't know them."

"Right now, they seem to be operating only in the Land of Rain, but they are an organization with powerful shinobi." Hiruzen only said what he could get out of his research in this world. "And I fear their scope will get bigger with time. I need someone inside to see what their goals are, what they are planning to do."

"And a shinobi who was betrayed by her village, no, it would be said that I betrayed them," Pakura corrected herself with a hollow smile. "Anyway, I am a criminal now without any ties to you. A perfect candidate to infiltrate that organization and report what I find to you."

"In short, yes," Hiruzen replied as he had nothing to add.

"I have nothing but the dept for you," Pakura said. "I will do it. But I need you to promise me something. Suppose you hear that I am returning to my village, even if you suspect it. Stop me, kill me before I do something that I know I will regret."

"I won't," Hiruzen replied without hesitation, to Pakura's surprise. "Because you won't do it, as much rage and frustration you have inside you. You are a good person who wouldn't harm innocent people. So, I will never suspect that you are returning to your village to destroy it."

"You are a fool," Pakura stumbled over her words, seeming to have lost control of her voice. "I never met a bigger fool than you, Hiruzen Sarutobi."

"Hizashi Hyuga will be the one you will report to," Hiruzen continued. "Only he and I will hear what you will say. Nobody else. And if you feel like they have discovered you, I would like to say that I will protect you. But-"

"But you can't," Pakura replied very calmly. "As I said, you're a fool even to think you can promise me something like that. How do I contact you?"

"Anyway," Hiruzen tried to hide his embarrassment at even suggesting something like this to her. "You can send a written message or anything. Just make sure to add a password at the end of your message so I know it is you and you know it is from me."

"What kind of password?"

"Frogs are not toads."

"That stupid."

It was. It was simple, and it was definitely not something anyone would leave at the end of a message. Hiruzen was more worried about other things than the passwords they would use to identify each other. That was enough for Hiruzen. Jiraiya was more experienced than him anyway, and he could leave the finer details to him and Hizashi.

Once they ironed out the plan, Pakura left. Hiruzen turned to Hizashi once again, and he shook his head, indicating that nobody was near us. Hiruzen had to be extremely careful because he knew how Zetsu could hide himself. He didn't even know if Byagukan could see him, but he had no other options. He even had Jiraiya in his sage mode overlooking them, so hopefully, this mission will be kept a secret.