Like High School Didn't Suck Enough Already (A Konoha High Fanfic)

Chapter 23

A rapid succession of dull thuds sounds throughout the night as I pound on the front door of the Uchiha mansion. I've been here for five minutes ringing the doorbell i
It takes another five minutes before the door finally swings open to show Sasuke, with an irritated Suzume behind him. "Tora? What are you doing-" I cut Sasuke off, grabbing both his and Suzume's arms and dragging them upstairs to Itachi's room.
I don't bother knocking, I just kick open the door ignoring the way both Ino and Itachi jump apart at the resounding bang. "Tora?" Itachi asks, surprise clear on his face as I literally throw Sasuke and Suzume down on his bed.
"What the hell?" Sasuke exclaims when he crashes inncessantly, pounding on the door, and calling both my brother's cell's repeatedly. I know they're home, I can see the lights in their bedrooms through the windows.to Itachi. "What's your problem?"
"Where's your father?" I growl. The man better not be home otherwise I don't think I can hold myself back.
"He left an hour ago, something about a last minute business meeting." Itachi answers, flinching as I turn a harsh glare on him. "Why?"
"Business meeting my ass," I snarl and pull out my phone. I unlock it and go to my messages, clicking on the photos of Mikoto that I had Kushina send to me on my way over.
"Tora, what's going on?" Suzume stands and comes to put a hand on my shoulder, halting her movements when she catches sight of my phone screen. She sucks in a breath and moves for a closer look. "Is that...?"
"Yes." I hiss.
"And Fugaku...?"
"The cause." My voice is low and dangerous.
"What the hell is going on?" Sasuke snaps, wanting to know what's making me so angry.
"Your father is beating our mother." I say, disgust clear in my tone. "I got home from my date to find her in my house looking like this." I hold the phone out and both boys rush forwards flicking through the photos.
They were pretty bad, if I do say so myself. I hadn't seen nearly all of her injuries when I had walked in, my fury blinding me to the other ailments. It's so much worse than her four broken ribs and bruised stomach. "She had four broken ribs, a concussion, a broken cheekbone, bad bruising on both her back and stomach, and a fracture wrist." I tell them, my anger building the more I think about it.
"And Dad did this to her?" Itachi asks, eerily calm.
"Yes. And he's hurt her in the past as well, but I'm not sure if it's ever been this bad."
"Hey Itachi," Sasuke starts. "Do you think that fall Mom took down the stairs last year... Do you think she might have not fallen at all and it was all Dad's doing?"
"Yes." Our older brother answers with certainty. "The extent of her injuries... I should have known, there was no way a fall could have caused all of them."
"What about when they came back from vacation a few years ago and Dad said they were in a car accident?"
"Absolutely. He never showed us the accident report, or a picture of the car and even though he said he took Mom to a hospital I bet if we looked into it there would be no record."
"So all these years..." Sasuke breaths, eyes wide.
"And we never questioned anything." Itachi adds sounding horrified.
"So what are we going to do about the bastard?" Ino asks and holds up her hands when the boys look at her.
"You don't have to help." Itachi says. "I could never ask that of you. It's a family affair."
"You don't need to get involved either," Sasuke nods at Suzume.
"Are you kidding me?" Suzume asks with a slight snarl. "Your mother is the sweetest person I've ever met."
"Like it or not, we're going to be a part of this." Ino states matter of factly then looks at me. "So what do we do?"
"I don't know." I admit, some of my fury fading. "Kushina and I have known for a while now and we've yet to come up with a plan of action. Fugaku pretty much owns the police force and unless we can get any concrete evidence he won't be convicted on our word alone. The only option we could think of was getting Mikoto to rejoin as a shinobi so it could become part of our jurisdiction, but she'll never go for it. In fact she made us promise not to tell anyone or do anything, but this time he went too far."
"What about surveillance tapes?" Itachi asks. "The entire house is rigged with them aside from mine and Sasuke's bedrooms. I'm sure there's got to be proof there."
"There's no way for us to legally obtain them. They're Fugaku's property and we can't get a warrant seeing as we'd have to go through the police and courts to acquire one. By that point he'll know what we're up to and have the tapes erased or altered."
"Dammit!" Sasuke shouts, kicking Itachi's bed frame. "So the only way we can do this is by making Mom become a shinobi again?"
"Looks like it. Unless any of you have any ideas." I sigh and sit on the bed, rubbing my temples.
"Boys!" A voice calls from the other side of the door. We all stiffen, it's Fugaku. "I'm back! Do either of you know where your mother is?"
"I'm going to kill him." Sasuke growls lowly and Suzume grabs his arm to stop him.
"We can't let him know we're on to him." She whispers urgently. "And you can't lay a hand on him unless you want to go to prison. If he beats his wife, what do you think he'll do to you if you stand against him? He has the entire police force at his disposal, you touch him and he has all of us taken out."
A knock sounds on the door and Fugaku pokes his head in. "Boys?"
"Sorry Dad," Itachi says quickly and I keep my head down. "We haven't seen Mom, I think she said something about a girls week. Her and her friends all went to the spa and won't be back until next weekend."
"Hm." The man frowns. "That's strange. She must have mentioned it to me when I wasn't paying attention."
"Yeah," Sasuke smiles, putting on an Oscar worthy act that could rival that of his father's. "You've seemed stressed lately, probably were just lost in thought when she told you."
"Oh well," he sighs. "What's going on in here?"
"Tora had a date tonight and it didn't go well so we were just getting ready to head to the theater for a movie night to make her feel better." Ino lies easily. The man's onyx eyes land on my hunched form and I give him a weak smile.
"I see." He mutters. "Actually, Tora, I'm glad you're here. I've been wanting to talk to you after the... fiasco that happened at dinner a while ago. Would you mind sparing a moment to talk to me?"
"Uh," I stare at him in shock. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect him to do that. Sasuke and Itachi are shaking their heads subtly telling me not to do it, but Fugaku isn't the kind of man you refuse. "Sure."
"Excellent," he smiles easily and gestures for me to follow him. "I won't keep her long, just wait here."
I stand up, numbly following him to a room down the hall. It's a library and I can't help but gaze at it in wonder. The bookshelves are floor to ceiling all lined in books of varying thickness. A few signs tell of what type of book is located on each shelf and I assume the books are then placed in alphabetical order by author's last name. The scent of paper and ink fills the air and I inhale deeply.
My eyes land on little alcoves built into the walls with cushions and lights, no doubt for any avid reader to lounge in with a good book. In the center of the room is a set of desks with small lamps on top. Fugaku strolls over to the desks and perches himself on the edge of one of them. I follow his lead and stare at him expectantly.
He's not looking at me though, his eyes are focused on the large windows set against the back wall. It's a long while before he speaks. "I'm sure you think I'm a monster, right?" His voice is soft and I have to strain to hear him.
"I'm sorry, what was that?" I ask, no quite sure I heard him correctly.
"You think I'm a monster," he repeats. I open my mouth to deny it, no matter how true I believe it to be, but he stops me with a look. "Don't deny it, I can see it in your eyes."
"I..." I can't continue. There's honestly nothing I can say. He's right and he knows it. No use trying to lie.
"I know you all think I'm a monster. You, your brothers, your mother, and that adoptive family of yours. I'm the jerk who forced Mikoto to give you up, I understand that just fine. It's true," He shrugs, shoulders slumping some. "I did that. I forced a mother to give up her daughter then lied to the world about it.
"I know you think I'm a horrible person. Sometimes I even think it about myself, but I think you should know that I never wanted any of this. The house, the money, the company, all of it was forced on me by my father. I was an only child and for the entirety of my life he was breathing down my neck. I had to have perfect grades, perfect appearance, perfect manners, and I had to win at everything. The only thing I don't regret about this lifestyle is your mother. It's true the two of us were forced into marrying one another, but I've always loved her and I like to think that when we were first married she loved me too. I know it sounds as if I'm making excuses, and maybe I am, but you don't understand the pressures that come with this life. I... I never wanted to... to give you up, it was all my father's doing."
The last part comes out as barely a whisper, but I can see the tears streaming down the man's cheeks and the regret lingering in his haunted eyes. "I..." My throat closes up as I stare at him. "Why are you telling me this?"
"I'm not sure." He says with a wry smile. "It's not as if it'll change the past, but for the past few months I've been away on business. I spent the entire time thinking about what happened at that dinner and determined that I at least needed you to hear this. I'm glad you were here, I actually only just got home, but getting it out of the way so quickly is a blessing."
"Wait." I cock my head to the side, something he just said bothering me. "You just got back?"
"Yes." He answers, confusion clouding his features. "I left the day after the dinner and only just now got back."
"That's... that's...." Impossible. I stand quickly, grabbing his hand with urgency. "I need to see your surveillance video's. Now."
"But... why?"
"Don't ask questions." I wave him off, a sense of dread coming over me. If he's been gone all this time he's either not the one beating Mikoto... Or an amazing actor.
He leads me down the hall and I stop at Itachi's room to drag the others with us. Once inside the surveillance room I rewind the footage until I just before my date started.
"What are you doing?" Sasuke asks, eying his father suspiciously.
I shush him without turning around, gaze locked onto the the screens in front of me. I catch sight of Mikoto on a screen in the bottom left and pause the video. I let it play at normal speed, switching between cameras as she moves across the screen. About five minutes in she's sitting in a living room reading. Fugaku enters behind her and she turns to smile at him, only to take a hit to the face.
Next to me, Fugaku gasps. "That... That's not me." His voice is hoarse and eyes wide as he watches himself savagely beat my mother. Five minutes later the Fugaku on screen exits the room, leaving a barely moving Mikoto behind him. I quickly track his movements through the house, he pauses just outside Sasuke and Itachi's rooms, shouts something then moves on to the front door and out into an awaiting car.
Suzume was the first to break the silence in the room. "That was... brutal."
"I..." Fugaku's voice fails as his legs give out. He lands heavily on the chair next to me, burying his face in his hands. "I would never..."
"You bastard." Sasuke breathes darkly. He launches himself at Fugaku, but I manage to catch him a split second before his fist can collide with the man's face. "Let me go Tora."
"No." I grunt in the effort it takes to restrain him. "Listen to me. I need to know, when exactly did Fugaku come back from his business trip that he left for the day after dinner at my house?"
"A week." Itachi answers. "Why?"
I don't answer him, and Fugaku can't. He's too horrified by what he's just seen and is staring off into empty space. I take my seat in front of the screens and back up the video feed from the camera just outside the house. I watch same car that carried Fugaku away pull up. A figure emerges with it's face covered. I track it's movements through the house, but lose sight of it in a blind spot. The next time I see it, it's Fugaku. I don't bother following the feed to see what he does to Mikoto again.
Instead I rewind and go frame by frame, looking for any way to distinguish who the figure is. Sadly, it's remarkably good at hiding it's face. I try for another angle and get a blurry shot of it's front. "Bingo," I mutter and pull out my phone dialing Tenshi's number, at the same time I string the individual videos together into one file.
"Hey Tora, what's up?" Her voice crackles through the speaker.
"I need a favor." I inform. "I'm going to email you a video, can you work your techy magic and tell me any discerning features of the figure in it?"
"Sure thing."
"I'm sending it now." I attach the video file to an email and hit send.
"M'kay, give me a minute." There's a pause on the other end of the line and the sound of someone typing. "Okay, so the man in the video is about 5 foot 8 inches, weighing in at around 123 pounds. I found a shot of his face and I'm running some programs now to get you a clear shot of it. It'll be done in a few minutes, anything else you need?"
"Yeah, could you maybe get the license plate number of the car he got out of and trace it back to the owner?"
"Of course. I'll call back in a few minutes with the results."
"Thanks Tenshi." I grin and hang up the phone.
"What exactly are you doing?" Suzume asks, raising and eyebrow at the distraught Fugaku next to me.
"It don't think the one beating Mikoto is him." I answer.
"Of course it's him, Mom said so herself! Are you calling her a liar?" Sasuke fumes, and Suzume restrains him before he can attack.
"You think it's someone using a henge of their father to beat her while he's out of town, right?" Ino cocks her head to the side, sizing up Fugaku. "I mean he's what, 5 foot 9 inches and around 140 pounds, right? The height of the figure isn't far off, but the weight definitely is. Plus the figure was more slender than him, with narrower shoulders."
"Exactly," I smile.
"But how did you know to look?" Itachi questions.
"When we were talking, he told me he'd been gone since the day after the dinner and had literally just gotten home." I shrug. "I figured he was either lying, or it wasn't him. Either way it was worth checking into."
"I still don't believe it." Sasuke growls. "The heights are too close and the camera could be playing tricks on us. Or he tampered with the videos."
"I doubt it." I mutter. "He couldn't have known we were on to him or that I'd ask to see the tapes tonight. There's no way he messed with these."
Just as Sasuke's about to argue it, my phone goes off again. I answer it and click the speaker button. "Whatcha got for me?" I ask.
"Okay, so I just emailed the picture of the man's face to you, you'll find it worrying." Tenshi says and I click into my email.
"Why?" I open the attachment and freeze. "Oh. That's why." On the computer screen is a picture of a masked face partially hidden by a hood, but the small visible portion is enough to make me shiver. The picture isn't in color, but the swirled texture and Sharingan eye peaking out of the eye hole is enough to send my thoughts racing.
"Yeah, but it gets worse." Tenshi draws my attention back to our conversation. "I traced the plates on the car and guess who the owner is? Ryo Nagano."
"Fuck." I breath and let my head fall to the desk in front of me. "I completely forgot the two of them were working together."
"Tenshi?" A muffled voice sounds from the other end of the line. "Tenshi you're late, it's time for our experiment!"
"Crap," the blunette's voice sounds panicked. "Sorry Tora, I've gotta go. My dad is a scientist and needs my help on one of his experiments. I'll talk to you later, if you pursue this lead make sure you have back up and you stay safe."
"Don't worry, I'll stay safe. Bye, Tenshi, thanks again." I end the call and get out of my chair to stand over Fugaku. I place a hand on his shoulder and he looks up. "You're not the one who did this to her. I know who it is, and believe me I'm going to make them suffer."
He nods at me numbly and places his head back in his hands. "Who's behind it?" Suzume asks. "Who is the that masked man?"
"Madara Uchiha." Itachi snarls, eyes fixated on the picture on the screen.
"Orochimaru's in on it to." I growl. "Ryo Nagano is one of his aliases. A rich business tycoon who is one of the most powerful men in the country. Not even the families of the kids at our school are as powerful as him."
"Isn't Nagano the last name of Gaara's fiancee?" Ino inquires.
"Yes. 'Ryo' is her father. Him and the Kazekage are working together and the Kazekage is well aware of the fact that he's Orochimaru." I'm beyond furious now. "We need to get to headquarters. I'll call Minato and Kushina on the way there. For now, we need to get Fugaku and Mikoto to safety and explain the situation to the others."
"Should we involve Gaara? I mean, he is the one set to marry Orochimaru's daughter." Suzume points out.
"No, we can't involve him. If he calls off the wedding it could start a war between Konoha and Suna. Last time he tried it nearly got the two of us kill and my memory was erased. We can't take the chance. We'll tell Temari and Kankuro, they can keep an eye on Gaara. Right now, we need to get moving."
They all nod. Sasuke and Itachi help their- I mean, our father to his feet and we carefully make our way through the house to the garage. Itachi, Sasuke, Fugaku, and Ino pile into Sasuke's car, while Suzume and I continue to the driveway to get on my bike. Ino had taken the job to call Minato and briefly tell him what's going on.
As we speed down the street I keep and eye on my surroundings. There's no telling what Orochimaru and Madara know, and whether or not they're going to come after us. Hell, they could even have access to the surveillance tapes and just saw everything. Better to be safe, rather than sorry.
We make it to HQ with no problems and run into Minato, Kushina, Mikoto, and Tsunade in the parking lot. The moment Sasuke and Itachi see their mom they run to her side and take the job of supporting her to the elevator. Fugaku merely stares in dumb shock, and I really don't blame him. For the past who knows how many years Madara has been beating his wife while pretending to be him.
Taking pity, I stand at his side and offer an arm of support. He takes it gratefully and I hang back with him, waiting for the second elevator. It's not a smart idea to have him and Mikoto in the same elevator, especially since Mikoto doesn't know the truth.
When the second elevator comes we pile in with Minato, Ino, and Suzume. The ride down is quiet and quick. The others had already gone to the hospital wing with Mikoto and the rest of us go to Minato's office.
"So where's the proof you have that Fugaku wasn't the one beating Mikoto?" Minato asks, skipping straight to the point.
"Right here." I sit down at his desk and pull up the emails between Tenshi and I. First I play the video.
"That's strange. He wouldn't need to hide his face in his own house." Minato murmurs and I smile.
"Because he hadn't performed the henge yet. The height, build, and weight are all different from Fugaku's too." I then click on the clarified picture of his face. "Recognize him?"
"He was there that night after the ball, when Orochimaru took you and we had to save you, but who is he?"
"It's Madara Uchiha."
"That can't be." Minato mumbles and leans in closer to the screen. "He's dead, he died a long time ago. And the height and build are all wrong for him."
"Well, whoever it is, they sure play a convincing Madara." I sigh and lean back in his chair. "I mean he even reacted when I mentioned Akane Uchiha, and the only ones who know about her.... Well just me, you, and mom since the Uchiha left the organization."
"This only proves that this one instance wasn't him," the blond man turns to eye Fugaku warily. "The other times could have been him."
"I'll take him to my dad in interrogation." Ino grins. "He can search his mind and prove if he's innocent or guilty... That is, if Mr. Uchiha will agree to it."
"Anything to prove I never hurt my wife." Fugaku mutters and stands, suddenly resolute. "If it will establish my innocence, then I'll do it."
"Very well," Minato says and nods for Ino to take him away. The blonde leads my father out of the room and Suzume steps forward.
"So what do we do about the Madara impersonator?" She asks and takes one of the seats in front of the desk.
"First we need to find out why he was targeting the Uchiha's." Minato says and stares out the window behind me at the entirety of the compound.
"Because he is one."
"What do you mean, Tora?" He furrows his brow.
"He has the Sharingan, I saw it in person. Somehow he's able to use it to change his... density or something. When he fought Itachi he was able to make anything thrown at him pass through his body, and then he sank into the floor, only to reappear behind him a second later." I explain, studying the masked man on the screen. "If he is an Uchiha that went dark side, there must be a reason. Obviously he's targeting their family for revenge. Bye tearing the head family apart, he essentially destroys the entire infrastructure of the family."
"But what happens after he does that?"
"Easy," Suzume says softly. "He kills the head family, and takes control of the rest of the family. He's seen as the savior of the clan and the others follow him without question."
"And then he has an army of Sharingan wielding shinobi at his disposal. Then through his partnership with Orochimaru he can experiment and enhance this army, then the marriage of Gaara and Yukiko leads to a partnership with the Sand. The army grows and they can essentially take out all of the other organizations and control the country." I elaborate.
"Great," Suzume sighs. "So basically we have to keep the Uchiha safe, kill the masked man, oh and Orochimaru too, stop the marriage between Gaara and Yukiko, then somehow find a way to keep the Kazekage from escalating it into a war. Just another day at the office, huh guys?"
"This is what we signed up for," I shrug and stare at the ceiling. "It would be easier to stop the wedding if I had my memories."
"Yeah, then you could knock some sense into Gaara that you're a top ranked shinobi that can handle yourself and even then you're surrounded by some of the best in the business at all hours of the day." Suzume chirps. "Sadly you don't have your memories so we can't do that."
"I know," I grumble in frustration. "The wedding isn't the issue though. We can avoid dealing with it all together if we can convince the other sectors of the Kazekage's affiliation with Orochimaru and get proof of their plans. If we can get the other sectors on our side, Suna will be forced to recognize that their leader is corrupt and we can end that problem without any bloodshed. Then we all turn our attention on Orochimaru and the masked man and take them both out."
"In order to do that we'd have to infiltrate Orochimaru's liar. Sasuke already betrayed him, and he knows the rest of us would never leave our shinobi status so easily."
"I think I know someone who can help, though I don't think she'd be happy to do it and I really wouldn't want to force her back with Orochimaru." I shudder slightly, remembering the things he forced- no, the things Tenshi willingly did for Orochimaru. I could never put her in that position. Then a thought occurs to me. "I'll do it."
"What?" Both Suzume and Minato shout.
"No, there's no way I'll allow you to do it!" My dad yells and kneels down in front of me. "The damage he did to you... I could never let you go through that again!"
"We have no other choice." I whisper and place a hand on his shoulder. "I can turn myself in as a bargaining chip. He leaves Konoha alone, and I'll do anything he asks no matter how gruesome or painful. Then when he trusts me, I'll do some snooping and get the proof we need. I can't think of myself right now, if doing this keeps us from another war... keeps innocent people alive, I have to go through with it."
"Absolutely not." Minato growls. "We'll find another way."
"There is no other way."
"You don't know that!" Suzume exclaims.
"Yes I do!" I argue. "Do you really think I'd suggest it if I though there was another solution?"
"Look," she sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. "The school year is almost over, just give us until the end of summer to come up with something. If by the first day of school we have nothing, then we'll send you in."
"You and I both know we don't have that long." I counter gently. I know they don't want me to go, but it's the only option we have.
"We don't even know if they're actually planning what you said." Minato points out. "What happens if we're wrong and you end up trapped in Orochimaru's clutches? I could never forgive myself if that happens."
"The fact that we don't know is all the more reason for me to infiltrate!" I reason. "We're flying blind here and any info we can get could help."
"Just... give us until the end of June." Suzume pleads. "That's a little over a month away. We can protect the Uchiha's for at least that amount of time. Please?"
Her eyes are wide and filled with desperation, Minato's reflecting the same emotions. It breaks my heart to see them like this. "Fine." I relent with a sigh. "Don't tell the others about this though, I don't need them worrying themselves over me. But come end of June, if you have nothing I will be going after Orochimaru."
"Deal." Suzume stands and holds out her hand for me to shake. "Don't worry Tora, I'm sure we'll think of something."
"I hope so," I mumble and look down at the floor. It's not that I don't have faith in them, it's just that I don't want anyone else to get hurt. I mean, my elaborate explanation of why things are happening could very well be true, but there's always the possibility that... that my family and friends are suffering so that Orochimaru and the Madara impersonator can hurt me.
"I'm going to go check on Inoichi and Fugaku, then update your mother and Mikoto on what's happening." Minato says and stands. Just before he's out the door he gives me a reassuring look. "I'm sure someone will be able to come up with a better plan."
With that he's gone, and it's just Suzume and I in the room. A heavy silence settles over us, until she decides to break it. "You know that if you go to Orochimaru I'm coming with you, right?"
"I didn't expect anything less." I smile humorlessly. "And there's no one else I'd rather have by my side for the journey into Hell."
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Hello dear readers. So I kept thinking this chapter was going to be something different, then inspiration struck. Let me know what you think of this new development. Was it good? Bad? Predictable? Hope you enjoyed!
~C.S.