Eclipse (A Naruto Fanfiction) (Sequel to The Silver Wolf) (Complete)

Ch. 9: Conspiracy Theories

"Did anyone find anything?" Kakashi asked quietly, conscious of the group's collective mood. Excluding Toru, but you get the point. 

"No." Toru said, shrugging. "Don't really care."

"We didn't either." Sakura said, Naruto nodding alongside her. "But we did try." Unlike a certain someone. *cough cough* Toru *cough cough*

Kakashi sighed. "I found nothing as well. Daken?" He turned to the silent blond.

Daken raised his head, showing that his eyes were full of pain. "I saw them."

Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura all jumped up, startled. "You did?" Naruto yelled. "Well then, where is she?"

Daken flinched, his shoulders tightening. "I saw her... But her brother pulled her away, and they fled on their dragons."

"But she saw you?" Kakashi pressed.

Daken nodded. "Yeah. We made eye contact."

The silver-haired jonin slightly grinned. "Good. Then she's not going to understand why her brother wants to leave. We're her friends, after all. It means we'll be able to convince her to come back easier."

"Hold on. Is no one bothered by the fact that both of our targets have dragons with them?" Toru cried, annoyed. "We can't just fight dragons! They'll kill us!"

Kakashi cocked his head. "Why would we fight them? This mission is to bring them back. That includes the dragons. They are their partners, after all."

"But- It's a dragon! A dangerous animal!" Toru protested. "We can't bring things like that back to Konoha! It'll disturb the peace!"

"There are two amusing things about that statement of yours." Daken said, joining the conversation. "One. Telem, Kari's dragon, resided in Konoha for over a month during the Chunin Exams." No need to mention that he was unconscious for most of it. "Nothing bad was a result of that. And two, all of the Inuzuka's ninken are also 'dangerous animals'. Care to tell Tsume that Kuromaru is 'disturbing the peace' of Konoha?"

Toru growled, flustered. "Well... Um..."

"Yeah." Daken said. "You don't know anything about this mission. So don't input your opinions where they aren't wanted."

The Root ANBU snarled, baring his teeth in frustration. Then he stomped off to sulk, nursing his wounded pride.

But the encounter worried Kakashi. Toru had mentioned fighting the dragons, when the mission was supposed to be a retrieval mission. No fighting involved at all.

And yet he had brought it up. Either the man was incredibly jumpy, which wasn't good, considering he was an ANBU, or he was sure that they would have to fight Kari and Saden to complete the mission.

Complete the mission...

Was it possible that Toru had another mission, one that deviated from the one they were assigned? It certainly was possible. Danzo had a record of interfering with certain missions.

Nothing had been reported to Lady Tsunade, of course. The man was too powerful. But any mission that Danzo sent a Root on always went wrong. No matter how simple it was supposed to be.

There was one- an assassination. Supposed to be easy. Routine. A squad of three was supposed to go out and kill a rogue ninja. But before the mission, one of the members of the squad was mysteriously injured. So Danzo placed one of his ANBU as the final member of the squad. And this group set out.

The mission went horribly wrong. Somehow, the target had been aware of the group's intentions, and was ready for the attack. Both of the squad's original members were killed. The only one left alive was the Root member.

And to make it worse, the target hadn't been killed in the fight. He had escaped, and no one's heard from him since.

The most suspicious thing about the whole thing? The two people killed were known to be openly against Danzo, and what he was trying to do.

Nothing official came of it. The mission was written off as a failure, and then ignored. But the rumors persisted. Rumors saying that Danzo had formulated the whole thing, and that the point of the mission was to kill the two insurgents. Rumors stating the whole thing was a set-up.

Was that going to happen on this mission?

Danzo had been the one who banished Kari and her brother in the first place. He may have not wanted them to return. But why?

Kakashi pondered all of this as the group returned to their rooms in the inn. Little did he know that Daken was thinking the same thing. Wondering if there was a hidden motive behind Toru's placement on the team.

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Alright, this chapter was literally a conspiracy theory chapter. That's all. Nothing else.

Also showing that Toru is both a dick, and not all he seems. Hidden motives, hehehe....

Okay, I don't think I've got anything to say.

Dedication is going to Reaperdude123 for voting, and for encouraging me to update! Really though. When people ask me to update, I do, because it means they like the story, and want to read more! I think... And that makes me want to write! So thank you for that!

And.... I'm done.

Later!