Chapter 45 – Yamato's wistful Thinking
"!" Hearing the name of Akatsuki, I turned to him
"The Akatsuki movement is finally getting into full swing. Just last month, two of their members abducted the Kazekage from the Sand Village." Yamato drank another cup of sake
"The Kazekage?!"
"Shh.. Please keep your voice low, Hisako-san. There's no guarantee that no one else is listening.." Yamato's eyes quickly glanced around; no one seemed suspicious so far. "You can never be too careful.
"But don't worry, the Kazekage was rescued shortly after by two teams dispatched from Konoha."
"I see.. Who in the Akatsuki did it?"
"Deidara and Sasori. Although the latter was defeated. " He poured more sake into his choko
*a choko is a small cup to serve sake
The flashback of the night when Tobi abducted me instantly surfaced. He did mention that "Sasori-senpai" went to heaven and he was his replacement. So the Konoha Ninjas did it..
"Do you have any lead about the Akatsuki's motive?"
Yamato doesn't look so good; he pressed his palm to his forehead as if he's having a headache. "They were after something sealed inside the Kazekage.. A Ninja from our village is also their target for the same reason; we have to take extra measures from now on.."
"What are you talking about?"
"... For now Tsunade-sama asked me not to disclose this detail to you just yet, I'm sorry." Yamato frowned and drank another cup. He hiccupped.
"I see.. It's fine."
He yawned and slightly lowered his eyelids, "That Tsunade sure is a slave driver! I've had it!"
I raised an eyebrow but totally agree with him. That was actually my first impression on Tsunade too. I grinned and poured a cup of sake into my mouth.
"That student of hers is framed just like her teacher.. beating up team members however she likes..! Man, I actually prefer staying in my spot in the ANBU..! [hiccup] At least everyone is more mature and rational..! Give me a break, my body's all worn out from babysitting Naruto!" Yamato's speech turned increasingly sluggish
Wait, did he just say "Naruto"?
Before I could ask anything, he let out a tired grunt and went on: "Why am I stuck in this never-ending cycle of being saddled by everyone..!? Ha! Now imagining about reading architecture books on a day off is just wistful thinking.."
"Oi, oi! Hisako-san, are you [hiccup] listening? Don't be like Asuma-senpai from last night! He was so insensitive towards others' struggles..!" He sighed
"I am listening, Yamato-san.." A sweat slid down my face. Looks like I'm not his first audience..
Yamato is letting out all the emotions he bottled up.. During missions together, he never complained about a single thing, and was always the reliable member of the group. So, this is Yamato's hidden side, huh? Hihihi.
[hiccup]
I turned my head to look at him, his face was flushed with redness. A drunken smile plastered on his face. He totally lost it.
Is he drunk..? I think so.
Around midnight
A thud on my window awoke me. After parting ways with the drunk Yamato at the Izakaya, I've only slept for a scanty three hours. My tired eyes opened to a sight of an eerie shadow standing outside.
Before I could react, the figure vanished and immediately reappeared inside my room. It was a caped ANBU.
I let out a relieving sigh, slapping my palm on my forehead, "this is beyond creepy.. Older people could die from a heart attack." I thought
The ANBU spoke, "we have an order from Tsunade-sama. Get ready as fast as you can."
We rushed into the woods outside Konoha. The ANBU Captain was expecting us.
"Being your first mission, tonight you shall not try to land any attack. Stay close to me the whole time and wait for my instruction if the situation gets out of hand. Your assignment this time is to only perceive how the mission is done." He commanded
"Hai."
The ANBU Captain nodded and made a hand gesture for the rest of the group hiding in the woods to scatter. This time around, a rough estimate of their number would be around 30. An ordinary ANBU mission never needs so many members. The circumstance tonight must be very different.
We departed
"Captain, what's our objective?" I asked, keeping an adjacent distance between us like he ordered
"Capture and bring Shimura Danzo back to the Village." He answered while keeping his gaze forward
"May I ask who that is?"
He thought for a moment and spoke, "...Konoha has a special branch of ANBU subdivision called the Root. It's led by a another leader; the Danzo we are looking for."
"The Root..?"
"This group is different from the one we are in. For instance, their missions are even more devious than the regular ANBU's. Well, save the lecture for today, knowledge about the Root's existence is exclusive to Konoha's higher ups and the ANBU."
"Right."
I did what I was told and only took part as an observer in the mission. Before dawn, the ANBU captured Danzo and another suspicious Rain Ninja. Danzo was actually a frail old man, was it really necessary to drag so many highly capable ANBUs to catch him?