Chapter 32 - ArcIVii: Deep Secrets-Chapter 2

Azami didn’t even turn around to face the intruder.
“Kisame.”

“Azami.”

They stood silent for a while. Kisame had his sword, the gigantic Samehada shouldered, watching Ryouko go. He made no move to follow.
“I take it you’re going to keep me here?”

Azami didn’t respond right away. She still didn’t turn to face Kisame. When she DID reply, she had a bit of bite in her voice.
“Don’t ask stupid questions. You’re no idiot. You know I won’t let you get past me. So either shut up or strike.”

Kisame grinned, showing his shark-like teeth. “I don’t feel the need to get involved. Your little boyfriend is rushing off to his death. No one can face Itachi, much less Lord Pain.”
--
--

Sakura and Shikamaru combed the west side of the village; Naruto and Asuma took the east side. They asked questions of anyone who seemed suspicious, but found nothing relating to this bomber. But there was some suspicion in the actions of some people. When the two groups met up again in the center of the village, they had the same curiosity to note.

“Hey, did you guys notice the creepy, fixed smiles some of these people have?”

Shikamaru said it first, looking around. There weren’t many here. His mind went to work to pick out any interesting facts from the situation.

“Yeah, come to think of it…” Sakura muttered, her hand on her chin. “They seemed to be concentrated around the few wooden buildings I saw.”

Shikamaru nodded absently, that fact already apparent to him.

“Starting fires is their next goal, maybe?” Asuma intoned, looking around. “With those bombs, I’m surprised there haven’t been fires to go with them. This place is so hot that kindling could light up at the hottest part of the day.”

Shikamaru ran that into his analysis, too. What he got was a mix of scrambled ideas that made sense in an odd way.
“What if…the point isn’t destruction?”
Everyone turned to Shikamaru.

“Uh, Shikamaru? He’s using BOMBS!” Naruto half-shouted, as if stating the obvious. Which, to be fair, he was.

“Yeah, but no one’s getting hurt,” Shikamaru pointed out. “And there’s no fires. Like Asuma-sensei said, fires would be easy to start around here. And the place is small, but densely populated. So if the aim was to kill people, it would be easy. No, I think someone is going out of their way to avoid casualties.”

Asuma reviewed the facts, agreeing with that assesment. “But why would they do that? Why bomb at all? What’s the point?”

“Scare tactic,” Sakura murmured. Shikamaru turned to her with a questioning look. She shook her head. “I’ve only read about it in Lady Tsunade’s collection of scrolls. It’s an old ANBU technique. Foundation, to be exact.”

“The Foundation?” Naruto managed to utter. He thought of that creepy old Danzou and the crap he had just pulled.

“Yeah, them,” Sakura continued. “You either scare people into hating the leaders of the village- Danzou’s move- or you try to drive everyone out of a certain area. Either to make it easier to exterminate a crowded group of people, or to find something in the area being vacated.”

“Makes sense. That would explain why no one’s getting hurt.” Shikamaru drew on the ground with a stick. “I was thinking about the bombing. At first, it seems that there’s no rhyme or reason to where the attacks are. But if you look at the village from above…”
Shikamaru finished his diagram.
“You see everyone is being herded toward the center of the village.”

“Huh? But there’s nothing around the outside of this village but rock!”

Now there were endless possibilities. Someone setting a trap inside the rock wall? Someone looking for something? Why would you push so hard to get to rock?”

“We need to talk with someone about this,” Asuma announced. “Someone who lives here. And I don’t think the Kazekage will be willing to listen after Naruto’s outburst. So that leaves…
You, Shikamaru.”

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. “I had a feeling. How troublesome.”

Naruto grinned and slapped Shikamaru on the back. “Hey hey, at least now you can get some sand-lovin’ from Temari!”

“SHUT UP!”
--
--

Even as Pain introduced himself, Uzume didn’t blink. Neither did the child with the Issekigan. He just looked at Pain and Itachi, wondering about their eyes. He couldn’t help but feel a connection to them, even though they were the bad guys.

“The guards…all dead?” Uzume asked calmly, searching for their chakras. She only found one, and it was that of Shinmaru; the Daimyo’s personal guardian. They were both alive and well. But the other eleven shinobi…
“I see. Tell me what it is you want.”

Pain looked toward Issekigan. “His eyes aren’t something I’ve seen before. Give him to me, and I won’t need to stain my hands with your blood.”

The Issekigan child looked to Uzume. But she wasn’t looking at Pain, even though she was talking to him. She was looking at Itachi. Issekigan knew enough to look at Pain, then. The cardinal rule of a fight was, after all, to look at your enemy.

Pain didn’t make a sound, but his eyes blurred for a moment. As he wondered why, he noticed that Uzume was preoccupied with Itachi. That would make the boy an easy target.

“HEY!”

Ryouko was coming toward them at top speed, his tonfa out as he ran.

This was a minor intrusion, at best.
“Universal Pull!”
--

Ryouko found himself flying toward Pain. Pain’s hand flashed up, in it a strange black sword. Ryouko had no time to do anything about it. SCHUNK!

POOF!

“Shadow Clone,” Pain said mildly.

Uzume made her move quickly. Raising two fingers, she looked at Itachi. His eye began to bleed. But that wasn’t the worst part for him.
His Amaterasu aimed itself at Pain.

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