Danzo gave the non-verbal signal, as his ANBU would jump in to Kiro. The aim simply to swarm the Uchiha and apprehend him before he had a chance to recover from the earlier torture session.
"We will personally bring this one to his holding cell. I will speak with the council about this, and yourself of course Lord Fugaku, about what shall be done with our resident Oto-defector." Danzo explained to Fugaku, along with everyone present which caused Itachi to raise an eyebrow given Danzo seemed to "claim" Kiro rather quickly. Danzo seemed to sense this and decided to address it as he faced the father & son Uchiha pair.
"I understand you may believe it'd be better to have the Uchiha look over Kiro until that happens, but his actions effect the village as a whole. Not simply any one clan. It is better this way, I'm sure you can understand our reason to take such matters and hope you will understand." Danzo further added as his agents attempted to secure Kiro with the aim to take him away; likely to a holding cell until a later meeting on what was to be done with him could be arranged.
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"N-no? I'm sorry, um, Lady Tsunade but don't you want to at least hear what we ask of you before..."
"No. I am well aware of why you are here. Minato is out of commission, and you want me to come in and replace him as your next
Hokage. It is not gonna happen, so you two should just drop the issue and walk away."
Tsunade cut off Sakura's words, as Shizune did lower the scalpel from Taiyo's neck as despite his...violent entrance, she sensed neither she nor Sakura had hostile intentions. Sakura looked at Tsunade, who seemed to show a firm disdain for the mere name of Hokage. Something Sakura found disrespectful, but she kept that thought to herself before she would speak to Tsunade once more.
"We're not asking you come and become our now Hokage. Minato is, while in critical condition, alive and can recover. We just need you to assume a temporary role during this recovery process. Given your famed reputation for making the medical unit a standard among ninja teams you have a natural knack for leadership. It would be to the benefit of everyone in our village, I implore you to at least consider this." Sakura said as she pleaded her case, though as the slight scowl on Tsunade's face indicated the Medical-legend seemed far from swayed with her words.
"Fools who are naive enough to chase after the mantle of Kage all share the same fate...an early trip to the grave. Even if it is a glorified rental, I have no incentive to stick my neck out in what has been proven to be a job with a certain death sentence. I tend to play the odds, and while my luck has been lacking...even I know a no win situation when I see it." Tsunade said as she outlined her reason for not wanting the title of Hokage; even on a temporary basis.
Shizune frowned, as she knew there was a deeper reason than that. Though even if there was Sakura seemed visibly frustrated with Tsunade's response though tried to settle herself. Getting overly emotional would only hurt their cause, and she was not about to just leave empty handed given what was at stake here.
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"Oh yes! Madoka and Sakura's patch job has been a good substitute, though I should naturally recover by the time we get to Iwa itself." Tomiko assured Mori as she heard his question of the plan before he outlined the sleeping and watch plan as it seemed simple enough.
"Makes sense to me, though I can take the first shift really. You didn't have the nicest time with that Reaver either, and I want you to get your fair rest after all you've done for me." Tomiko said, as she offered to take the first watch even if she was appreciative of Mori volunteering to do it.
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A young girl sat on the side of the road.
Anko sat in an office, as she wrote down Tayuy’s personal account in a journey and cross referenced her story with what information the Leaf had on hand which concerned details Tayuy’s direct personal account could not fill in.
Her clothes dirty and tethered, her hair greasy, her skin paled and malnourished. All signs of someone without home or anyone to provide care; only a flute in hand and a hat for anyone generous enough to offer change as she played songs for people who passed by.
The struggle to get by all too evident on a casual glance, Anko summarized as it was not helped that the town offered the young girl no help as it had been all but isolated in a literal sense.
Huijin Village. Located on the outskirts of the Land of Rice Fields, though it had been rebranded years ago as the Land of Sound when a certain Sannin came and took it as his own. Not that the people of the village had been aware of that, as contact with the outside world was all but lost for a simple yet chilling reason.
The village had been surrounded on all sides was a thick forest. A beautiful forest, least that’s what the original settlers must have believed when they moved in. In truth, the forest itself was apparently cursed as these demonic entities known as Doki thrived within the forest. Creatures with no sight, no speech and as far as Anko could tell no history for what they were or where they came from. What was known, based on Tayuya’s account, was that they would seek out anything that ventured into the forest and consume them which led to a nickname “Forest of A Thousand Lost Souls.”
There was one road that led away from the forest, and escape through it was impossible as the Doki would come and claim them. However, from what Tayuya explained, her village found a way to allow for some level of trade to sustain themselves. A way to survive, to appease them….
Two men came for the girl. Her struggles were futile, her pleads of mercy fell on deaf ears as they would drag her kicking and screaming towards the forest. Those in the town cheered on, as if celebrating her demise.
The custom that had developed was the need to offer a sacrifice to the Doki. Sending someone into the forest to be an offering, which proved to be effective enough to allow them to send one to trade and bring in needed resources to allow them to survive. A necessary evil, though it also served as a convenient means to deal with the poor and those worse off within the town. And as was the case with Tayuya, many “selected” had been far from a matter of any choice or even consideration for the literal sacrificial lambs.
She was tossed in the forest, and her attempts to run back to the road cut off by the sharp spears as the girl had no other option but to run.
Try to run from this doomed fate, to find salvation beyond the edge of the forest.
But it would not come, as the creatures came with ferocity and surprising speed. A tumble down a hill caused her to come face to face with these soulless beasts, as she frantically crawled up a tree to try and escape. This was a futile action, and her options seemed grimly limited as the tree was brought down and she landed with a thud on the ground.
With the creatures around her, and all other options gone, the fear struck girl did the only thing she could think to do. She began to play on her flute. A desperate action from a desperate girl as she seemed to beg for help to come save her through her musical signal.
But instead, something else happened.
The girl, whose eyes were closed in fear, had taken note of the creatures actually stopping once she played the flute in fear. Once the girl opened her eye, she saw the Doki seemed to stop. Curious by the sound she produced.
These creatures, could not speak, could not see and apparently not think but it seemed they could hear. Anko guessed that they were sensitive to sound which helped with finding victims, but it seemed the music of the flute had a special effect on the creatures.
A miraculous discovery, as quoted by Tayuya herself.
The girl saw this, and given it was her once chance to survive she began to play a song for the creatures. At first, she simply guessed it was something that amused them. But as she shifted tunes, she found it had different effects on the creatures.
It made them move around, some made them attack trees at random. And the girl realized the music was not something that amused the creatures. It was influencing them, surrendering themselves willingly to the tunes and allowing them to do critical thinking actions for them. With this discovery, the girl realized she had effective control over them.
She had power. And as her fear subsided, the cast out “street rat” aimed to use this to her benefit. The girl would play songs for Doki for the next several hours, trying to understand which notes, tunes, melodies and rhythms did what for the Doki. As a chilling melody played through the forest which had to confuse the people in her village.
A melody of death, as Tayuya coined then. Anko noted Tayuya did not settle for revenge then and there. She simply left the forest with her Doki in toe, content to leave them there and move on. Which showed, even with all that had happened then she still had some level of humanity. That she was better than vengeance.
Which made the next part of Tayuya’s account all the more tragic.
The young girl, with her three new “friends” in toe, soon began to leave the forest. As she had no desire to go back to a people who were willing to cast her out for slaughter so casually. However, her path out of the forest was soon met with a strange paled individual. One with the eyes of a snake.
“You show strong spirit my dear. A shame that you were considered trash to your own people.” The man said with a chilling voice as the girl frowned as she brought her flute to her lips.
“Look, I’ve had a long day so I don’t need you. Get out of my way, or my new friends here are gonna make you get out of my way.” The girl threatened as the “snake man” seemed far from intimidated, even in the presence of these monsters as his grin only grew.
“My child, we need not be adversaries. I understand you, more than you could ever imagine.” The snake man said as the girl seemed unconvinced as she gave him a scowl.
“Understand me? Don’t give me that! Nobody could understand me, and after today everyone is my enemy!” The girl cursed as she sent her newfound Doki companions at Orochimaru.
Anko let out a sigh as she wrote that section down. When she heard this part, she oh so badly wished it had a different ending; that the demonic Doki managed to slay that real monster then and there. But when it came to her former sensei, these stories didn’t get those happy endings.
“W-what…what are you?”
The girl was on her back, a panicked expression on her face as her trio of Doki had been soundly defeated by the man. Who didn’t have so much a scratch on himself. The man eyed the scared girl with the same grin…though he subtly shifted it to appear a little less menacing.
“The only one who understands you. Now now my dear, there is no reason to be afraid. Like I said, I understand you. The world is a cruel place who will cast you out without second thoughts. But I have a way to give some payback to this world. I see value in you my dear, I see worth your people lack. Come with me my dear, and I can help you gain the strength to get back at this world.”
And that Tayuya would do, but not before Orochimaru decided to “help” her get back at her village. In that he swayed her to use her Doki on the village itself; feeding into her fury at the villagers and having her slaughter them as a show of the power she could get under her guidance.
This made it all the more tricky, as it seemed the root of Tayuya’s loyalty to the Sannin was her hatred of people due to this incident and general upbringing and him presenting himself as a means for her to get payback. A savior to her, not too uncommon for other followers. While Anko still believed there was something to reach within Tayuya, it would be quite the uphill battle as she gathered her report and went to present her findings; Tayuya herself would stay in a holding cell until what to do with her had been made clear.
