So. Weirdest thing. I was in a writing flurry then at the start of December I couldn't write another word. I did my best but it didn't flow with the story or gave way too much away. I've revised this chapter so many times and even then I still don't think it's quite right but I needed to publish or I'd keep going and going and never finish this story. So, with the help of a bottle of soju here is the penultimate chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 27: The Invasion

I was wandering through the streets of Konoha when the invasion finally began.

I had begged off attending the finals with the rest of my team stating that Yumi and I already had plans to go together and to my benefit by being officially ordered to make nice with her- there wasn't much Souta could say to refute me.

Of course I have no intentions of attending at all.

So I was out there on the streets when there was a mighty boom and the south walls of Konoha crumbled in as giant snakes crashed their way through. Sand and Sound shinobi jumped from their backs and engaged the Konoha-nin in combat.

I skirted the edge of the panic and made my way to a nearby construction site I had been casually circling.

I released the small area genjutsu used to hide an out of the way access hatch that led to a basement area in the nearly finished building. From there it was a matter of pulling out a superbly detailed map my contact had slipped me when he bumped into me many weeks ago and navigating the underground area to the place where he had started to tunnel through.

It was a tight squeeze in places and the earthy walls of the tunnel were a marked difference to the limestone tubes I was used to but I made it through quickly to get to the hollowed out place that bordered a long-standing Uchiha passageway.

My contact, not being of Uchiha blood, had been unable to access the sealed passageways but had done well to follow my instructions and had gotten close enough so that I had easy enough access without needing to enter the Uchiha compound.

I took a deep breath, covered my entire head save my eyes with a long black bandana and then phasing through the thin earthen wall with a low level jutsu. Once on the other side I looked up and down the dusty passageway and sprinted towards what was once my home.

There was something I needed to make sure of first.

I knew I had a limited timeline but was able to complete my side mission to create a failsafe for Sasuke swiftly. I pulled out my map again, exited the Uchiha portion of the tunnels and navigated towards the base of the Hokage mountain.

Next stop: Root headquarters.

I had to dig my way through the wall of the tunnel this time to reduce my chakra outage but ran into trouble in the form of cement wall. Spending a small moment in deliberation, I drilled a small hole with a small water bullet and scoped out the other side before deciding I could afford to use a more large scale output and prepared my next jutsu.

I really hope there is only the graveyard shift today due to the invasion.

Concentrating, I honed in my chakra to a fine point and using one of Noriko's more irritating attacks I was able to hydrodrill a hole in the concrete.

Once through I dashed up the hallway hoping that even if detected I could outpace someone coming to investigate.

I suddenly flung myself sideways dodging a brace of shuriken that imbedded deeply in the concrete where I had stood. A barrel roll mid-air and a second later and I returned fire with tagged kunai that filled the area with smoke obscuring vision in the corridor. Deciding that the stealth component of my evening had expired I activated my Sharingan and met the two ANBU that appeared seemingly from the walls in combat. I had no misconceptions on the fact I was outclassed let alone outnumbered but I had known this was a do or die mission from the beginning.

All I had to do was plant the evidence before I die.

The poor visibility in the corridor and my own Sharingan allowed me to avoid the worst of the attacks but knowing something was coming didn't magically make the speed and flexibility of my body increase so as I tired- the more I was hit.

Shit I need to escape.

Whether it was fortune or not, with the Sharingan and the echoes emanating from the walls I was able to find a hole in one of the ANBU's defence and rammed a kunai as hard as I could is the soft spot under his arm where the armour was weak and slip past him to the other side of the corridor. I wasted precious chakra to make a clone and nulled my output as best I could and ran down the hall and turned the corner.

Doors flashed past me and the fact I met no one else filled me with a sense of relief. The corridor opened to an atrium with halls branching off in the cardinal directions I paused minutely to reorientate myself with the layout of the mountain and tried to decide whether Danzo would have his office closest to where the Hokage Tower or in the deepest, defensible part of the mountain. With no time to process my thoughts more I chose the tunnel that would take me deeper into the mountain.

With my Sharingan still activated I saw the glint of steel before it hit and caught the kunai by the handle and used its momentum to fling it back to the remaining ANBU who had not been distracted not nearly enough by his partner being injured before following me.

I turned to fight again but once glance at me had him pausing and he moved into a defensive stance with his kunai in perfect form.

'State your name,' the ANBU ordered.

Um. No.

I glanced around quickly and in a swift movement dropped a smoke bomb. This time after creating the clone I dove through a nearby door and shut it behind me with a near silent click.

Panting, I place my back to the wall and quickly pulled out a scroll from my pocked and transferred over a silence seal to the door. Cautiously watching the door I took a risk and deactivated my Sharingan to hide my chakra the best I could and hoped that the ANBU assumed I pulled the same trick as before and had run up the hall. j

It was only when the adrenaline receded a bit I realised that I was seeing the door way too clearly and that it was due to the fact the room was illuminated. I pulled out a couple of kunai out and a scroll ready to blow the place up as best I could as I further realised I wasn't alone in the room.

'You can't stay out of danger can you?'

'You can't stay out of danger can you?'

The words echoed in my head as I saw the last person I'd expect lounging on what must have been an uncomfortable steel chair in the middle of the root complex. Wooden packing crates surrounded the room and wood shavings littered the floor. To my eye, it appeared I had interrupted him while he had been rifling through a smaller crate that was placed on a nearby desk.

It had to be fucking green-eyes again.

'Moritani,' I ground out, muffled through the black bandana I still had around my head. Taking a quick look around this time taking note of the transient vibe

of the accommodations I guessed he was only camping out here due to the invasion.

'Ah I assume that is Nezumi under there,' he grinned back charmingly, 'or so you say anyway.'

The Root ANBU burst through the door at that moment and halted as he heard Moritani's and my conversation. He recovered quickly and moved to immobilise me now I was distracted. I was too off guard to do more than a couple of defensive manoeuvres before I was face down on the floor.

'Just like old times,' Moritani continued as he took stock of my position on the floor and it had not escaped me to notice the similarities of this situation with the Kuroi Chou disaster.

'More interrogation then?' I snarked.

'Well if you insist,' he replied with a chuckle, 'after all. I have some people very interested in what you know.'

'People?'

I received a laugh at that and Moritani just leaned back on his chair.

'See it's stupid comments like that which makes me second guess that you know anything at all,' he said amused.

I gritted my teeth and raised my head as best I could to glare at him letting my Sharingan to seep through. It was actually fortunate that the ANBU had his hand pressed down on the back of my head in the end as I let my eyes fade back rather than waste even the little chakra it used.

'Moritani-san. You know this intruder?'

'Oh yes. We spend a very pleasant evening together,' he replied smirking, 'brought the house down and everything.'

The ANBU didn't seem to know what to make of it and the pause lingered.

'Tie her up to the chair and go get one of the interrogators,' Moritani finally said to the ANBU holding me down and dropped his smile, 'surely there is one left in this hell hole to extract what we need to know.'

'I am not authorised to relieve anyone of their post,' the ANBU replied woodenly.

'For fucks sake,' Moritani hissed, 'how about I fucking authorise you relieve them from their post.'

The ANBU only hesitated for a second but nodded sharply and left the room leaving me tied up on another steel chair for Moritani to gloat at.

Shit. This thing is as uncomfortable as it looked.

I sat as comfortably as I could on the chair and glared at Moritani with my two black eyes.

He just stared back at me and crossed his arms pensively.

I can't afford to wait till the ANBU comes back.

'Do you know where Danzo's office is?' I asked him.

Moritani's lips twitched.

'I think you've misjudged this interrogation.'

'Do you or do you not know where Danzo's office is,' I repeated forcefully.

'Look to be honest I'm not taking you seriously at all in that cheap disguise,' he replied amused and reached over to pull at my bandana.

I did my best to bite him.

He just laughed.

'You're a lot plainer under the makeup,' he mused as had a good look at my face, 'Still quite remarkable though.'

I was quite angry that I felt a little pleased at that and scowled at him for flattering me yet again.

'Tell me where Danzo's office is and I'll leave you alone with your... collection,' I said firmly as I looked around the room at the somewhat eclectic objects in the room both in and out of pine packing crates.

Moritani smirked and surveyed the room himself.

'Merchandise actually,' he said amused, 'all top quality, high end products going at a very reasonable price to the right buyer.'

Ah, so he is in the trade business after all.

'Is this what you do then?' I asked intrigued despite myself, 'Black market trade?'

'More or less,' he replied amused and took a seat opposite me and placed a chin to his hand.

'Despite it all little mouse I find myself enjoying these little chats,' he smiled, 'you do know how to make a guy feel like the smartest man in the room.'

I scowled at him.

'Asshole. Just tell me where Danzo's office is,' I gritted out, 'It's not like I can escape and do something with the information,' I goaded.

'Why would I when it bothers you so?'

'Look just tell me. I've got a limited window of time.'

'What a shame.'

I glared at him and he smiled back charmingly.

'Fine. Have it your way,' I spat and let my Sharingan form and relished in the startled shock on Moritani's face wiping that smug look off of him.

'Sharingan!?' he asked incredulously, 'how did you get those? Did you steal them?'

'No.'

'Uchiha then?' he asked somewhat delightedly, 'Now I definitely have someone interested in some of those beauties. You wouldn't mind handing them over would you?'

'Like hell I would.'

'Now don't be like that. Though this explains a lot of things,' he mused, 'Always so prideful... What are your origins thought? You can't have been a Konoha citizen though or you'd be 6 feet under. It makes one wonder what stuck up clan member spread his seed throughout the country.'

'Last chance Moritani,' I hissed not impressed with the chatter, 'tell me where Danzo is.'

'Look, this is getting a little ridiculous little Uchiha,' Moritani sighed and ran his hand through his hair, 'even with this surprise bloodline you still don't understand your position. You're done. Finished. Failed as it were. When the ANBU gets here you will be interrogated for Aki-no-Shounen's location and now have gloriously given another reason that you can be exploited with that lovely eye jutsu. Plus! Everyone knows that so long as you don't look in an Uchiha's eyes you're good. So be a good girl now and stop asking me for fucking Danzo's office.'

I huffed a frustrated breath and funnelled some chakra into one of the seals on my armband and a flurry of wind was released shredding the ropes that bound me as well as unfortunately creating a multitude of tiny lesions on my skin from the escaping air.

'You are the most fucking annoying person on the planet,' I growled at Moritani who just rose from his seat with a sardonic eyebrow raised.

'Right back at you Uchiha-san,' and he entered into a defensive stance.

Not pulling any punches I immediately set out to destroy all of his stock. He showed his hand when he stated their value and as expected he panicked at the sight of the oh so easily flammable crates smouldering under a well-placed katon.

'You psycho!'

While he was distracted I dove for the equipment that had been stripped from me and managed to get a hold of my thigh pouch before I had to dart away from Moritani's glowing green hands.

'Do you fucking know how much money these item are? How rare some of them are!? Some literally are irreplaceable!'

'Should have told me where Danzo's office was,' I grunted and pulled out some ninja wire.

'Ohohoho,' he laughed darkly, 'I will enjoy the process of taking those eyes out you obtuse bitch.'

He lunged at me and I use the slowly thickening smoke as a cover and hid in the flickering shadows threading the wire around as I moved.

Moritani used his chakra scalpels to slice the wire when he encountered it and it was when they disappeared as he decided to risk a water jutsu for his burning collection I shot a spark of electricity down the wire.

Unfortunately Moritani went for broke with the water and it covered the room so with the added electricity we both were effected.

Shudders wracking through me I gritted my teeth and risked entering close quarters with Moritani and his scalpels.

I dove at him with a kunai and he countered with a wakizashi he had seemingly pulled from nowhere.

'This sword was owned by the first Daimyo of Wind country and is worth more than my firstborn,' he hissed, 'and I'm using this priceless treasure to fight a overgrown child with no concept of reality.'

I purposely ran my kunai up the blade to the handle and it imbedded in the hilt before I jumped back pulling a new kunai out of my pouch.

Moritani looked apoplectic.

'That's it,' he gritted out and dropped the blade and made the final mistake of finally meeting my eyes.

Relief spread through me and the illusion swept from me like a soft sigh. To his perception I was 5 degrees more left that he expected and when he ran at me it was a small matter of using his momentum to grasp his upper arm that had not been coated with the blade sharp chaktra that coated his hands and drive the hilt of my kunai into the base of his skull.

He went down with a clatter and the chakra on his hands flickered out.

Not wasting any more time I bound him best I could and strapped him to the same uncomfortable steel chair I had been bound to.

He came to quickly but that was to my benefit. I really had to have this sorted out quickly before that ANBU came back with the interrogator.

Moritani to his credit did not seem phased at he took stock of his situation.

'That was a somewhat intelligent strategy,' he admitted and glowered at his still smoking wares.

'Glad you approve,' I replied wearily and took the opposite chair in direct contrast to the situation before I escaped. I made sure not to take my eyes off of him just in case.

'What now?'

'You tell me where Danzo's office is.'

'No.'

'Why do you even care,' I hissed frustrated, 'I know he is not your master so why are you trying to protect him?'

'Tch. I just don't want to do what you say,' he admitted to add to my frustration, 'what reason could I possibly have to tell you anything?'

'How about not dying?'

He outright scoffed, 'Why? What are you going to do little Uchiha? Have you even taken a life?'

'None of your business,' I said with gritted teeth, 'now just tell me where Danzo's office is.'

'Never,' he smiled and gave me one last charismatic grin.

'You leave me no choice,' I replied with a deadened voice and with unintended slowness morphed the tomoe of my Sharingan into a multifaceted sunburst-like pinwheel.

Moritani's eyes widened in shock.

'Now how did you get those eyes?' he asked in morbid curiosity.

I didn't reply to him though and prepared myself and carefully collected my chakra.

'Last chance,' I warned, 'Tell me or I'll make you.'

'Darling,' he drawled with such casualness I was a little impressed by, 'do your worst.'

He must have no idea about stages of the Sharingan at all.

I sighed and was temped to close my eyes but I didn't want to give him any leeway to escape.

'Ok,' I whispered and readied myself, 'remember you brought this on yourself.'

His lips twitched in a slight grin and I was sure now that he had no idea what I was about to do.

'Mangekyou,' I murmured and the kaleidoscope spun.

Moritani sure learnt in the end what the Mangekyou was and I learnt the location of Danzo's office.

Somewhere around the 10th hour of torture Moritani's mind gave up. I hadn't realised I was unable to release the technique until the full time was given and so I had to stand and watch for another 38 hours as the senbon I chose as my torture device turned him into a pincushion.

Not a wasted 38 hours judging by the unintended information he spilled though.

When I had returned to my own senses, Moritani was out for the count and I was fighting vertigo. Breathing hard I had to sit a moment to recalibrate my senses and condense 48 hours of memory for the less than the minute I had on the outside.

I blinked rapidly and let the Mangekyou fade away and in its wake the trepidation rose. I felt like Alice in the rabbit hole.

Why do my problems always have to be the tip of the fucking iceberg.

I was fortunate though in regard to my initial goal and that was that according to Moritani, Danzo's office was not far away form this location. I'd have to backtrack and I didn't know if the ANBU that had been dismissed was still nearby but I was somewhat hopeful so long as I left now.

I stood to leave but a look at Moritani had me hesitating. Technically he could still live... perhaps even regain cognizance with correct treatment. If he did then my identity would be at risk.

I can't risk that. Especially with what I now know.

Hesitating I neared the body and with great reluctance but determination I altered some explosive tags so their seal would become unstable in approximately 15 minutes give or take.

I haven't actually timed them perfectly.

I then left the body and went to the door again, removed the silence seal and made to leave.

Now lets hope that ANBU is still a way off.

In the main hall of the Taka Shrine, underneath the seventh tatami mat from the far right sat an ancient tablet... well... used to sit an ancient tablet. It had been replaced with somewhat newer stone block made of cool granite. Inscribed was not a warning of the Rinnegan, the God Tree or anything to do with the moon and instead was a simply made haiku.

It would sit undisturbed for many years until Sasuke would eventually be persuaded to search for it. He would take one look at the stone, roll his eyes then curse his cousin's name under his breath before storming out leaving the tablet undisturbed for many more years after.

True power is found

Under tall trees with green leaves

With your family

xx