A searing pain ripped through Gaara's skull. As his control slipped, his consciousness began to fray at the edges.
Through the haze, he saw a figure approach, familiar, yet somehow distant.
"Yashamaru?"
A flicker of relief surfaced, only to be instantly drowned by the agony.
The sand, a churning barrier that had kept everyone else at bay, parted for Fu. It flowed around her, letting her draw close without a hint of aggression.
"Scale Powder Jutsu!"
Fu exhaled a thick, shimmering cloud of powder, laced with hypnotic properties. It sprayed across Gaara's face. Under normal circumstances, it shouldn't have worked so quickly, but this time it carried an great efficacy. The raging boy gradually stilled, his frantic energy subsiding until he lay quietly in Fu's arms, his breathing evening out as he fell into a deep sleep.
'Kid, do you have any idea what you're doing? How dare you stop me?!' Shukaku shouted across the tailed beast channel, furious at having such a rare chance to 'play' snatched away.
'That's enough, Shukaku,' Chomei's said sternly.
Shukaku sulked, his tone turning sour. 'You really spoil her, Chomei.'
"He's okay now," Fu murmured. She held the sleeping Gaara, gently patting his back as if soothing a child, a faint blush warming her cheeks. All around them, the sand rose to form a protective sphere, standing guard over them both.
'His chakra... it smells really nice.'
Then she felt a scorching gaze from the stands and froze. She didn't look back. 'I'm done for,' she thought, nervously. 'So done for. Shibuki is going to kill me when I get back.'
"Hey. What are you planning to do with my opponent?" A cold voice cut through the air behind her.
She looked up and met a pair of red eyes, each pupil a spinning five-pointed star.
"Genjutsu: Sharingan."
The Sharingan, bane of the Tailed Beasts. One look was all it took.
*Thud.*
Both Fu and Gaara collapsed to the ground.
At that moment, Genma announced the match's result. "The winner: Sasuke Uchiha."
--**--**
Hyuga Compound.
Hiashi returned to the Hyuga compound, Neji and several Root ninja trailing behind him. The sight that greeted them made his blood run cold with fury.
The compound was sealed, surrounded on all sides by the masked figures of Root. The scene was eerily familiar, a chilling echo of a past he had tried to forget.
'It's just like when they encircled the Uchiha district,' he thought. 'So this is it. Root is forcing us to declare our loyalties.'
Hiashi kept glaring..
"Root is on official business," one of the masked figures announced. "All irrelevant personnel, stand aside."
No one questioned them. The Hyuga clan was confined, with no one permitted to leave.
"Root!" an elder stepped forward, his voice tight with controlled rage. "To my knowledge, the Hyuga have done nothing to offend Danzo-sama. What is the meaning of this?"
Angry glares followed from the other clan members.
"Neji, are you satisfied now? Is this what you wanted?" Hiashi stared at his nephew as if seeing him for the first time. "Is Root the source of your newfound confidence? Let me tell you, you're playing with fire, and you will be burned."
"Hmph. Ignorant." Neji snorted coldly, full of disdain, not even deigning to address his uncle directly. 'I bet they didn't expect to experience this 'fate'.'
Hearing Hiashi's words, the other Hyuga members all assumed Neji had brought this upon them. They turned their angry, questioning stares toward him.
'So it was Neji...' An elder tensed, ready to move, but a cold voice, heavy with killing intent, whispered in his ear.
"A word of advice to the Main house. If you don't want the Hyuga clan erased from existence, I suggest you stand perfectly still."
In perfect unison, every Root operative drew their tanto.
Hiashi's expression hardened. "You are going too far. Even if I must go to Hokage-sama himself, I will have an explanation for this."
Even if Konoha was on the verge of changing hands, even if Danzo intended to seize power, he would be a fool to think the Hyuga could be so easily broken.
'It's just like the old warning,' Hiashi thought grimly. 'First, they hounded Konoha's White Fang to his death, and I said nothing, for I was not a Hatake. Then, they drove away the Sannin, and I said nothing, for it was not my concern. Later, they annihilated the Uchiha, and I said nothing, for I was not an Uchiha. Now, they have come for me... and there is no one left to speak.'
"An explanation?" The lead Root operative suddenly burst out laughing, a harsh, grating sound. "An explanation! Hahaha..."
A moment later, the others joined in, their collective laughter a chilling, mocking chorus.
"What's so funny?!" one of the Hyuga elders shouted.
Their outrage was that of cornered dogs, all furious barks and powerless whining. No matter how angry they were, none of them dared to make a move. This was Root. Konoha's Root.
The lead operative's laughter subsided into a low, cruel chuckle. "An explanation... Yes, we wanted one of those, too. But to this day, no one has ever given us one."
'That voice...' Hiashi's brow furrowed. It was familiar.
"More than nine hundred," the man continued, his voice dropping to a venomous hatred. "That was more than nine hundred living souls, including civilian, old and babies. Gone, just like that."
'More than nine hundred... I know that number!' A horrifying realization struck Hiashi. He remembered now. It had been years, but he knew that voice.
"Byakugan!" Veins bulged around his temples as he activated his clan's dojutsu. His vision pierced the mask, revealing the man's true face beneath.
"It's really you!" Hiashi breathed, his mind going blank.
'Not a transformation,' he thought numbly. 'Not a disguise. It's him.'
A man whose clan had once stood as rivals to the Hyuga, a man Hiashi himself had clashed with time and time again.
"Hiashi-sama?" one of the elders called out, his voice laced with concern. They had never seen their leader so shaken.
Before any of them could activate their own Byakugan, the Root operative reached up and slowly removed his mask. He revealed a square, sharply defined face and a pair of blood-red eyes, spinning tomoe locking onto Hiashi.
"Long time no see, Hiashi."
"That's impossible... Fugaku?!"
It could be no one else. Fugaku, the head of the Uchiha clan, who had supposedly died in the massacre years ago.
"Uchiha?!"
"How is that possible!"
"Weren't they... weren't they all dead?"
Then, in a wave of motion that stole the breath from every Hyuga, the other Root ninja removed their masks. One after another, they revealed the same blood-red eyes, the same spinning tomoe.
"We did die," Fugaku said, his voice a low growl that carried across the silent compound.
Another Uchiha spoke, his words sharp as shattered glass. "But we crawled out of Hell."
A third finished, their combined voices a promise of absolute retribution.
"And we have come for vengeance."
===============
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