Unshackled: A Naruto Fanfiction

Chapter 22: Fallen Angel

". . . and you're positive about this?" The words were formed by a rough voice, belonging to an even rougher-looking man, two black eyes that burned with determination looked straight ahead at a blonde teen, who was looking down at the wooden planks beneath her. 

"Yes, Raikage-sama." Yugito Nii, Genin of Konohagakure, spoke timidly. It had been two days since the end of the Second Exam, and almost six days since they've discovered who held the Kyuubi. "Sasuke Uchiha, the lone survivor of the Uchiha Clan, is the Jinchuuriki of the Nine-Tailed Fox." 

Ay closed his eyes, his bright, almost-white, blonde mustache twiched with his lips as they curled downward. Behind Ay and to his left, stood Bee who was leaning on the wall with his arms crossed and his chin tilted down, seemingly asleep. But Yugito knew better. Bee was just communicating with his inner demon, the Eight-Tailed Beast. 

"Eight-O says lil miss Two is right, the chakra in the forest was the foulest all night!" 

"It would seem," Yugito added cautiously. "That the Kyuubi's influence involves a fire-like tattoo spreading across one's face. It glowed a bright orange when it receded after his teammate, Naruto Uzumaki, knocked him out." 

"Hmmm," Bee hummed, talking to the demon that resided within him. "Eight-O doesn't recall a tattoo, but says its plausible, since before now, the knowings of the Konoha Jinchuuriki was impossible!" 

Ay was silent, his forehead scrunched up in thought as his mouth twitched slightly. "Then," He spoke, breaking the silence. "The situation is worse than I thought." This unnerved Yugito. The Raikage was a confident man, having planned for this day for years to come. 

"Why is that, Raikage-sama?" The questioned slipped out of her mouth before she could stop herself. Ay's eyes opened and she fought the instinct to take a step back as his eyes revealed the very gates of Hell. His black beady eyes bored a hole through her heart as she felt an involuntary gasp of air enter her lungs. 

"BECAUSE HE'S A GOD DAMN UCHIHA!" He roared, slamming his fists on the table and reducing it to splinters. Yugito took several steps back, but the overreaching form of the Raikage towered over her. "Do you have any idea of what THAT MEANS?!" 

"N-No, Raikage-sama." She managed to bite out. To say she was terrified would be an understatement. The hulking form of the Raikage would do well to off-put any ordinary civilian. But now, in this bloodthirsty rage-driven state, Yugito understood exactly what it meant to be a Kage. 

A strength to defend or destroy an entire village. 

Ay's mind cleared for a second, like the eye of a hurricane, he saw clearly. A young girl, cowering before him as if he were a monster. What was he doing? Taking out his anger and frustrations on a Genin who had no say in the matter? 

Ay's shoulders untensed and a solemn look of regret crossed his face. "I'm sorry, Yugito. I shouldn't have shouted at you, nor taken my anger out on you." He turned back around and sat back in his chair, not even caring that his desk was as good as sawdust. "The Uchiha Clan possess a spectacular Kekkei Genkai, even greater than the Hyuuga Clan and their Byakugan." He closed his eyes, remembering the lessons his father taught him before his death, before he had to take on the role of Raikage. 

"The Sharingan is a powerful doujutsu," He explained. "The Sharingan's power is extraordinary, able to read and predict attacks, copy and memorize jutsu perfectly, cast genjutsu easily, and worst of all:" Ay's face darkened. "The power to control a Tailed Beast." 

Yugito's eyes widned to the size of dinner plates, unable to comprehend the information she had been bestowed. Ay took her bewildered silence as a sign to continue. "One such occassion was in what we know now as the Valley of the End. Madara Uchiha, one of the two founders of the Hidden Leaf, was able to use his Sharingan to control the Nine-Tailed Fox in his fight against Hashirama Senju, the other founder of the Leaf.