Art by red hot holly berries. Source here note
Nobody would expect this from him.
It's simple, really. Or so he keeps telling himself. Konoha needs some way of keeping tabs on the Akatsuki, gathering information about what they're doing and what they're planning. It's got to be somebody they'd never expect, too — somebody they'd underestimate. Somebody they wouldn't think was capable of that level of deception.
And who would ever think that Inuzuka Kiba could pull that off?
in dreams you follow (but I dream in the dark)
is a series of Naruto fanfics set in an Alternate Universe wherein Kiba volunteers to infiltrate the Akatsuki as a spy for Konoha. Even if most of the village isn't aware of what he's doing, only knowing that he went missing-nin after killing Danzo. Even if this means leaving Akamaru behind. Even if this means fighting his friends in order to protect them.
Because somebody has to be willing to make those sort of sacrifices for the greater good. Right...?
This fanfic contains examples of:
- Adaptational Badass: Kiba goes from the bottom-ranking of the Rookie Nine to a feared S-Ranked missing-nin and Master Poisoner.
- Adaptational Sexuality:
- Kiba had a crush on Neji, which hasn't completely faded, though he claims otherwise.
- It's heavily implied that the rumors surrounding Danzo — namely, that he had a taste for grooming young children as more than just Child Soldiers — were entirely true.
- Arc Words: Somebody has to.
- Asshole Victim: When told that he needs to kill somebody important in order to be declared an S-rank missing-nin, Kiba picks Danzo, figuring that he more than qualifies. One of the methods he develops to deal with killing others is to picture Danzo's face in their stead.
- The Baby of the Bunch: Deidara was previously the youngest member of Akatsuki, frequently being condescended to due to his youth. He has mixed feelings when he loses this status to Kiba, who joins Akatsuki at the ripe old age of 12. He's relieved that he's no longer the youngest and horrified that an even younger kid became a S-ranked shinobi.
- Beneath the Mask: Kiba is still a loyal shinobi and still deeply loves his friends under his veneer of cocky and bitter missing-nin.
- Berserk Button:
- Kiba knows where all the psychological chinks in his friends' armor are, and makes a habit of targeting those while fighting, taunting them in order to throw them off their game and further sell the idea that he's sincerely defected from Konoha.
- He unknowingly hits one of Konan's when he hesitates upon seeing Akamaru and Hinata for the first time, as hesitation once cost her dearly.
- Big Sister Instinct: Konan shows shades of this towards Kiba, though this doesn't keep her from calling him out and threatening him as she sees fit.
- Blaming the Victim: Many of the Danzo's supporters lambast Kiba for killing a war hero, with the implication that if Kiba wasn't weak, then he wouldn't have been targeted. Others say that Kiba went too far in killing his attacker, ignoring that Danzo could have had Kiba silenced otherwise, or blame Kiba's family and friends for not noticing the grooming.
- Break His Heart to Save Him: Kiba repeatedly does this to his former friends, allies and teammates, as none of them are aware that he's actually The Mole and he has to keep up the act.
- Crime of Self-Defense: Kiba's murder of Danzo is largely suspected to be one, as there were rumors that Danzo took an interest in him.
- Compliment Backfire: Subverted and Played for Laughs. Kiba compliments Konan's leadership skills by calling her the Alpha Bitch, which for him means "woman in charge of everybody." The rest of Akatsuki were terrified that Konan would flip out at the unintended insult. Konan instead accepts the compliment as Kiba intended.
- Determinator: Shino is dedicated to making Kiba come back to Konoha alive and pushes himself to get strong enough to capture him. Eventually, he succeeds.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: In canon, Danzo dies from attempting to commit a Suicide Attack against Sasuke and Obito. Here, he's killed by Kiba as the latter wants to fact his fake defection and his S-rank Missing-nin status look genuine.
- Dramatic Irony: The reason why Kiba suggests that he take out Danzo as part of their plan to make him a missing-nin is because of how Danzo took several clan children into Root, then had them decommissioned when Root was disbanded, with one of the victims being Shino's cousin Torune. Turns out Torune was still alive, and Kiba unknowingly saved rather than avenged him.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: While the series was discontinued, it did have an ending in a collection of side-stories. Akatsuki is disbanded with the revelation of Zetsu's plans and manipulation by Obito. With his mission finally completed, Kiba allows himself to be captured by Shino so he could return to Konoha.
- Every Scar Has a Story: While he successfully takes down Danzo, Kiba's cheek gets sliced in the process, bisecting one of his clan tattoos. The potential symbolism of this is not lost on him.
- Evil Former Friend: Kiba is seen as this to the rest of the Rookie Nine. Kiba purposely invokes this by mocking their personal issues everytime they cross paths so they won't suspect that he still cares for them.
- False Flag Operation: Kiba makes his assassination of Danzo look like a crime of passion. It was actually government sanctioned by Tsunade who gets a spy and gets rid of her political opponent.
- Fake Defector: Kiba fakes his defection from Konoha in order to get recruited into Akatsuki. Only two people know Kiba's defection is fake: Tsunade Senju, his commander and head of state; and Genma Shiranui, Kiba's trainer and handler.
- For Want Of A Nail:
- Kiba overhears Jiraiya complaining about not having any spies in Akatsuki, with Tsunade sardonically offering to make her fellow sannin a missing-nin. This leads Kiba to offer himself up as a potential spy instead.
- Kiba's defection, along with the apparent reasoning behind it, makes Kakashi more keenly aware of his own team's issues and motivates him to try and nip those problems in the bud before they boil over.
- Generation Xerox: Played With; while his students remind Kakashi of his own team, he realizes that the parallels aren't quite what he expected. Namely, he sees more of his younger self in Sakura, with her canny mind and how she's still struggling to learn when it's best to throw out the rulebook. Sasuke's determination and drive reminds him of Obito, while Naruto serves as The Heart of their team much like Rin did.
- Graceful Loser: Shino captures Kiba with a custom poison to paralyze him post Akatsuki disbandment. Kiba sincerely compliments his former friend's efforts and allows Shino to drag him to Konoha as his mission is finally over.
- Hoist by Their Own Petard: Danzo's actions in running a secret army through brutal depersonalization and ritual killing, along with his vocal opposition to Tsunade, directly led to his death.
- Hope Spot: A critical part of the Backstory: Shino knew that his cousin Torune had been taken into Root by Danzo. When the organization was seemingly disbanded, he looked forward to seeing him again... only to learn that all of Root's agents had been 'decommissioned'. Years later, Kiba recalls this incident and decides that Danzo is just as disposable as he'd deemed Torune to be.
- Hypocrite: Kurenai and the Inuzukas face heavy judgment from Konoha for not being aware of how Danzo was supposedly abusing Kiba. This ignores how many others were turning a blind eye towards Danzo's rumored inclinations due to his high status.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Kiba has to commit genuine treason and hurt his former friends to keep his cover in order to spy on Akatsuki. If Kiba is discovered, he will die, and Konoha will lose out on a valuable source of information about the dangerous organization.
- Insult of Endearment: Konan quickly gives Kiba the Affectionate Nickname of 'Puppy'.
- It Gets Easier: Konan reassures Kiba of this during his first assassination mission.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Danzo's years of scheming, manipulation and abuse come to an abrupt end when Kiba assassinates him in order to sell his cover story.
- Klingon Promotion: To become an S rank missing-nin, a ninja has to either kill a lot of people or kill one person that is very powerful and high-ranking politically. Kiba chose the latter.
- Locked Out of the Loop:
- Very few people are aware of the true rhyme and reasoning behind Kiba's apparent defection. Kurenai, Hinata, Shino and Akamaru are not among the Secret Keepers.
- In I remember the looks on their faces (through the sycamore trees), the Kyuubi realizes that Naruto has not been told anything about his heritage, and reveals that he was previously sealed inside Naruto's mother.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": Played for Laughs when Kiba calls Konan an 'alpha bitch', causing the rest of the Akatsuki present to go silent in horror.
- Master Poisoner: In order to compensate for his youth, Kiba gets a crash course in poisoning techniques from Genma over the course of one week, and incorporates this into his repertoire as part of Akatsuki, mostly in the form of poisoned weaponry and bombs.
- The Mole: The very premise as Kiba fakes his defection as a missing-nin to give Konoha valuable information on Akatsuki.
- Not a Morning Person: Shikamaru isn't fond of gate duty. Especially when he's stuck with a partner who is a morning person.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten:
- Kakashi thinks to himself that he'd never live it down if Kiba actually manages to beat him in a fight.
- Kiba deliberately invokes this against his friends, claiming that he's still nursing grudges over old slights, such as the events of the Chuunin Exams.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Inuzuka NEVER abandon their ninken as their ninken is essentially half of them. It shows Kiba's true devotion to his mission and illustrates the depth of his "betrayal" to everyone else that he leaves Akamaru behind.
- Pædo Hunt: Tsunade deliberately spreads rumors of Danzo being a pedophile who molested Kiba (who's twelve) to give Kiba a believable reason for killing him. However, many people still support Danzo and oppose the murder of the war hero with Kiba's supporters being his family, his former friends and Danzo's former victims.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Kiba decides to kill Danzo in order to get the immediate attention of Akatsuki by killing a high-ranking member of Konoha. Unaware that Danzo had personally screwed over the leaders of Akatsuki, Konan and Pein, who have a deep-seated hatred for the council member. What was meant to establish his street-cred gives Kiba a quick ticket into Akatsuki out of sheer gratitude.
- The Scapegoat: Kiba using Shiranui clan techniques as a missing-nin unintentionally gets him framed for clan theft along with all his additional crimes as no one knows Genma taught him.
- Secret-Keeper: Tsunade and Genma are both aware that Kiba is actually The Mole.
- Shoo the Dog: Kiba forces himself put distance between himself and Akamaru because he can't force himself to ask Akamaru to betray his clan and country with him.
- Skewed Priorities: Kiba accuses Hinata of caring more about her crush than she did her teammates during the Chuunin Exam.
- So What Do We Do Now?: When Akatsuki is finally disbanded and his mission finally complete, Kiba has no idea how to get back to Konoha to exonerate himself without getting himself executed on sight by the guards.
- Survival Mantra: The notion that "Somebody has to" take the actions he has keeps Kiba going, and he frequently repeats those three words to himself.
- Teen Super Spy: Due to Kiba's age and success in infiltrating Akatsuki, he's Konoha's best spy.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Kiba is finally able to make his first dead drop when Konan has make a false trail. This gives Kiba the first tangible hope that his efforts are worth it.
- Underestimating Badassery: Kakashi runs into this, due to thinking of Kiba as the genin Naruto beat in their match-up during the exams.
- What You Are in the Dark: Kiba could have ignored Tsunade's conversation about Konoha's need for information on Akatsuki. It's a daunting mission for most jounin as its emotionally draining with a small chance for payoff. Instead Kiba volunteers to go on a long-term mission as a Deep Cover Agent with only two people knowing the truth and no guarantee that he could ever come back.
- You Could Have Used Your Powers for Good!: Kiba's increased skill and power post his defection from Konoha depresses all his former friends, as he used to be on the lower end of average.
