Fluidity, grace, and not a movement wasted.
She isn't the fastest shinobi, or the strongest. She doesn't hail from a clan, claim a Kekkei Genkai, or have a age old technique.
Shortly cropped hairs only ruffle in her steps, and a raven shaped mask stays firmly in place.
No one could ever say she wasn't efficient though.
She lets the heads just fall when she takes them off, already on the next target and visibly unaffected by the carnage around her.
Every last one of the missing nin fall, leaving a small Anbu standing in the middle of the mess. She flicks her sword to the side, sending dops of red on the unfortunate stained grass, before pulling out a cloth from her thigh pouch to take off the rest.
Anbu Raven is specialized in assassination. Hana, the woman under the mask, only feels mildly sick.
An easy solo mission is what she'd been tasked with, and stupidly easy it was. The men with slashed headbands had only left a few academy level traps on their perimeter and left the youngest and least experienced of them to stand watch. Stupid. They should have stayed out of the Land of Fire, it feels wasteful to throw her at other villages' missing nin. At least she's getting paid for the bounties and the mission.
Putting the bloodstained rag back in her pouch, Anbu Raven pulls out her scroll she was issued. It takes less than a minute to neatly seal up the heads, two to pile the bodies and set them ablaze. She wasn't given any orders to clean up anything but the bodies, so once she's certain the blaze has taken anything anyone else could use from the bodies she's heading back to Konoha again.
It'd taken half a day to locate them, another half to scout them, and only a few more hours to wait until they were asleep.
Sometimes, Hana thinks, it'd be nice to get something interesting like Team Seven.
Then again, the whole team of them is batshit crazy, so maybe it's better off this way.
Trees and leaves all blur while sandaled, silent feet move quickly. There isn't a sound, save some leaves displaced as if in the wind. This is what a shinobi is meant to be. A ninja. Traveling in the darkness like it's home and striking when no one is looking.
The emotionally stunted fourteen-year-old girl in Hana thinks it's cool, but unhealthy. The emotionally stunted fifteen-year-old shinobi begrudgingly agrees.
She's lived longer than last time, at least. Even if it meant shoving her values far enough down for no one to see. Konoha is a military dictatorship hidden behind a cozy team loving exterior. There's still a red light district, stifled civilians, child soldiers, and a fuck ton of depression, anxiety, and paranoia.
She'd have defected if Hide weren't still in service, old man.
Of course the only person in this new world she would do anything for is a Jonin of Konoha. Ugh.
Anbu Raven calmly drops into her Hokage's office through her window, gently setting down her evidence of human suffering on her desk. The scroll is annoyingly plain for something holding the heads of six young men.
Raven promptly shoves Hana and Lauren down as she stares at the Hokage through holes in her mask.
"Report." Tsunade says, frowning and fingering her now empty shot glass, probably itching to pour more in or start chugging the bottle. A pile of paperwork sits on her desk right next to the Sake.
"At sixteen hundred a day ago I located the camp of nuke-nin. After observing their defenses I struck them while they were sleeping. The rest of their bodies were destroyed." Comes out of Raven's mouth, standing at parade rest. The tone is emotionless, strikingly different from Hana's telltale sarcastic drawl and Lauren's cheerful hum. Not that the latter had had a chance to use it in fifteen years, but it still stood.
Tsunade stares at her for a few moments, thinking, looking for something probably with the way her eyes are flickering and alert. If Raven weren't a good little soldier they'd squirm, but Hide'd taught them better than that. Naruto would've been a babbling mess at this point. All hail the future hokage.
"Understood. At ease, Raven." Tsunade says quietly. It's not a dismissal, though.
"How are you doing, Hana?"
Ew. No. Is all Hana's head can chime as Raven lets themself pull a grimace under the mask. It's been a long time coming, the feelings talk with Tsunade. Hana'd been recruited for Anbu by the council while the village was still dealing with the aftermath of the invasion, before the next hokage could stop them from bringing on another kid and maybe making another Itachi.
Hide hadn't liked it, but Hana was a Chunin already. Shit happens, and now Hana's legally a special Jonin. Paperwork stuff, legal requirements for Anbu and all that. Bureaucracy she hadn't given any shits for in both lives.
"Take off the mask, Hana." Tsunade says irritatedly, scowling at the painted thing disdainfully.
"Hai, Hokage-sama." Is the response, and Hana takes it off, running a few fingers through her short hair and frowning a little at her dictator.
"I'm fine." Hana says. It only makes the fifth's scowl deepen. Hana would warn the much older woman about wrinkles if she didn't realize that she already had them, somewhere under the technique she uses to look so young.
"I don't want to order you to be honest, so I'm asking nicely first."
Hana is a bit irritated. Why in the hell does she care? She isn't one of the rookie nine or the konoha twelve. Naruto's already showed back up again, off on some adventure with Sakura, Kakashi, and the rest in tow. She isn't important, hell, she isn't even a bleep on Tsunade's radar.
"I'm depressed, craving a cancer stick, tired, and essentially physically fine. Mission ready in a day." Hana states with only a few drops of her disrespectfulness that most of her commanding officers are already desensitized to. Mentioning her gross, would be illegal in another life, addiction only makes her want to head to her apartment faster. The things smell too strong to be carrying around, and Anbu don't leave trails.
Tsunade snatches her sake bottle and downs some of it, before glaring at her harder. No killing intent, but she's annoyed.
"I should pull you out of Anbu." The Hokage grumbles. Her well manicured nails tapping the desk as Hana pulls a face.
"I request that you don't, Hokage-sama. The assassination corps is small as it is." Hana tells the woman. It isn't a lie. The only force smaller in Anbu is the special squad for suicide missions, and the largest are Infiltration tied with Seduction. Assassination needs as many mostly sane shinobi as they can get. The fact that she is so good at it notwithstanding, that including the good ass money she gets paid to do it. Listing personal reasons why you want something never works with these people.
"I know. That's the one reason I still let you wear that mask, Hana, don't forget it." She can't, not when it's the reason why her bills get paid without a bat of her eye. Such. Good. Pay.
"What will it take to get you to leave willingly? If you want to stay Anbu there are always permanent places in Infiltration." The blonde says and Hana's expression only gets worse. Infiltration is fine and dandy when you don't have to do it all the time, but her plants will die if she leaves for too long. She'll have to hire incompetent Genin to keep her place clean and not mess with the countless drawings taped to the walls or her dangerous shit.
No. Hana is quite fine leaving for less than a week, maybe a month at the very most.
Not to mention Hide would be on her ass and coddle her. Her teacher is wonderful, but they've learned that their tendencies to bicker can get in the way of looking inconspicuous. The higher ups would just keep putting them together because they know each other.
"Not much, Hokage-sama. Early retirement perhaps?" The shinobi is only half joking. She still has so many stories floating in her head from another life that could do good. She can draw like nobody's business. If Hana could, she'd move to the still recovering Land of Waves and hide out as a hermit. Then again, she's still too young to be let go. Almost all of her stories involve dangerous ideas that a shinobi run world would not appreciate her spreading.
She almost wants to laugh, thinking about the sheer carnage that would happen if the Civilians cried out for democracy.
Tsunade makes a face at Hana that clearly means, no, I can't get rid of a valuable asset.
She didn't expect much else.
Ketsujo Hana is a shinobi of Konohagakure, The Village Hidden in the Leaf. She was graduated early and mentored under the Jonin Ketsujo Hide in infiltration and information gathering. She became Chunin at ten at Sunagakure's seventeenth international Chunin Exam through a display of strategic thinking and a efficient knock out of her opponent.
She floats in the ranks for two years under TI, and after the Chunin Invasion of year 462 common era, she is promoted to Special Jonin after quickly dispatching any foreign nin attempting to attack the hospital. She joins Anbu's Infiltration corps, and later transfers to Assassination for personal reasons.
Ketsujo Hana is the picture of a normal ninja prodigy, luckily maintaining her status as a good Konoha shinobi.
Lauren Harris was a Sophomore at Oak Highschool, in the USA. She was a frequent practitioner of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and a A B student most of the time. Lauren Harris dies in a tragic hit and run after pushing a kid neighbor out of the way.
They aren't the same- not anymore. Lauren was wide eyed and bright. The fifteen-(twenty-nine)-year-old could probably hurt anyone if you gave her the right reason.
If you stripped Hana's life bare you'd only see her military achievements. The quick promotions and the 'prestigious' position on Konoha's Black Ops.
Hana takes a long drag of her cigarette, and Lauren deep down gags and grumbles. From her perch on top of her apartment building she can see Konoha sprawled out before her. From the big arena on one side of the city to the Hokage faces peering down at their loyal subjects, encased in stone. She wonders if any of them thought to smile for the carvings, but shoots the thought down. Lord First might've, but the rest probably didn't. Too collected or broody. Does Lady Fifth count as broody?
She exhales smoke.
Only when she drinks late. The rest of the time she throws things- throwing doesn't really count towards brooding.
Hana wonders what the protagonist is doing right now, because the Gaara incident already passed and her memory of individual events afterwards is fuzzy. Too many fillers and too much time away from the subject matter.
It's safe to assume he's probably endearing everyone he meets to himself, slowly growing his army of followers to the Ramen faith.
Snort.
Her eyes snap up at the low trill of a hawk, then a higher one twice.
(Jonin/Anbu)
Three high trills.
(Fast- Report to Hokage.)
What the hell?
Glaring, she stands and shunshins to the roof outside the Hokage's office's window, leaving only a wisp is chakra and tobacco smoke behind.
Ignoring the two others that've appeared next to her, Hana easily vaults into the open window and faces the Hokage.
Beside the woman is two Anbu, a pale looking Shikamaru, and the gate guys.
Oh.
Oh shit.
The Hokage is grim looking.
"As of 14000 yesterday, Sarutobi Asuma died by the hands of Hidan, a member of the Akatsuki." She states once it's clear that everyone is here, the office filled to the brim with blank faced or now anguished shinobi.
"Due to his status as Lord Third's son, the public is not to be informed until the announcement tomorrow, with the exception of family and close family friends. Am I clear?"
"Hai." Is all she gets, Hana's own voice drowned by the rest of the shinobi in the room. She don't make eye contact with Shikamaru, focused on the wall behind the Hokage and it's boring beige color.
He was a friend back in the academy before she switched, and she spoke to him a little after the Sasuke desertion.
She should've made a tip about the battle.
Lauren hushes her gently, humming quietly about the manhunt that'd happen when it came true, or it just being ignored anyways.
Is this her fault?
Probably not. Hana puts the cigarette still in between her index and middle finger back up to her lip and takes a long draw of it, unable to keep a pained grimace off her face. This will probably impact Konoha's economy for the next month and cause other countries to start grabbing for more from Fire for at least two. Civilians always do look at stuff like this from a weird angle. Honestly, it's not like his position as Hokage spawn meant much rank wise.
The fourteen-year old mentally smacks Hana in the head for being so clinical about it, but Raven quietly approves.
"Good. Dismissed."
Most do shunshin or hurry out the window, but she turns and eyes Shikamaru, staring blankly at the wall on the far end of the office.
She lightly taps his shoulder, and his dark eyes snap to her own.
She holds out her lit cancer stick, and for a moment, he only stares at it.
He takes it. Hana leaves without a word.
Once she gets to her apartment, she takes out her sketchbook and lets the charcoal sketch out a smiling man with a cigarette at his lips. She wonders if she'll pin this one on the wall, or grow a pair and give it to Kurenai.
Tsunade puts Hana on leave for the next three days, something about her mental health and how she needs to think about if she wants to participate in the next Jonin exams. Blatant excuses to make her slow down in Anbu, obviously, but Hana only nods and shunshins back to her apartment roof with a bored look on her face.
Asuma's funeral was yesterday and from what Hide said it was rainy and depressing, as November usually is.
Slipping through her kitchen window, the shinobi stretches and eyes her surroundings, from the art pinned to her walls to-
To the work left on her kitchen table of a recently deceased Sensei.
Lauren gently lays a hand on Hana's shoulder in her mind while Raven watches on with their head tilted.
Hana frowns.
"What the hell would they want a portrait of him for? They've got perfectly good pictures of him already." The woman grumbles, leaning back on her kitchen counter with a flop.
Lauren is happy to hum about the thought mattering. Hana tries not to pout.
Besides, isn't Shikamaru a brooding mess right now? Kurenai is probably more concerned with being a single mom! Chouji would probably like it though, and Ino would try and get info out of her as to why she never talks to her age mates.
Ugh.
Raven decides to tell her that being in regular contact with the Konoha Twelve would be beneficial in the long run.
Ugh.
Hana scrubs her fingers through her curls a few times, then grabs the carefully torn out piece of paper with a gently hand, despite her darkening mood. It is good, and it's be a shame to just tape it to the wall when someone else would enjoy it more.
With a sigh that drops into a groan, Ketsujo Hana sets out the door for the Sarutobi district, already privy to the information that Kurenai lives there and probably always will now, with Asuma's sister so close by.
The village is wet, but sunny and full of life. Spices fill the air from street food stalls and people are out and about like nothing's wrong.
Which is true. Shinobi die all the time, and the fact that Asuma was the Third's kid only seems to put a aslight damper on the village's civilians. These folks saw war and the Nine Tails, even if only from the sidelines. One death isn't going to bring them down.
Then again, Pein's fast approaching attack will. It will do so badly.
Hana plays with a kunai offhandedly, twirling it from finger to finger as she walks, desperately trying not to let a grimace poke through her mask of boredom.
She should probably up her skills, and despite the annoyance she feels for taking another blood bathed exam she knows the title of full Jonin comes with a lot of perks. Better clearance, weapons, pay, and a higher position on the pecking order. Maybe she'll even have access to some of the good coffee in the Jonin lounge that everyone keeps trapping and hiding. Fucking shinobi. Blood keyed seals- blood keyed seals!
Who ever would she get some more ninjitsu from, though? Hide's got fire type chakra and most of her Anbu friends aren't exactly specialized in throwing chakra soaked water at people.
Maybe the Jonin section of the library will have something good, if no ones snatched it up for the exams.
Ninjas- the ultimate time crunchers, gossipers, and stingy sons a bitches.
Hana steps through the start of what's more like a district, rather than a compound. The Sarutobi have always been far more welcoming of civilians than a majority of shinobi clans, thus having a compound with open apartments and stalls for anyone, civvy or not.
It's almost radical for a clan to do, but the Sarutobi always were small and open to new blood.
Slowly she gets to a small traditional looking house near the edge of the compound, purposely far from the Clan head's home where Konohamaru's mother lives, no doubt. Asuma probably picked it out back when Lord Third was around and they were having their issues. Something about Asuma's joining the twelve guardian shinobi had to do with it, if Hana remembers correctly, but she doesn't bother listening in on useless gossip on the Hokage's drama. Not her style.
The kunai twirls three more times as she stands outside the door, before she drops it in her thigh pouch and knocks.
Does this count as interrupting mourning? Shit. She should've just stayed home or went on the hunt for those scrolls she was thinking of. It's not too late-
Nara Shikamaru opens the door and stares blankly at Ketsujo Hana.
Lauren promptly decides that their decision is made for them. Hana begrudgingly agrees as she stares at the highly intelligent teen with bags under his eyes.
"Yo." Hana says, shoving her hands in her pockets and resisting the urge to run a hand through her hair. A nervous tick she got from Lauren, one that she still tries to shake fifteen years later.
"What do you want?" Shikamaru replies, straight to the point.
"I brought something for Sarutobi-san. A gift, I guess." The teen says back, frowning a little at her own weirdness. Who just shows up bringing gifts to grieving wives?
Raven agrees, and tells her about how unprofessional her approach is. Hana wishes she'd stop giving them fuel.
Another moment of silence, then Shikamaru sighs.
"Fine, hand it to me."
Hana nods, pulling the carefully rolled paper from her pouch and putting it in his open palm.
"Anyways, that's all I came for." Hana says, and before she has to look the depressed teen in the face again, she shunshins away.
This social awkwardness is probably because she only hangs out with people in Anbu, isn't it? She's fucked herself over, maybe she should Lauren take over next time she has to talk to normal people.
Said girl huffs at her, but Hana ignores it.
"Hokage-sama." Raven greets the woman, quiet and analyzing.
"Raven. As you've probably already gathered, Team Ten asked to be assigned a mission to kill the Akatsuki agents Hidan and Kakuzu." The Hokage says. Raven straightens, leaving Lauren and Hana to react as emotionally as they want. Hana groans, and Lauren laughs like it's a funny joke.
Raven ignores them.
"Hai, Hokage-sama."
"They need backup, more stealthy backup than Uzumaki. You will shadow them and ensure their survival." The Hokage informs Raven. It makes sense though, considering that every member of that team is important to Konoha. Heirs, Jinchuuriki, and the Hokage's apprentice.
Raven nods, and takes the scrolls that are gestured to them on the desk.
"That has your mission information. If needed, you have my clearance to see what we know on the Targets."
With that, Raven is dismissed to introduce themself to the main team, and Hana takes over, cursing and raving about a plot she wants no part in.
With a quick scan of her mission scroll Hana sees which training ground their on, and tries not to groan out loud in her mask. The picture thing was whatever, and the smoke she shared was just because Sarutobi and her smoked the same brand, Hana does not want to get dragged into this crazy plot shit. She doesn't care what Lauren says, people are more trouble than they're worth.
She makes an easy pace on the rooftops towards the training grounds, and keeps it when she starts hopping through the trees. Why did Tsunade pick her? There's much better people in Anbu than her with much better jutsu to match.
Raven counters with her having one of the best track records for completing missions.
Hana shoves them down in response, getting closer and closer to her destination.
She drops down in front of the four shinobi, facing Kakashi.
"Report?" Kakashi says, tilting his head at Hana. She wants to do it back to be annoying, but doesn't.
"Hatake-taicho, Hokage-sama assigned me to shadow your team and wanted you to know." Hana says back, ignoring the way Raven almost droops at her staying in control. Hana tries not to roll her eyes.
Kakashi hums in acknowledgment, and the other three chunin just stare at her.
"So she's not sending in team seven?" Chouji asks, and Hana shakes her head.
"It's probable that she will, she just wanted some extra assurance." Hana replies in her Anbu voice, detached and cool as a cucumber. Lauren pats Raven's back.
"Do you need time to add this into your plan, Shikamaru?" Ino asks her teammate and Shikamaru shakes his head, eyeing her with his big brain churning at lightspeed.
Hana pulls out her mission scroll and the team's official one, handing it over for Kakashi to read over. Her full orders and their very few limitations are listed in the documents.
Kakashi takes them easily, pulling them open and reading them through quickly before shutting them.
"Well, everything seems to be in order, Anbu Raven. Carry on." Kakashi says holding her missionscrool out. Hana takes it and shoves it in her thigh pouch. With a small two fingered salute, the shinobi hops back into the trees.
A day passes. Team Ten plus Kakashi make good time in their speedy search for the Akatsuki's undead duo, but haven't located them yet.
Hana sits cross legged on a thick tree limb, sending her senses as far out as possible while her hands focus on sketching the dark forest in front of her. She itches for a smoke in the back of her head, but Hana is smart enough to never take them with her on a mission. Tobacco smells, and gets traced oh so easily back to Konoha. At least, that's what she has to tell herself every time she wants one.
When Kakashi hums begins her, she doesn't flinch.
"Impressive."
"Thank you, Hatake-taicho. Or should I say Dog?" Hana says back quietly, pulling a small smile under her mask. The former Anbu captain only sighs.
"No, Kakashi is quite fine, Raven." The man says.
"Alright, Hatake-taicho."
"You're Hide's brat, aren't you? Too much sass to be otherwise." Kakashi hums to himself, and behind her there's the sound of a page flipping. She pretends that he isn't already completely certain of who she is, stifling a yawn.
"Are you speaking of Sparrow? I wouldn't know, of course, since Anbu identities are very secret."
The sarcasm practically drips through her Anbu voice.
"So. Why would the Hokage send a specialist in quiet assassination to shadow a mission to take out Akatsuki?"
Silence broken only by the sound of pencil on paper.
"Permission to speak freely, Hatake-taicho?" Hana asks.
"Granted."
"You saw what the scroll said, Hatake. I'm a meat shield for if you need to run, and someone to cut off arms if they come near the heirs. I'm efficient and she knows I probably won't die." Hana tells him clearly, not looking up from her drawing, only moving her head closer to the paper to see what she's doing with one of the details.
Raven huffs and puffs up from the lack of appreciation for authority, but Lauren is clapping excitedly with a big grin on her pretty face.
Hana just keeps drawing.
"I'm sure Hide is thrilled."
Hana stifles a laugh.
"Hide knows what being in Anbu means. As long as someone takes care of my plants and puts my drawings up somewhere dry, I don't mind all that much."
Lauren in her is the one huffing now, annoyed by her apathy. Hana mentally sticks a tongue out at her.
Hana wonders what Hide would say if he heard her say that.
Probably grab her by the ear and pull her to the nearest Yamanaka. All the while raving about how being depressed makes him want to drink and goddamnit Hana I don't drink anymore, my liver isn't what it used to be!
Her smile widens.
It's quiet after that, the only sound between them the strokes of her pencil and the pages of his book flipping. Completely calm until-
"It's my turn for night shift Kakashi." A voice says up into the tree, quietly and not carrying very far.
Kakashi hops down.
"Maaa, you help a old man's bones. Play nice." He says, and from what she here's he walks back to the tents and into his own.
A lighter clicks, closes, and clicks again.
Clicks, closes, clicks again.
Clicks, closes, clicks again.
Hana lived in a orphanage the first half of this life, clicking isn't going to get her to speak to the Nara heir.
"So you're not sleeping?" Shikamaru asks quietly, not disturbing the mostly quiet of the Fire country forest.
"My mission scroll specified a six hour night shift." Hana says simply. Tsunade wasn't taking chances with this many high profile people, even if Kakashi no Sharingan is here to make sure they don't die. Hana wouldn't be surprised if other Anbu have went along on some of these adventures to ensure these kids survival. Hell, she knows that, Anbu are just as big gossips as the rest of the shinobi population and even if they do in in Anbu standard sign, it's still gossip.
Crane is still reeling from the Gaara kidnapping incident. He had to stay back in the Village because of his mission parameters and Tsunade put him on Academy sub duty for a month. Not fun, if his angry training had been any indication.
Yeah. She really hopes this mission doesn't end with her getting stuck with that, Hana'd have to let Lauren take over, she actually likes kids.
She goes to sleep three hours later.
The area they track the undead duo to is barren. The camouflage Konoha shinobi are known for is a mile back, but Hana makes due. She walks slowly behind her charges, close enough to take action but too far to be noticed. Her suppression is Jonin level, as it should be, and she doubts Kakashi and the others would know she was here if it weren't for her orders to tell them she was shadowing them.
She knows the Konoha nin all get out of this alive even without her presence, but she's still on edge. If this doesn't go the way it did back home, then this timeline is probably fucked. Especially without team ten and Kakashi. Especially if the undead duo is still alive after this.
Raven keeps Hana from fidgeting as she walks. She's is grateful.
She can faintly sense the Akatsuki barely a mile away, walking at a civilian pace that makes her frown. If she knew shinobi were searching for her at that very moment she would've made haste, but Hana supposes some people have too much faith in their abilities when facing a Nara.
A determined one at that. She saw that look in his eyes, and if she believed in the Will of Fire she'd swear up and down that's what it was. Hot determination that Konoha's local Uzumaki would appreciate.
The Konoha team stops, so she does to, feeling their targets continue their walk at a slow pace.
They talk for a moment, and then we're moving again. From where Hana can see, Kakashi signs to behind them, at me. Not directly, but close.
'Plan go.'
She makes no move to reveal herself or show that she saw it, but he takes off with Team Ten anyways. The Anbu grimaces, wondering if she's going to have to intervene in a key moment in the Akatsuki's downfall and accidentally fuck it up, again. Then, Hana hands the reigns to Raven, and the pieces fall into place for Nara Shikamaru's game of shoji.
The fight is different from the one Lauren remembers vaguely, the one that Raven poured over the pieces of in an attempt to prepare for the fight they were assigned.
Shikamaru isn't arrogant, nor does he pull any punches. Every action he makes is calculated, and his team moves in tandem with him like a well oiled machine. Shikamaru confuses them and drags the immortals along to the conclusions he wants from them, and after making them think he and his teammates couldn't possibly beat them, suddenly Hatake swoops in and takes Hidan's head off.
That…
Was not what Raven was expecting, they think as they listen to Hidan cuss and curse and rave, before Hatake kicks the head into a nearby tree.
Then Raven remembers that Hatake was friends with Sarutobi, good friends. Lauren remarks on how the anime never was all that good at showing all of it's character's grief. Hana makes Raven's hands itch for a cigarette.
Anbu hand signs are flashed quickly towards her crouched spot- 'standbyuntilsignaled'- and then Hatake is jumping away from Kakuzu.
"Sharingan no Kakashi. I was not expecting you here." The man with five hearts says blandly, ignoring his fallen teammate's lifeless body next to him, and the faint shouting coming from a cracked open and hollow tree to his right.
"That was your mistake." Hatake says back coldly, calmly, and then the field is motion again. Chouji slams a enlarged and chakra powered fist into the ground, cracking and shattering pieces. Ino sprints to different points in the clearing and Shikamaru uses the uneven ground's new shadows to hold Kakuzu in place, once the ground has settled.
Lauren is in awe, and Hana is just as analyzing as Raven is for a moment, eyeing the spots Ino ran to in a seemingly random order.
"Kakuzu! You better be fucking killing those brats!" A decapitated Jashinist's head shouts from a hollow tree.
The green eyed man ignores his partner.
"Naras." He almost growls low deep in his throat.
Raven has too agree with the sentiment.
"Shikamaru." Kakashi says, and the Nara nods, as Chouji is forming handseals.
"Earth Release, Moving Earth Core!" Chouji shouts, and suddenly the ground under Shikamaru drops down seven or so feet. Kakuzu is still stuck in place, but Chouji quickly hops away while Kakashi is blurring through handsigns.
"Fire Release, Great Dragon Fire Technique." Hatake says calmly. Raven can see Kakuzu's eyes widen from her perch and his struggle increase, but he can't move.
A wave of incinerating, yellow and bluish fire in the shape of a dragon's head focuses straight on Kakuzu.
There isn't much left of the man, after that.
It turns out Raven wasn't needed anyways.
Hana personally searches Hidan's body while Team Ten and Kakashi decide what to do with the spitting and cursing part of him, pulling off his Akatsuki ring, Jashin necklace, and slashed headband.
Well taken care of Kunai sit in his thigh pouch, if old Kunai. Other than that, he doesn't seem to carry much with him at all, al least nothing of note.
"Hatake-taicho?" She calls from her crouched over position.
"Hm?" Kakashi acknowledges.
"I've collected everything of interest. Should I dispose of the body?" Hana asks, and Lauren aches in her chest so much that is shines into Hana. Pity. How can she feel bad for a gleeful murderer?
Lauren says nothing, but the ache stays.
Hana tries not to huff under her mask.
"Hey! What the fuck are you doing with my shit, you Anbu fuck?! When I get reattached I'm going to sacrifice you all to Jashin-sama!" Hidan shouts, thrashing his head around, but Chouji's grip only tightens.
"Do it, Raven-san." Kakashi says, and Hana ignores how the ache gets larger.
He's going to die alone, suffocating in the ground and in the dark very slowly. Lauren whispers in the back of her head, mournfully. This is why Raven pushes her so far back during missions, she's too civvy for this life. Too kind.
She burns the body with a simple katon that all Anbu know, regardless of their own nature.
Hidan only yells louder and louder as he watches.
Lauren slips through, for only a moment, and her grip on the man's only personal possessions tightens.
What happens when you die?
Shikamaru wants to see Hidan's death through, but Naruto's late arrival forces him to hand the duty off to her. Hana easily takes the distraught head into her arms and hops off into the distance, out of sight and hearing so Naruto doesn't spot them burying a man alive. Kakashi had requested that one.
Hana sets the head down and makes a small, but deep hole with a C rank doton.
She then stares at the head, and begrudgingly gives Lauren some breathing room.
"You fucker! I'll come back- I swear on Jashin-sama-"
"You won't, y'know? Death is permanent, with or without a god's blessing." Lauren says quietly. She didn't come back, not really. She's just the last shard of a dead girl, the part too different to meld with Hana.
Hidan silences for only a moment.
"And how would you know that?" He spits, glaring and baring his teeth.
She shrugs, and takes the Jashinist necklace from her pouch, before looping it around Hidan's head.
"One word of advice. Come to terms with it quickly, feel some remorse, and moving on will be quick." She says again, even quieter, and lightly dropping the head down the hole. Hana takes over, and the hole is closed before he can reply.
The ache eases and Raven considers this mission a success.
A/N: Wow look, it's that Flowers rewrite I said I'd do. I don't feel like redoing all the italics right now, so... I'll be back. And darned ignored my dashes I used for linebreaks- this is why I use AO3 now lol.