Title:Sisyphean Tasks
Summary:
(You can't always go back.)
Part I: It's been eight years, but Sakura never did learn how to say no to Sasuke. Long are the days of the Hokage's wife.
Disclaimer:Blah blah, Naruto's not mine, blah blah.
Prologue:
I. Children of Sound
Who shot that arrow in your throat?
Who missed the crimson apple?
He stood at the edge of the doors, lost amongst the forest, but merely a foot away from Konoha.
Sasuke? She asked.
Let's go back, Naruto said, but stopped before reaching for the other man's arm.
The man in front of them looked so old, it made them want to touch him, to reassure themselves that yes he was finally back, and here to stay. Forever.
Five years, Sasuke said, before turning around.
Naruto and Sakura looked at each other, before watching him trudge inward, his shoulders hunched, hands jammed into pockets.
Eventually…
It was never meant to be a hard mission.
Karin burst into the room, her hands soaked in red. He doesn't look up from his paperwork.
"Team four is back. Two of them are unconscious, and Shiro-chan just collapsed at the gate." She waits for a moment. "All four of members of the gang are dead. Otokage-sama."
He takes off his glasses, and reaches for his coat.
It takes the medic hours to heal the teammates. The 'hospital' is a make shift tent, with a missing nin from mist who spent most of her days bound to Sound under the threat of kidnapping. She was good, but not great. It helped that Sound rarely had salvageable cases. Most were light scraps or euthanasia. Earlier in his career, he had skimped in funding, choosing to focus on recruitment from other villages. He didn't even have to advertise. The lure of escape and loose laws drew enough, and they were now just finally at the point where they were self-sustaining. Population-wise.
But missions and money can only do so much. He is beginning to realize that without care, he would be no better than the predecessor.
He looks down at the chart.
Eight years old, and already completed a b-rank mission. His targets were photographed and the bodies – what was left of them – were sent back to the village. They had extracted whatever jutsu's they could, and now he is reviewing the report, written by the darker one. Ishiyo's son.
Group of four. Originally planned on a surprise attack, but one of them had heightened senses. Teammate Chinatsu was the first on the offensive.
Not that the boy was supposed to know. But for all of Sound's efforts at erasing parentage, it always leaked down. The fan is still imprinted on his clothes. He knows the difficulty of bearing a family name, and he has done his best to deconstruct it all. From base up.
Shiro said nothing, and I covered her, and I lost track of him for a moment.
He put it down. The mission was meant to be a capture, a proof of graduating the academy. The dead bodies meant orders had been disobeyed, but that meant skills in improvisation. Especially Shiro. The report would have to be finished by him. If the boy ever woke up.
Sasuke put a hand on his head. The kid is burning up, dangerously close to frying every synapse inside that small head. The medic swore that she had done everything she could, but it isn't enough.
He hesitates before unrolling a scroll, dipping his brush in the ink, and writing very gently.
Haruno-san,
Sound formally requests your presence.
A/N: Next chapter up in a week. Promise. Lyrics from Hush Sound.