Note: Attempt #2 to rewrite Naruto canon, after reading various theories and catching up and whatnot. This is the alternate universe without the Uchiha massacre. That is not to say that life is beautiful.

(Edit 10/25/13) This project/fic was begun around June 2011 and has since then undergone a lot of plot changes. There will probably be at least 8 "shots" or chapters. Hopefully that number will limit digressions and whatnot.

All of the characters in ANBU are from canon. I just gave them different lives. :)

Shot 1.The Hokage makes a decision that sets everything in motion.

It was sort of pathetic to see a jounin-level ninja weeding a garden. Obviously a D-rank mission, and just as obviously below his abilities.

Of course, if you didn't know who he was, it would look almost normal. He was sixteen or seventeen years old, same as the average chuunin, who sometimes got assigned humiliatingly low-rank missions as a disciplinary measure. More chuunin did D-rank missions than they cared to admit, if they needed several hundred ryo on short notice. Chump change, but hey, ryo was ryo, and when you needed it, catching three ridiculously well-loved pets could equal the pay for some the lousier B-ranked missions.

Despite all this, few who saw him would fail to recognize the Uchiha hair and eyes. Those distinctive features were infamous throughout Konoha, and even civilians had learned to sneer on sight. It was pretty easy to ID who was weeding that garden, too; there weren't that many Uchiha walking around after the failed coup. And then there was that reddish tattoo on his bare arm, the unraveling spiral that marked him for past service in the ANBU. He wasn't a recognized jounin anymore, let alone ANBU, but that was the thing about tattoos. They were kind of permanent.

Maybe he could have hidden that, disguised his identity with a genjutsu, but he had no chakra to call upon. His mandatory morning session with the Hyuuga and Aburame ANBU had seen to that.

Still, however humiliating it was meant to be, at least he was alone. It was even peaceful, what with the afternoon sun and the quiet, ever-present chirping of birds. A gentle wind rustled through the leaves, stirring up a family of insects living inside a knot in the tree trunk. Mottled brown-and-grey wings flapped, flared as Mother Bird killed her speed to alight on a branch near the little insect family. Then she winged back into the leafy shadows to feed her hungry children.

Sounds of laughter spilled over from the dirt road between the civilian homes. Children of another kind, jostling each other on a path wide enough for four of them to walk abreast of each other. The brown-haired, stubby-nosed, and freckled boy at the front of the group was clearly the leader of the pack. His eyes were alert with the bright, sharp-edged quality that all genin had. The six forehead protectors glinted proudly, shiny and unmarred. All of them had just graduated from the Ninja Academy that morning. They had no real business in a civilian neighborhood.

The boy caught sight of the Uchiha in the garden. "Hey!" he shouted. "He's over there! Look at him weeding. Hey, Uchiha! You stink!"

His companions picked up the tune. "My brother's thirteen and he's gone on C-rank missions," said the girl, loudly. "He says D-rank missions are for babies."

"Ha-ha! Uchiha are LO-sers!"

"His brother's never going to graduate. He's being held back to train with the eight-year-olds all over again. He-ey, talk to us, Uchiha!"

"Yeah, what's got your tongue?"

"LO-ser!"

The newly-minted genin weren't stupid enough to toss shuriken around, but a couple of pebbles arced through the air, thrown with accuracy honed from years of practice on the academy training grounds. Weirdly enough, they thumped onto the springy turf without actually hitting anyone. The other brown-haired boy who had thrown the first pebbles frowned and bent over to find another missile. There was no fun in harassing the Uchiha if the victim didn't even deign to respond. He should be scowling at least, or flailing to avoid getting hit.

Worst of all? It was like the Uchiha, by holding his silence, was snubbing them.

"I'm bored," the leader declared. "Let's go check out the new yakiniku restaurant."

"Race you!"

Like a flock of gulls that had caught sight of more promising fodder, the six of them wheeled back in the direction of the main village.

Itachi yanked the last weed out of the ground.

"How many more have you got today?"

Itachi didn't glance over at the man who had appeared. There was nothing to read off that dispassionate rat's mask. A mask quite similar to one that Itachi used to own. "One more mission," he said quietly. "Lost pet retrieval. Then I will be going back to the Academy."

As if the ANBU didn't already know he and his two unseen squad-members would proceed to escort both brothers to their family residence.

"Even though tonight is the first official night of summer, don't forget the two of you are staying home."

Itachi nodded to show that he had heard. This was no different from the last four years. Just him, Sasuke, and one or two elderly relatives on the verge of senility in the entire compound. The rest, locked away in cells deep in the sunless bowels connected to the interrogation and experimental departments. His parents and the former clan leaders were four years dead.

"Carry on, then. We wouldn't want you to lose that 5,000 ryo bonus for delivering it before sunset." The ANBU disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"I'm telling you, it's a total waste."

"What do you want to do about it?"

"Four years of exemplary behavior. Surely that's something…"

"We need the older one around. The younger brother, Sasuke… he's never been tractable. At least, not to us. He grew up completely indoctrinated."

"So did Itachi."

"And look how he turned out! I'm not saying he didn't do us a good turn by betraying his family, but you know what they say about traitors…"

"We have all the keys, don't we? All Itachi wants is his brother's wellbeing. He'll settle for his brother's continued existence, and he'll be grateful we haven't plucked his eyes out. We'll give him that. But how long do you think Sasuke will put up with being held back for no reason other than the fact that he might be a threat?"

"Not long. That's why we should just let him graduate and start using what Konoha has: two talented shinobi."

"That's why we shouldn't let Itachi loose! He needs to stay and keep an eye on his brother, which we need to keep here as a control on whatever mad impulses he may suffer from later…"

The Sandaime sighed heavily. They had been at it for hours. It had come up every year for the last three years. Uchiha Sasuke's teachers thought he was either overdue to receive his forehead protector or a sociopathic avenger in the making. The former group of teachers tended to commend him to the elders and plead his case. The latter group roused all the opposition – among them the heads of the Hyuuga clan – and brought about a deadlock. And since the opposition included Danzou, Koharu, and Homura, the discussion had never moved past the council room. Sarutobi's former teammates knew exactly how to appeal to the fears of the other village elders and had been advocating a more conservative, authoritarian policy for years.

Three and a half hours, and over ten hours in total, spread out over three years. Surely any serious qualms had been debated to death by now and they were running on pure inertia.

Three… two… one.

He stood up, causing the elders to lapse into silence.

"That's it." The Sandaime felt a grim satisfaction at the shocked, frozen visages turned in his direction. "It's been decided. We've already chosen the ANBU squads."

"But – Hokage-sama, you can't be serious!"

He glanced at the protester, who read the answer in his face. The man changed tack.

"How can we explain this to the villagers? Some of them complain that they still have trouble sleeping, knowing that those two, out of their entire family, have free rein in Konoha. And now you want to give the former heir some of his chakra back and send him outside on missions? He's a traitor!"

"Not to Konoha," said Sarutobi. "And he'll be monitored. Every step of the way."

That was all the village council needed to know. If he said anything more than that, their skulls just might implode.

"Nee-san, can I have your takoyaki?"

Hana deposited the skewer onto her brother's plate and watched him devour it with gusto. Partway through, she regretted watching. "Hey, Kiba, you know that food is supposed to go into your mouth, right?"

"Don't jaw at me today," mumbled her brother without much real resentment. "I just graduated!"

Hana rolled her eyes but honored his point by not laughing at his ridiculous appearance. The lower half of Kiba's face was flecked with sauce and bonito flakes. "Fine. But enjoy it while you can."

"I am." Kiba raised his head, takoyaki entirely demolished. "Tonight is going to be awful." Their mother, Tsume, was unlikely to hold her tongue or refrain from whacking her son on the shoulder for bad table manners, new forehead protector or no. Lots of food, lots of relatives, the entire clan gathered together to celebrate every new academy graduate. It was tradition. Kiba glanced down at the small white dog in his lap, who was crunching contentedly on a bit of gristle. "Akamaru, are you full yet?" He got a small yip in answer.

Hana started to pour the last of the sake into her own cup, then smirked. "You're a ninja now, Kiba. Practically a man… but can you hold your liquor?" Her brother's young face lit up.

Their glasses clinked together. "To kicking ass!"

"To much future ass-kicking," agreed Hana. She downed hers quickly and watched Kiba's expression change – his euphoric grin, a wince as the taste washed over his tongue, and then a proud beam after he swallowed, though he tried to mask the latter with manly nonchalance. "Congratulations."

"Thanks." Kiba scratched the back of his neck. A rare, thoughtful frown crossed his face. "I mean, it's really not that special that I graduated, right? Everyone graduates."

"Just because we expected it of you doesn't mean it's not an accomplishment."

"You're right…" His frown lingered. "You know that Uchiha kid that I told you was pretty good even though he was a dick? I didn't see him get his forehead protector today. I mean, I thought he graduated, but I wasn't sure. There's no way he didn't graduate."

"No, you're right," Hana said. "He didn't graduate." Most of the time, Kiba could be easily distracted, but wearing that new forehead protector and that uncharacteristically contemplative expression, he looked old enough to be told some things at last – things she had previously helped him dismiss rather than examine. Every genin in his graduating class would eventually have to confront blurred memories of the coup that had interrupted their childhood. And like many others, Kiba would also eventually connect it to a parent's absence.

"Why not? If Naruto did – and he's incredibly dumb, practically dead last – then there's no way Sasuke wouldn't have."

"There are other reasons for that." Rumors had circulated among the jounin as well; it seemed that at least one had been proven wrong. Against the odds, Naruto's graduation had made one Shiranui Genma 20,000 ryo richer. The other one, about Uchiha Sasuke's non-graduation day, only a legendary sucker would bet against.

Kiba's face fell slightly as she stood up. "You're leaving already?"

"ANBU business." Such as a classified mission to a post right on the border of Fire and Rain Country, described in terms even more oblique than usual. In twenty minutes, she was to meet the rest of the squad – who, following standard ANBU protocol, had not actually been named in the scroll she'd received that morning. Oddly enough, they had been summoned to the Hokage's own office, not the ANBU compound where extended debriefing usually took place. Tension had been coiling in Hana's stomach because of that.

"All right. I guess you're not going to be at dinner?"

"No, I won't be around to do damage control. That's why I took you out here." Kiba's morose expression made Hana reach over to ruffle his messy brown hair. "Catch you later,little brother." Akamaru thumped his tail when she scratched him behind the ears. "Look out for him, Akamaru. He can be kind of stupid sometimes."

"Hey!" protested Kiba.

Hana ordered another plate of food for him and left money on the counter before walking away. Dusk had fallen, and the lanterns on the izakaya nearby cast a warm reddish glow on the street. It would have been a lovely time to stroll over the bridge with her dogs, but summoning them for a ten-minute walk seemed too self-indulgent.

If there was anything Hana missed from the pre-ANBU days, it was having her ninken around. Thanks to the Summoning Contract, she could call on the three Haimaru brothers at any time, but it wasn't the same. She missed their constant, reassuring warmth, the knowledge that three extra minds – in command of finer senses – were on the alert. Inuzuka were never alone. They grew up with their dogs and started training with them as soon as they could walk. But wearing a mask was kind of pointless when your dogs visibly identified you and forecasted your fighting style.

If not for the Uchiha attempt to overthrow the government, Hana might even have opted for another job entirely. Hyuuga, Nara, and Yamanaka had always been mainstays of the ANBU forces, but since the civil unrest four years ago, ANBU had expanded, its composition diversifying. More people went into internal security, but foreign security had gotten a boost as well. It was commonly held that the Uchiha plot had been the single greatest rejuvenator of the Konoha ANBU since the Nine-Tails' attack twelve years ago.

After changing into uniform, mask and all, in the ANBU compound, Hana made her way to the Hokage office. An ANBU whose mask was a red-striped cat joined her on the way up. Uzuki Yuugao, judging by her scent and the way she walked.

While Hana was someone who might not have gone into ANBU but for the fallout from the Uchiha uprising, Yuugao was another story. That hadn't stopped the two of them from first becoming respectful acquaintances, then friends. If Yuugao was part of the mission, Hana couldn't help but feel encouraged.

They maintained a professional silence until they entered the office to see not two, but a whopping number of six other ANBU before the Hokage's desk, not counting the jounin bodyguards. Eight was double the size of a normal cell.

"You may remove your masks," said the Sandaime, his eyes shadowed by the brim of his hat. "I want you all to know exactly who the other members are."

This was weird. Beyond weird.

A tiny, collective shiver passed through the ranks as eight porcelain masks were untied. Hana chose not to glance down the row, opting to sniff the air discreetly.

Apart from herself and Yuugao, there were no other women. Hana had worked with roughly half of the remaining members before, including Yakushi Kabuto – she'd recognize the disconcerting metallic-and-medicinal smell anywhere – and Aburame Muta, who wore opaque glasses underneath his mask. The Hyuuga was either Tokuma or Kou. It had to be Tokuma, since Kou had light-colored hair. In fact, Hana could have easily identified all the ANBU currently in the room, at least by mask - except that her attention had snagged on the scent of the sixth person.

The reason why the Hokage had wanted them to know exactly whom they were working with sank in like a stone dropped in a lake.

He had been an ANBU captain years before Hana first applied to the ANBU – and he had resigned from it entirely by the time Hana had passed the exam. It could have been personal choice, but regardless of his preferences, the village council would not have let him go on. Stripped of jounin and chuunin status, forbidden to leave Konoha, coerced into having his chakra drained and sealed every day for the last four years… who didn't know what had happened to Uchiha Itachi?

So what was he doing now in full ANBU gear, as if he had never left?

Logically, Hana knew that someone must have issued him a new set, since his last one had fitted a thirteen-year-old boy, but here he was, enduring their scrutiny – she and almost everyone else was staring at him in open shock – and standing shoulder-to-shoulder with them as if he belonged.

But they were ANBU. That meant that they were too professional to explode with questions, too wary and proud to twitch with discomfort even if giant flesh-eating worms had suddenly started chewing on their innards, and… clearly the Hokage had been banking on that. Mouths closed and eyes reverted back to the Sandaime in the fraction of a second.

"As your mission scrolls have informed you, the border of Fire and Rain Country requires expertise beyond that of the average jounin and chuunin currently in charge of the outpost. Your job will not be to take over from them or interfere with their work. In fact, carry out your duty as usual." Meaning, be silent, unnoticed, and practically nonexistent to the enemy, until the day the enemy needs to go. "In recent weeks, we have received reports of sightings of individuals known to be missing nin, one of which is suspected to have defected from Konoha. I am sending you to address this concern. These are S-class criminals. Capture is a bonus, not a priority. If you find yourself in a position to examine the body, seal any jutsu or special abilities that you can before attempting transport."

He didn't review the other usual ANBU procedure: If you find yourself in a position where Konoha's secrets may be compromised, self-destruct so that no trace of you survives.

"…Must report weekly through a recognizable summons…"

How long, exactly, was this mission?

"…Mission status will be reviewed at the end of one month, and we will deploy you as we see fit, based on the information at hand…"

As with most ANBU debriefings, the answer to one question spawned several thousand more. In ANBU, you never spat out the questions in your head, you didn't let them fester in your gut for months after a mission, and you had to bite down on them before you even reached the question mark. Because oftentimes, completing that thought only brought you a whole lot of grief.

"One team will monitor the proceedings from a distance, remaining on call. I won't need to tell you why communication between the teams is crucial."

No doubt they had been chosen with an eye to that, but this time, Hana could bet that the second team wouldn't just be waiting in the wings as backup against foreign ninja. They'd be keeping watch on the other four Konoha nin, specifically Itachi.

The Sandaime was assigning them to teams, the more familiar part of the procedure. There would be a squad leader or captain for the mission to make the final call on tactics, and a lieutenant to serve as auxiliary in particularly trying circumstances. Which, in ANBU, amounted to Mission compromised, send word back to village, intact bodies not required. P.S. - Make sure your teammates are absolutely dead.

"…Yakushi Kabuto, and Uzuki Yuugao. Your squad will play a supportive role, but you are also expected to keep an eye on the situation on the ground and assist our ninja deployed at the outpost where appropriate. Your captain and lieutenant are Koga and Tenzou respectively. Uchiha Itachi, Hyuuga Tokuma, Aburame Muta, and Inuzuka Hana: your squad will focus on the missing-nin. Your captain and lieutenant are Hana and Itachi respectively."

Hana was pretty sure she wasn't the only one who had barely suppressed a flinch.

Her mind went blank before a long string of words one did not blurt in the Hokage's presence crowded out every other thought. She was aghast. Everyone was.

As if her relative youth and inexperience wouldn't put enough strain on the team dynamic, was the publicly reviled Uchiha supposed to hold the supporting position? Hana had worked with Muta and – on one occasion – Tokuma. They were everything you would expect from their clans – efficient, powerful, aloof, and immensely proud. She'd been seeing the more human side of Muta after they'd been thrown together for four missions, which was certainly something when you thought about the kind of mission generally assigned to ANBU squads. Ha-ha! Forget all that progress.

Like probably seven other people in the room, she had been expecting the second team to have a Hyuuga captain and Aburame lieutenant in a tried-and-true combination, with Itachi getting the short straw and stuck as the disgraced outsider. Well.

That clearly wasn't happening now.

Hana couldn't check on her teammates' reactions, but she stared hard at the Sandaime. She could imagine the Hyuuga's deadly wrath building like a storm about to break, and the colder, rustling clicks of a swarm of kikai bugs furious on their host's behalf. If she looked stolid, it was only because the revelation had arrived like a punch to the face, not because she didn't care about her impending death-by-Gentle-Fist-and-Scary-Bugs. Forget having a thousand new questions. She had just one. How on earth did the Hokage think this was going down?

He had moved on to tell them their date and time of departure, which was an hour to midnight, one week from now. It was more than enough time to pack for the mission, but a little short for getting used to the idea that you might not see your village for years. The Hokage and the council would hold a monthly review on the viability of the mission, right?

Stop it, Hana warned herself. You're acting like a child. Remember why you're doing this. She hadn't taken the strenuous ANBU exam – one that filled the better part of the infirmary ward every other year – on a mere whim. After the fateful, bloody night of the Uchiha uprising, she'd resolved that there would never be a next time. It would never get this far again. Each and every mission she carried out in the ANBU led directly back to this goal – Konoha's security. If surveillance had been tighter, if there had been more ANBU, better preparation, swifter action, there would not have been as many victims caught in the crossfire.

Remembering that week and a half of sheer chaos and terror had helped Hana endure the ordeal that was the ANBU exam and see the way clear to why she had signed up in the first place. They'd inked the tattoo on her arm while she was still doing P.T. for her legs - so what was the scorn of two other ANBU and the prospect of working with a boy whose notoriety was four years outdated compared to all that?

Indefinite termination date. Weekly reports and unrelenting scrutiny for who knew how long.

Still better than the alternative – a Konoha ripped apart by war.

For whatever reason, the Hokage had appointed her captain of the squad. It was now her job to be one.

Any questions?

Too bad.

Sarutobi smoothed a hand over the hairless crown of his head, the wide-brimmed Hokage hat resting in his lap. An official letter to the Fire-Rain outpost, promising to address the "aforementioned concerns about a rat infestation," lay mostly finished atop a more mundane report of how the Nine-Tails' vessel was handling his long-awaited graduation, and how Uchiha Sasuke was not. At that moment, Sarutobi was arguably thinking of both of these subjects, and neither.

He had decided that if he was giving Itachi a chance, he was going to go all the way and employ the Uchiha as his abilities deserved. That meant Itachi would take high risk missions in ANBU, where professional pride reined in any individual prejudice for the sake of the mission. The squads were formed on even more of an ad hoc basis and this did not foster a very personal environment. Itachi would have a shot at command, the units would not be nearly as cohesive – therefore, hopefully, not as watertight in their ostracism – and the natural competitiveness between the team members would provide some incentive for everyone on the team to reassess each other. Working together in that mutually wary environment gave them the chance to reevaluate preconceptions.

Itachi already had experience as an ANBU captain. Problem was, even the Hokage couldn't deal with the absolute uproar that would result if he restored Itachi to his full rank right away. Nor would it have been feasible to make Itachi lieutenant and bow to traditional clan expectations at the same time. Despite the great professional pride of the ANBU, Aburame and Hyuuga clan pride would have prevented the other two men from giving Itachi any real authority as lieutenant – had they a choice.

So captaincy had to go to Inuzuka Hana, who – having grown up with the Haimaru brothers and being a member of one of Konoha's wildest clans– had some experience in forging three strong-willed individuals into a cohesive force. She had less to prove than the tightly-wound males on the squad and was more likely to consider Itachi's input fairly. Although Hana's particular challenge was that two out of three of her subordinates were older than her, every ninja in the ANBU had to acquire leadership experience sometime. Appointing an unranked but promising ANBU member as acting captain was not that rare given the merit-based nature of the ANBU. Mission-wise, the Inuzuka, Hyuuga, Aburame combination also had obvious strengths and it would have been a shame to force them apart.

It certainly promised to be an interesting challenge to everyone involved. What passed for "interesting" team dynamics in the ANBU did have slightly more intense connotations than in other divisions, but if it worked, with Itachi's versatility and expertise in genjutsu rounding out the group, they were sure to form one of the most devastating ANBU units in the history of black ops. And given the disturbing reports of S-class missing nin on the border, it couldn't have happened at a more fortuitous time.

In short, it was a calculated risk from which Konoha stood to gain plenty.

Sarutobi rolled up the letter and pressed the Hokage's official seal into the hot wax.