Reaping the Consequences
Chapter 1: He Ran, I Followed
Warnings: mild violence, possible swearing, AU.
Disclaimer: Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto
Not Yaoi.
-o0o—
There were rumors about the ANBU Jackal that stalked the halls of the headquarters.
Whispers and gossip drifted through the concrete halls, stories like how he was inhuman, unfeeling, or how he had made chunin at five. Five! People murmured disbelievingly.
Those who knew better, however, begged to differ. Jackal cared deeply for his teammates, even if he didn't often show it.
But no one could deny how strange it was for the man to visit the resident jinchuriki daily. After all, shouldn't he have hated it? It was the container of the thing nearly destroyed Konoha…
Yes, they agreed absently over cups of coffee in the ANBU lounge room.
How…strange.
-o0o—
Jackal. ANBU captain. Twenty years old, and an S-rank nin in the Bingo books. Some considered him on the level of the Sannin, or perhaps beyond. He was Buntaichō of the infamous Assassination squad six, which had the highest success rate among the ANBU teams.
He was known to most people as Hatake Kakashi, the genius, the prodigy, the son of the shamed White Fang, the A-rank ninja who was on a power level just below the Sannin.
Very few knew that Hatake Kakashi and Jackal were one and the same. Only Yagami Rin, his ex-teammate, the revered Sandaime Hokage and Jiraiya, one of the Sannin, had any knowledge of this.
But neither the Hokage nor Jiraiya could have guessed that Kakashi was caring for Naruto, much less even tolerating the boy. Rin did.
Naruto had not always been kept in the ANBU headquarters.
If the Kyuubi even suspected that Naruto could be hurt, tendrils of red chakra would force itself out of the boy's system and lash out at anyone around it. An incident when he was three proved that the ANBU headquarters was the safest place for him; a drunken mob had raided the orphanage he'd been kept at, burning it to the ground. Later, after the ANBU had put the fires out, they'd found Naruto, unharmed. The toddler had been looking about in wide-eyed wonder, even as the Kyuubi's chakra lashed violently out around him.
Most of the ANBU who witnessed the display, from that point on, feared the child as if he was a biju himself.
As he grew older, however, so did his control of the demonic chakra and his obvious genius. Any concept was quickly absorbed by the small boy, and he loved to learn. Naruto had been allowed free run of the unclassified sections of the ANBU headquarters, which consisted mainly of offices filled with paper pushers.
It didn't take long for Danzo to notice, though, and he raised complaints about the jinchuriki's security in an attempt to recruit Naruto into ROOT. The council, unfortunately, had agreed. Sarutobi had been forced to relocate Naruto to a much darker, S-ranked section of ANBU confined to a small room in order to keep him out of Danzo's conniving paws.
However, it didn't mean the man had given up. A few run-ins with ROOT ninja disguised as ANBU, along with attempted kidnapping, cemented Naruto's jaded and cynical personality, the foundations of which were laid by the acidic comments of the occasional ANBU passing through. While they were too loyal to the Hokage to even think of actually harming the jinchuriki, it didn't stop some from verbally attacking him.
When the ROOT nin had been hunted down and captured, however, they committed suicide. An unknown seal would quickly burn the body to ashes. After the incident, Naruto, without any friends or social contact, quickly became withdrawn and distrustful, living only for his training and Konoha. He was so similar to Kakashi after his father's death, that even the Sandaime had nearly given up.
But even him, nicknamed the God of Shinobi could have predicted how it eventually turned out.
-o0o—
Kakashi hissed slightly as Rin pressed chakra-infused gel into his wounds.
She frowned disapprovingly. "Kakashi…" She whispered menacingly, too low for anyone else to hear.
"Sorry." He only sounded vaguely contrite.
"Why did you let this go long enough to get infected?" He lay on his stomach, allowing Rin access to the gash in his back. While small, the laceration was deep, and warranted a visit to the infirmary.
Kakashi shrugged helplessly. "I'd promised Naruto to get back within a week, and stopping to heal would have added at least a day to the mission time."
Rin shook her head, though the look in her eyes softened a tiny bit. "I guess you would have had to keep that promise…"
"Yes. He's just like me after my father died."
"You mean a cold, antisocial prick?"
A wry grin twisted Kakashi's lips, though she couldn't see it beneath his mask. "A cold, antisocial, distrustful prick. But yes."
Rin laughed softly. "You idiot. Just be careful next time." She swiftly bandaged the wound. "I don't want you doing any strenuous activity for at least the next three days. And Jackal, that does includes training." She scolded.
"Yes, Lynx." He chirped back cheerfully. More soberly, he asked, "How's Naruto?"
Her expression saddened. "He's doing alright. The isolation's getting to him, though, and there are too many ROOT ninja who come on 'official' visits. At this rate, Naruto will have to be indoctrinated into ANBU, just to keep him out of Danzo's hands."
Kakashi swore softly. "Damn…"
Rin ran her hands, glowing with green medical chakra, over Kakashi's body, checking for poisons and possible other infections. "You should probably go see him soon."
"In fact, I should probably go find him now."
"Wait. I'm almost done." She finished quickly, and lifted her hands off his back.
Kakashi sat up and cautiously stretched his arms above his head. "That feels much better. Thanks."
Rin gathered up her materials and stood up to leave. "I have to meet the Hokage now. Kakashi, I want you to take one of these-" She picked up a bottle of pills. "-every day for a week. They will remove the remnants of the infection still inside your body."
"Ok." He watched her leave before gingerly stretching and getting up from the flat hospital bed. Pulling his black undershirt back down and picking up the small bottle of pills, he reached around an IV pole to unhook his ANBU vest from the bed railing. Taking a moment to make sure his jackal mask was securely in place, he vanished, a cloud of smoke left in his wake.
He reappeared in a large, circular room, which had paths branching off in all directions. Smooth grey stone stretched endlessly along all the hallways, every surface engraved with seals except for the floor beneath his feet. They spiraled along the halls, delicately embossed kanji making up every line. Some carefully carved strokes seemed to coil in among themselves, never ending, twirling in an endless dance.
Every few meters on the ceiling, the seals culminated in a bright, round ball of light. Developed in the Yondaime's time, the lights worked by gathering naturally leaked chakra that hung in the air.
Blurs of white flashed by in the intense glow as ANBU sped by in the maze of halls.
Kakashi hesitated for a moment before making his way towards the Torture and Interrogation department, better known among ninja as T&I. It happened to be where prisoners, spies, and missing-nin were kept. Unfortunately, that meant it also had the highest security of any other place in Konoha. And thus, it was deemed the best place to secure the Kyuubi jinchuriki.
The seals along the walls flashed blue every few seconds, the dim azure glow flowing along the spirals as they constantly verified the identities of the dozens of ANBU that traversed the base.
He quickly glided past the security seals, engraved kanji detailing the protection level. Passages branched off at every seal, leading to rooms that corresponded to the classification rank. the whole thing was like a massive maze, filled with sprawling passageways and small corridors.
In fact, the headquarters had been built that way. It made it that much harder for spies and traitors to record the details and report back to possible enemies.
The traffic lowered drastically when he passed the A and S rank seals, however, and he could now move much faster.
Arriving at Naruto's room, he channeled his chakra into the seal on the flat metal door. Recognizing his chakra, the seal flashed white and the door unlocked with a soft click.
"Naruto?"
A small boy, six years in age, looked up. Piercing blue eyes, haunted by a childhood of mistreatment and nightmares, stared into Kakashi's lone black eye. Black rings edged them both, clearly showing the boy's insomnia. "Jackal-san." A pause. "You're back."
"Maa, I promised, didn't I?" Kakashi cocked his head to the side, showing his amusement.
"Yes," Naruto said softly. "you did. But promises kept are rare things…"
"In the world of ninja, indeed they are." Kakashi settled onto the small futon Naruto had been sitting on, gently piling the scrolls strewn across the fabric to one side. "Have you been taking the sleeping pills Rin gave you?"
"I have."
They sat in silence for a moment. "Have the… ANBU… been bothering you?" They both knew that Kakashi included ROOT agents in that statement.
"…Only one." Naruto paused, gathering his thoughts. "It was a male, ROOT agent. His face was covered by a plain, white mask, not unlike the kind you wear." He gestured at Kakashi's Jackal mask. "He was covered by a genjutsu, but I don't think he knew I could see through it." A wry smirk twisted Naruto's lips. "He gave me an ultimatum." A breath. "Join us, or we will take you by force." Though he tried to hide it, Naruto had been shaken by the experience. Even now, Kakashi spotted the minute trembling of the boy's hands.
Kakashi was only able to prevent any outward expression of shock by remaining stone-still. That, in itself, conveyed the surprise he was trying to hide. Naruto, who know him quite well by now, picked up on this easily. Noticing that Naruto was waiting for a reply, he obliged. "That wouldn't be impossible. Most of the council is already lobbying for your training; even some of the ninja on the committee think it is a good idea." Kakashi leant back against the wall, his hand involuntarily reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose in an attempt to relieve the beginnings of a headache before he forced the offending limb back down. "In principle, it is. But not while you are this young, and definitely not under Danzo, of all people."
This was a worst-case scenario. Naruto would either have to be put into the Academy, which the civilian sector stubbornly opposed, for fear of Naruto's control (or lack of) over the Kyuubi's chakra, or he would have to be inducted into ANBU, as Rin had implied this morning.
So, Kakashi thought dryly, the rock or the hard place?
When Naruto suddenly looked up, catching his eye, Kakashi knew the answer. The grim light of realization in the blue eyes was exactly the same that Minato had when he'd found out what he needed to do. Kakashi closed his eyes, resigning himself to Naruto's decision.
"So, the rock or the hard place, mm?" Naruto mused thoughtfully. "Well, the rock is awfully uncompromising…" He joked playfully. "So, Jackal Buntaichō, I suppose we're stuck with a hard place."
Kakashi breathed softly, a sigh unwillingly escaping though his lips. "We'll see."
-o0o—
Author's Notes:
Yes, Kakashi is somewhat OOC. Yes, Naruto is way out of character. However, Rin is still alive and Naruto's life has been drastically changed from canon. I think that allows for some OOCness. This is a plot bunny I have been tossing back and forth for ages, not sure whether or not to post. The idea is a bit different from what I usually do, but I'm going to have fun writing this.
I think I'm pushing the bounds of canon a bit, but this is an AU…
I would love it if you could give opinions on how Rin and Kakashi are characterized; they will be a couple in this story. Rin, for now, seems a bit generic; hopefully I'll be able to more fully develop her character in later chapters. I'm also not entirely happy with this chapter, but I promised to grey-shadow-horse to have this out by the end of May, and its several days late already.
Readers, I hope you have enjoyed.
-Port