The very idea of what Kanon was about to do was considered by most to be impossible The shinobi that headed the gates of the Leaf Village were an unstoppable force; few escaped from them alive, and they all were hunting for her. So why even bother challenging the ominous shadows that were the Konoha Elite?
Because Kanon had someone she need to see. The Leaf Village had quite rudely declined her request to lawfully enter their village, though few villages willingly allowed murderers within their walls, so instead, she lurked just within a mile of the gate, waiting for sunset. Like all ninja, she worked best under the cover of dark. When dusk had fallen, she walked calmly to the gates, civilian clothes over her shinobi attire, and acted like any other traveler seeking to gain entrance into the village.
Kanon was just in sight of the massive gates when she was stopped by two ANBU members. Like phantoms, they appeared without sound or even the smoke of a transportation jutsu to announce their arrival. Kanon noted it, lightly surprised and impressed with their skill. Had she been any less prepared, she might have been genuinely startled. Still, someone would have had to read her mind to know that the surprise she did show was anything but authentic.
"Oh my-" she started, but was cut off.
"Visitors are not permitted within the village after sunset." one of the voices behind the mask barked.
"But I have to get in." Kanon protested in a breathy soprano. It wasn't her real voice, but she didn't want to risk even her voice being identified.
After all, this wasn't her first encounter with the Black Ops.
Memories threatened to bubble from the darker parts of her mind. Memories of fear and adrenaline, confusion and blood. It took a second for her to regain control of her thoughts, a struggle that didn't for an instant show on her face.
"Please," she continued. "I'm here on a delivery and there's an order of meat in my pack. I'll lose everything." The pack she pulled off her back was also a part of her costume. If anyone were to check the contents, or even the meat itself, they would find no weapons. The box itself seemed simple in design. It was made of two compartments, one several inches bigger than the other and fit in such a way that inch thick slabs of ice could be slid between the compartments to keep the meat cold. A portable ice box.
But she wasn't meeting a butcher, or any other kind of store owner who might buy her goods. The ice box was just another cover, and a good one at that. The only weapons she carried were specially made kunai, colorless and hidden within the ice. Should she need them, a fire jutsu would be strong enough to destroy the bag and melt the ice holding her weapons. The bag was even designed to burn easily yet steadily enough to melt the ice quickly.
Of course, if her disguise was any good, she wouldn't have to use that particular feature.
As expected, her bag was searched by the two ANBU, neither saying a word as they inspected the raw meat. Kanon could feel the eyes of the other ninja, some hidden, others not, focused on her and ready to attack should she prove a threat.
And not so deep inside her, in a tiny part of her mind that was more than a little insane, Kanon wanted to be that threat.
As soon as she had the thought, the two searching her bag tensed and threw up their guards, prompting five more to join them.
Something, either her face or bag, must have given her away, Kanon realized though she wasn't worried. A ninja of Class B status was used to being surround and outnumbered.
They attacked her without warning, and she barely had the time to defend herself. Kanon dodge their taijutsu, and retaliated with her own. From the village walls, shuriken and kunai rained down, each thrown with such accuracy that they would hit only her, and Kanon was grateful for the light weight armor she wore beneath her civilian clothes, protecting her from the worst of it.
The two original guards danced in front of her at inhuman speeds. They wielded katanas of such lethal beauty that even as they tried to kill her, Kanon could not help but admire them.
The attacks themselves were wonderfully coordinated. None of the ninja were ever in danger of being hit by another one's jutsu, and it was directed at her in such a way that it wasn't possible to avoid everything. Though she managed to keep her body physically away from the ninja attacking her, most of the jutsu hit her in some way. Wind had clawed at any skin she revealed, the wood of the gate had more than once tried to jail her, and it was only her own mastery of fire jutsu that kept her from burning alive when another ninja caught her clothes on fire.
The last she had been counting on in some respect. The layers of her disguise slowed down her taijustu just enough to put her at a disadvantage. Fortunately, her clothes had been made of a flammable material similar to that of her pack, and designed to burn like flash paper. After the flames subsided Kanon was left in the black uniform traditional of the shinobi.
There was no break in the assault against her, but somehow she manage to press her way past the gates and outer edge of the village. It seemed the deeper into Konoha she pushed herself, the more ANBU appeared to stop her. The seven that had surrounded her at first became twelve, and then multiplied until there were over twenty dark ops following her. Kanon too had multiplied, two shadow clones running beside her, while three others led more ANBU on different trails through the village.
They knew where her path led, anyone with half a mind would. From their various points she and her clones were leading the ANBU to the center of the village, where the head of Konoha lived and work. It was a foolish thing to do, as it was the Black Ops primary job to protect the Hokage, and the only way to do that was to know every and any way an enemy might attack her. By making this her target, Kanon was playing right into the ANBU's hands.
Too bad the Hokage's office wasn't her final destination.
Kanon fought until she was as close as she dared to be to the office. The attacks were brutal now, but it wasn't fear or pain that stopped her. Leaving her doppelgangers behind to fight the ANBU who'd been following her, Kanon preformed her second transportation jutsu of the night.
The air was for the most part quiet, back on the outer edge of Konoha. She could still hear the sounds of battle, but felt oddly separated from the fight she'd just seconds ago been a part of. Then again, Kanon had never cared about the fighting. Though she was skilled in several types of taijutsu, hand to hand combat wasn't what had drawn her to the shinobi path. It had been the quieter, darker aspects. The lying, sneaking, and thieving that she favored, assassinations she was particularly good at. The knowledge that she could break into someone's home and slit their throats while they slept, without them ever knowing she was there, sent such a rush through her. Even as she thought about it, her body trembled slightly.
It took her a little less than a minute to reach her true destination, an small apartment just within the village borders. She crouched on the small balcony, and with deft fingers, picked the lock that held the window shut. It was foolish to attempt to break into any home in the ninja village, but choosing this one in particular would have Kanon labeled as suicidal. Anyone with common sense knew not to break into this home.
Which is why she did it. The need for danger was Kanon's second addiction, walking the line between life and death gave her thrills that could only be surpassed by the actual success of her actions.
Without a sound the window slid open and Kanon slipped inside the room. A quick scan for any chakra told her that she was alone in the apartment. Knowledge in hand, she felt free for the moment to explore the dark apartment, waiting for her mentor to return. Night vision helped her avoid the bulkier furniture, but a sudden sense of danger and the need to move sent her sprawling over an unseen coffee table. The two shuriken that had been thrown at her lodged themselves in the wooden shelves on the opposite side of the room. It didn't go unnoticed that they were aimed at her spinal cord. An amused chuckle made itself heard in the dark room.
"Kanon, I should have expected it was you getting the black ops so worked up." Kanon pulled herself up and stared at the window, now blocked by a human form. The man's one visible eye watched her closely.
"Kakashi." she acknowledged, pulling herself up and perching on the back of one of his couches, facing the window. To let him at her back would be a very bad idea. "My visit is harmless, for the most part." It wasn't exactly a consolation, but then it wasn't meant to be. Kakashi knew just how willing she was to kill.
The Copy Nin dropped into the room, choosing to lean against the window frame instead. "And what would be important enough to make you visit an old teacher? Surely you haven't come to mourn the death of the Third?"
She laughed softly, though her face held no amusement. "I would never mourn him. Why should I when he was the one who wanted to kill us for crimes we didn't even understand?" Kanon just managed to keep emotion out of her voice.
"The murder of twenty innocent people is a crime anyone can understand, Kanon." Kakashi replied, his own humor gone as well.
Kanon slammed her fist down, sound muffled by the couch but the effect the same. "Dammit Kakashi, can't you just admit it? You fucked up. You took us in and turned us into blood thirsty animals. You're the real reason those people are dead, not us!" The last sentence came out in a rush of anger that left Kanon breathless. She took a few seconds to regain her composure. "I'm going to kill Hayato and Kohaku." she said emotionless.
Her blunt statement hung in the air, heavy and full of meaning. Kakashi didn't comment, only lowering his gaze to the floor. Kanon glared at him.
"One hundred and sixty-seven."
Kakashi looked up at her, eyebrow raised. "And that is...?"
"The number of civilians I've killed in the past three days." Kanon smirked. "Makes the twenty look pretty small doesn't it? Especially since that was the number of mine, Hayato, and Kohaku's kills combined."
"Yet you didn't kill even one of the ANBU. You're not quite the murderer you say you are."
"I never said I wouldn't, you could wake up to find half of them gone tomorrow." It was a lie of course, she wasn't quite strong enough to wipe out that many, but had she not had a specific destination in mind, there was no doubt that a good quarter would be dead right now. "I was simply being courteous earlier, letting you know I came on friendly terms. But you won't be so lucky if Kohaku decides to come, or when Hayato does." Kanon shook her head. "They'll wipe you all out, without even an ounce of regret."
"And you're going to be a martyr and save the helpless village from the revenge it deserves?" Kakashi's question was only half sarcastic.
"I'm going to be responsible and clean up a mess that should have been taken care of years ago. Someone has to fix your mistakes. God knows you're too lazy to do it yourself."
Kakashi stared at her hard. "Do you consider yourself a mistake, Kanon?"
She laughed hard though not in humor. "Of course I do. Who doesn't? Everyone knows the son of the great White Fang' fucked up his first batch of kids. Though I bet you've managed to keep it out of the limelight. At least you've gotten a better place." Kanon gestured to the room around her.
Her mentor chuckled. "So you still remember that do you? I don't often get called that nowadays."
"That's because people have come to their senses." The room's tension dropped for a second, but it came back when Kanon dropped off of the couch. "Alright, well I should be going. Boys to kill and all."
Kakashi pushed himself off the wall and dropped his arm loosely by his sides. "You're not going to get out of here alive, Kanon. The ANBU will kill you before you even get out of the village." If she weren't so sure she heard wrong, Kanon might have admitted she'd heard sadness in his voice.
"Well you better hope to hell they don't. If I'm dead, then so are you and everyone else. You have no idea how strong they've gotten."
The silver haired jonin paled and muttered something Kanon didn't want to hear but caught anyway.
"Who gives a damn about Icha Icha Paradise, perv? You'll be dead anyway if they get here." She rolled her eyes at him before walking to the window. The action put him at her back, but if he believed what she said then he wouldn't touch her. She crouched on the window and paused before leaving.
"You have good kids, Kakashi. Don't screw them up too."