Title: Subterfuge
Summary: Five years after his initial betrayal, Sasuke is forcibly brought back to the village. As a safety precaution, the village takes away the one thing that tied him to his past: his memories. NaruSasu
Author's Note: This is a rewrite/elaboration of my fanfic Back to Zero, written under a different account (Henohenomoheji). Written/edited because I have a thing for Hokage!Naruto. Also, this fic is based to some degree on 10Rankai's doujinshi, Residence of the Sun.
At the moment, I'm unsure about whether or not I should continue this fic. Feedback/reviews on this subject are appreciated.
Tsuki (Moon)
Deta deta tsuki ga
Marui marui manmarui
bon no you na tsuki ga.
ooo
Anbu captain Hatake Kakashi readjusted his mask, staring upwards at the ominous grey sky. Before him, his team of twelve stood at attention, all eyes locked on him through their masks.
"We have almost arrived at Rock Country. Ishita Village should take fifteen minutes maximum. The sooner we deliver Hokage-sama's package, the sooner we can return." His visible eye drifted towards the black briefcase settled carefully in the grass within the protection of his team's careful formation.
The first drops of rain landed heavily through the canopy of trees. Lightning illuminated the sky, simultaneous with a faint flare of chakra. Kakashi stilled. Strange, Ishita was not a ninja village. He turned, concentrating through the rain towards the village, but all traces of chakra had already disappeared.
"Mah," he sighed, closing his little orange book, "move out."
Twelve blurs of grey scattered immediately into the trees. Kakashi stood for a while, face turned towards the village, before setting out ahead.
ooo
Karin ran a hand happily through her thick red hair, shifting her other hand lazily through the fragranced water of the outdoor onsen. The lenses of her glasses began to fog, and she took them off to place carefully in her bucket of belongings balanced precariously on the bank of the springs.
Nearby, a group of young girls, probably genin on a break from missions, was chattering excitedly together in a circle.
She sneered in annoyance at the group, before her gazed drifted and settled on the wooden fence bordering the pool and blocking the neighboring onsen from view.
Beyond the fence in the adjacent men's bath, she could hear the annoying cacophony of stupid Suigetsu's voice answered by an occasional melodious murmur that she had memorized as Sasuke's.
Sasuke had consented to a night of rest in this small, provincial village in Rock Country before continuing onwards after seeing the worn down condition of his team. Karin sighed contentedly and got comfortable; she might as well get clean before destroying Konoha.
ooo
Kakashi arrived at the gates encircling his destination just as the sun began to dip under the horizon. He stated his purpose, flashed some I.D., and the guardsman waved him in, flanked by his team.
Some kind of festival seemed to be taking place. The streets were adorned with colored lanterns and streamers of every color. Young couples and families crowded the streets, chattering happily and wearing their finest robes.
The silver-haired man and his team found themselves quickly enveloped by the buffeting crowd. Kakashi was instantly on guard. His team was delivering a small fortune of pure gold, payment to the Rock country for the weapons sent over to Konoha two months ago. Word of the travelling fortune had spread quickly, and the team had already had to fend off several instances of attempted robbery.
Walking through the streets, he and his team stuck out rather obviously from the brightly colored lanterns, vending booths, and kimono clad villagers. Children wearing masks and holding sticks of dango ran under his legs, laughing a waving around bags of koi. Young couples wearing decorated yukata walked hand in hand through the streets, admiring little trinkets on sale and attempting the prizes at the game booths.
Still, despite the decorations and the festivities, the streets were rough and made from gravel, and everything in sight seemed to be hand-crafted. Who knew that the kage of Rock country would be staying at such a provincial village?
As the central building of the village came into view, Kakashi sped up his step, trusting his team to follow wordlessly.
They were met by two ninja, both wearing forehead protectors inscribed with the traditional stone insignia.
The one on the left stretched out a gloved hand. "I'll relieve you of that."
Kakashi took a step back, placing a hand on his weapons pouch. Behind him, Shizune took a step forward. "Identification?"
"Ochiai Yuusuke." The ninja stated his name, which Kakashi recognized immediately from his mission guideline report, then pointed up to his forehead protector. "Identification. Is this good enough?"
"Not quite, but it'll do."
ooo
Sasuke stood with his back against the window of his darkened hotel room, ignoring the laughter coming from the expanse of hot springs below. A nearby night owl hooted twice, and Sasuke stilled, before giving a quick shake of his head and pulling on his Akatsuki cloak. The same black and red had once adorned his brother. Sasuke's gut clenched at the thought, a mixture of remorse, grief, and love leaving a sick aftertaste in his mouth. Sasuke's grip on the edges of his cloak tightened. It was insanity, the way his feelings toward his brother had changed so abruptly over the course of a mere day.
The brunet fingered the three curiously shaped beads hanging around his neck, his only keepsake of his brother. Aniki couldn't be brought back, but he would surely be avenged. All of Konoha would burn to the ground. He was, after all, an avenger.
In the adjacent room, Karin busied herself readying for the festivities. She wrapped her cotton yukata around herself, tying her obi loosely and adjusting the collar, to give Sasuke-kun a better view of her cleavage, if he cared to look. Outside, the annual summer festival seemed to be starting, and she hurriedly pulled a brush through her hair, not wanting to miss the fireworks.
ooo
Kakashi hummed to himself as he strolled down the hallway of the hotel towards the onsen.
He had somehow persuaded the team to stay for another day at the outdoor springs along the border of the village.
His ragged team had protested vehemently, but had, in the end, predictably surrendered. After a week of travelling, he had promised himself that he wasn't going to leave without a good, long, soak in the springs. He had heard that the walls separating the men and women's divisions were really quite flimsy, when looked upon with a ninja's standards, and peepholes could easily be cut through with a good(and subtle) usage of one-fingered Chidori.
Personal enjoyment aside, there was something about this village that put him on guard. The strange chakra signature flared up once again, this time much closer.
ooo
A loud whistling sound filled the air, and Karin looked up in surprise. A burst of color in the sky and the smell of gunpowder confirmed her suspicions. The fireworks had started.
Karin pulled on her cloak and dashed down the hallway towards Sasuke's room, brushing past a black haired woman who seemed to tense visibly when their shoulders had touched.
"Sasuke-kun!" Karin called, banging her fist against the door in urgency. "The fireworks have started! Don't you want to-"
The door was suddenly yanked open, and Karin shrieked (in both delight and surprise) as she was jerked inside.
Sasuke had just sent the two men in his team ahead to the second checkpoint village, and was about to go find Karin when a flash of grey and a familiar chakra signature outside his window prompted him to turn around and glance outside.
His eyes instantly fell on a familiar silver-haired man, strolling leisurely along the outdoor onsen. Sasuke suppressed a bitter laugh. He recognized the man immediately; the facial mask, the forehead protector, the stupid little book he always carried around. The only thing new was the Anbu attire that his former teacher was dressed in.
"Hatake Kakashi." The brunet reached for his katana through the darkness.
He had just slid open his window when an insistent banging accompanied by Karin's voice jerked Sasuke's attention away from the scene outside.
"Sasuke-kun!"
Without thinking, he pulled open the door and pulled his new teammate in by the arm.
Karin's eyes widened as Sasuke clamped a hand firmly over her mouth, and even more so when she noticed his drawn blade. "Quiet, Karin."
She nodded, and was rather disappointed when he let go. Sasuke glanced once more outside, but Kakashi was gone.
"Konoha is here."
Karin's mouth dropped open. "There's so many ninja here, I couldn't tell-"
"It's fine." Sasuke gave her look that said the situation was anything but. "We move out now."
"Suigetsu and Juugo-"
"I've already sent them on ahead. Let's go."
Sasuke formed a few hand seals, and the outlines of the two blurred briefly before vanishing completely.
ooo
Kakashi felt the jolt of chakra from the building to his left, though it was gone almost as quickly as it had come. It was unsettling, Kakashi couldn't place why, but there was a sense of familiarity that stayed with him.
A little boy with eyes and a mind too mature for his years, soulless eyes narrowed in concentration, training grounds ruined by the destructive power of Chidori—
…Sasuke.
He felt the chakra signature flicker again, this time much weaker and from the direction of the towns. Kakashi pulled up his forehead protector and felt his own Sharingan begin to spin.
ooo
Sasuke pushed past the crowds of people, followed closely by Karin. He couldn't use his chakra at such a close range to Kakashi; he had already risked being recognized with his teleportation jutsu.
The villagers around him were too busy searching the sky for fireworks to notice his cloak, and for this Sasuke were glad. As it was, his attire stood out awkwardly from the summer colored yukata all around him. Behind him, Karin's face was pale, and she was panting with the exertion taken to keep up.
Sasuke felt Kakashi's presence moving steadily closer, and quickened his pace.
ooo
"Arigatou." Shizune paid the shop keeper and picked up her stick of dango. Taking a bite, she looked up at the fireworks decorating the sky. Rapid movement among the still moon watchers caught her attention.
Red clouds on black danced across her vision, and her eyes widened. Akatsuki.
Her first thought was to inform Kakashi, but he was already there, standing silently behind her with the rest of her team.
He raised a hand in his customary greeting, but she could tell that he was far from light-hearted. Both of his eyes were visible, one red, one black, glowing in the near-darkness.
ooo
They had just reached the edge of the forest when the earth exploded under their feet. Sasuke flipped gracefully into the air, landing lightly on a nearby branch before it too was cut out from under him. Somewhere to his right, he heard Karin shriek.
Sasuke fired off a rapid shower of kunai into the darkness before making his way toward the general direction of his red-haired companion.
"Sasuke-kun!" Karen was yelling, and Sasuke could see she was exchanging blows with a masked figure. "Sasuke-kun!"
He aimed a kick into Karin's opponent's face that sent the man flying into a nearby tree. Remnants of a shattered porcelain mask littered the grass. Anbu.
Something whistled past his cheek, slashing through strands of his bangs and cutting shallowly into the flesh.
"Sasuke-kun!"
"I'm fine." Sasuke ground out. He swiped a hand across the cut and glanced over at his teammate. Karin was panting heavily and bleeding from a deep gash across her back. She was not a fighter; he needed to get her out of the way. "Karin. Regroup at Checkpoint Two. Suigetsu and Juugo are already there."
Another flash of steel whistled past. "Go." Sasuke commanded, already dashing forward into battle. His teammate nodded haltingly before stepping back and disappearing into the trees.
After ascertaining that Karin was indeed out of range, Sasuke turned his attention back to the matter at hand; twelve masked figures had alighted into the clearing around him. The one slumped into the tree stirred, clutching the remains of his mask to his face.
He gripped his katana in one hand and fingered the cut on his cheek with the other, noting a sudden heaviness of his limbs. Poison?
Their leader stepped forward, and Sasuke slashed out with Kusanagi, twisting the blade in midair towards the man's chest.
The man merely tilted his chin back slightly, allowing the blade to whip past harmlessly. His mask muffled his voice, but the familiarity was still there. "It's been a while, Sasuke."
Sasuke swayed slightly were he stood. Shit. "Hatake Kakashi."
The silver haired man stilled at the utterance of his name, but made no move to remove his mask. Behind him, his team had already begun gathering chakra. A flash of steel shone from within Shizune's sleeves.
Sasuke tried to keep his Sharingan trained on his opponents, but whatever the Anbu had smeared their weapon with was starting to take effect. He needed to get away.
Sasuke managed to take one step back before someone formed a set of hand seals and the forest exploded once more into flames.
The last thing Sasuke registered was the ground rushing up to meet him and searing, excruciating pain.
ooo
Shizune turned the fallen boy over cautiously, scanning for wounds. Her eyes softened slightly when her gaze reached his face. "Kakashi, he's just a boy."
Kakashi sat a short distance away, sharpening a blade by hand. His eyes remained level but his hands stilled. "The council's orders are absolute. Word has been sent to Hokage-sama."
"But oblivion techniqiue Black is…wouldn't Red be more than enough for someone of his age? You know the hokage would never allow this."
Shizune moved aside helplessly as another Anbu kneeled over the boy, positioning his arms and legs spread eagle on the ground. "Uchiha Sasuke is an S-class criminal, an international criminal. The knowledge he retains renders him much too dangerous to be allowed reentry into the village alive."
A third Anbu began chalking symbols into the earth around the Uchiha. "The council is most merciful." He placed several candles firmly into the earth. "Kakashi-san, he's ready."
The Anbu captain stood, shoulders slumping wearily as he approached. "Sasuke-kun," he whispered, kneeling beside the unconscious boy, "this is for the best." He steeled himself and placed a hand over the Uchiha's eyes. "Hold him down."
His Anbu kneeled at their places and pressed the Uchiha's limbs firmly to the ground. Kakashi's Sharingan glowed incarnadine as his hands began to luminesce with black light.
Roughly three seconds passed before Uchiha Sasuke began to scream.
ooo
It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. Nii-san, it hurts.
Pain. Excruciating pain.
Pain burned through his eyes and drilled into his skull. Sasuke thrashed and writhed and struggled, but found he could not move his limbs. Lava hot pain burned through his veins and coursed through his body. Something foreign was clawing its way deeper into his consciousness, tearing his mind apart. His cheeks were warm and wet with tears, saliva dripped down his chin, but he could not move. He was being ripped apart. He could not get away. Sasuke screamed and screamed and screamed.
It hurts. It hurts. Nii-san, save me. Make it stop, nii-san. Help me. Help me.
ooo
"No! NO! NO! You assholes. You can't, you can't, I won't let you!"
"Such insolence," the aged man behind the desk stood, eyes flashing, "has never been shown before an elder. As Hokage you should be-"
The blonde stopped pacing, blue eyes blazing, and sent a fist past the elder's head into the plaster of the Hokage tower, ignoring the surrounding shrieks of "Danzo-sama!" He leaned in closer to the elder, before jerking his robes forward with a fist. "Where is he? Where is Sasuke?"
Danzo stared contemptuously at the hand clenching his robe before raising his gaze to sneer at the man pinning him to the wall. "Hokage-sama, I am warning you."
A masked figure, slim and dressed in Anbu issued attire, hovered nervously behind, "Please, Hokage-sama, Black is the most merciful course of action. Danzo-sama has your best interests in-"
"NO! Fuck you! Where is he? Mmph-" Naruto found himself slammed facedown onto the oak desk, arms pinned harshly behind his back by the Danzo's guard. Sakura was screaming somewhere in the background. "No! How could you do this to him? You can't do this to him!" He kicked out viciously, twisting in his captors' grasps,
"I apologize, Hokage-sama." Something pricked the back of his neck and he slumped forward into oblivion.
ooo
Kakashi's breath came in hard pants. Slowly, he lifted himself from the trembling body beneath him. The boy, who had screamed himself hoarse, had stopped thrashing long ago. His sweat-soaked body lay limp and broken on the earthen floor of the destroyed forest, save for the occasional tremor.
Kakashi gradually stood, attempting to still his shaking hands. He stared down at the boy lying at his feet, body twisted at a grotesque angle. Sasuke.
"Take-," he faltered, "take him away."
ooo
"Naruto, you don't have to do this," Tsunade pleaded, staring helplessly at the boy before her, "you have an entire village to think of. You don't have to do this by yourself."
Naruto stood quietly, resignedly. "Please let me."
"Naruto-"
"Please."
Tsunade lifted a hand, before letting it drop with a sigh. "Uchiha Sasuke has been subjected to Black, the highest form of oblivion technique. He will retain knowledge of basic functions but all past memories have been taken. Naruto, he won't be Sasuke anymore."
Naruto laughed, the sound a strained bark that echoed bitterly through the room. "I can take it. Take me to him." He paused for a bit, considering something, "this is an order."
Tsunade bowed her head. "Shizune."
The brunette nodded, and turned toward Naruto. "Please, follow me."
The blond followed in complete silence as he was led through the halls towards the infirmary area. The clicking of Shizune's heels penetrated the thick silence and served as a distraction to keep him from his thoughts.
Shizune reached the last door of the hallway before stopping abruptly, hand on the doorknob. "Naruto-kun, can you really…?"
The blond did not answer, but placed his hand upon hers and turned the knob.
The first thing he noticed about the room was the absolute whiteness of its contents. White walls, white floors, white curtains fluttering by an open window. His breath left him as his gaze finally fell upon the sole occupant of the room, dressed in white, sitting curled up against the windowsill. "Sasuke," he breathed.
The boy at the window turned, staring at him with startled eyes, before his face melted into a bright smile. "Hello."
This is not Sasuke.
"Sasuke-kun," Shizune stepped forward, noticing Naruto's stricken silence, "this is, ah, our hokage-sama. You'll be staying with him for a little while."
The boy at the window smiled once more, cobalt eyes staring warmly into cerulean blue. "Okay."
Naruto watched the stranger before him and felt his heart shatter.
ooo
Author's Note:
"Kakashi's breath came in hard pants. Slowly, he lifted himself from the trembling body beneath him. The boy, who had screamed himself hoarse, had stopped thrashing long ago. His sweat-soaked body lay limp and broken on the earthen floor of the destroyed forest, save for the occasional tremor."
This sounds so dirty. I don't even... .;;
Is this story worth continuing? It's a bit more serious than what I'm used too. _