Chapter Two

2

"Take a seat, time for a rest." Kurenai didn't argue and dropped tiredly to the grass, noting that she was the only genin in sight. Crow had lead her to the edge of a wide meadow. A number of Anbu were spread among the trees at its edge, while a double handful of Jounin lounged in the center, apparently it was a general break. She watched the colorful nin intently, there was something magical about them to her. Some of them were talking animatedly while others were obviously fatigued, one of them even seemed to be asleep. A shortish, orange clad woman caught her eye. The red head danced between her fellows with a bright smile, dispensing a few words to each of them as she went. Her hair was long, clasped in a tail to brush the small of her back. Kurenai felt a rush of envy, she wanted to be like that one day, the people there respected that woman. And well they did, since that woman was the Fourth's wife in all but name.

"I know what you're thinking, Kurenai." Kurenai frowned, glancing at Crow. She'd been under his watch for hours, but he'd never said her name. For all his affected ease, she knew it was more than a little odd for him to address her so informally, especially as an Anbu.

"Anbu-san?" Crow only smirked, saying nothing. After a moment's thought he sprawled on the ground beside her, looking most undignified for an operative. Two more Anbu moved out of the trees to sit beside him and placed a pack on the ground between them, saying nothing to their colleague. She eyed them warily until Crow caught her attention.

He bobbed his head at her vaguely, "When you were in class, you listened to the stories of the old Kage. The blow by blow accounts of their greatest battles, the reports, the lists of techniques. It was all pretty cool, wasn't it?" he nudged her shoulder, looking for a response.

The newcomers paid this no attention, Kurenai was skeptical. Here was another truth she'd learned well as a genin: When scary people with knives start asking funny questions, it means you're about to have a very bad day. She chose her words with care, "Ah, you could say that. It was interesting to learn about them."

Crow nodded absently, working a crick in his neck. "You've seen some of that by now from the jounin, I'm sure. Maybe a demonstration or two during training, perhaps you were rescued during a mission?" he grinned at the look of recognition crossing her face, his voice sweet. "I'll bet they smiled, took you home and told you that you were safe. Another day in the life of a genin." A kunai appeared in his waving hand, and Kurenai froze. Crow hadn't moved for his pouch, she hadn't seen him move, but there it was. "They were lying." his words were threatening, carrying an edge that she didn't appreciate. Kurenai was getting worried. It was silly, though. All these nin were right here, Crow wasn't going to hurt her. He wasn't angry with her, those men were sitting next to him, they wouldn't, no. No. Relax, it's a test. Ninja talk like this, they can be scary. Its what they do. But he'd just said...

Crow smiled, watching his pet genin calm herself. "Genin, when you look at them, what do you see?" He motioned to the chattering crowd.

Kurenai came up blank. "I see a group of leaf jounin."

"No, no. I don't want their label, look a bit deeper than that. What are they?"

"Nin, people, soldiers?" frustration crept into the girl's voice. They looked for all the world as if they were having a picnic under armed guard, what did he want her to say?

"This isn't a guessing game, genin."

"I don't know what you want." Kurenai glared.

Crow shifted in place, propping himself up further with an elbow. "Describe them to me as you see them now," he held up his hand to stave her complaints, seeing her expression darken further. "Humor me," she paled instantly, catching his unspoken threat, the kunai was poised to be thrown.

Thoroughly irritated, Kurenai rattled off a description, "There are fifteen ninja standing, sitting or laying down in a grassy clearing surrounded by new growth trees. Three of them women. Only a few are in uniform, the rest are dressed in mixed garb. All of them are armed, four with long weapons. They appear to be having lunch." Frowning at Crow, she asked, "Is that enough, Anbu-san? Or do you want me to describe each of them in turn?"

"Just keep them in mind." Crow was apparently content with her surly, half baked answer. Kurenai brightened when he dug in the pack and tossed her a canteen, urging her to drink. She uncapped the white bottle and gulped water greedily. His shoulders shook slightly as he watched her, it always amused him to see the new ones go from hostile to appreciative when feeding time came around. So trusting. Feeling generous, he dropped a ration pack in her lap and settled back to watch her eat, conversing with the men beside him.

They preferred to talk by waggling fingers, Crow waved his kunai. They waggled more. When he stared, they waggled again patiently, dispatching his concerns before he could think to raise them. Crow flicked a pleased confirmation.

()

At length Kurenai lowered the bottle a final time with a smile on her lips and swiped at her mouth with the back of her hand. She hadn't realized just how long it had been since she'd last eaten. "Thank you, Anbu-san."

Crow tapped her on her thigh with the butt of his kunai, she noticed that it had an odd curving design down its length. Two elegant, polished silver ridges stood out from the black iron to trace a path along the blade and under the white cloth grip to emerge at the hoop, lining its edge in an odd spiral. "A pleasure, you looked like you needed it. Ready to continue?"

"Er, continue?" Kurenai asked in confusion. Crow sighed audibly and spun his kunai in the air, saying nothing. "Oh, that. Um. Of course, I apologize," she flushed, understanding that Crow had fed her in an effort to keep her from snapping at him.

"Good girl." She glowered at him, embarrassed again. "Next, the Anbu. Tell me about them."

A test or a lesson, it was difficult to say. Kurenai answered with a half smile, watching a silent figure press itself tightly against a sunlit trunk. "Well, they all look the same apart from their masks and weapons. They're never seen without their uniform, and they don't talk much." Kurenai looked bemused for a moment, muttering, "All of them except for you, anyway." Even as she looked on, the ninja had already disappeared into a shadow that hadn't been there before. She would kill to be able to do that. "They're the elite of the elite," she added quickly.

Crow ignored her earlier comment, "The elite of the elite, hm? True enough, we're certainly the most effective weapon Konoha has at its call." He stood and tilted his head at her, the men who'd sat beside him nodded at her in turn. "Walk with me, Genin." Kurenai scrambled to her feet and followed as he ambled into the forest, falling into step behind him. Crow's friends seemed content to let them go without comment, and the Anbu in the shade didn't bother to spare them a glance.

Not for the first time she appreciated his concern for her. Despite the man's great advantage of height, his stride remained no more than she could easily keep up with. She studied his feet with interest, working to emulate his silent footfalls. It didn't come easily, he walked with a staggered rhythm that paid little heed to petty concerns of balance or coordination. She wondered how he managed to avoid tripping over himself. A minute passed in silence, broken only when Kurenai stepped on an occasional twig or dry leaf with too much force. Crow hummed a few bars of his song. "Funny thing, genin. You didn't call those jounin the elite of Konoha. Why?"

Kurenai furrowed her brow at this, stepping carefully over a fallen trunk, split by lightning in its youth. "I guess that was because the jounin, well, they never really act like it. Everyone respects them too, of course, but they don't wear uniforms. They act like normal people, you Anbu are more mysterious." She looked at him curiously, what was he after?

"You have no idea how important that distinction really is," Crow stopped and turned to face her with a bounce in his step. "Just about every last one of those jounin you saw were in Anbu at some point. That woman you were admiring was too," he paused to glance around conspiratorially, "Her name was Heron, if I recall. Perky girl, she liked baking cakes during off hours. Command promoted her two years ago." Kurenai stopped herself from looking around as well, sure that she was hearing something she shouldn't. Crow just bobbed his head from side to side and waved his kunai in a half circle, slinking under a jutting branch. "She killed an entire squad of stone chuunin when her team was ambushed. Two members of that team survived the night with only minor wounds, and a third made it by a hair. Command dropped a promotion on her head and tossed her into training duty a month later. It was a similar case with your sensei as well." Kurenai blinked when Crow bent at the waist to look her in the eye, speaking softly. "Isn't it funny that we encourage our people to be the best and brightest, only to drop them the moment they start to truly shine? A jounin is wasted on a pack of genin, they usually can't even teach chuunin very well. The difference is too great."

This rankled, she thought she'd learned plenty from her sensei! "But that! That, I don't understand-" Crow reached out to wave the tip of his blade under her nose reprovingly. Kurenai wilted under the frigid gaze of her minder's mask and closed her mouth, cringing. She should have known better than to interrupt a member of Anbu in mid ramble.

Kurenai backed up unconsciously, feeling a sudden chill build from him. She flinched at the feel of bark against her back. Crow stepped toward her, his frame growing large and imposing, no longer was he the amusing man she'd thought he was. She began to sweat. His voice was cruel, "You wouldn't." Another step. He was pressed against her now, deft fingers spun his kunai through a series of loops, holding her gaze. This wasn't right, what was he-

Crow whispered quietly, his white mask cold against her cheek. "Think about it, genin. I'll lay it out, Anbu operate in groups. We split ourselves into fire teams, each member an expert in their field. All of them chuunin." Jerking his head toward the clearing, he caught her chin with one hand and forced her to look him in the eyes. "Those people are different, each of them alone is capable of doing more damage than an entire squad." Her breath caught, every word he spoke was an unpleasant hiss. "Genin. Answer as best you can, take your time." He placed his kunai at her throat gently, so gently that she didn't know he'd done it until she felt her skin catch. Kurenai stared up at the mask with her eyes wide and grasped his wrist, willing him to pull it away. He failed to move. The crow weaved deliberately in her vision, its entire body shifting and twisting, coiling against her. This was a thing who was always ready to kill at any time, never slowing, never stopping, and it was completely focused on her. "Why are jounin forced to care for genin when they could do more good on the front line? Why do we fight and die while they play with children?" He almost spat the words, and Kurenai couldn't help but shudder at the feel of his hand ghosting along her arm. It was difficult to breathe, he was crushing her. "Look closely, genin. Think hard."

Kurenai tried not to panic, hoping for a clue, praying that the man didn't mean to kill her. "I don't-" His fingers dug painfully into her shoulder, prompting her to reconsider. "T-the, ah, the official story was that genin would be better protected by jounin, and that we'd learn best from them. We were told that we were, we- we're supposed to be the future of- Of..." The kunai drove deeper, it hurt. The crow motioned for her to continue. She wanted to hit something, Anbu were not supposed to do this to genin, he wasn't supposed to do this to her! She continued in a rush, trying to answer him as if she might have during an exam. "O-of c-course that can't be the whole truth of it, because genin are relatively common. Konoha can afford to lose us." He wanted a complete answer, she squirmed, desperately searching for what he wanted to hear. "From what you've said, the reason has to-" he was pressing hard and she felt a trickle run down her neck, "has to do with the jounin themselves?" The crow judged her mournfully, and she refused to scream.

Wrenching the kunai violently, Crow stepped back to let her fall with a pained gasp. He smiled with genuine warmth, watching the girl clutch desperately at her bleeding throat, whimpering desperately. He crouched by her side and spoke quietly, reciting a mantra he knew by heart, "Genin, chuunin, jounin. These are not ranks, these are not measures of power." Crow pulled her right hand out from under her body and wrapped her fingers around the kunai soundly. Kurenai blinked away tears, caught between embarrassment, terror and rage. "These are measures of spirit." She grasped the kunai in confusion, trying not to cry.

"C-Crow?" She'd never hated her voice more than she had at that moment. Her hands were slick, sticky. The bleeding wouldn't stop, but it wasn't that deep a cut, was it? She could still breathe. It burned.

"There is no limit to strength, even a genin can rival a kage. Few genin ever do." Crow frowned in concern at the amount of blood he saw. He moved behind the girl and pulled her to his chest, he'd gone too far. "Genin aren't really ninja yet. They don't understand death, they can't deal with it." Ignoring her mewl of protest, he tugged her free hand from the gash and pressed his fingers over the wound, letting a soft green glow cool the burning heat. With it he reached, flowing deeper. "Chuunin are true combatants. They fear death, but they accept it. They're still human, the best of these are the people who make up Anbu." He held her tightly, letting his power do its work. "Jounin are different. They're broken." Smiling, he traced a line that she wasn't meant to see. A little twist, that was all he needed.

Kurenai nodded slightly, feeling lethargic as the pulsing chill stroked her body, taking away the pain and fear. She enjoyed the warmth of the man who spoke to her. There was something different now. She shivered.

"Chuunin, one day you may join their ranks, but today you join ours. Welcome to Anbu." Crow felt proud, motioning to the object she held. The question hadn't mattered, nor had the answer, but her reaction had been satisfactory.

In her hand lay a bone white mask, daubed in her own blood. Kurenai blinked in wonder.

"Go to sleep."

"Good night, Crow." She was fading, her eyelids were heavy.

"Heh. Good night, Heron." Crow raised his head and called to the figures hanging from the trees above them, pale features staring blankly. "Isn't she cute?"

They stared back.

A/N:

This is great fun, poor Kurenai.