Beyond the Gates of Hell
Chapter 1
Kunais whizzed past in the forest outside Konoha's walls. Shinobis jumped from tree to tree, dodging everything they could even though they were unable to see what was attacking them. A few dead comrades lay on the ground below them where they'd fallen, giving a boost of determination to the remaining survivors.
Out of the fifty shinobis that were on patrol at the clearing east of the village, only four of them remained after the ambush that followed. They were assigned this mission because of the sudden problems that the Kumo ninjas were causing by trespassing Konoha's borders without the Hokage's permission. What was unexpected however, was that all it took was a lone figure to take down almost twenty of Konoha's men in a dizzying instant.
After the first wave of attack, the others desperately tried to retaliate but to no avail. The last fifteen that were left tried to flee back to the village but one by one they were picked off by the figure that came speeding towards them. By the time they got into formation, they were left with only four nins.
"They're all dead! Every single one of them! He can't be human! He's a monster!" the remaining chunnin yelled fearfully. He looked back only to find the 'monster' closely tailing them. He yelled again, this time addressing his three silent ANBU comrades, "You people are heartless! Our people were murdered like pigs in the slaughterhouse. You guys just stood there!"
The three ANBU members gave no sign that they heard anything from their junior comrade. They kept pushing forward, their nimble feet leaping from tree branch to tree branch.
"Say something dammit!" The chunnin snapped in frustration.
The ANBU leading the pack seemed utterly unaffected by the carnage they had just witnessed, his snake mask revealing a pair of cold and lifeless eyes. "I could have killed him," he said in a bored tone to his two guards.
"That's not part of your job," the ANBU with the dog mask snarled at him.
"Lives were lost. Wasted. Because you guys didn't let me do anything to stop it," he continued indifferently.
Dog growled back, "NOT. PART. OF YOUR. JOB."
"That's enough both of you," Hawk ordered.
The chunnin at the back grew impatient with their seeming lack of response. "Why won't you answer me? Are you ashamed of yo-ack!" The chunnin's words were cut short as a large axe swung through his neck and lodged itself on a tree trunk. His decapitated head still rested on the blade, forever frozen in a grimace of anger as the remainder of his corpse snapped twigs and branches with its tumble to the ground.
"And now the last one," the leader ANBU sighed back impatiently. "We've lost a total of 50 nins in just one attack. I wonder what the higher-ups will say about this. At least I won't be blamed for running away with my tail between my legs."
Dog let out feral growl before throwing himself through one of the trees and coming out smoothly from the other side. The hole he made in the tree caused the top part to fall behind them, slowing the 'monster' down. Taking a deep breath, he calmly spoke. "Your mission here was simple- evaluate the actions of the Konoha corps. Your mission is now complete, you must return to base."
Snake gave a short curse and hoped that their attacker would target him next because that was the only other way he could be excused from deviating from his mission parameters. Unfortunately for him, the man who just wiped out all 50 of Konoha's men somehow sensed that the snake-masked nin was of a higher calibre and fell back.
As the ANBU group drew closer to the village, the man behind them slowed down and eventually stopped, only to sink back into the darkness. When they arrive the village gates, the group slow down enough to sign their ANBU names with the guard station there before shooting onto the roof of a nearby house. It was a silent agreement between them that they would report to the Hokage first before doing anything else.
When they arrived at the Hokage tower, instead of taking the stairs below them, they jumped higher into the sky, towards the Hokage's office. Sensing another presence other than their Hokage, they hid outside the Hokage's office, not wanting to barge into something that could potentially be an important meeting. With their heightened ANBU senses, they were able to 'accidentally' hear what was going on and were surprised to find who was in there.
"…don't need to feel scared, Naruto-kun. I'm sure that he would feel the same."
"…But Hinata-chan, I couldn't help it! It scares the shit out of me whenever I think about it!"
At that, the three ANBU nins looked at each other. Under their ANBU masks, they each wore an expression of disbelief. Forgetting rather quickly the reason they were there for and their high ranking statues, as one, they leaned closer towards the Hokage's office.
Uzumaki Naruto, the 6th Hokage of Konohagakure, was pacing back and forth in his office with his traditional Hokage robes sweeping across the floor while Hyuga Hinata was sipping tea calmly on her chair in front of the Hokage's desk.
"The stress is killing me, Hinata-chan! I don't know what to do anymore," the blond said miserably as he fell into his chair, now facing the Hyuga Heiress. Placing his chin on the desk, he closed his eyes sadly before opening them again in determination, "And I think I'm going to give up on him."
Taking another sip before gently placing her cup on the desk, Hinata closed her eyes in deep thought. "Well, Naruto-kun, that was what you said the last time I was here. And in my opinion, I really doubt that would happen," she smiled fondly at him.
Naruto stared at the smiling Hinata before cracking a defeated and tired smile on his face. "I guess you're right, Hinata-chan."
Picking up her now cold cup of tea of the desk, she walked to the side of the room where a small kettle was placed on a small stool and refilled her cup. Naruto sat quietly in thought as he waited for his friend. Not noticing the woman, even though she was wearing one of her many bright colored kimonos, was sitting again until he saw from the corner of his eye a cup of warm tea offered by her. Hinata smiled at her friend's puzzled look, "You're going to need it, Naruto-kun," she reasoned.
Naruto smirked at her and took the tea from her, finishing his tea off with a large gulp. Putting his hand up as a signal to enter, it took less than a few seconds for the hiding ANBU outside to realize that their Hokage was calling for them and another to appear in a whirlwind of leaves in front of him. All three ANBU nins were kneeling on one knee towards their Hokage as a sign of respect even though they were friends with the Hokage. None indicated in any way that they had been listening in on the young Hokage's distressing conversation. Each of them were thinking the same thing, 'Did the Hokage really not know that they were outside or did he just not care on who would listen in' before concluding that is was most likely that latter since he wasn't made Hokage for nothing.
The 6th Hokage nodded before saying in a grave tone, "Report."
Snake, the leader of the team, stood and instantly looked towards the Hyuga Heiress, who was silently sipping on her tea at the side window, looking downwards at the people outside as if what was happening in the Hokage's office did not interest her one bit. Naruto glanced at her before looking back at the ANBU. "She stays."
The ANBU leader nodded before reporting his mission status to the Hokage in a monotone "I am here to report about the surveillance mission you gave me. Fifty of our chunnin were send out to capture any Kumo nins that tried to pass into Konoha territory without your permission. But unfortunately, we didn't foresee a one-man army taking down our forces before we could get into formation." Before Naruto could respond, Snake added sarcastically, almost like an afterthought "If only you didn't assign your guard dogs to watch over me and let me act accordingly by getting rid of the enemy, maybe our fifty chunnins would still be alive, eh, Hokage-sama."
Hawk and Dog, who were standing patiently and quietly behind Snake, had murderous auras coming out of them, but the blond was not infected nor was he impressed with the ANBU's words. Their all powerful Hokage merely chuckled at the ANBU's insult and obvious accusation against him. He gave a tired smile with his eyes closed to his ANBU nins. "I am expecting full written reports from all three of you by tomorrow morning. For now, Snake-san, while your mission was a success, I only wish that you would at least try to get along with you teammates as they also have to continue their own mission of looking after you," the Hokage smiled sweetly at him. "After all, you were Konoha's number one traitor and enemy for a while. It will take some time before I could actually let you do what you want."
The room was filled with the Hokage's threatening aura, daring the ANBU to fight back. Smartly, the nin kept his mouth shut.
Lifting his threatening gaze, Naruto smiled happily them. "Well, now that you have given your report, we could all go home now." He then turned to Hinata, who was now standing next to Hawk, and shared a knowing look with her. "I will see you next time then, Hinata-chan. And while I know you are fully capable of protecting yourself, I couldn't let a woman walk home without an escort now, could I. So I'm sure Hawk-san and Dog-san would be delighted to do so."
Without hesitation, Hawk and Dog bowed to the Hokage and moved to follow the Hyuga Heiress. Before Hinata walked out the door, she turned to Naruto and gave him a secretive and encouraging smile. "Until we meet again, Hokage-sama, and good luck." After those questionable words were said, Hinata walked out with her escorts close at her heels.
The moment the door closed, Snake gave out a sigh of relief and sat down on the chair the Hyuga had been using moments ago. Snake gave a tug on his mask and let it fall to the floor. Ruffling his hair into its usual hairstyle, Uchiha Sasuke gave a curious look at his red-faced friend. "What did the Hyuga mean by 'good luck'?"
Since the important business part was over, they could allow themselves to act as they usually would around each other: Naruto as his goofy self and Sasuke with his brooding personality.
But right now, Naruto was not acting like how he usually acted. And that made Sasuke squint his eyes suspiciously at his friend. The hero of Konoha, carrier of the nine-tailed fox, was blushing madly like a school girl in love. Sasuke scowled at the thought: Naruto, in love? If that was it, why hadn't HE heard of it. This person whom Naruto was crushing about. He doesn't believe one bit that Naruto would not tell him about it.
Naruto was now stammering some kind of reply, but Sasuke did not stop his thought to listen to him blabber about something entirely different. 'Could it be the Hyuga? Naruto did started turning red after her little comment.'
Being the opposite of the person he is, which is someone who doesn't care much about anything at all, he bluntly asked, "Are you in love with the Hyuga?"
All sound stopped at the Uchiha's question, before Naruto stood and slammed his hands on the desk. "WHAAAAATTT?!" the usually calm Hokage's voice echoed across the village.
Sasuke sat knowingly on his chair, fully expecting this reaction, but he was definitely surprised when his friend suddenly started rambling about ramen and dragged him towards the door and soon out of the building.
While he knew without a doubt they'd go to Ichiraku for dinner, he was puzzled when he realized that they were going the wrong way. As soon as he started to tell Naruto, he remembered that there was no way Naruto would forget the way to his precious Ichiraku Ramen.
Sasuke sighed in amused defeat. "We're not going to Ichiraku, are we."
Naruto grinned at him, swinging his arm over Sasuke's shoulder. "Nope!"