"You pass…"
Brilliant white lights over head made his eye water, blurring his vision further. He turned his head to look to the side and his ears filled with a roaring sound before he had to close his eyes again and still himself. His head swam in pain and disorientation.
"You pass…"
He waited a few seconds, the roaring dying down to the low hum of the lights above. Slowly he opened his eyes again, but shut them again with a curse; the lights were painful. Cloth rustled, and soft footsteps; then a click, and the humming of the lights died.
"That better?" That voice, it was familiar, why couldn't he name it? Flashes of the mission, of the disaster surfaced in his mind. He felt that heat within his chest, that place where all his pain and hatred lay; the rage that fueled him, pulsing with the flashes.
"You pass…"
"Naruto?" rustling again but the roaring came back, he strained to hear but he couldn't hold on. "Hey…you feelin'…okay…."
Events of the last mission buzzed like angry bees through his mind, fragmented, fleeting. Standing before the Hokage's desk and getting the mission parameters. Kakashi-sensei would not be going with them, and they were to deliver a scroll to an allied outpost. Sakura was made the leader.
"Kakashi-san is on a mission himself, but I trust that you three will be able to handle this mission alone. You are to deliver this scroll to an outpost on the western border. There you shall receive a scroll in reply and return home. Mission pay will be standard C rank, with a little more for it being your first mission out of the village and without Kakashi-san. Sakura, you will be the leader for this mission."
"Hai!" she bowed, and both Sasuke and Naruto followed suit. They knew that Sarutobi having given Sakura lead was for a reason and thus they would defer to her.
"You may go, here is the scroll, and here is a map should you require it. I expect to see you within the week should all go well. Dismissed."
Images of them walking the worn path to the border, frequently running ahead to scout, flooded his mind next. He felt strange behind outside of the village, he was content with being with his team alone in the world, untroubled, unhurried. And then they took to the trees and off the path, heading to the outpost.
But something was wrong, the forest had stilled, and Sakura halted them. This was more clear, she looked at them both, and with signals motion Naruto forward to scout.
"Something is wrong. No patrols and it to quiet for dusk. Naruto scout ahead, you know the signals." He nodded but Sasuke stopped him with a hand.
"Now is the time to switch the scrolls, just in case." They nodded and he pulled out an even more vaguely coded scroll, while Naruto sealed the real one away in his wrist, handing his kits to Sakura to store in her pack. And then he was off, like a shadow flitting from tree to tree.
Quickly, he came upon the outpost from another angle, keeping his team mates safe. Immediately he knew there was something wrong, the outpost looked abandoned. Windows were boarded up and the area was still and silent. He strained to feel anything, but he couldn't sense anyone. Still, he knew someone was out there, his gut told him so.
He struggled with setting off the trap or just leaving. A snap of a twig behind him sent him launching from the tree like a sleek black missile. Crashing behind him told of his pursuit, and he let forth a sharp whistle, a pause and then two short whistles. He headed to his team, hoping their trap was set.
He blasted past them and he felt the fire of traps exploding and screams of pain. He grinned and spun about saw Sakura and Sasuke engaged with unknown shinobi. Before he could attack, a stunning blow to the head made the world spin and his ears ring. He tried to stand but wobbles and vomited on the ground.
"Dumb kid…"
His head throbbed in memory of the hit. He shivered and felt a hand on his head and distant voices, voices he realized, that had nothing to do with the memories of the mission.
"…it will aid the fever and shakes…"
"I thought…illness too?"
"Yes…leave now…tomorrow."
"Hai."
He remembered the next two days in fast flashes. They had the tied up facing each other, against large trees. They were beaten, tortured, starved, but they didn't tell. He remembered a heavy slug to the face, splitting his lip, and how he had spat the red glob of blood into the offender's eye. The vicious kick to the face had him out for another day.
And then they messed up.
"Ya wont talk will ya girlie? Well then mayhaps well have some fun with ya." The man grinned and two other walked up nodding and grinning to each other. Sakura paled but stared back with eyes of steel though silent tears slid down her bruised face. With a quick movement, Sakura's dress was split, and her undergarments were removed.
"Oh damn she's gunna be so tight!"
"Hey look that's he real hair colour…weird."
No one would do this to his team. Only he could cause terror to his team, after all, only with them could he cause the terror that he wanted to spread, and through them Master would live forever. When he spoke, four voices rumbled from his throat.
"You will die here!" Rage! His vision narrowed and grew red; he felt his shoulders shatter as he lunged against the chains. The men looked in horror, but laughed seeing the chains hold. Naruto thrashed violently against his bindings, feeling ligaments and joints wrench out of place and straining to break free, rage fueled by their laughter and moved against his troop-mate. That stray thought caused him to freeze, troop-mate?
Defend your troop, or are you so weak that you cannot protect this little family you've made? Are you so weak? Use that hatred, break free, and destroy!
Uchiha looked at him and nodded, his mouth silently wording to him. Distract them. Nearly free. The tiny razor flashed in the firelight where he sawed at the thick ropes that bound his arms behind him.
Two of the men continued to watch his struggles, but the other turned back to the naked kunoichi. He leered and punched her in the face.
"Last warning bitch, the scroll, now!" She spit on him and he punched her again.
"I'll make you squirm…" and he leaned in nuzzling her inner thigh, getting closer and closer…
"And now you die morons!"
He never thought to restrain her legs, a fatal mistake. Clenching the muscles in her abdomen and legs, Sakura's thighs crushed in on the man's neck and she grinned at him. With a violent twist of her hips and legs, she broke his neck after watching him turn blue from her muscled legs crushing force.
Then Sasuke was free and the melee was joined by the enraged blonde when after one final pop he manages to contort out of the chains.
Slowly, he opened his eyes again, the lights were off, and all was still and quiet. Slowly he looked around. The window was cracked open, and he could smell the coming rain. Next to him was another bed, Sakura laid on it, a chair between their beds. A visitor had been there then. On the other side, Sasuke laid, his black eyes reflecting the sliver of light coming through the window from the village beyond.
The pit pat of rain drops were soothing and the wind was quiet.
"Remind ya of the last night don't it." Sakura's soft voice startles him, but he hid it well.
"Yes." Sasuke's voice was also soft and far away. He looked away from the window to the girl. "Did they take?"
"One did." She raised her hand and flexed the reattached finger. Only the pinkie was missing. "Stupid thing was to far gone to work…oh well." She let to arm fall back to her side. The rain dragged him back to the final night of their hell.
"Sakura, the traps are set, but this rain is going to ruin some of those traps, they are only Genin level tags."
She nodded to the Uchiha. She continued to hold her torn clothes together with wire. Naruto silently stood above them, straining to hear the enemy. Hit and run tactics all the way back was making his nerves run wild. They were all exhausted and reaching their limits.
"Anything Naruto?"
"No." he looked down at her, her hand bleeding and wrapped in cloth. Almost a successful parry. They would be chopped apart if they couldn't get home fast enough. He hobbled down the large branch they crouched on. "What the plan?"
"Catch our breath, repack that head you want so much, and get the fuck out of here." She grinned held out her injured hand, and he pulled her up.
"You guys are like family to me." they turned to the raven haired boy. Naruto was wild eyed, he said what he had begun to realize. He now had a little fucked up family of his own, his troop. He slowly places a hand on his shoulder.
"Then let's get this fucked up family home."
"Agreed." Sakura spoke, she set her shoulders and picked up the bag at her side. "Ready?" they nodded. "Let's go!"
They shot from the tree and ran, followed by an explosion as the traps went off and Naruto cackles into the deluge of rain.
Birds chirping outside the window brought Naruto to the surface of reality. He sat up slowly, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. He winced, his left leg pained him but it was time to give a mission report. He looked over and saw two sets of eyes watching him. He nodded to them and limped over to Sakura and placed a hand on her head.
Her mouth twitched in a small smile and he limped over to Sasuke as she struggled to get up from her own bed. Sasuke was sitting up and clasped the other boy's forearm and pulled himself out of bed. As the sun began to grow brighter, they redid each others bandages, and slowly dressed in their ruined clothes.
A nurse opened the door, and dropped her tray as her eyes widened. Three hardened eyes trained on her, unblinking and wary.
"Y-you should not be u-up! Please, you m-m-must rest!" Naruto snorted and put his kunai away and Sasuke helped to make Sakura's torn dress more decent. The bandages underneath would help a lot.
"Mission report." Was all Sakura said and they pushed passed the woman.
"Such cold eye…" she gasped.
They moved slowly towards the tower in the center of the village. Villagers stared, not sure what had happened to the children, their clothes torn and bloodied, and they steered clear, muttering to each other. Every shinobi they passed stopped and nodded to them; small proud smiles on their faces.
Quietly they entered the tower and limped past the secretary who only stared, and walked into the Hokage's office.
"One should learn to ask for permission before entering my office." The kindly old man stated, his pipe already giving off a small cloud of smoke.
"Mission Report." Sakura breathed, straitening up, "Upon—"
"No need." He interrupted. "You see it was a tes—"
"We know." Sakura stated flatly. He blinked.
"Please explain, I had watched, but not everything, so do enlighten me on how you knew."
Even as she began to explain the memory surfaced and crashed through their minds like high tide.
They managed to capture one of their assailants. It was a short scuffle, but they managed to tie the man to a tree. He leered at them and wouldn't crack under their own armature torture.
"Aint tellin' you nuthin'." Sasuke snarled and pulled out a wicked looking barbed needle, but Sakura stayed his hand.
She stood before the man, her torn dress flapping in the night breeze, and the exhaustion vanished from her eyes. Her recently cut hair blew about her face.
"Oh you will talk." She slugged him in the face, and he laughed. He stopped when she smiled and began to undo his pants.
"What the fuck ar—" Sasuke's fist shut his mouth. Quickly they bound him tighter, and Sakura went to work. She pulled out a kunai and held it in her damaged hand.
In a husky voice, she purred to him, and stared with lust.
"You will talk…" She reached down and grabbed his penis, lightly pumping him into a state of arousal. He resisted but her patience and soft hand quickly brought him erect. Gently, almost lovingly she slid her hand along the length, and then began to ask questions.
"Who are you affiliated with?"
"Kiri."
"What is you mission?"
"Espionage and to intercept your scroll."
"How long have you been gathering intelligence?"
"Month." He began to pant. She smiled, and swiftly cut of the top two centimeters of his penis. He screamed and blood spurted everywhere. Sasuke shuddered, but Naruto grinned.
"Now we'll try again, and you will lose to centimeters until I am satisfied that you are not lying." They learned the next round that he was from Konoha Root program, in a specific unit for an old and very demanding Genin Field Test. He was to expose them to everything that the shinobi world was truly about. After half his manhood was gone they realized he was telling the truth, but she continued until nothing was left.
Repeating her questions in the same tone, slowly pumping and cutting, her arms and hand coated in blood. Finally he died from blood loss and she stood her face blank.
"Now what?"
"Home. We will pass this test." She spat, fixing her ruined clothes.
Sarutobi nodded, and puffed on his pipe. "Well, that was—"
"Fuckin' great!" Anko shouted falling from the ceiling.
"Not what I would say." Sasuke commented dryly.
"Agreed." The aged Kage nodded. "Regardless…uh Anko? Remove that Genin's face from you breasts."
She stuck her tongue out but released the red faced girl.
"You have passed the test with flying colours; you should be proud. You will have one week to recover. Your Sensei will go over a few things with you, and then you will be placed back into the active roster. Be proud my young Genin, that test had not been done since Kakashi was a Genin himself."
They bowed to his compliment.
A ring of smoke lazily drifted to the window. "Do not stress the other Genin nor reveal anything of the test. Though, Root's Advanced Genin Testing Team will need to be reeducated, so they may not have to take it…dismissed."
They bowed and left, Anko in tow. She looked at the Genin about her, moving with a fluid grace that was usually attained after years of experience. Their small lithe frames moved with ease, even with their injuries, like well oiled machines ready to shift into action at the drop of a pin.
"Come, let's go get some food, and then a nice soak at the springs." She led the Genin to her favorite food establishment, ordering Dango and sake for everyone. They ate and drank, small smiles on their face as the drink warmed and loosened them up.
"Bein' a shinobi rocks ne?" Sakura bobbled her head in agreement with the older woman. "Gotta love the perks." She led them to the one bath house in the village that was coed. It was a small place, and it looked to be going out of business, but the inside was in much better condition.
It was a rarity that anyone used that bathhouse anymore; usually it was couples or an occasional shinobi team. They undressed and eased into the warm waters, letting the water soak into their muscles and erase the troubles of the world they lived in.
Anko studies their faces, their movements, their interactions. She noted that Sakura would become sullen when she looked to her injured hand, and smiled when Sasuke slid behind her and began to rub her shoulders and back keeping her mind off her damaged hand. Naruto moved over to her and studies them with her.
He looked up to her, and she smiled at him.
"What's up kid?" he looked confused, some inner turmoil. He sighed and looked back to the other Genin.
"They are my family…" he looked back to her. "They are…my troop…as are you…" she placed a hand on his head, not missing the fox references.
"Of course." She really studies him, his confused eyes to his thin body. Though he was lithe and fast, built like a runner, he was still so very thin, and it made her chest ache.
"…and Master…" he slid down into the warm water further.
"You pass…"
AN: messy messy messy…oh well shit happens, didn't come out the way I wanted it to. Can't be helped, Finals at the University are driving me crazy! Soon we shall reach the fun graphic stuff my children, patience…