Chapter Eight

"We cannot resist the fascination of sacrifice, since a passion for sacrifices is part of a chessplayer's nature." - Rudolf Spielmann


Interlude

It had come as something of a shock to Yamato when Kenta and Watanabe Shinju appeared in his office. It was unexpected, because they were back several days early and because they were back because Yamato had been forced to activate the emergency reverse summoning on them.

They were two of his best ANBU members. Kenta was such an exceptional, trustworthy, and kind ANBU captain that is was his team that Yamato had decided to place Sasuke on. He was a man around Kakashi's age with a quick smile and wild green hair. Watanabe Shinju was about the same age with straight dark hair and dark eyes. He was tall and serious, but a hard worker and a talented shinobi.

Watanabe Shinju was slumped over the body of Kenta and weeping. Kenta was dead.

Yamato jumped up from his seat and said, "What on earth happened? This was supposed to be a simple infiltration and information gathering mission."

Shinju sat back on his knees. Taking off his mask, he wiped the tears from his face. "We were taken by surprise."

Yamato leaned down to take the mask off Kenta's face. The green haired man's eyes were closed. His teammate must have done that already out of respect. The ANBU captain's face was ravaged. What looked like claw marks had slashed an angry line across his face. His jawline was marked with similar scars. It was almost difficult to identify him if not for the mask and the familiar green hair.

"What happened?" asked Yamato looking down at Kenta's ravaged face.

"We were made as Konoha spies. I barely made it out of there alive," said Shinju.

Sitting back on his ankles, Yamato looked over at the ANBU. "How could it have gone this badly? I only wanted you to infiltrate Yugakure to see if the rumors about the village being rebuilt have any merit and whether or not they're going to become a threat to us."

Shinju nodded grimly. "Well they are."

Yamato stood up. "So soon? Yugakure was more or less wiped off the map when Hidan of the Akatsuki went rogue. But he's gone now. How can they have rebuilt and become so strong after the massacre?"

"I don't know."


Hatake Kakashi

"Why are you here again?" wondered Kakashi.

"Well, you sent my date away on a week-long mission with her class of academy students, so I'm protesting in your office."

"You're doing a sit in?" wondered Kakashi.

"That's right," said Yamato with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Alright," said Kakashi, getting back to the mission requests.

Thirty minutes later, Kakashi looked up at his ANBU commander. "Still here? You must have something better to do that just sit here."

"I've already had our new recruits in for the ANBU examinations."

Kakashi looked up from his papers. "Oh, how'd they do then?"

"They all passed and we've placed them to the teams as planned."

"Hyuga Hinata passed too?"

Yamato nodded. "Yep. Barely, but she still passed."

"Hm," replied Kakashi. He put down his pen.

"Are you done assigning that single S-Rank mission then?" replied Yamato testily.

"It's quite a difficult mission to assign," quipped Kakashi.

Yamato rolled his eyes. "I'm sure."

Kakashi leaned back in his chair. "Quite difficult. Taking a lot of time. All these marriage alliances between clans and villages are very difficult too. I can't imagine why they think I'm remotely qualified to determine these things."

"Quite right," said Yamato. "Your only knowledge about marriage and relationships comes from Jiraiya's seedy literature."

"I'm sure Naruto would take offense at you insulting his beloved mentor."

"Nah, Naruto agrees with me that Jiraiya's later novels are seedy at best."

"Hn."

"Marriage alliances?" wondered Yamato. "The Konoha Council trying to help Sasuke jump start the Uchiha clan?"

"Yep. I had a meeting with the three of them this afternoon. I may be scared for life now after having to hear about Sasuke's sexual preferences and Koharu's recommendations about the best sexual positions for conception."

"I'm glad that I waited until after that meeting to stage my protest then," noted Yamato.

"Very wise," nodded Kakashi. "Though, it's only a matter of time before Koharu tracks you down. She believes that you and your wood are a treasure to Konoha."

"Me and my what?"

"Your wood style. I can't imagine what you think you heard, Yamato."

Yamato rolled his eyes. "Are you telling me that Koharu's going to try to arrange a marriage for me next? Lovely. Is it too late to become a rogue ninja?"

"It's never too late for that," quipped Kakashi. "Mind if I join you? I'll just let Naruto take over a bit earlier than expected. Koharu's starting to threaten setting up an arranged marriage for me too."

"That's just horrible," said Yamato. "Anko would probably castrate you if that happened."

Kakashi winced, not even bothering to deny it. His lover was sexy as hell, but she wouldn't be pleased to hear that Kakashi was arranged to marry some seventeen year old kunoichi from Kami knows where.

"Becoming a rogue ninja does sound pretty good right now," Kakashi agreed.

Yamato looked out the window behind Kakashi. "Especially after your face is finished being carved on the cliff face and everyone sees who won the betting pools. People might get testy and try to rearrange your face."

Kakashi ignored his friend, musing, "Just imagine what my bounty would be if I went rogue. Koharu would probably send a horde of beautiful kunoichi after me with the command to take me by force. I'd probably enjoy every minute of it."

"I'm not sure what exactly you're implying," Yamato deadpanned.

"She'll probably send a troupe after you too. No need to feel bad."

Yamato rolled his eyes. "That's strangely comforting."

"I wonder who would have the greater bounty in the bingo books and on the black market," mused Kakashi. "You're entry would probably be like…hm. That's strange. I don't think I know your real name."

The brown haired man furrowed his brows at the Hokage. "You mean, Kakashi, after all the years we've known each other, you don't even know what my real name is?"

Kakashi scratched the skin above his mask awkwardly. "Everyone time we're on a mission, you go by a different code name. Yamato, Tenzo, Barbie…"

"I've never gone by Barbie," Tenzo interjected quickly.

"You probably just forgot about it."

Yamato rolled his eyes. "And my ninja profile doesn't tell you my real name?"

"Nope," said Kakashi. "Many ninja profiles are woefully incomplete."

"Why the sudden curiosity?"

Kakashi shrugged idly. "I've always wondered why you don't go by your real name. Must be something really embarrassing."

"Maybe I don't know my real name. Ever think of that? I was orphaned and then one of Danzo and Orochimaru's experiments. Maybe I forgot my parents' names and my own name."

Kakashi was amused by the defensive tone. He replied, "In that case, I can help you look if you'd like. It's been awhile, but I'm sure there's a record somewhere. No sense in you never knowing where you came from and who you are."

"That's strangely touching, which makes me automatically suspicious."

"We can check before we become rogue ninjas. No sense in having a nickname or codename in your bingo book. They might decide to call you something that's not very cool. It's probably best to go by your real name."

"Fine, it's Yamamoto Butsuma. Yamamoto's the name of my mother's family."

"And Butsuma is your first name."

"Yes."

Kakashi snorted, "I can see why you don't go by it. That's horrible."

"It's a family name," Yamato growled between his teeth. "My father's father was named Butsuma."

"Poor bastard."


Interlude

Sasuke frowned as he stood ramrod straight in front of Yamato's desk. Kenta was dead. He had been Sasuke's first captain in ANBU. The green haired man was one of the few people in Konoha that the last Uchiha could actually tolerate. He was a hard ass, but he was fair. He judged Sasuke not by the past but by the present.

Watanabe Shinju, his newly promoted ANBU captain, on the other hand was a jackass. He wasn't too excited about having the last Uchiha on team and would have preferred if Sasuke was dropped from ANBU. He had a tendency to look at Sasuke like he'd murdered his whole family.

The last member of the team was a guy named Sugawara Takeshi who was only a couple years older than Sasuke. On missions, he would usually leave Sasuke on his own or with Kenta. When the squad of four was deployed, it would usually be Sasuke and Kenta as a pair and Shinju and Takeshi as the other. Sasuke preferred it that way. Takeshi wasn't a jackass, but he wasn't too interesting or that good of a ninja.

So here Sasuke was standing in front of Yamato with his two teammates. His one month probationary period was up, so they would decide if he would be allowed to continue as a member of ANBU or if he would have to be dismissed.

Takeshi handed his evaluation to Yamato. Shinju presented his with much more pomp and circumstance. After all he was the new captain of the squad. Jackass.

"Now that I'm the ANBU captain of Sasuke's squad and Kenta was unable to complete his evaluation before his death, I've included the captain's evaluation in with my teammate evaluation."

"Thank you," said Yamato. "But I'm afraid that won't be necessary. Fortunately, Kenta was able to write his evaluation before his death, so I have his as well. We found it in his apartment among his other possessions."

"Ah," said Shinju in surprise. "I wasn't aware."

"Thank you, gentlemen," said Yamato. "I'll discuss these with Kakashi and discuss then with you, Sasuke, after we're done."

Sasuke nodded and disappeared in a puff of smoke.