Author: G.A.M.M.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

+Uchiha Sasuke +

+Age: 19 +

+Sex: Male +

+Height: 6' 1" +

+Weight: 145 lbs. +

+Rank: Jonin Black ops.+

+Allegiance: Konoha +

+Notes: Emphasis on ninjutsu and kekke genkai. Low physical durability. +

Konoha's Blue Hawk stood on the balcony of the apartment he shared with Konoha's White Tigress. The breeze was cool. Then again, Konoha in fall would be having odd weather if it weren't so at 0200 hours. He was awoken by a disturbing dream that had been recurring as of late.

It was a near exact copy of what had happened between his wife and him seven years ago with a single difference. The two in the scene were Dark Fox and Night Orchid.

"You're annoying." The words echoed through his head.

It was still true she was a pain, but it had been more painful to try and resist her. In the end he was happy he had given in... or some reasonable facsimile of happy anyway. At first he had hated it. Now he found himself treasuring the moments he got away from his hectic life. The times when they just had each other. She was his anchor of sorts, and he was her reason for living... or so she had told him. He had never truly believed she loved him. Never say a fangirl's obsession can't become love. This he had concluded after sixth months of marriage.

He loved her, he supposed, though it wasn't nearly as passionate as her's for him. He never had considered himself a romantic. The day he realized he looked forward to seeing her at home, in his bed, in his arms, watching T.V... anything, was the day he realized he had fallen. Somehow she had chipped away at the stone that was his heart and found something living beneath it. Then again he couldn't describe his positive feelings as any more than strong affection. Of course what he did feel for her was probably the strongest emotion in his current life, so in the end what did it matter? He loved her and that was that.

His dark eyes turned to gaze at her naked form, half covered by the sheets of their queen sized bed. She was beautiful- he had decided that after a year of sharing a bed. She had developed and matured into a woman any man would be happy to get intimate with, that was a given. It had simply taken him a while to get past all of the things about her that annoyed him to fully realize her physical beauty- and realized it he had.

Every night that they were both home they made love, with the exception neither were badly injured of course. Cracked ribs didn't count. That was what she had told him this night. Despite his bandages she had easily enticed him... how did she do that? Before she had to fully dedicate herself to the task. Now a touch, a kiss, a breathy whisper in his ear, was enough to arouse his want for her.

'How far I have fallen...' He thought sarcastically. 'If this is hell then I'm glad I never sought redemption.'

The moonlight played over the smooth skin of her midriff, the silky pink curls just above her sex, and the reddened peak of the single nipple that wasn't covered by the cotton comforter. Her eyes were closed and she looked peaceful. Her shoulder length hair, something she had been allowed to have since becoming the head of the hospital, was a tangled mess of pink strands. Singular hairs stuck out at all angles and the shorter locks of her bangs were plastered to her head. Sweat and a tinge of pretty pink still graced her face. He loved how she looked after they had one of their couplings.

Gently, quietly, he moved to get back into bed with her. To share the warmth that he had come to miss when he took extended missions. He brushed a stray lock back behind her ear and kissed her forehead. He had never understood why people criticized it. When her face shape had changed in later adolescence it had become proportionate. He found it funny how complimenting her forehead was a sure way for extra sex.

She moaned softly and parted her lips, forming the syllables of his name. When he drew her close her eyes fluttered open sleepily. A level of alertness became apparent in her green orbs and she leaned forward and kissed him gently on the lips.

"Up again, anata?" She asked softly, stroking his cheek.

"Hai, aisai. That dream again." He replied.

She nodded slightly. "Naruto-kun. You're always getting worried over him."

"He's been acting differently for a while, Sakura. Since he returned from that first mission two months ago." His tone was only mildly concerned to the passerby, deeply troubled for Sasuke.

"He has a partner now. Its natural she might change his temperament a bit." Sakura soothed.

He let out an irritated sigh. "You wouldn't understand. You don't know him like I do- it's a guy thing." He explained.

"Then what's wrong?" Her hand stroked the sensitive flesh of his abdomen. "Has he been acting out?"

"Sakura, Naruto never acts out. You know that. He never displays emotions much and he never appears in public unless he's shopping, drinking, or is on official business. He's been testy lately. He gets riled up easier. Its like he's regressing to his former self."

"Maybe it's a good thing." She offered. "He needs to open up to someone eventually."

"Yeah, maybe. But somehow I have a feeling its not going to be so easy as our relationship is."

Sakura giggled throatily and waggled her hips against him. "You're saying I'm easy, anata? Don't tell me you don't enjoy yourself."

Sasuke snorted, flipping her on top of him. "Your easy only for me." He corrected. "And there's only one being on this earth that I'm capable of getting an erection for, unfortunately. You can have the top, I'm tired. Besides, I love being able to watch you arch your back when you scream my name."

Sakura teased him, sliding back and forth over him and making him pant with anticipation. "Yes, anata," she gasped as she finally gave into her need, "only for you."

In the middle of the night Naruto awoke in a sneezing fit. 'Ughh... someone must be thinking about me.' He thought. 'Probably Hinata bitching about the extra training we've been doing. She's gonna freak when I tell her we're finished tomorrow.' He rolled over and went back to sleep.

ANBU

Part II:

'Destruction'

Though she wasn't the cause of his sudden hay fever, Hinata was relieved that morning when Naruto arrived at her door.

"Yo!" Naruto said, banging on the door. "Its 0502. Come on you lazy over pampered heiress, get out here!"

"Coming!" The voice carried through the door. Thirty seconds later a sleepy looking Hinata brushed her way past him.

He caught her wrist. "You're two minutes and forty-eight seconds late, Hina-san. What do you have to say for yourself?"

She blew a strand of hair out of her eyes. "Screw you, and can we just get it over with already." She stated tactfully.

Despite the standard speech on punctuality he had planned on to giving her, Naruto couldn't help but grin. "Actually I have some good news for you. I think our teamwork has finally come to meet my expectations."

Hinata's eyes widened for only an instant. He did this often, then made them train anyway. Sure she was in the best shape of her life, but she needed sleep damnit! Hinata had to spy on him to confirm that Naruto ever slept at all. The man couldn't have been human with his energy and spotty rest periods.

For all that they had progressed significantly. She had noticed within the first week how she could read him better, and he her. They spent four hours each morning practicing in the training grounds, taking whichever one wasn't occupied by a genin team. Now they could practically read each other's minds when it concerned ANBU work. On one mission they had both though four moves ahead and coordinated perfectly to take out a trio of jonin. That had been a fun one.

Their latest triumph was an arsenal combination attacks. Hinata found that if she did it right she could actually reflect his rasenshuriken with her kaiten- a very useful trick, though one they hadn't used in combat yet. They had other combination taijutsu and ninjutsu too, though they were more basic (by their standards anyway) and far more numerous as well as practical, conserving chakra and producing a wide array of different attacks, defenses and utilities.

The only snag they had run into had been Hinata's stamina. Grueling physical training had helped improve how long she could last using taijutsu, but her chakra control still couldn't make up for the seemingly endless reservoir of chakra her partner possessed. Over the past four years she had improved her clan techniques greatly, including the Byakugan, and could even measure the exact amount of chakra needed to create a jutsu, thereby arriving at efficiency percentages. It made little to no sense.

If she had to pick four examples they would be Kiba, Naruto, herself, and Kakashi. They each represented different levels. Kiba was physical and used soldier pills. His average control put him around 62.4% efficiency- awful even by genin standards. Fortunately he didn't use many ninjutsu. Naruto was better, about five points above the bare minimum expected of a jonin at 86.2% efficiency. Hinata herself was considered among the best, with a spectacular score of 98.7% efficiency. Kakashi, she had concluded, wasn't human. She had to run the numbers a dozen times before she was convinced she hadn't made it up. The copy-nin had 99.9% efficiency. Despite his high powered ninjutsu and constant sharingan abuse he could outlast most. His chakra reserves must have been considered bad even for a chuunin. Laziness was indeed his vice.

It had taken some convincing, but she had finally gotten it into Naruto's head that she simply couldn't improve her control by enough to make a difference and that her reserves were as big as they were going to get.

Then he had surprised her.

Two weeks ago he had arrived at her door with a box. Inside were what appeared to be a standard hitai-ate, ANBU shin guards and forearm guards.

"What's this?" She had asked.

"The metal is special. You put chakra into it and it holds it with a very low rate of degradation. In other words they're batteries. You can charge them with your own chakra, then call on them later when you're running low." He said casually.

"Naruto... those must have cost you a hundred thousand ryo!" She exclaimed.

He scratched the back of his head. "Hundred and twenty actually. Look, its no big deal. My inheritance is many times that in the double digits. Besides, Tenten gave me 40% off because I told her they were a birthday present."

She was torn between scowling and hugging him. "That's a bit lacking in spontaneity for you, Naruto."

"Yeah, I think she knew. But if she did, she didn't care... though she did say something strange. She said something about finally realizing that you could walk on water... you know what that's about?" He questioned, clearly puzzled by the riddle.

"Uhhh... no." She lied badly. Fortunately Naruto was awful at telling when she lied. Others couldn't get away with squat. "Well... thanks doesn't even cover it. These will probably increase my reserves by over 10%."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "These are custom made by Tenten. The highest quality possible. Check."

Hinata activated her Byakugan and gasped in surprise. "With these... 40%... no 44.3%... that's incredible! This will almost increase my reserves by half! I'll have ten more minutes of intensive combat with these."

Naruto smirked. "Told ya. Just only use them in a pinch when we're in the field. For now use them when you run low in training so you don't get tired and so you're used to them. Enough chat- lets get to it."

In the last two weeks she had found a way to compress her chakra, giving her about twelve minutes instead of the ten minutes fourteen seconds she had previously... about 49.4%. With the technique perfected she was sure she would pass fifty eventually. There was no way Naruto could be satisfied with what they had accomplished- he would never be, it was how he was.

"Well don't just stand there. Come on- I want to be the first to pound on Shika's door and ruin his day. The best missions are always available in the morning." He waved his hand in front of her, snapping her out of her daydreaming.

"Yeah... ok."

The way to the Hokage tower took only four minutes. During that time Hinata tried to decipher if Naruto had an ulterior motive. Since the incident in the barracks two months earlier they had never gotten close again. Naruto had stayed aloof best he could, and she had no trouble matching him. Romance and ANBU didn't mix, they both knew that- even if they wouldn't admit it. Plus, if they got romantically involved they would have to switch partners. It wasn't allowed, contrary to what Naruto had once told her the first time she got smashed.

'Thank Kami he didn't ask me about that when I was drunk... 'You saw me dancing naked when we were twelve and said that I was 'uber pretty' and 'the kind of girl I'd want to marry!' I'm sure that'd go over great. Then again, I'd have to have more than a few to let that slip... that's right up there with me purposely destroying your clothes during training and what you think are subtle gropes to my body when we grapple.' Hinata had had one too many a distrubing dream when a half stripped Naruto glistening with sweat did a little more than grope. From the way he looked at her she even considered he might have had a string of lust for her as well. Not like she cared. She just dismissed her fancies as baggage. It was easy once you got good at it.

She had gotten better at drinking too. She could finally hold her own round for round with most of the other Konoha kunoichi. Even Anko had complimented her tolerance. Of course next to the men she was only a middle weight, but she was a woman after all. Alcohol-dehydrogenate just didn't bless her liver the way it did them- particularly Kakishi and Naruto. She had never seen two shinobi drink so much and still be able to stand. Genma's was almost a nightly event for the two of them, and the copy-nin frequented enough for her to see him consume ungodly amounts of fermented liquids and still walk home quietly. The only times he lost it was when someone brought up his spouse, and then it was likely just for the attention.

All in all things were good. She had moved away from her clan and her father, she was getting stronger and more valuable to Konoha by the day, and even Naruto was becoming tolerable. She almost enjoyed his company every now and then. From the way he acted around her she was sure he felt the same. Denial was a common thing- and both were very good at it. Of course 'ignoring trivial matters' was a much nicer way of phrasing it in one's head.

The double doors to the Hokage's office swung open, interrupting her thoughts. Shikamaru sat behind his desk, reclined in his chair looking lazy and smoking his pipe as usual.

"Just who I want to see at 0520." He drawled sarcastically. His hand reached into a stack of scrolls.

"Got anything for us, Shika-san?" Naruto asked dryly.

"For destroying my peace so early? Hmmmmm..." He closed his eyes and picked a scroll at random. He proceeded to open it and scroll down the list. After he was about halfway he stopped and opened his eyes. "Sucks for you. B rank. A scroll recovery."

Hinata's heart dropped. Those were often the most boring. "Seriously?"

"There was no way that was random." Naruto dead-panned.

The Rokudaime smiled. "Ah, but you know me too well, Naruto. Indeed it was not. Normally I would give you at least an A or a B with high pay... but this is actually important for you."

The Kyuubi container had the faintest idea of what he was hinting at. "And?"

"And if you complete it then I'll be able to Name you."

Naruto's eyes widened in excitement. "Seriously? We're going to get a Name? No way! So early!"

"Technically it was luck. You and Hyuuga-sama here happen to have hit the jackpot in your skill balance. On top of that the different missions you completed as chuunin and jonin counted towards some of them... and you're both part of the Rookie Nine. The review is always jumping to give you guys credit where it isn't deserved." The last was said with a taunting smile.

Hinata groaned inwardly. She was about to be witness to another pissing contest if she didn't do anything about it. "What's a Name?" She asked. For once she had both a good excuse and genuinely didn't know the terminology.

"A Name," Shikamaru began. "... is something your partner should tell you about."

Naruto supressed the urge to roll his eyes. "Ughhh... its kinda like our code names, except it refers to the two of us. For example: Dragon Name. That's Neji's and Shino's callsign I believe."

Shikamaru blew out a puff of smoke. "Yes, but its much more than that, dobe. A Name indicates that you are elite... even among the ANBU ranks. Your team can be called on at any time... as long as the mission is within your specialty."

"Wait." Hinata said, shaking her head. "You mean we're going to be narrowed down to a specific branch of operations? That's lame."

"Hinata that's very rude." Naruto chastised. "Insufferably boring is far more accurate."

"Ahem." Shikamaru cleared his throat loudly. "Yes. Assault: precisely what it sounds like. Combat oriented missions of a more direct nature. Espionage: spying, stealing, scouting and sabotaging basically. Interrogation: capturing and torturing etc. Disposal: assassination... getting rid of anything we don't like really. Lastly there's Protection: guarding important documents and figures, specializing in defensive jutsu and healing-"

"Blah, blah, blah! Whatever Shika. Just tell us what our prefix is." Naruto half yelled.

"Prefix?" Hinata inquired.

"Prefix." Shikamaru confirmed. "Fire, Wind, Water, Lightning and Earth respectively... Assault, Espionage, Interrogation, Disposal and Protection... but Naruto interrupted my list. There's one more."

"There is?" If Naruto didn't no it then it had to be big.

"Yes. There are a maximum of two at any time in Konoha's service. A slot recently opened because there was an... accident on a mission. I won't tell you the details. It's a secret, but you two are up for it. They were considering Blue Hawk and Red Beast of Lion Name but-"

"Sasuke-teme and Kiba-kun? What the hell is it-"

"And if you'd stop interrupting me I'd tell you." Shikamaru straightened his hat. "The last category is the highest honor any Name can achieve. Its not a singular specialization per se... only they can take on any type of A or S rank mission regardless of their talents." He said quietly. "The category is called Special... a little childish, I know, but I don't make the rules. The prefix is Shadow... essentially the 'shadows' as they are called, are the Kage's right hand... the shadow's of the shadows if you follow. You would have this title."

Naruto snapped his fingers, as if arriving at a revelation. "So that's why Grey Owl always bragged to me about his and Swift Drake's team... Shadow Wolf."

Hinata, completely in the dark, made a face. "Who... and why the all the colors? Did we break a code or something when we got our codenames?"

"No." Naruto chuckled. "We're just more creative... and Kakashi-sensei has a poor sense of humor. Speaking of which, those two are Kakashi and Yamato, respectively."

"Ah. Makes sense." Hinata knew that the pair were the most famous ANBU duo in recent history.

"As I was saying," Shikamaru started once more, "complete this mission and you'll have fulfilled all the requirements. The document you will be recovering is an inventory of Konoha shipping records going back the past few years. Not vitally important, but suspicious. Also, its being held inside the castle of an independent lord who's on the paranoid side. I don't want any kills. This is a clean one. You can't be discovered. He controls routes between here and Tea Country... and you know how fond I am of mint tobacco. You have three days." He handed them the details in a small file folder. The two ANBU bowed and exited the Hokage tower, both eager to get it over with. Greater things lay ahead.

Another mission, another day.