Chapter Nine

"Why does man refuse to be chained to truth, while they claim it sets them free?"

A broken shell of his former self.

That was how Naruto looked every time he returned from using that technique. That diabolical punishment of a higher, divine entity, that was as much a brutal power as it was a curse, a curse for mankind that was Naruto's to bear. It was almost as if he was the Messiah. Only without the hope-giving and saving people part, I thought wryly.

He - we - just hurt people.

Tortured them.

Murdered them.

And for what? A puny living that we make from it, which is not worth the right of existence to begin with? The feeling of power we gain from the illusion of controlling death? The respect we claim from the people, like a dictator demanding his will be done?

For our perception of 'truth' to reign over others', which are at best inferior to ours?

It radiated off the blonde; the intense hatred he harbored toward himself, his life, his job and this world in general. I knew from experience that it was the demon's hold on his soul once set free to this degree. The rest of the world saw another victim of the nuclear war that ravaged this world seemingly ages ago; apathetic, depressed, wry and cynical. Forgotten how to live, merely existing throughout nameless days and countless hours.

He fell to his knees, roaring out in agony for all the men and women that had fallen by our hands today. Every truth that was theirs was lost with their lives, every story and memory annihilated by ours.

The purge of dark energy that Naruto had used to cleanse the building from any Moon's Eye influence hadn't left a single man or woman alive. It was a ghost base now, fully operational and ready to be taken in use by the Black Rose.

Of course, we needed some new recruits to keep our new outpost running, and a secure landline directly into HQ. But those were formalities for future care.

Right now, my friend needed me.

I patted Naruto on the shoulder in a tiny, but significant display of compassion. He looked up at me with those usually fiery red eyes, that appeared to be a hollow red now, void of life, void of anything. That look said more than ten thousand libraries full of books couldn't even begin to describe. I offered my hand to the blonde; he took it with a weak smile and pulled himself up on me. Sakura hugged him, unable to hide her tears any longer.

We sent out a messenger bat (we used specially trained bats instead of regular birds; it had been Kakashi's idea, and another reason for us to believe he was a vampire) to HQ about our success and went into the nearest bar to drink away the numbing pain of dealing death to other living, sentient beings, each with their own people that will miss them now that they've died for our cause while fighting for their own.

We never really cared that Sakura was still even with us, either.

She had made it into our comfort zone in an exceptionally short time, I realized later on, and without even really trying, too. But the most amazing feat was just that we (me and Naruto) didn't mind her presence to begin with. She had become a friend, like Kiba, like Suigetsu, like Shikamaru.

An idea hit me.

The Black Rose could use a field medic, with Tsunade rarely leaving HQ and Shizune keeping Research running entirely on her own. The only obstacle that would rise would be Angel Witch; I highly doubted they'd be willing to let go of an assassin with such potential, and killing off that entire creed was simply not done. Assassins had honor and pride - most of them anyway. Moon's Eye wasn't exactly known for living by the old assassin's code that every creed based its rules and regulations on.

I needed to discuss this with Kakashi and Itachi, and maybe with Jiraiya himself as well.

"Sasuke, are you okay?"

I looked up into emerald green eyes, filled with a mix of sorrow, concern and stern endurance. Sakura placed her little hand on my shoulder, sending tiny sparks through every fibre of my body. It didn't take me long to realize she was checking my physical health. I wanted to pick up my shot glass of vodka, but she gripped my shoulder with surprising strength.

"Magic?" I asked out of genuine curiosity. She nodded, the focus visibly rising in her eyes.

"Physically, you're fine," she concluded. I rolled my eyes and sneered that I would've noticed it myself if it were any different. She shut me up with a glare that I hadn't seen before, and I concluded that there was more to the pink-haired medic that I had given her credit for. Or maybe my glares were really that contagious, as Kiba often remarked, but I doubted that. The words she said to me were blurry and I had a hard time making sense of them, only comprehending something along the lines of 'it never hurts to check, just to be sure'. I didn't really care much, either. There were simply too many things on my mind at the moment.

"I was thinking about some stuff," I replied stoically, shrugging her hand off my shoulder and chugging back another shot.

She opened her mouth to protest, but Naruto wisely shook his head. He knew my episodes of solitude, and the... situations that occurred when one forced their way into my head.

They had the tendency to end up with a .408 caliber pill - In their skull. Point blank.

...I really needed to do something about those anger outbursts of mine, however rare they were.

And let's face it: in this particular case, that would be such a waste of talent.

The rest of the evening, Naruto and Sakura let me drink in silence, with only my memories as company. Which was exactly the way I liked it at this point. I suspected this to be a side effect of the dark energy purge Naruto used; it must've radiated off on us before we made our escape, leaving us depressed and mentally exhausted.

I couldn't even begin to fathom the strain it left on Naruto's mind.

To still be able to resist the urge of putting a cap in his own skull to begin with was worth a hell of a lot of respect (then again, it would probably leave the demon to take over his soul completely, which wasn't exactly an improvement, but still).

There was never a reason to think that our line of business would do something good for other people than ourselves, but every time countless people died for no good reason, I couldn't help but suffer from bursts of remorse. Even though they were enemies, opponents, business competition, whatever you want to call them, they were still human beings.

Maybe I really wasn't cut out for the cold-blooded killing and merciless violence. But just quitting was impossible.

I'd seen and done too much. I was in too deep, and didn't want to put Itachi up to the impossible task of murdering his own brother, and the only close relative he had left. Because aside from Jiraiya, he was probably the only one capable of doing it.

He took the concept of having no remorse to a whole new level; even when our own father Fugaku Uchiha turned out to be a corrupt official with a hit on his head, Itachi volunteered to take it. Jiraiya wasn't stupid, and figured how close Itachi could get to the target without raising suspicion. So he got the job. And without a single second thought, he pulled the trigger.

He awarded his ice cold blood to his exceptional sense of justice, which was stronger than his conscience, regardless of his relations to the target or the circumstances. If one had done something that was enough to draw Itachi's attention, the best thing they could do is write their last will. Either that, or kill themselves before they suffered his wrath. I guessed that was where his nickname 'The Angel of Death' came from (at least, I believe it was his nickname; one of the main feats of a good assassin is his ability to stay hidden the entire time. The only detail that was known to the public was his withering rose tattoo, so it could basically be anyone from the Black Rose).

The minutes we spent in the bar grew into hours, and by the time we walked back night fell over the small town. The dangers of the dark was given a new dimension with creatures like vampires having access to the streets. I slept with one eye open that night; I didn't feel like shooting up any more of them after the last time, not in this depleted state anyway.

Around three in the morning that night, I woke up to a subtle creak of the old wooden door. In a matter of moments, I stood next to the intruder with my gun point blank at their head. I couldn't suppress a slight smirk - Still got the moves.

Then I felt cold metal touch the back of my head.

I froze when I recognized the person under my gun. It was Itachi.

My smirk broadened.

The guy with the gun against my head had to be Kakashi, then. They were testing me.

Fools.

They should know that an assassin of my caliber didn't need a test like this - I was at the top of my game at any given time. Even now, when rudely awoken by the intruders in my room, I still had the upper hand against them (okay, more or less, they were the top assassins in the Order for a reason).

I ducked, swept my foot over the ground and tripped the gray-haired non-vampire. He threw his gun up in the air and before he even hit the floor, I caught the falling weapon and had both intruders pinned down under gun point.

They smirked simultaneously.

"We trained you well, kid," Kakashi complimented. I chuckled and bowed my head in regard, playing with his gun for a bit (he really took good care of his Browning .40S&W Hi-Power Practical) before returning it to him. Itachi took the liberty of sitting down on the battered desk, tripping Naruto upon entering the room, woken up from the noise. Sakura followed suit, although with a bit more care and thus noticing the reason my - scratch that, our blond friend rolling through the room.

I rolled my eyes at the knuckle-headed idiot friend of mine, and offered my hand while I turned to Sakura.

"Sakura, meet my brother, Itachi -" I pointed at him with my other hand, "and Kakashi. They pretty much are the Order of the Black Rose. Guys, Sakura Haruno of Angel Witch."

"Honored," Sakura said while greeting them both with a royal bow.

"What are that weasel and the pervert doing here!" Naruto yelled. I bopped him on the head with the back of my gun and beckoned for either of the two to explain.

"We're here," Kakashi started, "to discuss a few matters concerning your new friend."

Itachi shot each of us a look. "And in particular her induction into the Order."

"...Come again?" Sakura exclaimed flabbergasted.

Kakashi and Itachi shrugged in perfect synchronization. "We're fusing with Angel Witch. They're taking up our name," the latter said. "Having our best agents working together on such a dangerous op creates a bond, I suppose."

Sakura blinked, too amazed to utter a word. I just smirked. "That's even faster than I expected." I ignored Naruto's 'you-knew-about-this!'-look and leaned over to Itachi. "Matter of fact, I was about to propose the same thing to you when I got back to HQ," I whispered. He snorted and patted me on the head like a father praising his six-year-old son.

"Looks like I beat you again."

I punched him in the shoulder while Kakashi gave Naruto and Sakura some additional details about what's going to happen with both assassination orders. Apparently, Kurenai kept her rank and joined the top of the Black Rose, while some fellow Sakura called Inoichi Yamanaka was placed in Intel. Kurenai and the Black Rose were still working out the rest of the assignings, according to the silver-haired top dog.

"Say, what became of codename 'Four-Eyes'?" He suddenly asked none of us in particular. Sakura and I worriedly eyed Naruto, who in turn looked to the floor.

"He..." He paused and swallowed away the sorrow as best as he could. "I purged the entire base using Hell's Breath."

"...I'll scratch his name on the hit list," Itachi said morbidly. "Too bad we don't have the bod-"

"Leave it on," Naruto replied before my brother could even complete his sentence. "Four-Eyes is no longer human enough to die, it appears. He survived."

"He survived!" I couldn't help but yelling. Naruto sighed deeply and nodded.

"I hit him with the full blast. It didn't even tear him apart; he got away in one piece and very much alive."

Everyone in the room was speechless. We all knew the power of Naruto's dark energy, all having witnessed its horrific potential at some point in our history with the blonde. Hell, we were happy to have him on our side. The sheer fact that Kabuto had survived in the first place was as terrifying as it was unbelievable. Somehow, the demon host apparently felt that it was pointless to apologize for being unable to kill him, and that no one would hold it against him. He suffered enough already.

Kakashi scraped his throat. "...In any case. We have the outpost. You did an exceptional job on this op."

"How are we going to operate it?" I asked. "We lack the manpower and the resources to utilize it."

"Don't worry," Sakura said smirking. "I know a guy."

[Author's Note]

To all of you who reviewed: thanks so much. I'm going through a few personal struggles at the moment, and to see that my writings are appreciated by all of you keeps me from doing stupid stuff. The update schedule is set back to Fridays, I'll try to stick to it.

Signed,
VictimofYourOwnCreation