Hey Guys! I love you all! Okay thank you to everyone who has liked and followed this story so far: BeeBoo95, FrankSinatra24, hazdar19902000, AxCxP and miyako99. But especially to Tsukiyo69 who has left me lots of reviews, feuling me to continue with this story so here's the next chapter… Dum Dum Duuum! Things are getting serious :O
Chapter ten
"As Minato already knows I've been investigating a high class organisation recently that had been used during the was as mercenaries for hire. A while ago I discovered that this group uses young children and train them from the time they can walk and send them in places as spies because who would imagine a child coming and assassinating you out in the open?" Jiraiya began, leaning against the windowsill across from the couch where Kakashi was sitting with Rei still passed out and sleeping with Minato's coat over him while he sat at his desk.
"I managed to infiltrate their camp a while back for a week and find out more about their operation and how it works. These kids are trained to ANBU standards by the time they're six and sent into the field, taught to not question but just to act like tools… Basically the perfect shinobi's and I've seen it work while I've been there…" Jiraiya continued with a saddened and slightly haunted expression while the other two listened intently.
"These kids are worked and they do their jobs properly according to ten rules they follow that I've written down for you." He said, tossing a scroll to Minato who scowled further as he read before tossing it over to Kakashi who read with the same expression.
"Surely these kids begin to question things though?" Minato asked and Jiraiya nodded and frowned further, crossing his arms over his broad chest.
"They are trained like tools until they begin to question things, usually around the time of puberty and when tools become compromised they break and become useless and so they are disposed of… After bearing more children to fill their places." There was a crack and both heads turned to see Kakashi throw a Raikiri into the wall next to his head, they could both see a rage so huge shimmering in the depths of his dark eye and Jiraiya swallowed, knowing what came next would make the teen even angrier.
"There's more isn't there?" Minato asked, his voice also dark and angry as he linked his hands together, knuckles going white, as he rested them on his desk while he sat forward.
"Security was tight because a kid escaped three years ago and missions were cut down to get all of the children back into line and become the perfect tools again. His name was number forty-five and matches Rei's description perfectly… I strongly believe he was the kid who escaped those three years ago." Jiraiya sighed out with a frown and Minato also sighed sadly while Kakashi sat stiffly on the couch.
"And the white haired pervert is correct… I am number forty-five, I remember most of that time now." Rei said, voice surprisingly void of all emotion as he sat up, face saddened as he kept his gaze down.
"Rei… I'm so sorry." Jiraiya said as he stood up and slipped his shirt and shoes on and heading towards the door.
"Please Rei…" Kakashi began also standing up and reaching for him when he stopped dead. Rei had looked over his shoulder, eyes sharp like a weapon that dared for him to jump in his range of attack.
"I don't need your pity." He spat before leaving out the door and closing it again as Kakashi sat back down on the couch.
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Minato sighed silently to himself, leaning up against the guard hut by the gates. It had been a long week since Jiraiya came back with information on Rei and he hadn't ever acted the same since. Since Rin was out of the village, he had come to stay with them for the time being and it was okay in the beginning before the new information.
Rei would smile and play with Naruto while Minato and Kushina had a minute to themselves in the mornings before he had to get to work. He would either stay with Kushina and train in the garden while she was there or he'd come with Minato and do unimportant paperwork with him until lunch time where they'd go to Ichiraku's for lunch and pop home quickly for five minutes where he'd either go back to the office with him or stay there with Kushina.
Now he wouldn't even do anything without it practically being an order from him only. He found out Rei was ANBU class ninja in that camp and the best they had ever had until he asked one simple question… 'What is my real purpose here?' Minato had shivered when that question came out of the teens mouth, listening to Rei speak with Inoichi as they shifted through his memories since he was three all the way to eleven years old.
Rei had been trained to chunin level when he was three and took on information gathering until he was six where he had his first kill accidentally when a man caught onto him and turned on him in a dark and dingy alleyway and Rei was forced to defend himself, killing the man of thirty, a jonin ranked nin from Takigakure. He was praised for it and sent on more dangerous missions where he was forced to fight for his life each time, coming so close to death each time, becoming the perfect and heartless tool this organisation wanted.
He first asked this question when he was ten, coming back from taking out a camp of jonin and ANBU ranked ninja from Kumogakure, barely conscious and delirious from blood loss, kunai's and katanas sticking out of him. The weapons were removed and left to heal on their own with only enough medical attention to make sure he survived in an unsightly way, killing the question and his personality as his rank was pushed up and more training pushed onto him where his lightning was discovered and worked on.
What was interesting was the organisation's business during the end of the war. They were hired by the other organisation named Akatsuki to help protect Ame and kill all of those who dared to pass the boarders, explaining why Iwa only ever came through Kusagakure. Konoha was thrown into a mess since it was discovered from Rei's memories of his alliance with Hanzo of the Salamander to try to take Akatsuki down, loosing one of their members… Rei was there and participated in the whole thing between the two factions of Ame at the time, two kids named Konan and Nagato as well as their deceased leader and friend Yahiko versus Hanzo and Danzo with his ROOT.
Straight away, Danzo had been taken into custody and arrested with charges against Konoha, treason and sent to his death two days ago by Rei… Surprisingly it was Sarutobi Hiruzen's idea, loosing his last straw with his old 'friend' and gave the honour to Rei in a private matter witnessed by all clan heads. Jiraiya had gone off instantly to find his heart stricken students of Amegakure and discuss things from there after hearing they were dead a few years ago.
Akatsuki dropped off of the radar after the war a year later and Rei returned to his organisation with the same question but stronger conviction. Minato's blood boils each time he thinks about this, they chained him up and tried to whip the question out of him as he still had at least three years of use and then children but that was when Rei broke at the sobbing man and turned on him, killing him and running for days, perhaps months with the deep gashes across his back… That's where his memory cuts out once again.
Minato was snapped out of his musing when Rei finally shifted away from the gates and stood to see one tired team walking towards the gates. 'Act as you have been before she left and your secret will be safe.' Minato remembered ordering the boy half an hour ago before heading to the gates to await the arrival of Rin's team finally coming back from their mission they left for a month ago. Rei smiled but Minato could see how every move he made was thought out way before he acted on it but it seemed as though Rin hasn't seen the difference as she smiled and ran up to him.
Rei 'grinned' as she jumped into his arms and he picked her up around the waist to swing her around before putting her down, gripping her chin lightly and pressing his lips against hers as her cheeks went bright red but she leaned into the kiss. Minato noted that Rei had seemed to grow while Rin had been away since he was now ten centimetres taller than her compared to being the same height.
"I put him back into your care Rin. Take care Rei." Minato said cryptically as he pushed himself up from the guard hut and headed back towards the tower with a frown. One student was safe and sound now he wished Kakashi would stop with his missions all the time, never stopping when he gets back. He's been avoiding Minato as well as all of his friends after speaking with a worried Guy who carried Kakashi to the hospital when he saw his rival passed out in the training grounds, practically dying but before Minato could talk to him, he was out and off on another mission again and wondered how the hell he was getting them so quickly and frequently.
Minato made a detour as his tired feet carried him fasted for what his body said he needed right then, his mind running hundreds of kilometres per second of how he could possibly make this all right again, back to when Rei first woke up before he remembered who or rather what he was. He entered through a door and didn't even bother to take off his shoes as he headed into the kitchen to bury his face in a crook of a neck, wrapping his arms around the familiar waist as she stiffened for a second before relaxing again, continuing with her cooking.
"You should be at work." She chuckled and Minato sighed into her neck before lifting his head and she turned in his arms to examine his tired face.
"I don't think I could concentrate now even if I tried. I'm failing my team again Kushina and I don't know how to fix it or get it back to the way it was before." Minato said, rubbing her cheek with his thumb and she smiled up at him.
"Maybe you should put them all together on a mission to sort it all out… Even if it has to be a made up mission, just as long as it's long enough for the fights to come out and fix themselves." Kushina said grinning up at her husband and he smiled and shook his head.
"You're evil Kushina… But that's why I love you." He said, kissing her lips before he was gone in a flash of yellow to begin his plans of fixing relationships.
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Kakashi jumped over the rooftops in his regular bloody uniform, trying not to look around. This is the first time in a while his mind has been clear of missions as he headed to hand his report in and get his next mission so he didn't have to think.
He couldn't help but see himself in Rei's place when he heard of the organisation he originally came from. Trained as a warrior since he was young, jumping up the ranks quickly only to be met with tragedy and follow the shinobi rules until he questioned his ways when Obito snapped him out of it only to find it was too late… He should have died that day like Rei was suppose to but they both, Rei and Obito, sacrificed everything to do what was right and Kakashi felt sick to his stomach every time he thought about it.
He hopped through the ANBU mission's window to be restrained by chakra chains and come face to face with a grinning Kushina, Naruto and Minato and Kakashi glared at them.
"I've got a special mission for you Kakashi and you need the break while I try to figure out how you got so many missions in such a short time." Minato said and Kakashi growled in his throat.
"Fangirls… You should get some to do your paperwork." Kakashi said before the back of his head met a frying pan, denting it and bringing tears to his eyes thanks to Kushina.
"What the hell! I'm fine with doing missions sensei plus Konoha is short on people but you want to take me off missions?" Kakashi complained angrily and Minato grinned scarily, making Kakashi cringe.
"I'm not taking you off of them, I'm giving you an easier one like time off but with work to it. You're leaving tomorrow morning for a month and will be meeting your other two teammates at the gates five am not a second later Kakashi or I will come and hunt you down." Minato warned before the chains were removed from him and the devil family left in a flash of yellow and Kakashi growled while the rest of ANBU laughed silently at him, knowing he had been taking on too many missions lately and wondered when the Hokage would step in.