AN: sorry for the late update.
Sakura kept staring at her odd surroundings for a long moment: a vast garden that resembled a green carpet made of bushy grass which danced in harmony with each gust of wind. A building centered the lawn: it was erected in an old Japanese style and was ornamented with reddish wooden tiles on the roof. Its windows were thoroughly crafted with the bamboo that lied in horizontal lines to bind the silk and gold threads covering them. A voice, humming for the kunoichi to keep striding towards the main door, woke her up from the state of shock: never did she expect the district to be so simple and serene. Hence, a lot of unanswered questions hit her, all at once, which fuelled the medic's curiosity to an extent that she spoke her mind aloud to the masked man by her side: "Where are the others? I expected this place to be full of shinobi and-"
"Just continue walking." the Ninja affirmed in a hoarse tone. His short-form order made her back straighten slightly as a result of the palpable seriousness in his replica.
'These are the ANBU Sakura. You're not here to chit-chat' She whispered in her head repeatedly, in attempt to toss away the friendly attitude of hers. Soon, she would adjust to the persona of those cold-hearted murderers. Or, that was what she wanted to convince herself of.
After a few minutes of steady walking, they reached their destination. Her shinobi escort slid the Shoji* open revealing an old man that was kneeling on the bare floor: to the newbie Sakura, he looked like a mere old man enjoying some tea time meditation. Never did she expect the huge influence he would have on her life in the following days.
Danzo tilted his head as a sign for them to get in. In a quick motion, the masked man knelt before the leader, slightly bowing his head. Sakura could tell ,from the two holes in his masks, that his gaze was fixed on the ground. Respect at its finest of shapes, was obvious in his behaviour and that didn't leave the kunoichi perplexed for so long about how to behave because she knew she just had to imitate him. To succeed in her new life, she needed to gain everyone's regard. That was her new rule. The masked man's voice broke the hush when he declared: "Danzo-Sama, Here is Haruno Sakura, the Kunoichi that Tsunade-Sama deemed fit to be in the ANBU."
Sakura wanted to lift her head and get a glance at her new leader but the atmosphere of seriousness that surrounded her was too dense for her to jerk her neck upwards. A gruff voice tickled her ears, from its slow gait of pronunciation she could deduce it was Danzo's:"We shall proceed with the tongue seal as a first procedure. Come closer Sakura." The pink-haired girl nodded as she rose to her feet, trod as lightly as she could and knelt right in front of the old man. In her tiny amble from the center of the room to Danzo, Sakura was able to get a clear image of him: dark skin travelled by wrinkles, a slightly dropped jawline and chin, a raven spiky short hair, white bandages covering his forehead, left arm and left eye, a scar dimpling his chin and a thin white fabric covering his entire body. He eyed her, his lids gaping to reveal a cold stare. His right hand lazily sneaked to her scalp while his left waved some quick hand-seals that Sakura wasn't able to register. The dim corner of her mind was crowded with inquiries, all of them would be summarised in one question:'What was the Tongue seal thing that he was performing on her?'. When the council member made the closure sign, the young Kunoichi felt the stinging of something in her tongue, it felt like it was somehow pierced by a number of small needles. A rough hand cupped her chin forcing their glares to meet. His piercing eye was scanning her from tip to toe which sent some goosebumps of insecurity all-over her body. She gulped, wishing deep inside that it wasn't loud enough to be heard which would definitely reveal her state of discomfort.
"Haruno Sakura... Then?" Danzo's voice propagated within the room making the medic nod in response. Threatening and menacing, his words hit her again, only this time they made her heart thump violently against her ribs:"I've never heard of someone wanting to join the ANBU... Perhaps Tsunade sent you to spy on me?" Sakura's small knowledge of the governmental system in Konoha made her totally unaware of the possible conflicts between the Hokage and the council members that included Danzo and his gloomy organisation. Her head was racing with queries the moment she heard a thought murmuring in the back of her skull: 'You've just thrown yourself in the hands of Tsunade Sensei's enemy.' Sakura wasn't in a situation where she could muse on that idea since the man in front of her was awaiting an answer. "No... coming here was my choice." She assured, gathering every ounce of certainty as she spoke, in the purpose of wiping out every trace of doubt felt by her interlocutor.
"Words won't lure me lady, I need action in order for me to trust you." Danzo declared, his tone revealing a lot of malice.
Rapidly, her instincts kicked in, impelling her to tame her sharp tongue and assert:"I will do whatever it takes to gain Danzo-Sama's trust."
Her eyes were staring right into his eyeball, not once, did she blink or nictate. The old man couldn't help but feel fascinated by the fire of determination burning in the green of her eyes. Hence, he needed to make her submit to his strength and extinguish that irritating flame. And his next manoeuvre made her heart flutter and even, skip beats.
"Does that mean If I order you to kill... Hatake Kakashi... you will actually do it?"
His question made her feel sick to her stomach. She had to formulate an answer very soon. An answer that wouldn't provoke Danzo, whose hand was close enough for him to slash her throat in any second, an answer that wouldn't make her despise herself till the day of her demise.
"Kakashi Sensei is a very loyal shinobi. I can't see the day in which he will turn his back to Konoha coming any soon. And if ever that happened I won't be reluctant." Her voice tore through the silence, steadfast and resolute. Her fervent glare, unwavering and unfaltering, was radiating auras of determination and commitment. Danzo, could tell that those weren't the eyes of a spy, dragged by force to bow his head. He liked that spirit, he needed stronger members and he just fell on a goldmine.
"Take her." Danzo ordered, trying desperately to hide an evil triumphant smile through a glacial tone, untainted by any sort of emotion.
Sakura was having a hard time keeping her jaw from dropping to the floor at the sight of the stairs leading to the real ANBU base; the underground hideout. The luxurious Japanese house they were in was merely the visible part of the iceberg. The bottom of the stairs was dull making them appear to dig into the ground eternally.
Her escort announced, his voice croaky and cold:"Keep going and you will find the headquarters. By the end of the stairway, your team-mate will be waiting for you."
The kunoichi nodded and started her long journey to the bottom. The stairs were spiraling and large enough to fit ten people descending side by side. The walls were built with grayish bricks that made the air feel chillier than it already had been. As she went down, Sakura felt her skin shudder reacting to the abrupt temperature drop. She dragged her hands to her shoulders and started to stroke them in order to warm her frosting skin. Looking ahead, the corridor was getting more and more lit. At first thought, she assumed her eyes were giving her illusions since she hadn't yet adjusted to the dimness of the place. Soon, she was able to recognise the flaw in her own thoughts when she noticed the burning lamps that hang on each side of the stairway, plunging it in a soft twinkling orange light.
She made her last step. When her toes embraced the floor of the main base, her lips gaped in surprise: before her eyes, an entire world spread within the dullness. She was in a hall, vast and ill-lit, cold and noisy -not the good sort of noisy that would make you feel chaperoned, but rather the kind to send shivers down your spine. Screams of agony and extreme torment echoed from the torture rooms, cut by the sound of sharp metals colliding, most probably Kunai and shiruken. Lifting her head up, Sakura noticed that she couldn't see the roof which led her to conclude that she was a few dozens of meters away from the sunlight. The kunoichi's heart twitched at the sensation, to her, that place seemed like hell, buried deep down, hiding the gloomiest secrets of Konoha. Sakura felt a hand tapping on her shoulder. Wincing from surprise, she noticed that someone, irritatingly resembling Sasuke was eyeing her.
"You must be Haruno Sakura. Right?" He asked, his tone was detached, that of someone whose soul was colder than ice.
"I'm Yamanaka Sai. Your team-mate." He added, the nearby lamp sinking his expressionless face in a dim fluttering glow.
A state of emotional emptiness was readable in the dullness of his eyes and through the behaviour of his lips that only moved to speak -never parting from displeasure nor stretching for a smile.
Thus, Sakura received the frosting vibe casted by Sai and accordingly she had to tame her friendly attitude again and deep-six it under an indifferent, undemonstrative persona. When her team-mate declared that their first mission was about to start, the kunoichi felt her heart throb in a weird sensation of excitement mixed with hues of anxiety: Her new life had just begun and she had to prove herself capable of being in the Black Ops.
Shoji: "is a sliding panel that is made of translucent paper in a wooden frame. They are used for both interior and exterior walls. They help to give Japanese housestheir character by allowing diffuse light and shadows through."
Senatus: resolution in latin.