It's wrong. Of course it is. All deliberately causing harm is wrong. Some accidental causing of harm is wrong.
And the fact that it's a necessity of his profession doesn't sanction or legitimise what he's doing. What he's teaching. He doesn't want to, really. He doesn't know what he's still doing here. What he ever did here.
Because it's not Konoha that he lives for. But it's the village that he's harming others for.
That he's good at violence doesn't excuse his behaviour.
It's that he's long ago decided that it doesn't matter. Can't matter because if it does to him, then the best and immediate course of action is to go and kill as many ninja as he can, erase knowledge of most ninja arts, and then go die himself. He would fail in the middle of it, of course. Unless he got himself some allies.
So. He's not doing it.
But that's one of the many reasons why he doesn't think that Uchiha Itachi is a monster any more than Sakurai is. Any more than the Hokage is, any more than his sister will be. Sakurai actually doesn't know the difference between massacring your own clan – of whom only a few could be called family – and a rising foreign village. Blood ties? He gets how family is different. But a clan?
They're just genetically better equipped to be good killers, in the Uchiha case. And if Sakurai massacred a non-existent clan of Haruno civilians with no special dojutsu, it would hardly be any different than what he did behind a mask hiding behind orders before he was even fifteen.
They could do other stuff with their bloodlimits, of course. But who will ever ask them to make their own definitions, to make their own choices about what matters when their environment is what it is. Sakurai doesn't think that civilian professions that didn't serve the ninja or the greater clan in some way were ever even considered. Like they don't exist.
Sometimes Sakurai feels like he's cutting himself up a bit, time after time. Day by day. He's just a mangled, bloodied mess of red wet flesh now.
That's what Kawa, the village hidden in the river looked like after Sakurai and his team were done with it, anyway. Orders were to make it look horrifying. Sakurai thought lots of dead bodies were enough. Not so, said the ANBU Commander. They would have sat on a trading route that Konoha relied on too much for metal ores and certain types of leathers that went into shinobi sandals.
In any case, he's not putting the prisoners in the too-small cells where you can only stand or lean against a wall. Somehow, that's always felt worse to him than actually taking a knife or other instruments and causing physical pain. He's had to go through it for torture resistance training. So. He's not keen on that kind of thing. But that's because his own mind is his own worst enemy. Inbuilt torture to go for every enemy nin right there. No need to spend time and effort on Sakurai to break him. He'll do that all on his own. Except, what he'll tell you then will not be village secrets, no details on missions or things that could get Sakura killed. He loves her that much.
Of course, not everyone is like him. He knows that, but he also knows that if they're not like him, who really doesn't know up from down some days, or good from bad, then they likely cannot really be reasoned with. They can only be broken and he can take from their answers at least what they think will mislead him, which can be helpful to him in its own way. Nothing they tell him is ever really nothing at all.
He shows the small stand-up cells to the young nin under his command for this mission, though. They should be aware of what options they have. Some are more squeamish than him.
"I don't put them in here so long as I don't have to because not only is it one of the worst ways to actually get information if you don't have the time to wait, but also is it the kind of place where your prisoners experience hallucinations that have nothing to do with genjutsu. And while isolation is also a form of torture, it's not one you want to particularly employ with ninja. They might be subdued, but a nin looking for escape is still restrained in certain ways by their own mind.
"But you should be aware of what options you have even when you don't have a proper outpost to interrogate people in. What options you have when you have multiple objectives to fulfil and less time than it would take to torture and complete the other objectives. Doton jutsu can be very helpful."
And he leads them back to their quarters, tour over. He looks at them, pale, unhappy, young one by one.
"I assume you've spoken with Sarutobi-san about this."
He gets nods from the Nara and Yamanaka.
"Akimichi-san?"
Silence, body language one of shame and avoidance. Eyes to the ground.
"Please go on without us," he tells the teammates. Once they're gone, Sakurai asks, "If you don't speak with him or me here, you should do so back in Konoha. You have no obligation at all to keep observing. You can also ask me to put a mark on your file that you don't want to be sent on missions involving torture."
"That would heavily restrict what missions Team Ten would go on. We're a capture and interrogation team," Akimichi says, but he wants to. His face says he wants to and so do his shoulders.
"You're a clan heir. You have some leeway. And you could deliberate with your teammates, see what they say. You don't seem like the sort of team that would force one of their own to do what they don't want to if it can be at all avoided."
Akimichi swallows, then looks up, straightening his shoulders. "I won't hold them back."
Ah. Not holding your teammates back from torturing people. Yeah. Team spirit.
Why does Sakurai have to have a bad day today of all days? Oh, right. He tortured someone yesterday.
He says, carefully, "Are you sure that that's something you don't want in this case? Would they see it that way?"
That's awfully treasonous. It's against the Will of Fire! Die for Konoha! Kill for Konoha! Love Konoha! One leaf among many.
When Akimichi only stares, Sakurai dares to go on. Maybe it's because he's feeling reckless somehow, and he won't allow himself to be in any other way. "It's unlikely that you'll ever end up as fucked up as me, you and your team. You've had fairly stable childhoods. You've been raised to think in a certain way," he pauses, gauges Akimichi's face which is growing ever more incredulous. Well. He's already said this much? Why not go on? Why not? Why not? "You're not suited for ANBU. But this is a step in the direction of cutting a few more pieces of your compassion away. Watching while someone is being tortured. Watching to learn. You might want to think about what you want for your team. And sure, in war you might not have as much of a choice. But Konoha leaves it to the individuals where they draw the line. Mostly. And you're in a position where you can say 'no' and have that be respected."
Akimichi is looking at him with astonishment.
"My recommendation is that you think of what you want. And then talk to your teammates. Don't take the privilege to get to decide on this lightly."
And with that, Sakurai shunshins away before Akimichi can ask any questions or make an expression beyond wide-eyed bewilderment. Yeah. That's what ninja usually look like when Sakurai vaguely alludes to their free will. Or bashes them over the head with it. Why does he keep doing this? He made the decision to comply a long time ago, didn't he? So what's going on with him?
He's already checked on the prisoners again, sent off his primary report with a summon because that's what you do when you interrogate prisoners with an unknown amount of hostile observation in the area. So what he'll do, since the others have their orders and he trusts them to do as told, especially with their jounin sensei to look after them, is go to a hot spring. Relax. Distract himself with nice sensations.
It works a bit sometimes.
How he'd love for one day to be able to say just 'it works'. But that, he thinks, if for another lifetime, or hopefully after this never. Carefully he avoids thinking about that vague mission of the shinigami's. Save the fucking world, yeah right. When where from who with whom…
The hot spring he chooses is one he's scouted out before, and while they cater mostly to civilians, it's one of those with a few larger boulders in the pool that can obstruct the view. Sakurai's a good enough sensor to feel secure with that. He doubts there'll be stealth experts already on their way if the team doesn't report back. He'll have to watch out for that as of the next day, he thinks.
Still, it's best not to underestimate the enemy, so he summons his smallest contracted peacock to keep another pair of eyes out while he relaxes. This one likes to remain mostly silent, and so takes his request in silently, then nods pompously. Sakurai feels fondness crawl up his chest. Rin-chan always was so very proud and elegant.
He settles into the hot water with a sigh. It's too much at first, but he soon grows used to the heat, and relaxes. He's always wound too tight, even when he tries to keep himself loose. It does work to a degree, but a hot spring still does wonders. Sakura should see him now, then she'd stop pestering him about that sort of thing. Then again, she is a medic. And she wouldn't be Sakura if she was that easy to appease. Konoha has public baths and saunas, but Sakurai doesn't go because the shinobi ones tend to be breeding grounds for Will of Fire propaganda. That is, also entrenching the divide between civilians and shinobi. Going to the civilian ones in disguise is just. No. They also watch those.
Rin-chan hops on his head from above and nestles in the damp strands. Tiny, sharp claws gently scratch across his scalp.
His summons are the best.
.
Sakurai doesn't drink on missions. He orders tea and enjoys his pipe.
And halfway through, Nara drops down next to Sakurai on the tea house's porch. "We are ready for the next lesson."
"Ah. So that's what you chose, then."
"We need the knowledge, even if we won't take those missions, if possible."
These kids, taking on responsibilities that should not exist. "Sensible," Sakurai says and doesn't mean it at all.
"When-" Nara begins to ask, but Sakurai shakes his head.
"In a bit. You don't want to come off too eager. And sometimes, waiting is the worst."
"Eager? No. I remember everything," Nara says morosely.
Even more reason to just bloody well not. Sakurai says nothing. What he'd like to say is really very treasonous and he's been reckless enough already.
"Why not go into infiltration?" Sakurai suggests. "That intel is far more reliable than what you get from torture."
Nara is silent for a bit, but Sakurai can feel him grow irritated. "Why didn't you say that to Chouji, then? Instead of putting his pride as a ninja and teammate on the line."
"We're not sending out infiltrators without the necessary experience when we're going to war," Sakurai sighs out the last of his pipe. "You're also not trained to resist torture. And you're not ANBU, which is the division that does most short-term infiltrations. I wonder, would assassination be any better for your teammate?"
There is something dangerous about a stung Nara. Sakurai is playing with fire that burns cold. Sometimes he doesn't know why he's still alive.
"Pride as a ninja," Sakurai says, "Lasts about as long as it takes you to realise that money is not worth a human life."
"Why are you not retired, then?" Nara asks, sounding like he'd rather not.
"Because I know too much," he looks into sharp brown eyes. He smiles. It's not nice. "Did you know that the Yamanaka have techniques to block off your memories? I was barely fourteen when I became ANBU Captain. That's half my life, if not more. I'd be a vegetable."
Nara says nothing.
Sakurai chuckles softly. "Don't worry, I don't hate Konoha. I'll even die for it one day. That, at least, the village made certain of."
He sighs into his cold tea. "Best if you forget all that, Nara-san. The village can't afford you of all people thinking ninja aren't good or protectors. I mean, in some cases we can be. Maybe even I'll be one one day, eh? But if you put that in your report, they'll know that you know. And the funniest thing is, it's only paranoia if nobody's watching."
.
They get the intel. That means they take those who are still in good enough condition back to Konoha and seal two corpses into scrolls.
The mission after is a quick wrap-up, textbook. Sakurai wants out of there, but he knows nothing ever really goes that smoothly. So he uses the small relationship he's begun to cultivate with the teahouse owner and makes her into an informant for Konoha – all on the down-low, all quite secret, verbal assurances only. If his feeling is right, the civilians will need a way to save themselves. Foreign takeovers are never peaceful.
There is a tension between the team and him from then on, it mostly radiates from Nara, but it isn't the kind that is dangerous. It's the kind that will bring Nara back to him with more questions and Sakurai knows he needs to keep away for as long as possible. He made the mistake of showing too much, telling too much. Sarutobi knows something went down, but he figures it's to do with the torture, rather than Sakurai's desire to just-
Sakurai wonders when he'll be locked up. How soon until Nara or Akimichi tell somebody what Sakurai really thinks.
Will it matter?
Does he care?
Doesn't he care? He does, sometimes. It's for those times that he worries.
They end the mission on an easy note. Easy because Sakurai slips back on the veneer of I'm-not-actually-dangerously-insane. Really.
.
Sakurai wrangles the insanity that compels him to tell Sarutobi that he should recommend Sakurai never lead a mission again. If he doesn't lead, he doesn't have to be responsible, does he. Does he. Does.
If he doesn't lead, he can't make sure there's less awful mission outcomes. If he doesn't lead, he's just as responsible for what he does as he is now. Every kill is his own. He knows it. Regrets it, lets it eat him away.
He tells Sarutobi that he doesn't think it's the end of that place and Frost.
"Ah? What makes you think that, Haruno-san?"
"You don't send two jounin and four chunin for something small. Also, I don't like that no team before us has checked the records room before. It's standard procedure."
Sarutobi nods and gives him that grandfatherly smile that Sakurai hates. "We'll take that into consideration."
Sakurai nods and turns away. "Good afternoon, then."
.
He was well-able to spot the difference between well-intentioned individuals and their opposite because he'd lived in a society of backstabbers all his previous life. It's been a necessary skill back then. It was now.
He had to watch out for the Hokage's next test of his loyalties, after all. He was being made use of to the fullest extent without the trust that had used to accompany this. He'd been ANBU for more than a decade. He knew village secrets like the back of his hand.
He was being tested because he was testing the Hokage in return. With the revelation of the extent of Danzo's deception Sakurai could no longer trust in the man's integrity. He could no longer trust that Sandaime would do what was best for the village. Thankfully the risks had been lessened by the fact that Sandaime only had so many childhood friends left.
And he'd never been trustworthy like that in the first place.
So it half-surprised Sakurai and it didn't, that he didn't hear from T&I within two days. He did hear from Nara Shikamaru, though, and took care to avoid the young man. Sakurai'd cooked up a recipe for disaster and wanted to be well out of the way when it did go up in flames.
.
Like a proper little ninja, Sakurai reported in with the Jounin Commander again, with vague notions of perhaps being put on one of the outpost-prepping missions the Jounin get to do these days. It was sort of sad that that would be the best he could hope for at the moment because he was bored out of his mind. He had loads to do, but he was bored all the same. Prone to wishful thinking about more work… he'd be disgusted, if he hadn't gotten used to wanting things to do all the time so that he doesn't think about all the serial killing he did in the past decade.
He just… didn't like to ponder on it. It's why he did philosophy and other thought-consuming things. It might be a bad coping strategy, he knew it was, but he realised a long time ago that there wasn't such a thing as coping with how much of a murderous fuck you really were while pretending that it was just a job, that it was to keep himself and others alive, etc. He didn't bother lying to himself much these days.
Just to his sister.
It wasn't like he didn't know that he really should've impressed all the shit upon her mind really early, traumatised her away from all the ninja stuff or at least let her decide with all the relevant information for how shit her life was going to be if she chose to become a ninja. He just never actually wanted to tell anyone just what he carried around with him in his head. The guilt… he'd carried it for so long he didn't think he'd have known what to do with himself it he didn't have it.
He never wanted responsibility for equally guilty people either, but ANBU had a way of filtering out exactly who was best at keeping all relevant information in mind while pumped full of adrenaline. Sakurai… was very good at it. he suspected that it had to do with a college education and an early accustomisation of his brain to the sort of work he did.
The point was that he never wanted to look out for more than one person because one was already hard enough. Which was why, when the Jounin Commander put him in charge of overseeing outpost-prepping with a team of five Chunin and three other Jounin, he felt that he was being gently guided into the exact position he didn't want. Nothing at all like ANBU work, he'd have to pretend that they really were just masks – inhuman and so not actually people – and that every decision he made had the potential to be called into question, unlike in ANBU. He'd been able to fulfil mission parameters then, as well as twist the outcome into something slightly less horrifying for those who would find the bodies. That was, if they had room in their orders to leave some alive.
Sometimes, when he knew the children would find their parents in pools of blood and entrails, he put them under genjutsu and sent them out to the next best place where someone might take them in. But only sometimes.
Then again, outpost-prepping didn't sound much like wetwork.
In addition, when Sakurai pointed out that the team would have to be split in the likely event that Iwa made a pre-emptive strike and didn't Nara want the chunin protected, the man said. 'You'll do fine.'
He'd almost said 'Fuck you, too,' to the Commander, but he was sure he didn't have to. Shikaku Nara was usually the sharpest kunai in the pouch. There was no need to verbalise when Sakurai could leave a pile of leaves in the man's office.
Sakurai'd developed the trick of leaving them permanent instead of easily decomposing chakra-constructs solely for the purpose of annoying people, though he thought Nara would be more amused than anything.
.
Morality was something he, in the face of overwhelming unfairness, lack of support and general despair, had abandoned long ago. Of course he knew what was right and what was wrong. There was simply no way for him to do the former without the latter in this place, and in the beginning, he didn't really care. His existence he could question, but he suspected he would only have a definite answer when he died.
He tried, once, on a mission. Between fever dreams and visions he encountered the Shinigami.
It was all about dying anyway. Killing, really.
Themselves, animals, plants, others. Didn't matter which they managed to do first.
If it were all that simple, he wouldn't feel as though he couldn't understand.
The problem with preparing for war was that Sakurai kept thinking that they could still prevent it. He knew that it was desired. Without war, ninja would stagnate, would be less able to protect the village because war revealed exactly what a ninja could do – would do.
There was a reason why he'd been able to remain in ANBU without giving in to temptation and allowing himself to be killed. That reason was that Sakurai could be cruel. Enjoyed it sometimes. There was the desensitization program they periodically ran, of course. But Sakurai had helped design the thing. So. It tended not to stick with him and on good days he sent children away so they would 'only' have the trauma of losing their families in some abstract way, probably grow up despising ninja. On bad ones he tended to clean up the loose ends.
He kept that part of himself hidden behind the curtain of philosophy, of keeping busy, of being capable of love. He'd just never known what he was capable of in the name of survival – and beyond that, of daring, of playing with the possibility of his own death. He was never as alive as he was when he knew he could die.
He might've been aware that death was always a possibility, but it wasn't explicit until Sakurai fought for his life. It was a reminder that he preferred this to the void, the nothing that, given enough time, would pull him apart into nothing. Non-existence. It wouldn't hurt when it was over. But the way there…
No. He would live.
And that meant that he would kill.
Until the point came that even Sakurai was exhausted, he would make it quick.
The odd thing about him was that, even born to civilian parents, his chakra reserves were as great as a clan ninja's. And he was a master at manipulating it. He could make his shadow clones last longer than most because he knew what chakra could do. Anything. It could do anything.
It was magic, really.
And… he loved it.
That he could also use it to do anything…
Well. Well.
Sometimes, other ninja were other ninja.
And it didn't matter that he knew exactly what death would do to them. It wasn't him dying, after all. There was rarely a moment when he thought people actually deserved heath. But everyone died, once, twice. No matter. He felt like he was an angsty teenager feeling edgy sometimes, but then he remembered what it felt like to piston chakra-hardened fingers through eyes with warm wet pops. Hearing the screams. He'd never met anyone who didn't scream when he did that. Those kinds of screams always did set his nerves alight. Human emotion was contagious, after all, could be transmitted through scent. The mask always filtered that, though.
Ah. He was already distancing himself from what he'd have to do. What he'd want to do. In the end, every action taken was a choice, born from desire. At its most basic, survival. But the how did matter. Sakurai thought vaguely that with his official deployment he might not want to pop eyes so often. And then torture them with genjutsu that fooled them into seeing again. For information, certainly. There was a power rush to it, though. He'd have called it sick once.
Now… it was a Wednesday at work.
So. Preparing for war… he felt the anticipation rise. This time, he would wear his own face instead of a mask. And somehow, it bore an excitement for him that made his mind itch.
He knew exactly how to scratch.
Which was why, when his team came across the trespassing Iwa ninja, and it immediately turned hostile, he relished the clang of metal on metal.
When the chunin froze, two of his jounin sent out waves of positive intent to counter the frankly average killing intent. Sakurai spared a thought to mention it to the Commander, make the jounin sensei get the genin used to killing intent before the war. That had killed a lot of his agemates once. Freezing. Sakurai understood. But he'd lived in terror for long enough that killing intent gave him a bit of a tickle by then.
Dodging the doton spikes that would've halved him, he maneuvered to save a teammate from the same fate, and killed one of the enemies with a well-placed shuriken that cut through the bare neck easily with the force of the throw. He engaged in a short exchange with a swordswoman, tripped her, kicked the neck of her comrade emerging from the earth. Her brief, shocked pause allowed his kunai to lodge in her arm, then he replaced himself with the man whose kunai would've killed him.
He always liked it when their own knives were their demise.
His team took care of the last ninja, and the swordswoman attempted to flee. Sakurai made use of wire, wrapped her with it securely.
Acting fast, he moved in, careful, prying open her mouth and using chakra strings to remove the poison capsule. Then he used a kunai to cut through the explosion tag stitched into her vest and drained her chakra to the point of her falling almost unconscious. He used it to heal his own small cuts, rejuvenate his body, and looked over his team before releasing the left-over chakra into the ground, distorting their signatures. He divested her of weapons and checked her clothing for hidden seals or more explosion tags. Iwa ninja were tricky that way, and he was quick to remove them. They weren't afraid of dying in an explosion, if it meant they could take their enemy with them.
"Well done," he told the team. They were largely unhurt, and the chunin with medical training was already checking the others over. That was good, for an ambush like that. These were three Iwa jounin, and three chunin. It was relatively daring of them to so blatantly attack Konohan forces this far within their borders. Seemed like Iwa wanted to begin the war with a bit of a headstart. They'd expected that though.
It would be what he would do. Although he'd have sent in multiple teams of largely jounin who could pick off the outposts they could find one by one. Which was probably what they did. There would be more confrontations, then.
"Ayakawa-san," he said, beckoning the member of T&I over, "Please take care of our prisoner. The rest of us, clean-up."
The man looked vaguely surprised, as though it hadn't been abundantly clear what his specialty was. Besides, Sakurai hadn't thought he'd get to lead a team without there being someone watching how he did it to see if it was alright for the regular forces. He came over, and applied the standard interrogation tags.
The others did as told as well, looting the bodies, finding little but weaponry that they sealed away with the vests for later inspection. It never hurt to be prepared for things like those sewn-in explosion tags.
"Unaba-san," Sakurai turned to the ex-ANBU, "You and I will check the perimeter, and track their route. We'll set up camp in an hour, closer to the border. Be prepared for more skirmishes, all of you. I doubt that was the only team this far into the borders."
"Why set up camp closer to the borders?" one of the chunin, Butsumu, asked. He was only recently promoted, Sakurai remembered. There had been chunin exams in which Konoha had, along with the other villages, meant to intimidate. Butsumu was tall, burly, and not as dumb as he looked.
"I don't want them knowing where our outposts are. If they have a sensor with them, which they will, then we'd be leading them directly to the post," Sakurai watched them for more signs of nervousness. All of the chunin seemed at least apprehensive. They had probably thought it would be a comfortable prep-mission without incidents and the cushy protection that came with four jounin on a team. "Tanaka-san, you're a trap specialist, approaching tokubetsu jounin, aren't you? We'll make use of that talent in a bit."
At least one of them would get some training in, and the others could feel more secure in the knowledge that there was someone who specialized in traps.
Sakurai figured it would have to be enough. They were young, but they would have to control their own fears without help soon enough.
Unaba was a silent shadow as they took to the canopy.
.
Ayakawa checked over the prisoner once more, taking careful note of that stitched-in tag. Haruno must've seen it before to know to cut it so decisively. Ayakawa so liked experienced teammates. Especially when they had five almost lime-green chunin with them. They were chunin, for Konoha's sake! They shouldn't have to be broken out of their frozen state in the face of killing intent with positive intent from Ayakawa and Mimosa combined.
"Did any of you know he was that fast?" Mimosa asked, shaking her head, expression full of reluctant admiration. If she had met Shunshin no Shisui, she wouldn't look like that. Haruno's speed was impressive – but not ledgendary. There was no need to look awed.
She'd been on various missions with Ayakawa before, promoted two years ago to jounin, and he'd seen her surprise when Haruno had taken up the title of team leader. Haruno'd only been promoted a few months ago. Skill rarely represented rank apart from basic physical requirements and a mentality fit for leading missions.
They'd all heard of the Danzou-rumour, but few actually believed that a man who'd been revealed to have been creating his own army of missing clan children and orphans, sealed into absolute obedience and loyalty, could be killed by a single ANBU Captain. Ayakawa would've found the decision to send out only Haruno questionable, hadn't the entirety of ANBU been busy hunting down Root Agents before they harmed civilians or escaped. And Haruno had been en-route home from his last mission, uninjured and well-rested enough. He'd been closest.
So, he'd been given the mission to track Danzou and kill him.
Ayakawa could admit that he'd had his own doubts beyond even that knowledge, but the fight just now showed exactly how well Haruno could not only deal with multiple opponents, but also protecting their medic. No movement wasted, no dodge not turned into an attack. It was a thing of beauty, really. But so was the work of most experienced jounin.
"He was an ANBU Captain for years, Mimosa-san," he reminded. It wouldn't do for Mimosa to be constantly surprised at her leader's competence. He held back a frown, glancing at the chunin. None of them were prepared for what would come. Not for the war. Not even fully for what this mission entailed.
It was clear that Haruno had been operating under the assumption that they would make enemy contact. He hadn't mentioned the possibility before, because it should have been evident. He'd seen that the chunin hadn't been prepared. He'd warned them. His face had been serious, making the scar running down his cheek more prominent somehow.
Ayakawa was sure if he tried, he could re-open the pink line. But he'd die for it, that much was clear.
But the fact that they froze under killing intent as pathetic as that – Ayakawa encountered worse every day in T&I – told him that they weren't up to the standard their vests said they were. He was only glad that Unaba and Mimosa were what their status promised.
"I heard he was ANBU for more than a decade," one of the chunin, Guram, piped up from where he was sealing away weapons and clothes.
Tanaka, beside him, added: "Apparently, he didn't want to be part of the regular forces. He's also been seen in Command a lot, and you know what they do at the moment."
Most of the other chunin looked as though they didn't, but weren't ready to admit ignorance. Ayakawa almost shook his head. What poor information gathering skills they had. Except for Tanaka, perhaps. Either he enjoyed gossiping, or he was training for an infiltration placement. Trap specialists were often requested for that sort of mission. Someone who was capable of laying out traps, was often capable of dismantling them as well. He would have to brush up on his genjutsu for infiltration, though. Ayakawa could tell that his chakra control wasn't quite up to snuff for that yet. He might fool a genin.
The medic, Hasegawa, said hesitantly, "I didn't think the skirmishes would begin this soon."
She'd almost been killed by the doton spikes, had Haruno not tugged her out of the way by grabbing her chunin vest. Ayakawa would have to keep an eye on her. She wasn't close to a panic, but she seemed slightly more shaken than he'd like, since he didn't doubt Haruno was right, and there would be more enemy confrontations to come. There always were, with this sort of thing. And if there wasn't, they likely had a bigger problem. Quick operations in and out often used distractions.
Not, that Iwa didn't have a team of highly skilled jounin running around with another objective, being sneaky and using their comrades as bloody distractions. He'd have to talk to Haruno about the likelihood of that later.
While that skirmish could've ended far worse, especially without Haruno's warning shout Iwa incoming!, it was better if the chunin learned to control their fear. Haruno had done a decent job of appealing to their training, reasoning and given some reassurance in the form of Tanaka. The rest was up to the chunin themselves. Then again, they were all rather young. None older than twenty, none old enough to remember the third war.
Even Haruno was barely old enough to know. But Ayakawa had been given a redacted version of the man's file, and he'd seen that Haruno had been drafted into the active forces when he was six, pulled from the academy for incredible talent at manipulating chakra. The man had known war from the beginning of his career as a ninja, and Ayakawa thought that it showed. He was a competent jounin. He'd verified the team's competence through observation of how they carried out their assigned tasks, and once he was satisfied, he trusted them to hold up the standard.
The way the team had been set up, it looked like the chunin were meant to gather battle experience before being thrown into the war. Ayakawa would bet his mission pay that the teams assigned to prepare the neighbouring outposts had been constructed similarly. Four jounin, five chunin, one of them a medic. Once the war came, the jounin would be reduced to three at most, and the chunin judged to be competent enough for running messenger missions by themselves for requests of backup or warnings and the like.
There was little doubt about Haruno running more than just the prep-mission. Command wanted a clear picture of what Iwa would risk to get a leg up in the coming conflict. And Yamanaka Inoichi wanted a clear picture of how well Haruno would do being in charge of a non-ANBU group. Which was Ayakawa's job to judge.
Haruno was doing well, in his books. Ayakawa, Unaba and Mimosa had run more than a few missions together before. Haruno slotted neatly into their dynamic, more sedate than Ayakawa had taken the man to be when he'd seen him in the village.
He was always busy. There was no meandering to be seen with Haruno, and rarely a quiet moment. He remembered the small scandal it had been when Haruno had been seen with the Kyuubi-container more and more often until the child became a genin. There'd also been a note from Yamanaka Inoichi about how the man became more obnoxious the more stressed he was.
Which meant that this quiet, competent man was about as relaxed as Ayakawa would be inside Konoha, in his favourite bar. He didn't think this mission was any sort of stress factor for him. Ayakawa figured that Haruno was only ever fine when he had things to do. A mission would do.
A decade of service in ANBU would do.
It wasn't uncommon to see in highly competent ninja. They lived for the life of action. That was the polite way to say they couldn't cope with their own thoughts. No competent jounin was ever alright. No retired ANBU would ever be.
The team applied the disposal tags to the bodies, burning them within seconds, and Ayakawa set them to scatter the evidence of their fight. Haruno had already done a decent job of distorting their signatures with that of the prisoner whom Ayakawa would be interrogating later.
He felt quietly pleased at this mission. There'd been another one that he could've taken, to the next border section, but the team leader was Hyuga Hiriko, and Ayakawa didn't like the woman much. She was competent, but obsessive in double-checking her subordinates' work.
Perhaps ANBU trained leadership differently. Perhaps Haruno didn't want to expend the effort. Perhaps he knew that proper delegation was one of the most important aspects of a team leader's position.
Haruno hadn't been put through any of the exams to rise in rank. Ayakawa didn't doubt that he'd have set new standards that would be impossible to match for most jounin hopefuls. And secret exams were just unnecessary.
Ayakawa had basically devoted his life to measuring skill and competence. People were the most interesting thing there was in this world, which had naturally led him into his position of jounin interrogator.
BOOM-
An explosion shook the trees not too far from their location.
"Mimosa, scout ahead if it was Haruno and Unaba. Chunin, follow me!" Ayakawa ordered and grabbed the prisoner.
They cautiously moved towards the explosion in a diamond formation that protected Hasegawa. It was too soon for them to employ diversion strategies, putting the medic in a more vulnerable position. On the way, Ayakawa set down the prisoner in a dead tree's hollow, layering a mild genjutsu over her sensory-deprived, unconscious form. Then he set Tanaka to lay out a quick trap in case she somehow attempted an escape.
Back in the trees, they continued their cautious journey towards the sounds of heavy boulders colliding. Mimosa reappeared and signed: Iwa five jounin, one medic. Comrades engaged.
No one was out for the count then. Good.
He signed to the chunin that they were getting into that fight.
Nervous determination spread across their features. Good enough.
Ayakawa and Mimosa reached the clearing first. Mimosa immediately moved to help Unaba with one of his enemies. Haruno seemed to have the other three well in hand, it was all they could do to keep him from catching his breath for long enough that he would be able to more than injure one of them. They were using far too much chakra to keep him from dodging properly, the earth looked like it was convulsing. If the team interfered, it was highly likely that Haruno would be unable to stop one of his attacks, and even Ayakawa couldn't predict where he'd be next.
Ayakawa went for the medic.
He just barely dodged the kunai one of the jounin trying to squash his team leader like a bug threw, then they were locked in a fast-paced taijutsu battle. The man was quick and precise. He used genjutsu expertly, and Ayakawa only caught it because he expected it. An attack on his ocular senses, shifting them too far to the left.
He spiked his chakra – both to disrupt the jutsu, and to warn the chunin who were hidden, waiting for an opportunity to strike in which they wouldn't be immediately killed.
Ayakawa retaliated with wire, cutting at the jounin's heels. The man jumped, sandals and bits of skin dangling off his feet as he took to the air.
Ayakawa was quick to replace himself with a log, threw a wind cutter at the shinobi whose explosion tag would've blasted him to bits instead of the log. The cutter sliced deeply into the man's arm. He kawarimi'd again, behind the medic who was throwing out annoyingly poisoned senbon and stabbed her through the heart before dodging the jounin again.
The man had slowed down with pain and his injuries that were sure to cause immense blood loss.
Ayakawa dodged a shuriken from one of the suddenly dead jounin who had pincered Haruno. Haruno struck smoothly, kunai lodging deeply into the last opponent's skull before-
Ayakawa dodged, saved himself from the doton spike just in time.
Haruno flew past him, twisted, jumped and finally stabbed- no, feinted, picked up Ayakawa's discarded wire and caught the bleeding man the same way he had the woman earlier, wrapped neatly. The explosion tag in the vest, and the poison capsule were as easily destroyed as before. Ayakawa slapped the interrogation tags depriving the man of his senses and scent on, before going through his pockets carefully.
Unaba and Mimosa had also disposed of their opponents, each carrying an assortment of cuts and bruises. Nothing impeding. The chunin dropped to the battleground at Haruno's signal for the all-clear. It was a silent scene of upheaval and torn earth. Ayakawa couldn't help but feel satisfied.
There was something about a clear victory in the face of powerful enemies that made his lungs flutter above his steady heart. Ah. This was what he took missions outside the village for.
"Same procedure," Haruno commanded, frown pulling his brows together, "I recon they sent up to five teams, hoping to pick off Konoha patrols, so save chakra. We're retreating to the outpost. Unaba-san, Ayakawa-san, Mimosa-san, good work. Unaba-san and I will follow Ayakawa-san to where the other prisoner was left. Tanaka-san, keep tabs on your surroundings as you follow us. Return to the outpost as soon as you're done with Ayakawa-san. Mimosa-san, send a preliminary report to the next outpost, please. Alert us if they've sent one to our location. If they have, lead the chunin to the next outpost further inland. Cover your tracks, all of you, but don't bother here aside from the bodies."
There were no signs of more enemies as they backtracked. The forest was silent. That first rock collision should have alerted everyone within a few kilometres of their fight. It was likely they had dealt with distractions.
"I half expect and ambush once they find out tracks from the first team. So be ready to engage again, prepare the chunin for a fight and a run, Ayakawa-san."
Ayakawa nodded, "Is there anything of interest beyond supplies for them in the area?"
Haruno scrutinised Ayakawa's face for a moment. There was nothing in his body language that indicated his thoughts. "I expect you to try and find out. But I'll think on it."
Ayakawa and Tanaka uncovered the still-sensory-deprived woman and made for the outpost. If it was still secure, they would begin interrogations immediately.
.
Unaba'd been in ANBU for two years, three years ago. He'd never served under Captain Peacock, but he'd been aware of him. Everyone was. You didn't survive ANBU this long, help teammates retire from ANBU more often than die, and keep up a life outside of it worthy of gossip for half a decade without being known. Kind of like Captain Hound, but that was another story altogether.
Peacock ran the kinds of missions that pitted him against S-rank criminals or foreign village ninja alike, but he reported more successes than failures. He had one notable imaginary black mark on his blank record – ANBU never kept records, after all. It was that his team had allowed Orochimaru to escape. Unaba understood that Sakurai had prioritised the lives of his teammates over capturing the sannin alive.
And it was this fact that allowed the assassin to follow Haruno as his team leader as easily as he did. Unaba hadn't remained in ANBU because he realised he needed the opportunity to decline missions. There were those Captains who were so reckless, so suicidal that their team either had to be equally so, or they'd get left behind because they didn't have that extra bit of crazy. Crazy with loss, likely. Or just messed up. There were a lot of those with the combination of both in ANBU.
The perimeter check went smoothly, finding no further tracks of enemy teams. They returned to the outpost, checked the traps and rejoined the team. Unaba was running on half-full reserves by then, but Haruno had kept the pace at the ANBU standard. It made Unaba realise that he might be a bit out of shape.
Three years in the regular forces had made him take it easy a bit.
He was only glad this mission wasn't too taxing. He could step up his training when they got back.
Perhaps ask Haruno for some pointers.
"Report sent, nothing from the next outpost. There was no check-in from Post R49. Two hours late for the time frame," Mimosa reported.
Haruno frowned. "So they hit further east than I expected them to. How's Ayakawa faring?"
"Nothing yet."
Just then, the pained scream of a woman rose and was abruptly cut off.
Ah.
That was one of the reasons Unaba wasn't in T&I. It was also one of the reasons for his specialisation in ANBU. Assassins had to make it quick.
Team leader was silent for a moment, then: "Alright. Ayakawa, Tanaka-san and Butsumu-san move the prisoners inland, to Fort E12 as soon as Ayakawa takes a break. Continue interrogations from there, hold the lines of communication to this Post precisely. Monitor the ones to R49. Unaba-san, Mimosa-san, Hasegawa-san, Guram-san, Raiden-san, we will investigate R49's silence. It is highly likely that we'll engage with enemy teams. You will need to be ready for combat, or running for your lives to Post K5. They're on stand-by for backup and shelter. I expect you have the map memorised for this section of the border. Keep in mind the straightest route to K5 as we move. What are your chakra levels? Unaba first."
"Half. Recovery within a day, if no more enemy engagements."
"Mimosa."
"Two-thirds left. Less than a day recovery."
The chunin were mostly down to half each.
"Hm… standing orders for this investigation: engage the enemy only if I give the sign. Otherwise, stealth and flight. I don't want you taking on a group like the one before half-full. Alert me as soon as you dip past a quarter reserves."
"Hai!"
.
Raiden hadn't expected this prep-mission to become so violent so quickly. He knew he and the other chunin were there to learn the terrain better and navigate quickly between outposts, not to engage with jounin.
He hated to have to admit it, but without Haruno or the other Konoha jounin, he and the other chunin would be red paste between Iwa rocks. Why were there such strong teams this far in the land of Fire's borders anyway? And why were they going into more danger, or what Haruno suspected anyway? What kind of team leader did that?
Raiden had been on two of these prep-missions before and never had they engaged with the enemy. They'd been so fast, those five jounin that his team's jounin had taken on and defeated. So much faster than Raiden… how could Haruno expect them to make it to K5 before they were slaughtered, if he didn't try to buy them time?
Why not request backup?
And what was that about Iwa hitting further east than he'd expected? They were west of R49. So did that mean they had anticipated their team would be in violent engagements with Iwa? Why were they so many chunin, then? One or two more jounin would've been better against these odds.
Also, he'd have liked to have been warned.
Seeing Haruno fight had made it only too apparent that he was way out of their league, Ayakawa had been the only one even able to engage in proper teamwork with the man – and only through making room and preparations. And Haruno'd sent the man to Fort E12 with Tanaka and Butsumu.
Raiden understood Tanaka. He was aiming for T&I. But why did it have to be Butsumu going closer to safety? Butsumu was skilled in hand-to-hand combat, while Raiden was still working on his elemental masteries of fire and lightning. He was nowhere near fast enough to take on these kinds of enemies.
As they travelled through the forest, senses tuned to every little rustle, smell or chakra spike, Unaba scouting ahead, unnoticeable to Raiden, he hoped that the check-in from R49 was only running late. Two hours wasn't… it was still reasonable.
Two hours ago, they'd killed the first Iwa team.
Shite. He felt unprepared, had thought himself safe based on those previous two missions.
Haruno switched directions. The sounds of steel clanging in violent staccato reached Raiden's ears.
They were going towards it.
Unaba appeared from the darkness below, startling him.
'Enemy: two chunin, two jounin, poison specialist and swordsman,' he signed, 'Allies, two jounin, genjutsu expert and weaponmistress.' Unaba signed more, but Raiden could barely follow.
Haruno signed clearly for the chunin: 'chunin engage chunin; jounin take down poison expert, then assist, if needed.'
Okay. Raiden was going to have to fight again. Steeling his resolve, he took comfort from their strength in numbers. He was a rising ninjutsu expert, with projectile weapons as his most advanced other skill. He would be fine with the others by his side.
Two chunin. They could take them.
.
Fucking hell. Were all Konoha Chunin this weak? Sakurai dragged the whimpering teenager away from the instable rock formation. He reminded himself shortly that he was on this mission in order to get a feel for what each rank could handle. So far…
Ayakawa and Unaba were what he expected of jounin. Mimosa was on her way there. A few more missions with enemy contact, and she'd be up to snuff, so long as she honed her skills while she was in the village.
The medic was fine. A bit low on reserves, but that was the game for most of them.
The trap guy and taijutsu novice were alright, but of no real use in the series of skirmishes they'd engage in. He'd thought the beginner of a ninjutsu user could come in handy for distractions, but he'd overestimated the teen's repertoire and ability to dodge.
The Iwa chunin were far more skilled and Sakurai thought it was best to train his own chunin up a bit if the opportunity arose. On the way back to the village, perhaps.
It was too bad that they weren't done for the day.
"Haruno-taichou," Unaba got his attention, "The genjutsu user is not retreating towards the border."
"Ah," Sakurai thought, considering his team, "We had best reach the next outpost to support our allies there. Otherwise the entire sector is at risk. Only defensive maneuvers for the chunin from now on, protect each other. Unaba-san, Mimosa-san, I expect you to tag enemies together. I will protect and pick off. Hyuga-san and her team are in danger and we must hurry."
"Haruno-san," the other jounin they'd rescued spoke up, "I can still cover for you."
She'd been fast. Perhaps fast enough to keep up with Sakurai if he reduced his speed as he had earlier to insert himself into her fight.
"Are you familiar with the Dai-sequence?" Sakurai asked. It was a Konoha-jounin maneuver perfected in the war. Sakurai would evade, attack and put the enemy in a compromised position that would allow a fast comrade to kill the enemy with a quick kawarimi and slash of the throat. It required good timing and a bit of planning.
"Yes," she answered, a sly smile spreading across her blood-splattered face.
"Good. We'll test our compatibility in a bit, then."
.
Raiden had never felt so inadequate before. This whole mission had gone to shit as soon as the first ambush hit them. Haruno had been taking the rest of the team along, tracking the enemy, interrupting fights with allies every few kilometers and managing to exhaust all of the chunin to a third of their reserves. Raiden was down to a quarter, but he refused to be the reason their comrades died. Besides, Haruno had kept them alive so far, and even helped Hasegawa with a mysterious chakra-draining technique that allowed him to strengthen her healing as she'd worked on their comrade.
They were up one jounin and a chunin, which meant their team could be of actual use to the outpost that was taking the brunt of the attack Iwa was launching ahead of time. If Haruno was to be believed, this was a tactical decision that meant every outpost that was attacked could be compromised. Their explosion corps was famous, after all, and tags placed well could easily mean the destruction of a strategically important outpost when it was at its most useful to Konoha. If this theory about them figuring out a long-distance activation tag was true anyway.