A/N Hello everyone! Thanks for waiting and for the new reviews! I finally made myself sometime to write this chapter and update it, I hope you all like it. This is the point where everything starts going downhill but do not fret my friends, I'll make a conscious effort to put a limit to the angst. Happy reading!

Bruce Rosie.

Chapter 16. A Tale of Success, Treason and Grief.

"So this is what you meant back at the hospital," I said, not looking at my friend. "Did Nii-san know about it?"

Itachi nodded silently and continued to stare at the elder giving out the monthly report at the front of the chamber.

Out of all the things Fugaku could have had me do as punishment, joining the black opps had never crossed my mind. There were so many other shinobi who showed much more talent and promise than myself, and even so, the request had been officially made for me to join. There must have been a reason behind it and a person sane enough to make that request. The question was: what had they seen in me, and who had the authority to ask such thing and get it granted considering the circumstances? Who had such authority?

"- as for the growing hostilities towards the clan, I do believe it is time to remind the council, and the Hokage himself who exactly it is they are disrespecting."

My ears perked up at this, and I instantly looked up to the elder who had just finished her report and was now kneeling back down and bowing respectfully to our head. I was sure I hadn't heard wrong, had there been hostilities against the Uchiha that I wasn't aware of? I mean yes, I had been a proverbial victim to the scrutiny the Uchiha were put under where expectations were concerned, but I had never noticed anything wrong politically. But if what the elder said held any truth to it, how had Konoha's council allowed that? Or rather why had they allowed it?

I didn't have much time to contemplate the matter, as the meeting was adjourned soon after that. But the fact that Fugaku hadn't addressed the elder's comment had me even more worried that the comment itself. People left the premises of the shrine in little groups of three and four people, and not one of them seemed disturbed by our current situation. Did they not realize what this could mean should the situation escalate? They all seemed so cheerfully oblivious of the fact of what the consequences could be, all except Fugaku. But I couldn't really tell if his somber expression was any different from the one he wore every day. Now that man was (and still is) a big mystery to me. Was he proud? Sickeningly so. Was he stoic? Like no other you'd ever meet. But he never acted without the wellbeing of the clan weighting on his mind, and as any good shinobi, always planned ahead for any possible scenario. But if he was ever forced to choose between his pride and his responsibility, I wasn't sure what his choice would be. He was an Uchiha after all.

"ready to go home, Akane-chan?" said Shisui behind me as he put a hand on my shoulder. "We can get some Tempura on our way back."

I turned to face him with a smile I hoped wasn't too strained.

Whichever Fugaku chose, he'd better choose well. My brother's and my best friend's life depended on it.

"Sounds good to me, Nii-san."

….

ANBU Head Quarters were not something I had imagined often, but should someone ask me to do so, what little of it I could see now would never have been my first guess. Yes, the place was built underground and yes the concrete walls, floor and ceiling and fluorescent lights gave it a very cold feeling; but by no means was the place unkempt. There was no humidity in the air and the scent of mold and decay was nowhere to be found, in fact there was a noticeable lack of it all. The place wasn't warm, but neither was it cold, and although it felt quite unlived in and was incredibly empty, it only reflected what exemplary shinobi had walked its hallways before me.

All of this I noticed as I followed my new mentor through the building and into the female locker room, carrying what would be my new gear and mask. The concept behind the mask, I found rather interesting. Aside from concealing one's identity, the mask was a physical representation of our devotion and loyalty to the hat. A person might have had a name, family, friends, past and future, a reason, personal or otherwise to defy orders. But not a mask.

Even though my new identity wouldn't be given to me yet, I still had to wear my blank mask, and it would remain that way until I completed basic training. Only then, would my mentor paint my mask for me and give me my new animal name as Konohagakure no Sato's Black Opps' tradition stated. I also learned that, one's mentor was also the person who had requested one's recruitment and had therefore put their reputation as operatives on the line for the sake of the recruit, which to be completely honest was a bit nerve racking.

I opened the door to the female's locker room and stood nervously waiting for orders as my mentor made his retreat and closed the door behind me. As expected, the number of females was very small, there must have been under seven of them in the room. Recruitment for women, Senpai had explained, was much stricter than that for men (another reason to question his decision for recruiting me), and it came as no surprise when I found out most of them were either medical ninja or part of the seduction corps. The welcome they gave me was far warmer than I had expected though; and as they showed me to my locker and set out the ground rules, I became increasingly comfortable with them, and realized I could count on them both as comrades in arms and as fellow women.

One of the faces I instantly recognized and had turned out to be one of the few female combat operatives, Uzuki Yugao, the woman who had been the proctor for the semi-finals during our chunin exams. All she did was wink at me before putting her mask on and setting out on her way; but the impression she left on me that day was not one that would be easily removed. Combat operatives not only carried out top secret missions under the Hokage's orders, they also served as their personal guard, one of the greatest honors a shinobi could be granted.

After meeting my fellow sisters in arms and setting up my locker, I geared up. The only thing left, was to start basic training.

There was no gentle ease into it, no 'going easy because it's your first day', no. Both male and female hopefuls trained alongside each other and standards were the same for both genders, even if the female portion of recruits added up to a raging two people out of ten. Did I mention you could not make the cut as well? There were a total of five open spots, one for each division: Medical Ninjutsu, Seduction, Sabotage, Assassination and Infiltration. The rest of the recruits would go back to their regular ranks.

Our daily training would consist of fifteen hours of Genjutsu, Taijutsu and Ninjutsu, four days a week; and studies of history of ANBU, Mannerisms throughout the five great nations, principles of seduction, assassination and sabotage the remaining two days. We were granted a day off every fortnight and hospital leave for anything worse than a broken bone. All of this we had to endure for a year in hopes of making the cut.

It is very safe to say that BT was a gigantic effort on my part, mostly in what genjutsu concerned, but thankfully, my brother, my friends and my team supported me every step of the way. I would dedicate my days off to all of them; starting with morning tea with Shisui, all the way through lunch dates with Itachi and Hana, and finishing up with dango and team eight. Every now and then I would also spare some time to see both Sasuke and Naruto, who insisted I worked too hard and demanded I had a sleepover with them so I could rest properly.

Before I knew it though, a year had gone by, and my blood sweat and tears had finally shown results when I, not only made the cut, but ranked third among us trainees. At first, I thought I'd be put in seduction as many of the females before me had been, but when Cat Taicho hung the assignment list on the notice board in the lounge, I was both relieved and excited to have been made a part of the infiltration team.

That night, Shisui organized a great dinner party in my honor and invited all of my friends. The food was plentiful, the laughter even more so, and there may or may not have been a taijutsu contest later in the evening to see who would eat the last stick of dango. That night a lot of fond memories were made, and I had never been more grateful for what I had than that day.

But it was then, when my aim was the clearest, when I felt the happiest with life and my ambition was at its highest, that my loyalty was put into question for the very first time. On that year's very first Clan meeting, Fugaku, alongside the elder council, announced that the Uchiha Clan would be staging a coup-de-etat against the Hokage for the negligence and disrespect they had treated the clan with, ever since the times of the Nidaime Hokage, Senju Tobirama.

Both Itachi's and my loyalties were put into question and needless to say that we both lied through our teeth that night. I knew I would be being watched that night, so I waited until my morning training started to report to Cat Taicho. He acknowledged my report and sent me on my way to training without giving away the tension it had set upon him, if it ever did. I was also never given an update on the situation or a plan of action, so I stayed silent and as much under the radar as I could manage; I had no authority to demand answers, even if the matter did involve my family's treason.

Even If I was still going through training and wasn't in the compound much, the air around it seemed to get thicker every time I set foot on it, and it didn't take a genius to figure out why. Shisui never spoke of the matter, but I could see the desperation in his eyes as he searched for a possible solution. Itachi was under suspicion for his defiance of Clan protocol, and as for myself, U was exempted of it for my devotion to my brother, who was supposedly loyal to the clan and in charge of keeping an eye on Itachi.

In an unexpected way, our loyalty to the hat and our sense of righteousness brought Shisui and I even closer. All those times where my brother had tried to teach me everything he knew from his slightly longer life experience was being brought back up, and our agreement on the matter solidified the bond we already shared. We were a team and I had somehow made him proud.

That was my last comfort before he died.

Shisui's death came as a slap to the face. I believed him to be one of the best shinobi Konoha had to offer, so it came as no surprise that his demise was not a case of KIA. What hurt the most, was the fact that he had chosen to take his own life, and I had never noticed his struggle. My brother was my rock, my guiding light, my mentor and my closest friend; I would have given my life if it meant he could live on. But he had chosen not to. Not only did he choose it and leave only a single note behind, but he did it in the presence of the only other person that would suffer his death just as much as I would.

Itachi had come to me immediately after and had found me lying on the floor, staring into the ceiling. My tears had dried long before he arrived and my hands shook as they held Shisui's final farewell to my chest. All he could do was hold me through the remaining hours of the night and until dawn. He told me he had been there, and that Shisui had wished me happiness in spite of his actions. I could only chuckle bitterly as fresh tears fell, and I hoped I never forgot the pain of losing someone, so I wouldn't let it happen again.

What had gone wrong? Had the strain of being a shinobi been too much? Had the current situation broken him? I didn't think so. There must have been something driving him to commit suicide, and I cursed myself for not being able to come up with a reason. A mission could have gone wrong, someone could have died, or he could have seen something that traumatized him enough to kill himself. I hated myself again for missing the signs had there been any.

The only thing that made matters worse, was the fact that people openly and blatantly accusing Itachi of murdering him. Most times they refrained from doing so in my presence, but I was a shinobi, and listening to things I shouldn't was my job. Itachi remained stoic when he was with me, but I could see the hurt and anger I his eyes whenever someone called him a murderer under their breath. During those times, I would hold his hand and pull him along and past them, but the feeling would linger long after we were gone.

Shisui's funeral was held one sunny morning. A lot of people attended and even more said their condolences, but there were only a handful who I wanted there. The flourish that came with the death of a well known ninja was somewhat ironic; they had been great in the past and were now even greater in their death. I hated it all, the people I didn't know, those I did but didn't care for and mostly I hated their pitiful smiles. In their eyes, a thirteen year old had been left on her lonesome; in mine most of them should have never attended the ceremony. It was so fake I wanted to cry out in frustration and burn every single piece of flower arrangement, the more expensive the better. I wanted them gone, and it was Inuzuka Tsume's hand on my shoulder the only thing that prevented me from doing anything stupid.

I would be okay once they all left. I would be okay once I could go back to Hana's place. I would be okay when I finished my license and went back to work. I would be okay once I was allowed some space. I would be okay, but deep down in my heart there would be a part of me that would never be.