Team Rou was a peculiar group of people. On the one side they were the infamous elite ANBU team, dubbed as the best assassination squad Konoha has ever seen. On the other, more darker side, Team Rou was a group of people each dealing with their own problems.
For this reason, they were treated as social rejects. They didn't have a place in the village and instead lurked in the shadows. This made them perfect for the ANBU. Their hearts had already been tainted with a darkness too evil to even be considered normal that the only time they found solace was when they took on missions.
Each more difficult than last but that made it even more thrilling. Nihilism, it seemed, was a non-negotiable part of being on Team Rou. That and unconditional loyalty and trust for your teammates. If you didn't possess both qualities, death was what awaited you on the shadowy battlefield.
Genma Shiranui, known as Frog, was what could be called a typical lady's man. His days that weren't spent on missions or in the hospital was instead spent with women, though never the same woman twice.
His past was almost predictable; he was raised by his father, who never surpassed the rank of a chunin, his mother walked out of his life and married a ninja from Iwa and sparked the beginning of relationship insecurities.
His life as a Genin was fairly normal, although he did have Maito Gai and Ebisu for teammates. Part of his weirdness had to be blamed on them. It was when he became a Chunin, that his problems began.
What was meant to be Rank B escort mission turned out to be a never-ending nightmare. His team was ambushed a group of rouge Iwa nin (damn Iwa, always causing problems for the people of the Leaf. First the war, then his mother and now this? Kami, did he hate Iwa) and their client was killed, or to be exact, slashed in half, right in front of him.
They didn't stop there. One by one his team became less until, eventually, he was the only surviving member. He was paralysed, one of the ambushers turned out to be a former medical nin and threw a poisoned senbon at him.
His teammates at the time were brutally murdered, one had his head crushed by a boulder, his body laying limp on the bloodied ground. The other was put under a genjutsu and tortured until the stress became too much and blood ran down from his eyes and ears. Genma was forced to watch it, unable to anything until another squad came to their rescue.
He didn't know what was going on, until a familiar masked boy came up to him and asked if he could still move. He stared at the boy long and hard, he had an expression on his face one of regret and boredom? Said boy clicked his tongue and turned away but not before saying words that Genma would never forget, "Just because you lost doesn't mean you failed. If you have enough energy to stare at me like that, you have enough energy to fight."
That's when he recognised his voice, Kakashi Hatake, number one killjoy ninja. He disregarded those who was weak so why did he tell him that? Probably because of the battle at Kannabi Bridge, he reasoned.
In that moment, Genma knew if anyone hated the Iwa nin, it would be Kakashi. He had watched his teammates be kidnapped and one nearly crushed to death, that's how he got the Sharingan eye, or so he heard anyway. He never quite liked his former classmate, always thought of him as arrogant but Kakashi in a way seemed so much different from how he was.
Maybe, just maybe, he thought before falling unconscious, I'll survive this.
Somehow, when Genma woke up he was back in Konoha. More specifically, he was in hospital. It didn't matter to him how he got there he just knew he needed to get out. He refused to be confined by the four walls of his hospital room.
He took what Kakashi said to heart and continued to fight. He trained to become better in kenjutsu and started using senbons, the memory of his lost client and the medical nin that had poisoned him motivating him, he reached the rank of Jonin, then Special Jonin but that didn't stop the nightmares or the rumours.
He heard the whispers when he walked through town, how he failed his mission and was the sole survivor and it led to him being alienated. He still had the women, but it wasn't enough.
His mind kept wondering back to that day, what if he hadn't taken the request, what if he had taken another route, what if he and his team had been more prepared, would any of it have made a difference? His thoughts weighed him down, he couldn't take it.
He couldn't take the regret nor the isolation. How much longer did he have to wait, how much more did he have to train to get those thoughts and their faces out of his head?
It wasn't fair. He never wanted this he wanted to lead a simple life, granted a ninja's life was never simple but this was too much. Genma continued to train he needed to become to become stronger he had a reason why he became a ninja, he just needed to find it. Maybe then he would be able to move on.
He was at a bar where he overheard what he thought of as the perfect way to distract himself. A ninja who he had never seen spoke to another he recognised as Ibiki Morino.
"I just don't understand why anyone would join ANBU, being put there is like signing your own death warrant. I heard that after being there too long you either get killed or lose your mind," the man told Ibiki.
"Maybe that's why people join. It's true that most people lose their mind in ANBU and that's why they get killed but it's also a haven for people who don't have a place here in the village as normal ninja," Ibiki said.
"Huh? Don't tell me your thinking of joining, Ibiki."
"Well not now at least. I want to understand the human mind more before I even consider ANBU. That's why I'm working under Yamanaka-san now."
He didn't bother to stay after that. It had to be true, if someone like Kakashi Hatake who had seen so much was a captain of the assassination force of Konoha then surely, he could join too. That night he made his decision.
He applied for ANBU the next morning and was assigned to a squad with none other than Kakashi as his captain. He never stopped staring at the back of Kakashi after that, so he never stopped fighting. The nightmares never completely stopped but he now had something that could lesson his burden, Team Rou.
Hayate Gekko was many things; to his parents he was nothing but a burden, to his village he was Rabbit, a kenjutsu master, but to Team Rou and the love of his life, he was simply Hayate.
He had always been a sickly child and it wasn't easy to miss, not with his pale skin, dark bags under his eyes and his signature cough and raspy voice. For this reason, no one expected him to move pass the Chunin rank. His parents had thought it a miracle when he even graduated as a Genin and when he surpassed Chunin rank to Jonin they were over the moon.
Not that they were proud, no, they were happy because he no longer had to trouble them. Even as Chunin, he still lived with them but now that he was a Jonin, he could just move into the Jonin/ANBU hostels.
They never pitied him, they always pitied themselves. They always wanted a child and when they finally had one, he resembled an underweight sickly panda. Numerous bills had to be paid for his health since he spent so much time in the hospital.
Then, when he started to become better, his parents had to cough up even more money to pay for ninja equipment even though they were certain he couldn't do much for the village. Sure, he was good with the katana, but he was no Kakashi Hatake. It was bought for him and Hayate, though he felt no animosity towards anyone, he swore to prove all those who doubted him wrong.
He trained harder each day, soon mastering the art the of kenjutsu at a young age and being awarded with the title of Special Jonin. His health took a toll and though he achieved so much it would amount to nothing because once again he was sent to the hospital. His stay there was much longer than before, he supposed it was due to the fact that his lungs seemed to burn with each step he took.
His parents never visited him, but he was never alone in his hospital. Day after day a former teammate or classmate would visit him, they probably thought he was near his end and wanted to pay their dues. Hayate wished they never came.
He hated being pitied since everyone seemed to do it since he was younger. The only company he ever enjoyed was that of Yugao Uzuki, his kouhai and girlfriend. She had always believed in him.
During his stay in hospital, the doctors informed him that he didn't have much longer to live but for some reason he saw it as a fitting end. The story of an underdog who was so close to reaching his goal but tripped and fell right in front of the finish line.
It would be too cliche if he had a happy ending, life was never like the books. Hayate hated that he would die without any regrets. Was his life really just a pointless battle?
"You know for someone who was told he was going to die, you're handling this situation awfully well," someone's voice interrupted his rather depressing thoughts.
"Kakashi Hatake."
"Yo, Hayate," he greeted from the bed besides Hayate's, he lounging as he read one of Jiraiya-sama's porn books. When did he get here?
"I've been here for about two hours; you were thinking out loud by the way."
Hayate sat up straight to properly face him, "Why are you here?"
Kakashi shrugged, "Broke a few ribs from the mission I just got back from. Doctors wanted to put me in a different room, but I asked to be put here. Word on the street says you're going to die and those doctors just confirmed it."
"Oh. So, you're here for the same reasons just like the rest of them," for some reason Hayate was disappointed.
"The rest of them? Man, you must be popular. Whenever I'm injured, it's just Obito that visits and sometimes Genma. I usually kick Gai out though. Kurenai told me it's because I'm as asshole to most people that's why no one really visits. She's probably right."
"You're never this talkative… and if you aren't here to see me before I die, then why are you here?"
Kakashi put his book down, he was starting to like this conversation, it was strange, "Firstly, I've been like this since I started spending time with Obito and Gai and you can't talk much with that cough of yours. Secondly, I wanted to tell you to not listen to their bullshit. Just cause someone says you gonna die, are you going to accept it just like that?"
"What would you do then, if you were told you didn't have long left to live?"
"I'd be on fucking cloud nine. I've lost my will to live a long time ago that's why they put me in ANBU."
Hayate stared at him. He wasn't like this before though it made things somewhat interesting. He couldn't remember the last time he had a conversation with someone other than Yugao and not felt bored to death. How ironic.
"You want me to live but wish death for yourself?"
Kakashi snorted, "Nah, I'm not that far gone. It's just if someone handed death to me on a platter, I'd happily take it. I have something to live for and that's why I'm still alive. Barely but alive. You have a girlfriend, don't you?"
"Yugao? But what does she have to with me living or dying?"
"You're even more dense than Obito. If you have someone you care about, you'd want to protect them and you can only do that if you're alive."
He had to admit what Kakashi said was right. Yugao was everything to him, she was the only one who never gave up on him, at least she was the only one until now.
"I'll live longer if I don't give up," it came out as a statement rather a question.
"Who knows? It takes more than willpower to survive . You haven't died yet so just stop acting like it's your funeral." Kakashi picked his book up and got out of the hospital bed. He walked towards an open window in the room .
"You're too good a ninja to just die like they want, Hayate. I live because I've too many regrets and I don't know when it'll stop me. I'm looking for a proper reason for my existence. Yours isn't just to prove that you're skilled. Find it and survive. Damnit, it took me one sentence to knock some sense into Genma's head. It took an entire conversation for you. Well whatever, ja!" With that he jumped put to window.
Two weeks later, Hayate was able to leave the hospital. He didn't die like they expected him to. He ran into Genma as he was applying for ANBU and on a whim, Hayate did the same.
He was accepted and put into Team Rou. He lived for Yugao and he lived to prove whoever doubted him wrong but there was another reason why he lived and until he figured out what it was, he swore he wouldn't die and knew he wouldn't get the chance to either, not when he had the man who convinced to search his purpose as his captain.
Raidou Namiashi was a simple man. Unlike the rest of his teammates, he had no tragic backstory. He didn't need to be saved from any life-threatening situations, he didn't have a chronic illness, he wasn't involved in some psycho's attempt to breed super children and he sure as hell had no business in dealing with a crazed clan.
Raidou Namiashi was suffering from what many called 'boredom'. In all his ninja life he had not seen any worthwhile action since his Chunin exam. He was now Special Jonin for Kami's sake.
He did not participate in Third Shinobi War; his skills were honed too late to even be considered useful even if he had taken part. He had no say in the outcome of the Kyuubi's attack, although no one his age had, not even Copy Nin Kakashi or Shishui the Teleporter. That made no difference to him; he had still not helped his village in the slightest.
Yes, he took on missions and yes, some of them had some importance, but when comparing guarding the Hokage on an excursion the leader himself knew was trapped and already had backup plan to fighting against enemy nin whose intention was to destroy the Hidden Leaf, the answer was quite clear: Raidou Namiashi was a man whose life was too simple to be considered as a ninja.
People often avoided him as they claimed he complained too much or the more frequent, his mental stability surely was at risk. They couldn't understand why anyone would speak of living and dying to the fullest so often.
Yeah, he would tend to go in graphic details in what he described as the 'perfect death' while others would stare at him. He could also understand why some people deemed it unnecessary to intentionally take on tough missions that had a low chance of survival. But he was not, despite what anyone said, insane. In his opinion his existence was rather pointless.
Though right now he really questioned exactly how useless he was. He was standing in the middle of Uchiha district holding the crying infant son of Fugaku Uchiha, while the baby's older brother, Itachi, conversed with an elderly woman he was sure kept looking his way. Raidou was positive he was being watched by wary eyes wondering why he was holding the precious bundle and why said bundle was crying. Just how did he end up in this situation?
He was on his way to Uchiha District (they supplied the best fruits anyone could ask for) when the young clan heir stopped him to ask for his assistance. It was weird because why would a boy, who was supposed to his kouhai but has long since surpassed what he couldn't even hope to achieve, asking him of all people for assistance? He accepted nonetheless and the extremely grateful Itachi Uchiha handed him his brother before running to the elderly woman to ask her something.
As soon as he left, his brother immediately started to cry, leaving a flustered Raidou Namiashi in the middle of the street while being stared at by the numerous people who considered him unworthy of holding the infant.
Itachi came running back to him, taking Sasuke in his arms and the baby immediately stopped whining. Raidou was certain that not much would change when they got older.
"Gomen, Namiashi-san, for taking up your time. I needed to speak to my aunt for my mother and if I had taken Sasuke with me, she would have held me back longer than necessary," Itachi apologised.
Ahh, so it was Sasuke she was eyeing. That makes a lot more sense, he thought before turning his focus back to Itachi, "It's alright, Itachi-kun. I didn't have much to do anyway, besides you weren't that long."
"Hai, but Sasuke still caused you problems. He only seems to be calm when I hold him. My mother finds it quite strange, actually. Namiashi-san, if you don't mind me asking, why are you here?"
Raidou scratched his neck, not many people other than the Uchiha spent time in the district, "Ehh, the best fruit is found here and I didn't have anything else to do so…"
Itachi nodded, "Then Namiashi-san would you mind me treating you to some fruit as a thank you for assisting me?"
He knew he should say no but while the fruit was the best, it was also expensive. Forgetting everything about courtesy he agreed and Itachi, to his surprise, smiled.
They arrived at a quaint stall that sold fruit and after ordering the two ninjas, plus infant, sat down by a table. Itachi was the first to break the silence, "Arigato, Namiashi-san, for allowing me to treat you. Very few treat me as a normal person."
"Well that's supposed to expected, innit? You're the clan heir after all. Not to mention all your achievements. It would be strange if you were treated as the average person."
"Maybe so, Namiashi-san. It does get tiring being treated as some sort of God when all I have is skill, but I know better to complain."
"At least you're humble about it. Most geniuses act all great, trust me I know one myself," Raidou said, thinking of a certain silver-haired nin.
"You are referring to Kakashi-taicho" Itachi asked while feeding a small piece of apple to Sasuke.
"Yeah, you refer to him as Taicho?"
"Kakashi-senpai is my senior in the ANBU Corps, we are on the same squad, with him as my leader."
Raidou sighed. Of course Itachi would be in ANBU already; he couldn't help but feel a tinge of jealousy. "Must be fun to be in the corps already…"
"Fun? Most would not refer to being an assassin as fun. Our job requires us to hunt in the shadows. We kill who we are ordered to and leave no trace behind. We decide who lives and who dies and you think of that as exciting?" despite his words, Itachi wasn't angry. He was surprised since he had heard many things about being in the ANBU and fun was never part of it.
"If you say it like that, it does seem strange that I find it fun to be part of ANBU but you guys always put your life on the line for the village. Sure, you kill people who didn't deserve to die but regular shinobi do it all the time. I guess what I'm trying to say is your life as a ninja in the corps has more value than someone like me, who despite being a Special Jonin, hasn't done much for the Village," Raidou said as he finished his fruit serving.
When did I even start eating and it's finished already?
"I often wonder about the meaning of life too if death is the ultimate outcome no matter how great you lived. You are interesting Namiashi-san. I will speak to Kakashi-senpai about referring you to the Hokage to be part of our squad," Itachi said standing up.
"Wait what?" Surely this kid wasn't actually going to get him into the ANBU Corps, right?
"Your rank as a Special Jonin as well as your view of being a shinobi will be to your favour. You seem to know Kakashi-senpai as well. Perhaps if you are memorable enough, Senpai will agree to speak to the Hokage. I wish you goodluck, Namiashi-san as our short time spent together has convinced me that you are loyal enough."
Itachi left with a giggling Sasuke and Raidou was rendered speechless. If being recommended to join the elite ninja of Konoha was so easy he would have spent less time complaining and more time talking.
Sure enough, a mere five days later a ninja claiming to be a member of Itachi's ANBU squad spoke to him about joining ANBU. He identified himself as Deer. The man did seem indifferent but some part of Raidou knew that Deer was actually considering it. He had said that their squad, Team Rou, needed a new member as his former teammate had, in his terms, retired because of unfortunate circumstances.
He was told that being part of Team Rou required two things and if he did not possess them both, he would end up the same. Raidou accepted immediately and although Deer clicked his tongue, he shook his hand, "Itachi-kun claims that you are trustworthy. Know that Team Rou is an elite team of the ANBU, but we are not ordinary."
Raidou smirked. This was perfect, he finally had a chance to prove his worth as a ninja. No one would avoid him in fear of listening to him complain or question his mental state when all he could talk about was living and dying to the fullest, "When do I start?'
A/N: This is the chapter I feel most proud of, I think it took me about three days to write and honestly I love the way it turned out.
Reply to the reviews I've gotten this week (really appreciate all of you, your reviews make my day):
Kitsunegirl100: Really glad you feel that way! This fic will have lots of fluff but be prepared for the eventual angst XD
TigrezzTail: Yep! depending on Obito to be on time is never the way to go. BTW you gave me an idea about the villagers trying to get away with mischief so thanks for that, love! :)
TipsyKitsune: He really is, isn't he? Yuugao won't be introduced anytime soon apart from being mention by the characters like in this chapter but if all goes well and the fic will go accoring to my expectations then she'll will have some part to play but trust me when I say that in the story's current setting it will only happen in the next few years.
Darkhunterressxir: I'm glad it is like I really want this story to be so cute and fluffy that it'll make you squeal because while I'm writing this I try to not fangirl over Daddy!Kakashi ;)
Before I finish off - No one guessed correctly about who the members were so no bonus chapter but if if this fic gets at least 7 new reviews then I'll post double next week. Ja ne!
