The ANBU Chronicles

File #1; Chapter 8

Genma sipped his wine and thought about the mission. Tomorrow, he and Sasori were going to be attending Gensou's party disguised as a married couple and once they had the chance, they were going to kill him somehow. 'Damn, we haven't even figured out how to kill him yet,' Genma thought.

"Sasori, have you thought about how to kill Gensou?"

Sasori hummed as she held the spoon over the candle, heating up its contents.

"Hmmm... I was thinking along the lines of poisoning him. Not a fast-acting poison but rather a slow-acting one," she replied," Infiltrating the party will be easy, perhaps too easy. We have to anticipate that Gensou will be on his guard and that he will have guards. The first thing to do is neutralize the guards. However, we are going to have to get past some guards first, presumably. You and I are going to have to put on one hell of a show to make sure that our ruse is believable, you know."

"And the party is being held at Risoukyou, a night club that Gensou owns here in the city," Genma said, reciting the file from memory," Or sources say that this is going to be a party to end all parties."

"What is Gensou celebrating, again?"

"His 30th birthday."

"Heh," Sasori chuckled," It'll be his funeral."

Genma tilted his head and put an arm under it. He watched her back for a minute or two, studying it. The scars on her back were raised and from his point of view, looked like burn marks. Well, some looked like burn marks and still others looked like lash marks, like she had been whipped. Genma winced at the thought of what sort of torture she could've gone through when she was younger. His parents had only paid attention to him when they needed to and never yelled at him to clean up his room or got on his case about anything, really. Instead of ignoring her, her parents had hurt Sasori. He dared not dig any further into her business for fear of pissing her off.

He looked up at the ceiling. Indeed, Sasori had changed a lot in the past 24 hours. Her cold and arrogant demeanor had left her and now she was at least a bit cordial to him and cooperative. That was great but how long would it last?

"Finished!"

Sasori lifted the beer glass filled with a strange brownish blue liquid that swirled in the dull light of the room. Genma sat up.

"You have to drink that whole glass?" he asked.

"No," she said," I made enough for 3 antidotes. I am going to drink one now so there will be one antidote for each of us."

He watched as she walked over to him and picked up her antidote and poisons case from the bedside table. She took out two extra vials and measured some of the antidote into them. The rest, she swallowed shakily. Carefully, Sasori screwed the tops back onto the vials and handed one to Genma. She tucked hers into her halter top, right between her breasts. Genma raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"What?" she said," It's one of two places on my person where anything is secure."

Genma opened his mouth to retort when she crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. Wisely, he shut his mouth and kept his remark to himself.

Sasori took the bed again that night and Genma slept on the floor again. He didn't mind since he noticed that Sasori's movements were still a bit stiff and her breathing picked up sharply occasionally. She had been trying to hide it from him but he could tell that the poison had been wearing on her. Only her blood and its resistance to poison as well as her vast knowledge of poisons had kept her alive- and his care. She hadn't reacted well to his attempts to help her at first but later, she had asked him for assistance.

He folded his arms under his head and stared at the ceiling. Tomorrow was going to be interesting for sure. 'For one evening, I am going to have to pretend to be her husband and it has to be believable,' he thought,' If Gensou suspects us to be deceptive, we are going to be dead before we realize it.' Hopefully, Sasori would be feeling better in the morning because if not, they would be screwed. She needed to be in good health because Genma knew he couldn't pull it off alone and he had a feeling that she realized she couldn't do it alone either.

On the bed above and to the left of him, Sasori was plotting their plan of attack. She could pretend to be Genma's wife. It wasn't the first time she had pretended to be something she wasn't so pretending to be someone's wife was no big deal. Like an actress acting out her character's affection and devotion to the character that the actor potrayed, this was no different except it had higher stakes. The worst that could happen for actors and actresses is that they get booed off the stage. If Genma and Sasori screwed up, there would be no booing or showers of rotten vegetables. There would be death.

They would have to play along with each other and make sure their stories matched up. Sasori was excellent at improvising things and Genma was the type that could easily follow what she said. They could feed off each other. At least, that was what she hoped that was what the case would be. She couldn't pull this mission off without him because their ruse depended on Genma as much as it depended on her, and Sasori knew it.

"Yes, Gensou-sama," the subordinate said," All eleven of the dead have been destroyed. Their secrets are safe."

Gensou laced his hands together and rested his elbows on the desk. His mind worked furiously. Who could be skilled enough to dispatch 11 Chuunin and escape alive? All of his ninja that he had sent to patrol the bridge for added security for his party had been killed on the bridge- no survivors to tell of who had killed them. As a result, he had doubled his watches and was checking each and every one of his guests for illusions. He wanted to avert the obvious.

His unknown foe or foes unnerved him. Gensou was the kind of man who liked to know what odds he was dealing with. In fact, he had run almost his entire life on two things- gambling and being a missing-nin. He was quite good at both things and thusly he had thrived in this world. For the most part, he didn't really practice ninjutsu so he wasn't at the top of any assassination lists. He was high-profile criminal however. His native village was powerless to stop him and the body count proved it. In fact, his only major rival had been Gatou but he was killed when his own hired ninja killed him - thanks in part to the Leaf ninja who had been protecting Tazuna the bridge builder. With Gatou gone, Gensou was free to build as he chose.

So he built himself a casino and a nightclub, both of which prospered. He looked out his office window and down on the many Wave Country citizens gambling away their money and wages on a game that they probably would never win. That was okay for Gensou. That meant more money for him and what he needed was money.

Though already a wealthy man, he was not without ambition and his ambition encouraged him to try and make an empire. He already had the Wave Country in his hand for its citizens were slaves to their addictions. He wanted to conquer the Fire Country next but the first step there was to eliminate Konohagakure and every last Leaf ninja. The Leaf nin were strong, yes. He remembered when they had staved off an attack from both Sand and Sound at the same time. That was an impressive show of strength and only succeeded in fanning the flames of his ambition. If Konoha fell to him, then what was to stop him from attaining the rest of the world?

The plan had been nearly flawless. Only his closest associates had known about the plan to overtake Fire Country but it appeared that there was a leak. Gensou liked to take chances but with something this large at stake, he couldn't afford to underestimate or brush aside the death of 11 of his finest Chuunin.

"Gensou-sama, shall we cancel the party?" the subordinate asked.

"No," Gensou said," Double the guard around Risoukyou and around me. I want to draw them out and watch them die. No one has taken out 11 of my agents in one go..."

He paused and stood up. His long, silky black hair with the streaks of blue, periwinkle and white was tied at the base of his neck with a simple black elastic. His suit was crisp and a beautiful dark blue with black accents. His shirt had a Mandarin collar and he wore no tie. His bright blue, pupil-less eyes sharply contrasted his pale, creamy skin. Suddenly, he brought his fist down upon the oak desk. His eyes were frozen with pure fury.

"That is unacceptable. As soon as we find them, kill them!"

-End Chapter 8-