Chapter 29 Joining the ANBU
"The ANBU are the offensive and the defensive force of the Leaf Village. Originally they were entrusted only with military operations outside the village. However when the Uchiha clan, which comprised the bulk of the Police, were exterminated, the ANBU took the chance. They convinced the Third to dissolve the Police force and let the ANBU take charge of the defense of the Village. Only the strongest and most able can join the ANBU, as they are the true elite of the Leaf."
Leaf History book
"Only those in love with death can join the ANBU"
Anonymous graffiti.
Motomiya Kei firmly believed that every good lunch with friends should obligatorily have strong liquor. He had drunk too much today. He staggered toward the bathroom located on the back of the bar. He grinned in relief as he started doing the second most pleasurable activity known to man.
The first thing that told Kei that something was wrong was the hand that covered his mouth. He never saw the knife as it went through his back to strike a vital point. Death was almost instantaneous. The next nineteen strikes were hardly as effective. Three of them didn't even count as a serious wound. Still, they were necessary to make it look like an amateur's job.
Motomiya Kei, married with two children, respected journalist, fell down dead into a pool of his own blood. His killer took the wallet of the body lying on the floor and left the knife. Of course he was wearing gloves. The only fingerprints that were on the knife were from the brother of Kei, Motomiya Anosu. Both brothers had fought recently.
The police would think it was a robbery when they found body. If they looked hard enough they would find that the fingerprints matched those of Kei's brother. Anosu wasn't going to have any alibi. He had spent the whole day with his girlfriend. However, if interrogated, his girlfriend was going to say that she had spent the whole day with her sick mother.
Two other ANBU that were on the lookout on a nearby table raised their voices to each other and stood up like if they were going to have a fight as soon as the killer was going to step out of the bathroom. Excited with the prospect of watching a fight, all the clients of the bar turned their heads toward the two ANBU. Sasuke slipped outside the toilet without anybody noticing, blending with the shadows but using a fake form just in case. He and the rest of the ANBU had left the city half an hour later. They met seven kilometres away from the city in the assigned place under the soft rain.
Sasuke was looking at the ground, until he noticed that the floor was wet with red. He raised his eyes. Indeed, according to his eyes the rain that was falling down was a rain of blood.
He looked around. The other ANBU didn't seem to notice. That probably meant that he was suffering another illusion due to lack of sleep. They were increasing. They were increasing too fast.
"Mission accomplished." Were Green Snake's the first words as soon as everybody assembled." Nice job all. Red Demon, it took you too long to dispose of the target. You put the whole operation in danger. Don't take that long next time."
"Order acknowledged." Sasuke, codenamed Red Demon because of his ANBU mask, replied. It was true that he doubted too much in the moment of killing. He wondered again why all the team leaders always used "dispose" instead of "kill" or "target" instead of the name of the victim… Crap! He was getting distracted again!
"Why did we have to kill that man?" Little Mouse inquired. Sasuke immediately felt the ground opening under him. Why was Little Mouse always making trouble? She was supposed to be shy! Shy, dammit!
"That was our mission. That target had discovered some secret information about black-ops of the ANBU. The information leak had to be purged." Snake explained helpfully. "Besides, you don't need to know the reasons."
"I still don't like it." Little Mouse objected.
"You are a soldier now. You belong to the ANBU. The moment you put on the mask you stop being a human being. You become a machine bound to follow Leaf's commands. Is that clear?"
"Crystal clear Sir. But I still don't like it." Little Mouse repeated.
"Pure white can't mix with blood and stay pure. Maybe you don't belong to the ANBU." Green Snake commented. He turned towards the rest of the team ignoring Little Mouse "We will stay around just in case there is something to clean up." He handed Sasuke a scroll "Red Demon, go where to the place indicated in the scroll. You are teaming up with another team for another mission. It's an important one, so don't screw up."
"Just me again?" Red Demon questioned raising an eyebrow. Pity his gesture couldn't be seen since he was wearing a mask.
"Apparently you have friends in high places. Less than two months in the ANBU and already you have completed thirteen important missions!" Another ANBU observed with very little friendliness
"I don't have any friends in high places" Sasuke retorted.
"You don't have any friends, period." Green Snake pointed out with a hidden smirk.
Sasuke didn't bother to answer. He was too busy trying to read the scroll. He had trouble reading because the words seemed to dance. For the last two months, since Naruto's death, he had barely slept. The good part was that he felt numb. He wasn't assaulted by any memory of either Naruto or his parents anymore. Actually, he sometimes even forgot about Kakashi or Sakura. One week ago in the middle of another mission he hadn't been able to remember his name for a few minutes.
Sasuke waited until the ANBU disappeared and only then he took another combat pill. Immediately he felt the rush of adrenaline. His attention became focused and he was able to read, memorizing the new meeting place. As long as he kept taking the pills his combat competence didn't decrease. The frequency when he needed to take the combat pills even for everyday activities was increasing too much though. He was down to thirty combat pills a day and there were suggestions of cold turkey after some time without taking them.
Sasuke's trail of thoughts was cut short when he felt somebody leaning against his back. Damn! His awareness capabilities were decreasing exponentially!
"Anything to report Little Mouse?"
"Please, don't call me that. Say my real name before I forget it." Little Mouse pleaded with a weak voice, still leaning against him.
"Regulations say that it's forbidden to say the real name until the..."
"Please" She pleaded with a voice weaker and weaker.
Sasuke sighed. Why women never ever left him alone?
"Your real name is Hinata, formerly from the Hyuga clan" He explained. Hinata hugged him. Sasuke immediately stiffened as if a barrel of explosives was hugging him.
"Are we doing the right thing?" She wondered aloud "Is this what Naruto would have liked? Is revenge the right answer to our pain?"
Sasuke closed his eyes. He remembered back to the time when he had decided to become hunter instead of becoming the hunted. He had had some doubts at the beginning. He had hardened his heart since those days.
"This is a life I don't wish on anybody. You will suffer as long as you have doubts. Kill me and your doubts will be gone." He declared, using his old trick of reverse psychology. He had the opinion that Hinata could not survive the fool's quest that was revenge.
"… Maybe I'll do that." She mumbled slowly "Maybe I'll kill you."
At that very moment Sasuke remembered that he hadn't checked Hinata's hands before she had hugged him. He violently pulled away.
Her hands were empty.
Both ANBU exchanged glances, and even under their masks, he could feel her hopelessness that mirrored his own. He knew he had made a very stupid mistake. Under her current state she could very well kill him.
"Little Mouse, Are you a virgin?" Snake had inquired. It had been Hinata's third mission. It had been Sasuke's tenth mission already.
"Hai" Hinata had responded. Grave mistake.
"That's perfect. We are going to need you for our next mission."
Hinata, a person that was having a lot of trouble to adapt of the harsh reality of the life of the ANBU, looked for help at the only person in the ANBU team that he could trust. Sasuke didn't even look at her. He was too busy trying to stop the shaking of the hand to light a cigarette.
After the Kazekage Gaara of the Sandhad mysteriously disappeared with his two brothers, there were many candidates for the vacant post. Different countries secretly supported one or another candidate. The Hokage wanted the Sand to keep the alliance with the Leaf and she was worried about the Anti-Leaf faction: Sand shinobis that considered that the Leaf had too much influence in Sand affairs.
Azuma Tetsuya was one of the aspirants of the anti-Leaf faction with more possibilities of becoming the new Kazekage. To protect himself from other contenders he hid in his mansion with his loyal guards.
That moonless night there were ten guards awake but sleepy. Death can make people fall asleep forever, and death came among falling bodies and blood spilled. The ten guards died without knowing what hit them. The ANBU infiltrated the mansion, killing everybody on sight in total silence.
The Team commander, Angry Dog, had a "recommendation" from the Hokage that Uchiha Sasuke "Red Demon" should be among the ones that had the most dangerous positions. However Angry Dog didn't particularly care about what seated-office-leaders ordered about missions. Red Demon was in the group that was checking the second floor. The most trusted shinobis in the team where checking the first floor, where Tetsuya had his office and his bedroom.
However it was Sasuke who found the target. He found him in a small bedroom. The target looked at him with a surprised expression. He was holding a small child about ten years old and a children's picture book. The child, who was looking at him with a scared expression, had green eyes like Sakura.
They stood in a stand-off, neither of them reacting. Sasuke was holding two kunais in his hands but he was unable to throw them. For a few second Sasuke even caressed the possibility of letting them go.
"Let her go and I'll let you kill m…" The Sand shinobi started to say. He never finished.
Two kunais graced Sasuke's face as they went past him and impacted with violence on the forehead of both Tetsuya and the unnamed child. Both of them fell down dead.
Sasuke looked back at Blind Dog, the ANBU who had completed the mission. He felt his blood boiling as he grabbed the other ANBU by the collar.
"WHY THE KID!" He shouted. He felt Orochimaru's seal starting to itch again. Blind Dog didn't appear fazed.
"The orders were no witnesses. Do you want the Sand to know Leaf ANBU's are killing their shinobis?"
"I didn't join the ANBU to kill defenseless children!"
"Congratulations." Blind Dog, a veteran of many missions, praised "It's a promotion."
Sasuke let go of Blind Dog. He looked back at the two corpses. The child was lying dead and another one was floating and looking at him. Sasuke used his sharingan and looked at the kid again. There was nothing floating. Obviously, it was a new lack-of-sleep-induced illusion. So far the Sharingan let him see through his daydreams; so far, at least. Only his shadow didn't appear to change. At first it was just for brief moments. Now his shadow looked almost all time like Itachi's. It had been three months already since he had joined the ANBU. The illusions were getting worse. Many times he had problems distinguishing them from reality.
Sasuke shrugged, took a combat pill, and continued checking the floors for other witnesses.
The ANBU disappeared after spreading some fake evidences which pointed another member of the Anti-Leaf faction as the one responsible of the attack. They left only corpses behind.
Sasuke was speeding back to Leaf village. Only one more mission and he was hitting the 40th mission mark… in case he hadn't miscounted. He couldn't be sure anymore. It had been four months since Naruto's death. He had barely slept in those four months.
He was feeling the other ANBU around him. He was having brief glimpses of something else. Sometimes they were his parents. Sometimes it was Naruto. Sometimes it was the people he had killed during the ANBU missions. He was also having a lot of trouble thinking. His mind was constantly rambling.
Still, he needed to think. There was something rotten going on. So many missions for an ANBU rookie were weird. He was constantly being moved from one team to another just in time for the dangerous part. Why the Hokage would be interested in promoting him? There were only two logical options that he could think of. The first one was that the Hokage wanted to support the person that was the best friend of Naruto. The second one was that the Hokage wanted him to suffer because she considered him responsible for the death of Naruto. He suspected it was the second option. If it was so, the Hokage was succeeding. He was losing his mind one piece at a time.
At least he was succeeding in his plans. He was becoming much stronger. He had been in many life-to-death clashes and he had survived. The act of killing had become second nature to him. His constant training was paying off. However he still had to improve.
"Sasuke, you have to keep your breath while you run" A voice recommended. It belonged to a person he loved.
"Hai!" The 7-yeard old Sasuke agreed to his beloved brother.
"Hai?" Itachi asked with another voice. Why was he wearing a dog mask?
"Uh?" Sasuke blinked and looked around. He was shocked when he noticed he was standing in front of Leaf Village. The guards of the door and his ANBU team-mates were looking at him with poker-faced expressions. How long had he been standing there like an idiot? His daydreams were getting worse.
Sasuke muttered some explanations as he went past the doors, feeling the stares and the silent questions burning his back. He lit a cigarette while in the way to his house. Halfway he saw his uncle. Sasuke remembered that his uncle always had a tale about his adventures with the Fourth. The white-haired Uchiha smiled at his young nephew as he went through Sasuke.
Sasuke shuddered, as the cigarette fell to the floor, remembering that his uncle had been also killed by that man. He quickly swallowed another combat pill. He resumed his walking, watching his shadow which was dancing around him for not particular reason except to annoy him.
He reached his house. There was a time when it had been a home. It became a house after a night of a full moon. It had taken Sakura a long time to make it a home again. It had taken Itachi one day to make it a house again.
He wondered if he should enter for a quick shower or leave to train again without even saying hello to Sakura. She probably wasn't even there. She was most likely training with Kakashi again. She was making great progresses in her recovery. If he were a jealous person, he would be slightly bothered by the fact that Kakashi was spending so much time with Sakura. Well, he wasn't. Really, he wasn't.
He decided that he should leave. He still had a few hours of light a long night of training ahead.
"Sasuke!" He heard his name being called by the voice that he loved as he walked away.
Sasuke turned around. The first thing he saw was the patch that covered Sakura's missing eye. The second thing he saw was the prosthetic leg. Finally he saw the whole Sakura wearing some groceries bags.
"When did you arrive? How are you doing? Let's go in" She said hurriedly with a worried expression.
"One hour ago. I'm fine. Sorry I've got to train." Sasuke answered respectively. He turned around fully intending to hunt his next supper. He had heard there were some new big animals in Death Forest.
"Sasuke. Please come inside. We need to talk." She pleaded holding his arm.
Sasuke blinked. He had never heard her coming. He needed another combat pill soon. He was losing concentration too easily. After a few seconds he shrugged and followed her inside.
Sakura bit her lip. Her heart was hammering as she hesitated. She was on the brink of doing what she had been planning on for some time. All the information she had gathered from novels she had hidden under her bed when she lived with her family were going to finally pay off. She was very nervous, but that was the only way she could bring Sasuke back from the sinister place he had gone. She had to break Sasuke's walls. She only could think of one way of doing it and this time she wasn't drunk.
Sasuke went first to the bedroom. He needed to replenish his reserves of combat pills. He only had enough reserves for one week.
The boxes were gone.
"Sakura, have you seen my combat pills?"
"I threw them away." Were Sakura's harsh words. Sasuke felt a brief attack of fear. He was surprised by how long it took him to control it. He stored for future reference that he needed to be careful with his addiction. He would need to buy more pills.
Sasuke entered the living room. Sakura had left him some space in the sofa. Instead he leaned against the wall. Sakura knew he was not going to sit down. He was too afraid of relaxing.
"Sakura, I have to train. You have ten minutes" Sasuke stated.
"Sasuke, I need to know how you really are doing. This time please tell me the truth.
Sasuke sighed. At first he considered lying to her. He had never liked to lie, though; particularly not to her.
"I am still in denial of the death of Naruto. I have been suffering a deep depression, along with insomnia, mood swings, suggestions of agoraphobia and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The fear of nightmares is making me to avoid any kind of rest. I have been taking great amounts of combat pills for the last four months and I have developed an addiction. The lack of sleep is producing a great fatigue and continuous bouts of exhaustion, along with illusions and daydreams. My cardiovascular performance has slightly decreased. My brain is now unable to perform complicated mental tasks." He carefully explained. "Please, don't ask me about the missions. It's…"
"…Classified. That's what you always say. You just grit your teeth and keep going. It's killing you!"
Sasuke slowly smiled a bloodcurdling grin.
"Do you want me to tell you about the missions? Let me think. Our dear neighbour Hinata also joined the ANBU. We had a few missions together. The details are secret, of course, but whatever. In our last mission together we had to oust a governor from his daimyo. We infiltrated his environment. Hinata had to infiltrate the brothel. She was a virgin and the governor had a lot of love to give to virgins" Sasuke let the words hang.
"Do you mean that…" Sakura started. She couldn't continue.
"That's right. Our old shy Hinata managed to seduce the governor and make him spill his beans about some delicate affairs. The governor ended up committing suicide. The mission was a total success. She lost her virginity in the process, though" Sasuke sighed "Hinata looked at me just before the mission in a pleading way. I think she wanted me to help her, somehow. But what could I do? We were in the middle of a mission. We were ANBU. What could I do?" Sasuke slid down the wall he was leaning on to the ground. He started to hit the wall behind him with his head sluggishly but rhythmically "What was I supposed to do? We all had accepted the risks of being ANBU. What was I supposed to do? What was I supposed to do?
Sakura finally made her move. She took Sasuke's hand and led him to the sofa. Sasuke didn't offer any resistance. Sakura gently pushed him down and she moved on top of him. Sasuke was going to complain when she forcefully kissed him.
He tensed when she fell her offering the solace that he so desperately craved and continually denied himself. She continued her kisses, becoming bolder each second. She stopped kissing only to get rid of her blouse. Sasuke started to kiss her back, to let it go. He closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around her while she started to remove his sweatshirt. When he opened them, the first and only thing he saw was her patch.
Everything went downhill from there.
Sasuke grabbed her face as his mind started to concentrate on Itachi. He remembered the fight he had lost against Itachi. He remembered the useless techniques he had tried against Itachi. He remembered the way Naruto had died in front of Itachi. His seal started to itch again. Before he knew what was happening, black marks were covering his body again.
He wasn't paying attention to the seal. He was intently staring at the patch. His hands were still grasping Sakura's face. He barely saw her moving her lips and grabbing his own hands. Everything he could think of was Itachi. Why was he so weak? Why was he always so weak? If only he were stronger. If only he were to have more power. His parents, Naruto, all of them dead because he was weak…
Sasuke's eyes were finally drawn to her other eye. It was staring at him with terror. He saw his own mark-covered fingers that were diggings deep into her flesh.
He screamed as he jumped away. He looked at his hands. They were totally covered with black marks. He looked at a mirror to see if his face was also covered with Orochimaru's seal. He didn't see himself. He saw Itachi's face in the mirror. He paled. He looked back at Sakura. She was shaking and looking at him with terror in her eye left. He didn't want to see her with that bruised face. He didn't want her to look at him with that expression. He looked back at the mirror. Itachi's cold eyes were still there. He raised his arms to protect himself. They were all covered by the seal. He looked back at Sakura, then at the mirror, then at his arms.
He ran out of the room as fast as he could, slamming the door as he passed. Sakura looked at the door. She tried to regain her breath, but she couldn't. Minutes passed. She couldn't hear a word out of the other room.
"Sakura" Finally Sasuke's voice "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything. Thank you for giving me a sense of belonging." Long pause. Sakura thought at first he had finished "I have… I have outlived a lot of people I have cared for. I have changed. Naruto's death has changed me. Hell, I'm not even sure I'm human any longer. I am too used to being an ANBU… What I am trying to say is that I care about you, but... but not in that way anymore." Sakura felt her heart breaking with Sasuke's next words "I am sorry. It's over. I'll never hurt you again. We have to break up."
Sakura didn't move. She thought that she should move, that she should stop him, that she should tell him that everything was all right. She didn't move. She heard the weak sound of the door of the secret tunnel opening. Next there was silence again, only broken by her quiet sobs.
Hinata was kneeling in her floor with her eyes closed. She hadn't moved for more than one full day. She heard a sound which she quickly recognized as the door of the secret tunnel that communicated her house and the Uchiha mansion. When Hinata had started to live in the Uchiha compound, Sakura had rented her that particular house for her safety. There was the risk that the Hyuga clan would try to kill her. That was the first time somebody had used it for three years.
She heard the intruder coming closer and standing at her door.
"Hinata. I am leaving the Leaf for good. If you don't mind, keep an eye on Sakura."
"Sasuke." Hinata interrupted as Sasuke was leaving "I still don't know if revenge is the right way to take. I'm still reflecting about it."
"Aa" Were Sasuke's only words.
"If I choose the path of the avenger, I'll kill you for your failure to save him."
"Aa" Were his only words again. A few seconds later Hinata stopped feeling Sasuke's chakra.
That night the ANBU that guarded the doors saw somebody slipping through. Immediately the trap that the Hokage had prepared for months sprung. A net of ANBU's surrounded all the paths that Sasuke had to take to reach Sound Village.
The fishermen never caught the fish, because it had gone the opposite way.
Naruto Bridge was the heart of Wave Country. It had been built in a time of need. Its completion brought hope to the country. It was the place where a young man was laying. He was very tired after a long time of running without stopping even once. Many people passed but none of them stopped.
"Sasuke-niichan! It's you!" A voice finally yelled. " Where is Naruto-niichan?
Sasuke raised his tired eyes and looked at the boy that was talking to him. He was the kid that had become friends with Naruto during their mission in Wave Country. Itani? No. Inari.
"Naruto is not here. He's dead. I killed him." Sasuke muttered. The kid looked scared.
"Sasuke, you dumbass! You are scaring the kid." Sasuke froze. He was very familiar with that happy voice, although he hadn't heard it in more than four months.
"Naruto-niichan!" Inari shouted hugging the newcomer.
Sasuke very sluggishly raised his eyes.
In front of him there was a blond young shinobi with a mischievous smile and a large angry scar that ran the length of his shoulder and across his throat. He was wearing a Leaf headband
"N-N-N-Naruto?
The person in front of Sasuke smiled.
And here is the 29th chapter of the Uchiha Tragedy. I think this is one of my best chapters. As a matter of fact I'm sailing now in uncharted territory as there has been some new changes in the story that were not planned, so please send some suggestions.
I tried very hard to depict accurately how some addiction as well as lack of sleep would reflect to one person, as well as how Sasuke would react to the death of Naruto at the hands of his own brother. I also worked to show a darker side of the shinobi world. Since shinobis are, after all, humans trained almost from birth to become better human weapons, obviously they would have many black missions. Assassination was a very important job of real-world shinobis
Well, I hope you like this new chapter. Don't forget to review.