Chapter 19: Entering ANBU

Summary: In which Calla tries her hand at malicious compliance and enters ANBU and Kakashi is trying to adapt and get his new teammates up to his standards.

Fine, if this is what they wanted – they would get it; and he would get everything exactly as he'd asked. She remembered Draco leaning back against the bar, an eyebrow raised arrogantly as he looked at her and told her about the concept of malicious compliance.

Calla had fallen in love with it. She had done it sometimes, of course, at school as well as with the Dursleys, but the precept was needing rational grounds to punish someone (neither Snape nor the Dursleys had ever really abided by that concept).

But here and now – it was perfect.

The Hokage wanted Calla Potter forgotten, wanted no one to remember her? Well, she would be happy to oblige, of course.

With a mere thought Minato was at her side and a few minutes later, he was her secret keeper. Rather than hiding her location, she had hidden her name. It was beautiful – a work of art. She was looking forward to them looking at paperwork, her interrogation records or trying to discuss her – at all – and being unable to recall her name or associate anything with her.

Calla glanced once more at the apartment that had once been hers – her first apartment, her first own home.

She gave herself one more moment before storing everything in her bag with a negligent wave of her hand. The runes, on the other hand, were a bit more difficult. She had planned on permanence in this place, on it being hers for at least the next decade not a measly year and a bit.

With a heavy sigh Calla sliced open her hand and drew across the existing symbol; the corners of the apartment lit up as the runes flashed up and slowly faded as if they had never been.

Once she was sure her apartment was as it had been when she first entered it, Calla pulled out her basilisk hide cloak – one Hermione had convinced her to commission after the war for all three of them, just in case – and applied a permanent sticking charm.

The remainder was easy – provided one was happy to potentially give up on their ability to have children. But Calla couldn't see herself having or raising children in this world, not voluntarily – so, really, it wasn't so hard. Polyjuice obviously wasn't an option, neither was metamorphagus abilities. While Calla could change her hair slightly, that was the extent of what she could do – unlike Tonks or Teddy who were eminently capable with any kind of change.

But what she could do was human transfiguration. It was not advised in young teenagers as their bodies were still developing in many ways and it could negatively impact their ability to conceive later in life, but Calla had no qualms about that.

Within the short space of half an hour, Calla was replaced with a Severus Snape lookalike – only with green eyes. He was the only man Calla knew who could live their entire life and deceive everyone he interacted with – including geniuses like Dumbledore and Riddle, who, even through mind-reading, could still not determine Snape's true loyalties, both reliant on his word alone. A man who could fight with the best of them but was cunning enough to know when it was time to retreat and when it was time to fight. A man worth emulating in many respects, and yet one of the man she had never truly understood and still hated, with some part of her.

But it was a man no one here knew, and no one would ever associate with Calla. A man who could do what was needed – someone she needed to be, now, if she intended to persist.

Her eyes remained bright green – as they always did. Hermione had long since sat her down and made her confront the fact that while Calla was completely capable of human transfiguration – self-transfiguration in this case – a part of her was and would always be scared of her eyes turning red if she dared to change them and no matter how hard she tried, her magic refused; because at the heart of herself, Calla was too scared to try, too scared of what might happen, no matter how irrational. There had been too many visions, too many nightmares, for her to distinguish between them or rise above herself.

The cloak was slightly short for her new frame, but there were two runes which allowed for a slight expanding of the cloak; infusing them with magic meant the cloak writhed momentarily around her before the sleeves and bottom hem slowly – reluctantly – lengthened.

It took only a moment of hesitation before she grabbed the bone-white mask the Hokage had handed her. She was Hebi – Snake, in a fit of irony. With an amused smirk – Snape didn't smile – Calla fitted the mask.

An additional spell rendered it see-through for her so as to not obstruct her field of vision and she added another permanent sticking charm. A third spell charmed it unbreakable and immaterial to her own hand. It made eating and drinking with the mask on easier, if slightly more difficult than it normally was. Not to mention normal things like brushing teeth or taking a shower. And even if the mask came off, there would only be Snape's face. Perfect disguise, she reckoned.

Now, voice changing on the other hand, that was really difficult; it required changing something you couldn't see, it required study and visualisation of an organ you couldn't see – but it didn't need to be luckily. Calla had no intention of fiddling around with her vocal cords. She would much rather use a rune on the mask, since the mask would be permanently affixed to her face, to change her voice to a lower, smoother register a man in his thirties? Fourties? Might have. How old had Snape been, actually? How old had her parents been? Just another thing no one ever thought to tell her. She didn't even know their birthdays.

If the Hokage wanted someone entirely unrecognisable who would fight and kill on his behalf – well then, Snape had always known when the end justified the means and that some sacrifices were necessary. This world didn't need or want Calla, didn't want someone who rescued tiny children from being kidnapped.

Their loss, as Ron would say.

Without a single backward glance at the ramshackle apartment, she pulled up her hood and used magic to give the illusion of shadows shifting underneath the hood. Basilisk hide boots and robe as well as the mandatory white mask and the Gryffindor sword hanging around her waist, hidden underneath a permanent disillusionment charm. After Neville had given it to her, Calla had intended to return it to school but held onto it at Luna's urging.

A part of her wondered if the little maybe-seer had foreseen her being here, in this world.

She took no small satisfaction at how taken-aback the Hokage was at the sight of her mask and the person attached to it (clearly male and adult rather than a female child) and his momentary hesitance and uncertainty (obviously wondering if he should have pressed her for more details on her ability as this was different to anything they had seen before).

Calla smirked behind the mask.

"Reporting for duty, as requested, Hokage-sama," she spoke in Snape's controlled baritone, voice smooth and silky as her green eyes stared challengingly at the old man behind the desk.

The surprise was hidden on his facial features, of course, but the fluctuations in the soul didn't lie. She was getting better at reading people through it.

"Your team captain is Inu. You will be part of Team Ro now."

The Hokage flared his chakra and three people dropped into the office at his silent command.

"These will be your teammates – Inu, Weasel and Cat. Inu – you will have 3 months to get your new recruits up to par, then you will be sent on missions. No further delays, although you may designate your team as mission-ready before then."

Her teammates were kneeling on the floor – she remained standing, still obstinately refusing; a fact her team clearly picked up on.

You're Snape, Calla reminded herself. You bow and scrape and kiss the hem of their robe – survival and information are more important than your pride.

Noiselessly, Calla fell to her knees, head bent in false supplication. This was a role, nothing more.

She could leave or escape at any point and they had no way of stopping her. This was a farce, a show, nothing more. She could do this.

Calla followed her team leader out of the Hokage's office, realising just how much she had to adjust for the suddenly longer arms and legs she hadn't had time to grow accustomed to. It didn't really matter with magic – but boy did it matter with chakra.

It took the journey to ANBU quarters for her to get the amount required to jump from rooftop to rooftop right, having left slight indentations behind and making more noise than most genin to her teammates' embarrassment, no doubt, but none of them had so much as twitched – never mind saying anything.

"This is your room," Inu easily led her through a myriad of hallways into the ANBU headquarters and a small room which had just enough space for a bed and a shower and little else.

"Kitchen's down the hall. Requisitions are a floor down; while your … outfit isn't ANBU standard, it is acceptable so long as you wear the mask and do not use the outfit on regular mission."

Ha, that was a joke. Like Calla had – or would have – regular missions.

"For ANBU you need the minimum of one basic medical kit, two standard issue kunai and shuriken sets. On my team you need at least 3 kunai packs, 3 shuriken packs and an extended medical kit. If you prefer senbon, tanto or other weaponry, you can mention this to requisitions and they will restock you within reason. If your weapons are damaged during combat beyond repair, you will need to fill in form B12 with your mission report and hand a copy to requisition as proof for a complete restock. Everything else is at your own cost. Standard poisons and antidotes are also available for specialist only – you will need to show your specialisation badge to get access to these."

This was nuts, Calla thought faintly, wishing desperately her female best friend was here with her innate ability to memorise anything and everything. Or that she had pen and paper handy to make notes.

"We will complete team training from 5 am until 10 am. We will then split into individual training for the remainder of the day. At the end of the week, I will assess each one of you and suggest improvements. The week after you three will be in the Forest of Death for survival training. I will be attacking – at night, during the day, when you're taking a piss or at any other time. You will never let your guard down and learn to operate on minimal sleep. The week after we will have two days for recovery and self-training and then I will evaluate your chakra knowledge and skills and we will fill in each other's gaps and you will be required to learn and become proficient in new jutsu," Inu continued, eying each of them sharply, watching for discontent.

"Week four I will be testing you on infiltration, assassination and protection missions. You will then be advised on what you need to improve and I will work with each of you to improve over the next month and a half. The remaining two weeks we will focus intensely on teamwork to ensure we don't get in each other's way. Questions?"

No one said anything and with a sharp nod, Inu turned away.

"We meet in seven hours. Try to get some rest before then."

Well, Calla thought wryly, that went well.

Kakashi wasn't sure what to make of the newest additions to his team.

Itachi had received his namesake as his 'hidden' identity – which was about as useful as himself prancing around without hiding his hair, i.e. completely useless at hiding his identity from anyone.

As for skills, while Itachi only had a very small repertoire of jutsu, those he knew, he had perfected – he was easily capable of increasing the heat, density or size of his jutsu, as required, and had cut down on handsigns. He clearly needed a greater diversity across other elements. His shuriken and kunai skills were impressive – especially for his age. His ability to do trick shots had actually helped him learn how to innately respond and adjust the angle or trajectory of his weapons with an ease which belied the hours of effort he had undoubtedly put into learning the skill.

His taijutsu was passable, but he was physically weak and his stamina was clearly lacking; given his age, not a surprise. He needed more experience with a wider breadth of opponents to learn how to adjust better on the fly. He had clearly trained himself to respond to a variety of situations but needed to be trained out of his hesitation when encountering new or different than expected circumstances. His control over his Sharingan was exceptional and he could layer intricate genjutsu with ease and speed – and they were nearly indistinguishable from reality. Impressive shinobi, really, especially for his age.

His chakra control was great and refined – probably even good enough to pick up some medic nin skills.

But Itachi wasn't the problem child – or adult, as the case may be; Hebi was.

Kakashi definitely wasn't encouraged by the subconscious association he had with Orochimaru, nor the faint memory of the little child he had watched over in interrogation (a relation? Father? Uncle? He daren't ask; if it were pertinent, the Hokage would have let him know).

The skills the man showed were eclectic. Everything he said and did made no sense.

He was absolutely atrocious in taijutsu and it was paramount that this needed to be fixed first. He behaved as if he had never swung his arm before – overreaching one moment, underreaching the next; hitting with too little strength one moment and too much the next. Hadn't learned to compensate for missed swings – i.e. using the force of the previous manoeuvre to move into the next one.

His jutsu were exceptional in skill and control but he only knew a handful but from various elements. He had no knowledge of shinobi camping or hiding his tracks. His skills with shuriken and kunai was barely acceptable. The man confessed to having a broadsword but as the blade was poisoned with an incurable poison which killed within seconds, he had demonstrated his skills – or lack thereof in this case – with a wooden broadsword. The skill amounted to point the sharp end at the other person and hope for the best – however an incurable poison impregnating the sword was not a resource Kakashi was willing to waste – especially with such a short killing time. It meant even a nick in the skin was enough to fell a grown man; so it was added to the skills they needed to teach.

In short, if based on the typical assessment, Kakashi wouldn't have understood why the Hokage wanted this man in ANBU other than for observation (which could easily be completed outwith ANBU).

No, the reasons for his assignment to ANBU became rather clear once Kakashi had him run pretend missions. He knew some seals which were completely different to the ones his sensei and his wife had once taught him.

A protection mission meant the client (Tenzo in this scenario) was surrounded by an invisible bubble. No Jutsu got past it; even electrifying the puddle Tenzo was standing in had no effect. Weapons didn't make it past the protection either and even a determined assault by both Itachi and Kakashi together and simultaneously at times didn't provide a weakspot. Tenzo was able to move and as long as he carried the small rock Hebi had inscribed the symbols on, his protection was with him.

It didn't matter whether Hebi was awake or asleep – the protection worked continuously and didn't have a noticeable effect on his chakra level nor did the protection falter at any point.

Things became even more curious when for a pretend seduction mission, the cool, standoffish man changed into a buxom beauty who was soft and giggly and a 180-change from the man's normal personality. He even walked like a woman.

Then came infiltration and… well, no other way to say it, Hebi became invisible. Completely. Undetectable by sight – Sharingan included – or scent. Kakashi had even asked another Hyuga-acquaintance in ANBU for verification and, sure enough, the man was hidden from all sight, sound and smell.

Interrogation, however, had an even more fascinating result. It wasn't a mental penetration or scan – as verified by the Yamanaka watching over the prisoner – but Hebi required mere touch to find out everything they wanted to know. Well, that and time to sift through the information, according to him. The prisoner felt as though Hebi had seen everything he had ever done, thought or felt and had judged him. He was miserable, and felt as though he'd been laid bare and forced to confront the reality of who he was and everything he had ever done. Apparently, Hebi had also forced the man to recall things he couldn't before, from when he was much younger.

But so far they hadn't found a way to shield someone from Hebi's skills and he could do this at will (i.e. it didn't happen every time he touched someone only when he wanted it to happen; Kakashi didn't know if that made it more frightening or less) – but it was highly noticeable to the victim, at least, so Kakashi didn't have to fear it being done to him.

Naturally, Inu had reported every interaction, every word and gesture which struck him as off or odd to the Hokage. While there was nothing to prove that the man was a spy, there was also no evidence to disprove it.

Kakashi didn't get the feeling the man was ambitious and was spying or leaving Konoha for greener pastures; on the other hand, he clearly disagreed with Itachi being in ANBU although that appeared to more an objection to his age as far as Kakashi could gather.

Hebi spoke rarely, so it was hard to understand his motivation, but it was clear he thought the shinobi – Kakashi included, probably – were too young for the profession they were in; which was bizarre considering that just sixty years ago children as young as five had been regularly seen – and slaughtered – on the battlefield. He didn't seem to see the progress Konoha embodied but rather all the ways it fell short.

It was intriguing and reminded him of the way Minato had spoken on occasion. Usually when Kushina was not home and he had hot sake late at night, maudlin mood overtaking him, before telling Kakashi to forget what he said. … Kakashi hadn't. He never would. He hoarded these precious memories, imprinted them on his mind even without the use of the Sharingan, refusing to lose these tiny glimpses into the man the rest of the world never saw.

Usually, the easiest way to suss out if someone was a spy, Kakashi found, was to find out their motivation. Hebi had no apparent interest in materialistic things and seemed down-right disdainful of the wealthy. He didn't seem interest in prestige, money, fame (or infamy) or anything else others were usually motivated by.

The man didn't seem to have any personal attachment. Even Itachi had bragged about his younger brother. Although, if Kakashi were to believe the Uchiha heir, Sasuke could fell a Kage with a mere pout and blink from sheer adorableness – Tenzo, who had dared to try out his still-lacking social skills by making a joke at Sasuke's expense, hadn't even had time to regret it and had merely won through the use of Mokuton and had come very close to being completely trounced by young Itachi. It had gained the young man a lot of recognition and respect within ANBU – although Kakashi wasn't sure how they would react if they knew the reason for his overreaction.

Of course, Kakashi had followed this up by giving Tenzo a pat on the head and then proceeding to tell him all the mistakes he'd made and where he needed to improve. Only part of the lecture was spent on shinobi skills, the remainder on social skills.

Gai and Genma, he knew, would laugh themselves sick if they heard Kakashi was responsible for teaching someone – anyone – social graces. His role model for teaching his kohai was still the way he raised his dogs – it seemed to be working so far. Head pats for a job well done, the occasional honey-covered sweetie thrown his way (Tenzo had complained the one time he actually automatically caught it with his mouth, but had subsided when Kakashi offered no more treaties in future) and time to think over mistakes and more training to address areas where he failed or fell short.

Either way, Hebi remained quiet – he never spoke or mentioned anyone at all and, unlike Itachi, didn't seem to itch to get back home. In fact, he appeared to stay in the ANBU apartments, only leaving for groceries or training. No personal life – no pressure point; unless the family was held hostage. But he didn't seem tense or high-strung enough for that. Plenty paranoid, of course, but not the right way to indicate acting under duress.

Hebi was a contradiction.

Inu didn't like it. Inu liked simple. Inu needed to protect and be able to trust his pack – no, his team, but he couldn't trust this man at his, Tenzo's or Itachi's back. Tenzo was uniquely useful because he had a gift not seen since Hashirama. Itachi was not only clan heir but also had the Sharingan – and one which was very well-developed to boot. Kakashi was the last Hatake and also had a Sharingan – a team of high-value targets, Hebi included given the talents he'd displayed. But Inu didn't like having a potential snake in their nest, someone who could strike when the team was their weakest and most vulnerable.

Calla grimaced to herself. She hadn't modelled all of herself after Snape, of course – thankfully she had never seen her ex-Professor naked. His body was a mishmash of the one or two boyfriends she had had over the years and the other people she'd seen half-naked (not everyone in Gryffindor knew what modesty meant – very few did, in fact. Seamus had been completely starkers at more than one party). She had honestly contemplated keeping her private area the same but the ease with which mean could use the toilet when camping in the wilderness had convinced her otherwise.

But boy had that taken some time to mentally jump over the hurdle. Petunia hadn't ever really given her skirts or dresses; she had been stuck in Dudley's old clothing most of her life and hadn't even known she was a girl – or how being a girl differed from being a boy, until she was in primary school, but there was still a lot of mental connections to overcome; she wondered how much harder it would have been had she spent her entire life before coming here as a muggle.

The Wizarding World was a lot more flexible, given that the Black family used to have a lot more members at one stage, who could change from man to woman and anything else in-between at will, plus, obviously, self-transfiguration and human transfiguration where subjects actually taught at school.

Nevertheless, having a shower and going to the toilet had taken some time to get accustomed to and it had taken her switching back and forth a few times to get truly comfortable with the temporary nature of her, ehm, equipment. It's not like souls had a definite gender – what was once a baby boy could be reborn, with Calla's help, as a baby girl next time.

It was interesting – once her mind had wrapped itself around the concept of the ephemeral nature of gender, she accepted it and moved on.

Her room was, naturally, secured and hidden, although she'd refrained – barely – from putting it under the Fidelius as well.

Her first ANBU mission was tomorrow.

Author's Notes:

Thank you for all your lovely comments - I haven't caught up yet, so no new count as of yet on the votes. Feel free to continue voting :)

Happy 3rd December everyone!