Thank you.
Chapter Eight
The More Mundane Side of ANBU Life
It had taken Naruto an hour of hard scrubbing and bleaching to get the blood out of his clothing. The cape too. The onslaught of red bodily fluids worse on it, seeing as how it was pure, snow white and worn outermost. By the time he was done he was ready to fall face first into bed. Cleaning always took more energy than any amount of fighting.
Unfortunately he still had to report. Sleep had to wait.
"Good morning," he greeted Professor McGonagall.
"Good morning Mr. Uzumaki," she returned, "May I inquire as to the meaning behind this meeting?"
"Voldemort has sent an advance army to the castle," Naruto said bluntly. McGonagall started to her feet, fear rolling off her in tangible waves. Naruto continued, "I encountered them in the forest and took care of them. They were lead by a child, approximately Harry's age, dressed in a white mask and a black cloak. He is dead,"
McGonagall sat down, shocked. "You killed him?" she asked weakly.
"That is my job," Naruto nodded stiffly.
"You could have brought him in for questioning," she reprimanded, frowning. Naruto took a breath.
"In all due respect I know my duty and all that it entails. I interrogated the little brat before I killed him. He was going to die anyways. Evil lords rarely keep around minions who fail them,"
McGonagall digested that. "And what did you learn?" she asked at length.
Naruto removed his mask and wiped his forehead, sighing. "A reoccurring problem that I have run into while dealing with minions and henchmen is that they rarely know anything pertinent,"
"Nothing?"
"Got it in one. Sorry," he shook his head seriously. "But we do know that Voldemort is on the move against this school. It's a good thing I was out there otherwise the grounds would be a mess and you'd either have to wait for it to rain or have me or Sasuke do a large-scale water justu just to get rid of the blood and that's saying nothing about body bits. But this means that the next wave will probably be either stronger or sneakier. Although I'd like to see them get into the castle without Sasuke or I knowing immediately," he laughed a little. McGonagall was baffled as to what as so amusing. She did not venture to ask. What was the point? From past experience she knew that she would only get more confused.
Dealing with those two ANBU was like that.
"If you have nothing to ask me," Naruto stood, "Then I'll let myself out," he waited for a second and left, putting on his mask as he walked through the door.
"How did it go?" Sasuke asked when Naruto met up with him in the hall. It was between morning classes and Sasuke was escorting Harry. Naruto shrugged.
"Not too bad considering I had nothing to tell her,"
"Not nothing," Sasuke pointed out, "the first move has been made and countered. The Go game has begun. They lay down their handicap stones and you immediately surrounded and conquered. Now they have to think of something else,"
"A Go game, eh?" Naruto thought about it, "They do have a handicap too, don't they? This is their home territory and they have greater numbers,"
"You would think, looking at it with only those facts, that we would deserve the handicap," Sasuke joked. Naruto laughed.
"It's a nice thing that we're so darned good at our job," he quipped, "Let's just hope that it's not our downfall,"
"Well at least we know that these 'magical creatures' die just like anything else,"
"Like any stone can be captured,"
"I honestly have no idea what is going on," Sasuke admitted. It was Quiddich season and the ANBU guards were watching their charge zip around the pitch on his broomstick. Harry had explained the game in great detail with the aid of Ron who – Naruto and Sasuke learned the hard way – turned out to be a fanatic. But even the basics were still beyond their grasp.
"Me too," Naruto laughed weakly, his stomach churning at the sight of their charge weaving through the air on a flimsy stick. "This is making me sick,"
"Dobe," there was no contempt in Sasuke's voice, it was more of an agreement without actually agreeing.
"People aren't meant to fly!" Naruto whined. Sasuke would have nodded but a particularly sharp dive stopped his heart. They both tensed.
"I'm starting to hate this job," Sasuke muttered. Naruto nodded dumbly.
Something caught their eyes. The trees in the Forest quivered unnaturally. Naruto frowned.
"I'll be back," he said, standing up. Sasuke did not like being left behind when there was possible action ahead and he would have protested if not for their contract. Stupid contract.
Just as Naruto landed creatures with the sent of bloodlust on them broke through the forest edge spilling onto the school grounds. Sasuke swore and leapt after Naruto to help him out. The two ANBU landed in the middle of the melee with weapons drawn and already slashing viciously. Blood sprayed through the air. The creatures turned to fight the two humans in their midst with the audacity to think they could stand against them.
"Kagebushin no jutsu!" Naruto screamed, creating a dozen more fox-masked clones.
"Katon: Breath of the Dragon no jutsu!" Sasuke called, breathing fire hot enough that it turned all in its path to ashes in an instant and a puff of red steam. Still they came. Shuriken embedded themselves into the heads of the invaders and kunai shot straight through multiple bodies with the force with which they were thrown.
Naruto almost lost his concentration when he spotted Harry coming over on his broom. He sent a couple clones and a rather large toad to drag the courageous – but stupid – boy wizard back to the castle where it was relatively safer. He was going to have to have a talk with Harry when they finished this little skirmish.
But back to the problem at hand. Naruto shoved his kunai into the skull of a troll-like thing and ripped it upwards, bisecting the brain and effectively killing it. On the downswing of that strike he sliced through the throat of a half-man snake. He ducked as Sasuke dove overtop him in order to get to another tangle of interlopers.
His hands flashed into a series of seals. "Doton: Feet of Clay no jutsu!" The creatures nearest him started flailing wildly as their feet were swallowed by the very ground they stood on, pinning them. Sasuke took that advantage and hit the trapped creatures with a lightning jutsu. The smell of burnt flesh and spilled blood only egged Naruto on, Kyuubi reveling in the feel of the battle.
Naruto laughed as he felt the power of Kyuubi push to the surface. His fingernails lengthened and hardened into deadly claws. Behind his mask his irises bled red. Crimson chakra crackled around him, sparking and flaring. Using one kunai and the claws of his free hand he tore wide swaths through the crush.
All to soon – for Kyuubi's liking that is – they ran out of creatures to tear through. Naruto stood with Sasuke, their breathing just starting to grow heavy, in the midst of the field of corpses. The only sound that could be heard by human ears was the wind blowing through the trees. To the ears of the shinobi there was also the drip of blood as it oozed out of corpses and the panicked murmur from the school.
"This is going to make one big bonfire," Naruto commented caustically. Sasuke laughed.
"Shall we start clean up now?"
Naruto thought about it. "Let's save a few heads,"
"Heads?"
"For warnings,"
Sasuke nodded, "To put in the forest for whoever sent these?"
"Of course. This is the second time he's tried to get to the castle. I think it's time we sent him a thank you note,"
Sasuke and Naruto watched the pile of bodies burn until it was nothing more than smoldering ashes. At that point Naruto performed a water justu that swept the remains into the lake. His clones were still keeping an eye on Harry and the other students inside the school. They had even delivered their report to McGonagall through the clones.
"You think he'll get the message?" Naruto asked.
"I think so. It was a little blunt after all," Sasuke said, amusement lacing his voice. They had sent their clones out into the forest with armloads of decapitated heads to scatter in plain view as a warning against anyone else who thought they could make it to the school. Let that be a lesson to their Dark Lord. No one messes with ANBU on a contract. To do so was certain death, especially when said ANBU happened to be an Uzumaki and an Uchiha. Paired up.
"You hurt, Sasuke?"
"Not that I can tell,"
Naruto nodded. That was good.
"It's going to rain," Sasuke commented. Naruto looked up to the sky. He tested the air with his nose.
"Won't start for another hour or so," he said, "But we should go inside and start washing up or something. Best get the blood out before it sets and stains,"
"I'll have to get more bleach from Itachi next time he comes," Sasuke sighed, picking at the edge of his red and white cape.
"Yeah. I'll need some too. Unless, of course, you want me to keep mooching off of you,"
Sasuke snorted, "You're getting your own, Naruto,"
"Thought so,"
They meandered into the school, ignoring the fact that the students all gave them a wide berth. Naruto nodded smartly to the clones they passed. They nodded back but did not vanish. Naruto still needed them present. A couple of befriended foxes tripped around his ankles. He bent down and whined some requests sending them darting down the halls, out of the castle and into the forest to do some reconnaissance.
It took them three hours in total to get their cloths clean. On top of that they still had to mend the rips and tears in the articles of clothing that could be salvaged. Sasuke had to throw out his pants because they were not just torn up, they were shredded. Naruto's cape turned into cleaning cloths. It seemed that they were going to have to order more than just bleach when Itachi came for the monthly report.
"The old hag's going to kill me," Naruto moaned as he looked at what used to be his cape.
"It's not my fault you go through capes like Choji goes through bags of chips," Sasuke said without a hint of sympathy.
Naruto scowled at the Uchiha over his mending. He was holding his torn shirt in his hand, carefully stitching the fabric back together. The sight baffled the entire Gryffindor population. These two, who they had just watched massacre a small army of dark creatures, were sitting by the fire mending their clothing like muggles. It made no sense.
"I didn't even think to bring a spare, too,"
"You'll just have to suffer then,"
"I can't wander around in half a uniform!" Naruto wailed and jabbed his finger on his needle.
"Not my problem," Sasuke did not look up from his own mending.
Naruto huffed, "Heartless jerk,"
"Thanks,"
"That wasn't a complement," Naruto protested.
Sasuke grinned at him. "I know. But how I take it is my business," he sassed.
"When's Itachi coming again, anyways?" Naruto asked, switching subjects with all the talent and precision of a child on a sugar high.
"Give him another week or so. It shouldn't be too long now, unless he's on a mission and can't make it on time,"
"A week or so out of uniform while on active duty," Naruto mused to himself, "It's a good thing we're far from home,"
"A week's not that long," Sasuke said as he cut the thread and admired his handiwork.
"Where'd you learn to sew so good?" Naruto demanded, leaning over to see.
Sasuke smirked, "Sharinganed Hinata when she was teaching us," he boasted.
"So you cheated!" Naruto seethed.
"Sharingan is not cheating," Sasuke sniffed delicately and started on another rip.
"Sure it is," Naruto protested.
"Then I guess Kyuubi's cheating too,"
"You bet! But it's only fair that I charge the old fox rent every once in a while. Besides, he likes it when I let him help me fight,"
Sasuke said nothing.
"Who's this Kiyubi person you guys keep talking about?" Ron asked. Naruto laughed nervously.
"That's Kyuubi not 'kiyubi,'" he corrected.
"Whatever. So who is he? You keep dodging the question whenever we ask,"
"Kyuubi is a very old acquaintance of mine," Naruto said. Ron looked like he wanted more. So he continued, "Other than that it is highly personal and somewhat painful,"
"Oh," Ron looked chagrined, "sorry,"
"No problem. Just please stop asking,"
"Okay,"
Unfortunately, his reaction got Hermione curious and the girl made an unobtrusive beeline for the library. Naruto and Sasuke noted her departure absently, thinking nothing of it.