Multitasking
Within one of many private training grounds, where only a selected few had the privilege to hone their skills with the needed privacy to not showcase their skills for all the world to see, a young shinobi was suffering.
It wasn't an emotional pain, for such things had long been cast aside, recognizing that they only weakened the mind when it was time to engage in a bloody conflict.
It was a suffering that ached in every bone, every muscle, even in his overtaxed chakra pathways. It was the pain born of feeling a single step away from falling apart, ligaments that had been stressed far too much for their own good, and his very thought process had been broken several times as he observed his tactics being picked apart and used against him.
The training ground was a mixed one: meaning that the environment included waterfalls, marshes, forests, and plain old rocky floors. In the past months, Neji had grown to know this particular training area so well that he could navigate it with his eyes closed and Bloodline inactive.
That had been a particularly bad week for him.
'You can't be ANBU if at the first field operation everything about you screams 'Hyuga'.' that had been the reason why he had to learn a completely new fighting style, on heavily reliant on the standard tanto that still felt unnatural in his hands.
For months, he had been drilled in learning set of codes, sign language, directives, tactics, taijutsu, and kenjutsu that were meant to turn him into an oiled cog that was the machine of every ANBU team.
Oh, he would be able to use all of his skills, that was for sure, in particular, he had been taught by another Hyuga ANBU how to transition from the merciless and bloodthirsty stances of the ANBU's Shadow Leaf Style to the elegant and beautiful ones of the much more familiar Gentle Fist. He was to uncover the second way of fighting once his opponents had grown used to the first, and personalize the ANBU's taijutsu.
In the end, while every ANBU shinobi was capable in the standard 'Dancing Edge of the Leaf' kenjutsu, which was built for a tanto wielder, and the 'Shadow Leaf Style' hand to hand combat, having standard shinobi on the field meant that those elements were predictable, and that meant they were dead. So, each ANBU, besides their own personal skills that were refined and explored in their own downtime, had a style that was slightly different than each other.
Which meant that there were lethal surprises every step of the way for any enemy that had learned the ANBU routine by traitors or grown used to it through sheer experience.
So besides the closely resembling starting stances, Konoha had one of the most effective irregular troops in the whole Elemental Nations. As a bonus, those that left ANBU after years of service were at least tokubetsu jonin, which could be directed by the Hokage Tower to hammer in shape genin that would mesh well with that particular style, usually not long before the Chunin Exams, during which the genin could hone the new fighting elements and discard what didn't work for them.
In the end, sheer experience was the only thing that could properly sharpen a ninja.
And Neji, even when forced to not use his bloodline, had a talent for the Gentle Fist that since his first spar with Sasuke had translated into a form of instinct over any form of hand to hand, simply because the Last Uchiha didn't conform to a single fighting style, using snippets of a multitude of taijutsu forms that managed to keep most people out of balance.
Neji, as the ANBU agent assigned to his training could confirm, was not most people.
At 11 years old, Hyuga Neji had proved himself to be of the same caliber as Itachi Uchiha. One could only wonder what a waste it would have been to leave him to follow a standard career. With a taijutsu that promised to grow into the most dangerous one since Tsunade's, chakra control refined enough to break through most genjutsu, and his Bloodline that gifted him with the blanked bullshittery standard for all members of the Hyuga, there was no denying that in ANBU he could blossom into something truly powerful.
And I can't suddenly snap and go on a rampage because of the Caged Bird Seal. The white-eyed prodigy wanted to snort.
"You still need to learn how to multitask, kid." the toneless voice of a masked individual broke Neji Hyuga out of his musings, reminding him that he was crumpled on the dirt and that his body had yet to answer to his commands.
"But you pass." if there was a faint warmth to the ANBU agent's tone, neither of the two shinobi commented on it.
An instant later, the Hyuga was hoisted into the air and medical chakra gave him back enough energy to stand on his own: "Last chance: I could declare that you didn't pass the exam, and you'd get to wait another year before this life."
Neji tilted his head towards the ANBU shinobi that had been assigned to oversee his preparation in order to be drafted in ANBU. And even if the mask was crafted so that the identity beneath it would remain hidden under a buzzing halo of chakra thanks to fuinjutsu, just enough to make the man's features unrecognizable, the young prodigy could tell that he was genuine in his offer.
What he perhaps willingly ignored was the fact that the situation could be a test too: "I'm sure."
Half a minute later, Neji and his ANBU instructor were kneeling in the Hokage's office.
"Rise." Sarutobi's voice had none of the warmth he used when he wore the stern but grandfatherly demeanor that so easily endeared him to the newly minted genin.
"Bear," the Sandaime Hokage turned his attention to the masked ANBU at Neji's side: "Report."
"He was... adequate... during his testing." Bear straightened his back even more, "The trainee could be tailored to fit many roles, even if he has the tendency of falling back on the more familiar skills he has when he's on the backfoot."
As he talked, the hand on the opposite side from Neji flashed constantly, providing a more refined commentary that the young Hyuga couldn't see, since it would be a clear breach of security was he allowed to make use of his bloodline inside of the Hokage Tower.
A minute later, the Hokage turned his attention to Neji, who remained impassible under his scrutiny: "There are protocols for this, protocols that have been tweaked to account for your particular situation, Hyuga Neji. Having said that, there is no denying your potential, it is my hope, that the last months have served to show you how pride will kill you more surely and swiftly than any opponent."
"Yes, sir." the young prodigy didn't quite manage to adopt the blank tone typical of ANBU, but he wasn't far from it.
"You have been taught the directives under which ANBU operatives work." the Sandaime spoke clearly, his eyes piercing the rookie-to be as surely as a blade, "Directive one: ANBU operatives answer, in order, to their Team Leader, their Platoon Leader, the ANBU Commander, and the Hokage."
I will no longer answer to Hiashi-sama. Neji understood the implications perfectly: by becoming ANBU, he put himself under the authority of the Village before the one of the Clan. By being an ANBU, he could live in one of the apartments reserved for field operatives, and stop the 'mandatory' beating down of Hinata and Hanabi.
"Directive two:" the Sandaime Hokage continued, "ANBU operatives will follow orders with no hesitation."
At the unblinking face of Neji, the God of Shinobi completed the list: "Directive three: ANBU operatives will defend Konohagakure no Sato's interests, and the lives of its citizens, be they civilian or military, with everything they have, including their lives."
And there the Directive 2 kicked in: being ranked 2, it was higher on the hierarchy than the 3, that was obvious. What was less obvious was the fact that if Neji was given an order, and on the way, he met a civilian being mugged or any sort of crime, he had to give precedence to that order."
"Do you understand the Three Primary Directives, and swear to abide by them?"
"I do." Neji answered.
"Very well." the Hokage rose from his seat, his eyes disappearing momentarily under the brim of his hat, and he walked up to Neji, who was starting to feel the tiredness of the last test he had been pushed through in his body, almost like a second heartbeat.
"From this day forward, you are assigned to ANBU Team 3, Platoon 6." as he spoke, the powerful S-rank shinobi pulled up Neji's right sleeve and landed his hand over his shoulder.
A flare of chakra later, and Neji felt like his heart had plummeted into his stomach, a searing hot sensation spreading from his shoulder to the entirety of his body.
Under his eyes, the black seal that the Hokage had imprinted on him turned red, and his sleeve was allowed to fall: "Welcome in ANBU, Hyuga Neji."
It was then that the tiredness of the last exam he had to pass in order to be accepted in ANBU caught up with Neji, and his knees buckled.
Operative Bear grabbed him before he could fall, and with another shunshin, the two left Hokage Tower, and the Hyuga prodigy, now ANBU, recognized the reserved section of the hospital, where he was manhandled until he was thrown in an empty room.
"Full check-up, two days of mandatory rest." Bear squeezed his shoulder lightly before he turned to leave the standard hospital room, "Report at 6 hundred at the ANBU headquarters, operative Hyuga."
After Bear had dropped him unceremoniously on the empty bed, he vanished, leaving Neji alone in the annoyingly white room.
"Hello, Neji-san."
The Hyuga prodigy whipped his head towards the entrance of the room, where a familiar shinobi had greeted him from.
"I see that ANBU doesn't change their methods for the rookies, even when they're as young as you." Yakushi Kabuto sighed in irritation as he approached the bed, his hands shining green as he started checking over the young shinobi's body, "Let's see what there is to fix, shall we?"
As I entered the hotel room in which Jiraya and I were residing for the time being, I suppressed the familiar need of setting the white-haired shinobi on fire.
"What's up, squirt?" he greeted me from his position on his bed.
"My blood pressure." I snarked as I quickly entered the bathroom and dunked my head under the open shower, my hands scrubbing furiously at my hair while I held my breath. At least he's dressed.
Jiraya's laughter truly didn't deserve an answer.
A few minutes after my return to our room, I left the bathroom still wiping my face with a damp cloth to remove the makeup left on it, my irritated grumblings being covered by the loud laughter of the white-haired shinobi that landed a far too large hand over my head to ruffle my wet hair.
"Fuck off, old man." I hissed, swatting away his hand as I heavily dropped on my bed.
"You're not my type... Geisha-chan!" another peal of laughter left the Sannin's mouth, and this time I threw the damp cloth I had been using at him, shutting him up for few precious seconds.
"Why the hell are you even laughing at me for?" I asked, a heavy frown over my features while I pulled a dry towel to avoid water falling everywhere from my hair, "You told me it was important, and so I did it!"
"I didn't think you'd actually go for it!"
"Oh," I rolled my eyes, while I unsealed some writing supplies from one of my storage scrolls: "a very mature way to test my trust in you. Somehow, I'm not even surprised."
The Sannin managed to control his laughter and rose from his seated position on his bed, where he had been writing to his lastest erotic novel: "But at least you've learned something, haven't you?"
"Yeah, among the other things I can knit together hair to make a fake beard, that will surely become useful." I rolled my eyes as I unrolled a black scroll, brush dipping into the inkpot while I cast away the memories of the past hours. Fucking reprobates with their fucking kinks.
Jiraya let out another peal of thunder: "Come on, princess, you've learned useful skills! Di you make sure your 'pink-eye' was seen?"
"Yeah, yeah..." I answered his question before focusing on my actions, "Like a Henge couldn't make me do what the hell I've been learning to do with mundane means!" I added, the Sharingan coming alive as I started tracing an endless stream of minute symbols with movements so elegant and precise that it would make a monk reach Nirvana.
"Ah, but a chakra-based disguise can be found out, and also easily broken, don't disregard the simple methods, the details are often the things that either save your life or get you killed." Jiraya peeked over my shoulders at the characters that shaped in an endless amount of combinations made Fuinjutsu possible, "Well, I'll be damned, you actually can do it."
"I told you." I rolled my eyes, finishing the last of the unnaturally complex symbols that were tied together by a constant line of ink, "The single characters are easy, and even finishing one in a way that allows me to link another isn't that complex: I can make standard paper bombs and storage scrolls of limited dimensions..."
"You haven't used chakra-conductive ink for those, have you?" the Sannin become suddenly serious as he regarded me, his dark eyes trying to pin me where I was.
I scoffed as I straightened my back, my mind going over the times in which I had ignored the temptation of experimenting in favour of keeping up the other aspects of my training: "Raiton, keeping up body conditioning and chakra control, playing with Katon... I was too busy to do this too, besides, I'm waiting for you to teach me the Kage Bunshin so that I can test out the ideas I have for the Storage Scrolls, as well as to practice some combination techniques, the Sandaime can do those on his own, can't he? I lack his chakra, and until I have either Suiton or Futon under my belt, I can't do much with only lightning and fire, but layering a Genjutsu over a fire sounds doable, the flickering of the flames can be hypnotic."
The white-haired Sannin eyed me shrewdly for a moment before he rolled up the now dried up scroll, quietly confirming that I had been able to replicate all the unique characters that he had showed me since the first time he talked about Fuinjutsu: "Let me guess, you know about the Kage Bunshin because it was mentioned somewhere among your clan's belongings? And I'll simply ignore the fact that you use the God of Shinobi as a measuring stick for your skills."
I smiled at what we both knew was the lie I used to explain away my advanced knowledge of shit I shouldn't have had the clearance for.
The Toad Summoner scoffed: "Figures... well, if we must, better try it now, so that if chakra-exhaustion catches you, I'll let you sleep it off."
But e quietly acquiesced to my request, and he formed a familiar cross-shaped hand seal: under my eyes, I saw how his chakra was shaped and directed, generating 3 perfect copies of the Sannin, who grinned at me before dispelling themselves.
"Try with only one clone at first, there is a base cost for performing the technique, and after you succeeded, your remaining chakra is split evenly among you and your copies." Jiraya's instructions were delivered in a serious tone, and I nodded, my hands forming the infamous cross-shaped seal.
"Chakra-exhaustion is no fun," his hand clamped over both of mine, and he stared at me with an uncharacteristically blank expression, "there are few kids your age capable of chakra nature change and manipulation on your level, and since you've been doing it for years, your chakra coils have adapted and are larger than normal, even so, a single clone will exhaust you in the better case, and kill you if you push through it."
For an instant, the joyful and carefree Jiraya had disappeared, revealing a student that had been able to thrive under Sarutobi Hiruzen, the God of Shinobi.
Taking his warning to the heart, but mindful of the potential advantages of having such a technique under my belt, I formed once more the cross-shaped hand seal, and moved my chakra as I saw Jiraya do an instant before.
Immediately, I felt my reserves plummet to the ground, roughly three-fourths of my chakra leaving my body to form a perfect copy of me, which instantaneously sucked off half of what I had left.
I stumbled, Jiraya catching me without looking even as he eyed my copy: "Fucking prodigies, and cheating Bloodlines..." I heard him grumble as he kept me on my feet.
I exhaled slowly, controlling my breath consciously as I adjusted to the massive chakra drain of the newly learned technique before I turned my attention back to my copy, who was walking around observing himself.
Maybe for the first time, I became consciously aware of the great difference between me and the original Sasuke. My clone sported a shaggy mane of hair that mimicked Jiraya's, even if mine were of a black so dark it almost had a blue shimmer to it. Besides the fully matured Sharingan that shone maliciously before my copy cut off that technique, returning its eyes to their normal appearance, I had opted for grey and black as my colors while I was on the road with Jiraya.
Konoha's headband was nowhere to be seen, since the last time the Sannin had spun me around by my bandana, chocking me while he was at it, I had it stored away, and that left my neck bare. Under a low collared dark grey shirt, I still had some mesh armor, while my long black trousers were tucked in in traditional blue shinobi sandals.
But there was a certain definition to my shoulders, a wiry power in my arms, and a grace to my gait in which I recognized the potential for an immediate conflict.
I frowned when I realized that: "Do I always move like that?"
"You do." the Sannin's answer made it clear that he already knew what I was actually asking about.
I grimaced at the new information, it was clear that whatever secret shit Jiraya was doing when he disappeared, besides spying on women and fucking old shinobi in disguise, he couldn't involve me in it. Everything about me screamed 'ninja on the prowl'.
Civilians wouldn't truly notice, swayed as they were by the fair looks of the Uchiha bloodline, and my youth would make most shinobi underestimate me, but I would stick out in whichever situation Jiraya put me in unless I took the time to observe someone with the Sharingan, copying them with a Henge would be easily done then.
"I need to memorize some typos of civilians." I decided, almost smacking myself for having overlooked such a gross detail. I could copy the actions of a cook at work, or a blacksmith, or a glassmaker... but I was able only to copy the movements on which I had focused back when I had first observed them, I never took notice of how the civilians never looked more than 35 degrees above their heads, I never memorized how their feet landed, marking the ground chaotically.
I could walk to purposefully leave tracks, I picked that up when Kakashi taught tracking to me and Neji, I could walk without leaving the faintest impression of my weight on a single blade of grass, that too I had learned back before I became chunin.
"Why haven't you told me about this?" I asked Jiraya, who had raised an eyebrow at my last words.
"Three reasons." he answered easily, a grin appearing on his face even as he kept studying me for signs of exhaustion: "One: while people look at you, they don't look at me. Two: the kind of misinformation ops that I run here can be done with parading you around, since your easily recognizable features lend weight to my bullshit once the news travel far enough. Three: I wanted to see how long it would have taken you to notice."
"And I didn't really need to learn how your whores..."
"Admirers!" he hastily corrected me.
"Whores." I insisted, "I didn't need to learn how they did their make-up or managed to pretend to be a man for the sexual deviants that entered your brothel?"
"Everything you learn can come useful soon or later." Jiraya shrugged unapologetically as he finally relaxed once again, now that both me and my clone didn't look like we were about to keel over: "But showing your Bloodline was undeniably useful on more than one level, and, that brothel, as you call it, wasn't one of mine."
"What?" I asked suddenly, my head whipping in the Sannin's direction so fast that my hair momentarily hid my eyes. The Toad Summoner did taht from time to time: he threw a piece of information at me, almost casually, in order to see what I would make of it, if I noticed it.
"That brothel..." he started to repeat with a condescending tone, only for me to interrupt him.
"I heard that, don't be obtuse, old man!"
"I'll have you know that I'm not old at all! I at my peak, thank you very much!" Jiraya sniffed disdainfully.
"You had me use my Sharingan in a place where you're not the one in control of the flow of information?" I asked again, frowning as I started to pput together the possible motivations behind such an action.
"I don't think you understand how this spy network of mine works, ignorant brat."
"Disinformation is something that you cannot simply throw at your enemy." I nodded, getting the oblique detail that he was trying to spoonfeed me.
He nodded in turn, eyeing me with a glint in his eye that I had learned to associate with the moments in which I surprised him by being particularly cunning: "Besides, it isn't the brothels that I'm in control of, I'm simply in good terms with the matrons, who are told the juiciest gossip that her girls hear as pillow talk. I am a respectful and well-known patron, a friendly face that sometimes helps them in ways only a shinobi of my caliber can, and in turn, they feel comfortable enough to help me by keeping an eye out for some things, and spread the right words when I ask."
I sighed while I watched my clone walk to a corner of the room and sit crosslegged to practice the change in lightning-natured chakra, with small, bluish-white sparks running over his arms in a familiar way.
"And you didn't consider the fucking huge number of people that will fall on us when it becomes known that there is a little Uchiha unprotected outside of Konoha?" I asked after a deep breath.
"Don't curse, shitty brat!" Jiraya smacked me lightly behind my head, just a fraction of a second too fast for me to stop him, "And no, I'm not ignoring anything, I simply drank a bit and let slip some details, some damning information that will quickly find its way over the border, accompanied by the easily confirmed voice that you're the Uchiha kid that disappeared from the books soon after the Suna chunin Exams."
"So you spewed bullshit and used my presence to coat the false information." that part was clear, and I could even appreciate the tactic, if only it didn't put me on the plate of Orochimaru's mad ambition, Kumo's hard-on for bloodlines, and Iwa's resentment for the casual slaughter of their people at the hands of the Yondaime.
"How do borders between not allied nations even work?" I asked as I tried to digest the fact that Jiraya was using me as bait, and that he had passed that part under silence.
"The nations are happy to be peaceful one with another," the Toad Summoner rolled his eyes, "the Hidden Villages on the other hand... aren't."
"So?"
"So?" Jiraya hunched forward, after he sat cross-legged once more, his head resting over an arm casually resting on one knee, "I could probably smuggle the both of us in and out of any Nation, even most Hidden Villages." he scratched his head, as if he was collecting his thoughts, "With the correct information, you'd likely be able to sneak into a Minor Village on your own, you're skilled enough for it. The difficulty is remaining incognito for the whole time once you're in."
Yeah, I'll learn to blend in as a civilian, got it. I barely refrained from rolling my eyes, adding the objective to my neverending list: "I did interrogate a Kusa genin back during the Chunin Exams."
"For your clue, right?" the white-haired shinobi frowned at my apparent non sequitur.
"Well, yes." I nodded, "But since I was already there and I had him in a genjutsu, he spilled his guts about how genin teams are supposed to move, and how civilians enter Kusa proper."
Jiraya looked at me in silence for an instant, his eyes widening minutely: "You know, if you weren't so fucking ease to tease, you'd remind me of Orochimaru when he was young."
I grimaced at the thought, seeing in my mind's eye how the Snake Sannin peeled off his skin to perform his magic fuckery of survival: "There are funnier ways to insult people you know."
"There was a young shinobi once..." Jiraya smiled, "The best of his class, with creepy eyes, and a pretty face. He was a perfectionist at heart, and talented at any field he applied himself in."
"I thought we were going to talk about Orochimaru, not me."
Jiraya laughed out loud, clutching at his sides for several long seconds before he managed to bring his hilarity under control: "We were."
That I didn't like.
AN
I obviously haven't dropped Neji, as some have pointed out, I've invested too much shit on him to erase him from the story: the screen time is split, but the focus of the story will remain Sasuke. Shikamaru is also doing shit, but I'll reassume that once he pops around.
So in Konoha Neji is ANBU, Kabuto is still lurking around, and Lee, Tenten, and Shikamaru are in the Academy. I thought about writing a piece about Naruto, but since the MC never interacted with him, there is really no reason to do so now. And some have pointed out that apparently, the helpless rivalry between Sasuke and Naruto (in canon they're totally gay, btw) is fundamental to shape Naruto's personality.
On one hand, that's kind of... dumb? Everyone ignored or outright hated Naruto bar the Hokage, Iruka and the Ramen People. Sasuke ignored him, and humiliated him in the Academy.
On the other hand, any kind of attention, no matter if from a psycho like Sasuke, can apparently be better than no attention at all? Kind of?
The only way in which canon Sasuke influences Naruto is because there is some magic reincarnation fuckery with Indra and Asura (Kishimoto had run out of absurd power-ups when he pulled that shit).
So, either I keep Naruto as canon-Naruto, or he becomes a toned down Gaara, only less competent because apparently, all Jinchuriki get fantastic skills from their tenants, bar Naruto, who hosts half of the strongest one (which is still as strong as all the others put together).
If on Naruto's front we go with the canon-compliant option, then we're ok, if not... I'll either have him become a hateful little bastard good only at throwing chakra (basically dark-Naruto), or I make stuff happen...
Given my tendency for fucking up canon, I'd go with the last option, and do something like Life in Konoha's ANBU by Shezza (which is the single most wonderful piece of Powerful-Naruto that I've ever seen, seriously read it now). But that means basically doubling the size of this story, or having you readers accept that I cannot write about everything that happens differently from canon, like I love to do.
Opinions?
As for Sasuke, we have him finally learn the Kage Bunshin, and begin with actual Fuinjutsu.
We also have explained some of the subtle shit that Jiraya does while he fucks around (keep in mind that canon is mostly seen by Naruto's POV, which is obviously lacking in more than one detail).
I don't know if anybody caught on that, but Sealing is fucking difficult, and to be a Master, you kind of need to be Picasso, who was a fine, normal artist before cubism, and with no warning whatsoever he suddenly became the greatest thing since sliced bread.