I apologize for such a long gap between chapters to those who were kind enough to add my story to their alerts. This chapter is the prologue of sorts for a concept that I've been working on. I hope you enjoy this.
Inspired by Matthew Reilly's Screenwrite "Rewind".
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"Hokage-sama, ANBU Squadron Nine reporting mission completed with no friendly civilian casualties. Target eliminated."
Tsunade looked the armor clad commandos up and down as they stood at rapt attention before her desk. While she continued to sweep the ninjas with her eyes, the Captain took a step back, returning to his place in line with his squad. His bird like mask hiding all of his facial features, and his body language betrayed nothing.
After finding nothing out of the ordinary, Tsunade finally spoke. "Do any…specifics need to be brought to my attention, Eagle?"
A slight hesitation before the Captain responded "No, Hokage-sama. Nothing out of the ordinary to report."
Tsunade considered their masked faces for a moment more. "Good. Squad Nine, please report back to the barracks for check in. You're next assignment is two weeks paid vacation."
"Dismissed." She cut off any exclamations that would have tried to refuse her order. Their lives were devoted to the missions that they performed. They thrived and died in this line of work.
With a crisp bow the black-ops filed out of the room.
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The ANBU soldier screamed.
He screamed his throat was raw as he buried his mask in blood drenched hands, leaving thick red smears on the otherwise bone white ceramic.
Blood coated the young man's arms and oozed from the soles of his armored boots and shin guards as he dropped to his knees, still screaming to the heavens.
After what seemed an eternity the scream became a wail, which faded into a cry. Soon the cry had become a moan and then it had fallen to a heavy sob.
The man sat on his knees, sobbing in the night as four other similarly clad people watched, their expressions hidden by their masks. One of the shinobi moved to go to the crying soldier, but an arm gently held him at bay. When the shinobi looked to the person who stopped him he received a simple shake of the head, the message clear.
He needs to deal with this himself. Just like you had to.
The black-ops shoulders sagged and his body language suggested he wanted to rush to the young man's side but he backed off.
Too young. He thought. Too damn young.
After a few more minutes the ANBU who had stopped her comrade took a few steps towards the downed shinobi who continued sobbing, the sound not muffled by his hands or mask. His body wracked as he tried to breath and sob at the same time, his body trying to perform its normal duties even as it expressed the young man's anguish.
"Rhino." The kunoichi said.
The ninja on the ground didn't respond.
"Rhino." She said again.
No response.
"Naruto." She tried.
Thankfully the blonde shinobi raised his head and looked at his squad mate.
"What have I become?" He choked out through his sobs.
Her heart ached. She wanted to comfort him, tell him it would be alright. But she couldn't, she was a soldier. So was he. He would have to learn one way or another, and this was the best way.
"ANBU."
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Rhino was unusually quiet.
For those who knew who he was under the mask they would have scoffed at the idea of Uzumaki Naruto being quiet at all.
But his training to be a Black-Op had taught him that attention was something a shinobi wanted the least of, especially if they wanted to live more than one mission. So he had reigned in the attention-seeking habits he had formed as a child and became one with the silence. The only sound he made was the ever so slight rasp of his breath against his horned ceramic mask.
He waited, hidden in the shadows of an alleyway, while his team reconnoitered the target building. This would be his first mission as a black-op and already he was nervous. He had been tasked to kill a foreign lord who had helped fund a very large, very illegal, organization which had been steadily infecting the Land of Fire with a highly addictive drug that had been discovered recently. Tonight he would prove himself worthy of the mask and tattoo he wore.
Suddenly, Rhino picked up movement from the second story of the target's house.
A hand waved from around a corner, the rest of the body obscured by shadow, then slowly turned over, showing the ANBU specific metal plate on the back of the glove.
Rhino repeated the gesture, and then jumped up the sides of the alleyway. Once he reached the top he gave a mighty push off with his legs, flying in a graceful arc over the street. Just before he landed two shadows appeared at his landing spot.
Naruto smiled behind the ceramic as his two teammates caught him, and then set him down on the rooftop without making a sound.
A faint click of a tongue made him turn towards his captain who was kneeled next to them. Once he had Rhino's attention the veteran shinobi started signing.
Target, second floor, bedroom, asleep. One guard, second floor, hallway, walking. Two guards, first floor, standing guard. No witnesses. Any more than three minutes: mission is scrubbed.
Rhino nodded in acknowledgment, then relayed the information back to his captain.
Once he was satisfied, his captain placed his hand on Rhino's tattoo and gave him a quick nod.
Rhino took a quick breath, and then dropped down to the roof next to the second story windows where the last member of the squad waited. The moment Rhino arrived she looked through the window she was crouched next to. Her hand held Rhino at bay until she abruptly pulled the window open. Without hesitation he dove through the opening, his body surging with adrenaline.
He hit the ground on his feet and was immediately running with chakra silenced steps straight towards a slowly walking monstrosity of a man. He was huge and might have been a formidable opponent, had he not been facing the wrong way.
Rhino yanked a kunai from his pouch and then pounced on the thug, burying the blade deep into his neck. He was dead before he could even register that he was under attack.
But the thug was bigger than Rhino had anticipated and though Rhino mostly caught the corpse before it hit the ground, one meaty arm thudded into the wooden floor.
The voice of his instructor ringing in his head prevented Rhino from freezing up, 'Hesitation kills more missions that bad planning or bad luck. If you're committed, don't hesitate or you will surely get you and your team killed'
Pulling his kunai from the guard's neck, Rhino sprang away from the body towards the target's bedroom, still moving as silently as possible in case his mistake went unnoticed.
He stopped at the door to the bedroom and took only a moment to listen for any noises of alarm by either the guards downstairs or the target and was rewarded by the sound of soft snoring through the doorway. Now moving slow, compared to before, he opened the door and stalked inside. His eyes took in the layout of the room and he spotted the lord sprawled haphazardly across his bed and pillows, snoring peacefully.
Letting his body and mind slip into a sort of auto-pilot, Naruto drew his ninjato from his sheath, raised it above his head, and then plunged it into the man's neck.
The man's eyes sprang open, only to quickly fade into the glazed look of death, only a slight cough escaping from his mouth.
His task complete, Rhino sheathed his sword turned towards to door-
And froze.
A young boy, only about four or five years old, stood staring at him in horror. His eyes were wide and his lip trembled as he took in the armored man in the fearsome horned mask.
Then the kid's gaze fell to the form of the target, blood quickly soaking the sheets.
"…Daddy?" The kid said.
The spoken word seemed to snap Rhino out of his trance and fear surged through him. The kid had seen too much and jeopardized the integrity of the entire mission.
The child must have sensed the danger he was in because he turned and tried to run down the hallway. Rhino immediately gave chase, and caught the kid where the large thug was sprawled.
He knew the kid needed to be silenced; the description of his mask alone would point the finger at Konoha, which was unacceptable. So he drew another kunai and threw it at at the base of the fleeing kid's neck, hoping to kill him quickly and quietly, while another part of his mind screamed at the immorality of killing an innocent child.
But the kid had leapt onto the body because the man had stretched across the hallway. The abrupt change in height made the kunai strike much lower that Rhino had aimed for.
With a dull 'thud' the knife buried itself in the kid's side. The child's mouth opened in a silent shriek as pain overwhelmed his small body and he collapsed to the ground.
Rhino was at his side only a moment later, his mind frozen as he watched the child before him writhe on the ground in pain.
'This wasn't how it was supposed to be!! He's just a kid!!' His mind yelled as it caught up with its body's actions. But another part of his mind was also screaming.
'Quickly!! Finish him off before he regains his voice and gives us away! The mission can't fail!!'
The mindset, while still Naruto's, was the deep gravelly voice that his captain possessed. Unconsciously, Naruto knew that it was the training and professionalism that had been drilled into him since his acceptance into ANBU.
Only a few seconds after being struck the kid had found some of his voice and was now whimpering and moaning in agony.
Rhino's hand twitched and wavered as his morality and his professional mindset battled between pulling the knife out and giving medical attention, or reinserting it into the kid's neck. He sat for what seemed like an eternity before a he sensed the familiar presence of his Captain behind him.
The whirl of thoughts and emotions settled for a moment when the man's gravely bass spoke.
"Finish him. It has already been two minutes. The tags have been set."
Naruto's hand automatically moved to the pouch at the small of his back and removed one of the kunai there.
"Do it." His Captain said when he saw the slight hesitation in the younger man's hand. Then-
Snick.
It was over.
Rhino's body seemed to lose the ability to stay upright at the same time at the child and he fell to his hands in the slowly growing puddle of blood around the child and thug. The crimson liquid soaked into his gloves and kneepads.
The captain continued to look at him for a second or two before speaking again, this time to the rest of his squad.
"Grab him, we're finished here."
Two of the men grabbed Rhino then dashed out of the house followed by the other two ANBU. Half a minute later the house slowly started to burn as the slow-burn tags ignited with barely a whisper. Five minutes later the house was engulfed in flames, the bodies incinerated without a trace.
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"Is he ready?" Tsunade asked, watching Naruto and his teammates running a two-on-two exercise.
"He has been trained up to ANBU standards well within the time given. He is a natural at small scale tactics and is very adept at infiltration and disguise. Chakra reserves were the biggest I've ever seen, even before he was nominated for the ANBU but that has severely hindered his attempts at genjutsu." Naruto's captain said. "His taijutsu and kinjutsu have both been brought up to acceptable levels."
There was a brief pause. "But there is a small snag." He said.
The Godaime Hokage glanced at the man.
"What kind of snag?"
"He has yet to truly end a life."
Her eyebrows scrunched in confusion. "Naruto has killed before. His first kill was when he was with…Jiraiya." Her voice faltered at the name of her ex-teammate.
"Perhaps I should explain. Naruto has only killed in the thick of battle, if Jiraiya-sama's reports were accurate. A bandit attack, the war against Akatsuki, etcetera. They were all kills made in kill-or-be-killed situations. Fights for survival where the deaths were justifiable in his eyes. But he may be asked to stab a person in the heart as they sleep, when they will not be a threat, defenseless. Maybe even women and children whose only fault was being in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Tsunade's eyes widened with understanding. "Will he be able to complete such a task should it arise?"
The captain observed Naruto as he sparred for a few moments.
"There is no telling for sure, but I do know one thing."
He turned hardened eyes towards his leader.
"He is now an ANBU. He will need to kill, or he will be a liability to the team and will be dealt with accordingly. If one of us has to kill him to save the lives of the rest of the squad, then that is what will happen."
His eyes averted. "We also have to know if we can trust him to do the same to any of us."
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A/N: I ask for any and all feedback that you can provide. I can't improve without it.