DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto nor any characters that are canon to the series.
Chapter 1: Troublesome Revelations
The streets of Konohagakure, the village hidden in the leaves, was typical a pretty peaceful place when it came to the early hours of the morning. The streets were virtually empty aside from the stray workers trying to get to their food stalls to start cooking for the breakfast rush. Aside from that there really wasn't any activity that could be observed, but this morning had been different. So different that it would change the shinobi of Konoha forever.
A solitary figure shrouded in a dark cloak sprinted through the early morning mist, weaving in and out of stalls and alleyways trying to lose his perpetrators. Parallel to the cloaked figure were several black blurs that jumped from rooftop to rooftop closing in on their pray at a rapid speed. Disparity clinched the figure as it began to stumble and smash into wooden crates that lined the street and this gave the oncoming blurs the opening they had been waiting for. Suddenly the chasers appeared in front and on both sides of their target which backed the mysterious person into a brick wall. There was nowhere else for the person to go.
Now that these blurs had come to a standstill their true forms were revealed, black trench coats covered more of their bodies aside from the black sandals they wore on their feet. Underneath the dark hood of their jackets were masks of a wolf, boar, and lizard. The classic appearance of deadly ANBU operatives who functioned directly under the Hokage's orders. The masked ninja who stood in front of the target they apprehended held a gloved hand out with the palm turned up. "You have been captured by the direct order of the Hokage for stealing property from her personal library. You must hand over all stolen material before we can continue the process." The ninja's voice was almost emotionless aside from the cold tone that barely made its presence known.
The mysterious figure slowly pulled the hood of the cloak down to reveal the face of a scared young man. A large scar lay vertically on the right check of the brown eyed boy and his black hair stopped just above the shoulder. His eyes darted frantically from one ANBU to another and the look of someone who was fixing to do something very irrational began grow on to his facial features. "Don't do anything stupid boy.." The operative to his right said with a much more animated voice than the one to his front used. The boy shook his head frantically and pressed his body as hard as he possibly could against the brick wall that blocked his escape.
"Y-you do not understand w-who you are m-messing with!"
He shouted in a maniacal tone as his muscles tensed which caused the two shinobi at his sides to assume battle stances. Then the member that wore the mask of wolf spoke once again, "We will not ask again, hand over what has been stolen or face the consequences." The hint of coldness in his voice rapidly grew as he became more and more frustrated with the current situation. Another psychotic shout ripped from the boy's chest as he unsheathed a sword from under his cloak and attempted to lunge at the one who stood in front of him. The wolf ANBU pushed the boy's feeble attack to the side which caused him to stumble forward, but before he could fall to the ground a kunai was drove into his throat. The blow proved fatal as blood gushed from the open wound after the boy fell face first into the street.
"Stupid kid.." The lizard ANBU's words were quiet as he shook his head slowly before crouching beside the corpse and searching it. "Bingo!" He said victoriously after a few moments and dangled the small scroll above his head for his partner to take. The wolf grabbed it immediately and placed it in his pocket before scowling the lizard, "Items as delicate as this are not to held out in the open." The other ninja simply replied with a snort and reached over to the corpse's neck and pulled the collar to reveal a tattoo in the form of a kanji symbol. "Eh.. This one has symbol for death on his neck like the last three." He stated in a low whisper before standing up. The streets were beginning to come to life as the sun slowly peaked over the horizon.
The wolf ANBU who apparently was the captain of the squad turned to one who wore the boar mask, "Dispatch a squad to pick the target up and stand guard until they have arrived. Allow no one to tamper with the scene, anyone who attempts to are considered a accomplice and will apprehended as well." The boar nodded quickly before the other two launched themselves to the rooftop above the scene and vanished in a cloud of smoke using shunshin. The lone ninja left to guard the corpse of the thief simply stood over the dead man with his arms folded across his chest generating a slight amount of killing intent that kept the morning traffic at a good distance.
With another cloud of smoke the two operatives appeared in the Hokage's office where Lady Tsunade sat behind her desk with a very bored expression. "We have returned with the stolen scroll, Hokage-sama." The wolf-masked shinobi explained as he stepped forward and laid the small scroll on her desk. Tsunade stared at the scroll with an odd expression and then let out a low sigh, "I'm getting far too old for this." The two shinobi stood perfectly still and remained utterly silent as their leader examined the returned scroll. "Were there any clues as to why the thief took this specific scroll?" The lizard-masked operative stepped forward this time with his hands clasped behind his back.
"No ma'am, but we did find that he had a tattoo on his neck that was identical to the last three incidents involving sacred scrolls."
Tsunade pinched her nose in frustration while trying to digest the information the man had given her. "You are dismissed." With that being said the two figures both bowed lowly before yet again disappearing in a cloud of smoke. Once alone, Tsunade pulled a bottle of sake from the bottom right drawer of her desk and uncorked it. After a long swig she placed the bottle in the exact position it was previously in and then resumed her stare at the scroll the ANBU captains had recovered.
'Four incidents of forbidden scrolls pertaining to resurrection by four individuals who all bore the same kanji symbol for death on their necks. What the hell is going on?!'
The two operatives that had previously explained their findings to the Hokage appeared inside the ANBU headquarters with their usual puffs of smoke. The lizard immediately pulled back his hood and removed his mask with a dramatic gasp as if he wasn't able to breathe under its cover then sat down on the bench in front of his locker. "Fucking kanji symbol of death on their necks? That's some weird shit." The young man groaned while rubbing his face. The other figure was much more graceful when removing his mask and placing it down on the bench in front his locker on the opposite side of where his partner sat. "It is quiet disturbing." He retorted in a calculating tone while unzipping the coat and removing it from his body.
"What's even more fucked up is the fact that the chunin that guard the hokage's library let this shit happen four times already!" The young man snarled while he fiddled with the zipper under his chin. "Calm down, Kiba. I am sure that Ibiki will have all of them in custody within the hour for questioning." The white eyes that showed no signs of having pupils gazed down at his partner with a solemn expression. "Easy for you to say, Neji. This is only the second time you've had to deal with. I have been on duty every damn time this shit has went down." The Inuzuka boy whined even after successfully getting the zipper to go down on his black coat.
The two boys spent the rest of their time changing into jounin standard uniforms in complete silence. Both were a little perturbed with this new group stirring up trouble in their village but decided not to discuss it any further considering how confidential the information happened to be. A piercing howl erupted from the down the hallway and was followed by a huge white dog with scruffy hair bursting into the room almost knocking a row of lockers down. "AKAMARU!" Kiba explained as he wrapped his arms around the huge canine's neck while the dog licked him all over the face. "Sorry you couldn't come but don't worry, we kicked the bastard's ass!" The Inuzuka boy shouted and his counterpart gave a enthusiastic bark.
Neji shook his head at the feral boy and his dog before closing his locker and exiting the compound. The warm morning sunlight felt good on his face and exposed skin on his arms, but the peace was shattered when Kiba and Akamaru came bounding out of the headquarters after him. "Wait up, Neji! You wanna grab some breakfast or something?" The Hyuuga merely shook his head and continued to walk down the path. "I have too many obligations this morning to take the time needed for breakfast." Kiba immediately rolled his eyes at Neji's formal tone. "Don't be such a old man! We are nineteen, we both need to be eating good food and checking out the babes as they walk by." He shouted after hoping onto Akarmaru's back who was walking at a slow pace to stay beside Neji. "I have neither interest nor the time for either of those things." He said prudently.
The Inuzuka boy continued to pester Neji until finally he agreed out of pure frustration. So they made their ways down into the now busy streets of Konoha and found a sweet roll stall that wasn't too busy. After they got their orders the two boys found a table near the kitchen and took a seat. Kiba tore into the rolls with a ferocity that could only be compared to an animal while Neji simply took small calculated bites and chewed slowly. Despite the huge gap of difference between the two they were finding it hard to resist the urge to discuss the happenings from earlier that morning. Luckily, before either of them could give in to the temptation a familiar face sat down at their table with her food as well.
"You two look like you need nap." A girl with delicate features and two buns in her dark hair exclaimed with a giggle. "Mornin' Tenten!" Kiba snorted between huge bites of sweet rolls and staring at her. That is what Kiba did best; stare at females. Neji gave the girl a polite nod, "Good morning, Tenten-chan." Tenten slid her chair up to the table which inevitably caused her to move closer to where the Hyuuga boy sat and he immediately heard the boy across the table stifle some laughter the best he could. The close proximity between the two caused a shade of pink that appear on Neji's cheeks but he hid it well.
"Word this morning is a group of ANBU apprehended some guy who broke into the Hokage's library and had to kill him. You two know anything about that?" While Tenten knew that her two classmates held high ranks in the ANBU they still were not allowed to speak of such information until it was made public. So naturally they both stiffen in their chairs and shook their heads at the exact same time, but the girl knew better than to believe them. "Either way, that makes four times that several scrolls have been almost stolen. There is also some talk of them all having kanji symbol for death tattoo on their necks, pretty interesting huh?" Neji's only reply was simple grunt as he focused on his food while Kiba said absolutely nothing. The Hyuuga prodigy knew this had been a bad idea. Despite the fact that he enjoyed being around Tenten he didn't really like her intentional prying. A sullen expression washed over Tenten's face as she elbowed Neji in the ribs. "You two know something and you aren't telling.."
Neji simply looked over at his old teammate and gave her a polite smile and then a nod directed at the Inuzuka. "I have several obligations I must tend to." With that he stood and placed the proper amount of ryo on the table before leaving in graceful strides. Kiba watched his partner walk away and then turned to Tenten while ignoring Akamaru eating off of his plate. "Sorry babe, we aren't allowed to talk about it. If you want I'm sure you can get it out of Neji considering y'all are sweet on each other." A shocked gasp escaped her lips as she shot Kiba a look that could kill but it had no effect on the boy. Instead he winked at her and stood up while dropping more than enough ryo on the table. "Gotta fly! Places to go, people to see." Jumping on Akamaru's back the dog immediately began to trot in the direction of the Inuzuka compound. "Don't get no prettier!" Kiba shouted over his shoulder with his typical 'too cool' attitude.
Kiba's typical carefree attitude had been more of a front than real that morning due to nervous tension tying his stomach in knots. Something was going on and both of the ANBU operatives had a feeling that it was going to be very bad once it came to a head…
Author's Note's
Sorry it is so short, I wanted to see what kind of responses I got before I started putting a lot of time into this plot. Hope you like it! This sort of morphed out of some muse I developed from reading some good fics on here watching too much Full Metal Alchemist. This story is AU and is placed three years after the fourth war but Neji isn't killed. I have a lot planned for this story that will be revealed as the chapters' progress if I get good feedback of course. As for pairings the only one for sure is NejixTenten. I haven't decided what to do with the only main character, Kiba. I'm opened to suggestions as to who should be with or ideas that you might think would work well with this developing fic! Send em to me!
Thanks!