Chapter 20: Things Get A Bit Complicated
FLASHBACK INSIDE A FLASHBACK
"That's insane, sir!" I shake my head disbelievingly. "It'll only be two of us! What if things go wrong?"
"Are you saying you and Itachi are not strong enough to do this?" Hiruzen raises a single brow calmly.
I sigh, "I'm strong, sir, but I know my weaknesses. I-"
"And that is why Itachi is there to cover you, just as you are to cover for him. The rumors of you, Kakashi and Itachi being something like the next generation of Sanin is not some fantasy. You three make that good of a team, and you are that powerful. I would ask all three of you to do this, but as it stands Kakashi is the primary leader of Team Seven and he can't just up and disappear," Hiruzen interrupts lightly. "You knew you would be returning to Anbu duties when the Chunin Exams ended. They are coming to and end and although it is a bit early, I must give you this mission so that you may leave right away".
"Sir," Itachi questions, "Just how is this all supposed to play out? What is our excuse? They are all S-ranked criminals and missing ninja. Surely we cannot just waltz in and ask to be a part of their group; that wouldn't be plausible".
Who is 'they' you may ask? An organization called Akatsuki. For the most part they can be considered as mercenaries. However, a spy under Jiraiya has found something big. Being a group of mercenaries is not the main goal of the Akatsuki. They were as such simply in order to make money in order fund themselves. Their true goal is the capturing of Jinchuriki and the extraction of the Bijuu. We don't know what they'll be doing after the Bijuu are all taken, but that's besides the point. They have to be stopped. That's why Hokage-sama called us during the month of training before the final Chunin Exam round. It's our job to infiltrate the Akatsuki and gather information.
"It will not matter to them whether you are missing ninja by title or not. So yes, you will waltz in and ask to be a part of their organization. However, while they will believe you are double agents looking to help them reach their goal, driven by your dislike for all Jinchuriki- Cross- and simply a dislike for the way the village is run- Itachi-, you will really be double agents working for us. In essence, they will think you are missing ninja at heart, and ultimately want to see Konoha go down. This, I theorize, will get you into the Akatsuki just fine. You will most likely be watched by someone, so you may not break role until they trust you," Hiruzen answers simply. "You will be forced not only to kill the innocent but also go with every one of their plans that involve you".
I don't like this...But they're trying to hurt Naruto. The boy I've come to see as a brother, just as I see Itachi and Sasuke even. I can't let them hurt him. I refuse. And this is my home! I'm not losing it to a group of power hungry men. Fuck that. "...What about the other countries? If we're told to go after another Jinchuriki in another country and they see our hitai-ates not scratched, they'll think Konoha is in on the Akatsuki's plans".
"That is true. That is why you'll have more than one hitai-ate. One that is scratched when you are on missions for the Akatsuki. And another- your original- for when you are 'spying' on Konoha. If you go on missions for Konoha and you come upon an enemy. Kill them to avoid confusion and suspicion on either end," Hiruzen continues. "Any other questions?"
"...When do we start?" I question.
"At the end of the third round of the Chunin Exams. You will leave as soon as everything is settled. You will have to tell those you choose to tell tonight while everything is still fresh in your minds. Choose wisely. On the off chance should anything happen to me, Tsunade will be my successor and someone will be sent out for her. I have left the information I've just told you in the hands of Jiraiya, who will most likely be the one to go get Tsunade. Should he succeed, he will pass on the information".
"And if he fails?" Itachi ponders.
"Then though string pulling and trickery...I hate to say it but Danzo will most likely become Hokage at that point. If that happens...Kill him," Hirzen sighs out. "The chance of Jiraiya's success and failure is unpredictable even for Shukaku Nara, whom was the one who helped me formulate the plan for your entrance into the Akatsuki. Therefore I want you to know now what to do if he does fail. It is not treason if I, the standing Hokage, order this. Not only that, but even if it can be considered as such, I know neither of you will be caught".
FLASHBACK INSIDE A FLASHBACK END
NORMAL FLASHBACK
"And that is why we have you gathered here, in this very house. Doing it at our place, Kakashi, would risk someone over hearing this story," I tell them. I was the one to recall everything, seeing as Itachi decided we needed something munch on.
"So...You and Itachi are basically risking your lives for not only my safety...But the village's as well?" Naruto confirms.
"That's correct, Naruto-kun," Itachi speaks up from my side. It's he and I on one couch, and Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke on the other couch across from us and on the other side of the coffee table.
"Then let's go together! We can take them! I'll help you!" Naruto insists.
I sigh, "You don't get it, Naruto. They want you. If you were to go, you'd be their main target and they're all S-ranked criminals. We can only do so much". He grumbles at me, unhappy with such a fact.
"Why do you two have to do it in the first place? Why not someone else? There's plenty of other Anbu out here," Sasuke demands. He's not in the best of moods at all. He really doesn't seem to like this idea at all.
"Cross and I are two of the strongest shinobi Hokage-sama has to offer towards this plan. We complement each other well when fighting and in general working together. Kakashi would be coming with us if it weren't for the fact that he is a Jonin instructor and therefore he cannot divert from you nor Naruto-kun," Itachi answers simply.
"It's not like we're going to be gone for a long time all the time. It's just every now and then we'll leave the village for a little while and then come back. It's like any other mission in terms of going places," I try to explain.
"What if they catch you?" Kakashi brings up, "They'll kill you. That's what will happen". This causes Sasuke's and Naruto's eyes to widen.
"You can't go!" They slam their hands on the coffee table as one, Naruto looking at me and Sasuke meeting eyes with Itachi.
"They're not going to catch us," I sigh, eyes moving from blue to a singular black one. "And if they do, then we'll get the fuck out of there by the air. We're told that only one other person there can fly, and that's not saying much. He follows up into the sky? He's in my domain. He'll go down".
There's a sigh from the silver haired Jonin, "I don't like this...It looks like we'll have to have our date some other time".
"Date?" The other three men look my way, and my face becomes blood red with embarrassment.
Kakashi you ass. "It's nothing. Just a little experiment is all," I tell the three of them. Naruto seems excited, while Sasuke doesn't look to be any happier- why's that? I don't know- and Itachi is just interested it seems. My eyes fall back to Kakashi and I nod, "If you want we can go on it tonight or we can wait until Itachi and I have succeeded and do the date in celebration".
There's an eye smile from him to myself, "Why don't we do the second one? We do both have as student to train for the third round after all".
END NORMAL FLASHBACK
And that's how I got here, to be standing in front of a bunch of men along with Itachi. He's taken on an emotionless and analytical personality and turned it into his own as to help cover up his more so passive personality. Me? I've taken to using my title to help create my personality. One that is quick to anger but not quick to just suddenly lashing out. A person who takes no shit from no one. Not that far from my own personality, that last part, but the whole quick to anger thing? Not really. In reality I'm a playful person and sadistic in a fight. But for these guys, I'll have to simply be ruthless and quick to kill or barge in. I should be able to hold a personality like that up.
Like I said a few moments earlier. I'm standing here, in a cave, in front of multiple men. All of them save one I can make out the looks of perfectly fine. The one on my far left of the line up is a tan skinned and tall man, and for now I dub him the tallest of the group. He, like any other well trained and hard working shinobi man, has a muscular build from the looks of things even though he wears a cloak with red clouds lined in white on it. He wears a white hood and a black mask- from what I can see over the brim of the cloak's collar- leaving his eyes which have red sclerosis and green pupilless irises. He wears a hitai-ate around its namesake like most shinobi do, it being of Takigakure which has as scratch through it. I can see that on his finger nails is a dark, almost blood, red nail polish, and on his left middle finger is a ring with the kanji for "green".
Next to him is a man with his cloak open to show both the necklace around his neck, the hitai-ate for Yukigakure with a scratch through it, and his bare chest. He has medium length silver hair that's slicked back and his eyes are purple, something I've never seen before. His complexion looks to be pale, but not as pale as Itachi's, more so like my own. I cans see that his fingernails are painted a dark green color. On his left index finger is a ring with the kanji for "three" on it in orange. The look on his face makes me realizes that not only will the personality I'll be acting like will hate him, but so will the real me. He looks likea complete asshole. He's good looking, I'll give him that, but I'd rather tell him to suck his own dick than even think about talking to him flirtatiously.
The next one my eyes are drawn to reminds me of a fish. He is a very tall man, looking to be muscular too which wouldn't be surprising seeing as it looks like he's gotta carry around a giant sword like Zabuza did. As said, he reminds me of a fish, mainly a shark with blue-gray skin and small white eyes that seem to have gills near them. I wouldn't be surprised if he had actual gills somewhere on him. He's grinning at us, so I can see the sharp teeth in his mouth, something else that reminds me of Zabuza. His hair is blue, and styled kind of like a fin. Over whatever clothing he's wearing is the a black high collared cloak with long sleeves that seem to almost cover his hands. I can see his fingers are painted a dark purple for whatever reason, and on his left pointer finger is a ring with a kanji for "south" on it in yellow. On his forehead is a scratched out protector for Kirigakure.
The next one to his left is a man that has slanted blue eyes and long blonde hair that reminds me of Naruto due to the exact color. This hair is long and worn in a half ponytail while the rest hangs down with a bang covering his left eye. He looks on the shorter side, closer to my and Itachi's heights if not Kakashi's height. On his forehead is a scratched through protector for Iwa, showing that that's where he came from. Like Kisame and the other members, he wears a long cloak that covers his hands and has a wide brimmed collar like Sasuke's and Itachi's shirts that come up to the mouth at least; black with red clouds lined in white on it. On his fingers and toes is black nail polish, while on his right index finger is a teal ring that has the kanji for "blue".
To this guy's left is actually...A woman. She seems to be the only woman of the group, and I applaud her ability to not kill all of them by now. She's a fairly pretty woman from what I can see, being tall, a bit shorter than myself though. Her hair is a blue color that's darker than my own summer sky blue- hers is like a winter sky blue- and amber eyes with lavender eye shadow and a laret peircing. In her hair is a paper flower of a light blue color, and it looks like she's one of those naturally stoic people- something that reminds me of how I've seen most Abume's look. She wears what is probably the uniform cloak for this place and a rind on her right middle finger with the kanji for "white". Her finger nails are painted orange.
The next to last guy has wide brown eyes and short red hair which is some what messy looking, but not quite 'just rolled out of bed' messy. He looks to be yet another stoic person- geeze, Itachi will fit right in. I don't see any hitai-ate, so I couldn't say what his former village was. However he wears the standard cloak. On his left thumb is a purple ring with the kanji for "jewel" on it. His nails are painted teal.
The last guy is a real work of art. At first it's hard to tell if he's actually a thing that's at least human-esque, but I see it. He has two large venus fly trap extentions that envelop his head and probably a good portion of his body by the looks of things. He looks like a living plant with green hair to boot. What's also weird is his skin tone. The right half is black. Nothing but black skin. Evne I can't see a nose or a mouth, and the eye while a dull gold has no pupil. The other half is paper white, but this time I can see a mouth and a nose so I wonder if the black has both and I just can't see them. His dull golden eye has its pupil. His finger nails are pink of all colors, and by the looks of things his toe nails are blue. On his right middle finger is a green ring with the kanji "sign of the boar".
The being in the middle of them all is transparent, with eyes of a dojutsu I had only heard about in legend and stories: the Rinnengan. The eyes that are said to belong to the Sage of the Six Paths. The transparent man, which is obviously a hologram, has spiky almost like Naruto's but no where near as spiky. I can only assume that he wears the same cloak as everyone else, due to the way I see him. Other than that he's a mystery. "Welcome back, Itachi," the man spea- Wait. What?!
"Thank you, Leader-sama," Itachi states simply, his face void of emotion.
"Oi! Why the fuck are we gathered here you pain in the ass?!" The silver haired man demands, stepping forward a bit in order to talk to the hologram. "Who the hell is the slut?"
"Go choke on your own penis you ass wipe," I snap. My head hurts. Why is Itachi already known? God damn it, has he been a double agent for these guys all along? How long has he known them? I don't understand! And if I don't understand, I've got a headache.
"What'd you say to me you cunt? You want me to sacrifice you to Jashin-sama?! I will," he grins, stepping forward as he does so, "Gladly I will".
"I'm not gonna repeat myself for someone who talks like some wanna be bad ass when he's actually just some pussy," I growl out.
Before this guy can continue our curse-off, the leader speaks again. "She will be joining us as another double agent for us against Konoha. Itachi suggested we use her, and in turn allow her to help us hunt down the Bijuu as is her wish". Rinnengan eyes land on me. "Introduce yourself".
I blink, covering up the fangs that were being bared at Hidan threateningly as he constantly glared at me. I raise a brow before shrugging and walking forward, pushing Hidan to the side none too gently. "The name's Cross. I got no last name so you're gonna have ta call me that or nothin' at all. I'm a former Anbu now Jonin of Konoha. I'm easily one of the strongest people in the village," I shrug lightly again before looking to the leader, "That's all I've got".
"Very well. Itachi. Take her to the base and give her a tour. Then come to my office when you are finished; you have a mission," the hologram speaks before disappearing
It's then that the large fish man walks up to me and leans down to meet my eyes, "You've got Orochimaru's eyes. You the result of him raping some innocent woman?"
I snarl and before I know it, my claws are unsheathed and I've got them to his throat. My other hand meets the sword he swings down at me in return, and my tail is pointed at his heart, which his hand has a hold of, "Hold your tongue, asshole. I'm an experiment that made my way out of an abandoned hide out. I ain't no child of that ugly fuck's". I can feel my chakra being happily eaten away by the sword, and my eyes narrow. Is the thing...purring? We separate, and my tail wraps around my waist again. "Keep your chakra eating blade the hell away from me," I mutter, not too deterred by how much was taken. Thank you large reserves.
"Heh. I like her Itachi. She's your new partner? She's interesting," the fish man tells Itachi casually. His eyes return to me and he gives me literally a shark's smile. "Name's Kisame". He offers hand.
I look down at the large hand and narrow my eyes before taking his hand, "Like I said. Cross". I find myself being lifted and the beginning of being thrown. However, my fingers curl and claws are placed into his hand. "Asshole. Don' think that you can get the better o' me just 'cause I'm new". Looks like I'll be keeping my claws unsheathed while here. I pull my claws out of his hand without remorse, and flick the blood off of them. My eyes turn to Itachi, "Are we goin'?"
Itachi is silent, and walks passed Kisame and I, walking literally through the back wall of the cave. So it's a genjutsu. Huh. I didn't even see let along sense it. Once through this wall, Itachi suddenly spins around and his hand latches onto my throat. Just as fast my eyes widen and my claws are pointed at his heart, while other hand meets his. Black eyes become red and black, the signature sight of the Sharingan. "Tsukiyomi,"
Next thing I know, I'm hanging by my hands on my namesake, feet tied as well, and tail pinned down. I lift my head that was once hanging when my eye opened, to see a dark world with a red sky and gray ground. The clouds and moon above are black as Itachi's hair, and before is said man. "What the hell!? Itachi! Why am I in your Tsukiyomi?!"
"Calm down," he tells me, holding his hands up, palms facing me, "This was the only way to answer your questions right away without being caught. To answer the question I know you're wondering, I will explain. I came upon the Akatsuki eight years ago, not long before we were due to take care of the issue with my family...Jiraiya-sama asked that someone keep an eye on Orochimaru; that someone was me".
"Why wasn't this explained to me by Sandaime-sama?" I question with furrowed brows as I continue to hang there.
"I honestly don't know," he replies. "I assume it was to make sure that everything seemed absolutely believable when I told Pein- that's the leader's name- of you recently joining my side and rising to become my right hand. However, now you know the truth. And I need you to be silent about it no matter what. Do you understand?"
I sigh and let my body slump against the binds that bind me, "One more question," I tell him, "...If this is in your mind...Why am I on a cross?"
Itachi smiles lightly now, dropping his hands, "I find it ironic and funny, is all. We should get going. You know how Tsukiyomi works, so don't be surprised that no time has passed in reality".
I was gonna come back with a statement about how he would enjoy the irony, but I don't get the chance as my vision swirls and shifts only to refocus and have me looking into a pair of dark orbs and a hand just under my jaw. I take a breath in through my nose only to find that- god damn Itachi smells good! Of mint and a campfire- mostly of the latter though. I can't help but take in another scent. Yup. Still smells good. He releases me and turns, his face once more stoic. I rub under my jaw where he had been holding me as I follow him through the tunnel. Upon exiting the tunnel, I can't help but be impressed. What we've come upon is a cave not unlike those of the Anbu training grounds back home. Across the cave on the right is a small stream that is not too slow nor too fast. The building itself is not a mansion, but it is not small in the slightest. It is of moderate size with simple white walls on the outside and red shutters with a black door. The grass we stand on is smooth and green, but is not lush. Itachi leads the way into the house, showing me that the first to be seen is a large living room with dark wooden floors and blood red walls. The furniture is of a nice leather with two couches sitting across from one another with a coffee table in the middle. It's not much to look at, and there's nothing but a simple TV along the far wall, but it's nice. Itachi is silent as he continues the tour, leading me into the dinning room through a swinging door on one of the living room's walls. The dinning room's floor is that of dark wood just like the living room, with a matching table and chair set, with a black stained glass table top. The walls are a dark green color, but the room despite all this darkness is well lit. Attached to the far wall from me is another swinging door; this leads to the kitchen. Said room is that of white tiles and a light blue wall set up. The counter tops are of a light tan marble, with steel eating utensils and crystaline glass wear. The fridge is large and white, just like the oven and microwave. Itachi leads the way back to the living room, and it's now that I realize that to the immediate right of the front door is a set of stairs. We go up these stairs to show a single hallway with five doors on alternating sides of the walls of the hallway that is perpendicular to the staircase and the small walkway that leads off of it as well as the hallway that seems to lead to another hallway that lies parallel to the one we're at now. It looks like, as I look down the hallway that runs off the stairs, that there's also a third hallway perpendicular to this one. We go down the left side of the room first, showing me that each door has a name on it to show whose is whose. The hallway's floor itself is that of a carpet that is a dark orange-tan color, the walls an off white. The doors of each room are an off white as well. To the right of the stairs, are three doors, with two staggered and across from one another and the third at the end of the hallway. The staggered doors say 'Kakuzu' and 'Hidan'. To the left of the stairs is the same set up, though the staggered doors on this side say, 'Sasori' and 'Deidara'. We head forward onto the second perpendicular hallway. This time to the left is the same set up but the doors say 'Kisame' and 'Zetsu'. On the right there is a door that says, 'Itachi'. The other door is blank. On to the third hallway. There is only one door to the left, and there is no bathroom in this direction. There are three doors to the right, just like the other set ups with the doors saying 'Leader' and 'Konan'.
By the time we done with the tour, we stand in front of the only door that is alone. Itachi looks to me and states, "Go to the room with the blank door; that's your room now. Stay there until I come to get you". It's after this that he knocks on the door and I take that as my dismissal.