Author's Note:

Alright! Another day, another random burst of motivation! Let's see how long this lasts.

Edited: 06.06.21

Rogue is on editing process, despite the few chapters already published, but I will quickly edit the ones published, so you get to enjoy them soon!

Please tell me what you think!

CHAPTER 1: The Forbidden Scroll

Kagemichi Rei held the money pouch in her hand, staring (or more like glaring) at its impossible fatness before pouring the contents out to count her coins.

Excessively, the coins chinked noisily in her run-down motel room, being the only sound that existed in said room asides from her breathing and the leaking droplets of water in the toilet sink. The unending cluttering concluded to the black-nin that she could feed herself for months without labor with just this one bag. A smirk grew on her lips as she whistled to her newfound treasure in satisfaction.

"Hell yeah."

Rei's eyes moved over to the scroll she had just retrieved from her usual bar, The Waves. She had walked in with her usual attire - all black, hood and mask, and weapons beneath everything - when the owner instantly recognized her stand-alone uniform the moment she entered the bar. Like a membership ticket, her trademark costume had became a form of communication for the administration of her services. Wordlessly, the man behind the bar stepped away from his drunk customers to slide her a scroll and the pouch, and Rei was quick to leave soon after. She caught sight of a man with a knife on his belt in the corner of the room and a drunkard starting a commotion with a "Whaddya think ya lookin' at?", directed at the man. Rei was not going to be here when a fight happens, so she grabbed her request and left.

The Waves was pure filth - Rei's words - from the transactions that occurred within the space, the laundered money that go through the finances of the bar, up to the forbidden substances shared like mint floss amongst the visitors. The place stunk to no end, and she wasn't talking about just the sniffed stench, but Rei could not deny the notable sales that she got from the place.

That same request scroll was laid out on her motel room's crappy wooden table, thrown unto the furniture along with the cluttered coins she had just delightfully counted. Rei sighed at the sight of the material, loyally serving as an evidence to the give and take situation she had been living off for several years now - the scroll was a dull reminder of her obligations to pay the coins with her services.

Un-gloved fingers tapped on the table to ease the stress of aiding yet another unsatisfied bastard in his greed for money and power. "Nothing comes for free," Rei sighed.

After all, it was either exploiting some stupid rich asshole's pockets or continuously stealing random passerby for extra coins. She was more the type to pile work into one go instead of working diligently, so obviously the latter was out of the question. And her longtime goal was to have a luxury lifestyle - she dreamt of just bringing all the coins she had saved and live in an island, with servants to fulfill her daily needs. It was her sole motivation in living, after all. With what she had gone through, Rei believes she deserves the best of what life could offer - and the best she was going to receive.

With the gold coins acting as motivation, Rei started to read the request given to her, her hands crumpling the edge of the material as she fought down the urge to burn the scroll and keep the money. She had been thieving from other for others, why not a little bit for herself? But if she did so, then the reputation of her impeccable (illegal) services would've been ruined and cruelly shut her out of self-employment in the dark side of the shinobi world.

Also, her client would have sent other assassins to come after her - which was a hassle.

That was not to say she hadn't killed her clients before, or, well, kill assassins in this matter. It was just a matter of word-of-mouth rumors that marketed her services towards knowing people. And experienced organizations acting as her loyal customers. Said reputation had been built for years, and the respect she had gotten in the dark side of the shinobi world was tremendous. It was not only due to her skills and speed in getting any job done, but also the fact that her price range and requests were already set to the utmost quality. Her rules and grounds in working were already passed around like hotcakes in the illegal circles around the nation.

Heck, there was the one time she rummaged through a dead shinobi, to find some kind of "wanted" list in the form of a book, and she was on it, though her face and name was unknown.

She was only halfway through skimming the scroll when she found some pretty expensive words written down: Hokage's Headquarters, Konoha, and The Forbidden Scroll of Seals.

Rei scoffed. The money cluttered on the old wood was nowhere near enough or worthy of such mission.

"Fucking bastards thought I was cheap," Rei muttered, scowling. Rei was quick to drop the scroll and grumpily set half the coins back in the bag. The other half she intend to keep as administration fee. Her customers would understand.

But just as she finished halving her bag of coins, her eyes caught a line on the previously tattered scroll on the old desk. She let the bag drop on the desk with a noisy chink and retook the scroll to finish the latter part of the mission she had deemed irrelevant just a few seconds ago.

Final payment is ten times initial payment, was painted in the last line of the scroll.

'Now that is payment enough', Rei thought. The scowl on her features was quick to disappear, and with money as her motivation, Rei smiled as she thought about the future luxuries she would be able to live without working for the next couple of years.

"Let's infiltrate the fucking Hokage."

It wasn't like Rei held the highest esteem towards herself (if you're breaking into a shinobi leader's quarters, you're either very brave or very stupid), but she had long accepted that people live and people die. Sometimes they have fun, and sometimes they suffer. Her entire life was based on a risk, and she had survived thus far, no? Besides, Rei's motto was "If you can do anything, you deserve everything". And she wholesomely believed in her own sayings. If she failed - then that just means she didn't deserve the luxuries she had dreamt of. She would just accept it.

Besides, its not like she had to kill the Hokage to get a silly scroll. She just had to immobilize him a little, get him to be careless a little.

It didn't take long for her to step out of the motel unnoticed, and head towards the edge of the forest that intervenes the little town she was in and the Hidden Leaf Village. Rei stood on her mark, running through her mission in her head - a little ritual she had developed since she had learnt how to control her chakra. She closed her eyes and scanned for energy marks within the forest, feeling up the exact locations of objects in the forest to help her with her travels.

She inhaled deeply, but one breath was not all she absorbed. Rei soaked up the natural energy around her, the closest nature, the air, the living creatures closest to her as much as she was capable of - and she took them into her system and molded them to her chakra.

In one go, she directed the energy she had gathered to the bottom of her feet, and off she went, determined to be back before dawn. One second she was staring into the forest under the setting sun, and the next she was already deep within the trees.

Red.

It became a familiar color to Kakashi. Only to him, it did not hold the bold aura or the wish for happiness that it traditionally defines in Oriental beliefs.

Kakashi's red was a darker color, one that held both life and death. As his days go by, Kakashi realized that his shade of red is a fitting representation of his state of mind - not dead, but not quite living. When he had accepted his role as a part of Anbu, he had felt the pity in Minato's eyes, and Kakashi noticed the little glimpse Minato had taken directed at the carved metal piece hiding the red in his eyes - a stolen red. The guilt of placing his only living student into a life of darkness was clearly visible in Minato's eyes, because it was indeed cruel. Kakashi was only thirteen, and he had lost so much. Minato probably thought of it as an exploitation of Kakashi's numbness to his senses and humanity. But if he had made the right decision, as had the elders of the village had when they suggested the idea.

Maybe it was because hollowness had continuously haunted Kakashi after the deaths of Rin and Obito, that his lack of feelings blended perfectly into the dark life of Anbu. But Kakashi did not despise his sensei for putting him in the Black Ops, in fact not at all. It was better to be some sort of tool to his village rather than rot in depression at his loss and guilt, even if said tool was to be as indifferent as murderers as he finished his missions and duties.

It was a form of redemption, too.

Kakashi stared into the blood in his hands, wondering why his mind flashed back to Minato, Obito and Rin, why he was thinking back on the past.

Maybe because they were dead?

Just like the enemy before his feet?

Motionless and cold, and soon to be disposed like regular trash. Kakashi wondered just how many times these exact trail of thoughts had passed through his head before. It was an unmerciful occurrence, but it was almost natural, coming right after the adrenaline of taking a life had quieted down and he got to have his mind for himself for a few seconds.

"We'll take it from here."

Kakashi looked at the shinobi who had unknowingly dismissed his self-pity and simply nodded. The latter was wearing an Anbu mask, but his uniform was white, as opposed to Kakashi's own darker set. There was a group of Anbus in white trailing behind him, all set off to do their jobs.

They were the cleaners. In half an hour, not a soul would have guessed what had just happened in that particular location.

Kakashi moved back a few steps and gave space for the cleaners to finish their job. A few feet away from him, his direct subordinate and trusted junior Anbu, Uchiha Itachi, replicated his movements. The boy was younger than Kakashi, yet he eyed the scenery before him like it was a natural affair.

It reminded Kakashi of who, or what, he was supposed to become: Emotionless, empty, terrifying. As an Anbu, he should've been proud that his junior had grown to be a perfect soldier. But on the other hand, he hated himself for letting a boy lose his sense of empathy at such a young age.

Kakashi pulled the stained combat gloves out of his hands and dumped them into the pile of evidence that he was sure the cleaners would later burn to dispose of. With his bare hands (not completely clean, but at least not as nauseating as his bloodied gloves), Kakashi pulled his Anbu mask back down and declared, loud enough for Itachi to hear.

"Mission clear. We are to return and report."

Itachi did not hesitate to reply his trained answer, "Understood."

Tuned in to similar speeds and tempo, both ninjas set off back to the Hokage's Residence to do just that. They didn't bother going through the front gates (their job was to be invisible, after all) and directly entered the Hokage's Quarters through windows, a normalcy within the special organization. The special assassination and tactical squad, or otherwise referred to as Anbu, lived in invisibility and shadows, and that was also implemented even within their own home village during their work hours, just so nobody could question or could put two and two together about their missions and work. Every part of their duty was confidential to themselves, their team leader, and their Hokage.

The Third Hokage had felt their chakras from a mile away, and expected them inside his quarters as he finished up the documents toward their mission.

"Mission completed, Hokage-sama," Kakashi declared, his voice expressionless as he watched the Hokage sign the last few documents on the table. The Third nodded towards his short announcement and then gave Kakashi the documents he should write his full report on. Kakashi noticed the Hokage's eyes wondering over the loss of gloves on Kakashi's hands and the dried blood in the corners of his uniform. The grim look on his face did not go unnoticed either.

His eyes turned a darker shade as he took a quick glance towards both Itachi and Kakashi, quick to conclude what they had done for the sake of the mission. He, himself, had ever been there, in their shoes, and he had always hated putting people on those shoes. And being a Hokage did not help him in avoiding the task of being the one to do so. Necessary evil was still a necessity, and if not them, then other peers of theirs. Sometimes having empathy was a burden in his role as Hokage - he hated it.

"Brief me," the Hokage finally said, and Kakashi was quick to answer, not minding the few seconds the Hokage had taken for himself. "There was an ambush when we reached the borders, but we had expected it. All enemies in the ambush was cleared."

There was no need for a genius to understand what 'cleared' meant. The Third nodded grimly and dismissed the two - effectively sending them back to headquarters before heading to their respective homes.

Both Kakashi and Itachi had kept their silence ever since their report, and Kakashi realized it had been a tradition between them after brutal missions such as this one. It was a defense mechanism towards themselves and an act of care towards each other - a little something to let them cherish what was left of themselves as a person. It was an opportunity to clear their thoughts within that made up silence - to remind themselves that they were still people. In their line of work, being numb to murder was considered a common trait, something both Kakashi and Itachi did not want to get used to, but are forced to. Being guiltless towards humanity followed said numbness. The few seconds they had for themselves to think and give themselves constant self-reminder of who they are and what their purpose were was the only things making them still in touch with their souls, albeit the heavy weight of blood on each of their youthful fingers. He had lost count of the faces he had finished off, but the look on their faces had always been one and the same.

"Why did you join Anbu?"

Kakashi flinched, his darker thoughts dismissed. Itachi had always been quiet, and this was one of the very few times he had initiated the conversation, which was surprising.

"Why...," Kakashi trailed off, wiping the blood off his hands on the headquarters' sink. He had placed his Anbu mask away (though not his own that tightly covers half of his face - he'd never do that) and returned his gears to the headquarters' armory, and now was left in his own clothing. "Because I have lost before," he mused. "And that loss allows me to be distanced from my sense of living for the sake of living."

His answer was a circular recursion, and nobody would've understood, but Itachi had no particular reaction. If he had more questions he did not ask.

"Why are you here?"

Itachi let his thoughts sink in before answering, "I'm duty-bound. My skills are responsibilities."

Kakashi nodded. One would've criticized that he sounded too much like a trained soldier - almost too monotone. But Kakashi could hear his sincerity, and the way he had mentioned his reason like it was a revelation from his own self. He could see where Itachi had gained his perspective from, though, it was such a strong Uchiha trait. The only question Kakashi did not ask, because it would stir unnecessary doubts in their works if he did, was who exactly was Itachi duty-bound to?

At that, their conversation ended, like all previous times they had these talks between them, it was short, direct, and bordered. They were talking within lines they dare not cross with each other not only because it was the suggested protocol within partners and teammates, but also because they felt like they would've completely lost themselves if every single detail was taken away.

With his thoughts, Kakashi found himself walking over to Rin. It was too late to get flowers, so he reminded to bring some the next morning.

"Hey," he sighed, looking at her grave before sitting down on the ground. "Sorry, I hope you don't mind my company. I'll stay here for a while just to gather my thoughts and then I'll be okay. Don't worry."

The solemn breeze and somehow great night weather was a great distraction towards the still vivid images of the mission that had transpired just that day. Kakashi basked in the brief peacefulness he could afford.

The first few lives he had taken included the one that used to stay in the body of the girl buried just besides him. Coming to her grave had always been a constant reminder to the sacrifices he and everyone with his duties must make. It was both a choice and a forced tradition he had accepted since his early days.

He wondered if the world had been right, or if it was one big mistake that had been dragged on for too long. In a sense, yes, shinobis were different than civilians, because they were naturally born with the ability to control energy and chakra that civilians could not grasp jurisdiction upon. And a gift must be cultivated and utilized, else it be a waste - or so they say.

"Is it right for me to question the world, Rin?" he asked aloud, knowing there would be nobody to answer him. "If our circumstances were different, if we had been born as civilians, you and Obito would've still be here, no? Maybe even sensei?"

He let the breeze answer him, but a sad smile still mounted behind the mask he wore. He knew that regretting circumstances would bring no good, and of course every ninja could have rejected a mission if they truly wished. They all had choices, and even he could have dismissed the thought of pursuing the ninja career path. But in all honesty, did he completely understood his standings and sacrifices when he recited his ninja promise upon graduation? To announce written words and to go through them directly was two different things Kakshi could not ever compare.

"Sorry, I just have too many questions tonight. I'll be back to myself again tomorrow," Kakashi mused to the empty space beside him. Rin would probably scold him tor thinking too much, and Obito would've demanded who he was and what had he done to his cool-headed rival Kakashi. The imagination was enough for Kakashi to be comforted and motivated back to his duty-bound job, as Itachi had so clearly defined. He took one deep breath before standing up to leave.

Kakashi did not plan to stay out long that night because he had a report to write, and he bid farewell to Rin before heading back, passing by the Hokage's quarters as he enjoyed the rest of his borrowed time of comfort.

It was on his way when he could sense a diminished chakra.

Someone trying to hide their presence was never a positive sign.

And it was by the Hokage's quarters, too. While he was sure many ninjas were around to secure, his gut feeling was telling him that something was off. It didn't help that he knew the dangerous weapons and artefacts kept within the quarters should never fall on the wrong hands.

All these years, he had been able to stay alive because of his instincts, and he had learnt to never doubt warning flags of danger. Kakashi pushed his headband to straighten them, revealing the gift Obito had given him in his last moments. He had caught a strange chakra signature, one that he had never seen in the village. Red alerts became clear in Kakashi's head as he chased the chakra signature without further hesitation.

He caught a glimpse of a shadow before it disappeared behind buildings, and he had to rely on Sharingan to continue chasing after the presence. Whoever they were, they were fast. He had only encountered such speed with Guy, and it was almost equivalent to the second or third gate out of the eight gates Guy had mastered.

But even Guy could not maintain such speed for a long time, they were bound to slow down. Even a few minutes was pulling it too far.

Kakashi continued to chase after the foreign signature, but he was appalled when he realize the chakra was starting to shrink.

Was the speed of this intruder affecting their chakra? Is that it? Kakashi tried to speed up in attempts of catching up, but somehow, the intruder did not slow down.

Not until it abruptly stopped.

'Strange', Kakashi thought, alarmed.

He sped up, not wasting a chance, now that it had stayed still, albeit far weaker than he first had seen, and approached.

But when the view came to sight, there was all but one bunny in the middle of a bush. It looked at Kakashi, fearful as it tried to escape, and Kakashi caught it, eying the chakra in the bunny.

"Who are you?" he questioned, but his eyes widened when he realized that the chakra he was chasing after was still diminishing even within the bunny, getting weaker and weaker until only the bunny's dim natural energy was spotted.

All that was left was the bunny's trembling body, fearful of Kakashi as it wiggled trying to free itself out of Kakashi's grasps. Kakashi was bewildered. He let the bunny go, but not his suspicions as he eyed the scrambling furry animal.

He re-scanned his surroundings for that same chakra signature, but he found none. In fact, the place was deserted, he couldn't spot chakra anywhere. It was alarming that this shadow, if it wasn't a piece of his imagination, was able to escape him so easily - and Kakashi thought he was a pretty good ninja, too.

He returned to the quarters to investigate, stopped at the front gate only to find one of the chunin ninjas on guard smiling at him.

"Back again, Kakashi?"

He was about to wave back and continue his little investigation (just to make sure he wasn't seeing things), when he realized the oddity of the greeting coming from the chunin guard.

"What do you mean, 'Back again'?" he questioned the man, who visibly took a step back in surprise. The chunin guard had just noticed that Kakashi's Sharingan was activated, and his scarred eye was visible even in the dark night. And when Kakashi did not hold a smile in his face, he could look as intimidating as a villain.

"I-I was just asking, since you just came out a moment ago," the ninja tried to explain, confused as to why Kakashi was acting so aggressively at his simple greeting.

Gears clicked in Kakashi's head, and he was quick to react. He was a trained soldier, after all. "Code: Red, we've been intruded," he explained to the chunin guard, who only looked at him, confused and a little scared. "Inform everyone and search the quarters. Someone had pretended to be me to get in! Question anyone who had seen me and re-check our arsenal for any missing artefacts or signs of break in!"

The chunin shinobi nodded furiously when he realized the graveness of the situation, and rung the warning bells. Regaining more composure, he started to convey Kakashi's message to fellow shinobis currently on guard duties. Kakashi himself stepped into the quarters, seizing the perimeter in case there were accomplices for ambush. He had no idea what this intruder came for, and he was also offended that they had dared to duplicate him for it.

When Kakashi stepped into the Hokage's office, the aura was heavy, and the Hokage seemed to have just came to from something.

"Hokage-sama! We've been breached!"

"I think I was under genjutsu," the Hokage held his head like it was the heaviest thing ever. "Kakashi, check the arsenal if anything is missing!"

They managed to place a jutsu over the Hokage?

Kakashi was about to affirm his notice about the command when the previous chunin shinobi on guard had rushed in. "Hokage-sama, the Forbidden Scroll of Seals has been stolen!"

The Third grunted. He had just sent the last jounin tracking team out on a mission. There was also no available chunin teams with fitting criteria at them moment, and he would definitely not risk giving a mission correlating with a thief that could place a justu so naturally on him to a genin team. His eyes wondered to the people in the room, and stopped at Kakashi - realizing that he had one of the best tracking ninjas right at view, and two owners of the best tracking tool to mankind - Sharingan, had just came back from a mission.

"Kakashi, this is a mission as a Konoha jounin," he concluded. "Retrieve the scroll. Bring Itachi with you."

A mission... as a jounin?

He did not have the time to question the Hokage's choice of words, not when the thief had a quick start on his escape.

"Roger that."