Sakura discretly wiped her hands on the front of her njnja blouse, mouth filled with nervous saliva as they waited for the chunin at the mission desk to hand out missions to the other teams.
"Team Gai! Your mission will be too hunt rouge creatures from the forest of death and keep them contained in the training grounds. Pack your bags, you'll have to stay overnight in the forest for a while."
None of team Gai, not even Lee looked pleased to stay in the forest another day, let alone a few of them, but the mission was the exact type they were looking for. Something relatively easy, in village, simple, and something that takes you away from your sensei and family. They accepted the mission and moved on, Rock Lee giving her and Naruto a thumbs up, Tenten a wink, and Neji a polite, stiff nod.
"Team Eight! Your mission is to help with repairs caused by the snake summons and escaping animals from the forest of death."
Kiba smirked. Most of the damage happened far away from his clan compound, the same being for Shino. They'd be able to squirm out of family interaction and even stay the night at some emergency tents.
"Team Ten!"
Shikamaru and Choji stepped forward, faces uncharacteristically grim. The absence of Ino between the two of then was like a gaping black hole. Sakura tried not to think of the spot where Sasuke and Haruhi used to be.
"Your mission is to aid and assist around the village with security. Ferry letters back between Chunin and their outposts at the wall." The desk Chunin handed they the mission and dismissed them.
"...Naruto Uzumaki." The man's lip curled with distast. " Your mission is cleaning up waste left by the rouge creatures."
They looked at each other in surprise and fear. They weren't supposed to be seperated. Sakura could feel the others surprise and worry over the mental link Ino had established before Tenten sent reassurance towards them.
They could work around this.
Naruto reluctantly left, Leaving Sakura all by herself in the mission room with only the Chunin for company. The rest of the chunin were on active duty, doing damage control and trying to patch the holes in the walls and capture all the dangerous rouge creatures from the forest of death.
"You were in kunoichi classes correct?" He asked her curtly. His eyes had that familiar dismissive look, the type all ninja-borns wore when they saw a civilian-born like her.
She squared her shoulders and nodded.
"Then you are familiar with seduction?" He still wasn't looking at her, eyes roving over the mission sheet boredly.
Sakura's heart started racing. Seduction?
Finally looking up and seeing her confused expression, he elaborated in a careless way.
"Some lower noble. Has a thing for little girls. Normally we don't take these mission, especially to younger shinobi like you, but keep him "company" for a weekend, and he'll pay Konoha and help with the damages."
He tossed her the scroll and it bounced off her chest and to the ground with a dull thunk.
His words echoed in her head. Has a thing for little girls? What was that supposed to mean?
Would she have to kiss him?
But she didn't want to! She was saving herself! Sakura knew this was a possibility ever since she has first joined the academy, but the thought that she might have to go on a honeypot mission herself never really occurred to her until right now, where it was suckerpunching her in the gut.
She picked up the scroll with numb fingers and opened it. A picture of an ugly, fat, old man stared back at her. Late fifties early sixties. The scroll elaborated on keeping him company. She was supposed to do things like kissing and hugging he he wanted her too, and if he wanted to have s-
She looked away, only to catch the desk chunins eyes.
"Is something the matter? I know this isn't really talked about in civilian homes, but most ninja always know this is a possibility. Look on the bright side. This mission will teach you how to be a real ninja." He said patronizingly, as if Sasuke Uchiha hadn't beaten her out by only a handful of points on the physical test. As if she wasn't Kunoichi of the year, as if she wasn't the student of Hatake Kakashi with a A-rank under her belt.
Sakura was fucking proud of her civilian background. It meant she wasn't a stuck up pretentious egotistical ass like he was! Her parents were ten times better than he was!
"Girl, take this mission now or be tried for treason later on. Your choice." The chunin snapped, getting annoyed.
Sakura jumped.
People who were accused of treason were often killed, especially during times of crisis like this.
"Now, is that really necessary?" A voice purred.
Sakura turned to see the purple haired special jounin saunter in the room. Faint bags lined her eyes, and her steps were almost sluggish, but there was power in her movement, the lethal grace she saw in the leopards in the forest of death.
"Sending a green genin on a seduction mission? Tsk tsk." She clucked, full painted red lips curling into a sneer.
Sakura recognized her as the proctor to the second chunin exams.
"Anko. Nice to see you doing well after your encounter with your former sensei." He said curtly. Sakura notice he was leaning back slightly.
A dangerous auroa filled the room. Killing intent, and Sakura was glad it wasn't aimed at her. Zabuza's had felt like the edge of a knife at your throat. Orochimaru's had felt slimy and crushing. Anko's felt like razor sharp eyes staring out at you from somewhere unseen, biding her time.
Anko plucked the mission scroll from Sakura's limp fingers.
"I'll take this from here. You go with your other teammate." Anko said. Her voice was neutral, but Sakura's voice caught in her her throat as she recognized the same protective stance Haruhi and Kakashi got whey they were protecting them.
She scurried out of the room, shaked to her core.
Naruto was waiting for her, having heard everything and held her as she cried.
Crickets chirped as figures dashed by in the moonlight. Chakra muffled their footsteps as they flashed by, following in Shikamaru's trail. Haku's Ice clones of them were in place, at their respective missions. They had packed everything into storage seals of Tenten's own making, and had said goodbye to their families.
Border security had increased ever since the attack. They were going to leave through the Nara woods.
'You guys stay safe. Haku and I will take it from here.' Ino's voice echoed softly in their heads. It was already fading from distance, and in a few miles would be gone entirely.
Shino tagged them all with his bugs. Akamaru sniffed each of them until he had their scents memorized, and Karin put a seal on each of them she had worked on with Tenten. It remained inactivated, but if they pumped chakra into it Karin's already prodigal sensory skills would be able to pick them out from anywhere.
They paused for a moment, looking back at Konoha gleaming in the night, before one-by-one, they disappeared into the forest.
The Sasuke and Haruhi retrieval mission was a go.
Sand slithered over stone. The metal of a battle fan shimmered in the moonlight. Silver chakra strings glinted across tree limbs like a spiders webs.
Anko tried not to snarl as she glared at the mission scroll in her hands for the seventh time that day. Her vision went white with rage at the thought of some green genin girl being forced on a seduction mission, threatened with charges of treason.
She means, come on! Being the apprentice of one of Konoha's most famous and only missing nin meant she had no time for illusions. The betrayal of her sensei and the horrific things he did to her and others would forever weight on her minds.
But they weren't Kiri, for gods sake! Seduction wasn't a main staple of theirs!
She growled as another no name jounin sent her a suspicious look. She hated the snake-basted as much, if not more then them. This was more than annoying at this point.
She had to be angry though, or else she would be depressed and nauseous.
The thought of Kizashi's and Mebuki's daughter being forced to cozy up to some old man…
She shook her head.
She wondered how her old teammate was taking this. She hadn't talked to Kizashi in years, too ashamed of herself for not realizing what Orochimaru was up to before it was too late, and their team shattered to pieces. She wanted to tell him she was sorry for not saving their other teammate. The teammate she knew was the weakest of them all, always coughing and sneezing. She wanted to tell him that it was okay if he blamed her, and that she didn't judge him for retiring, for the ninja life becoming too much for him.
Most ninja never retired and burned out at 20, going on suicide runs as an excuse to end it all. She wanted to tell him she thought he was brave for retiring when doing anything short of giving your life for your village was looked down upon. But Kizashi decided to stay alive for his wife and daughter.
Dying would have been easy, but he stayed alive.
As she looked down at the scroll in her hands, flashes of Kizashi's and Mebuki's faces danced across her field of vision. They were too good for a fuck up like her.
Looks like all she could do was look after Sakura
She pocketed the scroll and dashed across rooftops, scanning for Sakura. With the gloom hanging over the village, she needed to make sure she was safe.
She spent hours looking for the girl.
When she finally spotted them cleaning up after some of the rouge animals she cursed. Her snake summons told her they were cold-blooded. Ice clones. She followed her snake's directions and cursed and spat when she realized they lead out of the village. They were going after Sasuke and Haruhi. After Orochimaru. Those stupid fucking kids had no idea what they were getting into.
Anko stood there for a single second before summoning a snake.
"Deliver this message to Hatake Kakashi. Maito Gai, Asuma, and Kurenai."
She recited her message, watched the summon slither away, and then dashed after the children.
She would protect them.
No more children would die by Orochimaru's hand. Not if she had anything to say about it.
Yes, everything is being put into place. This is a bomb waiting to go off, and once it does, it will shake the ninja worlds very foundations. And surprise! Anko was Kizashi's teammate! I just thought that was a cool idea, Ya know? I think it ties in nicely with the rest of my story.
Kakashi is gonna freak when he finds out what they did, but there is nothing he can do about it? You know that one scene in mulan where she leaves for the army but they don't go after her? Thats because they would have exposed her secret and would have gotten her killed. Kakashi won't be able to chase after them, due to the council watching him and waiting for him to do just that.
Danzo Sees Kakashi as the threat he is to his power, and Kakashi knows this. if he went he would expose the genin and they would all be charged with treason, Danzo using this opportunity to eliminate another competitor for hokage. he's stuck.
Yeah, and how about that mission with sakura? Pretty messed up. Konoha has and still does sexually abuse children for monetary gain. Thats pretty much canon, and its wrong beyond belief.
Important announcement: I am going on Hiatus.
Yes, you are reading that right. School is starting in a handful of days, and I still have so much to do. Again, I am buy no means quitting this story. I have come to love and appreciate it and you guys so much. Words cannot explain how much you guys mean to me. After I get settled in school I will update again until I have completed objectivity.
Again, don't freak out.
Thank you for all the love and support.
Question of the chapter: What do you like or not like about this story? What do you find interesting or unique? What caught you off guard? And what do you think would be cool to see?"