A Lethal Observer (Naruto) [ALW Series Book Two]

Chapter 1

Hanako and Kakashi were sent on a mission to retrieve an unknown stone object in the nearest border with Iwagakure. They only knew it was stolen by a group of rogue ninja.

"Have you found anything?" Kakashi stood over a tall tree, looking down at her through his Anbu mask.

"No, I can't feel any chakra either," she replied, taking off her mask to breathe the forest night air.

Kakashi appeared right next to her, giving her a stern look. "You're not supposed to take off your mask while on duty."

Hanako laughed. "Any other 'newbie rules' I'm supposed to follow?" She smirked at him. Wind blew softly, swaying her long brown hair, tied up into a high ponytail.

Kakashi took off his mask and raised an eyebrow. "Why don't we take a break?"

"Thanks, cap." Hanako didn't let her smirk drop and instead grinned wider. "Hey... I heard you were in charge of Team Ro."

“I am.”

Hanako leaned back against a tree. “So, why are you always working on missions with me? Why aren’t you with your team?”

Kakashi looked at her. “That’s because I was ordered to tutor you.” His eyes moved to the sky. “But it doesn’t seem like you needed me.” 

Hanako huffed. “I told you I was amazing.” 

Kakashi looked back at her. “It seems like Ibiki was right to choose you. Though, I’m sorry someone so young joined the Anbu.”

Curiosity downed on her. “How old were you when you were appointed into the Anbu?” 

Kakashi shrugged. “Around thirteen. It was a little after I became a Jounin.” 

“You were a Jounin at thirteen?” Hanako’s eyes were wide.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. “You became an Anbu at eleven. I appreciate your modesty, but you shouldn’t be surprised. I’m still your superior.”

Hanako laughed. “You’re really incredible, Kakashi Hatake.” Her eyes fell on his red eye, staring right back at her. “Especially since I never thought there was someone outside the Uchiha who could use the Sharingan as swiftly as you.” 

Kakashi didn’t say anything, but suddenly looked over his shoulder. “They’re here.” 

Hanako nodded. “Four. Three o’clock.”

Kakashi nodded and they put their Anbu masks back on.

Four shinobi were travelling fast in their direction. Hanako and Kakashi rapidly hid in the tree tops and watched them as they approached. One of them seemed to have sensed their presence and forced the rest of his team to stop. "Wait! I think someone followed us."

The four men looked at their surroundings, trying to find anyone who might have discovered them. Hanako looked at them intently. They wore no village protector and their clothes seemed to belong to nowhere in particular. She smiled. They were just simple bandits, running away with some kind of leverage on their side, which seemed to be hidden in the bag one of them was carrying.

Hanako jumped from the tree. Kakashi looked at her closely, waiting for her to do her thing. Hanako was a specialist in information gathering, and of course, that included questioning.

She landed in front of the bandits and looked at them with a raised eyebrow. "You seem to have important cargo. May I know what's in the bag?"

They all stood defensively around the man with the bag, pointing their knives at her. "Nothing that concerns you."

Hanako smirked. "Let me be the judge to that." Her eyes changed to a shade of red that gleamed at them through the holes of her mask.

The man at the front looked at her with wide eyes. "Uchiha...?"

"Now, tell me what's in the bag."

The man dropped his knife. His eyes were now lost and he spoke monotonously. "There is a small stone figure inside the bag."

"Whose is it?"

"A feudal lord's."

"And why would you steal it?"

"Rumor says it belonged to a deity, and it stored its powers within."

Hanako raised an eyebrow. "You're saying too much!" His teammate hit him on the head, waking him up from the trance.

"What happened?" he asked, genuinely confused.

"You blurted us all out, you genius!"

Hanako's eyes were trained on the bag as they still argued. Ibiki never mentioned anything about the stone having special powers. Were they planning to use it for anything in particular?

Before she could react, Kakashi jumped from his spot, knocked out all bandits and grabbed the bag. "Let's go, mission's over." Hanako woke form her trance and nodded. 

“Understood.”

* * *

Hanako reported to Ibiki in his office.  When she gave him the bag she and Kakashi retrieved from the bandits, Ibiki pulled a stone figure out of it and inspected it closely. He grunted in satisfaction and looked up at her. 

Hanako’s eyes were still trained over the stone figure. It resembled a monk with long hair and horns protruding from the sides of his head, his face was sculpted into a stern expression. He had his hands joined and chains surrounded his arms. There was a straight vertical line on his forehead, which resembled a closed third eye. What intrigued Hanako the most were the soft whispers she could hear it make. They were so soft, she couldn’t make out any words from it.

"You seem to be getting the hang of it. Soon you'll be able to handle yourself solo." Ibiki’s voice brought her back to reality, and she cleared her throat. 

"Kakashi has been taking good care of me, I’ve learned a lot.” She nodded. Ibiki seemed satisfied and focused back on the few documents on his desk. Hanako decided it was her chance to ask. “What was that stone about? You didn't explain why you wanted it."

Ibiki looked at her. "What do you mean?"

"The bandit said the stone had special powers, what did he mean by that?" She looked at her teacher with stern eyes. "What special powers?"

"That's nothing you should concern yourself about." Ibiki pushed his chair away from the table and stood up.

"I risked my life to get that stone, I think I'm pretty much concerned about it."

"Your job's done. Go back home." Ibiki walked through the door, and slammed it closed behind him. Hanako pressed her lips into a thin line and headed back to the locker room.

* * * 

Lockers were divided by departments, so she was surprised to see Kakashi standing at the door. She belonged to the Intelligence Department, while Kakashi belonged to Assassination. "Is there anything you need, cap?"

Kakashi looked at her, "You seemed a little flustered after the mission. I wanted to check if everything was okay."

"It's okay, you may go now." She walked past him into the room, but he followed.

"It doesn't seem like it."

Hanako opened her locker and sighed. It was almost empty inside, except for an extra uniform. She put all of her weapons and her Anbu mask inside before closing it. She tried to have no personal stuff in it. She didn't want anyone to know her personally, because she couldn't allow herself to trust them yet. Hanako put a hand on her arm, over her Anbu spiraled tattoo. "I don't understand...why must we risk our lives for objects we are not allowed to know anything about?" she asked.

Kakashi looked away with a sigh. He had first thought so too, but then he understood it was just how it is in the Anbu. They are just tools to complete missions. "Safety measures," he replied. "We shouldn't know the details in case we die or get captured."

Hanako looked at him and huffed before walking away.

* * *

In her way home, Hanako closed her eyes and just let herself wander through the populated streets of Konoha. As she glided through several bodies in the crowd, she tried to relax. She drew a few breaths in and out until a familiar voice disrupted her calm. "You really disappeared after the Chuunin Exams, didn't you?"

Hanako opened her eyes and looked over her shoulder to find Kazuki staring at her with a grin. Takeshi was standing right beside him, raising an eyebrow at her. Hanako smiled and turned around to face them. When Kazuki's eyes focused on the uniform she was wearing, his grin faltered. "So, you joined the Anbu, huh?"

The Uchiha looked at the ground as her smile softened. "I've been working with Ibiki since the exams. I'm sorry, I kind of feel like I abandoned you guys..."

Takeshi chuckled with a shake of his head. "You have always been like this haven't you?" Hanako looked up at him with curious eyes. "Why don't we skip stones at the lake and catch up?"

* * * 

It made Hanako really happy to be with Team Four again. "It's been a while since we were together like this..." she commented. Kazuki had taken a book with him and was reading at the edge of the dock, while Takeshi and Hanako were standing on the water surface, while trying to skip their stones to the other side of the lake.

"And whose fault is that?" Takeshi looked at her with a grin, making Hanako roll her eyes with a dry laugh.

"Shut up, Komatsu."

Takeshi grinned. "Oh, it's been a thousand years since you called me that, Hana-chan..." Hanako glared at him. "Still don't like it?"

"Never will," Hanako smiled as she skipped another stone that sunk before it reached the other side.

"So," Kazuki spoke loud enough for the other two to hear him. "What's the Anbu like?"

Hanako looked at him and shrugged. "Like a regular team, just that we don't really talk to each other."

Takeshi smiled mischievously. "Good, that way I won't have to worry about any stupid Anbu trying to flirt with you."

Kazuki smirked and looked at his friend from over his book. "Still going on with that stupid crush of yours aren't you?"

Hanako shook her head with a sigh. "You guys really haven't changed at all." She skipped another stone, it gave three hops before sinking.

Kazuki looked at her, at the same time Takeshi gave him a look of complicity. "You forget this is my territory," he said.

Hanako looked at him from over her shoulder with a raised eyebrow, only to find him making seals. "You son of a..."

But she didn't get to finish as she was consumed by a wave of water.

* * *

Late that night, Hanako walked into her house, trembling and soaked in lake water. Her older sister, Hikari Uchiha, looked up at her from the diner when she walked in and smirked. "Did you have fun?"

Hanako glared at her sister and growled in response.

Hikari continued to write on her notebook. "Subject appears moody, almost like a mad animal. At the moment, it doesn't appear to be contagious." Hanako grabbed a towel from the laundry room and walked back to the dining room, where Hikari was sitting.

"Anything new I should know about?" she asked.

Hikari sighed. "No, and Shisui's documents don't have anything useful either. We'll have to research a little more on our own if we want to know who Amane was before she was killed."

"How did you know she was killed?" Hanako gave her a strange look.

"I have a feeling she didn't die of old age," Hikari said. "Especially if she used to be Madara's lover." Hikari closed her notebook and gave her sister a nod. "Ready to go training?"

Hanako smirked. "I thought we had established I was born ready."

Shisui had told Hikari about Amane and her possible relationship with Hanako. She didn't believe it at first, but slowly she started to give into the idea. Now, she was probably the most knowledgeable of the three. She had given everything into researching Amane and her story. Hanako helped her once in a while, but now that she worked in the Anbu, she mostly had only time for their evening training. Shisui and Hikari didn't have that much time either. They were both busy with their own missions, but they would find the time once in a while to read something about old clan history.

Now, with a fresh set of clothes on, Hanako looked at Hikari and Shisui in their personal training grounds.

"Are you sure you guys want to do this?" Hanako raised an eyebrow at them. "You guys seem too tired, I might crush you accidentally."

Hikari looked back at her with a mocking grin. "It's still too early before you can win against me." She shook her head. "Come on, show me what your Mangekyou can do."

It was like that. Day after day. Hanako would wake up, go to the Intelligence Division building. Sometimes go out on a mission, sometimes just stay and study some new information they had retrieved from somewhere or someone, then go back home. Sometimes she would train with Shisui, or Hikari, or both. Depending on who was in the village at the moment.

Lately, they couldn't meet as much as they wanted, hardly once a week. Hanako had found it hard to control her Mangekyou, and the dreams hadn't stopped.

Every morning, she would wake up with a bad taste of everyone dying in a single night. And it was always the same dream. But she was too afraid of telling anyone, of anyone believing she was crazy, or worse. They could believe she was undergoing some type post-traumatic stress.

It was nothing like that. Somehow, Hanako knew the dream was real.