Naruto : Fate

Sasuke, Sakura and I make it back to Tazuna's house in record time. Kakashi sent us gennin on ahead, he wanted to talk to Tazuna about how he is going to pay for the mission upgrade in rank. That's going to be an awkward conversation.

"It feels good to be done with this mission. No more crazy missing nin attacking us." Sakura, you are so very right. Finally, the mission is over. Now it is just go back to Konoha.

"AAAHHHHH!" A scream rips through the air.

"That was Tsunami!" Sakura shouts.

"The backyard!" Sasuke takes off towards the other side of the house with Sakura and me hot on his heels.

What we see stops us in our tracks. I forgot about the mercenaries sent to the house. What else have I forgotten? Think about that later!

Tsunami and Inari are being held at sword point by two thugs.

Tsunami calls out to us the second she sees us. "Inari! Save Inari! Save my baby!" She squirms in the henchman's hold. "I don't care what happens to me! Save my son!"

"Shut up!" Tsunami is cut a little bit on her throat from her captor shaking her. A drop of brilliant crimson rolls down her neck. "So! You did survive! I knew the Zabuza guy was no good at his job." Henchman number one says.

"Should have sent us I told Gato. We'll get the job done! But no, he hires the big bad missing nin." Henchman number two adds on.

"There isn't any chance you will release them without a fuss will you?" I try diplomacy first. There is no harm in asking.

"I tell you what!" Henchman number two says, "If you three kill yourselves then we will let them go!" With a wicked grin on his face Henchman number one nods vigorously.

"I accept." Slowly raising my hands, so the henchmen can see them, I ask Sasuke, "How good is your aim?"

With stony eyes he replies, "Flawless."

Sakura is staring at us in bafflement. "Alvarcus you can't seriously be thinking-"

"SAKURA!" I yell. Then in a softer voice, "Please, just be quiet."

I call out to Sasuke, "Sasuke. Can you do it? I'm asking a lot from you."

"I can. When?" He draws two kunai, one in each hand. I can hear Sakura sniffle behind me. She's starting to cry.

"When I lower my hands." I say in a emotionally void tone.

"Okay." Sasuke responds in the same tone.

I slowly, stealthily, sneakily attach chakra strings to Inari, Tsunami, and both of the swords. If I mess this up, Inari and Tsunami are dead. If Sasuke misses his throw, they are dead. If Sasuke really thinks I want him to kill me, I'm dead. I really doubt that last one though, he is smarter than that.

"Ready Sasuke?" He palms his two drawn kunai.

"Yes." He assures me.

I drop my hands. I yank the swords away, then I yank Inari and Tsunami away from the henchmen. Sasuke's kunai fly true. Both henchmen go down from a kunai to the heart. Flawless.

"That was well executed team." Kakashi appears before the three of us, startling me very badly.

Sakura rounds on him with absolute fury in her eyes. "HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN THERE FOR KAKASHI-SENSEI!"

"Sakura, calm down! I would have stepped in if I needed to. Sasuke and Alvarcus had it under control. Trust your teammates. You've seen how well those two work together after only a few months of being on the same team." Kakashi has a really good point. Sasuke and I do work very well together.

"T-Thank you! Thank you so much! You saved my baby, you saved my baby!" Tsunami thanks us while sobbing over Inari.

"Why don't we all go inside and call it a day? It's been long for all of us." Kakashi exasperatedly says to us all. He's not a people person.

...

Over the next week the bridge was finished. With Gato being gone, all of the workers who quit came back to help again. Production skyrocketed. True to his word, Tazuna got a plaque with all four of our names engraved on it. He even got one for each end of the bridge! Thus the newly named Bridge of Hope is open for business!

The dreaded C-rank from hell is finally over. Currently we are going back to Konoha, moving at shinobi speeds and making excellent time.

Once Konoha's walls are in sight, Kakashi breaks our silence.

"Alright team, we need to report directly to the Hokage while the events are still fresh in our minds. After that is done, you all have a week off. Do whatever you want with it. Let's go."

We all get ushered into the Hokage's office. Huh, usually we would have to wait. Perks of Kakashi being one of the top jonin?

"Kakashi-kun and Team 7! How nice it is to see you back safely. How was your first C-rank mission?" The Hokage warmly greets us.

"It was a grade A cluster fuck." Shit was that out loud? Judging by the stern looks I am getting, it was. "Sorry?"

"That is not how I would word it, but my cute little gennin is correct."

Kakashi tells the Hokage all about the mission with Sasuke, Sakura and I filling in the empty holes that he wasn't there for. I tactfully left out the Kakashi puppet part, I really don't want him to seek revenge. Unfortunately, I had to talk about what happened in the Ice Dome.

"YOU ALMOST DIED AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME!?"

"Ow, Sakura can you be any louder? I don't think the Raikage heard you clearly."

"Alvarcus." I wince. That is Kakashi's disapproving tone. "Same question. I order you to respond." Ouch, low blow sensei.

I'm suddenly very interested in the floor. "Haku did the same fake death trick that she used on Zabuza. Sasuke thought I died. I didn't. I woke up to you shoving your hand through his chest. What was that by the way? It sounded like birds." Please get distracted.

"Chidori. Why didn't you tell me? Did you think it was unimportant?"

"Well, it was over and done with. I didn't die, and I didn't want to worry you and Sakura any more than you already were."

"Not a good enough reason. Next time something like this happens you tell your teammates. What if the senbon were poisoned? We would have had no idea until you really did die."

"You're right. Kakashi-sensei, Sakura-san, I apologize for my actions. I will not repeat them."

"Good."

"As nice as this... team bonding session is, we should get back to the debrief." The Hokage reprimands us.

In the end we have an A-rank mission on our records, and a nice fat paycheck. Once my parents hear about this, they are going to freak.

...

"Kaa-san! Tou-san! I'm home!" I call out into our house.

"Alvarcus! You're back! Tell us all about your mission. I want to know everything! Did my baby do well? You didn't slow your teammates down did you? My son will not be a slacker!"

"Jeez kaa-san! If anything I did the most work. After Kakashi-sensei of course."

"That's my boy! So. Let's hear about it. What did you do?" Tou-san ruffles my hair. It falls perfectly back in place. Dammit Sakura is right, I do have ridiculously nice hair.

"We had to protect this sleaze ball named Tazuna. He is supposed to be some big shot bridge builder for the Land of Waves. The first thing he did was insult my team!"

Tou-san chuckles.

"It's okay though, he turned out to be alright. Anyways when we left we were attacked by two missing nin!"

My parents sharply inhale.

"It was really scary, we thought they got Kakashi-sensei. Then... they attacked us. We won."

"You're not telling us something." I wince. Kaa-san notices. "What happened?"

"I... I killed one of them." I mutter out.

My parents recoil in shock. "You..." Kaa-san whispers, "you killed someone?"

I hang my head in shame. "Yes. He was going to kill my whole team if I didn't do something. I had to. I didn't have a choice. I just reacted on instinct."

"Alvarcus." Tou-san's voice cuts through the silence. "Did you... have you killed anyone else?" He sounds so defeated, almost as if he failed me. He looks like his heart shattered.

"I... Yes. I have killed others." I knew this conversation would be difficult.

With a choked back sob kaa-san asks, "How many?"

"At least two." I cringe, I may have killed some of the mercenaries back on that bridge. I wasn't exactly gentle when I was throwing rocks at them. "Probably more. I also helped cause the death of at least three others." Haku, and the two henchmen. Technically Sasuke killed them, but without my help he never would have.

Kaa-san starts sobbing. Gut wrenchingly loud sobbing, tears flow freely down her face. "My baby is a killer. My baby is a killer."

I recoil away from her. How is this that big of a surprise? They had to know that shinobi will have to kill. That's what they called us, lying, cheating, brutal, murderers. I guess they are right. I am a murderer now.

"Alvarcus. I'll take care of Namika." Tou-san does not call her my kaa-san, and it hurts. It hurts so much. "Why don't you... spend the day outside? Go tell your friends you are back in town."

I tear my eyes away from my crying kaa-san to see tou-san with a disappointed frown on his face. He wants me to go visit my friends? My only two friends are Sasuke and Sakura. He has to know that.

"O-okay. I'll uh... be back later tonight?"

Tou-san shakes his head.

"Tomorrow?"

He nods.

"Okay. I'll just go now." My head held in shame, I exit my house.

My parents just kicked me out on my first day back from a month long mission. Where can I go? I have no where to go. Maybe I'll take tou-san's advice and visit my friends? Sakura is probably with her family. I don't want to dump my problems on her and ruin the day for her. I have absolutely 0% chance of finding Kakashi. That leaves Sasuke.

I start heading to the Uchiha district. Wow, this place is seriously creepy. How can Sasuke stand to live here? I walk up to the biggest house and knock on the door.

"Sasuke? You in there?"

"If you are here to invite me to one of those team dinners, the answer is the same as the last fifteen times. No." Yep, that is definitely Sasuke.

"That's not what I am here for." I take a deep breath. "I need a favor."

Slowly, the door creaks open. Sasuke pins me with a cold stare. "I am not doing anymore team bonding today. I want to relax alone."

"Oh... uh... this isn't about team bonding." Here we go. Just be blunt, there is no need to beat around the bush. "I need a place to crash tonight. I told my parents about the Demon Brothers. They kicked me out and said don't come back until tomorrow."

I hold my breath. Sasuke doesn't say anything.

"It's alright, I can camp out in a training ground or something. I haven't unpacked yet so everything is good to go." This is just great. "Thanks anyways Sasuke." I turn around and start aimlessly walking away.

"Wait." I look back a Sasuke. "Your parents kicked you out?"

"Yeah." That's all I can say. I don't trust my voice right now, there's a massive lump in my throat. Who kicks out their own child?

"Get inside." Sasuke disappears into his house. Relief surges through my body. Oh thank Kami. "Hurry up and get in here before I change my mind!"

"Right!" I enter the house. It is surprisingly clean. I thought for sure Sasuke would be a slob with no parental supervision. I know I was in my past life. "Thank you Sasuke. Really. I owe you big time."

"You can repay me by staying quiet. Just because you are here doesn't mean I want to talk. Take the couch in the living room. Bums like you don't get to use the spare bedroom."

Smug prick. "Whatever you say."

The rest of the day passes in a companionable silence. Sasuke goes about his business and I stay out of his way. I knew that deep down he really is a good guy.

...

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