Chapter 1: The Simple Rules.
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Life was full of rules. Some rules were near universal. Kinslaying for instance was abhorred by all with good reason. If you couldn’t trust your own blood not to betray you, how would you be able to trust those without ties of blood? Some were regional or religious. The clans of Konoha had long bred a certain taboo regarding the acquisition of genetic material owned by highborn members of society. Kumo meanwhile was quite cavalier with their not-so-hidden ‘discoveries’. And some were tribal or personal. The Hyuuga and the Uchiha were similar in many ways. Yet where one encouraged dissidence and rebellion (according to Danzo-sensei) the other harshly cracked down on unwanted independence and decadence.
Life was full of rules, yet Kakashi had learned some rules were greater than all others.
Rule number 1: Obey any legal order issued by a superior officer. A simple yet convoluted sentence that has shaped history, started and ended wars, and generally made a mess of things. Legal orders: what are they? A shinobi deals in secrets and lives in the shadows. So, how should said shinobi discern which order is legal and which is not? The murder of a fellow leaf-nin was unthinkable to the average nin of Konoha. Not so much the logistics of such a feat, a good shinobi is always scheming and planning after all, but more in the rationale that such an act would be destabilizing to the closest thing a nin could have that would be considered a safe environment.
(Kakashi stares at his blood-soaked hand in mute horror. That fateful night is still fresh in his mind. It has been years after the mission and yet he still hasn’t forgotten.)
Rule number 2: The treaties which binds the clans to the greater village are never to be broken by the rank-and-file. Only the Kage and the privy council have the right to forget promises made to the mighty bloodlines which produces the bulk of the elite. The Hyuuga, Inzuka, Uchiha, Uzumaki and others only swore fealty to the Senju brothers with the explicit promise of unique privileges and rights not enjoyed by the rabble. (Minato-sensei had told him that the village had been an alliance of equals. Danzo-sensei disagreed vehemently.)
(His eyes twitched and pulsated with rapid agonizing throbs. Danzo-sensei had nodded in approval at Kakashi’s unique progress; he had proceeded to scoop out the young Hatake’s eyes and add something else. Something dark and malicious which only the snake-sage truly knew what was.)
Rule number 3: Shinobi are tools to be cherished and discarded as the village sees fit. A well-maintained kunai could last decades without breaking. A well-maintained shinobi could last longer if needed. Shinobi were, at the end of the day, tools used by men with too much power and too little sense. It was by the grace of the Daimyo that the villages remained; yet such change was not without cost. The village was obligated to provide guards, assassins and courtiers to serve at the behest of the palace. They were not the noble samurai of classical romance; instead, they were the chained and twisted oni suborned to the ‘wise’ lords of Fire Country.
(Kakashi had been sent to guard a young prince born out of wedlock. They had danced, sung and laughed together until the nights seeped into one whole mass. Yet with the accension of a brother to the throne; the court decided to thin the family garden. Kakashi had danced and sung with his charge even as he slowly poisoned the young lordling over several weeks. The final death had been peaceful with the young man softly drifting off to sleep. He would never wake up again.)
Rule number 4: Failure is not an option. Each nin was a valuable resource carefully forged after several years of hardship. Yet, they were only as valuable so long as they could provide value to the village. The village was, no matter how much they may protest the tittle, merely a hub of mercenaries. The mercenaries in question may have been the product of generational eugenics and careful political manoeuvring, yet they were mercenaries all the same. A nin was as happy to slit an innocent throat as the gangs of the capital were, the only difference was the price and competency. As such it fell on each and every member of the village to provide their worth. Not meeting the required standard would have the clients simply take their business elsewhere. What does it matter that the assassin wore a headband? The assassin was irrelevant, it was only the client and victim that mattered.
(Kakashi remembered his- The White Fang’s lifeless corpse stare at him. The price of failure had never been more obvious.)
Rule number 5: Thinking is required and also forbidden. A good shinobi must always think. They must never stop thinking. Nearby cover, allies, foliage and enemies. Schedules, reports, spars, maintenance, jutsus and more. Every action taken must have been calculated and rehearsed thousands of times until it is unconsciously done as a matter of principle. Breathing, walking and talking may seem like skills even infants had perfected. This could not be further from the truth; proper breathing was something only the Kage’s had come close to achieve. It was, at least according to Danzo-sensei, the greatest cost-effective technique ever developed. Proper breathing served as both a mental, spiritual and physical conduit for and could be used during nearly all stages of an operation. Thinking was necessary for any true shinobi, for how else could they hope to achieve their objectives? With that said, sometimes nin began to think to hard and to differently than commonly accepted by the superiors.
(Tenzo, sweet little Tenzo who looked up at Kakashi with such an adorable expression that the young Hatake had approached Danzo-sensei with a request. He had gained a skilled subordinate and yet the price had been a strange and mystic tattoo over his back and stomach that shouldn’t be existing; and definitely not on Kakashi. He did his best to ignore the implications of the sea-filled saltwater that forever haunted his tongue.)
Life was full of rules. The ones Kakashi followed were ruthlessly enforced by his sensei. Rules could be bended, misplaced or outright forgotten if the rewards were great enough. But rules could never be ignored.
Somehow though, standing over the dissolving corpse of Lord Third, Kakashi found himself at a loss for what to do. For which rules to follow. Danzo-sensei looked at his former teammate without a single expression, staring apathic at his former best friends disappearing body.
Finally, after a moment of heavy silence, does he deign to speak to the young murderer. “Well done.” The war-hero congratulates in his cold, monotone voice. “With the obstacle now removed, it will fall to us to seize initiative and make Lord Second proud.” Smirking, the old war-hawk stalks off with a subdued Kakashi closely following.
Danzo doesn’t mention the broken composure in the younger man.
Kakashi doesn’t mention the forbidden crimes etched in his teacher’s flesh.
They had an understanding you see.
(A Rule, if you would like to think of it like that.)
It was a partnership and an alliance that was neither equal nor fair; yet neither side was entirely dissatisfied with the arrangement. To ply your craft in the shadow required something more than mere talent. Even in darkness, were there rules to be followed. And both men understood the rules that governed them; whether they followed said rules was another matter.
(“The Hokage is dead!” “Long live the Hokage!”)