Chapter 8
"So you mean to say that there is a second variant of ANBU, called Root, under the command of Elder Danzo and not the Hokage? But I thought that all ANBU served and swore loyalty only to the Hokage?" – Obito questions.
Kakashi nods and shrugs. "Root has Konoha's safety as his top priority –" Obito grunts, rudely interrupting him, but Kakashi continues: "...And Danzo-dono invited me in," he finishes.
"And you'll accept?"
"I'm considering it."
Obito looked at him seriously, his eyebrows furrowed. "Okay. I'll keep an eye on you."
The dream dissolves into smoke.
Transferring from Hound to Root is simple and without bureaucracy.
A masked Root agent comes to take Hound and shows him around the HQ.
Root's HQ is large, well-equipped with the best equipment, and has a large number of agents in the organization. His guide in this place is not very talkative, distant and straight to the point: he shows Hound the places he needs to see.
They go straight to Danzo-dono's office, where the man processes his paperwork.
"Welcome to the Foundation, Agent Hound. Here we are the roots that keep the Konoha tree big and prosperous." Danzō says and Hound bows in deference.
Hound does not need to take any assessments or take any of Root's mandatory courses because Danzō-dono exempted him from these courses saying it would be a waste of time as Shimura-dono already knew Hound's abilities.
So instead, Hound only had to attend the introductory lecture on what Root was. In other words, be subjected to more military indoctrination propaganda. Nothing new in that, every government department usually has its own internal philosophy and its own rules.
Less than ten minutes later, Hound soon realized that Root had a very different internal philosophy than the regular ANBU.
Root is a tougher business than regular ANBU, too. The dedication is total, and the punishment for failure is more severe, too.
Root thrives in the dark and in total secrecy. They are willing to do everything the Hokage doesn't have the courage to do. There's no room for camaraderie here because they're replaceable tools. Attachments are discouraged and mission success is all that matters. The mission is always the highest priority.
Everything seems ok for Hound because he is antisocial with zero enthusiasm for making friends and otherwise he seems to fit in here pretty well too.
His missions for the Root ANBU are no different than what he is used to doing for regular ANBU. He does solo missions of silent, unobvious assassination. (To kill politicians, activists, informants who become loose ends; children who are the children of High Profile targets; riots; sabotage; etc. Nothing he hasn't done before.)
Its infiltration and espionage missions are still in full swing. He mainly infiltrates the Daimyo Courts to keep an eye on politicians and loose tongues.
Hound learns all the frivolities that nobles like. He also learns a lot about etiquette, dancing, and which jewels are the most expensive and what each gem means.
He also begins infiltrating other villages - these are more dangerous missions due to the high risk of capture by enemy ninja, but Kakashi/Hound has become very good at disguising himself and blending in with the crowd.
He has always had a high success rate in his missions.
-
The first time Hound makes a honeypot as a Root agent he is on foreign soil and unexpectedly ruins everything.
Luckily he was alone with the target when this happened and saved the situation with the help of the Sharingan. Hound never expected to lose control over his fighting instincts the way he did.
He was still trying to understand the situation when he finally realized: a trigger had been pulled during his... act with the target. A flashback of Orochimaru's face was the cause that disturbed him.
Hound should have seen the signs before – difficulty staying in character, difficulty ignoring the target’s touch on him, his skin itching horribly in discomfort, his instincts giving him countless red flags.
Hound ignored all of this and the moment the target pulled him to his knees, grabbed his chin and reached up to brush his bangs out of his eyes … Hound growled and attacked like a wild dog.
He couldn't bear to be aware of his vulnerable position, with a total stranger towering over him and bringing fingers so close to his eye. Luckily the target didn't manage to scream because Hound was quicker to grab his throat and the Sharingan genjutsu came easily.
Hound sighed in relief. The target was placed back on the bed, in a state of hypnotic trance – dreaming of whatever his own mind conjured for him.
Tired, adrenaline waning and morbidly absent-minded, Hound wondered if the target was having a wet dream right now. Perhaps a continuation of whatever the man had planned to have tonight?
Hn . Hound thinks about it. He knows that the Sharingan genjutsu is high-level and quite realistic that it can even mess with all five of the victim's senses.
An idea takes hold in his mind. It might work, I mean, it is working. Hound looks at his target. Maybe he should use the Sharingan for this kind of thing – to hypnotize his honeypot targets. He uses his Sharingan as a torture tool, so why not use it for this kind of mission?
Hound then remembers: Kakashi didn't want to use his gift this way. It felt wrong. Before. But now... it still feels wrong considering that the ghost Obito might have access to their shared eye, but Kakashi (and Hound) hate doing these seduction missions.
(They hate the touch of unwanted strangers)
But they can't refuse to do this kind of mission. ANBU don't refuse missions without a good reason, and claiming "discomfort" is not a good reason - because they are ninjas. They are tools for their Village to use. They are ninjas, and ninjas must endure and persist.
They must endure at any cost, his mind recites
but . You are just a cog in the bloodthirsty machine of the system ~ Obito's voice echoes in his ears
After that, it's not too hard to decide. Obito had said that the eye was a gift to keep them safe, and he also doesn't like Kakashi doing these missions for the "greater good of the village", so it's an easy decision.
(The mission is successfully completed)
From there, things get easier – as much as possible.
Kakashi racks up so many missions marked as "successfully done" that he basically sets a record. It wasn't his intention, but it happened and people talk about it in the halls of ANBU HQ.
The higher-ups are very happy about this, and his fellow ANBU members respect him much more, although they still remain wary around him. Still, Hound establishes for himself more fame and infamy, and more enemies as well.
Ghost Obito always teases him about this.
"Oh! Great Kakashi of the Sharingan! Blessed be the Hatake Hound of Konoha and cursed be the name in all the other Villages! That's what's being said now, you know? If you keep this up, one day you'll be made Hokage and then everyone in that trash Village will bow down to you and write about your great deeds in the manipulated history books. Ah! I wonder if they included a mention of Rin and I. Mmm, with any luck, who knows? Konoha doesn't usually remember the cannon fodder they always use." Obito says venomously and claps his hands.
Kakashi shivered violently. "No! I don't want the hat!" Kakashi denies frantically, thinking about this specific scenario.
"Why not? You'd look great in those robes," Obito teases. "And your face would be carved into that stone forever~," he hums and Kakashi shivers even more at the thought.
Oh Sage, no-no!
"Being Hokage is your dream, not mine" – Kakashi strongly emphasizes
Obito tilts his head to the side, his long dark hair shaping his ever serious or mocking expression. "My dream? Yes, that was once my dream. Now it's not." He says and Kakashi feels his heart racing in his ears because an Obito who no longer wants to be Hokage is something unexpected.
Wrong. Strange. Out of character
"So… what's your dream now?" Kakashi asks with a knot of anxiety in his stomach. He's wary, curious, and terribly anxious to hear Ghost Obito's answer.
Obito hums: "Mmm, my new dream now is... to plant a dream tree, which grants all wishes, for everyone! Imagine a world where everything is perfect and nothing hurts." Obito laughs and doesn't give Kakashi time to process his strange answer.
"Now! Don't change the subject, bakashi! Your face on Hokage Mountain would look weird if they included your mask. You'll look like a poorly finished sculpture." Obito taunts, and the mental image of this makes Kakashi grimace.
(The previous topic about dream trees ends up being left aside)
Obito is amused and continues to torment him:
"You know what? They would have to include their Sharingan, our Sharingan in that mountain," Obito traces Kakashi's scar gently.
He has this habit. Kakashi likes the touch
"Now that I think about it," Obito whispers so close to your ear.
A shiver runs up and down your back
"That's the closest an Uchiha will ever get to that ugly Hat," Kakashi looks at him blankly.
What?
"Oh, you haven't figured it out yet?" Obito laughs, a bitter laugh. "Konoha will never allow an Uchiha as Hokage. If you look beneath the surface, you'll notice a pattern and realize that sometimes, certain candidates considered for the title of Hokage in the past were... unfortunate victims of bad missions with bad information," Obito says and pats his face gently.
Kakashi looks at him, almost open-mouthed at the insinuation that Konoha would have sabotaged its own ninjas!
Kakashi is not ignorant. He understands that his Village thinks the sacrifice of its ninjas for an important mission is worth it, but this?
Obito smiles at him.
"Be careful, Bakashi. Don't get caught in a trap. You don't want to end up like your father."
The dream dissolves into smoke
Kakashi wakes up with his heart pounding and Obito's words hammering in his head.
No. It can't be. Your father... no. (But it makes sense. Oh gods)
Kakashi tries to get the absurd conversation he had with Obito out of his head, for the sake of his own fragile sanity.
Hound is a great Root agent. He doesn't fail, he doesn't question.
When Lord Danzō criticizes Lord Hiruzen's rule, Hound even agrees with him because Hound still sees the cracks that exist in Konoha's current government.
Lord Danzō likes to make comparisons. He says that Lord Tobirama wouldn't fall as far short as Hiruzen and that Minato wouldn't either, since he was a genius full of plans for the Village and Hound agrees because it's the truth. Minato-sensei had many plans to elevate Konoha and the history books hailed Senju Tobirama's genius.
Hound becomes trustworthy for Lord Danzō. He gives his opinion where he never has before and his opinions seem to be well received. Hound rises through the ranks, gains leadership of a squad, but his squad doesn't keep the same agents for long.
Root mixes with regular ANBU often, but no one points this out openly. Now that Hound is also a Root, it becomes quite easy to distinguish an ANBU-Root from an ANBU-no-Root.
An ANBU-Root is always the one who is the most antisocial. The quietest. The easiest to go unnoticed.
No wonder Lord Danzō was so sure that Hound would fit in perfectly with Root.
Danzo was right.
In Root, everyone keeps to themselves. Even when Root-ANBU mixes with regular-ANBU they tend to unconsciously get closer to other agents who are also Root.
Hound is also like this because it's easier (preferable) to be around another antisocial Root colleague while the other ANBUs seek to socialize and party.
Hound doesn't avoid his other colleagues all the time, he only does it when he'd really rather stay out of whatever happy hour they're planning to have because Hound knows how those parties end: with people falling down drunk, people visibly having sex in "dark" corners where everyone can see or hear (or smell), there's also weed smoke filling the air and a strong smell of opium.
These happy hour specials are an absolute nightmare for your keen and sensitive sense of smell. That's why Kakashi always disappears before things "get nice and hot."
Honestly? They should have expected this, but no one seriously thought that Kumo would be bold enough to kidnap the Hyuuga heiress from within the walls of Konoha.
They shouldn't have trusted his missives about wanting a peace treaty in the first place
Now tense unrest permeates the Village once again.
"You shouldn't let this go unpunished!" Lord Danzō exclaims.
"Danzō, please, you know we can't afford a war against -" Lord Hiruzen is abruptly interrupted.
"We can!" Danzō states. "You know we can, but you don't want to. You'd rather let the enemies come here, shamelessly attack us and then let them leave with a ' thank you, come back often !' " – Danzō holds himself back from shouting. That would be inappropriate for someone like him.
The Hokage sighs. "Danzō -"
"No. You're going to sink us. Your Predecessors wouldn't let that go unpunished. And now I don't want to hear any more of you talking about how we 'need' that peace treaty with Kumo," and then he quickly leaves.
The disagreements between Lord Danzō and the Hokage increase with each passing week. They disagree a lot and can't seem to agree on anything.
After Kumo's failed attempt to kidnap the Hyuuga heiress and the unjust death of Hizashi Hyuuga, things have become tense again.
Lord Danzō thinks that Lord Hiruzen is being too soft by letting Kumo off the hook when it is obvious that Kumo was the one who plotted against Konoha in the first place. Hound silently agrees with this opinion.
A good Konoha ninja was unfairly sacrificed to appease Kumo when in fact Konoha is the one who should be making demands for reparations.
But that is not the case.
That's not right.
The Hyuuga clan (the main branch family) is furious, but not exactly because of Hizashi's death. They almost lost their heir and with her their unprotected doujutsu. The only ones who mourn - (silently I must point out) - Hizashi's death are the Brach family. (The man left behind a young orphaned son.)
Hiashi, the clan head, may be suffering internally, but that doesn't change the fact that he let his own brother sacrifice himself for nothing. This is a blow to the morale of all those who have/had a Hyuuga from Brach as a teammate.
Hound hates the internal politics of the Hyuuga clan.
Hound hates Hiruzen's inaction.
Hound hates unfair and meaningless sacrifices.
-
Obito appears that night, but says nothing when he notices Kakashi's dark mood.
They are in front of the memorial stone, the only names that normally appear on the stone are just four, but today Kakashi's subconscious added Hizashi there as a small tribute.
Obito stares and says nothing for a long moment. All he does is stand beside Kakashi, silent.
"I think you need to rest," is all Obito says as the dream begins to dissipate into white smoke.
Hound has a new mission given directly by Lord Danzou: the mission is to kill the Hokage.
Hound is... he doesn't know how to express the myriad of feelings inside him.
Confusion? Shock? Bewilderment? He can't tell. But he can say for sure that he almost staggered when he heard about his new mission instructions.
Hound is great at this. Killing, that is. It's his greatest specialty and he's never failed before.
Lord Danzou has every valid reason to want to remove the Hokage, but… assassination ?
Hound (Kakashi) thinks that removing Lord Hiruzen would be a better move, politically speaking.
It would be easy enough to gather evidence against Hiruzen's poor management, but from the look of Lord Danzou's stern face, the man is not going to change his mind.
Assassinating a Kage is difficult. Not impossible, just very difficult.
But ANBU Hound has never failed before. Never refused missions. Never protested.
He accepts the new mission without saying anything.
.
.
.
Hound has plenty of time to prepare and come up with a foolproof plan that is also untraceable to him.
He knows the Hokage's routine, he occasionally guards him – Root was able to easily station Hound as the Hokage's regular guard – and Hound also has easy access to the Hokage's schedule.
Tracking the Hokage's movements is easy. The hard part will be separating the old man from his guards, fighting the other ANBUs and also the Hokage himself. (The man may be an old man bent over with age, but he wasn't called the God of Shinobi for nothing.)
Hound plans the regicide and when Inu's mask comes off and Kakashi reappears, he goes into inner turmoil because of the mission.
.
.
.
Obito doesn't show up for the next few nights and Kakashi can feel the anxiety building in him as the week goes on.
He has no one to talk to about his new mission (in fact, he can't talk to anyone about it!) And Obito is his only trusted confidant, but now the Uchiha Ghost doesn't come to visit him when Kakashi needs him most. Arg !
Stupid Uchiha chronically late for everything!
Kakashi rubs his face. He already has a date planned to ambush the Hokage, he already has a (weak) plan outlined and time seems to fly by faster now that a date has been chosen.
Kakashi wishes time would go by more slowly
For the first time in his life, Kakashi gets completely drunk.
He had drunk alcohol before, but he had never overdone it, never gotten drunk, and never had a hangover. But there was always a first time for everything.
Fortunately, Kakashi drinks his bottles locked inside his house. Away from the public eye and especially away from the public ear.
Kakashi holds the photo of Team 7 in his hands and scolds Obito for abandoning him and calls the Uchiha all the worst names possible.
He also vents about his mission and asks Minato-sensei for advice; then he looks at Rin and says he doesn't need her lectures about the dangers of alcohol mixed with his 26 hours without sleep.
He turns into a pathetic mess and Kakashi is stressed as hell.
His plan to get rid of the Hokage and his ANBU guards is shit – he's in it alone. He's going to lose. He's going to be killed quickly, that is: at best.
In the worst case scenario he will be captured, condemned as a traitor, executed and utterly dishonored. (Not only him, but his dead team will also suffer the consequences of having a Hatake in their midst. They will be tainted because of Kakashi.)
No. No, not that. His precious people have been tarnished by him enough.
(Kakashi wants to die with dignity. With a worthy purpose so he can be with them.)
Kakashi's brain kind of freaks out, gets confused and then he passes out. He's delirious from the alcohol. He's not sure. He calls out to Obito, babbling nonsense and feels his Sharingan eye playing tricks on him, making him see Obito in a dark corner. Obito complaining about him. Obito holding him.
Kakashi has his first alcohol-induced dream. It's a nonsensical mess, but Obito is there yelling about wanting to be Hokage and save everyone from death and war, Rin supporting him unconditionally, Minato smiling in the corner.
Dream Kakashi must have said something stupid because dream Obito screams: A ninja who abandons and betrays his friends is trash. Worse than trash ~ Obito screams and punches Kakashi
Kakashi makes a decision and Hound follows along. They don't kill the Hokage.
They give up on the mission – not because they're against regicide or anything, or because they're loyal to the old man. No. That's not why.
They gave up on the mission because for them it is not right for a teammate to be plotting the death of another in this way.
Lord Danzō is (was) Lord Hiruzen's teammate. They have been friends for decades. That should mean something, but it doesn't seem to mean anything to Lord Danzō. Visibly, Lord Hiruzen still has great regard and friendship for Lord Danzō.
It's not right, and that's why Hound, for the first time, fails a mission. He tells the Hokage everything. They plan a staged stunt to arrest Danzō.
Everything works as planned.
Except...
Danzō and Hiruzen talk seriously after that and nothing happens .
Hound knew that Lord Hiruzen wouldn't be so extreme as to ask for his best friend's head because of his betrayal. But the least Hound would expect was for Danzō to be demoted. Or forced into retirement. Or that he was monitored more closely. But no. That didn't happen. It was just a lecture. A simple slap on the pulse.
Hound feels cheated.
Danzō leaves without any worries – but not before giving Hound a sharp look.
Oh, great. He's made another enemy.
If Hound had known that his life would become hell after this, he would have kept quiet and seriously considered becoming a real missing-nin.
That's his life. A shit.