A Deed Without A Name

“There will come a time when humanity, the reason to be compassionate and kind and giving , will be the least of your worries. Soon, all that you know will be dominated by ruthlessness and indifference and survival. And with that there is nothing left to worry about.”

The Observer

Chapter One: Time Don’t Heal All Wounds

Sakura Haruno was by no means a weak-willed young woman forever mourning the passing of all life but there were times even when she, who had seen so much destruction and corrupted innocence, must ask herself why it is that she was born human. Why had she been given free will, so that she may be burdened with the knowledge that any choice she makes will ultimately have consequences, whether good had been the intent or not? Why was she allowed to feel so many emotions that are chaotic by nature, if she could either be crippled by them or merely handicapped? Why must she understand from the very depths of her soul the reasons that lie behind the actions of psychopaths, murderers and rapists when those sort of revelations drowns her in shame and loathing for herself and her kind? Why was she human? Why did she live when so many others die?

These questions, which had always plagued her at the most inopportune of times, now came when she could not have even had the will to fight against her own doubts and fears that one day she will be no better than the ones she hunted. She stood there surrounded by dozens of her colleagues who all wore varying degrees of disgust, revulsion and resignation. Even indifference. For the sight that greeted their world-weary eyes was the same substandard horror flick that you can’t help but hate and yet, somehow can’t help but watch to the end: Scattered entrails across a grime-covered floor, dried blood splattered on the yellowed walls, the terrorized echoes of the victims still sounding within this hell hole barely fit to be called a home, shattered bones, eyes gouged out and carelessly stepped on in the haste to kill…But this was no amateurish film pathetically trying to imitate the blood and gore that proceeds killing out of madness, this was all too real in its simplicity and meaninglessness.

Is this what she was fated to do? To be the messenger of death, the one for whom death would reveal all its darkest secrets so as to keep her under its spell? That was a waste of time. When she had realized that she had lost her first love, had the most important promise to her broken and been forced to see how weak she was, that was the day she succumbed to the darkness in her heart. The darkness she had fought so valiantly against ever since she could understand that she was different, that as a little girl she was not pretty enough to play with the other girls. Except that time, the problems she dealt with had deeper roots than just her loneliness; She had let herself be overcome by the grief of lost love, the despair of a broken friendship and the horror of betrayal. It had seemed all too easy to give up. To let go.

But that was not the right way to become strong, following the twisted heart of the youngest Uchiha so that she could prove her worthiness to him. It was so wrong. She should have become stronger for herself and not for anybody else, to prove to herself for once and for all that she deserved to live, that she had a right to happiness. It was too late afterwards, when she twirled calloused hands around her blood-stained hair and realized the stupidity of her desires. She should not have become strong for the reasons she did, but she could not turn back time and she knew then, that she would suffer for it.

Looking down at the corpses and hearing the never-ending wails of pain heard only within her mind, she knew she was still paying for her perverted power. She could very well have been one of the persons who had committed this act of demise. She had the power for it, the craving to hurt someone that was always there but never fully acknowledged and the understanding that she was walking a fine line between slayer of the corrupted and slayer of all. This was something she accepted but that does not mean that she liked it.

Adapting to self-truths were fine, after all they kept her mind clear of illusions that enemies could use to trick her, however, agreeing with them in spirit--to put forth effort into actually liking such truths were even more of a waste of time than denying that there was a side of her that did not care about others at all. A voice, harsh in its nonchalance of what lay before them all and not one trace of sympathy in the smooth, unbroken melody of death that only an experienced Shinobi can hear, cut through her thoughts.

“Jade Dragon, Golden Serpent, Crimson Sparrow, Ebony Rose and Captain Sumiko, examine the bodies for any external and internal wounds that are hidden, ship the bodies to headquarters for further inspection and report on your findings three days from now.” Neji Hyuuga, Head Captain of the hunter-nins for this mission swept the individuals of the room with an unforgiving gaze, daring them to fall to their knees in a moment of weakness and then his gaze land on a group off to the side, standing in twilight.

Sakura noted that at least one of those LoD or Lovers of the Dead, as they were sometimes called for their innate fascination for rotting corpses and all that comprises death, was leaning heavily on his or her partner. The white veil they all wore over their heads concealed this particular person’s gender from her, but from the slight form Sakura idly guessed that this person was a woman and she felt a pang of irritated anger at her for not being able to stomach this, no matter how horrible the scene was.

Sakura could not help the shame, self-loathing and spite that rose up in her at such weakness when she recalled doing so as a young girl, fearing every shadow and unusual sound. She was stronger now but to see this display of what Shinobi termed civilian behavior, as if unused to cruel death and unavoidable injustice, reminded her that it took only one instance of weakness, of intense sorrow to break her and leave her in that long ago time of forever fearing everything and nothing.

To be nothing.

To have nothing.

A pretty doll with a broken smile.

What good would she be to anybody then?

But silence was her only answer and she focused back on the present, trying hard not to let personal regrets and her bouts of insanity cloud her judgment. She watched as four Shinobi in cream-colored morticians’ apparel stepped forward and immediately carried out this orders. The woman, or at least Sakura determined that she was a woman, now showed no uneasiness or hesitation and worked just as silently and efficiently as the others. At this realization, Sakura could not prevent the small smile that flashed across her face; Pleased that the woman had recovered and relieved that her own mind was at ease. Of course, observant as the others were they caught Sakura’s lapse in polite mourning, or more accurately polite behavior concerning the dead, as well and were understandably puzzled or disapproving of her actions.

She did not heed their expressions, however, as she did not care for their thoughts unless they had the desire to interfere in her life. And when they did; for one day they would all realize that she is not the Sakura who used to have a foolish smile on her face ready to please others at the cost of her pride and self-worth, when they all saw how her sea green eyes refused to shine like the clear waters of the sea, when they did not hear the carefree laughter of easy happiness, then they would see how much she had changed and try to force her back into the discarded skin of her youth. Like the snake she truly was, she would rather lose her so-called honor and run away from it all somewhere far away where she was just another young woman trying to find her way in the world than to face their accusatory memories, their questioning glances. She has no wish to once again be pressured into doing something she did not have to do, indeed, something she had the right to refuse; She did not see the point in facing the past when what had come to pass could not be changed nor forgotten adequately enough to be seen as mere figments of her less-than-impressive imagination.

The present was always far more interesting than the past anyhow, as history is history no matter how you look at it but events that are in the making have no predictable outcome and that is far more amusing than dwelling on one’s irreversible mistakes. Besides, she had a task to complete and there was no room for error. Not now when Konoha was just recovering from a great battle and their enemies or allies, for the two could quickly become the same soon enough, could attack them and possibly succeed. That was the reason why she and her colleagues were on this hellish mission to prevent such a thing and to solve the recent killings that had occurred across Country of Fire in a seemingly random pattern. But Sakura didn’t believe in random killings and she din’t like the fact that all of them coincided with the New Year celebration weeks ago. She knew there was a reason that all of the killings happened on a day that signified a new beginning, a new year.

The bloodied sight before them was the same one that they had seen in different points across their country and they all showed no signs of forced entry, struggle, threatening letters or anything that suggested that this was an organized crime or the result of a lunatic psychopath. Seven other similar killings that used the exact same gruesome methods on the victims. No one saw ever anything, heard anything or smelled anything even though there was always evidence of a fire that destroyed more than half of the homes and surely the screams would have been heard. But there was nothing. Nobody knew that a killing had even taken place until some nosy neighbor investigated the sudden silence from the victim’s homes and found their mutilated bodies. There was no logical reasoning to these killings, no obvious answers. But random killings such as these should not have been enough to warrant an entire Shinobi team to look into such matters, until that is, certain names had come up in the following inquiry. Names that were connected to powerful allied nations and enemies of Konoha.

Sakura didn’t yet understand how they played a role in these deaths and there seemed to be no connections between these ordinary citizens and the suspects, but she would find out. Tsunade-shishou was already wearing everybody down by weighing them down with all the paperwork and low-level missions she assigned to them, this killing spree was more than a diversion, this was a welcome break from the monotony and rising tension at home. This was something that required all their combined skills, intelligence, creativity and perception. This challenged them and they weren’t about to back down from people that, if were comparable with their style of killing, were no more than mercenaries for hire or amateurs looking to test out the sharpness of their blades. Yes, it was puzzling that there were no warnings or indications of any kind that foul play had taken place but that does not mean that there was no evidence. Clues were everywhere if you were observant enough and had the capability to “put two and two together” as the saying goes, after all not even the most skilled of assassins are able to vanish every trace of the crime. Besides, she had a promise to keep.

Sakura was determined to complete this mission in time to return for a birthday celebration in honor for Naruto’s birthday. He never had the chance to have a normal childhood or the care all children were entitled to, so she had long ago came to the decision that as his closest friend and someone who cared very much, she would give him exactly what he deserves. It was her not only her right as his best friend but as someone who knew even a little of the brutality children are capable of, for they fear the unknown and strange just the same as adults, this was one way to repent for her misbegotten power and ensure the happiness of a close friend at the same time.

And it was because of this determination that she was able to recognize what would soon become the first piece of evidence in a number of sites where the killings took place. She smirked then; a gloating, smug expression that said it all. The killers were starting to make mistakes and now they were going to pay for it.

“Haruno, is there something that would explain your sudden expression of happiness literally surrounded by gore as you are?” The sharp and highly annoyed voice of the head captain focused everyone’s attention on her and made her aware that she was not alone, but in fact, literally surrounded by jounin and above level Shinobi who would have no qualms about a captain being publicly humiliated or punished if it provided much sorely needed entertainment--tired, hungry and peeved as they were.

But this was exactly what Sakura wanted, so who was she to be equally annoyed by these frequent snide remarks, courtesy of the male PMS that seems to constantly strike the A type personality, no-nonsense with a twelve-foot pole-sorry-to-say-really-I-am-stuck-up-his-ass Hyuuga, which in turn meant to the rest of the sometimes insane to “Get used to shit because that’s all you’re having for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Period.”?

“Actually there is something that I would like to announce to everybody and thank you for this wonderful opportunity by the way Head Captain, Neji. That was quite kind of you.” Her own voice--sharpened by years of dealing with men like him and men in general; annoyed, too, because she was not the type to find pleasure in death, no matter what he implied, unless it was well deserved--struck back at him. In the ensuing silence that followed, not one soul dared to overcome the overwhelming amount of bloodlust immediately unleashed within the room even before she finished her sentence.

“Explain. And it better be worth my time, Haruno.” As if he was the only one whose time mattered. He really hadn’t changed that much, had he? But then again, she was just as much on the breaking point as he was. Maybe even more so. He had dealt with most of his past: she only acknowledged it on occasion. And that was on a particularly good day.

“First I would like to point out that all the killings consisted of the victims being subjected to extreme force as was indicated by the blood splatter and lack of bodily parts, then the interior of whatever location they dwelled in would be consumed by a seemingly last minute thought of burning away the evidence and to finish. There has never been any sign of these killings being committed until it has been too late, though it is obvious the resulting amount of pain would have warranted such a reaction that somebody would have checked on the victims.

Second, this technique was, until now, the only clear connection between the killings. Other than the possible relation to certain suspicious characters that we still are not entirely sure their intentions are as of yet. Or that even their relations could have been entirely coincidental--highly unlikely that the precise manner of the killings being committed cannot be but the work of professionals--but still a possibility nonetheless.

Third, there is one thing we have all missed and I’m sorry that I or anyone else had not realized it sooner, though there were certain shields that kept us from noticing it from the very beginning of this investigation. Shields that were set specifically to counter high-level Shinobi such as we. I would ramble on and one until I could put my next words in a non-offensive way but as we have no time and we’re all reasonable adults, albeit grumpy, tired and hungry--but the fact is that only someone who was so separate from our world could have seen what I see now. Someone who would have no idea at all what it is they were looking at because they have never had to deal with Jutsus or anything to do with Shinobis.”

Once, she looked around at everyone and took a deep breath. Hoping not to be ridiculed for what she was about to say, but knowing that chances were unlikely for such an outcome.

“I’m talking about the one ninja technique we were all told had no place in our world or any use at all, since the odds were greatly stacked against the use of such a Jutsu. I’m talking about the Nameless Marionette--Namae Wo Nai Ningyo. It is the only one of its kind and the only jutsu that could be used against us without being recognized for so long, after all…Who would ever think that anyone would be as careless to use such a jutsu with so many risks unaccounted for ?”

Sakura did not take her eyes off from Neji; she did not allow anything other than expectation cloud her eyes and awaited his judgment. He probably thought this was a joke. No, she knew he thought this was a joke and an insult as well. After all, this particular jutsu was not known for its effectiveness or superiority over other Justus. Rather, it was known for being able to conceal the presence of any evidence of previous Justus being used in a certain place, anchored by the blood of a sacrifice and blinding all but those of genin rank or lower. And though this may seem to be the perfect jutsu to fool any high-level Shinobi, there were still too many risks unaccounted for. Such as the fact that any civilian with average intelligence had the ability to see the mark that indicated that this was the Nameless Marionette.

She still had one more thing to say though.

“By the way….it means we’re all a bunch of idiots and I’ve always wanted to ask this, but are you sure you’re not a woman, Neji? You always seem to be constipated from what I can see, PMS much?”

Death was certain in her future, but death this night? Hmm….

“Haruno!” Neji growled.

Maybe.