HAWK Chapter 2
Chapter 1 here.
-2-
“I’m sorry Sa-Sakura…Sasuke...he…he…”
It was the look in Naruto’s eyes, more than the words he spoke that had broken Sakura’s spirit. Dead and devoid of hope. It was very unsettling to see that look on someone who never gave up even in the direst circumstances. It made Sakura want to shake him by the shoulders and force him to tell her that everything was going to be alright, that things would go back to what they were, that Sasuke was still…
But she had refrained. She quietly accepted the truth, bottled her emotions and locked them away in a dark corner of her mind. She didn’t want to cry in front of Naruto and make him feel guilty.
Kakashi had advised her not to see the body. It was charred beyond recognition, she was told. Even if that hadn’t been the case, Sakura didn’t think she had the strength to see the proof of his death.
This was two long years back and she was finally coming to terms with it.
“This might come as a shock to you, Miss Haruno, but Sasuke Uchiha is very much alive.”
To say that she was shocked on hearing this from Ibiki would be an understatement. For a moment she thought this was one of his twisted jokes. But then he continued.
“Before you open that file, Miss Haruno, I want you to be aware of the ANBU Code of Secrecy. It’s nothing elaborate; just says that if you divulge anything to anyone that you aren’t supposed to…” His eyes flashed and his voice took on a dangerous edge. “…within hours you’ll be in separate pieces for the wolves to feed on.”
Sakura gulped. She felt like she was going to explode from the varied emotions swirling in her head.
“However, I don’t feel the need to threaten you to keep secrets. You are smarter than that. But you must realize that what I’m about to tell you is extremely confidential information. You must, under no circumstances, reveal this to anyone outside this room. Not even if it is the Fifth who comes up to you and asks you to do so.”
Sakura’s jaw dropped. “Not even to the Hokage?”
Ibiki smirked. “There are many things about the ANBU that the Fifth doesn’t know. And what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.”
Sakura stared at him, completely taken aback by his answer. What am I getting myself into, she thought wildly.
He cleared his throat. “I believe Sasuke was part of Team Kakashi, the same team you were part of?”
“Yes…”
“That was just a ruse. Sasuke has been an ANBU for the past 4 years.”
“You mean Sasuke was an ANBU while he was on Team 7?” Sakura asked, surprised.
“Yes. He was inducted as an ANBU two years before his ‘death’.”
“But he never…”
“Told you?” Ibiki raised an eyebrow. “Of course he didn’t tell you. He wasn’t supposed to. He was undercover.”
“Then what was his mission?”
“He didn’t have just one mission. There were many undercover missions he carried out during his time in Team 7. I don’t have the patience or time to tell you all. You’ll find all the relevant details in that file.” He pointed to the little bundle in her hand.
“But why did he fake his own death?”
Ibiki’s lips slowly curled into a smirk. “Because I told him to.” Seeing Sakura’s confused expression, he continued. “Miss Haruno, I’ll tell you an ANBU secret that might surprise you…us ANBU, we don’t get along very well with each other. It was the same case with Sasuke. He had many enemies among the ANBU, people who considered him a threat, people who wanted him dead.”
“Who?”
Ibiki chuckled. “Now, Miss Haruno, we ANBU may not like each other but we know better than to tell on the other. That secret, for your safety as well as mine, will remain a secret.” He paused. “So, as I was saying, Sasuke had many enemies. And these enemies were very high up the order. They had the power to have him assassinated and make it seem like an accident. So I told him to pretend to be killed during one of your B-Rank missions. He did exactly as I said. That day, two years back, Sasuke Uchiha died and Hawk was born.”
Sakura reeled. This was too much information in too little time. She hadn’t come mentally prepared for this.
“After that things went smoothly for a while. Hawk became one of our finest and most efficient assassins. But a couple of months back, they found out Hawk’s true identity. But this time they were forced to acknowledge his usefulness, that he’s a valuable asset to the ANBU. However, they still want him out. So…”
“So?”
“So they decided to label him mentally unstable.”
“What? That’s completely absurd! Sasuke’s not 'mentally unstable'!”
“Miss Haruno, you don’t know half the things about Sasuke. And honestly speaking, for the past few months he does seem a bit…disturbed…”
“What do you mean?”
Ibiki shrugged. “Perhaps it’s the stress getting to him. Or the ghosts of all those murders catching up to him. I don’t know. This is where you come in. I want you to find out what’s wrong with him.”
Sakura gave him a skeptical look.
“Look Miss Haruno, I’m on Sasuke’s side. I don’t want those people to have an excuse to get rid of him.” He walked closer. “I know you can help him. The question is, are you willing to?”
“What kind of question is that? Of course I’m willing to help him. He’s my friend!” Sakura exclaimed.
Ibiki shook his head. “Let me warn you, Miss Haruno, this is not the Sasuke you knew. Don’t be surprised if he doesn’t even recognize you. All those years as an ANBU have changed him; he’s a completely different person now.” He let out a sigh. “Don’t give me your answer immediately. Take your time, go through that file. Tell me your decision after 7 days.”
~
“Organize your thoughts and focus.”
Tsunade would tell Sakura repeatedly during her training. Medic-nins had to have absolute control over their emotions in all situations. This was especially important during difficult missions when the life of the team depended solely on the medic-nin traveling with them. Sakura knew this and prided herself for having held her nerve in many situations when her injured team-mates lay prone before her and she had to heal them.
But no amount of training or experience had prepared her for this.
She closed the file and took deep breaths to calm herself. The moment she had reached home, Sakura had flipped it open and started reading from the first yellowing page to the last for the next five hours straight. It was late into the night and she had finally finished it. She looked down at the file. The words ‘Uchiha, Sasuke. Codename: HAWK’ stared back at her, mocking her.
She awed at how Sasuke had managed to deceive her and Naruto for nearly two years. As Team 7, they had been assigned only two A-Rank missions and nineteen B-Rank missions. While Sasuke, in the same period, had been assigned eleven undercover A-Rank missions and one S-Rank mission and had successfully completed all of them. The details of the S-Rank mission were conspicuously absent from the file.
He was always so aloof and detached, so hiding his true identity was probably never a problem for him, Sakura thought.
Then he had proceeded to fool the entire Konoha by faking his death. “So whose body was it that they found?” Sakura wondered aloud.
So many questions, so few answers. Contrary to what Ibiki had claimed, the file didn’t contain every detail about Sasuke. For one, his missions as the assassin ‘HAWK’ were missing. The file ended with Sasuke’s supposed ‘death’. Or perhaps, those details were in a separate file and Ibiki had purposely withheld that information from her.
In fact, there was a lot Ibiki wasn’t telling her, like who wanted Sasuke dead. And why?
“How does Ibiki expect me to help Sasuke if he hides all this stuff from me?” Sakura complained to herself. But she was inwardly thankful for that. She didn’t think she could handle all of Sasuke’s secrets right now.
So what should I do, Sakura wondered. She was starting to see why Ibiki had told her to take her time to decide. She was to evaluate and counsel a potentially dangerous assassin. This wasn’t the boy she had fancied herself in love with. Going by the file in her hand, she had no inkling of the real Sasuke even when they were on the same team.
“And he probably doesn’t even remember me.” Sakura sighed, remembering Ibiki's words. It wasn’t like Sasuke had even noticed her existence before.
She stared at the beige wall of her bedroom, a sudden feeling of loneliness enveloping her. She blew a strand of hair falling on to her face and flopped on to her bed. Just thinking about her rendezvous with Ibiki this morning exhausted her. She longed for someone she could talk to about this. Did Kakashi know about this? What would Naruto say if he found out? What would Ino’s reaction be? And Shikamaru's?
She knew better than to breathe a word about this to anyone.
Sakura sighed. All things considered, she knew what her answer to Ibiki was going to be. I don't need an entire week to decide, I'll meet him tomorrow, were her last thoughts before she drifted out to sleep.
~
Sakura hadn’t felt so nervous even for her chuunin exam. She wringed her fingers subconsciously as Ibiki observed her from across the desk in his room. His eyes were narrowed.
“So your answer is a yes?”
Sakura nodded emphatically.
Ibiki’s face suddenly split into a grin. “I was expecting as much, Miss Haruno.” He got up from his seat. “Though I didn’t expect that you would decide so quickly. It’s only been a day since we last met…” He looked at her questioningly. Seeing the lack of response from her, he picked up a scroll from the drawer in his desk and walked over to where she was sitting. He held it out to her. “This is your appointment letter. Welcome to the ANBU, Miss Haruno.”
Sakura blinked as she took the scroll from him. “That’s it? Just like that, now I’m an ANBU?”
He chuckled. “Perhaps you haven’t realized this, but you have all the qualifications needed to be an ANBU. You have been trained as a professional medic-nin by the Hokage herself.”
“So…is this an undercover thing..?”
“No. At least not the part about you being an ANBU. We are short of medical ninjas on our team, so your addition shouldn’t seem strange or suspicious to anyone. You will be required to treat and heal other ANBUs. Your association with Hawk, however, is to be kept secret at all costs.”
“Secret from…?”
Ibiki cleared his throat. “From anyone who doesn’t know that Sasuke is alive.”
“Right,” Sakura said with more confidence than she felt.
Ibiki remained silent, as though considering something. “This just occurred to me,” he spoke suddenly, “now that you’re an ANBU, how about I give you your first assignment?”
Sakura stared at him. “What? Now?”
“Yes. We have an injured ANBU in the infirmary right now. I was going to ask the Hokage to take care of his wounds, but now that you are here…” he raised an eyebrow questioningly, lips curved up in a smirk.
Sakura’s eyes narrowed. He’s trying to test me, she realized. Nervousness vanishing at the prospect of finally doing something productive, she stood up. “Sure, why not? It’s my job now, isn’t it?”
Ibiki’s smirk grew wider. “Good. Then follow me.”
The infirmary was in a completely different part of the ANBU headquarters. Without the man to lead her, Sakura would have probably lost her way in the maze of corridors and doors. Ibiki walked very fast, much to her dismay, and she had to almost run to keep up with him. She was almost panting by the time they reached the infirmary.
Ibiki opened the door for her, looking at her enigmatically. Sakura was breathing heavily when she entered. What she saw inside nearly knocked the breath out of her.
It was Sasuke.
Sakura turned to Ibiki, glaring at him accusingly. She hadn’t seen Sasuke in two years, thought that he was dead till yesterday. Surely, such a sudden encounter merited a warning.
Ibiki ignored her and walked in. “Sasuke, how is your arm?” The dark-haired man muttered something inaudible in response.
Sakura remained frozen in her spot. Sasuke hadn’t bothered looking up. He was alone in the room and sat at the edge of a solitary bed, dressed in the standard black and gray ANBU uniform. His right arm guard was missing and in its place was a blood-soaked bandage.
“Sasuke, let me introduce you to our new medical-nin- Miss Haruno. She will be treating your wounds today,” Ibiki said, seemingly nonchalantly.
Sasuke spared a brief, disinterested glance at Sakura. She felt her heart sink. There was no indication of recognition in that glance.
“Why don’t you come in, Miss Haruno? Sasuke got himself into a skirmish yesterday, which is actually quite rare. I’m sure you’ll be able to heal him, won’t you Miss Haruno?” Ibiki asked, inclining his head in her direction.
Sakura glared at the older man, willing to wipe the smirk off his face. However, without a word she made her way to Sasuke and sat beside him. She drew upon every ounce of self-control she had learnt during her training with Tsunade to will her nerves to calm down. “Let me see that arm.”
She couldn’t bear to look him in the eye, so she focused on his badly bandaged arm. Just pretend you’re treating just another nameless patient, she told herself.
She removed the pin holding the bandage together and slowly started unwinding it. Blood had already started leaking and she pursed her lips on seeing the deep gash in the flesh. “This wound hasn’t been cleaned properly,” she said neutrally. “You can’t bandage a wound without cleaning it. It can turn septic.” She turned to face Ibiki. “Could I have a bowl of water and a clean towel? I need to clean the wound before I patch it up with my Shosen Jutsu.”
Ibiki’s eyes shone in appreciation of her composure. “I’ll see that you get what you require, Miss Haruno.” He nodded and giving Sasuke a cursory glance, he left.
Completely removing what was left of the bandage, Sakura examined the wound more closely. She felt Sasuke’s gaze on her, but ignored it.
“The last two years have been good to you.”
Sakura nearly fell off her chair in shock. She looked up to find dark eyes staring at her curiously.
“You look beautiful…Sakura…”
It would have seemed like a compliment, if it were not for the fact that his voice was as cold as the sneer on his lips.