Sakuya

"A story like this..." 

A goddess raised her left hand in the sky, coating it with an unknown level of energy. 

"... Is boring!"

And then, the entire Naruto universe she had just started watching a few days ago were erased.

"Someone needs to change it immediately!" 

With a wave of her right hand, the goddess reinstated the previously erased universe with the specific modifications meant to appease her liking. Nobody likes a bad TV show after all, and to someone as powerful as her, entertainment happens to be overwhelmingly important in her day-to-day eternal life.

Entertainment was everything.

And so, in an event not too dissimilar to DC's retcon punch by Superboy Prime, the canonical story of Naruto we all know begins to change. 

For better or worse, only time will tell.

***

The mission is the only thing that matters. That's what "Two" has been taught her entire life. Under normal circumstances she would abide by that precept. But these were not normal circumstances. No, they were not. Taking one last puff of her cigar (yes, cigar because her last smoke was something to celebrate. She deserved to go out with a bang) she scanned her surroundings, making sure that everything was in place. The sounds of hurried footsteps were coming closer. They would be here any second now. She let out a snicker. They must be scared out of their minds if they threw infiltration precautions out of the window and were just rushing to stop her.

Sure enough, the door was thrown with a bang and three people stepped in. "Command" came in, flunked by "Three" and surprisingly "Nine." Wasn't he supposed to be abroad? But then again this was an all hands on deck situation. "Command" took three steps in the room and came to an abrupt stop when she gave him a wide, slightly deranged, grin and waved the detonator at him. She could see in his wide eyes and defensive stance that he already knew none of them was going to make it out of there. After all he had trained her himself and knew what she was capable of.

Suddenly, he sighed and straightened his posture. Taking a pack of smokes and a lighter out of his pocket he stood there in silence, trying to light the cigarette despite his shaking fingers. "Three" and "Nine" were still a couple steps behind looking uncomfortable at the very least. "Command" started. "I see. You already planned everything, didn't you?" "Two's" grin only got wider in response. He gave a light chuckle. "Indeed, you aren't one of my best projects for nothing. This is why "Three" could never catch up to you. Always ten steps ahead of everyone."

"Three" frowned at the light jab. "Command" never knew what to say and what to keep to himself. On any other day, "Two" would have taken the chance to mock her rival but not today. Despite her smile she was in no mood for light banter . "Command" continued, "I'm curious. Who turned you against us? And how? You were programmed from when you were three months old to give your unconditioned loyalty to us. How exactly can anyone undo that? Take it as a dying man's request and answer my questions"

"Two" sneered at him. He still didn't get it? Sighing loudly her sneer transformed into a serene smile. She looked at the neon light in the ceiling and said, "Nobody," the expression on "Three's" face was priceless, a mixture of disappointment, disgust and incomprehension. "Command" kept his poker face while "Nine's" eyes betrayed understanding. She had a feeling that this always laid back fellow knew already why she was working at taking down the Organization, once and for all. "Nobody put me up to this. I'm doing it for myself. I came to the conclusion that our 'ending justifies the means' philosophy is wrong albeit justifiable in some occasions. The Organisation is an abomination, created by greedy politicians and businessmen to exploit defenseless orphans. It has outlived its purpose. As such I chose to put an end to it."

Her detached tone fooled nobody. "Nine" sighed, looking at her with a trace of sorrow. "He wouldn't have wanted this. You know for a fact that he would stop you if he could come out of his grave to do so. We are a family. A family of murderous psychopaths sure, but nonetheless a family. Our existence is for the good of the nation. We work in the dark so that others can enjoy the light. That was his philosophy. Even if he adored you, he would never condone this. Stop before you regret it."

"Command" was a bit surprised by the little speech if the slight quivering of his eyebrow was any indication. "Two" gave a dry laugh. See "Nine" was almost right on everything. Except for the part where his little speech would work on her. "So this is your MO. Emotional speeches. Your cover as an actor sure suits you well. I almost teared up."

"Nine" held her gaze with his hopeful look for three seconds before she was met with the dull expression and the soulless eyes of the coldhearted assassin she knew him to be. "It was worth a shot. I don't feel like dying in this dump."

"Three" gave him a dejected "pathetic" while "Two" grinned and said, "Sorry, I would have given you each the death you wanted but I couldn't take the risk of eliminating you all one by one. It has to be this way." He shrugged and retreated to one of the stools in the makeshift lab and silently sat on it. He knew there was no out for him against her. All of them knew. Even if they teamed up.

A screen in the back of the room lit up and a countdown of thirty seconds started. "Two" stared back at "Command" and said, "All the others are here. Separated in the rooms of the facility. We're all dying here. Numbers 'Two' through 'Twelve.' No one will be left to execute that wretched plan or any other mission for that matter. However, I will tell you what all this is about if you tell me one thing." His left eyebrow shot up urging her to continue. "What was my name? The one my real parents gave me?"

The room fell into silence as the countdown kept going. 15, 14, 13, 12. Command looked at the ground. He threw the butt of his cigarette to the ground and squashed it. "When the clock says one second left, we both say it at the same time."

"Two" gave a harsh nod. Her heart was beating so loudly she could hear it. Not because of the fear of death. No, she has nothing to fear on that side. But the excitement was almost too much to bear. Finally the most secret of the secrets of her life was going to be revealed. She will know. Even if it was right before her death, at least she will know.

Four, three, two.

"My Brother."

"Sakuya."

And then it all went very bright and fell as quickly into darkness.

Of course it would be quick. She made sure that she was standing on one of the bombs when it went off, so that if there were ever any survivors (which was doubtful) she wouldn't be a part of them. And also so that it would be quick. She did know a lot about death and she always preferred it to be swift. Her training as one of the top surgeons of the country must have given her a bit of humanity. What a shame, she thought. If "Command" knew about this bit of humanity he would have nipped it in the bud. Way before it escalated to her plotting the end of the Organization. Well, at least She was satisfied with this ending. "Sakuya", more commonly known as "Two", 17 years old, surgeon by day, sociopathic assassin by night, member of an elite group of agents trained since infancy to be killing machines at the orders of the governments, has done a good deed. The only one she ever did on her own free will. Destroying that lab, with the other members of the organization in it, was the right thing to do. She must have saved as many lives by this one deed as she took during her career of 10 years. That's not bad at all for a life's work. She can't be sent to hell after being this good a person now can she. But then the thought of her in heaven made her laugh out loud, and that hurt like a son of a bitch.

Wait a second.

Laugh? Hurt? How was she even able to think? Dammit, this isn't the eternal peace she was promised! Being left alone with her thoughts was anything but peaceful. She would know.

How the hell did she survive that explosion? It's scientifically impossible. She might as well just lay there and wait for death. Help was at least 30 minutes away. She knew that much, and her injuries should be serious enough to kill her before then.

But reality proved different. She was slowly coming to and nothing was going right. Sure she could feel the big gash in her head and the pool of blood it was making, but otherwise she was fine and she knew it. Second, there were no large chunks of cement on her which was confusing seeing as the last time she checked she was in an underground laboratory, and now she could feel the cool night breeze on her cheeks. How did she avoid the whole ceiling falling on her?

Her hearing was also coming back slowly. First just an annoying whistle but then it cleared and more and more sounds started filtering in. And they weren't making any sense. The only people who should be in the vicinity were highly trained assassins who could endure any kind of torture and never crack under any kind of pressure or pain. Yet around her, she could clearly hear the sounds of women crying and wailing. There were also kids. Lots of them by the sound of it. And boy were they crying loudly. Get a grip dammit! Nothing in this life is worth making such a fuss about. And last but not least, there was a lot of running. Someone was barking orders and the voices of men and boys were responding to them and then running off somewhere.

Suddenly there was a loud cry and not three seconds later the sounds of three thuds were heard right next to her, one on her left two on her right.

A slender, cold yet gentle finger started tracing the side of her face and a woman, the one on her left, sobbed. " Sakuya! No! No! No! Not my baby! How could they!"

Baby? Who's baby now? She had no time to think about that as her petite body was engulfed in a bear hug and the sounds of the woman's sobbing only got louder. Ok what the hell is going on?

Mustering all the strength she could she pushed her eyelids open to take a look at her surroundings. And boy, were they hard to lift. From the angle her body was facing and her unclear vision, she started making out a few things. The woman's face was not visible, but to her right were two boys. One looked eight and was clad in a dark blue mantle with fitted armor on it. He was fixing the ground next to him with a haunted gaze, fists clenched on his knees. The other was about five years of age and he wore a blue kimono with white pants. His fists were clenched on what looked like a knife with a spear headed end, and tears silently made their way down his cheeks, as he stared directly into her eyes. They were clearly brothers judging by their black eyes and spiky hair styles but the older one had sharper features while the younger one's classic good looks were sure to cause mayhem in the future.

Suddenly the younger one was struck with the realization that they have been staring at each other for about a minute now, even if her eyelids were only open half-way and the woman's bear hug was slowly but effectively cutting her airways. Panicking he clutched his brother's sleeve and croaked, "Nii-san, look! Look! She's alive!"

The older boy's head snapped to her and at the same time the woman, who also heard, gently pulled back to see for herself. Wide eyes scrutinized every inch of her face as she stared back dully. The woman was clearly a beauty and the mother of the two brats on the right. Luscious black hair that went to the middle of her back gently framed a classically beautiful face that the younger brat surely inherited from her. Tears kept coming from deep black eyes framed with impossibly long black eyelashes that contrasted with milky white skin.

"How is this possible? I was told that none of those who didn't make it to the shelter in time were spared." And then her eyes sparkled with determination. "Who cares as long as she is safe! Madara, quickly go look for the healer, go!" The older boy who's name "Two" knew now was Madara quickly snapped back to reality and then to his feet and ran into an unknown location. The younger one crawled closer as his mother gently laid her on her back once again and took her hand. He gave her a big smile although she could clearly see the worry in his eyes.

Madara came back quickly with an older woman, in her 50's, also clad in a kimono (what's up with the fashion in this place?) although she was covered with splashes of blood. The woman knelt to her side and started to give her a check up paying special attention to her head.

"Two" kept to her policy of saying nothing and betraying none of her confusion with her face. When you don't know what to do, doing nothing is best. Clearly, these people thought they knew her and were more than willing to help, and far be it from her to decline their good intentions, until she knew what fresh hell this was.

She gave herself credit for not snapping at the said "healer" because clearly the women didn't know what she was doing. Even a first day intern wouldn't make this many diagnostic mistakes in one go. Did they have some beef she wasn't aware of? Was she trying to kill her? She kept her mouth shut though and the woman sighed with relief." Himiko-sama, you need not worry so much. Sakuya-sama's injury is superficial. I will stop the bleeding and prescribe some tonics. It should be enough for her to recuperate in a few days."

Sama? Was she supposed to be someone important? And only superficial? How would you know, you old bat, you didn't even check properly! "Two" knew, from having experienced many injuries like this, that it was only superficial but that imposter of a healer couldn't know that.

She had no time to brood more as the "healer" proceeded to do some weird hand gestures and suddenly her hands started glowing green. What the hell? What's happening? Why aren't the other three shocked by this? The glowing, probably radioactive, hand started coming closer to her face and she tried to move away. She may have tried to kill herself a mere 30 minutes ago but she only dies on her own terms. Like hell she was going to die of a freak medical malpractice incident like this. But the mother-sons trio was quick to hold her down. The younger kid never let go of her hand, and the mother put a reassuring hand on her shoulder while Madara held her head in place gently. He even gave her a small smile and said, " Don't be scared, Sakuya. It's all going to be over quickly. Just be brave, and Nii-san will buy you dangos later, ok?" This remark brought a small smile on the faces of the other three as if they were in on a joke she wasn't. Hey, even if she admits to having a sweet tooth like the "Sakuya" they are clearly mistaking her for, this was no laughing matter. Just you wait until she stabs all of you with the dango's stick. Until then she will try not to move if they think it's safe for her not to. Clearly they only want to help.

The glowing hand came closer to her wound and stopped at around 1 cm. She could feel the warm glow close to her skin and it wasn't exactly unpleasant. And then she started to feel herself heal. Like actually healing. The skin at the edge of the wound started to stretch and meet its counterpart and no blood was oozing anymore. The headache wasn't as sharp anymore and she somehow started to feel less shitty at a miraculous speed. Well isn't this something. After about ten minutes of this spent in shocked silence on her part, while the other four people started showing various amounts of relief, her head was bandaged and she was told that she will only have a small scar. And ten types of infection, seeing that her wound was never cleaned before whatever sorcery was practiced on her.

The mother of the two boys helped her to a sitting position, while grinning wildly at her and the hold the two brothers had on her hands eased up a little. She took a look at her surroundings. She was in the middle of a dirt road between two rows of houses. The houses were made of wood and looked rather small and ancient. What was shocking however, was that the street had four other corpses in it lined in a row next to her. All had someone weeping next to them, no doubt relatives, and the whole thing was guarded by two tall men clad in mantel and armor similar to the Madara boy. Speaking of him, he was eyeing her from top to bottom worriedly. And she was worried too. Now that she was able to see parts of herself she came to a shocking realization. She had shrunk. Her body was akin to that of a 5 years old and a rather skinny one at that.

The confusion was becoming too overwhelming, even for her the legendary "Two." And that's why she crossed every training she has ever had and blurted the first thing that came to her mind.

"Who the hell are you people?"