A.N.B.U.

Omake : A.N.B.U. Christmas...

Well, the time had come... Snow had appeared on the top of the Hokage tower (courtesy of a dare done by Ishi... He would later pass out from the exhaustion of holding the genjustu for an entire day... But it was very realistic) The streets had been lit up by the civilian council a few days prior and civilians and ninjas alike were running to get their final presents... I was on my way to the Hokage tower, in full ANBU attire ( Our genin team had gotten the day off, but an urgent mission had come so I had to work anyway... ANBU had its perks but this wasn't one of them...) The festive atmosphere almost felt wrong in a ninja village... Everyone seemed to be happy and joyful and peaceful... It almost looked too good to be true... I handed out my report to the commander before wishing him a merry Christmas, to which he promptly replied that I could either get the hell out of his office or stay and do paperwork... I courageously fled the office, I had a party to attend...

   The TI break room was completely decorated... There even was a huge tree, courtesy of a sleeping Tenzou, who had overexerted his chakra... I expertly dodged a stray knife, apparently, Anko was setting the table... Which meant she was casually throwing cooking utensils at Morino... I looked around and finally set my presents under the tree before going to help Anko with the dishes...

   The meal was delicious... Ibiki-san really had outdone himself... He was flirting with his new husband, teasing, and torturing my poor subordinate who knew already that even batting an eyelid would be punished by the older man... Iruka-chan looked like he was loving every second of it... We had some nice rice with curry... We even had a more audacious choice of dish: a meat pie, something out of our plain food comfort food zone... For dessert, we even had an apple pie, a Christmas Frozen treat from the confines of Kumo, and some chocolate. That was divine, so much so that Inoichi convinced Ibiki to give some to cooperating interns. That must have felt so nice, to get a cup of hot chocolate with a slice of apple pie... Weirdly enough, a few inmates refused to cooperate and answer our questions once we told them about the hot chocolate and apple pie deal of the day, I don't really know why...

   We finally got around to opening the gifts, I got some new weaponry, a few random books, and a nice and thick wooden paddle with "naughty boy" written on it, "fair enough, Morino-san, I was a bit cheeky..." Well, of course, he showed me how to use it and I wisely chose not to sit down after that... I would get my revenge soon enough. Iruka-chan opened a few gifts... Some new Ninja gear, books... Most of ANBU didn't really know what else to give: everyone here was ANBU or TI, most didn't have a normal childhood, no toys, no clothes... Gifts were useful, practical, and small... No point in gifting some random stuff if the person was going to die... Better gift a kunai, a rope, or a book on medicine if that would save their lives on the field...

   Morino was the last to open his gifts... Tools, blades, and books... Few were notable, a small black book, leather-bound, gifted by someone no one knew, made the interrogator's eyes glint with a reddish hue... No one wanted to know what was inside... Then there was the big red box from Anko, with stuff from the cover shop... 🔞[Edited out by the author to keep the book PG]🔞 Neko had brought stuff from Kusa, namely poisons... Then he opened my present... A nice pink sign with hearts all over, it:"Konoha's favorite sadist" with the last word filled in with a sharpie. He turned to me with a very scary smile, and cold, cold eyes...
"Kitsu-chan... What a nice gift, I can't wait to put that where it belongs... In a very special place under the ground... -3 to be precise" he slowly said.
The room went quiet... -3, the worst room in here... Ibiki's favorite chamber, nicknamed "the mad house"...
"Come let's go...
-what don't you do for your comrades..." I muttered under my breath...
"-Well you don't try to make fun of me, for a start!"
I hurried after him knowing I wouldn't get out of this... The walk downstairs was long and stressful... What did he have in mind? Was I gonna be shouted at? Disciplined? Or even worse... Experimented on... The blinking lights didn't bother either of us, We both had been accustomed to that type of psychological torture... The slow descent made the pain last a lot longer...

   We finally arrived downstairs, the dread felt unbearable... We kept on walking through the lengthy corridor, every door looking scarier than the next...
"Get in... No talking unless you want to lose that cheeky tongue of yours..." We entered... Slowly... It looked like the inside of a nightmare, I almost expected a mad scientist to pop out from there... Tubes of poisons, acids, and other unidentifiable liquids bubble toward the surface. An assortment of blades, screws, and sharp objects were led on tables, the floor was covered in a sticky easily recognizable substance, Blood... He led me to the center of the room and told me to sit... He then proceeded to try and find a nice place for my sign... Before looking at my trying not to be shaking form...
"So... You know why I brought you here?
- because I wasn't a nice little obedient A.N.B.U ?" A small painful sensation filled me... I identified the small scalpel sitting in Ibiki's hand.
"Next time I go for the tongue... 
No, you're here because the commander instructed me to give you a reminder... Because of some future mission, I also had to make sure SHE didn't take interest in you...
- wait what? Who is she? And what mission are you talking about ?" He showed me the black leather-bound book... On it inscribed in human blood: Don't mess with us, Konoha... If you behave nicely we'll be your best allies... Else... We'll destroy women and children, elders and civilians, genins and infants... We'll keep all of you alive so that you can live the horror of having the entirety of your world stripped from you... I couldn't contain the pure anger that raged inside my heart... Who was that woman who thought she could give orders to our country? Who did she think she was...
"One of the most powerful ninjas in her country, and one of my best friends... She gave me that book with that threat because she didn't have a choice... I think she gave me that book to make the message easier to receive, and before you start thinking about a way to capture her or to make her talk, she could beat you and your team, eyes closed... And even if by any chance you could capture her, Konoha would be destroyed by her comrades and I wouldn't get anything out of her..." He had seen right through me. I felt defeated, that moment would haunt me for the years to come as an inevitable prophecy