A group of samurai scramble into the garden in response to the noise the Iwa team makes. Hawk swears. "This mission is a secret, leave no survivors," he orders. I draw my tanto in response as Rhino readies an earth jutsu and Jackal slips two kunai out of her holster. "Rhino, you take the samurai. Lynx, avoid using your flashier lightning jutsus. Jackal, please refrain from setting the entire palace on fire."

We nod in affirmation. I rush forward, dodging rocks thrown by earth jutsus to meet a fox masked Iwa nin's kunai with my sword. He larger than me by quite a lot, but well, that's no real feat. He's not as fast as Rhino and nowhere near as fast as Shisui. I duck underneath another rock flying at my face and narrowly avoid a stream of fire. Two nature releases, interesting. Ninjutsu specialist, then, so keep too close for him to utilize his more powerful jutsus and I should be fine. Fox-mask blocks my downward strike with a kunai and I kick him in the shins. There's an audible crack as my chakra enhanced foot makes contact. He stifles a cry of pain.

He tries to move back, but I move with him. I knock his kunai out of his hand. Fox tries to cover the obvious opening left by being disarmed with another fire jutsu. I growl in frustration and jump back. I use a tendril of shadow to trip him, then stab him through the throat. I flick the blood off my blade. Rhino sends a spear of stone through the last samurai as Jackal torches her opponent. Both of Hawk's enemies lay suspiciously still.

"Lynx, go confirm your kill," Hawk barks. I nod and slink back into Hoshinori's bedroom. I check the pulse and conclude that the Iwa nin were right. Hoshinori is well and truly dead.

I come back to see Jackal, Rhino, and Hawk methodically burning the bodies. We head back to Konoha once all but our target has been reduced to ash. It's another week back to the village and when we get back, Hawk informs us that we'll be on Hokage guard rotation for a week. We have the 1:00 am to 5:00 am shift, and, to use Rhino's words, it's the shift from hell.

I go home, I take a blessedly hot shower, then I collapse in bed in an attempt to sleep all eight of the hours I have before my shift starts. Of course, living in a house with two small murder children and their long suffering guardians has consequences. Namely, Kurasuko deciding she hasn't seen me enough in the past month and waking me up a full three hours before I need to be up. "Kurasuko?" I squint at her. "What are you even doing up at-" a quick glance at my clock shows it's 10:00 pm- "10."

"Aunt Yoshino wants you up for family dinner," was her monotonous reply. She eyes my arm. Shit, there goes ANBU secrecy. I'm going to have to stop wearing tank-tops, aren't I?

I blink at that. "New question. Why are we eating dinner at 10:00?"

"So that you're well rested. We haven't seen you in two weeks, so we want to have a family dinner." She says this like she's repeating what Aunt Yoshino said word for word.

I reluctantly get out of my warm cocoon of blankets and follow Karasuko to the dining room. Shikamaru is face down on the table and, judging by the soft snores, asleep. Honestly, I wish I could join him, but judging by the look Uncle Shikaku is giving my new tattoo, that isn't going to happen.

Ah, isn't being a rebellious teenager fun. Though, to be fair, if my ANBU tattoo was just a tattoo, and not the mark of a super secret assassin squad, Uncle Shikaku might not be giving me the Look of Disappointment. It's always a fun time telling your family that you joined Black Ops.

"So," Uncle Shikaku stares into my eyes, "anything you want to tell us?"

"Uh," I sweat nervously, "not really?" If I don't say anything about it, I have plausible deniability, right?

Uncle Shikaku sighs heavily. "Sit down, Yoruka." I do. "Now tell me what you were thinking by joining ANBU at 14."

I wince. Ok, it's not ANBU he has a problem with, it's my age. Judging by the look he's giving me, I should probably not mention the whole revenge motivation. That doesn't seem like a good answer to this situation. "I'm good at ANBU," I start, then rephrase at the incredulous look I get. "I'm not underestimated, mainly because I'm anonymous, but details. But, I don't know, I don't have to work to prove myself. Also, my skill set is suited for it."

"Be careful," Uncle Shikaku warns, face unreadable. "You're not the youngest to enter ANBU," no, that dubious honor goes to Kakashi, "but people who enter young have a bad habit of burning out quicker." I heave out a sigh of relief as Aunt Yoshino enters with the food.

Rhino was right, I reflect as I slip out my window, we really do have the worst shift. ANBU has a terrible method of hazing. It's not even like the Hokage needs guarding. He's the strongest shinobi in the village, but I guess ANBU needs something else to do besides high risk assassinations and sabotage.

That doesn't mean I actually like sitting on his roof in total silence at the ass crack of dawn, however. At least if we had the midday shift, we'd know all the recent gossip, but no, we get to watch his admittedly adorable family sleep.

The only break in monotony we had was when Minato and Kushina's youngest kid started crying and Jackal ended up getting roped into taking care of her. Well, "roped." More like dragged off by chakra chains and an exhausted Kushina.

When our shift ended, the only thought running through my mind was "I really have another week of this hell."