Naruto 1. Chapter 1

Naruto: Smoke and Dagger

-I own nothing-

The graduation age has been increased from 12/13 to 16

-x(X)x-

The third hokage sat on his large chair and lit his pipe while thinking to himself. Things around the village were fine as of now but he couldn't shake that 'calm before the storm' feeling. He had just learned that those pain in the ass council members had went and sent some of Danzo's root ninjas to leaf through his personal files. He had already executed the ninjas personally for being in his home, which the fools couldn't say anything to him about, but the damage had already been done. They had already sent a copy of three very important documents via messenger hawk to their master.

The documents were all regarding one boy, Uzumaki Naruto. He knew that Danzo had his men combing the lands for a days looking for the boy to try and turn him into a weapon and that they had probably figured that he would have more information on his whereabouts... which he didn't.

He hadn't heard anything about the boy for years, not even his students information network could find anything, much to his grief.

Thinking back, the day that Naruto left the village was probably the second worst day of his life, right after the death of his wife.

-Years earlier-

A ten year old Naruto marched down the streets, his body leaned forward, shoulders stiff, and hands clinched. Everything about him screamed danger, even the normally dopy orange jumpsuit and ratty book bag he wore didn't make him seem any less dangerous.

Civilian and ninja alike slid out of his way as he stomped down the main road. Many immediately left the area in fear, having never saw the young boy so angry before. Some were curious as to why he was angry, most suspected that it had to do with the bloody bandage taped over his whole left eye.

Naruto made it to the tower only to find his path blocked by a Chunin, "Move," he snarled.

The Chunin sneered, "Or what brat?" he said spitting at the child. "I'm a Chunin, do you really think some weak little punk like you can-"

Naruto drew back and nailed him in the gut, sending the chunin into the door, which shattered, and rolling into the main desk in the middle of the large room. Entering the tower, ignoring the looks of shock and horror as the Chunin laid there unmoving, Naruto stalked to the stairs and began climbing up to the top.

Three ANBU, one council member, a Jounin, and one assistant later, Naruto kicked the Hokages door open and slammed it shut.

"Naruto-kun what is wrong with you?" The old man said only to stop at noticing both the bandage and the look of anger.

"I'm sick and damn tired of this old man!" Naruto yelled pointing his finger at him, "This village, the villagers, everything! You keep preaching shit like: 'Give them time,' and 'They'll come around, but let me ask you something, if those fucking bastards deserve chance after chance, then why in the hell don't I?" He screamed, stomping up to his desk and kicking it.

Sarutobi was shocked at the language the child used, not only that but his extremely heavy desk slid back against him when that same child kicked it. "Naruto what are you talking about?" he asked urgently.

Naruto pointed to his bandaged eye, "My so called ANBU guard who you promised would protect me during last nights Kyuubi festival seemed pretty hell bent on killing me and making sure it was painful and if you are too fucking stupid to figure it out, YES HE CUT OUT MY FUCKING EYEBALL!" Naruto screamed.

Sarutobi gasped and, while annoyed at being screamed at, motioned for his personal ANBU to come forward, "Don't worry Naruto-kun, I'll make sure your taken care of and that ANBU will be punished," he reassured.

Naruto scoffed, "I'm sure you will, just like you always do," he told him in a sarcastic voice before taking off his bag.

Both the Hokage and the pair of ANBU stared openly at the boy. He had just yelled, insulted,and scorned the old man and didn't seem to care at all for any trouble he might get into for it. He was always such a nice little boy, not the bundle of anger and hate he was today.

Naruto took off the bag and threw it onto the desk and said, "Don't even bother sending out your useless ANBU,"

The Hokage opened the bag and gasped as he found a disembodied head staring back at him, it's eyes wide and mouth agape. The skin around its neck was torn and ripped apart.

"I quit old man, fuck second chances, fuck this village, fuck being the Hokage, and FUCK YOU!" Naruto yelled turning around and stomping to the door, "The only way I'll ever return here is of my own accord, send any ninja you want after me and I'll kill them. Fuckers wanted a demon, I'll give them a fucking demon, Kyuubi ain't got shit on me,"

-Flashback end-

Sarutobi breathed out a large plume of smoke with a sigh. Of all the documents that they could've found they had to find a copy of Naruto's real, unaltered birth certificate. The one that had not only his mothers name but his fathers, Minato Namikaze, his dead successor, the forth Hokage. They had also found the blood tests that proved Naruto's linage as well as Kushina's and Minato's wedding certificate.

But lastly, they had found the last thing he wanted them to see, the paper documenting the positive results that Naruto's blood test gave for having a high chance at holding a bloodline limit of some sort.

A knock on his door reached his aged ears.

"Come in,"

His sectary stuck her head in, "Hokage-sama, the council has called an emergency meeting,"

Sarutobi sighed again, today just wasn't his day.

-X-

(Hidden Mist Village)

The sound of a lighter clinking open echoed across the silent streets, echoing loudly as the sounds bounced around. The soldiers fighting to free mist of their tyrant leader held their breath, ready for a fight. They were all dirty and muddy, testament to how long they had been holding their position at the front of the barricade.

Again the clicking echoed, followed by faint foot steps. In the distance they saw a small red glow and tensed as a figure in the mist appeared, walking closer with each second.

"Halt!" the man in charge yelled, only for the man to continue walking, stopping just before exiting the mist.

The guards could all see a sack in his hand and a silver glint in his hand which he flicked open and closed every now and then along with a cigarette jutting from his mouth, which explained the glow earlier.

"STAND DOWN!" a voice called from behind them.

They turned and found their leader, Mai Terumi, a young and slender woman that looked around the age of 30.

"M-Mai-sama?" the guard said unsure, never expecting the woman they fought under to come to the front lines suddenly.

"I said stand down," she seethed, scaring them as she always tried to be nice to her soldiers, always smiling and acting cheery.

They lowered their weapons and bowed their heads, "Yes Mei-sama,"

Mei then smiled and walked out into the open towards the figure, much to the shock and worry of her ninja, hoping that she wouldn't be attacked.

Mei was dressed in a more... elegant way than most would suspect, being a rebel leader it was amusing to see the fearsome yet cheery woman charge into battle in a dress and high heels then kick some ass.

Walking towards the figure she breathed though her nose and smelled a strange odor coming from the man, it smelled like smoke but more acidic, thicker even. The man noticed her discomfort and snapped his fingers, causing the smell to lessen then disappear completely.

"I believe that you owe me now Terumi-san," the man said opening the bag, "Or should I say, Mizukage-san,"

She felt the near permeate sense of dread that you got from war fade as the man pulled the severed head of the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura from the bag and held it up.

"Y-You really did it!" she said in a unbelieving voice, "Y-you," she stopped and turned towards the encampment where her ninja were waiting to her from her, "THE WAR IS OVER, THE BLOODLINE PURGE IS OVER!" she yelled loudly, her pale red hair waving wildly as she did.

A full second passed before the whole village seemed to burst into cheers, even the ninjas who fought for the old Mizukage seemed to be happier, having only supported the man out of fear.

Mei turned around and both she and the man stared at eachother, ignoring the men and wemon rushing passed them, dancing and cheering their victory.

She walked closer and stopped just inches away from the hero, studying him. He wasn't overly tall, just a few inches shorter than her, or taller without her heels. He wore an ordinate eye patch over his left eye that covered his eye brow and just above his cheekbone. He had blond spiked hair that gave him a feral look and his uncovered eye held a fuck up and die glint to it. His clothing consisted of a pair of dark brown, almost grayish black leather like pants, a blackish-purple turtleneck with the left sleeve ripped off at the elbow, a pair of metal knee-pads and a pair of closed toe sandals.

"You know," Mei started, tracing circles on his chest with her finger seductively, "You know, I could really use a man of your caliber..." she said, stressing how she had said 'I'.

Most would believe that a woman like Mei wouldn't ever say or suggest such things but he had helped them more than the Water lord up in the capital and as much as she hated to admit, during her Genin days, she had been a sucker for those mysterious storybook heroes who would appear out of thin air and save the day, much like the blond before her had done.

The blond cupped her cheek with a grin, "You and every other village Terumi-chan, what could you possibly offer to permanently buy my loyalty?" he asked only for her lips to meet his.

"I'm sure a deal could be worked out," She whispered in his ear, "After all, I owe you for more than assassinating that bastard Yagura for us."

"Really? I don't recall doing any other missions for you besides killing Yagura,"

Mei smiled sadly at him, "Yagura had a thing for my niece, the creep even had her father, my brother killed during mission just so he could use his power to take her in. I've been able to protect her but he had her placed on the top of his bounty list, guess I should be grateful that he had her under a 'Capture alive and unharmed' order," she told him then sighing.

"Hmm, your heart wrenching tale aside, I have to say sorry, I don't have the patience to deal with a village council, they are probably already planning on finding a way to get me under their thumb," he told her while pulling away and backing up, "I'll expect my payment by the end of the week, one of my pets will be come by to pick it up... oh and next time you want to send me a contract, use a messenger bird," and with that said he gave her a small, theoretic bow then disappeared by bursting into a flock of noisy crows which flew in different directions.

Mei hummed to herself and picked up a feather, "You're a cruel man Uzumaki, not only leaving a girl wanting but leaving her with a bill..." she spun the feather in-between her fingers, 'But I guess my hunter ninjas report was right about one thing, he really can make you wet between the legs with a single touch,'

-X-

Sarutobi grumbled to himself as he returned from the council meeting. As he had expected, they were ranting and raving about how he hid the fact that Naruto was Minato's son, as if the fact that Naruto looked like a clone of Minato wasn't a big ass neon sign saying, 'Look at the fucking resemblance,'. Now they were calling for his return, saying to send out any and all hunter ninja to find him and return him, which ment more paperwork for him.

But at the same time he figured that since he was the one who had to issue such orders to his ninja, why not make sure the ones he sent saw the boy as that, just a boy instead of the Kyuubi... or hero for containing the Kyuubi, whichever came first.

-X-

-Three days later-

Sarutobi wrote a mission scroll of his own, something that he hadn't done in years and had brought back memories of his days during the war when he helped his sensei with assigning missions when he had been injured and was on medical leave for a while. Shaking his head to rid himself of those distracting thoughts, he started back writing. It had been a few weeks since the new genin had started training and doing missions with there senseis so he planned to do what his sensei had thought of years ago.

It was a rather ingenious plan but because of the war, it was considered too dangerous. The idea was to have the rookie genin and their instructors go on a joint mission outside of the village that would have them travel a lot and during their travels, have the senseis teach the teams together. His sensei was smart and saw that like many ninja, himself included, tended to focus on what he was best at which meant that his students would only get the most out of what their teacher was best at. So a student on a taijutsu centered senseis team wouldn't gain much ninjutsu or genjutsu so why not send those teams together where they could get training in each field?

He wanted to send this years rookies on the mission to locate Naruto, seeing as they were the same age he figured that at least one of the genin would connect with him despite the rough past he had with the village. If he remembered correctly, the young Hyuuga heiress had a crush on him back when he was in the same class, heck maybe they'd even get together.

-X-

Naruto pulled his shirt off as he walked into the candle lit room. He had been island hopping for the pass two days trying to find a boat that would take him back to the main land but due to the civil war, he was hard-pressed to find a captain who would believe him when he said the war was over. But luckily, he had just found one who agreed to take him but had to wait while the ship was prepared for it's trip, so to pass the time he explored the port town and found himself by one of Water countries many spas.

"Sir,"

Naruto turned to see a cute girl in a red robe with black flower petals sewed on it standing in the doorway with a towel in hand.

"Strip down and cover yourself with this, I'll return shortly so if you would, please lay down and make yourself comfortable," she said to him with a small smile while she handed the towel to him.

Naruto nodded and did as she asked, undoing his belt and unbuttoning his pants before dropping them and his boxers before wrapping the towel around his waist. The room smelled like incense and the exotic oils they used and with the candles around the room, Naruto had to admit that the room was quite relaxing.

He didn't have to wait long as the door slid open and the girl came back in, she had her jet black hair fixed into a bun with two chopsticks pushed through the middle in an X and her eyes were a nice shade of green. Naruto laid down on the table with his chin on resting on his forearms, his single blue eye watched as the girl walked over to a small table with her stuff on it and picked up a bottle before smearing it on her hands.

"I'm so glade you decided to stop in," the girl said looking behind her with a impish grin, "If I had to deal with another old man I'd scream,"

"Hmm,"

"I'm serious, if one more old man asked me to give him a full body massage I honestly would had stabbed him in the eye my nail file,"

Naruto didn't say anything, just laid there waiting.

The girl walked over with a small pout, "Oh I see, not a big talker huh? Well since your such a nice young man, not to mention cute, I'll give you a treat,"

Naruto looked at her and cocked his head to the side as the robe pooled on the floor and he was greeted by her pantie clad ass.

"Want to say something?" she asked, turning around and covering her nipples with an arm.

Naruto blinked and smirked, "Words can not express the level of beauty I see, my I know the name of this creature of perfection?"

The woman blushed deeply, so much in fact that she held her cheeks and giggled, forgetting the fact that her chest was bare. "Emiko,"

"How fitting," he started, stiitng up on his elbows, "such a good looking girl like you needs a name like that, Beautiful child... or blessed," he stopped and leered at her chest, "And from what I see, very blessed,"

-X-

Jiraiya combed through any infornamtion he could find, trying to get leads on his godson. He had already compiled a whole pile of written reports from years back when he had first learned that Naruto had ran away and like before, he couldn't find had even considered asking Naruto's godmother Tsunade if she had seen him but figured that since she had abandoned him after the kyuubi attack, much like himself, that it woldn't have helped.

Sitting in a brothel that he went to normally, he nursed a bottle of sake while a pair of girls tried to cheer him up.

"Wow I've never seen him like this before, Keiko" one said as the white haired man beside her seemed unable to be cheered up.

Keiko nodded, "I know what you mean, Miki,"

The girls patted him on the back, "What's wrong Jiraiya-sama?" Miki asked in her cute voice.

"I cant find any leads on someone I'm looking for, it's like he dropped of the face of the earth,"

"Who?" Keiko asked this time.

"Uzumaki Naruto," he answered, not seeing any problem with telling her.

"Hey Miki, I've heard that name before,"

The girl nodded, "Me too, but where?"

Miki then jumped, "Oh, wasn't he the blond guy with the eye-patch from about a year ago,"

"Oh yeah, he did something and breathed out a bunch of thick smoke that knocked a couple yakuza out,"

The girl blinked, "Oh well yeah that to, but I remember he took mistress Suki home and wore her out. Remember? She had a bad limp when she came back the next day."

They giggled together and sighed with smiles on their faces before noticing that Jiraiya was gone, "Hey where'd he go?"

-X-

Naruto pulled on his clothing and smirked at Emiko's limp form laying under his towel on the massage table. Buckling his belt, he grabbed his shirt and pulled it over his head before sliding his shoes on and running a hand through his hair. He had to admit, the water countries reputation of having some of the best spas was well deserved.

Fully dressed, Naruto pulled out a thin silver cigeratte case and popped it open, pulling one out, he searched his pockets for his lighter and lit it before taking a deep draw on it. Opening his mouth wide, the blond exhaled, beathing out a thick grey smoke which snaked around his body compleatly before imploding, leaving the room without a trace.

Hours later, Naruto stood on the bow of the ship with his arms crossed, a half smoked cigertte in his mouth and his silver lighter in hand. Every few secounds he would click it open then closed, causing the lighter to clink which echoed across the strangly quite ship. Due to the civil war, trade ships like this one were forced to stay in port while fishing vessels were only allowed to go out if they had permits. They didn't want trade ships to go out on the off chance that they were sempathedic to the rebels, giving them food, water, or a way to smuggle their familys out of the warzone. He was lucky that his island hopping took him to the furthest island from the capital, (the largest island which the hidden village was built on) where the sailors were a lot more daring.

The captain told him that he was origanally a tradesmen from Wave, but when the war broke out, he was forced to stay within Water countries bounderys due to the increased sucurity. Due to the fact that he didn't have the money to pay off the guards like some could, he was unable to return home. So when Naruto told him that the war was over and that he was a ninja who could protect him should there be trouble, the man jumped at the chance to leave and quickly started to prepare.

The wood creaked behind him as the captain Hansen, an older man with greying hair, a matching goatee, and muscle to prove just how hard he worked on the boat, walked over and leaned on the railing of his ship.

"It's been years since I've seen wave, I wonder how much it's changed,"

Naruto looked at him from the corner of his eye, "I'm sorry to say Captain, that Wave is a mere shadow of it's former self," he told the man.

The captain turned with confused and shocked eyes, "What?"

Naruto closed his eye with a frown, "Wave has been overrun by Gato, he's been bleeding it dry for years,"

"Your... jokeing?" he asked in horror.

Naruto shook his head slowly.

The captain gripped the rails until his knuckles turned white, "And no ones done anything about it?"

Naruto shrugged, "A few, but Gato murdered them publicly and broke their fighting sprit, the last I heard was that a bridge builder named Tazuna was building a bridge to the mainland dispite the fact that Gato has an army of thugs on payroll,"

"Naruto-san..." the man said after a minute.

"Hmm?"

"Your a ninja right?"

"Yeah,"

The captain seemed to consider his words and sighed, "I have a son back in wave, I don't know if he's still there but I'm sure he hates me for leaving, but please, can you kill Gato as payment for the ride, I'll even let you ride and ship things whenever you need to," the captain asked in a near broken tone, "I love my home town and can't help but think that had I stayed, I could've helped stopped Gato,"

Naruto continued to look out on the misty sea as he blew smoke out of his nose, "You couldn't have stopped him, Gato used money to buy out the larger shipping companies then strong armed the smaller ones into bankruptcy. Everything he did was legal until people started falling into poverty because of him, that's when he started shipping drugs and kidnapping people to sell as slaves when debts started piling up," he told the man.

Naruto took one last draw from his cigarette then took the end in his hand before dropping it over the edge. He pulled out his case again and sighed as he found it empty.

"Here, have one of these," the captain voiced, reaching in the inside pocket of his coat.

Naruto turned and watched as Hansen pulled out a couple of thin cigars and handed them to him

"There the best exports from Mist, made just before the war. Use to have crates of them but most of them were burned when a supply warehouse was torched, now all I got left is one of those small boxes they come in." he said a small shrug. "I've been trying to stop, figure that giving em to you will make it easier to stop if I don't have em,"

Naru took them a placed them in his pocket with a small "Thanks," before re-crossing his arms.

"So, what are you gonna do when we reach port?" Hansen asked, figuring that he wasn't interested in killing Gato since he didn't say anything.

"I figure that Gatos days are numbered," the blonde said, turning around and walking to where he could go below deck where the captain had given him a hammock to sleep in with the three deckhands who worked during the day.

The man turned, "So you mean-"

Naruto waved him off, "Pleasant dreams, Captain, but I do expect you to uphold your end, when the time comes,"

With that, Naruto vanished below deck while the captain turned to stare out at the vast sea. "Thank you," he said under his breath a small smile on his face.

-X-

The ship lurched and abruptly jerked violently, flipping Naruto's hammock and sending him to the wooden floor with a thump.

Cursing, he stood up and rubbed his eye before looking over to the spiral stairs that had sunlight beaming from the opening. He heard a lot of laughing and cursing as well as a lot of stomping on the floor above him and stalked towards the steps angrily, if it was the captain and his crew fucking around, there would be hell to pay.

"These waters are Gato Corporation territory, since you're not one of our ships you have to pay a toll… that is, unless you want to swim the rest of the way,"

Naruto climbed the steps and found the ship pulled along side of another, tied to each other by large ropes while thugs littered both boats, each carrying a weapon.

"Hey guys look, it's another sailor," one of the thugs said pointing to him.

The one who looked to be the leader turned to Hansen, "I thought you said that is was all your crew," he said pointing to the three behind the man, "Looks like I'm going to have to fuck you up for lying,"

"Excuse me, but I'm not a part of his crew, he's taking me to Wave," Naruto said suddenly.

"Oh really?" the thug asked in a rat like tone, "Well didn't you know, you have to buy tickets from us to pass through these waters,"

"Really?" Naruto asked in a fake happy voice, "Well let me see how much cash I got on me," he said before pulling out one of the cigars Hansen had given him the day before, "You wont mind if I smoke while I do, right,"

Naruto held the end with his teeth and took his lighter out and flicked it open before lighting the end and taking a deep draw on it.

"Hurry up already," the guy said impatiently as Naruto took to long.

"What's the rush?" the blond asked coldly, letting the smoke roll out of his mouth, "Your already dead,"

The smoke changed from a pale white to a thick gray as it got thicker and thicker, there seemed to be no end to the amount of smoke the blond exhaled and it was starting to engulf the ship. Soon there was so much thick smoke that nether party could see each other. Hansen and his crew shook as they could see the smoke roll around them making a ring around them protectively while they heard the Gato Corporation goons choke and cough.

"I can't breath!" some yelled out as the smoke invades their lungs and even spread out to the ship next to it, doing the same to them as well.

"Ah it's starting to burn," another screamed, as Naruto pumped more chakra into his smoke, causing it to turn more acidic when breathed in.

Minutes passed and the screaming died down, followed by a series of thumps .

"Imagine that…" Naruto's voice echoed as the smoke cleared almost instantly, revealing that everyone trapped in the smoke was now dead, blood running from their mouths and noses, anywhere that directly connected with the lungs, "Those anti-smoking guys are right, smoking can kill you,"

Hansen and his crew stared wide-eyed as Naruto smoked like a train with a sly grin on his face, "What?" the smoker asked after their stares got annoying.

"Y-you just…"

"Committed a massacre on the high seas with nothing but a cigarette?" he supplyed.

"Well… yeah," the captain said lamely.

Naruto shrugged, "Not the first time I had to take out a pack of bandits or thevies, now I can add pirate to the list of things I've killed," he said before nudgeing one of the bodies with his foot, "Come on, lets throw these overboard and untie the ropes holding the ships togethor,"

Each of the bodies were picked up and were either thrown into the water, or onto the ship beside them before one of the crewmen took a small hatchet to the ropes, cutting them so that they could push the two ships apart. No one said a word as they worked, the fact that they had just witnessed a single man kill a whole group of pirate goons of the Gato Corporation with only a cigar was a real shock and also made them a little nervous. If the blonde could do something like that, whose to say that someone else couldn't do the same to them if they made the wrong person angry?

-X-

Kakashi and team 7 gazed at the unfinished bridge in awe.

Tazuna puffed out his chest in pride, "Once this bridge is complete, Wave will be able to recover,"

"Shh," the boatman hissed, "you know that Gato has pirates patrolling the waters,"

The builder grumbled but none the less obeyed.

-Sniff- "Hey whose smoking?" the man ferrying them across demanded.

Kakashi looked around as did everyone else, "No one,"

"Well I smell smoke from somewhere," the man said.

"Look!"

Kakashi turned to his genin, Sakura to see what she was pointing at in the mist. "It's… a boat?" he said slowly, making Tazuna and the ferrymen pale in color.

"Oh no, Gatos men have found us!" He said while clutching his paddle tightly, "Were done for,"

"No…" Kakashi interjected, "Do you hear that?"

They all got quite and started listening, "But… sensei, I don't hear anything,"

"Exactly,"

-THUMP-

The boat moved slightly as it bumped into something, "OH MY KAM-" Kakashi slapped a hand over Sakura's mouth as she started to scream, shocked at the sight of a body. The rest of the genin looked sick at the bloated thing and turned green as Kakashi flipped it over, exposing sickeningly pale flesh and glassy clouded eyes.

Sakura covered her mouth and nearly flipped the boat at she puked over the other side. Nearly knocking Sai out of the seat and on to the floor.

The ferryman gagged to but held it in, "That's one of Gatos pirates," he told them before turning away and heaving.

"Whoa," they looked at Tazuna who stared wide-eyed at the boat, which had floated closer, while they were distracted.

It was like a ghost ship from a horror movie, bodies laid around the deck, rotting and torn from birds, much like the few crows which pecked at them and 'cawed' every now and then. Some of the bodies were even hanging over the rails or held their throats, unable to move as their bodies stiffened.

"Kami it stinks," Sakura moaned as the smell made her gag again. The smell of rotting flesh and smoke overpowering her sense of smell, making her eyes water, "Can we please get out of here?"

Kakashi pushed the body away slightly, sending it adrift again and nodded, his mask helped a lot with blocking out most of the smell but his students were able to smell it 100 percent so to keep them from throwing up stomach acids, he agreed to get a move on.

But something was odd, the bodies were already decaying and the ship had to have been at drift for awhile, so who did it? Was there something else that Tazuna had neglected to tell?

As the small boat started back, no one noticed a crow land on a body over the railing and look at them with its beady black eyes before 'cawing' loudly and flapping its wings as it flew towards Wave. A small tube attached to its back from a pair of straps that went on like a backpack.

-X-

-Caw-

Naruto looked up and saw a crow circling overhead. Bringing his fingers to his mouth, he whistled then waited as the bird dived at him before flapping it's wings violently and landing on his shoulder. It cried out softly before rubbing its head against his cheek then hopping to his arm when the blond held it out in front of him.

"Hello my feathered friend, did you bring me something?" Naruto asked.

It cawed again, almost irritably then leaned down, showing the tube on its back.

"Ok, ok don't get you feathers in a bind," he muttered as he pulled the tube off, making the small clip on the side make a popping noise as it unclasped.

The crow hopped back up to his shoulder again as Naruto unscrewed the top and shook out it's contents, three rolls of cash, each with a paper band with 10,000$ written on it, followed by a check worth 20,000$. All together it was 50,000 dollars his fee for taking care of Mist's tyrant problem, normally he would've charged more but with the war and all, he figured that having the village leader owe him one was worth more, especially one with such great… assets.

A letter fell out last and he unfolded it; _Thanks for the help, make sure you come and see me some time, a girl needs a break from paperwork every once and a while. -Mei Terumi_

Naruto hummed and folded the letter again, stuffing it in his pocket before unrolling the thick stacks of cash and pulling out his wallet. The reason why he asked for most of it in cash was sadly… he was nearly broke. Opening it, he watched as a little moth flew out before being caught and eaten by crow with a small wet scrunch.

"Gross," he said looking at the crow who turned its head in the other direction.

Placing all the money in his wallet he watched as it glowed, the seals inside it activating and sealing a large amount so it wouldn't be too thick so it would be able to fold.

They had reached Wave a day ago and he had been walking around, watching as the townsfolk were harassed by thugs and the children tried to pickpocket or steal from the few places still open.

'How sad," he thought walking into the town and seeing a little girl get caught stealing, only to be slapped by the shopkeeper and thrown to the ground in an alley as he took the item, a small loaf of bread, out of her little hands and walked away.

The girl pushed herself up and sat against the wall, pulling her legs to her chest and crying with her forehead on her knees. The slap probably wasn't what was making her cry; he himself was in the same position back when he was in Leaf, trying to survive on the streets after being kicked out of the orphanage. He to had days where he was so hungry that when he was caught stealing food, he would start crying from the pain.

"What do you think?" he asked the crow while crossing his arms.

It cried out and flapped its wings, taking off and flying towards the girl, landing on a trashcan beside her.

-CAW-

The little girl jumped at the sudden sound and fell to the side, scrambling away from it.

"It likes you," Naruto said, uncrossing his arms and walking over.

He studied the little girl and was slightly shocked at her exotic features, her hair was grimy and dirty but he could see that it was a light blue color, her eyes were also strange, a color somewhere between pink and purple. She had to be around the age of 8 or 9, given her size, but he wouldn't be surprised if she was older and hadn't grown much due to black of food.

"W-what do y-you want?" she stuttered.

"To help,"

The girl looked at him with wide, unbelieving eyes, "W-what?"

Naruto leaned toward her and held out a hand, making the girl flinch back, "To… help," he said slowly, as if she was stupid.

Slowly, she reached up, "Who are you?"

Naruto gave her a small smile, "Name's Naruto… you?"

The girl answered slowly "Tira," then took his hand.

_To be continued_

-x(X)x-

I don't know anything about the Naruto universes money system, so I'm going to use what I know.


	2. Chapter 2

Naruto: Smoke and Dagger

-I own nothing-

Before we start, I just wanted to point out that the team has not fought Zabuza yet, someone asked that because Sakura freaked out at the sight of a Bloated and Rotting body that has been Eaten by fish and birds. You see, the battle happens once they reach land and are walking to Tazuna's and after the fight, Kakashi passes out and the team drags him to Tazuna's home.

Also, I threw in some Metal Gear suff too... I don't own it but someone might recognize the raven stuff and a few other things

-x(X)x-

(AN: The kind of machete Naruto uses it called Panga)

(AN2: I'm sorry that at first I spelled Mei's name as Mai but spell check did that)

Naruto sat on the edge of one of Waves many docks, absently smoking one of the cigarettes he had just bought while the girl beside him ate the cooked fish and rice he had bought her along with a pair of steamed rolls...

-CAW-

"HEY!"

... Ah, make that 'the' steamed roll he had also got her.

He shook his head as the girl swiped at the crow who had stolen her roll with a flyby and went back to his smoke, ignoring the two as they went up and down the dock, the girl cursing at the bird who flapped its wings wildly, trying its best to escape the girl and eat its stolen prize.

"AH!"

He looked up at the sound of her gasp and turned just in time to see her take a trip into the water while the crow flapped its wings above the water.

Tira broke the surface of the water and climbed up onto the dock looking around embarrassed. blushing as she saw him looking, she stood up and shook her head, making the mess puff out and look like a small spiky bush.

"I guess that's one way to take a bath," he said with a grin as the crow landed next to him, still carrying the roll in its beak.

"That wasn't funny," she says squeezing the water from her shirt.

Naruto gave a small grin and plucked the roll from his crow, making it squawk and ruffle its feathers, "Maybe not to you, but it's pretty amusing to me," he told he while pulling a piece from the roll and giving it to the crow before placing the rest back into the plate as she walked over.

"Why are you helping me?" she asked after finishing the meal and sitting in silence.

Naruto blew a smoke ring in the air, "Believe it or not, I used to live on the streets, I wasn't the most liked person back in my home village, had to lean how to take care of myself and quick. I used to get beat up pretty bad, I remember one time that I got stabbed and couldn't go to the hospital so I had to sew myself back up with a sewing needle and dental floss,"

Tira looked at him with unbelieving eyes, "No way,"

Naruto nodded and lifted his shirt, revealing a large jagged scar just above his hip, "Foss isn't as strong as the real thing, they broke a couple times and I had to restitch them, that's why it looks so bad."

They sat in silence for awhile, Tira started playing with the crow after a minute while listening to the waves.

Naruto finished his smoke and flicked the end into the water before standing up.

"Where we going?" Tira asked while cocking her head to the side.

Naruto looked down at her, "'We' aren't going anywhere, 'I' have a job to do," he told her while stressing his words.

Tira's eyes widened and watered, "So your just going to leave me alone?" she asked, close to crying.

"You won't be alone," he said nodding his head to the crow, "It'll stay with you from now on, I haven't named it, so I'll leave it to you, and also..." He unsealed and tossed a box, a bit bigger than a normal shoebox to her, "Take these, I've already memorized them and figure that you could use them better than I could,"

She opened the top and found a set of scrolls on how to use Chakra as well as a few Jutsu.

"I know you've had a little bit of training, I sensed it when you were running from that shopkeeper. You had a good idea on how to use it but you used it too quickly, these scrolls will help you a lot," Naruto said before stretching, "Good luck Tira, maybe I'll see you around in the future,"

Tira watched as he burst into a flock of crows and left her alone on the docks with her new crow sitting on her shoulder, it nipped at her ear as she looked down, saddened at her friends departure. Looking at the crow she smiled sadly before looking down into the box and moving the scrolls aside. She found a belt, with a pair of pouches on the side both filled with kunai and other little ninja gear like ninja wire, ninja stars, and smoke bombs. Under that was another pouch with a small red plus sign on the front, inside she found first-aid things, a small handbook on herbs, and other little things. Lastly she found a few more handbooks on survival, and a envelope full of cash with a note.

_I put all this together while waiting for the food to be cooked, I didn't take you with me because you wouldn't be able to defend yourself and I don't like having to babysit. I suggjest that you travel to the Hidden Mist Village and tell the Kage that I sent you, she'll help with your training. Go to dock 19 and ask around for Captain Hansen he owes me and he'll take you. Maybe if you prove that you can pull your own weight in a fight I'll let you travel and work with me. Also, there's two more letters in pouch on the belt, one is to the captain and the other is to the Kage of Mist, if there is a problem give the letter to them._

_PS. The crow is a female... and tends to be moody when it's hungry._

_-Naruto_

She smiled and started crying, he had given her her first gift ever and she would become a ninja and make him proud.

-X-

**"You've gotten soft,"**

Naruto snorted, 'What makes you say that?' he asked while walking around.

He had known about the fox ever since he had lost his eye. It had been the demon that was pumping his little body full of power that day when he stormed up to the Hokage and took down those ninja and civilians that got in his way. But he had only met the fox face to... snout when he had passed out in the forest when he used use all his energy.

The fox snorted back, **"Well lets see, back in mist you killed multiple ninja ofter knocking your cigarette into a puddle and now, you see one little homeless girl and you give her your crow, money, a meal, and lets not forget, the old ninja gear from Konoha plus all the extra stuff you took from mist,"**

'If it's a problem for you, I can sing 'It's a small world afterall' while making your cage shrink,' he shot back while humming the tune in his head

**"Oh kami no! Not again, it's bad enough that I'm stuck in this small ass cage laying in the sewer that you call a mind, I thank kami that I have enough room to scratch my side."**

'Talk about my head in the gutter,' Naruto thought with a smirk.

**"If your mind's in the gutter then I'm in the shits"**

'I'll see about fixing the plumbing later,'

"Hey!"

Naruto turned around and saw a guy in a baggy green coat with a purple skullcap over his white hair standing with a sword in hand, "I heard that some blond guy has been walking around saying that Gato was going to die, also heard that he was spending quite a bit of cash and had a nasty smoking habit. That wouldn't be you would it?" he asked while trying to look threatening with his sword.

Naruto pulled out a cigarette and lit it, "Hmm," the blond exclaimed while blowing a smoke ring, "Well I haven't seen anyone else smoking as much as me I am a blond and yes I have said that Gato is going to die, so I guess it is me," he said while fixing the swordsmen with a even stare.

The swordsmen smirked, "Well then it looks like I'm gonna have to kill you then,"

Naruto sidestepped the sword as the white haired man tried to stab him and grabbed the back of his hair before snatching him back while kicking the back of his legs and sending him to the ground.

Naruto bent down, keeping the man in place with a knee to the gut while letting the cigarette fall from his lips and onto the struggling mans coat. He got into his face and breathed out a sickly green smoke that seemed to slither like a snake towards the thugs mouth but then split and entered through his nose holes when he held his breath. His eyes shot wide open and he opened his mouth to scream only to have the rest of it force it's way into his mouth.

Naruto picked up his cigarette and stood up, that was almost like what he had done on the boat but instead of a wide area, he concentrated it. To the thug, it was like having someone pour the strongest acid down his throat an into his lungs, eating away at his tissues and killing him.

**"You know, you've been using that same jutsu for awhile, I don't mean to call you a one-trick pony but, why?"**

Naruto wiped off the end to make sure no dust was on it before smoking it again, 'I can do a lot with what I smoke but it depends on what and how I smoke. Like with Yagura, I switched the tobacco with dope and created those hypnotic illusions,' he thought while walking away, leaving the body lying on the ground where it was soon searched by a group of people who stole anything of value, uneffected by the blood running from his face.

The Kyuubi grumbled in the back of his mind before going to sleep, leaving Naruto alone.

-X-

Tira walked to the docks to find the man Hansen, holding her head high for the first time in years while holding the box under her arm he crow perched on her shoulder. Reaching the docks she noticed that it nearly sunset and that if anyone was working on the docks, they'd be leaving soon. Meaning that she had to hurry and ask around.

Ten minutes of asking around the docks, she was pointed to a smaller merchant transport ship where she found a older man barking out orders to his crewmen.

"Ah… excuse me, are you Captain Hansen?"

"Who's asking?" the gray haired man questioned without turning around, "HEY! Pick that box up and put in below deck,"

"My name's Tira, I was told that you could talk me to the Hidden Mist Village," she told him.

The man tensed for a second, something that she noticed, "Sorry… you got the wrong person,"

"Naruto sent me, said that you owe him"

His head shot up and he turned around with a small smile, "Oh, in that case it's nice to meet you, Captain Hansen. Come aboard and let's talk away from any… unwelcome ears."

They both boarded the ship and walked into the little eating area below the captain's quarters where they sat down at the table. There was a small table, big enough the both the captain and his three crewmen to sit comfortably which was bolted to the floor incase of bad weather. Just a foot or two away was a slightly rusted fridge with a few dents and scratches on it, it too had a couple of heavy-duty bolts from what she could see. Beside the fridge was a two-burner stove, and a few cabinets along the wall.

"So, why does Naruto want me to take you to Mist?" he questioned while reaching behind him and pulling a bottle of Sake from the fridge, "I'd offer you some but I don't give alcohol to kids, Water?"

"No," she says while pulling out a sealed letter with his name on it, "But he said to give this to you if there was a problem,"

Hansen took the letter and opened it before choking on his sake. Closing the envelope and putting it in his pocket, he shook her hand wildly and said, "You got a deal,"

She sat there for a minute, listening as he yelled, 'All hands on deck, prepare to make sail straight for the village of Mist,'

-X-

Timeskip: One week

Naruto whistledto himself as he sat on the end of the unfinished bridge, completely out of sight form anyone who may have been near the edge. While it sounds strange, to sit near the edge and not be seen but since he was a ninja, he just channeled chakra to his ass and sat upside down on the underside of the bridge.

He knew that Gato had a base somewhere but no civilian would talk out of fear about the child-sized man and most of his thugs got orders from the few who did know where Gato hid. But he had caught a break when he was able to force one the lowly grunts to tell him about a plan involving Gato personally leading a large army of his goons to the bridge on a boat. It seemed that Gato was planning on betraying the missing ninja that he had hired to kill Tazuna and then killing Tazuna and the Konoha ninja.

Normally he wouldn't trust such information but the interrogation method he used was effective and ensured that the man wouldn't alert his boss.

Flashbac: Start

"Tell me!"

"Fuck you!"

"Tell me!"

"Fuck you!"

Naruto narrowed his eye, "Tell me bout Gato's plans or else"

He scoffed, "Or what?"

Naruto pulled out a switchblade and flicked it open while the thug, who was tied spread eagle on the wall of an abandoned fishing warehouse where the more upscale fishers stored their extra nets and other equipment, felt the blade poke his crotch. The sound of ripping and tearing fabric was all that was heard before the man breathed a sigh of relief as he hadn't felt any pain nor felt anything warm or sticky like blood, only a little urine. His relief didn't last as he heard growling and looked over to see another one-eyed blond walk over holding a very hungry looking dog by a rope collar.

Then it hit him, he strained to look down and saw his sack hanging then looked at the dog who was staring intently at said hanging appendage.

He looked at Naruto; "No… you wouldn't,"

The blonde gave him a smirk, "Oh I would,"

He shook as the dog tried to strain against the collar until it started to choke.

"Quite viscous isn't it? You see, the wolf is a close relative to dogs, close enough to breed, but unlike wolves, dogs are mostly domesticated but if you push it far enough, the will to survive kicks in. Due to your boss, many pets were either killed and once things got so bad or were set free once they couldn't afford to be fed." Naruto said in a bored tone, "People like you were the cause, without those like you supporting Gato the pathetic little man could've never anything like this," He stopped for a moment to motion at the dog. "So I figure… it's only fair that you be the one to feed this dog, with your body,"

The clone holding the dog by the rope let the dog shoot towards the man growling and foaming at the mouth while it tried to bite into its meal.

"NO PLEASE STOP I'LL TALK!"

The dog gave a loud yelp as it was snatched back by the rope tied around his neck.

"I'm waiting…" Naruto stated while cleaning under his fingernails with the knife.

The goon then told him every thing he knew about the attack Gato was planning on the bridge quickly, never missing a beat as he saw the dog looking at him hungrily.

As he finished Naruto looked at the clone and nodded, causing him to nod back and pull out a switchblade of his own before slowly cutting the rope around the dog's neck.

"H-hey what about me?" the tied up man cried.

Naruto looked at him coldly, "Reap what you sow, you help create this problem, now die by it,"

The rope snapped and once again the dog sailed through the air, this time with nothing to hold it back. The clone popped into smoke and faded away as Naruto burst into crows, leaving the man to be eaten as the smell attracted other hungry dogs in the area.

Flashback: End

Naruto reached into his pocket and opened his cigarette case and did a quick count, his acidic smoke could be easily done with normal smoke as long as he breathed it in and filtered a larger amount of chakra unto his lungs and throat. He could also make large smokescreens by using small amounts of chakra that would not only blind a person but also hide his smell from dogs or people with a heightened sense of smell. Another trick he learned was that while he sucked at normal genjutsu, only being able to dispel them, he was able to use… alternative methods to case illusions. He learned that if he smoked something like dope he could cast not only illusions that strongly affected his target but also the cloud he used would effectively get them high. Making it harder for them to channel enough chakra to dispel it or even fuck them up so much that their motor skills would plummet.

That's not to say all he could do was use smoke based attacks, before he had started smoking and using it to fight he had worked in a fireworks shop to make money. The old man he had met there was really grateful for the help and would let him clean and organize the stock or if he had to work on some more fireworks he would show Naruto how to run the register. But after awhile, the old mans age got to him and he started teaching Naruto how to make the fireworks so that he could rest while Naruto took over working in back. So when Naruto finished making firecrackers, bottle-rockets, things that screamed loud enough to make a dog on the other side or the road whine while throwing colorful sparks everywhere, Naruto would make his owe unique style of explosives.

He was also pretty good with a knife and showed some natural talent with a machete of all things. At first he had laughed when he had first thought about it but when he easily hacked off the arm of a pissed off yakuza, he quickly bought a pair and sealed them into a scroll.

He never did find out the complete reason why that guy was so pissed off, kept saying something about the blond embarrassing him in front of the young girl he was going to get with then taking her home and sleeping with her. He didn't know who he was talking about, the woman he got with that night was a sexy older woman that ran the brothel and thanked him getting rid of the annoying fly, thanked him all night long.

His thoughts were interrupted as he heard the sounds of fighting end and noticed a large wooden boat beside the bridge with a huge climbing net reaching up to the bridge.

"Wow, I must be out of it," he muttered to himself while cutting off the chakra flow to his ass, allowing him to free fall to the water where he rolled and landed on the sacrifice of the water at least a hundred feet below the bridge.

Taking a small scroll from his other pocket, he unsealed a wide black belt with many pouches on it. It was his mission pack containing everything he would use during a mission and was probably one of the most unconventional seeing as it didn't contain many normal ninja weapons like kunai. There were three pouches, one on each hip and one on his back. The one on the right held small bottle of pills containing poison that he would pop in his mouth before taking a smoke, which would his smoke into a cloud of poisonous gas, as well as a bottle of sleeping pills that were used in a similar fashion. But lastly he kept a piece of thick ninja wire with a handle on each end to choke his targets it he had to sneak around during missions.

On the left he kept scrolls with other equipment sealed away as well as a separate part to keep a mission scroll if he had one. But the last and largest was where he kept his bombs. Like the pouch on his left it had separate parts as well but had seals to replace what was removed, so he would always have a bomb on hand if needed.

There were five different types, the first was like a normal explosive note but instead of paper, it was a metal ball big enough to fit in the palm of your hand. The second was the same shape but was a little larger and was filled with flash power, the thing that was used in small amounts with other things to give fireworks a nice flash, but in a large amount it would blind someone. Third was a deadlier type, it was a five inch long pipe with small finishing nails and ball bearings packed inside. The forth and fifth ones was something he made for large jobs, he had gotten his hands on some demolition grade explosives (C4) strong enough to rip holes in steel and instead of fuses, it had timers. The only difference in them was the size and shape, one was a small tube around three inches long and a an inch thick while the last was a four inches long, two inches wide and a little less that an inch thick.

But the last feature he had put on his belt was a pair or storage seals on the belt which held his two machetes, should he ever need to use them.

Clipping the belt around his waist, Naruto walked around the boat while lighting a cigarette and set up a pact of C4 on it's side as not to damage the bridge when it went off. Flipping a small switch he waited for the small digital counter to blink before pressing the minute button three times and setting it to three minutes. One more switch and it was counting down with a small flashing green light to show that it was armed.

-X-

"Ha-ha-ha," Gato laughed while looking at the tired ninja, "I wasn't going to pay you anyway Zabuza, mercenaries are a lot cheaper."

Zabuza huffed and growled as he was held up by Haku who just did manage to knock Kakashi's arm off course before it could hit his chest. Saving his life but forcing the attack into her masters shoulder, which was better that his heart.

"You little bastard," he ground out under his bandages.

Gato ignored the 'little' part and smirked while looking at Haku, "Little bitch, once your master is dead I'm going to make you pay for breaking my arm, them give you to my men,"

Then he looked at the Konoha ninja, "That pink haired girl will make a nice addition too."

A loud crunch interrupted the group's lecherous laughter. They turned to see one fall forward with his neck snapped to the point where instead of hitting the stone with his face, he hit the back of his head with a dead thump, his face gazing up to the sky. Standing behind him, Naruto took the cigarette out of his mouth and blew a smoke ring.

"Your time is up Gato," the blonde said in a cold tone while watching the smoke.

"Y-You're the one who's been going around saying that you'll kill me," Gato said while gritting his teeth, "No one threatens me-"

Naruto cut him off, "There's no escape,"

Just then the boat down below exploded and started sinking, the shock wave making a few of the closer men stumble.

"The stage is set, one way or the other you will die tonight Gato, you can jump and hope to survive the fall or I will kill you." He said as crows seemed to appear out of no where, circling overhead while crying out.

While everyone was looking up no one saw a crow swoop from the side and land on Gato's shoulder.

"W-What I-is this?" He cried out as his body froze in place while the crow pecked at his head a few times before hopping to the top of his head and pecking again.

"The crow has placed the mark of death upon you," Naruto said while everyone watched as Gato tried to move.

"Is this some kind of trick?" Gato forced out.

Naruto reached into his back pouch and pulled out a single flash bomb, which made the crow fly into the air with a squawk, releasing Gato from its strange hold.

Naruto used the cigarette in his mouth to light the fuse and tossed it into he air. Everyone watched as the fuse burned into the casing before it exploded in a bright white flash. Naruto looked down and unsealed his machetes before working his way through the mob, severing limbs with every swing, some even lost their heads with a single swipe, just like Yagura. That was why he used them instead of normal ninja swords.

When the two groups of ninja and what was left of the mob were able to see again, the sight of Gato being held up in the air horizontal to the ground with a blade through his stomach greeted them.

Gato gasped and heaved as the blade sliced through his organs making him spit up blood before he went limp.

"You died a dogs death Gato," Naruto said slinging the body up in the air and slicing it in half as it came down, sending blood flying across the stone, "Just like Yagura,"

Kakashi got his first good look at the blonde man gasped in realization, 'Naruto!'

"Y-you just killed our meal ticket!" yelled one of the surviving thugs, while the others by him start shouting in agreement. "Now we'll just have to raid the town and take what we want."

The assembled mob yelled and cheered at the idea, making the ninjas tense and get ready for a fight.

Naruto raised one of his machetes at to group, "You have one chance to survive, drop you weapons and you might just walk away from this,"

There was a few nervous chuckles, "Y-yeah right, like were afraid of you, we have you outnumbered." The one who yelled called back.

Naruto reached behind his back and pulled another bomb from his pouch, this time, pulling out the pipe bomb full of nails and such. "Last chance,"

The voice was so cold that it chilled their bones.

"Fuck you," one screamed before advancing on the blonde.

Naruto's eye turned icy blue, full of curliness and death, "You've chosen to fight… pity, this bridge will run red with your blood,"

He lit the fuse with what was left of his cigarette and watched the fuse burn down before slinging it into the middle and hitting one in the face just before it went off, sending metal pipe, nails, and ball bearings flying into the mercenaries and killing or maiming most.

Kakashi and his students watched in shock, horror, barely contained sickness, and slight jealously. Kakashi watched from the corner of his eye as Sakura threw up over the bridge's guardrails and Sasuke watched the slaughter, frozen with his Sharingan spinning slowly. His other student, Sai was emotionless as the blonde ripped the men apart, probably because of Danzo's training.

Zabuza and Haku were also transfixed on the battle, Haku because of the sheer skill and brutality but Zabuza had heard something that the others probably hadn't. The blonde said 'Just like Yagura' Yagura was the Mizukage he had tried to lead a coup on but failed. Had something happened while he was running?

The villagers of Wave had also shown up to find out what the loud explosion was, imagine their shock to see Gato killed and cut in half before his army of thugs followed suit.

Naruto stopped the slaughter and buried the machete in a thug's lung before letting it go to reach up to his smoke to take one last draw before flicking the butt to the side. He held it in and let the smoke roll out with a sigh after a minute, "Ah… that felt good," he said with his eyes closed before jerking the blade up as the man fell to the ground.

A katana was blocked just before the hand holding it was severed at the wrist followed by the owner's throat. One wielding a larger sword tried to stab him but Naruto stepped out of the way and sliced his stomach open, exposing his intestines and making him bow over before being stabbed in the back by the blonde.

The only surviving men looked at each other before nodding and running around Naruto screaming in fear.

"Oh no you don't," Naruto growled throwing both of the two foot machetes at them and nailing both in the back with deadly accuracy.

The bridge was… well dead silent. The only sounds being Naruto's footsteps as he walked over and pulled his weapons free with a wet squelch.

The sound of the blondes machetes cutting the air as he slung the blood off of the dull silver blades were louder than anything else just before he sealed one away, flipping the other into a reverse grip as he patted his pockets for his cigarette case and lighter.

Figuring that this was the best time to question the blonde, Kakashi stepped towards him, "Naruto?"

The blonde found what he was looking and ignored Kakashi as he stepped closer, concentrating on lighting his cigarette instead.

"Naruto, I just want to talk-"

Naruto turned, the machete raising and slicing through the air once more. Kakashi stopped and tensed as the point of the blade stopped just an inch from his neck.

"Kakashi, former ANBU captain and student of the fourth Hokage." Naruto said coldly, "Demoted to Jounin for negligence and failure of his mission to protect a Konoha civilian."

Naruto turned his head and glared with his one eye, "Tell me Konoha trash, why should I talk to you?" he asked with the smoke bobbing up and down.

"Naruto, ever since you left the Hokage's been trying to find you,"

Naruto scoffed, "Well obviously he hasn't been looking too hard, it wasn't like I was hiding," He droned with an edge to his voice.

Kakashi really didn't have anything to say to that, he knew that the Hokage had gotten Jiraiya the toad sage to use his spy network to help look for the young boy. If Jiraiya heard about this it would be like a slap to the face and being told that his network was shit.

"We really shouldn't fight, Naruto," Kakashi said placing a finger on machetes point and nudging it aside, "I am a Jounin after-all,"

Naruto flipped the blade around in his hand, getting past Kakashi's hand and pressing the curved side to his cheek. "Rank doesn't mean a lot on the battle field. You may have been an ANBU captain in the past but seeing as you have genin to teach, I would guess that you haven't had a lot of time to practice, meaning that your rusty. You also just fought Zabuza, someone who must practice daily to ensure he is able to protect himself from the hunter ninja… or he use to…"

Hearing that, Zabuza called out, "What do you mean kid?"

"You don't have to worry about the hunters anymore Zabuza, Yagura, the fourth Mizukage, is dead." Naruto answered while backing away from Kakashi and sealing his blade. "Should you return you will get a heroes welcome as the father of Mist's revolution. No one was willing to fight until word spread through the ranks that you nearly killed Yagura, giving him the scar over his eye before having to flee,"

"So the rebels won?"

Naruto blew out a smoke ring and nodded to the question, ignoring Kakashi and his students.

Zabuza was in shock, he had known about the civil war but had heard that the rebels were slowly losing, so he was trying to raise money to help fight, but to hear that he had helped start it was shocking to say the least.

"How long?"

Naruto thought for a second. "Not too long, I'd imagine that they would be trying to rebuild first before spreading the word officially. But hey, I left just as soon as I delivered Yagura's head to the new Mizukage," he told them with a shrug as if killing Kages was nothing new.

Naruto turned and jumped up onto the guardrail with his arms crossed as another crow swooped down and landed on his shoulder. "Why, hello there." He said ignoring the looks that everyone gave him and looking at the crows odd eyes. "Those are some nice eyes you got there," he complemented, making it squawk and preen.

The crow was a little larger than the one he gave Tira, but unlike hers, which had two shiny black eyes, this one had one black and one red eye.

He raised a hand to the bird and stroked its feathers, "How would you like to be my new pet?" he asked making it ruffle its feathers and nip at one of his fingers.

No one really noticed that the rest of the crows were now gone. They were really more concentrated on watching the clearly disturbed young man talk to a crow.

After a second, he rolled his shoulder, making the crow fly off. "My job is finished, I'd wish you well Kakashi but that make me a lie, you are lower than trash, in fact… your real scum." Naruto spat at them then turned to Zabuza, "However I will wish you luck… so… good luck."

Taking the cigarette from his mouth, Naruto exhaled the smoke and to their amazement, was engulfed in the cloud completely before disappearing completely as it imploded on itself.

-X-

Tira stepped into the village with a bag from Hansen over her shoulder and took a deep breath. The smell of freshly cut timber, the sounds of saws sawing, hammers hammering, and the other sounds of construction going on filled her senses. It had been a tough trip to make alone after Hansen had docked at a newly reopened harbor on the main island but she had prevailed, but then again she had her friend on her shoulder so she didn't get too lonely.

Looking around she watched for a minute as townspeople rebuilt destroyed shops and home while a few ninja helped repair the roads with earth jutsu or cleaned them with water jutsu.

"Who are you?"

Tira jumped as the sudden voice scared her and spun around to see a masked woman stood behind her with her arms crossed.

"I-I'm Tira," She answered after the small fright.

"I haven't seen you around here before, I know the faces of almost all the people in the village and your not one of them. So, why are you here?"

"Naruto sent me here, told me to tell the Mizukage that and she would help train me."

"Naruto? Naruto Uzumaki?" the ninja questioned.

Tira nodded.

She grabbed Tira by the shoulder and both left for the tower in a small splash of water that evaporated before it hit the ground.

Tira stumbled as the woman let go of her when they arrived at the Mizukage tower. She held her gut with one hand and her mouth with the other as her face turned green before rushing to the closest trashcan and throwing up, ignoring the red head grimacing just feet away.

Mei looked down at the girl with her head in the trashcan, "Miki-chan, who is this?"

-X-

_To be continued..._

-X-

Naruto dosen't use meny jutsu that require hand seals and is one of the best ninjas dealing with stealth.


	3. Chapter 3

Naruto: Smoke and Dagger

-I own nothing-

-x(X)x-

(AN: At the bottom, I have a thing explaining how this Naruto was created and who he's based on)

Naruto walked into a small hotel room that was a small kitchen/bedroom thing and threw his belt on the bed against the wall. It had been a day since he left Wave and ran across the water towards the mainland. Wave was a lot closer to the other countries than it was Mist; it only took a couple hours to run it.

But he problem was that now Konoha would probably send people to bring him back. He could imagine the council screaming, 'The demon it alive, it must die' over and over again. But the good news was that he would have some time before they tracked him down, meaning that he had time to: A) Run, B) Hide, or C) Find the team searching for him and make this the hardest mission they ever dealt with. Given the choices he was really leaning towards the last one.

He had the advantage of being able to scope the town out and setting things up before hand. He was also better than most ANBU in the stealth department meaning that if he wanted, he could get real close and fuck with them. Kami knows that he needed to have some fun that didn't risk catching VD.

Going through his scroll pouch, he opened one with dark green edges and unsealed it on top of the cheap dresser beside the door leading to the small bathroom. He took a deep breath as the sealing smoke cleared revealing a pair of potted pot plants and a small set of seedlings.

"Hello my beautiful flowers… my, my you've grown real big and strong, yes you have."

The crow perched on top of the TV cocked her head to the side with a caw.

Naruto turned and looked at her, "What, don't look at me like that, talking to plants helps them grow," he said to the bird like it was stupid before turning back to the plants. "And I'm going to roll you up and smoke you, yes I am, yes I… Ok now this is fucked up,"

He started watering the younger one before setting it aside and going to the older one. This one was a couple weeks older and had been treated so that he wouldn't have to deal with the seeds, just good dope. They were already starting to wither and die, meaning that it was time to harvest and dry them for later use. He had built a drying box inside another scroll so he backed away from the small forest on the dresser and retrieved it.

It was constructed from an orange crate with fiberglass insulated walls, vents in the tops, and screen shelves to hold the leaves while a heat source was kept behind another screen.

But being slightly impatient when it came to this stuff, he put only part of it into the box before sealing it away, keeping a smaller amount to be cured quicker in the small toaster he saw on the counter.

-X-

A week later…

Sarutobi sat at his desk in his office, reading over the mission scroll that he was going to give team seven, eight, and ten. He had planned on sending team nine but they were already gone for the next few weeks, returning just a few days before the exams.

Kakashi and his team had just returned a day before and he had already sent an ANBU to find Kakashi, Kurenai, and Asuma to bring to his office to tell them about the mission. He had also sent for someone to bring in Anko, he still had to punish her for breaking a civilians arms and legs so he planned on sending her too, especially after reading the report from Kakashi about Naruto and his feelings toward the village.

Kakashi also filled out a paper on what he had learned about Naruto for him and helped one of the facial artist's sketch a accurate drawing of him. Once Jiraiya showed up again, he planned to just a copy of the papers to him incase the group failed to bring Naruto home so his spy network would have a better chance at tracking him.

He picked up his pipe and gave a small laugh, from what Kakashi had written, Naruto was a smoker too. While he didn't condone the nasty habit he had to admit, it made him feel slightly closer to the boy he thought of as family. It practically made him fit in with the rest of the Sarutobi clan, seeing as nearly all the men of the small clan smoked. Even his distant sister's son owned a large tobacco farm and sold much of it to the village for a cheaper price.

A knock on the door alerted him to the arrival of the ninjas, "Come in,"

As the four walked in with matching expressions of confusion, he cleared his throat, "No doubt you are wondering why I've called you all in. Kurenai, Asuma, Kakashi, you three will be taking your teams out on a mission to find someone and bring him back to the village."

Anko blinked, "Then why an I here?"

Sarutobi gave her a look, "Because you broke a civilians limbs, you will be going with them as punishment."

"What!" Anko groaned, "I have to go on a trip with immature brats"

He nodded.

She frowned, "But look at them!" she said pointing to Kakashi and Asuma, "Ones a pervert and the other smells like a high-school bathroom,"

At this the others sweatdropped, thinking that she had been talking about their students.

"Anko, it's this or be the mans personal nurse. Pick one." The older man said while crossing his arms.

Anko accepted the mission and grumbled, "Well at least I have Nai-chan with me,"

The Hokage pulled Naruto's rather bare file out and placed it on the edge of his desk, letting Asuma pick it up while he started talking.

"Your mission is to locate Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, the son of Kushina Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze or better known as, the forth Hokage,"

Anko's eyes widened, "That little brat was the Fourth's kid?"

He nodded, "Yes, but due to the war and Iwa's resentment toward Minato, we had to hide the fact that he was a Namikaze."

The two women snatched the file from Asuma and saw the sketch of Naruto staring back emotionless with his one eye. Both found him to be handsome in a rugged and wild sort of way, Anko found herself thinking that had she known he'd end up this good looking she would have claimed him years ago, fuck the laws about age.

"Kakashi and his team had a run in with him in Wave during their mission and he was able to give me some information on him which is written in that report. Feel free to take it with you since it's a copy but don't lose it or let anyone else read it that isn't a part of the mission. I want you all to gather your team and leave as soon as possible."

-X-

Naruto sat on the toilet in the small bathroom with the fan running. Whipping the sweat from his forehead he leaned over to the sink right beside him and got back to work on another set of bombs just for the Konoha ninjas.

"Damn it's so fucking hot in here!" he moaned while cracking the door and letting in a small breeze.

Normally he would make bombs in a comfortable setting but with had he was using, he wanted to make sure he didn't mess anything up that he'd have to pay for. The idea was to humiliate and embarrass the target, not maim and kill. He was using a small explosive, similar to a large firecracker, inside a larger casing surrounded by another powder hat would be thrown everywhere went it went off.

He had spent the whole week going around the town and finding good places to lead them on a merry chase before leaving them stumped, or bruised and bloody if he decided to trick them into jumping into the hot-springs.

Pouring in a large amount of white powder into the thin metal ball, Naruto sealed them up and pulled out a can of white spray paint and a stencil and began to spray them, using the fan to suck out the fumes.

-X-

Teams seven, eight, and ten met at he gates early the next morning and met their sensei's and Anko, even Kakashi was there on time which surprised Sakura and Sasuke while Sai gave him a raised eyebrow. After explaining to them that this was a joint mission that they would explain to them when they made camp, they all started to tree hop towards one of the coastal towns to uncover some clues.

After hours of hopping, the genin were all red faced and tired while the jounin were only a little winded. Deciding that they had covered enough ground, they decided to rest and have lunch since most of them had only eaten a small breakfast

Chouji plopped his big ass down beside Shikamaru with a sigh and started munching on a bag of chips while his friend leaned back and watched the clouds through the trees. Ino and Sakura ate and watched and Sasuke brood while eating a meal he had packed with hearts in their eyes while Anko watched with a disgusted look on her face. Her hand slipped towards her kunai pouch but didn't make it as Kurenai popped the back of her head, already knowing what she was thinking.

"Oh come on Nai-chan," she whined, "They're fangirls,"

Kurenai popped her in the back of the head again before pulling out a rolled up brown bag from her hip pouch; "I brought you some dango so behave,"

Anko's eyes sparkled and she reached for them only to have Kurenai snatch them away, "Hey!"

"Promise to behave," The red eyed beauty demanded making Anko promise with a pout.

Kiba walked over and sat beside Chouji with a sandwich while his puppy slept inside his coat.

Akamaru poked his head out and sniffed.

"What's up buddy?" Kiba asked seeing him sniff the air excitedly.

__

I smell cookies!

"Traitor!" Kiba yelled in the background but was ignored.

Hinata gave him a small smile and reached into her lunch bag, pulled out a chocolate chip cookie and gave it to him before pulling out a riceball and a thermos of tea, which she shared with Kurenai.

Shino was silent as he sat beside Hinata, probably the only female friend that didn't think he was gross because of his bloodline. But even though she didn't think he was gross didn't mean he was attracted to her, truth be told he wasn't completely sure if he liked girls… something that frightened him.

Kakashi was reading… no surprise there, and Asuma was eating an energy bar.

During the break, the sensei's and Anko talked, deciding to camp there and teach their student's a little something.

"Ok everyone," Kurenai called, getting everyone's attention, "We've talked and decided that since everyone is able to do the tree climbing exercise, we are going to teach you the next step, Water walking."

-X-

Mei looked down at her student as she tried to do push ups, "Come on Tira-chan, you have to complete this set before you stop,"

Tira's arms shook and burned as she strained to lift herself up, "Sensei… this… would be easier if… you… got off my back," she gasped out with swear running down her face.

Mei crossed her arms as she stood on her back; "It's training, its not meant to be easy. Now do one more and you can rest," she said while Tira's pet crow stood on her shoulder, looking down at Tira while she was working out.

Her training schedule was simple. Wake up early, eat a light breakfast, study or help Mei until she finished with the small amount of paperwork she had to do daily, workout, eat lunch and take a short break. After that, they would practice any jutsu she learned the day before until she had it down pact or work on her taijutsu for a few hours. Then she would have a few hours to do what she wanted until after dinner where Mai had her sit down and read.

It wasn't to say that Mei kept her busy all the time, giving her only a few hours a day to do what she wanted. Every other day she didn't have to work out as not to stress her muscles too much and sparring was replaced with stealth training, which she made entertaining. After showing her how, she would test her, making her sneak around and cause mischief before returning without being caught.

Tira pushed herself up with a triumphant yell, before crashing to the ground panting.

"Good job Tira," Mei congratulated while stepping off her back and putting her high heels on, "Now get up and let's go get some lunch."

Tira grunted, her crow flying over and landing on her back and pecking her head, "Ok, ok, I'm getting up." She groaned before pushing herself off the ground.

-X-

Naruto lay back in a lawn chair on the roof of another, more high-class hotel with one of those reflective thing people used to sunbathe. Beside him was a cold glass of sake and an ashtray sitting on a low table that he didn't have to reach too far. Unlike the other, cheaper hotel that he was hiding out in, this one had a pool on the roof… a pool which had a number of attractive women swimming, tanning, and just being sexy in their bathing suits. Sure there were a few guys acting like dumb-asses trying to impress the girls but he could deal with it. Besides, not everyone could just wear a swimsuit like him and not do anything to attract the attention of the fairer sex.

Reaching over, he grabbed his drink and took a sip of it before leaning back again and relaxing. Seemingly ignorant to the hungry gazes some of the women gave him and the jealous looks that the men gave him.

"Hey mister?"

Naruto opened his eye and looked over, cursing the fact that he had to have an eye patch, forcing him to move his whole body. Finding the owner he saw a young boy standing on the heels of his feet with his arms behind his back.

"What is it kid?" the blond asked, not trying to sound mean, after all, women loved men who were good with kids.

Behind the child, an older woman started to look around frantically before seeing her son standing there talking to a stranger, an admittedly good looking stranger, but a stranger nonetheless.

"What's that you got over your eye?" the boy asked innocently just in time for his mother to grab him.

After a quick verbal whopping, she looked to Naruto, "I'm sorry, I take my eye off him for one minute and he gets into all sorts of trouble."

Naruto smiled at her, "Oh it's ok, it's a fair question so I'll answer it," he said before looking at the boy, "This is a eye-patch, when something happens to someone's eye they wear one,"

The boy's mother wasn't quick enough to stop the next question, "What happened to yours,"

Naruto smirked, "I lost it."

"How?"

Narutos grin got bigger, "I don't know, I took it out and must have misplaced it somewhere. If you find it, please give it back."

The child giggled; "Cool!" he cheered before his mother was able to drag him away.

Naruto shook his head at them and lay back again, nursing his drink every now and then.

-X-

The genin were all a little winded but held their heads high after completing the water-walking exercise to their sensei's expectations. Of course, Hinata got it off the bat, having been training in the Hyuuga style that needed good chakra control and Shino was right behind her, having been trained in chakra control by his father.

Kiba once again found himself alone once Hinata finished first because Akamaru left him to go sleep in Hinata's lap, which made him slightly jealous of his partner.

But all things aside, after a little light sparing, with Hinata showing her dominance once again in taijutsu against Ino and Sakura, the sensei's decided to brief their teams on their mission. Having them sit around the fire which as roasting some fish that they caught from the small pond, using water-walking the help catch them, they brought out the picture of Naruto.

"Ok boys and girls," Kakashi started, being the most experienced meant that he would have to be the one to brief them, "The Hokage sent us on a joint mission to search for, and return a person to the village. Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, my team should remember him from the bridge in Wave."

Sakura gasped, "That psychopath?"

Hearing that, Anko smirked, 'I'm liking him more and more every minute,'

"What are you talking about?" Ino asked.

"Just hold on, you can ask later let me finish," Kakashi stated, "Naruto is the only child of Kushina Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze, making him the only heir of the two clans and the son of the Fourth Hokage. If you think back, you might have seen him in your class before he left the village."

"Wait a minute," Kiba blurted, "I remember him, he used to be nearly homeless and pulled all sorts of pranks, leading ANBU on wild chases through the village for hours. If he was the Fourth's son then why was he treated so bad?"

"The Fourth had many enemies and since he was the only child born on the day of the Kyuubi attack, everyone just took it out on him since they couldn't vent their anger and sadness on anything else. Only a few people knew and my father was one of them" Asuma added, knowing the truth but leaving parts out.

"So if Hokage-sama knew, then why or how did Naruto leave the village?" Kiba questioned something that everyone else wanted to know.

Kurenai handed the picture of Naruto to Shino who passed it around.

Kakashi sighed, "On his seventh birthday, an ANBU would normally watch over him to make sure he wasn't attacked. I normally did it but wanted to go pay my respects to my sensei, his father, who, as you should know, died the day Naruto was born. An ANBU under my command offered to take my place and I left Naruto in his care. I only found out the next day that the ANBU tried to kill Naruto and cut out his left eye. That is the reason I was demoted to Jounin and the reason he threatened me in Wave when I wanted to talk to him."

"Anyway," Kurenai started, "From what I've read, Naruto doesn't like Konoha too much and will probably have a problem with being brought back to the village. We aren't sure of his skills only that he used an array of bombs that needed fuses unlike paper bombs, a pair of machetes, and was able to use some strange trick with a crow that paralyzed a man when it landed on him."

"Alright, it's getting late," Asuma yawned, "Why don't we get some sleep, we should reach the first coastal town tomorrow afternoon if we get up early and run."

-X-

Tira sat down with her sensei in her living room, having moved in with her and her niece who was sleeping over with a friend at the time. Mei told her that she didn't have to read anything jutsu related as long as she read something, it could be a picture book, magazine, a sappy romance like what she was reading, anything. So with the freedom to choose, she picked a fashion magazine at random which introduced her to make-up, hairstyles, and 'way's to please your man'.

In her mind she saw herself doing what the magazine said with Naruto and blushed.

Mei on the other hand had reached the sex scene in the book and was thinking similar thoughts.

(AN: Take a look at them books, It's real Icha-Icha just not as horny.)

-X-

On the roof of the hotel, the sun was setting but the party was only just starting. Naruto, who was nicely tanned, found himself in the water with a girl just a few years older than him on his shoulders playing chicken. The civilian schools were out for spring break, meaning that the village was flooded with teens that wanted to go to the beach that the village was built by and party.

Using chakra to keep his footing, he and the random girl won the game, the rest of the partygoers clueless that he was using chakra to cheat.

"SAKE BONG!" the crowded cheered, chanting 'GO, GO, GO' as they watched a young man quickly drink, choking on it after a minute.

Naruto got out of the pool and took his place, making the crowed whoop and holler as he drank four bottles before stopping and threw his fast in the air with a smirk.

Naruto walked away as another tried to do the same as him but failed, he felt only a little tipsy before the Kyuubi burned the sake out of his system. The party was going strong for hours and soon enough people from a TV channel were filming the party, it was called MTV Spring break or something like that. As the cameras rolled, some of the drunker girls thought it was a good idea to jump on the bar and take their tops off.

Naruto wasn't complaining he pumped his fist in the air along with the others, laughed, and cheered.

But soon enough, both he and the Kyuubi were drunk, seemed that the fox didn't burn the Sake from his system, just took it into itself and got drunk. But soon enough, the fox was in a buzzed sleep, Naruto was drunk as hell, and the woman who was had been hosting the show was in for one hell of a night at her hotel. He and the fox would wake up shit faced in the morning, and she would wake up finding it nearly impossible to walk.

-X-

The next morning proved to be a real pain in the neck for Naruto, having been woken up by a bright ray of light to the face, which jumpstarted a head ache from hell, he rolled out of the bed. Standing up and popping his back, the blonde looked down to find himself nude with his junk hanging in the breeze from the slightly opened window.

Getting dressed he picked the sheet up off the floor and wrapped the woman back up before jumping from the window, only to trip on the ledge and fall in the alleyway below as the sun blinded him.

Naruto lay on the ground with a sigh, 'Today's not going to be a good day,'

Pushing his self up off the ground, he dusted himself off and looked up to the second story window he fell from before leaping away, intent on going back to his own place to sleep off his hangover.

-X-

Just as Asuma had predicted, they were able to reach the first town just a little before lunch only to find that their search would be a little tougher.

"Woah,"

Kurenai slapped her forehead, "I totally forgot spring break was this week," she moaned.

"What's spring break?" Ino asked.

"Spring break is a week long vacation that civilians schools have, most teens usually flood the coastal towns and party the week away… hey where's Anko?" Kurenai explained before looking out towards the village, only to see Anko practically skipping towards the town screaming about parties

"ANKO!" The red eyed jounin yelled, "GET OUR ASS BACK HERE!" but it was too late, Anko had already turned a corner and was out of sight.

"Kami damn it" Kurenai growled before turning towards the genin and other two jounin, "You go search the town for clues, I'm going to get Anko,"

They nodded fearfully and watched as Kurenai chased after her friend.

"W-wow, Kurenai-sensei is s-scary when she's mad," Kiba stuttered fearfully.

Kakashi and Asuma nodded, "You don't know the half of it, you should see both her and Anko get pissed," Asuma told him, "Now come on, lets go ask around."

-X-

"Hahaha, party! I'm gonna drink, eat dango, and show these little civilians how a real woman does it"

Naruto groaned and pulled the blanket over his head along with the pillow to block out the annoyingly loud voice from out side. After a second, all was quite once more and Naruto was able to give a sigh of relief. Curling up in a ball, he got comfortable again and slowly drifted back off to-

"ANKO GET BACK HERE!"

Burying his head into the pillow, Naruto cried as his headache continued to pound inside his skull.

-X-

After a few hours, the search team gathered just outside of town where they were planning on camping since all the inns and hotels were full. The guys winced at the sight of Anko's bright red ears from where Kurenai had pulled her back to the group and were too afraid to laugh since Kiba nearly took a kunai to the balls when he snickered.

"Well, there's some good news at least." Asuma stated while they set up their tents. "I showed the picture around and a few of the townspeople confirmed that he's here, some even saw him at a party getting wasted."

"That's good, he's probably too hung-over from drinking and doesn't even know were here," Shikamaru suggested while he helped Chouji set up their 'troublesome' tent.

"Then this will be easy, just find him and bring him back while he's out." Ino said simply while helping set up the tent she, Hinata, and Sakura would be sharing. "Heck, if we go on and find out where he is, we could go get him now and tie him up before going back home."

Kakashi looked up and sighed, "Suddenly, I feel like this will be harder than we thought,"

"What do you mean?"

Kakashi nodded up towards a tree and they saw a crow perched on the limp, watching them with mix matched eyes.

"Shit!" Asuma cursed, turning to the bird and spooking it, making it fly away, "Damn it, now Naruto will know we're here,"

"Maybe, but you said it yourself sensei," Shikamaru told him, "I don't know many sixteen year-olds that feel like running after getting wasted, we still have a chance that he's probably blacked out or dead asleep."

-X-

Laying on his bed, Naruto finally found himself snoozing, the pain from his head ache faded to black as he went into a dreamless sleep.

Through his slightly opened window came his crow, landing on the ledge and squeezing through the crack before hopping over to the bed, flapping her wings to get further until she landed on his covered shoulder.

-Squawk-

Naruto murmured something and rolled his shoulder, forcing her to hop to the edge of his pillow with her beak right next to his ear. She nipped a few times but when he swatted at her, she squawked then bit into his ear with a look of fury in her eyes.

"SON OF A BIIITTTCH!"

-X-

_To be continued..._

-X-

This story and Naruto has gone through many changes. At first, this was a crossover with Naruto and Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams, I based him around Jubbi's(?) Uncle who had an eye-patch and used crows. But after six-thousand words, I just couldn't continue it and, after cutting almost four-thousand-five-hundred off, I continued it to be a NarutoXBioshock story. Sadly, I didn't have enough information to keep it flowing and ended up changing again but unlike the first, I didn't have to change much as it didn't show any powers, only that he lost his eye and smoked. I erased the name and was going to continue it as something else but I was stumped, I hate having to throw away a paper with more then two thousand words and was already feeling the ache of the first edit.

So I stopped writing and started reading, researching, and playing games for awhile, hoping to find some inspiration. Then I had an idea, why not take one of the overly used plots of, 'Naruto runs away and the council finds out who his father was then want's him back' and 'Nauto with a bloodline' then adding my own things to it? So my unnamed story was reborn. I looked over the story and figured that since he smoked, why not use it? That's when I remembered a guy from Metel Gear Acid 2 who used bombs, mines, and breathed rainbow-like smoke that he used to confuse and control a target.

So I thought I had a good base I had to figure out the details, I didn't want Naruto to be a normal chakra dependent ninja, I hardly wanted him to be a ninja but decided to make him a very... unorthodox Ninja/Bandit since a Samurai had too many morals, Thieves were too greedy and rat-like, and to be a Yakuza he would have to be at the beck and call of Boss or be a Boss which brought too much attention.

You notice that I put, Ninja/Bandit and are probably thinking, isn't a theif the same thing as a bandit? Well in most cases yes, but to me a thief is someone who breaks into homes, steals purses, mugs people, and so on but a Bandit is more refined and will do big jobs like knocking off a shipment of jewels or gold from rich and greedy snobs. I wanted Naruto to have morals and feelings, like one of my reviews said 'He's kind, but to the right people,'. Personally, I despise people who think their better than everyone else, that's why I say, 'the only good Uchiha is a dead one,' and to show that Naruto isn't like that, I had Tira come into the picture.

Sorry, let me get back to what I was doing.

But even though I based Naruto on that guy I also wanted to keep the crow idea but had no clue how to use it so it isn't in the way. I was about to scrap it but I got my hands on Metal Gear, The Twin Snakes.(The one of Gamecube that had updated graphics) (And don't say shit to be about it, I love Metal Gear and got it because I wanted to play them all. Also have you noticed that Metal Gear games have cool endings?) Anyway, I played it, saw how Raven used his crows and decided to have Naruto do the same.

Then finally I thought about weapons, I didn't want to use normal, run of the mill ninja weapons like paper bombs. I watched that Deadliest warrior with the Irish army guys and always wanted to have Naruto use the pipe bomb full of nails without it seeming too random and decided not to have Naruto use paper bombs at all, he would use bombs that he makes himself which would be more diverse than normal explosive notes. As for a sword, I didn't want to use a ninja sword and was about to just say 'screw it' since he had all these other weapons and just give him a switchblade or two to use but then I saw on the history channel where a gang would use a machete to kill rival gang members in NY. I found that Naruto wielding a pair of machetes was the best choice because it was short enough to wield one handed and unlike a sword make to cut and slice, a machete was made to clear dense jungle. Imagine swinging something made to cut through thick vines and small trees at someones neck or limbs.

I think that' all I have to say right now about how this Naruto was created, it was nice to explain my views and work, if you have any questions please ask, I love reading my reviews, especially long ones.

But their was one last thing I've been meaning to put up here, It's more of a crack-godlike-bloodline idea that could control the Naruto Universe in it's entirety.

The_**Ryoku-no-Sakka**_, The Power of the Author. An extremely rare bloodline, rarer than whatever little bloodline Pein has and more powerful than them all combined. The Ryoku-no-Sakka gives the holder to control the future, past, and present. The only way for a child to be born with it is if the Author of the story to insert himself and impregnate a female, or have a male impregnate her... or if it floats your boat, impregnate a male (Shudder). The child will know everything, have everything, be anything. If he or she wills it, he or she will have a harem of ready and willing whatever he or she wants. The child be be a god more more powerful than the gods. Try and beat that bloodline.


End file.
