Naruto 1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

* * *

**Zaion Indulias:** This story is in response to a challenge put to me by one of my readers, Killjoy3000. When he sent me the challenge it instantly sparked some creativity, both for the challenge itself but also to hopefully get me past the writers' block I've had for the past couple of weeks. This story is the result of that challenge, and I hope you all enjoy it.

* * *

Bones of the Devil, Ice of an Angel

_A Story by Zaion Indulias_

**Chapter 1: Pain and Rebirth**

It was a day like any other in Konoha. The sun had been shining high in the sky. People bustled to and fro about their business while shinobi moved here and there amongst the crowd. Some were off duty, some were performing routine sweeps to look for any signs of danger in the village, and still others were gathering supplies to head out on missions.

The village itself was busier than usual in preparation for the annual Festival of the Yondaime. Most shinobi who were not assigned to crucial missions had the day off to celebrate and mourn with their families. This also meant that there were two few ANBU to spare for so-called "non-critical duties". Thus a young blond-haired child was left completely unguarded as he scurried to and fro on this most celebratory of days, celebratory for everyone but this small child that is.

Uzumaki Naruto was Konoha's dirty little "not-so-secret". He was the jailor of the Kyuubi no Yoko though he himself was unaware of this fact, and on this particular day, his life was about to change irrevocably.

As the blond boy scurried down an alley avoiding the big crowds with their angry looks and their cold shoulders, four cloaked and hooded figures watched him from the rooftop. Each of them wore standard ANBU gear, but their masks all bore the markings of the elite Ne Division. Silently they watched the boy before their opening appeared. Moving quickly the four dropped into the alleyway, the blond boy barely having time to recognize them as ANBU before one of the quartet struck him in the back of the neck. Naruto collapsed in a boneless heap like a sack of potatoes.

As one of the Ne ANBU lifted the unfortunate boy over his shoulder, the commander of the squad reached up to his ear and triggered the radio communicator in place there.

"Target has been acquired sir. Shall we proceed to the rendezvous with the Snake?"

There was a brief crackling over the line before a gruff scratchy older voice came through.

"Proceed with the operation as planned."

As the four ANBU moved out, heading for a secret tunnel out of the city, Danzo sat in his office and smirked. For five years the Sandaime had been refusing to allow him to take the Kyuubi jinchuriki into his Ne program. Now he found a method to make the child useful to his own goals without risking the Sandaime's wrath.

After all, it's not like anyone would be able to prove that HE had been responsible for the boy being traded to one of the village's most reviled nuke-nin.

* * *

**Two Years Later…**

A squad of Konoha ANBU silently dropped into the wreckage of what had apparently once been some sort of secret underground facility. The squad had been on their way back to Konoha, cutting through Ta no Kuni, when they had sensed a massive flare of chakra before a series of massive explosions rocked the forest. Even in the dim moonlight they could see a massive cloud of smoke rising up about a mile to the east of them, so they diverted to investigate.

When they had arrived they had stared in awe at the destruction before them. An area of forest nearly a mile across was just devastated, and from the looks of things, some sort of underground facility had been blown outward before the debris collapsed back upon it. As they looked they spotted dead and broken bodies scattered throughout the wreckage, but no signs of movement. Knowing that there was a distinct possibility that allies of whoever had been behind this hidden base could arrive at any moment, the team leader signaled for a quick inspection and then a retreat towards Konoha.

The four figures dropped into the crater of devastation and split up, each speeding through while looking for any sign of anything that could indicate who had been here or what they had been up to. One of the ANBU, a purple-haired young woman wearing a cat ANBU mask, was beginning to get frustrated. The only clue to who had been here were a number of the dead who wore hitai-ate with a musical note symbol that she had never seen before, and a large amount of what looked like scientific equipment scattered throughout the debris. Just as the time limit for her recon was about to give out she froze on top of a mountain of debris. The purple-haired girl focused her senses, tuning out all extraneous background noise.

Crumble.

There is was again! Quietly she moved over the debris towards a pile of what looked like smooth white bone. As the moonlight glinted off of it she realized that what had at first seemed like a pile of debris was in fact some odd flower. It was sticking out of one of the piles of debris and was entirely comprised of bone encased in a shimmering layer of ice. She was about thirty feet away when the "petals" of the bone flower suddenly began to creak and slowly folded open, ice dusting off of them like snow flakes. Behind her mask the ANBU's eyes widened at the sight before her.

As the 'flower' fully opened a young boy was revealed. He couldn't have been more than six or seven she thought, but with how haggard and malnourished he looked she couldn't be sure. His blond hair was cut short with some sort of striped pattern in it as well as his clothes. What little remained of them were a dark red, similar to the color of his skin. Suddenly, the ANBU realized that the boy was covered in blood. She involuntarily let out a gasp as the blond boy took a few hesitant steps towards her, his small body shaking and his eyes glued to the ground. Making a decision the ANBU took a few steps towards him, wary of any possible danger but trying to be as non-threatening as possible.

Slowly the boy approached until there were only a few feet separating the two, his eyes still downcast. They stood facing one another for several long moments before finally the boy raised his eyes to look at her. What the masked ANBU saw there nearly tore her heart in twain.

The poor boy's bright blue eyes were glistening from the tears that were filling his eyes and flowing down his cheeks, creating two clear paths through the blood that otherwise covered his entire body. She could barely make out three faint marks on each cheek under the blood and the stream of tears, his skin so pale that they barely stood out at all.

"They…" He croaked out hoarsely. "Why did they do this to me? They deserved to die!!"

The ANBU realized instantly that whatever this poor boy had been through it had traumatized him, and that right now he was feeling a mixture of remorse and self-righteous fury that were confusing him. Silently she knelt down and embraced the poor boy in a hug.

"It's alright now. No one's going to hurt you any longer." She said as she held the crying boy.

Her teammates found her five minutes later still holding the young child. He had passed out after a minute or two of crying into her shoulder, and she had lifted him into her arms while waiting for her teammates to converge.

"I found one survivor, taichou. We better return to Konoha immediately."

The captain of the ANBU team nodded silently in assent before the four moved out. The three other members arranged themselves in a defensive formation around the cat-masked ANBU as she was carrying the child.

One of the ANBU, masked in an Inu mask, narrowed his eyes. He recognized that child, and he blamed himself and the Hokage for his disappearance. For two years he had been requesting people be sent to find out who had taken him, and for two years the Council had blocked his requests.

When he got back to Konoha he would have some hard decisions to make, and by the end of it Konohagakure would be short one elite ANBU.

None of the ANBU noticed a pair of spikes sticking out of the center of the flower where the young boy had been standing, covered in blood, nor did they witness the ice begin to very slowly melt off of the flattened flower of bone.

* * *

**Four Years Later…**

The sun shone high over Konoha with nary a cloud in the sky. To the young blond boy who now stood before the entrance of the Konoha Ninja Academy it was a momentary reminder of 'that day'; that fateful day six years ago.

Shaking his head slightly he dismissed the memory, taking solace from the hand that rested lightly on his shoulder. Turning his head slightly he looked up at the purple-haired woman who stood beside him.

"Don't worry, otouto. You'll do great. I'm sure of it." She said softly to reassure the blond boy.

The blond boy smiled slightly back up at the young woman before once again facing forward, this time with determination clear in his eyes.

"I'll make you proud, Onee-san. Just watch me."

With that said Uzuki Naruto took his first official steps in becoming a shinobi of the leaf.

* * *

Umino Iruka already had a headache, and the new school year had only been in session for five minutes.

It was his first year teaching at the Academy, and already he was wondering why he had accepted the assignment.

_Oh, that's right. I wanted an assignment that could let me stay in the village._

Iruka's class consisted of thirty or so prospective shinobi of the village, and was one of four such classes preparing to take the Genin exam in a year's time. Even though class had technically started the moment he had entered the room, he had instead spent the time running through a mental roll call and preparing himself for this task. That and he had been informed that his class was receiving a new student, and he really didn't want to have his authority as a teacher undermined on his first day of teaching.

Just then there was a knock on the door before it was slid open and a young woman with purple hair walked in. She appeared to be about twenty one years old and was wearing standard ANBU gear with an ANBU tattoo on her right shoulder. She regarded Iruka with a calculating look for several moments as the brunette Chunin stood before finally entering the room.

"I'm Uzuki Yugao, and this is my brother, Naruto." She said in a steady voice as the noise in the classroom died down, the students were all curious as to who the new arrival was.

As Yugao took a few more steps into the room and held out her arm to shake his hand, the students' attentions were drawn by the shorter figure that entered the room behind her. It was a short blond boy who looked to be about their age. His short spiky blond hair had several red stripes in it and was controlled by a slim black headband with a golden Konoha symbol on the front. His eyes were a clear bright blue and his skin had a healthy tan, drawing attention to three pale marks on both of his cheeks. He wore a pair of black shinobi sandals, a pair of loose black cargo pants with lots of pockets and pouches, a pair of fingerless black gloves, and a tight form-fitting black long-sleeve t-shirt. Over this he wore a long black battle-coat and had a chokuto strapped to his back just like the woman, who was obviously his sister.

As he turned and regarded his would-be classmates with an unreadable expression on his face, many of the girls in the room felt their hearts flutter. This boy was hot! Many of those who had spent the last five years of their lives chasing after a dark-haired brooding boy by the name of Uchiha Sasuke, began to wonder if maybe this new boy might be a better target for their affections. Amongst the group that began to wonder this were a blond girl with pale blue eyes and a pink-haired girl with emerald green ones. Another girl near the back of the classroom was trying hard to remain conscious, her pale eyes wide as she felt her heart beating faster than she had ever felt it in her entire life.

"Hokage-sama informed me that you would be bringing him today, Uzuki-san. I am however curious as to why he wasn't entered into the Academy when he was six like everybody else." Iruka said, obliquely asking his question. He was ashamed to admit it, but part of him wondered why _he_ had to get stuck teaching the vessel of the Kyuubi no Yoko.

Almost all of the students were instantly alert, curious to learn anything they could about this new student, even a lazy-ass Nara in the first row. Several of the students kept their focus on Naruto himself, and thus noticed the way his jaw tightened and his eyes narrowed at Iruka's question.

"There were extenuating circumstances, Iruka-san. Needless to say, my brother has been fully trained by myself and several other members of ANBU. He is merely here as a formality so that he may take the Genin exam in one year's time. As such, I would appreciate it if you not punish him for doing self-study when you are lecturing on subjects which he already knows, particularly when it comes to things like history." Yugao replied with the faint hint of ice in her voice.

Iruka bristled at the way she addressed him but kept a smile on his face.

"Hokage-sama has informed me of the allowances that are to be made. However, I hope that your brother understands that he will be held to the same rules of conduct and behavior as everyone else, and his grades will need to show that he fully understands the material."

_Don't worry about my grades, teme. I can feel your disdain for me, and it sickens me. Your logic is faulty and anything you would teach me anyway must be considered suspect._ The blond boy thought darkly.

Yugao nodded her assent of the conditions as she glanced at Naruto out of the corner of her eye. She saw Naruto nod silently as well before she continued unaware of what her brother was thinking.

"He will do quite well, I assure you Umino-san." She said before turning and favoring the blond boy with a smile as she ruffled his hair, an action that caused him to growl in response as he tried to fight off the offending limb.

Yugao shot Iruka one last stern look and nodded before she turned and exited the room. Naruto watched her go with only a hint of apprehension on his face before he turned to face Iruka. He looked up at the brunette Chunin, and with a lift of an eyebrow questioned what was to happen next.

_Well sensei? Are you going to prove my first impressions of you wrong?_

Iruka sighed and waved one hand lazily towards the rows and rows of students.

"Naruto, why don't you introduce yourself to the class and then take the empty seat in the back of the room next to Shino." He said as he pointed towards an empty seat in the back of the room next to a dark-haired boy wearing sunglasses and a tall-collared pale coat.

_Guess not._

Naruto nodded and turned to face the class as he stood at an almost ANBU-like attention.

"My name is Uzuki Naruto." Naruto began in a steady voice, informative but with a distinct lack of any clear emotion. "I am eleven years old and was born here in Konoha. I do not know who my parents were, nor do I particularly care. I have been well trained to protect myself, and as my sister stated I am only here in order to attend the mandatory year required so that I may take the Genin Exam and become a shinobi of Konoha. I like training, swords, and learning new techniques. I dislike those who hate people for no good reason, and I hate with a passion those who would experiment upon the innocent for no reason than to produce weapons."

Naruto's voice carried a bite of venom as he stated this last part.

"My hobbies include sword-smithing, carving, and tai chi. There is nothing more to be said."

Naruto straightened slightly and looked to Iruka for permission before he walked up the steps and took a seat next to Shino. As he sat down and crossed his hands on the desk in front of him, Iruka had to blink as he could have almost sworn that there were two Shino's sitting there with how impassive Naruto's face was.

The rest of the class was looking up at Naruto with a mixture of expressions plain upon their faces. Many of the girls were admiring Naruto's looks while a number of the boys were groaning at the thought of a new target for the fan girls to whine about. Many of the boys were also eyeing Naruto as a possible rival. Inuzuka Kiba was sniffing the air and trying to make sense of the myriad of odors that were coming off of Naruto, dirt and sweat and blood and oil covering the faint scent of bone and foxes. Nara Shikamaru was eyeing Naruto lazily wondering just what this blond would invariably end up doing to make his life more "troublesome". And Uchiha Sasuke was glaring up at the blond boy, wondering what made _him_ so special that he got personal training from an ANBU officer.

Uzuki Naruto took their gazes in turn and ignored them, caring more about getting through his time at the Academy so that he could truly begin his training.

* * *

The first day of class was relatively uneventful for the blond shinobi-to-be. I say relatively uneventful, because compared to his usual training regimen the Academy was a complete bore to Naruto. The morning's lessons were entirely on history and general theory behind the usage of jutsu, all stuff that Naruto had mastered by the age of nine at the latest. So instead of paying attention Naruto had unrolled one of the many scrolls he had tucked into the many pouches in his coat and had begun to read. The fact that he was allowed to not pay attention earned him the almost continuous glare of one Uchiha Sasuke, but he ignored it. As far as Naruto was concerned it mattered not whether anyone glared at him or not.

_Chakra storage seals are the basis of all fuuinjutsu. They can be modified for almost any capacity, and are often modified to develop new functions in seals or even to develop entirely new seals._ Naruto read from the scroll.

However the young boy he was sitting next to kept glancing down at the scroll periodically, intrigued by what Naruto was reading. As soon as Naruto had noticed this he had subtly shifted the angle of the scroll so that Shino could read as well, earning an almost imperceptible nod from the stoic boy. Shino's interest in his reading material brought a faint smile to Naruto's lips.

_Maybe being stuck here won't be so bad after all._

The scroll was a treatise on fuuinjutsu that had been written by the Gama-sennin Jiraiya, one of Konoha's three Densetsu no Sannin. Naruto had discovered early in his training with his sister that at some point while he had been in the custody of those foreign bastards who had experimented upon him, a seal had been placed upon his stomach. For some reason this disrupted his chakra flow, causing it to periodically spike and become more uncontrolled when he tried to use it. As soon as he had discovered this fact, something that apparently caused a great deal of worry for his sister although she would never say why, he had begun researching everything he could about seals. Thus the treatise before him on advanced sealing techniques. He still wasn't sure what the seal on his stomach was really designed to do, but he felt that he was close to finding an answer.

As Iruka droned on about the Third Great Shinobi War Naruto continued to read on the theories of the esteemed Jiraiya-san.

* * *

When it was finally time for lunch, Naruto merely rolled his scroll up calmly and stood up from his seat as most of the rest of the class chattered excitedly about the inanities of their lives. He nodded a thanks to Shino for being pleasant company before turning and beginning to walk down the steps towards the front of the class to exit, his coat billowing slightly behind him. He only made it about halfway down the steps however before he was confronted by a glaring Uchiha Sasuke, who was flanked by his army of adoring fan girls.

Naruto paused and regarded the glaring boy before him with emotionless eyes.

"Yes?" He asked with a single raised eyebrow. "Is there a reason you have chosen to impede my progress?"

"Fight me." The Uchiha replied causing many of those who heard to gasp in surprise.

Sasuke was after all the head of the class, and the brooding boy was known to be dedicated to training and becoming the strongest shinobi around. There were many rumors that his dedication to becoming strong was to kill his own brother, who was wanted by Konoha for the murder of his entire clan save Sasuke.

_Idiots. All of them are illogical idiots._

Naruto regarded the dark-haired boy with the duck-butt hair cut for several seconds before replying.

"No, I don't think I will." Naruto said calmly before stepping to the side and attempting to pass the Uchiha. His progress was once again impeded by Sasuke grabbing his shoulder.

"I said fight me!" Sasuke growled out, louder than before.

_This bastard did NOT just do that._

Naruto looked over at Uchiha with an annoyed look on his face as he reached up and brushed Sasuke's hand off of his arm.

"I see no gain for me in fighting you. I feel that I have made this abundantly clear, so I advise you to cease bothering me." Naruto said, his annoyance creeping into his voice.

Naruto faced forward again and stepped forward as the legion of fan girls moved aside in shock. No one had ever disregarded Sasuke like that! No one. Behind Naruto, Sasuke clenched his fists in rage before lashing out with a punch towards the back of Naruto's skull. His actions shocked the gathered watchers into silence as his fist approached the back of Naruto's head.

But just as it was about to connect Naruto bent forward and planted his palms on the ground. He continued his motion by kicking off of the ground with his legs and catching Sasuke in the chin with the back of his heel. Everyone gasped again as Sasuke was sent flying backwards and Naruto completed his flip over the heads of several of the shocked girls and landed firmly at the base of the stairs.

Naruto stood and dusted himself off, ignoring the shocked looks of many of his new classmates. He looked back over his shoulder at where Sasuke was slowly getting to his feet with bloody murder on his face and a bruise forming on his chin and narrowed his eyes. He spoke steadily with ice in his voice.

"I advise you to not try anything like that again. I do not suffer fools lightly, and the majority of my defense maneuvers are quite lethal."

With that Naruto turned and strode out of the room once again ignoring the shocked stares of his new classmates.

_Idiots. They are all idiots._

* * *

After the incident on the first day of class things were pretty quite. Most of the class with the noticeable exception of Shino, one bruised-chin glaring Uchiha, and one or two fan girls who kept shooting Naruto googly-eyes stayed out of the blond boy's way and he in turn did nothing to actively interact with any of them save Shino. During the practical training he scored high, but always seemed to be holding back. Shino had noticed this and while walking back to class after lunch one day had asked Naruto about it.

All Naruto said in reply was "Only my scores on the Genin Exam truly matter. I see no reason to reveal my true abilities except to my eventual teammates."

Shino merely raised an eyebrow and nodded in understanding. After all, he too was concealing the true extent of his capabilities, like any good shinobi would logically do.

Sadly, Naruto's peace and quiet was not to last.

At the end of that week Iruka and his assistant Mizuki took the entire class out to one of the training fields on the Academy grounds for the weekly spar. Naruto had been bored nearly to tears by all the theoretical and practical exercises so far, and was dreading spending another year in this place where people either glared at him or avoided him, so the idea of finally seeing just what his classmates were capable of was…remotely interesting to him. At least he could determine which of his classmates had even half a chance of being a decent shinobi.

_Very few of them, I would calculate. Too many of them are still just children, not yet cognizant of what it takes to be a shinobi._

As the class trudged out to the training ground Naruto began to breathe slowly and deeply. He knew that if he was going to spar with one of his classmates he'd have to keep a firm control so he didn't accidentally kill them. Silently he hoped that none of these foolish children got delusions of grandeur and pushed him too far. He had enough blood on his hands.

The first few spars were nothing impressive to Naruto. It was just a bunch of kids play-fighting with poor taijutsu skills and blunted kunai. The only matches he even bothered to watch with more than ten percent of his focus were when the boisterous Inuzuka boy fought with Shino, the rough and tumble style of the Inuzuka presenting an interesting contrast with the steady and controlled style used by the Aburame boy, and when the lazy Nara boy defeated a much larger boy by turning his own power against him and defeating him in as few motions as possible.

It wasn't until Uchiha Sasuke was called forth that things got…interesting; if you can call the arrogant heir of an arrogant clan acting out interesting that is.

"I want to fight Naruto." Sasuke loudly declared, interrupting Iruka as he was about to announce Sasuke's opponent.

Iruka groaned. He had been afraid of this all week, ever since Sasuke had challenged Naruto that first day.

"Sasuke, I don't thi-"

"It's alright sensei. I'll spar with him." Naruto interrupted calmly.

The blond boy stood and cracked his neck before shrugging off his battle-coat and handing it to Shino. As Sasuke stepped into the dirt circle that was used for training spars Naruto narrowed his eyes in focus, not noticing how many of the girls in the class were blushing at the way his t-shirt hugged his body and showed off his muscles. After a few moments watching Naruto stepped forward into the ring and took a relaxed stance. His hands were open and flat and his body relaxed but ready to react. Shino and Shikamaru both narrowed their eyes as they noticed just how perfectly Naruto was balancing his weight over both legs. His stance was miles ahead of any of the other students.

_Just what sort of training did he receive?_ They both wondered.

Sasuke chuckled and drew a pair of kunai as he took up his own stance. Naruto narrowed his eyes and analyzed every detail of the Uchiha's motions. He noted the way Sasuke was balancing his weight on his toes, a clear give away that the Uchiha was preparing to launch an attack as soon as the match begun. He noted the loose way Sasuke gripped his kunai, indicating that he was preparing to either throw the blades or to spin them into a reverse grip. He noted the glint on the edge of the kunai, indicating that Sasuke had replaced his dulled kunai with sharpened ones.

_Sloppy, just sloppy. I'm tired of these childish games. I'm going to finish this in one exchange so I can get back to studying. This child presents no challenge to me._

Naruto adjusted the position of his right arm slightly, chambering it for action.

"Ready." Iruka said as he stepped up to the side of the ring.

He clearly hadn't noticed Sasuke's sharpened kunai, though from the way Mizuki was smirking the silver-haired Chunin had and wasn't calling Sasuke on it.

_Looks like Mizuki is one of those who hates me as well. Very well, that's one more person to be wary of._

"Begin."

Sasuke immediately leapt towards Naruto, launching the kunai in his left hand at Naruto's head while bringing the one in his right hand around in a slashing motion. Naruto narrowed his eyes and slashed his right hand upwards, catching the speeding kunai and tossing it towards the ground as he slid his right foot forward. He bent over backwards as he turned and used open-handed strikes to deflect Sasuke's arm over him, causing the Uchiha to overextend further than he already had. Reaching back towards the ground Naruto pressed his palms firmly onto the ground and pushed off with his feet into a backwards somersault, catching Sasuke's chest with his knee and lifting the surprised Uchiha into the air. As Naruto completed the somersault he launched Sasuke out of the ring, ending the match in one go.

"Winner, Naruto." Iruka declared in surprise. If he were to be honest with himself he had expected Sasuke to win as he had always dominated the spars before. Perhaps Naruto's special allowances weren't simply favoritism after all.

"He didn't win! I demand a rematch!" Sasuke yelled as he got back to his feet. Two of his more vocal fan girls added their two cents as well.

_Children. They are all a bunch of children._

Naruto turned calmly and narrowed his eyes.

"The spars are until either one of us yields, is knocked unconscious, or is knocked from the ring. I sincerely hope that when you are defeated in battle you do not behave like such an immature child. Although with a showing like that, you are likely to not survive."

Sasuke glared and looked about ready to attack Naruto when the blond simply turned and walked back to Shino, accepting his coat back and slipping it on before running a hand through his hair to straighten his red and blond stripes.

"Sensei, I grow weary of these childish pursuits. I'll return to class on Monday." Naruto said calmly. "After such a tiresome week I require a spar that will actually test my ability. These children are merely holding me back."

Many in the class looked affronted at this, as Naruto was their age and yet he acted as if he were older than them.

Iruka regarded the emotionless blond for several long moments before finally replying, much to the shock of a smirking Mizuki.

"Very well, Naruto. As long as you have your homework completed before class on Monday you are excused. Everyone else, continue stretching."

Naruto, for the first time since the class had met him, actually smiled. It was small, and if they blinked they could have missed it, but it was undeniably a smile.

"Thank you, Iruka-sensei." Naruto said politely as he bowed. "Rest assured that the work will be completed on time."

_Maybe you have some modicum of logic in there after all._

Naruto stepped away from his nearest classmates and the wind appeared to swirl around him momentarily before he suddenly vanished in a swirl of wind and leaves. The entire class blinked momentarily before a pale blond haired girl whose father was a shinobi realized what Naruto had just done.

"Cool!" She cried out, her heart beating fast as her crush on the blond boy had just gotten stronger. "He can use shunshin!!"

Those students who had heard of the technique used by higher-level Konoha shinobi dropped their jaws in awe. Shino adjusted his glasses as he filed this additional information away about his new friend. Shikamaru muttered something about 'troublesome blonds.' Sasuke glared at where the blond boy had disappeared.

_How did that bastard get so skilled? I will find out who trained him and force them to train me as well._

* * *

Naruto appeared a few minutes later in a remote training ground in a swirl of wind and leaves. The lone figure waiting in the training ground staring silently at the pyramidal memorial stone turned slowly to regard him, the only sign of his faint smile the way the corner of his one visible eye curved upwards.

"You're early." Hatake Kakashi said, wondering if something had happened.

"Class was boring, the Uchiha has ego problems, and I refuse to waste any more time on their remedial exercises than I have to." Naruto replied calmly as he stepped forward, already drawing his chokuto with his left hand.

_Come on, Kakashi-senpai. Show me a fight worthy of the training you have given me._ Naruto thought as he took a stance.

"Very well." Kakashi said as he drew his own sword. "Then we shall begin."

_Come on, little brother. Show me how much you have mastered._ Kakashi thought as he took his own stance.

The pair vanished in a blur and reappeared halfway between their previous positions as their blades clashed. The spar had begun.

* * *

**One Year Later…**

Uzumaki Naruto walked into his classroom like any Monday morning. He had a text on some subject or other open and was reading it with half of his attention as the rest was focused on avoiding obstacles.

He walked to his usual seat near the back of the classroom and took a seat next to Shino, perhaps the only person in the class he could relate to. Shino had a similar devotion to logic and knowledge as Naruto's own, and the two had very quickly become friends.

He and Shino exchanged their weekly progress reports on their pet projects, preferring the silent reflection of reading to conversation. It was so much more efficient and logical.

And Naruto tried his level best to ignore the adoring gazes and googly-eyes of the small group of fan girls he had managed to acquire over the course of the year. They were a minor nuisance at best, but he could usually avoid them outside of school, although their resourcefulness at tracking him down at times was impressive. It wasn't that he didn't like girls after all. It was just that he hadn't met any who drew his attention.

Then again, he was a twelve year old boy with firm emotional control, so it's not all that surprising that he hadn't taken an interest in any girls yet. Especially since most of those he was exposed to were just flighty teenage fan girls.

Most of the class was chatting noisily as Iruka entered the room, but the moment he stood behind the podium at the front of the class everyone quieted down. There was an excited energy in the air, and even Naruto closed his book and put it away.

_Almost through here…_ He thought as he focused his attention on his sensei.

"You have all done well over the past year, and everything you have worked towards has led to this day. Last week you completed the theoretical examinations as well as the major practical. All that is left today is for your jutsu examination. Those of you present today have scored high enough in the theoretical and practical to either pass without passing the jutsu portion or will need to be able to adequately perform the techniques to earn the final points you require. Keep in mind that your ability with jutsu can affect your team assignment, so I advise you to do your best." Iruka said as he held up a roll sheet for the class. "To complete this portion of the test you'll have to be able to perform the Henge no Jutsu and the Bunshin no Jutsu. We already tested your Kawarimi no Jutsu during the practical examination."

With that said Iruka called off the first name on the list and Naruto's desk mate, Shino, stood and followed the spiky-haired Chunin out of the classroom. Rather than stressing out Naruto removed his book from his coat and began to read again, seemingly oblivious to the admiring and nervous looks several of his female classmates kept shooting his way.

_They really should be focused on preparing for the exam, not on me. They are still such children._

When it was finally Naruto's turn he followed Iruka quietly into the next room. As Iruka sat behind the desk next to Mizuki, Naruto stepped forward and stood with his hands clasped behind his back before them. He could feel the hostility radiating off of Mizuki despite the silver-haired Chunin's skillful attempts to hide it.

_Less than a day and I can be free of that teme and his hostility._

"Ok Naruto." Iruka began as he crossed his arms behind the desk. "I want you to perform the Henge first, then the Bunshin no Jutsu."

Naruto nodded and brought his hands before him. Putting them in the correct seals he used the Henge to transform into a perfect copy of Iruka.

"Henge." He said calmly after the fact.

_Child's play…literally._

Naruto shifted his hands into a new seal and was suddenly flanked by a pair of smoke puffs. The smoke cleared to reveal two more copies of Iruka standing there.

"Bunshin."

_Barely worth the effort._

Iruka blinked in surprise. Performing a bunshin while maintaining Henge was difficult enough, but Naruto had managed to create bunshins already transformed into a Henge. That was impressive.

"Very good Naruto." Mizuki said with a false smile on his face. "You have successfully passed your genin exam. Congratulations."

_Right, and pigs fly. Why don't you tell me what you really think sometime, teme._ Naruto thought darkly.

Naruto stepped forward and accepted his hitai-ate with a respectful bow. He exited the room with it held firmly in his grasp, a faint smile on his face as soon as his back was turned to his two instructors. Finally he could get back to real training.

_At last, free from these…children and their petty games. Finally I can get back to my actual training. This delay has been bothersome enough._

As Naruto exited the room Mizuki's eyes darkened.

_Damn, I was hoping there would be an excuse to fail him. He would have made a good pawn. Now I have to rethink my plans._

* * *

When Naruto returned to his classroom there were cheers from his small following of fan girls, which caused him to raise his eyebrow slightly.

_Still just children…but perhaps I can enjoy the congratulations…just this once. If only they knew my true power though, would they really be so excited?_

"Was there ever any doubt that I would pass?" He asked, not really caring if anyone answered.

Naruto ignored for the millionth time that year a glare from Uchiha Sasuke as he walked back up to his seat. He ignored the excited chattering of his fan girls and the boring stare of one lavender-eyed girl and went back to reading his latest book.

When Shino glanced over to see what the book was he too had to raise an eyebrow, this time at the title. He had seen Sasuke reading the same book two years ago, and had been wondering how long it would take Naruto to discover its existence.

"How to Deter and Escape from Rabid Fan Girls, by Uchiha Itachi."

No one could claim that Itachi never did anything great for the world.

* * *

Later that evening Naruto was walking calmly through the streets of Konoha on his way home after training when he noted a sudden increase in the activity of both ANBU and standard shinobi. Wondering what was up he put his hand in a distinct seal and vanished in a flurry of wind and leaves only to reappear on top of a nearby roof next to an ANBU that had stopped to look around. There were ANBU on most of the nearby rooftops, but he had chosen this particular one because he had recognized who it was.

"What's the situation?" He asked calmly as he landed lightly on the rooftop, already crouching and ready for action. His nostrils flared confirming the identity of the purple-haired cat-masked ANBU beside him.

_Yugao Uzuki. Friend, comrade, senpai, sensei, sister, family._ Naruto instinctively categorized the woman, as he had every day since he had first met her….when she had saved him from _that_ place.

"One of the students who failed the Genin Exam stole the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing from the Hokage's office." Spoke a calm female voice from behind the mask. "All ANBU and other on-duty personnel have been sent out to try to find him."

_How would an Academy Student even know about that scroll?_

Naruto's eyes narrowed and he flared his nostrils, focusing. The world around him seemed to shift for a moment before coming into a different sort of focus. Everything was clearer, and he could see farther, but the edges of his vision blurred as a result.

"How shall we proceed?" Naruto asked as he slid up the sleeve of his shirt, revealing a small storage seal on his right arm. His expression was not a happy one.

"Hokage-sama has authorized me to activate you for the duration of this crisis. You are not to break your cover at any time, as you are officially still a genin." The purple-haired ANBU replied, still looking around for any sign of the target.

Naruto nodded in understanding as he formed a hand seal and focused chakra into the seal on his arm. There was a small puff of smoke and he lightly caught the object that appeared in the air above his open palm.

_It is time…I can do this…I've trained for this moment…_

"Hone Kitsune, Reporting for duty." Naruto said emotionlessly as he placed the mask over his face, special seals on the inside of it reacting to his chakra and sealing it to his skin.

There was a burst of smoke and chakra that enclosed Naruto, and when it finished his hair had turned black as night and grown to several times its normal length, and red markings had appeared all over his clothes. The mask on his face was not the standard ANBU white either, but rather black. The mask was designed to look like a fox, and would certainly evoke terror in the hearts of his enemies. There were red triangles below the eyes that made it look like it was crying blood, and three red-rimmed white lines on each cheek denoting whisker marks. The ears were filled with a deep blood red color and the edge of the jaw was lined with four glimmering white spikes on each side. All in all it was a disturbing image.

"Neko-san, I will patrol the forest watching for intruders or any attempt of the culprit to flee. I sincerely doubt that any academy student could steal the scroll without at least some help. This just reeks of a conspiracy." Naruto said calmly, his voice sounding deeper than before thanks to special sound-altering seals inside his mask.

_I bet Mizuki-teme was involved._

The Neko-masked ANBU nodded.

"Very well Hone Kitsune, move out. If you encounter the target you are to detain them by any means necessary. If the target is in fact a pawn you are hereby authorized to use lethal force against the true culprit."

Naruto nodded and then vanished in a swirl of wind and leaves. To the Neko-masked ANBU the atmosphere seemed to have gained a sudden biting chill.

Hone Kitsune reappeared at the edge of the forest bordering Konoha in a swirl of wind and leaves. As he stepped quickly into the woods to begin his hunt the moisture gathering on the ground behind him froze in his steps and the new red markings that covered his clothes glinted in the moonlight.

* * *

As soon as he had entered the forest and was out of sight of prying eyes, Hone Kitsune brought his hands together and formed a series of seals.

_Time to bring in some backup. I'm glad Hokage-sama allowed Kakashi-senpai to teach me this technique._

He ended on a strange plus-shaped seal and was suddenly surrounded by twenty solid copies of himself.

"You know what to do." He said calmly.

All twenty clones nodded and then vanished in swirls of leaves and wind. Silently the fox-masked boy took a seat and began to meditate in the center of the forest, opening his senses fully to the nature around him, hoping to catch any clue that could lead him to the culprit, or his accomplices. Silently he let nature continue on around him as he waited.

* * *

It was over an hour of silence before Naruto had any clue as to his prey's location. One of his clones had discovered the boy, a sandy-haired kid Naruto remembered as being loud and a prankster, sitting on the ground near a run down old shack reading from the scroll and attempting futilely to learn a technique from the scroll. Knowing that there was no way the boy could possibly have done this on his own the clone opted to hide and leave the boy out as bait as he dispelled another clone to send a message back to the original.

Thus Naruto was currently racing silently towards the forest when he received a sudden burst of memory as one of his clones was dispelled. He shook his head for a moment to clear the fog caused when a clone specifically sent its memories back to him, and then his eyes widened behind his mask.

"No…" He whispered softly as his eyes shifted from their normal blue to a dark red.

_I won't let that happen!_

The air around Naruto suddenly seemed to blur before he vanished in a swirl of frozen wind and leaves. He reappeared halfway across the forest high in the branches of a tree next to a pair of his clones.

"Report."

"Iruka showed up to confront the boy. At first we thought he was involved, but it turns out he was just sent to find the boy. Before Three had a chance to react someone managed to strike him from behind, dissipating him. We just arrived a moment before you did, Boss, and we must assume that it was Mizuki who dispatched our compatriot." One of the clones said his voice deep and to the untrained ear emotionless.

However, to Naruto it was clear that both of his clones were seething with rage. One thing he had discovered recently was that his clones had a tendency to develop distinct personalities quickly, and that if he focused he could draw those personalities out when he summoned new ones. The fact that they were so easily dispatch able had of course led the clones to develop a distinct hatred for any opponent who dispelled one of their own. Because of this Naruto normally only retained three of the clone personalities, which while not the limit of what he could do was the limit that he felt comfortable doing.

_Sounds like One is getting annoyed again. Sometimes I wonder about the viability of having more emotionally unstable clones at my dispensation. However, they do present a different view point that is at times useful._

Dismissing his train of thought Naruto focused his gaze on the clearing before him and had to fight hard not to snarl. Iruka was crouched over the shocked form of the child who was now clearly just a pawn of Mizuki. There was a large windmill shuriken sticking out of Iruka's back and Mizuki was smirking at him as he mocked the pair. Iruka may have been teaching mostly stuff that Naruto already knew, but the man at least had a passion for teaching. For that alone Naruto respected him, much less for the man's classified ANBU file. Don't ask how Naruto got his hands on that.

_Time to take out the trash._

"One, Two, spread out and flank the target. When I give the signal I want Two to distract him while One grabs Iruka and the kid and gets them out of here. Once they are clear I will personally deal with this traitor."

* * *

Mizuki was wrapping up his taunting of his fellow teacher and the poor foolish boy he had coerced into doing his dirty work for him when his carefully laid plans went to shit.

First, as he had drawn his second windmill shuriken to finish the interfering Chunin and the brat, he had sensed a chakra signature and barely managed to dodge as a black and red garbed figure had come flying through the air where he had just been standing, kunai slicing for his throat.

Then, while the figure who was wearing a very intimidating black fox mask that looked like an inversion of the ANBU color scheme was busy attempting to strike him with a pair of kunai he had witnessed a second black-and-red figure swoop in and grab the injured Iruka and the shocked brat and disappear in a leaf shunshin.

Mizuki snarled and launched forward with his windmill shuriken as he saw a THIRD black-and-red garbed figure drop out of the trees and grab the Forbidden Scroll. The shuriken caught the first figure, causing it to explode in a burst of smoke that obscured the second figure for a moment. Mizuki tensed as he heard a clanging sound and watched anxiously as the smoke dissipated.

When he could once again see through it he snarled.

"Who the hell are you?"

Standing on the other side of the cloud were three identical figures. Two of the figures had chokuto drawn and crossed with the windmill shuriken hanging from them, obviously the source of the clang. Behind them the third figure stood with the scroll held in one hand.

"Take the scroll. I'll remain and deal with the trash." The figure holding the scroll said his voice deep and cold.

The other two figures nodded and let the windmill shuriken drop to the ground as they sheathed their swords and leapt backwards. One of the two grabbed the scroll and disappeared in a leaf shunshin, followed almost immediately by the second leaving only one of the fox-masked figures behind.

"I said who the hell are you?!" Mizuki shouted. He was extremely pissed that this unknown shinobi had interfered with his carefully laid plans.

The figure merely stepped forward and cocked his head as if listening to something. After a few moments he spoke.

"It seems that I know enough of what you were planning thanks to my clones observing you. It also would appear that no other shinobi is near enough to us to interfere." The figure said as he clasped his hands and cracked his knuckles. "Which means I can take my frustrations with you out on your traitorous hide before anyone can interfere."

The black-masked figure reached up and placed one hand over his mask, shifting it to the side. As the figure's face became visible Mizuki froze in terror. Above a whisker marked cheek a single ruby eye gazed out at him.

"Hello, Mizuki-sensei. Miss me?"

No one was near enough to hear Mizuki scream.

* * *

When Friday finally rolled around Naruto once again left his home as he did every morning, hugging his big sister Yugao goodbye before taking out one of his books to read on his way to the Academy. However, his mind was still distracted by the events of earlier that week. Having to deal with Mizuki had affected him more than he had anticipated, but he had to admit the disruption it was having on his mental state was not entirely unexpected. After all, it had been the first time he had killed someone since breaking free from Orochimaru's laboratory, and was the first time he had killed someone when it wasn't a matter of life and death…well, his life or death at any rate. Needless to say it had affected him.

"Greetings, Naruto."

Naruto looked up from his book at the sound of Shino's voice. The sunglass wearing Aburame boy was standing by a nearby bush and Naruto assumed that he had been watching the insects buzzing around the flowers.

"Good morning Shino." Naruto replied calmly. Only the slight curving of the edge of his eyes betrayed his emotions. "Find any interesting insects this morning?"

_I wonder if he has discovered any new species that may have a use for him as a shinobi._

Shino nodded his head silently and then held out his open hand. Naruto looked and was surprised to see a colorfully winged butterfly with its wings spread sitting in Shino's palm.

"She almost fell to the ground when she exited her cocoon." Shino said in answer to Naruto's unasked question. "I saved her, but it will be an hour before her wings are dry enough for flight."

_Or just an example that Aburame do in fact have emotions after all._

Naruto regarded the delicate beauty for a few moments in silence before finally replying.

"Then perhaps we should carry her with us until she is ready to fly free?"

Shino nodded silently in response before holding out his hand to Naruto's shoulder. To the surprise of several people passing by who had stopped to watch the two shinobi, one with his hitai-ate tied around his forehead with a blue band and the other with it tied around his right upper-arm by a black band, the butterfly carefully walked across onto Naruto's shoulder and took up position drying its wings. Naruto smiled faintly before he and Shino turned and walked towards the Academy.

_At least Shino has good taste in insects._

* * *

When they arrived at the Academy the butterfly was still happily drying its wings on Naruto's shoulder and the pair of genin walked calmly into their usual classroom. Most of their classmates were already there and chatting excitedly, with the exception of a few late-comers and one or two who had failed the final exam, and Shino and Naruto presented a center of calm moving through that storm of activity.

_They are finally shinobi and yet they still keep acting like children. For their sakes I hope they grow up soon._

They sat in their seats calmly and quietly, staring forward as they waited for their instructor to arrive to present the team assignments. They didn't have long to wait, and when Iruka finally finished his end-of-term speech (and had given a cleansed explanation of why Mizuki was no longer present) Naruto returned his attention to the young Chunin, a faint look of curiosity on his face.

After all, he might very well spend the next several years teamed up with whoever he was assigned to a team with today, and he wanted as much time to mentally prepare himself for whoever he had to deal with.

_Since the only person here who doesn't act like a child is Shino…and maybe Shikamaru, when he isn't being lazy._

The first few teams Iruka read off didn't interest him much, as they were mostly students who had not managed to stand out to Naruto at all during the course of the year. He knew about the true final examination administered by each individual team leader and he had those teams pegged as most likely to fail. It was the seventh team that finally got his attention.

"Uchiha Sasuke."

Naruto could tell from the dark-haired boy's body language that he was smirking that arrogant smirk of his.

"Inuzuka Kiba."

From the way Akamaru growled and Kiba grunted Naruto could tell he was unhappy at being teamed with the Uchiha. Naruto didn't blame him. Sasuke was arrogant and had difficulty working with others.

"And Hyuuga Hinata."

From his position Naruto could not see Hinata directly, thus the blond boy was unaware of the very disappointed look that graced Hinata's face at not being placed on a team with Naruto. The girl had developed quite a crush on the stoic blond since his appearance, but she lacked the confidence to approach him.

Not that it would have done her much good.

"And your instructor will be Hatake Kakashi. Team Eight will consist of Aburame Shino."

Naruto was the only person in the class who could tell that Shino was suddenly paying more attention.

"Uzuki Naruto."

Naruto's eyebrow raised in surprise at this announcement. They were putting him and Shino together? He just knew that someone had to be pulling strings somewhere for him to be teamed with his only friend in the Academy.

"And Haruno Sakura."

Naruto had to fight not to let a groan out as the pink-haired banshee finally started railing about how unfair it was that she was on a team with that bastard who hurt her Sasuke-kun instead of on a team with her beloved Sasuke-kun. It was obvious that she STILL hadn't forgiven Naruto for showing up Sasuke each and every time they had sparred during the year.

_Damn it all to hell. I had to get placed on a team with _that_ childish IDIOT!_

"Your instructor will be Mitarashi Anko."

"What the hell?!!"

Everyone in the class turned to look towards the back of the classroom. To the surprise of absolutely everyone, Naruto was standing and leaning over his desk with his palms planted firmly on the surface. His face was a mixture of fury, confusion, and fear, showing more emotion than any of his classmates had ever seen on his face. If they had only known just how much emotion it had taken to cause this outburst. In their surprise from his outburst no one noticed a small colorful butterfly lift off of his shoulder and fly out the window to safety.

"Naruto, please calm down." Iruka said. He was as shocked by all of this as his students were.

Naruto practically growled as his fingers dug into his desk.

"That maniac is my instructor?!!"

Before anyone even had a chance to wonder just what Naruto meant part of the outer wall of the classroom was shattered by a black blur. Two kunai shot out from it into the ceiling and unrolled a massive black banner while a single figure appeared standing in the center. It was a well-endowed purple-haired woman wearing a mesh bodysuit and a tan miniskirt and battle coat of a different design from Naruto's, and the banner behind her declared in large lettering "Mitarashi Anko. Single, Sexy, and Deadly."

"Oh no. Fuck me." Naruto muttered woefully as he dropped back into his seat, his outburst forgotten as all the females in the class were marveling at Anko's bust and all the males were, well, something else at it.

Shino looked over at his new teammate and raised an eyebrow in question.

"She is the single craziest shinobi I have ever met." Naruto muttered in response, head still held in his hands. "And the only one as dedicated to the same goal as I am."

Shino's curiosity was raised, but he kept quiet for the moment. He knew that if Naruto wanted him to know then he would tell him at his own pace.

"Okay brats, listen up!" A smirking Anko said as she looked out over the sea of surprised, envious, and drooling faces. "Where's my team?"

Shino stood up immediately followed shortly thereafter by Naruto, who had managed to return his face to an impassive state.

"Here, Mitarashi-sensei." Naruto said calmly, drawing a smile from the Tokubetsu Jounin. "Pinky crying there is our third teammate."

Anko looked down at Sakura and frowned. The girl had no muscle, and her outfit screamed fan girl to the psychotic woman. As Sakura looked up and gaped at Anko's outfit the Tokubetsu Jounin chuckled and resolved that she was going to turn this little simpering fan girl into a true kunoichi.

"Ok you brats! Get your asses to training ground twenty seven in half an hour. You have one last test and I'm not going to wait to administer it. I want to get you three working as soon as possible."

With that said Anko leapt out of the window. Shino and Naruto shared a look before the pair stood and walked down the steps to stand next to a shocked Sakura.

"Sakura." Naruto said calmly. "Are you going to come with us, or do you need to be carried?"

Sakura looked at the blond boy in surprise.

"I'm not going with you! I reject this team assignment! Iruka-sensei, I demand that I be put on a team with Sasuke-kun!!" She whined.

Naruto looked past her at Sasuke and saw the boy, who while he always seemed annoyed by Naruto at least respected the boy as a fellow target for fan girls, was mouthing a frantic "no" to Naruto. The blond boy sighed and refocused on the still whining Sakura.

_Idiots. Every single one of them._

"Sakura, I will not allow you to cause us to fail this last test. We need to work as a team if we want any chance to pass, and I guarantee you won't be able to impress your Sasuke-kun if you are sent back to the Academy." Naruto said with a bit of force and faint annoyance in his voice.

Sakura looked at him, the tone of his voice shocking her into silence.

"Good. Now since you've already wasted some of our precious time I am going to carry you so that you don't waste anymore of it."

Before Sakura could react Naruto reached down and picked her up bridal style. The entire class could hear her begin to yell at him as the blond boy leapt out the window, followed closely by Shino.

In the front of the classroom, still obscured by the banner Anko had left behind, Iruka groaned. Naruto just had to spoil the final test, didn't he?

* * *

When the newly minted Team 8 finally reached their destination they found Anko standing on top of a post in the middle of a field of suspended posts. The ground below the posts was one big mud puddle, and promised an absolute mess to anyone who fell off of the posts. Naruto set Sakura, who had finally quit whining, back on her feet before turning to look towards his sensei. Shino arrived next to him a few seconds later.

"We are here, Mitarashi-sensei." Naruto said calmly, hiding his nervousness.

"I told you to call me Anko-chan!" Anko whined as she tried pout.

Sakura looked at Naruto in confusion as the blond boy let out one of his rare groans.

_Why did I have to get her for a sensei? I mean, sure, we have the same goal, but she's insane. She's the exact opposite of what a true shinobi should be. Calm, collected, and precise. She's loud, crazy, and wild._ Naruto thought as he remembered the first time he had met the psychotic Jounin.

He had only been seven at the time, and had still been covered in the blood and gore from the shinobi he had killed in his attempt to escape Orochimaru's lab. He would likely have been even bloodier, he mused, had he not accidentally clipped a gas line and lit up the entire facility like the Trinity bomb test.

"And as I told you before, only my sister and whoever I end up loving will be called –chan, even if you and I do share a passion for destroying a certain someone."

Sakura just looked even more confused while Anko smirked and straightened on her post.

"Very well gaki. Listen up brats! This test is the true final test. Fail this and the best you can hope for is to repeat your last year at the academy. The exam has a sixty six percent failure rate, meaning that of every three students to graduate the academy, only one is actually inducted as a shinobi." Anko began. "Now the test is simple. You have until sundown to capture me. If you fail to do so by the given time you will all be sent back to the Academy."

Anko smirked and Naruto tensed.

"Begin!"

Anko blurred and disappeared. Naruto groaned and turned to face his two teammates.

"Ok guys, I know she said the goal is to capture her, but I've spent too long around experience shinobi not to know when there is an ulterior motive to something. We are put on teams upon graduation for a reason. Stands to reason the real goal of this test is to see if we can work together as a team." He said calmly.

Sakura blinked and looked at him in confusion while Shino just nodded his head.

"It would seem so, Uzuki-san. Perhaps we had better assess one another's skills and equipment before we make our plans. We should make every effort to catch our new instructor, if only to prove that we can work together as a team and impress our abilities upon her."

Naruto nodded and then to the surprise of his friend and his new teammate smirked.

"You know, this will be exhilarating. It is the first time I've had cart blanche to cut loose around you children before."

"I am not a child!" Sakura yelled at Naruto as the blond boy stepped over to the nearest pole and pushed it, testing its strength.

_She's still just an idiot, despite all her book learning._

"Sensei chose this battleground for a reason, meaning she has the home turf advantage. This means that we should devise a strategy to draw her out and discover why she chose this particular site. That is something that I believe Shino and my capabilities are best suited for."

Naruto turned back to look at his teammates.

"Shino, what do you think the purpose of our team is, given what you know about the three of us?" He asked.

Shino adjusted his glasses before replying.

"My clan has always excelled as trackers, and my logical mind makes me a skilled tactician. Sakura has weak physical skills and chakra reserves, but her chakra control is rated the highest out of anyone in the class and her intelligence when she applies herself rivals even you. You have extremely good chakra control, perhaps better than Sakura's. You are a brilliant and logical tactician, preferring to avoid confrontations or to end them with a minimum of effort. You have an immense chakra capacity, and have shown an immense capability of utilizing the simplest of techniques to great effect."

Shino paused for a moment before finishing.

"Given this team setup, I would venture the hypothesis that we were put together with a tactical support team in mind, one capable of commanding large groups of forces with ease and skillfully routing enemy formations."

Naruto nodded and then smirked again. The amount of emotion he was showing was surprising to Sakura, who hadn't thought of Naruto as anything more than that stoic bastard who beat her Sasuke-kun.

_Not a bad calculation Shino, but your logic is flawed, through no fault of your own of course. You just don't have all the relevant information, my friend._

"You're half right with that assessment, Shino, but the fault is not yours. You do not know my full capabilities, and thus you analyze the situation based off of what you know."

Naruto held his hands before him in a cross-shaped seal that neither of his teammates recognized.

"Welcome to a crash course in 'Why Uzuki Naruto Should be a Jounin.'"

Naruto's smirk widened and his voice deepened slightly to a growl.

"Lesson number one. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

The trio was surrounded by a massive cloud of smoke, and when it cleared over four hundred black-clad copies of Naruto surrounded them. Shino raised his eyebrow in surprise and appreciation. His teammate was even more formidable than his data had indicated.

"Kaze Tsunami!" Naruto cried out again, turning and pointing towards the field of poles with one arm.

All of the clones responded with "Ryoukai" before blurring and reappearing in two lines before the posts. The front line knelt down and both sets of clones began to blur through hand seals. When they had reached the final seal they all sucked in deeply before letting loose their attacks and battle cries.

"Suiton: Teppoudama!" The frontline cried out as two hundred balls of water shot forth towards the posts, merging to form a single solid wall of water that seemed to glisten on the surface.

"Fuuton: Renkuudan!" The back line cried out as two hundred balls of swirling air shot forth, merging with the water to drive the wall into a chopping frenzy as it blew through the posts.

Naruto's two teammates ducked to avoid the backlash from the technique while Naruto stood proudly in the wind, his blue eyes twinkling.

_Finally I can cut loose! No way can those bastards on the Council do anything to me now that I'm officially a shinobi of Konoha._

Naruto waved his hand and all four hundred clones dispelled themselves twenty at a time over the next several seconds. When they had all gone Naruto shook his head as if to clear it before speaking again.

"Ne, Mitarashi-sensei!" Naruto called out as the wind died down and revealed the mostly devastated training ground. "Hope you aren't hiding under all that muddy water, or you might have a…chilly time of this!"

In the middle of the arena, hiding just as Naruto had suspected, Anko's eyes widened. She knew full well from her encounters with the brat that he was special, and that he kept most of his abilities well hidden. But there was one ability she did know about, and she immediately put two and two together.

"Lesson number two. Kori no Bun'ya!" Naruto cried out as he sped through a series of hand seals and then plunged his hands into the edge of the muddy water.

Sakura gasped and Shino raised an eyebrow inquisitively as there was a burst of chakra that spread out from Naruto moments before the field began to freeze over in one massive wave. The air around Naruto began to chill as well and Naruto's breath became visible. The field was half covered in ice when a massive purple snake broke through the center of the ice floe, heading straight for Naruto and his teammates.

"Lesson number three. Hone Tate!"

Sakura, who had stumbled backwards in fear upon seeing the snake coming watched wide eyed as Naruto, his hands still held to the ice of the pond, flared with power for a moment. At first nothing happened as the snake got closer and closer, but then suddenly massive white spikes shattered the ice before him, rising into the air like a massive skeletal hand to catch the incoming snake. The look on Anko's face as 'Sakura' and 'Shino' suddenly dissolved into clouds of Kikai bugs was priceless. So was the look when a pair of genin appeared beside her with kunai held to her throat.

"I believe this should count as us winning, sensei, as we have no desire to kill the one responsible for teaching us."

Anko looked at Shino out of the corner of her eye, and rather than looking angry she smiled.

"I think I could get to like you, gaki. You are clearly no ordinary genin." Anko looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, Sakura still needs a crash course to really be any good, but at least she can work with a team. And I already knew Naruto was special, just not…how special…"

Anko looked down at Naruto and licked her lips, wondering if his endurance matched his chakra levels.

_Bad Anko. He's too young. Maybe in a few years…_

"That's enough, Mitarashi-sensei." Naruto said as the massive skeletal hand sank back into the ground.

When it had disappeared completely Naruto stood and removed his hands from within the ice. There was a faint flare of chakra and suddenly a small cloud of white drifted off of his hands, leaving them completely dry.

"Tell me, gaki. How did you manage to setup such a plan? I was watching you the entire time and you never so much as used any hand signals behind your back." Anko said as Shino and Sakura stepped away from her and the snake began to lower itself to the ground.

Naruto smirked and tapped the side of his head.

"Mitarashi-sensei, the three of us have some of the highest intelligence scores of any shinobi currently serving." Anko wondered how he had gotten into classified records to determine that. "I figured out the goal of this exam before we even reached the training ground. I just had Shino create a pair of Kikai Bunshins and had them act like him and Sakura while they flanked you. That whole conversation was just a diversion to keep you occupied and distracted."

Anko groaned and shook her head resignedly.

"I'm never gonna live this down! Beaten by a bunch of brats barely out of diapers."

Naruto's eyes narrowed and suddenly he was standing right in front of Anko's face.

"Don't ever call me a child again, Mitarashi-sensei." He whispered harshly. "You and I both know that I had my childhood stripped from me. I haven't been a child since I was five, and I take great offense at being called one."

Anko, the snake mistress of Konoha, gulped and nodded, much to the confusion of Sakura and Shino as the pair of genin had not heard what Naruto had said. Naruto stepped back and his glare was suddenly replaced with the biggest smile any of the three had ever seen.

"Good. Now, shall we go surprise Hokage-sama by reporting our passing a day before the exam was supposed to be given? Then we can go grab something to eat as a team and get to know one another. Despite being in class with her for a year I will admit to knowing very little about Sakura beyond her official records." Sakura looked at him in surprise, wondering how the hell he had even gotten his hands on her records. "And despite our…mutual goal, sensei, I do not know as much about you as I would like. I feel it would be more advantageous to us working together as a team if I have as much information about my teammates as possible."

Anko smirked and then put her hands on her hips, purring sexily at Naruto.

"Well then, as long as you and I can grab dango afterwards, Naruto-kun."

Naruto groaned.

"I knew there was a reason Hayate-senpai warned me about you." He muttered as he turned and walked off, followed shortly thereafter by his new teammates.

Anko was the last to move, and she smirked before dismissing her snake.

_At least training the gaki won't be boring. But you still owe me one Yugao-chan!_

* * *

Elsewhere in Konoha a Neko-masked ANBU sneezed and shivered. She looked around, but seeing no sign of anyone looking at her she continued on her way.

* * *

AN: Here you go, the first chapter of "Bones of the Devil, Ice of an Angel". I spent over a week on this, and it is I believe the longest first chapter I have written to date. My beta I.E.T.S. did a wonderful and thorough job betaing it, and several of her suggestions allowed me to flesh it out, and I personally feel it is a much stronger chapter than I had originally written it.

As I said at the start of the chapter, this story is in response to a challenge put forth to me by Killjoy3000. I do not wish to spoil the plot of the story, but I will say that many of Naruto's love interests are…not the usual suspects. It is an interesting story that I have plotted out, and I cannot wait to work more on it. But alas, my other stories have suffered from a severe bout of writer's block, so I will endeavor to work on them before I write the second chapter of this story.

Until next time, jaa ne my loyal readers.

-ZI

**Japanese Translations**

Hone Kitsune – Bone Fox

Ryoukai – Roger

Kaze Tsunami – Wind Tidal Wave

Kori no Bun'ya – Ice Field

Hone Tate – Bone Armor/Shield


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

**Zaion Indulias:** This is not the actual second chapter. It is merely a draft of part of it, given to my patient and loyal readers a treat as I continue work on this and many other projects. This segment is subject to change in the final version, but I felt you all might like to see where I am headed with the next chapter.

* * *

Bones of the Devil, Ice of an Angel

_A Story by Zaion Indulias_

**Chapter 2: The Devil Within**

The mists slowly faded away from the bridge, revealing the carnage that had been wrought there. Shino and Sakura stood off to one side, Shino keeping a wary guard while Sakura was helping Anko patch herself up. Standing near them was Hatake Kakashi, who was busy patching up the wounds the idiot Uchiha had receiving by rushing into things, ignored by his other two students who kept staring down the bridge. Haku knelt nearby cradling Zabuza's head in her lap/ The fact that his body dissappeared at the hips didn't seem to be bothering the faintly crying girl.

On the Nami no Kuni side of the bridge an army of villagers had stopped in shock, appalled at the devastation before them. On the other end, Hone Kitsune stood silently, gazing down at the sea of blood and guts that surrunded him.

He looked down at his right hand, the hand he had just used to destroy Gatou, still trembling slightly. Around him rose inumerable large spikes of bone, each one coated in red, each one with a bandit or nukenin impaled upon it. He glanced back at his fellow Konoha shinobi, gazing at them with the exposed right half of his face encased in ice-covered red bone, the left half still covered by his mask, the mask of Hone Kitsune, the Bone Devil Fox, and was rewarded with seeing actual fear in the eyes of Uchiha Sasuke.

_Yes._ Naruto thought to himself. _That's right, see the price of true power, the pain and suffering. No lnger can you pretend that it is not garnered by destroying others._

"Wait, Anko-sensei, where's Naruto?" Sakura's voice broke the silence.

Anko blinked and looked around, finally realizing that 'Naruto' had disappeared during the fight.

"Dammit, he must have gotten knocked into the water the idiot." She turned her head to where Hone Kitsune was slowly approaching, his black and red clothes and pitch black hair soaked red with blood, the right side of his face obscured in blood-red ice and bone which had grown forth to protect his face when Zabuza had cracked his mask in half. "Hone Kitsune, go search for Naruto and bring him back here."

"No." The blood-soaked figure said as he stopped, his deep growling vocie echoing harshly in the silence. "No, there is no need, Anko-sensei. I feel it best that they learn and come to terms with these lessons now."

Sakura and the rest, with the exception of the Jounin and the arrogant idiot child Uchiha, looked fearful as they misunderstood Hone Kitsune's words.

"Understand, all of you!" He continued harshly, raising his voice. "The world is not safe and idyllic. What you have just witnessed and experienced is by far the least of the atrocities that exist in this world. This is not the last time you will lose a teammate, but neither is it the first. Remember this feeling in your hearts, this pain. You are ninja, and you must learn to be able to fight even while feeling this pain."

_Pain is weakness leaving the body. Emotion is a weakness if not controlled. Only through logic can control be attained._

Hone Kitsune paused and raised one hand to grasp his mask.

"What I am about to reveal to you is an S-rank secret. To talk about it, even amongst those who know, without either myself or the Hokage present is treason, and I will personally kill you for it. Only myself and the Hokage are allowed to reveal this secret to anybody."

Hone Kitsune removed his mask, causing all but the two jounin to gasp as the blood-coated mask and blood soaked black hair of Hone Kitsune gave way to the cold blue eyes and bright blond red-streaked hair of Uzuki Naruto.

"I am Uzuki Naruto, born Uzumaki Naruto on October 10th, the night the Kyuubi attacked Konoha. When I was five I was kidnapped and sold to a certain man to experiment upon. He altered my genes, grafting genetic talents into me in hopes of creating the perfect host. I was forced to train, beaten and assaulted until I could barely move. When I was seven something inside of me woke up, and using the power it gave me I destroyed the facility where I was being kept. A passing ANBU squad rescued me and brought me back to Konoha. It wasn't until nearly four and a half years later that I learned what that power had been, that cursed power."

Naruto paused and glanced at Kakashi, a single tear dripping from his eye.

"One of them adopted me as a brother, and they all trained me, encouraging the growth of my abilities. When I was eleven and a half I discovered the source of the power within me, and the result of that on top of my traumatic child hood caused a split in my personality. If you remember, I was absent for several weeks last spring. This was why. In order to help me they had to stabilize the separate aspects, harmonizing them with one another. This affected my emotional control, making it far harder for me to constrain my emotions as they were needed to power the harmony of my two aspects."

Naruto again paused, taking a deep breath.

"I am Uzuki Naruto. I am also Hone Kitsune. Six months before passing my genin exam I was instated as an ANBU, my true identity known only to a select few. And thus Hone Kitsune was born."

Naruto turned his mask to face him and stared down at it with narrowed eyes.

_And here on this bridge, this place of pain and suffering, was born Hone Akuma Kitsune. The Bone Devil Fox._

"It is who I am, something I must wrestle with every day. Today you saw why I wear this mask, what I fight against everyday of my life. None of you could possibly imagine the pain and suffering that has created me, and I hope you never understand."

There was a flare of chakra and Naruto's mask vanished into a seal on his right forearm. Without looking back the blood-coated blond stalked past his shocked comrades to where Haku was kneeling.

"Haku, it's time."

The dark-haired girl set Zabuza's head gently on the ground and stood, her chocolate brown eyes meeting Naruto's cold blue ones. They stood like that for several long seconds before she stepped forward and embraced Naruto, her tears soaking his shoulder.

"Ne, Mitarashi-sensei." Naruto said looking over his shoulder. "I'll leave the clean-up to you. Hokage-sama's orders were for Hone Kitsune to return for debriefing as soon as the situation was under control."

At Anko's silent nod Naruto and Haku vanished in a swirl of snow, leaving behind the shocked and stunned villagers, his worried comrades, and one very angry and very jealous Uchiha.

* * *

**Two Days Later, Hokage's Office...**

Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage of Konoha and the legendary "Professor" of shinobi was just about to sit down to a nice cup of tea when the doors to his office were unceremoniously pushed open. He was about to complain when he caught sight of the face of the person who had just entered, or rather the seriousness of his eyes, as his face was currently obscured by a mask, part painted ceramic and part blood-red bone and ice.

"Hone Akuma Kitsune, reporting for debriefing Hokage-sama." Naruto began, taking a seat before the Hokage's desk with his partner mirroring him.

The woman who had joined the Hokage's special operative in the office was wearing a blue and white kimono with shinobi acoutrements. But what Sarutobi most noticed about her was her mask. It had obviously started life as a smooth ceramic ovoid, like most oinin, with slanted eyes and red markings, but it had undergone an eerie transformation. The spot where a village affiliation would be had been replaced a red grinning fox face. The eyes had painted red marks making them look more like the eyes of a fox, and there were now three black whiskers on the left cheek of the mask. Finally, and most eerie, was the creepy blue ice that coated the mask and flared off around it, forming a pair of ears and four spikes along the jaw just like Hone Kitsune's mask.

"Hokage-sama, may I introduce Kori Kitsune, my new partner." Naruto said as he leant forward, clasping his hands together. "We have much to talk about. Why don't I start at the beginning..."

Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage of Konoha and the legendary "Professor" of shinobi, sat back in his chair and began to smoke his pipe as Hone Kitsune began to explain the events leading to the current situation.


	3. Chapter 2 Complete

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

**Zaion Indulias:** Here is the actual second chapter. I chose to load it as a new chapter rather than replace the previous one as I realized that all those who reviewed the preview would be unable to review this chapter if I had.

* * *

Bones of the Devil, Ice of an Angel

_A Story by Zaion Indulias_

**Chapter 2: The Devil Within**

The mists slowly faded away from the bridge, revealing the carnage that had been wrought there. Shino and Sakura stood off to one side, Shino keeping a wary guard while Sakura was helping Anko patch herself up. Standing near them was Hatake Kakashi, who was busy patching up the wounds the idiot Uchiha had receiving by rushing into things, ignored by his other two students who kept staring down the bridge. Haku knelt nearby cradling Zabuza's head in her lap/ The fact that his body disappeared at the hips didn't seem to be bothering the faintly crying girl.

On the Nami no Kuni side of the bridge an army of villagers had stopped in shock, appalled at the devastation before them. On the other end, Hone Kitsune stood silently, gazing down at the sea of blood and guts that surrounded the red-marked ANBU.

He looked down at his right hand, the hand he had just used to destroy Gatou, still trembling slightly. Around him rose inumerable large spikes of bone, each one coated in red, each one with a bandit or nukenin impaled upon it and opening into a blood-red flower of bone above their corpses. He glanced back at his fellow Konoha shinobi, gazing at them with the exposed right half of his face encased in ice-covered red bone, the left half still covered by his mask, the mask of Hone Kitsune, the Bone Devil Fox, and was rewarded with seeing actual fear in the eyes of Uchiha Sasuke. The bone spikes rising from his spine shook and filled the air with an eerie rattling sound.

_Yes._ Naruto thought to himself. _That's right, see the price of true power, the pain and suffering, the emptiness of the devil. No longer can you pretend that it is not garnered by destroying others._

"Wait, Anko-sensei, where's Naruto?" Sakura's voice broke the silence.

Anko blinked and looked around, finally realizing that 'Naruto' had disappeared during the fight.

"Dammit, he must have gotten knocked into the water the idiot." She turned her head to where Hone Kitsune was slowly approaching, his black and red clothes and pitch black hair soaked red with blood, the right side of his face obscured in blood-red ice and bone which had grown forth to protect his face when Zabuza had cracked his mask in half. "Hone Kitsune, go search for Naruto and bring him back here."

"No." The blood-soaked figure said as he stopped, his deep growling vocie echoing harshly in the silence. "No, there is no need, Mitarashi-sensei. I feel it best that they learn and come to terms with these lessons now."

Sakura and the rest, with the exception of the jounin and the arrogant idiot child Uchiha, looked fearful as they misunderstood Hone Kitsune's words.

"Understand, all of you!" He continued harshly, raising his voice. "The world is not safe and idyllic. What you have just witnessed and experienced is by far the least of the atrocities that exist in this world. This is not the last time you will lose a teammate, but neither is it the first. Remember this feeling in your hearts, this pain. You are ninja, and you must learn to be able to fight even while feeling this pain."

_Pain is weakness leaving the body. Emotion is a weakness if not controlled. Only through logic can control be attained._

Hone Kitsune paused and raised one hand to grasp his mask.

"What I am about to reveal to you is an S-rank secret. To talk about it, even amongst those who know, without either myself or the Hokage present is treason, and I will personally kill you for it. Only myself and the Hokage are allowed to reveal this secret to anybody."

There was a burst of chakra as Hone Kitsune removed his mask, causing all but the two jounin to gasp as the blood-coated mask and blood soaked black hair of Hone Kitsune gave way to the cold blue eyes and bright blond red-streaked hair of Uzuki Naruto.

"I am Uzuki Naruto, born Uzumaki Naruto on October 10th, the night the Kyuubi attacked Konoha. When I was five I was kidnapped and sold to a certain man to experiment upon. He altered my genes, grafting genetic talents into me in hopes of creating the perfect host. I was forced to train, beaten and assaulted until I could barely move. When I was seven something inside of me woke up, and using the power it gave me I destroyed the facility where I was being kept. A passing ANBU squad rescued me and brought me back to Konoha. It wasn't until nearly four and a half years later that I learned what that power had been, that cursed power."

Naruto paused and glanced at Kakashi, a single tear dripping from his eye.

"One of them adopted me as a brother, and they all trained me, encouraging the growth of my abilities. When I was eleven and a half I discovered the source of the power within me, and the result of that on top of my traumatic child hood caused a split in my personality. If you remember, I was absent for several weeks last spring. This was why. In order to help me they had to stabilize the separate aspects, harmonizing them with one another. This affected my emotional control, making it far harder for me to constrain my emotions as they were needed to power the harmony of my two aspects."

Naruto again paused, taking a deep breath.

"I am Uzuki Naruto. I am also Hone Kitsune. Six months before passing my genin exam I was instated as an ANBU, my true identity known only to a select trusted few. That night Hone Kitsune was born."

Naruto turned his mask to face him and stared down at it with narrowed eyes.

_And here on this bridge, this place of pain and suffering, was born Hone Akuma Kitsune. The Bone Devil Fox._

"It is who I am, something I must wrestle with every day. Today you saw why I wear this mask, what I fight against everyday of my life. None of you could possibly imagine the pain and suffering that has created me, and I hope you never understand."

There was a flare of chakra and Naruto's mask vanished into a seal on his right forearm. Without looking back the blood-coated blond stalked past his shocked comrades to where Haku was kneeling, the spines on his back still providing their eerie counterpoint.

"Haku, it's time."

The dark-haired girl set Zabuza's head gently on the ground and stood, her chocolate brown eyes meeting Naruto's cold blue ones. They stood like that for several long seconds before she stepped forward and embraced Naruto, her tears soaking his shoulder.

"Ne, Mitarashi-sensei." Naruto said looking over his shoulder. "I'll leave the clean-up to you. Hokage-sama's orders were for Hone Kitsune to return for debriefing as soon as the situation was under control."

At Anko's silent nod Naruto and Haku vanished in a swirl of snow, leaving behind the shocked and stunned villagers, his worried comrades, and one very angry and very jealous Uchiha.

* * *

**Two Days Later, Hokage's Office...**

Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage of Konoha and the legendary "Professor" of shinobi was just about to sit down to a nice cup of tea when the doors to his office were unceremoniously pushed open. He was about to complain when he caught sight of the face of the person who had just entered, or rather the seriousness of his eyes, as his face was currently obscured by a mask, part painted ceramic and part blood-red bone and ice.

"Hone Akuma Kitsune, reporting for debriefing Hokage-sama." Naruto began, taking a seat before the Hokage's desk with his partner mirroring him. The Hokage did not miss the 'Akuma' added into the codename.

The woman who had joined the Hokage's special operative in the office was wearing a blue and white kimono with shinobi acoutrements. But what Sarutobi most noticed about her was her mask. It had obviously started life as a smooth ceramic ovoid, like most oinin, with slanted eyes and red markings, but it had undergone an eerie transformation. The spot where a village affiliation would be had been replaced a red grinning fox face. The eyes had painted red marks making them look more like the eyes of a fox, and there were now three black whiskers on the left cheek of the mask. Finally, and most eerie, was the creepy blue ice that coated the mask and flared off around it, forming a pair of ears and four spikes along the jaw just like Hone Kitsune's mask.

"Hokage-sama, may I introduce Kori Kitsune, my new partner." Naruto said as he leant forward, clasping his hands together. "We have much to talk about. Why don't I start at the beginning..."

Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage of Konoha and the legendary "Professor" of shinobi, sat back in his chair and began to smoke his pipe as Hone Kitsune began to explain the events leading to the current situation.

XXXXXXXXX

**Ten Days Earlier...**

Team 8 was on the road en route to Tea Country for their first C-rank mission a mere four months after becoming Genin and beginning their training under Anko's sadistic gaze when they heard a high-pitched shriek.

TSEEERRR!!!!

Team Eight stopped in the middle of the road as Anko looked up into the sky, shading her vision against the sun's glare as she looked to see what the source of that cry had been. As she suspected, she soon caught sight of a brilliant red and brown hawk circling overhead in a pattern she recognized well. This was clearly a messenger hawk, and if one had been sent for her team now then it means that something was up, something important. Acting quickly Anko pulled out a small black scroll and broke the seal on it, channeling some chakra into it as her team watched her with a mixture of confusion and curiosity. There was a small puff of smoke and a small whistle appeared in Anko's hand. The Tokubetsu jounin put it to her lips and blew. The high pitched shriek that came forth was very distinctive, and within moments the hawk above had gone into a dive. It pulled out of the dive just before it reached them and flew over to settle on Anko's outstretched arm. She took the scroll from the bird immediately, and as soon as it was freed of its burden it flew off, ostensibly to hunt and then return to the rookery in Konoha.

After checking the scroll for any sign of traps or tampering Anko unrolled it and began to read the message. WIthin moments she groaned.

"Ne, Mitarashi-sensei, what is it?" Naruto asked, his curiosity getting the better of him. When he glanced over her shoulder at the missive he almost wished he hadn't.

Tokubetsu Jounin Mitarashi Anko, leader of Team 8. Your current mission is hereby suspended until further notice. A rookie team assigned a simple C-rank escort mission to Nami no Kuni has sent back an emergency message. The client lied about the mission. It is now considered at the very least a high B-rank or low A-rank mission, and outside what the initial team is ready to handle. I am ordering Team 8 to redirect to Nami no Kuni to meet up with Hatake Kakashi and Team 7. You are to reinforce them until their mission is complete and Team 7 returns safely to Konoha. Due to fears that Uchiha Sasuke is in too great of danger, the Council has requested that a certain high-ranking ANBU be dispatched to assist as well. However, as this agent is currently on a training furlough, your team will have to pick them up. Within the seal on this scroll is a second scroll with this agent's marching orders. Follow the map below to the designated location, then wait there while Uzuki Naruto makes contact with Hone Kitsune, the ANBU operative. Naruto has received training from this operative, and is the only member of your team who the operative will trust. Once you have picked up Hone Kitsune, make your way with all haste to Nami no Kuni. Good luck, and may the will of fire be with you.

Signed, Hiruzen Sarutobi

"Looks like our mission is scrubbed gaki." Anko muttered as she took a look at the map on the scroll.

"What?! Why?" Sakura asked as Anko rolled the scroll back up.

Behind the pinkette Naruto was already adjusting his clothes and gear.

"Because the Uchiha-teme has apparently gotten himself into a little trouble, and we have been ordered to bail him out." Naruto muttered darkly as he braced himself for the inevitable outcome.

"EEEK!!! Sasuke-kun's in trouble!?!?! We need to go help him immediately!!"

"We will Sakura. Just as soon as we swing by a nearby location so Naruto can make contact and carry orders to a special elite ANBU we are supposed to take with us"

Anko shook her head to clear it of Sakura's shriek before motioning for her team to follow her, heading off into the forest towards the south east in search of the mysterious ANBU operative known only as Hone Kitsune.

_I've heard of this Hone Kitsune only in passing. He's supposedly an extremely skilled agent who's real identity is not recorded anywhere, and which only a very select few know. If he was one of Naruto's instructors, then that could explain the abilities he has that his other training can't account for, but why would an agent that elite and secretive train a brat?_ Anko thought as they hurried through the forest.

XXXXXXXXX

Team 8 finally stopped a couple of hours later in a dimly lit forest clearing. At first glance the place was pristine, untouched and uninhabited. But to the trained senses of a shinobi, the area told a different story.

First and most notable was the air of death and decay that permeated the clearing, as if the very earth itself was saturated with blood. Second was the silence. Except for the faint breeze rustling the leaves of the trees and the faint noises of animals moving in the low-lying brush the entire place was silent as the grave. No birds chirping. No bees buzzing. Just the eerie silence before a predator strikes.

"Now it's up to me to make contact." Naruto said calmly as he stepped forward into the clearing, his hands held palms down.

Sakura and Shino watched with interest as Naruto came to a stop in the middle of the clearing and began to crouch. As they watched he lowered his hands into a pile of leaves and then went still. For a moment all was quiet.

Then it happened.

There was a flare of chakra and the members of Team 8, all except Naruto, tensed. Suddenly the center of the clearing along with Naruto was enveloped in a burst of black smoke and a flare of reddish-purple chakra. Shino moved as if to go to Naruto's aid, but a hand motion from Anko stopped him.

As the trio watched large white spikes began to shoot up out of the smoke, just past where Naruto had been crouched. Within moments a small ring of the spikes towered before them.

Whoosh.

In a burst of wind the smoke cleared, revealing Naruto kneeling before a ring of towering spikes. A moment later and the spikes creaked before beginning to retract slowly into the ground. Sakura let out a gasp at what, or rather who, stood within the ring of bones.

The figure stood maybe a few inches taller than Naruto, his height and build indicating he was a teenager despite his face being obscured by a mask. he had long spiky black hair that hung down to the middle of his back and what little of his skin was visible was darkly tanned. The figure wore an outfit similar to Naruto's, but where as Naruto's was simple and black the figure's had rows of metal studs on it and dark red markings covering it, including large swirling markings on his battle-coat. But what really shocked the members of Team 8 was the mask.

Ever since the Kyuubi's attack foxes had been anathema to the people of Konoha. Iconography of them was all but banned within the city confines. The local fox population had been hunted almost to extinction. Even shrines to fox spirits like Inari were no longer worshipped at, and many had been defiled, defaced, or destroyed. So Anko had to wonder just what would drive this mysterous ANBU to name himself after the hated critters, much less design his mask after one.

The mask of course had to be the single most intimidating ANBU mask Anko had ever seen. Unlike a typical ANBU mask which was white, Hone Kitsune's mask was black. The hollows of the ears, the mouth, and the edging of the whisker marks were done in red, while the whisker marks themselves were bone white, each leading to a white spike projecting from the side of the mask And the eyes, oh the eyes

Anko shivered as the blood red orbs seemed to look right through her as if they could see to her very soul.

_Just what sort of monster is he?_

Anko was jolted from her thoughts as Naruto began to speak.

"Hone Kitsune sensei, we come bearing orders from Sandaime-sama."

The mask figure continued to regard Team 8 for a long tense moment before stepping forward and placing a hand lightly on the top of Naruto's bowed head.

"Very well, my apprentice. Does your Team leader bear the scroll?" Hone Kitsune asked, his voice deep and growling.

"She does, Master." Naruto replied. His voice was calm, but inside he was fighting to keep emotional control. His team's reactions to the set-up were just too funny.

"Very well. Step forward and identify yourself, Jounin of Konoha. Present the scroll and let us see just what sort of mess the old man has assigned us."

Anko shivered slightly despite her training and stepped forward, holding the scroll from the Hokage out.

"Tokubetsu Jounin Mitarashi Anko. Sandaime-sama chose to redirect us as backup to Team 7 because we were the closest active team." Anko began as Hone Kitsune took the scroll and began to read. "Apparently the Council wishes to safeguard the Uchiha scion, and to placate them Sandaime-sama has requested that you assist."

Anko had to fight to retain control of her expression as the creepy ANBU let out a barking laugh uncannily like a barking fox.

"Hahahaha, that spoiled brat needs saving? This is priceless!" He remarked while laughing. "Do those Council fools even understand just who I am?! Just what my view of the world is?! My behaviors, dreams, desires, goals?! And they request that _I_ protect that privileged stuck up ponce of a child? Have they gone insane?!"

Behind Anko she could hear the sounds of Sakura struggling, probably trying to say something. Shifting her head slightly so she could see the remained of her team out of the corner of her eye revealed that Shino had clamped a hand firmly over Sakura's mouth.

_Good idea gaki. We don't need the bitch-queen mouthing off and pissing off this guy._

"Very well. Since my apprentice will have to go on this mission regardless of whether I accept the old man's request, I will accompany your team." Hone Kitsune said, suddenly calm and his voice betraying no emotion except a dark coldness and disdain. "Let's go."

At Hone Kitsune's word Naruto stood up and turned to face his team, his face set in a mask of grim determination.

"Very well." Anko replied. "Team 8, move out."

Within moments the shinobi in the clearing had vanished back into the woods...two copies of Naruto musing that while it was a childish form of entertainment, borrowing and memorizing Hayate's collection of movies had paid unexpected dividends.

A few moments after the clearing had been vacated the bushes began to rustle. Moments later a number of foxes, some just kits small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, others the size of large wolves. The foxes slowly approached the center of the clearing and formed several rings, leaving the spot where Hone Kitsune had appeared free. The foxes sat silently save for all but a few restless kits, staring intently at the empty space of ground. After several minutes a seal inscribed upon the ground in ice activated, and in a swirl of purple and red chakra a figure appeared.

"There is little we know about our enemy. That alone makes me wary. Head to the land of waves, beyond the great river to the north. Seek signs of shinobi, bandits, and others. Stay secret, stay safe, do not get caught, do not get hurt. Your safety is more important than the information. Never forget that." Hone Kitsune said, his voice soft with care.

Around him the foxes all yipped and ran off into the brush, preparing to change locations as requested by their master.

Behind his mask the clone of Hone Kitsune smirked and vanished in a puff of smoke.

XXXXXXXXX

**Late the next day...**

"How much longer until we get to see Sasuke-kun!?" Sakura whined for the umpteenth time during the journey to Nami no Kuni.

"Shut the hell up!!" Naruto and Anko shot back for the umpteenth time as well.

Shino remained silent but the buzzing coming from him increased in pitch momentarily. At the head of the group Hone Kitsune gave a low growl of disdain.

"Ne, Mitarashi-sensei, have you ever been to Nami no Kuni before?" Naruto asked, hoping to forestall any further Sakura whine fests before Hone Kitsune kicked her ass.

"Only once, when I was about your age. My sensei had a mission in Mizu no Kuni and chose to infiltrate from Nami no Kuni rather than Hi no Kuni. The place we passed through was quaint, but developing. However, I fear it will not be anywhere near what I remember. The scroll from the Hokage included information that the client who hired Team 7 lied about needing protection from bandits. Apparently a crime boss has seized control of Nami no Kuni, and is using a force of mercenaries and nuke-nin to maintain power." Anko replied, her face grimacing as she was forced to remember _him_ by association. "This is why both a high-level operative and a second Team are being dispatched as back up."

Ahead of Anko Hone Kitsune snorted but the mysterious operative didn't say anything else.

"I'm just happy I get to go rescue my Sasuke-kun. I'm sure he'll fall in love with me after I help save him."

Shino and Naruto shared a look, both sharing effectively the same thought.

_Sakura clearly has deluded herself into living in a dream world._

_She's a still a fucking child. I'm going to have to trick Mitarashi-sensei into upping her training regimen again. Maybe hard work can beat out of her what common sense seem unable to do._

"We're here." Hone Kitsune said simply as he came to a stop at the edge of the tree line.

Team 8 came to a stop beside the strange young man and Sakura's jaw dropped. Before them was a narrow beach leading straight down to where the waves were lightly lapping against the shore. Beyond that the water disappeared behind a massive fog bank.

"Now aren't you glad I made you learn that technique?" Anko said with a grin as she adjusted the straps on her pack to ensure it was securely attached.

Beside her Sakura and Shino both sweat dropped.

**FLASHBACK**

SPLASH

"GOD DAMMIT!!!!" Sakura screamed around a mouthful of water as she stumbled out of the hot springs for the three hundredth time that afternoon. "This is fucking impossible!"

Anko looked up from where she was laying on a lounge chair munching on a stick of dango and reading an issue of playninja.

"What was that gaki?" She asked.

"I said you are fucking insane and this is fucking impossible to do!!" Sakura screamed back.

Anko's eyes narrowed.

"Naja, sick'er." She said coldly.

Sakura blanched and spun around, chakra spreading from her feet as she attempted to flee across the top of the steaming hot springs from the small (for a summons) snake that began chasing her. The pinkette made it halfway across before she lost control of her chakra and fell into the boiling water.

To either side of where Sakura had fallen through the water stood her two teammates. Shino sat in lotus position in the center of the water, working on an advanced version of the water walking his clan had recommended. If an observer looked closely they would see the myriad of kikai bugs sitting between Shino and the water, creating a surface for him to float on while using his chakra to shield themselves from the water.

Naruto stood on Sakura's other side, and was doing a handstand, using a single finger to stay above the water, proving once again how much he had learned from his 'family'.

Both boys were exceedingly grateful to their respective families for teaching them water walking young.

**FLASHBACK END**

"We'll head straight across and then Naruto and I will scout the area with our clones. Once we find a trace of the route taken by Kakashi and his Team or their current location we will continue on." Hone Kitsune said, breaking the trio of genin out of their flashback.

"Right." Anko agreed. "Team 8, move out."

With the flaring of their chakra in order to traverse the water the shinobi moved forward, disappearing over the light waves and into the fog, heading towards Nami no Kuni and whatever danger awaited them in the mists.

XXXXXXXXX

A few hours later, after several false leads, a clone of Hone Kitsune met up with Team 8 as they investigated a small lake that showed evidence of a battle.

"This gash in the tree has a tang of metal to it." Hone Kitsune reported after taking a deep sniff. "There are blood traces from Hatake Kakashi, the Uchiha brat, the Inuzuka, and an unknown, likely an enemy. The majority of the blood is from Kakashi and the unknown, indicating that the Inuzuka and the Uchiha likely only suffered minor injuries. There are no signs of bodies being buried or destroyed, and there are scents of three other people. Following the information we have, one can be assumed to be Kakashi's third student and one their client. That means the second female scent is likely another enemy."

"Sir." The clone said as he came to a stop. "Team Alpha has located Team 7. They are holed up in a house not far from here."

Team 8 stopped and gathered round as Hone Kitsune stood from where he was crouched, tasting a blood stain on the ground.

"Any sign of enemy forces?" He asked.

"No sir. We smell seven targets in the house, five male and two female. Given the ages of the scents, I'd say it's safe to say that the two unaccounted for scents are likely relatives or friends of the client." Two replied, his gaze drifting towards where his creator's teammates were standing with 'Naruto' and smirking as he thought about how much fun One must be having masquerading as their boss.

_Enjoy it while you can, brother, it's not every day the boss let's us pretend to be him._

Hone Kitsune stood and grunted.

"Have Teams Beta and Gamma converge on the house and take up station in the forest surrounding it. Then take Team Alpha and perform a thorough scouting of the surrounding area. Make note of any possible threats, potential enemy bases, and sites that could be used to mass forces for an attack. Use 'their' help only if absolutely necessary. I don't like putting them in danger needlessly." Hone Kitsune said as he stood and began to walk over to Anko to tell her the plan.

Two nodded and saluted before vanishing in a swirl of leaves or wind, the faint icy mist coating the ground where he had been standing going unnoticed in the evening fog.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the clearing the three Genin were investigating other signs of battle. Naruto was crouched down and investigating a small blood stain, smelling it to see if he could recognize the scent, when Sakura knelt beside him and spoke softly.

"Hey, Naruto, you've been trained by Hone Kitsune. What's the deal with him? He's kind of scary."

Naruto grunted and stood up, his hands flaring with chakra for a moment before a light sprinkling of snow fell from them, leaving his hands clean.

"Hone Kitsune is the product of a great many tragedies, resulting in a prodigy of great power and skill, but who has suffered more pain than you can possibly imagine to get it." Naruto replied, watching across the corner of the lake as one of the many clones arrived to report to Hone Kitsune. Although he was sure no one else could have noticed the difference, he could see the slight flourishes of movement that telegraphed the identity of the clone as Two, one of his brethren. "Before his first day of life was up both his parents were dead, victims of the Kyuubi's attack. He suffered abuse for five years, before being kidnapped on his fifth birthday. The people who kidnapped him sold him to a man, one of the cruelest to ever walk this world, who used him for experiments. By the end of those experiments he had been given great power, and a great curse, and he was forced to destroy hundreds of lives to win his freedom. All by the age of seven. Since then he has done little more than train and refine his skills, until he was recognized by the Hokage as a great shinobi and a loyal soldier."

Naruto turned to look Sakura directly in the eye, his cold blue gaze unnerving her just as much as Hone Kitsune's red one did.

"He has suffered pain, immense pain, to get the power that he has. You would be wise not to underestimate the price that he has been forced to pay."

Naruto closed his eyes and turned away, walking off towards where Anko was calling for them to gather.

"After all..." He whispered softly, too softly for either of his teammates to hear. "The price he has paid...was far too high."

XXXXXXXXX

About ten minutes later Team 8 and Hone Kitsune stood in front of a decently sized house. It looked a little run down, but otherwise it was a very nice place, sitting next to a small dock on a small river. Shino and Sakura stood nervously to one side of Anko, while on the other side Naruto stood with his arms crossed. In front of all of them stood Hone Kitsune, his red eyes narrowed behind his mask, their faint glow illuminating the slits in the descending darkness.

"So this is where Kakashi-kun is camped out, huh?" Anko asked as she chewed on a senbon needle. If one had looked closely at her hands they would have seen several more prepared to be thrown, just in case Hone Kitsune was wrong about the occupants of the house. "Doesn't look like much."

Hone Kitsune snorted.

"The intelligence ANBU has on Nami no Kuni has indicated that a crime boss has set up shop here, squeezing the populace for all he can. It turns out that Kakashi's client is a bridge builder, and the main man behind the push to build a massive bridge connecting Nami no Kuni to the mainland of Hi no Kuni so that Nami no Kuni can be free of Gatou's control over shipping, and is thus a major target for Gatou. I'm impressed that the place they are staying is even in this good of condition."

Hone Kitsune and Anko both suddenly tensed, causing two of the genin to look around nervously. Naruto just cocked his head up towards the top of the building.

"Come out, come out, where ever you are." He chanted softly in a sing song voice.

A moment later a tall grey-haired man wearing a Jounin jacket and a Konoha hitai-ate covering his left eye stepped out around the second floor of the building.

"My my, quite impressive to have detected me under that genjutsu. I must say, your skills have improved Anko." Kakashi said teasingly as he eye-smiled.

Then he froze as he caught sight of who was standing beside the purple-haired tokubetsu jounin.

_What is Naruto doing with Hone Kitsune out? I thought he was supposed to be kept as secret as possible. Something must be up._

"Ah, Hone Kitsune. To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?" Kakashi said, his visible eye darkening as his face lost its smiling composure.

"The Council felt that the situation posed too much risk to the heirs of three prominent clans-"

_Read: They wanted the Uchiha given special protection._ Kakashi thought.

"-and thus requested both a genin squad and myself as backup." Hone Kitsune said with a shake of his head, causing his black main to flutter in a seemingly random action. However, all around the clearing clones caught sight of the signal and began to move in stealthily. "Tell me, there were signs of a battle back at the lake nearby. Who did you encounter? And why do I smell weakness on you?"

Kakashi chuckled darkly and slumped down against the side of house.

"I should have known not to try hiding that from you my friend." He said with a coughing chuckle. "Alright, we discovered something was up with the mission a day after leaving Konoha when we were ambushed by two Mizugakure nukenin, both chunin rank, no real threat. Thats when I made the decision to continue on and sent a message by bird back to the Hokage. We reached Nami no Kuni and were ambushed by Zabuza, the Demon of the Bloody Mist. I fought him, and nearly lost due to a foolish mistake. However, Kiba and Sasuke were able to concoct a plan to free me from my prison, and I almost had Zabuza when a Kirigakure oinin took him out with some senbon to the neck. However, I had used too much chakra and collapsed from exhaustion. My team carried me here two days ago, and as you can see I'm still recovering."

Kakashi chuckled and coughed again, but something he had said struck Hone Kitsune as suspicious.

"You said it was a Kirigakure oinin who took him out?"

At Kakashi's nod Hone Kitsune growled and spun.

"Anko, take Sakura and get Kakashi inside. Check out his and his team's wounds and set up some defensive traps and alarms. Shino, I want you and Naruto to circle the forest edge setting up traps and laying out kikai bugs as sentries. I'll leave a small number of clones as back up, but I'll need all the help I can get for what I'm about to do." He barked out before spinning back to Kakashi. "What sort of two-bit ANBU were you Kakashi-san? There was no trace of a corpse-fire at the lake, and Kirigakure oinin always destroy the bodies of their targets on site. So why would the oinin have moved the body?"

Kakashi's one visible eye widened as he realized what Hone Kitsune was saying.

"He's still alive..."

Hone Kitsune nodded.

"Yes, he most likely is, and that oinin was probably his ally. That's why I'm going to canvas this forest. Hopefully I can track them both down before Zabuza has a chance to recover." He said as he turned to face a clone that had just appeared beside him.

"Keep Team Gamma here. Have them henge themselves into objects around the perimeter of the house and order them only to reveal themselves if they have a chance to take down an enemy. I'll be taking Team Beta with me. When Team Alpha returns I want you to tell Two to take them into the city under disguise and scout out the situation. Perhaps we can get a feel for how this Gatou and his men operate. Dismissed." The clone disappeared as soon as Hone Kitsune barked his order. "And Naruto? You know what to do."

Back by Anko 'Naruto' narrowed his eyes as Hone Kitsune disappeared into the forest, several of his clones following in his wake.

_Hone Hana it is then. That will tax my resources, but thanks to the 'spark' he gave me it won't be anything I can't recover from._

XXXXXXXXX

**The next day...**

A fat pig of a businessman, extremely short and looking decidedly bad in his tight-fitting suit, entered an odd structure suspended over a forested lake in the middle of the forest. The wooden structure, suspended by spars attached to the nearby trees, was a feat of architecture, a round structure comprised of several flattened discs and a tall central conical spar. The fat man was flanked by several body guards, including two ronin wielding old katana, and had another two dozen waiting outside the building, just in case. Many of them were looking around nervously, noticing heavy damage on some of the nearby trees and a strange flower made of blue ice sticking out of the water.

"Zabuza! Where the hell are you Zabuza!!" Gatou yelled as he barged through the seemingly deserted building. "I paid you half up front for this job, and what do you have to show for it? Nothing! The old man is still working on his bridge, and now he has shinobi bodyguards. What the hell are you playing at here!?!"

As Gatou barged through the large double doors into what was the master bedroom of the structure he came to a stop, his eyes widening in fear.

"What...the...hell..." He whispered softly as his bodyguards stopped as well, equally shocked.

Before them was what had once been a bedroom, but was now nothing more than a tomb. The outer wall, which Gatou now realized faced away from where he and his men had approached from, had been completely ripped away. There were shards of bone embedded in many of the rough edges, shards so large they could only have come from some sort of giant creature, as well as smaller ones embedded in most of the remaining walls, ceiling, and floor. Laying in the bed, still partially under the covers, was Zabuza. A very blood covered, impaled and dead Zabuza. There was a large spike of bone shoved up through his chest, coated red with dried blood.

Drip. Drip. Plop.

Gatou heard a dripping sound, then something wet landed on his head. He spun and looked up at the wall above the door.

Drip.

Gatou sputtered as a drop of red landed directly in his open mouth, hurriedly spitting it out while his guards looked up at what their boss had seen. Both of them paled in fright.

Impaled on the wall above Gatou's head was Zabuza's apprentice, the strange effeminate boy in the oinin disguise. The figure's hands and feet were spread and spiked through by what looked like human ribs, reminding them of the legend of Jesus on the cross. And run straight through his body, causing the blood to very slowly drip down it and off the hilt, was Zabuza's sword.

Gatou had turned ghost white.

"Boys...looks like we better higher some other shinobi. A lot of other shinobi."

Gatou hurried out of the room, fighting with all of his might not to be sick.

XXXXXXXXX

When Hone Kitsune returned to Tazuna's house he found Naruto and Sakura sparring in the learing out front. He could sense several of his clones scattered around the house, and Kakashi resting inside. Silently he dropped out of the trees and strode towards Naruto and Sakura. Sakura paused and retreated from Naruto as she saw him and he smirked behind his mask.

_Stupid pretty girl. She really needs to pick up her game or she's going to get herself killed someday._

Noticing Sakura's actions Naruto stood upright and turned, giving Hone Kitsune a slight bow.

"Hone Kitsune-sensei, how did the hunt go?" One asked in his guise of Naruto.

"Very good, my apprentice." Hone Kitsune said, playing up the Star Wars undertones, pleased to see Sakura shiver at his deep growling voice. "Those two will be no threat to us any longer. Now we just have to worry about Gatou and whatever forces he might have waiting in the wings."

Naruto nodded as Hone Kitsune paused and made a show of looking around as he asked a question.

"Where are the others?"

Sakura, apparently having gotten her courage up, beat Naruto to replying.

"Anko-sensei and Shino are at the bridge guarding Tazuna and his workers. Naruto sent a clone with them, so we'll know the moment something happens. Team 7 on the other hand is in the forest working on the tree climbing exercise. Kakashi took them out and showed them it before returning here to rest. I'm sure Sasuke-kun has mastered it by now!" Sakura started getting excited at the thought of her precious Sasuke-kun.

"That piece of shit? I'll be surprised if he's even made it more than halfway up one of these trees. That little shit has never truly had to work for anything." Hone Kitsune said, causing Sakura to blanch and turn into fan-girl banshee mode.

"But Sasuke-kun was the Rookie of the Year! He's the greatest. I'm sure that when we find some enemies he'll show you just how good he is, then you'll have to acknowledge his greatness!!"

This time it was Naruto's turn to snort, and as Sakura turned to look at him she was shocked at the coldness in his eyes.

"After all these months of trying to make you understand, you still don't get it, do you? Sasuke isn't worth the dirt I'm standing on. Sure, his brother killed his entire family and left him behind to try to hunt him down. Boo hoo. We're shinobi, these things happen. Has he even once considered that his brother might have left him alive because he cared? No. Everyone in the village bends over backwards to make him happy, but is he happy? Does he enjoy his life and train to get better? No! He just broods about his brother, never thanks anyone, and acts like he expects to be given whatever he demands. Someday he is going to get himself or a teammate killed."

Naruto spun and stalked off into the woods, lashing out with one hand to punch a tree as he tried to work off his anger. Sakura was too much in shock to notice that Naruto had subtly coated his hand with bone before his hand impacted nor to notice the faint red aura of chakra he had emitted as he punched the tree, but Hone Kitsune did.

_Just what techniques have you been experimenting with One? No matter, I'll find out when I reabsorb you._

XXXXXXXXX

_That stupid bitch. I can't understand how the boss can put up with her on a daily basis. This is driving me insane._ One thought to himself as he strode through the forest, not really caring where he was going.

Like Naruto himself his special clones often had trouble controlling their emotions, but unlike their creator they usually weren't in existence long enough for that to be a problem, and they lacked the patience to practice Naruto's favored meditative techniques. So One was currently getting very frustrated with having to deal with Sakura and Sasuke. Kiba could at least be ignored, and it was always funny to hear Akamaru trying to chastise Kiba for being an ass.

"What the hell are you doing here, dobe?"

Sasuke's derisive voice broke One out of his thoughts and caused the blond clone to draw up short, becoming aware that he had inadvertantly crossed paths with the genin of Team 7.

"Apparently not paying enough attention to where I was going." One muttered as he turned to walk in another direction, away from the crass and annoying Kiba, the quiet and shy Hinata, and the very, very annoying Sasuke.

"Hey, dobe, I asked you a question!" Sasuke's annoying voice came from behind him.

One stopped and growled. Slowly he turned around, annoyance showing on his face.

"And I gave you an answer. Now fuck off teme, I have training to do." One turned to head of deeper into the forest, seemingly unaware of the strike Sasuke was aiming for the back of his head.

CRACK

"Arrgh!!" Sasuke cried out in pain as he pulled back, his knuckles bloody and at least one bone broken in his right hand.

"Idiot child." One muttered, not even bothering to turn around. Out of his shoulder blades and spine rose a flared bone crest, marked by blood where Sasuke's fist had impacted it. "If I've told you once I've told you a thousand times, you aren't even close to being able to lay a hit on me. You lack the necessary training, but even more than that, you lack the emotional control. Until you can control your emotions, you won't stand a chance."

One's voice was cold, the anger from a few moments before now restrained and cold. Kiba shivered while Akamaru whimpered and covered his head with his paws. Hinata turned pale, having never heard such ice from Naruto before. And Sasuke just looked up from where he was cradling his injured hand and glared at him.

"Whatever dobe. I'll just ask that ANBU to train me. Sakura told me that he's the one who as been teaching you. I'll make him teach me his skills. Then I'll be able to kick your ass dobe."

One just narrowed his eyes, his right hand twitching imperceptibly, just aching to wipe the smile off of the Uchiha's face.

"Just try it." He muttered coldly. "I guarantee you'll have no success."

Ignoring further comments from Sasuke One stalked off into the forest once more.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"Stupid."

WHAM

"Fucking."

WHAM

"Arrogant."

WHAM

"Uchiha."

WHAM

"Teme."

CRACKBOOM

With his last hit on the thirty foot tree One caused it to completely shatter, his fist enveloped in what appeared to be bone gauntlets and a layer of flaming red chakra. He knew that expending his chakra in this manner was wasteful, but he could count on his spark to restore it. Besides, working off his anger on an inanimate object ensured that he didn't accidentally kill the damn Uchiha 'prodigy' and get his boss in trouble.

"Fucking idiot thinks that whatever he wants will just be given to him, and he doesn't even appreciate what he's got." One muttered as he stepped back from the now destroyed tree, cuts caused by the explosive splinters already healing. "But he doesn't understand the first thing about power like Naruto's. Doesn't understand the pain, the torment that he went through to acquire it. Doesn't understand that Naruto never asked for any of this. He had his childhood ripped away from him, and was left a monster, slowly losing his humanity."

"Who's losing their humanity?"

One spun in surprise to find Anko leaning against a nearby tree.

Sniff.

_No, not Anko. Simply a clone. Her scent is too faint. How in the hell didn't I sense her coming?_

"Hone Kitsune sensei." One replied immediately, not missing a beat. "It's...not something he likes to talk about, or to have known, so I'd appreciate if you kept quiet about it. Everything he has gone through has left his humanity slowly eroding away. Every time he uses his powers, he loses a little bit more of himself. He's worried that one day there will be nothing left, and he will be left a true monster."

"Cut the bull-shit, Naruto. I'm not a tokubetsu jounin for nothing. I can tell somethings been off with you since the moment we made contact with Hone Kitsune."

One chuckled and adjusted his stance, a feral smirk on his face.

"I should have known that you would figure that something was going on, Mitarashi-san." He said. "Only problem is, I'm not Naruto."

One closed his eyes as he heard Anko let out a gasp of surprise.

"If you aren't Naruto, then who the hell are you."

One opened his eyes, revealing red pupils with slit irises, glowing just like Hone Kitsune's.

"I am One. One of Nine. Let me tell you a story, Mitarashi-san. Let me tell you a story, about a young child, barely a day old, who had the greatest of all tailed demons sealed within his stomach.

XXXXXXXXX

The next day Hone Kitsune took to visiting the village that Tazuna was building his bridge out of, under a henge of course, joined by One. Anko had taken Shino and Sakura to guard the bridge again while Kakashi had his students training and Hone Kitsune's hidden clones kept watch on Tsunami and Inari.

"Just look at this place." He muttered darkly, his disguise that of a sturdy and tanned fisherman with blond hair and blue wearing patched clothing. Beside him One had used a henge to appear as a slightly older version of himself, similar in appearance to Hone Kitsune's disguise except lacking his normal whisker marks. Appearing to be related was a good way to lower suspicion. "Everyone is so impoverished they can barely buy what spoiled adn crappy food is available. Gatou's squeezing of the people may have produced huge profits initially, but in the long run he's only hurting himself. The idiot has no concept of long-term sustainability of commerce."

When there was no reply from One Hone Kitsune paused and turned around. He was surprised to find the blond boy helping a young girl to her feet. The girl looked to be about eleven or twelve, although through all the dirt and her ragged clothes and with her malnourished frame it was hard to be sure. She had pale yellow-blonde hair and eyes like green saphires.

"Are you okay?" One asked as the girl tried to remain steady on her feet.

"Y-yes." She stammered back, blushing faintly that such a cute boy had cared to help her when she stumbled.

"You look like you haven't eaten anything in days. Here, have this." One said, pulling out the leaf-wrapped fish he had been given for lunch. One didn't actually need to eat, but they had to keep up the fiction that he was Naruto.

Despite being in his Hone Kitsune state even Naruto felt a bit of an attraction to this girl, which confused him as with one exception he had never felt feelings like this for a girl before.

"N-no, I couldn't. That's yours, you must need it for yourself."

One chuckled and favored the girl with a gentle smile.

"Naw, I've got plenty of energy. But you look like you could use something. So please, take it. I won't be able to sleep otherwise."

Tentatively, reluctantly the girl accepted the wrapped package, a blush evident on her cheeks.

"T-thank you." She replied hurriedly. "U-um, what's your name?"

She asked this last part in a hurry, blushing fiercely.

One smiled again.

"Naruto. Uzuki Naruto."

The girl smiled and bowed, hiding her blush.

"Thank you Naruto. My name is Kaname. I will always remember this kindness."

As the blond girl ran off Hone Kitsune frowned behind his mask.

_What is this feeling? I haven't felt like this since...not since..._

The pain the associated memories brought up was worse than any time before.

"Naruto, let's move on." He bit out harshly.

One turned and walked over to him, surprised by his creator's mood.

_What's with N-...oh!_ Understanding dawned on One as he noted how Hone Kitsune's gaze was following the young girl he had just helped. _Looks like he might have a crush on that girl. This is a good sign. He bundles his emotions up so tightly that we were starting to fear for his sanity. Maybe being unable to meditate for so long will help him._

As the pair continued to walk through the village they saw children and orphans in far worse shape than Kaname had been. But no matter what they saw, what atrocities or pain their witnessed, Naruto's mind remained preoccupied by the blond girl who couldn't have been more than a year younger than himself at most. One on the other hand kept noting how the poverty and conditions these people were living in were worse than what Naruto had endured even as a child, and his anger grew.

XXXXXXXXX

**Four Days Later...**

"Why are you all trying so hard? Gatou can't be defeated. You're all just going to get killed!" Inari yelled, interrupting dinner.

"Tell me, boy, just what do you know about hardship?" Hone Kitsune spoke up coldly from where he sat in the corner, one eye on the conversation and one looking out the window just in case. "Have you had to kill to survive? Have you killed simply because it was your orders, or because you wanted to? Have you ever been starved to the edge of death? Beaten to it? Pushed so far to the edge that you are irredeemable, a monster for what you have done to survive?"

Hone Kitsune's voice was cold and hallow, lacking the rumbling depth it normally possessed. Slowly the masked figure turned his head to face those at the table fully, his cold red eyes smoldering through the slits in his mask. Sakura found herself once again shuddering and wilting under that stare, that stare that felt like looking into fiery pits of oblivion.

"Tell me, just how old are you brat? Nine? Ten? When I was your age, I had already killed, many times over. I had killed animals for food and for training. I had been forced to kill humans during training just to survive. I even slaughtered an entire enemy base single handedly. Do you really think this Gatou intimidates me? The only reason I haven't simply gone to take him out already is because I am not an idiot. He has shinobi on his payroll, nuke-nin who's identities are still unknown to me. This makes them highly unpredictable, and engaging them without proper intelligence would be suicide."

Everyone sat in shocked silence, staring at the black and red clothed young man. Tazuna, Tsunami, and Inari looked like they had just seen a ghost. Sasuke was glaring at the mysterious shinobi who had refused his demands to train him while Kiba was trying to calm down a whimpering Akamaru. Sakura and Hinata were both shivering and shrinking in on themselves, while Shino appeared impassive with the exception of a faint buzzing and Naruto had his eyes narrowed slightly, a thoughtful look on his face and his blue eyes narrowed slightly.

Finally, Kakashi had his eyes narrowed and Anko, psycho snake lady herself, was shivering from the chill Hone Kitsune was unconsciously (or perhaps it was a conscious effort on the strange ANBU's part) emitting.

Hone Kitsune snorted.

"You're all pathetic. The Uchiha brat thinks he's hot shit, but he's more likely to get himself and his teammates killed than to be any use. Likewise with the mutt. His dog might be some use in a fight though." Hone Kitsune said, ignoring the rage in Sasuke's eyes or Kiba's outburst. "The Hyuuga has no confidence, and the pinkette is a whining fangirl. Of the genin only the Aburame and my apprentice are of any use, and neither of them is ready for a jounin of Momochi Zabuza's skill, much less for whatever shinobi Gatou has hired as well. In short, they are liabilities in a battle."

Hone Kitsune stood from his chair and turned to leave.

"Hone Kitsune." Kakashi said, his voice cold and hard. "Where are you headed?"

Hone Kitsune paused, his hand on the doorjam, and cocked his head so he could glance at Kakashi out of his right eye.

"To get back-up. Keep your senses peeled, the enemy could strike at any time."

With that said Hone Kitsune disappeared out the back door and into the night, his departure leaving his audience so stunned that none of them thought to question where he would be receiving backup from.

XXXXXXXXX

**Several Hours Later...**

In the middle of the forest a black-clothed figure slipped into a clearing. He did no go unnoticed by the clearing's occupants, nor the guards hidden in the trees surrounding it.

"It's about time you got here." A deep voice growled from within a tent.

"Sorry, but I had to create a fiction for why I was ditching the deadbeats with the two jounin. None of those genin would understand what it is I do here tonight, or why, and that idiot Uchiha would probably just pick a fight and get us all killed." The black-clothed figure said as he stopped in the middle of the clearing, reaching up a hand to remove his mask. "So, cousin, let us begin. I strongly suspect that Gatou's attack will come tomorrow, so we do not have much time."

As a figure in a tight white armored vest, a red hakama, and an oinin mask from Kirigakure exited the tent the guards in the trees entered the clearing, each one a copy of Hone Kitsune, each without a mask.

"Let's." Haku said with narrowed eyes as behind her a bandaged Zabuza watched with interest.

XXXXXXXXX

Team 7 and Team 8 arrived to the bridge early the following morning to find it shrouded in mist, an ominous and oppressive silence their only companion.

"I don't like the feel of this." Sakura muttered as the two teams spread out. Following hand signals from their leaders Shino, Hinata, and Sakura surrounded Tazuna in a guard formation. Kiba, Naruto, and Sasuke spread out while Anko and Kakashi took point and rear, wary of an ambush.

"Neither do I." Naruto muttered. " And Hone Kitsune didn't return last night. That has me worried."

"As it should, brat." A deep voice bellowed from the fog before them.

As if on cue the fog before them began to thin, and the sight that faced them chilled their blood.

On the end of the bridge stood rank after rank of Gatou's men. The farthest back were the uniformed and sun-glass wearing goons who ran Gatou's company and who protected him directly. Ostensibly the fat man himself was hiding behind them. Next were Gatou's full-time muscle, large goons armed with swords and wearing rough uniforms. Then were several hundred mercenaries, hired cheap and costing even less if they get killed doing their job, hired blades out for easy money and lots of violence. But it was the group in front of even that who worried the shinobi.

"Well, lookie what we got here. Looks like even more came than Gatou promised us. On top of the Hyuuga and the Uchiha we have a hottie, a pinky who shows promise, an Aburame, and a blond ANBU wanna-be. My my, the Raikage will be most pleased with this haul. Maybe he will even let us end this little undercover operation and return home for a change." The tall man at the front of the group said with a chuckle.

He stood almost seven feet tall, lithe but with strongly muscled arms and legs. he was wearing a tight fitting black tank-top and long black pants. He had a pair of long swords strapped to his back and was wearing a Kumo hitai-ate with a cut carved into it. His hair was a dark green and his eyes glinted dangerously. Behind him stood two rows of twelve shinobi, each wearing an almost identical outfit. They all had identical masks, carved to resemble some sort of demon or oni and with the Kumo symbol carved into the foreheads. They wore ANBU-style pants, vests, and armor, and their upper arms were uncovered. On the right arm of each of them was tattooed a jagged lightning bolt bisecting a circle, and on their left arms was tattooed the kanji for the numbers one through twenty four. The first figure's left arm bore the kanji for zero.

"Amachi Raido." Anko cursed as she recognized the man from a bingo book. "Ex-Kumo jounin, wanted for the murder of a cousin of the previous Raikage, fled Kumo with six teams of elite ANBU. Rumor abounds that the murder was actually a cover to save the Raikage the embarrassment of having a traitor in his family, and was used to allow your division to perform operations Kumo couldn't dare be connected to officially.."

Raido chuckled deeply.

"My my little girl, it seems you know more than you should. I guess this will just be one more reason to please the Raikage. When we take you all in and turn you over that is." He chuckled again. "Oh, don't worry cutie, I can guarantee that you and the ladies won't be killed. No, after you are interrogated I'm sure you'll have your chakra sealed and be set up in a nice...hotel. After all, you can breed lots of strong children for Kumo, and satisfy the needs of our shinobi while doing so."

Behind the line of shinobi a number of the mercenaries grinned lecherously at the thought of the voluptuous Anko and the soon-to-blossom girls being used in such a manner.

"And just who says that you will be receiving them after this is all over?" Another voice came from behind the Konoha shinobi, causing them to spin in surprise.

Team 7's eyes widened at the sight before them. Standing there, completely healed and looking as if he had never been wounded by Kiba's surprise Gatsuuga, was Momochi Zabuza. Zabuza was flanked by a pair of teenagers, both wearing masks. One was the Mizugakure oinin who had taken Zabuza's corpse from Team 7 to be disposed of. The clearly female figure was wearing a tight white vest with light armoring, a red hakama, and sandals like a monk. She had several pouches on her hips and had long sleeves that left the tops of her arms and her shoulders bare.

This contrasted brightly with the figure flanking Zabuza on the other side. He was wearing black clothing with red markings and lines of metal studs. He had on a vicious looking black and red fox mask. And he had a long whip-like sword strapped to his back that almost looked like it had been made of bone. Most of the Konoha shinobi had to fight to keep their surprise at Hone Kitsune's appearance from showing.

"Momochi Zabuza. I'd heard you died, killed by this Konoha scum." Raido spat the name.

"Nope, just took a dirt nap courtesy of the mutt and his dog. Tell me, are you the best Gatou could find on such short notice? Pathetic really. I hope Gatou didn't waste too much on your brats. Oh, and give my best to your sister."

Raido's face switched from amusement to anger in an instant.

"I'm going to enjoy killing you bastard, for what you did to her!" Raido roared.

As the Kumo shinobi spread out the Konoha shinobi tensed.

"Are they fighting us or each other?" Anko muttered as she and Kakashi moved back to back.

"I'm not sure, but since Hone Kitsune is with Zabuza, I'd be willing to bet that he is the reinforcements he mentioned last night."

"Oh go to hell, Raido. You know she liked it. After all, why would she want one of your fellow limp-dicked Kumo brethren when she could have...'the Shaft'?" Zabuza threw back as he reached his hand up, prepared to draw his blade.

There was no more time for any other comments as the whole situation went to pot.

"Look out!" Sakura screamed to Sasuke as he was suddenly surrounded by four of the masked enemy shinobi as he had rushed towards Raido, intending to try to kill him despite Kakashi's order to stay back.

"Raiton: Rain." Three of the four shinobi said as they performed hand seals, the fourth interrupting Sasuke's attack and knocking him up into the air.

The air around Sasuke condensed into a dark storm cloud that began to spark. A moment later the last loyal Uchiha fell back to the ground writhing in pain as the lightning raced through his body.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura cried as the four enemy shinobi turned and moved to aid their brothers, most of whom had engaged the true threats, the four Jounin and the mysterious oinin.

"I'll kill you you bastard!" Raido screamed as he engaged Zabuza in a whirling display of swordsmanship.

"Yeah?! I'd like to see you try, limp-dick!" Zabuza shot back, laughing as he blocked Raido's strike and twisted his sword to counterattack, forcing Raido to back off.

"You Kumo bastards are feisty. I am going to love taking you down a peg or three!" Anko yelled as she whirled through a group of the enemies, single-handedly holding off six of the masked shinobi. "Die!!"

In the center of the melee Shino's bugs acted as a shield to deflect any projectiles that went astray while Hinata tried not to faint and used her Byakugan to watch for an attempt on their lives. Sakura was worse than useless as she kept screaming about her precious Sasuke-kun. Nearby Naruto had his chokuto drawn and was frantically fending off a pair of the masked shinobi, not being given any time to try using his special abilities or techniques.

And in the center of it all stood Hone Kitsune, his heightened senses alert, trying to find what was setting him on edge about this scenario.

_Something is wrong. What is it? Where is the flaw, the error?_ He thought as he fought to contain the bloodlust he had inherited from his one-time prisoner. _I must find the flaw or else everyone could die. Where the hell is it!!!?!!_

"Gatsuuga!" Kiba cried as he and his copy, really just Akamaru transformed using a special technique, performed one of his strongest techniques to take down one of the masked enemy shinobi who had let down their guard. The hit man fell to the ground with a thud before vanishing in a puff of smoke. That's when Hone Kitsune figured it out, but it was already too late.

_They're clones!_

"Mitarashi-san, look out!" He yelled out, but it was already too late. The bridge beneath Anko had suddenly dissolved as if it were a pit filled with sand and three figures lashed out each one stabbing Anko in the torso. The purple-haired ninja fell, stabbed in the chest by three kunai, her assailants not bothering to give her a second thought.

"Well, looks like one of the pathetic Konoha scum was able to detect us." The first figure said. He was about six feet tall with long pale lanky yellow hair, pale blue eyes, and wearing what looked like a black bath-robe. He had a long metal rod strapped to his back and was wearing heavy gloves and heavy boots. He had an unmarked hitai-ate strapped around his right shoulder.

"Of all of those here, he is the only one who might even be remotely interesting for our Master's experiments." The second figure said. She was a woman, about twenty years old with long green hair and wearing a red kimono. She had a pair of black-bladed kama strapped to her hips and likewise had an unmarked hitai-ate strapped to her right shoulder.

"Yes, but first we must complete the contract. Orochimaru-sama requires the funds far more than he requires another research subject. Those he can acquire with ease after all." The third figure finished. She had pale blue hair tied in a spiky ponytail at the back of her head and two long locks dangling down to frame her face. She was wearing a green tunic with black shorts and from where Hone Kitsune was he could see a white lotus on the back of it.

_Orochimaru!!!?!!_

In that moment Naruto, the real Naruto with his face hidden behind the mask of Hone Kitsune, saw red.

All of his carefully crafted and maintained emotional control went out the window. The proverbial restraints had been cut by these servants of Orochimaru nearly murdering his sensei, who despite his complaints otherwise was still an important person to him, someone who could understand what he had been through. As the power he kept contained began to flow forth from within him the fog surrounding the bridge was dispersed, the chakra he was radiating disrupting that which was maintaining it. Several of the masked shinobi attacking his allies vanished in puffs of smoke, their destruction masking the destruction of the clone of Naruto. A moment later a subtle genjutsu no one had noticed vanished, revealing a wall of pure crystal separating the Konoha shinobi from Gatou's men. As the crystals were revealed, so were the real Raido and his men, all standing pleased and unharmed on the other side of the crystal wall. As a result of this the ones that they had been fighting vanished, as if they were after images projected by the genjutsu.

"Ho ho, looks like that strange one is more interesting than I thought." The blue-haired woman commented, nonchalant even as her two comrades tensed up at the oppresive power radiating from Naruto. "Why don't you tell me your name, so I know what to write on your tombstone."

"No." Naruto replied darkly, clenching his fists.

The black-haired black-masked Naruto doubled over slightly as his muscles bulged and the power flowed through him. He could feel the change occurring, but he could not stop it, did not wish to stop it. With a primal cry he doubled over in pain, letting the transformation take hold as his chakra began to pour forth in a reddish-purple spiral around him.

"Well then, I'll just have to make this quick." The blue haired woman said as her right hand blurred through a series of one-handed seals. Suddenly a shard of crystal burst forth from the ground before Naruto, intent on shredding him in half.

"No!" A deep voice cried out.

Before anyone else could react Momochi Zabuza shoved Naruto out of the way of the shard, but he was too late to save himself. The shard nearly obliterated his lower body, and completely sheared it from his torso as the tip collided with Naruto's mask, shattering the right half of it. He collapsed to the ground, already dead before he hit. Haku rushed to his side, tears streaming out from under her mask.

"Hmmph, no matter. I'll just kill the brat the old fashioned way, Guren." The green-haired women muttered as she drew her twin kama.

"No." Naruto growled, his voice deep and feral. "No, today it is you who shall die. ALL OF YOU!!!"

Naruto threw his head back roared as he stood up, and the sight that all present beheld was frightening. Even the crowd of villagers who had been drawn by the commotion stood in fear and shock. Naruto's body mass had increased by about fifty percent, his arms bulking up, his fingers and toes changing and becoming clawed and coated in a layer of bone, his hair flowing down his back like a wild mane, the shattered part of his mask covered in swirling red and purple chakra as he cocked his head to look at his enemies, the part of his whiskered face revealed only to them.

"You should run, pretty little toy. If you run, I might just let you live. But if not, then I'll kill you, just like I intend to kill all of this trash. But know this. You work for that traitorous bastard Orochimaru. That means your life will still be forfeit. Someday, maybe tomorrow, maybe a year from now, our paths _will_ cross again, and on that day..." Naruto lowered his voice, his slitted red eye burning straight into Guren's. "I promise, I'll kill you."

Naruto's voice was so cold it struck fear in Guren's heart.

_This boy is a monster!!! We need to get out of here!!_

"Shoji, Mara, retreat. We can't compete with him. He's projecting more power than even _they_ do."

The three strange shinobi vanished in a swirl of leaves and wind and the crystal wall between Naruto and Gatou's men suddenly looked a lot less intimidating. Behind it Raido blanched.

Naruto turned his attention to the crystal wall and roared again as bone, soaked in his blood, erupted from the right side of his face. The bone quickly molded itself to the shattered edge of the mask and formed a blood red copy of what had been on the right side before. Slowly a layer of red ice crystalized over the surface, causing it to shimmer dangerously, and causing the light from his glowing right eye to reflect eerily.

"Now, all of you!!!" He roared as he flexed his muscles, his bones creaking ominously. "Prepare yourselves for death!"

With another roar Naruto's chakra flooded outward, the shear density of it forcing many of his allies to their knees and causing many of the weaker-willed mercenaries before him to shit themselves. Behind Naruto his teammates were nearly catatonic with fear, and Anko was frantically trying to fight off the unreasonable fear she was feeling at sensing a chakra so much like that beast Kyuubi's.

_Wh-what the hell is he?!!!_ Raido thought frantically as the chakra washed over him. He tried to turn to run and fell to the ground hard. He looked down at his feet and his eyes widened in fear as he found them encased in dark red ice.

As if reading Raido's thoughts Naruto spoke, stalking forward mercilessly, inevitably, like the path of a tsunami. With each step a new spike emerged from his spine, segmented and rising above him like some sort of undead fin, each spike rattling with an eerie sound, like a grave walking.

"I am your death."

The beast that Naruto had transformed into suddenly dropped to all fours and began to gallop towards the crystal wall. As the fools on the other side finally realized the danger they were in and tried to run they all fell to the ground, their feet encased in ice. A couple of the shinobi began to try to break free, but the mercenaries had no chance whatsoever. They were trapped in the killing field.

CRASH

Wrapped in a flaming spiraling field of reddish-purple chakra that flared behind him like two entwined tails Naruto crashed through the crystal wall, shattering it, the shards from it flying forward and wounding many of the mercenaries. As he bore down on Raido some of his men managed to break free and attempted to flee.

"I don't think so!" Naruto roared and he drew the bone-whip sword strapped to his back, flinging it out, using his power to control it and extend it as he swung it in an arc. The poor enemy shinobi didn't stand a chance as their heads were severed from their bodies by the razor-sharp extremely-dense chakra-charged edge of the blade.

Raido closed his eyes and swallowed, hoping that his death would at least be quick. He needn't have bothered.

As Naruto stalked forward amongst the trapped criminals he lashed out randomly, beheading or bisecting nearby targets. He passed Raido entirely, not giving the poor Jounin a second though as he trudged towards the man behind all this, the man responsible for so much pain and suffering in Nami no Kuni and around the Elemental Nations. The man responsible for putting him in such a position that he had no choice but to become a true monster, a devil in man's flesh.

As he reached Gatou's frantic bodyguards, many of whom had realized how bad the situation was and were frantically trying to extricate themselves from the ice so that they could flee to safety, he heard a sound from behind him. Cocking his head he focused his senses back where he had come from, able to hear clearly over the crash of the waves upon the bridge's pylons and the frantic cries of the soon-to-be-deceased the sound of his teammates bandaging someone up...and his sensei directing them on how to close her wounds.

_Good, she survives. I do not believe I would care to live in a world without at least one person I trust who can understand just what I have gone through._

Naruto returned his focus to the guards before him and smirked evilly, not that any of them could see it behind his fear-inciting mask. He cracked his knuckles and raised his sword in the air, retracting it to its shortest length as he focused on what he was about to do.

_Now, let them see the face of a true monster. Compared to me Gatou is nothing, but I will at least do what I think is right, to protect the innocent until the day I die._

"Hone Akuma: Sakurachiru Shiokiba!"

With the sword surrounded by swirling red and purple chakra Naruto slammed it into the ground, burying it. All was quiet for a moment and then suddenly bone spikes began to shoot forth from the bridge, spreading outward from where Naruto stood. Each spike sprung forth and impaled a target, lifting them into the air, their blood flowing down and coating it red as the tip of the bone spike flowered open, like hundreds of blood red flowers growing out of the bridge. As the gathered mercenaries realized what was happening they began to scream and their efforts to escape were redoubled, adding a frightening cacophony of sound to the birth of Naruto's new 'garden'. Only Raido remained calm, having come to terms with his fate. Just as the last person between him and Naruto was impaled he spoke.

"Lord, have mercy on my soul."

With the sound of breaking bone and rending flesh Amachi Raido died, impaled upon a spike of bone in Naruto's execution ground, his life ended by something more monstrous than he.

Slowly Naruto stood, leaving his sword behind, and stepped forward until he stood over Gatou, the man who started all this, the man who tormented the innocents of Nami no Kuni, the man he had come here to kill

"P-p-p-please spare me!! I beg you, have mercy!!! I'll pay you whatever you want, just don't kill me!!!" The fat pig of a man before him begged for his life, blubbering like the very animal he reminded Naruto of, like prey.

Naruto growled, the disturbing sound echoing off the field of impaled mercenaries surrounding him and sounding like an entire pack of predators had surrounded the fat begging pig.

"You are a monster, a beast disguised in a human shell. You deserve no mercy. Face your death like a man."

Naruto's bones creaked as he suddenly moved faster than any of his stunned audience could track, grabbing Gatou by the throat with his left hand and hefting the fat man into the air. On his back the long bones spikes he had grown rattled rapidly, providing an eerie counterpoint to the dread silence that otherwise enveloped the bridge.

"Now, you will know pain, you will know suffering, and you will know death."

Naruto growled again and ignored the fat man's cry of no as he pulled his right hand back. As the watchers shivered in fear Naruto focused the aura of death and despair that his chakra had been radiating into his right hand. The energy became visible as it grew denser, until Naruto's hand was enveloped in a sphere of dark purple energy.

"Zenshou." Naruto whispered softly as he plunged his hand forward and shoved it into Gatou's chest.

As his fellow shinobi and the villagers who had been drawn by the commotion watched in horror the fat business man Gatou was absorbed within a growing sphere of black and purple energy. The sphere grew until it had completely enveloped both Naruto and his prey and it stayed that way for several long seconds. When the sphere finally collapsed all that was left was Naruto, his soaked right hand held before him in a fist and the ground around him soaked in blood.

Naruto looked down at his hand, his eyes shadowed by his mask, and he felt nothing. No sorrow, no regret, no pain. Only emptiness.

_Every death, every kill, just makes me that more empty inside. This is the price I pay for this power, this destruction of what it is that makes me human. _Naruto thought darkly. _Someday, perhaps sooner than I think, I will kill someone, and find that I have nothing left to give. That day, I shall cease to be human, shall be nothing but a monster, a devil in human guise._

Around Naruto lay a morbid garden, countless mercenaries, bandits, and nuke-nin impaled upon stakes of bone, their blood dying their bone-flower memorials red.

_That day, I shall truly become Hone Akuma Kitsune, the next Kyuubi._

XXXXXXXXX

"And that is what happened over the last two weeks, Hokage-sama. I collected the bounties on Amachi Raido and the twenty four Kumo ANBU who defected with him, took a portion of Gatou's vault contents as my pay and Konoha's, made an agreement that would have allowed us to recruit Momochi Zabuza, had he not sacrificed himself to save me, and gained a partner." Hone Kitsune said, nodding his head slightly towards his companion. "Kori Kitsune, also known as Momochi Haku, was Zabuza's ally and adopted daughter. She is also...a relative of mine, in a manner of speaking. I have offered her a position as my partner, as she can train me in one of my more...unique abilities, and because our skills are complimentary."

Hiruzen Sarutobi sat with his hands crossed before him, musing for a few moments.

"You say that the bridge battle occurred two days ago. What took you so long to report back?" He asked.

"The way the people of Nami no Kuni had been treated was worse than the worst beatings I ever endured as a child. I chose to raid Gatou's mansion to recoup our mission fee plus a bonus, then I distributed the rest of the wealth to the people of Nami no Kuni." Hone Kitsune replied. "Also, I was not one hundred percent certain that the trio working for Orochimaru had truly fed, so I was keeping an eye on Teams 7 and 8 just in case they made another move. I left to return here as soon as my resources indicated that they had indeed left Nami no Kuni for the mainland."

Sarutobi nodded his head, catching the undertones of what Naruto had said.

_You didn't want to leave your teachers or teammates backs unprotected while they recovered from the battle. And your...friends...tracked the enemy while they fled. Definitely not something that you would want in a report._

"Very well. I will have Ibiki debrief both you and your new...partner fully. We will have him set up a legend for her so that she can be brought quietly into the village, perhaps as a cousin of your sister to explain her closeness to you, and prepare a test of her abilities. Assuming she proves acceptable, I will have her given the rank of Chunin, and have Kori Kitsune instated as a Special ANBU assigned as your partner." Sarutobi responded. "Now, report to Ibiki at ANBU headquarters. Dismissed."

XXXXXXXXX

In a darkened nondescript room, lit only by the faint glow from a computer monitor, an extremely pale man with long silky black hair sat deep in thought.

"What was the result of the latest round of tests?"

From a speaker beside the monitor a female voice disrupted by static came through.

"Failures, my Lord, all of them. Of a hundred subjects, ninety three suffered death within hours. Of the seven that survived past the twelve hour mark, five suffered continuing mutations that left them grossly disfigured and ultimately useless, while of the remaining two one seemed to degrade into goo and the other went insane and committed suicide."

The black haired figure snarled and slammed a hand down onto his desk, the metal surface ringing from the impact.

"Damn! And after all that work to select subjects who appeared to have complimentary genetic profiles. Why is this not taking in at least one of the subjects?"

"My Lord, if I might offer a suggestion?" The woman, who's face on the monitor was partially shadowed and hid behind her glasses and reddish hair, spoke carefully.

At the black haired figure's slight nod the woman continued.

"What about reacquiring Patient Zero? He should be in perfect health given the intel you're spies have supplied on him, and with fresh samples of the mutated strain of the virus we may be able to determine why he survived and the others don't. Plus, if the research done on him before his escape is to be believed, his body should be ready to accept several new strains if we can just solve the flaw."

The shadowed figure clasped his hands and began to smirk. His smirk became a grin. His grin became a chuckle. His chuckle became a laugh. His laugh became full blown laughter.

"Excellent idea, Karin. Marvelous. Of course, _he_ would be the perfect subject for the experiments. And if I can acquire a Hyuuga or an Uchiha for experiments, perhaps their eyes can be transferred to him as well. He would make a most excellent host, and his appearance could be used to mock Konoha before I destroy it. Yes, cancel all further tests and begin preparations. We shall acquire the subject the same time as we test the Uchiha. During the Chunin Exams."

The figure continued to laugh as the woman on the screen nodded her head in obeisance.

"As you wish, Orochimaru-sama."

XXXXXXXXX

Translations

Zenshou - To destroy entirely, to obliterate

Hone Akuma Kitsune - Bone Devil Fox

Hone Hana - Bone Flower

Kori Kitsune - Ice Fox

Hone Akuma: Shiokiba - Bone Devil: Execution Ground

Hone Akuma: Sakurachiru Shiokiba - Bone Devil: Scattering Cherry Blossoms Execution Ground

**AN:** Well, there you have it. Thanks for being patient folks, I've just been really busy in real life, and not had anywhere close to as much time to write as I had 6-9 months ago. However, I have worked hard on this, muscling through even when inspiration was failing me, and this is the end result. Even longer than the last chapter, and unfortunately a lot more angsty. However, it has revealed a lot, and left even more questions for you the readers. I will fill in a few details for you.

1) Naruto had a deep affection for a girl before his rescue by the ANBU. There is also a very painful memory surrounding this. What that is I will save revealing for the next chapter.

2) Kaname was a character I came up on the fly, but the more I thought about how I was planning her character, the more I decided she was needed. Kaname is not an heir to a nation's throne. She is not a priestess with great powers over demons. She is not a highly skilled shinobi. She just is. She is a young girl who has undergone living conditions worse than Naruto. Who has had to try to hide on more than one occasion to avoid being raped. Who has suffered, but unlike Naruto has managed to keep a bright and cheery spirit. She is going to be part of the story, at least later parts, and will present a foil to Naruto's slowly deadening humanity.

3) I think I've said it before, but the pairing primary listed is for an important reason, even if other of Naruto's girls are important as well. Likewise, the title was chosen for a reason, and before anyone questions I'd like to inform you all that there is no NaruxHaku in this fic. They view each other as relatives due to Naruto's bloodline and now as partners. However, of all his girls her powers will be some of the most important to the events of the story, and she shall serve as an anchor for his humanity.

4) What Naruto unveiled on the bridge is a state he normally fights to avoid using. No, it was not Kyuubi controlled. In fact, all the rage and feralness of that state comes form within Naruto himself. For all intents and purposes, Kyuubi has been anihilated, with one remnant exception. The Nine. One through Eight are merely representing different aspects of Naruto's personality. But Nine is different. I won't spoil all the details of how, but needless to say that the last vestiges of the mind of Kyuubi reside within him. You'll just have to wait and see.

5) Shoji, Mara, and Guren. Shoji and Mara are just two characters I've created for story reasons. Mara was responsible for the genjutsu used during the battle, using Guren's crystals as her foci. I created them to have two original characters to utilize as Guren's teammates, important as they will eventually be sacrificial characters. Guren has an important role to play later, and it isn't with her death.

6) The Kumo shinobi were just an idea I had to fill Zabuza's place, give some dark humor, and emphasize the situation. Plus they made great fertilizer for Naruto's new garden.

7) Perhaps next chapter, perhaps merely later in the story, but the ultimate fate of the bridge, its name, its appearance, will be revealed. Needless to say, it's gonna have a few quirks to it that no one has quite thought of before (to my knowledge) and will be quite unique.

8) And if you've had the patience to read this far, good for you. I now treat you to a preview of Chapter 3: Sound of an Angel. The precise scene may be edited by the time chapter 3 is written and complete, but this should be enough of a spoiler to tease you all.

Jaa ne.

-ZI

XXXXXXXXXXXX

**Preview: Chapter 3: Sound of an Angel**

A small blond child sat in the center of a large chamber, his arms wrapped around his knees and his head bowed. His short blond hair had been trimmed close to his scalp and was full of dirty red streaks, many still dripping. The once-pale pants and gi worn by the young boy were now soaked red with blood, although from the unblemished skin the boy presented and his steady crying it likely was not his own.

Surrounding the child were over a hundred dead bodies, and a few live and injured ones. Most of the survivors were breathing heavily and staring at their own hands in shock, most too much in shock over what they had just done to take stock of their surroundings. But one was. She was about the middle of the pack in age, judging by the fourteen or fifteen year old boy in one corner of the room who was just staring dumbly at his hands-turned-claws and several corpses that couldn't have been older than four.

She was about nine or ten years old with long black hair and wearing a pale white gi similar to the blond boy. She had a small harp held in her hands, although the strings were useless for playing music now. They were attached only at one end, and all around the girl their ends were embedded in corpses, and many corpses looked as if they had been shredded by a storm of them. Just like by the blond child, where many, many of the corpses bore holes straight through.

The girl was also the only one who seemed to be thinking. She could see the other survivors around the room. She could tell that several of them were probably too mentally damaged from the experience of fighting their peers for the right to live to be of any use to the monster of a man who had taken them all in and turned them into weapons. She could tell that several others would gladly kill the other survivors to ensure their right to survive, and that they had witnessed what both she and the blond boy could do and were wary of them. As they should be. She had become a prodigy of chakra control, and begun to master auditory based techniques that many thought impossible. She had also killed over twenty others with one attack, the fighting around the room dwindling to a halt as she and the blond boy simultaneously attacked, her to win her survival, and the boy from a primal desperate need not to be hurt.

She turned and looked at the young boy. He looked so sad, sitting there and crying, when he should be cheering. After all, he was the youngest survivor amongst those present, and was the one most likely to be given special training and privileges. He had single handedly anihilated over half of the combatants, many of whom had converged on him at first because they thought he was the weakest target. Even now she could see his weapons still retracting from where they had slaughtered his attackers, the many multi-pronged shards of bone shrinking and retracting into the boy. From up above the sound of clapping drifted down to her, causing her to turn her head upward and gaze coldly at those watching from above.

_Monsters._ She thought to herself._ They have us fight each other to the death for their own amusement, then treat the survivors no better than dogs as they turn us into weapons._

Above her four figures watched over the railing of the balcony. The first was young, probabaly no more than eight or nine, and wore a white lab coat and had red hair and thin glasses. She was taking notes on a clip board and smiling to herself. She stood next to an older man in a similar coat who was rubbing his hands together in glee. Next to him stood an evil man with silky black hair, eyes like a snake, and wearing loose pale clothes with a purple sash around the waste. This was Orochimaru, her master and the monster she hated the most. Next to him stood a young boy, a teenager who couldnt have been more than a few years older than herself. For a moment she wondered why he and the girl hadn't been down here fighting for their lives like the rest of the subjects before recognizing them. The girl was Karin she realized, the protoge of one of Orochimaru's chief bastards (read: researchers) and possessor of several unique abilities that Orochimaru was loath to risk in battle. The boy was Kimimaro, last of the Kaguya's and Orochimaru's personal pet project.

_But if he's the last of the Kaguya...then what's with that blond boy?_ She wondered as she watched Orochimaru turn and walk away from the balcony with a pleased smile on his face, followed by the other three. It was only her mastery of sound that allowed her to catch the last of Orochimaru's words as he walked away.

"Very impressive. The boy has taken to the grafts well. It won't be long before he can be trained in how to harness the abilities when not directly threatened."

_Grafts? What is Orochimaru talking about?_

As she turned back to look at the still-weeping blond boy her curiosity and her compassion got the better of her. Putting her harp away on her back she approached the boy carefully, keeping a wary eye out in case any of the other survivors decided to try to knock one of them off. When she reached him she paused for a moment, watching curiously as the last of the many bones shrunk and disappeared into the base of Naruto's feet.

"Hey, why are you crying? You're alive and they aren't. None of them would have hesitated to do what you did, so don't feel sorry for them. My name's Kin, what's yours?"

As she offered her hand to him the blond boy wiped his eyes and looked up, and at that moment Naruto got his first glimpse of the girl he would come to refer to as an angel.

"N-naruto." He sniffed, his young mind in complete shock as for the first time in his entire life someone was nice to him, who wasn't either hiding a blade behind their back or trying to get something out of him.

Little did either of the young pair realize that her actions this day would have long term and far reaching consequences.


	4. Authors Note

AN: I have discontinued "Bones of the Devil, Ice of an Angel" in favor of rewriting the story. I have reevaluated and (IMHO) have improved upon my original idea, plans, and format for the story. As such I have begun work on rewriting the story to be the way it always should be. The first chapter is already posted (containing two completely new scenes plus some important and subtle changes to the existing scenes) and the second is already under work. Hope you all enjoy it, and I hope you don't mind that I have made this decision, as I believe the ultimate result will be worth it. I shall leave the original version here for any who wish to reread it, or give their friends a chance to take a look at it. Jaa ne.

-ZI


End file.
