Naruto 1. Prologue: A Not So Normal Naruto

/~/

The sun broke the horizon, bathing the forests in golden light. The dull and repetitive sounds of fists impacting wood echoed around the clearing that encompassed Training Ground Number Nine. The training ground was entirely unremarkable; a medium sized clearing that held two tree stumps in the middle of it, and nothing else.

It held no impressive back-story; it didn't even have and unimpressive one at that. Training Ground Nine was just another training ground, one of the many that were spaced around the great village that was Konohagakure no Sato. It was small, out of the way, and used very little by the general shinobi populace.

All of that suited the ten year old Uzumaki Naruto just fine.

Being out of the way and secluded was exactly how the orphan liked it. Having grown up a neglected ward of the great ninja village, Naruto had, more often than not, been looked upon less than favorably by the general populace. He, like the rest of the orphans in the village, was a reminder that Konoha wasn't absolutely perfect. He was a stain, if one chose to look at it that way.

His existence was a blemish on the otherwise immaculate reputation that the continent's most powerful Hidden Village boasted.

The boy had a head topped with a tuft of shining golden blond hair, and two piercing blue eyes adorned his visage. He was dressed in a black short sleeve shirt with a collar that reached up towards his chin. Beige shinobi pants covered his legs and were taped at the ankle, leading into standard black shinobi sandals. The hands that pounded an innocent training log were wrapped in white bandages.

Many would ask why a boy of ten years would be training his body at the break of dawn. The answer was that this was a special day for Naruto: it was the day he graduated Konoha's ninja academy.

Again.

Naruto had entered Konoha's ninja academy four years previously, at the ripe age of six, with nothing but the clothes on his back and the name given to him by his mother, Uzumaki Kushina. From there, Naruto had been taking the steps to achieving the dream that he had had for as long as he could remember: to become a respected Konoha jonin and raise a respectable family with his name. To make the Uzumaki known once more.

Naruto was one of many orphans in Konohagakure, and thus, the idea of a family was one that had permeated his mind for many years. All that he knew about his family was that his mother was named Uzumaki Kushina, and had been one of the many ninjas who had been killed in the Kyuubi attack one year after he had been born. His father was unknown and was liable to stay that way.

Naruto had made his way through the academy doggedly and methodically, clawing and scraping the skills that were necessary to have him proclaimed as the rookie of the year, three full years before his scheduled graduation.

No one had called him a genius, and he had never considered himself to be one. His skills had taken everyone, including the Academy instructors, by surprise. He didn't take to jutsu any faster than anyone else, thrown weapons were no easier for him to handle than for any other person in his class, and he didn't absorb knowledge like a sponge. He merely had a goal to achieve and the work ethic and motivation to back it up.

When Uzumaki Naruto had his mind set to do something, one could rest assured that it would get done. That was just the way he was.

He wasn't the heir to some lost and obscure bloodline, nor was he the child of any particularly renowned shinobi or kunoichi – his mother had been a foreign chunin given asylum. His graduating position at the top had been a result of him working for hours and hours more than his peers. Nothing more and nothing less.

That had been one year ago.

One year ago he had been on top of his very own world and on the fast track to achieving his dream. He knew that it would take a lot more effort, a lot more work, but effort was never something he had a problem giving.

The feelings of elation and accomplishment had all come crashing down shortly after he had met his jonin sensei: Hatake Kakashi.

The 23 year old A-ranked shinobi prodigy had slammed the then nine year old back down to earth, and had proceeded to crush his dreams underfoot.

The bell test had proven to be a challenge that not even Naruto's work ethic and determination could overcome. Tired, hungry, and bogged down by teammates whose combined skill didn't measure up to his own, Naruto had failed the test spectacularly. The notion of teamwork hadn't dawned on him until the very end, and by then it had been far too late.

There had been no second chance at success. The trio of genin wannabes had been sent back to the academy stinging. His pride wounded, Naruto had prepared himself for a year of review and training before he would hopefully be resorted into a new team.

That had not been the case, however.

One of the lesser known programs in Konoha was the shinobi reserve program. The program took the failed graduates of the regular academy, and put them through a rigorous accelerated training regimen that was designed to turn out chunin level shinobi and kunoichi.

It had been instigated by the Nidaime Hokage once it was discovered that less than 50 percent of all of the academy graduates were actually passed by their jonin instructors, due to failings of some sort. A system that turned out fewer than 15 new shinobi per year was one that simply wasn't pragmatic; not even for the largest of ninja villages.

Naruto had taken to the accelerated training much as he had to everything else in his life, with the same dogged determination that had won him his skills. When he wasn't in class reinforcing what he already knew, he was in his clearing, drilling. The blond had entered into the program knowing that his dream of jonin rank was nearly destroyed entirely. The graduates of the reserved program could never obtain the rank of jonin – that title was reserved for the students of the elite, almost exclusively – unless they became captains of an ANBU squad, or were given a field promotion from the Hokage. Both were long reaches by any stretch of the mill.

The result was that many of Konoha's chunin ended up being just as strong as many of the jonin – just because they couldn't feasibly reach the rank by conventional means didn't mean that many of them didn't try. Beyond that, many graduates entered the ANBU Black Ops, in order to serve their village as one of the masked elite.

The realization that his dream was so far out of reach had greatly depressed the boy, for all of about five minutes, before he had thrown himself back into his training with a fervor that was nearly inhuman. He had his goal and he would reach it, no matter what it took.

Every day of the next year of his life had been spent training in some way or another. From dawn until nine in the morning, he would train his body physically and work on his taijutsu katas. He would eat a meal composed of cold cereal and a protein shake for breakfast at nine, and then make his way to class.

Class lasted until one thirty in the afternoon. It was some of the most boring time of Naruto's young life.

From then until four, he would train in weapons. Everything from shuriken to senbon and the practical application of ninja wire were drilled during that two and a half hour period. He would break for a modest lunch for one hour before going back to drill his chakra control and basic hand seals. The simple, and often overlooked, aspects of shinobi life were concentrated upon and drilled to near perfection. He was a workhorse, and a perfectionist at heart.

And he'd be damned if he was undone by something so simple. It was the small details that killed, after all.

Directly following his chakra control practices, Naruto would train and attempt to master whatever particular jutsu he happened to be working on. His mastery was more about understanding the ins and outs of the technique, rather than simply quitting after he had managed to perform it. The ability to further modify ninjutsu was something that greatly interested him, and his own perfectionist tendencies would hardly allow for him to leave a technique not fully dissected.

As a result, he was familiar with fewer ninjutsu than he might have liked. But he could say with certainty that he had mastered the few he knew.

By that time, the day was nearly over and Naruto retired to his small one bedroom and one bathroom apartment. He would eat his dinner, and would proceed to meditate and research genjutsu. Genjutsu could not be practiced by one's self, so Naruto devoted his evenings to researching the art of illusion crafting.

He trained all aspects of shinobi life equally in order to become what he felt was the epitome of shinobi, the perfect all rounder. The jack of all trades, or "the glorified generalizer," as he called it.

That brought him to his current position today, pounding his fists into a log at the crack of dawn the day of his graduation from Konoha's reserve program. The exam was scheduled to begin at nine a.m. and all of the potential graduates were supposed to meet at 8:45 at the entrance to training ground 44, known to many as the Forest of Death.

As soon as the potential graduates had been informed by their instructor as to the location of the exam, Naruto had done some immediate scouting and research. Training ground 44 was a booby trap in and of itself, and for that reason it was used for the survival part of the Chunin Selection Exams whenever they happened to be in Konoha.

The research had produced results that were decidedly unappealing. Any objective that was to be found in the Forest of Death meant that the final exam would be a survival test. It wasn't that Naruto was bad at survival tests, he wasn't bad at anything one thing in particular, he just didn't like them. And they always tested stamina, something that he had too little of to be happy with at ten years old.

Feeling his fist impact the log for the two-thousandth time that morning, Naruto stopped his punches. He carefully unwrapped the bandages that had covered his hands and wrists, and placed the white material into his back pocket, directly next to his shuriken pouch.

Making his way out of the clearing, Naruto broke into a jog. While normally he would stay and complete his taijutsu training, he didn't want to tire his body unnecessarily before his survival exam. That, and he needed time to properly digest a good breakfast.

A ninja couldn't function properly on an empty stomach now could he?

/~/

A breeze ruffled the hair and clothes of the gathered shinobi as the Forest of Death loomed ominously behind them.

Checking his watch, Naruto saw that the time was exactly 8:45 as he stepped through the gate that led to Training Ground 44. _A ninja is never late, nor is he early. A ninja arrives precisely when he is supposed to_, Naruto recited in his mind.

The second his foot touched the ground of Training Ground 44, Naruto was planning. His sky blue eyes scanned the crowd of shinobi hopefuls, not stopping on anyone in particular, but assessing everyone. This was a survival exercise, and that meant that anyone and everyone was a potential enemy.

The ones grouped together and tittering nervously would pose no real threat unless they attacked him all at once. They held no confidence in their skills, and even the smallest lack of confidence was exploitable. The same went for those who stood mostly alone and arrogant in their posture, but for a different reason. A confident swagger and an air of self assurance were good for a shinobi to have, it displayed confidence and could set the tone of a confrontation. But the overbearing arrogance displayed by many of the reserve students was appalling. They reminded him of the one student he had bypassed during his stint at the regular academy, Hyuuga Nezi or something.

_You'd think they owned the world_, Naruto wondered with amusement. The thought was sobered by the fact that he had been much the same way only one year ago, before he met Hatake Kakashi that was. While he may not like the jonin, he had to at least mentally thank him for showing him that he wasn't as good as he had thought. Everyone got their reality check at some point; he knew he would be glad that he got his early, rather than later.

Moving to stand with the rest of the hopeful, Naruto's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of one of the proctors speaking up.

"Listen up, runts!" a proctor with silver hair began. "My name is Touji Mizuki and I'm gonna be the proctor for this exam." The scowl on the man's face was designed to look intimidating. Naruto thought it laughable; the man wasn't imposing in the slightest.

"As a chunin of Konoha, you are expected to take on the majority of the missions that come through the mission office—B-ranks," the silver haired man named Mizuki continued. "A B-rank mission can be anything from guard duty to a search and destroy mission that may be vital to village security."

Naruto found himself bored with the man's speech. It didn't contain any information he didn't already know, and he just wanted to get this exam over with. He was looking forward to treating himself to a congratulatory bowl of Ichiraku Ramen afterwards. Best stuff in the world that ramen was.

"Your mission today will consist of the retrieval of a scroll from the innermost point of the forest: the central tower. Your objective is located at the topmost point of the tower and there are only 25 total scrolls. With 51 of you here today, that means that roughly 50 percent of you will pass," Mizuki said. The sound of nervous tittering from hopefuls followed.

Naruto raised an eyebrow in question. The test seemed fairly simple overall and the only way he could see it becoming harder was if there was an imposed time limit.

The man seemed read Naruto's thoughts. "Your time limit is one day and one day only," the chunin said. Shock mingled with no small amount of outrage from the general populace. Even Naruto was wary at the short amount of time. "You fail if you fail to retrieve a scroll, or are otherwise subdued. Killing is _not_ permitted; under any circumstances!"

The last statement managed to shut the crowd up pretty fast. Killing one's comrades was looked down upon in all but the most barbaric of villages, and the thought that someone among them might kill one of them in order to pass was an uneasy thought.

"All examinees are to report to a gate in groups of three, no more, no less. I trust that you are able to divide yourselves evenly," Mizuki finished, a rather poor attempt at a sneer marring his face.

As the chunin hopefuls rapidly moved towards a gate of their choice, Naruto calmly walked forward to the first gate, the one where Mizuki had been standing. He was quickly joined by two others who had taken his example: one boy who looked decidedly nervous, and a girl who looked too confident for her own good.

The girl flipped her long red hair over her left shoulder as she sneered down at the younger, and undeniably shorter, Naruto. Naruto, for his part, merely smiled pleasantly in response as the girl opened her mouth. "Given how short you are, you must be that little phenom that everyone was talking about earlier," the unnamed girl said with the sneer still firmly etched on her face.

_And that's a bad thing? _the blond thought snidely. The pleasant smile didn't slip for a moment as Naruto shot back, "That's me, I guess. You seem to have me at a disadvantage though, stranger. Isn't it usually polite to introduce yourself before you jump into a conversation?"

The sneer merely deepened at Naruto's statement. The young boy decided to find a teacher to help him perfect a sneer like that. "Che. All you need to know, runt, is that I'm gonna show what a real ninja is once we get in that forest." The girl promptly turned her back on Naruto before he could make a response.

"Oh really?" Naruto asked skeptically. His smile dissolved into a fierce smirk. "Tell me, stranger, I wasn't aware that _real_ ninja wore…white. Correct me if I'm wrong."

The girl simply leveled Naruto with a glare that could freeze the tropical waters of Sea Country, as the other boy chuckled slightly to himself.

Naruto took the ensuing silence to look over his peers once more. The girl was indeed wearing white; it was part of a form fitting dress that the girl wore that would allow for the maximum range of movement. Intermingled with red, the white dress was certainly pretty, and even functional, while it flattered the kunoichi in training's developing curves generously – not that the ten year old Naruto cared all that much. Even so, the fact that the color scheme would stick out like a sore thumb amongst the green that permeated the forest of death overruled the practicality of the dress.

Shifting his blue eyes to the boy who was now causally leaning against the wire fence, Naruto noted that the once nervous boy was now quite comfortable with his situation. Dressed in a forest green shirt and black pants, the boy sported a pragmatic look, given the situation. The look was further augmented by the slightly bulging weapons pouches that he carried on him and the black bandana that covered his hair.

_At least he looks competent_, Naruto mused. For all he knew the boy could be as bad as the dead-last who had been dumped on his team the year before. _Incompetent retard that he was_, Naruto thought uncharitably.

"How 'bout you then?" Naruto addressed the boy. "What's your name?"

"Kishimoto Akira at your service," the boy said with a fake pompousness and bow that was humorous despite the serious situation.

Naruto smiled back, he liked pleasant people. "Uzumaki Naruto, at your service. Future jonin."

Raised brows met his pronouncement. "You seem confident in yourself. You do know that the road to jonin is a real long one for a reserve grad, don't you?" Akira inquired.

The smile only got wider. "Course I do! Won't stop me, though," Naruto proclaimed confidently. "I know what I need to do and I'm no stranger to hard work."

Akira seemed to appraise the short blond once more before giving a curt nod. "Well good luck then."

Naruto nodded back in response.

"Enough chatter down there," the chunin gate guard said from his post above them. "I'm about to open the gate."

"Let the test begin!" Mizuki's voice blared over the hidden speakers at the gates.

The words had barely registered and the gate had not even fully opened before Naruto blurred into motion.

Using speed that had been gained over countless hours of training, Naruto's right hand dipped into his leg holster and withdrew a kunai. No one had time to react before Naruto viciously slammed it into the back of the unsuspecting redheaded girl's head.

As the unconscious body slumped to the forest floor, Naruto formed a single hand-seal. A second Naruto formed from the ground behind the stunned Akira and tapped the back of the boy's head.

The smile on Naruto's face was bittersweet as he watched the boy's eyes roll backwards as he too slumped to the ground in unconsciousness. "Too bad," Naruto stated to no one in particular – he supposed that he was addressing the now gaping chunin guard.

That was the way of the ninja world though. The strong prospered while the weak and hesitant stumbled and were lorded over, waiting expectantly and plotting for the day when they would become the strong. Many others were cut down before their time to shine. Akira was a prime example. At least the boy had a chance to break out of the sleep inducing genjutsu Naruto had placed on him. Perhaps he would acquit himself well by stealing a scroll from some unsuspecting wannabe.

The girl however, wasn't so lucky. Naruto sneered in distaste at the redhead. She would be lucky to wake up in anything less than ten hours. Even then she would probably still have a concussion. _Bitch shouldn't've called me a runt._

Re-holstering his kunai, Naruto dispelled his Tsuchi Bunshin with a minor application of chakra. That particular technique would serve him well in the future and he was glad he had taken the time to properly master it. Being able to form the solid clone with only one seal was something that would prove to be invaluable in a sticky situation. It was something he had prided himself on, as Earth wasn't his primary chakra affinity.

Winking cheekily, the flaxen haired youth gave the still floored chunin a two fingered salute before bursting into the forest of death at breakneck speed.

/~/

Naruto cursed his lack of forethought as he blocked the swipe of a kunai. That one would have sliced open his jugular and left him all but a defenseless, bleeding, soon-to-be-corpse.

Leaping backwards to put space between himself and his attacker, Naruto unleashed a hail of shuriken. The bladed weapons didn't connect, as expected, but they managed to push his enemy off of the attack for the moment.

In hindsight, it was borderline retardation to think that there wouldn't be guards surrounding the tower where his objective laid. Naruto had made it through training ground 44 with little trouble and with nothing but a few minor altercations with some other trainees. The small skirmishes had left him with a few bruises and scratches, but nothing more. The phrase "you should see the other guy" would have been appropriate.

After reaching the tower, the ten year old blond had calmly made his way towards the tower's entrance, where he was immediately set upon by a man who he assumed to be one of the examiners; an assumption made based on the chunin vest the man wore. That had been exactly one minute and seventeen seconds ago.

Not many ninja battles made it past the one minute mark; the element of surprise made that doubly so in the field. As Naruto Kawarimi'd with a nearby log and flipped through a series of quick seals, he figured that the only reason he was still alive was the fact that the examiner wasn't trying to kill him.

A movement in the corner of his right eye alerted him to the presence of his attacker charging him, a kunai hurtling towards his position. A smirk spread across the boy's face as he felt the kunai pass by him one meter to the right. _Illusion in place_.

As the chunin sprinted towards him in a zigzag pattern, Naruto channeled chakra into his legs and disappeared in a Shunshin. The nameless chunin was moving quickly to cover the ground between himself and Naruto, so when Naruto's outstretched arm made contact with the genjutsu influenced man's solar plexus, it was as if the man had run headlong into a stone wall with the speed of both himself and Naruto combined.

The chunin under the influence of Naruto's small genjutsu was unconscious before the pain could register. It was a moot point, however, as he would have been unconscious anyway, the second his back made contact with a tree some five meters away. The fight had lasted exactly one minute and thirty five seconds.

As Naruto quickly checked to make sure the man was still alive, he had hit the tree quite hard, he cradled his throbbing right arm. The attack had been a spur of the moment idea of his, and had proven itself effective. He would have to make sure that he reinforced his arm properly in the future, though; he had nearly dislocated his shoulder.

_Lariat_, he thought with a small touch of pride, _I'll have to remember to write that down._ It would go right next to his first original genjutsu on his personal scroll. Kokoni Arazu no Jutsu, the genjutsu Naruto had used to trick his chunin assailant into believing he was a meter from his actual position, was a technique of his own making.

The chunin had a steady pulse, so Naruto felt comfortable leaving him where he was; another examiner would find him, no doubt.

Turning his attention to the tower, Naruto went over his knowledge of the exam. His target objective would most likely be at the top. _They'll be expecting me to enter through the top windows; it would be what a shinobi would do after all_. It would be best to think outside the box in that case.

Forming a single hand seal, Naruto formed a Tsuchi Bunshin in the foliage behind him. Using a quick Kawarimi, he replaced himself with it and commanded it to approach the tower from the outside. As the clone left, he cloaked himself in his Kokoni Arazu no Jutsu, and overlapped it with a Niju Kokoni Arazu no Jutsu. If anyone actually managed to spot him entering the front door, he would have sufficient cover.

Not to mention that any assailant would have to dispel two genjutsu to even find him. Not many ninja thought to look past a single genjutsu for one that may have been beneath it.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts on the failings of many shinobi, Naruto quietly moved to the front door of the tower. It would be best to simply get the test over with. While he felt that he was probably the first to the tower, arrogant as it was, he knew that it wouldn't be long until other trainees managed to catch up.

He trusted his skills though, and strode confidently into the tower that held the key to his shinobi future.

/~/

"Mind if I join you?" a smooth voice spoke up from behind Naruto.

Turning away from his steaming bowl of pork ramen, Naruto's eyes found the figure of Touji Mizuki. The silver haired proctor was visible through the white flaps that served as an entrance into the Ichiraku Ramen stand.

Behind the silver haired chunin stood a young woman with short black hair and a chunin vest. She had her arms folded under her chest and seemed to be waiting impatiently.

"Not at all. Company's always appreciated." Naruto addressed his former proctor with a smile. He seemed pleasant enough, outside the constraints of duty that was.

A smile appeared on the man's face. "Great then!" Turning to address the woman waiting outside, he continued, "Why don't you head home, Tsubaki-chan? I won't be long."

The short haired woman sighed lightly, "Alright then, but don't take too long." She leaned in and gave the man a quick peck on the cheek before leaping to the roof on the other side of the road. Mizuki looked after her fondly, but with a touch of annoyance.

"Is that anyway to say goodbye to your boyfriend? I don't think so," he mumbled. Naruto choked back a chuckle.

After she had disappeared, the silver haired chunin moved inside the stand and sat on a stool next to Naruto. "I'll have a medium miso ramen, please," he ordered to the stand owner.

"Good choice," Naruto quipped from beside him, in between bites of his own ramen. "That one's my favorite."

Mizuki nodded in agreement, "Yeah, miso is good. A friend got me into it a few years back and I haven't stopped eating it since."

"You've got a smart friend there, Touji-san." Naruto nodded his approval.

"Mizuki, please. We're coworkers now aren't we, Naruto-san?" Mizuki asked with a smile as his ramen appeared in front of him.

"Guess so," Naruto agreed. A quick glance down at his new chunin flak vest over his usual black attire brought a smile to the young chunin's face.

"Indeed. In fact, that was what I was hoping to talk to you about."

Naruto raised a blond eyebrow. "You were looking for me? What for?"

Mizuki paused in the slurping of his noodles to cast a glance at his ten year old companion. "Partly the rumors that seem to be circling you now, but mostly because I was hoping to introduce myself. Properly, I mean," he quickly amended. "The little intro I gave yesterday hardly counts."

Naruto barked a laugh. "Are you always that intimidating?"

Mizuki had the grace to blush and look sheepish. "Ah well…I guess I didn't do such a great job with the intimidation factor did I? It's not really my thing."

"Nope!" Naruto asked for his bill and pushed his bowl away before turning to his colleague. "So what do wanna know?" he inquired. "I doubt that you would come to introduce yourself if you didn't have questions."

"Well you're right about that," Mizuki began. "I guess I found myself intrigued after I heard the report from one of the gate guards about how you entered the forest." Naruto nodded with a barely noticeable smirk at the memory. He was proud of that little moment of quick thinking. "I watched the tape earlier, so I figured that I would do a little digging."

"And you came to me for some answers," Naruto finished for him. "So, how many people did you ask before you found out that I came here all the time?" He was surprised, and a little flattered, that the man was taking an interest in him. Maybe his skills were finally starting to be recognized.

If Mizuki was unsettled by the boy's perceptiveness, he didn't show it. "Just one actually, Umino Iruka. You know him, I suppose?"

Naruto nodded in recognition, the scarred chunin, an academy teacher to Naruto's knowledge, frequented Ichiraku's quite a bit. The two had crossed paths more than once. "Yes I know Iruka. So, what do you want to know?"

Mizuki appraised the boy for a few seconds before starting, "Well there are a few that I'd like to ask, but you look like you want to leave, so I'll be quick." Naruto nodded, he did want to be getting home soon. "What exactly is someone of your age and talent doing in the reserve program?" Mizuki asked, his full attention on Naruto.

Naruto scoffed lightly, he knew that the man would ask that. "Long story, but I'll give you the quick version." Mizuki nodded in agreement so Naruto continued, "I graduated at the top of my class last year, and had the misfortune of being on Hatake Kakashi's genin team."

The silver haired man winced whilst nodding. The young jonin was becoming notorious for the failing of every genin squad given to him. "Yeah, that'll do it I suppose. It still is a bit of a surprise though; it's not every day that the top rookie gets sent to the reserves."

A sagely nod met his statement. "Yeah, though it's been good for me. I was a right arrogant prick out of the academy."

Mizuki started a little at the admission. Naruto wasn't someone who he had pegged as arrogant at all, confident and self assured, but not arrogant. The boy actually seemed fairly humble, but it might have been an effect of the last year.

"Well," Naruto said, shaking Mizuki out of his thoughts, "it was nice meeting you. Maybe we'll work together on some missions in the future." The thought wasn't unappealing to the blond ten year old; Mizuki came across as someone who he could trust.

"Probably not," Mizuki replied with a small wince, "I'm starting a stint at the academy in a week. Iruka's class actually. The old assistant got promoted to Tokubetsu Jonin."

It was Naruto's turn to wince in sympathy, "Ouch. That class has Sarutobi in it." He noted that Mizuki's eyes darkened when he spoke the name of the village's resident prankster; though it was for a different reason than Naruto thought.

"Yeah," Mizuki replied grimly, "I take it you're not a fan of the boy's…art?"

Naruto scoffed in derision. "Hardly. The kid is an idiot and an insult. He has the Shinobi no Kami as his grandfather and that elite tutor Ebisu training him, and he spends his time pranking the villagers. It's no wonder that half the village seems to hate him."

Mizuki merely nodded, he couldn't trust himself to say anything about the boy without breaking the Sandaime's law. Naruto was only a year older than Konohamaru after all, skill and maturity notwithstanding.

"Well, I hope to see you around then, if we won't be on missions together." Naruto stuck out his hand with a smile.

Mizuki grasped the outstretched hand firmly, "Indeed. Have a good night, Naruto-san."

"And you."

/~/

The wind was a silent whisper in the evening atop the Hokage monument. Naruto felt it tussle his hair gently as he stood atop the head of the Yondaime. He came up here every so often in order to watch the sunset. With the monument facing northwest, it provided a spectacular view.

It was a bit of a thinking spot for him; a place where he could gather his thoughts after an interesting day. And what a day it had been.

He had made chunin, not that there had been any real doubt in his mind that he would. It was an eventuality to Naruto. Just like he knew that he would become jonin one day. Just like he knew that he would make the Uzumaki name known throughout the Elemental Nations once more.

_Would you be proud of me, mother?_ he wondered as he turned his gaze to the east, towards the sea and the former Whirlpool Country.

The former home of the once respected Uzumaki clan, Whirlpool Country had been decimated at the tail end of the Second Secret Shinobi War. Its former inhabitants were some of the war's final casualties.

Not much was known about the once respected nation, only that it had once played host to the Uzumaki clan. A clan that had been decimated the same day Whirlpool had been wiped off of the face of the planet. There had been only two survivors. Uzumaki Kushina, his mother, was the only one who managed to make it to Fire Country and Konoha.

She had been seven years old.

From there, her shinobi career began. It was one filled with many missions and strife due to the outbreak of the Third Secret War, and Kushina had made chunin at the young age of twelve, in the short-lived peace time between conflicts. She had never made it any further.

Presumably, she had met Naruto's father somewhere along the way, and the two had had him when Kushina was twenty one. Naruto had no idea who his father was, and really had no desire to find out. The man had abandoned his mother when she needed him the most, and left Kushina to fend for herself.

It was only because of the savings that his mother had from her ninja career that she and Naruto had been able to get by for a year. What might have happened later was unknown, as Kushina had been one of the many shinobi and kunoichi cut down in the Kyuubi attack.

The only memory Naruto had of his mother was of her kissing him goodbye one night. Given the red glow that was emanating from the windows during the memory, Naruto assumed that it was the night of the Kyuubi attack. The last time he had seen her.

Ever since he had been old enough to understand his mother's sacrifice, he had thrown himself into training and research. Research about his history and his ancestors; training to become the greatest shinobi he could be and to establish the name Uzumaki once more.

It was not a dream to him, it was an eventuality. One way or another, he would make the name Uzumaki known to the world once again.

/~/


	2. Chapter 1: Knowledge is Power

/~/

_Hot damn!_ Naruto screamed mentally as he dodged yet another hail of thrown shuriken. Back flipping toward nearby tree, the eleven year old chunin was forced to Kawarimi with a nearby log to avoid death by impaling. Four kunai embedded themselves in the wood as Naruto made it to safety.

Deftly regaining his feet after his impromptu substitution, Naruto phased into a soundless, smokeless Shunshin. He reappeared, engaging his attacker with a flurry of deft taijutsu strikes all aimed at nerve clusters specifically targeted to cause pain and numb extremities.

Unfortunately for the young blond, his assailant proved to be just as dexterous as he, as all the debilitating strokes were blocked. Moving quickly to take the advantage in the close range fight, Naruto felt the cold metal of a kunai slip into his hand in a practiced movement.

The assailant dodged a sweeping slash at the throat with almost casual ease, moving quickly to place distance between himself and Naruto. A Suiton: Suijinheki quickly sprung up from nowhere to combat Naruto's retaliatory Gokakyuu no jutsu, an impressive feat considering there was no readily available water source nearby.

Across the clearing, Naruto flipped through a series of seals as he cursed his low Katon affinity. It was a situation that irked him constantly, and came back to bite him in the most annoying ways. _I _would_ have inherited the Uzumaki Suiton nature from mom while living in _Fire _country_. True to its host nation's name, Konoha was the world's leading village in terms of Katon natured techniques.

It was Naruto's luck that he was affiliated to the elemental opposite of fire.

His reverie was broken as a thick mist covered the area, and the blond boy scolded himself for getting lost in though. He smirked slightly, however, as he felt his chakra laden mist settle itself over the clearing and surrounding area, his jutsu had worked perfectly. Using the enhanced mist to seek the chakra signature of his attacker, Naruto moved his position discreetly for minimum acoustic amplification.

This was exactly contrary to what most practitioners of the Silent Killing technique would do. The technique required that the user be able to detect any and all presences within the mist, and acoustic amplification was one of the most popular ways of going about that.

Unfortunately for many practitioners, the technique became well documented after Kirigakure had used it to deadly effect in the Second Secret Shinobi War, and many had devised ways to combat it. Many a Kiri-nin had been killed after having their eardrums burst due to loud noises made to deliberately debilitate the would-be silent killer.

Recognizing this fatal flaw in a technique that had many uses for a ninja with Naruto's skill set, the child shinobi had worked to devise a way around it. After executing the Kirigakure no Jutsu, Naruto would then spread chakra from his body in an outward wave. Chakra, as a combination of both physical and spiritual energies, could be, and would be, absorbed by any organic matter unless otherwise acted upon. The sole exception was the human body, an entity that had so much chakra in it by nature, and one that automatically combated foreign substances attempting to enter it.

The result was that Naruto could almost immediately perceive any and all humans in range of his "wave", without the use of acoustic amplification. Ninja especially, as they're bodies had so much stored chakra they were like beacons to his senses. He was still working on a version of his mist that would automatically help him detect chakra signatures, and was unnoticeable.

Sensing his chakra rebound off of what appeared to be a human shape, Naruto burst into motion. Palming twin kunai from his holsters, Naruto silently charged through the mist before slicing the throat of his attacker with a dual bladed cross slash.

The effect was immediate, and the body of his assailant dropped lifelessly to the ground before crumbling into earth. While normally a cause for concern in a fight, Naruto was exactly the opposite as he let his mist dissipate into nothingness. Why should one be concerned after destroying one's own clone?

It was a training technique that Naruto had been using more and more lately. There truly was no better way to hone one's skills than by fighting an equal; and who was more equal than a clone? While the Tsuchi Bunshin was mostly restricted to favorable terrain – i.e. earth – there was hardly a short supply of the needed material, especially in the training grounds surrounding Konoha.

Stopping in numerous places around the slightly larger Training Ground Nine—it had been forcefully expanded due to collateral damage inflicted by Naruto himself over the years—Naruto collected his strewn weapons before disappearing in a swirl of leaves. While he could use the technique without the need of smoke, it required an intense level of focus that Naruto didn't feel the need to expend for something as mundane as speedy travel.

Reappearing in Konoha proper, Naruto immediately took to the rooftops, knowing all too well the dangers of using Shunshin in the streets. He had nearly killed himself running headlong into a merchant's stand shortly after he had learned the technique. _They really should mention that in the scroll_, he mused thoughtfully, a tinge of leftover embarrassment coloring his cheeks. He had caused quite the scene that day; so much so that the ANBU had had to be called to sort out the commotion.

Upon reflection, the ANBU were being called to police the village more and more, what with the absence of the former Military Police Force. Made exclusively Uchiha Clan shinobi, the Military Police Force had been a casualty of the Uchiha massacre, as well as the entire clan save one.

Naruto merely hoped that Uchiha Sasuke would prove to be an asset to the village, like he himself was. Konoha was always in need of new blood and talent, and Uchiha Sasuke was said to be promising, at least according to Mizuki, who had ended up as one of the boy's academy instructors.

_Although, maybe not exceptional_, Naruto mused. The boy was one year younger than Naruto himself was, and was still in training at the Konoha Ninja Academy. Naruto had already graduated by that age. Having been a member of the Konoha ninja corps for over a year, Naruto had had time to see how truly exceptional he was, at least for his age.

But, some people matured and gained strength differently and at different paces. That fact was more apparent to Naruto now more than ever.

Ever since graduating from the Reserve Program, Naruto's once large leaps of strength and prowess had regressed to baby steps. It was endlessly frustrating to the now eleven year old chunin. He had goals that he wanted, needed, to accomplish, and he couldn't do that while he was taking baby steps toward prowess and skill.

_Maybe I'm just getting stronger in different directions_, the flaxen haired boy reflected. While his learning of ninjutsu had tapered off recently, mostly due to his limited chakra reserves—strong for his age he may have been, but he was still only eleven—there were many different and diverse sectors of shinobi skills. And Naruto was nothing if not curious and thirsty for more knowledge that might help him.

That very thirst for knowledge is what led him to where he was now, Konoha's Grand Archive.

Three stories tall and with its girth taking up an entire street block, the Grand Archive was the second largest building in Konoha proper – second only to the Administrative Building which served as the general shinobi headquarters and housed the Hokage. The Archive was a perfect circle and had a large engraving of the leaf symbol on the side facing outward toward the walls.

Naruto shook his head fondly. He would never tire of seeing the grand building, and that was saying something, as he spent much of his free time perusing the thousands of scrolls it housed; even more so now, as he had no other way to occupy his time in between the various C-ranked missions he ran with makeshift squads, and training.

Moving forward briskly, the eleven year old chunin entered the towering oak doors that were always open, flashing his shinobi ID card to the two chunin guards stationed outside. The card was very simple, and issued to all shinobi of Konoha. It held his name, date of birth, shinobi ID number, and rank. The latter was the most important, as it gave him his clearance level.

While the Grand Archive didn't hold any ninjutsu over the rank of B, one could find a whole host of subjects covered within the great dome, ranging from standard shinobi skills to history on the very Elemental Nations. With his B-ranked chunin clearance, Naruto was allowed to peruse nearly the entirety of the library, save the A-ranked sections.

While nearly all of the sensitive information regarding some of Konoha's more covert operations, most all of them in times of war, were held either in the Administration Building or in ANBU headquarters, the Grand Archive held a small amount of declassified records. These records were reserved for those with A-rank security clearance – i.e. the jonins – and were mostly historical in nature.

Naruto didn't care so much about the semi-sensitive information that the Archive held. _No,_ he thought as he swiftly made his way over to a section of the Archive that held detailed scrolls on human anatomy, _my interest lies within shinobi skills. At least for now_. The archive held everything he needed to know about being a shinobi, security clearance or no.

For that was what the Archive was, really; a grand library containing all of Konoha's amassed knowledge about the shinobi arts.

Finding his needed section, Naruto pulled out a scroll detailing medium range hand to hand combative techniques and information.

_In medium-range combatives, two opponents are already within touching distance. The arsenal of possible body weapons includes short punches and strikes with elbows, knees, and hands, though bladed weapons are not excluded. Head butts are also effective; do not forget them during medium-range combat. A shinobi uses his peripheral vision to evaluate the targets presented by the opponent and choose his target. The shinobi should be aggressive and concentrate his attack on the opponent's vital points to end the fight as soon as possible. A shinobi must be cautious, however, and be mindful of his surroundings at all times… _

Moving downward quickly, Naruto skimmed the introduction, as he had already read it, and moved to the section detailing the various kill points in the human body. He already knew the eight vital spots: the heart, lungs, liver, jugular vein, sub-clavicle vein, the brain, the kidneys, and the spine. They were basic facts that were necessary to know in the Reserve Academy. While the regular academy trained boys and girls to be genin, beginners in the field of the shinobi world, the reserves trained genin to be chunin level shinobi. To be killers. The difference was a significant one.

He was more interested in points that could be used to directly incapacitate an assailant, whether through the use of weapons or otherwise. It was an essential skill that all the most heavily trained, heavy combat oriented ANBU had. Given that Naruto strived to be a squad captain in the elite shinobi corps, even if only to one day secure the coveted rank of jonin, it as a skill that he thought necessary to have. When he submitted his application to join the most elite shinobi unit in Fire Country, he intended to be well ahead of the curve.

His musings and dreams of future ANBU success were abruptly cut short as he felt a soft hand ruffle his blond hair none to gently.

"Well hello there, Na-ru-to-kun!" a familiar voice spoke in a sing-song tone.

"Ugh…geroff, Mai! Will ya?" Despite his less than favorable response, a grin could easily be seen on the face to the eleven year old. "I'm trying to study here you know!"

"Ah but that makes you no fun, Naruto-kun," the girl, now identified as Mai, said in a sing-song like voice as she plopped down in a chair across from Naruto. "All you do is study, study,_ study_! Honestly, you needa make time for other things." The voice took on a more serious, solemn note as the girl lectured.

His head now free of its momentary turmoil, Naruto raised his eyes to meet those of Mai's, and he couldn't stop a small blush from forming as he observed the older girl's form. With her auburn hair tied into a full, elegant knot at the top of her head and two long strips falling into her face, Koemi Mai looked the picture perfect teenage librarian. The effect was only accentuated by the flowing, sun colored dress she wore. Form fitting and skillfully crafted, the dress hugged the teenager's near perfect figure so as to leave little to the imagination.

In moments of reflection, Naruto would readily admit to having a crush on the sixteen year old girl. He was an orphan with unknown heritage, unwanted, unspoken to by most of the village, and, for the most part, unacknowledged for his skill. Mai had been his first real friend, not to mention the first female to ever talk to him outside shinobi training. The fact that she was undeniably beautiful only helped the matter along.

"Ne, you know that's not all I do, Mai," Naruto replied with a pout that Mai found adorable on his boyish face. "I eat, sleep, train…" he finished rather lamely, realizing that he indeed did spend the majority of his time training in one way or another. Whether it be in the Archive, on a mission, or in the training grounds, Naruto's life almost constantly revolved around his shinobi career.

Mai raised a well manicured eyebrow in question, before sighing quietly. Naruto immediately felt bad, he hated to see her unhappy, especially with him.

"That's what I mean, Naruto-kun. You need to make time for other things besides being a shinobi." She raised a hand to stall his protest. "I know all about your dreams. You've told me before, kiddo." Here she favored the young chunin with a small smile to which he smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. He had told Mai of his life goals on more than one occasion, and with great relish.

The smile faded quickly as the auburn haired beauty returned to her lecture, "Being a ninja shouldn't be the only thing you care about, goals or no goals. I was the same way once you know, before…well…you know."

Indeed Naruto did know. Mai had been a kunoichi until two years ago; a very talented one at that. She had made genin at eleven and had remained so for three years. Her mission record was sterling, containing 47 completed D-ranked missions and 24 C-ranked. She was on the fast track to success as a kunoichi and would have been if not for a debacle in her final chunin exam.

Her sensei, one Rukushou Aoi, had nominated her team for the chunin exams once before, in Konoha, and they had failed the secondary part of the exam. While Aoi wasn't a man generally known for his prudence or intelligence, he had held the team back for two solid years of training and missions before nominating them for another chunin exam, this time in Sunagakure no Sato.

The team had made it all the way to the finals, a three on three team battle between squads, when Mai ended up squaring off with a kunoichi from Kumogakure no Sato. They had ended up as the final members of their respective cells, both other members had been previously eliminated, one Konoha nin dead, and fought each other for the promotion to chunin.

Mai had been soundly outmatched by her older opponent, and had been caught been caught in a chakra conductive net that was a favorite of raiton users. Not giving Mai a chance to surrender, the Kumo kunoichi had channeled her raiton chakra through the net and managed to fry the all of Mai's nerve endings almost beyond repair.

It was only thanks to the timely intervention of one of Suna's medics, an elderly woman named Chiyo, which had allowed Mai to regain some semblance of her former motor skills. The medic had managed to ensure that she would be able to lead a relatively normal civilian life, though Mai never had the option of being a ninja again.

It was a sad fact of shinobi life. Shinobi and kunoichi alike were often injured severely or cut down before their time. It was because of this that Mai often tried to get Naruto to think about life outside of being a ninja. She felt that at his age he should be more focused on having fun with his life, rather than training to be a killer. One never knew when one might be killed, after all.

Naruto eyes were cast downwards and his face set in a grimace as he recalled Mai's past. He knew why she always encouraged him to study less, and her reasoning was sound. He was intimately familiar with the perils of shinobi life, having his mother taken from him by the Kyuubi since almost before he could remember her had instilled that piece of knowledge into him at a young age. It was also because of that fact that he knew he could never, would never, give up being a shinobi; not until he was satisfied that he had made her proud or he was dead.

"Anyway," the auburn haired girl continued with a bright smile that Naruto couldn't tell was fake or not, "I think that's enough depressing shit for one day, don't you Naruto-kun?" At his nod and bright smile, her own widened, "So, what's new, kiddo?"

Naruto couldn't keep a small blush from his face as he watched the older girl smile at him. _She really is pretty_. The blush deepened as she raised an eyebrow at him in question and a sly smirk crossed her angular face.

"Um…" Naruto floundered, raking his brain for what she had just asked him. He had been paying too much attention to her face and not her words.

Taking pity on him while chuckling at his reaction to her, she repeated herself, "I asked, what's new, kiddo?"

"Oh right!" Naruto chuckled nervously while rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. Mai had the singular ability to make him flustered. It was vexing to the nth degree for the eleven year old. He didn't quail under the harshest of glares from bandits, allied jonin, or Academy Teachers, yet a sixteen year old girl could fluster him no matter what.

Naruto blamed his emerging hormones.

"Oh, nothing much. I'm meeting with my new team today."

A well manicured raised eyebrow met his response. "Really? I thought you had a team already."

Naruto shook his head in the negative. "I did, but it was just a rotational squad. We only did a few C-ranks and patrol duty runs around the border. This one should be a more permanent squad."

The rotational squad system was a system designed to allow rookie chunins to "get their feet wet", and learn to adapt to the chunin lifestyle. Most squads didn't stay together for more than a few months, and only ran simple missions; this was a part of rookie chunins "probation period". At the end of a chunin's "probation period" they would be shuffled into an existing squad in order to take higher level missions.

Mai nodded her head in acknowledgement. "So, what are you studying? Something to help with your new team?"

Naruto shook his head again. "Not quite. Just a taijutsu manual."

Mai looked surprised. "Oh? I thought you were plenty good at taijutsu? Why aren't you looking up ninjutsu, I know that's all I did when I was your age."

Naruto smiled at the compliment towards his skill, hidden though it was. "There's no real need. I won't be able to use most of them yet. I just don't have the chakra to throw around ninjutsu all the time."

It was true. Though Naruto was gifted with a slew of natural talent, he wasn't gifted with an abnormally large chakra capacity. While it was large for his age – and that was only because of the amount of intense training he put himself through, at least in comparison to other eleven year olds – it was still too small for him to throw jutsu around like party favors.

It led him to his exploration of the other areas of ninja life, mostly genjutsu and taijutsu, and – he hoped – would help him develop into a well rounded ninja, rather than the ninjutsu oriented shinobi that were the norm.

Sneaking a peak at the scroll that Naruto had been immersed in, Mai grimaced when she caught sight of the title. "Mid-range Combatives?" Her grimace was warranted, the scroll was basically a detailed list of the quickest ways to kill someone hand to hand.

Naruto's hand found its way to the back of his head yet again. "Yeah…I figure that if I'm pretty deadly up close, it'll help me compensate for my lack of chakra, and open up space for ninjutsu when I get a little older."

The auburn haired beauty conceded the point, it made sense, as Naruto's points almost always did – ramen being the greatest food in the world aside. The feelings of bemusement remained, however, it was simply too surreal to see an eleven year old both reading and passionately expounding on the various merits of being able to kill a man sixteen different ways from within five feet.

It didn't curb her interest, however.

"Yeah, I guess it makes sense." An eyebrow was raised as she thought of something. "You can't really practice this stuff on your own, can you?"

It was true. While taijutsu katas could be practiced solo for hours on end, true proficiency couldn't be achieved unless those same katas were drilled through combat; be it sparring or actual life and death struggles.

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, but I've got a pretty good training partner. That and I get some free practice when I get to round up bandits on some of my missions."

"Oh? Who do you practice with?"

_Aside from myself,_ "I practice with a guy named Mizuki. Touji Mizuki," Naruto elaborated when the name had no effect on his friend. "He's an instructor at the Academy."

Mai nodded in acceptance, though not in recognition of the name. "Ah, that makes sense. You get to practice with an older, more experienced shinobi, while he gets to keep his skills sharp."

Naruto smiled, that about covered it. "A mutually beneficial partnership," he proclaimed proudly.

Mai blinked, twice, before bursting into a fit of giggles. When it became abundantly clear that Naruto had no idea why, as evidenced by perplexed look and growing blush, she spoke, "Sorry, it's just that me and Gendo had a conversation where that phrase came up." She burst into another round of giggles before finally managing to compose herself. "It sounds like an official title for a gay relationship."

At the proclamation, Naruto's blush deepened. While young to be familiar with the concept of sexuality, Naruto was both observant and curious. It helped that he spent most of his time around people twice his age.

"Ah…" Naruto searched for a way to restart the conversation, preferably around different topics. "You and Gendo-san talk about that stuff often?" He winced at his failed attempt.

"And what stuff could you possibly mean, little man?" a voice questioned from behind Mai, as a pair of lean arms wrapped around her neck and torso.

_Speak of the devil and he shall appear_.

"Gendo-kun!" Mai squealed in delight, turning to plant a kiss on her boyfriend's cheek.

Naruto grimaced in disgust, whether because he found the action distasteful or because he found Kawasaki Gendo distasteful as a whole was unclear.

Kawasaki Gendo was the civilian son of a well-to-do merchant. Not overly wealthy, but well off, Gendo spent his days in relative luxury, going to Konoha's top civilian academic school, learning to run his father's business, and spending time with his girlfriend Mai.

Handsome, relatively wealthy, and Mai's boyfriend to boot, Naruto had plenty of valid reasons to hate the sixteen year old. He would have loved to as well, were it not for the fact that Gendo was a genuinely likeable person, if not the sharpest kunai in the holster.

"Mai-chan," the teen responded, while turning his girlfriend's face to plant a firm kiss on her lips. Naruto looked away at that. Likeable or not, he took no pleasure in seeing the older boy kissing his crush.

Lightly slapping her boyfriend on his shoulder, though not truly protesting his actions, Mai pulled away. "Gendo-kun, do you have to do that here?" she chided lightly, gesturing to the library itself but meaning the immediate area, in front of Naruto.

If Gendo caught her meaning, he didn't show it. "Aw, you know you like it Mai-chan, and did you forget that we had a date planned for," he paused, taking note of the time for dramatic effect. "Right now?"

Mai gasped lightly, "Oh, I completely forgot! I'm sorry!" Turning to Naruto, she addressed the lightly irritated eleven year old, "I'm sorry, Naruto-kun, but I've gotta run. I'll talk to you later?"

Naruto forced a smile, none too happy about having his company taken away. "Sure thing Mai, I'll see you later."

Mai planted a quick kiss to his forehead, drawing a small blush that Naruto quickly worked to conceal. "Bye Naruto-kun!"

"See ya around, kiddo," Gendo added with a smile and a wave as he left with Mai in tow.

"Bye…" Naruto said weakly, alone once more. Turning back to his scroll on taijutsu, he sighed, before rolling it up and moving to place it back on its proper shelf. He had long since memorized it anyway, today had merely been a touch up.

Glancing around the Archive, the world seeming all the more dim without Mai's presence, he swiftly moved to the section devoted to genjutsu.

Passing a pretty, dark haired woman in a dress that appeared to be half fabric-half ninja wrap, Naruto felt a small smile worm its way onto his face. Genjutsu was a subject that he could immerse himself in for hours on end. And he had little doubt that his hours would be wasted.

/~/

The light breeze tussled blond hair gently as the sun beat down upon Naruto's back. Breaking into the open space of training ground 14, blue eyes took in the empty state of the large clearing. Checking, he noted that he was exactly on time.

Given the empty state of the large training ground, the blond immediately knew something was amiss.

His danger senses flaring, Naruto was already in motion before his sensitive ears caught the tell tale whistling of a fuuma shuriken tearing through the air toward his position. Acting on instinct, adrenaline already coursing through his body, Naruto let the laws of physics go to work as he caught the center of the bladed weapon with his outstretched hand.

Allowing the momentum of the fuuma shuriken to work with him, Naruto let his body be turned around before releasing the shuriken with the force of his own throw augmenting its initial velocity. Crouching low, blue eyes took in the form of his attacker, a surprised look on his face as his weapon raced back towards him.

A fast Kawarimi saved him, however, as the giant shuriken tore into the log that replaced him, indenting itself nearly halfway.

The residual chakra from the substitution alerted Naruto to the man's position, and he pumped chakra to his legs for a Shunshin, focusing hard not to use any smoke or emit sound. Reappearing in front of his adversary, Naruto had no time to react as a kunai slashed through his neck.

The man, dressed in standard chunin garb complete with flak vest and hitai-ate, started in shock as the body of the eleven year old disappeared in a haze. _Genjutsu_, the shinobi thought with a grimace, as his ears picked up the sound of a single footstep, much too close to his location for his liking.

To the chunin's credit, he managed to bring up his kunai to Naruto's neck as he felt the cold edge of a knife touch his jugular vein.

"Stalemate," Naruto said clamly, feeling the kunai of his attacker press into his neck.

The chunin, who Naruto could now see had a large scar across his left cheek, smirked slightly. "Not quite," he said, as two figures, both dressed in flak vests and with their hitai-ates acting as bandanas, dropped to the branch behind the threatened chunin.

Outnumbered three to one, Naruto slowly withdrew his kunai from his attacker's neck, though he didn't replace it in his pouch, unknowingly earning a few points with the three shinobi as he kept it held loosely in his right hand. The man opposite him withdrew his own blade, surveying Naruto with visible curiosity before he stowed the knife.

The man, seemingly done with his observation, nodded slightly and cocked his head towards the clearing that made up the majority of training ground 14. As if that were the signal they were waiting for, the two men behind Naruto's attacker vanished in puffs of smoke and swirls of leaves. The two remained for a moment, before using their own Shunshins to reappear in the clearing.

Facing the three chunin, Naruto felt himself relax slightly, knowing that whatever test had been designed for him was over, at least for the moment. He had expected something of the sort, to be honest, his age having made his –hopefully – future teammates wary of his skill. It was to be expected, he was only eleven after all, though it was certainly annoying having to prove himself.

He just hoped that he had passed his test with flying colors; he had never failed a test – save for the Bell Test – and didn't wish to start now.

"Not gonna lie," the scarred chunin began, capturing Naruto's attention immediately. "When central command said that we were getting an eleven year old shifted in, I was skeptical. I see the reports about you weren't exaggerated, Uzumaki Naruto."

In spite of the professional tone they were spoken in, Naruto could detect the faint note of respect in the man's voice, and it brought a smile to his face. "Glad I don't disappoint, though you've got me at a disadvantage, chunin-san."

The man nodded with a small smile, "Namiashi Raidou, at your service."

The man to his left, who carried an ANBU grade ninjaken on his back, went next. "Gekko Hayate. A pleasure, Uzumaki-san," he said softly.

"Shiranui Genma," the last man grunted as leaned against a tree lazily. Naruto noticed that he was chewing on a large toothpick. As the sun glinted off it, he realized it was a senbon needle.

"Uzumaki Naruto, but you guys already knew that."

Raidou nodded. Naruto noted that he appeared to be the one in command of the squad, at least if this meeting was any indication. "For the most part, though your file only included your mission history and academy grades."

"You want an introduction then?" At the nods of both Raidou and Hayate – Genma didn't look to care much either way – he continued, "The name's Naruto. I like ramen, training, and hanging out with a few of my friends, I guess." Images of Mai and Mizuki came to mind. "Not too much I don't like, though I hate lazy bastards and idiot dead-lasts. My dream – my ambition – is to become a jonin, and I hope to have a small family one day."

Hayate nodded with a smile, seeming genuinely interested in what Naruto had to say, while Raidou shot an amused glance at Genma when Naruto mentioned his dislike for "lazy bastards". The senbon chewing man was trying to fall asleep while leaning against the tree.

"Well then!" Raidou began, clapping loudly, both to call attention to himself and wake Genma. "Welcome to Team Raidou. Before we start taking missions, we have to run through basic team training." At Naruto's obvious confusion, he elaborated: "General formations, battle tactics and strategy, stuff like that."

Hayate grimaced slightly, showing his displeasure at the idea, while Genma's senbon nearly dropped from his mouth as he groaned, "I hate newbs."

Naruto blushed slightly, more out of offence than any embarrassment. He wasn't too fond of being the focus of someone's distaste, especially for such a small reason. With the chunin teams being shuffled every six months to a year, unless the team showed outstanding cohesiveness and talent, basic training was a usual occurrence. It wasn't fun by any means, but Naruto felt that it shouldn't be counted as a chore, especially by an experienced shinobi like Genma. It showed a lack of professionalism.

"Quiet, Genma!" Raidou snapped, seemingly sharing Naruto's sentiments. Turning back to the team's newest member, he continued, "Don't mind him, he's just lazy. I'm going to need to see what you can do, so as to best place you in the squad and develop formations and maneuvers that suit you best."

Naruto nodded, eager to prove himself. "All right then. How do we do this?"

"Well, the best way to go about it would be to place you in a combat situation, to gauge how you react to certain things. I didn't get _too_ much from our little tussle back there – other than the fact that you're actually competent – and I need to know what you can do best." The chunin's eyes lit up as a devilish smirk crossed his face. "Why don't you try your hand with Genma there?"

"Balls!" Genma only had time to widen his eyes as a blond blur sped toward him.

As he danced out of the way of Genma's retaliatory strike, the laughter of both Raidou and Hayate in the background, the blond chunin reflected that he would get along with Raidou just fine.

Maybe this team wouldn't be so bad.

/~/

As Naruto would later reflect, the team was far from bad. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Basic training, as it was known, lasted only a week and a half, a process that was sped up considerably by Naruto, whose growing proficiency and determination made the tedious drills fly by quickly.

Hayate and Raidou were impressed, Genma merely seemed thankful.

In the months following, Team Raidou took various C and B ranked missions, most without incident. Naruto also found, much to his pleasure, that the constant team training and sparring, not to mention the more dangerous missions, had kick started him from his plateau.

Having never been on an experienced team before, the second opinions from Hayate, Raidou, and even Genma on occasion, served to greatly increase his learning ability; it honestly surprised him. Training with the three experienced chunin also served to develop his hand to hand skills at a rate faster than he had even thought possible. Sparring with different opponents than he had been used to had forced him to develop faster reflexes, in order to counter the unpredictability, lest he get hit.

While it wasn't life or death experience, Naruto would take what he could get, especially as he wasn't particularly willing to put his life on the line simply for better reflexes.

He was ambitious, not suicidal.

The determined blond found that he was evenly matched with two thirds of his team, though Raidou remained both the strongest and most experienced of the lot. Apparently it was Team Raidou for a reason. He easily outclassed both Genma and Hayate in genjutsu, while his close range taijutsu was probably a little better than even Raidou's; at least in terms of pure effectiveness. With his constant training and sparring, Naruto was nothing if not ruthlessly efficient when it came to dispatching his opponents close range.

In turn, the three older chunin completely eclipsed his ninjutsu abilities; though Naruto was coming along quickly.

Genma, a mid-range specialist, was highly proficient with earth jutsu, and liked to use them to work his opponent into a corner where he could make an easy kill, preferably with his trademark senbon.

Raidou, having the largest reserves of the four, was a ninjutsu expert, and excelled with fire techniques and earth techniques both. Becoming proficient with two elements was a skill almost required to become jonin, and spoke well of Raidou as a shinobi. Naruto had the utmost respect for his commander, recognizing both the man's skills and his experience as a leader.

Hayate was a close range specialist with his kenjutsu, and used a creative combination of ninjutsu and taijutsu to supplement his deadly skills with a blade.

Naruto had taken an interest in kenjutsu, mostly because it was required to have _some_ proficiency in ANBU, and had been receiving some lessons from Hayate on the side. In return, Naruto was helping the man create a new technique that involved both kenjutsu and genjutsu. It looked both promising and deadly.

With their differing skill sets and experience, Team Raidou was a reliable chunin squad. Their competency was recognized, and the four found themselves tasked with a B-ranked assassination mission.

While not uncommon for chunin squads to receive such missions, this one was special. It tasked Team Raidou with the destruction of a compound of bandits situated in the heart of River Country, the country that acted as a buffer zone between Fire Country and Wind Country. Killing bandits wasn't a difficult task, but the compound was apparently being run by B-ranked missing nin; a fairly well known jonin named Kurosuki Hideki.

The man hailed from Kumo, and had defected after a failed mission during the height of the Third Great War.

Their task was to kill him, whatever underlings he may have had, and destroy his compound that had been terrorizing the plains of River Country.

It was simple in theory, perfectly plausible on paper, and certainly doable in execution. A straightforward B-ranked assassination mission, as decreed by the Konoha missions office.

Unfortunately for Team Raidou, the powers that be never considered that someone else might have been after Kurosuki Hideki as well.

/~/

There were three signs that something was wrong when the Konoha squad reached Kurosuki's compound.

The first sign was that the wooden gates, similar but much smaller than the ones guarding Konoha, were torn completely off their hinges. The second sign was the bodies strewn throughout the small compound.

It was a bloodbath.

Kunai, shuriken, and more perforated the dozens of bodies strewn haphazardly through the streets, blood dripping from the still cooling corpses. The stench of death hung heavy in the air – Naruto had almost gagged – while the very air that Team Raidou breathed was laden with ambient chakra, an obvious sign of shinobi involvement.

The third sign was the silence.

"Am I going to be the asshole that says that it's quiet, _too_ quiet?" Genma piped weakly, attempting to fight growing unease and nervousness with humor.

"Shut it, Genma!" Raidou hissed. He made the hand sign for immediate retreat. "Some other force is obviously at work here. We need to return to Konoha immediately and inform the ANBU, they'll be able to handle this."

"I'm afraid it's a bit too late for that."

At the sound of the voice, the Konoha squad spun abruptly, eyes taking in the forms of three shinobi, all wearing forehead protectors with the symbol for Iwagakure. The body of Kurosuki Hideki was draped roughly over the tallest man's shoulders.

A short man, with a tuft of red hair and carrying a zanbatou as large as he was tall, stepped forward. His eyes glittered malevolently as he raised his cleaver. "Well, now…I've not killed any Konoha trash in over a decade. What do you say, gents? Time for some fun?"

/~/


	3. Chapter 2: Trial by Fire

/~/

Naruto had fought many dangerous men in his short shinobi career. Some had, obviously, been more dangerous than others. He had fought bandits and wandering ronin on some of his earlier missions, and he had even killed a few small-time missing nin on some of his B-ranked missions with Team Raidou.

None of them compared to the might of the Iwa squad that had appeared from nowhere in the middle of River Country.

Originally, Naruto had thought the three man squad arrogant when they had squandered the element of surprise in favor of pointless posturing. Much to the boy's growing distress, the Iwa nin had the abilities to back up their boldness.

In spades.

Sometime in between when earthen spikes burst from the ground, forcing Team Raidou to dodge lest they be fried by the ensuing electric current, and when the red haired man with the zanbatou rushed in and delivered a debilitating strike with the flat end of his zanbatou that immediately removed Hayate from the fight, Naruto realized that he and his team were in over their heads.

Iwa formed their squads differently than Konoha, opting to pack more power in a smaller group. Standard formation dictated that each squad was made up of two chunin and one jonin. In theory, it would allow for the squad to move more quickly, while having enough power to compensate for the lack of a fourth member.

Naruto had learned all that from a history text detailing the Third Great War. He had also learned that Iwa designated certain squads as 'kill squads' that were designed to be able to eliminate high level targets efficiently and with impunity. Given the way that the three handled themselves, the carnage behind him in the formerly sprawling hamlet, and the ease with which the short man had dispatched Hayate – a seasoned chunin in his own right – led Naruto to believe that they had indeed stumbled upon a Iwagakure 'kill squad'.

All of that flashed through Naruto's head at the speed of thought, barely registering in the boy's mind before being discarded, as he scrambled to intercept the red haired shinobi who was moving to finish Hayate.

Two kunai were palmed as Naruto's focus increased to insane levels and he slipped into Shunshin.

The blond chunin immediately felt the strain on his body from the jutsu as he reappeared in front of the short Iwa nin. The twin knives were brought to bear in a hasty overhead block that halted the cleaver in its tracks. Naruto's arms shook under the weight of the man's zanbatou as he attempted to deliver the coup de grace, and the chunin gritted his teeth.

Feeling his twin kunai slipping, Naruto channeled the remaining chakra from his Shunshin to his legs, digging his heels into the ground. Feeling a rush of air behind him, he almost sighed in relief as Hayate's body was whisked away by Genma. He was out of the kill zone.

Enacting a quick Kawarimi with a nearby piece of debris, Naruto grimaced in pain; he'd be feeling the strain on his chakra coils in the morning. _If I get out alive, that is_.

Seeing Genma moving to engage the red haired jonin – Naruto assumed he was the jonin – Naruto's eyes shifted to where Raidou was exchanging blows with the other two Iwa nin. Seeing the scarred chunin create a small amount of space between himself and the Stone-nin, Naruto enacted a carefully orchestrated maneuver.

Naruto had trained with Team Raidou in a series of basic, simple teamwork maneuvers; maneuvers that were trained extensively so that each team member not only was ready for them at a moment's notice, but also expected them. Teams like the Densetsu no Sannin and the Ino-Shika-Cho trio had become famous for their complicated, sophisticated, and deadly combos. In the case of Team Raidou, there was nothing complicated and nothing sophisticated, but it was deadly.

It was illustrated beautifully when Naruto reached out with his chakra and Kawarimi'd with a rapidly retreating Raidou.

The two approaching chunin were entirely unprepared to meet a shorter, smaller, and very offensive minded Naruto. Konoha's reputation for deadly teamwork gained credence as Naruto swiftly outmaneuvered one of the unprepared Iwa nin and worked his way behind him. The blond slammed one of his kunai into the base of the man's neck, severing the spine, with a grunt of satisfaction.

The entire altercation took less than two seconds.

Pushing the rapidly cooling corpse into the second chunin, Naruto dropped back and summoned a Tsuchi Bunshin to distract the second shinobi. Leaping into the air, the blond landed on a nearby rooftop, where he was quickly joined by Genma, the latter having been replaced by Raidou, who was engaging the Iwa jonin.

Eyes sweeping over the battlefield, Naruto addressed the chunin, who was without his customary senbon. "My clone won't hold long. What's happening?"

"Hayate's looking bad," Genma said in a rush. "Two of his ribs punctured his left lung."

_Fuck. _Naruto grimaced, "We'll have to do this fast then. I'll take point and you flank?"

The lazy chunin shook his head. "Negative, Raidou can't handle the jonin for long. I'm gonna drop in for support. This one's yours," he finished, gesturing to the Iwa nin who had just dispatched Naruto's Tsuchi Bunshin.

_You gotta be kidding me. _Naruto nodded once, curtly. "Understood." There was no time for arguments on the battlefield, especially with a comrade injured; only quick decisions and executions. The blond knew what was expected of him.

As Genma disappeared in a burst of chakra to support the beleaguered Raidou, Naruto pulled a scroll from one of the pockets on his flak vest. A short burst of chakra and a swipe of blood later, Naruto held a folding Fuuma Shuriken in his hands.

Naruto snapped the weapon into place, before hurling the bladed weapon at the now charging chunin. He immediately wove a set of seals, before leaping to the ground and moving to meet his enemy halfway.

Seeing the shuriken coming in at neck level, the Iwa chunin ducked under it. His eyes widened as he blanched and performed an impressive acrobatic corkscrew to avoid the shuriken that had been in the shadow of the first.

Noticing Naruto's charge and reacting quickly, the Iwa nin withdrew three kunai with explosive tags and chucked them at the charging blond to buy himself time.

Cursing, Naruto quickly substituted with one of his thrown shuriken, appearing behind the Iwa nin. Grimacing in pain – it was a strain to Kawarimi with a moving object – Naruto palmed six shuriken, three in each hand, and sent them racing toward the Iwa chunin.

The man, recognizing an attempt to maneuver him, withdrew a kunai and deftly deflected the inbound throwing stars. Hurling his own kunai, the man dropped to one knee, weaving hand seals before slamming his palms to the ground.

"Doton: Doryuusou!" the man intoned fiercely.

_Shit!_ Naruto cursed. His dodging of the man's kunai had placed him in prime position for the follow-up ninjutsu. As earthen spikes burst from the ground to impale him, Naruto did the only thing available to him to avoid a painful death.

He jumped.

In the world of shinobi, jumping into the air while in a defensive position was almost always suicide. The reason being: that if a competent enemy had you on the defensive, placing yourself in a position where you couldn't completely control your body movement, i.e. the air, was simply asking to be killed.

The same held true here, as his enemy leapt to follow him.

Hastily withdrawing a kunai from his rapidly deflating weapon's pouch, Naruto deflected the Iwa nin's stabs to the best of his ability. The blond grunted in pain as he took a few shots to the chest, with only his flak vest saved him from taking any potentially mortal wounds.

Falling rapidly and with death approaching, Naruto used all of his strength to kick out at the Iwa chunin, and managed to push him off. The blond flipped through a set of hand seals as he fell away from the man, and a thick mist began to blanket the area, obscuring the Iwa nin's view of Naruto as the blond hit the ground hard.

Feeling his internal chakra fluctuate for a split second, the Iwa chunin landed in a crouch. Hands forming the ram seal, he stopped his chakra flow with a muttered "Kai!" and the mist disappeared to reveal a charging Naruto, kunai in hand.

The knives met with a resounding 'CLANG' that reverberated through the area and the two combatant's arms. Withdrawing briefly, the two chunin met once more, blades generating sparks as metal met metal.

Dropping back briefly, the Iwa shinobi allowed for Naruto to make a charge once more, before using his longer reach and superior strength to bat away the knife and get inside the boy's guard, stabbing him through the neck. His momentary triumph was short lived, however, as the body crumbled into mud.

Quick thinking saved his head, and Naruto cursed silently as his stab at the man's back was avoided by a desperate roll. The chunin had great reflexes.

Dropping back and making space to catch his breath, Naruto assessed his opponent. The man was both larger and stronger than him, and he undoubtedly had more chakra. In a battle of attrition, the Iwa nin would have him beaten soundly.

Assessing himself briefly, he noted that he had more than half of his chakra, still, and a plan began to take shape. _This is gonna hurt…_

One hand seal later, a charging Tsuchi Bunshin was sprinting towards the Iwa chunin. Watching dispassionately as four kunai perforated the crumbling clone, Naruto wove hand seals for one of the few ninjutsu he used regularly.

Taking a breath, Naruto expelled a high speed, compacted bullet of water at the Iwa nin. The Suiton: Teppodama wasn't the quickest ninjutsu, but it was fast enough to force Naruto's enemy to move rather than block.

Focus sharpening to a pinpoint, chakra control earned by long hours of training came into effect as Naruto slipped into Shunshin once more. Despite the pain that Naruto knew he would be feeling, the high speed technique allowed him to get close to the still dodging Iwa chunin.

Naruto's personal brand of taijutsu relied on grappling, trapping, and lightning fast strikes that were too fast to react to. It required speed to steal the initiative at close range, and speed was something Naruto had in spades.

Deftly maneuvering inside the man's guard, Naruto easily blocked a desperate punch, grabbing the offending appendage and twisting it painfully. Pressing his advantage, Naruto brought his right arm up while using his left to pull the Iwa nin's arm downward sharply. The chunin's arm snapped at the elbow with a satisfying CRACK.

The man had no time to scream in pain before Naruto had kicked his leg behind the knee, knocking him off balance, and grabbed the man's head and twisted it sharply. The corpse collapsed in a boneless heap and a thump as its neck was broken.

Fewer than four minutes had passed since Naruto engaged the Iwa shinobi solo.

Catching his breath, Naruto surveyed the battlefield. Ears picking up the sound of clashing metal, Naruto turned, somewhat surprised at how far he had moved from his teammates. He quickly backtracked.

Coming within view of the fight, Naruto noted that both Genma and Raidou looked the worse for wear, Genma especially. With identical nods, the two chunin dropped back to stand next to each other as they both started making hand seals.

Naruto stopped, recognizing the deadly combo, and decided to hang back to watch the fireworks. He couldn't help the feeling of nervousness that gathered in the pit of his stomach as the air became heavy with chakra. _This had better work_.

Genma finished first, and a dragon formed entirely of mud rose from the ground and charged the Iwa jonin.

In an ideal world, Hayate would have been there to lead off with a Mud River that would have unbalanced the target. Genma's Mud Dragon would have followed, before being alit with white hot flames b y Raido.

If the enemy managed to survive that, Naruto would be called in to finish the job.

The technique was golden on paper, and even better when executed properly. The world wasn't ideal, however, and Hayate's part of the combo was the most important.

Raidou never got a chance to finish the seals for the Katon: Karyuudan, as a powerful bolt of supercharged blue lightning ripped through his body, having passed through the mud dragon like it was nothing but air.

"Raiton: Gian!" the red haired jonin bit out. A snarl marred the man's features, before it twisted into a grin.

"You kill my teammates I kill you, trash. Fair trade?" the jonin mocked. A twisted satisfaction rested on his face, turning it into the visage of a monster.

For Naruto, time seemed to slow to a crawl as he watched the lightning rip a hole in Raidou's chest. The scarred chunin's back arched in pain as he let out a silent scream, before collapsing to the ground. Bits of lightning still arced across his body as the man laid deathly still.

_NO! _

No one could survive that.

The blond chunin's mind processed two things, Raidou – his friend, his comrade, and his leader – was dead, and the Iwa jonin was responsible. In Naruto's mind, the man's life was forfeit.

Effective immediately.

Naruto channeled his anger, his hatred. The rage sharpened his focus to a pinpoint as the drumbeat of his heart blared in his ears. The only thing that mattered was that the man responsible for the death of Raidou ended up dead. A plan began to take shape in the young chunin's head.

"Genma," he snarled as the senbon chewing chunin landed next to him. "I've got an idea. I'll need you to take point. Gimme space."

Genma nodded once, the idea of questioning the blonde's order never crossing his mind. He would be ready to bail Naruto out if the whole thing went sideways.

Charging at the Iwa jonin, who had paused to regroup after his jutsu, Genma flipped through a series of seals, before suddenly spitting multiple senbon needles at the red haired shinobi.

Bringing his zanbatou to bear, the short jonin used the flat end to deflect the incoming projectiles, before spinning and using his momentum to take a deadly swing at Genma's neck.

Much to his shock, the strike missed entirely, and he was forced to let go of his sword in order to dodge backwards as the newly substituted Naruto's kunai made a stab for his heart.

The man was a jonin, however, and acquitted himself well. Reacting quickly by drawing his own kunai, the Iwa-nin blocked Naruto's second blade before it could pierce his liver. The man found purchase as he made a grab from Naruto's chest, and, using his superior strength, the jonin shoved Naruto back to make space.

Naruto complied, allowing his body to drift backwards with no resistance. The Iwa-nin faltered, losing his balance due to the unexpected lack of resistance. It was a credit to the jonin's reflexes that he managed to move his head in time to avoid Naruto's thrown kunai, but his eyes widened in shock as the snarling blond boy disappeared, only to be replaced by the very kunai he had just thrown.

The jonin tried to react, but had no time, as the Kawarimi was a near-instantaneous substitution. He felt nothing but a single moment of the cold bite of steel, as Naruto rammed the remaining knife into the back of his neck.

The blond roared his victory and his revenge as he fell with his dead enemy. His body hit the ground with a muted thump, and he couldn't stop the faintest, smallest smile of satisfaction that blossomed when he realized that he'd avenged his friend.

The smile remained until darkness claimed him.

/~/

Naruto was in pain. And he had no one but himself to blame. _It was all necessary_, he kept telling himself. And while the mantra was true, he couldn't help but wonder if there hadn't been another way to go about it all.

Preferably a way that hadn't left him in the hospital with his chakra coils damaged.

The Shunshin, despite common misconceptions, was not a teleportation jutsu. It was a speed technique; though that didn't make it any less simple. Many thought that the technique should be learned by all Academy students – young genin especially – as it couldn't hurt. But there were very specific reasons for why it wasn't.

Similar to the Kawarimi in nature, the Shunshin required C-rank chakra control, lest the user end up a greasy smear on the ground when the pent up chakra speeding his movement exploded outward, instead of remaining controlled. The jutsu allowed for a quick, nearly insane burst of speed over a short distance and shorter duration, due to the use of chakra to power the legs in order to move at speeds almost faster than the eye could track.

It was this build up of chakra that made the Shunshin effective as a jutsu, but very dangerous and stupid to use in most combat situations. The chakra build up had to escape somewhere, and that spot was usually from the users' body at the beginning and end of the run. The discharge made it possible for just about any competent shinobi to estimate both the direction and destination of the user.

The other glaring limitation was that the discharged chakra had to go somewhere, and this somewhere was usually the closest object that could absorb chakra – i.e. the shinobi who had just preformed the technique. This caused the escaped chakra to slam back _into_ the shinobi's chakra coils – a process that was abnormal and could be painful if done too much.

The chakra release and absorption put a great amount of strain on the body. As the body was used to having a certain balance of chakra at all points, the heavy concentration of chakra moving in and out of the body could render serious damage to the leg muscles if used too frequently or in too quick a succession. It was for this reason that the use of the Celestial Gates was classified as forbidden, as the discharged chakra affected the users entire body, causing massive damage.

It was because of these limitations that shinobi like Shunshin no Shisui and The Yellow Flash were recognized as masters of the Shunshin; the Yondaime in particular. They had managed to create and use a modified version of the technique to make it combat effective.

Similarly, the Kawarimi used the chakra to latch onto an object and bring it towards the user, while simultaneously propelling the user to the spot that the object had previously occupied in a magnetic propulsion effect.

As the chakra could, and would mostly be concentrated on the other object, the technique required far less chakra control than the Shunshin, as the user didn't have to worry about much excess chakra being built up, discharged, and then slamming back into the user's chakra coils. But there was still some left over, and that chakra still had to go somewhere.

It was for this reason that most shinobi substituted with object of both organic material, and similar size to them. The organic matter would automatically absorb most of the chakra of the user, and the more matter there was, the less excess chakra there would be concentrated on the user, able to slam back into them.

When Naruto Kawarimi'd with his thrown kunai, he was substituting with an object both significantly smaller than himself, and made of metal. As things stood, Naruto had felt every single particle of chakra as it slammed back into his coils, and was still feeling it now.

Chakra coils took a while to recover properly if you wanted to use them in the future, and Naruto found, to his chagrin, that he needed to be in the hospital for that to happen.

Hospital food, he mused, most likely came from one gelatinous substance that was simply doctored up to look like real food. It was the only explanation that he could think of for why everything on his plate tasted exactly the same. And it didn't taste good.

_At least Mizuki managed to sneak me some ramen_.

Unfortunately for the bedridden chunin, the budget for an Academy Instructor wasn't all that much. Compounded by the fact that he was living with his girlfriend, creating double the living expenses, the man had very little money to spend on frivolous things such as ramen. Or at least that was the way the silver haired man put it.

Naruto didn't think that the excuse quite cut it; the man had only gotten him one extra large box, just one! That was one meal. That would only last twenty five minutes, tops. He still had a few _days_ in this hellhole.

That was no way to treat your injured and bedridden friend, at least not in Naruto's mind.

Naruto's musings about the unfairness of it all were cut short by the voice of the aforementioned man, who was facing outwards and looking through the window that gave Naruto a good view of the Hokage monument. "It's still hard to believe, you know? I mean, I didn't run too many missions with the guy, but by all accounts he was good; damn good."

Naruto nodded solemnly from his place on the hospital bed. His emotions were still running high after Raidou's death. "Yeah, I know what you mean. He was the best of all of us."

"Shows you what can happen if you're not careful, even to the best of us."

Naruto shook his head. "No, he was careful. He had no warning, no indication that anything was coming, no time to react. He would have needed reflexes and speed like the Yondaime to get out of the way."

Naruto's gaze turned upwards, eyes losing focus as they took in the pure white ceiling of his room in Konoha's Shinobi Medical Center. "He was outmatched. We all were."

Civilian clothes rustled as Mizuki turned around to face the blond. An unreadable expression rested on the Academy teacher's face. "You killed him though, in the end."

Naruto merely shrugged, he could truly say that he didn't really care about having killed the man. One week after the battle, Naruto merely wished to forget the whole thing.

"You ever find out who he was?"

Naruto nodded, eyes coming back into focus. "Masahashi Shibito, jonin from."

Mizuki blanched at the name. "Holy shit, Naruto! Do you even know who that is?"

At Naruto's blank look, he elaborated, "He's A-ranked, _was_ A-ranked! He fought during the Great War...!"

Naruto raised an eyebrow, genuinely surprised. Genma had been the one to stop by and tell him who it was exactly that had given them so much trouble, but he hadn't mentioned _this_.

"…whole squad! God, Naruto, you have no idea what you did, do you?"

At Mizuki's incredulous look, Naruto allowed a small smile to slip onto his face. It was more for his friend's benefit than because of any real pride. "Apparently, I killed some A-ranked bad-ass."

At the continued incredulity – now complete with hand motions – Naruto snickered to himself, Mizuki really was too funny. He was glad to call the man his friend though, he managed to cheer him up when no one else could, or even bothered to.

"Not just him, his _whole squad_! Damn, Naruto…If you keep this up you'll be ANBU in no time." The silver haired chunin shook his head in disbelief. "Hell, _they'll_ come looking for _you_."

Naruto shrugged, blushing slightly at the praise. "I had help. I wouldn't have been able to kill two of them if Genma and Raidou hadn't been there." His voice cracked slightly on the name of his former captain. "It was a team effort; I was just the one who got the kill shot."

Mizuki scoffed. "Whatever. Downplay it as much as you want, the fact is that you still killed them. _You_. Not Genma. Not Raidou." Shaking his head in bemusement, the chunin plopped down in a chair that was adjacent to Naruto's bed, taking a sip from a glass of water. "Man, I would be surprised if ANBU didn't pay you a visit in the next couple of days." He idly took another sip.

"They already did." The simple statement had the oh-so-satisfying effect of causing Mizuki to spit out his water. "A rep stopped by yesterday," Naruto finished, in between chuckles. _Perfect timing_.

"Oh _really_?" Mizuki had regained his composure, what little there had been to begin with anyway. A deadpan expression rested on his face. "What'd he say?"

"Nothing much. Just that they were interested, had looked at my file, mission records, the like. Thought I had 'potential,' he said." Naruto blew a strand of blond hair out of his eyes, it really was getting long. "You know how it is."

"No, Naruto, I most certainly do _not_ know how it is. The guy say anything else?" Mizuki asked dryly. His incredulity was warranted. ANBU was the most secret shinobi unit in Konoha, and didn't often recruit openly. Especially with people as young as Naruto; the after effects of Uchiha Itachi's betrayal still hung heavy in the Black Ops. If Naruto followed through and became an ANBU, he would be the second youngest in over a decade.

"Just that it would probably take six months to process my application, if I decide to join that is," Naruto said straight faced. He casually buffed his nails on his hospital gown.

The blond felt a smile threaten to split his face in two as he saw Mizuki's eyes widen to the size of dinner plates. "Six months! You do know that's shaving off a year of the normal processing time?"

"Yup."

Mizuki shook his head, throwing his arms skyward in frustration. "Of course you know, you cocky little bastard. You really think you're hot shit, don't you?"

Naruto smirked devilishly. "Lil' bit."

"That's it, I'm outta here! Let's see how you like not getting any ramen tomorrow." Mizuki picked up his jacket from his chair and started towards the door, shaking his head at Naruto along the way.

"Oh dear, I do hope I'm not intruding."

Naruto and Mizuki spun toward the door, eyes widening as they took in the elderly form of the Sandaime Hokage, decked out in his traditional Hokage robes and hat.

Mizuki composed himself quickly, and addressed the Shinobi no Kami respectfully, "Not at all, Hokage-sama. I was just leaving."

"Well then, my boy, don't let me keep you." The old man gave the chunin a grandfatherly smile.

As Mizuki sped out of the room – shooting Naruto wide-eyed looks the whole way – the elderly shinobi stepped fully into the room, followed closely by a middle aged blond man with a long ponytail, who sported a crisp flak vest.

"Alas, Uzumaki-kun, I'm afraid that we require a few moments of your time."

/~/

Naruto sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose in order to stave off the ensuing headache. He had expected to be debriefed, it was standard procedure after a mission like his; he just didn't expect it to be the Hokage and Konoha's First Fireblade doing the debriefing.

The First Fireblade, also known as the High Jonin, was appointed by the Hokage in order to better manage the shinobi populace – the Hokage could hardy micro-manage the whole shinobi force. The Fireblade, Yamanaka Inoichi, headed the jonin council, and ranked third on the totem pole in terms of highest ranking ninja. He was behind the ANBU Commander, a reclusive figure if there ever was one, and the Hokage himself in terms of raw political power in the village.

It was a system that had been set up by Senju Tobirama, the Nidaime Hokage, so that the village could be properly managed in times of crisis – i.e. if the sitting Hokage was unduly occupied or indisposed. It also established the chain of command if the Hokage was killed before he could appoint a successor; the First Fireblade would assume control of the Konoha military, while the advisory council would control the civilian matters, until a proper replacement could be found.

Hyuuga Hisashi, the Fireblade at the time of the Kyubi attack, had held control over the Konoha shinobi force for all of three hours before Sarutobi had been reinstated.

Given the importance of the two men sitting at the foot of his bed, Naruto could only assume that he and his team had stumbled onto something big. Mission clusterfucks like his didn't normally cause enough concern for the Hokage and his ranking jonin to get involved.

"…checks out. It's the same version of events that Shiranui told us, Hokage-sama," the High Jonin finished, wrenching the blond from his musings.

The Hokage nodded solemnly, eyes firmly locked on the Hokage Mountain out the window. He appeared to be deep in thought. Turning from the view, his eyes found the sitting form of Naruto.

"Tell me, Naruto-kun, did you notice anything…abnormal about your encounter with the Iwa shinobi?" the Sandaime asked.

Naruto took the question as permission to speak freely. "Aside from the obvious? The fact that they were there in the first place?" It was a rhetorical question, but the Hokage nodded nonetheless. "Seemed like a case of really bad luck at first. Kurosuki had money on his head; it's not out of the question to think that someone, even another village, would be after him."

The Hokage nodded, accepting the point. "But…"

"We're shinobi. There's no such thing as bad luck, only misinformation," Naruto continued, the concerns he had been stewing over for the past week finally coming to the fore. "But it _still_ makes no sense! The money on Kurosuki shouldn't have been enough to attract Iwa's attention anyway. And even if it was, the bounty shouldn't have been enough for them to send a full kill squad into River Country, a place that is under joint jurisdiction of both Konoha and Suna."

The boy shrugged his shoulders, having expressed his concerns. The Hokage nodded with a small smile settling on his face at the young shinobi's deduction skills.

Naruto leaned back, eyes closing as he recalled every small detail of the encounter. Unbidden, the words of his almost sensei came to the fore, "A shinobi must always seek to look underneath the underneath."

Eyes flying open, dots connected in his brain as previously disjointed bits of information formed a cohesive whole. Naruto addressed the Hokage once more: "They were waiting for us!" The answer was both so obvious and so ludicrous that Naruto had overlooked it completely in his reflections.

The Sandaime, who had been having a whispered conversation with Inoichi, turned his head to Naruto. "Elaborate," Sarutobi said seriously.

"They were waiting, they had to be! There was no surprise when they found us. The village was torn apart, but looked like it had been like that for some time at least. Killing Kurosuki wouldn't have taken that long for them; they had no reason to still be there when we showed up." The follow up 'but, why?' was left unasked in the wake of the boy's rant.

The Hokage nodded, looking to Inoichi, who had a look of surprise etched upon his visage. "Indeed, Hokage-sama, the boy is perceptive." Turning to face Naruto, he continued, "That is the same conclusion that we have drawn, Uzumaki-san. The question remains, why?"

"Why would an Iwa kill squad be in River Country? Why would they be waiting to ambush at team of Konoha chunin? The answers have some disturbing implications." the Hokage said.

Blond eyebrows shot up, and Naruto's eyes widened as the dots connected. "You think this was a deliberate act of war?" The alarm was clear in his voice as a muted sort of terror gripped him.

Instead of answering, the Sandaime turned to the window once more, surveying the stone faces of his predecessors and successor. "Indeed, my boy, you must be curious as to why both Inoichi-kun and myself are here debriefing you."

The question was rhetorical, but Naruto nodded anyway. It didn't make much sense as to why such high ranking ninja were here to debrief _him_ of all people.

"While the information that you and your team inadvertently helped us uncover is a bit above your pay grade, I have it on good authority that that may be changing soon." The Sandaime face was expressionless, not allowing Naruto to get a read on the man.

Naruto's mind immediately flashed to the offer the ANBU representative – he had said his name was Tenzou – had made him. _How does he know about that? It was only yesterday!_ The thought only barely crossed his mind before he mentally slapped himself. ANBU was under the direct jurisdiction of the Hokage, it would have been a shock if the man _didn't _know.

_Hell, _Naruto thought, _the Hokage probably approved the decision to recruit me_. The question was, why?

"You'll find, Naruto-kun," the Sandaime began, shaking Naruto from his thoughts, "that I've got quite the eye for talent." His lips twitched in amusement as Naruto's eyes widened. "Call it a hunch, but I've a feeling that you may be an important asset to this village one day. I'm simply…helping the process along. It wouldn't be the first time."

As floored as he was by the Sandaime's apparent faith in his abilities, Naruto couldn't help but be skeptical. "Me? I'm nobody. Orphaned, clanless…" the boy trailed off, truly at a loss as to why the Sandaime would show so much interest in him. He was talented, he knew that, but surely there were others. Faith like the Sandaime was showing in his abilities wasn't developed simply by reading over his mission reports, no matter how impressive they might have been; and it's not like he was taking S-ranked missions either, just standard C and B-ranked jobs.

No, the kind of interest the Hokage was showing in him could only be developed over time, as if the man had been following his whole career from the day he entered the ninja academy. But that was preposterous.

"As were many exceptional shinobi" the Sandaime said simply, a truly unnerving twinkle in his eyes. _Minato-kun comes to mind._ _And not even he showed as much talent at your age._

Naruto sat back. He was floored, that was for sure. No one had shown such faith in both his skills and his talent before.

_No pressure, Naruto. Yeah, right._

"In any event, I'm always looking for fresh, new opinions; they often give perspective on certain angles that old men like me don't see. Your perspective on the matter, having been directly involved, more so than anyone else, may help us understand our precarious position a little better."

The Professor looked to Naruto expectantly, as if he honestly thought the boy might refuse to lend his opinion. At Naruto's unnecessary nod of compliance, he turned to the formerly silent member of the trio. "Inoichi, if you will?"

"Of course, Hokage-sama." Turning to Naruto, he began, "As you are aware, information is the backbone of a mission's success. A misinformed shinobi is a dead shinobi."

Naruto bobbed his head at the old adage; it was drilled into all Academy students.

"As you are most likely not aware, the…fiasco," he took a moment to find an adequate word, "that was your mission was not the first instance of a Konoha team being ambushed. There have been a total of three other examples of Konoha teams being caught off guard by Iwa shinobi, though none quite as blatant as yours."

"In each case, there has been at least one Konoha survivor. And in each case, the evidence was such that it was easy to believe that the Konoha teams were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Until now," Naruto finished.

The blond Yamanaka nodded. "Until now. Until this point, these small incidents have been happening on neutral ground, in Grass Country to be specific. As Grass is bordered by both Fire Country and Earth Country, it was easier to believe that squads from the both villages might encounter one another, though it was still a bit of a stretch. But for it to happen in River Country?"

"It's too convenient, too _blatant_," Naruto finished for him, eyes widening as comprehension dawned. "And everybody knows that there are no coincidences in this job."

"Indeed, Naruto-kun," the Sandaime agreed grimly.

"You think they're provoking us?" Naruto asked. "Hokage-sama, if I may?" The Sandaime nodded. "Iwa's never been all that subtle. They hate us. But a full kill squad in River Country after the same target as a Konoha team?" Naruto shook his head. "It a little _too_ bold; even for them."

"Yes it does, my boy. Yes it does," the Sandaime agreed with a grim smile. It looked more like a grimace on the aged Hokage's face.

Inoichi picked up once more, "We were fully prepared to believe Iwa was provoking us into conflict, until this last maneuver. Iwa's feelings for Konoha aside, they are a shinobi village governed by shinobi ideals. The Tsuchikage would never condone such an attack unless his forces were fully mobilized for war; it defies all logic, otherwise."

Naruto's eyes widened and he suppressed a gasp as a second, far more horrifying conclusion was drawn in his head.

"You think someone is manipulating Iwa, pushing them towards conflict with us?" the question that wasn't a question drew only grim faces.

/~/

"It definitely didn't go as planned, but we should be able to make do, yeah," the spectral form of a man said. "Heh, it might turn out even better."

The man whom he was addressing stood ramrod straight, grey, ringed eyes peering intently at the rainbow colored form. "Elaborate," was his simple command.

"Shibito was a good soldier. He was an old timer; old school, and one of the Tsuchikage's favorites." The figure paused, chucking to himself. "When the news came down, I was surprised the old man didn't declare war on Konoha right then and there, yeah."

"Even in his old age, the Tsuchikage remains shrewd. He was never prone to rash decisions, it is doubtful he will begin now," the grey eyed figure stated, idly adjusting his black cloak with red clouds. The voice wasn't quite monotone, it merely lacked inflection.

It never ceased to unnerve the rainbow colored figure.

"Yeah, well, it should speed the process along a bit. The old man's getting agitated, not to mention what the rest of the shinobi think, yeah. A full kill team taken down by a few chunin, the whole corps is talking about it." The figure shook his head. "Word is some brat got all the kills. It's got'em on edge; they're anxious, yeah."

The grey eyed figure nodded. "As they should be. This turn, while unexpected, has the potential to help expedite our operations. How go the inroads in Kusagakure?"

The specter appeared caught off guard at the sudden change in topic, but composed himself quickly. "Better than expected, yeah, but it's still a long ways off." The figure shrugged. "Even then, it'll take something big to convince the hardliners to change. Konoha has been one of their best allies."

"Kusa's support of Iwa is paramount," the cloaked figure insisted. "With a village so close to Konoha supporting Iwa while on the brink of war, Konoha will be forced into early action, drawing their attention from us."

The spectral figure nodded. "Understood, yeah. It's just tough trying to work with the pro-Konohans. Getting them sworn to secrecy about the whole deal was hard enough."

"An incident will be arranged, as you seem to think it's required. Keep the pressure on Kusa for now, and off of Konoha; we don't need them asking unnecessary questions because we got too careless."

"You really think that they might deduce our existence? That seems a little farfetched, yeah…" The cloaked man couldn't see expressions on the face of his subordinate, but he assumed that the man had a questioning look on his face, at least from his response.

The grey eyed man shook his head. "The Sandaime has always been intelligent, that has not changed in his later years. He also has a knack for surrounding himself with similarly intelligent people. Provoking Konoha any further will serve no visible purpose, while making it easier for the Hokage to become aware of us."

The rainbow colored figure nodded. "Understood."

"You are dismissed." With a small hand gesture, the spectral figure disappeared from sight, and the cloaked man allowed the jutsu to end.

"The conflict with Konoha and Iwa is on schedule then?" a voice spoke up from behind the grey eyed man.

"Ahead of schedule, if Deidara is to be believed." The man turned to address a similarly cloaked figure who wore an orange mask on his face. "The unexpected turn of events may turn out to benefit us greatly. Though that one Leaf-nin, Uzumaki Naruto, bears some watching."

The masked man nodded. "The rest of that blasted clan certainly was trouble. I'll set Itachi to watch him; he's on Kyuubi duty anyway. He'll be in position to eliminate the boy if necessary."

The masked man turned to face the ringed eyed man. "What about Kusa? You said it yourself, Pein, their alliance with Iwa is crucial in starting this war. Konoha will have to act in a way that will perceived as an act of war."

Pein nodded. "And they will. I already have a plan in motion. If all goes as it should, tensions should be at the breaking point within two months."

"And war?"

"Within two years."

The masked man kept his gaze upon Pein for a moment, before nodding in acceptance of the statement. "Good, the teams should be able to start moving freely toward the biju at the same time then. You will have to assemble them soon."

"It will be done," Pein stated flatly.

"Good." Turning to the door to exit, the man paused. "I have to wonder, how exactly you intend to force Konoha into action. You said it yourself, the Sandaime is an intelligent man, with intelligent advisors; he will not act rashly, especially against an ally."

"I've long since infiltrated my old sensei's network; placing misinformation that will force Konoha to act won't be difficult."

He couldn't see behind the mask, but Pein was sure the man had raised an eyebrow in question. "Oh? And when Konoha investigates why they received false information from their most trusted source? What then?"

"Konoha doesn't know we exist. With that in mind, their attention will focus on the only other logical conclusion."

The masked man nodded with a chuckle. "Orochimaru. Hmph, I suppose that it was a good thing I convinced you not to kill him after all."

Pein nodded. "Indeed. Our old ally will make himself useful once more."

The man in the mask chuckled once more, before regaining his composure. "Very good, run with it for now. It looks like my allowing you to run this show may yield results. Hopefully, your running of Ame won't interfere with Akatsuki's plans; I would hate to have to take over for you."

For the first time that day, an emotion made its way into Pein's voice: irritation. "You know what I'm capable of, Madara. _Nothing_ will interfere with Akatsuki."

"Let's keep it that way, shall we?" the masked man asked as he disappeared in a swirl.

Pein waited a moment, making sure that he couldn't feel the ancient Uchiha's chakra anywhere in Ame before he relaxed. Falling into a nearby chair, the Rin'negan user reflected on the shady organization's progress.

Their agents were in high ranking positions in their respective villages, their assets would soon be able to move freely without interference from the Hidden Villages, and the biju would be captured soon after. From there the Hidden Villages would be easy pickings for Akatsuki.

Even with the large progress the group made, he grew weary of the plans within plans, the circles within circles; just like his eyes, the eyes of God.

It was at times like this when he missed his old friend the most. Yahiko would have been able to cheer him up, would have reminded him that this was all necessary.

He contented himself with the knowledge that Akatsuki would soon be the power in the Elemental Nations. Things, as they were, were moving quite well, all things considered. If only he could find Hanzou's blasted Salamander Contract, his mind would be put at ease. Killing the living legend had been difficult, even for him; he didn't need any new Salamander Summoners springing up from the cracks of the Shinobi World.

Swiveling in his chair, his ringed eyes surveyed Ame's industrial skyline. Soon, Akatsuki would rule the Shinobi world. Soon, he could finally dispose of Madara.

Soon, there would be peace.

/~/


	4. Chapter 3: Welcome Home

/~/

Naruto blinked reflexively as the sun glinted off polished steel. The blond lightly traced his finger along the blade's edge, silently admiring the craftsmanship that was easily visible. The twelve year old was no blade expert, but he knew quality when he saw it. The balance was perfect, the steel flawless, and whole sword seemed to resonate efficiency; right down to the matte black hand guard and grip.

The chunin made a note to thank Hayate for his gift; again.

It wasn't the first time the blond had admired the ninjato the now Tokubetsu Jonin had given him, and didn't think it would be the last. Naruto certainly appreciated the gesture, though he would appreciate it more if the man would bother to grace Naruto with his presence. They had agreed to meet outside the Shinobi Archive at half eleven, it was now a quarter to twelve.

Thoughts involuntarily drifting towards recollections of another tardy shinobi, Naruto shifted his gaze to the Archive and shook his head with a sigh. He preferred the traditional red and white that the Archive was supposed to painted, the colors of Konoha, rather than the predominately orange look that it now sported.

It, like so many other respectable establishments, had fallen prey to a prank of Sarutobi Konohamaru. Naruto wondered what the Archive, or the people in it, had done to draw the boy's ire. It wasn't like the scarf wearing Academy student frequented the building; the boy was far too focused on childish pursuits like the one in front of him, rather than furthering his skills as a shinobi.

_What a waste_, the chunin thought uncharitably, a sneer now marring his features. The fact that the boy wasted his time with childish pranks rather than utilizing the numerous resources at his disposal to develop his skills was borderline disgusting. There likely wasn't a soul in the village that hadn't heard the Academy student proclaim his dream to be Hokage, and it wasn't like the boy had no shot.

Talent ran in his veins. The young Sarutobi possessed a pedigree that was nearly unmatched, being the son of a respected jonin – Sarutobi Ren had been killed in the Kyuubi attack – and the grandson of the Sandaime Hokage. On top of it all, Konohamaru had a Tokubetsu jonin following his every move, being paid to teach the brat how to become a shinobi.

Naruto could only wonder at how skilled he might be had he had the same resources at his disposal as a young child, and held the young Sarutobi in disdain at his apparent lack of skill. By Mizuki's account – one of the boy's chunin instructors – the brat was the class dobe, the dead last. It was a disgrace to both the Sandaime and Konoha as a whole that the boy was so unskilled.

Naruto at least contented himself with the knowledge that about half the village seemed to agree with him in his assessment of the boy. The brat was the victim of more than his fair share of harsh glares and sneers, though no other outward signs of distaste.

Looking back, Naruto mused that it was rather odd. A great many people, about half the village, seemed to give the young Sarutobi hard looks, a figure that made little sense given who the boy was. As the grandson of the Sandaime Hokage, one of Konoha's greatest heroes, it would make sense for the boy to receive looks of admiration and respect, not glares bordering on outright hatred.

The brat couldn't have pranked _all_ the people who glared at him. And even if he had, the pranks, while being both childish and a waste of time, were relatively harmless. Some were even amusing.

Naruto smirked lightly as he remembered being a witness to a shopkeeper receiving a paint filled balloon to the face, sputtering in indignation as the whiskered culprit bounded off in peals of laughter. Naruto, like so many others, had found himself chuckling rather unwillingly at the hapless man's plight.

The harsh treatment from the villagers, especially as it wasn't _all_ the villagers, only added to the mystery that was Sarutobi Konohamaru. A mystery that Naruto had no real need or want to crack. The blond twelve year old – his birthday had passed in the four months since his visit from the Sandaime – was perfectly content to allow the bratty Academy student to wallow in his own ineptitude without sparing the boy a thought.

Naruto would just focus on his own goals, as he always had.

_Goals_, he thought, _that seem more manageable than ever._ No matter how much the blond attempted to downplay his own skills, humility being an important trait in a shinobi, it was becoming more and more apparent that he was becoming a standout among Konoha's shinobi ranks – among the chunin at least. It was quite contrary to the hardworking, humble shinobi that he had always envisioned himself as being.

The longer he was in the shinobi corps, the more apparent it became that he was the departure from the norm, rather than the rule. His age was the first indicator, as he was easily the youngest chunin in the corps, but it went even further than that.

The more missions he ran with various chunin, the more it became harder to ignore the differences between himself and his fellow shinobi. Where others remained content with their own skills, he was constantly improving. Where others became lazy on simpler missions, he remained the consummate professional.

That wasn't to say that there weren't others who shared his mindset in regards to their careers, far from it in fact. He had new training partners almost weekly these days, as he met more shinobi wanting to advance their skills with someone on par with or better than them. But, even among them, he stood out.

Where they struggled, he powered through. Where they gave up, he persevered. And it showed.

More and more people seemed to both recognize and respect the young chunin these days, helped along in no small part by his rather well publicized victory over the Iwa nin. Contrary to his early days in the corps, marked by a lack of acknowledgement and respect from many, first as a failed genin and as a student of the reserve program, he was now receiving acknowledgement from more people than he could remember. People were even throwing the word 'genius' around, according to both Mizuki and Hayate.

The point was accentuated perfectly as a passing jonin nodded in Naruto's direction with a smile. The blond smiled back hesitantly, neither knowing nor recognizing the man.

It was even beginning to get a little awkward for the twelve year old, as he found himself returning greetings from random people, shinobi and civilian alike, that he didn't know. He had even seen a few girls around his age, some rather pretty, pointing and giggling in his direction. Talk about weird!

It wasn't all bad, he supposed. Hell, it wasn't even half bad! The acknowledgement would only help him in his quest for respect, and having people know his name would make finding someone to settle down with easier, right?

Naruto certainly hoped so; he was a fighter, not a lover.

The acknowledgement was serving to help him advance in the ranks as well, as illustrated by ANBU's offer to join the elite force. Becoming an ANBU would only enhance his prestige, say nothing about his skills, and he intended to make the most of his future tour of duty. Gaining the coveted position of taicho was no easy feat, but it was necessary for Naruto's goals, as becoming a captain in the Hokage's shinobi unit guaranteed him the rank of jonin upon his exit.

It was never a dream in his mind, but an eventuality. '_I don't dream, I do_' were the words he lived by. It was his nindo, his ninja way.

"Naruto-kun," a voice crowed from nearby, shaking the blond from his thoughts. Turning his head, he spied Hayate making his way over, an attractive purple haired woman in tow. He noted with satisfaction that the man was indeed carrying his ninjaken, evidence that their day's sparring session was still on schedule.

"'Lo, Hayate. How're you holding up?" It was a reasonable question, as the Tokubetsu Jonin had been confined to the hospital for the better part of the last four months, due in large part to his immediate injuries suffered from the fight against the Iwagakure jonin.

The man smiled, his pleasant nature showing through. "Not too bad. Naruto, let me introduce Uzuki Yuugao, my – " he cut off abruptly as a hacking cough forced its way out of his mouth. He regained his composure quickly, not seeming perturbed by the outburst at all. "Excuse me. My girlfriend," he finished with a smile and a gesture toward the purple haired woman.

Naruto turned his attention to the woman, a kunoichi if the grace of her motions meant anything, while wincing internally. His own injuries to his chakra coils and tenketsu had been bad, requiring a week of fuuninjutsu assisted healing plus a month of recovery time, but Hayate had been far worse off.

Genma's initial assumption of Hayate's ribs had been spot on, though more severe than the man had imagined. The hammer blow Hayate had received from the Iwa jonin had shattered all the ribs on the right side of his body, the pieces puncturing his right lung. While normally not a large problem for a well trained shinobi medic, the team had had to return from River Country, and, while they did so in record time, the shattered remains of Hayate's ribs had settled in his lung. The medics had been able to both remove the pieces and rebuild the lung, both requiring extensive medical ninjutsu, but the bone shrapnel had left extensive scarring, permanently hindering Hayate's breathing. It also left him with an almost perpetual cough.

The now sickly looking man had been promoted to Tokubetsu Jonin for his service in the mission, as had Genma, much to Naruto's consternation – he had made the kills, and yet he was still a chunin – but his career was now distinctly limited in scope. Proper breathing was essential for a shinobi, and Hayate's cough would give him away to even the most dimwitted genin.

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Uzuki-san," Naruto said with a small bow, forcibly pulling himself from his thoughts so as to properly greet his new acquaintance.

"Well met, Uzumaki-san. I've heard much ado about your exploits." Yuugao regarded the blond with what he gathered to be detached interest, her tone polite, yet rather flat. Her emotions were well guarded, indicating emotional control beyond the normal shinobi or kunoichi.

Naruto's eyes immediately flicked to her right shoulder, exposed as it was in her black tank top, looking for the distinctive swirl present on the shoulders of all ANBU members. Seeing none, his eyes narrowed slightly as his gaze met her violet eyes once more. Her expression hadn't changed, but her eyes glimmered with what looked to be respect to the blond, the slight expression caught by his keen observation skills; a necessary trait for a genjutsu user.

Naruto nodded as his suspicions were confirmed by a slight inclination of Yuugao's head. "Have you? Nothing bad, I hope," he asked with a small, lighthearted smirk.

The pretty woman shook her head in the negative. "Nothing of the sort, though the gossips have been churning out dozens of rumors."

Naruto grimaced lightly, Konoha's gossip network was famous, infamous rather, for being able to transport a rumor from one side of the great village to the other in an hour; the "facts" of the original were sure to not match the "facts" of the finished product in the slightest.

Hayate barked a laugh, addressing Naruto after the resulting coughing fit resolved itself. "I've heard everything from you being the reincarnation of the Yondaime, to being the man's illegitimate love child."

Naruto scratched the back of his head in a sheepish gesture, masking his inner annoyance. He knew quite well that he shared a similar hairstyle to the legendary Hokage, especially as he had started to grow it out some, but his face was much less angular than Namikaze Minato's, and his eyes a lighter shade of blue. He had done extensive research into the identity of his father, and the Yondaime had come up due to their shared looks. He hadn't been able to find anything of use in regards to his father's identity, and had accepted that he probably would never know who the man was.

That was just fine in Naruto's mind, as he didn't ever want to have overlap the image of one of his greatest heroes with the simmering anger he held toward his father, whoever he was. The man had all but abandoned his mother to Naruto's knowledge, and Naruto held no wishes to tarnish the image of the great Hokage in his own mind.

Besides, simply assuming that he was the son of Namikaze Minato was more than a little presumptuous, especially as the notion was founded solely upon their shared hair style and similar eye color.

"Really now?" Naruto asked. "People actually say that?" It was annoying, and mildly embarrassing to boot.

Yuugao nodded sagely, her eyes once again belying her true emotions; she was amused. "Indeed, Naruto-san. I've even heard talk of Sandaime-sama selecting you as the Godaime."

Naruto's expression changed into one of frank disbelief. If the previous rumors had been ridiculous, that one was nothing short of downright stupid. "What, did you hear that from an Academy student or something? God knows how well informed they are," Naruto said, his expression deadpan.

His sarcasm brought about a hearty chuckle from Hayate, followed immediately by more coughs, and even Yuugao couldn't resist a small smile.

"That they are," the Special Jonin laughed. "But enough of that, shouldn't we be getting to the actual purpose behind this little rendezvous?"

The blond twelve year old raised his hands. "Don't look at me; I've been waiting for you to show up for ten minutes, now," the blond said, but with no real irritation in his voice.

"Aye, sorry about the Naruto, but we were…delayed," Hayate finished lamely, eyes flickering to his girlfriend. Yuugao either didn't notice or, more likely, didn't care about the small gesture.

Naruto nodded in acceptance of the point. Given that the purple haired ANBU member hadn't been a part of their original plans, the blond deduced that she had insisted on coming along, most likely to ensure that nothing bad happened to her boyfriend. Naruto's regard for the kunoichi increased. According to snippets from conversations before "the mission", the two had only just started dating. The fact that the kunoichi had stuck with Hayate through the entire ordeal spoke well of her character.

"Even so, we almost missed you. You blend in very well, Naruto-kun," Hayate spoke with a small snicker.

The blond looked down at himself, taking in the sight of his orange muscle shirt and black pants, before turning to look at the Archive wall he was leaning against. The shades of orange were the same.

Blushing slightly at the quip, Naruto quickly moved to retake control of the situation. "Huh, didn't notice. Shall we get this show on the road, then?"

At his companions' nods of assent, he turned on his heel and began the trek to one of the training grounds, a shinobi and kunoichi in his wake.

/~/

Naruto grunted as his arms strained to block the overhead stab from Hayate. It was both humiliating and impressive that the man could still perform such overpowering attacks so soon after he had left the tender care of Konoha's Medical Center.

The man had been out for less than a month. This was his first day back after completing the required recovery period, and he was slapping Naruto around like a redheaded step child.

The rust was showing through on the Tokubetsu Jonin, however, as showcased by the fact that Naruto had actually managed to create a few small openings in the man's guard. The blond had even nicked Hayate once, barely drawing blood on the man's shoulder.

_It's absolutely ridiculous_, the blond thought self deprecatingly, ducking under a neck high slash and attempting to press his advantage with a deft stab at Hayate's chest. A swift parry was all he got in return, as the expert swordsman turned away his attack with absurd ease.

The blond was spun away from the Tokubetsu jonin as the parry turned into a move that used Naruto's body weight and momentum against him. Naruto stumbled as Hayate gracefully stepped around his desperate slash, wincing as the vastly more skilled ninja tapped his right shoulder with the flat side of his ninjaken.

_Dead again_, was Naruto's morose thought.

Leaping back to create space, Naruto brought his ninjato to the ready position: held parallel to his body as his hands were at waist height. Shifting his weight slightly so that his weight was on his back leg, rather than being perfectly centered, the blond adjusted his grip on the blade, changing to a reverse grip and positioning his blade so that it ran parallel to his arm, almost behind him.

Without warning, Naruto sprung forward, closing the distance between Hayate and himself faster than the older man could blink. The kenjutsu master's reflexes saved him, however, and he blocked the incoming overhand strike with his ninjaken.

Having pushed the blond back, he was unprepared for Naruto to drop and attempt to sweep his legs. Hayate jumped over the sweep, but his tactical advantage was lost and Naruto pressed forward once more.

Using a series of sweeping backhanded strikes, Naruto brutally attacked the older man's guard, opting to overwhelm his superior with speed and unrelenting power, rather than his usual precision. The blond extended his blade toward Hayate's head in a sweeping slash that would have brained the man.

When it was blocked immediately, Naruto moved to strike at the kenjutsu master's ankles, but Hayate deftly hopped over the strike. The twelve year old had overextended himself with the low strike, and was unprepared to block Hayate's quick retaliatory stab.

Naruto managed to avoid being skewered by leaning back, but was forced to back flip away to regain his balance. Just as he landed, Hayate was in his face once more, and the blond was forced to bring his ninjato to bear in a fast block as Hayate struck at his exposed chest.

The older shinobi leaned back for a split second, and Naruto winced in preparation for what he knew was coming next.

Hayate closed the gap between the two shinobi in an instant, though not quite as fast as Naruto's earlier charge, and slashed low. When it was blocked hastily, he crouched down and stabbed upward. Naruto blocked sloppily, and was wholly unprepared for Hayate to knock his hands upward, disarming him of his ninjato, and place his own ninjaken at his neck.

"Fudou-ha no Mai." The dance of the floating leaf, one of Konoha's few kenjutsu dances, was actually created by the man poised to kill Naruto when he as a newly minted genin. The dance, while simple in nature, had proved itself effective in battle, and had cemented Hayate's place in the 'genius' book when it came to kenjutsu.

The dance was now necessary for all ANBU entrants to learn, having displayed its effectiveness in shinobi combat.

Pulling his blade from Naruto's neck, Hayate stepped back and took a deep breath, devolving into a small coughing fit as Naruto moved to pick up his ninjato. The blond moved to a nearby tree, and plopped down unceremoniously in the shade. He watched tiredly as Yuugao, who had been observing from above, moved to Hayate's side and gently helped him over, an arm draped over his shoulders.

"You all right?" the blond asked with concern, making room for the couple to sit beside him against the tall tree.

Hayate nodded in response, swiftly regaining his composure after his coughs had subsided. "Yeah, I'll be fine."

"Has it been this bad since you got out?"

The Tokubetsu Jonin's hair moved with his head as he shook it in the negative, inadvertently hitting Yuugao in the face. "No, just when I strain myself. It's usually pretty manageable."

Naruto winced slightly when he caught the underlying sadness in the man's words. The man knew that his career was going to be severely limited from here on out, if not outright ended due to medical reasons.

"Well, that's good to hear. I'd hate to have to know that I was beaten by a _total_ cripple." Naruto's attempt to lighten the mood fell mostly flat, as Hayate managed only a weak chuckle, and Yuugao failed to react entirely.

"I wouldn't worry about it, Naruto-kun. I have years of practice and experience on you, and you get better each time we spar." Hayate smiled proudly at his "student", his former melancholy forgotten.

"Hayate-kun is correct, Naruto-san." Yuugao surprised the blond by speaking up. "Kenjutsu is an art that is both extensive and exact. It takes years of practice to become truly proficient, even more so to be considered a master. The progress you've made in under a year is staggering."

Naruto blushed at the praise, not quite sure how to handle it. "Um, thanks…I guess." Regaining his composure, he continued, "It's still frustrating, though. Kenjutsu is a requirement for ANBU, and I only have two more months before I start in the corps."

The blond shook his head ruefully. "I just hope that I'm good enough to make the grade." The fear of failing was one of the few things Naruto had never truly conquered; he merely pushed it to the back of his mind in the wake of his overwhelming determination and drive to succeed.

He was surprised to see Yuugao scoff none too politely at his statement, the expression of emotion seeming very out of place on the normally composed kunoichi. "You've no need to worry, Naruto-san. The kenjutsu requirement for ANBU is nothing short of pathetic. It is _suggested_ that new recruits know the basics of the art upon entrance, but not truly required. In fact, most veteran ANBU never truly pursue the art, as they find it too time consuming and often unnecessary."

Hayate nodded alongside his girlfriend. "She's right, Naruto. Yuugao is the departure from the norm in ANBU, not the opposite. I'd reckon that you more than make the grade right now, not to say where you'll be in two months time, having trained with a true master like me." The sickly man puffed out his chest in mock pompousness at his last statement, earning him a chuckle from Naruto and a light slap on the arm from Yuugao.

"Thanks guys," Naruto said. His fears were assuaged for the moment. "I suppose I just feel a little pressured to get good at this stuff. You know how I get."

Hayate nodded once more. "Aye, but remember, Naruto-kun, it's not easy to be good at everything. It's why most ninja tend to branch off and specialize when they get to chunin."

It was true. Most ninja found one area of the ninja arts they were good at, and devoted almost all their time to mastering that one aspect. Not many ninja wanted to devote the time to becoming truly proficient in all the ninja arts, though some tried. The most famous example was Konoha's sitting Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen. The man was known throughout the Elemental Nations not simply for his mastery of all Konoha's ninjutsu, but for his total mastery of _all_ the aspects of shinobi combat. From kenjutsu to fuuninjutsu, the Sandaime Hokage had mastered it. All of it.

The man deserved to be worshipped at shrines around the whole continent, in Naruto's estimation.

Naruto found himself attempting to emulate the man, and had undertaken the endless hours of training that it required. As a result, Naruto became a near perfectionist when it came to mastering new techniques, be they kenjutsu forms, taijutsu strikes, or illusions.

Naruto nodded as Hayate piped up again. "You've gotten faster. You almost had me with that one charge back there."

"Yeah. I've been trying to get less reliant on Shunshin by getting faster the old fashioned way. I'm not looking for a repeat hospital trip." After the damage Naruto had done to his internal chakra network, he had come to the conclusion that he had to stop relying on chakra enhanced speed, at least until he found a way to make the Shunshin less strenuous on the body.

"Good idea. It'll help you in the long run, as being faster without chakra only makes you faster with chakra." Yuugao's voice was muffled slightly due to her head's position on Hayate's shoulder. It had fallen there during the conversation, and neither party seemed to object. Hayate had even started idly playing with Yuugao's violet hair.

"Yep, that's the idea. That's all I've really been doing these past few months, along with trying to build up my reserves and guard duty." Naruto shuddered as he remembered the long hours spent atop the great wall, doing nothing but pacing back and forth while keeping a lookout for approaching threats that were nonexistent.

Naruto noticed – with some small consternation and a little bit of envy – that the couple was barely paying him any mind now, being lost in their own little world. He held in a disgusted grimace as Hayate began planting light kisses on the top of Yuugao's head.

Taking that as his cue to get the hell out of there, he made his goodbyes quickly and beat a hasty retreat to village, muttering all the while about impolite ninja who should check their romantic impulses in public.

/~/

"Heavens above, this shit is so boring," the senbon chewing Tokubetsu Jonin whined. It was pathetic, in Naruto's opinion.

"It's still not as bad as guard duty, you've got no reason to complain," Naruto retorted irritably. Genma had done nothing but gripe the whole time the two had been on border patrol, and Naruto was _sick_ of the nonstop whining. "At least here the scenery changes a little bit."

The older man gave a noncommittal grunt, before smirking at Naruto. "That's right, you're still a chunin." The lazy man laughed. "Oh I remember Wall Duty. Man, the shit that happened up there. Did I ever tell ya about the time me and Izumo got into it? Well you see, this was a while back and both of us were trying to get with Kurenai, babe that she is…"

Naruto tuned out the older man's story, having heard a dozen similar ones in the last four months, and instead focused on keeping his footing while leaping from tree branch to tree branch. They were just inside the border between Fire Country and Grass Country, and besides the passing trees, there wasn't all that much to look at. _Still better than Wall Duty_.

Glancing at Genma from the corner of his eye, he felt a small smile tug at his lips at the older man's actions. Aside from the acknowledgement he was now receiving from the general populace, the changed relationship dynamic between Gemna and himself was the best thing to come from the clusterfuck of their mission to River Country.

While the two would never be the best of friends, Genma and Naruto had come to a mutual understanding and now had a tangible respect for each other. It was the respect formed between comrades in the heat of battle; the respect that comes from knowing that the other had your back, no matter what. Genma respected Naruto for his combat prowess and ability to think on the fly, while Naruto found that Genma hid a calculating and capable mind behind his lazy exterior.

The seemingly endless stories about the "good ol' days" that Genma routinely recounted were merely a quirk of his personality, one that Naruto had never seen back on Team Raidou. Naruto suspected that it was his way of coping with the harsh life of a shinobi. All shinobi had their quirks, most of them developed to help cope with the harsh reality that they lived. Hatake Kakashi was infamous for his reading of porn at all hours of the day, Genma constantly drowned himself in memories of the past, and, while he had been a shinobi for less time, Naruto buried himself in training so he wouldn't have to think.

It was an unfortunate fact of the shinobi lifestyle, but it was a necessary evil.

His senses straining, Naruto felt the telltale signs of incoming chakra presences. "Genma, on your three."

Stopping his story, Genma halted on the nearest tree branch and closed his eyes in concentration. "I got'em. Three incoming. One big, two small." While not a true sensory type ninja, Genma had a very well developed sense of chakra, to the point that he could distinguish individual figures if there weren't too many.

Naruto frowned in contemplation. "Genin team?"

The older shinobi shrugged, though Naruto could tell he was intrigued behind the uncaring action. "They'd had to have lost a member somehow, but they're not coming in fast."

"Standard procedure?"

"Yeah," Genma nodded curtly. There was no point in taking chances.

"You got warning shots?" Naruto asked.

The Tokubetsu jonin nodded. "Be in position to flank them if this goes pear shaped."

"Got it."

Moving to a position on a higher tree branch slightly adjacent to Genma, Naruto palmed a kunai. It likely was just a genin team, but a ninja who took unnecessary chances ended up dead before long. In the wake of Rive Country, neither of the two were about to get careless.

Naruto watched as Genma waited until the group of shinobi was in range before flipping through hand seals, a Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu exploding from his mouth. "Halt, in the name of the Sandaime Hokage and the Will of Fire!"

The fire dragon went wide of the group, as standard procedure dictated, and the inclement shinobi pulled to a halt, coming to a stop on a branch five meters across from Genma, directly in Naruto's firing range.

"Yosh! Team Nine returning from C-ranked mission, ID: 0984." The eccentric figure of Maito Gai, clad in a jonin vest and green spandex, gave a blinding smile and thumbs up to Genma, who was checking a scroll that detailed the possible incoming missions from across their section of the border to Kusa no Kuni.

Referencing the mission IDs, Genma nodded distractedly and gave Naruto the stand down signal. The blond replaced his drawn knife, and reappeared at Genma's side with a burst of speed.

"Yosh, Genma-kun, your partner is a shining example of the power of youth!" Naruto assumed that it was the green clad jonin's way of expressing surprise at Naruto's speed.

"Uzumaki Naruto, at your service, Maito-san," Naruto introduced himself, knowing that Genma was too lazy for proper etiquette. Hearing quiet gasps from behind the renowned jonin, Naruto's eyes drifted to the three genin positioned behind Gai. Naruto barely withheld a smirk at seeing the glowering figure of Hyuuga Neji, the so-called genius of his original graduating class.

Naruto had surpassed the Branch Family Hyuuga at the tender age of seven, moving ahead two years at the Academy in a move that both stunned and embarrassed the "genius".

Meanwhile, Maito Gai's eyes had narrowed slightly in quiet contemplation as he surveyed the young chunin, no doubt matching the circulating rumors and facts to Naruto's face. He broke into a toothy grin a moment later. "Indeed, Naruto-kun! It is a pleasure to meet a shinobi so obviously in the flames of youthful fire!"

Naruto blinked, hard, at the bizarre man, not at all understanding what the man was getting at. From the corner of his eye, he spied Genma looking on blandly at the spectacle, not at all surprised by the renowned taijutsu master's…interesting speech patterns.

"Yosh, Gai-sensei!" a boisterous voice crowed from the group of genin.

Naruto had to crane his neck to see what looked to be a carbon copy of the jonin in front of him, minus the flak vest. He realized with a start that it was Rock Lee, the dead-last of his original class at the Academy. His eyes narrowed in confusion as he could sense almost no chakra from the spandex clad genin.

"Naruto-kun's flames of youth must burn most brightly if he is already a chunin! When we return to Konoha, I shall triple my training in order for my youthful fire to burn as brightly as Naruto-kun's!"

"A worthy goal indeed, Lee-kun! Come team, we must return to Konoha post-haste!" Gai exclaimed boisterously, another thumbs up directed at his squad of genin. "If we cannot return to the village by sunset, I shall climb the Hokage monument with only my hands!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"_Gai-sensei_!"

Naruto assumed that his eyes were the size of small plates as he observed sensei and student. His twin blue orbs glancing at the third genin, a rather cute girl with twin buns atop her head who he didn't recognize, he did his best to convey the message "is this normal?" He wasn't sure whether his message got through, but the girl seemed to nod sadly, looking like she wanted nothing more for the ground to swallow her whole.

The young blond sympathized.

"Well," Genma began, trying to reestablish sanity and looking more than slightly nauseas at the sight of a mini-Gai. "Everything seems to be in order. The IDs check out so…you're free to go."

"Arigatou, Genma-kun, Naruto-kun. Yosh, team, let us make has-" Gai abruptly cut off.

Naruto's and Genma's eyes narrowed as they felt inbound chakra signatures, these moving far more quickly than Gai's team had and bleeding chakra like nobody's business. Naruto's eyes widened and his head snapped toward Genma as he felt more chakra enter the area, much more.

"That's a group," the blond began. "Genma, can you get a read on them?"

The senbon chewing Special Jonin was way ahead of Naruto, his eyes already closed in concentration. "No, there's too many of them. The chakra's grouped together." He shook his head curtly.

"Neji!" Gai's voice forced Naruto's attention to the group of genin once more. He noted absently that they were all standing at the ready, waiting for orders even though not fully understanding the situation. Gai had trained them well.

"Yes, sensei! Byakugan!" It was slightly impressive that the Hyuuga could activate the vaunted dojutsu without a hand seal to focus the chakra. Naruto watched impassively as the veins surrounding the all white pupils bulged, indicating that the dojutsu was active.

"The first three shinobi are Leaf-nin, ANBU," Neji stated in monotone. Naruto's, Genma's, and Gai's head all snapped to attention at this statement. What were ANBU doing in Grass Country? "I count twenty one inbound hostiles; all of them bear a Kusagakure headband."

Genma summed it up rather nicely. "Shit."

A grim sort of determination settled over the three ranking ninja. They would have to back up the ANBU. Naruto quickly had twin kunai at the ready, bouncing on his toes in anticipation and to get the blood flowing. He had to refrain from slapping himself in the face a few times, as amped as he was.

Gai was already dishing out orders, his former antics forgotten. "Neji, Lee, Tenten, return to Konoha immediately! Alert the Hokage that a team of ANBU has been attacked outside Fire Country's borders!"

"Hai, sensei!" the three genin chorused – Neji looking none too pleased at leaving a potential battle – before disappearing into the dense woodland.

There was never any contention as to whether the genin would stay or go. Just as there was no conflict about whether or not the three ranking shinobi would assist the inbound ANBU. They were Konoha-nin, and Konoha protected their own.

"Ready?" Gai asked, seeming to direct the question more toward Naruto than Genma. Naruto didn't allow himself to take offense; he was too concerned with the upcoming fight. He nodded curtly.

"Then let us burn with youthful fire!"

As the three prepared to leap into battle, the inclement ANBU came into view, armor dented and scratched with the signs of battle. "Maito-san!" One of the ANBU apparently recognized Gai.

The chunin formed a hand sign, and three Tsuchi Bunshin formed on the ground. All thoughts fled from Naruto's mind, however, as the enemy shinobi entered his line of sight. He charged wide, in an arcing pattern. He let Genma's Karyuu Endan incinerate the two unlucky bastards who broke through the foliage first before making his move.

A third Kusa-nin met his demise at the business end of Naruto's first kunai, before the blond jumped and acrobatically twisted over a stab from a wakizashi. Capitalizing, Naruto used his momentum to slice open the throat of the sword wielding shinobi on his way down. He landed in a crouch on a nearby tree branch, eyes scanning for more enemies.

Spotting one, Naruto hurled his two kunai at a charging Kusa nin. The woman ducked under them, however, before delivering a hard side-kick to Naruto's chest with a snarl.

Naruto winced at the impact, the woman kicked _hard_. But he had his wits about him in a moment, and flipped through a short series of hand seals. "Suiton: Zessenzan!" he exclaimed as he landed in a crouch on a nearby branch.

A sharp line of water escaped his mouth, moving too fast for the kunoichi to react, and neatly sliced her head off in a spray of blood, taking part of the tree trunk with it. Naruto watched the head fall to the forest floor with dispassion, followed shortly by the rest of the body.

The Suiton technique didn't take much chakra, requiring more control to properly sharpen the water, and it was one of the ninjutsu Naruto favored. It was fast, efficient, and deadly. The fact that his high Suiton affinity made it cost little chakra was simply a bonus.

The blonde's danger senses howled bloody murder at him, and Naruto deftly dodged a kunai slash at the back of his neck by dropping into a crouch. The Kusa shinobi pressed his advantage, however, and Naruto quickly found himself on the defensive.

Naruto lost a kunai in a hasty parry, backpedaling on the branch as the Kusa-nin pressed forward. The blond smirked, however, as his position allowed him to see what the Grass shinobi could not, and he hit the deck as a green blur bowled into the enemy ninja.

"Konoha-senpuu!" Maito Gai screamed to the heavens, his high powered roundhouse kick shattering bone and sending the Kusa shinobi into a tree trunk. The spandex clad jonin barely spared Naruto a glance before moving on.

Naruto dropped to the forest floor, quickly surveying the battle taking place in the tree tops. Genma had his hands full with two ninja, a shinobi and a kunoichi, having dispatched the third team member. Gai was dealing with four at once, and the ANBU team was taking cover on the ground to Naruto's far left, apparently too weary to fight.

One of the ANBU inclined their head sharply at him, and Naruto seamlessly Kawarimi'd with a Tsuchi Bunshin as two Kusa nin stabbed at his position. Waiting until the shinobi's blades were locked inside the mud clone, Naruto re-substituted with his crumbling clone.

Utilizing the element of surprise, Naruto swiftly swept the legs of one of the Kusa nin; keeping his leg airborne, he delivered a hard, rising kick to the ninja's chest that sent them sprawling. The blond turned quickly, neatly sidestepping a downward slash of a katana. Pinning the blade to the ground with his foot, Naruto stepped inside the man's guard and turned, delivering a backhanded punch to the man's face that sent him careening towards a tree.

One hand seal created a Tsuchi Bunshin to deal with the first enemy shinobi, and Naruto unsealed a Fuuma shuriken from within his flak vest. Arcing it toward the recovering Kusa-nin, Naruto went through a short series of hand seals before slipping into a Shunshin.

The Kusagakure shinobi managed to duck the Fuuma shuriken, but was unprepared for the second in its shadow, and the giant throwing star embedded itself in the man's leg. The man screamed in pain, but had no time for much else as Naruto's outstretched arm plowed the man into a tree trunk less than four feet behind him.

"_Rariatto_!"

Naruto had concentrated hard, channeling the residual chakra from his Shunshin into his outstretched arm and making the momentum fueled clothesline into a deadly hammer blow. The Kusa-nin was dead before his back hit the tree trunk.

Hearing footsteps, Naruto hastily ducked a stab that would have pierced his heart. The enemy ninja was unlucky, however, as their stab had embedded itself in their dead comrade, giving Naruto time to move.

Snapping his arm out in a palm strike, Naruto's hand slammed into the Kusagakure ninja's nose, brutally snapping the bone and coaxing out a scream of pain. Heedless of the blood spurting out and coating his hand, Naruto quickly slit the ninja's throat.

As the rapidly cooling corpse hit the forest floor, Naruto grimaced, taking in the slim figure and pretty face of the dead kunoichi. Call him a chauvinist, but he always felt bad after killing a woman. It made him feel dirty somehow.

The woman had tried to kill him though.

Glancing upward and taking in the flow of the battle, Naruto noticed that Genma was being herded into a corner by a full three man team. Forming four Tsuchi Bunshin, Naruto handed out a high yield explosive scroll to each, and dispatched them with a gesture. They knew what to do.

Leaping upwards, Naruto quickly made his way over to Genma, pulling a quick Kawarimi with a tree branch to get close fast. Pressing his immediate advantage, Naruto charged the nearest Kusagakure ninja, and exchanged a quick series of taijutsu strikes, taking him away from his teammates.

Blocking two heavy punches to the chest, Naruto ducked under a haymaker and slammed his chakra enhanced fist into the man's stomach. The dazed shinobi bent forward, reflexively, and promptly had his windpipe crushed by a blindingly fast palm strike. His head impacted a kunai blade, and his corpse fell in a boneless heap, blood flowing freely where Naruto had poked a hole in his skull.

Turning toward Genma, whose senbon had just killed one of his two Kusa-nin, Naruto sped through three hand seals.

"Genma, drop!" The senbon chewing Tokubetsu Jonin hit the deck as a Suiton: Teppodama hurtled through the space his body had just occupied. The Kusagakure ninja took the water bullet to the chest, and was sent hurtling into open air. Three accurate shuriken from Genma ended the man's existence, and the body fell to the forest floor.

Turning to Naruto, the Special Jonin nodded his head in thanks, before starting in surprise as Gai reappeared in between them, his face grim.

"We set?" Naruto asked.

"Hai, Naruto-kun."

Genma had no time to ponder the byplay, as two full teams, angry and battered, surrounded them, weapons drawn.

"Konoha scum! You'll pay dearly for crossing Kusagakure!" one shinobi yelled, his comrades snarling their approval.

Naruto scoffed audibly. "You talk too much," was all he said, before grabbing Genma, making one hand seal, and disappearing in a Leaf Shunshin with Gai a split second behind.

The Kusa ninja had no time to ponder the blonde's parting shot, as the genjutsu covering four high yield explosive scrolls collapsed, and the tags activated.

The three Konoha shinobi landed near the battered and bruised ANBU team, the one conscious member using medical jutsu to heal his comrades, as the explosive tags incinerated the Kusagakure ninjas, taking fifty square feet of forest with them.

"We miss any?" Naruto asked Gai. He watched the flaming trees topple with interest, Suiton jutsu at the ready to stop the flames from spreading.

The spandex clad jonin's face was grim. "One. A most unyouthful shinobi fled our fight. He made for the border."

Naruto grimaced. "Fantastic."

The political backlash that would be generated by the ANBU's presence in a foreign country would be bad enough, but to have an eyewitness claiming to be attacked by three non-involved Konoha ninja? It didn't matter if Naruto, Genma, and Gai were merely acting in the defense of their comrades. Kusagakure would view the incident as a direct attack upon an allied nation, violating every treaty ever signed between Konoha and Kusa.

_One thing's certain_, Naruto thought with a pained expression. _H__eads are gonna roll_.

Hand seals formed at a blinding pace, and he released a torrent of water to try to extinguish the ravenous fire.

/~/


	5. Chapter 4: Forging the Sword

/~/

Naruto hated debriefings. He hated them almost as much as he hated being the one to file the mission after action report, a task he was all too familiar with, having been the newbie on Team Raidou.

Debriefings were standard procedure for many shinobi missions. As they were created so that the higher ups would have access to firsthand accounts about any departures from the norm during a mission, debriefs were often just as bad, if not more tedious than writing the after action report. The fact that they happened almost just as often merely salted the wound.

Naruto had only been to a few debriefings in his life, the major standout being when he was interviewed by the Sandaime and Yamanaka Inoichi, and was in no hurry to attend another. Unfortunately for the blond, it was well and truly out of his hands.

The meeting he was waiting outside the Hokage's office to attend was shaping up to be just as nerve wracking as his last mission debrief, given the colossal situation he, Maito Gai, and Genma had inadvertently charged into. Any mission regarding the ANBU Black Ops was automatically classified as an A-ranked village secret and, given that the mission in question had been taking place outside ANBU's designated jurisdiction – Fire Country – Naruto had no doubt that the mission was designated S-class. Or at least it was now.

That was something he wanted no part of at the moment – at least not for another two months, when he himself would enter service in the Hokage's elite shinobi force.

The presence of ANBU had caused dozens of questions to form in the head of the young chunin, not the least of which was "why were ANBU operating in Grass Country?" The question's answer was proving to be elusive to the blond, as he couldn't think of a single reason why the Hokage would send his troops into an allied nation with an allied Hidden Village. An action that could be viewed as an act of war in many circumstances, and given how the team in question was engaged in a running battle, likely would be.

It was no secret that ANBU operated outside of their jurisdiction, times of war aside, to any relatively intelligent and well informed shinobi, and Naruto qualified as both. ANBU were rarely dispatched outside Fire Country in peace times, unless the mission at hand was absolutely vital to national security, and _never_ into an allied nation.

At the least, they usually had the good sense not to get caught.

The very act violated nearly every single treaty that Shinobi Countries and Villages made. Naruto had no doubt that that fact alone would keep him inside the Hokage's office for far longer than he would have liked.

There was also the fact that he, along with Gai and Genma, had fully engaged and killed the vast majority of the attacking Kusagakure ninja. The blond knew that _that_ act alone would have some serious ramifications if the Hokage was put in a position where Grass needed to be appeased, Konoha's military superiority notwithstanding.

It had a happened with Kumo, why not with Kusa?

The last point had been what Naruto had been stewing over for the last day and a half, as he waited to be called for debriefing. It was similarly intriguing and suspicious that three ninja had been able to get the best of seven full squads of Kusa nin, no matter how strong the three were. Regardless of the element of surprise, he, Gai ,and Genma could have, and should have, been dispatched with a single, well coordinated assault on each of them individually.

As much as he would have liked to think that it was simply because they had been vastly superior to the Grass ninja, he knew that something larger was at work.

Just like it had been at work during his botched mission to River Country.

Glancing upwards, Naruto's eye's locked with the ANBU currently guarding the Hokage's office, or at least he thought he did – the mask made it hard to tell. He got the feeling that he was being watched intently, and stared resolutely at the eyeholes of the masked elite. _Let's see how you like it_.

After about a minute of silence, the Bear masked ANBU shifted his head ever so slightly, and Naruto smirked triumphantly. It was pretty damn tough to win a staring contest with someone whose eyes you couldn't see. He gave himself a mental pat on the back.

His momentary amusement spent, and in no hurry to return to his musings on the latest mystery that he was now a part of, Naruto's thoughts turned to training; where they always turned, eventually.

He was progressing well, he thought. His speed was better than ever, thanks to the endless hours of running, chakra conditioning, and limited weight training that he had been doing for the past four months. He hadn't been able to make any progress on a modified Shunshin, however, as both he and his doctor were reluctant for him to be putting such a strain on his chakra coils. The Uzumaki resiliency be damned.

Aside from the theory behind it – which, as of now, consisted of using the jutsu with _much_ better control, and finding something to do with the excess chakra – he had made no practical progress. It was vexing to the highest degree.

He had, on the other hand, been making large strides in the area of other ninjutsu, starting with expanding his chakra reserves. Unfortunately for Naruto, the only way to expand one's chakra reserves, naturally that was, was to exercise them with chakra control exercises. As such, his days were spent performing various feats of acrobatic prowess atop a large stream, twin leaves dangling from his ears.

He looked downright ridiculous.

It had paid off some, he supposed. His reserves _had_ been expanding, and he had spent more of his time researching various ninjutsu in the Grand Archive. He was happy to note that Konoha had a rather large collection of Suiton jutsu. It was likely due to the Nidaime Hokage, the man who had been the foremost user of Suiton techniques in the history of Konoha.

The second half of the famous Senju brothers had made himself famous both before the era of the Hidden Villages, and during the First Great War. One of the founding fathers of Konoha, Senju Tobirama was famous for his ridiculously high Suiton affinity, which he had used to deadly effect. The results of that affinity could be seen in the Suiton section of the Archive, as it was the third largest section, after Fire and Earth.

Naruto hadn't learned many of the techniques there yet, as he preferred to train jutsu to the point of mastery, rather than be only half good. Performing the jutsu wasn't enough for Naruto, he had to be able to know the ins and outs of the jutsu like the back of his hand before he considered it mastered. And even then, he usually tried to tinker with the finished product.

Attempting to make ninjutsu techniques more chakra efficient had become a hobby of his, given the fact that he didn't have particularly large chakra reserves, and he had managed to do just that with many of the ninjutsu that he knew. Sometimes it came down to sacrificing some small part of the jutsu for more efficiency, but he felt it was worth it nine times out of ten.

That of course, came back to chakra control, so Naruto still found himself on top of various bodies of water from day to day, much to his growing annoyance. Chakra control sucked.

It had paid off in one instance, however. He had finally managed to perfect his new and improved version of the Kirigakure no Jutsu. He had even added a nice little touch by making the mist black. He had gotten the idea from reading up on a genjutsu, of all things: Kokuangyou no Jutsu. By making the mist black, he fully eliminated his target's vision, while retaining even more of an advantage in that he could sense their chakra.

Unfortunately, he wouldn't be able to use the jutsu while around allies, as their vision would be hampered just the same. The regular version would have to suffice for then.

He had taken to practicing the basics behind the jutsu at random moments, by extending his chakra through ambient water particles in the air. As of now, he had to increase the humidity in his general area to do so, an easy feat for an adept Suiton user, but hoped that he would eventually be able to use the technique without doing so. It would make him a much more potent chakra sensor.

His thoughts were interrupted as the double doors to the Hokage's office opened. Two elderly individuals, a man and a woman – Naruto estimated that they were around the Sandaime age – strode out briskly, their faces carefully blank. The man stopped suddenly, his eyes observing Naruto carefully.

The gaze, while nothing sinister, unnerved the blond. He felt like he was under a microscope.

"Homura?" the woman asked, seemingly at a loss at the loss of her walking partner. Naruto started slightly, recognizing the name as one of the Sandaime's former teammates in the First Great Shinobi War.

_That makes the woman Utatane Koharu,_ Naruto inferred. While nowhere near as famous as their teammate Sarutobi, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu had been well respected jonin in their day. The retired duo now served as advisors to the Sandaime and were the liaisons to the Civilian Council.

The man, Homura, kept his gaze upon Naruto for a moment longer, before giving the boy an almost imperceptible nod, and continuing on.

"The Hokage will see you now," the Bear masked ANBU spoke up, his voice lacking inflection. Naruto hoped it wasn't a requirement for ANBU to all speak the same way, at least not all the time.

He stood up, stretched his muscles quickly, he would likely be sitting for some time, and moved through the double doors, sparing the Bear masked ANBU a quick 'thank you'.

Stepping into the well furnished, circular office, Naruto stood at attention immediately, hands clasped behind his back formally. "Hokage-sama," he said as he executed a short bow.

"At ease, Uzumaki," the aged Sandaime replied, a hint of a smile crossing his features. "Please, sit down. You ought to make yourself comfortable, as this may take some time."

Naruto took a seat in one of the armchairs facing the Hokage's desk, idly noting that it was indeed quite comfortable. "Thank you, Hokage-sama." He accepted the old man's follow up offer of tea with a measure of surprise. This was already much different than he had originally imagined his debriefing would be. He wondered what other surprises he would be in store for.

Given his last debrief, he assumed a great many.

"I take it you know what this meeting is about." It wasn't a question. Naruto nodded anyway. "Good, then I won't have to waste time with that."

The Hokage leaned back in his chair, hands interlocked in front of his face. "What you may be unaware of, is that the situation surrounding your last mission and this are linked; and not for the better I assure you." At this, the Sandaime sighed, looking every one of his advanced years.

"You recall that I and my advisors felt that Iwagakure was maneuvering toward war; and that our teams were being caught and killed inside Kusa's borders." Naruto nodded once more, wondering where the Hokage was taking this. Debriefs conducted by the Hokage and his ranking jonin weren't experiences easily forgotten. "Given what was happening, the natural response was to send troops to patrol the area, regardless of the feelings of the other country."

Naruto inclined his head at this. Konoha was considered one of, if not _the_ shinobi super power in the Elemental Nations, and a super power acted in its own best interests first.

"I guess that they didn't take it too well," Naruto concluded.

The Hokage nodded, taking a sip of his rapidly cooling tea. "Indeed, they did not. Regardless, Kusagakure has been our strongest ally since the end of the Third Great War. On top of that, they act as one of our satellite states, along with Takigakure."

Naruto was more than familiar with the situation of Konoha's "satellite villages"; the villages that allied themselves to Konoha and received a small measure of support during times of peace. They were the villages that Konoha would go to war over.

Cutting the history lesson short, Naruto spoke up, "They had no choice in the matter." Normally he would keep his mouth shut in the presence of the Hokage, but the aging legend had seemed to value his opinion in their last meeting, and had showed a definite interest in the blond. The fact that they were having a private meeting instead of a group debrief with Genma and Gai spoke volumes in that vein.

"No," the Hokage replied firmly. "They did not. That fact alone managed to create much anti-Konoha sentiment within Kusagakure, and it has only increased since." Sarutobi scoffed. "It appears that three decades of cordiality and close ties can be undone in a matter of months."

Naruto nodded sagely, somewhat alarmed to note that the "close" ties between villages were much thinner than he had thought. He knew as well as anyone that alliances in their profession were worth only the paper they were printed on, but some small amount of naiveté in him still hoped that an ally would remain loyal even through hard times. "I'm guessing that this last…incident didn't help matters," he stated, a sense of dread growing.

"No, it did not." The Hokage's voice was firm. "While the circumstances surrounding the ANBU squads that were sent into Kusa no Kuni remains classified above S-rank, I can tell you that the ambush they ran into was hastily formed and very uncoordinated. It was for this reason that you and your comrades were able to so easily dispatch the group," he finished, answering one of Naruto's major questions surrounding the skirmish.

"The jonin oyabun was none too happy with the outcome of the fiasco, as you have probably reasoned, and was most upset to learn that his shinobi were "unjustly attacked" by Konoha shinobi outside of the situation."

Naruto leaned back as if struck, his sense of dread jumping a few notches to outright horror as the big picture formed in his mind.

"He wanted our heads." It wasn't a question.

"He still does," the Sandaime stated simply, his voice flat. At Naruto's rapidly paling visage, he quickly reassured the boy. "You can rest assured that he will not receive them. I am not in the habit of appeasing our neighbors simply to preserve the status quo." The old man's voice lowered a touch at his last statement, and his face had regret plastered all over it before it was quickly covered up.

"You and your comrades acted in defense of fellow Konoha shinobi, and I will not reward you by sending your head to Kusagakure." The Hokage straightened, looking as much like the Shinobi no Kami as Naruto had ever seen. The blond now saw what countless shinobi had seen over the course of the Great Wars, a man who deserved to be worshipped at shinobi shrines across the continent. His very _presence_ gave Naruto goosebumps.

"This village did not rise to its position of power by sacrificing its own shinobi, and it will not start now."

Naruto had no response to the declaration, and simply sat still as the legend's presence receded. He let out a breath that he had been unaware he was holding.

Sarutobi clapped, shaking Naruto from his stupor and bringing him back to the situation at hand. "Now that you are aware of the situation, we can get to the heart of this meeting," the Sandaime said, switching gears seamlessly.

Naruto nodded, inwardly confused. _That wasn't what this was about?_ he thought.

"No, we're not quite done," the Sandaime answered his unasked question with a small, knowing smile. Naruto grimaced as he realized his emotions must have been written all over his face. "This meeting has more to do with your future as a Konoha shinobi."

Naruto's surprise likely showed through, but he didn't have enough time to care as another presence was slowly making itself known to him. He had detected it before, due to his chakra lacing the more humid air in the Hokage's office, but it was slowly coming to the fore. He had assumed it was one of the Hokage's ANBU, though that, apparently, wasn't the case.

The blond locked his eyes on a spot directly over the Hokage's left shoulder, and a man materialized, seemingly out of thin air. The boy caught a small smile from the Hokage in his peripheral vision, but ignored it in favor of regarding the new, though not _very_ new, presence.

Had Naruto met the man on the street, he would have been one of the most remarkable men he had ever laid eyes on, and not really in a good way. He was old, as old as the Sandaime, Naruto estimated. He had one arm free – his left – and one heavily bandaged and most likely useless. His face was half covered in the same white wrappings that covered his damaged arm.

"Naruto-kun, allow me to introduce you to a friend and associate of mine, Shimura Danzo." The Sandaime gestured needlessly to the bandaged man.

"A pleasure, Shimura-san."

Naruto rose and bowed, as common courtesy dictated, trying to figure out if he had ever heard of the name. Finding that he didn't, he was puzzled. Anonymity was rare in the Shinobi world, and as a direct associate of the Sandaime, Naruto was sure that his name must have been documented _somewhere_. If Naruto had never heard of him, and Naruto had both heard of and researched most of the village higher-ups, it meant that the man's file was classified A-rank and above.

_ANBU_, Naruto concluded.

Danzo silently appraised the blond, slightly impressed that the boy had been able to detect his presence before he had fully revealed himself. "An unknown sensory ability," he concluded out loud. "It seems that not _all _of this generation's potential is wasted."

Naruto raised an eyebrow in question; it certainly wasn't the greeting he had expected. He wasn't even quite sure if it was a compliment, given the man's tone. He kept his mouth shut, in any event.

"Indeed, Danzo, the situation is not as dire as you seem to have believed," Sarutobi said dryly. "Naruto-kun, here, is quite talented."

"Unlike so many others among his age group." The reference to Sarutobi's own grandson was apparent, even to Naruto. "He seems to feel it a month wasted if he has not accomplished some feat of prowess," Danzo countered. It seemed to hold a sneering undertone, as if he was mocking Naruto's accomplishments, though acknowledging them at the same time.

Naruto couldn't be sure, but it felt like as if he was sitting on the sidelines of an argument that had taken place many times, given the tones of the two contestants.

"Yes, and we both know that shinobi peak at different times. In much the same way as they grow at different rates." Turning to Naruto, who had been mostly ignored in favor of the small quarrel, the Sandaime addressed the blond, "But enough of that. We are here for a much different reason today."

"Naruto-kun, you know that our relationship with Kusagakure is rapidly deteriorating. You don't know that, with the rising sentiments against Konoha, a pro-Iwagakure faction has been getting louder."

Naruto leaned back in his chair heavily, as his mind quickly deduced where this was leading. If he was reading things right – and he liked to think that he was – then Konoha would be at war's doorstep much faster than anticipated.

"Iwa has always had some support in Kusa no Kuni, but they were always dwarfed and shut down by the pro-Konoha Kusagakure, the one created by nearly two decades of aid and support. Both during and after the Third Great War," Sarutobi said.

"Until now," Naruto finished.

"That's right, boy," Danzo spoke up from behind the Sandaime. "The Jonin Oyabun has begun to hear the pro-Iwa faction, and there are talks of a new alliance. One with the _other_ nation they share a border with."

It was only the emotional control that Naruto exerted over himself that kept his head from falling into his hands. Things were fucked up, big time, and he had played a part in it, however inadvertently.

"For obvious reasons," the Sandiame picked up once more, "we cannot allow that to happen. An alliance with Kusagakure would give Iwagakure a free route into Hi no Kuni. With the shinobi nations marching toward war once more, Konoha needs all the time it can get, and we need that buffer zone."

Naruto noticed that Danzo didn't seem too happy with that last statement, and, if he was honest with himself, neither was he. The thought of Konoha being forced to rely upon having another nation as a buffer against its enemies rubbed him the wrong way.

Was Konoha not the strongest village in the world? Why was it that they simply could not make a preemptive strike, in the hopes of nipping this alliance in the bud?

The answer was just as vexing.

A publicized invasion of Kusa no Kuni would put them more at odds with Kusagakure, while accomplishing nothing more than provoking Iwagakure into a full blown war, as they would no doubt invade Grass Country in retaliation. It was a delicate situation that Naruto was ashamed to be a part of.

"So, what now?"

"Now, we move on to why you're actually here." Sarutobi stated. "As you are no doubt unaware, Danzo here heads a…special…division of the ANBU Black Ops. It is known as ANBU Root, or Ne, to some."

The Hokage allowed Danzo to take over. "During times of peace, Root serves as a division of shinobi and kunoichi who protect Konoha's interests outside of Fire Country. The men and women of Root act covertly to ensure that Konoha survives the machinations of its enemies."

"Like ANBU?" Naruto asked.

"In a way," Danzo answered, he seemed slightly displeased with the question, "but even more discreet. While ANBU carry out covert operations, the standard Black Ops operate solely within Hi no Kuni, for the most part." The last bit was aimed at Sarutobi, likely in response to the giant situation the village was presented with due to _his_ ANBU. "Root deals with the necessary missions that take place outside of Hi no Kuni. For this reason, Root is all but unknown to the world, as the missions we take are often in direct violation of the treaties we have in place."

"The very existence of Root would be a cause for war," Naruto concluded. Danzo inclined his head to the boy.

"Indeed. It is for that reason that every Root member has their file sealed with above S-ranked clearance only. For all intents and purposes, they do not exist."

Naruto shivered as he understood Danzo's meaning. The blond lowered his head as his mind finally connected all the dots that had been steadily been revealing themselves throughout the whole meeting.

He knew what would be asked of him. He knew that his decision would likely change the whole outcome of his life, henceforth. He also knew that he would accept whatever the Hokage would ask of him.

He blue eyes locked with the Sandaime's. "What would you have me do, Hokage-sama?"

For the good of Konoha.

/~/

The world from behind a porcelain mask was not how Naruto had originally imagined. For one, the mask was actually quite comfortable, having been molded specifically to his face and head shape. It was also designed in a way that he could actually breathe without having his breath constantly hitting him in the face, its vented front allowing for the uninterrupted passage of air.

The third and most important fact, however, was that his vision wasn't limited in any way, shape, or form. He had expected his vision to be limited to what he could see through the twin eyeholes. In reality, there were no eyeholes.

Some person in the past – a rather intelligent one – felt that having covert operatives attempt to take high level missions with limited visibility was a stupid idea. In response, every single ANBU mask was lined with seals that allowed for the wearer to view the world as if they weren't actually wearing the mask. It was common sense given corporal form, and had kindled more than a passing interest in fuuninjutsu in the young blond.

The general comfort of the mask carried over to the rest of his new gear. The tight mesh top breathed well, as did the full fingered gloves that hugged his arms like a second skin. The Kevlar armor was lightweight, and his arm bracers felt as if they were an extension of himself.

The gear also had the effect of making him look like a total badass – in Naruto's humble opinion – his shark mask especially; though most of it couldn't really be seen due to the charcoal colored cloak he wore over it.

"Same, stop daydreaming. We're here."

Naruto came to a halt beside his squadron, briefly inclining his head to the bird masked ANBU to his immediate right. Surveying his surroundings, Naruto saw that his platoon was overlooking a large encampment that was situated in a large clearing.

"Not a particularly defensible position, taicho," one of the members of Beta Platoon spoke up from Naruto's left.

"Aye. Our targets are likely located in the very center of the compound, so we'll work from the inside out," the captain of Beta Platoon said. "The missing-nin are our primary objective, so we eliminate them first; any fodder that gets in the way is expendable." Turning to address the platoon fully, he continued, "The targets are four A-ranked missing-nin who have been harassing the Daimyo's samurai, so exercise caution."

"Theta Squad, run interference from the east. Draw their attention from the center of the encampment. Kappa Squad, you have the same assignment from the west. Keep their forces divided and focused on you. Eta and Zeta Squads will directly engage the targets. Epsilon, provide genjutsu cover and long range support for Eta and Zeta." Once the captain had finished issuing orders, he dismissed the independent teams with a raised hand.

ANBU platoons were organized as twenty shinobi and kunoichi, divided into five teams of four. Each individual squad had its own captain, and could act totally independently of the platoon. The five teams worked either in a fully coordinated manner, or were given separate parts of a mission that contributed to the whole, as they were now.

Swiftly moving with Epsilon, his squad, Naruto wove seals for a genjutsu. He had been a full ANBU for nearly three months, and he had learned more than he had thought possible. His genjutsu repertoire had increased dramatically, his taijutsu was climbing to new heights, and his ninjutsu and chakra levels were increasing faster than he had thought physically possible.

It was all part of his Root training. He had been inducted into the true Black Ops, and his first assignment was to act as a regular ANBU in order to maintain his status in the village; as a newly recognizable figure among the shinobi and civilian populace, he couldn't just disappear without a trace.

He was scheduled to take his first Root mission in a little under two months time; Danzo had said he needed to be whipped into proper shape to become a part of Root, as the program was apparently _extremely_ selective. As a result, he now had his first proper sensei. A man named Yamanaka Fuu.

A nearly emotionless and harsh task master, the auburn haired man acted as Buntaicho for Beta Platoon, and was the head of Eta Squad, Beta Platoon's primary combat squad. It was under his direct tutelage that Naruto was improving his shinobi skills so much.

The first order of business was to deal with Naruto's ninjutsu, which was apparently sub-par. After weeks of chakra building exercises, Fuu had given Naruto a list of Suiton jutsu to learn on his own time, while they attempted to develop Naruto's secondary affinity: Futon.

Throughout the ninjutsu training, Fuu helped Naruto to branch out his genjutsu abilities into the realm of Demonic Illusions, a series of much more potent genjutsu. At other times, Naruto's taijutsu was being constantly broken down and reformed through nearly lethal "sparring" matches. The blond felt the Yamanaka was simply exercising his more sadistic tendencies.

The fact that he was improving by leaps and bounds was about the only thing that kept Naruto going back for more.

Finishing his seals, Naruto brought his hands together in a praying gesture, focusing intently on the ebb and flow of his chakra.

"Same?" his immediate squad captain, a large man named Suzuki Housei, asked.

"The cloaking is complete, taicho," Naruto answered his Bear masked captain. "Nehan Shouja no jutsu is in place." And indeed it was. As they moved through the encampment behind the Eta and Zeta Squads, the bandits and ronin that made up the general populace of the troupe were dropping like flies as Naruto's genjutsu took hold.

He wasn't done there, however; the Temple of Nirvana Technique was only the beginning of Naruto's carefully constructed lattice of illusions. Behind the immediate sleeping genjutsu lay two cloaking illusions. One position offsetting technique and one illusion that made the ANBU group seem like a small division of shinobi, rather than just three squads.

It was a new technique that Naruto had learned of during his training with Fuu, called layering. Using the layering technique, a sufficiently competent shinobi could create a network of illusions that were all linked. The only way to dispel the illusions was to attack them all at once, no small feat for the average shinobi.

While Naruto doubted that the illusions would hold up under the scrutiny of even one A-ranked ninja, they did the job of concealing the group's approach to the center of the compound from the troupe of ronin and bandits. They also concealed their presence from the odd missing nin that was a part of the organized compound that Beta Platoon was infiltrating. Their targets were the big guys, not the small time fodder that littered the ramshackle tents and huts.

"Illusions?"

"In place, taicho," Naruto responded stiffly, concentrated as he was on his task of maintaining the genjutsus. While the layering technique would allow for Naruto to let the illusions sustain themselves, the potency and longevity of the genjutsu would increase as he focused on maintaining the illusions.

"Good work, Same. Tori?" the captain addressed the kunoichi on Naruto's left.

"The targets are three degrees to the south of our immediate position, less than half a kilometer away. Estimated time to arrival: forty seconds," the Bird masked kunoichi responded in near monotone. Hyuuga Hikari was a Branch Family Hyuuga whose skills with the Byakugan were an invaluable asset to Epsilon Squad.

In a strange twist of fate, Epsilon Squad had been the squad that Naruto and his comrades had saved from the Kusa ninja a little over one month ago. They had been on loan to another platoon at the time, and had been the sole survivors of the ambush that had claimed the lives of Delta Platoon, as well as the last member of Epsilon Squad.

The final member, to Naruto's left back in the diamond formation they were running in, was an eighteen year old redhead named Haruno Daisuke. The Lizard masked teen was the team medic, and had been recruited into the ANBU for his seemingly prodigious skill in the medical field, having once been an apprentice to Yakushi Ryoushi, Konoha's head medical ninja.

The com-links played static as Housei relayed the information to Fuu, and Epsilon Squad slowed their pace so as to be at an adequate distance to provided support. It wasn't Naruto's favorite role as an ANBU, but it was necessary, and helped him to gain experience in the field while not always putting him in the line of fire.

He'd still rather be in the thick of things.

The point was moot, however, as Eta and Zeta Squads fell upon their four A-ranked targets. The four jonin had been awake and alert, having detected and dispelled the various genjutsu, but were unprepared to face eight combat tested and coordinated elites.

One of the four was dead and another retreating hastily by the time the group had time to fully react.

"Epsilon, give chase and eliminate!" Fuu's voice ordered from over the com. Four cries of "Hai, taicho!" met the order, and the support squad sped off.

"Attack formation three. Eki, take point!" the bear masked captain ordered as he and Daisuke switched places in the diamond formation.

"Tori, E.T.A.?" Naruto asked.

"Target four degrees northeast and moving slowly; fifteen seconds," the Branch Hyuuga intoned, voice lacking any emotion.

"Same, give us cover!"

Naruto didn't bother to respond as he sped through hand seals. The Kokoni Arazu no jutsu and Niju Kokoni Arazu no jutsu fell into place, offsetting the group's position by a few meters.

As the target, an average sized man in worn Kumogakure combat fatigues, came into view, Naruto broke off to his right in a diagonal pattern; the bird masked Hikari mirrored him on his left.

As he approached the Kumo nuke-nin, Daisuke flipped through a short series of hand seals, before his hands glowed blue as his chakra scalpels activated. A difficult technique to master, Daisuke had proven his medical genius by successfully employing the technique at various points in the past.

As a technique that focused on precision and efficiency, right down to the chakra control needed to execute the jutsu, it often became a lead in for Epsilon Squad's combat encounters, as a quick hit could kill or debilitate even the most resilient of shinobi.

It would have, should have worked, but the A-ranked nuke-nin proved his worth as he dispelled the genjutsu clouding his senses and dove to the side to avoid Daisuke's deadly strike to the heart. A short series of hand seals later, and Daisuke was forced to abort his follow up strike, lest he be fried by the ensuing electric current.

In a carefully coordinated manner, Naruto and Hikari leapt into the air, simultaneously releasing two shuriken toward their quarry. Each of the shuriken multiplied into dozens more as the captain completed the Shuriken Kage Bunshin no jutsu.

The Kumo renegade used Kawarimi to escape the deadly stars, and the captain took the initiative, charging the man with his assassin's blade poised to skewer his target.

Not one to be done in so easily, the renegade summoned a wall of water, before sending a bolt of lightning through it. The bear masked ANBU was unlucky, as his blade had just passed into the water wall as the nuke-nin electrified it.

As the former Kumo-nin moved in for the kill, the captain was saved as Naruto hijacked the water the missing nin had used for his Suijenheki, turning it against him.

"Suiton: Suigadan!" Naruto bit out from behind his shark mask. He watched in satisfaction as the renegade was forced to Kawarimi out of harm's way, drills made of water crashing through the space he had just occupied.

Taking advantage of the brief lull in combat, Daisuke quickly made his way to the captain, medical chakra at the ready. Hikari moved to their side, Byakugan activated beneath her mask. Her eyes widened and she had no time to shout a warning as the Kumo jonin's kunai entered Naruto's skull.

The man left his kunai in the dead body, preparing to move in on the unprepared group when the body of the ANBU in front of him dissolved into mist. His face showed shock as branches appeared from nowhere and bound his arms and legs, a tree trunk impacting his back.

"Mokuton?" he questioned weakly, watching as the group he had targeted dissipated in to mist as well.

"Not quite," was all he heard as three blades were thrust through his torso.

Watching dispassionately as his team members retrieved their blades from the now deceased Dansei Samoshii, one of Kumogakure's former jonin, Naruto let his genjutsu dissipate.

"Not bad, rookie. What'd ya' use on the bastard?" Daisuke spoke up as he performed a quick autopsy on the corpse.

"Jubaku Satsu," Naruto answered the teenager, tossing a sealing scroll to the captain. "Not that subtle, but it gets the job done just the same."

"Hmph. A regular cold blooded killer, eh, rookie?" Daisuke asked with a snicker. Naruto bristled at the rookie jibe; he hated his new nickname in the Black Ops.

Naruto was about to retort when Hikari's curt voice cut him off. "Enough, Daisuke! Leave the rookie alone."

Naruto let out a strangled noise, knowing that the Hyuuga had phrased it that way just to get under his skin, while still getting her point across. He could tell from the subtle body language between the two that this had been planned out. It wasn't particularly funny, in Naruto's opinion, but he supposed that being in the ANBU killed one's sense of humor.

"That's _enough_. From all of you," Housei said curtly, leaking a bit of killing intent to get his point across. He had sealed the body away in the scroll Naruto had passed him, radioed in the kill, and wanted nothing more than to get the hell out of there. "Eki, stop antagonizing the boy. Tori, we're on a mission, I thought you had more sense than to use our real names. Be glad everyone around here is dead."

The two chastised ANBU snapped to attention, bowing quickly in a show of respect, Tori deeper than Eki, as her screw up could have been a breach of security had the situation not been what it was.

"I apologize, taicho," the two said in unison.

"Hmph, don't let it happen again. We're done here." Naruto glanced at the sun in the sky, gauging the time. The combined time for the fights had been less than three minutes. The swiftness of elite shinobi encounters still surprised him sometimes.

" Let's roll out; Buntaicho wants to be in Konoha by o' sixteen hundred hours."

The group blanched behind their masks, they were three hours from Konoha at a fast pace, and o' sixteen hundred was under two hours from now. That meant one of two things: either Fuu had found something of importance in the shithole of a compound they were in, or he was exercising his sadistic side.

Naruto sighed in resignation behind his mask. His next training session was going to be shit either way.

/~/

"The mission objectives were completed with little to no trouble, and the only complications arose after the targets had been eliminated."

"Elaborate," Sarutobi commanded, his face set in neutrality.

"An unknown quantity managed to collapse the genjutsu lattice set by Uzumaki Naruto, codenamed Same. As a result, the platoon was forced to engage the majority of the shinobi and ronin in the compound as we exited." Fuu's voice was carefully conditioned for monotone.

"Injuries?" Sarutobi asked, still neutral. Inwardly, he was slightly concerned, but nothing more. A few ronin and low ranked nuke-nin should pose no threat to a full platoon of ANBU.

"Superficial," Fuu responded immediately, with no hesitation. "The few injuries sustained were mostly from the platoon engaging the targets."

The Sandaime nodded, pleased to hear that the mission was completed with few complications. "Have you anything to add?"

Fuu shook his head.

"What of the boy, Uzumaki Naruto?" a voice inquired from behind the Sandaime's chair. The aged Hokage didn't even turn his head to look at Danzo, as interested in the answer as he was.

Fuu likewise showed no reaction to his immediate superior's presence in the room as he answered. "As well as to be expected of a rookie ANBU. His participation was minimal for the most part, preferring to observe. He showcased himself well, however, through his use of cloaking genjutsu and helped assist in the kill of Dansei Samoshii, according to his squad captain."

"And later? You mentioned complications."

"His kills were clean, precise, and efficient, as was expected of him," was the immediate reply. Sarutobi smirked inwardly, taking note of the minuscule hint of pride the nearly emotionless man had in his student's performance.

Sarutobi nodded, glancing at Danzo as if asking him if he had anything to add. When the man gave an almost unnoticeable shake of his head, the Sandaime returned his attention to Fuu. "If you've nothing more to report, you are dismissed."

The man stood from his position on one knee, and snapped a crisp salute to both the Hokage and Danzo, before disappearing in Shunshin.

"Well?" Sarutobi asked his associate.

"All good things, if both Fuu and the report are to be believed," Danzo returned, taking a seat opposite the Hokage.

"Indeed," Sarutobi returned, lighting his customary pipe. "Though it bothers me some that a boy of nearly thirteen is so well suited to the Black Ops."

"Itachi." It wasn't a question, nor did it require any clarification on the part of either shinobi.

"A genius among even the most lauded of shinobi prodigies. What a waste," Sarutobi sighed, shaking his head ruefully.

"Yes, but was it not necessary?" Danzo asked rhetorically. "You and I both know what threat that clan posed. It was either that, or a civil war that would have brought about Konoha's eventual destruction. We chose the lesser of two evils."

"It doesn't make it right."

Danzo scoffed lightly, "Perhaps not, but that is the reality of the world we live in. You always were far too soft, Sarutobi. You and I both know how some of your decisions have affected this village." The reference to the Hokage's former star pupil needed no clarification.

"Indeed, old friend, but I am just a man. And we both know how some of _yours_ have affected the village as well." The Hokage smiled wryly. "Though I suppose that's what you're here for."

"I've been correcting your mistakes for years now, monkey," the bandaged man stated.

"And I yours."

The two old men indulged in a moment of silence, each reminiscing about years past.

"How goes the situation in Kusa?" the Sandaime asked, quickly changing topic.

The one eyed man shook his head. "Not well. The pact with Iwa is forming far faster than my informants originally thought possible."

The Hokage took a drag from his pipe, shaking his head ruefully. "Over three decades of peace and collaboration, undone in a year. Even with the fragility of shinobi pacts, that is unusually fast."

"Indeed, I thought much the same," Danzo replied. "My informants managed to stumble upon the reason." Seeing he had Sarutobi's full attention, he continued with a humorless chuckle, "Jinchuuriki."

"Surely not!" The Sandaime was shocked at the mere thought of Iwa bargaining with one of their most prized weapons. At Danzo's nod, he was forced to accept the point; his old friend would hardly joke about anything, much less something this serious. "Which one?"

"Roushi," was the simple reply.

Sarutobi leaned back in his chair heavily, looking every one of his seven decades. "Heavens above," he gasped.

"My thoughts exactly," Danzo said angrily, his impeccable emotional control slipping with the weight of the moment.

As quickly as Sarutobi had deflated, he rose up once more, looking more like the Shinobi God he had been known as than Danzo had seen in years. He was forcibly reminded why this man had been made Hokage, and not him. "We must mobilize more quickly, then. How goes the establishment of the resistance?"

As a covert operation that Konoha could have no visible hand in, the overthrowing of an Iwa backed regime in Kusagakure had to look as much like a homegrown insurrection as possible, so as to avoid outright war with Iwagakure before Konoha was ready. In came the resistance movement.

"Better than originally anticipated, it appears that we had more supporters within Kusagakure's ranks than we originally thought. Not all have forgotten Iwa's acts during the last two wars, and a resistance was already forming when my men began their operation. Needless to say, they were rather excited to hear that they would have, if not our full, some serious support."

"How many do you propose we send?" Sarutobi was in full war mode now, his earlier weariness forgotten in the wake of necessity.

"As many of my Roots as logically possible. The situation requires discretion above the norm, and there are few standard shinobi that I would trust with such an operation. Your ANBU have already proved themselves incapable of acting properly outside our borders."

Sarutobi ignored the jab at his personal troops in favor of mulling the situation over. "I assume Naruto would be among them." It wasn't a question.

"We are old, Sarutobi," Danzo began. "Konoha will require someone to take over after we are both dead, and there are few with the necessary qualifications. Save Jiraiya, your students all turned out to be failures in that regard."

"Perhaps, but you would do well not to count out Tsunade just yet. You propose that we let the boy sharpen his skills in true combat? It is an awful risk Danzo, and I don't like placing all of our eggs in one basket just yet." Orochimaru had already let him down in that regard and, while Naruto was certainly nothing like _that_ man, he was far from eager to place such a burden on one so young and untested.

"His father did much the same in the last war, did he not?" Sarutobi had to concede that point. "As for placing too much on him, we've no one else. Hatake is a shadow of his former self, and has too few qualities of a Hokage. Maito is powerful, but would command no respect from the other Kages."

Danzo stood as he ranted. "With our two top jonin out of the question, we must look to the younger generation. As much potential as your grandson has, he has neither the temperament nor the maturity to be properly molded; at least not yet. Other than Uzumaki, the Uchiha is the only standout, and he pales in comparison. Not to mention that neither you nor I would be willing to place much, if any, faith in the boy."

Sarutobi pinched the bridge of his nose in an attempt to stem his oncoming headache. Danzo was correct, of course, Uzumaki Naruto was their most sensible option at the moment.

When it came to grooming a Hokage, there was a long process involved. It was one that his mentors, the Shodaime and Nidaime Hokages, had put both himself and Danzo through, with Sarutobi proving himself time and again.

It was a process that Sarutobi had carefully put Orochimaru through from the moment he had first taken the boy as a student, only for Namikaze Minato to blitz through the ranks and surprise the world out of the blue. The Yondaime had proven himself superior to Orochimaru in every necessary way, and Sarutobi had been all too happy to relinquish his job to the blond man.

_If only you had survived, Minato-kun_, Sarutobi thought ruefully. With the legend dead at the hands of the Kyuubi, a shinobi village completely unprepared for war, and no plausible candidates in sight, Sarutobi and Danzo were forced to fall back on Uzumaki Naruto, a mostly untested twelve year old boy.

They could only hope that he would surprise them, just as his father had.

/~/


	6. Chapter 5: Sins

/~/

"So…what is it that you do, exactly?"

A tall, dark skinned man chuckled lightly, his pale blond hair moving with his head. "Logistics, my young friend." At the boy's questioning look, he elaborated. "I manage the missions, the information flow, the timing, ya get the picture. Mission orders come through me. Ya need something, ya come to me. I let the big people know what needs to get done, and it gets done."

"Ah." Naruto nodded in understanding. "They told me you were the big man 'round here, not what you did."

The large man shrugged, taking a sip of his tea. "Yer in Black Ops kid; the less anyone knows, the better it is for the rest of us, ya' feel me?"

Naruto's eyebrows rose in slight concern. "Should I be worried?" He couldn't help the shudder that passed through him. He straightened and glanced about.

"Nah, just protocol. Shit like that don't go down on simple missions like this. Just practice for the big stuff." Finishing off his tea, the black man shook his head at Naruto, having noticed the boy's eyes glancing around. "_God_, kid. They told me you were a newbie, but not _that_ new. Get a fuckin' grip on yerself."

Naruto shrugged sheepishly, taking a sip of his, now cold, tea. He grimaced in distaste. "Yeah, guess you're right. Mission jitters and all that, y'know?"

The dark man snorted. "Look, kid, I ain't one for pep talks, but if yer boss was crazy enough to send ya into these parts, it means ya've got some skills. So stop yer worrying and just focus on gettin' the job done, ya feel me?"

"Is it really that bad here?"

"Look around ya, kid. Yer in motherfuckin' Kumo! Y'all tree huggers ain't too well liked 'round these parts."

Naruto nodded with a grimace, an expression that was becoming far too well used on his thirteen year old face. "Yeah, I guess. Not used to this sort of mission. More smash and bang stuff. Simpler."

"Not used to being subtle?" the logistics man asked skeptically.

"I can do subtle." Naruto argued, and gestured at the people around them. The logistics man had to give the young blond credit, his genjutsu skills were top notch, if the cloaking they were under was any indication. "Just don't know how I ended up as the assassin type. Don't really look the part…"

The logistics man – Naruto never got his name – snorted. "Do I look like the sort to be handling this type of shit, kid? Fact is, you being the way ya are makes ya perfect for this sort 'o stuff. Same with me."

Naruto had to give the man that point. Naruto had immediately pegged the large muscled man as a heavy combat specialist, far from what he actually did. _Makes it easier if you don't look the part, I guess. People don't pay attention to you._

"Thanks," Naruto heard the large man grunt. His dango had finally arrived.

"So, who's the target, exactly?" Naruto asked, a forced casual note in his voice. The dark man gave him a searching stare.

"They didn't tell ya?" the logistics man asked around a mouthful of dango.

Naruto raised a pale blond eyebrow; his hair having been dyed a lighter blond to better blend in to the environment. "Should they have? Thought that was your thing?"

The large man shrugged, having finished his dango in record time. "It is. Jus' thought they'd coddle ya a little. First mission an' all, ya know?"

Naruto snorted as the man signaled for another platter. "Coddle? You've never met my boss." Naruto had a hard time using the words "coddle" and "Danzo" in the same sentence. They simply didn't belong together.

"Nope." The dark man handed a file folder to Naruto from across the table, having discreetly summoned it from a storage scroll. _Ah, the wonder of seals_, Naruto thought fondly, fuuninjutsu having attracted his interest of late.

He briefly perused the contents of the folder, taking a moment to appreciate the thoroughness that went in to creating the dossier. It contained everything from her mission history to her birth records, each listed out in precise detail.

"You guys don't mess around."

"Info is the backbone of every successful mission," the black man stated sagely.

Naruto didn't react to the statement outwardly, despite its obvious truthfulness. He was focused on the picture of a dark skinned woman with yellow eyes and deep red hair. He hid his grimace. _I hate killing women_, he thought forlornly.

"What's her day like?" Naruto asked, fighting to keep his voice level. He closed the folder quietly.

The man shrugged. "Standard for a chunin in the missions department. She gets up, walks her son to the academy, goes to the missions office, picks up her son from the academy, goes home. Ya need times? I can have a file drawn up."

Naruto shook his head; the general information should be all that he needed. He could and would find out the times on his own. His mission wasn't particularly time sensitive, he had until week's end, and that was still three days from now. He would take his time to complete the mission properly, despite his distaste for it.

If it was worth doing, it was worth doing correctly, and Danzo certainly wanted it done the right way. Regardless of the fact that his target was giving secrets to Kumo, they were limited to what she knew of Konoha's operations in this neck of the woods, operations that weren't of _too_ much significance, as it was peace time. Creating an international incident over a small fry wasn't in his mission briefing, nor did the blond expect that it would ever be.

"She has a son?" the shorter shinobi asked.

The logistics man nodded absently, his sunglass covered eyes following the form of their rather attractive waitress. "It's in the file," he said simply.

Naruto absently blew a strand of hair out of his face, rolling his eyes as he did so; he needed a haircut. "Anything else worthy of, uh, note?" he asked the distracted man, bringing him back to attention.

"Hmm. Oh, yeah, she's tailed by two jonin at all times. Might wanna watch out for 'em." The dark man nodded simply, as if this information was no more important than anything else that had been said previous.

It made sense. The woman was acting as an informant for the Raikage by divulging what information she knew about Konoha, its inner workings, and her knowledge of its spy network. Placing her in the care two jonin was perfectly reasonable.

It also made Naruto's job that much harder.

"_Fabulous_." Naruto quipped sarcastically. "Anything on them?"

The large man shrugged. "Mission histories and the like, not much else. Things are a bit tense here righ' now. Don' wanna risk too much; can' be too careful." The last bit was said just as casually as everything else that had come out of the black man's mouth, but it still gave the young ANBU pause.

Naruto hid his surprise behind an emotionless façade. He could read between the lines of that statement. It was surprising that the man would reveal such information to him, hidden though it was. Spies were supposed to be discreet about their dealings, and dishing out unnecessary info wasn't exactly protocol.

It also gave Naruto a leg up over the man, having not volunteered any information about himself in their encounter thus far.

It was proof that the dark man might not have been as experienced as he had originally seemed, given that he had nearly outright told Naruto that he was the new kid on the block around these parts. It was the only explanation of why he might not be able to get full dossiers on the two jonin currently guarding Naruto's target.

It wasn't really the man's fault. Naruto assumed that Konoha's –Danzo's – whole network in these parts had been shaken up by his target's unexpected defection. While all good networks were compartmentalized and could deal with such realities, it wasn't everyday that the section chief's top informant decided to develop some loyalty toward her home village.

Naruto mentally shook his head at the situation as he skimmed the histories of the two jonin currently on guard duty, one rookie who was assigned as immediate protection while the veteran oversaw the area. He'd have to find a way to work around that.

"Good to know," the blond responded casually, passing the thin jackets back to the black man. He took a final swig of his tea. "Anything else?"

He took the man's immediate departure as a no.

/~/

To say it in a few words: Uzumaki Naruto was impressed.

From his vantage point on the side of the cliff, he had a good view of the Kumogakure Ninja Academy's training grounds. Frankly, impressed was an understatement of Naruto's feelings at the moment.

The students' accuracy was near perfect for each throw – when it wasn't, an instructor would be on them like white on rice, correcting any visible flaws – the taijutsu exercises were executed with precision and efficiency, and the ninjutsu, while not many, were well coached and drilled to the point of near mastery. It was a sight to behold, in Naruto's opinion, and was commendable. The blond couldn't help but nod appreciatively.

The atmosphere created by the instructors and students was one of intense learning and concentration at the task at hand – namely, becoming a shinobi or kunoichi. And capable ones.

It reminded Naruto of the reserve classes he had attended during his year in the program. The instructors were competent, and the students were focused and driven enough not to goof off unnecessarily. From what little he had seen in the two hours he had been scouting, Naruto could reasonably determine that the class rankings were decided within the classroom, as every student he had seen thus far had been quite competent at the practical aspects of shinobi life.

On one hand, it was an impressive sight to say the least, and the picture of what a ninja academy should be in the blonde's opinion; on the other, it said something about the differing attitudes of the two Great Shinobi Villages he had been in. Konoha's Academy had been far from demanding for Naruto, and while it managed to turn out fairly competent genin on a six month basis, the lackadaisical attitude shown by both the chunin instructors and the students was a joke compared to the sight in front of him.

Kumo's program, at a glance, looked to be designed to churn out competent and combat ready shinobi and kunoichi. He knew, after mentally comparing what he knew of the two academies, that the average Konoha graduates would be utterly annihilated by their Kumogakure counterparts.

Konoha's academy said that it used a program to churn out ninja with a solid grounding in the ninja arts that could then be built upon by their jonin instructors. From what he had managed to learn through his observations and information gathering in Kumo, not only did the students have a much firmer base in the ninja arts – as showcased by the students he was currently watching – but the program also encouraged individual competition through the use of jonin apprenticeships.

While Kumo did use the tried and true method of jonin instructors, they had a system of apprenticeships that were given out to the top twelve students in the academy. The top students were apprenticed, in teams of three, to highly competent and well known jonin in the village, almost assuring their eventual promotion to jonin themselves. The system encouraged competition for the top twelve spots, and helped the students stay highly motivated to improve their own skills, lest they be relegated to the more average squads.

Konoha's system basically told the students that they only needed the minimum amount of training in order to graduate, and that they would pretty much be guaranteed to become genin. While the reserve program managed to bring many of the failed graduates up to speed, it was still a full year of necessary instruction that could be avoided entirely, in many cases, if the students were more motivated to improve themselves in the first place.

The differences in the two systems spoke volumes about what the two villages were trying to accomplish. Given the atmosphere in Kumo's academy, it looked as if the village and the Raikage were attempting to create battle ready soldiers for war. It was almost the exact opposite of Konoha's coddling-like approach to its academy students.

He knew full well that Kumo's program was fairly new; they likely wouldn't have suffered the same losses they did in the Third Great War with a constant influx of highly competent shinobi and kunoichi graduates.

To Naruto's knowledge, Kumo certainly wasn't mobilizing. He likely would have learned of it from Danzo in his mission briefing and, even if he hadn't, he would have been able to tell after a few days in the village. He wasn't sure that the knowledge that Kumogakure wasn't, in fact, mobilizing for war was more troubling than if they were, given their training program.

In any event, the knowledge that the Raikage – a man named Ei, from what he had overheard – wanted to continue to amass military strength and power in a time of relative peace in the Elemental Nations was troubling. He would have to include it in his report when he returned home

That, however, wasn't important to the blond at the moment. No, his attention was focused on one person in particular. A red haired boy named Komaza Kitou who was currently firing blunted shuriken at his various classmates, all of whom were dodging like the wind.

Smiling slightly at the exercise, having done that himself with his clones over the years, Naruto regarded the young boy. He wasn't much younger than Naruto himself, the dossier on his mother having said he was just now twelve, and Naruto could clearly see the potential as a shinobi the boy had.

His movements were efficient and precise, his throws were made with the minimum effort required to reach their targets and they were just that little bit more accurate than his classmates'. Naruto wouldn't have been surprised to hear that Kitou was the top rookie.

Looking skyward as the students finished their practice – inwardly marveling at the lack of clouds, due to the elevation – Naruto recognized that it was late afternoon. That meant that the Academy would be letting out soon.

It was time to get this show on the road.

Focusing, Naruto channeled his chakra and slipped into a Shunshin, taking care not to leave any smoke behind as a screen. His abilities with the Body Flicker had grown immensely since he had manually increased his speed. Due to the speed increase, less chakra had to be used to achieve the same level of speed as he had before. While he was no Yondaime – he wasn't even close to the likes of Shunshin no Shisui – that little tidbit of information could go a long way toward making the Shunshin battle effective.

It was so simple it was almost a slap in the face to Naruto, who had been painstakingly researching complex forms of speed augmentation for years.

Reappearing outside the café he had eaten at the day previous, careful not to disturb any passersby, Naruto swiftly began his trek toward the Ninja Academy. It was somewhat unnecessary, given he would be out of the village within two hours if all went according to plan – the country soon after – but making sure that various people, shinobi included, saw him at some point was in the interest of his general health if he wasn't able to get out of Kumo as quickly as he would have liked.

It went against what was commonly practiced in the shinobi world, but a nameless assassin appearing from nowhere would raise questions, especially given who his target was. This operation _wasn't_ supposed to have Konoha's name written all over it, regardless of the fact that the woman was selling secrets.

_Subtlety's the name of the game_.

As he turned a corner, the Academy in sight with the Kage Complex looming overhead, he wondered what Kumo's Intelligence had gained from the woman who had served as one of Danzo's top informants in Lightning Country. He didn't know what Kumo had done to sway her to their side, but he found that he honestly didn't care.

The realization was a little disturbing to Naruto, and it gave him pause.

The information she was giving was placing the lives of Konoha citizens in danger. _Unacceptable_, the blond thought viciously. _Nothing more, nothing less_.

Stopping short of the Academy, his sharp eyes found their target. The red haired woman was flanked on her left by one of her two escorts, waiting for her son to exit the Academy. _Perfect_.

Naruto had anticipated that one of her escorts would be directly next to her, the crowd of parents surrounding the Academy making for a perfect attack spot, after all, and he had planned accordingly. Scanning the crowd briefly, he extended his chakra into the air, causing a subtle rise in humidity that would, hopefully, go unnoticed.

Feeling the various chakra signatures present, he immediately began searching for the highest one. It wasn't a foolproof way to find the hidden jonin, but it would give him and estimation of where the man was. It wasn't a guarantee that the jonin would have the highest chakra levels, but it was likely.

His chakra rebounding off a person faster than normal alerted him to a man's presence on the roof. Blue eyes locked on to a man in standard Kumo garb overlooking the crowd. Naruto nodded in satisfaction; the predictable placement put him too far away to stop what was about to happen, but then, the people _next_ to the woman wouldn't be able to react fast enough to prevent her death.

The young blond snapped to attention as the doors to the Academy opened and the first of the students trickled through. He was already moving as he spotted his quarry, the red haired Kitou being the first one through the door.

His short stature aided him in moving swiftly between the mass of bodies, and he brushed passed his target and her protector. Naruto knew doubt but not hesitation as he subtly brushed his fingers over his target's bare forearm.

The sound of his heartbeat drummed loudly in Naruto's ears, and the assassin let out a minute sigh of relief as he passed his quarry without incident.

The large group of Academy students parted around him, and the blond spied Kitou speeding up to reach his mother. He closed his eyes for a moment, some small part of him hoping, praying, for someone to notice and stop him from what he was about to do.

But no one noticed. No one could. He had planned it to be undetectable, and he had gone unnoticed through the crowd.

Naruto passed the rushing Kitou without a word, bile creeping up his throat at the knowledge that the boy would be without a mother. He would be like Naruto himself, though it would be the blond depriving him of that right, rather than a demon fox.

For a single, suspended second, Naruto warred with himself. The idea of turning another boy, one hardly younger than himself and an innocent, into an orphan sickened him. And yet, the image of Konoha appeared in his mind's eye. From the Hokage Monument, to all the men and women he ran missions with. It was all in danger; all because of one woman. One woman who happened to be a mother.

In Naruto's mind was a war between his conscience and his duty. It wasn't a fair fight, and the blond quelled the rush of self loathing with the image of his home once more.

_I'm so sorry_, he thought, watching from the corner of his eye as the red haired academy student passed him. Abruptly, his eyes went cold, and he formed a half ram seal.

The dormant genjutsu Naruto had laid on the jonin as he passed him activated with a tiny application of chakra. The boy closed his eyes as he heard the rustling of cloth and the telltale sound of a drawn blade. He tasted bile as a sickening _squelch_ met his ears, and the unmistakable sound of a body hitting the ground sounded.

"_Oh my God!_"

_Mission accomplished_.

/~/

Grass parted and dirt sprung into the air as Naruto sat down heavily. Taking a deep breath to slow his rapidly beating heart, Naruto deftly spun a kunai around his right middle finger, idly tracing the inscription of his initials along the handle.

It, along with its brother, had been an idea of Epsilon's resident medic-nin. Having seen Naruto use twin kunai to deadly effect in practice, and more than a few skirmishes, he and the rest of Epsilon Squad had arranged to have a twin set of elongated knives commissioned for the blond.

With leather grips designed to fit Naruto's hands perfectly, the sixteen inch knives were more than just the average kunai. Six inches longer than the standard fare, the twin knives were crafted with the finest shinobi grade steel that money could buy. Naruto had hoped for some chakra channeling capabilities, but that would have required another, less durable metal to fashion the blades with. Steel was like the human body in that it didn't absorb chakra particularly well, and only high chakra saturated steel could channel the life essence properly. Anything less was pointless.

It also made chakra weapons, true chakra weapons, that much more expensive. The saturation process took nearly a year to complete, and, as such, the steel couldn't be stockpiled to any great extent.

Apparently, saving the team's lives, however unwittingly, didn't quite warrant the gift of a pair of custom chakra blades. _Cheap bastards_, Naruto thought with some amusement and no real ill will.

The dual blades were far from a cheap gift in any event, and the fact that they were designed for him specifically made them all the nicer. According to Housei, there was a second pair waiting in the wings for when he stopped growing.

Naruto had been more than a little surprised when the team had given him the twin blades a few days after he had returned from his excursion in Kumo. That surprise had only doubled when he had learned that it had been Daisuke's idea.

Contrary to the red head's attitude toward his blond comrade on missions and in team training, the teenager was surprisingly well grounded and down to earth, resulting in the two striking up an easy camaraderie outside of work. The two shared similar dreams of future success, though in different fields of shinobi life – Naruto in the application of all battle oriented techniques and Daisuke in the field of shinobi medicine.

The teenaged Haruno apparently dreamed of becoming a medic with competency rivaling Tsunade of the Sannin, known throughout the Elemental Nations as the greatest shinobi medic to ever live. It was certainly a stretch for anyone to truly rival the last remaining Senju, but Naruto felt Daisuke had more of a shot than most.

The red head was unusually talented in the field of medicine, having mastered the Chakra Scalpels to deadly effect at a very young age, and possessed a single minded determination – Hikari called it bull-headedness and Naruto was forced to agree with the Hyuuga – to excel in the study. On top of that was the fact that he had managed to prove more than competent with average, if not sub-par medical education. Both the interest and general competency in the field of shinobi medicine had left with Tsunade, and few in the village were both capable healers and competent teachers. Daisuke's talent would likely keep him well ahead of the pack for some time to come, as it was far from likely that the vaunted Slug Princess would return from her self imposed exile anytime soon.

The two youngest members of Beta Platoon would often share a drink after missions or training – Naruto usually had a drink of chilled tea combined with a western lemon drink, it was surprisingly tasty – and would sometimes train together outside of actual scheduled practice.

For Naruto, it was the first real friendship he had ever had with someone close to his own age, his librarian friend Mai aside, and it was a refreshing experience to talk to someone who could relate to him on a more emotional level. Daisuke had plenty of advice for the younger boy, having been in many positions similar to Naruto in his own formative years in the corps, and didn't hesitate to bestow his "superior experience" upon Naruto, often in the most annoying ways.

For Daisuke, it was a pleasant experience having someone younger than him on the team, as it took some of the weight off of his shoulders. He had been the team's former rookie, and had been subjected to the same forms of torment that Naruto now experienced in ANBU, constant ribbing only being a small part of his "hazing period". The eighteen year old saw the boy as a sort of younger sibling or cousin, and delighted in making him uncomfortable. His next closest relative was his cousin Saukra, the Haruno family's "darling", and an Academy Student one year younger than Naruto. It was much more difficult for the eighteen year old to relate to a twelve year old girl than to Naruto.

As it would happen, Naruto's senior teammate would likely be with him now, had it not been for his little cousin's graduation from the Academy earlier that day. The whole family, it wasn't _that_ large, was throwing a party for the girl's graduation, much to Daisuke's chagrin. "They didn't throw _me_ a party," the ANBU had whined.

Frankly, Naruto was lucky to be here himself. Most of the village was on high alert at the moment, as some foreign assassin had decided that the Academy's graduation was a good time to take a potshot at the Sandaime's grandson. ANBU was dispatched in record time to find the assassin, but the elite fighting force had been unlucky so far.

So far, it seemed that the shinobi was smarter than the average in his modus operandi. Many would be assassins simply ran from their pursuers in a straight line, hoping speed would carry them to safety. Laying low and blending in was a much underrated tactic, one that Naruto had employed rather well in Kumo.

At last check, the Hokage had called in the Inuzuka's talents in tracking to help find the assassin, but he had eluded his pursuers thus far.

Sighing, Naruto leaned his head against the wooden shack that was the only landmark of his current whereabouts. He was sitting in a small clearing that he and Mizuki had often used for their training sessions.

There were many reasons for someone to want Sarutobi Konohamaru dead, and nearly every motive led back to his legend of a grandfather. An avenue that he didn't even want to consider was that Kumogakure was retaliating in response to his killing of their informant.

It was unlikely that that was the case, it seemed far too bold for one of the Great Five – it risked a war once the assassin was found out – but the Yondaime Raikage was known to go against the grain in his running of his village.

In any event, it certainly wasn't a great start to the young Sarutobi's shinobi career, who had surprised many of his instructors by finishing middle of the pack in his class. Naruto shook his head in bemusement; it seemed that the boy had hidden depths that even his own instructors hadn't been able to see.

_Good on him_, Naruto silently applauded the prankster. Hidden depths were an important part of shinobi life, and would only help the Sandaime's grandson in the future. Maybe he would make something of himself after all.

More competent shinobi for Konoha would only be a good thing after all, and they were becoming surprisingly hard to come by these days. Not a day went by that he didn't hear either Housei or Hikari grumbling about the sad state of graduates that the Academy churned out.

While Housei complained that none of them were adequately prepared for the realities of shinobi life – Naruto was forced to agree with his captain in this regard – Hikari raged about how pathetic the kunoichi were. Honestly, Naruto had never seen so much emotion from a Hyuuga than when they had been on a regular village patrol and had passed by the Academy's training ground. The two kunoichi sparring had been nothing short of pathetic. His teammate's ire had only increased when she had seen that it was her Main Family cousin – Hinata or something – that was involved in the match.

Naruto had been forced to refute her great generalization of the kunoichi graduates. The graduates from the year previous had been somewhat competent, especially if that girl Tenten had been any indication.

Naruto had struck up a relative friendship with the bun-haired girl, who worked part time in the weapons shop he frequented, and had found that she was more than pleasant to talk to and be around. She was cute too, though Naruto would never reveal _that_ particular thought to any living soul.

He'd have to drop by sometime.

Thoughts drifting away from the cute weapons specialist, Naruto abruptly narrowed his eyes in suspicion. He angrily blew a strand of hair from its position near his right eye – he _really_ needed a haircut. _Just can't catch a break these days_, he mused.

If it wasn't botched mission specs, it was an unexpected group of missing nin or some international incident. The list went on.

His train of thought evaporated as his well trained senses picked up a presence moving towards his position. Normally he wouldn't have paid it any heed, the training grounds were open at all hours for all shinobi, but the reminder of an unknown assassin gave him pause. The blond formed three seals, disappearing in an unseen haze, and waited.

Less than a minute passed before his quarry appeared.

Shifting his position slightly, Naruto watched dispassionately as multiple golden spires penetrated the wooden shack he was leaning against, about one meter to his right. He raised an eyebrow in surprise as the thrown weapons broke down the wall of his leaning post, completely splintering the wood.

Quickly surveying the surrounding foliage, he spotted his would be assailant perched on a nearby tree branch. A second eyebrow joined the first as he noticed that the boy had six arms. _That's not weird at all_.

Focusing chakra and forming a Tsuchi Bunshin, Naruto noted that the weapons the boy had thrown were similar to what the would-be assassin had used to nearly kill Sarutobi Konohamaru. _And here I am with no back-up_, he thought with more than a sprinkling of frustration. _Why is it always me_?

The exposed mud clone was quickly cut down by a high velocity throw, and Naruto silently respected the boy's accuracy. It was good.

Too bad it wouldn't really matter.

Still concealed by his genjutsu, Naruto poured chakra into his legs and slipped into Shunshin, his arm outstretched. The six armed boy's eyes widened as he felt the incoming chakra, but was powerless to stop Naruto's crushing clothesline.

Naruto transferred all of his momentum and power into the strike with an almighty grunt of exertion, and watched in satisfaction as the assassin's motion was halted by a rather immovable tree. A satisfying crack accompanied both the immediate strike and the boy slamming into the tree, and Naruto dropped his cloaking genjtusu.

His blue eyes darted around the clearing in search of other threats, but situational awareness fell by the wayside as an eruption of pure chakra knocked him back.

Startled and off balance as he was, Naruto didn't notice the golden arrow tearing towards his position until it was already by him. Instinct and reflexes born of battle saved him, and the blond found himself airborn.

Landing far more gracefully than he had dodged, Naruto watched with wide eyes as the golden bolt of death tore through the tree whose branch he had just been standing on. He didn't want to think what might have happened to his body if he had been hit.

A deep, hacking laughter stole his attention. "Well, this game might be a bit harder than I thought. A higher level than anticipated, but…I guess it's more fun that way."

A monster now stood in place of the six-armed boy Naruto had blitzed, complete with red skin, horns, three eyes and long gray hair. In his arms was a classic long bow, made of the same golden substance that both his former weapons and arrow were formed by.

Sharp eyes centered on the point where Naruto had struck the monster, and the blond took in cracked gold caked with blood before he was on the move once more. He spun round and whirled, deftly avoiding another arrow that was accompanied by a group of the thrown, yellow weapons from before.

_His speed got better_, Naruto realized with some distress. _The hell happened to him!_

The crack of the tree behind him was expected, and Naruto launched a clip of shuriken at the boy-turned monster.

He hadn't expected them to do any damage, really, but was unprepared for them to be so casually blocked with the red monster's forearm, now covered in the golden substance that Naruto had begun to associate with his attacker. Grimacing and taking cover behind a tree, Naruto formed three mud clones. The first was skewered by a high velocity arrow, and Naruto hurriedly directed his remaining two to attack while the monster was forced to create and notch another arrow.

Channeling chakra to his feet, Naruto went vertical on the tree. It was more than obvious that the unnamed assassin was a long ranged specialist and, given his obvious competency and resiliency, wouldn't just let Naruto get close range with him.

Perching himself on a tree branch one level higher than his enemy, Naruto wove seals at a furious pace. Nothing happened to his eyes, but he was acutely aware of the situation playing out in his mind's eye. To the eyes – all _three_ of them – of his assailant, his two mud clones had become two dozen charging attackers.

The boy had been close to dispelling the genjutsu, but his first Tsuchi Bunshin had made contact, forcing the monster on the immediate defensive. Naruto gave the teenager credit, despite being a long ranged specialist, he was rather competent close in. Competent and durable enough to dispel a well trained clone.

The initiative was still Naruto's, however, as a "clone" was always close enough to the monster that he couldn't conceivably dispel the genjutsu with possibly taking a debilitating hit, regardless of the fact that only one more clone in the onslaught was actually tangible. _He doesn't know that,_ Naruto thought viciously.

"Passable my ass," he growled, remembering Fuu's less than impressed reaction to his deception.

_Ah, the wonders of genjutsu_, Naruto thought, a moment of fondness for his chosen art overtaking him as he watched his manipulation play out. The monster was steadily being herded towards his cover. Hands formed seals for the Suiton: Zessenzan, and it was then that two things happened at once.

The customary thin stream of chakra sharpened water burst towards his opponent at high speed.

The red skinned monster turned, arrow notched in his golden bow, and fired at nearly point blank range.

Naruto blinked as the sound of the arrow striking the tree trunk sounded in the silence. Staring down at the decapitated form of the six armed assassin, he noted with some interest that the boy's skin was turning back to its original tan color. His eyes shifted briefly to the golden arrow that was lodged in the tree trunk to his left.

He shook his head. Way_ too close on that one_. _Damn good thing I always use dual illusions_.

Tucking an errant strand of hair behind his ear, Naruto leapt to the forest floor. His hands moved through seals slowly and precisely, he wasn't yet comfortable with the technique, and placed them on top of the rapidly cooling corpse. He was using a small diagnostic jutsu, courtesy of Daisuke, and would simply collect the preliminary results before he brought the body to the ANBU headquarters for a full autopsy.

It was amazing what one could learn from a ninja's corpse.

The chakra saturated air tipped him off, and having no desire to become a corpse himself, he swiftly gathered the corpse in his arms before Kawarimi'ing with a nearby log. _Fucker's good at stealth_. The Grand Fireball that was cooking the space he had previously occupied was less stealthy.

Extending his senses and glancing about, Naruto picked up a chakra source. It was disturbingly familiar.

As was the figure standing on the charred earth.

"Naruto…" Mizuki whispered, a conflicted expression marring his visage as he spied the blond. The silver haired chunin was armed to the teeth, two fuuma shuriken on his back and a scroll to his left.

Shock overtook the blond, even as his body moved on autopilot to deal with a new enemy. "Mizuki," Naruto whispered, his mind ablaze to comprehend the situation at hand. It was perfectly plausible that his friend had simply been in search of the assassin, and his search had led him here. That would explain why he was armed.

The sad, regretful look in his eyes that was replaced with grim determination said otherwise.

/~/


	7. Chapter 6: To Fight the Coming Darkness

/~/

Heavy, rolling mist blanketed the area as explosions rocked the forest. Intangible and untamable, it swept in and out of the combatants like a coiling snake.

A wince accompanied the collapse of Naruto's final genjutsu, and he sprung into action with his ninjato drawn. The assassin's blade sliced through its target like a hot knife through butter, and the Kusa ninja fell with nary a sound.

Naruto was moving before the body even hit the ground.

His senses pinged on his squad leader battling three ninja, and he moved to intercept. Those same senses forced him to dodge out of the way of an inclement Katon jutsu, and his eyes shifted to where he knew one more attacker to be.

The mist was of his creation, and it was nearly impenetrable to the naked eye. Thankfully, his team had trained extensively in similar conditions, and could adjust accordingly.

The attacking combination of Iwa and Kusa ninja wasn't as well prepared.

A quick step to the right put Naruto out of reach of a brace of shuriken, and he palmed and threw a kunai loaded with an explosive tag. The attacker saw the tag at the last moment, and moved to dodge left.

He was rewarded with a stab to the eye for his efforts, and the mud clone carefully caught the tag laden kunai that had never detonated. A casual toss re-added it to Naruto's stock.

An incoming Shunshin had Naruto on guard, but he relaxed as the signature turned out to be Fuu.

"Drop the mist, we need visibility," was the simple command. The auburn haired captain was gone before Naruto had time to question the order – not that he would have.

A quick focusing of his chakra made the mist disappear, and Naruto strafed to the right to avoid being skewered by a hardened rock spear that was immediately tossed his way.

The masked ANBU cursed as his bracers took an overhead blow from his attacker, and he realized he'd been suckered. He never appreciated being led into traps, no matter how often he did it to others.

Light glinted off an Iwa forehead protector as Naruto weathered the storm of blows that were laid on him. A quick step inside the man's range allowed Naruto to land a palm strike to the neck of the shinobi.

The man stumbled backwards, giving Naruto an opening for a quick finish. His victory was cut short as he felt incoming chakra push and pull on him at the same time. He relaxed, letting the sensation take over, and found himself back to back with Daisuke.

He swiftly drew his combat knives, and one found itself lodged inside a body before Naruto could even survey the situation.

A glance at his former position showed Housei deflecting a storm of shuriken, and Naruto silently thanked the captain's quick maneuver. It had saved his life from death by multiple stab wounds. _Bastards probably poisoned them too_.

"Not dead yet, rookie?" Daisuke asked snidely as his chakra scalpels ferociously severed the aorta of a Kusa ninja. _Dead in three heartbeats_, the blond mused clinically.

Naruto wondered if his captain had been right to Kawarimi with him when he did. He and Daisuke were caught in the line of fire of two four man squads. The two ANBU had to move _fast_ to avoid being test dummies for the incoming hail of kunai.

"Not on your life!" he returned. A stray kunai was caught and returned to its thrower at twice the initial velocity. Naruto snarled slightly as he heard the muffled thump of the blade hitting its target.

"Saw Housei pull your ass out of the fire." Daisuke was a wonderful at multitasking. He proved it by ensnaring two ninja with wire and binding them to a nearby tree trunk. Two shuriken severed their jugular veins courtesy of Naruto.

The blond in question grabbed the medic nin and rapidly Shunshin'd out of the kill zone as their position was peppered with falling boulders.

"We're even now, douche bag. I did technically save _all_ your asses with the mist," Naruto retorted as their attackers bum rushed them. _So clumsy…_

His combat knives were sheathed and unsheathed in record time as he split the four man squad in two with a carefully aimed shuriken barrage.

He went left while Daisuke went right, and stabbed out with his right blade. A hand snatched his forearm, and Naruto was airborne before he knew what to do with himself.

Only a quick twist saved his head, as the three thrown kunai imbedded themselves in his chest plate. The reinforced Kevlar armor held fast and Naruto only winced as he felt the dulled impacts. Those would leave some serious bruises.

The black and blue marks were the least of his worries as he hastily redirected stab at his neck. Gloved fingers met exposed skin, and Naruto breathed a sigh of relief as his contact to contact genjutsu washed over the sword wielding Kusa ninja.

The woman's partner moved in for the quick kill, but was blocked by his partner's katana. The stunned look on the man's face was permanently etched there as his throat was cut by Naruto's left knife. The right blade embedded itself in the woman's skull with a dull thud.

The duplicity of his illusion was obvious to Naruto. Ensconced in the heat of battle, against enemies of his village, the blond couldn't bring himself to care.

He was a shinobi.

He sheathed his knives as he channeled chakra to his earpiece. The standard issue ANBU com unit crackled to life as he spied his friend.

"Diasuke, attack pattern seven!" he ordered as he released a kunai-explosive tag combo at his partner.

The red haired medic was caught in a pincer maneuver, and a quick substitution with a nearby log allowed for Naruto's kunai to be perfectly placed between his attackers.

The high yield explosive note detonated with a crash, and the two Kusa shinobi were thrown sideways violently.

Naruto and Diasuke went left and right respectively, in a choreographed maneuver, and Naruto deftly unsheathed his ninjato.

His target was both larger and stronger than him, but the explosion had dulled the man's senses. It was a credit to the man's reflexes that he managed to raise a kunai to block Naruto's first strike, but the blond adapted accordingly. A subtle wrist turn severed the man's hand, kunai still held, and the young ANBU buried the blade to the hilt in the man's chest.

Naruto twisted the sword violently as he pulled it out, and the man screamed as his left lung was torn to shreds.

The blond blinked as the now dead man fell to the ground. _Shit…_A shuddering breath escaped Naruto as he flicked the blood off his assassin's blade. Shinobi or not, his own ruthlessness and viciousness surprised him sometimes.

His eyes found Daisuke, who had delicately caused severe brain hemorrhaging in his target with a skillful tap to the temple. A quick Shunshin placed him at the medic's side.

"Bit violent there, eh?" the masked redhead asked. His tone indicated that he didn't really care either way. After running missions with Naruto for nearly six months, the aspiring medic was used to the way Naruto killed. The young blond could be both precise and brutal at the same time.

His shark mask suited him.

"Eki, Same," Housei's voice crackled over the radio. "Execute attack pattern eleven."

Naruto and Daisuke glanced at each other through their masks. "Buntaicho must want this over and done with," the medic said, a little bemused at the order.

"'Bout damn time," Naruto grunted as he wove seals.

Daisuke took to the tree branches, along with the rest of the gathered members of Beta Platoon, as Naruto finished his seals and threw his arms sideways.

"Suiton: Suishouha!" he screamed in exertion as water burst forth from nowhere and everywhere.

The bursting collision waves crashed through the foliage with insane speed and pressure, ripping dirt, shrubs, and even small trees from their places. The attacking coalition of Kusagakure and Iwagakure ninja got swept up in the chaos with little exception.

Naruto landed next to his platoon wearily, and quickly ingested a soldier pill. The B-ranked Suiton jutsu was made much easier thanks to his high water affinity, but it still ate chakra like crazy. That was especially true given how large he had made the jutsu.

Fuu sped through his own set of hand seals, and great blue arcs of lightning hit the water and detonated fiercely across the small manmade lake. The ninja caught in the water were electrocuted instantaneously.

"Inu?" Fuu asked the platoon's resident sensor.

"Nineteen hostiles fleeing the area, taicho," the dog masked woman stated monotonously.

There was no outward reaction from the platoon, but the satisfaction could be felt among the members. They had been attacked by a coalition force of over fifty ninja on the border of Grass and Waterfall Country, and had obliterated the vast majority of it while sustaining only one near casualty.

The twenty man ANBU platoon had a right to be satisfied. _Goddamn am I tired though_, Naruto thought wearily.

"Split into standard formation squads and pursue," Fuu ordered. "Use ranged ninjutsu and weapons only. Pursue to the Kusa border and then reconvene at the edge of Fire Country. We move to Konoha from there."

A sideways hand thrown in dismissal had the five teams sprinting toward the Kusa border.

/~/

"One more round!" Daisuke called out eagerly to the bartender. The attractive brunette just smiled and nodded to the excited redhead.

"Haven't you had enough already?" Naruto asked in exasperation. Daisuke had been drinking almost non-stop since they had arrived at the bar. That had been two hours ago.

He would have been surprised at the teen's coherency, but Naruto suspected that the boy was filtering the alcohol with his medical chakra.

"There's no such thing as too much beer, Naruto," Hikari and Daisuke said in unison. Hikari was mocking in her address. Daisuke was all too serious. "I thought you'd have learned that by now," Hikari continued with an exasperated glance at their teammate.

Naruto shrugged helplessly as he sipped his sake. The rice wine was becoming a favorite of his, though he only had it in moderation. "He's had over ten already."

"Tweleve, rookie! Don't be selling me short!"

Naruto rolled his eyes in time with Hikari as the bartender brought their friend another beer. They were sharing a small booth in one of the few shinobi only bars in Konoha. The rest of Beta platoon was scattered throughout the bar, save for Fuu, of course. He was reporting to his superiors, no doubt – though he likely wouldn't have showed either way. The man had no social life.

Naruto made a mental note to never become like that, regardless of how many hours he clocked in with ANBU and Root. He had his team, and they were his friends. Having people around him helped him unwind from the stress of mission.

The life of an ANBU was strenuous like that.

Regardless of their last encounter, Naruto tried to keep Mizuki in the category of 'friend', as he had been before. He still visited the man sometimes, though mostly in an attempt at closure. Almost six months after the fact, he was still shaken by the events in the clearing that night.

"Naruto?" Hikari asked her young teammate. "You spaced out for a moment."

"Sorry," he apologized needlessly. It wasn't the first time he had spaced out in public. It wasn't just him that did it either. It was a common trait among veteran shinobi, especially ANBU.

"There's no need to apologize, Naruto," Hikari comforted. "What were you thinking about?" the Branch Hyuuga asked over the general din.

"Just the mission," Naruto lied simply. He appreciated the concern his teammate had for him, but he had no desire to talk about his old friend.

He glanced about, searching for a different avenue of conversation. Housei was sitting with a group of jonin and Tokubetsu jonin calmly discussing something or another. Daisuke had gotten up to go flirt with the pretty bartender. Neither avenue was much of a conversation starter.

"Three attacks in four weeks. It's hard to believe," Hikari was saying.

"Yeah."

Kusa and Iwa had been getting bolder with their moves for more territory in Kusa and beyond. The skirmish that Beta platoon had returned from had been one of many in and around Konoha's borders.

"They're testing the waters, looking for any cracks in the armor before they make any real moves."

Naruto just nodded along with the assessment that the Hyuuga made. He, however, was slightly more in the know about the dealings with Kusagakure.

Despite the repeated skirmishes along Kusa's borders, Naruto wasn't worried about a potential attack from their former ally. According to the latest report from one of Danzo's informants, the resistance movement was gaining ground among many of Kusa's ninja. The rebels would soon be numerous enough to keep Kusa and Iwa properly occupied.

No, Naruto was worried about his potential role in the war that would never be acknowledged. As a member of Root, and an up-and-coming name in the shinobi ranks, Naruto knew that he would be deployed to Grass Country along with other Root operatives.

The only question was when, though Naruto had a pretty good idea. The Chunin Selection Examinations were in Konoha this year, and had started earlier in the day. He probably wouldn't know the exact date – why should he – except for the fact that he was going to be one of the unlucky few tasked for guard duty of the Second Task.

In any event, Konoha needed all available ANBU to be in the village for the duration of the exam. And that included the one month break in the middle.

While normally that would mean that he and his team got a small vacation of sorts, Naruto was still going to be in extensive training with Fuu, as well as being bogged down in endless Root briefings dealing with the inevitable clash with Kusa.

All in all, it would be a painful, if sometimes boring month. He was just dreading for the call to the Forest of Death to provide security.

"Eh, I wouldn't worry," Naruto assured the suddenly nervous Hyuuga. He had to remember that she, despite being several years his senior, had no wartime experience. Everybody in the know was nervous about an impending war, and it was only Naruto's more extensive knowledge about the situation that kept his own nerves intact.

"Konoha's on top of the food chain for a reason, right? And don't forget, we smacked Iwa around in the last war too." He neglected to mention that Konoha was on the losing end of that particular war until Namikaze Minato decided to get serious.

The legend had almost single handedly decimated Iwa's battalions, leaving Konoha to claim victory.

"Yeah," Hikari conceded with a sigh and a glance at Daisuke up by the bar. "I guess you're right."

Naruto noticed the eye movement, which was a credit to his observation skills. The Byakugan had no pupil, and was difficult to track.

"You're worried about him," Naruto observed simply, though he wasn't sure what made him say it. Hikari didn't respond, but didn't refute him either. "You could just talk to him," the blond harangued.

She pinned him with a glare. "What do you know about it?" she asked harshly.

Naruto winced. In his defense, the subtleties of relationships were well beyond him. He was fairly blunt outside of his missions, and it showed.

"Sorry," he apologized. "Shouldn't've brought it up."

The look of consternation on his teammate's face melted. "I shouldn't have snapped," she said, contrite.

Naruto nodded. "It's not my place to talk about you guys."

"You're right, it's not, but that doesn't excuse my behavior."

Naruto said nothing, ending the cycle of apologies.

The most common answer to any questions regarding the odd relationship between Hikari and Daisuke was that it was complicated. It apparently stemmed from when Naruto wasn't a part of the team, and he didn't know all the facts, but he couldn't begin to understand why it was so complicated. If they liked each other, they should go for it. End of story.

To the best of his knowledge, the awkwardness came from some odd situation with their old teammate, the one who had died on the debacle of a mission that kick started the chaos with Kusa. The awkwardness wasn't helped any by Daisuke flirting with any reasonably attractive woman he laid eyes on, either.

Naruto sighed inwardly. The two managed to keep their awkwardness out of the missions – they likely had no time to think about such things – but off duty they were so very confusing to the young boy.

_People are weird_, he decided, and left it at that.

The rapid rising of his seat caught his attention, and he turned to see the second half of his thoughts sit down next to him.

"Number and home address!" Daisuke proclaimed loudly, displaying a napkin that he had taken the bartender's information down on.

Naruto gave the redhead a flat look, doing his best to convey the message "Are you kidding me?" through a glance.

Whether due to his inebriated state or some other reason entirely, Daisuke didn't get the message.

"She said that she wanted to take me home and eat me," he whispered conspiratorially. Apparently, there was nothing better than an attractive woman who wanted to "eat" you. "True story."

Naruto shared a glance with Hikari, and detected a small layer of hurt underneath the flat stare she gave their teammate. He winced internally. He had no idea how to diffuse this situation.

He wasn't even sure he wanted to. _Get me outta here,_ he thought impotently.

A flicker of a reflection glinted off nearby glass, and Naruto recognized four of the most recognizable Konoha jonin enter the bar. Hatake Kakashi and Maito Gai were two of the village's top jonin, and Sarutobi Asuma wasn't all that far behind the two elites in terms of skill and renown. Yuhi Kurenai, while a rookie by jonin standards, was no slouch either.

Naruto had nothing but respect for his fellow genjutsu specialist. The same went for all three others.

"Hey…" Daisuke nudged him. "…ain't that your old sensei?"

Naruto gave a curt nod in agreement. He had done his best to rationalize why Hatake Kakashi had failed him all those years ago, and had mostly succeeded. Still, there would always be some lingering resentment, no matter what Naruto did.

Daisuke snorted. "Can't believe that he passed you up, man. Bet he's regretting that right about now, eh?"

Naruto shrugged, placing whatever lingering anger he held toward the Elite jonin in the back of his mind. "Hn, probably not. He had his reasons, I guess, and it's not like it was the end of the world. I did ok for myself," he added with a small grin.

The satisfaction inherent in defying all the man's previous concerns and expectations bubbled forth, and Naruto barely held in a snarl of triumph. It hadn't mattered that Hatake had failed him, he had succeeded anyway; much more than anyone had had a right to expect.

A burning sensation on his upper right arm brought him out of his self appreciating thoughts. The burning was centered along the contours of his ANBU tattoo. The Hokage and the ANBU commander could activate it with nary a hand seal, alerting any and all ANBU of their assignments.

It was time to go.

He stood swiftly and brushed past Daisuke on his way out of the booth. "Gotta go," he said simply. The other two didn't question him, used to it.

He made his way out of the bar silently, passing the four renowned jonin without a word. He nodded to Gai briefly, having worked with the man in the past, but ignored the others to the best of his ability.

His eyes involuntarily locked with Kakashi's one, and he felt the man silently appraising him, before the Cyclops gave a nearly imperceptible nod.

Naruto was out of the bar before he could properly process and return the small sign of respect.

/~/

"That was him?" Kurenai asked the small group at large, once the boy was out of hearing range.

"Mhm," was Kakashi's lazy response.

"Indeed, Kurenai-chan, that was Uzumaki Naruto-kun. Truly he is a wonderful embodiment of youth's power. An example all our young shinobi should follow!" Gai exclaimed with a toothy grin. He shot a thumbs up toward Kakashi. "Is he not, my rival?"

The Elite jonin looked up from examining something on his sandal. "Hm, you say something Gai?"

Kurenai and Asuma just rolled their eyes at the familiar byplay. It got real old pretty quickly these days.

"Hard to believe," Sarutobi wondered around one of his infamous cigarettes. "The kid's only a year older than our students."

"Yeah," Kurenai agreed. Her thoughts turned toward her own three man squad. She had little doubt that the young looking blond could utterly decimate Team Eight in a straight fight. His mission history, what was known, said as much, but it was still hard to wrap her mind around.

She had been a bit of a standout in her younger days, but Uzumaki was being lauded as the next great prodigy, at least in some circles. And with good reason, the boy was in ANBU!

"He's the same age as your kids, right Gai?" Asuma asked.

The Elite, now calmer, answered quietly, a change from the norm. "Yes he is, Asuma-kun. I've worked with him once before, and his reputation is befitting of his skill."

That was high praise. The rumors circulating about the boy were often times outlandish, but the four jonin were rather "in the know" when it came to shinobi matters, and their information about Uzumaki Naruto painted an impressive picture.

"Weren't you supposed to be his sensei, Kakashi?" Kurenai asked curiously.

Kakashi sighed, his one visible eye closing in irritation. He had been catching a lot of heat from his colleagues for passing on the chance to train the boy, and he was downright sick of it. He had his reasons for failing the boy, and he was sticking to his guns about it.

Naruto managed to acquit himself nicely, and that showed that the lesson that Kakashi had tried to impart on the blond had sunk in. That was enough for him.

"Yes, I was," was his simple reply as the four were led to their table. And that was the end of it.

/~/

The world around him blurred into slow motion, then fast, and finally settled on normal. Naruto blinked three times as his eyes watered briefly as the tunnel vision that he had learned to associate with Shunshin disappeared.

The small group that awaited his arrival didn't react outwardly so much, but Naruto could feel their surprise through observing the slight movements of their body language. Being a genjutsu user meant observational skills were paramount, and body language could say a lot about a person without ever having them open their mouth.

His arrival had been "quiet" in terms of the regular Shunshin. He had appeared in a small burst of chakra. There had been no smoke, no leaves, and no explosion of chakra to signal his arrival. It had been pure speed and chakra control.

Their surprise was natural, most people, even experienced jonin didn't bother to perform the Shunshin with such precision. The gears were already turning in the heads of the gathered ninja, and Naruto was glad for his mask, as it covered his satisfied smirk.

He'd be lying if he said that his entrance wasn't intentional.

_Some people dress to impress; I just impress,_ he thought with no small amount of satisfaction.

"Second Lieutenant of ANBU Operations Platoon Beta, sub-squad Epsilon, codename Same, reporting for duty." _God, what a mouthful_… The masked boy snapped a crisp salute to his superiors, as he finished his practiced introduction.

The other ANBU in the area saluted him, and Naruto recognized the majority of them as members of Alpha Platoon; the foremost Operation's Platoon in ANBU. _So, Alpha Team's got the lead. How shocking_, was the sarcastic thought.

Being the most well known Operation's team in ANBU, Alpha Team got the bulk of the well exposed missions. The members were among the most seasoned in ANBU, and maintained a stellar reputation among the ranks as being the best of the best. Hatake Kakashi was once Buntaicho of Alpha Team, and it was he who helped solidify Alpha Team into what it was today.

A woman in a striped Tiger mask nodded slightly to him, and Naruto recognized the distinctive purple hair of Uzuki Yugao. He returned the nod with an unseen smile.

"At ease Second Lieutenant," the illustrious Captain of Alpha Team ordered. "I assume that you have been briefed on your current assignment."

Naruto nodded at the question that wasn't a question.

"In that case, welcome to the Forest of Death, Second Lieutenant." The man removed his mask in a somewhat ceremonial gesture, and the rest of the gathered ANBU followed suit, Naruto included. The boy recognized a few faces from Beta Platoon.

The identities of ANBU, while not common knowledge, weren't S-ranked secrets either. Most ANBU could even recognize each other by face.

"As you can see," the nondescript captain continued, "there are representatives from all the Operations Platoons gathered here today. Our task is to secure the Forest of Death for the next five days for the Chunin Selection Exams. You will be broken off into four man squads and sent on patrols at regular intervals throughout the exam. You will report to either myself, Morino Ibiki, or his associate, Mitarashi Anko. Our base of operations will be the central tower."

Five minutes later saw Naruto leaning against a tree as his three other teammates began their introductions.

"Uzuki Yugao," the purple haired woman greeted. She spared a small smile for Naruto.

"Shin," a grey haired boy greeted with a bland looking smile. He was armed to the teeth with two Fuuma shuriken and a tanto. He reminded Naruto of Mizuki.

"Dajimu," a blank man around his mid twenties said. He carried a standard issue katana on his back.

"Uzumaki Naruto." The blond locked eyes with Shin. An unspoken greeting occurred in the eyes of the two Root members.

"Well then," Yugao began. "Our patrol begins in two hours. In the meantime, we'll head to the central tower to coordinate our operations. I'll need to know your basic skills in order to properly devise a strategy in case we encounter hostiles in the Forest."

The rest of the team needed no further prompting to move toward the base of operations.

Puzzled would be a good way to describe Naruto at the moment. He had been given little information regarding the mission, and the coordination of various ANBU Operations Platoons hadn't been something he had expected.

It didn't make much sense either. Operations Platoons made up the vast majority of ANBU, and did the heavy lifting – the two other departments that had any sort of legitimate man power were the Hunter-nin Corps and the Assassination Squads – and most Ops Platoons stayed together for large amounts of time. This resulted in high levels of coordination among the platoons and the individual squads that made them up, and they weren't ever really changed for that very reason.

Operations Platoons weren't designed to work with each other all that much, as each was its own entity. Sure, they would be able to work together in certain circumstances, they all had the same training for the most part, but they didn't take missions together all that much.

That was showcased by the fact that three Ops Squads from differing platoons had been paired together to investigate the situation in Kusagakure. The botch job that that mission turned out to be had resulted in Naruto helping to save the collective asses of Epsilon Squad on the border of Grass Country.

The only real reason that Naruto could think of for why multiple members of different Platoons all had the same mission was because of the impending conflict with Kusa. All out war would require increased cooperation among the troops, and ironing out many of the kinks in a relatively nonthreatening situation – the most powerful potential hostiles in the forest were genin – was a good idea.

_But even that doesn't mesh_, Naruto thought with more than a little confusion.

Given his position in Root, he was aware that Konoha was to have no open participation in the war with Kusagakure. Only Root operatives, given the fact that they didn't have any documented ties to Konoha, would be used in the war, so as to not provoke Iwa into an all out conflict.

A flicker of hands in his peripheral vision served to break his thoughts, and he turned his head to the silver haired teen named Shin.

He couldn't see the boy's expression, covered as it was by a porcelain weasel mask, but the boy flashed quickly through hand signs consistent with ANBU Battle-speak. The signs were barely recognizable from general twitches of the hands, but that was just the sign of a veteran.

'Package delivery. Tower,' Shin signed.

'Mission?' Naruto's hands twitched.

'Yes'

_Fantastic_, the blond thought uncharitably. The situation was already complicated enough without Danzo sending him orders through a proxy.

Not for the first time did he regret signing on to be a pawn in the machinations of wily old men.

A clang of metal on metal shook him from his musings, and the makeshift squad paused on a tree branch.

An Amegakure genin cell was fighting a cell from Takigakure. The Taki cell was losing, and badly. One member was collapsed next to a shrub, hundreds of senbon littering his body, and another looked almost as bad, though the girl was still standing.

Naruto winced as a brutal slash of a kunai cut across the girl's exposed throat. She went down choking, her hands held to the wound in a desperate attempt to save her life. It was futile.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the Rain genin who had made the slash; it had been sloppy to the extreme. Whether it was intentional or not was unclear, but Rain-nin _were_ known for their viciousness.

The remaining Taki genin glanced at his fallen comrades with horror, before the boy's face solidified into a mask of rage. Four hand signs later saw a harsh stream of water plow into the Ame-nin that had killed the Takigakure girl.

The boy moved quickly to press his advantage, and ended the unfortunate Rain-nin's life with a vicious, if not technically sound stab to the chest.

The boy's revenge was short lived, as his back was quickly peppered with shuriken, but the body dissolved into water almost immediately.

Naruto was impressed. The techniques shown by the boy weren't perfect, numerous, or particularly powerful, but the boy had a sense for misdirecting his opponents. That was the mark of a true shinobi.

Or at least one in the making.

A small burst of speed carried the remaining Taki genin inside the guard of one of his would-be killers, and he unleashed another burst of water that Naruto could now identify as the Suiton: Mizurappa. It was the precursor to the Suiton: Zessenzan, one of Naruto's favorite techniques.

The Ame genin hit the trunk of a huge tree with a thud and a crack.

The air grew heavy in the small clearing, and Naruto felt the humidity rise dramatically. A quick glance at his teammates showed that they too had noticed. It would have been shameful if they hadn't.

A quick kunai exchange between the two remaining genin found the Taki boy on the defensive, and he rolled left to avoid being sliced to pieces. His opponent was sweating and breathing heavily as he withdrew an umbrella from a storage scroll.

The trademark senbon launcher was hefted into the air to end the life of the Taki genin, but the Rain-nin stopped suddenly.

Naruto narrowed his eyes, channeling chakra to them to enhance his vision slightly. The boy's lips were turning blue.

The momentary pause was all the time the Taki-nin needed, and he formed three hand seals.

All of a sudden, the Ame genin was on his knees, vomiting gallons of water violently. The boy fell face first to the forest floor, and the water pooled around his face.

_He's drowning_, Naruto noted detachedly, and with some interest. Somehow, the Taki genin had used the water in the Ame-nin's body against him. _Gotta look into that_, he mused; it held potential.

The end of the battle was sudden and brutal, and the Taki genin collapsed to the ground with a kunai buried in his skull, courtesy of the remaining Rain genin who was collapsed against a nearby tree and had gone ignored in the heat of the moment.

"Never take your eye off the ball," Naruto muttered under his breath, though he was sure that his teammates heard it over the com link. It was a fitting epitaph for the Taki genin. The boy had fought hard, and had only made one mistake, in the end.

It was that one mistake that mattered. That was all it took to kill someone.

The four man ANBU squad disappeared deeper into the forest without a word.

/~/

A soft brush of the arms in the hallway was all it took for the information to be passed.

Three quick steps to the nearest bathroom gave Naruto some privacy, and he opened the scroll with a small application of chakra and blood.

He sighed as he read through the scroll's contents. Convoluted operations and orders were part of being a Root agent, but they grew tiresome. Naruto hadn't even been in the program for seven months and he was already tired of how confusing some of his orders were.

This, though, was absurd. It took Hatake Kakashi's motto of "looking underneath the underneath" to a whole new level. A level that was asinine.

On the surface – for the standard ANBU in the Operations Division – this was a mission to promote increased cooperation between the Platoons. It was much like Naruto thought originally.

As far as everyone "in the know" in Konoha knew, they would soon be at war with Kusagakure and Iwagakure. This increased cooperation was to be expected, as it happened in all times of war, and was comforting to many newer recruits who had never experienced all out war before.

Had Naruto been a regular ANBU – _what an interesting idea __that__ is_, he reflected – he was sure that such a mission would have assuaged many of his concerns about the conflict just over the horizon.

But he wasn't. And it didn't.

Below the surface of the mission, lay the secondary objective: the assimilation of more Root shinobi into the general ranks of ANBU.

It was a joint measure between Sarutobi and Danzo, and would greatly increase the number of competent Black Ops shinobi in the general ranks. Naruto was sure, though it went unsaid, that the same was happening in the reverse – much like what had happened to him – though with a far more selective eye. More Operations squads were being formed, and this was a great opportunity for them to become familiar with their comrades in a potentially dangerous situation.

The third objective was even more concealed. It was designated that, in the five days that the ANBU would be in the Forest of Death, the members of Root should all become familiar with one another.

This objective was simplistic: it would allow for the Root ANBU to establish contacts within the Operations' ranks, and make them more comfortable. While many of Danzo's shinobi were subjected to severe emotional suppressing exercises, they still felt them more often than not. They just couldn't identify them.

Comfort level was important for any shinobi, as a nervous shinobi could make mistakes, and Black Ops ninja couldn't afford to make mistakes. Mistakes meant death; and death meant failure.

Failure wasn't an option.

While establishing a comfort level with the Root shinobi was important, Naruto's mind jumped to an even greater conclusion. Many of the Root operatives in ANBU would be working together in the covert war with Kusa. This mission would give them a chance to establish a rapport with their comrades, many of whom they didn't even know existed.

Dajimu was a great example of this. Naruto had recognized Shin from a few information dossiers he had read previously, but he had had no idea that the fourth member of his makeshift squad was also Root.

The blond had little doubt that he would be working with one or both of them in the near future.

The list of names of the Root operatives being assimilated into ANBU was more extensive than he had originally thought. Two new Operations Platoons were being formed just to accommodate the influx of man power. He'd have to make contact with almost all of them in the five day span.

The scroll snapped shut and spontaneously combusted into the toilet. Naruto casually flushed the remains as he exited the bathroom, scowling all the while.

/~/

"Fifteen years in the Foundation is an impressive service record."

"Danzo-sama recognized my potential and recruited me. I have served faithfully ever since," came the bland reply.

One down side to being a member of Root was the fact that Naruto was one of a select few who knew how to express themselves. The nearly emotionless responses began to wear on him after a while. That time was becoming shorter and shorter with each passing conversation.

The short conversation was just one of many that Naruto had had over the past day. Almost all of them had turned out the same. There was no denying the efficiency that his fellow Foundation operatives worked with, but they were a grating bunch to hang around with if one knew how to add inflection to your voice.

The blond supposed that it might come in handy in the field. He hoped that there was at least one upside to the nearly emotionless soldiers. He hadn't been able to find one as of yet, at least no concrete evidence of there being one, but he held hope.

Naruto had no doubt that he would be among the groups dispatched to Grass Country once the resistance movement began to gain ground, and he needed to know that his comrades would be as useful as they were supposed to be.

It was a harsh attitude to take towards one's comrades, but Naruto was in the process of preparing for a war. Having a cavalier attitude toward life in general would likely help him once he made it to the front lines. He had a gut feeling that he would have to make some tough decisions in the near future, and he would prepare himself as best he could.

He refocused his thoughts as he pushed off another tree branch. His patrol partner was Dajimu for the moment, Yugao was teaming with Shin, and he had nearly lost the man twice now. The emotionless ANBU spared no thought for his young partner, and had no qualms about leaving him behind if he slowed down for some reason.

It was very nearly infuriating.

"Team fourteen, code in," was Yugao's command over the com link.

"Roger that, taicho. Same," was Naruto's response.

"Neko," was Dajimu's simple code in.

"Inu." Shin was the last to respond.

"Urgent activity at the western edge of the forest. Rendezvous at point four on the tactical map. We'll move from there," Yugao ordered.

"Copy that," were the three identical responses.

Naruto and Dajimu didn't speak as they turned west. They picked up the pace at some unspoken signal, and arrived at the staging area in record time. Yugao and Shin had still beaten them.

"A chunin examiner reported an urgent disturbance at the western gates and requested assistance. We'll be joined by squads one and twelve en route."

The four ANBU disappeared in bursts of speed towards their target.

Naruto was happy, and not for the first time, that he had manually increased his speed. He had no trouble keeping pace with the three ANBU, and he kept his balance perfectly as they arrived. It was no easy feat considering the distance the group had covered almost instantaneously.

"Alright, what seems to be the proble-" the cat masked leader of squad one asked as he arrived. Naruto had barely sensed his arrival. He was good. "Ah…dead people."

And so they were. Three bodies of Ame genin were piled callously on top of each other.

The cat masked captain casually nudged one with his foot and turned it over. A faceless head stared back at the gathered ANBU.

"That can't be normal." Naruto voiced the obvious thoughts of everyone in the group.

"All right, all right, make a hole! Move it!" Mitarashi Anko had arrived on scene. She roughly shoved Naruto out of the way as she moved to examine the bodies.

_What the hell?_ he thought. The woman showed absolutely no respect for her superiors, the captains, or her comrades in her moment of self importance.

The body of the attractive Tokubetsu jonin froze as she took in the sight of the faceless bodies. Her next words shattered Naruto's world.

"Lock the forest down! Orochimaru's here!"

/~/


	8. Chapter 7: Operator

/~/

A fist whispered past his face with a burst of displaced air. A hasty dodge to the left saved him from the follow up grapple, but he was powerless to stop the incoming palm strike to his neck.

Naruto went down hard, his breath knocked out brutally. Breathless and nearly helpless, Naruto hastily pushed off the ground with his hands. The push expended even more of the boy's energy, but it bought him the precious second needed to catch his breath.

He palmed his twin kunai not a moment too soon, as he was forced to block an overhead strike from a tanto. Channeling chakra to his arms, he pushed hard against the blow and regained his footing.

An almighty shove forced his opponent backwards, and Naruto used the space to draw four standard kunai from his leg holsters. An upward throwing motion put both hands in prime position for sealing, and he sped through the signs with the speed and precision of a master.

The Fuuton: Reppushou tripled the speed of the thrown blades and the knives pierced his opponent with a sickening squelch. Naruto narrowed his eyes as the body disappeared in smoke.

_Kage Bunshin, how useful_. If only he had the chakra reserves to perform the technique himself.

His left arm was raised in a block before his mind caught up with the situation fully, and the Kevlar bracer stopped the incoming slash cold. Naruto shifted right to throw his center of gravity off, and used the momentum to hurl his assailant over his head.

A single hand seal sent a Water Bullet screaming toward Naruto's attacker, and the blond drew his ninjato as he sprinted at the man.

Naruto's feet screamed in protest as he ran. It wasn't the first time that day.

A forty mile run through forests, hills, cliffs, and underbrush was sure to take its toll on anyone, and Naruto was no exception. He had hiked the vast majority of it, but he last five miles had turned into a running battle between himself and his instructor for the day: a man named Torune.

Naruto had had high hopes for his endurance test, a standard part of his Root Operative training, but they had been dashed when the blond learned that the man had a sadistic streak as wide as Fuu's, and it was likely longer.

His elbow joint popped violently as he hastily snatched a rock from his path and hurled it into the path of an incoming kunai.

The blade was diverted to the left and Naruto dove after it, hoping to recover something that might help him while simultaneously avoiding a burst of shrapnel from kunai-explosive tag combo. It was a credit to how difficult the test was that Naruto hadn't detected the second strike until he was already moving away from it.

Sometimes his luck was just that good.

The blade was in sight and he reached out to grasp it, but was forced to abort at the last moment as his tormentor sent another hail of thrown weapons, shuriken this time. A hasty Kawarimi saved his skin, but a stray throw sent his quarry into a nearby stream, out of reach and out of the way.

Sometimes his luck was just that bad.

The bullet was dodged gracefully, and the swords met in the middle with a resounding clang. A rapid exchange of kenjutsu strikes saw Naruto on the defensive once more, and his sword was knocked out of his hands quickly.

The ninjato hit the ground as Naruto drew his combat knives to block a slash that would have taken his head. He swiftly used the greater mobility of the knives to his advantage as he disarmed the man of his tanto. A kick to Naruto's stomach kept him from claiming victory, however, and Naruto sped through five seals in midair, grimacing all the while.

A Fuuton: Renkudan screamed out of his lungs toward his enemy, though the man moved to avoid the jutsu even before it was fully out of Naruto's mouth. The wind bullet destroyed a nearby tree with an apathetic crash, and the splinters gave Naruto plenty of material to Kawarimi with as a ninjutsu augmented hail of shuriken bared down on him.

It had started out so simple. Just grip a blade, aim, and release.

He wasn't entirely sure when his simple accuracy exercises became an all out arms battle with his sensei.

His three pouches were rapidly depleting as he palmed shuriken after shuriken and launched them at his sensei. None of them hit, as the man had an ability to deflect Naruto's throwing stars with his own with such ease, precision, and anticipation that bordered on precognition.

Naruto's kunai had already been exhausted, and he was forced to occasionally snatch a shuriken from the metal ridden ground just to keep up with Fuu's nearly endless supply.

He flicked a star slightly slower than the rest, putting more angle into the throw so as to send it in a wider arc on its way to Fuu's position. Sometimes a little finesse in the face of undeniable force would yield results.

Fuu's casual deflection said otherwise, and Naruto refocused his efforts. _Goddamn it!_

So focused was he that he barely noticed when he casually deflected a shuriken that had snuck past his defenses with a flick of chakra enhanced fingers. He deftly retrieved the weapon before it could hit the ground, and sent it racing back at an incoming throwing star.

The weapons impacted with a clang as Naruto retrieved a senbon needle from his hip pouch and hurled it with a flick of his fingers. Whether by design or not, the needle passed through one of the falling shuriken's center hole on its way to its resting place in Fuu's left shoulder. Only a small twitch had saved the man from having it buried in his neck.

Two final shuriken collided in the middle of the two combatant's battle ground, the sound echoing through the clearing with such clarity that it startled the blond boy.

His sensei looked at him with appraising eyes before giving an almost imperceptible nod, his auburn hair fluttering in the calm breeze.

The brain was a magnificent organ. It processed thought at speeds unattainable for human beings, despite its resting place in the body, and could adapt to almost any situation. No example of this was any better than how many – most – ninja developed a sixth sense of sorts to imminent danger.

Nerve endings fired neurons at the speed of light along Naruto's arm, and a kunai was palmed, gripped, and launched at Fuu's location before Naruto's other five senses caught up with what was happening.

If the auburn haired man was surprised at the blade set to split his jugular vein, he didn't show it as he channeled chakra to his fingers to deflect the blade. Four quick seals and an expelled Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu was tearing toward a flat footed Naruto a moment later.

The jutsu moved far faster than Naruto had anticipated, and he hastily made a single seal. _Suiton: Suijinheki_! Water poured from his mouth in torrents, forming a transparent shield of water three feet thick.

The fire dragon broke upon the shield like water on rocks, and steam filled Naruto's vision. He quickly channeled chakra to the air that attached itself to the steam, allowing for him to spread his senses as he expanded the steam's presence. Fuu was a sensor type and Naruto wasn't about to let his sensei have the advantage of an extra sense.

His chakra sense found him charging from the left with a large buildup of chakra in his throat. Naruto's eyes widened as he recognized the feel of the chakra and he sped through nine seals as fast as he could, ending with a modified Tori seal.

The boy had never been happier about the Uzumaki Suiton affinity as his chakra reformed his Water Wall into a roaring tsunami given tangible form. The Water Dragon crashed through the inclement Raiton technique as if it wasn't even there, inadvertently electrifying the water.

Fuu had no choice but to abort his strike and Kawarimi like the wind to avoid being both crushed and electrocuted.

Despite all appearances, and his almost emotionless mannerisms, he was quite pleased with his student's growth under his and others' tutelage.

Naruto had gone from a competent chunin to a highly proficient Black Ops Operator. He was no longer limited to just two branches of the ninja arts, as his chakra reserves had grown tremendously, and was far more versatile now that he could use ninjutsu more freely.

He was still but a thirteen year old boy, however, and his reserves were far from unlimited.

Naruto dropped to a knee as the Suiton: Suiryudan dispersed and flooded the clearing. The B-rank jutsu was the most powerful offensive jutsu he knew, and it never failed to leave him winded. The Uzumaki affinity to water could only do so much when it came to chakra cost in ninjutsu, and the Water Dragon certainly wasn't designed for ninja Naruto's age.

Hell, most ninja his age were still genin.

He had no time to catch his breath. Fuu wasn't giving his student any breathing room as he came in slashing with is blunted tanto.

Naruto drew his two combat knives – his ninjato would be quickly outmaneuvered by the smaller blade, and he wasn't so arrogant to believe himself better than his sensei in kenjutsu – and parried like the wind.

He was tired, however, and Fuu wasn't about to be denied. Naruto hissed in pain as the tanto sliced into his right arm, exposed as it was after a sloppy block. His knife hit the ground with a thump.

A quick, desperate change of footwork placed Naruto in striking position at Fuu's neck, but the auburn haired man caught the hard palm strike with a hand. Naruto grimaced as he was forced into a submissive position with Fuu's tanto held at his jugular vein.

"Fuck_._"

_It was the second such ceremony he had attended in as many days. It wasn't shaping up to be any more interesting than the first, but Naruto couldn't deny his excitement with this one._

_Even so, he just wanted to get it over with. The boy was thankful for the two who would be present, as neither of them would waste time with unnecessary fanfare._

_"Rise," the voice of Sarutobi commanded. _

_Naruto lifted his head first, taking in the sight of the office. Not much had changed since he had been here last. There was an updated version of Icha Icha Paradise on one of the nearby shelves, though._

I've gotta drop by the bookstore later...

_His eyes met those of the Sandaime, and he detected a solemn look in them, though he couldn't think of why it was there. Brown eyes appraised him from two angles and he briefly flicked his eyes to Danzo's partially hidden form._

_It was nearly symbolic. Sarutobi sat perfectly centered in the room, while Danzo stood behind him, off to his right slightly and in the shadows. His right hand man._

_Incessant tapping on the window reminded him of the constant downpour outside – he wondered if that was symbolic too – and his gaze focused on the uninterrupted view of Konoha. He knew without asking that none could see inside._

_"Your six month incubation period is complete, Uzumaki Naruto," Sarutobi continued in a stern voice. "You have been examined by both agents sent by Danzo-san and myself to judge your capabilities, and you have passed with adequacy."_

Is that what they're calling flying colors these days?_ he thought snidely, though he knew far better than to voice it. There was nothing wrong with having confidence in your abilities, but there were times and places where it was appropriate to express as much._

_This wasn't one of them._

_"From this moment on, until your tour of duty is complete, you are an official ANBU Root Operator." _

_The solemn look was visible in the aged legend's eyes. It was almost as if the Hokage thought he had failed Naruto in some way. The boy couldn't imagine why. _

_He didn't know it, but his own eyes, deep cerulean blue, took on a look of intense determination, the likes of which wasn't seen in ones so young. He had passed his tests, proven his competency, and now he had to prove himself all over again._

_He had his duties. He knew what was expected of him. And he would follow them through to the very end._

_For the good of Konoha._

_"Congratulations."_

"You are distracted."

Naruto didn't refute the statement. He just grunted. He absently rubbed his neck where the tanto had been pressed. It had broken skin.

Fuu could be a dick like that.

"Talking about it will help," the man said flatly. Naruto didn't think for a second that the tone was intentional. That was just the way Fuu spoke.

"Maybe," the boy acknowledged.

He didn't particularly want to have this conversation with anyone, let alone the nearly emotionless sadist in front of him. He had already been forced to spill his heart out to Mai. That had been awkward to the extreme.

"Distractions are deadly for shinobi," Fuu pressed, voice still flat. "A wandering mind will get you killed, Naruto."

_There's the sensei I know and love_. Naruto was starting to worry that the man was getting soft with him, being worried for his well being. The fact that he had an ironclad, shinobi based reason was comforting in a way. It was certainly more comfortable than discussing feelings with an emotionless killer.

He wondered what that said about him as a person.

"A friend of mine died a few days back," Naruto acquiesced. "Gekkou Hayate."

"The man found dead on the rooftop," Fuu confirmed as Naruto winced. The man was blunt to the extreme.

"Yes."

"He was your friend?"

Naruto shrugged, a part of his mind realizing that this was the longest non-ninja training related conversation he had ever had with his sensei. _Ain't that a sad state of affairs…_ "Friend, comrade, training partner… He was a good man and a good shinobi. He didn't deserve what he got."

Naruto counted himself lucky that he wasn't a part of the patrol squad that had found the body. Epsilon had been brought in for a more detailed examination, what with Daisuke being a qualified medic, and he had nearly choked when he saw the condition his friend was in.

The body was butchered beyond the norm for any shinobi fight, with Hayate in pieces. Detachedly, Naruto recognized the Kaze no Yaiba as the attack used to kill the man, or at least to mutilate his body. It also left him with a sense of intense hatred for all the Sunagakure nin in the village.

The jutsu was classified as an A-rank Fuuton manipulation, no easy feat, and the only man in Konoha with the necessary abilities wasn't inclined to use it on Hayate. Sarutobi Asuma was a perfectly loyal shinobi.

It left more than just a bitter taste in Naruto's mouth, given that not only could _he_ do nothing, but _nobody_ was doing anything! The Suna ninja were all but untouchable without incontrovertible proof saying that they had committed the crime, and it didn't help that the children were all the offspring of the Yondaime Kazekage. The jonin, the likely suspect, was also a member of Suna's advisory council. Any action taken without complete proof would be seen as an act of war.

All that said, it raised some serious questions about Suna's position regarding their strongest ally. That was doubly so given the nature of the genin team that had been sent to the exams. All but the most idiotic could see that the three children of the Kazekage were too strong to have not been promoted in the past. That and the redhead was apparently a sociopath who spilt killing intent like water.

Sending such a team was either bold to the extreme or unfathomably stupid.

Naruto, given his new status as a Root Operator, had been briefed on all the necessary information that Konoha would spare him about the Suna situation.

All signs pointed toward an attack of sorts, though he was almost completely sure that this wasn't the case. He knew that Fire Country and Wind Country were economic allies – Wind had raw materials but no way to use them properly, while Fire Country had more expendable firewood than they knew what to do with – and, as such, Suna's hostility made no sense whatsoever.

Unfortunately, hostility was hostility, and all the ANBU, Root or not, had been briefed about the situation and a possible attack.

The final round of the Chunin Selection Exams was the most likely time for any attack, and security had been beefed up; subtly. Naruto himself would be working with Beta Platoon until the end of the exams, so he was mentally preparing himself for combat.

Suna had taken something from him that couldn't ever be replaced. Hayate had been a friend, a comrade, and a fellow survivor of the River Country mission gone awry. That had formed a bond between himself, Hayate, and Genma, and losing a member like that hurt more than Naruto had thought possible.

He could only imagine how Yugao felt, having lost her boyfriend.

If and when an attack came, he would show no mercy.

/~/

The now familiar burning on his upper right arm was all it took to shake Naruto from his sleep. His eyes snapped open to take in the familiar sight of his one bedroom, one bathroom apartment.

He pushed himself up gently; his mind clearing after no threat was detected. It was always that way when he woke. If there was no immediate concern, he would revert to his usual state of being in the morning. Being tired.

Despite that, Naruto considered himself a morning person. That was on most days.

Today, however, he wished that he could just stay in bed. There was something to be said for sleeping through any and all danger that might arise.

He shook his head to clear it of the notion. He was a man of action. That and it would be his luck that his apartment would be obliterated by some giant summon or jutsu.

Naruto didn't care for the idea of being killed without having a say in the matter.

He pulled on a simple pair of black shinobi pants, sandals, and his headband. A mesh t-shirt covered by his chunin flak vest completed his dress for the moment.

A quick turn of his gas stove top saw three eggs being scrambled by a Mizu Bunshin, while the real Naruto went about frying up a few sausages and making some toast. He didn't normally eat this much, but if Konoha's Intelligence Division was right – and they were, more often than not – he would be needing all of the energy he could get.

The breakfast was devoured in under five minutes. He was out his apartment door less than two after that.

A quick Shunshin placed him outside the Administrative Building, and he stepped inside confidently. He nodded once to the chunin secretary at the ground floor, before making his way to ANBU Operations Headquarters.

The door to a storage closet opened and closed in record time as Naruto stepped through it, into the central circle of the Administrative Building. The whole thing was rather symbolic in design. A full half circle, the building housed ANBU headquarters as well as the regular shinobi Operations Center. ANBU took the innermost corridors of the building, while the rest were relegated to the more open outer rim.

In a sense of symbolism, the Hokage technically conducted his business directly above the ANBU, his private troops.

_Gotta wonder who came up with that bit_, he mused with humor.

Measured steps carried him past various other Operatives scurrying about through the hallways, and he nodded to each of them in turn. There were no masks worn in HQ. It was supposed to promote a sense of unity. Every ANBU knew every other by face, if not by name.

He stopped and entered a door marked "B" in bold, black lettering. The decently sized lounge area for Beta Platoon met his eyes without incident.

Naruto frowned as a white towel smacked him in the face as he stepped into Epsilon's changing room.

"What the hell?"

"You're late, rookie," Hikari's voice said as she strolled past with her gear half on.

Naruto blinked as he caught sight of the pretty Hyuuga's exposed midriff – she was only wearing a sports bra up top – and couldn't help the flush that crept up his neck. The woman didn't seem to care about her state of undress.

"I'm on time," he said, checking the time.

"Everyone else was here early, rookie. That makes you late by default." Daisuke was in on the action as well. He entered the general area from the showers while fully dressed in combat garb. Naruto's mouth dropped open. Daisuke was never ready before him.

That was a matter for another time though. "Is this really the day for this?" Naruto questioned.

"Is this really the day to show up late, rookie?" Housei asked rhetorically as he too entered the room, fully dressed and map in hand.

Naruto just sputtered as he moved to his locker. He was half dressed thirty seconds later.

"What's that you're looking at, taicho?"

"Tactical map," Housei grunted as he poured over the grid mapped surface of Konoha proper and the surrounding forests with a serious expression.

"What's our assigned location?" Daisuke piped from fastening his sandals. The medic's tone was uncharacteristically serious.

They were going to war today, in all likelihood.

"Northeast quadrant." Housei raised his head to make eye contact with the rest of Epsilon Squad. "Beta Platoon has six square miles to cover."

Naruto snorted and blew a strand of hair out of his eyes. "Tactical's not asking much, are they? That's a bit much, even for an Operations Platoon."

"It's our assignment, and someone's got to do it. Besides, it's not like we won't have help. Chunin and jonin will be spread throughout the entire village in the event this invasion actually happens. We just have to worry about securing our assignment."

Housei's tone was both placating and brooked no argument. They had their assignment and they would do it. That's what ANBU did.

Today would be no exception.

"How are we getting there?" Hikari questioned the captain. "Having full platoons stationed around the village will arouse suspicion."

"She's right," Naruto said. "We can't just have twenty Operators hanging around, even if they're concealed. _Someone_ will notice."

By that same token, they couldn't all rush to their designated areas once the invasion started either. The confusion would tear apart even the most well coordinated teams. A mass Shunshin would have the same effect, with the chakra output giving away their intentions far in advance to their enemies.

"Summoning contracts," was the answer from Housei. The man had smirk on his face that bordered on offensive.

"Summoning contracts?" Daisuke asked. The captain made it sound like that should have answered their questions.

"Summoning contracts," Housei confirmed. "Each platoon will be transported to their designated assignment by summoning."

Naruto nodded hesitantly as he wrapped his mind around the plan. It was sound in theory, except for one thing.

"Who has the chakra capacity to summon nineteen Operators?" he asked the captain. Even if someone did, they would no doubt be useless in any fight soon after.

"It'll have to be a squad," Hikari said, cutting Housei's response off.

The captain nodded. "She's right. Each platoon will have a recon squad concealed in their area of assignment. From there, they'll be able to summon the remaining members in an instant."

Naruto leaned back against his locker, his mask attached to his waist clip. "That could work," he murmured thoughtfully.

"It will," Housei stated as though his mere words would make it fact. It was a sound plan, in theory and on paper, but it remained to be seen whether it would hold up when the shit hit the fan.

If it didn't, parts of the village could be well and truly overrun by the time reinforcements arrived.

"Any idea when we'll be called?" Hikari asked, more for the sake of continuing the conversation.

"The matches begin in two hours. That's the most likely time for the enemy to attack, but we need to be prepped and ready in case they decided to jump the gun."

Epsilon Squad nodded as one.

"Suit up."

/~/

Sighing had become a habit of his when he had gotten married. It was the perfect way, in his mind, to describe the feelings he got when his wife went on one of her tirades.

It wasn't that he didn't love her, not at all, but she could be just so abrasive when she was aggravated. Despite his best efforts, she remained aggravated far more than he would have liked.

It was just so troublesome.

Now though, his sigh was for the beautiful feat of shinobi engineering in front of him.

Built at the height of the Third Great War, the barrier surrounding Konoha had been able to reassure many of the populace who were growing increasingly fearful of an all out push by Iwagakure to take Konoha. It had been designed to detect and track threats to Konoha's security from the outside and follow them once they penetrated the great dome laid over Konoha proper.

It had, thankfully, gone untested in the Third War, mostly due to the efforts of Namikaze Minato. The blond man had almost singlehandedly pushed Iwagakure back to its own property, cementing himself as a legend in the process.

Another sigh split the air at the reminder of his friend who had been summarily cut down in his prime.

The barrier hadn't helped Konoha then, and it wouldn't help it now.

What a waste.

Even to a person who barely understood how the barrier worked in its intricacies, the thought of the engineering marvel being rendered useless was a travesty.

Given who their enemy was, however, it was for the best. The Sannin had all been in their prime during the Third War, and each had had their hand in the creation of Konoha's barrier.

And none more so than the genius Orochimaru.

The entire project was being rendered useless against the first real threat to Konoha proper simply because of one man. There was no doubt in his mind, or the minds of his superiors, that Orochimaru was perfectly capable of circumventing the barrier, and he wouldn't have completely thrown Sunagakure under the merchant cart by not telling them how to do so as well.

It just wouldn't have made any sense.

The former Konoha ninja hated his village of origin with a passion, and would do anything to see it destroyed. The invasion plot alone proved that.

_For one to have fallen so far_, he lamented silently.

Another sigh escaped his lips as he thought of Suna's part in all of this. It certainly made sense from a ninja's standpoint. They were being squeezed by their Daimyo, and their response was to take out the competition.

Konoha would have done the same had the positions been reversed.

Unfortunately, the positions weren't reversed, and Konoha was the village looking to escape destruction.

The discovery of Gekkou Hayate's body had been an unwelcome surprise for multiple reasons. It had confirmed Suna's involvement, something already suspected by Konoha's higher-ups, and had simultaneously made Konoha's plight that much direr.

The Suna ninja responsible for the man's death had certainly reported the death to his superiors, as well as Konoha's discovery of the body. Orochimaru now knew that Konoha knew of Suna's involvement, and could adjust his plans to counter that very same intelligence.

The Sannin had been regarded as a genius in his tenure as a Konoha shinobi, and no one thought for a moment that his intelligence had waned in his days since his defection.

Gekkou Hayate, by simply doing his job and being in the wrong place at the wrong time, had made things a whole lot more difficult for Konoha.

The man idly scratched one of his facial scars in irritation. It wasn't an emotion that he allowed himself to feel all that often – that was far too troublesome – but the situation warranted it. In all likelihood, Konoha would be at war by day's end, and that was only if they managed to repel the invasion forces.

He was officially resigning at day's end if Konoha survived. The job wasn't worth the wrinkles, no matter how much of a pay increase he got.

"Shut it down," he ordered the head of the Barrier Corps. The man gave a crisp, if sullen nod. It wasn't a good feeling to be rendered useless at such a time.

Nara Shikaku, Second Fireblade of Konoha, combed a hand through his hair as he exited the Barrier Room to face the music. It was going to be a long day.

/~/

Being summoned was like being squeezed through a tube that was far too small.

When the order came down, he had no warning before it all went black. Before he knew it, he was being pressed excruciatingly from all directions; his breath was cut off, as though there were steel cords wrapped around his chest. A sudden pain in his head forced his eyes open and a miasma of color assaulted him while his eyeballs were stuffed deeper in his sockets and his eardrums were shoved deeper into his skull.

His danger senses screamed to, him and his arm blurred even before he realized the sensations had ended.

The nerve endings in his arms fired at an expedient rate as he let fly a previously holstered kunai. He took his first breath of air after the blade left his hand, and his left bracer stymied two incoming shuriken as he raised it on reflex.

The thrown knife neatly sliced an Oto-nin's tibia. The bone fractured harshly and the masked, camouflaged ninja went down with a scream, inadvertently avoiding a shuriken that would have split his jugular vein. Unfortunately, the lack of movement ability left him easy pickings for Hikari, who dispassionately liquefied his brain with a precise Jyuuken blow.

Naruto let two shuriken fly in a movement inhibiting pattern, and didn't bother to watch as Housei cleanly removed the target's head from his shoulders with nary a sound. He was too busy charging another with his unsheathed assassin's blade. Naruto snarled, bisecting an Oto-nin looking to flank the group with a practiced sweep of his ninjato. He casually flicked the blood off his blade as he palmed a kunai from his left holster.

Half a step of footwork had him inside a charging Oto-nin's guard and he buried the blade hilt deep in the ninja's skull with a quick turn of his torso.

A chakra enhanced leap had him joining his teammates on a nearby rooftop, and the masked blond surveyed their situation for the first time.

Naruto's eyes widened behind his shark styled mask as the scene in Konoha's Northeastern Sector played out before his eyes. The enemy was everywhere. Oto-nin descended upon their Konohan counterparts like locusts on crops. Groups of ninja fell together, some back to back, others isolated and desperate.

There was no thought. There was no mercy.

It was war, and Naruto knew true hatred for the first time in his life as he watched his comrades fall in waves.

_But where is Suna_? The boy wondered privately, his own thoughts barely penetrating the haze of anger. Intelligence had stated that Suna was collaborating with Oto, but yet there were no Sunagakure ninja in sight.

"Beta Platoon, code in," Fuu's voice read in loud and clear over the com link, and Naruto's doubts evaporated. They had their assignment. Worrying about Suna right bow wouldn't help anyone.

Naruto barely recognized his own voice as he grunted "Same" over the radio frequency. His fingers unknowingly danced over the hilts of his dual kunai.

A spoken command from his captain broke the spell he was under. "Sweep the sector and take no prisoners. They invaded our village; they will receive no quarter from us." Were the circumstances different, Naruto would have started at the note of abject hatred in Fuu's voice. "Do not hesitate. Show no mercy."

"Roll out!"

Naruto snarled behind his mask as he and Epsilon Squad leapt off the rooftop in a concentrated burst of chakra.

Battle hardened instincts kicked in as Epsilon approached a small core of Oto-nin harassing three chunin. One of the Konoha-nin fell with a kunai in his neck, and Naruto flickered through seals. A genjutsu flowed from his fingertips and the five invaders stopped in their tracks, paralyzed. The remaining chunin made short work of the invaders with relish.

"Restrict their movement," Housei commanded as they approached another group of invaders. Daisuke obliged with a brace of thrown shuriken to the left and right of the Oto-nin.

The weapons weren't supposed to hit, but they gave the ANBU enough time to surround the six invaders. The palpable fear emanating from the men brought a vicious sneer to Naruto's face.

He and Daisuke disappeared in Shunshin, moving to intercept another set of ninja as Hikari and Housei peppered the six invaders with shuriken.

The group was much larger than the last few, but Naruto had little doubt that he and Daisuke could make short work of them. He flashed through a quick set of battle speak telling the older medic to hang back.

The blond had some frustration to vent. Daisuke would be all too happy to help him when the time was right.

He trotted toward the ten shinobi at a slow trot. Thoughts of how incompetent the men must be to have almost no outward reaction to him flashed through his mind as he suddenly burst into a full out sprint.

Clouded by rage as his mind was, he didn't notice the killing intent spilling forth from him in waves.

Frozen from fear they might have been, but they were still trained shinobi. A deflection saved Naruto from being stabbed through the heart and the boy replied in kind. Luck didn't shine on the poor soul, and the man was gutted with a scream and a spatter of blood that settled on Naruto's mask.

Naruto ducked a swipe at his head and casually swept the feet of the offending ninja. A stomp of his foot on the man's head broke the man's spine just as Naruto drew his combat knives and buried them in the chest of a second Oto-nin.

Two Oto-nin Shunshin'd behind him, but Daisuke was suddenly there, two hands calmly placed on their chests. The invaders fell to the ground with nary a sound, their aortas severed.

The combat medic passed Naruto two throwing knives from his stash and the boy tossed the blades to a resting spot in the chests of two rapidly approaching invaders.

"That's seven." Naruto projected his voice so as to be heard by the three remaining invaders. The sound of combat crashed around their makeshift battlefield in the middle of one of Konoha's business districts, and the boy had no doubt that his voice terrified the three men.

Both he and Daisuke disappeared in standard ANBU Shunshins, no smoke, no leaves, and the three remaining ninja had no time to contemplate their fate before they were cut down by a hail of shuriken.

The youngest members of Epsilon Squad joined their teammates on top of a nearby grocery store.

"Nice shots," Daisuke commented, though with no real amusement. Now was certainly not the time.

"If you two are done dicking around, we have serious work to do and little time to get it done. I'd rather not have Konoha burn today because two of my ANBU decided to play with their enemies rather than kill them outright," Housei reprimanded. The words were harsh, but the tone was level. The commander knew just how his subordinates were feeling.

"Yes, taicho!" Naruto and Daisuke chorused. They had had their small revenge for the moment. From here on out it would be all business.

The four ANBU moved in the direction of the fighting at a blinding pace.

"Same, Tori, execute patter seven!"

Naruto and Hikari didn't bother with words as they unleashed hands full of shuriken upon an enemy grouping of twenty. The two elites didn't watch their captain multiply the shuriken as they moved to flank the soon to be smaller group.

Hikari had her katana and Naruto his knives as the two wove a delicate dance of death through the remaining Oto-nin.

Naruto put one of his blade through a man's eye as he blocked another with his opposite Kevlar bracer. A shift in position had the attacker off balance and Hikari stabbed him through the chest remorselessly. A stray kunai clipped Naruto's left shoulder, but the boy righted himself in no time to repay the offender in spades.

The man dropped with his head severed.

A tapped pattern coming through their com units told them to get the hell out of the kill zone, and their Shunshins saved them from being crushed under an enemy's Doryuu Dango.

Naruto's blinding hand seals heralded a Suiton: Zessenzan that ripped through a second incoming boulder with ease, and continued to the enemy where it pierced skin and bone. The Oto-nin collapsed in a heap, his leg severed, and Naruto got credit for the assist as Daisuke delivered the coup de grace, hands glowing with medical chakra.

That particular paradox was quickly banished from Naruto's mind as he gutted the last of the Oto-nin.

A hail of thrown shuriken peppered his former position, where a log now laid, and he wove seals for one of his favorite genjutsu. Jubaku Satsu was neither subtle nor truly powerful, but the shock value he got with it overrode the downsides.

His mind's eye had the three offending invaders pinned to trees as if they were being crucified, and kunai quickly ended their existence courtesy of his teammates.

_Shit!_ Naruto thought with alarm, spying an invader out of the corner of his eye. A Shunshin got him out of the way as a Fire Dragon ripped through his former position, and Naruto spied Housei chasing the attacker out of nearby alley. A burst of speed put the blond at the edge of the alley and he gloried in brutally snuffing the man's life with a clothesline.

No words were exchanged between captain and subordinate as they simultaneously Kawarimi'd with Daisuke and Hikari respectively, ending up back to back in the center of a group of five Oto-nin. Housei's seals raised an earthen wall to protect the two ANBU as the invaders fired upon them with prejudice.

Naruto flashed battle speak followed by hand seals before his captain dropped the wall and the invaders were blinded by flash of light emanating from Naruto's center of mass. Naruto used the men's distraction to layer a pain giving genjutsu over his flare, and the invaders seized up.

Housei finished them with his katana.

The remaining members of Epsilon squad had joined them for only a moment before they realized their folly. Hasty seals from Naruto heralded a heavy mist falling upon the location as a full platoon of Oto-nin descended on their position from the rooftops.

Naruto's cloaking covered their swift exit, but Hikari and Daisuke were forced to cut down a few competent shinobi who had tracked their location through chakra sensing. The two were almost indistinguishable from each other in terms of taijutsu – Daisuke having based his deadly style on the Hyuuga's Jyuuken – and the four ninja were laid low by glancing blows from both ANBU.

_Those two work too well together, _Naruto thought. He was already preparing for the next skirmish.

Two half ram seals had a rolling mist cover a full city block where the Oto ambush had failed, and Naruto signaled his teammates. "Attack pattern fifteen," he called to his teammates through his com. A full blown smile crossed his face as they moved to obey his order.

A full scale hail of shuriken and kunai penetrated the misty cloud at velocities difficult to track. Screams filled the air as they met their marks.

It wasn't that Epsilon Squad could see or even sense the ninja in the mist, but there were just so many weapons that some were bound to hit.

Naruto winced in time with every chakra source that was snuffed out in his mist, the blond fully able to feel the deaths of every enemy within his range. _Can't let myself get lost in the bloodlust_, he reminded himself, his vicious killings playing out in his mind's eye. There was nothing wrong with his ferocity so long as he kept his mental faculties.

A light tap to his shoulder derailed his thoughts and a lizard mask with no expression regarded him. "Same?"

"The enemy is dead," Naruto replied, his voice monotone. He realized that he must have zoned out, for all his teammates were gazing at him. The expressionless masks made the scene downright creepy for the blond boy.

_Zoning out in the middle of a full scale battle…what a joke_, he chided himself. That wasn't what he did. That wasn't him. _Get a hold of yourself, Uzumaki!_

All thoughts of himself flew out of his mind as he reassessed the situation. Their area was clear of hostiles for the moment. Bodies littered the street he gazed upon, and the surrounding buildings hadn't fared too well in the early stages of the invasion.

Housei had his hand to his ear. "We move east," he ordered. "Eta and Zeta Squads are herding a large group of invaders toward the wall and need backup."

"What about Kappa?" The question came from Daisuke.

Housei paused, and Naruto's gut sank to his toes. "They were caught in an ambush near the northern gate. Medics found one survivor. She's critical."

Naruto clenched his fists at his sides. Kappa was Beta Platoon's recon team. They had been responsible for summoning the rest of the platoon when the invasion began.

"Move out," Housei commanded.

Naruto's peripheral vision blurred as he slipped into Shunshin beside his team. It was entirely surreal for the thirteen year old ANBU. Konoha was at war, and four of his comrades had already been killed by the enemy.

Four ANBU. Four men and women that Naruto had worked with, knew, and bled with.

The feeling of white hot rage was beginning to feel familiar. A distant, quiet part of his mind hoped he would never truly get used to it.

Naruto blinked through the tunnel vision Shunshin provided as he came to a halt one block from the Eastern Wall. His eyes adjusted to normal vision and the world seemed to slow down as he took stock of the situation.

_Forty hostiles; seven friendlies outside ANBU; guerilla tactics; one enemy commander; youngish; pale; powerful_. All of that was processed at the speed of thought and filed away for reference before Naruto even took a step toward the battle. His peripherals registered Epsilon Squad moving to engage.

The world kicked into high gear.

A slight shift in the wind told him he had dodged a killing blow to the head before his body caught up with him, and his instincts had already buried a kunai hilt deep inside the man's abdomen. He snatched one of the offending man's blades out of spite, twisting his own kunai for good measure, and hurled it at a charging second. It clipped the man in the throat and he went down holding it in pain, blood gushing from the wound.

A casual shuriken lob ended his suffering.

A nearby explosion sent Naruto careening through the air before he could react, and he hit the ground hard, rolling to his feet with his arms raised in a block. Blue eyes met vivid green for a moment before a bruising pain in Naruto's chest told him something was wrong as he fell to his knees.

_MOTHERFUCKER!_

He hacked a cough as his eyes widened at the sight of five perfectly round holes in his chest protector. He leaned forward slightly and five rounded white projectiles fell out. There was no blood on them, so Naruto felt safe that his Kevlar armor had protected him.

A quick glance about showed the pale, green eyed leader of the enemy troop had moved on – leaving him for dead – and was currently engaged with both Fuu and Housei. Naruto didn't think about what that meant, that he could simultaneously deal with the two most senior members of Beta Platoon, instead opting to take a few pot shots at the enemy ninja.

Two opportunistic idiots found their throats pierced by Naruto's shuriken and fell to their deaths from the sides of buildings overlooking the battle ground. One more inattentive fool lost his head to a Suiton: Zessenzan, preoccupied as he was with a wounded chunin.

He located Daisuke and Hikari immediately and a long tap of his com, followed by three short ones told them to stagger their chakra flows. The four enemies they were fighting froze momentarily as their bodies were peppered with imaginary kunai and shuriken.

The two members of Epsilon Squad ended them with relish and flashes of steel.

_Movemovemove! _Naruto Kawarimi'd like the wind in order to avoid death by frying, and he watched with harried breathing as a log was incinerated by a Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu, scorching the outer wall he had been backed up against.

Three deft flicks of his blade sent incoming shuriken back at their owners at a reduced speed as he channeled chakra for Shunshin. The man who had attempted to cook him blocked the first slash with his kunai and moved to outmaneuver Naruto with his shorter blade.

The blond was having none of it, and grabbed the outstretched arm with his left hand, brutally yanking the shoulder out of its socket with the aid of chakra. The second sword strike was blocked by the man's neck, and the ANBU paid the blood spatter across his mask and front no heed.

Naruto extended his senses over the two block battle, and his shoulders stiffened as he shifted to the right and jumped a few inches from the ground. He paid little heed to the five kunai now buried in his back protector as he Kawarimi'd with a nearby piece of debris and began running up a store's front wall to confront his new enemy.

Broken glass rained on him as he reached the ledge holding four Oto-nin. He ignored it as his kunai neatly sliced through an Achilles tendon, sending its owner screaming to the ground.

A second shimmied to Naruto and delivered a right hook toward his exposed neck. Naruto coughed and reeled from the blow, unexpected as it had been, but countered with a back fist from his left hand that connected solidly with the man's face.

A second back fist hit the man's neck before the Oto-nin managed to get his guard up, but by then it was too late. Naruto's left foot came down on his shin from a bad angle, fracturing bone and eliciting a scream of agony. A second fist to the neck crushed the man's throat against the brick wall it was pinned against and he dropped to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

A burst of speed carried Naruto to an opposing ledge, and the Operator stared down the remaining two invaders.

Two kunai with explosive tags hurtled toward him and buried themselves into the wood beside his chest. _Shitshitshit! _Naruto hastily retrieved the blades from the wall and tossed them back as the tags detonated.

Only his hard earned chakra control kept him pinned to the wall as an explosion rocked the space between the three combatants. His ears rang as he was all but deafened from the explosion, and the blond blinked hard to clear his eyes.

A quick glance behind him reassured the owners of the residence were under cover as he closed the distance between him and his attackers. Naruto feinted left but went right before he slammed an open palm into the first man's solar plexus.

The man doubled over and Naruto grabbed him by the neck and thrust him into the path of his partner's stab. The boy drew a kunai from the man's leg holster and stabbed it into his face, killing the man instantly.

He kicked he dead man toward the remaining Oto-nin with a barely audible snarl, sending the man off balance. There was no mercy for the invader as Naruto slammed his head into a brick wall three times before tossing him off the ledge to the ground below.

Somewhere in the midst of his slaughter his ears had stopped ringing.

Naruto himself leapt off the edge, short blade in hand, and landed heavily on top of the slowly recovering invader. The blade pierced the Oto-nin's neck apathetically, and blood covered Naruto's gloved hands as he rolled off the dead man in a reflex.

Naruto blinked as his chakra senses almost overloaded. Time seemed to slow for but a moment to the blond boy before a massive pulse of chakra rocked the battlefield.

The size of the pulse, combined with the moisture in the air being saturated with Naruto's chakra, knocked the teenager from his feet and had his senses going haywire.

Instincts kicked in to high gear as hastily channeled chakra got Naruto out of the kill zone via Kawarimi no Jutsu. He reappeared on top of a nearby building to take stock of the situation.

Eta and Zeta Squads had the area contained for the most part, with a beleaguered Hikari and a fresher Daisuke tearing through Oto-nin like they were training dummies.

The one mishap taking place was centered around the leader of the enemy troop, who had somehow transformed. Black markings covered the formerly pale teenager, and Naruto's mind flashed back.

_His vantage point in the arena gave him a perfect view of the Uchiha's fight. He was far from impressed by the boy hailed as a prodigy, but his superiors had told him that the boy was likely handicapped._

_In spite of, or perhaps because of that, Naruto's opinion of the boy was lowered even further. Fighting while injured was admirable in the line of duty, but it was also extremely dangerous. An injured ninja was almost certainly a liability to any team, and continuing to fight would not only hamper team efforts to some extent, but further risk the injured party's life._

_In a situation such as this, the boy's choice to fight was more stupid than anything. He hadn't questioned Hatake Kakashi's judgment in years at this point, but he couldn't help doing so now._

_A burst of chakra brought Naruto back to the fight at hand, and the Uchiha positioned himself perfectly underneath Akodo Yoroi's chin. A thrust kick heralded the Leaf Shadow Dance, and Uchiha Sasuke was in prime position for a quick finish._

_A small pulse of chakra caught Naruto's attention – he likely wouldn't have caught it were it not for his chakra being inlaid with the moisture in the air – and black marks suddenly spread across the Uchiha's neck and back._

Those marks were from one of Orochimaru's curse seals. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Naruto connected the dots with the six-armed teenager who had tried to assassinate Sarutobi Konohamaru. What little he had been able to get his hands on said that the seals were designed to enhance the strength, speed, chakra potency, dexterity, and toughness of the user.

The teen had already been capable of holding off Housei and Fuu. There was no telling what he might be able to do now.

Naruto's blue eyes scanned the ground around the teenager and came to rest upon the form of a bear masked ANBU. There were five perfectly circular holes in the mask.

The shark masked ANBU blinked, the sound of his own heartbeat loud and clear to him. Rage filled the blond for the third time that day as his mind flashed to images of Raido's charred body laying spread-eagled on the plains of River Country.

The faces of Kappa Squad passed across his eyelids, obscuring the view of the battlefield as he remembered his comrades. They were dead now. The images finally came to rest on Housei, his captain lying dead in the street.

His heart beat once more in his ear, and Naruto exploded into motion.

Almost uncontrolled wind chakra traveled the length of Naruto's ninjato in the half second it took for Naruto to close the gap between him and the mysterious teenager.

A quick turn that was too fast for Naruto to track had the mark covered teen out of harm's way before Naruto could deliver the killing blow, and the blond hastily twisted to the side to avoid being skewered by a white blade that appeared from nowhere.

He reversed his grip on the ninjato in an instant and laid into the pale boy with wide, sweeping blows. Wind chakra flew off the blade with every move, and Naruto's frustration built as each of his attacks was stymied by the infuriatingly calm Oto-nin.

The teen seemed to finally have enough of Naruto. A pale blade filled Naruto's vision for a moment before he was airborne from a thrust kick to the chest. He landed heavily, only to see his shark mask in two pieces four meters in front of him. The blond reeled for a few moments, reflecting on the stupidity of his charge into the fight.

_Get a grip, you idiot!_ he screamed at himself.

A muted thump followed by a clang snapped Naruto from his morbid thoughts. Fuu was engaged with the teenager, auburn hair flailing about the Root Operator as he struck out with his tanto.

Taking a moment to comprehend that he wasn't dead yet, Naruto regrouped at light speed. He had made a mistake, a huge one that should have meant his death, but his sensei had managed to bail him out.

His name wouldn't be Uzumaki Naruto if he didn't take advantage of it.

Fuu's chakra felt weird to Naruto for a moment, and he placed it after a moment of thought. Three seals had him substituting with Fuu's Tsuchi Bunshin and he didn't even bother to duck a stab that was meant for Fuu's face. He had no need, given the height difference between his sensei and himself.

The change up momentarily threw the invader, and Naruto pressed his advantage with a textbook leg sweep. The teen went down hard but Naruto had to abort his killing blow to avoid a white projectile shot from the teen's foot of all things.

_Gotta be _fucking_ kidding me!_

"Naruto," he heard over the com link. Fuu's monotone was present even now, while staring death in the face. "Give me wind."

The order had barely processed itself before Naruto sent a howling Fuuton: Daitoppa toward the elusive invader. A huge Fire Dragon joined it mid flight, and the resulting fire bomb blew out a chunk of the Eastern Wall with a crash, continuing on into the forest.

A quick scan of the environment gave no hint to the enemy's location, but Naruto expected nothing less. That was fine. At this point, the enemy was predictable.

A second pulse of chakra, this one much larger than the first, rocked the area, but Naruto was ready for it. The teen had used his first pulse to great effect before. Naruto expected the second one on some level, even if he didn't know the inner workings of the curse seal.

The incoming whip that looked to be made of the teen's _spine_ was unexpected, however, and Naruto barely got a hand up to keep it from severing his head. The blond grimaced in pain as the whip bit into his skin through his Kevlar bracer. _Goddamn that's sharp_.

He paid it little heed though, as he took advantage of an untimely cough from his enemy to firmly grab the whip with his left hand. There was no pain in his mind as he channeled chakra to his arm and gave an almighty yank to the whip, pulling the Oto-nin off balance.

A quick step took him inside the teen's guard and Naruto let his rage flow forth once more as he grasped the brown monster's neck in a vice grip. His exposed face contorted into a snarl of pure loathing as he tried to suffocate the teen with his bare hands.

"'Bout time you died," Naruto bit out viciously.

"Not to trash like you," the pale teen gasped.

The boy turned monster dropped the whip in an instant and produced another strange blade from the palm of his hand. Naruto screamed bloody murder as the white blade pierced his shoulder, and let go with a snarl and a thrust kick to the green eyed teen's chest.

A wall of bone met the kick, but the body dropped lifelessly as Fuu's tanto sliced through the boy's neck with a flash of light. His sensei stood over the body for but a moment before moving to help the rest of the beleaguered ANBU fully secure the area.

Naruto had no such presence of mind as he crawled backwards from the now dead body of the Oto troop leader, inadvertently pushing himself through the hole in Konoha's wall he had helped create. His breath came in labored gasps as he tried to regain his bearings after what was the most painful fight of his life.

He had almost died – he probably should have died – but here he was. Battered, bruised, and in pain, but he was alive nonetheless.

"I gotta get a handle on myself," Naruto breathed. His rampant emotions had nearly killed him. If not that, he would need to learn how to channel his anger. Anger could be useful in a fight if properly directed. The way he had been directing it would only get him killed someday. His sensei and ANBU team wouldn't always be there to bail him out if he fucked up.

His right hand cupped his shoulder where the weird white blade had pierced him. Free flowing blood greeted the hand, and Naruto winced as the rest of his minor injuries began to add up to serious agony. _Where the hell is Daisuke_?

He palmed the ground to push himself upward but his hand made contact with something metallic and slipped off. A second attempt was more successful and Naruto stood to check what he had slipped on.

A glint of light on blackened metal greeted blue eyes. The symbol of Sunagakure no Sato stared back at Naruto from atop seven charred, dead bodies where the combined elemental dragon had ripped through the Eastern Wall.

An open scroll laid between the bodies, and Naruto recognized the seal matrix used with summoning. He had seen it less than an hour ago.

Naruto had done some limited research in the art of Fuuinjutsu, and the difference between human and animal summoning was one of the few things that he could get his hands on and wrap his mind around.

The seal matrix on the large scroll contained the axioms needed for an animal summoning, and a big one considering the number of bodies who had been part of the group. Sharp blue eyes caught the kanji for snake etched on the scroll as well, and Naruto knew dread.

All of a sudden, minor discrepancies in the invasion started to form a cohesive whole in Naruto's mind. Intelligence had reported that Suna was likely collaborating with Oto in their invasion attempt, but Naruto had seen no sign of Suna ninja anywhere. It hadn't mattered then, all that mattered were the ninja who needed to be killed at the moment, and Naruto doubted anyone else ever gave the lack of Suna ninja a second thought. They would have been too preoccupied.

The Oto forces had been the first wave only, created to weaken Konoha's ninja force considerably.

And now all the Konoha ninja reserves were both deployed and inside the village.

"_Taicho_!" he screamed.

The auburn haired captain had barely turned his head before three great explosions sounded from the North, South, and West.

Giant three headed snakes could be seen tearing through the walls with ease even from the easternmost place in the village.

Naruto blinked once, his heartbeat thundering through his eardrums as a massive wave of killing intent slammed into him. He staggered for a moment before bracing himself against the charred wall.

An almighty roar split the air in and around the Village Hidden in the Leaves, and Naruto's eyes beheld the massive sandy form of the Ichibi no Shukaku.

Konoha was under siege from a biju for the second time in twelve years.

/~/


	9. Chapter 8: Red Sun Rising

He was suffocating.

_"Raiton: Gian!" the red haired jonin bit out. A snarl marred the man's features, before it twisted into a grin._

_"You kill my teammates I kill you, trash. Fair trade?" the jonin mocked. A twisted satisfaction rested on his face, turning it into the visage of a monster._

_For Naruto, time seemed to slow to a crawl as he watched the lightning rip a hole in Raidou's chest. The scarred chunin's back arched in pain as he let out a silent scream, before collapsing to the ground. Bits of lightning still arced across his body as the man laid deathly still._

Naruto blinked once, his head spinning as he fought his stomach, stumbling toward the Eastern Wall.

_Hayate closed the gap between the two shinobi in an instant, though not quite as fast as Naruto's earlier charge, and slashed low. When it was blocked hastily, he crouched down and stabbed upward. Naruto blocked sloppily, and was wholly unprepared for Hayate to knock his hands upward, disarming him of his ninjato, and place his own ninjaken at his neck._

The blond caught himself on the charred remains of the once great wall, his eyes out of focus as he fought against the inevitable.

_The Kusagakure shinobi managed to duck the Fuuma shuriken, but was unprepared for the second in its shadow, and the giant throwing star embedded itself in the man's leg. The man screamed in pain, but had no time for much else as Naruto's outstretched arm plowed the man into a tree trunk less than four feet behind him._

_"_Rariatto_!"_

_Naruto had concentrated hard, channeling the residual chakra from his Shunshin into his outstretched arm and making the momentum fueled clothesline into a deadly hammer blow. The Kusa-nin was dead before his back hit the tree trunk._

Naruto fell to his knees as his stomach lost the uphill battle with itself and he vomited, hard. _I'm going to die_, a distant, quiet part of his mind supplied. Bowled over, the teenage ANBU closed his eyes to fight off the sensation of impending death. Air came in heavy gulps that never seemed to have enough in them to quench the relentless need for oxygen he possessed.

I'm so sorry_, he thought, watching from the corner of his eye as the red haired academy student passed him. Abruptly, his eyes went cold, and he formed a half ram seal._

_The dormant genjutsu Naruto had laid on the jonin as he passed him activated with a tiny application of chakra. The boy closed his eyes as he heard the rustling of cloth and the telltale sound of a drawn blade. He tasted bile as a sickening __squelch__ met his ears, and the unmistakable sound of a body hitting the ground sounded._

"Oh my God!_"_

"…ame! Same! Pull yourself together!"

Naruto shook his head sharply, his head clearing rapidly. His blue eyes rose to meet those of his captain. Fuu was displaying more emotion than Naruto had ever seen before. He was worried.

All of a sudden, the sensation of swimming in an ocean made itself known to him. A single gasp of air quenched his lung's thirst and Naruto noticed that he wasn't dying anymore.

_What the _fuck _is happening?_

He experimentally moved his arms and legs about him, noting that they felt heavier than normal. A blink and hasty reassessment told him Fuu was blanketing him, as well as many others in Beta Platoon who had been struck dumb, with chakra.

Naruto allowed a brief second to pass as he wondered at what could make his emotionless captain actually look worried, before the deluge of memories reasserted themselves with a vengeance. A swift, panicked glance to the west beheld the Ichibi no Shukaku in all its sandy glory, standing as high as the Hokage monument.

"God damn…" he breathed.

The sun beat down on the two hundred and fifty foot sand monstrosity currently making Konoha its newest plaything. A massive tail batted buildings left and right while its sandy appendages flailed about, deflecting and blocking incoming ninjutsu courtesy of the ninja at ground zero. Sand fell off the biju in rivulets, but it was replaced almost faster than the ninja on the ground could make any progress. Howls split the air that could be heard even at Naruto's distance. Goosebumps rose on Naruto's arms as the sounds of dying men mixed with the biju's maniacal laughter.

All at once, Fuu's chakra receded, and Naruto, expecting the sudden increase in hostile killing intent, swirled his own life essence about him, increasing the body's speed of circulation. The process elevated his heart rate to its former state during the battle, in order to compensate for the high amount of chakra flowing through his coils, but it was a small price to pay for being able to function without passing out.

It didn't stop the instant in between when his chakra took over for Fuu's, and Naruto's knees buckled as the chakra saturated air quite literally smacked him in the face. The feeling remained for a few moments as he stared, deaf and dumb, at the monster.

His face making contact with Fuu's hand broke him out of his staring, and he turned sharply to make eye contact with the captain. The auburn haired man nodded once, curtly, before striding back to the middle of the semi circle that was the rest of Beta Platoon.

The accelerated chakra was beginning to take effect, as Naruto could still feel the murderous intent, he doubted even the most powerful sensory genjutsu could stop him from feeling it, but he wasn't a total mess.

He was no use to anyone like that.

"Listen up! Word just came down from intelligence." _How can they think about anything other than that _monster? Naruto wondered. "Oto and Suna structured their invasion to be in two waves. The first wave of Oto shinobi has been dealt with. The second has just begun."

The Buntaicho of Beta Platoon paused for a moment to survey the men and women under his charge. Their armor was dented, broken in places, and the ANBU were battered and bruised.

Naruto made his way over to the circle, still feeling as if he was swimming, and stood beside Daisuke and Hikari, a pang resonating in his chest when he remembered the state of their captain at the end of the first wave.

"Our main priority is the safety of the Hokage and the village. We've lost radio contact with Operations, so we return to ground zero: The Grand Fire Arena. Any enemies we pass along the way are to be dispatched with extreme prejudice," Fuu finished in near monotone.

"Any questions?" It was rhetorical.

The captain spared a glance for every member of the platoon, his eyes softening a tad. A single nod greeted the porcelain masks.

"Move out!"

The first group they encountered was dealt with before Naruto even realized they were there. A blindingly fast hail of shuriken cut down the three Suna ninja before they had even recognized the Black Ops forces.

None of the beleaguered Operators were willing to let the invaders come anywhere near them if at all possible.

Naruto was lucky enough to get a beat on the second group before the rest of Beta Platoon, and he felt the stirrings of his rage. One shuriken was en route before Naruto overlaid it with a genjutsu making it look like twenty. The Suna nin moved on the blonde's string accordingly as they separated.

Naruto was on them like white on rice before they realized they'd been had.

The teen caught one through the chest on his ninjato, and he met the invader's eyes dispassionately as he sputtered. A snarl heralded the end of the man's life as Naruto viciously tore the blade from the Suna ninja's chest.

A glance with his peripheral vision showed two of the three invaders being handled by members of Beta Platoon before his attention was grabbed by the remaining Suna-nin.

A reflex brought out his twin kunai, but Naruto had nary a moment to react as the remaining invader, a man wielding dual short swords, asserted himself violently. The man lunged forward, twin short blades in a reverse grip, a soft ethereal glow surrounding them the only warning the ANBU received before his own blades were rent in two.

Wind chakra howled and screamed as Naruto Kawarimi'd like the wind to avoid being diced alive. The log he substituted with was nothing but a pile of splinters as he reappeared in the street, and Naruto winced at his sliced palms as blood flowed freely, pooling on the ground around his feet.

The Suna ninja didn't give the ANBU time to react as wind chakra formed a cross from where his blades slashed the air, and the boy dropped to the ground in a heap and a spatter of blood.

Despite the genjutsu clouding the man's senses, he spun fast enough to parry Naruto's killing strike at his back. Naruto wasn't about to be deterred, however. The boy feinted left but stepped right, brutally forcing himself inside the man's space and thrusting a hand into the invader's face.

Blood met the man's eyes and the blond could help but growl in satisfaction at the man's scream. Naruto used the shinobi's distraction beautifully, divesting the man of his blades with two quick strikes to his wrists and a deft use of his fingers.

A kick to the stomach brought the invader to his knees and Naruto used the man's own blades to decapitate him with relish. The head dropped to the ground with a squelch as the blood spilled out, joining Naruto's own.

"Streets are a river of blood," he murmured with a note of morbid humor. He shook himself out of it a moment later.

Naruto wrinkled his nose and fought against gagging as he retrieved his fallen ninjato. The man's bowels had released as he died and the stench was far from pleasant. A glance to the cooling body brought a scowl to the boy's unmasked face.

Three quick strides carried him to the fallen invader's body, and he swiftly removed the holsters of the twin short blades from the corpse. "You take my weapon, I take yours. Don't worry, they'll be put to good use," he assured the dead man.

It was only fair.

He strapped the sheaths to his back and readjusted his own ninjato to fall to his waist. The blades fit his hands well enough, and the ease with which the man had streamed his wind chakra down them indicated the quality of craftsmanship.

A quick Shunshin put him on a nearby rooftop, and another had him striding behind Beta Platoon toward the Great Fire Arena.

The whole fight had lasted a little over forty five seconds.

"What took you so long?" Daisuke asked. It would have been snide had the boy had any inflection in his voice. Right now, the older teen had no energy to be sarcastic. There were far more important things on his mind.

"One of them put up a bit of a fight," Naruto returned much the same way. Hikari was silent to Naruto's immediate left. The banter wasn't the same without Housei interrupting them to cut the chatter. "A little help here?" he finished, thrusting his bloody palms where the wind chakra had sliced them into the medic's face.

"You're getting sloppy," Hikari commented softly as Daisuke's medical chakra worked its magic on Naruto's hands.

"He was good…"

Naruto blinked rapidly so as to stem the tears trying to flow free. _I'm not ready for this. No one is_, the blond realized as he beat back memories of his captain. No training program could teach anyone the realities of life and death situations. He thought he had experienced enough death to be ready for it again – it had already happened once, on the ill fated River Country mission – but that notion had disappeared as quickly as his captain's life had been brutally snuffed out.

Now, the only thing that was keeping him going was the safety of the village and revenge.

The latter burned through his psyche and sharpened his focus as the remnants of Beta Platoon burst onto ground zero.

Chaos reigned.

His brain switched into combat mode automatically as his eyes scanned the arena. Small skirmishes between single shinobi were scattered about, ninjutsu and thrown weapons flying and killing people they weren't meant for. Blue eyes sought a ranking shinobi and found nothing. A glance to the Kage's skybox showed nothing but wood and scattered leaves. The Hokage was nowhere in sight.

_Hokage-sama can take care of himself_, Naruto told himself to quell the unease that flittered through his stomach.

Naruto's mind was calm, his purpose clear, and his rage icy as he spotted someone who couldn't do the same.

Chakra flowed rapidly to Naruto's legs as he exploded into Shunshin. It was as "loud" as any Shunshin had ever been in terms of chakra waste, but he wasn't trying to be subtle.

A fist covered by a fingerless glove passed through where his head used to be as Naruto wove to the side around the attack. Nimble footwork was a constant with Naruto's taijutsu, and he deftly danced around the Suna kunoichi's punches and stabs, returning fire just enough to subtly but effectively moving the woman away from a downed group of three.

A feint and a burst of speed split the woman's guard as Naruto moved in for the kill. Turning his body sideways, he rammed his right shoulder into the woman's solar plexus. The hammer blow nearly knocked the kunoichi on her back, and Naruto pressed his advantage home, righting himself and christening his new blades with the woman's blood as he slammed the two curved short swords into the invading woman's chest. The blows passed through the rib cage effortlessly, and pierced the woman's lungs. A simple maneuver of his left sword left the woman headless as the corpse twitched incoherently for a few seconds.

The telltale feeling of air being displaced alerted him to an incoming Wind jutsu. Unfortunately, Naruto was in no position to dodge, still having his blades outstretched from delivering the coup de grace, and he was thrown airborne. _Shit!_

The attacking ninja, a man with a cloth curtain covering the left half of his face, formed hand seals and the wind roared as a Kaze no Yaiba took shape in his hand. The jonin used Shunshin to close the gap between himself and Naruto, and rammed the Blade of Wind into Naruto.

The boy screamed as the sharpened chakra sliced his back to pieces, blood and, surprisingly, water flowed free. The body dispersed into water as the jonin wrinkled his nose at the Water Clone the ANBU had replaced himself with.

Naruto's opening salvo was dodged effortlessly, the Suna ninja moving out of the way of the roundhouse kick before Naruto was even three meters from him. The man made space with a graceful back flip, and Naruto took a defensive position in front of the three downed ninja.

Their headbands said Konoha. Their age said genin.

"Get outta here, genin! This is way over your heads," Naruto ordered, glancing back at the trio.

A blond girl, clad in purple gear and bandages, met his eyes with uncertainty. "B-but you're not any older than us!" she exclaimed as she took in his appearance. He had no time for such things at the moment.

"I'm ANBU, girl. Now leave!"

Three Water Clones formed from air moisture. Naruto carefully hid his grimace and controlled his breathing. He had really felt the last group of Mizu Bunshin.

Naruto popped a soldier pill as the three clones quickly ushered the genin out of the kill zone and into to a nearby entrance to the stadium. The blond girl gave him a worried glance from over her shoulder before joining her teammates, both of whom seemed all too eager to get the hell out of the line of fire.

"Those blades don't belong to you," the jonin said his voice carrying over the general din of the Grand Fire Arena.

Naruto surveyed his surroundings with a quick glance, a habit born of training, and his brain comprehended the images at the speed of thought. The arena was in ruins; bodies lay scattered about, some twitching, some not; smoke hovered low in the air, likely a result of an explosion that had rocked and destroyed the Western Seats, scattering the ground with debris. Naruto's eyes flickered to a downed figure in far too many pieces, and they lingered for a moment longer. The hitai-ate worn like a bandana told Naruto more than anything else who the figure was. By all accounts, Genma had met the same end as Hayate.

Naruto clenched his fists even as his nails dug into his palms through his mesh gloves, struggling to school his expression into neutrality. "They do now," he responded flatly. His voice sounded foreign to his ears, as if he was hearing himself speak from a distance.

His chakra flow sped up as he made his preparations for battle.

The ninja frowned, his one visible eye narrowing before seeming to droop in resignation.

"I suppose they do," Baki said, resigned. "I must say that I'm impressed, to be ANBU at your age is nothing short of astounding."

Naruto shrugged off the compliment. "You talk way too much," was all he said before his body dispersed into mist. Baki's eye widened as his voice spoke from behind him. "But I appreciate the compliment."

The Suna jonin tried to move, but it was far too late. Twin short blades taken from the man's dead comrade rent flesh and bone as Naruto brought them across the man's back in a deadly cross slash. The boy changed to a reverse grip in an instant and made to end the man's life as the body disappeared in a puff of smoke.

_Kage Bunshin!_ he screamed mentally, his body already in the middle of a reflexive Kawarimi. It was none too soon, as the debris he substituted with was obliterated by a bullet of wind.

Naruto's hands were a blur as he tried to buy time to formulate a plan. A Suiton: Teppodama exploded forth from his mouth as he strafed to the right, a mud clone forming to strike at the man from the left. The two Narutos simultaneously drew their ninjato's from their waists as the jonin flattened under the water bullet. _Smart fucker_, Naruto acknowledged. The man was too experienced to be taken in by Naruto's simple maneuvering.

He moved faster than his clone for a few moments, attracting the jonin's notice, before his clone put on a burst of speed, carrying itself to the jonin far faster than Naruto himself. If Naruto expected the change-up to phase the veteran shinobi, he was disappointed. The man didn't bat an eye as he danced around the clone's first strike, and Naruto made a split second decision to abandon his initial plan.

The real blond stopped his charge as the jonin casually evaded the ninjato strikes of the clone. Without warning, the jonin took a single step forward inside the clone's guard with his right hand outstretched and open. Naruto's eyes widened as his hair got blown back by the force of a mini hurricane taking shape before him.

Baki thrust the Kaze no Yaiba into the clone's body with a small grunt of exertion, simultaneously letting the clone's ninjato lodge itself in his flak vest with casual ease that bordered on boredom. Naruto could only watch in stunned inaction as his clone was shredded to pieces by the tightly controlled and regulated wind chakra the jonin used.

Blue eyes found the form of his dead teammate, unmoved from its resting place in the shade of one of the arena's trees. The body was diced in much the same way as he had seen his clone dismembered just moments ago. _So was Hayate's_. The thought crossed him mind involuntarily.

The world seemed to slow for a few precious moments as formerly disconnected and disjointed pieces of information became a rough whole in Naruto's mind. There was little conclusive proof that truly implicated the jonin he was fighting, but Naruto was more than willing to believe he was the one who had killed his friends.

Naruto flexed nearly all the muscles in his body as the now familiar feeling of undiluted rage welled up inside his chest. It was only the brush of a breeze across his exposed face that stopped him from making a blind, rage fueled charge at the man who had likely killed his friends. The feeling of wind brushing against his exposed skin was an effective reminder of what had happened the last time he had attacked while blinded by hate.

He had lost his mask, and very nearly lost his life. Nothing good would come from his emotions in this battle. His mental state was already compromised and he knew it. Unfortunately, he couldn't just run from this man. All signs pointed toward him being one of Suna's top jonin, at least combat wise. Running wasn't an option, so he had to fight.

"No problems here," he muttered with a snarl of anticipation.

Every piece, every scrap of training he had received from both ANBU Operations and Root was dredged up from deep within his psyche, and Naruto took a single deep breath as he calmed himself. The rage was still there, bubbling beneath the surface, but it was under control.

It was all a matter of direction, his Root training told him. The key to Root's emotional conditioning was in suppressing the useless, and channeling the ones that mattered. An emotionally distressed shinobi was a dead one. Naruto had received the same training, though he hadn't progressed to using it in regular, everyday life. At least not yet.

That training would save his life. And not just on this day.

The world kicked into high gear with a vengeance – the jonin was _fast_ and Naruto avoided meeting his teammates' fate by a hair's breadth. A single duck had him avoiding the Kaze no Yaiba by precious millimeters, and he dropped a hand to his hip to draw his ninjato. A jerk of the wrist freed the blade in a sweeping, slashing arc at the jonin's waistline, and the older shinobi was forced to make space.

Naruto tossed his blade into the air to free his hands, and he sped through seals at a pace almost untraceable by the human eye. Water spewed forth from his mouth in a concentrated sphere and hurtled through the air at the still recovering invader.

The man didn't have his rank for nothing, however, and a simple Kawarimi put him out of harm's way with little chakra cost.

Naruto was far from done, and he had anticipated the jonin's course of action before the man had known what he himself would do. _Too predictable!_

The pieces available in the arena for substitution were limited, and Naruto already knew which one would be used. One of those pieces of material was a log located at Naruto's nine o'clock, about five meters away.

Baki was wholly unprepared for a Syrup Capture Field at his feet when he came out of the rudimentary ninjutsu, and his surprise gave Naruto the opening he had planned for.

Chakra danced under Naruto's feet as he sprinted through his own water jutsu, blade held in a reverse grip. The jonin's feet were held captive in the Syrup, and Baki's visible eye widened as he was suddenly beset by a very angry and very skilled ANBU. All the Suna ninja could do was draw a kunai as Naruto viciously tore into him with powerful, rage fueled overhead strikes.

Metal met metal three times as Naruto locked blades with the jonin before the fourth strike finally dislodged the man's grip on his knife. Naruto locked gazes with the jonin and savored the fear he saw there for a single moment.

It was a moment he would come to regret for years.

Naruto was barely halfway through his killing strike when he threw himself backwards on reflex, his hyper sensitive awareness saving him from becoming a pincushion for kunai. He drew himself into a single back flip to control his movement, making extra space at the same time. Sharp eyes caught the form of a single Sand-nin locking gazes with his opponent, before disappearing in a Shunshin.

Naruto ducked low to avoid having his head removed from his neck and hastily grabbed a discarded kunai up from the ground. He brought it to bear in a hasty block that left his arm shaking and his ears ringing. His eyes barely made out the snarling face of the Sand-nin who attacked him before he was forced backward by a shove that sent him stumbling.

The jonin who had killed Genma and Hyate joined his comrade, and Naruto was beset upon by both Suna-nin before he knew what to do with himself. A kunai made its way to his right hand and he immediately used it to parry a killing blow aimed at his liver. His left arm bracer caught a slash to his neck before he dropped to his knee in a desperate attempt to throw his attackers off balance.

_Fuck me! _The two men were hardly affected by Naruto's tactic, and only a lightning fast substitution saved his skin as wind chakra exploded from both ninja. His chakra coils ached as he watched the piece of debris get reduced to a fine power under the onslaught, and forced arms and hands that felt like lead to make seals.

He felt a bit like a one trick pony, but it was his least chakra intensive jutsu that might actually do some damage. The Suiton: Teppodma split the air and impacted the men's previous position with a crash.

_Movemovemove!_ Naruto cursed as a chakra enhanced leap carried him away from a Fuuton: Renkudan that crashed through his last position. He formed seals as fast as he could, and a breath of relief escaped him as mist blanketed the arena in his mind's eye.

The relief was short lived as the mist was no longer there a moment later. _How could they have dispelled the genjutsu that fast?_ he wondered in a panic. He hadn't been able to supplement the illusion with real mist, and it had been in effect for less than a full second before the Suna ninjas had dispelled it.

A desperate plan formed in Naruto's mind as he landed in a crouch instinctively and watched dispassionately as shuriken whizzed over his head. The form of the second Sand ninja entered his peripheral vision, and Naruto launched two shuriken at the man, just above knee height. He followed it with a kunai thrown at the man's face.

"God, this is gonna hurt if I make it out alive…"

The stars flew wide of the Suna shinobi, and Naruto watched with satisfaction as the man disregard them, ducking the kunai meant for his face as he continued his charge. The blond grinned in victory as he watched the man realize his error at the last second.

But by then it was far too late.

His momentum carrying him forward, the invader was powerless to stop the wire from tripping him up. He fell face first to the arena dirt at the same moment Naruto Kawarimi'd with his thrown kunai, perfectly timed and positioned above the man's body.

The blond boy fell on the invader with a thump and a sickening squelch as twin curved blades pierced skin, muscle, and bone, Naruto brutally extinguishing the man's life with two stabs in the back and a roar of victory.

He was in the air before he realized what a short victory it was. He had time to see the ground fall away from him for two seconds before gravity took over and fell back to the earth. Instinct and training kicked in, tucking the boy into a shoulder roll that left him with scratches rather than broken bones, his back nearly against the arena wall.

He locked gazes with the Suna jonin whose death had been stolen from him as he gingerly touched his Kevlar chest armor. He winced as liquid fire ignited his nerves and he coughed in pain. _Ribs…_ That last attack had done some serious damage.

He rose to a ready position unsteadily, drawing two kunai – his twin blades having been dropped mid flight. His eyes met the single exposed eye of the Suna jonin, silently weathering the glare the man sent him. Naruto felt nothing but vindication. The man had taken two of his friends from him, and now he had taken one of his.

_Eye for an eye_, Naruto thought with relish, grinning despite his pain. He couldn't help the swell of satisfaction that rushed through him as his enemy bared his teeth in anger.

He squared his shoulders as the jonin slowly approached him. He searched for any sign of high speed movement about to happen, found none, and burst into a Shunshin of his own. The blond didn't even make it a step before a vice grip on his shoulder halted him in his tracks. He spun his about, immobilized, and his eyes locked with the familiar face of Hatake Kakashi, Sharingan exposed to the world.

"Looks like you're in a bit over your head," the famous man said. His tone was light.

Naruto shrugged as much as the grip on his shoulder would allow and turned to face the Suna-nin, his anxiety shot to hell due to his former sensei's presence. "Eh, maybe a bit," he conceded. Two blunt objects struck him high up on his back, and Naruto reached back to take his twin short blades from Kakashi. "Thanks."

"Maa, don't mention it," the jonin said as Naruto stepped away from him.

"So…you want to tag team this guy?" Naruto asked, just barely keeping the excitement out of his voice. Kakashi had been one of the heroes of his youth, and the idea of fighting alongside him was tantalizing.

"Hmm? No, I don't think so." Naruto did his best to not look deflated as the man stepped around him. _I'll probably just get in his way_, he realized morosely. He wasn't nearly _that_ good yet. "Your team should rendezvous with you at checkpoint seventy two."

Naruto started in surprise before composing himself, wondering at the man's contacts in the elite organization.

Still, he was a bit miffed that one of his teammates hadn't had the common courtesy to alert him themselves. _Assholes could'a helped me out_! A quick glance about the arena showed it to be cleared of all ANBU members save himself. The residual fighting was taking place between various standard shinobi from both Konoha and Suna.

"Thanks for the tip," he quipped. He made to leave.

"Naruto," Kakashi's voice halted him. He turned to face the jonin who broke gazes with the Suna shinobi to give him a smile that was only visible through the man's eyes. "You've grown strong."

Naruto didn't quite know how to respond as pride swelled up inside him. A quick smile spread across his lips.

He gave the man a curt nod. "Good luck," he bade farewell.

The man's parting shot reached him as he stepped into Shunshin. "I shouldn't need it."

The smirk threatened to split Naruto's face in two as he reappeared in the spectator's box for a quick pit stop. He bent down briefly, re-strapped his sandals, adjusted his armor, did a full check on his inventory, and unsheathed and re-sheathed his knew curved blades, checking for damage. Satisfied that he was in fit condition to take on any enemies that might confront him for the time being, he rose.

He had taken full stock of his surroundings when he entered the landing, so it came as quite the surprise to find himself facing down the same three genin he had saved earlier. _Why the hell didn't they get out of here?_

He voiced his thoughts. "Why the _hell_ didn't you three get outta here?"

"Too difficult," the one with a ponytail grunted, sounding utterly bored with his situation. His tone was completely uncaring. Naruto took an instant disliking to the boy; he hated laziness. "There were so many shinobi running around that we would probably have been caught up in some stray jutsu."

Naruto nodded in acceptance of the point. The boy might have seemed lazy, but he at least had his head on straight. A trio of genin probably would've been slaughtered.

"Who's your jonin sensei?" he asked the group.

"Sarutobi Asuma," "Yuhi Kurenai," and "Hatake Kakashi" were the simultaneous answers he got from the blond, the fat kid, and the lazy one respectively. He started a bit at the last one. _Kakashi passed a genin team?_

"You've all got different senseis?" he asked, more out of curiosity than anything. The trio nodded. "Where the hell did your teams go?"

The group collectively shrugged. "We got separated from them at the beginning of the battle. It was lucky we managed to find each other."

Normally a team leaving behind one of its members was heavily frowned upon in Konoha, especially in genin teams, but he supposed that it could be overlooked given the circumstances. This was the heaviest combat any of these kids had ever seen. Hell, it was the heaviest combat _he_ had ever seen.

He also couldn't fault them for losing their teams in the confusion; he had managed to do the same.

"Well then, you're coming with me. I'm heading to one of the nearby checkpoints, and one of the jonin there should be able to take care of you three. You're exposed up here," he finished.

The three nodded, though the lazy one seemed put out about moving from their hiding spot.

"You guys don't know the Shunshin, do you?" he asked with some apprehension. They shook their heads "no" and he deflated just a bit. That would make things more difficult. "Alright, you'll all just have to stick close and follow my orders. To the letter. Is that clear?"

Three curt nods met his proclamation and the mismatched group made their way out of the spectator's box.

They reached the ground floor without incident, and Naruto led them to the nearest exit to the streets. He held his hand up for them to stop as the sounds of combat reached his ears. He turned to the genin, noticing not for the first time that the difference in their ages couldn't be more than a year.

"Just for sanity's sake, what're your names?" he asked. Giving orders to nameless troops would make it all the more confusing if they encountered trouble.

"Yamanaka Ino," "Nara Shikamaru," and "Akimichi Chouji" were the answers he got. "Uzumaki Naruto," he gave in return. It wasn't standard protocol for ANBU to give out their names, but it was only common courtesy in this case. For all he knew, they would all end up dead before they reached the checkpoint.

He sped through hand seals faster than the genin could make out. A triple layered illusion fell over the group. The first completely obscured them from view, while the second and third offset their position by a few meters each, just in case the first illusion fell. If anyone bothered to cancel the first illusion, the second two would buy them enough time for Naruto to deal with the enemy.

"Alright, I've cloaked us pretty good, but stay sharp. Just because they can't see us doesn't mean they can't hit us. Stray weapons and jutsu'll still hurt just as much, so don't get hit," he cautioned. The Ino-Shika-Cho trio nodded in acceptance.

"Let's move."

Checkpoint seventy two lay half a mile from the Grand Fire Arena, and that half mile would come to be one of the longest of Naruto's young life.

At one point he had to pull all three of his charges to the ground to escape death by fratricide. Their genjutsu was cancelled by the ambient chakra left over from a huge Katon jutsu, and Naruto had to Shunshin the lot of them out of the kill zone before reapplying their cover. Another time had Shikamaru actually _tripping_ over a piece of ninja wire in the street. Naruto was halfway into full blown lecture mode before his reflexes saved the group from what turned out to be an actual trap laid by enemy shinobi. Their cover had been blown for the second time and only Naruto's fancy footwork had allowed for him to outmaneuver the three Sunagakure grunts fast enough to kill them without much incident. The genin had acquitted themselves nicely though, killing a fourth chunin while watching his back.

The worst incident, however, occurred merely a block away from their destination.

The clang of metal on metal reached Naruto's ears as the group turned the second to last corner on their way to the checkpoint, and the motley crew was faced with the harrowing image of a single Konoha jonin fighting off five invaders singlehandedly, her companion, a Hyuuga by the looks of it, dead at her feet.

"Kurenai-sensei!" Naruto had no time to react as Chouji broke cover and sprinted toward the battle, presumably to save his sensei.

"No, don't!" was all he managed to get out before the boy was out of reach and charging toward the fray without thought. He turned to the other two sharply. "Stay here," he commanded.

The blond girl looked for a moment as if she was going to disobey him, obviously unwilling to watch her friend get slaughtered, before the lazy one immobilized her with his shadow. Shikamaru ignored the girl's glare as he gave Naruto a curt nod, looking far more serious than he had the whole trip.

That was all Naruto needed as he stepped into Shunshin and made to intercept Chouji. It wasn't a moment too soon, as one of the ninja attacking his sensei broke off and made to eliminate the minor threat.

Naruto appeared in front of the large boy with an explosion of chakra. A block with his right bracer saved Chouji's head, and a quick thrust kick had the boy out of harm's way for the moment. The blond dodged a punch with a duck and stepped back, blocking a second, knife laden hand with the outside of his wrist. Deft fingers wrapped themselves around the knife wielding hand, and Naruto sent it spinning to the ground an instant before he shattered the man's forearm. The invader had no time to scream, as Naruto broke the man's tibia with a kick a split second later, and followed up with a single kunai slash across the throat that ended the man's suffering.

The sound of blades leaving their sheaths split the air a second later, and Naruto turned his blue eyed gaze toward the plight of the Konoha jonin; she was still struggling with her assailants, barely managing to keep the three men at bay with simple taijutsu. A second glance revealed a broken arm.

_Damn…_

A soundless, seal-less Kawarimi put Naruto in Yuhi Kurenai's place, and he didn't even bother to duck a slash from a kunai that was meant for the female jonin.

He capitalized on the momentary surprise of the Suna ninja in spectacular fashion. The first quickly found himself on the ground courtesy of Naruto's leg sweep, while a second got a shot across the face from the blunt end of one of Naruto's swords as he drew it from its holster. The man bent over in pain from the unexpected blow, and Naruto put him down with a stab to the back of the neck, severing the cervical vertebrae without a word.

A swift spin had him avoiding a stab to the chest courtesy of the third Suna ninja, and Naruto lightly brushed the man's exposed skin while simultaneously ducking under a slash aimed at his neck by the ninja who he had sent to the ground before. A single back-flip carried him away from the two invaders, and the boy watched in morbid satisfaction as his sensory genjutsu overlaid his image with one of the attacking shinobi. The man who he had brushed ended his partner's life with a knife to the neck before the other man even knew what happened.

Naruto silently tagged the entranced invader in the neck with a shuriken lob that severed the jugular vein. He went down holding his neck and screaming in pain before a second throwing star delivered the coup de grace.

The blond ANBU turned to regard the woman he had likely just saved, only to see her surrounded by the genin trio he had brought to the scene. Red eyes met blue as the two highest ranking ninja in the group silently appraised each other. Naruto took the opportunity to stare a bit. He withheld a grin as he saw the jonin's eyes narrow almost imperceptibly when she noticed.

_You're the best looking thing I've seen all day and I just saved your life_, he thought_ Think I'm entitled to a glance or two after that little show._

"Uzumaki Naruto," was all she said to him as she strode over, the genin in tow.

"Yuhi Kurenai," he returned, his blue eyes gleaming.

A grimace nearly crossed the beautiful woman's face before it was concealed. "I suppose I owe you a thank you." She certainly didn't sound too happy about it. She probably thought him some kind of pervert.

He didn't bother to disabuse her of the notion. She was _hot_ after all.

He returned to being the consummate professional a moment later. _No sense in letting her get a bad opinion of me_. "No thanks necessary, Yuhi-san. Sure you would've done the same."

She nodded. Her expression softened. "Still, I likely owe you my life. My partner and I were ambushed on the way to a nearby checkpoint and there was little I could do."

"How convenient," Naruto nearly drawled. "We were headed to the same place."

Kurenai tilted her head to the side and offered him a small smile at his tone. "Shall we then?"

Naruto nodded blandly. "We shall."

The group, having added a new member, made their way to checkpoint seventy two without further incident. The genin were noticeably calmer as well. Naruto suspected it had to do with having a familiar figure among them.

No sooner had Naruto pushed back the tent flap that revealed the inside of checkpoint seventy two, now serving as a command post it seemed, he was assaulted by what at first glance appeared to be some monster trying to squeeze the life out of him.

At second glance, it was just Hikari.

"I'm ok, Hikari," he managed to grunt out as the young woman squeezed him with arm strength he didn't know the lithe Hyuuga had.

Emotionless eyeholes met his blue orbs as she bent down to his level to inspect him. "You're not too damaged, are you?" she asked, concerned. "We couldn't make contact with you at all. Our radios got shorted out by the Shukaku's chakra."

_So that's what it was._ It explained why none of his team had tried to contact him by radio when he got left in the arena. He hadn't even noticed.

"I'm fine, just a little bruised." Contrary to assuaging the woman's fussing, it only served to increase it. He never knew that Hikari could be such a mother hen.

He spied Daisuke a little ways off, putting his medical talents to good use. He locked gazes with the unmasked ANBU for a moment, and shared a nod. Taking stock of his teammate's situation, Daisuke had the audacity to chuckle, of all things! _What a great teammate_, Naruto groused inwardly. He wasn't used to being mothered, and he didn't really like it all that much. He didn't bother to stop Hikari, however, as she was far from finished, and any squirming would doubtlessly just lengthen the ordeal.

The majority of the tent's occupants were pouring over a large tactical map, and Naruto finally broke free of Hikari to move over to the group. Multiple pairs of eyes fell on his unmasked face as he approached, not the least of which belonged to Uchiha Sasuke. The boy was huddled on the outside of the group, seemingly trying to get information that wasn't really his business, and he was giving Naruto the strangest look.

The blond just shrugged it off. He had no time for such things. No sooner than he had thought that, the boy was "escorted" away from the gathered group by an ANBU in full gear. The Uchiha looked none too happy as he joined a small cluster of genin aged ninja off to the side. Naruto recognized the faces of Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji among the group, as well as a bruised looking Sarutobi Konohamaru. The boy looked no happier about his situation than Sasuke.

"Our best bets are either Area Forty Four or the abandoned Uchiha District," a scarred jonin Naruto thought was named Shikaku spoke up. "Herding the majority of the enemy into either area would leave them dangerously exposed to any attacks. The most prudent course of action for them at that point would be surrender."

"Agreed," Sarutobi Asuma said. "The problem then is how exactly do we get some hundreds of shinobi into either area? It's just not plausible."

"Sarutobi is right," Hyuuga Hiashi spoke. "The remaining invaders will be difficult to move in any particular direction of our choosing, even with all of our reserves fully mobilized."

"So we're left fighting running battles in the streets of our own village?" a random shinobi asked incredulously. "The damage done to the village would be nearly irreparable."

"Any property damage can be dealt with after the fact. Our only real hope for this ending this any time soon is a morale break," Shikaku pointed out. "Neither the Suna ninja nor the remnants of the Oto force will be willing to surrender without due cause."

"Last report said Jiraiya-sama is now engaging Orochimaru near the Administrative Building," a nameless ANBU piped form within the group.

"So the Shukaku is dealt with?" someone asked hopefully.

"It would appear that that is the case," the Hyuuga head conceded. "Even so, the Sunagakure ninja have almost no way of knowing that. Jiraiya had moved his battle to far outside the village for safety reasons…"

Naruto turned away from the group and made his way back to Hikari and Daisuke.

"Looks like we're gonna be fighting for most of the day," he said. "The big guys over there don't have too much of a plan."

Daisuke nodded, finishing up with his latest patient. "I'm not surprised," he said. "It's not like Konoha gets invaded all the time."

"It's not like we don't have procedure for that," Hikari quipped. "It's just that the two wave structure of the attack threw everybody off. Everything was going perfectly against Oto before Suna joined the fight. We've got about five hundred Suna ninja running about with the reserves already deployed and tired from earlier."

"Not good, but we outnumber them by a lot at this point. From what little I could pick up, we _are_ winning, just not quickly," Naruto said as he shrugged. "The guys over there are hoping for morale to drop among the enemy so this thing can end fast."

"Orochimaru will have to be killed or flee for that to happen at this point," Hikari commented.

"Jiraiya-sama's fighting him right now, apparently, so there's a good chance of either," Naruto said. He wanted no part of that fight. He would probably be killed just from being in the vicinity.

"You should probably restock," Daisuke spoke. "You're gonna want to be at full capacity if we're going to be fighting for the rest of the day."

Naruto nodded. "Any spare care packages?" he asked the redhead.

The older teen smiled and produced a metal briefcase from nowhere. "I thought you might ask," he commented cheerfully, handing the carbon fiber case to his teammate.

"You're so thoughtful," Naruto drawled. He opened the briefcase with a hiss as the security seals disengaged. All Konoha "care packages" were designed to open on command from any active ANBU. Each ANBU was forced to give a small blood and chakra sample when they became part of the corps to make things easier. The seals on the inside of the case were generalized and fitted to the blood and chakra of each ANBU in the village.

Four scrolls lay inside the briefcase, each one pushed into its own compartment in black foam that lined the inside. One scroll contained a full complement of shuriken. Another had the same for kunai. The third carried senbon needles and other utilities, such as ninja wire and explosive tags. The fourth was the most important to Naruto at the moment, as he unfurled the medical scroll with a flourish and a small application of chakra. He had downed a soldier pill before anyone could so much as blink, the rush of chakra entering his system leaving him exhilarated.

"Ah, that's better." He met the smirking gazes of his teammates and a grin threatened to split his face. "We ready to get back to it?"

"Best believe it," Daisuke boasted. Epsilon Squad, despite the death of its captain not long ago, was energized and spoiling for some action. Idle was not their preferred state of inertia.

"We better get our assignment," Hikari suggested. The two males nodded.

As they made their way over to the ranking members in the command post, a thought occurred to Naruto. "Hey, do either of you have a spare mask or something? I lost mine earlier."

He didn't react in time to stop a black piece of cloth hitting him in the face, courtesy of Daisuke. It was a black half mask, very similar to Hatake Kakashi's.

Naruto shook his head as he pulled the cloth over his head and down his face. "You're funny, asshole."

Daisuke and Hikari just laughed at his expense.

Despite being down one member, Epsilon was still going strong. That was all that mattered.

/~/

"We ready?" Naruto asked his two teammates from his concealed position. He squinted slightly as the light from the sunset created a glare.

"In position," came Hikari's response over the com link.

"Roger," was Daisuke's whispered reply.

"Then let's get wild!"

The wind shifted as Naruto broke cover, shuriken speeding from his hands like bullets toward their targets. His teammates did the same, and the unsuspecting group of invaders was swiftly decimated by the throwing stars.

Naruto Shunshin'd into the fray and bisected two men before they could react. Two more fell to his blades before anyone could react, but by then Hikari and Daisuke had joined the fun.

Three seconds later, the ANBU Squad was standing amongst a pile of corpses in the street.

"Move along?" Daisuke asked.

"Yeah."

The group disappeared in Shunshin, leaving nothing but death in their wake as a red sun set over Konoha.

/~/


	10. Chapter 9: Here and Now

/~/

They said that a red sun only rose when blood had been spilt that night. Blood red had been the color of the sunrise for the past week. He couldn't help but sigh at his own part in the process. While he wouldn't normally concern himself with such things, they were far too depressing to harp on about, he found himself with too much time. Far too much time.

Being in a hospital did that to you.

Chakra laced his fingertips as his arm meandered toward an empty glass by his bedside with all the grace of a trained shinobi. He knew that he wasn't supposed to be channeling the life essence, but he just didn't care at this point. The staff was fully prepared to release him later today anyway, so he didn't see what the big deal was.

His fingers moved in a circular pattern above the cup, creating a mini whirlwind of chakra. A small flex was heralded by a slight tensing of the arm, before water poured from his fingertips into the waiting glass below. A smile flitted across his face as the glass frosted over a tad. _Perfect temperature_, he thought with pride. The smile widened as he took his first sip, savoring the purity of flavor that only came from water born of air. _Perfectly distilled; perfectly chilled_.

He had all but ruined his taste for other water – more _natural_ water. He maintained that it was quite possibly the most useful non-combat oriented manipulation of chakra anyone had ever discovered.

That was his ego talking.

His ego had been taking a back seat for the last few days, however, as he had been debriefed no less than six times concerning his part in the invasion. Proper protocol dictated that he needed to analyze and report things objectively, and he always would do his best to do so. Breaking protocol was not a habit of his.

_Boring as hell though_, he mused as he popped his neck. Debriefings were never fun, but these bordered on outright monotonous. Every little scrap of detail needed to be recorded for an accurate assessment of the damages, enemy casualties, and friendly casualties. No information could be missed, and the Hokage's finest would be damned if any was.

The boredom wasn't helped by the fact that none of his friends could see him. Both Hikari and Daisuke were bogged down with providing security for the village. Every non injured ANBU was on full duty during this crucial time when Konoha's defenses were suspect. It didn't make anything easier knowing that he was cooped up while his friends were actually doing something useful.

Mai hadn't been able to visit either, much to his chagrin – though he wasn't sure she would have had she been able. His hopes of receiving a visit from the pretty librarian had been dashed. ANBU members held classified information, and, as such, were kept in a special wing of the hospital guarded twenty four seven by some of the Hokage's most trusted troops. Each room had a single guard stationed outside it, and no one was let in or out without proper clearance.

A glance outside the window beheld the rebuilding effort in full swing, with all active duty genin, more than a few chunin, and capable civilians running about as they worked on their separate projects. From what little he had heard, the majority of the damaged infrastructure would be fully repaired within two months, mostly due to aid from the capital.

It was nice to know that the Fire Lord actually had some interest in Konoha. The majority of the time, the man was entirely wrapped up in his court, preferring, not illogically, to leave Konoha to its own devices. The Hokage was more than capable of running the village without help.

A sigh slipped through his lips as he finished the last of his water. He was content with the knowledge that his little Suiton manipulation had caused him no pain. It hadn't been the case when he had first been admitted. _Guess minor chakra poisoning does that to a guy_, Naruto lamented. Not for the first time in his stay did he curse his relatively low stamina. If not for that, he wouldn't have been forced to take no fewer than five soldier pills during the invasion.

Five!

The doctors were surprised that his minor poisoning hadn't been so much worse, what with the foreign chakra so readily flowing through him for nearly an entire day. "It's a wonder you're even conscious," they had said when he had stumbled in supported by the rest of Epsilon Squad.

They had called him a statistical anomaly. Naruto just shook his head and went along with it. Statistical anomaly was a phrase people used when they wanted to sound smarter than you were, but Naruto didn't much care. He simply chalked up his being an "anomaly" to the tried and true, patented Uzumaki resiliency. From what little had been able to find on the now extinct clan, it had once been quite the stuff of legends.

"Thanks mom," he murmured. He wondered, and not for the first time, whether Uzumaki Kushina would be proud of him. There was no telling.

Naruto's mind was far from his own good fortune, however. Being cooped up in a hospital gave him time to unwind and use the mental conditioning techniques gifted to him by Root to properly deal with the battle's aftermath.

The therapist who had been seeing him every other day had helped. The man hadn't been afraid to hit on the most sensitive of issues, and had made Naruto come to terms with them through sheer bullheadedness. The blond would be happy to never see the man again.

He was forced to open himself up to the grief of the battle's aftermath, but he knew the techniques were designed to help high strung operatives relieve the stress of their battles.

His emotions had flowed like water from a broken dam the first day he had reflected on the battle. Everything from anger, resentment, sadness, and crushing grief had poured from him as he lay in his hospital bed. Memories had flashed to Housei's demise at the hand of the Oto commander more than once in the past week, and none more so than on the first day. His only saving grace had been that he had been prepared.

Root training taught him to properly sort and ignore his emotions in the middle of a fight, but he couldn't keep it up forever. He would end up as one of the many shinobi nutcases who had kept so many things bottled up inside that they were fit to explode.

He had no desire to end up like that, so he opened himself up to his grief. He had cried more times this past week than he had in his entire pre-shinobi life, wave upon wave of grief at the many deaths of his comrades he had witnessed, but the therapist had been sympathetic, and no one else had said anything. He was rather sure that his door guard, a rather shapely chunin with dark hair, had thought he was having a mental breakdown at various times, as he would shift from tears to cheerful in moments, but the woman had offered no judgment. Naruto guessed that seeing a thirteen year old ANBU breaking down wouldn't come as much of a surprise to her. The ANBU life was stressful, and in her eyes he was just a kid.

The blond boy contented himself with the knowledge that he wasn't, in fact, crazy – _not much anyway_, he thought – and that his near bipolarity was a result of a release of all the pent up emotions from nearly eighteen hours of straight combat.

That was all over with now, for the most part. He had been back to his mellow self for the past day, and he was more than happy for it.

He'd be even happier when he could get out of this torture establishment that masqueraded as a hospital. _The food's disgusting, the nurses are total bitches, and the doctors don't even listen to what I have to say_, he silently bemoaned his situation.

"Seriously, though," he grumbled to himself. "You'd think they'd teach the nurses to have a bit more compassion for wounded soldiers," he waxed dramatically. He had become his own best companion this past week, and had gotten into the habit of talking to himself. His attempts to draw his door guard into conversation had all fallen flat. Sometimes consummate professionals were downright annoying.

The irony of that wasn't lost on him, as he started cracking up at his own private joke. _I'm such a hypocrite sometimes,_ he told himself with amusement. He had been described as such a professional by many people more times than he bothered to count. He took quite a bit of pride in it.

The clearing of a throat nearby snapped Naruto from his thoughts, and electric blue eyes regarded the seated and smiling form of the Sandaime Hokage, though the man's brown eyes betrayed his weariness. _When did he get here?_ Naruto thought with wonder and no small amount of embarrassment. He hadn't even sensed the man.

"Hokage-sama," he managed as he attempted to get into a properly straight position. He was mortified that the man had seen him acting more than a little bit crazy.

"At ease, Naruto-kun," the Hokage said with an audible laugh – Naruto had no way of knowing it had been the first in days. The blond stopped his struggle with the bed sheets instantly, a sheepish grin on his face.

"I am sorry that out most frequent meetings happen in hospital rooms, Naruto-kun, but such is the reality of our lives," the living legend began, somewhat somberly. Naruto nodded along with him. He had been to the hospital more times than he would have liked in his relatively short career.

"Of course, Hokage-sama," Naruto agreed.

"Please, there is no need to be so formal, Naruto. Sarutobi will do for now," the Hokage said with a slight smile.

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Naruto returned with a smirk that showed his comfort in the situation. The old man snickered at his cheek. Few of his shinobi were so open in his presence; it provided a nice change from the normally stilted conversation he had with the majority of his troops.

"Indeed, you shall have no reason to refer to me as such for much longer, I hope." Naruto snapped to attention at that statement.

_Is he serious?_

A chuckle greeted his surprise. "Don't look so shocked, Naruto-kun. It has been a long time coming, and I've been meaning to step down for some time now. This last battle with my former student has shown me the limits of my abilities are even worse than I'd initially feared," the man stated calmly, seeming for all the world to be perfectly happy with the situation. "It is time for a new Hokage to be selected."

Naruto leaned back into his bed, stunned but not entirely surprised, though he could hardly wrap his mind around the idea of serving someone other than the Third. He had heard about the Hokage's battle with Orochimaru from the various operatives who had debriefed him, but not much. The Snake Sannin, true to form, had had the aged Hokage on the ropes with some hitherto unheard of jutsu. Of course, that was only until Jiraiya had shown up and smacked his former teammate around in what had proved to be the most epic battle of what was now being called The Battle of the Chunin Exam.

The blond suspected there was much more to it than Jiraiya simply pounding Orochimaru into the ground in a poetic reversal of their old fights, but he didn't much care. The Snake had fled, in the end, and that was all that Naruto truly cared about. He certainly would have been happier if the man who was behind the death of all his friends and comrades was dead, but he was perfectly content with the result for the moment.

"I take it you have someone in mind," Naruto quipped. Of course the Sandaime had someone picked out already. _My money's on Jiraiya_.

The old man nodded. "There was some debate over who would be the most qualified, but my advisors and I settled on my old student Tsunade. Jiraiya's on his way to retrieve her now."

Naruto had stopped paying attention to what the Sandaime was saying after the name Tsunade entered the conversation. "Tsunade?" he asked incredulously, uncaring of his disrespectful tone in his shock.

A raised eyebrow greeted him, before being replaced with a look of comprehension. "Ah…I thought you might have that reaction." He nodded in understanding. "I must say that I'm a little surprised at the level of loyalty that many of my ANBU are showing, but it is unnecessary at this point. Both my mind and my advisors' minds are made up."

Naruto schooled his expression into neutrality as he processed the information. He knew full well that other ANBU would share his ill will toward the legendary medic. ANBU, whether intentionally or not, were a group of the most loyal shinobi in the village. Their mission was the protection of the Hokage and the village above all else and all others. Disloyalty was not tolerated; traitors were not tolerated.

Tsunade went directly against everything that an ANBU stood for. She had left the village in the gap between the Second and Third Secret Shinobi Wars, citing personal reasons. It was well circulated knowledge that the Sannin had lost both her lover and her brother in a short amount of time, and it created sympathy among many for many years. It was, however, no more than any other person in a ninja village went through if they lived long enough. Losing loved ones came with the territory; especially if those loved ones happened to be shinobi.

Compared to Uchiha Sasuke, who, despite Naruto's fairly low opinion of the boy, had suffered true tragedy, Senju Tsunade was simply a weak and childish woman who had abandoned her village because she couldn't handle the realities of shinobi life. She was little better than a missing-nin in Naruto's mind, and apparently his colleagues agreed.

"…she is the best choice," Sarutobi continued unbidden, obviously not affected by Naruto's thoughts. "Aside from Orochimaru, she was the most organized of the Sannin, and her experience in the Shinobi Wars will prove to be invaluable."

"You think she'll accept?" Naruto asked, breaking the Third's rambling. The boy had a hard time imagining that the woman who had so readily abandoned her village would so easily take up the Kage position.

A smile split the Sandaime's face as he leaned back into a relaxed position. "Not immediately, but that's why I sent Jiraiya after her. Not only is he the most qualified to track her down, but he was the most stubborn of my old team by far. He will bring her back, of that I have no doubt."

Naruto nodded a bit hesitantly; he was displeased, but knew it wasn't his place to question the decision despite the conversation's informality. "Why not Jiraiya?"

"Pardon?"

"I mean, why not ask Jiraiya to take the post?" Naruto tilted his head in thought. "Surely he's qualified."

The Sandaime stepped his hands in front of his face. "It was considered, but Jiraiya has other duties to attend to. Being Hokage would interfere with them directly, to the detriment of the village."

Naruto recognized an intentionally vague answer when he heard one. Whatever Jiraiya's duties were, they were a few cuts above his pay grade. "Ah," was all he said.

The room descended into a fairly comfortable silence, each occupant engrossed with their own thoughts. The Sandaime was contemplating his retirement from office while Naruto thought about his shinobi life under a new Hokage.

"In any event, I didn't simply drop by to have a conversation, pleasant though it was." The Sandaime focused on Naruto once more. "Among the many casualties we suffered in the battle is my old ANBU commander."

Naruto's eyes widened. He had never actually met the illustrious and mysterious man who had acted as the Hokage's Head ANBU, but the man's reputation had preceded him. He was one of Konoha's nine Elite Jonin, and reputedly the third strongest ninja in Konoha behind Jiraiya and the Hokage. For him to have been killed…

"How?"

A grim look passed over Sarutobi's face. "Orochimaru," was all that he said. It was all that needed to _be_ said.

Naruto sighed, shaking his head in wonder. "Just how strong is he?" he whispered. The ANBU Commander had been an elite A-ranked shinobi at the very least, and very possibly borderline S-rank – Naruto knew that much from confirmed hearsay among the ANBU Operators – whose identity was known by only the Hokage, his advisors, and the Platoon Captains. Orochimaru had to have been impossibly strong to kill him with the ease that the Sandaime unconsciously suggested. It was a level of power that Naruto couldn't even begin to comprehend.

All thoughts of well deserved revenge fled Naruto's mind faster than the Fourth Hokage's famed ninjutsu.

"Stronger than you can imagine, Naruto-kun," the Sandaime cautioned gently. "In many ways, I'm exceedingly proud of how strong my students turned out to be, while at the same time I wish they were all still genin again."

Sarutobi's eyes had gained a faraway look to them as he turned his gaze to the window. "Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru were three talents that come around once in a lifetime. All of them were exceedingly adept at their areas of expertise, and Orochimaru was a genius even among them. Gifted at all aspects of the shinobi lifestyle, intellectually brilliant, driven…Never was there a more tenacious and amazing combination. I thought Orochimaru would be the perfect successor." The Professor shook his head ruefully. "I was wrong."

Naruto was silent as he contemplated the insane level of power that the man possessed. "It gives perspective, y'know," he said as he turned his own gaze to the window that overlooked the western edge of Konoha – he had enjoyed many a sunset in his week. "No matter how much you train, no matter how hard you work, there's always someone stronger." _There's always a bigger fish_…

The Sandaime nodded. "A cynical view to be sure, but one that may serve to keep you sharp and alert down the road." A sigh escaped the man's lips even while he hid a smile from the young shinobi in front of him.

The boy had no idea how talented he was. Sarutobi had been careful to learn from the mistakes of the past, and, as a result, made sure that Naruto wasn't subjected to the insane amount of praise that almost always greeted children of his level of talent and ability through a carefully maintained secrecy of the boy's abilities – he silently bemoaned his mistake with Uchiha Sasuke. It was just Sarutobi's luck that humility had been beaten into him by Kakashi before he had the boy enter the ANBU – an organization not known for its overt praise of its members. The elite shinobi unit likely would have torn apart a similarly talented, though more cocky ninja had he been around Naruto's age. The geniuses that succeeded in ANBU were the ones who both looked to improve their skills and showed definite respect for their superiors. Sarutobi had seen many a talented ninja get shredded by the ANBU, his own son, Asuma, included.

"We have gotten far off topic, haven't we?" Naruto laughed lightly at the rhetorical question. "In any event, Naruto-kun, you needn't worry about a real change in who you report to, as I am preparing to take the reins of the ANBU corps myself."

Naruto's eyebrows shot to his hairline. _So much for retiring_, he thought. "Well…that's good to hear, Sarutobi-sama." He couldn't keep the pleased note out of his voice. It was nice to know that despite having a new Hokage, he would still be serving the Sandaime. He had faith that the village wouldn't fall to pieces under Tsunade's rule with Sarutobi still in a high position.

"Indeed, though I fear I have strayed into a position with even more paperwork than the Hokage, as impossible as it would seem," Sarutobi lamented with some amusement. "I was fully prepared to begin enjoying my retirement when a mutual friend of ours informed me, in no uncertain terms, that I was not to leave the ANBU out to dry in such a crucial moment."

There was little outward change in Naruto's expression, but, inside, the hidden message had struck home. Danzo had no desire to be the sole head of an organization fighting a covert war that the new Hokage would need to be briefed on. Having Sarutobi on hand would help maintain much needed stability, though Naruto doubted that Danzo couldn't handle it on his own. _So he's going to have a stake in Root as well…that's interesting_.

It was also comforting. Naruto just felt more comfortable serving Sarutobi as well as Danzo. The former Hokage was more approachable by far.

"Is that all he said?" Naruto asked sarcastically as a small smile blossomed on his face in a trained maneuver. He was far more used to covert messages being passed in inane conversation now than when he first entered ANBU and Root. "He's usually far more subtle."

"He is isn't he?" Sarutobi nodded. "Apparently he felt strongly about my taking the position, and I have to agree with many of his points. He'd like to see you, by the way," the now former Hokage added almost as an afterthought.

"I'll drop by. It's been a while hasn't it?" Naruto looked around in thought. "I'll be sure to check in with him after the funeral." he said.

Sarutobi smiled warmly at him. "Of course, Naruto-kun." The old man rose with grace that belied his age, and made his way to the door. "I'm afraid I must cut our meeting short, but I've business to attend to until my former student consents to relieve me of my burden. I wish you a speedy recovery."

Naruto gave a low nod in acknowledgement, for it was the closest he could come to a full bow while seated in his bed. "Thank you, Hokage-sama." The old man left as silently as he had entered, his decades of experience demanding nothing less from the aged legend, even subconsciously.

The door shut with a nearly silent click, and Naruto turned his electric blue gaze to his view of western Konoha. The sun peeked through the gathering clouds desperately, though it fought a losing battle.

A storm was gathering above Konoha, and Naruto knew not what part he would have to play in it.

/~/

"You could make a bit more of an effort, you know."

"I'm nearly crippled, what do you want me to say?"

"Oh, so now you're crippled. You were just fine when you were in the hospital." A well manicured eyebrow rose.

"I haven't walked anywhere in a week, give it some damn time!"

"We are giving it time, too much time. Any more time given and we'll miss the funeral. Do you want that?"

"Nothing's stopping you guys from going on ahead, you know."

A snort. "You are, actually. What kind of teammates would we be if we let a cripple walk to a funeral on his own?"

The rustling of hair accompanied a head shake. "Ah, but you can't have it both ways. Me being a cripple works just fine when you want to annoy the ever loving shit out of me, but you can't complain about helping me at the same time."

There was silence. "Hn," was all that was offered in the face of the logic.

Naruto allowed himself a self satisfied smirk at his silent teammates. He so loved outsmarting them from time to time, Daisuke especially. Hikari was often too stoic to tease.

"Fuck you, Naruto," the aforementioned redhead offered. He winced a moment later as Hikari struck the back of his head.

"Language, Daisuke," the Hyuuga admonished. The older teen stuck his tongue out at her as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Yeah, Daisuke, watch your fucking mouth," Naruto said. He just barely ducked Hikari's slap. "Hey! You can't hit a cripple!"

"Now who's having it both ways?" the older Hyuuga asked innocently. The woman's lips twitched slightly at the pout that overtook Naruto's face at having tripped over his own smooth logic. The boy discreetly flipped Daisuke off when the teen guffawed.

"Hn," was all the blond said in response, sending Hikari into a fit of giggles at the familiar byplay.

"Still," the boy continued, "You guys are taking advantage of a teammate in ways that are very unbefitting of ANBU of our stature-" He was cut off as Daisuke thwacked the back of his head.

"Just shut up, Naruto."

"Screw you, ginger."

"I'm not a ginger!" Daisuke nearly yelled. It was one of the few things the medic actually took offense at. He had _red_ hair, thank you very much. He most certainly was _not_ a ginger.

Hikari let off a small burst of killing intent that got the two boys' attention. _Boys will be boys_, she thought with a strange mix of fondness and exasperation. "Will you two quit it? We're going to a funeral, you should show some respect."

It was said more for the benefit of those who would be around them than the team itself. The Hyuuga knew well enough that this was the way that Daisuke coped with the loss of anyone – she had been his teammate for quite a while – and Naruto was just playing along, both for Daisuke's and his own benefit. The week between the invasion and the funeral for those who had fallen had been filled with work for the two uninjured ANBU, and the loss of their captain had been shunted to the side in the face of work that needed to be done for Konoha's continued survival.

Now though, there was no such distraction. The wound was still fresh for all three of them, and they all had their own ways of coping. Daisuke's just happened to be the most immature of them all.

Cream colored eyes shifted to the form of her youngest teammate in contemplation. The blond was handling everything quite well, all things considered, as the Hyuuga knew as well as anyone that the boy had lost friends outside of ANBU as well as Housei. Naruto had always had emotional control beyond the norm, even for ANBU, but he was coping far better than the woman would have expected.

_It's almost as if he's come to terms with the whole thing already_, Hikari wondered, almost askance.

Naruto had always been a bit of an enigma among Epsilon Squad, and even Beta Platoon, and this only added to the boy's mystery. Hikari had been hard pressed not to notice how the boy operated. He was a cold hearted killer one moment – a very good one at that – and a joking thirteen year old boy the next. It was downright disturbing to see in someone so young.

The Hyuuga also hadn't missed the boy's maturation even in the relatively short amount of time he had been in ANBU. The young teen had certainly been competent when he had entered the corps, as qualified as any chunin could be, really, but he had grown at an almost alarming rate since. In seven months, Naruto had gone from a genjutsu and support member, sowing chaos in battle from afar, to an Operator that could bob and weave through heavy ninjutsu and taijutsu combat with the very best of them.

It spoke of training far more intense than other ANBU members went through upon their entrance to the corps, and Hikari wasn't sure where the boy was getting it from.

That mystery didn't even take into account where the blond boy disappeared to in between missions sometimes – she sometimes couldn't find him _anywhere_ – or even the rapport Naruto seemed to have with Beta Platoon's Buntaicho, Fuu. It wasn't overt, but Hikari was a Hyuuga; she was trained to pick up on subtleties that others missed. The Buntaicho and Naruto had better rapport than many other, more senior Beta Platoon members had.

No, there was no denying how enigmatic Uzumaki Naruto was, especially that at his age he should only be a freshly minted genin, rather than an experienced ANBU Operator.

_He probably would have been in this past exam_. Not for the first time since learning of Naruto's history did she question just what Hatake Kakashi was thinking when he failed the blond. Had anyone bothered to pay attention to just exactly how good Naruto had been when he had been in the Academy, Hikari had little doubt that they would have found him to be a prodigy. A genius in his own right.

Her thoughts on her mysterious young teammate were smothered as the trio broke in upon the funeral procession, a parade of midnight black clad figures making the slow march toward the base of the Hokage monument, where those who had fallen in the invasion would be honored one final time.

/~/

A slow rain began to beat down on the heads of the procession, drawing more than a few tears from those mourning at the nearly symbolic weather. Naruto, however, smiled a soft smile.

_Even the heavens weep,_ he thought poetically, fond memories of Housei, Genma, and Hayate, all of whom would be mourned this day, passing through his mind.

From Hayate's unendingly pleasant nature, to Genma's laid back attitude and nostalgia about his younger days, to Housei's nigh endless lectures about how Naruto could improve himself, each and every moment played out before the boy's eyes even as the Sandaime's voice washed over the crowd as the funeral began.

"We gather here this day, not simply to grieve for the passing of our friends, comrades, and loved ones, but to honor their sacrifice…"

_Yuugao's voice was muffled slightly due to her head's position on Hayate's shoulder. It had fallen there during the conversation, and neither party seemed to object. Hayate had even started idly playing with Yuugao's violet hair._

_"Yep, that's the idea. That's all I've really been doing these past few months, along with trying to build up my reserves and guard duty." Naruto shuddered as he remembered the long hours spent atop the great wall, doing nothing but pacing back and forth while keeping a lookout for approaching threats that were nonexistent._

_Naruto noticed, with some small consternation and a little bit of envy, that Hayate and Yuugao were barely paying him any mind now, being lost in their own little world. He held in a disgusted grimace as Hayate began planting light kisses on the top of Yuugao's head._

"…it is our duty to remember that those who feel one week ago did so, so that we may carry on. Those who fought and died for this great village did so with the indomitable Will of Fire, and it is our place to follow in their footsteps…"

_"Heavens above, this shit is so boring," the senbon chewing Tokubetsu Jonin whined. It was pathetic in Naruto's opinion._

_"It's still not as bad as guard duty, you've got no reason to complain," Naruto retorted irritably. Genma had done nothing but gripe the whole time the two had been on border patrol, and Naruto was sick of the nonstop whining. "At least here the scenery changes a little bit."_

_The older man gave a noncommittal grunt, before smirking at Naruto. "That's right, you're still a chunin," the lazy man laughed. "Oh I remember Wall Duty. Man, the shit that happened up there. Did I ever tell ya about the time me and Izumo got into it? Well you see, this was a while back and both of us were trying to get with Kurenai, babe that she is…"_

_The youngest members of Epsilon Squad joined their teammates on top of a nearby grocery store._

_"Nice shots," Daisuke commented, though with no real amusement. Now was certainly not the time._

_"If you two are done dicking around, we have serious work to do and little time to get it done. I'd rather not have Konoha burn today because two of my ANBU decided to play with their enemies rather than kill them outright," Housei reprimanded. _

The nostalgic smile remained as Naruto made his way to the opened caskets of Housei, Hayate, and Genma respectively, stopping off at various intervals to pay his last respects to fallen comrades he knew in passing. _I'm gonna miss you guys_, he thought sadly. The enormity of losing so many friends on one day had sunk in.

He had come to terms with the death of his friends in the past days, Hayate's death even before that, but he would certainly miss their company.

Hayate's personal effects had gone to Yuugao shortly after his passing, and Naruto had seen little of the woman since. He knew, however, that she would take care of what little the Tokubetsu jonin had kept to himself.

Naruto stopped off in front of Housei's casket, laying a white flowed on the growing pile as he did his best to ignore a sobbing woman standing next to him. She bore a striking resemblance to his fallen captain, and Naruto vaguely recognized the form of the dead man's sister he had seen glimpses of in his captain's few photos.

"He was a good man, and a good captain," was all he could offer the grieving woman as he passed her by. A sob escaped the woman's lips as Naruto moved down the line, the boy's words of comfort doing little to assuage her grief.

Genma's casket was the final one he passed, and he laid a single flower on the pile. The back of his eyes prickled, not for the first time, but mostly because he hadn't been able to avenge his friend. He had fought the man who killed Genma, but had failed.

"I'm sorry I couldn't have gotten there sooner," Naruto murmured, lingering. "I did what I could to avenge you, you know, but Kakashi probably finished the job."

If there had been one thing weighing on Naruto's mind for the past week, it had been that one failure of his. In some ways, he hoped that the jonin had survived, mostly so that Naruto could extract his revenge, both for Genma and Hayate, later. In others, he was relieved that the burden had been relieved from him by Kakashi.

"But you probably wouldn't care either way, would you, you lazy bastard?"

The thought brought a smile to his face once more, as he reached into a pocket in his black pants and retrieved a fukimi-bari.

"To think, I always thought you chewed on senbon," he offered to the dead man. He laid the mouth dart on the Special jonin's chest, idly wondering why no one had thought to do the same before him. Genma wasn't Genma without one.

His hand grasped a second dart from his pocket, and Naruto slipped the fukimi-bari into his mouth, letting it rest on the right side like he had seen Genma do countless times. It was his sole tribute to his fallen friend.

The cold metal served to wake him up a touch, and Naruto stepped away from the final casket before he started holding people up.

Three strides carried him to where Hikari and Daisuke were standing, waiting for him. Both looked sufficiently somber, but Naruto offered them a smile. Small grins broke out on each face as the blond approached, each one glad to see that Naruto was handling his first shinobi funeral well.

"You guys ready?"

"Of course, rookie."

For once, Naruto let the comment slide, simply content to stay silent.

The trio walked off in the rain, each wrapped in their own memories, but all of one state of mind.

_There's work to do_.

/~/

Darkness, nearly total, greeted him as he stepped into the main body of the prison. Though he was more than familiar with it by now, the sudden near blackness that took hold before his eyes could adjust unsettled Naruto more than he would like to admit. There was little he could do about it, however.

Human's naturally feared the dark.

The boy wondered if that was why this particular place had been chosen to act as the most secure prison in Konoha. The almost never ending shadows couldn't have had a good effect on the psyche's of any of those unfortunate to be locked up here.

Lodged deep within the Hokage Monument sat Konoha's maximum security prison. It had been built at the height of the Second Secret Shinobi War, as the village had need for a place to store its prisoners that had the ability to escape other, less equipped facilities. In peace times, the prison served to hold only the greatest of security threats before they were executed covertly. The whole facility was overseen by Root, whose headquarters were directly adjacent to the massive prison.

Naruto thought it symbolic that Konoha's greatest enemies were metaphorically watched over by its greatest heroes.

Electric blue eyes quickly adjusted to the lack of light in what was, essentially, a very large cave. Sharp sight beheld the central column of the prison, a hollowed out pillar of stone that ran from the highest point in the Monument to the ground. No light came from inside, the only light source currently being the torch lit hallway Naruto had just exited, but the blond knew perfectly well that the inside was well lit and furnished.

No light came from any of the other hallways, all of which led to the prison bays, seals inscribed in the walls only providing light when chakra signatures activated them passively.

The creepiness was not lost on Naruto, as he stood in an almost totally dark cavern that extended two hundred meters both up and down from where he stood in the center. A slight draft ruffled his hair as he glanced down into the abyss, knowing that the drop would kill him were he to take one more step.

His body likely wouldn't be found for weeks.

Steel girders were the only source of decoration in the massive cavern, each one perfectly placed and enhanced with fuuinjutsu so as to hold the inside of the mountain together in the event that it was directly targeted.

Naruto's palm pressed into rock directly to his right, and the grinding of stone sounded and echoed throughout the empty space as five slabs of slate flew up to form a walkway toward the center column. Naruto was unperturbed at the fact that the five slabs didn't even come close to the center column, being short about one hundred yards, as he stepped out.

The blonde's thoughts laid elsewhere as each piece of slate circled to the front of the short pathway the second Naruto's weight left it. The boy had no idea in hell how the designers of the prison had managed the effect, but he suspected it was some obscure combination of fuuinjutsu. _Pretty much the shinobi way of saying "Fuck you" at physics_, he mused.

The possibilities of fuuinjutsu, as Naruto knew quite well, were nigh limitless. He had been making some small strides in learning what he could about the obscure ninja art, but the going was slow. He had elected to learn what he could the hard way, by reading impossibly long tomes about the basics of the art, rather than simply learning many of the basic seals more commonly used and trying to improvise on them.

A passing wave was all he spared the bored looking Root Operators who were pulling guard duty. He recognized one of the three by face, but not the others – masks weren't worn inside Headquarters. His ID had been thoroughly vetted upon entrance to the prison, and seals on the threshold to the guard's quarters would have dispelled any techniques at work to mask his true appearance.

Danzo was a paranoid bastard, but his precautions were necessary.

Speaking of which…

"An interesting spot for a meeting, wouldn't you say?"

The old man said nothing, opting instead to keep his gaze firmly locked on the darkness of the cavernous prison.

Naruto simply waited. He knew enough about Danzo to know that he didn't particularly wish to be interrupted when in thought. The ANBU had a fairly good idea of what had captured his superior's attention, and he had no wish to broach the subject, despite the fact that it was what he was here for.

"There have been more interesting," was the delayed reply. Naruto was surprised the man had bothered to reply to the quip at all. The bandaged veteran was usually all business.

Even so, Naruto had no doubt that Danzo had held meetings in _far_ more interesting places than a prison. He had tried to do some research on the man – it was always good to have an idea of who you worked for – but had come up with nothing but the fact that he was an advisor to the Sandaime. Even _that_ had only been found thanks to Naruto's ANBU Clearance for everything up to and including A-ranked classified information.

Some might have been frustrated, but Naruto had learned a surprising amount from the _absence _of available information. Being a relative unknown in terms of readily available information spoke of an entire _career_ in the Black Ops for Danzo, and a distinguished one at that; success was necessary to have your entire identity classified beyond Top Secret. While many shinobi, himself included at times, sought wide recognition and fame, Danzo was one of the few who truly remained anonymous to anyone outside of Konoha's jonin population.

_Admirable_.

Finally, the silence became unbearably for even Naruto. "You wanted to see me, Danzo-sama?" he asked, struggling to keep the impatience out of his tone. He had been called here; being ignored for the most part was downright rude.

The veteran snorted. "The value of patience is lost on you, it seems." Naruto contained his grimace, but just barely. _I just got outta the hospital, old man. Indulge me._ "In any event," the man continued, unperturbed by Naruto's mood. "This is to be your last briefing."

Naruto only managed to contain his surprise because he was, to a certain extent, expecting it. "So soon?"

Danzo nodded. "Aye, boy. War waits for no one. You'd do well to remember that, too."

Now it was Naruto staring into the expanse of darkness. Questions sped through his mind almost too quickly to process. He had known that the situation in Kusagakure had been heating up, but he hadn't expected for Danzo's Root Operators to be shipped out so soon. With the invasion from Suna and Oto, Naruto had thought that more shinobi were needed around Konoha itself, rather than away from the village.

He asked as much of his superior.

"Otogakure is a non issue at present," Danzo explained. "Whatever skirmishes there will be can and will be handled by the standard shinobi and Hiruzen's men." Naruto took a moment to process that he was speaking of the Hokage. "Suna, however…" here Danzo's face took on a disgusted sneer. "…is in the process of lobbying for _peace_." The last word was spit as if a curse.

Naruto turned suddenly sharp eyes to the Root Commander. "And we're _accepting_?" he asked incredulously. Danzo's attitude could only have indicated as such.

"Indeed, Uzumaki. Sunagakure claims to have been duped by Orochimaru, and their Kazekage killed and replaced."The audible sneer in Danzo's voice remained, and Naruto couldn't blame him. Suna had willingly attacked Konoha, regardless of why. Even if their Kazekage _had_ been killed, the village had still knowingly attacked an ally, and Orochimaru couldn't have gotten so close to the Kazekage in the first place if the man hadn't been interested in what the Snake Sannin had to say.

Even without the compelling arguments against Suna's proposed "innocence", they were weak at present, having lost many quality shinobi in the invasion, and it presented a golden opportunity for Konoha to sweep in and firmly take control of what was, by all rights, a hostile village. Even if the higher ups decided against razing Sunagakure to the ground, concessions, and big ones, could be forced with much to gain for Konoha and the Land of Fire.

To see such a village begging, for that was what they had to have been doing, for a peace agreement, one that Naruto knew Konoha would likely accept, left the taste of ashes in his mouth. What had his friends and comrades died for if the village that they had died fighting lived to fight another day? And without Konoha taking concessions, as was clearly suggested by Danzo's tone?

It was infuriating.

Danzo took a moment to observe the young ANBU, inwardly pleased with the reaction. It was refreshing to see someone in the newest generation share his feelings of patriotism for Konoha. Regardless of how he would work with Sarutobi in order to preserve Konoha's future, the man made decisions that had Danzo wanting to plant a kunai in his brain. Sure, Hiruzen had made good points about a long term ally that could be had in Suna if Konoha helped the humiliated village, but Konoha needed concessions and resources _now_.

The village had been damaged heavily in the invasion, and had lost many of its shinobi. With a covert war ready to be set in motion, the village needed any and all shinobi and resources available to it in order to maintain its place as the strongest of the Great Five.

Danzo had no illusions about Konoha's perilous position as the top dog in the shinobi world. It was a place that had been contested in all three Shinobi Wars, and the old war hawk knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that another village would quickly usurp the position given the opportunity. He was, of course, worried about Kumogakure and its rapid militarization – information, ironically, brought to his attention by the boy standing next to him.

The strength of a Hidden Village was determined almost entirely by the amount of missions it took, and that was influenced by a number of things, not the least of which was reputation among the vultures of the world who paid for high level missions. The appearance of strength to those who paid for such high level missions was almost as important as actually having the strength to back it up. Weakness, even if only perceived, translated into fewer missions and less revenue for the village as a whole, and there was no doubt that this latest development had Konoha looking weak.

Where a swift retaliation against both Suna and Oto would have firmly established Konoha's dominance in the shinobi world, even in its weakened state, a fairly negotiated and even peace treaty accomplished exactly the opposite. It made it look like Konoha was hurting from the two pronged invasion, and was desperate for allies, even a weakened one like Suna.

Danzo had no doubt that Kumo would capitalize on that fact, quickly asserting itself as top dog. That was not something Danzo wanted to be a part of.

And it appeared that his subordinate agreed, even if not for the exact same reasons.

"Calm yourself, Uzumaki, our…situation… with Sunagakure is not your concern at present," was all the advisor offered.

Naruto visibly calmed himself, taking a single breath that left him as impassive as stone. Danzo hid a smirk, the boy had been trained well.

"When do I ship out?"

"Two days from now," Danzo replied. "You will be assigned to a bodyguard mission for a single client travelling to Waterfall Country. Obviously, that will not be the objective. You will rendezvous with the assigned division of two hundred Operators and proceed into Kusa no Kuni when the Division is fully assembled in two week's time."

Naruto nodded, the protocol for his entrance into Kusa long since memorized. "Further rendezvous at strategic outposts along the Hi and Kusa border with the established resistance. Primary mission is the return of Kusagakure to the influence of Konohagakure no Sato. All actions deemed necessary are to be taken in achieving the primary mission, and full discretion is demanded. Konohagakure cannot and will not be implicitly linked to any involvement in Kusa no Kuni," the boy recited from memory.

He knew his mission.

Danzo gave the young ANBU a curt nod. "You will, of course, not be allowed to discuss the parameters of this mission with anyone, even your ANBU squad-mates. This operation is designated S-class, and the appropriate secrecy measures must be enforced. All significant persons in contact with you will be informed of your long term absence."

Naruto turned his eyes downward at the reaffirmation of the total secrecy of this mission. He would have liked nothing more than to tell Hikari and Daisuke, and he hated being separated from his friends. Especially after the loss of their captain, Epsilon Squad didn't need to be broken up even more.

A wave of determination swept through him at the thought, however. He had his duty, and he knew that his teammates would do theirs were they in his place.

"Will that be all, Danzo-sama?" he asked, firmly reverted to his professional mode.

"Your bodyguard mission leaves from the Northern Gate in two day's time. Full details will be provided tomorrow in the Hokage's office as per standard protocol," the Root Commander said blandly, as if he were reciting from a scroll. "May the Will of Fire burn brightly with you, Operator. Dismissed."

Naruto snapped off a quick salute, before turning neatly on his heel and exiting the way he had come in. The sound of stones grinding met his ears as the walkway shifted into place, but he paid it no heed.

Darkness enveloped his form as he stepped into the abyss.

/~/


	11. Chapter 10: Hell is Other People

**First ten chapters have been edited and reworked in some spots. I encourage anyone with the time to go back for a reread, as it will be vastly more enjoyable. My writing quality has jumped quite a bit.**

/~/

The crowding around the Administrative building was obscene. Vendors from all of Fire Country had erected stalls with which they peddled their wares to Konoha's general populace. The usually calmer, if still bustling, center of Konoha was crawling with life as patrons, many of whom came from well outside the village walls, fluttered from vendor to vendor blowing away their money on bargain prices and souvenirs. The noise of the hundreds of crowded tourists and villagers easily reached the numerous training grounds, and filled the rest of the village proper with a tangible hum of anticipation.

Red banners hung from all sides, all the walls of buildings bordering the gaping plaza covered with Fire Country's favorite color. The emblem of the nation hung proudly from every tapestry, Konoha's "Will of Fire" motto clearly emblazoned just below.

With his chunin vest donned, his perfectly pressed navy fatigues underneath, Naruto looked the part of Konoha shinobi to a tee. His headband gleamed in the bright sunlight of the beautiful day, a sight many were attributing to the heavens smiling upon Konoha and her new Kage.

"So much fanfare," the blond boy remarked under his breath. It was an unnecessary gesture. No one would have heard him anyway; such was the level of noise. He could barely even hear himself think.

Wisely, Naruto had kept himself clear of the Administrative Building and its surrounding plaza all day. He wanted no part of the festivities that were taking place. He wouldn't have even been in his fatigues had it not been a direct order from the Hokage's office that all active duty shinobi were to be in their finest military garb.

It was days like today that truly showed just how many shinobi Konoha really had. Naruto had never truly thought about the numerical value of his village's ninja, but now that it was in his brain, the estimation was somewhere in the thousands. And the blond had no idea just how many thousand there were.

For, while many civilians flocked to the center of the village, most, if not all of the shinobi and kunoichi who weren't on guard duty stayed away. Naruto had never passed so many green flak vests in his life. _How many are jonin?_ he wondered absently. Just how many Konoha shinobi had obtained the rank that had driven Naruto to excellence in his early years?

"I'll be one of them soon enough," he promised himself. _Just gotta survive a war_.

As much as his end goal still pushed him to excel, it was constantly being overshadowed by the looming specter of the Kusagakure situation. Naruto had received his orders, and shipped out in one day. He had only gotten his orders the day before, but it felt like an eternity to the young ANBU.

Originally, the thought of putting all of his affairs in order before leaving would take up every waking second of his time. But then, he had come to the rather depressing realization that he had very few affairs that needed tending to.

His bank account was being managed, and would receive regular payments even whilst he was on the front lines. The only change would be the large influx of money he would get from the sale of his apartment – he had no need for it for as long as the war was going on.

Those were the two most pressing concerns, and Naruto was forced to acknowledge that, in his mad charge through the ranks and into ANBU, he hadn't stopped along the way to make many friends. He had dozens of acquaintances, people he ran missions with from time to time, people he trained with from time to time. But few real friends. No one who would miss him enough to warrant a goodbye.

The most he had were Hikari and Daisuke. And both of them were busy with containment on the borders of Fire Country while the situation with Otogakure fizzled.

His old chunin team was all dead, and he had no one his own age with whom he could just hang out with. Mai from the Archive was his closest non-shinobi acquaintance, and Naruto was far from naïve enough to believe she saw him as anything more than a mildly cute little boy who frequented her workplace. She enjoyed teasing him, true, and was never one to say no to a conversation, but the blond was of the firm belief that it was more out of general compassion than any affection. He could consider them friends, but she was far too wrapped up in her civilian life these days to pay much attention to him.

It was a solitary life when you blazed through the ranks without stopping to appreciate everyone and everything around you, Naruto realized depressingly.

_Or even _any_one or anything_…

A sigh slipped past his lips almost silently just as Naruto mechanically pushed the flaps to Ichiraku Ramen back and stepped in. The all-permeating smell of fresh ramen assaulted his nostrils with a vengeance, and even as melancholy as he was, the blond couldn't help but smile. "God, I love this place," he murmured, moving to take a seat at the bar. To his right, a blond girl was arguing with her pink haired friend, but he paid them no heed as he plopped himself down in his customary spot with a cry of "Teuchi-san!"

The owner of his favorite place stepped out from the back obediently, and the middle aged merchant's face split into a grin at the sight of an old customer. "Naruto! It's been a while, hasn't it? What can I do for ya?"

"You still remember my usual?" the ANBU asked cheekily.

"Tch! As if I could ever forget it, what with how many times you've ordered it," Teuchi laughed. He wrote a few words on a small slip of paper, clipped it to a pin hanging from a thin wire, and sent it flying away to the kitchen with a flick of his wrist. "Two miso ramen coming right up."

"Thanks, old man. How ya been?"

Ichiraku shrugged. "Not bad, not bad. Expansion plans pluggin' along. Business's been pretty good too."

Naruto's smile couldn't fade. "Good to hear. Wouldn't want this ol' place closing down on me."

"Ha! Back in the old days you could've kept me and Ayame afloat on your own, Naruto," Teuchi bellowed. The man's good humor had always been a source of smiles for Naruto as a child.

"And how is Ayame-chan?" the blond asked quickly, looking to avoid any uncomfortable mentions of how he hadn't been around for a while.

Old man Ichiraku chuckled. "Down at the Administrative Plaza, spending all my hard earned money no doubt. She's alright, I suppose. Not been around so much either." A disgusted look crossed the man's normally cheerful face. "Got herself a _boyfriend_."

_Guess pops doesn't approve. _Naruto couldn't help the laugh that burst past his lips. "He stealing her away?" he asked jokingly.

Teuchi nodded seriously. "Hardly ever see her when she's not working anymore. Always gone on weekends." The merchant's eyes lit up. "Say, Naruto, you're a pretty good shinobi right?"

The blond rolled his eyes as he caught on to the man's thinking, holding up a hand. "Sorry, old man, any and all assassination missions gotta be taken to the Hokage."

"Think he'd go for it?"

"Don't think so."

Teuchi shrugged helplessly, and Naruto gave the man a pat on the shoulder. "Don't worry, old man. Sure it'll all work out for you."

Ichiraku rolled his eyes at Naruto's fake concern. "Oh, be quiet, kiddo. I'll go check on your ramen."

Naruto just smiled innocently as he watched the old man disappear into the kitchen. He reappeared a moment later with two steaming bowls of the best food on earth. A muffled "Thank you" was all Teuchi got as Naruto tucked in with fervor.

As the blond happily slurped his noodles, he couldn't help but glance over at the two girls he had passed on his way to his spot. One eyebrow rose as he took in their arguing forms. _You've gotta be kidding me._

The blonde was none other than one of the three genin Naruto had escorted from the Grand Fire Arena during the Battle of the Chunin Exams, as it was being called. _Yamanaka Ino_, he recalled after a moment of thought. She and her counterparts had been a handful, but far from incompetent during the battle. Save for a few missteps, they had done admirably – for genin.

His ears twitched as he overheard the blond call the girl Haruno. _Tch, who would'a thought. Daisuke's little cousin sitting next to me eating lunch._

The debate as to whether to go make conversation with two girls was neatly solved as the pink haired girl – who had been facing away from Naruto – whirled and pinned him with a searching stare.

His chopsticks froze halfway to his mouth and the second eyebrow joined the first near Naruto's hairline. "Can I help you?" he deadpanned when the girl didn't turn away. The blond couldn't help his self-satisfied grin when she flushed scarlet.

She sputtered for a moment, obviously off guard at being addressed. _She's staring at me. What can she expect?_ Naruto wondered.

"Um…well, I was wondering if you were a chunin…" the pink haired girl finished lamely. Her blond friend shook her head in exasperation as Naruto snorted indelicately.

He looked down at himself, eyes drinking in the form of his standard shinobi pants, shirt, and flak vest. A vest that was only handed out to those who obtained chunin rank. "Yes. Yes I am," he said flatly. _And that's not what you were thinking about_.

"But you're so young!" the girl burst out.

Naruto considered patiently explaining his situation to the girl, but a glance at the giggling Yamanaka – who clearly didn't feel like taking pity on the girl – changed his mind. "Yes I am. Thirteen, in fact," he said pompously.

"But then you're only a year older than us," she exclaimed, referencing her friend as well. "And I know you weren't in this last exam. How…"

_Seriously_…"Reserve grad." _Do I really have to tell Daisuke you're stupid? C'mon now._

Understanding flitted across the girl's face before being replaced by dismissal. "Ah." She turned back to the Yamanaka without a word, and Naruto couldn't help the swelling of anger in his gut.

Being a graduate of the Reserve Corps carried a weight with it, a weight of lowered expectations of failed Academy Graduates. It was stigma that Naruto wasn't particularly used to, given his age, recognized talent, and position in ANBU, and the blond found that being dismissed out of hand wasn't a fun experience.

He turned back to his ramen, mood soured, only to overhear the pink haired girl muttering to her friend. "I don't know what you're thinking, Piggy. There's no way that guy can be all that tough. You heard him, he's a Reserve Graduate. That means he couldn't pass his jonin's test. Konohamaru's probably tougher than him, not to mention Neji or Sasuke-kun."

_Oh she did not just _– Being overlooked was something Naruto could deal with. Being dismissed as a Reserve Graduate was something he could deal with. Not happily, but he could deal with it.

Being unfavorably compared to a bunch of genin who didn't even graduate from the Academy early was _not_ something he could deal with.

"Four," he said loudly enough for the two girls to hear. His voice was cold as ice, and the two girls' attention was grabbed.

"Excuse me?" the pink haired Haruno – _Sakura_, he remembered – asked.

"Four. The number of jonin I've killed in the past three years. The first was when I was eleven," Naruto bit out. "How many have you killed, Sakura-san?"

The pink haired girl blinked in abject disbelief at the number, before confusion settled over her. "What? But that's –"

"Ridiculous?" Naruto cut her off. "Asinine? Absurd? Completely unbelievable that a _Reserve Graduate_ could manage to kill four jonin? You have a cousin name Daisuke, am I right?" He didn't wait for her to answer. "He's a reserve graduate. Do you think he's not as tough as all you're little friends?"

Sakura blinked. "But that's not – I'm not…How do you know Daisuke?" she finally settled on.

"We run missions together," he said simply. _Wait for it_…

"But Daisuke's an…" the girl trailed off as her eyes widened in realization.

Naruto just sneered. _Suck on that one for a little while_. He was tempted to pull back his sleeve, wipe off the makeup and reveal his tattoo just to deliver the coup de grace, but the idea of breaking protocol that blatantly held him back. ANBU identities weren't classified S-rank, but they were _encouraged_ not to reveal themselves to any who weren't close family. He was already walking on thin ice by indirectly compromising himself.

"Money's on the counter, Teuchi-san," the blond called, his gaze shifting to the flaps that hid the kitchen from view. A pang of disappointment shot through him, knowing that he wouldn't be back at the homey little stand for months, if not years.

"Have a good one, Naruto!" he heard, and dropped from his stool and made his way to the exit.

He held the flaps open with one arm and turned back to the two genin kunoichi with a cold gaze. "Think before you insult someone you don't know next time," he quipped icily, taking no small amount of satisfaction in Sakura's mortified flush as she realized just what caliber of shinobi she had insulted. Her friend, the Yamanaka, looked to be caught in the middle between a similar humiliation, exasperation at her friend, and humor at the situation in general. The blond ANBU paid it no mind as he strode out of the stall with purpose.

He made it ten steps in the direction of the Administrative Plaza and its fanfare before a hand on his shoulder and a called "Wait up!" halted him in his tracks.

Naruto tensed, refraining from gripping the offending appendage and tossing its owner over his shoulder. He turned quickly, eyes widening slightly in surprise as he took in the irritated looking Yamanaka Ino before narrowing in suspicion.

"You got ears, buddy?" she asked snidely. "Been telling you to stop since you left the stand."

Naruto snorted. "Guess not. What do you want? Come to apologize for your friend?"

"Tch, hardly," Ino scoffed indelicately. "You might'a been way harsh back there, but stupid Sakura was the one who insulted you to begin with."

The ANBU gave her a flat stare, not quite believing her but letting the point slide. _Some friend_. "So…what _do_ you want?" The boy had the pleasure of seeing the blond Yamanaka look uncomfortable for a second before she composed herself.

"I…I wanted to say thanks," she began. "Y'know, for saving me and my friends back during the battle. We were done for before you showed up and…well…" Ino trailed off, a blush marring her pretty face.

Naruto decided to take pity on her. "I was just doing what anyone else would'a done – Ow! The hell was that for?" he asked incredulously, grabbing his upper arm where the girl had slapped him.

"Don't gimme that platitude shit!" the blonde burst out, glaring at him as if he had offended her. "I get that crap from the Academy instructors and my jonin sensei. All that 'help your comrades' talk doesn't mean shit when there's a war going on. Three squads passed us down in that arena and didn't do anything. You got us outta there."

Naruto blinked twice, digesting the sincerity in the girl's words. It wasn't every day that he got thanked for doing his job. "Well…you're welcome I guess." Recognizing the risk of descending into an awkward silence, he continued, "Just doing my job, really."

He was rewarded by Ino's eyes snapping to his in a glare. The harsh expression melted when she saw his smirk. "I should hit you again," she threatened.

"Ha! Can't believe you actually did the first time," Naruto chuckled, shaking his head at his fellow blond.

She puffed herself up. "Yeah, well, you deserved it!"

"Did I really?"

"Oh yeah!" Ino nodded. "You mean you go around tossing out bullshit lines like that and don't expect people to call you on it?"

_Since when are the ideals we hold above us bullshit lines_? Naruto wondered. "I don't expect to get hit for it, I'll tell you that."

"Well you should."

"Why? You gonna be stalking me, waiting for an opportunity to slap me?" the ANBU quipped. Somewhere in the midst of their conversation, Naruto had resumed his walk towards the center of the village and Ino had fallen into step beside him.

"Maybe I will."

Naruto laughed outright. "I can be tough to find if I wanna be."

"Please, it's not that tough." Ino rolled her eyes.

"Oh?"

"I found you at the ramen stand, didn't I?" The girl's face was completely serious, prompting Naruto to roll his own eyes at her intransigence.

They fell into silence for a few moments, before Ino spoke up once more. "Seriously though, thank you. From all three of us."

Naruto shrugged in discomfort. "You're welcome, again. But like I said, it wasn't a problem."

Ino scoffed. "Yeah. Sure looked like a problem when you were tangling with those two Suna guys…"

The teenage ANBU grimaced in remembrance of the fight. "Yeah, I guess. I was a bit over my head with that one. Nearly had both of 'em though, and I got one in the end." A scowl passed over his features as he remembered his failure to kill the masked jonin who had killed both Hayate and Genma. _I wonder if Kakashi dealt with him_?

He noticed his companion shudder slightly out of the corner of his eye. "It was crazy," she whispered. "You were fighting that first guy, and he was a _jonin_, and then the second one came in…"

_She's never seen that kind of high level combat_, Naruto realized. "When did you graduate?"

"Huh?"

"The Academy," he clarified. "How long ago?"

The Yamanaka shrugged. "Six, seven months or so. Why?"

Naruto couldn't help his eyebrows shooting towards his hairline. _Genin for six months and her instructor nominated her_? That didn't happen much. "Well, you've only been a kunoichi for that long, right? You'll get used to that kind'a fighting after a while. And you've got some time before you'll have to fight jonin on your own."

"But you're barely older than me!" she exclaimed, echoing her friend from earlier. Naruto just shrugged helplessly.

"I graduated early and failed my jonin's test. I've been running missions for three years now, and that's a lot of experience."

"Tch, not _that_ much," Ino muttered. "I know guys three years older than you who can't do what you did."

"Eh, I'm special," Naruto quipped, drawing an exasperated glare and a snort.

"Not the word I'd use."

"And what word is that?"

"Douche-bag," Ino deadpanned. Naruto couldn't help his snort.

"Please, tell me how you really feel. And you barely know me!" A look of deep offense was plastered on the boy's face.

"I know enough."

"And does that mean I know enough to call you a bitch?" the ANBU asked. He raised an eyebrow when the girl only shrugged.

"Sure, I guess."

"And that doesn't, I dunno…offend you at all?"

"I am a bitch," Ino said simply, tossing Naruto a look that told him quite clearly that he'd have to do better if he wanted to offend her.

He blinked. "Well alright then."

"Glad we cleared that up."

"Same." Naruto nodded, shaking his head a little at the turn the conversation had taken. _She's weird_…

A sudden increase in noise told the boy that they had reached the Administrative Plaza. The dozens of red banners flapped gently in the breeze, and Naruto shook his head for what had to be the tenth time that day.

"I've never seen all these people," Ino breathed, looking in awe at the hundreds of bodies crammed into the plaza waiting for the inauguration to begin.

"Same. No idea where the hell they all came from," Naruto said.

Ino turned to him and opened her mouth before closing it again. "Um…I gotta run. My dad's around here somewhere and I told him I'd find him."

Naruto nodded, mildly disappointed. "Gotcha."

"Will I be seeing you around?"

The blond ANBU barely contained his wince. "Yeah, probably not. I leave tomorrow on a long term mission. Outpost duty near the border of Lightning Country." That was the official cover story Root was running with in regards to the covert, S-class mission. Nobody questioned outpost duty. They just winced in sympathy and wished you luck and a speedy return.

Ino's face creased in what looked like disappointment for a moment, before it was gone behind smile. "Well whenever you get back, look me up. I'll be around."

"I'll do that."

"See you soon, douche-bag," was Ino's parting shot. She waved cheekily at him as she turned and pushed her way into the crowd and out of Naruto's sight.

"You too, bitch," he muttered.

Naruto pushed his own way into the crowd, wandering aimlessly for a few minutes and taking in the sights and sounds. Not being a tourist, there wasn't much to do other than bounce from stall to stall, and unlike all the other shinobi standing around in the plaza, he had no desire to mingle.

His desire to do much of anything was being sapped the closer he got to the inevitable. He would be at war in twenty four hours.

A sudden hush coming over the crowd derailed his train of thought, and Naruto turned his eyes upwards to the ledge that extended from the Administrative Building. His sharp eyes found the form of Sarutobi, clad in black undergarments covered by a white robe that fell to his ankles. The Hokage's hat was clasped tightly in his hands and on display for all to see.

"Citizens of Konohagakure and Hi no Kuni," the Sandaime boomed, his voice amplified to be heard all throughout the village. "It was on a day, not so very different than this one, that my master Senju Tobirama gave me the honor of being this great village's Hokage. Since then, the times and the world we live in have changed. It has been the greatest honor of my long life, to have served as the leader of Konohagakure and its people for as long as I have, but as the world changes around us, so too do we."

"It is because of this that I am here before you today, to introduce my successor."

A beautiful blond woman stepped forth from the shadows of the building and out onto the ledge. A severe expression rested on her young face as she surveyed the assembled masses before a small, almost sardonic smile spread across full lips.

Sarutobi extended his hand, the Hokage's hat outstretched. Tsunade spared it a glance as she passed her sensei by, and snatched it up with a grin before placing it on her head with a flourish.

"I introduce to you the granddaughter of the Shodai, the grandniece of the Nidaime, and my own student: Senju Tsunade, the Godaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato!"

And in the center of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, following the single most devastating direct attack the village had ever endured, amidst the start of a covert undertaking that would change the face of the Elemental Nations, the crowd roared its approval.

Naruto could only shake his head in silence. After a moment he turned his back on the crowd, on the great building, and on his new Hokage, and walked the other way.

He had a war to fight.

/~/

Low-lying mist covered the wet ground as sunlight peeked over the treetops; bright orange and yellow contrasting with the deep green of the high leaves, looking for all the world like a great fire in the distance. The play of light off the mist served to give the morning an eerie look to it, but the citizens of Northern Fire Country, Southern Waterfall Country, and Easter Grass Country were all used to it by now. Such things were the norm, and each and every one of them was looking forward to the warmth of the sun to chase away the coolness of night.

In a mist blanketed – the water vapor unusually thick – clearing miles from true civilization, Uzumaki Naruto didn't care about any of it.

He was annoyed. Very annoyed, really.

In retrospect, he shouldn't be all that surprised that Danzo would spontaneously change his plans. But then, it wasn't really a change in plans at all. It was just a change in how much Naruto _knew_about the plans.

He wasn't exactly sure why he had even bothered to believe the scarred man's words about rendezvousing with the rest of the operators. As the leader of Konoha's leading covert organization, not to mention a politician, bullshit was Danzo's area of expertise. That and having some two hundred covert operatives meeting in one spot didn't make all that much sense.

It didn't stop the irritation, however.

His four man "escort team" had received coded instructions when they had checked in at the border of Waterfall country, directing them to split up and giving a set of coordinates for them to reach individually. From there, Naruto received another set of coordinates to reach, those of a dead drop point in far eastern Grass Country, and had picked up _yet another_set of coordinates.

That had been two days ago, and so far he had been directed to this clearing.

And so he waited.

Not in the clearing, of course – such a thing would be idiotic – but in one of the nearby trees, his body, already clad in forest colors, concealed by the thick branches and leaves.

Any half decent ninja looking for him would be able to find him, but then he wasn't really hiding. He had scanned the clearing five times, the last four with chakra, and had found no evidence of any drop point for further instructions. He figured, then, that whoever he was supposed to eventually meet would find him, rather than the other way around.

It could, of course, be a trap, but he didn't think so. Danzo, bullshitter extraordinaire that he was, was excessively paranoid. He had to be, and "better safe than sorry" was pretty much the motto of covert ops.

And so he waited.

He wasn't totally idle, however. The environment surrounding him gave him the perfect cover for his own brand of mist, and soon enough, chakra laden water vapor extended from him to over one hundred meters in each and every direction.

Naruto might not be explicitly hiding, but he'd be damned if he was caught off guard.

He wasn't disappointed.

Naruto felt their approach the moment they crossed into his mist. There were two of them, and he noticed with some small approval that they slowed down once they crossed the threshold of his awareness. Despite his layering and structuring of the mist to make it as natural as possible, his guests were still able to detect his chakra.

_They're good_. _But I'm good too_.

The duo broke off and moved in a standard looping pattern around the clearing they no doubt assumed he was in, so as to arrive at the same time.

_Typical pincer maneuver. Simple, but effective in most situations and against most opponents_, he thought clinically.

All of a sudden, he sighed, remembering his first day with Team Raido from so many years ago. Just as it was then, there was to be a test of his mettle now, just to make sure that he _did_, in fact, belong with highly trained covert operatives. Such a situation demanded it.

_Best get it over with_, Naruto thought with a combination of amusement and annoyance.

He formed a single hand seal, and appeared in the clearing below without a sound.

The sound of metal on metal – sudden though it was – was muffled through the mist, but it was heard nonetheless. Naruto, left hand firmly grasping his kunai, stood deadlocked with his attacker, a short blade that had appeared from the man's right sleeve grinding against Naruto's knife.

The man wasn't very tall, about average height, with hazel eyes and a forgettable face. Sandy blond hair topped his head, though Naruto could barely make it out through the mist and the black bandana the man wore. He was right handed, though the faint calluses on his left hand indicated trained ambidexterity. The man was well built for a shinobi, his form more muscled than many, indicating a close range combat specialist. A baggy green shirt, long sleeved and shinobi grade, likely concealing more weapons of the sharp and pointy variety lent itself to Naruto's theory.

Naruto processed the man's appearance in six tenths of a second, as long as it took to blink.

It wasn't a moment too soon, as a second concealed blade leapt from its hiding place up the man's same sleeve towards Naruto's left eye. The teen simply adjusted the grip of his kunai, redirecting his hand to intercept the weapon with the plated back of his fingered glove. The steel glanced off satisfyingly, and Naruto decided that being less than a foot from a close combat specialist wasn't in his best interests.

Lightning fast footwork had him five meters from the attacker in the blink of an eye, but the man was far from deterred. The second blade retracting from the man's right sleeve, a hand finally appeared to grasp the first, a short sword, and the nondescript shinobi charged.

He was surprisingly swift, but Naruto had been trained to expect handle surprises.

As the man entered his space, Naruto planted his right foot and used chakra to halt his backward momentum. He gritted his teeth as he pulled to an immediate stop, the tendons in his right leg screaming at him. It had the desired effect, however, as the charging man was in no position to stop his own movement, and was too close for it to have even had an effect had he been able to.

Naruto casually batted aside the desperate stab, moving inside the man's guard in a split second to press his advantage. His right hand brutally grasped the man's neck while chakra reversed the impressive speed, subjecting the attacker to a devastatingly disorienting momentum change as Naruto torqued his body to plant the man head first into the ground.

He didn't stop to admire the sight.

The distinctive whistle of a blade through the air was caught by Naruto's ears as the second attacker made his presence known with a stab to Naruto's back. Steel pierced flesh and the attacker stopped dead as the boy did nothing to stop his katana. Shock registered for a moment on the masked face – they weren't supposed to _kill_the boy – before it was replaced by trepidation as the body slowly crumbled to mud.

A nearly silent whistle grabbed his attention, and the emotion didn't have time to hold for long as the man hastily clapped his right hand to his left shoulder. He removed a fukimi-bari lodged in a nerve cluster. The sound of teeth grinding filled the silence as the arm drooped, the nerves deadened.

Naruto – the real one, who had never left his tree – burst from the foliage in a blur of green and brown as he moved to make quick work of the second attacker.

The man – just as nondescript as the last – pivoted quickly to bring his right arm, his good one, to bear in a decapitating cross slash. Naruto didn't let him finish.

Weighed down by the dead weight that was his left arm, the man was slower to bring the blade across, and Naruto took advantage without remorse. Naruto moved inside his guard swiftly, and the young ANBU halted the slash by stopping the man's wrist, before grabbing and twisting the offending appendage, divesting the man of his blade with a quick grab.

A simple shove had the man off balance, and Naruto palmed the stolen katana at the blade, his mesh gloved protecting his hand, and brought it across the man's temple with blinding speed. The shinobi dropped like a corpse, unconscious.

Naruto stepped back to survey the damage done to the clearing, noting with some satisfaction that there was little. The fight had been short but brutal, with the only real casualty the Tsuchi Bushin he had placed in the clearing to deal with whatever test his new allies would throw at him.

He had, no doubt, passed with flying colors.

It was a little disappointing, really. _Hope these two jokers are just grunts_. _Don't wanna be working with guys who can get beat so easily_. Naruto knew he was pretty good – brilliant for his age, even – but two trained covert operators shouldn't be taken down so easily, especially when they held a numerical advantage.

Their tactics had been simple, their attacks predictable, and Naruto had picked them apart without even breaking a sweat.

The teenage ANBU moved to sit down against a nearby tree, undoubtedly to wait for his two guests to wake up, but halted. Or rather, he found that he couldn't move. His arms and legs were all locked in position, a rather annoying one given that he was halfway sitting in midair, and he couldn't move his neck.

A quick flick of his eyes, about all he was capable of, told him that his shadow was positioned directly in front of him, the sun at his back, and that a thin strand of black led backwards from it to some unknown person.

_Nara_, he thought with certainty, annoyed with his capture but inwardly impressed with whoever had managed to snare him. Not only had they managed to sneak up on him, using the battle to cover their entrance ad hide from his awareness, but they had immobilized him in a weak position, where even if he somehow managed to break the hold, he would be hard pressed to make any strong attack.

_This guy's good_.

"A shinobi waits until the cover of darkness to strike at the enemy's weakness," a feminine voice spoke from behind Naruto. A smile broke across his face at both the code and the voice. No matter how many times he encountered it, he never expected to meet female operatives.

"Such things are easily forgotten," he replied in kind, nearly smirking at his return phrase. _Whoever came up with this one got it right_, he thought with satisfaction. Simple passwords were always the best, but having a convoluted start – like this one – could easily throw off an imposter, planting a seed of doubt in their mind as to whether their information was correct. In one of his many sets of instructions, his return phrase had been hidden. The notes had not explicitly told him what the start of the password was, only that it would be the first words out of his contact's mouth.

It likely would have been confusing to an imposter, and that was the whole idea.

Naruto suddenly found himself straightening from his nearly sitting position, the motion awkward, before he turned of someone else's volition. He found himself facing a tree, but a glance out of the corner of his right eye revealed a profile his captor, hands loosely held at her sides.

The woman must've been around twenty. She was attractive, he supposed, if a bit harsh in her features – certainly no fault of her own and only accentuated by her profession. Or, at least, what he knew of her profession. Weapons pouches and calloused hands indicated a weapons' specialist, a theory given credence by her relatively low levels of chakra and twin scars around her thumb and index finger. _Wire trained_, he mused.

Inky black hair was pulled back into an efficient knot and held together by twin senbon needles. Piercing green eyes peered out of a pale face given character through a chin that was just a tad too prominent. She was pretty in a striking way, Naruto decided, if not someone who would immediately be called beautiful.

The thirteen year old bit back a laugh as he assessed the path of his thoughts. _Goddamn hormones_, he mentally groused. He was barely a few days into a mission that would likely change the very fabric of the Elemental Countries' political climate, and he was checking out some kunoichi he didn't even know.

_Be mindful of your thoughts, Naruto, they drive you to distraction. Concentration is central to a shinobi's success_, the voice of Fuu spoke through his thoughts.

_Yes, sensei_, he mentally responded.

He felt his left arm rising to his right shoulder, pulling back the fabric of his green tee-shirt to reveal his purple ANBU tattoo. Abruptly, the trademark jutsu of the Nara clan receded, leaving Naruto to face his contact fully for the first time.

Emerald locked with sky blue for a moment, and Naruto fully assessed the woman.

_Five foot five, one hundred pounds even, aged eighteen to twenty four; calluses firmer on left hand, trained ambidexterity; minimal scarring, long range specialist; three weapons pouches, thin scars on left and right index and thumb, weapons specialist trained with wire; concealed wakizashi in left boot, tanto hidden in hip pouch…assassin._

He blinked as he processed the information he gained by sight alone, idly wondering at the potency of an assassin who could immobilize her targets. Naruto smiled, this was someone he could work with.

"Fuka?" she asked, though it was more confirmation than question.

Naruto blinked at the name, recognizing it easily. "I take it you're my contact." _Same is for Naruto and Fuka is for Same_, he reminded himself. Danzo had apparently decided that having a codename close to his ANBU identity would make life easier for him.

She nodded curtly, offering nothing in return, and moved brusquely into the clearing where Naruto's two attackers still lay unconscious. The boy's eyes widened as she withdrew her wakizashi from her boot and calmly inserted it between the cervical vertebrae of Naruto's second attacker, separating the spine and killing him soundlessly.

"Wha-" Naruto started, utterly shocked by the casual brutality the woman showed towards her two comrades.

The unnamed Nara lifted her head to glance at him, registering his state as she moved to do the same to the first man. "These men were paid criminals who were contracted by Konoha at the onset of this operation. They knew the layout of Kusa no Kuni better than any intelligence that we could have come by, and were thus useful."

She offered no more as she killed the first attacker with as much emotion as she had the second, leaving Naruto to piece together the unsaid words and macabre undertones. Apparently, these two had outlived whatever usefulness they had originally possessed, and Konoha had no wish to pay them what they were owed.

A simple, brutal mindset. No longer useful, the two had fulfilled one final purpose, testing him, and were granted a quick death.

The unnamed woman finished a quick seal sequence and stuck her palms to the ground. The two corpses were swallowed by living earth in an instant, never to be seen again.

Naruto wondered with trepidation how many others had gone that way already, and how many more were still to come.

The Nara strode past him, seemingly uncaring for his state of mind. "Come." She moved into the tree line and upward into the branches, expecting him to follow.

The blond spared one final look at the new graveyard, shook his head, and did just that.

_I miss standard ops_, he thought morosely, wondering what exactly he had gotten himself into.

/~/

**AN: Lolwut? An update? Been a while, been stuck on what to write, and finally settled on this. Don't have a time frame for updates unfortunately, but hopefully I've gotten some of my writing muse back for this baby.**

**As always,**

**I'm so pro...**


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