Disclaimer: I own nothing. Everything belongs to Misashi Kishimoto

Author's Note: Hello everyone. This is my first time writing fanfiction so please help me out by pointing out grammar errors and perhaps suggest some things to help the story flow. Since it's my first time I may rewrite the story since I want this idea to go far. Not as in having alot of favorites or follows, I just want it to be a good story. Anyway I've changed alot of things before the the beginning of the original which will be explained in the background. This has a Naruto and Hinata pairing but very little actual romance (they're only twelve) and mostly a very close friendship.

Background: After a brutal encounter with a fellow Konoha shinobi a five-year old Naruto is given to his mother's relatives. They train him for four years but tragedy strikes leaving Naruto alone. One year later, he returns to Konoha an entirely different person...

Six years later after the Kyuubi, the Nanabi attacks being revived after a mistake by the Akatsuki in the early capture attempt of Fuu the previous jinchuuriki. The damage is worse than before and the loss of Hiashi Hyuuga has left one of the strongest clans in Konoha leaderless along with Konoha desperate for manpower. Expecially when the Uchiha clan massacre follows allowing a ten-year old Naruto to become Konoha's weapon.

Edit: Basically rewrote the thing with some extra details so it flows better. Released with Chapter 13.

Prologue

A lonely shadow sat in the nearby tree, gazing at the young academy students in the yard. His single blue eye bore onto the easy, innocent smiles of the kids in his age group, the ones graduating later this day. He could not help but think that he made the right choice just by watching them.

The shadow ran a hand over his mask, wondering if he would be allowed to intergrate with them. He wanted to meet her, the one who was like him. Judging by the talks from the higher ups, the girl was a Hyuuga and also his age. She was only referred to as the Hyuuga's jinchuuriki, that child, and even demon or monster which gave him a sick feeling in his stomach. It unerved him that just because of that, his partner was the only one to call her by her name. He had rarely ever interacted with her as the Black Ops hardly revealed themselves in public anymore. The only time he had spoken to her was to inform Hare, her former caretaker also named Hyuuga Ko, had died during a mssion. It was purely bad luck that she was the one who answered the him at the entrance to the Hyuuga Compound.

Nobody saw him, nor noticed him the slightest as he sat on the great branch of the tree from his quiet, lonely, short childhood, his sanctuary. He was silent, deadly, part of the darkness. From there he could see a head with short black hair with a blue tint to it along with the trademark white eyes and no pupils. That was her, his counterpart. The shadow allowed himself to feel a meager wave of guilt and shame as he watched the nearby kids back away from the young girl. He should be standing next to her, by her side, telling her that she wasn't alone in this world.

However, he never did. His only reason being that he was tainted. He was different from those children down there and the only one he ever interacted with was also like him.

The shadow knew death like the back of his hand. He was a killer, a weapon to his village.

The kids there were human in every way, unlike him. He lost his innocence when they were still learning to throw shuriken and kunai. His would've been peers held a complete heart full of naivety, compassion, positive ethics and morals. Simply told, he was jealous that they could be so carefree.

He observed the girl, who was looking down dejectedly, approach the tree and sit down on the lonely wooden swing. She took no notice of the dark outline on one of the higher branches.

'It seems that she has also found comfort in this place...' he thought. Nostalgia seeped into his mind. It was like they had switched places, much to his dismay.

Minutes passed before an instructor appeared, signaling the soon-to-be genin to re-enter the classroom. They were undoubtedly going to begin exams.

Another shadow appeared next to him on the tree.

"Fox-san, Hokage-sama is requesting your immediate presence."
-

Sarutobi Hiruzen sat in his office, looking out the window. This year's academy graduates should be taking the genin exam by now. They were a promising class with seven of them coming from very prominent clans, not to mention the last Uchiha. The Hokage sighed. If everyone passed, that would mean one of the teams would be one man short.

"Hokage-sama? You wanted to see me?" Hiruzen looked over to see a young boy with an ANBU fox mask with bright blond hair standing by the doorway. He was a bit on the short side being shorter than most of the academy graduates. He wore the standard ANBU uniform with steel-plated fingerless gloves and armguards. Around his wrists was a thin steel brace with seal markings on top. Underneath them were bandages that covered his skin past his elbows and all the to his dark t-shirt he wore under the armor. He wore a ninjato at his side (a little unusual for ANBU) along with a kunai holster strapped to his right thigh and a standard ninja pack at the back of his waist. He had dark blue pants with lightweight steel kneepads and shinguards. On the ANBU's feet were a pair of grey also steel-toed boots.

"Ah yes, Naruto-kun."

"It's Fox, Hokage-sama" was the rather blunt reply.

"It'll be Naruto for now."

"Hai. What is it that you wanted to see me about?"

"I wish to for you to enter the regular ninja forces now. We are no longer are in a critcal situation as we once were four years ago. So I will be taking this opportunity for you to train the jinchuuriki of the Nanabi and to get acquainted with your fellow shinobi."

"Nani?"

"I believe you're ready to promoted to tokubetsu jo-"

"Gomen, I don't think I'll be able to handle being their sensei," Naruto swiftly interjected. There was a reason why he worked alone. The Sandaime was about to object, but he continued on. "I have my reasons and I'm sure you know about my more personal ones. As to why I'm objecting to a promotion and leadership of a genin team is because I am their age and it would be awkward to be their instructor and superior and I would like to avoid creating that barrier. If you still intend to place me on a team, I'm fine being a genin."

That was true. There wasn't a jonin sensei that was the age of his or her students. It would undoubtly cause some awkward beginnings towards their relationship with each other. Sarutobi also knew of the much more personal reason as to why Naruto decided to be demoted to a genin. It was mostly because of a guilt complex created from high casualties within the teams Naruto has worked with and the death of his partner during a nearly botched mission. There was also more history to it that he refused to speak about.

In any event, taking on a new team and leading them with only a short notice was really pushing Naruto's stressed mind and somewhat unstable psych. It wasn't a surprise that he would reject, but...

"Very well then. However, are you sure? Becoming a jonin sensei would allow you to leave the Black Ops. If you decide to re-enter the regular forces as a genin, you will still have be an active operator. This could be your only chance to resign for a long time." Sarutobi could see the hesitation in the boy's eye. Back then, only a year after the Uchiha Clan Massacre, Konoha had been dangerously low on manpower, prompting an imbalance throughout the Five Great Shinobi Nations. This compromising situation that Konohagakure found themselves had called for desperate measures, much to his chagrin.

And how convenient was it when the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi resurfaced a year and a half after he disappeared from his adoptive home in the Land of the Waves.

Naruto had never been forced to join, however, the Hokage believed that he'd been manipulated to a small extent. By playing on the boy's selfless nature and the fact that desperate measures could force some of his peers to lose their childhood innocence early, something that had already happened to him, Naruto had voluntarily accepted the offer to enter the ANBU after passing a survival course and seven high B-rank mission evaluations.

His skill in fuuinjutsu was an incredibly useful asset within the organization as well as an unusual talent in stealth, making him a suitable candidate in the unorthodox ways of the ANBU Division.

The Black Ops didn't just accept anyone skilled enough to enter the secret branch of the Shinobi Forces. Most were chosen by the Hokage or recommended by another senior ANBU operator. However, that didn't mean that they were in. Candidates were evaluated on a minimum three B-rank missions or higher and then administered a final high-level test of the evaluator's choosing. Plenty didn't even know of the evaluation and only the most promising noticed the presence of the hidden observer. This was to insure that the actions of the candidates were genuine and not acted out to gain or lose the favor of the evaluator. After passing the evaluation and the test, the candidate would be approached by the Hokage himself and offered to join. Then it was all paperwork, ironically, much to the Hokage's displeasure.

Many civilians and shinobi alike hold the misconception of the ANBU Black Ops was for the best of the best. It was partially true, the foremost held the rank of captain while the average rank addressed to all was simply operator. Having the skills to survive was important, high stealth and awareness being absolutely essential. If your abilities needed some improvement, there were your peers to help improve oneself and teach you everything about working with the dark side of the village. Being selected depended a lot on mentality and how one approached the situation, whether or not they could weigh the importance of a mission and comrade, the will to sacrifice almost everything to the village, to work under the pressure of failure, the ability to suppress your emotions and allow oneself to become a tool. You had to have the guts to stare down death, pain, fear almost every single time you left on a mission without losing it.

Hatake Kakashi was famous worldwide for his Sharingan and combat prowess. In the ANBU Black Ops, he was even more renowned for retiring with his sanity and ideals intact.

"I'm sure. I believe I'm lacking certain qualities to be a full time sensei or even a full jonin."

Sarutobi could not help but feel a little disappointed in his decision. The only other ways to leave was by medical discharge. Crippling injuries and complete mental breakdowns was how to receive it. Optional resignation was also around. Normally after a specific time spent in the Black Ops, the standard time being one year, they would have the chance to resign anytime afterwords. The time for optional resignation rose to three years after the Kyuubi Attack. Now it was a minimum of five unless the Hokage discharged you personally through a medical and psychiatric evaluation.

Naruto had only gone through two years of required duty. Another three more years before he could turn in his resignation papers.

"So," Naruto began. "Have you decided on the teams?"

"Close, but not quite. The Ino-Shika-Cho trio will be Team Ten under my son, Sarutobi Asuma. Hatake Kakashi, your former sensei, will be taking Team Seven which includes Haruno Sakura, Aburame Shino and Uchiha Sasuke." He paused for a moment to allow Naruto to digest the information. It was meaningful for him to know since he is something of a caretaker to the young Uchiha, even if his visits were sparse and was the unofficial apprentice of the son of the White Fang. "If you were willing to become a sensei, you would've taken Hyuuga Hinata and Inuzuka Kiba." The Sandaime took out the two said files and handed them to the blond boy. The operator scanned through both of them with his keen eye.

"Both taijutsu specialists?" he inquired. The Sandaime nodded.

"Yes. They would compliment your unusual skillset." Naruto nodded in comprehension.

"Since I am not their sensei..."

"Yuuhi Kurenai will be the jonin sensei." Yuuhi Kurenai was a recently promoted jonin. Naruto didn't know her very well, but she sounded like she was a very capable and caring person. She also seemed to have a close relationship with fellow jonin Sarutobi Asuma and is a genjutsu specialist, an expert in illusions.

"I see. Taijutsu, genjutsu, ninjutsu and fuuinjutsu. You've created a formidable team."

"Indeed. An all around team with two sensor types and two jinchuuriki. Although Hinata and Kiba are in the lower half of the class, your advanced experience will compensate plenty for that."

"Mind if I see the other potential graduates?" Naruto asked. The Hokage shook his head and handed him several other profiles which he shifted through in a speedy pace. "You placed three who hold high rankings in the class together on Team Seven." he noted.

"Ah yes, it was mostly experimental to see how they would work together and how much efficient they could be compared to other teams. Normally we try to balance out the teams, but since you're with Kiba and Hinata who are close to the bottom of the class and Nara Shikamaru who is actually the dead last are already in teams, we've decided that we'd do something different." Naruto simply grunted in response and handed back the files.

"Tomorrow at noon?" The Hokage nodded. "I'll make sure Kakashi isn't too late."

Sarutobi Hiruzen watched the shadow clone dispel quietly. It was so hard to read him somedays, just like Itachi. He had a feeling deep down in his heart that Uzumaki Naruto would bring great change to Konoha. Whether it would be good or bad, it would be entirely up to him. It had been present ever since laying eyes on him for the first time in five years. A chilling and omnimous feel that told him that the jinchuuriki would be the catalyst to the entire fate of the world.

However, he was not the hero. No, he was someone who would do what was necessary, like a hired assasin, a picture perfect shinobi in any other village. The Sandaime could only feel regret about letting him walk down the dark path. A darker destiny than most.

He took out his wooden pipe and began to smoke, pushing away the depressing thoughts. Only time would tell.

Only time would tell.
-

End

Okay, rewritten and redone. I've released this with Chapter 13 and hopefully you like this prologue better than the old one. I honestly think I was missing details to make it interesting for you readers and I do want to do the best I can on my fanfictions. I might rewrite other chapters later on, but my updates will likely slow down since I like to release them together. Hmph, I still feel that I could've done better. Oh well...

Anyways, hope you enjoy the rest of the story.