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Disclaimer: I do not own naruto but I do own this idea
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Uzumaki Naruto knew, the moment that his team assignment was announced, that his team would likely never work well and that it would be rather unlikely that he would be learning anything from his Jounin supervisor. You don't spend your life wishing to become Hokage and not learn about Konoha's more exemplary shinobi. Add that to the fact that he spent a good deal of his time in and around the Hokage tower, sometimes spying on the Sandaime but mostly setting up pranks, and he was able to recognize most Konoha ninja.
Now Naruto knew a good deal about Hatake Kakashi most notably his chronic laziness and genius status. He knew about his sharingan and was able to understand that Sasuke was likely the only reason Kakashi was their instructor. Now, almost a week later, he knew he was right in his initial assessment. Kakashi sucked as a teacher, he hadn't even taught them anything aside from that 'team before the mission' thing, and Sasuke had to be one of the worst possible people to be on a team with as he continuously repeated that a team would only hold him back.
Sakura was, as usual, hard to deal with. Utterly devoted to Sasuke and with a bad case of fangirlism all she really had was book smarts and an incredible learning curve. From the academy days when her teacher would assign research projects she would finish first. And then she would go on with a report with twice as many pages as anyone else. You need information on some obscure jutsu, weapon, or fighting style? Tell her its name and she'd get back to you with more information than you'd ever need. The teachers had likely added a couple jutsu to their caches because of Sakura's assignments.
All Naruto figured he had to do was get on Sakura's good side and he'd have the ultimate information source. A feat easier said than done as his continuous failure to do so over the years rather blatantly showed. Today we find him lying in yet another crater caused by his latest attempt to make her like him.
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Naruto was, to put it simply, furious…or at least very annoyed. Despite almost a year of work it seemed that no matter how hard he tried he couldn't get Sakura to feel anything more than annoyance with him. He needed a new approach. He knew, unlike his Uchiha team mate, that he would need help to reach his goals. He knew that he wasn't the smartest of people and he knew that wasn't the kind of person to learn straight from books. He needed someone to explain things to him or at least make the things in the books more understandable.
Unfortunately it had finally sunk into him that Sakura, as she was now, would never help him. But maybe…if she didn't think she was helping him. If he could figure out some way of tricking her into thinking that she was doing the work for herself then he ought to be able to steal. And the thought of having a competent team mate was a bonus. That only left how he was going to do it and how he could make sure Sakura wouldn't know who he was. He couldn't use genjutsu, like that was ever an option, and a full body henge would likely be easy for her to detect. A disguise would be necessary but with what and how to give the disguise a background. Then one day as he was passing a stand selling porcelain masks he remembered the men who had protected him from the shadows of his childhood. And from this point the ideas for his disguise began to flow. It just a matter of obtaining what he needed.
Black cloth, enough for five full-body outfits, Sturdy dark grey cloth for a hooded cloak, Three black balaclavas, One shapeless clay mask, White/black/silver thread, the leftover semi-invisible ink from an old prank, and Black contact lenses.
It took quite a while to obtain everything and the contact lenses robbed him of most of his savings but he had them and with time earned skill he made his outfit. And he had to say that he did pretty badly at making it but it would work for his needs. Now for the set up.
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One week later
Once he had made his outfit it was simply a matter of choosing a time and a place. Through a bit of observation he had found several areas with rather bad acoustics where he could stage his 'first encounter' but the time had to be carefully considered. Too late and Sakura would be home already not to mention the first of the nightly ANBU patrols would be sweeping the area. Too early and the confrontation would likely draw a crowd. Mid-evening would do as almost everyone who could bother them would be in their homes and Sakura only just be heading home thanks to him engineering a meeting between her and Ino just after Kakashi released them from training.
The place was chosen, the time affirmed, and the stage was set.
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For Haruno Sakura it had been a relatively normal day. Watch Sensei train Sasuke, then go on another d-rank mission, get paid for the mission, and try to ask Sasuke for a date while fending off Naruto's attempts to ask her on a date. A small confrontation between her and Ino had soured things a bit but it did lead to her feeling remarkably satisfied as she walked home later that evening after getting in the last word.
Things began to turn towards the unusual when she realised that the street she was walking down was completely deserted. And things went from unusual to rather violent as someone grabbed her from behind and threw her into a dead-end alley. With a rather badly executed tuck-and-roll that ended up with a bad scrape along her arm she found herself facing her faceless attacker. She gathered breath to scream only to have that breath blown out as her attacker suddenly appeared in front of her with a gut punch that sent her tumbling.
The next several minutes were filled with pain and barely competent attempts to lessen said pain. Finally she was thrown up against the back wall of the alley, her head smacking the wall hard enough to dim her sight for several moments. As her eyes cleared she could barely perceive that her attacked had crouched in front of her and was drawing something on her chest, no on her heart. Her vision suddenly cleared as her attacker suddenly threw a punch at her chest that was dully glowing with chakra. She took a swipe at him only to hear him chuckle as he jumped back to lean against one of the alley walls.
Seeing this as a chance she gathered breath to scream only for the man to quickly make three seals and suddenly she had to fight not to throw up as her vision and equilibrium were suddenly thrown out of control. She failed. After a few minutes of retching she finally looked up at the clay faced man to see him still leaning casually against that wall. After another couple moment she regained enough strength to whisper.
"Why?" she asked
The man was silent for a moment before bringing himself out of his slouch and began to speak in a deep and strangely distorted voice, like he was speaking through several filters.
"Because you have been chosen to be trained to join an elite program of Ninja who's only loyalty is to the Hokage. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, we do not exist. Our agents are 'officially' KIA, MIA, Retired, or civilian. No one speaks of us and our methods are a secret known only to ourselves. The only people who know the true identity of every agent are the supreme commander and the Hokage. We are the Black Ops and you have been drafted."
Sakura felt her eyes widen as she internally jumped with glee. The only reason she could possibly have been pulled into this program would be because she must have some hidden strength or bloodline. Said happiness was shattered as the man went on.
"Likely you are feeling some happiness about your drafting…you likely think that you have been drafted because of some hidden strength or such idiocy" he paused to let this sink in, "The reason you have been drafted is because when we fake your death as the final recruitment step, while some people may mourn you no one will be surprised. So might lament that you had some potential but most will simply think of you as a deadbeat who's only use was as a meat shield. And even as you are trained that will be the image you will keep up. From now until the day you truly die you are hereby forbidden from speaking a word about the Black Ops program and any training you receive from it to anyone who is not a part of Black Ops."
Sakura froze in place not believing what she was hearing. She had just been drafted into an organization that forced her to never show any progress to her Sasuke-kun and was told that the only reason she was being inducted was because she was disposable to the rest of the world? Her fear slowly turned to anger as she stewed on the words of her recruitment before she let out a growl and a rather un-feminine oath.
"Why the hell would I keep quiet about this?" She demanded more than asked
The man cocked his head for a moment before answering
"You aught to remember me inking something on your chest when you were up against that wall." He paused, seeming to savour the confusion then dawning realisation on Sakura's face "That was me turning your heart into a miniature explosive note" he seemed to exude a good deal of mirth and smugness as he watched the horror develop on her face
"So what…you can't watch me all the time." Sakura couldn't keep the tremors out of her voice and felt a new piece of terror bull through her as the man simply shrugged
"I don't have to. Some of our civilian agents will be watching you and even that's not necessary…you remember that little genjutsu that sent you spinning. That was a genjutsu trigger which has been wired into your mind and will monitor all forms of communication that you undergo. In the case that you attempt you communicate or make notes about the program or your training other than what is allowed then the trigger will set off your heart which will cause a catastrophic heart failure ensuing in your heart bursting…at least as far as the coroner will know that's what happened."
As she reeled in this new information she vaguely realised that the man was walking towards the end of the alley. She was shaken out of her stupor as she realised that the man was speaking again.
"-me back at this location in three days at 1900 hours. As for the first assignment in your training, you will learn and make comprehensible notes on the two techniques I am about to use, notes which you will leave on the academy rooftop two days from now. Hmm…and before I forget from now on you will refer to me as Zan."
Suddenly the man jumped on of the alley walls and ran up it perpendicular to the wall and upon reaching the top of the wall vanished in a puff of smoke. Sakura stared for a long time at the spot where the Man known to her only as Zan had vanished. Then she slowly began to trudge home. Tomorrow she would have to plead off training with Sensei so she could visit one of the more secure ninja libraries to research the techniques she had been told to learn. She had a feeling that negligence not completing her assignment would end up with her in a worse state than she was in now, the thought of which brought a rather heavy wince.
How the hell was she going to explain her appearance to her Mother?
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In a dark room an old man slowly sat back stroking a grey beard as he contemplated the crystal sphere in front of him before he let out a quiet grunt and smirked.
"Well now this is an interesting development."
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