A short man dressed in his an immaculate green business suit gazed at a large metal ring.

"Okay, maybe large is an understatement?" the man uttered under his breath. The ring in question was easily twenty five to thirty feet in diameter.

Originally when the villagers had discovered the rring it was lying flat on its back. It didn't take long for Gato, the crooked business dealer to work out that it needed to stand upright.

And in short order Gato had also discovered a strange panel shaped vaguely like a four foot tall metal mushroom. There were symbols arrayed in three rings.

While Gato was no ninja or a super genius, he was smart and clever. One didn't become a corporate king, so to speak, by luck. Thus Gato had the large ring on its edge, the smaller device set off to the side.

"It looks like strike kind of doorway," he remarked, stroking his chin as a taller man wearing grey and white fatigues appeared next to him, marveling in awe.

"Listen," Gato began as he addressed the nukenin. "One of the villagers escaped, I need you and your clan to get rid of him before he starts causing problems," he ordered as he pulled out a photo of an older man wearing a straw hat as he was laughing.

The tall man took the photo and vanished as quickly as he had come.

Gato took a step forwards, approaching the ring when suddenly the symbols lit up and a ring, previously unseen, within the large ring itself began to spin.

The short man moved to the side and behind the gate, looking for a discernable power source. As he stroked his chin in thought six V-like shapes locked and a loud burst filed the air as a blue watery substance filled the center of the ring, surge forwards like a geyser before retracting and shimmering like a pond floating sideways.

Several sellswords made their way over to the ring. With Gato being curious and having the money, he looked at a group. "Hey, jump in the water and bring me back something worthwhile!" he barked as he leaned on a black cane, greed reflecting in his eyes.

A few of the men shrugged and held their breath before trying to swan dive into the sideways pool.

For a moment, all was silent and Gato was getting bored. But a split second later a man, obviously not one of his sellswords came stalking out. He was dressed completely in gold, making Gato's mouth water as he beheld the sandals with golden twine and shin guards running up calves, the skirt, a shoulder piece, arm guards and to top off the ensemble, the man wore a headpiece shaped like a cobra.

Gato and his many sellswords marveled at the man as he stepped forward, the earth crunching beneath his feet as he raised his right arm and spoke into what Gato had mistakenly assumed was a forearm guard.

"There appears to be more of the barbarians, master," the man spoke. His language was unlike anything Gato or his sellswords had ever heard of.

"Hello there," the businessman addressed as he stepped forward to greet the obviously wealthy man.

The armored man's helmet glared at Gato, the eyes glowing red as he lifted a long staff into the air and pointed the tip at Gato, speaking in his foreign tongue again.

Before Gato could say anything to make some business offer, the blunt spear suddenly opened into four sections, glowing with yellow electricity. Gato's eyes widened and he motioned to step back, but it was far too late!

FAHTHOOM!

The sellsword gasped at the hole scorched clean through Gato's chest as the weasel of a man died standing up.

"Ta hell wid dis!" shouted one sellsword as he turned to run. It was too late for fleeing as a dozen more men, dressed the same as the first stomped through the ring of water, spears firing bolts of pure chakra...

###Welcome to Konoha###

Naruto, an overly excitable blonde boy was glaring daggers at an old man as he sipped from a large container of sake. Had any of the present ninja been around to see Gato give the photo to his hired ninja, they might have noted that this was the self same man.

"These babies are supposed to guard me?" he barked at the village's leader as he assessed the three twelve year olds. "They look like they're still in diapers!"

"Dammit you old drunk!" Naruto raged as his teammates clutched onto him, preventing him from hurting the client. "Let me go, I'll kick his ass!"

Kakashi, the team's trainer, sighed in exasperation as he looked at the blonde Genin. "Honestly, Mr client, it might be best if you not insult those hired to protect you," he offered softly.

The man took a long swig but ignored the advice. "Whatever, Cyclops. Just keep me safe so I can finish my bridge," he requested as he let out a loud belch.

Kakashi gave a soft smile as he turned to address his students. Okay, we head out tomorrow morning, five AM."

OoOoOoO

AN: I hope you are ready for a completely different Naruto story. I hate writing the mission to Wave, honestly. There's only so many ideas you can come up with to alter it, but this way I can start where I want and you people don't know what's going happen next!"

Now, back to the story...

OoOoOoO

"Hm?" Kakashi noised as he stopped a puddle of water.

Naruto was busy yelling at the client while Sakura yelled at him for yelling at the client. Sasuke was completely indifferent, not paying much attention to either of his teammates as he walked with his hands in his pockets.

The moment Kakashi took a step past the puddle two blurs shot from the water, wrapped the Jounin in a spiked chain and pulled for all that they were worth. The results of said action left a gory mess where Kakashi was walking.

Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura reacted differently. Naruto froze in panic as his adrenaline flowed through him. Sasuke grabbed a handful of shuriken, or throwing stars, and unleashed them at the attackers, pushing them back. He spun to shout at his teammates.

"Sakura, Naruto, protect the client!" he barked. To his consternation, while Sakura quickly obeyed, Naruto was ramrod still, eyes wide as he stared at the spot Kakashi died.

The two attackers saw the perfect opportunity and moved to attack the blonde. Sasuke raced as fast as his young body could take him and interposed himself between the unknowns and Naruto. A kunai pushed the enemies back as Sasuke glared at Naruto. "What are you doing, idiot? If you don't move, you're gonna die!"

Naruto managed to turn his head slightly, only to see Kakashi appear from nnowhere, no longer ripped to pieces as he quickly knocked out one of the enemies while Sasuke managed to take down the other.

Kakashi leveled a glare at the client, a man named Tazuna "the bridge builder". "You mind explaining why you have ninja after you? You said bandits and thieves, Tazuna."

The old man paled. "I... I didn't know!" he tried weakly as he aimed to down another mouthful of the sake. Kakashi plucked the jar from him and leveled an accusatory glare. "This mission involves missing ninja attempting an assassination. It has just been upgraded to aB-rank," her announced coolly.

Tazuna swallowed nervously as he wondered what to do in order to get out of his present jam.

While Kakashi was speaking, Naruto was assessing himself. "I can't believe I froze!" he mentally chided, berating himself for being the useless member of the team. He glared at his own useless hands before picking up a stray kunai and burying it into the back of his right hand, sending blood every which way.

"N..Naruto?" Sakura called out in alarm, seeing the damage inflicted.

"How did you manage to stab yourself, idiot?" Sasuke teased, his attention now on his teammate.

Naruto grit his teeth and clenched his eyes as the pain coursed through him. "*Never... Never again!*" he barked out, finality in his blue eyes as he glared. "I won't freeze- ever again!" Naruto held up his wounded, bleeding hand and displayed it to those around him. "This is my reminder for failing my team!"

Kakashi sighed as he addressed Naruto. "Oh dear, I hope you didn't use one of the Demon Brothers' kunai, they poison the tips..." he announced, disrupting Naruto's resolve. The young blonde boy started panicking. "Here, let me see," Kakashi requested as he held the hand in his own.

Naruto's wound sizzled like frying bacon as the poison was purged and the holler began to close. /I guess I didn't need to worry,/ Kakashi considered as he wrapped the hand with a bandage. "It looks okay, but don't remove this bandage or it'll get infected," Kakashi warned.

Naruto nodded his head, a tear in his eye threatening to fall. "I'm... I'm not gonna die am I?" he asked, before something caught the blonde's attention.

Faster than Kakashi could react Naruto fisted a kunai and hurled it into a bush. "I know you're in there," he cried as the blade sailed through the air.

Sakura made to smack Naruto over the head, the distinct sound of kunai deflected off of metal rang out. "W-what?" she asked in terror.

Ten men dressed like the first man who had stepped through the gate, only lacking the helmet and having a dull grey attire, made their way into the clearing, staffs aimed at the five.

Kakashi rise and quickly withdrew a kunai in left hand before looking the soldiers over. "I apologize for my student, but he was a little startled when we were ambushed by lurkers a moment ago," the Jounin offered by way of apology.

One of the men stepped forward, a menacing glare in his countenance. " Who threw the knife? " the warrior demanded in his native tongue, causing Kakashi to narrow his eye dangerously.

"It appears communication is out," the Jounin muttered. "Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto.. Especially Naruto, keep your mouths shut and don't do anything unless they threaten Tazuna," Kakashi ordered, thinking of the brash blonde.

Turning slightly to face his team, he watched as they moved to Tazuna, none reaching for weapons or even speaking. Kakashi was actually impressed!

Then it all went to Hell...

FATHOOM! FATHOOM!

The air hummed and cackled as Kakashi felt a pain in his gut. He was given enough time to look down through the two new holes in his stomach before the light faded from his eyes.

Naruto and Sasuke moved fast, the Uchiha raved to Kakashi and grabbed the older man, hauling him into the trees while Naruto formed his hands into a cross and yelled, "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no jutsu!"

To the utter surprise of everyone in the clearing over two hundred clones of the blonde appeared, attempting to take out the soldiers.

Chakra staffs sent energy in destructive bursts in all directions, aiming to clear the region of the strange boy's tactic.

Naruto grabbed Sakura and Tazuna and ran to meet up with Sasuke. The three teens raced along with Tazuna carried on Naruto's shoulders and Kakashi on Sasuke as they made their way through the trees, bursts of yellow light flashing behind them.

"We gotta find some shelter somewhere, Sasuke shouted to his teammates.

Sakura nodded as she broke off from the group, kunai in hand. Naruto took the cue to split in the opposite direction while Sasuke continued in a straight line.

###Line break###

/*At The Stargate.../*

The humble villagers of a town that had been conquered long before the soldiers had arrived, were gathered in a circle as over two hundred of the armored soldiers searched the area for any resistance.

"Mom... I'm scared," cried a little boy wearing overalls and a blue and white striped hat that clenched onto his mother - a young woman with long flowing black hair, wearing a simple yellow dress - as she held him close. "What kind of monsters could actually kill Gato?!" he asked in confusion as his world perception changed.

One of the soldiers, dressed different to the rest as he wore armor covering his whole body and had a long white cape flowing behind him, spoke to a dozen of the warriors before pointing at the villagers.

The soldiers nodded and before anyone could raise a protest, the soldiers opened fire, killing the elderly and frail. Inari, the boy in the blue and white hat, wondered why he was so wet, as it hasn't been raining, although there was the clap of thunder from the soldiers' staves.

The boy felt the weight of his mother suddenly leaning on him and he looked up to see her lifeless eyes locked on him as her arms fell limply to the sides. Mouth hanging open the boy was unable to process words.

It didn't matter as the soldiers grabbed the remaining children and healthy adults, shoving them in a line that led through the Stargate.

###Line break###

Tazuna suddenly felt a twisting in his gut as he looked up into the canopy if the trees. "Some... Something's happening..." he whispered,more to himself, though the closer proximity to Naruto allowed the blonde to hear him clearly.

"Be quiet, old man," Naruto hissed as a familiar sensation started to make itself known. This was the same feeling as When he threw the kunai before. This time Naruto opted not to hurl a weapon, instead he paused in a tree, high above the ground and looked down.

Down below a dozen soldiers were trapped within floating slabs of what looked to be ice. The soldiers began firing in every direction but the ice held up under the onslaught as needles started s soaring through the air. Naruto's eyes widened in amazement as he watched a person step clear of the ice slabs as the last of the soldiers fell dead.

"Whoa," Naruto noised, as he watched breathlessly. A movement to his side indicated someone's arrival. Faster than Naruto could react a massive sword cleaved Tazuna in two parts, head falling before the new man caught it as the heavy weight of the lifeless body sagged onto Naruto's back.

The blonde boy gaped like a fish as he finally reacted, leaping a distance away. Is was too late though as he knew Tazuna was dead. Crimson fluid of life poured down the tree and landed in on the forest floor.

Naruto shrugged the dead weight off and glared defiantly at the taller man, seeing a headband, but not recognizing it. "What did you do that for, creep?" the blonde demanded loudly.

The taller man forced the head into a bag as the person Naruto witnessed stepping away from the ice mirrors appeared, standing to the killer's side. "It's simple really, kid. It was my mission to assassinate him. You did good, holding him still like that. Maybe you could join my gang one day?" the man teased.

Naruto looked between the two with growing concern. While he had learned the Kage Bunshin, Naruto knew for a fact that there was no way he was going to be able to take out two ninja at point-blank range.

As the blonde was gritting his teeth, the shorter of the two removed a white mask, revealing a soft, young face. Naruto found himself blushing as the younger ninja approached, extending her right hand to wipe the blood from Naruto's cheek.

"Please don't tease him, Zabuza-sama. He hasn't been a ninja long, he's still green," she spoke softly.

Naruto growled as he got control over his face again. "Who tha heck are you people?!" he thundered out, swatting the hand away.

Zabuza shook his head sadly as he fell into a pool of water and the girl holding up her offered hand faded before Naruto's eyes.

Seeing as the client was now dead and that there was a pile of armored soldiers on the ground Naruto gave a painful sigh and turned to walk away.

FFATHWOOM!

The blonde heard the strike, felt the heat from something passing by and looked at the canopy above him rising higher and higher. He frowned as he wondered how trees could rise so fast just before a jarring wracked his young body, indicating that he had just hit the hit the ground.

A soldier with a familiar face, being the one Naruto had thrown the kunai at before sneered at his broken body before kicking the blonde in his ribs. " This one didn't turn to smoke, " he called out in his native tongue as he walked away, half of his forces no longer with him as the remaining half sneered at the dying target.

###Line break###

Sasuke growled low, under his breath. He and Sakura had regrouped and found a temporary shelter. It had been a few hours since they split and Naruto should have been back by now!

Even the class idiot knew that a search for shelter only lasted thirty minutes before regrouping where everyone departed... At least Sasuke hoped Naruto knew that.

Kakashi groaned weakly, his face had been losing color since taking the injury. Sasuke groaned at the sight of his teacher. "How could you let your guard down like that?" he accused of the pathetic man.

Sakura frowned but held her tongue. Hopefully their teacher could hang on just awhile longer.

"Three days," Sasuke spoke in hushed tones to his teammate, answering her unasked question.

Sakura frowned more. "Do you think...?" Sakura began, but couldn't get herself to finish the words.

Sasuke turned unfeeling eyes on his teammate. "We're ninja. Ninja die. Even the best can be bested in our line of work," he stated plainly, his words being true. It still bothered Sakura, and though Sasuke would never admit it, it bothered him as well.

"We should leave in the morning," Sakura said to Sasuke.

The Uchiha and class Rookie of The Year shook his head, disagreeing. "We need to get out of this hot zo-" his words were cutoff as a burst of yellow light ripped into the shelter and right into and through Sakura's chest!

"S-Sakura?!" he gasped, eyes wide at seeing another teammate fired upon. "But how?" he asked no one as he looked out the hide away, wondering how the soldiers tracked them.

What he saw angered him even more! Sakura hadn't been sniped and neither had been tracked... Instead the pinkette had been the victim of a stray blast as the armor-clad soldiers opened fire on a group of sellswords fleeing through the woods.

Black tears fell down Sasuke's cheeks, though his didn't know it. The screams of the soldiers and The sellswords echoed loudly as the forest around them burned...

###Line break###

A man stepped through the gate, tall, regal, with glowing golden eyes a fully covering suit of golden armor, and a white cape with the symbol of an oval surrounding a crawling snake.

The man looked at the vacated village, smoldering ruins showing where resistance had once been met with extreme prejudice.

He didn't care about that, it was below him.

" Where is my First Prime? " He asked of one of the many kneeling soldiers.

The man never raised his gaze as he spoke. " Your First Prime was last seen heading into the woods, pursuing some cowards, My Lord ," the soldier addressed.

The god nodded. "Soldier, accompany me as we set out to find him. The rest of you, upon my return I expect a throne room to be established," he said calmly. The soldiers all saluted, a right fist meeting their heart as they awaiting their god to depart.

It only took a few minutes for him to be out of sight.

After an hour of walking, Apophis was privy to the sight of a ruined forest, black flames danced about the trees reducing them to ruins. The melted steel of his now deceased soldiers indicated that something had felled them. The sound of movement grabbed his attention and he turned his head to his First Prime burned severely with a tendril of the black flame still eating through his flesh. " M...My Lord, Apophis... The boy, use him... " he managed to cough out as he pointed at Sasuke's unconscious form on the ground.

The god frowned at his First Prime, thinking the man wanted a new host. "* You want a new body to inhabit? *" The god spoke, his voice sounding like a million men speaking with the divine voice of heaven.

The Prime shook his head and coughed before speaking again. " I've never seen a human with powers like his... He's like... Anubissss... ," he groaned out the last word as his life ended, the black flames grew excited and consumed him whole, leaving nothing but scorched earth, even his armor was consumed.

Apophis's eyes glowed with malicious intent. He turned to the slumbering boy and pointed. "* Secure him. He goes back to the Throne with me, *" he commanded. The soldiers were more than willing to comply and after binding the child's arms and legs, Sasuke was carried away...

###Line break###

Kakashi managed to open his eyes and groaned in agony. He looked down at his gut and saw the charred flesh cauterized by the very weapon that inflicted it and did his best to sit up. It was difficult, considering most of his abdominal wall no longer existed, but he managed to right himself. Gingerly, the silver-haired Jounin managed to get his feet under himself and looked around. It was obviously night where ever he was at as the lack of sunlight dictated. A body was lying on the floor a distance away, but Kakashi was unsure who it was. Assuming them to be asleep, the Jounin made his way up and out of the shelter, looking into the beautiful night's sky.

"Strange," he muttered, they had been in a forest before the attack happened, he would have assumed Sasuke and Sakura would take provisions in the woods to stay hidden. There was no way Naruto could be left inn charge or the Jounin would think himself dead by now.

A movement down below caught his attention. A flame was burning, though no light came from it. Curious, Kakashi made his way down and over to it, lifting his headband to allow his Sharingan eye to assess the flame...

###Line break###

"GggAAAAHHH!" Sasuke screamed in horror as Apophis placed his right hand with a glowing trinket above his forehead.

"*You will break, child." there was no question in the God's voice as he scrambled Sasuke's mind. "*One way or the other, you will reveal to me your Black Fires.*"

Sasuke, for the life of himself had no idea what the man was speaking of. He couldn't recall anything about black fire. Though his mind wasn't exactly processing data as well as it could be at the moment...

"GGGGAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

Apophis looked down at the raven-haired child and smirked. With the power of the child's flames, Apophis could finally rid himself of the confounded Tau'ri.

As Sasuke was released from the mind scarring torture he fell to the ground in a heap. An image came to his mind. He saw clearly, for the first time since waking up in the throne room.

Apophis, while a god and not really that interested in mortals, could make out the surprised look of recognition that replaced the pained ccountenance. "*Speak child. Reveal to your god what you have realized,*" Apophis ordered as he knelt at Sasuke's side, a look of peace on his face.

Sasuke grit his teeth and glared, sending the unholy fire right into Apophis face. "How's that for a god?" he challenged as the man with the glowing eyes fell to his back. Unfortunately, the throne room was always filled with guards and quickly grabbed the boy, pining him to the ground as Apophis body burned.

A Jaffa, unknowing of how dangerous the flame was tried patting it out, only to catch fire himself and turned to ash in moments.

It was a credit to the System Lord that he managed to keep the burning down as long as he had. However, the fight was futile and the snake-like Goa'uld was forced to abandon his host, barely leaving before the black flame could nick his tail.

"Screech!" came the irritated call of the serpent as it opened its mouth, for flaps separating in a truly demonic manner before it scurried along the floor aiming for a new host. There wasn't much of a selection as only a few bodies had been raised and trained to handle the size and mass of full grown Goa'uld.

Irritated, the god turned around and latched himself onto Sasuke's shoulder causing the teen to scream, and that was all the System Lord needed as he forced his way down Sasuke's throat. The boy may be young, but it was well known that even a child could serve their god.

As Sasuke thrashed about inn pain-filled agony, he cursed the meth pining him, mentally as he still had a five foot snake slipping into his throat, down to his gut where Apophis sliced a hole open and coiled about in the child's gut.

Sasuke grew still, his eyes closing as he felt darkness reaching out to claim his soul...

The guards rose, standing off of the boy as they knelt and saluted their god, prepared to be rewarded for their servitude, even if only by not being killed.

Sasuke's Mangekyo Sharingan eyes activated with full force, glowing with a golden iridescent light. "* Ah, this body will serve nicely, *" Apophis spoke through Sasuke's mouth, a calm look taking over his face as it settled to the god's personal favorite face of indifference.

The eyes flashed sending a burst of the black fire Apophis had coveted so much. "* Now, let us claim this world. Their Chakra will benefit me in future. *"

###Line break###

Naruto opened his eyes slowly and checked his body for damages from the blasts he had taken before. There was nothing. A few tears and singe marks marred his clothing, but all in all, Naruto was pleased to realize he was alive.

Taking stock, he realized that he was no longer in the forest, instead he was in a dark room surrounded by several ninja he had never seen before all wearing the forehead protector of the guy that killed Tazuna.

"What the Hell's going on here?" he asked as he jumped from the futon, ready to fight his way out. The ninja all laughed at the boy, ready to fight should the need arise.

"What do you plan to do, brat? You're just a Genin that Haku seems to have a crush on," one of the men challenged.

To Naruto's surprise, he realized that ninja happened to be one of the two previously defeated Demon Brothers Kakashi and Sasuke had defeated.

At the name being spoken the tall man with a giant sword suddenly appeared, the blade at the man's neck with death in his eyes. The Demon brother swallowed nervously as he greeted the legendary ninja. "What's so funny about Haku having a crush?" he challenged in a deathly cold voice.

The shorter ninja tried to explain himself only for Haku to appear at Zabuza's side and gently press the sword away from the man's neck. "Honestly, Master... You have got to get a sense of humor," she spoke softly before turning to Naruto with a beatific smile on her face.

Naruto blushed again and turned away. "I... What happened?" Naruto asked, changing questions before the other could leave his mouth.

Haku walked up to Naruto and lifted his top, checking for wounds. The gathered ninja gaped as there wasn't a single mark on him. They had /seen/ the blast holes that Haku was treating. There was no way anyone should have healed that fast, much less that completely!"

Haku helped Naruto to put his clothing back on. "You seem really strong, Naruto. Even if you're not well trained," she noted as she walked back to Zabuza, standing at his side, ever the man's shadow.

Zabuza glared at the blonde and sent a blast of killing intent that knocked Naruto into his butt. "He's definitely a leaf, look at the way he shakes," Zabuza commented before laughing. The other ninja swallowed nervously before forcing themselves to laugh at the bad joke.

Haku merely frowned and crossed her arms. "What? you said I needed a sense of humor,v that was funny," He returned before digging and vanishing.

The other ninja in the room began returning to their own conversations, ignoring Naruto and Haku entirely.

OoOoOoO

AN: Still working on it, needs editing and conclusion. But tell me your thoughts so far.

SSTR87