Konoha's Sniper Corps.

"Being talented is not the same as being skilled. Talent can only go so far, and skill you must earn." - Fat-Man Pirates

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did, I would know whats behind Kakashi's mask.

(please keep in mind that this is an AU story. The Uchiha massacre is slightly altered. You'll see:)

It was a cloudy day in Konoha. The clouds were thick, and an eternal darkness was cast over the village. Many of the civilians spent today inside, as they feared getting caught in the rain. But one small boy was the exception. This boy was around eight years old, thin, with shocking yellow hair and piercing blue eyes. The name of this boy, is Naruto Uzumaki.

Naruto was walking back to his apartment after a visit to his only friend and mentor, the third Hokage. Naruto often went and visited the man, as he often had nothing else to do, and no one else to see. For reasons the young child didn't understand, he was hated by almost everyone in the village. While people just hearing this for the first time may say this is an exaggeration, the unfortunate reality is that he is despised by almost everyone. And I mean almost.

Naruto was out today just because he knew that the village would most likely stay away from him today, as most of them didn't feel like getting wet just to take out a child. That's right, not only is Naruto hated, he is actively hunted across the village on most days. Yet Naruto held no ill will for the village, as Naruto is a kind soul with a heart bigger than the Hokage mountains.

But today, Naruto was feeling a little depressed. The Third Hokage could not visit with him for very long today, and he also didn't have enough money to go to his favorite restaurant, Ichiraku's Ramen bar. That restaurant was his favorite place in the whole village. The proprietor and his daughter were among the few people who liked and was kind to Naruto. But even if they were his friends, they still had a business to run, and giving out free ramen is bad for business. On his way home, Naruto had to go through the shinobi training fields. He had to go through this every day, as the only other route was through a residential district, and the people there often try to kill him. As he was walking through the field, Naruto noticed that the field had been covered in a thin fog. While not enough to prevent him from seeing ahead of him, he could only see about 20 feet ahead. As Naruto pondered why there was fog in this area of the village, he heard a very odd noise. (clack-clack). Naruto stopped and listened for a minute, wondering what that sound was, when suddenly a loud CRACK echoed through the training field. As soon as he heard this Naruto jumped in fright. "what the heck was that!" yelled Naruto. And no sooner had he said it, he felt a hard something pressing against his back.

"Who are you and what do you want?" asked a low voice from behind Naruto. "answer quickly and I may spare your life." said the voice again. "I-I'm Naruto Uzumaki!" said the small boy in a panic. "and I didn't mean to sneak up on you! I was on my way home and then that loud noise startled me! Please don't kill me!" pleaded the child. The man removed the object from Naruto's spine. As he did so, the mist surrounding the field lifted, and Naruto turned around to see his assaulter. If front of him stood a well muscled man who stood about 6 feet tall. He had brown hair, kinda in a spiky mess not to different from Naruto, he also had brown eyes that blinked only once every minute or so. The man also had a ruler strait scar running from his forehead to his chin, giving him an intimidating appearance. The man was wearing a matte green vest, similar to a Chunin vest, but with bigger pockets. the final piece of the man's appearance was a large pole like object with what looked like a telescope attached to it was strapped to his back. The man let out a bellowing laugh as he saw the boy's reaction. "Bwahaha! Relax my dear boy, I was never going to kill you, I just wanted to know who you were! But I have to say, it always makes me laugh when I get that reaction!" he said, trying to contain his laughter. Naruto, who was still not convinced he was safe, eyed the man suspiciously. "Who are you? I don't remember seeing you around the village." said Naruto warily.

The big man chuckled again. "True, I haven't introduced myself have I? Well, the name is Raigin Tomayoko, or "Eagle Eye", to my friends." said the man. Naruto was confused. "Why Eagle Eye? He asked. "Well that's because I can pick out a target from a mile away." boasted Raigin. "Its just a name I earned due to my skills." Naruto was still confused. "What skills do you have?" he asked. Raigin looked stunned. "You mean you haven't heard of the Legendary-" he began. "Toad Sage?" said Naruto, remembering what the Third had told him about one of his former students. "NO!" shouted the man. "I am not that pervert of a sage. My title is the Legendary Eagle Eye!" he exclaimed while striking a pose. The man looked down and saw that Naruto was cowering beneath him, his eyes screwed shut, looking like he braced himself. "Son, what the hell are you doing?" asked Raigin, a note of concern in his voice. Naruto looked up at Raigin. "You mean you aren't going to hit me?" he asked cautiously. Raigin looked puzzled. "Why would I hit you? He asked. Naruto looked down at his feet while he answered. "Because everyone else does." he said miserably. Raigin immediately turned serious. "Why do they hit you?" He asked the small boy. Naruto looked up at the man, tears shining in his eyes. "I don't know why, they just do." he answered.

While the two were talking, Naruto didn't notice that the clouds around the city had moved on, and the villagers were emerging from their houses. He didn't notice that the villagers had seen him, and that they were slowly forming a mob with the intention of once again "finally killing the demon-brat". In fact, Naruto was actually feeling good, he met someone new who would talk to him without hitting him, or trying to kill him. His happiness immediately turned to fear as he turned and saw the mob approaching. With out saying anything to his new friend, Naruto ran, hoping to reach the relative safety of his apartment before the mob caught him. But this was not to be. On his way home, he found the way blocked by a second mob, all of whom wanted his blood. So Naruto, in a panic, turned down a side street only to find Raigin standing there, a look of rage on his face. Naruto stopped running and eyed the man fearfully. Raigin didn't say anything, he just un-holstered another weird tube things, this one much shorter than the one on his back. "Hey Ossan! I trusted you!" yelled Naruto. As he said this, the mob began to march its way down the alley, brandishing everything from brooms to katana, intent on ripping the boy limb from limb. Just as Naruto had finally given up hope, a barrage of shots rang out in the alleyway. The villagers at the front of the mob screamed and clutched their hands, each one had a single neat hole in it. Naruto turned around quickly, and he saw the smoke rising from the weird tube thing. "R-Raigin?" said Naruto cautiously. "Come here Naruto." said Raigin in a low, soft voice. Naruto immediately did as he was told, and clutched to Raigin's leg. Convinced that the child was not hurt to badly, he turned his attention to the still seething, but slightly scared, mob. "Be happy that I just left you with a hole in your hand." he said dangerously. "If I had hit your wrist, you all would have died." the mob immediately backed up, fearing this strange man in front of him. One of the mob stood up. "Why are you helping the demon-brat?" he asked Raigin. "This boy has caused destruction on a scale that was never seen before, and yet you defend him!" yelled the villager. Many of the others were starting to get brave too. They immediately started yelling at Raigin, while others had turned their attention to Naruto, and started yelling obscenities at him. Raigin was unfazed by the verbal assault. He calmly looked at the mob and he said, "Do you honestly believe that an eight year old boy has the power to destroy anything that is bigger than me?" he asked. " Now unless he destroyed a house made of glass, he probably couldn't hurt a fly, not at his current age." He said the last words with a kind look at Naruto, who was still clutching his leg. One of the villagers had had enough of this man. This particular villager also happened to be a Chunnin level ninja, and he thought that it was time to put an end to this stand off. The Chunnin let loose a swarm of kunai and shuriken at the pair, Naruto screamed in terror, but Raigin just had a look that said "oh, please…" he raised his weird weapon again and fired several shots at the weapons. The Chunnins satisfied look turned to one of horror as Raigin's shots not only shot the weapon, but embedded themselves in the wall behind him, missing him by inches. Raigin calmly reloaded his weapon and looked at the mob. "any other takers?" he asked dangerously. Right as he said it, three Jonin ninja jumped in front of the mob, screening the mob from Naruto and Raigin. Raigin sighed. " I was wondering when you were going to show up." he said "lucky for the kid I was there when I was, he would have been massacred." he stated. One of the Jonin walked up to Raigin. " we were actually here for a while, but you had everything under control." said the Jonin. The Ninja looked down at a shell-shocked Naruto. "is he alright?" asked the Jonin. " I think so." said Raigin " just a little shock, I'll see if I can pull him out of it." and with that, Raigin crouched down and looked the frightened child right in the eye. "Naruto" he said softly "how would you like to visit the local ramen bar huh?" this statement immediately dragged Naruto out of his shocked stupor. "REALLY!?!?!?! RAMEN!?!?!" he yelled. "what the heck are doing standing around here for then? Lets go!" and he ran strait to Ichiraku's. Raigin smiled, he really did like this kid. " Of course Naruto." he turned to the Jonin "See? I told you I could do it." he bragged. The Jonin Sweatdropped, and he and the rest of his squad returned to their scheduled patrol.

A few minutes later, Naruto and Raigin were at the ramen shop, and the tenants happily served them, as who were they to drive away a small, hungry child? As Naruto dug into his ramen, several questions ran through his mind. "who is this guy? And what is that weird weapon he used?" he thought. Raigin sensed that the boy wanted to ask him something, so he simply opened the gate. "alright kid, what do you want to know?" he asked casually. Naruto was a bit taken aback at this open invitation. "Well… I kinda wanted to know what that weird weapon you used is." Asked the child. Raigin chuckled, clearly amused at the boys question. "Well now, what I use is a fairly new technology. Its called a fire-arm, or as many would call it, a gun." Raigin explained. "I won't go into detail on how it works, but if you like after we eat you can try to shoot it." Naruto looked stunned. "I-I can really try?" he asked. Raigin smiled "Of course you can. I need to see if I can teach others how to use them. See, my new job is starting soon and I wanted to see if I had the temperament to be an instructor." he explained. Naruto looked at Raigin closely, not quite getting what he was talking about. "so…" he began, "you want to teach me how to use a gun, in preparation to teach others… so you're an instructor?" he asked. Raigin Sweatdropped "didn't I just say that?" he thought. Nevertheless, he smiled and said "that's right Naruto. And I want you to be my first student." Naruto's eyes practically bugged from his head "COOL!!!" he shouted.

Several bowls of ramen later (Raigin's poor wallet…) the strange pair made their way to the training ground. As they walked, the villagers left Naruto alone. As soon as they saw Raigin, they immediately ceased their attempts to kill the boy. News traveled fast, and the villagers knew that if they wanted to live, they should stay away from that man. Anyway, when they reached the training field, Raigin stopped Naruto. "now listen Naruto" he said " what I'm going to show you is a new art that is probably the most demanding of all ninja arts." he explained. "if you really want to learn this, you must put in hours of practice, and years of study, before you can think to call yourself a sniper." he finished. Naruto cocked his head to the side, squinting like a fox. "what is a sniper?" he asked. "a sniper is someone who is used often for assassination and recon." said Raigin "a sniper is often left alone for days on end, looking through his scope, not moving a muscle, waiting for his target. And when the time is right, he takes out his target. a sniper must have patience, cunning, and a grasp on geometry and physics." Naruto groaned at this, and Raigin just smiled. "don't worry, its really not as hard as it sounds." he said. "once you grasp the basics and if you like this art, it all comes very easily to you. But for now, I'm going to give you a demonstration." Raigin pulled out his pistol, and checked the chamber. Satisfied that the weapon was ready, he turned to Naruto. "now watch closely Naruto" he said. And with that, he turned, held his arm strait out, pulled the trigger, and the gun went off with a loud bang. Naruto jumped, and Raigin just laughed at him. "It's always worth it to see that reaction!" he exclaimed. Naruto only looked confused. "what exactly happened?" he thought to himself. And as if to answer his question, Raigin led Naruto to the stump he had just shot. The stump had a bull's eye target on it, and upon closer inspection, a tiny hole in the center of the target. "so what did you do?" asked Naruto. Raigin looked at him with a smile "Now now, that would be telling." he said. "try to figure it out on your own. Observe the stump and tell me what you see." Naruto knelt down and looked at the stump the only thing that stood out to him was the single hole in the stump. He squinted at it, and he noticed that there was an object lodged in the wood. He turned to Raigin. "do you have a small stick or something I can dig this out with?" Smiling, Raigin handed Naruto a kunai knife, and after a few seconds of prying, a small metal spike looking thing fell into Naruto's hand. "I think I'm starting to see…" started Naruto. "when that big bang thing happened, this little spike flew out of your gun and hit the target!" he finished. "That's pretty close!" said Raigin, beaming now. "you're a sharp one Naruto. That is actually close to describing what happened." Naruto just looked up and smiled at Raigin. Raigin looked back at him, and his next question completely floored him. "do you want to try?" Raigin asked the boy. "YOU BET!!! AFTER THAT WHO WOULDN'T?" shouted Naruto. "ok then, but I have to ask you to stop shouting Naruto. You need to break that habit If you ever want to be a sniper." said Raigin. Naruto nodded, and instead of yelling, he started tapping his foot. "now that's better." said Raigin. "now I will show you what to do." Naruto gave Raigin his undivided attention. Not even the apocalypse could distract him now. "Okay Naruto, first, hold it in your hand, let your hand form around the grip." Naruto did as he was told, and he was amazed at how heavy the gun was. Raigin leaned in toward Naruto and told him to aim at the stump he had shot. Naruto tried to aim at the stump, but he wasn't sure he was doing it right. Raigin then turned the safety off. "Okay Naruto, this is what's going to happen, when you squeeze the trigger, there will be a very loud bang, and I wouldn't be surprised if the gun flew out of your hands, so just don't panic, and be careful" said Raigin. "okay Raigin-sensei." said Naruto. Raigin was touched that Naruto had called him that. He was really starting to like this kid, and he really wanted to know more about him. But that would have to wait, as Naruto had fired the gun, and not only had it jumped out of his hand, it flew backwards and smacked him in the face. While Raigin was trying to comfort the small child, he looked up at the target, and was amazed that a single neat hole was in the stump just below the hole he had made. Naruto was still sniffling in pain, as the recoil of the gun took a toll on his young bones. "Naruto, its alright, you will feel better tomorrow." said Raigin "but I want you to look at the target. Where were you aiming at when you fired?" he asked. Naruto looked at the target, and his eyes widened in surprise. "I-I was aiming for your hole, sensei." he said with a sad tone in his voice. Raigin noticed this and picked Naruto up said " Naruto, you did better on your first try than anyone else I have ever seen try." said Raigin honestly. "I think you are a natural born sniper." "really?" asked Naruto, a look of happiness in his eyes. "of course." said Raigin.

Alright, that was my first chapter of an idea I had after watching the shooter and then watching 2 hours of Naruto, I hope you enjoyed it, and please review if you want me to continue. If so, I may post a new chapter every week. Until then, BANZAI!!!