Cold and Distant

Chapter 1 – Haunting Memories and a New Mission

Naruto was once again in one of the nightmares that came regularly to him. He was in a field, of dead people. Their hearts were cut open, and their faces were twisted into grotesque smiles. Naruto whipped his head around as he heard a sound behind him.

To his horror, one of the corpses started to rise. Then the others followed. A young girl walked up to him. Her chest was sporting a deep gash. Naruto felt a pang of guilt. He had killed this girl. She was an innocent, but he was not allowed to let anyone see him and live…

The girl grinned maniacally. "You killed me…" she whispered. "I was not your target… but you killed me. You are a cold blooded murderer."

As she finished saying this, the rest of the corpses started saying. "Murderer, murderer, murderer, murderer…"

Naruto clutched his head and moaned. "No… no… stop… please… I'm sorry… I'm sorry…"

"NOOOOO!"

Naruto woke up with a start. He was panting heavily like he had just run a marathon. His forehead was glistening with sweat and he had fallen off his bed. His body felt bruised and sore, from his fall to the ground, and his mission the other night.

He shook his head. 'It was just a dream, just a dream' he repeated in his head. 'Just a dream…' But he knew that it wasn't. He knew that it was a way that his memories came back to haunt him.

Naruto looked out the dirty window of his shack. It was dark and gloomy outside. The sun had not even woken yet, and barely anyone was in the streets, in these evil hours of the morning. Naruto then looked at his old clock. It was 4:23 in the morning. He shook his head again and carefully stood up, wincing as he stretched his cramped legs.

Naruto slowly stood up and walked to his bathroom. He splashed his face with water and looked in the mirror after he turned on the dim light. The face staring back at him was haunted and tired. Lifeless blue eyes stared as his reflection as he saw what he looked like. His pale skin looked sickly in the bad lighting, and his blonde hair still stuck out in all directions.

He quickly brushed his teeth and washed his face again. Then he walked out of the bathroom and over to his closet. He sighed as he looked at everything in it. All the clothes were dark in color. He liked it that way. Actually, there was one that was bright orange. He used to wear that when he was younger… but he grew out of it. And after the ANBU missions, he didn't feel like wearing bright colors.

Naruto had joined the ANBU forces when he was 13, just like the rest of his teammates. Now 15, he is one of the highest ranking ANBU, though Sasuke and Sakura were still his team. Kakashi had rejoined the ANBU forces and he was also on his team.

Naruto gave a quick glance at the jumpsuit before picking up a dark red T-shirt and baggy black pants. He tied his hitae-ite around his arm to cover the ANBU sign, and walked out of the shack. Breakfast would come after training.

At his own personal training ground that was hidden by a cluster of tall trees, he stopped and started to do laps around the clearing. 'Another day…'

Naruto rushed to the Hokage Tower. Today was the day they were assigned a new mission, as the other was a success. He sighed. Another mission, another kill, another sleepless night when his memories came back to haunt him.

Naruto arrived to see that Sakura and Sasuke were already waiting for him, though he was a good 10 minutes early. Sakura wore her usual black skirt and blood red shirt. The shirt sleeves went to just above her wrist guards. A wazikashi was strapped on her back, and her Cat mask was held loosely in her hand. Her long pink hair was tied into a high ponytail in preparation for their mission. It was usually let down.

Sasuke wore black shorts that reached just below his knees and a dark blue T-shirt. He hadn't changed much since when he was 13. He had one katana strapped onto his back, and he had wrist guards on. (A/N: if any of you have read Rurouni Kenshin, they're like the ones that Kenshin wore when he was a hitokiri) His black panther mask was already on.

Naruto himself still wore his black baggy pants and red shirt with the Uzumaki symbol on it, only now he had strapped a katana onto his back, and he already had his fox mask on. He too wore wrist guards. They were all wearing standard shinobi sandals, except for Sakura, who had opted to wear high-heeled boots.

Then Kasumi appeared. She was wearing dark blue, almost black, shorts and a sky blue spaghetti strap top. Dark black high-heeled boots adorned her feet, and her silver hair was let down, with her usual side swept bangs. She also had a pair of kodachi on her back. Her wolf mask was already on.

Everyone was actually quite surprised that Kasumi had showed up early. She was just like Kakashi, never early. The only one who didn't look surprised was Naruto. In fact, Naruto rarely showed emotion anymore. This slightly saddened the old Team 7; they actually missed the hyperactive blonde that Naruto was when he was 13. But on to more pressing matters. Kasumi was never early. On time, maybe, but never early. This mission they were to be given had to be really important. Kasumi greeted them with her signature, "Yo."

Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto nodded to her, and they all made their way to the Tower. They quickly made their way to Tsunade's office, and upon arriving, they heard her talking with someone else, probably their client. Naruto knocked on the door sharply, and they could all hear Tsunade's voice saying, "Come in!"

The quartet nodded, and Sakura put on her masks. Now they were not Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and Kasumi anymore. They were ANBU. They had no identity except for the animal on their mask. They were shinobi. They were tools.

Naruto entered first, with the rest of his ANBU team trailing behind. Tsunade nodded to them all. "Ah, yes, Fox, Cat, Panther, and Wolf, good to see that you are here on time." They all bowed to her, then turned to the other person in the room.

He was an old man, with long white hair and beard, and half-moon glasses. He wore the oddest clothes, sort of like a cross between a dress and a jacket, with stars and moons on it. He looked surprised at how young the elite ninjas appeared.

Naruto turned back to the Hokage. "Tsunade-sama, is this our client?" he asked with an emotionless voice. Tsunade shook her head.

"No, this is not your client. Your client is a young boy, and this is his Headmaster at school."

At this the old man said, "Please allow me to introduce myself." His voice was pleasant and warm. "I am Albus Dumbledore, and I have enlisted your help to guard a very precious person." They all nodded, so he continued. "This person is very important to the Wizarding World, because he is the only person who can bring down Lord Voldemort." He then went on to explain all about Voldemort, and Hogwarts, and the Wizarding World in general.

When he was done, Tsunade once again started to talk. "If you take this mission, you have to stay there for a whole year. I know that you all know how to speak English, so I expect you to do so, unless speaking privately. You will protect the boy at all costs. Professor Dumbledore here was also kind enough to bring pictures." She gave a small picture to each of them, which they looked at before tucking it into on of their pockets. "His name is Harry Potter."

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iceprincess421