Leaves rustled in the breeze as though responding to the hushed murmurs below, obscuring them intermittently from the assassin hidden in the trees. Pulling his camouflage cloak into a slightly better position he chanced another peek at the group gathered below. All uniformly nondescript and masked, like him, they bore no sign of allegiance though they were undeniably not from his faction. A quick headcount turned up twenty one enemies which meant four hidden sentries if his sources were correct, who were likely skulking in the trees as he was waiting for him to make his move. To attack now would be suicide.
But then, that was the whole point.
His primary target was a very famous general who had a reputation for out manoeuvring opposing forces who were double the size of his own and pulling victory from the clutches of defeat with plans that made it clear he was only ever pretending to lose. If his own faction wanted to stand a chance at surviving both this army and the other opposing faction's army, he would need to destroy this man even if it meant losing his own life.
He would need to move quickly, the enemy general would be expecting his attack which meant the sentries would be closing in on him. His ploy of choosing a non-optimal vector of attack to avoid detection seemed to be working, but such was the way of the enemy general.
The assassin sensed the moment had come. The light, dappled cloak he wore was torn off with a flourish as he used a bough to swing himself around and then ran vertically down the tree trunk.
It seemed to happen in unison, every head in the small clearing snapped toward him. Twenty one bodies moved as a single beast, sliding into defensive or offensive stances as dictated by long hours of practice. They didn't matter, inconsequential nuisances at best. There was a reason he was chosen for a task of such importance and overwhelming difficulty; he was the best.
Using the momentum of his downward charge the assassin launched himself from the tree, body twisting, and foot first he arced toward the general like a lethal javelin only somehow there was an enemy soldier leaping at him that he'd failed to see earlier. Well, that made sense, it wasn't like the enemy to have no backup plan.
He twisted slightly, catching the enemy soldier at exactly the right angle to send him spinning painfully to the earthen ground which was no doubt their plan all along. Most of his momentum and element of surprise gone the assassin landed smoothly, transitioning perfectly from falling to running he raced toward the escaping general.
A flicker of movement to his left drew his eye and he lashed out a kick, felling an enemy agent and once again having his momentum arrested. Ok. Change of plans
He dipped a hand to his unfortunately depleted weapon pouch, not so much as a fork, and palmed a roll of weighted wire. Having already calculated the distance and speed, the assassin slung the wire in the split second he had before needing to turn around and kick somebody else in the chest. It was perfectly timed, the pull from the wire catching what was hopefully the general combined with the push of his kick took him out of reach of a grasping hand that would have spelt disaster had it gotten hold.
He took the slack in the wire and wrapped it around an intruding wrist, wrenching a punch off course from his nose. Hands now free and with no way to catch the general if he'd missed with that wire throw, the assassin set about dismantling the rest of the army.
Naruto Uzumaki awoke to a green glow obscuring his vision in the Academy infirmary, feeling like he'd been tenderised. He stifled a groan, that was always the worst part of being made to play assassin right off the bat, the beating for taking out that groups leader. Somebody had to do it though, especially if it was Shikamaru in charge. Or Shikamaru in general since he always got delegated to tactics and if you didn't take him out right at the start you'd nearly always lose.
The glow faded, revealing a pair of hands which helped him to sit up.
"Are you feeling any severe pain, Cadet Uzumaki?" said the girl who owned the hands.
From the Medi-Nin course in the year below him, such students were often charged with patching up others after their skirmish exercises for extra practice.
"No," said Naruto, flexing his fingers which were thankfully not as broken as last time.
"Good," said the girl and the Chunin infirmary overseer standing to her left ticked something off on his clipboard. "You had a cracked rib and a perforated eardrum, medical staff advises you not engage in any strenuous activity for the next forty eight hours, um…, and to contact us immediately if any pain persists or er, you feel the symptoms of a concussion"
The infirmary overseer made another tick on his clipboard, "and what would those be?" he asked the girl who frowned as though she didn't know why he was asking her that and rattled off the list as the pair made their way down the aisle of beds to the next patient.
Naruto rubbed his eyes and stretched, looking around for the clock; whose hands read 8: 49. Near the clock, next to the exit doorway sat an even greater prize putting on his shoes. Naruto swung his legs off the infirmary bed and, picking up his own shoes as he went, made his way across the room.
"So I did get you, huh?" he asked Shikamaru.
Aggrieved eyes peered up at him from beneath a turban of bandages.
"I'd rather say the tree got me," droned Shikamaru, "it might be less embarrassing that way"
Ignoring what Shikamaru was implying Naruto replied, "I've never lost a fight to a tree before," which wasn't strictly speaking true.
He hadn't meant to trip Shikamaru into the tree either, rather he'd aimed for the flat rock nearby, but there was no reason he couldn't take credit for it. Happy accidents and all that.
Shikamaru made a disgruntled noise, stood up and ambled out of the room. Naruto hurriedly slipped his standard issue sandals on and followed. He knew why Shikamaru was in a bad mood and couldn't blame him. This happened nearly every week and it was usually worse for everyone involved except himself.
"Do you know if they've announced the winner yet," he asked as they ascended a short set of stairs and turned right.
Shikamaru didn't respond for a few seconds. "No, but it's probably Sakura"
With both he and Shikamaru out of the game in the first move the odds certainly did favour Sakura. Her rotation this week had both the second best tactician and second best fighter, herself and Sasuke respectively, which unfortunately put them a level above the squad Naruto himself was attached to this round. Still, there was a chance Takeshi could pull through and win if he managed to manoeuvre Sasuke into a trap and bait Sakura out from behind her officer line which would have to be a feint to make an opening in their formation…
As they exited the building Naruto determined there was no way Sakura would fall for a trap he wouldn't and that she had almost certainly won, barring a surprise pincer attack from what was left of Shikamaru's team or some such unpredictable complication.
When he neared the field they were to gather after the practice fights Naruto veered off to join squad 2 while Shikamaru left for his own. About half the members were present, the rest at the infirmary getting discharged for various minor injuries. Naruto picked one of his teammates at random, "Sakura?" he asked.
"Sakura," came the grudging reply.
Naruto turned his head to look at her from across the way, engaging enthusiastically with her team. Given the battle situation and that she was taking more electives and doing better than nearly everyone else he expected no less than her victory.
As the school day ended and Naruto made his way out of the academy gates, passing as usual beneath the jingoistic propaganda that was an inscription of Konohagakure's Will of Fire, he was met with a decidedly unusual occurrence. A stern looking Chunin bearing the green vest of his station told Naruto he was required before the Hokage at his earliest possible convenience. Which of course meant immediately.
He could think of nothing he'd done recently that would require his attendance in the office of the Third Hokage, but there was all manner of possible reasons given his status as a Jinchuriki. His academy graduation was approaching, a single short month before the final exams and his coming into being a full-fledged shinobi, perhaps Hiruzen wanted to discuss matters of that particular nature. Naruto also supposed it could have something to do with the rapidly approaching Chunin Exam. Ninja, nobles, merchants and peasants from foreign countries would soon be flocking into the village to witness the massive multinational bi-annual event, any of whom could pose a potential risk to the village's safety if they somehow managed to kill or capture him under the nose of Konoha's overtaxed security.
Reasons for his visit fought over how probable they were in the back of his mind while the Chunin led him to the meeting. The walk was short, the Academy, Hospital and Business Office were all fairly close to one another near the north west corner of the village, overlooked by Konoha's prized monument; the Great Stone Faces of previous Hokage. Hashirama Senju, Tobirama Senju, Hiruzen Sarutobi and the late Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze.
The sight of the last face brought with it a wave of washed out melancholy for something he'd never known. His father who, along with his mother, had died the night he was born which he deemed highly suspicious; if only because he was sure Hiruzen was hiding something from him. From what he'd learned of his parents Tailed beasts simply didn't burst from the seal of Kushina Uzumaki, heir to the vaunted lore of sealing techniques of the once proud, now destroyed, Village Hidden in the Whirling Tides. Especially if she was under the watchful eye of one of the greatest masters of Sealing Konoha had ever seen, Minato.
He'd been told that his suspicion was born of his bias since apparently that sort of thing had happened every time a female Jinchuriki got pregnant, barring the original host of the Nine Tailed Fox as the sole exception. But, whatever.
These thoughts died down as interest in the question 'why am I going to see the Hokage?' swirled into the forefront of his mind. Last time he'd been called there it was to arrange extracurricular lessons, maybe the instructors at the academy had brought to the Hokage's attention an area in which he was lacking, though what that could be he had no idea. Or perhaps it was, with a month to go, that he would be given a tutor who would make sure he was fully prepared for the final exam.
As he was led through the security process required to enter the top floor of the Business Office Naruto decided that was probably it, he was to be made to do even more school work. And so with that air of finality he stepped forward into the Hokage's office.
The room itself was spartan. Cubbyholes full of scrolls covered every wall from top to bottom and the only furniture was a large wooden desk behind which sat an old man in red patterned robes, grey haired and wrinkled with age.
The Hokage raised one hand and twitched a finger causing a well-worn pipe to float from the far side of his desk and into his hand, lighting itself as it went.
"Thank you," he said to the Chunin who had led Naruto there, "you are dismissed"
The man nodded, grim faced, and bowed as he left the room shutting the doors behind him.
The second the doors shut Hiruzen immediately slouched in his chair, letting out a slightly undignified sigh of relief amid a billowing cloud of pipe smoke.
"And what does milord require?" Naruto asked, gesturing grandly.
From behind him there was the faintest whisper of something moving through the air and a hand gripped his shoulder. Naruto span around like he'd been stung, already looking up into the chalk white face and serpentine yellow eyes of someone whom everyone in Konoha knew by sight.
Orochimaru.