It was a quiet night in the Leaf Village. For some, it was not.
In a dark alley, riddled with trash cans and empty bottles, strange sounds could be heard. A man obviously physically struggling with something, and muffled screaming. The scarce moonlight that poured in through the gaps in the roofs far above revealed a middle-aged man trying to subdue a young girl, roughly 19.
Rough clothes clung to his muscles, and it appeared as though he didn't bathe very often. He had greasy black hair, slicked back, and tattoos that appeared to represent some sort of gang "tag." His breath reeked of cheap liquor, and he had a drunken grin on his unattractive face. The worst thing about him though was the hungering look in his eyes as he tore the poor girl's clothes off her body, revealing a bra-clad chest.
Tears rolled down her face as her screams, which were muffled by the makeshift gag placed in her mouth, turned in to pitiful whimpers as she seemingly accepted her fate. That look is something few have the stomach to witness: the eyes of complete resignation.
It was a sight that brought back memories that had long-been repressed for the figure now slowly walking down the alley. Its slow footsteps echoed throughout the night.
Stopping in his drunken stupor upon hearing the footsteps, he turned towards the approaching silhouette.
"Hey, get the fuck outta here if you know what's good for ya!" the thug shouted pulling out a switchblade he had threatened the girl with. After the footsteps continued, he stood from his position kneeling over the girl.
"What the fu-"
"Be silent," a new voice entered the mix. It came from the direction of the approaching figure. It was cold and quiet, like the cavernous interior of a glacier. It sounded masculine, but young. It held a sense of power behind it… just enough to stir instincts of panic and fear in the greasy man.
"D-do you know who I am?!" the man shouted, trying and failing to sound intimidating. "T-the Black Dragons rule this neighborhood, and I'm well connected with the-"
"Not very connected anymore," said the voice as the man's head slowly rolled off of his body. The figure stopped. "Heh. Ya get it? Not connected. Heh."
Blood splattered all over the young girl and the recently-made corpse toppled to the ground. Blood began oozing from the bared throat of the thug.
Needless to say, the girl was completely terrified by the blood and that the figure appeared to be talking to himself about some ungodly, awful pun. She thought it couldn't get any scarier, but was, of course, proven wrong when another voice actually responded to him… from right behind her.
"Hah hah, you think you're hilarious don't you," chuckled a new figure sarcastically. As the figure crouched over the girl, it was revealed to be a redheaded female somewhere around 17 years of age.
She was wearing a tight fitting and low cut crimson tank top that did quite well to show off her curvaceous figure. Black cargo pants hugged her long legs and voluptuous rear. Her vibrant red hair was pulled into a low pony tail.
"That's because I am hilarious," replied the sarcasm of the original mystery man. He stepped into the light as well. He wasn't so much of a mystery man as he was a mystery… boy.
The first thing anyone with a sense of self-preservation would notice was his simple presence. It was reminiscent of seeing a wolf in the wild. It could almost definitely kill you… if you gave it a reason to. As long as you made sure you were not its prey, everything would be fine.
Physically, he was around 5' 5". He wore a black sleeveless hoodie, with the hood obscuring his features. Clearly he did not want his appearance known, because in addition to the hood, he wore a black hunter mask with three streaks that faintly glowed red. A straight ninja-to was strapped diagonally across his back. The girl assumed that it was this weapon that beheaded the would-be rapist. He too wore dark black cargo pants tucked into combat boots. A pair of black metal bracers protected his forearms. He also wore fingerless gloves that, one was shoved into his pocket and the other was on the hilt of his sword. Tufts of blond hair poked through the darkness of his hood.
"And what's with the whole insta-kill thing? It's not like you," asked the redhead now standing up. She looked at him, now seemingly ignoring the still bound girl on the ground. He looked at the girl and she saw his eyes through the slits in his mask.
They glowed red. She couldn't quite make out details, but there was just this glow that was emanating from the narrow lines of his mask. In the darkness of the alley, the red lighting under his hood made him appear like something straight out of nightmares. There was such malice and rage seeping out of him that the girl could barely move. The only thing she could compare it to was the Kyuubi attack, and she was only 6 at the time. As she lay there frozen in fear, something struck a chord in the boy. That's when it changed.
It seemed to happen in the blink of an eye: red turned to blue, fear turned to relief, and the emotions behind them… that's what threw her off the most. It's almost like he looked on at her in sad remembrance. But a second passed and it was gone.
He reached up and touched a small seal under his ear.
"Squad 3 report," he commanded, once again serious. Instantly, four figures appeared in front of him, kneeling. They all wore the exact same thing: black cloaks with hoods that hung low enough to cover their eyes. Red-cloth masks draped loosely over the lower halves of their faces and black standard issue ninja-to were strapped across their backs.
They were indistinguishable in appearance which made them quite intimidating to the poor girl. The blonde's eyes drifted skyward, through the canopy of rooftops.
"Take her back to HQ and get her taken care of. Also, one of you dispose of this body," he said in a calm voice, without looking at them.
"Yes sir!" they responded in unison. Within seconds all of them were gone, leaving only the boy and his companion behind.
"Are you ok?" the redhead asked as she walked up to him. She gently placed her hand on his arm as he still stood staring at the sky.
"Yeah thanks, Kyu. Just remembering the good ol' days," he finished with a dark, humorless chuckle.
"Why don't we head back. We have a long day tomorrow," Kyu replied, starting to walk away. "Tell you what… First one back gets to pick the other one's outfit for tomorrow…"
"…Deal."
And just like that, they both disappeared in a burst of speed.
An ANBU agent on the rooftop above silently stood and prepared to report what he had found. He stopped however when he felt the unmistakable chill of a blade at the back of his neck.
"You think it wise to threaten an ANBU agent?" he said in a neutral tone.
"I just wanted to come make sure that the Hokage is the only one who hears of this" replied a voice from behind him.
Kakashi's eyes narrowed behind his mask. The voice sounded young.
"We have not met I assure you," the man replied. "And your skills must be a bit dulled if you of all people did not sense me approaching."
"I still sense no chakra coming from you," Kakashi said warily. 'What the hell?! He snuck up on me without using any chakra?'
"I don't use it," he said flatly. "But moving on, I need you to tell me you won't be telling anyone of this, besides the Hokage. Ok?"
Kakashi had finally had enough and leapt across the roof and spun around. His attacker did not move from his spot and instead just chuckled and raised his hands in the air disarmingly.
The man was dressed similarly to the "Squad 3" members that were there before. The main difference he had no mask and the lower half of his young face could barely be seen in the moonlight. He also had no ninja-to, instead having some sort of bracer-based blades. That is clearly what he held to Kakashi's neck as his arms were still raised in the air.
"What do you mean, you don't use chakra? And if you just wanted to deliver a message, why did you threaten me with a blade?" Kakashi asked sharply. He was disturbed at this entire situation. 'A little recon duty my ass…'
"I don't use chakra. It only gets in the way for what I do. And honestly I figured you would have noticed me sooner. When you didn't, I wanted to see how far I could get," he answered. He lowered his arms and retracted his blade with a satisfying *shink*.
"Who is this message from? That figure down there?"
"Someone on your side. For now…" he replied ominously. "I will tell you no more. I have to go now." He began walking away, towards the edge of the building.
Kakashi was appalled that this mystery person would threaten him like that and then try to leave with no consequence. He moved to intercept, but heard two more people arrive on the rooftop… again with no chakra presence whatsoever.
Two more of the hooded figures stood surrounding the ANBU captain. They were… different from the others. Although there was no chakra coming from either of them, Kakashi could feel that they were a force to be reckoned with. This was probably just his survival instincts accumulated over the years warning him of danger.
They were the same height, around 5' 3". The curves on one of them identified her as female. They also appeared to be young, but their posture and stance made it clear they were trained. The weapons strapped to their backs were what stood out the most. The male had his hand on a gargantuan hammer that would require great strength to even lift, let alone wield effectively. The female had an elegant winged spear
"I figured you wouldn't like me leaving, so my friends here are to ensure I can do so. Believe me, I respect you Kakashi. I also know that in a fair fight you would almost certainly win, hence my friends here."
"Who are you?" Kakashi inquired. He hoped to get any information he could before these strangers inevitably got away.
The lead figure simply chuckled.
"You know I can't tell you who I am. I will give you some vague stuff though," he said grinning deviously. "I am known by the moniker King. These are the Twins. We belong to an organization that you can call the Nights. Now go tell your Hokage. We will be speaking with you soon Kakashi."
Without another word, King left. He simply walked to the edge of the building and walked right off the edge. Out of curiosity, Kakashi walked to the edge of the roof and peered over the edge. He could just barely spot a figure… swinging from something from building to building. He registered the Twins leaving but didn't even look back.
Kakashi stood at the edge of that building for a short while, lost in thought while trying to process all of this new information. There had been lots of abnormal reports for some time now, but it had mostly been mutually beneficial things so not much effort had been put into searching for the culprits. It was when an entire team of hooded figures was spotted by an ANBU that the real concerns began.
That was a month ago. Since then, there had been no luck spotting anything like that. This was the first any contact had been made and he had learned a great deal about these "going-ons."
He stirred from his thoughts as he came to an obvious realization. 'I need to report this to the Hokage.'
ELSEWHERE
"You've got to be kidding."
"Nope. I beat you here and that's what I want you to wear."
In a small rundown apartment stood two people. One was looking at the other's facial expression humorously. The other was looking at a pair of shorts in his hands.
"You want me to go shirtless… into that infested fangirl-pit?" he asked incredulously.
"Yup."
"You're another breed of evil…" With a sigh, he threw the shorts onto a nearby chair and threw himself back onto his bed. "I'm still wearing my mask..."
Hokage's Office 5:57 A.M.
Naruto sat in one of the semi-comfortable chairs that stood against the wall of the outside of the Hokage's office. Kyu sat beside him chuckling at his state of attire. He wore a pair of tan cargo shorts and a pair of setta sandals. And that was it. His chest was bare, and his physique was made known.
He was, to put it mildly, fit. It appeared his body was chiseled from stone. He was ripped to the point it was clear he was quite muscular and strong, yet he still retained his slim figure. It was a pleasant sight for most females to be sure. Which is why Kyu was now laughing. And Naruto was pouting.
"You ready for your big day at the academy?" she inquired without any attempt at keeping a straight face. He just grumbled a 'shut up' and continued pouting. Of course, this just made her laugh harder.
Her laughing however stopped, and she appeared to be genuinely nervous. Naruto ceased his sarcastic pouting as well.
A few moments later, the Hokage rounded a corner and began walking down the hall. The official robes draped across his well-aged body. He had a very confused look on his face as he eyed the two waiting outside of his office. Something was clearly up.
"Naruto. And how can I help you this morning?" he asked suspiciously. He had never known Naruto to be up this early.
'Hell, he rarely goes to the academy on time. Also, he wasn't wearing his orange jumpsuit. And speaking of, what GIVES with his muscles?! And who the hell is this?' the poor old man thought incredulously.
"Why don't we wait until we are in your office? I assure you we have quite a bit to talk about," Naruto said with hesitation. He stood and Kyu followed suit. She seemed off… she was looking at the ground and appeared almost… submissive. Naruto gestured for the Hokage to go first.
Shaken from his thoughts, the Hokage moved and opened the door to his office. The Hokage walked in and turned the lights on and about jumped out of his skin. Standing in the middle of the room were three hooded individuals. They immediately bowed and said "Hokage-sama."
"King, what the hell!" Naruto shouted, equally shocked that King was there. The three rose.
"You said to meet you in the Hokage's office at 6. It's past 6. I don't see the problem," King shrugged. He obviously expected this reaction from them and just wanted to prove a point.
"Come on, I expected you two to keep him in line," Naruto whined to the Twins.
"He's in charge, sir," the female retorted. Her tone sounded militaristic and serious, a complete contrast to her captain.
"Yeah, but he's also a moron," Naruto added.
"What the FUCK is going on?!" the Hokage shouted. He had no idea what was happening and no control over the situation unfolding in his own office. They all stopped what they were doing and looked to Naruto.
"So… here's the thing…"