Chapter 1: The Departure
It was already evening in the proud village of Konoha, where an old man with white robes sat behind a desk slowly filling out papers. There was a knock on the door and after a quick "Come in" a man with Konoha's ninja flack jacket and headband came in through the door with a scroll in his hand. He quickly handed the scroll to the Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen and patiently waited for his response.
Sarutobi saw the seal of the Kazekage of Suna on the scroll, he quickly opened the scroll and read through the contents of it. After a few minutes of silence the jounin could see Sarutobi relaxing his shoulders a little as if his burden was lessened. "Alright, it seems like the Kazekage agreed to my proposition."
Sarutobi grabbed a pen and an empty scroll. After a few minutes of writing he handed the scroll to the jounin, "Deliver this to Suna. Also, inform my secretary that tomorrow I will be leaving to discuss the details of the alliance with Suna." The jounin took the scroll and left Sarutobi's office after a bow with a quick "understood".
Sarutobi released a small sigh, "Well, this is one thing I don't have to worry about anymore. Now… The problem is Naruto. I will be gone for a while but… The villagers may try to harm him during my absence. Naruto himself isn't making it any easier." Sarutobi opened one of his drawers took out an old pipe, lit it and after a few puffs he let out a wisp of smoke.
Sarutobi narrowed his eyes, "It isn't as bad as it used to be but if I leave like this, all hell will break lose and when I come back either Naruto or the village may be gone." A few more puffs of the pipe. For a few minutes nothing but the burning of tobaco leaves and the ticking of the clock could be heard in the office, "I guess I have no other choice." Sarutobi turned around and called his secretary, "Bring me Uzumaki Naruto."
The next day
Near the gates of Konoha 5 people were standing: Sarutobi Hiruzen, 3 anbu escorts and what looked like a 5 year old silent kid with blond, messy hair that almost fell on his blue eyes. He wore a simple white t-shirt, black shorts and sandals. It was no one other but Naruto Uzumaki.
The Hokage seemed to finish talking with the gate guards and came back to the group. He took one quick glance at the group, "Alright, our journey will take a while so lets not waste any more time and get going." The hokage took a look at Naruto and started slowly walking, Naruto followed behind him with the anbu escort around the two. Because Naruto still had no ninja training they couldn't go at a fast pace.
The journey itself was peaceful, the anbu made sure of it. No one really talked, the anbu were busy staying alert and doing their job, Hiruzen seemed a little spaced out, probably thinking about the negotiations and Naruto was simply following Hiruzen and looking around silently. Though he never noticed Hiruzen's glances at him, then quickly turning away.
A few days later
The group, after a few days of walking through the sand, finally saw what looked like big walls made of sand and a small group of people standing in front of the gates. In front of the group stood a man with a white robe like Hiruzen's except his had blue lines on the edge of his robe, whereas Hiruzen's was red. Behind the man stood a few shinobi with serious faces.
"Welcome, Hokage, to Suna, I hope the journey wasn't too harsh." The Kazekage said as Sarutobi's group approached them. Hiruzen put on his formal smile and quickly answered, "Well, I am not as young as I once was but its good to have a walk once in a while." Kazekage offered a polite smile, "Yes, I agree." His eyes went down to Naruto who was standing behind Hiruzen, "You wrote in the scroll that you will be bringing along a guest, I didn't expect someone… So young."
Hiruzen walked to the side revealing Naruto, "Yes, well… Kazekage I would like to introduce you to Uzumaki Naruto. I thought it would be a good experience for him to go out of the village and see the world just a little. I hope you do not mind if he stayed in your village with me for a while." Naruto did a curt bow to the Kazekage, who seemed pleased by the gesture, "No, not at all. For someone so young he is well taught I see. Anyway, you must be tired after your journey so my men will show young Uzumaki here to your lodgings. The journey probably tired him out, meanwhile we can go to my office and begin the talks." The Kazekage said as he turned to one of his men, who nodded and stepped to the front.
Hiruzen nodded his head, "I agree, the sooner we begin the faster we will end."He turned to look at Naruto, "Naruto, you go with the man here. He will show you where we will be staying. Wait there, when I return we will have a talk." Then as Naruto was walking away without turning around Hiruzen silently said, "Tora, your job is to protect Naruto. Absolutely no harm must come to him, understood?" With a small nod an anbu with a tiger mask disappeared.
The kazekage spoke up again, "Well then, if you follow me."
Next Morning
Naruto slowly opened his eyes when the harsh rays of the sun started shinning on him. After a few minutes he walked to the living room of their lodgings fully dressed. Sarutobi was already standing near the door, probably was going to the Kazekage's office.
Sarutobi turned around when he heard someone walking behind him, when he saw it was Naruto he put on his kind smile, "Good morning, Naruto. I hope you slept well. I am sorry but I have to go to the Kazekage's office again. Breakfast is already prepared, you will find it on the table and I left you some money in case you wanted to go out. I will probably be gone for a few hours, so staying in this room may be a little boring. You can go out and look around, though be careful. Just in case I ordered one of the anbu to watch over you, if you get lost call out to him."
When Sarutobi saw Naruto's nod he turned around and left after saying another "Goodbye".
Naruto stood for a few moments looking at the door. He tore away his gaze from the door and looked around the spacious room, "Boring." was all that came out of his mouth, "I guess I should eat up and look around the village." After a quick snack Naruto grabbed the money left on the table and left the apartment.
Few hours later
"What a boring village, nothing going on at all." Were the only thoughts in Naruto's head after walking around for a while. Suna wasn't like Konoha, which was full of activities and energy. There, people would walk around with smiles and warmly greet each other. Here, people would keep to themselves and say a polite greeting to their friends. It didn't have the warm atmosphere Konoha had. Though for some reason Naruto felt more at peace here, "Probably because the people here don't hide their stupid thoughts behind their smiles." He reasoned.
After walking around for a while Naruto saw a big crowd of people watching something. The big crowd piqued his curiosity so he made his way through the big crowd. His small body making it easier to get past the people. With another small push Naruto finally got to the front and what he saw wasn't what he expected to see, if he expected anything at all. It was a simple puppets show to keep the people here entertained, "Probably the only kind of entertainment they have here." Naruto added in his head.
Though for some reason it still caught his attention, boring as it was. Maybe, because he was bored, maybe, the life like movements of the puppets or their amazing stunts, Naruto himself didn't know what caught his attention, but his eyes were glued to the performance. He never noticed what was going on around him.
One of the lead puppeteers looked around the crowd and saw a man with a black cloak and a hood covering his face standing on a rooftop. The man slowly brought out a gloved hand from his cloak and pointed out Naruto and a few other people in the crowd. The lead performer looked to where the hooded man was pointing and saw Naruto standing there, his eyes glued to the performance but it was obvious he was keeping his guard up, ready to react at a moments notice. The performer smirked before hiding his smile.
After ten more minutes the performance ended and Naruto was about to leave with the dispersing crowd but he stopped when someone behind him called out to him, "Hey, kid with the blond, messy and spiky hair." Naruto immediately put up his guard and slowly turned around. He saw the lead performer standing there. He wasn't anything spectacular: short brown hair, thin eyes that looked like they were closed and a big goofy smile. He wore dark gray pants, sandals and a small cloak that fell just below his elbows. Though the atmosphere around him was creepy and Naruto's instincts for some reason told him not to trust him.
The man let out a carefree laugh, "You don't have to be so careful. I saw you in the crowd here, you obviously stand out among the people here. My name is Kotarou, you are?" Kotarou stood for a while waiting for a response, whatever he was hoping for he didn't get it as Naruto was simply standing there and looking at him with a calm and bored gaze. Kotarou let out a small laugh, "Well, aren't you the social one."
Naruto looked around and saw that the other performers scattered and some were talking to other people of various ages but none were that much older than him, at most probably everyone was younger than 10, "Do you have any business with me? If not, I will be taking my leave here." Naruto said and started turning around, when Naruto turned around Kotarou slightly opened his eyes with a displeased face, "This will be a hard nut to crack." He said in his head. Kotarou put on his friendly face again, "Wait a second, I just wanted a friendly conversation. For us performers its important to keep friendly relations with our spectators."
Naruto turned around. "Sorry but I won't be in this village for a long amount of time. Your performance was boring, so I probably won't come to the next." Kotarou seemed a little shocked, "This brat." He said in his head. He let out a small laugh, "So harsh, well maybe to outsiders like you its boring but for us its our only source of income and the only type of entertainment you get around here. Its important to know what people think of our performances so we keep up with what people like." Kotarou stopped to think for a bit, "Well, it may be a little hard for you to understand now… Umm, what was your name?" Naruto stood there for a while, "I don't have an opinion on your performance."
Kotarou let out a massive sigh inside his head, "Though the puppets themselves were interesting. I wonder how they moved like that." It was said very quietly if the wind picked up even a little Kotarou wouldn't have heard it. But he did. Kotarou let a massive smile form in his head, "Bingo."
"Well, maybe you don't have an opinion on the performance but what about the puppets?" He let out a fake sigh, though Naruto who had no ninja training and experience so he couldn't pick up on Kotarou's perfect act, "We try to keep the puppets so that people of all ages would like. The adults don't seem to mind them as they look at the performance itself. However, the kids like to look at the puppets themselves more, so what do you think about them?" He showed a friendly smile again.
Naruto stopped to think about it again, "I guess, they weren't so bad." Kotarou smiled, "Hook, line and sinker." He let out a small laugh, "Haha, is that so? We put a lot of work into maintaining them so its a relief. We also work a lot on the art of puppetry to keep our act flawless." The words piqued Naruto's interest, though he knew he shouldn't trust the man but his childish curiosity was getting the best of him, "So you mean those puppets didn't move on their own but you were controlling them?"
Kotarou looked like he saw an alien, "You mean… This is your first time seeing puppetry? I mean, automated puppets that move by themselves would be nice and all, but we aren't capable of creating such a thing. Of course we move them ourselves." Naruto stood there silently looking at him, "Say, kid. We always have an extra performance at the back stage you know. Its sort of like… An experiment run. We test out our new puppets and tricks while the select people we invite rate our performance."
Naruto's guard immediately went back up again, "Thanks, but I'm not interested." Kotarou hit himself in his head, "Damn, I shouldn't have rushed this. Now its back to square one." He cleared his throat, "Don't worry its just stuff we do to get more audience. If the kids like the performance they will come back and bring more friends and maybe their parents." "This kid is smart, I'll give him that. I will have to put my act on top gear if I want this kid. He won't be fooled easily." He said in his head.
"Sorry, but I have to go now." Naruto turned around and started leaving, but he felt sharp pain at the back of his head. His eyes closed and he started slumping forward when he was caught by someone with a black cloak.
Kotarou was looking at the cloaked figure in front of him. The figure hid Naruto inside it's cloak and looked at Kotarou, "You messed up, you shouldn't have rushed it." Kotarou opened his eyes slightly, "I know, this kid is not like the rest. Hes sharp and has a good guard up. Its obvious he doesn't take to strangers kindly." The figure looked around and saw that no one noticed what he had done, "I know that's why I pointed him out. He even had a guard following him. It was hard to fool him. Whatever, whats done is done. I will bring the kid back to our base. You make sure to bring more kids in. If you fail this our sacred duty will be lost. You know that." Kotarou's face became serious, "We all do."
The cloaked figure took another look around and vanished into thin air. Kotarou looked around and saw another kid walking. His serious face disappeared and he put on his friendly face, "Hey there kiddo..."
An unknown amount of time later (at a galaxy far, far away. Sorry, couldn't help it)
Naruto let out a small groan and slowly started opening his eyes. He could faintly hear someone talking near him, but his head hurt too much for him to hear the words. After a few moments his eyes shot open and he immediately sat up, prepared to run, and looked around. He saw that he was in a cage in a room filled with covered boxes and dust, on the walls random puppets parts and weapons were hanging. The weird things was that he wasn't bound by anything. He looked up and saw two figures in front of the cage. One was a figure clad in black, the other was Kotarou. They were talking about something but they probably heard him because they were looking at him right now.
Kotarou looked at Naruto but his friendly atmosphere and face were gone and replaced with serious ones, "You are finally awake, kid." Naruto looked around, "What is this?" He asked with a calm voice but he had a hard time hiding his unease, "Don't worry, if you play along we won't do anything to you. I promise." The black figure looked at Naruto, then turned to Kotarou, "Its about time we begin. Bring the kid to the rest of them." Kotarou nodded his head and after those words the figure turned around and left.
Kotarou turned to Naruto, "Just follow along, we are currently underground, there are guards everywhere and we all have more than enough ninja training to catch you. Don't make this harder on anyone." He said calmly. Naruto looked towards the only exit of the room and saw two people standing on the opposite side of the door. Though he could only see their arms.
Kotarou opened the cage and slowly walked towards the door, Naruto having no other choice slowly trudged along, "Come on, help won't come. Its impossible to find this place without prior knowledge and you walking so slow won't change what is going to happen. You are just wasting all of our time. The sooner we begin the faster we will end." Those words didn't hold any hostility or malice, he said them calmly like stating a fact.
Naruto took one last look around and saw that nothing could help him here. So he turned to Kotarou and started following him. After he walked through the door he saw that the guards were nothing but puppets. He failed to not show his surprise, "You shouldn't think this will make it any easier. This place is a maze filled with puppets. All of us know each path, where it leads to, like the back of our hands and we can take control of any puppet in here at the move of our fingers." He said it calmly again like stating a fact and to show a demonstration he lifted one arm and moved his pinky. At the simple movement of one finger the whole puppet started moving like it came to life, "Each of us can control ten of these and there are a lot of us. Do you still think you can escape?"
Naruto silently swallowed the saliva in his mouth and looked to Kotarou again, "Lets go, its best not to keep the others waiting for too long." He started walking again. Naruto took a glance back at the puppets and while Kotarou was turned around he shifted his feet and slowly started turning around but before he could take a single step the puppet moved in front of him, "You should be careful, kid. The walls have eyes and ears here." Naruto turned around and started following Kotarou again.
After a few long minutes and a lot of twists and turns Naruto walked into a room where there were a lot of people. There were the performers Naruto saw at the beginning, the black figure. The rest were kids mostly around his age no one seemed older than 10. There didn't seem to be any distinction between the kids. Boys and girls of various ages were sitting on small chairs and in front of them there was a small open area. The only light in this room came from the candles place all throughout the room.
Kotarou looked behind him at Naruto and moved his head towards the chairs. When he saw that a lot of eyes were on Naruto he understood that he had no choice but to listen to him. He saw the only free chair left and sat on it. He took one quick glance around him and saw a girl his age with long black hair falling on her back and on the front it was swept to the side sitting on his left and a boy with brown hair that fell on his eyes on his right. All the kids were looking around nervously some younger ones were sniffling and sobbing while the older ones trying their best to keep themselves composed and to calm the crying ones, "Hey, what will happen to us?" Naruto turned to his left and saw the girl with the black hair looking at him expectantly, almost about to cry.
Naruto from the beginning tried to keep himself composed and tried to keep his look like he was bored but he didn't trust his own voice to not show his unease. He looked at Kotarou and saw him talking with the black figure. He turned to his left again when he felt a small tug on his sleeve and saw the girl looking at him, "With no one to turn to I bet she wants someone to tell her it will be alright..." Naruto thought in his head. Memories of Konoha flooded his head and after a moment he almost smiled, "If only I had someone like that when I had to deal with the stuff back in my home." After he remembered all he had been through his unease almost completely disappeared, "I don't know, though I do know that they won't harm us. Otherwise, they would have done that already." Were the only things Naruto said. To Naruto that sounded cheap but it was enough for the young and naive girl to put her at ease.
After a few minutes Kotarou walked to the front of the children and cleared his throat, "Alright, I guess I can begin with saying that you don't have to worry about anything too much right now. We have no intention of hurting you, unless you make it difficult for us. All of you know us as "The Performers." That's how we call ourselves in the streets but the truth is, that we have another name." He looked around through the kids until his eyes landed on Naruto, "We are better known as "The Protectors" We are a shinobi organization to say it simply. I know most of you have no idea what I am talking about, but you all you need to know is that during the great ninja wars the ones who truly protected your parents and grandparent's lives are us. Unfortunately, when the war ended the tyrant Kazekage saw no use in us so he destroyed our group. But he didn't succeed. Every adult you see here is all that remains of "The Protectors." You probably want to ask us if we are your protectors why are we doing this and what do we want. To put it simply, we want you, kids, to join our group." After those words there was great confusion among the kids as they didn't know how to react.
"Not yet, this is far from the truth. They are hiding something. Adults are always hiding something when they want to make the kids do something." Naruto thought inside his head. Kotarou's eyes landed on Naruto and for some reason he seemed pleased when he saw that Naruto had no intention of believing them and he didn't hide it. The black figure for some reason was also nodding his head. It was hard to see from beneath the hood but if one were to look at Kotarou's reaction the figure's was probably the same.
The kids were looking around and talking to each other with great confusion. Meanwhile, Kotarou went to the black figure, "So, what do you think? Any potential candidates in this group?" The black figure seemed to think about something for a while, "Kids are very easy to trick, but there is always a few who don't believe everything they hear and see. For kids who are naive and foolish, when they can detect a lie, that is called instinct. There are always kids who are hard to trick because their instinct tells them that something is wrong. Those who have that instinct have the potential to become great shinobi. The blond kid obviously understands we are hiding something from him, he has the potential. There are few other who have looks on their faces like they are thinking about something, their potential is unknown but they are possible candidates."
Koutarou looked around, "Its either instinct or experience. The blond kid looked like he didn't believe what we were going to say before I even began to speak. He probably didn't understand anything but he understood that the situation put him at risk, that's why has was looking for a way out the entire time." The black figure looked at Kotarou, "That is also potential, my friend. The ability to asses the situation to the limits of his small mind and to come to the conclusion that he is in danger shows that he has very good survival instincts and the mindset to become a strategist. A good one at that." Kotarou looked through the kids again and released a small sigh, "Only a few candidates, better than the last bunch. Working with kids is so tiring."
The figure spoke again, "We are the protectors of Suna. While the ignorant and stupid discuss irrelevant stuff near a round table, we are the ones who truly protect Suna from the shadows. We are the hand that strikes down anyone threatening us. Due to the foolish fourth kazekage disbanding us we have been reduced to nothing but a bunch of artists who have to put on stupid faces for the amusement of others. Its obvious we can't recruit adults, they are hard to teach new tricks to and if they threatened us we would have to kill them for our safety. That would be inefficient and would put us at risk, sooner or later. Our best bet is to train new recruits while they are still young. Pick out the fresh, unpolished gems and polish them into fine warriors. All that matters is that Suna stands, that's what we have been taught, that's what we will pass on.
Kotarou looked at Naruto, "But the blond kid is worrying. He said that he will only be here for a while and he even had an anbu guarding him. He is no small fry. Its obvious we can't keep him here forever. If someone were to make a ruckus upstairs we could be discovered and all would be for naught."
"No matter, we have time, for now. If we can teach him the ways of the black hand then he can become someone who operates for us in other villages. If he could even spread our teachings Suna would gain a very formidable force and an intelligence network throughout the five great nations." The black figure spoke again. Koutarou seemed to have his doubts, "Yeah, but there is the chance we won't make it. That would make it even more dangerous, someone with our teachings and techniques using it for their own sake. I talked with him a lot. I don't know his name, age or background but I understood one thing. If anything, that kid is a hard nut to crack."
The black figure seemed to think about Kotarou's words for a while, "That means we won't make him into a mindless drone." Kotarou seemed confused, "And the other will be?" The black figure looked at the children again, "Of course not, but we will make them believe in our ideology and follow it strictly. However, for the blond kid its enough if he understands our ideology and supports us. He is simply a kid, he doesn't hold any allegiance to anyone but his closest friends and family. If we can somehow bring him to our side..." Kotarou's eyes widened, "I see, its enough if he only understands our creed. He doesn't hold any responsibilities to his village, so its enough if he helps us out, while adhering to our beliefs." The black figure nodded, "Correct." Kotarou put on his thinking face, "But still… My point stands. The kid dealt with some nasty stuff it seems if he became so distrusting. He will be a hard nut to crack and we won't be able to keep him here 24/7 unless we want someone upstairs to cause a ruckus. Probably the anbu alone is swooping the city and looking around for the kid as we speak."
The figure nodded again, "Yes, that's why we have to choose our actions carefully. No setbacks will be tolerated if we want to make him into our own ally." Kotarou nodded beside him.
The figure was silent for a moment, "Lets finish this up, do the usual. For those who didn't pass, erase their memories." Kotarou nodded from the side, "So, its three kids this time." The black figure shook his head, "No, four, take the girl sitting beside the blond haired kid." Kotarou looked surprised, "Her?Why? Forget doubting my words, she didn't even react to them." The figure sighed, "That is the reason why. She seems like she will have an especially hard time here. It will motivate the other so they wouldn't fall behind like her." Kotarou seemed confused, "You want to use her as a sacrificial pawn?" The black figure sighed again, "We have done things a lot worse than that. Besides, we won't slack in teaching her. Its obvious she doesn't have talent and will have a hard time picking up our art. Now, wrap this up." This time Kotarou sighed, "Fine."
Naruto's POV
The speech ended and Naruto was glancing around to the other kids watching their reactions. His eyes fell on The black figure and Kotarou. The figure and Naruto locked their gazes for a moment until Naruto was brought back to reality from a small tug on his shirt. He looked to his left and saw the girl looking at him again, "When will I be able to leave? I want to see mommy." Naruto narrowed his eyes and after a few seconds turned away.
"What do you think?" This time he heard the voice from his right. Naruto turned to to face the boy who's hair fell on his eyes. Naruto just calmly looked at the boy, "What do you think about what he said?" The boy repeated his question. Naruto looked to the front, "I don't believe them." The boy looked at Naruto, "I felt like something wasn't right. Why do you think so?" Naruto looked at the Figure, "Adults are always hiding something when they want us kids to do something." The boy looked like he was thinking about Naruto's words for a while, "True."
Naruto looked to his left again and saw that the girl still hasn't let go of his sleeve and was looking at the ground. He couldn't help but release a small grunt, "This won't take long." He said quietly. The girl looked up at him and made a small smile, "Hey, whats your name? Mine is Ayami." Naruto wanted to slam his head onto something, "Annoying" were the words repeating in his head.
He turned back to the front when he saw that Kotarou and the figure finished talking. Kotarou cleared his throat to get their attention again, "Alright, we are finished here. We will lead you back to your homes now, though I ask that some of you stay here, because there are still a couple of important things we have to tell you." Kotarou finished as he pointed out a couple of kids with his finger.
After everyone had left only Naruto and 3 other kids were left. Ayumi, the boy who's hair fell on his eyes and another girl with brown hair, which fell just beneath her chin.
Kotarou walked to the front of these kids, "You don't hav-" "Just tell us what you want already." The boy with the brown hair said. Kotarou just smiled in response, the black figure walked out to the front, "Hello, young ones. My name is Arata" The figure greeted them as he took off his hood, showing an old person with numerous scars on his face and with long, messy, gray hair, "Don't worry this won't take long, You see, the point of that speech from Kotarou right now was to select you group of kids." The brown haired kid seemed to think about it, "Why us?"
"Our organization is very secret and before I brought you here I looked into you. All of you would have joined the Suna Academy next year and became ninja either way. What I offer you now, is to join our organization to truly protect Suna, not from mere bandits, who try to make some pocket change, but from true enemies who try to destroy Suna." Except for Naruto every kid listened to the old man, waiting for him to further explain.
"You see, our organization's true name isn't "The Protectors." Its "The Black Hand." We were created in order to protect Suna from the shadows, whereas the ninja fought in the open fields. Unfortunately, as Kotarou said, the fourth Kazekage decided to destroy our group when the war ended. But we, who held onto our strict beliefs, couldn't just disband like nothing happened and decided to group together anyway in order to protect you, citizens. That' why we can't go out into the open and recruit like we want to, but we have to do it secretly like this."
Ayami raised her hand, "But why don't you talk to the current Kazekage so he would let you be together again?" The old man looked at her, "Because he would try to change us from who we are currently. Our group protects from the shadows, where no one sees us. If the Kazekage were to find out we would be in trouble because we didn't disband when we were told to, child."
"Our group protects everyone, who lives in Suna from the shadows, where no one sees us. We are the true shinobi of Suna, not them, the men who show of their headbands to look cool. What do you say, kids. Would you help this old man protect the people of this village from the evil outside? You have the potential to become true warriors of Suna, otherwise you would have been asked to leave just like the rest of the kids there. The question is, are you prepared to protect your loved ones without expecting any gratitude for a reward. Do you have what it takes to become true shinobi?"
The kids were lured in by Arata's sweet talk and had eyes shining in their eyes. But not Naruto, he could already see through the sugarcoated words Arata spoke, "Sorry, but I'm not even from Suna. I have no business here so I will be taking my leave." Just as Naruto turned around Kotarou grabbed his shoulder, "Kid, could we talk in another room?" Naruto looked at the hand on his shoulder and then at Kotarou. Seeing no other choice he walked after the man.
In another room
Kotarou closed the door and went to sit down on the chair in front of Naruto, "Look, kid. I know you weren't taken in by any of that." "Of course not. I have heard enough of those kind of words to understand they were fake." was the immediate response Kotarou got. He just sighed, "You are definitely a tough one, no matter what I say I just can't get around your defenses. Look, kid. I will be truthful with you from now on." Kotarou took a deep breath.
"We are called The Black Hand. An organization created during the second great ninja war in order to protect Suna. Like a second anbu organization. It wasn't that strange, every great village had a second anbu organization." Naruto seemed confused "Why 2? Isn't one enough?" Kotarou smiled sadly, "Anbu is an organization that every village has. It's primary function is to protect the secrets of the village. Only the elite gather there. However, anbu had one flaw. It was top secret but an organization that held its head high. Every ninja's dream was to join the anbu and to truly protect their village. But that was its flaw, if the anbu did anything too bad it would reflect poorly on the village itself. That's why every village created a second anbu organization. An organization that absolutely no one knew of, one that did the dirtiest of jobs there are. Murdering, stealing, tricking other people and that is the beginning. Of course even the regular anbu did that but the second anbu took on the most gruesome and dirty jobs of them all. That's what we are, The Black Hand. The second anbu of Suna." Kotarou looked at Naruto and saw him with a thinking look.
"You probably don't understand most of what I said, to put it simply The Black Hand is an organization meant to protect the village no matter what. No matter what kind of dirty tricks or actions we have to resort to, even if we have to murder every single person on this planet we must protect our village. That's the only job we were given. But… Our actions were too much and we became a threat to the village, that's why the Kazekage couldn't afford to get us exposed, so he disbanded us and destroyed anything that could harm the village."
Naruto looked at Kotarou, "You are right, I didn't understand most of it. I don't, even now. All I understand is that you were told to do the worst jobs out there and then your group was disbanded. But what I don't understand is what do you want from me?"
"I want you to become a part of the Black Hand." Naruto seemed confused by all of this, "Why? I'm not from your village and I don't have any ninja training." "We want you because of that. I don' know anything about you but I can see you have been through a lot to become so self aware and distrusting. The point of these gatherings is to get some fresh new recruits so we could train from the very beginning. You are the same. You are smart and have a lot of room for improvement. We want to teach you." "I'm from another village." Naruto responded quickly, "True, but what has that village done for you? Its obvious you have been through a lot. You have been forced to grow up quickly and to abandon your childhood in that village of yours. Is that how a village treats their citizens?" Kotarou asked.
"And what makes you better than them? What proof do I have that you won't do the same as they did or even worse?" Naruto asked, irritation obvious in his voice, "None, I have nothing to tell you that will make you trust me. But I have another solution for you."
Naruto listened intently, "We can teach you to protect yourself." Naruto was surprised by the statement, "Protect myself?" Kotarou looked Naruto in the eye, "That's right, I know I won't win your loyalty no matter what and that you won't trust us. So, how about a deal? We teach you how to protect yourself and in return you protect Suna from the shadows. You won't have to stay here for the rest of your life. You can be selfish and only look out for yourself. But, in return for us teaching you our art of combat, many forbidden arts that you will never, ever find anywhere else, you will have to look out for Suna's best interest from the shadows."
Naruto couldn't believe what he had heard. Protect himself? All this time he was the one who was being chased, but now he was offered the possibility of being the one who chases, "Whats the catch? How can you teach me to protect myself from adults and experienced ninja in just a few weeks? I'm not stupid."
Kotarou released a small laugh, "That's right, by now I have figured that out. What we will teach you is the art of puppetry. Its an art that isn't restricted by age. With it even a baby, just born, could kill the strongest kage. All that you need to master it is a creative mind and the ability to plan ahead of time. We can teach you both. And if you master it, no one will stand in your way and in turn, ours." Kotarou finished as he put forward his hand, "So, deal or no?"
Naruto looked at his hand for a while, "So in order for you to teach me all I have to do is lookout for Suna fom afar?" Kotarou nodded, Naruto almost smirked, "Too easy." Naruto grabbed his hand and shook it, "So, can I finally hear your name?" "Naruto… Uzumaki Naruto."
"Nice to meet you Uzumaki Naruto. Welcome to The Black Hand."
So, this is the first chapter of my rework "Konoha's puppet king" Many things will be different here as you just read it but i will try to keep it mostly the same. At least from now on. Promise. I hope. Or maybe. Anyway, from now on i will probably stop releasing the chapters and write my chapters up to where i stopped with Konoha's puppet king and release them all at once. I will keep Konoha's puppet king alive for now but when it is all done i will probably delete the story. This first chapter is just a simple sampler for you. I spent quite a bit of time on this and i racked my brain to its limit. This is my absolute best writing for the second story and i will only keep on improving from now on with your help ( i hope) So... Few things to point out.
*I am going to save up the documents and release a lot of chapters at once when i reach the point where i stopped at Konoha's puppet king
* I plan to rewrite the fighting scenes and maybe change the puppets, so if you have any puppets ideas drop a suggestion in this story's review section or send a message to me.
*I have no plans for pairing or romances, maybe i will make side chapters for those things but keep the main chapters for the story. So, if you have any pairings you want, you can suggest them and i will consider it.
So, this is all i wanted to point out. Please drop a review and your suggestions.