Chapter 1

Seeds of rebellion lay outside your front door
If you nourish them and water them
They'll grow into a healthy, what for?
And if revolution isn't what's in store
How can you care anymore?

It's a dangerous slip, a conscientious shift
The spirit of resistance, you gotta hold your grip
Lest the state of your resolve makes you quickly devolve
To a fundamentalist, yeah

You're an archetype, they can pin to the wall
When you cling to your convictions like a farm animal in its stall
Never thinking of the bigger world outside
As they take you for a ride

It's a dangerous slip, a conscientious shift
The spirit of resistance, you gotta hold your grip
Because passion unabated can be readily conflated
With belligerence, go

It's a dangerous slip, a conscientious shift
The spirit of resistance you gotta hold your grip
And the verdict won't be kind
'Cause they're desperate for a viable alternative

take a stance

take a resist stance!

*Resist Stance (Bad Religion)

Chapter 1

He sat down behind his desk, starring at the files in front of him. He always hated paperwork. His shift was over, but his work was far from done. He went to the copy machine and made a copy of the documents. If somebody asked it was for home. He often worked at home, he'd say. They would never get the truth, for he was a cronical liar. To many he was just the computer nerd. The guy that did the tedious paperwork for the upper offices. He didn't bother to fit in with the rest of the office workers. While they would check their appearance in the mirror twice a day, to make sure their suit sat right or their hair was acceptable, he would wear his hair in dreadlocks put up into a high pony tail. The dreads were less work, they always stayed the same. He never understood the need to 'do' his hair. He had to wear an office suit, it was, after all, mandatory. He looked out of place in the busy office. He added a slutch to his appearance sometime to rile up his co-workers. If somebody asked him to do something, he did it without complaining. He always tried to give off an indifferent air, so everybody would leave him alone unless they had to approach him.

To others he was just odd like that, but as long he got the job done they left him alone. And that was just what he wanted. They'd never know he had an extraordinary IQ way above the norm. That he had absolute knowledge on almost everybody in the office. They would never know he hated the states politics. They would never know he was stealing information from them. They didn't know how dangerous he really was. Shikamaru smiled to himself. He'd have to give Fox credit. He was right about them not expecting the organization to work right under their nose. He was after all perfect for this kind of job. He was a strategist, always planing ahead of everything. Sensing traps before they appeared, and making sure somebody else got in trouble instead.

It was years ago, that he was just a nobody. He went to high school, barely attending, because he was so bored. There was no challenge. Back then nobody noticed the change until it was too late. Even he realized the change when it was too late, too dangerous. The State shut off all communication with the other nations and barricaded the boarders. All of the citizens were trapped inside of the country. Those that tried to flee were caught and took away, where he didn't know. Everybody was too afraid to talk about it. Then people started to disappear from the streets. You only noticed it if you paid attention. They were people nobody would miss. The poor, the homeless, orphans. He knew right away. The old beggar sitting at the corner was just suddenly gone. He always like to talk to the sad old man. He spent hours of his time just talking to him and keeping him company. His mother hated it, but he hadn't listen to her in a long time.

The next change was more noticeable. They put up curfews and restrictions to many city parts. The protests were brutally beaten down. Many people died, during the uprisings. Then when no resistance was met, everything calmed down. That was many years ago. He put up with everything because wasn't in his nature to do anything. He felt like he was just a flexible leaf of grass. Being flatend by a foot or bent in the wind, but always shifting and rising again. he never lost himself; or so he thought. He was alone too long, no one matched his intellect. Until they came along.

They were the complete opposite of the state. Instead of everything being black and grey with red clouds, they were bright and colourful like the sun lit sky. They brought change, while the leaders wanted uniformity. Who would have thought that he, the legendary lazy ass, would be carried away by their cause? Nobody, and that was why they wanted him in. To defeat the leaders of the system from the inside out.

"Mr. Nara. Working at home again?", a voice said behind him. Standing in the doorway was his coordinator. He looked young himself. He had a pale complexion, red hair and dull green eyes.

"Yes Mr. Akasuna. My shift ended and I haven't finished working on the files yet. It such a drag sometimes, but when the boss needs it done, who am I to complain?"

"True. But we need you, so don't overwork yourself.", the slightly shorter man said, moving to the copy machine. Shikamaru made room, he was finished any way. The copied files with sensitive information in the envelope the originals in his hand. He smiled to his chef and said: "Don't worry about me, I'm fine". He turned to go get his jacket. With a last small smile at the secretary he slipped out of the office. He silently applauded his acting skills. He would have an interesting meeting tonight that was sure. These files were worth his weight in gold, he was sure of it, but he was also worried. These files indicated that they had a mole selling off information about their movements and motivations. That was not akzeptable. What a drag.

He watched the man approach. He could see the man was visible nervous. Swiftly, but without increasing his pace, he followed the man as he walked past him. He masked his steps in the echo of the others steps. He noticed that the man he was shadowing repeatedly reached into his pocket. Maybe he was carrying a weapon? He had to be careful. If what Shikamaru said was true he had all reason not to trust this man. He had to look into it. He hated hurting people, but in this case he had to, too many relayed on him. The poor man had a family. He would take care of them too, if he had to. He hoped not.

Slowly they reached the ally where they were supposed to meet. He hid himself in a doorway while the man turned to see if he was being followed. Good there weren't going to be any disturbances. Ebisu was a good spy, even though he changed sides, he was still careful about his surroundings. But he had nothing on Shikamaru, nobody would figure him out.

Ebisu reached the end of the ally and waited. He'd let him wait for a few minutes and then appear beside him. His face split into a grin. He saw the man slowly getting twitchy wiping sweat from his brow. Now was the time. He slid up beside the man while he was looking the other way and said rather loud: "Maybe I should install somebody else, you're going to die of a nervous breakdown." He couldn't help himself. He laughed as the poor man jumped out of his skin.

"Oh thank god! I wasn't expecting you Fox. Sorry, I'm nervous. Today wasn't my day. Here are the documents.", Ebisu said with a shaky voice. He had to give the guy some credit. As the man in front of him reached for the documents. He was quite sure that his carefully composed appearance would frighten an ordinary person. And Ebisu was a very, very ordinary person. That was why he was chosen. But it seems he wasn't reliable under pressure.

He had dressed himself in a black combat suit that consisted of black pants, a long sleeved shirt, black stained metal arm gards, fingerless gloves and black shoes. Not his taste of clothing at all, but the black made his hair stand out in contrast. People would say he was quite handsome, but at the second glance they saw that he had scars on his face. They were his constant reminder of his past; his reason to fight.

To Ebisu they were frightening. They made him look ruthless. He knew it, and he was counting on it. He liked to play with people's minds. He was often underestimated and as far as he was concerned it could stay that way. He took the papers from the fidgeting man and slowly paged through them, looking for the detail Shikamaru warned him about. He hoped that it wouldn't be in here, but...There! That was it. Shikamaru was never wrong. He sighed sadly. What a waste of potential.

He saw Ebisu move, reaching inside of his pocket. With reflexes earned through hard work and constant drills, he pulled out a knife out of from underneath his arm gard and pined Ebisu's hand into the wooden wall. With a scream of pain Ebisu let the gun fall to the ground.

"So...You were supposed to kill the middle man. I already knew the information would be false.", he held no emotion in his voice.

"Fox. I...let me explain! They have my family!", the man pleaded, but his pleas fell on death ears.

He tried not to think of who Ebisu would have killed if he hadn't come. Rage was soaring through him as memories of a woman covered in her own blood welled up inside of him, replaced with a face of somebody he knew...

He looked at the whimpering man, kneeling in pain, and twisted the knife. Ebisu screamed until he was hoarse.

"Don't treat me like a fool! But rest assured that I will look out for your family, you have my word.", he said before slitting the man's throat. This was a mess. Now they would have to change plans again. He kneeled down and picked up the gun and stowed it away on his person. Then he took out a lighter and burned the documents, he had the important ones. As soon he was finished he left, slipping into shadows with the dead body draped over his shoulders.

Naruto was tried of it all. The constant fighting...he wanted it all to stop. but he knew they would never allow him to live a normal life. He was their weapon, they created him, or so they thought. He was the last to pass the test, he was the last of 'The Nine'.They never truly controlled him and without him they couldn't get the others to follow. He stood in the shower cleaning the blood off of his body, letting the soothing hot water run down his scared back. his whole body held reminders of his cruel training.

'The Red Dawn' they called themselves, the new beginning...but he knew the truth. They just wanted to create more wars and constant pain. They were well organized, they held the state police and the army under their direct control. Other institutions such as schools and hospitals soon followed their doctrines. They didn't have any problems letting people disappear or to brainwash people to match their means. How many have already fallen into their manipulating hands? He didn't want to think about it. He himself had only barely escaped from them. Number 2 hadn't made it out. She gave her life and her freedom up to save him and he never learned her true name. She was the constant reminder to fight for freedom. He was going to free this country! Somebody had to. And as he did, he was going to find the others that got out. They deserved to have their chance to live a normal life as well. 'They had wanted perfect weapons', he thought bitterly 'and they'll have them, just not the way they wanted'.

The doorbell startled him out of his reverie. He turned the shower off, dried himself a bit and threw a bathrobe over his shoulders. After closing the front with a knot he grabbed one of his knives he had on the table and held it behind his back. Just then he opened the door.

He shouldn't have bothered. Standing in the door was his best friend. People would mostly shy away from the handsome man. One hard look and everybody left him alone. He met the definition of the dark and handsome stranger. He was tall, had black hair that was short in the back and long in the front, so when he was looking down you couldn't see his face. He dressed casually and stood with a slight slutch. Naruto knew it was an act, his friend would never be caught unaware. In Truth he was hiding his sword that was strapped across his back under his jacket.

"Sasuke! What brings you here?", Naruto asked cheerfully, glad to see his friend for the first time in weeks.

"Can I come in? Or are you...occupied?", the dark haired man smirked and pushed past Naruto not waiting for his answer despite it being one in the morning. In their business, normal times, for normal people, didn't count. He saw Sasuke go straight for the couch. He locked the door again. He sat down across from his friend in his favoured armchair and played with his knife by throwing it up and catching it by the handle.

"You're going to loose your fingers someday while doing that. Idiot", Sasuke said after a while, breaking the silence.

"Didn't know that you cared. Bastard", the blond said. "How did the operation go? Any problems?" He had sent Sasuke to lay a false trail. They were still searching for the other seven. They managed to escape before they could brainwash them. Now they were a thorn in their side. They knew too much, and did everything to through a wrench in their plans. He already knew the location of Number 1 and he had information on Number 6 was. Sasuke had let himself be seen with an other member who looked Number 6 to lead them around for a cat and mouse game. They were then to ambush the Red Dawn member. It was a capture and kill mission. The information they got out of the members was always useful, even if it was one of the higher ups.

Sasuke was the perfect one to get such a job done. To him everybody who belonged to the Red Dawn were murderers. He told Naruto about his past when he first met him. To him revenge was his top priority. He was ten as he watched how they tortured his brother and made him kill their family. His father had led the police force as the Red Dawn took over. He didn't agree with their methods to reign. The brutal organization decided to set an example for those who didn't follow them. They captured the two brothers and told his older brother that they would kill Sasuke, if he didn't kill everybody. He had watched as Itachi slashed through their uncles, aunts, cousins and lastly through their father and mother with tears in his eyes. The last thing Sasuke heard before he was knocked out was, to kill him too but he knew his brother didn't do it. He woke up in the cold house next to the bodies of his parents. There was no sign of his brother. Several years went by as he lived in the streets always fleeing the patrols, but somehow he had managed to survive. He had learned to make himself invisible.

Naruto stumbled on Sasuke by chance. He had just escaped, and he had nowhere to go. In his state he stuck out like a sore thumb. He was beaten and bloody, his clothes ripped; nobody reached out to help him, they were afraid they could end up like him. So he let it happen as he was pulled into an ally, but his reflexes were still in place. He had pulled and twisted the arm of his offender. Only to see that his aggressor was the around the same age as him, maybe younger, but he didn't have the luxury of trust. He leaned in blood dipping on the back of the stranger, his vision was blurring then it faded. That last action took his lest bit of energy. He fell into the teen in front of him who somehow spun around to catch him. He woke up with bandages everywhere. He silently took the treatment of the dark haired boy. Sasuke hadn't talked to him for days. But Naruto was always sure that he enjoyed the company.

In the weeks Naruto recovered they became friends. They made a promise to themselves: To kill those who made their life miserable. To Naruto it wasn't just revenge, like it was in Sasuke's case. He wanted to give the city back to it's real owners, the people; the civilians. And he made plans to lead them there. Years of careful planing went by, and sometimes he almost gave up, but Sasuke always reminded him of what was at cost. And always pushed him on, supported him all the way.

Soon they had followers, people who saw something was wrong with the city and it's rulers and wanted to change something. Slowly their group gained more followers. And now he could proudly say they were a well organized Underground Group called 'Fox Fire'.

Sasuke's voice broke him out of his reverie. "I know what happened tonight".

Always straight to the point. And it had a lot to do with his mission. The Red Dawn now knew of their attempt to contact the rest of The Nine, and were know hunting them all, his person especially. The attempt on his life, as pitiful as it was, was reason enough to believe it; the documents Shikamaru gotten in his hands were solid proof of it.

"They found Ebisu out, we still have Shika in there, he is our only source left", he said after a while.

"Ture, Naruto, but we have to change plans to adjust. This is going to get ugly. Soon we'll be fighting in the streets. And we can't guarantee his safety".

"Shikamaru knows how to live in the shadows, if he doesn't want to be found he won't", Naruto argued.

"Okay. You know him better anyway." Sasuke made a pause; on to the next problem:

"We'll need more people with medical knowledge, Guy can't fix everybody up, he needs help".

"Then we have to look for a suitable candidate, medics don't roam the streets.", he grinned, and Sasuke got a bad feeling in his gut.

This was going to be a challenge.

Edit 08-01-12: I got rid of all the typos

Tell me if you like where this story is going. Be kind, rewind...eh -.-' review