[A/N Hey guys, this is my first time writing a fanfiction. Please review so that I will gain more confidence to write more. By the way, this story has been in my head for three months and I planned everything till the fourth arc, which I estimate will be the 40th chapter onwards, and that isnt even the end, i presume there will be around 6-7 arcs. The main character is just a mixture of all the main characters i have seen in other animes or manga. So please review, thank you... now on to the story...Enjoy...

It was a dark night; the room was illuminated by a faint trickle of moonlight coming from the three open windows. A lone figure was standing by the side window, his orange sweater loosened and unbuttoned, fluttering from the small wind coming in from the open window of Hokage tower. His hair drooped down and covered part of his left eye and his once cheerful face now stood rock solid displaying no emotion at all.

He was gazing out at the view of Konoha, grinning a little when he looked at his favorite store of ramen and remembering all the good times he had had. Next he looked at the first training area he had went and was greeted with remorse when he remembered team seven and how they had their first lesson on teamwork, and he remembered Sasuke.

His thoughts were interrupted when a gentle knock was heard, notifying the person inside the room that they were coming in. A moment of silence filled the air before the door creaked open and six ninjas trooped in one by one. All of the ninjas wore identical porcelain masks covering their faces with slits in them to allow them to see, they also wore loose garments which probably held several concealed weapons. They were the ANBU.

The last one quietly closed the door before joining the rest which were all on their knees side by side facing the desk. There were six chairs around the office, but none of them were used. They just knelt there waiting for a response.

They fidget uncomfortably due to the eerie silence while waiting patiently for their orders. Their eyes slowly grew used to the dim light. The figure moved and they tracked the figure with their emotionless eyes as he slowly turned and walked to his desk which was covered with many scattered documents.

He reached into his shirt and pulled out a key which hung by a single thread around his neck. He gave it a small tug and the string broke, freeing the key. Using it, he unlocked one of his several drawers and took out a small wooden box, placing it carefully onto the table. He opened the box, revealing seven different colored stones. The stones were the size of a pebble and gave off an eerie glow.

Suddenly, a loud roar was heard in the room, the ninjas quickly sprung into action, lowering their stance and taking out their weapons as they waited for an incoming attack, but none came. Following the roar was a loud shriek which made the ninjas winced in pain and covered their ears which were trained to pick up the slightest vibration such as very light footsteps.

"At ease, the noises are coming from the demons which are sealed inside these stones. Four days ago, we finished a very dangerous mission which is to seal the seven demons which we recovered from Akatsuki into these stones," he paused letting it sink in before continuing, "The sealing process was done by getting the bijuu to enter a gate where they are then transferred and sealed into the stones. The only way these little monsters can get out again is if the process is done in reversal so even if the enemy gets the stone, they can't extract it unless they find the particular place where the sealing process was done and not only that, the dark gate will not open unless all seven stones are present," he allowed himself a small smirk before gesturing to the ninjas who were slowly putting their weapons back into concealed pouches.

"Which brings us to your mission, this mission is the highest ranked mission any ninja can receive and I chose you six because of your ability to blend with the public. You six are to change your names and move to several smaller towns with one stone each to guard, the stones must be kept at absolute secrecy and you are to live a normal life outside Konoha while protecting the stones." Soft murmurs were heard throughout the room as they absorbed the information that they had just heard.

Casting his blue eyes and holding his breath, he raised up his hand before continuing, "Yes I am sorry to say but you will never take part in any other missions anymore as it will risk figuring out the location of the stones, this mission is to be carried out throughout your entire life and if you are in danger of dying, you are to pass on this information to a trusted person as a last resort."

Taking the box, he walked towards them and placed a stone each into their palms, entrusting them with the secret of the stones, he kept a particular stone in the box and signaled for them to leave. The ninjas nodded and slowly and groggily left the office as they headed for a smaller room which was where they would be briefed further.

Another figure stood on a railing on top of the Hokage tower facing the sleeping village. His arms were crossed and his eyes, with rings around them, narrowed as he waited patiently for his contact. His black cloak was billowing in the wind and his infamous gourd was strapped onto his back. Behind him, a door opened with a clang and his blonde haired contact came out.

"Sorry to keep you waiting Garaa. I was quite held back there while briefing them on the mission," Naruto said as he took several steps towards the kazekage. "Naruto, please get to the point on why you have called me here, we are both Kages and I am sure that we both have better things to do," Garaa said softly as he continued to look at the view.

"Always the serious one, aren't you? Anyway I asked you to come here personally to give you this," Naruto said as he tossed the stone carelessly into the air. The stone completed a graceful arc before landing onto a patch of sand floating in mid air. "I couldn't risk sending it by courier ninjas."

"Is this what I think it is? I take this that you managed to complete the sealing then?" Garaa turned around and said when he sensed the familiar chakra that the stone was emitting.

"Yea, it took several days in total but we managed to get all of them sealed including Shukaku into those special stones which can retain a lot of chakra. I planned to give this to you as it was originally yours to begin with and I know I can trust you to safeguard it for the sake of this world." Naruto replied as he walked forward and leaned onto the railing.

"Yes, you can definitely trust me to keep this safe," he growled as he remembered all the pain he had to endure due to Shukaku and he will never let anyone else feel that pain again. But then again he had to thank the blond for changing his way of thinking or he would have never become the kazekage or even a person that would be loved.

"Humph, if that's all, I will be taking my leave now," Garaa pocketed the stone before leaping into the darkness towards the direction of his home, the sand village.

'Yea I hope that this mission will be a success and that the demons will never again walk on the surface of this world,' the six Hokage thought as he watched the ninjas dashing across the rooftops, going on their separate ways.

10 years later

It was a busy evening in the Valley of the Wind as the road stores became more crowded with people as they streamed in to get a decent dinner. Under all the commotions, none of them noticed a young teenager sitting on an old wooden bridge, 60 feet above them, which connected one side of the valley to the other and were used by people to get to the other side for them to mine the minerals there but ever since the mines were closed six years ago, the bridge was no longer used and the ropes had frayed and some parts of the rope railings were gone with the wooden planks being decayed to a point that a single stone thrown at it, would have broke it.

Young Ichijin Kotaro sat in the middle of this very bridge; his clear black eyes staring straight ahead at the setting sun. His black hair was blowing lightly with the breeze and his mouth formed a thin smile. Breaking out of his trance, he tried to move his arms and winced when a sting of pain responded.

flashback

"Alright kiddo lets see what you can do… You see those two wooden buckets over there? Well I want you to take them to the hot spring on top of that mountain, and I want you to bring back at least four big buckets of that water. This means you have to make two trips." Kane shouted as he pointed to two huge buckets, which could probably hold 20 litres each, before pointing to the huge mountain far away.

"Humph," Ichijin crossed his arms and exclaimed, "That's too easy I can probably finish this training within three hours!" He raised his hand towards the sky with three fingers out, with a large smirk on his face.

"Oh? Is the kid trying to say my training is too soft? Well how about this? You will have to put this on your arms and your legs," Kane said as he reached down for four heavy looking objects and tossed it at him.

Ichijin paled, those were 35kg weights and he knew that he lacked the endurance to carry them all at the same time. "Wait, wait, wait…" he stammered.

"One more word and I will increase the weights to 50kg," Kane said sternly.

"Fine," Ichijin pouted. He walked slowly to the buckets, dreading the incoming pain. He reluctantly strapped on the weights and felt the burden on his arms. He steadily gripped the buckets and started half walking, half running towards the direction of the spring, grumbling all the way.

Kane grinned as he watched his son struggling with the buckets as he walked up the wrong way to the spring.

End flashback

Ichijin had went up the wrong way and in the end had to double back and take another path before realizing that all the paths given to him by his father were wrong, in the end he had traveled equivalent to the distance of the entire countryside. He cursed his father before shaking his head to diminish all thoughts of his father's 'training', and focused his attention to the peaceful scene which was lit up by the gentle orange rays from the sun with an occasional calling from a bird. He grinned as he remembered why this was always his favorite spot to clear his mind.

As the last flickering of light disappeared over the horizon, Ichijin sighed as he slowly stood up. He was about 160cm and he was only 13 years old. He looked once down the valley and saw that several stores had already lit their lamps and were still attracting customers into their cozy restaurants. He took a deep breath and jumped off the bridge. He landed lightly onto the ground and glanced up at the bridge which was 60 feet above him now. He looked around and spotted the fruit store. 'Oh, she is going to get it this time' he thought as he crept into the fruit store. He could see an old woman behind the counter with her back towards him. He smiled when he realized that she has yet to notice him and slowly reached for a packet of …

"I know you are there Ichi, you are still too young to outwit me," the old lady said, startling Ichijin, making him fall into one of the Ramen special offer display and knocking all of it down.

"Aww, but I will still get you one day," Ichijin grinned sheepishly as he stood up from the pile of ramen boxes and slowly started to arrange the packets of ramen.

"So what will it be today?" she asked kindly.

"I will take two apples and a pear to eat on the way …" he said and added a please when he remembered that she was very strict about manners.


"So what should we do about him?" a ninja whispered into his headset as he carefully watched him buy some fruits from the old lady inside the store, from the leafy tree outside.

"Leave the boy, our target is Kane, a former ANBU ninja from Konoha. Sources told us he has the stone and our orders are to retrieve the stone only," his team leader replied.

"But we have yet to confirmed the location of the stone and our only information is that Kane has it," another of his team argued back.

"Either way, we are making the strike tonight!" The team leader raised his voice as he spoke into the headset.


He left the store with a plastic bag containing some fruits dangling in his lightly clenched fist. He slowly reached down for a pear, as he did so; he shifted his gaze quickly towards the tree where he had last seen the person following him. He completed his task of reaching for the pear and started walking slowly towards his house.

As he was biting into the juicy pear, he started to grow uneasy as he digested what he had seen; that the presence that had been following him for the past few days had just disappeared. It meant that whatever the person that was following him for, his job was completed and he no longer needed to follow Ichijin. With that thought he quickened his pace to a slow jog with the bag irritatingly hitting on his knee.

It also meant that they had gathered all the information they needed, he had remembered asking his father what ninjas do to ensure that a mission is a success and his father always replied that to a ninja, information was always the top priority, before making a move. When he realised that, he quickened his pace to a full sprint as he ran all the way across the grass fields towards the Kotaro's residence.

The worst thing about the Kotaro's residence is that it was situated at the high end of the valley making it very isolated and although it would be an excellent place for a person to have a base, as surrounding it was lots of vegetation and from such a high point, one can anticipate an attack early.

Ichijin saw the smoke rising from beyond the hill and when he reached the top of the hill, he stared at the scene before him, the entire house was engulfed in flames and he could see two silhouettes through the thick smoke. The bag of groceries dropped onto the soft grass and the two apples started to roll down the hill before landing into a ditch.

"Father!" he cried out as he started racing towards his house, as he neared the blaze he could see that the two silhouettes were engaged in battle with one of them wielding a giant sword and the other using ninja jutsus.

"A ninja, what's a ninja doing here?" Ichijin muttered under his breath as he reached the main door. He swung it open before racing out into the courtyard. As he entered the courtyard, he had found that another ninja had entered the fight and they were slowly overpowering his father.

Kane was dodging quickly to the left and right and attacking with his giant sword. Sounds of metal hitting metal were constantly heard as the battle raged on. Kane obviously was on the losing end due to his age and the fact that he was outnumbered.

Suddenly he made a sudden move as he swung down with his sword, slicing through one of the ninja, which turned into dust the moment it was killed.

"Shit, a bushin" Kane exclaimed breathlessly with sweat pouring down his face.

A ninja burst from the ground and thrust a kunai into Kane's defenseless back, piercing through the cloth and skin, causing blood to spurt out. Kane collapsed onto the ground and his sword clattered onto the ground and a small pool of blood was slowly forming.

Ichijin gasped in surprise and started running up to his father but was interrupted by the other ninja as it stood between him and his father.

"I will take care of him," the ninja said before running towards him, a hand reaching for his pouch. Ichijin knew what the ninja was going to do, due to father's teaching of ninja's techniques, and started running towards the ninja attempting to hit him before he could pull out a kunai because as soon as he does, he would be at a disadvantage, with no weapons to defend himself.

Ichijin bent his knees and took a flying leap towards the ninja. He twisted in mid air and slammed his heel into the opponent's cheek, probably breaking a bone or two. The ninja surprised by the sudden attack and the force behind it was thrown across the courtyard like a rag doll and crashed into a tree. The tree broke under the strain and fell on top of the ninja.

The surprised partner was shocked and ran up to his teammate trying to help him out from under the tree, exposing an open space for Ichijin to run out to his father.

"Father, speak to me!" he said as he ran up next to his father, who was with much effort trying to sit up.

"Chibi, listen to me. You are …..To take this letter to the Hokage ………of Konoha; he will explain…everything to you." Kane said with much difficulty as he coughed out some blood before reaching into his chest pocket and taking out a brown document and handing it over to his son.

"Don't talk, just rest, father!" Ichijin cried out.

"Look…you see that sword over there?" he ignored Ichijin and motioned to the huge sword by his side, "Its name is Avenger, it was my favorite…weapon when I was a ninja who served under the rule of …Hokage-sama. Take that weapon with you to protect yourself, if you are in danger just relax and rely on your instincts, I didn't train you for nothing you know…" He smiled, after saying his final words to his son, before collapsing onto the ground, eyelids drooping with his eyes showing that all life had gone out of him.

"Daddy!" he cried, when the one and only person that had brought him up was now gone. His eyes were slowly dripping tears onto his father's motionless body.

"I asked your father where the stone was, he didn't reply me and I was forced to kill him, now you will either face the same fate as your father or tell me the location of the stone," the ninja said as he turned from his dead partner and faced Ichijin.

Ichijin turned to the ninja, his eyes filled with hatred, "I won't forgive you." Lots of thoughts were running through his head, such as why his father was a ninja and why he was attacked but one thing was for sure, as he felt his emotions rise, he will avenge his father!

He slowly reached for the sword and gripping it tightly, he lifted it from the ground. Avenger was truly a magnificent sword; it was a huge blade with a highly refined tip and its blade edge shinier than the rest of the sword. Due to the large weight and size of the sword, to control it and to bring out its full potential, another piece of solid steel was placed at the back of the blade supporting the entire blade; this was then connected to a long hilt which obviously meant that this was a two-handed sword.

Ichijin grunted at the weight of the sword and swung it before letting it rest on his shoulder. He stood up and winced when the pain from his father's earlier training had returned when he tried to lift the sword. He bit his lip and ignored the pain as he glared at the murderer.

"Hmmm, interesting, a mere child is about to challenge a jounin from a ninja village. You won't stand a chance, unless of cause, your father taught you on how to be a ninja. Humph, so what's your name kid? I will at least remember you as seeing how brave you are to challenge me," the ninja commented as he glanced from his unconscious comrade to Ichijin with a smile on his face. 'Whoever this kid was, he was powerful enough to take out Wesh. But the tree did most of the damage; I can take him down, as long as I don't underestimate my opponent.'

Ichijin raised the sword using his right hand and pointed at his opponent ignoring the screams of pain coming from his overused muscles. He lowered his stance and shifted his weight to help support the weight of the giant sword. He gripped the sword with his left hand, and swung it slowly to the right letting the tip of the sword rest on the ground.

He took a deep breath and pushed against the ground with all his might and started sprinting towards the ninja, the heavy sword being dragged along, slicing the ground as he neared his enemy.

"My name is…my name is…." He said softly and looked at his opponent with killer intent before shouting it out, "ICHIJIN KOTARO…" He swung the sword down.

[A/N I know the ending was a typical cliffhanger like those in the animes and it totally sounds funny but hey I am not complaining. Anyway, how was it? Good? Nice? Okay? Bad? Super bad? Extremely bad? Feel like puking? Oh well anyway, the action part is next chapter - Review, thanks guys