Desperation Attracts Vultures Chapter 1, a naruto fanfic

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Okay well to start things off, you may have seen this story before. It is a few years old, and I did it when I was still relatively new to writing. Pretty much all the writing I have done since then except a couple short stories I have only written for myself. However now that I have grown a bit as a writer, I decided I could choose to delete this story or look it over again.

Now with that said, I told myself so that I don't leave anyone hanging waiting for a story. Don't release anything unless you have a full story arc finished. With this story I do. I have 10 chapters pretty much done and ready to be posted, with a quick glance over them left to do before they will be posted. I will probably be releasing one chapter each week on Tuesday(As it is my day off).

Now this is a brief "What can I expect from this story." I have read fanfiction for a long time now. Nothing is more dissatisfying then investing yourself in a story only for it to go in a direction you hate. I understand, so the following will not include spoilers, but it will include the themes and atmosphere of the story in contrast to it's prior attempt I made years ago.

Before with this story I can say that I was a much fresher writer and didn't really understand what made a good story. Cool ideas and cool, but at the end of the day awesome ideas doesn't make a compelling character narrative. The same can be said of aggressively bashing a character vs merely acknowledging their good qualities and flaws. I've tried best to eliminate the later from the story, while paying heavy mind to the former. This should provide a story well worth the read. The goal was to make each arc read as if it were it's own story. In the event that I never have the time to go on and continue after these 10 chapters, you will have at least had a fun read that had it's own conclusion.

The theme of the story should hopefully reflect the distance someone is willing to go to accomplish their dreams and goals. In the actual Naruto series, you have really just two characters and a villain with goals, and the plot largely folding in on itself to reflect what these two characters want to accomplish. In this story you will see characters driven to believable desires, and just how far they are willing to go to accomplish them, and the cost at which the lengths they are willing to go comes with.

So a final note. I have decided to up the age of the characters in this story. Generally speaking that every character is 3 years older. There is only one exception to this rule, and that character is introduced later this arc(If you haven't already been spoiled by the characters in the story description). If you are curious, the reason for this is a number of things, but one of the main reasons is character maturity. I didn't want to write the childlike innocence and ignorance of Naruto, but I also didn't want a ridiculously unbelievable 12 year old thought processes like other works of fanfiction.

Anyways I hope you enjoy the story. Please feel free to review, as I do read them and respond to everyone's questions, no matter how rude some of them have been.

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I remember how our friendship started.

A nine year old blonde saw what was unfolding before him. The screaming and jeering from the young children. The laughter as the group played all the while a lone girl was stuck in the middle of the group on her hands and knees in tears. Surrounding the yard were children that would either join in, or look on. Such as the newest arrival from Konoha's formerly largest clan.

"Come on Ugly Ami! Who cut your hair? A blind woman?" The leader of the group mocked as the children in turn chorused in laughter obediently following the biggest kid on the playground.

The purple haired girl with asymmetrical hair let tears flow freely from her eyes as silently as possible as they stained the dirt of the playground below. Her striped blouse was covered in mud, and the the markings on her sleeves had been torn off.

"Ugly Ami! Ugly Ami! Ugly Ami!" The sheep like children of the orphanage continued to chorus.

The blonde abruptly stomped over to the group and standing over the fallen girl, "Hey! Knock it off!"

The biggest child of the group, the leader spun and turned to the blonde. "Oh and what are you going to do about it little Naruto?" The bigger boy mocked as he clenched his hand into a fist before grinding his knuckles into Naruto's blonde hair.

Naruto smacked away the offending hand, "Shut up Tobio. You were new here just like everyone else. It doesn't give you the right to tease the others."

"What Naruto? Are you trying to be her hero? You are just the academy clown, even Ami doesn't like you!"

Naruto flinched briefly his gaze falling down to the sniffling Ami, "So what? Still doesn't give you the right."

"Right? Naruto, who cares? We're just having fun."

A chorus of children followed Tobio.

"Yeah Naruto, it's just fun."

"Come on Naruto."

"Well she doesn't look like she's having fun." Naruto said as he stood up for the girl.

"Why are you even protecting her? She. Doesn't. Like. You. None of us do." Tobio fired back.

"Because apparently no one else will. They just follow you because you're the biggest kid in the orphanage."

"What, and you think she wouldn't trade places with you? Do you think you can't be messed with Naruto because you've been here all your life? You're wrong." Tobio remarked as he lightly kicked Ami's heel prompting the girl to look up. "Ami do you want Naruto to take your place?"

Naruto's jaw tightened as he looked up staring Tobio in the face. He didn't even need to look down and see Ami's silent decision.

"And there it is." Tobio said with a grin before he was quick to deliver the first punch.

Then many from the children followed suit.

It was quite some time later that a beaten and bloodied Uzumaki Naruto picked himself up from the place Ami had once been. With a swelling eye and a limp, Naruto made his way to retire to his bed. Along his path was the dark haired 'Last Uchiha', the orphanage's newest and temporary arrival.

"That was smart." the Uchiha remarked.

Naruto scowled at his classmate, Sasuke. He had been top of their class in the academy for the past three years, and seemed to have no plans of relinquishing his spot. "Better than having the power to stop it, and doing nothing to help."

Sasuke shrugged, "It wasn't my problem."

"A ninja is supposed to protect people of our village, like the Hokage."

"I'm not the Hokage."

Naruto scowled, "Well when I get stronger than you and become Hokage, I won't turn my back on you."

"You won't become stronger than me Naruto." Sasuke replied bluntly as Naruto continued to limp away.

"Today I was."

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Years Later

To say that Naruto was a bit put out was an understatement. He dragged his feet down the dirt roads of Konoha kicking a pebble all the while silently cursing his teammate. He had just asked his sensei, Kakashi, if he could train him for the upcoming chunin exam finals. Perhaps the most important moment in his young shinobi career. However the man had declined, much to the blonde's displeasure.

Kakashi had told him that Sasuke was going to need all the help he could get against Gaara, and that he had already promised he would train Sasuke. It wouldn't have bothered Naruto much considering it was a promise. Naruto knew more than anyone how important it was to keep a promise. The problem was, he knew his sensei was lying when it concerned training his rival.

His sensei had at least tried to line up another to take his place, which was thoughtful of him. That was until Naruto had met the sensei that was supposed to train him. He had 'defeated' the poor bastard with a perverted jutsu that he had designed in his own bored amusement and the man had humorously passed out. Naruto knew that he both couldn't respect or rely on anyone that would pass out for hours at a time over a single jutsu that was designed for his own amusement. So here was his problem.

Sure Sasuke was going to have trouble with his fight against Gaara. There was no doubt about that. Yet Naruto was going to have trouble with his fight too. His opponent was the former rookie of the year Hyuuga. The fight wouldn't be easy, and it wasn't like the Hyuuga was any less dangerous. At least Sasuke had a few useful techniques under his belt that could possibly stand a chance against Gaara. Naruto knew that to even hope to beat Neji he would need help, and a lot of training.

So when he arrived at his favorite training ground, and saw a woman in ragged dark blue clothing there walking on water, he was instantly mesmerized. It had been the first sight to truly draw his attention since he parted ways with his sensei. He had only seen such a thing during his sensei's battle with Zabuza, The Demon of the Hidden Mist. The woman was a vision of beauty even from a distance, and he found himself already making his way over there. Although he did so with caution.

Naruto was the Kyuubi vessel. It was always a gamble approaching strangers, and trying to figure out how they would act beforehand. Not that he could completely blame them, after all the demon fox had nearly destroyed the village the day he was born. Although that fact never really bothered him. He had grown to be self sufficient when he could rather than relying on others. He owned very little and lived a rather minimalist lifestyle as consequence, and the few things he did own were rather beat up.

His complete wardrobe consisted of two second hand orange jumpsuits that have been stitched and patched up several times with his mediocre but actively growing sewing skills. He had been given them for free at a Thrift store when he was young, and he wasn't the type to throw out a gift no matter how beat up they became. Then naturally a couple pairs of underwear and a couple black shirts. In his closet he also had some overalls that no longer fit him, but kept them for sentimental value. He didn't look too far from being homeless.

Naruto found his seat on a rock overlooking the lake. The woman had since begun going through what appeared to be several different fluidly moving taijutsu stances. He could have sworn he saw the water bubble and boil beneath her feet, but he didn't know for certain. He wasn't even sure if the woman had noticed his arrival and the fact that he was watching her. She was young and had an hourglass figure, she couldn't be a day older than twenty-five. She had ankle length auburn hair with that fell down like a lion's mane. Her dark blue nail polish gleamed in the sun and matched her current lipstick.

She had an exotic look that didn't look like anything he had ever seen. She didn't wear the typical red and green colors of the Hidden Leaf village, instead her sea colors firmly matched with the blonde's eyes.

Although perhaps he had a slight bias as the area where his apartment was located, he grew used to seeing women wearing ruby red lipstick, high heels, and fishnet clothing with miniskirts. The proctor of the 2nd part of the chunin exam only solidified that opinion since the only other female kunoichi he had really taken the chance to look at besides her was one that instead of fishnet, used bandages to cover her body which was frankly not much better.

She continued twisting and turning through various movements, it looked like a dance the way she was performing. Then all at once, she stopped and turned into water collapsing into the lake with a splash. The action thoroughly confused the genin until he felt a hand on his shoulder, as someone used him as support to lift themselves quickly over the stone to plop down next him.

"I usually charge for lessons you know." she said with a saucy grin as she turned her head to look at Naruto. Naruto nearly flinched when she sat down next to him, but her forming smile calmed him down considerably. He stayed silent for a moment as he looked out over the lake to where she was formerly.

"So how were you doing all of that? Like walking on water." Naruto asked genuinely curious as he turned back to face the woman.

The woman looked amused and replied, "I'm Mei Terumi, nice to meet you too!" she said in an overly cheerful voice that held hints of sarcasm which indeed got Naruto to rub the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Sorry..." he said in embarrassed, "I'm Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto." he said carefully. It was always a gamble giving his name out. He was just hoping she wasn't like most people whom after learning his name often made excuses to leave. However to his surprise the woman was unphased and merely continued chuckling at the whole situation.

"Uzumaki Naruto eh?" She closed her eyes and leaned back with both hands on the rock as she gently began swinging her feet back and forth. She looked quite relaxed and comfortable in her own skin, "I've heard quite a bit about you around the village." She followed her question by opening her right eye to peer at Naruto to gauge his reaction.

Naruto scowled a bit at the mention of his reputation, but said nothing. So the woman continued.

"They say that you are dangerous and can't be trusted." she finished her statement slowly, making sure to say every word. Naruto's expression turned sour once she said that. "That you are a real handful?" She sent him a questioning glance. The teen boy looked as if he was ready to just get up and leave. Yet her steady hand that she put on the boy's shoulder kept him in place, "Good thing for you, I don't always believe what I hear." she said with a grin as she leaned forward to get in Naruto's view. "You don't seem so bad."

Naruto on the other hand was going through a range of emotions with his encounter with this "Mei Terumi". He wasn't a complete idiot, unlike what most people thought about him. He was beginning to catch on that this woman must have been someone from another village that was just visiting for the chunin exams. He hadn't met many people from other villages, and the three that he did meet, he wasn't too fond of them. However maybe this time things would be different.

"I also saw the poster, you are going to be in the upcoming chunin exam right?" she asked giving the teen a questioning glance. "I bet you regret taking that silly face painted shinobi photo now don't you?"

Naruto brought himself back to reality, and collected himself. He knew he would need to before he opened his mouth on the subject. He still was a bit sour over Kakashi's decision. That, and bringing up his genin photo and seeing all of the posters around the village was starting to make him regret not listening to the photographer's advice.

Mei sat up closing the distance between both herself and Naruto in the process. She rested her hand on his leg for balance once again while picking up a few pebbles off the ground and lobbing them into the lake for amusement. "So then why aren't you training with your sensei? I hear that the Hyuuga are rather dangerous opponents, if I was in your shoes I would be training pretty hard."

Naruto clenched his fists at the thought of his sensei. Sasuke was probably out there with Kakashi now, learning all sorts of cool jutsus that would just leave him in the dust when he got back. Then he would get a bunch of praise when he beats Gaara. Sakura will be fawning over him even more than she usually does, and he would never get the time of day from her. It wouldn't even matter if he was able to pull off a miraculous victory. All he knew how to do right now would be to work on chakra control, and the basics.

Naruto ran a hand through his hair and tried to remain calm, "My sensei..." he said the word sensei with a bitter taste and a tight jaw before continuing, "Kakashi is going to go train my teammate Sasuke for the month."

If Naruto was looking at the woman, he would have seen the slightest unnerving glint in her eyes when he said that. "He left you here? Unsupervised? Forsaking you for another teammate? Something tells me this isn't the first time Naruto-kun." she said slowly, with hints of worry in her voice.

Naruto scowled, for some reason the woman who was sitting next to him always knew the correct choice of words to say to get under his skin. He tried his best to not let things people say get to him, a skill he had to just develop living with the Kyuubi in him. It was like a mask that he could put on, that insults would bounce off of them. As a child, this mask was made of porcelain, weak and a single insult could fracture it. Yet as he grew older he was able to exchange the porcelain for iron, tempered and unyielding. Now most things never phased him. Yet here was this woman speaking to him as if there was no mask at all, or as if she knew exactly what to say to just slip past the mask for a mere moment to get her point across. Yet a mere moment was all she needed.

Naruto stood up to leave, no longer wanting to continue this conversation any longer. Yet once he made his stand the woman proposed an offer that he knew he didn't want to refuse.

"Well then Naruto-kun how about I teach you? I am from the Hidden Mist village, but I can see that you have a lot of untapped potential and frankly it would be an honor to help you reach your potential over this next month. I believe I could teach you quite a bit of things that you would find useful."

Naruto turned to face the woman and gave her a questioning glance. "Like? How do I even know you are qualified to teach?"

The woman turned to Naruto and cocked an eyebrow at him, "Well Naruto. You don't. You just need to trust me. If you don't want to, then you can go with your other options. I won't take it personally."

Naruto said nothing, for some reason he knew the woman's statement was that of a rhetorical question. "I am going to have to decline. I have had some bad experiences in the past with my teachers deceiving me."

The woman shrugged her shoulders and stood up and walked to the water, calling at Naruto, "It is better than having no teacher at all. But alright then Naruto. I wish you the best of luck with whomever you hope to train with in the coming month." She said as she took her first step out onto the water as several clones of her began to rise up out of the water.

Naruto carried on looking at the woman for several minutes as he watched her go through several sets of taijutsu. He didn't think much more of it then that until she did only what appeared to be three seals and a giant water dragon appeared out of the water circling her clones. The giant beast gave a roar before flying up and crashing back down, merging once again with the water.

Naruto forced himself to close his eyes as he walked away. He knew that if he continued to watch, he would take her up on the offer. However he also knew that he had to be more careful about who he chose to teach him. One tried to kill him in the past after all.

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Naruto sighed as he made his way to the Hokage Tower in the village. He may not see the old man that often, but when he did, he usually gave pretty good advice.

He walked over Konoha's dirt roads and was used to the stares. It was a path that he took quite often in his childhood. The orphanage wasn't that far away from the Hokage tower. Although as he walked, it felt like every step was a struggle knowing that there was someone who was willing to teach him just down in his favorite training ground. It wasn't like she was asking him to spend a month in the Forest of Death.

As he approached the Hokage doors, he briefly took a peek into the small paper bag he had been holding to ensure it's contents hadn't melted.

He passed through the large double doors at the entrance to the tower with smile on his face as he withdrew one of the treats in the bag for himself.

Over at the front desk was a young brown haired teen, no older than eighteen who perked up a bit at the sight of the blonde. "Oh Naruto!" she exclaimed in surprise, "Wait are those donuts!" She said as her eyes widened further and she gained a splitting grin.

"Hey there Hitomi." Naruto greeted with the best smile he could muster with his thoughts weighing him down, "I brought you a donut."

The older girl smiled slyly as she accepted the treat, her eyes dancing in delight as she chewed into the sugary delight. "Naruto, I haven't seen you in awhile." Hitomi said between bites, "I thought you forgot about me."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "I've just been busy with the chunin exams, but I didn't forget." he said as he gave the donut a nod. "Is the old man in right now?"

Hitomi licked her fingers as she shoved a series of papers aside with the edge of her sticky palm, "Ummm. Right now actually he is with members of the village council. I'm sorry." Hitomi said with a wince as she suddenly looked at her treat a tad guilty.

Naruto shook his head, "Don't worry about it. It's alright. Can you tell him I came by?"

Hitomi licked her fingers again as she nodded her head grabbing one of the pens on her desk, "Oh yeah of course!" She said through a full mouth having just stuffed her face. "I'll let him know as soon as he is out."

"And why would Hokage-sama be interested in seeing a failure like you?" a voice called out from behind Naruto.

"What did you say!" Naruto said as he spun around in anger. Hyuuga Neji stood across from him with the same stuck up and condescending look he delivered to Hinata after he defeated his cousin.

"Only the reality." Neji explained. Beside him he was escorting another girl that looked a couple years younger than him. She looked similar to Hinata with slightly stronger features, and longer hair. "You won your battle solely based on luck. You are the only one that made it into the finals who doesn't deserve to be there."

Naruto ground his teeth, "You shit talking mother fucker." Naruto said bluntly.

"Naruto!" Hitomi cried out in surprise.

"I can't believe they even let you be around members of your own family after what you pulled!" Naruto said angrily.

"That is because Naruto, some people like you are in fact replaceable. Where others such as your teammate garner special attention." Neji said smoothly as he stood firm.

"You bastard." Naruto growled as he stepped forward towards Neji. Although the white eyed boy was didn't bother to wait for a potential attack. He slid forward with his palm outward, slamming it against the blonde's chest, as his other arm was used to block the girl standing beside him.

Neji straightened himself up once again as Naruto had stumbled back to the front desk of the Hokage Tower eliciting a yelp Hitomi. "Both of my teammates could have dodged that attack, and both of them aren't even moving forward in this tournament. At your level, you will never be able to match the likes of the others in the competition."

Naruto grit his teeth as he supported himself on the desk, "I just need to match the level of one." he said as he glared at the Hyuuga.

Neji scoffed, "Good luck. Come Hanabi." he said as he ushered the girl beside him out of the room.

Hitomi's eyes were glued wide at her desk, "What the hell! What was that about? Naruto do you want to report this or anything? Isn't he supposed to be your competitor? That was totally illegal, on so many levels!" Hitomi exclaimed as she began ranting off.

"Forget it Hitomi. The old man is busy anyways right? I'll just tell him later." Naruto said as his mind was heavy with completely other thoughts. "Besides, I have somewhere else I need to go." Naruto explained as he left the tower leaving a frowning front desk girl behind.

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Mei Terumi didn't show it but she was barely containing a smile. She had a plan, but it was delicate. While tt was her goal to get the trust and loyalty of the boy and she knew that by this point in his life it wouldn't take that much. The boy had been ostracized his entire life in his own home. No one bothered to give the boy a chance, and she could tell just by the way they looked at him. They gave him condescending stares left and right as if the boy was useless and not worth one's time of day.

Yet that was far from the case, and that was why she was here. Jinchuriki should never be ignored. The Mist village was formerly a strong nation that had the world's greatest sword wielders in all of the nation's rivaling even the greatest of Samurai. Their power for a time was unrivaled. However now with the long ongoing war that was imposed by the last two Mizukage... that power diminished. Nearly all of the bloodlines in the country had since been purged. If she were to be honest with herself, the best day in the lives of the people who lived in the water country as of recent was the death of the Fourth Mizukage. He had changed from the young charming boy he once was in a single night, and turned into a ruthless tyrant that followed in the Sandaime's footsteps.

In short, the reason why she was here for Naruto was to obtain the one thing the Mist lacked presently. Power. They were lucky with the fact that at least two of the seven shinobi swordsmen had stayed loyal to the Mist throughout the war. That fact of the matter was that with the loss of five of their strongest shinobi, and the purge of the bloodlines, the Mist was no more powerful than that of the Snow, Waterfall, or Rain villages. It was only their reputation for their brutality that had prevented other villages from attempting to seize a foothold. Something which needed to be corrected quickly if they wanted to maintain their standing.

When she had received intelligence that Konoha had a jinchuriki that had no ties to the village, and seemingly wanted to become the Hokage with no real reason as to why besides the fact that people would acknowledge him. A plan began to form. Like many orphans from the mist's civil war, the boy grew up without anyone ever giving him the time of day, or never having time for him in general. She would be the first person that would be there for him. The thought was simple, manipulative, and effective. Yet no different from the report that she had received about the apprentice of Zabuza. While not exactly morally just, desperate times called for desperate measures. She could only hope that she didn't grow too emotionally attached to the boy, for when she would reveal to him who she truly was, she could only hope that the boy would side with her, or else she would only be adding to the problem.

She was confident that he would, she just didn't want to become overconfident. She heard a speech that had been passed down from generation to generation in the Mist. It was a story that had been told from some wandering nobody in Wind Country whom was in the art of crafting toy puppets and was said to have a repertoire of a 102 puppets at the time. Yet that wasn't what was important about the man, what was important was what he said.

This wise man said that people were like his repertoire of puppets. That they tried to coast through life putting forth as little effort as necessary to get by. When left unchecked people cut off from the judgment of others would rationalize away the reasons they should do their best, or even do at all. He felt that what keeps people in check is judgment of other people they care about. He gave the examples of people wanting their parents to be proud of them, their love interests to notice them, the people they admire to befriend them… and that was why they try. The wise puppeteer said "These connections to other people are strings that constantly tug at them, pulling them in this or that direction. Without these strings to tug at them, people, like puppets, are inclined to do nothing at all."

A powerful, if withdrawn lesson, but nothing groundbreaking, of course until Mei continued to listen to the story of this man and analyzed what he had to say.

One could only say that it wasn't right to compare people to puppets, but such an act would only get the puppeteer talking once again.

"Perhaps." the old man said giving a pause for dramatic effect, "But assuming I'm correct for a moment, what happens when someone becomes disconnected from the strings? When everyone a person cares about dies or leaves, or when they never had anyone to begin with? They are left adrift in an empty world, without ties to other people, and thus very little purpose in their lives."

That was where Naruto came into all of this. The boy was born an orphan, and the only ties and strings to other people that he had were weak ones. The Hokage who was busy running a village and only saw Naruto a few times a year. Or the owners of a ramen bar that he came to become friends with because of his unhealthy addiction and pitiful budget? What reason did the boy honestly have to try hard to become a ninja? With no one to judge him, or to question him for not trying hard enough? His own sensei had cast the boy off to the side in favor of a different student. Naruto was, and still is stuck in a state where he alone had to gauge when he would stop trying. He had no one to tell him that there was a solution to his problems. The boy was a shell of a human, a person that had lost hope, he just didn't know it yet.

That was why she was confident. She could change the boy, change him so that he no longer subconsciously doubted himself. So that he no longer thought he was just wasting not just his time, but the time of other people as well. The fact that he would have a mentor, a real teacher, that could tell him that there was a solution to his problems and that it was within his reach. Her actions she knew would not just boost the boy's confidence, but it would give him hope. And a little hope is a good thing. She and she alone would be his reason to try hard, to not let her down because of her faith in him and his inevitable hope that it would not be misplaced.

She knew from first glance that Konoha had failed their jinchuriki. The lack of acknowledgment had left him desperate, and desperation only attracted vultures.

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Naruto sighed as he returned to the training ground and stripped himself of his jacket, shirt, and sandals before wading into the lake and calling out to the woman whom was now sitting cross legged on it. He swam out to the center of the lake at a relaxed pace, as he saw the woman open her eyes and take notice of him. He swam right up to her, at which point he was swimming right in front of Mei, whom had since moved from sitting to a crouch on one knee. It became obvious to Naruto that the woman was not going to acknowledge him anymore then just staring at him, before he said anything. Especially since he had blown her off not more than an hour ago.

"I'm sorry." Naruto said with a frown, doing his best to avoid the woman's gaze. He was terrible with apologies, not because he didn't feel like apologies were necessary, but because he had never been given the opportunity to really give any. "I do need your help. You're all I got." Naruto said trying his best to sound sincere and not make it seem as if the woman was a last resort.

Mei in turn grinned at the apology. There was no point in trying to give the boy a hard time over it when he said he was sorry, and came back to her. "Alright. Then I want your undivided attention this month Naruto-kun is that understood? I want you to give me everything you got, and if you are not I will just stop training you. Why would I help someone who isn't trying their hardest?"

Naruto nodded at her statement as he continued to bob up and down in the water as he did his best to stay afloat.

Mei gave a charming smile that did it's best to calm the boy. She reached down into the water and grabbed the boy from under his armpits and hoisted him out of the water, despite his initial protests. She ignored any ramblings the boy was saying about essentially being hoisted in mid air over a lake. She calmly said, "Alright, first lesson shall be dancing..."

Naruto stopped complaining about how he was hoisted up and instantly wondered if training with this woman was a bad idea, until she continued her statement.

"On top of water." She finished with a glint of amusement in her eyes as she watched Naruto's face go through several various emotions. "Anyways this is what I want you to do Naruto..."

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Alright, well there we have it.

Now finally the most important note that I could not post at the top. This story has always been heavily inspired by Nobody102's Scorpion Disciple chapter 4. His tale is where this story not only gets it's title, but also represents a theme that was thoroughly missing in the Naruto series after Mizuki and Orochimaru. A theme in which characters are not just black/white, good and evil, but many different shades of gray where there is evil in many places. Hopefully you will enjoy the journey where I lead you towards that.

On another note, I have also been working on other stories. I am simply posting the first chapters of each of them if you would be interested in reading those as well.