Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

XXX

"Well, what happened? One minute it is attacking the next the Sandaime appears does some jutsu and then the Kyuubi vanished. How did he defeat the beast?" asked a haggard looking Shikaku Nara.

"He defeated it using a technique I created. This technique sealed the demon inside someone. It cost the Sandaime his life to perform because it summoned the shinigami. I was going to perform the sealing myself but Sarutobi preempted my attempt and did it himself," was the statement from the Yondaime.

"Who did he seal the beast in?" asked advisor Homura.

"Supposedly he sealed the beast into my son." Most of the council gasped in surprise at the lengths the Yondaime went to protect them. "But the child was missing from the battle field. There were some heavy duty burn marks in the area we found the Sandaime in, supposedly from stray jutsu fired when the beast disappeared. We only confirmed the corpse of the Sandaime from dental records and it is believed that my son was burned completely to ashes. If that is everything I would like to mourn the losses of my wife and child."

Everyone was very solemn at this and quickly left. That is except one man. This man was heavily bandaged and limped over to the young Hokage.

"I know this is not what you expected but I must ask some questions. This seal you designed, are you sure the fox could not come back from it," asked the aged man.

"Danzo, the seal bound the fox and my child's souls together. If one dies they both die, so no, it could not come back from it, at least not for a very long time."

"I see," they newly named Danzo said. "Well one last issue I wish to discuss. I believe we should bring back Ne. With our forces the way they are we would need someone to weaken our enemies and help out our other forces. I can have it operational in three months. I will have 20 chunins and 5 jonin within two years and within ten years we could have nearly 200 chunin and 60 jonin. And while I know these are small numbers compared to our overall forces they would be doing the work of 5 to 10 other shinobi. This is what Konoha needs to survive."

The young Hokage did not like the idea nor did he like the man proposing it. But the man had told the truth. When Ne was operational they did more work and dirtier work than any other group and helped win the Second and Third Shinobi Wars. Yes others had made names defeating large amounts of enemies in those conflicts but Ne had made many of those victories possible by using strategic strikes and pitting enemies against each other.

"I will allow the program to start up on certain conditions. One is that besides the instructors, at sixteen they are to be tested and integrated into the normal forces. Two is you can only recruit from the orphanages and from foreign lands, make them loyal to Konoha though. Thirdly is that if I find out you used Ne as your own personal army and acted against Konoha, I will end you and the program. Are all these rules clear?"

"Crystal. I will begin and I will need some funding until the missions start paying for themselves."

"You will have it. You and I offically know none of this and neither will the council. Understand, Ne will not be seen of or heard of, even in rumors."

"I understand. I will begin immediately. I will recruit the first instructors soon and orphans next. I will not disappoint," and with that Danzo stood and left.

"I just hope I did not sell myself to the devil," said Minato as he stood to leave.

XXXX

Danzo made his way into an underground bunker that had not been used by any normal shinobi for ten years. Ne had been using it for nine and here he was to up the amount of troops he had and he could do so without interference.

"I want as many potential shinobi under the age of four out of the orphanages and in our training facilities within a month. When more children come into the orphanages have them funneled into the program; standard training for all of them. Send out scout group one to search Kiri, Suna, and the lesser countries for the same potential, there should be enough squads in it to make the search in three months time. Have scout group two search just Hi no Kuni's lesser villages for children. Same requirements on all the children from every country, there are to be no exceptions for kekkie genkai or anything else; we will not lower our standards for such trivial reasons. Have instructors ready for all the new recruits. Also prepare for operation New Age, we have a candidate to undergo the procedures and I believe he will survive unlike the others," all this was spoken to the shadows from which came a quick "Hai" before Danzo turned and left.

XXXXX

6 years after Kyuubi

"Ibiki I need you to look into something," said the Yondaime.

"And that would be what Hokage-sama?" came the reply from the heavily scarred man.

"A little know fact is that right after the Kyuubi was defeated I reinstituted Ne so as to even out the imbalance with our shinobi forces. I believe Danzo may have taken my words and run with them, which he was intended to do, but the problem is that I believe he is using the unit as a front to further himself. I need proof without Danzo knowing, that way I can destroy him and hopefully not cause a civil war. I need you to lead a slow and long term investigation of them. Hopefully you will uncover this evidence. Because of the danger this will be an S-rank mission, which you will carry out when not doing your normal duties. Any questions?"

"None Hokage-sama, I will get on this when I believe I can," was Ibiki's reply.

"Good, see that you do."

XXXX

7 years after Kyuubi

"How is New Age coming along?" asked Danzo.

"He is doing well; we can begin treatment 7 tomorrow. He has adjusted as best as possible to what we have given him. That along with his natural enhancements will make him formidable. He has also not been lagging behind the others of his training group, even with his long recovery periods. He is not the best but he is not the worst, but again that is most likely due to the recovery periods," replied a man, with a blank mask on, kneeling before Danzo.

"That is what is expected. How can one be the best when in the infirmary recovering? I am glad though that his natural abilities make it so he is not struggling too much. How is the emotional conditioning?" inquired Danzo.

"Coming along faster than normal actually. This is due to the pain caused by the treatments, to endure them he is pushing his emotions away and we are helping to get rid of them. I suspect in 6 years they will be gone entirely, two years before anyone else."

"Good, speed it up if you can, I want a lot of use out of him before I lose him to the normal program."

"Are you not keeping him?"

"No, he will represent how formidable Ne shinobi are compared to normal shinobi. Eventually we will use him to eliminate the Hokage and I will take up his position. Will he be able to pass on his traits though?" said Danzo.

"He may be able to after all the treatments and some years for his body to fully adjust to them, not just be fit for use operational. I would say that by age 18 he could beget children with his enhancements."

"Good. Make sure to have reliable kunoichi picked out for this purpose," was the last thing Danzo said before he left to go take care of an arrogant clan using their own clan's genius. (Uchiha Massacre).

XXXXX

12 years after Kyuubi

"I want a C-rank mission and I want it now. Why can't you see that D-ranks are getting us no experience?" cried a frustrated Uchiha.

"Does your sensei think you are ready?" asked the Hokage, expecting that his student Kakashi would say no and make Team 7 do another D-rank.

"Actually I believe they are ready. I mean I have Sasuke and Sakura. And while a two man team is not common I believe they can handle it," was Kakashi's reply.

"Fine, I will allow it if you take Kurenai's Team 8 along with you. Meet the client at the East gate in three hours," sighed the Hokage.

"Hai," was his only reply.

XXXXX

"You are to go the Nami no Kuni. There is a missing-nin there by the name of Zabuza Momochi. You are to kill him. We believe he has an accomplice with a kekkie genkai. Capture the accomplice and bring them back here. While there you are to also eliminate a man named Gato. He is interfering with trade in the region and is causing us to lose money. Get as many of the bank accounts and savings as you can. You will have three weeks to complete this task, do you understand?" stated Danzo.

"Hai," was his reply from the stooped figure in front of him. Grey hair and pale skin was all you could see outside the standard ANBU attire and blank mask.

"Good, leave immediately number 0054, be swift," was all Danzo said before his new operative left. Knowing that his New Age project could not be stopped.

XXXXXX

AN: Who is the 0054, or New Age?

Even I don't know.