Disclaimer:
I don't own anything...
Prologue
A New Mission
Hiruzen was an old man,a dangerous one,but an old man nonetheless. He wasn't sure how long he had left and felt that the destiny of Konoha lied in the hands of the young. "The future" he fondly called them mentally. Of course,as the Sandaime Hokage he had an image to uphold and coming off as a loony old man wouldn't help his case he imagined.
The figure clad in black,kneeling at his feet,ANBU tattoo on his left shoulder was certainly a prodigy. Genin at 7,chūnin at 10,ANBU at 11,Uchiha Itachi was everything a ninja aspired to be and more,but what set him aside from his peers wasn't his genius (on second thought,it kinda was ) but his kindness. That was why he was entrusting him with this particular mission.
"Rise,Weasel"
"You called,Hokage-sama?"
"Yes" Hiruzen confirmed,"I have an A rank mission for you"
"You are to instruct Uzumaki Naruto on the way of the ninja until you are certain he can defend himself"
The Hokage was answered with a sharp, barely,noticeable nod.
By his stance,The Professor noticed Itachi was slightly disturbed.
He sighed,saying "If you have any compaints to voice you can say them...I am releasing you from your duties in ANBU until mission to me as any other ninja would"
"Isn't he a bit young to be trained?He's a non-clan ninja and village protocol states that-"
"I know what it states:'No non-clan ninja below chūnin rank can be entrusted with village secrets'-after all I helped write it"Hiruzen interrupted.
"Certain circumstances around Uzumaki have rendered that rule null"
"Even as a Jinchūriki I had not expected to begin his training until a recent report about Uzumaki reached my ears"
"What report?"Itachi said,forgetting to add the required honorific to Sarutobi upon completion of said sentence.
"An attack by a freelance-nin"
After the attack by the Kyuubi he had thought to create a law preventing the telling of Naruto's new status to anyone at the punishment of death if discovered doing ,he had decided to trust Konoha's citizens expecting them to be less simple-minded and petty as to condemn a child for the Kyuubi's would not make such a mistake again. A few years after the boy's birth and practically everyone in the village knew what Naruto held he had then enforced the law but the damage had already been done. A few civilians suspected Hirizen's hesitance in passing the law for weakness and a civilian had finally crossed the line a few days ago when he hired a freelance-nin to assassinate Naruto.
The captured freelance-nin had divulged that he was hired by a civilian named Ishida Kogami,a civilian whose wife had died in the Kyuubi attack. By the time they had gathered the necessary information Kogami had left the village. Thanks to superb tracking by Hound and a tracking specialised jonin squad,Ishida had been captured. He was been held in the interrogation cells but was dead now on no fault of the ninja. Naruto had not been hurt,his ANBU watchers had prevented that. On the surface,it looked like a simple attack by an angry civilian lashing out at the 'source of his troubles' but before his death (by exploding note)-Ibiki had found out(Kogami's words) that the Void was watching and that Sarutobi would pay for his sins.
Sarutobi suspected that this 'Void' were a civilian group bent on Naruto's death,but that didn't explain how they had snuck that exploding note on Kogami when a previous search had revealed nothing and this worried Hiruzen. Hence,his current actions...
"Do you accept the mission,Itachi?"
"Yes,Hokage-sama,I'll start immediately"
In an undisclosed location, a group of varying individuals both male and female,young and old sat round a them was an aged looking man,lacking a few teeth with a few gray strands in his brown hair. It was this man that spoke now,
"Kogami is dead,things are going just as planned. We will commence the next stage of the plan in a few days. Any questions?"
Murmuring started as the inhabitants of the room spoke among themselves...
Unnoticed by all,a man in an orange swirled mask lurked in the shadows, Sharingan spinning...
Watching...
AN:
This is the first chapter of the first book in a four part series.
I won't reveal much but this is my take on the Naruto series if Sarutobi made a different decision in the aftermath of the Kyuubi and the Akatsuki are going to be more active than in canon,before the start of it as foreshadowed in the chapter above.
Anyways,read and review please...
-CrimsonKing123
